FEBRUARY, 1

ON THEATRES NEXT WEEK

1-THE CAVES OF STEEL

Sci-Fi / Thriller

The Cast: Bruce Willis, Paul Bettany, Ray Liotta, Laura Linney, Salma Hayek, William Hurt

The Director: Danny Boyle
The Screenwriter: Steve Connors

The Plot: A millennium into the future two advancements have altered the course of human history: the colonization of the galaxy and the creation of the positronic brain. It’s a time when hyperspace travel has been discovered and a few worlds relatively close to Earth have been colonised, fifty planets known as the ‘Spacer Worlds’. The Spacer Worlds are rich and have a low population density and use robot labour very heavily. Meanwhile, Earth is overpopulated and strict rules against robots have been passed. The Caves of Steel are vast city complexes covered by huge metal domes.

The story begins when a prominent Spacer is murdered. Ambassador Sarton lived in the Spacer outpost just outside New York City. For some time, he has tried to convince the Earth government to loosen its anti-robots restrictions. One morning, he is discovered outside his home, his chess imploded by an energy blaster.

The New York Police commissioner charges Elijah Baley, a plainclothesman (police officer) with finding the murderer. Elijah has a low opinion of robots. Baley learns that the commissioner has assigned him a partner: R. Daneel Olivaw. Worst of all is that the ‘R’ stood for robot. Yes, Olivaw is a humaniform robot and he has been made in the image and likeness of the murder victim.

Together, they search for the murderer and try to avert an interstellar diplomatic incident. But, can Baley get along with his partner? Can he avert the destruction of human society on Earth? And what interests are behind the Ambassador’s murder?

Cast of characters:

Elija Baley (Bruce Willis): Police officer
R. Daneel Olivaw (Paul Bettany): Baley’s partner, a humaniform robot
Julius Enderby (Ray Liotta): New York City’s Commissioner of Police
Jessie Navodny (Laura Linney): Baley’s wife.
Lynane Millane (Salma Hayek): A subetherics dancer rumoured to be a robot.
Frank Cloussar (William Hurt): The man behind the murder with dark interests to confront human and robots.

Stark’s Comment: Based on the first Isaac Asomov’s book from his Robot Series. CMP wants to make a quality sci-fi movie here, not just a digital effects show. Director Danny Boyle is a peculiar choice but we consider he can put a touch of difference in the project more than just the regular Hollywood director obsessed with technology. This movie looks more for creating a certain oppressive atmosphere than to shock audiences with flashy moments. I expect it to become a sci-fi classic.


2-MCMILLAN & WIFE: MURDER BY GAME

Action / Comedy

The Cast: Harrison Ford, Rene Russo, Billy Bob Thornton, Kathy Bates, Ashton Kutcher

The Director and Producer: Ron Howard
The Screenwriter: Bill Cougan

The Plot: McMillan (H.Ford) has finally retired from San Francisco Police Department. His partners have organized a farewell party for him. At the end of it, his longtime friend, Inspector Clubber, gets into his car to go home and, has he turns on the contact, the car explodes. At that very same moment, McMillan gets a phone call at his cellular. While he is still watching Clubber’s car on fire with his friend in it, a voice just says: ‘One’.

In the next days, another three cops, all of them good old McMillan’s friends, are murdered. And each time, he gets a phone call counting the deads.

McMillan and his wife, Sally (R.Russo), together with the help of their maid (K.Bates), decide to investigate what’s going on. San Francisco Police Dpt. has appointed young Homicide Inspector Billy Cartwright to investigate the crimes. He is a clumsy newcomer with a tendency to get in troubles. Although the Chief of Police reminds McMillan that he is retired now and cannot go on with the investigations and forbids Cartwrigth to work with him, Cartwright will unofficially ask McMillan for help.

They get to realize who the killer is: another old McMillan’s partner (B.B.Thornton) who was fired from Police more than 20 years ago when McMillan and his team discovered that he was corrupted. McMillan had lost any trace from him for years. But now he is back looking for revenge. And McMillan needs to capture him urgently as he gets another phone call from him just saying: ‘You are next’.

Stark’s Comment: Yes, making this sequel was my personal decision. I did not know very much about the tv show and I was so surprised when I received the first movie pitch by Cougan. Another surprise is how it worked at box office. I like the chemistry between Ford and Russo. So a sequel was more than justified for me.


3-BLOOD BEACH

Horror / Teen Scream

The Cast: Misha Barton, Emile Hirsh, Michelle Trachtenberg, Matt O’Leary, Ellen Page, Nikki Reed, Lou Taylor Pucci

The Director: Eli Roth
The Screenwriter: Matt Kubrick

The Plot: It's spring break and on a California beach resort college students from all over the country gather here to have sex, drink, get high and have fun. Tiffany and her friends Christi, Mark, Allen, Namoi, Nathan, Becky, Rick and Kim arrive, But a killer has also arrived here and begins slashing his way through the people here to have fun. During a wet t shirt contest the killer makes his presence known when Tiffany finds a decapitated girl. Soon the body count begins to rise and Tiffany begins to try and and track down the killer who seems to be after her by leaving scary notes in her room and bloody hearts. After all of her friends are dead, plus other unlucky victims, the killer reveals himself as an ex boyfriend who has broken out of a psychiatric hospital. In a final fight between the two Tiffany cut his head off with an axe.

Stark’s Comment: Kubrick just loves this kind of B-series products. This time, he has written a kind of tribute to the most classic clichés of the teen horror genre. A wet T-Shirt contest and a teens serial killer are almost a parody of the genre… but that’s probably what Kubrick wants. It’s fun to produce this kind of movies and, who knows, it might even become a franchise…


MOVIES IN DEVELOPMENT

POMPEII: Some important news for this one. Wolfgang Petersen won’t be finally directing it, as the Studio wasn’t happy with his pre-production work. So Harry Stark needed urgently a director. And who came to rescue him from delays and the consequent financial disaster? No other than James Cameron. Cameron (‘Deep Silence’, ‘Planetside’ and producer of ‘Minos’) has accepted to direct and produce the movie. In a recent interview, he said that ‘Pompeii can be considered as my new ‘Titanic’. I wanted to do again something different from sci-fi and this is the perfect epic story for it as it has it all: adventure, drama and romance’. Easy to guess the star he has asked first to be in the movie: Leonardo Di Caprio.

HF: Although Michael Bay wanted Kate Beckinsale to play the main female lead role in his action movie, star and director could not reach an agreement, so it will finally be Milla Jovovich (Space Quest trilogy, ‘Nathan Zachary and Drake’s Gold’) the one to save LA from terrorists together with Will Smith. Main villain of the story is also confirmed: Ralph Fiennes (‘Corsairs: The Search for Nantayalah’, ‘Star Wars: Balance Of The Force’).

TOWERING INFERNO: Two more names to add to the cast: Dennis Quaid , not seen in CMP since Season 1’s ‘Fear The Darkness’, and Andre Benjamin, making his debut in CMP. John McTiernan is already shooting the movie in LA and some other stars in the cast will be announced soon.

NO MORE BUSH!: Here is a pitch different from any other ever developed before by CMP. A fake comedy documentary about US President, George Dubya. John Daws is behind this innovative idea and some of CMP’s regular comedians have already been contacted by Harry Stark to join the project. High expectations around this one…

GOTHS: A LOVE STORY: Emma Roberts (‘Flashes Of Life’) gets her first starring role in a CMP’s movie playing Haley Joel Osment’s love interest in this romantic story. Other talents appearing are Bob Hoskins, Timothy Hutton and Laura Dern. None of them had previously worked for CMP.

DREAM OF A KING: Complete cast confirmed for Dr. Luther King’s biopic. Together with Laurence Fishburne, the cast includes Angela Bassett, Dylan Baker, Regina Hall with Robert De Niro, playing Vice President Lyndon Johnson, and a brief appearance by the recent Best Actor GMA winner Edward Norton as the assassin James Earl Ray. A quality production is expected.

YEOMAN: Spin off from the popular saga ‘Wild Cards’, the secondary character previously seen in ‘Wild Cards’ and ‘Wild Cards 2: Aces High’ gets his own movie now. The surprise is that he won’t be played by Samuel L. Jackson this time. Matt Kubrick has decided to look for a new face, so new that it won’t be even played by a black actor.

T.Y.M.: THE INFERNO REVENGE: Finally, Jessica Alba will be in the movie. Alba starred the first episode of the saga and missed the second one. Her decision to return has been understood by the media as an attempt by Alba to recover some popularity after the disaster of her last CMP’s movie, ‘Poor Little Rich Boy’. Rumour has it that Jennifer Love Hewitt wasn’t very happy with her presence in the movie and has demanded that her name will have to be placed before Alba’s in all the marketing of the movie. It is also confirmed that Barry Sonnenfeld, director of ‘T.Y.M.: The Second Chance’ won’t be directing this new episode.

OMEGA: Jude Law (‘Alice In Wonderland’, the Uncommon Valour saga, ‘Three Wooden Crosses’) has accepted to be in this political drama. Law is supposed to play the good guy of the story. Nicole Kidman has been mentioned to play his love interest, but that’s not confirmed yet.

BLINK: New screenplay from Joshua Collins. He wants also to direct and produce this story about a group of people and how affects their life the rape and killing of a girl. Collins, who has previously directed ‘Hollyweird’ and ’72 Hours’, has defined his new project as ‘a drama in the line of movies like ‘Crash’ or ‘Babel’’.


A LOOK AT… THE 5TH GOLDEN MOON AWARDS EDITION

Finally, it was Nagasaki’s night. Winning Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress, Clint Eastwood’s movie join The 3 Awards Club, together with past winners such as ‘Deadly Sins’, ‘The Crusades’, ‘Uncommon Valour’, ‘Fools Game’, ‘Star Wars: New Order’ and ‘Dungeons & Dragons’. Far away from the lonely member of The 5 Awards Club, ‘Carousel’. The difference is that ‘Nagasaki Daydreams’ is the only winner that was a financial disaster at box office. For the first time, Best Picture winner was a major flop with losses of 33 millions.
Besides that, here are other relevant aspects from the Gala:

The Winners

Clint Eastwood: After his failed debut in CMP with the western ‘Dakota North’, at least this time awards compensated the box office flop. Eastwood took a couple of statues home and gained prestige without gaining money for the Studio.

Ted Froats: Second Best Screenplay award for him. First one, ‘Carousel’, was a remake. This one was based on a country song. Maybe the next target for Froats is to win the statue with an original screenplay.

Anthony Hopkins: Since Hannibal Lecter’s times, audiences just love Hopkins playing any kind of villain. Second win in the same category for him. More than deserved. Hopkins is the kind of actor that enrich any movie with his only presence.

Jack Nicholson: Second win too for Jack (the first one was Best Supporting Actor for ‘September’s Gone). When Jack appears in the nominations list, it’s almost inevitable voting for him. Maybe his villain in ‘Cell Mates’ was more interesting than Hopkins’ character in ‘The Guardians’, but this way both got their own recognition in the Gala.

Dungeons & Dragons: It is obvious that audiences love this saga. Both the original movie and its sequel have won in a row the ‘Most Wanted Sequel’ award. Moviegoers just want more and more…

The Losers

Hollyweird: new member of The 5 Awards Lost Club. As it happened before with ‘The Great War Series: Darkening Skies’, ‘Hollyweird’ didn’t make it in any of the 5 categories where the movie was nominee. A bittersweet feeling.

Scarlett Johansson. Being nominated is a honour itself. But being nominated three times and not winning in any of them becomes a bit tough. Scarlett is becoming an expert in the ‘fake smile’ when the envelop is open.

Joshua Collins: Fighting for two categories, Best Screenplay and Best Director, is quite a landmark for a newbie. Although he didn’t win, Collins can feel proud enough.

Parody Of Arts: It’s hard to be remembered for Best Director and Best Picture when a movie does not compete in any other category. Anyway, be sure that the Mamet / Depp / Trax team will have other options in the future.

The Curiosities

There’s an urban legend about a curse in the GMA’s ceremony: if you are going to release a movie and you show up at the ceremony presenting an award, your new movie will be a flop for sure. If the curse is right, some people should be afraid: Leonardo Di Caprio and ‘Pompeii’, Laurence Fishburne and ‘Dream of a King’, Will Smith and ‘HF’, Harrison Ford and ‘McMillan & Wife: Murder By Game’ or the team from ‘T.Y.M.’.

The moment of Heath: CMP honoured Heath Ledger at the beginning of the Gala showing some images of his works for CMP. But there is a sad irony to remark. During the 4th GMA ceremony (June, 2007), Heath and Kate Beckinsale presented an award. They had just starred ‘Captain America: Destiny’, in which Captain America died. And the ceremony’s off voice introduced them saying: ‘They are both alive and they are here…’ Sadly, a few months later, that quote is not true anymore…

TALK OF THE TOWN

‘Deep Silence 2’… at last?: ‘Deep Silence’, directed and produced by James Cameron, starring Keanu Reeves and Jessica Alba, was a decent hit in box office (147 mill.) a long time ago. Tom Figgs, author of the screenplay, retired after it but, since then, CMP has been considering producing a sequel. Matt Kubrick worked in a new screenplay for a while but Stark didn’t finally buy it. Now, rumours of a sequel based on Jessica Alba’s character return. Joey Stark might start working on it. Both Cameron and Reeves have publicly stated that they are not interested in a possible sequel.

Mockumentary? Stark is so excited with ‘No More Bush!’ as it is a new experience for the Studio. Once again, John Daws has proved to be an innovative author. He had the idea of making the CMP’s self-parody movie ‘Lieutenant USA’. Now, he dares to try luck with a fake comedy documentary about the US President. Everybody at CMP thinks it may become a smashing hit.

New writer joining CMP’s family. A newbie may debut this Season. David Makalaster joins CMP’s family with his first screenplays. Comedy and Drama may be his first targets. Welcome and you know… good luck at the box office!

Return of a classic: John Daws keeps looking forward to make John Jackson, aka Hitman, return to CMP. As it is known, Daws wants to focus now on a time period 15 years before the three previous movies. The big question is: can Colin Farell make believable the character when he was fifteen years younger or would it be more reasonable replacing him with a younger actor?

Production Schedule for Season 6 is almost closed. Although Stark has plenty of pitches to choose, he hasn’t decided yet which will be the 30 movies released this Season. He is trying to make room for all the screenwriters to have a chance to see at least three or four projects developed.

SALT AND PEPPER

SALT

JAMES CAMERON: Not being stereotyped is a main target for brave talents. Cameron has accepted a risky bet with ‘Pompeii’. While everyone expects him to keep working in sci-fi stories like ‘Deep Silence’ or ‘Planetside’, he has preferred to go on a different way. Anyway, the movie will also need plenty of CGI and FXs as it will recreate the destruction of the whole city of Pompeii under the Vesuvius’ eruption. Compare to that, filming the sinking of Titanic looks as a child’s play.

PEPPER

SCARLETT JOHANSSON: Did she deserve this? Bitter night for Scarlett at the GMA as she failed to win with her third nomination. Two options for Best Supporting Actress (‘Chevrolet’ and ‘Paperback Story’) and now one for Best Actress (‘Hollyweird’) and not a single statue at home. But that’s not the only bad news for her. Wolfgang Petersen was considering her to star ‘Pompeii’. But now, James Cameron has confirmed that Scarlett won’t be his choice to play the lead female character of the story. Bitter present, but no doubt future will shine for Scarlett in CMP.

TOP 6 – WORLDWIDE NET LOSSES

Now that ‘Nagasaki Daydreams’ has become both a box office flop and an award winner movie is a good time to remember the CMP’s most embarrassing experiences.

Box Office / Net Loss

1-THE COMPANY: 2 / - 42
2-NAGASAKI DAYDREAMS: 2 / - 33
3-THE LIBRARY: 3 / - 41
4-OUTER EYE: 3 / - 35
5-POOR LITTLE RICH BOY: 4 / - 33
6-CALVIN AND HOBBES: 6 / - 33