JUNE, 20

ON THEATRES NEXT WEEK

1-ATLANTIS

Adventure / Fantasy

The Cast: Hayden Christensen, Madchen Amick, Donald Sutherland, Tommy Lee Jones, Christopher Walken

The Director and Producer: Steven Spielberg
The Screenwriter: Matt Kubrick

The Plot: Enter into a magical new world beyond imagination. A place rumored to exist a thousand years ago come to an empire once known as Atlantis.

Meet Alexandra (M.Amick) and Zeus (H.Christensen), two lovers from different families that want to keep them apart and they will whatever it takes. Their fathers - T.L.Jones (Hayden’s) and C.Walken (Madchen’s) - have hated each other for as long as either of them remember.

But soon fate will change all that. A powerfull volcano erupts and the kingdom is threatened. Alexandra and Zeus must find each other and then go on a journey to escape if they are to live. It won't be easy, they'll have to face rioting mobs, flowing lava and powerful earthquakes.

After the destruction, they band together with a few hundred survivors, one of them an important man by the name of Plato (D.Sutherland), that will fight to escape. All hope is lost and they hope to be able to make it to a harbor that might be their only hope to escape. Their empire is totally devastated with no hope of being rebuilt.

10 years later Alexandria and Zeus find themselves in Europe with a son and daughter. Meanwhile Plato has started writing about a volcanic eruption that ruined an empire.


Stark’s Comment: An epic adventure from Spielberg sounds like a sure winner. Spielberg recreates the legendary continent of Atlantis and its destruction due to a volcano’s eruption. An spectacular production for all audiences that should become one of this Season’s major blockbusters.

2-CAPTAIN PLANET

Accion / Superhero / Parody

The Cast: Owen Wilson, Billy Bob Thornton, Lily Tomlin, Spencer Breslin, Chiwetel Ejiofor

The Director and Screenwriter: Ben Tyler

The Plot: The year is 2006. Captain Planet (O.Wilson) is at the top of his game, doing what he does best. In fact, he's a bit OVER-confident...until one day, when, as he is making his bajillion year-long introduction ("by your powers combined, etc. etc. etc.") the bad guys (led by Spiny Q. Greedenberger [Billy Bob Thornton]) manage to escape and succeed in their dastardly plan to open a golf course in Arizona (officially presented by Tiger Woods, played by C.Ejiofor). The public outcry and ridicule is extensive.

The next day, An Inconvenient Truth debuts at the Cannes Film Festival. The Captain sees the writing on the wall - the Earth has a new hero, and his name is Al Gore.

Flash forward to today. Captain Planet is now unemployed and living in his mother's apartment (Lily Tomlin). He has gained 40 pounds and has picked up a severe chain smoking habit.

But when he is publicly beaten and given a wedgie by Greedenberger, he begins to take stock of his life. As he struggles to lose weight and quit smoking, he starts to assemble a new team of young, multicultural eco-toadies, aged 12-21. True to form, he rejects one perfectly competent youth for not being Asian enough (S.Breslin). Apart from teaching them the importance of recycling and harshly drilling into them even the most trivial and obscure environment-saving tips, he is a terrible role model for all of them.

Will Captain Planet finally be able to get off his ass and do something useful (like his mom has been nagging for him to do)? Can he stop Greedenberger from building his Ultra-Toxic Sludge Factory on the banks of the Chicago River? Well, duh. But he'll succeed in looking like a jackass along the way.

Among the questions answered by this movie:

- What exactly does Captain Planet do in his spare time in between being "summoned?" (Answer: He watches TV and gets hammered)
- Why exactly does he have blue skin and green hair? (Answer: Congenital skin condition, he dyes it because it looks bad-ass)


Stark’s Comment: Don’t take this wild parody as an anti-environmentalist movie. It’s just a laugh to the extremely politically correct superhero, Captain Planet. In fact, the whole parody is based on a real episode from the cartoon series in which the bad guy was the bad guy just because he wanted to build a golf course in his own land. Enjoy Ben Tyler’s peculiar sense of humor at his best.

3-THE SEX MONSTER

Comedy / Erotic

The Cast: Kim Basinger, John Travolta, Hallie Kate Eisenberg, Thomas Curtis, Megan Fox. Cameo by Tim Robbins.

The Director: John Waters
The Screenwriter: Matt Kubrick

The Plot: Karen (K.Basinger) is awhat you would call a normal house wife, a 14 year old daughter (H.K.Eisenberg) and 16 year old son (T.Curtis). She thinks her life is boring and she is tired of being stuck at home while her husband (J.Travolta) goes out and works.

One night she talks her husband into having a threesome with another lady. After a night of dirty sex Karen becomes hooked on sex, it builds inside of her and she begins sleeping with just about every man she meets, including one of her sons best friends.

Behind her husbands back she begins slowly seducing an 18 year old school girl (M.Fox) who lives down the block meanwhile throwing parties during the day with some highschooler jocks. This all comes to ahead one day when there is a tip off to the police and this once quiet neighborhood explodes into a news frenzy and the family is thrown into the center of attention and their mother is arrested.

The son is interviewed, the daughter speaks on camera as well as the husband and the local priest (T.Robbins) talks about sinning.

The only way for Karen to be set free is if a few of the teens will say nothing happened. The father still in love with his wife dips into the family bank account and pays the teens off. On the big court day the charges against Karen are dropped and she is set free.


Stark’s Comment: This week, Kubrick proves his versatility with two very different stories. This one, as all John Waters’ movies, is indefinable: a wild comedy full of sex (in fact, a subliminal critic to the stereotype of the American family) watched through the always excessive eyes of Waters. Naughty but innocent. Just a wild laugh.

MOVIES IN DEVELOPMENT

ONE MAN’S HELL: After the excellent experience of ‘Faction 12’ this same Season, Cage has decided to become again the producer of his own movie. He and director Tim Burton have already chosen other names to join the cast of this dark story of madness and demons: Lucas Black, in his first work for the Studio, Stanley Tucci – not seen in CMP since Season 1’s ‘The Perfect Candidate’ – and Cate Blanchett (‘The Bridge’)…

HE-MAN. THE POWER OF GREYSKULL: …and, as some times happens in CMP, Blanchett has rapidly shot her scenes for ‘One Man’s Hell’ cause she will also be in this one. Daws and producer Peter Jackson will count with a nice trio of female stars for this mega-production: together with Blanchett, Keira Knightley – a regular in Daws’ movies, she has accepted once again to work with him due to their good friendship – and Winona Ryder, definitely recovered for the industry thanks to CMP. Daws has also asked another good friend to direct the movie: Tony Scott, the man behind the cameras in all the Hitman’s episodes. So this almost looks as a family reunion for Daws.

UP AND COMING: New screenwriter joining CMP: Dawson Edwards will make his debut as CMP’s author with this pitch. Politics and US Presidential campaign returns to CMP. This time it is not a satire about candidates (like in ‘The Perfect Candidate’), a wild comedy (‘No More Bush!’) or a musical (‘Only In America’), but a thriller having the US President himself as the suspect of several murders. Joshua Jackson (‘Babes In Toyland’) and Eva Mendes (‘Deep Silence’, ‘The Law’, ‘King Of The World’) are the first cast members known.

A HORSE WITH NO NAME: Mimi Leder has almost finished this movie she has defined as ‘a road movie for all the family’. Sam Elliott, also a debutante in CMP, is the last name to complete the short cast of this movie (Shia LaBeouf, Chris Klein… and a horse).

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: Liam Neeson (‘The Bridge’, ‘Planetside’) is back to CMP playing Gannon, the villain of the story. The voice of Hayden Pannettiere will be heard in the movie. Stephen Sommers recently explained that the movie will be based on the first games of the pc saga.

CHRYSALIS: PENNIES FROM HELL: The new Wild Cards spin off keeps summing new names to its cast. GMA Winner Gong Li returns to CMP together with Jeremy Irons, seen past Season in the awarded ‘Pompeii’. David Fincher has also announced that there will be a few cameos of characters from previous Wild Cards’ movies.

BLACK GUYS: Jason Schwartzman (‘Contract Killing For Dummies’, ‘Wild Cards: Ace In the Hole’) will be the ‘white version’ of Chris Rock, the same way Seth Rogen is playing the ‘white version’ of Martin Lawrence in this comedy about two white guys who turn black guys and still want to be white guys.

1066: Two big names for this mega-epic Mel Gibson’s movie. Sean Connery will make a short appearance as Edward the Confessor while Patrick Stewart will be Edgar the Atheling. By the way, this will keep Stewart on the lead of the most active CMP’s talents as this will be his eleventh work for the Studio!

A MAN CALLED DAN: Neil LaBute will be in charged of the first Josh Collins’ drama coming up next Season. And some more new names for CMP in it will be Terrence Howard, starring the film, and Toni Collette.

THE RUNNING MAN: Stephen King returns to CMP after ‘The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger’. This time it is Ben Tyler who has adapted one of his works. Danny Boyle – very demanded lately after directing this Season ‘The Caves Of Steel’ and ‘Daisy Lane’ – will be behind the cameras and Mark Whalberg (‘Darkman: Resurrection’) and Abigail Breslin, in her fifth work for the Studio, are confirmed to be working in front of them.

SPECIAL INTERVIEW
BEN TYLER AND ‘CAPTAIN PLANET’

What gave you the idea to make a comedy about Captain Planet?

Well, the whole notion came to me basically by chance. I was trying to think of a throwaway gag to insert into a project I was working on called “Pebbles the Action Goat” – a sort of deadpan parody of the action genre with a talking goat in the lead role. A terrible idea, horribly one-note.

Anyway, I was trying to think of a way Pebbles could get “into the spotlight,” and I thought he could do that by upstaging another hero in comically accidental fashion. I wanted it to be a famous hero (probably a superhero) who would be very easy to beat to the punch, so to speak, and the first name that popped into my head was Captain Planet.

The scenario practically seemed to write itself. Planet would be sitting around in his basement or living room, eating Cheetoh’s or something, when he is suddenly “summoned” by his team of plucky, multi-ethnic youths. He would have to run to get to where they are (which he can do pretty fast, but not instantaneously), and then go through the motions of his whole intro thing, winded and coughing (“by your powers combined, etc.”), and by the time he had gotten through all that, the goat would have already saved the day. The goat would be a hero, and he would be ruined.

I loved this idea – a lot. I started to develop Captain Planet’s character in my head. In fact, the more I thought about where I would go with this movie, the more Captain Planet started to get pushed to the forefront. Eventually, I decided to just ditch the goat and stick with Planet. It was a pretty easy decision that I made early on, because it allowed me to write a more character-based comedy with more variety than “Pebbles,” which would have essentially taken a “beat-the-audience-over-the-head-with-the-blunt-end-of-the-movie’s-only-joke” approach.

Does Captain Planet appeal to you as a SERIOUS character? Were you a fan of the show growing up?

God, no. I’ve ALWAYS felt that Captain Planet was one of, if not THE, lamest superheroes ever. Lamer than Aquaman, even. First of all, there’s the fact that he’s clearly a politicized, propagandistic character. Sure, saving the environment is a good cause, but it’s not the kind of thing a superhero could even HELP with! For instance, how is Captain Planet going to end dependence on petrochemicals for fuel, while simultaneously finding a suitable replacement for the literally THOUSANDS of other uses for petroleum? What is his stance on nuclear power?

I mean, protecting the environment is a complicated issue. There really aren’t clear, obvious “good guys” and “bad guys” (unless you have a very naïve view of things) to fight. Ultimately, Captain Planet is more of a mascot than a superhero – even in a world where his powers were possible, he could only possibly be a fictional character aimed at kids to get them to care about the environment (not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course).

While we’re on that topic, how do you feel about environmental activism (as opposed to the environment itself)?

Well, if you’re talking about supporting the idea that we should keep our planet livable and breathable, while making sure the balance of nature is not unduly set out of whack, then I’m all for it. Any disagreements I would have with an environmentalist would be strictly technical – mainly related to the methodology and economics of it. I’m very much pro-conservation, but realistically so – starting with comparatively small things, which work their way up to the top level. This production, for instance, is completely green.


A LOOK AT... NUDITY IN CMP

CMP has always been accused of being a too conservative Studio. This Season, Harry Stark announced that this could be ‘the sexiest CMP’s Season’. And maybe it has, as some of the recent releases have included a few nude scenes. And this week’s release, ‘The Sex Monster’ – although treated in a comedy way – may be considered as the most sexual CMP’s release ever. But the truth is that, after nearly 200 movies released, there have been a few sexy moments in CMP’s movies. This week, we take a look at nudity in CMP…

HALLE BERRY
Where? ‘Dark’ by Michael Mann and Tom Figgs.
How many? A few sexy bed scenes with both co-stars, Denzel Washington and Clive Owen, allowed us to enjoy the exquisite beauty of Halle in all its splendour.
What for? An elegant thriller that reached the ‘100’s’ in Season 1. Figgs retired after it and no other CMP’s movie has been defined as ‘Erotic’ as its genre or subgenre since then (until this week's release, 'The Sex Monster').

KATE BECKINSALE
Where? ‘Indigo Prophecy’ by Brian Kelley
How many? One steamy bed scene with Matt Damon. Enough to see all we wanted from Kate.
What for? One of the first pc game based movies in CMP. Kelley wrote and directed the movie before his early retirement and box office only showed a warm respond.

DEMI MOORE
Where? ‘Red Light’ by Joel Schumacher and Matt Kubrick
How many? Demi Moore showed again the excellencies of plastic surgery she had already showed in ‘Striptease’ in a nude scene that was probably the best moment of the movie.
What for? A weak family dramedy too based on the sex appeal of Demi. And that was not enough to warm up the box office.

UMA THURMAN
Where? ‘Outer Eye’ by John Cusack and Marcus Trax
How many? Uma’s breast is almost a myth since ‘Dangerous Liasions’ and she proved here that years haven’t hurt all its beauty.
What for? One of the biggest CMP’s flops.

KATE WINSLET
Where? ‘Man In The Mirror’ by Wes Anderson and James Bradley
How many? Kate showed her wonderful back walking out naked of a gym’s dressing room. But she won the Best Actress GMA not only for that!
What for? Another nice Anderson and Bradley’s fable that worked both in box office and awards.

KIRSTEN DUNST
Where? ‘Misplaced Affection’ by Joe Wright and John Daws
How many? More than steamy sex scenes together with her lover – and victim – James McAvoy.
What for? A correct thriller that took Kirsten to a GMA Nomination for Best Villain.

CHARLIZE THERON
Where? ‘Damnation Road’ by Rob Zombie and Matt Kubrick
How many? A rape scene is never sexy. But Charlize bravely exposed herself in it (although there are suspects of a body double).
What for? A cult movie appreciated both by fans and critics.

UMA THURMAN – 2
Where? ‘Life and Facts Of a Dirty Mind’ by Bill Murray and Joey Stark
How many? Uma was obliged to star a porn movie by her lover, Jack Black. And she did. And we saw it all.
What for? Another flop for Uma, the unluckiest star in CMP: she usually makes good movies and they usually flop.

KATE HUDSON
Where? ‘Velcro’ by Allison Anders and Josh Collins
How many? Quite a few nude scenes, some times sexy some times sad.
What for? A quality movie that, sadly, didn’t make it at box office.

PIC OF THE WEEK

It was a different kind of premiere. CMP organized a party at ‘The Vipers Club’, one of the coolest places in LA, to present the wild comedy ‘The Sex Monster’. Rumours say that the party lasted until the next morning and the ‘all-CMP’ was there. Here is a pic of two of the stars of the film, Kim Basinger and Megan Fox, arriving to the party with director John Waters. Don’t you just love his suit?


TALK OF THE TOWN

Upset star: Ashanti is not very happy with somethig David Makalaster said in his past week's interview. The author of 'Little Tin Goddess' said that maybe she had not been the rigth choice to star that movie. 'I feel tired of being always the only one to blame for the flop of that movie', has said Ashanti, 'It was Makalaster himself who wanted me to be in the movie and I think his recent words were rude and unfair'. The singer and actress assured that she will never work with Makalaster again. She also expressed how happy she is working on the upcoming comedy 'Black Guys'.

Boyle leaves Asimov. Danny Boyle, who released past week his latest film, 'Daisy Lane', has confirmed that he won't be directing the sequel of 'The Caves Of Steel' that will be produced next Season. Boyle has said that he was very much interested in that project and the only reason why he won't direct it is an agenda problem, as he is already committed to direct ‘The Running Man’.

Official logo. The Wild Cards saga keeps growing. Besides the upcoming release of a new spin off this Season, it is already confirmed that Season 8 will bring a fourth episode of the mainstream story of the saga and a sequel of its first spin off, 'Yeoman'. Due to this, CMP has created an official logo for the franchise as a common identity to all the Wild Cards' movies. It is said that Joey Stark is very much interested in going on writing new stories for this neverending saga.

Plagiarism again? We read this week that Eddie Murphy is planning to make a remake of the classic 'The Incredible Shrinking Man'. Once again, CMP was there first. As it happened with the musical 'Nine' - in which even the director of the CMP's version, Rob Marshall, will be the same - or 'Robotech', other Hollywood's Studios seem to be inspired by CMP: the Studio already released 'The Shrinking Man', written by Steve Connors and starred by Ben Stiller, before a Major Studio announces now its intention of developing the same idea. Coincidence... or is CMP more influent in the industry than we all think?

In something like three weeks we will all be again immersed in a new Edition of the Golden Moon Awards (yes, time flies...). CMP is already working on it. Some talents have already been contacted to present the awards and the first speculations about possible nominees have begun to flow through CMP's offices. This 7th Edition will probably visit Chicago and Harry Stark is looking for the best auditorium there for the ceremony.

SALT & PEPPER

SALT

KATE HUDSON: If last week the salt was for Jena Malone for her brave performance of a lesbian teenager, it is fair that Kate Hudson takes this week’s salt for her more than brave performance as a drug addict, abused and raped stripper in ‘Velcro’. Once again, we have the feeling that a star has made a work that hardly will be able to equalize in the rest of her career. Like Ivana Baquero in ‘Blink’ or Malone in ‘Lyra’, we have the feeling that Hudson has touched the top of her acting career with her work in ‘Velcro’. Just wonderful.

PEPPER

SEQUELMANIA: Harry Stark has announced that there will be at least 8 sequels in next Season’s release schedule. Isn’t that too much? We all know that sequels are usually financially worthy (not that usual in terms of movie quality), but making a sequel in 1 out of 3 movies released during a CMP’s Season may be a bit exhausting. New ideas need room and, in some way, producing so many sequels is a way of living of the past and not looking at the future. Stark and his Studio should take more risks than just returning once and again over the same concepts.