JANUARY, 16


MAGIC: THE GATHERING – SINISTER BLACK

Action / Fantasy

The Cast: Jude Law, Claire Danes, Jeremy Irons, Josh Hartnett. Voice of Ron Perlman

The Director: Martin Campbell
The Screenwriter: David Makalaster

The Plot: Set in the world of Shandalar, MTG follows budding young duelist Heffer (J.Law) as his elders discovers he might be destined to end the war that has all but torn Shandalar to shreds: The war between the 5 Card Masters (Black, White, Red, Green, Blue) for world domination. The Masters have ravaged the lands while the non-dueling population are either forced into slave labor or so heavily taxed that a ragged collection of huts is considered a metropolis. Making his first journey into the swamps of Biledrop, the dominion of the Black Master (J.Irons), Heffer teams up with a troll defector (Mojo Face the Troll – Voice of R.Perlman) who wants revenge on the Black Master for stealing his treasure horde. He agrees to join Heffer on the promise of free access to the Black Masters treasure chamber.

On the way, they encounter a warlock (Guren Kurann – J.Hartnett) about to assault a young woman (Amrou Kithkin - C.Danes) with his swamp creatures. Heffer rushes to her aid and after a heated duel, the warlock is forced to flee. Amrou scolds Heffer, insisting that it was her fight, but is still grateful for the help. She tells Heffer and Mojo Face about how she was deemed a dangerous fringe duelist by the White Master for combining the forces of White and Red and thus exiled from the plains of Whytefields. She agrees to help Heffer if he in turn will help her return home again. Heffer agrees and the three draw ever closer to the black castle. But the black master does not stand idly by. He sends out the feared Desolation Angels, a throng of murderous winged maidens, to stop Heffer and the gang. The angels knock out Mojo Face before Heffer and Amrou has a chance to summon their creatures in retaliation. After a pitched battle, the angels decide to retreat but not before grabbing Amrou and carrying her back to the castle. Heffer hurries after them, dragging Mojo Face behind him. Eventually, the angels leave them behind and they are lost in the dark wilderness. Mojo Face eventually wakes, angry that he didnt' get a shot at the angels. By that time it is night, and they must set up camp to stay safe from the dark creatures lurking about.

At the dark castle, meanwhile, the Black Master sees to Amrou's imprisonment, which to his annoyance is handled by an Earwig Squad (cackling little imps) that Amrou can easily brush off. Finally, he decides to just cast Black Vise on her and throws the earwigs out of a nearby window. Regaining his composure, he tells Amrou of what is really going in Shandalar. The Masters are at war with each other over magical ley nodes scattered across the land, places of great power. Controlling enough of these will allow the master to summon the ancient demon Arzakon, and from him acquire the spell of Dominion. The spell of Dominion will grant omnipotence to anyone capable of casting it and assure world domination. The Black Master has been sending out duelists for years trying to capture these ley nodes from the other masters, and Guren Kurann appears to be one of them.

In the wild, Heffer and Mojo Face are awakened by the sound of nearby combat and quickly hide to see what's happening. They find Guren Kurann under attack by a wild Flesh Reaver. In spite of Mojo Face's objections, Heffer rushes to the aid of the warlock and Mojo Face eventually reluctantly follows. The three defeat the monstrous beast and it scampers back into the swamps. Guren is speechless, eventually just showing the direction towards the black castle and then disappearing into the wilderness himself. ("Ungrateful shmuck." comments Mojo Face)

Upon arriving at the castle gates, they find the black master waiting for them, and he casts Black Vise upon them as well, to bring them to his chamber. As he has seen Heffer prove himself in combat, he plans to convert him into a slave by casting Mind Whip on him. As he is about to cast the enchantment however, the clatter and panicked screams of earwigs can be heard and Guren enters the chambers. He dispels the Black Vises and sides with Heffer,Amrou and Mojo Face against the Black Master("Just returning the favor." he says). The Master, however, declares that enough is enough and unleashes his full capacity from the ley nodes he controls in order to destroy the group. Through the course of the following battle, the chamber is flooded by the creatures of both sides and it starts to crumble. (Notables include a Carrion Wurm, Amrou's Dragon Whelp, Heffers own Personal Incarnation and even a Cosmic Horror)

At the end of the battle, only Heffer's Personal Incarnation and the Cosmic Horror remains standing. The Incarnation strikes down the weakened Horror and sets it's sights on the black master himself. The master, sensing his imminent defeat, turns and runs out of the castle. But he does not get far before he is jumped by a Flesh Reaver. With it's owner dead, the castle starts to disintegrate and Heffer,Amrou,Guran and Mojo Face must flee. On the way out, Mojo Face spots the treasure chamber and has to be dragged out. The 4 barely make it out as the drawbridge disintegrates, with a final daring jump to safety. As Mojo Face weeps over the treasure in the background, Heffer and Amrou turn to thank Guren, but he is already walking away without a word. As he disappears into Biledrop, Heffer instead asks Mojo Face wether he wants to come to Whytefields with him and Amrou. A teary-eyed Mojo Face replies that "No offense, but I'd rather stay, that gold needs a daddy..". So Amrou and Heffer set out alone on the road to Whytefields, towards Amrou's home.. and the White Master.


Stark’s Comment: An epic fantasy adventure based on a card game. It mixes elements from both Dungeons and Dragons and The Lord Of The Rings and even Star Wars, trying to create an own universe of exotic characters and complex conflicts. An expensive production – with both real and digitally generated characters and scenarios - that I hope will work well enough to mean the beginning of a new mega-franchise. By the way, the once multi-demanded Claire Danes finally returns to CMP after so long!

DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS

Comedy

The Cast: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Anne Hathaway, Jean Reno. Cameos by Michael Caine, Steve Martin.

The Director: Jon Favreau
The Screenwriter: Steve Connors
The Producer: George Clooney

The Plot: Lawrence Jamieson (G.Clooney) is a cultivated, suave master con artist who operates in the deluxe hotels along the French Riviera under the watchful - and approving - eye and with the assistance of Inspector Andre (Jean Reno), the resident chief of police who receives a cut of his take. When small-time American hustler Freddy Benson (B.Pitt) decides to search for easy marks in Beaumont-sur-Mer, Lawrence's home base, Lawrence agrees to Freddy’s request to take him in as a pupil in order to school him in the art of the con. Unbeknownst to Freddy, however, Lawrence only does this as a way to get rid of Freddy since Lawrence does not want a lowly competitor infringing on his territory.

When Freddy decides that he's had enough of Lawrence's humiliating tutelage and wants to go out on his own, Lawrence offers Freddy a challenge to see who will remain in Beaumont-sur-Mer, since there isn't enough room for the two of them in the same small town. The first one to con $50,000 out of a selected mark will be allowed to stay, while the other must leave.

The two select Janet Colgate (A.Hathaway), a seemingly wealthy American socialite, as their target and embark on their separate strategies while at the same time ruthlessly sabotaging each other. Freddy poses as a crippled soldier who needs to borrow $50,000 for treatment by a celebrated German psychiatrist, and when Lawrence discovers his scheme he pretends to be the doctor, insisting Freddy's condition is a psychosomatic rather than neurological disorder, one he can cure with the stipulation that Janet pay his $50,000 fee directly to him.

Lawrence discovers Janet is on vacation as a contest winner, and she plans to sell the remainder of her prizes and combine the proceeds with her father's savings to finance Freddy's phony treatment. Impressed by the woman's innate goodness, Lawrence wants to call off the bet, but Freddy suggests they change the challenge and make Janet rather than her money the quest, with the first to bed her declared the winner. Lawrence refuses to attempt it, and plays only to bet that Freddy fails to do so.

What neither one knows is that Janet is actually an infamous con artist herself, and she manages to escape with $50,000 of Lawrence's money when she convinces him Freddy robbed her of the money her father sent her.

The two men console themselves over their loss and prepare to part company, when Janet suddenly arrives at Lawrence's villa with a yacht filled with wealthy marks (Michael Caine and Steve Martin among them), and the trio decides to work as a team.


Stark’s Comment: Connors stays focused on comedy after ‘Mary’s Dark Side’ before returning to Sci-Fi, his most usual working genre. This time, he has chosen a remake of a 90s comedy starred by Caine and Martin (now making a cameo). Clooney returns to comedy after the failure of ‘Night Cab’ and also returns as producer as he did with ‘Bill and the Rocket Man’ and ‘The Little Sister’. I think it may work in box office mainly due to its cast appeal.

THE DEAD WALK

Horror / Zombie

The Cast: Gabriel Mann, Elizabeth Reaser, Alex Neuberger, Sammi Hanraty, Thomas Sangster, Desmond Harrington, Ariel Kebbel, Noah Fleiss, Joy Bryant, Brad Dourif.

The Director: Eli Roth
The Screenwriter: Josh Collins

The Plot: The film starts with a family of four going on a vacation outing. Ken (G.Mann), Melissa (E.Reaser), Jordan (A.Neuberger), Clara (S.Hanratty). They enjoy themselves and you get the feel that they're a normal happy family, each of them work the camera at the beginning and everything just seems normal, Ken fooling around with the camera kicking the bathroom door open when Melissa is trying to use the toilet, etc.

They decide to go to the amusement park in town. Still things seem normal as Ken shoots the family enjoying themselves at the park. But things suddenly get dangerous when Ken sees a hideous looking creature attack somebody. Ken things it's all part of an act, but more creatures quickly start coming and Ken and the family realize the park is being invaded.

They quickly race to avoid the creatures, along with the rest of the distraught parkgoers scrambling for their lives to survive the onslaught, the family making sure they stay safe and close together, but wherever they go, they are put in danger by these flesh eating monsters. They get out of the park but they soon realize no place is truly safe, the park isn't the only place infested with zombies.

The first person in the family to be attacked by the zombies is Jordan, whose death is shown on camera as the rest of the family looks on in horror but they realize they can't stick around and keep running. Once they're hidden in a spot, then they can mourn. They find that the hiding spot is full of other people (Rest of the Cast), and only very few are willing to fight back. One half of the people think they should stick around and wait for someone to rescue them while the other half think it's more dangerous to wait around than to go out and fend off the hoards of zombies trying to escape the town.

Of course, the family take the 'wanting to leave' half, assuming they are safe with the people carrying the assortment of weapons such as guns, chainsaws, knives, etc. They do pretty well throughout most of the film, but there's too many zombies and so few humans. Melissa is the next of the family to be eaten alive, Ken tries to fight them off with the gun while Clara, reduced to screams and tears tries to carry the camera but shuts it off, not wanting to see it anymore.

The camera is turned on again and Ken is carrying the camera as he, Clara and the remaining people are safe for now.

The small number of people just aren't getting along. Some with pessimistic attitudes and Ken yells at a person for saying 'it's the end we're going to die' and Ken tells them not to talk like that in front of his kid. In another attack, one of the zombies tries to get Clara, but Ken and the others fight them off, Clara had been bitten! For the rest of the movie Ken tries to protect her and says he's going to get someone to help her, but she's going fast, becoming one of them.

In a disturbing moment, Clara tells her dad that when she becomes one of them to shoot her. But Ken keeps trying to put false hope in her. When he has a moment alone with one of the few survivors, Christopher (B.Dourif), he tells him he can't kill his daughter even when she becomes one of them and says if it happens, he wants Christopher to shoot her.

The inevitable happens and she passes out. A few moments later, she comes back to life, but doesn't get much time to do damage when Christopher shoots her, Ken once again distraught about everything that has happened leading up to that point. He isn't given a lot of time to grieve when more zombies invade and finish off the rest of the remaining survivors in Ken's group, Ken does what he can to escape, but he puts his hand in front of the camera and sees that he got bit on his arm.

Ken turns the camera around on himself, looking like a man whose lost everything. He says that whoever is watching this will know he, his family and the group tried their best. He says he's going to become one of them soon and he can't let that happen, he feels it's the only way he can beat them. He says 'Melissa, Clara, Jordan, see you soon' he puts the barrel of the gun he got from the group in his mouth and barely audibly says 'I'm not going to be one of them' he closes his eyes, tears stream down his face and he pulls the trigger, blood splatters, some even gets on the camera, which instantly drops.

The camera falls and the screen is upside down showing the hoards of zombies passing by the camera. The battery-low alert, which had been going off for quite sometime, finally kicks the screen off.

CREDITS


Stark’s Comment: A rarity in Collins’ career: a zombies movie shot with hand held camera in the line of Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield. It seemed like the Syndrome trilogy had brought zombies enough to CMP. Obviously not. Eli Roth, right after releasing his episode in ‘Bedtime Stories’, returns with his third movie for CMP. The two previous ones – ‘Vorhees: The Bloody Years’ and ‘Blood Beach’ – are worrying precedents as both were major box office disasters…


METAL GEAR SOLID: John Woo is shooting this action flick based on the popular console game and the cast is already being known. Together with Eric Bana, talents to be seen in the movie are Alicia Witt, in her first work for the Studio; Sean Bean, already seen this Season in ‘Bond Scum’; Eva Green, returning after ‘Chrysalis: Pennies From Hell’; and Brittany Murphy (‘Indigo Prophecy’, ‘Poor Little Rich Boy’, ‘Life and Facts of a Dirty Mind’).

SHERLOCK HOLMES: One of the novelties of Tim Burton’s vision of Sherlock Holmes is that the traditionally asexual detective has here a love interest. And she is played by no other than Heather Graham, seen before in CMP movies like ‘Don’t Stand So Close To Me’, ‘Eureka!’ and ‘Darkman: Resurrection.’

TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED: First, a couple of corrections from past week note about this one: Ben Tyler is not making his debut here as movie director as he already directed the megahit ‘Captain Planet’ and the correct spelling of one of the directors mentioned past week is Darren Aronofsky. Once said so, talents in the cast include Adrien Brody, an awaited return to CMP as he had not worked for the Studio since the ending of The Great War Series movies; Hugh Laurie (‘The Killing Run’); Glenn Close, seen past Season in ‘A Man Called Dan’, and Liam Neeson, just finished his work as the villain of ‘The Flash’.

THE FANTASTIC MANSION: Sooner or later, it had to happen: the two main challengers to the Cuteness Throne in CMP, Dakota Fanning and Abigail Breslin, finally meet in a movie. And, of course, it has to be a Josh Collins’ pitch, as he is so used to include talented young girls in his casts. Fanning and Breslin will be the appealing starring couple of this fantasy adventure oriented to family audiences to be directed by Alfonso Cuaron in his first work for the Studio.

THE EXPERIENCE: The Jimi Hendrix’s biopic being shot by Todd Haynes and starred by Chiwetel Ejiofor as Hendrix will mean the debut in CMP of two young talented stars: Casey Affleck, playing Chas Chandler, the man that put Hendrix in the map of rock, and Kerry Washington, who will be Devon Wilson, one of Hendrix’s girlfriends.

UGLY: Green light for a dramedy written by Joey Stark. Just finished his work in ‘Dirty Rotten Scoundrels’, Brad Pitt stars this production playing a completely different character. Pitt will be a war hero that returns to his hometown after being completely disfigured in a military action in Iraq. Ron Howard, director of the McMillan & Wife movies, will be the man moving the cameras.

KILLER ON THE ROAD: Two more names to add to the cast of the serial killer story directed by David Ayers and based on a James Ellroy novel. Ryan Reynolds, seen in ‘Lobo’ and ‘The Killing Run’, playes the FBI agent that chases the killer, and Chris Cooper, seen in ‘Three Wooden Crosses’ and ‘The Running Man’, plays the father of the killer.

THE SONJA BLUE CHRONICLES: Once decided that Selma Blair will be the actress to play Sonja Blue, more members of the cast of this vampire story are being announced: Steve Buscemi returns to CMP after his starring work in ‘Little Tin Goddess’ and Gary Sinise also returns after a few Seasons away since he was seen in ‘No Evil’.

THINGS I FORGOT TO TELL YOU: Meg Ryan completes the quintet of actresses of this movie. Ryan, whose only previous work for CMP was in the dramedy ‘Turning Point’, will play here an ex cheerleader that has seen how all her dreams went down the toilet while she became addicted to botox.

SISTERS: Slasher horror movie green lighted. It seems like this Season CMP is betting strong on horror. As usual, Matt Kubrick and his Studio, Midnight Movies, is behind it. And Tobe Hooper, who already worked with Kubrick directing ‘Darkman: Resurection’, repeats behind the cameras.


DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS
By Steve Connors

The original ‘Dirty Rotten Scoundrels’ is one of my favourite comedies. It is one of those movies you can watch and re-watch and always enjoy. ‘Groundhog Day’ comes to my mind as another comedy I could keep watching forever.

A remake of a movie you love is always a dangerous thing. The chances of feeling disappointed are infinite. But knowing that, I have decided to take the risk and make my own remake of a movie I love.

This is mainly a cast based movie. I know many people hate Clooney and Pitt – too sexies, too selfish… - but I think they are very talented actors with a nice chemistry. I liked the Ocean’s movies and I think they have made a wonderful comedy work in the recent ‘Burn After Reading’. Pitt proved there he can be a great comedy actor. And Clooney is perfect for the elegant, sophisticated and a bit pretentious bon vivant originally played by Michael Caine. So I think they can make a wonderful starring couple for this classy comedy.

Caine and Martin made a great work in the original movie. They were perfect for their characters, so I wanted to include them here making a silly appearance at the end as a couple of Australian millionaires as a tribute to their top acting work in the original movie.

And what to say about Anne Hathaway? She is funny, sexy, talented… I consider her one of the most promising talents of our days and I have wanted to have her in one of my pitches for long.

So, all in all, I consider this production as a friends reunion designed to have fun both the talents involved and the moviegoers.


RON PERLMAN

What star has worked in no less than 9 CMP’s mega-productions? Who can show in his CMP’s career a balance of one ‘200’, three ‘100s’ and two ‘90s’ out of 8 movies released? How many stars in CMP can show a filmography that has generated 1055 millions in box office with net gains over 700 millions? And you can add to all that a Golden Moon Award… Will Smith? Nicholas Cage? Bruce Willis? No! No other than a specialist in playing the strangest characters, usually under tons of latex or make up. It was about time that we pay tribute to one of the most demanded, active and successful talents in CMP, releasing this week his 9th movie for the Studio: ‘Magic: The Gathering – Sinister Black’. Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Ron Perlman, the man everybody wants to have in their blockbusters.

CMP’S FILMOGRAPHY

STAR WARS: MYSTERIES OF THE SITH (Lawrence Kasdan. Season 4, B.O.: 173 mill.): A specialist in big productions had to be in the mother of all the franchises. Perlman made his debut in CMP in the second episode of the Marcus Trax’s Star Wars trilogy. He played a smuggler that helped Tobey Maguire together with his smuggling partner Tilda Swinton.

PLANETSIDE (James Cameron. Season 5, B.O.: 93 mill.): Perlman was one of the settlers in the new Planet that ended up in a fights mess. Trax had planned a new franchise here that never went on.

STAR WARS: BALANCE OF THE FORCE (Lawrence Kasdan. Season 5, B.O.: 91 mill.): Right after ‘Planetside’ and that very same Season, Perlman returned as the interstellar smuggler in the third and last episode of the trilogy.

GAME BOY 2: WARLANDS (Robert Zemeckis. Season 6, B.O.: 265 mill.): And from one major franchise to another. Perlman was the voice of Master Chief in the second installment of the Game Boy franchise. The movie became the alltimes box office top 1 and Perlman got a ‘200’ for his balance sheet confirming no big movie saga can be conceived without him in it.

FACTION 12 (J.J.Abrams. Season 7, B.O.: 189 mill.): John Daws demanded him again to be in the cast of this sci-fi action adventure. Once again, Perlman appeared in the highest box office movie of the Season. His legend kept growing.

HE-MAN. THE POWER OF GREYSKULL (Tony Scott. Season 7, B.O.: 154 millions): Third work in a Daws’ pitch. Second movie in Season 7 for Perlman and another ‘100’ in his career. At this moment, Perlman had already become an indispensable talent in any big adventure movie coming from CMP.

PREACHER (Zach Snyder. Season 8, B.O.: 58 mill.): A quality work for Perlman in this comic adaptation playing the epic demon the Saint of Killers. Composing characters full of make up and digitally treated is Perlman’s specialty. Not as profitable as his previous movies, but this one made him become the latest GMA Best Villain Winner.

LOBO’S BACK (Robert Rodriguez. Season 8, B.O.: 32 mill.): The only flop so far in Perlman’s career. He played a bounty hunter here and he was perfect to join this freak saga. Again, his second movie of the Season, proving he is one of the most demanded talents in CMP.

MAGIC: THE GATHERING – SINISTER BLACK (Martin Campbell. Season 9, awaiting release): An epic top budget fantasy movie. Of course, Perlman has to be in it – or at least his voice. This time, he works for the first time in a David Makalaster’s pitch. That means that Perlman has already worked for five different CMP’s authors.


One of the main appeals of the remake of ‘Dirty Rotten Scoundrels’ is, without doubt, its glamorous starring trio. Here they are looking great at the special premiere of the movie. The location chosen was Cannes, at the French Riviera, where the story takes place. Clooney, Pitt and Hathaway shined at the photo call.




As some of you may remember, Nicholas Cage played Superman in CMP’s ‘Captain America vs Superman’. Cage enjoyed the experience so much that has proposed Harry Stark to produce ‘Justice League’ as an answer to ‘The Avengers’. Cage would like to play Superman in it. Stark has answered that he would consider the idea if any CMP’s screenwriter shows his interest in working on the screenplay. So I’m afraid that the trend of superhero movies will not only continue but may even increase in the future.

CMP has confirmed that there will be a 'Bedtime Stories II'. The Studio has liked the experience of producing this kind of episodes movies and wants to go on with it in the future. Sources from Midnight Movies - ok, ok, yes, the brother-in-law of the guy at their reception desk - have told me that this Company also wants to repeat the experience. And, more than that, it is already known that, although the second installment of this new saga will also be a Midnight Movies production, the writer of the short stories won't be Matt Kubrick. Other reputed CMP's author will be in charged of the screenplay and also new directors will shoot the episodes. Matt Kubrick's idea is to invite any CMP's author to write his own bedtime stories so this new series of movies might become a collective work from all the CMP's writers interested.

Some of the releases scheduled for Season 10 are beginning to be known as CMP is already working on the Release Schedule for next Season. One of them will be for sure ‘Fallout 2’. ‘Fallout’, directed by Richard Donner and written by Richard Franzwa, was a production mistreated by the Studio. As some CMP’s releases had failed at box office by the time, CMP decided to cut risks. So the Studio lowered its budget and didn’t spend its usual marketing budget assigned to big productions. So the movie didn’t make a great box office. Now, Stark wants to re-launch the franchise and ‘Fallout 2’ is expected to be a very supported release in the upcoming Season.

Another big event for Season 10 will probably be the adaptation of ‘Gears Of War’. Steve Connors has introduced some changes in the storyline of the console game so that Will Smith can star it and a strong female character can be included. Michael Bay, who has been more active as producer than as director in CMP, will both direct and produce this major project that Harry Stark has defined as ‘simply spectacular’.

Some novelties confirmed and some other rumoured for the next Golden Moon Awards edition. It is confirmed that there will be two new categories: Best Adaptation and Best Original Concept. ‘The original idea was creating only the Best Adaptation category. But, as most of CMP releases are adaptations lately, we considered that creating original material deserved even a bigger recognition or at least the same’, has told me an executive from the Studio. It is also rumoured that CMP could create too a kind of honorary award that would recognize the special contribution to CMP from any actor, actress, director or screenwriter. The way to choose the winner of this special award would not follow the same rules than the other categories. The candidates would not be chosen by voters but directly proposed by the Studio.