JUNE, 26
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THE LEGEND OF ZELDA II

Adventure / Fantasy

The Cast:James McAvoy, Kate Bosworth, Liam Neeson, Gabriel Byrne. Voice of Hayden Panettier

The Director and Producer: George Lucas
The Screenwriter: Josh Collins

The Plot: Link (J.McAvoy) is awakened by a telepathic message from Princess Zelda (K.Bosworth), who says that she is locked in the dungeon of Hyrule Castle. Link, Sprite (Voice of H. Panettier) and Epona the horse set out to rescue Princess Zelda from her prison. Link navigates the castle and rescues Zelda from her cell, and the two escape into a secret passage through the sewers that leads to a sanctuary.

Link is told by a man in the sanctuary (G.Byrne) that Agahnim, a wizard who has usurped the throne, is planning to break a seal made hundreds of years ago by seven wise men. The seal was placed to imprison a dark wizard named Ganon (L.Neeson) in the Dark World, which was once the Sacred Realm before Ganon invaded, obtained the legendary Triforce and used its power to turn the realm into a land of darkness. Agahnim (also L.Neesom) intends to break the seal by sending the descendants of the Seven Sages who made the seal into the Dark World. The only thing that can defeat him is the Master Sword, a sword forged to combat evil. To prove that he is worthy to wield it, Link needs three magic pendants. After retrieving the pendants, Link takes them to the resting place of the Master Sword. As Link draws the sword from its pedestal, Zelda telepathically calls him to the Sanctuary, informing him that soldiers of Hyrule Castle have arrived. Link arrives at the Sanctuary moments after the soldiers have vacated, where he learns from the dying man that Zelda has been taken to Hyrule Castle. Link goes to rescue her but arrives too late; Agahnim sends Zelda to the Dark World. Link then defeats Agahnim in battle but is subsequently also sent to the Dark World.

To save Hyrule, Link is required to rescue the seven descendants of the Seven Sages from dungeons scattered across the Dark World. Once the seven maidens are freed, they use their power to break the barrier around Ganon's Tower, where Link faces Agahnim again. After Link battles Agahnim for a second time, Ganon rises up from Agahnim's body, turns into a bat, and flies away. Link chases him, finally confronting him inside the Pyramid of Power in the Dark World. After a battle resulting in Ganon's demise, Link touches the Triforce and restores Hyrule to how it was before Ganon intervened.


Stark’s Comment: For some unknown reason, here is a franchise that hasn’t ever got as much hype around as others. This next film in the series is based on the next game after Zelda 1 and II titled: Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. It was argued that Link to the Past was a prequel to the first Zelda games, but the game creator said Link to the Past was not a prequel. Anyway, it's easy to tell that in the first film it focused on Zelda, the second focuses on Link. The first installment was a decent success (100 millions in box office and net gains of 87 millions, back in Season 7). In this sequel, George Lucas not only produces but also directs (for the first time in CMP). I expect it to be a nice hit, even higher than the first movie.

FLASHMAN AND THE MOUNTAIN OF LIGHT

Adventure / Comedy

The Cast: Rupert Everett, Freida Pinto, Kenneth Branagh, Ayesha Takia, Ken Watanabe. Cameo by Judi Dench.

The Director: Stephen Frears
The Screenwriter: James Bradley

The Plot: London, 1889

A spectacular ceremony is taking place at the British House of Lords. The latest appointed Lords of England are honouring Queen Victoria (J.Dench). We hear the voice of the Master of Ceremony… ‘..due to his brave services to the British Empire for decades, he has become a reference of the spirit of our people, always giving preference to his honour and his dedication to the Queen than to his own life…’

In a short cut, we see a beautiful diamond shining in the Queen’s crown.

We see then the back of a man with a British General uniform walking to the throne. It’s an aged man with white hair but still an elegant figure. He steps in front of the Queen and nods. The Queen salutes him: ‘Lord Flashman…’

Two short cuts of the man’s face: the corner of a cheeky smile and the blink of an eye. The Queen can’t hide a coquette smile. We hear Flashman’s voice: ‘Her Majesty…’

Back to…

London, 1845

Flashman (R.Everett) has just arrived to Bombay after the events of ‘Flashman’s Travels’. He has a meeting with his old superior in Afghanistan (see ‘The Misadventures Of Harry Flashman’), George Broadfoot (K.Branagh). Broadfoot is now the head of the British Secret Service in India. Broadfoot announces Flashman that the young Queen Victoria has chosen him for a very special secret mission after hearing of his proven bravery and his legendary adventures: Flashman will have to travel to the Sikh Royal Court in Lahore. He will pretend to be a lawyer hired by the Maharani Jeendan to save the problems around the inheritance of her recently dead father. His secret mission will be to get information about the Sikh army. But he has another more secret mission behind that secret mission: the Queen has heard about the wonderful Koh-I-Noor diamond, also known as the Mountain of Light, and she would like to know if there is any chance to ‘gain access’ to it.

By the way, Broadfoot cannot hide how much he dislikes Flashy and how jealous he is of the Queen’s appreciation for him.

So Flashman leaves the British Army to travel to Lahore pretending to be a lawyer.

The Palace of Lahore is such a luxurious and decadent place. Everyone at the Court spend all their time with two favourite hobbies: sex and conspiracies. The young Queen Maharani Jeendan (F.Pinto) and her Court live in a constant vicious indulgence and the Court is split in different groups of conspirators, some of them supporting her, some others willing to murder her.

Of course, Flashy fits as a glove in such a place. Soon, he becomes lover of the Maharani… and also of her apparently most loyal servant, the sexy slave Anil (A.Takia). He also becomes good friend of General Lal Singh (K.Watanabe), a tough Mongolian mercenary who used to be the head of the Guards of Corps of Jeendan’s father and now is supposed to be the most loyal protector of her (and also another one of her lovers, of course).

For a while, Flashy enjoys that life of splendour. Eating, drinking and having sex is so relaxing… although he has a bad opinion on orgies. At some moment, he says about it: ‘It’s not the indecency I mind, but the company of a lot of boozy brutes hallooing and kicking up the deuce of a row when I want to concentrate and give of my best’.

Things start to go wrong when Flashy suffers a murder attempt. A masked man tries to stab him but he manages to survive. He will discover that Anil, one of his favourite lovers in the Court, is behind it. She is in fact not only a slave but the leader of one of the conspirators group against Jeenan. Flashman, scared and as coward as usual, decides that is time to leave the Court of Lahore.

The night he is going to leave there is a violent uprising at the Palace. Flashy finds Lal Singh hidden in his bedroom. He realizes Lal Singh is in fact even a bigger coward than him. They decide to run away together from the Palace. But, before leaving, Flashy runs to the Rooms of Treasures and steal the Mountain of Light.

Flashy and Lal Singh travel together through the Punjab’s desert in their way back to Bombay. One night, they are assaulted and captured by a gang of bandits. The coward Lal Singh offers the bandits to give them the Mountain of Light and the life of Flashy if they let him alive. Uncomfortable with such deal, Flashy gets to escape riding a camel and leaves Lal Singh behind with the bandits, who will probably decide to kill him now that his proposal has failed.

In his way back to Bombay, Flashman discovers by coincidence and spies the camp of the Sikh army, known as the Khalsa. Although he is discovered by some guards, Flashman gets to escape alive.

Finally, Flashman arrives to Bombay. He tells Broadfoot everything about the Khalsa… but nothing about the diamond. To Broadfoot’s anger and jelousy, Flashman is decorated for his wonderful service as spy and proposed for a promotion. Decided to get rid of him, Broadfoot orders Flashman to join the first army to fight the Khalsa with the hope that Flashy will be killed by the enemy.

So Flashy participates in the bloody battles of Ferozeshah and Sobraon, during the first anglo-sikh war. As usual, what many take as actions suggestive of courage from him are simply acts of self-preservation.

The British Army wins the war and the British Empire in India spreads North West. In fact, Flashy leads the first british troops arriving victorious to Lahore to discover that Anil was recently hang accused of conspiracy while Jeenan has decided to become a loyal ally of Queen Victoria to preserve her own throne. To celebrate it, Flashy spends a last night of lust with her.

Back to London after such successful campaign, Flashman gets his promotion in the Army. Now he is Colonel Flashman. Also, in a private reception, he gives the Mountain of Light to Queen Victoria. The Queen invites him to have a cup of tea in her private rooms. And what happens later during that reception only they two know…

Back to…

London, 1889

The ceremony at the British Parliament has finished. Old Queen Victoria stands up while ‘God Saves The Queen’ is heard. While we see a short cut to the Mountain Of Light in the Queen’s crown an off-voice is heard: ‘Legend says that the owners of the Koh-I-Noor diamond and all their descendants will have a sad life. They will never be happy in their marriages and will never find true love. There will not be peace in their hearts and pain and sorrow will remain forever in their lives…’


Stark’s Comment: Third adventure of Harry Flashman. New director for the saga after Mike Newell and Kenneth Branagh (now back as an actor). The usual elements of the franchise are back: battles, adventure, sex, comedy… Looks like a sure bet.

THE SECRET PEOPLE

Adventure

The Cast: Daniel Craig, Helena Bonham-Carter, Hugh Laurie, Djimon Hounsou, Casey Affleck, Cedric ‘The Entertainer’, Jeremy Piven

The Director: Mimi Leder
The Screenwriter: Dawson Edwards

The Plot: In 1964, "The Secret People" takes us to a place intruders never leave. After Mark Sunnet's (D.Craig) rocket plane crashes in the Sahara Desert, which is being turned into a "New Sea" by France and Italy in a monumental feat of engineering, he and his girlfriend Margaret (H. Bonham-Carter) find themselves prisoners of a people determined to keep their existence secret.

These short-statured people (who resemble white pygmies) dwell in an underground network of vast caves and are, on the face of it, mired in primitivism. The caves are lit by luminous globes of unknown power, suggesting that this civilization was once highly developed technologically but is now long past its time of glory. While Margaret and her cat become a focus of worship, Mark is thrown in with the other prisoners. These are people of various nationalities who were unfortunate enough to stray into the pygmie's domain over the years - destined to live out their lives subsisting on the fungus of giant mushrooms which grow in the caves. While many are slumped in apathy, some of the captives have preserved their sanity by working on an escape tunnel. The rising water levels have heightened the sense of urgency. The characters are an ever-resourceful set, which, apart from Mark and Margaret, include a couple of can-do Americans to boost morale, an English academic speculating on the history of the pygmies, a slimy villain who looks to use the pygmy people for France's gain, a good-natured African giant, and, to represent the pygmies, a philosophical priest.

Mark befriends the two American prisoners, and together create a diversion to escape. The tunnel that the others had been creating capsizes and kills the others. The Americans go for the exit as fast as possible with the pygmy people behind them.

Mark goes to save his wife, only to find her being tortured. With the help of a young pygmy boy and a right on time flood, Mark sets Margaret free and the two leave the caves with the burst of water flowing behind them. The pygmy people are drown and are extinct, with only four people to ever know of their existence.


Stark’s Comment: A peculiar movie, far away from nowadays Hollywood’s mainstream. Adventures in an exotic location in the style of 1940’s or 50’s movies. Based on the novel by John Wyndham, it is a hit or miss release I am not completely sure about.


AQUAMAN: Emily Deschanel has been confirmed to be playing the lead female character of this comic adaptation. But there are casting problems in this Dawson Edwards’ project. Harry Stark is worried cause a few talents contacted to be in the movie playing minor roles – Kevin Costner, Sandra Bullock, Gene Hackman, among others – refused the offer and the replacements have not been confirmed yet. The release of the movie could be delayed if the shooting does not finish on time.

HAWKEYE: THE PREY: Two cameos and a young talent for this Avengers’ spinoff written by David Makalaster and directed by Louis Leterrier. The cameos: Michael Clarke Duncan, seen this Season in the megahit ‘Woodland Creatures’ and no other than Kurt Russell, playing Nick Fury for the sixth time! The young star: Chase Ellison, seen before in ‘Dare To Be Perfect’.

PREACHER 2: Jennifer Garner returns in this sequel as the love interest of James Marsden. After the first Preacher movie, Garner had another personal success in the fantasy adventure ‘The Fantastic Mansion’. The movie is being directed by Guillermo Del Toro with a screenplay written by Matt Kubrick.

BORGEL: The fantasy adventure being directed by Terry Gilliam and starred by Dustin Hoffman and Spencer Breslin with a screenplay by Ben Tyler adds new names to the cast: Edward Asner, in his first work for CMP; Alan Arkin, seen in ‘Bullet Witch’ and ‘Bedtime Stories’; and no other than GMA winner Jack Black, who loves to play minor roles in CMP from time to time.

DEEP SILENCE: RED CODE HIGH: The sequel of ‘Deep Silence’, starred by Jessica Alba, already has a male lead star. It’s not Keanu Reeves this time. Now, the chosen one is Ryan Reynolds, seen before in CMP in ‘Lobo’, ‘The Killing Run’ and ‘Killer On The Road’. This underwater horror adventure is being directed by Renny Harlin, who has only directed for CMP before the sci-fi hit 'Taurus 3'.

HUMAN AXIS: Green light for a sci-fi story written by David Makalaster, who has broken recently all records with ‘Devil Trigger’. Christopher Nolan (‘Hot Iron’, ‘The Law’, ‘Monolith’) returns to CMP behind the cameras. The lead role will be played by Ewan Mcgregor, who has also worked this Season in the hit ‘The Green Children’. McGregor plays a physicist who finds something really surprising when studying the Sun while stationed in orbit around Mercury.

STANLEY & LIVINGSTONE: The epic adventure written by Chad Taylor and directed and produced by James Cameron completes its cast with Jeremy Davies, whose only previous work for CMP was in the action hit ‘HF’, and a debutante in the Studio, Gael Garcia Bernal.

CHECK, PLEASE: Romantic comedy is not a usual genre in CMP, although it hasn’t done too bad in box office. Here we have another try in the genre. Josh Collins has adapted the short stage play by Johnathan Rand about a man and a woman having bad blind dates. The man will be played by Paul Rudd, only seen before in CMP in ‘Schroedinger’s Litterbox’, and the woman will be Drew Barrymore (‘Piece Of My Heart’, ‘The Hooligan’ and voice in ‘Bird Of A Feather’). The movie will be directed by Jay Roach, who had not worked for the Studio since he directed the very first movie ever released by CMP, the comedy ‘Entertaining Mrs. Sullivan’.

UNITED I STAND: Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu directs for the first time for CMP with this Josh Collins’ dramedy about a family of Spanish inmigrants in the US. A Spaniard cast has been put together for the movie leaded by GMA Winner the young Ivana Baquero (‘Blink’, ‘Bedtime Stories’). Two other names in the cast: Antonio Banderas, whose latest work for CMP was the musical ‘Nine’, and Javier Bardem, seen playing a minor role in ‘Monolith’.

L.A. WOLF: It has been so hard for director David Fincher to find the right man to play the villain in this action cops film starred by Gabriel Match. After considering nearly twenty candidates (!!), the chosen one has finally been Gerald Butler. Butler has been seen before in CMP in ‘Faction 12’ and this very same Season in ‘Blood Meridian’.


FLASHMAN AND THE MOUNTAIN OF LIGHT
By James Bradley

Well, after ‘The Misadventures of Harry Flashman’ and ‘Flashman’s Travels’, here is the third adventure of my favourite hero. I feel so comfortable adapting George McDonald Fraser’s books.

Novelties this time? First, director. Stephen Frears. I think this third episode is the sexiest one so I wanted a british director used to deal with sex scenes. The spirit of Frears’ ‘Dangerous Liaisons’, where sex was treated with irony and a certain cynic sense of humour, made me think of him for this movie, as that’s exactly how I think Flashy approaches at sex. The decadent Court of Lahore is a wonderful scenario for Frears to shoot sex scenes both funny and erotic at the same time.

I love to have those two beautiful Indian stars in the movie: Freida Pinto – who I discovered as everyone at the great ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ – and the sexy Bollywood star Ayesha Takia, who I promise you will remember from now.

Another novelty is that two important characters of the two first movies are not back this time: Kerry Condon and Catherine Z. Jones. Sadly, there was no place for them in the story. But I hope I will be able to recover them in future episodes. On the other side, I took Branagh back to the franchise, now as an actor, turning him into the main enemy of Flashy. And I love the great comedy role played by Ken Watanabe, that Mongolian general turned out to be as coward as Flashy himself.

And it is great to have Judi Dench playing Queen Victoria. The legend around that jewel, the Koh-I-Noor, is great. And maybe the disastrous private life of the members of the British Royal family is behind the curse of the jewel… That was a kind of final joke I introduced in the movie with that off voice at the end.

I just hope the movie works. Cause my plan is to make at least two other movies based on Flashman’s books. Adapting the twelve books of the saga might be too much, but I think there is still room for two more movies. So expect Flashy travelling to America in the next one if everything goes right in box office!


THE VERY BEST OF JOSH COLLINS, VOL. 1

Meeting the release on theatres of ‘The Legend Of Zelda II’, CMP also releases a DVD with some of the most acclaimed works from screenwriter, producer and director Josh Collins.

DVD collectors and fans of Collins' works will get a 7 Disc Set featuring 7 of Collins' best works as of Season 9.

Films included:

Velcro
Lyra
Dream of a King
Hollyweird
Dare to be Perfect
Blink
Five Thunderbolts


Each film has a picture on the cover art. Hudson in Velcro, Scarlett in Hollyweird, Malone in Lyra, Jet in Five Thunderbolts, Laurence in Dream of a King, Spacey (in a moustache to make him look even more like a pedo in Blink), and Breslin in DTBP.

Quotes from the casts of some of the films:

Kevin Spacey, from ‘Blink’: "Josh is an actor's director and writer. Need proof? Many of his films (especially the ones included on the DVD) have mainly acting nominations."

Kate Hudson, from ‘Velcro’: "I will forever be grateful for the opportunity Josh has given me. People tend to look down on me and say my career is a joke, but Josh was able to give me that chance so I can say, "I'm still here, damn it!"

Laurence Fishburne, from ‘Dream Of A King’: "There are so very few willing to portray King. A strong man full of humility, pride, intelligence and charisma. His heart was huge. You just have to be him to play him, hell even I don't think I did him as much justice as everyone says. Josh and Spike believed in me. But the man I was really looking to impress wasn't even alive to see it."

Scarlett Johannson, from ‘Hollyweird’: "If you work with Josh as a director and he wants to get you into your character, he will torment you, he will make you angry, he will make you cry, he will get inside your head psychologically. You shouldn't take it personally."

Jena Malone, from ‘Lyra’: "It was a little easy to find a character in Lyra. I grew up with a gay mother, bam, Josh makes me a teen lesbian. I find it's easier to get a piece of yourself out of the role you portray."

Abigail Breslin, from ‘Dare To Be Perfect’: "Josh is really nice! He helped me a lot in the many movies I did under his name. He helps kids a lot and connects with us to get a good performance."

Jet Li, from ‘Five Thunderbolts’: "Thanks to Josh giving me the opportunity to expand my craft as an actor. They see Five Thunderbolts and expect me to jump around and kick people but in that film I showed a different side of myself others aren't used to seeing from me."

DANIEL CRAIG

A regular – and awarded – star in CMP, two times GMA Winner Daniel Craig has been seen in almost every CMP’s Seasons. Far away from any egomania, Craig can accept all kind of roles, from the starring one to supporting characters or villains as long as they have any interest for him. This week, CMP releases the adventure movie ‘The Secret People’, with Craig leading the cast. And we take a look as his CMP’s career...

DR. JONES AND THE SWORD OF FAITH
Season 3
Steven Spielberg / Joey Stark
Craig made his debut in the Studio playing the villain of this adventure based on the Indiana Jones’ father character, now played by Ewan McGregor. The movie wasn’t a smash hit but it worked well enough to have later on its own sequel, ‘Dr. Jones and the Cursed Treasure’.

STAR WARS: NEW ORDER
Season 3
Steven Spielberg / Marcus Trax
That very same Season and with the same director, Craig joined another legendary franchise. Craig played again a villain, Sith Darth Valis, with an almost unrecognizable look. The movie broke all CMP’s records by the time and became a classic of the Studio. Craig won with it the Golden Moon Award for Best Villain.

SOUTH EAST
Season 4
Neil Jordan / John Daws
Craig bet for this minor production and accepted a minor role in it, a gang member. This little movie was a surprised hit and became critically acclaimed, providing Daniel Radcliff a GMA for Best Actor.

STAR WARS: MYSTERIES OF THE SITH
Season 4
Lawrence Kasdan / Marcus Trax
Craig kept busy making again two movies in the same Season. Back to the Star Wars franchise and back to box office success.

STAR WARS: BALANCE OF THE FORCE
Season 5
Lawrence Kasdan / Marcus Trax
The third and last episode of the trilogy. Box office did not respond as well as usual but still became a major success. Craig was again one of the iconic images of the saga upgrading his villain to a legendary level close to Darth Vader.

POWERHOUSE
Season 5
Gus Van Sant / Marcus Trax
Third Season on a row with two CMP’s movies with Craig in them. Again, Craig moves from a big production to a low budget one. Here, he reunites again with Daniel Radcliff and screenwriter Marcus Trax to play a kind of working class hero. The movie didn’t make it in box office but Craig got a GMA Nomination for Best Actor.

THE HOLDERS
Season 6
Ridley Scott / David Makalaster
There was an unexpected problem with this esoteric thriller when the shooting was to begin: Russell Crowe refused to play a minor role he had already accepted. Steven Spielberg, producer of the film, called Craig asking for help. And Craig, good friend of Spielberg after working together in two CMP’s movies, accepted the offer. The movie finally flopped in box office.

1066
Season 8
Mel Gibson / John Daws
The recreation of the legendary battle of Hastings was a mega-expensive production and became a mega-box office’s flop. But Craig survived from disaster winning his second GMA, this time as Best Supporting Actor. Something hard to understand anyway, as Craig played in fact a leading role in the movie.

THE SECRET PEOPLE
Season 10
Mimi Leder / Dawson Edwards
Craig returns to CMP after one Season resting. Originally, Pierce Brosnan was supposed to star this adventure production, but he preferred to be in ‘Stanley & Livingstone’, so the role was offered to Craig, who will have a chance here to forget the past box office’s disappointments of his latest CMP’s movies.


Not too many things to talk about yet, as CMP returns from one of those Harry Stark’s absences (hey, man, do you really think there is something more important to do in life than keep CMP going?).

Some changes after the return to be pointed out:

Hollywood Mogul’s Message Board, the usual Meeting Point for the CMP’s crowd went dead – or close to it -, so CMP’s people (thanks to that genius called David Makalaster) has a new home: www.cmmdb.heliohost.org/Forum

Most of CMP’s authors are already reunited there. But some are still missing. People like Jack Hammer or the newcomer Max Arilius haven’t shown up. And, what’s worst, nobody knows by now about Matt Kubrick. Can anyone imagine CMP without Matt Kubrick?

As a novelty, Harry Stark has announced that he will make public soon a list of pitches received at the Studio that will be definitely rejected. Probably the list will be made public next week. And I have the feeling it’s going to be fun to know the worst pitches ever got at CMP’s offices.

Also, as some pitches disappeared with the Hollywood Mogul’s Message Board blackout, Stark will tell soon which are the last pitches he got from each author, so they can re-send the ones missing.

So we are back. Next week, I promise I will write about movies!