Walden Media and New Line are teaming to co-finance JOURNEY 3-D, a modern spin on the Jules Verne classic JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH. Academy Award-winning effects man Eric Brevig will make his directing debut on the film, which will be based on a screenplay by D.V. DeVincentis (HIGH FIDELITY). Visual effects vet Charlotte Huggins will produce the project, which is set to start production in April.
Pressman & Co. Films has hired THE PUNISHER actor Thomas Jane to star in its sci-fi/action film, THE MUTANT CHRONICLES, which is based on the role-playing board game of the same name, according to VARIETY. Producer Ed Pressman has had his project in development for nearly 10 years. At AFM, he signed a deal with Voltage Pictures for them to serves as the foreign sales representative for the film.
Ten films will compete in the Best Animated Feature Film category in the 2005 Academy Awards competition. Disney leads the pack with three eligible films CHICKEN LITTLE, HOWLS MOVING CASTLE and VALIANT. The only other company with more than one contender is DreamWorks with WALLACE & GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT and MADAGASCAR. Foxs ROBOTS and Warner Bros.' CORPSE BRIDE are the only other wide released films to make the list. Triumph Films has entered STEAMBOY and Pentamedia and the Weinstein Co.
JoJo, the star of Disney Channel's JOJO'S CIRCUS, a Playhouse Disney series for preschoolers, will be unveiled as a giant helium balloon next week in the 79th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. At more than 60 feet high, it is one of the biggest balloons in the parade, which runs from New York Citys Upper West Side to Herald Square.
Morph 2005World Wide Web November 30, 2005Deadline: November 30, 2005
Stopmotionfilm.de hosts the fourth Morph to highlight the best in short stop-motion films. The length should be two minutes and it doesn't matter if you are a beginner or a professional. There are two main topics: best stop-motion quickie and best stop-motion character. The best character of the second category will be assessed by a jury and those of the first category by the audience. For more information, visit www.stopmotionfilm.de.
In this months Digital Eye column, Kim Davidson of Side Effects Software explores refining pipelines to improve production quality, reduce costs and remain competitive.
2005 Internet Advertising Competition (IAC) AwardsWorld Wide WebMarch 2006 Deadline: January 31, 2006
The Web Marketing Association announces the launch of its fourth annual Internet Advertising Competition (IAC) Awards. The IAC Awards is the first and only industry-based advertising award competition dedicated exclusively to online advertising. The competition website is located at www.iacaward.org and the deadline for entry is Jan. 31, 2006.
10th Annual Arizona State University Art Museum Short Film and Video FestivalTempe, Arizona, USAApril 15, 2006Deadline: February 10, 2006
Sponsored by the Arizona State University Art Museum, the Arizona State University Art Museum Short Film and Video Festival highlights the best in short subjects. The event is free to enter and no paper work is needed. The screening of the films will take place at the museum with the exact date announced later in the year. For more information visit asuartmuseum.asu.edu/filmfest/.
Cascade ACM SIGGRAPH, Oregon and Southwest Washingtons local SIGGRAPH chapter announced a showing of the Electronic Theater 2005, a film and video extravaganza, showcasing dazzling and innovative imagery, on Dec. 5, at 6:30 pm at the Hollywood Theater, located at 4122 NE Sandy Blvd., in the Hollywood District of Portland.
Nancy Cartwright talks about pigeonholing in the voice over business and how it just doesnt fly with her.
The Orphanage has been awarded THE HOST, South Koreas most expensive and ambitious film to date for Chungeorahm Films. The VFX creature film will be directed by internationally acclaimed director Joon-ho Bong and star two of Koreas top marquee names Song Kang-ho and Park Hae-il. As the exclusive vfx house on the over 100-shot project, The Orphanage team led by veteran vfx supervisor Kevin Rafferty, exec producer Marc Sadeghi, CG supervisor Shadi Almassizadeh and vfx producer Arin Finger will be working hand in hand with the production on location in Seoul.
After the successful launch of CHICKEN LITTLE in Disney Digital 3-D, which had an opening gross of approximately $2.1 million in 79 specialty theaters, Walt Disney Pictures will do it again with its next 3D-animated feature, MEET THE ROBINSONS, opening December 2006. To date, CHICKEN LITTLE has garnered more than $83 million at the domestic box office
SCREAM 2 (**1/2)
(First Reviewed: 6/15/04)
Like the original SCREAM film, the characters know the rules of horror flicks — even the rules of horror sequels. Higher body count and more gore. This "rule" typically ruins other horror sequels and succeeds in doing the same with SCREAM 2…
You might be able to guess the killer(s), but you'll never guess why. The film does have some intelligence. I liked the classroom debate about films influencing behavior, the talk about sequel clichés and the identity of the killer was pretty ingenious, especially the killers' line explaining their motivation.
Robert Altman is the master of films with large casts where the lives of the various characters intertwine. This film is a look at the lives of 22 characters living in Los Angeles, which clearly influenced the work of Paul Thomas Anderson. The three-hour plus movie plays like a giant slice of life character study of the various cast members.
Ann Finnigan (Andie MacDowell, GROUNDHOG DAY) is married to TV commentator Howard Finnigan (Bruce Davison, LONGTIME COMPANION). Their son Casey (Lane Cassidy) is hit by car on his way to school. Waitress Doreen Piggot (Lily Tomlin, 9 TO 5) was driving the car and tries to take care of the kid, but he refuses to get in a car with a stranger and walks home. Doreen is married to a drunk limo driver named Earl (Tom Waits, BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA), who is hated by Doreen’s daughter Honey Bush (Lili Taylor, SAY ANYTHING…), who is married to sleazy make-up artist Bill (Robert Downey Jr., CHAPLIN).
SCREAM reinvented modern horror and now stands as a classic of the genre. For fans of the original, SCREAM 2 was a good follow-up. SCREAM 3 is a disaster.
The first place to look for the reason would be in the writing credits. SCREAM creator Kevin Williamson wrote the first two films, but Ehren Kruger (THE RING, THE SKELETON KEY) tackled the third. He tries too hard to copy Williamson’s hip self-referential style and fails miserably. One of the major problems of the film is that it’s made for people who have seen the first two films. I think people who haven’t seen the first two films, or haven’t seen them recently even, will be lost.
Another problem is that Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell, THE COMPANY) is really short changed in the film. She’s theoretically the central character in the film, but most of the screen time and action is consumed and driven by the Dewey Riley (David Arquette, READY TO RUMBLE) and Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox, TV’s FRIENDS) characters. In SCREAM 2, the bickering relationship between the two characters was interesting, but here it’s just irritating and redundant.
This horrible horror flick is based on a Dean Koontz book, which is unread by me. He’s a writer that seems to fall into the categories of love him or hate him. Considering that he adapted the screenplay for this film, I’m not leaning toward the love him camp to be honest.
Like so many horror movies, there is a kernel of an intelligent premise buried within spooky clichés and paper-thin characters. Horror writers really love their monsters, but can’t find central characters that aren’t from stock character central. Dr. Jennifer Pailey (Joanna Going, INVENTING THE ABBOTTS) picks up her sister Lisa (Rose McGowan, TV’s CHARMED) from L.A. to take her to a small town in Colorado so she can get away from the hectic life of the City of Angels. When they arrive in Colorado, the town they visit is deserted or dotted with dead people (or at least parts of dead people). The only living people the sisters run into are Sheriff Bryce Hammond (Ben Affleck, GOOD WILL HUNTING) and his deputies Stu Wargle (Live Schreiber, SCREAM 2) and Steve Shanning (Nicky Katt, SECONDHAND LIONS).
Anthony Mann is a director known for his Westerns. James Stewart was an actor who brought great decency to his characters. When Mann and Stewart teamed up, the actor was allowed to explore his darker side. This film was the last Western the star and director would make together and it was their favorite.
Stewart plays Will Lockhart, a former cavalry captain who has bought three wagons and started a hauling business. He rides into the town of Coronado, where his younger brother was killed by Apaches with repeating rifles. Lockhart decides to take salt from the local salt fields back with him to Laramie, but unbeknownst to him this isn’t free salt and has a run in with Dave Waggoman (Alex Nicol, BLOODY MAMA), the son of Alec Waggoman (Donald Crisp, HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY), the richest man in Coronado. With a mission of getting what’s owed him from the Waggomans and to find out who sold the rifles to the Apache, Lockhart sticks around Coronado.
Raymond Chandler’s private eye Philip Marlowe returns, but this time the dic is transported to the 1970s. Elliott Gould (MASH) plays the Marlowe character as a cocky mumbling slob and he’s wonderful.
Early one morning his friend Terry Lennox (former pro baseball player Jim Bouton) shows up and says he fought with his wife and needs a ride to Tijuana. When Marlowe gets back to his apartment, the cops are waiting for him and want to know where he took Terry, because Lennox’s wife was found dead. The rest of the film chronicles Marlowe’s meandering path to finding out the truth behind what really happened to Terry and his wife.
Along the way, Eileen Wade (Nina Van Pallandt, AMERICAN GIGOLO) hires Marlowe to locate her booze-hound writer husband Roger (Sterling Hayden, DR. STRANGELOVE). Also working into the plot are gangster Marty Augustine (Mark Rydell, HAVANA) and strange clinic doctor Verringer (Henry Gibson, NASHVILLE).
Made by Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf before 9/11, the story follows Nafas (Nelofer Pazira), an Afgani-born Canadian journalist, who sneaks into Afghanistan during the reign of the Taliban to rescue her crippled sister who has vowed to commit suicide on the first eclipse of the new millennium.
In reality the plot serves as a framework to present vignettes of what life was like under the Taliban rule. However, Nafas’ dogged determination to get to Kandahar and save her sister does create a surprisingly emotional core to the film. As a woman, Nafas has to wear a burqua that covers her entire body and must find men to help her travel across the country.
Her first is a trader, who has Nafas pose as one of his wives. He’s conservative and follows the traditions of the Taliban, but will take Nafas for the right price. In this Afghanistan, anything can be bought and sold because most people are starving.
Director Stanley Kramer was a director who never shied away from taking on topical issues in his films. In THE DEFIANT ONES and GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER, he tackled race, and in INHERIT THE WIND, he tackled evolution. In JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG, he addressed the issue of who is to blame for the Nazis and presents a nuanced argument against many people.
Spencer Tracy (ADAM’S RIB) stars as Chief Judge Dan Haywood, who moves to Nuremberg to head up the trial of four Nazi judges, the top being Dr. Ernst Janning (Burt Lancaster, FROM HERE TO ETERNITY). Heading up the prosecution is Col. Tad Lawson (Richard Widmark, MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS), a man who saw the horrors of the concentration camps first hand and makes it a personal crusade to take down as many Nazis as he can. Heading the defense is Hans Rolfe (Maximilian Schell, JULIA), a brilliant, young attorney, who uses the law as leverage in his defense of evil acts.
This is one of — if not the best “creepy” children movie I’ve ever seen. Many elements of this '60s production reminded me of THE SHINING. From the strange children to the perfect use of setting to ghostly influences to the excellent use of shot choices, it is hard for me to imagine that this film wasn't an influence on Stanley Kubrick.
Miss Giddens (Deborah Kerr, BLACK NARCISSUS) is hired to take care of two children whose uncle has no desire to have anything to do with them. At first, Miss Giddens only has Flora (Pamela Franklin, THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE) to take care of and all seems fairly well. Then she gets word that Miles (Martin Stephens, VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED) has been expelled from his boarding school. He is an unusual boy, who seems to be the perfect child, but will do randomly strange and creepy things. Aiding Giddens is the house’s longtime maid Mrs. Grose (Megs Jenkins, OLIVER!). But things really take a turn for the worse when Miss Giddens begins to see the ghosts of the former grounds keeper Quint (Peter Wyngarde, 1980’s FLASH GORDON) and the former governess Miss Jessel (Clytie Jessop).
Luis Buñuel’s EXTERMINATING ANGEL was completed in Mexico in 1962, but wasn’t released in the U.S. until August 1967, which was the same year that his most famous film, BELLE DE JOUR, was released. Buñuel is known for his surrealist cinema and EXTERMINATING ANGEL is his most surreal feature. This satire uses absurdity to uncover hypocrisy.
Edmundo Nobile (Enrique Rambal) is a wealthy elite who throws a party for the rich set in town. Buñuel is not worried about character here, but brings archetypical characters to his party. After dinner, the host and his guests move into the sitting room, where no one leaves — literally. Some unexplained force makes the guests unable to walk out of the room. Once you enter the room, you cannot leave. The guests camp out on the floor for the night and try to remain dignified. However, when days turn into weeks, niceties of decorum begin to fade and the “pure bloods” are savagely at each other’s throats.
This is the kind of film that terms like “nail-biter” and “edge of your seat” were created for. Directed and written by Henri-Georges Clouzot, the film crafts a deviant murder mystery, which puts guilt at the center of the tension. Rumor has it that Alfred Hitchcock missed out on buying the rights to the book this film was based on by mere hours. Cinema isn't missing out on another great film from the master of suspense, because Clouzot's work here rightfully earns him the title of France's Hitchcock.
Christina Delasalle (Véra Clouzot, THE WAGES OF FEAR) is married to Michel (Paul Meurisse), a cruel principal at a private boys’ school that is having an affair with the sexy teacher Nicole Horner (Simone Signoret, SHIP OF FOOLS). Christina knows about the affair and takes sympathy on Nicole when she turns up one morning with a black eye. Eventually, the women decide to murder Michel, ending in them dumping his body in the murky pool at the school. Who will find the body? When will it be found? What questions will be asked when Michel goes missing?
Twins have been a common theme in horror films and macabre master David Cronenberg tackles the topic here. Elliot and Beverly Mantle (Jeremy Irons, A REVERSAL OF FORTUNE) are identical twin gynecologists. Beverly is the shy, scholarly scientist, who developed a revolutionary surgical instrument when he was a student at college. Elliot is a flashy ladies man, who serves as the public face for Beverly’s work.
One day, actress Claire Niveau (Geneviève Bujold, THE HOUSE OF YES) comes to see Beverly at his office to see if she can get pregnant. During the examination, Elliot switches places with Beverly and seduces Claire. When Elliot gets bored of Claire, he hands her over to Beverly again. Beverly falls in love with Claire, who is quite disturbed when she finds out about Elliot.
As for the classic horror films, the FRANKENSTEIN series is considered by many as the best. I haven’t seen enough of the classic monster films to say from personal experience, but from having seen the first two films in the series I cannot argue with popular opinion.
The original FRANKENSTEIN sticks out in my mind more clearly than DRACULA or THE MUMMY, because it has less of the stagey performing that hurts many films from the 1930s. It also has the strangely engaging central character — Frankenstein’s monster. In BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, the same things can be said.
The film is part sequel and part remake of the original. The second film has more of the original Mary Shelley novel in it though. The film actually begins with Mary Shelley (Elsa Lanchester, LASSIE COME HOME) sitting by a fire on a stormy night with her husband Percy (Douglas Walton, MURDER, MY SWEET) and Lord Byron (Gavin Gordon, NOTORIOUS), who recaps what happened in the first film, which spurs Mary Shelley to tell the real ending of the tale. Considering the first and second film don’t follow the book all that much it seems silly to have Shelley tell the tale, but the brief intro does quickly recap the first film and set up the start of the new film, which takes over where the last film left off.
