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Small MPU – Page 1291
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Reviews
Panic Room
Dir: David Fincher. US. 2002. 113minsDavid Fincher is such a technically inventive and brilliant director that, even when he tackles a genre film, like his new suspense feature The Panic Room, he elevates it with his signature flourishes way above its damsel-in-distress origins. Recalling noir films about women trapped in ...
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News
MGM launches channels in Portugal, Russia, S Korea
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer'sMGM Networks is launching MGM-branded channels in Russia, Portugal, Malta andSouth Korea. The move follows the launch in the middle east earlier this yearand doubles the number of countries in which MGM has established a channel presenceto date.The MGM Movie Channel isscheduled to launch in May in Portugal on cable ...
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News
Regent teams with NZ company Daybreak on two films
LA-based Regent Entertainmenthas struck a co-production deal with New Zealand's Daybreak Pacific Ltdto produce two features Cupid's Prey and Heaven's Pond inNew Zealand. The deals were brokered by Jeffrey Schenck, COO of Regent, GeneGeorge, president of Regent Worldwide, and Grant Bradley, a partner inDaybreak.Cupid's Prey is a thriller starring Katrina ...
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News
UK producers condemn SAG's Global Rule One
Plans that effectively forcenon-US productions to employ local talent under US union rules have triggeredprotests from UK producers body PACT.The body warned thatmounting pressure from US actors union SAG to use its so-called Global Rule One- whereby SAG members working overseas must use SAG contracts even if they hailfrom the ...
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News
Leo Kirch ready to face the inevitable handover
A change of the guard is only hours or days away at the Kirch group, the media colossus that for so many years bestrode the German and European film and TV arenas.The 75 year old Leo Kirch is now negotiating an exit that saves face for himself and saves his ...
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News
Frida controversy brews with Mexican critics
Members of the Mexican press who have been privy to test screenings of Julie Taymor's $12m biopic Frida are apparently appalled at the liberties taken in portraying the anguished Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. Co-produced by Mexican actress Salma Hayek who plays the painter, the film allegedly shows Frida Kahlo as ...
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News
Middle East's Showtime buys package for PPV
Middle Eastern pay-TV network Showtime has acquired a large package of Arabic films for broadcast on its new pay-per-view (PPV) channels.The films come from Egyptian group Al Arabia For Cinema Production & Distribution. Pictures Rehlat Hob starring Mohammed Fouad, Ga'ana Al Bayan Al Tali featuring Mohamed Heneidi and Amir Al ...
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News
Telecinco profits hit by competition, ad recession
Calling itself the "most profitable broadcaster in Europe" for a third consecutive year, Spain's free-to-air private network Telecinco posted net profits for 2001 of Euros112m. But the total was a 28% decline compared with the previous year's Euros155m.The company attributed the slide to the advertising recession. But Spain's commercial channels ...
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News
Shaw to press on with Movie City studio project
The venerable Shaw Brothers group is to press on with plans to build Movie City, a $109m (HK$850m) studio complex in Hong Kong's Tseung Kwan O district.The scope of the development, which has been mooted for many years, was expanded last year, but looked close to collapse last month when ...
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News
Festival chief Bergdahl exits Gothenburg
Gunnar Bergdahl is steeping down as head of Sweden's Gothenburg Film Festival, the most important meeting place for the Nordic film industry.Bergdahl has been involved with the festival since 1987 and has been responsible for its diverse programme since 1994. The festival, which celebrated its 25th anniversary this year, will ...
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News
Buena Vista rides with UK's Four Horsemen
Buena Vista has signed a three-year European distribution pact with Four Horsemen Films, the newly-launched youth and genre label of UK producer-financier Random Harvest.The US studio will have a first-look option for theatrical distribution and exclusive rights for video and television on 12 feature-length films from the UK outfit. The ...
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News
UK's ITV Digital calls in administrators
ITV Digital, the biggest pay-TV rival to UK satellite broadcaster BSkyB, has sought protection from its creditors by applying for administrators to run the business.The move comes after the cash-strapped broadcaster failed to renegotiate its payments for rights to broadcast matches from the English Football League. The service is co-owned ...
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News
Killing Me Softly
Dir: Chen Kaige. US. 2002. 99mins.The real mystery about this unconvincing MGM film noir is what Chen Kaige is doing directing it. Perhaps the lukewarm reception afforded to his most recent Chinese outing, The Emperor And The Assassin, persuaded the director to try his luck with a thoroughly Western film. ...
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News
Nine Japanese firms nurture young film-makers
Nine Japanese film-related companies, led by Tokyo Theatres and Gaga Communications, will launch a film series showcasing the work of young scriptwriters, directors and other new talent this April. Called Garinpeiro, which means "prospector" in Spanish, the series will start with Hogi-Lala, a dark fable about a shipwrecked youth on ...
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News
Hurt to star in Lea Pool's Blue Butterfly
William Hurt is set to star in the $7.8m Canada-UK co-production BlueButterfly, opposite young US actor Marc Donato and Canadian actress PascaleBussieres under the direction of Swiss-Canadian director Lea Pool. Based on a true story with a script by Pete McCormack, the film tells of a terminally ill boy ...
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News
Nick Nolte, Josh Lucas, Sam Elliott join The Hulk
Nick Nolte, Sam Elliott andJosh Lucas have joined the cast of Ang Lee's big screen version of TheHulk which started principalphotography this week.The film, which is scriptedby James Schamus and produced by Gale Anne Hurd, Avi Arad, Schamus and LarryFranco, stars Eric Bana as Bruce Banner whose inner demons transform ...
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Schamus wins screenwriting honour at Nantucket
James Schamus, the Oscar-nominatedscreenwriter of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Ice Storm, will be honoured with NBC's screenwritertribute at this year's Nantucket Film Festival which will take place June20-23, 2002.The festival, which isdedicated exclusively to screenwriting and the concept that the writer'scontribution is at the core of all good ...
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News
Richard Saperstein leaves New Line for Artisan
High-ranking Hollywoodproduction executive Richard Saperstein, who spent the last nine years at NewLine Cinema, has joined Artisan Pictures as president of development andproduction. Reporting directly toArtisan Pictures CEO Bob Cooper, Saperstein is charged with overseeing thecompany's daily theatrical film development and production activities.Saperstein will work closely with Cooper to assemble ...
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News
The Rookie
Dir John Lee Hancock US 2002 127minsThe Rookie is an earnest and uplifting baseball saga structured along the lines of the equally fact-based and inspirational Remember The Titans, also produced by Disney. Rendering one of his most accomplished performances yet, Dennis Quaid plays ageing Texan baseball player Jim Morris, who ...
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News
Losses pile up at fallen stars of Neuer Markt
German companies' stars have waned with stunning speed in the last 12-18 months, making the Neuer Markt an ominous label today, when previously it was a badge that suggested dynamism and wealth. The end of year results that emerged from Germany's quoted media firms at the end of last week ...