Small MPU – Page 240
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News
Intertainment to focus on hands-on production
Troubled German rights trader Intertainment aims to be more of a "hands on" producer in the future, through such production alliances as the one forged last year with veteran US producer Arnold Kopelson.Speaking at the shareholders general meeting yesterday, Intertainment CEO Barry Baeres explained that, due to the prevailing market ...
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Reviews
Big Bad Love
Directed by Arliss Howard. US. 2001. 121 min.Severely flawed in both dramatic and cinematic ways, Big Bad Love, the feature directorial debut from actor Arliss Howard, is an ambitious film about a Vietnam vet (played by Howard), who's trying to create fiction from his troubled past and regain control over ...
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Reviews
Final
Dir: Campbell Scott. US. 2001. 111mins.Campbell Scott, who co-directed the hit Big Night in 1996 with Stanley Tucci, finally gets back behind the camera with Final, the fourth digital video production from IFC-backed IndiGent after Bruce Wagner's Women In Film, Richard Linklater's Tape and Ethan Hawke's Chelsea Walls. Unlike Chelsea ...
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Reviews
La Chambre Des Officiers
Dir: Francois Dupeyron. France. 2001. 135minsComfortingly old-fashioned in its virtues of sensitive direction and finely nuanced performances, La Chambre Des Officiers is a moving account of an injured officer's struggle for physical and spiritual regeneration at the height of the First World War. Conventional handling of the material may not ...
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Reviews
Stuff And Dough (Marfa Si Banii)
Dir. Cristi Puiu. Romania. 2001. 90mins.Cristi Puiu's feature debut, made on what appears to be a non-existent budget, takes a close look at the underbelly of Romanian everyday life and comes up with a strangely compelling statement that goes way beyond its apparently insouciant approach. A road movie following, for ...
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Reviews
Queenie In Love
Dir: Amos Kollek. US-France. 2001. 98mins.The closing event at Cannes' Directors' Fortnight, Amos Kollek's new romantic comedy, is a sequel of sorts to his 2000 competition entry, Fast Food, Fast Women. The novelty of his approach may have worn off a bit and the structure may seem at times even ...
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Reviews
crazy/beautiful
Dir: John Stockwell. US. 2001. 88mins. Despite its perky-sounding title, prominent soundtrack and sexy costumes, crazy/beautiful appears to have ambitions that are considerably bigger than those of the average teen romance. With an interracial love story at its core, the film also delves into relatively dark family drama and tries ...
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News
Tomb Raider set for top spot at French box office
With over 221,000 tickets sold on its first day on release (June 27) in France, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider looks set to kick Pearl Harbor off the top slot at the French box office in its first week. Tomb Raider is the fourth biggest opener in France since the beginning ...
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News
Cinema Expo closes on bullish note
"It doesn't get a whole lot better than this."That was the message to delegates attending Cinema Expo in Amsterdam from distributors unveiling what has been a well-received array of product - much to the relief of embattled European exhibitors."There is a higher than normal degree of anticipation," said Richard Segal, ...
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Reviews
Tortilla Soup
Dir: Maria Ripoll. US. 2001. 103mins.Here's a conundrum: this remake - or rather "Mexican American retelling" - of Ang Lee's 1994 Oscar-nominated Taiwanese film Eat Drink Man Woman is well crafted and for the most part pleasantly diverting. But why remake a hit specialised movie into another specialised movie' Surely ...
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Reviews
The Animal
Dir: Luke Greenfield. US. 2001. 83 mins. After the surprise winter 1999 success of his first starring vehicle, Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, former Saturday Night Live funny man Rob Schneider gets the chance to carry a high-profile summer movie with The Animal, a resolutely dumb but occasionally endearing comedy. Backed ...
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News
Kuhn realises Euro studio dream with Fox, Citibank
Former PolyGram Filmed Entertainment (PFE) chief Michael Kuhn is back at the helm of a European-based film powerhouse after unveiling backing from US studio 20th Century Fox and financing house Citibank in London.Kuhn's London-based production and financing outfit Kuhn & Co has struck a multi-picture distribution deal with Fox, which ...
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News
Rival Palm Springs Festival set for October
Craig Prater, former executive director of the Nortel Networks Palm Springs International Film Festival, has launched a rival - and competitive - festival in the Palm Springs region called Festival Of Festivals.Set to take place this year between Oct 25 and Nov 4, the new event will screen films in ...
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News
York Entertainment starts international sales arm
US video distributor York Entertainment has created an international sales arm to license its library of urban features to international territories. To that end, the company has hired Corie VanDeutekom, formerly director of international sales for Carlton America, as vice president of international sales.VanDeutekom will launch the international sales company ...
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News
Universal sells Loews Cineplex stake for a dollar
Universal Studios has sold its 25.5% stake in exhibitor Loews Cineplex for $1. The studio, a division of Vivendi Universal, sold more than 15m shares to investment bank Goldman Sachs, in a tax move to offset capital gains. The stake was worth approximately $1.8m based on a share price of ...
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News
E Sun group grabs power at Media Asia
Ending a period of intense speculation and rumour-mongering about the direction of Media Asia, one of Hong Kong's most ambitious production and distribution operations, it has emerged that investment group E Sun has become the largest shareholder. E Sun's move allows a series of reallocations of management and operational responsibilities. ...
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News
Hong Kong's first completion bond specialist opens
Hong Kong's first consultancy to specialise in completion bonds made its bow at the Hong Kong Filmart, signalling a growing trend in the territory towards international co-productions and joint financing.Film financing and Completion Bond Consultants (FFCBC), the entertainment arm of Hong Kong's Grande Insurance, will serve as a "one stop ...
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News
Advanced takes step back as cash flow woes bite
Germany's Advanced Medien has failed to meet investment plans for Wolfgang Petersen's Red Cliff Productions and has been forced to end a $15.1m package deal with StudioCanal. The ailing rights trader has revealed that it had provided Petersen's US-based production outfit a certified letter of credit worth $3m instead of ...
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News
TV Forum Europe to target international buyers
Organisers of the newly created TV Forum Europe have unveiled details of the event, which will celebrate its first edition next year in Barcelona between February 18-21.According to organiser Bernard Chevry, the Forum "is reserved exclusively for the commercialisation of rights to European television product and is directed at buyers ...
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News
Japan's Gaga goes live on Tokyo NASDAQ
Leading Japanese independent distributor Gaga Communications officially listed on the NASDAQ Japan market on Friday, June 29. Opening at $8.25 (Y1,030), the share price rose to a high of $8.53 (Y1,064) and fell to a low of $7.89 (Y985) before closing at $7.95 (Y992). A total of 62,950 shares were ...