Small MPU – Page 670
-
Reviews
Four Brothers
Dir: John Singleton. US.2005. 109mins.Set against a vastconspiratorial backdrop in which daylight shootouts take place with noimpunity, director John Singleton's Four Brothers is a formulaic andover-the-top crime drama that offers forth a guileless daisy chain of violentincidents with no convincing explication of place or consequence. Despite itsintriguing multi-cultural casting, it's ...
-
Reviews
Secuestro Express
Dir/scr: JonathanJakubowicz. Venez-US. 2005. 86mins.The debut feature fromVenezuelan-born 26 year-old Jonathan Jakubowicz, Secuestro Express is abold warts-and-all chronicle of a commonplace kidnapping on the brutal streetsof Caracas. Shot on digital video and filled with the kind of flash kineticenergy which will get him noticed on the world map, the film ...
-
Reviews
The Great Raid
Dir: John Dahl. US. 2005.130mins.The inherent messiness ofarmed combat gets a full and solemn workout in director John Dahl's detailed,solidly staged World War II liberation flick The Great Raid, anold-fashioned movie of stark moral clarity that will appeal to hardcore genrefans and flag-waving American patriots, but not likely make a ...
-
Reviews
Riviera
Dir/scr:Anne Villaceque. Fr. 2005. 94mins.Emotionaldysfunction, repressed sexuality and Southern sunshine make a potentlydisturbing combination in Riviera, second feature by French directorAnne Villaceque. In her 2000 debut Petite Cherie, Villaceque establishedtroubled female sexuality as her key theme, and she returns to it with avengeance in this subtly intense portrayal of a ...
-
News
Italian directors win legal battle over lack of funding
A group of first time directors, known as Gruppo 16/12,who took legal action against the Italian government after being denied publicfunds that had been awarded to their projects, have won their case. Earlier this year, the government told the directors there were insufficientfunds to finance their 20 features which had ...
-
News
Toronto line-up confirms Oscar launchpad status
Confirming its position as the launch padfor Oscar season, the Toronto International Film Festival has added nine worldpremieres to its line-up, many from or starring Academy Award-winningfilmmakers and actors.Among the new titles scheduled to screen at the 30thTIFF are Breakfast On Pluto, fromscreenplay winner and directorial nominee Neil Jordan; The ...
-
News
Paris court overturns L'Ex Femme, Warners ruling
The Paris court of appealshas overturned a ruling that prevented the film L'Ex Femme de Ma Viefrom benefiting from French subsidies.France's National CinemaCentre (CNC), responsible for granting subsidies to French and European films,appealed the decision on the film last year. Recent controversy hasfocused on Jean-Pierre Jeunet's A Very Long Engagement, ...
-
News
Jeremy Thomas readies Royle's Director's Cut
Britishproducer Jeremy Thomas, who picks up the Locarno Film Festival's prestigiousRaimondo Rezzonico award today, has revealed further details of what looks setto be his second film as a director.The Director's Cut is an adaptation of NicholasRoyle's novel. Royle has already written a draft of the screenplay and Thomashopes to shoot ...
-
News
Sydney festival poised for major overhaul
The SydneyFilm Festival (SFF) is to hold a major review of its activities, including areassessment of it dates and venues.The movefollows news that both president Cathy Robinson and general manager JenniferNaughton have stepped down. "The festival has to finditself a position of prominence in the hectic international film festivalcalendar, and ...
-
News
here! plots multi-platform release for Assassin
Thesimultaneous multi-platform releasing bug is catching on with news that gay andlesbian premium television network here! will launch Margaret Cho's liveconcert film Assassinday-and-date in US theatres, on satellite television and video-on-demand.The pattern echoes that announced back in April by 2929 Entertainmentprincipals Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner, who plan successive launches ...
-
News
InterCom in $25m boost
Andy Vajna's distribution and exhibition concern InterCom has received a $25m cash injection that will help finance expansion beyond its roots in Hungary and Romania.The equity expansion sees the arrival of GE Capital, Raiffeisen Private Equity and ABN Amro as shareholders. Vajna will remain the majority shareholder. The cash will ...
-
News
Picturehouse unveils senior marketing team
Bob Berney's fledgling NewYork-based distribution company Picturehouse has consolidated its marketingteam by fusing former staff members from both Newmarket Films and Fine Line Features.As previously announced, Marian Koltai-Levine and Dennis O'Connor will head upthe department as executive vice presidents of marketing, while Nina Baron joins as seniorvice president of national ...
-
News
TLA acquires Beverly Kills for North America, UK
TLAReleasing has acquired theatrical, home entertainment and broadcast rights inNorth America and the UK to Damion Dietz' comedy Beverly Kills.Alimited theatrical run is planned for mid-2006 on the project, in which anembittered and ageing drag queen swears vengeance on the entire city of LosAngeles after he is rejected for a ...
-
News
Laemmle/Zeller bulks up with Down To The Bone, Cautiva
GregLaemmle and Steven Zeller's "virtual" distributor Laemmle/ZellerFilms has picked up Debra Granik's Down To The Bone and Gaston Biraben's Argentinean thriller Cautiva.The company, which launched earlier this year with the aim ofchampioning titles that might typically fall through the distribution net, willopen Down To The Bonein early October and Cautiva ...
-
News
IndieWIRE, Emerging Pictures team up on Undiscovered Gems
New York-based indieWIRE and distributorEmerging Pictures have partnered up to take undistributed filmsto cities across the United States.The Undiscovered Gems venture will bring six to 10 titles from indieWIRE'sannual list of the best undistributed films to at least 12 cities nationwide.The official selection of films chosen for syndication will be ...
-
News
Montreal unveils full competition line-up
Iranian filmmaker MohsenMakhmalbaf's Sex And Philosophy andveteran Canadian director Claude Gagnon's Kamatakiare among 22 titles selected for the 29th Montreal World Film Festival's Competition. Other world premieres includeSwiss filmmaker Simon Aeby's six-territory coproductionThe Headsman;Bosnia-Herzegovina-Croatia title Go Westfrom Ahmed Imamovic; Jocelyne Saab's Duniaand UK hostage drama Red Mercury,directed by Roy Battersby, ...
-
Reviews
Stoned
Dir: Stephen Woolley. UK.2005. 102mins.Veteran UK producerStephen Woolley makes an accomplished directorial debut with Stoned, anabsorbing portrait of Brian Jones, the founding member of The Rolling Stones,and the events surrounding his death on July 2, 1969. Rich in period atmosphereand music, the film possesses the same knowing style and historical ...
-
News
Czech relief as Omen 666 books into Prague
20th Century Fox's The Omen 666 is set to shoot in Praguein the Czech Republic from late October.Prague-based productionoutfit Etic Films will work with Fox on the new instalment in the Omenfranchise, which is directed by John Moore, Etic's head of production VeronikaFinkova told ScreenDaily.com.The Omen 666 joins YoungHannibal: Behind ...
-
News
Mimmo Rotella to head Venice's Orizzonti jury
Italian artist Mimmo Rotellawill head the jury of Venice's Orizzonti competition, the Biennale hasannounced.Milan-based Rotella, who isone of Italy's leading contemporary artists, will be joined on the jury bySpanish writer-director Isabel Coixet, whose latest film, The Secret Life OfWords, with Tim Robbins and Sarah Polley, opens Orizzonti out-of-competition. Italian actor ...
-
News
Goal! 2 signs House Of Wax director
Jaume Collet Serra, the Spanish director of Warner Bros' HouseOf Wax, has signed to direct Goal! 2, the second film in MilkshakeFilms' football trilogy. Shooting starts in October in Spain and London. Thetrilogy follows a Mexican boy from Los Angeles to play football in the UK,before transferring to a Spanish ...