GREEN TEA MOVIE!!: 01/01/2010

January 31, 2010

MIRAMAX SHUTS DOWN

Comments Tagged under Buena Vista, Harvey Weinstein, Miramax, News Edition, Walt Disney

In 1979, Miramax, a brainchild of Harvey and Bob Weinstein was formed, with the name was taken after their parents. Over the years of success, the production studio suffered a major setback like many others - financial. Today, Miramax will no longer in operation following Disney's decision to cease the arthouse for good.

During the early years, Miramax through the founders, the Weinstein brothers have very much making the studio one of the best and successful independent and arthouse studio at the time. Their first success came in 1982, when the brothers teamed up with Martin Lewis, a British producer to acquire the US rights to two concert films Lewis had produced for human right organization Amnesty International. The results, The Secret Policeman's Other Ball was a success.

They continued their streak of breakthrough films with movies like Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!, The Crying Game and Clerks. The company was best remembered for producing popular cult classics like Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction in 1994, Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creature in 1994, Anthony Minghella's The English Patient which won the Best Picture in 1996's Oscar and John Madden's Shakespeare in Love which won the Best Picture in 1999's Oscar. Also on the lists are Chicago, the musical film that has made more than $300 million worldwide and winning Best Picture in 2003's Oscar.

Despite the success, money has always been a major problem. In 1993, Disney offered the brothers a lucrative $70 million to buy the studio. The brothers continued to run Miramax as it is. However, in 2005, after a clash with Michael Eisner, the brothers forced to left the company and to let go of the Miramax named to eventually form a new company - The Weinstein Company, which currently also struggling with financial issues.

With Disney's announcement to cease the Miramax, what are the future holds for the remaining projects that are still under productions? What are the future holds for the 80 peoples whom had lost their jobs?

The studio endured endless rumors of its impending closure. On Oct. 2, Disney announced that “Miramax Films will reduce the number of films it releases annually while consolidating certain of its operations.” Dick Cook, the former chairman of the studio, told me last summer that while reduced in size, the studio would continue. But by year-end , Dick Cook was gone, and Rich Ross had taken over. Soon after, Daniel Battsek was gone, too.

When The Wrap asked Harvey Weinstein how he felt, he wrote:

I'm feeling very nostalgic right now. I know the movies made on my and my brother Bob's watch will live on as well as the fantastic films made under the direction of Daniel Battsek. Miramax has some brilliant people working within the organization and I know they will go on to do great things in the industry.

There are currently six films awaiting for distribution by Miramax - among them are Last Night, The Debt and The Tempest.

UP AND JAMES CAMERON WIN ATTENBOROUGH AWARD

Comments Tagged under Avatar, Carey Mulligan, James Cameron, News Edition, Sam Rockwell, Up

The Award season is going intensify when UK's regional media-based award, Attenborough Award was awarded last Thursday. James Cameron won the best director award equilibrium of Filmmaker of the Year. He won the same award back in 1998 when his another blockbuster film, Titanic was honoured.

The Attenborough Award also awarded Pixar's Up for Film of the Year while Up In The Air won the Screenwriter of the Year.

Below are the list of winners form The Richard Attenborough Film Awards:

Film of the Year

Filmmaker of the Year

James Cameron, AVATAR

Performance of the Year by an Actor

Sam Rockwell, MOON

Performance of the Year by an Actress

Carey Mulligan, AN EDUCATION

Screenwriter of the Year

Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, UP IN THE AIR

Rising Star

Carey Mulligan, AN EDUCATION

All Time Legend

Richard Attenborough

SHERLOCK 2, LOBO 0

Comments Tagged under Guy Ritchie, Joel Silver, Lobo, News Edition, Sherlock Holmes, Warner Bros.

Sherlock Holmes made almost $ 389 million worldwide and counting. With this much of money, there is no surprise why Warner Bros is been quick to lend director, Guy Ritchie a new ink of deal. So, with the sequel pretty much on track, Sherlock Holmes 2 is on the way. With Robert Downey Jr dropping out from Cowboys And Aliens, and Ritchie pushing on for the sequel, where does the long planned Lobo stands?

The DC's bounty hunter Lobo was once picked up in Green Tea Movie back in September.

Producer of Sherlock Holmes, Joel Silver tells the LA Times that, "I don't think he's going to do it now. The studio wants us and Guy to focus on making another Sherlock Holmes. So I think we're going to be doing that. But we're seeing what happens with this. Everybody is analyzing everything. It's all kind of happening right now as we talk. So we're trying to see if we can do something quickly with another movie. We have some ideas and some good story points."

So how will Lobo really stands now? Uphold until Ritchie finish the Sherlock Holmes sequel? Or simply, passed down to another director? Joel Silver suggested that the most possible way to settle it down now is by passing it to another director. Meanwhile, Sherlock Holmes may start its shooting again this summer.

SOURCES: Empire Online

KEANU REEVES' SCI FI FLICK WILL NOW HAS A DIRECTOR

Comments Tagged under Gabriele Muccino, Keanu Reeves, News Edition, Passengers

Gabriele Muccino has announced that he is in advanced talks to direct the Keanu Reeves latest sci-fi love story Passengers. The director has recently finished shooting Kiss Me Again, the sequel to The Last Kiss (Italian films by the way) and now is looking for options for the next project.

The script for Passengers, not to be confused by last year's Passengers (a thriller by Rodrigo Garcia with Anne Hathaway and Patrick Wilson), is penned by Jon Spaihts and currently funded by Morgan Creek Production.

Passengers, takes place years in the future on a long-range spaceship. A computer glitch awakens a lone man (Reeves) who, faced with 90 years of waiting for anyone else to pop out of deep freeze, wakes up a beautiful woman to stop him dying alone.

If everything is fine, shooting will kick off this summer.

SOURCES: Variety, Empire Online

January 30, 2010

HARRY POTTER GOES 3D

Comments Tagged under Clash Of The Titans, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, News Edition, Warner Bros.

Image via Wikipedia

The Hogwarts school is all going for a 3D experience. Yes, Warner Bros will convert the last two movies from the Harry Potter franchise into a 3D format. According to Heat Vision Blog, Warners has been testing footage from its upcoming Clash Of The Titans in 3D which was done so well that the executives have decided to incorporate the same into Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in 3D as well.

Warner however refused to confirm it. With Clash Of The Titans conversion made them a little bit excited, the conversion will caused the release date of Clash Of The Titans to be bumped a week to April 2 from March 26. Also, a reported $5 million will be used to convert each film to a 3D one.

Even so, the move to convert the last two Potter films to 3D will gave Warner a bigger sum of money as you can undeniably charging a bit extra for each 3D ticket. The remake of 1981 Laurence Olivier's similar title is expected to fetch Warner with about $200 million with the 3D, a mark that will certainly on to challenge 300's take.

WARNERS AND MORTAL KOMBAT AGAIN

Comments Tagged under Mortal Kombat, News Edition, Paul WS Anderson, Warner Bros.

Cover of Mortal Kombat: Annihilation

Warners Bros are looking and very keen to resurrect the Mortal Kombat franchise. Bloody Disgusting are reporting that Oren Uziel has been drafting a script and is now ready to be another reboot, and not the previously thought MK3: Devastation.

Till this day, Mortal Kombat is still a popular game among gamers. The original film on the franchise saw Paul WS Anderson made the film for a decent business in 1995 by topping the box office for three weeks and collected $70 million in end of the day. MK1 gave the fans something to cheer for. However, those ground of solid foundation were destroyed when the sequel, MK: Annihilation kicked in two years later with a total mess.

In June 2009, a bankruptcy court lawsuit saw Lawrence Kasanoff suing Midway, mentioning that a third film was in the works. However, Warner Bros. had bought most of Midway's assets, including Mortal Kombat, the next month. Chris Casamassa later reported that he would reprise his role as Scorpion and that filming would begin in September of the same year. Linden Ashby, who played Johnny Cage in the first film, stated in an interview on Soap Talk that he read the script and will reprise the role. - from Wikipedia

SOURCES: Empire Online, Bloody Disgusting, Wikipedia

SAM WORTHINGTON A DRACULA?

Comments Tagged under Alex Proyas, Dracula Year One, News Edition, Sam Worthington, Universal Pictures

Sam Worthington, a 33-year old Aussie who was seen as a minor player before last May's Terminator Salvation has now going for a bigger role. We have seen him in Avatar, playing a marine on a military expedition to Pandora and an upcoming role of Perseus, a son of god leading a human army to defeat Hades in Clash Of The Titans.

Now, Latino Review reports that the Avatar star is set to play Dracula in Alex Proyas' origin story, Dracula: Year Zero. Year Zero is reported to be an origin story that will stand on its own ground, away from the original stories from Bram Stoker's novels and instead "tells the tragic tale of how Vlad the Impaler, the legendary Romanian ruler who made a habit out of impaling his enemies on huge spikes (hence the name) and the figure who inspired a fair chunk of Stoker’s arch-villain, became the baddest bloodsucker of them all."

Early reports also point out that Year Zero will focus more as an epic love story filled with huge battles and a lead character who gives into evil for noble deed.

The production is still on its early days so nothing concrete here yet. In fact, this may be part of Universal's plan to resurrect their movie monsters one by one. This February, we will see how the revamped The Wolfman may looks like, while Frankenstein is also on planning with Guillermo del Toro has been attached for.

SOURCES: Latino Review, Empire Online

DREAMWORKS PREPARE FOR RACING DREAMS

Comments Tagged under Alex Kurtzman, DreamWorks, News Edition, Racing Dream, Roberto Orci

Image by GogDog via Flickr

A documentary film about kart racing is to be turned into a feature film with Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, the pair behind the writing board of Transformers and Star Trek, producing. According sources from Variety, a writer is due to be hired in the next weeks to give it a script. The project is entitled Racing Dream.

The original documentary will follow three young men competing in the World Karting Association's National Pavement Series. They eventually becomes successful drivers and launched their career towards a NASCAR series.

The project has been deemed as a new revolution as Hollywood studios are raing in to make documentaries film in wake of planned adaptations like King of Kong and Crazy Love.

More news soon about this project of course.

January 27, 2010

MOVIE REVIEW: THE SPY NEXT DOOR

Comments Tagged under Jackie Chan, LionsGate, Movie Archives 2010, The Spy Next Door

THE SPY NEXT DOOR (English / PG 13)

Genre: Comedy/Action/Family

Release Date: 15 January 2010

Distributor: LionsGate

Running Time: 88 mins.

Director: Brian Levant

Producers: Robert Simonds

Writer: Jonathan Bernstein, James Greer, Gregory Poirier

Casts: Jackie Chan, Magnus Scheving, Billy Ray Cyrus, George Lopez, Amber Valletta

Plot: "The Spy Next Door" stars Jackie Chan as Bob Ho, an undercover CIA superspy who decides to give up his career in espionage to settle down with his next-door neighbour and girlfriend, Gillian (Amber Valletta). But Bob has one more mission to complete before Gillian agrees to marry him: winning over her three opinionated kids. When Gillian suddenly has to leave town, Bob volunteers to babysit the children so he can earn their approval. But when one of the kids mistakenly downloads a top-secret formula from his computer, Bob's archenemy, a Russian terrorist, moves in for the attack, forcing Bob to juggle the roles of spy and prospective stepfather in the most challenging mission of his career.

THE VERDICT

This is outrageous and disappointing. Luckily, I have never put in any expectation when the Hollywood decided to put Jackie Chan in yet another movie that has gone out of his comfort zone. Jackie Chan has some impressive moment with Shinjuku Incident last year but now putting him into something else did no good at all. Here is why!

Mr Bob Ho (Jackie Chan) is a loan Chinese agent for the secret service CIA, decided to retire into a normal life to wed his girlfriend next door, Gillian (Amber Valletta) and to be a good father for her three children. While have to juggle the need to win over the heart of her three children, Bob will also need to face his archenemy, a Russian terrorist when one of the kids mistakenly downloads the terrorist's top-secret formula from his computer.

May I reinstate again, this kind of plot is no longer fresh. Borrowed and recycled exclusively from Vin Diesel's The Pacifier, the movie deals about an action star doubling his life as an agent or important figure to take care kids while juggling another problem on his other hand. Of course, the only twist in the movie like the others, a man that turned away his country. Basically there is no different than watching Vin Diesel's The Pacifier, or The Rock's Game Plan or even Ice Cube's Are We There Yet. The differences here are that Chan is an Asian and the movie never failed to impress us with his comedic-role and the stunts.

Recycled could be one hell of the problem that makes this movie not a brilliant stand-alone at all. Another problem is the movie lacks a proper script and followable plot. Script is not so funny and basically contains too much slapstick humour that does not serve much great deal after all. The plot is like a parody of Arnold Schwarzengger's True Lies, only to have a sloppy and sluggish dialog. Again, Jackie Chan seems to be struggling with the English but we love to watch him because of that, aren't we?

For the roles of acting, I think the only character that I felt amazing was the four-year-old Nora (played by Alina Foley). Nora is cute, peachy and witty. She is also the best character that can match up Bob Ho in the movie, partly due to her innocences and much affinity to Bob. The two other kids can be annoying at time but enjoyable, just like in The Pacifier. Jackie Chan is yet again predictable, portraying his bad English, typical action stunts and been comedic. Magnus Scheving's role as the Russian villain almost made me forgot that he is in fact an Icelandic. Magnus can really matched up with Jackie in terms of action and acrobatic skills. Read here and you will know why he is so good.

The Spy Next Door is just another form of dimension of The Pacifier. It is just been dumber and too slapstick compared to the latter and I find it hard to enjoy. Perhaps the comedy made my day a little or else, it is just another movie that is passable. Or if you are Jackie's fan, go ahead!!

THE RATING:

Story - 2.0 stars

Casts - 2.5 stars

Cinematography - 3.0 stars

Effects - 2.0 stars

OVERALL - 2.0 stars

GREEN-TEA-O-METER: 9.2

RENO REVIEWS: UP IN THE AIR

Comments Tagged under George Clooney, Movie Archives 2010, Reno, Up In The Air

Image via Wikipedia

UP IN THE AIR (English / PG 13)

Genre: Comedy/Drama

Release Date: 04 March 2010 (Early Reviews)

Distributor: Paramount Pictures

Running Time: 109 mins.

Director: Jason Reitman

Producers: Daniel Dubiecki, Jeffrey Clifford, Ivan Reitman, Jason Reitman

Writer: Sheldon Turner, Jason Reitman (screenplay); Walter Kim (book)

Casts: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman

Plot: From the director of "Thank You For Smoking" and "Juno", Jason Reitman brings a fresh comedy surrounding a human resource administrator (George Clooney) whose life up in the friendly skies becomes his only world as he works to reach his one-millionth frequent flyer mile. He is a corporate downsizing expert whose cherished life on the road is threatened just as he is on the cusp of reaching ten million frequent flyer miles and just after he's met the frequent-traveller woman of his dreams.

THE VERDICT

After the nightmare of ‘Burn after Reading’, I kinda forgot about George Clooney till I saw a book with familiar silhouette on the cover lying on the bookstore shelf titled ‘Up in the Air’. Okay…I told myself: let’s give it a try to watch it and BAM! It’s a nice movie!

As how Jason Reitman managed to tell a serious matter (teenage pregnancy) in ‘Juno’, he seems to do it again in ‘Up in the Air’, only this time with an even more depressing matter – unemployment. He has once again proven himself as a promising (philosophical) director by telling a story about a heavy theme so casual and effortlessly.

The whole story centers about Ryan Bingham (George Clooney), a career transition counselor, who used to travel around the states to give advice about career transition … well, in other words, firing people. What attracted me the most is his ‘backpacking’ philosophy about life. Basically, he chose a lifestyle of avoiding commitement and maintain casual relationship with people, because, for him, relationships are the heaviest things in life (backpack) that cause people to move slower and die faster.

As every believes or faiths that most people have, his philosophy and life style was questioned and challenged throughout the movie when he encountered with his young ambitious coworker Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick, the geek friend of Bella in Twilight) and his possible love interest Alex (Vera Farminga) who turned out to be someone’s wife. At the end, after being dumped by Alex, he stood in the airport terminal and the message is clear: a ‘backpacking’ life style is the safest kind of living way to avoid disappointment. It’s kinda sad, lonely, and … but well, it’s a dark comedy.

No lame jokes, just reality in our everyday life which we can view in a comedic way – thanks to the script writers who came out with a brilliant screenplay. The dialouges are enjoyful and easy to follow. Together with the original music score that helps us to look into the issue of unemployment and loneliness in a hmm.… delightful way, you’ll find yourself at the end to contemplate about possibility of choosing a ‘backpacking’ life like Ryan.

Casting wise, I can’t think of a better choice of actor who can fire people in a professionally charming way like George Clooney. My doubts about Anna Kendrick was dropped when I saw her being so naturally beside older stars despite of her young age. And for Vera Farminga, her acting was fair enough with sufficient chemistry with George Clooney. Another thing I wish to give credit for casting is that they actually find those unemployed people to be extras in the film, which gives more reality about the cruelty of current economy situation.

It’s a dark comedy/drama for your fullest entertainment when you’re getting sick with those lame comedies in box office (Old Dogs, Spy Next Doors etc). This is a quality piece of work blending entertainment and insight, drama and reality. My advice? Give it a try since it’s an awards season and you won’t get disappointed. Now, who want to be fired by George Clooney?

THE RATING:

Story - 4.0 stars

Casts - 4.0 stars

Cinematography - 3.5 stars

Effects - 3.0 stars

OVERALL - 4.0 stars

GREEN-TEA-O-METER: 15.1

AVATAR TAKES THE BIG RECORD

Comments Tagged under Avatar, Box Office, James Cameron, News Edition, Shrek 2, The Dark Knight, Titanic

It comes to no surprise that James Cameron's Avatar will take over the worldwide box office record from the counterpart's Titanic. Ticket price inflation, 3D and Imax hypes, and awesome reviews have all contribute to allow the Pandora sci-fi flick to pass and sinks the huge steam ship. So, the scenario is James Cameron is truly the king of the world by having two films on top of the world.

Over the weekend (January 22-24), Avatar took in another $34.9 million to stay at number one for its sixth week, beating previous 6th weekend record by Titanic's $25 million. The impressive run at top spot was enough to fend off competition from Legion (2nd, $17.5 million) and Tooth Fairy (4th, $14 million). The total stand for the sci-fi epic as on Sunday was $ 551.7 million - that's about $49 million to smash Titanic's domestic record. So, pundits have predicted that the record will likely be taken in the next within two weeks, just in time for Oscar raves. My prediction, if it holds on as this pace plus with a sure multiple Oscar nominations, the final gross may soaring up to $700 million.

Overseas number was even stellar. Raking in over $100 million, the film has become the top grossed movie on foreign market by eclipsing the initially unimaginable $1.24 billion. Last weekend tribute was largely from heavy markets like Italy, China and France.

Here is the rundown of the box office details of Avatar as of January 25:

And here is the comparison of box office performance between Avatar, Titanic, The Dark Knight and Shrek 2.

BO Comparison.egg on Aviary.

January 26, 2010

NEWS: INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS STORMS SAG

Comments Tagged under Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds, Jeff Bridges, Mo'Nique, News Edition, Quentin Tarantino, Sandra Bullock

Image via Wikipedia

Over the weekend, the Hollywood honoured the Basterds. Not just any, but the cast of Quentin Taratino's Inglourious Basterds won the Ensemble Cast award at this year's Screen Actor's Guild Award. In the mean time, the four runners at last week's Golden Globe winners won again for their respective acting categories, and that includes Christoph Waltz for his performance as Colonel Hans Landa in the fictional World War 2 epic.

Avatar as expected did not gained any ground from here as it is still the frontrunner for coming March's big event.

Here are the list of winners from the weekend's award for the movie section:

ENSEMBLE CAST

Inglourious Basterds

ACTOR IN LEADING ROLE
Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart)

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side)

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Mo'Nique (Precious: Based On The Novel "Push" By Sapphire)

STUNT ENSEMBLE
Star Trek

LIFE ACHIEVEMENT
Betty White

January 24, 2010

MOVIE REVIEW: OLD DOGS

Comments Tagged under Buena Vista, John Travolta, Movie Archives 2010, Old Dogs, Robin Williams

Image via Wikipedia

OLD DOGS (English / PG 13)

Genre: Comedy

Release Date: 07 January 2010

Distributor: Buena Vista

Running Time: 87 mins.

Director: Walt Becker

Producers: Andrew Panny, Peter Abrams, Robert Levy

Writer: David Diamond, David Weissman

Casts: John Travolta, Robin Williams, Kelly Preston, Seth Green, Lori Loughlin, Matt Dillon

Plot: Two best friends - one unlucky-in-love divorcee (Robin Williams) and the other a fun-loving bachelor (John Travolta) - have their lives turned upside down when they're unexpectedly charged with the care of six-year-old twins while on the verge of the biggest business deal of their lives. The not-so-kid-savvy bachelors stumble in their efforts to take care of the twins (newcomers Ella Bleu Travolta and Conner Rayburn), leading to one debacle after another, and perhaps to a new-found understanding of what's really important in life.

THE VERDICT

Old Dogs is a weird comedy that never cracked-out. The peoples behind Wild Hogs created another film with an adjective word in front to accompany an animal creature. Wild Hogs then, Old Dogs now and what's next. Because of that, it will be fair to compare between those two since both plays as a brainless entertainment that sucked down your intelligence.

Old Dogs is a movie that deals this two best friends dealing their mid-life crisis with different problems and attitudes. One is a flamboyant womanizer that has difficulty to hang on one relationship, the other is a business-oriented whom is also unlucky in love. However, things got a little upside down when they are unexpectedly charged with a 7-year-old twins while their ambitions to expand their business are on the tip of iceberg.

The story is funny but ultimately brainless. It is not disputed that Old Dogs is highly entertaining as well, while retaining some crude humors about family. It is still notably amazing that these two waning stars of Robin Williams and John Travolta still have some magical tricks to put a smile on the film. In fact, I think that the only good thing about this movie is that both tries very hard to leave a mark on you and in fact they did. I think watching this movie is never complete with big laughs.

There is not a clear path of theme displayed here. No thanks to its poor writing, a 87 minute movie has too much subplots to be cramped and followed. Indeed they make a decent amount share of time to advocate everything that they have thrown in, but when the script is just badly written, idiot and the smoothing flowable tune is lost, the watching experience can be difficult. Again, the story is predictable and almost as witless as it can be. The family friendly attempt is severely stained with hammy juvenile jokes that may result that some scenes are actually inappropriate for kids. So, the whole story is a total mess and even bear poop looks better.

Acting wise, the legends did some great job. Been funny and brainless, it is very easy not to forgive the two old dogs' performances in this flick. I mean, they are great actors but they did nothing to make the movie a more pleasing to watch. Perhaps, Seth Green is almost as annoying as his virtually high-pitched scream over gorillas although you may still his sarcasm still running around. The cameos in the form of Matt Dillon, Justin Long and Dax Shepard are amazingly funny.

If you want more brainless comedy, this is one for you. If you want to cheat your kids to watch this family-comedy, you are certainly most welcomed to do so. Otherwise, if your job is as a movie critics, then you should stayed away from this movie.

THE RATING:

Story - 1.5 stars

Casts - 3.0 stars

Cinematography - 2.0 stars

Effects - 2.0 stars

OVERALL - 2.0 stars

GREEN-TEA-O-METER: 8.4