Father Geek here at Austin Texas' Geek Headquarters Compound along with Robert Bernocchi in Rome; Ray Senior in Dublin; Simplicius Simplicissimus in Berlin; and from the crumbing Carpathian castle walls that pass for AICN's Eastern Europe offices, Ethan. Buuuuuut before we get to them and all their news here is a bit of pics from Nuanda on the left bank in Paris...
The French site cinemovies.fr has A LOT of very cool new pics!!!
-"Corto Maltese", the adaptation of the french comic (looks beautiful) Click Here for the Coolness. They also have the trailer of that movie: You Can See All The Cool Action Here.
-"Love Liza", with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Kathy Bates, And The Pics Are Here.
-"The Magdalene Sisters". That's the very first pics of the new movie by Peter Mullan: See Them All Here.
-And last but not least, "Spun". That movie seems incredible!! Look at Mena Suvari and John Leguizamo!!!!! By Simply Clicking Here. They have also got a crazy clip from that movie with Mickey Rourke.... whaouw: See Mick do his worst Here.
That's all. Hope you'll enjoy this stuff!!!
Nuanda
Father Geek back, WOW... does that CORTO MALTESE clip kick ass, or what? Man I can't wait to see more of that... terrific! Now, here's Robert and the rest of our Euro-crew for this week's regular report...
Hi people. Here we are with a new issue of the Euro Aicn column, while I just finished watching Italy lose badly to South Korea in the world
championships. To help all the Italian readers to think to something other than football, we offer this week the usual bunch of news from Europe
and another review of our great Ethan. Enjoy!
ShowbizIreland has pics of Dark Eagle...
Hi Guyzzz
ShowBizIreland.com landed another global exclusive when we got invited to the set of Dark Eagle in Dublin starring Aidan Quinn.
Dark Eagle, a movie about Benedict Arnold (Aidan Quinn) during the US War of Independence, is yet another film being shot on location in Dublin Castle.
Other actors starring in the movie include famous TV shrink Kelsey Grammer aka Frasier Crane playing George Washington, Flora Montgomery, Tom Murphy and Robert Price. The movie is being directed by Mikael Salomon.
See our exclusive photos from the set by: Clicking Right Here Now
Thanx... Ray Senior
Charles Provost tells us something about Alison Doody... The lovely Irish actress and model Alison Doody (Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade, A View to a Kill, Taffin) has joined the cast of “The Actors”, starring Michael Caine, Miranda Richardson, Michael Gambon and Dylan Moran. Ms Doody will play her own role, in an award ceremony scene. This will be Alison Doody's first movie after a break of 8 years.
Wanna know who are the winners of the German Film prizes? Here is the list...
Hello,
Yesterday (June 14) the 52nd German Film Prizes were awarded to the following films and people at the Tempodrom in Berlin:
The 52nd German Film Prizes
- Best Film : "Nirgendwo in Afrika" (Caroline Link, Film Award in Gold)...
"Halbe Treppe" (Andreas Dresen, Film Award in Silver)...
"Heaven" (Tom Tykwer, Film Award in Silver)
- Best Documentary : "Black Box BRD" (Andres Veiel)
- Best Children- and Youth-Film : "Das Sams" (Ben Verbong)
- Best Foreign Film : "Die Klavierspielerin" (Michael Haneke)
- Best Director : Caroline Link ("Nirgendwo in Afrika")
- Best Actor : Daniel Brühl ("Nichts bereuen", "Das weisse Rauschen",
"Vaya con dios")
- Best Actress : Martina Gedeck ("Bella Martha")
- Best Supporting Actor : Matthias Habich ("Nirgendwo in Afrika")
- Best Supporting Actress : Eva Mattes ("Das Sams")
- Outstanding individual achievements :
- Hana Müllner (editing, "Der Felsen")...
- Niki Reiser (music, "Nirgendwo in Afrika")...
- Gernot Roll (director of photography, "Nirgendwo in Afrika")
- Honorary Award : Ottokar Runze (producer and director)
- Audience Award for best film : "Der Schuh des Manitu" (Michael Herbig)
- Audience Award for best actor/actress : Michael Herbig
Ciao, Simplicius Simplicissimus
Last but not least, an Insomnia review by the guy you love to hate, Ethan...
When it comes to Warner Bros you gotta make some jokes. Alfonso Cuaron seems to be directing the Harry Potter sequel. He is probably hired because of his LITTLE PRINCESS fame. But, in the third installement, Harry should grow up, doesn`t he? What if Warners hired Cuaron because of his Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN fame? What if they want Harry and his pal to lose it with Hermione? What if they hire Akerlund for the fourth?
But still, Warner Bros keep surprising me. Overall they are my favourite studio. I like their conservative approach. The only thing that bothers me is that they got too reactionary. It feels like they are always a step to late. Most of the greatest directors meet the Warners after their star is defined. Look at Ridley Scott`s latest phase (he made BLADE RUNNER for Warners years ago but I`m talking about his post-GLADIATOR revival). Warners approach him for MATCHSTICK MEN when his energy starts to fade. Look at Norrington, one of the greatest directors around. He will make AKIRA for Warners in five years. And there are many other writers and helmers who get to Warners when they achieve name recognition.
Warner`s only authentic finds are The Wachowskis. In the world of major releases Darren Aronofsky and Christopher Nolan can be treated as Warner`s finds since their major debuts will be marked by the shield.
Nolan`s MEMENTO was a gimmick. It was revolutionary for its` twisted narrative. It was great for its` insightful script which could work even if done straight. And Guy Pearce. Never forget Guy Pearce, one of the greatest actors around.
Nolan was facing Carol Reed`s tragedy. He made a debut that can`t be ever matched by his other films. Reed made great films but none matched THE THIRD MAN. This happened to Nolan. I felt this coming. I even said that in my AICN comment on MEMENTO. But still, I couldn`t anticipate the greatest twist of all.
Nolan made a simple and common movie. But simple and common in a bad way. With INSOMNIA you can`t treat him like the tragic prince of contemporary cinema whose first film shaded the other great ones. INSOMNIA is not a great movie. Not by Nolan`s standards. Not by common standards. Not by Warner Bros standards.
It is always peculiar to comment such large projects. I guess Warner Bros executives read tens opf spec scripts a day. So when they make a 50 million remake of the Scandinavian thriller (I missed original INSOMNIA), you inevitably expect something special. Something very special.
But you end up with a 50 million Al Pacino movie that looks like a poor `direct-to-video` Michale Biehn sleuth routine. I have nothing against this kind of expression. It`s just that 50 million Al Pacino flicks don`t have the ammount of violence and sex that you can see when Biehn is around.
This is why I felt let down by this film which is essentially pointless excercise in accuracy. If you dig Kaminsky`s genre theory, check out his chapter on Siegel. He has a part there about Friedrich Durenmatt`s writing which inspired the mythos of the lone detective sacrificing everything to solve the case. Sean Penn`s THE PLEDGE was based on that writer. Siegel movies did the same thing in action mode. INSOMNIA falls flat between these glorious examples of detective cinema.
The script is casual and underwritten. It lacks the plot and characters. It lacks cool detective lines that break the suspect for Al Pacino. Remember how well it was done in HEAT or even in SEA OF LOVE? Al Pacino is lost within this script. This is why he goes for the obvious and whines here and there and uses make up. He is great all by himself but we need more out of it unless you want INSOMNIA to be a one night stand of the old character actor doing detective lingo.
Robin Williams is as disgusting as always. I hate the guy. This is why I hated the murderer. But even if Williams played Joe Hallenbeck I would hate him. It`s just between me and him. That`s all.
Nolan is not particularly crafty when it comes to basic visuals like staging set-pieces and handling the space. His DP Wally Pfister achieves a lot with lights but nothing can compare a wonderfully cut film. Sadly, Nolan`s incompetence in this field may prove to be a great shortcoming when his ability to perusade people he`s an indie genius fades. He won`t be able to hack thrillers. He may end up disgustingly sad unless he winds up with a great and twisted script anytime soon and the Howard Hughes biopic doesn`t feel too edgy.
There are many authors who do major fillers but used to make cult indie flicks nobody saw. Nolan is the man known for great indie flicks whose clumsy major fillers nobody wants to see. That`s bizarre.
God bless, Ethan
