Father Geek here with an extra long Euro-AICN for this Monday morning. Edgard, Ozymandias and crew have really covered the whole continent this week. But first here's a couple of bits of news sent to Father Geek from Germany a few hours ago...

1.) The German director Wim Wenders will shoot a film about America next year. He is writting the script with US-Author Sam Shepard with the workingtitle «In America», the 55-years old Wenders said at the "Hofer Filmtage". The shooting should begin next spring. He's been on location shooting Buena Vista Social Club in Los Angeles. Wenders will use digital technics to shoot the new film. Together with Shepard, Wenders wrote the script to «Paris, Texas» in the early 80's.

2.) The Hollywood-Actor Harvey Keitel was in Berlin on Sunday night, to re-open the "Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie" (engl. German Movie- and TV-Academy) at it's new location at "Potsdamer Platz".

This news are taken from my german movie-page named FilmUniversum (engl. Movie-Universe).

Well, Father Geek back again, here's Edgard and his latest report from our Paris offices...

EURO AICN

Hi folks... Edgard here with the latest news from Euroland.

Some news on the new films from David Cronenberg, Michael Winterbootom, Pedro Almodovar and Terry Gilliam (not good news on that one unfortunately). And also some reviews, CROUCHING TIGER... again (from Greece), and O BROTHER... and MALENA (from Italy) - these last two being sent by Ozymanias and his spies. But before going on our weekly European tour, let me share some feelings with you :

Halloween is going international and it sucks !! You see, I lived my first Halloween 10 years ago exactly when I was living in the States. I had heard about it in Europe but never celebrated it before then. And it was great, I really had a blast. Since I came back from the US of A, I always missed it a lot... but for the last few years, it seems that "they" (who ?) are trying to make Halloween popular here too... I was walking in the streets of Paris today and there's not one single store without some pumpkin, some big spiders or ugly witches on their windows... It looks like Halloween, but it doesn't taste like it as no one really cares about it... No kid is "trick-or-treating"... And if you organise a "Halloween" party, you will get people dressed as clowns because they think Halloween and Carnaval are the same... Once again, it's purely commercial and it really hurts my Halloween memories... What's next, making European Thanksgiving ? I don't get it... we have so many European fun traditions and still there's a need to copy what's done on the other side of the Atlantic. Hollywood remakes badly all the good European movies for money. We remake badly a cool American celebration for money. Of course, some can argue that Halloween has a European history, a long long time ago, and we're just taking it back (don't laugh, I read that somewhere in a very serious magazine).... yeah, maybe... but I doubt that they were putting pumpkins and spiders everywhere then. It's not a loss for everyone though : Mc Donald's can use the same Halloween Happy Meals toys here too now... Good for them. Too bad for us.

FRANCE

* From Screendaily, some news on the new "psychological-horror" film from David Cronenberg : Ralph Fiennes and Miranda Richardson are to co-star in SPIDER, a $12m psychological thriller by director David Cronenberg that he will start shooting later this year in London. UGC International of France is handling foreign sales duties on Spider, Cronenberg’s first feature project since he made the sci-fi horror eXistenZ for Alliance Atlantis. Spider is scripted by Patrick McGrath as an adaptation of his best selling novel of the same name. The book, which the New York Times described as "a classic of horror," tells the story of a man prematurely released from an asylum who attempts to reconstruct his tortured past in the East End of London.

* It's LE GOUT DES AUTRES (a great film, one of the winners of the French box office in 2000), directed by Agnes Jaoui, that will represent France for the Oscar of Best Foreign Film (if selected by the Academy of course).

* Three years after LE TEMPS RETROUVE (Time Regained), John Malkovich is making another movie with Chilian director Raul Ruiz. LES AMES FORTES is now shooting in the South of France and is adapted from a Jean Giono novel. Other actors are Laetitia Casta, Frédéric Diefenthal and Arielle Dombasle.

UK

* From Empire Online, some news on everyone's favorite director : Joel Schumacher (I personally can't wait to read the full interview in Empire) and THE LOST BOYS sequel (erm... THE LOST GIRLS ?? what the f$#!..??) : It's been over a decade since the release of cult teen movie The Lost Boys, but now Warner Bros is planning a spin-off movie, The Lost Girls. Speaking to Empire magazine this month, director Joel Schumacher explained the set-up. 'There's always been a desire at Warner Bros to do a sequel,' Schumacher says, 'and I always felt there was no sequel to Lost Boys because, of course, the Lost Boys are all dead, and unlike Friday The 13th and Halloween and Freddie Krueger, we're not going to bring them all back from the dead. 'So what I suggested to them was that they do Lost Girls, because I thought girl vampires on motorcycles would be sexy and funny and something that I'd like to see. They are working on that and they made me executive producer because I made the first one, but I won't be directing.'

* Don't forget to keep an eye on the official website of THE CLAIM (previously called KINGDOM COME), the new film from Michael Winterbottom, it's extremly well made if you like to know EVERYTHING about the production of a film. Just to remind you, this film star Wes Bentley, Milla Jovovich, Peter Mullan, Nastassja Kinski and Sarah Polley. Click here to see it yourself : http://www.theclaimmovie.com/

BELGIUM

* From Screendaily, some details on the results of the Flanders Film Festival : Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu’s Amores Perros took the Grand Prize of the Flemish Community at the 27th Flanders International Film Festival in Ghent. Other prize winners included Lukas Moodysson’s Together, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Faithless. A big local winner was Pleure Pas Germaine, directed by Alain de Halleux, which took three awards. The competition, which focuses on the impact of music on film, was presided over by an international jury including producers Mace Neufeld and Sally Hibbin, composers Elia Cmiral and Henny Vrienten and writer-director Christopher Hampton. Guests attending the festival included Morgan Freeman, who received the Joseph Plateau Lifetime Achievement Award. Hans Zimmer attended to receive the Joseph Plateau Award for Excellence in Music. Other highlights at this year’s edition included Titus and Chicken Run, which closed the festival. In all, the event registered more than 90,000 admissions, a slight increase on last year.

AUSTRIA

* Another Festival ended, this time in Vienna, here're the results, still from Screendaily : Goran Rebic's take on the Balkan war, The Punishment, won the award for best Austrian film at the Vienna International Film Festival (October 13-25). Shot in the face of anti-Serbian sentiment, the documentary by the Serbian-born, Vienna-raised film-maker focuses on NATO’s bombing of Belgrade and the subsequent devastation. The Standard Award, selected by readers of a local publication, went to Agnes Varda's Les Glaneurs Et La Glaneuse (The Gleaners And I). Suzhou River picked up the international critics FIPRESCI award. This year's Viennale recorded a slight rise in admissions, reaching 65,400. Guests this year included leading local film-makers or talent such as Romuald Karmakar, Tom Tykwer and Franka Potente.

ITALY

* Italy's prestigious St. Vincent Prize for Italian cinema, scheduled to be held this week, has been postponed due to the heavy flooding that has swamped north-western Italy in the last couple of weeks. Felice Laudadio, director of the Valle d'Aosta-based St. Vincent festival, said it would be "inopportune" to hold the event. Instead, the 42nd edition of the festival will be held from December 11-16. "We took this decision in view of the immense tragedy that has struck northern Italy and in particular the Valle d'Aosta, where there have been numerous deaths, hundreds of wounded and thousands made homeless," said Laudadio, who is also president of Cinecitta Holding and director of the Taormina film festival. Films competing for St. Vincent's prestigious Grolla d'oro prize include:

I Cento Passi (Marco Tullio Giordana)

La Lingua Del Santo (Carlo Mazzacurati)

Il Partigiano Johnny (Guido Chiesa)

Sud Side Stori (Roberta Torre)

Denti (Gabriele Salvatores)

Qui Non E' Il Paradiso (Gianluca Tavarelli)

Il Manoscritto Del Principe (Roberto Ando)

Sangue Vivo (Edoardo Winspeare)

Lontano In Fondo Agli Occhi (Giuseppe Rocca)

La Seconda Ombra (Silvano Agosti)

Il Mnemonista (Paolo Rosa)

Placido Rizzotto (Pasquale Scimeca)

Rosa E Cornelia (Giorgio Treves)

Gostanza Da Libbiano (Paolo Benvenuti)

Nella Terra Di Nessuno (Gianfranco Giagni)

Tutto L'Amore Che C'e (SergioRubini)

Laudadio said two more titles would be added to the competition list. Giuseppe Tornatore's highly-anticipated film Malena, which had been scheduled to premiere out-of-competition, will also be included. "This festival is designed to promote Italian cinema abroad," said Laudadio. "It's an opportunity for foreign critics to see Italian films which they often do not have time to see at festivals such as Cannes or Venice." (from Screendaily)

SPAIN

* Okay... this one seems too crazy to be true, but why not ?? I found it on allocine.fr, a really cool French website on cinema : it seems that John Travolta will play "the mother" (don't ask) of Laetitia Casta in the next film of Pedro Almodovar : UN AMOR... OTRA VEZ. French actress Bernadette Laffont could also join the cast. Jean-Paul Gaultier will take care of the costumes (he worked already with Almodovar in KIKA) and Madonna could sing one of the songs of the movie (while the Gipsy Kings could take care of the soundtrack). Coooool.

SERBIA

* And to finish our little European tour, some box office news from Serbia : Gladiator has become the first foreign title to pass the 100,000 admissions mark in Serbia so far this year. The film, released by Vans which handles UIP product in Serbia, has sold 105,000 tickets on eight prints after 10 weeks on release. The only other non-domestic title to come close to this tally during 2000 is The Matrix with 92,000 admissions. Two Serbian titles have also passed the 100,000 mark: Sky Hook and The Secret Of The Family Treasure. (from Screendaily)

***************************

OZYMANDIAS CORNER

* From Ananova.com: Filming on Terry Gilliam's latest adventure The Man Who Killed Don Quixote has been abandoned after doctors told his star French actor Jean Rochefort to undergo immediate surgery. The £20 million production has come to an abrupt halt in Northern Spain when Rochefort was hurt, apparently injuring his back dismounting from a horse.Doctors examined him and he requires an operation to repair two slipped discs. Johnny Depp, who also stars in the film with his real life girlfriend French actress Vanessa Paradis, has left Spain until director Gilliam decides on the film's future. Gilliam first encountered major production problems while making Brazil which went heavily over budget due to "technical problems". He suffered a similar fate in Spain while directing The Adventures of Baron Munchhausen. A source on the set of The Man Who Killed Don Quixote said: "Terry is understandably very perplexed by developments. He's a sensible man but it's as though somebody up there, or rather down there doesn't like him."

(Note from Edgard, on a French website they said the shooting might be shut down by insurances if Rochefort is not back very soon on the set. Johnny Depp caims he can arrange his agenda to finish the film, but Vanessa Paradis could walk - and be replaced - if shooting doesn't start again soon. And even if Rochefort comes back quickly, will he be able to ride horses as his role requires ??)

* This one from Peoplenews.com - wouldn't it be freaky for TJ to be back in the Bond family after nearly 4 decades!!?!?!?!?! Tom Jones is being lined up to sing the theme tune to the next James Bond film. Despite rumours Robbie Williams was set to perform the title track, Peoplenews.com claims the film's producers want Jones, who sang the song for Thunderball in 1965. Peoplenews quotes a source within the Bond production team as saying: "It's early days, but we are desperately keen to have Jones do it." "The recent themes have not been huge successes but Tom Jones is a legend and the song would almost certainly be massive". The next Bond film, which is said to be provisionally titled Beyond the Ice, is not due to be released until 2002.

* According to ananova.com it's true that everyone want a part of the excellent Billy Elliott's director......: Hollywood is keen to attract Billy Elliot director Stephen Daldrey. But friends of the new golden boy of British cinema say he will resist all attempts to transplant him in Los Angeles. An associate told Ananova: "The money is of no consequence. Everyone loves the idea of a gigantic pay day but he made Billy for next to nothing. "The financial rewards were of no consequence then and nothing has changed. "He likes the idea of playing around with a bigger budget but doesn't want to have £50 million and Sylvester Stallone waiting for him on touch down - that's not his scene." Daldrey is now being courted to direct Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore in The Hours. Paramount Studios and co-producers Scott Rudin and Robert Fox are making the David Hare-scripted adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize winning Michael Cunningham novel. The story is a tribute to writer Virginia Woolf and covers three different periods of the 20th century all linked by Woolf's classic novel Mrs Dalloway. One of the characters is Woolf herself, another is a pregnant Los Angeles housewife in 1949 reading the book, while the third segment is set in New York in the Nineties.

* And this one from our guy in Italia - news of Loser......: I had an inteview with Jason Biggs today. He is coming in Italy to promote his movie "Loser". He is a very nice and kind person. In the conversation he said he doesn't want to be confined in the teenage movie genre, even if he likes films as American Pie. So, i tried to know something more about the developments of the sequel. I read an interview to Shannon Elizabeth where she said that the producers wanted to begin the shooting on november. So, i thought that at least now we have a finished script. But Jason Biggs told me that he hasn't seen yet the last version of the screenplay, as well as the other actors involved in American Pie. He also said that he would be very happy to be part of the sequel because he loved so much to work with the troupe who made the first movie, but he wants to see the script before to make his choice . He thinks that American Pie was so special in his life and he doesn't want to disappoint the fans of the film.

Robert Bernocchi

La Finestra sul Cortile

* This is tres interesting... Dubliner Colin Farrell is due to team up with Bruce Willis for Harts War and now it looks like he's snatched one our from under the nose of Jim Carrey...... My man Santa has the story: You've probably caught this already, but The Irish Times just published an interview with Dubliner Colin Farrell (best known in the states for TIGERLAND, best known here for his stint on the BALLYKISSANGEL series). In regards to his newly acquired star-status, Michael Dwyer writes that next month Farrell with reunite "with director Schumacher for PHONE BOOTH, originally intended for Jim Carrey, as a publicist who answers a pay phone and finds an assassin on the other end of the line." I could well be wrong, but I don't recall anything being made of Carrey dropping out of PHONE BOOTH, and certainly nothing about Farrell landing (yet another) star role. All I know about PHONE BOOTH is what I've read on the Screenwriter's Utopia site, and while it seems like the sort of script to benefit from a fairly low-key, understated approach (something, to put politely, we have not come to expect from Carrey or Schumacher), I was surprised to read this turnabout. Personally, I think this is a simple mistake on Michael Dwyer's part, but I'm sure you'll make more sense of it than I.

Santa

L8r, Ozymandias.

Ain't It Cool News - Ireland/UK Office, Penthouse Suite, Ozymandias Towers, Dublin, Ireland.

Mail me @ ozymandias@dublin.com

*******************************************

REVIEWS

* From our man in Greece, Vassilis, the review of the much discussed Ang Lee's film (btw, great to hear someone from Greece... send us more news from over there !)

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon came out in Greece on Friday, followed by very positive reviews from most critics, something unheard of for that conservative "highly cultured" bunch. They are the same people that hated "The Matrix" for its "worshiping the american ideal" and such twaddle. I had read all the hype in aintitcool, but these guys declared CTHD as "the only kung-fu art movie", so I thought it must be at least a masterpiece.

Let me say first that I agree somewhat with Ethan's review, although for different reasons. The screening I went to with 3 friends of mine, was full of people who really wanted to love the film. There were even cheers when the first fight started. Most of them started laughing though, when the characters begun exchanging taoisms and ethical arguments. For me, these came out as attempts to splice the movie with meaning. They didn't seem integral to the plot, as with the Matrix. Maybe I am not used to kung-fu movies, but seeing a character fly off with an "up up and away" posture and then talking about life as an illusion didn't really work. Also, the flashback sequence really confused all of my friends. I had to explain to a whole row of people during the break (amazingly stupid greek cinemas do that in the middle of the movie so people can have a smoke!) that this was indeed a flashback sequence and not plot development...

Now, to disagree with Ethan, I did not think the only good thing was the fights. As a matter of fact, I felt they could have used somewhat less wiring. The fight between the trees looked to me so awkward, that I could picture the wires attached to the actors... Of course most of them still looked beautiful, especially the ones between Ziyi and Yeoh. And now to the parts I loved (careful, many spoilers here).

The cinematography has to be the most beautiful this side of Gladiator. The desert scenes, the cave interior in the end, the desert hideout and the mountain all haunt my memory since Friday. Also, the face, style and overall performance of Ziyi (forgive spelling) blew my socks off. I could be watching this girl talking to a wall for hours! Michelle Yeoh also gave a wonderful performance,as most of the actors/actresses. I loved the fact that a character dies in the end and he/she's not saved in the nick of the moment. I also loved the lesbian connotations between Ziyi and the Fox, the feelings Ziyi had for Chow Yun-Fat (equal parts hating, admiring and clearly sexually attracted to him), the jealousy shown from Yeoh, the love shown from the young guy to Ziyi, all expressed with the simpliest of looks.

Storywise, the movie was trying to compress an epic in 2 hours and overall succeeded. There seems to be backstory we never saw, but it doesn't matter,as it is not crucial for the plot development. My favourite scenes are the neat ending and the kick-ass fight in the inn. I guarantee you'll never expect that ending :) . I never thought the story hard to follow (although my mates did), it flowed effortlessly and smoothly.

In the end, I felt the movie was some steps away from being a masterpiece. The obvious "philosophizing" and some equally obvious wire stunts took away my suspension of disbelief for some parts, which is always bad. However, the acting, photography, plot and especially that amazing actress called Zhang Ziyi elevate the film to a great piece of work.

Greetings from the land of sun and olive-oil (yukk)

Vassilis

* An excellent first time AICN review from our man Phil Connors.... Seems to have a lot of time on his hands..... Wonder why? Anyhew... He takes a look at one our US friends still haven't gotten their hands on !

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Something happened in late 1997, something so profound it sent portentous tremors from the heart of Hollywood to the outer reaches of the burgeoning Serbian film community….

It occurred on the set of ‘Out of Sight’. Steven Soderbergh, a young director full to brimming with talent, was on his last chance. Coming off the back of three (commercial) duds - Schizopolis (1996), Gray's Anatomy (1996) and Underneath (1995) - he was under the cosh to make this one count. He had, as his major star, one George Clooney, an actor who had thus far failed to live up to towering public expectation, having starred, coincidentally, in a trio of duds - Peacemaker, The (1997), Batman & Robin (1997) and One Fine Day (1996). The tension in the air was palpable. The sexual tension was even more palpable. Lopez was mincing around the set and Steven and George had woodies so big they were on the verge of having a swordfight. (OK, that’s just slanderous, but what the hey, I’m Irish). The event goes something as follows…..

‘And….ACTION!’

Clooney: >

Soderbergh, flinging the megaphone to the ground – CUUUUUUUUUUUUTTTTTTTTTTT!

Clooney:

What’s the problem?

Soderbergh, so frustrated he’s on the verge of tears –

George. I’m going to say this One. Last. Time. You listening? STOP. WOBBLING. YOUR FUCKING. HEAD.

And the rest, folks, is history.

OK, so I made that up, but it’s important. In order to talk about how absolutely fantastic O Brother is, I have to talk about how absolutely fantastic Clooney is, as Ulysses Everett McGill. Ever since he stopped ‘wobbling his fucking head’, he can do no wrong. Thin Red Line. Three Kings. Perfect Storm (commercially, I hasten to add)….he has well and truly arrived. In O Brother, Where Art Thou?, he is quite simply wonderful.

The Coen Brothers, in case you didn’t know, are Gods. Joel and Ethan have consistently delivered intelligent, funny, surreal and downright brilliant films since Blood Simple opened quietly in ’84. Look at their back-catalogue for crying out loud. Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Miller’s Crossing, Barton Fink, The Hudsucker Proxy, Fargo, The Big Lebowski….need I say more?

O Brother, Where Art Thou? is ‘loosely’ based on Homer’s Odyssey – and by ‘loosely’ I mean in the same way as Fargo was a ‘true’ story. McGill (Clooney), Pete (John Turturro) and Delmar (Tim Nelson) are chain gang escapees. They are fleeing a particularly malevolent trooper and his cronies, racing against the clock to recover a buried fortune. And that, dear reader, is about as conventional as it gets. What begins as a fairly standard ‘prisoners on the run’ flick soon becomes something only the Coens could define (and I’d imagine even they would be hard-pressed). God figures, Satan figures, Fat Men Yelling, Cows In Strange Places, Genius Black Guitar Players, Soggy Bottoms, Sirens, Dapper Dan Hair Wax, Toads, Ku Klux Klan Busby Berkley musical numbers, John Goodman (er…you can stop eating now chief) Holly Hunter, Fantastic Country And Western Tunes (Yes, you read it correctly – Fantastic - I couldn’t believe it myself)…the proverbial tip of the iceberg. If you don’t leave O Brother with the biggest, goofiest grin on your face, you’re either dead or in denial. I’m not going to give away specifics (to anyone below who insists on screaming ‘This review SUCKS! Were are the details?) - films should be enjoyed moment to moment, as opposed to nodding wryly every time you see ‘that bit’ you saw 18 times on the Net before the film opened.

Clooney, as I alluded to earlier on, is a revelation – his Ulysses is a hopelessly vain yarn-spinner whose verbal gymnastics are matched by a Keaton-esque physicality and charm. Turturro as Pete is…well, what do you want me to say? He’s brilliant as usual… Are you surprised? Tim Nelson as Delmar, aside from looking uncannily like Stephen Baldwin, is superb as the warm-hearted yokel who desperately wants his farm back. As a trio, I have rarely seen such a cohesive dynamic – they play beautifully off one another. The frequent cameos are a treat, the Coens again weaving an intricate pastiche of personalities and scenarios together seamlessly.

Jesus, I’m gushing. Frankly, I can’t gush enough. So, en summaire? Hmmmmm.

A Surrealist Musical Greek Allegory With Cows, Hair Wax and Broom-Wielding Midgets…?

That’s about as close as I can get. Just GO, goddammit. And tell your friends.

10 out of 10.

Phil Connors, Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania – Day 6,422. (Today, I learnt how to write the Chinese Alphabet backwards. With my ear.) Write me at philmcdarby@yahoo.com

* And this one is also from our man in Italia, Robert - as he points out at the end this one could be a serious Oscar contender early in 01:

Malèna (from director Giuseppe Tornatore)

Review by Robert Bernocchi

1940. In a small sicilian city, while Mussolini is declaring war against England and France, Renato, a fourteen year old boy, falls in love with the beautiful Malèna (Monica Bellucci), who is married and twenty eight. Although he won't get in touch with her, his actions will change the woman's life, who will fall in disgrace after the death of her husband. So, the males of the city desire her and the women hate her, but she chooses to become a prostitute for the nazi soldiers. Giuseppe Tornatore comes back to the themes which made so popular Nuovo Cinema Paradiso (Oscar for the best foreign language film in 1989). So we have the Sicily of the past seen through the eyes of a young boy, whose interest is focused on a woman rather than on movies. Tornatore is trying to achieve a difficult and ambitious goal: to make a classic movie which describes Italy with its beauties and problems, as great filmakers like Fellini, Visconti and Germi made in the fifties and in the sixties. But Tornatore loses his bet and falls miserely. Monica Bellucci is just an object (very pretty, but her "talents" are not a surprise) in the hands of the director, not an interesting and deep character as it would have been necessary. Monica Bellucci is very popular in Italy thanks to an "artistic" bestseller calendar. I think that this movie has the same aim: to exploit her image and to collect a lot of money by the voyeuristic interests of people. The problem is that it is sold as a work of art. Malèna starts as a comedy and becomes a ridiculous melodrama, with a very stupid surprise at the end. What is really hard to accept is Renato dreaming himself with Malèna playing classic scenes of movies like Stagecoach, Tarzan and King Kong. I read that Miramax will cut ten minutes of footage for the international version (probably some erotic scenes). Even if i didn't enjoy this movie, i think that the Weinsteins will do a good job to make Malèna a good contender for the Oscars (just remember what they did with Roberto Benigni).

Robert Bernocchi

La Finestra sul Cortile

If you too have a review or some news to share, send it to the EURO AICN Offices in Paris at euro-aicn@yahoo.com