Day: October 18, 2010

The Jolie-Cameron 3D Cleopatra + Bardot for President? + Hollywood Round-up 10/19

By Jason Apuzzo. • Red finished only second at the box office this past weekend, and I would be more pleased about that if it weren’t for the fact that Jackass 3D finished at #1, taking in some $50 million. I can’t even begin to describe how depressing that is. Silver lining: at least we won’t have to hear more bloviating about how Willis and Stallone have ‘revived the action genre.’

• Easily the juiciest rumor out of Hollywood late last week was the potential pairing of Angelina Jolie and James Cameron on a huge, 3D Cleopatra biopic epic – with the project to be based on Stacy Schiff’s book, Cleopatra: A Life. There are about a thousand different things I could say on this subject, but here’s what holds me back: the fact that James Cameron (or one of his many doubles) is currently attached to about a 1000 different projects right now, so who knows whether this particular one will ever happen? I’ve otherwise embedded a video above of Stacy Schiff describing her biography of Cleopatra. There are several concerns I have about her approach – perhaps you can guess them? – but there’s not much more to say, really, until this proposed Jolie-Cameron pairing becomes an actual, going concern. [Jolie, incidentally, just got her film permit back to shoot her indie film drama in Bosnia.] Also: I can only imagine how impatient Fox’s executives must be right now regarding their Avatar sequels …

Brigitte Bardot in 3D.

• Brigitte Bardot is back in the news. Bardot is thinking of running for President of France, because Nicholas Sarkozy apparently hasn’t kept his promise to crack down on the ritual Islamic practice of slaughtering animals for halal meat (!). She also thinks Carla Bruni is “as beautiful as she is badly brought up,” and that Sarah Palin is “disconcertingly stupid.” Ouch. I’ve always been a big fan of BB – what male isn’t? – but there’s such a thing as retiring gracefully, and BB perhaps should think about more elegantly easing her way off the stage …

In the spirit of 3D film projects centered around glamorous women, however, I’ve put up a 3D picture of France’s great blonde for our readers’ general delectation. You’ll need your red/blue anaglyphic 3D glasses to enjoy this picture properly.

• In other news on the Political front, Oliver Stone does another interview about Wall Street 2; Shia LaBeouf is apparently interested in playing Lee Atwater in College Republicans; Iranian dissident filmmaker Jafar Panahi’s The Accordian just opened the Abu Dhabi Film Festival; and McG apparently wants to do a movie about Christopher Columbus. McG?! This improbable project would apparently be done “300-style” and would be funded by Virgin’s Richard Branson, who must a lot of money to burn. [Sigh.]

• It now seems that the Christian audience did not go out in droves to see Disney’s Secretariat. This doesn’t surprise me, because there’s actually very little Christian content in the film. As I’ve said before, Disney really should’ve marketed this film more to women.

• Peter Jackson’s Hobbit films have finally been greenlit, and there are already casting rumors floating around. You know what I’m even more interested in seeing, though? A little Norwegian indie flick called The Troll Hunter that just got picked up for distribution by Magnolia and is getting all sorts of buzz. I’ve embedded the trailer below – it’s looks cheeky, provocative and thrilling.

We’ve been covering these little indie sci-fi bootstrap projects for months here at Libertas – whether it’s Monsters or Skyline or Iron Sky or The Mercury Men or The Third Letter or Pioneer One. This is clearly the new wave, the next mode in which indie filmmakers are breaking through to the mainstream, and sometimes dealing with controversial subjects. Check out the trailer below – it’s a hoot.

• On the Superhero front, the new Christopher Nolan/Zack Snyder Superman will apparently be an ‘origins’ story (yawn), and there’s no confirmation that General Zod will appear at all. Snyder is also talking about some of the boffo action sequences planned for his latest project with Frank Miller, Xerxes, which is the 300 ‘prequel.’ Also: The Lizard will apparently be the new villain for Spider-Man, and there are some new stills out for the forthcoming Conan movie that’s currently being retro-fitted into 3D.

• I’m very excited about Apocalypse Now coming to Blu-ray. Check out this LA Times article for some of the interesting new elements included in the set.

Jessica Paré of "Mad Men."

• As usual there’s a lot of news on the Sci-Fi/Alien Invasion front. We may have a Cowboys & Aliens trailer by Christmas; Luc Besson says his massive new sci-fi project will be like The Fifth Element “to the power of ten”; Sigourney Weaver may be back for Avatar 2; there’s another new behind-the-scenes look at Skyline; someone’s now going to be doing what’s described as an ‘Area 51 comedy’; there are interesting rumors circulating about Guillermo del Toro’s potential involvement in a huge, creature-invasion project (a lá Monsters) called Pacific Rim, which may or may not morph into the Godzilla reboot; a new poster for the Disney/Robert Zemeckis Mars Needs Moms is out; some great pictures from the new The Making of the Empire Strikes Back book are now online; and, unfortunately, Alec Baldwin has just been cast in Men in Black 3D – making it even less likely that I’ll be seeing that film. [When will people in Hollywood understand how roundly despised he is?]

• AND IN TODAY’S MOST IMPORTANT NEWS … there were some big developments on Mad Men this past weekend – which we won’t spoil now, but will deal with later on in the week here at Libertas – but for now we wanted to take a look at actress Jessica Paré, who apparently will be a very busy woman on the show next season …

And that’s what’s happening today in the wonderful world of Hollywood.

Posted on October 18th, 2010 at 8:09pm.

Odd White House Video of Obama Meeting with the Waiting for Superman Kids

By Jason Apuzzo. Am I the only one who finds this a bit odd? The White House recently released this video (see above) of the President meeting with the Waiting for Superman kids (see LFM’s review of the film, by Patricia Ducey), and most of the video simply consists of the kids watching Obama leave.

This seems like an odd way for the White House to reassure us Obama is on the ball, and that the problems associated with our miserable education system are being fixed. I was waiting for something more – some sort of indication from the President that he is aware of the crisis that the film is depicting, and that he’s going to move mountains to fix it. Instead, we merely get to see Obama deliver a few stiff blandishments to the kids and parents (I think I see Davis Guggenheim in there, as well) and then wave good-bye as he heads toward his helicopter.

Was anything else said? Because the rest of us would like to hear it. As p.r. from an already-embattled White House, this is a bit weird.

Posted on October 18th, 2010 at 2:20pm.

Taiwan Film Days in San Francisco: Monga

By Joe Bendel. Forces from the Mainland have their eyes on Formosa territory. It is a familiar story, but in this case it is the Chinese syndicate looking to dislodge the traditional Taiwanese neighborhood triads in Doze Niu’s Monga, which opens the San Francisco Film Society’s Taiwan Film Days this Friday at the Viz Theater.

In the 1980’s, nearly every densely packed block of Taipei’s Monga neighborhood has its own triad, like the Temple Front Gang. It is here that the fatherless Chou Yi-Mong finds a sense of belonging. Recruited after standing up to a pack of bullying classmates, Chou (a.k.a. Mosquito) makes fast friends with Boss Geta’s son Dragon Lee and his three running mates. The fab five fight like unit, though they know the rules of the streets dictate they might eventually find themselves rivals. Frankly, Mosquito often does not understand why they are brawling, but the friendship is real. It is even realer than real for Monk, who is devoted to Dragon in quite a suggestive way.

Of course, the nature of their camaraderie is such that betrayal is inevitable, especially with the Mainlanders looking to move in. Indeed, the young gang princes find themselves caught up in a power struggle between those who want to maintain local control of organized crime, like Boss Geta, and those who want to cut a deal with the Northern triads, most notably including Grey Wolf, mysterious old flame of Mosquito’s mother.

Though Monga was selected by Taiwan as its official foreign language Oscar candidate, it is a highly commercial film (in a good way). Energetically mixing teenaged coming of age angst with gritty street level gangster power games, it pretty much has all the elements. There is even young love, street smart as it may be, when Mosquito falls for Ning, a beautiful young prostitute often demeaned for her nearly invisible birthmark.

Monga features a number of young Taiwanese television and pop-stars who likely brought a built-in fan base to the film in the ROC. However, they are well suited to their roles, particularly Ethan Ruan as the intense Monk. Mark Chao also seems to appropriately grow into the role of Mosquito, while the haunting Chia-yen Ko projects a fragile vulnerability as Ning. Yet, the silver coiffed Niu might even upstage his young cast, appearing as the intriguing Grey Wolf.

With generous helpings of Big Brawl style street fighting and unapologetically tear-jerking romance, Monga has something for a wide array of Asian cinema devotees. Thoroughly entertaining, it deserves a productive life on the festival circuit and even a shot at specialty distribution. It should be a crowd pleasing opener for SFFS’s Taiwan Film Days when it screens at the Viz Cinema next Friday (10/22).

Posted on October 18th, 2010 at 10:55am.