Father Geek here, Edgard got called out of Paris at the last minute on business, so here's a short early report that he managed to turnout just before leaving, however I've been in contact with Ozy in Dublin and he'll have a Special Euro Column worked up for you later today, or at least thats the game plan... Now here's Edgard...
EURO AICN
EUROPEAN FILM AWARDS
* Michael W. from Denmark sent us more news on the European Film Awards : First of all I just wanna say that I think you're doing a real good job for AICN here in Europe. And now what this is about. You probably already know this, since I don't know how new (how many hours) it is but I just wanted to let you know about the nominations for this years European Film Awards. If you know them then... well, I just wanted to contribute with something.
UK
* From Screendaily (let's hope they will not fuck that one like Judge Dredd) : The US' Fine Line Features has optioned the film rights to UK comic-book super warrior Outlaw, marking the first big-screen appearance of a character from long-running British comic 2000AD following 1995's Judge Dredd. Director Andrew Upton is expected to shoot the $10m-$15m project in the first quarter next year from a script by Lloyd Foneville. The futuristic story follows a criminal captured by a weapons design company and turned into the ultimate fighting machine. The deal for film, TV and game rights with Fine Line marks a rapid move into exploiting the 2000AD stable of 700-plus characters after UK software developer Rebellion bought the sci-fi and fantasy comic in July. Rebellion owners Jason and Chris Kingsley have formed 2000AD Entertainment with media lawyer Andrew Curtis to exploit film, TV and ancillary rights on 2000AD's characters, which include future law-man Judge Dredd; mutant bounty hunter Strontium Dog; and genetically-cloned soldier Rogue Trooper. "It's very exciting to have got this together so quickly," Curtis said. "This will help re-launch the 2000AD brand in America and, we hope, lead to longer term relationships with Fine Line and New Line because of their expertise in the comic book genre."
* Some HARRY POTTER news from www.empireonline.co.uk : Finally! After months of speculation, rumours and news reports, Warner Bros. released an official cast list for Harry Potter on their website yesterday (8 November). As expected, Brit-thesps Richard Harris, Alan Rickman, Robbie Coltrane, Dame Maggie Smith and Zoë Wanamaker have all been officially confirmed for the eagerly awaited project, currently shooting in various locations around the UK. There are no real surprises on the list. Harris will play Hogwarts Professor Dumbledore, Rickman stars as Potions Professor Snape, Coltrane is Hagrid, Smith is Professor McGonagall, and Wannamaker will play Madame Hooch. They join Richard Griffiths and Fiona Shaw as Harry's Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia and Ian Hart as Professor Quirrell who were all confirmed by director Chris Columbus at a press conference last August when the lead role of Harry was announced. Last week Warner Bros. also confirmed that John Cleese would appear as Harry's ghostly friend, Nearly Headless Nick aka Sir Nicholas De Mimsy-Popington and Julie Walters, hot on the heels of Billy Elliot, will play Mrs Weasly, the mother of Harry's best friend Ron. Cleese had already jumped the gun by confirming his appearance in the movie last month. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is due for simultaneous release in the UK and US in November 2001.
ITALY
* Some box-office news from Italy : Giuseppe Tornatore's long-awaited Malena, touted as the "event" film of the year in Italy, has fallen to a disappointing third place in the Italian box office charts two weeks after its release. Starring Monica Bellucci, on whom distributor Medusa centred the film's extensive poster and trailer campaign, Malena has pulled in $750,000 on 192 screens in Italy's key locations. Miramax International, which financed the film in large part, will release a version that is eight minutes shorter for its US release, which has been pushed back to mid-December. The number one box office slot has gone to surprise hit The Crimson Rivers (Les Rivieres Pourpres), Matthieu Kassovitz's serial killer thriller starring Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel, Bellucci's husband. The French hit has reaped over $2.6m in its first two weeks on 215 screens in Italy, averaging $5,114 per screen. Distributor FilmAuro, which hung its hopes on The Crimson Rivers being its smash hit of the season, is enjoying a primarily word-of-mouth success with the film. Torrential rains kept many cinema-goers home last weekend, however, and it remains to be seen whether Malena and The Crimson Rivers will continue their respective descent and ascent after the upcoming weekend. Other Italian films playing out at the local box office are the Medusa-released comedy Teste Di Cocco and Aitanic, a spoof of Titanic, distributed by Buena Vista International. Teste Di Cocco earned $138,431 in its first three days, while Aitanic has pulled in almost $500,000 after two weeks, on a limited 36 screens. (Source : Screendaily)
* Also from Screendaily, more news on Foreign Film Academy Award : Italy has chosen Marco Tullio Giordana's The Hundred Steps (I Cento Passi) as its official entry for the foreign-language Oscar, over both Silvio Soldini's Bread And Tulips and Giuseppe Tornatore's Malena, which had both been widely tipped. The Hundred Steps is based on the true story of Peppino Impastato, a student during the left-wing political terrorism of the 1970s who defied his family's ties with the Sicilian Mafia. The critically-acclaimed film premiered in competition in Venice, where it won an award for Best Screenplay. "It's a very powerful film about someone who wins a battle while he's dying," said Paola Corvino of Intra Films, the Rome-based international sales outfit which is handling the title. "I believe cinema should face social problems such as this and bring them to the surface."
OZYMANDIAS CORNER
* In last week's Euro AICN column I asked any AICN readers at the ongoing London Film Festival to let us know what they're doing and killy361 is first out of the starting gates...! Remember if you're there get in touch! :Ozymandias, I am replying to your call for AICN fans at the LFF. Went to see 'Requiem for a Dream' on Saturday night (04/11). It was complete pants, a poor relation to Pi. Cool thing was that Darren
Aronofsky was there and he introduced it, as well as doing a Q&A afterwards. When asked about his next project he said he was pitching it as a "post Matrix metaphysical sci-fi action film" - does this mean Batman prequel?
Quick review of 'Requiem...' - theme is addiction, but not the good addiction of Pi, but the bad addiction (drugs are bad for you, TV is bad for you, etc.). Shot very similarly to Pi, same use of cool electronic music, but a totally predictable storyline. I read a rave review of it on AICN a few weeks ago, where it was being recommended as essential viewing for everyone as it makes bold statements about life, a real message film, but in a cool way. BOLLOCKS, it comes off as being
controversial for controversy's sake. You have seen this sort of thing before a million times - it has never stopped me seeing a film before, but I expected so much more from Aronofsky.
Addiction is shown as a wholly bad thing, which is the cop out answer. Pi showed how addiction (to mathematics) could be a beautiful, life-affirming drug which made living worthwhile. I am not saying drug addiction is a good thing, but it can be tackled in a different way than to be completely condemned as leading to a debauched or criminal lifestyle.
Later
killy361
* Quiet week this week - first off one of my
new guys Ruddiger has his take on
Memento!
Where to start? Well here's a movie
that really kept me thinking the whole way through. I
hadn't heard of Christopher Nolan before I saw this
movie but I'll definitely be keeping an eye on the guy
after this.The movie concerns our protaganist Leonard,
a man who has no short term memory (he can remember
everything he learned up to the point of an accident
he had, who is hunting down the man who raped and
killed his wife. Problem is Leonard gets in a daze a
couple of times a day and
suddenly can't remember
where he is, when it is and what he is doing. To aid
himself Leonard has written notes to himself in the
form of tatoo's on his body to aid him in tracking
down the mysterious John G. The further spin on this
movie is that the entire movie runs backwards, along
with excellent black and white segues showing Leonard
and we are given the answers before the questions. I
won't say anything more about the plot though you'll
have to see this movie yourself, but I will say
that with the way the movie runs backwards we are
put in the exact same boat as Leonard and are just
confused and suspicious as Leonard is. Excellently
directed by Nolan we are also given a brilliant cast
to enjoy. Joe Pantoliano is excellent as Leonards
sidekick who is new to him every time they meet and
fellow matrix alumni Carrie-Anne Moss shows how
talented she can be with her turn as Natalie. Lastly
Guy Pearce plays Leonard. I thought Ravenous was a
brilliant extremely underrated movie helped and Pearce
was one of the reasons why (along with Bobby Carlyle,
Jeffrey Jones and Damon Alburns excellent music).
Here Pearce brilliantly plays the man with no memory,
constantly repeating himself and providing some very
funny moments. This will be up there with Magnolia as
some of my favourite movies of 2000 and even though
it's only playing in 1 cinema in Dublin (the screen)
hopefully it'll get wider distribution in the states
so go see it
Ruddiger
L8r,
Ozymandias.
Ain't It
Cool News - Ireland/UK Office,
Penthouse
Suite,
Ozymandias
Towers,
Dublin,
Ireland.
Mail me @ ozymandias@dublin.com
