Father Geek here this Monday with our regular top of the week column from Europe put together by Robert Bernocchi with the usual help of ratbert and others. There's plenty of coolness below so I'll step aside and let you get on to it. Oh, there may be what some of you consider "SPOILERS" in some of the reports below... sooooo BEWARE... you have been warned...
Euro-AICN...
Hi people. Last week I saw Spider-Man (which will open in Italy on June 7th, as it will do in many European countries). I have to confess I was really a little disappointed by the movie. The action sequences seemed too much like Matrix, the screenplay was full of flaws and the acting was just acceptable. However, on Thursday, I attended the Rome press conference with Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst. Unfortunately, during the press conference, the Italian press was more interested in asking questions like: "what do you know about Italy?" rather than trying to get more information about the next episode of Spidey. But at the end of the conference, while Maguire was swiftly being ushered out of the room (not before signing a picture for me though), I got the chance to chat briefly with the lovely Kirsten Dunst.
She confirmed to me that Spider-Man 2 will start shooting in January 2003, even if the script is still in the works at that time. And, even more interestingly, when my pal, the journalist Marco Spagnoli, was complaining a bit about the fact that her character is not very well developed in the first movie, she assured us that Mary-Jane Watson will get more substancial screen time (and not just as Peter Parker's babe) in Spider-Man 2.
And to conclude a great day, what's better than a picture with one of the most interesting actress on earth? You can see the pic By Clicking Right Here Now. (by the way, I'm the guy on the right). And now, let's start with the regular column...
Anna spotted a mistake in the last Euro Aicn column... The "W & G: The Great Vegetable Plot" is being directed by Nick Park only, not Peter Lord who is working on The Tortoise and The Hare for release in 2006.
News from Screendaily
The two first undisputed summer blockbusters, Star Wars: Episode II – Attack Of The Clones and Spider-Man, both crossed the $100m mark at the international box office over the weekend. The Exact Figures Are Here
Two of Spain's hottest properties, Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz, are likely to co-star in Tarantula, a futuristic film noir by director Pedro Almodovar. Click Here to Learn More
Ratbert has the usual bunch of news for us. This week good tidbits for Monty Phyton's fans...
Hello again my international friends - this week's collected news features another cast member for the most ill-advised remake of all time (burn Hollywood burn) and two new movies with Monty Python connections. For the last one, you can start speculating on who will play the other Pythons now...
Charlize Theron is in talks to star in a remake of The Italian Job. Mark Wahlberg has already signed up to star in the film. It will begin shooting in August. The new version is being made by the producers of Bridget Jones's Diary and Four Weddings And A Funeral, reports www.variety.com. It is based on the 1969 film that starred Michael Caine, Benny Hill and Noel Coward.
Eric Idle is to direct a film parody of British period dramas. The Remains Of The Piano will star Geoffrey Rush, who shot to fame in the film Shine. Idle's spoof on Merchant-Ivory films will be shot in Toronto this summer. The former Monty Python star told the Toronto Sun: "It's a p**s-take on the genre. "It's got everything a Merchant-Ivory film has: lovely costumes, lovely sets and lovely English acting. It's all set to go if producer Garth Drabinsky can ever find the final missing million. There's always a million missing in independent film. Somebody said trying to raise money for independent films is like trying to herd dogs." Idle directed the Beatles spoof The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash for TV in 1978 and recently completed a sequel, The Rutles: Can't Buy Me Lunch.
The producers of a new film about Graham Chapman hope to persuade Rhys Ifans to play him. US film company HippoFilms is to make a biopic of the former Monty Python member, called Gin And Tonic. It focuses on his life at Cambridge University and medical school as well as the Monty Python years. The script for the film is being co-written by Jim Yoakum, who worked as Chapman's writing partner. Yoakum told Ananova the producers already have in mind who they want for the lead part. "We especially think Rhys Ifans is quite interesting as Graham," he said. "We're going to hold an open casting call in London for many parts, including the young Pythons, David Frost, Marty Feldman, Peter Cook, Keith Moon. We hope John Cleese will reprise his speech given at Graham's memorial. We've not officially asked him yet, but have broached the idea with him. Someone else will play the young John of course. That's the plan anyway. Most of the info in the film comes directly from Graham's personal papers and includes a lot of previously unknown info on him. It'll be a real treat for Python fans!" Work on Gin And Tonic is due to begin in London in November.
Two very interesting reviews by James Bartlett (Be careful, many spoilers on Insomnia article)...
The Importance of Being Earnest review
d. Oliver Parker Colin Firth, Rupert Everett, Frances O'Connor, Reese Witherspoon, Judi Dench
Based on what is probably Oscar Wilde's most famous play "... Earnest" is about taking on a false identity to win love. Here, both Jack and Algy do it for their own reasons.
Jack (Colin Firth) calls himself Earnest when he visits the love of his life Gwendolyn (Frances O'Connor) because he knows her aunt Lady Bracknell (Judi Dench) will never allow her niece to marry someone called Jack, let alone someone with his dubious parentage.
In the same vein, rakish Algernon (Rupert Everett) has an invented friend - Bunbury - who he uses as an excuse to go and see whenever he has to leave town, which is usually to avoid debt-collectors.
Perhaps mindful of this, Jack has never given Algy his country address - mainly because he knows Algy would take up semi-permanent sponging residence there, but also because he would be bound to try and woo his ward Cecily (Reese Witherspoon.)
So, when Algy arrives in the country pretending to be Earnest and of course woos Cecily, Jack cannot say a word - it is his "brother" after all. But then Gwendolyn turns up, determined not to accept Lady Bracknell's "no" to their marriage and desperate to find her Earnest - who everyone there thinks is Algy - who is also called Jack here, when he pretends to be Earnest elsewhere. As they say in that time-honoured way, hilarity ensues.
An amusing version of Wilde's classic play of manners, this falls a little flat as director Parker seemed more concerned in showing us his attention to period detail than relaying the classic lines and thoughts behind Wilde's writing.
Colin Firth is excellent and hams it up really well, but Everett unnecessarily sneers and looks too beefcake for what he does - mind you, he and Witherspoon's Permanently Surprised look made for an odd couple.
You get a few laughs, but lose out on the subtlety. The play is ripe for a modern re-interpretation I reckon.
James Bartlett
Insomnia review
d. Christopher Nolan Al Pacino, Hilary Swank, Robin Williams, Martin Donovan
Eagerly-awaited as the next film from the writer/director of "Mememto", Insomnia is a crime thriller set in the Alaskan town of Nightmute, where the days are long - very long. 6 months long in fact.
Grizzled ace cop Will Dormer (Al Pacino) and his partner Hap Eckhardt (Martin Donovan) are sent there by the LAPD to investigate the murder of a local schoolgirl - and to keep them out of the way as Internal Affairs are examining their past investigations.
Keen-as-mustard local cop Ellie (Hilary Swank) is their contact and she cannot believe such a famous detective is in her town. Sure enough, Dormer works his magic and quickly formulates a plan to trap the killer, but when they give chase in the fog he mistakenly shoots Eckhardt.
Ellie assembles the report and Dormer confirms it was an accident - but then the killer Walter Finch (Robin Williams) calls him and says he saw what happened. It was no accident - and what a coincidence that Eckhardt was just about to cut a deal with the Internal Affairs investigation.
Dormer has to make a deal with the devil and frame another suspect for the girls' murder, because if he brings Finch in, he will tell Internal Affairs what he saw that foggy night and all Dormer's past convictions will be deemed unsound and he'll be found out as a liar and called a killer.
As Dormer lies awake through the endless nights, his mind begins to play tricks on him - did he shoot his partner accidentally or deliberately? Can he trust a killer who says his crime was an "accident" too? More importantly, if he breaks the rules, is it alright as long as it catches the killer in the end?
Insomnia is a taut, classy thriller. Pacino looks sleep-deprived and loses the regular histrionics so is great, but Williams is less convincing as a killer. Hilary Swank comes off well also and, some plot flaws aside, Nolan directs with "Memento"-like flashes and enough pace to keep you watching. With just three films behind him - all critical and / or commercial successes, he really is in the big league.
James Bartlett
