All articles by John Hazelton – Page 2
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News
Profile: Magnolia Pictures' Magnet label
Tom Quinn has always made it his business - or at least a part of his business - to bring what he describes as 'the A-team of B-films from around the world' to US audiences.One of his first buys when he became head of acquisitions for US theatrical and video ...
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News
Profile: Sundance Institute Arthouse Project
Everyone, of course, knows about the festival. And pretty much everyone in the independent-film world is familiar with the other long-standing programmes - from the film-makers labs to the producers conference - that Robert Redford's Sundance Institute runs alongside its annual Park City get-together.The Sundance Institute Arthouse Project is a ...
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Reviews
Four Christmases
Dir: Seth Gordon. US. 2008. 88 mins Four rounds of family festivities produce very little merriment for either its protagonists or audiences as holiday season romantic comedy Four Christmases slogs its way through a sub-90 minute running time. The pairing of Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon and the presence of ...
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News
Summit looks for Twilight to shine
As any teenage vampire or US distribution executive will attest, the release of Twilight should be a watershed event for Summit Entertainment.With audience buzz having risen to a crescendo in the run-up to the film's November 21 opening in North America and international markets including Mexico, Italy and Russia, the ...
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News
Profile: Martin Gaiss
Martin Gaiss leads a double life. By day he is Los Angeles-based vice-president of creative content at Twentieth Century Fox International. But in whatever spare time his job leaves him, the widely travelled German native is a writer-director whose first completed short, a witty tale of urban neurosis called Jarred, ...
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Features
United States - The matchmaker
Script-to-screen project development organisation DreamAgo began life four years ago in Switzerland and still holds its core event, an annual screenwriting workshop, in a chateau in the quiet town of Sierre, close to the Swiss borders with France and Italy.But the non-profit group has always had an international mandate and ...
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Reviews
The Other End of The Line
Dir James Dodson. US. 2008. 106 mins Indian-American joint venture The Other End Of The Line demonstrates the pitfalls of creative globalisation even as it makes globalisation a backdrop for its frothy romantic comedy. Produced by Ashok Amritraj's Hyde Park and Bollywood giant Adlabs, this piece of cross-cultural cuteness will ...
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Reviews
Sex Drive
Dir Sean Anders. US. 2008. 108 mins A raunchy title and some gross-out gags have earned Sex Drive an R rating in the US, but deep down this teen comedy from Summit Entertainment is a sweet-natured and likeable coming-of-age tale that recalls the feel of the American Pie movies. Though ...
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News
Eagle and Bunny chase Mamma in international marketplace
Expansion by studio releases including Eagle Eye and The House Bunny could finally end the reign of international box office queen Mamma Mia! this weekend. Having hunted down $17.5m to date from the first stage of its international roll-out, DreamWorks-Paramount thriller Eagle Eye swoops into its first major European and ...
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News
Mamma Mia! stays on top at international box office
Universal's Mamma Mia! extended its reign as dancing queen of the international box office this weekend, opening top in Italy and grossing an estimated $14.1m from 4,406 dates in 47 territories overall.Among newer international entrants, Eagle Eye, the DreamWorks-Paramount thriller, opened in 18 markets and grossed an estimated $8.3m from ...
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News
Beverly Hills Chihuahua leads domestic box office pack
Disney's Beverly Hills Chihuahua was leader of the pack over a fiercely competitive weekend at the North American box office.Grossing an estimated $29m, the talking-dog family comedy was one of three new wide releases to make it into the top ten. Three other wide openers, meanwhile, failed to live up ...
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Reviews
Beverly Hills Chihuahua
Dir Raja Gosnell. US. 2008. 86mins.Disney's Beverly Hills Chihuahua is amediocre family comedy, mixing cute banter between CGI-enhanced talking pooches with message-laden adventure and a dollop of travelogue. But while it doesn't work particularly well on any of those levels, it is a colourful addition to the always popular talking ...
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News
In focus: Taking stock of the Wall Street shock
The US financial crisis may have come as a shock to much of the world, but in Hollywood it almost seemed like the inevitable culmination of a continuing trend. That is because the relationship between Wall Street and the Hollywood film-finance business - one that was hot and heavy just ...
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Reviews
Death Race
Dir. Paul WS Anderson. US. 2008. 105mins.Forget satire. British genre expert Paul WS Anderson goes mostly for metal- and bone-crunching action in his efficiently visceral but not very imaginative rethink of Roger Corman's tongue-in-cheek 1975 B movie Death Race 2000. With reliable action everyman Jason Statham in the lead, this ...
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News
Is the slate deal going up in flames'
In a year rife with bad financial news, the film-finance world has seen its share of worrying portents. Though some financiers suggest that conditions have in fact been deteriorating for considerably longer, in the 12 months since the start of the global credit crisis the outlook has grown steadily worse ...
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Reviews
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Dir. Dave Filoni. US. 2008. 98 mins Action-packed and visually impressive it may be, but CG-animated feature Star Wars: The Clone Wars still feels like what it essentially is - a supercharged TV pilot designed to help George Lucas' venerable Star Wars franchise make the transition from the big to ...
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News
US distribution - Seismic shift in specialty landscape
Some independent players see it as a 'healthy correction', others as a 'turning point'. One company chief recently suggested, in a Los Angeles Film Festival speech whose words have ricocheted around the indie community, 'the sky really is falling'.However you describe it, what has happened to the US independent industry ...