Small MPU – Page 1601
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Reviews
Stork Day (E Gia Ieri)
Dir: Giulio Manfredonia. Italy/Spain/UK. 2004. 94 mins.Why would anyone want to remake a film as unique as Groundhog Day' The only original thing about this bland, inoffensive attempt to do just that is the fact that it is a European remake of an American film. Producer Riccardo Tozzi's claim that ...
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Reviews
Easy
Dir. Jane Weinstock. US. 2003. 95mins.Despite a premiere at Toronto last autumn, followed by a competition slot at Sundance this month, Easy would do best to stay aware from the glare of film festivals. Given the right treatment, this romantic romp might land some deals, especially in secondary markets. But ...
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News
NORTH AMERICA
Comedies are enjoying a purple patch at the US box office these days so it was little wonder that Universal's Along Came Polly dethroned The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King.New Line's fantasy epic is fading fast in its fifth week but that still shouldn't diminish Polly's ...
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Reviews
The Butterfly Effect
Dir: Eric Bress & J Mackye Gruber. US. 2004. 113mins.This efficient if wildly elaborate supernatural thriller, which world premiered at Sundance this week and opens through New Line on Jan 23, should be a moderate-to-strong moneyspinner for the studio which has become the home for smart, low-budget youth-oriented horror like ...
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News
Latter Days sparks TLA, Madstone war of words
A war of words has erupted between TLA Releasing and Madstone Theatres after the exhibitor cancelled the upcoming Salt Lake City run of C Jay Cox's directorial debut Latter Days, which deals in part with the life of a gay Mormon missionary.TLA Releasing lambasted the move at a Sundance press ...
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News
York Entertainment picks up Lexie, Evicted
Los Angeles-based production and distribution outfit York Entertainment has picked up two titles for home video distribution in the second quarter.Lexie is scheduled for release on Apr 20 and centres on the intrigue that surrounds a music producer's efforts to get back in the game. It stars Cindy Herron Braggs, ...
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News
Oliver Stone to receive top Bangkok career prize
Oliver Stone will receive a special Golden Kinnaree award for career achievement at the 2004 Bangkok International Film Festival.Stone will collect the honour at the event's Jan 31 awards gala, towards the end of the 14-day festival which runs from Jan 22-Feb 2."We are thrilled that we may honour Oliver ...
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News
Goldman's Hombre set to conquer US
Former New Line marketing and distribution president, Mitch Goldman, and his partner Lou O'Neil have launched a US Latino distribution company - Hombre de Oro - to distribute Mexican box office hit The Other Conquest (La Otra Conquista) in the US. Although the company has been set up to handle ...
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Reviews
The Silence Between Two Thoughts (Sokoote Beine Do Fekr )
Dir: Babak Payami. Iran. 2003. 88mins.There were three Iranian films at Venice last year; and all three were newsworthy. One (Hana Makhmalbaf's Joy Of Madness) because the director was only 14. Another (Abolfazl Jalili's The First Letter) because the director had been detained in Teheran by the authorities. And the ...
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News
Sinatra feature scores Miracle sale to US
UK/Australian co-production The Night They Called It a Day has been picked up for the US by Miracle Entertainment.Emile Sherman of Sherman Pictures, co-producer of the feature with the UK's Nik Powell of Scala Productions, made the announcement in Sydney. "Miracle have been incredibly enthusiastic about the film and its ...
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News
Minghella to open Screen European Film Summit
Cold Mountain director and British Film Institute chair Anthony Minghella is to open Screen International's European Film Summit with an on-stage interview.The Summit - titled Modernising European Cinema - is being held on Feb 4 on the eve of the Berlin International Film Festival at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in ...
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News
Depardieu, Auteuil team for French cop drama
French stars Daniel Auteuil and Gerard Depardieu are pairing up for a new film by Oliver Marchal entitled 36.The Euros 13.75m film, produced through French major Gaumont, is set at 36 Quai des Orfevres, a mythic spot in French cinema and the site of police headquarters in Paris.The two titans ...
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News
Media Luna takes on Spanish Bearcub sales
Media Luna Entertainment has picked up world rights on new Spanish film Bearcub (Cachorro), premiering in the Panorama section of the upcoming Berlin Film Festival.The new drama - the sixth feature by director Miguel Albaladejo (Rancour, Manolito Four Eyes) - turns on a gay dentist forced to tone down his ...
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News
Top Spanish film exec drafted into key Sogecable role
Sogecable has announced that Fernando Bovaira will take over as the company's managing director of contents following the unexpected departure earlier this month of Jose Manuel Lorenzo.Bovaira has topped Sogecable's production activities through powerhouse Sogecine since 1996, where he shepherded the country's two biggest-grossing local films ever, English-language The Others ...
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News
Berlin unveils full Competition line-up
The Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 5-15) has rounded out its Competition section, confirming new titles from Korea, Hong Kong, Argentina, Colombia and the US.In total 26 films have been selected for Competition. 23 of these will compete for the Golden and Silver Bears, while three will be shown out ...
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News
Kosslick mixes it up with wide ranging selection
The 26 films in Berlinale chief Dieter Kosslick's Competition line-up are, he acknowledges, "quite a different mix".But, he says, political issues run like a central theme through many of the Competition line-up films - but love, relationships, passion and unrequited love are also topics.Kosslick also argues that the Competition "has ...
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News
Business stirs at Paris Screenings
Kiyonaga Nakagawa from Comstock was the only Japanese buyer present at the Rendez-Vous De Paris, the Unifrance organised screenings that are otherwise targeted at European distributors.He made a splash taking Japanese rights to TF1 International's Spy Bound (Agents Secrets), directed by Frederic Schoendoerffer, starring Monica Bellucci and Vincent Cassel.Other deals ...
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News
SPC climbs Merchant Ivory's Heights
Sony PicturesClassics has extended its distribution ties with Merchant Ivory Productions byacquiring North American rights to Heights, a low budget comedy of manners set in contemporaryManhattan.SPC is alsonegotiating to acquire international territories on the film, a $2-3m MerchantIvory production that stars Elizabeth Banks, Glenn Close, James Marsden, JesseBradford and John ...
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News
Swedish directing duo deliver third hit
Swedish directing duo Maans Herngren and Hannes Holm flexed their box office muscle once again with their third film, Shit Happens (Det Blir Aldrig Som Man Taenkt Sig). After two weeks, the comedy, about a TV soap actress trying to juggle her family and professional life, has taken $1.2m and ...
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News
Warner Independent makes first acquisition at Sundance
Two more deals were closedat the Sundance Film Festival yesterday and more are set to close before thefestival finishes this weekend, as the domestic buying frenzy continued.Warner Independent Pictures,which had made multi-million dollar bids on at least two pictures this week,finally closed on its first acquisition, taking North American and ...