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The state of the action-adventure genre is currently in a state of flux. Harrison Ford donned the hat one last time for The Dial of Destiny, and that was a massive disappointment. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom was almost unwatchable. Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Amongst Thieves was fine, but it did flop at the box office for reasons I don’t really know. Meanwhile, in the Ott space, the genre is flourishing. Golden Kamuy was a massive hit. Bandidos was really popular amongst fans of puzzle-solving and heists. Time Bandits was quite fun. And then, of course, there was the live-action iteration of One Piece, which took the world by storm. So, what does that exactly mean? That people are not okay with two-hour-plus globe-trotting adventures but are comfortable with watching the same in an episodic fashion? That they are okay with witnessing exotic locales from the comfort of their...

You know that feeling of watching someone ice skate for the first time? Or when a little kid finally tries riding their bicycle without training wheels? That's sort of the feeling I get watching Steven Spielberg's movie adaptation of "The Color Purple."

Make no mistake: Spielberg's 1985 film version of Alice Walker's 1982 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name, which he directed from a script by his eventual "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" co-writer Menno Meyjes, is quite lovely to look at; it's a Spielberg picture so that much goes without saying. Whoopi Goldberg is similarly splendid as the grown-up Celie Harris-Johnson, a queer Black woman living in early 20th-century Georgia who endures horrific abuse at the hands of the men in her life yet finds kindness, support, and love from the Black women around her.

It's not that Spielberg had never tackled a "serious" adult movie before that,...

On Dec. 16, 1985, Warner Bros. unveiled Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of The Color Purple at its premiere in New York. The film went on to garner 11 Oscar nominations, including for best picture, at the 58th Academy Awards. The Hollywood Reporter’s original review is below:

To those who think of Steven Spielberg solely as the creator of sci-fi adventure movies or high-tech horror films, The Color Purple will come as an exhilarating surprise. It’s a film filled with tenderness and love, the enduring love of two sisters cruelly separated in their childhood, the love of one of them for two infants taken from her at birth. Based on Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, it tells us quite simply that every thing and everybody needs love, and that putting our faith in love will make everything come out all right.

While I wish with all my heart that I were sanguine enough to believe this,...

Oprah Winfrey is a media mogul but before achieving all of that she starred in The Color Purple back in 1985. Her performance as Sofia in the Steven Spielberg-directed film went on to earn her a nomination at the Oscars.

Ahead of the film adaptation of The Color Purple musical, which Winfrey produces, she is looking back and remembering the amount of money she got for her role as Sofia. Although the paycheck wasn’t huge, Winfrey says the experience was life-changing.

“I can’t even begin to tell you what it means to me — a person who wanted nothing more in my life than to be in The Color Purple,” Winfrey told Essence magazine in an interview conducted before the SAG-AFTRA strike. “God taught me to surrender — that was the big lesson for me,” Oprah said. “They were only offering $35,000 to be in this film, and it is the best $35,000 I ever earned.

As part of the year-long centennial celebration for the 100thanniversary of Warner Bros. Studio, the epic coming-of-age period drama The Color Purple from Academy Award®-winning director Steven Spielberg will be available for purchase on 4K Ultra HD Disc and Digital for the first time this December.  On December 5th The Color Purple will be available to purchase on Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc from online and in-store at major retailers and available for purchase Digitally from Amazon Prime Video, AppleTV, Google Play, Vudu and more.  The film was directed by Spielberg from a screenplay by Menno Meyjes and is based ... Read more...

There are some great movies with a color in the title from a wide range of genres, including the lavish musical Moulin Rouge! and the psychological horror noir Blue Velvet, but which are the very best? Some movies with a color in the title are taken from existing comic book properties, like Green Lantern and Blue Beetle, while others are taken from place names, like Orange County, or common expressions, like White Christmas. There are also a number of war films with colors in the title referring to military terms, like Green Zone and Black Hawk Down.

Colors are frequently mentioned in song lyrics, as they evoke a strong visual image, so movies that tie into the iconic works of musicians often have a color in the title, like Purple Rain starring Prince and Yellow Submarine inspired by the music of the Beatles. From the small-town thrills of Blue Ruin...

Gina Prince-Bythewood, the director of this summer’s hottest movie, The Old Guard, joins Josh and Joe for a cheerful discussion of the movies that shattered her.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

The Old Guard (2020)

The Irishman (2019)

The Other Side of the Wind (2018)

Love And Basketball (2000)

The Secret Life of Bees (2008)

First Cow (2019)

Benji (1974)

Oh! Heavenly Dog (1980)

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)

Bambi (1942)

E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (1982)

The Color Purple (1985)

Ghost (1990)

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

Ordinary People (1980)

Central Station (1998)

Life Is Beautiful (1997)

To Be Or Not To Be (1942)

Pinocchio (2002)

Like Crazy (2011)

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

Beyond The Lights (2014)

12 Years A Slave (2013)

Goodfellas (1990)

Dirty Pretty Things (2002)

Amy (2015)

Moonlight (2016)

The Florida Project (2017)

Man On Fire (2004)

Bridesmaids (2011)

Sex And The City: The Movie (2008)

Wonder Woman (2017)

Black Panther (2018)

Spy (2015)

Se7en (1995)

Fight Club (1999)

The Game (1997)

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2019)

Other Notable Items

Netflix

Martin Scorsese

Orson Welles...

“Goddamn it Chief, you’re about as big as a damn mountain! “

Get ready to laugh, cry, scream, sigh, and sing along with some of the greatest movies ever made, because throughout 2020, Fathom Events and Turner Classic Movies are teaming up for the fourth year in a row to present the hugely popular TCM Big Screen Classics Series in movie theaters nationwide.

In addition to pristine digital projection and movie-quality sound, each presentation will also feature all-new pre- and post-film commentary from popular TCM hosts, showcasing what makes each of these unique cinematic achievements such an important – and lasting – part of movie history. We hope you can share this exciting news with fellow movie lovers!

Now in its fourth year, the TCM Big Screen Classicsseries continues to grow in popularity. In 2019, many events in the series experienced sold-out audiences and ranked near or at the top of box-office results – showcasing...

Two couples worry about themselves, their kids and, at times, their sanity while being plied with ridiculously styled, ridiculously tiny amounts of food in The Dinner, writer-director Oren Moverman’s U.S.-set adaptation of the bestseller by Dutch author Herman Koch. This is already the third adaptation of the popular novel for the big screen, after Dutch- and Italian-language versions directed by Menno Meyjes and Ivano de Matteo, respectively. And like those films, The Dinner maintains the central conceit of the extended family meal in a chichi eatery, but the writer-director liberally adapts the material to suit his...

By now, most of us know the story of Mad Max director George Miller and his never-realized Justice League project. But did you know there was another famous film he almost went on to direct for Warner Bros.? Some of us may never get over what Justice League: Mortal could have been. Perhaps the pain will be less acute over this new information, considering the final product was a relatively well-received movie. Miller (along with Roland Joffé) were at one point set to direct Contact. Ultimately directed by Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future, Forrest Gump), 1997's Contact starred Jodie Foster as Dr. Eleanor Arroway, a Seti scientist whose long search for alien life leads to actual discovery and more doubt than she's every experienced in life. It also starred Matthew McConaughey, Tom Skerritt, James Woods, John Hurt, and Angela Bassett. The film changed a bit from Carl Sagan...

Considering the mess of the last "Green Lantern" film in 2011, enthusiasm for the in-development "Green Lantern Corps" film that ties in with the new Dceu mythology is understandably low. But one key bit of hiring could turn around the naysayers.

The latest episode of Heroic Insider has included a comment suggest whom they've heard as a potential directing candidate for the 2020 release: "George Miller is being rumored to direct the Green Lantern Corps movie. I think it would be perfect for him."

As many as three human Green Lanterns are rumored to feature in the new film. Miller already has a hand in the Dceu as a producer on the currently in production "Justice League: Part One".

In related news, screenwriter Mark Lamprell has spoken about an old project of Miller's - a film adaptation of Carl Sagan's "Contact". Filmmaker Robert Zemeckis was the one who directed the well-regarded 1997 film adaptation,...

Mark Lamprell.

Mark Lamprell is not just a screenwriter (Babe: Pig in the City) and director (My Mother Frank, Goddess), but a novelist as well..

His second novel, A Lovers' Guide to Rome, has just been published by Allen and Unwin. As if that wasn't enough, his next film, A Few Less Men, will be released later in the year..

Lamprell got his start at Kennedy Miller, making documentaries about the making of, among other projects, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.

"I was at Kennedy Miller for years", Lamprell said..

"I did a documentary series called Sports Crazy, a ten hour series, in 1987. Before that, every time they did a miniseries, I did a 'making of' one-hour special."

That led to Lamprell being enlisted by Miller as a writer on various projects, including one very large science-fiction adaptation.

"I'd gotten to be a funny little fixture there at Kennedy Miller, and...

Ivano de Matteo’s Italian film to receive promotional support from Europa Cinemas.

Italian film The Dinner (i Nostri Ragazzi), directed by Ivano de Matteo has won the Europa Cinemas Label as Best European Film in the Venice Days section of the Venice Film Festival (Aug 27 - Sept 6). The jury comprised four exhibitors from the network.

The Dinner will now benefit from promotional support from Europa Cinemas and better exhibition due to a financial incentive for network cinemas to include it in their programme schedule.

The drama, about a family dinner going horribly wrong, is inspired by Herman Koch’s worldwide bestselling novel of the same name, which was previously adapted as a Dutch-language film by Menno Meyjes and is also slated for an adaptation starring Cate Blanchett.

The jury said: “Ivano de Matteo’s film is a confident, beautifully written and extremely well constructed drama. It manages to articulate many powerful themes – alienation between children and their...

Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Lobster, Peter Greenaway’s Eisenstein In Guanajuato and Alex van Warmerdam’s Schneider vs. Bax among those to receive a share of €8.5m ($11.4m) from the new Netherlands Film Production Incentive.Scroll down for full list of projects

A total of 34 film projects have received funding totaling €8.5m ($11.4m) from the budget of the new Netherlands Film Production Incentive.

It is anticipated that these projects will generate €47.9m ($64.6m) in Netherlands-based production expenditure.

Some 21 of the 34 successful applicants were international co-productions of feature films and documentaries, in which a Dutch producer has a majority or minority stake.

Productions include The Night Of A Thousand Hours by screenwriter/director Virgil Widrich, a co-production between Austria (Amour Fou Vienna), Luxembourg (Amour Fou Luxembourg) and The Netherlands (KeyFilm); The Lobster by director/screenwriter Yorgos Lanthimos, a co-production between Ireland (Element Pictures), France (Haut et Court), Greece (Faliro House), UK (Scarlet Films) and The Netherlands (Lemming Film); and...

German sales agents have revealed a raft of market premieres to be presented at the forthcoming American Film Market (Afm) (Nov 6-13).

Ida Martins’ Cologne-based Media Luna will have screenings of five new titles as market premieres:

Stijn Coninx’s romantic feel-good drama Marina, based on the childhood memories of the Italian-Belgian singer Rocco Granata;

Menno Meyjes’ psychological drama-thriller The Dinner, based on Herman Koch’s eponymous international bestseller, which had its world premiere at last month’s Toronto International Film Festival;

Jan Verheyen’s courtroom drama The Verdict, which received the Best Award at the Montreal World Film Festival;

Julia von Heinz’s German-Israeli romantic comedy Hanna’s Journey which celebrates its German premiere on at this week’s Hof Film Days and is nominated for the Millbrook Authors Prize;

Bettina Blümner’s coming of age drama Broken Glass Park which was awarded the Goethe Institut’s Youth and Children’s Film Prize at the Schlingel...

Late as usual. People are attending Mipcom in Cannes and in November Afm in Santa Monica, and I’m only now getting around to writing about my own private Toronto. I chose films I would not be able to see soon in a theater near me and I chose films because my schedule permitted me to see them. Occasionally I chose films my friends were going to and that happened when my time was not demanding other things be done.

I wish I could have seen 100 other films too but for some reason or another I could not fit them in.

I moderated a wonderful panel (and we did blog on that!) on international film financing with Sffs’ Ted Hope, UTA’s Rena Ronson, Revolution’s Andrew Eaton, and Hollywood-based Cross Creek’s Brian Oliver, and Paul Miller, Head of Film Financing, from the Doha Film Institute, Qatar's first international organization dedicated to film financing, production, education and two film festivals.

I also spoke with Toronto Talent Lab filmmakers and then I filled my days with films – I did get an interview with Gloria’s director Sebastian Lelio and Berlin Best Actress winner Paulina Garcia and with Marcela Said, director of The Summer of Flying Fish but mostly I watched film after film after film – up to five a day, just like in the old days when I had to do it for my acquisitions jobs. This was pure pleasure. Friends would meet before the film, we would watch and disperse. And we would meet again at the cocktail hour or the dinner hour and then disperse again.

My partner Peter had lots of meetings with the Talent of Toronto from the Not Short on Shorts and the Talent Lab Mentoring Programs.

Parties like the Rotterdam-Screen International party gave us the chance to catch up with our Dutch friends whom we have not seen for the last two years. Ontario Media Development Corporation’s presenting the International Financing Forum luncheon gave us the chance to talk to lots of upcoming filmmakers and old friends again who were mentoring them. The panel Forty Years On: Women’s Film Festivals Today, moderated by Kay Armatage, former Tiff programmer, Professor Emeritus University of Toronto, and featuring Debra Zimmerman, Executive Director of Women Make Movies, NYC, Melissa Silverstein, Do-Fojnder an dArtistic Director of the Athena Film Festival in NYC and blogger of Women in Hollywood, So-In Hong, Director of Programming of the International Women’s Film Festival in Seoul had a rapport and didn’t hesitate to challenge each other. It felt like a party even though the subject was quite serious. The SXSW party was crowded as always, filled with everyone we could possibly know. It is always a great party we all want to attend.

One of the great dinners was that of The Creative Coalition Spotlight Awards Dinner honoring Alfre Woodard (12 Years a Slave), Hill Harper (1982, CSI: NY), Sharon Leal (1982), Matt Letscher (Scandal, The Carrie Diaries), Brenton Thwaites (Oculus, Maleficient), Tommy Oliver (1982, Kinyarwanda – I am a great fan of Tommy’s!), Tom Ortenberg (CEO, Open Road Films which has a coventure with Regal Theaters and AMC Theaters recently acquired by the richest man in China), and David Arquette (The Scream series). Our hostess, Robin Bronk is so welcoming and so dedicated to furthering the cause of universal education as a human right, education in the arts as a must. I admire her presence and her good work.

Here is a list of the great (and not so great, but never bad) films I got to see. I also list those I continue to hear about even now. I do not list all the films which were picked up during the festival and later. For that, you can go to SydneysBuzz.com and buy the Fall Rights Roundup 2013 and see all films whose rights were acquired (and announced) and by whom with links to all companies and Cinando for further research. For buyers it will, by deduction, show what is still available for Afm and for programmers, it will show who is in charge of the film for specific territories. The second edition will be issued two weeks after Afm.

One of the first films I saw and still retaining its place as one of my favorites was the documentary Finding Vivian Maier which begins with the discovery of photographs by an unknown woman named Vivian Maier by filmmaker John Maloof. As the mystery of this woman is uncovered, the audience is treated to her stunning work and the story of who she was.

One of my favorite films was by one of my favorite directors, Lucas Moodyson. We Are The Best (Isa: Trust Nordisk) was a great surprise, the story of three teeny-bopper punk-influenced girls who loved getting into unusual situations. It was loving and fun, darling and funny. I would take my children to see it and would delight in seeing it again. It was the biggest surprise for me. I can see why Magnolia snapped it up for the U.S. I thank programmer Steve Gravenstock for giving me the ticket for this film which I would have missed otherwise.

I had missed Jodorowsky’s Dune in Cannes. I am a great fan of El Topo and was eager to see this film. I was surprised at the elegance and skill of Jodorowsky in explaining his vision. Afterward, Gary Springer, our favorite publicist, arranged a wonderful reception at a classic comic book store where we loaded up on some fascinating graphic novels and Gary showed us his depiction on an old issue of Mad Magazine discussing the making of Jaws which he was in. picture here.

A totally unique and unexpected film about the African Diaspora, Belle, written and directed by Amma Asante was not talked about much to my surprise, perhaps because Fox Searchlight acquired all rights worldwide from Bankside before the festival. It is a stunningly beautiful British period piece of the 18th century about a mixed race aristocratic beauty.

My favorite film, on a par with The Patience Stone last year was Bobo (Isa: Wide) by Ines Oliveira starring Paula Garcia Aissato Indjai, produced by my friend Fernando Vendrell who gave me a ticket when I could not get one myself. This story of a woman who does nothing except go to work is forced to accept a claning woman and her young sister from Guinea-Bissau. Together they face down their demons. I love the cross-cultural understanding which results in their shared situations. I recently saw Mother of George and found the same warm connection across great cultural divides, though this one was of generations.

I wish I could have seen Pays Barbare/ Barbaric Land, the Italian/ French doc in Wavelengths about Mussolini’s attempted subjugation of Ethiopia (the only country in Africa never colonized). It sounds like great political poetry.

1982 which had previously won the prize of the jury I served on for Us Works in Progress held in July at the Champs Elysees Film Festival in Paris. It was deeply moving and disturbing film which depicts the shattering and the healing of a family. It also helps feed the pipeline begun with Lee Daniels producing Monster’s Ball who went on to direct to such films as Precious and The Butler. If the African American experience can continue to be expressed so eloquently by such filmmakers as Tommy Oliver, Rashaad Ernesto Green (Sundance 2012’s Gun Hill Road), Ava DuVernay (Middle of Nowhere), then a film literate audience will foster greater growth of even more talent in the coming generation. While I didn’t see All Is By My Side by U.K.’s John Ridley which is about Jimi Hendrix nor (yet!) the most highly acclaimed film of the festival, 12 Years a Slave by U.K.’s Steve McQueen, but I would include them in this discussion of the African American Experience.

On the subject of Africa, where last Sundance God Loves Uganda shocked and upset me, this year Mission Congo (Cinephil) revealed much of the same cultural divide only these two films show the negative impact of the Christian right upon already besieged Africans. What is done in the name of a righteous G-d is cause for dialogue and oversight.

Israel and the Middle East

No major turmoil or denunciations this year (Thank G-d, Allah, or whoever She may be). Katriel Schory, head of the Israeli Film Fund told me that if I could only see one film, then it should be Bethlehem which is the country’s submission for Academy Award Consideration for the Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. It was a sad and clear eyed microcosmic view of the issues of trust and betrayals played out among every level of the society. People compared it to Omar by Hany Abu-Assad,the filmmaker of a favorite of mine, Paradise Now, but I did not see Omar.

Rags and Tatters at first seemed like a documentary, and does have doc footage, but it is a circular story that ends where it began but with much more understanding of the chaotic events in Cairo. Really worth watching.

Latino

Of the Latino films two Chilean films, Gloria (Chile) and The Summer of Flying Fish (Review), were accompanied by interviews which you can read on my previous blogs here and here. El Mudo from Peru by the Vega brothers was in the odd vien of their previous film, October. Not sure at the end just what the film was saying…

Toronto Film Fest Programmer Diana Sanchez’s official count of Latino films in the festival is 16. Of these, 5 are by women; 30% is a strong number. Venezuela and Chile are strong with year with two films each. Two other films might have been chosen except they went to San Sebastian for their world premieres. Especially hot this year was Mexico. 4 films are here but she might have chosen 10 if she could have. Costa Rica is making a showing with All About the Feathers and Central America is making more movies. There is lots of industry buzz coming from the good pictures from Brazil like A Wolf at the Door from Sao Paolo production

She is not counting Gravity by Alfonso Cuaron as as Latino film but as a U.S. film.

And Our White Society

The Dinner (Isa: Media Luna) by Menno Meyjes ♀ (Isa: Media Luna), a Dutch film deals with the personal and political as two families disintegrate when the affluent sons kill a homeless woman. Deeply disturbing social issues on the other side of the spectrum from those of 1982 and yet very much the same. How a society can foster such dissonance in class structure today which results in the disintegration of family and even a nation’s political life is, as I said, deeply disturbing. Based on the N.Y. Times best selling book which sold over 650,000 in The Netherlands, and is published in 22 countries, it stars four of Holland’s most renowned actors, Jacob Derwig, Thekla Reuten, Daan Schuurmans, and Kim van Kooten. This is a story that could be remade in America and still maintain its strength. The writer-director Menno Meyjes wrote the Academy Award nominee The Color Purple and collaborated with director Steven Speilberg on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. In 2008 he directed Manolete with Penelope Cruz and Adrien Brody.

The Last of Robin Hood was a romp which thrilled us because Peter Belsito, my own dear husband, had a moment on screen (as the director of Errol Flynn’s last film Cuban Rebel Girls). He got the part because he had had an equally small role in the original Cuban Rebel Girls when it filmed in Cuba in 1959, four months after the Revolution. He happened to be there on vacation with his family including his 18 year old sister and his crazy aunt because Puerto Rico was full that year and Cuba had plenty of room. Directors Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland invited him to play in their film. The film actually had more meaning than merely a romp as it revealed what lays below the June-September love affair between Errol Flynn and 15 year old Beverly Aadland, the nature of fame (“a religion in this godless country” to quote Flynn himself) and ambition. Kevin Kline, Susan Sarandan and Dakota Fanning were all great in the repertoire piece.

Can a Song Save Your Life? garnered great praise as the film that followed the simple pure Once. I found it a bit flat though it kept my interest enough that I was not contemplating leaving. But it lacked the simplicity of Once.

Fading Gigolo proves that a Woody Allen Film is a Genre. John Turturro makes a Woody Allen middle-aged man fantasy of a wished for love affair with a Hasidic woman. Turturro is always lovable on screen, but his directing has something inauthentic about it…the only authentic thing was the twice-stated thought that somewhere in his heritage he was really Jewish. When I saw his previous film Passione, about Italians and passion, the opening song, being one of the first Cuban songs I ever heard, turned me off because again, it was inauthentic. It was Cuban, not Italian. I think he is not comfortable in his Italian guise.

Other films at Tiff I have seen previously:

Only Lovers Left Alive by Jim Jarmusch (Isa: HanWay, U.S. Spc). If you can see it as a dream of night, then the vampires dreaminess might appeal to you. I personally was ready to fall into my own stupor after watching this 123 minute movie of Vampires who have seen it all. Zzzzzz.

Don Jon is sexy and sweet. Scarlett Johansson is a superb comedienne, equal to Claudette Colbert in this film about two totally media mesmerized young lovers. ___ and his father are also great straight men. I loved this film, so funny and sweet and all about sex. Loved it!

Borgman Darkest humor, or is it humor? Creepy and definitely engrossing. Dutch filmmaker Alex van Warmerdam at his best. This is the Netherlands' Official Academy Awards Submission.

What I hear was good:

Aside from the ones that got snapped up for lots of money and are covered in all the trades already, there are films which I keep hearing about even now and will see:

Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon

12 Years a Slave (Isa: Summit, U.S. Fox Searchlight)

The Lunchbox (Isa: The Match Factory)

Prisoners (Isa: Summit/ Lionsgate, U.S.: Warner Bros)

Dallas Buyers Clubs (Isa: Voltage, U.S. Focus Features)

Life of Crime (Isa: Hyde Park, U.S.: )

A Touch of Sin (Isa: MK2, U.S. Kino Lorber)

Gravity (Isa: Warner Bros. U.S. Warner Bros.)

Enough Said (Isa: Fox Searchlight, U.S. Fox Searchlight)

La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty) (Isa: Pathe, U.S. Criterion) Italy’s submission for Academy Award Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film

Violette (Isa: Doc & Film, U.S.: ?)

Omar (Isa: The Match Factory, U.S.: ?)

Le Passe (The Past) (Isa: Memento, U.S. Spc) Iran’s submission for Academy Award Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.

To the Wolf (Isa: Pascale Ramonda)

The Selfish Giant (Isa: Protagonist, U.S. IFC)

At Berkeley by Frederick Wiseman (Isa: Doc & Film, U.S. Zipporah)

The Unknown Known (Isa: Entertainment One, U.S. Radius-twc)

Ain’t Misbehavin (Un Voyager) by Marcel Ophuls (Isa: Wide House)

Faith Connections by Pan Nalin (Isa: Cite Films). This Indian French film, produced by Raphael Berduo among others is written about here.

Civil Rights (?)

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

12 Years a Slave (Isa: Summit, U.S. Fox Searchlight)

Belle (Isa: Bankside, all rights sold to Fox Searchlight)

Lgbt

Kill Your Darlings: The youthful finding of himself by Alan Ginsburg as he enters Colombia University and meets Lucien Carr, Jack Kerouac and Alan Bourroughs revolves around a murder which actually happened. The period veracity and Daniel Radcliffe’s acting carry the film into a fascinating character study. (U.S. Spc)

Dallas Buyers Club (Isa: Voltage, U.S. Focus Features)

Tom a la ferme / Tom at the Farm by Xavier Dolan Isa: MK2, U.S.:)

L’Armee du salut/ Salvation Army by Abdellah Taia (Isa: - U.S.:-)

Eastern Boys (Isa: Films Distribution)

Pelo Malo/ Bad Hair (FiGa Films)

The Dog (Producer Rep: Submarine)

Ignasi M. (Isa: Latido)

Gerontophilia (Isa: MK2, U.S. Producer Rep: Filmoption)...

Cate Blanchett is set to direct The Dinner, an independently-produced American thriller based on a Herman Koch novel.

Oren Moverman is writing the screenplay adapted from the novel, which revolves around two brothers and their wives as they dine at a classy restaurant.

In the novel, one brother, Serge, is running for Prime Minister. His brother Paul loathes him. As the night progresses secrets spill out, including a terrible crime committed by Paul.s son.

The news was broken by Deadline.com, which said it.s not clear if Blanchett will play one of the wives. Moverman.s screenwriting credits include Todd Haynes. I.m Not There (which starred Blanchett) and The Messenger and Rampart, which he also directed.

The producer is Cotty Chubb, who produced a Dutch-language feature based on Koch.s novel, directed by Menno Meyjes, which opens in the Netherlands in November.

Moverman tells If his film...

Once again the European Film Promotion’s (Efp) Film Sales Support (Fss) initiative will come to Toronto to link sales companies from all over Europe to a great array of buyers from across the globe. Supported by the Media Programme of the European Union, Fss has now been aiding the European film industry fro the last 10 years.

"Toronto has and is an important informal market and an important festival for European films, the distributors see the films in a different mood, more quietly, the public screenings are working well. It is a key place to launch a film or to complete previous sales on films that were in Cannes, Venice, Locarno...” (Loïc Magneron, Wide)

“Tiff is a major pillar of the annual festival calendar. Aside from a proliferation of North American buyers, it also attracts top tier international distributors so a favorable reception at Tiff can significantly increase a film's commercial prospects”. (Andrew Orr, Independent)

Due to the limited amount of resources, only 52 out of the 60 films submitted to the Efp will receive financial support to be marketed during the Tiff, which runs from September 5 to 15. This year alone, 372 films total, over 150 from Europe, will screen at the festival many of which will see their world or international premiers there.

Supported films and companies at Tiff 2013

Alpha Violet (France), rep. Virginie Devesa The Summer of Flying Fish (El Verano de los Peces Voladores) by Marcela Said, France, Chile, 2013

Arri Worldsales (Germany), rep. Moritz Hemminger Exit Marrakech by Caroline Link, Germany, 2013 Home from Home (Die Andere Heimat) by Edgar Reitz, Germany, France, 2013

Athens Filmmakers' Co-Operative (Greece), rep. Venia Vergou Wild Duck by Yannis Sakaridis, Greece, 2013

Bac Films Distribution (France), rep. Clémentine Hugot The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears (L'Entrange Couleur Ded Larmes De Ton Corps) by Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, 2013

Beta Cinema (Germany), rep. Tassilo Hallbauer Le Grand-Cahier by János Szász, Germany, Hungary, Austria, France, 2013

Blonde S. A. (Greece), rep. Fenia Cossovitsa Standing Aside, Watching (Na Kathese Kai Na Kitas) by Yorgos Servetas, Greece, 2013

Capricci Films (France), rep. Julien Rejl Story of My Death (Historia De La Meva Mort) by Albert Serra, Spain, France, 2013 The Battle of Tabato (A Batalha De Tabato) by João Viana, Portugal, Guinea-Bissau, 2013

Celluloid Dreams (France), rep. Hengameh Panahi Those Happy Years (Anni Felici) by Daniele Luchetti, Italy, 2013

Cité Films (France), rep. Raphaël Berdugo Faith Connections (Faith Connections) by Pan Nalin, France, India, 2013

Doc & Film International (France), rep. Daniela Elstner, Alice Damiani Violette by Martin Provost, France, Belgium, 2013 South is Nothing (Il Sud E'Niente by Fabio Mollo, Italy, France, 2013

Dogwoof (United Kingdom), rep. Ana Vincente Inreallife by Beeban Kidron, UK, 2013

Ealing Metro International (United Kingdom), rep. Natalie Brenner, Will Machin Half of a Yellow Sun by Biyi Bandele, UK, 2013 The Stag by John Butler, Ireland, 2013

Embankment Films (United Kingdom), rep. Tim Haslam Le Week-End by Roger Michell, UK, 2013

Eyeworks Film & TV Drama (The Netherlands), rep. Maarten Swart The Dinner (Het Diner) by Menno Meyjes, The Netherlands, 2013

Fantasia Ltd (Greece), rep. Nicoletta Romeo The Daughter (I Kori) by Thanos Anastopoulos, Greece, Italy, 2013

Film Factory Entertainment (Spain), rep. Vicente Canales Cannibal (Canibal) by Manuel Martín Cuenca, Spain, 2013 Zip & Zap and the Marble Gang (Zipi & Zape y el Club de la Canica) by Oskar Santos, Spain, 2013

Films Boutique (Germany), rep. Jean-Christophe Simon Walesa. Man of Hope (Walesa) by Andrzej Wajda, Poland, 2013

Films Distribution (France), rep. Nicolas Brigaud-Robert, François Yon Eastern Boys by Robin Campillo, France, 2013 Under the Starry Sky (Des Etoiles) by Dyana Gaye, France, Senegal, 2013

Heretic (Greece), rep. Giorgos Karnavas The Eternal Return of Antonis Paraskevas (I Aionia Epistrofi Tou Antoni Paraskeva) by Elina Psykou, Greece, 2013

Independent Film Sales (United Kingdom), rep. Karina Gechtman, Abigail Walsh The Sea by Stephen Brown, UK, Ireland, 2013 Starred Up by David Mackenzie, UK, 2013

Latido Films (Spain), rep. Miren Zamora Honeymoon (Libanky) by Jan Hrebejk, Czech Republic/Slovak Republic, 2013

LevelK (Denmark), rep. Tine Klint Sex, Drugs & Taxation (Spies Og Glistrup) by Christoffer Boe, Denmark, 2013

Linel Films (United Kingdom), rep. Aran Hughes To The Wolf (Sto Lyko) by Aran Hughes & Christina Koutsospyrou, Greece, UK, France, 2013

Minds Meet (Belgium), rep. Tomas Leyers I'm The Same I'm An Other by Caroline Strubbe, Belgium, The Netherlands, 2013

MK2 (France), rep. Victoire Thevenin Hotel (Hotell) by Lisa Langseth, Sweden, Denmark, 2012

Mpm Film (France), rep. Pierre Menahem For Those Who Can Tell No Tales by Jasmila Žbanić, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, 2013

Negativ s.r.o. (Czech Republic), rep. Zuzana Bielikova Miracle (Zazrak) by Juraj Lehotský, Czech Republic, Slovakia, 2013

Pathé Distribution (France), rep. Muriel Sauzay The Finishers by Nils Tavernier, France, 2013 Quai d'Orsay by Bertrand Tavernier, France, 2013

Pausilypon Films (Greece), rep. Menelaos Karamaghiolis J.A.C.E. - Just Another Confused Elephant by Menelaos Karamaghiolis, Greece, Portugal, Macedonia, Turkey, 2012

Picture Tree International (Germany), rep. Andreas Rothbauer Mary Queen of Scots by Thomas Imbach, Switzerland, 2013 Metalhead (Malmhaus) by Ragnar Bragason, Iceland, Norway, 2013

PPProductions (Greece), rep. Thanassis Karathanos Septmeber by Penny Panayotopoulou, Greece, Germany, 2013

Pyramide International (France), rep. Agathe Mauruc Giraffada by Rani Massalha, France, Germany, Italy, 2013

Rezo (France), rep. Laurent Danielou, Sebastien Chesneau The Station (Blutgletscher) by Marvin Kren, Austria, 2013 Abuse of Weakness (Abus De Faibless) by Catherine Breillat, France, Belgium, Germany, 2013

The Match Factory (Germany), rep. Michael Weber, Thania Dimitrakopoulou The Police Officer's Wife (Die Frau Des Polizisten) by Philip Gröning, Germany, 2013 Qissa (Quissa) by Anup Singh, Germany, India, The Netherlands, France, 2013

The Yellow Affair (Sweden), rep. Miira Paasilinna Heart of a Lion (Leijonasydan) by Dome Karukoski, Finland, 2013

TrustNordisk (Denmark), rep. Susan Wendt, Nicolai Korsgaard Pioneer (Pioner) by Erik Skjoldbjaerg, Norway, 2013 We Are The Best (Vi Ar Bast!) by Lukas Moodysson, Sweden, 2013

Wide (France), rep. Loic Magneron Bobo by Ines Oliveira, Portugal, 2013

Wide House (France), rep. Garreau Geoffrey Ain't Misbehavin, A Marcel Ophuls Journey (Un Voyageur) by Marcel Ophuls, France, 2013

Wild Bunch (France), rep. Vicent Maraval, Gary Farkas Going Away (Un Beau Dimanche) by Nicole Garcia, France, 2013 A Promise (Une Promesse) by Patrice Leconte, France, Belgium, 2013...

Title – Filmmaker

Section: Contemporary World Cinema

Times: Monday 9th, Wednesday 11th, Sunday 15th

Buzz: Best known to North American audiences as the screenwriter of Spielberg faves The Color Purple, Empire of the Sun, (as well as Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade), veteran filmmaker Menno Meyjes is no stranger to taking book club favorites and adapting them into timeless films. The Dinner is a best selling Dutch novel by Herman Koch that was recently translated and brought over to North America readers, who quickly shone a spotlight on the darkly funny criminal satire of modern day European society, and based on a shocking true story. Fans of the novel are curious to see how the biting tale of what sins are overlooked underneath the sheen surface of bourgeois culture will translate into film.

The Gist: Paul and his enamored wife Claire sing the praises of their son Michel, even when...

I took a look and last year I saw 24 movies and reviewed 23 of them at the Toronto Film Festival (read my recap here). So I took a quick look at the lineup announced so far for this year's festival to see what I may or may not be seeing and already my list of "must sees" is at 18 followed by three titles I really want to see. After that I have 18 films followed by six that are quite unlikely I'll fit along with three I saw and already reviewed at Cannes earlier this year. As is always the case with film festivals of this size, I simply have to weigh each film by measure of "importance" in the grand scheme of things, followed by those I'm most excited to see and after that is when I can begin poking around at some of the films that raise my curiosity, but...

Final batch of Tiff titles were announced today and among the international hodgepodge of items trickling we find Berlin (Golden Bear winner Child’s Pose), Cannes (The Selfish Giant – Europa Cinemas Label winner and Stranger by the Lake by Alain Guiraudie), Karlovy Vary (Crystal Globe winner Le Grand Cahier ) and Locarno (Corneliu Porumboiu’s When Evening Falls on Bucharest or Metabolism) Film Fest items added to the Toronto Int. Film Festival’s Contemporary World Cinema lineup. Alongside those that have already premiered elsewhere, the titles that have got our attention are world premiere offerings from the likes of award-winning Icelandic helmer Ragnar Bragason (Metalhead), Revanche‘s Götz Spielmann (October November – see pic above) and Mexican filmmaker Fernando Eimbcke’s Club Sandwich. Here’s the added titles to the section which already includes: Catherine Martin’s A Journey (Une Jeune Fille), Ingrid Veninger’s The Animal Project, Terry Miles’ Cinemanovels, Bruce Sweeney...

The titles just keep coming as we are now just over three weeks away from the start of the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival and they have gone and added 90 new feature length titles to the program and it's not as if they are titles you haven't heard of. New to the Galas selection is Guillaume Canet's Blood Ties which premiered at Cannes earlier this year (read my review here) and Words and Pictures starring Clive Owen and Juliette Binoche. In the Special Presentations selection you find the bulk of the more noted titles including Alex Gibney's new documentary The Armstrong Lie about cyclist Lance Armstrong, Johnnie To's Blind Detective which also premiered at Cannes, James Franco's Child of God based on the Cormac McCarthy novel, John Turturro's Fading Gigolo which features Woody Allen in one of the roles, Kevin Macdonald's How I Live Now...

World premieres of Kevin Macdonald’s How I Live Now, Fred Schepisi’s Words And Pictures and John Turturro’s Fading Gigolo are among the Tiff line-up of galas and special presentations.

The Contemporary World Cinema strand includes first views of Jan Hrebejk’s Honeymoon, Donovan Marsh’s iNumber Number and Fernando Coimbra’s A Wolf At The Door.

The Toronto International Film Festival is scheduled to run from Sept 5-15.

Wp = World premiere

IP = International premiere

Np = North American premiere

Cp = Canadian premiere

Tp = Toronto premiere

GALASBlood Ties Guillaume Canet (France-us) NAPBright Days Ahead (Les Beaux Jours) Marion Vernoux (France) NAPWords & Pictures Fred Schepisi (Us) Wpspecial Presentationsa Promise (Une Promesse) Patrice Leconte (Belgium-France) NAPThe Armstrong Lie Alex Gibney (Us) NAPBlind Detective Johnnie To (Hong Kong) NAPChild Of God James Franco (Us) NAPThe Face Of Love Arie Posin (Us) WPFading Gigolo John Turturro (Us) WPThe Finishers Nils Tavernier (Belgium-France) WPHow I Live Now Kevin Macdonald (UK) WPThe...

World premieres of Kevin Macdonald’s How I Live Now, Fred Schepisi’s Words And Pictures and John Turturro’s Fading Gigolo are among the TIFF line-up of galas and special presentations announced on Tuesday [13].

The Contemporary World Cinema strand includes first views of Jan Hrebejk’s Honeymoon, Donovan Marsh’s iNumber Number and Fernando Coimbra’s A Wolf At The Door.

The Toronto International Film Festival is scheduled to run from Sept 5-15.

Wp = World premiere

IP = International premiere

Np = North American premiere

Cp = Canadian premiere

Tp = Toronto premiere

GALASBlood Ties Guillaume Canet (France-us) NAPBright Days Ahead (Les Beaux Jours) Marion Vernoux (France) NAPWords & Pictures Fred Schepisi (Us) Wpspecial Presentationsa Promise (Une Promesse) Patrice Leconte (Belgium-France) NAPThe Armstrong Lie Alex Gibney (Us) NAPBlind Detective Johnnie To (Hong Kong) NAPChild Of God James Franco (Us) NAPThe Face Of Love Arie Posin (Us) WPFading Gigolo John Turturro (Us) WPThe Finishers Nils Tavernier (Belgium-France) WPHow I Live Now [link...

Currently in the works is a biopic about renowned war photographer Robert Capa, aptly titled Capa. Director Paul Andrew Williams (An Unfinished Song) will be helming the film with a script from Menno Meyjes (Empire of the Sun, The Colour Purple). Already set to star is Gemma Arterton and now, the film has found its leading man in Tom Hiddleston, most well known for his role as Loki in Marvel’s universe of films.

Now, to avoid confusion, we should make it clear that another Capa biopic is in the works. It’s titled Waiting for Robert Capa and Michael Mann is currently attached to direct. That version is said to be more of a big budget affair while the one starring Arterton and Hiddleston will be more of a low key drama.

Capa will follow the photographer starting in 1935, where he meets a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany named Taro.

A few years ago, we learned about a biopic called Capa from director Michael Mann about renowned war photographer Robert Capa, focusing on his two year romance with fellow photographer Gerda Taro during the Spanish Civil War. Gemma Arterton and Andrew Garfield were attached to the project, but now it seems there's been some confusion. Mann is developing a project about Capa, but his film is called Waiting for Robert Capa, while the version that Arterton is starring has the initial title we heard. And now the film has a leading man as Tom Hiddleston told ShortList (via The Playlist) that he was starring. More below! Last word from Arterton at the Marrakech International Film Festival said that Song for Marion (now known as An Unfinished Song) director Paul Andrew Williams was at the helm of the film with a script from Menno Meyjes (The Color Purple, Empire of the Sun,...

Update: Reps for Gemma Arterton have confirmed she will not be starring in "Capa."In the works for a quite a few years now, you might have lost track of where we're at in terms of a biopic on war photographer Robert Capa. Way, way back in 2010, Gemma Arterton said that she was going to star in a movie to be directed by Michael Mann, but then last year at the Marrakech International Film Festival, the actress clarified with us the status of her film, and revealed that there is more than one movie in the works. “There’s two versions: ‘Waiting for Robert Capa’ which is Michael Mann’s and my version which is just called ‘Capa,’ ” says Arterton. “It’s now being directed by Paul Andrew Williams who directed ‘Song for Marion.’ The original screenplay was by Menno Meyjes... We’re in the process of casting our Capa,...

There’s a lot of golden-age Hollywood in this tale of the earliest days, in the 1930s, of the Arab oil kingdoms. Some of it is just plain fun: sweeping desert vistas and epically staged battles on horseback. Some of it is cornball old-fashioned, like the fact that of the four main Arab characters, one is played by a Spaniard (Antonio Banderas, loving every minute of his turn as the first oil sheik), one by an Anglo-Italian (an underutilized Mark Strong), one by an Indian (Freida Pinto, also given short shrift), and only one by an actual Arab (French-born Tahar Rahim, unrecognizable from A Prophet (Un prophète) and the best reason to see this). Screenwriter Menno Meyjes, working from the novel The Arab, Hans Ruesch [Amazon U.S.] [Amazon Canada] [Amazon U.K.], brings hints of Indiana Jones cheek -- not unexpectedly: he contributed to the sublime Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade -- to get the story...

We don't know a whole lot about Black Gold, the new film from Jean-Jacques Annaud (Seven Years in Tibet, Two Brothers). It stars Antonio Banderas, Mark Strong, Freida Pinto, and Tahar Rahim, the lead of A Prophet. The film was shot on location in the Sahara, with a script based on the book South of the Heart: A Novel of Modern Arabia, by Hans Ruesch, which has also been released under the simple paperback title Arab. A French trailer for the film has come online, however, and it will make clear many things about the film. You'll see, for example, why it is already being painted as Lawrence of Arabia meets There Will Be Blood. Check the trailer below. Annaud and Menno Meyjes (The Color Purple, story credit on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) scripted. Black Gold doesn't have a Us distributor or release date at this point.

With the Arab Spring slowly beginning a sea change over the non-democratic rule of the many of the oil rich nations in the Middle East, the timing for Jean-Jacques Annaud’s epic "Black Gold" is fortuitous. While the history of oil in the Middle East is definitely complex, Annaud will take viewers right back to the beginning to when the resource was first discovered burbling underneath the sand. Penned by Menno Meyjes (”Empire Of The Sun,” “Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade”) and based on Hans Reusch’s book “The Great Thirst,” the film will follow the ‘30s-set rivalry between two Emirs…...

There is black gold in the sand. An English trailer with French subtitles for “Black Gold” was released by Warner Brothers. The film stars Tahar Rahim (“A Prophet,” “Inside”), Mark Strong (“Sherlock Holmes,” “Body of Lies”), Antonio Banderas (“Desperado,” “The Mask of Zorro”) and Freida Pinto (“Slumdog Millionaire,” “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”). Here is a brief synopsis: Set in the 1930s, Arab states at the dawn of the oil boom, the story centers on a young Arab prince torn between the allegiance to his conservative father and modern, liberal father-in-law. The film is directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud (“Enemy at the Gates,” “Two Brothers”). The screenplay is written by Annaud and Menno Meyjes (“Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” “The Color Purple”), which is adapted from the novel “Arab” by Hans Ruesch. “Black Gold” will be in theaters in the United States on December 23rd later this year.

Today we have the trailer for "Black Gold," which is based on Hans Reusch's "The Great Thirst" book and stars Antonio Banderas, Mark Strong and Freida Pinto. Check it out below. Plot: Set in the 1930s' Arab states at the dawn of the oil boom, the story centers on a young Arab prince (Tahar Rahim) torn between allegiance to his conservative father (Strong) and modern, liberal father-in-law (Banderas). The new movie is directed by French filmmaker Jean-Jacques Annaud (Seven Years in Tibet, Enemy at the Gates) from a script by Menno Meyjes (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Siege). It has already been picked up for distribution all over Europe, but has to be acquired for Us release. Trailer: If you cannot see the player, click here.

James Horner has signed on to write the music for the epic adventure Black Gold. The film is directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud who has previously collaborated with Horner on the 1986 thriller The Name of the Rose starring Sean Connery and the 2001 war drama Enemy at the Gates. Black Gold is based on the classic novel The Great Thirst by Hans Reuschand and tells the story of the rivalry between two Emirs in Arabia in the 1930’s just as oil is being discovered, and the rise of a young, dynamic leader who unites the various tribes of the desert kingdoms. The film stars Antonio Banderas, Mark Strong, Tahar Rahim, Freida Pinto and Liya Kebede. Menno Meyjes (The Color Purple, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) wrote the project’s screenplay based on a story by Annaud and Alain Godard. Tarak Ben Ammar (Femme Fatale, Baaria) is producing. The movie is set...

Gravitas Ventures has made a deal with Viva Pictures in digital video distribution of A Matador’s Mistress, company founder and CEO Nolan Gallagher announced yesterday in Austin.

That will allow A Matador’s Mistress to finally see the light of day. Gravitas plans to release the film on demand via cable, satellite, telco and online in June 2011.

The feature tells the story of Spain’s most famous and respected bullfighter Manuel Laureano ‘Manolete’ Rodriguez Sanchez (Brody) and actress and socialite Lupe Sino (Penelope Cruz) who has taken his love. The Menno Meyjes — writen and directed drama covers Manolete’s late life love affair with Sino before he was run to death in the bull ring. Sino’s, left wing politics turned their affair into a scandal in the early 1940s.

Although the film stars two Oscar winners, it never found any many and check-takers for a theatrical run. In...

A long delayed film release may finally let audience watch it by Video on Demand rather than the theaters. Deadline is reporting Gravitas Ventures struck a deal with Viva Pictures to finally release “A Matador’s Mistress,” or it is also called “Manolete.” The film is directed and written by Dutch director Menno Meyjes (“Martian Child,” “Capa”). It stars Adrien Brody (“The Pianist,” “King Kong”) and Penelope Cruz (“Volver,” “Vanilla Sky”). Here is the official synopsis: “’Manolete’ is set in the 1940s Spain and tells the story of matador Manuel Rodriguez Sanchez and his love affair with actress Lupe Sino, which continued until his death in the bullring in 1947 at 30.” According to Gravitas Ventures’ CEO Nolan A. Gallagher, the film will be released this June through cable, telco and online. “Film lovers will have the opportunity to appreciate the find performances of Adrien Brody and Penelope Cruz,” said Gallagher. “Video...

Gravitas Ventures has made a deal with Viva Pictures that will allow A Matador's Mistress to finally see the light of day, only not in darkened movie theaters. It's a straight to VOD play for the Menno Meyjes-directed drama stars Adrien Brody as Spanish bullfighter Manolete, in a film that covers his late life love affair with actress Lupe Sino before he was gored to death in the bull ring. Penelope Cruz plays Sino, whose left wing politics turned their affair into a scandal in the early 1940s. Gravitas Ventures' CEO Nolan A. Gallagher said that the film will be released this June through cable, telco and online, making it available to a  potentially sizable audience. Even though the film stars two Oscar winners, it never found any takers for a theatrical run. It was actually shot in 2005, four years before Cruz won her Oscar for Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

The first three images have been released for what is being described as “one of the biggest projects to be made about the Arab world”, Black Gold.

The film, which stars Antonio Banderas, Freida Pinto, Tahar Rahim and Mark Strong, centers around of the rivalry between two Emirs in Arabia in the 1930’s. It’s a time in which one of the most valuable discoveries that the world has ever seen – oil, is beginning to take hold of the world.

Warner Bros and Universal Pictures are set to distribute the film internationally, while production is being overseen by Quinta Communications and the Doha Film Institute. This from the official press release:

Acclaimed French filmmaker Jean-Jacques Annaud (“Quest for Fire”; “The Name of the Rose”; “Seven Years in Tibet”; “Enemy at the Gates”) will helm the $55 million epic based on the screenplay by Menno Meyjes (“The Color Purple”; “Empire of the Sun...

Chicago – Alice Walker’s novel “The Color Purple” won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1983 and became a highly-acclaimed film just two years later from what was then-seen as an unlikely directorial choice in Steven Spielberg. Despite the controversy, the film went on to be nominated for a stunning eleven Academy Awards and is now one of the first Spielberg works to get the HD upgrade.

Blu-Ray Rating: 4.0/5.0

Known solely for blockbusters like “Jaws” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” Steven Spielberg seemed like an unusual (and, in some circles, downright insulting) choice to adapt the acclaimed Walker novel about the life of an African American woman in the early 1900s. The film was met with almost widespread critical acclaim, garnering Spielberg a DGA Award for Best Director and a stunning 11 Academy Award nominations, although controversy would greet it again when it would win none of those nominations, causing some...

The Beaver

Opens: March 23rd 2011

Cast: Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, Anton Yelchin, Jennifer Lawrence

Director: Jodie Foster

Summary: A depressed toy company CEO with a failed marriage starts to wear a beaver puppet on his hand as a form of therapy, much to the initial bemusement of his family. He soon begins talking only through the character.

Analysis: This time last year, excitement was quietly brewing for "The Beaver". Gibson's drunken tirade a few years before hand wasn't forgotten, but enough time had passed that this looked to be the year of a potential comeback for the actor.

The thriller remake "Edge of Darkness" and this were his first on screen roles in ten years, 'Beaver' is also his "Maverick" co-star Foster's return to the director's chair fifteen years after her last feature. The script topped the 2008 Black List and scored rave reviews for its blend of sophisticated humor and sad pathos,...

The Beaver

Opens: March 23rd 2011

Cast: Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, Anton Yelchin, Jennifer Lawrence

Director: Jodie Foster

Summary: A depressed toy company CEO with a failed marriage starts to wear a beaver puppet on his hand as a form of therapy, much to the initial bemusement of his family. He soon begins talking only through the character.

Analysis: This time last year, excitement was quietly brewing for "The Beaver". Gibson's drunken tirade a few years before hand wasn't forgotten, but enough time had passed that this looked to be the year of a potential comeback for the actor.

The thriller remake "Edge of Darkness" and this were his first on screen roles in ten years, 'Beaver' is also his "Maverick" co-star Foster's return to the director's chair fifteen years after her last feature. The script topped the 2008 Black List and scored rave reviews for its blend of sophisticated humor and sad pathos,...

If you like period pieces and socio-political dramas, Universal and Warner Bros have a new feature just for you! Black Gold will center on the rivalry of Arabian rulers, who struggled for control of oil fields, in the 1930s. Deadline revealed Antonio Banderas and Frieda Pinto of You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, and Mark Strong (Kick-Ass) will star in the award-baiting epic, which will also feature Riz Ahmed (Centurion) and Liya Kabede (Lord of War).

The film, formerly dubbed Black Thirst, will be helmed by period piece pro, Jean-Jacques Annaud, who directed Enemy At the Gates, Seven Years in Tibet and The Name of the Rose, and scripted by The Siege screenwriter, Menno Meyjes.

Black Gold will be shot in Ben Ammar’s Empire Studios and on location in Tunisia beginning on October 18, with a project release date of Christmas 2011.

Are you looking forward to Black Gold?

You can e-mail Kristy,...

Antonio Banderas starring in Black GoldAntonio Banderas has become the latest to join the cast of the upcoming production Black Gold, according to Deadline New York.

Antonio Banderas joins a cast that already includes Mark Strong, Freida Pinto and A Prophet star Tahar Rahim, along with Riz Ahmed and Liya Kebede.

The movie is set in the 1930s, a time when oil was first being discovered in parts of Saudi Arabia. The story centers on rival Arabian tribes and a young ruler who manages to unite these warring kingdoms. Jean-Jacques Annaud is directing from a screenplay by Menno Meyjes.

Black Gold will start shooting October 18 on location in Tunisia.

It's difficult to say whether Black Gold, which seeks to tell a tale of rival Arabic rulers during the Arab oil boom of the 1930s, will be any good. But the film, which will be directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud (Seven Years in Tibet) has an interesting cast: Antonio Banderas toplines, with Mark Strong, Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire), and Tahar Rahim (A Prophet) all lined up to appear. Tahar Rahim was magnificent in A Prophet, so that's reason enough to keep an eye on Black Gold. Beyond that, we don't know much about the script by Menno Meyjes, certainly not enough to make a call. (It eventually follows "the rise of a young, dynamic leader who unites the various tribes of the desert kingdoms.") Tarak Ben Ammar is producing and has wanted to make the film for almost 30 years. He optioned the Hans Ruesch book The Great Thirst in 1978 and ...

Antonio Banderas, Freida Pinto, Riz Ahmed, Liya Kebed, Mark Strong and Tahar Rahim have been cast in Warner Bros. and Universal’s oil-centric drama Black Gold.

Deadline confirm that Jean-Jacques Annaud will direct from a script from by Menno Meyjes.

Black Gold tells the story of the rivalry between Arabian rulers in the 1930s just as oil is being discovered, and the rise of a young, dynamic leader who unites the various tribes of the desert kingdoms.

Filming is expected to commence in late October, with a release expected for late 2011, in time for next years awards season.

Director Paul Thomas Anderson recently took us back to the oil fields of decades past with the period drama There Will Be Blood, but now Warner Bros. and Universal are joining forces with director Jean-Jacques Annaud (Enemy at the Gates, Seven Years in Tibet) for another oil-centric drama. Deadline reports the studios are collaborating on Black Gold the story of the rivalry between Arabian rulers in the 1930s just as oil is being discovered, and the rise of a young, dynamic leader who unites the various tribes of the desert kingdoms. Antonio Banderas, Mark Strong and Freida Pinto are all starring in the film which starts shooting next week. Riz Ahmed (Centurion) and Liya Kabede (The Good Shepherd) also star in the film written by Menno Meyjes (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Empire of the Sun) which sounds like a great contender when awards season rolls ...

Warner Bros and Universal are sharing territories on Tunisian entrepreneur Tarak Ben Ammar’s next feature Black Gold. The story revolves around the rivalry between Arabian rulers in the 1930s just as oil is being discovered, and the rise of a young, dynamic leader who unites the various tribes of the desert kingdoms. Filming begins in Tunisia on October 18, with shooting taking place in Ben Ammar’s Empire Studios and on location in Tunisia. Tahar Rahim (A Prophet), Mark Strong (Sherlock Holmes), Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire), Riz Ahmed and Liya Kebede star along with Banderas. Jean-Jacques Annaud (Enemy at the Gate, Seven Years In Tibet) will direct, based on the screenplay by Menno Meyjes (Empire of the Sun, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade). Warner will distribute in France, the UK, Latin America and the Middle East. Universal Pictures International (Upi) is releasing the film in Germany and Spain. Quinta Communications...

When it comes to the first photos and synopsis from upcoming films, Collider has reaped great rewards from this year’s American Film Market (Afm). For those who don’t know, Afm is where film buyers from around the world come once a year to buy movies and also pre-buy films in development. Simply put, this is where a lot of money changes hands in the film industry and it’s where many decisions about what you and I get to see are made. In an effort to try and raise a film’s profile or attract film buyers, many of the studios distribute full synopses and still images for their movies.

With that in mind, we have grabbed some of those synopses and images for Manolete (starring Adrien Brody and Penelope Cruz), Mona Lisa, Pearblossom, Small Town Saturday Night (starring Chris Pine), and The Long Good Friday. Hit the...

This review was written for the theatrical release of "Martian Child".The very notion of a story about a widower struggling to bond with a hard-to-place foster child might set the schmaltz-averse running.

Those who stick with "Martian Child" won't entirely avoid mush, but they will find terrific performances by John Cusack, as the parental unit, and 10-year-old Bobby Coleman, as the self-proclaimed extraterrestrial. Their unpredictable interactions infuse the proceedings with an immediacy that helps sell the overly pointed lessons of the script. Going wide against "Bee Movie" and "American Gangster", the film could find itself a boxoffice orphan whose welcoming home awaits on DVD.

The project reteams Cusack with director Menno Meyjes, in whose feature debut, "Max", he played a Jewish art dealer who meets an aspiring painter named Adolf Hitler. Despite their disparate tones, the films share the idea of a sensitive individual trying to coax an outsider into a sense of worth and belonging. In its balancing act between feel-good aphorisms and comic drama, "Martian Child" too frequently loses its equilibrium. But in its best moments, an engagingly weird and vulnerable mood prevails.

Adapting David Gerrold's autobiographical novel about a single gay man who adopts a troubled child, scripters Seth E. Bass and Jonathan Tolins have made the protagonist a widowed straight man -- screenplay shorthand for noble, selfless good guy. But Cusack is too smart an actor to solicit audience sympathy and has such a natural screen presence that he makes David Gordon likable on his own terms. The author of sci-fi fantasy best-sellers with titles like "Dracoban", he's a grown-up misfit who's slightly amazed that he's made a go of adulthood.

Two years after the death of his wife, David Still weeps over her photos, puttering around the modernist geometric palace of a home that he shares with a floppy-eared dog -- who's shamelessly used in an egregiously unearned plot point. David's best friend and obvious ideal mate, Harlee (lovely work by Amanda Peet), encourages his plans to adopt, while his sister (Joan Cusack), a moderately harried mother of two boys, provides get-real admonitions.

David overcomes cold feet to adopt Dennis, who must first be lured from the protective shell of an Amazon carton (a unique bit of product placement) and into the glare of the Earth's atmosphere. Equipped with a battery-weighted "holding-down belt" to keep him from floating back to Mars, Dennis is a moon-pale boy with a 1970s haircut and wispy voice. In oversize shades, he grudgingly tolerates David's paternal overtures, looking for all the world like an unsmiling minicelebrity or, as Harlee notes with delighted equanimity, a "little Andy Warhol."

Dennis embarks on an anthropological "mission," snapping Polaroids of his earthly environs and collecting other people's things -- also known as stealing -- and sending up a red flag with social services, represented by Richard Schiff and Sophie Okonedo in understated turns.

Oliver Platt and Anjelica Huston, as David's agent and publisher, respectively, are asked to embody cliches, particularly in a ridiculous book party scene that provides a Cliffs Notes summary of the movie's theme.

The story's hold deepens when it isn't underlining its ideas about the parent/child divide, fantasy as coping mechanism and the value of being different but instead gives way to unexplained whimsy like Dennis' oddly beautiful Martian dance.

Meyjes and DP Robert Yeoman use off-center imagery to convey more than the dialogue can say, with low-key but strong design and costume contributions. Vancouver plays Chicago to nicely overcast effect.

MARTIAN CHILD

New Line

A David Kirschner/Corey Sienega/Ed Elbert production

Credits:

Director: Menno Meyjes

Screenwriters: Seth E. Bass, Jonathan Tolins

Based on the book by: David Gerrold

Producers: David Kirschner, Corey Sienega, Ed Elbert

Executive producers: Toby Emmerich, Mark Kaufman, Matt Moore, David Gerrold, Mike Drake

Director of photography: Robert Yeoman

Production designer: Hugo Luczyc-Wyhowski

Music: Aaron Zigman

Co-producers: Seth E. Bass, Jonathan Tolins

Costumer designer: Michael Dennison

Editor: Bruce Green

Cast:

David Gordon: John Cusack

Harlee: Amanda Peet

Jeff: Oliver Platt

Sophie: Sophie Okonedo

Dennis: Bobby Coleman

Lefkowitz: Richard Schiff

Dr. Berg: Howard Hesseman

Liz: Joan Cusack

Tina: Anjelica Huston

Running time -- 107 minutes

MPAA rating: PG...

Writer-director Menno Meyjes is setting sail on his Viking epic Last Battle Dreamer with Ryan Phillippe, Abbie Cornish and Sean Bean on board, producers said Wednesday.

Scheduled to shoot later this year, the project is backed by Future Films, with Handmade Films International handling sales duties.

Phillippe will star as a seventh-century Viking warrior named Thorfinn who, along with his older brother, the battle-scarred Hakon (Sean Bean), invades Britain.

Phillippe and Cornish will next be seen together in Kimberly Pierce's Stop Loss.

Meyjes describes Dreamer as "a love story written in fire and blood." Meyjes is now completing post-production on his biopic of Spain's most famous matador, Manolete, starring Adrien Brody and Penelope Cruz.

New Line Cinema is scheduled to roll out Meyjes' Martian Child, starring John Cusack, in the U.S. in October.

Phillippe is repped by David Guillod at UTA, Bean and Cornish by Tracy Brennan and Hilda Queally at CAA.

Complete coverage from Cannes: News, reviews, video and more

CANNES -- U.K. and U.S. financiers Future Films, Pedro Almodovar's production banner El Deseo and Arcadia Capital have united to bring an adaptation of "The Ice Storm" author Rick Moody's best-selling novel "Purple America" to the big screen.

The adaptation will be directed by award-winning Spanish commercials director Jorge Torregrossa and details the story of a freelance publicist who is summoned home to care for his mother who suffers from a neurological disease and demands an assisted suicide.

Future Films and Arcadia Capital are putting together the finance structure for the film, with Future's in-house producer Kwesi Dickson ("Goodbye Bafana") steering the project alongside Almodovar collaborator and producer Esther Garcia, whose credits include 2006 Palme d'Or nominee "Volver".

Film Bridge International, headed by Ellen Wander, is handling worldwide sales on the project. A writer is being lined up for the adaptation, which is still in the early stages.

The deal sees Future Films join forces with the Spanish co-producers that most recently backed Menno Meyjes' "Manolete", starring Penelope Cruz and Adrien Brody, and Antonio Banderas' "El Camino de los Ingleses".

Equity finance provider Arcadia Capital is new on the block.