|
Written by David DiMichele
|
|
Saturday, 27 September 2008 |
|
Starring: Derek Luke, Michael Ealy, Laz Alonso, Omar Bensen Miller, Kerry Washington
Director: Spike Lee
Release Date: September 26, 2008
Running Time: 160 min
MPAA Rating: R
Distributor: Touchstone Pictures
- - -
There is a certain language in Miracle at St. Anna that hasn’t yet been deciphered in the war movie genre. So new is this language that when we hear it and see the images that are set to it, we back away because we don’t understand it, or we don’t want to understand it. For 160 minutes, sit back and learn the methods it takes to understand it. Lasting impressions will ensue when you do. Spike Lee’s raw voice once again ignites a furious passion, which he found in James McBride’s novel, and stirs debates as it is sowed inside a war film. This is something you will not want to miss.
|
|
|
Written by Jan Jeffrey
|
|
Saturday, 27 September 2008 |
|
Update: It has just been reported that Jonathan Rhys Meyers will quit The Tudors, and more about his upcoming filming of From Paris With Love. [ read more ]
He can play King, rocker, spy... You name it, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers can! As one of our favorite actors, we're putting him in the spotlight- with a list of upcoming films and his recent movie, The Children of Huang Shi!
- - -
Latest Project: Variety has recently announced that Jonathan Rhys Meyers is set to star alongside John Travolta in an upcoming thriller directed by Pierre Morel called From Paris With Love. The films plot concerns a young embassy worker and an American secret agent who cross paths while working on a high-risk mission in Paris. [ read more ]
Screen Daily also reports producers EuropaCorp are to begin shooting on From Paris With Love:
"EuropaCorp has announced the start of principal photography on the $55m (Euros 38m) From Paris With Love, starring John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Director Pierre Morel began filming Monday near Annecy and will carry on to Paris and its environs for a total 12-week shoot. The film is based on an original idea from EuropaCorp principal Luc Besson, along with Adi Hasak, and tells the story of a young insider and an American secret agent who are thrown together in a risky mission in France's capital city.
Morel, a cinematographer-turned-director, previously directed Liam Neeson in this year's EuropaCorp produced Taken and the 2004 hit Banlieue 13."
- - -
Jonathan Rhys Meyers most recent war drama film The Children of Huang Shi is directed by Roger Spottiswoode and starring Yun-Fat Chow, Radha Mitchell, and Michelle Yeoh. Check out the youtube trailer below [ after the jump ] |
|
|
Written by Jed Medina
|
|
Saturday, 27 September 2008 |
|
Newcomers and Major Mainstays. The top 40 list include newcomers like Rupert Grint, Luke and Harry Treadaway, Josh Peck, Tom Payne and Rory Culkin. One of them has yet to do his first full-length movie- Colin Morgan.
Major mainstays are Ryan Donowho, Jesse Eisenberg and Tom Sturridge. Definitely, these three can act and play the lead roles. It just so happens that the kind of challenging and interesting roles are not yet within their grasps...
[ Get to know more about the mechanics in choosing the top 50 here. ]
Here's the Top 40-
- - -
- - -
Top 50 status: First time on the top 50 list.
Biggest roles so far: as Barry Howe in Brothers of the Head and as Theo in Clapham Junction.
Why he made the top 50: Luke plays one of the leads in Brothers of the Head, which many critics lambasted for its 'incoherent and messy second half'. Says Boyd van Hoeij @european-films.net:
The musical career of two British punk siblings joined above the hip spirals out of control in the fake rockumentary Brothers of the Head. This first foray into fiction for Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe (the American duo behind the “failed Terry Gilliam film”- documentary Lost in La Mancha), is appropriately moody and gets the music right, but becomes as incoherent and messy as the lives of the protagonists in the film’s second half, as the Siamese twins Tom and Barry Howe are unable to keep things together in a drug-induced frenzy of music, sex and death.
While the criticism went at full-length, the film also won a number of awards from various film festivals, giving both Luke and his brother, Harry, a high-profile introduction into the industry. The role also gave Luke Treadaway the opportunity to become part of the cast of many feature films, among them, The Innocence Project, Clapham Junction and Dogging: A Love Story, where he plays the lead.
Currently busy with an important role in Theater, watch out for our exclusive interview with Mr. Luke Treadaway very soon!
|
|
|
Written by Jed Medina
|
|
Saturday, 27 September 2008 |
|
Even the jurors at Strasbourg International Film Festival seem to agree with my rather generous praise of Robert Pattinson's performance in How To Be. The young actor just won his first international film award- as Best Actor in a Feature Film!
Pattinson won the award over two other nominees- Michael Madsen for Strength and Honour (representing Ireland) and Ali Atay for Happy New Year London (representing both Turkey and the UK).
Oliver Irving's first feature was also the opening night film at the Festival. This happens to be one of the six or seven international film festivals that the movie is currently participating. For the month of October, the movie will be part of New Orleans Film Festival (October 10-16, 2008), Indie 2008 Film Festival, Brazil (October 10-16, 2008) and Austin Film Festival (October 16-23).
Here's what I said in my review of How To Be:
If you’re a fan of Robert Pattinson, this is definitely one of his most important roles to date. Many would have to say we only recognize Pattinson in his Harry Potter role, but as you watch this movie, you’ll see a different character emerging. This is not the charming, confident wizard who competes for a prize. This is a young, insecure, often clumsy individual who has nowhere to go, no girlfriend and no real prospect for the future.
I recalled one particular movie that had the same effect on me, which was Starter for Ten, starring another tMF favorite, James McAvoy. It must be the dry British humour that cuts through some of the scenes. Just like Art, Brian (McAvoy) is struggling for his place in the sun. While the two films take place in different time frames, we see something that will remain a constant in any young man’s life - the need for recognition, the need for love, and the need for independence.
How To Be is one of the three new feature films of Mr. Pattinson. The other two are (1) The much-anticipated Twilight and (2) Paul Morrison's Little Ashes.
Some facts about the film festival: The Strasboug International Film Festival is a 10-day film festival from Sept 12 - 21, 2008 located in the heart of Strasbourg, in France. The festival showed 25 feature films and between 60-100 shorts. |
|
|
Written by Jed Medina
|
|
Friday, 26 September 2008 |
|
Two young actors are definitely making a lot of noise this week- Daniel Radcliffe, who is expected to wow audiences in Broadway for the play Equus, is living up to the public's expectations, while Shia LaBeouf, who was cleared from a drunk driving charge, rules the Box Office with his latest movie, Eagle Eye.
 |
Let's have Shia first. Says the Hollywood Reporter:
Let's not be shy about it: "Eagle Eye" will perch atop the weekend boxoffice. DreamWorks/Paramount's Shia Labeouf thriller opens Friday with mere pretenders to the domestic throne as competition. Rated PG-13, "Eagle Eye" -- which co-stars Michelle Monaghan ("The Bourne Supremacy") and was directed by D.J. Caruso ("Disturbia") -- is tracking best with younger males and second-best with younger females. The film counts Steven Spielberg among its producers and boasts 85 Imax giant-screen playdates in addition to its roughly 3,500 engagements in traditional venues
"It's the first mainstream, tech-savvy movie that we've ever had in the fall," Imax Filmed Entertainment chief Greg Foster said. "We need to prove ourselves as a year-round enterprise, so it's a big step." [ read more ]
Adds Screen Daily:
A slickly-packaged yet ultimately-unpersuasive political action thriller, Eagle Eye collapses under the weight of various story incongruities, in large part because its sprawling, conspiratorial plot and mode of storytelling don't ever fully align.
A re-teaming of Disturbia director D.J. Caruso and star Shia Labeouf, the movie represents a crucial test of commercial leading man viability for the young actor. Domestically, decent mid-eight-figure grosses seem assured, given both Eagle Eye's complete lack of genre competition and its simultaneous release in the IMAX format, which helped extend The Dark Knight's popularity this summer. Internationally, though, this will test the staying power of LaBeouf's rising star. Disturbia did a modest 32 percent of its cumulative $118 million gross overseas, but Eagle Eye's assassination plotline is very specifically related to American politics, which could suppress returns. [ read full review ]
|
|
|
Written by Jed Medina
|
|
Friday, 26 September 2008 |
|
What makes an amazing actor? What causes an ordinary moviegoer to become an ardent, hardcore fan? Are good looks enough in today's almost cutthroat competition to create the next big Hollywood star? Are talents really being recognized, and are fans mature enough to embrace the really talented actors?
And the biggest question of all: who are the hottest, most talented young actors today? The Movie Fanatic asked industry insiders, ordinary movie fans, film critics and reviewers to give us some of their top choices. We also based our list on the latest announcements coming from British, German and French cinema industry reports. Most important of all, the list features some of today's most exciting emerging talents in cinema. [ Get to know more about the mechanics in choosing the top 50 here. ]
Here's the Top 50-
- - -

- - -
Top 50 status: First time on the top 50 list.
Biggest role so far: As James, in Twilight. The major antagonist of the novel Twilight, James is depicted as a merciless "tracker" vampire who hunts human beings or, in some cases, animals, for sport. James is described as unusually gifted at what he does and always gets what he wants, though it is later revealed that a then-human Alice Cullen escaped his clutches some time ago by being turned into a vampire before James could attack. Unlike the Cullen family, he drinks human blood as his food source
Why he made the list: He maybe the villain in the upcoming Twilight, but Cam Gigandet has the looks and the talent to play the lead. The 26-year old actor just grabbed six new feature films come 2009. One of them is the much-anticipated Kid Cannabis, a drama based on the true story of Nate Norman, a 19-year-old Idahoan who grew a multi-million dollar marijuana operation by smuggling the herb into the U.S. from British Columbia. Gigandet will also join Bruce Willis, Channing Tatum and Woody Harrelson in Oliver Stone's Pinkville. These two features would certainly give Gigandet the extra mileage on his quest to become one of Hollywood's most bankable young stars.
|
|
|
Written by Jed Medina
|
|
Thursday, 25 September 2008 |
It was just so different to the Harry Potter films. It's much lower budget, it's a much smaller crew and there's no blue-screen, special effects or creatures or anything like that! That was definitely one of the reasons I wanted to do it and it was just nice to be someone who's sort-of a bit different. Being Ron - as much as I love it - for many years does get a bit repetitive. It was nice just to be someone else.
Ron Weasley will always be one of my favorite Harry Potter characters ever! For one, he's simply wacky and very real. Second, he's portrayed by the talented Rupert Grint, who really puts a lot of effort into making a believable and charming character come to life. While we have to wait for the next Harry Potter sequel, the young 'redhead' is giving us a double treat of sorts.
We haven't has a lot of time off, but we have seen quite a bit of Northern Ireland and I have really enjoyed it. I particularly loved the Giant's Causeway and the [Carrick-a-Rede] rope bridge. Everyone has had a real laugh on set and they have been a great crew to work with,” says Grint.
That's Rupert making some comments on the set of Cherrybomb. Joining Grint are Robert Sheehan and Kimberley Nixon. |
|
|
Written by Jan and Jed
|
|
Wednesday, 24 September 2008 |
|
Even before we put the spotlight on Robert Pattinson, tMF has been covering the acting career of fellow British actor Tom Sturridge. Following a fantastic performance in Like Minds - together with another favorite, Eddie Redmayne - we were disappointed when the producers of Jumper replaced Tom with the more popular but definitely less talented Hayden Christensen.
Now, in a bizarre coincidence of sorts, Tom will be appearing in a new movie with Rachel Bilson (who replaced another actress previously cast in Jumper). Here's the good news for all Tom Sturridge fans - this was just posted by The Hollywood Reporter:
Tom Sturridge is starring in "Waiting for Forever," an indie romantic comedy being directed by James Keach. Jaime King, Nikki Blonsky, Scott Mechlowicz and Riley Smith also have roles in the film. Blythe Danner and Richard Jenkins round out the cast.
Sturridge plays a wanderer who tries to reconnect with his childhood love, an actress in Hollywood (played by the already cast Rachel Bilson). King plays the man's sister-in-law, who helps him after his brother rejects him.
Keach is producing the Steve Adams-written script with Trevor Albert through their PCH Prods. Executive producing the film, budgeted at a little less than $5 million, are Forest Backer III and Richard Arlook.
With a popular profile page here @tMF, Tom is one of our favorite young actors and will definitely be appearing in our upcoming Top 50 Hottest Young Actors list. Here's what we have on Tom so far... |
|
|