“The
33” will open November 25 in cinemas from Pioneer Films.
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Monday, November 16, 2015
OctoArts Films International: Criminal Activities (official trailer) [R16]
“Criminal
Activities” opens this November 25 January 20 from OctoArts Films International.
Click here for the movie’s trailer:.
Pioneer Films: NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN EXTREME ACTION STUNTS IN “POINT BREAK” – DECEMBER 3 IN CINEMAS
Inspired by the classic 1991 hit movie of the same title then starring Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves, 2015’s “Point Break” pushes the boundaries in the action genre with its most daring athleticism ever done in a motion picture.
Directed by Ericson Core who also worked on highly successful action thrilling films such as “The Fast and the Furious,” “Invincible” and “Payback,” this year’s “Point Break” stars Luke Bracey who stars as young FBI agent Johnny Utah who infiltrates a cunning team of thrill-seeking elite athletes – led by the charismatic Bodhi (Edgar Ramirez). The athletes are suspected of carrying out a spate of crimes in extremely unusual ways. Deep undercover, and with his life in imminent danger, Utah strives to prove they are the architects of this string of inconceivable crimes.
“Point Break” also stars Édgar Ramírez (“Zero Dark Thirty,” “The Bourne Ultimatum,” “Carlos the Jackal”) as Bodhi, along with Teresa Palmer (“Warm Bodies”), Delroy Lindo (“Sahara,” “Gone in Sixty Seconds”), and Ray Winstone (“Noah,” “The Departed”).
Director Core brings forth a unique first-of-its-kind thrilling edge in “Point Break” with its action adventure feats that are performed by elite athletes representing the world’s best in class in big-wave surfing, wingsuit flying, sheer-face snowboarding, free rock climbing, and high-speed motorcycling. Joining the actors in the movie are renowned extreme athletes performing stunts in the film include surfers Laird Hamilton, Sebastian Zietz, Makua Rothman, Billy Kemper, Brian Keaulana, Ahanu Tson-dru, Ian Walsh, Laurie Towner, Dylan Longbottom, Albee Layer, Bruce Irons, Tikanui Smith and Tuhiti Humani; snowboarders Xavier De Le Rue, Louis Vito, Christian Haller, Lucas DeBari and Ralph Backstrom; skateboarders Bob Burnquist and Eric Koston; motorcyclists Riley Harper and Oakley Lehman; wingsuit stunt pilots Jon Devore, Julian Boulle, Noah Bahnson, Jhonathan Florez and Mike Swanson, and consultant Jeb Corliss; and free climber Chris Sharma, among others.
Extreme action explodes when “Point Break” opens in cinemas nationwide December 3, Thursday from Pioneer Films.
Check out the film’s trailer here: http://pelikulangayon.blogspot.com/2015/11/Pioneer-Films-point-break-youtube.html
Directed by Ericson Core who also worked on highly successful action thrilling films such as “The Fast and the Furious,” “Invincible” and “Payback,” this year’s “Point Break” stars Luke Bracey who stars as young FBI agent Johnny Utah who infiltrates a cunning team of thrill-seeking elite athletes – led by the charismatic Bodhi (Edgar Ramirez). The athletes are suspected of carrying out a spate of crimes in extremely unusual ways. Deep undercover, and with his life in imminent danger, Utah strives to prove they are the architects of this string of inconceivable crimes.
“Point Break” also stars Édgar Ramírez (“Zero Dark Thirty,” “The Bourne Ultimatum,” “Carlos the Jackal”) as Bodhi, along with Teresa Palmer (“Warm Bodies”), Delroy Lindo (“Sahara,” “Gone in Sixty Seconds”), and Ray Winstone (“Noah,” “The Departed”).
Director Core brings forth a unique first-of-its-kind thrilling edge in “Point Break” with its action adventure feats that are performed by elite athletes representing the world’s best in class in big-wave surfing, wingsuit flying, sheer-face snowboarding, free rock climbing, and high-speed motorcycling. Joining the actors in the movie are renowned extreme athletes performing stunts in the film include surfers Laird Hamilton, Sebastian Zietz, Makua Rothman, Billy Kemper, Brian Keaulana, Ahanu Tson-dru, Ian Walsh, Laurie Towner, Dylan Longbottom, Albee Layer, Bruce Irons, Tikanui Smith and Tuhiti Humani; snowboarders Xavier De Le Rue, Louis Vito, Christian Haller, Lucas DeBari and Ralph Backstrom; skateboarders Bob Burnquist and Eric Koston; motorcyclists Riley Harper and Oakley Lehman; wingsuit stunt pilots Jon Devore, Julian Boulle, Noah Bahnson, Jhonathan Florez and Mike Swanson, and consultant Jeb Corliss; and free climber Chris Sharma, among others.
Extreme action explodes when “Point Break” opens in cinemas nationwide December 3, Thursday from Pioneer Films.
Check out the film’s trailer here: http://pelikulangayon.blogspot.com/2015/11/Pioneer-Films-point-break-youtube.html
POINT BREAK trailer (2015) on Youtube.
Extreme action explodes when “Point Break” opens in cinemas nationwide December 3, Thursday
from Pioneer Films.
OctoArts Films International: YOUNG AND INEXPERIENCED AGAINST MOBSTERS IN “CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES” [R16]
Four young men is pitted against a mob boss and a string of syndicates when one of them gets hitched with money trouble involving a ruthless mobster who wants his money back immediately in the witty heist thriller “Criminal Activities.”
John Travolta stars along with Dan Stevens, Michael Pitt, Christopher Abbott, Rob Brown and Edi Gathegi. Directed by Academy Award nominee actor Jackie Earle Haley known for his roles in “Watchmen,” “Breaking Away” and “Little Children,” “Criminal Activities” is his directorial debut from a script by Robert Lowell.
Haley’s directorial debut was inspired way back during “The Bad News Bears” when he had always wanted to direct, from then, he has paid attention to each and every detail of the movie set he’s in. “I think I knew camera geography by the time I was 12 or 13. I remember when I was 11, and my parents were completely aware of this, and they bought me a Super 8 MM, that’s film, not video, camera along with a little plastic editor and projector. And this was back when you had to like, you know, film was on a reel, and you had to splice it with scissors, and you had to glue the stuff together,” Haley admits.
Fast forward to recent years, Wayne Rice, a very prolific producer whose lineup of films also include “Valentine’s Day” and “New Year’s Eve” offered Haley his directorial debut gig after reading the script of “Criminal Activities.” Being a first-time director, Haley admits that it was an odd experience at first. “ But I think when you combine that experience with the knowledge of the fact that I’ve acted in so many movies, and have attacked so many scenes as an actor with other actors, with a director, that I think those two skills dovetailed together so that it really just felt like I’d done this before. I think the real trick in directing is really casting the right people to begin with. Because if you get the right people, who understand their character, understand the story, and they’re good at what they do – it wasn’t hard to keep them on track with the story because they were all just so good. It’s a matter of letting them go, letting them do their thing, guiding them where you want to push them a little bit in a direction. When you get the right cast, magic just happens, and you do several takes, and you’ve got several choices, so when you get into the editing room, you’re really able to craft some really good shit, because everybody dished it up for you on the day.”
“Criminal Activities” opens thisNovember 25 January 20 from OctoArts Films International. Click here for the movie’s trailer:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sf2aD9It3BM
John Travolta stars along with Dan Stevens, Michael Pitt, Christopher Abbott, Rob Brown and Edi Gathegi. Directed by Academy Award nominee actor Jackie Earle Haley known for his roles in “Watchmen,” “Breaking Away” and “Little Children,” “Criminal Activities” is his directorial debut from a script by Robert Lowell.
Haley’s directorial debut was inspired way back during “The Bad News Bears” when he had always wanted to direct, from then, he has paid attention to each and every detail of the movie set he’s in. “I think I knew camera geography by the time I was 12 or 13. I remember when I was 11, and my parents were completely aware of this, and they bought me a Super 8 MM, that’s film, not video, camera along with a little plastic editor and projector. And this was back when you had to like, you know, film was on a reel, and you had to splice it with scissors, and you had to glue the stuff together,” Haley admits.
Fast forward to recent years, Wayne Rice, a very prolific producer whose lineup of films also include “Valentine’s Day” and “New Year’s Eve” offered Haley his directorial debut gig after reading the script of “Criminal Activities.” Being a first-time director, Haley admits that it was an odd experience at first. “ But I think when you combine that experience with the knowledge of the fact that I’ve acted in so many movies, and have attacked so many scenes as an actor with other actors, with a director, that I think those two skills dovetailed together so that it really just felt like I’d done this before. I think the real trick in directing is really casting the right people to begin with. Because if you get the right people, who understand their character, understand the story, and they’re good at what they do – it wasn’t hard to keep them on track with the story because they were all just so good. It’s a matter of letting them go, letting them do their thing, guiding them where you want to push them a little bit in a direction. When you get the right cast, magic just happens, and you do several takes, and you’ve got several choices, so when you get into the editing room, you’re really able to craft some really good shit, because everybody dished it up for you on the day.”
“Criminal Activities” opens this
Pioneer Films: JOSH HUTCHERSON’S CLOSING MOMENTS IN THE FINAL CHAPTER OF “THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY PART 2”
The final chapter of “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2” brings the film’s expansive cast together one last time, with a team headed by Jennifer Lawrence and including Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland, Willow Shields, Sam Claflin, Jena Malone, Mahershala Ali and Natalie Dormer. The lineup for Mockingjay – Part 2 also includes Wes Chatham (Castor), Elden Henson (Pollux), Patina Miller (Commander Baylor), Evan Ross (Messalla), , Gwendoline Christie (Commander Lyme), and Stef Dawson (Annie Cresta).
In “Mockingjay – Part 2,” Peeta Mellark – the former victor who was to marry Katniss in a Capitol spectacle – is still in a haunting, dangerous fugue state after being brainwashed by President Snow during his captivity. Though his body has been freed, his mind struggles against nightmarish, instilled thoughts to kill Katniss, the very same person he once most trusted in the world.
Hutcherson sums up where the film finds Peeta: “Peeta’s going through a kind of rehabilitation process, trying to get back to his old self. He’s being held in District 13, but he’s still violently psychotic and his recovery is clearly going to be a very long, hard road. He has moments of clarity but he kind of goes in and out. With all these memories that were implanted in his mind by the Capitol, he has to constantly try to decipher what is real and what has been fed to him – and he has to rely on his peers to help him find that truth.”
For Hutcherson, the film required a 180 from how he normally approaches the character. “Peeta’s always been known as being the down-to-earth, grounded, honest guy. But now he’s out of his mind, I had to turn that inside out,” he says. “It shows a lot about the real feelings that Katniss has for Peeta that she still fights for him and believes in him even in this state.”
When Peeta is sent by President Coin to join Squad 451 – consisting of Katniss, Gale, Finnick, Boggs, Cressida, Messalla, Castor and Pollux – it endangers everyone, but helps Katniss break through to him. “Really, he should not be in this environment,” Hutcherson admits. “It has tons of triggers that could cause him to explode and, and lose control again, which actually happens multiple times.”
Throughout, Peeta’s true feelings for Katniss keep surfacing in ways that keep him bonded to her at an unspoken level. For Hutcherson finding those breakthrough moments with Jennifer Lawrence after the three previous films came organically. “Jennifer has this quiet strength about her,” he says. “A lot of people might have tried to play up the rebellious side of Katniss, but Jennifer saw from the start that’s not who Katniss is. Jen has played Katniss’ reluctance and groundedness so well, it always feels very real to me. It’s one of the reasons why I think Peeta connects with her and why so many people have connected with The Hunger Games.”
As for how Peeta has evolved since he first left to represent District 12 in The Hunger Games, Hutcherson concludes, “Peeta always had a very realistic view of what was happening around him. He’s more haunted now from having experienced The Hunger Games first-hand, and from witnessing the destruction that Snow’s dictatorship can cause. But deep within, his mentality has always been you have to not let yourself be a piece in the game; you have to try to be yourself even as you fight to survive. That’s still what he would say to this day.”
Like Jennifer Lawrence, Hutcherson says he will miss his character, but he will take a lot from the long and rich experience of playing Peeta. “I definitely will take away great friendships and memories from The Hunger Games,” he says. “I also hope I take away some of Peeta’s values. When you do a project like this, people can get certain ideas about who you should be – and Peeta is a reminder that it’s best to kind of break those expectations and simply be true to yourself.”
Hutcherson sums up where the film finds Peeta: “Peeta’s going through a kind of rehabilitation process, trying to get back to his old self. He’s being held in District 13, but he’s still violently psychotic and his recovery is clearly going to be a very long, hard road. He has moments of clarity but he kind of goes in and out. With all these memories that were implanted in his mind by the Capitol, he has to constantly try to decipher what is real and what has been fed to him – and he has to rely on his peers to help him find that truth.”
For Hutcherson, the film required a 180 from how he normally approaches the character. “Peeta’s always been known as being the down-to-earth, grounded, honest guy. But now he’s out of his mind, I had to turn that inside out,” he says. “It shows a lot about the real feelings that Katniss has for Peeta that she still fights for him and believes in him even in this state.”
When Peeta is sent by President Coin to join Squad 451 – consisting of Katniss, Gale, Finnick, Boggs, Cressida, Messalla, Castor and Pollux – it endangers everyone, but helps Katniss break through to him. “Really, he should not be in this environment,” Hutcherson admits. “It has tons of triggers that could cause him to explode and, and lose control again, which actually happens multiple times.”
Throughout, Peeta’s true feelings for Katniss keep surfacing in ways that keep him bonded to her at an unspoken level. For Hutcherson finding those breakthrough moments with Jennifer Lawrence after the three previous films came organically. “Jennifer has this quiet strength about her,” he says. “A lot of people might have tried to play up the rebellious side of Katniss, but Jennifer saw from the start that’s not who Katniss is. Jen has played Katniss’ reluctance and groundedness so well, it always feels very real to me. It’s one of the reasons why I think Peeta connects with her and why so many people have connected with The Hunger Games.”
As for how Peeta has evolved since he first left to represent District 12 in The Hunger Games, Hutcherson concludes, “Peeta always had a very realistic view of what was happening around him. He’s more haunted now from having experienced The Hunger Games first-hand, and from witnessing the destruction that Snow’s dictatorship can cause. But deep within, his mentality has always been you have to not let yourself be a piece in the game; you have to try to be yourself even as you fight to survive. That’s still what he would say to this day.”
Like Jennifer Lawrence, Hutcherson says he will miss his character, but he will take a lot from the long and rich experience of playing Peeta. “I definitely will take away great friendships and memories from The Hunger Games,” he says. “I also hope I take away some of Peeta’s values. When you do a project like this, people can get certain ideas about who you should be – and Peeta is a reminder that it’s best to kind of break those expectations and simply be true to yourself.”
“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part -2” opens November 18 in cinemas from Pioneer Films.
Now Showing: Point Break from Pioneer Films [PG]
Extreme action
explodes when “Point Break” opens in cinemas nationwide December 3, Thursday
from Pioneer Films.
Thursday, November 12, 2015
Pioneer Films: JENNIFER LAWRENCE HEADS FULL SCALE WAR AND ACTION, DONS KATNISS FOR THE LAST TIME IN “THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY - PART 2”
“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2” brings the global motion picture phenomenon to its thrilling and emotionally powerful last chapter as the stakes for Katniss Everdeen escalate from surviving the most deadly games ever devised to setting the course of the future.
Now, in the final chapter of The Hunger Games, with all the Districts united against the Capitol for the first time, tomorrow itself is on the line. For Katniss to truly be herself, she realizes she must now fully take on the indomitable Mockingjay spirit in a last stand to set things right.
Says director Francis Lawrence: “In this film, Katniss takes the action back into her own hands and goes after Snow personally. The movie really opens up as we go deep into the streets of the Capitol, coming full circle from Katniss’s journey there in the first film. There’s more action, more scope, more emotion and most of all, this film brings the story to its moving conclusion.”
“This is the chapter when Katniss really starts to believe in the impact that she can have,” Lawrence comments. “She’s always been so reluctant and has always found herself in situations where all she can do is try to survive, but now she’s turning the tables. I was excited for her to finally take her place as a leader. At the end of Mockingjay – Part 1, she was kind of numb, and genuinely unsure if she wanted to go on. In Mockingjay – Part 2 she starts seeing the bigger picture. She’s looking beyond her own personal losses and gains to focus on making a better future.”
Now, Katniss’s concerns are being channeled directly into action – taking the character for the first time into all-out combat beyond the controlled confines of an arena. Raising the stakes, Katniss’s little sister Prim, long her motivation to fight against the Capitol, is now a medic in the battle zone.
“The action scenes in Mockingjay – Part 2 are incredible,” Jennifer says. “Some of it was difficult – shooting in wet tunnels, in and out of the water and doing fight choreography with 20 pounds of waterlogged gear – but it was totally worth it because it is going to look fantastically real for audiences.”
It all brings Katniss to the denouement of her world-changing tale. Concluding the series is bittersweet for Jennifer Lawrence, but she is intrigued to leave Katniss at the most promising juncture of her life. “She’s started to see the beauty in humanity in this film,” Jennifer observes. “In the beginning she had a short view of the way things are because of her upbringing. She did not have much hope then, and she felt alone for a lot of her life. During everything that has happened – in the Games, in District 13, in the Capitol at the end of this story – she found herself more and more connected to people.”
Jennifer has tremendous gratitude for being granted the chance to embody Katniss. “I have loved being a part of a film that sparks some really cool conversations,” she concludes. “It’s been an incredible chapter in my life, and the way the films have resonated with people has been amazing.”
One last time, join the revolution this November 18 when “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2” invades cinemas nationwide from Pioneer Films.
Now, in the final chapter of The Hunger Games, with all the Districts united against the Capitol for the first time, tomorrow itself is on the line. For Katniss to truly be herself, she realizes she must now fully take on the indomitable Mockingjay spirit in a last stand to set things right.
Says director Francis Lawrence: “In this film, Katniss takes the action back into her own hands and goes after Snow personally. The movie really opens up as we go deep into the streets of the Capitol, coming full circle from Katniss’s journey there in the first film. There’s more action, more scope, more emotion and most of all, this film brings the story to its moving conclusion.”
“This is the chapter when Katniss really starts to believe in the impact that she can have,” Lawrence comments. “She’s always been so reluctant and has always found herself in situations where all she can do is try to survive, but now she’s turning the tables. I was excited for her to finally take her place as a leader. At the end of Mockingjay – Part 1, she was kind of numb, and genuinely unsure if she wanted to go on. In Mockingjay – Part 2 she starts seeing the bigger picture. She’s looking beyond her own personal losses and gains to focus on making a better future.”
Now, Katniss’s concerns are being channeled directly into action – taking the character for the first time into all-out combat beyond the controlled confines of an arena. Raising the stakes, Katniss’s little sister Prim, long her motivation to fight against the Capitol, is now a medic in the battle zone.
“The action scenes in Mockingjay – Part 2 are incredible,” Jennifer says. “Some of it was difficult – shooting in wet tunnels, in and out of the water and doing fight choreography with 20 pounds of waterlogged gear – but it was totally worth it because it is going to look fantastically real for audiences.”
It all brings Katniss to the denouement of her world-changing tale. Concluding the series is bittersweet for Jennifer Lawrence, but she is intrigued to leave Katniss at the most promising juncture of her life. “She’s started to see the beauty in humanity in this film,” Jennifer observes. “In the beginning she had a short view of the way things are because of her upbringing. She did not have much hope then, and she felt alone for a lot of her life. During everything that has happened – in the Games, in District 13, in the Capitol at the end of this story – she found herself more and more connected to people.”
Jennifer has tremendous gratitude for being granted the chance to embody Katniss. “I have loved being a part of a film that sparks some really cool conversations,” she concludes. “It’s been an incredible chapter in my life, and the way the films have resonated with people has been amazing.”
One last time, join the revolution this November 18 when “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2” invades cinemas nationwide from Pioneer Films.
20th Century Fox: JAMES MCAVOY REVERSES DEATH, CHALLENGES DESTINY IN “VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN”
James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe star in VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN, a dynamic and thrilling twist on a legendary tale. Radical scientist Victor Frankenstein (McAvoy) and his equally brilliant protégé Igor Strausman (Radcliffe) share a noble vision of aiding humanity through their groundbreaking research into immortality. But Victor’s experiments go too far, and his obsession has horrifying consequences. Only Igor can bring his friend back from the brink of madness and save him from his monstrous creation.
The production made creative use of the storms for one of the film’s iconic scenes, the creation of the monster, and for its most impressive set: the interior of the castle and laboratory, where Victor brings his “experiment” to life.
While inspired by Mary Shelley’s classic novel and the countless interpretations of that story, screenwriter Max Landis’ “regeneration” focuses on Victor and his best friend and assistant Igor. In fact, it’s the first story to be told largely from Igor’s perspective.
Fun and dangerous, yes, but he’s also, brilliant, obsessed – and a sociopath. As Victor walks a fine light between lightness and darkness, and between life and death, only Igor can keep him from a descent into madness from which there’ll be no return. “Victor Frankenstein” is also, notes James McAvoy, a love letter to the myriad films featuring those characters and themes. “This film has many of the familiar elements you expect to see in a Frankenstein movie, but adds unexpected dimensions of character, relationships and entertainment.”
“Victor and Igor are at the forefront of scientific and medical research,” notes McAvoy. “But just because they can cheat death, should they do it? “I think Victor’s intentions are good,” he continues. “He’s looking to improve the human condition, which is very fragile. Victor is trying to make it more robust and, ideally, eliminate death, which has been a human obsession for ages.”
To McAvoy, a character with such world-changing ambitions would not be a lab rat holding course at a chalkboard. He’d be nothing less than a force of nature. “Victor just doesn’t stop moving. He’s a creator of machines, as well as of a man, plus a skilled engineer and an accomplished surgeon.”
“Every time Daniel and I had a scene together, we’d ask each other, ‘How physical and dangerous-looking can we make this? Come on, man!,’” says McAvoy. “We are similar in energy levels and physical ability, so we just kind of went at each other, 12 hours each day. Adds Radcliffe: “James is a bold actor and really hits the ground running in an exciting way. That enabled us to make some interesting choices together.”
McAvoy relates that, “Whenever somebody asked me what I was doing at the moment (during production of “Victor Frankenstein”), I would say, I’m playing Frankenstein, and they’d reply, ‘You’re a little short to be playing the monster.’ And I’d correct them and say, ‘No, no, it’s the doctor.’ So, yeah, we’re giving the name back to Dr. Vic.”
A pivotal moment for both Victor and Igor is an early scene where Victor straightens Igor’s hunchback, which McGuigan says is “a metaphor for the entire movie.” Having rescued Igor from a London circus, Victor takes him to his flat and within minutes throws Igor against the wall and produces a massive syringe with which he performs a lightning-fast medical procedure on his new “patient.” Moments later, Igor’s hunchback is corrected. “If you think you knew Victor, the first few minutes of the film will prove you don’t,” says McGuigan. “He’s dangerous and fun to watch.”
“Victor Frankenstein” arrives in theatres this November 25 from 20th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.
The production made creative use of the storms for one of the film’s iconic scenes, the creation of the monster, and for its most impressive set: the interior of the castle and laboratory, where Victor brings his “experiment” to life.
While inspired by Mary Shelley’s classic novel and the countless interpretations of that story, screenwriter Max Landis’ “regeneration” focuses on Victor and his best friend and assistant Igor. In fact, it’s the first story to be told largely from Igor’s perspective.
Fun and dangerous, yes, but he’s also, brilliant, obsessed – and a sociopath. As Victor walks a fine light between lightness and darkness, and between life and death, only Igor can keep him from a descent into madness from which there’ll be no return. “Victor Frankenstein” is also, notes James McAvoy, a love letter to the myriad films featuring those characters and themes. “This film has many of the familiar elements you expect to see in a Frankenstein movie, but adds unexpected dimensions of character, relationships and entertainment.”
“Victor and Igor are at the forefront of scientific and medical research,” notes McAvoy. “But just because they can cheat death, should they do it? “I think Victor’s intentions are good,” he continues. “He’s looking to improve the human condition, which is very fragile. Victor is trying to make it more robust and, ideally, eliminate death, which has been a human obsession for ages.”
To McAvoy, a character with such world-changing ambitions would not be a lab rat holding course at a chalkboard. He’d be nothing less than a force of nature. “Victor just doesn’t stop moving. He’s a creator of machines, as well as of a man, plus a skilled engineer and an accomplished surgeon.”
“Every time Daniel and I had a scene together, we’d ask each other, ‘How physical and dangerous-looking can we make this? Come on, man!,’” says McAvoy. “We are similar in energy levels and physical ability, so we just kind of went at each other, 12 hours each day. Adds Radcliffe: “James is a bold actor and really hits the ground running in an exciting way. That enabled us to make some interesting choices together.”
McAvoy relates that, “Whenever somebody asked me what I was doing at the moment (during production of “Victor Frankenstein”), I would say, I’m playing Frankenstein, and they’d reply, ‘You’re a little short to be playing the monster.’ And I’d correct them and say, ‘No, no, it’s the doctor.’ So, yeah, we’re giving the name back to Dr. Vic.”
A pivotal moment for both Victor and Igor is an early scene where Victor straightens Igor’s hunchback, which McGuigan says is “a metaphor for the entire movie.” Having rescued Igor from a London circus, Victor takes him to his flat and within minutes throws Igor against the wall and produces a massive syringe with which he performs a lightning-fast medical procedure on his new “patient.” Moments later, Igor’s hunchback is corrected. “If you think you knew Victor, the first few minutes of the film will prove you don’t,” says McGuigan. “He’s dangerous and fun to watch.”
“Victor Frankenstein” arrives in theatres this November 25 from 20th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
Pioneer Films : BUS 657 Youtube Trailer
Directed by Scott Mann, “Bus 657” is a star-studded non-stop thrilling action movie that will open this November 11 from Pioneer Films.
Click for trailer: https://youtu.be/qX_Dc5zlcNI
SNOOPY CHRISTMAS VILLAGE AT SM FAIRVIEW WARMLY USHERS HOLIDAY SEASON
Snoopy and Charlie Brown welcomed mall patrons at SM Fairview last November 8 when the Snoopy Christmas Village officially opened leading to the holiday celebrations.
In display are familiar and endearing places that harks back to the series of comic strips and television series where Snoopy and Charlie Brown along with friends hang out together to make fond and fun memories.
Gracing the occasion too are celebrity couple Richard Gutierrez and Sarah Lahbati with their son Zion. In attendance too is Baste, the very adorable young talent discovered by the phenomenal noontime show Eat Bulaga.
The SM Foundation and its charitable works opened the Snoopy Christmas Village to encourage children to dream big especially this holiday season just like Snoopy and Charlie Brown! Additionally, the Snoopy Christmas Village will serve as a venue to promote goodwill in this season of giving by voluntarily donating gifts to those who need it most.
In display are familiar and endearing places that harks back to the series of comic strips and television series where Snoopy and Charlie Brown along with friends hang out together to make fond and fun memories.
Gracing the occasion too are celebrity couple Richard Gutierrez and Sarah Lahbati with their son Zion. In attendance too is Baste, the very adorable young talent discovered by the phenomenal noontime show Eat Bulaga.
Now Showing: BUS 657 from Pioneer Films [R13]
FILIPINO-AMERICAN DAVE BAUTISTA STARS WITH ROBERT DE NIRO IN “BUS 657”
Filipino-American Dave Bautista, a mixed martial arts and wrestler turned actor who has starred in record-breaking films such as “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Riddick” and the upcoming Bond movie “Spectre” stars in another high-octane, high-speed chase action movie “Bus 657” (also known as “Heist”) along with an impressive cast headed by Robert De Niro, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Morris Chestnut, Kate Bosworth and Gina Carano.
Bautista, also a world wrestling champion is known to do his action scenes without doubles as he had done in “Spectre,” and had quite doubled the effort in his chase and fight scenes in “Bus 657,” where he takes on the role of a casino worker turned robber who took on a highly-dangerous heist job against their employer. The movie’s non-stop action speeds up when Vaughn (Morgan) a father who is in desperate need of money to save his daughter’s life was rejected by his mob boss Pope (De Niro) and turns to his psychotic co-worker Cox (Bautista) to rob the casino where they work. Although Vaughn, Cox, and an accomplice, Dante (Stephen Sepher), carefully plan out each minute of the late-night heist, Cox blows the timing, setting off alarms and a shootout with Dog and casino security.
When Vaughn, Cox and a seriously wounded Dante narrowly escape with $3 million in laundered cash only to find their getaway car is gone, the trio runs through the night and boards Bus 657. A police officer (Gina Carano) on patrol, having heard gunshots and sensing something wrong on the bus, signals for it to pull over. Cox panics, starts shooting out the bus window at the officer, and orders the driver (D.B. Sweeney) to keep moving and head for the interstate.
Now trapped on the speeding bus with only hours left until the hospital’s payment deadline, Vaughn begins to fear all of this was for nothing – he’ll never get off the bus and make it in time. As Bus 657 races west on Interstate 10, with swarms of police, helicopters, and news crews following their every move, the desperate father and determined ex-con-turned-Baccarat dealer knows he has one chance, and no choice, but to play the hand he was dealt.
Reminiscent of action thrillers such as the Keanu Reeves starrer “Speed” and great heist movies such as “Ocean’s 11,” “Bus 657” also brings back Robert De Niro in a mob boss role at the heels of his iconic portrayals from classic “Casino” and “The Godfather” movies. Taking on the role of menacing, ruthless kingpin in “Bus 657,” De Niro’s role as Pope isn’t one to let things slide when his two employees try to rob his casino and will take everything from them to get even. With its ticking clock, high-octane action, and high-stakes-heist-gone-wrong, Bus 657 had enough characters, events, and surprises to make for a thrilling, pop-crunching roller-coaster ride of a movie.
Directed by Scott Mann, “Bus 657” is a star-studded non-stop thrilling action movie that will open this November 11 from Pioneer Films.
Click for trailer: https://youtu.be/qX_Dc5zlcNI
Bautista, also a world wrestling champion is known to do his action scenes without doubles as he had done in “Spectre,” and had quite doubled the effort in his chase and fight scenes in “Bus 657,” where he takes on the role of a casino worker turned robber who took on a highly-dangerous heist job against their employer. The movie’s non-stop action speeds up when Vaughn (Morgan) a father who is in desperate need of money to save his daughter’s life was rejected by his mob boss Pope (De Niro) and turns to his psychotic co-worker Cox (Bautista) to rob the casino where they work. Although Vaughn, Cox, and an accomplice, Dante (Stephen Sepher), carefully plan out each minute of the late-night heist, Cox blows the timing, setting off alarms and a shootout with Dog and casino security.
When Vaughn, Cox and a seriously wounded Dante narrowly escape with $3 million in laundered cash only to find their getaway car is gone, the trio runs through the night and boards Bus 657. A police officer (Gina Carano) on patrol, having heard gunshots and sensing something wrong on the bus, signals for it to pull over. Cox panics, starts shooting out the bus window at the officer, and orders the driver (D.B. Sweeney) to keep moving and head for the interstate.
Now trapped on the speeding bus with only hours left until the hospital’s payment deadline, Vaughn begins to fear all of this was for nothing – he’ll never get off the bus and make it in time. As Bus 657 races west on Interstate 10, with swarms of police, helicopters, and news crews following their every move, the desperate father and determined ex-con-turned-Baccarat dealer knows he has one chance, and no choice, but to play the hand he was dealt.
Reminiscent of action thrillers such as the Keanu Reeves starrer “Speed” and great heist movies such as “Ocean’s 11,” “Bus 657” also brings back Robert De Niro in a mob boss role at the heels of his iconic portrayals from classic “Casino” and “The Godfather” movies. Taking on the role of menacing, ruthless kingpin in “Bus 657,” De Niro’s role as Pope isn’t one to let things slide when his two employees try to rob his casino and will take everything from them to get even. With its ticking clock, high-octane action, and high-stakes-heist-gone-wrong, Bus 657 had enough characters, events, and surprises to make for a thrilling, pop-crunching roller-coaster ride of a movie.
Click for trailer: https://youtu.be/qX_Dc5zlcNI
Friday, November 6, 2015
MEET NEW & RETURNING HERD IN THE LATEST “ICE AGE: COLLISION COURSE” MOVIE
From Blue Sky Studios and 20th Century Fox - “Ice Age: Collision Course,” the fifth big screen installment of the colossal blockbuster cartoon franchise “Ice Age” that will take over theatres July 2016, announces the return of its previous cast and introduces new members as a cosmic Scratastrophe looms and endangers their world.
In the new film, the beloved herd from the Ice Age movies — including woolly mammoths Manny (Ray Romano) and Ellie (Queen Latifah), saber-toothed tigers Diego (Denis Leary) and Shira (Jennifer Lopez), and lovable sloth Sid (John Leguizamo) — have to leave their homes to save themselves when cosmic events threaten their world. And one of the places they wander into is an exotic, fantastical locale where one of the new characters known as Shangri Llama (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) is the spiritual leader of sorts.
Ferguson, the Modern Family TV star describes his extremely colorful yoga-loving character as “Me being someone who can barely look at my toes without feeling an incredible stretch, I envy him for his limber nature.”
Joining Ferguson in the “Ice Age: Collision Course” world who will also lend voices to new characters are Adam DeVine, Nick Offerman, Max Greenfield, Stephanie Beatriz, Melissa Rauch, Carlos Ponce, Michael Strahan, pop star Jessie J and popular scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who plays Neil deBuck Weasel.
In the new film, the beloved herd from the Ice Age movies — including woolly mammoths Manny (Ray Romano) and Ellie (Queen Latifah), saber-toothed tigers Diego (Denis Leary) and Shira (Jennifer Lopez), and lovable sloth Sid (John Leguizamo) — have to leave their homes to save themselves when cosmic events threaten their world. And one of the places they wander into is an exotic, fantastical locale where one of the new characters known as Shangri Llama (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) is the spiritual leader of sorts.
Ferguson, the Modern Family TV star describes his extremely colorful yoga-loving character as “Me being someone who can barely look at my toes without feeling an incredible stretch, I envy him for his limber nature.”
Joining Ferguson in the “Ice Age: Collision Course” world who will also lend voices to new characters are Adam DeVine, Nick Offerman, Max Greenfield, Stephanie Beatriz, Melissa Rauch, Carlos Ponce, Michael Strahan, pop star Jessie J and popular scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who plays Neil deBuck Weasel.
In a rollout of Tweets from the cast, leading everyone to follow #CollisionCourse, Jennifer Lopez tweeted away “Shira is back with a purr-fect cast!” while John Leguizamo posted his character’s photo too with a suave message “Sloth your roll.” Moreso, youthful Keke Palmer just like her character Peaches tweeted “Ice, Ice Baby” and Max Greenfield known for his recurring television roles in Veronica Mars, Ugly Betty and Modern Men joins the Ice Age family who belongs to the dino bird family. Music phenomenon Jessie J, whose songs such as “Flashlight” and “Price Tag” that topped the charts plays Brooke, from the family of sloths for which she excitedly twitted “You 'Herd' it here first! I'm in #IceAge! Follow #CollisionCourse.”
Thursday, November 5, 2015
Axinite Digicinema: “THE DRESSMAKER” CELEBRATES HERITAGE AS FEATURED 1951’S SINGER SEWING MACHINE BECOMES INSTRUMENTAL IN BRINGING NEW FASHION TO LIFE
Kate Winslet’s latest runway romp of a movie, “The Dressmaker” takes us back to an era where fashion took a wild turn from the old to the contemporary. When new designers such as Balenciaga and Dior came to revolutionize and free the body from the trappings of fashion’s yesteryears.
In “The Dressmaker,” Kate Winslet dons the character of Tilly Dunnage, a woman who returns to her town for her ailing mother and right the wrong that separated them twenty years ago. Their years apart gave way to Tilly’s nascent talent in dressmaking, which she learned from her mother, Molly (Judy Davis) at a very young age.
Tilly arrives to her hometown alone and armed with a luggage and a Singer sewing machine, she begins to make space for her belongings and reconcile with her mother, ultimately, stitching the events from the townsfolk responsible on accusing her of murder at a very young age. In Dungatar where “The Dressmaker” is set during 1951, everybody knows everybody and they all have a secret. Cabin-crazed, bitter, grasping and small-minded, the town folk maintain a precarious equilibrium as they know that their secrets are not safe.
The stakes are raised when Councillor Evan Pettyman (Shane Bourne), who virulently hates Tilly and Molly, employs the buttoned-up Una Pleasance (Sacha Horler), a rival dressmaker from Melbourne, to compete with Tilly and bring her down.
In a no-holds-barred showdown between Tilly’s and Una’s creations, it becomes clear that the transformation of the residents of Dungatar has only exaggerated their many flaws, and revealed just how ugly and black their hearts are. Their obsession with Tilly’s couture designs will be their ultimate unravelling, and Tilly’s final triumph.
Fashion in “The Dressmaker” is about disguise. Tilly Dunnage takes advantage of the women in the town and appeals to their sense of competition and vanity. The women of Dungatar haven’t looked or felt good for a very long time, so it’s a way of luring people and giving them a false sense of hope. Tilly simply gives them enough rope – or ribbon – to hang themselves with. She lets them “bring themselves unstitched”, as Rosalie puns.
Hugo Weaving, who plays Sergeant Farrat, an eager recipient of Tilly’s skills says: “The tone of it’s the difficult thing with this film. Everything needed to be grounded in a reality and a truth but at the same time there’s a heightened reality to it, so it’s slightly surreal. The characters are both drawn from life, very specific types, but a lot of them are larger than life and the costumes need to somehow reflect that.”
Kate Winslet says: “Tilly has trained as a couture dressmaker in France with Balenciaga and Dior and Madame Vionnet. The Dungatarians don’t really understand quite how magical and beautiful her creations truly are, they think it’s ‘dress up’. It’s kind of a gift that she’s giving them, as well as carrying out little bits of revenge along the way. They go from looking pale and a bit tea stained to looking like they’re all walking down a red carpet. It’s really quite striking.”
The featured Singer Sewing Machine 160 used in “The Dressmaker” is a model made during 1951 for the company’s 100th anniversary special edition. Singer sewing machine started in 1851, and will be celebrating its 165th birthday next year (2016). In the Philippines, Singer is proudly exclusively distributed by Monteverde Sewing Machine, Inc. (website: www.singerphilippines.com)
In “The Dressmaker,” Kate Winslet dons the character of Tilly Dunnage, a woman who returns to her town for her ailing mother and right the wrong that separated them twenty years ago. Their years apart gave way to Tilly’s nascent talent in dressmaking, which she learned from her mother, Molly (Judy Davis) at a very young age.
Tilly arrives to her hometown alone and armed with a luggage and a Singer sewing machine, she begins to make space for her belongings and reconcile with her mother, ultimately, stitching the events from the townsfolk responsible on accusing her of murder at a very young age. In Dungatar where “The Dressmaker” is set during 1951, everybody knows everybody and they all have a secret. Cabin-crazed, bitter, grasping and small-minded, the town folk maintain a precarious equilibrium as they know that their secrets are not safe.
The stakes are raised when Councillor Evan Pettyman (Shane Bourne), who virulently hates Tilly and Molly, employs the buttoned-up Una Pleasance (Sacha Horler), a rival dressmaker from Melbourne, to compete with Tilly and bring her down.
In a no-holds-barred showdown between Tilly’s and Una’s creations, it becomes clear that the transformation of the residents of Dungatar has only exaggerated their many flaws, and revealed just how ugly and black their hearts are. Their obsession with Tilly’s couture designs will be their ultimate unravelling, and Tilly’s final triumph.
Fashion in “The Dressmaker” is about disguise. Tilly Dunnage takes advantage of the women in the town and appeals to their sense of competition and vanity. The women of Dungatar haven’t looked or felt good for a very long time, so it’s a way of luring people and giving them a false sense of hope. Tilly simply gives them enough rope – or ribbon – to hang themselves with. She lets them “bring themselves unstitched”, as Rosalie puns.
Hugo Weaving, who plays Sergeant Farrat, an eager recipient of Tilly’s skills says: “The tone of it’s the difficult thing with this film. Everything needed to be grounded in a reality and a truth but at the same time there’s a heightened reality to it, so it’s slightly surreal. The characters are both drawn from life, very specific types, but a lot of them are larger than life and the costumes need to somehow reflect that.”
Kate Winslet says: “Tilly has trained as a couture dressmaker in France with Balenciaga and Dior and Madame Vionnet. The Dungatarians don’t really understand quite how magical and beautiful her creations truly are, they think it’s ‘dress up’. It’s kind of a gift that she’s giving them, as well as carrying out little bits of revenge along the way. They go from looking pale and a bit tea stained to looking like they’re all walking down a red carpet. It’s really quite striking.”
The featured Singer Sewing Machine 160 used in “The Dressmaker” is a model made during 1951 for the company’s 100th anniversary special edition. Singer sewing machine started in 1851, and will be celebrating its 165th birthday next year (2016). In the Philippines, Singer is proudly exclusively distributed by Monteverde Sewing Machine, Inc. (website: www.singerphilippines.com)
“The Dressmaker” is now showing (opend November 4) in theatres from Axinite Digicinema.
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
“THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY PART 2” DIRECTOR FRANCIS LAWRENCE BRINGS THE FRANCHISE INTO ITS MOST COMPELLING AND MOVING CONCLUSION
The blockbuster “Hunger Games” franchise has taken audiences by storm around the world, grossing more than $2.3 billion at the global box office. “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2” now brings the franchise to its powerful final chapter in which Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) realizes the stakes are no longer just for survival – they are for the future.
With the nation of Panem in a full scale war, Katniss confronts President Snow (Donald Sutherland) in the final showdown. Teamed with a group of her closest friends – including Gale (Liam Hemsworth), Finnick (Sam Claflin) and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) – Katniss goes off on a mission with the unit from District 13 as they risk their lives to liberate the citizens of Panem, and stage an assassination attempt on President Snow who has become increasingly obsessed with destroying her. The mortal traps, enemies, and moral choices that await Katniss will challenge her more than any arena she faced in The Hunger Games.
“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2” is directed by Francis Lawrence from a screenplay by Peter Craig and Danny Strong and features an acclaimed cast including Academy Award®-winner Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Academy Award®-winner Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Willow Shields, Sam Claflin, Jena Malone with Stanley Tucci and Donald Sutherland reprising their original roles from The Hunger Games and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. The impressive lineup is joined by “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1” co-stars Academy Award®-winner Julianne Moore, Mahershala Ali, Natalie Dormer, Wes Chatham, Elden Henson and Evan Ross.
“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2” picks up with Katniss back in the bunkers of District 13, still unable to emotionally reach a brainwashed Peeta as she watches the nation of Panem sliding into full-scale apocalyptic war. Though Katniss has warily accepted her role as the Mockingjay symbol of the rebellion, she can see that it is going take more than symbolism to turn the tide against the Capitol. Truly on fire now, she resolves to take action. Joining with Gale, an unpredictable Peeta, Finnick and the so-called “Squad 451,” she sets out for the once-glittering Capitol – transformed into a city of mayhem under attack by both rebels and peacekeepers – with a covert mission to assassinate President Snow. Snow still believes he’s playing an obsessive game to outwit and destroy Katniss, but Katniss is no longer anyone’s pawn, and to her, this is no contest. It is a battle for everything she has come to believe in and the people she loves. It is a battle for the final hope of a life of peace.
“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2” builds on the momentum of each previous chapter in the blockbuster series to reach a fever pitch of both emotion and action, bringing Katniss full circle from the dismayed girl caught in a dystopian nightmare to leading the charge to remake her nation.
Now, in the final chapter of The Hunger Games, with all the Districts united against the Capitol for the first time, tomorrow itself is on the line. For Katniss to truly be herself, she realizes she must now fully take on the indomitable Mockingjay spirit in a last stand to set things right. Says director Francis Lawrence: “In this film, Katniss takes the action back into her own hands and goes after Snow personally. The movie really opens up as we go deep into the streets of the Capitol, coming full circle from Katniss’s journey there in the first film. There’s more action, more scope, more emotion and most of all, this film brings the story to its moving conclusion.”
Join the revolution this November 18 when The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2” invades cinemas nationwide from Pioneer Films.
Pioneer Films - WORLD’S BEST CHEFS AND MICHELIN AWARDEES IN BRADLEY COOPER’S FOODIE MOVIE “BURNT”
Chef Adam Jones (Bradley Cooper) had it all – and lost it in “Burnt.” The former enfant terrible of the Paris restaurant scene had earned two Michelin stars and only ever cared about the thrill of creating explosions of taste. Michelin awards 0 to 3 stars to restaurants on the basis of the anonymous reviews. The reviewers concentrate on the quality, mastery of technique, personality and consistency of the food, in making the awards.
To land his own kitchen and that third elusive star though, Jones will need to leave his bad habits behind and get the best of the best on his side, including the beautiful Helene (Sienna Miller). Directed by John Wells (known for his high-profile hit projects such as “ER” and “West Wing”) “Burnt,” is a remarkably funny and emotional story about the love of food, the love between two people, and the power of second chances.
Food has become a lifestyle obsession, rather than the fuel it was considered twenty years ago. Television schedules have every variation of cookery shows, the kitchen is the center of the home, farmers markets abound, cook books are the new coffee table tomes, and social media entices people to new pop up venues. Chefs are regarded as rock stars, and behave accordingly,
Director John Wells was attracted to Steven Knight's screenplay for “Burnt” partly because of this ever growing foodie culture, and partly because it was a special look into the unique world restaurateurs. Wells acknowledges that, currently, London is the world capital of fine dining. “London is where young chefs go to succeed, so it made sense that Adam goes to the place he can make the biggest impact to stage his comeback.” he says.
The involvement of renowned celebrity chefs and Michelin awardees was essential for the director and writer to place an audience in the middle of the action. “I couldn't have done it without chefs of that calibre, because I don't know what they do,” says Wells. “I came into this project thinking I can cook, but quickly realized I don't.”
World famous chef and restaurateur Mario Batali came on board with scribe Steven Knight in the very early stages of “Burnt’s” development. A winner of multiple James Beard awards, Batali owns restaurants in cities all over the globe, has penned numerous cookbooks and is a ubiquitous presence on the Food Network. His early days were spent training in London and Northern Italy, a background that would prove crucial to informing Knight’s script for the film.
British chef, restaurateur and TV star Gordon Ramsay also helped the filmmakers craft “Burnt” into an authentic depiction of the industry he knows so well. Ramsay, whose restaurants boast a collective 14 Michelin stars, trained Cooper alongside Claire Smythe, Executive Chef at his signature London location Restaurant Gordon Ramsay. Smythe is the first and only female chef in the UK to earn three Michelin stars.
Marcus Wareing, Michelin star chef and presenter of the top rated BBC TV Master Chef, was also approached by writer Knight. “I was intrigued to know that someone was writing a film about my world so I met Steven and we spent a lot of time talking. I told him lots of backstage stories from my own kitchen experience, and from others. It's a small world we work in, so we all know what happens in each other's kitchens.” Wareing's interest in food began when he worked for his father in his fresh fruit and vegetable business. “The respect that my father showed for basic ingredients set me on the path I've followed since the age of 15. Working 16 hours a day, it's been my whole life.”
Michelin stars are hugely important to a chef, awarded by a team of anonymous inspectors who scrutinize many aspects of the restaurants – the food, the presentation, the ambiance of the restaurant and the originality of the dishes. “They are the Oscars of our world.” says Marcus Wareing. “But, unlike Oscars, they can be taken away from us, so on a day to day basis we have everything to lose. It keeps us constantly striving, challenging yourself. At the same time, if you don't achieve stars, you must recognize what you have achieved. The kitchen is the engine room but the dish has to be incredible – Mother Nature at its best, delivered by man – perfection.”
To land his own kitchen and that third elusive star though, Jones will need to leave his bad habits behind and get the best of the best on his side, including the beautiful Helene (Sienna Miller). Directed by John Wells (known for his high-profile hit projects such as “ER” and “West Wing”) “Burnt,” is a remarkably funny and emotional story about the love of food, the love between two people, and the power of second chances.
Food has become a lifestyle obsession, rather than the fuel it was considered twenty years ago. Television schedules have every variation of cookery shows, the kitchen is the center of the home, farmers markets abound, cook books are the new coffee table tomes, and social media entices people to new pop up venues. Chefs are regarded as rock stars, and behave accordingly,
Director John Wells was attracted to Steven Knight's screenplay for “Burnt” partly because of this ever growing foodie culture, and partly because it was a special look into the unique world restaurateurs. Wells acknowledges that, currently, London is the world capital of fine dining. “London is where young chefs go to succeed, so it made sense that Adam goes to the place he can make the biggest impact to stage his comeback.” he says.
The involvement of renowned celebrity chefs and Michelin awardees was essential for the director and writer to place an audience in the middle of the action. “I couldn't have done it without chefs of that calibre, because I don't know what they do,” says Wells. “I came into this project thinking I can cook, but quickly realized I don't.”
World famous chef and restaurateur Mario Batali came on board with scribe Steven Knight in the very early stages of “Burnt’s” development. A winner of multiple James Beard awards, Batali owns restaurants in cities all over the globe, has penned numerous cookbooks and is a ubiquitous presence on the Food Network. His early days were spent training in London and Northern Italy, a background that would prove crucial to informing Knight’s script for the film.
British chef, restaurateur and TV star Gordon Ramsay also helped the filmmakers craft “Burnt” into an authentic depiction of the industry he knows so well. Ramsay, whose restaurants boast a collective 14 Michelin stars, trained Cooper alongside Claire Smythe, Executive Chef at his signature London location Restaurant Gordon Ramsay. Smythe is the first and only female chef in the UK to earn three Michelin stars.
Marcus Wareing, Michelin star chef and presenter of the top rated BBC TV Master Chef, was also approached by writer Knight. “I was intrigued to know that someone was writing a film about my world so I met Steven and we spent a lot of time talking. I told him lots of backstage stories from my own kitchen experience, and from others. It's a small world we work in, so we all know what happens in each other's kitchens.” Wareing's interest in food began when he worked for his father in his fresh fruit and vegetable business. “The respect that my father showed for basic ingredients set me on the path I've followed since the age of 15. Working 16 hours a day, it's been my whole life.”
Michelin stars are hugely important to a chef, awarded by a team of anonymous inspectors who scrutinize many aspects of the restaurants – the food, the presentation, the ambiance of the restaurant and the originality of the dishes. “They are the Oscars of our world.” says Marcus Wareing. “But, unlike Oscars, they can be taken away from us, so on a day to day basis we have everything to lose. It keeps us constantly striving, challenging yourself. At the same time, if you don't achieve stars, you must recognize what you have achieved. The kitchen is the engine room but the dish has to be incredible – Mother Nature at its best, delivered by man – perfection.”
“Burnt” opens Today (November 4) in cinemas nationwide from Pioneer Films.
OctoArts Films International: JOHN TRAVOLTA’S RETURN TO BADDIE ROLE IN EDGE-OF-YOUR-SEAT THRILLER “CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES” [R16]
The worst in “Criminal Activities” is about to unfold in John Travolta’s latest action movie that marks his return to bad boy role when they reunite at a former classmate’s funeral. In “Criminal Activities,” when they reunited at an ex-classmate's funeral, one mentions to the others inside information on a stock that is a guaranteed lock to make them instant millionaires. Unfortunately, the deal goes south along with their investment. Things go from bad to worse: one of them borrowed his share of the money from a mobster.
Directed by Oscar-nominated actor Jackie Earle Haley with a solid cast that includes Michael Pitt, Rebecca Da Costa, Dan Stevens, Rob Brown, Christopher Abbott and Travis Aaron Wade, “Criminal Activities” is an unpredictable, mind-blowing action thriller that marks Haley’s directorial debut.
Asked in recent interviews on how he came to helm the movie, Haley shares that “It really came out of the blue. I got a call from the producer, who is married to my manager. He really felt like I could direct it. He sent me the script and said he would understand if I didn’t respond to it. So, I read it and loved it. I was super excited about it. I called him back within three hours and was like, “I’m in!” When Travolta agreed to come on board, we were off and running.”
Directed by Oscar-nominated actor Jackie Earle Haley with a solid cast that includes Michael Pitt, Rebecca Da Costa, Dan Stevens, Rob Brown, Christopher Abbott and Travis Aaron Wade, “Criminal Activities” is an unpredictable, mind-blowing action thriller that marks Haley’s directorial debut.
Asked in recent interviews on how he came to helm the movie, Haley shares that “It really came out of the blue. I got a call from the producer, who is married to my manager. He really felt like I could direct it. He sent me the script and said he would understand if I didn’t respond to it. So, I read it and loved it. I was super excited about it. I called him back within three hours and was like, “I’m in!” When Travolta agreed to come on board, we were off and running.”
“Criminal Activities” opens this November 25 January 20 from OctoArts Films International.
Poster is from www.imdb.com
20th Century Fox - GIVING DR. VIC HIS FRANKENSTEIN IN JAMES MCAVOY & DANIEL RADCLIFFE’S MONSTER OF A MOVIE N “VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN”
Daniel Radcliffe and James McAvoy star in “Victor Frankenstein,” a dynamic and thrilling twist on a legendary tale. Radical scientist Victor Frankenstein (McAvoy) and his equally brilliant protégé Igor Strausman (Radcliffe) share a noble vision of aiding humanity through their groundbreaking research into immortality. But Victor’s experiments go too far, and his obsession has horrifying consequences. Only Igor can bring his friend back from the brink of madness and save him from his monstrous creation.
“Victor Frankenstein” is a “Frankenstein” movie unlike any other. While inspired by Mary Shelley’s classic novel and the countless interpretations of that story, screenwriter Max Landis’ “regeneration” focuses on the relationship between Victor and his best friend and assistant Igor. In fact, it’s the first story to be told largely from Igor’s perspective. “It’s a love story between these two mean, really,” notes director Paul McGuigan. “Victor and Igor need each other; in fact, Victor needs Igor probably more than Igor needs Victor in his life.”
Moreover, the film, though set in 1860, at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, has a contemporary sensibility. “I don’t think of it as a period film,” says Daniel Radcliffe, “but as being completely modern. Victor and Igor have cutting-edge ideas; they’re the tip of the spear. They view science as being more than just observational. They believe it could be creative and re-shape the world.
“I like the film’s irreverent tone and how it avoids being Victorian and ‘buttoned-up,’” Radcliffe continues. “Victor and Igor are forward thinking.” Adds McGuigan: “These two young men are changing the world.”
“Victor Frankenstein” is also, notes James McAvoy, a love letter to the myriad films featuring those characters and themes. “This film has many of the familiar elements you expect to see in a Frankenstein movie, but adds unexpected dimensions of character, relationships and entertainment.”
“Max Landis has done nothing less than capture the zeitgeist of all the Frankenstein movies he’s watched,” says McGuigan. “He’s cherry-picked ideas and created his own ‘monster,’ so to speak.”
McGuigan was especially drawn to Landis’ decision to tell the story through Igor’s eyes. That notion points to a key misperception about the character and his role in Frankenstein lore. Igor was not a character in Mary Shelley’s book, nor did he appear in most of the subsequent film interpretations. Actor Dwight Frye’s hunchbacked lab assistant in James Whale’s “Frankenstein” (1931) is the main source for the “Igor” of public imagination, though the character he played was actually named Fritz. Most moviegoers know the character through Marty Feldman’s performance in Mel Brooks’ beloved comedy “Young Frankenstein,” though Feldman’s character insists on being called “Eye-gore.”
A different kind of moniker mix-up accompanies Victor himself. Many people attribute that name to the monster, instead of its creator – the good doctor. “So we give the name ‘Frankenstein’ back to the scientist – to Victor Frankenstein,” says McGuigan.
McAvoy relates that, “Whenever somebody asked me what I was doing at the moment (during production of Victor Frankenstein), I would say, I’m playing Frankenstein, and they’d reply, ‘You’re a little short to be playing the monster.’ And I’d correct them and say, ‘No, no, it’s the doctor.’ So, yeah, we’re giving the name back to Dr. Vic.”
“Victor Frankenstein” is a “Frankenstein” movie unlike any other. While inspired by Mary Shelley’s classic novel and the countless interpretations of that story, screenwriter Max Landis’ “regeneration” focuses on the relationship between Victor and his best friend and assistant Igor. In fact, it’s the first story to be told largely from Igor’s perspective. “It’s a love story between these two mean, really,” notes director Paul McGuigan. “Victor and Igor need each other; in fact, Victor needs Igor probably more than Igor needs Victor in his life.”
Moreover, the film, though set in 1860, at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, has a contemporary sensibility. “I don’t think of it as a period film,” says Daniel Radcliffe, “but as being completely modern. Victor and Igor have cutting-edge ideas; they’re the tip of the spear. They view science as being more than just observational. They believe it could be creative and re-shape the world.
“I like the film’s irreverent tone and how it avoids being Victorian and ‘buttoned-up,’” Radcliffe continues. “Victor and Igor are forward thinking.” Adds McGuigan: “These two young men are changing the world.”
“Victor Frankenstein” is also, notes James McAvoy, a love letter to the myriad films featuring those characters and themes. “This film has many of the familiar elements you expect to see in a Frankenstein movie, but adds unexpected dimensions of character, relationships and entertainment.”
“Max Landis has done nothing less than capture the zeitgeist of all the Frankenstein movies he’s watched,” says McGuigan. “He’s cherry-picked ideas and created his own ‘monster,’ so to speak.”
McGuigan was especially drawn to Landis’ decision to tell the story through Igor’s eyes. That notion points to a key misperception about the character and his role in Frankenstein lore. Igor was not a character in Mary Shelley’s book, nor did he appear in most of the subsequent film interpretations. Actor Dwight Frye’s hunchbacked lab assistant in James Whale’s “Frankenstein” (1931) is the main source for the “Igor” of public imagination, though the character he played was actually named Fritz. Most moviegoers know the character through Marty Feldman’s performance in Mel Brooks’ beloved comedy “Young Frankenstein,” though Feldman’s character insists on being called “Eye-gore.”
A different kind of moniker mix-up accompanies Victor himself. Many people attribute that name to the monster, instead of its creator – the good doctor. “So we give the name ‘Frankenstein’ back to the scientist – to Victor Frankenstein,” says McGuigan.
McAvoy relates that, “Whenever somebody asked me what I was doing at the moment (during production of Victor Frankenstein), I would say, I’m playing Frankenstein, and they’d reply, ‘You’re a little short to be playing the monster.’ And I’d correct them and say, ‘No, no, it’s the doctor.’ So, yeah, we’re giving the name back to Dr. Vic.”
“Victor
Frankenstein” opens November 25 in cinemas nationwide from 20th
Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.
Now Showing: The Dressmaker from Axinite Digicinema [R13]
Check out Winslet’s runway-worthy creations in “The Dressmaker”. Now Showing in theaters nationwide from Axinite Digicinema.
Now Showing: Frankenstein Vs. The Mummy from CrystalSky Multimedia [R16]
Frankenstein Vs. The Mummy” opens TODAY in cinemas from CrystalSky Multimedia
Now Showing: Burnt staring Brandley Cooper [PG]
Burnt is NOW SHOWING in cinemas nationwide from Pioneer Films.
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
THE PROGRAM: The Rise and fall of the seven times Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong.
It is 1993 and 21 year old Lance Armstrong (Ben Foster) is making his debut in the Tour De France. The Sunday Times journalist, David Walsh (Chris O’Dowd) interviews the young Lance over a game of table football. Lance is determined and hugely self-confident, as well as extremely competitive. Chatting with his press colleagues afterwards, David tells them how cocky Lance was. When they ask if he is a contender, David says he absolutely is – in the one day classic races.
On the starting line at a Belgian one day race, Johan Bruyneel (Denis Menochet) tells the young upstart Lance that he will never win as others have more red cells in their blood – they are doping. The race plays out as Bruyneel predicted. Meanwhile in a lecture hall, Dr Michele Ferrari (Guillaume Canet) is learning about trials of the drug EPO. During the race, Lance watches hopelessly as three members of one team drop everybody else and easily finish in the top three places. At the lecture, Ferrari asks about the use of EPO in sport, but is told that would be unethical. Ferrari shrugs. At the Belgian race press conference, Ferrari is on stage with the winners, a member of their team. Questioned as to problems with the use of EPO, he once again dismisses all concerns.
Lance tries to convince his hesitant teammate Frankie Andreu (Edward Hogg) that they have to use EPO to be in with a chance. Lance approaches Ferrari and tells him he wants to join his “program”, but the doctor dismisses him telling him that he doesn’t have the right physique to be a good climber.
Lance buys EPO for his team at a pharmacy in Switzerland. A year later, back at the Belgian one day classic, it is now Lance dropping the peloton and winning the race by a huge margin.
However after the celebrations, Lance starts to cough up blood. His doctor diagnoses testicular cancer, at the third, and final, stage. Treatment begins and Lance is subjected to gruelling rounds of surgery and chemotherapy. He pushes himself even when at his lowest and tries to walk down the hospital corridor, but collapses into a wheelchair.
As he recovers, Frankie and his wife Betsy (Elaine Cassidy) visit Lance in hospital. A doctor arrives for a consultation, and Lance tells his friends to stay. Lance makes a slow but determined recovery. He travels to Ferrara, Italy, to the home of Dr Ferrari. Through his illness, he has lost the weight required of him and Ferrari is convinced enough by his will to win to take him on. He subjects Lance to a huge range of tests, analysis and training exercises so that he is no longer ‘confined by the limits of his physiology’ and Lance reaches peak fitness, getting to grips with some of the substances and doping methods which would propel his career forward along the way.
During this time, the so-called ‘Festina affair’ has erupted after a team soigneur has been caught with performance enhancing drugs. This has led to police raids across the Tour and the discovery that drug use is rife. Ferrari and Armstrong laugh at them for getting caught. Lance brings Bruyneel on board as director, explaining that following his illness the only team that would take him are the very minor US Postal team. Bruyneel says that they have to go out to win, and Lance says that after his cancer he never wants to come so close to losing again. Lance, Bruyneel and Ferrari head up the team’s rigorous training programme, at altitude. Lance reunites with agent Bill Stapleton (Lee Pace) who had spotted Lance’s commercial potential before he got sick. Bill now sees an ever more potent story, especially when Lance passionately announces that he wants to start a cancer charity.
It is 1999. David in his press car banters about whether this year really is to be rebranded the Tour of Renewal, after last year’s drugs farce. They say that Armstrong has risen from the dead and as an early supporter David says that he really thinks Lance can win a stage. There is jubilation when Lance does win the opening stage. David writes about the ensuing mountain stage. Wearing the winner’s yellow jersey, Lance starts to attack on the Galibier climb; he breaks away with tremendous power leaving the peloton far below.
There is excitement in the press room. David alone is silent. Lance reaches the finish in Sestriere way ahead of the peloton. His previous best in the mountains was 39th. David reminds his colleagues out last year’s doping scandal and that the speeds have gone up this year, but they don’t listen. They reply that the racers wouldn’t be able to hide it. David retorts that Lance rode so fast up the steep mountain that he had to use his brakes. He talks to a young rider who, according to his physiology, should be faster than Lance and who shares his own suspicions with David. Lance then seeks out this young rider and warns him off.
Taking EPO has become part of Lance’s regular race time routine. Motorman delivers the drugs and the team take them in a systematic way. Lance is blasé, asking his soigneur Emma O’Reilly (Laura Donnelly) to dispose of his needles. The TV commentators confidently talk about how the riders are now clean. Lance asks Emma to cover the needle mark on his arm. When the so-called ‘vampires’, the UCI drugs testers, come to check Lance, they are duped into waiting, during which interval Lance is hooked up to a drip to dilute the presence of substances. Emma is massaging Lance when he takes a call to say that one of his tests has come back positive for testosterone. He deals with the problem by ordering a pre-dated prescription of a saddle sore cream, and then jokes that Emma knows enough to bring him down. Whilst promoting his Livestrong cancer charity, Lance recalls the moment in the hospital where he attempted to walk down the corridor but in his retelling of the story, he refuses the wheelchair.
The next year, he wins the Tour again. At a book signing of his autobiography It’s Not About the Bike, Lance seems to feel uneasy around the cancer survivors that he has inspired. Dr. Ferrari is raided by the police and charged with criminal conspiracy. This news strengthens David’s case against Lance being clean as he knows that Lance had visited Ferrari before his comeback, but the doctor is notably absent in Lance’s book. David is granted an interview with Lance, but Lance turns up with Bill at his side, and in abrasive form. And still the newspaper won’t run a story by David for lack of hard evidence.
Rising star Floyd Landis (Jesse Plemons) is signed to the US Postal team, and tasked with protecting Lance. Floyd comes from a Mennonite community and had to be very determined to forge a career as a cyclist against his family’s beliefs. Lance initiates Floyd into The Program and in 2002 the team are as powerful as ever and Lance triumphs yet again. By now there are more effective tests so Lance and team are also transfusing their own blood to avoid detection.
In the 2003 Tour, Lance achieves his fifth win. Lance is still surreptitiously meeting Ferrari, although Ferrari has now been found guilty and banned from sports and medical practice. Cyclist Felippo Simeoni has testified against him, so Lance approaches him during the next stage and blatantly threatens to destroy him. Floyd watches on with increasing discomfort, but Lance is not to be deterred. The team have now become blasé about their doping: their bus pulls over on a Pyrenean roadside for them to hook up to drips in the midst of the cavalcade. Only Floyd is becoming increasingly uneasy. The UCI call a meeting with Lance to discuss an EPO test. The official appears anxious as he tells Lance that the test was borderline but not conclusive. Stapleton and Lance are obviously not happy but Lance seems calm, he says that he will leave it to them to do what is best for the sport.
Lance prepares for a press conference anticipating the inevitable question about doping. Once on stage, he is steely eyed and defensive. He reiterates his mantra that he has never tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. David is in the room and probes Lance about the image of cycling and his association with a doctor so heavily embroiled in doping. Lance puts him down and dismisses these challenges, telling them all that they all have to fall back in love with cycling. Floyd watches on from the back of the room. Later he confronts Bruyneel about the drugs and about the untouchable Lance with his “cancer shield”. Unperturbed, Bruyneel tells Floyd that he can always leave.
Betsy has now heard about David and the two of them talk. She tells him about the conversation in the hospital room, and David in turn reports this to his editor. Now David has started to attract attention. Emma contacts him and passes on all the incriminating evidence that she has. Cyclist Stephen Swart also has information to support David’s case. David has now gathered enough evidence for his editor to finally agree that he can publish his story in the newspaper, under the headline ‘LA CONFIDENTIAL’.
David is invited to Texas by Bob Hamman (Dustin Hoffman), an insurer for the US Postal team who now has doubts that Lance is entitled to the $5 million bonuses that he is owed for his Tour triumphs. If Lance is cheating in races, then he is also cheating him. Lance is incensed by David’s story. He rages about Emma, who he presumes tipped David off, calling her an ’alcoholic whore‘, and gives Stapleton a series of commands – to threaten Emma, get Frankie to ‘muzzle‘ his wife, ’stonewall‘ Walsh, find out who he travels with and freeze him out, offer David’s American publisher Lance’s new book to create a conflict of interest. Lance rants that he will not be brought down.
Whilst Lance brings a libel case against The Sunday Times, an arbitration case is mounted against Lance by Bob Hamman. Stapleton threatens Frankie, and Lance defames him to potential employers. At arbritration, Lance arrogantly and angrily deflects all the questions. Bruyneel warns off David’s colleagues at the Tour. The Sunday Times loses to Lance and pays out £300,000 in damages. Hamman also loses to Lance and is forced to pay out the $5 million bonus money, but he tells Stapleton that he knows Lance has lied under oath. Stapleton smirks that Lance will retire and then nothing can touch him.
At what will be his final Tour’s opening press conference in 2005, Lance singles out David and insists that ‘extraordinary allegations demand extraordinary proof‘. He declares that David is taking attention away from the fight against cancer. As they leave, David is told by his colleagues that he can’t travel with them as usual. It would make life too difficult for them. The other reporters drive away, leaving David unable to follow the Tour. Lance wins his seventh consecutive Tour.
The following Tour is won by Floyd, but he gets caught using testosterone. Although he denies it (unconvincingly), he is stripped of his title. Floyd returns to his community. Meanwhile Lance’s time is now spent making mindless commercials and giving corporate speeches.
Lance decides that after four years, he is going to make a Tour comeback. Bruyneel tells him that it is a bad idea - he is too old, it’s vain and they have got away with it until now. But Lance won’t quit, he says he is coming back for the fight against cancer.
Floyd, who is still ostracized from the sport, calls imploring Lance to have him on the team, but Lance dismisses him - sorry, you got caught. The Tour does not go well for Lance. He can’t keep pace with the new star on his team, Alberto Contador, who goes on to win, leaving him in third place. Contador then humiliates him further by telling the press that he allowed Lance his third position.
Meanwhile feeling like he has no options, Floyd decides to turn himself in to the US Anti-Doping Agency’s Travis Tygart. He exposes Lance, who is finally recognized as the leader in a culture of doping. The tide is finally turning against Lance. He receives a lifetime ban from sports. He is a broken man.
Lance is interviewed by Oprah Winfrey, David watches with his editor on TV. Grim faced and broken, Lance finally admits he doped in every Tour that he won. We see Lance cycle to the remote Dead Man’s Hole, and look down into the deep water. Lance tells Oprah that it was a mythic story but it wasn’t true. Lance plunges into the water hole. He cycles home, alone on an empty road.
“THE PROGRAM” is released and distributed by CAPTIVE CINEMA.
On the starting line at a Belgian one day race, Johan Bruyneel (Denis Menochet) tells the young upstart Lance that he will never win as others have more red cells in their blood – they are doping. The race plays out as Bruyneel predicted. Meanwhile in a lecture hall, Dr Michele Ferrari (Guillaume Canet) is learning about trials of the drug EPO. During the race, Lance watches hopelessly as three members of one team drop everybody else and easily finish in the top three places. At the lecture, Ferrari asks about the use of EPO in sport, but is told that would be unethical. Ferrari shrugs. At the Belgian race press conference, Ferrari is on stage with the winners, a member of their team. Questioned as to problems with the use of EPO, he once again dismisses all concerns.
Lance tries to convince his hesitant teammate Frankie Andreu (Edward Hogg) that they have to use EPO to be in with a chance. Lance approaches Ferrari and tells him he wants to join his “program”, but the doctor dismisses him telling him that he doesn’t have the right physique to be a good climber.
Lance buys EPO for his team at a pharmacy in Switzerland. A year later, back at the Belgian one day classic, it is now Lance dropping the peloton and winning the race by a huge margin.
However after the celebrations, Lance starts to cough up blood. His doctor diagnoses testicular cancer, at the third, and final, stage. Treatment begins and Lance is subjected to gruelling rounds of surgery and chemotherapy. He pushes himself even when at his lowest and tries to walk down the hospital corridor, but collapses into a wheelchair.
As he recovers, Frankie and his wife Betsy (Elaine Cassidy) visit Lance in hospital. A doctor arrives for a consultation, and Lance tells his friends to stay. Lance makes a slow but determined recovery. He travels to Ferrara, Italy, to the home of Dr Ferrari. Through his illness, he has lost the weight required of him and Ferrari is convinced enough by his will to win to take him on. He subjects Lance to a huge range of tests, analysis and training exercises so that he is no longer ‘confined by the limits of his physiology’ and Lance reaches peak fitness, getting to grips with some of the substances and doping methods which would propel his career forward along the way.
During this time, the so-called ‘Festina affair’ has erupted after a team soigneur has been caught with performance enhancing drugs. This has led to police raids across the Tour and the discovery that drug use is rife. Ferrari and Armstrong laugh at them for getting caught. Lance brings Bruyneel on board as director, explaining that following his illness the only team that would take him are the very minor US Postal team. Bruyneel says that they have to go out to win, and Lance says that after his cancer he never wants to come so close to losing again. Lance, Bruyneel and Ferrari head up the team’s rigorous training programme, at altitude. Lance reunites with agent Bill Stapleton (Lee Pace) who had spotted Lance’s commercial potential before he got sick. Bill now sees an ever more potent story, especially when Lance passionately announces that he wants to start a cancer charity.
It is 1999. David in his press car banters about whether this year really is to be rebranded the Tour of Renewal, after last year’s drugs farce. They say that Armstrong has risen from the dead and as an early supporter David says that he really thinks Lance can win a stage. There is jubilation when Lance does win the opening stage. David writes about the ensuing mountain stage. Wearing the winner’s yellow jersey, Lance starts to attack on the Galibier climb; he breaks away with tremendous power leaving the peloton far below.
There is excitement in the press room. David alone is silent. Lance reaches the finish in Sestriere way ahead of the peloton. His previous best in the mountains was 39th. David reminds his colleagues out last year’s doping scandal and that the speeds have gone up this year, but they don’t listen. They reply that the racers wouldn’t be able to hide it. David retorts that Lance rode so fast up the steep mountain that he had to use his brakes. He talks to a young rider who, according to his physiology, should be faster than Lance and who shares his own suspicions with David. Lance then seeks out this young rider and warns him off.
Taking EPO has become part of Lance’s regular race time routine. Motorman delivers the drugs and the team take them in a systematic way. Lance is blasé, asking his soigneur Emma O’Reilly (Laura Donnelly) to dispose of his needles. The TV commentators confidently talk about how the riders are now clean. Lance asks Emma to cover the needle mark on his arm. When the so-called ‘vampires’, the UCI drugs testers, come to check Lance, they are duped into waiting, during which interval Lance is hooked up to a drip to dilute the presence of substances. Emma is massaging Lance when he takes a call to say that one of his tests has come back positive for testosterone. He deals with the problem by ordering a pre-dated prescription of a saddle sore cream, and then jokes that Emma knows enough to bring him down. Whilst promoting his Livestrong cancer charity, Lance recalls the moment in the hospital where he attempted to walk down the corridor but in his retelling of the story, he refuses the wheelchair.
The next year, he wins the Tour again. At a book signing of his autobiography It’s Not About the Bike, Lance seems to feel uneasy around the cancer survivors that he has inspired. Dr. Ferrari is raided by the police and charged with criminal conspiracy. This news strengthens David’s case against Lance being clean as he knows that Lance had visited Ferrari before his comeback, but the doctor is notably absent in Lance’s book. David is granted an interview with Lance, but Lance turns up with Bill at his side, and in abrasive form. And still the newspaper won’t run a story by David for lack of hard evidence.
Rising star Floyd Landis (Jesse Plemons) is signed to the US Postal team, and tasked with protecting Lance. Floyd comes from a Mennonite community and had to be very determined to forge a career as a cyclist against his family’s beliefs. Lance initiates Floyd into The Program and in 2002 the team are as powerful as ever and Lance triumphs yet again. By now there are more effective tests so Lance and team are also transfusing their own blood to avoid detection.
In the 2003 Tour, Lance achieves his fifth win. Lance is still surreptitiously meeting Ferrari, although Ferrari has now been found guilty and banned from sports and medical practice. Cyclist Felippo Simeoni has testified against him, so Lance approaches him during the next stage and blatantly threatens to destroy him. Floyd watches on with increasing discomfort, but Lance is not to be deterred. The team have now become blasé about their doping: their bus pulls over on a Pyrenean roadside for them to hook up to drips in the midst of the cavalcade. Only Floyd is becoming increasingly uneasy. The UCI call a meeting with Lance to discuss an EPO test. The official appears anxious as he tells Lance that the test was borderline but not conclusive. Stapleton and Lance are obviously not happy but Lance seems calm, he says that he will leave it to them to do what is best for the sport.
Lance prepares for a press conference anticipating the inevitable question about doping. Once on stage, he is steely eyed and defensive. He reiterates his mantra that he has never tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. David is in the room and probes Lance about the image of cycling and his association with a doctor so heavily embroiled in doping. Lance puts him down and dismisses these challenges, telling them all that they all have to fall back in love with cycling. Floyd watches on from the back of the room. Later he confronts Bruyneel about the drugs and about the untouchable Lance with his “cancer shield”. Unperturbed, Bruyneel tells Floyd that he can always leave.
Betsy has now heard about David and the two of them talk. She tells him about the conversation in the hospital room, and David in turn reports this to his editor. Now David has started to attract attention. Emma contacts him and passes on all the incriminating evidence that she has. Cyclist Stephen Swart also has information to support David’s case. David has now gathered enough evidence for his editor to finally agree that he can publish his story in the newspaper, under the headline ‘LA CONFIDENTIAL’.
David is invited to Texas by Bob Hamman (Dustin Hoffman), an insurer for the US Postal team who now has doubts that Lance is entitled to the $5 million bonuses that he is owed for his Tour triumphs. If Lance is cheating in races, then he is also cheating him. Lance is incensed by David’s story. He rages about Emma, who he presumes tipped David off, calling her an ’alcoholic whore‘, and gives Stapleton a series of commands – to threaten Emma, get Frankie to ‘muzzle‘ his wife, ’stonewall‘ Walsh, find out who he travels with and freeze him out, offer David’s American publisher Lance’s new book to create a conflict of interest. Lance rants that he will not be brought down.
Whilst Lance brings a libel case against The Sunday Times, an arbitration case is mounted against Lance by Bob Hamman. Stapleton threatens Frankie, and Lance defames him to potential employers. At arbritration, Lance arrogantly and angrily deflects all the questions. Bruyneel warns off David’s colleagues at the Tour. The Sunday Times loses to Lance and pays out £300,000 in damages. Hamman also loses to Lance and is forced to pay out the $5 million bonus money, but he tells Stapleton that he knows Lance has lied under oath. Stapleton smirks that Lance will retire and then nothing can touch him.
At what will be his final Tour’s opening press conference in 2005, Lance singles out David and insists that ‘extraordinary allegations demand extraordinary proof‘. He declares that David is taking attention away from the fight against cancer. As they leave, David is told by his colleagues that he can’t travel with them as usual. It would make life too difficult for them. The other reporters drive away, leaving David unable to follow the Tour. Lance wins his seventh consecutive Tour.
The following Tour is won by Floyd, but he gets caught using testosterone. Although he denies it (unconvincingly), he is stripped of his title. Floyd returns to his community. Meanwhile Lance’s time is now spent making mindless commercials and giving corporate speeches.
Lance decides that after four years, he is going to make a Tour comeback. Bruyneel tells him that it is a bad idea - he is too old, it’s vain and they have got away with it until now. But Lance won’t quit, he says he is coming back for the fight against cancer.
Floyd, who is still ostracized from the sport, calls imploring Lance to have him on the team, but Lance dismisses him - sorry, you got caught. The Tour does not go well for Lance. He can’t keep pace with the new star on his team, Alberto Contador, who goes on to win, leaving him in third place. Contador then humiliates him further by telling the press that he allowed Lance his third position.
Meanwhile feeling like he has no options, Floyd decides to turn himself in to the US Anti-Doping Agency’s Travis Tygart. He exposes Lance, who is finally recognized as the leader in a culture of doping. The tide is finally turning against Lance. He receives a lifetime ban from sports. He is a broken man.
Lance is interviewed by Oprah Winfrey, David watches with his editor on TV. Grim faced and broken, Lance finally admits he doped in every Tour that he won. We see Lance cycle to the remote Dead Man’s Hole, and look down into the deep water. Lance tells Oprah that it was a mythic story but it wasn’t true. Lance plunges into the water hole. He cycles home, alone on an empty road.
“THE PROGRAM” is released and distributed by CAPTIVE CINEMA.
OPENS IN CINEMAS NATOINWIDE DECEMBER 9!
Poster from http://www.imdb.com/
Jeff Bridges, Rachel McAdams and Mackenzie Foy right voices for “The Little Prince”
Thanks to the director’s emotionally engaging pitch and the global popularity of Saint‐Exupéry’s book, a perfectly matched group of A‐list actors were able to be recruited to lend their voices to the film’s characters. As Mark Osborne director of Kung Fu Panda explains, “It began with Jeff Bridges. He was our first and only choice to play the Aviator, so after a great deal of time trying to get to him, I finally got the chance to go to his home in Santa Barbara to talk to him directly. He was blown away by the pitch, and it really put us on the road to assembling the perfect cast.”
As Bridges recalls, he was instantly drawn to the role of the Aviator. “Mark gave me this incredible pitch, brought this suitcase with him which showed me what the movie was going to be about,” recalls the actor. “We shared the same concern, which was if you simply just move around these iconic characters like the book, it might not do justice to the work. He had this great other story, which treated the book as almost another character in the movie. It’s a great way to pay tribute to this classic book, so I was excited and thrilled to be part of it
Bridges says the part of the Aviator was one that was very close to his heart. “I remember reading the book when I was growing up,” he says. “I can clearly remember the illustrations—especially the one of the hat or the elephant swallowed by the snake. I am not quite as old as the Aviator—I had to age up my voice a little bit, but I related to him very much. The Aviator and the Little Girl have some wonderful times together. I have three little girls myself, so it was easy for me to relate to him.”
In addition to the story and the strong visuals of the book, Bridges says both the original book and the movie have important messages about the importance of staying true to the child within and the powerful force of love and friendship. “There’s that one line from the book that stays with you,” he says. “The Fox says to the Prince, ‘It’s only with the heart that one can see rightly…what is essential is invisible to the eye.’ He’s talking about the heart there, and that is the message of the whole deal!”
The important part of the Little Girl who lives next door to the Aviator is played by the talented young actress, Mackenzie Foy (“Interstellar”, “Ernest and Celestine” “Twilight: Breaking Dawn”). “I had read the book in school a few years ago, and I loved it,” says Foy. “So when I heard about the movie, I immediately wanted to do it. The character I play is very smart, sweet, kind of quirky and incredibly nerdy. She has a lot of pressure from her mother because they just moved to this new neighbourhood, and she is expected to do really well in the new school. She is about nine years old, but she’s very mature for her age. Her friendship with the Aviator teaches her to be her childish self again. She goes looking for The Little Prince so that the Aviator doesn’t have to leave her.”
As young as she is, Foy understands the heart of the story and the values that the movie seeks to celebrate. “I think both the book and the movie really want to teach you that it’s important to enjoy the fun things about being a kid and not to grow up too fast. It also tells you that when you love someone, they will always live inside your heart. Just like the Fox told the Little Prince. The movie really has something great for everyone, whether you are grandparents, or parents or just kids. It has a great message and it also looks wonderful, so I think everyone will enjoy seeing it.”
Osborne says Foy really captures the unjaded quality that the Little Girl’s role demanded. “I knew that I wanted very innocent, sincere voices for the kids in the movie. I think child actors can sometimes try too hard. In the early stages of production, my daughter Maddie and son Riley helped doing the temporary scratch voices for the roles of the Little Girl and the Little Prince. My daughter got older and her voice began to change, so we were very fortunate to find Mackenzie to play the part, but we never found anyone who did a better job than my son Riley for the Prince. He was 11 at the time, and was very natural in the part so we kept him as the Prince!”
Riley Osborne is equally proud of the experience of working with his dad on the movie. “I had also read the book when I was nine, because my dad had mentioned it to me, so I already liked it,” he says. “To be able to work with my father and the rest of my family—my mother did the temporary voice for the Mother and my sister did the temporary tracks for the Girl—in Paris was a wonderful experience. We recorded those scratch voices in a small soundproof closet under the stairs in our place in Paris. Playing the Little Prince was a big treat, because he gets to go on these adventures and find out about all these worlds. One of my favorite scenes is the first time he meets the Aviator and asks him to draw him a sheep. That’s a classic scene from the book, and it’s animated in stop‐motion in the movie. I think people are really going to enjoy it.”
To voice the complex role of the Little Girl’s Mother, the filmmakers approached popular actress, Rachel McAdams (“The Notebook”, “About Time”, “Sherlock Holmes”). McAdams says she recalls watching an animated TV series based on The Little Prince when she was a young girl growing up in Canada. “I read the book when I was in my 20s,” she notes. “A friend gave it to me as a present, and when I read the book it meant a lot to me. I think Saint‐Exupéry’s book says different things to you at different stages of your life.”
THE LITTLE PRINCE marks the first time McAdams has lent her voice to an animated project. “I was so excited to be part of this movie, and I loved “Kung Fu Panda”, so I knew our director Mark (Osborne) was going to do a wonderful job with the adaptation. I couldn’t have asked for a better introduction to animation.”
McAdams says it was important for her to get out of her head and really connect with the material. “I play the Little Girl’s Mother, who is a working single mom. She has this massive, intricate life plan for her daughter and wants her to follow the rules to a tee. The Mother is a little high‐strung, but she means well. She and her daughter are a real team until the Little Girl drifts away.”
McAdams believes that the film’s emotional intensity and the fact that it pays such close homage to the original book are two of its huge assets. “THE LITTLE PRINCE does a fantastic job of celebrating life’s mysteries. When we grow up, it’s easy to need an answer for every question. Just like the book, the movie pays attention to the importance of enjoying the journey and our relationships, and not necessarily understanding everything. It all circles back to the famous quote from the book, which is ‘What is essential is invisible to the eye’.”
As Bridges recalls, he was instantly drawn to the role of the Aviator. “Mark gave me this incredible pitch, brought this suitcase with him which showed me what the movie was going to be about,” recalls the actor. “We shared the same concern, which was if you simply just move around these iconic characters like the book, it might not do justice to the work. He had this great other story, which treated the book as almost another character in the movie. It’s a great way to pay tribute to this classic book, so I was excited and thrilled to be part of it
Bridges says the part of the Aviator was one that was very close to his heart. “I remember reading the book when I was growing up,” he says. “I can clearly remember the illustrations—especially the one of the hat or the elephant swallowed by the snake. I am not quite as old as the Aviator—I had to age up my voice a little bit, but I related to him very much. The Aviator and the Little Girl have some wonderful times together. I have three little girls myself, so it was easy for me to relate to him.”
In addition to the story and the strong visuals of the book, Bridges says both the original book and the movie have important messages about the importance of staying true to the child within and the powerful force of love and friendship. “There’s that one line from the book that stays with you,” he says. “The Fox says to the Prince, ‘It’s only with the heart that one can see rightly…what is essential is invisible to the eye.’ He’s talking about the heart there, and that is the message of the whole deal!”
The important part of the Little Girl who lives next door to the Aviator is played by the talented young actress, Mackenzie Foy (“Interstellar”, “Ernest and Celestine” “Twilight: Breaking Dawn”). “I had read the book in school a few years ago, and I loved it,” says Foy. “So when I heard about the movie, I immediately wanted to do it. The character I play is very smart, sweet, kind of quirky and incredibly nerdy. She has a lot of pressure from her mother because they just moved to this new neighbourhood, and she is expected to do really well in the new school. She is about nine years old, but she’s very mature for her age. Her friendship with the Aviator teaches her to be her childish self again. She goes looking for The Little Prince so that the Aviator doesn’t have to leave her.”
As young as she is, Foy understands the heart of the story and the values that the movie seeks to celebrate. “I think both the book and the movie really want to teach you that it’s important to enjoy the fun things about being a kid and not to grow up too fast. It also tells you that when you love someone, they will always live inside your heart. Just like the Fox told the Little Prince. The movie really has something great for everyone, whether you are grandparents, or parents or just kids. It has a great message and it also looks wonderful, so I think everyone will enjoy seeing it.”
Osborne says Foy really captures the unjaded quality that the Little Girl’s role demanded. “I knew that I wanted very innocent, sincere voices for the kids in the movie. I think child actors can sometimes try too hard. In the early stages of production, my daughter Maddie and son Riley helped doing the temporary scratch voices for the roles of the Little Girl and the Little Prince. My daughter got older and her voice began to change, so we were very fortunate to find Mackenzie to play the part, but we never found anyone who did a better job than my son Riley for the Prince. He was 11 at the time, and was very natural in the part so we kept him as the Prince!”
Riley Osborne is equally proud of the experience of working with his dad on the movie. “I had also read the book when I was nine, because my dad had mentioned it to me, so I already liked it,” he says. “To be able to work with my father and the rest of my family—my mother did the temporary voice for the Mother and my sister did the temporary tracks for the Girl—in Paris was a wonderful experience. We recorded those scratch voices in a small soundproof closet under the stairs in our place in Paris. Playing the Little Prince was a big treat, because he gets to go on these adventures and find out about all these worlds. One of my favorite scenes is the first time he meets the Aviator and asks him to draw him a sheep. That’s a classic scene from the book, and it’s animated in stop‐motion in the movie. I think people are really going to enjoy it.”
To voice the complex role of the Little Girl’s Mother, the filmmakers approached popular actress, Rachel McAdams (“The Notebook”, “About Time”, “Sherlock Holmes”). McAdams says she recalls watching an animated TV series based on The Little Prince when she was a young girl growing up in Canada. “I read the book when I was in my 20s,” she notes. “A friend gave it to me as a present, and when I read the book it meant a lot to me. I think Saint‐Exupéry’s book says different things to you at different stages of your life.”
THE LITTLE PRINCE marks the first time McAdams has lent her voice to an animated project. “I was so excited to be part of this movie, and I loved “Kung Fu Panda”, so I knew our director Mark (Osborne) was going to do a wonderful job with the adaptation. I couldn’t have asked for a better introduction to animation.”
McAdams says it was important for her to get out of her head and really connect with the material. “I play the Little Girl’s Mother, who is a working single mom. She has this massive, intricate life plan for her daughter and wants her to follow the rules to a tee. The Mother is a little high‐strung, but she means well. She and her daughter are a real team until the Little Girl drifts away.”
McAdams believes that the film’s emotional intensity and the fact that it pays such close homage to the original book are two of its huge assets. “THE LITTLE PRINCE does a fantastic job of celebrating life’s mysteries. When we grow up, it’s easy to need an answer for every question. Just like the book, the movie pays attention to the importance of enjoying the journey and our relationships, and not necessarily understanding everything. It all circles back to the famous quote from the book, which is ‘What is essential is invisible to the eye’.”
“THE LITTLE PRINCE” is released and distributed by CAPTIVE CINEMA.
FRANKENSTEIN VS. THE MUMMY OPENS NOVEMBER 4
A monstrous of a movie is born in “Frankenstein Vs. The Mummy” when Dr. Victor Frankenstein and Egyptologist Naihla Khalil, who are both professors at a leading medical university. Victor’s latest grisly “experiment” is the re-animated corpse of a sadistic madman and Naihla’s most recent find is the cursed mummy of an evil pharaoh. When the two monsters face-off in an epic showdown, no one is safe. Can the rampage be stopped and contained before it’s too late?
The movie is set in motion when in New York, the professor of the medical university Dr. Victor Frankenstein played by Max Rhyser pushes the possibility of life beyond death by buying corpse to reanimate it. Meanwhile, Egyptologist Naihla Khalil (Ashton Leigh), from the same university, has just returned from an expedition and brought the Mummy of Usekara (Brandon deSpain), an evil and cruel pharaoh that was cursed, leaving his soul trapped in his mummified corpse. Victor and Naihla have a crush on each other and they date. Meanwhile Professor Walton (Boomer Tibbs), who is chief of department where Naihla works, accidentally releases Usekara's soul and is possessed by him. He kills his assistant Isaac (Robert MacNaughton) and his blood awakes the Mummy. Then Walton lures his student Lenora (Stefanie Merola) and the Mummy eats her heart. Frankenstein's monster (Constantin Tripes) is reanimated and Victor is surprised with his capacity. But soon both monsters want Naihla: Frankenstein's creature to force Victor to transfer his brain to a new body and the Mummy believes she is the sorcerer that trapped his soul and wants Naihla to call off the spell.
The movie is set in motion when in New York, the professor of the medical university Dr. Victor Frankenstein played by Max Rhyser pushes the possibility of life beyond death by buying corpse to reanimate it. Meanwhile, Egyptologist Naihla Khalil (Ashton Leigh), from the same university, has just returned from an expedition and brought the Mummy of Usekara (Brandon deSpain), an evil and cruel pharaoh that was cursed, leaving his soul trapped in his mummified corpse. Victor and Naihla have a crush on each other and they date. Meanwhile Professor Walton (Boomer Tibbs), who is chief of department where Naihla works, accidentally releases Usekara's soul and is possessed by him. He kills his assistant Isaac (Robert MacNaughton) and his blood awakes the Mummy. Then Walton lures his student Lenora (Stefanie Merola) and the Mummy eats her heart. Frankenstein's monster (Constantin Tripes) is reanimated and Victor is surprised with his capacity. But soon both monsters want Naihla: Frankenstein's creature to force Victor to transfer his brain to a new body and the Mummy believes she is the sorcerer that trapped his soul and wants Naihla to call off the spell.
“Frankenstein Vs. The Mummy” opens November 4 in cinemas from CrystalSky Multimedia
Watch the Trailer of Frankenstein Vs The Mummy on Youtube
“Frankenstein Vs. The Mummy” opens November 4 in cinemas from CrystalSky Multimedia.
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