“Danis Tanovic's gut-wrenching 'Triage' opens Rome filmfest - MSN Singapore” plus 4 more

Danis Tanovic's gut-wrenching 'Triage' opens Rome filmfest - MSN Singapore
'Where the Wild Things Are' - Los Angeles Times
Sick Streep leaves spotlight on George Clooney at premiere - Belfast Telegraph
Toxic thriller 'Law Abiding Citizen' should be locked away - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
National Amusements Provides Details of Underwritten Viacom and CBS ... - PR Inside

Danis Tanovic's gut-wrenching 'Triage' opens Rome filmfest - MSN Singapore

Posted: 15 Oct 2009 11:43 PM PDT

Danis Tanovic's gut-wrenching 'Triage' opens Rome filmfest

Oscar-winning Bosnian director Danis Tanovic revisited the horrors of war in his gut-wrenching film "Triage" as the Rome film festival kicked off on Thursday.

"After surviving war, I feel touched by every conflict I see," said Tanovic, whose "No Man's Land" about the Bosnian war won an Oscar for best foreign language film in 2002 along with many other kudos.

"You can change the landscape, but not the emotions," he told a news conference.

Based on the eponymous novel by Scott Anderson, "Triage" recounts the harrowing experience of two British photojournalists covering the Iraqi-Kurdish conflict of 1988.

"If I could write, I would write a book like this," said Tanovic, who wrote the screenplay based on Anderson's work.

The title refers to the grim task of a field medic who must favour the potentially walking wounded over those who should be put out of their misery with a bullet to the head -- administered by the doctor.

Veteran British actor Christopher Lee, 87, plays a psychiatrist delving into the causes of the post-traumatic stress disorder exhibited by Irish star Colin Farrell's character Mark Walsh.

Lee recounted having seen such mercy killings at firsthand when he served in World War II. "You never forget," he said.

Of "Triage," he said: "I think it's one of the best films that I've ever seen about war because it's not just about battle.... It's about human reactions and human behaviour and how people feel on both sides."

The fourth edition of the Rome film festival, which runs through October 23, will see top US stars gracing the red carpet including George Clooney, Meryl Streep and Richard Gere.

Clooney stars in the only US film in competition here this year, "Up in the Air," a comedy about a stressed-out executive by Jason Reitman, who won here with "Juno" in 2007.

Streep is to receive a career Marcus Aurelius award while starring as American TV chef Julia Child in the acclaimed "Julie & Julia" by Nora Ephron, to be shown out of competition.

Another non-contender is "A Serious Man" by Joel and Ethan Coen.

On Friday, French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg will follow her controversial Cannes entry, "Antichrist," starring in the out-of-competition world premiere of "The City of Your Final Destination," by James Ivory with Anthony Hopkins and Laura Linney.

Also Friday, Gere will unveil his latest movie, "Hachiko: A Dog's Story" by Lasse Hallstroem, about a college professor's bond with an abandoned dog co-starring Joan Allen.

Then Rome mayor Walter Veltroni created the festival in 2005 aiming to make it a major draw on the international cinema calendar.

But this year -- the second year under Veltroni's right-wing successor Gianni Alemanno -- the event is a day shorter, with 14 films in competition compared with 20 in 2008 and the budget slashed to 12 million euros (17.5 million dollars) compared with 15.5 million last year.

The jury led by US director Milos Forman ("Amadeus") includes Algerian novelist Assia Djebar, Austrian actress Senta Berger, Italian director Gabriele Muccino and Russian filmmaker Pavel Lounguine.

The audience also gets a vote to decide the feature worthy of the public's award.

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'Where the Wild Things Are' - Los Angeles Times

Posted: 15 Oct 2009 09:13 PM PDT

In Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are," less -- 10 sentences, 37 pages, 338 words -- became more: a much-loved children's book that's sold more than 19 million copies worldwide, 10 million in the U.S.

In the new film version of Sendak's classic, more -- admired director Spike Jonze, smart co-screenwriter Dave Eggers, top-flight actors including Chris Cooper, James Gandolfini and Forest Whitaker, and a budget estimated at $80 million to $100 million -- has paradoxically become less: a precious, self-indulgent cinematic fable that not everyone is going to love.

The difficulty starts with how little the filmmakers had to work with. A feature-length narrative had to be teased out of a tale that fit nicely into an eight-minute animated short back in 1973. Left to their own devices in filling in the book's blanks, the filmmakers have come up with a misdirected pastiche that will please neither children nor their parents, something so empty and misconceived it makes you glad you're an adult.

To fill in those spaces, "Wild Things" chose to make explicit what was implicit, which means emphasizing and expanding the sullen and hostile brattiness of 9-year-old protagonist Max. Those qualities are of course present in the book -- it's one of the reasons it was controversial on publication -- but blowing them up this way in effect turns the film into a sanctification and celebration of some of the most childish aspects of being a child.

That's a shame because Jonze's idea that the beasts should be portrayed by people inside enormous costumes designed to duplicate the Sendak wild things by the Jim Henson Creature Shop, in effect hipster versions of NFL team mascots, is a fine one. Up to a point. For once these beings open their computer-generated mouths, a whole other set of problems arise.

Before we get to those creatures, however, a healthy chunk of time is given over to Max's back story. Played by young Max Records, he's introduced tearing around the house in his trademark wolf suit and trying to pounce on his beleaguered dog. No it's not an ad for Ritalin, it's business as usual for Max, who has a weakness for resorting to violence when things don't go his way and then going all pouty when the uncaring world gets violent in return.

This kind of behavior reaches its apex when Max's divorced mom ( Catherine Keener) brings her boyfriend (Mark Ruffalo) home for dinner, which puts stressed-out Max so out of sorts he bites her on the shoulder. Hard.

Terrified at the mess he's gotten himself into, Max runs away and magically ends up on an island (the film was shot, its hard to say why, on the southern tip of Australia). Here he meets six wild things, each given a specific personality by the actor doing the voice.

More or less (actually less) in charge is Carol (Gandolfini), while KW (Lauren Ambrose) is on the elusive side. Judith ( Catherine O'Hara) is the voice of doom and gloom while her pal Ira (Whitaker) just wants to get along. The bird-like Douglas (Chris Cooper) likes to get things done, while the goatish Alexander (Paul Dano) is as sensitive as a beast can be.

The problem with this cast of characters is not so much their personalities but the way screenwriters Jonze and Eggers have turned them into neurotic adults with dysfunctional relationships. To hear them talk among themselves is to feel like you've stumbled onto a group therapy session involving unfunny refugees from an alternate universe Woody Allen movie. It's not a good feeling.

Max does utter the book's signature line, "Let the wild rumpus start," but he spends a lot of his time not really being sure what he's doing.

When Jonze told the New York Times Magazine, "Everything we did, all the decisions we made, were to try to capture the feeling of what it is to be 9," he's telling the truth. Unfortunately, in this case, that's not a very interesting place to be.

Although Max does inspire the wild things to build a remarkable structure, his more lasting legacy is the chaos he causes with things like dirt-clod fights. He decides to leave the island not because, as in the book, he "wanted to be where someone loved him best of all," but because, as far as can be determined, he's caused some real damage and has no idea how to make things right.

In two of his previous films, "Being John Malkovich" and "Adaptation," Jonze brought an appealingly offbeat sensibility to a pair of strong Charlie Kaufman scripts.

When faced as a director with the rudderless screenplay he co-wrote with Eggers, he's been powerless to energize it in any involving way. Sometimes you are better off with 10 sentences than tens of millions of dollars, and this is one of those times.

kenneth.turan@latimes.com

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Sick Streep leaves spotlight on George Clooney at premiere - Belfast Telegraph

Posted: 15 Oct 2009 09:42 PM PDT

Actor George Clooney hogged the limelight at the opening night of the London Film Festival in Leicester Square last night after his co-star, Meryl Streep, bowed out due to illness.

Clooney, who was accompanied by his Italian girlfriend, Elisabetta Canalis, voices the title role in Wes Anderson's stop-motion adaptation of Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr Fox and Streep voices his wife.

"It's great to be here and we have a bunch of films on show," Clooney said of the festival, which has three of his films in its programme.

He also signed autographs for fans, who had gathered at the film's world premiere - issuing a safety warning to some.

Sophie Chapman, 19, from London, said: "George Clooney said 'Please don't push because the barriers will fall over and you'll all fall on top of me'."

Sandra Hebron, director of the Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival, defended the decision to open the event with an animation.

She said: "It's absolutely no risk at all.

"The film is animated, but that simply adds to its charm.

"It's a story which lots of people grown up with and love.

"I think Wes Anderson has brought his own vision to the film (and) it has a really great cast."

Bill Murray, who voices Badger in the film, wore a trilby hat and pink bow tie to step out on the red carpet.

"If you like stop-animation like Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run, then you'll love it," he said.

Jason Schwartzman, who voices Fantastic Mr Fox's son, Ash, said he loved working alongside Clooney.

"It was an honour.

"He's an incredible combination of professionalism and relaxation and humour, so it's nice," he said.

Also attending the screening were actor David Morrissey, supermodel Cindy Crawford, presenter Jonathan Ross and film director Gurinder Chada. A festival spokesman said Streep was ill and could not attend.

Earlier Murray praised the British movie industry and said the film could not have been made anywhere else.

Speaking ahead of the premiere, he said: "Festivals are fun and you go with your movie to support your movie but this film couldn't have been made anywhere in the world but London, I don't think.

"We (in the US) can put a man on the moon but we would not make this movie and that to me is a celebration of all the people that worked on this film."

The film is released on October 23.

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Toxic thriller 'Law Abiding Citizen' should be locked away - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Posted: 16 Oct 2009 01:23 AM PDT

Some movies are just bad; others are bad for the people who make them and the innocent bystanders who catch a whiff of them. "Law Abiding Citizen," a vigilante/torture-porn potpourri, is particularly toxic because it's scented with phony importance.

If the home-invasion rape and murder before the opening credits doesn't clue you that you're in movie hell, you'll know it when the scrum of reporters asks Philadelphia prosecutor Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx) why he plea-bargained a lesser sentence for the cutthroat creep who is shaking his hand.

As Rice explains to Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler), the grieving, incredulous survivor of the attack, justice is subject to negotiation.

But Shelton's sword of justice cuts a straight line, and soon the victim is avenging his wife and daughter against everyone involved in the case, including the cutie-pie assistant prosecutor (Leslie Bibb) and the tough-talking mayor (Viola Davis).

It turns out that the family man we're supposed to identify with is not only a savage psychopath but a technical mastermind, a superman with the equipment and time to single-handedly dig a network of tunnels under federal facilities.

Even after he confesses to the revenge killings and is sent to prison, Shelton is able to play games with Rice, who is the last name on the hit list, by negotiating concessions and somehow executing further murders from behind bars. In the pantheon of thrillers, this is "Death Wish 5" masquerading as "Se7en."

The big problem with the movie isn't the violence, or the message about coddling criminals, or the two lead actors, although they've never been worse. It's the utter implausibility, from the initial, drug-crazed invasion to the final, heroic walk-away from an exploding building.

"Law Abiding Citizen" is the kind of corrosive entertainment for which the excuse "It's only a movie" was invented. But in this courtroom, that's no defense.

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National Amusements Provides Details of Underwritten Viacom and CBS ... - PR Inside

Posted: 14 Oct 2009 06:22 PM PDT

2009-10-15 03:24:03 -

National Amusements, Inc. ("NAI") announced today that it agreed to sell, in concurrent underwritten offerings, 26,040,909 shares (plus an additional 2,604,091 shares if the underwriters exercise their overallotment option in full) of CBS class B common stock owned by NAI at a price to the public of $12.00 per share and 19,382,945 shares (plus an additional 1,938,295 shares if the underwriters exercise

their overallotment option in full) of Viacom class B common stock owned by NAI at a price to the public of $28.25 per share. NAI is expected to receive from both offerings aggregate proceeds of approximately $827.8 million (or approximately $910.6 million if the underwriters exercise their overallotment options in full), net of underwriting discounts and commissions.

After giving effect to the offerings (and assuming full exercise of the underwriters' overallotment options), NAI will own 79.07% of the voting shares and 6.05% of the equity of CBS, and 79.87% of the voting shares and 6.89% of the equity of Viacom.

The offering of CBS Class B Common Stock was made under a shelf registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") by CBS and the offering of Viacom Class B Common Stock was made under a shelf registration statement filed with the SEC by Viacom. The offerings are expected to close on October 20, 2009. Citi is the sole book-runner and Citi and J.P.Morgan are joint lead managers.

About National Amusements, Inc.

A world leader in the motion picture exhibition industry, the assets of National Amusements, Inc. include more than 1,500 motion picture screens in the U.S., U.K., Latin America and Russia; a portfolio of real estate assets; a partnership in the online ticketing service, MovieTickets.com; and controlling interests in the common stock of Viacom Inc. and CBS Corporation. Through its exhibition operations, National Amusements delivers a superior entertainment experience in theatres around the world under its Showcase, Multiplex, Cinema de Lux, and KinoStar brands.

Based in Norwood, Massachusetts, National Amusements is a closely held company controlled by Sumner M. Redstone.

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. The offerings are being made by means of a prospectus relating to the shares of CBS Class B Common Stock and a prospectus relating to the shares of Viacom Class B Common Stock, as applicable, and the related preliminary prospectus supplements only. Copies of the prospectuses and prospectus supplements for these offerings may be obtained from Citi at Brooklyn Army Terminal, 140 58th Street, 8th Floor, Brooklyn, New York 11220 (1-800-831-9146). These documents can also be obtained for free from the SEC website at www.sec.gov : .