“NE Minnesota among possible movie locales - KARE” plus 4 more

NE Minnesota among possible movie locales - KARE
Jackie Chan, Andy Lau to star in new Shaolin movie - MyNorthwest.com
"Amelia" never turns off autopilot - Battle Creek Enquirer
Nicole Kidman: Hollywood Contributes to Violence Against Women - NBC Bay Area
Ship Captain Taken Hostage May Quit Sea - AOL

NE Minnesota among possible movie locales - KARE

Posted: 21 Oct 2009 10:57 AM PDT

VIRGINIA, Minn. -- Film crews could once again be on the Iron Range.

The Upper Minnesota Film Office is working to convince a production company to film the movie "The Convincer" in northeastern Minnesota.

The Minnesota-based company Werc Werk Works is considering four locations in the state, including Duluth and the Iron Range for the movie which centers on Midwestern con-artists and insurance agents.

Movie producers were last on the Iron Range for the 2004 movie "North Country" starring Woody Harrelson and Charlize Theron. Restaurant and bar owner Tom Martinich says the movie packed hotels and other establishments during filming.

A decision is expected by the end of the year.

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Jackie Chan, Andy Lau to star in new Shaolin movie - MyNorthwest.com

Posted: 22 Oct 2009 01:02 AM PDT

By MIN LEE
AP Entertainment Writer

HONG KONG (AP) - The king of kung fu cinema is set to star in a new movie about China's famed shrine of martial arts, the Shaolin Temple.

Jackie Chan will star in the $29 million production, "Shaolin," the latest screen portrayal of the 1,500-year old temple in central China whose famous fighting monks have featured in films by stars such as Bruce Lee and Jet Li, and in the 1970s TV series "Kung Fu" with David Carradine.

Chan's Chinese-language film will co-star veteran Hong Kong actor Andy Lau, actor-singer Nicholas Tse and Chinese actress Fan Bingbing.

The production, said to boast 1,000 real fighting monks and a grand scene in which the temple burns down, will start shooting later this year for release in late 2010. It was announced in a joint statement Thursday by four Chinese film studios: the state-run China Film Group Corp., Emperor Motion Pictures, Huayi Brothers Media Corp. and Beijing Silver Moon Productions Ltd.

Hong Kong filmmaker Benny Chan, who worked with Chan on "New Police Story" and "Rob-B-Hood," will direct and Cory Yuen will serve as action co-ordinator. Yuen's credits include "Lethal Weapon 4" and "X-Men."

"Shaolin" will be an updated version of a 1982 movie, "The Shaolin Temple," in which former Chinese kung fu champion Li made his screen debut, playing a boy adopted and trained by Shaolin monks who seeks to avenge the death of his father.

The new project could draw more heat for Shaolin Temple abbot Shi Yongxin, who has been accused of high living and seeking publicity for the famed shrine in the Songshan Mountains of central Henan province. He has also faced criticism for upgrading facilities at the once-austere temple.

Shi has agressively promoted the Shaolin brand, and has threatened to sue companies that use the temple's name or image without permission, but the abbot is clearly on board for Chan's project.

"It's worth cheering that we are now working with the most outstanding production team," Shi was quoted as saying in the statement Thursday.

Chan has most recently been shooting a remake of "The Karate Kid" in China with Will Smith's son, Jaden.

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"Amelia" never turns off autopilot - Battle Creek Enquirer

Posted: 22 Oct 2009 01:38 AM PDT

(PG) Considering the risks Amelia Earhart took, losing her life in the call of aviation, Hilary Swank and director Mira Nair don't put much on the line in their film biography "Amelia."

"Amelia" is a biopic on autopilot. We get the facts of Earhart's pioneering achievements, her marriage to her promoter (Richard Gere), her fling with a fellow pilot (Ewan McGregor). And we get pretty pictures of airplanes in flight.

But this dowdy movie rarely embodies Earhart's passions, whether for flying or for the men in her life. Swank's Earhart repeatedly tells people how she has to fly or die. Yet when she's in the air, she's as stiff and closed-off as a passenger stuck in a middle coach seat on a trans-Atlantic flight.

Much of the fault lies in the screenplay by Ron Bass and Anna Hamilton Phelan, a script remarkably based on not one, but two Earhart biographies. That should have given the filmmakers a surfeit of material.

Instead, "Amelia" plays like a Cliffs Notes summation of Earhart's life, the dialogue ranging from languid to soporific, the majesty of her moments in flight trivialized by empty voice-overs from Swank -- "Flying lets me move in three dimensions," ''Who wants a life imprisoned in safety?"

In stumbling, choppy fashion, the movie intercuts between Earhart's doomed last flight around the world in 1937 and the achievements leading up to it over the previous decade -- her Atlantic and Pacific crossings, her mentoring of female flyers, her efforts to establish regional passenger shuttle service.

Lovely aerial images, lush landscapes and rich sets and costumes are the film's lone strengths. In almost every other regard, "Amelia" veers off course.

All the other components for an engaging chronicle are there. A grand life that ends in tragedy and epic mystery. Period drama that offers the chance to craft glorious images and play puppetmaster for fascinating characters. A filmmaker in Nair ("Monsoon Wedding," ''Mississippi Masala") who has a keen feel for bold women and zestful lives.

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Nicole Kidman: Hollywood Contributes to Violence Against Women - NBC Bay Area

Posted: 21 Oct 2009 11:58 PM PDT

Ms. Kidman goes to Washington

By DANIEL MACHT

Updated 12:00 AM PDT, Thu, Oct 22, 2009

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Nicole Kidman said she avoids acting roles that portray women as "weak sex objects" but told Congress Wednesday that Hollywood "probably" has contributed to violence against women.

In testimony before the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee, the Oscar-winning actress, model and goodwill ambassador for the U.N. conceded that the film industry has played a "bad role" through its portrayal of women, The Associated Press reported.

She quickly added that the industry was making an effort contribute solutions for ending violence.

"I can't be responsible for all of Hollywood but I can certainly be responsible for my own career," Kidman said.

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The Australian star of such films as "The Hours" and "Moulin Rouge!" also advocated for legislation to fight violence against women overseas through grants and humanitarian relief efforts.

"We need the money," she said.