Director Roman Polanski arrested

After avoiding the sex charges and fleeing the United States in 1978, Director Roman Polanski was finally arrested during his entry in Switzerland to attend the Zurich Film Festival.

Polanski pleaded guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977 but then fled the United States before he could be sentenced.

According to Apnews, "The Swiss statement said Polanski was in "provisional detention for extradition," but added he would not be transferred to U.S. authorities until all proceedings are completed. Polanski can contest his detention and any extradition decision in the Swiss courts, it said."

Zurich Film Festival is set to honor Polanski for lifetime achievement award.

[Photo courtesy by by Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images]

Drew Barrymore and Ellen Page's "Whip It!" - first trailer

Checkout the first trailer of upcoming comedy film "Whip It!" starring Ellen Page, Drew Barrymore and Marcia Gay Harden. It is also Drew Barrymore's directorial debut.

Based on Shauna Cross'novel Derby Girl, the story follows a misfit girl named Bliss (Ellen Page) who is living in Bodeen, Texas constantly being pressured to enter beauty pageants by her beauty-pageant-obsessed mother, so she joins a roller derby league instead.

Drew recently said on her debut as a director, “Everything I’ve learned throughout my whole life has been going into this piggy bank, and I just smashed it all over the floor for this one.”

Other cast includes Kristen Wiig, Juliette Lewis, Zoë Bell and Eve Jeffers.

Ready to hit the theaters October 9, 2009.

Brillante Mendoza’s “Kinatay” in Competition at Cannes 2009 film festival

Brillante "Dante" Mendoza once again gave Filipino films recognition for his movie "Kinatay (the Execution of P)", it will be competing at 62nd Cannes Film Festival for prestigious Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) competition.

Mendoza's last year entry “Serbis” is one of the finalists competing for the prestigious Palme d’Or. Only the second time after 24 years that a Filipino director and his film is included for competition in the said Film festival. Activist and director Lino Brocka done it in 1984 for his movie "Orapronobis" .

This new entry "Kinatay" is based on victims whose body parts have been chopped off and mutilated by killers.

Mendoza will be competing with the biggest heavyweight like Quentin Tarantino, Ang Lee, Pedro Almodovar, Lars von Trier, Jane Campion, Michael Haneke, Johnnie To and Park Chan-wook.

The 62nd Cannes Film Festival will start on May 13 until May 24, 2009 at at Cannes, France. A total of 52 films are featured in four categories: Competition, Un Certain Regard, Out of Competition, and Special Screenings.

COMPETITION:
"Bright Star," Australia-U.K.-France, Jane Campion
"Spring Fever," China-France, Lou Ye
"Antichrist," Denmark-Sweden-France-Italy, Lars von Trier
"Enter the Void," France, Gaspar Noe
"Face," France-Taiwan-Netherlands-Belgium, Tsai Ming-liang
"Les Herbes folles," France-Italy, Alain Resnais
"In the Beginning," France, Xavier Giannoli
"A Prophet," France, Jacques Audiard
"The White Ribbon," Germany-Austria-France, Michael Haneke
"Vengeance," Hong Kong-France-U.S., Johnnie To
"The Time That Remains," Israel-France-Belgium-Italy, Elia Suleiman
"Vincere," Italy-France, Marco Bellocchio
"Kinatay," Philippines, Brillante Mendoza
"Thirst," South Korea-U.S., Park Chan-wook
"Broken Embraces," Spain, Pedro Almodovar
"Map of the Sounds of Tokyo," Spain, Isabel Coixet
"Fish Tank," U.K.-Netherlands, Andrea Arnold
"Looking for Eric," U.K.-France-Belgium-Italy, Ken Loach
"Inglourious Basterds," U.S., Quentin Tarantino
"Taking Woodstock," U.S., Ang Lee

Two more Filipino films were selected for special screening: “Independecia” by Raya Martin and “Manila” by Adolfo Alix, Jr. and Raya Martin.

Four poster for Frank Miller’s “The Spirit”

Checkout the four poster for Frank Miller’s upcoming live-action movie version of Will Eisner's “The Spirit”.

Plot : Down these mean streets a man must come. A hero born, murdered, and born again. When a Rookie cop named Denny Colt returns from the beyond as The Spirit, a hero whose mission is to fight against the bad forces from the shadows of Central City. The Octopus who kills anyone unfortunate enough to see his face who has other plans. He’s going to wipe out the entire city. The Spirit tracks this cold hearted killer from the city’s rundown warehouses, to the damp catacombs, to the windswept waterfront all the while facing a bevy of beautiful women who either want to seduce, love or kill the masked crusader.

The upcoming film will be release on Christmas has tagline of “My city screams. She is my lover. And I am her spirit.”

The cast includes Gabriel Macht (the Spirit), Samuel L. Jackson (Octopus), Scarlett Johansson (Silken Floss), Eva Mendes (Sand Saref) and Jaime King (Lorelei Rox).

Michael Bay to the rescue: "Shia LeBeouf wasn’t drunk"

To the rescue for Shia LeBeouf’s defense on his recent accident is the Autobot leader. It is not Optimus Prime but his director Michael Bay.

In a new interview with Access Hollywood’s, "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” director said that Shia LeBeouf is indeed drinking before the collision accident but he is wasn’t drunk.

“You’re gonna see — that’s gonna go away,” Bay said. “That’s fresh news… He was not drunk. He was drinking hours and hours before.”

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Yam Laranas' "The Echo" remake Teaser Poster

This is a exclusive teaser poster of Yam Laranas' "The Echo" (remake). Many Asian horror movies are being remake by Hollywood and adding to the wave is the good works of Filipino director Yam Laranas.

Starring in this movie are Jesse Bradford, Amelia Warner, Iza Calzado, Louise Linton, Carlos Leon and Kevin Durand.

I got this teaser poster from bloody-disgusting.

The story is about a young ex-con who moves into an old apartment building, only to learn his neighbor is an abusive police officer who savagely beats his wife and daughter. When the ex-con tries to intervene, he becomes trapped in a curse.

Dante Mendoza's "Serbis" will compete in Cannes and the list of movies in this year's film festival.

Another achievement in Philippine movies, Filipino director Brillante "Dante" Mendoza latest movie "Serbis" will compete in the prestigious Cannes International Film Festival 2008 in France.

This is only the second time after 24 years that a Filipino director and his film is included for competition in the said Film festival. The year 1984 is last time when the same achievement occur and it was the late National Artist, activist and director Lino Brocka for his movie "Orapronobis" .

"Serbis" chronicles the struggles of a rural family that decides to run a prostitute service based in a fake theater.

The film stars veteran, multi-awarded actress Gina Pareño and talented newcomer Coco Martin.

Brillante “Dante” Mendoza is also the man behind the award winning indie movies like “Masahista” and “Foster Child”.

Here are the 19 films competing for the prestigious Palme d'Or award on May 14 to 25, 2008.

"Uc Maymun" (The Three Monkeys) by Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Turkey)

"Le Silence De Lorna" (The Silence of Lorna) by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (Belgium)

"Un Conte de Noel" (A Christmas Tale) by Arnaud Desplechin (France)

"Changeling" by Clint Eastwood (United States)

"Adoration" by Atom Egoyan (Canada)

"Waltz With Bashir" by Ari Folman (Israel)

"La Frontiere De l'Aube" (The Frontier Of Dawn) by Philippe Garrel (France)

"Gomorra" by Matteo Garrone (Italy)

"24 City" by Jia Zhangke (China)

"Synecdoche, New York" by Charlie Kaufman (United States)

"My Magic" by Eric Khoo (Singapore)

"La Mujer Sin Cabeza" (Woman Without A Head) by Lucrecia Martel (Argentina)

"Serbis" by Brillante Mendoza (Philippines)

"Delta" by Kornel Mundruczo (Hungary)

"Linha de Passe" (Line of Passage) by Walter Salles, Daniela Thomas (Brazil)

"Che" by Steven Soderbergh (United States)

"Il Divo" by Paolo Sorrentino (Italy)

"Leonera" by Pablo Trapero (Argentina)

"The Palermo Shooting" by Wim Wenders (Germany)

Out of competition:

"Vicky Cristina Barcelona" by Woody Allen (United States)

"The Good, The Bad, The Weird" by Kim Jee-Woon (South Korea)

"Kung Fu Panda" by Mark Osborne, John Stevenson (United States)

"Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" by Steven Spielberg (United States)


More info and list, check this link...Festival 2008

Upcoming Carlo J. Caparas works in GMA Network and ABS-CBN

Carlo J. Caparas movies serialized as teleserye or fantaserye are hitting like waves. Being tagged as the Komiks King, his creations are being grabbed by two giant stations: ABS-CBN and GMA Network.

Successfully, Carlo's work that made into TV are topping the ratings competition.

Reportedly, Below are some of the list of upcoming Carlo J. Caparas movies that will be feature/remade in GMA Network and ABS-CBN.

GMA Network
Andres de Saya (a hit series starring Vic Vargas and Gloria Diaz)
Angela Markado (starring Hilda Koronel, directed by Lino Brocka)
Totoy Bato (starring FPJ)
Ermitanyo (starring Dante Varona)

ABS-CBN
Tuklaw (starring Richard Gomez)
Pieta (starring Ace Vergel)
Anak ng Lupa (starring Bong Revilla)
Alias Paniki (starring Ramon Revilla)
Kahit Ako’y Lupa )starring Rudy Fernandez)
Lumuhod Ka sa Lupa (starring Rudy Fernandez)

I'm interested on how they will remake the movie "Pieta". The original cast of this movie are great actors and actresses like Charito Solis, Ace Vergel, Vivian Velez and many more...

MAD Magazine presents Indiana Jones

MAD Magazine presents Indiana Jones on their upcoming issue (#490). Check The Top Secret "Indiana Jones' Memo" from George Lucas to Steven Spielberg”.

Look at the Spielberg illustration, it is nice to see some of his works and movies that he produced like Close Encounters, E.T, Gremlins, Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan and the Hook on the Oscars statue.

Read George memo to Steven below:


photo courtesy of /film

Stephen Chow's CJ7 new posters and movie trailer

Box office star director Stephen Chow with his upcoming scifi comedy CJ7 releases their latest movie poster.

PLOT :
Chow plays a man who lives in a partly demolished house. He takes in a homeless boy (who is actually played by a girl, Xu Jiao). Whether the semi-demolished house and the homeless boy are on Earth, or on the alien planet is not clear. As Chow’s character can’t afford to buy a toy for the child, he finds a makeshift toy in the garbage and brings it back to his “son”. The “toy” is actually a powerful alien device and the aliens are desperate to get it back. Some rumors state that it is a “pet” rather than a “toy”.

Stephen Chow confessed that the new film shows his long-time respect for US director Steven Spielberg. That's why the plot of "CJ7" echoes works of his such as "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (1977) and "E.T" (1982).

more pics after the jump....

Dragon Ball Z in Live action film

Dragon Ball Z, created by Akiry Toriyama, is one of Japan's most popular and successful cartoons of all time.
Actor/Director Stephen Chow of the hit movie Kung Fu Hustle will help Hollywood studio Twentieth Century Fox produce a movie based on the popular Japanese anime series Dragon Ball Z. They pick Chinese-American director James Wong to direct the movie.

Justin Chatwin from War of the Worlds movie will portray the lead character Son Goku. James Marsters will play the villain Piccolo in the movie.

Theirs a rumor that the role of Goku's girlfriend will be given to Zhang Yuqi.

Fox first acquired the live-action film rights to Dragon Ball in 2002.

The Mummy 3 Starts Shooting in Beijing

A great cast for the new installment of "The Mummy 3". This was share on Director Rob Cohen blog.

"The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor," starring Brendan Fraser, Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh, Maria Bello, Luke Ford and a crew of thousands.

On his blog he stated "I have 2000 people (200 Americans, French Canadians, and Brits, 100 from Hong Kong, 1700 from Mainland China)working on the film now with 1500 here with me and 500 technicians in Shanghai."

The story moves to the year 1946. When Rick (Brendan Fraser) and Evelyn (Maria Bello) are retired to Oxfordshire, England, having been spies for the British during World War II. They are bored silly and welcome the offer of "one last mission" from the Foreign Office. Their assignment: courier a precious artifact back to the museum in Shanghai, China from which it was stolen.

We must watch out for this movie.

source: Rob Cohen Blog

Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has rejected "Lust, Caution"

Ang Lee's spy film "Lust, Caution" has been pulled out from the Oscar's Best Foreign Film nomination by Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (AMPAS).

AMPAS executive Bruce Davis said "Lust, Caution," was reviewed which the committee decided there wasn't enough Taiwanese participation on the film. Only part of its investment was from Taiwan. Also, most of the film's collaborators are not from Taiwan.

This is a big blow to the national pride of Taiwan. "Lust,Caution" has a good chance of winning an Oscar.

''Lust, Caution,'' about the sexually charged relationship between an undercover activist and the Japanese-allied intelligence chief in World War II-era Shanghai.

Taiwan has replaced "Lust, Caution" with director Chen Huai-en's "Island Etude".

Ang Lee won best director Oscar for the gay romance "Brokeback Mountain" last year and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" won best foreign film for Taiwan in 2001.

FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA Appeals to Burglars

Burglars raided Francis Ford Coppola's home and stolen his laptop.
The laptop contained the script for his new film Tetro, starring MATT DAMON and some writings.

Coppola appealed to the criminals to return his laptop and said "Computer contains 15 years of work."
“If I could get the back-up back, it would save me years all the photographs of my family, all my writing.”

The Godfather director offered a reward for the back-up's safe return.

Quentin Tarantino Hitches Rides

After a pedicab experience in the Philippines due to heavy rains and flooding going to Malacañang Palace. Here comes Hollywood filmmaker Quentin Tarantino lost his way home and had to hitch a lift on a skip lorry to reach his hotel.
He was enjoying a charity bash in honour of his new movie "Death Proof".

He said: "Man, I had so much fun when I hitched a ride with this cool trucker dude. "They were chanting my name so I gave them a wave and we started talking. I told them I was waiting for my driver to come find me and the trucker said he would give me a lift. Liverpool people are really friendly. I just jumped in."

Report said the director reportedly spent more than 1,000 pounds on alcohol at the party.

Top 10 Greatest Directors

The poll conducted by British magazine Total Film. Filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock has landed the top slot in a poll, being named as the greatest directors of all time. Beating The Departed director Martin Scorsese, who came second, followed by three time Oscar winner director Steven Spielberg. Scarface director Howard Hawks bagged the fourth place, while Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola landed the fifth position. Filmmaker Orson Welles came sixth and Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman strong at seventh. The eighth slot went to Killer’s Kiss director Stanley Kubrick while The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson and Fight Club director David Fincher got the ninth and the tenth position respectively.

The top ten greatest directors ever are:
1. Alfred Hitchcock
2. Martin Scorsese
3. Steven Spielberg
4. Howard Hawks
5. Francis Ford Coppola
6. Orson Welles
7. Ingmar Bergman
8. Stanley Kubrick
9. Peter Jackson
10. David Fincher
Source : British magazine Total Film