COLOGNE, Germany -- Now that Germany's mega fraud case against Andreas Schmid, founder and ex-CEO of film investment fund VIP, has come to an end with a six-year prison sentence for Schmid for tax evasion, the real fun begins.
The 10,000-plus high-income investors that poured money into VIP have civil cases pending against Schmid and the banks -- Commerzbank, HypoVereinsbank and Dresdner Bank -- that marketed VIP funds. This week's ruling, which also saw Schmid's former partner, Andreas Grosch, handed a two-year suspended sentence, will add fuel to their fire.
Schmid was found guilty of massive tax evasion in connection with VIP, which raised more than $900 million to back productions ranging from comic book adaptation "The Punisher" and Oscar winner "Monster" to the Bruce Willis-Josh Hartnett thriller "Lucky Number Slevin".
VIP's backers assumed they could write off their investment. At the time, German tax authorities allowed investors to defer taxes on money invested directly in film production.
But instead of investing the $900 million in films, Schmid played an elaborate shell game.
The 10,000-plus high-income investors that poured money into VIP have civil cases pending against Schmid and the banks -- Commerzbank, HypoVereinsbank and Dresdner Bank -- that marketed VIP funds. This week's ruling, which also saw Schmid's former partner, Andreas Grosch, handed a two-year suspended sentence, will add fuel to their fire.
Schmid was found guilty of massive tax evasion in connection with VIP, which raised more than $900 million to back productions ranging from comic book adaptation "The Punisher" and Oscar winner "Monster" to the Bruce Willis-Josh Hartnett thriller "Lucky Number Slevin".
VIP's backers assumed they could write off their investment. At the time, German tax authorities allowed investors to defer taxes on money invested directly in film production.
But instead of investing the $900 million in films, Schmid played an elaborate shell game.
- 11/16/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
COLOGNE, Germany -- Andreas Schmid, former head of German film fund VIP, was found guilty of multiple counts of tax evasion and sentenced to six years in prison Tuesday.
His business partner Andreas Grosch also was found guilty and handed a two-year suspended sentence.
Schmid was released on 4 million euro ($5.8 million) bail pending his appeal. He has already served more than two years in jail, having been arrested in late 2005.
It was the end of a marathon trial against the founders of VIP, the Munich-based group that emerged from nowhere in 2001 and quickly became the largest of Germany's often legally dubious film financing funds.
VIP rose to the top thanks to Schmid's aggressive salesmanship and a fund structure that seemed to provide backers with a near risk-free investment supported by a government-approved tax break.
In a few short years, VIP bankrolled productions worth nearly $1 billion. Films as varied as "Lucky Number Slevin", "All the Kings Men", "The Upside of Anger", "The Punisher" and "Death at a Funeral", all benefited from VIP financing.
His business partner Andreas Grosch also was found guilty and handed a two-year suspended sentence.
Schmid was released on 4 million euro ($5.8 million) bail pending his appeal. He has already served more than two years in jail, having been arrested in late 2005.
It was the end of a marathon trial against the founders of VIP, the Munich-based group that emerged from nowhere in 2001 and quickly became the largest of Germany's often legally dubious film financing funds.
VIP rose to the top thanks to Schmid's aggressive salesmanship and a fund structure that seemed to provide backers with a near risk-free investment supported by a government-approved tax break.
In a few short years, VIP bankrolled productions worth nearly $1 billion. Films as varied as "Lucky Number Slevin", "All the Kings Men", "The Upside of Anger", "The Punisher" and "Death at a Funeral", all benefited from VIP financing.
- 11/14/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
COLOGNE, Germany -- Dirk Specht has resigned as head of Germany's VIP film fund and will be replaced by Peter H. Riedel, VIP said Wednesday.
Riedel is a relative unknown in the German film business, having held a number of executive positions with German Internet, multimedia and tourism companies.
The news comes just days after Specht and VIP set up a deal with London financier Brass Hat Films to co-invest in movies, and as a criminal fraud case heats up in Germany against VIP founders Andreas Schmidt and Andreas Grosch.
The German and U.K. companies said they will have $190 million to invest in productions. Much of that would come from VIP's funds, since investors -- despite the fraud allegations -- cannot withdraw their cash until 2014.
On Wednesday, lawyers for Grosch also confirmed reports that the former VIP boss will appear to testify in Munich district court on Oct. 4. They declined comment on what his testimony will contain.
Riedel is a relative unknown in the German film business, having held a number of executive positions with German Internet, multimedia and tourism companies.
The news comes just days after Specht and VIP set up a deal with London financier Brass Hat Films to co-invest in movies, and as a criminal fraud case heats up in Germany against VIP founders Andreas Schmidt and Andreas Grosch.
The German and U.K. companies said they will have $190 million to invest in productions. Much of that would come from VIP's funds, since investors -- despite the fraud allegations -- cannot withdraw their cash until 2014.
On Wednesday, lawyers for Grosch also confirmed reports that the former VIP boss will appear to testify in Munich district court on Oct. 4. They declined comment on what his testimony will contain.
- 9/27/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
This review was written for the theatrical release of "Death at a Funeral".At its best, British farce should seem effortless. In "Death at a Funeral", the effort shows. Subplots are contrived and relationships pat. Yet this topsy-turvy funeral produces a number of smiles, giggles, pleasant guffaws and several solid, sustained laughs. Not a bad batting average as comedies go.
Director Frank Oz always has been adept at building a comedy when he has the right script, and young Dean Craig has given him, in his first produced screenplay, a loony dark comedy that jibes well with Oz's comic sensibility.
Other than Peter Dinklage, the mostly British cast is unfamiliar to most American moviegoers, which might hamper boxoffice a tad. But the spirited effort should pick up steam in North American cinemas as reviews and word-of-mouth slowly build an over-25 audience who appreciates comic jabs at British decorum, upper-class manners and thoroughly embarrassing situations.
The film tips its comic hand right away when a funeral home delivers the wrong body to the household of the dearly departed. No, things will not go well at the final rites for the paterfamilias of a large and somewhat divided British family. From that point on, Oz and Craig tiptoe through a minefield of taboos and traditions that do not so much mock the dead as the foibles and follies of the living.
Daniel (Matthew Macfadyen), son of the deceased, still lives in his parents' comfortable country home with his wife, Jane (Keeley Hawes), who chafes under the not-always-subtle thumb of her mother-in-law, Sandra (screen veteran Jane Asher). She desperately wants to move out. Now.
Daniel, who has been writing and rewriting the same novel for several years, suffers in the shadow of brother Robert (Rupert Graves), a wildly successful novelist who has flown in from his New York penthouse for the funeral.
First cousin Martha (Daisy Donovan) is bringing her fiance, Simon (Alan Tudyk, actually an American), who is anxious to make a good impression on her disapproving doctor father, Victor (Peter Egan). But Martha's brother Troy (Kris Marshall), a Chemistry Student with a penchant for making designer drugs, has created a powerful hallucinogen that Martha -- believing the pill to be Valium -- gives to the nervous Simon. By the time he reaches the funeral, he is blissed out and prone to shedding clothes.
Daniel's mate Howard (Andy Nyman), an uptight hypochondriac with an obsession over physical ailments, arrives with two fairly unwelcome guests: His friend Justin (Ewen Bremner), who is equally obsessed with Martha, with whom he had a one-night fling, and Uncle Alfie (Peter Vaughan), a cantankerous antique who has lost all sense of social decorum.
But who is that strange little fellow Peter Dinklage) who shows up with a peculiar expression on his face and a secret that could tear the already estranged family apart?
Revelations and physical comedy arrive on an escalating schedule that reserves its more outrageous developments for the third act. The film at times does feel a bit airless, like a play caught on film, even though Oz moves the scenes of the many crimes and misdemeanors in and around the spacious house and its well-manicured gardens. One gag in particular might test the patience of those unamused by potty humor.
While there is no standout performance -- meaning that everyone has splendidly performed his character's faults to the comic hilt -- one most enjoys Macfadyen for bringing subtle drama and melancholy to the comic center of the tale and Tudyk for his bravery in performing in a state of delirium and quite often in the nude for so much of the movie.
Oz benefits from a solid crew of British craftsmen, who afford him sharp, well-composed cinematography (Oliver Curtis), a rich yet homey setting (Michael Howells) and stylish costumes (Natalie Ward).
DEATH AT A FUNERAL
MGM
MGM and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment present a Parabolic Pictures/Stable Way Entertainment production
Credits:
Director: Frank Oz
Screenwriter: Dean Craig
Producers: Diana Phillips, Share Stallings, Laurence Malkin, Sidney Kimmel
Executive producers: William Horberg, Bruce Toll, Andreas Grosch, Philip Elway
Director of photography: Oliver Curtis
Production designer: Michael Howells
Music: Murray Gold
Co-producers: Josh Kesselman, Alex Lewis
Costume designer: Natalie Ward
Editor: Beverly Mills
Cast:
Daniel: Matthew Macfadyen
Jane: Keeley Hawes
Howard: Andy Nyman
Justin: Ewen Bremner
Martha: Daisy Donovan
Simon: Alan Tudyk
Robert: Rupert Graves
Peter: Peter Dinklage
Sandra: Jane Asher
Victor: Peter Egan
Running time -- 90 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Director Frank Oz always has been adept at building a comedy when he has the right script, and young Dean Craig has given him, in his first produced screenplay, a loony dark comedy that jibes well with Oz's comic sensibility.
Other than Peter Dinklage, the mostly British cast is unfamiliar to most American moviegoers, which might hamper boxoffice a tad. But the spirited effort should pick up steam in North American cinemas as reviews and word-of-mouth slowly build an over-25 audience who appreciates comic jabs at British decorum, upper-class manners and thoroughly embarrassing situations.
The film tips its comic hand right away when a funeral home delivers the wrong body to the household of the dearly departed. No, things will not go well at the final rites for the paterfamilias of a large and somewhat divided British family. From that point on, Oz and Craig tiptoe through a minefield of taboos and traditions that do not so much mock the dead as the foibles and follies of the living.
Daniel (Matthew Macfadyen), son of the deceased, still lives in his parents' comfortable country home with his wife, Jane (Keeley Hawes), who chafes under the not-always-subtle thumb of her mother-in-law, Sandra (screen veteran Jane Asher). She desperately wants to move out. Now.
Daniel, who has been writing and rewriting the same novel for several years, suffers in the shadow of brother Robert (Rupert Graves), a wildly successful novelist who has flown in from his New York penthouse for the funeral.
First cousin Martha (Daisy Donovan) is bringing her fiance, Simon (Alan Tudyk, actually an American), who is anxious to make a good impression on her disapproving doctor father, Victor (Peter Egan). But Martha's brother Troy (Kris Marshall), a Chemistry Student with a penchant for making designer drugs, has created a powerful hallucinogen that Martha -- believing the pill to be Valium -- gives to the nervous Simon. By the time he reaches the funeral, he is blissed out and prone to shedding clothes.
Daniel's mate Howard (Andy Nyman), an uptight hypochondriac with an obsession over physical ailments, arrives with two fairly unwelcome guests: His friend Justin (Ewen Bremner), who is equally obsessed with Martha, with whom he had a one-night fling, and Uncle Alfie (Peter Vaughan), a cantankerous antique who has lost all sense of social decorum.
But who is that strange little fellow Peter Dinklage) who shows up with a peculiar expression on his face and a secret that could tear the already estranged family apart?
Revelations and physical comedy arrive on an escalating schedule that reserves its more outrageous developments for the third act. The film at times does feel a bit airless, like a play caught on film, even though Oz moves the scenes of the many crimes and misdemeanors in and around the spacious house and its well-manicured gardens. One gag in particular might test the patience of those unamused by potty humor.
While there is no standout performance -- meaning that everyone has splendidly performed his character's faults to the comic hilt -- one most enjoys Macfadyen for bringing subtle drama and melancholy to the comic center of the tale and Tudyk for his bravery in performing in a state of delirium and quite often in the nude for so much of the movie.
Oz benefits from a solid crew of British craftsmen, who afford him sharp, well-composed cinematography (Oliver Curtis), a rich yet homey setting (Michael Howells) and stylish costumes (Natalie Ward).
DEATH AT A FUNERAL
MGM
MGM and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment present a Parabolic Pictures/Stable Way Entertainment production
Credits:
Director: Frank Oz
Screenwriter: Dean Craig
Producers: Diana Phillips, Share Stallings, Laurence Malkin, Sidney Kimmel
Executive producers: William Horberg, Bruce Toll, Andreas Grosch, Philip Elway
Director of photography: Oliver Curtis
Production designer: Michael Howells
Music: Murray Gold
Co-producers: Josh Kesselman, Alex Lewis
Costume designer: Natalie Ward
Editor: Beverly Mills
Cast:
Daniel: Matthew Macfadyen
Jane: Keeley Hawes
Howard: Andy Nyman
Justin: Ewen Bremner
Martha: Daisy Donovan
Simon: Alan Tudyk
Robert: Rupert Graves
Peter: Peter Dinklage
Sandra: Jane Asher
Victor: Peter Egan
Running time -- 90 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 6/11/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
At its best, British farce should seem effortless. In Death at a Funeral, the effort shows. Subplots are contrived and relationships pat. Yet this topsy-turvy funeral produces a number of smiles, giggles, pleasant guffaws and several solid, sustained laughs. Not a bad batting average as comedies go.
Director Frank Oz always has been adept at building a comedy when he has the right script, and young Dean Craig has given him, in his first produced screenplay, a loony dark comedy that jibes well with Oz's comic sensibility.
Other than Peter Dinklage, the mostly British cast is unfamiliar to most American moviegoers, which might hamper boxoffice a tad. But the spirited effort should pick up steam in North American cinemas as reviews and word-of-mouth slowly build an over-25 audience who appreciates comic jabs at British decorum, upper-class manners and thoroughly embarrassing situations.
The film tips its comic hand right away when a funeral home delivers the wrong body to the household of the dearly departed. No, things will not go well at the final rites for the paterfamilias of a large and somewhat divided British family. From that point on, Oz and Craig tiptoe through a minefield of taboos and traditions that do not so much mock the dead as the foibles and follies of the living.
Daniel (Matthew Macfadyen), son of the deceased, still lives in his parents' comfortable country home with his wife, Jane (Keeley Hawes), who chafes under the not-always-subtle thumb of her mother-in-law, Sandra (screen veteran Jane Asher). She desperately wants to move out. Now.
Daniel, who has been writing and rewriting the same novel for several years, suffers in the shadow of brother Robert (Rupert Graves), a wildly successful novelist who has flown in from his New York penthouse for the funeral.
First cousin Martha (Daisy Donovan) is bringing her fiance, Simon (Alan Tudyk, actually an American), who is anxious to make a good impression on her disapproving doctor father, Victor (Peter Egan). But Martha's brother Troy (Kris Marshall), a Chemistry Student with a penchant for making designer drugs, has created a powerful hallucinogen that Martha -- believing the pill to be Valium -- gives to the nervous Simon. By the time he reaches the funeral, he is blissed out and prone to shedding clothes.
Daniel's mate Howard (Andy Nyman), an uptight hypochondriac with an obsession over physical ailments, arrives with two fairly unwelcome guests: His friend Justin (Ewen Bremner), who is equally obsessed with Martha, with whom he had a one-night fling, and Uncle Alfie (Peter Vaughan), a cantankerous antique who has lost all sense of social decorum.
But who is that strange little fellow Peter Dinklage) who shows up with a peculiar expression on his face and a secret that could tear the already estranged family apart?
Revelations and physical comedy arrive on an escalating schedule that reserves its more outrageous developments for the third act. The film at times does feel a bit airless, like a play caught on film, even though Oz moves the scenes of the many crimes and misdemeanors in and around the spacious house and its well-manicured gardens. One gag in particular might test the patience of those unamused by potty humor.
While there is no standout performance -- meaning that everyone has splendidly performed his character's faults to the comic hilt -- one most enjoys Macfadyen for bringing subtle drama and melancholy to the comic center of the tale and Tudyk for his bravery in performing in a state of delirium and quite often in the nude for so much of the movie.
Oz benefits from a solid crew of British craftsmen, who afford him sharp, well-composed cinematography (Oliver Curtis), a rich yet homey setting (Michael Howells) and stylish costumes (Natalie Ward).
DEATH AT A FUNERAL
MGM
MGM and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment present a Parabolic Pictures/Stable Way Entertainment production
Credits:
Director: Frank Oz
Screenwriter: Dean Craig
Producers: Diana Phillips, Share Stallings, Laurence Malkin, Sidney Kimmel
Executive producers: William Horberg, Bruce Toll, Andreas Grosch, Philip Elway
Director of photography: Oliver Curtis
Production designer: Michael Howells
Music: Murray Gold
Co-producers: Josh Kesselman, Alex Lewis
Costume designer: Natalie Ward
Editor: Beverly Mills
Cast:
Daniel: Matthew Macfadyen
Jane: Keeley Hawes
Howard: Andy Nyman
Justin: Ewen Bremner
Martha: Daisy Donovan
Simon: Alan Tudyk
Robert: Rupert Graves
Peter: Peter Dinklage
Sandra: Jane Asher
Victor: Peter Egan
Running time -- 90 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Director Frank Oz always has been adept at building a comedy when he has the right script, and young Dean Craig has given him, in his first produced screenplay, a loony dark comedy that jibes well with Oz's comic sensibility.
Other than Peter Dinklage, the mostly British cast is unfamiliar to most American moviegoers, which might hamper boxoffice a tad. But the spirited effort should pick up steam in North American cinemas as reviews and word-of-mouth slowly build an over-25 audience who appreciates comic jabs at British decorum, upper-class manners and thoroughly embarrassing situations.
The film tips its comic hand right away when a funeral home delivers the wrong body to the household of the dearly departed. No, things will not go well at the final rites for the paterfamilias of a large and somewhat divided British family. From that point on, Oz and Craig tiptoe through a minefield of taboos and traditions that do not so much mock the dead as the foibles and follies of the living.
Daniel (Matthew Macfadyen), son of the deceased, still lives in his parents' comfortable country home with his wife, Jane (Keeley Hawes), who chafes under the not-always-subtle thumb of her mother-in-law, Sandra (screen veteran Jane Asher). She desperately wants to move out. Now.
Daniel, who has been writing and rewriting the same novel for several years, suffers in the shadow of brother Robert (Rupert Graves), a wildly successful novelist who has flown in from his New York penthouse for the funeral.
First cousin Martha (Daisy Donovan) is bringing her fiance, Simon (Alan Tudyk, actually an American), who is anxious to make a good impression on her disapproving doctor father, Victor (Peter Egan). But Martha's brother Troy (Kris Marshall), a Chemistry Student with a penchant for making designer drugs, has created a powerful hallucinogen that Martha -- believing the pill to be Valium -- gives to the nervous Simon. By the time he reaches the funeral, he is blissed out and prone to shedding clothes.
Daniel's mate Howard (Andy Nyman), an uptight hypochondriac with an obsession over physical ailments, arrives with two fairly unwelcome guests: His friend Justin (Ewen Bremner), who is equally obsessed with Martha, with whom he had a one-night fling, and Uncle Alfie (Peter Vaughan), a cantankerous antique who has lost all sense of social decorum.
But who is that strange little fellow Peter Dinklage) who shows up with a peculiar expression on his face and a secret that could tear the already estranged family apart?
Revelations and physical comedy arrive on an escalating schedule that reserves its more outrageous developments for the third act. The film at times does feel a bit airless, like a play caught on film, even though Oz moves the scenes of the many crimes and misdemeanors in and around the spacious house and its well-manicured gardens. One gag in particular might test the patience of those unamused by potty humor.
While there is no standout performance -- meaning that everyone has splendidly performed his character's faults to the comic hilt -- one most enjoys Macfadyen for bringing subtle drama and melancholy to the comic center of the tale and Tudyk for his bravery in performing in a state of delirium and quite often in the nude for so much of the movie.
Oz benefits from a solid crew of British craftsmen, who afford him sharp, well-composed cinematography (Oliver Curtis), a rich yet homey setting (Michael Howells) and stylish costumes (Natalie Ward).
DEATH AT A FUNERAL
MGM
MGM and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment present a Parabolic Pictures/Stable Way Entertainment production
Credits:
Director: Frank Oz
Screenwriter: Dean Craig
Producers: Diana Phillips, Share Stallings, Laurence Malkin, Sidney Kimmel
Executive producers: William Horberg, Bruce Toll, Andreas Grosch, Philip Elway
Director of photography: Oliver Curtis
Production designer: Michael Howells
Music: Murray Gold
Co-producers: Josh Kesselman, Alex Lewis
Costume designer: Natalie Ward
Editor: Beverly Mills
Cast:
Daniel: Matthew Macfadyen
Jane: Keeley Hawes
Howard: Andy Nyman
Justin: Ewen Bremner
Martha: Daisy Donovan
Simon: Alan Tudyk
Robert: Rupert Graves
Peter: Peter Dinklage
Sandra: Jane Asher
Victor: Peter Egan
Running time -- 90 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 6/11/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
VENICE, Italy -- Paul Verhoeven's World War II drama Black Book is an ambitious throwback to the days of rousing all-action wartime pictures in which an intrepid loner risks everything to fight a clearly defined enemy. It succeeds on almost all fronts. The epic film is a high-octane adventure rooted in fact with a raft of arresting characters, big action sequences and twists and turns galore as a group of Dutch resistance fighters combat the Nazis not knowing they have a traitor at their core.
Top-flight production values and a ripping yarn should mean major boxoffice returns anywhere there is a taste for old-fashioned big-screen entertainment.
Set in German-occupied Holland in 1944, the film follows a young woman named Rachel (Carice van Houten) as she attempts to flee the Nazis with her own and other Jewish families. Having purchased their river passage with all they own, they find the escape is a trap as they are intercepted by the Gestapo and mercilessly mown down.
All except Rachel, who finds her way to a group of resistance fighters run by man named Kuipers (Derek de Lint), who operates a soup kitchen as cover for his sabotage operations. Quickly recruited into the group's inner circle led by daredevil Hans (Thom Hoffman), Rachel demonstrates her bravery and resourcefulness in an encounter on a train with an SS officer named Muntze (Sebastian Koch).
Soon, Rachel is ensconced at the local Gestapo headquarters, sleeping with Muntze and working with a local floozy, Ronnie (Halina Reijn), in the office of a brutal officer named Franken (Waldemar Kopus).
Even though the end of the war is barely months away, the danger increases for the resistance group. When she discovers that there has been a plot involving both Nazis and Dutch in faking escape plans for Jewish families who are murdered and robbed, she finds herself with enemies on all sides.
Director Verhoeven, back on home turf after the Hollywood excesses of Starship Troopers and Showgirls, has fashioned an exciting tale with co-scripter Gerard Soeteman, who developed the original story. Production designer Wilbert Van Dorp and cinematographer Karl Walter Lindenlaub have done a great job in creating period detail and capturing fast-moving sequences and intimate moments. Editors Job ter Burg and James Herbert contribute fine work, and Oscar-winning composer Anne Dudley's score complements it all effectively.
Van Houten makes a memorable heroine, a singer as well as a good actress, in what is a very punishing role. Koch and Hoffman do a lot to give their stereotyped roles some originality.
The filmmakers strive hard to root the picture in genuine drama. There are bookends set in Israel that add considerable emotional resonance. While the revelation of the traitor smacks of melodrama, the high adventure is mixed with moments of authentic wartime pathos.
BLACK BOOK
A Fu Works production in association with Egoli Tossell Film, Clockwork Pictures, Studio Babesberg AG, Motion Investment Group, Motel Films and Hector
A VIP Medienfonds 4 production
Credits:
Director: Paul Verhoeven
Screenwriters: Gerard Soeteman, Paul Verhoeven
Producers: San Fu Maltha, Jos van der Linden, Frans van Geste, Jeroen Baker, Teun Hilte, Jens Meurer
Executive producers: Andreas Grosch, Andrea Schmid, Marcus Schofer, Henning Molfenter, Carl Woebcken, Jamie Carmichael, Graham Begg, Sara Giles
Director of photography: Karl Walter Lindenlaub
Production designer: Wilbert van Dorp
Music: Anne Dudley
Editors: Job ter Burg, James Herbert
Cast:
Rachel/Ellis: Carice van Houten
Ludwig Muntze: Sebastian Koch
Hans Akkermans: Thom Hoffman
Ronnie: Halina Reijn
Gunther Franken: Waldemar Kobus
Gerben Kuipers: Derek de Lint
Gen. Kautner: Christian Berkel
Notary Smaal: Dolf de Vries
Van Gein: Peter Blok
Rob: Michiel Huisman
Tim Kuipers: Ronald Armbrust
Kees: Frank Lammers
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 145 minutes...
Top-flight production values and a ripping yarn should mean major boxoffice returns anywhere there is a taste for old-fashioned big-screen entertainment.
Set in German-occupied Holland in 1944, the film follows a young woman named Rachel (Carice van Houten) as she attempts to flee the Nazis with her own and other Jewish families. Having purchased their river passage with all they own, they find the escape is a trap as they are intercepted by the Gestapo and mercilessly mown down.
All except Rachel, who finds her way to a group of resistance fighters run by man named Kuipers (Derek de Lint), who operates a soup kitchen as cover for his sabotage operations. Quickly recruited into the group's inner circle led by daredevil Hans (Thom Hoffman), Rachel demonstrates her bravery and resourcefulness in an encounter on a train with an SS officer named Muntze (Sebastian Koch).
Soon, Rachel is ensconced at the local Gestapo headquarters, sleeping with Muntze and working with a local floozy, Ronnie (Halina Reijn), in the office of a brutal officer named Franken (Waldemar Kopus).
Even though the end of the war is barely months away, the danger increases for the resistance group. When she discovers that there has been a plot involving both Nazis and Dutch in faking escape plans for Jewish families who are murdered and robbed, she finds herself with enemies on all sides.
Director Verhoeven, back on home turf after the Hollywood excesses of Starship Troopers and Showgirls, has fashioned an exciting tale with co-scripter Gerard Soeteman, who developed the original story. Production designer Wilbert Van Dorp and cinematographer Karl Walter Lindenlaub have done a great job in creating period detail and capturing fast-moving sequences and intimate moments. Editors Job ter Burg and James Herbert contribute fine work, and Oscar-winning composer Anne Dudley's score complements it all effectively.
Van Houten makes a memorable heroine, a singer as well as a good actress, in what is a very punishing role. Koch and Hoffman do a lot to give their stereotyped roles some originality.
The filmmakers strive hard to root the picture in genuine drama. There are bookends set in Israel that add considerable emotional resonance. While the revelation of the traitor smacks of melodrama, the high adventure is mixed with moments of authentic wartime pathos.
BLACK BOOK
A Fu Works production in association with Egoli Tossell Film, Clockwork Pictures, Studio Babesberg AG, Motion Investment Group, Motel Films and Hector
A VIP Medienfonds 4 production
Credits:
Director: Paul Verhoeven
Screenwriters: Gerard Soeteman, Paul Verhoeven
Producers: San Fu Maltha, Jos van der Linden, Frans van Geste, Jeroen Baker, Teun Hilte, Jens Meurer
Executive producers: Andreas Grosch, Andrea Schmid, Marcus Schofer, Henning Molfenter, Carl Woebcken, Jamie Carmichael, Graham Begg, Sara Giles
Director of photography: Karl Walter Lindenlaub
Production designer: Wilbert van Dorp
Music: Anne Dudley
Editors: Job ter Burg, James Herbert
Cast:
Rachel/Ellis: Carice van Houten
Ludwig Muntze: Sebastian Koch
Hans Akkermans: Thom Hoffman
Ronnie: Halina Reijn
Gunther Franken: Waldemar Kobus
Gerben Kuipers: Derek de Lint
Gen. Kautner: Christian Berkel
Notary Smaal: Dolf de Vries
Van Gein: Peter Blok
Rob: Michiel Huisman
Tim Kuipers: Ronald Armbrust
Kees: Frank Lammers
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 145 minutes...
BERLIN -- Dirk Specht will take over from the imprisoned Andreas Schmid as co-head of German film fund VIP, the company announced Wednesday. Specht will run operations together with Andreas Grosch, who will focus on film production while Specht oversees financing and controlling at the Munich-based company. Before joining VIP, Specht was managing director of German IT services group Tria AG. VIP was once Germany's largest and richest film investment fund, but it came under attack from local tax authorities last year on suspicion of fraud. Schmid was arrested in October last year and remains in custody. A bail hearing, expected this week, will decide whether Schmid can be released pending a trial or whether he will remain in jail. Before its tax troubles, VIP was one of the most sought-after financers for independent productions. The group backed dozens of productions, including The Punisher, Monster and The Upside of Anger.
- 4/12/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Related to the 1986 Billy Crystal-Gregory Hines buddy cop movie in name only, "Running Scared" marks "The Cooler" director Wayne Kramer's brazen march into Tarantino territory, but the concussive, hyper-violent results would have benefited from a lot less pulp and better fiction.
To be more accurate, there also are hints of Doug Liman and Tony Scott to be found in this hopped-up, bullet-riddled crime thriller, but while certain sequences pack an admitted visceral kick, the prevailing effect is one of utter overkill.
Even though Paul Walker, currently occupying the boxoffice top spot with "Eight Below", commands a loyal fan base and there isn't much in the way of fresh competition arriving this weekend, this New Line release probably won't scare up imposing overall numbers, but it likely will do better in certain overseas markets.
Set in a gritty version of New Jersey (industriously played by Prague), the story follows a very long night in the life of Joey Gazelle (Walker), a bottom-tier player in an Italian mob who finds himself in a whole mess of trouble when he fails to properly dispose of a gun used in the fatal shooting of a corrupt cop during a botched drug deal.
That easily identifiable snub-nosed firearm falls into the hands of his son Nicky's (Alex Neuberger) best friend Oleg (Cameron Bright) -- who uses it to fend off his abusive, John Wayne-obsessed, crystal meth-making Russian stepfather, and Joey finds himself feverishly embarking on a wild gun chase, before his angry mob and a dirty, hot-on-his-heels cop (Chazz Palminteri) get there first.
Along the way, Oleg leads Joey down a tricked-out rabbit hole and through a nocturnal freak show populated by sick yuppie kiddie pornographers, cartoonish pimps and strutting Latina hookers.
By the time this Malice in Wonderland reaches an inevitable crescendo, it's enough to make one want to hurry home and soak in a vat of Purell.
Kramer's well-received debut, "The Cooler", had pockets of explosive violence (not to mention that terrific Alec Baldwin-Bill Macy-Maria Bello ensemble), but they were all the more powerful because that film wasn't all adrenaline all the time.
Here, all the self-conscious fancy footwork and jarringly tinny dialogue constantly do battle with the performances. It's left up to the ever-resilient Vera Farmiga to blow the rest of them away as Walker's take-charge wife who single-handedly disposes of those nasty smut-mongers to crowd-pleasing approval.
Working with his "Cooler" cinematographer James Whitaker and editor Arthur Coburn, Kramer does pull off some swell set pieces, most notably a confession-by-repeated-slapshot-to-the-face sequence staged on a glow-in-the-dark hockey rink that likely would turn Quentin phosphorescent with envy.
Running Scared
New Line Cinema
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Wayne Kramer
Producers: Michael Pierce, Brett Ratner, Sammy Lee
Executive producers: Andrew Pfeffer, Stewart Hall, Andreas Grosch, Andreas Schmid, Matt Luber
Director of photography: James Whitaker
Production designer: Toby Corbett
Editor: Arthur Coburn
Costume designer: Kristin Burke
Music: Mark Isham
Cast:
Joey Gazelle: Paul Walker
Oleg Yugorsky: Cameron Bright
Teresa Gazelle: Vera Famiga
Anzor ?DukeE Yugorsky: Karel Roden
Tommy "Tombs" Perello: Johnny Messner
Mila: Ivana Milcevic
Detective Rydell: Chazz Palminteri
Nicky Gazelle: Alex Neuberger
MPAA rating: R
Running time -- 119 minutes...
To be more accurate, there also are hints of Doug Liman and Tony Scott to be found in this hopped-up, bullet-riddled crime thriller, but while certain sequences pack an admitted visceral kick, the prevailing effect is one of utter overkill.
Even though Paul Walker, currently occupying the boxoffice top spot with "Eight Below", commands a loyal fan base and there isn't much in the way of fresh competition arriving this weekend, this New Line release probably won't scare up imposing overall numbers, but it likely will do better in certain overseas markets.
Set in a gritty version of New Jersey (industriously played by Prague), the story follows a very long night in the life of Joey Gazelle (Walker), a bottom-tier player in an Italian mob who finds himself in a whole mess of trouble when he fails to properly dispose of a gun used in the fatal shooting of a corrupt cop during a botched drug deal.
That easily identifiable snub-nosed firearm falls into the hands of his son Nicky's (Alex Neuberger) best friend Oleg (Cameron Bright) -- who uses it to fend off his abusive, John Wayne-obsessed, crystal meth-making Russian stepfather, and Joey finds himself feverishly embarking on a wild gun chase, before his angry mob and a dirty, hot-on-his-heels cop (Chazz Palminteri) get there first.
Along the way, Oleg leads Joey down a tricked-out rabbit hole and through a nocturnal freak show populated by sick yuppie kiddie pornographers, cartoonish pimps and strutting Latina hookers.
By the time this Malice in Wonderland reaches an inevitable crescendo, it's enough to make one want to hurry home and soak in a vat of Purell.
Kramer's well-received debut, "The Cooler", had pockets of explosive violence (not to mention that terrific Alec Baldwin-Bill Macy-Maria Bello ensemble), but they were all the more powerful because that film wasn't all adrenaline all the time.
Here, all the self-conscious fancy footwork and jarringly tinny dialogue constantly do battle with the performances. It's left up to the ever-resilient Vera Farmiga to blow the rest of them away as Walker's take-charge wife who single-handedly disposes of those nasty smut-mongers to crowd-pleasing approval.
Working with his "Cooler" cinematographer James Whitaker and editor Arthur Coburn, Kramer does pull off some swell set pieces, most notably a confession-by-repeated-slapshot-to-the-face sequence staged on a glow-in-the-dark hockey rink that likely would turn Quentin phosphorescent with envy.
Running Scared
New Line Cinema
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Wayne Kramer
Producers: Michael Pierce, Brett Ratner, Sammy Lee
Executive producers: Andrew Pfeffer, Stewart Hall, Andreas Grosch, Andreas Schmid, Matt Luber
Director of photography: James Whitaker
Production designer: Toby Corbett
Editor: Arthur Coburn
Costume designer: Kristin Burke
Music: Mark Isham
Cast:
Joey Gazelle: Paul Walker
Oleg Yugorsky: Cameron Bright
Teresa Gazelle: Vera Famiga
Anzor ?DukeE Yugorsky: Karel Roden
Tommy "Tombs" Perello: Johnny Messner
Mila: Ivana Milcevic
Detective Rydell: Chazz Palminteri
Nicky Gazelle: Alex Neuberger
MPAA rating: R
Running time -- 119 minutes...
AUSTIN -- On paper, it sounds like a carbon copy of "Fargo": A desperate man in a snow-packed small town turns to crime in an effort to avoid bankruptcy; his plan is thwarted by bad luck, oddball goons and an investigator who simply won't quit.
The similarities multiply from there, as "The Big White" also traffics in black humor leavened by a very un-noirlike sympathy for its protagonists. There are even some funny accents, though this film's sense of place is a good deal shakier than that of its predecessor. Where the Coen brothers' film was sure-footed in its odd blend of tones, "The Big White" never completely finds its balance.
The film is screening at the Fantastic Fest in Austin.
Leading an unusually strong indie cast, Robin Williams plays Paul Barnell, a travel agent whose wife, Margaret (Holly Hunter), suffers from some behavioral problem (possibly Tourette Syndrome) that the couple's health insurance won't cover. When he finds a dead body in a dumpster, Paul tries to pass it off as his long-lost brother and collect on a million-dollar life-insurance policy.
Naturally, Paul's brother chooses this moment to end his five-year absence, while the criminals who stashed the body to begin with track it to Paul. Both parties make Paul's life terribly awkward while a suspicious claims adjuster (Giovanni Ribisi, looking a bit like a corpse himself) sniffs around.
The film shows its nasty sense of humor early on, as Paul brutalizes the cadaver to fit it into a refrigerator. Soon the violence spreads to living victims, with beatings dished out at one point or another to much of the cast. The most successful bit of slapstick comes from Margaret, who bewilders an intruder with a barrage of unexpected projectiles.
(The screenplay is littered with suggestions that Margaret's illness is imaginary, but this is never resolved. Whatever the case, Hunter is always active with some sort of business, whether cursing at a friendly neighborhood kid or bunny-hopping from room to room.)
Like so much of the film, the production design is deliberately quirky -- from an all-white insurance company office to the tacky '70s decor in the Barnell home. The look doesn't quite ring true, and neither do many of the screenplay's little curveballs: the kidnapper who frets over the meals he cooks for his hostage, the girlfriend who works for a psychic hotline, the old-lady neighbor who wields a Ted Nugent-sized bowhunting rig. Strangely, one of the film's most conventional elements is its score, which was penned by Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh.
At heart, the film wants to be about a husband who loves his wife so much that he'll do bad, stupid things to provide for her. But the mainstream audiences who most would identify with this theme are likely to be alienated by the movie's violence and quirks, while the indie/art house market might not see anything here they haven't seen done better elsewhere. Distributors might lure a crowd with big names and slapstick, but few viewers will recommend "The Big White" to friends with much enthusiasm.
THE BIG WHITE
Ascendant Pictures
Credits: Director: Mark Mylod; Screenwriter: Collin Friesen; Producers: Christopher Eberts, David Faigenblum, Chris Roberts; Executive producers: Michael Birnbaum, Andreas Grosch, Sharon Harel, Kia Jam, Hannah Leader, John Schimmel, Andreas Schmid; Director of photography: James Glennon; Production designer: Jon Billington; Music: Mark Mothersbaugh; Co-producer: Elaine Dysinger; Costumes: Darena Snowe; Editor: Julie Monroe. Cast: Paul Barnell: Robin Williams; Margaret Barnell: Holly Hunter; Ted: Giovanni Ribisi; Tiffany: Alison Lohman; Gary: Tim Blake Nelson; Jimbo: W. Earl Brown; Raymond: Woody Harrelson.
MPAA rating R, running time 104 minutes.
The similarities multiply from there, as "The Big White" also traffics in black humor leavened by a very un-noirlike sympathy for its protagonists. There are even some funny accents, though this film's sense of place is a good deal shakier than that of its predecessor. Where the Coen brothers' film was sure-footed in its odd blend of tones, "The Big White" never completely finds its balance.
The film is screening at the Fantastic Fest in Austin.
Leading an unusually strong indie cast, Robin Williams plays Paul Barnell, a travel agent whose wife, Margaret (Holly Hunter), suffers from some behavioral problem (possibly Tourette Syndrome) that the couple's health insurance won't cover. When he finds a dead body in a dumpster, Paul tries to pass it off as his long-lost brother and collect on a million-dollar life-insurance policy.
Naturally, Paul's brother chooses this moment to end his five-year absence, while the criminals who stashed the body to begin with track it to Paul. Both parties make Paul's life terribly awkward while a suspicious claims adjuster (Giovanni Ribisi, looking a bit like a corpse himself) sniffs around.
The film shows its nasty sense of humor early on, as Paul brutalizes the cadaver to fit it into a refrigerator. Soon the violence spreads to living victims, with beatings dished out at one point or another to much of the cast. The most successful bit of slapstick comes from Margaret, who bewilders an intruder with a barrage of unexpected projectiles.
(The screenplay is littered with suggestions that Margaret's illness is imaginary, but this is never resolved. Whatever the case, Hunter is always active with some sort of business, whether cursing at a friendly neighborhood kid or bunny-hopping from room to room.)
Like so much of the film, the production design is deliberately quirky -- from an all-white insurance company office to the tacky '70s decor in the Barnell home. The look doesn't quite ring true, and neither do many of the screenplay's little curveballs: the kidnapper who frets over the meals he cooks for his hostage, the girlfriend who works for a psychic hotline, the old-lady neighbor who wields a Ted Nugent-sized bowhunting rig. Strangely, one of the film's most conventional elements is its score, which was penned by Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh.
At heart, the film wants to be about a husband who loves his wife so much that he'll do bad, stupid things to provide for her. But the mainstream audiences who most would identify with this theme are likely to be alienated by the movie's violence and quirks, while the indie/art house market might not see anything here they haven't seen done better elsewhere. Distributors might lure a crowd with big names and slapstick, but few viewers will recommend "The Big White" to friends with much enthusiasm.
THE BIG WHITE
Ascendant Pictures
Credits: Director: Mark Mylod; Screenwriter: Collin Friesen; Producers: Christopher Eberts, David Faigenblum, Chris Roberts; Executive producers: Michael Birnbaum, Andreas Grosch, Sharon Harel, Kia Jam, Hannah Leader, John Schimmel, Andreas Schmid; Director of photography: James Glennon; Production designer: Jon Billington; Music: Mark Mothersbaugh; Co-producer: Elaine Dysinger; Costumes: Darena Snowe; Editor: Julie Monroe. Cast: Paul Barnell: Robin Williams; Margaret Barnell: Holly Hunter; Ted: Giovanni Ribisi; Tiffany: Alison Lohman; Gary: Tim Blake Nelson; Jimbo: W. Earl Brown; Raymond: Woody Harrelson.
MPAA rating R, running time 104 minutes.
- 10/10/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
COLOGNE, Germany -- Munich police have jailed Andreas Schmid, head of leading German film fund VIP, as part of a fraud investigation of the company. The Munich state prosecutors office said Wednesday in an interview that Schmid has been taken into custody because of fears he might leave the country before the investigation is concluded. Schmid, along with VIP executives Andreas Grosch and Eduard Wallner, is under investigation for corporate fraud and tax evasion. Prosecutors allege that VIP deceived tax authorities and its investors by shifting around private capital in what amounted to a multimillion-dollar shell game.
- 10/6/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
COLOGNE, Germany -- Munich police have jailed Andreas Schmid, head of leading German film fund VIP, as part of a fraud investigation of the company. The Munich state prosecutors office said Wednesday in an interview that Schmid has been taken into custody because of fears he might leave the country before the investigation is concluded. Schmid, along with VIP executives Andreas Grosch and Eduard Wallner, is under investigation for corporate fraud and tax evasion. Prosecutors allege that VIP deceived tax authorities and its investors by shifting around private capital in what amounted to a multimillion-dollar shell game.
- 10/5/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
COLOGNE, Germany -- Munich police have jailed Andreas Schmid, head of leading German film fund VIP, as part of a fraud investigation of the company. The Munich state prosecutors office said Wednesday in an interview that Schmid has been taken into custody because of fears he might leave the country before the investigation is concluded. Schmid, along with VIP executives Andreas Grosch and Eduard Wallner, is under investigation for corporate fraud and tax evasion. Prosecutors allege that VIP deceived tax authorities and its investors by shifting around private capital in what amounted to a multimillion-dollar shell game.
- 10/5/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
COLOGNE, Germany -- Munich police have jailed Andreas Schmid, head of leading German film fund VIP, as part of a fraud investigation of the company. The Munich state prosecutors office said Wednesday in an interview that Schmid has been taken into custody because of fears he might leave the country before the investigation is concluded. Schmid, along with VIP executives Andreas Grosch and Eduard Wallner, is under investigation for corporate fraud and tax evasion. Prosecutors allege that VIP deceived tax authorities and its investors by shifting around private capital in what amounted to a multimillion-dollar shell game.
- 10/5/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
LONDON -- Alex Pettyfer, 15-year-old star of ITV's recent Tom Brown's Schooldays, was tabbed Wednesday to play schoolboy special agent Alex Rider in the upcoming film version of Anthony Horowitz's children's book Stormbreaker. Others set for the $43 million film include Mickey Rourke (Sin City) as a villainous businessman, Bill Nighy (Girl in the Cafe) as a spymaster and Sophie Okonedo (Hotel Rwanda) as his assistant. Ewan McGregor will have a cameo as the schoolboy hero's superspy uncle. Other names in the cast include Alicia Silverstone, Missi Pyle, Sarah Bolger, Ashley Walters and Damian Lewis. Geoffrey Sax (White Noise) is directing from Horowitz's script as the film, produced by Marc Samuelson and Peter Samuelson, commences shooting July 3 on the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea. The Weinstein Co. has North American rights while Entertainment Film Distributors holds U.K. rights to the film, which is also produced by Steve Christian of Isle of Man Film and Andreas Grosch of VIP Medienfonds 4 (HR 5/19). The U.K. Film Council's Premiere Fund, fueled by the National Lottery, has contributed to the budget. Capitol Films is handling international sales.
- 6/29/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Lions Gate Films has acquired all North American distribution rights to writer-director Andrew Niccol's action-thriller Lord of War, starring Nicolas Cage, Jared Leto and Ethan Hawke. The film, now in postproduction, follows an arms dealer (Cage) who re-evaluates the morality of his occupation while on the run from an Interpol agent (Hawke). It was financed by Niccol and Philippe Rousselet's Entertainment Manufacturing Co. alongside the German fund VIP. Foreign sales are being handled through Archlight. War was produced by Niccol, Rousselet, Cage, Norm Golightly, Andreas Grosch and Chris Roberts.
- 4/29/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
PARK CITY -- Not an easy thing, finding mirth in rage and drunkenness. Yet writer-director Mike Binder's examination of the ups and downs -- mostly downs -- of a wife and mother abandoned by her husband locates genuine humor in her pain.
If Binder had chosen an actress other than Joan Allen to play the angry woman, who knows how "The Upside of Anger" would have turned out. Even Allen must wrestle with this devil of a role -- a woman who is constantly mad or drunk and usually both. But Allen turns the character into a tour de force that unleashes an unexpected comedy about compassion and self-loathing.
The film beautifully pairs Allen and Kevin Costner as two people who find momentarily solace in the bottle and each other. It then surrounds them with the aura of intoxicating femininity in Allen's four beautiful teenage daughters played by Erika Christensen, Keri Russell, Alicia Witt and Evan Rachel Wood. When released in March, the New Line comedy could cross over from adult venues into the mainstream to earn solid boxoffice coin.
The story spans three years and is set almost exclusively in the woodsy suburbs of Detroit. Things begin on a note of high drama -- dad's gone and mom's drunk -- and the movie never really climbs down from those stress levels. You must take it on faith that, as youngest daughter Popeye (Wood) says in a voice-over narration, her mom, Terry Wolfmeyer (Allen), was the sweetest, nicest person ever.
When her husband, who has been fooling around with his Swedish secretary and has lost his job, disappears at the same time as the secretary, a dark malignancy of unholy wrath settles in her bowels. The eldest daughter, Hadley (Witt), who blames her mother as much as her dad, can escape the suddenly poisonous household for college. Meanwhile, Andy (Christensen), who wants to be a journalist, and Emily Russell), who wants to be a dancer so she doesn't see much point in eating, take over the kitchen while mom hits the sauce. In her upstairs room, Popeye puts together a video on her laptop that explores the nature of anger and violence.
Surprisingly, there is one person in whose company Terry regains her equilibrium and sense of normalcy. This is their neighbor, Denny Davies (Costner), an ex-baseball star who is nearly as big a drunk as Terry. Denny makes his living as a radio talk-show deejay along with making paid personal appearances and autographing baseballs.
That Denny insinuates himself so easily into the family and into mom's bedroom is a bit of a stretch. Yet over time the daughters accept his presence. He even gets Andy a job at the station, where his producer (played by Binder himself), a smarmy fellow with a thing for girls half his age, all too willingly takes her under his wing.
Binder ably juggles the twists and turns of the tumultuous relationship between Terry and Denny with plot lines involving all the daughters. Terry is a Loose Cannon from the opening scene, so the threat of an emotional outburst hovers over most of the film. The movie never lets on whether this is the real Terry -- the one suppressed during her marriage by all that false niceness and sweetness -- or something that happened to her after her husband's betrayal. Nor does Binder see any need to explain Denny's drinking. You feel that if something better came along he might tone it down, and then you realize that Terry might just be that "something better."
The film has a bit of a trick ending that underscores Binder's point about the futility of endless rage yet adds an unfortunate fictional feel to a film that wants you to relate to the commonality of divorce and broken homes.
The actors tune in to their individual characters perfectly, but this is Allen's show. Her raging, desperate housewife is a tigress trapped in a suburban hell, who takes refuge in her primal instincts and lacerating wit.
Tech credits are excellent, especially Richard Greatrex's cinematography, which features moodier lighting than one expects from a comedy. But then "The Upside of Anger" is not quite a comedy.
THE UPSIDE OF ANGER
New Line Cinema in association with Media 8 Entertainment presents a VIP Medienfonds 2/VIP Medienfonds 3/ MDP Filmproduktion co-production of a Sunlight production
Credits:
Writer/director: Mike Binder
Producers: Alex Gartner, Jack Binder, Sammy Lee
Executive producers: Mark Damon, Stewart Hall, Andreas Grosch, Andreas Schmid
Director of photography: Richard Greatrex
Production designer: Chris Roope
Music: Alexandre Desplat
Costumes: Deborah Scott
Editors: Steve Edwards, Robin Sales
Cast:
Terry Wolfmeyer: Joan Allen
Denny Davies: Kevin Costner
Andy: Erika Christensen
Emily: Keri Russell
Hadley: Alicia Witt
Popeye: Evan Rachel Wood
Shep: Mike Binder
MPAA rating: R
Running time -- 116 minutes...
If Binder had chosen an actress other than Joan Allen to play the angry woman, who knows how "The Upside of Anger" would have turned out. Even Allen must wrestle with this devil of a role -- a woman who is constantly mad or drunk and usually both. But Allen turns the character into a tour de force that unleashes an unexpected comedy about compassion and self-loathing.
The film beautifully pairs Allen and Kevin Costner as two people who find momentarily solace in the bottle and each other. It then surrounds them with the aura of intoxicating femininity in Allen's four beautiful teenage daughters played by Erika Christensen, Keri Russell, Alicia Witt and Evan Rachel Wood. When released in March, the New Line comedy could cross over from adult venues into the mainstream to earn solid boxoffice coin.
The story spans three years and is set almost exclusively in the woodsy suburbs of Detroit. Things begin on a note of high drama -- dad's gone and mom's drunk -- and the movie never really climbs down from those stress levels. You must take it on faith that, as youngest daughter Popeye (Wood) says in a voice-over narration, her mom, Terry Wolfmeyer (Allen), was the sweetest, nicest person ever.
When her husband, who has been fooling around with his Swedish secretary and has lost his job, disappears at the same time as the secretary, a dark malignancy of unholy wrath settles in her bowels. The eldest daughter, Hadley (Witt), who blames her mother as much as her dad, can escape the suddenly poisonous household for college. Meanwhile, Andy (Christensen), who wants to be a journalist, and Emily Russell), who wants to be a dancer so she doesn't see much point in eating, take over the kitchen while mom hits the sauce. In her upstairs room, Popeye puts together a video on her laptop that explores the nature of anger and violence.
Surprisingly, there is one person in whose company Terry regains her equilibrium and sense of normalcy. This is their neighbor, Denny Davies (Costner), an ex-baseball star who is nearly as big a drunk as Terry. Denny makes his living as a radio talk-show deejay along with making paid personal appearances and autographing baseballs.
That Denny insinuates himself so easily into the family and into mom's bedroom is a bit of a stretch. Yet over time the daughters accept his presence. He even gets Andy a job at the station, where his producer (played by Binder himself), a smarmy fellow with a thing for girls half his age, all too willingly takes her under his wing.
Binder ably juggles the twists and turns of the tumultuous relationship between Terry and Denny with plot lines involving all the daughters. Terry is a Loose Cannon from the opening scene, so the threat of an emotional outburst hovers over most of the film. The movie never lets on whether this is the real Terry -- the one suppressed during her marriage by all that false niceness and sweetness -- or something that happened to her after her husband's betrayal. Nor does Binder see any need to explain Denny's drinking. You feel that if something better came along he might tone it down, and then you realize that Terry might just be that "something better."
The film has a bit of a trick ending that underscores Binder's point about the futility of endless rage yet adds an unfortunate fictional feel to a film that wants you to relate to the commonality of divorce and broken homes.
The actors tune in to their individual characters perfectly, but this is Allen's show. Her raging, desperate housewife is a tigress trapped in a suburban hell, who takes refuge in her primal instincts and lacerating wit.
Tech credits are excellent, especially Richard Greatrex's cinematography, which features moodier lighting than one expects from a comedy. But then "The Upside of Anger" is not quite a comedy.
THE UPSIDE OF ANGER
New Line Cinema in association with Media 8 Entertainment presents a VIP Medienfonds 2/VIP Medienfonds 3/ MDP Filmproduktion co-production of a Sunlight production
Credits:
Writer/director: Mike Binder
Producers: Alex Gartner, Jack Binder, Sammy Lee
Executive producers: Mark Damon, Stewart Hall, Andreas Grosch, Andreas Schmid
Director of photography: Richard Greatrex
Production designer: Chris Roope
Music: Alexandre Desplat
Costumes: Deborah Scott
Editors: Steve Edwards, Robin Sales
Cast:
Terry Wolfmeyer: Joan Allen
Denny Davies: Kevin Costner
Andy: Erika Christensen
Emily: Keri Russell
Hadley: Alicia Witt
Popeye: Evan Rachel Wood
Shep: Mike Binder
MPAA rating: R
Running time -- 116 minutes...
- 1/21/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Woody Harrelson has stepped aboard Ascendant Pictures/VIP Medienfonds' dark comedy The Big White. Harrelson is replacing James Woods, who had to drop out because of a scheduling conflict. In the film, a destitute Alaskan travel agent (Robin Williams) thinks he has found the answer to his financial problems in the form of a frozen body, which he tries to pass off as his long-lost brother (Harrelson) for the insurance money. The agent's plans are thwarted by a claims adjuster (Giovanni Ribisi) and two aspiring hitmen (Earl Brown and Tim Blake Nelson). Holly Hunter and Alison Lohman round out the cast. Ascendant's Christopher Eberts and Chris Roberts and Concept Entertainment's David Faigenblum are producing. VIP's Andreas Schmid and Andreas Grosch and Capitol Films' Sharon Harel and Hannah Leader are executive producing. Capitol is handling foreign rights. Harrelson's recent features include Jack Tucker, Trucker, After the Sunset and She Hate Me. Harrelson is repped by CAA.
- 4/16/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
TORONTO -- MDP Worldwide Entertainment on Tuesday said New Line Cinema had picked up the U.S. rights to the Mike Binder family comedy The Upside of Anger, which stars Joan Allen and Kevin Costner. Written and directed by Binder (The Mind of the Married Man), The Upside of Anger is a co-production of Montreal-based MDP Worldwide and the German film financier VIP Medienfonds. Terms of the distribution deal were not disclosed. " 'The Upside of Anger' hits the perfect note of dramatic performances with hilarious moments, delivered by an incredibly talented cast," Rolf Mittweg, president and chief operating officer of New Line Worldwide Distribution and Marketing, said in a statement. The comedy portrays Terry, a single mother played by Joan Allen, and her four daughters in a comedic and dysfunctional relationship with a family friend, played by Kevin Costner. Also starring in The Upside of Anger is Evan Rachel Wood, Erika Christensen, Keri Russell and Alicia Witt. Producer credits on the project go to Alex Gartner, Jack Binder and Sammy Lee, with Stewart Hall, Andreas Grosch and Andreas Schmid sharing executive producer credits.
Screened
AFI Fest
"Monster" challenges audiences with an unrelieved portrait of self-destruction and horrific violence. American movies don't get much grimmer than this.
This challenge is made doubly hard by writer-director Patty Jenkins' decision to supply little in the way of back story or context for the title character's behavior. So this portrait of "America's first female serial killer," depressing and shocking under the best of circumstances, may baffle viewers unfamiliar with her case.
Publicity concerning Charlize Theron's remarkable physical transformation into Aileen Wuornos through makeup and weight gain may attract the curious, but boxoffice potential for this downbeat tale appears modest at best. The film opens in New York on Dec. 24 and in Los Angeles on Dec. 26.
Jenkins chooses to concentrate on a brief period in Aileen's life, from 1989-90, when the hitchhiking prostitute killed several male clients, crimes for which she was executed by the state of Florida last year. During this time, Aileen happened to meet Selby Wall (Christina Ricci). The two fell in love and began living together in cheap motels and then a rental unit.
Turning the tragic story of Aileen Wuornos into a love story between two misfits probably makes sense from a dramatic point of view, but it does distort the cruel life Aileen lived virtually from birth. From two documentaries by Nick Broomfield we know about the mother who deserted Aileen, the grandfather who beat her and how all her subsequent relationships ended in betrayal, making her a predictably paranoid person. Her life leading up to meeting Selby -- a life marred by rape, incest, abuse and abandonment -- is barely hinted at in Jenkins' script.
Selby represents a last hope for the woman. After meeting in a bar while in suicidal despair, Aileen reforms momentarily and seeks a legitimate job. When no one will hire a woman with no experience, degree or resume, Aileen returns to hooking. Then when a john turns violent, she shoots and kills him in self-defense. She steals his money and car but doesn't immediately tell Selby about the killing. When the money runs out, she proceeds to rob and shoot several other johns. The money supports her and her lover, while the murders allow her to act out her rage against men.
(It's worth noting that for all the film's gritty authenticity, even shooting at actual locations where Wuornos committed her crimes, these stagings are purely speculative. At her trial, Wuornos claimed self-defense in all the killings. In his documentaries, Broomfield was never able to get a clear picture of what happened. Before her execution, not realizing the camera was still rolling, Wuornos admitted she changed her story of self-defense to one of robbery and murder in order to hasten the execution, which after 12 years on death row she welcomed.)
Theron gives a gutsy and gritty performance as she uncannily slips into Aileen's mannerisms and rhythms of speech. But Aileen remains a remote figure. Ricci, in a more reactive role, nevertheless captures the somewhat exploitative element in their relationship, playing the young woman, for all her love of Aileen, as one who is in constant need of money and stimulus.
BT's nerve-jangling music keeps the viewer wary, while Steven Bernstein's sharp, controlled cinematography heightens the flesh-crawling reality of these sickening events. Yes, the story is an ugly one, but the actresses command our attention and demand we confront this unrepentant "monster" to examine her humanity.
MONSTER
Newmarket Films
Media 8 Entertainment/DEJ Prods. present a K/W Prods. and Denver & Delilah Films production in association with VIP Medienfonds 2/MDP Filmproduktion
Credits:
Writer-director: Patty Jenkins
Producers: Charlize Theron, Mark Damon, Clark Peterson, Donald Kushner, Brad Wyman
Executive producers: Sammy Lee, Meagan Riley-Grant, Stewart Hall, Andreas Grosch, Andreas Schmid
Director of photography: Steven Bernstein
Production designer: Edward T. McAvoy
Music: BT
Costume designer: Rhona Meyers
Editors: Jane Kurson, Arthur Coburn
Cast:
Aileen Wuornos: Charlize Theron
Selby Wall: Christina Ricci
Thomas: Bruce Dern
Horton: Scott Wilson
Donna Tentler: Annie Corley
Gene: Pruitt Taylor Vince
Running time -- 108 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
AFI Fest
"Monster" challenges audiences with an unrelieved portrait of self-destruction and horrific violence. American movies don't get much grimmer than this.
This challenge is made doubly hard by writer-director Patty Jenkins' decision to supply little in the way of back story or context for the title character's behavior. So this portrait of "America's first female serial killer," depressing and shocking under the best of circumstances, may baffle viewers unfamiliar with her case.
Publicity concerning Charlize Theron's remarkable physical transformation into Aileen Wuornos through makeup and weight gain may attract the curious, but boxoffice potential for this downbeat tale appears modest at best. The film opens in New York on Dec. 24 and in Los Angeles on Dec. 26.
Jenkins chooses to concentrate on a brief period in Aileen's life, from 1989-90, when the hitchhiking prostitute killed several male clients, crimes for which she was executed by the state of Florida last year. During this time, Aileen happened to meet Selby Wall (Christina Ricci). The two fell in love and began living together in cheap motels and then a rental unit.
Turning the tragic story of Aileen Wuornos into a love story between two misfits probably makes sense from a dramatic point of view, but it does distort the cruel life Aileen lived virtually from birth. From two documentaries by Nick Broomfield we know about the mother who deserted Aileen, the grandfather who beat her and how all her subsequent relationships ended in betrayal, making her a predictably paranoid person. Her life leading up to meeting Selby -- a life marred by rape, incest, abuse and abandonment -- is barely hinted at in Jenkins' script.
Selby represents a last hope for the woman. After meeting in a bar while in suicidal despair, Aileen reforms momentarily and seeks a legitimate job. When no one will hire a woman with no experience, degree or resume, Aileen returns to hooking. Then when a john turns violent, she shoots and kills him in self-defense. She steals his money and car but doesn't immediately tell Selby about the killing. When the money runs out, she proceeds to rob and shoot several other johns. The money supports her and her lover, while the murders allow her to act out her rage against men.
(It's worth noting that for all the film's gritty authenticity, even shooting at actual locations where Wuornos committed her crimes, these stagings are purely speculative. At her trial, Wuornos claimed self-defense in all the killings. In his documentaries, Broomfield was never able to get a clear picture of what happened. Before her execution, not realizing the camera was still rolling, Wuornos admitted she changed her story of self-defense to one of robbery and murder in order to hasten the execution, which after 12 years on death row she welcomed.)
Theron gives a gutsy and gritty performance as she uncannily slips into Aileen's mannerisms and rhythms of speech. But Aileen remains a remote figure. Ricci, in a more reactive role, nevertheless captures the somewhat exploitative element in their relationship, playing the young woman, for all her love of Aileen, as one who is in constant need of money and stimulus.
BT's nerve-jangling music keeps the viewer wary, while Steven Bernstein's sharp, controlled cinematography heightens the flesh-crawling reality of these sickening events. Yes, the story is an ugly one, but the actresses command our attention and demand we confront this unrepentant "monster" to examine her humanity.
MONSTER
Newmarket Films
Media 8 Entertainment/DEJ Prods. present a K/W Prods. and Denver & Delilah Films production in association with VIP Medienfonds 2/MDP Filmproduktion
Credits:
Writer-director: Patty Jenkins
Producers: Charlize Theron, Mark Damon, Clark Peterson, Donald Kushner, Brad Wyman
Executive producers: Sammy Lee, Meagan Riley-Grant, Stewart Hall, Andreas Grosch, Andreas Schmid
Director of photography: Steven Bernstein
Production designer: Edward T. McAvoy
Music: BT
Costume designer: Rhona Meyers
Editors: Jane Kurson, Arthur Coburn
Cast:
Aileen Wuornos: Charlize Theron
Selby Wall: Christina Ricci
Thomas: Bruce Dern
Horton: Scott Wilson
Donna Tentler: Annie Corley
Gene: Pruitt Taylor Vince
Running time -- 108 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 11/17/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
COLOGNE, Germany -- Danny DeVito, Famke Janssen and Edie Falco have signed on to star opposite Ray Liotta in "Family of the Year", the comedy from "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" director Joel Zwick, said German media fund VIP, the film's backers. The $15 million project from Armada Pictures centers on a family that moves to a new town only to get along much better with their new neighbors than with each other. "Family" will be Zwick's next film after wrapping "Elvis Has Left the Building", currently shooting in New Mexico. Armada president Chris Sievernich will produce with vp production Matt Milich. Armada is also handling worldwide distribution. VIP executives Andreas Schmid and Andreas Grosch will receive executive producer credits on the project.
- 11/14/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Ray Liotta is set to star in Family of the Year, to be directed by My Big Fat Greek Wedding helmer Joel Zwick, Armada Pictures said Sunday. Shooting is scheduled to begin in August. The $15 million project, supported and backed by German media fund VIP, centers on a family that moves to a new town, only to get along much better with their new neighbors than with themselves. Further casting will be announced soon. Armada president Chris Sievernich will produce with vp production Matt Milich. Executive producer credits will go to VIP's Andreas Schmid and Andreas Grosch as well as Marc Warren. Armada is handling worldwide distribution, with rights deals completed in Cannes with Tot Media in Spain and Portugal and with Eastern European Acquisition Pool in that region, Armada said. Negotiations for other territories are under way.
- 5/19/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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