A Controversial Sensitive Movie
“The Kite Runner”, director Marc Forster’s highly straightforward and effective adaptation of author Khaled Hosseini’s international best selling novel with the same name, has already become a controversial movie, because of a rape scene that involves one of its young actors.
Because of this scandal, the theatrical release of the movie has been already delayed six weeks. Furthermore, the three young actors that star in the movie are already being protected by the studio against a possible violent backlash. However, despite the controversy that the movie has already created, it represents also a faithful rendition of the best selling book that should as well garner critical and award recognition, and the attention of the discerning audiences.
The story within the movie will be told in three distinct sections. The first one will be set in 1978, in Afghanistan, and concerns the fateful friendship of two boys: Amir, played by Zekeria Ebrahimi, who lives with his sophisticated widower father, and Hassan, played by Ahmad Khan Mahmidzada, who is the son of Amir’s father’s faithful servant. Because the both boys share a common interest in American action moves and flying kites, the share also a special bond.
But Hassan will anger some bullies from the neighborhood and he will get eventually raped by one of them. His friend Amir will be too frightened at the moment to do something and he will keep silent afterward. But the issue will haunt him throughout the years and even after he and his father will have relocated to California in the aftermath of the Soviet invasion.
Ten years later, the film shows Amir as an adult and as an aspiring writer, played by Khalid Abdalla. He will also meet the daughter of another Afghan expatriate and he will eventually fall in love with her and marry her after the traditional old-fashioned courtship.
Then, in the last section, which is set in 2000, Amir will be shown as an already famous author, happy despite his father’s death and the couple’s incapacity to have children. But it will be this moment that he will be called by an old family friend who will tell him that Hassan had died and that his son, played by Ali Dinesh, has been abandoned to an orphanage.
So Amir, who still feels guilty because of not doing anything when they were children and Hassan was raped, will now travel to the now dangerous city of Kabul for rescuing and bring to America the young boy, who will also bear an unexpected connection to him. Now it will be Amir’s turn to encounter the violent horrors of the Taliban regime from Kabul.
So, we have here a quite highly sensitive movie about friendship, life and death. Marc Forster directed young Hassan’s raping scene in a discrete but effective manner, but it is still not this thing that really counts in the movie. On the other hand, the scene itself is just a part of a movie; people are experiencing similar terrifying events in reality and the media have already got used to it and are not able to really do something!
In the end, “The Kite Runner” is a movie that must be seen!
Ving Rhames Joins Jeremy Piven for Future Comedy
Ving Rhames has joined Jeremy Piven for a new comedy feature that will be produced by Will Ferrell. The title of the new movie will be “The Goods: The Don Ready Story” and the feature will focus on a used car liquidator who is hired for saving a struggling dealership over the Fourth of July.
“The Goods: The Don Ready Story” will as well represent the first comedy that will be greenlighted by the arthouse banner Paramount Vantage under its new deal with Will Ferrell and Adam McKay’s Gary Sanchez Prods.
The production of the new comedy will begin starting with December in Los Angeles; the movie will be directed by Neal Brennan.
Ving Rhames’ credits include “Mission Impossible” and “I Now Pronnounce You Chuck and Larry” among others.
Queen Latifah to Star in Romantic Comedy
The rapper singer and also actress Queen Latifah will star in a new romantic comedy titled “What Happens in Vegas…”, alongside popular comedy actors such as Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz. The actress will have a cameo appearance in this project from Fox, although what that cameo will be, is still being kept under wraps. So, what Queen Latifah does in Vegas stays in Vegas after all till the moment when every one of us will find out!
Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz’ roles are however less of a secret; the two popular actors will play two people who discover after a long night of debauchery in Vegas that they have in fact gotten married, with one of them hitting a jackpot after having played the other’s quarter.
Queen Latifah, who has been nominated for an Academy Award for her supporting role from “Chicago”, is also on tour for promoting her latest album titled “Trav’lin’ Light”, which has debuted at No. 11 on the Billboard 200 last month. At the beginning of the current year, Queen Latifah has also starred opposite Katie Holmes and Diane Keaton in Overture Films’ “Mad Money”, which was a movie about three cleaning women at the Treasury who skim old money from the incinerator and use it for charity.
“We Are Marshall” Tops DVD Sales
Although they haven’t been quite smash hits in the theaters worldwide, the movies “We Are Marshall” and “Death Proof” seem to have claimed the top two spots on the latest DVD sales chart.
According to the data that have been issued on Wednesday on the third spot from the Nielsen VideoScan First Alert chart for the week ended the 23rd of September one could find the fifth volume of the “Family Guy” episodes. And “Superman: Doomsday” and “Barbie as the Island Princess” have been the next top choices in the DVD sales chart’s data.
On the No. 6 spot, one could find “Smallville: Season 6”, which has just debuted on DVD and which has been followed by the action thriller “The Condemned”. The third season of the “Grey’s Anatomy” series, which was the previous week’s top selling DVD has fell to the No. 8 position.
“We Are Marshall” has been a leader also in the rental stores, where its estimated revenue was of $4.6 million, according to the Home Media Magazine. “The Condemned” has bowed at the No. 2 spot with $4.2 million, as it has bumped the previous week’s top renter, “Blades of Glory” to the No. 3 spot. “Death Proof” has been next, on the No. 4 place, with about $2.9 million in earnings.
For the high-definition disc charts, the long reign of “300” atop both the HD DVD and Blu-ray disc appears to have come to an end. On the HD DVD chart, the crown has gone once again to “We Are Marshall”.
Jenna Elfman to Star in “The Six Wives of Henry Lefay”
The actress Jenna Elfman has been announced to star in the movie “The Six Wives of Henry Lefay”, in which Tim Allen has already been announced to play, alongside a wide array of actresses.
The story of the movie is that of a man, played by Tim Allen, who is believed by his wife and his other five former wives to be dead, but he is not. The wives, whose ages range from 25 to 55, will start fighting over his will when they all believe he is dead. Jenna Elfman will be playing a small-town diva and the man’s second wife, who is also his fourth wife.
The actresses Andie MacDowell, Kelli Garner, Paz Vega and S. Epatha Merkerson will be playing Tim Allen’s character’s other wives, while actress Elisha Cuthbert will be the man’s unmarried daughter in the movie.
The shooting of the movie has started this week in Connecticut, with Howard Michael Gould as the movie’s director.
Jenna Elfman has become well known for her starring role in the sitcom “Dharma & Greg”.
Robert Redford to Direct “Against All Enemies”
The popular actor and director Robert Redford has been reportedly attached to direct “Against All Enemies”.
The movie project will represent an adaptation of a best-selling memoir written by Richard A. Clarke in which the author remembers and tells about the Bush administration’s handling of the al-Qaeda threat before and also after the 11th of September 2001 terrorist attacks.
Richard A. Clarke, who represents a former United States terrorism czar, has offered the ultimate insider’s account into the American nation’s security apparatus. The story features also the ultimate players such as President Bush, the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, or the former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, as well as Clarke himself.
Richard A. Clarke’s best-selling book was published back in March 2004 by Free Press and it quickly hit the No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list. It has represented quite important fuel for the more and more intense criticism over the Bush administration’s security failures and its decision to start a war against Iraq.
The movie that Robert Redford is to direct will be financed by Capitol Films, which has picked it up from Columbia. The Oscar-winning “Crash” director Paul Haggis has been initially slated to shoot the film, but when he has opted instead for the Iraq war-themed feature “In the Valley of Elah”, which has just opened in theatres, Robert Redford has been attached to the project.
Robert Redford is currently putting the finishing touches on his latest political project, titled “Lions for Lambs”, in which he will star alongside other important movie stars such as Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise.
Martin Scorsese Will Direct the George Harrison Documentary
The popular and, recently, Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese has been announced on Thursday by “Daily Variety” to plan to direct the authorized documentary about the late former Beatle George Harrison, who died in 2001 of lung cancer. The report from “Daily Variety” has also said that the interviews, as well as the early production, are to begin at the end of this year, while the entire film is expected to take several years to compete.
The fact that Martin Scorsese will be directing the documentary represents, obviously, an important thing. “It would have given George great joy to know that Martin Scorsese has agreed to tell his story.” – George Harrison’s widow, Olivia, has been reported to have said by the trade paper.
Olivia will also be the producer of the yet untitled documentary about her late husband. She will as well supply archival materials, while the surviving Beatle members Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney have been reported to participate as well in this project. The band’s Apple Records label will also be involved in the making of this movie about George Harrison.
This project won’t be however Martin Scorsese’s first encounter with the musical world, as popular director is currently preparing for the April 2008 release of a concert documentary about another famous music band, the Rolling Stones. “Shine a Light” is the title of this documentary. Scorsese has also directed in 2005 the documentary about Bob Dylan, titled “No Direction Home”, as well as the 1976 documentary titled “The Last Waltz” about the Band’s farewell concert. Scorsese, who has eventually won an Oscar in 2007 for his directing the crime saga “The Departed”, seems to be quite the right choice for such a documentary.
The yet untitled project has been said to cover George Harrison time in the Fab Four, when he created such memorable tunes as “Here Comes the Sun” or “Something”, his inconsistent solo career, as well as his foray into movie production that involved such projects as “Monty Python’s Life of Brian”, and his enthusiastic embrace of the Eastern mysticism.
“George Harrison’s music and his search for spiritual meaning is a story that still resonates today and I’m looking forward to delving deeper.” – Martin Scorsese has reportedly said about the late former Beatle.
Helen Mirren Negotiating for Joining “State of Play”
The famous actresses Oscar-winning Helen Mirren and Rachel McAdams and Robin Wright Penn are currently in negotiations for joining other popular actors such as Brad Pitt and Edward Norton in “State of Play”, which is a feature adaptation of a BBC miniseries.
The story within the movie is that of a congressman, which will be played by Edward Norton, and his former campaign manager that has become a journalist, played by Brad Pitt. They will find themselves on the opposite sides after the politician’s research assistant and also mistress is found dead.
Rachel McAdams is to play the youngest reporter from the “Washington Globe”, who will get caught up in the murder conspiracy, while Helen Mirren is to be the newspaper’s toughest editor. Robin Wright Penn is to play the congressman former wife.
The Universal project-movie will be directed by “Kevin Macdonald”, who has also directed “The Last King of Scotland”.
Currently Rachel McAdams is shooting “The Time Traveler’s Wife”, where she stars opposite Eric Bana; Helen Mirren is to star in the upcoming “National Treasure: Book of Secrets”, while Robin Wright Penn makes part of the cast for Robert Zemeckis’ “Beowulf”.
“Caligula” and “Emmanuelle” Also on DVD
Two of the most popular classic shocking movies ever, “Caligula” and “Emmanuelle”, are coming to DVD, as Image Entertainment and Lionsgate have recently announced. The old fellows that are interested by the subject, as well and the younger ones, will have the occasion to play on their sophisticated devices some of the most popular classic shocking movies ever!
On the 2nd of October 2007, Image Entertainment will release a three-disc edition of “Caligula”, the movie from 1979 that details the graphic and shocking story of most infamous Caesar of Rome, Gaius Germanicus Caligula, the emperor that was so mad that he had a sexual passion for his sister, he married the most popular prostitute of the empire and killed everyone whom he considered an enemy.
The “Imperial Edition” of the notorious epic film, which stars important actors such as Helen Mirren, Peter O’Toole, Malcolm McDowell and John Gielgud, includes also a new interview with the director Tinto Brass, as well as two making-of documentaries, and interviews with the cast members. It also includes commentary tracks by Helen Mirren and Malcolm McDowell.
A week later, Lionsgate is also to release another classic important movie, “Emmanuelle: Special Edition”, which is the movie from 1974 that was based on the book written by Emmanuelle Arsan. It represents also the first openly erotic movie intended for the mainstream audience. The DVD brings also material about how the movie was made, as well as its impact on the American audiences at the time.
The French director’s Pascale Ferran’s 2006 version of D.H. Lawrence’s “Lady Chatterley” is also to hit the market on the DVD, but only starting with the 4th of December.
Talent Runs in the Family: Casey Affleck
It seems that talent really runs in the family. At least Casey Affleck’s case confirms this saying, as the new young actor appear to be closer and closer to even outshine his elder sibling, Ben Affleck.
Although it is not quite easy to have such a brother as Ben Affleck and to live up to the exploits of him, Casey Affleck seems to be even able to eclipse some day Ben, who is already an Oscar-winning actor, as well as a box office draw.
Some annalists expect for Casey to even compete for an Academy Award in the coming months. But his success, however, comes also thanks to his elder brother, Ben Affleck; so Casey will have at least one person to thanks just in case he will win the most important acting award ever.
And it seems that the young actor knows that he was lucky to have such a talented older sibling in his family. “We had common language, a shorthand that enabled us to communicate specifically.” - Casey Affleck has told Reuters about being directed by his brother, who is three years older. He has also added that: “We could disagree comfortably and when we agreed, we would elevate the conversation quickly and build on what each other said.” The movie for which Casey Affleck has been directed by his brother is the upcoming “Gone Baby Gone”.
Casey Affleck is 32 years old and he is only now transitioning from being only a character actor, such as his role from “Ocean’s Eleven”, to a leading man. While his older brother has won an Oscar at only 25 years old for co-writing “Good Will Hunting”, Casey has appeared to still have much to learn, but at least he’s on the good way. “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”, which is the first film in which the actor debuts as a leading man, has been released last Friday in the major cities’ theaters and it will expand its release on the 5th of October. Casey Affleck will appear opposite the major star Brad Pitt, although Ben Affleck’s younger brother has first been intimidated by working with the popular star.
“They are all very talented, and I knew I was going to have to elevate my game to keep up… Sometimes I felt like, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to do this and do it well.’” – has said Casey Affleck about working with major stars.
And about working alongside his younger brother, Casey has said that: “Doing movies can be a sort of bonding experience, but it pales in comparison to 32 years of brotherhood.”