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August 2006
Fall Preview

FALL PREVIEW

By Wilson Morales

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THE BLACK DAHLIA

Release Date: September 15, 2006
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Director: Brian De Palma
Screenwriter: Josh Friedman
Cast: Josh Hartnett, Scarlett Johansson, Aaron Eckhart, Mia Kirshner, and Hilary Swank


Website: http://www.theblackdahliamovie.net/


Synopsis:Master storyteller Brian De Palma, known for such classic crime dramas as "The Untouchables," "Scarface" and "Carlito's Way," as well as his suspense thrillers "Carrie," "Dressed to Kill" and "Blow Out," directs this adaptation of James Ellroy's ("L.A. Confidential," "American Tabloid") best-selling crime novel.

"The Black Dahlia" weaves a fictionalized tale of obsession, love, corruption, greed and depravity around the true story of the brutal murder of a fledgling Hollywood starlet that shocked and fascinated the nation in 1947 and remains unsolved today. Two ex-pugilist cops, Lee Blanchard (Aaron Eckhart) and Bucky Bleichert (Josh Hartnett), are called to investigate the homicide of ambitious silver-screen B-lister Betty Ann Short (Mia Kirshner) A.K.A. "The Black Dahlia"-an attack so grisly that images of the killing were kept from the public.

While Blanchard's growing preoccupation with the sensational murder threatens his marriage to Kay (Scarlett Johansson), his partner Bleichert finds himself attracted to the enigmatic Madeleine Linscott (two-time Oscar® winner Hilary Swank), the daughter of one of the city's most prominent families-who just happens to have an unsavory connection to the murder victim.

True crime meets urban legend when De Palma brings Ellroy's "The Black Dahlia" to the big screen.



CLICK HERE FOR TRAILER AND PHOTOS - http://blackfilm.com/20060728/features/theblackdahlia.shtml


CONFETTI

Release Date: September 15, 2006
Distributor: Fox Searchlight
Director: Debbie Isitt
Producers: Ian Flooks, Ian Benson
Cast: Martin Freeman, Jessica Stevenson, Stephen Mangan, Felicity Montagu, Jimmy Carr, Alison Steadmans

Synopsis: A sharp and affectionate comedy featuring an ensemble of UK comedic talents, CONFETTI follows three couples as they duke it out to win a bridal magazine contest for "Most Original Wedding of the Year." The talented cast -- which includes Martin Freeman (THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, LOVE ACTUALLY, "The Office"), Jessica Stevenson (SHAUN OF THE DEAD, SPACED, THE ROYLE FAMILY), Stephen Mangan (GREEN WING), Felicity Montagu (I'M ALAN PARTRIDGE), award-winning comedian Jimmy Carr in his first screen performance and Alison Steadman (TOPSY-TURVY, LIFE IS SWEET) -- was afforded total creative freedom within the confines of a carefully crafted story frame. To prepare, the cast took part in weeks of intense workshops where they began the process of developing and inhabiting their unique roles.

CLICK HERE FOR TRAILER AND PHOTOS - http://www.blackfilm.com/20060127/features/confetti.shtml


COPYING BEETHOVEN

Release Date: October 13, 2006 (limited)
Distributor: MGM
Director: Agnieszka Holland
Screenwriter: Stephen J. Rivele, Christopher Wilkinson
Cast: Ed Harris, Diane Kruger, Matthew Goode, George Mendel, Joe Anderson, Angus Barnett, Nicholas Jones, Phyllida Law, Ralph Riach, Bill Stewart

Website: http://www.myriadpictures.com/film.php?film=63

Synopsis: Young Anna Holz (Kruger), a student at the Vienna Music Conservatory is summoned to the offices of Herr Schlemmer, Beethoven’s publisher. His Ninth Symphony is about to be premiered and Schlemmer, who is dying of cancer, needs a copyist to complete the score. Anna eagerly accepts, despite his warning that Beethoven (Harris) is a monster.

As her work of copying down the music of Beethoven proceeds, Anna is drawn into the maestro’s tortured and inspired world. She sees their collaboration as a God-sent opportunity to prove her own talent as a composer; he glimpses in her a pure soul who might help him realize the culmination of his art – the creation of the last string quartets, the most sublime and spiritual music ever written.

Beethoven reveals his growing need and affection for Anna as they work together on the string quartets. She boldly shows Beethoven her own work. Thoughtlessly, he derides it and she leaves him in despair.

Desperate, Anna accepts her longtime paramour, Martin’s, proposal of marriage. Beethoven storms after her - she must choose between Martin and him. Anna tries to flee Vienna but cannot; her destiny is linked to Beethoven’s. She returns to finish their work and finds him dying. From his dictation she copies the last of the quartets. His work on earth done, he frees her to become what he tells her she was born to be – a composer.

 


GRIDIRON GANG

Release Date: September 15, 2006
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Director: Phil Joanou
Screenwriter: Jeff Maguire
Cast: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Xzibit, Danny Martinez, Mo, Trever O'Brien, Six Reasons, Brandon Smith, Jade Yorker, Robert Zepeda, Michael Jace, Bill Smitrovich


Synopsis:Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and MTV's "Pimp My Ride" host, Xzibit, star in a story based on actual events about the creation of a football team within the confines of a juvenile detention camp.

"Gridiron Gang" tells the uplifting story of detention camp probation officer Sean Porter (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson), who creates a high-school-level football team from a ragtag group of dangerous teenage inmates as a means to teach them self-respect and social responsibility. He is joined in this experiment by co-worker, Malcolm Moore (Xzibit).

But Porter must first overcome almost universal resistance from the powers that be -- his skeptical bosses and coaches at rival high schools who don't want their players mixing it up with convicted criminals on the football field.

Based on the Emmy Award-winning 1993 television documentary by Lee and Linda Stanley, the film chronicles the rise of the Camp Kilpatrick Mustangs as they bond together to achieve the impossible: a chance to play in their league's championship game.

CLICK HERE FOR TRAILER AND PHOTOS - http://www.blackfilm.com/20060519/features/gridirongang.shtml

 

 


THE LAST KISS

Release Date: September 15, 2006
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Director: Tony Goldwyn
Producers: Tom Rosenberg & Gary Lucchesi
Screenwriter: Paul Haggis, adapted from Gabriele Muccino’s acclaimed Italian film “L’Ultimo Baccio.”
Cast: Zach Braff, Jacinda Barrett, Casey Affleck, Michael Weston, Rachel Bilson, Eric Christian Olsen, Blythe Danner, Tom Wilkinson, Lauren Lee Smith, Marley Shelton,


Synopsis: "The Last Kiss" is a contemporary comedy-drama about life, love, infidelity, forgiveness, marriage, friendship... and coming to grips with turning 30. It is an adaptation of Gabriele Muccino's acclaimed Italian film "L'Ultimo Baccio."

CLICK HERE FOR TRAILER AND PHOTOS - http://www.blackfilm.com/20060127/features/thelastkiss.shtml


ALL THE KING’S MEN

Distributor: September 22, 2006
Director: Steven Zailian
Cast: Sean Penn, Anthony Hopkins, Jude Law, Mark Ruffalo, Kate Winslet, James Gandofini, Patricia Clarkson


Synopsis: This is an adaptation of Robert Penn Warren's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about a populist Southern politician. The protagonist of Warren's novel is actually Jack Burden (Jude Law), a journalist who falls under Stark's spell and loses his idealism in the process. Penn plays Willie Stark an aide to Sadie (Clarkson). Hopkins will play Judge, while Gandolfini would play Tiny.




CLICK HERE FOR TRAILER AND PHOTOS - http://www.blackfilm.com/20050805/features/allthekingsmen.shtml


JET LI'S FEARLESS

Release Date: September 22, 2006
Distributor: Focus Features
Director: Ronny Yu
Producer: William Kong
Screenwriters: Chris Chow & Christine To
Choreographer: Yuen Wo Pin
Cast: Jet Li, Nakamura Shidou, Dong Yong, Sun Li, Collin Chou, Nathan Jones, Anthony De Longis, Masato Harada

Website: http://www.fearlessthemovie.com/


Synopsis: Superstar Jet Li headlines this action-packed film, his final martial arts epic. The film reteams him with producer Bill Kong ("Hero") and action director and choreographer Yuen Wo Pin ("Unleashed"). Li plays real-life martial arts legend Huo Yuanjia, who became the most famous fighter in all of China at the turn of the 20th Century. Huo faced incredible personal tragedy but ultimately fought his way out of darkness and into history, forever defining himself at a tournament for the honor of his country and the true spirit of martial arts.

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS AND TRAILER - http://www.blackfilm.com/20060825/features/fearless.shtm

 


THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP

Release Date:
September 22, 2006 (top 11 markets; wider release: September 29)
Distributor: Warner Independent Pictures
Director: Michel Gondry
Screenwriter: Ron Nyswaner
Cast: Gael García Bernal, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alain Chabat, Jean-Michel Bernard, Emma de Caunes, Inigo Lezzi, Stéphane Metzger, Miou-Miou, Aurélia Petit, Pierre Vaneck


Website: http://www.thescienceofsleep-movie.com/

Synopsis: In director Michel Gondry's, "The Science of Sleep," life seems to be looking up for shy and withdrawn Stephane (Gael García Bernal) when he is coaxed to return to his childhood home with the promise of a job...in the mundane world of copy setting. Wildly creative, his fanciful and sometimes disturbing dream life constantly threatens to usurp his waking world. Stephane is quickly drawn to his neighbor, Stephanie (Charlotte Gainsbourg) whose imagination easily matches his own. As their relationship blossoms, the confidence Stephane exudes in his dreams begins bleeding over into his real life.

Unable to bear the prospect of a waking world without Stephanie's love, and with no satisfying solutions coming out of his dream world, Stephane faces a dilemma he may not be able to depend on the science of sleep to help him solve.

CLICK HERE FOR TRAILER AND PHOTOS -

 

 


THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND

Release Date: September 29, 2006
Distributor: Fox Searchlight
Director:
Kevin Macdonald
Producers: Charles Steel, Lisa Bryer, Christine Ruppert, Andrea Calderwood
Screenwriters: Peter Morgan, Jeremy Brock
Cast: Forest Whitaker, James McAvoy, Kerry Washington, Gillian Anderson


Synopsis: In an incredible twist of fate, a Scottish doctor (James McAvoy) on a Ugandan medical mission becomes irreversibly entangled with one of the world's most barbaric figures: Idi Amin (Forest Whitaker). Impressed by Dr. Garrigan's brazen attitude in a moment of crisis, the newly self-appointed Ugandan President Amin hand picks him as his personal physician and closest confidante. Though Garrigan is at first flattered and fascinated by his new position, he soon awakens to Amin's savagery - and his own complicity in it. Horror and betrayal ensue as Garrigan tries to right his wrongs and escape Uganda alive.

CLICK HERE FOR TRAILER AND PHOTOS - http://blackfilm.com/20051202/features/lastkingofscotland.shtml


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