Inkheart

By JUSTIN CHANG

Books are essential; movies based on books, not so much -- this is the lesson imparted by "Inkheart," a brisk, overstuffed adaptation of Cornelia Funke's international bestseller. Despite abundant talent on both sides of the camera and a bevy of eye-catching supernatural beasties, this f/x-heavy story of a literature-loving father and daughter battling dark forces unleashed from the pages of a rare tome doesn't conjure much in the way of bigscreen magic. Delayed nearly a year by New Line, the now-Warner Bros. release opens Jan. 23 Stateside following its Dec. 11 bow in Europe, where commercial prospects look strongest.

Published to great success in 2003 in Germany, where the prolific Funke has been likened to J.K. Rowling, "Inkheart" is the first installment of a fantasy trilogy concerning the adventures of bookbinder Mortimer "Mo" Folchart (played in the film by Brendan Fraser) and his 12-year-old daughter, Meggie (Eliza Hope Bennett), a voracious reader. As revealed in the film's prologue, Mo is a Silvertongue, a person with the rare ability to bring the characters in a book to life simply by reading the text aloud.

Meggie initially knows nothing of her dad's extraordinary gift. But when a trip to an antique bookshop in Italy leads to a fateful run-in with Dustfinger (Paul Bettany, longhaired and unkempt), a self-proclaimed "fire-juggler," the truth emerges in flashback: Years earlier, when Meggie was a wee girl, Mo cracked open a novel (titled, incidentally, "Inkheart") and not only brought Dustfinger and other fictional characters out of it but also accidentally banished Meggie's mother into it. Mo vowed never to use his gift again ("I don't read aloud anymore," Fraser says with a straight face) and has since searched tirelessly for his wife, seeking a copy of the elusive novel into which she disappeared.

Back in the present, father and daughter flee to the posh estate of Meggie's prim great-aunt, Elinor (Helen Mirren, carping at everyone in sight). But there's no escaping Dustfinger -- or, even worse, the megalomaniacal Capricorn (Andy Serkis, ghoulish and bald), another refugee who wants to exploit the Silvertongue's talent and bring forth more evil into the human world.

That's an awful lot of fantastical mythology for a 105-minute movie, and one of the film's major flaws is that the characters seem to accept the rules much more quickly than the viewer will. Working from a busy, tightly compressed script by playwright David Lindsay-Abaire (his second screenplay, after "Robots"), director Iain Softley seems more interested in ushering his characters from point A to point B (as they dash breathlessly around a scenic Italian Riviera where, curiously, no one speaks Italian) than in fostering emotional engagement and that all-important sense of wonder.

Considering how impressively the helmer molded a much denser piece of literature, Henry James' "The Wings of the Dove," into his elegant and passionate 1997 film adaptation, it's disappointing that "Inkheart" has no feel -- and, it seems, no time -- for the lingering, resonant detail. Not every fantasy film needs to be "The Lord of the Rings," but the involvement of New Line and the presence of Serkis, Peter Jackson's main muse, can't help but drive home the comparison.

Passengers

By JUSTIN CHANG

A muted, eerie but ultimately soothing blend of elements from "The Sixth Sense" and TV's "Lost," plus a healthy dollop of psychobabble, "Passengers" follows a handful of plane-crash survivors still coming to terms with their experience. Cruising somewhere between therapy drama and paranoid thriller, this middlebrow tone poem aims for ambiguity but often veers into soporific, suspending answers (and often, viewer interest) en route to an ending that explains all. Still, with its top-flight cast, pic deserved better than a limited release sans press screenings. Theatrical journey will be short, but the Sony item might earn its ancillary wings.

Working from someone else's script (by first-timer Ronnie Christensen) for a change, Colombian-born helmer Rodrigo Garcia makes a considerable departure from such acclaimed Cheever-esque ensemblers as "Nine Lives" and "Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her." Those multithreaded yarns managed to transcend gimmickry, but the same can't be said of "Passengers"; paradoxically, its existential story conceit hinges on the element of surprise, yet will be sadly familiar to viewers of countless other films and TV shows.

Nevertheless, pic is far from an unpleasant sit, and would make a perfectly decent in-flight movie if not for its opening and recurring footage of a commercial airliner being ripped asunder. Indeed, it beggars belief that five passengers manage to survive the deadly crash. Claire (Anne Hathaway), a psychologist, is assigned by her superior (Andre Braugher) to help them process their shellshock.

But one of the five, Eric (Patrick Wilson), is less traumatized than giddy, even euphoric. With a new lease on life, he refuses to attend Claire's group counseling sessions but playfully invites her over for house visits, and the easy chemistry between these two very attractive actors pushes their flirtation in the tantalizing direction of professional misconduct.

But all is not as it appears: Attendance at Claire's sessions is steadily dwindling; a mysterious man keeps showing up outside her window; and a bizarrely multitasking airport employee (David Morse) pops up every so often to stir Claire's suspicions about what really happened on board that fateful flight. Curiously absent are any glimpses or mentions of the other passengers and their grieving loved ones.

"Passengers" turns out to be an existential puzzle, the kind whose climactic revelations are meant to inspire viewers to rewatch the movie through newly enlightened eyes and realize that what they mistook for flaws in the filmmaking -- in this case, druggy pacing and a vaguely otherworldly quality to some of the dialogue -- were in fact clues embedded in an ingenious narrative framework. But Garcia and Christensen show little interest in providing the thrills, jolts and intellectual rigor that usually accompany such plot-driven exercises; trading instead in fuzzy-headed mysticism and consoling reassurances, they seem more intent on subjecting auds to a good, therapeutic wallow.

Twilight

By JUSTIN CHANG

Vampires and the poor human beings who love them have been a hot onscreen item this season, as evidenced by HBO’s lurid hit series “True Blood” and the marvelous Swedish import “Let the Right One In.” For less discriminating palates, there’s the much-anticipated “Twilight,” a disappointingly anemic tale of forbidden love that should satiate the pre-converted but will bewilder and underwhelm viewers who haven’t devoured Stephenie Meyer’s bestselling juvie chick-lit franchise. Built-in femme fanbase will lend this Summit Entertainment release some serious B.O. bite, with Robert Pattinson’s turn as an undead heartthrob keeping repeat biz at a steady pump.

Having shown a real feel for the perilous social and emotional terrain of adolescent girlhood in her 2003 debut, “Thirteen,” Catherine Hardwicke seemed as good a director as any to steer this maiden adaptation of Meyer’s junior-Anne-Rice phenomenon. (Three more novels -- “New Moon,” “Eclipse” and “Breaking Dawn” -- have been released since “Twilight’s” publication in 2005, and the movie is nothing if not a prelude to future bigscreen sequels.)

But even with angsty rock songs, lurching camerawork and emo-ish voiceover at her disposal, Hardwicke can’t get inside the head of her young protagonist, Isabella “Bella” Swan (Kristen Stewart); consequently, Bella’s decision to get hot and heavy with a hot-and-hungry vampire, far from seeming like an act of mad, transgressive passion, comes across as merely stupid and ill-considered. The result is a supernatural romance in which the supernatural and romantic elements feel rushed, unformed and insufficiently motivated, leaving audiences with little to do but shrug and focus on the eye-candy.

Which is what Bella does when she first meets the brooding, intoxicatingly handsome Edward Cullen (Pattinson) at her new high school in Forks, Wash. Bella, a moody, intelligent teen who’s just moved from Phoenix to live with her police-chief dad (Billy Burke), is an outsider in this dreary little Pacific Northwest town. So are Edward and his four equally striking (if unnaturally pallid) siblings, who keep to themselves, go on regular camping trips and have an odd habit of never eating.

Delgo

By Kirk Honeycutt

Bottom Line: Lackluster animated film that seemingly plays to the very young but contains too much violence for small fry.

"Delgo" seems to follow all the rules for a good, fast-paced cartoon. It mixes forbidden romance with palace intrigue, fanciful creatures, scenery-destroying duels and fierce battles between armies. Yet nothing catches fire. The story line and characters are all terribly derivative, and audiences young and old are left with the feeling that, as the saying goes, they don't have a horse in this race.

Animated films generally do well during the holidays, but "Delgo's" makers create quite a problem for their film: The action and violence are too intense for some youngsters -- including the one behind me at a screening who demanded to leave less than five minutes into the film -- and the story is far too dull for most adults. Boxoffice prospects for the Freestyle release are below average.

Adults might want to occupy their minds counting the sources of "inspiration." First, there is "Romeo and Juliet" as two teens from warring tribes fall for each other. Delgo (voiced by Freddie Prinze Jr.) is an adventurous lad from the Lockni, beings that control the mystical powers of the land. Kyla (Jennifer Love Hewitt) is a princess of the winged Nohrin, who rule the sky.

Their separate domains plus a third belonging to the outcast evil empress (the late Anne Bancroft) play like remnants from "The Lord of the Rings" and "Star Wars" sagas with strange landscapes, fantastical creatures and militaristic responses to any and all crises. The Lockni have a simian quality to their faces, so you can probably throw in "The Planet of the Apes" movies, too.

The trouble is that the more directors Marc F. Adler and Jason Maurer move into the weird and strange, the duller the film becomes. Fairy-tale invention trumps character and story ingenuity at every point. There also is a level of slapstick throughout that relegates the film to very young and undemanding viewers.

The filmmakers have loaded their voice cast with names including Val Kilmer, Malcolm McDowell, Louis Gossett Jr., Eric Idle and Burt Reynolds. They could have saved their money, though, as few give their characters any vocal distinction.

Chow no longer to direct 'Hornet'

By MICHAEL FLEMING

There's been another change in the "Hornet" nest: Stephen Chow has dropped out as director of "The Green Hornet" but will still play Kato in Columbia Pictures' latest bid to get the crimefighter to the bigscreen.

The studio and producer Neal Moritz are in the process of setting a new director to keep the picture on track to begin production by spring.

The character began on radio in the 1930s and is best known from the '60s TV version. But a bigscreen translation is having a long gestation, going through many incarnations, including as a proposed George Clooney vehicle.

Chow, who directed and starred in "Kung Fu Hustle" and "Shaolin Soccer," signed in September to direct the film and play the role originated in the TV series by Bruce Lee. He stepped out as director over creative differences.

The film was scripted by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, and Rogen is starring as the masked crime fighter. The script will likely be polished, and a director could be in place by year's end.

'Valkyrie' writer, Tom Cruise re-team

By MICHAEL FLEMING

"Valkyrie" co-writer and producer Christopher McQuarrie is fast becoming a go-to guy for Tom Cruise.

The scribe is now working on three post-"Valkyrie" projects designed as potential star vehicles for the actor.

New Regency has set McQuarrie and Mason Alley to write "Flying Tigers," based on the volunteer fighter squadron formed to help the Chinese fight the Japanese before the U.S. entered World War II.

Cruise isn't formally attached. The "Top Gun" star has long wanted to return to the skies, and several years ago was attached to "The Few," a Paramount project about the first American pilots to battle Germans in WWII, with director Michael Mann and scribe John Logan.

McQuarrie also is writing and producing with Guillermo del Toro the previously announced United Artists project "The Champions," penning the script with an eye toward hammering it into a Cruise vehicle. The British TV series transfer concerns a team of government agents rescued from a plane crash in the Himalayas by an advanced civilization and given superhuman abilities.

MGM brass has long felt that the project was UA's strongest chance for a big-ticket franchise vehicle that could star UA co-owner Cruise.

But the Cruise-McQuarrie collaboration with the most urgency is Spyglass espionage drama "The Tourist." McQuarrie is rewriting for Cruise to star with Charlize Theron in the Bharat Nalluri-directed remake of the 2005 French thriller "Anthony Zimmer." Julian Fellowes originally scripted the redo.

The Spirit

source hollywood reporter

"The Spirit," graphic artist Frank Miller's first solo effort as a director after sharing credit with Robert Rodriguez on 2005's adaptation of his own "Sin City," has a single redeeming feature. It illustrates the limitations of the comic-book aesthetic on the big screen.

If we didn't realize this before, it's now clear: Movies must obey the immutable laws of cinema and cannot unfold like so many moving panels. For all its bold digital drawings, a comic-book movie must observe the narrative rhythms, scene construction, character development and dialogue delivery that cinema has honed for more than a century.

"Spirit" does none of this, and it is truly a mess. Fans of "Sin City" and "300" will populate theaters for the film's opening, but boxoffice will fall quickly. The film's campiness might then pull in a different sort of aficionados -- those who celebrate films such as "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" for their silly acting and overripe dialogue.

The film derives from a pioneering American comic-book series by Will Eisner, who introduced "Spirit" in 1940. The book somewhat anticipated the noir movies and pulp fiction of the postwar era as it traffics in obsessed crime-fighters, vicious villains and hard-as-diamond dames who move through the nightscape of an urban hell.

The Spirit is one of the first masked heroes, a murdered cop who mysteriously returns from the dead decked out in a suit, red tie and fedora. His opponent is a maniacal criminal aptly named the Octopus.

The film's look is not as monochromatic as "Sin City," but everything is dark and moody as daylight seldom shoots through Miller's artful frames. The graphic design trumps all story and character decisions, though. Miller has storyboarded the film, but he hasn't really written it.

Scenes begin seemingly at random and end abruptly. Actors play characters at full bore. Dialogue has the crude energy of '30s Hollywood melodramas but rarely any wit or engaging subtext. All emotions are forced, and relationships get explored half-heartedly.

Gabriel Macht is sturdy but dull as the restless Spirit. Samuel L. Jackson chews the graphic scenery as Octopus, while Scarlett Johansson seems to get lost in that same scenery as his weirdly docile sidekick Silken Floss. Eva Mendes plays jewel thief Sand Saref as a one-note temptress, while Paz Vega as a French assassin and Jaime King as an underwater nymph go for the same effect. How many vamps can a movie contain?

Sarah Paulson comes as close as any to an actual character, playing a doctor who lovingly patches up the fast-healing Spirit. Dan Lauria's hard-boiled police chief and Stana Katic's amped rookie cop never shake free from being cliches. Louis Lombardi appears multiple times as cloned Octopus henchmen.

One thing about "The Spirit" is that it's never dull. Then again, the same can be said of Chinese water torture.

'Che' Extends Theatrical Run

Moviegoers are getting another chance to cha-cha-cha to the full four-hour-plus version of Steven Soderbergh's "Che."

To qualify for Oscar voting, the Ernesto "Che" Guevara biopic unspooled a week ago for what was planned as one-week-only runs in single venues in New York and Los Angeles. The Benicio Del Toro starrer was set to withdraw from the marketplace before reappearing Jan. 9 in limited release as two separate films, the Cuba-focused "The Argentine" and Bolivia-based "The Guerrilla."

But IFC Films on Thursday said that last weekend's sellouts have spurred execs to add two more weekends of exclusive runs for the full "Che" version of the political epic, starting Dec. 24 in New York and Dec. 26 in Los Angeles.

"We thought 'Che' would have a great deal of interest, but to sell out in Los Angeles and New York City was even beyond our expectations," IFC distribution vp Mark Boxer said.

Meanwhile, theaters that have booked the two-part "Che" installments as separate films have agreed to carry both "Argentine" and "Guerrilla," with exhibitors likely to program the pics in ways that make viewing both on the same day as convenient as possible, Boxer said.

The films -- each just more than two hours long -- will bow Jan. 9 in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco before expanding to five additional markets the following frame. By Jan. 23, the pics are expected to play in more than 50 theaters in the top 25 domestic markets.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Shimane no Bengoshi 2007

Synopsis

Based on the manga of the same name by Kagawa Masahito and Aoki Tetsuo, the story is set in the Shimane Prefecture, which supposedly has the fewest lawyers in all of Japan. Nakama plays the role of the hard-working and righteous Yamazaki Mizuho, who travels around by bicycle to help her clients. –Tokyograph

Cast

* Nakama Yukie as Yamazaki Mizuho
* Kagawa Teruyuki as Akita Ryoichi
* Yashima Norito as Ishizuka Michio
* Kaji Meiko as Ishizuka Yoko
* Washio Machiko as Kinuyo
* Mano Yuko as Reiko
* Masuoka Toru as Tajiri
* Takenaka Naoto as Yamazaki Haruo
* Higuchi Kanako as Sakurai Hideko

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The Goog Students (2008)

An unpopular high school teacher turns his life around after a student is kidnapped.

Cast
Tim Daly … Ronald Gibb
Josh Hutchinson … Unit Cop 2
Hayden Panettiere … Allyson ‘Ally’ Palmer
William Sadler … Honest Phil Palmer
Sarah Steele … Amber Jinxs

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