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Dan Owen reviews
I s s u e # 1 6 01 5 F e b r u a r y 2 0 0 6
MOVIE NEWS X-MEN 3News on director Brett Ratner’s X-Men sequel continues to be very mixed.While the teaser trailer generally impressed, a leaked copy of the script issaid to be very weak, while the movie’s rushed production is said to haveimpacted on the quality of make-up and costuming (as evidenced in some shotsof Beast and Vinnie Jones’ Juggernaut). However, a recently released posterto advertise X3 has been released – so take a look for yourself. Mutant X,anyone? BABYLON A.DDirector Matthieu Kassovitz (Gothika) is set to direct this movie, based ona French sci-fi novel by Dantec. Babylon A.D is a futuristic tale about theramifications of genetic experimentation. In a constantly shifting worldconflict, circa 2013, violent-minded yet well-read Hugo Cornelius Toorop, a20-year Special Forces veteran of the Bosnian conflict, is offered alucrative new job by the Siberian mafia in Kazakhstan to transport a youngwoman called Marie Zorn to Montreal. But who is Marie, and what does shecarry that is top secret? KILLING ON CARNIVAL ROWDirector Guillermo Del Toro is set to make Killing On Carnival Row, based ona spec script by Travis Beacham. The story takes place in a Victorian cityinhabited by humans, faeries, elves and vampires, with a detective pursuinga serial killer… THE GRUDGE 2Jennifer Beals (The L Word) will star in The Grudge 2, the sequel to thesurprise 2004 horror hit that starred Sarah Michelle Gellar – with AmberTamblyn playing her character’s younger sister. The Grudge 2 will reveal thesecrets behind the grudge’s wrath and introduces a seemingly unrelated hostof characters who find themselves connected by the curse.
BAYWATCH – THE MOVIEPamela Anderson (right) is set to film a cameo in the new Baywatch movie, to bedirected by Eli Roth (Cabin Fever). The rest of the cast will be made up ofnewcomers. Roth said: “Pammy and the original cast will most likely docameos in the movie. But for the main cast, they want to go with a new cropof hotties. The other producers spoke to Pamela about it and she said she’dlove to do a cameo. For me it wouldn’t be Baywatch without her.”
Meanwhile, Baywatch creator David Hasselhoff has revealed the new film willinclude crime-fighting lifeguards, saying: “It will be set in differentlocations around the world. There will be lifeguards who are also sent oncrime-busting sprees.”
(DVDfever Dom says: “It sounds more like ‘Baywatch Nights’, andnever mind Pamela Anderson, what about Erika Eleniak!?”)
THE RISE OF THEODORE ROOSEVELTDirector Martin Scorsese is set to reteam with Leonardo DiCaprio for thethird time, following Gangs Of New York and The Aviator, in The Rise OfTheodore Roosevelt. DiCaprio will play the young Roosevelt before he becamePresident of the United States.
US TOP 10 (CINEMA)All figures are weekend box-office gross.
- 1. The Pink Panther (2006) ($20.2m)
- 2. Final Destination 3 ($19.2m)
- 3. Curious George ($14.7m)
- 4. Firewall ($13.6m)
- 5. When a Stranger Calls ($9.11m)
- 6. Big Momma’s House 2 ($6.93m)
- 7. Nanny McPhee ($4.94m)
- 8. Brokeback Mountain ($4.03m)
- 9. Underworld: Evolution ($2.61m)
- 10. Hoodwinked ($2.41m)
UK TOP 10 (CINEMA)
- 1. Chicken Little (£3.17m)
- 2. Final Destination 3 (£2.21m)
- 3. Big Momma’s House 2 (£1.73m)
- 4. Walk the Line (£1.15m)
- 5. Zathura: A Space Adventure (£0.58m)
- 6. Munich (£0.52m)
- 7. Fun with Dick and Jane (2005) (£0.40m)
- 8. Derailed (£0.38m)
- 9. Brokeback Mountain (£0.36m)
- 10. Memoirs of a Geisha (£0.27m)
** IN THE PIPELINE **All the following are U.K. release dates, and are subject to change.
- 17th February 2006: Feed, Casanova, Goodnight and Good Luck, Imagine Me & You, Aeon Flux (right)
- 24th February 2006: Proof, Dave Movie, The Matadoor, Capote, The Fog (2005)
- 3rd March 2006: MorrorMask, Syriana, The Weather Man, Stay, Last Holiday, Manderley, Kidulthood
- 10th March 2006: Two for the Money, The Proposition, The Hills Have Eyes (2006), Transamerica
- 17th March 2006: Romance & Cigarettes, She’s The Man, V For Vendetta, Failure To Launch, The Pink Panther (2006)
- 24th March 2006: Tristan & Isolde, The Big White, Inside Man, Half Life, The Greatest Game Ever Played, Freedomland
- 31st March 2006: Slither, Shooting Dogs, Firewall, Yours Mine & Ours, Lemming, The White Countess
Page Content copyright © Dan Owen, 2006.
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Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.