The UBS Evening Movie News 10.02.08
Posted by George H. Sirois on 10.02.2008
The “Producer's Cut” Edition...
Welcome everyone to the latest edition of the UBS Evening Movie News. I'm George H. Sirois, and if you're not as familiar with 411Mania, I hope you like horror films because we have plenty of columns and reviews that are going to be based around them. This week's UBS report is no different, and you'll see what I'm talking about in the Mad Prophet of the Airwaves section.
But first, we got news!
SYBIL THE SOOTHSAYER
UPCOMING MOVIES
Flash of Genius: Robert Kearns (played by Greg Kinnear) takes on the Detroit automakers who he claims stole his idea for the intermittent windshield wiper.
Whoever goes to see this should definitely make sure to rent and watch Tucker: The Man and His Dream before you see this one. It seems like both would make for a great double feature. I'm excited about seeing this one since I've always liked Kinnear and the movie sounds like a great underdog story.
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist: Michael Cera and Kat Dennings star as two young adults who meet and begin an all-night search for a band's secret show.
I like Michael Cera, but he's falling hard into the Seth Green category of completely stereotyping himself. It seems no matter what movie he's in, he's playing the same nervous guy. It still works for him, and this doesn't look bad, but I'm hoping that he can handle a different type of character.
Religulous: Political humorist and author Bill Maher takes on the current state of world religion.
Maher can come off as a bit of a prick at times, but I do like "Real Time," I've enjoyed his stand-up specials, and who can forget his performance in Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death? The early buzz I'm getting from this is very encouraging, since he comes off as respectful to the many different religious views, so it should come off as somewhat informative on top of being funny.
Credit: TheMovieBox.net
DVD NEWS
And now we have the first details of the box office champion of 2008, The Dark Knight. Both the standard DVD and Blu-Ray discs will be hitting shelves on December 9th. The ratio will change slightly when the scenes shot in IMAX will be shown.
Extras include "Gotham Uncovered: Creation of a scene," "Batman Tech - The Incredible Gadgets and Tools," "Batman Unmasked: The Psychology of the Dark Knight," six episodes of "Gotham Tonight," art galleries, trailers and TV Spots. This will also be Warner's first BD-Live title.
The discs will be available individually, or as part of a gift set which includes a replica of the Batpod. All will arrive during the night on December 9th.
Credit: DVDReview.com
MOVIE TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Max Payne
CLASSIC MOVIE TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers
There are a few scenes that you may not recognize until you saw a certain earlier cut that will be discussed later...
JIM WEBBING AND HIS IT'S-THE-HONEST-TRUTH-DEPARTMENT
There's a REAL Big Problem Going On: Hollywood's six major movie studios on Tuesday sued RealNetworks Inc. to prevent it from distributing DVD copying software that they said would allow consumers to "rent, rip and return" movies or even copy friends' DVD collections outright.
The studios stand to lose key revenue from the sale of DVDs, estimated by Adams Media Research at $15 billion in the U.S. this year, if consumers stop buying DVDs and instead copy rental discs from outlets like Netflix and Blockbuster.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, alleges RealNetworks' RealDVD program, which launched Tuesday, illegally bypasses the copyright protection built into DVDs.
"The incentive for the consumer is obvious and all but overwhelming," the studios said in a request for a temporary restraining order. "'Why,' he or she may ask, 'should I pay $18.50 to purchase a DVD when I can rent it for $3.25 and make a permanent copy?'"
For $30, consumers can buy RealDVD and use it to copy DVDs to computers or portable hard drives, though the program prevents them from transferring the files to other users. The maker calls RealDVD "100 percent legal" on its Web site.
"This is not a product that enables Internet piracy," said Bob Kimball, general counsel for RealNetworks.
Real has said the software enables DVDs to be copied onto up to five computers — with the purchase of up to four extra program licenses for $20 each — and does not alter the discs' encryption technology meant to prevent wide-scale piracy.
The software locks the copy to the hard drive where it is copied and to the program it was copied with, Kimball said, and he asserted that copying one's personal collection of DVDs amounts to "fair use" allowed by law.
Kimball said the company discourages using the program to rip rental DVDs, but he acknowledged there's nothing to prevent consumers from doing that.
"We are very open to coming up with solutions to that problem that will require industry participation," he said.
The studios had asked the company not to launch the product last week.
The studios argued that the federal Digital Millennium Copyright Act makes it illegal to circumvent technology that prevents copying without the express permission of the copyright holders.
In a motion for a restraining order, the studios argued that a ruling by a California state court last year in favor of a company that sells entertainment centers that allow DVD copying is irrelevant to their case.
The plaintiffs in the suit against RealNetworks include Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures, Sony Corp.'s Sony Pictures, News Corp.'s Twentieth Century Fox, General Electric Co.'s Universal, The Walt Disney Co.'s Disney studio, and Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros.
Here we have yet another case of the studios being a little too paranoid about their products, and also not being all that willing to embrace the new age of media, despite what we've recently seen from them. Fox has slowly started to step up by re-releasing some of their titles with a bonus disc that contains a digital copy, but what they fail to realize is that they only allow so much compatibility with different media players.
There are quite a few consumers out there that don't use iTunes, and therefore do not want that to be the universal option. And it's especially a pain when these digital copies can't automatically be moved to the consumer's portable media player. If you have an iPod, you're fine. But I have a Zune, and there are plenty of other people that have chosen not to get an iPod and they should have the right to have the right kind of software that can make the movies that they own compatible for viewing.
As far as the studios are concerned, let me just remind them of two things. 1. Not everyone is a pirate, and they're not all trying to make a few bucks off of their collection. And 2. If they wanted to do it, guess what? They would have done it already! If people want something enough, they're gonna find out ways to do it, and right now there's plenty of different DVD ripping software available for download on the Internet.
Credit: Yahoo
Hi, I'm a Marvel. And I'm a PC: PC manufacturer Dell and Paramount Pictures are opening a new front in digital distribution Tuesday with an offering allowing consumers to order Iron Man preloaded into newly purchased computers.
For now, Paramount is the only studio that has signed on, and Iron Man -- which will be available accompanied by exclusive bonus footage for $20 day-and-date with its DVD release -- is the only film being offered.
The offering is the first step Dell is taking toward setting up a broader digital content storefront that could create significant competition for Apple's dominant iTunes Store.
"The key focus here is to lead off our slow immersion into content as a major piece of the puzzle in terms of what consumers want from a PC," said Rachna Bhasin, director of content for Dell's global consumer group.
Iron Man will be presented as an option to consumers as part of Dell's personalized purchasing process, which allows buyers to customize virtually every facet of their PC from such essentials as storage capacity to stylistic touches like laptop-cover artwork. The Paramount/Marvel Entertainment film would be pre-installed on Dell's Inspiron, Studio and XPS laptop and desktop models.
While Dell is getting started with Iron Man as a preload, the company eventually will broaden the selections as it signs other studios. In time, Dell likely will enable consumers to purchase films after they've bought computers, too.
While Bhasin declined to detail Dell's content strategy beyond the Iron Man offering, there have been rumblings in recent months that the company intends to take on iTunes with some form of digital retail presence. The plan likely involves Zing Systems, a company Dell acquired last year that enables users to easily migrate content among devices.
Zing founder Tim Bucher heads a 120-person division at Dell charged with spearheading the company's content strategy. In a juicier twist, Bucher used to work at Apple and settled a wrongful termination suit he brought against the company in 2005.
However, Dell has attempted and failed to mount content-oriented initiatives in recent years, including Dell TVs and a portable music player.
A digital storefront via Dell would have a huge potential footprint in the marketplace. Dell finished a close second to HP in U.S. market share among PC manufacturers in the second quarter, according to Gartner Group, with 25.3% market share based on 4.1 million units shipped. Apple was in third with 8.5% market share and 1.3 million units. The market share gap between Dell and Apple is even wider worldwide.
"To match up Dell's customization with film is an extremely potent, unique offering," said Malik Ducard, vp digital distribution, North America, at Paramount Digital Entertainment. "I don't think there are too many players in the marketplace that can pull this off in the way they can."
The Dell-Iron Man product is available only in the U.S. for now, but Dell is expected to make similar offers overseas.
Pre-installing content is not a new technology, though more common on portable devices. Nokia, for instance, preloaded Sony's "Spider-Man 3" last year on its N95 model in various regions overseas.
Iron Man will be available only in standard definition. Full details of DRM were not available, but Dell will allow users to burn one copy of Iron Man to DVD.
Now, this is how you embrace the new age! And kudos to Dell for taking this initiative. I'm a PC user, and I'm a fan of the new Windows commercials that play like a back-handed slap to the "I'm a Mac" commercials that I don't see all that much anymore. The more PC companies come off as catering to the younger consumer, then the better off they'll be.
And it's even more encouraging that this is going to mean PC companies getting more into the game with their own media library. If there's one thing that Apple currently has over PC in a big big way, it's their inventory of movies and music that can be downloaded off iTunes. For the sake of other PC users like myself, I'm hopeful that more moves like this can be made and more deals for a larger media library for Zune and Media Player users can be reached.
Credit: Hollywood Reporter
The Lion Needs Feeding... Again: With the world's credit markets seizing up, MGM is in a tough position as it tries to manage a $3.7 billion loan that comes due in 2012 and enhance its long-term capital structure.
One possibility is snagging a new equity investor. It's even possible that investor could end up with a controlling interest in MGM.
On Tuesday, a Lion spokesman denied a New York Post report that Indian entertainment conglom Reliance ADA Groups has restarted talks with MGM, now that Reliance's deal with DreamWorks is completed.
A Lion spokesman said the report was erroneous.
Over the summer, MGM hired Goldman Sachs to court potential investors. Reliance was among the companies that the Lion talked to, but those discussions have ended.
As part of its long-term capital structure, MGM has $3.7 billion in debt and pays $300 million a year in interest. MGM wants to refinance the loan, which is due in 2012.
There are several different options, including taking on a new equity investor and taking the company public.
MGM insists it isn't for sale. It also says its existing financing arrangements are sufficient to cover its needs.
Studio also is in the process of securing a film financing fund of approximately $450 million to $500 million. Under the direction of motion picture group chief Mary Parent, the company is on a mission to fill its slate with inhouse productions, a shift from its previous strategy of relying on third-party output deals.
"Our object is to build the company organically, and we are confident that we can do that," MGM's Jeff Pryor said.
MGM is valued primarily for its library. How successful the company is in resolving its long-term capital issues will likely depend on how prospective investors value its archive of 4,000 titles.
What the hell is it with MGM? For over a decade, it's seemed that if this studio is in the black, then something strange is going on. And with a $3.7 billion debt, they may have to just bite the bullet and sell off the remainder of their library – if I'm not mistaken, they sold quite a bit of it to Turner and TimeWarner – to get rid of some of this debt.
If not, it may not be long before another Kirk Kerkorian comes around to buy the studio and then sell it off in pieces.
1. Eagle Eye: $29,150,721
Total: $29,150,721
2. Nights in Rodanthe: $13,418,454
Total: $13,418,454
3. Lakeview Terrace: $6,966,711
Total: $25,667,507
4. Fireproof: $6,804,764
Total: $6,804,764
5. Burn After Reading: $6,196,269
Total: $45,567,391
6. Igor: $5,383,912
Total: $14,222,701
7. My Best Friend's Girl: $3,882,912
Total: $14,611,423
8. Righteous Kill: $3,709,480
Total: $34,711,327
9. Miracle at St. Anna: $3,477,996
Total: $3,477,996
10. The Family That Preys: $3,125,620
Total: $32,761,276
Credit: BoxOfficeGuru.com
KNIGHT WATCH
And after all this time, The Dark Knight is no longer in the Top 10. Not a bad run, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it back up there around January, when the film is re-released for Oscar season.
1. Titanic (1997): $600,788,188 2. The Dark Knight (2008): $524,599,547
3. Star Wars (1977 & 1997): $460,998,007
4. Shrek 2 (2004): $441,226,247
5. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982 & 2002): $435,110,554
6. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999): $431,088,301
7. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006): $423,315,812
8. Spider-Man (2002): $403,706,375
9. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005): $380,270,577
10. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003): $377,027,325
ANDY CRITCHELL'S INTERACTIVE BABE PHOTO NEWS BRIEF WITH ANDY CRITCHELL
Since this site started out as a pro wrestling site, I don't think it would be out of line for me to showcase a beautiful young woman from the world of pro wrestling. Brooke Adams was a bikini model born in St. Louis (represent!) who got involved in wrestling in 2006 and began appearing on TV in 2007 on WWE's ECW brand.
She was part of a three woman dance team called Extreme Expose that would typically bring the show back from a break performing a two to three minute routine in the ring, almost like cheerleaders. They became involved peripherally in a storyline but overall Brooke didn't do a whole lot on ECW besides for dancing and looking smoking hot. She did, however, appear with some other WWE Divas on FHM.com as well as in the music video for the Timbaland song "Throw it on Me."
Sadly, she was released from WWE in November of 2007 so I don't get to see her on my TV every week. Let's look at some pictures…
Brooke hasn't really had any more involvement in pro wrestling since her release but she does keep up with her MySpace page which can be found HERE.
Let me know if you enjoyed this edition in the comments section below and if enough people ask for it, I will feature more girls like Brooke.
And if you are a gal who wants to be on the Interactive Babe Photo News Brief, just email me at ascrit@myway.com and I'll see about getting you published.
Thirteen years is a long time to wait. Ever since 1995, fans of the Halloween franchise have been left with an incomplete collection of their favorite films. Whether they have made a point to own every film in the franchise, left Part III on the shelves at Best Buy or just decided to skip owning the remake (I recommend getting the Part II & Part III 2-disc set for only $10), there's been something missing that some viewers still may not know even exists.
When Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers was released in theaters, fans were given a movie that teased a few answers to the slowly building storyline around the possibility of Michael being driven to murder by an outside force. There was a brief mention of the festival of Samhain in Halloween II, when the word is written on a chalkboard in the Haddonfield elementary school. Two films later, in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, we see a strange mark on Michael's wrist. Then, in the very next film, Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers, a mysterious man in black comes to Haddonfield with the same mark, and he is responsible for Michael escaping from the police station at the end.
What fans were given in 1995, six years after the fifth film, was a vague answer but with zero follow-through by the end. Once we were given a peek further into the evil rune known as Thorn and we were shown who the man in black was – Dr. Terrence Wynn (Mitchell Ryan) – the last 25 minutes de-evolved into a nonsensical mess. We're led to believe that Dr. Wynn dressed up like a Druid priest and painted the thorn mark on Jamie's newborn baby just to "examine his evil" or something like that.
But considering how Tommy Doyle's breakdown of the Thorn rune and how it influences Michael was edited to pieces in the final cut, we weren't left with much to understand, and because we didn't know what was going on, we had very little reason to like the finished film. I still remember the boos coming from the audience when the end credits rolled.
It has been over a decade since the theatrical cut of Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, and since then the franchise has more or less moved on. The Thorn storyline has been swept under the rug, Laurie Strode was brought back into the picture for one final face-off with her brother, she was then killed off after he was thought beheaded, Busta Rhymes beat Michael up in the absolute worst moment of the whole series – including the third film – and then Rob Zombie made a terrible remake that seemed to just shoehorn the Michael Myers lore into what could have been a decent original slasher film.
So, yes, damage has been done to the character and the franchise, but there's still millions of fans out there that continue to support him and anything associated with Halloween. They know more about Michael Myers, Dr. Sam Loomis and Laurie Strode than most filmmakers. They have invested hundreds, even thousands of dollars into the franchise's merchandise. Therefore, they deserve to get the complete version of the final chapter of the Thorn trilogy.
They deserve Halloween 6: The Producer's Cut. And the Weinsteins should take it upon themselves to make it happen for the fans.
This was a very risky step forward for the franchise, which started when Moustapha Akaad hired writer Daniel Farrands to handle the screenplay for this film. Farrands is an avid fan of the character and wanted to go to great lengths to bring the spirit of the original film back (using the character Tommy Doyle was a big step forward) while attempting to answer questions about the Thorn rune. He even asked Dimension to change the shooting location to California where the first one was filmed, but it was decided to film in Salt Lake City where 4 & 5 were shot.
The first cut was still very different from the shooting script, which had Jamie Lloyd (now played by JC Brandy, since Dimension wouldn't pay Danielle Harris enough) taking on a more active role near the end and sacrificing herself to save Tommy, Kara and Danny. Instead, she is incapacitated by a stab wound and shot in the hospital by the Man in Black.
Oh wait, what's that? You don't remember Jamie getting just stabbed and left to die? Well, that's what happens when you show the first cut to a bunch of teenagers who think the ending sucked and when the Weinsteins declare that more violence and gore is what's needed. So that's why we have Michael ripping the head off a trucker instead of just breaking his neck, impaling Jamie on a piece of farming equipment and making John Strode's head explode while he is electrocuted in the Strode house basement.
And that's also why you don't remember Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) in the film all that much either. When director Joe Chappelle made all of his cuts and updated it more for something that "the kids'll like," the character that he thought to be boring was given much less screen time than usual. It was such a disservice to Loomis that he might as well have not been there in the first place.
For those of you who are not familiar with the Producer's Cut, here's a quick run-down of what's different. The first thing you notice right away is the title. It's not called Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, it's called Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers. It's amazing how much more it feels like part of the series when the actual number's there.
Instead of Tommy Doyle giving the opening narration, it's Dr. Loomis. This alone should put you at ease regarding how Loomis is treated in this earlier cut. And here's another treat for the fans. After the opening credits, we get a flashback to the end of Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers. We see Jamie walking through the police station and getting kidnapped by members of the Thorn cult. So in the first few minutes, we're given three distinct changes from the theatrical release and already we can see the respect being given to the past and to one of the main characters in the franchise.
There are many other significant changes made between the Producer's Cut and the theatrical release. We see more of Marianne Hagan's character Kara, and her interaction with her son Danny. There's no quick montage every time something happens, like in the final cut. There's no electric guitar version of the Halloween theme; instead it sounds much more traditional and in-line with the rest of the films. There's no sound of a knife sharpening whenever the film switches to another scene; turns out there is such a thing as overkill, guys.
I covered this film over three years ago in one of my earlier Scene Anatomy 101 columns, and it's here that I brought up the differences between the two versions of Tommy Doyle's breakdown of the Thorn curse. That column can be seen a href=http://www.411mania.com/movies/columns/9683/SCENE-ANATOMY-101-–-Halloween-6:-The-Curse-Of-Michael-Myers-(Theatrical-Version-Vs.-Unreleased-Producers-Cut).htm target=_blank>HERE, and it's also here where I bring up two very different versions of the last 25 minutes.
And speaking of the last 25 minutes, even though it wasn't the best possible way to end the film, it at least followed through with the mystical elements that were introduced earlier. It gave it a solid ending and left it open for possibly more Halloween films, and it even presented a terrific twist that would have created a whole new realm for Dr. Loomis' character if Donald Pleasence hadn't passed away before the film was finished.
For a lot of years now, the possibility of this Producer's Cut being released on DVD has been brought up on many different sites, but then something always falls through. Considering how the Weinsteins and Disney split apart and forced Bob and Harvey to create their own independent company, who knows who actually owns the rights to this film anymore? Obviously, it's a little different than when Warner Bros was able to release the original Richard Donner cut of Superman II. But the Weinsteins owe it to the Halloween fans who had to put up with the incoherent theatrical cut of the sixth film to dig it up and release it.
They might not be aware of this, but the Producer's Cut is not only very much in demand on the Internet, but it's also gotten the fans who have their own copies to be very creative with their bootleg discs. One particular copy has a mix of footage from both cuts, making it as clear as possible, and even has a handful of special features. We even get to see some behind-the-scenes footage of the more violent scenes that were filmed after the fateful test screening. So when the decision is ultimately made to release a DVD of the Producer's Cut, all the disc producers have to do is hunt down one of the different versions that have been made by fans and just use the same setup. All they would have to do is just clean up the Producer's Cut footage so it looks the best it can.
Now, on the 25 Years of Terror DVD, fans ask the Halloween 6 cast and writer Daniel Farrands if the original cut would ever see the light of day. Actor Bradford English (who played John Strode) said that the Weinsteins would have to admit they were wrong. I disagree with that. They don't have to include an apology with the DVD or anything like that. All they have to say is that they are doing what they can for their fans and want to make sure they have what they want. It's been made obvious over the years that this is very much in demand. Even Farrands has said that he'll gladly buy a copy off of anyone from eBay.
Nobody will look at you guys with disdain about whether or not this should have been released, since that was – like I said before – thirteen years ago. And in the end, it doesn't matter whether this version or the theatrical one should have been the official sixth film since everyone involved did a complete 180 and went back to focusing on Laurie Strode in the next one. Although I will say that since Loomis' death is implied at the end of the theatrical version, that's not consistent with what was said about Marion Whittington at the beginning of Halloween: H20, since she was supposedly caring for Loomis until his death.
See? There's another reason to release the Producer's Cut on DVD. Trust me, guys. It's been thirteen years. The fans have waited long enough. Give them what they want.
And if you want to throw in a second disc's worth of bonus materials and a commentary track by Daniel Farrands, Paul Freeman and Malek Akaad, well, that'd be just fine too.
And that's a wrap for Chapter 80 of The UBS Evening News. Make sure that you tune in for next week's edition, since I'm going to be introducing a major contest related to the Halloween franchise. I think you'll be interested in it.
For Andy Critchell, I'm George H. Sirois, and we'll see you next week!
Thank you Andy. Brooke was my favorite part of the expose, hell ECW all together when it first came back. I was a sad panda to see her leave... The way she could make her booty shake was mesmerizing.
I need to get a copy of this Producers cut... Another great column guys, keep it up.
Posted By: Toddo (Guest) on October 02, 2008 at 11:03 AM
