Adam Spinks Shortlisted for National Student Film Association Screenwriting Competition

That's right, my screenplay for A DIFFERENT LIFE has been shortlisted in the final 10 entries for this year's Annual National Student Film Association Screenwriting Competition, which has been judged by a panel of experts from across the industry.

The film follows Derek as he copes with his wife Lisa's short-term memory loss; a condition which causes her to forget everything, including him. Told over the course of one dinner date at the restaurant where he first got down on one knee...

Winners are announced on Wednesday 1st December...

Watch this space.

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Pictures released from Favreau's COWBOYS AND ALIENS

I'd like to say this is a WORLD EXCLUSIVE but it's not... it's pretty fast though so here they are.

From COWBOYS AND ALIENS (2011) Directed by Jon Favreau and starring Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford.

REVIEW: Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part 1

HARRY POTTER finds an extra gear or two and finally gets the wheels turning.

It’s been  what… Ten Years for HARRY POTTER and his friends…

So when the first film came out I was 12. They weren’t lying when they said ” the film event of a generation” when they released the super-trailer for these films a few months ago… it really has been a very long, sometimes arduous journey but it seems that with film 7a, they’ve figured out how to turn Rowling’s world in to cinema…

This franchise lost my interest when the previous installment limped in to theatres with the feeling of a half-hearted blockbuster, made because they needed to get the audience to the final acts of the franchise.  If we're totally honest with ourselves, we would probably all agree that the initial enthusiasm for the story has been replaced with the kind of weary audience that may well be a good mirror for our main characters as we find them in this new film.

The problem with 8 was that the film suffered from a lack of development, dodgy acting and a story arc, to non-readers, that was almost non-existant. It had the feeling of frustration seeped through it because it felt like I was being cheated of the emotional truths that lay woven throughout Rowling’s dreamscape and fantasy. What is the motivation for Voldemort's actions? Or even, what is Mr Potter actually FEELING during these battles and deaths for the wizarding world...?

However, when it comes to the discussion of this first part of the final installments then it is good news. The changes to the format seem to breath life in into the film; allowing our characters to grow and change with their surroundings as they become increasingly bleak at the hands of the Dark Lord and his menacing brigade of followers. Hogwarts has become the symbol of safety and I am pleased that it has been jettisoned in favour of a new approach. It also became routine that the films would spend much of the first act travelling to the world of magic and mystery which was keeping the audience from the real adventure and themes that should be explored. Moments in previous installments threatened to reveal this danger but unfortunately it seemed to become rather cartoonish at times.

The choice of locations here is expert; with the travels reflecting the emotional standpoint of our protagonists and also offering some well thought out cinematic splendour. The script seems polished and noteworthy, although some of the overly explanative dialogue remains. There is a refreshingly honest and blunt tone about this picture that brings a new energy to the final chapters of this series. See the opening scenes for examples of this in practise.

At times, Radcliffe seems to have found a new gear here although he sometimes struggles to convey the sense of danger and responsibility that the film is themed around but the relationship between three friends rescues any moments that may be in danger of faultering. Emma Watson leads off from the front which can give the scenes an overwhelming sense of matriarchal dominance which is both comforting and yet strange, given that her character seems to be more vulnerable than she has before. Grint is solid and offers both comic relief and perspective throughout the film and the departure of his character really serves to up the stakes and test the dynamic.

Voldemort is scary here; I reference the first scene in which his snake devours a dying woman laying suspended in the air above a table full of Death Eaters. Ralph Fiennes takes every opportunity to lay some ham upon Voldemorts bones and the character is all the more fearsome for it. So in light of this, it is probably not such a good idea to take your children to this… maybe wait for DVD.

Overall… a final installment that teases for PART 2 perfectly and yet tells a compelling story in its own right. The fight ends almost evenly balanced but, it’s up there with LORD OF THE RINGS in terms of dread and suspense. A worthy final chapter should lay ahead if this film is anything to go by. 

Beautifully shot, choreographed and written; HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 1 is the best of the series by a country mile

Spielberg finally rolling on Lincoln Biopic

Daniel Day-Lewis will play 16th US president Abraham Lincoln in a biopic to be directed by Oscar-winner Steven Spielberg.

Lincoln, adapted by playwright Tony Kushner from Doris Kearns Goodwin book Team of Rivals. Spielberg has been attached to the project for years and earlier Liam Neeson was attached to star as Lincoln.

Kushner and Spielberg had earlier teamed up for Oscar-nominated Munich. Spielberg will begin filming the movie next year. He is also producing the biopic with Kathleen Kennedy, the Hollywood Reporter said.

"Daniel Day-Lewis would have always been counted as one of the greatest of actors, were he from the silent era, the golden age of film or even some time in cinema's distant future," said Spielberg.

"I am grateful and inspired that our paths will finally cross with Lincoln," he said in a statement.

The film is said to focus on the political collision of Lincoln and his cabinet over abolition and the end of the Civil War and Spielberg's DreamWorks expects to have the film in theaters late in 2012 through Disney's Touchstone label.

Day-Lewis recently starred in musical Nine and 2007 film There Will Be Blood, for which he won an Oscar for best actor.

"Throughout his career, (Daniel) has been exceptionally selective in his choice of material...which makes us feel even more fortunate that he has chosen to join with us for Lincoln," said DreamWorks co-chairman and CEO Stacey Snider.

Spielberg has a busy year ahead.

 

He is currently filming War Horse, which will release on December 28, 2011, and he is set to start filming Robopocalypse in January 2012 for a 2013 release. The Lincoln shoot will take place in between. He has also directed The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn.

Check out the trailer for BATTLE LOS ANGELES... out next year

At this location! Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_QZ1f-A8ec

What does everybody think?

NEW PICTURES RELEASED FROM TRANSFORMERS 3

Filming just wrapped on Michael Bay's TRANSFORMERS 3 and from the look of these on-set photographs, new star Rosie Huntingdon Whiteley is enjoying her first production as she moves from commercials and modelling to the big bad Hollywood!

Long Leggy Cleggy Weggy and PM D-Cam announce the future of the UKFC...

Cameron/Clegg finally decides to tell the world what is happening to the newly abolished UK Film Council... it's about bloody time chaps!

The British Film Institute, the charity chaired by former BBC chief Greg Dyke, is to take over the UK Film Council's role handing out lottery funds to film makers. An announcement is expected from Culture Secretary Jeremy hunt next week.
The Government has pledged to abolish the Film Council in its 'bonfire of the quangos'.
The council was behind hits such as Bend It Like Beckham, Tamara Drewe and the Last King Of Scotland, though it also had its share of flops such as Sex Lives Of the Potato Men.

While the BFI is expected to handle the council's £15million a year funding to film makers, the Arts Council will handle some of the administration to avoid any conflict of interest.
Hopefully this news will steady the worried masses and kick-start some new productions.... here's to some more story then...

Review: DUE DATE

Due Date stars Robert Downey Jnr and Zack Galifinakis, as well as Jamie Foxx and is directed by Todd Phillips.


My Verdict: B

As a synopsis/ idea/ outline it sounds very familiar to the old Trains, Planes and Automobiles format and, to be honest, I'm not sure anybody minds. Hollywood's a bit like that if we're frank... there's only so many stories that they exist in a framework where the story will kick off at around minute 11 and so on. Formula. Story by Numbers and, on paper, Due Date is no exception.

Where I think it's different is in the characters, although it sticks closely to road-movie formula. Downey Jnr plays Peter Highman, an architect, who needs to get home by Friday for the birth of his baby. Galifinakis plays Ethan Tremblay, an actor who is looking for fame in Hollywood. Due to some expertly scripted plotlines, the dimwitted Tremblay manages to get both he and Peter kicked off a plane under suspicion of terrorism. Long story short; they end up in a car together on their way to Hollywood.

All is looking well.

But it's a road movie and so there has to be problems. And problems there are... loads. An accidental crossing of the Mexican border, picking up weed from a strange woman who thinks perms are for sissys, a masturbating dog and a coffee can filled with the remains of a man are just some of the problems they face.

It's a good movie until the last act. Usually these movies work because there's an overriding sense that the assholes in the movie learned not to be assholes and change their lives. Due Date lacks this emotional suckerpunch, despite several times coming very close but consistently shying away. By creating such unlikeable characters and not giving them the proper send off to the audience, it begins to feel like a wasted journey. A funny but ultimately wasted journey with people who will never change. Our real lives are full of this so we don't want to be reminded of this at the end of an escape to the cinema... fantasy and happy endings all around please.

New Image from SCREAM 4

Posted just yesterday... this is the exclusive new promo from SCREAM 4. Could this be Gail Weathers signing off?

Danny Boyle says hope is the message of '127 Hours'

Everybody knew how awesome Danny Boyle was years before the Academy decided it was time for him to be recognised for his work behind the movie camera. Eventually winning for SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, Boyle has enjoyed a long and fairly illustrious career. Starting way back when with the short film STRUMPET and ending up with 127 HOURS, Boyle’s career output has been consistently brilliant. He also made 28 DAYS LATER and SUNSHINE... oh and TRAINSPOTTING by the way. 

On the eve of the release of his latest project 127 HOURS, Boyle has been forced to defend the content of the film. Starring James Franco, 127 HOURS tells the story of a mountaineer forced to amputate his arm after it became trapped under a boulder in a remote canyon in Utah. Boyle says that the story is one of rebirth.

The film is a true story; probably one of the reasons why the gory scenes have been a little tough for some to swallow. For five days, or 127 hours, the climber tried desperately to free the trapped arm, knowing he had not brought a mobile phone on the trip and had failed to tell anyone where he was. I won’t say told you so but kids, please, if you’re reading... always take a mobile phone with you and make sure that it is charged!

Reduced to drinking his own urine, the climber recorded a series of diary-like video messages with the intent that they may be viewed by his friends and family after the discovery of his body before apparently coming to the terrible conclusion that his only hope of survival was to cut off his lower arm. Without a penknife he was forced to hack away at the limb with only the contents of a portable toolkit. This scene is apparently the offender; causing several people to faint during test screenings.

Speaking ahead of the European premiere in London, Boyle argued that anyone would have done the same in the same situation."It's very disturbing but it's worth so much more. Life is given back to him. It's about childbirth."

Screenwriter Simon Beaufoy, who has worked with Boyle before said the filmmakers "had a responsibility to stick to what he actually lived".

Speaking about his experiences on the project James Franco said that "Aron accepted his own death and he didn't know there was going to be a happy ending," Critics have praised the performance by Franco as a potential Oscar winner. Only time will tell if lightning may strike twice for Boyle and company.

 127 HOURS opens in the United States on November 5 and in Britain on January 7.

                                                                                                                                                           

DUE DATE tops the International Box Office

DUE DATE TOPS INTERNATIONAL BOX OFFICE

The Hollywood News presents this weeks’ run-down of the International Box Office and analyses what the figures mean for the major Hollywood players.

YOUR WEEKLY TOP FIVE:

1.     DUE DATE (New)

2.     JACKASS 3-D (New)

3.     DESPICABLE ME

4.     PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 (Down)

5.      RED ( Held Position)

The new yearly record was reached despite a seasonally so-so weekend stanza overall, which saw director Todd Phillips' comedy DUE DATE costarring Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis take the No. 1 spot on the foreign circuit with $21.5 million collected from some 4,000 screens in 36 markets. DUE DATE premiered  at No. 1 in the U.K. ($3.8 million from 450 sites), Germany ($3.6 million including previews from 519 spots) and No. 2 in Russia (an estimated $3.8 million from 543 screens).

Distributor Warner Bros. said the overseas DUE DATE opening tally was almost identical to that registered by The THE HANGOVER in the same markets. Phillips' 2009 hit comedy went on to gross $191.6 million on the foreign circuit.

JACKASS 3D finds itself at Number 2, drawing $12.5 million from 1,482 venues in just 14 markets. In only 10 days, the third Jackass title has already out-grossed its two predecessors. Overseas estimates currently stand at $18.8 million and the unstoppable DESPICABLE ME remains a high-flyer at Number 3.

Hollywood's six major studios nailed down an annual box office high by weekend's end with nearly two months of overseas playtime left on the 2010 calendar.

From January through October, 20th Century Fox, Disney, Warner Bros, Paramount, Sony and Universal, collectively grossed offshore box office of $10.661 billion, according to studio figures, from all territories outside of the U.S. and Canada.

These figures translate to an increase of 30% over last year's comparable 10-month period, and only $39 million shy of calendar 2009's record foreign box office of $10.7 billion. The $39-million box office gap was collectively erased by the majors in the Nov. 1 through Sunday period.

And, with several big tentpole Winter releases waiting in the wings – including Warner Bro.'s HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 1 which rolls out Nov. 19, and Disney's TRON: LEGACY, due in December – calendar 2010's total foreign box office will be significantly higher than the previous 2009 record. (Just in October the majors collectively grossed $819 million overseas.)

Fox is leading the six studios with a 10-month box office return of $2.544 billion, of which $121.2 million was grossed offshore just in the month of October. The year-to-date tally, a Fox International record, is 43% higher than the company's take in the January through October period of 2009.

Disney is second with $2.084 billion January through October, of which only $23.8 million was grossed last month. Vying to wrest second place from Disney this year is Warner Bro.'s, which registered $2.080 billion in 10 months, $192 million in October. Paramount weighed in with $1.688 billion over 10 months and $92.7 million in October.

Sony was the leading distributor of the big six in October with a monthly gross of $228.6 million while logging $1.222 billion since January. Universal also had a strong October, registered $161 million. The studio passed the $1-billion overseas gross mark last month, logging $1.043 billion in the January through October period.

DISNEY TAKE ON MARVEL DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS FOR AVENGERS AND BEYOND

When Disney acquired new studio Marvel Entertainment in 2009, changes were bound to come eventually. Paramount Pictures, for example, will not be the main distributor of Marvel’s cinema output following the release of IRON MAN 3 (currently penciled in for 2013) but now even that timetable seems to have changed. Reports suggest that the length of Paramount’s relationship with Marvel has been chopped once again.


All three parties involved have announced that Paramount will transfer its worldwide marketing and distribution rights for both THE AVENGERS ( 2012) and IRON MAN 3 (2013) to Disney. In this deal, Disney will pay Paramount $115 million in transfer, which will serve as a “minimum guarantee against distribution fees”, according to the press release.


Upcoming movies THOR and CAPTAIN AMERICA will remain with Paramount as previously planned.
“In completing this agreement, Disney will now assume worldwide marketing and distribution of THE AVENGERS and IRON MAN 3 and leverage these two highly-anticipated films across the multiple global platforms of The Walt Disney Company,” said Rich Ross, Chairman of The Walt Disney Studios, in the press release. “We appreciate the tremendous momentum that Paramount established with these iconic Marvel characters and look forward to propelling the brand even further in the coming years.”


With Disney able to reach this agreement prior to the conclusion of their existing deal, it does cause me to wonder whether if it’s possible that Sony and 20^th Century Fox may yet relinquish their rights to SPIDER-MAN, FANTASTIC FOUR and X-MEN over to Disney in the years forthcoming. What is clear though is that’s the end of an era for Paramount, the production company responsible for all Marvel output up until now.




Sad Face…