Magnolia Pictures acquires the rights to Fernando Meirelles’ “360″

Good news for fans of Fernando Meirelles film “360″, the film which stars Rachel Weisz, Anthony Hopkins, Jude Law, Ben Foster, Jamel Debbouze and Moritz Bleibtreu has been acquired by the Wagner/Cuban’s Magnolia Pictures.

Magnolia President Eamonn Bowles said, “Fernando Meirelles and Peter Morgan are two exceptional talents that have crafted a unique and truly special picture. ’360′ is a stunningly well made film, and a fantastic showcase for some of the most talented actors from around the world.”

“360″ was produced by Andrew Eaton and David Linde with Chris Hanley, Danny Krausz and Emanuel Michael.

The European premiere of “360″ took place earlier this month when it received the prestigious honor of being chosen as the Opening Night Gala Film at the BFI 55th London Film Festival.

A truly international film, “360″ was shot on location in Vienna, Paris, London, Bratislava and Rio de Janeiro.

In the film, Jude Law plays a travelling businessman who is contemplating a liaison with a prostitute;  Rachel Weisz, a married woman  who is breaking off a relationship with a younger man; Anthony Hopkins, a man searching for his missing daughter; Ben Foster, a sex offender recently released from prison.

Magnolia plans a theatrical release in 2012 in all major US markets, bolstered by a prominent film festival presence leading up to release. 360 will be distributed through Magnolia’s successful Ultra VOD program.

The deal was negotiated for Magnolia by SVP of Acquisitions Dori Begley and Head of Legal and Business Affairs Chris Matson, with UTA Independent Film Group for the filmmakers.

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (a J!-ENT Blu-ray Disc Review)

Woody Allen returns with a karma-esque romantic comedy with an all-star cast that is entertaining, romantic and delightful.

Images courtesy of © 2010 Mediaproduccion S.L., Versatil Cinema S.L. and Gravier Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger

FILM RELEASE DATE: 2010

DURATION: 99 Minutes

BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (1:78:1), English, French LCR DTS-HD MA (Discrete Surround), Subtitles: English, English SDH, French

COMPANY: Sony Pictures Classics

RATED: R (Some Violence)

RELEASE DATE: February 15, 2011

Written and Directed by Woody Allen

Produced by Letty Aronson, Jaume Roures, Stephen Tenenbaum

Co-Producer: Nicky Kentish Barnes

Co-Executive Producer: Jack Rollins

Associate Producer: Mercedes Gamero

Cinematography by Vilmos Zsigmond

Edited by Alisa Lepselter

Casting by Patricia Kerrigan DiCerto, Gail Stevens, Juliet Taylor

Production Design by Jim Clay

Art Direction by Dominic Masters

Set Decoration by John Bush

Costume Design by Beatrix Aruna Pasztor

Starring:

Gemma Jones as Helena Shebritch

Pauline Collins as Cristal

Anthony Hopkins as Alfie Shebritch

Naomi Watts as Sally Channing

Josh Brolin as Roy Channing

Freida Pinto as Dia

Antonio Banderas as Greg

Lucy Punch as Charmaine

Roger Ashton-Griffiths as Jonathan

Narrated by Zak Orth

Neil Jackson as Alan

Two couples discover the grass may not always be greener on the other side in Woody Allen’s breezy comedy on wry, You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger. Hoping to relive the pleasures of youth, Alfie Shepridge (Anthony Hopkins) dumps his wife of 40 years (Gemma Jones) and pursues a young call girl (Lucy Punch). So when daughter Sally (Naomi Watts) develops a crush on her boss (Antonio Banderas) and husband Roy (Josh Brolin) becomes obsessed with the beauty (Freida Pinto) who lives across the way, the entire clan’s fantasies take on reality as their passions not only drive them out of their marriages, but out of their minds as well.

With a Woody Allen film, I always come with an expectation of an enjoyable time.  A few films have been misses but for the majority of Woody Allen’s oeuvre, they have been its, not all masterpieces but still, with a filmmaking career that has spanned over 50 years, even now, you can’t help but enjoy a Woody Allen romantic comedy.

Which brings us to his latest film “You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger”, a film that literally is split amongst film critics.  Some who feel that the 75-year-old Woody Allen can never match his style of filmmaking during his peak and others who feel that he is able to create enjoyable films.

In “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger”, I look at this film as a story of karma biting one back in the rear.

The film revolves around the Shebritch family and everything is coming undone.  Both Helena (played by Gemma Jones) and Alfie (played by Anthony Hopkins) are ending their long marriage as Helena has become more and more opinionated and blunt about her husband especially during their older years and for Alfie, he wants to retain that youth, so he works out and wants to be look good.

Unfortunately, because of their differing opinions later in their life, the two often clash and sure enough Alfie leaves his Helena.

Helena is so much in a mess that she has been seeing a psychiatrist and wants to put her on medication.  But for now, all Helena can go to for comfort is her daughter Sally Channing (played by Naomi Watts).

Sally is married to Roy (played by Josh Brolin), a writer who has had two bestselling books but is unable to come up with another.  The Channing’s are barely able to survive and pay their rent and bills and Sally is becoming disenchanted with their marriage and overall progression of their livelihood.  She wants her marriage to progress and Roy to get a job and Roy tries.  But because he writes at night, a day job has become difficult and when he had a job as a chauffeur, he was tired and got into an accident and lost his job.

But Sally is trying to be as supportive of her husband as best as she can and hopes that his latest book will get approved by the publisher and not depend on her mother (who is paying their rent).

As for Roy, he knows that life is not going so well for him but the only happiness he has found in his life was each time he looks out the window, he sees a woman across the building, playing the guitar and just finds her alluring.  And the two eventually start communication from their window.  Roy immediately becomes a voyeur and looks forward to each time he can watch the woman from the other building.

Meanwhile, Alfie has changed his life since leaving Helena.  He has gotten a tan, living in a posh apartment and has been hanging out with his young employees to find a young woman to be with.  Eventually, he manages to get hooked up with a prostitute named Charmaine (played by Lucy Punch) and despite his pursuit of youth, Alan is traditional in his beliefs that if you have a romantic fling, you want to marry the woman and thus he becomes engaged to Charmaine.

Needless to say, this shocks Helen and she keeps visiting her daughter which angers Roy because Helen is very opinionated on everything.  In order to feel stability, Sally has helped her mother find someone to go for counseling, a fortune telling guru named Cristal (played by Pauline Collins).  Sally and Roy knows she is a fake but if it keeps Helen at ease (and not have her spend much money), then they will support her.

So, as Helen tries to figure out her life through Cristal, Alfie now with a younger woman (who loves to spend money), Sally feeling not so loved in her marriage, goes to take a job with an art gallery owned by Greg (played by Antonio Banderas) and as for Roy, he initiates contact with Dia (played by Freida Pinto), the woman he has been watching across the street.

For Sally, working with Greg has exposed her to a lifestyle that she wants and finds herself falling for Greg but he is married and she is married.  As for Roy, he finds himself falling for Dia, but he is married and she is getting married.

How will life eventually play out for these individuals?

VIDEO:

“You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger” is presented in 1080p High Definition (1:78:1).  As usual with Woody Allen films, he tries to bring out the city he films in.  In this case, London.  Collaborating once again with his cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond (“Close Encounters of the Third Kind”, “The Bonfire of the Vanities”, “The Witches of Eastwick”), who worked with Allen in his last London-based film “Cassandra’s Dream” (2007).

While the film does provide some parts of London and possibly one awesome shot in the rain when Roy gets to meet Dia, most of the film is shot indoors especially inside Sally and Roy’s apartment.  For the most part, the lighting is good and picture quality definitely shows a vibrancy at times, especially when focusing on Dia’s red dress.  Skin tones are good and you can see Roy’s shaggy hair (Probably one of the worst hair styles in the film for Josh Brolin) to a tired and disheveled Sally (Watts).

But overall, the picture quality is very good, colors range from natural to vibrant, black levels are nice and deep and I saw no hint of artifacting or banding.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger” is presented in English and French LCR DTS-HD MA.  The film is pretty much a dialogue and music-driven film.  Most of the scenes are with two people talking and there may be scenes with crowds (like at a bar) but for the most part, this is a dialogue-driven film and most of the sound is coming through the front and center channels.  There was one scene with heavy rain but I was expecting a more immersive sound at that point but I didn’t really hear it coming from the surround channels.  So, for the most part, dialogue is clean and understandable as with its jazzy music (which works for this film and a style that Woody Allen is known for), the lossless soundtrack is good but don’t expect anything  immersive.

Subtitles are presented in English, English SDH and French.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

It is well-known that Woody Allen is not fond of special features and no matter what release you watch of his, the most you’re going to get from a Woody Alley DVD or Blu-ray is a theatrical trailer.  And the theatrical trailer of “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger” (1:36) is included.

When Woody Allen created “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger”, his reasoning to create the film was because of his interest in the concept of “faith in something”.  Those who successfully delude themselves seem happier than those who can’t.

What I got out of this film were two things.  One, the power of faith and believing something positive and the other is “karma” and how it can come back to get you.

For a Woody Allen film, at first glance, “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger” is quite interesting in how Allen is able to take a normal family and easily throw believable things that can literally destroy it.  In the case of this family, Helena is the matriarch but she is so opinionated and blunt that it upsets those around her.  She can’t stop, its her nature to say how she feels.  While she seems like it’s right, others don’t feel that same way.  And thus karma gets her in which her husband leaves her and alienates her family.

But where Helena manages to redeem herself is finding faith, even though the person she believes in, may not be genuine (ala fortune teller), she’s happy and the changes she makes in her life leads to happiness.

On the other hand, for Alfie, it’s one thing to not like getting badgered by your wife but leaving her to pursue a young woman (a prostitute) and try to live young and live a luxurious lifestyle which he shouldn’t have done.  You don’t know how much you miss someone until their gone and in Alfie’s case, he finds himself in a situation where he goes for a very sexual woman that attracts men and the fact that he is older, he realizes that her lifestyle and how she is…it’s too much for him and will probably lead him to a quick death because now he constantly worries about her promiscuity and how much of his money she spends.

And for the daughter Sally, she wants a better life as her once famous novelist of a husband doesn’t make money nor can he hold a job.  She wants to grow in her relationship but its not happening.  While most audiences probably may feel sympathetic to her character, the problem is that she is the person that helped egg her mother on to going to a fortune teller in order to make her happy and while it’s a success, it ultimately becomes the major force in hurting Sally.

As for Sally’s husband Roy, the problem lies in the fact that he starts becoming a voyeur and falls for the woman across the street, gets closer to her and prevents her from finding happiness with another man she is to marry and does the unthinkable by stealing a dead man’s novel and gets it published.  Unfortunately, karma will end up biting him in the rear as well.

And the film comes full circle with the fact that Helena does find happiness thanks to her newfound faith in a crooked fortune teller.

“You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger” was definitely a delightful film that has enough of Woody Allen’s humor to make it enjoyable.  But I can see why some people watching this film may feel it was a bit of a drag.  Because really, it’s not a film about happy endings, happy marriages and such.  It is a movie about a dysfunctional family and how it begins to impact those into making impulsive decisions.    There is no fighting for the marriage, there is no counseling, these characters think they found their way out by finding love elsewhere.

Gemma Jones does a wonderful job of portraying Helena as a neurotic and paranoid woman.  Anthony Hopkins plays an older man finding a second wave of youthfulness.  Naomi Watts does a great job of playing the wife who wants more and Josh Brolin as the husband and voyeur.  Everyone in this film manages to play their role quite well and Lucy Punch was a much better choice in playing Charmaine and there is just no way I can see Nicole Kidman, who was originally supposed to play Charmaine, in that role.  And Freida Pinto brought a more elegant side to the film as she is the total opposite of Sally.

Overall, “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger” may not be a Woody Allen classic and I know many film critics feel that he’s just churning out movies that do not reach the levels of the types of films he once created.  But I do believe that every filmmaker goes through various life differences, adjustments in life and as much as some would like original Woody Allen ala 1970′s, it’s surely not going to happen.

So, far I have managed to enjoy a lot of Allen’s later films and while they may not have the resonance of “Manhattan”, “Sleeper” or “Annie Hall”, they are still quite enjoyable and fun.

“You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger” was delightful!

The Mask of Zorro (a J!-ENT Blu-ray Disc Review)

Fun, sexy, exciting and highly entertaining! Definitely the best “Zorro” film ever made thus far!  Fans of the film will love the picture quality and lossless audio soundtrack on Blu-ray.  A solid release!

Images courtesy of © 1998 Global Entertainment Productions GmbH & Co. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: The Mask of Zorro

DURATION: 137 Minutes

BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition/2:40:1, English, French, Portuguese 5.1 DTS-HD MA, Spanish 5.1, Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Portuguese and Spanish.

RATED: PG-13 (For Some Intense Action and Violence)

COMPANY: Tri Star/Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

RELEASE DATE: December 1, 2009

Based on the character “Zorro” by Johnston McCulley

Directed by Martin Campbell

Screenplay by John Eskow, Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio

Story by Tedd Elliott, Terry Rossio, Randal Jahnson

Executive Producers: Steven Spielberg, Walter F. Parkes, Laurie MacDonald

Produced by Doug Claybourne, David Foster

Co-Producer: John Gertz

Music by James Horner

Cinematography by Phil Meheux

Editing by Thom Noble

Casting by Pam Dixon

Production Design by Cecilia Montiel

Art Direction by Michael Atwell

Set Decoration by Denise Carnargo

Costume Design by Graciela Mazon

Starring:

Anthony Hopkins as Don Diego de la Vega/Zorro

Atonio Banderas as Alejandro Murrieta/Zorro

Catherine Zeta-Jones as Elena Montero/Elena Murrieta

Stuart Wilson as Don Rafael Montero

Matt Letscher as Capt. Harrison Love

Tony Amendola as Don Luiz

Pedro Armendariz Jr. as Don Pedro

William Marquez as Fray Felipe

Jose Perez as Cpl. Armando Garcia

Victor Rivers as Joaquin Murrieta

L.Q. Jones as Three-Fingered Jack

Julieta Rosen as Esperanza de la Vega

Luisa Huertas as Nanny

When a power-crazed despot schemes to buy California from Mexico, it takes two Zorros – the legendary Don Diego de la Vega (Anthony Hopkins) and his chosen successor Alejandro Murrieta (Antonio Banderas), a dashing bandit-turned-hero-to defeat the tyrant’s unscrupulous plans.  But can even their combined skills, bravado and derring-do be enough to achieve de la Vega’s ultimate goal: revenge against the man who killed his wife, kidnapped his daughter and held him prisoner for twenty years?

For 90 years, many fans of “Zorro” have seen quite a few adaptation of the swashbuckling hero who dons a black mask, cape, clothing and his sword.

From the original books from 1919 by pulp writer Johnston McCulley to the silent films by Douglas Fairbanks and one of my favorites, the 1958-1960 Disney television series starring Guy Williams.  But there has been a sort of lull when it came to “Zorro” films and before the 1998 film “The Mask of Zorro”, we were left with the George Hamilton comedy “Zorro, the Gay Blade” in 1981.

But in 1998, producer Steven Spielberg (“Indiana Jones” films, “Schindler’s List”, “E.T.”, “Jurassic Park” films) along with director Martin Campbell (“Casino Royale”, “Vertical Limit”, “GoldenEye”) began working on a new action film based on the hero for a new generation of moviegoers.  Featuring a screenplay by John Eskow (“Air America”, “Pink Cadillac”), Ted Elliott (“National Treasure”and “Pirates of the Carribean” films) and Terry Rossio (“Pirates of the Carribean” films), music by James Horner (“The Spiderwicke Chronicles”, “Troy”, “Enemy at the Gates”) and cinematographer Phil Meheux (“Casino Royale”, “Around the World in 80 Days”, “GoldenEye”).

The film was released in theaters during the Summer of ’98 and with a budget of $95 million, the film went on to make over $250 million worldwide and was received positively by critics.

For those not familiar with the “Zorro” storyline, the films and TV series have focused on the Don Diego de la Vega, a man who comes from a political family from Spain and is known for being an intellectual man in high society but a man who does not like seeing the corrupted military officials mistreating the locals.  So, in order to help them, Don Diego dons the black mask and cape and uses the disguise of Zorro to fight the oppression and help the unfortunate in California and takes on the Spanish military leaders and their soldiers.  Whenever people are mistreated, Zorro comes to the rescue.

In “The Mask of Zorro”, Don Diego de la Vega (played by Anthony Hopkins, “Howards End”, “Silence of the Lambs”, “Hannibal” “Red Dragon”) is now an older man in his 40′s.  He is married to Esperanza and together, they have a new baby named Elena.  While the Spanish rule in California is winding down, the antagonist Don Rafael Montero (played by Stuart Wilson, “Enemy of the State”, “Grindhouse”, “Hot Fuzz”) knows his power is slipping and wants to show his power towards the Mexican people one more time by having a few more executions.

But Don de la Vega puts on the mask of Zorro one last time to save the people and in the process, saving two kids named Alejandro Murrieta and his older brother Joaquin and giving Joaquin his silver medallion.

Coming home injured, Don knows that he is getting to old to be the hero, he promises Esperanza that it was his last time he will be Zorro but unknown to both people, Montero and his men were listening.  As they try to apprehend Don, his wife is accidentally shot by one of Montero’s soldier.  Because Montero has looked at de la Vega as his rival for Esperanza, he wants to take away everything from him.  Burning his home, locking him up in prison for 20 years and in the process, taking his daughter and raising her as his own.

Flash forward twenty years later, the two kids that Zorro saved: Alejandro (played by Antonio Banderas, “Spy Kids” films, “Desperado”) and Joaquin Murrieta are now adults and are thieves.  After a robbery, the Murrieta brothers who plan to make a getaway, are stopped by Capt. Harrison Love (Matt Letscher, “Eli Stone”, “Brothers and Sisters”) and instead of leniency, Love savagely kills Joaquin and shoots down their other friend, leaving Alejandro by himself.

Meanwhile, Montero returns to California and returns to the prison which Don de la Vega had been held for 20 years.  This opportunity gives de la Vega a chance to escape and exact his revenge on Montero.  But realizing that his own daughter Elena (played by Catherine Zeta-Jones, “Traffic”, “Entrapment”, “Chicago”) has been raised thinking that Montero is her true father.

Through circumstances, Don Diego de la Vega and Alejandro Murrieta’s path comes together once again and both are bent on getting revenge.  But before they go any further, Don Diego trains the Alejandro to become the new Zorro and to become a gentleman in society.

VIDEO & AUDIO:

“The Mask of Zorro” is presented in 1080p High Definition (aspect ratio 2:40:1).  I was quite pleased with the picture quality of the film as there was pretty good detail on the texture of the Mexican and Spanish clothing, detail of the interiors of Don’s cave hideout and the dirt and grime on the Murrieta boys.  A good number of shots were outdoors, so there was a good amount of lighting.  Skin tones were natural and you can see Anthony Hopkins blue eyes quite clearly.  I tend to get a bit unnerved with some films shot during the 80′s and 90′s because they look a bit waxy but “The Mask of Zorro” looks very good for a 1998 film.

As for audio, the film is presented in English, French and Portuguese 5.1 DTS-HD MA (and Spanish 5.1).  The soundtrack for the film is actually fantastic.  For an older film, I was expecting a front and center channel driven soundtrack but “The Mask of Zorro” really takes advantage of the surround and rear surround channels and also some LFE.  You hear the crowds clapping all around you during a scene when Montero arrives back to California.  Horses galloping and thunder is also well heard.  Fighting sequences, gun shots, explosions are really utilized quite well and for the most part, similar to “Air Force One” which is a 90′s film that was given great audio by Sony, the same can be said for “The Mask of Zorro”.  The lossless soundtrack is clear, understandable and quite immersive during the action sequences.

Subtitles are in English, English SDH, French, Portuguese and Spanish.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“The Mask of Zorro” comes with the following special features presented in standard definition, English stereo and optional Portuguese or Spanish subtitles:

• movieIQ – With BD-Live, you can obtain information about the film online while watching the film (optional).
• Director’s Commentary – Featuring audio commentary with director Marc Campbell.  Campbell provides insight on each scene and very thorough in his explanation of the talent, the set and more.
• Exclusive Documentary: Unmasking Zorro – (45:05) The making of “The Mask of Zorro” featuring director Martin Campbell, Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Antonio Banderas and more talking about the film, the history of Zorro, the production and costume design of the film, the music and more.
• Deleted Scenes – (4:50) Featuring two deleted scenes: The Wallet and The Resolution.
• “The Legend of Zorro” Behind-the-Scenes Peek – (5:02) A behind-the-scenes look at the making of “The Legend of Zorro” and interviews with Catherine Zeta-Jones, Antonio Banderas and director Martin Campbell who talk about reuniting seven years later for the sequel of “The Mask of Zorro”.
• Music Video by Marc Anthony and Tina Arena -(4:51) Music video for “I Spent My Whole Life Loving You” by Marc Anthony and Tina Arena.
• Exclusive Scene from “The Legend of Zorro” – (1:43) A short sneak peek of the 2005 film “Legend of Zorro”.

It actually has been a Zorro month for me during Fall/Winter 2009.  Having watched the complete “Zorro” TV series from 1958-1960, I was enchanted by the humor, drama and the action.  So, watching “The Mask of Zorro”, I felt that it was perfect timing on my part because the film was almost like a continuation of previous films and even the TV series because you forward to the future in which the hero Don de la Vega is now an older man, married and knowing that he’s getting too old to be doing jumps and escaping harm.

I was a bit skeptical at first seeing Anthony Hopkins taking on the role of Don Diego.  Mainly because I’ve gotten so used to seeing Guy Williams playing the role of “Zorro” but because this role calls for an older Don Diego, Hopkins is such a talented actor, that he makes you feel comfortable towards his character.

You easily accept him and sympathize for him as Don Diego goes through the worst, imaginable things that the hero has ever experienced.  But enter Antonio Banderas.  One thing that Guy Williams captured in the classic TV series is a character with class, charisma and is able to deliver in the action.  Banderas starts off as a bit of a ruffian but through the course of the film, we see the thief become the hero and much more refined.

And as for Catherine Zeta-Jones, she looks absolutely beautiful in this film and together, she and Banderas played their characters of Alejandro and Elena quite well.  They both have that chemical/sexual attraction towards each other but also, aside from the dramatics, the two also have a good repertoire for utilizing their characters to earn some laughs from the audience.

One thing that the original TV series had was high production value in which Walt Disney himself made sure “Zorro” utilized.  So, when Steven Spielberg was the name behind the producing of this film, you knew that there would be significant action scenes and most of all, a film that would receive good financing to pull off these fight scenes that Zorro is known for.  May it be him battling with a sword, climbing on rooftops or chandeliers,  being chased on horseback to Zorro taking on dozens of men, fight choreography was done well and cinematography was also solid and for the most part, those scenes were highly enjoyable.

“The Mask of Zorro” was definitely a hallmark for Zorro films.  After that periodic lull of having nothing satisfying since the late 1950′s and early 60′s, it was great to see the character of Zorro done well for this film. A screenplay that is not only action-driven but also character driven and you get all the humor and sexual attraction in this film as well.

Having seen the TV series and a few of the Zorro films in the past, I’m confident to say that “The Mask of Zorro” is the best Zorro film ever made thus far. For those of us who grew up watching the adventures of Don Diego de la Vega, this film is simply the passing of the title to a new character for a new generation of viewers.  Fortunately, the film was handled quite well and I really enjoyed seeing this film again and I’m sure you will too.  Definitely recommended!