Richie Mehta’s Siddharth was awarded best film at the close of the Beijing International Film Festival (Bjiff), while Wong Kar Wai’s The Grandmaster picked up three prizes including best director.
The Grandmaster also scooped best actress for Zhang Ziyi and best cinematography for Philippe Le Sourd at the festival’s Tiantan Awards on Wednesday night. Wong Kar Wai and Zhang both won prizes for the film in the same categories at the recent Asian Film Awards in Macau.
Best actor at Beijing’s Tiantan Awards went to Guillaume Gouix for French director Sylvain Chomet’s Attila Marcel, which also won best music. Korean director Lee Joon-ik’s Hope won best supporting actress for the performance of child actor Lee Re. Alan Rickman won best supporting actor for his role in Patrice Leconte’s A Promise.
Peter Ho-sun Chan’s American Dreams In China won best screenplay (Zhou Zhiyong, Zhang Ji and...
The Grandmaster also scooped best actress for Zhang Ziyi and best cinematography for Philippe Le Sourd at the festival’s Tiantan Awards on Wednesday night. Wong Kar Wai and Zhang both won prizes for the film in the same categories at the recent Asian Film Awards in Macau.
Best actor at Beijing’s Tiantan Awards went to Guillaume Gouix for French director Sylvain Chomet’s Attila Marcel, which also won best music. Korean director Lee Joon-ik’s Hope won best supporting actress for the performance of child actor Lee Re. Alan Rickman won best supporting actor for his role in Patrice Leconte’s A Promise.
Peter Ho-sun Chan’s American Dreams In China won best screenplay (Zhou Zhiyong, Zhang Ji and...
- 4/24/2014
- by lizshackleton@gmail.com (Liz Shackleton)
- ScreenDaily
East of Doheny has optioned Jim Benton's best-selling Franny K. Stein kids book series and will team with the Gotham Group to bring an animated film based on the franchise to the big screen.
Up first will be Franny K. Stein, Mad Scientist, which follows the exploits of the girl scientist and includes tongue-in-cheek references to classic monster and sci-fi movies.
East of Doheny's Kelly Gonda and Tracey Trench will produce, while Gotham's Ellen Goldsmith-Vein will executive produce alongside Julie Kane-Ritch and Benton.
The Franny K. Stein series includes six books, with a seventh scheduled to be published next year by Simon & Schuster.
"Franny's stories are essentially about being yourself and maintaining your individuality in a world that pushes for conformity," Gonda said. "The tone will be broadly funny but with real emotion."
There is no screenwriter or director attached yet.
Michigan-based writer Benton also is the author of the Dear Dumb Diary and It's Happy Bunny series. Franny K. Stein is the first character he has created for young children. ...
Up first will be Franny K. Stein, Mad Scientist, which follows the exploits of the girl scientist and includes tongue-in-cheek references to classic monster and sci-fi movies.
East of Doheny's Kelly Gonda and Tracey Trench will produce, while Gotham's Ellen Goldsmith-Vein will executive produce alongside Julie Kane-Ritch and Benton.
The Franny K. Stein series includes six books, with a seventh scheduled to be published next year by Simon & Schuster.
"Franny's stories are essentially about being yourself and maintaining your individuality in a world that pushes for conformity," Gonda said. "The tone will be broadly funny but with real emotion."
There is no screenwriter or director attached yet.
Michigan-based writer Benton also is the author of the Dear Dumb Diary and It's Happy Bunny series. Franny K. Stein is the first character he has created for young children. ...
- 6/28/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Variety reports writer-director Nora Ephron is in talks to direct the tween comedy Flipped for the indie production house East of Doheny. She'll team up with sister Delia Ephron to adapt the young-adult novel by Wendelin Van Draanen about two teenagers who share their first kiss together after spending the early years of their childhood hating each other. Herbie: Fully Loaded producer Tracy Trench with produce the project with Kelly Gonda. The Ephron sisters previously collaborated on You've Got Mail and Bewitched....
- 6/19/2006
- IMDbPro News
The last time we saw Inspector Clouseau, the once-illustrious Pink Panther franchise had fallen on hard times with actor (now TV director) Ted Wass stuck in the thankless role of attempting to fill the late Peter Sellers' formidable footwear in 1983's "Curse of the Pink Panther".
That title would have been equally apropos of the current incarnation, simply titled "The Pink Panther", which finally arrives after being bounced around the release schedule numerous times, in part because of Sony's purchase of MGM/UA.
Even with the inspired choice of Steve Martin in the Clouseau role, this "Panther" picture is more bumbling and fumbling than the blissfully oblivious, accident-prone Inspector.
The painfully unfunny results -- a couple of exceptions, like the "hamburger" bit, have already begun to lose their comic luster thanks to all the advance advertising -- likely won't have audiences tickled pink.
Even with the added enticement of the lovely Beyonce, whose current hit "Check on It" has been remixed with a little Mancini, there's a stale, warmed-over feel to the entire production that ultimately will keep ticket sales in check.
There's slapstick and then there's the finely honed variety of physical comedy introduced by Sellers and director Blake Edwards in 1964's "The Pink Panther". Putting a broader stamp on a distinct style that paid homage to the likes of Chaplin, Keaton and Jacques Tati, the collaboration flourished over the course of a half-dozen pictures, all bearing Henry Mancini's immortal signature theme.
But even though Martin (who shares screenplay credit with "Stripes" scribe Len Blum) and director Shawn Levy worked together before in the first "Cheaper by the Dozen" remake, they fail to generate the necessary comic sparks. Too many of the gags fall flat on their face long before the inspector does, and the entire pace feels like it's on some sort of three-second delay.
The downbeat upshot strands a lot of usually reliable talent, also including Kevin Kline as Clouseau's pompous superior and Jean Reno as Clouseau's stoic assistant, as well as Emily Mortimer and Kristin Chenoweth, in a comedy vacuum, timing their performances to a nonexistent laugh track.
Despite being filmed in New York, Paris and Prague, followed by some reshoots in Vancouver, the picture might as well have been shot on a studio backlot for all the excitement those backdrops manage to impart.
Miraculously, Mancini's score is about the only thing that manages to emerge unscathed, even with composer Christophe Beck's attempts at a techno-tinged update.
The Pink Panther
Columbia Pictures
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and Columbia Pictures present
a Robert Simonds production
a Shawn Levy film
Credits:
Director: Shawn Levy
Screenplay: Len Blum and Steve Martin
Story: Len Blum and Michael Saltzman
Based on characters created by: Maurice Richlin & Blake Edwards
Based on the Pink Panther films by: Blake Edwards
Producer: Robert Simonds
Executive producers: Tracey Trench, Ira Shuman
Director of photography: Jonathan Brown
Production designer: Lilly Kilvert
Editors: George Folsey Jr., Brad E. Wilhite
Costume designer: Joseph G. Aulisi
Music: Christophe Beck
Cast:
Inspector Clouseau: Steve Martin
Dreyfus: Kevin Kline
Gilbert Ponton: Jean Reno
Xania: Beyonce Knowles
Cherie: Kristin Chenoweth
Nicole: Emily Mortimer
Yuri: Henry Czerny
MPAA rating PG
Running time -- 92 minutes...
That title would have been equally apropos of the current incarnation, simply titled "The Pink Panther", which finally arrives after being bounced around the release schedule numerous times, in part because of Sony's purchase of MGM/UA.
Even with the inspired choice of Steve Martin in the Clouseau role, this "Panther" picture is more bumbling and fumbling than the blissfully oblivious, accident-prone Inspector.
The painfully unfunny results -- a couple of exceptions, like the "hamburger" bit, have already begun to lose their comic luster thanks to all the advance advertising -- likely won't have audiences tickled pink.
Even with the added enticement of the lovely Beyonce, whose current hit "Check on It" has been remixed with a little Mancini, there's a stale, warmed-over feel to the entire production that ultimately will keep ticket sales in check.
There's slapstick and then there's the finely honed variety of physical comedy introduced by Sellers and director Blake Edwards in 1964's "The Pink Panther". Putting a broader stamp on a distinct style that paid homage to the likes of Chaplin, Keaton and Jacques Tati, the collaboration flourished over the course of a half-dozen pictures, all bearing Henry Mancini's immortal signature theme.
But even though Martin (who shares screenplay credit with "Stripes" scribe Len Blum) and director Shawn Levy worked together before in the first "Cheaper by the Dozen" remake, they fail to generate the necessary comic sparks. Too many of the gags fall flat on their face long before the inspector does, and the entire pace feels like it's on some sort of three-second delay.
The downbeat upshot strands a lot of usually reliable talent, also including Kevin Kline as Clouseau's pompous superior and Jean Reno as Clouseau's stoic assistant, as well as Emily Mortimer and Kristin Chenoweth, in a comedy vacuum, timing their performances to a nonexistent laugh track.
Despite being filmed in New York, Paris and Prague, followed by some reshoots in Vancouver, the picture might as well have been shot on a studio backlot for all the excitement those backdrops manage to impart.
Miraculously, Mancini's score is about the only thing that manages to emerge unscathed, even with composer Christophe Beck's attempts at a techno-tinged update.
The Pink Panther
Columbia Pictures
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and Columbia Pictures present
a Robert Simonds production
a Shawn Levy film
Credits:
Director: Shawn Levy
Screenplay: Len Blum and Steve Martin
Story: Len Blum and Michael Saltzman
Based on characters created by: Maurice Richlin & Blake Edwards
Based on the Pink Panther films by: Blake Edwards
Producer: Robert Simonds
Executive producers: Tracey Trench, Ira Shuman
Director of photography: Jonathan Brown
Production designer: Lilly Kilvert
Editors: George Folsey Jr., Brad E. Wilhite
Costume designer: Joseph G. Aulisi
Music: Christophe Beck
Cast:
Inspector Clouseau: Steve Martin
Dreyfus: Kevin Kline
Gilbert Ponton: Jean Reno
Xania: Beyonce Knowles
Cherie: Kristin Chenoweth
Nicole: Emily Mortimer
Yuri: Henry Czerny
MPAA rating PG
Running time -- 92 minutes...
- 2/26/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Martin Lawrence takes the inevitable Eddie Murphy-Vin Diesel career turn in 20th Century Fox's predictable yet passably entertaining "Rebound". Aimed squarely at young squirts who in the past could only dream of sneaking into one of his raunchier movies, this by-the-playbook kids-sports vehicle presents Lawrence as an outwardly tough guy mellowed by a bunch of 13-year-old kids on the verge of puberty. Business should be merely fair because there is little of the gross-out qualities or edgy adult situations required to attract older teens.
Lawrence's character, Roy McCormick, is no music mogul -- he just acts, dresses and lives like one, with bodyguards, a black Cadillac SUV, expensive suits and shades of a Sean "P. Diddy" Combs or Jay-Z. He's actually an arrogant big-time college basketball coach. At the start of director Steve Carr's ("Daddy Day Care") family comedy, Roy throws one temper tantrum too many and promptly gets banned for life from the league.
Roy and his small-time agent, Tim Fink (Breckin Meyer), face unemployment until kids from Roy's own Mount Vernon Junior High fax him a scribbled request to rescue their pathetic basketball team, coached by teacher Mr. Newirth (Horatio Sanz). Curiously, little is made throughout the screenplay by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore of the star coach being back at his alma mater.
Keith Ellis (Oren Williams) is the leader (read: hotshot) of the inept team of misfits, and he naturally has a hot yet doting single mom, Jeanie Wendy Raquel Robinson), who teaches at the school. Jeanie warns the ethically challenged Roy from the outset that she's keeping her eye on him. Of course, Roy has eyes for no-nonsense Jeanie as well. Parents in the audience can count the cliches while waiting for Roy to develop into Cosby-esque father material.
Practices and games, in which Roy's Smelters are typically outscored as if they were playing an NBA franchise, should be fun for young viewers. These are actually quite brief, as is, for that matter every scene, and thus the entire film. All of this, plus Roy's morality life lessons, makes "Rebound" resemble an extended version of a wholesome television sitcom.
The youngsters' performances are all acceptable but not much more, as the stereotypes they portray pretty much defeat them. There is a boy who is very tall but uncoordinated, one who constantly vomits and one who is a tough girl. The best young thespian is Steven Christopher Parker as the towering nerd Wes.
Other small supporting roles are filled by Megan Mullally as the cynical school principal and Patrick Warburton as a testosterone-filled rival coach. Laura Kightlinger turns up in a cameo.
Lawrence won't disappoint his fans, who no doubt will revel in his brief, second role as Preacher Don, a slick gold-toothed man of the cloth -- purple cloth suit and fedora, that is -- who delivers a barely intelligible "pep talk" while resembling a ghetto pimp.
The soundtrack includes pop tunes ranging from Paul Anka to Outkast. If only "Rebound"'s story had a similar range.
REBOUND
20th Century Fox
A Robert Simonds/Runteldat production
Credits:
Director: Steve Carr
Screenwriters: Jon Lucas & Scott Moore
Story: William Wolff, Ed Decter & John J. Strauss
Producer: Robert Simonds
Executive producers: Martin Lawrence, Tracey Trench, Heidi Santelli, Paul Deason
Director of photography: Glen MacPherson
Production designer: Jaymes Hinkle
Editor: Craig Herring
Music: Teddy Castellucci
Costume designer: Salvador Perez
Cast:
Roy/Preacher Don: Martin Lawrence
Jeanie: Wendy Raquel Robinson
Tim: Breckin Meyer
Mr. Newirth: Horatio Sanz
Keith: Oren Williams
Larry Sr.: Patrick Warburton
Principal Walsh: Megan Mullally
One Love: Eddy Martin
Wes: Steven Christopher Parker
MPAA rating PG
Running time -- 87 minutes...
Lawrence's character, Roy McCormick, is no music mogul -- he just acts, dresses and lives like one, with bodyguards, a black Cadillac SUV, expensive suits and shades of a Sean "P. Diddy" Combs or Jay-Z. He's actually an arrogant big-time college basketball coach. At the start of director Steve Carr's ("Daddy Day Care") family comedy, Roy throws one temper tantrum too many and promptly gets banned for life from the league.
Roy and his small-time agent, Tim Fink (Breckin Meyer), face unemployment until kids from Roy's own Mount Vernon Junior High fax him a scribbled request to rescue their pathetic basketball team, coached by teacher Mr. Newirth (Horatio Sanz). Curiously, little is made throughout the screenplay by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore of the star coach being back at his alma mater.
Keith Ellis (Oren Williams) is the leader (read: hotshot) of the inept team of misfits, and he naturally has a hot yet doting single mom, Jeanie Wendy Raquel Robinson), who teaches at the school. Jeanie warns the ethically challenged Roy from the outset that she's keeping her eye on him. Of course, Roy has eyes for no-nonsense Jeanie as well. Parents in the audience can count the cliches while waiting for Roy to develop into Cosby-esque father material.
Practices and games, in which Roy's Smelters are typically outscored as if they were playing an NBA franchise, should be fun for young viewers. These are actually quite brief, as is, for that matter every scene, and thus the entire film. All of this, plus Roy's morality life lessons, makes "Rebound" resemble an extended version of a wholesome television sitcom.
The youngsters' performances are all acceptable but not much more, as the stereotypes they portray pretty much defeat them. There is a boy who is very tall but uncoordinated, one who constantly vomits and one who is a tough girl. The best young thespian is Steven Christopher Parker as the towering nerd Wes.
Other small supporting roles are filled by Megan Mullally as the cynical school principal and Patrick Warburton as a testosterone-filled rival coach. Laura Kightlinger turns up in a cameo.
Lawrence won't disappoint his fans, who no doubt will revel in his brief, second role as Preacher Don, a slick gold-toothed man of the cloth -- purple cloth suit and fedora, that is -- who delivers a barely intelligible "pep talk" while resembling a ghetto pimp.
The soundtrack includes pop tunes ranging from Paul Anka to Outkast. If only "Rebound"'s story had a similar range.
REBOUND
20th Century Fox
A Robert Simonds/Runteldat production
Credits:
Director: Steve Carr
Screenwriters: Jon Lucas & Scott Moore
Story: William Wolff, Ed Decter & John J. Strauss
Producer: Robert Simonds
Executive producers: Martin Lawrence, Tracey Trench, Heidi Santelli, Paul Deason
Director of photography: Glen MacPherson
Production designer: Jaymes Hinkle
Editor: Craig Herring
Music: Teddy Castellucci
Costume designer: Salvador Perez
Cast:
Roy/Preacher Don: Martin Lawrence
Jeanie: Wendy Raquel Robinson
Tim: Breckin Meyer
Mr. Newirth: Horatio Sanz
Keith: Oren Williams
Larry Sr.: Patrick Warburton
Principal Walsh: Megan Mullally
One Love: Eddy Martin
Wes: Steven Christopher Parker
MPAA rating PG
Running time -- 87 minutes...
Martin Lawrence takes the inevitable Eddie Murphy-Vin Diesel career turn in 20th Century Fox's predictable yet passably entertaining "Rebound". Aimed squarely at young squirts who in the past could only dream of sneaking into one of his raunchier movies, this by-the-playbook kids-sports vehicle presents Lawrence as an outwardly tough guy mellowed by a bunch of 13-year-old kids on the verge of puberty. Business should be merely fair because there is little of the gross-out qualities or edgy adult situations required to attract older teens.
Lawrence's character, Roy McCormick, is no music mogul -- he just acts, dresses and lives like one, with bodyguards, a black Cadillac SUV, expensive suits and shades of a Sean "P. Diddy" Combs or Jay-Z. He's actually an arrogant big-time college basketball coach. At the start of director Steve Carr's ("Daddy Day Care") family comedy, Roy throws one temper tantrum too many and promptly gets banned for life from the league.
Roy and his small-time agent, Tim Fink (Breckin Meyer), face unemployment until kids from Roy's own Mount Vernon Junior High fax him a scribbled request to rescue their pathetic basketball team, coached by teacher Mr. Newirth (Horatio Sanz). Curiously, little is made throughout the screenplay by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore of the star coach being back at his alma mater.
Keith Ellis (Oren Williams) is the leader (read: hotshot) of the inept team of misfits, and he naturally has a hot yet doting single mom, Jeanie Wendy Raquel Robinson), who teaches at the school. Jeanie warns the ethically challenged Roy from the outset that she's keeping her eye on him. Of course, Roy has eyes for no-nonsense Jeanie as well. Parents in the audience can count the cliches while waiting for Roy to develop into Cosby-esque father material.
Practices and games, in which Roy's Smelters are typically outscored as if they were playing an NBA franchise, should be fun for young viewers. These are actually quite brief, as is, for that matter every scene, and thus the entire film. All of this, plus Roy's morality life lessons, makes "Rebound" resemble an extended version of a wholesome television sitcom.
The youngsters' performances are all acceptable but not much more, as the stereotypes they portray pretty much defeat them. There is a boy who is very tall but uncoordinated, one who constantly vomits and one who is a tough girl. The best young thespian is Steven Christopher Parker as the towering nerd Wes.
Other small supporting roles are filled by Megan Mullally as the cynical school principal and Patrick Warburton as a testosterone-filled rival coach. Laura Kightlinger turns up in a cameo.
Lawrence won't disappoint his fans, who no doubt will revel in his brief, second role as Preacher Don, a slick gold-toothed man of the cloth -- purple cloth suit and fedora, that is -- who delivers a barely intelligible "pep talk" while resembling a ghetto pimp.
The soundtrack includes pop tunes ranging from Paul Anka to Outkast. If only "Rebound"'s story had a similar range.
REBOUND
20th Century Fox
A Robert Simonds/Runteldat production
Credits:
Director: Steve Carr
Screenwriters: Jon Lucas & Scott Moore
Story: William Wolff, Ed Decter & John J. Strauss
Producer: Robert Simonds
Executive producers: Martin Lawrence, Tracey Trench, Heidi Santelli, Paul Deason
Director of photography: Glen MacPherson
Production designer: Jaymes Hinkle
Editor: Craig Herring
Music: Teddy Castellucci
Costume designer: Salvador Perez
Cast:
Roy/Preacher Don: Martin Lawrence
Jeanie: Wendy Raquel Robinson
Tim: Breckin Meyer
Mr. Newirth: Horatio Sanz
Keith: Oren Williams
Larry Sr.: Patrick Warburton
Principal Walsh: Megan Mullally
One Love: Eddy Martin
Wes: Steven Christopher Parker
MPAA rating PG
Running time -- 87 minutes...
Lawrence's character, Roy McCormick, is no music mogul -- he just acts, dresses and lives like one, with bodyguards, a black Cadillac SUV, expensive suits and shades of a Sean "P. Diddy" Combs or Jay-Z. He's actually an arrogant big-time college basketball coach. At the start of director Steve Carr's ("Daddy Day Care") family comedy, Roy throws one temper tantrum too many and promptly gets banned for life from the league.
Roy and his small-time agent, Tim Fink (Breckin Meyer), face unemployment until kids from Roy's own Mount Vernon Junior High fax him a scribbled request to rescue their pathetic basketball team, coached by teacher Mr. Newirth (Horatio Sanz). Curiously, little is made throughout the screenplay by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore of the star coach being back at his alma mater.
Keith Ellis (Oren Williams) is the leader (read: hotshot) of the inept team of misfits, and he naturally has a hot yet doting single mom, Jeanie Wendy Raquel Robinson), who teaches at the school. Jeanie warns the ethically challenged Roy from the outset that she's keeping her eye on him. Of course, Roy has eyes for no-nonsense Jeanie as well. Parents in the audience can count the cliches while waiting for Roy to develop into Cosby-esque father material.
Practices and games, in which Roy's Smelters are typically outscored as if they were playing an NBA franchise, should be fun for young viewers. These are actually quite brief, as is, for that matter every scene, and thus the entire film. All of this, plus Roy's morality life lessons, makes "Rebound" resemble an extended version of a wholesome television sitcom.
The youngsters' performances are all acceptable but not much more, as the stereotypes they portray pretty much defeat them. There is a boy who is very tall but uncoordinated, one who constantly vomits and one who is a tough girl. The best young thespian is Steven Christopher Parker as the towering nerd Wes.
Other small supporting roles are filled by Megan Mullally as the cynical school principal and Patrick Warburton as a testosterone-filled rival coach. Laura Kightlinger turns up in a cameo.
Lawrence won't disappoint his fans, who no doubt will revel in his brief, second role as Preacher Don, a slick gold-toothed man of the cloth -- purple cloth suit and fedora, that is -- who delivers a barely intelligible "pep talk" while resembling a ghetto pimp.
The soundtrack includes pop tunes ranging from Paul Anka to Outkast. If only "Rebound"'s story had a similar range.
REBOUND
20th Century Fox
A Robert Simonds/Runteldat production
Credits:
Director: Steve Carr
Screenwriters: Jon Lucas & Scott Moore
Story: William Wolff, Ed Decter & John J. Strauss
Producer: Robert Simonds
Executive producers: Martin Lawrence, Tracey Trench, Heidi Santelli, Paul Deason
Director of photography: Glen MacPherson
Production designer: Jaymes Hinkle
Editor: Craig Herring
Music: Teddy Castellucci
Costume designer: Salvador Perez
Cast:
Roy/Preacher Don: Martin Lawrence
Jeanie: Wendy Raquel Robinson
Tim: Breckin Meyer
Mr. Newirth: Horatio Sanz
Keith: Oren Williams
Larry Sr.: Patrick Warburton
Principal Walsh: Megan Mullally
One Love: Eddy Martin
Wes: Steven Christopher Parker
MPAA rating PG
Running time -- 87 minutes...
Herbie comes to theaters overloaded since much of the publicity surrounding Disney's retro children's film has focused on the grown-up problems of its star, Lindsay Lohan. Nevertheless, Herbie, the anthropomorphic auto, would not have survived five decades of film and TV exposure unless he was one resilient VW Beetle. And Lohan has star potential even if this vehicle -- ahem -- doesn't allow her to explore the comic and dramatic range of her most recent film, Mean Girls.
Herbie: Fully Loaded is, pure and simple, a children's film. Youngsters, who have no idea that Herbie has been around the track so many times, will giggle at this car with so many needy emotions. Teens, attracted by Lohan, will be entertained even if most would prefer the action in The Fast and the Furious. Baby-sitting adults will be amused to discover a bit of auto-eroticism in a G-rated film: Yes, a sleek, shiny New Beetle turns Herbie's lights on -- even if it is his taillights. Boxoffice will be decent though not extraordinary.
Acknowledging Herbie's long, historic track record, the new filmmakers -- an entire pit crew of writers and director Angela Robinson, who created a stir at Sundance in 2004 with D.E.B.S. -- initially show Herbie as a tired wreck arriving at the junkyard. But wait! A new college grad, Maggie Peyton (Lohan), a third-generation member of a NASCAR racing family, suddenly needs wheels for a few weeks. It isn't even love at third sight, but eventually Maggie decides to buy Herbie for $75.
The old VW springs into action immediately: Herbie wins a street race for Maggie within minutes of his purchase even though she barely touches the steering wheel. That race sets up all the movie's elements: There's her old high school pal Kevin (Justin Long), a mechanic trying to rescue a debt-ridden car repair shop who is bedazzled with both Maggie and her Bug. There is arrogant NASCAR champ Trip Murphy (Matt Dillon), who gets smoked by Herbie and vows revenge. There's her dad, Ray Peyton Sr. (Michael Keaton), who forbids her to race again. (It has something to do with her looking like her late mom and he can't afford to lose her again, if that makes any sense.) Finally, there's Ray Jr. (Breckin Meyer), who unlike Maggie has not inherited the family's racing gene.
Plot is best ignored in a movie where a car is the dominant character, his rolling headlights providing insight into his emotions and squirting oil and banging doors help him to get his points across. The racing footage -- accomplished with split screens and a combination of second unit photography, CGI and digital effects -- gets Herbie around the track, though some of the effects are a bit cheesy.
Lohan manages to establish a credible character in this young woman at a crossroads in her life. Unfortunately, the other actors get stuck in routine roles that fail to exploit their talents. Tech credits are OK. The film has fun with a soundtrack of classic rock standards, all used at appropriate moments.
HERBIE: FULLY LOADED
Buena Vista Pictures
A Robert Simonds production
Credits:
Director: Angela Robinson
Screenwriters: Thomas Lennon & Robert Ben Garant, Alfred Gough & Miles Millar
Story by: Thomas Lennon & Robert Ben Garant, Mark Perez
Based on characters created by: Gordon Buford
Producer: Robert Simonds
Executive producers: Charles Hirschhorn, Tracey Trench, Michael Fottrell
Director of photography: Greg Gardiner
Production designer: Daniel Bradford
Music: Mark Mothersbaugh
Co-producer: Lisa Stewart
Costumes: Frank Helmer
Editor: Wendy Greene Bricmont
Cast:
Maggie Peyton: Lindsay Lohan
Ray Peyton Sr.: Michael Keaton
Trip Murphy: Matt Dillon
Ray Jr.: Breckin Meyer
Kevin: Justin Long
Sally: Cheryl Hines
Running time -- 100 minutes
MPAA rating: G...
Herbie: Fully Loaded is, pure and simple, a children's film. Youngsters, who have no idea that Herbie has been around the track so many times, will giggle at this car with so many needy emotions. Teens, attracted by Lohan, will be entertained even if most would prefer the action in The Fast and the Furious. Baby-sitting adults will be amused to discover a bit of auto-eroticism in a G-rated film: Yes, a sleek, shiny New Beetle turns Herbie's lights on -- even if it is his taillights. Boxoffice will be decent though not extraordinary.
Acknowledging Herbie's long, historic track record, the new filmmakers -- an entire pit crew of writers and director Angela Robinson, who created a stir at Sundance in 2004 with D.E.B.S. -- initially show Herbie as a tired wreck arriving at the junkyard. But wait! A new college grad, Maggie Peyton (Lohan), a third-generation member of a NASCAR racing family, suddenly needs wheels for a few weeks. It isn't even love at third sight, but eventually Maggie decides to buy Herbie for $75.
The old VW springs into action immediately: Herbie wins a street race for Maggie within minutes of his purchase even though she barely touches the steering wheel. That race sets up all the movie's elements: There's her old high school pal Kevin (Justin Long), a mechanic trying to rescue a debt-ridden car repair shop who is bedazzled with both Maggie and her Bug. There is arrogant NASCAR champ Trip Murphy (Matt Dillon), who gets smoked by Herbie and vows revenge. There's her dad, Ray Peyton Sr. (Michael Keaton), who forbids her to race again. (It has something to do with her looking like her late mom and he can't afford to lose her again, if that makes any sense.) Finally, there's Ray Jr. (Breckin Meyer), who unlike Maggie has not inherited the family's racing gene.
Plot is best ignored in a movie where a car is the dominant character, his rolling headlights providing insight into his emotions and squirting oil and banging doors help him to get his points across. The racing footage -- accomplished with split screens and a combination of second unit photography, CGI and digital effects -- gets Herbie around the track, though some of the effects are a bit cheesy.
Lohan manages to establish a credible character in this young woman at a crossroads in her life. Unfortunately, the other actors get stuck in routine roles that fail to exploit their talents. Tech credits are OK. The film has fun with a soundtrack of classic rock standards, all used at appropriate moments.
HERBIE: FULLY LOADED
Buena Vista Pictures
A Robert Simonds production
Credits:
Director: Angela Robinson
Screenwriters: Thomas Lennon & Robert Ben Garant, Alfred Gough & Miles Millar
Story by: Thomas Lennon & Robert Ben Garant, Mark Perez
Based on characters created by: Gordon Buford
Producer: Robert Simonds
Executive producers: Charles Hirschhorn, Tracey Trench, Michael Fottrell
Director of photography: Greg Gardiner
Production designer: Daniel Bradford
Music: Mark Mothersbaugh
Co-producer: Lisa Stewart
Costumes: Frank Helmer
Editor: Wendy Greene Bricmont
Cast:
Maggie Peyton: Lindsay Lohan
Ray Peyton Sr.: Michael Keaton
Trip Murphy: Matt Dillon
Ray Jr.: Breckin Meyer
Kevin: Justin Long
Sally: Cheryl Hines
Running time -- 100 minutes
MPAA rating: G...
Megan Mullally and Breckin Meyer have been tapped to join the Martin Lawrence starrer Rage Control for 20th Century Fox and the Robert Simonds Co. The Steve Carr-directed film will star Lawrence as a legendary college basketball coach who, after a public meltdown, is forced to coach a losing junior high school team. Mullally will play the principal of the junior high whose team Lawrence is coaching, while Meyer will star as the agent of Lawrence's character. Kimora Lee Simmons, who recently wrapped a role in MGM's Beauty Shop, also has joined the cast as a reporter who gives the coach a hard time throughout the movie. Patrick Warburton rounds out the cast. Robert Simonds is producing the project, and Tracey Trench serves as executive producer along with Carr's producing partner Heidi Santelli. At the studio, the project is overseen by TCF division topper Hutch Parker along with Emma Watts. Mullally is repped by the Gersh Agency and Handprint Entertainment. Meyer is repped by the Gersh Agency and Brillstein-Grey. He next stars in Fox's Garfield: The Movie.
Patrick Warburton is set to star opposite Martin Lawrence in 20th Century Fox's Rage Control. Warburton will play Larry Burgess, a junior high school basketball coach who has one of the best teams in the league. When coach Roy McCormick (Martin Lawrence) is suspended from college ball for attacking a referee, he is forced to coach a junior high team that is desperate to beat Burgess' team. Steve Carr is directing, with Robert Simonds producing. Tracey Trench serves as executive producer alongside Carr's producing partner, Heidi Santelli. Warburton's credits include the television series Less Than Perfect and Seinfeld and the feature films Men in Black II and Joe Somebody and the upcoming Bob Steel, First Time Caller. He's also voicing the character of Kronk in The Emperor's New Groove II. Warburton is repped by Paradigm and managed by Delores Robinson.
- 5/12/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Kevin Kline is in negotiations to team up with Steve Martin in The Pink Panther for MGM and helmer Shawn Levy. Shooting starts in May in New York, followed by Paris. Kline also joins Beyonce and Jean Reno in the Robert Simonds-produced project. It follows the story of chief Inspector Dreyfus (Kline), who needs an idiot to take over the investigation of the missing legendary Pink Panther diamond ring. The person he needs is a fool who will divert public attention that in turn will make him look better when he solves the case himself. He then turns to Inspector Clouseau (Martin). In the Pink Panther films, Inspector Dreyfus was played by Herbert Lom, who originated the role in 1964's A Shot in the Dark. Simonds is producing from a script by Martin. Tracey Trench, president of the Robert Simonds Co., will executive produce. At the studio, Michael Nathanson and Toby Jaffe are overseeing. Kline, repped by WMA and CAA, next appears on the big screen reteaming with MGM on De-lovely, the Cole Porter biopic based on the life of the legendary musician. Kline stars as the title character. The film is scheduled to unspool in May at the Festival de Cannes.
- 3/19/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Kevin Kline is in negotiations to team up with Steve Martin in The Pink Panther for MGM and helmer Shawn Levy. Shooting starts in May in New York, followed by Paris. Kline also joins Beyonce and Jean Reno in the Robert Simonds-produced project. It follows the story of chief Inspector Dreyfus (Kline), who needs an idiot to take over the investigation of the missing legendary Pink Panther diamond ring. The person he needs is a fool who will divert public attention that in turn will make him look better when he solves the case himself. He then turns to Inspector Clouseau (Martin). In the Pink Panther films, Inspector Dreyfus was played by Herbert Lom, who originated the role in 1964's A Shot in the Dark. Simonds is producing from a script by Martin. Tracey Trench, president of the Robert Simonds Co., will executive produce. At the studio, Michael Nathanson and Toby Jaffe are overseeing. Kline, repped by WMA and CAA, next appears on the big screen reteaming with MGM on De-lovely, the Cole Porter biopic based on the life of the legendary musician. Kline stars as the title character. The film is scheduled to unspool in May at the Festival de Cannes.
- 3/19/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Steve Carr has been tapped to direct the Martin Lawrence vehicle Rage Control for 20th Century Fox and the Robert Simonds Co. With Carr now on board, the project is gearing up for an April start, sources said. Originally developed at DreamWorks by newly installed head of production Adam Goodman, Rage Control will star Lawrence as a legendary college basketball coach who, after a public meltdown, is forced to coach a losing junior varsity team. The most current revisions on the script were done by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore. Robert Simonds is producing the project, with Tracey Trench serving as executive producer along with Carr's producing partner Heidi Santelli. At the studio, the project is being overseen by TCF division topper Hutch Parker along with Emma Watts. Carr is repped by WMA, Nine Yards Entertainment's Aaron Ray and attorney Karl Austen. He most recently directed Daddy Day Care and Dr. Dolittle 2, both of which topped the $100 million mark. Simonds' most recent producing effort was the Steve Martin starrer Cheaper by the Dozen. The Fox family film opened during the recent holiday season and went on to top the $130 million mark.
- 2/19/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
On the heels of signing Steve Martin to star in The Birth of the Pink Panther, MGM has enlisted Shawn Levy and Robert Simonds to direct and produce, respectively. The comedy will reunite the trio, who worked together on 20th Century Fox's upcoming Cheaper by the Dozen. Levy and Simonds first worked together on Fox's Just Married, which made more than $100 million worldwide. Tracey Trench will executive produce with an aim for a spring shoot in Paris and New York. Martin is doing a rewrite on the Len Blum script and will tailor it to his comedic sensibility.
- 11/18/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Red-hot comedy writing duo Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant have been tapped by the Walt Disney Co. to pen the redo of Herbie the Love Bug in a deal that comes close to the seven-figure mark, sources said. Robert Simonds is producing. The project has been in development at the studio for years, with various versions penned by such scribes as writing team Blake Snyder and Colby Carr as well as David Berenbaum. It is understood that the studio is scrapping all previous incarnations of the project to pick up the Lennon and Garant take, which puts Herbie in the world of NASCAR. Simonds will produce, with Tracey Trench -- production topper at the Robert Simonds Co. -- likely taking an executive producer credit. At the studio, it's being overseen by Nina Jacobson and Karen Glass. Simonds worked with the duo on Taxi, which they wrote and he is producing for 20th Century Fox. That project, lensing in Los Angeles, stars Queen Latifah and Jimmy Fallon for director Tim Story.
- 10/24/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The writing team of J. David Stem and David Weiss have booked back-to-back scripting jobs for the Robert Simonds Co. and Kelsey Grammer's Grammnet Prods. First up, the duo will pen an untitled comedy for Simonds and the Walt Disney Co. The live-action project is described as a deconstruction of the world of fairies and sprites. Simonds will produce, with Robert Simonds Co. production topper Tracey Trench handling executive producer chores. At the studio, the project is being shepherded by Karen Glass and Jill Morris. For Grammer's Paramount-based outfit, Stem and Weiss just finalized a blind script deal that the company is prepping to take to networks this week. The logline of the comedic project is being tightly guarded.
- 10/28/2002
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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