Tower Heist

'Tower Heist'A Universal Pictures release given Imagine Entertainment in colaboration with Relativity Media of the John Grazer production. Created by Grazer, Eddie Murphy, Kim Roth. Executive producers, Bill Carraro, Karen Kehela Sherwood. Directed by Brett Ratner. Script, Ted Griffin, Shaun Nathanson story, Adam Cooper, Bill Collage, Griffin.Josh Kovaks - Ben Stiller Slide - Eddie Murphy Charlie - Casey Affleck Arthur Shaw - Alan Alda Mr. Fitzhugh - Matthew Broderick Lester - Stephen McKinley Henderson Mr. Simon - Judd Hirsh Special Agent Claire Denham - Tea Leoni Enrique Dev'Reaux - Michael Pena Odessa - Gabourey Sidibe Miss Iovenko - Nina AriandaFurther evidence the working-class is maintenance its pitchforks to storm Wall Street's castle, "Tower Heist" delivers a classic-fashioned comedy caper by which employees inside a tony residential high-rise plan to steal back the millions embezzled through the Bernie Madoff-style body fat cat residing in the building's penthouse. However the large-budget pic goes wonky in order to the financial institution, because of its lackluster pacing and shortage from the characteristics that typically earn stars Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy their income -- namely, laughs. Still, their participation should help safeguard Universal's investment, making certain decent returns in to the holidays. Inside a heist movie, the a shorter period allocated to setup the greater. But helmer Brett Ratner, whose unapologetically broad yet super-clever entertainments have formerly shown an enthusiastic feeling of what auds want, rather draws the setup. Smitten using the building (Trump Tower, but never recognized as a result), he deliberately determines each one of the figures, from smug billionaire Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda, perfectly cast) to dutiful building manager Josh Kovaks (Stiller), who admires Shaw and takes his job incredibly seriously -- until he discovers the Tower's top-floor tenant pocketed the staff's retirement savings. The script, credited to 5 authors, with patience waits for disillusion to sink in, trickling lower with the building and it is personnel, including a unaware expectant-father concierge (Casey Affleck), a bankrupt investor (Matthew Broderick) along with a devastated old doorman (Stephen McKinley Henderson) who attempts to step before a subway train when he discovers what grew to become of his amount of money. The film also offers a first-day-on-the-job bellhop (Michael Pena), whose arrival enables for any remedial tour from the Tower's security procedures, which seem complicated try not to really impact the heist by any means. For that first 40 minutes approximately, the pic plays just like a dull blue-collar drama populated entirely by stereotypes, none more crazy than Murphy, who seems on Josh's way back and forth from work, putting on a do-rag and shouting at his girlfriend on the street -- a welcome go back to the comic's irreverent, 1980s-era persona. Sadly, Murphy, who apparently hatched the project being an all-black response to the "Ocean's Eleven" series, is not within the movie much. When his idea arrived at the screen, it absolutely was rethought so much that Murphy now finds themself the only real black character within the initial crew, enlisted because "he's been arrested a lot of occasions." The gang later recruits a Jamaican safe-cracking maid performed by "Precious" star Gabourey Sidibe, who gives Murphy an opportunity to squirm under her sexual advances (amusing) and battle body fat jokes (less). When the wheels finally begin to switch on Josh's intend to steal your money back Shaw embezzled, "Tower Heist" accumulates some much-needed momentum. Ratner finds themself on firmer ground such familiar genre territory, getting formerly done his best product on little-seen heist movie "Following the Sunset," which recognized the only factor more entertaining than really nabbing a multimillion-dollar prize is looking to get away by using it. "Tower Heist" stays the relaxation of their running time monitoring the crew because they attempt to infiltrate Shaw's penthouse, locate his hidden millions and, when that fails, make served by the valued 1963 Ferrari he keeps parked in the family room. However the effects get short shrift -- an unusual choice, after getting introduced Tea Leoni like a supportive FBI agent who concurs to day Josh the Saturday following the heist is planned. The resolution feels rushed, especially as concerns Stiller's character the actor, so great at playing annoyed, may have been better used attempting to thwart the heist from inside, instead of leading it. A subplot by which Josh and Shaw play computer chess indicates there is a fight-of-the-wits aspect towards the caper, although the most entertaining bits showcase the ensemble at their most unaware, as when Murphy tests his amateur cohorts by daring these to steal $50 price of merchandise in the mall -- the scene that best fosters genuine identification with one of these buffoons. Throughout the heist itself, the suspense is palpable, if perhaps because Christophe Beck's funky score blares its horns so insistently, one can't help but feel anxious. However the laughs don't follow, wasting such set pieces as Broderick dangling in the bumper of the sports vehicle suspended 50-odd tales above NY's annual Thanksgiving Day Parade with no madcap hilarity -- or gimme golden-parachute jokes -- they so highly deserve.Camera (color, widescreen), Dante Spinotti editor, Mark Helfrich music, Christophe Beck production designer, Kristi Zea art director, Nicholas Lundy set decorator, Diane Lederman costume designer, Sarah Edwards seem (Datasat/SDDS/Dolby Digital), Tod Maitland supervisory seem editor, Warren Shaw re-recording mixers, Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti visual effects supervisor, Mark Russell visual effects, Method Galleries, Phosphene, Large Film Design, Framestore stunt coordinator, Jery Hewitt assistant director, James M. Freitag second unit director, George Aguilar second unit camera, Lukasz Jogalla casting, Kathleen Chopin. Examined at Arclight Movie theaters, Hollywood, March. 24, 2011. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 105 MIN. Contact Peter Debruge at peter.debruge@variety.com

'Relatively' serious

Woodsy Allen and Angela Lansbury meet round the Rialto. Steve Guttenberg and Marlo Thomas John Turturro and Aida Turturro Among the surreal celebrity moments being treasured within the opening-evening party of "Relatively Speaking": Steve Guttenberg being congratulated by Angela Lansbury while Phil Donahue looked on.Such apparently disparate luminaries were come up with Thursday evening at Bryant Park Grill to celebrate the Broadway opening in the trio of just one-act plays composed by Ethan Coen, Elaine May and Woodsy Allen. Guttenberg, who's rooming in Gotham with co-star Mark Linn-Baker for your limited engagement, stars inside the play composed by Allen. Donahue was there with wife Marlo Thomas, the topliner of May's outing.Thomas mentioned she'd unlikely the three large-title authors being the ceaseless presences they switched to become, attending every testing and every preview performance."They're funny, but they're serious people," she mentioned. "They're set on their work."

REVIEW: The Three Musketeers is a Tedious, Incoherent Drag

If Sherlock Holmes could be successfully steampunked into a rakish action hero, there’s no reason The Three Musketeers couldn’t be gearpunked into some tolerable 17th century equivalent — and Athos, Porthos, Aramis and young D’Artagnan are actually soldiers, so no serious character tweaking is required to send them off into repeated swashbuckling setpieces. It’s not the addition of airships and male dangly earrings that make Paul W.S. Anderson’s take on Alexandre Dumas’ classic, much-adapted adventure such a drag, it’s everything else — the incoherence, the anvil-heavy dialogue, the lack of anything beyond the broadest of characterizations. Even the action sequences, which are Anderson’s primary selling point as a director, have a weightless, Wacky Races quality to them — no one who’s not an extra ever really seems in danger of getting hurt. The musketeers and their various enemies bounce through blimp battles, cannon fire and giant swordfights, and at worst their brocade outfits get a little dusty. With the stakes so low, why not just skip to the end, when there are guaranteed to be the most explosions and you’ll get to see who wins, before the inevitable sequel setup? This latest incarnation of The Three Musketeers has some promising casting: It’s always a pleasure to see Christoph Waltz, even in the silly role of the scheming Cardinal Richelieu. And Mads Mikkelsen shows up for a few scenes and a duel as Rochefort, the head of Richelieu’s guard and a man with an unfortunate tendency to stop to talk instead of just killing someone. Matthew Macfadyen, Ray Stevenson and Luke Evans are all fine as Athos, Porthos and Aramis, and Orlando Bloom has some fun channeling Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow as the vampy, eviled-up Duke of Buckingham. Unfortunately, it’s Logan Lerman’s D’Artagnan and Milla Jovovich’s Milady de Winter who get the largest portions of screen time, and both are like nails on a chalkboard. Lerman, the teenage star of Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, makes the introduction of Shia LaBeouf as Mutt Williams in the Indiana Jones saga look like a masterpiece of charm and charisma. His D’Artagnan is a smirky, preening brat who, thanks to how his introduction is compressed, seems to do nothing but challenge people to duels for the first half of the story. Jovovich, Anderson’s wife and muse, has proven herself capable of being a perfectly viable action heroine, but she’s at a loss here playing a character who’s been reworked from ruthless spy to double agent with no clear motivation other than wreaking havoc, and a soft spot for love that’s counter to Dumas’ branded woman’s tendency to use, discard and/or murder her lovers. It’s amusing that she’s given a swordfight scene in a full corseted gown with panniers, but it remains a ridiculous update of a formidable antagonist that turns her into a simpering dolly. Putting a weapon in the hand of a female character isn’t a guaranteed way of making the role stronger — Jovovich breaking into a highly guarded area in what appears to be her action lingerie shows her character to be capable, sure, but primarily there for decorative purposes. The Three Musketeers keeps the basic framework of Dumas’ story, with a few major tweaks. Most notably, the secret affair between Queen Anne (Juno Temple) and Buckingham, the exposure of which could trigger a war between France and England, has inexplicably been turned into a scheme concocted by Richelieu. In the film, Anne only has eyes for her awkward but adoring husband King Louis XIII (Freddie Fox), and her entanglement with the Duke is entirely the Cardinal’s invention. Presumably an infidelity storyline would not be PG-13 appropriate, though the arranged dynastic marriage of teenagers is totally fine. D’Artagnan’s love interest Constance (Gabriella Wilde) has similarly been sheared of her inconvenient husband and untimely end, and here is just a lady-in-waiting who D’Artagnan first tries, unsuccessfully, to woo while simultaneously fighting off dozens of swordsmen. The film leaps numbingly from action sequence to action sequence, none distinguished enough to leave a mark, even the addition of an introductory segment involving the musketeers breaking into Da Vinci’s vault, which is apparently hidden under a canal in Venice, in order to steal one of his plans. By the time a dirigible is impaled on Notre Dame’s spire, it may begin to occur to you that most of the goings-on in this film could probably have been averted by the royal couple just sitting down and having a conversation, especially if they really are the nice, in-love kids they’ve been made out to be. That would leave more time for Athos, Porthos and Aramis to drink, bitch about how time has passed them by and try on new jackets, which are the true highlights of this otherwise tedious affair. If D’Artagnan was sent out for takeout, that might keep him off screen until the credits — unless, that is, they somehow get a greenlight for a follow-up.

TV Ratings: Fundamental steps 'Modern Family,' 'Happy Endings' Dip Slightly With World Series

Peter Hopper Stone/ABC According to preliminary amounts, ABC's Modern Family outshine game one of the Mlb World Series game involving the Texas Rangers as well as the St. Louis Cardinals inside the internet marketer-coveted 18-49 demo. It's the second year back to back the ABC comedy assigned the earth Series inside the demo.our editor recommends'Glee,' 'Modern Family' win Peabodys'Happy Endings' scores ratings high, keeps more 'Modern Family' lead-in Still, Fox, which broadcast the sport live throughout primetime, won the evening overall -- and may have triggered Modern Family to dip slightly. ABC and CBS tied in second getting a 3.3 rating. PHOTOS: Round the Number of 'Modern Family' On ABC, The Middle (2.9, 9 million) and Suburgatory (3.1, 8.8 million) were flat. Modern Family (5.6, 12.8 million) was lower five percent, Happy Being lower six percent (3., 6.9 million) and Revenge lower 7 percent (2.5, 7.9 million). CBS' Survivor: South Off-shoreline was up three percent (3.3, 11.millions of), as was Criminal Minds (3.9, 13.millions of). CSI was flat getting a couple.6 (10.6 000 0000). PHOTOS: Fall TV Preview 2011: The Returning Shows NBC showed up third place getting single.7 rating. Up With The Evening (2.1, 5.6 000 0000), Harry's Law (1.2, 8.millions of) and Law & Order (2.1, 7.5 million) counseled me flat. Univision rated single.5 The CW reaches fifth getting b .6 A repeat of Sarah Michelle Gellar's Ringer was up 13 percent in general audiences from the other day with 1.2 million (together with b .4 rating). America's Next Top Model (.8, 1.9 million) out-rated NBC inside the 18 to 34 demo inside the 9 to 10 p.m. hour. VIDEO: Emmy Roundtable: Comedy Stars Telemundo showed up last getting b .5. TV Ratings Modern Family

Bizzers honor Calley's impact

CalleyHours after Sony Pictures named a park in the center of its Culver City lot in honor of late chairman John Calley, Sony topper Amy Pascal and hundreds of other friends and family attended a memorial service that served as a tribute to his memory.Pascal was joined at the dais by Howard Stringer, Buck Henry, Mel Brooks, Dana Delany and Warren Beatty; other guests included Annette Bening, Pierce Brosnan, scribe Robert Towne, producers Brian Grazer and Yair Landau, Sony Classics prexy Michael Barker and CAA's Bryan Lourd."The world isn't the same," remarked Pascal. "John was a true original, a masterful manipulator and the most insanely seductive person I've ever known. He didn't care what anyone else thought. He had the appropriate amount of cynicism about Hollywood but he made sure to never let it get the better of him." Despite the fact that Calley never went to college, Pascal called him "one of the most educated men I've ever met. He was so good at spinning people around in circles so he could get what he wanted. He would bring people into his office to fire them and they'd leave thinking he was a fantastic guy." Before Pascal left the podium, she told the crowd, "There are a few people you meet who change your life, and he changed mine."A highlight reel featuring movie clips and tributes from collaborators Tony Bill, Norman Jewison, Maria Bello, Robin Swicord also screened, though the audio and video were out of sync. "If you'd told John Calley that his memorial reel would be out of sync, he probably would have said, 'So was I, much of the time,' joked Stringer, who added that Calley had "an unusual lack of ego. He ran three studios with maximum taste and minimal tyranny."Brooks, who confessed that he "loved to bullshit and hangout in Calley's office," said that during the making of Warner Bros.' comedy "Blazing Saddles," he used Calley to broker peace between himself and Ted Ashley, who objected to several of the film's raunchier gags. "John set the environment where creative work could happen," said Swicord, while Bello added that "John loved to sleep because he loved to dream, and if he were still here, he'd probably describe his life as a happy accident."The reel featured Calley talking about the pressures of being a powerful studio head making multi-million dollar decisions. "It's scary, but if you use your gut and you've got a good one, then you'll do very well."Delany made sure to wear a dress to the event, "because as we all know, he liked legs." With tears welling up, Delany spoke of how she visited Calley's Century City condo every week toward the end of his life, which she described as "physically challenging but mentally and emotionally rich." She also recalled a time when Calley was in bed with Elaine May, who rolled over and asked him, "you want me to leave now so you can fantasize about me?" to which Calley replied, "yes." The actress continued to give a glimpse into her close personal friendship with Calley: "He was a man of great curiousity and ideas who was still trying to figure life out and distill life to its purest form. He was on the verge of death many times but he refused to give up and had the strongest will to live of anyone I've ever met." Delany recounted that when she asked Calley why he kept removing his breathing tube in the middle of the night, worried that he was trying to end his life, he replied, "I have no desire to commit suicide. I think I'm quite remarkable." That feeling seemed to be shared by everyone who met him, as evidenced by the outpouring of emotion at an intimate reception following the memorial. Contact Jeff Sneider at jeff.sneider@variety.com

Judge Revokes Lindsay Lohans Probation Lohan Posts Bail

First Released: October 19, 2011 5:46 PM EDT Credit: Getty Images Caption Lindsay Lohan is brought away in handcuffs at her probation progress report hearing in the Airport terminal Courthouse in La on October 19, 2011LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Lindsay Lohan carried a brand new accessory Wednesday following a judge suspended her probation: Handcuffs. The actress was taken into custody of the children and escorted from the hearing after Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sautner suspended her probation because she was ousted from the community service assignment in a womens shelter. There's been breach after breach, Sautner stated. Bail was set at $100,000, and Lohans spokesperson Steve Honig stated it had been immediately published. It had been unclear, however, if Lohan have been launched. Were coping with someone on probation, stated Lohans attorney, Shawn Holley. Many people on probation dont always do things perfectly. A town district attorney suggested incarceration, but Sautner set a November. 2 hearing to determine whether Lohan should serve another stint in jail, where she's been sent four previous occasions simply to be launched early because of jail overcrowding. If jail meant something within the condition of California now, maybe Id put her in jail, Sautner stated. The expansion marked the most recent legal problem for that 25-year-old Lohan, who had been given probation for any 2007 drunken driving situation along with a misdemeanor thievery situation this season. Lindsay is wishing this matter is going to be resolved on November. 2 and also the court will reinstate probation and permit her to continue fulfilling her community service, Honig stated. Lohan have been purchased in April for everyone 360 hrs in the Downtown Womens Center, a company that can help destitute women. Nine of Lohans visits in the center were just blown off and she or he turned up once and left after an hour or so, Sautner stated. Lohan has since began serving hrs using the American Red-colored Mix, but Sautner stated that will not count because it wasn't a part of her sentence. Throughout the tense proceedings, Sautner hammered Lohan for neglecting to appear on her four-hour visits in the womens center and taking six several weeks to accomplish a court-purchased Shoplifters Anonymous course. The judge also asked how Lohan might have complied together with her court-purchased weekly mental counseling when she was driving Europe from Sept. 9 to March. 5. I have no idea how she did that personally each week, stated Sautner, who recommended Lohan complete no less than 16 hrs of her community service in the county morgue prior to the November. 2 hearing, when Lohans probation officer along with other authorities will testify about her efforts to accomplish her sentence. Rapidly after being taken into custody of the children, Lohan published bail and was launched, a Sheriffs Department representative confirmed to gain access to Hollywood. Throughout the hearing, the actress attorney noted that the bail bondsman had supported these phones courthouse, that Sautner responded, Surprise. A mugshot of Lohan won't be launched. Lohan, apart from a job in last years film Machete, has seen her acting career evaporate recently. She has been around perpetual trouble since May 2010. Another judge determined she violated her probation inside a 2007 drunken driving situation and sentenced her to jail and rehab. She faltered after being launched early from the rehab facility early and was delivered to the Betty Ford Center, where she got within an altercation having a rehab worker who later prosecuted. Within days of her release from Betty Ford, Lohan was charged with going for a $2,500 necklace without permission from an trendy jewellery store near her home within the Venice neighborhood of La. Sautner determined the The month of january incident constituted a probation breach, and Lohan was purchased to endure mental counseling and perform 480 hrs of community service, with 120 hrs to become spent in the morgue. Lohan later pleaded no contest to some misdemeanor charge within the thievery situation and offered 35 times of a four-month sentenced on house arrest. Copyright 2011 by Connected Press and NBCUniversal. All privileges reserved. These components might not be released, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Fox Buys CIA Drama From Imagine, Family Comedy From Large Bang Recurring Duo

Fox has bought a CIA drama from author Joe Weisberg (Falling Skies) together with a multi-camera comedy from actor-authors John Ross Bowie and Kevin Sussman, best renowned for their recurring roles on CBS’ hit comedy The Big Bang Theory. The hourlong project, from former CIA officer-switched-author Weisberg, Imagine TV and last century Fox TV, is known to love a higher-stakes character-based drama concentrating on the youthful assistants of high-ranking authorities inside the U.S. Intelligence community. The show happens within the walls in the CIA, together with the DIA, NSA, FBI as well as the intelligence components within the White-colored House. The comedy, from Bowie and Sussman, Principato-Youthful Entertainment and also the new the new sony TV, is tentatively titled The Ever After Part. It concentrates on an elegant couple visiting extreme measures to assist their eccentric 5-year-old daughter, including moving while using grooms tyrant mother to take advantage from the great public school in their area. Peter Principato, Paul Youthful and Joel Zadak of Principato-Youthful, which handles Bowie, will executive produce, and Sussman’s manager Jill McGrath will co-produce. Bowie and Sussman met and increased being pals while guest starring together round the Large Bang Theory, where they recur as Leonard and Sheldon’s enemy Craig Kripke and comic store owner Stuart, correspondingly. The Two written comedy spec Dark Minions, which caught The brand new the new sony Televisions attention and introduced for the new project. Sussman is to apply APA.

TV Ratings: CBS Is not Any. 1 Network for First 72 Hours of Season

Adam Rose/Warner Bros./CBS 72 hours into the new broadcast season, CBS might be no. 1 network in general audiences and key 18-49 demographic. (CBS also leads inside the 25-54 demographic, where it's typically been out front.) PHOTOS: CBS' Year Tv Shows: 'Person of curiosity,' 'A Gifted Guy' plus much more CBS is calculating 12.6 000 0000 audiences in primetime getting a 3.4 rating inside the 18-49 demo, up three percent year-to-year inside the demo and flat in general audiences. The network got off an excellent lead while using monster Sept. 19 premiere of two and a half Males, which was seen by nearly Thirty Dollars million audiences. With Ashton Kutcher becasue it is new star, the series might be the times of year top comedy among total audiences as well as the 18-49 demo. And NCIS remains undertaking well within the ninth season it's the No. 1 drama in audiences as well as the demo. PHOTOS: The Talk: Memorable Guest Hosts Second place Fox (calculating a 3.one out of the demo) has seen the finest ratings bump up to now this season, up 11 percent due to strong tune-looking for Simon Cowell's The X Factor and new Zooey Deschanel comedy The Completely New Girl. Fox may also be really the only network up among total audiences, calculating 8. million for your first 72 hours of the year. Meanwhile ABC had sunk with a third place tie with NBC with both systems calculating a few.6 rating inside the demo. That marks a four percent decline for ABC, that's second among total audiences with 9.4 million. Together with a seven percent decline for NBC, showing the network's repairing remains greatly an item happening. NBC may also be lower six percent among total audiences calculating 7.5 million. As well as the CW has dropped double-amounts in the 18-49 demo (.8 rating, lower 33 percent) and total audiences (1.8 million, lower twenty five percent). [All amounts be a consequence of most current Nielsen data for Sept. 19-March. 9, 2011.] ABC Simon Cowell NCIS CBS two and a half Males Fox Broadcasting Corporation The X Factor NBC Entertainment

Actors injured on Resident Evil 5 set

What's going on with zombie films? First the set of World War Z is raided by Hungarian SWAT to confiscate live-firing weapons, now 11 actors have been injured on the set of Resident Evil: Retribution.Milla Jovovich wasn't among those taken to hospital after they fell from a two-storey platform at a Toronto film studio.In fact, all 11 actors were dressed as zombies and true to form it takes a lot of damage to stop them - only relatively minor injuries were recorded by the paramedics and several actors went back to work the same day.Davis Films confirmed that the accident happened when a platform separated from the set, creating a gap that the actors fell through."It is with regret that we confirm this unfortunate accident," the company said in a written statement."The thoughts of everyone involved in the production are with those who have been injured and we hope that all have a quick and complete recovery. The filmmakers are continuing to work closely with the authorities in responding to this accident."Resident Evil is currently shooting in Canada and filming is expected to last until 23 December 2011.

UPDATE: 16 Hurt On Resident Evil Set 7 Already To Work, Producers Say

Michelle Rodriguez, Johann Urb Join Milla Jovovich In Resident Evil 5 Up-to-date: 16 background stars were hurt and 11 were come to a healthcare facility today after any sort of accident around the Toronto group of The new sony/Screen Gems’ Resident Evil: Retribution. The incident happened at Cinespace Film Galleries once the stars, outfitted as zombies, fell via a gap inside a 4-feet-high platform that separated in the set, leading to leg, back and arm injuries, none which were existence-threatening, government bodies stated. Based on production companies Davis Films/Impact Pictures and Constantin Film Worldwide, seven from the stars have previously came back towards the set. It's with regret that people confirm this unfortunate accident,” the businesses stated inside a just-launched statement. “The ideas of everybody active in the production are with individuals who've been hurt, and that we hope that possess a fast and complete recovery. The filmmakers are ongoing to operate carefully using the government bodies in reacting for this accident. It apparently required some time for emergency personnel to work through the extent from the sufferers’ injuries because the stars were outfitted for his or her roles — bloody, rotting flesh and all sorts of. “I often see the appearance around the first paramedic, saying ‘Oh my God,’ ” Toronto emergency medical services Commander David Rob told the AP. The film franchise’s star, Milla Jovovich, was this is not on set at that time, her spokesperson stated. Classified being an industrial accident, Canada’s Secretary of state for Labor is looking into. The 5th film within the gaming-switched-film series arrives out September 14, 2012.

Kendrick, Howard and Gleeson increase 'Company'

KendrickHowardGleesonThe company for director Robert Redford's latest pic "The Organization You RetainInch is constantly on the expand in impressive fashion, as Oscar-nominated thesps Anna Kendrick and Terrence Howard, respected character stars Brendan Gleeson and Mike Elliott, and newcomer Jackie Evancho, an 11-year-old finalist on "America's Got Talent," have became a member of the ensemble cast.Quintet joins Redford, Shia LaBeouf, Brit Marling, Nick Nolte, Susan Sarandon, Richard Jenkins, Julie Christie, Stephen Root, Stanley Tucci and Chris Cooper within the Lem Dobbs-scripted pic, which is dependant on the novel by Neil Gordon.Redford stars as Jim Grant, an old Weather Subterranean militant wanted through the FBI for 3 decades who must go away from home whenever a youthful, ambitious reporter (LaBeouf) exposes his true identity.Kendrick will have Diana, a youthful FBI agent and LaBeouf's former flame who provides him with information he must uncover the reality regarding Grant and also the Bank of Michigan robbery.Howard will have Cornelius, the senior FBI agent around the situation that has non-stop went after Grant nationwide and today leads the job pressure designated to consider lower the elements Subterranean fugitives who've been away from home for 3 decades.Gleeson will have Henry Osborne, the upon the market Michigan Chief of Police who looked into the financial institution robbery within the sixties.Elliott will have Mac, Christie's employer within the marijuana trade who was once romantically associated with her.Evancho will have Redford's daughter, who lately lost her mother and it is not aware of her father's militant past.Current Pictures and Redford's Wildwood Businesses banner are joining to create the political action thriller, that is presently filming in Vancouver. Redford and the Wildwood partner Bill Holderman are creating with Nicolas Chartier of Current. whose Craig J. Flores is professional creating.CAA reps Kendrick and Howard, while WME reps Evancho. Elliot is repped by ICM and Hofflund/Polone, as the Agency and Principal Entertainment repetition Gleeson. Contact Shaun Sneider at shaun.sneider@variety.com

Cable sets blue plate specials

While the prospect of cable operators offering a la carte pricing any time soon remains slim, the discounted tier is clearly taking root.In the wake of a wave of subscriber losses that cable operators contend are largely driven by the shaky economy, Comcast has quietly expanded a low-cost trial offering in select markets that not only provides fewer channels than basic cable but additional options that group together select channels by programming genre.The package, known as MyTV Choice, began testing in Charleston, S.C. last week, after being deployed in western New England and Seattle over the summer.The expansion comes on the heels of Time Warner Cable's announcement last month of plans to expand its own discounted tier, TV Essentials, across its East Coast footprint. Like MyTV Choice, the tier is made affordable by leaving out some of the channels that are the most expensive to operators in monthly fees paid to programmers, including Disney-owned ESPN. While these tiers have had minimal traction in the marketplace to date, their increasing visibility at the nation's two biggest MSOs raises new questions. The prospect of even slight growth for discounted tiers could impact the bottom line at content companies since they get paid on a per-subscriber basis for the channels that get left off. And for consumers, Comcast's variation on the discounted tier with MyTV Choice may be as close to a la carte as they're going to get. "To assume that no one is going to take these packages is pretty naive, especially because Time Warner Cable tested the package with at least some success with very limited marketing," said Michael Morris, media analyst with Davenport & Co.The deployment of new tiers is intended to give price-sensitive consumers an alternative during tough economics times to the increasingly costly standard subscriptions. Cable operators suffered huge sub losses in the second quarter of this year. Last month, a Reuters report raised the specter that cable-industry woes were prompting some smaller operators to introduce a la carte programming -- a controversial possibility given that programmers and MSOs have long held such an arrangement would destroy their current business model. Another factor was an expensive new long-term ESPN deal for NFL rights that spurred reports Dish Network was looking to ditch the all-sports network from its channel lineup rather than pass on to consumers the cost of expected fee hikes.ESPN charges MSOs an estimated $4.69 per sub per month, according to SNL Kagan -- roughly four times the second-most expensive network, Time Warner's TNT ($1.16), which is also not available on Comcast or TW Cable's low-cost tiers. Nor is News Corp.-owned Fox News Channel (78). Every dollar spent on discounted tiers won't go to content-company coffers, argues Morris, who calculated that even a 1% drop in ESPN's sub base could cost Disney $60 million in affiliate fees."Investors are unlikely to worry about 1% or 2%," said Morris. "But what if it grew to 10% or 12%? That would be real financial impact." That said, sources familiar with affiliate agreements note that tiers can only become so popular before they violate MSOs' contractual agreements with programmers. Most channels require placement on the first or second most penetrated channel packages an MSO offers. Too much traction for a tier would trigger the re-insertion of the channel, which would prevent the very discounting that fuels the tier's appeal.While TV Essentials has gotten a lot of attention since its rollout last November, discounted tiers have been around for years. Comcast, Cox, Cablevision and Dish Network are among those that offer them with negligible returns.Some saw TV Essentials as an empty gesture to please Wall Street, where cable operators have been roundly criticized for not being nimble enough against upstart competitors like Netflix. But unlike typical discount tiers, Comcast's new tier is designed to appeal to consumers looking for price as well as flexibility. MyTV Choice offers a "My Starter" tier for $25 or a "My Starter Plus" tier for $45, the latter retaining various ESPN channels removed from the former package. In addition, there's $10 supplements for channel packages themed around kids, news, movies and entertainment. The offering varies a bit city to city as Comcast figures out the best approach.Breaking the cable bundle up into discrete blocks isn't a new notion; Comcast even consulted with cable companies abroad that employ the model before pursuing its own, including Canada's Shaw Communications and Australia's FoxTel, according to a spokeswoman.But Comcast's model may represent the only realistic middle ground between the unlikely prospect of consumers cherry-picking channels and the existing bundles of channels that leave little room for flexibility. Even operators wanted to do a la carte -- and no major MSO is on record as saying such -- they lack the rights and technology to implement it anytime soon. Said Morris, "I don't think true a la carte is ever going to happen. At this point it appears structurally impossible." Contact Andrew Wallenstein at andrew.wallenstein@variety.com

David Cronenberg, Michael Fassbender Bring Their Dangerous Method to NYFF

How does Keira Knightley devour so much scenery in A Dangerous Method yet stay so thin? That was the big question Tuesday at Lincoln Center, where her director David Cronenberg and co-star Michael Fassbender dropped by to meet the press ahead of tonight’s NY Film Festival premiere of Method. All right, so that wasn’t the exact question for Cronenberg, whose leading lady couldn’t make the afternoon panel comprising himself, Fassbender, screenwriter Christopher Hampton, producer Jeremy Thomas and NYFF programmer extraordinaire Scott Foundas. But it basically does get to the immediate issue with A Dangerous Method, a terminally dramatic glimpse at the overlapping relationships between Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung (Fassbender), his hysterical patient-turned-masochist lover-turned-gifted protg Sabina Speilrein (Knightley), and the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen). Set in the decade before World War I, their tempestuous romantic and intellectual clashes presage the ravaged Europe to come, right down to one character’s haunting apocalyptic visions. What they don’t quite do is congeal in any especially cinematic way, transplanting instead the chatty conventions of Hampton’s source play The Talking Cure (itself based on John Kerr’s book A Most Dangerous Method) to Cronenberg’s meticulously reconstructed Zurich and Vienna. Fassbender and Mortensen embody all the entitlements of their influence, each doing smart work against the other’s buttoned-down, tobacco-huffing academe. But they can only stand back as Knightley takes over, Jung’s admitted “catalyst” who sparks everything from revolutionary advancements on his “talking cure” (which is basically just him sitting behind Spielrein as she juts, jolts and contorts the contents of her soul upon admittance to his university’s hysteria clinic) to eye-popping, bodice-ripping, ass-whipping kink. “It’s a lot of acting — maybe not good acting — but it sure gets the point across,” my colleague Stephanie Zacharek wrote following Method’s Venice Film Festival premiere. Indeed, it’s insufferable in the early going, which also — not coincidentally, for the filmmaker whose canon is synonymous with the phrase “body-horror” — happen to be Cronenberg’s most visually adventurous span, experimenting with depth of field in rich, deep slate- and molasses-hued interiors. But one thing at a time. Why so… I don’t know, hysterical? “Unbeknownst to me, Keira went to Christopher for advice, and that screwed it all up,” Cronenberg joked, coaxing a laugh from the packed house at the Walter Reade Theater. “It took me ages to undo the damage that did. But he did give her a stack of book to read, as did I, in fact. “Beyond that,” the director continued. “We began of course with the first scenes, which were the hysteria scenes. Hysteria was a disease that seems to have disappeared; it seems to have been a product of that era and the repression of women that was part of that culture. In fact, the word ‘hysteria’ comes the Greek word that means ‘uterus,’ and at times they would actually remove the uterus of a hysterical woman thinking that would cure her. That gives you a bit of the context. However extreme it might seem at the beginning is actually very subdued compared to what Sabina Spielrein would have presented to Jung. In fact, Christopher has mentioned that he’s actually seen the notes that Jung wrote upon her admission detailing her symptoms. So we knew what the symptoms of her particular hysteria were, and then there’s actually filmed footage of hysterical patients at the turn of the century, and a lot of photos of it [from] Dr. [Jean-Martin] Charcot, who was a big influence on Freud and specialized in hysteria. It was all these strange paralyses and hysterical laughters and deforming of the body and twisting and tormenting your physical parts… All of these are documented. “So for me, basically, it was to decide how high you could pitch that,” Cronenberg said. “It’s very difficult to watch; it makes you feel very uncomfortable, as it would. But I have to deliver the disease to you, the audience, so you would understand why she was completely disabled. She was dysfunctional, and that’s why she was brought to this institute — because she couldn’t function. So we had to show how extreme it was, and I thought it should really be centered around her mouth. Because she is being asked by Jung — it is called ‘the talking cure’ — to say unspeakable things about herself, about grief, about her sexuality, about her masochism and all that. Masturbation — things that you were not supposed to speak about. So the idea that she should be trying to speak — the words try to come out, but another part of her tries to prevent those words from coming out, to deform them so that they’re not understandable. That’s how we did that, and so on. Gradually, she loses the hysteria and becomes more and more confident under Jung’s tutelage and has her affair, so you can see the evolution of the character.” Fair enough. Like everything, it’s a matter of taste, and Knightley suited Cronenberg’s so exquisitely that Method actually used less production time than it needed. “By the time we got to the set, Keira was there,” he said. “It was fantastic. We did two takes, and done.” “It was quite incredible,” Fassbender added. “I’d just add to that how we were, what? Four days ahead by week two?” “Well, actually,” Cronenberg replied, “after three days, we were five days ahead. Which seems impossible, but part of it was that I had boarded the schedule taking into account how difficult it might be to develop Keira’s performance. I had never worked with her before, and this was very difficult stuff, and it was terrain that sort of was new to her. And she was just so good, and so right on, that we were finished in no time.”

Rose McGowan to Star in Romantic Thriller 'Napa'

Rose McGowan will headline the romantic thriller Napa, playing a woman who after three tours of duty in Afghanistan returns to her hometown, where she is given the job of sheriff.our editor recommendsRose McGowan on Law & Order: SVU (Video) STORY: Rose McGowan Horror Movie 'Rosewood Lane' to Premiere at Screamfest Writer-producer Michael Kerr is making his feature directorial debut with the project, which is filming in Napa Valley, Calif. Kerr wrote the script with Hans Ostrom, based on Ostrom's novel Three to Get Ready, and he is producing with Nellie Nugiel through his Michael Kerr Company. Film Bridge International's Ellen Wander is serving as executive producer, with Film Bridge handling worldwide sales. STORY: Rose McGowan's $5 Million 'Conan the Barbarian' Demand McGowan, repped by Gersh, most recently appeared in Conan the Barbarian. Related Topics Rose McGowan Movie Casting

Keck's Exclusives: Which Funny Lady Is Modern Family's Cameron Trying to Pick Up?

Leslie Mann One of my favorite comediennes -who has starred in the movies Knocked Up, The 40 Year Old Virgin and The Change-Up - has just booked a role on an upcoming Modern Family destined to be a classic (though really aren't they all?).Leslie Mann will play a woman who Cameron (Eric Stonestreet) tries to pick up at a bar. No, Cam's not going all bi on us. Rather, it's part of a bet he makes with Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) to see if Cam is smooth enough to pass for straight and score a hot girl's phone number.Can't wait for this one! Leslie's episode, the eighth of the season, will likely air during November sweeps.Subscribe to TV Guide Magazine now!

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Everybody's a critic

If there's one factor film students love greater than watching movies, it's talking about their opinions of movies. Just Seen It, started by recent U. of La film school graduate David Freedman, allows a team of recent USC grads and current masters and doctorate film students to accomplish just that. The Appropriate Seen It group produces, shoots and produces short reviews of films and tv shows a la Gene Siskel, Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper's "Within the Movies." Placing contempo spin on people shows, Just Seen It suits a far more youthful demo with internet video reviews together with a 3-part rating system: notice, stream it or skip it. Shot in the way you'd expect film students to destroy lower a movie they've just seen -- over drinks getting a few close pals -- Just Seen It reviews major movies and new Tv shows and champions "great finds,Inch lesser-known films and shows near and dear for his or her hearts. Some recent reviews include "Moneyball," which acquired a "Notice!In . and "Contagion," which got a "Stream It!" In December, Freedman, who now works well with Bill Mechanic's Pandemonium shingle, and also the pals were searching to satisfy the growing demand left with the now-defunct "Within the Movies." There "wasn't a really intelligent and entertaining and contentions movie show," on tv, he mentioned. They looked the idea for just about any Just Seen It Tv program around and situated a cable network that was interested. The web eventually backed out, but Freedman and also the pals didn't quit. Now JustSeenIt.com has about 40,000 hits every week, 500 registered clients, as well as the team just released the 100th review for the site. Even though Internet hosts Just Seen It for the moment, Freedman eventually hopes to find out Just Seen It on tv. Contact the number newsroom at news@variety.com

Thailand sets 'Kon Khon' for Oscar

BEIJING - Thailand will send Sarunyu "Tua" Wongkrachang's "Kon Khon" to Hollywood as its candidate for the foreign language category in the Oscars, a controversial choice because of the helmer's political links."Kon Khon" features Sorapong Chatree and Nirut Sirichanya and is a story about conflict khon mask dance troupes staging rival performances of the Ramakien, Thailand's version of India's epic poem, the Ramayana.The culture ministry backed the movie because it was "unique to Thailand and promotes the Kingdom's arts and culture," the Nation reported.Pic was distributed by Sahamongkol Film International and had a wide release when it opened Aug. 25, but ticket sales were so low the producers were "shocked," Sarunyu wrote on his Facebook page.It took $137,115 in its opening weekend, and by Sept. 18 had cume of $255,058, prompting the helmer to urge his supporters to buy the movie on DVD when it came out.The Federation of National Film Associations of Thailand choice of "Kon Khon" is controversial because multi-hyphenate Sarunyu has been associated with the People's Alliance for Democracy, or "Yellow Shirts," a broad alliance of monarchists and Bangkok businesspeople, which occupied Suvarnabhumi airport back in 2007.The pic was opposed by the "Red Shirts," supporters of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whose sister Yingluck won this year's election, and they had called for a boycott of the movie.Pic has been pulled from the multiplexes, but will be screened in around 20 schools around Thailand with the backing of the Culture Ministry.Film critic Sananjit Bangsapan, a member of FNFAT's Oscar committee, blogged that the Oscar selection came down to two pics - "Kon Khon" or another pic with strong Thai culture elements, "U Mong Pha Mueang," by ML Bhandevanop Devakula.However, as that movie was an adaptation of Akira Kurosawa's "Rashomon," the committee went with "Kon Khon." Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

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'Phantom of the Opera' at 25 Offers a Special Show

NEW YORK (AP) Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera" will celebrate its 25th anniversary this weekend with a lavish birthday party that will certainly involve someone swinging from a chandelier.Producers will broadcast on Sunday a live performance of the show from London's 5,500-seat Royal Albert Hall to movie houses in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, Canada, Japan and Australia. The live performance one of three shows at the hall will be followed by rebroadcasts to cinemas on Oct. 5, 6 and 11."To celebrate such an extraordinary event as 25 years, we wanted to do something special, above and beyond just another gala performance," producer Cameron Mackintosh said in an interview from London. "We both thought that the most theatrical space with a number of seats was the Royal Albert Hall."Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess, who co-starred in the "Phantom" sequel "Love Never Dies" in London, will reunite for the special production. More than 200 original and current cast members, musicians and special guests are expected to make appearances at the Royal Albert Hall.In the U.S., the broadcast will be available on 500 screens in 43 states, from Alaska to West Virginia. It will also be released on DVD, CD and Blu-ray starting in November.The show's original director, Hal Prince, who has directed or produced more than 50 musicals, plays and operas, including "Damn Yankees," ''West Side Story," ''Fiddler on the Roof," ''Cabaret," ''A Little Night Music" and "Sweeney Todd," thinks "Phantom" touched a need."It's more escapist than certainly anything I've ever worked on," he says. "The audience has all these stressful problems and they buy a ticket and go into a theater and lose themselves in another world entirely and a romantic one. I think that's probably cause for its longevity."The musical first opened on London's West End at the 1,200-seat Her Majesty's Theatre on Oct. 9, 1986, with Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman in the lead roles. It's still there, more than 10,000 performances later.It crossed the Atlantic and opened on Broadway on Jan. 26, 1988, and has clocked more than 9,800 performances, becoming the Great White Way's longest-running show ever. There have been dozens of productions worldwide, including current ones in Budapest, Hungary, Las Vegas and Kyoto, Japan, and one is planned next year in South Africa.It has played to over 130 million people in 27 countries and has grossed over $5.6 billion worldwide more than any film in history, including "Avatar," ''Titanic," ''Gone With the Wind" and "Star Wars."Even a 2004 film version directed by Joel Schumacher and starring Gerard Butler, Emmy Rossum, Patrick Wilson and Miranda Richardson didn't slow the appetite for the masked, scarred man.Mackintosh says the unstoppable success of the show was not so apparent to him or Lloyd Webber a quarter-century ago. "Nobody in their right mind in the theater can ever expect for it. They pray for a successful opening night and a decent run. So the kind of staggering statistics that the show has garnered over the years is just extraordinary," he says. "Both of us are grinning like Cheshire cats."Based on a novel by Gaston Leroux, "Phantom" tells the story of a deformed composer who haunts the Paris Opera House and falls madly in love with an innocent young soprano, Christine. Lloyd Webber's lavish songs include "Masquerade," ''Angel of Music," ''All I Ask of You," ''The Phantom of the Opera" and "The Music of the Night.""Phantom" was one of four megahits including "Cats," ''Les Miserables" and "Miss Saigon" that Mackintosh produced over a span of just eight years in the 1980s and 1990s, something he credits with "incredibly good luck.""It's never happened before and who knows if it will happen again. It's just amazing," he says. "It certainly won't happen again for me."Prince, 83, won't be in London for the special performance he's simply too busy. He directing a new musical, "Prince of Broadway," which celebrates his career and has co-direction and choreography from Susan Stroman, a book by David Thompson and music by Jason Robert Brown."I get a lot of energy working on something new," Prince says,But he plans to be in NY when "Phantom" hits 25 years on Broadway in just a year and a half. "Oh, sure. You bet," he says.Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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