From Wikipedia:
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is a 2008 fantasy adventure film, based on the novel by J. K. Rowling. It is the sixth film in the popular Harry Potter films series. Production is in the post-production stage. David Yates, the director of the fifth film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, is returning as director for this film. David Heyman and David Barron are producing the film,[1] and Steve Kloves, though he did not write the fifth film, has returned as screenwriter for this instalment.[2] Filming began on September 24, 2007 and the film is scheduled for a UK and US release on November 21, 2008, South Africa on December 5, 2008, and an Australian release on December 11, 2008.[3][2] Like the previous film, the sixth film will be simultaneously released in regular theatres and IMAX 3-D.[4] Editing of the movie has been completed and studio officials will soon see the finished product.[5] The film has been chosen to be screened at this year's Royal Film Performance on 17 November 2008.[6]
Filming
Filming began on September 24, 2007; with one week of rehearsals, and principal photography ended in May 2008.[3] Before filming commenced, there was belief that filming may move from the UK, where all of the previous five films have been shot. This is North Scotland reported filming will take place in New Zealand, due to the "more agreeable economy and climate" and lack of Scottish funding.[16] The Sunday Business Post in Ireland noted that the film's producers and WB executives had been scouting there, specifically Leinster and Munster because they "believe they have now exhausted possible locations in Britain." They are "particularly keen on Ireland, as the landscape is similar to Britain and will appear similar to the settings of the previous films."[17] The crew also scouted around Cape Wrath in Scotland, for use in the cave scene.[18] Filming is scheduled to return to Glen Coe and Glenfinnan, both locations that have appeared in the previous films, to preserve the continuity of the landscape.[19]
On the weekend of 6 October 2007, the crew shot scenes involving the Hogwarts Express in the misty and dewy environment of Fort William, Scotland.[19] A series of night scenes have been filmed in the village of Lacock and the cloisters at Lacock Abbey for three nights starting 25 October 2007. Filming took place from 5 p.m. to 5 a.m. daily, and residents of the street were asked to black out their windows with dark blinds.[20][21][22] On set reports indicated that the main scene filmed was Harry and Dumbledore's visit to Slughorn's house.[22] Further filming took place in Surbiton railway station in October 2007,[23] Gloucester Cathedral, where the first and second films were shot, in February 2008,[24] and at the Millennium Bridge in London in March 2008.[25]
Though Radcliffe, Gambon and Broadbent started shooting in late September 2007, some other cast members started much later: Watson did not begin until December 2007, Rickman until January 2008, and Bonham Carter until February 2008.[26][27] Principal photography wrapped up on 17 May 2008.[28]
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Yup, Ed Norton as Bruce Banner. Could this be another comic conversion worth watching? Stay tuned--the Incredible Hulk opens on June 13th.
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Regal to Host Red Carpet Benefit Screening of Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D
0 comments Published by MSamstag on Thursday, June 5, 2008
Film’s stars Brendan Fraser and Josh Hutcherson to attend
On Tuesday, June 24, Regal Entertainment Group will host the Tennessee Benefit Screening of New Line Cinema and Walden Media’s action adventure film Journey to the Center of the Earth at Regal Cinemas Pinnacle Stadium 18. Proceeds from this advance screening will benefit Variety – The Children’s Charity of Eastern Tennessee. A limited number of tickets will be available to the public. Tickets for general admission to the event go on sale exclusively at Pinnacle Stadium 18 at 9:00AM on Friday, June 6 for $50 each.
Two of the film’s stars Brendan Fraser (The Mummy films, Crash) and Josh Hutcherson (Bridge to Terabithia, Zathura) will attend the Tennessee Benefit Screening of Journey to the Center of the Earth, along with the film’s director Eric Brevig, an Academy Award-winning visual effects veteran.
Guests at this year’s event will be treated like stars with a catered reception compliments of Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar including a selection of their signature appetizers from their nationally acclaimed menu. Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar is located at the Pinnacle Lifestyle Center directly across Parkside Drive from Pinnacle Stadium 18. The reception will be held at the cinema as guests enjoy live music before Fraser and Hutcherson walk the red carpet and greet the crowd. Beer, wine, and an assortment of other beverages will also be available. After the red carpet reception attendees will have the honor of being some of the first moviegoers to view the new family adventure film in RealD 3D.
Movie Trailer:
Variety – The Children’s Charity is a multi-million dollar philanthropic organization that spans the globe with 50 chapters in 14 countries, improving the lives of children through creative fundraising efforts, well-placed donations with exceptional children’s charities, and through its own charitable programs. With the help of volunteers and sponsors, Variety – The Children’s Charity continues its mission to provide lifesaving and life-enriching assistance to children in need on the local and international level. The local chapter of Variety was founded in Knoxville by Regal Cinemas in 2001 and since then has generated more than $1.5 million to assist children in East Tennessee.
Journey to the Center of the Earth stars Brendan Fraser as a science professor, whose unconventional hypotheses have put him on the fringe of the academic community. But on an expedition in Iceland, he and his teenage nephew (Josh Hutcherson), accompanied by their beautiful local guide (Anita Briem), stumble upon a major discovery that launches them on a thrilling journey deep beneath the Earth’s surface, where they travel through never-before-seen worlds that bring them face-to-face with surreal and unimaginable creatures, stretching the bounds of the visionary scientist’s own imagination.
New Line Cinema and Walden Media present Journey to the Center of the Earth starring Brendan Fraser, Josh Hutcherson and Anita Briem (The Tudors). The film marks the big screen directorial debut of Academy Award-winning visual effects veteran Eric Brevig (Total Recall, Pearl Harbor). The screenplay is by Michael Weiss and Jennifer Flackett & Mark Levin. Charlotte Huggins and Beau Flynn are the producers, with Toby Emmerich, Brendan Fraser, Mark McNair and Tripp Vinson serving as executive producers.
Journey to the Center of the Earth will be released on July 11 in theatres nationwide and in RealD 3D where available. This film has been rated PG by the MPAA for “intense adventure action and some scary moments.”
For event information, please contact Dena Pinsker at (865) 925-9906.
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By Michael Samstag for Knoxville Films
I was very fortunate to be treated to an advance screening of the first two episode's of "Generation Kill" last week at the Nashville Screenwriters Conference. The seven part mini-series is based on the book "Generation Kill" written by Rolling Stone journalist Evan Wright chronicling his experience as an embedded reporter with the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion during the first 40-days of the US led invasion of Iraq.
Right away, "Generation Kill" is different than any other show attempting to convey what it's like to be at war. The series has more of a documentary feel--relying on the sounds of battle to heighten the tension rather than the use of traditional musical scores. The dialogue was gritty, sometimes vulgar, funny, and there were whole scenes that felt like they were recorded directly in the heat of battle. The production was enhanced further by the military technical consulting services of Sgt. Erik Kocher and Cpl. Jeffrey Carisalez who ensured that at no point did you feel you were watching actors playing Marines.
Yeah, the series is a sort of narrative-documentary hybrid--imagine The War Tapes meets the best parts of We Were Soldiers Once--but is it entertaining or simply another condemning look at the War in Iraq?
Well, it's not that easy to summarize but I can tell you that I was expecting to get caught up in the technical aspects of the show and not get swept away by the story. It was a hell of a ride! I felt like I was riding along with the Marines. Pictures I remember from photogs in Iraq came to life before my eyes. The horrors I worked hard to drink away were alive again with an unapologizing, unflinching reality I would not have thought possible outside the documentary genre.
Trailer for Generation Kill:
As for whether it's a condemning portrayal of war, that's not for me to say. What it is is an honest portrayal of what it must have been like being embedded with the Marines. It took a very frank look at the problems the marines faces with the Rules of Engagement and problems within their own ranks with command and control. This is not Hollywood's version of war, though it's just as riveting as the action movies Hollywood can produce. Bravo to Evan Wright, the cast and crew of "Generation Kill" and smart people at HBO who brought this series to the public.
"Generation Kill" premieres July 13 at 9pm on HBO.
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Written by Kieron Barry
Last week, when asked to name Hollywood’s two most under-rated actors, I suggested Jennifer Aniston and Sydney Pollack.
While Aniston seems to have trouble finding a script that will allow her to shine to the extent that she did in 2002’s hugely touching The Good Girl, she has, one might imagine, a few more decades in which to keep trying.
Little did I suspect, however, that Pollack’s final performance was not just in the can but already being projected (Paul Weiland’s Made of Honor).
I was surprised by how affected I was at the news of his death. He was, after all, 73 years old, and I had never met him. But Pollack’s evergreen vigor defied both his age and the increasing smallness of the cameos he took. To the very end he continued to loom large as an artistic colossus, an American renaissance man who, whether as actor, director or producer, displayed a prodigious talent that outstripped most of those who devoted their lives to just one of these professions.
Few Hollywood producers displayed such refined tastes. Pollack had a hand in such minor intellectual masterpieces as 2002’s Graham Greene adaptation The Quiet American, Ang Lee’s Sense & Sensibility and Richard Eyre’s Iris.
As a director he was more of a populist, although it could be said he began to lose his ability to pick a winner in the last decade of his life. But it’s a rare director catholic enough to take on Tootsie and Out Of Africa back to back. Additionally, along with Oliver Stone (and, arguably, Paul Thomas Anderson) he can be applauded as one of the few directors capable of wringing a decent performance out of Tom Cruise, as demonstrated by 1993’s flawed but fun The Firm. His greatest triumph, however, was Three Days Of The Condor, perhaps the best of that brilliant bunch of 1970s paranoia films that included Marathon Man, All The President’s Men and The Conversation.
But it is as an actor that he gave me the most joy. He was an absolute natural who benefited greatly from both his rumpled, complex yet friendly face and his almost unique ability to give a performance of beguiling looseness. So spontaneous was his style that one could never quite believe Pollack was acting. The only actor who comes close to him for sheer on-screen relaxation is Philip Seymour Hoffman – interestingly another performer with far-from-classical features. Pollack wasn’t a conscious scene-stealer, but the trouble was just he made everyone around him look like they were trying too hard. It’s to his credit as an individual that he could consistently do this yet remain so greatly loved by his colleagues.
It was always a treat when he would pop up unexpectedly here and there with a sporty little cameo. On seeing him one experienced the warm rush that comes from spotting an old and much-missed friend at a party.
For me, his best performance was in Woody Allen’s Husbands and Wives (1992), in which he played a New York lawyer who left his wife for a young personal trainer. In what is unquestionably one of the greatest scenes in the Woody Allen canon, the nubile instructor proves less edifying company outside the bedroom (‘It’s Lear; King Lear. Shakespeare didn’t write about a King Leo…’), and Pollack’s character has to literally drag her from a party at which she’s making a misjudged attempt to impress his friends by, as he puts it, ‘jerking off about tofu and crystals’.
Huge both in energy and enthusiasm, Sydney Pollack was exactly the kind of man Hollywood needs more of. Today, however, it has one fewer.
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There's only one day left to enter your email address to subscribe to the Knoxville Films daily email blast for a chance to win two tickets to the advanced screening of Son of Rambow!
If you already subscribe to the daily email and wish to enter the contest, just send an email to RAMBOW CONTEST with CONTEST in the subject line.
The screening will take place at Regal Riviera Stadium 8 on May 14 at 7:30pm. Contest winner will be chosen at noon on May 13.
CLICK HERE for more information about Son of Rambow.
(Tickets courtesy of Paramount Vantage and Shakefire.com)
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The Pangea Day Mission & Purpose
Pangea Day is a global event bringing the world together through film.
Why? In a world where people are often divided by borders, difference, and conflict, it's easy to lose sight of what we all have in common. Pangea Day seeks to overcome that – to help people see themselves in others – through the power of film.
The Pangea Day Event
Starting at 18:00 GMT on May 10, 2008, locations in Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai, and Rio de Janeiro will be linked for a live program of powerful films, live music, and visionary speakers. The entire program will be broadcast – in seven languages – to millions of people worldwide through the internet, television, and mobile phones.
The 24 short films to be featured have been selected from an international competition that generated more than 2,500 submissions from over one hundred countries. The films were chosen based on their ability to inspire, transform, and allow us see the world through another person's eyes. Details on the Pangea Day films can be viewed here.
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Enter your email address to subscribe to the Knoxville Films daily email blast for a chance to win two tickets to the advanced screening of Son of Rambow!
If you already subscribe to the daily email and wish to enter the contest, just send an email to RAMBOW CONTEST with CONTEST in the subject line.
The screening will take place at Regal Riviera Stadium 8 on May 14 at 7:30pm. Contest winner will be chosen at noon on May 13.CLICK HERE for more information about Son of Rambow.
(Tickets courtesy of Paramount Vantage and Shakefire.com)
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Final Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Trailer!
0 comments Published by MSamstag on Sunday, May 4, 2008
Don't forget the red carpet action begins tonight at 5:15pm! The stars from the movie will arrive in limos and will be posing for the paparazzi in their full Hollywood splendor! The screening begins at 7pm at Regal Downtown West.
Live at 5 will be doing a live remote from the red carpet at around 5:10 so be sure to set your Tivo to record that! Tonight's screening is SOLD OUT! We will add an update if and when a second screening is added.
And of course, Knoxville Films will be on the red carpet bringing you photographs and blogs live from the event. It promises to be a magical night with the stars!
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Every once and awhile a movie comes around that is so powerful, it has the power to change everything. In a world filled with movies about cops, teenage sex, and war, comes a movie about returning home, friends reunited, and of course--soft ball. That movie is Boys of Summerville.
Boys of Summerville is simply the best soft ball movie ever made. Here's what the critics are saying:"...a heart warming romp though the beautiful small cities of Tennessee... Benjamin's second work is pure cinematic gold..." -LA Times
The red carpet Premiere for Boys of Summerville takes place tonight! The limos begin rolling onto the red carpet at 5:15pm and the show starts at 7pm. The 7pm screening is SOLD OUT but there is rumor of a possible second screening. Keep an eye on Knoxville Films for details!
"...Summerville is a perfect book end to Point of Fear... instead of killing people, they are all united in killing the other team... stunning..." -USA Today
"Casey Payne and Allison Varnes heat up the screen again. The sparks fly like softballs heading to the outfield. Brilliant performances..." -NY Times
"The best softball movie ever" -Sports Illustrated
"I laughed, I cried, it was better than Cats" -Homeless Guy
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Directed by Christopher Nolan
Starring : Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal
Distributed by Warner Bros.
North America: July 18, 2008
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Only two words are needed to describe this show: HELL YEAH!
I haven't seen it yet, but I'm so excited to see it on IMAX at Regal Pinnacle Turkey Creek. Imagine twelve cameras covering the Stones during a live performance, all directed by Marty Scorcese, now project it all on a massive screen with the best sound system in town. That's a recipe for good times.
"“Shine a Light” makes no attempt to explain the Stones or to tell their story. All it wants to do is to give you the best seat in the house and the best sound you could possibly hope for."Look for a $1 Movie Review from Knoxville Films soon. Real soon!
-Steven Holden, NY Times
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The Regal Entertainment Group, which owns the nation’s largest movie theater chain, will work with the Imax Corporation to open 31 new, large-format outlets. The two companies said they would share the cost of installation and the revenue, but declined to reveal more detailed financial information.
One of Regal’s primary competitors, AMC Entertainment, announced a similar deal with Imax in December. The movie theater business, buffeted by a decade-long boom in home entertainment that has hurt attendance, is betting that Imax’s eye-popping imagery will help lure patrons to the multiplex. Currently Imax has 150 theaters in the United States, with plans for more than 300 by 2010.
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Yeah OK, I love James Bond movies. I was raised watching them. I've worked with lots of people who have made a good living making Bond movies. One day I can only dream of working on a Bond movie myself. Ahhh, the locations, the gadgets, the girls. Did I mention the girls?
Anyway, here's a pretty snazzy behind the scenes featurette from Reelz:
Quantum of Solace will arrive in theaters on November 7th. The film will be directed by Marc Forster of Stranger Than Fiction and The Kite Runner.
Related:
Get to Know Your Bond Girl: Olga Kurylenko
Olga Kurylenko is New Bond Girl
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Well, it's all over the blogosphere and frankly, we can't have our dedicated Knoxville Films readers left in the dark so here is the exclusive trailer that absolutely everybody has on their blog.
It's a new Wachowski movie and it features a star studded cast so chances are, you'll be seeing a LOT of marketing for this little film over the next few months. Nice to see the Wachowski's taking on a serious philosophical piece for a change.
Stats:
Born to race cars, Speed Racer is aggressive, instinctive and, most of all, fearless. His only real competition is the memory of the brother he idolized - the legendary Rex Racer, whose death in a race has left behind a legacy that Speed is driven to fulfill. Speed is loyal to the family racing business, led by his father, Pops Racer, the designer of Speed's thundering Mach 5.
When Speed turns down a lucrative and tempting offer from Royalton Industries, he not only infuriates the company's maniacal owner but uncovers a terrible secret - some of the biggest races are being fixed by a handful of ruthless moguls who manipulate the top drivers to boost profits. If Speed won't drive for Royalton, Royalton will see to it that the Mach 5 never crosses another finish line.
The only way for Speed to save his family's business and the sport he loves is to beat Royalton at his own game. With the support of his family and his loyal girlfriend, Trixie, Speed teams with his one-time rival - the mysterious Racer X - to win the race that had taken his brother's life: the death-defying, cross-country rally known as The Crucible.
Actors
Emile Hirsch, Speed Racer
Susan Sarandon, Mom Racer
John Goodman, Pops
Christina Ricci, Trixie
Matthew Fox, Racer X
Hiroyuki Sanada, Mr. Musha
Ji Hoon Jung, Taejo Togokhan
Richard Roundtree, Ben Burns
Roger Allam, Royalton
Benno Furmann, Inspector Detector
Kick Gurry, Sparky
Paulie Litt, Spritle
Scott Porter, Rex Racer
Christian Oliver
Nayo K. Wallace, Minx
Directors
Larry Wachowski, Director
Andy Wachowski, Director
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This looks hysterical! I have high expectations from Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway.
Check out the newest trailer:
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In honor of The Darjeeling Limited being released on DVD tomorrow, here's an interview with Wes Anderson and Jason Schwartzman on MTV.com.
Unfortunately, this weekend was more like Passover for Wes Anderson who was not nominated for an Oscar or an Independent Spirit Award. Regardless, it was still my favorite movie of 2007. I'm sure thats a great consolation prize.
Click on the box to purchase the DVD--you'll be glad you did.
Related Post: The Darjeeling Limited Trailer
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