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Weekend Newsreel- October 21, 2005
 Daniel
Craig Named New James Bond-
Following months
of speculation and rumor, it was finally announced this past Friday
that Daniel Craig has been cast as the new James Bond in the
upcoming 21st installment of the spy film franchise
Casino Royale. You can read more of our coverage of the news
conference here.
Golden Horse Nominations-
Action films
Election and Kung Fu Hustle head the pack of nominations
announced this Tuesday in Taiwan, China for the 42nd annual Golden
Horse Film Festival Awards. Director Johnnie To’s film Election
leads the pack with 11 nominations including Best Feature Film,
Director, Actor and Supporting Actor while Stephen Chow’s comedy
Kung Fu Hustle received 10 nominations including Best Feature,
Director, Supporting Actor and Actress and Action Choreography. Hou
Hsiao-hsien's romance Three Times got nine nominations
including Best Feature Film, Director, Actor and Actress. Hong
Kong’s Tsui Hark’s kung fu epic Seven Swords received seven
nominations including Best Art Direction and Cinematography. The
awards are considered the most prestigious Chinese language film
awards outside of the People’s Republic of China and are awarded by
committee during the Golden Horse Film Festival which runs this year
from November 4th through the 17th in Taipei.
Movieland Wax Museum To Close-
The Movieland
Wax Museum in Buena Park, CA has announced that due to declining
attendance over the past several years it will close its doors on
November 1, 2005. The current owners speculate that declining
attendance can be attributed to the static nature of the Museum’s
displays versus the more interactive nature of the nearby Knott’s
Berry Farm and Disneyland theme parks. The museum, established in
1962 by silent film star Mary Pickford, is one of the largest of its
kind in the world with over 300 wax replicas of cinema celebrities
and has seen an estimated 10 to 20 million people pass through its
doors. Many of the museum’s exhibits will be transferred to the Wax
Museum at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco.
Movies Return To Saudi Arabia-
After a near
two-decade absence, film screening will be making a tentative return
to Saudi Arabia next month with a special screening at a hotel in
Riyadh of foreign cartoons dubbed into Arabic. The hour-long program
will screen nightly for two weeks starting after the November 2
ending of the holy month of Ramadan. Organizers have restricted the
audience to only women and children in order to sidestep Muslim
religious restrictions against gender mixing. Although Saudi Arabia
has no specific laws against movie theaters, cinemas died out in the
late 1970s/early 80s in the religious conservative movement that
swept the country following the 1975 assassination of King Faisal,
whose introduction of modernization and secular reform had met with
resistance and protest from conservative Muslim clerics. Prior to
the decline in movie screenings, Saudi theaters screened films to
mixed-gender audiences where women left their faces unveiled.
In
Remembrance
Charles Rocket-
The comic actor who appeared in
Dumb and Dumber and Dances With Wolves has passed away at
age 56.
Devery Freeman-
The writer who was instrumental in
both the founding of the Screen Writers Guild has passed away at 92.
Raju Patel-
The producer of the comedy
Bachelor Party has passed away at age 45.
Opening This Week
October 21
-
After Innocence (NY, LA)
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Barely Legal (limited)
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Congo: White King, Red
Rubber, Black Death (NY)
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Doom
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Dreamer: Inspired By A
True Story
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Emmanuel's Gift (NY,
Chicago)
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Innocence (NY)
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Kids In America (limited)
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Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang
(limited)
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North Country
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Paradise Now (LA)
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Protocols Of Zion (NY, LA)
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Shopgirl (NY, LA, Toronto)
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Stay
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Wasabi Tuna (limited)
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Where The Truth Lies (Top
20 markets)
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The Work And The Glory:
American Zion
October 26
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