Roger Ebert, the film reviewer for Sun Times, has recently had cancer in his salivary gland which spread to his right lower jaw. It left him temporarily disfigured and two attempts to replace the missing section in his jaw were unsuccessful.
With the Annual Overlooked Film Festival coming up, Ebert has just said that stuff it, he is gonna be attending it regardless of his look and advice from some people telling him paparazzi will be busy making fun of him. Roger, you are a total champion.
I have received a lot of advice that I should not attend the festival. I’m told that paparazzi will take unflattering pictures, people will be unkind, etc. Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn. As a journalist I can take it as well as dish it out.
Our early news that Spiderman 3 had been pirated and selling on the streets of China have been dissipated. Apparently the original report, coming from who knows where, was just an attempt to drum up traffic.
An official statement from Sony has been taken, and here it is 
Contrary to news reports about stolen copies of Spider-Man 3 being sold illegally on the streets in China, our investigation in China has revealed no case of the film being pirated to date.
Similar hoaxes and false alarms have occurred prior to the release of other major films. We have uncovered examples of Spider-Man 2 being sold in Spider-Man 3 boxes in China. But thus far we can find no instance where Spider-Man 3 has appeared on DVD.
In addition, after an initial investigation of online sites worldwide, we have so far found no pirated copies of Spider-Man 3 on the Internet.This incident underscores one of the problems with piracy — people who buy illegal movies often get ripped off themselves.
At least that is good news for us movie goers Spiderman 3 could still get some major crowds and break box office records yet! Stupid piracy
The latest sequel to “Batman Begins”, titled, “The Dark Knight” has halted the filming of one of it’s scenes due to a fire on set.
The fire had no connection with the filming as the crew were working on the ground floor and the blaze started near the top of the building. According to the fire department spokesman the fire started in the ventilation system near the top of the building, whilst the crew were filming a scene where a yellow school bus crashes through the wall.
The film being directed by Christopher Nolan (who also directed the prequel, Batman Begins) teams up with Heath Ledger, as the Joker, and joins forces once again with Christian Bale, as the one and only Batman.
Apparently nobody was hurt and the fireman left the scene within hours of the blaze being started. Great news for us Batman fans
One of my favourite games of all time has just begun filming there film adaptation of it. The game, Hitmen, has just begun filming in Sofia, Bulgaria according to JoBlo. IMDB seems to have the scoop on the filming locations, hinting that it could be filmed from many locations such as Cape Town: South Africa, London: England, Sofia: Bulgaria, South Africa, St. Petersburg: Russia.
IMDB reports that Timothy Olyphant, Robert Knepper, Dougray Scott, Ulrich Thomsen, Olga Kurylenko and Michael Offei are all starring in the famous game turned movie adaptation. The expected release date for America are the 12th of October 2007, although that is not set in stone and is most likely going to change.
Wikipedia has a great plot outline, going a little something like this
Agent 47 (Olyphant) has been educated to become a professional assassin for hire, whose most powerful weapons are his nerve and a resolute pride in his work. 47 is both the last two digits of the barcode tattooed on the nape of his neck, and his only name.
The hunter becomes the hunted when 47 gets caught up in a political takeover. Both Interpol and the Russian military chase the Hitman across Eastern Europe as he tries to find out who set him up and why they’re trying to take him out of the game. But the greatest threat to 47’s survival may be the stirrings of his conscience and the unfamiliar emotions aroused in him by a beautiful, damaged girl
Personally it sounds like a good watch, although the hit man plot has been done to death. Hopefully they bring something new to the table and really revolutionize it.
(IMDB Profile)
We all knew it was gonna happen sooner or later. It looks like sooner was the more viable option, apparently the disc has seen being flogged at Chinese markets for $1 complete with a cover of Spider man in his infamous black suit.
According to some sources the movie is not available on the internet, but in no time the warez community is bound to get a hold of the DVD. Quite sad considering it hasn’t even debuted in the USA yet people could have already seen it before it’s release date.
China has one of the largest piracy markets in the world. The first reason being that the cost to watch a movie at the cinemas grossly outweighs the cost to go to a corner and pick up a copy of it, which really is ridiculous. The second reason being that the Chinese government is not clamping down on pirates and, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Beijing’s attempt to stop piracy is “weak” and they are not taking the proper measures to reduce intellectual property theft.
It makes you wonder where the movie industry is going to be in the next 20-30 years, whether the profits of movies will be worth it, or piracy will reign supreme. Only time will tell.
