May 09, 2005
Mindhunters
By Michael Rechtshaffen
Plucked from those famous Miramax/Dimension deep shelves at the eleventh hour, "Mindhunters" arrives in North American theaters a couple of years after its initial planned release date.
Having already played in a number of overseas territories, the British/Dutch/Finnish-American co-production can't help but carry a certain DVD-ready stigma, and that's probably where it will be doing its greatest business in this neck of the woods.
While the premise is intriguing -- a group of young FBI profilers is being systematically and gruesomely eliminated during what is supposed to be an elaborate training exercise -- director Renny Harlin's take on Agatha Christie's versatile "Ten Little Indians" is total B-movie swagger in all its unsubtle glory.
Taken for what it is, along with the clunky dialogue, cardboard-cutout characterizations and eardrum-pounding orchestral blasts, the picture is not without its occasional cheap thrills, which should prove to be more cost-effective in the form of a video store rental.
After an audience-tease of a prologue, "Mindhunters" gets down to the business of plopping its group of FBI Investigative Support Unit would-be profilers in the middle of a remote island that looks like a Main Street USA studio backlot that has seriously gone to seed (it actually was filmed in the Netherlands).
It is there that leader Rafe Perry (Val Kilmer) has orchestrated a murder scene simulation of a final exam designed to weed out the weaker links, but it quickly becomes apparent that the theoretical serial killer they're attempting to profile is the real thing, and, with each subsequent murder, it's looking more and more like the perpetrator is among them.
Although the script, credited to Wayne Kramer and Kevin Brodbin, works overtime attempting to evoke early John Carpenter, some of the nasty demises, no matter how illogical, have their seriously twisted allure, and while Harlin amps everything up to the extreme, the results are at least livelier than his version of "Exorcist: The Beginning," which he took on after "Mindhunters."
The cast -- also including Christian Slater (sharing the name J.D. with his "Heathers" character), LL Cool J, Kathryn Morris, Jonny Lee Miller, Eion Bailey and Clifton Collins Jr. -- do what they can with the hokey dialogue until visual effects supervisor Brian M. Jennings gets around to creatively putting them out of their misery.
Mindhunters
Dimension Films
Dimension Films and Intermedia present an Outlaw production An Avenue Pictures production in association with Weed Road Pictures
Credits:
Director: Renny Harlin
Screenwriters: Wayne Kramer and Kevin Brodbin
Story by: Wayne Kramer
Producers: Jeffrey Silver, Bobby Newmyer, Cary Brokaw, Rebecca Spikings
Executive producers: Moritz Borman, Guy East, Nigel Sinclair, Renny Harlin
Director of photography: Robert Gantz
Production designer: Charles Wood
Editors: Paul Martin Smith, Neil Farrell
Costume designer: Louise Frogley
Music: Tuomas Kantelinen
Cast:
Gabe Jensen: James Todd Smith a k a LL Cool J
Lucas Harper: Jonny Lee Miller
Sara Moore: Kathryn Morris
Nicole Willis: Patricia Velasquez
Vince Sherman: Clifton Collins Jr
Bobby Whitman: Eion Bailey
Rafe Perry: Will Kemp
Jake Harris: Val Kilmer
J.D. Reston: Christian Slater
MPAA rating R
Running time -- 106 minutes
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May 06, 2005
The A-list
Titles generating the strongest buzz as buyers and sellers prepare for the Marche du Film.
By Stephen Galloway
Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction
(C2 Pictures)
A sequel to the 1992 Sharon Stone-Michael Douglas sexual thriller has been under discussion for years, but the picture now has become a reality for Intermedia, with Stone starring opposite British actor David Morrissey (Miramax's "Derailed") for director Michael Caton-Jones (1995's "Rob Roy"). Shooting began in London last month, with Stone reprising her role as Catherine Tramell for a tale that sees her once again in trouble with the law. Morrissey plays a psychiatrist assigned to evaluate the mystery woman, who then becomes entangled with her in unintended ways. Andy Vajna and Mario Kassar produce.
The Breed
(First Look Media)
Horror maestro Wes Craven produces this latest entry in the genre, which stars Michelle Rodriguez (2000's "Girlfight") as a young woman who travels with her friends to a private island in the Puget Sound for a quiet vacation, only to encounter trouble when the island's wild dogs turn out to be a collection of mutants with preternatural intelligence and an appetite to match. The picture is one of three horror films that Craven has pacted to produce for First Look. "Breed" started shooting in South Africa in April, with Craven protege Nicholas Mastandrea making his directorial debut.
Copying Beethoven
(Myriad Pictures)
Ed Harris plays Ludwig van Beethoven in this drama set in 1820s Vienna, which follows an aspiring young female composer, played by Diane Kruger (2004's "Troy"), who lands a job as a copyist helping the master as he completes his "Ninth Symphony." Their relationship becomes more complicated as Beethoven turns to her for inspiration while working on his brilliant string quartets. Agnieszka Holland (1991's "Europa Europa") directs the picture from a script by Stephen J. Rivele and Christopher Wilkinson (1995's "Nixon"). The movie began shooting in April.
Hard Candy
(Lions Gate International)
First-time feature director David Slade drew strong reviews at January's Sundance Film Festival for this psychological drama about a cat-and-mouse game between a teenage girl (Ellen Page) and a fashion photographer (Patrick Wilson, 2004's "The Phantom of the Opera") whom she encounters on the Internet. Events soon escalate when the photographer finds himself tied down by the teen as she demands to know the truth about a missing teenage friend. The film also stars Sandra Oh (2004's "Sideways").
The Illusionist
(Syndicate Films International)
Based on the 1989 short story "Eisenheim the Illusionist," published in Esquire magazine and written by Pulitzer Prize winner Steven Millhauser, this drama is set in turn-of-the-century Vienna and features Edward Norton as a stage magician who uses his magic to win back the love of his life from a powerful rival who just so happens to be the crown prince of Austria. Neil Burger (2002's "Interview with the Assassin") directs from his own script. The movie also stars Paul Giamatti, who reteams with his "Sideways" producer Michael London.
In the Land of Women
(Kathy Morgan International)
Meg Ryan stars in this joint venture from Castle Rock Entertainment and Warner Independent, a romantic comedy about a young man (Adam Brody) who leaves Los Angeles following a devastating breakup with his girlfriend and moves in with his eccentric grandmother in her suburban Detroit home. There, he befriends a single mother who lives across the street -- and his real problems begin. Jonathan Kasdan (son of director Lawrence Kasdan) directs from his own script. Kathy Morgan is handling international sales for the film.
Isolation
(Lions Gate International)
Lions Gate's latest horror film, following the success of 2004's "Saw," is a new Anglo-Irish co-production from director Billy O'Brien, starring British actors John Lynch, Ruth Negga and Sean Harris. It tells the story of five people who end up on a bleak farm during an Irish winter to take part in an experiment that goes horribly wrong. The film marks O'Brien's feature debut on the heels of his 1999 prize-winning short "The Tale of the Rat That Wrote."
First Snow
(Syndicate Films International)
One of the first pictures to be released after being made with seed money from real estate mogul Bob Yari, "Snow" stars Guy Pearce in a "Memento"-esque tale about a man who is told by a fortune teller that he will die when the next snows come -- and how the man tries desperately to change his life to avoid that fate. Mark Fergus (who previously co-wrote the 2003 movie "Consequence") makes his directing debut from a script he co-wrote with Hawk Ostby.
Killshot
(Weinstein Co)
Harvey and Bob Weinstein's new company -- Weinstein Co -- makes its Cannes debut with this adaptation of a novel by Elmore Leonard. Based on a screenplay by Hossein Amini (1997's "The Wings of the Dove") and directed by Weinstein favorite John Madden (1998's "Shakespeare in Love"), this thriller centers on an innocent couple who becomes the target of two killers, a hit man and a sociopath, after the couple stumbles upon an extortion scheme. Casting is underway on the film, which will start shooting later this year.
Little Fish
(Myriad Pictures)
Fresh off her Oscar win for best supporting actress for 2004's "The Aviator," Cate Blanchett returns to her native Australia for this thriller about a down-and-out former drug addict who agrees to get involved in a crime in order to obtain the money to start an Internet cafe -- only to wind up on the wrong side of a gun when she arrives at the expected victim's home. Directed by Rowan Woods (1999's "The Boys"), the film also stars Sam Neill, Hugo Weaving and Martin Henderson.
Lonely Hearts
(Millennium Films)
John Travolta and James Gandolfini team as investigators on the trail of the "Lonely Hearts Killers" -- Raymond Martinez and Martha Beck, a couple who trapped their victims by answering the personals -- in this drama set in New York during the 1940s. The movie, which started shooting in Florida in March, features Salma Hayek as Beck and is based on a true story in which writer-director Todd Robinson's father, Detective Elmer Robinson, was involved; he was the original detective who now is played by Travolta.
The Tiger and the Snow
(Focus Features)
After putting his stamp on the Holocaust experience in 1998's "Life Is Beautiful," Italian superstar Roberto Benigni makes an even bolder leap in "Tiger," a comedy-drama in which he plays a love-struck poet who finds himself in Iraq at the outset of the American-led invasion. The film, which also stars Benigni's wife and regular collaborator, Nicoletta Braschi, as well as French actor Jean Reno, is being released domestically by Focus Features, which also is handling all rights outside of Italy. The film marks Benigni's first directorial effort since 2002's "Pinocchio" and is due to open in Europe in October.
Untitled Douglas McGrath Project
(Arclight Films)
This drama, based on the true story behind author Truman Capote's investigation into the 1959 murders of a rich Kansas family -- which would eventually become the subject of his best-seller "In Cold Blood" -- stars Sandra Bullock, Gwyneth Paltrow and Daniel Craig and introduces Toby Jones as the young Capote. Written and directed by Douglas McGrath (1996's "Emma"), the movie is based in part on George Plimpton's 1997 biography "Truman Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances and Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career." The film also features a host of big-name actors in supporting roles, including Sigourney Weaver, Isabella Rossellini, Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis and Juliet Stevenson. Christine Vachon and John Wells are two of the producers, with Arclight handling sales in Cannes and Warner Independent releasing the film domestically.
The Wicker Man
(Millennium Films)
Oscar winner Nicolas Cage teams with writer-director Neil LaBute for the first time in this Avi Lerner remake of the 1973 thriller of the same name. The movie, which starts shooting in Vancouver in July, tells the story of a sheriff who stumbles upon pagan rituals while looking into the disappearance of a young woman on an isolated island off the coast of Maine. (The original film -- widely considered a cult classic -- starred Edward Woodward, Britt Ekland and Christopher Lee and took place off the coast of Scotland.)
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Michael London
Sharon Stone-Michael Douglas
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