Although they haven’t been quite smash hits in the theaters worldwide, the movies “We Are Marshall” and “Death Proof” seem to have claimed the top two spots on the latest DVD sales chart.
According to the data that have been issued on Wednesday on the third spot from the Nielsen VideoScan First Alert chart for the week ended the 23rd of September one could find the fifth volume of the “Family Guy” episodes. And “Superman: Doomsday” and “Barbie as the Island Princess” have been the next top choices in the DVD sales chart’s data.
On the No. 6 spot, one could find “Smallville: Season 6”, which has just debuted on DVD and which has been followed by the action thriller “The Condemned”. The third season of the “Grey’s Anatomy” series, which was the previous week’s top selling DVD has fell to the No. 8 position.
“We Are Marshall” has been a leader also in the rental stores, where its estimated revenue was of $4.6 million, according to the Home Media Magazine. “The Condemned” has bowed at the No. 2 spot with $4.2 million, as it has bumped the previous week’s top renter, “Blades of Glory” to the No. 3 spot. “Death Proof” has been next, on the No. 4 place, with about $2.9 million in earnings.
For the high-definition disc charts, the long reign of “300” atop both the HD DVD and Blu-ray disc appears to have come to an end. On the HD DVD chart, the crown has gone once again to “We Are Marshall”.

The actress Jenna Elfman has been announced to star in the movie “The Six Wives of Henry Lefay”, in which Tim Allen has already been announced to play, alongside a wide array of actresses.
The story of the movie is that of a man, played by Tim Allen, who is believed by his wife and his other five former wives to be dead, but he is not. The wives, whose ages range from 25 to 55, will start fighting over his will when they all believe he is dead. Jenna Elfman will be playing a small-town diva and the man’s second wife, who is also his fourth wife.
The actresses Andie MacDowell, Kelli Garner, Paz Vega and S. Epatha Merkerson will be playing Tim Allen’s character’s other wives, while actress Elisha Cuthbert will be the man’s unmarried daughter in the movie.
The shooting of the movie has started this week in Connecticut, with Howard Michael Gould as the movie’s director.
Jenna Elfman has become well known for her starring role in the sitcom “Dharma & Greg”.

The popular actor and director Robert Redford has been reportedly attached to direct “Against All Enemies”.
The movie project will represent an adaptation of a best-selling memoir written by Richard A. Clarke in which the author remembers and tells about the Bush administration’s handling of the al-Qaeda threat before and also after the 11th of September 2001 terrorist attacks.
Richard A. Clarke, who represents a former United States terrorism czar, has offered the ultimate insider’s account into the American nation’s security apparatus. The story features also the ultimate players such as President Bush, the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, or the former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, as well as Clarke himself.
Richard A. Clarke’s best-selling book was published back in March 2004 by Free Press and it quickly hit the No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list. It has represented quite important fuel for the more and more intense criticism over the Bush administration’s security failures and its decision to start a war against Iraq.
The movie that Robert Redford is to direct will be financed by Capitol Films, which has picked it up from Columbia. The Oscar-winning “Crash” director Paul Haggis has been initially slated to shoot the film, but when he has opted instead for the Iraq war-themed feature “In the Valley of Elah”, which has just opened in theatres, Robert Redford has been attached to the project.
Robert Redford is currently putting the finishing touches on his latest political project, titled “Lions for Lambs”, in which he will star alongside other important movie stars such as Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise.

The popular and, recently, Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese has been announced on Thursday by “Daily Variety” to plan to direct the authorized documentary about the late former Beatle George Harrison, who died in 2001 of lung cancer. The report from “Daily Variety” has also said that the interviews, as well as the early production, are to begin at the end of this year, while the entire film is expected to take several years to compete.
The fact that Martin Scorsese will be directing the documentary represents, obviously, an important thing. “It would have given George great joy to know that Martin Scorsese has agreed to tell his story.” – George Harrison’s widow, Olivia, has been reported to have said by the trade paper.
Olivia will also be the producer of the yet untitled documentary about her late husband. She will as well supply archival materials, while the surviving Beatle members Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney have been reported to participate as well in this project. The band’s Apple Records label will also be involved in the making of this movie about George Harrison.
This project won’t be however Martin Scorsese’s first encounter with the musical world, as popular director is currently preparing for the April 2008 release of a concert documentary about another famous music band, the Rolling Stones. “Shine a Light” is the title of this documentary. Scorsese has also directed in 2005 the documentary about Bob Dylan, titled “No Direction Home”, as well as the 1976 documentary titled “The Last Waltz” about the Band’s farewell concert. Scorsese, who has eventually won an Oscar in 2007 for his directing the crime saga “The Departed”, seems to be quite the right choice for such a documentary.
The yet untitled project has been said to cover George Harrison time in the Fab Four, when he created such memorable tunes as “Here Comes the Sun” or “Something”, his inconsistent solo career, as well as his foray into movie production that involved such projects as “Monty Python’s Life of Brian”, and his enthusiastic embrace of the Eastern mysticism.
“George Harrison’s music and his search for spiritual meaning is a story that still resonates today and I’m looking forward to delving deeper.” – Martin Scorsese has reportedly said about the late former Beatle.

The famous actresses Oscar-winning Helen Mirren and Rachel McAdams and Robin Wright Penn are currently in negotiations for joining other popular actors such as Brad Pitt and Edward Norton in “State of Play”, which is a feature adaptation of a BBC miniseries.
The story within the movie is that of a congressman, which will be played by Edward Norton, and his former campaign manager that has become a journalist, played by Brad Pitt. They will find themselves on the opposite sides after the politician’s research assistant and also mistress is found dead.
Rachel McAdams is to play the youngest reporter from the “Washington Globe”, who will get caught up in the murder conspiracy, while Helen Mirren is to be the newspaper’s toughest editor. Robin Wright Penn is to play the congressman former wife.
The Universal project-movie will be directed by “Kevin Macdonald”, who has also directed “The Last King of Scotland”.
Currently Rachel McAdams is shooting “The Time Traveler’s Wife”, where she stars opposite Eric Bana; Helen Mirren is to star in the upcoming “National Treasure: Book of Secrets”, while Robin Wright Penn makes part of the cast for Robert Zemeckis’ “Beowulf”.

Two of the most popular classic shocking movies ever, “Caligula” and “Emmanuelle”, are coming to DVD, as Image Entertainment and Lionsgate have recently announced. The old fellows that are interested by the subject, as well and the younger ones, will have the occasion to play on their sophisticated devices some of the most popular classic shocking movies ever!
On the 2nd of October 2007, Image Entertainment will release a three-disc edition of “Caligula”, the movie from 1979 that details the graphic and shocking story of most infamous Caesar of Rome, Gaius Germanicus Caligula, the emperor that was so mad that he had a sexual passion for his sister, he married the most popular prostitute of the empire and killed everyone whom he considered an enemy.
The “Imperial Edition” of the notorious epic film, which stars important actors such as Helen Mirren, Peter O’Toole, Malcolm McDowell and John Gielgud, includes also a new interview with the director Tinto Brass, as well as two making-of documentaries, and interviews with the cast members. It also includes commentary tracks by Helen Mirren and Malcolm McDowell.
A week later, Lionsgate is also to release another classic important movie, “Emmanuelle: Special Edition”, which is the movie from 1974 that was based on the book written by Emmanuelle Arsan. It represents also the first openly erotic movie intended for the mainstream audience. The DVD brings also material about how the movie was made, as well as its impact on the American audiences at the time.
The French director’s Pascale Ferran’s 2006 version of D.H. Lawrence’s “Lady Chatterley” is also to hit the market on the DVD, but only starting with the 4th of December.

It seems that talent really runs in the family. At least Casey Affleck’s case confirms this saying, as the new young actor appear to be closer and closer to even outshine his elder sibling, Ben Affleck.
Although it is not quite easy to have such a brother as Ben Affleck and to live up to the exploits of him, Casey Affleck seems to be even able to eclipse some day Ben, who is already an Oscar-winning actor, as well as a box office draw.
Some annalists expect for Casey to even compete for an Academy Award in the coming months. But his success, however, comes also thanks to his elder brother, Ben Affleck; so Casey will have at least one person to thanks just in case he will win the most important acting award ever.
And it seems that the young actor knows that he was lucky to have such a talented older sibling in his family. “We had common language, a shorthand that enabled us to communicate specifically.” - Casey Affleck has told Reuters about being directed by his brother, who is three years older. He has also added that: “We could disagree comfortably and when we agreed, we would elevate the conversation quickly and build on what each other said.” The movie for which Casey Affleck has been directed by his brother is the upcoming “Gone Baby Gone”.
Casey Affleck is 32 years old and he is only now transitioning from being only a character actor, such as his role from “Ocean’s Eleven”, to a leading man. While his older brother has won an Oscar at only 25 years old for co-writing “Good Will Hunting”, Casey has appeared to still have much to learn, but at least he’s on the good way. “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”, which is the first film in which the actor debuts as a leading man, has been released last Friday in the major cities’ theaters and it will expand its release on the 5th of October. Casey Affleck will appear opposite the major star Brad Pitt, although Ben Affleck’s younger brother has first been intimidated by working with the popular star.
“They are all very talented, and I knew I was going to have to elevate my game to keep up… Sometimes I felt like, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to do this and do it well.’” – has said Casey Affleck about working with major stars.
And about working alongside his younger brother, Casey has said that: “Doing movies can be a sort of bonding experience, but it pales in comparison to 32 years of brotherhood.”

A movie about an incident that involved also the current president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, has been broadcasted on Tuesday and about 3.4 million of people have watched it thanks to the France 2 television. And because in this television documentary the current president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, is obviously portrayed as a hero, the movie has already fuelled the debate about the president’s domination over the print media and television.
Still, the television documentary is somehow realistic, as it follows the event that happened about 14 years ago. The event was represented by a hostage crisis and the current president of France, who was at the time only a mayor, helped the authorities in negotiating with the troubled man.
The film is called “H.B. Human Bomb” and seems to really focus on Nicolas Sarkozy’s helping end the hostage crisis that involved seven children from a nursery from Paris’ suburb of Neuilly. In May 1993, a masked man that called himself “Human Bomb”, entered the nursery and held the class and their teacher hostage for several hours. The man’s real name was Eric Schmitt and he threatened to detonate his sticks of dynamite that were strapped to his body unless he would received a ransom of 100 million French francs, which meant about 15 million Euros or $21.19 million. The entire incident was broadcasted also by the televisions and many people were really glued to their TV sets by it.
And now, the television documentary brings again the event in the French people’s minds. It mixes scenes that are played by actors with news archives and also with the witness accounts. It also portrays Sarkozy as adopting a bluff tone while seeking to secure the children’s release. “Two children for two bags of dough.” – says actor Frederic Quiring, who plays Nicolas Sarkozy to the actor playing the “Human Bomb”. Quiring is also imitating the current president’s gestures that are emblematic for him even now, after 14 years. He is tilting his head and moving his hands abruptly.
“It’s hard not to smile when watching Nicolas Sarkozy, then mayor of Neuilly and budget minister, haggling like a carpet salesman with Eric Schmitt, the hostage-taker.” – has written the “Le Parisien” newspaper.
The television documentary has been directed by Patrick Poubel and it recounts how the “Human Bomb” released several children into Nicolas Sarkozy’s arms, before the police to shoot him dead after almost two days of drama.
“I observed Nicolas Sarkozy a lot.” – has told for the “Le Point” newspaper Quiring, that actor that is playing Sarkozy, adding that “It wasn’t too hard to find material because at the time of the filming, in February/March, he just started the presidential campaign and was everywhere in the media.”
And it is just this constant presence on the nation’s television screens and newspapers that seems to bother some people in France. The opposition Socialists have already complained about Nicolas Sarkozy’s domination of the airwaves to the CSA broadcasting watchdog, asking it to look at the amount of air time he enjoys.
Furthermore another group, which is calling itself Democracy in Television, appears to be so fed up with what it sees as a growing presidential personality cult that it has urged media to respect a “Sarkozy Free Day” on the 30th of November. In the same way, even the ministers seems to be constantly overshadowed by the energetic president, as his omnipresence seems to be cause already rifts within the government.
However, despite this criticism, Nicolas Sarkozy still retains high poll ratings and people seem to love him. So, the new movie will be probably a new reason for them to remember why they’ve chosen him as their president.

“A Jihad for Love” is one of the movies set in the Middle East that is already drawing the attention at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. The movie is in fact a documentary about Islam and homosexuality – two words that seem to never be capable of getting along one with another.
But the creators of “A Jihad for Love” have been brave enough to touch through their cinematographic project this taboo subject and the movie has already created a buzz at the international film festival from Canada.
The documentary has been created during six years of work and it has followed gay and lesbian Muslim people that have been battling racial profiling and harassment after the terrorist attacks from the 11th of September in the United States, and then the ones from London and Madrid.
So, amazingly enough the movie appears to be telling rather the story about how the (gay) Muslims have been harassed as a result of the terrorist attacks and of the wrong impression about Muslims that the whole world has started to have after these attacks, than an expected story about how the Islamic religion and culture fights against homosexuality and harasses the gay people. So the movie’s subject is quite strange, but none of the less interesting.
“A Jihad for Love” has been directed by the Indian filmmaker Parvez Sharma; he has followed the gay Muslims in no less than 12 countries (such as India, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, France, South Africa and others). Nine languages are also spoken during the documentary, for which the Indian filmmaker has been always filming in secret, for escaping the local authorities’ attention.
However, Parvez Sharma’s documentary will face stiff competition in the Toronto International Film Festival, as there at least three important other movies that focus on the events from the Middle East: Paul Haggis’ “In the Valley of Elah”, Nick Broomfield’s “Battle for Haditha” and Brian DePalma’s “Redacted”. But, the only thing that could bring Parvez Sharma the victory is the oddity of his documentary’s subject, which is anyway more interesting than the common movies about the Middle East wars and their already known common results and effects.
“Hollywood and the mainstream film industry are jumping on the Muslim bandwagon and making films around Islam because of the U.S. involvement in Iraq. But I feel that a lot of films that are made about Muslims are mediated through Western eyes.” – has said Parvez Sharma, whose documentary aims at shifting the discourse about Islam by “empowering a community that has been silenced, allowing them to tell the story about Islam.”

Adam Brody and Josh Lucas have been announced of starring in a drama shooting in New York titled “Death in Love”.
The drama tells the story of two brothers (Josh Lucas and Lukas Haas), who have different inner struggles and problems. While Lukas Haas’ character must deal with his mother, played by Jacqueline Bisset, Josh Lucas’ character seems to be lost in life till he is befriended by a scam artist, played by Adam Brody.
The script has been written by Boaz Yakin (“Remember the Titans”), who will also direct the movie.
While Josh Lucas’ credits include “Poseidon” and “Glory Road”, Adam Brody is one of the star actors from “The O.C.” and his credits include also “In the Land of Women” and “Thank You for Smoking”.