Deep Blue Sea To Close BFI London Festival

The Deep Blue Sea starring Rachel Weisz, Tom Hiddleston, and Simon Russell Beale will close the 55th BFI London Film Festival on October 27th. This will be the UK premiere of the drama adapted and directed by Terence Davies (Distant Voices, Still Lives) marking his return to fiction feature. Set in post-war Britain, this is an adaptation of Terence Rattigans classic play, The Deep Blue Sea – a study of forbidden love, suppressed desire, and the fear of loneliness. Director Terence Davies said: ”As a British filmmaker, to get into the BFI London Film Festival at all is bliss – to get a Closing Night film is sheer heaven! The Festival is now, rightly, seen as one of the major European and World Film Festivals; championing not only British but World cinema.” The Deep Blue Sea opens in UK cinemas on November 25th.

The Assistance Tops The United States Box Office Again

Colombiana shoots into secondIt was another bad week to become a new arrival in the box office in america, because the fresh choices needed to deal with two very effective forces - the crowd benefit of The Assistance and also the weather. Because of the appearance of Hurricane Irene, plenty of movie theaters were closed about the New England of America, meaning takings were reduced for that week. That did not appear to bother Tate Taylor's film, though, using the Help remaining strong in the third week of release and adding $14. 3 million for any $96. six million total to date. The greatest new entry was Zoe Saldana-starring revenge thriller Colombiana, which required second place making $10. 3 million. Third was another newbie, the Guillermo del Toro-created horror You Shouldn't Be Scared of the Dark, coming with $8. 7 million. Last week's second place film, former box office champion Rise from the Planet from the Apes, dropped to 4th, but nonetheless handled to create $8. six million. In fifth place, we discover the week's other new arrival, with Paul Rudd comedy Our Idiot Brother underperforming for $6. 5 million. However, considering the fact that the film is made for $5 million, it's less than as large an issue as it can seem. Spy Kids: Constantly on the planet declined to sixth with $5. 7 million, as the Smurfs made $4. 8 million in seventh place. Conan The Barbarian required an awful tumble lower to eighth with $3. a million. Fright Evening was ninth ($3 million) and Crazy, Stupid, Love clung onto tenth place with $2. 9 million. To obtain justice for that trouble that statistics have triggered you, mind on to Box Office Mojo.

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Black Thursday (Czarny czwartek)

A Nordfilm and Agenja SET production. (International sales: Kino Swiat, Warsaw.) Produced by Kazimierz Beer, Miroslaw Piepka. Executive producer, Beer. Co-producers, Marian Bobrucki, Henryk Bobrucki. Directed by Antoni Krauze. Screenplay, Michal S. Pruski, Miroslaw Piepka.With: Michal Kowalski, Marta Honzatko, Cezary Rybinski; Marta Kalmus-Jankowka, Wojciech Pszoniak, Piotr Fronczewski, Witold Debicki, Piotr Garlicki.Veteran helmer Antoni Krauze's "Black Thursday" is a potent docudrama re-enactment of a notorious episode in Polish history: the violent shutdown of a 1970 shipyard workers' strike in Gdynia, which resulted in 18 deaths and hundreds of injuries. While not quite as electrifying as the similarly themed and executed "Bloody Sunday," it's still a creditable mix of tense crowd scenes, more intimate drama and archival footage illustrating a situation rapidly escalating toward disaster. Winner of the critics' main competition prize at Montreal, pic won't be an easy commercial sell offshore but should attract some niche interest, particularly in the broadcast realm. After a short prologue set on Christmas Eve 1969, the screenplay leaps forward nearly a year. The Drywa family -- devoted couple Bruno (Michal Kowalski) and Stefania (Marta Honzatko), plus their three young children -- has had a very good new decade so far, having finally gotten off the waiting list and into a new apartment complex with all modern conveniences. The only fly in the ointment is a drastic hike in the price of already scarce food items, which the government deems a necessity but proles find a severe hardship. Pleading for wage raises to meet inflation, the shipyard workers of leading Baltic port city Gdynia ask a local political wonk to give their strike official Communist Party recognition. But he's soon raked over the coals for that by higher-ups who, afraid one strike might trigger similar ones around the country, pronounce it "incompatible with the party line." They sack the low-end politico, then send in the military with orders to stop these counter-revolutionary "criminals" from protesting by any means. A particularly vile tactic lures hundreds of workers to the shipyard with the false news that their demands have been met and shifts can resume. When they -- including Bruno -- arrive, they're shot at and pummeled by army, police and militia. More bloodshed ensues when the survivors march to the city center bearing the dead. This grim chapter caused such widespread outrage that it is credited with playing a major role in the Solidarity Movement's founding a decade later. Large-scale scenes of panic and violence are vivid; with so many shootings, one might think the body count would have been even higher than it was. Human interest is maintained via emphasis on several individuals, from a student passerby dragged into fatally abusive custody to the party chiefs who reluctantly bend to the will of the shrillest ideologues among them. Pic takes care to note that many military and police personnel were against the orders, but too fearful to disobey them. In the end, "Black Thursday" chooses to focus too much on the Dwyers as our primary identification point, letting Stefania's histrionic distress over her husband's disappearance dominate the last act. Though her travails, too, are fact-based, they turn the pic in a more conventional narrative direction than the earlier, wider-canvas progress intercutting staged and archival materials. It doesn't help that Honzatko's turn isn't the film's strongest. Otherwise, perfs are solid, as are pacing and technical contributions. The somber palette of Jacek Petrycki's lensing sets the tenor for aptly gritty design work, while Michal Lorenc's string-driven score excels with furious cello passages during scenes of mass chaos.Camera (color), Jacek Petrycki; editor, Rafal Listopad; music, Michal Lorenc; production designer, Zbigniew Dalecki; costume designer, Anna Grabowska; sound, Miroslaw Makowski; casting, Krauze, Bartosz Paduch, Patrycia Krauze. Reviewed at Montreal World Film Festival (competing), Aug. 22, 2011. Running time: 105 MIN. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

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REVIEW: Paul Rudd Saves Our Idiot Brother from Total Idiocy

Jesse Peretz’s Our Idiot Brother is a feel-good movie for people who resist feel-good movies, a flawed vessel that nonetheless stays afloat by clinging to its buoyant star, Paul Rudd. Its problems are numerous and apparent: The picture meanders listlessly, and in the end it’s really more of a character sketch than a comedy — the movie’s writers, David Schisgall and Evgenia Peretz (the director’s sister), haven’t really bothered much with a plot. Yet I came out of Our Idiot Brother feeling better than I did when I went in. It’s the kind of movie whose value lies between the lines, not directly on them, and if the pleasures it offers are slender ones, at least there’s something good-hearted about them. Paul Rudd plays Ned, the brother —though he’s not really an idiot — of the title. He’s one of those low-key, freewheeling guys who never seems to have an actual job: As the movie opens, he’s running an organic farm stand, and when a cop earnestly asks him if he’s got any pot to sell, Ned resists at first and then takes the cop at his word — upon which the bastard clamps a pair of handcuffs on him and hauls his affable dog, Willie Nelson, away in a separate car. Ned is perhaps too trusting to survive in the world, yet his guilelessness is simply part of his DNA: He expects the best of people, having found that to be the best way to get them to deliver it. But his insistence on being open to the universe exasperates his three sisters, particularly the oldest, Liz (Emily Mortimer), a quivery house-mouse type — Ned moves in with her to get himself together after his short jail stint. Liz has a son with a shithead documentary filmmaker (played, all too convincingly, by Steve Coogan). The kid, who suffers with the depressing name River (he’s played, with a blessed minimum of adorableness, by Matthew Mindler), wants to learn martial arts but instead gets dragged off to ballet class. Ned roughhouses with River and shows him Pink Panther movies, despite the fact that his parents frown on too much “screen media.” It’s easy to see that Ned’s influence is the one thing that might save the kid from being totally miserable. Slightly more tolerant are Ned’s other sisters, the half-ditzy, half-together Miranda (Elizabeth Banks), an entertainment journalist, and Natalie (Zooey Deschanel), an aspiring stand-up comic whose feet are feeling a little cold as she prepares to move in with her lawyer girlfriend (played by the effortlessly appealing Rashida Jones). Mother Shirley Knight looks on, dizzily, a glass of wine perched perpetually in her hand. Our Idiot Brother has no story line to speak of: It’s really just a rambling portrait of a mismatched family that’s functional only by the seat of its pants, largely thanks to the way Ned keeps everyone grounded by messing about in their business. Of course, the ending comes tied to a big, clunky epiphany: This idiot brother is actually a really nice guy! You can see that one coming like the Shrek balloon in the Macy’s parade. But Peretz — who previously directed the 2006 feature The Ex — gives Rudd plenty of latitude, allowing him to carry the picture, kayak-style, over its rougher patches. Rudd, with his catfishy facial hair and his Crocs, isn’t just a happy-go-lucky truth-teller, the kind of guy whose alleged generosity is really just a disguise for his own self-centeredness. And that’s the key to this character: Ned may upset his sisters’ lives with his navete and his unwanted advice, but Rudd knows better than to make Ned too cuddly. He never lets the character veer too far into adorable manchild territory. Somehow, there’s still an aura of masculinity about Ned — he’s not just some fantasy boyfriend for the Sleepytime Tea set. And any actor who can pull that off has got to know what he’s doing — especially if he’s wearing Crocs.

Universal Surrenders The Ghost On Ouija

Micrograms is looking for new playmatesSome galleries like to take shopping sprees, obtaining projects and tossing them in to the development backpack to determine what goes on. But lately, it might appear that Universal is doing just the opposite, unzipping the backpack, holding it upside lower and trembling it to get rid of lots of potential movies. We have seen it happen with In the Mountain tops of Madness, The Dark Tower and, most lately, Clue, and today the organization has cast off another game-based film, shuffling Ouija from the board. Initially nabbed in 2008 under Universal's huge cope with Hasbro/Milton Bradley, the thought of a film in line with the spooky game has kind of sailed along in development limbo just like a lost spirit searching for an association. Tron Legacy authors Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz signed onto write the first draft from the script, dealing with Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes company, pitching it as being a Jumanji-meets-National Treasure-style adventure. That got Taken director Pierre Morel interested, but he did not stay lengthy. After him came a crazy period with a number of company directors including John Moore, Scott Stewart, Sylvain Whitened and Breck Eisner searching gain the gig using their take. But ultimately, Terminator Salvation's Micrograms won out, with Simon Kinberg the final person to possess his on the job the script. Now, though, Vulture reviews that Universal is selecting to pay for a $5 million penalty instead of pressure that one into production. Michael Bay and Micrograms happen to be shopping it around other galleries and aspire to keep your idea alive...

Showtime greenlights three aircraft pilots

Showtime is ramping up development for next season, giving pilot orders to some half-hour toplined by Andrew Gurland and 2 dramas, one in line with the lives of famous sex scientists William Masters and Virginia Manley. "Gurland on Gurland" is referred to like a first-person documentary written and directed through the subject that reflects his real family existence and challenges because he chases the next thing of his career like a multihyphenate. Glenn Gordon Caron professional produces with Gurland for CBS Television Galleries. "Masters of Sex," from scribe Michelle Ashford and professional producers Sarah Timberman and Carl Beverly, involves theunusual relationship between Masters and Manley, whose research within the nineteen fifties and '60s assisted touch from the sexual revolution. Ashford ("The Off-shore," "John Adams") professional produces with Timberman and Beverly (FX's "Justified") for The new sony Pictures TV. Project is dependant on this year's biography "Masters of Sex: The Existence and Occasions of William Masters and Virginia Manley, the pair Who Trained America How you can Love," by Thomas Maier. "Ray Donovan" originates from scribe Ann Biderman ("Southland," "Public Opponents") and prolific producer Mark Gordon. Project is charged like a darkly humorous family drama in regards to a guy who functions like a "fixer" for that wealthy and famous in La yet can't escape their own troubles together with his Irish clan. Biderman and Gordon professional produce. Additionally towards the trio greenlit throughout the weekend, Showtime is anticipated to proceed with a couple of more aircraft pilots as entertainment prexy David Nevins adds more originals towards the pay cabler's sked. The very first scripted series developed since Nevins required the reins last year, political thriller "Homeland" bows March. 2. Comedy "House of Lies," starring Don Cheadle and Kristen Bell, is placed for any The month of january preem. Contact Cynthia Littleton at cynthia.littleton@variety.com

TV Ratings: 'Big Brother' Tops 'America's Got Talent'

CBS"Big Brother" CBS' Big Brother continued its summer dominance, but it was Fox that won Wednesday in the key demo. Big Brother (7.2 million total viewers, 2.7 rating in adults 18-49 demographic) rose 8 percent in its latest installment, which saw Jeff winning the veto and Kalia replacing him on the eviction block with "mega floater" Lawon. The summer favorite easily topped the night in viewers and the demo. Though CBS aired repeats following the top-rated Big Brother, the network placed second behind Fox in the demo, averaging a 1.8. Big Brother may have been the night's top broadcast program, but in primetime, Fox was the top network in the demo, averaging a 1.9. The two-hour final So You Think You Can Dance (5.7 million, 1.9) performance show -- featuring Katie Holmes as a guest judge -- posted gains from last week. The finale airs Thursday night, when the winner will be announced. NBC's lineup of wasn't a match for Fox or CBS, even if Minute to Win It (4.8 million, 1.2) and Love in the Wild (4.6 million, 1.5) rose. At 9 p.m., America's Got Talent (9.3 million, 2.4) won its time period even though it dipped slightly. Fox -- 1.9 · So You Think You Can Dance: 1.9, 5.7 million CBS -- 1.8 · Big Brother: 2.7, 7.2 million · Criminal Minds (R): 1.3, 5.6 million · CSI (R): 1.3, 7.2 million NBC -- 1.7 · Minute to Win It: 1.2, 4.8 million · America's Got Talent: 2.4, 9.3 million · Love In The Wild 1.5, 4.6 million ABC -- 1.2 · The Middle (R): 0.9, 4.2 million · Modern Family (R): 1.3, 4.5 million · Modern Family (R): 1.6, 4.8 million · Happy Endings (R) 1.0, 3 million · Primetime Nightline 1.3, 4.2 million CW -- 0.4 · America's Next Top Model (R): 0.4, 1.2 million · Love in the Wild (R): 0.4, 1 million TV Ratings

Fashion Slam: Hot Physiques Week Halle Berrys Great Abs

By Ryan PattersonLOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Forty-four and smokin hot! Today is day a couple of our week-lengthy Hot Physiques series with tips about how to get Halles awesome abs from superstar trainer Joe Dowdell, that has labored with Natalie Portman, Avoi Mendes, Hathaway As Catwoman and Claire Danes. Halle keeps an appearance that's the envy from the huge most of women two decades her junior and consequently, Joe states. Eating well is crucial for you to get lean, but this ab program can help ensure you are receiving the most from your core training periods. Perform each sequence then relaxation the recommended period of time, noted below. When you is capable of doing all 3 teams of the exercises for that most of recommended repetitions after which increase weight by 2.5-5 pounds. for the following workout. A1) Side Plank Setup: Rely on your right affiliate with your forearm about the pad together with your elbow directly beneath your shoulder. Stack your legs so that your ankle, knee and sides have been in a straight line. Place your non-working arm along the top the body. Movement: Push your forearm lower in to the floor while you squeeze your butt and raise your sides in to the air. It will take 1 second to raise your sides into position after which hold that position for 30-a minute. Unwanted weight ought to be in your forearm as well as your lower body ought to be inside a straight line. Make certain your neck are retracted through the set. Use sleep issues and repeat, that will equal one set. Tips: Keep the core braced your neck retracted as well as your butt tight through the movement. The Particulars: Sets: 3 Reps: 30-60 secs/side Relaxation Period: Wk 1 - 60 secs, Wk 2 - 45 secs, Wk 3 - 30 secs, Wk 4 - 15 secs A2) Mountain Climbers Setup: Assume a push-up position (to deal with and toes) using the hands about shoulder width apart. Bring one knee in toward your chest, raising your heel and resting unwanted weight about the balls of the ft as well as your hands. Movement: Jump up and switch the ft up, getting the forward feet back and also the back feet forward. Still alternate your ft as quickly you are able to while keeping good spine alignment and keeping shoulders and sides parallel towards the floor. Tips: Don't let your torso dip toward the ground. Keep the core braced through the amount of the set. The Particulars: Sets: 3 Reps: 30-45 secs/side Relaxation Period: Wk 1 - 60 secs, Wk 2 - 45 secs, Wk 3 - 30 secs, Wk 4 - 15 secs A3) Swiss Ball Crunch Setup: Take a seat on a stability ball together with your ft flat on the ground. Walk your ft forward as the roll the body back to the ball until your back is based on the ball. Place your tips of the fingers behind your ears. You may even regress the movement by crossing your arms across your chest. Additionally, you are able to progress the movement by holding a dumbbell over the upper chest. Movement: Gradually lift up your torso curling it forward before you achieve maximal contraction of the rectus abdominis keeping your elbows wide and ensuring your back keeps connection with the Swiss ball. Take 2 seconds to increase up and a pair of seconds to reduce towards the start position. Then, still perform the recommended quantity of repetitions. Tips: Keep the back in touch with the Swiss Ball. The Particulars: Sets: 3 Reps: 12-15 Relaxation Period: Wk 1 - 60 secs, Wk 2 - 60 secs, Wk 3 - 60 secs, Wk 4 - 60 secs Relaxation Periods: Every week you need to do the circuits, lessen your seconds of relaxation in between each exercise. For instance: Week 1: Relaxation a minute in between each exercise. Week 2: Relaxation 45 seconds in between each exercise. Week 3: Relaxation thirty seconds in between each exercise. Week 4: Relaxation just a few seconds in between each exercise. Days 1-4: Relaxation a minute after each circuit. Copyright 2011 by NBC Universal, Corporation. All privileges reserved.These components might not be released, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Inferno Taking Ride on 'Autobahn' (Exclusive)

Production company Inferno Entertainment has acquired action project Autobahn, compiled by Greg Russo with Mark Steven Manley mounted on direct. The project was formerly known as I-95. Autobahn may be the story of the cleaned-up ex-F1 driver who awakens trapped in the BMW along the side of the Autobahn, Germany's famous high-speed roadway, without any general posted speed limit. He solutions a telephone ringing within the glove box, simply to find out he has 1 hour 30 minutes to provide the explosive device-rigged vehicle to some target or his wife and daughter is going to be wiped out. The setting from the project was switched in the U . s . States' Eastern seaboard to Germany to be able to court the worldwide marketplace. Inferno would turn to cast a star in front of the American Film Market in November and pre-sell the film. Inferno, the development company behind the forthcoming Kaira Pitt vehicle, Cogan's Trade, has already been to stars about the project. The organization is financing Autobahn and can handle worldwide sales CAA will handle domestic sales. Russo has already established an active year. This spring he offered an action pitch to Alloy Entertainment known as Black Ice and that he seemed to be hired to rewrite the script for Heatseekers, a Platinum Dunes action project that's setup at Vital. Johnson's credits range from the Film Clip super hero flick Daredevil (2003) and also the Nicolas Cage-starring action film Ghost Driver (2007). Russo is symbolized by ICM, management company Manage-ment and lawyer Morris Yorn Barnes Levine Krintzman Rubenstein & Kohner. Manley is symbolized by CAA and lawyer Hirsch Wallerstein Hayum Matlof and Fishman. Email: Daniel.Burns@THR.com Twitter: @DanielNMiller