Osbrink Talent Agency

The Forbidden Kingdom Movie Review

You'd expect the first collaboration between Jet Li and Jackie Chan to be something special: together they're about as close as we come to a cultural icon on the scale of Bruce Lee. Indeed, filmed partially on location (the Gobi desert, not the temple of the heavens, alas) the film looks like a million bucks. Or, well, closer to 55-million--to be more precise.

It's a wuxia adventure wherein a white boy from Boston (played gamely by Michael Angarano) is sucked into mythic China on a quest to return a staff to the imprisoned Monkey King and restore balance to the middle kingdom. Along the way he acquires two teachers (played by J & J): a traveling, drunken Taoist monk and a wandering Buddhist monk with more of a sense of humor than you'd expect (there's also a deadly young lady who speaks in 3rd person).

The kid has "no kung fu" so he must learn it on the journey--and the journey takes them to the palace of the Jade Warlord. This being Wuxia, the characters can "run up the air," battle entire armies at once, and in some cases use "Chi Magic." Using CGI and people suspended on wires, the film shows us fantasy kung fu action with sufficient style and smoothness (and maybe a little innovation).

So is it good? Well, let's get a few things out of the way.

For starters, all the characters come from previous fictions or mythology. They aren't just "ripping off" the white-haired witch or Golden Sparrow (a Shah Brother's character): those people are actually supposed to

be those characters. Maybe it's homage (maybe it is a rip-off--but when the film actually references the movies and the brothers by name, I'm inclined to cut it some slack).

Read Full News

Resources for

Craig Cove

Black Dog Films

Movie Review: Deception

One of the flaws of "Deception" is that it deceives viewers into thinking, for a while, that they might be in for something slightly different, something that doesn't hew to the safe conventions of the standard Hollywood thriller. There are small signs throughout that hint at deeper intentions, a willingness to upend our expectations while still satisfying our demand for slick genre entertainment. But just as we grow optimistic that we're about to be rewarded, "Deception" loses its nerve and falls back into the exact trenches of conformity it seemed ready to sidestep.

The early scenes set us up for disappointment by their promising indication of a modest character study lurking behind the glossy exterior. One of the film's positives is that it takes its time without wasting time. Ewan McGregor is Jonathan, a timid New York accountant with a Clark Kent haircut and glasses who spends his days -- and, often, his nights -- in the impersonal offices of the large companies he audits. He enjoys his work because of its orderly symmetry but is clearly dissatisfied with his uneventful life.

He gets the chance to spill his troubles when late one night he meets Wyatt (Hugh Jackman), a charismatic lawyer at the firm he's auditing. Wyatt loosens him up with his easy smile and open demeanor. They smoke a joint, talk, and look out the office windows at the glittering skyscrapers of Manhattan, where Jonathan says life is passing him by.

That's all Wyatt needs to hear, and in no time he's taken Jonathan under his wing, showing him the life he's been missing: nightclubs, excitement, beautiful women. Everything about Wyatt's lifestyle appeals to him. We're left to wonder what Wyatt has to gain from becoming friends with someone he obviously looks down on to some degree. He's almost too friendly, too willing to have Jonathan tag along and share the fun.

And it is fun for a while, watching them circulate in the glamorous milieu Wyatt is used to. The movie's dark sheen succeeds in conjuring up a seductive world of money, sex, and power, making it easy for us to see why Jonathan is both immediately enthralled and still slightly intimidated. The one thing that's a bit hard to believe at times is McGregor as an average-looking, nebbishy type who's unable to get women on his own. Such is the misfortune of being a dashingly handsome actor.

Read Full News

Resources for

Craig Cove

The Beverly Hills Playhouse

Movie Review: Deception

Deception is an erotic thriller that never lets its eroticism loose and never actually delivers genuine thrills. It is a movie that brings to mind films as diverse as Basic Instinct and Swordfish, perhaps even a touch of Brick. The problem is that it is not nearly as entertaining as any of those films; it is closer in execution to Basic Instinct 2.

In the end, the outcome of Deception is a shame as there are definite seeds for an effective erotic thriller, but that would have involved crafting characters with a modicum of intelligence. Rather than play up the elements that could have made this stand out, screenwriter Mark Bomback saw fit to stick with the mundane and the unintelligent elements. On the positive side, it is moderately entertaining to watch the leads do absolutely everything in their power to inject some sort of life into the film.

te one night, Wyatt Bose (Hugh Jackman), a lawyer working for the firm, extends a hand (and a joint) of friendship to the under-appreciated accountant. Soon thereafter, Jon is being introduced to fine suits and late nights on the town. Sure, things like this happen all the time, right? Well, the plot thickens when the duo accidentally swap phones. Was it truly accidental? What is the likelihood of that happening, what with the great variety of models and ring tones? Whatever... it happened, and we need to accept that so we can move forward with the plot.

No sooner has the phone swap happened than Wyatt skips town, leaving Jon in the lurch with someone else's phone, and a growing realization that Wyatt may not be who he says he is. However, before that knowledge can truly take hold, Jon receives a strange phone call requesting that he be at a certain hotel that evening. This is Jon's introduction to "the list," an anonymous sex group populated by high-powered men and women looking for intimacy without entanglement. Jon's eyes are opened to a new world and he takes full advantage of it.

Read Full News

Resources for

Craig Cove

Black Dog Films

NY festival showcases films on Muslim world

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Seven years after New York's Tribeca neighborhood was shaken by the attacks on the city's World Trade Center, the area has become a bazaar for movies about and from the Muslim world.

The Tribeca Film Festival, started after the September 11 attacks in 2001 to try to rejuvenate lower Manhattan, has become the key destination in North America for films from Muslim countries or about the Islamic faith seeking distribution deals, says artistic director Peter Scarlet.

This year, 19 films related to Islam, making up 10 percent of the program, will be shown at the seventh annual festival.

Scarlet, who has been working with the festival since 2003, said he was shocked when in his second year he was asked by a journalist if Tribeca would continue to show films "from the people who brought us 9/11."

"Even in as wealthy and as big a country as the United States people know very little about the rest of the world," he said. "Films are the last chance we have to understand what we as human beings have in common.

Read Full News

Resources for

Craig Cove

Osbrink Talent Agency

Bear from movies turns on handler in Calif., killing him

BIG BEAR LAKE, Calif. - When friends Linda Carter and Cherrie Giles booked a three-day retreat in a remote cabin in the San Bernardino Mountains, the proprietor told them not to be startled by the roar of lions and bears from the exotic-animal training center nearby.

The women fell asleep to the roars the first night, but on Tuesday they were startled by a different sound — an urgent yell. About 30 minutes later, sirens wailed as paramedics rushed to an animal trainer who had been bitten on the neck by a 700-pound, 7 1/2-foot-tall grizzly bear. Stephan Miller, 39, died at the scene.

On Wednesday, friends and neighbors tried to make sense of the attack, which from all accounts involved a well-trained and gentle bear and an experienced animal trainer.

"We heard a man yell; it was like he was yelling for help," Giles said of the attack. "We knew something was going on, but we didn't know what it was. Our dogs were going crazy."

Read Full News

Resources for

Craig Cove

Black Dog Films

Movie Review: Before Night Falls

Imagine a country where homosexuality is punishable by imprisonment in a concentration camp. Imagine the ruler of your country banning books that spoke against him. Imagine a home with no laughter, smiles or joy.

Now imagine a young girl crying herself to sleep at night longing for her father. Imagine this girl as a woman, watching her beloved grandfather forget his loved ones. Imagine a country in which a person's color determines the struggles they will endure and others will not.

Now realize that both of these situations are real. The young girl is me and the citizen of the communist country was Reinaldo Arenas. He was born in the Province of Oriente, Cuba in 1943. His home life was plagued with miserable women and a gay-hating grandfather.

In the film, Before Night Falls, Javier Bardem plays the gifted novelist and poet. His passion for this role drives the progression of this frown-on-your-forehead film. Bardem's ability to play a strong, sensitive, intellectual, homosexual kills the stereotype of the lisp-talking, hips-swaying fag that most Hollywood films portray.

Read Full News

Resources for

Craig Cove

Black Dog Films

Scary Movie's Cindy becomes The House Bunny

PLAYBOY is promoting a new "summer holiday" teen flick called The House Bunny by making the star Anna Faris a real Playboy covergirl.

Why wouldn't the magazine promote a film that features Hugh Hefner himself?

Even better, Colin Hanks, the son of one of Hollywood's favourite sons, Tom Hanks.

Faris, known for the Scary Movie spoofs and other B-grade screwball comedies such as Rob Schneider's Hot Chick, will not appear nude for Playboy, to avoid alienating family audiences, reports Aceshowbiz.com.

It's to be released for the North American summer season in August.

The House Bunny, which also features Bruce Willis's and Demi Moore's daughter Rumer, is about a Playboy bunny who is evicted from the Playboy mansion for being too old.

Watch the trailer and see if writers Kirsten Smith and Karen McCullah Lutz, who also wrote Ten Things I Hate About You, have another hit on their hands:

Anna Faris stars as Shelley who lands on her feet when she becomes the "House Mom" for a clueless bunch of geeky sorority girls from Zeta Alpha Zeta.

At 32, the just-divorced Faris has found the ideal script for an "ageing bimbo".

She worked with Scarlett Johansson's beau, Ryan Reynolds, in the film Just Friends, and Rachel McAdams in Hot Chick.

She also may have a following of IT geeks considering news of her Playboy gig made the Technorati.com tech blog.

The boys will have to wait until August though.

Faris had small parts in serious productions including Brokeback Mountain and Lost In Translation.

Read Full News

Resources for

Craig Cove

Iron Man not average super hero movie

Your average superhero movie tends to be more style than substance.

But when director Jon Favreau took on Iron Man, one of the original Marvel comics, he wanted to ensure the end result wasn’t your average superhero movie.

Key to that plan was casting former drug addict, felon and Oscar nominee Robert Downey Jr.

“Once I was able to cast Robert in it I said there’s the opportunity to make what happens between the action set pieces equally, if not more, interesting than the action,” Favreau says.

“It was an opportunity to overcome my greatest misgiving about the potential outcome of this film, which would be that it was a mediocre, big budget action movie that would make money and disappoint fans of my work.

“Robert offered the opportunity to play the type of humour that I like, the improvisation sort of feel to the material, and of course he helped attract the wonderful cast.”

That cast includes Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow, and Oscar nominees Jeff Bridges and Terrence Howard.

Read Full News

Resources for

Craig Cove

Craig Cove

Actor Billy Mumy known for the role of Will Robinson in the TV series Lost in Space was a Hamilton high school class mate of future actor Craig Cove. They had lots of conversations about music which is another one of Billy’s passions. Craig had family that worked at “the film studios” so “show business” people were not unusual to him.

Some students would stare a lot at Billy or call him Will Robinson. Billy and Craig would laugh and joke about it sometimes. Occasionally, Angela Cartwright who played Penny on the series would pick up Billy after school in her new white Pontiac Trans Am. Angela would park away from people behind campus to avoid attention. Billy wanted to be treated like a normal everyday kid. Nowand then Billy can be found at McCabes Music in Santa Monica.

Read Full News

Resources for

Craig Cove

It Was a Dark and Stormy NIGHT, Eh

The story behind the 1980 Jamie Lee Curtis version of Prom Night is far more interesting than the one Screen Gems wouldn't let us see in advance of its release.

By Telly Davidson, FilmStew.com

The past few months have reconfirmed the fact that in between the end of Oscar qualifying season and summer tentpole time(a bracket moved up this year by Paramount's Iron Man to May 2nd), Hollywood filmmaking is generally on blotto pilot. Even such critically controversial films as Chapter 27 and Stop-Loss drop quickly off the hype-machine radar.

An exception to this rule is this weekend's horror flick Prom Night, which has been nabbing billboards, top ten TV show commercials and this past weekend's number one spot at the box office with $20.8 million. All without benefit of preview screenings for film critics.

So, with all due respect, screw the remake and let us instead look back at the original Prom Night in all its plasmatic and fuzzy-filmed glory, and the strange daze in Canadian cinema responsible for it. Don't worry, there are no spoilers; the plot of Prom Night '08 has virtually no resemblance to the original, besides the obvious.

Read Full News

Resources for

Craig Cove

Disabled actors are making gains in Hollywood, and shattering old stereotypes

Nick Daley, 28, has Prader-Willi Syndrome, a genetic disorder characterized by short stature, low muscle tone and mild retardation. He's also been in 17 films and 11 television shows, including a guest-starring role in last season's TNT series "Saving Grace."

"If I were a star, I would be on all over the world," he says. "I would be mobbed by fans. People would see my name and get my autograph."

Blair Williamson, 28, is an actor with Down syndrome. He has been in clothing commercials for Macy's, was once murdered in a "CSI" episode and had a nose job on a "Nip/Tuck" episode.

"I love being an actor," he says. "It makes me feel good inside me."

Daley and Williamson are among a growing number of people with developmental disabilities -- including Down syndrome, autism spectrum disorders, mild retardation and seizure disorders -- who want to be in the movies or on TV. They want to make records or be in commercials. They want what a lot of people in Los Angeles want: to be stars.

And some of them are getting close.

Their aspirations are a small part of a sea change in thinking about adults with disabilities since 1973, when California passed landmark legislation known as the Lanterman Act (updated in 1977). It granted services (and funding for them) to people with disabilities to let them live as independent a life as possible.

Read Full News

Resources for

Craig Cove

Are George Clooney and Brad Pitt Having a 'Bromance'?

George Clooney has just been too public with his current personal relationship – so much so, that Meredith Vieira confronted a slightly unnerved Clooney about it after he discussed his new movie Leatherheads on Thursday's Today show. No, Vieira wasn't referring to Clooney and gal pal Sarah Larson, but, as the televised photos of the couple together showed, Clooney and Brad Pitt. Clooney, who never unfolded his arms, said the tone of Vieira's voice tipped him off to what she was going to say, though, when asked if, indeed, the two are having a "bromance," Clooney would only concede that pal Pitt is "very handsome."

Read Full News

Resources for

Craig Cove

Unable to STOP the Stereotyping

After director Joe Wright failed to nab an Academy Award nomination for his helming of Atonement a couple months ago, the reaction of most Oscar experts was one of surprise. After all, the film was the only one of the five Best Picture nominees not to cinch a Best Director nomination, and it's exactly the type of middlebrow period piece - an epic wartime romance brought to life with painstaking attention to details of costuming and production design - that almost never fails to land its director in the nominees' circle.

But the reason for Wright's snub may very well be the most absurdly simple one imaginable: he didn't deserve the nomination. It's entirely possible that Academy members, like myself, find Wright to be an obviously talented craftsman who hasn't yet made a film that amounts to more than the sum of its admittedly impressive parts. Atonement, like Wright's Pride & Prejudice adaptation before it, is easy to admire for its intelligence, handsome period decor and acrobatic camerawork, but impossible to love because its dramatic inertia fails to do justice to the source material it's based on - in this case, Ian McEwan's psychologically dense novel.

Read Full News

Resources for

Craig Cove

Craig Cove

The Beverly Hills Playhouse founded and directed by Milton Katselas is a top well respected acting school. Actor Craig Cove credits the BHP intense training programs that enabled him to perform with a complete understanding of the craft. It’s like a top martial arts “Dojo” where you go train for a degreed “Black Belt”. The training is a combination of methods and exercises based mostly on Stanislavski, this requires discipline and dedication. Milton Katselas is an amazing acting teacher and coach. His classes are full of working TV and film actors. Stars attend as well just to stay “sharp”, and to work on new things. Active class alumni such as Jorge Garcia, Doris Roberts, Jenna Elfman, and Jeffrey Tambor are a few that come to mind.

Read Full News

Resources for

Craig Cove