Cinetech to make Middle East debut at Dubai Film Festival

Ziad Yaghi, director of the Dubai Film Market.
The Hollywood Reporter
By Jolanta Chudy
Aug 31, 2008, 01:49 PM ET
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Film buyers will be able to access hundreds of new films at the touch of a button, just one aspect of the Dubai Film Market, an initiative of the fifth Dubai International Film Festival.
Cinetech [...]

Buzz Asia Live Reports on PAD Demonstartions in Thailand

Thousands of travellers remained in limbo in Thailand today as protesters seeking to overthrow the Government forced the closure of three airports.
The resort island of Phuket and the home of Buzz HQ was the first airport to be shut, followed by Krabi and Hat Yai in the south as protests spread across the country, stranded [...]

Movie review: ‘Traitor’ Don Cheadle reaffirms his excellence!

Don Cheadle reaffirms his excellence in a good, terrorism-themed thriller that also features Guy Pearce and Jeff Daniels.

By Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
August 27, 2008
” Traitor” asks a question that can be answered only by that cruel mistress, the marketplace: How much moral ambiguity and narrative intricacy will an audience handle in the realm of a [...]

Vancouver Film Festival unveils Asia-heavy slate

The Hollywood Reporter
‘Longwang Chronicles,’ ‘Jalainur’ set for world premieres
By Adele Weder
Aug 28, 2008, 03:43 PM ET

VANCOUVER — The Vancouver International Film Festival on Thursday unveiled what organizers called the largest slate of East Asian cinema in North America, including world premieres for Li Fifan’s documentary “The Longwang Chronicles” and Zhao Ye’s “Jalainur,” which is set [...]

Five Wide Openers Wrap Up Summer Box Office

‘Babylon A.D.’ appears strongest in the Group
By Carl DiOrio, The Hollywood Reporter
Aug 28, 2008, 06:24 PM ET

Labor Day was once a yawn of a boxoffice holiday, with summer’s final frame mostly ignored by distributors. But no more.
Five wide openers arrive this weekend. None is likely to get out of the teen millions even over four [...]

Johnny Depp: Captian Jack Sparrow

LA Times
By Elizabeth Snead,
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
There’s a lot of great larger-than-life actors playing superheroes in theaters this summer: Christian Bale’s Dark Knight, Robert Downey Jr.’s Ironman, Edward Norton’s Incredible Hulk, even Heath Ledger’s not-so-serious psychotic villain, the Joker.
But we still miss Johnny Depp as good old Capt. Jack Sparrow, that swaggering, swashbuckling pirate [...]

George Clooney circles ‘Air’

Actor in talks to star in Jason Reitman film
The Hollywood Reporter
By Jay A. Fernandez and Borys Kit
Aug 27, 2008, 10:15 PM ET
As if his status weren’t elevated enough, George Clooney may now be taking flight for DreamWorks.
Clooney is in talks to star in “Up in the Air,” an adaptation of the 2001 Walter Kirn novel, [...]

Batman’s Summer box office sets new record

With a domestic gross of more than $490 million, Warner Bros.’ “The Dark Knight” trails only “Titanic” at the box office. Warner Bros.
With a domestic gross of more than $490 million, “The Dark Knight” trails only one movie in box-office history, 1997’s “Titanic.” But that wasn’t the studio’s only remarkable feat. Facing competitive summer comedies [...]

Toronto Film Festival gets refreshed:More theaters, new programmers and HQ added

TORONTO — Even the world’s most prestigious film festivals need freshening up sometimes.
And with shovel firmly in the ground, and the countdown officially under way for the long-awaited Bell Lightbox, the new headquarters of the Toronto Intl. Film Festival, the fest’s coordinators are planning to inject it with some new energy.
One of the key [...]

‘Burn’ will ignite 65th Venice Film Festival

By Eric J. Lyman
Aug 26, 2008, 02:01 PM ET

ROME — The world premiere of the Coen brothers’ latest and a tribute to one of Italy’s most seminal films will highlight Day 1 at the Venice Film Festival, which opens Wednesday.
Joel and Ethan Coen’s “Burn After Reading” — their follow-up to Oscar winner “No Country for [...]