Ed Zwick – We Are Movie Geeks

Tom Cruise Begins Filming JACK REACHER: NEVER GO BACK In New Orleans

Paramount Pictures and Skydance Media today announced that principal photography has commenced on JACK REACHER: NEVER GO BACK, starring Tom Cruise (the MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE franchise, EDGE OF TOMORROW) and directed by Edward Zwick (THE LAST SAMURAI, BLOOD DIAMOND).

Production will take place in New Orleans. The film is set for release on October 21, 2016.

The new film, a sequel to 2012’s JACK REACHER, is based on author Lee Child’s 18th book in the bestselling Jack Reacher series, Never Go Back. The film is written by Richard Wenk (THE EXPENDABLES 2, THE EQUALIZER”), Marshall Herskovitz (LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS, THE LAST SAMURAI) & Zwick.

Cruise is producing alongside Don Granger (MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – ROGUE NATION, JACK REACHER), Skydance Media’s David Ellison and Dana Goldberg (MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – ROGUE NATION, EOSTORM), and Christopher McQuarrie (MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – ROGUE NATION, VALKYRIE). The executive producers are Paula Wagner (WAR OF THE WORLDS, “THE OTHERS) and Herb Gains (THE JUDGE, NON-STOP).

JACK REACHER: NEVER GO BACK also stars Cobie Smulders (“How I Met Your Mother,” AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON), Danika Yarosh (Heroes Reborn), Austin Hebert (“Bonnie and Clyde”), Patrick Heusinger (QUANTUM BREAK, GIRLFRIEND’S GUIDE TO DIVORCE”), Aldis Hodge (STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON, A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD), and Holt McCallany (Blue Bloods, GANGSTER SQUAD).

Tom Cruise is a global cultural icon who has made an immeasurable impact on cinema by creating some of the most memorable characters of all time in legendary films such as TOP GUN, JERRY MAGUIRE, RISKY BUSINESS, MINORITY REPORT, INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE, A FEW GOOD MEN, THE FIRM, RAIN MAN, COLLATERAL, THE LAST SAMURAI, EDGE OF TOMORROW, THE COLOR OF MONEY, and the MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE franchise among many others.

A consummate filmmaker involved in all aspects of film production, Cruise has achieved extraordinary success as an actor, producer, and philanthropist in a career spanning over three decades. A three-time Academy Award nominee and three-time Golden Globe Award winner his films have earned over eight billion dollars in worldwide box office alone – an incomparable accomplishment.

PAWN SACRIFICE – The Review

The kid faces the champion, loses, fights his way back, and takes the rematch. It’s a familiar sports trope and PAWN SACRIFICE, the biography of volatile chess champ Bobby Fischer, is as formulaic in its own way as ROCKY (or if you prefer, SEARCHING FOR BOBBY FISCHER). The good news is that it’s an intense and fascinating drama capable of involving those who know little about chess as well as avid players.

Raised by his single Jewish mother, Brooklyn native Fischer was born in 1943 and was proficient on the chess board by the age of six. A self-taught player, he continued mastering his game though his early teens, when he defeated star players. As an adult (played by Tobey Maguire) Fischer’s success at the game grows, but his mental state begins to unravel and he suspects the government is watching his every move. Two men enter Bobby’s life to help manage his career – attorney Paul Marshall (Michael Stuhlbarg) and Father Bill Lombardy (Peter Sarsgaard), a heavy-drinking ex-chess champ. Much of the second half of PAWN SACRIFICE focuses on Fischer famously winning the world title from defending champion Boris Spassy in Reykjavik, Iceland in 1972.

Fischer’s story seems a natural for a movie, yet it’s a tricky one. Tasked with the challenge of making a two-player strategy board game seem cinematic is Ed Zwick, director of big-scale epics like GLORY and THE LAST SAMURAI and he does a terrific job working on a smaller battlefield. If you’re expecting close-ups of pawns and rooks being shuffled about in slow motion while dramatic music plays, there is a little of that, but Zwick wisely saves it until the film’s final half hour. He makes other good choices, including having the first match between Fischer and Spassky take place off-screen. Screenwriter Steven Knight provides an insightful look at not only chess but serious mental illness, the psychology of competition, and a battle the film refers to as “World War Three on a chessboard” that would prove to be a major propaganda win for America during the Cold War. James Newton Howard’s score has the right combination of wonder and the hint of something sinister. Period details are impeccable – not just in the costuming and art design but in the vintage newscasts about the event that are perfectly chosen and incorporated along with references to Watergate and the Vietnam War.

PAWN SACRIFICE is anchored by the outstanding performance of Tobey Maguire as Fischer. Mercurial and highly-strung, his interpretation of this tortured genius is textured and complex. There may bit a bit too much focus on his paranoia (how many times do we have to see him dismantling his phone?), but Maguire makes Fischer’s journey from a swaggering “ego-crushing” genius to a shaken shell of a man believable. Liev Schreiber, 90% of whose part is spoken in Russian, is perfect as the arrogant, confident Spassky. Bobby Fischer eventually descended into madness, arrests, crazed outbursts and allegiance to a religious doomsday cult before his death at age 65 from kidney disease. The film addresses some of this in a brief addendum complete with startling archival footage. Fischer’s bizarre post-Spassky life might one day make for an interesting film of its own.

4 1/2 of 5 Stars

PAWN SACRIFICE opens in St. Louis Friday September 18th exclusively at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Theater

James Newton Howard’s PAWN SACRIFICE Score To Be Released On Sept. 11

Coming to theaters in two weeks is director Ed Zwick’s riveting PAWN SACRIFICE.

It’s the story of Bobby Fischer, America’s foremost chess player, who faced the reigning champion, Boris Spassky of Russia, in a series of matches that held the world spellbound.

For fans of 1972’s “Match of the Century,” the film is everything you’re hoping for. Zwick’s movie is flawless right down to the re-enactment of the 1971 interview with Dick Cavett.

Bobby Fischer first makes waves in the elite world of chess as a 6-year-old whiz-kid from Brooklyn famous for his laser-like concentration and ability to dominate all challengers. By his teens, the boy wonder has gone from chess savant to international grandmaster, but his meteoric rise is punctuated by unpredictable personal behavior and escalating demands that raise hackles in the conservative chess establishment.

As he travels the globe with manager Paul Marshall (Michael Stuhlbarg) and coach Father Bill Lombardy (Peter Sarsgaard), Fischer crushes the world’s top players in the relentless pursuit of his ultimate quarry: indomitable Soviet chess grandmaster Boris Spassky (Liev Schreiber).

In 1972 the volatile New Yorker earns the right to face the Russian veteran in the hotly anticipated “Match of the Century,” a 21-game competition in Reykjavík, Iceland, that could end 24 years of Soviet domination of the World Chess Championship. Even the infamous Game 6 shows Spassky joining the audience in applauding Fischer’s win.

But Fischer’s paranoia and growing obsession with conspiracy theories disrupt the match and his erratic behavior unnerves the normally unflappable Spassky. With the competition increasingly mirroring the tense geopolitics of the Cold War era, even his closest advisors are unsure if Fischer’s actions are the calculated antics of an antisocial eccentric or signs that he is truly unstable. PAWN SACRIFICE is a revealing portrait of the troubled genius who sparked an international chess craze and captured the imagination of the world.

Lakeshore Records will release the PAWN SACRIFICE – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack digitally on Friday, September 11, 2015. The album features original music by composer James Newton Howard (NIGHTCRAWLER, MALEFICENT).

James Newton Howard is one of the most versatile and respected composers currently working in films. To date, Howard has received eight Oscar nominations, including six for Best Original Score for his work on DEFIANCE, MICHAEL CLAYTON, THE VILLAGE, THE FUGITIVE, THE PRINCE OF TIDES, and MY BEST FRIEND’S WEDDING. He was also nominated for Best Original Song for the films JUNIOR and ONE FINE DAY.

Howard, along with Hans Zimmer, won the 2009 Grammy Award for the score for THE DARK KNIGHT. He has also received Grammy Award nominations for music from BLOOD DIAMOND, DINOSAUR, SIGNS, and the song from ONE FINE DAY. In addition, he won an Emmy Award for the theme to the Andre Braugher series GIDEON’S CROSSING, and received two additional Emmy nominations for the themes to the long-running Warner Bros. series ER and the Ving Rhames series MEN. Howard has also been nominated four times for Golden Globe Awards for his massive orchestral score for Peter Jackson’s blockbuster remake of KING KONG; for the songs from JUNIOR and ONE FINE DAY; and for his provocative symphonic score for DEFIANCE.

Howard’s upcoming projects include THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY – PART 2 and CONCUSSION.

Before you watch the movie, catch filmmaker Liz Garbus’ documentary Bobby Fischer Against the World. TRAILER

Read the book “Fischer/Spassky: The New York Times Report on the Chess Match of the Century”

Bleecker Street presents PAWN SACRIFICE in select theaters September 16, 2015 and in St. Louis on Friday, September 18.

Review: LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS

When promoting a new film, studios can get downright sneaky. A good case in point is LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS. Movie and TV screens have been flooded with trailers and commercials touting it as a zany, romantic comedy. And the poster shows the cute stars gazing toward the camera in bed while strategically placed pillows cover up their “naughty bits”. True there is comedy and romance, but the film tackles several serious issues which may throw some filmgoers off balance. It’s a shame that the studio marketing didn’t think the public could handle some of the truly adult themes. I think these issues elevate the film above the fluff that’s being passed off as romantic comedies these days.

It’s 1996 and Jamie Randall(Jake Gyllenhaal) is an electronics salesman cruising by on his charm and good looks. After losing this job(the boss’s girlfriend!), Jamie’s internet millionaire brother Josh(Josh Gad) suggests that he look into the booming field of pharmaceutical sales. Soon he’s hired by Pfizer and sent on the road along with his supervisor Bruce(Oliver Platt) to hawk Zoloft. After finally getting in to see Dr. Knight(Hank Azaira), Jamie is allowed to follow the doc and tout his wares while posing as an intern. During a routine examination Jamie meets Maggie Murdock(Anne Hathaway), a Parkinson’s sufferer in need of a prescription refill. Later in the parking lot Maggie spies Jamie arranging his drug samples in his car trunk and proceeds to clobber him with her bag . After a clumsy apology, Jamie convinces her to meet for coffee and they soon wind up at her place for some “no strings attached” sex. On another visit to Dr. Knight’s, Jamie is beaten up in the parking lot again. This time by a rival salesman(and former boyfriend of Maggie) who discovered that Jamie was pitching his Valium samples and putting in Zoloft. Jamie’s about to throw in the towel until he hears from brother Josh(who’s moved in after a nasty divorce) that Pfizer’s about to unveil a new wonder drug: Viagra. At last he’s found the perfect product to pitch. Jamie quickly becomes a welcome visitor to all the clinics. While business is booming, Jamie still yearns to be with Maggie. She still avoids commitment while dealing with her Parkinson’s symptoms. Can these two crazy kids finally make it work and get together?

Surprisingly the typical Hollywood happy ending is not a foregone conclusion here. The Parkinson’s issue adds a great deal of gravity to these proceedings. We still only get to see Maggie in the early stages as she struggles to stop the shaking and grasp a pair of scissors. In one powerful scene Jamie talks to the husband of a Parkinson’s sufferer while at a Chicago sales meeting. The man admits that if he had it to do over he would not have married his wife as the strain of her deterioration is too much to handle. Unfortunately these dramatic pieces bump up against the clumsy comedy scenes involving crude, clueless doofus Josh who behaves like a Jack Black caricature. They deserved to be severely trimmed. The other supporting players shine especially Platt, Azaira, Judy Greer(s a ditzy receptionist) and as Jamie and Josh’s parents George Segal and ,in perhaps her last screen role, Jill Clayburgh. Hathaway and Gyllenhaal capitalize on the chemistry that first displayed together in BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN. They seem very comfortable together which helps make their many intimate scenes feel natural. I was quite surprised at the amount of their flesh displayed in a mainstream studio movie. Director Ed (GLORY)Zwick gets good performances from them, but does indulge in some romance movie clichés. After many arguments, break ups, and make ups the hero must race against the clock to profess his love ala JERRY MAGUIRE during a painfully awkward outdoor scene with the camera slowly zooming in as a busload of senior citizens look on. Still, Jake Gyllenhaal is becoming a confident leading man and Anne Hathaway shows her considerable acting skills with a very offbeat character. The movie’s got a lot going for it, and is much more interesting than the usual rom-com. It’s too bad that Hollywood didn’t think we moviegoers would discover that.

Overall Rating: Three and a Half Out of Five Stars

Win Passes To See LOVE & OTHER DRUGS

You know you love Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway!!! We here at WAMG headquarters are about to feed your obsession because we are giving away passes to an advanced screening of LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS on November 18th at the GRAVOIS BLUFFS at 7pm.

OFFICIAL RULES:

1. YOU MUST BE IN THE ST. LOUIS AREA THE DAY OF THE SCREENING.

2. FILL OUT YOUR NAME AND EMAIL ADDRESS BELOW.

3. ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTION:What is your favorite Jake or Anne movie and why?!

WINNERS WILL BE CHOSEN THROUGH A RANDOM DRAWING OF QUALIFYING CONTESTANTS. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. PASSES WILL NOT BE SUBSTITUTED OR EXCHANGED.

Love And Other Drugs Trailer

Synopsis:

Maggie is an alluring free spirit who won’t let anything, including a formidable challenge, tie her down. But she meets her match in Jamie Randall, whose relentless and nearly infallible charm serve him well with the ladies and in the cutthroat world of pharmaceutical sales. Maggie and Jamie’s evolving relationship takes them both by surprise, as they find themselves under the influence of the ultimate drug: love.

LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS will be in theaters on November 24, 2010.

LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS Trailer

Last time we saw these two lovely actors together was in 2005’s BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN and since then, both have seen Academy Award nominations. Have a look at 20th Century Fox’s first trailer for the romantic comedy, LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS.

Gyllenhaal and Viagra…I know there’s a laugh in there somewhere, but I’ll leave that to you, our witty WAMG’s readers. Or for the more serious of fans, does it look like an Oscar contender?

Synopsis:

Based on Jamie Reidy’s memoir “Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman,” Hathaway portrays Maggie, an alluring free spirit who won’t let anyone – or anything – tie her down. But she meets her match in Jamie (Gyllenhaal), whose relentless and nearly infallible charm serve him well with the ladies and in the cutthroat world of pharmaceutical sales. Maggie and Jamie’s evolving relationship takes them both by surprise, as they find themselves under the influence of the ultimate drug: love.

LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS will be in theaters on November 24, 2010. Fan it on Facebook.

Trailer Courtesy: Apple ITunes

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