First The Expendables Trailer
The first trailer for Stallone’s “The Expendables” has hit the Internet. It’s the bootleg teaser from Venice Film Festival 2009.
Sylvester Stallone and Jason Statham, The Expendables
“The Expendables,” written and directed by Sylvester Stallone, is about a team of mercenaries led by Barney Ross (Stallone). The team consists of Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Bao (Jet Li), Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), and Emanuel (Mickey Rourke), who head to South America on a mission to overthrow a dictator.
The movie also stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Villis, Randy Couture, Eric Roberts, Danny Trejo, Charisma Carpenter, Steve Austin, Curtis Jackson, Brittany Murphy and David Zayas.
Venice Film Festival 2009 Winners
Venice Film Festival’s jury announced the movie “Lebanon” was the winner of the Golden Lion on the last day of the 11-day screening of films from around the world.
“Lebanon,” tells the story of Israeli paratroopers searching a hostile town. The movie is a look at war from inside a military tank by Israeli helmer Samuel Maoz, based on his personal experience as a young soldier during his country’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon.
“I dedicate this award to all those thousands of people all over the world who came back from the war, like me, safe and sound. Apparently they are fine. They walk, get married, have children. But inside them, the memories will remain stuck in their souls,” said Maoz at the award ceremony.
The Silver Lion for best director went to New York-based Iranian visual artist Shirin Neshat for her first feature “Women Without Men,” an Iranian film about women and repression.
Neshat launched an appeal to the Iranian government to “give the people of Iran what they should have: basic human rights, freedom, democracy.”
“Soul Kitchen,” set amid the hip and grungy multi-ethnic set in his native Hamburg, by German-Turkish director Fatih Akin, won the Special Jury Prize.
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Venice Film Festival 2009 3D Award
This year’s Venice Film Festival has announced the nine films in competition for the event’s first 3-D award. They are all from the US.
“Up” by Pete Docter
“Coraline” by Henry Selick
“Battle for Terra” by Aristomenis Tsirbas
“Monsters vs. Aliens” by Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon
“Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” by Carlos Saldanha
“Jonas Brothers: The 3-D Concert Experience” by Bruce Hendricks
“The Hole” by Joe Dante
“Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3-D” by Eric Brevig
“My Bloody Valentine” by Patrick Lussier
Joe Dante’s “The Hole” Poster
Here’s the first poster for the upcoming horror thriller “The Hole.” Check the poster out below.
The movie is directed by Joe Dante (”Gremlins,” “Gremlins 2,” “Piranha,” the first episode of “The Twilight Zone” from 1985, one segment of “Twilight Zone: The Movie,” “Small Soldiers“) from the script written by Mark L. Smith.
“The Hole,” filmed in 3-D, stars Chris Massoglia, Haley Bennett, Nathan Gamble, Bruce Dern and Teri Polo among others centers on Susan (Teri Polo), a mother who moves with her teen sons to a rural house where the three are forced to face their fears after discovering a bottomless hole in the basement.
Venice Film Festival Lineup 2009
Venice Film Festival which will run 2nd to 12th September 2009 unveiled its lineup with 71 world premieres.
Marco Müller is the director of the 66th Venice International Film Festival. He has been heading the Venice Biennale’s Cinema section since 2004.
There are six US movies which will be in competition and four out of competition at this year’s Venice Festival.
“Everybody thought that the writers’ strike and the economic crisis had created a stall in American cinema. Instead this year, like never before, we found such ample offerings coming from the U.S. both from established directors like Steven Soderbergh and first-timers like Tom Ford,” Müller said.
John Hillcoat’s “The Road,” an adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic novel, starring Viggo Mortensen and Charlize Theron, Werner Herzog’s remake of “Bad Lieutenant” – “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans,” with Nicolas Cage and Eva Mendes, Michael Moore’s documentary “Capitalism: A Love Story,” Todd Solondz’s “Life During Wartime,” George Romero’s “Survival of the Dead” and Tom Ford’s directing debut “A Single Man,” starring Colin Firth and Julianne Moore.
US non-competing movies are Steven Soderbergh’s “The Informant!,” with Matt Damon, Grant Heslov’s military mind-control satire “The Men Who Stare at Goats,” starring George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges, Joe Dante’s 3-D horror pic “The Hole,” and Oliver Stone’s “South of the Border” documentary, about Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
“Mr. Nobody” marks the English-language debut of Belgian helmer Jaco van Dormael (”Toto the Hero”) and stars Diane Kruger, Sarah Polley and Jared Leto.
Check out the Venice Film Festival 2009 Lineup:
IN COMPETITION
“36 vues du Pic Saint Loup,” Jacques Rivette (France)
“Accident,” Cheang Pou-Soi (China-Hong Kong)
“Baaria,” Giuseppe Tornatore (Italy) – Opening Film
“Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans,” Werner Herzog (U.S.)
“Between Two Worlds,” Vimukthi Jayasundara (Sri Lanka)
“Capitalism: A Love Story,” Michael Moore (U.S.)
“La doppia ora,” Giuseppe Capotondi (Italy)
“Il grande sogno,” Michele Placido (Italy)
“Lebanon,” Samuel Maoz (Israel)
“Life During Wartime,” Todd Solondz (U.S.)
“Lo spazio bianco,” Francesca Comencini (Italy)
“Lourdes,” Jessica Hausner (Austria)
“Mr. Nobody,” Jaco van Dormael (France)
“Persecution,” Patrice Chereau (France)
“Prince of Tears,” Yonfan (Hong Kong)
“The Road,” John Hillcoat (U.S.)
“A Single Man,” Tom Ford (U.S.)
“Soul Kitchen,” Fatih Akin (Germany)
“Survival of the Dead,” George Romero (U.S.)
“Tetsuo the Bullet Man,” Shinya Tsukamoto (Japan)
“The Traveler,” Ahmed Maher (Egypt)
“White Material,” Claire Denis (France)
“Women Without Men,” Shirin Neshat (Germany)
Ang Lee To Head Venice Film Festival Jury
Director Ang Lee (”Hulk” from 2003, “The Hire: Chosen,” “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon“) will head Venice Film Festival jury this year.
Ang Lee twice won the Venice Film Festival’s prestigious Golden Lion award.
The Taiwanese-born director won the award in 2007 for “Lust, Caution,” and in 2005 for “Brokeback Mountain,” for which he also won a best directing Oscar.
His next movies are “Taking Woodstock” and “A Little Game.”
The festival made the announcement Friday. Last year’s jury was headed by German film director Wim Wenders.
Venice Film Festival will be held September 2-12, 2009.
