Jason Statham : The Right Face For The Job

Discovered by film director Guy Ritchie, Jason Statham, 47, has made a name of himself in action films. His latest film is “Wild Card” by Simon West who directed The Expendables 2.

From cockney actor to star of action films such as Wild Card, has your career gone the way you wanted?

The change came with the first Transporter by Luc Besson. I’ve always been quite sporty and kept in shape through competitive diving and martial arts. I was delighted when I was asked to do my first action scenes-all those years of training finally paid off! I really enjoyed it and the films went down well, so I thought it was worthwhile nurturing this talent. In England there aren’t that many ‘physical’ actors.

It’s true that your films are far cry from James Ivory’s productions…

(Laughs) Yes. Not many wigs or cups of tea.

Who were your favourite figures in cinema as a teenager?

Sylvester Stallone, with whom I’ve had the great honour of acting. And Michael Caine and Bob Hoskins in England. Have you seen Get Carter and The Long Good Friday? They’re real men’s films; today it’s difficult to find scripts of this quality. I don’t always appear in great films, but you’ve got to eat. It wasn’t really my idea to do action films; it was a lucky break and it doesn’t stop me acting in more scripted films like Snatch and The Bank Job.

At 47, are you now looking for roles in drama films?

In 2013 I played a complex character who emerged from the pits of London in Crazy Joe [Hummingbird aka Redemption] and I prepared the role by having contact with homeless guys and veterans from the Iraqi war. I wanted to have more heavyweight projects, but the phone went one morning and my agent said “I have a role for you in a Hollywood action movie” and I naturally replied “Fine!”

During the making of Expendables 3 you had a near-fatal accident. Are you now much more careful?

It was stupid. Basically I was driving a lorry and swerved to avoid another vehicle and the lorry fell into the sea. I couldn’t get out of the cockpit and up to the surface because I had so much heavy gear on – guns, jacket and boots. I nearly drowned! But these are the hazards of the business; there are always times when things can go wrong. Acting is a combat sport!

“WILDCARD” is released and distributed by CAPTIVE CINEMA.

Hugh Grant and Marisa Tomei get romantic and comic in The Rewrite.

Once upon a time, screenwriter Keith Michaels (Hugh Grant) was on top of the world – a Golden Globe Award and a hit movie to his name, a beautiful wife and a seemingly inexhaustible supply of wit and charm. But that was fifteen years ago: now, he’s divorced, broke, approaching fifty and hasn’t written a hit film in years.

Luckily, his agent has a job for him – a university in the quiet town of Binghamton is looking for someone to teach a course in screenwriting, and with an empty wallet as his motivation, Keith can’t say no. Hoping to give minimal attention to his duties and focus on writing a new script, his attitude slowly begins to turn when he meets Holly (Marisa Tomei). A single mum working two jobs to earn her degree, the pair find themselves connected by their mutual need for a second chance.

Directed by Marc Lawrence and also starring Allison Janney, J. K. Simmons, Bella Heathcote, and Annie Q.

“THE REWRITE” is released and distributed CAPTIVE CINEMA

Rom-Com King Hugh Grant returns to the screen in ‘The Rewrite’

Do you remember that scene in Notting Hill, where Hugh Grant’s character goes to see Julia Roberts at her swanky London hotel, not realising she’s in the middle of doing interviews promoting her new film? Embarrassed, he poses as a journalist for Horse And Hound magazine and a series of torturously awkward questions ensue.

In The Rewrite, Grant plays Keith Michaels, a once successful Hollywood scriptwriter forced to take a job lecturing at a university to make ends meet.

“He loves screenwriting, he loves films, he’s desperate to get back into the business,” explains the London-born actor, who has a house in Stinchcombe and famously dated Cotswolds model Liz Hurley before that very public indiscretion with prostitute Divine Brown.

“But he’s just so out of fashion. He’s so ‘cold’ in Hollywood terms, he just can’t get a job. So he has to take this undignified position of teaching screenwriting to a lot of second-rate students in a third-rate university.”

Grant, of course, had his big break in Four Weddings And A Funeral 20 years ago, and has gone on to star in numerous romantic comedies. But he hasn’t become jaded by Hollywood – he claims he always was.

“I’ve always played that... affected that pose anyway. Maybe it’s not a pose,” he says. “There are people who really love showbiz. They get up every morning and they just want to make a film, read a script. I’ve never been that person, I confess.”

So, disillusioned Keith picks all the prettiest young girls to be in his class, indulges in some extra-curricular fun and aims to get away with doing as little work as possible. But in true romcom style, that all changes when single mum Holly, played by Marisa Tomei, signs up as a mature student. She’s determined to have a second chance at life, and convince Keith he can have one too.

“She’s very positive, and my character is very cynical about that,” says Grant. “It’s great that someone like that goes back to university, but can anyone learn to do something that requires talent? No, probably not.

“I do think if you’ve got a little bit of talent, you can learn to make it much better,” he adds.

Following the success of Four Weddings..., Grant went on to play the earnest, bumbling hero several times over, including in the even more successful Notting Hill.

He was a box office hit, the ‘romcom king’, and studios were throwing money at him to do it all over again.

Then in 2002, he played the lead in About A Boy, chopping off his floppy hair to expose a roguish twinkle in his blue eyes. Since then, he’s been the go-to guy for romcoms about a charming but cold-hearted cad.

The Rewrite is his fourth collaboration with writer and director Marc Lawrence, following Two Weeks Notice, Music And Lyrics and Did You Hear About The Morgans?

He insists he’s too old for romantic comedy, but enjoys his collaborations with Lawrence because they don’t require much effort.

“He really is very clever at writing dialogue that’s good for me. The part was written for me, so it wasn’t much of a stretch,” he concedes wryly.

The Rewrite is a reflective film, with Keith looking back to the peak of his success. In one scene, he watches an old video clip of himself making an acceptance speech at an awards ceremony. The footage is doctored from a real speech given by a fresh-faced Grant at the Golden Globes at the beginning of his career. But watching it didn’t stir any sense of nostalgia in the self-confessed “ultra cynic”. “That scene was slightly annoying; they always wanted to use that old footage of me and I didn’t want to do that. For a start, I convinced myself that I was playing a part in this film, and therefore if you see ME with a completely different voice, 20 years ago, it would bring you out of the film,” Grant reveals.

So what has he got out of his 20 year career as a romantic hero?

“I don’t think I’ve learned any particular lesson,” he says, shrugging.

“Except...”, and finally he appears frank, “it certainly always helps if you don’t just go for the money. Especially certain parts in Hollywood, they’re always trying to draw you in just for the money.

“And the other thing is, the more you work at something - even if it’s quite good material already – keep working at it. It can always be better.” Grant’s mistrust of the media is not without reason.

In 1995, he was caught in flagrante with Brown in downtown Hollywood, and the story was splashed all over the tabloids. Broken-hearted Liz Hurley retreated to Sudeley Castle to get over it, but the couple split soon afterwards. His colourful love life – he has reportedly fathered three love children – has since been under constant scrutiny. If Grant was reluctant to become an actor, he was even more reluctant to become a celebrity. Over his two decades in the spotlight, the gossip and intrigue surrounding stars’ lives has intensified. In The Rewrite, one of Keith’s students declares celebrities “the Gods of our time”.

“She might be right that some people think that,” observes Grant, shuddering.

“I don’t share that. I’m a little disturbed by celebrity obsession.”

And how does he feel, thinking some people might worship him as a God?

“They would have to be psychotic.”

‘’THE REWRITE’’ is released and distributed by CAPTIVE CINEMA.

Viber Welcomes The Year of the Goat with a New Sticker Pack

Users Can Now Share Fun Chinese New Year Stickers with Family and Friends to Celebrate the Spring Festival

Viber, the leading OTT communications app offering free messaging and HD-quality calls, is joining in the festivities of the Lunar New Year. A specially designed sticker pack is now available to download, featuring a brand new sticker character as we enter the Year of the Goat. Considered the most important celebration in the Chinese calendar because of its rich cultural heritage and history, the Lunar New Year is centuries old and celebrated by over a billion of people worldwide.

The ‘Happy 羊 Year’ pack - Happy Goat Year - features 16 vibrant stickers which celebrate everything about Chinese New Year and the festive season. Each sticker reflects key celebrations and traditions observed by Chinese communities during the Spring Festival. This pack is for Chinese communities around the world as well as anyone (or Nationality - eg Thais - to be inserted per market) who wants to wish their (Chinese - to be inserted per market) friends a marvelous new year. From special greetings and hong bao giving (and receiving!) to sharing messages of prosperity, there is something for everyone – the perfect way to spread the Lunar New Year vibes.

Viber provides a new way to enjoy the celebrations with loved ones far and near. The Chinese New Year pack offers greetings in multiple languages including Mandarin, Cantonese and English. The red and gold pack has plenty of stickers embodying some of the key customs. Send greetings with red lanterns, fireworks and dragon dances to ward off evil at the start of the Lunar New Year. Wish prosperity and abundance by sharing gold, red envelopes and money trees with your loved ones. Finally, as the family gathers for New Year’s Eve dinner, why not send stickers to tell absent friends that you miss them – choose from the famous new year cake, oranges for prosperity, or dumplings representing the full moon and symbolizing the family unit and perfection.

The Chinese New Year sticker pack is now available to download from the Viber sticker market for free.

For more updates on Viber, visit www.facebook.com/viberph, www.twitter.com/viberph, and www.instagram.com/viberph.

Let's all join Engr. Grace Nicolas and Marketing Director of Victoria Court, Ms. Tanya Llana this Saturday, February 7, 2015, 4PM to 5PM for DZME 1530 'Let's Talk About Career' segment as they talk about the booming hotel industry.

 

Tim Burton discusses a larger than life film ‘Big Eyes’

 

Tim Burton is a bit like the character he creates in his movies—whimsical, highly animated, and quite appealing in a quirky kind of way and larger- than- life.

His latest movie ‘Big Eyes’, opens on February 25, across the Philippines!

In Manhattan, Burton’s hair and beard were a bit scraggly, and he spoke with his hands waving in the air. It is clear: he is passionate about three aspects of his life: his films, his art and his family.

Among his unique movies, most with a strong cult following, are, Batman, Batman Returns, Mars Attacks, Sleepy Hollow, Ed Wood, Big Fish and Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Burton has creatively directed from his vivid imagination numerous darkly-themed children’s movies, including: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach, Frankenweenie, and Alice in Wonderland.

Big Eyes, from The Weinstein Company, is the biographical drama film directed by Tim Burton.

The film focuses on Walter Keane (Christoph Waltz), an artist known in the 1950s and 60s for his kitsch paintings of large-eyed waifs and his then-wife Margaret Keane, (Amy Adams).

The film tells the outrageous true story of their heated divorce battle wherein Margaret accused her husband, Walter, of stealing her paintings. The bazaar and shocking truth would later be discovered: Walter did not create any of the art work, but instead his wife did, and the Keane’s had been living a colossal lie that had fooled the entire world.

The movie is too incredible to be fiction, and focuses on Margaret’s awakening as an artist, the success of her paintings and her tumultuous relationship with her husband , who was catapulted to international fame while taking credit for her work.

The script was written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, the screenwriters behind Ed Wood, and is based in Los Angeles. In 2003, they began researching the story that would take 10 years to become a film.

“There were a lot of reasons why we wanted to make this movie,” Karaszewski explained. “We thought that Margaret was a great female character that embodied the beginning of the Women’s Movement. It stars with her as a 1950s housewife, who does everything for her husband. Through the course of the story, she learns to stand up for herself.”

Burton has long been involved with Helena Bonham Carter, and they have two children: a son Billy Raymond, 11, and a daughter, Nell,7.

Please talk about approaching this story of Big Eyes as a parent?

I don’t know if that has everything to do with it for me. I mean, I came at strangely, from growing up in that era. Because growing up in that era and understanding the cultures that I grew up in, it was sort of the end of the American Dream. And that kind of idea.

How so?

The sort of the idea of this dysfunctional couple coming together. And ..creating these mutant children! It just felt like my family! You know, it just felt like of like this sort of…So it had this strange, so I sort of came at it in this strange way. But you know..I’ll never show this film to my children! I’ll show ém Sleepy Hollow, Sweeney Todd. But not this one!

What grabbed your attention about these actors [Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz] you chose for your new Tim Burton universe, Big Eyes?

It was just fresh energy for me to work with these new people. And uh, because you know

everybody’s been getting sick of the people I was working with! And, I know. It’s sad, isn’t! And I showed up occasionally, yes!

I am sure you were there more than that. Please talk about your attention to those Keane paintings?

I found them fascinating, but quite disturbing, actually! Like Big Brother watching you –those big eyes. And the sort of polarized responses to it. Some people love it, obviously. And some people just wanted to…rip it off the walls! So that kind of response is what I found quite fascinating.

How did this project come about, between you and the writers –Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski?

We were actually working in parallel! universes! Because I didn’t know that the screenwriters were writing a script! And I knew Keane’s work, because I grew up with it. But I didn’t know the real story. And a friend of mine told me the story. And went to San Francisco and met Margaret Keane. And I commissioned a painting from her. Then I don’t know how long after that, but we had done Ed Wood together. And they approached me about doing this movie.

Were you drawn at all to Margaret Keane because of your own personal experiences, in a Hollywood movie industry dominated by business interest over art?

Well, yes. I mean; that’s why I enjoyed Ed Wood, because to me, there’s a fine line. Or it’s perceived as good and bad. And you know; I’ve been through that myself. You know, when they had that MOMA [The Museum of Metropolitan Art in New York] show her, the critics… It was

about 100 times worse than Keane! You know what I mean?

Then what happened?

It got so lambasted. And at the same time …it had a high attendance rate! So I’ve experienced that kind of thing, of like good and bad. Because when you do something, you’re very passionate about it. Whether it’s Ed Wood or the Keane’s , you know, there’s just such enthusiasm. And they thought they were making probably like..Michelangelo! As Ed Wood thought he was making Star Wars. You know, when he was making Plan 9 From Outer Space! So you understand that kind of misguided enthusiasm. And then you sort of understanding the polarization of people’s response to things.

Why do you think the Keane art was not embraced by the psychedelic world by then?

But it was very druggie! You know, big eyes, large pupils. I mean, It’s somehow weirdly fit into that scene! And I always admired Margaret’s high-waisted look!

Why do you think that this film isn’t as dark as your other movie?

For me. you have the time, the era, and you have the paintings. Which suggest something, strange color schemes that are those paintings; part of the vibe of it. And then, just the story. I mean, the relationship between Margaret and Walter and the other characters, in my own mind, it started to feel like a weird sixties, kind of slightly Hitchcock.

Please elaborate—what do you mean by this?

Well, I found myself strangely drawn. I mean; the color scheme just fit the era and the paintings, and the kind of psychological relationship, and feel of the movie. So you know whether it’s black or white or color, you try to support that. And make it a character, in a way.

So just all of those elements made it…what it turned out to be!

The movie is in large part struggle between abstract and popular art, Where do you stand in that struggle personally?

Again, it’s a fascinating thing about people’s perception of art. And you see it today. Either it speaks to you, or it doesn’t. And I think the reason the story really sort of flew under the radar, is that most critics, most people, didn’t really consider it art. So it didn’t hit the major headlines.

Please, tell me more?

You know; it was sort of on the back pages. Whatever. But like I said. I myself have experienced from the very beginning of my career, people loving and hating me. And also, people would say about my movies, ‘Oh it’s so much lighter.’ And at the same time, it’s so much darker. So I found that a sort of juxtaposition. How could something be light, and then other people see it as completely dark. So people’s perceptions of things fascinate me, you know?

Is that how you see the film Big Eyes?

Yes, in that way I think this is perfect story , and an example of that sort of question. And it’s kind of an unanswerable question! It’s just sort of a presentation of that dynamic. But I loved it, because I also hated it! You know what I mean ? There’s something about it like, why would grown people have…images of children hanging in their living room!

It seems like people do that.

I do too!

If you put yourself in Walter Keane’s shoes for minute, what do you think was going on inside his crazy head?

In his version, he was Henry Higgins! She was ElizaDoolittle, and, it was a failed experiment!

“BIG EYES” is released and distributed by CAPTIVE CINEMA!

‘Paddington’ Takes Off Casting iconic characters

The cast of PADDINGTON reads as a roll-call of the finest in acting talent, spanning film, television and theatre. Each of the principal cast are recognizable as many an iconic character, to generations both young and old.

Hugh Bonneville (Mr. Brown) is perhaps best known as Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, in the multi-award winning TV drama, “Downton Abbey”. Taking on the role of a father once again in PADDINGTON appealed to Bonneville on several levels. “I remember having the books read to me and then reading them myself and falling in love with them. Paddington is a part of British culture, part of our DNA really. I read the script and saw how much of that DNA is preserved, even though it’s set in a contemporary world”. He continues, “It still has the flavor of the original books, which is so beautifully captured in Paul’s script. There’s also a great deal of humor running though the story – innocent, uproarious slapstick as well as clever wit – which will resonate with everyone, whether you are coming to the story with fresh eyes or as an unashamedly nostalgic parent, like myself.”

As one of the first actors to come on board the project and highly aware of the public's love of the source material, Hugh felt very strongly the need to do justice to Bond's stories - but any initial concerns were very quickly forgotten: “Within about five seconds of meeting Paul and David about PADDINGTON, I was on board. I was struck by how much Paul understood Paddington - he IS Paddington! He is as innocent, wide-eyed and as delightful as our furry friend!”

As Mrs. Brown, the wonderful Sally Hawkins, who was recently nominated for an Academy Award® for her role in Woody Allen’s BLUE JASMINE, effortlessly captures her character’s good nature and inability to resist a cry for help. Being the first to engage with the little bear all alone on the platform of Paddington Station, Mrs. Brown’s family is swept along by her well-meaning actions, regardless of the consequences. Says Rosie Alison of the casting of Sally, “What we love about Sally is that she gives this very grounded performance. She talks to the bear just beautifully, as if he is a living, breathing creature. One believes in her and in turn, in Paddington.”

Says Paul, “Hugh and Sally were a joy to work with. They are both tremendously accomplished writers as well as performers. For someone like me with a background in improvised comedy, it was hugely reassuring to know they wouldn’t feel straight-jacketed by the dialogue, and that together we could breathe life into the characters.” He continues, “Their performances are the bedrock of the film: comic but touching, real yet existing in a world where a talking animal can be accepted. It’s a delicate balance, and they hold it beautifully.”

It’s perhaps every child’s dream to appear in a movie and newcomers Madeleine Harris and Samuel Joslin, cast as sparring siblings Judy and Jonathan Brown, took the experience in their stride. Through a long winter shoot in and around London, often on location and frequently filming through the night, Maddie and Sam more than matched the stamina of their seasoned co-stars. The strong connection that developed quickly between the fictional family members is evident on screen, as is the fun they clearly had working together.

Bonneville is quick to praise his young co-stars “Maddie and Sam have got fantastic energy and real focus - they’re really on the button.” And he continues, “There is that famous phrase, ‘Never work with children or animals’. Well, I can make an exception in this case.”

With regards to portraying one of the most famous families in British literary history, Bonneville adds, “We had the luxury of three weeks of rehearsal in which Paul was determined that we should not only finesse the script but work on the characters and explore the relationships of the Brown family - which was invaluable. You rarely get to have that. So we had a lot of fun, playing around with the scenes, building up a strong family dynamic, which I hope comes across. The little ebbs and flows of family life are all there.”

Rounding out the Brown household is the eccentric Mrs. Bird, played by Julie Walters. A distant relative who lives with the Browns and runs the household as a very tight ship, Mrs. Bird is strict, but also compassionate - when she needs to be! Worldly-wise, she thinks nothing of a walking, talking bear crossing the threshold of 32 Windsor Garden and turning all of their lives upside down.

Julie confesses to loving the prospect of working on another film which appeals whole-heartedly to the young - and to the young at heart. Certainly, knowing that David Heyman would once again be behind this adaptation must have been reassuring for Julie? “It was lovely to be asked back by David Heyman, because I had such a wonderful time on HARRY POTTER, you know, so it’s a real thrill to work with him again - and he’s a really nice bloke, apart from anything else!”

Along with Mr. Gruber, played by the prolific British actor Jim Broadbent (another HARRY POTTER alumnus) and nosey next door neighbor, Mr. Curry (Peter Capaldi), the Browns are characters as familiar as Paddington himself to the generations of children that have grown up with these stories. However, a 21st century PADDINGTON required a villain that could challenge the most savvy of young audiences. Enter stage left Millicent, the evil taxidermist.

Explains King, "Where Oliver Twist has to survive Fagin and Bill Sykes before he can find peace with Mr. Brownlow, so I wanted an opposition for Paddington, someone who didn’t respond to ‘Please Look After This Bear.’ It struck me that for a young bear, the greatest opposition wasn’t someone who didn’t want him in the house, or even the street, but who felt that a bear only belonged in one place in London – the Natural History Museum!”

From the outset, the desire of all involved was to deliver a PADDINGTON to the big screen for a whole new generation of fans, whilst remaining loyal to Bond's wonderful world.

“PADDINGTON” is released and distributed by CAPTIVE CINEMA SHOWING ON FEBRUARY 11. NATIONWIDE!!!!

Amy Adams in eye opening story of Margaret Keane in ‘Big Eyes’

Four-time Academy Award-nominee Amy Adams had read the ‘BIG EYES’ screenplay early on, but she wasn’t prepared to do it at first. “I thought it was very interesting, but I was at a time where I wanted to play really confident characters and wasn’t sure how I would find my way into Margaret.” However, when she next saw the script, things had changed. “I’d become a mother and had a totally different perspective on the character and I understood -- it wasn’t lack of confidence. I was attracted to the story from the beginning, but at the end it was Margaret that I really got pulled into.

Margaret is complicated, like most human beings. She’s definitely a little shyer, and she’s very humble. That’s one of the qualities about her that I think allowed her to be manipulated.” Adams did a lot of research to prepare for the role. “When you have a story that has two very different sides and people who write about it that have different perspectives, it’s really hard to put your finger on what the true story is. I read what Walter said about Margaret, then I read what other people said about her, and there’s not a lot in her own words.” So Adams travelled to San Francisco and spent a day with Margaret Keane at the artist’s gallery. “That was most beneficial, to see this woman and understand that yes, there is this humility, but there’s this strength and this sense of humor. I didn’t want to pry, but I wanted to get an understanding of who she was and how this could have happened. What I came to was her gentle nature.” The actress and the artist spent half a day together. “It makes me nervous when people look at me,” Margaret Keane says, “but she wanted to watch me paint, and she made it painless and was so down to earth. It was wonderful.” Keane was delighted with the casting of Adams, who sports a vintage blonde bob in the picture.

“When I first saw her with the wig on it was a shock. It was like seeing myself 50 years ago! She was absolutely perfect.” While Walter Keane was a fixture on the talk show circuit of the era, Margaret was much more in the shadows. “There’s only a little bit of footage of her,” says Adams, “so I didn’t have a lot to pull on who Margaret was.” So Adams based her performance on the elderly woman she actually met, and, she notes, “In the end, you can really only go with the text because everything else, all of our memories, even of ourselves, are skewed. So going with the text, trying to help tell the story but at the same time being mindful of who she was as a person and what’s important to her now. I talked to her about why she would be willing to tell this story. She is a Jehovah’s Witness and that is why she wants to show that these things can happen in our life but we can find redemption at the end of it and strength within ourselves, so I felt like that gave me permission to tell her story, with my artistic interpretation, while understanding her a little better.”

“Margaret became identified with the big eyes and she was able to express her pain and sadness and her questions. I think that’s why people respond, because there is such an openness and a questioning and a vulnerability and this amazing quality that children have and she’s really able to capture that.” Walter appropriated Margaret’s waif paintings and declared them his own, and they came to be known as the “Keane” paintings. As Margaret developed as an artist, she continued to paint “Keanes” attributed to Walter, but she also created elongated psychological paintings of women, often self-portraits, which she signed MDH Keane and publicly claimed as her own.

‘’BIG EYES” is released and distributed by CAPTIVE CINEMA. FEBRUARY 25. NATIONWIDE!

PLAYING MASTER AND SERVANT IN “BLACK BUTLER”

Hiro Mizushima stars in the titular role of “Black Butler” produced by Shinzo Matsuhashi about an orphaned aristocrat exacting revenge who hires the services of a black butler at her aid costing her soul.

Ayame Goriki and Hiro Mizushima in BLACK BUTLER

Ayame Gőriki plays the aristocrat young lady named Shiori Genpo who masquerades as a male in order to get even to those responsible for her family’s death. She eventually summons a black butler named Sebastian Michaelis, on the condition that her soul is already for the taking after the revenge has been fulfilled. Sebastian Michaelis, a demonic butler with impeccable knowledge, manners, grace, cooking skills, martial arts and charming looks.

Adapting the highly successful Manga series into a movie, directors Kentaro Ohtani and Kei’ichi Sato with writer Yana Taboso decided to change the setting of the movie to a very near future fusing the East and West culture, creating a whole new distinctive era. Eventually, most of the characters have also been rewritten to suit the new setting. The all-original story of the film is set 130 years after the manga. Hiro who plays the demonic butler Sebastian returns to the movies for the first time in three years. The actor faced up to the challenge in preparing for the role that he even shed 50 kg off his weight to achieve the closest of resemblance with the character.

Hiro Mizushima & Ayame Goriki in BLACK BUTLER

The manga debuted in Square Enix's Monthly G Fantasy magazine in 2006, and its 15 volumes thus far have 14 million copies in print, including those published in 42 countries and territories. The manga already inspired a television anime series in 2008 and a stage play in 2009. It received the top prize in the shōnen manga category of France's Japan Expo Awards in 2010 and the Best International Manga Award in Germany's Animagic in 2011.

“Black Butler” will open exclusively in SM Cinemas nationwide

on July 23 from Axinite Digicinema.

DAWN OF AN UNLIKELY HERO IN “DRAGON NEST: WARRRIOR’S DAWN”

The phenomenal MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) “Dragon Nest” is now a movie – Axinite Digicinema has recently released its English-dubbed trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEXs-7tS_ng

“Dragon Nest: Warrior’s Dawn” is an upcoming Chinese-American animated adventure fantasy romance film directed by Song Yuefeng and based on the Dragon Nest video game. At the center of the movie is a young warrior named Lambert. His family and home town was destroyed by the Black Dragon when he was younger. He set out to seek revenge and vowed to slay the Black Dragon.

A sword yielding warrior and unlikely hero, Lambert eventually becomes a student of Barnac, one of the 6 legendary hero who took notice of his skills and talents in warfare. The movie brings us to the land of Altera that has observed an uneasy peace for years among Humans, Elves and Evil beasts who are loyal to the legendary Black Dragon. But the Black Dragon begins to stir from its hibernation, sending the Beasts marching across Altera.

With a beast conquest perilously close, a small group of Humans and Elves unite to try to find a secret hidden road to the Black Dragon's cave and destroy it. But the fate of all of them may be in the hands of the young warrior Lambert, who must summon the confidence and skill to face the Black Dragon himself just when all may be lost.

“Dragon Nest: Warrior’s Dawn” plays very soon in theatres nationwide from Axinite Digicinema.

WORLD’S VIDEOGAME PHENOMENON DRAGON NEST NOW A MOVIE - “DRAGON NEST: WARRIOR’S DAWN”

The global videogame phenomenon “Dragon Nest” comes to the big screen with its first of a trilogy – “Dragon Nest: Warrior’s Dawn” where an unlikely human hero is centric in uniting a divided enchanted land to fight against the evil force that seeks to destroy all humans and elves.

Directed by Yuefeng Song, the movie covers the events that took place during the Black Dragon Raid when a Black Dragon appeared in the once peaceful land enchanted land of Altea. With the Black Dragon’s attack, the King ordered then the young warriors Geraint, Argenta, Velskud and other legendary heroes to form the Dragon Slaying Alliance. The incident years after was widely known to be the First Dragon Invasion for the younger generations. We now find Lambert, a young restless wannabe warrior who lost his homeland and family when he was young, causing him to have the dream of vanquishing the Black Dragon. His limited but impressive fighting skills caught the attention of Barnac, the legendary mercenary who trains Lambert to use his fighting skills wisely and opportunely.

Produced by giant game prime mover Shanda Games, Eyedentity Games and Mili Pictures, “Dragon Nest: Warrior’s Dawn” will open very soon in cinemas nationwide to be distributed by Axinite Digicinema in the Philippines.

Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart now Showing. Nationwide!!!

Romance, adventure, comedy, a cast of colourful characters and fantastic graphic design, Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart is a magnificently original love story set in an exciting period full of fabulous inventions, spooky characters and fantastic adventures.

Edinburgh, late 19th century. Little Jack is born on a day so cold that his heart remains frozen. In her house on top of a big hill, Madeleine the midwife replaces the defective organ with a cuckoo clock. It will work, she warns him, as long as Jack doesn't touch the hands of the clock, doesn't lose his temper and, above all, doesn't fall in love.

But Jack's encounter with a fiery-eyed little girl singing on a street corner and his decision to chase after her across Europe to Andalusia test the resistance of his makeshift heart to breaking point...
Adapted by Mathias Malzieu from his own bestselling novel - translated into over fifteen languages - and the gold-selling album by his band Dionysos, this superbly animated movie about passion and the acceptance of others will appeal to adults and children of all ages.

“Jack and the Cuckoo Clock Heart” is released and distributed

by CAPTIVE CINEMA.

Move Over E.T., a new Cute Alien steals Hearts in Earth To Echo.

An inspiring science-fiction adventure, Earth to Echo captures all the mystery, excitement and wonder of an extraterrestrial occurrence in a small Nevada suburb. But at its heart, the movie is about friendship. Our three young heroes – Tuck, Munch and Alex – are a closely bonded trio of outcasts, whose time together is coming to an end. Their neighborhood is being destroyed by a highway construction project; forcing their families to move away. Only the promise of one last thrill together – a journey into the desert to search for the source of strange and mysterious messages that have appeared on their cell phones –can distract them from their impending move. “The movie is really about this group of kids and how they have to say goodbye to each other,” says director Dave Green. “There’s something bittersweet about the fact they’re spending their last night together. But is goodbye really goodbye? In our movie, it’s not. It’s a beginning.”

Earth to Echo all began with the seed of an idea from producer Andrew Panay. Panay wanted to recapture the spirit of seminal family movies from the 1980s that he loved as a child – E.T., The Goonies, Stand By Me – movies that managed to conjure the wonder and heartbreak of early adolescence and infuse it with an intoxicating sense of adventure. If the story of E.T. were to happen today, he asked himself, how would it be told?

With video recording technology becoming increasingly accessible to all ages, especially kids, the movie’s concept seemed to fit perfectly into today’s world. “Kids today are doing a lot of their own filming and they're videotaping and Vine-ing. There are all these different social media outlets and ways of communicating which comes down to turning the camera around and shooting yourself and sending it off. It just makes sense,” says Panay. Today, kids want to share their experiences with people. Fortunately enough, this group of friends brings viewers into their story with the click of the “Record” button. With its roots in the found footage genre, Earth to Echo is the next step in storytelling.

Instead of approaching seasoned feature directors to help develop the project, Panay decided to go in another direction. The heart of the movie lies in the way the characters piece together the story themselves using their own cameras, editing, and insight. This was exactly what Panay wanted from a director. “I wanted to find a young filmmaker from the generation that sits and edits their films themselves,” says Panay.

He found what he was looking for in Dave Green, an enterprising filmmaker with a unique vision and strong résumé. Aside from having been a producer’s assistant on the set of the Spiderman trilogy, films acclaimed for their stunning visual effects, Dave also had a series of polished short films and music videos under his belt. When Panay watched one of Green’s shorts, he was immediately convinced. “It was practically a trailer for Earth to Echo,” he says. “After seeing that, I had no doubts at all.”

Green met with Panay to discuss his idea and the two immediately hit it off, saying that “[Panay]’s idea just sparked my excitement.”

According to Green, Panay’s idea was already in the family of concepts Green had been discussing with his writing partner, Henry Gayden; but Gayden wasn’t convinced. “At first, I didn’t know what to do,” Gayden admits. “It was too broad a container. But then I got this idea and started writing and by two in the morning, I had a rough story.” Gayden called up Green the next morning and said he had landed on something interesting.

As the next step, Green shot a one-minute clip to help sell the fun, the mystery, and the suspense of what Earth to Echo would ultimately become. When Panay saw it, he was immediately convinced. “It was practically a trailer for Earth to Echo,” he says. “After seeing that, I had no doubts at all.

From the beginning, Green wanted to approach things differently with Earth to Echo. In this case, the material isn’t simply raw footage, it’s a finished video created by Tuck (played by Brian ‘Astro’ Bradley), an avid, DIY filmmaker who regularly posts his videos on YouTube. “We wanted to lean into the idea that Tuck not only shot the whole thing, he’s also cut the whole thing, and he’s put music to it when he feels like it’s necessary, and he’s put titles in there, and he can pause the movie, and he can interject,” says Green.

If an extraterrestrial occurrence actually happened today, almost anyone would be able to capture it with the amount of video recording technology at people’s fingertips. Green also found a compelling advantage to creating a story that hewed solely to his main characters’ point of view, an attribute of many of his favorite movies from the likes of Spielberg and Hitchcock. “You build suspense out of what the characters don’t see and don’t know,” he explains. “And that’s the most exciting part. It’s fun to parse out information, just one seed at a time.”

‘Earth To Echo’ is released and distributed by CAPTIVE CINEMA.

SHOWING JULY 9. NATIONWIDE!

Spotlight on delightfully gorgeous animated adventure ‘Jack and the Cuckoo Clock Heart’ from Captive Cinema with voices of ‘Les Miserables’ Samantha Barks and of ‘Games of Thrones’ Michelles Fairley.

Here's something delightful for the whole family - a spotlight on lovely and deeply creative new animated adventure JACK AND THE CUCKOO CLOCK HEART . The movie comes from Dionysos' singer Mathias Malzieu and music video director Stéphane Berla and is produced by Luc Besson’s EuropaCorp.

This magical animated adventure is actually a big screen adaptation of Malzieu's novel and concept album of the same name, talking about passion and acceptance of others. LES MISERABLES' Samantha Barks and GAME OF THRONES' Michelle Fairley, and Sophia Ellis lead the English version voice cast!

The magnificent love story of JACK AND THE CUCKOO CLOCK HEART CGI animated fairy tale is set in an exciting period full of fabulous inventions, eccentric characters and fantastic adventures taking place in late-19th century Edinburgh in Scotland where Little Jack is born on a day so cold that his heart remains frozen.

His life is saved by inserting a cuckoo clock in its place, but it will work only if he observes three golden rules: He must never touch the hands of the clock, he must control his anger and he must never fall in love.

When Jack sets eyes on a young girl singing on a street corner, the hands of his clock-heart begin to race: Jack is prepared to do anything to find her again and so, like a Don Quichotte, he sets out on a quest for love that will take him from the Scottish lochs to Paris, and from there to Andalusia.

“Jack and the Cuckoo Clock Heart” is released and distributed by CAPTIVE CINEMA.

NOW SHOWING . NATIONWIDE!

Kevin Costner is Hailee Steinfeld’s Spy Dad in 3 Days To Kill

In this heart pounding action-thriller, Kevin Costner is a dangerous international spy, who is determined to give up his high stakes life to finally build a closer relationship with his estranged wife and daughter, whom he's previously kept at arm's length to keep out of danger. But first, he must complete one last mission – even if it means juggling the two toughest assignments yet: hunting down the world‟s most ruthless terrorist and looking after his teenage daughter for the first time in ten years, while his wife is out of town.

3 Days to Kill stars Kevin Costner as Ethan Renner, the CIA operative at the center of McG‟s new action, finds himself trying to save the world from Europe‟s most dangerous terrorists while trying to reconnect with his wife and daughter in Paris

The film discovers some universal truths about family and work that takes the story beyond its spy hero premise. Ethan finds himself in over his head when he is left alone with his teenage daughter Zooey, played by Hailee Steinfeld, for 3 days. Ethan knows exactly what to do when it comes to work, but keeping his career away from his increasingly curious teenager becomes his most challenging mission yet. Like many teens, Zooey feels like Ethan is constantly choosing work over her – even when she doesn‟t know exactly what “work” is. “I think that's a theme that many people can relate to in the real world.

Many of us spend too much time on things that matter less than that which matters the most to us, and that's what this film is ultimately all about,” said McG. McG sees Ethan‟s expert killing skills as counterintuitive to being a good father and it is that struggle that drives the film. “Ethan doesn‟t know much about contemporary teenage culture like Twitter or what‟s online. He is very analog in a digital world. You have a guy that‟s been out in the field with a very, very strong sense of duty who has now come home to try to reconnect with his daughter, and it‟s emotional.

In a film with several relationship dynamics at play, often simultaneously, it was important to find the right combination of talent to bring these characters to life. McG and Costner found their way to the project around the same time, which led to a number of discussions about the film and the character. McG jumped at the chance to work with Costner seeing it as a tremendous opportunity to work with an Academy Award® winning director and to elevate his own work.

“He is a beloved character who has had an established, long standing career.” McG saw Ethan as a strong American presence, much like Costner. “It is a tip of the cap to Kevin in regards to how much the global film audience appreciates him.” Filling out Ethan‟s family meant finding two women who would have unique chemistry with Costner. Ethan‟s daughter Zooey is your typical American teenager living in Paris, France.

The key for McG was finding an actress who could convey all of the conflicting emotions Zooey feels about not understanding her father‟s life and someone who would be able to match Costner‟s presence on screen. McG found that in Academy Award® nominee Hailee Steinfeld. “Hailee was absolutely my first and only choice. She is one of the most natural actors in her age group. She just completely owns the dialogue; she makes difficult scenes go down very easily.

It‟s not easy to emote and have it feel natural and she puts the audience at ease. That‟s a gift that can‟t be taught.” McG further said of Steinfeld, “She is an extraordinary screen presence who we are lucky to have in this place in her career. She understands what it means to be young and alive; but, at the same time, she has an emotional complexity which is beyond her years. So it was a joy to turn the camera on and just watch her work.”

‘3 DAYS TO KILL’ is released and distributed by CAPTIVE CINEMA.

SHOWING ON FEBRUARY 21. NATIONWIDE