Spielberg delivers with 'Munich'
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7/5/2006 4:39 PM
By: Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly
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| Eric Bana, left, plays an Israeli man who leads a group of assassins. They're seeking retribution for the Olympic massacre of 1972. | |
Last year, Spielberg made a bunch of money with “War of the Worlds,” a somewhat empty blockbuster that will go down as the movie that made Tom Cruise lose his marbles on Oprah.
But the other movie he made -- the one that actually felt like it meant something to him -- was “Munich.” And for my money, “Munich” was the best movie of 2005. It’s now out on DVD.
The movie takes place in 1972, when 11 Israeli athletes were murdered by a Palestinian terrorist group at the Olympic Games.
Up until then, Israel had prided itself on taking the high road. But the massacre makes it get into the gutter with the terrorists. There needs to be payback.
That's when Eric Bana's character, Avner, is tapped by Geoffrey Rush’s character to lead a group of Mossad assassins. Assassins are also played by Daniel Craig, the new James Bond, and Ciaran Hinds, who was so excellent in HBO's “Rome.” Together, they track the terrorists through Europe and execute eye-for-an-eye justice, occasionally with very mixed feelings.
Some of the assassinations and botched assassinations are spectacular. One, where the group plants a bomb in a Palestinian's telephone, is pure Hitchcock.
Bana, an Australian actor who's never been cast right in Hollywood, finally delivers here -- as does Spielberg, who can claim his best film in 10 years.
It’s no “War of the Worlds,” but that’s exactly the point.
Other new DVD releases:
"The Towering Inferno" Steve McQueen fights a skyscraper blaze.
"Rumor Has It..." Jennifer Aniston continues her rocky segue to the big screen.
"Ronin" Robert DeNiro gets into some nifty car chases.
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| Lights lend a surreal atmosphere to East Street, Valletta during the shooting in June last year of part of the film Munich directed by Steven Spielberg. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier |
An estimated Lm8 million were injected into the economy by the film industry over the past 12 months, Investments Minister Austin Gatt said yesterday.
With 12 productions filmed locally - including Steven Spielberg's Munich and the controversial The Da Vinci Code - the past year registered the greatest number of shooting days yet, totalling 164.
Moreover, Malta showed it can handle more than one production at a time, something that had posed problems in the past.
But despite the good results, which put Malta on the agenda of those shooting in the area, the island was still not a stable filming destination, the minister said.
As part of its attempts to attract more production companies, the Malta Film Commission is distributing some 1,000 copies of its newly published production guide, targeting film studios around the globe.
Production Guide Malta 2006-2007, the third guide published by the commission, includes information about Malta amid colourful photos of scenery and stills from locally shot movies.
The 76-page guide includes a list of services and personnel that might be useful to production companies and details of the incentives offered by the government.
Dr Gatt said the subsidies launched a year ago had left an effect. In the past 12 months the government paid out Lm700,000 to companies that qualified under the schemes. But, although the government had also announced "strong tax credits" for those who invest in the country's infrastructure, the minister said he did not know of anybody who took them up.
Malta Film Commission chairman Chris Grech said the commission was in the process of adjudicating tenders for a gap analysis of the local filming industry. He described this as "crucial" since Malta was operating within very harsh global competition.
"We need to understand where the global film industry is heading," he said, adding that important decisions need to be based on realistic measurements that were ahead of the game.
The report should be finished by September and the commission will be using it to make suggestions for a marketing plan for 2007 and 2008.
The commission has attempted to measure Malta's performance through interviews and surveys with the assistant producer of each production filmed here. Mr Grech said Malta's strengths include hotel accommodation, transport and ample locations while the main shortcoming was the unavailability of equipment.
He explained that this was a fast business, where deadlines are usually extremely short.
While he could not disclose any names, film commissioner Oliver Mallia told The Times that the commission was in touch with a number of producers who had queried about filming in Malta over the next year. Although there was still no confirmation of which productions would be filmed here, he said the likelihood was that things would get "really busy" from September.
Heath Ledger and Eric Bana have received invites to join Hollywood's most exclusive club.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has revealed a high-powered list of 120 people who will be offered membership, with the two Australian actors on the elite list.
Other well-known faces receiving nods included Jake Gyllenhaal, Terrence Howard, Felicity Huffman, Keira Knightley, Ving Rhames, Liev Schreiber, David Strathairn, Amy Adams, Maria Bello and Rachel Weisz.
Age was not a restriction, with 12-year-old actress Dakota Fanning also invited to join.
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The invites come after Ledger and Bana were snubbed at this year's March 5 Oscar ceremony.
Ledger was one of five best actor Oscar nominees for his ground-breaking performance as a gay cowboy in Brokeback Mountain, but missed out to Capote's Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Bana did not make it that far.
The former stand-up comic from Melbourne was tipped to score a best actor nomination for his starring role in Steven Spielberg's drama, Munich, but missed out.
The Academy, however, judged Ledger, Bana and this year's other invitees as having "distinguished themselves in the field of theatrical motion pictures".
The organisation, in revealing its chosen 120, said membership offers to the exclusive club was getting tougher.
"Two years ago the Academy decided to slow membership growth, and to become even more selective in choosing members," Academy President Sid Ganis said.
"Instead of inviting every proposed person who has achieved the minimum qualifications for his or her branch, the membership committees are selecting the most exceptionally qualified names from those lists."
Candidates for Academy membership are considered by committees made up of prominent representatives of each of the organisation's 14 branches.
Invitees this year included costume designers, producers, directors, animators, cinematographers, writers and set decorators.
Of the 120 invitees, 39 were nominated this year for Oscars and eight won the gold statuettes.
©AAP 2006