Movie News: Tuesday, October 17

Snipes charged with federal tax fraud (AP)
   

AP - Actor Wesley Snipes was indicted Tuesday on eight counts of tax fraud for failing to pay nearly $12 million in taxes and failing to file tax returns for six years.

Vatican issues cartoon version of John Paul's life (Reuters)
   Reuters - No one expects it to replace Alice in Wonderland or Cinderella, but the Vatican has turned to a talking pen and pigeons in a new cartoon movie to teach children about the life of the late Pope John Paul.

Iwo Jima flag-raiser's widow to see film (AP)
   

AP - Elizabeth Bradley's husband was among the servicemen who helped hoist the American flag at Iwo Jima, but the couple rarely talked about the moment captured in one of the most famous of all military photographs.

People in the News (AP)
   AP - For Viggo Mortensen, it's loyalty to friends — not to flag or country — that keeps soldiers on the battlefield, as depicted by his character in the film "Alatriste" about a soldier in 17th century Spain.

Bosnian director sets "Faust" in bleak future (Reuters)
   Reuters - The Bosnian director who set Shakespeare's "Hamlet" in the Ottoman court to reflect the world after September 11, 2001 has transported the tale of Faust into the near future, where robots reject the humans that create them.

War film revives painful memories for Algerians (Reuters)
   Reuters - A French film about the poorly rewarded sacrifices by African troops to free occupied France has drawn praise in Algeria, but veterans say Paris has other hard truths to confront about its record in its former colony.

"Prada,"" World" spin atop foreign box office (Reuters)
   

Reuters - Films geared to the over-25 audience often do well at this time of year, as indicated by the one-two punch of reigning champs "The Devil Wears Prada" and "World Trade Center" at the weekend foreign box office.

"Silence" is golden for indie Zeitgeist (Reuters)
   Reuters - Zeitgeist Films has acquired all U.S. rights to "Into Great Silence," a rare look behind the walls of a French Alps monastery.

Witherspoon produces deal for 'Penelope' (Reuters)
   Reuters - Reese Witherspoon's first film as a producer, "Penelope," has been picked up for theatrical release in 2007 by IFC Films.

"Borat" star honored in Germany (Reuters)
   

Reuters - He might be persona non grata in Kazakhstan, but Borat -- the crazed Central Asian TV reporter created by British comic Sacha Baron Cohen -- is a hero to the German comedy scene.

An Inconvienient Truth meets with mixed reviews in Europe
   

Movie watchers are very fickle folks. Al Gore's documentary An Inconvenient Truth has a way of slapping people awake or knocking them out cold. In Berlin they loved the film, and in Bangkok theaters people walked out. The good folks over at yahoonews.com give us this:

U.S. critics swooned over "An Inconvenient Truth," the documentary film about global warming starring ex-Vice President Al Gore, but international response has ranged from raves in Oslo to yawns in Bangkok. Promoted as a true-life disaster flick -- "It will shake you to your core ... By far, the most terrifying film you will ever see," the trailer thunders -- it is Gore's 80-minute environmental argument about the need for immediate action to combat climate change.

In eco-friendly Germany, where Gore attended last week's Berlin premiere, the film was a multi-media event, covered by major newspapers and several television news shows. It drew specific praise from German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel at a news conference on energy.

"It carries a strong message and hard fact with Al Gore as the presenter but it is a boring documentary presentation that could have been made more fun and exciting with some editing techniques," Bangkok film critic Natakwang Sirasoonthorn said.

An Inconvenient Truth" has grossed more than $23.7 million in the United States since it opened in May, distributed by Paramount Pictures. That makes it the third-highest grossing documentary, behind No. 1 "Fahrenheit 9/11" and second-ranked "March of the Penguins" -- both of which have been running far longer.

But foreign box office receipts for "Truth" have totaled only $4.1 million, compared with $103.3 million for "Fahrenheit 9/11."

On the positive side An Inconvenient Truth is one of the few documentaries on the environment that didn't make me feel helpless, it gives concrete ways to fix what we have broken in our world. And it's also an interesting peek into Al Gore's life.

But as some may remember from when he was running for president, Gore does tend to be a bit monotone and dry.

So it makes sense that certain parts of Europe just wouldn't have the patience to see a film about the environment that has Al Gore as the star. But it's still a solid documentary that I always recommend to people. How about everyone out there? Would you reccomend this movie?