MIRAMAX
Cameron Diaz and Leonardo DiCaprio star in "Gangs of New York," to be screened Wednesday at the Maui Film Festival.
A first look at Once again, the Maui Film Festival presents FirstLight, a holiday festival running Wednesday through Jan. 5, offering first, sneak and last looks at 37 award-worthy films before nominations are made for spring's major film awards.
major new films
Maui hosts FirstLight, which features
a new Martin Scorsese filmStar-Bulletin staff
Among the offerings is the Hawaii advance of Martin Scorsese's "Gangs of New York" on Wednesday.
The film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, Daniel Day-Lewis, John C. Reilly and Jim Broadbent, is scheduled for wide release Friday.
Onscreen: Wednesday through Jan. 5 FirstLight
Place: Maui Arts & Cultural Center Castle Theatre, One Cameron Way, Kahului
Tickets: $10 general and $5 for children under age 12, available at MACC an hour before show time
Complimentary admission: For film unions such as SAG, ACE, BAFTA-LA and BAFTA-NY. Call 808-579-9244 for information or reservations.
Also: The 4-Film VIP FastPass, $40, saves time and assures a seat. Available at the MACC box office (808-242-7469) or Borders Books & Music in Kahului
For information: Call 808-572-3456 or visit the Web site www.mauifilmfestival.com
Also premiering in advance of its wide release is "Chicago," the long-awaited song-and-dance screen adaptation of the Tony Award-winning musical choreographed by Bob Fosse. The film stars Catherine Zeta-Jones and Renee Zellweger.
Films will be screened at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center Castle Theatre, accompanied by food, music and massages.
Proceeds from the event will benefit Artists for Amnesty, an Amnesty International project working to release artists jailed for their political views; Film Aid International, a U.N. project bringing hope through cinema to refugee camps; and the Maui Coastal Land Trust, working to preserve Maui's beauty.
Here is the schedule of films:
Wednesday
"Antwone Fisher": In his stunning directorial debut feature, Denzel Washington co-stars with newcomers Derek Luke and Joy Bryant in a story of a sailor who, with the help of his psychiatrist and his first true love, finds the courage to heal the emotional scars of an explosive childhood. 5 p.m. Rated PG-13 (Fox Searchlight Pictures)"Gangs of New York": Finally getting to make the story that has intrigued him for decades, Martin Scorsese directs this epic set in mid-19th-century New York, where two rival gangs fight for control of Five Points, the city's most dangerous neighborhood at the time. 7:30 p.m. Rated R (Miramax Films)
Thursday
"The Wild Thornberrys": Nickelodeon's animated "star" Eliza Thornberry, who can talk to and understand animals, and her parents, who are nature-documentary filmmakers, and best friend, Darwin the chimpanzee, have to deal with poachers in the African jungle. Celebrity voices include: Lacey Chabert, Rupert Everett and Marisa Tomei. 5 p.m. Rated PG (Paramount Pictures)"Frida": A highly praised biography of the famous Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (Salma Hayek) and her lover and husband, muralist Diego Rivera (Alfred Molina) directed by Tony Award winner Julie Taymor ("The Lion King"). Praised as "A brilliant spectacle! A teeming, color-soaked portrait ... with bursts of music, imagination and sex" by the New York Times. 7:30 p.m. Rated R (Miramax)
Friday
"Max": John Cusack, Leelee Sobieski, Noah Taylor (who made an impression six years ago as the young David Helfgott in "Shine") and Molly Parker star in this exploration of what might have been if a young Adolph Hitler had found success as an artist. Directed by Menno Meyjes, who wrote "The Color Purple." 5 p.m. Rated R (Lions Gate Films)"Far from Heaven": Julianne Moore (who won the Best Actress award for this role at the Venice International Film Festival), Dennis Quaid and Dennis Haysbert star in this critically acclaimed melodrama about the behind-closed-doors life of a seemingly perfect couple in 1950s Connecticut. Directed by Todd Haynes as a tribute to Douglas Sirk, who did glamorous tear-jerkers such as "Imitation of Life" and "Written on the Wind." 7:30 p.m. Rated PG-13 (Focus Features)
"8 Mile": Eminem makes his feature-film debut as a white teenager living on the poor side of Detroit with minimal prospects and hip-hop dreams. Kim Basinger plays his mother. The cast also includes Brittany Murphy, Mekhi Phifer, Eugene Byrd and Taryn Manning. Directed by Curtis Hanson ("Wonder Boys," "L.A. Confidential"). 10 p.m. Rated R (Universal Studios)
Saturday
"Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets": The second of the Harry Potter novels comes to life in this brilliant screen adaptation starring Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Kenneth Branagh and the late Richard Harris, among others. 2 p.m. Rated PG (Warner Bros.)"Bowling for Columbine": Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore's ("Roger and Me") brilliant exploration of gun violence as a cornerstone of America's cultural landscape. Winner of a Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Time magazine called it "terrific and rambunctious, disturbing and often hilarious." 5 p.m. Rated R (United Artists)
"Chicago": Catherine Zeta-Jones, Rene Zellweger, Richard Gere, Queen Latifah, John C. Reilly and Christine Baranski star in the cinematic version of the multiple Tony Award-winning jazz-age Broadway play originally directed and choreographed with lots of salacious, sexy, hip-swinging dance moves by the legendary Bob Fosse. 7:30 p.m. Rated R (Miramax)
"Spirited Away": The latest feature from Hayao Miyazak ("Princess Mononoke") is one of the most effortlessly engaging movies ever made. Its magical landscape is the Japanese folk-art equivalent of Oz or Narnia. "Prepare to be astonished by one of the world's master animators," the L.A. Times raved. 10 p.m. Rated PG (Buena Vista Releasing)
GUY FERRANDIS / H&K
Adrien Brody stars in "The Pianist," screening Sunday at FirstLight. Roman Polanski's film won the Palme d'Or Award at Cannes, and Brody is receiving a lot of Oscar buzz.
Sunday
"The Emperor's Club": Kevin Kline stars as a dedicated classics teacher at a boys prep school who becomes that one person in everyone's life who makes a difference. This thoughtful, provocative and relevant story also stars Rob Morrow, Edward Herrmann and Emile Hirsch. 2 p.m. Rated PG-13 (Universal)"The Pianist": Director Roman Polanski is back in a big way with this very personal Holocaust drama, which won the top prize, the Palme d'Or, at the Cannes Film Festival. Adrien Brody, whose performance has generated enormous Oscar buzz, plays a musician who managed to survive World War II by hiding in and around the Warsaw ghetto. 5 p.m. Rated R (Focus Features)
"25th Hour": Edward Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rosario Dawson and Anna Paquin star in Spike Lee's latest film in which a convicted drug dealer tries to make things right with his family and friends (among others) during his last two days of freedom before going to prison for seven years. 7:30 p.m. Rated R (Buena Vista)
Dec. 26
"Treasure Planet": Martin Short, David Hyde Pierce, Emma Thompson, Brian Murray and Joseph Gordon-Levitt provide the voices for this latest animated film from Disney, which turns Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novel "Treasure Island" into an animated film set on a spaceship. The ship's adventures include encounters with supernovas and black holes. 2 p.m. Rated PG (Walt Disney Pictures)"Real Women Have Curves": Winner of both a Special Jury Prize and the Audience Award at Sundance, this "dramedy" has been described as "the next 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding.'" It stars Anna Garcia and Lupe Ontiveros in the story of a mother's love and quest to give her daughter a better life. 5 p.m. Rated PG-13 (Newmarket Film Group)
"The Quiet American": Stars Michael Caine, in a performance called among the best of his career at the recent Toronto International Film Festival, and Brendan Fraser, also acclaimed for his performance. The film is based on Graham Greene's novel set in the early days of U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Directed by Philip Noyce and shot in modern-day North Vietnam passing for 1960s Vietnam. 7:30 p.m. Rated R (Miramax)
Dec. 27
"Bloody Sunday": Writer-director Paul Greengrass's hyper-realist, riveting re-creation of the 1972 confrontation between British paratroops and 14 unarmed Catholic civil rights marchers in Londonderry is a brilliant faking of documentary techniques for the purposes of political advocacy. Winner of the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize. 2 p.m. Rated R (Paramount Classics)"The Guys": Anthony LaPaglia plays a fire chief dealing with the loss of several of his men due to the events of Sept. 11, 2001, who enlists the help of Sigourney Weaver, reprising her stage role as a journalist who helps him prepare the eulogies that he must deliver in back-to-back funerals. Despite the reality of the events described, the film ultimately is a celebration of friendship, love and life. 5 p.m. Rated R (Focus Features)
"Adaptation": Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep and Chris Cooper star in this unique adaptation by screenwriter Charlie Kaufman ("Being John Malkovich") of the nonfiction bestseller "The Orchid Thief," by Susan Orlean. John Cusack and Catherine Keener make cameo appearances in this film, which, according to Streep, is about the ability to see "the world in a grain of sand and heaven in a flower." 7:30 p.m. Rated R (Columbia/Sony)
Dec. 28
"Igby Goes Down": "Home Alone" meets "The Catcher in the Rye" as a sarcastic teenager played by Kieran Culkin rebels against his stifling environment of old-money privilege. Also starring Susan Sarandon, Bill Pullman, Ryan Phillippe, Jeff Goldblum, Amanda Peet and Claire Danes. 2 p.m. Rated R (MGM/UA)"Secretary": James Spader and Maggie Gyllenhaal star in this quirky exploration of sexual desire and love between two people who don't shy away from their unconventional sensual interests and activities. It argues that there's someone for everyone. Gyllenhaal's performance has been hailed as "an absolute revelation" by Premiere magazine. 5 p.m. Rated R (Lions Gate)
"About Schmidt": In what has been hailed as his "least flamboyant performance ... one that expresses a sorrowful awareness of human complexity," Jack Nicholson plays a retired, widowed insurance man from Omaha whose idea of a wild adventure is to get into the Winnebago and drive to his daughter's wedding. Also starring Hope Davis, Dermot Mulroney and Kathy Bates. 7:30 p.m. Rated R (New Line Cinema)
Dec. 29
"Stevie": The director of "Hoop Dreams" reconnects with his "little brother" from the Big Brothers organization to see what the teenager's life has become in the decade since they last met. This touching feature was given a standing ovation by the film industry at the recent Toronto International Film Festival. 2 p.m. Not yet rated (Lions Gate)"Nicholas Nickelby": Douglas McGrath, who gave us the elegant 1996 film of Jane Austen's "Emma," with Gwyneth Paltrow, turns his attentions to Dickens in this touching and humor-filled tale about a boy forced into reduced circumstances after his father's death. The impressive supporting cast includes Christopher Plummer, Jamie Bell ("Billy Elliot"), Anne Hathaway and Nathan Lane. 5 p.m. Rated PG (MGM/UA)
"The Hours": Michael Cunningham's breathtaking Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, about Virginia Woolf and two women who identify with her, comes to the screen. Meryl Streep stars as a contemporary New Yorker, Ed Harris as a close friend with HIV, Julianne Moore as a 1950s wife and mother who isn't sure she's in the right job, and Nicole Kidman as Woolf. Stephen Daldry ("Billy Elliot") directs. Co-starring Claire Danes, Toni Collette, Jeff Daniels, Allison Janney and Miranda Richardson. 7:30 p.m. Rated PG-13 (Paramount)
Jan. 1
"The Good Girl": Jennifer Aniston, John C. Reilly, Tim Blake Nelson, Jake Gyllenhaal and Zooey Deschanel star in this dramatic comedy about 30-year-old Justine (Aniston) scarcely comprehending how much she yearns for a more passionate life -- until she finds a much younger man she believes to be her soulmate. 2 p.m. Rated R (Fox Searchlight)"Rabbit Proof Fence": Beginning in 1905, Aboriginal girls were taken from their homes and families in the outback, shipped to faraway Australian cities and trained to be servants. This is the stunningly photographed story of three girls who fought back and set out to escape, walking the 1,500 miles home. Kenneth Branagh stars with first-time Aboriginal actors Everlyn Sampi, Tianna Sansbury and Laura Monaghan. Philip Noyce directs. Musical score by Peter Gabriel. 5 p.m. Rated PG (Miramax)
"Confessions of a Dangerous Mind": The bizarre story of Chuck Barris, former producer of "The Dating Game" and producer and host of "The Gong Show." Sam Rockwell plays Barris, who declared in a 1984 memoir that he had lived a double life as a CIA agent. George Clooney makes his directorial debut and also plays a CIA recruiter. With Drew Barrymore and Julia Roberts. Written by Charlie Kaufman ("Adaptation"). 7:30 p.m. Rated R (Miramax)
Jan. 2
"Sonny": Nicolas Cage makes his directorial debut in a drama set in 1980s New Orleans. James Franco (who was so great at playing James Dean recently that he may be typecast forever) stars as a young man home after his military service, determined not to fall back into his old life ... being the star attraction at his mother's brothel. With Brenda Blethyn, Harry Dean Stanton and Mena Suvari. 5 p.m. Rated R (IDP)"Narc": When it was shown at the Sundance Film Festival in January, Elvis Mitchell, writing in the New York Times, described "Narc," executive produced by Tom Cruise, as a compelling police thriller with "the velocity of a hot slug from the barrel of a gun." The film is written and directed by Joe Carnahan and stars Ray Liotta as a cop investigating his ex-partner's death and Jason Patric as a suspended narcotics officer. With Busta Rhymes and Chi McBride. 7:30 p.m. Rated R (Paramount)
Jan. 4
"Lovely and Amazing": An intimate family portrait of three resilient women and the bittersweet lessons learned "raising each other." Stars Catherine Keener, Emily Mortimer, Brenda Blethy, Raven Goodwin, Jake Gyllenhaal and Dermot Mulroney. 2 p.m. Rated R (Lions Gate)"Personal Velocity": Described as "one of the best films about the inner lives of women, ever," this drama starring Kyra Sedgwick, Parker Posey and Fairuza Balk is three-vignette film, based on short stories by writer-director Rebecca Miller (daughter of playwright Arthur Miller) about three heroines trying to gain control of their lives. The film won a cinematography award at the Sundance Film Festival. 5 p.m. Rated R (MGM/UA)
"Evelyn": Pierce Brosnan plays Desmond Doyle, an Irish father of three whose cheating wife has just abandoned the family. He was the first man to gain custody of his children following a divorce in 1950s Ireland. Co-starring Alan Bates, Julianna Margulies, Aidan Quinn, Stephen Rea and Sophie Vavasseur. Directed by Bruce Beresford, best known for "Driving Miss Daisy." 7:30 p.m. Rated PG (MGM/UA)
Jan. 5
"All or Nothing": Mike Leigh, director of the Academy Award-nominated "Secrets and Lies," revisits the lower-middle-class London life he knows so well, to tell this story of the intimate relationships between family and friends. 2 p.m. Rated R (MGM/UA)"Crop Circles": You've seen them in "Signs" and read about them in Scientific American. Now those mysterious patterns have a film all their own, from Academy Award-nominated director William Gazecki, who offers an "X-Files"-like glimpse into the inner sanctum of crop circle experts. 5 p.m. Unrated (OpenEdge Media)
"8 Women": Some of the most beautiful actresses and icons in French film history, including Catherine Deneuve, Emmanuelle Beart and Isabell Huppert, star in this musical mystery set at the spectacularly isolated rural mansion they all share. In French with English subtitles. 7:30 p.m. Rated R (Focus Features)
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