BBC - Movies -news article - High Noon

		The Interpreter "Is CIA Plot" Nicole Kidman's glossy suspense thriller The Interpreter is part of a CIA propaganda campaign against Robert Mugabe, according to the Zimbabwean Government. Speaking in a state-controlled newspaper, acting Information Minister Chen Chimutengwende said, "This film shows just how careful we have to be and that we should know our enemy is very powerful." The movie, which is available on video in Zimbabwe, sees Kidman as a United Nations interpreter who overhears an assassination plot against the fictional president Edmond Zuwanie, AP reports. "The CIA-backed film shows that Zimbabwe's enemies do not rest" Chimutengwende said.

		Marvel Makes Movies Marvel Enterprises, the comic book giant, has announced plans to produce its own superhero movies. Previously the company has farmed out its hottest properties - which include Spider-Man and X-Men - to Hollywood studios. Now, according to Variety, Marvel is working on movies in-house for ten of its best loved characters. Projects in the pipeline include Captain America, spy thriller Nick Fury, Doctor Strange, The Avengers, and the unusual superhero character Ant Man, who can shrink himself to the size of an insect, presumably in order to fight very small criminals.

		Hollywood's Summer Slump Tinseltown is counting the cost of a cruel summer at the box office, which has seen audience figures dropping to their lowest since 2001. Studio suits have blamed the slump on a range of factors, from DVD sales to the quality of the movies themselves. The summer blockbuster season has seen more than its fair share of box office turkeys, from Ridley Scott's historical epic Kingdom Of Heaven to sci-fi disaster The Island. Variety reports that the season's complete box office take is hovering around $3.53bn, the worst since 2001's total of $3.34bn. Meanwhile, thriller The Transporter 2, starring Jason Statham, enjoyed a final boost last weekend in the States, breaking box office records for the Labor Day holiday period. In the UK, The 40-Year-Old Virgin took the box office top spot from The Dukes Of Hazzard.

		Gwyneth Plane Drama Gwyneth Paltrow missed the premiere of her new film Proof at the Venice Film Festival after her aeroplane developed a fault and had to be diverted back to New York. The Shakespeare In Love star was due to attend a press conference with co-stars Anthony Hopkins and Jake Gyllenhaal, but instead found herself chatting to reporters via her mobile phone. "I had all kinds of plane problems" she told the bemused hacks, "But I was very sorry not to be with you. It was going to be the highlight of my summer." Either Gwyneth was kidding, or she's had a really dull summer. Well, that's what you get for marrying Chris Martin.

		Jeffrey Blitzes Rocket Pic Jeffrey Blitz, the man behind last year's Oscar-nominated documentary Spellbound, has signed up to direct a fictional movie about stuttering. Rocket Science is the story of a 15-year-old boy (Reece Thompson) with a speech impediment who nonetheless decides to join his high school debating team. The film has an autobiographical side - like his hero, Blitz used to stutter as a boy and he says the experience has influenced his choices as a movie maker. "This was exactly the kind of project I was looking to get behind," he told The Hollywood Reporter.