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2016-36/0813/en_head.json.gz/14317

FILM: A fairy tale flopBy Matthew Pier – Posted on February 13, 2013Posted in: Arts & Entertainment, Film & TV Courtesy of MCT Witch hunting proves to be messy work in Hollywood’s latest fantasy film that should have been burned at the stake before it made it to theaters. Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters is the latest fairy tale adapted for the big screen. It tells the story of a brother-sister duo set out to rid the world of witches. The sibling tag team are extremely good at their occupation. However, the same could not be said for those who helped create this bloody and predictably boring action flick. The movie starts with Hansel and Gretel’s father leaving his two children in a forest in the middle of the night. The kids go out exploring and find a house made of candy, where they are captured by an evil witch. Hansel is forced to eat candy while Gretel is being tortured. Eventually they break free and burn the witch in an oven. An animated opening credit scene explains the two became witch hunters after that night in the candy house and are now infamous witch hunters. Their story picks up with them being hired by a town mayor to find 11 missing children. Handsome and brash Hansel, played by Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker), and tough girl Gretel, played by Gemma Arterton (Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time), quickly learn they have three days to rescue the kidnapped children. The duo is introduced to an evil witch named Muriel. She is the film’s main antagonist played by Famke Janssen (X-Men). Chaos ensues and a twelfth child is taken. Through action sequences and good fortune, the siblings learn the truth behind the witch’s motives as well as secrets to their own mysterious past. They learn that their immunity to the witch’s dark magic ties into their family history. This helps lead the story into a fairy tale ending. Many violent action and fight scenes are constructed, along with the occasional four letter expletives, to justify its R rating. There are also moments when debris and guts fly out of the screen as an added 3-D effect. The movie suffers from trying too hard with over-the-top gore while throwing in eye rolling one-liners and shoving predictable mystery down your throat. Throw in wasted story elements that come and go, like Hansel needing insulin shots for his diabetes he got from the candy house, and you have another terribly executed fairy tale film. In recent years, fairy tale movies have been adapted to become more action oriented. Disney’s animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs from 1937 looks quite different compared to 2012’s Snow White and the Huntsman. Gone are the days when fairy tales are told through song and dance, which are now replaced by stuntmen and special effects. There are also the versions of fairy tale films that keep the original story but use a modern time setting. For example, 2011’s Beastly transforms Disney’s 1991 animated feature Beauty and the Beast from a tale between a simple town girl and a hairy monster into a teen love story set in New York City. It is no secret that the film industry desperately recycles old stories from the past. Even the small screens in our homes have created programs based on the same fables. Television shows like ABC’s Once Upon a Time and NBC’s Grimm have taken popular fairy tales and put their own modern spin on them. Whether they succeed or flop at the box office, fairy tale movies are here to stay. The next fairy tale to be adapted to the big screen comes out March with Jack the Giant Slayer, which takes on popular story of Jack and his magically growing bean stock. Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters could easily be seen in the future with the number two appending the title since the movie does have an open-ended conclusion. A sequel is definitely unneeded, but then again, neither was this year’s adaptation. Tags: Daily Titan, detour, fairy tales, Gemma Arterton, Hansel and Gretel, Jeremy Renner, witch hunters About Matthew Pier Matthew is a staff writer on the Daily Titan. Serving as a staff writer of the Daily Titan is a requirement for all Journalism majors. Twitter @thedailytitan Tweets by @thedailytitan Advertisement Instagram: @thedailytitan Advertisement Advertisement Today's Paper About UsEditorial Staff Editorial Jobs Daily Titan Interview Policy News CategoriesNews AdvertisingAd Staff Copyright Daily Titan. All Rights Reserved.

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2016-36/0813/en_head.json.gz/14355

Drama department present 'Wild Oats' The Dodge City High School drama department will present "Wild Oats," a western melodrama by James McLure, at 7 p.m. March 21, 22 and 23 in the high school auditorium.If you're looking for surefire ingredients for an entertaining evening at the theater, how about a couple of heroes, a villain and a damsel in distress.Melodrama, a form of exaggerated theater, has evolved from a fairly serious genre in the mid-1800s to a rousing evening filled with bad puns and audience participation."We definitely need the audience to cheer the hero and boo the villain," said Cale Morrow, senior and one of the leading players in the production. "We break the fourth wall and talk to the audience all the time in this one," he said.Morrow and junior Michael Russell play a couple of cowboys obsessed with Shakespeare."We kind of go around quoting Shakespeare all the time," Russell said."We're the self-proclaimed thespians of the West," Morrow said.Following many of the conventional melodrama plot elements, the story brings Morrow's character to Muleshoe, Texas, where he is mistaken for the long-lost character played by Russell.Morrow falls in love with the girl who is to be Russell’s wife and the plot thickens.An evil farm owner complicates things and the forces are set up for conflict."We even get tied to the train tracks at the end," Morrow said.Anne Kaiser, director of the play, had originally planned another script for the spring play but more people showed up for auditions than she expected."That's pretty much thanks to Cale's recruiting efforts," Kaiser said."Well, my choir classmates have a lot of secrets and blackmail is a useful tool. Facebook would have been abuzz if those kids hadn't auditioned," Morrow said.With plenty of talent available, Kaiser and her cast searched through her library of scripts and came up with "Wild Oats," which has a cast of 40."We even added some can-can dancers," Morrow said.The February snow storms caused the cancellation of a week of rehearsals but the cast and crew have rallied to get the show ready."We're having several rehearsals during spring break and everybody's pitching in," Morrow said.The performances of "Wild Oats" will be Morrow's final appearance on the DCHS stage. "It's tough — I'm sad. Every line I learn and every costume change — that will be the last time I get to do that here. But we have great younger students in the program so it will continue to grow. I'm just glad to be a part of it," Morrow said.Meanwhile, Morrow said he and his fellow cast members just wanted to do a show that honors Dodge City."It reminds me of 'Blazing Saddles.' It's a tribute to all those old westerns. Now we just want to pack the house for the performances," he said.IF YOU GOWhat: "Wild Oats" a DCHS drama department productionWhen: 7 p.m. March 21-23Where: DCHS auditoriumTickets: Adults - $5, children - $3, 5 and under - free. Students admitted free with I.D. Gold cards honored.

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2016-36/0813/en_head.json.gz/14382

Warner Bros. // R // $26.98 // June 25, 2002 Review by Holly E. Ordway | posted June 29, 2002 Jeanne de la Motte Valois (Hillary Swank) is the last to bear the Valois name: in the tumultuous years preceding the French Revolution, her father's populist politics led him afoul of the king, so that he lost his life and his family lost their heritage, the Valois estates. But more even than the return of the estates, Jeanne craves a return to honor for the Valois name. Feeling that she might be able to petition Marie Antoinette to help, Jeanne hovers at the edges of the court at Versailles, where disappointment eventually lead her into deeper and deeper plots and intrigues involving Antoinette herself along with Cardinal Rohan (Jonathan Pryce). The Affair of the Necklace tells the story of a scam, and like all such stories, the fun is in the elaboration (and unraveling) of the characters' plans. It makes it all the more interesting that the story is based on historical fact, which just goes to show that human nature hasn't changed much in a few hundred years; there will always be victims willing to have the wool drawn over their eyes by clever scamsters. The story is told with an extensive voiceover narration from a character who is at first unknown to the viewer, but who reveals himself later in the story. It's a bit unusual to have narration used quite as extensively in a film as it's used in The Affair of the Necklace, but it ends up working quite well, as it's used consistently. The film takes on the qualities of a tale told (and re-told) to friends sitting around the fireplace, wanting to hear once again the convoluted story of "l'affaire du colier" and how it helped bring about the French Revolution. Director Shyer has clearly made an effort in present the events of the film, particularly the central scam, so that the viewer will always be able to follow what's happening. The voiceover explanation is not always necessary, but it fits the tone of the film, and I'd certainly rather have the story err on the side of more, rather than less, clarity of plot. All in all, the story is quite entertaining, and kept me interested from beginning to end to see how it would all unfold. The best performances come from the supporting characters. Jonathan Pryce does an excellent job as the Cardinal Rohan; Simon Baker and Adrian Brody are also very convincing in their roles as the men in Jeanne's life. Hillary Swank, as Jeanne, is the weakest link in the film. Somehow she never quite seems to fit the role that she's playing, alternating between a conniving trickster, a lonely, desperate woman, and a proud aristocrat, without ever really convincing the audience that the character of Jeanne incorporates all of these characteristics into one person. The character itself, as presented in the film, is also never particularly sympathetic; one can be interested in her fate, but not particularly sorry for her, given that she is primarily driven by greed throughout the story. Visually, The Affair of the Necklace is a treat. Set in the lavish, decadent royal court of Louis XIV, the film goes all out in costumes and sets that convey the mood of the era. From the interior of the court to the streets of Paris, from the cardinal's rooms to a decadent boat ride, the cinematography of each scene is lush and elegant. Video Warner has presented The Affair of the Necklace in a beautiful transfer. The anamorphically-enhanced 2.35:1 image is impeccably clean, with colors that are rich, warm, and vivid, and skin tones are natural, at various light levels. There's essentially no edge enhancement visible in the image, which is beautifully crisp and clear, without any noise or print flaws. The only slight flaw in the presentation is that contrast is sometimes a little weak in the darker scenes, though it is still perfectly satisfactory on that count. For a film with such a visual focus as The Affair of the Necklace, it's particularly enjoyable to get a transfer of this quality. Audio The Dolby 5.1 soundtrack of The Affair of the Necklace produces an immersive, absorbing atmosphere for the film. The track makes outstanding use of the side channels to create a true surround effect in many of the film's scenes, with sharply localized sound used very effectively on many occasions. The dialogue is clean and clear, with environmental effects and music integrated well into the overall soundtrack. The Affair of the Necklace comes with a reasonable complement of special features. We get a look behind the scenes in two fifteen-minute featurettes. "The Making of a Scandal" is a mainly promotional-style piece with nothing of particular interest to offer, while "Designing Affair" is a mildly interesting a look at the costume and production design of the film. Five deleted scenes are included, with optional commentary from director Charles Shyer; the DVD also includes a full-length audio commentary track for the film from Shyer. Last but not least are a trailer, filmographies, and a short "gag reel" of outtakes, some of which are genuinely quite funny. The Affair of the Necklace is a curious hybrid of a film. It's a drama, yet it has a liberal dose of humor; in many ways, it's a very funny film, though it never explicitly goes for the laugh (which is undoubtedly how it manages to pull off the mix of drama and humor). It's a historical film, yet it has a distinctly modern sensibility; certainly the central plot of the scam is one that we generally associate more with modern times than with the eighteenth century. What it amounts to is that The Affair of the Necklace doesn't quite feel like a typical period piece, which is no bad thing: it has its own distinct personality, one that I found to be highly entertaining.

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Charlie Hunnam Breaks Silence After Exiting Fifty Shades of Grey: I Want to Go On to a New Chapter of Life Holly Passalaqua Courtesy of Jeff Wallace Charlie Hunnam is clearing the air.The Sons of Anarchy actor exclusively broke his silence to E! News after stepping down from the role of Christian Grey in the film adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey.The Hollywood hunk made his first public appearance since the news broke at the 2nd annual "Hogs for Heart" event benefiting One Heart Source Education Programs in Africa at Mo's Restaurant in Burbank, Calif.Charlie joined his SOA cast members as they hosted the evening's festivities.So how is he holding up since dropping out of the highly anticipated flick?"I am doing good. I am just really concentrating on work. It's been a really busy time," he said. NEWS: Charlie Hunnam Dropping Out of Fifty Shades of Grey Role Is "Not a Surprise," Source Says "I have had some family stuff going on so just trying to stay focused and stay positive and keep trying to do a good job at work and be with my family and stay positive."E! News has learned that Charlie's father, Billy, had passed away in May of this year and that the actor traveled back to England to be with family at the time.Charlie's currently wrapping up season six of the hit FX series and explained what he plans on doing before his final days as Jax Teller."Like I said, I've got some family stuff I have to tend to. So when I wrap the show, I am going to go to England and see my people and then I have a film that I am doing with Guillermo [del Toro]. So I am going to go and do that and concentrate on the final seasons of Sons." NEWS: 5 Things to Know about Charlie Hunnam The Brit also explained how difficult it's going to be to finally say goodbye to his costars."It's obviously going to be a really emotional time for us. We are like a family and have become very, very close and become dear friends to each other so it's going to be sad and finish up and say goodbye to everyone, but we've got like 13, maybe even a few more, episodes," he said."There's rumor that we might do a couple of more episodes and do a little bit of an extended season next year, so we will see if that happens. It may or it may not. But I just want to finish that strong and go on to a new chapter of life."The fundraiser, which raised a total of $90,000, was a massive success thanks to the help of Charlie and the rest of the cast. PHOTOS: Charlie Hunnam Looking Serious and Not at All Into S&M on Sons of Anarchy Set Every child featured at the event was sponsored in at least one category (academically, medically or nutritionally), and the 33-year-old star himself sponsored three children.Charlie spoke about one of the kids he sponsored, Simon, who is 13 years old."He's an orphan, he lost his mom and his dad and was living on the streets, never been to school a day in his life. Then they found him, this organization," he explained."We just want to make as much money for these kids as possible."One Heart Source's Kyla Coates, daughter of Sons actor Kim Coates, was especially thankful for the cast being involved in the charity."We couldn't do this without them and all of their support," she said."But tonight," Kyla added, "is really about all the work we do in Africa, specifically in Tanzania and South Africa and we really strive to empower vulnerable communities through education. So [we do that by] giving children—and all the community members—the tools and support that they need to empower themselves and really become productive members of society and just get uplifted and become confident and powerful." PHOTOS: Charlie Hunnam's hottest pics!

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'42' Star Chadwick Boseman is James Brown for 'The Help' Director by Ethan Anderton August 26, 2013Source: THR Last fall, we learned that The Help director Tate Taylor would direct a biopic about The Godfather of Soul, singer James Brown, with the help of producers Brian Grazer and Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger. Now the film has a leading man as THR reports 42 star Chadwick Boseman will play Brown in the film tha. Grazer has been trying to get made at Imagine Entertainment for over 10 years. Stars like Eddie Murphy, famous for his James Brown impersonation on "Saturday Night Live" back in the day, and directors like Spike Lee have circled the project, but it sounds like this time the film will move forward. Jez and John-Henry Butterworth wrote the script, which follows the young James Brown as he rose out of poverty and avoided a path of violence during his rise to prominence, leading him to become one of the most legendary and influential musicians of all time. Brown was involved with the film up until his passing in 2006, so it should be a fairly accurate portrayal of his life. There's a good chance some other iconic names in music will need to be cast as well, but probably not on the scale of something like The Butler with stars making cameos left and right. Since 42 didn't really give Boseman a chance to shine in an Oscar worthy film, maybe Tate Taylor can help him with a breakthrough performance. UPDATE: The Wrap reports that The Help stars Viola Davis, Oscar winner Octavia Spencer and Nelsan Ellis are also being eyed for three unknown supporting roles. Stay tuned for more updates. Carpola James Brown was the man! Hope to see this. Another Biopic for Chadwick...he'll be great...if there is a Blank Panther movie in the future tho, I hope he's one of the top candidates "I've got soul and I'm super bad."

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Get Out top storiesCalendars › Etc. events› Arts events› Family events› Outdoors events› Theater eventsConcert calendarNightlifeArea attractionsMovie reviews › Movie showtimes and newsSubmit an eventEntertainment video Home ‘Contagion’ is gritty realism in search of a point TOP RECENT CONTENT ‘Contagion’ is gritty realism in search of a point Virus movie has feel of a documentary, but storyline is all too familiar jeffmarker@rocketmail.com September 8, 2011 12:30 a.m. Claudette Barius/AP Photo/Warner Bros. Pictures Anna Jacoby-Heron, left, and Matt Damon are shown in a scene from the film "Contagion." ‘Contagion' Starring: Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Laurence Fishburne, Jennifer Ehle, Marion Cotillard Rated: PG-13, for disturbing content and some language Runtime: 1 hour, 45 minutes Bottom line: Realistic but not thrilling The word "sobering" was coined for movies like "Contagion." Director Steven Soderbergh's latest tells the story of an unknown virus that spreads across the world at an alarming pace and threatens to wipe out much of the population. That idea is anything but new. The list of movies based on an out of control viral epidemic is long. "The Andromeda Strain," "The Stand," "Outbreak," "Twelve Monkeys," "28 Days Later," "28 Weeks Later," and hundreds of other movies and television episodes have riffed on the scenario for one effect or another. However, none of those movies approached the subject with the cold realism we find in "Contagion." The trailers make it look like a thriller or disaster movie. Big-name director, star-studded cast, lots of paranoia. This could be "The Towering Inferno" or "The Poseidon Adventure." But "Contagion" couldn't be more different from those movies. It's an almost documentary-style examination of how the world would respond if a massive viral epidemic would happen, and there is almost nothing implausible in this movie. It could all really happen, and this is pretty much how it would happen. The story begins with a married woman from Minneapolis, Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow), on a business trip to Hong Kong. She has a fun night at a casino during which she comes into contact with several people. During a layover in Chicago, she cheats on her husband with an old lover. By the time Beth returns home to her husband, Mitch (Matt Damon), she is very ill. She has a seizure on the kitchen floor, Mitch rushes her to the hospital and within hours she is dead. The doctors don't know what caused it. A few more hours later, Beth's and Mitch's son dies in the same way. Meanwhile, a young man in Hong Kong, a Chinese businessman, a model in London, and Beth's lover in Chicago all die from the same mysterious virus. One of the things "Contagion" does best is show how easily and quickly something like this spreads. Everything and everyone that the first few people touched or breathed on now carries the virus, and its victims multiply exponentially. This is extremely familiar and, therefore, scary. It's what we were warned could happen with SARS, H1N1 and other real epidemics. That's also one of the movie's weaknesses. We have lived through the early stages of real epidemics. I've already seen this story play out on the evening news. The movie's next steps are all too predictable. The World Health Organization starts to investigate in the form of Dr. Leonora Orantes (Marion Cotillard), who goes to Hong Kong and scans casino surveillance footage to trace the origins of the virus. Soderbergh uses sharply edited, very effective montages for these sequences, which take on the feel of a mystery story. They are some of the movie's best scenes. The Centers for Disease Control also get on the case. Dr. Ellis Cheever (Laurence Fishburne) sends Dr. Erin Mears (Kate Winslet) to Minneapolis to investigate known cases and control the public response. Cheever assigns Dr. Ally Hextall (Jennifer Ehle) to research the virus and develop a vaccine. Blogger and watchdog Alan Krumwiede (Jude Law), meanwhile, tries to expose the government's lies and half-truths, and once in a while he makes some very valid points. Several other subplots run through the movie. Soderbergh brings his trademark intimate style to a sprawling narrative much like he did in "Traffic." Ultimately, though, I'm not sure it's a good thing in this case that Soderbergh has created something so slavishly realistic. He used "Traffic" to make profound points about addiction, the drug trade and the so-called War on Drugs. With "Contagion," I'm not sure what the point was. The movie is plausible from beginning to end and punctuated by moving acts of heroism. Despite offering more outstanding filmmaking from one of our most interesting directors, it all left me merely lukewarm. Jeff Marker is a media studies professor at Gainesville State College.

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Category: Phantom of the Opera News | Posted by: admin Article Date: December 17, 2004 | Publication: Washington Times | Author: Pat Nason, UPI Hollywood Reporter Publication/Article Link: Los Angeles, CA, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- As the long-awaited movie version of "The Phantom of the Opera" comes to theaters, the man who holds the record for singing the role in more performances than any other actor has put his stamp of approval on the film. Franc D'Ambrosio, who starred for more than six years as the musical genius who hid his disfigured face behind a mask, was not involved in director Joel Schumacher's film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Tony Award-winning musical. He did, however, walk down the red carpet at the film's New York premiere -- just before taking his place on the other side of the rope line, to report on the event as a correspondent for "Access Hollywood." In an interview with United Press International, D'Ambrosio said the movie is beautifully shot and designed, and he called the Opera Populaire chandelier -- a piece of scenery that plays an important role in the story -- "one of the most beautiful ones that anybody's ever seen." The movie frames the story by adding new scenes -- set some 40 years after the phantom's disastrous love affair with chorus-girl-turned-diva Christine -- then cuts back to the 1870s with a stunning visual effect that restores the ruined opera house to its former splendor. "I'm getting chills just as I'm talking about it," said D'Ambrosio. "(Schumacher) got it so like a wind blew through ... it's as if the wind is blowing the dust off of (the opera house) and changing it from black-and-white to color one tier at a time." D'Ambrosio said he was impressed with the performances of Gerard Butler ("Timeline") as the phantom and Emmy Rossum ("Mystic River") as Christine, and with the work of Patrick Wilson ("The Alamo") as Raoul, the young man who buys the opera company and unwittingly becomes the phantom's rival for Christine's love. The casting of the phantom had been a favorite topic of speculation among fans of the show ever since the subject first came up of adapting the show for the screen. At various times, the names of Antonio Banderas, John Travolta and Michael Crawford -- one of the better known stars of the show's many stage productions -- were tossed around. D'Ambrosio said he might have gone for it himself, but his concert schedule did not allow it. "I was in Europe when that whole process came about," he said. "I never auditioned for it." It is not uncommon for fans of the show to associate Crawford with "Phantom," but -- with more than 2,600 performances behind him -- D'Ambrosio's longevity in the role easily outdoes Crawford's. "I did it more than double the number of times that Michael did it," he said. Although the phantom, Christine and Raoul are among the most coveted roles in musical theater, it is interesting to note that the show's eight Tony nominations in 1988 did not include any of the performers in those roles. The show won for best musical, and Judy Kaye won for best featured actress in a musical for her performance as the ridiculously vainglorious diva Carlotta -- a role that Minnie Driver ("Good Will Hunting") has great fun with in Schumacher's movie. The phantom is, of course, fascinating because of the inherent contradiction in a character who passionately creates beauty to compensate for the physical scars he hides from the world. It is easy to think of him as a monster -- as Lon Chaney played him in the 1925 silent classic -- but D'Ambrosio said he does not think of the phantom that way. "I view him as childish sometimes and childlike sometimes," he said. "I view him as a full-grown man with all the needs and drives of any other man." D'Ambrosio said he has heard often from people who have found the character inspiring in their own lives -- including women going through different forms of cancer and one man who had been contemplating suicide and decided to see the show before doing the deed. "After seeing the phantom," recalled D'Ambrosio, "he said he realized that if the phantom had the strength to move on then so could he." Currently, D'Ambrosio is in the midst of a 76-city U.S. concert tour, with a show that is essentially built around his own career experience -- which includes his casting by Francis Ford Coppola as Michael Corleone's opera-singing son Anthony Corleone in "The Godfather Part III," as well as his star turn in "Copacabana," the Barry Manilow musical. D'Ambrosio described the show as the journey of an Italian kid from the Bronx to Broadway and beyond. "It has that Italian thing," he said, "but it's not so 'gumba' that it's a musical of 'The Sopranos.'" The 42-year-old singer is featured in the upcoming TV special, "Brian Boitano's Skating Spectacular," scheduled to air on NBC on New Year's Day. The show features skating performances by Boitano and fellow Olympic champion Kristi Yamaguchi -- as well as a musical performance by "American Idol" finalist Diana DeGarmo. D'Ambrosio is also scheduled to appear on "The Today Show" later this month, singing "What Kind of Fool Am I?" The Leslie Bricusse-Anthony Newley composition -- from the Broadway musical "Stop the World I Want to Get Off" -- is featured on D'Ambrosio's new CD "Franc D'Ambrosio's Broadway." With "The Phantom of the Opera" finally in movie theaters, the question arises: What effect, if any, might the movie have on the future of Webber's stage show as a viable commercial attraction? D'Ambrosio said there are two schools of thought on that. "I think there was some thought to doing a movie in 1990, but they were concerned that if the movie came out it would tend to diminish theater audiences," he said. "But now, with the movie being so immensely beautiful, I think it will reinvigorate people to go back and see it on stage."

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2016-36/0813/en_head.json.gz/14533

GB.Net News Archive ~ GB.Net News By Category Gamer (Blog) Category: Gamer News Article Date: February 1, 2010 | Publication: Upcoming Discs | Author: Michael Durr Source: Upcoming Discs As the resident video game expert for the site, certain movies will always fall into my lap. Any movie that includes something about video games, good or bad I will get the chance to review. Sometimes, I’m not so thrilled and sometimes I’m simply elated to take on the task. But then every once in a while, I get a movie where I’m not sure what to expect. The movie Gamer seems to take that tone. But perhaps the journey will lead to some rather unexpected but pleasant surprises. Kable (played by Gerard Butler) is the most famous Slayer in history. He has survived twenty-seven matches and has only three matches left to his ultimate goal of freedom. The Slayers show is a third-person multiplayer shooter game where the contestants control the shooters. The shooters are death-row inmates who are given the opportunity to gain their freedom. The only catch is that they have to survive thirty matches. The other issue, is that nobody has ever made it; Kable might become the first. Kable is controlled by a 17-year old gamer named Simon (played by Logan Lerman). Simon has very rich parents and has gained a lot of notoriety due to his gaming skills. But there is somebody who is more influential to the outcome of Kable’s matches and his name is the creator of the Slayer’s show and concept: Ken Castle (played by Michael C. Hall). Ken Castle is the richest man in the world. He created the two most popular concepts / games with the help of his special invention called nanites. Nanites are absorbed into the brain where they gradually replace existing brain cells and allow full control of all functions by a third party. The first concept that Castle uses to test this invention on is the Society. The Society can be compared to The Sims or Second Life but there is one trick: the people in the Society are real life human beings. These humans are paid by Ken Castle but in return they are exposed to the most deviant and outlandish desires of anybody who can fork over the cash. One of the humans working at Society is Angie (played by Amber Valletta). Angie is controlled by Gorge (played by Ramsey Moore) who has some very perverted desires for Angie to perform to the other people (or be performed on ) in Society. There is one thing interesting about Angie besides her gorgeous looks, she’s Kable’s wife. The couple also have a kid together, but unfortunately the kid was taken away from Angie during Kable’s stint in jail and on Slayers. Meanwhile, a group called the Humanz is hacking into Slayers & Society television feeds as well Castle’s live appearances. Their leader (played by Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges) projects himself on the feed and speaks about the ills of Ken Castle and how the projects are evil and debasing the world around them. The Humanz group get in touch with Simon and say they have a way for him to talk to Kable. Meanwhile, the group also sends one of their sentries, Trace (played by Alison Lohman) to infiltrate the prison and speak to Kable on the happenings of the outside world. The thirtieth match is now set. There is a snag in the series, a new contestant has been added to the mix. However, he plays by a different set of rules. Hackman (played by Terry Crews) is not controlled by any third person, therefore he does not experience a ping (the amount of time between the third party’s input and the inmate’s response). He is also a born killer. Simon along with his communication to Kable and Humanz’s hacking skills, Kable persuades Simon to relinquish control of his body. This allows him the opportunity to escape. But can he escape from Hackman and the show to reclaim his life? Gamer is a very interesting and multi-layered movie. The cast is awesome, a well picked and strong acting group. Gerard Butler does his role handedly and is assisted by some skilled supporting actors, primarily those of Amber Valletta and Michael C. Hall. I must also mention the Johnny Mnemonic nod from Ludacris. He was clearly channeling Ice-T’s role from that sci-fi cult classic. But maybe that nod is also where I expected this movie to go. The movie is set in the near future, but my thoughts were that the movie should have went more cyberpunk, perhaps a couple of hundred years in the future. It had a habit of trying to feel very realistic but not succeeding. Therefore, I think it would have been a better movie if it went completely outlandish and didn’t restrict itself. From the commentary & the movie itself, once call tell the obvious moments where they didn’t go quite far enough. There was also the problem with the movie was actually two movies combined into one. The back story felt muted and I could easily see this film coming out with a prequel (involving new actors and actresses and maybe a cameo or two from this cast) that deals mostly with Society. They simply squeezed too much into an hour and a half, and you sometimes were left confused with exactly what kind of movie they were trying to project. The video is presented in 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen. I’m not in love with the Red 1 system as the directors are, but I can certainly see some of the advantages. Certain shots are absolutely fantastic, especially anything that has to do with daylight or well-lighted areas. The detail is impressive. But anytime the movie goes to dark I have a degree of difficulty seeing any of that same detail. Therefore it is a mixed bag, but the good outweighs the bad. The audio is presented in 5.1 Dolby Digital EX English sound. It is the most impressive audio I have experienced in a while that wasn’t on a blu-ray disc. (I can only wonder if the blu-ray mix is even more impressive) The dialog is clear as a bell and the surrounds are used tremendously. The Slayers matches show off the best but honestly there are plenty of other moments where it shines. The music choices (in particular “Bad Touch” & “Sweet Dreams”) were very well chosen. Subtitles are provided for English and Spanish readers. Automatic Trailers: Saw VI, Blood Creek, More than a Game, Crank 2, Planet Hulk & Break.com Audio Commentary: This includes the Writer/Directors Neveldine & Taylor along with cast members: Amber Valletta, Terry Crews and Alison Lohman. An extremely spirited commentary. The directors and the cast members are very frank and open with each other. Kinda perverted too. They explain that the stunts were done for real, and that cgi was not used to enhance them in any way. Pistachio Butter is also for real, I must find some. A couple of points to note. One, Alison Lohman doesn’t show up until the hour, 12 minutes mark and honestly doesn’t say much at all. Two, there apparently is footage of Terry Crews somewhere breakdancing, why it didn’t make it the disc, I know not. Inside the Game: Controlling Gamer 26:23/31:03/22:10: This is a three part mega behind the scenes featurette. The first part is the basic behind the scenes and goes over each of the stars from the movie. The budget was about $50 million but it looked a lot more expensive than that to make. Michael C. Hall is amazing here as he is in the movie. Gerard Butler plays a nice prank on him as well. The second part dealt with the directory of photography: Ekkehart Pollack. They mention that they wanted to go 3d with this movie, but it would have taken longer to open in theaters and the 3d was already booked in theaters (would have ran against Avatar). The last bit of the second part also goes over the weapons and how they took normal weapons and upgraded them. The final part includes touches on editing and how they shot the film. It also goes over the special effects and then moves on to the sounds & composing. There are plenty of winks to classic 80’s sci/fi films. Then they end the feature with yet another Gerard Butler prank. Full moon is a rising. Very funny stuff (would have loved to see some bloopers and/or more pranks). First Person Shooter: The Evolution of Red 16:44: This goes over the camera system that they used for the movie. It’s called the Red 1 system and this is actually the first movie that used the camera predominantly in a movie. The director of photography didn’t care for it at first but he was able to make it shine for certain shots. They go over the high points and point some of the low as well including the elusive on/off button which they later modified. The camera is fairly cheap at $17,000 and the camera because of the movie reacher a greater audience of directors and photographers. Theatrical Trailer 2:32: The original theatrical trailer, to be honest it doesn’t do the movie justice. What you expect from the trailer and what you get are certainly different from each other. In the end, I am left with a mixed bag. Gamer is one of those movies that grows with you. There are so many layers and great performances by the cast that you have to watch the movie a couple of times before you start to appreciate some of what is going on. But at the same time, the movie also tries to do too much and could have benefited with a longer movie or simply a prequel. Also, with the ending I could see a sequel but it would take the film in another direction. The disc is nothing short of fantastic. Even though I wasn’t blown away with the video, the audio and extras package was top notch and the only thing that would make that part of the presentation any better would be the use of blu-ray. In fact, I could see myself at some point buying the blu-ray. This disc is a solid rental, it is just hard to suggest that you go ahead and purchase it at this time. If nothing else, the opportunity to see somebody chug a bottle of liquor and empty themselves into a gas tank ought to be worth the ride.

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Some Cinderellas Thread: Some Cinderellas I was poking around on YouTube (or as I sometimes call it, YouTube University) for music to get me through a tough morning, when I came across the entire production of the 1957 TV broadcast of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella. It is sheer luck that this tape exists at all, because the production was telecast live on just that one night in 1957. This show was created specifically for TV, not Broadway. (There's a Broadway version of it now, I believe.) Later, it was redone for TV with an all-star cast, introducing Lesley Ann Warren and featuring Ginger Rogers and Celeste Holm, among others. Still later, of course, it was remade by Disney with Brandy as Cinderella and Whitney Houston as the fairy godmother. Both of these productions are in color, and the Disney has lovely production values, and a fabulous cast. (Disney has done three or four spectacular TV revivals of musicals, including this one, Annie, Bye Bye Birdie, and The Music Man. I wish they'd do more.) But the original Cinderella, recorded by I think a kinescope process, has one irreplaceable, incomparable factor: Julie Andrews as Cinderella. She was all of 21 at the time, and she was in her starmaking role as Liza Doolittle on Broadway. Lerner and Loewe graciously loaned her out for this Rodgers and Hammerstein production. She's less conventionally girlish than Warren and less glamorous than Brandy, but she projects wonderful combination of dreaminess and unsentimentality that makes her seem like someone any Prince would pick out of a crowd. And she has one of the voices of the century, which is all the more astonishing coming out of the throat of a 21-year-old. And she does it all live! The supporting actors are all splendid, especially including Edie Adams as the Godmother. It's got a witty charm that's entirely of its era. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5zyMriEOoE There are segments from the other two productions on YouTube as well, if you want to compare. But this one, in all its black-and-white fuzziness, is an amazing experience to watch. By the way, because some admirers of Meryl Davis think of her as a fairy-tale princess, I had noticed that she could have been separated at birth from the actress currently playing Cinderella on Broadway (her name is Laura Osnes). http://cinderellaonbroadway.com/castandcreative[Not apparent from the black-and-white photo, but their hair color at this point happens to be very similar too.] [I hasten to add my strong belief that like anyone, Davis should be appreciated for who she is -- not for this or any other resemblance. She is unique and does not need to be compared to anyone else to deserve notice. Same goes for Osnes. ] I see a resemblance. I agree that each is an individual, but I do enjoy that "separated at birth" thing. Some resemblances are amazing. I grew up with the TV Cinderella of the 1960's, with Leslie Ann Warren, and was thrilled to find a copy of the CD recording of R&H's Cinderella a few years ago. I had no idea that Julie Andrews had been in it back in the 1950's. Now there is a Broadway run of R&H's Cinderella. We definitely want to try to get to see this one! The music is delightful. I bet it's just enchanting onstage. You'll have to tell us what you think of it if you go. (That ballroom waltz is divine, in my estimation.) All three productions (the Andrews one, the Lesley Ann Warren one, and the Brandy/Whitney one) go to town on the casting of the subsidiary characters. The first production had the married couple of Dorothy Stickney and Howard Lindsay, not so well known now, who starred as Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Day in the long-running play Life with Father. The Godmother was Edie Adams. The two stepsisters were the comediennes Kaye Ballard and Alice Ghostley. The second production was considerably more elaborate. There, the unknown Lesley Ann Warren was balanced out by Hollywood institutions such as Celeste Holm, Ginger Rogers, and Walter Pidgeon. The Prince might be the handsomest prince of the three, soap actor Stuart Damon. I think a lot of us who were kids at that time could see him as our ideal prince: melting dark eyes, perfect features...sigh. The Disney musical had the advantage of updated special effects and the great imaginations of Disney designers. What a visual confection! Another aspect of it that I love is that it's so multiethnic. The King and Queen are Whoopi Goldberg and Victor Garber. The Prince was Filipino-American actor Paolo Montalban (no relation to Ricardo). Cinderella is the gorgeous actress-singer Brandi. Whitney Houston at her mature peak, while she still gleamed, is the godmother. But for my money the best singing done by any Cinderella is still Julie Andrews. This woman didn't have a peak. Her whole musical career has been a peak. She doesn't sing much anymore, because of the throat surgery and her age, but she's still a compelling presence in film and on TV. As one cute comment under her Cinderella video on YouTube said, "So that's how she became Queen of Genovia." So of course I splurged (it was on sale) on the Disney version. It's simply glorious-looking. The costumes are not candy-colored as I thought I remembered, but in very rich hues, roses and rust and burgundy and purple and turquoise and olive and gold. And for a music maven, this show does one wonderful thing that didn't even exist in the time of the first version: they included a splendid song from Richard Rodgers' later musical No Strings. This is the first musical Rodgers wrote after Hammerstein's death. It didn't prove an enduring hit, but one song from it, "The Sweetest Sounds," is worthy of immortality, and this production begins with the song. Very clever of the creators to do that. Brandy is charming, and her voice is very sweet (and I think she may be the prettiest Cinderella of the three) but for me no one could top Julie Andrews. I have the Disney version with Brandy on video, too! Just for the record, my favorite song from the R&H Cinderella is "Ten Minutes Ago." I also the instrumental waltz music played during the ball scene, just before "Ten Minutes Ago." Julie Andrews toured the US about 4-5 years ago. She was on Good Morning America, and she announced that she would visit 8 US cities on the tour. We were lucky enough to have her come to Philly as one of those cities. Even though she doesn't have the amazing vocal range she had before the surgery, she was still fabulous ( listening to her speak as well). She received a standing ovation before she even sang one note (the concert began with a movie montage from The Sound of Music). Then she humbly said something like, "Thank you, but I/we (she was in this concert with several young adult singers) haven't even done anything yet!" Later in the concert she did a duet with one of the younger singers - she did the fairy godmother's part of "Impossible" and the young singer did Cinderella's part. What a night! She's still my all time favorite actress and Broadway musical singer! I compliment you on your good taste, Iluvtodd. I have the DVD of The Princess Diaries II largely because of her. Somewhere on it (can't remember if it's in the film or in a feature), the Queen of Genovia (Andrews) sings a duet with Raven-Symone. Raven's young fans are probably excited over seeing her in the film. I was practically in tears seeing Andrews. I've always with you about both "Ten Minutes Ago" and especially the instrumental waltz. But after hearing Andrews sing "In My Own Little Corner" and that post-ball sequence with "A Lovely Night," I can't be so decisive. I keep saying to myself, "And she was only 21! And it's live!" She was a child star; she had that amazing voice, and her parents were music hall performers, so the stage was a part of her life. Very unusual for a child star to become even better as an adult. What's more, she can act as well as sing. She is definitely one of a kind. Thank you, Olympia. I guess it would be no surprise to you that we have The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, both Princess Diaries movies and the Shrek movies, partly because of Julie. For CDs, it's Camelot, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music (movie soundtrack), and The King & I studio version (she was Mrs. Anna) that was aired on PBS in the early 1990's. I will not watch the movie version of Camelot (Vanessa Redgrave can't sing), but I'll always the original Broadway cast recording of Camelot (the first stereo reel to reel tape my parents owned), and still my all time favorite musical. Oh, that Camelot movie was so frustrating. I had the original cast recording of the stage musical, too (Andrews and Richard >sigh< Burton...how much better can it get? As well as Robert Goulet, with that immense voice...). Not only couldn't Redgrave sing, Richard Harris overacted shamelessly. It was visibly a gorgeous production, with lavish costumes and sets out of this world, but it was bloated and the emotions were misplaced. Redgrave, normally one of my favorite actresses, really didn't do such a hot job in this. She was coltish and coy, with no sense of a living character. I watched that King and I on PBS. Andrews was born to play Mrs. Anna. Better than Gertrude Lawrence for my money, though of course I only ever heard Lawrence on recording; never saw her. I wish we could have seen the original Broadway cast of Camelot on Broadway! The movie, for me, is unwatchable. Re: the studio version recording of The King & I, that's another favorite CD. After watching the PBS broadcast, I had to head over to the music store & get it! It's that good! It also includes some dialogue from the musical and instrumental pieces that connect the scenes. Originally Posted by iluvtodd Can you imagine? Julie Andrews and Richard Burton before your very eyes...And Roddy McDowall played Mordred. Not to mention Robert Goulet with that monumental baritone voice. Another thing the movie did wrong: Franco Nero was certainly gorgeous, but at that point he had to learn his lines phonetically, because he barely spoke English, and I'm not sure he could sing. Redgrave couldn't. At least in the movie of My Fair Lady, they dubbed Audrey Hepburn so that her singing did justice to the songs. These are songs that carry the characters' development and emotions. You can't just have someone murmur them with an orchestral accompaniment. And then a few years later, they mounted Man of La Mancha with Peter O'Toole and Sophia Loren doing their own singing. No wonder the movie musical died. I the movie version of My Fair Lady, even though Julie wasn't in it (and I always liked Audrey Hepburn). Man of La Mancha is another one of our favorite musicals (on a personal level, I'm attracted to characters who are idealists - King Arthur, Don Quixote), but the movie version leaves a lot to be desired. Me too, Iluvtodd. I just love the music of Man of La Mancha. (Remember Alissa Czisny's program?) The only performance I enjoyed in the movie was John Castle as Dr. Carrasco. I don't recall he had to sing. My Fair Lady was probably one of the last move musicals where someone could be dubbed. (Unless I misremember.) The product was more important than the process. Actually, I think two of the greatest Golden Age MGM dancing stars were routinely dubbed, Cyd Charisse and Eleanor Powell. (Well, if you were a filmmaker who found dancers like those, were you going to keep them off the screen because they couldn't carry a tune?) I think Ann Miller, the other great tap dancer, did her own singing, and of course Judy Garland...well! Another "voice of the century" like Julie Andrews. Ginger Rogers didn't have much of a voice, but it was perfect for the rather minimalist singing style of the Art Deco thirties. For lavish musicals, though, dubbing makes sense. I can think of one man who was dubbed: I think Rossano Brazzi was dubbed by an opera singer (Giorgio Tozzi?) in South Pacific. I think it's nice to have real singing in a lavishly mounted musical, and short of getting a real singer to play the role (what a concept!), get the actor you choose and have him or her dubbed so the soundtrack album is as enjoyable as the film itself. Audrey Hepburn is worth the sacrifice: she was such a wonderful Eliza...so there were a few notes that Marni Nixon added, so what? Though of course Julie Andrews would have been splendid in the film, things worked out. This way, we have Audrey in those glam Cecil Beaton outfits, and we have Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins....two classic performances instead of just one. Audrey Hepburn is worth the sacrifice: she was such a wonderful Eliza...so there were a few notes that Marni Nixon added, so what? Though of course Julie Andrews would have been splendid in the film, things worked out. This way, we have Audrey in those glam Cecil Beaton outfits, and we have Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins....two classic performances instead of just one. I am glad we actually got to see/hear Marni Nixon in the National tour of The Drowsy Chaperone when it came to Philly. I do have a lot of respect for her and her singing. Page 1 of 2

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New Bates Motel Interactive Website Launches Share TODAY Bates Motel / 14 Feb 2013 New Bates Motel Interactive Website Launches Get a look into Norman’s mind. By Roth Cornet Bates Motel, the new contemporary-set prequel to Psycho, is set to premiere on A&E on March 18th at 10 PM ET/PT. In preparation, the network has launched an interactive website where viewers can “peep” into various rooms at the hotel to get a look at some of the footage from the series. Click here to head over to the site and explore for yourself. Teaser Co-created by Carlton Cuse (Lost) and Kerry Ehrin (Friday Night Lights) Bates Motel explores how Norman Bates’ (Freddie Highmore) psyche unravels through his teenage years and unveils the dark, twisted story of his deeply entwined relationship with his mother, Norma (Vera Farmiga). Editors' Choice Bates Motel First Aired Mar. 2013 A&E

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mjf314's favorite directors by mymovieslists created 16 Dec 2012 | last updated - 8 months ago Masaki Kobayashi Director, Harakiri Kar-Wai Wong Writer, In the Mood for Love Wong Kar-wai (born 17 July 1956) is a Hong Kong Second Wave filmmaker, internationally renowned as an auteur for his visually unique, highly stylised, emotionally resonant work, including Ah fei zing zyun (1990), Dung che sai duk (1994), Chung Hing sam lam (1994), Do lok tin si (1995), Chun gwong cha sit (1997)... Hark Tsui Producer, Wong Fei Hung Tsui Hark recently became the fourth Chinese film director to join the board of judges for the 57th Cannes Film Festival in the feature films category this year. An internationally acclaimed visionary director, Hark started making experimental movies with 8mm film when he was only 13. After graduating from the University of Texas in Austin... Director, Spirited Away Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter, animator, author, and manga artist. Through a career that has spanned five decades, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and as a maker of anime feature films and, along with Isao Takahata, co-founded Studio Ghibli... Yasujirô Ozu Director, Tokyo Story Tokyo-born Yasujiro Ozu was a movie buff from childhood, often playing hooky from school in order to see Hollywood movies in his local theatre. In 1923 he landed a job as a camera assistant at Shochiku Studios in Tokyo. Three years later, he was made an assistant director and directed his first film the next year... Mikhail Kalatozov Director, The Cranes Are Flying Nagisa Ôshima Director, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence Nagisa Oshima's career extends from the initiation of the "Nuberu bagu" (New Wave) movement in Japanese cinema in the late 1950s and early 1960s, to the contemporary use of cinema and television to express paradoxes in modern society. After an early involvement with the student protest movement in Kyoto... Kenji Mizoguchi Director, Ugetsu Coming from a lower class family Mizoguchi entered the production company Nikkatsu as an actor specialized in female roles. Later he became an assistant director and made his first film in 1922. Although he filmed almost 90 movies in the silent era, only his last 12 productions are really known outside of Japan because they were especially produced for Venice (e.g... Ryûtarô Nakamura Director, Kino's Journey Ryûtarô Nakamura is an avant-garde anime director often praised for his use of sound. He was born at Apr 15, 1955. He has directed some of the most notable anime in history including Serial Experiments Lain, Kino's Journey, and Ghost Hound. Nakamura died in 2013 after months of hospitalization while fighting pancreatic cancer, leaving an unfinished work Despera. Director, Ghost in the Shell Director, The Saddest Music in the World Guy Maddin was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, to Herdis Maddin (a hair-dresser) and Charles "Chas" Maddin (grain clerk and general manager of the Maroons, a Winnipeg hockey team). Maddin studied economics at the University of Winnipeg, working as a bank manager, house painter, and photographic archivist before becoming a film-maker... Hiroshi Teshigahara Director, Woman in the Dunes Hiroshi Teshigahara was born the son of Sofu Teshigahara who was the founder of the Sogetsu School of Ikebana (flower arrangement). In 1950, he graduated from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in oil painting. In 1958, he became the director of Sogetsu Art Centre and took a leading role in avant-garde activities in many fields of art... Director, Ai no mukidashi Shion Sono is a Japanese director, writer and poet. Born in Aichi Perfecture in 1961 he started his career working as a poet before taking his first steps in film directing. As a student he shot a series of short films in Super 8 and managed to make his first feature films in the late 80s and early 90s... Actor, The General Joseph Frank Keaton, was born in Piqua, Kansas, October 4, 1895 to Joe Keaton and Myra Keaton. Joe and Myra were Vaudevillian comedians with a popular, ever-changing variety act, giving Keaton an eclectic and interesting upbringing. In the earliest days on stage they traveled with a medicine show that included family friend... Writer, Certified Copy Abbas Kiarostami was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1940. He graduated from university with a degree in fine arts before starting work as a graphic designer. He then joined the Center for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, where he started a film section, and this started his career as a filmmaker at the age of 30... Director, Face/Off Born in southern China, John Woo grew up in Hong Kong, where he began his film career as an assistant director in 1969, working for Shaw Brothers Studios. He directed his first feature in 1973 and has been a prolific director ever since, working in a wide variety of genres before A Better Tomorrow established... Writer, Yojimbo After training as a painter (he storyboards his films as full-scale paintings), Kurosawa entered the film industry in 1936 as an assistant director, eventually making his directorial debut with Sanshiro Sugata. Within a few years, Kurosawa had achieved sufficient stature to allow him greater creative freedom... Director, My Life to Live Jean-Luc Godard was born in Paris on December 3, 1930, the second of four children in a bourgeois Franco-Swiss family. His father was a doctor who owned a private clinic, and his mother came from a preeminent family of Swiss bankers. During World War II Godard became a naturalized citizen of Switzerland and attended school in Nyons (Switzerland)... Director, M He studied at the College of Technical Sciences of Vienna's Academy of Graphic Arts but unhappy with the career path chosen for him by his parents, he ran away to study art in Munich and Paris. He then spent many years travelling the world including Asia. In 1913, he returned to Paris to paint. When World War I began... Shûji Terayama Director, Farewell to the Ark Terayama Shuji was born the only son of Terayama Hachiro and Terayama Hatsu in Hirosaki City, Aomori on December 10th, 1935; but his birth and name were officially registered on January 10th, 1936. His father, an officer in the "thought police", leaves for the Pacific War in early 1941. He dies in September of 1945 of dysentery on the Indonesian island of Celebes... Director, Underground A Serbian film director. Born in 1954 in Sarajevo. Graduated in film directing at the prestigious Academy of Performing Arts (FAMU) in Prague in 1978. During his studies, he was awarded several times for his short movies including Guernica (1978), which took first prize at the Student's Film Festival in Karlovy Vary... Writer, Sai yau gei: Sin leui kei yun Writer, Twelve Monkeys Juraj Jakubisko Director, Bathory: Countess of Blood Writer, Beauty and the Beast Jean Cocteau was one of the most multi-talented artists of the 20th century. In addition to being a director, he was a poet, novelist, painter, playwright, set designer, and actor. He began writing at 10 and was a published poet by age 16. He collaborated with the "Russian Ballet" company of Sergei Diaghilev... Writer, The Marriage of Maria Braun Above all, Rainer Werner Fassbinder was a rebel whose life and art was marked by gross contradiction. Openly homosexual, he married twice; one of his wives acted in his films and the other served as his editor. Accused variously by detractors of being anticommunist, male chauvinist, antiSemitic and even antigay... Cinematographer, A Bay of Blood Italian director Mario Bava was born on July 31, 1914 in the coastal northern Italian town of San Remo. His father, Eugenio Bava (1886-1966), was a cinematographer in the early days of the Italian film industry. Bava was trained as a painter, and when he eventually followed his father into film photography... Ann Hui Director, Tou ze Born in China in 1947, Ann Hui moved to Hong Kong when whe was still in her youth. After graduating in English and Comparative Litereature from Hong Kong University, whe spent two years at London Film School. Returning to Hong Kong, she worked as an assistant to director King Hu before joining TVB to direct drama series and short documentaries... Wen Jiang Actor, Guizi lai le Václav Vorlícek Director, Three Wishes for Cinderella Václav Vorlícek, director and scenarist, was born in Prague on June 3, 1930. He studied directing at the Prague Film Schol in 1951-56. His dissertation was the short film "Directive". He took a post at the Barrandov Film Studios, where he worked as assistant director with several directors. He finally became director with "Prípad Lupinek". Writer, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie The father of cinematic Surrealism and one of the most original directors in the history of the film medium, Luis Buñuel was given a strict Jesuit education (which sowed the seeds of his obsession with both religion and subversive behavior), and subsequently moved to Madrid to study at the university there, where his close friends included Salvador Dalí and Federico García Lorca... Yimou Zhang Director, Ying xiong Raoul Ruiz Director, Marcel Proust's Time Regained Chilean director Raúl, or Raoul, Ruiz (1941-2011) was one of the most exciting and innovative filmmakers to emerge from 1960s World Cinema, providing more intellectual fun and artistic experimentation, shot for shot, than any filmmaker since Jean-Luc Godard. A guerrilla who uncompromisingly assaulted the preconceptions of film art... Nobuhiko Ôbayashi Director, Hausu Writer, Once Upon a Time in the West Dario Argento was born on September 7, 1940, in Rome, Italy, the first-born son of famed Italian producer Salvatore Argento and Brazilian fashion model Elda Luxardo. Argento recalls getting his ideas for filmmaking from his close-knit family from Italian folk tales told by his parents and other family members... René Laloux Director, Fantastic Planet Carlos Saura Writer, Cria Cuervos Spanish director, writer, producer (2 films) and actor (2 films). His interest on cinema started when he was very young. His mother, who was a pianist, instilled in him the liking for music, and his brother, Antonio, who was a painter, the passion for art. When he was an teenager he started to practice photography... Writer, The Seventh Seal Ernst Ingmar Bergman was born July fourteenth, 1918, the son of a priest. The film and T.V. series, The Best Intentions is biographical and shows the early marriage of his parents. The film 'Söndagsbarn' depicts a bicycle journey with his father. In the miniseries Private Confessions is the trilogy closed. Here... Yuriy Norshteyn Animation Department, Skazka skazok Born to Jewish parents and raised in a Moscow suburb, Yuriy Norshteyn painted as a hobby and trained as a carpenter before studying animation. He directed his first film in 1968 and made a series of short films notable for their attention to atmosphere and fine detail, using a multiplane camera to create the illusion of three-dimensional depth... Hsiao-Hsien Hou Writer, The Assassin Of the ten films that Hsiao-Hsien Hou directed between 1980 and 1989, seven received best film or best director awards from prestigious international films festivals in Venice, Berlin, Hawaii, and the Festival of the Three Continents in Nantes. In a 1988 worldwide critics' poll, Hou was championed as "one of the three directors most crucial to the future of cinema." Hou's birthplace... Mikio Naruse Director, Ukigumo Fyodor Khitruk Director, Vinni-Pukh Director, Xia nü He was educated in art school in Beijing, left China for Hong Kong in 1949 and entered the film industry in 1951 in the art department. In the 1950s he began acting and in 1958 joined Shaw Brothers as an actor and writer, and later a director. In 1967 he left to start his own studio in Taiwan, returned to Hong Kong in 1970s, working in Hong Kong, Taiwan and China before his death. Writer, The 400 Blows François began to assiduously go to the movies at 7. He was also a great reader but not a good pupil. He left school at 14 and started working. In 1947, aged 15, he founded a film club and met André Bazin, a French critic, who becomes his protector. Bazin helped the delinquent Truffaut and also when he was put in jail because he deserted the army... Director, Saam gaang yi Kihachi Okamoto Director, Kill! Okamoto belonged to what one colleague called "the generation where most of them got killed": the leagues of university graduates who were drafted into and sacrificed to the last years of Japan's war in the South Pacific. Okamoto was drafted during the very worst of it, in 1943, but almost alone among his colleagues managed to survive... Chia-Liang Liu Actor, The Legend of Drunken Master Alexander Kluge Director, Abschied von gestern - (Anita G.) Writer. Director. Producer. Studied law and graduated. Was one of the founders of the Oberhausener Manifest in 1962. Since 1962 Headmaster of the 'Institut fuer Filmgestaltung' at the 'Hochschule fuer Gestaltung' in Ulm, Germany. Since 1988 produces broadcastings dealing with cultural aspects in German private TV channels RTL and SAT.1 in his own responsibility (DCTP program). Writer, Blow-Up Michelangelo Antonioni was born in 1912 into a middle-class family and grew up in bourgeois surroundings of the Italian province. In Bologna he studied economics and commerce while he painted and also wrote criticism for a local newspaper. In 1939 he went to Rome and worked for the journal "Cinema" studying directorship at the School of Cinema... Director, The Red Shoes The son of Thomas William Powell & Mabel (nee Corbett). Michael Powell was always a self confessed movie addict. He was brought up partly in Canterbury ("The Garden of England") and partly in the South of France (where his parents ran an hotel). Educated at Kings School, Canterbury & Dulwich College he first worked at the National Provincial Bank from 1922 - 1925... Hideo Gosha Director, Goyôkin Writer, Some Like It Hot Originally planning to become a lawyer, Billy Wilder abandoned that career in favor of working as a reporter for a Viennese newspaper, using this experience to move to Berlin, where he worked for the city's largest tabloid. He broke into films as a screenwriter in 1929, and wrote scripts for many German films until Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933... Director, The Shining Stanley Kubrick was born in Manhattan, New York City, to Sadie Gertrude (Perveler) and Jacob Leonard Kubrick, a physician. His family were Jewish immigrants (from Austria, Romania, and Russia). Stanley was considered intelligent, despite poor grades at school. Hoping that a change of scenery would produce better academic performance... Views: 825 | in last week: 2 Other Lists By mymovieslists mjf314's favorite Nordic movies mjf314's favorite western movies mjf314's favorite Latin American movies mjf314's favorite 1980s movies mjf314's favorite Central European movies See all lists by mymovieslists »

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Not the Leonard Goldberg you're looking for? Leonard Goldberg > Other works biographyother workspublicityphoto galleryNewsDeskmessage boardmiscellaneous miscellaneous photographs sound clips video clips Other works forLeonard Goldberg (I) More at IMDbPro » In 1973 he served as co-executive producer for an unsold television series pilot for ABC called "Stone." The series starred Robert Hooks as a highly paid African-American private detective headquartered in Southern California.In 1974 he served as co-executive producer for an unsold sitcom pilot for ABC called "The Fireman's Ball." The plot concerned the misadventures of a group of San Francisco firemen. ABC liked the concept enough to recast and re-shoot another pilot in 1975, with Johnny Brown and David Ketchum the only returning actors, but the network decided not to pick it up for their fall line-up when the audience reaction to its 1975 airing was decidedly cool.

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Saw - Preview Preview by: Jack Foley IT IS being hailed as one of the most original serial killer thrillers since Se7en, and is set to make a name for its young director, James Wan, a native Australian who could well emerge as one of the most exciting prospects of the year. Saw is an intricate tale about a viciously intelligent game being executed by a criminal genius, who is keen to teach his victims the value of life. When the lead character, Adam, regains consciousness at the beginning of the film, after nearly being drowned at the bottom of a bathtub, he finds himself chained to a rusty pipe inside a dark torture chamber. But there is someone with him - namely, Dr Lawrence Gordon, who has also just regained consciousness, and is chained to the opposite side of the space. Between them a man is lying in a pool of blood after apparently shooting himself in the head with the pistol in his hand. Adam and Dr Gordon must therefore piece together the clues left behind by the deranged criminal mind that has brought them together and finally realise that they, too, must make a seemingly impossible set of choices for their lives - beginning with the saw that is lying within reach for the both of them. Far from being just about the victims in question, however, the remit of the killer extends far wider, encompassing all aspects of both Adam and Dr Gordon's life - while on the outside, a no-less stable detective is attempting to fit together the pieces that the killer is leaving in his bloody wake. The enticing premise debuted at this year's Sundance Film Festival, where it went down a storm. Critics and viewers hailed it as a disturbing and highly memorable piece, that stays with you long after it has finished. It stars Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, Monica Potter, Leigh Whannell, Tobin Bell and Michael Emerson. Wan, who describes himself in interviews as a mild-mannered sort of guy who doesn't necessarily rate horror as his favourite gentre, is a graduate of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, in Melbourne, where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree. He has previously directed a number of shorts and music videos in his native country, and has also served in a number of production capacities, including director, segment producer, editor, and title sequence designer. Yet Saw could mark his arrival in Hollywood in a big way. The next David Fincher anyone? The film opens in the UK in October. The Downfall (Hitler film breaks taboos) Super Size Me Nicotina Maria Full of Grace Riding Giants A Home At The End of the World She Hate Me The Door in the Floor The Assassination of Richard Nixon Nine Songs Monsieur Ibrahim The Woodsman We Don't Live Here Anymore

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By M Magazine One Direction nominated for Kids' Choice Awards, full list to be announced later! Hey M Girls! With a little over a month 'til the 2013 Kids' Choice Awards, the nominations for the show are slowly being announced... and it looks like a big year for One Direction! Yep, the guys have officially been nominated for Favorite Musical Group and Favorite Song for 'What Makes You Beautiful.' Also in that category is Taylor Swift's 'We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together' -- we wonder if there will be a Haylor run-in at the show! These are the guy's first KCA nominations, and they're absolutely buzzing about the news! Harry Styles thanked the 1D fans, saying "We are delighted with our nominations for the Kids' Choice Awards. It was amazing to perform 'What Makes You Beautiful' at last year's show. Thank you as always to our incredible fans and supporters!" How sweet is that? Be sure to check back later today for the full list of nominees! Find out more about the 26th annual award show here! So, let's dish: -Are you proud of One Direction? Who do you want to see get slimed at the KCA's this year? Keep up with One Direction in the pages of M Magazine by subscribing now! Kill 'Em With Kindness: Harry Says the Nicest Things About 1D Harry Styles proves once again that there are no hard feelings between the members of One Direction, even though they have all gone their separate ways... Music of the Heart: Songs About Celebs' Exes Dating can be complicated and when you happen to be a celeb, there tends to be extra attention on your romantic adventures. Some celeb couples seem like... It Ain't Hard To Tell: Celebrate 5 Years of "WMYB" Five years ago today, One Direction debuted the music video for the group's first single, "What Makes You Beautiful." This was a turning...

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Freemium Field Test: Marvel Contest of Champions is a surprisingly fun and fantastic-looking comic book fighter | @ahaywa Contributor, Macworld Free-to-play games often look appealing, but it's difficult to know at a glance whether the business model is insidious and fun ruining, or reasonable and worth pumping a few bucks into. With Freemium Field Test, we'll take a recent free-to-play iOS game, put it through its paces, and let you know if it's really worth your time (and money). Thanks to the new deal inked between Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures, we'll soon be able to see Spider-Man and The Avengers battle alongside each other on the big screen. And quite likely against each other, if the wall-crawler's first appearance comes in Captain America: Civil War next year, as expected. But you don't have to wait until then for slickly-produced superhero showdowns: you can enjoy them right now on your iPhone or iPad with Marvel Contest of Champions, an impressively-produced free-to-play fighting game that pulls top heroes and villains in from all corners of the comic universe. It has some of the familiar freemium trappings, as expected, but Kabam's tap-and-swipe brawler thankfully isn't beaten to a pulp by its business model. Contest's roster currently includes 28 playable characters, plus there are a handful of other fighters you'll encounter along the way. The pitch Contest of Champions appears, at least on its surface, to be direct response to the hugely popular Injustice: Gods Among Us. That DC Comics fighter, developed by Mortal Kombat maker NetherRealm Studios, has been a freemium smash in its mobile incarnation, implementing a card-battling aspect between the battles, plus featuring teams of three characters that you can swap between. The characters and backdrops alike are alluringly rendered in a style that splits the difference between comic and cartoon versions. But Marvel's offering is actually a lot simpler. Yes, there's still a progression system, and indeed, it can all feel like a bit of a grind. But without the card-collecting elements, Contest of Champions seems a bit less convoluted and a lot more approachable. It's a streamlined fighter built for touch, which means using frantic taps and swipes rather than memorized button combos, but there's a little bit of strategy to the action. And it didn't turn gnawingly repetitive in the hours I played. The action is simplified, but you can still block and dash away from moves, as well as use specials and charged strong attacks. What really startles me about Kabam's offering is that it's such a great-looking game—one of the best I've played on the App Store. The cartoonish aesthetic is really well executed, with vibrant and detailed backdrops, fluid animations, and a fair bit of personality injected into characters and environments alike. Injustice has its own harder-edged visual take on its source material, but sticking closer to the Marvel comic look works wonders for Contest of Champions. You're always given a matchup appraisal before Quest fights, and you can change characters if desired. Some may have an elemental advantage over others. Much of your time will likely be spent within the Quest, which delivers dozens of maps screens to fight through, each with a few fights contextualized by short dialogue exchanges. The story isn't terribly exciting, but the progression lets you battle a wide array of foes, including characters from the Avengers, X-Men, and Guardians of the Galaxy books. "Online matches" are also available, but it seems you're only fighting the A.I. controlled version of another player's upgraded character. True online play against live opponents would be a huge, huge perk here if added down the line. The catch No surprise: Contest of Champions is a free-to-play game, and as such, it has some of the typical impediments that can drive players up the wall. There's an energy system, with your meter drained by movement on the Quest map. And if you play online matches, the character you use is then inaccessible for two hours. Additionally, player health must be refilled using power-ups, while fallen heroes need to be revived with items. Crystals are key to unlocking new characters and power-ups. The freebies sometimes get you low-level fighters, but you might be tempted to spend real money to get better combatants. Redeeming crystals lets you get new heroes and free items, and some crystals are awarded through battle or by claiming free daily giveaways. However, it's always the low-level fighters awarded for free, and at least in the hours I played, the only way I was going to get a three-star or four-star character was by buying crystals with slow-to-accrue units (the premium currency). Naturally, you can buy units in bundles ranging from $5 to $100. But it works: on my third spin, I ended up with a four-star version of Star-Lord—a real find. Granted, I spent $15 on in-app purchases to get to that point. But I never felt compelled to spend money elsewhere in the game. The energy system might constrict if you're looking to play for long stretches, but a few fights at a time was never a problem for me. Contest of Champions is also pretty giving with its power-ups, but the combat isn't terribly taxing in the early battles. I imagine long-term play could be a very different situation once you're deeper into the Quest, but the early hours don't have any huge red flags. Units are the premium currency in Contest of Champions, and they're awarded sparingly through the Quest. Otherwise, you can buy them in packs up to $100 in value. Most importantly, the lack of combat boosts is key—I couldn't find a way to spend a couple bucks for a short-term advantage in a fight. Sure, you can build up your character with ample upgrades, but the game typically matches similarly skilled players for the multiplayer showdowns. Money always plays a role in these games, even if it's just buying access to more advanced fighters; I'd never compare it to a well-balanced, fully premium fighting game, after all. But as a freemium game, Marvel never seems out of line. After my experience in my last Freemium Field Test with the brutal, banal grind that is Game of War: Fire Age, I'm sort of dumbfounded to discover that Marvel: Contest of Champions opted to be a game first and business model second. Yes, the familiar freemium restrictions are there to tempt the heaviest players into spending—and indeed, there's incentive to spend that money. But there's no sense of being required to pay to have fun, which is a very key distinction. Contest of Champions is a perfectly solid, streamlined fighting game with excellent presentation and lots of popular characters. It's not incredibly deep, and the fighting probably isn't going to feel as exciting after 500 battles as it does after a few dozen, but there's still several hours of free fun to be had here. Freemium Field Test Andrew Hayward Contributor Andrew Hayward is a Chicago-based games, apps, and gadgets writer whose work has been featured in more than 50 publications. He's also a work-at-home dad to a wild toddler.More by Andrew Hayward Are the recent free Star Wars games worth your time (and money)? Email "Freemium Field Test: Marvel..."

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The Spiderwick Chronicles [Blu-ray Boxset] [2-Disc Special Collector's Edition] Based on the bestselling series of children's fantasy novels of the same name by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi, THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES follows the adventures of the Grace family, newly transplanted from New York City to an inherited home in the remote New England woods. Angry with his mother (Mary-Louise Parker) about the move, the sulky Jared (Freddie Highmore) begin to explore the strange old house, and discovers a magical tome written by his great, great uncle Arthur Spiderwick (David Strathairn). Soon Jared and his twin brother, Simon (also played by Highmore with the aid of seamless special effects), are drawn into a realm of goblins, boggarts, and ogres--a reality that coexists with the human world. By the time the boys' older sister, Mallory (Sarah Bolger), is in on their secret, the siblings are steeped in a conflict with the evil shape-shifting ogre Mulgarath (Nick Nolte), who will stop at nothing to get Spiderwick's book. Directed by Mark Waters (THE HOUSE OF YES, MEAN GIRLS) and scripted in part by lauded filmmaker John Sayles (THE SECRET OF ROAN INISH), SPIDERWICK succeeds as an engaging kid-oriented movie that also offers up genuine thrills and chills for adults. Highmore and Bolger impressively mask their British and Irish accents, respectively, and display a convincing brother/sister bond, while Martin Short and Seth Rogen provide comic relief as the voices of unlikely CGI allies. Intentionally smaller in scope than other like-minded literary adaptations such as THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA and THE GOLDEN COMPASS, SPIDERWICK is rooted in a beautifully earthy, antique aesthetic that provides the perfect setting for its likable protagonists and bizarre-yet-naturalistic creatures.Read More... Rating - for scary creature action and violence, peril and some thematic elements Mary-Louise Parker, Mary Louise Parker, Nick Nolte, Freddie Highmore, David Strathairn, Joan Plowright "[U]niquely relatable. Its characters are modern American kids with contemporary problems, and it offers a whimsical world..."Box Office 3 stars out of 5 -- "[I]t's prettily photographed by Caleb Deschanel and the creatures are genuinely fantastic."Total Film 3 stars out of 5 -- "From its opening, James Horner's spot-on score and some great production design on the SPIDERWICK house will put even adults right where it want you -- part E.T., part LABYRINTH, with a dash of THE GOONIES."Empire "[I]t's a gutsy, feisty, no-nonsense adventure, aggressive enough to push the bounds of a PG film. The frantic action links together real and imagined worlds."Sight and Sound Genre: Sci-Fi & Fantasy Starring: Mary-Louise Parker, Mary Louise Parker, Nick Nolte Directors: Mark Waters

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'A Separation' Of Hearts, Minds And Ideas In Iran < 'A Separation' Of Hearts, Minds And Ideas In Iran TERRY GROSS, HOST: On Sunday night the Iranian film "A Separation" won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. This was the 35th international award for the film, including top prize at the Berlin Film Festival and major prizes from American critics organizations. It's currently playing in theaters in this country, and our critic-at-large John Powers says that "A Separation" isn't just a remarkable film but one that takes us inside a country that's far more complicated and fascinating than the one we get from the news headlines. JOHN POWERS, BYLINE: Over the years, we've grown used to thinking of Iran and the United States as enemies - from the Ayatollah Khomeini dubbing America the Great Satan to the dispute over Iran's nuclear program, which has led President Obama to spearhead international sanctions and some of his Republican rivals to talk of bombing Iran. It's beyond my pay grade to say what all this means in geopolitical terms. But I do know that such enmities had one obvious cultural consequence: It stopped most Americans from seeing, or even wanting to see, Iranian movies. This is too bad, for over the last quarter-century Iran has produced some of the best and most artful filmmakers anywhere. They take us inside the Iran we almost never see, the country as it's actually lived day to day. No Iranian film has done this more accessibly than "A Separation." Written and directed by Asghar Farhadi, this domestic drama is smart, beautifully acted and astonishingly gripping. It grabs you like a crackerjack thriller. I'm not kidding when I say that it's better than any of the Hollywood films currently films being touted for the Oscar. The story begins with a wife, Simin, played by the ravishing Leila Hatami, trying to convince a magistrate to let her divorce her husband, Nader, played with superb prickliness by Peyman Moadi. You see, Nader refuses to emigrate with her and their teenage daughter, Termeh. He won't leave because he insists on staying to take care of his aging, senile father. While this may sound like a routine divorce picture - you know, "Kramer vs. Kramer Goes to Tehran" - Farhadi quickly spins things off in unexpected directions. The upper-middle-class Nader hires a devout working-class woman, Razieh, to look after his father. But Razieh hasn't asked her hotheaded traditionalist husband, Houjat, for permission to take the job. Soon there's a scuffle, the authorities get involved, and through a series of clever, revealing plot twists I won't spoil for you, we start seeing everyone in a whole new light. If you look carefully at the film's architecture, you can see a metaphor for today's Iran. You see how Nader and Simin's life is dominated by the needs of an imperious old man who is hopelessly out of touch, just like those ruling mullahs. You see how Simin and Nader's story is emblematic of changing ideas of men and women. She wants to get away from the old patriarchal ways, with all its kowtowing and lies, while he, though sensitive and decent, is grappling with the loss of male prerogative. And in Nader's bitter dispute with Razieh and Houjat, you see a clash that, in both class and religious terms, echoes our own culture wars between the so-called blue and red states. This is a country brimming with all manner of separations. Yet what makes the movie so good is that Farhadi never makes you feel you're watching a sociological tract. You're watching living, breathing characters who, just like real people, turn out to be far more complicated than you first think they are. Nobody is a villain, everybody has their reasons. The devout, downtrodden Razieh has secrets up her sleeve. The angry Houjat is actually a decent man. Simin does love her husband, while he adores their daughter, Termeh, and craves her respect. In fact, it's the watchful Termeh, like all the young of Iran, who will pass the final verdict on who's right and who's wrong. "A Separation" is a movie that keeps expanding, like one of those paper pellets that, when you drop it in water, blossoms into a flower. In the process, Farhadi turns the story of one couple's collapsing marriage into a vision of an entire society. We see its tyrannies and fanaticisms, its explosions of violence and small moments of tenderness, its bullheaded men who refuse to lose even if it means lying, and women who believe in telling the truth, but not always. GROSS: John Power is film and TV critic for Vogue and vogue.com. So I have a double-dose of good music news. Catherine Russell, a terrific singer, has a new album, and next week she's going to record a FRESH AIR concert. We'll close with a song from her soon-to-be-released album "Strictly Romancing."

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Weatherly Report By CYNTHIA WANG NCIS Star Michael Weatherly Happily Closes the Book on His Single Days From PEOPLE Magazine Click to enlarge If being a hardworking single guy in Hollywood was good enough for George Clooney, Michael Weatherly decided it was good enough for him too. Which is why the actor, who plays irreverent "Very" Special Agent Tony DiNozzo on NCIS, spent most of his seven years on the hit CBS drama happily unattached. Hanging out with pals at a Vancouver bar in 2007, he recalls, "My friend Colleen was saying, 'Michael, aren't you lonely?' I said, 'Not really. I'm pretty happy. Works for Clooney!'" But Clooney had never laid eyes on the stunning doctoral student who was also in the bar that night. Recalls Weatherly: "I kept looking out of the corner of my eye and seeing this ravishing, gorgeous beauty." That woman was Bojana Jankovic. "We made eye contact," she says. "And that was it." They started a two-year long-distance relationship before she moved to Los Angeles and married Weatherly last September, giving the actor the stability he never realized he had longed for. After shunning the spotlight since his high-profile engagement to then-Dark Angel costar Jessica Alba ended in 2003, Weatherly, 41, has finally mellowed out. Now, he says, "there seems to be complete joy in everything that happens." Marrying the Serbian-Canadian Bojana, now a resident in internal medicine, also helped him come to peace with his years as a Hollywood hotshot. "I had gotten to a much more mature stage in my life and understood myself much better," says Weatherly, who doesn't dwell on his ill-fated romance with Alba. "That was a long time ago. I'm very Zen and living in this moment." He's never been one to second-guess his decisions. Growing up in Fairfield, Conn., he sparked to acting early on, dropping out of American University at 21 to pursue it full-time, much to dad Michael's chagrin. "His father was like, 'I'm cutting you off!'" says his mom, Patricia, "but I felt he could try it. It's an attitude, and his is so positive." Clarifies Weatherly: "At no point did he ever cut me out. He just wanted me to earn my way in the world." Now Weatherly is encouraging the acting dreams of his own son August, 14 (from his first marriage). "He's the coolest of the cool," he says, raving about seeing his boy in a school play recently. "He played two roles, and I was bursting with pride." August might also get to play big brother sometime; kids "are definitely in our future," says Bojana, 29. But first, there's the matter of Weatherly's NCIS future. His contract ends after the May 25 season finale, and he and his costars are still negotiating with CBS over a new deal. However, "I fully expect us all to be back in July making season 8," says Weatherly. "I will be sad if it ever ends. It may never end!"

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Q&A with the Filmmakers of Arizona Immigration Debate Documentary Two Americans Degrassi: Next Class Recap: Checking in with the B Squad Amanda Kehrberg Friday, June 15, 2012 at 9 a.m. By Amanda Kehrberg A police officer makes a traffic stop in the documentary Two Americans, which screens this Monday at Phoenix Center for the Arts. Courtesy of Dan De Vivo and Valeria Fernández Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Katherine Figueroa could hardly be more different: One is an aging lawman nationally known for his pink-underwear prisons, who in unguarded moments regrets never taking voice lessons to improve his signature performance of "My Way." The other is the9-year-old daughter of Mexican immigrants, born in Arizona, whose impassioned plea to President Obama when her parents were arrested in the raid of a local carwash made her a recognizable voice for reform.But as the simple yet profound title of the award-winning documentary Two Americans suggests, the most important thing that Arpaio and Figueroa share is what stands them on equal footing in this country - entitled to the same rights, the same freedoms, and the same pursuit of happiness.Screening 7:00 p.m. this Monday at the Phoenix Center for the Arts' Third Street Theater, Two Americans combines intimate portraits of Arpaio and Figueroa to immerse viewers in opposing sides of the Arizona immigration debate, turning headlines and soundbytes into families and stories. Amidst skillful editing that adds layer after complex layer - punctuated by a tense musical score - these two figures ground the viewer in a debate that can otherwise feel chaotically contentious. In everyday moments, Arpaio reminds his wife, Ava, to tell her parents that he'll be on with Anderson Cooper at both 9 and 11 p.m. their time, while Figueroa washes a car to raise money following her parents' arrest, speaking for the first time that we've seen her with a child's brightness rather than an adult's steady resolve. "At the end of the day, the film offers something for everyone; whether you are a supporter of the sheriff or not, you'll come away feeling closer to these two very different worlds," says filmmaker Valeria Fernandez. They're worlds that Fernandez and fellow filmmaker Dan De Vivo know well: Fernandez is an award-winning journalist who has reported on the state's immigration debate for 10 years, while De Vivo's 2006 documentary Crossing Arizona was an official selection at Sundance. Fernandez and De Vivo, who spent three years shooting the documentary, answer questions about Two Americans: Civil disobedience captured in Two Americans. The documentary took three years to shoot, amassing hundreds of hours of footage. Why did you decide to make this film? De Vivo: The targeted criminalization of undocumented immigrants is a disturbing trend in recent Arizona history. We wanted to make a film that would allow viewers to decide for themselves whether or not they agreed with this trend. Two Americans follows the role that the MCSO, under Sheriff Joe Arpaio, has played in this trend. Sheriff Joe is arguably the state's most powerful politician and when he began to prioritize the arrest of "illegals" in 2005, the entire community felt the impact. And in the city of Phoenix, where 30% of the residents are Hispanic, the impact was economic, psychological, and very cruel. Katherine Figueroa talks with a friend on a park bench. In the film, she describes her fear of going out after her parents' arrest. What drew you to feature Katherine's story? De Vivo: Katherine Figueroa embodies everything that is wrong about the practice of criminalizing of undocumented immigrants. She is an American citizen yet both her parents were put in jail and still do face deportation for having worked at a local carwash. When her parents were arrested, she took the bold step of speaking to the press that's when we took notice. Was there any moment you shot that you wish you had included in the film, but did not? Fernandez: We probably shot over 400 hours of footage for this film. I think I personally wish we could get to spend more time in the film with the different family members of Kathy's family: Her uncle, an African-American taxi driver who explains how the politics of immigration in the U.S. are driven by economics and tells you that, "Being an American is in the heart." Her grandmother, who becomes the matriarch in the family and helps them through the rough times. Then there are the things you couldn't film. Our camera wasn't allowed in the courtroom, which was the only time Kathy's grandmother and her mom could see each other. Kathy's grandma would stay long after her daughter's proceeding was over, just glancing at her daughter. There are of course so many more voices to the immigrant story in Arizona. We've encountered many other families and documented their testimony. But we felt Kathy's story embodied a bit of all of them. The film opens on an event for Sheriff Joe Arpaio at Tempe Improv, a scene made all the more poignant by the comedy club's recent closing. What do you hope audiences will take away from the film? Fernandez: We want to touch minds and hearts. That's why we made a film that has humanity in its center. Two Americans offers audiences an insider's perspective on the experience of undocumented immigrants in Arizona and the hardships their U.S. children endure due to our policies of "attrition through enforcement" embedded in bills like SB 1070. Kathy, a U.S. citizen, will tell you in the film that "If they have to hide, I have to hide." That's her reality. The film offers a window into the lives of these families to show that they're not criminal aliens invading our borders, but ordinary people that want a better life and more than anything want to contribute and be part of this society. Presented by No Festival Required, Two Americans screens its downtown Phoenix premiere at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, June 18, at the Third Street Theater at Phoenix Center for the Arts. A Q&A with the filmmakers will follow. Admission is $6 at the door. Follow Jackalope Ranch on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Degrassi: Next Class Recap: Checking in with the B Squad Contact: Amanda Kehrberg Phoenix Center for the Arts 1202 N. 3rd St. www.phoenixcenterforthearts.org Comments Difficult People Recap: Sharon Stone-ing It

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Drama, Foreign for language | Omer M. Mozaffar A simple vote: "Yes" or "No." It's 1988 and Chilean President Augusto Pinochet agrees to a referendum: if the nation votes "Yes," (rather, "Si") he remains in power. Ad-man René Saavedra (Gael Garcia Bernal) leads the team campaigning for "No," using the marketing strategies of the American Cola Wars. To complicate matters, his boss Lucho Guzmán (Alfredo Castro) heads the "Yes" team. Here are the rules: Each night, each side receives 15 minutes of airtime on national television to present its case. The "Yes" gang depicts Pinochet's leadership as an economic success, modernizing the country, introducing microwave ovens in the home -- all now at risk of socialist takeover if the communists of the "No" campaign succeed. The "No" movement assumes that the election is fixed in the dictator's favor. Many of the activists themselves have suffered under Pinochet's regime. Assuming they will lose, they focus on raising awareness of the government's atrocities, overloading its audience with images of tanks, bombings and abused political prisoners. The problem, they discover, is that this negative approach generates fear, which contributes to a sense of powerlessness, which leads to voter abstention. Which further helps Pinochet.So, Saavedra pushes for an operation focused on happiness. Borrowing images from American pop culture (including mimes, which seemed to proliferate in commercials back then), he presents his plan to speak of sunlight and hope. Imagine convincing a room full of hardened lifelong protestors to give up their black and white radical rhetoric, and embrace a campaign of Europeans dancing among rainbows, horses and picnics. The film becomes a sort of boxing match, getting more intense with each round, building to an exciting finish. As the "No" group gets more aggressive in dousing its viewers with bright colors and smiles, the "Yes" team strikes harder, in multiple ways: harassing the "No" team members, stealing their video tapes, trying to censor their ads and finally taking from the "No" team's arsenal of promotional tricks and use them as their own. The brutal dictator's squad decides to incorporate humor into its own commercials. Chronicling this fictionalized fight for the soul of Chile, the film reveals itself as an underdog story about the "generation gap," pitting youthful optimism against aging tyrrany, hope against repression. It reminds me of the era when Pepsi was "The Choice of a New Generation” and its rival told us that Coca-Cola was "The Real Thing." On the one hand, "You've Got a Lot to Live, and Pepsi's Got a Lot to Give"; on the other, "Coke Adds Life."There are, however, moments that call Saavedra's motives into question. He is an expatriate returning home; there is hint that Pinochet exiled his father. Now, Saavedra raises his son in the comforts of a capitalist lifestyle, enjoying a luxurious residence with a sports car. But he longs for his militant ex-wife's validation. So, is he working on this campaign to save Chile, even though he personally benefits from the status quo, or is he trying to win back his lost love and reunite his family? Even deeper, there is the sense that his is an empty life full of toys and opulence, while hers is a life full of passion and substance. He admires her, and might even envy her. No matter the case, he reaches a point where he has to make a choice. Larraín chooses to depict this period piece through an Instagram filter. Many of the ads feature actual footage from the real election. But the stock is some sort of 4x3 pre-VHS magnetic tape in which monochrome browns dominate every image. The colors run, forming RGB shadows and ghosts, blurring everything just enough to remind us that the changes of that era were not only political, but cultural and technological. Among the unseen ghosts are the Americans, hovering perhaps off screen. American intervention helps Pinochet seize power in 1973; now, fifteen years later, the opposition uses American pop culture to remove him. Garcia Bernal quietly carries this film as a soft-spoken kid in blue jeans and untucked shirt. He looks like a man giving up the little boy inside, as he gets exhausted in a world overcrowded with frowns. His eyes are tired; his hair is messy. He speaks in whispers. He rarely smiles. And when the election is over, he continues rolling along on his skateboard, alone.

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Star Wars on Blu-Ray 2011!!! Thread: Star Wars on Blu-Ray 2011!!! Posts 5,672 Star Wars on Blu-Ray 2011!!! Wow, I just read the news about the release of Star Wars on Blu-Ray. NEW deleted scenes including a scene with Luke building his new light saber in a cave at the opening of ROTJ!!! I hope Lucas does the right thing here and releases these with the original theatrical versions. I also hope these will include iTunes versions of the films. Posts 20,297 Hopefully the new deleted scenes will be on a new DVD set. I'd buy that. I wouldn't buy a new player. And hopefully said new DVD set is available in Classic Trilogy flavor and not only in Classic/Prequel Swirl. I don't need any more prequel anything, unless they're finally fixing Yoda in TPM. Posts 2,327 It would be fun to see a cut scene of Luke building his lightsaber, but it should not be edited into the film. The first time Luke should be seen in walking into the palace, hidden by his cloak. (I know he is a hologram before that.) Hopefully the new deleted scenes will be on a new DVD set. I'd buy that. I wouldn't buy a new player. It's okay Chux, the format war is over and prices have dropped. Soon your tube televison and dvd player will break and you will be forced to adopt HD, when that time comes you will be happy with blu-ray. Honestly, I do not see Lucas releasing this stuff on DVD. Posts 13,692 Don't expect the original cuts. They won't be on this set, you can rest assured of that. Lucas also clarified that the original trilogy movies will be included as they were shown theatrically in 1997 and released on DVD in 2004 - i.e., the original versions will not be included. "You have to go through and do a whole restoration on it, and you have to do that digitally," he said. "It's a very, very expensive process to do it. So when we did the transfer to digital, we only transferred really the upgraded version." In fact, if rumors hold true... this will be all new versions of the films. Such as replacing the awful Yoda puppet from TPM with the CGI Yoda that was designed for AotC. And tweaking a few more things here and there. Good to hear about the never before seen deleted sceens. Hopefully we get the Wampa Room scene from ESB. And I wonder if this means we might get the Camie and Fixer scene from ANH. They did just get figures, after all. Posts 13,692 Originally Posted by sith_killer_99 Indeed. You can get a semi-decent Blu-Ray player from Wal-Mart for $88. And I agree. I doubt we'll see a DVD release with all the bells and whistles. He wants people to adopt Blu-Ray, and making it a Blu-Sclusive will do that. Posts 13,692 Sorry about the double posts. But they're each somewhat required. So to make it better...... here's the Lightsaber scene shown at SWC. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdJ0E7HbTKc Watch it quick before Lucasfilm gets it yanked down. Posts 5,672 Originally Posted by Beast Sorry about the double posts. But they're each somewhat required. So to make it better...... here's the Lightsaber scene shown at SWC. You rock! Downloaded and saved for posterity. The digital transfer argument is bs IMO. He already did the digital transfer for the DVD release back in 2006, so he has the original theatrical releases in digital format. Posts 20,297 Good frickin' lord, I don't want to get into this g***** debate again. I merely stated that for those people who can't afford or can't use blu-ray, for those who think it's wasteful to get and throw away electronics every couple of years, or for those who don't plan to re-buy their entire collection and don't see the need to get a new player for just one movie or a small handful of movies, I would hope this is released on DVD. If not, eff Lucas; he doesn't need the money too badly. There are people who just don't care, or who don't see enough of a picture improvement to justify even $88 for a new player. It's foolish for the movie companies to be so set on ramming blu-ray down everyone's throats less than a decade after the wide adoption of DVD that they ignore this. That said, the original trilogy is one of the very, very few movies that could make me upgrade. However, if it's only sold as a set of all six movies, screw that. The prequels aren't good enough movies for a double-dip. I've said my point. Continue ridiculing me over some perceived mental defect. Last edited by El Chuxter; 08-14-2010 at 04:00 PM. Posts 13,692 The original ones that are on the 2006 DVD's are non-anamorophic ports from the old Laserdisc versions. When he made the SE's, they did restore the original prints, but then it was sliced up for to be used to make the SE cuts. So it probably would require quite a lot of money to do a full-blown restoration on each one of the film's remaining original cut prints and then have it converted to digital. Plus I fully support his artistic choice of not releasing those cuts.

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Captured with flair: editor and empress who made you stare Reviewed by Sandra Hall DIANA VREELAND: THE EYE HAS TO TRAVELDirected by Lisa Immordino Vreeland, Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt and Frederic TchengRated G, 86 minutesPalace Verona and Norton StreetDiana Vreeland grew up as her family's designated ugly duckling. The verdict came from her mother, a woman possessing a destructive combination of beauty and insensitivity. Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel - Trailer Promo: 800 Words season 2 Trailer: Australian Survivor sneak peek Bachelor Mansion Tour Trailer: Blade Runner (1982) Trailer: Indignation Trailer: A Star Is Born (1954) Trailer: Imperium A look at the life and work of Diana Vreeland, the editor who turned Vogue into the fashion industry's bible. Under her gaze, a lesser character would have faded into invisibility. But young Diana did the opposite. Flamboyance was her formula and it worked with spectacular effectiveness, finding her a handsome husband and propelling her to the top of an industry where beauty was the main currency. She became fashion editor of Harper's Bazaar and editor-in-chief of Vogue, making such an impact on both magazines that she earned herself the soubriquet "Empress of Fashion".When, at 70, she was edged out of Vogue, she went on to become consultant to the New York Metropolitan Museum's Costume Institute, where her galas had the stuffier of the museum's faithful complaining that she was turning its galleries into a night club. Reviewer rating Lisa Immordino Vreeland Screen Writer OFLC rating Synposis Luck and timing were also on her side. She was born in Paris in 1909 to a family sufficiently rich and well-connected enough to be able to enjoy the glories of the Belle Epoque, and since they were American, they were able to escape Europe for New York before the outbreak of World War I. She was there for the Roaring Twenties, and in 1936 a chance meeting with Carmel Snow, the editor of Harper's Bazaar, led to her first break. In essence, she was issued with a licence to outrage. Snow gave her a column called "Why Don't You…?" which Vreeland filled with whimsical ways to enhance her readers' daily existence. Although America was still in the midst of the Great Depression, this didn't stop her making suggestions typifying her nonchalant disregard for political reality. A much quoted example was: ''Why don't you rinse your blonde child's hair in dead champagne to keep its gold?" Just as memorable was her announcement that the bikini was the biggest thing since the atom bomb. Politics, she said, was beyond her, although she did believe that fashion had a political dimension. "You can see the way the world works in the clothes people wear" was a favourite mantra. So, too, was her patrician conviction that fashion magazines should give people what they don't yet know they want. It was all about style. "Mom had no sense of right or wrong," one of her sons is reported to have said. "To her things were either interesting or uninteresting."She died in 1989 and this biographical documentary is loosely arranged around a conversation she recorded with the journalist and socialite George Plimpton for her memoir, DV, published in 1984. Her voice, which has the same husky east coast cadences as Katharine Hepburn's, guides you through the decades. The film's mixture of old footage, photographs, interviews, music and graphics make you feel as if you're on a grand tour of her life's aesthetic highlights. Low moments are few. While the film has three directors, the main credit goes to Lisa Immordino Vreeland, who is married to Vreeland's grandson, and she is intent on accentuating the positive. For insights into the complexities of Vogue's politics or the nature of Mr Vreeland's infidelities, you'd be better off going to Vanity Fair's final Vreeland profile - although one of her sons talks wistfully here of her lack of interest in his achievements.Ali McGraw, who worked as her assistant, adds a touch of acid with memories of a boss who could have taught Miranda Priestly a thing or two about humiliating the help. Missing, however, are the dynamic pleasures of an observational documentary like The September Issue (2009), which caught Anna Wintour's Vogue on the run, rushing towards the most vital deadline of its year. Well red ... Diana Vreeland, in a scene from the film about her colourful life, challenged her magazine readers to look past conventions. But this film does catch Vreeland's genius for spotting talent and using it to everyone's advantage. David Bailey, Richard Avedon, Helmut Newton and the other great fashion photographers of the '60s and '70s benefited from her willingness to transport them halfway across the world to find the perfect backdrop. And her plain child's admiration for people who had done as she'd done and "invented themselves" led her to look beyond convention to find beauty.Vogue's portraits celebrated the shape of Barbra Streisand's nose, which was almost as dominant as Vreeland's own. They emphasised Mick Jagger's lips and they indulged the rangy Veruschka's fondness for having herself painted with stripes or spots so she could impersonate jungle animals. Vreeland's eye travelled past harmony and symmetry to seek out what was original. She wanted you to look and look again, and this film is full of images which make you do just that.Twitter: @SandraHFilm

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A look at The Black Hole reboot Posted September 28, 2011 - 16:28 by David Konow It's really quite difficult to keep track of all the Hollywood remakes that keep on piling up. So I wasn't sure if there was indeed a remake of The Black Hole in the works, or if I was just trippin' one day, but apparently it's true there is/was going to be one - at least at some point. It's an uneven film, but The Black Hole came along at an interesting time in Disney's history, when the company was trying to move into more serious, PG rated movies. Of course, The Black Hole also boasted a big budget for its time (about $20 million or so), and state of the art special effects, which is absolutely the best part of the film, still holds up after all these years.
The film also had a bizarre cast with Robert Forester, Anthony Perkins, Yvette Mimieux, Ernest Borgnine, Maximilian Schell, and Roddy McDowall and Slim Pickens doing the voices of V.I.N.C.E.N.T. and Bob, two robots. On the FX team was Disney veteran Peter Ellenshaw, who created the groundbreaking effects for Mary Poppins, and his son Harrison Ellenshaw, who worked on Star Wars and Tron. The Black Hole didn't do well on it's initial release, it hit theaters during an odd, transitional period for Disney before the studio was resurrected by Michael Eisner, and it was lumped in with a lot of big $20-40 million dollar movies that were getting a lot of heat in the press at the time like 1941 and The Blues Brothers. Back then, the press found it appalling that any movie could cost that much, and took many filmmakers to task for spending that much. Now like Logan's Run, and other epic '70s sci-fi films, The Black Hole definitely has it's fan base, and is worth checking out today in spite of its flaws. There's also another bit of Tron serendipity with the planned remake, because Joe Kosinski, director of Tron Legacy, was slated to direct, and as he told ComicBookMovie, the new Black Hole would be "a re-imagining" of the original. "It would be taking ideas and iconic elements that struck me as timeless and cool and preserving them while weaving a new story around them that's a little more 2001..." "From a conceptual point of view, we know so much more about black holes now, the crazy things that go on as you approach them due to the intense gravitational pull and the effects on time and space," Kosniski continued. "All that could provide us with a really cool film if we embrace it in a hard science way." Whether we'll ever see a remake of The Black Hole, or whether it will be lost in the black hole of Hollywood development hell still remains to be seen. In the meantime, again, the original is well worth checking out again just for the special effects alone. Christian Bale to Play Steve Jobs? Plugging the hole in Hawking’s black hole theory Apple and Comcast to Join Forces in Streaming Venture

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Leonard Nimoy bids adieu to Spock Posted October 4, 2011 - 12:34 by Starr Keshet Leonard Nimoy will always be Spock for innumerable Star Trek fans. Say what you will about Zachary Quinto, but Nimoy was the original archetype for the half human, half Vulcan character. Yes, the re-imagined Star Trek 2 will soon be hitting Warp 9 with Captain JJ Abrams at the helm, so I suppose it is rather fitting that Nimoy has chosen to hang up his Vulcan ears and stop attending Trekkie conventions. After all, it is a logical, if not inevitable move, as legions of young fans already identify Quinto, rather than Nimoy, as Spock in an alternate Star Trek universe. "This is hard. I thought it would be, and it is," an emotional Nimoy told the crowd at his final Trek convention appearance this past weekend. "I'm so grateful for the support we have had and the exchange of love that we have had for so many years... May each and every one of you live long and prosper." Although Nimoy was adamant about his decision to retire, the 80-year-old actor seemed to leave the door open for a couple of future appearances, saying he may pop up from time to time on a soundtrack, television or movie screen. Meanwhile, Jonathan Frakes - aka Commander William T. Riker - told the Daily Herald that Nimoy would likely find it quite difficult to retire and stay away from the public eye. "I think it's a Brett Favre move. I'm sure he believes it's his last tour," Frakes said. "I don't think he's lying. But I'm sure he can be persuaded to return to the circuit given the right price and incentive... I love him. He is a Renaissance man."
Nimoy appeared at approximately 125 Star Trek conventions before telling his fans to "live long and prosper" for what could be the last time. Jonathan Frakes Christian Bale to Play Steve Jobs? Apple and Comcast to Join Forces in Streaming Venture A Robot Actually Wrote a Story For a Major Newspaper

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Jennifer Saunders to Write New Spice Girls Musical, Viva Forever Jennifer Saunders has been hired to write Viva Forever, the new musical based on the songs of the hit group The Spice Girls, to be produced by Mamma Mia! creator Judy Craymer and XIX, the new company formed by the band's original manager Simon Fuller. No cast, creative team, dates or venue details have yet been announced for the project, although Craymer is reportedly looking for a 2012 bow. From 1994 to 2001, the Spice Girls -- who included Victoria Beckham, Emma Bunton, Geri Halliwell, Melanie Brown, and Melanie Chisholm -- sold over 75 million records around the world. They won four Brits, three American Music Awards, three MTV Europe Music Awards, three World Music Awards, and one MTV Video Music Award. The group reunited briefly in 2007 for a tour and album. Saunders is best known for her work as Edina on the hit BBC series Absolutely Fabulous and as part of the comedy team Saunders & French. X

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“The Kennedys” Miniseries Nixed, While A “Wicked” One Is Plotted Kate Torgovnick/Kate-Book.com It’s a not so mini day for television miniseries news. First, we read that the History Channel will not be airing the eight-part series “The Kennedys,” starring Katie Holmes as Jackie O, that I was all excited for. Why? Well, apparently, it turned out to be historically questionable. “While the film is produced and acted with the highest quality, after viewing the final product in its totality, we have concluded this dramatic interpretation is not a fit for the History brand,” a network spokesperson says. Does that mean we will never get a chance to see Katie in a pillbox hat? A few clicks of the remote control away, Salma Hayek is busy developing an eight-part miniseries for ABC based on the book Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. But I’m a little concerned about it. I should preface this by saying that I am a “Wizard of Oz” aficionado, and I read Wicked the first week it came out and saw the Broadway play in previews. I assumed for sure that whoever paid the mega-bucks for the screen rights to this story would make a movie. Oz is so full of incredible scenery possibilities it doesn’t seem right not to see them on the big screen with surround sound. I also think it’s a little strange that the miniseries will be based on the book—not the smash hit Broadway play that has been packing in audiences for years now. The television version will not be a musical, which means no “Defying Gravity.” Furthermore, it’s being written by the dude who brought you “Band of Brothers,” which has me a little worried that it won’t be very … fun. Also, I guess this means no Lea Michele as Elphaba, which would have made sense because she is a dead ringer for Idina Menzel, who originated the role on Broadway. While she might have been able to finagle a movie, there’s little chance her “Glee” contract would let her do a TV miniseries. Plus, the no singing would no doubt be a problem for her, too. Guess we’ll have to wait and see how it turns out. Salma did produce “Ugly Betty,” so she may have a few tricks up her sleeve. Tags: katie holmes, salma hayek, the kenndys, tv shows, wicked Recommended for you This Video Of Kristin Chenoweth And Idina Menzel Singing A Song From ‘Wicked’ Will Have Your Inner Theatre Kid Crying With Joy Is Jon Snow A Targeryen? This Game Of Thrones Fan Theory May Be True! ‘The Late Late Show’ Uses Bieber Lyrics to Make a Soap Opera The Unsung Heroes Of “Making A Murderer,” Ranked By How Much I Want To Hug Them 4 Reasons To Watch Golden Globe Winner “Mozart In The Jungle” The Best And The Brightest New TV Shows Of 2015

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Share this page: Signup Wendy Ferguson on Carlotta 2 August, 2011 Wendy Ferguson, who plays Carlotta in the London production of The Phantom of the Opera, dicusses returning to play the Phantom diva after a short break, lets us in on her warm-up routine, and reveals why her fabulous Carlotta costumes are both a blessing and a curse… watch out for more to come from Wendy in the second part of our interview next week. Last year, you returned to the role of Carlotta, after playing her previously. What is it like to return to Her Majesty’s? I suppose coming back to Her Majesty’s is a bit like coming back to a little family. I first joined the cast in 2002 and stayed until 2008. So I had a 2-year break, and came back last September. People ask if it feels like I’ve never been away but time passes, we all change a little bit, and so do our performances, hopefully! It’s great being back, I feel very lucky to have been invited back to the cast. You were in the cast when the new digital sound system was fitted. Have you noticed the difference? I was lucky enough to be here when the new sound system was being installed into the theatre so I was here for the whole process of the changeover – that was very exciting at the time because it just opened up a whole new world in the auditorium, getting the surround sound, we used to sneak out and watch some of the Phantom bits during rehearsals which was amazing. It’s made a big difference to the show, I think. Has your portrayal of Carlotta changed over the years? I played the role for a few years, and to be back now again – to find a truth behind the character it has to change a little bit, so every day is different. We like to say no two shows are the same, so what was my truth last year is a bit different to this year. What you go through in life alters your performance as well. How do you warm up before a show and how do you wind down afterwards? I think everyone in the show has their own set routines. My routine is that I come into the theatre quite early – I’m usually in about 2 hours before the show starts. I go to one of the pianos in the building and have a 20-minute vocal warm-up, then I like to come back to my room, watch some TV and eat my dinner, relax – that’s what works best for me. Just knowing I’m in the theatre and can relax is good for me. And afterwards – I definitely can’t go home and just go straight to sleep, I like to stay awake. I think working late nights suits me – it’s just impossible to go home and sleep with all the adrenaline pumping round. That’s how I do it anyway – I think everyone is different, but I like to just be here and get myself in character. What’s your favourite part of the show? My favourite part of the show that I’m not involved in is the moment that the audience are suddenly backstage at the show. It is just beautiful, when you’ve got the end of the gala and Christine and Meg going into the dressing room with the Degas scene in the background – it is just breathtaking. I adore watching it, seeing the ballet girls and how their lives continue after the performance, how they’re supposedly there till midnight still practising. Between the music and the design and the dance it’s just stunning. I can’t even pick a favourite bit for the part I play – all the scenes are quite special. I enjoy my part, that’s the main thing! Do you like Carlotta? I love Carlotta. Carlotta’s fantastic! There’s so much more to her than just a funny lady who comes in in fabulous costumes – there’s a real story that she tells and I think that’s what makes her so special. She has her own crisis; she has her own journey and a path that follows. What makes it so interesting is I’m there as the fallout from the love triangle and you see how that resonates through all the other characters. I think she’s fabulous. If you could ask the original creative team one question, what would it be? I don’t think there is a question I would ask because I’ve asked everything! I’ve been really lucky while I’ve been in this building that I’ve had the chance to work with Hal Prince and Gillian Lynne… spending time in their rehearsals is just breathtaking. They are filled with so much passion, they impart all their knowledge – it’s interesting being in this show, a long-running show obviously changes and develops and they develop with it, so I’ve asked a lot of my questions. Have you ever had any scary moments in the show? I have scary moments in the show practically every night; I think that’s the joy. The scariest moment for me is standing behind the cloth as the Overture is playing and I have to go out and sing the Cadenza, that is a little moment when I always get butterflies – so every night is a scary night for me. How would you describe Phantom to someone who hasn’t seen the show? I think first and foremost, I would tell them that it is the most beautiful love story. There’s not enough romance in the world and this show really pulls at your heart strings. Secondly, the music in this show is just stunning, there’s not a tune that doesn’t resonate with you, and there’s so many hit songs that you don’t think you know but you do know. I grew up with [Andrew’s music] in the 80’s, and I think it’s beautiful. The look of the show is stunning, like the dancing – as someone who is not a dancer by any means – watching these girls and boys, what they do on the stage is beautiful. And the costumes – don’t even start me on the costumes! And the swags, and the curtains, and the design… so basically, if you haven’t seen Phantom, go! Are the costumes very heavy to wear? My costumes are both a blessing and a curse. They are stunning – I’m so fortunate. Never again will I get to wear a costume like the ones I wear in this show. Before I started rehearsals when I re-joined the cast last year, I came in a couple of months early and started my wardrobe fittings. The detail that goes into them is phenomenal, when I was getting my costumes made this time we had Maria Bjornson’s designs and they had a lot of the old costumes that the makers were checking against. Our Wardrobe Mistress just found the most beautiful materials this year. But to say that they’re difficult to wear is putting it mildly. My Hannibal dress, when I make my first entrance – well, the skirt itself weighs about 4 stone, and then you’re corseted on top of that so every move you make on the stage is dictated by what you’re wearing. It takes quite a while to learn how to walk in the costumes, to learn how to hold yourself, to not get them in anyone else’s way. There’s an awful lot of things that can go wrong with my costumes and many of them have gone wrong if truth be told, but we just get on with it and try not to get too many rips as the show goes on… In the next installment of our interview with Wendy, she answers a selection of your fan questions… 10 Responses to Wendy Ferguson on Carlotta Malcolm Douglas Porter says: 2 August, 2011 at 1:23 pm Will this lady be in the RAH production? Reply Malcolm Douglas Porter says: 2 August, 2011 at 1:23 pm Will this lady be in the RAH production? Reply Pingback: Wendy Ferguson answers your questions | The Phantom of the Opera Pingback: Wendy Ferguson answers your questions | The Phantom of the Opera Rachel says: 12 September, 2011 at 4:01 pm What’s the funniest thing that’s ever happened during either a rehearsal or performance of any show you’ve done? Reply Rachel says: 12 September, 2011 at 4:01 pm What’s the funniest thing that’s ever happened during either a rehearsal or performance of any show you’ve done? Reply EliasK93 says: 1 October, 2011 at 9:36 pm Have you ever missed a note during a performance? Reply Lauren Raynor-Dixon says: 28 January, 2013 at 9:50 pm hi, im such a fan of you and im currently playing carlotta in our production of the phantom of the opera…… she is such a good role to play however hard to sing, im basing my charcter on you as no one has done it better!!!!!!!! just hope i cna do her justice!!xxx Add comment via Facebook: Her Majesty’s Theatre, Haymarket, London, UK The Really Useful Group Cameron Mackintosh Site by Dewynters

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Private Practice Preview: Hail to the New Chief (of Staff) by Dana Meltzer Zepeda | Sep 21, 2007 4:00 AM EDT KaDee Strickland, Private Practice ABC's Private Practice premieres on Wednesday. TVGuide.com is counting down to the Grey's spin-off's arrival with daily cast-member Q&As. She had a short-lived stint as a wedding planner on the Fox sitcom Wedding Bells. Now KaDee Strickland is trading her stilettos for scrubs as Dr. Charlotte King, the chief of staff at St. Ambrose Hospital. Strickland may clash with her costars onscreen, but unlike her uptight alter ego, the 31-year-old is as laid-back as her warm Southern drawl. We caught up with the Patterson, Georgia, native to dish about Grey's Anatomy marathons, marrying Roswell heartthrob Jason Behr and what she loves most about her latest role. TV Guide: What attracted you to Private Practice?KaDee Strickland: Well, the obvious talent of Shonda Rhimes and what she's been able to do with television in terms of developing rich and interesting characters. And, frankly, when you sit down with her and she says she's going to write something for you, there's nothing more flattering in the world. To do it and have it be so much fun is just remarkable. It's a dream job! TV Guide: Did Shonda write Charlotte with you in mind?Strickland: To a degree, one never knows. This stuff is so mysterious the way it all comes to pass when you get a job. I took a meeting with Shonda and I didn't know what show it was for or what the character was. I just knew it was a female doctor. We sat down and just really hit it off. A few weeks later, I got a phone call saying Shonda Rhimes would like to offer you the role of Charlotte King. I was absolutely thrilled. It was the first time I've ever taken a job in my life without seeing the script first. But I knew it would be great. Then she told me she liked me having a Southern accent and I thought, "God, we're going to have so much fun!" TV Guide: So nobody actually auditioned for this show?Strickland: From what I understand, that's kind of the way it went down for everybody. This stuff is very chemical. It either makes sense or it doesn't. I think that's a gift she has with Grey's, as a case in point. That ensemble is extraordinarily talented. I've had the good fortune of working with her and being surprised when scripts come in. You never know what to expect. You just know she's excited about it and, when we sit down and do the table readings, we're all excited about it. It's just a very collaborative, wonderful process. TV Guide: So you don't know anything about Charlotte's storyline?Strickland: Oh, no! I'm not the kind of person who normally would take a contract for a character when I haven't even figured out who I'm going to be bringing home at the end of the day. But there's something about this lady where you just know she's going to give you a gift. TV Guide: Are you having fun?Strickland: Honey, I'm having the time of my life! This cast is a hoot. We sit around and laugh so hard. On Friday night, the cast and crew saw the first episode and you just don't know what's going to end up in there. When I saw it, I was so proud to be part of it because these actors are so good. Have you seen it? TV Guide: Yes, I did see it and you're pretty tough in that episode....Strickland: Me? Well, yeah.... That's why when somebody writes a part for you, you're like, "God, what do I communicate?" She's so smart and intuitive in terms of starting a character in one place and leading them completely to another. Artistically, I think that's something I look forward to. You've seen it with every character on Grey's. They all go through such an incredible journey, especially the ones who start out kind of tough and hard to get to know. When that facade starts breaking down, it's just heaven. I've had some interesting stuff to do so far but I can't wait to see where I go. TV Guide: What first drew you to Charlotte?Strickland: I think there's something to be said for someone who is so hardworking. I like that she has a pretty strong moral code, even if it's different than my own. Playing her is challenging sometimes. I don't necessarily agree with her way of handling people or what she stands for. But I think, at the root of it, people who have that much responsibility at such a young age can get there by accident. I'm going to be taking off my heels before too long, so I like that! TV Guide: How does she compare to characters you've played in the past?Strickland: I don't think I've ever played anyone so hard in terms of her moral code and [she's] very strong. It's a good challenge. I've played strong women before. It's something that I'm comfortable doing because I admire strong women and I certainly grew up around them. But I have to say that she challenges me a lot because I'm a little shocked at how her point of view just really takes over for her and that's kind of it. I think that there are a lot of people in this world who get humbled no matter how good they are or how good they are at what they do. It will interest me to see how that plays out, what will melt her heart. TV Guide: Did you do any research for the role?Strickland: I was not allowed to follow doctors because there's a huge fine if you do it without the proper paperwork, and the proper paperwork is really intense. So, even to this day, I don't think that everything has been passed that would allow me to do that. The wonderful good fortune I have is that my mother is an RN. She is somebody who's been recognized across the country and honored for the work that she's done in hospitals. She was just a phenomenal resource for me to call and get research material. We also have a wonderful gentleman who works with us named Fred who is a remarkable doctor and resource himself. TV Guide: What kinds of things have you learned from them?Strickland: I'm very intrigued by how a person can be around so many intense, moving moments such as death or birth. No matter what happens, you have to be even. I think that's something that's so noble that we don't think about in our day-to-day lives. What happens when these people leave the hospital or even on the other side of the curtain, when somebody has just watched a pretty brutal death? Things like that are so extraordinary. As far as being able to follow somebody, which I desperately wanted, I did not have the luxury of doing that. But, as I said, I did grow up in a [health care] environment. This brought back a lot of my experiences as a child with my mother. So it's pretty cool! TV Guide: Is it a total 180 from playing Annie on Wedding Bells?Strickland: [Laughs] Oh, honey, she was pretty tough, but nothing like this! You've seen it so I don't even have to tell you. You probably saw it before I did. TV Guide: Were you very disappointed that Fox canceled that series so quickly?Strickland: I think four or five episodes aired. I honestly don't remember what made it to the air and what didn't because we shot so much stuff that I didn't even see. But, you know, the good thing about that is it made me available to someone like Shonda. That kind of stuff has no rhyme or reason. I'm just proud I had that under my belt because it prepared me for this and made me very grateful for what I've got now. TV Guide: So it was really a blessing in disguise?Strickland: I do believe life does work that way. In this business, you think you would give your arm for certain roles. Then you see somebody else do them and you think, "Oh, god, that makes so much sense!" You just can't question it. It's just perfect when it's perfect. TV Guide: Were you a longtime fan of Grey's Anatomy?Strickland: I'll tell you what. As soon as I found out I was meeting with Shonda, I watched it back-to-back. Honestly, when that phenomenon hit, I was either working out of the country or knee-deep in another job. I heard about it from all of my friends and I was like, "What is this thing?" The minute you watch one episode, it's ridiculous. I was honestly kind of happy that I wasn't waiting week to week and I could just sit down and watch all of it and get caught up. TV Guide: Did you ever leave the couch?Strickland: There wasn't a lot of downtime, but that's fun, too. I like to marathon a little bit. But, really, I couldn't believe how well put-together it was. To be perfectly honest, I'm not the biggest fan of television. I met with one of the producers and I just chewed her ear off ridiculously about episodes and why I liked them and blah, blah, blah. TV Guide: What did you tell her?Strickland: You don't know what to expect, which I love! Frankly, now I understand why because, when you don't get scripts, you're shrouded in a world of surprise. TV Guide: Have you roped your husband, Jason Behr, into watching Grey's Anatomy too?Strickland: Oh, absolutely! I'd rope anybody that sits down who hadn't already seen them for themselves. TV Guide: What did he think when you told him you landed a part on Private Practice?Strickland: It made sense to him that this would be a wonderful environment for me to grow in as an actor. When you're with someone and you get to see them come home with something that excites them, there's really nothing better. TV Guide: He was on Roswell with Katherine Heigl, wasn't he?Strickland: Yeah, he was! The world is so small. Half of the people on this crew worked with him then. We've had directors who worked on that show say, "You're married to the best man!" So it's very validating to me. TV Guide: Were you a fan of Roswell when it was on the WB?Strickland: Can I tell you something? I'd never seen it and I kept hearing that it was the greatest thing. And now, especially when he's on location, the dogs and I will sit around and watch it. TV Guide: That's so cute!Strickland: Yeah. I am a major dork. TV Guide: Any chance your husband will guest-star on Private Practice?Strickland: Oh, I'd love to work with him! If he would indulge me and they would indulge me, it would make my day. Are you kidding me? I would die to act with him, because we did The Grudge and we didn't have a single scene together. I would love that! In fact, I'm going to recommend it. TV Guide: What do you think of the buzz around the show?Strickland: I think that kind of stuff is what you make of it. We're all there to do our jobs and do them well. If people in the public receive us, that is the greatest gift we can ask for. I think if we even allowed that kind of thought process in, we wouldn't be doing our jobs well. There is way too much work to focus on the media attention. Is it nice? Absolutely! If it means more people will welcome us into their homes, then I say, "Great! Bring the attention." But you never know. That's why you just have to be very much in the moment. Take a sneak peak at KaDee Strickland in Private Practice with our Online Video Guide. The Sept. 24 issue of TV Guide features House star Hugh Laurie's most irreverent interview ever and a look at the new season of How I Met Your Mother. Try four risk-free issues now! Send your comments on this Q&A to letters@tvguide.com. Tags: Insider Share on Facebook KaDee Strickland POLL: Which Actor Did Shonda Rhimes Dislike Enough to Kill Off Her Show?So many choices! 7 Truths About ABC's Secrets and LiesNo cliff-hangers here! Kate Walsh Plays an "Unapologetic" Mess in Her New NBC Comedy Bad JudgeAn intelligent, hard-working and successful woman whose professional life is perfect, but whose personal life is, well, less so? Yes, Kate Walsh's new gig starring on NBC's Bad Judge may not sound like a huge stretch from her days on Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice as Dr. Addison Montgomery, but Judge Rebecca Wright makes Addison look like pretty tame. "It's two different beasts," Walsh tells TVGuide.com. "I think Addison is probably more sophisticated for sure. [Rebecca]'s a little more edgy." That's a serious understatement…. Exclusive Bad Judge Sneak Peek: Kate Walsh and Ryan Hansen Indulge in Some Steamy Afternoon DelightKate Walsh's former TV alter-ego Addison Montgomery enjoyed her fair share of conquests on Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice. But Walsh's newest role on NBC's Bad Judge may give Addison a run for… Ask Matt: Outlander, Orange and Emmys, Shonda Times Three, and MoreSend questions and comments to askmatt@tvguidemagazine.com and follow me on Twitter! Question: I was wondering if you've had a chance to preview the Outlander series, based on the books by Diana Gabaldon. I'm a big fan of the books and I'm hoping that the series will be faithful to the story. Do you have any insight you could share? - Elizabeth Orange Is the New Black's Laverne Cox Heads to Girlfriends' Guide to DivorceLaverne Cox is breaking out of the big house. At least temporarily. The Orange Is the New Black star is set to guest-star on the new Bravo scripted series Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce, the network announced Tuesday. TV's most stylish characters From Buffy the Vampire Slayer writer Marti Noxon and based on the best-selling books of the same name, the hour-long series centers on Abby (House alum Lisa Edelstein), a self-help book author who tries to hide her separation from her husband as she begins to navigate life as a single woman in her 40s. She goes to her divorced friends, instead of her married ones, for advice which leads her to unexpected and life-altering experiences. Cox will play… Photo Credits: KaDee Strickland by Eric Ogden/ABC; Richard Cartwright/ABC; Kelsey McNeal, ABC; Brownie Harris/ABC; John Fleenor/NBC; STARZ; Corbis

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Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me 05 June, 1995 Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me Lyrics Themes From Batman Forever (Composed By Elliot Goldenthal) Tell Me Now (Mazzy Star) 'You don't know how you got here You just know you want out Believing in yourself almost as much as you doubt You're a big smash You wear it like a rash Star....' This 1995 single, from the soundtrack to the Batman Forever movie, was a track the band started writing during the Zooropa sessions in 1993. Bono described the song, which went to No. 2 in the UK and No.1 in Ireland and Australia, as about 'being in a rock band'. It was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for 'Best Original Song.' The track became an ever-present during the encore of the PopMart Tour in 1997 and a live version from the show in Mexico in 1997 was released on the limited-edition CD, Hasta La Vista Baby, produced for Propaganda subscribers. The video for the single, directed by Kevin Godley and Maurice Linnane, featured the band as cartoon characters performing in Gotham City, with Bono battling between two of his onstage personas - The Fly and MacPhisto. Production Notes "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" was the lead track off the Original Soundtrack 'Batman Forever' which also included Seal's "Kiss From A Rose" and contributions from PJ Harvey, The Offspring, Mazzy Star, Massive Attack and Eddi Reader. In 1996, "Hold Me, Thrill Me..." was nominated for two Grammy Award's, 'Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group and Best Rock Song. Release Date: 05 June, 1995 Produced By: Nelle Hooper, Bono & The Edge Engineer: Robbie Adams and Flood Label: Island Records Recorded At: Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me VIDEOS "The post-ZOO TV U2 seem like the perfect musical amabassadors for Hollywood's third installment of the Batman saga, BATMAN FOREVER. Just like Bruce Wayne, they are so constantly play-acting (is he Bono or is he The Fly?) that "reality" seems to veer with perspective; and just like original director Tim Burton's Gotham City, U2 now exists in a vacuum driven by old vices and new technologies. So, "Hold me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me," the band's T-Rex meets SoulIISoul contribution to the album, holds up equally well as a U2 track and as the film's theme, exploring the dualities of superficial contentment and inner turmoil." COMMENTS vertigo40 08 September, 2012 Rock N’ Roll Star “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me” is one of U2’s (particularly Bono’s) most self reflecting songs. I feel the song is about becoming a rock star and the pitfalls that are associated with it if one is not careful. The song has a very hypnotic quality to it and is the song that first introduced me to U2. I have always been a Batman fan and the song was featured on the soundtrack to “Batman Forever.” The accompany video for the song sees U2 traveling to Gotham City where “Thy Fly” and “MacPhisto” from Zoo TV cross paths. The video also gives us a glimpse at the inspiration for Zoo TV’s colorful characters as “The Screwtape Letters” by C.S. Lewis is read by Bono. Looking back, I really did not understand what the song was about when it came out as I was very young but I just knew I was seeing and hearing a great band in a Batman movie. This song will always be special since it was the song that started my discovery of U2. I was ecstatic when U2 brought the song back for the 360 tour. The song has such power behind it with Adam and Larry driving the grove. Newer comments 1 - 1 of 1 Older comments

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Movie review: 'Kill Your Darlings' The title refers to some literary advice doled out in the film by a college professor who suggests to his students that they shouldn’t be afraid of editing their own writing. But this based-on-fact look at some of the folks who eventually became known as the Beats – Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs, among them – here seen during their time as students at Columbia in the 1940s, also involves a murder.The victim is shown in the opening frames as the crime is being committed, after which the film flashes back to the situations leading up to the event. It’s a story that’s been pretty successfully covered up for the past half century by the perpetrator, who went on to a successful career as a news syndicate editor. But with all the principal players now gone, it was time to have it told.First-time feature director John Krokidas made all sorts of wise choices in his casting, especially in the film’s two leads: Daniel Radcliffe, rid at last of his Harry Potterness, as wide-eyed and innocent freshman Allen Ginsberg, and Dane DeHaan (“Chronicle,” “The Place Beyond the Pines”) as the more worldly and definitely controlling fellow student Lucien Carr.The film gives us a peek at Ginsberg’s less-than-idyllic family life – his poet father Louis (David Cross) was a caring man but frustrated over the emotional frailty of his wife, Naomi (an unrecognizable Jennifer Jason Leigh). Ginsberg was what would have been called in those days a nice young man. But Carr is portrayed as an enigma, a powerfully persuasive fellow who liked to make a scene, then stand his ground. Carr and Ginsberg were opposites that attracted, but only as friends and co-conspirators, with Kerouac (Jack Huston) and Burroughs (Ben Foster), all of whom plotted to turn the literary establishment upside down by infusing it with new, radical ideas.On the periphery of all of this was outsider David Kammerer (Michael C. Hall), an older man who made his way to Columbia on the trail of Carr, upon whom he had a crush.While the film remains solidly focused on the quickly developing maturity of Ginsberg as he follows, sometimes blindly, the larger-than-life path set by Carr, the other characters continually pop in and out of the background, almost always bolstering that main story.With Ginsberg and Carr, who would go on to enjoy a long career at United Press, right up front the whole time, ample opportunity is given to Radcliffe and DeHaan to really explore them, and both young actors are everything their director as well as audiences could hope for. Radcliffe shows off his ability to pull off a character arc that moves from being meek and timid to taking charge of his life and of the risks that go along with that decision. DeHaan, who grows more confident with each role (he’ll soon be seen as Harry Osborn in “The Amazing Spider-Man 2”), gives us a Lucien Carr who is a force to be reckoned with, a take-no-prisoners character who lets a few weaknesses slip through only when he’s not paying attention to his own actions.Page 2 of 2 - Director Krokidas and his co-writer Austin Bunn maintain a couple of atmospheres at the same time – one revolving around the excitement of youth and discovery that’s found right after a young person leaves home, and one that approaches luridness, when dealing with the fairly pathological dealings of Kammerer and Carr.The best part of all of this is that we get to see what was going on in the lives of many of these iconic people before they were who they became. The film ends up being thrilling and creepy and insightful. It will likely get viewers to forget about Harry Potter and to check out the life of Lucien Carr.Ed Symkus covers movies for More Content Now.KILL YOUR DARLINGSWritten by Austin Bunn and John Krokidas; directed by John KrokidasWith Daniel Radcliffe, Dane DeHaan, Michael C. Hall, Jack Huston, Ben Foster, Jennifer Jason LeighRated R

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Lady Antebellum And Stevie Nicks Perform At 2014 ACM Awards Val Powell04.07.2014Life Share this Post The 2014 Academy of Country Music Awards yielded some fantastic performances on Sunday from esteemed country artists such as Blake Shelton, Sheryl Crow, and Rascal Flatts. However, it was the duet between country music group Lady Antebellum and legendary vocalist Stevie Nicks that rocked the show. The three-time ACM Vocal Group of the Year and “The Reigning Queen of Rock and Roll” performed Lady Antebellum’s current hit song, Golden, followed by the classic Rhiannon by Fleetwood Mac. The two artists have performed together in the past; they appeared on the television show CMT Crossroads on Country Music Television or CMT, in which Lady Antebellum and Nicks joined forces on such Fleetwood Mac hits as Landslide, Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around, as well as Lady A’s Love Don’t Live Here Anymore and Need You Now. That was sweet. @ladyantebellum & Stevie Nicks just performed #Golden at the @ACMawards. #ACMs http://t.co/OATNX2u5Mk pic.twitter.com/OLMw8l7tGC — iTunes Music (@iTunesMusic) April 7, 2014 The 65-year-old legend sang Lady Antebellum’s praises earlier this week, saying that Golden is the group’s Landslide because it’s just that spectacular”. Lady A singer Charles Kelley had nothing but good things to say about Nicks as well. In an interview with Yahoo! Music, Kelley said that Nicks is “incredibly humble” and that she patiently rehearsed with them for hours until they “got it just right”. Nicks is due to go on a North American tour with Fleetwood Mac that will feature keyboardist Christine McVie, who joined the band in 1970 and retired in 1998. She rejoined the group early this year and also performed on stage with Fleetwood Mac in London’s O2 Arena in September of last year. Lady Antebellum is currently on tour around the United States, and has already performed at various cities including San Diego, California, and Phoenix, Arizona. They are scheduled to appear in Evansville, Indiana on April 10 and Atlanta, Georgia on April 11. A complete list of their tour dates can be seen on the official Lady Antebellum website. Lady Antebellum Behind the Scenes Tags:awards show, Duet, Lady Antebellum, Stevie Nicks Val Powell I'm a content writer, blogger, SEO enthusiast, visual artist, world traveler and lover of spicy foods. I also live and work in Queens, New York. FOLLOW ME on Twitter! @webnewsreporter or LIKE ME on Facebook! webnewsreporter Post navigation Previous: Previous post: Mickey Rooney, Legendary Actor, Dead at 93Next: Next post: Star Wars: Episode 7 Begins Filming

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Colleen Zenk: The We Love Soaps Interview, Part Three Damon L. Jacobs In Parts One and Two of our interview with Colleen Zenk, the legendary and captivating actress reviewed her pre-AS THE WORLD TURNS years, Barbara's whirlwind romances with James and Gunnar, and the emergence of "Bad Barbara" under Douglas Marland. In the next part below, Zenk discusses working with Larry Bryggman (John Dixon) and Benjamin Hendrickson (Hal Munson). Plus, for the first time, she shares insight into the suicide of Hendrickson in 2006. We Love Soaps: Barbara’s romance with John Dixon started with a lot of romance and fun, then took a very tragic turn. Colleen Zenk: It ended up tragic. Barbara was caught in the church fire while she was pregnant. John had to decide to save his wife or save his baby. He decided to save his wife. The baby died in his arms while Barbara was still in a coma. Larry was brilliant. Incredibly, extraordinarily brilliant. I grew as an actor working with him. Working with an actor of that caliber who cared about the material in a different way that Benjamin [Hendrickson] did, approached the material in a different way, and with a different attitude. We Love Soaps: What were the differences between Larry Bryggman and Benjamin Hendrickson’s approaches to the work? Colleen Zenk: [Pause] I used to get very frustrated with Benjamin. As much as we all loved Benjamin, he came in many times never having read a script. It was frustrating, not just for me, but for the directors and for the other actors. I’m a person who needs to prepare. I would come in prepared. When you are working with an actor who had never even opened up their script before walking in the rehearsal hall, it gets frustrating. Now as the years wore on, and as became more and more efficient, and working faster and faster, he had to finally start doing some homework. So the last years before he died he finally started stepping up to the plate. It had been a long time since he had done that. Larry on the hand would come in with ideas. A lot of times he would be be complaining about the material [laughs]. But everyone complains about the material and figures out a way to do it. He would come in with a very different set of preparations and ideas of how a scene should play or how a story should play. For him it was always about the integrity of the material, the integrity of the storyline, and the integrity of the characters. And he cared. He pretended he didn’t, but he cared big time. You can see it right now in the work that is airing now. You can see what kind of actor he is. He makes it look so easy, like he’s throwing it away. But that’s what good actors do, they make it look easy. Benjamin did the same thing. He would make it look easy. Benjamin was a fabulous actor. A lot of times they did not give Hal the kind of material that would stretch Benjamin. Some of it was too much cops and robbers stuff . Not too often did he get to play story lines that touched the heart. There were a number of them over the years and God knows we had great fights. We got into Hal and Barbara great-fight mode and had great fights. We had great rhythm together once he would get going. It was too bad they could not find a way to allow him to show what he could really do. I think that frustrated him as well. He knew he was better than most of the material he was getting. We Love Soaps: On July 3, 2006, we learned on Benjamin’s suicide. It was a shock for viewers. Colleen Zenk: Horrible and sad and tragic. The one thing Benjamin never really understood was how loved he really was, by everybody. He was his own worst critic. He was very hard on himself. We Love Soaps: Did you know he was struggling with depression? Colleen Zenk: Oh yeah. I had known for years. I knew more than most. There were two people on the show who really knew the depths. We Love Soaps: Where were you when you found out? Colleen Zenk: I was in my kitchen when the phone rang. It was Eldo [Ray Estes], head of our make-up department. He told me. We Love Soaps: How have you coped with this loss these past four years? Colleen Zenk: I was just sad. So sad. Those of us that knew him deeply were not shocked. We were just horribly sad that this is where it went and this is where it came to. It was a loss for the show, a huge heavy loss for the show. Benjamin always had this face of great camaraderie, a funny guy. Only the people who really knew him knew the depth of depression. It was a shock for a lot of people. It was really hard to recover from that. Story wise, very difficult to recover. Chris [Goutman] said that Hal was always the moral compass of the show, even more so than Jack. Jack made mistakes along the way that Hal didn’t make. That was part of the difficulty for Benjamin, that he always played the good guy, not the flawed guy. Jack was good but flawed. Hal was just the good guy. There was something in Benjamin that felt like, “I’m not playing who I am.” We Love Soaps: He had left the show a few years prior and then returned. Colleen Zenk: He actually left a few times. The audience probably didn’t know. He was dealing with difficulties. We Love Soaps: It is common when someone we love takes their life to ask, “Could I have done anything different, or ‘should’ I have done anything different?” Did you ever have those thoughts? Colleen Zenk: No. I tried for him. I adored him. I tried to find girls for him. I tried to find homes for him. I told him to come to Connecticut. I think that was all very counter-productive. In many ways my positive attitude irked him. I didn’t know that at the time. So rather than being someone who was supporting him, I think he found me like a gnat. “Get rid of that gnat.” I’m being very honest here. That is part of what happened with our personal relationship. I can’t speak for anyone else. But that last year he tried to push people away. We Love Soaps: Including you? Colleen Zenk: Most definitely. In 2005 I ran off and did “Hello Dolly,” and my sister died that Fall. It was at that point we found a way to talk and communicate and share some things for the first time in a very long time. It was over my sister’s death and me sharing photos of theater that I had done. I was trying to share with him. He showed that he was very happy to be back in communication with me. EDITOR'S NOTE: Press here for Part Four during which we discuss the resurrection of Barbara Ryan under Hogan Scheffer's pen. CBS's "World" stops turning this week, but yours doesn't have to! Damon L. Jacobs is a Licensed Marriage Family Therapist specializing in Grief/Loss work and is now taking new clients in New York City. He is also the author of "Absolutely Should-less: The Secret to Living the Stress-Free Life You Deserve." Damon L. Jacobs, Larry Bryggman, WLS Interviews Patrick ErwinSeptember 15, 2010 at 2:26 PMDamon, you've done a lot of great interviews, but this may be the most insightful and sensitive one you've ever done.Thanks for interviewing Colleen, who we've all loved for so many years.ReplyDeleteMarkHSeptember 15, 2010 at 2:55 PMWhat Patrick said.Such a gift!ReplyDeleteGreeneb2September 15, 2010 at 4:36 PMI remember reading in soap magazine articles from the late 1990s & early 2000s that Ben Hendrickson was battling clinical depression because he had hard times dealing with the deaths of his father, his older brother Stephen Hendrickson whom Ben took care of because Stephen had an inoperable brain tumor in his head for over 14-15 years, & then his mother. Ben was the caretaker for Stephen & Stephen's teenage son & daughter during those years.ReplyDeletejonathanSeptember 15, 2010 at 5:19 PMI only started watching ATWT last summer, but knew of the show and had seen snippets over the years being a fan of soaps all around. But watching this show the past year, even though some have found it hard to watch, has been a truly joyful thing for me. A co-worker of mine went to the same high school in the chicago suburbs that coleen did and got to see her perform "love letters" there with her husband Mark for a fundraiser. She said they were amazing. I live in Chicago, so I unfortunately do not have access to see the remarkable talent of ATWT doing plays and shows like the New Yorkers do. I will miss this show, and I look forward to hearing of the wonderful post ATWT projects our Oakdale family gets into.ReplyDeletesoapoperaaddictSeptember 15, 2010 at 8:44 PMThis was a touching and sensitive interview. I haven't read the whole thing but I adore Colleen as well as Ben Hendrickson. It is sad that he never knew how much people cared about him and Hal.ReplyDeleteAdd commentLoad more...

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Beyonce Jay-Z MTV Video Music Awards Beyonce Performing At VMAs & Receiving Video… Beyonce Performing At VMAs & Receiving Video Vanguard Award Thu, August 7, 2014 10:05am EDT by Elizabeth Wagmeister 1 Comment Beyonce is taking the stage at the 2014 VMAs! The highly-anticipated award show of the summer just got a whole lot more royal, welcoming Queen Bey to perform and receive the Video Vanguard Award. Click for all the details on Bey’s big night! The 2014 MTV Video Music Awards are right around the corner, and Beyonce will perform at the August 24 award show! Beyonce is nominated for more awards than any other recording artist, rounding out the VMAs with eight nods! Will Jay Z join her? Beyonce Performing At 2014 VMA Awards As if you needed another reason to get excited for the 2014 VMAs, Beyonce is taking over — the “Flawless” singer, 32, is confirmed to be at the award show, and she’s performing! The exciting news was announced on August 7, in the midst of Beyonce’s “On The Run” tour with husband Jay Z, 44. Queen Bey will also accept the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award . She’s being honored with the huge award this year, joining the ranks of Madonna, Britney Spears, Beastie Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Justin Timberlake and Michael Jackson. Usher, Ariana Grande, 5 Seconds of Summer, Maroon 5 and Taylor Swift are also set to perform, as HollywoodLife.com reported, though Bey’s number is sure to be the most talked-about performance of the night — especially if Jay Z joins her up on stage. The couple is reportedly suffering marital problems and are rumored to be heading toward divorce. Beyonce Honored With More VMA Nominations Than Any Other Artist August 24 will truly be Beyonce’s night. Not only is she going to rock the stage, but she’s nominated for more awards than any other artist this year. Beyonce is up for Video of the Year and Best Collaboration for “Drunk In Love” with her hubby Jay Z, and is being honored for more categories, including Best Female Video and Best Choreography for her hit “Partition.” The 2014 VMAs will mark Beyonce’s fourth time performing at the annual award show. The MTV Video Music Awards air live on Sunday, August 24 (9/8c) on MTV. HollywoodLifers, are you excited to see Beyonce perform at the VMAs? Do you think Jay Z will take the stage with her — or at least be in the audience to support his lady? Drop a comment below, and let us know! More Beyonce News: Beyonce Raps About ‘Leaving’ Jay Z In New Nicki Minaj Song — Report Beyonce & Jay Z: Fans Beg Couple Not To Divorce Jay Z & Beyonce Fight For Their Marriage In $30K A Night Hotel Suite

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'Arabia' returns, 40 years later David Sterritt A young critic I know made waves a few years ago when he wrote that "Lawrence of Arabia" was one of his favorite movies, but he'd seen it only on television.He had no interest in viewing it theatrically, he added, and couldn't imagine a panoramic 70mm image being more beautiful than the light-struck pictures on his TV screen. For him, commercial breaks were oases in the film's 216-minute running time.I don't agree with my colleague, but I don't take umbrage at his remark the way some purists do. His love for "Lawrence" is rooted in his personal history with the film. His affection for its TV incarnation – interruptions, cropped frames, and all – is like the fondness some music aficionados have for the scratches and pops that punctuate the LPs they grew up with. "Lawrence" returned to theaters for a 40th-anniversary run this week, allowing a new generation to choose sides in this debate. Whether or not you've seen the film on TV, I find it hard to imagine you won't respond to the expansive scale, luminous clarity, and sheer cinematic beauty it offers in its original form. Don't look to it for history lessons, of course. Like virtually all Hollywood films, it takes plenty of poetic license – oversimplifying the Middle East campaigns of World War I, promulgating clichés about Arab life, placing hero T.E. Lawrence at events he likely had nothing to do with, and suggesting his homosexuality in the whispered terms required by censors in 1962.As a shining example of a vanished breed of epic filmmaking, though, it can't be beat. The scene most admirers remember best – a near-dead Lawrence reemerging from the desert after risking his life to rescue a fallen comrade – is so long and minimal that no director in the age of Spielberg & Co. would dream of attempting it.Ditto for the casting, with then-minor actor Peter O'Toole as Lawrence and white guys like Alec Guinness and Anthony Quinn playing characters like Prince Feisal and Auda abu Tayi, complete with caftans and dark skins.In short, they don't make 'em like this one anymore. Viewing it is like taking a time machine to a movie age that was more naive than our own in some ways, more sophisticated and ambitious in others.I spoke with director David Lean about it in 1989, when he led a team restoring it to its original length and luster, and was struck by how passionate he was about every detail, down to the nuances of the Technicolor hues. You feel that passion in almost every frame.• Rated PG; contains violence. Peter O'Toole and the gift of watching classic movies with kids (+video) Omar Sharif was an international icon, legend of silver screen Lawrence in Arabia

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Born to Be Wild: Swinging with orangutans, roaming with elephants Sr. Rose Pacatte | Apr. 12, 2011 NCR Today PrintPDF This new IMAX 3D documentary tells the profoundly moving stories of two women “super heroes” working to preserve two endangered species. These are Dr. Daphne M. Sheldrick at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Kenya and Dr. Birute’ Mary Galdikas at the Orangutan Foundation International in central Borneo (Indonesia). Both are articulate, experienced, quietly passionate and determined women who have spent decades rescuing, rehabilitating, and returning orphaned infant elephants and orangutans to the wild.In general, I do not care for 3D movies but “Born To Be Wild” is a film 3D was made for. It had me from the opening scene.The film reaches out and embraces the audience and the narrative gently calls the question: Why save wild animals when they offer humanity no practical benefit? Though the film seems to contradict this, it is not because they are cute -- which they certainly are. As Galdikas said at the press day April 2, the forests are like the original Garden of Eden that people left, and the animals remained. Thus, she intimated, we have an obligation to preserve God’s creation. Morgan Freeman narrates the 40-minute film with conviction. He said that this project is "extremely important and well-worth doing because it highlights a couple of ladies whose courage and dedication should be trumpeted."It also highlights the danger of what we are doing as humans in terms of the rest of life forms on the planet. We are not aware, as people, of what we are doing. We just blithely go along, eliminating habitats, killing off other creatures in order for us to have more room to grow more food for more of us. There is an inherent danger in this that we need to bring to light, that if we continue the way we are going, eliminating habits and other forms of life, we are going to eliminate ourselves.The problem for orangutans is the palm oil plantations created by the destruction of the rain forests. “Modern global culture is coming to Borneo; you cannot leave the global culture behind except in the depths of the rain forest” explained Galdikas. “Palm oil is in every product today and for someone to obtain a palm oil concession in Borneo is like a license to print money.” Galdikas admits that without government help she would not be able to rehabilitate orangutans, but the government “wants to eat its cake and have it, too” when they continue to expand palm oil franchises. “It’s like facing a tsunami,” she said.“Elephants” explains Sheldrick, “duplicate human in terms of age, so they don’t learn until they are 20. We take care of them until they are grown and they we return them to the wild, where they belong. I don’t believe that elephants belong in circuses or zoos. Not do I believe in training them through brutal methods to do unnatural things for the benefit of humans. You can judge a nation by how it treats its animals.”Sheldrick has worked with elephants for fifty years near the Tsavo Natonal Park, an area the size of Michigan, in Kenya. “When you raise an elephant there are ups and down,” she told journalists at the press day. “This space can give elephants quality of life but there is much intrusion of domestic life and animals into the national park that politicians permit and this compromises the environment.”There is no doubt of Sheldrick’s love for the elephants: “The memory part of an elephant’s brain is greater than that of the human brain. They never forget the human trainers from the nursery. And elephants can read your heart; there is no pretense. Those who care for them, it has to come from the heart.” The stunning cinematography and IMAX 3D brought me totally into the film as if I were there, from the very first moment. This finished product was not easily obtained, however. Filmmakers David Lickley and Drew Fellman described the challenge of carrying 30,000 lbs of equipment into the jungle and out again, and the difficulty in trying to manage a 500lb IMAX camera among the elephants. The good news for the crew is that a lightweight digital IMAX camera was available as a second camera. What response does the film ask of viewers? In addition to a respect for creation, one can, through the film’s website, “foster” elephants in Kenya or “purchase” forest in Borneo -- land that will be saved from deforestation for orangutans and other forest inhabitants.There is no doubt that this film, like last year’s Oscar-winning film “The Cove” sends a strong anti-animal capture message to audiences. “Born to Be Wild” was too short. I want to know more. The film opens April 8.Click here for IMAX theaters.Dr. Daphne M. Sheldrick, named a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II in 2006, and the Kenyan reserve for orphaned elephants that she founded, were profiled twice by CBS “60 Minutes” news magazine in 2006 and 2008.Dr. Galdikas and the Orangutan Foundation International at Camp Leakey (named for paleontologist and conservationist Dr. Richard Leakey) were profiled by “60 Minutes” in 2001 in the context of the Indonesian rain forest crisis and CBS’ “48 Hours” in 2009. Advertisement

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Movie Review: “We’re the Millers” Posted by Jason Zingale (08/06/2013 @ 10:00 pm) Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Aniston, Emma Roberts, Will Poulter, Ed Helms Rawson Marshall Thurber It hasn’t been a particularly memorable year at the movies, especially for those in search of a good comedy, so it’s a relief to see a film like “We’re the Millers” arrive in theaters, because although it’s not as funny as its behind-the-scenes talent might suggest, it’s one of the better comedies released thus far. Directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber (“Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story”) and co-written by the guys behind “Wedding Crashers” and “Hot Tub Time Machine,” “We’re the Millers” doesn’t break any new comedic ground, but it’s packed with some great laughs and an ensemble cast that seems game for just about anything, no matter how outrageous or inappropriate it may be. “SNL” veteran Jason Sudeikis stars as David Clark, a low-level drug dealer who gets robbed one night by a group of thugs, losing his entire stash and personal savings in the process. His slimeball boss (Ed Helms) doesn’t take the news well, but he offers David a chance to make amends by smuggling a “smidge” of marijuana across the Mexican border in exchange for a clean slate and $100,000. David knows that a single guy traveling alone in an RV will only draw attention from the border police, so he recruits a fake family to serve as a disguise, including the stripper who lives in his apartment building (Jennifer Aniston), the dorky virgin next door (Will Poulter) and a bratty teen runaway (Emma Roberts). But when they arrive in Mexico, the aforementioned “smidge” turns out to be a few metric tons, and worse yet, it belongs to someone else, forcing the ersatz Miller family on the run from a ruthless drug lord. “We’re the Millers” is every bit as formulaic as the typical road trip movie, but the cast makes up for those generic story beats with some winning performances, and they all pull their weight equally. In fact, although Sudeikis is technically the film’s lead, he’s actually the weakest link of the bunch, relying too much on his one-note wisecracking to realize that he’s being outshined by the rest of his “family.” Aniston should tap into her naughty side more often, because the actress delivers one of her more enjoyable roles to date as the stripper-turned-housewife (she even appears to be having fun during her big striptease sequence, despite the fact that it’s very PG-13), while Poulter steals nearly every scene he’s in, whether it’s rapping along to TLC’s “Waterfalls,” getting bitten on the testicles by a spider, or making out with his fake sister and mom in one of the most hilariously awkward scenes in recent memory. The supporting cast isn’t nearly as strong – Ed Helms’ character, in particular, is basically a walking cartoon – but Nick Offerman and Kathryn Hahn provide a few laughs as a pair of fellow campers that the Millers meet on their journey, though they should have been used more sparingly. What’s perhaps most surprising about “We’re the Millers,” however, is that the trailers haven’t ruined all the good bits, which is very telling of just how funny the movie is at times. It’s also oddly sweet (although admittedly cheesy) in the way that the Millers gradually evolve into a real family over the course of the film, even if you can see that development coming from a mile away. Still, “We’re the Millers” could have been a lot worse, and while it drags on for a little too long, it’s definitely worth seeing if your summer has been as noticeably short on laughs as mine. You can follow us on Twitter and Facebook for content updates. Also, sign up for our email list for weekly updates and check us out on Google+ as well. Posted in: Entertainment, Movie Reviews, MoviesTags: Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Aniston, We're the Millers, We're the Millers review Related PostsMovie Review: “Sleeping with Other People”Movie Review: “Horrible Bosses 2″Blu Tuesday: The World’s End, 2 Guns and MoreComing Soon: A Moviegoer’s Guide to August5 Ways Movie Stars Make Money Between Films

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The 45th annual Cannes film festival yields few surprises THIS YEAR'S CANNES FILM FESTIVAL STARTED ON A steamy note with the screening of an uncut Basic Instinct. But lacking the luster of glamour fests past, Hollywood on the Mediterranean soon turned into a Basic Bore. Jurors opted for predictable choices. The Palme d'Or, the festival's highest honor, went to the Ingmar Bergman-scripted Best Intentions, an elegiac love story produced for Swedish television. Other top awards went to director Robert Altman for his wry Hollywood basher The Player and to actor Tim Robbins for his deft portrayal of an unctuous studio head in that film....

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Search WWW Good idea hobbled by poor execution By Lady Liberty web posted April 23, 2007 ** out of **** There aren't too many things I enjoy more than a taut and tense drama starring some accomplished thespians. From its previews, Fracture looked to be just such a film, so I was perfectly happy to settle into my seat with some popcorn and a desire to be entertained. As it happened, the popcorn was cold and the movie not quite as hot as I'd hoped it would be. Ted Crawford (Sir Anthony Hopkins) is an aeronautics engineer in late middle age. His many achievements include a successful business, a lavish home and lifestyle, and a beautiful wife. Jennifer Crawford (Embeth Davidtz) is, however, disenchanted with her husband. As a result, she engages in a heated affair with a handsome — and much younger than her husband — man (Billy Burke). When Ted learns that Jennifer has been unfaithful, he lashes out to wound her as much as she's hurt him. He confronts her with what he knows, and then he ends the affair in the most expedient means possible: He shoots her. Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling) is a firebrand lawyer who works for the District Attorney's (David Strathairn) office. His enviable percentage of case wins has landed him the job offer of his dreams at a prestigious local firm. His boss to be is a beautiful woman (Rosamund Pike) who seems like she might have some extracurricular interest in her newest hire. Life is good! All Willy has to do is dispose of one last case. The Crawford case is a slam dunk. There's a gun and a confession immediately at hand, and a lawyer like Willy can almost phone in his prosecution. But then things start to go wrong in just about every way imaginable, and Willy's winning record is the least of the things he stands to lose. Anthony Hopkins can convey menace, whimsy, insanity, or pain with the barest twitch. His talents are well suited to a role such as that of Ted Crawford — an urbane and highly intelligent man with a streak of pure malevolence hidden deeply in him. Ryan Gosling lives up to his reputation as one of the country's very best young actors. The supporting cast, most notably Billy Burke, is also more than capable. The director did a reasonable job, and I thought the story was interesting, and the script well written. What I didn't like was the edits. Though few movie goers pay much attention to it, good editing can make a good film even better. Unfortunately, bad editing can take a good film and make it less so. It can even result in a bad film. In the case of Fractured, the edits weren't awful. They just weren't good. And I think this story and this cast deserved far better, never mind the audience. As a whole, Fracture is a pretty good movie. The story does have some decent twists, the acting is as I mentioned quite good. I was also fascinated with some essentially useless but very cool mechanical devices featured on screen. In addition, as a longtime camera angle buff, I've got to mention that one of the most awesome camera angles I've ever seen was highlighted here. I just find myself regretting that the mediocre editing took what could have been a very good movie across the board and made it...okay. FAMILY SUITABILITY Fracture is rated R for "language and some violent content." Although there are a few moments that may have warranted the R rating, in general terms, I didn't see much that the average 13 or 14 year-old couldn't see without any problem at all. I'd keep the younger kids home, though, less because of the violence than because of some of the more complicated story line machinations involved. Lady Liberty, a senior writer for ESR, is a graphic designer and pro-freedom activist currently residing in the Midwest. More of her writings and other political and educational information is available on her web site, Lady Liberty's Constitution Clearing House, at http://www.ladylibrty.com. E-mail Lady Liberty at ladylibrty@ladylibrty.com.

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FeaturesReviewsNewsVideosAbout UsCalendarForums MS and Hollywood team up for Halo 4 Launch Trailer Ron Burke News The folks at Microsoft and 343 Industries aren’t messing around! To help build an awesome launch trailer for Halo 4 they’ve teamed up with Hollywood director David Fincher (“Fight Club,” “The Social Network,” “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”) as executive producer and acclaimed visual effects lead Tim Miller (“Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”) as director for the piece. It’s going to debut on Jimmy Fallon on October 18th and will weigh in at about 2 minutes in length. We’ve got all the details in the press release, but let’s hear what the trailer is all about: Titled “Scanned,” the trailer is an action-packed cinematic production that offers a captivating look at the backstory of Master Chief, and provides a glimpse of the new threat he will encounter in “Halo 4.” Filmed in Prague, “Scanned” continues the franchise’s tradition of expanding the universe through award-winning live-action stories, adding to the lore and anticipation for the next chapter in the landmark franchise that has sold more than 43 million game copies worldwide and generated more than $3 billion in franchise sales. 343 has big shoes to fill, but after my hands-on time with the game I have no doubts that they are getting the job done. Halo 4 launches on November 6th and I don’t need it tattooed on anyone’s arm to remember that… Games: Halo 4 Developers: 343 Industries Publishers: Microsoft Game Studios Elsewhere on the web:

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Lawrence Kasdan (filmmaker). D 3:00 am Pacific Heartbeat "Under A Jarvis Moon" Under a Jarvis Moon is the story of 130 young men from Hawai'i who, from the late 1930s through the early years of World War II, were part of a clandestine mission by the U.S. federal government to occupy desert islands in the middle of the Pacific. The first wave of these colonists were Hawaiian high school students, chosen because government officials assumed Pacific Islanders could best survive the harsh conditions present on the tiny, isolated islands. D 4:00 am Pricele$$ PRICELE$$ is a filmmaker's personal journey across America to answer a burning question: why are some of our government's most basic policies, like food and energy, so out-of-date.and can anything be done about it? Sharing the suspicion of fellow-citizens and a class of young civics students that campaign money is involved, the filmmakers set out on the Fourth of July in search of answers. D "Finland's Daycare Solution" Finland: Who's Taking care of the kids? - Balancing your professional and family life can be quite a challenge - especially with the number of 9 to 5 jobs is on the decrease. More and more Europeans have to work shifts - in hospitals, 24-hour supermarkets, or in the media. But who looks after the little ones when you have to work a night shift? Your partner? Grandmothers? Family friends? Finland now has a solution - around-the-clock kindergartens! Ukraine: A Never-ending Trial - The fate of Yulia Tymoshenko continues to strain the relationship between the Ukraine and the European Union. D 6:00 am Jewish Soldiers In Blue & Gray JEWISH SOLDIERS IN BLUE & GRAY explores the little-known sacrifices American Jews made for both the Union and the Confederacy during the Civil War. Recently unearthed personal narratives shed new light on this fascinating chapter in American history and powerfully illustrate the unique role Jews played on the battlefields and the home front. Narrated by Oscar®-nominated screenwriter John Milius (Apocalypse Now) and with Sam Waterston providing the voice of President Lincoln, the documentary chronicles Major General Ulysses S. Grant's infamous 1862 mandate to expel Jewish residents from Union-controlled land and shares the story of President Lincoln's doctor-turned-Union spy. D 7:00 am Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story Narrated by Dustin Hoffman, JEWS AND BASEBALL: AN AMERICAN LOVE STORY explores the connection between Jewish Americans and America's national pastime. The feature- length documentary tells a story of immigration, assimilation, bigotry, heroism, the passing on of traditions and the shattering of stereotypes. Interviews feature fans, writers, executives and players, including Al Rosen, Kevin Youkilis, Shawn Green, Norm Sherry, Ron Blomberg, Bob Feller, Yogi Berra and legendary Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax. D 8:30 am Golden Game: Baseball In Sacramento THE GOLDEN GAME: BASEBALL IN SACRAMENTO nostalgically recounts Sacramento's 150-year baseball history: its early teams and ballparks, the players, important victories, unresolved controversies and unforgettable moments. Among other highlights, the film chronicles the Sacramento Solons' dramatic come-from-behind victory against rival Los Angeles for the 1942 Pacific Coast League series title, the mysterious fire at Edmonds Field (and why some believe the team set it), and the 2000 opening of Raley Field, home of the triple-A champion River Cats. Contemporary footage and archival stills from baseball's early days, along with comments from former players, game announcers, historians and fans, reveal the indelible impression baseball has left on Sacramento and the mark Sacramento has left on the game. D Janet Evans (Olympic Gold Medalist). D 12:00 pm Jewish Soldiers In Blue & Gray 1:00 pm Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story 2:30 pm Golden Game: Baseball In Sacramento 5:00 pm Jewish Soldiers In Blue & Gray "Roadtrip Nation" Marcia Franklin talks with the founder of the PBS series Roadtrip Nation about how the program started and its goals, including an outreach tour of Idaho. The series takes young people on a six-week trip to talk with leaders about their paths to success. She also talks with a participant in one of the trips and to a representative of the College Board about its partnership with the program.G 8:00 pm PBS NewsHour 11:00 pm Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story

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Louis C.K.'s Diagnosis: 'Masterful' By editor Originally published on October 8, 2012 8:15 pm Transcript TERRY GROSS, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. Earlier in our show, we were talking with comic Tig Notaro about the now famous set she performed last August at the comedy club, Largo in LA, right after she was diagnosed with cancer in each breast. Part of the reason her set became famous is that comic Louis C.K. was there - he also performed that night - and he got the word out when he tweeted this: In 27 years doing this, I've seen a handful of truly great masterful standup sets. One was Tig Notaro last night. Her set was recorded and he's just released it on his website. We called him to talk about that set. He just won two Emmy Awards for writing, one for his FX comedy series "Louie" and one for is comedy special "Live at the Beacon Theater." Louis C.K., welcome to FRESH AIR. I know you're on the road now. Thanks for taking some time out with us. First of all, congratulations on your Emmys. That's really wonderful. LOUIS C.K.: Thank you. That was very fun to get them. Yes. GROSS: Yeah. Yeah. So let's talk about Tig's set. C.K.: OK. GROSS: Did you already know that she had cancer before you heard the set? C.K.: No. I didn't know, well, I knew like - I don't know - 60 seconds before. Tig had been sick before. GROSS: The C. diff infection - C. difficile infection. C.K.: That's right. And I knew about that. I hadn't seen her during that but I knew as we have a lot of mutual friends who were taking care of her. And so when I called to ask if I could perform at Largo that night, Flanagan, the guy who runs it, said actually Tig's was sick and she could use the help, like she could use somebody to come in and close out for her. And so I thought geez, she's still sick, you know, but I assumed it was the C. diff thing. So I went in and there was Tig and we're standing in the dark next to the stage and she's getting ready to go on. And I said hey, I heard you're sick. I'm sorry. And she said actually, I have cancer. And I was like what? And she said yeah, it's really bad and it's in my whole chest and it's going to go all the way to my lymph nodes and I'm not going to make it, probably. And she started telling me this stuff and, you know, my eyes filled up, I couldn't believe it. And she said I'm going to go talk about it on stage and she had this handful of papers. And I, it was a lot to learn all at once, you know? And then she went on stage and I stood on the wings of the stage and watched the whole set. GROSS: OK, so she comes out and she says - and no one in the audience knows about the cancer, and she comes out... C.K.: No. GROSS: She comes out and she does the whole, you know, good evening. Thank you. I have cancer. Thank you. C.K.: Mm-hmm. Yup. And she kept saying, it's OK because everyone was upset, people were gasping and crying. And she said it's OK. It's OK. I have cancer. I've never seen anything like it. She was using I have cancer as a soothing thing to say. (LAUGHTER) GROSS: Yes. Like she's soothing the audience. (LAUGHTER) C.K.: Yeah. GROSS: Like and telling this, like, horrible news. So what was your reaction to the audience's reactions? I had asked Tig this question because when she starts doing this whole good evening I have cancer, like some people are just like in shock and they're kind of gasping. But other people like, they're laughing like this is just a regular set. And I know some people are laughing, probably because it's so horrifying they're laughing out of, you know, nervousness and, you know, just not knowing how to respond. But some people, you get the feeling like it's a comedy club. Yeah. Ha. (LAUGHTER) C.K.: Yes. The most interesting thing was how different reactions were going on in there. There was a woman in the front row who burst into tears, really visibly. And Tig went out into the audience, this is really early in the set. GROSS: I didn't know that. C.K.: And she said ma'am, it's OK. It's OK. You're going to be OK. I'm not, but you're going to be OK. And everybody was - it was like somebody had you on the bus and they were jerking the like a joystick forward and back, and side to side, because everybody was doing the same thing. She would say these things and you'd explode in laughter and then you'd realize what it was about and you would gasp and it would choke you back and you'd cry. And I don't think she knew how she was going to do it. She was running by instinct. GROSS: One of the reasons why this performance got such a huge reaction outside of the people were there was because of your tweet - the tweets where you wrote: In 27 years doing this, I've seen a handful of truly great masterful standouts sets. One was Tig Notaro last night at Largo. C.K.: Mm-hmm. GROSS: From a comic's perspective, what made the set so good? C.K.: Well, you know, for comedians you see everything. We know all the tricks so it's hard to impress a comedian with comedy. But some people have a sound that's just theirs that's patented. It's kind of like horn players. There's probably times that Charlie Parker would tell John Coltrane, you know, I saw this guy in Chicago you got to hear him. I mean, nobody's doing what this guy is doing. Tig has this really beautiful sound on stage. She has this way of dropping her jokes that are - they're wonderful deadly jokes. And they're about small things usually, like bees and drapes, but they're incredible. So here she is applying it to something really big. It was an incredible example of what comedy is good at, which is taking people to the scary parts of their mind and making them laugh in those scary places. That's a great gift. And some of us do it through calculation or through repetition and, kind of, like, you know, focusing on a bit and refining it. Tig just went up there with her voice and in front of us she processed her own death, her own imminent death, with humor, with comedy, which is this very pure oxygen-rich environment. You know, she did something about looking at a picture of herself when she was five and saying to this cute little picture, you're going to get cancer. And we're all going, oh my god. And I never - for me, I kept - I was crying and laughing the whole time and hearing the audience lurching back and forth, exploding, then hushed - totally hushed - and then exploding again. It's like I never saw anything like it, the way that she controlled it. GROSS: So I love your description of her set and what comedy at its best can do. I just want to say for anybody tuning in now that Tig is actually not dying, that she's had a double mastectomy, and they think they got all the cancer and they told her there's - the doctors told her there's only a 7 percent chance of recurrence. So she's actually - considering what's happened to her, she's in a good place right now. C.K.: That's right. GROSS: So I just want to make that clear to anybody just tuning in. So did you ever see a set that tried to do something similar to what Tig did? In other words, tried to take something very personal, very confessional and very frightening and bomb, you know? And so instead of it being this kind of like miraculous set where, like, people are experiencing, like, laughter and grief at the same time and are processing what's being said on a very deep level, it's just, like, not working at all, even though the comic's just, like, bleeding on stage. (LAUGHTER) C.K.: Well, sometimes comics will go to dark areas, and they'll either go there by stripping away the real sentiment and just playing with the really refined darkness of the situation, and they'll purposely edit out any emotion about it. And that's something you can do to get laughs about a dark thing. Other people will really delve into the pathos of something, and then the crowd just goes quiet. I've never seen somebody try it for a whole set. That would be hard. But I've seen people go to - stray into, you know, sad, dark territory where it gets quiet and it stops being comedy for a minute. And some people do that, and it's OK. I saw a guy once have sort of - reenact a nervous breakdown onstage to show everybody what it was like, and it was just - it was very hard to watch, and it didn't connect for the audience. The thing that Tig was doing was something I haven't seen, which is telling you what it feels like to just have learned this, and she's not complaining. She's just observing. You know, it's like that thing Jodie Foster says in "Contact." She says they should've sent a poet. Like, they sent - somebody sent Tig as a great comic poet to this place, to this precipice of life and death, and she reported beautifully what it feels like in a way that was so selfless and so grateful for life that it was funny, that it wasn't just pathetic or sad. You know, some people go up there and they complain about just the way they're treated by customer service and they sound like they're complaining more than she did. You know? GROSS: Yes. (LAUGHTER) C.K.: It's, like, I called American Airlines today, and here's what happened. And they'll complain, and they don't sound the way Tig did. So, you know, I was proud of the way she was processing her tough news, and I was also proud of the way she was giving it to people, something they're going to get from it and that audience got, especially, and I got, which is if you have this funny explosion of laughter in the scariest, scariest depths of your fears, next time you see that fear again, you're going to remember the laugh. It's going to be there for you. GROSS: Did you ever have - did you ever do a set yourself that was similar to what she did in the sense of breaking really bad news before you'd even told it to many friends, bad news that you had just gotten? C.K.: You know, I feel like I have. I'm trying to remember. Because I always found the audience in stand-up to be a great friend. I always feel strong on stage, and I feel supported and I feel happy on stage. So when I was going through some things in my life, like divorce, I found being on stage and being able to say just what was on my mind was a huge help. And the audience - as long as they were laughing. I never would've stood there and just made them listen to some misery. But I do think it developed the way I did during some tough transitions in my life. I talked about it on the stage, and that kind of got me to where I am with the way I talk on stage now, because I'm able to go back and forth. GROSS: My guest is comic Louis C.K. We've been talking about Tig Notaro's comedy set about being diagnosed with cancer. He's just released a recording of it on his website. We'll talk more after a break. This is FRESH AIR. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) GROSS: My guest is comic Louis C.K. He's on the road performing his latest stand-up show. You're kind of branching out on your site. Like, you're on the road now. You're on a comedy tour. C.K.: Mm-hmm. GROSS: And you're selling tickets to your shows exclusively on your site, and you give two reasons for it. One is to avoid the added-on fees that are charged by ticket-selling places - ticket agents is, I guess, the expression. And the other... C.K.: Yeah. GROSS: ...is to prevent scalping. C.K.: Right. GROSS: Just talk a little bit about the fees, like, how big they are and why you want to avoid them. C.K.: OK. Well, comedy tickets roughly run from, like, you know, $25 to - depending on the comedian. Some comedians, it's like 25 to $45 a ticket, and some comedians are like 45 to $100. The fees, I don't know how they concoct them, but they're extremely high. There are some tickets where the fees are like $18 for, like, a, I don't know, a $60 ticket. That's, like, a third of the price. I saw a $25 comedian ticket where the fee was $12. That's 50 percent. It's enormous. You know, congratulations to the people that are able to charge it and they're getting it. But what it creates is a possibility that, jeez, I bet folks would like to pay less. I decided in 2008 to start dropping my ticket prices instead of going up. The natural thing is to keep going up, but I reached this critical mass place where I realized I'm making enough money doing stand-up. So if I drop tickets down a little bit - a recession just happened. I don't want people to be in pain to come see me. I want it to be an easy thing for them. So I'll drop ticket prices. And what happened when I dropped the ticket prices was first it didn't make much impact because the fees were so high, and, second, the scalping became more prevalent for my tickets because they were cheap to buy for scalpers. GROSS: Yeah. How does scalping work nowadays? C.K.: I don't know everything about it, but here's what I know. There's people who have a setup. They have, like - you know, some ticket companies say you can only buy a certain amount of tickets. So they have, like, you know, a thousand credit cards and they have either highly manned or automated systems where they're sitting there with their credit cards ready because they know the tickets are going on sale at 10 AM... GROSS: I see. C.K.: ...exactly whatever it is. August 4th, 10 AM, tickets to this show are going on sale. The guy's sitting there with, like, 50 people on phones, and they immediately start buying... GROSS: I see. C.K.: ...or on the Internet. And then they have those tickets. That's their currency. And they sit there - it's like a commodity. They mark it up and up and up as the show gets closer. And all we did was not tell anybody when it was going on sale. We also - we hired two people who used to be scalpers... (LAUGHTER) C.K.: ...who figured out credit card patterns, and whenever we find a ticket that was bought by a scalper, we contact them and we tell them this ticket has been moved to Will Call, which means you have to show up in person as the ticket buyer with the credit card to pick up the ticket. You can't print it at home. And so that ruins that person's ability to sell it. So every time we've done that, the scalper starts yelling and cursing at us, and they say scalping's not illegal, man. And we go, well, I know. We're just beating you because it's fun and we like to get our - that ticket now gets to go to a fan for $45. You know, we just saved somebody $200. So it's fun. I like doing this. And also, when I first announced the tour in the press, I told people you shouldn't buy scalper tickets, because they may be deactivated by the time you get to the show because we have the power to do that. And that really hurt the scalper market a lot, just the perception that our tickets are not - may not be good. GROSS: All right. Louis C.K. fights back. (LAUGHTER) C.K.: You know, it's worth it. They can make tickets on Garth Brooks or whatever it is. They can make money on plenty of people. They don't need my fans' money to live. GROSS: So I want to get back to your tweet about Tig Notaro. C.K.: Yes. GROSS: When you said, you know, I've seen a handful of truly great masterful stand-up sets, one was Tig Notaro. C.K.: Uh-huh. GROSS: So what were some of the others? C.K.: Bill Cosby in Montreal 2010, I think, not that long ago. It was a two-hour show, which is - I can't do two hours. He told four stories that just ripped your guts out with laughter and were easy to get through. And then he said to the guy in the front row, what time is it? And the guy said nine o'clock. It was a seven o'clock show. And everybody realized, jeez, it's been two hours. He did two hours. It was nothing. And then he told his dentist story and went home. That was it. I'd never seen anything like it. He had 500 ways to get a laugh, and he also was elegant and gentle with his age, you know, and that was probably the best set I've seen overall, two hours of just mastery. I saw George Carlin at the Comedy Store in L.A. getting ready for a set. That was pretty amazing. I used to open for Jerry Seinfeld when I was, like, 19, 20 years old, and I used to stand on the wings of the stage and watch him do concerts. This is before he had a show, but he already was a concert comedian. The way Jerry runs a theater show is unbelievable. If you ever get a chance to see Jerry Seinfeld in a theater, you have to do it. It's a thing that no one else can do like him. The consistency of his ability on the stage is really stunning. Chris Rock at Caroline's in New York when he had done "Saturday Night Live," kind of bottomed out of it and disappeared for two years. Nobody knew where Chris Rock was for, like, two years. Where he was was on the road doing hard, hard shows, getting back his stand-up mojo and growing up into a man. And then he came back to New York, and we all went to see him. This is when he was doing his specials like "Bring the Pain" and stuff. Right before those came out, I saw Chris showcase that material at Caroline's, and he did a set that ran a chill through my body. It made me almost quit stand-up comedy. GROSS: Wow. Some people say when they heard Charlie Parker, they're giving up. (LAUGHTER) C.K.: Yeah. That's what - at the end of Chris' set, the audience was standing and applauding. And there was one bankhead of seats of comedians that were sitting with our elbows on our knees and our heads in our hands. All of us, like, six of us, just going oh, God. (LAUGHTER) C.K.: Like you thought you were good. It's like we were all running the 400 at, like, you know, a minute, and we all thought we are the fastest people alive. And then this guy shows up and does it in 20 seconds. And you're, like, I didn't even know a human being could do that. It's not fair. GROSS: Well, Louis C.K., thanks so much for talking with us. C.K.: Thank you. GROSS: And congratulations again on those Emmys. I wish you a good tour. C.K.: Thank you, Terry. GROSS: Louis C.K. spoke to us from the road. He's on tour with his latest stand-up show. Earlier, we heard from comic Tig Notaro. Louis C.K. released a recording of her stand-up set about getting diagnosed with cancer on his website. You can find a link to another Tig Notaro performance, the one she gave last May on "This American Life," on our Tumbler: nprfreshair.tumblr.com. I'm Terry Gross. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.Related Program: Fresh Air © 2016 KTEP

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Clayton, fellow backup singers finally get due with '20 Feet from Stardom' Author: Tim Lammers, StrictlyCinema.com Updated On: Jul 05 2013 08:35:13 PM CDT RADiUS/TWC Merry Clayton in "20 Feet from Stardom." There's really no other film like the stunning new music documentary, "20 Feet from Stardom," director Morgan Neville's chronicle of the most notable backup singers in music history, and the triumphs and heartaches that met the unsung heroes as they navigated their way in the business, trying to forge careers of their own.Expanding into more theaters Friday, the Special Jury Prize-winner in the documentary feature category at this year's Sundance Film Festival concentrates on classic backup singers Merry Clayton, Darlene Love, Tata Vega, Claudia Lennear and Lisa Fischer. The film also features Judith Hill, a contestant on this season's TV reality competition "The Voice," following various backup singer gigs including a spot on the Michael Jackson's ill-fated "This is It" tour in 2009.In addition to telling the stories of the singers, Neville scored interviews for the film with the likes of Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder and Sting. It wasn't an easy task securing time with the superstars, Neville admitted, but once the talent found out what sorts of stories the director wanted from them, it provided for some very unique conversations."I've been doing music documentaries for a long time, so it took a lot of Rolodex work to get it done and getting in the door," Neville, accompanied by Clayton, told me in a recent interview. "But once we got in, we found out how much they loved talking about the subject because they've never talked about backup singers before to anybody. They, more than anybody know, how backup singers make them sound good. So, in a way, by talking about them was a way of giving back."While Clayton, 64, rose to prominence with her haunting vocals that accompanied Mick Jagger on the Rolling Stones classic "Gimme Shelter," she considered herself long blessed before making that specific contribution to music history. In fact, she knew late legendary singer-songwriter Billy Preston growing up, and because of Preston, Clayton got her first big break as a backup singer for the late, great Ray Charles."We were always known as 'Billy and Baby Sister.' Where ever Billy was, I was. So for him to call me about Ray, it only made sense because I was always around him," Clayton recalled for me. "I loved Ray Charles because all of my life. Growing up he was the only artist my father allowed to go and see. So after seeing him, I always knew in my heart that I could do that. I could sing what those girls could sing. I would stand and watch them be quiet and listen. It was a bout the only time in my life I would stay quiet. I knew I could do it because the harmonies he used were the same harmonies we used in our church choir."Of course, "Gimme Shelter" was a monumental occasion in Clayton's life and career, and she said reminders of the song -- the opening track of the Stones' 1969 album "Let it Bleed" -- are all abound, even to this day.After the song was released, Clayton said, hearing the song was like an out-of-body experience."There was a time where I would listen to it and really couldn't believe it was me," Clayton recalled. "When Morgan invited me into the studio to interview me, he played that song without telling me first, just to get my reaction on camera. He scaled it down to just the vocal without the music, and I went, 'Oh, my God, I was singing for the blood, wasn't I? That was really straight from the throne of heaven.' I can't believe what came out of me when I sang it."Neville pulled the same surprise on Jagger for the film, too, and the look on the iconic singer's face when he hears Clayton for the first time is priceless."You can still see Mick's enthusiasm for it. There's still no better performance in history that I know of than in that song," Neville said.Ironically, Fischer has been performing the song on live dates with the Stones since 1989, but Clayton holds no ill will against her fellow back-up singer for performing "Gimme Shelter" now -- in fact she embraces her."We call ourselves the sisterhood, and Lisa is part of the sisterhood. I absolutely love and adore Lisa," Clayton enthused. "The first time that we met was when the film debuted at Sundance, and we just fell into each other's arms and hugged each other. I said, 'Hey, I'm so thrilled to meet you,' and she said, 'I'm thrilled to meet you and my God, am I doing OK? Am I doing the song OK?' We just loved being around each other the whole festival. With all the singers -- Lisa, Darlene, Tata and Judith -- it was like a love fest at Sundance."

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Movie News Clint chats to About Time‘s Domhnall Gleeson about romancing Rachel McAdams, Back to the Future and being a ‘Ginger’ By Clint - Oct 17, 2013 686 Share on Facebook tweet Domhnall Gleeson’s been in quite a few flicks – including “Dredd”, the “Harry Potter” series, and “True Grit” – but “About Time” marks his debut as a romantic leading man. Clint Morris talks to the ‘Ginger Can Time Travel’ about the sweet new laffer. This is a big movie for you, sir. The pressure’s on for you. Yeah, I guess so. But I mean, the pressure’s off for me really ’cause the pressure was on while we were shooting. Now, there’s absolutely nothing I can do apart from talk to people about it. So, I feel like the pressure’s kind of lifted from me and has moved on to other people. So, I feel pretty good about the whole thing at the moment. So, have you had some good feedback? Yeah. No, we’ve had great feedback. It’s kind of gone down really well in England. It was number one over in England, and that’s the only place it’s been released so far and held up pretty well in the second week. Word of mouth seems to be great. And people coming up to me on the street, and they say last week I’ve seen the film three times in a week, which made me worry for her slightly. Of course, I kind of tested them through this. A lot of people seem to get a lot out of the film, lot of laughs and a lot of tears and all that, sort of stuff. So, it’s a nice film to be a part of. That’s great. I mean… And you’re the new Marty McFly basically? So… Oh, thank you, man. I’ve been getting I’m the new Hugh Grant a lot but… Oh really? Well, yeah, I… No, you know what? I’ll take that. With Marty McFly, there’s something pretty cool… And actually you know Marty McFly originally, that part was played by Eric Stoltz? Yeah, exactly, I know. So, I kind of feel bad for him. I feel like that would’ve gingered it. You know what I mean? But now we have a time-travel movie starring a ‘ginger’! They call it “Ginger Can Time Travel,” and now, because we live in a more accepting world and a more forgiving world, I feel like I’m able to make it up a little bit. I feel good about myself now. So, you really… You’re just doing it for Eric Stoltz basically? What he missed out on… For him, but also just as kind of a public service announcement, just to get the word out there and you know “Ginger Can Time Travel.” And I think it’s important that people know that, straight off. Yeah, it is, it is. But having said this, I mean this movie’s pretty different than from “Back To The Future?” It’s an anti-time travel movie, I think Richard Curtis told me. He did. Yeah, yeah. And I’ve heard him say that. I mean, I think it… I mean, what he’d done if he kind of has all the fun that he can with time travel. And he kind of gets all the jokes that he can out a bit and kind of all those fantastic set pieces that he’s so good at writing. And then, he kind of moves on to a more reflective period towards the end of the film that… What it actually means for the characters. And I think it remains funny all the way through. But it still does get to a place which is slightly more about love and life and real romance and real family and all those sort of things. And then, as a result, it seems to have really affected people. So, Richard seemed to have mixed it up pretty well. I think he should be proud of himself. Yeah, for sure. Now, were you onboard first? Or was Rachel? I was onboard before Rachel. I would imagine I was the real reason he wanted to do it. I mean, that’s what I tell myself as I go to sleep at night time, I think, yeah. I think I was the first person cast ’cause I guess I was kind of an ongoing concern. I met Richard a few times in auditions, play cards with and I had lots of beer. So, he didn’t want to cast me ’cause he thought that I looked like I was 45-years-old. Yeah. So, he got me back a bunch of times and then the decided that perhaps I was the right person. And then, the day that he told me Rachel was doing it, was a pretty special day. I kind of thought, always thought she had… She was absolutely fabulous as an actress and as a person herself; I’ve seen her interviews. And then, yeah, Jamie then met up with her, and then working with her was even better than I had expected. So, every day on set, it was kind of very full of joy and laughter and all that boring stuff, I think it really pays. And so, it wasn’t like, you were… Pretty much girls were in and out of the room. You know you’re doing chemistry tests and so forth. So, it wasn’t like that. It was pretty much you were told, “Rachel’s got the part.” Yeah in fairness, I… Rachel’s never had bad chemistry with anybody in the world. She only took one look at me and said, “We need somebody who knows what they’re doing.” And so, they got Rachel on board and she did… I have to say like she really… She kind of absolutely breaks my heart at how kind of beautiful and real and lovely she is in the film, you know? I kind of thought, “Well, so yeah she’s… Improvement.” The scene where you two meet in the restaurant… I mean, that restaurant alone, that’s stuck with me. That’s brilliant. It’s great, isn’t it? I mean, we went out there. We went… That dark restaurant, the down and worn out restaurant, which is a completely dark restaurant. You can’t see anything as you go in. And the waiters are blind, all the waiters are blind, and the food they bring… They don’t tell you what food they’re bringing you. It’s just like you can just say you’re vegetarian or you… And all that sort of stuff. Then that was at the real place. The moment we went there, I prepped myself and Richard and Rachel and a couple of others. And man, it’s a weird place to be. It’s amazing but it’s very, very strange. And someone did push Rachel’s elbow and I think she still does think it was me. I pushed her elbow. And it totally wasn’t me. I was, see, really taking off my shirt. ‘Cause I knew that nobody could see me. Exactly. There you go! Yeah exactly. So, that wasn’t me, but that was .. That wasn’t you. Ended up and then somebody… It was great fun to go there, crap, and then filming the scene was really a lot of fun. I got to stab her in the eye with [05:36] ____. I think it’s a nice thing too because it… You obviously fall for each other’s personalities. And… Well exactly, how else was I gonna stand a chance, you know what I mean? If you took one look at the two of us, hear what talked, “crap, they better meet at the back.” Not gonna buy this. And thankfully it’s paid off. Yeah. But they… They do describe you as the UK’s Ryan Gosling, don’t they? Yup. When you say ‘they’, if you mean my mother and then my friends, and they’re drunk and really, really, really, kinda making fun of me then yes, they do describe me as, gosh, Ryan Gosling, that’s correct. Yeah. Speaking of really hot guys, Bill Nighy, how was he to work with? Oh man, well, he’s the English Ryan Gosling as you know. That’s right. Yeah. No, he was just so much fun. It was one of those things, you worry… Same with Rachel, same with everybody else. You worry before you meet people, you over think things and you think, “Is this going to work? How are we going to make this work?” And then, sometimes, you just get really lucky and when you meet them, you kind of feel that this is going to be alright. And actually the less stressing we do about it, it’s more, “It’s going to work ’cause it already does work.” And you just don’t want to take away the things. Bill is just one of those really generous people who make the room a nicer place to be because of his energy, and because how he’s able to [06:58] ____ himself. As soon as I met him, I knew that kind of pretending, he was my dad, wasn’t gonna be a problem because he had got all of the requirements. He’s low-maintenance, and funny, and he does look after people. So, he’s got all of that. And then, the fact that he’s just ridiculously cool, incredibly debonair and handsome, along with the great Rachel made the whole thing a lot easier, too. So, it was brilliant spending time with him. And he’s over here in Melbourne… I mean, Germany. Alright. So, we all went for a dinner last night, and Bill was there as well. So, I got to listen to him for an evening, which is a great way to spend time. Do you enjoy the PR part of it? You know PR can be a nightmare when you have to go out and have talk about a film which you aren’t all of fond off, or you don’t think it relates that well. But the reaction to the film… And the fact that I really enjoyed it when I saw it, means that actually I kind of enjoyed it. And I get to meet back up with the guys again, and then, go out in Berlin or whatever the hell else we’re going to be and then… Yeah, I really enjoyed the film, I have to say. I think you can definitely tell too, when an interviewee is not enjoying the movie they’re talking about or hasn’t enjoyed the experience. I remember talking to Harrison Ford a few years ago for Firewall, and I could just tell Harrison just wasn’t into talking about the movie. Yeah. What was he talking about? What did he default to? He defaulted to talking… He’s grumpy. He’s just grumpy, he just… He’s Harrison Ford. Yeah. I think he started talking about aviation, actually. Oh, well, you see. Well, there you go. Aviation. no way, I love the fact that he just turns up and… Because he’s coolest man in the world. Bill Nighy is probably running possibly a close second. He can kind of talk about whatever the hell he wants, you know? If he’s not in good humour, he’s not going to pretend. I think there’s something kind of fabulous about that. Exactly. Now, the new Star Wars is filming in the UK, I believe. Are you saddling up for that? : I’m not saddling up for that, no. They don’t give you the script for those films, as far as I know. No. There is one, apparently. They don’t give you the script. That’s something very strange about signing up for a film where you don’t get to read what you’re doing first. I just find it a little bit upsetting. Yeah, exactly. Read the cue card while swinging this thing. Yeah, exactly. I mean, yeah, especially, when you turn up on set, you’d like to know what the hell you’re looking at. No, I think they’re gonna use technical effects and stuff. And JJ Abrams is directing obviously, so. It’s a really cool idea. You’re coming to Australia, right, to make a movie? Very soon, yeah. I’m heading out there about October 5th. So, I don’t know what date it is today. I think in a couple of weeks, basically. Yeah. It is, yeah. Yeah. How or where, I’ve never been. I’ve got aunts and uncles who lived there before quite awhile ago. And I must still got some kind of fairly distant relatives there. So, I can’t wait to go. Great. And how long are you here for? Well, I’m there for three weeks initially, and I’ve got to lose all this weight before I go out. So, I’m in the process of doing that at the moment. That’s not much fun. Well I’d be very well-behaved for three weeks and kind of just try and survive, I think. But then, my friend, it’s my job to regain weight. So, I’m afraid you will turn into being my friend very quickly, I think. I’m looking forward to having beers, and burgers, and getting ready, and being paid to gain some weight. And then, I got to go back in January for the second half of the film, where we have more weight on Liam, and I just cannot wait. And I’ve heard some brilliant things about some brilliant places though. I think I might travel around a little bit and maybe get to know the place. Yeah, yeah. Why not? Why not? So, finally, if you had the device to travel back in time, what would you go and check out? I think, if anything… Do I have to follow the rules of the movie? Does it have to be my own life, or can I go any time? No, any time, I think. Oh, any time, alright. Well, going backwards, there’s was Irish politician called Michael Collins. I’d like to go back and listen to one of his speeches, ’cause he’s very impressive. And see what he’s talking about, and to hear him kind of do one of the things live kind of in the crowd, I think I’ll see that. But then, maybe also I’d love to go back and see the [11:21] ____ band play early on. I think that… Yeah, seems though everybody else were very confused knowing that what they were doing already while incredibly special, I think that may have… Traditionally in that atmosphere would probably make for a pretty enjoyable evening, so I think that would be the first on my list. Totally. Totally. It sounds like a fun trip back. Yeah, exactly. And also, because I wouldn’t have to be losing weight, I’d also be allowed to have a couple of beers. As I said, it would be an underground gig. So, I think that’s my choice on what to do. It sounds great. Man, thank you so much for chatting to us, and great little movie you got there. Thank you very much, man. I’m really glad you enjoyed it. Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window) TAGSAbout TimeDomhnall Gleeson SHARE tweet Previous articleThe new poster for Grudge Match starring Sylvester Stallone and Robert De NiroNext articleDomhnall Gleeson – About Time Clinthttp://www.moviehole.netClint is the creator, editor and maintainer of Moviehole. Loves David Lynch, David Fincher... actually, any filmmaker by the name of David. Movie News Tom Cruise finds Mena co-star in a galaxy far, far away Movie News Domhnall Gleeson looks to join Tom Cruise in Mena Movie News In 2013 interview Domhnall Gleeson spoke of Star Wars disinterest REVIEWSAllFeaturedAll time popularMore Ben Affleck directing & starring in Witness For The Prosecution Aug 20, 2016 Tracy Letts – Indignation Aug 19, 2016 Teaser Trailer: La La Land Aug 24, 2016 POPULAR STORIES

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‘The Walking Dead’: Sarah Wayne Callies Always Knew Lori Had an Expiration Date By: Paulette Cohn on November 5, 2012 in * Homepage Cover Module, Interviews, The Walking Dead Sarah Wayne Callies as Lori Grimes in "The Walking Dead" (Frank Ockenfels/AMC) “The Walking Dead’s” third season has been action-packed with Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and his gang taking over the prison by force, and Andrea (Laurie Holden) and Michonne (Danai Gurira) being taken as hostages to Woodbury by Merle (Michael Rooker). But the fourth episode was a real shocker — even taking into account the deaths of Shane (Jon Bernthal) and Dale (Jeffrey DeMunn) at the end of Season 2. DVR the Next Episode of “The Walking Dead” [**Spoiler Alert**] Sunday night, the death toll mounted with the loss of Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies), who sacrificed her life for her baby, and T-Dog (IroneE Singleton), who threw himself into a group of Walkers to save Carol (Melissa McBride). It was definitely a three-hankie episode as the group was reduced by two more. XfinityTV.com spoke to Callies the morning after her TV demise to talk about her death, the baby’s survival and why both events are important for the story going forward, especially for Rick and Carl (Chandler Riggs). “Carl is a force to be reckoned with,” she says. “I think it is very telling that Lori isn’t worried about Carl. She tells him he is going to be fine. Her concern is about Rick. The most important thing to her is Rick not see her as a Walker and have to put her down… Carl has evolved into a child solider. I think that Lori’s death signals a change in the balance between Carl and Rick and maybe this boy has flint in his heart in both a good and a bad way that his father doesn’t anymore.” Catch Up on “The Walking Dead”: Episode 4 begins with the discovery that someone has opened one of the gates and baited the path along the way with fresh deer meat. It is chaos when the battle begins between the humans and the walking dead and the groups get separated. Lori, Carl and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) are chased into the prison when Lori announces that the baby is coming. The three of them lock themselves into a cell and Lori goes into labor, but there is something wrong with the baby. Maggie, who has never birthed a baby before, is forced into adulthood as she has to perform a C-section that could cost Lori her life. As Lori reassures Maggie that she is ready to sacrifice all for her unborn child, she has a beautiful moment with Carl, giving him the best life advice she can in her last few moments. “Carl has to become a man,” Callies says. “There is no one else to put Lori down, or be the bearer of her last words. Carl has to take from Lori the last things she says and carry that into the future, which is an enormous burden. Lori’s final act is to turn [Carl and Maggie] into the adults who can keep the baby alive.” Callies says that she knew from the get-go back in Season 1 that Lori died in the comic book, so she took the role, assuming that her character had an expiration date. “The death of Shane, the death of Lori, those, to me, were very difficult things to get around,” she tells XfinityTV.com. “I said something to [executive producer] Frank Darabont and he said, ‘I don’t need to kill you.’ I said, ‘Due respect sir, yes you do.’ He said, ‘I never had a leading lady argue her way off a show.'” To which Callies replied, “In the comic book, Rick goes nuts because his wife dies. I think the way he goes nuts is pretty cool and I think that you are going to want to do that at some point, so know that I am a big girl and when you make that call, I am not going to be fighting for my job.” The planned date for Lori’s death was originally further along in Season 3, but Callies says when she was told last spring that they had shortened her character’s timeline, she kept her promise and didn’t whine about it. Add “The Walking Dead” to Your Queue Callies was especially pleased when she learned how she was going to die because the great gift of her final scene is Lori getting to say everything she wants to say to her son, and she was also happy to learn that the baby — whose paternity is still unknown — would survive. “I think Lori is terrified for the child. From the beginning, she has seen this pregnancy as a death sentence,” she says. “Her decision to throw up the morning after pills that she took last season was in part a decision to say, ‘Okay, I will either die for the baby, or I will die with the baby.'” Callies also sees her character’s death as important for Rick — will he accept the child — but also for what happens to him later in the season. She sees him asking, “Why didn’t I tell her I loved her? Why didn’t I say, I forgive you. Why didn’t say I was sorry? We have all lost people thinking we were supposed to have more time. There is a cost to being silent.” Callies has already filmed her next project, the motion picture “Black Sky,” which was her first experience doing a big-budget special effects film. But she says she will always have a fondness for the role of Lori Grimes, who she enjoyed playing because she saw in her a very different kind of woman. “People asked how it is to leave the show. I say, ‘Watch the episode, it is all there,'” Callies says. “The Walking Dead” airs Sunday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT on AMC. The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast. Andrew Lincoln, IroneE Singleton, Sarah Wayne Callies, The Walking Dead Which Moment Describes What ‘Survivor’ Is All About? Jeff Probst Answers (Not Really) CBS’ Gives ‘Elementary’ the Post-Super Bowl Slot Comments are closed. HeadlinesFan-made 'Star Trek' sets become tourist attraction in NYBranching out: Stick sculptor gains global followingPaisley Park, home of Prince, opens for public tours Oct. 6US anti-whaling group to stop interfering with Japanese'SNL' star Leslie Jones' personal site offline after hackingAppeal seeks to overturn 'Blurred Lines' copyright verdictJudge to rule on tribe's oil pipeline request by Sept. 9Bob Odenkirk to write a book of essays about his lifeAisha Hinds cast as Harriet Tubman in 'Underground' dramaLawsuit filed over railing collapse at Snoop Dogg concert Lifestyle Blog

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31 Days of Horror VI The Man and the Monster El hombre y el monstruoRafael BaledónMexico, 1958 Matt Bailey CasaNegra DVD You could be forgiven for wanting to hit the “stop” button a few minutes into Rafael Baledón’s The Man and the Monster, as it begins with just about the hoariest of horror movie clichés: a lone woman drives down a country road and crashes her car into a tree. Shaken, but unharmed, she seeks help at a nearby dilapidated hacienda from which pour the haunting strains of impassioned piano-playing. She knocks on the door. The music stops, but no one comes. She begins to walk away, but is stopped by the grunting voice of a man behind the door, begging to be set free. She looks down to see a set of keys at her feet. Warily, she picks up the key and moves to the locked door. She inserts the key in the lock and slowly turns it. The next shot fills the frame with her screaming face and, splashed atop it, the title of the film, El hombre y el monstruo. The film then cuts back to the shot that opened the film: a car traveling down the deserted road, but this time it’s a different car. The man driving stops to curse the driver who has blocked the road with her car. Just as he is inspecting the damage to her car, she appears behind him, screams again, and collapses. She is near death, mauled by some ferocious creature. The man runs to the house, knocks on the door, and is greeted by a silent, forbidding woman holding a black cat. She refuses his entreaties for help and closes the door on him. The man returns to the injured woman, and she dies in his arms. If you have made it these inauspicious five minutes into the film and have committed to watching the remaining seventy-three, you are to be congratulated, for you are about to see one of the best, most interesting, and most unusual horror films to come out of the final flowering of Mexico’s golden age of cinema. Though it is just another of the dozens of movies to issue from the filmmaking factory of brothers Abel and Alfredo Salazar, this film features a twist in the story, uncharacteristic of a horror movie, that lends it genuine pathos, handled with uncommon sensitivity. The cast of characters is small: our male motorist, Ricardo Souto, is a journalist now determined to solve the mystery of the dead woman but also, conveniently, assigned to write about the scheduled return to the stage of the reclusive pianist, Samuel Magno. Magno, who lives in the same tumbledown house that featured in the first scenes, claims that he can no longer play the piano, but he will be conducting the orchestra for his young protege, Laura, who looks uncannily similar to the woman in a painting that hangs above Magno’s piano. Laura lives with Magno, but there is no romantic involvement. In fact, she is locked in her room every night where she can hear Magno playing the same unearthly sonata again and again. Rounding out the cast is Magno’s mother, Doña Cornelia, the stern woman from the first scenes, who only wants to protect her sensitive son. Doña Cornelia does her best to prevent Magno from playing the piano because it agitates him, but he explains that he must play and points to another mysteriously locked door within the house. When Ricardo has a chance to explore the house while it is empty, he opens this door to find the corpse of a woman – the same woman from the portrait – clutching a rolled-up piano score. You see, Magno has sold his soul to the devil to become the best pianist in the world, and when he plays the music in this score each night, something terrible happens: he turns into a murderous, wolfman-like monster. What sets this movie apart from the hundreds of also-rans of the horror genre that flourished in the late-1950s and early-1960s is the manner in which Magno recovers from his transformations. He becomes a man again not when the sun rises, when the moon wanes, or through the kiss of a pure woman, but rather through the touch of his loving mother. At the core of this wild movie intended to frighten little kids, and to give couples on a date a little scare, is a surprisingly tender story about a mother’s unconditional love for her son. This relationship figures in the ending of the film, which is as unexpectedly touching as the end of The Bride of Frankenstein, another horror film that beautifully explores the intersection of monstrosity and human emotion. A strange combination of Faust with Jekyll and Hyde, served with a dollop of The Phantom of the Opera on the side, The Man and the Monster was directed by the inventive Rafael Baledón, who would go on to write and direct another Mexican horror classic, The Curse of the Crying Woman, which I wrote about for our 31 Days of Horror feature three years ago.) At that point, CasaNegra Entertainment, a boutique DVD label specializing in fully bilingual special editions of Mexican horror films, had just launched. The Curse of the Crying Woman was one of their first two releases, and I applauded them in my review of the film for bringing these extraordinary films to a wider audience. Less than a year and only a handful of releases later, CasaNegra was out of business. The Man and the Monster would be one of their final two releases. DVD titles that had been announced and scheduled, including Alfonso Corona Blake’s marvelously bizarre World of Vampires, would remain unreleased, still teasing “Coming Soon” on CasaNegra’s abandoned website. In 2007, it was something of a shock to see a DVD label go abruptly kaput. Commenters on DVD forums wondered if some other company could release the titles; rumors abounded that the company would come back. In late 2009, it’s plainly apparent that the demise of the company was just an early harbinger of a disheartening contraction of the DVD marketplace. Boutique DVD labels both new (NoShame films, devoted to vintage Italian genre and arthouse films) and old (New Yorker Films, a decades-old stalwart of independent theatrical and home video distribution) have passed out of existence. Others seem to have sharply scaled back: Fantoma, which has released an eclectic mix of titles by filmmakers such as Kenneth Anger, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Yasuzo Masumura, and Fritz Lang, has not released anything new for over two years, while Blue Underground, specializing mainly in classic splatter films, appears to be concentrating on making Blu-ray versions of their existing releases than on taking chances with new titles. Something Weird Video, a former mail-order-only outfit that became a peerless leader in exploitation film on widely-distributed DVDs has now gone back to its roots, offering DVD-Rs from its website. This pullback is not just limited to boutique labels, though. This past March, Warner Home Video launched their burn-on-demand Warner Archive Collection – a way of getting obscure films into the hands of fans – but at the same time seemed to all but cease production of the elegantly curated box sets (Classic Musicals from the Dream Factory and the Signature Collection series, among others) and feature-packed DVDs of classic films that led Slate to call them “the new Criterion Collection” in 2005. Fox Home Entertainment, which against all odds released extraordinarily lavish box sets of their John Ford, Frank Borzage, and F.W. Murnau films in 2007 and 2008, has little else but repackaged films from the past twenty years on their upcoming release slate. Amid this dark landscape, however, there remain some bright spots. Sony, which had previously been one of the worst of the major studios at getting their classic catalog released, has now become one of the leaders. Box sets of films by Budd Boetticher and Michael Powell released in the last couple of years are being joined by sets devoted to screwball comedies, crime films, films of the “New Hollywood,” and the films of Samuel Fuller. The Criterion Collection, despite the eternal grousing of its fans on certain online discussion forums, continues to put out a brave and diverse selection of films from the work of unheard-of-in-America Japanese directors of the 1930s to arthouse blockbusters from the past year. Kino in the U.S. and Masters of Cinema in the U.K. continue along their merry, eccentric paths while testing the market by boldly putting great silent films on Blu-ray. Even newer boutique DVD labels are finding ways to thrive: Shameless Screen Entertainment, MYA Communications, and Mondo Vision have joined Severin Films, Dark Sky Films, Synapse Entertainment, and Mondo Macabro in releasing the best (and occasionally the worst) in cult cinema. Would that a successor to CasaNegra was among them to continue to bring interesting yet overlooked films from Mexico like The Man and the Monster to new eyes. By Matt Bailey ©2009 NotComing.com More 31 Days of Horror VI Shock ‘Em Dead Critters 2 The Fall of the House of Usher Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple In the Mouth of Madness Winterbeast Black Roses Needful Things The Seventh Victim Holocaust 2000 The Man and the Monster Trouble Every Day The Hands of Orlac The Devil’s Advocate Hard Rock Zombies The Slumber Party Massacre Saw VI Zombi 4: After Death Hausu

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'Rounders' Star Edward Norton Can't Find a Poker Game August 1, 2011 9:20AM It’s been 12 years since the hit film Rounders became an instant cult classic and turned Edward Norton and Matt Damon into poker icons – they even played in the 1998 World Series of Poker the year the movie came out! If anyone should be able to find a good poker game, it should be these two. That’s not quite the case … at least for Edward. Instead of playing poker, Ed’s been busy supporting arts education, including this weekend’s Art for Life Benefit sponsored by Bombay Sapphire at Russell Simmon’s East Hampton Estate. “I’ve tended to pick up things that I’ve encountered at random,” Ed told OK! of his personal art collection. “There a Czech artist I really like named František Skála. He’s really good. I have some really neat things that he made.” OK! NEWS: EDWARD NORTON LEADS CELEBRITIES AT THE NYC MARATHON We can’t think of a place better suited for the art-supporting poker icon than New York art gallery Marlborough Chelsea’s poker game this week during artist William Powhida’s exhibit. So why isn’t Ed jumping on it? “It’s been awhile,” he says. “I mean, theoretically I still have my skills but I haven’t put them to the test in a while.” So why not? “Just haven’t found a game.” THE PHILMGUY’S DVD REVIEW: FIGHT CLUB; GONE WITH THE WIND Perhaps he’s busy with his important charitable efforts. After all, Edward was appointed by President Obama to the Committee on the Arts and the Humanities along with fellow celebrities including Sarah Jessica Parker, Kerry Washington and Forest Whitaker. “Promoting investment in arts education is one of our core missions,” he explained. That’s a cause we’ll gladly ante up for.

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scaryideas.com Imagination Movers Rock-o-Matic - Dance Kung Fu Information / Credits When the Imagination Movers were ready to release “Rock-o-Matic,” their latest DVD of music videos targeted to children and parents alike, they came to CRASH+SUES (C+S) for an innovate approach to creating music video vignettes that would bring their songs to life. The full-service post production company’s multi-disciplined team took a fresh, collaborative approach to the project, providing a full pallet of editorial, visual effects, stop motion animation, color correction and finishing – as well as some production services – for six of the seven videos featured on the DVD, in addition to cutting all of the interstitials and authoring the disk. Imagination Movers is Disney’s Emmy Award-winning eclectic rock band that has been captivating kids of all ages with its fresh approach to pop music. The quartet of singers/performers have sold more than 250,000 CDs and DVDs, and star in their own hit music and comedy series on the Disney Junior network. This most recent high-energy DVD features music videos linked to fun interstitials that range from live-action comedy bits to “Great Moments in Creativity,” activities and the Catnip and Catnap puppets – taking the general to the next level. C+S executive producer Sven Shelgren, who helmed the project, recounts, Scott Durbin, one of the four Imagination Movers, called C+S owner Heidi Habben last summer with a question about doing a stop motion animation music video for one of their songs. He was impressed by the work he had seen on our website, and loved the idea of stop motion as a way to reach and connect with kids in a visually exciting way.” Initially C+S was tasked with creating a single music video as a promotional piece heralding the launch of The Movers new CD of original songs and their upcoming nationwide tour. However the job ultimately grew into a full 30-minute DVD, that made use of the company’s streamlined pipeline of visual effects, animation, editing, color correction and finishing services for 6 more music videos, along with a series of comedy skits created by and starring the Movers that were interlaced into the DVD, and all of the interstitial skits, graphic design, as well as authoring the DVD. The project also took advantage of CRASH+SUES’ production capabilities, tapping into the veteran executive producer Sven Shelgren’s considerable experience in the live-action production arena. C+S provided postproduction services for the music videos featured on the DVD, including: “Little Red Wagon,” helmed by animation director Cari Merryman, who incorporated stop-motion animation into a cut-paper environment with traditional cel-style video to create a captivating visual story; “Everybody Sing,” edited by Matthew Kroese; “Remember When,” edited by Eric Riggs; the animated video “Blast Off,” created by animation director Kinsey Engelmann. In the video entitled “Thank You,” the Imagination Movers pay tribute to their fans with a compilation of still photos and video footage of the band and their audience, beginning with images from the days when the group was performing at backyard parties, through more recent scenes of the now nationally known band’s US concert, playing to thousands of fans. Editor Todd Isaacs was asked to cut the “Thank You” video in a style reminiscent of the multiple split-screen opening titles of the TV series “Parks and Recreation,” and then given free rein to shape the style and content. Working on Apple’s Final Cut Pro 7, Isaacs began by selecting the best segments from the group’s previous DVDs. “I watched the opening sequence of ‘Parks and Recreation’ a couple of times for inspiration, and then began to plan how to integrate that concept with the music and the footage. I also listened to the song a number of times and visualized the edit based on the beats in the music,” Isaacs explains. “I wove the edit together, starting at the beginning and taking it a step at a time until a rough cut was done. The client viewed it, made some suggestions and after a few tweaks everyone was thrilled with the final results.” The complexity of the movements of the multiple split screens required Isaacs, and C+S editor Matthew Kroese, to come up with an innovate approach to rendering out the edit without compromising the visual integrity of the cut. C+S colorist, SUE provided valuable guidance for Isaac’s color correction, which he performed within Final Cut, suggesting he maintain “a keen eye for the little details that add up to make a big difference.” Isaacs also used Adobe Illustrator to add graphics that enhanced the retrospective footage. Another video, “Dance Kung Fu,” is a live-action retelling of the fairytale, “Little Red Riding Hood,” in which the Imagination Movers undertake a mission to bring cookies to grandma while evading a troop of Cookie Ninjas. The actors and singers in the group play themselves, as well as the Cookie Ninjas/Kung Fu dancers. The fast-paced storyline uses a ‘see-say’ approach to the lyrics, so CRASH+SUES editor Carrie Shanahan was tasked with getting the best action shots of the two groups, while keeping pace with the lyrics so young children could follow along. “The director did an initial cut, which sped up nearly every shot in retro “Benny Hill” fashion. That technique had a certain charm, but I thought it was too hectic for a young audience,” says Shanahan, who edited the video on Final Cut, assisted by Matthew Kroese. “My challenge was to tell the story in real-time while keeping pace with the lyrics. We happened to have a colleague’s seven-year old in the office during the edit, so I had her watch a rough cut to make sure she was getting the story. She was - and thought it was ‘very funny’ so I felt I was going my job!” Several of the scenes in the “Dance Kung Fu” video featured in-camera effects and required some editorial finessing to support the illusion that the Movers and Kung Fu dancers were interacting. Shanahan also had to lip synch four characters as they ran and danced. SUE did the color correction on the Nucoda System Ryan Wheeler performed the online and Alex Engelmann crafted the opening animation. "REMEMBER WHEN" was the ‘fan’ video on the new DVD, which means fans sent in videos of themselves, in the hopes of making it into the song,’ notes CRASH+SUES’ Eric Riggs, the editor of the video. “Not only do these guys have a huge fan base, but they are creative too! Their fans are a testament to the innovative and original music they put out.” “I used to live in New Orleans, where the band is from, and I have a young son, so I was excited to work on the project,” adds Shanahan. “The Imagination Movers were a pleasure to work with and sent us a ‘King Cake’ after the wrap – a local delicacy with a little plastic baby baked inside. If you get the slice of cake with the baby, you have to throw the next party. I got the baby so the next party’s on me!” “One thing we pride ourselves on is writing and performing all of our songs (over 200),” says Imagination Group member, Scott Durban.” This DVD is about real guitars, real drums and real fun - coupled with incredible artistic contribution by CRASH+SUES’ team that brought our songs to life visually for our fans.” The DVD production used the talents of every member of the CRASH+SUES’ collaborative team, and has helped raise the public profile of the Imagination Movers. While the band is in the midst of a four-month concert tour of North America and abroad, viewers can still catch original episodes and old favorites of the Imagination Movers television series airing daily on the brand new 24-hour Disney Junior Network.Client: Imagination Movers Project: “Rock-o-Matic” DVD Executive producers: Rich Collins, Scott Durbin, Dave Poche, Scott “Smitty” Smith DVD PRODUCTION, POST, ANIMATION + AUTHORING: CRASH+SUES/MN Executive producer: Heidi Mae Habben Producer: Richard Sven Shelgren Assistant producer/media manager: Jim Roy Senior colorist: Sue Lakso (SUE) 3D artist/graphic design: Alex Engelmann Flame artist/compositor: Adam Celt Smoke artist/compositor: Ryan Wheeler Editors: Carrie Shanahan (“Dance Kung Fu”) Todd Isaacs (“Thank You”) Matthew Kroese (“Everybody Sing”) Eric Riggs (“Remember When”) Animation directors: Cari Merryman (“Little Red Wagon”) Kinsey Engelmann (“Blast Off”) Animator: Sean Hall (“Little Red Wagon”) Additional animation: Lasso Studios Animation director: Anthony Mumphrey (“Animal Dancing”) AUDIO POST COMPANY: Steve McCabe Music/KY Additional music scoring/sound design/final DVD mix: teve McCabe Production Company: (“Dance Kung Fu,” “Everybody Sing” and interstitial “Skits”) Director: Jonathan David Evans Cinematographer: Ryan Martin Grip/production assistant/guest ninja: Mike Spara Sound for Greenscreen: Andrew Gidiere Hair/makeup: Erica Barado Subscribe

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Best Host/Anchor ever in Vijay TV Subscribe to Star Vijay TV - Best Tamil Channel by Email Vijay TV's musical series on Yuvan Shankar Raja Star’s Tamil offering Vijay TV will be airing a 4-week, 16 episode musical series on Yuvan Shankar Raja (Yuvan) as a run-up to a live concert in Chennai. Each half-hour episode will be broadcast Monday to Thursday at 10.30 pm. Vijay TV will create and produce the series, a source from the channel told RnM. The concert is likely to be staged between the last week of December and the middle of January, and Vijay TV plans to start airing the Yuvan series four weeks before the concert date. The musical series will revolve around Yuvan, popular music composer and son of the illustrious Illayaraja. It will cover his journey through the eyes of his friends, family and colleagues from the industry. The episodes will also feature the career ascent of Yuvan, as well as insights into his family which has its roots in the town of Pannaipuram. The theme of the ‘Yuvan Live In Concert’ is ‘Celebrating music that’s young and fresh’. Yuvan will also compose an album which would cater to the audiences across Tamil Nadu. The album is likely to be released on the day of the concert. The event promises to feature a galaxy of music and singing stars like Hariharan, Shreya Ghoshal, Shankar Mahadevan, Vijay Yesudas, Karthik and Haricharan, with Yuvan in the lead. A special segment named ‘Band of Brothers’ would be staged in which, for the first time, the entire family comprising Yuvan and his siblings Karthik Raja, Venkat Prabhu, Premji Amaren and Bhavatharini would perform. The highlight of the concert will be a segment, Unforgettable, for which Yuvan and the maestro – his father Illaiyaraja -- will perform together. International dance acts are also a part of the concert. The channel plans to bring on board as many personalities as it can, and has yet to announce the date. A road show to promote Yuvan’s album has been planned. Yuvan would travel to Madurai and Coimbatore to promote the same apart from promoting it in Chennai. As is well known, Yuvan is an Indian Tamil film music and soundtrack composer, singer and occasional lyricist. He has scored music predominantly for Tamil and Telugu films. He has won two Filmfare Awards; the Best Music Director Award in 2004 for his score in the drama 7G Rainbow Colony at age 25 (the youngest winner of the award) and the Special Jury Award in 2009 for his Telugu musical Oy! Besides, he received two nominations for Filmfare Awards, one Tamil Nadu State Film Award in 2006 and the Cyprus International Film Festival Award in 2006 for Raam, becoming the first and only Indian composer to win it. Small-screen news battle gets big 16 episodes on Yuvan Shankar Raja Non-fiction would continue to drive Vijay TV : K S... Interview with Sneha, 16-10-2010 Musical battle of South India with all 4 Southern ... Ratha Charithiram Movie interview, 17-10-2010 Ulagam Sutrum Super Star, 17-10-2010 This is a personal blog. This blog just provides a snapshot of the knowledge, views, and opinions that I/content writer hold at a particular point of time and these might most probably change over a period of time. I reserve the right to evolve my knowledge, thoughts, and viewpoints over time and to change them without assigning any reason. My blog includes links to other sites/blogs operated by third parties. These are provided as a means of convenient access to you to the information/opinion contained therein. I am in no way responsible for the content of any other sites or any products or services that may be offered through other sites.

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The Rock Celebrates His Dad’s Birthday By Sharing Some of His Tough-Love Advice Steve Wozniak Says Apple Should Not Eliminate Headphone Jack in iPhone 7 How I Met Your Mother Cut a Funeral Scene From Its Finale Eliana Dockterman @edockterman Ron P. Jaffe—Fox Television From left: Josh Radnor as Ted and Cristin Milioti as Tracy in the finale of How I Met Your Mother. The show's buzz-worthy ending could have been even more tear-jerking, according to star Alyson Hannigan [SPOILERS AHEAD] Fans were dismayed to find out in the show’s series finale that the mother of the title, Tracy, would go on to a premature death. Viewers learned of her passing in a montage of her and Ted raising a family together and a conversation between the main character Ted and his kids. But the tragedy could have been even more prolonged. According to series star Alyson Hannigan, the finale was about 18 minutes shorter than the original script the actors were given at the table read. Among the cut scenes was a montage of Tracy’s funeral. “Honestly, if you saw [that] cut, it would be even more heart-wrenching than what the finale was. They were like, ‘No. It’s just too gut-wrenching.’ And I was like, ‘That’s what I want. I want my heart ripped out and slammed on the floor and, like, stomped on!’” she told TVLine. Though some fans might have found Ted’s decision to pursue his old flame Robin after his wife’s death even more tasteless after seeing Tracy’s funeral, Hannigan argued that it would have given the audience more closure: “[The scene] would have been better for the audience, so that then they can process, ‘Oh, [Ted] mourned. He got closure’ — and then they’d be happy that [he and Robin] got together. Rather than be like, ‘Oh, wait. She died? What? They’re together, huh?’ And credits. That’s what I think was too fast.” The series creators promised a recut, happier ending to the show in the DVD boxset after fans expressed disappointment at the finale. [TV Line]

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HomeFilmMarkets & Festivals China key to booming Hong Kong biz Clifford Coonan @cliffordcoonan 0 Closer filmmaking ties help H.K. connect with spike in Mainland moviegoing Hong Kong’s film biz is booming, and driving the industry are revenues from across the border in Mainland China. There were 70 movies made in Hong Kong last year, 30% more than made in Hong Kong in 2008, and the number is expected to increase this year. Driving these figures is the Mainland market; in many cases, Mainland Chinese revenues account for 70% of B.O. for Hong Kong movies. “China is now proving to be a fast-growing market for Chinese-language movies. At least six or seven of the top 10 box office hits are Hong Kong movies or co-productions, so this really has given a tremendous boost to the industry in Hong Kong,” says Jack So, chairman of the Hong Kong Film Development Council and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC). Closer cooperation across the border is transforming the once-moribund Hong Kong biz. The former Crown colony, which reverted to Chinese rule in 1997, has reaped the benefits of rules aimed at encouraging closer ties with China. Hong Kong, for example, does not fall under rules restricting the number of foreign movies distributed in China, and it also enjoys favorable regulations, such as the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) trade deal. Among the collaborations taking shape are Cinema Popular, which allies China Film, HK helmer Peter Chan and Chinese producer Huang Jiangxin, and First Cuts, a project headed by HK producer Daniel Yu and Chinese filmmaker Tang Xiru. “Speaking very personally, the Hong Kong film industry is still very much at a crossroads stage,” says Albert Lee, chief executive of Emperor Motion Pictures, which is putting the finishing touches on a classic Hong Kong-Mainland China production: “Let the Bullets Fly,” which brings together Hong Kong action star Chow Yun-fat and top Chinese helmer Jiang Wen. “The opening up of the China market gives us a lot more chances and opportunities because the market is enormous, and it hasn’t realized its full potential yet. It’s also a challenge. We have to examine the way we make our films. The rest of the traditional market for Hong Kong films, places like Southeast Asia, has been very soft. The emerging market is China, for which we are grateful.” The rise of Mainland cinema has seen an exodus of Hong Kong helmers across the border and many of the territory’s biggest names, such as Peter Chan, Teddy Chan and John Woo, have made major films in China. Hong Kong-Mainland co-productions have tripled since 2004, when CEPA went into effect. The trade deal allows Hong Kong-Mainland co-productions to be treated as Mainland domestic productions for purposes of distribution, which exempts them from foreign quotas, among other benefits. From 2006 to 2008, nine of the top 10 domestic films shown in Mainland Chinese cinemas each year were, on average, the result of such co-productions. The refocus on the China market has meant a change in the kind of films Hong Kong directors are making. They have to learn to accommodate the strict censorship rules on the Mainland, which prohibit ghost stories and a lot of comedies. “Many Hong Kong filmmakers want to make contemporary comedies, but not many have found the pulse of the audience in China, except for Jeffrey Lau’s recent success” explains Nansun Shi of Asian pic sales outfit Distribution Workshop. “So Hong Kong filmmakers tend to make action films, period and contemporary,” adds Shi, who also serves as managing director of Irresistible Films, which promotes the work of new filmmakers, and as producer of her helmer husband Tsui Hark’s films via their Film Workshop shingle. Shi says that Chinese investors are not investing in pure Hong Kong films or films that are not for the Chinese market. “There are more and more co-productions between China and Hong Kong,” Shi notes, adding that at the same time, many emerging Chinese directors are also successful in making commercial films. So, maybe, in time, Chinese investors will not be so obsessed with using Hong Kong directors. Ricky Tse, head of distribution at Media Asia, believes the links between Hong Kong and China are strong, but says that there still is room for expansion of these relationships. “Hong Kong filmmakers are now more familiar with the procedures, the systems and the requirements of Mainland China, and they know more about the culture and habits of Mainlanders,” Tse says. “It’s easier to have a co-production with Mainland nowadays.” While there is a mixture of themes in movies being made in Hong Kong, for the China market, big-budget films are the norm. And with success comes an inevitable increase in expense. “Costs are rising in China rapidly, but big-budget movies are less risky in the long-term,” Lee says. Indeed, Chinese auds made event pic “Aftershock,” which also played on Imax screens, the highest-grossing Chinese film ever, with some $78 million as of Aug. 11. China has proven a notoriously difficult market to crack for Hollywood. But Lee feels that Hong Kong’s input could help make the Mainland market more accessible, since it has a good legal framework, is international in flavor, and has a history of expertise in dealing with both Western and Mainland Chinese shingles. Lee feels the Mainland also holds the key to success for Hong Kong filmmakers as well. “The long-term outlook for most companies is China,” Lee says. “If we can do well (on the Mainland), it lifts a lot of pressure. If Hong Kong companies can establish a foothold in China, they are fairly secure. China is our final frontier — and it’s our own backyard.” Language proves no barrier at B.O.By Clifford Coonan Closer entertainment industry ties with Mainland China is good news for the Hong Kong biz, but what does cooperation with the Mainland, where Mandarin Chinese is the main language, mean for Cantonese cinema, the very different language spoken in Hong Kong? Could the language of Bruce Lee die out in world cinemas in favor of Mandarin? Most filmmakers think Cantonese cinema will survive the pressure of Mandarin, partly because of the Hong Kong market but also because Cantonese is spoken in the south of China. “Several films with a very strong local Hong Kong flavor have done well this year; i.e., films not reliant on the China market to recoup, such as ‘Echoes of the Rainbow,’ ‘The House of the 72 Tenants,’ ‘Love in a Puff,’ ” says Distribution Workshop’s Nansun Shi. “This is a very good sign. Hopefully this trend will continue. “Nowadays, all the co-production films are released in Cantonese in Guangdong province. Certain films with a strong southern China psyche do exceptionally well in Guangdong, such as Raymond Wong Pak Ming’s ‘All’s Well that Ends Well.’ The box office from the southern provinces is much higher than the northern part of China. I think Cantonese cinema, especially for films in a contemporary setting, will be here to stay.” Producer Terence Chang has also seen a comeback for purely Hong Kong films in the past year or so, citing Cantonese films such as “Echoes of the Rainbow” by Alex Law, Janet Chun’s “La Comedie Humaine” and “72 Tenants” as examples. “It is good that filmmakers and investors in Hong Kong are willing to give up the mainland market (except for Guangdong Province), make local films and still make their money back,” Chang says. Emperor Motion Pictures’ Albert Lee says his company will continue to produce films for the Cantonese market. “There is always a market for Cantonese films, in Hong Kong, southern China and many parts of Southeast Asia,” says Lee. However, be prepared for some changes in the kind of movies made. “The films will be produced, but the business model will have to be examined. In the future, Hong Kong filmmakers will have to readapt, evolve their products,” Lee says. “Local-style gangster movies and comedies will have to evolve — gangster movies and ghost stories may not be approved in China. We need to find a way around. We can’t turn back now. And it’s difficult to make the whole of China watch a Hong Kong-style comedy.” Helmer Wilson Yip believes martial arts films will continue to play a key role in the Hong Kong biz. “In the past, kung fu stars like Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan brought Hong Kong movies to the world, so I believe action films are a crucial reason for our success,” Yip says. Albert LeeDaniel YuHong KongHong Kong Film FestivalNansun ShiRicky TseTeddy ChanVenice Film Festival Want to read more articles like this one? SUBSCRIBE TO VARIETY TODAY.

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Kevin Clash: Making Elmo Come To Life By editor Elmo and Clash, on the Sesame Street set in 2006. Richard Termine / Sesame Workshop Elmo and Kevin Clash have been working together for more than 20 years. Clash has also performed in Labyrinth, Muppets from Space, Follow that Bird and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Photo courtesy of Scott McDermott/Being Elmo Kevin Clash (center) started making puppets when he was a teenager in Baltimore. Photo courtesy of Submarine Deluxe/Being Elmo This interview was originally broadcast on December 15, 2011. Being Elmo premieres on the PBS program Independent Lens on April 5th. When Elmo first appeared on Sesame Street, the little red monster had a deep voice and rarely laughed. But then puppeteer Kevin Clash started working with the furry red creature. Clash, now the senior puppet coordinator and Muppet captain on Sesame Street, further developed Elmo's lovable personality and started providing his trademark voice. Over the past 25 years, Clash has transformed Elmo into one of the most recognizable characters on Sesame Street. Clash's story is told in the new documentary Being Elmo, which chronicles the puppeteer's journey from performing in backyard shows for his mother's home-based day care center, to working with Jim Henson and the rest of the Muppeteers, to becoming an integral part of the Sesame Street cast. Both Clash "and" Elmo join Fresh Air's Terry Gross for a conversation about Sesame Street, performing with Henson, and creating educational material for preschool-aged children. The Origins Of Elmo Clash describes Elmo as "a 3-1/2-year-old with a lot of energy [who] loves hugs and kisses, and loves to laugh." Clash thought that a falsetto voice would work well for a toddler-aged puppet. "[When playing Elmo], I really go back to being me as a child growing up," Clash says. "I definitely pull back into my childhood and how I was as a child. When I started doing live shows, I would try the show out [on my mom's day care kids]. And if they crawled away, I knew it was something I should take out of the show." Clash was barely a preteen when he started crafting his own puppets from scraps of material he found at his parents' house. His first puppet was Mickey Mouse, followed shortly by his own creations, who often danced and sang like the people Clash saw on TV. "I grew up listening to Motown and watching commercials, so the live shows that I was doing [as a teenager], I really used all of that," he says. "All my puppets knew how to do The Bump and The Robot and all the dances that were out at the time. So I really was influenced by TV and music, and incorporated them into my live shows." In high school, Clash started sewing puppets for the children's series Romper Room. He also started performing on local shows in Baltimore and on the television show Captain Kangaroo. After meeting one of the original Muppeteers, he was invited to join the Sesame Street float during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. That's where he first met Jim Henson, The Muppets' visionary founder who died in 1990, and encountered the artistry of the puppets themselves. "When I actually saw a Sesame Street Muppet, the fur was so thick and rich," he says. "And touching the eyes — I could just find plastic spoons and stuff [for my homemade puppets] — their eyes were really hard and the plastic was really hard, and that meant it could last. It was really amazing how they made the mouths, how they sewed the mouths together, it really blew me away. ... You can get so much looking at it on TV, but up close and being able to really examine it, it was a dream come true for me." Being Part Of A Child's Life Clash was asked to join the cast of Sesame Street as a puppeteer in 1984. Shortly thereafter, he started working with Elmo. The character began to catch on, and then became a hit. "The research department goes out and watches the show with kids, to see how they react to certain characters," he says. "And Elmo just hit the charts as far as them really connecting to the little red monster. And not only laughing with him and enjoying him — but also learning what they're supposed to be learning from the specific curriculum that was in the scripts with him." He says parents are sometimes a bit mystified that their children are so taken with the character — especially when their kids say "Elmo" before they say "Mom." "I get that a lot," he says. "It's like, 'Do you know my child's first word was Elmo?' But they understand it, too. It's nice to be a part of their life with their child." Clash says that children who visit the set of Sesame Street will often tell Elmo if they've gotten a new pair of shoes or a new brother or sister. And occasionally, they'll open up about other parts of their lives. "The time that it really changed — when it really scared me — was when 9/11 happened," he says. "A lot of children were relocated from schools down in that area, and so they asked Sesame Street if some of the puppeteers and the characters could meet and greet these children. And [before Sept. 11] ... they used to come up and give Elmo a drawing of Elmo. And it was very scary to [now] see the children bringing up drawings of a tower and the planes hitting the towers. It's very hard for me, because I don't know what to say to them. I was there to entertain them and take them away from that." Clash says he told the children that the events of Sept. 11 were really scary, and that Elmo was there for them. "[And then I'd say], 'Give Elmo a hug and let's sing,' " he says. "I tried to pull them away from it as much as possible. Mommy and Daddy were there to explain a little bit more, and we're there to entertain and try and take them away from it."Interview Highlights On performing a Muppet character "When you're a performer, once you go into the character, you don't think about yourself. It's pretty interesting because you're watching a TV that's showing you what the camera's shooting, and sometimes you forget that you're performing at the same time — and you tend to laugh at what you're doing ... It's something that happens because you are creating something and you're thinking about that character." On Elmo's lovable personality "All of us try to get some type of catchphrase or something that the puppet does to get you into the character. Like Jim Henson with 'Hi-ho, Kermit the frog here' or Fozzie saying, 'Wokka wokka' or Miss Piggy saying, 'Moi.' The laugh for Elmo was the hook for me to get to where Elmo needed to be." On the Muppeteers remaining invisible "We have a lot of children that will visit [the set of Sesame Street]. And what we've found is that they really don't care about us, about the puppeteers. They've watched these characters on the show, on TV for so long, that they're really like close friends. It's interesting. They really don't look at me when they see Elmo. They run to Elmo because it's a friend of theirs that they've been talking to and communicating with and singing with for so many years. We've found that the delusion is not broken by seeing us puppeteers. They see the characters in front of them. ... I get humbled by it all the time. The things that they tell Elmo, the expression on their face when they see their friend." On Sesame Street characters "I love the simplicity of Sesame Street characters. I love that [Elmo is] just an orange nose and two eyes and no tongue — just a black mouth — and you just find that by just the tilt of the head or looking up, it says something. There's an emotion there."Copyright 2012 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/. Related Program: Fresh Air on WUKY HD 2 © 2016 WUKY

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ANTON WALBROOK (2) BENNETT MILLER (2) CRITERION (38) CULT (48) CULT ANIMATION (1) DAVE BORTHWICK (1) DENNIS QUAID (3) DOCUMENTARIES (64) ED HARRIS (3) ENEMY MINE (1) JAMES FOLEY (1) JOHN C. REILLY (3) KEVIN KLINE (3) KEVIN SPACEY (5) LOUIS GOSSETT JR (2) MOIRA SHEARER (2) MOOG (1) PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION (1) ROBERT S. MCNAMARA (1) ROYAL TENENBAUMS (2) SECRET ADVENTURES OF TOM THUMB (1) THE CRUISE (1) THE RED SHOES (3) TOMMY LEE JONES (5) WOODY HARRELSON (2) WRITTEN ON THE WIND (1) Handpicked By The Amoeba Staff Films selected and reviewed by discerning movie buffs, television junkies, and documentary diehards (a.k.a. our staff). Straight Outta Com The music biography has been a popula… View Bodysong Bodysong is what I'd like to call… View The Fallen Idol Though Carol Reed strangely won an Os… View The more one understands about their … View Dir: Powell & Pressburger (The Archers). 1948. Starring: M. Shearer, M. Goring, A. Walbrook, R. Halpmann, L. Massine. Classics. The first time I heard a reference to Powell & Pressburger's The Red Shoes was Wes Anderson discussing it as cinematographic inspiration for the Royal Tenenbaums--one of my favorite films. I knew then that I HAD to see The Red Shoes and wasn't surprised when the film begins with a book being opened, just as Wes Anderson begins his own film. The similarities don't end there, and as I watched I began to see why he was so inspired by The Red Shoes: the film is beautifully shot in technicolor, superbly acted, sumptuously danced, and touchingly tragic. Though roughly based on the Hans Christian Andersen story of the same name, the story revolves around the struggle between a ballerina, a composer, and the man attempting to make his own dreams come true by bringing fame to them all. Anton Walbrook is dark and impressive as the antagonist, ballet impresario Boris Lermontov, whose standards are so high that he abhors the idea of his proteges disturbing their creative lives by finding love. When the two protagonists, Ballerina Vicky Page, played by Moira Shearer, and Composer Julien Craster, played by Marius Goring, fall desperately in love with each other the Company that Lermontov has assembled begins to fall apart as he loses his own grip on reality. All with the most tragic of results. Grace Bartlett Dec 3, 2008 2:00pm Written on the Wind Dir: Douglas Sirk. 1956. Starring: Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, Robert Stack, Dorothy Malone. Classics. My description of Written on the Wind that I stuck onto a copy of the DVD in the “Employee Picks” section at Amoeba is that it is a candy colored fever dream of violence and ecstasy. Dave Kehr, writing for the Chicago Reader, wrote that Written on the Wind was a “screaming Brechtian essay on the shared impotence of the American family and business life.” I like both descriptions and I especially like the word “screaming” as it applies to what these desperate characters are really doing. The first thing you might notice about the film is the colors. They overwhelm. Even if the action of the film centers on the downfall of one of those big oil family dynasties from Texas and the renegade pair of lovers caught in the middle, you might ignore the untamed passions exploding before you and instead fall into a hallucinatory stupor from all the cherry reds and periwinkle blues that flood the action of each meticulously constructed scene. The film is supremely pleasurable to look at. That quality of a luxurious surface of beauty is central to all of director Douglas Sirk’s best known works. The surface appearances—which are always gorgeous—are reflected back on themselves via mirrors used throughout his films and create a grotesquely ironic commentary on the desperate entrapment that materialism and expectations of conformity conspire to create in the lives of his characters. If we want to understand the 1950s in America and what they mean to us now we would do well to watch his films. They reveal a lot. Continue Reading Jed Leland Dir. Bennett Miller. 1998. Starring: Timothy “Speed” Levitch. English. Documentary. The hook of The Cruise is that most New York tour guides are jaded wage slaves repeating the same statistics and soulless anecdotes to dozens of tourists every day, but “Speed” views his “loops” as an opportunity to communicate the transcendental joy of being alive in New York, a city he anthropomorphizes in different forms, giving the film a second character, and in a sense a plot. Miller operated the camera himself and he manages to shoot New York with a sensual, humble idiosyncrasy worthy of “Speed” himself. The last shot of the film feels a touch contrived, but the presence of the World Trade Center’s erstwhile towers will haunt any viewer. It’s difficult, and perhaps impossible to impart the appeal of the documentary The Cruise without quoting its protagonist Timothy “Speed” Levitch at some length; this is in itself a disservice to any potential viewer of The Cruise because the poetry of Speed’s erudition is best seen “live”, being delivered spontaneously by the man himself, rather than being read. Speed’s hyper-articulateness must be heard to be appreciated. To listen to Speed’s quotidian orations is to discover a human being who can extemporaneously compose sentences of Jamesian complexity. So fear not, gentle reader. His words are yours to discover. Gillian Horvat Dir: Hans Fjellestad. 2004. Starring: Robert Moog. English. Documentary. Who knew Bob Moog had so much energy and excitement? I mean, I guess you would have to if you were the inventor of the one musical instrument to change the face of music for at least the last forty years! This is an inspiring portrait of the inventor of the Synthesizer--the Moog Synthesizer. The one and only, used by everyone from Jan Hammer to Devo and in many soundtracks including Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. Musicians spanning all genres have included the Moog Synthesizer in their repertoire. From Hip Hop to Experimental and Pop to Avant Garde. Almost everyone can agree that Robert Moog invented a masterpiece of equipment when he started playing with sound waves and harnessing electrical currents. Moog states that he "fell right into it." He was an engineer who stumbled upon an idea that just blossomed. His bright personality, which is clear in the many interviews included in the film, and his love and passion for his creation helped to bring the instrument to prominence. He had a gift for inspiring people. This documentary proves that fact. With multiple interviews by people who knew him or were inspired by him we get a glimpse of the impact this one man, and his invention, had on the way we hear music today. We also get rarely seen footage of the man himself showing off his creations as well as the studios they are built in. We see him interacting with the musicians who adore and love him for what he has given them. And we see his humbleness and reciprocal love for the musicians themselves. Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb Dir: Dave Borthwick. 1993. Starring: Nick Upton, Deborah Collard. Cult Animation. The Bolex Brothers production, The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb, is a creepy, yet enchanting, twist on the classic fairytale. It conjures up all sorts of menacing, unnerving, and violent imagery—unlike that of the traditional tale. It's set in a seedy tenement building where an unsuspecting couple conceive a tiny baby—a child so small that they name him Tom Thumb. We quickly see that the world is a harsh place, as Tom's mother is slain and he is kidnapped by sinister men who want to use him for experimentation and genetic research. The plot unfolds around how this tiny creature, with the help of some very unusual friends and the love of his father, escapes the evil forces holding him hostage; the subtext revolving around how this amazing child remains innocent and caring in a world full of fear, reactionary hatred, and prejudice. The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb uses stop-motion animation in ways that I have never seen before to create scenes of epic discomfort and fear. Live actors are combined in scenes with clay-mation figures, which causes an uncomfortable, almost anxiety driven performance by the actors, who move with a lurching stagger and speak with a mumbling coo. It took dozens of hours to animate the live actors for seconds of film—an amazing feat! But it's not just the way the live actors are animated that makes this a visual triumph. Every scene is covered in tiny animated insects, the walls seem to breathe, and the earth to shake. The sets are awe-inspiring, to say the least. The Fog of War Dir: Errol Morris. 2003. Starring: Robert S. McNamara. English. Documentary. We hear Robert S. McNamara's voice before we actually see him – then he tells the director, "I don't want to go back and introduce the sentence because I know exactly what I want to say." McNamara is candid, opinionated, and passionate – qualities appropriate and endearing from America's former Secretary of Defense, under President Kennedy and President Johnson. Here Errol Morris offers us a former leader of America's military force's inside knowledge in our nation's war-driven period from the Cold War to the Vietnam War. Some of the information McNamara reveals is astounding. What moved me was that, in the film, he is emotional and intimate – I felt privileged to be able to hear what this historical figure had to say. He explained the results of our actions in several aspects – from the statistical numbers our position in war has had on our daily lives, the impact of our technological weapons, and his own position on being our Secretary of Defense. Tiffany Huang Nov 8, 2008 4:46pm Enemy Mine Dir. Wolfgang Petersen, 1985. Starring: Dennis Quaid, Louis Gossett, Jr. English. Science Fiction. Uncle Davidge’s Cabin Enemy Mine joins a long list of Hollywood films using alien-human tension as an allegory for race relations. The line begins with Robinson Crusoe on Mars, a 1960s space opera currently released by Criterion with a beautiful new transfer. Departing from the Daniel Defoe novel, the Friday character is not black, but he is still a slave, and the fact that he’s an alien, as well as his lowly status, still positions the white explorer as the Other’s protector. During the Cold War science fiction films used the alien-human dichotomy again to symbolize the lack of understanding between communist and capitalist ideology, sometimes propagandistically (Don Siegel’s chilling 1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers), sometimes as a sympathetic plea for understanding (from Robert Wise’s The Day the Earth Stood Still all the way to James Cameron’s The Abyss). But concerns about racial equality remained, addressed in various forms from the original Star Trek series to John Sayles’s underrated, overlooked masterpiece Brother from Another Planet. In the year 2092 we’ve achieved world peace (I guess there must have been some glitches after Obama achieves it in 2009) so the human race decides to devote itself to exploration and economic development of the far reaches of space. On the course of its journey it discovers an alien race with imperialistic ambitions of its own, the Draks. During a VERY Star Wars-esque fighter plane battle, human pilot Willis Davidge (Jerry Lee Lewis, a.k.a Dennis Quaid) and Drak pilot Jeriba (Dolph Lundgren’s pursuer cop in The Punisher, Louis Gossett Jr.) are shot down over an uninhabited and hostile planet. Initially distrustful of one another, Davidge and Jeriba soon learn the other’s language, and form a close, fraternal bond. Davidge soon discovers that the contents of Jeriba’s prized book contain the same teachings as the Bible, because “truth is truth, no matter in what language.” Enemy Mine is full of warm scenes of brotherhood and life lessons learned, set against majestic, fully-rendered matte paintings. (Matte paintings, when special effects were beautiful.) Although Jeriba’s skin is a tawny brown and he is played by an African-American actor, the differences between Davidge and he are treated as primarily cultural, until a third-act racial twist involving Robinson Crusoe-esque scenes of slave labor and benevolent white protection. Although the film has a positive message and good intentions, Davidge’s near single-handed rescue of a gang of enslaved Drak miners projects a message redolent of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, that racial equality will come at the hands of enlightened and sympathetic whites, rather than Black agency or even integrated effort. The simplistic treatment may come from director Wolfgang Petersen’s German nationality and hence a lack of experience with the subtext’s subject matter. These faults are minor in comparison with Enemy Mine’s many virtues: an epic story centered around two isolated “Waiting for Godot” type characters, excellent production design, and an idealistic, if flawed, message. Charlie Wilson’s War Dir: Mike Nichols. 2007. Starring: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman. Drama. A smart and funny political biopic for grown ups from director Mike Nichols (The Graduate) and writer Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing) about the likable Texas congressman whose influence led to U.S. involvement in the Soviet-Afghan War of the 1980s. Tom Hanks plays “(Good Time) Charlie Wilson” as a well meaning political hack who watches as his crusade for the U.S. to assist in helping the people of Afghanistan against their Soviet occupiers turns into a Cold War sideshow that inadvertently gives rise to Islamic Radicalism. The film manages to stay light on its feet without glossing over the sobering consequences of what was a complete mishandling of a volatile situation. Dir: James Foley.1992. Starring: Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Ed Harris, Alec Baldwin, Kevin Spacey, Alan Arkin. Drama. David Mamet’s pitch dark morality play about capitalism as a nihilistic force for poisoning the human spirit was turned into a film in 1992 with an all star cast featuring Jack Lemmon, Ed Harris, Alec Baldwin, Kevin Spacey, and Alan Arkin. All of them play miserable salesmen both complicit and bitterly at odds with having their sense of identity wrapped up in their weekly sales figures. The actors work the odd time signatures of Mamet’s trademark dialogue and the lines are delivered with a seething intensity that leaves you a little shaken. Dir: Robert Altman. 2006. Starring: Kevin Kline, Tommy Lee Jones, John C. Reilly, Woody Harrelson. Comedy. Robert Altman’s last film is an adaptation of NPR staple “A Prairie Home Companion,” Garrison Keillor’s liberal humanist weekly revue of folky Americana music, wry story telling, and gentle send ups of modern mores and it couldn’t be a more fitting film to go out on. Altman uses the big cast putting on their last show plot as a means of meditation on different kinds of death: the death of an old timer, the death of live radio as an art form and he creates something moving without being cloying, heartfelt without being sentimental....

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Calexico Announces Festival Dates and Headlining Shows The celebrated Tucson, Arizona band Calexico have just announced a live appearance at the popular Bonnaroo Music Festival that occurs from June 13th to 16th in Manchester Tennessee. The group will be performing in support of their recent critically heralded release entitled Algiers which Mojo Magazine called “the album of their lives," and Pitchfork called it "impeccably conceived and imaginatively crafted." Algiers, which core duo Joey Burns and John Convertino wrote and recorded in a converted church in the outskirts New Orleans neighborhood for which the record is named, is the band's first album in four years and a critical favorite. The album is recognizably classic Calexico with the band’s distinctive style revitalized and reborn by their experience recording in New Orleans. The influence isn't necessarily sonically evident, but there's a strange, powerful connection to the sounds that have always colored their own, influences that founding member Joey Burns has previously identified as including "Portugese fado, 50's jazz, gypsy or romani music and its offshoots, 60's surf and twang from Link Wray to country's Duane Eddy, the spaghetti western epics of Ennio Morricone and dark indie rock singer songwriters." In addition, Calexico will be playing some other festival dates including the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Wakarusa Festival and the Nelsonville Music Festival. The band is also set to headline non festival dates throughout North America. A fan pre-sale begins today at 10am local http://www.casadecalexico.com/tours/">here> and general on-sale is Friday at 10am local. Tags: calexico, tour Exclusive First Listen of "Son of Rogues Gallery" at NPR » « SEAN ROWE To Perform on Jimmy Kimmel Live

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THE MILK CARTON KIDS Featured in GUS VAN SANT’S "PROMISED LAND" The Milk Carton Kids, the singer/songwriter duo recently signed by Anti-, has three of their songs featured prominently in the new Gus Van Sant-directed drama Promised Land, which is written by and stars Matt Damon and John Krasinski. The film features The Milk Carton Kids’ songs “The Ash & Clay” and “Jewel of June” as well as their ballad “Snake Eyes,” which plays during a key montage sequence. As band member Kenneth Pattengale explains, “That song [“Snake Eyes”] draws heavily on the themes Gus is exploring, most directly on a sense of nostalgia, which has this wonderfully complex duality to it: at once we revel fondly in the past yet mourn with sadness that it’s gone.” Van Sant first heard the Los Angeles-based duo of Pattengale and Joey Ryan when they performed in his hometown of Portland, Oregon. The twice-Academy Award-nominated director made a similar musical discovery for his 1997 film Good Will Hunting, fusing the songs of songwriter/musician Elliott Smith with a screenplay co-written by star Damon. Smith went on to receive an Oscar nomination for his song “Miss Misery.” The Milk Carton Kids’ style has been described by The New York Times as “a sweetly dazzling variation on close-harmony vocals, part Simon and Garfunkel and part Everly Brothers, with occasional acoustic prestidigitation.” NPR called it "gorgeous contemporary folk." While the duo’s most obvious musical reference is the classic folk revival sound of twin acoustic guitars and close harmonies, the band both expands upon and contradicts that rich legacy, creating a sound that is both familiar and beautifully original. Promised Land, featuring the songs of The Milk Carton Kids, will be released by Focus Features in select cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, and Seattle on Friday, December 28th; and nationwide on January 4th. JEFF TWEEDY AND MAVIS STAPLES TO PERFORM ON THE COLBERT REPORT » « Lost In The Trees Latest Named Best Album by Wall Street Journal

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By LEVI AGEE SPECIAL TO THE DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE This article was published November 16, 2012 at 2:23 a.m. LITTLE ROCK — A few weeks back I saw an intriguing poster of a local actor posed with his mouth open wide as if he were screaming, and the title of the film was, enigmatically, Grasshopper. I also learned that this actor had won Best Actor recently at a pretty big film festival. I decided to contact the very busy thespian/comedian - Jason Thompson - online and talk to him about the project. Thompson has been in many other local productions, including Daniel Campbell’s Antiquities and The Orderly, and he is in production on Zach D. Turner’s film Mary. Q: How did you hear about the project, and what is Grasshopper about? A: Grasshopper is about a guy, Alan Ramsay, who is losing his mind thinking his neighbor’s daughter’s head has been eaten by a giant grasshopper. He goes on a shooting spree through a suburban neighborhood trying to kill the grasshopper. Q: Where was it filmed, and who are some of the key production crew? A: I played opposite Christine Elise McCarthy (Child’s Play 2 and Beverly Hills, 90210), which was damn sweet. Best driver a crazed, gun-wielding lunatic could ask for. Ryan Roy and Michael Usry wrote and directed the flick. Jeff Tanner shot it. We shot just outside of Jackson, Miss. Can’t remember the exact name of the town. Suburban neighborhood full of very concerned citizens that were confused by seeing a guy running around their neighborhood screaming and toting a gun and butcher knife. There were other important folks involved who wrote a lot of checks and paid for dinners, but they also put a lot of alcohol in my belly, which is why I can’t remember their names. They were a blur of fun though, for sure. And I thank them all. Q: Tell me about your character. How did you prepare for the role? A: Alan Ramsay is a normal guy living in the suburbs with a wife and, I’m assuming, has a normal job. He’s very sincere and serious about what he’s seen, though. Ryan wrote the dialogue beautifully. There’s a back story to his paranoia involving a dog mutilation for which he was accused prior to this incident. His neighbor’s dog was found mutilated and [the neighbor] blamed Alan because he had complained to the city about the dog’s constant barking and threatened to call Animal Control if something wasn’t done. When the dog was found dead, the neighborhood blamed him. Finding the grasshopper isn’t just about avenging his neighbor’s daughter’s death. It’s about clearing his name. The script didn’t, for me, read at all like some insane sci-fi horror flick. It was really more like a poor guy at his wit’s end trying to make sense of what he’s seen and at the same time do something about it. Q: You just won Best Actor at Freakshow Film Fest. How does that feel, and what was the experience like? A: I wasn’t able to attend the festival, but when I got the text that I’d won, I kinda freaked out. I really wasn’t even thinking about any actor awards when I heard our film was screening. I was just excited they were able to get it into the festival. Apparently it’s a pretty big one. And that became clearer when I went to the website and saw they were giving Robert Englund a lifetime achievement award for the Nightmare on Elm Street movies. He and I both have identical awards on our mantels. Actually, mine is sitting on an end table that belongs to my ex-girlfriend. When she comes to get her furniture, it will have a nice spot on the floor next to my television. I bet Robert Englund has a mantel, though. Gotta work on that. Q: When can we expect to see the film here in Arkansas? A: I’m hoping they’re able to get it into the Little Rock Film Festival or any other horror-type festivals nearby. I want to try and make one of the screenings. I’ve seen it online but not on the big screen. Hopefully soon they’ll have some sort of screening near here. I think everyone that sees it will love it. It’s insane. Levi Agee is a programmer for the Little Rock Film Festival. E-mail him at: levifi lm@gmail.com MovieStyle, Pages 35 on 11/16/2012 Print Headline: Screen gems Arkansas film festival will focus on gay comm... MOVIE REVIEW: At long last, a movie for adult... Author tells story of Apple of arms Suicide Squad leads pack again More Movies stories > Comments on: Screen gems

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‘Drinking Buddies’ gets picked up for distribution - The Boston Globe ‘Drinking Buddies’ picked up for distribution By Mark Shanahan and Meredith Goldstein “Drinking Buddies,” the Joe Swanberg film starring Olivia Wilde and Jake Johnson, has been picked up by Magnolia Pictures for distribution later this year, says Deadline.com. That’s news in Boston because local businessmen Sam Slater and Paul Bernon are co-producers of the film, which played at SXSW earlier this month.

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Arts & Entertainment Cirque du Soleil looking to expand into Broadway-style shows Cirque du Soleil Christina House / For The Times A performer in Cirque du Soleil's touring show "Totem." A performer in Cirque du Soleil's touring show "Totem." (Christina House / For The Times) David Ng Cirque du Soleil is looking to diversify its repertoire by expanding into Broadway-style shows and is creating a new division called Cirque du Soleil Theatrical that will be headed by Las Vegas theater impresario Scott Zeiger.The Montreal-based Cirque said on Tuesday that the new division will mount new productions that will use the company's signature style and aesthetic, but that will provide a "very different experience" for Cirque du Soleil audiences. A New York spokeswoman said that the productions are meant for Broadway, London's West End and tours traveling to Broadway-sized venues. PHOTOS: Arts and culture in pictures by The Times Zeiger worked as an executive with Clear Channel and later co-founded BASE Entertainment, where he has been instrumental in mounting theatrical productions in Las Vegas including "Jersey Boys," "Rock of Ages" and "Phantom -- The Las Vegas Spectacular." In a statement about his decision to join Cirque, Zeiger said he believed "there is a huge potential for us on Broadway, the West End and global touring."Cirque has had mixed success in New York. It's production "Banana Shpeel" flopped when it was produced in 2010 at the Beacon Theatre on the Upper West Side. With a reported budget of $20 million, "Shpeel" was intended to compete with Broadway shows but ended up closing after six weeks following vicious reviews and poor box-office receipts.Cirque continues to bring its touring shows to New York and has produced "Zarkana" at Radio City Music Hall. The company is coming off a difficult couple of years in which it laid off 400 employees, or 8% of its global workforce. Its Los Angeles show "Iris" closed last year, much earlier than expected, following weak box-office results.Cirque du Soleil Theatrical will be based in New York, with Zeiger expected to join in March.ALSO:"Iris" joins list of recent duds for Cirque du SoleilWhy did "Iris" fail? Cirque show didn't catch on in Los Angeles Cirque du Soleil laying off 400 workers, citing costs and expensesMORE PHOTOS: Hollywood stars on stage Clear Channel Communications Inc. Rock of Ages (movie) PHOTOS: Faces to Watch 2014: Theater Millepied's L.A. Dance Project finds home: 1927 downtown theater Review: Cirque du Soleil's 'Totem' a thrilling salute to human growth

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Alan Rickman Will Play CBGB Founder Hilly Kristal In Biopic Hilly Kristal might not have been as famous as many of the bands he booked, but eventually, his club was. The New Yorker founded CBGB in Manhattan in 1973. It was originally intended to showcase country, bluegrass and blues artists, but when they weren’t available, Kristal turned the stage over to local punk and new wave acts. The Misfits, Ramones, Talking Heads, Blondie and dozens of others took their opportunities and ran with them, achieving fame and fortune while passing on lasting credibility to Kristal and his venue. The founder passed away a few years ago, not long after CBGB closed its doors over a rent dispute, but his legacy has lived on through hundreds of musicians he championed. Now, it will live on through Alan Rickman. The popular British actor has signed on to play Kristal in a new biopic that will chart the life of the club he stood watch over for so many years. As of press time, the film doesn’t yet have a title, but it does have a script and a director. Randall Miller, probably best known for helming Sinbad’s House Guest, will direct, working from a script he wrote alongside Jody Savin. The two previously partnered with Rickman on Noble Son. Hopefully this project is seen by a few more people. According to THR, Lisa Kristal Burgman, the founder’s daughter, has also given her stamp of approval. She’ll lend her input along the way and receive a co-producer credit for her troubles. I’m typically weary of any movie trying to chronicle a long gone atmosphere, but with Alan Rickman as the main character, it’s tempting to get really excited. Galaxy Quest 2 Almost Happened This Year, Here's Why It Didn't How Alan Rickman Managed To Surprise The Director Of His Last Film, Eye In The Sky Watch Harry Potter Fans Pay Touching Tribute To Alan Rickman At Live Event The Secret Fact JK Rowling Told Alan Rickman About Snape To Help His Acting

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ONGo TO SLIDESHOW show comments By Silas Lesnick ON December 11, 2011SHAREActivision debuted the brand new trailer for their The Amazing Spider-Man video game as part of tonight’s VGAs. It’s online now, courtesy of Game Trailers, and you check it out beneath the game’s official description.An all-new Spider-Man is poised to bring the action back to New York City as Activision Publishing, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, Inc., and Marvel Entertainment, LLC announce The Amazing Spider-Man™ video game, planned to launch summer 2012 tied to Sony Pictures Entertainment’s upcoming feature film of the same name. Created as an epilogue story occurring entirely after the events of the movie, the game features the return of free-roaming web-slinging all over the city and evolutionary improvements to navigation and combat, as the newly anointed Spider-Man is plunged into an all-new storyline charged with protecting Manhattan from a variety of criminals.The Amazing Spider-Man is in development at veteran game studio Beenox, and features an original narrative crafted by Hollywood writer Seamus Kevin Fahey (episodes of Spartacus: Gods of the Arena and the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica) that continues young Peter Parker’s adventures following the events of the new film. Using the game’s new Web Rush mechanic allows players to pull off a vast array of moves never before possible. With a story that takes players through many areas all over (and under) Manhattan, fans will feel what it’s truly like to be a Super Hero, as they experience the cinematic adrenaline rush of web-swinging through the city and fighting crime using Spider-Man’s spectacular acrobatic moves and attacks. Get More: GameTrailers.com, The Amazing Spider-Man – VGA 2011: Exclusive Debut Trailer HD, PC Games, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 SHARE TWEET Show CommentsPlease enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. MoviesTVStreamingGamesTrailersDVDContact UsAdvertisePrivacy PolicyTerms of Use monitoring_string = "df292225381015080a5c6c04a6e2c2dc"AdChoicesAdChoices ComingSoon.net is a property of CraveOnline Media, LLC, an Evolve Media, LLC company. ©2016 All Rights Reserved CopyrightLooking for movie tickets?Enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing

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FIGHT CLUB (1999) [Get the Poster] Meat Loaf Jared Leto Eion Bailey Ezra Buzzington Time: 139 mins.Rating: R Genre: Action/Drama Academy Award nomination for Sound Effects Editing. I've been a huge fan of David Fincher's since I sat through SE7EN, an emotionally difficult, visually stunning and ultimately brilliant film. All of his films, even though they span different genres, have very strong opinions about human nature and the downfall of society. His theme is always the same, money corrupts and we're going to pay for our greed. Of course, he usually hides his ideas within an intricate plot and outrageously unique characters. FIGHT CLUB is no exception. Though most people are talking about its' violence, I think the truly disturbing thing about this film, and all his films for that matter, is he has a point. Nobody wants to admit that he's right, because if he is, we're in a whole heap of trouble. The film opens with voice-over from our lead character Jack, played by Edward Norton. He hasn't slept in months and it's beginning to take a toll on his sanity. He finally finds release from his troubles by going to support groups for people with various diseases – testicular cancer, bowel disease, etc. – where he finds freedom in pretending he's a survivor. While attending these groups he notices another person, a strange woman named Marla (played by Carter), pretending as well. Her presence makes him uncomfortable – he's unable to cry in front of her because he knows she's faking – so he strikes a deal with her to split the groups. She agrees and he hopes to never see her again. Unfortunately for her, he does. It's at this point that he meets Tyler Durden (played by Pitt), a soap salesman with a strange outlook on life. Due to circumstances beyond his control, Jake is forced to ask Tyler for help. Tyler in return gives Jake a new reason to live – Fight Club. It starts with them beating each other up in a bar parking lot and quickly becomes the most popular club not-talked-about in town. The violence in these scenes is fairly grotesque, but it's nothing worse than any other violent film. It's just more concentrated and upsetting because it serves no greater purpose. The film tries to make you believe that these men are finally getting in touch with their true selves, that they're finally feeling again, but if it takes men beating each other to a pulp to make them feel like they're living, why have we spent thousands of years evolving into a civilized – I use that term loosely– society? "It's only after you've lost everything that you're free to do anything." FIGHT CLUB tries to get you to buy into its' theory that society is quickly going downhill because of capitalism and the class system, but that would completely discount the years old theory of survival of the fittest. Is the fact that we're stepping on others on our way up the food chain to collect our Ikea furniture and stock options a problem? Absolutely. Will destroying society to make everyone "equal" rectify the problem? Absolutely not. There will always be smarter people willing to do anything to get to the top and setting everyone back to zero is not going to change that. It's in the confrontation of these issues that the film loses its' way. I could somewhat understand the emptiness of the consumer society, that having the perfect house with the perfect things means nothing if you aren't happy with your existence. Even the need for feeling pain to be alive is not a foreign thought to me. But they lost me with the whole chaos/Project Mayhem plot development 3/4's of the way through. It's also at this point that a major secret is revealed which I didn't care for at all. It amused me and felt like a cop out all at the same time. It certainly was unexpected, but that's not always a good thing. The ending is one of the most unbelievable I've encountered in a long time and was not at all satisfying. It actually made me angry to have sat through two hours of pain and violence for nothing. Some people may find it clever. I think Fincher was trying too hard to be shocking. FIGHT CLUB is about one man's vision of how to change the world, I just wish it was a better one. I was also disappointed that they wasted the talent of such a fine actress like Bonham Carter on what was little more than the regular useless girlfriend role. Instead of making her an integral part of the plot, they just made her quirkier than normal so her presence was made to seem important. It wasn't. I don't know why I expected more from Fincher – strong female roles are not his forté – but I thought this film might change that. Norton and Pitt give strong performances as two men with similar ideas, but divergent means of making them come true. Fincher's direction is amazing as always. He just needs to focus a little more on the story than the execution. If you're unhappy with your cubicle existence this film will probably speak to you. If you're happy with your capitalistic life, it will probably be the worst film you've ever seen. This is not a film everyone will enjoy. It's also way too long for its own good. A little editing would have gone a long way. home | reviews | actors | actresses | film heaven | all reviews

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For: Reviews » DVD Video Reviews » Next Friday: Special Edition Next Friday: Special Edition List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon] Review by Aaron Beierle | posted June 10, 2000 | E-mail the Author The Movie: I still consider the original "Friday" one of the funniest comedies to come out of Hollywood in recent years. Spawning the career of Chris Tucker("Rush Hour"), the film offered some moments that were roll-on-the-floor funny and good performances. When "Next Friday" came out, people wondered if the comedy of the first film would still exist with Tucker not coming back for the sequel. I thought this film was still pretty funny, offering some hilarious moments and another good performance from Ice Cube. The film continues where the first part left off; Craig(Cube) has beaten the neighborhood bully, only to have him break out of jail in this the opening moments of "Next". Fearing for his son, Craig's dad(the incredibly funny John Witherspoon) sends him to live in suburbia with his cousins. It's silly and occasionally too goofy for it's own good, but like the first "Friday", this sequel has a sort of relaxed charm that keeps the laughs going. Cube's performance is very good, and the writing is silly but provides for frequent laughs. It's unfortunate that Tucker didn't come back for this sequel, but it still does fairly well without him. The DVD VIDEO: This is an excellent transfer from New Line, and just another in their line of fantastic efforts. There's a few very minor flaws, but they're overshadowed by an otherwise great looking image. Sharpness is perfect, and detail is very good as well. Colors are almost impressively bright and lively, with well-saturated and rich colors that really are vibrant. Flesh tones are natural, as well. There are a couple of tiny traces of pixelation and shimmering, but other than that, there's nothing to complain about in what's otherwise a fine transfer. The print used is crystal clear as well, with no marks to be found. Very good work. SOUND: "Next Friday" is really a dialogue-driven movie, with the main focus being the conversations between the characters. The music sounds dynamic and rich, but that's really the only element that opens up the audio. Surround use is occasional, but pretty minimal. Still, an enjoyable effort that gets the job done well. Dialogue remains clear and easily understood. MENUS:: Possibly the most hilarious menus that New Line or anyone else has ever come up with, the menus for "Next Friday" open up with an "infomerical" clip about the suburbs, then open up with the main menu, which is a map with different selections offered. There's great animation and additional features when you make a selection from the main menu. A lot of work went into these menus and they're excellent. EXTRAS: New Line has done a fine job packing this disc full of extras. Commentary: This is a commentary track from director Steve Carr and actor Ice Cube, who starts the film off talking about what the differences were between the first "Friday" and the sequel, as well as a discussion about how audiences found the first film and what happened with the sequel. With the opening of the commentary, don't worry that something's wrong; it employs the technique of scratching the comments like a record a couple times, which is kinda fun. The comments from both Ice Cube and director Carr sound like they are recorded separately and edited together, but both make for an interesting discussion, talking about the actors and just what makes for humor. The two also point out performances and the history behind some of the actors in the film. The two also have some very funny stories to share from the set on various problems that turned up during the filming. There's only a few small pauses here and there between comments, but the majority of the commentary is filled with the two sharing their viewpoints on the story and the production in general. It's a good commentary, and it's obvious that the actors had fun filmming the movie. Trailers: The "R" and "G" Rated trailers for "Next Friday". Trailers for "Players Club", "Dangerous Ground" and "Friday" can be found under Ice Cube's bio. Alternate Ending: A short alternate ending can be viewed. Audition Tape: Viewers can watch the audition tape for actor Mike Epps. Music Videos: "You Can Do It" from Ice Cube and "Money Stretch" from Lil Zone. Gag Reel: About 4 1/2 minutes worth of some extremely funny goofs. Real-Time Storyboards: Now here's a really cool option! Viewers can choose to watch the film with storyboards for the scene in the bottom right hand corner of the film throughout the running time. Behind The Scenes: Here, we get interviews with Ice Cube and a number of other members of the cast and crew, who talk about stories from this film and the differences between the original and the sequel. Pretty "promotional" in nature, but I liked the footage of the cast and crew filming. Also: A small photo gallery, cast and crew bios, web links. Final Thoughts: New Line has done an excellent job with this Platinum Series title; there are some great extras like the commentary and the storyboard option. Audio/video quality is good, and the movie definitely provides a few laughs. A very good disc. Popular Reviews

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DVDs... * Click the "Buy From Amazon.com" button to place an order. The prices listed are subject to change and are for reference only. The current price is provided when you place an order. The Adventures of Robin Hood (Two-Disc Special Edition) (1938) Starring: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland Director: William Keighley, Michael Curtiz Re- release date: September 30, 2003 $37.78 Never has Warner Bros.'s Technicolor classic looked as vibrant and lush as it does on this DVD. The restoration alone is worth the DVD's weight in stolen booty. But adding to its wealth are the pertinent extras that support the film's story, its historical background, its technical achievements, and the Robin Hood legend as a whole. Notable extras include Rudy Behlmer's commentary, which will tell you more than you ever thought you needed to know about the film. The "Welcome to Sherwood" documentary nicely balances the historical state of Warner Bros. studio in the late 1930s, the decision to make the film, its production, and its continuing success. There's even an hourlong documentary on the history of Technicolor, which is interesting and surprisingly scandalous. A perfect addition to any film buff's collection and a great gift for the coming holidays! Third Man (50th Anniversary Edition) - Criterion Collection (1950) $35.99* This 50th-anniversary DVD release of The Third Man is a perfect example of how the Criterion Collection continues to raise the bar on how a special edition should be produced. Not only did Carol Reed's classic undergo an impeccable facelift, drastically enhancing the sights and sounds of post-World War II Vienna, but the disc is also packed with pertinent extras that provide deep insight into the film. The THIRD REICH In Color $29.95* Gives a fair presentation of various sides in the world conflict, including some amazing color footage of Canadians, Americans, French, Brits, etc. This DVD is also among the best WWII documentaries at conveying the social context of the time. Lots of parades, people on vacation, photograped in the time leading up to the war. Scenes from the ghettos and images of racial/religious injustice and resent, made all very real by the color and crisp photography. Lawrence of Arabia (Superbit Collection)$22.99* Lawrence of Arabia raises the bar on Superbit DVDs by not only using the much-publicized higher bit rate, but also offering a brand-new transfer by restoration expert Robert Harris, who worked on the film's restoration for theatrical release in the late 1980s. The original two-DVD set was very well done, but the Superbit has a clear advantage in its sharper picture, richer colors, and correction of some minor flaws. The audio track has more punch as well, though it's still limited by its source material. Saving Private Ryan$14.99* When Steven Spielberg was an adolescent, his first home movie was a backyard war film. When he toured Europe with Duel in his 20s, he saw old men crumble in front of headstones at Omaha Beach. That image became the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan, his film of a mission following the D-day invasion that many have called the most realistic--and maybe the best--war film ever. Spielberg has been able to create a stunning, unparalleled view of war as hell. Stargaze - Hubble's View Of The Universe (2000) $21.49* "StarGaze" brings the beauty and majesty of the universe to your home theater, direct from the Hubble Space Telescope. With over an hour of the most incredible images of the universe you'll ever see, from gaseous clouds to more than 200 other astronomical objects, plus Dolby Digital and DTS surround sound music from popular new age group 2002, "StarGaze" will quickly become a favorite in your DVD collection. Metropolis (Restored Authorized Edition) (1927) $22.46* Fritz Lang's Metropolis belongs to legend as much as to cinema. It's a milestone of sci-fi and German expressionism. Perhaps the most famous and influential of all silent films, METROPOLIS has for 75 years been seen only in shortened or truncated versions. Now, restored in Germany with state of the art digital technology, under the supervision of the Murnau Foundation, and with the original 1927 orchestral score by Gottfried Huppertz added, METROPOLIS can be appreciated in its full glory. The World At War - Complete Set $89.99* Sir Jeremy Isaacs highly deserves the numerous awards for documentaries he has earned: the Royal Television Society's Desmond Davis Award, l'Ordre National du M�rit, an Emmy, and a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II. His epic The World at War remains unsurpassed as the definitive visual history of World War II. Midway (Collector's Edition) $12.99* Six months after the Japanese destroyed the U.S. Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, the Americans discovered the Japanese were planning to seize the Naval base at Midway Island--a perfect staging point for invading Hawaii or the mainland. Outnumbered four to one, the Americans won a surprise victory and shattered the backbone of the Japanese Imperial Navy. This 1976 film feels more like a history lesson than a drama, but World War II buffs will appreciate the attention to historical fact (especially the way in which fate and a few bad decisions turned the tide), as well as the generous use of actual battle footage. The all-star cast includes Robert Mitchum, James Coburn, and Cliff Robertson in cameos and a whole slew of familiar TV faces in supporting roles. Battle of Britain (1969)$11.21* There's something about this film that's so irresistible, despite its grandiose manipulation. Maybe because it recounts the greatest air battle in history, achieving the greatest aerial battle in film history. Maybe because it has such a terrific cast (Harry Andrews, Michael Caine, Trevor Howard, Curt Jurgens, Laurence Olivier, Nigel Patrick, Christopher Plummer, Michael Redgrave, Ralph Richardson, Robert Shaw, Patrick Wymark, and Edward Fox). Maybe because it's so technically well-made, thanks to the Bond team of producer Harry Saltzman and director Guy Hamilton and the great cinematographer Freddie Young. Or maybe because there is something truly riveting about watching the British kick the Nazis back to Germany. Books | DVDs | Travel | Educational Toys Ibis Communications, Inc.

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Industry Guides Distribution GuideEquipment and Concessions GuideExhibition GuideBlue Sheets Classic Cinemas' York wins Historic Theatre Award Aug 22, 2014 TweetNewsThe League of Historic American Theatres honored the York Theatre in Elmhurst, Illinois, owned by Classic Cinemas’ Willis and Shirley Johnson, with its 2014 Outstanding Historic Theatre Award. The award, which was presented at the annual LHAT Conference in New York, recognizes a theatre that demonstrates excellence through its community spirit, quality of programs and services, and quality of the restoration or rehabilitation of its historic structure. Built in 1924, the York is Classic Cinemas’ second-oldest theatre. The company acquired the theatre in 1982, and in 1991 an extensive renovation was done in which three auditoriums were created and many of the historic elements of the main auditorium was preserved. “We are very proud of our historic restoration of this Spanish-style theatre, and our partnership with the community has been instrumental in achieving great success,” said Classic Cinemas co-founder Willis Johnson. “It is a major honor for us to accept this important industry award.” In 1993, Classic Cinemas purchased the building next door and two more auditoriums were added. The sound systems were upgraded in 1997. A decade later, the theatre kicked off an expansion project that included adding screens, renovating portions of the existing theatre and redesigning the lobby. The final phase of the expansion project was completed in 2006, bringing the total number of auditoriums to 10. A new LED marquee was also installed.

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Marco Polo warning: Creating default object from empty value in /home3/gallifre/public_html/vortex/modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.pages.inc on line 33. Waris Hussein joins the L.I. Who guest line-up! The very special guest of honor at L.I. Who will connect the convention with the beginning of Doctor Who history fifty years ago. It is the legendary director of the first episode "An Unearthly Child" and the missing historical classic "Marco Polo". He is the subject of the upcoming BBC America co-production "An Adventure in Space and Time" written by Mark Gatiss. The drama chronicles the early days of making Doctor Who. In his long career, Waris has worked with Hollywood legends like Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, and Bette Davis. He is a renowned storyteller and he makes a rare convention appearance at L.I. Who to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who. Ken Deep's blog Doctor Who: Podshock - Episode 240 - Live From Gallifrey One's Catch 22: Islands of Mystery "We're always in trouble! Isn't this extraordinary… it follows us everywhere!" We interview the legendary first ever director of Doctor Who, Waris Hussein. West Coast Correspondents Joshua Lou Friedmen and Amy Krell join us for this historic interview in which we discuss An Unearthly Child and Marco Polo as well as how Doctor Who of old compares to new. Plus Matt Smith puts on southern American accents in Doctor Who: The Runaway Train, and more! Hosted by Louis Trapani, Ken Deep, Joshua Lou Friedman, and Amy Krell.

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Celebrity Apprentice All Stars Recap: Who Was Fired? By Shari Weiss | 10:57 pm, March 17th, 2013 On Sunday’s “Celebrity Apprentice: All Stars,” the competitors were tasked with producing a live 5-minute mini-soap opera that would celebrate Crystal Light Liquid. Stephen Baldwin was named project manager of the actor-heavy Team Plan B, while LaToya Jackson volunteered to lead Team Power. The groups were responsible for writing, directing and acting in their respective productions, and Jackson immediately clashed with Omarosa over specific responsibilities and being “respectful” to each other. “All My Children” star Susan Lucci was assigned to appear in Plan B’s presentation, while Jack Wagner of “General Hospital” was teamed up with Power. Baldwin and company were more than excited to join ranks with Lucci, with everyone getting along well, while Jackson and Omarosa’s issues continued to drag their team down. And when Omarosa left to tend to an alleged personal issue relating to her late fiancé, she left her group rehearsing without a key actor for their skit. Her absence ended up being a blessing in disguise, however, as everyone worked well together once she left — and were none too pleased when she unexpectedly returned in time for the performance. Their team took the stage first with “The Days of Crystal Light Liquid,” and involved the audience by having them try the beverage every time a “dun dun dunnnnn” sound played. The audience seemed to enjoy the comical skit, but as Omarosa watched from the side, she took great pleasure in watching Jackson — who had lines written on her hand — mess up one of the flavor’s names. Plan B’s “Crystal Guiding Days of Our Lights” brought the laughs as well, with Baldwin pleased that everyone “delivered.” The Crystal Light execs, however, were mixed on both teams’ productions, noting Plan B better integrated the product but failed to adequately use Lucci, while Power seemed to use the drink as a prop, rather than make it the star of the show, and struggled with execution. In the boardroom, Baldwin’s Plan B was declared the winner, earning him $50,000 for his breast cancer charity. Jackson and her losing team were forced to speculate on who was to blame for their issues, and Omarosa broke down (or pretended to) for the second week in a row, defending her choice to tend to her personal matter rather than complete the task. The original “Apprentice” contestant instead held Jackson responsible for the loss, prompting the singer to ask Donald Trump for the power, as project manager, to fire someone on her own team, but he declined. Jackson then shocked everyone by letting Omarosa escape, and choosing to bring Dennis Rodman and Brande Roderick back into the boardroom, with Trump calling it one of the “stranger selections” in the show’s history. The team leader explained that Rodman and Roderick both didn’t back her up when it came to Omarosa’s divisive tactics, and were part of the skit’s brand issues, and also stressed that she believed Trump wouldn’t actually fire one of his favorite contestants and had bought into her sympathy bit. He strongly disagreed, and said “You’re fired!” to Jackson, faulting her for losing the task as project manager and failing to bring back Omarosa.

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Whoopi Goldberg keen to take Moms Mabley to Broadway GeneralNews Share Nov 12, 2013 Actress Whoopi Goldberg is eager to bring pioneering comedienne Moms Mabley back to life on the Broadway stage – as soon as can find a gap in her busy schedule. The Ghost star has paid tribute to the life of the late vaudeville funnywoman in her directorial debut, new documentary I Got Somethin’ To Tell You, and she would love to revive Mabley’s act for a comedy show on the Great White Way. However, Goldberg, who juggles her stint as co-host of daytime talk show The View with her stand-up comedy work, admits the stage plans will have to wait until some of her other commitments are complete. She tells U.S. breakfast show Good Morning America, “My life is very fluid, it’s very peculiar… I’m doing all kinds of stuff, but I am, at some point, going to get back onstage with her (Mabley), because I think it’s fun for me… So I can do Moms and it will be great.” Goldberg last appeared on Broadway in a 2007 production of musical comedy Xanadu. Mabley died from heart failure in 1975, aged 81.

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'Promised Land': Matt Damon on When He'll Direct His Own Project (Video) 4:43 AM PST 12/28/2012 Rebecca Ford The star and co-writer also was planning to direct the drama, but when his schedule wouldn’t allow it, Gus Van Sant stepped in. Matt Damon, who co-wrote Promised Land with John Krasinski, at first had intended to make the film his directorial debut. But when he realized his schedule wouldn’t allow him to dedicate enough time to the project, the actor stepped down, and Gus Van Sant took the helm. PHOTOS: Oscar Roundtable: 6 Actors on Acting, Politics and the Pitfalls of Fame “I wish I could have directed it on one hand because I loved it and I really wanted to, and I wanted to start that chapter of my life also,” he tells The Hollywood Reporter. “But at the same time, we got Gus, so I can’t say that I’m unhappy with the outcome.” In the film, Damon stars as a natural gas salesman who travels to a small town to encourage the residents to lease their land for drilling, but finds resistance from the residents and an environmentalist (Krasinski). It’s a reunion for Damon and Van Sant, who worked together on 1997's Good Will Hunting, which Damon wrote and shared an Oscar with Ben Affleck. “I just trust him implicitly,” Damon says of Van Sant. "When it comes to human behavior, he’s just got an unbelievable eye. His direction is perfect. He’s never given me a piece of direction that hasn’t been helpful and absolutely necessary.” STORY: In Theaters This Week: Reviews of 'Les Miserables,' 'Django Unchained,' 'Promised Land' and More Damon, who was also a producer on the project, has kept a busy schedule with acting projects including the sci-fi actioner Elysium set for release in 2013, but he’s still looking to start his next chapter with directing. Asked when he’ll know the right project for him to direct, Damon tells THR: “I think it’ll just feel right. A lot of the choices I make at this point are just kind of intuitive, just based on years of reading scripts, and it’s just more about a feeling at this point for me,” he adds. The future also could hold another collaboration with either of Damon’s writing partners, Krasinski and Affleck. “I hope John wasn’t just using me as a stepping stone to get to Ben -- which I think is really likely at this point,” jokes Damon. Watch THR’s interview Damon above, and view THR's interview with Krasinski below to hear more about the making of Promised Land, which opens Dec. 28. Email: Rebecca.Ford@thr.com; Twitter: @Beccamford

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The Danny Thomas Show - Season 6 Discussion in 'TV on DVD and Blu-ray' started by Joe Lugoff, Jul 4, 2007. Joe Lugoff At last, some good news for lovers of classic (i.e., 1950s and 1960s) television. We remember the disappointing "Make Room for Daddy" (correctly, "The Danny Thomas Show," starting that season) Season 5 of a few years back, from Questar -- disappointing because they used the syndicated prints. (I didn't even bother to buy it.) Now TVShowsOnDVD is reporting that S'more will be releasing Season 6 -- and, since S'more knows what they're doing, they're promising the original network prints, not the syndicated ones this time around. This 1958-59 season will be of interest to fans of "I Love Lucy," because in one of the episodes Lucy and Desi appear as Lucy and Ricky Ricardo. It's also of interest to baby boomers, because a great Boomer Icon -- Annette, no less -- was a regular for part of the season. DeWilson I'm thrilled that "The Danny Thomas Show" is finally getting the proper treatment on DVD. Hank Dearborn This really is one of the great sitcoms of all time. Too bad the Thomas family won't ever let out the first four seasons of the show but at least it will be nice to get this season and maybe more in it's original form and running time. Other than Ozzie and Harriet, I believe MRFD had the most episodes in sitcom history. JohnOPR Why won't the Thomas family allow the first four seasons to be released? docdoowop Rusty Hamer had the greatest comic timing of any child actor on TV. He was also given some great lines. Tom.W More good news for fans of classic 60s tv this holiday. I did pick up the 5th season from Questar because it didn't look like this show was on the radar from anywhere else. Sounds like S'more is doing its part in the sitcom area for boomers. Extras sound good - an interview with the lovely Marjorie Lord, and Sid Melton. It would be nice to hear from Sherry Jackson and Angela Cartwright too. BTW, about a season's worth of pre 5th season Danny Thomas Show episodes are presumably in pd. One or more religioius stations have aired them during the last few years. Also found a few eps put out by a company called Television Classics. He was very good as an actor, but the people who worked with him don't have many good things to say about him as a person. He apparently was the ultimate spoiled brat. Angela Cartwright said he would trip her when she wasn't looking. Sounds charming. Of course, he had a very tragic end. No one has ever said but it's assumed that Jean Hagen left the show and Thomas was probably not very happy about it. The last time these episodes ran legitimately was on NBC's late afternoon schedule in the early 60s. They have not be syndicated since. Neither has the 10th or 11th season been in syndication for many, many years. The package for at least the last 30 years has only consisted of seasons 5-9. The 10th Season (1962-63), Danny and Kathy went to Europe, and were only in something like every fourth episode. The other episodes starred Sid Melton and Pat Carroll and the kids. If they continue with season sets, I'll be surprised to see the 10th season make it to DVD. I seem to have a dim memory that in the 11th Season, the Williamses moved to the country, like the Ricardos had done, but maybe I'm wrong. Bert Greene It had been quite a while since we'd heard anything from S'More, and it's great news to learn they're going to tackle "Make Room for Daddy." It's a sitcom that well deserves the care and treatment that S'More will provide. I was rather disheartened by the severely chopped-up prints that the 5th-season set delivered, and after three years, thought the prospects for the series on dvd were pretty dead in the water. The potential extras sound great. Marjorie Lord came out with a little autobiography a couple of years ago (I bought a copy of it from her at a show she attended), but it didn't really cover much about the Thomas show. Hope the S'More folks are able to entice some interesting anecdotes/memories out of her. Elena S Very happy to hear about this and will definitely pick it up. Does anyone know what year Bill Dana joined the show? I was always amused by his Jose Jimenez. Not sure, but let's not publicize Jose Jimenez or Louise, the maid -- we wouldn't want the PC Brigade to stop the release of this series. Artwork, extras announced at TVshowson DVD: If that's the case, then it made as little sense back then to still keep calling it The Danny Thomas Show at that point as the glaring absense of the first 4 years (with Jean Hagen as Danny's first wife) not seeing the light of day in syndication or video. The only thing I can say in defense of that move, was that Jean was more a dramatic actress so she didn't fit into the sitcom mold. She left Danny's show, and turned up in one-shot guest starring roles on dramatic series such as Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Towards the end of her life, Jean turned up on The Streets of San Francisco in the mid 1970s. Of course Marjorie Lord was much hotter back in the day than the late Jean Hagen was, but I hope that wasn't Danny's reason for replacing her. I was never into this sitcom, but I could be if it ever came to TV Land and that's really the only way. Maybe Marlo can look into this. 15 of 60 I don't think Thomas fired Hagen ... I think she quit. Danny Thomas was supposed to be very difficult to work with. Ivan G I have a dissenting opinion on this...Jean Hagen did do some wonderful dramatic work (The Asphalt Jungle) but she's also responsible for one of the finest comedy performances in cinematic history, that of Lina Lamont in Singin' in the Rain. If you've watched any of the public domain episodes of Make Room for Daddy, you'll notice that even though she didn't have much to do (which was one of the main reasons she quit the show) she's funnier than Marjorie Lord by a country mile. What I don't understand is why they've taken the fourth season of Daddy out of the equation. Hagen quit after the third season, and in the fourth Thomas' character was a widower. "Life is in color...but black-and-white is more realistic." -- Samuel Fuller, director I remember her in Singin' in the Rain, but I didn't care for that movie because I don't like musicals. Jean wasn't that funny in it anyway. The only reason I saw the film was because it was part of an Art of Film course I took in high school back in the 1980s. 18 of 60 Are you sure about this? I don't remember them being absent from the show, and all the episode guides I've seen list them as being in every episode of that year. I also read that Marjorie Lord holds the rights to seasons 10 & 11, so who knows if she'll OK their release? Yes, I'm sure, because, unfortunately, I'm old enough to remember it when it was first on. Actually, Thomas and Lord are in every episode, because the ones that featured Melton and Carroll would begin with a very short scene of Danny and Kathy in Europe, reading a letter from home or discussing how things might be going back home, and that would lead into the episode. It would be something like, "Dear Mom and Dad, We did such and such last week, and wait'll you hear what happened ..." Music up, dissolve, then the "letter" would be acted out as that week's episode. I'm sure Thomas and Lord must have filmed all those short scenes in one day, so they weren't really in every episode, but technically, they could be listed among the cast. We get to the same place by different routes: I don't care for "Singin' in the Rain," either, but it's because I love musicals, and I don't think it's the greatest one ever made, and I get exasperated when it's proclaimed as such, because I think most people think all those songs were actually written for it (which they weren't) -- And I also think people who tend not to like musicals do like that one, for a few reasons, one of which is -- Jean Hagen's comic performance, which even I like (and she did get a Supporting Actress nomination out of it.) I think she was fine as Margaret Williams -- I always heard she quit because she didn't get along with Danny Thomas, who got his revenge by bumping off her character and then playing the Merry Widower and remarrying quickly -- and then never mentioning his first wife again, did you notice that?

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Bartlet Advises Obama: Aaron Sorkin Has 'West Wing' Character Help The President "The West Wing's" President Jed Bartlet, one of America's favorite fictional presidents, is weighing in on President Obama's first debate performance against Governor Mitt Romney. In a New York Times piece, Maureen Dowd says she spoke with "The West Wing" creator Aaron Sorkin about Obama's debate performance and he said he was angry. So, what'd he do? Dream up a fictional conversation between Obama and his "West Wing" character. The account, which also includes appearances from Sorkin's "The Newsroom" character Will McAvoy and PBS's Jim Lehrer, takes place at Bartlet's New Hampshire farmhouse. In it, Bartlet (originally played by Martin Sheen) busts Obama's chops about smoking and debate prep. "They told you to make sure you didn’t seem condescending, right? They told you, 'First, do no harm,' and in your case that means don’t appear condescending, and you bought it," Bartlet says. "'Cause for the American right, condescension is the worst crime you can commit." His advice? Appear condescending. Click over to the New York Times to read the full scene. Need more "West Wing" goodies? Check out the political ad the cast reunited for to promote series co-star Mary McCormack's sister and the Funny or Die reunion for a PSA about walking from earlier in 2012. TV Reunions We Want To See Joshua Jackson, Michelle Williams & Katie Holmes On "Don't Trust The B---- In Apartment 23" While we're very excited to see Busy Philipps and James Van Der Beek back together on the ABC comedy, a "Dawson's Creek" reunion is just not the same with the rest of the gang. Van Der Beek, Jackson and Williams have been teasing a reunion for a while now, but Holmes seemed iffy. However, after her divorce from Tom Cruise, it was reported that he was the one who didn't want the Capeside crew to reconnect. But now that Holmes is a single lady, someone needs to get this started! Barack Obama Reality Free Political Hollywood Aaron Sorkin The West Wing

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Matthew Hopkins (Character) > Biography by yearby typeby ratingsby votesby TV seriesby genreby keyword biographyquotes photo galleryquotes Biography forMatthew Hopkins (Character) from The Conqueror Worm (1968) Matthew Hopkins (c. 1620 19 August 1647) was an English witch-hunter whose career flourished during the time of the English Civil War. He claimed to hold the office of Witchfinder General, although that title was never bestowed by Parliament. His witch-hunts mainly took place in the eastern counties of Suffolk, Essex, Norfolk, and occasionally in Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire, and Huntingdonshire.Hopkins' witch-finding career began in March 1644 and lasted until his retirement in 1647. During that period, he and his associates were responsible for more people being hanged for witchcraft than in the previous 100 years, and were solely responsible for the increase in witch trials during those years. He is believed to have been responsible for the deaths of 300 women between the years 1644 and 1646. It has been estimated that all of the English witch trials between the early 15th and late 18th centuries resulted in fewer than 500 executions for witchcraft. Therefore, presuming the number executed as a result of investigations by Hopkins and his colleague John Stearne is at the lower end of the various estimates, their efforts accounted for about 60 per cent of the total; in the 14 months of their crusade Hopkins and Stearne sent to the gallows more people than all the other witch-hunters in the 160 years of persecution in England. Page last updated by hectorthebat, 2 years ago hectorthebat

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New Wes Anderson film will include scenes from Jamestown Steven Feinberg, the executive director of the Rhode Island Film and Television Office, has confirmed that director Wes Anderson will make his next feature film – “Moonrise Kingdom” – in Rhode Island. The film will include scenes filmed in Jamestown. Anderson, who was nominated for an Academy Award last year, will include award-winning actors in the film such as Bruce Willis, Ed Norton, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Francis McDormand and Jason Schwartzman. “Moonrise Kingdom” is scheduled to begin principal photography this spring in numerous locations around the state. “This is a spectacular moment in Rhode Island film history,” Feinberg said. “Wes Anderson is one of America’s most unique cinematic storytellers of our day. He not only brings his own artistic style to film, he also attracts a treasure trove of high profile talent to each production he works on. This wonderful story, in particular, is whimsical, nostalgic and rich in atmosphere. We are very pleased that our hard-working local crew, talent pool and exceptional Rhode Island locations will be given the opportunity to shine in a movie that will be seen by a world-wide audience.” State Rep. Gordon Fox said that the movie could help the state’s struggling economy. “Not only is it exciting to have so many well-known Hollywood actors coming to Rhode Island for a major film production, but most importantly, this production will generate much needed revenue for our state’s economy,” Fox said. “Movies like this one continue to keep our talented local crew members employed and our state’s hospitality and tourism industries will once again greatly benefit.” State Sen. M. Teresa Paiva Weed agreed with Fox. “This exciting project is an example of the ways in which Rhode Island can build upon its strengths to foster job creation,” she said. “Our beautiful state is both diverse and compact, which lends itself wonderfully to the demands of the film industry. This project can help Rhode Island workers through jobs and internships in the film industry, use of Rhode Island vendors, and further promotion of our state through exposure of its many magnifi- cent characteristics in a feature film.” Anderson has most recently directed the films “The Royal Tenenbaums” and “The Fantastic Mr. Fox.” Feinberg will be at the Jamestown Philomenian Library tonight – Thursday, March 31 – at 7 p.m. to further discuss the movie. Return to top

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Taylor Swift and Tom Hiddleston reportedly have first "major argument" over schedules Globes Worst Dressed (Lainey Edition): Jessica Chastain Assy Hair Assy Style Photos:Jason Merritt/ FREDERIC J. BROWN/ Getty Was Julianne Hough’s dress worse? Maybe. But Julianne Hough is not a Best Actress contender. The more important the player, the more egregious the fashion crime. That’s the trade-off for being in first place. Or in a tie for first place. Right now it’s Chastain vs Lawrence on February 24 (although I still think there’s a slim possibility they could split the vote and lose out to Naomi Watts; we’ll see how it plays out in the next few weeks). Last night, with the categories divided into drama and musical/comedy, there was no way Chastain was going to lose on stage. On the red carpet however... Let’s start with the colour. Sea foam is what they’re calling it. Enchantment Under The Sea Foam is what I call it. It’s the streamers in a high school gymnasium at a dance. It’s the eye shadow of your grade 9 English teacher who refuses to give up 1977. It works as an accent, maybe, but fails miserably in a sheet of material without structure. Jessica Chastain has a wonderful figure. They gave her dress that takes away her waist. And, because it’s cut straight across the back, it makes her look wide when she’s not wide, not even close, at all. Turn her around and her breasts start in the middle and end by her elbows. HOWWWWWWW did this pass through approvals? And WHYYYYYYYYYYYYY is her hair so f-cked? I am angry because they’ve done wrong by her. I am angry because you have to try really hard to screw Jessica Chastain up this badly. Like, you have to go out of your way, you have to invent a new road, you know?, if you want to make Jessica Chastain look this sh-tty. She’s amazing. So to take it so far in the opposite direction, man, this must have been an effort; they put in a lot of effort to have this happen. At this point I’m wondering if it isn’t a conspiracy. Harvey??? Posh’s understated jumpsuit at Cannes opening ceremony as well as Julianne Moore, Anna Kendrick, Jessica Chastain, and Eva Longoria Jessica Chastain and Xavier Dolan at the 2016 MET Gala Previous Article

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Laramie Movie Scope: A dull treatise on the meaning of life by Robert Roten, Film Critic February 11, 1992 -- ``Grand Canyon'' is a bit like ``The Big Chill'' revisited by the same director, Lawrence Kasdan, who brought you that film. It isn't quite that good. This film seems to evoke strong responses either for or against it. For instance television critics Siskel and Ebert liked it a lot and Denver Post critic Howie Movshovitz hated it. Siskel and Ebert liked it because of its positive message, Movshovitz thought the positive message was nothing but naivete. I was willing to suspend my disbelief enough to overlook the film's simplistic approach to serious social issues and I wouldn't dismiss it solely because of its naivete, but there are plenty of other flaws in the film besides those. The dialogue in the film does not sound like real people are speaking. Most of the time the dialogue sounds as if it was written for some kind of existential stage play, or a bad soap opera. The other big problem was the lack of honest emotions in the film, many of them seemed contrived. The screenplay tries to come to grips with a lack of spirituality, a lack of basic moral values in modern day Los Angeles, set against a backdrop of crime and violence and despair. It tries to say that miracles still happen, a baby found under a shrub and the woman decides to keep it, a man helps another out of a jam, and grateful, that man in return helps the first by playing matchmaker and by getting his sister's family out of a crime-ridden neighborhood. In the end, all of these soap opera-type problems are set in contrast to the majesty of the Grand Canyon, a place where each of the characters can feel their own insignificance in the overall scheme of things. The message is, ``don't despair, each one of you can make a difference.'' The message is positive, but it is also hollow. There's no real philosophical hook on which to hang that message, no real reason is given for any of the characters to have a change of heart. It's almost as if some of the characters underwent a religious conversion without the religion. A much more convincing ``conversion'' of this sort was in a film that did not pretend to be realistic, as in Tom Hanks' conversion scene on the raft in ``Joe Versus the Volcano.'' That film was light, this is deadly serious. Only the movie producer character played by Steve Martin remains relatively unchanged at the end of the film, reverting back to his old ways of producing schlock action movies featuring mega violence, and even he is thinking of getting married and making an ``honest woman'' out of his girlfriend. After seeing his reaction to his own life-threatening situation, you wonder why all the other characters in the film did not react the same way. I liked the positive message of the film and some of the performances were good, especially Steve Martin and Mary McDonnell, but I would have preferred some believable motivation for the characters, better dialogue and a little more humor. It rates a C. Click here for links to places to buy this movie in video and/or DVD format, the soundtrack, books, even used videos, games and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information. Back to the Laramie Movie Scope index. Robert Roten can be reached via e-mail at . (If you e-mail me with a question about this or any other movie or review, please mention the name of the movie you are asking the question about, otherwise I may have no way of knowing which film you are referring to)

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GoodFellas Get Movie Times The April Fools Watch at Home Something Big Watch at Home Pussycat, Pussycat, I Love You Watch at Home Lost Horizon Watch at Home Casino Royale Watch at Home Without You I'm Nothing Watch at Home What's New Pussycat? Watch at Home Arthur 2: On the Rocks Watch at Home The Adventures of Ford Fairlane Watch at Home Buster Watch at Home Profession: Songwriter, Composer (Music Score) Biography: During his heyday in the mid-to-late 1960s, American composer and songwriter Burt Bacharach wrote many popular tunes for Broadway and films. Many of these songs such as "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head," and... Continued Isn't She Great Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me as Himself as Featured Music All Burt Bacharach films

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(NR) A passionate argument on behalf of the middle class, this film features Robert Reich-professor, best-selling author, and Clinton cabinet member-as he demonstrates how the widening income gap has a devastating impact on the American economy. The film is an intimate portrait of a man who's overcome a great deal of personal adversity and whose lifelong goal remains protecting those who are unable to protect themselves. Through his singular perspective, Reich explains how the massive consolidation of wealth by a precious few threatens the viability of the American workforce and the foundation of democracy itself. In this INCONVENIENT TRUTH for the economy, Reich uses humor and a wide array of facts to explain how the issue of economic inequality affects each and every one of us. Documentary Producer(s) Jennifer Chaiken, Sebastian Dungan Director(s) Jacob Kornbluth Inequality For All MovieTickets.com is a worldwide leader in advance film ticketing and a top destination for news, celebrity interviews, film reviews and trailers. You can also access cinema information, check film showtimes, view video clips, and much more.

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Who knew that Charles Dickens was a rock star? That�s the way he�s drawn by Abi Morgan in her screenplay for �The Invisible Woman� (based on the book by Claire Tomalin). That�s also the way he�s presented by director and star Ralph Fiennes. The Dickens of this film was a wildly popular fellow who had throngs of audiences waiting to see him direct and act in plays, and many more waiting for the next chapter of whatever serialized book he was in the midst of writing. He was celebrated by all, and he loved what he was doing.Yet if everything that he was doing was known about by his fans, some of them might have turned on him. Little did anyone know at the time that the beloved author was embroiled in an affair with a much younger woman. If revealed back then, the scandal would�ve likely been bigger than that recent business of Justin Bieber visiting a brothel.The story opens many years after the central events had taken place, looking out onto a desolate beach in Margate, England, in 1883, where Nelly Ternan (Felicity Jones) roams the sands, as she does every day, lost in thought, dreaming of the past. It seems that she only comes out of her self-induced reverie when she�s at her tiny school, where she directs young kids in a play. It�s not till the film shoots back a couple of decades that we begin to understand what has led friends and family to believe that Nelly�s come to be emotionally �absent� from practically everyone around her.It was back then, somewhere around the time that Dickens was writing �Great Expectations,� and was regularly doing public readings of his works and staging plays based on them, that he first set his eyes on Nelly Ternan. She was one of three actress daughters of Frances Ternan (Kristin Scott Thomas), all of whom traveled the road on the acting circuit. It appears that it took about a blink of an eye for him to fall for her, even though he was 45 and she was 18.But there�s an easy explanation, one that goes beyond a famous and wealthy man suddenly accosted with a romantic fantasy. Dickens is shown to be bright and boisterous and full of life when he�s with his public, but the fire had long gone out at home, where his quiet, drudge-like wife, Catherine (Joanna Scanlan), goes about life, unaware that her husband has lost interest in her.The secret romance between the middle-age author and the young would-be actress wasn�t easy to get started, although she had already been a fan of his novels. While Dickens seemed to easily put his own family on the back burner, there was Nelly�s powerful and outspoken mom to deal with. There was also the fact that Nelly was so young she didn�t know how to react to his advances.And so to the good news and bad news, most of it involving acting. Joanna Scanlan is absolutely heartbreaking as Catherine, and will no doubt bring tears to some viewers, especially when she pays a visit to the woman who is unwittingly taking her husband from her. Kristin Scott Thomas hasn�t yet done a bad film performance, and her record remains unblemished here. Ralph Fiennes turns in one of his strongest pieces of acting with a full-bodied, well-rounded portrayal of a man caught up in emotional chaos. But Felicity Jones, who is certainly too old for the part � it�s been a long time since she was 18 � plays an actress who doesn�t know how to act and, unfortunately, does it convincingly. Many of her scenes are painful to watch, though there is one bit, with Dickens and Nelly whispering to each other late into the night, that�s spellbinding.The best part of all of this is that Fiennes, in only his second attempt at directing a film, has progressed wonderfully. His first, �Coriolanus,� was an interesting experiment but had more to do with acting than all around filmmaking. He�s now learned not only where to place his cameras for best effect, but also when and when not to move them, and he�s gained an understanding of how and why to jump from an establishing shot to a close-up.This is a sad and beautiful love story that would have been better with a stronger leading actress. But at the very least it should entice people to read some Dickens.Ed Symkus covers movies for More Content Now.THE INVISIBLE WOMANWritten by Abi Morgan; directed by Ralph FiennesWith Ralph Fiennes, Felicity Jones, Kristin Scott ThomasRated R

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New York: The Center of the World New York: The Center of the World examines the rise and fall of the World Trade Center -- from its conception in the post-World War II economic boom, through its controversial construction in the 1960s and 1970s, to its tragic demise in the fall of 2001 and extraordinary response of the city in its aftermath. It is the eighth episode of filmmaker Ric Burns' award-winning series New York: A Documentary Film. Primary Resources: Skyscrapers and Oysters Read excerpts from two of Joseph Mitchell's stories, describing Native American skyscraper builders and oystering in New York Harbor. Joseph Mitchell arrived in New York City from a small North Carolina farming town on the day after the great stock market crash in 1929. Just 21, he found work as a crime reporter, and subsequently worked as a reporter and feature writer for The World, The Herald Tribune and The World-Telegram. In 1938 Mitchell started writing full time for The New Yorker. He remained on staff there for nearly 60 years, writing acknowledged masterpieces on New York and its inhabitants. From "The Mohawks in High Steel" (1949) ...In the early years at Caughnawaga, the men clung to their old, aboriginal Iroquois ways of making a living. The Jesuits tried to get them to become farmers, but they would not. In the summer, while the women farmed, they fished. In the fall and winter, they hunted in a body in woods all over Quebec, returning to the village now and then with canoeloads of smoked deer meat, moose meat, and bear meat. Then, around 1700, a few of the youths of the first generation born at Caughnawaga went down to Montreal and took jobs in the French fur trade. They became canoemen in the great fleets of canoes that carried trading goods to remote depots on the St. Lawrence and its tributaries and brought back bales of furs. They liked this work -- it was hard but hazardous -- and they recruited others. Thereafter, for almost a century and a half, practically every youth in the band took a job in a freight canoe as soon as he got his strength, usually around the age of seventeen. In the eighteen-thirties, forties, and fifties, as the fur trade declined in Lower Canada, the Caughnawaga men were forced to find other things to do. Some switched to the St. Lawrence timber-rafting industry and became famous on the river for their skill in running immense rafts of oak and pine over Lachine Rapids. Some broke down and became farmers. Some made moccasins and snowshoes and sold them to jobbers in Montreal. A few who were still good at the old Mohawk dances came down to the United States and traveled with circuses; Caughnawagas were among the first circus Indians. A few bought horses and buggies and went from farmhouse to farmhouse in New England in the summer, peddling medicines -- tonics, purges, liniments, and remedies for female ills -- that the old women brewed from herbs and roots and seeds. A good many became depressed and shiftless; these hung out in Montreal and did odd jobs and drank cheap brandy. In 1886, the life at Caughnawaga changed abruptly. In the spring of that year, the Dominion Bridge Company began the construction of a cantilever railroad bridge across the St. Lawrence for the Canadian Pacific Railroad, crossing from the French-Canadian village of Lachine on the north shore to a point just below Caughnawaga village on the south shore. The D.B.C. is the biggest erector of iron and steel structures in Canada; it corresponds to the Bethlehem Steel Company in the United States. In obtaining the right to use reservation land for the bridge abutment, the Canadian Pacific and the D.B.C. promised the Caughnawagas would be employed on the job wherever possible. "The records of the company for this bridge show that it was our understanding that we would employ these Indians as ordinary day laborers unloading materials," an official of the D.B.C. wrote recently in a letter. "They were dissatisfied with this arrangement and would come out on the bridge itself every chance they got. It was quite impossible to keep them off. As the work progressed, it became apparent to all concerned that these Indians were very odd in that they did not have any fear of heights. If not watched, they would climb up into the spans and walk around there as cool and collected as the toughest of our riveters, most of whom at that period were old sailing-ship men especially picked for their experience in working aloft. These Indians were as agile as goats. They would walk a narrow beam high up in the air with nothing below them but the river, which is rough there and ugly to look down on, and it wouldn't mean any more to them than walking on solid ground. They seemed immune to the noise of the riveting, which goes right through you and is often enough in itself to make newcomers to construction feel sick and dizzy. They were inquisitive about the riveting and were continually bothering our foremen by requesting that they be allowed to take a crack at it. This happens to be the most dangerous work in all construction, and the highest-paid. Men who want to do it are rare and men who can do it are even rarer, and in good construction years there are sometimes not enough of them to go around. We decided it would be mutually advantageous to see what these Indians could do, so we picked out some and gave them a little training, and it turned out that putting riveting tools in their hands was like putting ham with eggs. In other words, they were natural-born bridgemen. Our records do not show how many we trained on this bridge. There is a tradition in the company that we trained twelve, or enough to form three riveting gangs." In the erection of steel structures, whether bridge or building, there are three main divisions of workers -- raising gangs, fitting-up gangs, and riveting gangs. The steel comes to a job already cut and built up in to various kinds of columns and beams and girders; the columns are the perpendicular pieces and the beams and girders are the horizontal ones. Each piece has two or more groups of holes bored though it to receive bolts and rivets, and each piece has a code mark chalked or painted on it, indicating where it should go in the structure. Using a crane or a derrick, the men in the raising gang hoist the pieces up and set them in position and join them by running bolts through a few of the holes in them; these bolts are temporary. Then the men in the fitting-up gang come along; they are divided into plumbers and bolters. The plumbers tighten up the pieces with guy wires and turnbuckles and make sure that they are in plumb. The bolters put in some more temporary bolts. Then the riveting gangs come along; one raising gang and one fitting-up gang will keep several riveting gangs busy. There are four men in a riveting gang -- a heater, a sticker-in, a bucker-up and a riveter. The heater lays some wooden planks across a couple of beams, making a platform for the portable, coal-burning forge in which he heats the rivets. The three other men hang a plank scaffold by ropes from the steel on which they are going to work. There are usually six two-by-ten planks on a scaffold, three on each side of the steel, affording just room enough to work; one false step and it's goodbye Charlie. The three men climb down with their tools and take their positions on the scaffold; most often the sticker-in and the bucker-up stand on one side, and the riveter stands or kneels on the other. The heater, on his platform, picks a red-hot rivet off the coals in his forge with tongs and tosses it to the sticker-in, who catches it in a metal can. At this stage the rivet is shaped like a mushroom; it has a buttonhead and a stem. Meanwhile, the bucker-up has unscrewed and pulled out one of the temporary bolts jointing two pieces of steel, leaving the hole empty. The sticker-in picks the rivet out of his can with tongs and sticks it in the hole and pushes it in until the buttonhead is flush with the steel on his side and the stem protrudes from the other side, the riveter's side. The sticker-in steps out of the way. The bucker-up fits a tool called a dolly bar over the buttonhead and holds it there, bracing the rivet. Then the riveter presses the cupped head of his pneumatic hammer against the protruding stem end of the rivet, which is still red-hot and malleable, and turns on the power and forms a buttonhead on it. This operation is repeated until every hole that can be got at from the scaffold is riveted up. Then the scaffold is moved. The heater's platform stays in one place until all the work within a rivet-tossing radius of thirty to forty feet is completed. The men on the scaffold know each other's jobs and are interchangeable; the riveter's job is bone-shaking and nerve-racking, and every so often one of the others swaps with him for a while. In the days before pneumatic hammers, the riveter used two tools, a cupped die and an iron maul; he placed the die over the stem end of the red-hot rivet and beat on it with the maul until he squashed the stem end into a buttonhead. After the D.B.C. completed the Canadian Pacific Bridge, it began work on a jackknife bridge now known as the Soo Bridge, which crosses two canals and a river and connects the twin cities of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, and Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. This job took two years. Old Mr. Jacobs, the patriarch of the band, says that the Caughnawaga riveting gangs went straight from the Canadian Pacific job to the Soo job and that each gang took along an apprentice. Mr. Jacobs is in his eighties. In his youth, he was a member of a riveting gang; in his middle age, he was, successively, a commercial traveler for a wholesale grocer in Montreal, a schoolteacher on the reservation, and a campaigner for compulsory education for Indians. "The Indian boys turned the Soo Bridge into a college for themselves," he says. "The way they worked it, as soon as one apprentice was trained, they'd send back to the reservation for another one. By and by, there'd be enough men for a new Indian gang. When the new gang was organized, there'd be a shuffle-up -- a couple of men from the old gangs would go into the new gang and a couple of the new men would go into the old gangs; the old would balance the new." This proliferation continued on subsequent jobs, and by 1907 there were over seventy skilled bridgemen in the Caughnawaga band. On August 29, 1907 during the erection of the Quebec Bridge, which crosses the St. Lawrence nine miles above Quebec City, a span collapsed, killing ninety-six men, of whom thirty-five were Caughnawagas. In the band, this is always spoken of as "the disaster." "People thought the disaster would scare the Indians away from high steel for good," Mr. Jacobs says. "Instead of which, the general effect it had, it made high steel much more interesting to them. It made them take pride in themselves that they could do such dangerous work. Up to then, the majority of them, they didn't consider it any more dangerous than timber-rafting. Also it made them the most looked-up-to men on the reservation. The little boys in Caughnawaga used to look up to the men that went out with circuses in the summer and danced and war-whooped all over the States and came back to the reservation in the winter and holed up and sat by the stove and drank whiskey and bragged. That's what they wanted to do. Either that, or work on the timber rafts. After the disaster, they changed their minds -- they all wanted to go into high steel. The disaster was a terrible blow to the women. The first thing they did, they got together a sum of money for a life-size crucifix to hang over the main altar in St. Francis Xavier's. They did that to show their Christian resignation. The next thing they did, they got in behind the men and made them split up and scatter out. That is, they wouldn't allow all the gangs to work together on one bridge any more, which, if something went wrong, it might widow half the young women on the reservation. A few gangs would go to this bridge and a few would go to that. Pretty soon, there weren't enough bridge jobs, and the gangs began working on all types of high steel -- factories, office buildings, department stores, hospitals, hotels, apartment houses, schools, breweries, distilleries, powerhouses, piers, railroad stations, grain elevators, anything and everything. In a few years, every steel structure of any size that went up in Canada, there were Indians on it. Then Canada got too small and they began crossing the border. They began going down to Buffalo and Cleveland and Detroit." Sometime in 1915 or 1916, a Caughnawaga bridgeman named John Diabo came down to New York City and got a job on Hell Gate Bridge. He was a curiosity and was called Indian Joe; two old foremen still remember him. After he had worked for some months as a bucker-up in an Irish gang, three other Caughnawagas joined him and they formed a gang of their own. They had worked together only a few weeks when Diabo stepped off a scaffold and dropped into the river and was drowned. He was highly skilled and his misstep was freakish; recently, in trying to explain it, a Caughnawaga said, "It must've been one of those cases, he got in the way of himself." The other Caughnawagas went back to the reservation with his body and did not return. As well as the old men in the band can recollect, no other Caughnawagas worked here until the twenties. In 1926, attracted by the building boom, three or four Caughnawaga gangs came down. The old men say that these gangs worked first on the Fred F. French building, the Graybar Building, and One Fifth Avenue. In 1928, three more gangs came down. They worked first on the George Washington Bridge. In the thirties, when Rockefeller Center was the biggest steel job in the country, at least seven additional Caughnawaga gangs came down. Upon arriving here, the men in all these gangs enrolled in the Brooklyn local of the high-steel union, the International Association of Bridge, Structural, and Ornamental Iron Workers, American Federation of Labor. Why they enrolled in the Brooklyn instead of the Manhattan local, no one now seems able to remember. The hall of the Brooklyn local is on Atlantic Avenue, in the block between Times Plaza and Third Avenue, and the Caughnawagas got lodgings in furnished-room houses and cheap hotels in the North Gowanus neighborhood, a couple of blocks up Atlantic from the hall. In the early thirties, they began sending for their families and moving into tenements and apartment houses in the same neighborhood. During the war, Caughnawagas continued to come down. Many of these enrolled in the Manhattan local, but all of them settled in North Gowanus. At present, there are eighty-three Caughnawagas in the Brooklyn local and forty-two in the Manhattan local. Less them a third of them work steadily in the city. The other keep their families in North Gowanus and work here intermittently but spend much of their time in other cities. They roam from coast to coast, usually by automobile, seeking rush jobs that offer unlimited overtime work at double pay; in New York City, the steel-erecting companies use as little overtime as possible. A gang may work in half a dozen widely separated cities in a single year. Occasionally, between jobs, they return to Brooklyn to seen their families. Now and then, after long jobs, they pick up their families and go up to the reservation for a vacation; some go up every summer. A few men sometimes take their families along on trips to jobs and send them back to Brooklyn by bus or train. Several foremen who have had years of experience with Caughnawagas believe that they roam because they can't help doing so, it is a passion, and that their search for overtime is only an excuse. A veteran foreman for the American Bridge Company says he has seen Caughnawagas leave jobs that offered all the overtime they could handle. When they are making up their minds to move on, he says, they become erratic. "Everything will be going along fine on a job," he says. "Good working conditions. Plenty of overtime. A nice city. Then the news will come over the grapevine about some big new job opening up somewhere; it might be a thousand miles away. That kind of news always causes a lot of talk, what we call water-bucket talk, but the Indians don't talk; they know what's in each other's mind. For a couple of days, they're tensed up and edgy. They look a little wild in the eyes. They've heard the call. Then, all of a sudden, they turn in their tools, and they're gone. Can't wait another minutes. They'll quit at lunchtime, in the middle of the week. They won't even wait for their pay. Some other gang will collect their money and hold it until a postcard comes back telling where to send it." George C. Lane, manager of erections in the New York district for the Bethlehem Steel Company, once said that the movements of a Caughnawaga gang are as impossible to foresee as the movements of a flock of sparrows. "In the summer of 1936," Mr. Lane said, "we finished a job here in the city and the very next day we were starting in on a job exactly three blocks away. I heard one of our foremen trying his best to persuade an Indian gang to go on the new job. They had got word about a job in Hartford and wanted to go up there. The foreman told them the rate of pay was the same; there wouldn't be any more overtime up there than here; their families were here; they'd have traveling expenses; they'd have to root around Hartford for lodgings. Oh, no; it was Hartford or nothing. A year or so later I ran into this gang on a job in Newark, and I asked the heater how they made out in Hartford that time. He said they didn't go to Hartford. 'We went to San Francisco, California.' He said. 'We went out and worked on the Golden Gate Bridge.' " In New York City, the Caughnawagas work mostly for the big companies -- Bethlehem, American Bridge, the Lehigh Structural Steel Company, and the Harris Structural Steel Company. Among the structures in and around the city on which they worked in numbers are the R.C.A. Building, the Cities Service Building, the Empire State Building, the Daily News Building, the Chanin Building, the Bank of the Manhattan Company Building, the City Bank Farmers Trust Building, the George Washington Bridge, the Bayonne Bridge, the Passaic River Bridge, the Triborough Bridge, the Henry Hudson Bridge, the Little Hell Gate Bridge, the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge, the Marine Parkway Bridge, the Pulaski Skyway, the West Side Highway, the Waldorf-Astoria, London Terrace, and Knickerbocker Village.... Excerpt from "The Mohawks in High Steel," reprinted in Up in the Old Hotel and Other Stories (Vintage Books, 1992), pp. 267-290. From "The Bottom of the Harbor" (1951) ...In Dutch and English days, immense beds of oysters grew in the harbor. They bordered the shores of Brooklyn and Queens, and they encircled Manhattan, Staten Island, and the islands in the Upper Bay; to the Dutch, Ellis Island was Oyster Island and Bedloe's Island was Great Oyster Island. One chain of beds extended from Sandy Hook straight across the harbor and up the Hudson to Ossining. The Dutch and the English were, as they still are, gluttonous oyster eaters. By the end of the eighteenth century, all but the deepest of the beds had been stripped. Oysters, until then among the cheapest of foods, gradually became expensive. In the eighteen-twenties, a group of Staten Island shipowners began to buy immature oysters by the schooner-load in other localities and bring them to New York and bed them in the harbor until they got their growth, when they were tonged up and shipped to the wholesale oyster market in Manhattan, to cities in the Middle West, and to London, where they were prized. This business was known as bedding. The bedders obtained most of their seed stock in the Chesapeake Bay and in several New Jersey and Long Island bays. Some bought three-year-olds and put them down for only six or seven months, and some bought younger oysters and put them down for longer periods. At first, the bedders used the shoals in the Kill van Kull, but by and by they found that the best bottoms lay along the seaward side of Staten Island, in the Lower Bay and Raritan Bay. Back then, the inshore water in these bays was rich in diatoms and protozoa, the tiny plants and animals on which oysters feed. Spread out in this water, on clean bottoms, at depths averaging around thirteen feet, oysters matured and fattened much faster than they did crowded together on their shell-cluttered spawning grounds; a thousand bushels of three-year-olds from Chesapeake Bay, put down in April in a favorable season, might amount to fourteen hundred bushels when taken up in October. Bedding was highly profitable in good years and many fortunes were made in it. It was dominated by old-settler Staten Island families -- the Tottens, the Winants, the De Harts, the Deckers, the Manees, the Merseraus, the Van Wyks, the Van Duzers, the Latourettes, the Housmans, the Bedells and the Depews. It lasted almost for a century, during which, at one time or another, five Staten Island ports -- Mariner's Harbor, Port Richmond, Great Kills, Prince's Bay and Tottenville -- had oyster docks and fleets of schooners, sloops and tonging skiffs. Prince's Bay had the biggest fleet and longest period of prosperity; on menus in New York and London, harbor oysters were often called Prince's Bays. Approximately nine thousand acres of harbor bottom, split up into plots varying from a fraction of an acre to four hundred acres, were used for beds. The plots were leased from the state and were staked with a forest of hemlock poles; nowadays, in deepening and widening Ambrose Channel, Chapel Hill Channel, Swash Channel, and other ship channels in the Lower Bay, dredges occasionally dig up the tube-worm-incrusted stumps of old boundary poles. Bedding was most prosperous in the thirty years between 1860 and 1890. In good years in that period, as many as fifteen hundred men were employees on the beds and as many as five hundred thousand bushels of oysters were marketed. Some years, as much as a third of the crop was shipped to Billingsgate, the London fish market. For a while, the principal bedders were the richest men on Staten Island. They put their money in waterfront real estate, they named streets after themselves, and they built big, showy wooden mansions. A half dozen of these mansions still stand in a blighted neighborhood in Mariner's Harbor, in among refineries and coal tipples and junk yards. One has a widow's walk, two have tall fluted columns, all have oddly shaped gables, and all are decorated with scroll-saw work. They overlook one of the oiliest and gummiest stretches of the Kill van Kull. On the south shore, in the sassafras barrens west of Prince's Bay, there are three more of these mansions, all empty. Their fanlights are broken, their shutters swag, and their yards are a tangle of weeds and vines and overturned birdbaths and dead pear trees. After 1900, as more and more of the harbor became polluted, people began to grow suspicious of harbor oysters, and the bedding business declined. In the summer of 1916, a number of cases of typhoid fever were traced beyond all doubt to the eating of oysters that had been bedded on West Bank Shoal, in the Lower Bay, and it was found that sewage from a huge New Jersey trunk sewer whose outfall is at the confluence of the Kill van Kull and the Upper Bay was being swept through the Narrows and over all the beds by the tides. The Department of Health thereupon condemned the beds and banned the business. The bedders were allowed to take up the oysters they had down and rebed them in clean water in various Long Island bays. They didn't get them all, of course. A few were missed and now their descendants are sprinkled over shoaly areas in all the bays below the Narrows. They are found on West Bank Shoal, East Bank Shoal, Old Orchard Shoal, Round Shoal, Flynns Shoal, and Romer Shoal. They live in clumps and patches; a clump may have several dozen oysters in it and a patch may have several hundred. Divers and dredgemen call them wild oysters. It is against state and city laws to "dig, rake, tong, or otherwise remove" these oysters from the water. A few elderly men who once were bedders are still living in the old Staten Island oyster ports, and many sons and grandsons of bedders. They have a proprietary feeling about harbor oysters, and every so often, in cold weather, despite the laws, some of them go out to the old, ruined beds and poach a mess. They know what they are doing; they watch the temperature of the water to make sure the oysters are "sleeping," or hibernating, before they eat any. Oysters shut their shells and quit feeding and begin to hibernate when the temperature of the water in which they lie goes down to forty-one degrees; in three or four days, they free themselves of whatever germs they may have taken in, and then they are clean and safe. There is a physician in his late fifties in St. George whose father and grandfather were bedders. On a wall of his waiting room hangs an heirloom, a chart of oyster plots on West Bank Shoal that was made in 1886 by a marine surveyor for the state; it is wrinkled and finger-smudged and salt-water-spotted, and his grandfather's plot, which later became his father's -- a hundred and two acres on the outer rim of the shoal, down below Swinburne Island -- is bounded on it in red ink. The physician keeps a sea skiff in one of the south shore ports and goes fishing every decent Sunday. He stores a pair of pole-handled tongs in the skiff and sometimes spends a couple of hours hunting for lumps of harbor oysters. One foggy Sunday afternoon last March, he got in his skiff, with a companion, and remarked to the people on the dock that he was going codfishing on the Scallop Ridge, off Rockaway Beach. Instead, picking his way through the fog, he want up to the West Bank and dropped anchor on one of his father's old beds and began tonging. He made over two dozen grabs and moved the skiff four times before he located a clump. It was a big clump, and he tonged up all the oysters in it; there were exactly sixty. All were mature, all were speckled with little holes made by boring sponges, and all were wedge-shaped. Sea hair, a marine weed, grew thickly on their shells. One was much bigger than the others, and the physician picked it up and smoothed aside its mat of coarse, black, curly sea hair and counted the ridges on its upper shell and said that it was at least fourteen years old. "It's too big to eat on the half shell," he told his companion. He bent over the gunnel of the skiff and gently put it back in the water. Then he selected a dozen that ranged in age from four to seven years and opened them. Their meats were well developed and gray-green and glossy. He ate one with relish. "Every time I eat harbor oysters," he said, "my childhood comes floating up from the bottom of my mind." He reflected a few moments. "They have a high iodine content," he continued, "and they have a characteristic taste. When I was a boy in Prince's Bay, the old bedders used to say that they tasted like almonds. Since the water went bad, that taste has become more pronounced. It's become coppery and bitter. If you've ever tasted the little nut that's inside the pit of a peach, the kernel, that's how they taste..." Excerpt from Joseph Mitchell, "The Bottom of the Harbor," reprinted in Up in the Old Hotel and Other Stories (Vintage Books, 1992), pp. 465-488. New York: The Center of the World: Special Features New York: Center of the World World Trade Center (1942-2002) Flash Interactive Layers of Lower Manhattan General Article Destruction and Rebuilding of the WTC David and Nelson Rockefeller Guy Tozzoli Tightrope Between the Towers New York After WWII Immigration to New York, 1900-2000 Engineering and Construction of the Twin Towers The Planning Debate in New York (1955-75) Bonus Video World Trade Center Construction Footage Mike Wallace, Historian Pete Hamill, writer Carol Willis, Architectural Historian Guy Tozzoli, President WTC Association Leslie Robertson, Engineer Camilo Jose Vergara, Photographer Niall Ferguson, Historian Philippe Petit, High Wire Artist William Langewiesche, Journalist Ed Koch, Former NYC Mayor Mario Cuomo, Former NY Governor Ada Louise Huxtable, Architecture Critic Under New York City Skyscrapers and Oysters Opinions of New York These films are from the categories: Popular Culture, Technology William "Buffalo Bill" Cody's legendary exploits helped create the myth of the American West that still endures today. Film Details The Polio Crusade The story of the polio crusade pays tribute to a time when Americans banded together to conquer a terrible disease. America 1900 Politics, culture, race relations, and technology in a year of change. Freedom Summer A historic effort to shatter the foundations of white supremacy in what was one of the nation’s most viciously racist, segregated states. Transcontinental Railroad The remarkable story of how a railroad was built connecting California to the East. When two passenger ships collide off Nantucket in 1909, 1,500 people rely on 26-year-old Jack Binns to operate a new technology - wireless telegraphy - to save them all. Ripley: Believe It or Not Meet the Wizard of Odd. Robert Ripley was a new media star and the most popular man in America. The Orphan Trains Between 1854 and 1929 more than 100,000 abused or orphaned children were sent by train to the Midwest to begin new lives in foster families. Website ©1996-2012 WGBH Educational Foundation. This site is produced for PBS by WGBH.

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//Home//DVDs//Reviews//Jennifer Baichwal//Act of God Act of God by John Grassi Tweet A bolt from the blue: this film explores the scientific and metaphysical aspects of a lightning strike. Act of GodDirector: Jennifer BaichwalCast: Paul Auster, Fred Frith, James O’ReillyDVD release date: 26 Jan 2010Amazon Review [5.Nov.2009] Four young men gather firewood on a neighbor’s farm. Suddenly there’s a blinding flash followed by an ear-splitting explosion. A lightning bolt flattens them. Three men get back up, dazed but relatively unscathed. The fourth man is dead. At the victim’s funeral, the dead man’s sister looks at the three survivors and asks: “Why are you still alive while my brother is dead?” That question is the focus of Canadian filmmaker Jennifer Baichwal’s Act of God, a documentary about the survivors of lightning strikes. “This is about the ‘why’, the unanswerable nature of it,” Baichwal says. “For someone who has experienced this and survived, or been in proximity to someone who has experienced this and not survived, it is almost impossible not to see it as some kind of sign, a radical message, an event to be pondered and divined.” The documentary explores the intertwining questions of chance and fate. Is a lightning strike merely a random example of nature’s power or are there larger forces at work? Baichwal and her husband, cinematographer Nick de Pencier traveled to the U, Mexico, Cuba, and France to interview survivors. Regardless of background or nationality, survivors of a lightning strike remember the event as a transformative moment in their lives. Novelist Paul Auster recalls in vivid detail the death of a boyhood friend during a summer camp hike: “The woods were thick with trees… and when the sky turned black it was like night. Then the thunder started, then the lightning started, and the rain poured down so hard it actually hurt. It was a storm ripped from the pages of the Bible, it went on and on, like it would never end. “ “In our panic we tried to run away from it, but everywhere we ran we were met by more lightning. When the thunder exploded you could feel the noise vibrating inside your body. The lightning was dancing around us like spears, a sudden flash that turned everything ghostly white.” Lightning strikes a camper as he crawls under a barbed wire fence. “Ralph stopped moving and I grabbed his arm and dragged him through,” Auster continues. “His skin took on a blue tinge, his body seemed colder to my touch… I was only fourteen and had never seen a dead person.” Act of God has no formal structure. Baichwal simply points the camera at her subjects as they recount their stories. De Pencier provides video of lightning storms while improvisational guitarist Fred Frith adds music to the narratives. The method is effective, giving the stories’ sensory depth. Each survivor tries to place the event within a personal cosmic order: “There’s something monumental about a lightning bolt coming from the sky,” Auster says. “It doesn’t seem like a ordinary death, it has something of the divine about it, and there’s something transcendently scary about it,” James O’Reilley, one of the men who survived a lightning strike while gathering firewood, goes for a scientific explanation, yet seems just as perplexed about the ‘why’: “Electricity tries to balance itself out… a lightning bolt comes from an excessively negative charge in the air. The mysterious thing is that the electrical polarity of the ground will shift from negative to positive as a storm approaches, almost inviting the lightning bolt down to earth.” In the Cuban town of Palmira, Baichwal films a Santeria festival in honor of Shango, god of thunder and lightning. Myths are another form of storytelling, another explanation for the intersection between chance and fate. In Santeria, the powers of nature are personified and those struck by lightning have been “crowned by Shango.” In one unforgettable sequence, Baichwal visits Santa Maria del Rio, Mexico where five children were electrocuted on a mountaintop while praying beneath a cross on the summit. A mother who lost two children there says, “The priest gave all the parents a little explanation… it was an act of God and that someone above decides this. There are moments when I believe it and there are moments when I don’t. The truth is I don’t know.” In this case a Christian priest does the same thing as a Santerian—he puts forward a deity to personify nature, another sky god with a different name. Whether it’s a Christian, Santerian, or even a secular intellectual like Auster, a common thread emerges: the resistance of the mind to accept chance and mortality. And what of the question posed here, the ‘why’? There’s a built-in conceit to the question, as if man, the thinking animal, deserves an explanation. Nature creates and destroys life on a constant basis—we only notice when it becomes personal. The question of ‘why’ also implies a hidden motive behind natural forces. Since there are thousands of lightning strikes every year, it would be strange and miraculous if no one was ever hit by lightning. Nevertheless, Act of God is an engaging and fair-minded documentary. It explores different cultural beliefs and reveals the frailty of life and the awesome power of nature. The extras include a short film by Peter Greenaway, Lightning: Act of God and an interview with Baichwal where she discusses the making of the documentary and the background for the film. Act of God Rating: Extras rating: John Grassi lives in Norman, Oklahoma. His work was recently published by Centipede Press in their latest Film Studies collection, 'Night of the Living Dead'. He can be reached at [email protected] //related 'Payback' Shows the Costs of Debt

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BROADWAY REVIEW: Mormons, missionaries and music 'Book of Mormon' "Book of Mormon" second national tour. "Book of Mormon" second national tour. If any show could make the case that you can have fun with absolutely anything in the oft-painful run of human experience — AIDS, genocide, genital mutilation, poverty, religion, "The Lion King" — then that show is "The Book of Mormon," the shrewd, remarkably well-crafted and wholly hilarious new Broadway musical from the creators of "South Park" and the composer of "Avenue Q."Fans of Trey Parker and Matt Stone won't be surprised by the outrageous content and language — which surely goes further than any other musical in Broadway history — in this coming-of-age tale of an enthusiastic young Mormon missionary, whose fervent prayer to be sent to Orlando, his favorite city on earth, is answered with an assignment in war-torn Uganda and a partnership with the most inept and annoying Mormon sidekick in religious history. But it's still an eye-popping moment when a curtain at a musical comedy goes up on designer Scott Pask's locale of intense poverty, populated by an ensemble of African citizens who suffer from the kind of unspeakable — well, here, very much speakable and singable — horrors rarely even mentioned, let alone lampooned, on the streets of midtown Manhattan. But, as shrewder "South Park" fans understand, Parker and Stone built their career on their mastery of tone, and their seemingly innate ability to understand when to push the limits to the breaking point and when to dance deftly away from painful details. They have long forged material as sweet as it is sour, and, especially in their movies ("South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut"), embraced the traditions of the Broadway musical even as they turned its milquetoast romanticism on its head.In many ways, "The Book of Mormon" is an intensification — a culmination, really — of what "Monty Python's Spamalot" achieved, albeit signposted for a very different cultural generation. "The Book of Mormon," which features not only the catchy songs of Robert Lopez (the opening doorbell number, "Hello," is a classic example) but also his clearly crucial help on the book, starts with a satirical, self-aware and dazzlingly self-confident comedic mind-set — honed and, crucially, licensed and secured in other media. But just as it starts to feel as if watching the "South Park" guys deconstruct the apparent illogicalities of Mormonism is starting to sound the same, one-sided note, Parker, Stone and Lopez engineer a very savvy twist in the narrative. This re-energizes the show early in the second act, focuses it more acutely on those "Avenue Q"-like themes of young people seeking out their purpose and propels it to a conclusion that leaves audience members feeling they've attended something weightier than a series of pointed laughs fired into a soft religious target.By the end of a night more emotional than many will expect, the show is arguing the importance of finding a spiritual center, if not exactly embracing the doctrinal details of that most American of religions (and, as cooler heads may currently be observing in Salt Lake City, when you are the most American of religions, it could be seen as a badge of honor to be ridiculed on Broadway).In many ways, the rich, liberal do-gooders of "We Are the World" (the object of a hilarious Act 2 takedown) come off worse than the collection of naive missionaries trying to save the world. And "The Book of Mormon" even makes a case that it takes those suffering real pain to understand the real role of religion in our lives. "South Park" was never friendly to pretentious baby boomers. Neither is its musical. Along the jolly way, "The Book of Mormon" throws in many inside jokes. A spoof Mormon re-enactment diorama (sourced in part, I suspect, on the reporting in Jon Krakauer's "Under the Banner of Heaven") is a nod to "Angels in America." A catchy, faux-African ditty, "Hasa Diga Eebowai" (you don't want to know the translation) is a hilariously profane takedown of the Disneyfied complacencies of "Hakuna Matata." And references to other Broadway musicals and stagings are sprinkled like little blessings throughout.One can see the argument against this show — indeed, it plays out in your mind as you watch it. Some will find it juvenile. You could construct a case that it makes fun of real pain. You could build a better case that it has merely taken the over-familiar and pushed it further. But after you hold that trial in your head, between laughs, you ultimately end up dismissing the case. Casey Nicholaw, who directs and choreographs with the right note of apparent sincerity (Parker shares directing credit), was smart enough not to cast stars who would pull focus or undermine the crucial Everyman naivete of the two leads and the ensemble of missionaries. The clear, earnest tones of Andrew Rannells beautifully enrich the character Elder Price, whose journey to hell and back (and this hell involves Johnnie Cochran) is at the center of the yarn. Josh Gad (who played Barfee in "Spelling Bee" and affects a rather similar nerd savant here) is certainly a disquietingly annoying Elder Cunningham at the start, but he and the character redeem themselves just when it is becoming a problem. And Nikki M. James, as an African woman named Nabulungi (Gad's character, who can't get her name right, ends up calling her Nordstrom), creates a shrewd parody of the kind of romanticized African girl found in shows like "Once on This Island," which, when it comes to sharper truths for flailing generations, can't compete with "The Book of Mormon.""The Book of Mormon" plays at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, 230 W. 49th St., New York. Call 212-239-6200 or visit bookofmormonbroadway.com.

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Javier Bardem: A 'Biutiful' Oscar nomination View full sizeAP Photo/Matt SaylesIn what Javier Bardem calls his most difficult role to date, he plays "Biutiful's" Uxbal, a hustler who deals in undocumented workers on the streets of Barcelona. He earned an Oscar nomination for the role. The awards will be presented Feb. 27 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Javier Bardem had his own A-list cheering section. Sean Penn, Julia Roberts, Ryan Gosling and writer-director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu were among the celebrities rooting for this “best actor” underdog to receive Oscar recognition for his emotional performance in “Biutiful,” opening tomorrow in Manhattan. In what Bardem calls his most difficult role to date, he plays Uxbal, a hustler who deals in undocumented workers on the streets of Barcelona. He has two young kids, a mentally unstable ex-wife, and he is dying. The film follows his struggle to provide for his children, look after his workers and create some kind of legacy in the short time he has left. Roberts has called the performance “a magic trick and a miracle all together.” Gosling called it “one of the best things I’ve ever seen.” And Penn compared its “soulful gravitas” to Marlon Brando’s work in “Last Tango in Paris.” Bardem, 41, was nominated for a British Academy Award last week and his supporters were no doubt relieved to see him nab a surprise Academy Award nod on Tuesday. Already a winner for “No Country for Old Men” and a previous nominee for “Before Night Falls,” Bardem says the glory of such accolades is precious but fleeting. The real reward comes in stretching himself emotionally and studying life, and sometimes death, through the characters he plays. For him, becoming Uxbal was profoundly challenging. The role is “the most emotionally complex that I’ve ever portrayed,” he says over a soda at the Beverly Hills Hotel’s Polo Lounge. “There are many layers and there are many open doors in his life, places that he has to come in and get out of,” he says. “There are many departments going on.” Uxbal is tough and street smart as he peddles illegal labor, but he also cares about his workers and tries to protect them. He’s tender with his children, but also temperamental and demanding. He extends warmth to his ex-wife, but withdraws it just as quickly. He seeks spiritual solace and simultaneously exploits it. Embodying those emotions over the five-month shoot was exhausting, Bardem says. “You need a lot of focus and attention and concentration and also the ability to be vulnerable,” he says. “Sometimes you feel like you’re in control; sometimes the role is in control of you.” Inarritu says he had Bardem in mind for the part from the beginning. “Nobody else could have brought to the character what he has brought,” he says. “This film could not have been done without him. I think he did monumental work.” “Biutiful” is on the shortlist to become a foreign-language Oscar nominee. They shot it two years ago, but Uxbal made a permanent mark on Bardem. “You have to really open yourself and allow, in this case, this man and his drama take place within yourself, and of course it creates a turbulence, an imbalanced situation where you don’t know where your feet are anymore,” he says. “But also, it expands you in a different way, like it makes you wider, mentally and psychologically ... emotionally wider.” It’s that emotional expansion that drew him to acting. An aspiring painter in a family of actors, Bardem started performing as a teenager. When he got his first speaking part at 19, he went to acting school. “Once I got there, I saw all these colleagues of mine going through the same ocean of fears and doubts and also illusions and needs and desires and dreams,” he says. “When I was in the group, I was like: I belong to this. I belong to these people. I belong to this way of thinking, I belong to this way of studying life. “I don’t know if it’s studying life, it sounds too important.” Bardem’s studies have brought him close to death twice: In this film and in 2004’s “The Sea Inside,” in which he plays a paraplegic advocating for his own euthanasia. He has been lovers, thieves, an openly gay Cuban poet and a murderous sociopath. “Sometimes those lives are not the best ones or the ones that you would choose for a holiday or for a party, but they are very powerful and they have an impact on you about trying to see the world from different perspectives, so you are open to different points of view rather than only blocking your own,” he says. “Also, when you come back to yourself you come back a little bit more renewed, a little different.” Watching movies can have the same effect, he says, and “Biutiful” invites viewers on a profound emotional journey. Though the story is tragic, Bardem also sees it as uplifting. He notes that Penn said the film might be called the feel-good movie of the year for its message about human nature. “You feel that we can, that we are able to cope with things. We know how important it is to feel for the other, and to put yourself in the other’s place, and how much it means to really take care and bring warmth to your little community, even if that community is just you and somebody else,” he says. “I would call that a really feel-good thing, and this movie allows you to get there not intellectually, but emotionally, which is what only movies can do, or music, or good art.” For Bardem, it’s the emotional journey that makes us alive, and he’s about to take a big trip: He and wife Penelope Cruz are becoming first-time parents. The experience might be his most expansive yet. “That’s for me to discover,” he says. “An actor brings what he is and what he knows into his work, and that changes through the ages. That’s why performing is a living experience, because you really have to know about life in order to be able to portray it. So life is welcome, whatever it brings.” Comments

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Michael Jackson concert merchandise for sale permalink Michael Jackson concert merchandise for sale 25 mins ago LOS ANGELES – Michael Jackson's comeback concerts will never happen, but you can still get the T-shirt. Merchandise from Jackson's "This Is It" tour, which was scheduled to begin Monday in London, will be available online and at retailers across the United States. Jackson helped design the concert T-shirts and other show souvenirs, said Peter LoFrumento, a spokesman for the merchandising company, Bravado. "Michael was very adamant about not just doing T-shirts and posters and key chains," he said. "He wanted to do something special and make it really innovative and different, things that were functional and fun and that his fans would like." Among the items for sale: T-shirts commemorating the first and second nights of the concerts at London's O2 arena, belt buckles, caps, sunglasses and mugs. A varsity jacket modeled after the one Jackson wore in the "Thriller" video will also be available. Jackson died June 25 in Los Angeles while preparing for the 50-date concert tour. Michael Jackson concert merchandise for sale - Yahoo! News Dulce View Public Profile Find all posts by Dulce

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LifestyleEntertainment Film charts Detroit's 'slow motion catastrophe' PublishedJul 24, 2014, 12:12 pm SGT http://str.sg/EsS PARIS (AFP) - When film director Steve Faigenbaum grew up in Detroit, the city pulsated to the sound of Motown and car manufacturing. Today, the once mighty city, which declared bankruptcy in 2013, is a nightmarish vision of urban decay that draws young people from all over the world to buy a house for US$1,000 (S$1,200). With the highest violent crime rate of any large US city, Detroit has lost 63 per cent of its population since 1950. At least 78,000 buildings stand abandoned and there is enough once-inhabited empty land to fit a city the size of Paris. "It's just hard to imagine the scale of destruction," said Faigenbaum, whose film City Of Dreams about what he calls Detroit's "slow motion catastrophe" has just been released in France. "Almost anywhere you go, there are these houses that are just falling apart. Big houses, just totally left, just abandoned," he said. The grandson of Jewish immigrants from eastern Europe, Faigenbaum, 64, who now lives in Paris, moved away from the city in the late 1960s. Years later, however, following his father's death he found himself back in Detroit. Stunned by the apocalyptic landscape, he set out to try and make sense of it all. "Growing up there, there was always this enormous sense of possibility, that whoever or whatever you were, you could make something of yourself and do something," he told AFP in an interview in Paris. "Even as a student you could get a summer job and make a lot of money. There were jobs. You didn't need much of an education, you just needed to have the will to work," he said. The music - blues and Motown - for which Detroit is now famous was also a constant presence. "There was all this amazing music. On every street corner... and it kind of expressed everything that needed to be expressed. "Now it seems quite remarkable, but it was just what was happening." Mixing his own family history with up-to-date reportage and archive footage, Faigenbaum's film aims to show "how the choices people make play out over 100 years". In particular, he highlights the "Wild West capitalism" of Ford Motor Company owner Henry Ford, whose Model T - the first affordable car for the masses - revolutionised the automobile industry. In 1914, Henry Ford announced he would pay workers US$5 per day, double the going rate, and people flooded into the city in search of work. By 1950, the population stood at two million and the city was the centre of the US automotive industry. But just as the automobile helped make Detroit, it also helped to destroy it. "At the same time as the car comes along, they're building more roads," Faigenbaum said. "The reality of the way it played out was that it was the escape route for all the white folks who could get out." Land was cheap and tension between whites and blacks accelerated the exodus of whites towards newly built suburbs. Meanwhile, the introduction of automated production in car factories sowed the seeds of future unemployment. Faigenbaum notes that Detroit's urban decay was already well advanced in the 1980s when "devil's night" - the night before Halloween - would regularly see up to 800 empty properties burned down. While making the film, Faigenbaum found himself back at his grandparents' house, now derelict and daubed with the letters RIP, indicating that someone had been murdered there. In the basement, he found his long-dead grandfather's old work bench. Later he watched as the bulldozers moved in and reduced the house to rubble. Faigenbaum warns that Detroit's demise is a reminder that even apparently thriving cities are not "immortal". Today, despite all its woes, young people still come to the city in search of a cheap property. "It's hard to rain on anyone's sense of optimism but there's still such violence. All these kids come here with the dream... until their friends get carjacked or someone is held up at gunpoint," Faigenbaum said. Nonetheless, he said he was struck by the "amazing spirit" the place still had. "One guy said to me 'OK, it's the murder capital of the world, but it's a really friendly place!' and it's true, it's really true," he said. "People will talk to you and they look you right in the eye, but they probably have a gun in their pocket too," he added. Jennifer Lawrence tops list of best-paid actresses Mislabelled pills at Prince estate reportedly contained fentanyl Counterfeit pills may have killed Prince: report The Asian Restored Classics 2016 Restored rare Asian films to be screened at Capitol Theatre Suicide Squad tops box office for third week Suicide Squad tops US box office, Ben-Hur bombs More Videos BrandInsider

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As a self-professed film addict and lover of all things fantasy and science fiction, summer tends to be my favorite time of the year at the box office. :) This is when Hollywood tends to roll out the best of its big-budget films, and this summer, we have quite a selection: from superheroes, to giant fighting robots to the return of the USS Enterprise. Although the reception to the 2013 films released so far has been a bit lukewarm, quite a few hotly-anticipated films will come out in the next few months. Here are some of the most buzzed-about movies this summer:Iron Man 3 (May 3)"Iron Man 3" is the first individual Marvel superhero film to be released after the success of last summer's mash-up "The Avengers," and I'm curious to see where Marvel plans to take the franchise. With a goal of building anticipation back up for the second Avengers film in 2015, Marvel's challenge will be to maintain the tone that has worked in the past for these films � a blend of humor, heart and action � but also prevent that formula from becoming stale.That's why I'm excited for "Iron Man 3." Arguably the most popular member of "The Avengers" cinematic universe, Tony Stark is known for his trademark snarky wit and devil-may-care attitude, and the belief that he can handle anything that's thrown at him. However, this new film seems to challenge the character and expose his vulnerabilities in ways we haven't seen before. While I hope the film makers haven't cut out too much of Stark's humor, I think it's a smart strategy to take the story in a new and slightly darker direction.Trailers aren't always a perfect indicator of how good a film will actually be, but the trailers released so far for "Iron Man 3" look pretty epic. It wouldn't surprise me if this film turned out to be the biggest money-maker of the summer.The Great Gatsby (May 10)I finally read "The Great Gatsby" for the first time last fall, and after I finished it, I was left with two thoughts: first, that I loved the book, and second, that it might be difficult to adapt the book for film.Taking place in the Roaring Twenties, "The Great Gatsby" is the story of Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio), a wealthy man who throws lavish parties and buys anything he wants, yet has an empty existence. He's haunted by his love for the capricious Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan), and their doomed romance ends up destroying more lives that just their own.The plot itself is fairly simple, but the real power of the novel lies in author F. Scott Fitzgerald's rich descriptions and the beautiful way he strings words together: "In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars.� Unfortunately, prose doesn't transfer to a visual medium (you don't want too many voice-overs with a character describing what's going on), so I'm curious to see how the film makers will capture the spirit of Fitzgerald's novel.The world depicted in the trailers is colorful and stylized, and presenting it in 3D is an interesting choice. The film was originally slated for release in December last year, which perhaps seemed like a better fit than summertime. It will be interesting to see how well this film does at the box office, especially since it's sandwiched between two of the summer's most buzzed-about blockbusters: "Iron Man 3" and "Star Trek: Into Darkness."Star Trek: Into Darkness (May 17)Out of all the films slated for release in 2013, this is the one I'm most looking forward to, and I'm both excited and nervous about it. I loved J.J. Abrams' first "Star Trek" film, which was a surprise hit and successfully rebooted a previously struggling franchise. Because of Abrams' earlier success, there's perhaps even more pressure this time around.True to form, Abrams hasn't let many details slip about the film's plot. We know Benedict Cumberbatch is playing a vengeful terrorist named "John Harrison," who may or may not actually be a famous villain from classic "Star Trek" lore (theories about Cumberbatch actually playing Khan or Gary Mitchell have been floating around). As the newly minted captain of the Enterprise, James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) is forced to confront Cumberbatch's villain and prove that he's worthy of his post.Since Abrams will be directing the upcoming "Star Wars" film set for release in 2015, this will probably be the last "Trek" film we see from him. I'm hoping he leaves us with a cinematic thrill ride that will be as fun and exhilarating as his first.After Earth (June 7)Once one of Hollywood's most promising new directors, M. Night Shyalaman has had a rough ride at the box office lately, with several high-profile flops on his r�sum� (including 2010's "The Last Airbender," which is, I must admit, one of the worst fantasy movies I've ever seen). However, "After Earth" could be his comeback.Set (apparently) in the future, after the planet Earth has become an untamed, uninhabitable wasteland, the film follows an interplanetary ranger (Will Smith) and his son (played by his real-life son Jaden Smith) who crash-land on Earth and are forced to fight for their survival in the wild and dangerous environment.The trailer for the movie didn't pique my interest quite as much as I was hoping it would, but I'm a fan of Will Smith, and I'm intrigued by the film's premise. Hollywood has actually been releasing quite a few science fiction films lately, which is a trend I'm definitely excited about. I hope these films end up doing well at the box office, so we'll be likely to see more of these types of films in the future.Man of Steel (June 14)Although Superman is arguably the best-known American superhero, he hasn't been as popular of late. In an age of flawed, conflicted superheroes (see Robert Downey Jr.'s sarcastic Iron Man, Christian Bale's brooding Batman, etc.), Superman almost seems too "perfect." He can fly, he has x-ray vision, and aside from "Kryptonite," he doesn't really have many vulnerabilities. He seems too distant, too aloof, and audiences have had trouble relating to him.Director Zack Snyder is hoping to change that. His "Man of Steel" film seeks to find a new way to tell Superman's story, and � even though the character isn't from this planet � to make him seem more "human.""Man of Steel" is probably the riskiest film this summer. If DC Comics wants to pursue a "Justice League" film, then they really need this new Superman film to be a success. So far, the trailers seem promising, and Superman actor Henry Cavill certainly looks the part. The fact Batman director Christopher Nolan is producing the film also is a good sign, though I hope "Man of Steel" will be able to find its own voice and won't seem too much like the Superman version of "Batman Begins."World War Z (June 21)Zombies seems to be everywhere in the media these days. AMC's zombie drama "The Walking Dead" is one of the most popular TV shows currently on air, and the zombie romantic comedy "Warm Bodies" was a surprise hit earlier this year. Brad Pitt is bringing zombies to the big screen again this summer with "World War Z."Pitt stars as a U.N. specialist who is tasked with traveling around the world to find the origins of a deadly virus that is turning people into zombies. While most people think of zombies as slow-moving stumblers, the zombies in this film move with an eerie amount of speed and pile on top of each other to reach a target.I'm curious to see what the reviews will say and what the audience response to this film will be. Although zombies are a poplar subject for films and TV shows right now, there's always a risk of audience fatigue if there are too many zombie stories in too short of a time period. "World War Z" will need to demonstrate it can bring something new to the genre.The Lone Ranger (July 3)"The Lone Ranger," a popular TV show in the 1950s, is getting a big-screen update this summer. The action/adventure western stars Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp as the masked hero and his friend Tonto, and is directed by Gore Verbinski, the director of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" films.With a budget that's reportedly north of $200 million, there's a lot of pressure for this film to do well. I think it will be one of those "go big or go home" movies � it will either be a runaway hit, or a major flop. There probably won't be a lot of middle ground.I'm hoping this is a fun, quirky action/adventure comedy in the same spirit as Verbinski's "Pirates" films. Johnny Depp is a master at creating eccentric, memorable characters, and he and Hammer have a chance of playing well off each other here. Though I wasn't a fan of last year's Snow White film "Mirror Mirror," which Hammer also starred in, I thought Hammer's character was still likable and funny and a stand-out amongst the cast in an otherwise "so-so" film.Pacific Rim (July 12)Robots, monsters and aliens � honestly, it doesn't get much cooler than this. ;) "Pacific Rim" is director Guillermo del Toro's first major venture into Hollywood's summer tentpole season, and it looks like it's going to be a lot of fun. With a solid cast that includes Idris Elba (BBC's "Luther") and Charlie Hunnam ("Sons of Anarchy"), the sci-fi movie is about humanity's last efforts to fend off an alien invasion.I'm hoping "Pacific Rim" will fulfill the hopes I originally had for the "Transformers" franchise. If the trailer is any indication, the movie will have plenty of over-the-top action sequences with giant fighting robots. However, I'm hoping del Toro will be able to balance all these special effects with a carefully-crafted story and interesting characters (and he's proven he's very capable of this in the past)."Pacific Rim" could be a break-out hit this summer, and it's one of the films I'm most looking forward to this year.The Wolverine (July 26)Wolverine is the most popular character to come out of the "X-Men" films, and he's getting his second stand-alone movie this summer. This time around, he's heading to Japan, where he'll battle both ninjas and personal demons.I have to admit, I do have mixed feelings about this one. I love Hugh Jackman's portrayal of the character, and I believe he was the absolute perfect choice for the role. However, while I did enjoy the previous Wolverine spin-off in 2009, titled "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," it didn't have the same energy as 2011's excellent prequel "First Class," which featured a young Magneto and Professor Charles Xavier. I'm very excited about the "First Class" sequel in 2014 but haven't sensed as much buzz about the new Wolverine film.Still, I think the idea of setting this movie in Japan was a good choice and could bring a much-needed fresh perspective to the spin-off franchise.Elysium (Aug. 9)Directed by Neill Blomkamp ("District 9"), "Elysium" is a dystopian sci-fi drama that takes place in 2159, when the world has been divided into two distinct classes: the wealthy, who live in a lavish orbital space station, and the poor, who have been abandoned on the planet's dying surface. Matt Damon plays a lower-class character named Max who is exposed to radiation at his factory job and has to break into the space station to find treatment.Of all the science fiction films scheduled for release this summer, "Elysium" is likely to be the grittiest and perhaps the most thought-provoking. Blomkamp filmed part of the movie in a garbage dump in Mexico City and isn't presenting a white-washed version of our future.I'm excited about this film, and again, it's great to see so many sci-fi projects in theaters this summer. Matt Damon has proven himself to be a versatile actor � equally at home in smaller dramas and big-budget action franchises � and I'm looking forward to seeing what he does with this role.So, what films are you most looking forward to this summer? Which ones do you think will be hits? Which ones could be flops?�

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See it at the Movies Contraband Wednesday, January 18, 2012 1:00 pm Don Fowler (For action fans only) If you are not an action movie fan, you can stop reading now. While Contraband has the usual ingredients for the genre, it does have a couple of interesting twists, plus a close-up look at the container shipping industry. Mark Wahlberg stars as Chris Farraday, a former drug smuggler who goes straight, starting his own business installing security systems (stash that away for further thought). He marries and has two young boys. His dumb brother-in-law gets himself in trouble with a vicious gangster (Giovanni Ribisi), owing him a bundle of money. Farraday to the rescue for that one final smuggling job. He's got two weeks to come up with the money or his wife and boys will be killed. The plot is pretty by-the-numbers, but the setting makes it somewhat interesting. Farraday works his way onto a container ship going through the Panama Canal where, with the help of old allies on board, he sets up a counterfeit money smuggling scheme in the seedy part of Panama City. There's lots of running around and car chases, and the race against time to get the money back to the ship. The ship's captain (J.K. Simmons) has a deep dislike for our hero and almost blows his scheme. One of the very clever twists involves Farraday getting even with him. If you want a mindless two hours at the movies, "Contraband" may please you. Rated R, with lots of profanity and violence.

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Ashita no Anime Anime of Tomorrow Haibane Renmei (review) Posted by Marlin-sama on September 6, 2012 Impression – close to a perfect calm (9/10) Fall 2002 (12 episodes) (title literal translation – Charcoal Feather Federation) A young woman bursts out of a giant dandelion puff in the Haibane house, Old Home. She awakens stricken with amnesia, unable to remember her own name. But it’s explained to her that this is normal for newly emerged Haibane. Reki, the unofficial leader of Old Home, names the confused newcomer Rakka (the Japanese word for “falling”) because while she was in the dandelion cocoon she dreamed she was falling through the sky. This is tradition and something of a rite of passage for Haibane—followed by bestowing her with a halo, and then the small wings that soon sprout from Rakka’s back. However, even after that ordeal is over, the mildly comfortable walled world of Grie she finds herself in holds secrets that may be too dangerous for none to know but a select few—the hermetic Haibane Renmei. It’s a difficult setting to immerse yourself in at first, because like Rakka we the viewers are also just plopped in with almost no context about what’s going on. On some level, you have to go into this series knowing that its power lies not in storytelling, but in emotional impact. There are few anime that make you feel for the heroine with greater power than Haibane Renmei. After the opening confusion has worn off and Rakka starts to get settled, we are introduced to a segment that’s very slice of life as the town and the habits of this closed-off culture become apparent. But things are definitely not as simple as being reborn and finding a way to live happily. Some come into this world with tremendous burdens to overcome before they can achieve the peace they have been promised. Flying in the face of all the niceties that generally dominate much of the series, the whole setting has an interesting bit of Orwellian vibe to it with the censorship of all information of what lies outside the wall. However, there’s never an indication that there’s some kind of dirty conspiracy, but a genuine safeguard to protect the town’s inhabitants from…well…from something ominous to say the least. And although this world is very clearly all about supporting the Haibane, it somehow manages to revere them with a sort of melancholy neglect. This mixture of conflicting impressions and feelings is what gives Haibane Renmei a very unique aura that you can only truly understand by experiencing it. I’ve given up trying to solve the mystery of Rakka’s crow. Really, I don’t think there’s an answer. Where the show missteps is in its inability to fill in the large number of missing pieces. Initially I had the idea that this series was a fanciful interpretation of the Roman Catholic view of purgatory—a sort of halfway house of purification on the afterlife’s path to heaven. The imagery of the angel-like Haibane was certainly inspired by western religion, but at the series’ conclusion I didn’t feel like that intent was made clear. It’s more like the characters’ goal is not finding redemption or spiritual cleansing, but a journey of rediscovering their true selves after becoming lost on the twists and turns of life’s winding path. Interestingly, Angel Beats parallels a lot of the general broad strokes of Haibane Renmei in its overall concept and themes, and anyone who likes a good philosophical conundrum is going to enjoy this beautiful anime immensely. The triumphal opening, “Free Bird,” has no lyrics. Speaking of beautiful though, the music is a perfect match to the slow and peaceful setting with melodies that conjure an image of floating gently and putting a flutter in your heart when the moment is right. But then things get serious and the mood darkens; the light and airy steps turn into a dreary dirge that help you to feel the weight of the circumstances. All the same, I think it’s only a fair warning to note that Haibane Renmei is starting to show its age a bit. And while it has a very artful style for 2002, there are a few very stiff moments in the animation that remind you you’re watching something that’s 10 years old. Really, so much of the story goes unexplained that it’s hard to reach any kind of definite consensus about exactly what’s going on. And for the most part that’s alright. It’s a brave creative choice on the part of the writers to leave so much of the setting blank for the interpretation of the viewer. Perhaps like the Haibane themselves you have to let the mysteries of the world stay hidden and enjoy living peacefully. In that way, this may be the anime that epitomizes the slice of life genre more than any other—with the notable exception of Kino’s Journey. But maybe the logical side of my brain just can’t shut itself off, because I was left wanting something more concrete after getting my emotions put through the ringer. Drama, Fantasy, Mystery, Philosophical, Review, Slice of Life 2002, 9/10, angel, autumn 2002, Charcoal Feather Federation, death, fall 2002, Haibane Renmei, Hikari, kana, Kuu, Nemu, Rakka, Reki ← Anime of the Week (8/26 – 9/1) Anime of the Week (9/2 – 9/8) → 6 responses to “Haibane Renmei (review)” TWWK September 6, 2012 at 10:34 pm The story is definitely purposeful in its religious afterlife theme, but perhaps the reason why it remains a bit ambiguous and certainly open to interpretation is that ABe has said specifically that Haibane Renmei is a “religious story,” but not of one specifically. Thus, perhaps he tried to craft a conclusion that didn’t necessarily fit a specific religion (even if I view the final conclusion as coming to peace with both oneself and with “God”). Also, I like that you mention Kino’s Journey – I think that’s a very comparable series. Reply Marlin-sama September 6, 2012 at 11:43 pm Yeah. I may take it back at some point because I’m just thinking off the top of my head, but if I was to make a list of the best, purely slice of life anime… 1. Kino’s Journey 2. Mushishi 3. Haibane Renmei 4. Wolf and Spice 5. Allison & Lillia 6. Aria It would probably look something like that. Reply TWWK September 7, 2012 at 12:43 am I really need to check out #’s 2 and 4 on your list – I’ve only watched one episode of Mushishi and none of Wolf and Spice. I’ve also always wanted to watch Allison and Lillia, but I’ve read mixed reviews. Pingback: Spirituality in the Anime Blogosphere: Fairy God Mother, Sinful Anime Characters, and Religion in Haibane Renmei and Kids on the Slope « Pingback: Something More: Haibane Renmei Reviews, Aniblogging Sins, and Buddhist Bye-Bye in Nayatsuki Rendezvous « Pingback: Something More: Haibane Renmei Reviews, Aniblogging Sins, and Buddhist Bye-Bye in Natsuyuki Rendezvous | Beneath the Tangles Anime of the Week Magic Girl Precious Memories April 2015 November 2014 October 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 Blogroll Approach Phase Follow “Ashita no Anime”

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Originally broadcast on network TV in 1978, ex-Monty Python member Eric Idle's satire of the Beatles' legend was one of the very few successful rock parodies; only Spinal Tap, perhaps, has outdone it. One of the key elements of this mock rockumentary was the brilliantly executed soundtrack by Python associate and ex-Bonzo Dog Band member Neil Innes (he also played the character loosely based upon John Lennon in the film itself). As an actual peer of the group in the '60s (the Bonzos even appeared in the Magical Mystery Tour film), Innes was well-qualified to satirize the Fab Four in song. With the exception of Idle, each of the four Rutles played their own instruments on the recording in addition to acting in the film. To complete the gag, the Rutles reconvened in 1996 to record a second album, Archeology, to coincide with the Beatles' Anthology projects. Masquerading as archival material, most of Archeology was in fact newly recorded in the mid-'90s, and was as witty and well-executed as the soundtrack to their TV special nearly 20 years ago. ~ Richie Unterberger 1. ArchaeologyView in iTunes 2. Live and RawView in iTunes 5. The RutlesView in iTunes 6. The Rutles (2006 Remaster)View in iTunes Goose-Step Mama The Rutles (2006 Remaster) Baby Let Me Be Hold My Hand Blue Suede Schubert I Must Be In Love With a Girl Like You Between Us Living In Hope It's Looking Good Doubleback Alley Good Times Roll Cheese and Onions Get Up and Go Let's Be Natural GenreRockYears Active: '70s, '90s, '00s The Dukes of StratosphearSpinal Tap The Dukes of StratosphearKlaatuSpinal TapElectric Light OrchestraPaul BevoirThe Jetset

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John Wallin Character Modeling 3 | Character Modeling 2 | Character Modeling | Concept Art | Digital Painting | Digital Painting 2 | Matte Painting d’artiste CHARACTER MODELING 3 Authors Cesar Dacol Jr. Cesar Dacol Jr. has worked in the film industry for nearly 20 years, starting his career in the makeup effects industry and transitioning to CG in the mid 90s. With a background in anatomy and traditional sculpting, he has worked as Lead and Modeling Supervisor, contributing to feature films such as ‘Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D’, ‘300’, ‘Barnyard’ and ‘Fantastic Four’. Cesar worked as Character Modeler and Technical Director at CORE Film Productions for ‘The Wild’ and served a three-year term as Adjunct Professor in Advanced Polygonal Character Modeling at Sheridan College. He is a beta team member for Pixologic’s ZBrush, and an instructor for CGSociety’s CGWorkshops. Jan-Bart van Beek Jan-Bart van Beek is Art Director at Guerrilla Games where he is responsible for the overall quality of art and animation on titles such as the ‘Killzone’ franchise. Originally a photography student at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague, Jan-Bart soon turned to computer graphics software to enhance his work. After graduation, he applied his knowledge as a CG artist in the field of advertising. His ambition to create something more enduring eventually led him to join Guerrilla, where he quickly became the lead artist on the first ‘Killzone’ title for PlayStation 2. Giovanni Nakpil Giovanni Nakpil grew up in the Philippines being greatly influenced by sci-fi, horror and anime. He moved to Canada with his family in his teens and studied Computer Graphics at Seneca College where he began his interest in all things CG. Giovanni currently works for Industrial Light and Magic as a digital artist, creating creatures for films such as ‘Pirates of the Caribbean 2’, ‘War of the Worlds’ and ‘The Spiderwick Chronicles’. His most recent work can be seen in ‘Star Trek’ in which he was the creature model supervisor. Kevin started creating art at a very early age drawing and sculpting. He received a half-ride scholarship at the Art Institute of Dallas graduating with a Degree in Computer Animation. Thanks to online exposure Kevin received commission work including character art for several commercials. This led to his discovery by Epic Games where he was hired as a full-time artist to create art assets for their next-gen game technology Unreal Engine 3. For the past four years Kevin has been working as a Character and Creature Modeler at Epic Games. His most recent work can be seen in Epic’s blockbuster hit for the Xbox 360, ‘Gears of War’. Timur started to work with computers at age 14 and taught himself modeling and rendering. He started his VFX career in the U.S. with Station X Studios in 1998. He then worked in several visual effects houses in the roles of animation director, head of R&D, lead animator, 3D animator and character animator among others. His feature film credits include: ‘Syriana’, ‘Reeker’, ‘The Dust Factory’, ‘Gothika’, ‘Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams’, ‘Impostor’, ‘Megiddo: The Omega Code 2’, ‘Dracula 2000’, ‘Battlefield Earth’ and ‘Dogma’. Looking for a change, Timur moved to the realm of developing 3D tools with pmG, creators of the rendering and animation environment messiah:Studio. Zack Petroc has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Cleveland Institute of Art with a major in Sculpture and dual minor in Drawing and Digital Media. Additionally, he studied anatomy at Case School of Medicine and figure sculpture in Florence, Italy. Zack uses his strong design background as the foundation for both his traditional and digital work. Zack is currently working as a freelance Art Director and Concept Designer for feature film and games. He is also a member of the Art Director’s Guild Technology Committee and author of several training DVDs from The Gnomon Workshop. d’artiste CHARACTER MODELING Authors Francisco Cortina worked on the film ‘Aeon Flux’ at Digital Domain in Venice, CA. His digital career began soon after earning his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the Maryland Institute of Art. He joined the Japanese video game giant Square USA, where he worked on several game titles such as ‘Parasite Eve’ and ‘Final Fantasy IX’, the animated feature film ‘Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within’ and the animated short ‘Animatrix: Final Flight of the Osiris’. After his tenure at Square, Francisco joined Dreamworks Feature Animation as a Technical Director, working in their Modeling, Character Technical Directing and Lighting departments. Pascal Blanché Pascal Blanché is Art Director at one of the world’s biggest gaming companies, Ubisoft Canada based in Montreal. His most recent game project was ‘Myst IV: Revelation’, the fourth in the cult adventure game series. Pascal started on the path towards a career in art/ design for games at the Art School of Luminy, Marseille. Following art school, he freelanced for TILT magazine, an early video games magazine and then worked in modeling, concept art, texturing, lighting and animation for various French gaming companies. Steven Stahlberg is a cofounder of Optidigit, now partnered with VisualXtreme to form Androidblues, The Virtual Talent Studio. Steven is the head of 3D animation and art director of Androidblues in addition to being an artist, illustrator and animator. After completing his art studies in Sweden and Australia, Steven worked ten years as a freelance illustrator for leading advertising agencies and publications in Europe and Asia. Steven is internationally acknowledged as a world class digital artist and was the first artist in the world to have a virtual character sponsored by a major modeling agency (Elite) back in 1999. d’artiste CONCEPT ART Authors George Hull is a film designer who worked on ‘Matrix Reloaded’ and ‘Matrix Revolutions’ as a conceptual illustrator and then Senior Visual Effects Art Director. George holds a BSA Degree in Industrial Design and started as a conceptual vehicle designer for Chrysler and Ford Motors before joining Lucasfilm’s ILM creative team in 1994 to become a Visual Effects Art Director. George’s work spans more than 16 films including: ‘V for Vendetta’, ‘Finding Nemo’, ‘Mission: Impossible’, ‘Constantine’, ‘Jurassic Park: The Lost World’, the special editions of ‘Star Wars’, ‘The Empire Strikes Back’, and ‘Return of the Jedi’, ‘Twister’, ‘Star Trek Generations’ and the Oscarwinning ‘Forest Gump’. Andrew Jones Andrew Jones is the Creative Director of Massive Black, a high calibre outsourcing studio for the video game industry. Andrew�s vision has guided the visual direction of Nintendo�s AAA Metroid Prime franchise, and he has also worked on PC, console and handheld games. Andrew began his career working at Industrial Light and Magic. He has since gained recognition as a leader in the digital art field, is a co-founder of www.ConceptArt.org, and teaches conceptual art workshops around the world. Andrew�s current creative passion is airbrush bodypainting of naked models, circus performers and acrobats. Nicolas �Sparth� Bouvier has been an active artistic director and concept designer in the gaming industry since 1996. Born in France, he now lives in Dallas, Texas, where he is working for the company id Software. He admits a fascination for technological discoveries, space, all sorts of flying objects, as well as for everything connected to the depiction of the future. One of his great passions is contemporary architecture, where he applies principles in his own art, with an experimental and original approach. He also harbors a fascination for modern skyscrapers, although he admits that he wouldn�t be able to live too high above the ground himself. Viktor Antonov art-directed and did concept design for Valve�s acclaimed �Half-Life 2�. He holds a transportation design degree from Art Center College of Design, and has over 10 years of experience in the entertainment industry as a matte painter, conceptual designer, art director and production manager. He was a designer for the animation feature film �Renaissance�, a futuristic thriller which opened in March 2006, and did matte paining for the sci-fi series �Skyland�. Viktor recently founded the entertainment design studio The Building, in Paris France. He is currently working on an illustrated novel, �The Colony�, and is a visiting design instructor at the Baden-W�erttemberg Film Academy. d’artiste DIGITAL PAINTING Authors Linda Bergkvist is an awardwinning artist from Sweden whose digital paintings have been featured in both editions of EXPOSÉ. Linda won two master awards in EXPOSÉ 1 in the categories of Character in Repose 2D and Character in Action 2D and a Master award in EXPOSÉ 2 in the Fantasy category. Linda is as much a storyteller as an artist with an evocative illustration style featuring mystical settings and stunning characters. Though she studied English with the intention of becoming a teacher, Linda cut her studies short to work as an illustrator. Linda now spends her time as a comic book colorist, a part-time teacher of Photoshop at a local university, and as a freelancer. Philip Straub Philip Straub’s body of traditional and digital work spans more than 10 years and covers mediums such as children’s books, CDROMs, and console games. A conceptual illustrator at heart, his inspiration comes from the surreal worlds that play out in his mind like lucid daydreams. His illustrations that combine traditional media with 3D and 2D software have earned acclaim among art societies, digital art web sites, art publications and forums. Currently based in Florida, Philip is the senior concept artist at Electronic Arts where he recently finished work on the EA SPORTS BIG NFL Street franchise. Rob Chang was born in Taiwan in 1972, immigrating to the US in 1984. He has been drawing and painting pretty much all his life, first as a traditional artist and making the transition to digital two years ago. Rob started as a comic book creator/writer/ artist before getting involved in video games as a texture/ concept artist, then as an art director. He is currently a director at Optidigit, a CG animation studio headed by Steven Stahlberg where he writes, directs and art directs. Finally, Rob has also done work in independent film in the roles of writer, director of photography, and storyboard artist. John Wallin Since his childhood in Sweden, John Wallin has been interested in drawing and painting. Though his painting career started in front of a computer, John intends to further his knowledge of traditional media. John has worked as a conceptual illustrator for game companies like Starbreeze Studios and Epic Games. He has also worked at post production companies as a matte painter and GFX artist on films such as Big Fish, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and Alien vs Predator. After a year in London, John has returned to Sweden for a break and to work as a freelance illustrator. d’artiste DIGITAL PAINTING 2 Authors Daniel Dociu Daniel was born in Cluj, the capital of Transylvania, Romania. He studied art and architecture from an early age and got his Masters Degree in industrial design in 1982. For the following five years he worked as a product designer, then moved on to teaching composition, visual communication and drawing at the "Ion Andreescu" Fine Arts Academy in his home town. He left Romania in 1989 for Athens, Greece and moved to the US the following year. He was introduced to the interactive entertainment industry in 1993 and has since been working as an art director for Squaresoft, Zipper Interactive, and Electronic Arts. Currently he oversees visual development for NCsoft's North American projects, with particular focus on Arenanet, a Seattle-based development studio. Marta Dahlig Marta is a widely published young artist from Poland, born in Warsaw in 1985. She has been drawing and painting with traditional media since her earliest childhood, moving onto the computer at the age of 16, which is when she became a freelance painter. First completing private commissions and commercial book illustrations, Marta is now working for Future Publishing, creating various painting tutorials for their ImagineFX magazine. Marta�s paintings feature bold characters in emotive and poetic settings, but what makes her style especially distinctive is the subtle symbolism found throughout all of her works. Don Seegmiller Don was born in Provo, Utah in the US and attended Brigham Young University graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Art in Graphic Design. His work has been displayed in major art galleries from England to Hawaii, and he has completed over 900 paintings held in many private and public collections. Don currently teaches senior level Illustration courses, traditional head painting, figure drawing, and digital painting for the Department of Visual Design at Brigham Young University and also teaches figure drawing at Utah Valley University. He was previously the art director at Saffire Corporation for six years and is also an acclaimed author in digital character design and painting with several books to his credit. Born in 1980, M�lanie studied History of Art at The Sorbonne University In Paris. She has always been fascinated by fantastic worlds and classical paintings, so tries to mix those two different subjects in her illustrations to create her own fantasy worlds. M�lanie currently works as a freelance illustrator for several publishing houses, magazines like ImagineFX, and game company Ubisoft. Her first art book �Elixir� was recently published by Norma Editorial, and M�lanie is currently working on the second volume which will be released this year. d’artiste MATTE PAINTING Authors Alp Altiner�s career as an artist started in Seattle where he grew up, working in print design for magazines, and multimedia projects. As a comic book artist, he worked for publishers such as Todd McFarlane, Image Comics, Top Cow Productions, DC and Marvel. He then worked as a conceptual artist for video game developers in both traditional and digital visual development. After receiving an offer from Digital Domain, he joined their Visual FX Studio in Venice California as a matte painter/concept artist. Since then, he has been working for film/tv and video game developers as a VFX artist specializing in 2D and 3D related visual FX work, including concept design, matte paintings, 3D modeling, texturing, and lighting. Dylan Cole is a leading matte painter and concept artist specializing in work for film, television, and video games. After graduating from UCLA with a degree in fine art, he took his painting skills to the computer. He got his start with a brief stint at Illusion Arts on ‘Time Machine’. Smaller jobs as a matte painter and concept artist led to him working at Rhythm and Hues on ‘Daredevil’. He then left his native California to go to New Zealand to be a senior matte painter on ‘Lord of the Rings: Return of the King’ for Weta. Cole returned to the US as Lead Matte Painter on ‘The Chronicles of Riddick’ for Rhythm and Hues where he transitioned to Visual Effects Art Director on ‘The Ring 2’. Chris Stoski has always had an interest in environment creation and design. He graduated from the School of Architecture at Washington State University with both a Bachelor of Architecture and a Bachelor of Science in Architecture and found a passion for computer graphic artwork through creating CG architectural renderings and computer animation classes. He moved into the film industry becoming the lead full-time Digital Matte Artist at Matte World Digital while also performing the duties of the in-house concept artist and art director. He began working as a Digital Matte Artist for Industrial Light and Magic where he has spent time working on ‘Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith’.

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The Last Drop (2005) Movie Review 02 February 2006 — by Nix | Reviews Parts “Kelly’s Heroes” and parts “Three Kings”, the British World War II movie “The Last Drop” sees a group of men (a “guys on a mission” movie, as Tarantino calls them) dropped behind enemy lines during the historically botched Operation Market Garden. Their mission: steal Dutch national treasures before the Nazis send them all to Berlin so the Fuhrer can get naked and roll around in them. Of course this isn’t made clear until almost 70 minutes into the film, and by then, alas, the film has lost so much steam because of its narrative choices that you won’t really care anyway. The main problem with “The Last Drop” is that, even at 110 minutes of running time, it nevertheless spreads itself too thin among one too many groups of characters. The first and main storyline belongs to the British, who are air-dropped by Canadian pilot Oates (Billy Zane), only to have the unit, along with the commanding officer, get decimated by German gunfire. Left behind to complete the mission are gimpy Sergeant McMillian (Sean Pertwee), Oates, a cowardly medic, a morphine-addicted bomb expert, and Corporal Powell (Neil Newbon), who is more than he says he is. Unfortunately for our soldiers, they have no idea what their mission is, except to rendezvous with a pair of Dutch sisters/resistance fighters. Powell knows, of course, but he’s not talking. Yet. Meanwhile, German deserters Lieutenant Voller (Alexander Skarsgard), the bellicose Beck (Karel Roden), and a third man are planning a heist of their own involving those very same Dutch treasures. Beck just wants the loot to retire on, but Voller seems to have a personal grudge against Major Kessler (Laurence Fox), the German SS officer tasked with protecting and shipping the goods back to Berlin . And finally, there are the Americans, led by Colonel J.T. Colt (Michael Madsen). As expected, Colt and the Americans are walking cliché, with Colt coming across as a poor facsimile of Patton. Madsen doesn’t get a whole lot to do, just enough to justify a picture on the marquee. “The Last Drop” is clearly endeavoring to be as close to the Clint Eastwood 1970 World War II heist film “Kelly’s Heroes” as much as possible. It doesn’t always succeed, if only because, as mentioned, the script by director Colin Teague and co-writer Gary Young is too fractured. The film seems to have the most fun when it’s following the wacky adventures of Beck and Voller, who spends much of the film negotiating war-ravaged Holland as the Americans push in from one side and the Germans the other. Most of the film’s comedy also comes from here, as Karel Roden and Alexander Skarsgard make for a rather hilarious “Odd Couple” tandem. In fact, if these guys weren’t part of a genocidal war machine steamrolling through Europe , you’d think they were swell fellas. While director Colin Teague seems to handle the film’s comedic elements well enough, the movie’s action scenes are erratic at best, impossible to follow at worst. Poor editing is a major problem, and the action rarely has any coherent flow. At one point someone will be mowing down Germans with an M60 with two Germans racing at him from behind, and a second later he’s face-down on the ground trying to avoid friendly fire and the two Germans are nowhere to be seen. One moment a character is hiding in a tower, the next he’s in the water, and then later he’s hiding in the back of a plane, having miraculously avoided detection all this time, including by the pilot of the plane. “The Last Drop’s” best war action is in the beginning, after the British squad crashes and finds themselves in the crossfire of a German machinegun nest. The sequence only works because of the inherent chaos of the situation, and nothing else. The movie caps off with a final climactic battle where the various parties converge to shoot at each other, but as mentioned, the action has no fluidity and there are enough continuity errors to make one blush with embarrassment. Other than that, “The Last Drop” is a serviceable enough lightweight war movie, with Teague opting for the always popular style of shooting the action in varied film speed. “The Last Drop” seems to noticeably run out of steam at around the 70 minute mark, at about the same time the British reach the farm house hiding the Dutch loot. At this point you get the feeling that the filmmakers didn’t really know how to proceed, so about 30 minutes are wasted on pointless conversation and non-action. The fault, of course, lies in the script, which fails to understand that the whole point of “guys on a mission” movies is to watch the guys getting to their mission, not to watch them get there in a hurry, then sit around talking until the inevitable final battle. See “Saving Private Ryan” and, once again, “Kelly’s Heroes” for examples. On the plus side, Sean Pertwee (“Dog Soldiers”) as usual is reliably good as the tough but raggy Sergeant, while Billy Zane is amusingly awful as the faux Canadian pilot. As mentioned, Michael Madsen (“Kill Bill”) shows up just long enough to get his name on the marquee, but that doesn’t stop the character from being one of the film’s highlights. Meanwhile Neil Newbon, as the cold and calculating Powell, ends up a non-entity much too soon. Too bad, because the character really stood out the most during the early parts of the movie. Curiously, “The Last Drop” seems to be hitting on all cylinders whenever we’re treated to the comic stylings of Beck and Voller. Who knew Nazis could be so funny? Colin Teague (director) / Colin Teague, Gary Young (screenplay) CAST: Billy Zane …. Oates Karel Roden …. Beck Michael Madsen …. Col J.T. Colt Alexander Skarsgard …. Lt. Voller Tommy Flanagan …. Cpl Baker Sean Pertwee …. Sgt McMillan Laurence Fox …. Major Kessler Neil Newbon …. Cpl Powell Coral Beed …. Saskia

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Below, in tabular form, are my recommendations for TV movie viewing this weekend and on into next week. The feature has text in red. This issue features, Equilibrium - pictured here at the left, which will have a special Agora entry with an original review and several purchase selections by its second showing. Rare or highlighted showings are in blue (once in a "blue moon") with showings of previous features in maroon (an "older" red). Subscription information is listed below. If you watch a movie and enjoy it enough you wish to own a copy, please come back here and use one of these links to purchase it. (Most movies can be acquired by using the link on the name of the movie. Your purchases support this website.) Crazy People (1990) Dudley Moore plays a ad copywriter admitted to a mental institution where he turns out truthful ads and anti-authoritarian comedic fun. Other People's Money (1991) Meet Larry the Liquidator (Danny DeVito). Arrogant. Greedy. Self-centered. Ruthless. You gotta love the guy. DeVito's speech to the stockholders is superb! X2 (2003) An uneasy co-existence between humans and mutants threatens to explode in this powerful sequel based on Stan Lee's popular Marvel Comics series. High Noon (1952) A newly retired Marshal defends his town from a vengeful convict and his gang. Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, Thomas Mitchell. D: Fred Zinnemann. 24-Jun Kings Row (1942) Small town scandals inspire an idealistic young man to take up psychiatry. Ann Sheridan, Robert Cummings, Ronald Reagan. D: Sam Wood. Equilibrium (2002) In a fascist future where all forms of art (and feeling) are illegal, a man charged with enforcing the law rises to overthrow the system. Starring Christian Bale, Sean Bean, Emily Watson, Taye Diggs and Angus MacFadyen; written and directed by Kurt Wimmer A new man in a large corporation encounters power struggles. Stars: Van Heflin, Everett Sloane, Ed Begley; Teleplay by Rod Serling; D: Fielder Cook. Nuts (1987) Barbra Streisand plays a high-priced call girl who kills a client in self-defense. She refuses the easy way out: copping a plea of insanity. Richard Dreyfuss plays her lawyer. Emma (1996) Emma Woodhouse is a congenial young lady who delights in meddling in other people's affairs. Central planning at the personal level fails. Bananas (1971) Woody Allen wrote, directed and stars as a nervous New Yorker involved in the overthrow of a corrupt South American government to impress a girl back home. 25-Jun All the President's Men (1976) Reporters Woodward and Bernstein uncover the details of the Watergate scandal that leads to President Nixon's resignation. Catch Me If You Can (2002) Based on the true story of a successful con artist who operates under several identities long outwitting the FBI. Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Dir: Steven Spielberg Gods and Generals (2003) This prequel to Gettysburg is an unusually balanced depiction of the War Between the States. It is based on the book by Jeff Shaara. Road Warrior (MadMax2) (1981) A loner stalks Australia's Outback for fuel after WWIII has destroyed most of civilization. Mel Gibson stars in this thrilling fantasy adventure, one of his earliest hits. SHO2 Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) This movie is based on George Orwell's novel of a totalitarian future in which a man whose daily work is rewriting history tries to rebel by falling in love. Rob Roy (1995) In the highlands of Scotland in the 1700s, Rob Roy tries to lead his small town to a better future. Liam Neeson, Tim Roth and Jessica Lange star. 27-Jun The Enchanted Cottage (1945) A scarred veteran and a homely woman are transformed by love. Minority Report (2002) Futuristic tale about a cop who turns fugitive after the crime-forecasting unit in which he works predicts he will commit a murder. The Mating Game (1959) A tax agent falls for a farm girl whose father he's investigating. Has excellent insights into taxation. Debbie Reynolds, Tony Randall, Paul Douglas. D: George Marshall. The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002) Eddie Murphy portrays a maverick former space smuggler who transforms a seedy nightclub on the moon into a thriving business. HBOF An alien (Jeff Bridges) assumes the shape of a young widow's (Karen Allen) husband and gets her to drive him from Wisconsin to Arizona. The government tries to stop them. Carbine Williams (1952) True story of the convicted bootlegger who won his freedom by inventing a new rifle. Excellent film !!! James Stewart, Jean Hagen, Wendell Corey. D: Richard Thorpe. A Face In The Crowd (1957) A female television executive discovers a folk-singing drifter who becomes a powerful media star. Drama about a woman whose obsessive concern for her daughter's welfare leads to murder. Nominated for a total of six Oscars(R), including Best Picture, Joan Crawford won the 1945 Best Actress Oscar(R) for her performance; with Jack Carson, Zachary Scott, 29-Jun Click the button above to join a Yahoo group which distributes a short plain text weekly reminder with a link to this page and list of movie names, or subscribe to the list via e-mail. Name Description Home Box Office Home Box Office 2 Home Box Office Family Home Box Office Signature Cinemax MoreMax Showtime Too SHO X Showtime classic movies The last issue of This Weekend is here. I hope you enjoy this new capability and please share your thoughts on it with me via e-mail. This is a work in progress. I hope to continue improving its format as time passes. Currently it is based on a weekly survey from Thursday to the next Wednesday on channels that show movies without interruptions (commercial or otherwise): Turner Classic Movies, Fox Movie Channel, HBO(s), Cinemax(s), Showtime(s) and The Movie Channel. Some channels listed may be part of basic service and some may be premiums. (if a channel has both East and West instances, only the eastern one is listed above).

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Vernon, Florida Burn Hollywood Burn Barry Lyndon Stanley Kubrick UK, 1975 Warner Bros. DVD Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon has the unfortunate position of following 2001: A Space Odyssey and A Clockwork Orange, two of his most critically praised and commercially successful films. Barry Lyndon received a much cooler welcome than those two and, despite faring well at the Academy Awards, critics and audiences felt the film fell short of the mark. Pauline Kael assessed the film as “monumentally unimaginative” at its release but critical opinion of the film has shifted, slowly but surely, as it made an appearance on Time’ s “Best Films of the 1970s” list and was later called “Kubrick’s neglected masterpiece” by the Daily Telegraph in 2009. The film remains one of his least examined or celebrated works, despite the shift in opinion. Though it is a masterpiece on par with his other films, Barry Lyndon’s less esteemed place in Kubrick’s oeuvre may be due to the fact that it represents such a stark departure from those films closest to it. Perhaps it is all just a case of bad timing. This would be quite fitting as Barry Lyndon concerns a man plagued by bad timing and rotten luck. It is also the story of a young man with good intentions and high moral character, and the essence of the narrative is an examination of how he is robbed of both by a society that cares little for such virtues. The film’s initial scenes depict the father of young Redmond Barry — the titular character’s birth name — being killed in a duel, setting the tone for the catalog of misfortunes that will befall Barry throughout the course of the film. The narrator describes the circumstances of the duel with exaggerated pauses so the count can be heard, only giving the matter of contention (horses) at the very end as if the punch line to a very dark joke. He gives these and other details about Barry’s life in a glibly derisive tone throughout, his words always informed by the tragic end he knows Barry will meet. This first tragedy is, of course, no fault of Barry’s doing, but a main facet of the remainder of Barry Lyndon is this question of responsibility. Indeed, leading the audience to a decision about the responsibility of Barry’s misfortune is Kubrick’s main goal for the film. Contrary to the position taken frequently by the narrator, Kubrick consistently makes the case that Barry’s troubles come from external sources rather than through a fault of his own character. This conclusion may not be immediately evident from a superficial examination of the film. Barry is a rogue and will garner little sympathy from most viewers—the easiest viewpoint to take is that he has no one to blame but himself. But a deeper analysis reveals Kubrick’s true motives. Barry Lyndon contains subtle critiques of British manners, aristocracy and empire—the defining characteristics of 18th century England. Kubrick’s goal is to show the hollowness beneath the gilded veneer typically found in period dramas. After his father’s death, Barry grows to be a polite but painfully naïve young man, knowing nothing of the world outside of the small hamlet where he lives. When his older cousin, Nora, seduces him, Barry trembles with fear at her touch, falling deeply in love with the girl. At this point in the narrative, Barry is a blank slate—his closest cinematic kin would be Chauncey Gardner from Being There. He is clay to be molded by the world and Nora’s seduction gives us our first glimpse of a naïveté to be exploited by those around him. In this natural state, Barry is morally pure, knowing only love for his mother, his family, and Nora. The outside world soon arrives on Barry’s doorstep in the form of a British regiment, setting off a chain of events by which the pure Barry would become remolded in the world’s wicked image. Nora leaves Barry for a wealthy British officer, but while it is Nora that breaks his heart, the British Empire has effectively stolen his innocence. Barry later finds himself a soldier in both the British and Prussian armies, quickly becoming what the narrator calls, “very far advanced in the science of every kind of misconduct.” Kubrick was later accused of glorifying war in Full Metal Jacket by Pickup on South Street director Samuel Fuller1, but Barry Lyndon presents a decidedly dim view of the institution. The armies in Barry Lyndon are filled with villains and crooks, and Barry has more to fear from his fellow soldiers than from the faceless enemies across the battlefield. It is in the army that the once-noble Barry becomes a liar and a thief, and it is in this stark contrast that we can see Kubrick’s critique of war, how it rewards vice and corrupts all who participate. Barry, who had only found sorrow while being virtuous, uses his newfound talent for wrongdoing in his post-war career as a conman and gambler. Having been transformed from “noble savage” to well-mannered villain, Barry Lyndon’s second half concerns his attempt to become a part of polite society—to “rise above his station,” in the words of the narrator. Redmond Barry rogue, becomes Barry Lyndon, man of money and property, by marrying the pious Countess Lyndon. Kubrick immediately equates the aristocracy with façade: the extremely religious Countess begins her affair with Barry while her husband is still alive. Kubrick shows us that the mannered world of the aristocracy is filled with deceit and greed, and the fact that Barry fails to succeed in this world is one of the film’s harshest attacks on that society. Barry, a trained conman and former career criminal, finds himself consistently outmatched by his new peers. They are simply shrewder, more cunning than he. Barry has traded one company of criminals (the army) for another (high society), but while the army’s thieves and cutthroats welcome him as a brother, his aristocratic peers refuse to accept a newcomer into their ranks and begin working feverishly to displace him. Barry’s change of station functions on two very distinct levels, the first of which is the literal rise in station through his marriage to a member of the aristocracy. His experience mirrors that of his homeland as well though. Barry’s native Ireland was in an ambiguous position during the period in which the film is set. Not a part of Great Britain yet or a sovereign nation, Ireland — like Barry — lacked an official status in Europe, politically or socially. Therefore Barry is separated from Great Britain’s aristocracy both economically and politically and Barry’s “social climbing” that the narrator so frequently derides can be seen in a more positive light as a struggle for political enfranchisement. This adds another layer — one of national prejudice — to the resistance Barry faces while trying to integrate into high society. Kubrick’s subversion of period drama conventions can be seen as a critique on the genre. To that end, he makes Lord Bullingdon the film’s main villain. Bullingdon is the type of character that would typically be the hero in such a film. He sees his family fortune effectively stolen by a usurper (Barry) who tyrannically menaces him and breaks his mother’s heart. He is shown to be a coward, however, lacking in the basic human civility that Barry retains even at his most debauched. Barry spares Bullingdon’s life even though he knows that he wishes to kill him. Bullingdon, who frequently references Barry’s Irish heritage in his insults, doesn’t offer Barry the same courtesy and serves as a representative of the aristocracy—unforgiving, prejudiced, cruel, and concerned only with a system of manners rather than with any higher moral law. Kubrick is relentless in his critiques of England, the nation, but takes the opposite approach to depicting England, the country. The film contains some of his most beautiful camerawork and his lens lovingly captures the majesty of the Irish countryside in which it was filmed. A frequent technique is to begin a scene in close up and then slowly pan out to reveal a vibrant tableau of nature. Barry Lyndon is simultaneously grander in scope and more intimate than Kubrick’s previous films, and he took much of his inspiration from paintings for both interior and exterior scenes. Using specially designed Zeiss lenses, much of the film was shot using only natural lighting or, in some cases, candlelight. Kubrick’s use of light and shadow creates a highly realistic world, one that seems less removed from the modern day than in other such films. Almost as if in opposition to the facets of the film I’ve outlined above, Kubrick imbued Barry Lyndon with a rigid formalism. There is a very conscious attempt not to break with the constraints of the period piece format. The narrator constantly reminds us of Barry’s every misstep, taking great joy in pointing out the folly of his undertaking. Why then do I maintain that Kubrick had something in mind other than what the film constantly reiterates visually and narratively? I see Kubrick’s main technique in the film to be irony. Barry Lyndon is brimming with irony on every level, from the internal machinations of the film to its external reception, and it is Kubrick’s intent to show the audience the darkly comic way in which all aspects of life are contradictory. Let us reexamine the opening scene for the first such example. The narrator makes it a point that Barry’s father is “trained in law” while at the same time showing him preparing for a duel, an illegal activity. The narrator’s words are not pointing out that Barry’s father is ignorant of the law or too hot-tempered to avoid breaking it, but rather that there is a pervasive duplicity in society. The film uses three instances of dueling — an uncivilized act performed in a formalized, civil way — as a metaphor for Kubrick’s explorations of the hypocrisies of war and the aristocracy. The beauty of Kubrick’s cinematography is also ironic. He is actively working to make a beautiful film about the ugliness of life, thus the preoccupation with battle scenes in the film’s first half. His dedication to rigidly adhering to the style of the period film is an attempt to use the form as a weapon against itself. The beauty of a scene like the outdoor conversation between Barry and his mother is a prime example of Kubrick’s ironic cinematography. A spectacular tracking shot follows Barry’s family parting the blue water in a small boat, and then travels up and along a moss-covered bridge before ending on a tight shot of the two speakers against a backdrop of lush greens. Their topic of discussion? How Barry can secure a title for himself through less than honorable means. The ironic juxtaposition of pastoral beauty and moral corruptness is Kubrick’s motivation to make the film as beautiful and formal as possible because it is within the contrast that the latter of the two concepts in the scene is best shown. Even the film’s champions criticize the casting of Ryan O’Neal in the title role. I find it to be fitting in with the film’s themes and Kubrick’s use of irony, however. On the first level, O’Neal is outmatched by the script and the demands placed upon him by it. There is a definite connection between O’Neal’s shortcomings and those of the character he plays. Barry Lyndon is a failure but one with good intentions and the same could be said of O’Neal. Since Kubrick would have had his pick of actors from around the world, the assumption must be made that he had a goal in mind. O’Neal’s performance is a successful one on a certain level. His acting style is very natural, which is in direct contrast of the formal, almost campy (but very much in line with period drama conventions) performances of his co-stars. Again, this leads to the conclusion that Kubrick cast him ironically, to heighten the degree to which the artificialness of the other performances could be seen. The presence of O’Neal aids Kubrick in his subversion of the genre. In every carefully composed scene, O’Neal draws the viewer out of the artificial reality of the film, bringing them back to the reality necessary for Kubrick to comment on the period. Barry Lyndon is one of Kubrick’s best films and it is also one of his most misunderstood. The severity of Kubrick’s criticisms is matched only by the subtlety with which he employs them. It is therefore easy to see how audiences and critics of the day confused the film with a typical period drama. When viewing Barry Lyndon as such, it admittedly falls flat. It is lethargically paced and often appears to be little more than a vehicle to display period costumes, music and set pieces. Kubrick purposefully obscures his anti-establishment and anti-war messages through his use of irony and Barry’s admittedly unlikeable persona, allowing the film to maintain the guise of a typical period costume drama while skewering the virtues such films typically celebrate. “I’ll never forget the experience I had escorting the late Samuel Fuller, the much-decorated World War II hero and maverick filmmaker, to a multiplex screening of Full Metal Jacket, along with fellow critic Bill Krohn, in Santa Barbara 13 years ago. Though Fuller courteously stayed with us to the end, he declared afterward that as far as he was concerned, it was another goddamn recruiting film—that teenage boys who went to see Kubrick’s picture with their girlfriends would come out thinking that wartime combat was neat.” — Jonathon Rosenbaum, Movie Wars, Chicago Review Press, 2002↩ By David Carter ©2010 NotComing.com More Kubrick Stanley Kubrick’s Early Documentaries Fear and Desire Killer’s Kiss Paths of Glory Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb Barry Lyndon We don’t do comments anymore, but you may contact us here or find us on Twitter or Facebook. Stills View Today’s Still View Recent Stills Go to Stills Archive → Submit a Still Add your own still and we’ll feature it here. Not Coming to a Theater Near You is a film resource that assumes a bias towards older, often unpopular, and sometimes unknown films that merit a second look. Read more about us or Get in touch.

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This 1979 comedy is absolutely indispensable for fans of Peter Falk, Alan Arkin, or Andrew Bergman, who wrote the film's screenplay and went on to direct The Freshman and Honeymoon in Vegas. (Let's forgive him for Striptease.) Arkin is extraordinarily funny as a dentist who quickly grows skeptical about the wild claims of his daughter's future father-in-law (Peter Falk) that he is a CIA agent. When he is drawn into a bizarre adventure in a banana republic, however, he takes a different view. Arthur Hiller (Love Story) provides serviceable direction, but the real draw here is the perfect chemistry between the two leads and Bergman's weirdly comic mind. Watch for the look on Arkin's face when Falk's character tells a story about giant tse-tse flies.

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Welcome to The Movie Fargo. From Brainerd, MN where it allegedly took place. Brainerd's Landmark Watertower: Dey didn't show ya dis here really big watertower dat we're so attached ta in dat der movie, did dey? We was mentioned in dat der purty littl' National Geographic Magazine ting doncha know. Dey wrote up some nice tings about us and our littl' web site. Ya know, dey sure take nice pitures. A lot can happen in the middle of nowhere. Frances McDormand appears in a scene from "FARGO", which was nominated for a best picture Oscar today in Hollywood. McDormand was nominated for best actress. (AP Photo/Gramercy Pictures) Reaction to 'Fargo' nomination By MIKE O'ROURKE BRAINERD, MN. "Fargo," the movie that's actually about Brainerd, was nominated for five Academy Awards this morning, including best picture. The dark comedy that depicts a murder investigation by a Brainerd police chief has been praised by critics and has prompted inquiries from around the world about the fictional murders. Brainerd law enforcement officials and The Brainerd Dispatch have received many calls and letters asking for more details about the "murders." The confusion results from a written text that appears at the beginning of the movie and states: "This is a true story. The events depicted in this film took place in Minnesota in 1987. At the request of the survivors, the names have been changed. Out of respect for the dead, the rest has been told exactly as it occurred." Adding to the uncertainty was co-producer Ethan Coen's mixed signals about the truth of the story. In April of 1996, he told The Dispatch the story was largely true. While admitting the murders did not occur in MInnesota, he maintained they did occur somewhere. In an introduction to a paperback verison of the script Coen was a little more forthcoming about the story, writing, "It aims to be both homey and exotic, and pretends to be true." Meanwhile The Dispatch home page's site about the movie "Fargo," continues to draw interested readers from around the U.S. and abroad, averaging about 20 hits a day. Inquiries have come from Oman, Russia, Pakistan and Ireland, according to Denny Newman, pre-press manager for the Dispatch. In addition to its best picture nomination, "Fargo" received four other nominations: Frances McDormand for best actress, William H. Macy for supporting actor, Joel Coen for director and Ethan and Joel Coen for screenplay (written directly for the screen). BACK All contents © Copyright brainerddispatch.com and Morris Digital Works

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Home > DVDs > Literature > literature The Adventures of Swiss Family Robinson/The Rivers Run: Family Adventure Double Feature Richard Thomas, Parker Stevenson, John Waters & others. 2 DVDs This double feature of family-friendly adventure films includes two feature-length episodes of the The Adventures of Swiss Family Robinson series, from 1998, starring Richard Thomas. Based on the Johann David Wyss's celebrated book, both episodes ("Survival" and "Island of the Gods") were shot on location in the South Pacific. The Rivers Run is an epic 1990 Australian adventure series starring Parker Stevenson as a charming young American who befriends riverboat captain Brenton Edwards (John Waters) and then helps protect Edwards' family when the captain is unjustly sent to prison.

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Masters By Topic MASTERS A-Z SCHEDULE CONNECT Our 30th Season: See What's On William WylerFilmmaker(Jul 1, 1902 - Jul 27, 1981)KNOWN FORShooting many takes of the same scene; Academy Awards for Best Director for Mrs. Miniver, The Best Years of Our Lives, and Ben-HurQUOTE"It's eighty percent script and twenty percent you get great actors. There's nothing else to it."AMERICAN MASTERS FILMDirected by William Wyler (Jul 1987)Directed by Aviva Slesin Explore more from this episode About William Wyler Directed by William Wyler About William Wyler October 8, 2000 A pillar of the American film industry, William Wyler directed some of the best loved movies of his time. Known for his sensitive direction of great actors, he worked with some of the best, including John Barrymore, Bette Davis, Humphry Bogart, and Myrna Loy. Today he is considered both a master director and a substantial influence on American culture. Born to Jewish parents in Germany in 1902, Wyler became interested in American culture at an early age. His cousin, Carl Laemmle, was the head of Universal Pictures, and in 1920 brought Wyler to America. Before long he was living in Hollywood and working on films. Within five years he was an assistant director, concentrating much of his energy on short Westerns. By the early 1930s, Wyler had begun to direct features, and with COUNSELOR-AT-LAW (1933) he received his first taste of success. Centered around a New York lawyer, the film distinguished itself through subtle and moving cinematography. He followed it two years later with two films, a comedy written by Preston Sturges called THE GOOD FAIRY, and THE GAY DECEPTION (1935). By 1936, Wyler had teamed up with Samuel Goldwin to make the film, THESE THREE. This film would mark the beginning of an often difficult yet incredibly successful collaboration between the two men. The following year they made DODSWORTH, a film that dealt with a decaying marriage, and in 1937 DEAD END, about life in the slums. Throughout the mid and late 1930s Wyler was consistently experimenting with the technologies of filmmaking while maintaining great concern for the integrity of the actors’ performances. Working with Bette Davis throughout the early 1940s, Wyler created such classic films as THE LETTER(1940) and THE LITTLE FOXES (1941). Both intense and serious dramas, they expressed a sense of emotional and dramatic depth unlike many films that had come before. Wyler’s technical precision, his ability to display the meaningful angle of a profound moment, gave each actor a depth that allowed them to create more realistic characters. During the mid-1940s, Wyler was in the Army, where he made a number of documentaries. Before leaving for the service he had had his most popular film, MRS. MINIVER, and upon returning he made what is considered his best, THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946). Both about wartime, MRS. MINIVER dealt with the lives of the British during the war, while THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES hit home with a serious look at the lives of three veterans returning home from the war. For Wyler, the 1950s were a time of great achievement. With ROMAN HOLIDAY (1953), he not only directed a significant and popular film, he first presented Audrey Hepburn to an American audience. With major releases such as THE DESPERATE HOURS (1955) and THE BIG COUNTRY (1958), he set the scene for his unprecedented success with a re-make of BEN-HUR (1959). Like most of his work, BEN-HUR was more than an entertaining and visually engaging film — it was deeply crafted on every level, from the writing to the acting to the very smallest parts of the set. It won eleven Oscars and remains a classic today. Throughout the 1960s Wyler continued to make films including THE COLLECTOR (1965) and FUNNY GIRL (1968) starring Barbara Streisand in her film debut. Already in his late sixties, Wyler directed THE LIBERATION OF L.B. JONES (1970) about racism in a southern town. Soon after, he retired, and in 1981 he passed away. Acknowledged by the Academy Awards and filmmakers everywhere for his lifetime commitment to the highest quality filmmaking, William Wyler stands out as a major source in history of the American dramatic cinema. Produced by THIRTEEN © 2016 WNET. All rights reserved. PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. About the Series 200th Episode

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Tommy Davidson (Special Event) 9:45 PM Stress Factory Comedy Club, New Brunswick, NJ Comedy Central Certified Tommy Davidson Tommy Davidson: Tommy Davidson’s exceptional range – stand-up comedy and acting to versatile music ability – have earned him a reputation as an extraordinary performer. Best known as one of the original stars of the hit television show In Living Color, Tommy’s visibility increased rapidly and he became widely known for his innovative talent. Davidson started his career as a standup comedian in Washington DC, earning an ardent following with sheer hard work in various comedy clubs. As one of the cutting-edge, young stand-ups, he was spotted by major concert promoters who booked him as the opening act for A-list touring acts including Patti LaBelle, Kenny G and Luther Vandross. It wasn’t long before he came to Hollywood and was performing stand-up at a number of clubs, including the Comedy Act Theatre, where he met Robert Townsend. This led to his first national television appearance with a starring role in Partners in Crime and was the conduit to Keenan Ivory Wayans, who proved instrumental in Davidson’s career by offering him an opportunity to audition and join the uniquely talented cast of the most adventurous primetime variety show of its day, In Living Color. He, Jamie Foxx, Jim Carrey and Damon Wayans made TV history with their originality. Tommy’s impressive film debut was opposite Halle Berry in Strictly Business. His credits include numerous feature film roles from Spike Lee’s Bamboozled, where he received acclaim and praise for his turn as “Womack/Sleep ‘N Eats,” to Juwanna Mann (Morgan Creek Productions’) and the pivotal cameo in Jim Carrey’s Ace Ventura II: When Nature Calls, which has become a cult favorite. Davidson’s hilarious impressions of Sammy Davis Jr., Michael Jackson and other icons have become infamous. His visibility on In Living Color led to three Showtime specials: On Strength of New York, Illin’ in Philly and Takin’ it to DC. His elasticity as a performer who delivers on both the big and small screen led to other projects like the lead in the Disney’s animated series, The Proud Family and as a host on FOX’s The NFL Show, alongside football greats Michael Irvin and Tony Siragusa. Davidson also portrays the lead in Will Smith’s up-and-coming animated series, Youngin’s. Tommy stars – along with 80 other star stand-ups – in I Am Comic, opposite Tim Allen, Lewis Black, Sarah Silverman, Carlos Mencia, Jeff Foxworthy and Kathy Griffin. The film, which premiered on Showtime, is one of Netflix’s surefire hits enjoying a continual surge as a favorite with consumers. Davidson scored big with reviewers and audiences alike opposite Michael Jai White in the critically-lauded spoof comedy, Black Dynamite (Sony Pictures), last year’s big Sundance hit has been adapted by Adult Swim as an animated series. 2012 continues to be an astronomical year for Tommy, with special appearances on Fox’s 25th Anniversary Special and the 2012 TV Land Awards, in which In Living Color is to be honored. Lauded biographical novel, “Deconstructing Sammy” is the extraordinary story of an international celebrity whose outsize talent couldn't save him from himself, in which Tommy is heavily pursuant in playing the role of one of one of the greatest entertainment legacies of the twentieth century. Adult Swim’s cartoon adaption of “Black Dynamite” premiered this June as the #1 show on the network, Tommy’s character, Cream Corn being the crowd favorite at the 2012 SD Comic Con. Tommy travels internationally selling out every venue in which he headlines. He leaves an indelible, everlasting image with all audiences who still chuckle on the way home.

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ASU ‘Proposals’ Production Takes New Direction Eldra Sanford has spent her last six years at Angelo State University as the costume director for theater productions, but she’ll be in the director’s chair when Neil Simon’s touching comedy “Proposals” takes the stage, beginning Thursday, March 23. The play will show at 8 p.m. March 23-25 and March 30-April 1. There will be a 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday, March 26. All shows will be in the Modular Theater in the Carr Education-Fine Arts Building. When Sanford arrived at ASU almost six years ago as the costume designer for the Department of Communications, Drama and Journalism, she brought with her a lifetime of experience with theatrical productions, including more than a decade as a freelance costume designer for productions in Wichita, Kans. As a costume designer, Sanford gained invaluable research experience in her duties providing historical accuracy to her productions. That attention to detail has carried over to her direction of “Proposals,” which is set in the Pocono Mountains in the 1950s. “As a director, I’m focusing on the whole play,” Sanford said. “I have to take a lot of deep breaths and do lots of research, but in costuming, I spend hours on research. “In costuming, you don’t focus on just that aspect. You’ve also got to follow the director’s vision, coordinate it with the set and follow the vision of the playwright. In directing, you have the ability to say ‘no’ to an aspect if you want it a certain way. There’s more coordinating, keeping people on schedule.” “Proposals” recalls the last time the Hines family gathered at their retreat in the Poconos. That summer in 1953 was one of animated romantic entanglements that overlap on one idyllic afternoon. Burt Hines, a 55-year-old recovering workaholic convalescing from a second heart attack, eagerly anticipates the arrival of the ex-wife, Annie, whom he still loves. His daughter Josie has just broken her engagement to an intense Harvard law student and pines for his buddy Ray, an aspiring writer with whom she once had a brief fling. Clemma, the black housekeeper at the center of the action, is dreading a visit from the husband who deserted her years before. He strolls in with one working eye, one working hand and a guilty conscience. A model with a strikingly dim intellect shows up on Ray's arm, and a young Miami gangster with a gift for malapropisms brings comic joy to the gathering. “This play contains the deepest human element Simon has added in his scripts,” Sanford said. “He slides so seamlessly between comedy and drama that once you realize it’s drama, you’ve slid back into comedy.” Sanford ’s attention to detail has permeated all aspects of the play. Amber Phillips, who is in her first leading role at ASU in the role of Annie, said she pored through 1950s magazines to learn the stereotypes of women from the era. She also watched the Alfred Hitchcock thriller “Rear Window” to get a feel for Grace Kelly’s mannerisms. “It’s one thing to just memorize lines,” Phillips said. “But when you develop the character, become a character on-stage, develop an inner monologue, it becomes more than just lines. The audience can feel that. The emotion comes out, and it’s the soul of the art.” Ticket prices are $8 for general admission, $4 for non-ASU students, $3 for ASU students and season subscribers, and free for ASU Activity Card holders. The box office will be open 2-6 p.m. Monday-Friday beginning March 8. For more information or for reservations, call 942-2000.

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Mar 06,2007 00:00 by Bend_Weekly_News_Sources Italian Filmmaker Pasquale Scimeca's Story of a Jewish Scholar Banished From His Homeland Amidst the Spanish Inquisition to Be Released on DVD on Tuesday, March 20, 2007 Xenon Pictures announces today the March 20, 2007 DVD release of the feature film, The Passion of Joshua the Jew, from Italian filmmaker Pasquale Scimeca, whose debut feature, Il Giorno di San Sebastiani, won a Golden Globe Award(R). His latest film is a spiritually inspiring drama that also highlights the cruelty and misguided convictions that come with religious intolerance and persecution. The Passion of Joshua the Jew (La Passione di Giouse L'Ebreo) will be released in DVD widescreen format, in Italian with English subtitles. The basis for Scimeca's story comes from the historical royal edict of 1492 that unified Spain under Catholicism, ending centuries of peaceful co-existence among Spanish Christians, Jews and Moslems, and banishing all non-Christians from the country. The central character, Joshua, a young man with a brilliant mind and a strong interest in the Christian Gospels as well as Jewish theology, finds himself perceived as the Messiah by his fellow Jewish exiles in Italy, where he and his family have settled after leaving Spain. The elders of a neighboring city choose Joshua to portray Jesus Christ in their annual Passion play, but the forces of anti-Semitism bring about a tragic conclusion. An official selection of both the Venice Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival prior to its theatrical release, The Passion of Joshua the Jew exemplifies Xenon Pictures' continuing efforts to present audiences with new international cinema from acclaimed filmmakers. According to Xenon Pictures' President and CEO Leigh Savidge, "the film's themes of faith, intolerance and the futility of violence justified by religious beliefs are very relevant to today's audiences. As the film's DVD release coincides with the Easter/Passover season, it offers audiences a thought-provoking drama focusing on spirituality, racial and religious tolerance at an important period in world history." The Passion of Joshua the Jew was directed by Pasquale Scimeca, who also wrote the screenplay, and stars Leonardo Cesare Abude in the title role. It is a production of Arbash Film, in co-production with ICC (Spain), and with the support of Eurimages and Italy's Ministry of Culture. Xenon Pictures' release of The Passion of Joshua the Jew will be available at all major retail and online stores for $19.99

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Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman: The Complete Season Three Jane Seymour, Joe Lando, Chad Allen & others. 8 DVDs, boxed This eight-disc boxed set contains all 25 episodes of Emmy Award�winning third season and some of the most memorable moments of this acclaimed series as the railroad comes to Colorado Springs, Mike begins teaching evolution to the town's children, and a paleontologist stirs "bone fever" with plans to dig on Cheyenne burial grounds. The season concludes at a high emotional pitch as General Custer confronts the Cheyenne at the Washita River, and Mike and Sully finally wed. Special features include cast biographies and commentary from Seymour and Lando on the concluding wedding episode "For Better or Worse."In an age when women were expected to be seen but not heard, Dr. Michaela "Mike" Quinn was a renegade, an independent spirit who forsook her home in genteel Boston for the rough-and-tumble life of the frontier. But the prejudice she encountered back East paled in comparison to the challenges awaiting in Colorado Springs. This five-time Emmy Award�winning series, starring Jane Seymour and Joe Lando, reinterpreted the classic western with modern sensibility and painstaking historical authenticity.

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The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus(2009) by Matt Fagerholm Film Monthly Home Wayne Case Short Takes (Archived) Small Screen Monthly The Indies What's Hot at the Movies This Week Interviews TV Terry Gilliam isn’t a filmmaker so much as a force of nature. His films are so consuming, and artistic vision so uncompromising, that viewers are faced with a decision: either get swept up in his aggressively bizarre blizzard of invention, or block his torrent of weirdness with a close-minded umbrella. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is the most gleefully whimsical and purely entertaining film he’s made since 1988’s The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (and the first since Munchausen that Gilliam personally storyboarded). The plot is secondary to the visual experience, which is stunningly alive and richly funny. Of course, the film will primarily be remembered for its behind-the-scenes story. After Heath Ledger’s untimely death during the production, three actors (Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell) were brought in to complete his scenes. It was a true labor of love for the big-name stars, who admired Ledger’s work, and refused to be paid for their work (their income was given to Ledger’s daughter Matilda). Even if the film were a complete failure, it would be tremendously moving simply for that reason alone. Therefore, I’m all the more pleased to report that Parnassus is an utter delight for playfully adventurous viewers seeking an alternative from formulaic escapism (like Avatar). Gilliam devotees will recognize this as an amalgamation of elements from his previous work, assembled to celebrate the vitality of storytelling. The story concerns a traveling theater company that performs for passive bystanders on street corners and in parking lots (Gilliam may be able to relate, since his last few films failed to find an audience). The sheer design of the company’s stage is marvelous to behold, particularly when it’s juxtaposed with mundane contemporary backdrops. Though the plot involves a deal with the devil, a transformative dreamworld, and a high-stakes race against time, the film never feels bogged down in exposition. The dialogue (by Gilliam and Charles McKeown) is often poetic and witty, allowing the character interactions to have an energy and spontaneity largely missing from most fantasies. Ledger reportedly improvised much of his dialogue, and his scenes (though few) stand as another enduring reminder of the profound talent and magnetism that were just coming into fruition. As in I’m Not There (and, to a degree, The Dark Knight), there are various moments in the film that have acquired a level of chilling poignancy in the wake of Ledger’s passing. Depp has an extraordinary monologue about mortality, dreams and the eternal youth one can find through fantasy. It would be unfair to ignore the fabulous work of Ledger’s co-stars—Christopher Plummer (in what is technically the lead role), Lily Cole, Andrew Garfield and the hilarious Verne Troyer—whose solid presence helped prevent Gilliam’s overstuffed film from ripping apart at the seams. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus may be rather disjointed and disorganized, but that’s part of its freewheeling charm. I’ll take messy genius over tidy mediocrity any day. Matt Fagerholm Matt Fagerholm is a freelance writer, film enthusiast and critic in Chicago. Got a problem? E-mail us at filmmonthly@gmail.com

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GB.Net News Archive ~ GB.Net News By Category 'Dear Andrea, your film is one of year's best' Category: Dear Frankie News Article Date: December 21, 2005 | Publication: Greenock Telegraph | Author: Editors Source: http://www.greenocktelegraph.co.uk A GREENOCK writer says she is delighted an American critic has rated her movie his favourite of 2005. Andrea Gibb, who penned the script for Dear Frankie, said she was flattered that David Germain, a writer for the Associated Press agency, had backed the movie. Germain said he thought the film was underrated and that it was his top movie of 2005 in an article that was sent to newspapers across the US. The attention should boost DVD sales of the film in time for Christmas. Dear Frankie was filmed in Inverclyde and set in Greenock and tells the tale of a deaf boy and his mother. Andrea said: "This guy from Associated Press has named his top 10 films of 2005 and Frankie is number one on his list. It is fantastic, it is really good. "Whoever he is he has got fantastic taste. "He is basically making the point that it was overlooked. "It is very good that he liked it so much. Maybe people will be intrigued enough to buy it. "It was huge in America and got amazing reviews. I think the Americans really liked it, which is fantastic. "I was a wee bit disappointed with the British response. But it was in the UGC in Glasgow for five weeks and that is really good and 18 weeks in American cinemas is great. It has lasted and here it is popping up again." David Germain said Dear Frankie was "a heart-on-its-sleeve drama of pure decency and inspiration". Dear Frankie is about a boy that has been writing to his absent father for as long as he can remember. Lizzie, his mum, played by Emily Mortimer, has told Frankie that his father is working on board a ship called the Accra. In reality, the letters are sent to a post office box and Lizzie herself writes back to Frankie to protect him from the truth. The film charts the family's journey as they settle in a new area and Lizzie is forced to hire a stranger to play Frankie's dad for the day when he discovers the Accra is due to dock at their town. This story appeared in the Greenock Telegraph on Sat, 17 Dec, 2005

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