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Menampilkan postingan dari Januari, 2022

Moaning With Boredom Throughout

 It’s been suggested before that a country stay with the royals is no day at the beach. In The Crown, Peter Morgan had Margaret Thatcher moaning with boredom throughout a Balmoral weekend of hunting, hiking and inhaling gusty draughts of cold air. But these irritations can’t compare with the sufferings endured by Princess Diana (Kristen Stewart) during a Sandringham Christmas in Pablo Larrain’s Spencer. Her marriage is coming apart and she’s consumed with sorrow and jealousy over her husband’s affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, yet convention dictates that she put on a jolly good show. “Thou shalt have fun” is the house’s governing commandment and it’s enforced with military precision. In the film’s opening scenes, a train of army vehicles comes rolling through the mist carrying the holiday provisions in locked metal trunks. Once these are in the kitchen, the head chef and his team unload the goodies, poised to conjure up the culinary flow essential to a Windsor Christmas. Like jockeys

Words Are A Powerful Tool

 In the world of cinema, words are a powerful tool. Whether spoken or written, words set the scene and the tone of the movie you're about to watch, and some of the most powerful words an audience can see as they settle in for the opening credits are "Based on a true story." Many of the films that claim to be based on a true story stick to the actual events in as many ways as make sense, such as military epics like "Black Hawk Down" and "We Were Soldiers." On the other hand, others take massive leaps from historical accuracies, such as the portrayal of British officers in "The Patriot" (via CBS News). Still, a third category under the genre is also extremely popular right now with filmmakers, creating a fictional story surrounding real-life events. These films include "Pearl Harbor" and the critical success "Titanic." With the Great War epic, "The King's Man," which hit theaters worldwide in late December 2021

Of The Worst Ever Made

 It’s an interesting experience to become famous by being in a film lauded as one of the worst ever made.   “I mean, it’s been pretty incredible,” said Greg Sestero, one of the stars of the notorious cult classic “The Room.” “It’s like, you know, you make a movie you didn’t think anybody would ever see. You’re basically helping a friend make their film. And then all of a sudden, people watch it and they talk about it, and then it’s playing around the world.”     Sestero found himself “baffled and intrigued” by how “The Room” became a phenomenon. Nearly 20 years after it was made, people are still talking about it - and still showing it on big screens, as it will be shown at the Midtown Cinema two nights this weekend.     Sestero will be attending the screening, both to talk about the process of making “The Room” and his book based on the experience, “The Disaster Artist.” The book was then turned into a film of the same name, just as Sestero had hoped; his goal was to “make a great fil

The Biggie is “Dick Clark’s Primetime

 With the annual New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square scaled back due to the spread of Omicron, and other big party plans in doubt, an at-home celebration with friends and a remote might be a more popular way to ring in 2022 than we had all imagined. Live television will be flush with celebrity-driven countdowns. The biggie is “Dick Clark’s Primetime New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest 2022” broadcast from Times Square on ABC, the special’s 50th anniversary. Performers include Journey in Times Square, Billy Porter in New Orleans and Big Boi in Los Angeles, among others. New this year is the first Spanish-language countdown with Daddy Yankee, which will take place in Puerto Rico. Other live specials include “Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party Hosted by Miley Cyrus and Pete Davidson,” broadcast from Miami starting at 10:30 p.m. on NBC, with performances by Brandi Carlile and Billie Joe Armstrong; and the return of Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen as the hosts of “CNN’s New Year’s Eve

Who Spoke Eloquently

 The most striking aspect of the commemorative events marking the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings on 6 June 2019 was the testimony of the veterans who participated in the conflict and who spoke eloquently and movingly about the events of 6 June 1944. These interviews should be compulsory viewing so people understand the courage and sacrifice of a generation of men and women who displayed the “unconquerable resolve” the Queen spoke about during her speech in Portsmouth. The film world has, of course, brought us many depictions of the Normandy landings and the subsequent battles. You will find a number of those titles in this list of the 20 greatest Second World War films. These 20 movies only scratch the surface of the countless number made about the momentous event, but remind us of the horrors and sacrifices made during the devastating global conflict. 1 Schindler’s List (Steven Spielberg, 1993) Spielberg’s deeply personal masterpiece is perhaps the most moving war film ever ma

A Person To Factory Settings

 Losing all recollection of the past would be like returning a person to factory settings. One would have the standard qualities of humanity, but not the lived-in experiences that come from success, failure, and being around other people.  Vanessa Kirby is challenged with manifesting such an experience in the mildly auspicious if ultimately disappointing “Italian Studies.” From writer/director Adam Leon, this nebulous drama follows a woman (Kirby) incapable of remembering her name and all other details about her identity.  One mundane day, she walks into a hardware store. By the time she steps out, it's as if a switch has been flipped and she has forgotten everything. Disoriented, she then wanders through the city directionless for what could be a single night or several days. As Kirby’s character walks the streets, sometimes her endless stride is captured from afar and from above, as if being watched over, while there’s a sense of being close with her amid the over-stimulating urb

A Type Of Film in Which Naked Bodies

 Your gut tells you that the hero of "Shattered" is about to get into trouble when he goes to a supermarket after midnight and the only other customer is a gorgeous young woman, dripping wet from rain, who asks his advice on which wine to buy, accepts his offer of a lift home when her rideshare fails to materialize, and ends up having sex with him. This is a psychosexual thriller, a type of film in which naked bodies are a prelude to a body count.  Indeed, like the high-tech security devices supposedly protecting the hero's palatial mountain home, this film from director Luis Prieto ("Kidnap") and writer David Loughery ("Money Train," "Lakeview Terrace") is a machine that promises to fulfill certain functions. Unfortunately, the craftsmanship is lacking. That's not a knock against the look or sound of the movie, which is appropriately glossy, or the sex, which is pretty boisterous for a film made in the neo-Puritan early 21st century, or

Then George Stays

 One of my favorite movies of all time is: “It’s a Wonderful Life.” If you happen to be one of the few people on the planet who has not seen this Christmas movie, I will tell you about it. This movie plays almost every Christmas on just about every channel, several times a day. It is set in the 1920s about a man name George Bailey. I believe he has just graduated from college, and he is getting ready to leave town and go see the world. He meets a beautiful young lady named Mary Hatch, who had secretly had a crush on him for years. They get married and then George’s father dies of a stroke. Dad’s number one possession was the Bailey Brothers Building & Loan. Mr. Potter is the villain in my eyes, and he wants to close the Building & Loan, making him the only bank in town. Then George stays to keep his dad’s dream alive. When things get bad, (look at the movie to find out what it is), he goes to the river to jump in or thinks about jumping in, but someone jumps in before him. So,

A Floor And Decor Store

 Maple Grove is now without a movie theater after AMC Theatres abruptly closed the Arbor Lakes 16 following last week's shows, ending a 21-year run. A sign taped to the front door of the multiplex directs patrons to the nearest AMC theater in Coon Rapids. Maple Grove officials had been bracing for the possibility that the theater might close, but they were not expecting anything to happen until at least March when the theater's lease was up. "It came as a surprise to us," said Joe Hogeboom, Maple Grove's director of community and economic development, who learned about the sudden shut down through an e-mail Sunday night. However, the building at 12575 Elm Creek Blvd. in the Shoppes at Arbor Lakes isn't likely to remain vacant long. Launch Properties has submitted plans to the city that includes transforming the cinema into a Floor and Decor store. The Georgia-based retailer specializes in hard surface flooring and flooring accessories. Plans also call for thre

Porn Misrepresented Women

 BARCELONA, Spain — When Billie Eilish called pornography “a disgrace” in a recent radio interview, the quote made headlines. The Grammy-winning musician said she had started watching at around age 11, to learn how to have sex, and that she was now angry about the way she felt porn misrepresented women. When people talk about pornography, they’re often referring, like Eilish, to its commercial, heterosexual variety, which is what most of the free porn online tends to be. On those sites, you’d be forgiven for thinking it all looks the same. But depending on the sexual politics and vision of its creator, porn can look wildly different. Take, for example, the work of the Swedish filmmaker Erika Lust. She has built her production company, Erika Lust Films, into an art-house pornography behemoth by offering something outside the porn mainstream. Most viewers watch Lust’s stylish, highly produced films by subscribing to her websites, where she also distributes videos by other like-minded dir

Chronicling The Tragedy

 Despite his old guard status, or perhaps because of it, Ridley Scott is seldom offered studio projects. The recent exception is 2015’s “The Martian,” which earned two Golden Globes and $631 million worldwide. But even success like that failed to move the needle. So, ideas for new projects come from within the walls of RSA Films, the company Scott founded and has run for more than 50 years. His latest homegrown project, “House of Gucci,” was spurred on by his wife, actor Giannina Facio, who was in Italy when the events portrayed in the film occurred. “She saw this 20 years ago and said, ‘Read this. It’s like Medici or Borgia for the 21st century,’” Scott says, recalling the first time he laid eyes on Sara Gay Forden’s 2000 book of the same name chronicling the tragedy. That tragedy took place in March of 1995 when Maurizio Gucci, scion of the legendary fashion brand and Italy’s most eligible bachelor, was shot dead on the steps of his Milan office. The gunmen were hired by his ex-wife,

Studies Indigenous People

 Beginning Jan. 19, the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation will launch a bi-monthly educational series featuring prominent scholars and historians from across the country, including a consultant for the Broadway musical “Hamilton.” Foundation Executive Director Christy S. Coleman will lead the six-part inaugural Director’s Series in Jamestown Settlement’s Robins Foundation Theater, starting with Florida historian Jason Herbert. Herbert, who recently obtained his doctorate in history from the University of Minnesota, works for the Seminole Tribe of Florida as an ethnographer and studies indigenous people and ecology. The Director’s Series reflects the foundation’s mission to raise awareness and understanding of American history through its two museums, Jamestown Settlement and the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown, as well as through education programs. Each of the six programs in the series will feature Coleman striking up a conversation with her guests. Herbert, a self-proclaimed movi

Including One About A Vampire

 Real-estate issues are central to new animated titles streaming this week, including one about a vampire (“Hotel Transylvania: Transformania”) and another about mice and cats (“The House”). Plus, Peacemaker from “The Suicide Squad” gets his own series. ‘The House’ “The House,” an animated stop-motion anthology, revolves around the life of a large, grand home. Each of its three short films tells the story of the owners and residents in different eras of the house’s existence, and how they obsess over the home at the expense of the world around them. In the first film, directed by Emma de Swaef and Marc James Roels, a family of humans is given an opportunity that seems too good to be true: Trade in their modest home for a new one that would be the envy of all. In the second, directed by Niki Lindroth von Bahr, an ambitious mouse is trying to flip the house. The third film, directed by Paloma Baeza, is about a cat with big plans for turning the dilapidated house around. Ms. von Bahr says

City Officials Said Wednesday

 Enid’s long-planned movie theater is no longer in development within The District, city officials said Wednesday. But with the door possibly closed on a new theater, Enid City Commission has attempted to open a window by possibly building a new department store on the same anchor spot within the developing retail corridor. After an hour-long closed executive session, commissioners unanimously voted Wednesday night to provide a Tulsa real estate developer with $1.9 million from the city’s Economic Development Authority to help fund construction of a store on the undeveloped 7.4 acres, which also would be transferred. Jim Dill, CEO of Vector Properties, is seeking to enter into a 10-year lease agreement with the unnamed department store, which would include men’s, women’s, children’s clothing and shoes, along with household goods, according to the city. Dill plans to develop spaces for additional retailers in the tract, according to the city. City Manager Jerald Gilbert said the store w

A Sign Taped To The Front Door

 Maple Grove is now without a movie theater after AMC Theatres abruptly closed the Arbor Lakes 16 following last week's shows, ending a 21-year run. A sign taped to the front door of the multiplex directs patrons to the nearest AMC theater in Coon Rapids. Maple Grove officials had been bracing for the possibility that the theater might close, but they were not expecting anything to happen until at least March when the theater's lease was up. "It came as a surprise to us," said Joe Hogeboom, Maple Grove's director of community and economic development, who learned about the sudden shut down through an e-mail Sunday night. However, the building at 12575 Elm Creek Blvd. in the Shoppes at Arbor Lakes isn't likely to remain vacant long. Launch Properties has submitted plans to the city that includes transforming the cinema into a Floor and Decor store. The Georgia-based retailer specializes in hard surface flooring and flooring accessories. Plans also call for thre

Can Reach Such Staggeringly

 Anime master Mamoru Hosoda makes movies that, even at their most elaborate, can reach such staggeringly emotional heights that they seem to break free of anything you’re prepared for in an animated movie — or in most kinds of movies, for that matter. Any talented Japanese filmmaker working in fantastical animation inevitably draws comparisons to the great Hayao Miyazaki. But the more appropriate touchstone for Hosoda may be Yasujiro Ozu. As dazzling as Hosoda’s films may be visually or conceptually, they’re rooted in simple and profound human stories. His last film, the Oscar-nominated “Mirai,” is one of the best movies made in recent years about family. It centered on a 4-year-old boy who, dealing with the arrival of a new baby sister and confronting new feelings of jealousy, is visited by his sister as a middle-schooler. Other time-traveling encounters follow, and a new understanding and empathy grows in the boy. Hosoda’s latest, “Belle” is more complicatedly sketched. It’s an ultra

Edna And His Vision Of The Future

 Michael Wilmington was a singularity. I’ve knew him for roughly 25 years. But I don’t know how well I ever really knew him. I saw him. I talked to him about movies and his beloved mom, Edna, and his vision of the future, for all of us. We talked a lot about his frustrations. Michael’s tribute to his mother on her passing was, I think, the thing he wrote on MCN that he most cherished. He brought it up many, many times over the years. Michael had a lot of things go right in his life. And a lot of things go terribly wrong. He required, in real life, enormous patience and a deep well of love. He had some of those people in his life – most notably Jackie, in my time – but for those of us who were rushing through life – for me – the inability to offer this man of thoughts and words more time and more love is our loss. Others will chart Michael’s life history better than I. When I first really met him, it was in his Chicago era. He was famously quirky, but he had taken over the real lead cri

With An Enormous Line-Up

 The year 2022 is shaping up to be a big year for the Korean film industry, with an enormous line-up of films coming to theatres. These include a number of delayed blockbusters rescheduled for release in 2022 because of the pandemic, such as Emergency Declaration, Life is Beautiful and Hero. New releases by directors like Kim Han-min, Choi Dong-hoon and Kim Yong-hwa will provide viewers with a wider selection. Some actors will also expand their talents behind the camera for their feature directorial debuts. Long-awaited movie sequels will be among the biggest releases of 2022. The Pirates: Goblin Flag, a sequel to the 2014 action film, The Pirates, will be coming to theatres on January 26. The upcoming film, featuring Kang Ha-neul and Han Hyo-joo, promises a new adrenaline-pumping storyline and a cast of fresh faces. The previous movie, starring Son Ye-jin and Kim Nam-gil, garnered about 8.7 million in ticket sales in 2014. The Roundup, the sequel to the 2017 crime action film, The Out