The story shocked the world 10 years ago: the Copenhagen Zoo’s decision to euthanize a healthy two-year-old giraffe named Marius because they considered it a “surplus animal.” CNN reported on it. So did Le Monde in France, the U.K.’s Guardian and The Independent, and the Irish Times.
The New York Times wrote on February 9, 2014: “Marius the reticulated giraffe died at the Copenhagen Zoo on Sunday. He was 2 years old. The cause of death was a shotgun blast, and after a public autopsy, the animal, who was 11 feet 6 inches, was fed to the zoo’s lions and other big cats.”
Marius the giraffe at the Copenhagen Zoo days on February 7, 2014, before he was euthanized.
A decade after the death of Marius, the Cph:dox festival in Copenhagen hosted the world premiere of Life and Other Problems, a documentary that uses the case of Marius to ponder the interconnectivity of species,...
The New York Times wrote on February 9, 2014: “Marius the reticulated giraffe died at the Copenhagen Zoo on Sunday. He was 2 years old. The cause of death was a shotgun blast, and after a public autopsy, the animal, who was 11 feet 6 inches, was fed to the zoo’s lions and other big cats.”
Marius the giraffe at the Copenhagen Zoo days on February 7, 2014, before he was euthanized.
A decade after the death of Marius, the Cph:dox festival in Copenhagen hosted the world premiere of Life and Other Problems, a documentary that uses the case of Marius to ponder the interconnectivity of species,...
- 3/16/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
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Never one to skirt the truth, visionary director Christopher Nolan has always paid close attention to getting the real story down on 70mm film, even down to the smallest detail. "The Dark Knight" was so grounded in reality that Batman seemed more like an actual historical figure than a traumatized superhero. With "Oppenheimer," Nolan and his team had one of the most exhaustive biographies ever written at their disposal, "American Prometheus," written by authors Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. That deep dive into the definitive account of the creation of the atomic bomb and its aftermath even led to more discoveries that the historians missed the first time around.
In the ongoing effort during production to make "Oppenheimer" as accurate as possible, Nolan originally wanted to film the show-stopping spectacle of the atomic bomb detonation at the same location...
Never one to skirt the truth, visionary director Christopher Nolan has always paid close attention to getting the real story down on 70mm film, even down to the smallest detail. "The Dark Knight" was so grounded in reality that Batman seemed more like an actual historical figure than a traumatized superhero. With "Oppenheimer," Nolan and his team had one of the most exhaustive biographies ever written at their disposal, "American Prometheus," written by authors Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. That deep dive into the definitive account of the creation of the atomic bomb and its aftermath even led to more discoveries that the historians missed the first time around.
In the ongoing effort during production to make "Oppenheimer" as accurate as possible, Nolan originally wanted to film the show-stopping spectacle of the atomic bomb detonation at the same location...
- 10/27/2023
- by Drew Tinnin
- Slash Film
New Delhi, July 30 (Ians) J. Robert Oppenheimer may come across as a brooding scientist with an overwrought conscience and penchant for misquoting the Bhagavad Gita, but he was also a romantic whose first serious affair unwittingly led to the unravelling of his career.
This romance continued even after the physicist married German-born Katherine ‘Kitty’ Oppenheimer, a biologist, card-carrying communist and alcoholic prone to accidents, played by Emily Blunt in Christopher Nolan’s film.
The affair was with his fellow scientist, Jean Tatlock, played by Elizabeth Pugh. It disgraced Oppenheimer in US political circles, ruining his image and his life. And this is how it happened.
Tatlock and Oppenheimer met at a house party in 1936 when she was a student at Stanford Medical School and he was a physics professor at the University of California, Berkeley. The two had a 10-year age gap, but Tatlock was the love of Oppenheimer’s life.
This romance continued even after the physicist married German-born Katherine ‘Kitty’ Oppenheimer, a biologist, card-carrying communist and alcoholic prone to accidents, played by Emily Blunt in Christopher Nolan’s film.
The affair was with his fellow scientist, Jean Tatlock, played by Elizabeth Pugh. It disgraced Oppenheimer in US political circles, ruining his image and his life. And this is how it happened.
Tatlock and Oppenheimer met at a house party in 1936 when she was a student at Stanford Medical School and he was a physics professor at the University of California, Berkeley. The two had a 10-year age gap, but Tatlock was the love of Oppenheimer’s life.
- 7/30/2023
- by Agency News Desk
- GlamSham
ENTERTAINMENTOne of this summer’s biggest cinematic events, Oppenheimer, brings the story of US scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer to the big screen.One of this summer’s biggest cinematic events, Oppenheimer, brings the story of US scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer to the big screen. Director Christopher Nolan’s film is the latest of many portrayals of the so-called “father of the atomic bomb” on page, stage and screen. Here are six of the most intriguing. 1. The Man Who Would Be God by Haakon Chevalier (1959) This novel is particularly fascinating in that it was written by a friend of Oppenheimer, who played a role in his downfall. In winter 1942-43, Chevalier sounded out Oppenheimer’s stance on passing secrets to the Soviet Union. Oppenheimer’s delay in reporting this conversation to US security services and inconsistencies in his testimony about it, were key – along with his opposition to the hydrogen bomb...
- 7/27/2023
- by AjayR
- The News Minute
When he set out to make "Oppenheimer," director Christopher Nolan opted not to use CGI for the film's central nuclear explosion. "It's difficult to make CG threatening," Nolan told IGN on July 18. "So I first showed the script to Andrew Jackson, my visual effects supervisor, and said, I don't think that tool's going to work for us. So let's see if we can produce all of these effects using analog methods, from the very first imaginings that Oppenheimer has of the quantum world, of atoms, and how they would be interacting with strong force between them. Waves, particles, the duality of that." Ultimately, to show the size and scale of 1945's Trinity test, which was the first time a nuclear weapon had ever been detonated, he chose another route: building an actual bomb.
What Was the Trinity Test?
The Trinity test took place in Los Alamos, the New Mexico town...
What Was the Trinity Test?
The Trinity test took place in Los Alamos, the New Mexico town...
- 7/25/2023
- by Eden Arielle Gordon
- Popsugar.com
To say, “It’s J. Robert Oppenheimer's world and we just live in it,” might sound facile, glib, or even the punchline to an unfunny, bewildering joke, but it’s as true today as it was on July 16, 1945, the day the Manhattan Project, the super-secret, U.S.-funded military-scientific research team, detonated the first atomic bomb in Los Alamos, New Mexico. In a moment of self-reflection, Oppenheimer dubbed the atomic bomb “Trinity,” not for the three-in-one God of the Christian faith, but for a favorite John Donne poem. Later, Oppenheimer, not one to shy away from self-aggrandizement, claimed the words from the Bhagavad Gita, “I am Shiva; destroyer of words,” came to him in that awesome, awful moment. Whenever it was actually...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 7/20/2023
- Screen Anarchy
The biographical drama "Oppenheimer" traces the story of one of history's most famous scientists J. Robert Oppenheimer, who is often called the father of the atomic bomb. The movie draws its inspiration from the nonfiction book "American Prometheus" by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, which examines Oppenheimer's life, career, and inescapable legacy. Before you head out for one half of 2023's most unlikely double feature, here's what to know about the real man behind the story.
Who Was J. Robert Oppenheimer?
Julius Robert Oppenheimer was an American theoretical physicist, active primarily in the 1930s and 1940s, who specialized in quantum mechanics and nuclear physics. He studied at Harvard, Cambridge, and the University of Göttingen, where he honed his scientific work in the 1920s. Early work included publishing with his mentor, Max Born, on what came to be called the Born-Oppenheimer approximation, a mathematical separation between nuclear motion and electronic motion in molecules that is,...
Who Was J. Robert Oppenheimer?
Julius Robert Oppenheimer was an American theoretical physicist, active primarily in the 1930s and 1940s, who specialized in quantum mechanics and nuclear physics. He studied at Harvard, Cambridge, and the University of Göttingen, where he honed his scientific work in the 1920s. Early work included publishing with his mentor, Max Born, on what came to be called the Born-Oppenheimer approximation, a mathematical separation between nuclear motion and electronic motion in molecules that is,...
- 7/19/2023
- by Amanda Prahl
- Popsugar.com
Taiwan Film Festival Edinburgh is proud to announce the full programme for its third edition, featuring a packed line-up of Taiwanese films that will be screening between 15 and 20 October in both Summerhall and Everyman Edinburgh cinemas. This year’s programme offers a unique glimpse into Taiwan’s rich film heritage: from short films to documentaries as well as classics both old and new, many of which will be having their UK premiere as part of this year’s festival. This year’s 6 features and 5 shorts are united under the theme of the (un)Usuals, seeking to shine a light on the people, events, relationships that usually fall outside of the mainstream experience.
Tickets are now available to book on taiwanfilmfestival.org.uk. All screenings are priced at £8 and £6 concession.
In recent years, there has been a tangible upsurge in attention towards Taiwanese cinema throughout global film communities. This growing but...
Tickets are now available to book on taiwanfilmfestival.org.uk. All screenings are priced at £8 and £6 concession.
In recent years, there has been a tangible upsurge in attention towards Taiwanese cinema throughout global film communities. This growing but...
- 9/28/2022
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
Claire McCarthy’s refreshing reimagining of Ophelia grants personal autonomy and vivacity to one of literature’s most recognisable and one-dimensional tragic figures. For the final 20 minutes. Unfortunately, Ophelia is an hour and 46 minutes long. What a tragedy!
Lisa Klein’s Ya novel is the foundation for McCarthy’s Shakespearean story and Rey star Daisy Riley plays the eponymous hero. Fine ingredients for an inspiring teen drama. And this Ophelia certainly has heroic potential – even as a small child – cavorting through Elsinore Castle like she owns the place and speaking up before the royal court, defying the 14th-century diktat that girls should be ornamental rather than opinionated.
Something about the scruffy, cheeky little girl charms Queen Gertrude (Naomi Watts) and she takes the child under her wing, hosing her down and training her up so she may evolve into a lady of the court. By the time Hamlet (George MacKay) encounters her,...
Lisa Klein’s Ya novel is the foundation for McCarthy’s Shakespearean story and Rey star Daisy Riley plays the eponymous hero. Fine ingredients for an inspiring teen drama. And this Ophelia certainly has heroic potential – even as a small child – cavorting through Elsinore Castle like she owns the place and speaking up before the royal court, defying the 14th-century diktat that girls should be ornamental rather than opinionated.
Something about the scruffy, cheeky little girl charms Queen Gertrude (Naomi Watts) and she takes the child under her wing, hosing her down and training her up so she may evolve into a lady of the court. By the time Hamlet (George MacKay) encounters her,...
- 11/22/2019
- by Emily Breen
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
The recent decision to legalize gay marriage in Taiwan – the first place in Asia to do so – caused a stampede of people to rush to registry offices across the island. It may open the way to more Lgbt films as well.
One movie that clearly acknowledges the historic moment is “Your Name Engraved Herein,” a romantic drama which takes its inspiration from the John Donne poem with the line “a rose by any other name,” and the explanation that love is love, transcending all names and labels.
“After three decades of fight and struggle for same-sex marriage, the Lgbt community in Taiwan is finally catching a glimpse of hope,” said the film’s executive producer Chu Yu-ning and director Patrick Liu (aka Liu Kuang Hui). “This symbolic film invites those in the dark to come out and those already in the sunshine to celebrate this loud revolution.” It stars Leon Dai,...
One movie that clearly acknowledges the historic moment is “Your Name Engraved Herein,” a romantic drama which takes its inspiration from the John Donne poem with the line “a rose by any other name,” and the explanation that love is love, transcending all names and labels.
“After three decades of fight and struggle for same-sex marriage, the Lgbt community in Taiwan is finally catching a glimpse of hope,” said the film’s executive producer Chu Yu-ning and director Patrick Liu (aka Liu Kuang Hui). “This symbolic film invites those in the dark to come out and those already in the sunshine to celebrate this loud revolution.” It stars Leon Dai,...
- 6/23/2019
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Back in the 1970s, it was perfectly Ok to stay at home on a Saturday night because we had our friends from “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” to keep us company. They formed a bond with their audience to the extent that the characters seemed like real friends to audience members. So as the cast slowly slips away from us it, each loss feels personal. Actress Georgia Engel, who joined the cast later on as Georgette, the girlfriend and later wife of Ted Baxter (Ted Knight), is now dead at age 70. Our special appreciation article takes a look at her career.
SEECelebrity Deaths 2019: In Memoriam Gallery
In the famous “Chuckles Bites the Dust” episode of the show, the minister at the clown’s funeral quotes the poet John Donne, saying “Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind” so ask not “for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.
SEECelebrity Deaths 2019: In Memoriam Gallery
In the famous “Chuckles Bites the Dust” episode of the show, the minister at the clown’s funeral quotes the poet John Donne, saying “Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind” so ask not “for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.
- 4/17/2019
- by Robert Pius
- Gold Derby
American Idol set expectations unusually high on Wednesday with Ryan Seacrest promising “some of the most spectacular talent we’ve ever heard,” including — wait for it — the “greatest audition Idol has ever seen.”
As for whether Idol made good on that promise… honestly, who’s to say? This show has been on for so long that there are literally contestants whose parents have auditioned at one point. I’m not about to sift through 17-ish years worth of auditions just to prove Seacrest wrong. Not anymore.
In any event, the first part of his promise absolutely came true. This episode...
As for whether Idol made good on that promise… honestly, who’s to say? This show has been on for so long that there are literally contestants whose parents have auditioned at one point. I’m not about to sift through 17-ish years worth of auditions just to prove Seacrest wrong. Not anymore.
In any event, the first part of his promise absolutely came true. This episode...
- 3/7/2019
- TVLine.com
Pj Hogan.
Pj Hogan has set his next film: The Calligrapher, a comedy adapted from the debut novel by British writer Edward Docx.
Hogan is co-writing the screenplay with Docx and will direct the film to be shot in London late this year as a UK-Australian co-production.
The producers are Cecilia Cordeiro of UK-based Mgr Films and Bronte Pictures’ Blake Northfield, whose credits include Storm Ashwood’s thriller Escape and Evasion and his debut feature The School.
Published in 2003, the novel is described as a modern tale of sexual mores and city life involving spurned lovers, seduction, revenge and surprising secrets.
The protagonist is Jasper Jackson, a calligrapher and incorrigible philanderer who elaborately orchestrates his seductions. He is transcribing, for a wealthy client, 30 of John Donne’s Songs and Sonnets when he spies an aloof beauty outside his window. For the first time he falls helplessly in love. Eventually he gets his comeuppance.
Pj Hogan has set his next film: The Calligrapher, a comedy adapted from the debut novel by British writer Edward Docx.
Hogan is co-writing the screenplay with Docx and will direct the film to be shot in London late this year as a UK-Australian co-production.
The producers are Cecilia Cordeiro of UK-based Mgr Films and Bronte Pictures’ Blake Northfield, whose credits include Storm Ashwood’s thriller Escape and Evasion and his debut feature The School.
Published in 2003, the novel is described as a modern tale of sexual mores and city life involving spurned lovers, seduction, revenge and surprising secrets.
The protagonist is Jasper Jackson, a calligrapher and incorrigible philanderer who elaborately orchestrates his seductions. He is transcribing, for a wealthy client, 30 of John Donne’s Songs and Sonnets when he spies an aloof beauty outside his window. For the first time he falls helplessly in love. Eventually he gets his comeuppance.
- 2/21/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
“Some people go nuts for ‘Tree of Life,’” David Lynch said during a Los Angeles Times interview five years ago. “I love Terry Malick. But ‘Tree of Life’ wasn’t my cup of tea.” After being asked a follow-up question about why he couldn’t get into the film, Lynch simply repeated himself: “It wasn’t my cup of tea.”
If you’ve ever wondered what the Lynchian equivalent of “The Tree of Life” would look like, last night’s entrancing episode of “Twin Peaks” offers a clue. It might have been the most visually stunning 60 minutes of television ever produced — and certainly the revival’s best episode since last month’s two-part premiere — and most who tuned in have no earthly idea what actually happened.
Read More: ‘Twin Peaks’ Review: Part 8 Aims for Maximum Weirdness and Succeeds
As fate would have it, that interview was about the fact that...
If you’ve ever wondered what the Lynchian equivalent of “The Tree of Life” would look like, last night’s entrancing episode of “Twin Peaks” offers a clue. It might have been the most visually stunning 60 minutes of television ever produced — and certainly the revival’s best episode since last month’s two-part premiere — and most who tuned in have no earthly idea what actually happened.
Read More: ‘Twin Peaks’ Review: Part 8 Aims for Maximum Weirdness and Succeeds
As fate would have it, that interview was about the fact that...
- 6/26/2017
- by Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
Speaking at the European Film Awards, UK director calls for “collective voice” among European industry.
Veteran UK filmmaker Ken Loach delivered an impassioned keynote on the subject of European solidarity and Brexit after the European Film Academy’s general assembly on Saturday morning (10 Dec) in Wroclaw.
Voicing similar sentiments to those expressed during a speech given before the European Parliament’s Committee on Culture and Education in October, Loach asked: ¨Is it true that the European Union doesn’t stand for the interests of the people, but for the interests of big corporations, that it has been a central contributing factor to the British leaving and to the problems we see around us…or is [the EU] a benign organisation which will work for the benefit of the people - or is it working against the interests of the people?¨
The two-time Palme d’Or winner argued that it was “not enough” for European filmmakers to make ¨humane, thoughtful...
Veteran UK filmmaker Ken Loach delivered an impassioned keynote on the subject of European solidarity and Brexit after the European Film Academy’s general assembly on Saturday morning (10 Dec) in Wroclaw.
Voicing similar sentiments to those expressed during a speech given before the European Parliament’s Committee on Culture and Education in October, Loach asked: ¨Is it true that the European Union doesn’t stand for the interests of the people, but for the interests of big corporations, that it has been a central contributing factor to the British leaving and to the problems we see around us…or is [the EU] a benign organisation which will work for the benefit of the people - or is it working against the interests of the people?¨
The two-time Palme d’Or winner argued that it was “not enough” for European filmmakers to make ¨humane, thoughtful...
- 12/10/2016
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
Dave Vitagliano Aug 3, 2016
Though Sidney provides some clarification, the questions continue to mount in the latest episode of Outcast...
The poet John Donne may have written that “No man is an island,” but Reverend John Anderson clearly did not get the memo. The parallels between Donne’s poem about the search for meaning in life strike at the heart of What Lurks Within, and while we receive some answers in this week’s episode of Outcast, many previously accepted assumptions may not be as solid as once thought.
The judicious use of flashbacks continues to be a strength of the show, and we’re momentarily thrown off kilter when we see a younger Sidney first working as a kindly carnival worker and then as a child molester/serial killer who keeps a young boy restrained in his basement’s padded room. Throughout much of the series we’ve been confused...
Though Sidney provides some clarification, the questions continue to mount in the latest episode of Outcast...
The poet John Donne may have written that “No man is an island,” but Reverend John Anderson clearly did not get the memo. The parallels between Donne’s poem about the search for meaning in life strike at the heart of What Lurks Within, and while we receive some answers in this week’s episode of Outcast, many previously accepted assumptions may not be as solid as once thought.
The judicious use of flashbacks continues to be a strength of the show, and we’re momentarily thrown off kilter when we see a younger Sidney first working as a kindly carnival worker and then as a child molester/serial killer who keeps a young boy restrained in his basement’s padded room. Throughout much of the series we’ve been confused...
- 7/30/2016
- Den of Geek
Hannibal, Season 3, Episode 4, “Aperitivo”
Written by Nick Antosca and Bryan Fuller & Steve Lightfoot
Directed by Marc Jobst
Airs Thursdays at 10pm (Et) on NBC
Four episodes into season three, the reverberations of the season two finale are still being felt. Given the monumental nature of “Mizumono”, that feels appropriate, and the first trio of episodes of season three have dealt primarily with the Red Dinner’s emotional and psychological fallout for Hannibal and Will. These episodes have been full of dream imagery and projections, exploring the psychology of these characters and meditating upon their decisions and pasts through recurring visual motifs and stylish directorial flourishes more than dialogue or plot. With “Aperitivo”, that changes, giving audiences a much more concrete look at the fallout of season two for the characters left in Baltimore.
“Aperitivo” takes viewers through Hannibal’s victims one by one, starting with Chilton and Mason before moving on to Will,...
Written by Nick Antosca and Bryan Fuller & Steve Lightfoot
Directed by Marc Jobst
Airs Thursdays at 10pm (Et) on NBC
Four episodes into season three, the reverberations of the season two finale are still being felt. Given the monumental nature of “Mizumono”, that feels appropriate, and the first trio of episodes of season three have dealt primarily with the Red Dinner’s emotional and psychological fallout for Hannibal and Will. These episodes have been full of dream imagery and projections, exploring the psychology of these characters and meditating upon their decisions and pasts through recurring visual motifs and stylish directorial flourishes more than dialogue or plot. With “Aperitivo”, that changes, giving audiences a much more concrete look at the fallout of season two for the characters left in Baltimore.
“Aperitivo” takes viewers through Hannibal’s victims one by one, starting with Chilton and Mason before moving on to Will,...
- 6/27/2015
- by Kate Kulzick
- SoundOnSight
A movie by Mike Nichols is typically an elegant, unruffled ride across a smooth, even chilly surface - the movie's value glints upward from beneath that ice. The director, who died Wednesday at 83, over the years pared down any attempt at visual flourish - The Graduate, his groundbreaking early film that remains his most famous, is probably also one of his flashiest. What fired him up, what he bored down into, was the intellectual germ (or gem) of the story. This meant that he was willing to consider anything for his camera: erotic werewolves (Wolf), World War II (Catch-22), philandering...
- 11/20/2014
- by Tom Gliatto, @gliattoT
- PEOPLE.com
Claire is on the worst road trip ever as she accompanies Dougal and some men to collect rent from tenants across MacKenzie lands. In its commitment to stay dull, the episode opens with Claire reciting a John Donne poem to a beautiful, placid lake. She’s interrupted by the lawyer, Ned Gowan, who has a coughing fit as he and Claire wax rhapsodically about their love of poetry or something. Doctor Nurse Claire comes to the rescue and gives Ned a little something to smoke in his pipe because, as modern woman, she knows he is suffering from asthma. They then become BFFs because poetry and smoking, unite all clans.Before long, everyone is back on the horses, and Claire and Ned continue to chat but Claire is still hell bent on getting back to the stones. Blah balh blah we get it Claire, you miss plumbing. We are eager...
- 9/7/2014
- by Roxane Gay
- Vulture
Last week left Claire in quite the predicament. Having earned Dougal’s tentative trust, he was now willing to put her into more danger. But that also meant she’d finally get out of Castle Leoch and closer to the standing stones that might take her home. I assume she figures there are Ikea-like instructions carved somewhere to get the stones to work at will And transport her the correct direction in time? So it was with that level of optimism, Claire loaded up with Clan MacKenzie to go collect the “Rent.” ********* Over a gorgeous vista of a quiet lake between two distant peaks, our heroine recites a passage from “Absence, Hear Thou My Protestations” because reciting verse from a not-yet-born poet would render the time/space continuum asunder. For a moment I wonder why Claire has taken to speaking aloud, but oh it’s to give us an excuse to meet a new character.
- 9/7/2014
- by Donna Dickens
- Hitfix
Claire (Caitriona Balfe) gets her wish to escape the confines of Castle Leoch on Saturday's episode of Outlander.
She sets out across the Highlands with Dougal (Graham McTavish), Jamie (Sam Heughan), and other men of Clan MacKenzie to collect payment for Colum (Gary Lewis).
While the men wrestle, Claire recites John Donne lakeside. She's joined by Ned Gowan (Bill Paterson), a lawyer and the man in charge of collecting rent for Colum. He too is a fan of Donne and the two bond over their love of the English poet.
When they stop to make camp, the men share lewd...
She sets out across the Highlands with Dougal (Graham McTavish), Jamie (Sam Heughan), and other men of Clan MacKenzie to collect payment for Colum (Gary Lewis).
While the men wrestle, Claire recites John Donne lakeside. She's joined by Ned Gowan (Bill Paterson), a lawyer and the man in charge of collecting rent for Colum. He too is a fan of Donne and the two bond over their love of the English poet.
When they stop to make camp, the men share lewd...
- 9/7/2014
- by Tara Fowler, @waterfowlerta
- People.com - TV Watch
Claire (Caitriona Balfe) gets her wish to escape the confines of Castle Leoch on Saturday's episode of Outlander. She sets out across the Highlands with Dougal (Graham McTavish), Jamie (Sam Heughan), and other men of Clan MacKenzie to collect payment for Colum (Gary Lewis). While the men wrestle, Claire recites John Donne lakeside. She's joined by Ned Gowan (Bill Paterson), a lawyer and the man in charge of collecting rent for Colum. He too is a fan of Donne and the two bond over their love of the English poet. When they stop to make camp, the men share lewd...
- 9/7/2014
- by Tara Fowler, @waterfowlerta
- PEOPLE.com
December 24th, 9 pm Eastern Standard Time. From here on in, I shoot without a script —
Oh, wait. Wrong “Rent.”
In my defense, this week’s episode of Outlander and the Tony-winning Broadway musical with which it shares a name both center on a ragtag group full of drama and feature a catchy song, complete with hand motions, sung ’round a long table. Only the TV series, however, can boast (repeatedly!) shirtless Jamie, hot pee as a household solvent and “Your mother” jokes in Gaelic.
“Hot what now?” you ask? Dinna fash; it’ll all make sense as we review what...
Oh, wait. Wrong “Rent.”
In my defense, this week’s episode of Outlander and the Tony-winning Broadway musical with which it shares a name both center on a ragtag group full of drama and feature a catchy song, complete with hand motions, sung ’round a long table. Only the TV series, however, can boast (repeatedly!) shirtless Jamie, hot pee as a household solvent and “Your mother” jokes in Gaelic.
“Hot what now?” you ask? Dinna fash; it’ll all make sense as we review what...
- 9/7/2014
- TVLine.com
"It is an awful thing to be betrayed by your body, David Levithan asserts in his novel Every Day." And it's lonely, because you feel you can't talk about it. You feel it's something between you and the body. You feel it's a battle you will never win . . . and yet you fight it day after day, and it wears you down. Even if you try to ignore it, the energy it takes to ignore it will exhaust you."
The above monolog perfectly mirrors the inner life of Sebastian (Saga Becker), the Swedish antihero/heroine of Ester Martin Bersgmark's accomplished offering, Something Must Break, which one critic encapsulated as "bleak" while confronting a urinal after a recent Tribeca Film Festival press screening.
An outcry against society's binary gender system that insists we must all delegate ourselves to being either male or female while residing in a generic Ikea-land, the film pursues...
The above monolog perfectly mirrors the inner life of Sebastian (Saga Becker), the Swedish antihero/heroine of Ester Martin Bersgmark's accomplished offering, Something Must Break, which one critic encapsulated as "bleak" while confronting a urinal after a recent Tribeca Film Festival press screening.
An outcry against society's binary gender system that insists we must all delegate ourselves to being either male or female while residing in a generic Ikea-land, the film pursues...
- 4/17/2014
- by Brandon Judell
- www.culturecatch.com
A father-and-son editing team has compiled a new anthology in which 100 prominent male figures reveal the lines that make them cry
The cover of a new collection of poetry should probably carry a sticker bearing Shakespeare's warning: "If you have tears, prepare to shed them now."
Poems That Make Grown Men Cry is an anthology of some of the most emotive lines in literature chosen by 100 famous and admired men, ranging from Daniel Radcliffe to Nick Cave, John le Carré and Jonathan Franzen. Published next month and edited by the journalist and biographer Anthony Holden and his film-producer son, Ben, the book is winning praise for introducing male readers to unfamiliar works – and emotions.
Contributor Simon Schama has tweeted enthusing about his choice, Wh Auden's Lullaby, the poem that opens with the words "Lay your sleeping head, my love, Human on my faithless arm." Auden turns out to be the...
The cover of a new collection of poetry should probably carry a sticker bearing Shakespeare's warning: "If you have tears, prepare to shed them now."
Poems That Make Grown Men Cry is an anthology of some of the most emotive lines in literature chosen by 100 famous and admired men, ranging from Daniel Radcliffe to Nick Cave, John le Carré and Jonathan Franzen. Published next month and edited by the journalist and biographer Anthony Holden and his film-producer son, Ben, the book is winning praise for introducing male readers to unfamiliar works – and emotions.
Contributor Simon Schama has tweeted enthusing about his choice, Wh Auden's Lullaby, the poem that opens with the words "Lay your sleeping head, my love, Human on my faithless arm." Auden turns out to be the...
- 3/23/2014
- by Vanessa Thorpe
- The Guardian - Film News
From performing Coleridge's maritime epic to creating a coastal art-and-poetry installation with glowing tents, True Blood star Fiona Shaw is on a mission to make us love language.
Given the context for my interview with Fiona Shaw, my central question – what is your favourite love poem? – doesn't seem especially tricky or prying. We meet to talk about Peace Camp, an art collaboration with director Deborah Warner and composer Mel Mercier, for which Shaw has been darting across the UK, imploring people to record their favourite love poems – and accosting well-known actors she's bumped into at airports. "Alun Armstrong! Please, will you do it?" She has recorded 570 poems in total, with voices from Cornwall, Northumberland, Wales, the Isle of Skye, and everywhere in between.
And yet Shaw is not easy to pin down. Her words keep hurtling off through exclamations, exhortations, then collapsing in laughter. She revises herself regularly, shouting into my dictaphone: "Don't write that!
Given the context for my interview with Fiona Shaw, my central question – what is your favourite love poem? – doesn't seem especially tricky or prying. We meet to talk about Peace Camp, an art collaboration with director Deborah Warner and composer Mel Mercier, for which Shaw has been darting across the UK, imploring people to record their favourite love poems – and accosting well-known actors she's bumped into at airports. "Alun Armstrong! Please, will you do it?" She has recorded 570 poems in total, with voices from Cornwall, Northumberland, Wales, the Isle of Skye, and everywhere in between.
And yet Shaw is not easy to pin down. Her words keep hurtling off through exclamations, exhortations, then collapsing in laughter. She revises herself regularly, shouting into my dictaphone: "Don't write that!
- 7/18/2012
- by Kira Cochrane
- The Guardian - Film News
Sickness is never easy to watch, and one in which the only possible outcome is death is all the more difficult.
That is the premise of "Wit" at Manhattan Theatre Club Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. Though there are great lines and fierce acting by its star, Margaret Edson's 1999 Pulitzer-winning play is a tough watch because it is so unflinching.
From the first moments, Cynthia Nixon gives an exceptionally brave performance in her 40th play. All I could think was how naked she was, though cloaked in two hospital gowns, socks and a red baseball cap. Her head is shaved and she is there to die from stage 4 ovarian cancer.
And so she spends the next hour and 40 minutes (without intermission) going from wheelchair to gurney to hospital bed, with occasional flashbacks on her childhood and her work life. As a 5-year-old, reading Beatrix Potter, she learned the word "soporific.
That is the premise of "Wit" at Manhattan Theatre Club Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. Though there are great lines and fierce acting by its star, Margaret Edson's 1999 Pulitzer-winning play is a tough watch because it is so unflinching.
From the first moments, Cynthia Nixon gives an exceptionally brave performance in her 40th play. All I could think was how naked she was, though cloaked in two hospital gowns, socks and a red baseball cap. Her head is shaved and she is there to die from stage 4 ovarian cancer.
And so she spends the next hour and 40 minutes (without intermission) going from wheelchair to gurney to hospital bed, with occasional flashbacks on her childhood and her work life. As a 5-year-old, reading Beatrix Potter, she learned the word "soporific.
- 1/31/2012
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Pop2it
New York -- Another "Sex and the City" star has made her way to Broadway but she's brought along a different kind of cocktail.
Cynthia Nixon has a combination of the drugs Hexamethophosphacil and Vinplatin in her veins as she fights back ovarian cancer in a tight and powerful Manhattan Theatre Club production of "Wit," which opened Thursday at Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.
The play about the final days of a scholar of John Donne's metaphysical poetry is making its Broadway premiere 13 years after it earned playwright Margaret Edson the Pulitzer Prize for drama.
It is a deceptive play – seemingly so simple yet layered with nuance and self-consciousness. "I've got less than two hours. Then: curtain," quips the scholar at the top of the piece in a typically – yes, witty – line.
The part of Professor Vivian Bearing is catnip for any serious actress – Emma Thompson and Judith Light have...
Cynthia Nixon has a combination of the drugs Hexamethophosphacil and Vinplatin in her veins as she fights back ovarian cancer in a tight and powerful Manhattan Theatre Club production of "Wit," which opened Thursday at Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.
The play about the final days of a scholar of John Donne's metaphysical poetry is making its Broadway premiere 13 years after it earned playwright Margaret Edson the Pulitzer Prize for drama.
It is a deceptive play – seemingly so simple yet layered with nuance and self-consciousness. "I've got less than two hours. Then: curtain," quips the scholar at the top of the piece in a typically – yes, witty – line.
The part of Professor Vivian Bearing is catnip for any serious actress – Emma Thompson and Judith Light have...
- 1/27/2012
- by AP
- Huffington Post
The elusive playwright's genius is examined again in Roland Emmerich's new film. But while the debate about who wrote the plays rages, only one thing remains sure: by his works shall we know him
During an age of conspiracy theories, nurtured by the world wide web, none perhaps is as persistent as the mystery of William Shakespeare. How could one man write such universal plays?
Anonymous, a forthcoming film by Roland Emmerich, the director of disaster movies such as Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow, addresses the Shakespeare authorship question in a mash-up of fact and fiction that will reignite the perennial fascination with an elusive genius, some say the greatest writer who ever lived.
It's always the frustration of Shakespeare that, although his words are everywhere, the man is invisible. Anonymous exploits this, inviting audiences to entertain the ultimate plot: that the writer of Macbeth or The Tempest is not,...
During an age of conspiracy theories, nurtured by the world wide web, none perhaps is as persistent as the mystery of William Shakespeare. How could one man write such universal plays?
Anonymous, a forthcoming film by Roland Emmerich, the director of disaster movies such as Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow, addresses the Shakespeare authorship question in a mash-up of fact and fiction that will reignite the perennial fascination with an elusive genius, some say the greatest writer who ever lived.
It's always the frustration of Shakespeare that, although his words are everywhere, the man is invisible. Anonymous exploits this, inviting audiences to entertain the ultimate plot: that the writer of Macbeth or The Tempest is not,...
- 10/24/2011
- by Robert McCrum
- The Guardian - Film News
Actress Ashley Judd has paid tribute to late racing driver Dan Wheldon by recalling a John Donne poem and tweeting it to followers on Sunday - hours after the Indy 300 ace was killed in a crash.
Judd was cheering on husband Dario Franchitti at the Las Vegas racetrack on Sunday when Wheldon's car was flipped into the air after hitting another vehicle, before crashing into a nearby fence. He was taken to a local hospital, but died from his injuries.
The actress was left devastated by the events surrounding the 33 year old's death and she took to Twitter.com to share her grief with fans.
She wrote, "As we continue to absorb Dan's accident - we forget, remember, re-experience shock, denial, anger, pain - I'm reminded of a favorite poem.
"Death be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadfull (sic), for, thou art not so, For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow, Due not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me (sic). From rest & sleepe, which but thy pictures be, Much pleasure then from thee, much more must flow, And soonest our best men with thee doe goe, Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie. One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally, And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die (sic)."...
Judd was cheering on husband Dario Franchitti at the Las Vegas racetrack on Sunday when Wheldon's car was flipped into the air after hitting another vehicle, before crashing into a nearby fence. He was taken to a local hospital, but died from his injuries.
The actress was left devastated by the events surrounding the 33 year old's death and she took to Twitter.com to share her grief with fans.
She wrote, "As we continue to absorb Dan's accident - we forget, remember, re-experience shock, denial, anger, pain - I'm reminded of a favorite poem.
"Death be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadfull (sic), for, thou art not so, For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow, Due not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me (sic). From rest & sleepe, which but thy pictures be, Much pleasure then from thee, much more must flow, And soonest our best men with thee doe goe, Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie. One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally, And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die (sic)."...
- 10/17/2011
- WENN
On Sunday, two-time Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon tragically passed away at the age of 33 from a fatal accident during a race in Las Vegas. Wheldon, who is survived by his wife Susie and their two children, was remembered on Twitter in the hours since his passing by sports and Hollywood stars. Actress Ashley Judd, who is married to driver Dario Franchitti, posted lines from John Donne’s poem “Death, Be Not Proud” and then tweeted, “Hardest parts, Thinking about Susie, Sebastian, Oliver. Seeing my husband grieve. Nights are so awful at first. Poor woman. Such pain.” Danica Patrick, one of...
- 10/17/2011
- by Aly Semigran
- EW.com - PopWatch
Late Indy racer's car was sponsored by Timberlake's William Rast clothing line.
By Gil Kaufman
Dan Wheldon
Photo: Getty Images
Justin Timberlake paid tribute Monday (October 17) to late Indy racer Dan Wheldon, who was killed Sunday in a horrific 15-car crash at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Wheldon's car was sponsored by Timberlake's clothing line, William Rast, and the two men were said to be friendly.
"I was deeply saddened to hear the news on Dan Wheldon's unfortunate and untimely death," Timberlake said in a statement. "He was a great driver and a strong supporter of William Rast Racing. My thoughts and prayers are with his family in their time of loss."
British driver Wheldon, 33, the father of two young children with wife Susie Behm, was airlifted to a local hospital in the wake of the crash, which sent his car hurtling through the air after it struck another racer's vehicle.
By Gil Kaufman
Dan Wheldon
Photo: Getty Images
Justin Timberlake paid tribute Monday (October 17) to late Indy racer Dan Wheldon, who was killed Sunday in a horrific 15-car crash at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Wheldon's car was sponsored by Timberlake's clothing line, William Rast, and the two men were said to be friendly.
"I was deeply saddened to hear the news on Dan Wheldon's unfortunate and untimely death," Timberlake said in a statement. "He was a great driver and a strong supporter of William Rast Racing. My thoughts and prayers are with his family in their time of loss."
British driver Wheldon, 33, the father of two young children with wife Susie Behm, was airlifted to a local hospital in the wake of the crash, which sent his car hurtling through the air after it struck another racer's vehicle.
- 10/17/2011
- MTV Music News
Director: Eric Valette.
Writer: Benjamin Carr.
Cast: Oded Fehr, Shannon Beckner and Ryan Kennedy.
Ah, the killer car horror sub-genre. Not since Stephen King's Christine and Maximum Overdrive have murderous cars been so fun. Benjamin Carr and Eric Valette's introduction to this genre puts the killer car film into the creature feature genre and the result is a Super Hybrid. This title releases on DVD August 23rd through Anchor Bay Entertainment and the film stars Oded Fehr (Resident Evil), Shannon Breckner (You are Here) and Ryan Kennedy ("Caprica"). Much like the film's title, Super Hybrid is one part female empowerment film and one part mindless entertainment.
A damaged car is brought back to a Chicago Police Department salvage yard for storage and later investigation. A tyrranical garage manager (Fehr) makes sure everyone is on the job, while he harrasses the cute secretary. Then, actress Breckner arrives as Tilda...
Writer: Benjamin Carr.
Cast: Oded Fehr, Shannon Beckner and Ryan Kennedy.
Ah, the killer car horror sub-genre. Not since Stephen King's Christine and Maximum Overdrive have murderous cars been so fun. Benjamin Carr and Eric Valette's introduction to this genre puts the killer car film into the creature feature genre and the result is a Super Hybrid. This title releases on DVD August 23rd through Anchor Bay Entertainment and the film stars Oded Fehr (Resident Evil), Shannon Breckner (You are Here) and Ryan Kennedy ("Caprica"). Much like the film's title, Super Hybrid is one part female empowerment film and one part mindless entertainment.
A damaged car is brought back to a Chicago Police Department salvage yard for storage and later investigation. A tyrranical garage manager (Fehr) makes sure everyone is on the job, while he harrasses the cute secretary. Then, actress Breckner arrives as Tilda...
- 8/18/2011
- by noreply@blogger.com (Michael Allen)
- 28 Days Later Analysis
Agence France-Presse/Getty Images Bomb and terror suspect Anders Behring Breivik (red top) leaves the courthouse in a police car in Oslo on July 25, 2011, after the hearing to decide his further detention.
In the eternity of days that have elapsed since the disaster on July 22, Norway has shown its best side. The top political leadership has been visible, powerful and diligent. What should be said, has been said. Norwegians have reassured themselves over and over again: hate and terror will...
In the eternity of days that have elapsed since the disaster on July 22, Norway has shown its best side. The top political leadership has been visible, powerful and diligent. What should be said, has been said. Norwegians have reassured themselves over and over again: hate and terror will...
- 7/27/2011
- by Anne Holt
- Speakeasy/Wall Street Journal
In an eerily prescient 1624 poem, John Donne wrote, "No 'Amazing Race' team is an island entire of itself." Now you may be impressed that Donne was able to anticipate the advent of "The Amazing Race," but I find it even more amazing that he was specifically anticipating Sunday (April 24) night's episode. Because for most of the 18 season history of "The Amazing Race," it was actually entirely possible for a team to be highly successful while barely interacting with the other teams along the way. "Survivor" is CBS' social reality show, but "The Amazing Race" requires only that...
- 4/25/2011
- by Daniel Fienberg
- Hitfix
Oh, what a week last week was! Despite having rehearsals for his Sondheim debut, Stephen put on some of his best shows ever, with James Franco and his brother Frank Jameso and the brilliant (and eye-candy filled) double dose of “My Fair Colbert: The Crown Jewels.” Handsomely dressed, with clotted cream dripping from his mouth, and afternoon tea on the table, he proved yet again that he’s a physical comedian with the best of them. (Verbal goes without saying.) And the ballet steps, those ballet steps!!!! A lovely ronde de jambe, danseur noble Colbert! The royal dance art for a royal segment. I toast to you with a cup of earl grey—hot. (Alert: geek reference!)
I think all us Zoners should convene in New York City and go to Tea and Sympathy in honor of Stephen. My invite, y’all! Now…what will this week bring?
Monday 4/11:...
I think all us Zoners should convene in New York City and go to Tea and Sympathy in honor of Stephen. My invite, y’all! Now…what will this week bring?
Monday 4/11:...
- 4/11/2011
- by Karenatasha
- No Fact Zone
Fantasy author Diana Wynne Jones passed away this week from a long bout with cancer. She was 76.
Wynne Jones wrote up until this year, with her latest novel being the 2011 release Enchanted Glass. A British author, she is probably most famous worldwide for writing Howl's Moving Castle (1986), which was filmed as an animated movie in 2004 by Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, and its two sequels.
Diana Wynne Jones had close relationships with Robin McKinley and Neil Gaiman, two authors who wrote with the same dark fantasy leanings she did.
McKinley writes of Wynne Jones's death,
Quote:
Everyone leaves a themselves-shaped hole when they go, and we all feel it, whether we know or recognise the individual holes or not. No one is an island, as John Donne almost said, each human death diminishes me. But Diana was a bigger piece of the promontory than most. This is not the same world without her in it.
Wynne Jones wrote up until this year, with her latest novel being the 2011 release Enchanted Glass. A British author, she is probably most famous worldwide for writing Howl's Moving Castle (1986), which was filmed as an animated movie in 2004 by Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, and its two sequels.
Diana Wynne Jones had close relationships with Robin McKinley and Neil Gaiman, two authors who wrote with the same dark fantasy leanings she did.
McKinley writes of Wynne Jones's death,
Quote:
Everyone leaves a themselves-shaped hole when they go, and we all feel it, whether we know or recognise the individual holes or not. No one is an island, as John Donne almost said, each human death diminishes me. But Diana was a bigger piece of the promontory than most. This is not the same world without her in it.
- 3/29/2011
- by Superheidi
- Planet Fury
Paul Giamatti and Alex Shaffer in Win Win
Photo: Fox Searchlight Pictures I can't tell if Thomas McCarthy's most admirable talent is writing in such a way his characters feel real, or if it's his ability to cast the perfect actors to bring those characters to life. Or, perhaps it's his ability as a director to frame his stories in such a way that they feel about as authentic as a fictional drama can. Either way he has once again accomplished what he previously achieved with The Station Agent and The Visitor with Win Win, a human drama so well acted, written and directed even it's flaws are able to be overlooked.
Mike and Jackie Flaherty (Paul Giamatti and Amy Ryan) lead pretty standard lives in the small town of New Providence, New Jersey. She's a housewife with two kids and he's an attorney who moonlights as the wrestling...
Photo: Fox Searchlight Pictures I can't tell if Thomas McCarthy's most admirable talent is writing in such a way his characters feel real, or if it's his ability to cast the perfect actors to bring those characters to life. Or, perhaps it's his ability as a director to frame his stories in such a way that they feel about as authentic as a fictional drama can. Either way he has once again accomplished what he previously achieved with The Station Agent and The Visitor with Win Win, a human drama so well acted, written and directed even it's flaws are able to be overlooked.
Mike and Jackie Flaherty (Paul Giamatti and Amy Ryan) lead pretty standard lives in the small town of New Providence, New Jersey. She's a housewife with two kids and he's an attorney who moonlights as the wrestling...
- 3/18/2011
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
About A Boy (2002) Direction: Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz Cast: Hugh Grant, Toni Collette, Nicholas Hoult, Rachel Weisz Screenplay: Chris Weitz, Paul Weitz, and Peter Hedges; from Nick Hornby's novel Oscar Movies Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, Hugh Grant, About a Boy "No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee." With the above statement, seventeenth-century English writer John Donne reached beyond the apparent isolation of each individual by affirming the invisible oneness that encompasses all of humankind — and,...
- 2/5/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
A new biography drawing on diaries that were locked away for years reveals the lonely star's unknown passion and a complex struggle with his sexual identity
As erudite as he was rude, Kenneth Williams is now remembered as the author of a bleak and illuminating diary and not just for his saucy anecdotes and Carry On films. But as a new authorised biography reveals, the outrageous performer and raconteur had melancholy secrets that are only now emerging.
With the publication of Born Brilliant this week, the hidden corners of Williams's life of public comedy and private pain are examined for the first time.
Biographer Christopher Stevens has uncovered the depth of the star's friendship with a young gay couple who have never spoken publicly before and who were witness to Williams's long and bitter struggle with his sexual identity.
"Tom Waine and Clive Dennis feature frequently in the published extracts,...
As erudite as he was rude, Kenneth Williams is now remembered as the author of a bleak and illuminating diary and not just for his saucy anecdotes and Carry On films. But as a new authorised biography reveals, the outrageous performer and raconteur had melancholy secrets that are only now emerging.
With the publication of Born Brilliant this week, the hidden corners of Williams's life of public comedy and private pain are examined for the first time.
Biographer Christopher Stevens has uncovered the depth of the star's friendship with a young gay couple who have never spoken publicly before and who were witness to Williams's long and bitter struggle with his sexual identity.
"Tom Waine and Clive Dennis feature frequently in the published extracts,...
- 10/9/2010
- by Vanessa Thorpe
- The Guardian - Film News
This week on Clip joint, chuck away the liferaft and start gathering firewood as Tess Morris picks the best clips showing islands on film
John Donne once said that no man is an island. He obviously hadn't seen Mamma Mia!. Whether it's a Greek archipelago, populated with illegitimate fathers, or a lush Costa Rican retreat for dinosaurs, islands have become synonymous with storytelling in cinema, and for good reason.
If you're looking for a world that your characters can escape from, run to, be stranded, imprisoned or lose their virginity on, (yes, I am referring to The Blue Lagoon), then look no further than an island. An island is your one-stop shop should you require any of the following in your movie: action, intrigue, love, death, political intrigue, mayhem, murder, or Elvis with a guitar.
Do you need to physically and metaphorically have your protagonist stranded at sea, struggling to find the meaning of life?...
John Donne once said that no man is an island. He obviously hadn't seen Mamma Mia!. Whether it's a Greek archipelago, populated with illegitimate fathers, or a lush Costa Rican retreat for dinosaurs, islands have become synonymous with storytelling in cinema, and for good reason.
If you're looking for a world that your characters can escape from, run to, be stranded, imprisoned or lose their virginity on, (yes, I am referring to The Blue Lagoon), then look no further than an island. An island is your one-stop shop should you require any of the following in your movie: action, intrigue, love, death, political intrigue, mayhem, murder, or Elvis with a guitar.
Do you need to physically and metaphorically have your protagonist stranded at sea, struggling to find the meaning of life?...
- 7/14/2010
- The Guardian - Film News
As if to counterbalance last week’s epoch-shifting Halpert birth, this week’s episode of The Office felt straightforward and old-school. There was awkward coworker flirtation, there was barely repressed Office/Warehouse racial tension, and there was vintage Dwight vs. Jim mental warfare. We even got a brief appearance by Todd Packer, the Pac-Man, last seen years ago in the episode with Fake Ben Franklin. St. Patrick’s Day, Michael reminded us, is “the closest that the Irish will ever get to Christmas.” It’s also the closest thing America has to a real holiday, in the long gray winter...
- 3/12/2010
- by Darren Franich
- EW.com - PopWatch
I'm wary of poetry in cinema, the same way I'm wary of it in general. Characters quoting verse at one another make my toes curl
Invictus, Clint Eastwood's new film, is named after a poem by William Ernest Henley, who wrote it in 1875 to lift up his spirits after having a leg amputated. Nelson Mandela (played by Morgan Freeman) quotes the lines, "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul" as a source of uplift and inspiration, and it's just a shame for everyone concerned that the same poem was chosen as a pre-execution statement by Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber.
Henley's not the only Victorian poet whose work has provided memorable but, to the uninitiated, slightly baffling titles. Even if you've never heard of Ernest Dowson, you'll be familiar with at least two of his phrases: Gone with the Wind and Days of Wine and Roses.
Invictus, Clint Eastwood's new film, is named after a poem by William Ernest Henley, who wrote it in 1875 to lift up his spirits after having a leg amputated. Nelson Mandela (played by Morgan Freeman) quotes the lines, "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul" as a source of uplift and inspiration, and it's just a shame for everyone concerned that the same poem was chosen as a pre-execution statement by Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber.
Henley's not the only Victorian poet whose work has provided memorable but, to the uninitiated, slightly baffling titles. Even if you've never heard of Ernest Dowson, you'll be familiar with at least two of his phrases: Gone with the Wind and Days of Wine and Roses.
- 1/28/2010
- by Anne Billson
- The Guardian - Film News
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