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wardrobeoftime · 11 months ago

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Master Post - N to Z

If you notice any show, movie or character missing that I’ve made gifs of, please let me know. Characters are sorted alphabetically by first their last name and then their first name.

Go to A-M | Last updated: August 1st, 2025

Nussknacker und Mausekönig (Louise Stahlbaum | Marie Stahlbaum | Zuckerfee/Sugar Fairy)

Oktoberfest 1900/Oktoberfest: Beer & Blood (Clara Prank | Curt Prank)

Once Upon A Time in Wonderland (Alice | Cora Mills | Anastasia Tremaine)

Oz the Great and Powerful (Evanora | Glinda | Theodora)

Rise of Empires: Ottoman (Katarina Branković | Mara Branković | Gülbahar Hatun | Hüma Hatun | Constantine XI Palaiologos)

Rise of the Raven (Mara Branković | Erzsébet Szilágyi)

Rome (Livia Drusilla)

Romeo & Juliet [2013] (Juliet Capulet)

Sechs auf einen Streich (see the individual movies)

Shadow and Bone (Tatiana Lantsov | Zoya Nazyalensky | Genya Safin | Alina Starkov)

Sisi [2009] (Elisabeth “Sisi” of Austria | Archduchess Sophie of Austria | Helene “Néné” in Bavaria | Charlotte of Belgium | Eugénie de Montijo)

Sisi & Ich (Elisabeth of Austria)

Sissi Trilogy (Elisabeth “Sisi” of Austria | Archduchess Sophie of Austria | Helene “Néné” in Bavaria | Ludovika, The Duchess in Bavaria)

Snow White and the Huntsman (Ravenna)

Sophie - Braut wider Willen (Sophie von Ahlen)

Spencer (Anne Boleyn | Princess Diana)

Still Star-Crossed (Guiliana Capulet | Juliet Capulet | Rosaline Capulet | Tessa Montague | Princess Isabella of Verona)

The 100 (Emori | Clarke Griffin | Lexa)

The Age of Adaline (Adaline Bowman)

The Boleyns (Anne Boleyn)

The Buccaneers (Elizabeth “Lizzy” Elmsworth | Annabel “Nan” St. George)

The Duchess (Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire | Georgiana Spencer, Countess Spencer)

The Last Duel (Marguerite de Carrouges | Jacques Le Gris)

The Little Mermaid [2023] (Vanessa)

The Crown (Catherine Middleton | Queen Elizabeth II | Princess Margaret)

The Empress (see Die Kaiserin)

The Eras Tour (Taylor Swift)

The Gilded Age (Mamie Fish | Bertha Russell | Gladys Russell | Peggy Scott | Extras)

The Greatest Showman (Jenny Lind)

The Hunger Games Trilogy (Katniss Everdeen | Peeta Mellark | Johanna Mason | Finnick Odair | Coriolanus Snow)

The Huntsman: Winter’s War (Freya | Ravenna)

The Other Boleyn Girl 2003 (Anne Boleyn)

The Other Boleyn Girl 2008 (Anne Boleyn | Elizabeth Boleyn (née Howard) | Mary Boleyn)

The Pillars of the Earth (Empress Matilda)

The Princess Switch (Margaret Delacourt | Fiona Pembroke)

The Royals (Princess Eleanor Henstridge | Queen Helena Henstridge | Wilhelmina “Willow” Moreno)

The Scandalous Lady W (Seymour Fleming)

The School for Good and Evil (Emma Anemone | Clarissa Dovey | Leonora Lesso)

The Serpent Queen (Catherine de Medici | Diane de Poitiers | Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots)

The Spanish Princess (Catherine of Aragon | Anne Boleyn | Henry VIII | Mary Tudor)

The Young Victoria (Victoria, The Duchess of Kent (née of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld) | Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha | Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen | Queen Victoria)

Three Thousand Years of Longing (Hürrem Sultan | Kösem Sultan)

Trenck - Zwei Herzen gegen die Krone (Anna Amalia of Prussia)

Tulip Fever (Mrs Overalt | Sophia Sandvoort | Mrs Steen)

Tut (Ankhesenamun)

Vampire Academy [2022] (Vasilisa “Lissa” Dragomir)

Victoria (Queen Victoria | Victoria, Princess Royal)

Vom Reich zur Republik (Victoria, Princess Royal)

War & Peace [2016] (Natasha Rostova)

What We Do In The Shadows (Marwa | Nadja of Antipaxos)

Wolf Hall (Anne Boleyn | Catherine of Aragon)

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maximumwobblerbanditdonut · 1 year ago

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Rebus – BBC picks up new series

BY IAN MCARDELL FILED UNDER NEWS

Richard Rankin takes on the role of the famous Scottish detective

The BBC acquired the Scottish crime drama Rebus. Made by Eleventh Hour Films for Viaplay, and based on Ian Rankin’s novels, the series stars Richard Rankin (no relation) in the title role.

The detective has been previously played, as an Inspector, by both John Hannah and Ken Stott.

Rebus

The six-part series has been adapted for the screen by Gregory Burke who reimagines the character earlier in his career. Detective Sergeant John Rebus is drawn into a violent criminal conflict that turns personal when his brother Michael, a former soldier, crosses the line into criminality. Rebus finds himself torn between protecting his brother and enforcing the law to bring Michael to justice.

Gregory Burke To Adapt Ian Rankin’s Rebus Series as Eleventh Hour Drama Black Watch. Both adaptations, have Richard Rankin’s participation. Based on interviews with former soldiers, it tells the story of troops from the then Black Watch regiment serving in Iraq. The play toured around the world and went on to win four Olivier Awards.

Richard Rankin as John Rebus (Image: Mark Mainz/Eleventh Hour Films)

The series promises to explore family, morality and class in an emotionally charged story, set against the Scottish landmarks that Rankin’s readers know so well.

Joining Richard Rankin (Outlander), the series also stars Lucie Shorthouse (Bulletproof), Brian Ferguson (The Ipcress File) and Amy Manson (The Nevers). Plus, Neshla Caplan, Noof Ousellam, Stuart Bowman, Caroline Lee Johnson, Sean Buchanan, Thoren Ferguson and Michelle Duncan.

Filming took place in Glasgow and Edinburgh last year.

Author Ian Rankin says:

“I’m thrilled that Rebus is coming to the BBC. A great cast and a compelling story – I really can’t wait for viewers to see it.”

This is the first time the BBC has adapted Sir Ian Rankin's detective novels. 📸 Getty Images

Actor Richard Rankin adds:

“I am thrilled that Rebus will premiere on the BBC. It’s been an honour taking on the role of Ian Rankin’s renowned John Rebus. A character enjoyed by so many in such a fresh and original adaptation.”

The six-part series is directed by Niall MacCormick (Wallander) and Fiona Walton (Shetland) and is produced by Angela Murray. Paula Cuddy, Jill Green, Eve Gutierrez, Tomas Axelsson, Isabelle Hultén, Niall MacCormick, Gregory Burke and Ian Rankin are the Executive Producers.

Rebus will air on BBC Scotland, BBC One and BBC iPlayer later this spring.

I'm waiting and watching 🍿

#Rebus #BBCScotland #BBCOne # BBCiPlayer #JohnRebus #DetectiveSergeant #Ian Rankin #novel #RichardRankin #EleventhHourFilms #Viaplay

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fruityyamenrunner · 8 months ago

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Preface

The Angry Young Men and the satire movement of the 1950s. Why the Angry Young Men aroused hostility in the critics. ‘Class barriers’. Why my second book was panned. Rousseau’s ‘Man is born free’. Why Rousseau is central to this book. The New Héloïse and The Social Contract. For Rousseau, sexual revolution came before social revolution. ‘Sexual underprivilege’. Why the British were unworried about the French Revolution. Lord Russell throws a Frenchman’s shoes out of the window. Ireland and India. Osborne’s Jimmy Porter on his in-laws. My girlfriend’s parents and the ‘horsewhipping incident’. Look Back in Anger and The Outsider arrive in the same month in 1956. Osborne is chased down the Charing Cross Road.

1 Getting Launched

London in 1951. Where was the postwar literary generation? The British Museum Reading Room. London landladies. Angus Wilson’s Hemlock and After. Marriage breakdown. Laura Del Rivo and Bill Hopkins. ‘You are a man of genius – welcome to our ranks.’ Paris. George Plimpton and the Café Tournon. Merlin and Samuel Beckett. Watt. Christopher Logue and Alex Trocchi. Bill Hopkins in Paris. Paris and existentialism. Dostoevsky and the firing squad. Girodias and dirty books. A Christmas job in Leicester. Joy Stewart. Flax Halliday. The Christmas show. Joy agrees to come to London. I decide to sleep outdoors to save rent. Writing in the British Museum. Meeting Angus Wilson. Wain, Amis and Larkin. Alfred Reynolds and Bridge. Stuart Holroyd. Working in the Coffee House. Writing The Outsider. Suicide and the romantics. Victor Gollancz expresses interest. My mother’s illness. Notting Hill. My first literary party. Iris Murdoch. Meeting John Wain. First publicity interview. The Outsider becomes a bestseller. Non-stop publicity. The Angry Young Man label. Kenneth Tynan launches Look Back in Anger.

2 He That Plays the King

Tynan at Oxford. ‘Have a care for that box, my man – it is freighted with golden shirts.’ His taste for masturbation and female posteriors. He begins to write theatre reviews. His pornography collection. ‘Just a thong at twilight.’ He marries Elaine Dundy. She objects to being flogged. His career as a director stalls. He That Plays the King makes his reputation. His London debut in Hamlet. A bad review lands him a job. He pans Vivien Leigh. The Broadway scene. Sacked from the Evening Standard. The Observer under Astor. Tynan as a ‘Right Man’. Campaigns against Loamshire and the Lord Chamberlain. The Royal Court opens. Angus Wilson’s The Mulberry Bush. Look Back in Anger opens to poor reviews. Tynan saves the day. I take Joy to see it and hate it. A press officer invents the Angry Young Men. Tynan attacks The Outsider.

3 The First Wave

‘Kingsley Amis tries to push me off a roof’. Amis’s schooling. He meets Larkin at Oxford. Their devotion to masturbation. Larkin’s scathing intellectual judgements. They collaborate on soft porn. Amis is called up. His seductions. Larkin’s Jill. Monica Jones: Amis ‘didn’t know who he was’. Larkin becomes a librarian. He seduces Ruth Bowman. Amis fails his doctorate. A Girl in Winter. Amis seduces Hilly Bardwell and makes her pregnant. Larkin in Belfast. Patsy Strang reads his masturbation diaries. Amis writes Lucky Jim. John Wain broadcasts an extract on the BBC. Success. Wain’s Hurry on Down. Amis’s infidelity to Hilly. The cultural saboteur. Amis’s review of The Outsider. My letter to Amis causes lifelong paranoia. Meeting Amis. That Uncertain Feeling. Hilly writes ‘I FUCK ANYTHING’ on Amis’s back. Wain’s second novel a failure. Wain’s persistent touch of bitterness. Larkin applies for librarianship at University of Hull.

4 Court Intrigues

Devine asks me to write a play. Nigel Dennis. Failure of Cards of Identity. My plunge from ‘intellectual stardom’. The horsewhipping scandal. Pursued by the press to Ireland. Gollancz advises me to get out of London. We move to Cornwall. Samuel Beckett’s Endgame. The Entertainer. The Death of God. Devine’s rejection note. Ronald Duncan describes my play as ‘a child’s TV serial’. In spite of which, he and I become friends. ‘A natural bigamist’. Success of This Way to the Tomb. Fame and sexual temptation. Duncan’s affairs with Petra and Antonia. Smashing crystal vases with high-heeled shoes. Ronnie persuades Rose Marie she is lesbian. ‘But I don’t like it.’ Devine engineers the failure of Duncan’s Don Juan. Influence of Tynan on Devine’s politics. Tynan and Christopher Logue form an alliance.

5 The Paris Input

Tynan invites Logue to see Look Back in Anger. I meet Logue at an Encounter party. Alexander Trocchi in London. He tells Logue he is going to New York to take heroin. Trocchi’s childhood and youth. Paris on a travelling scholarship. Jane Lougee. His wife moves to Madrid. He launches Merlin. Logue’s suicide attempt. Pornographic books for Maurice Girodias. Publication of The Story of O. Trocchi decides to research domination and submission. He joins Situation Internationale. The Society of the Spectacle. Debord orders him to break all contact with former friends. He abandons Merlin. London. He impregnates a schoolteacher. An abortion party. He leaves for America. The Beat Generation in Paris. Ginsberg reads Howl. Seized by US customs. Ginsberg persuades Girodias to publish The Naked Lunch. William Burroughs shoots his wife. Maurice Girodias and The Ginger Man. Donleavy takes Girodias to court. John de St Jorre’s Venus Bound: The Erotic Voyages of Olympia Press. Robert Pitman and Donleavy. Nabokov and Lolita. Graham Greene launches Nabokov to fame. Lolita and sexual underprivilege. How sexual advertisements reached twentieth-century London. ‘It is not a woman I want – it is all women.’ The Paris Vice Squad raids Girodias. The French minister of justice lifts the ban on Lolita and The Story of O.

6 ‘As for Living …’

Terry Southern’s Candy. Southern’s New York agent breaks with Girodias. Candy is sold to Putnam’s. Lancet’s pirated edition. Girodias goes bankrupt. Donleavy buys Olympia Press. The Hollywood lifestyle destroys Southern’s talent. Trocchi in New York. Heroin addiction. Cain’s Book. ‘As for living, our servants can do that for us.’ Romanticism and lassitude. Girodias publishes the Beckett trilogy. Beckett’s laziness. Bellacqua ‘the most indolent man who ever lived’. Beckett in Dublin and futility syndrome. The war years. Revelation on Dunlaoghaire Pier. ‘It was like resolving to go naked.’ Decides to write a play. Waiting for Godot rejected five times before Roger Blin accepts it. It makes Beckett famous. ‘The play where nothing happens, twice.’ Writes The Unnameable to establish his credentials as nihilist. The nadir of romanticism. Beckett versus Proust. Girodias publishes The Naked Lunch and makes Burroughs famous. ‘Nothing is true, everything is permitted.’ Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer. My Sex Diary of Gerard Sorme judged obscene in Boston. My return to London. The Outsider. Cornwall and hostile reception of Religion and the Rebel.

7 Joe for King

Room at the Top. ‘Remember the name, John Braine …’ Joe’s interest in sex. The defeat premise in modern literature. Joy and I meet Braine. How Room at the Top came to be written. The colonel’s daughter. Failure of bid to become a writer. Braine and I share a pied-à-terre. The ménage at 25 Chepstow Road. Tom Greenwell and Stuart Holroyd. Emergence from Chaos is panned. The brawl outside the Court. The Vodi. Film version of Room at the Top. Braine and John O’Hara. John Osborne and Tony Richardson and the film of Look Back in Anger. The World of Paul Slickey flops. Osborne flees with Jocelyn Rickards. Robert Pitman introduces me to Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner: ‘Very trying Communist propaganda’. The Death of William Posters. A Tree on Fire. The Flame of Life. Arnold Wesker. The Kitchen. Chicken Soup with Barley. Devine commissions Roots. Wesker’s disillusionment with Communism. I’m Talking about Jerusalem. Chips with Everything. The concept of ‘Promotion’. Wesker is appointed director of Centre 42. An attempt backed by the TUC to bring art direct to the people. Their Very Own and Golden City.

8 Declaration

Braine’s depression; he begins to drink too much. The Ibsen syndrome. Amis’s self-image problem. I Like It Here. Updating Clarissa. ‘The only reason that I like girls is I want to fuck them.’ The Egyptologists. Elizabeth Jane Howard. Hilly Leaves Amis. Bill Hopkins suggests Declaration. Bill’s The Divine and the Decay. Its unprecedentedly hostile reception. Bill and I in Hamburg. La Mettrie: The human race will never be happy until we accept that we are machines pure and simple. Maine de Biran. The launching party for Declaration. Bill Hopkin’s ‘Ways Without a Precedent’. Belief in the heroic. Stuart Holroyd’s ‘A Sense of Crisis’. My ‘Beyond the Outsider’. H G Wells compares man to the earliest amphibians. Amis declines to contribute to Declaration. Wain’s ‘Along the Tightrope’. The writer’s task is to ‘humanise the environment’. Osborne’s ‘They Call it Cricket’: I want to make people feel not think. Tynan’s ‘Theatre and Living’. ‘A society where people care more for what you have learned than from where you learned it.’ Lindsay Anderson: ‘Get Out and Push’. His part in the British film revival. Doris Lessing: from Rhodesia to London. The Grass is Singing. The Children of Violence series. ‘A small personal voice’. The Golden Notebook. The Four-Gated City. Surviving nuclear catastrophe.

9 Downhill

Osborne and Jocelyn Rickards flee to Capri. ‘He had talent for fucking up other people’s lives, and his own.’ Robert Shaw in New York. Osborne’s affair with Penelope Gilliatt. Osborne, Tony Richardson and Jocelyn Rickards take a villa in the South of France. George Devine’s nervous breakdown. Osborne’s ‘I hate you England�� letter. Osborne goes to Venice to meet Gilliatt. ‘I’m going to behave badly again, my darling’. Osborne and Gilliatt flee to Hellingly Mill, pursued by the press. Osborne, Richardson and Devine work together on the film of Tom Jones. Plays for England. The success of Luther. Tom Jones. The Blood of the Bambergs. Under Plain Cover. A Patriot for Me. Inadmissible Evidence. Devine collapses on stage. Osborne leaves Penelope Gilliatt for Jill Bennett. A Bond Honoured commissioned by Tynan. Its failure. Tynan’s decline. Success of The Dud Avocado. Tynan flees on pornography charges. Elaine starts a divorce case. Tynan as ‘Right Man’. ‘If you ever write another book, I’ll divorce you.’ Tynan’s become theatre critic of New Yorker. ‘Social game-hunting’. Tynan in Cuba. Tenessee Williams and Hemingway. Elaine instructed to call Hemingway ‘Papa’. Tynan upsets Hemingway. ‘I’ve been apologised to by a Nobel Prizewinner.’ Elaine goes off with a Scottish laird. Tynan breaks her nose. Tynan and Mary McCarthy. His mother dies insane. Tynan has a mental breakdown. The National Theatre: Olivier: ‘How shall we slaughter the little bastard?’ Literary manager. Hamlet with Peter O’Toole. Clashes with the board. His marriage to Kathleen Gates. He says ‘fuck’ on television. Oh Calcutta! Rolf Hochhuth’s Soldiers. The board rejects it. A libel suit. Resigns from the National Theatre. Emphysema. A new affair: Nicole.

9 Iris Murdoch and the Gospel of Promiscuity

Origins of existence-philosophy: Kirkegaard, Sartre and Camus. Iris on The Outsider. Under the Net. Pierrot Mon Ami. Canetti forbids Iris to sleep with John Bayley. Canetti’s egoism. Flight from the Enchanter. Rudolf Nassauer and The Hooligan. Auto da Fé. Crowds and Power. My trip to St Anne’s. Pub crawl in the Edgware Road. Magical realism in The Sandcastle. Success of The Bell worries Iris. A Severed Head. She and Priestley turn it into a play. Iris’s obsession with promiscuity. Parallel with D H Lawrence. Frieda Lawrence’s affair with Otto Gross. Lawrence accepts ‘the gospel of promiscuity’. Mr Noon. The religious approach to sex. The Plumed Serpent. Lawrence and William Blake. Why Mrs Blake Cried. The Moravian Chapel in Fetter Lane. ‘Religious ecstasy through sexual means’. Blake’s advocacy of promiscuity. An all-night orgy. Beyond existentialism.

11 ‘Now That My Ladder’s Gone …’

A trip to Leningrad with John Braine. John’s alcoholism. He arrives back home unexpectedly. John Wain on the boat to England. Life at the Top. John quarrels with Bill Hopkins. Launching Penthouse. The Jealous God. John moves to Woking. The Crying Game. Stay With Me Till Morning. Braine’s death. His last books. Amis’s marriage to Jane begins to sour. The Green Man. Amis’s alcoholism. Girl 20. The Alteration. Amis becomes impotent. Jake’s Thing. Amis becomes aware that he never liked women. Jane walks out. Getting his own back. Stanley and the Women. Amis’s final novels. The Biographer’s Moustache. The Garrick Club. Amis’s death. Why Amis and Wain quarrelled. Wain is elected professor of poetry at Oxford. A Winter in the Hills. The final trilogy. ‘I was a pretty selfish sod.’ Philip Larkin’s last years. His affair with Maeve Brennan. He sleeps with his secretary. Increasing fame. The Whitsun Weddings. The Monitor programme. Alvarez attacks him. ‘Books are a load of crap.’ ‘Now that my ladder’s gone.’ Larkin’s fear of death. Cancer of the oesophagus. Amis attends his funeral.

12 Watch It Come Down

One of the most spectacular declines in the history of British theatre. Osborne’s bitterness about Jill Bennett. Her weekend in Cornwall. The break up of the marriage. He drives on to a traffic island. The Hotel in Amsterdam. Time Present. The Charge of the Light Brigade. West of Suez. ‘They’ve shot the fox.’ A Sense of Detachment. ‘This must surely be an end to his career in the theatre.’ ‘You’ve really fucked up your life, haven’t you?’ The End of Me Old Cigar. Watch It Come Down. ‘Money back!’ Osborne leaves Jill Bennett. The curious affair of The Entertainer revival. A £100,000 overdraft. The move to Clun. Jill Bennett commits suicide. Osborne adds a vindictive chapter to Almost a Gentleman. Writing a sequel to Look Back in Anger. Déjàvu is rejected. He is found to be diabetic. ‘John Osborne, ex-playwright’. The Writers’ Guild award for Lifetime Achievement. Osborne is booed. He dies of pernicious anaemia on Christmas Eve 1994. Tynan in California. He spanks a black girl. Forced to jump from a balcony. ‘Bankruptcy, emphysema, paralysis of the will – and now this!’ The trip to Spain with Nicole. The count and countess spank a dishonest maid. ‘It is fairly comic and slightly nasty but it is shaking me like an infection …’ ‘A diabolical dream’. The disastrous summer. Burst blood vessel in penis. Wallet stolen twice. ‘Life itself is my enemy’. His death at 53. Alex Trocchi’s attitude to Tynan. He becomes a celebrity in Greenwich Village. ‘Miss Hicks of Hicksville’. Gives himself a fix on television. Lyn is arrested. Trocchi flees back to England. Lyn joins him in London. A twelve grains-a-day habit. Guy Debord excommunicates him. The International Writers’ Conference in Edinburgh. Trocchi tries to kick heroin in Herne Bay. Lyn dies in Guy’s Hospital. His son Mark contracts cancer of the throat. Trocchi opens a market book stall. The final trip with Jane Lougee. A successful operation for lung cancer. He dies of lobal pneumonia. His ashes are stolen from his mantelpiece.

Epilogue

Romanticism and optimism. Rousseau and nature. Wordsworth: ‘Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive’. The new pessimism. The tragic generation. The case of Iris Murdoch. The Time of the Angels. Seduction and incest. The decline of fall of existentialism. The non-existence of God. Philosophy as a search for meaning. Bertrand Russell: ‘The vastness and fearful passionlessforce of non-human things’. Heidegger’s ��forgetfulness of being’. Sartre’s failure to understand Husserl’s intentionality. Intentionality without the transcendental ego. Sartre as depressive. Peer Gynt’s onion. La Mettrie’s Man the Machine. Cabanis: ‘The brain secretes thought as the liver secretes bile’. Rousseau and Locke. There is no ‘real you’. Maine de Biran’s objection. The robot. French philosophy continues to be mechanistic. The ‘young Turks’ who displaced Sartre. Foucault, Derrida, Lyotard. Postmodernism. The British novel after the war. The disappearance of the religious sense. The ‘moral vacuum’ in Martin Amis. ‘An intense and fascinated disgust’. What if Maine de Biran had been taken seriously? His realisation that we do not recognise our freedom. Bergson: The rational mind is a blundering incompetent. How long does twelve o’clock last? Sartre’s admiration for Bergson. He decides: ‘We are as free as you like, but helpless.’ Two kinds of freedom. ‘To be free is nothing; to become free is heavenly.’ Sartre’s physical problems. His daily intake of poisons. Sartre dies of a stroke. Beckett influences Foucault. The coming of structuralism. The influence of Saussure. Lévi-Strauss: ‘Who says man says language, and who says language says society’. Derrida’s rejection of metaphysics. The bleak landscape of structuralism. The nature of the will. ‘I seem to be a verb.’ Jung and the need for evolutionary purpose. William James’s ‘The Energies of Men’. ‘The habit of inferiority to our full self’. Dr Johnson: ‘When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.’ St Preux and Julie. Why Rousseau’s philosophy led to materialism. Dr Johnson’s Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia. ‘Man surely has some latent sense … which must be satisfied before he can be happy.’ Gurdjieff: ‘Normal consciousness is a form of sleep’. Inducing a sense of crisis. Ikkyu: ‘Attention means attention’. My Sheepwash experience. The discovery of concentrated attention. The mind has gears. I’m Talking About Jerusalem. Wells’s ‘amphibians’. The meaning of romanticism.

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medium-observation · 2 years ago

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DECEMBER RELEASE

Boop! The Musical - Chicago Tryout

December 3, 2023 - Medium Observation

Video | Matinée

Cast:

Jasmine Rogers (Betty Boop), Faith Prince (Valentina), Ainsley Anthony Melham (Dwayne), Erich Bergen (Raymond), Stephen DeRosa (Grampy), Angelica Hale (Trisha), Phillip Huber (Pudgy), Anastacia McCleskey (Carol), Lawrence Alexander (Ensemble), Colin Bradbury (Ensemble), Tristen Buettel (Ensemble), Joshua Michael Burrage (Ensemble), Gabi Campo (Ensemble), Daniel Castiglione (Ensemble), Rebecca Corrigan (Ensemble), Josh Drake (Ensemble), RJ Higton (Ensemble), Nina Lafarga (Ensemble), Morgan McGhee (Ensemble), Aubie Merrylees (Ensemble), Ryah Nixon (Ensemble), Christian Probst (Ensemble), Ricky Schroeder (Ensemble), Gabriella Sorrentino (Ensemble), Brooke Taylor (Ensemble)

Notes: Nice video from the second week of previews and Version 3.0. Some scenes are majorly wideshot due to the nature of the show, along with usher activity. Some washout can be seen at times but it's not too bad.

NFT DATE: June 6th, 2024

Screenshots: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjB5Cro

Video is $20

Six - Second US National Tour (Boleyn)

November 19, 2023 - Medium Observation

Video | Matinée

Cast:

Cassie Silva (s/b Catherine of Aragon), Zan Berube (Anne Boleyn), Aryn Bohannon (s/b Jane Seymour), Terica Marie (Anna of Cleves), Taylor Pearlstein (s/b Katherine Howard), Courtney Mack (t/r Catherine Parr)

Notes:

Excellent video of a fantastic group of alternates and Courtney's unexpected final performance as Parr!

NFT DATE: December 1st, 2024

Screenshots: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjB3Ye3

Video is $20

Mrs. Doubtfire - First US National Tour

November 16, 2023 - Medium Observation

Video

Cast:

Rob McClure (Daniel Hillard), Maggie Lakis (Miranda Hillard), Giselle Gutierrez (Lydia Hillard), Cody Braverman (Christoher Hillard), Emerson Mae Chan (Natalie Hillard), Aaron Kaburick (Frank Hillard), Nik Alexander (Andre Mayem), Romelda Teron Benjamin (Wanda Sellner), Leo Roberts (Stuart Dunmire), David Hibbard (Mr. Jolly/Ensemble), Jodi Kimura (Janet Lundy/Ensemble), Alex Branton (Ensemble), Jonathan Hoover (Ensemble), Sheila Jones (Ensemble), Julia Kavanagh (Ensemble), Marquez Linder (Ensemble), Alex Ringler (Ensemble), Lannie Rubio (Ensemble), Ian Liberto (s/w Ensemble), Lauryn Withnell (Ensemble), Julia Yameen (Ensemble)

Notes:

Near perfect capture of the tour! Some washout is seen in wideshots due to primary robs doubtfire outfit being so Bright.

NFT DATE: June 6th, 2024

Screenshots: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjB3Z7Y

Video is $20

Frozen - First US National Tour

November 29, 2023 - Medium Observation

Video

Cast:

Caroline Bowman (Elsa), Lauren Nicole Chapman (Anna), Erin Choi (Young Elsa), Annie Piper Braverman (Young Anna), Jeremy Davis (Olaf), Dominic Dorset (Kristoff), Collin Baja (Sven), Preston Perez (Hans), Jack Brewer (Oaken), Evan Duff (Weselton), Tyler Jimenez (Pabbie), Renée Reid (Bulda), Kyle Lamar Mitchell (King Agnarr), Katie Mariko Murray (Queen Iduna), Natalie Wisdom (s/w Head Handmaiden), Jack Brewer (Bishop), Kate Bailey (Ensemble), Kristen Smith Davis (Ensemble), Jason Goldston (Ensemble), Natalie Goodin (Ensemble), Zach Hess (Ensemble), Adrianna Rose Lyons (Ensemble), Alexander Mendoza (Ensemble), Nick Silverio (Ensemble), Daniel Switzer (Ensemble), Peli Naomi Woods (Ensemble), Michael Allan Haggerty (s/w Ensemble), Jessie Peltier (s/w Ensemble)

Notes:

Absolutely gorgeous video of this tour! Lots of wideshots and close ups.

NFT DATE: June 6th, 2024

Screenshots: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjB5mqB

Video is $20

Videos can be purchased through me at [email protected]

#mediumobservation #frozen #six musical #betty boop #mrs. doubtfire #rob mcclure #boop #boopmusical #taylor pearlstein

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agendaculturaldelima · 1 year ago

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#ProyeccionDeVida

🌎 Cine Club del Banco de la Nación, presenta:

🎬 “FRECUENCIA MORTAL (Nunca juegues con extraños)” [Joy Ride]

🔎 Género: Thriller / Terror / Slasher / Road Movie / Asesinos en serie

⌛️ Duración: 96 minutos

✍️ Guión: Clay Tarver y J.J. Abrams

📷 Fotografía: Jeff Jur

🎼 Música: Marco Beltrami

💥 Argumento: Han empezado las vacaciones y Lewis está listo para marcharse en coche con Venna, la chica de sus sueños, que acaba de romper con su novio. Pero sus planes se van al traste cuando tiene que desviarse para recoger a Fuller, su hermano mayor, famoso por meterse en líos, que ha vuelto a hacer de las suyas.

👥 Reparto: Steve Zahn (Fuller Thomas), Paul Walker (Lewis Thomas), Leelee Sobieski (Venna Wilcox), Jessica Bowman (Charlotte), Jim Beaver (Sheriff Ritter), Basil Wallace (Vendedor de automóviles), Michael McCleery (Oficial Akins), Brian Leckner (Oficial Keeney), Stuart Stone (Danny), Kenneth White (Ronald Ellinghouse) y Jay Hernandez (Marine)

📢 Dirección: John Dahl

🌎 País: Estados Unidos

📅 Año: 2001

📽 Proyección:

📆 Miércoles 24 de Abril

🕡 6:30pm.

🎥 Auditorio Artes de la Nación (av. Javier Prado Este 2499, 5º piso - San Borja)

🚶‍♀️🚶‍♂️ Ingreso libre, previa reserva: https://info.bn.com.pe/CineclubBN_Miercoles

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unclefungusthegoat · 2 years ago

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So I've been thinking about THIS:

for like a whole day now, and it's got me like:

So here are my notes and questions and thoughts:

Gonna be long, going to put under a 'keep reading'

THE PEOPLE INVOLVED

Simon Mirren. He created Versailles, and him posting this image suggests that he's working on a project related to Versailles or the Louis XIV period of history.

'He's back'. The word 'back' here absolutely suggests a return of someone we're familiar with.

Alex Vlahos is INVESTED in whatever it is - suggesting 'HE' is Philippe. He liked the post and commented 'Makes you wonder why he ever went away'...

... and then David Wolstenscroft, the OTHER creator of Versailles, replied saying 'And how'.

This is so cryptic. They all know who 'he' is. Alex seems perhaps wistful, maybe about the end of the show and therefore the end of Philippe. 'And how'... I've no freaking idea what this means. How 'Philippe' went away? How he's come back?

How he went away... the show ended.

How he's come back... well I have a theory later.

This screenshot above is taken from Gabriella Petrillo's Twitter account - as you can see, Alex shared the pic to his Instagram story captioned 'Oh, who invited you?'

Which is in QUOTATION MARKS.

Meaning that this is either Philippe asking the audience, or a general character tagline for the project.

OTHER PEOPLE WHO LIKED THE PIC

Anna Brewster (Montespan), Sarah Winter (Louise de la Valliere), Raphael Roger Levy (The Masked Man in S1), and also Nicki Oebel who works with Alex as the second half of his film company Cowhouse Films

TAGGED NAMES

Tagged in this picture are:

ALEX VLAHOS (and his tag is directly on the man's head, which might not mean anything, but suggests it's him)

EVAN WILLIAMS (not him, Chevy is blond)

GEORGE BLAGDEN (the only other real candidate as to who this could be, but compared side by side to the Versailles promo photos, and with the lack of response from George, I doubt it)

STUART BOWMAN (too young to be him)

Also tagged: Versailles Series, MonChevy Love, Versailles fan club.

Bonus: Helen Mirren (Simon Mirren's aunt), Bella Thorne, both actors, and also Louis Vuitton Official and Harris Reed, both fashion houses/designers

THE IMAGE

OK, so lets assume this is meant to be Philippe.

COSTUME/HAIR

The jacket is the wrong style for 1600s Versailles. It's more 1700s, and the real Philippe died in 1701. The costume designers for the original show were METICULOUS in their choices and the way things were worn. Including COLOUR PALATTES. Every character had their own. And Philippe only wore white like this once... at the costume party in S1 E9 when he dressed identically to Louis. Generally, Philippe wore more grey and silver.

If the figure is Philippe, the hair is the right colour, but shorter, and also half up, which is not a style Philippe ever wore in the show. His hair was sleeker with much looser waves, whereas this man has quite thick hair.

LOCATION

I think the Chateau in the photo is Fontainebleau, where some of Versailles was filmed, but I can't find a direct parallel photo from the position 'Philippe' is standing in. However, Fontainebleau has lots of water near it, like in the photo. (And I also feel like I saw Alex visiting there on Instagram within the past few months but I don't know if my brain is playing tricks on me)

IS IT AI?

My sister pointed out the image could be AI generated and honestly? I agree. No hands on show, and the bottom of the sleeves look a bit weird. No location tagged either. Historical costume that isn't quite right for the period we're assuming it to be, or for Philippe's character, which wouldn't be inkeeping with the series' aesthetic.

Could definitely be AI.

REALITY CHECK

Versailles was the most expensive show Canal+ had ever produced. I think it still is. And a new series, or spinoff series, would be just as expensive to produce. This isn't Game of Thrones we're talking about. The show has its hardcore fans, but it wasn't exactly a household name, which studios would throw masses of money at to reboot.

The story of S3 of Versailles also ended in the early-mid 1680s, just as the cast were reaching the point where it seemed ludicrous that they all still looked so young. The cast are now all doing different projects, several have married and had children since. They've moved on with their lives. To think they'd all return to a reboot or spinoff show... is unlikely.

However...

SAINT CLOUD

Alex Vlahos tormented us all with this snippet of a 'Saint Cloud' concept trailer a couple of months ago. Saint Cloud was the name of Philippe's chateau, and his spinoff idea was always a MonChevy comedy show about their lives and debauchery and stuff at their home.

But let's face it, this whole thing feels unlikely, and more just like a bit of a fun idea than something that a studio would actually produce, and he's only just started writing a concept trailer...

BUT.

SPEAKING OF...

ALEX VLAHOS

I'm gonna do a whole section on Alex Vlahos, because there's no way he's not involved. He, in fact, announced something at the convention that gives me my biggest theory about what this is.

Alex is obviously a driving force for the Versailles fandom. He was a key figure at the conventions and at the con in May I went to, and on Instagram shortly after, he announced he is going to do a Versailles podcast next year. It'll be a 30 episode thing, one for each episode of the show, and he said he'll have guest stars to chat to... including other actors and the showrunners, Simon Mirren and David Wolstencroft.

So.

That is a CONFIRMED upcoming Versailles project.

And so this image?

MY THEORY

I'm running with the theory that it's is a promo image for Alex's Versailles podcast, possibly made with AI.

It would make sense.

It's something for the fans, hence the tagged accounts. It'll feature the tagged actors to talk about the show. It's not something that is going to cost a million euros to make, so is more realistic. It's not a long term commitment for actors who have other jobs now.

It shows a man who looks a bit like Philippe - looking back at the chateau, as if reminiscing about his time there... just as Alex is going to do on his podcast.

BUT'S

Of course, this is just my theory. If it is the case, the fact that this podcast had already been announced twice makes the mysterious nature of this pic/conversation weird. And the fact that it was Simon Mirren posting it first, not Alex Vlahos, would be weird too, although maybe it's just because it's going to be quite an 'official' thing, with the support of the showrunners.

But I digress.

Anyway, on a final note, I would VERY VERY VERY willing to be proven wrong, and have a Versailles S4 or a MonChevy spinoff happening, I might actually cry if it does hahahaha

#versailles #monchevy #alex vlahos #alexander vlahos #versailles series #philippe d'orleans #ngl I mostly wrote this out for me #so I could rid myself of the brain worms lmao #but feel free to add your theories/details #join meeeeeeeeeeee

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blogger360ncislarules · 1 month ago

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Grantchester is peeling back the layers of its new(ish) vicar and revealing his “secrets,” according to star Rishi Nair. Season 10 marks Nair’s first full season (second overall) as Reverend Alphy Kottaram opposite Robson Green‘s Detective Inspector Geordie Keating. Together, they solve crimes in their village in Cambridgeshire, England. But there are mysteries left to unfold about Alphy himself. Nair tells TV Insider that withheld details about Alphy’s past will be revealed in upcoming episodes of Grantchester Season 10, experiences that, among other things, have serious impact on his budding romantic relationship with Meg Grey (Christie Russell-Brown) and force him to stop avoiding reflecting on hard times from his life before moving to Grantchester.

Alphy was born in England, but his South Asian heritage made him an outsider to some in the predominantly white town of Grantchester when he first arrived in Season 9. His racial identity was challenged again in Season 10 Episode 2, which aired Sunday, June 22, on PBS, by an Indian professor (played by Maya Sondhi), who basically believed that Alphy was being used by Geordie for diversity points. She later retracted this, saying that she was projecting her own stress onto the vicar. But Nair says this subject will continue to weigh on Alphy throughout the season.

“Season 9, we didn’t really see much of his past. Alphy spoke about it here or there, but didn’t really share too much information,” Nair tells TV Insider. “Season 10, we’ll explore his past a little bit more and maybe the things that he said weren’t entirely true and maybe he has a few secrets that will unravel.”

“Going back to that sense of belonging and identity crisis that Alphy has, in Season 10 things happen that he has to live his past again,” Nair goes on. “Without giving too much away, him having to go back to his past and face those traumas, if that’s the right word to use, really makes him look at himself inwards. And he’s never really done that before. He’s just always looking forwards onto the next thing. And in Season 10, we see him look inwards a little bit more. A lot of questions about himself and stuff that Professor Joshi says does weigh on his mind and it does affect how he maybe perceives himself or perceives others. And whether that’s correct or not, I guess we’ll find out.”

When it comes to Meg, Alphy’s new love interest introduced in the Grantchester Season 10 premiere, “He’s serious about it,” Nair says. “He realizes that Meg is different to some of the other women that he sees, and he has a deeper feeling towards her, but it’s not smooth sailing. There are a couple of obstacles that come about that put the whole relationship in jeopardy. So it’s kind of an on-off thing, like, will they, won’t they. We’ll see if they do.”

Nair’s not just talking about Meg being the daughter of Bishop Grey (Stuart Bowman), with whom Alphy shares a troubled history. “They deal with that. It is what it is, and they move on,” Nair explains of what viewers saw in Season 10’s second episode. “What unravels later is whether Alphy actually really is in a place to be in a relationship, if he’s mentally there. Meg can recognize that in him that maybe he’s not ready to be in a relationship. That’s probably the biggest hindrance to whether that happens or not.”

Are the secrets from his past the things that are holding him back romantically? “Correct, it is,” Nair says with a knowing laugh.

#grantchester #pbs

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danielfeketewrites · 7 months ago

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Short stories I've read in 2024.

Reading:

Interstitial Insecurity by Colin Baker (in Doctor Who: The Target Storybook, en)

The Slyther of Shoreditch by Mike Tucker (in Doctor Who: The Target Storybook, en)

We Can't Stop What's Coming by Steve Cole (in Doctor Who: The Target Storybook, en)

Decoy by George Mann (in Doctor Who: The Target Storybook, en)

October in the Chair by Neil Gaiman (in Fragile Things, en)

One Virtue, and a Thousand Crimes by Neil Gaiman (in Doctor Who: Adventures in Lockdown, en)

AI. Artificial Incompetence. by Stuart Hardy (at stubagful.medium.com, en)

The Time Traveler's Cookbook by Angela Liu (in Cast of Wonders #533, en)

Grounded by Una McCormack (in Doctor Who: The Target Storybook, en)

The Turning of the Tide by Jenny T. Colgan (in Doctor Who: The Target Storybook, en)

How The Marquis Got His Coat Back by Neil Gaiman (published as a standalone publication for some reason, en)

A Long Way From Home by Akemi Dawn Bowman (in Magic The Gathering: Outlaws of Thunder Junction, en)

Things She Thought While Falling by Chris Chibnall (on the doctorwho.tv website, en)

Životní příležitost ("Opportunity of a Lifetime") by Lucie Hřebečská (in Pevnost #264, cz)

Citation Needed by Jacqueline Rayner (in Doctor Who: The Target Storybook, en)

The Battle of Little Big Science by Pamela Rentz (in Plameňák na konci léta, cz translation)

Sita Dulip's Method by Ursula K. Le Guin (in Plameňák na konci léta, cz translation)

Great Joy by Ursula K. Le Guin (in Plameňák na konci léta, cz translation)

The True Story by Pat Murphy (in Plameňák na konci léta, cz translation)

Mrs. Sorensen and the Sasquatch by Kelly Barnhill (in Plameňák na konci léta, cz translation)

Pain Management by Beverly Sanford (in Doctor Who: The Target Storybook, en)

A Study in Emerald by Neil Gaiman (in Fragile Things, en, reread)

The Truth of Names by James Wyatt (in Magic The Gathering: Fate Reforged, en)

Kruphix's Insight by Kelly Digges (in Magic The Gathering: Journey Into Nyx, en)

Six Months, Three Days by Charlie Jane Anders (in Plameňák na konci léta, cz translation)

Letters from the Front by Vinay Patel (in Doctor Who: The Target Storybook, en)

The Shadow Passes by Paul Cornell (on BBC's Doctor Who (2005-2022) website, en)

Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Secret House of the Night of Dread Desire by Neil Gaiman (in Fragile Things, en)

The Flints of Memory Lane by Neil Gaiman (in Fragile Things, en)

Written in the Book of the Woods by LJ Geoffrion (in Reckoning, en)

Closing Time by Neil Gaiman (in Fragile Things, en)

Bitter Grounds by Neil Gaiman (in Fragile Things, en)

Other People by Neil Gaiman (in Fragile Things, en)

Keepsakes and Treasures by Neil Gaiman (in Fragile Things, en)

Good Boys Deserve Favours by Neil Gaiman (in Fragile Things, en)

Strange Little Girls by Neil Gaiman (in Fragile Things, en)

Harlequin Valentine by Neil Gaiman (in Fragile Things, en)

The Mapmaker by Neil Gaiman (in Fragile Things, en)

The Problem of Susan by Neil Gaiman (in Fragile Things, en)

Feeders and Eaters by Neil Gaiman (in Fragile Things, en)

Diseasemaker's Croup by Neil Gaiman (in Fragile Things, en)

Goliath by Neil Gaiman (in Fragile Things, en)

Pages From a Journal Found in a Shoebox Left in a Greyhound Bus Somewhere Between Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Louiseville, Kentucky by Neil Gaiman (in Fragile Things, en)

The Dusty Hat by China Miéville (at Salvage, en)

Nový den ("A New Day") by Iharo (at Iharo's blog, cz)

How to Talk to Girls at Parties by Neil Gaiman (in Fragile Things, en)

Červená nitka ("A Red Thread") by Iharo (at Iharo's blog, cz)

Modré květiny ("Blue Flowers") by Iharo (at Iharo's blog, cz)

Lízátko pro hosta ("A Lollipop for a Guest") by Iharo (at Iharo's blog, cz)

The Sunbird by Neil Gaiman (in Fragile Things, en)

Jenom kapičku ("Just a Droplet") by Iharo (at Iharo's blog, cz)

In the Lost Lands by George R.R. Martin (in Nečekané variace, cz translation)

Nový den ("A New Day") by Trym (at Trym's blog, cz)

Červená nitka ("A Red Thread") by Trym (at Trym's blog, cz)

With Morning Comes Mistfall by George R.R. Martin (in Nečekané variace, cz translation)

The Simple Things by Joy Wilkinson (in Doctor Who: Adventures in Lockdown, en)

He's Behind You by Dave Rudden (in Doctor Who: The Wintertime Paradox, en)

The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington by P. Djèlí Clark (at Fireside, en)

Listening:

The Hoxteth Time Capsule by Paul Davis (in Doctor Who: Short Trips, en)

The World Tree by Nick Slawicz (in Doctor Who: Short Trips, en)

Chug the Tea Leaves, Chuck the Ads by Tim Chawaga (in Escape Pod #938, en)

Punk Voyager by Shaenon K. Garrity (in Escape Pod #937, en)

Red Kelly Owns the Moon by Shaenon K. Garrity (in Escape Pod #575, en)

This Wooden Heart by Eleanna Castroianni (in PodCastle #833, en)

Help Summon the Most Holy Folded One! by Harry Connolly (in PodCastle #339, en)

Shrine to the Ink Goddess by Monte Lin (in Cast of Wonders #520, en)

Three Monsters That Are Not Metaphors by Dani Atkinson (in Cast of Wonders #477, en)

Said the Princess by Dani Atkinson (in PodCastle #722, en)

Deep Down in the Cloud by Julie Nováková (in Clarkesworld #137, en)

The Adventure of the Three Students by Arthur Conan Doyle (on YouTube, cz translation)

What Cats (and Dragons) Do by KT Bryski (in CatsCast #3, en)

The Adventure of the Empty House by Arthur Conan Doyle (on YouTube, cz translation)

All the Better To Taste You by Marisca Pichette (in PodCastle #834, en)

Rise and Fall by George Mann (in Doctor Who: Short Trips Vol. 1, en)

Shadow of a Doubt by Paul Cornell (on the Doctor Who: LOCKDOWN YouTube channel, en)

The Shadow in the Mirror by Paul Cornell (on the Doctor Who: LOCKDOWN YouTube channel, en)

The Invention of a Cat by Carolina Valentine (in CatsCast #25, en)

Sting of the Sasquatch by Darren Jones (in the Doctor Who Audio Originals series, en)

Oneirophobia by Todd Keisling (in PseudoPod #943, en)

#short story #2024 #reading

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popentertainment-moviereviews · 9 months ago

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HERE (2024)

Starring Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Paul Bettany, Kelly Reilly, Michelle Dockery, Gwilym Lee, Ophelia Lovibond, David Fynn, Leslie Zemeckis, Lauren McQueen, Beau Gadsdon, Jonathan Aris, Albie Salter, Harry Marcus, Lilly Aspell, Joel Oulette, Dannie McCallum, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Anya Marco Harris, Mohammed George, Dexter Sol Ansell and Stuart Bowman.

Screenplay by Eric Roth and Robert Zemeckis.

Directed by Robert Zemeckis.

Distributed by TriStar Pictures. 104 minutes. Rated PG-13.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been 30 years since Forrest Gump. All this time later, the stars (Tom Hanks and Robin Wright), the writer (Eric Roth) and the director (Robert Zemeckis) have reunited for a new film. Gump has always had a bit of a weird reputation. Many people – me included – very much enjoyed Forrest Gump. It even won the Best Picture Oscar. Yet, at the same time, many people who don’t like it consider the film to be sappy and condescending, and these critics do have some very legitimate points.

Not to worry, though, for better or worse, other than some of the same talent Here really has little in common with Forrest Gump. In fact, Here is pretty unique to itself. It is not taking a traditional storytelling path. Instead of focusing on characters – although there are quite a few characters in the film – this movie is particularly about a setting. Very specifically, the living room of a small but charming 250-year-old house. Here tracks what has happened on this specific plot of land over the centuries – starting with the dinosaurs and ending in the present day. (There are a few early segments from before the house was built, in which it is merely a field or a road.)

I can respect that kind of story idea – who hasn’t passed by houses and wondered what was going on in them, or what had happened there? I particularly am intrigued by this kind of idea because I too live in an old house and have often pondered about its history. My house is not quite as old as the house in Here. It’s about 125 years old – the official building date on record is 1900, but I have been told several times that is because they didn’t keep records before 1900, so it is quite probably older than that.

So why not take a look at the history of a place? The people who have lived and died there, the joy and pain experienced there, the parties, the funerals, the hopes, and the dreams. It’s an interesting idea for a film, although eventually it turns out that it is not exactly a cinematic one, or at least it doesn’t quite work as well as the filmmakers would have hoped.

Much of what happens in Here feels random, which I suppose even makes a certain amount of sense, because it is not the story of people so much as it is the story of a place. Some characters connect, others don’t, the storyline flips back and forth through time, and the whole story seems to have no true through line – unless again you count the single room in which pretty much all of the action occurred.

We meet and then move away from many people over the years, to the point that the audience feels like it is not really learning enough about any of the main characters. Essentially, the Here house has four families living in it over the years, although it even skips further back in time to the indigenous people who once lived on the land and the Revolutionary war-era citizens who built the huge house nearby that will become the center view of the living room window for the yet-to-be-built home.

With all of these characters flittering in and out of the storyline, it becomes a bit difficult to build up a relationship with many of these characters. (The Native Americans, the colonials and a furniture inventor who is married to a pin-up model seem to have particularly little to do here…)

Much of the narrative revolves around a two-generation family which kept the house for decades – the mother Rose and father Al (Kelly Reilly and Paul Bettany) eventually leave the house to one of their sons Richard and his wife Margaret (Hanks and Wright), who end up spending much of their life there.

Quite frankly, had Here focused on this one family they would have had more than enough for a more engaging storyline. Also, Here does spend more time with these characters than any other, but every time you start to build up an interest in the character arcs, the film suddenly moves back or forth in time to another story, losing the narrative momentum.

Speaking of Hanks and Wright, through some very disturbing de-aging tricks, they end up playing their characters from age 18 until sometime in their 70s or 80s. The old-age makeup in their later years is all right and mostly normal although it probably is done with SFX, but the computerized de-aging effects are distracting and unrealistic. It is as if director Zemeckis is still trying to sell us on his motion-capture process that made Hanks look so creepy in The Polar Express when he is the only one who doesn’t get how wrong it all looks. To make it even more disorienting, most of their de-aged shots were done in extreme close-up, which made the flaws even more noticeable.

Here was an interesting film experiment and, in some sections, it is quite beautiful. However, it doesn’t quite work.

Jay S. Jacobs

youtube

#Here #2024 #Movie Review #Tom Hanks #Jay S. Jacobs #Youtube

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