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warningsine · 3 months

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Judged purely on style, HBO’s “True Detective” is a great show. Every week, it offers up shiver-inducing cable intoxicants, from an over-the-top action sequence so liquid it rivals a Scorsese flick to piquant scenes of rural degradation, filmed on location in Louisiana, a setting that has become a bit of an HBO specialty. (“Treme” and “True Blood” are also set there.)

Like many critics, I was initially charmed by the show’s anthology structure (eight episodes and out; next season a fresh story) and its witty chronology, which chops and dices a serial-killer investigation, using two time lines. In the nineteen-nineties, two detectives, Marty Hart and Rust Cohle (Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey), hunt down a fetishistic murderer, the sort of artsy bastard who tattoos his female victims, then accessorizes them with antlers and scatters cultish tchotchkes at the crime scene. In the contemporary time line, these ex-partners are questioned by two other cops, who suspect that the murders have begun again. If you share my weakness for shows that shuffle time or have tense interrogations—like the late, great “Homicide” or the better seasons of “Damages”—you might be interested to see these methods combined. The modern interviews become a voice-over, which is layered over flashbacks, and the contrast between words and images reveals that our narrators have been cherry-picking details and, at crucial junctures, flat-out lying. So far, so complex.

On the other hand, you might take a close look at the show’s opening credits, which suggest a simpler tale: one about heroic male outlines and closeups of female asses. The more episodes that go by, the more I’m starting to suspect that those asses tell the real story.

This aspect of “True Detective” (which is written by Nic Pizzolatto and directed by Cary Fukunaga) will be gratingly familiar to anyone who has ever watched a new cable drama get acclaimed as “a dark masterpiece”: the slack-jawed teen prostitutes; the strippers gyrating in the background of police work; the flashes of nudity from the designated put-upon wifey character; and much more nudity from the occasional cameo hussy, like Marty’s mistress, whose rack bounces merrily through Episode 2. Don’t get me wrong: I love a nice bouncy rack. And if a show has something smart to say about sex, bring it on. But, after years of watching “Boardwalk Empire,” “Ray Donovan,” “House of Lies,” and so on, I’ve turned prickly, and tired of trying to be, in the novelist Gillian Flynn’s useful phrase, the Cool Girl: a good sport when something smells like macho nonsense. And, frankly, “True Detective” reeks of the stuff. The series, for all its good looks and its movie-star charisma, isn’t just using dorm-room deep talk as a come-on: it has fallen for its own sales pitch.

To state the obvious: while the male detectives of “True Detective” are avenging women and children, and bro-bonding over “crazy pussy,” every live woman they meet is paper-thin. Wives and sluts and daughters—none with any interior life. Instead of an ensemble, “True Detective” has just two characters, the family-man adulterer Marty, who seems like a real and flawed person (and a reasonably interesting asshole, in Harrelson’s strong performance), and Rust, who is a macho fantasy straight out of Carlos Castaneda. A sinewy weirdo with a tragic past, Rust delivers arias of philosophy, a mash-up of Nietzsche, Lovecraft, and the nihilist horror writer Thomas Ligotti. At first, this buddy pairing seems like a funky dialectic: when Rust rants, Marty rolls his eyes. But, six episodes in, I’ve come to suspect that the show is dead serious about this dude. Rust is a heretic with a heart of gold. He’s our fetish object—the cop who keeps digging when everyone ignores the truth, the action hero who rescues children in the midst of violent chaos, the outsider with painful secrets and harsh truths and nice arms. McConaughey gives an exciting performance (in Grantland, Andy Greenwald aptly called him “a rubber band wrapped tight around a razor blade”), but his rap is premium baloney. And everyone around these cops, male or female, is a dark-drama cliché, from the coked-up dealers and the sinister preachers to that curvy corpse in her antlers. “True Detective” has some tangy dialogue (“You are the Michael Jordan of being a son of a bitch”) and it can whip up an ominous atmosphere, rippling with hints of psychedelia, but these strengths finally dissipate, because it’s so solipsistically focussed on the phony duet.

Meanwhile, Marty’s wife, Maggie—played by Michelle Monaghan, she is the only prominent female character on the show—is an utter nothing-burger, all fuming prettiness with zero insides. Stand her next to any other betrayed wife on television—Mellie, on “Scandal”; or Alicia, on “The Good Wife”; or Cersei, on “Game of Thrones”; or even Claire, on “House of Cards”—and Maggie’s an outline, too. Last week, Maggie finally got her own episode, in which she is interrogated by the cops. She lies to them, with noir composure, as the visuals reveal a predictable twist: Maggie had revenge sex with Rust. That sex is filmed as gasp-worthy, though it lasts thirty seconds. We see Monaghan’s butt, plus the thrusting cheeks of McConaughey. Yet the betrayal has no weight, since the love triangle is missing a side. An earlier sex scene is even more absurd, and features still another slice of strange: a lusty, anal-sex-offering, sext-happy ex-hooker. She seduces Marty with her own philosophical sweet nothings (“There is nothing wrong with the way he made us”), and, since she’s a gorgeous unknown, we get to see her ride Harrelson like a bronco, as ceramic angels and devil dolls look on from the dresser.

I’m certain that, if you’re a fan of the series, this analysis irritates you. It’s no fun to be a killjoy, particularly when people are yelling “Best show ever”; it’s the kind of debate that tends to turn both sides into scolds, each accusing the other of being prudes or suckers. A few months ago, a similar debate erupted about Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street,” a film that inspired its advocates to rage that those who didn’t “get it” just needed to get laid. There were more nuanced arguments out there, though: in the Times, A. O. Scott argued that, while the film did a fine job sending up the corruption of the grifter Jordan Belfort, there was little distinction, visually, between Belfort’s misogyny and the film’s own display. Cool girl that I am, I didn’t entirely agree: like “True Detective,” “Wolf” unfolds in flashback, through voice-over, but its outrageous images bend and ripple with Belfort’s mania. With the exception of a few shots—like one of a stewardess, whose assault is treated as a joke in a way that made me twitch—the nudity, however nasty, makes sense.

On “True Detective,” however, we’re not watching the distorted testimony of an addict, punctured by flashes of accidental self-revelation. The scenes we see are supposed to be what really happened. And when a mystery show is about disposable female bodies, and the women in it are eye candy, it’s a drag. Whatever the length of the show’s much admired tracking shot (six minutes, uncut!), it feels less hardboiled than softheaded. Which might be O.K. if “True Detective” were dumb fun, but, good God, it’s not: it’s got so much gravitas it could run for President.

It’s possible that my crankiness derives from having watched so many recent, better crime series, telling similar stories, in far more original ways. Most notable were Jane Campion’s soaring “Top of the Lake,” on Sundance, and Allan Cubitt’s nightmare-inducing BBC series “The Fall.” In “Top of the Lake,” Campion jolts the viewer with actual taboo nudity: she films the saggy bodies of middle-aged women, members of a feminist encampment. Then she stitches this subplot, in which she satirizes the cult of self-help victimhood, onto a small-town mystery about sex crimes against teen-age girls, who are filmed with comparative discretion. A moody, pastoral twist on the rape-and-murder genre, Campion’s mini-series torqued viewer expectations, exploring provocative themes about the way that communities agree to treat these crimes as if they were bad dreams. “True Detective”’s hinted-at mystery seems strikingly similar. The difference is that, while “Top of the Lake” is about survivors, “True Detective” is about witnesses. The acts themselves are mere symbols of the universe’s unspeakable horror.

“The Fall” (which is available on Netflix) has even more conventional nudity than “True Detective.” It, too, tells a story about a team of detectives hunting for a rapist-murderer obsessed with symbolism. It features pervy stalker shots, along with sick-making imagery of female corpses, in bondage, photographed as keepsakes. Some critics called the show “misogynistic torture porn”: by turning viewers on, they point out, it takes a rapist’s-eye view. But this imagery has a sharp purpose. The show reveals the murderer immediately, forcing us to see the world through his eyes. Then, episode by episode, it tears that identification apart. Just like Rust Cohle, “The Fall”’s rapist has an elaborate pseudo-intellectual lingo, full of Nietzsche quotes and talk of primal impulses. But an icy female cop, played by Gillian Anderson, sees through him—and, in the finale, she shreds his pretensions with one smart speech. Anderson aside, “The Fall” overflows with complex female characters, and not merely the killer’s victims but their families, the murderer’s wife, his daughter, and his mistress. Beautiful as “The Fall” looks, it’s harder to watch than “True Detective,” because there is a soul inside each body we ogle. When women suffer, their pain isn’t purely decorative.

“True Detective” isn’t over, of course: like any mystery, it can’t be fully judged before the finale—it might yet complete that mystical time loop Rust keeps ranting about. There are hints of the supernatural, with endless references to the “Yellow King” and the “Lost City of Carcosa”: maybe the show will reveal that it was Cthulhu all along, in the library, with the candlestick. But for now I’m an unbeliever. Bring me some unpretentious pulp, like Cinemax’s “Banshee,” or an intelligent thriller, like FX’s “The Americans,” which is beginning its second season later this month, and actually does have fresh things to say about sex, sin, and the existential slipperiness of human identity. Or, to quote Nietzsche: “Is life not a hundred times too short for us—to bore ourselves?”

#she hit the nail on the head #putting season 1 on a pedestal was a mistake. Mathhew McC was amazing in it and deserved the praise. The Rust/Marty #dynamic was interesting and Fukunaga's direction technically sound--#--Well as long as you could get past the male gaze which was unbearable at times.#td

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music-observer · 1 year

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Daughter Accepts Posthumous Hollywood Walk of Fame Star on Behalf of Ray Liotta

Ray Liotta, the legendary actor who died in May 2022 at the age of 67, was posthumously awarded the 2,749th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Friday.

Liotta was widely known for his iconic acting in films like Goodfellas, Field of Dreams, and Hannibal.

Liotta’s family members, including his daughter Karsen, who accepted the honor on her father’s behalf, were present when the star was unveiled. Elizabeth Banks and Taron Egerton, two well-known Liotta collaborators, were also present to celebrate the actor’s contribution to the movie business.

Despite the rain and chilly weather in Los Angeles, Karsen cheered the audience up with his humorous comments. She remembered her father and expressed her gratitude to her father’s fans and staff who continue to look up to her.

The event was inspiring as Liotta’s fans and peers remembered the late actor’s extraordinary talent and contributions to the entertainment industry. Hill was considered one of his most important roles.

“Thank you so much, Dad, for this rain,” Karsen joked on a wet and frigid Los Angeles day prior to reading a letter from Goodfellas filmmaker Martin Scorsese commemorating Liotta’s performance in the movie and his talents as an actor.

Scorsese praised Liotta’s acting skills in his letter and praised his outstanding performance in Goodfellas, which earned him critical acclaim and made him a well-known actor in Hollywood.

Liotta’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame commemorates his legacy as an actor and the impact he had on the film industry. His performances continue to inspire aspiring actors and entertain audiences around the world.

Friends Pay Respects

Afterward, Karsen offered her own honors, stating, “I’m so touched to be accepting this honor on behalf of my dad. I couldn’t be more proud of him. He was a one-of-a-kind actor and the best friend, brother, and father anyone could have asked for. I lucked out with you.”

She ended, “If you have a Ray in your life, you’re lucky. I love you so much. Thank you for your work and the imprint you left on me and all of those who love you. Everyone deserves a Ray in their life.”

Liotta’s posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was not only a moment of remembrance for the actor, but a way for his peers to reflect on their time with him.

Read also: 2023 BAFTA Awards: Kerry Condon Wins Supporting Actress Category Despite Mix-Up

#Ray Liotta #Taron Egerton #Walk of Fame #hollywood

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emonthlynews · 1 year

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Remembering Ray Liotta: Hollywood Walk of Fame Honors Late Actor Posthumously

On Friday, the legendary actor Ray Liotta, who died in May 2022 at the age of 67, received the 2,749th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in his honor.

Liotta was widely known for his iconic acting in films like Goodfellas, Field of Dreams, and Hannibal.

The star’s unveiling was attended by Liotta’s family, including her daughter Carsen, who received honors on behalf of her father.Famous associates of Liotta’s career, including Elizabeth Banks and Taron Egerton, were also in attendance, along with the film industry. acknowledged the actor’s contribution to

Karsen’s witty remarks kept the audience upbeat despite the rain and chilly weather in Los Angeles. She expressed her appreciation for her father’s supporters and associates who keep in mind and honor him.

In the letter, Scorsese praised Liotta’s acting talent and his stellar performance in Goodfellas, earning critical acclaim and establishing himself as a versatile actor in Hollywood.

Liotta’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame serves as a reminder of his acting career and the influence he had on the motion picture industry. His performances will keep aspiring actors motivated and amuse viewers everywhere.

Star for a Star

Liotta’s posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was not only a moment of remembrance for the actor, but a way for his peers to reflect on their time with him...Read More

Read also: From Delaware to Hollywood: Aubrey Plaza’s Connection to President Joe Biden

Source: Entertainment Monthly News

#Goodfellas #Field of Dreams #Hannibal #Ray Liotta #hollywood

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tcm · 4 years

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Mystery of the Wax Museum: Once Lost, Now Found By Susan King

Baby boomer cinephiles fell in love with movies by watching them on television (remember Million Dollar Movie?) despite often bad, blurry prints that appeared edited by a chainsaw in order to fit into the time slot. But thanks to film preservation and restoration efforts, when these vintage films air on TCM or are released on Blu-ray and DVD, the result is revelatory. Films considered fun, albeit, minor works at the time of their release are often now viewed as classics.

Such is the case with MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM (’33), the delicious Michael Curtiz horror film starring Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, Glenda Farrell and Frank McHugh. The Warner Bros. production was one of the last photographed in the atmospheric and surreal two-strip Technicolor format. (BECKY SHARP, the first shot in the more realistic three-strip Technicolor, was released two years later).

Shot by the legendary Technicolor cinematographer Ray Rennahan, the pre-Code MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM scared audiences out of their seats, or at least reviewers, with the New York Times critic proclaiming it “too ghastly for comfort” and even “unhealthy.” Long considered lost, a nitrate print was found in 1970 in Jack Warner’s personal vault on the Warner Bros. lot. And in 2019, the UCLA Film and Television Archive and Martin Scorsese’s The Film Foundation used that print, as well as another nitrate print discovered this century by a private collection, to restore the film to its original, vibrant glory and gore.

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In 1933, Wray was the object of the affection for both the tragic and mighty KING KONG (’33) and an insane, disfigured wax sculptor (Atwill) murdering people for his wax museum in MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM. The sculptor becomes so obsessed with her that he wants to add her to his collection. (WAX MUSEUM was remade in 1953 in 3-D as HOUSE OF WAX with Vincent Price).

Wray’s daughter, writer Victoria Riskin, who wrote the acclaimed biography of her mother and her Oscar-winning father screenwriter Robert Riskin (IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT, 1934), Fay Wray and Robert Riskin: A Hollywood Memoir, was gob smacked by the restoration. “The restoration looked wonderful,” she said in a recent interview. ‘‘Visually it’s very powerful and the colors that were introduced were exceptionally vivid. I’m so grateful to the restorers for all that hard work; it elevates the film in my mind.”

At that time, her mother was 26 and was being loaned out to various studios by her home base at Paramount. Unlike a lot of performers who balked at films they were cast in by their studios, Wray never fought the projects she was told to do. Wray knew poverty. She was born to a poor Mormon family in Salt Lake City in 1907 and was all of 14 when she came to Hollywood to seek her fame and fortune in Hollywood. And in 1933, said Riskin, Wray was still the breadwinner for her family including “her mother, her brothers, her husband and his family.”

She was happy to have the work that she got during the middle of the Depression. She was reliable and hard working. At the same time, director Michael Curtiz was not easy. MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM reunited Wray, Atwill and Curtiz, who had worked together in the two-strip Technicolor horror film DOCTOR X (’32). And Wray and Atwill also starred in 1933 in the horror film VAMPIRE BAT. “He was an unyielding character with an obsessive work ethic,” said Riskin of Curtiz. “From [Wray’s] point of view, as a lovely young woman, he was almost like a machine-detached, impersonal and not much fun. She was used to the kind of warmth and playfulness that can happen around the set. Certainly, that happened with [producer] Merian C. Cooper on KING KONG. But there was none of that with Michael Curtiz.”

Just as with KING KONG, Wray’s role in MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM was physically demanding. There’s one incredible scene in which Atwill shows how much his wax figure of Marie Antoinette resembles her. It was actually Wray wearing elaborate clothing and a heavy wig, who played the wax figure because the Technicolor cameras were so hot, the real wax figures in the movie began to melt. Not only doesn’t she move a muscle, Wray didn’t even blink.

One of the best sequences features a terrified Wray hitting the face of Atwill to reveal he’s wearing a mask over his horribly disfigured face. Wray had no idea what the disfigured make-up would look like because they wanted her scream to be spontaneous when she saw Atwill’s face. But instead of screaming, she gasped in horror. “Her reaction was actually more normal,” she said. But not to Curtiz. He wanted that scream. “So, they had another mask – just one more,” said Riskin. “He said you have to really hit him and scream, so she did it.”

Though Wray had problems with Curtiz, in the end, said Riskin, she appreciated him as a filmmaker. “She admired the results and that part was good. She brings a likeability to that part.” Ironically, Farrell, who plays Wray’s roomie—a fast-talking newspaper reporter looking for a rich husband—was seriously dating Robert Riskin at the time of the production. Wray and Riskin didn’t meet until several years later.

“That’s the fun part of the movie because my parents hadn’t yet met,” noted Riskin. “My dad’s first important romance in Hollywood was with Glenda Farrell. I could see why he liked her. She was smart and warm and generous. And in the movie, my mother and Glenda, the two most important women in my father’s life, are playing roommate. Isn’t it adorable?”

#Mystery of the Wax Museum #horror #film history #film preservation #film legacy #lost film #pre-Code #TCM #Turner Classic Movies #Technicolor #two-strip technicolor #Fay Wray #Victoria Riskin #Michael Curtiz #Susan King

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britesparc · 3 years

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Weekend Top Ten #470

Top Ten Films to Watch on Star on Disney+

We’ve been watching a lot of Disney+ lately. This is partly due to the fact that our family movie nights have become, almost accidentally, a quest to watch every bit of Star Wars content on the service; so far, we’ve watched the entire Skywalker Saga and are now moving onto the spin-off movies. The younglings have become addicted: Daughter #1 is getting stuck into The Clone Wars, whilst Daughter #2 is demanding we jump straight into The Mandalorian. As for the Princess to my Scoundrel, well, she and I have been thoroughly enjoying WandaVision, which by the time you read this, will have finished. Sob! Nothing to do but gird our loins until the arrival of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier in a couple of weeks! At least this excellent TV programme appears to have whetted my wife’s appetite for watching more of the MCU movies. Maybe soon I can make oblique references to Mary Poppins, y’all, and someone else in the house will actually know what the hell I’m on about.

Well it looks as if there’s going to be even more use out of our Disney+ sub as the months roll inexorably on, what with their new Star channel. This is where they’ve shoehorned all the mucky films they bought from the naughty boys and girls at Fox; sweary adult dramas, sexy bits, and scenes of explicit wrist-slapping abound. So now we have this toybox of grown-up content to savour! What to watch? What not to watch? I’ve already started at the most obvious place by diving into some vintage Arnie with Commando, one of the funniest action movies ever made. It did not disappoint.

So where to next? Re-watching semi-forgotten classics, films I’ve not seen in literally decades? Or checking out things that slipped me by (there’s an entire list to be made of “films I read about in Empire in the ‘90s, got really excited about, but never saw”). Do I watch the crappier Die Hard films, or cheesy action movies (er, like Commando, I guess)? Or dive deep into prestige fair? Or just watch Spy Hard for the Weird Al theme tune, practically the only bit of the film I remember? The options are virtually endless.

So that’s what this week’s list is: ten films I intend to watch on Disney+ very flipping soon. Or, y’know, just play Zelda until Falcon starts.

9 to 5 (1980): there was a lot of talk of Dolly around the New Year, and my wife and I even watched a documentary about her. As a result, I had a scoot around to see if it was possible to buy 9 to 5 as a birthday or Valentine’s gift for my better half; it’s a film neither of us have seen in years if not decades, and we’re both big Grace and Frankie fans too. Alas, it’s a difficult film to get a hold of; there doesn’t appear to be a Blu-ray readily available. Praise be, then, that it’s now on Disney+; a terrific comedy film, with a nice bit of feminist bite. I’m not sure if it’ll feel dated or – post-#MeToo – oddly prescient. But I’m really, really looking forward to watching it again.

Crimson Tide (1995): I do love a good tense thriller, and I seem to remember this as being a particularly great tense thriller. This feels like one of those “they don’t make ‘em like this anymore” candidates; a claustrophobic two-hander with no real action, almost a theatrical chamber piece, but made with huge stars and a big-time director (the late, great Tony Scott). I saw it once, on video, when it came out, so it’ll be great to revisit.

The Color of Money (1986): another minor classic that I’ve not seen for decades, and a film I remember even less well than Crimson Tide. It’s cool to revisit (or discover for the first time!) films by great directors, and this is Scorsese we’re talking about. Cruise as a freshly-minted movie star, still taking risks; Newman as a great elder statesman. I’ve genuinely no idea what it’s like, it’s been so long, but I’d love to see it again. Just wish The Hustler was on D+ too!

Quiz Show (1994): I’d mentioned before that there are loads of films from the ‘90s that I read about as an eager young film fan but never saw; this is one of them. An apparently-great drama about corruption at a hugely popular TV show in ‘50s America, with Ralph Fiennes in a very early Hollywood role. I think I’d enjoy it.

Looking for Richard (1996): another of those ‘90s films…! This fascinated me as a teen, and I’d love to see it: a documentary about Richard III, made by Al Pacino, featuring people talking about Shakespeare (got a lot of time for that) and also scenes of the play performed and filmed. It’s a real curio; also weirdly came out around the same time as McKellen’s Richard III. Maybe something was in the water? We’re due another big Rich in my opinion.

Jennifer’s Body (2009): a follow-up from Juno writer Diablo Cody, a horror centred around high school and female sexuality, this has always seemed like it might be a dark, delicious delight; it wasn’t very well received at the time, but has grown in cult status; as has its star, Megan Fox, who I’d argue has not had the easiest time within Hollywood. Anyway, I really like the look of it, and it’ll be cool to check it out.

Tombstone (1993): I love a good Western, and I seem to remember that this is a very good Western. A story of Wyatt Earp that goes beyond the famous gunfight, my memories of this are very vague; I know that there’s a very good Val Kilmer performance as Doc Holliday, and of course Kurt Russell as Earp himself. I might try out that “watch along” feature and watch this, remotely, with my dad.

Romancing the Stone (1984): I probably haven’t seen this since the eighties so I’ve got no idea if it’s really any good, but I do remember enjoying its Indy-inspired adventurism and – in particular – Danny DeVito’s bad guy. Douglas is always great value as a leading man, although from what I’ve since read this is really Kathleen Turner’s show. It’ll be interesting to see if it holds up, but hopefully it’ll be a good stop-gap until they finally get the Indy films up on the service.

Good Morning, Vietnam (1988): another film that I want to revisit, even if I remember it a little better than others on this list. My memory is that it’s utterly fantastic, a really stark look at the realities of Vietnam during the time of the war, and also a phenomenal, very human performance from Williams. Also I remember it being very funny when he does let off some steam (sorry, bit of Commando creeping in there). And really, it’s Williams I want to see again; that earnest, real, pained but beautiful Williams we get in his very best performances. It’s very likely I’ll cry just watching him on screen. God, I miss him.

Independence Day: Resurgence (2016): I needed some crappy sequel to talk about, and here it is. I can’t overstate how much I loved the first Independence Day in ’96, so the (apparent; I’ve not seen it) terribleness of this sequel hit me like a sledgehammer. It can’t be that bad, can it? Is it not at least so-bad-it’s-good? I mean, the trailer made it look atrocious, and it’s killed off Will Smith – the best character! – off-screen, so odds are not good that it’s a hidden gem. But I’ve got to know.

This was actually a pretty tough list, and I had to knock off some films that I’d love to rewatch (Conan the Barbarian, The War of the Roses), as well as stuff like Idiocracy and Office Space that I’ve never seen. Also Kingsman: The Secret Service, which is a fairly recent release that slipped me by, and I’m not sure why I’ve never gotten round to seeing; I blame the kids! Also, there was going to be some xenomorph or xeno-monkey action on here, but frustratingly all the Alien (and Predator!) movies are missing, and the recent Planet of the Apes trilogy – which I’ve also never seen! – is only served by its middle instalment. Yeah, I can watch the seminal ‘60s original again (and I may!) or the indecipherable and strange Tim Burton version, but what about, y’know, the trilogy that everyone raves about? I assume this is due to pre-existing deals keeping the films elsewhere (elusive…), but the sagas of Alien, Predator, and the complete Die Hard package are – I believe – being kept until most profitable (mark my works: Die Hard at Christmas). Anyway, it’s a bit frustrating, that, as I’ve never seen Covenant or The Predator, and I’d love to watch the whole lot from the start anyway.

I guess I can console myself by also watching the one Die Hard film I’ve never seen, namely the critically-acclaimed A Good Day to Die Hard. I mean, I’m assuming it’s critically acclaimed. I guess I’ll find out.

#top ten #movies #disney+#star #films #fox #dolly

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timeless-hollywood-classics · 4 years

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Gene Eliza Tierney (November 19, 1920 – November 6, 1991) was an American film and stage actress. Acclaimed as a great beauty, she became established as a leading lady. Tierney was best known for her portrayal of the title character in the film Laura (1944), and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as Ellen Berent Harland in Leave Her to Heaven (1945).

Tierney's other roles include Martha Strable Van Cleve in Heaven Can Wait (1943), Isabel Bradley Maturin in The Razor's Edge (1946), Lucy Muir in The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), Ann Sutton in Whirlpool (1949), Maggie Carleton McNulty in The Mating Season (1951), and Anne Scott in The Left Hand of God (1955).

I Gene Eliza Tierney was born on November 19, 1920 in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Howard Sherwood Tierney and Belle Lavinia Taylor. She was named after a beloved uncle, who died young.[4][page needed] She had an elder brother, Howard Sherwood "Butch" Tierney Jr., and a younger sister, Patricia "Pat" Tierney. Their father was a successful insurance broker of Irish descent, their mother a former physical education instructor.[4][page needed]

Tierney was raised in Westport, Connecticut. She attended St. Margaret's School in Waterbury, Connecticut, and the Unquowa School in Fairfield. She published her first poem, entitled "Night", in the school magazine and wrote poetry occasionally throughout her life. Tierney played Jo in a student production of Little Women, based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott.

Tierney spent two years in Europe, attending Brillantmont International School in Lausanne, Switzerland, where she learned to speak fluent French. She returned to the US in 1938 and attended Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Connecticut. On a family trip to the West Coast, she visited Warner Bros. studios, where a cousin worked as a producer of historical short films. Director Anatole Litvak, taken by the 17-year-old's beauty, told Tierney that she should become an actress. Warner Bros. wanted to sign her to a contract, but her parents advised against it because of the relatively low salary; they also wanted her to take her position in society.

Tierney's society debut occurred on September 24, 1938, when she was 17 years old. page needed] Soon bored with society life, she decided to pursue an acting career. Her father said, "If Gene is to be an actress, it should be in the legitimate theatre." Tierney studied acting at a small Greenwich Village acting studio in New York with Yiddish and Broadway actor/director Benno Schneider. She became a protégée of Broadway producer-director George Abbott.

In Tierney's first role on Broadway, she carried a bucket of water across the stage in What a Life! (1938). A Variety magazine critic declared, "Miss Tierney is certainly the most beautiful water carrier I've ever seen!" She also worked as an understudy in The Primrose Path (1938).

The following year, she appeared in the role of Molly O'Day in the Broadway production Mrs. O'Brien Entertains (1939). The New York Times critic Brooks Atkinson wrote, "As an Irish maiden fresh from the old country, Gene Tierney in her first stage performance is very pretty and refreshingly modest." That same year, Tierney appeared as Peggy Carr in Ring Two (1939) to favorable reviews. Theater critic Richard Watts Jr. of the New York Herald Tribune wrote, "I see no reason why Miss Tierney should not have an interesting theatrical career – that is, if cinema does not kidnap her away."

Tierney's father set up a corporation, Belle-Tier, to fund and promote her acting career. Columbia Pictures signed her to a six-month contract in 1939. She met Howard Hughes, who tried unsuccessfully to seduce her. From a well-to-do family herself, she was not impressed by his wealth. Hughes eventually became a lifelong friend.

After a cameraman advised Tierney to lose a little weight, she wrote to Harper's Bazaar magazine for a diet, which she followed for the next 25 years. Tierney was initially offered the lead role in National Velvet, but production was delayed. page needed] When Columbia Pictures failed to find Tierney a project, she returned to Broadway and starred as Patricia Stanley to critical and commercial success in The Male Animal (1940). In The New York Times, Brooks Atkinson wrote, "Tierney blazes with animation in the best performance she has yet given". She was the toast of Broadway before her 20th birthday. The Male Animal was a hit, and Tierney was featured in Life magazine. She was also photographed by Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, and Collier's Weekly.

Two weeks after The Male Animal opened, Darryl F. Zanuck, the head of 20th Century Fox, was rumored to have been in the audience. During the performance, he told an assistant to note Tierney's name. Later that night, Zanuck dropped by the Stork Club, where he saw a young lady on the dance floor. He told his assistant, "Forget the girl from the play. See if you can sign that one." It was Tierney. At first, Zanuck did not think she was the actress he had seen. Tierney was quoted (after the fact), saying: "I always had several different 'looks', a quality that proved useful in my career."

Tierney signed with 20th Century-Fox[4][page needed] and her motion picture debut was in a supporting role as Eleanor Stone in Fritz Lang's western The Return of Frank James (1940), opposite Henry Fonda.

A small role as Barbara Hall followed in Hudson's Bay (1941) with Paul Muni and she co-starred as Ellie Mae Lester in John Ford's comedy Tobacco Road (also 1941), and played the title role in Belle Starr alongside co-star Randolph Scott, Zia in Sundown, and Victoria Charteris (Poppy Smith) in The Shanghai Gesture. She played Eve in Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake (1942), as well as the dual role of Susan Miller (Linda Worthington) in Rouben Mamoulian's screwball comedy Rings on Her Fingers, and roles as Kay Saunders in Thunder Birds, and Miss Young in China Girl (all 1942).

Receiving top billing in Ernst Lubitsch's comedy Heaven Can Wait (1943), as Martha Strable Van Cleve, signaled an upward turn in Tierney's career. Tierney recalled during the production of Heaven Can Wait:

Lubitsch was a tyrant on the set, the most demanding of directors. After one scene, which took from noon until five to get, I was almost in tears from listening to Lubitsch shout at me. The next day I sought him out, looked him in the eye, and said, 'Mr. Lubitsch, I'm willing to do my best but I just can't go on working on this picture if you're going to keep shouting at me.' 'I'm paid to shout at you', he bellowed. 'Yes', I said, 'and I'm paid to take it – but not enough.' After a tense pause, Lubitsch broke out laughing. From then on we got along famously.

Tierney starred in what became her best-remembered role: the title role in Otto Preminger's film noir Laura (1944), opposite Dana Andrews. After playing Tina Tomasino in A Bell for Adano (1945), she played the jealous, narcissistic femme fatale Ellen Berent Harland in Leave Her to Heaven (1945), adapted from a best selling novel by Ben Ames Williams. Appearing with Cornel Wilde, Tierney won an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. This was 20th Century-Fox' most successful film of the 1940s. It was cited by director Martin Scorsese as one of his favorite films of all time, and he assessed Tierney as one of the most underrated actresses of the Golden Era.

Tierney then starred as Miranda Wells in Dragonwyck (1946), along with Walter Huston and Vincent Price. It was Joseph L. Mankiewicz' debut film as a director, In the same period, she starred as Isabel Bradley, opposite Tyrone Power, in The Razor's Edge (also 1946), an adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's novel of the same name. Her performance was critically praised.

Tierney played Lucy Muir in Mankiewicz's The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), opposite Rex Harrison. The following year, she co-starred again with Power, this time as Sara Farley in the successful screwball comedy That Wonderful Urge (1948). As the decade came to a close, Tierney reunited with Laura director Preminger to star as Ann Sutton in the classic film noir Whirlpool (1949), co-starring Richard Conte and José Ferrer. She appeared in two other film noirs: Jules Dassin's Night and the City, shot in London, and Otto Preminger's Where the Sidewalk Ends (both 1950), reunited with both Preminger and leading man Dana Andrews, who she appeared with in five movies total.

Tierney was loaned to Paramount Pictures, giving a comic turn as Maggie Carleton in Mitchell Leisen's ensemble farce, The Mating Season (1951), with John Lund, Thelma Ritter, and Miriam Hopkins. She gave a tender performance as Midge Sheridan in the Warner Bros. film, Close to My Heart (1951), with Ray Milland. The film is about a couple trying to adopt a child. Later in her career, she was reunited with Milland in Daughter of the Mind (1969).

After Tierney appeared opposite Rory Calhoun as Teresa in Way of a Gaucho (1952), her contract at 20th Century-Fox expired. That same year, she starred as Dorothy Bradford in Plymouth Adventure, opposite Spencer Tracy at MGM. She and Tracy had a brief affair during this time.[10] Tierney played Marya Lamarkina opposite Clark Gable in Never Let Me Go (1953), filmed in England.

In the course of the 1940s, she reached a pinnacle of fame as a beautiful leading lady, on a par with "fellow sirens Rita Hayworth, Lana Turner and Ava Gardner". She was "called the most beautiful woman in movie history" and many of her movies in the 1940s became classic films.

Tierney remained in Europe to play Kay Barlow in United Artists' Personal Affair (1953). While in Europe, she began a romance with Prince Aly Khan, but their marriage plans met with fierce opposition from his father Aga Khan III. Early in 1953, Tierney returned to the U.S. to co-star in the film noir Black Widow (1954) as Iris Denver, with Ginger Rogers and Van Heflin.

Tierney had reportedly started smoking after a screening of her first movie to lower her voice, because she felt, "I sound like an angry Minnie Mouse." She subsequently became a heavy smoker.

With difficult events in her personal life, Tierney struggled for years with episodes of manic depression. In 1943, she gave birth to a daughter, Daria, who was deaf and mentally disabled, the result of a fan breaking a rubella quarantine and infecting the pregnant Tierney while she volunteered at the Hollywood Canteen. In 1953, she suffered problems with concentration, which affected her film appearances. She dropped out of Mogambo and was replaced by Grace Kelly.[4][page needed] While playing Anne Scott in The Left Hand of God (1955), opposite Humphrey Bogart, Tierney became ill. Bogart's sister Frances (known as Pat) had suffered from mental illness, so he showed Tierney great sympathy, feeding her lines during the production and encouraging her to seek help.

Tierney consulted a psychiatrist and was admitted to Harkness Pavilion in New York. Later, she went to the Institute of Living in Hartford, Connecticut. After some 27 shock treatments, intended to alleviate severe depression, Tierney fled the facility, but was caught and returned. She later became an outspoken opponent of shock treatment therapy, claiming it had destroyed significant portions of her memory.

In late December 1957, Tierney, from her mother's apartment in Manhattan, stepped onto a ledge 14 stories above ground and remained for about 20 minutes in what was considered a suicide attempt. Police were called, and afterwards Tierney's family arranged for her to be admitted to the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas. The following year, after treatment for depression, she was discharged. Afterwards, she worked as a sales girl in a local dress shop with hopes of integrating back into society, but she was recognized by a customer, resulting in sensational newspaper headlines.

Later in 1958, 20th Century-Fox offered Tierney a lead role in Holiday for Lovers (1959), but the stress upon her proved too great, so only days into production, she dropped out of the film and returned to Menninger for a time.

Tierney made a screen comeback in Advise and Consent (1962), co-starring with Franchot Tone and reuniting with director Otto Preminger.[4][page needed] Soon afterwards, she played Albertine Prine in Toys in the Attic (1963), based on the play by Lillian Hellman. This was followed by the international production of Las cuatro noches de la luna llena, (Four Nights of the Full Moon - 1963), in which she starred with Dan Dailey. She received critical praise overall for her performances.

Tierney's career as a solid character actress seemed to be back on track as she played Jane Barton in The Pleasure Seekers (1964), but then she suddenly retired. She returned to star in the television movie Daughter of the Mind (1969) with Don Murray and Ray Milland. Her final performance was in the TV miniseries Scruples (1980).

Tierney married two men: the first was Oleg Cassini, a costume and fashion designer, on June 1, 1941, with whom she eloped. She was 20 years old. Her parents opposed the marriage, as he was from a Russian-Italian family and born in France. She had two daughters, Antoinette Daria Cassini (October 15, 1943 – September 11, 2010) and Christina "Tina" Cassini (November 19, 1948 – March 31, 2015).

In June 1943, while pregnant with Daria, Tierney contracted rubella (German measles), likely from a fan ill with the disease. Antoinette Daria Cassini was born prematurely in Washington, DC, weighing three pounds, two ounces (1.42 kg) and requiring a total blood transfusion. The rubella caused congenital damage: Daria was deaf, partially blind with cataracts, and severely mentally disabled. She was institutionalized for much of her life. This entire incident was inspiration for a plot point in the 1962 Agatha Christie novel The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side.

It is claimed that she had an affair with Mohammad Reza Shah of Iran during the late 1940s.

Tierney's friend Howard Hughes paid for Daria's medical expenses, ensuring the girl received the best care. Tierney never forgot his acts of kindness. Daria Cassini died in 2010, at the age of 66.

Tierney and Cassini separated October 20, 1946, and entered into a property settlement agreement on November 10. Periodicals during this period record Tierney with Charles K. Feldman, including articles related to her "twosoming" with Feldman, her "current best beau". The divorce was to be finalized in March 1948, but they reconciled before then.

During their separation, Tierney met John F. Kennedy, a young World War II veteran, who was visiting the set of Dragonwyck in 1946. They began a romance that she ended the following year after Kennedy told her he could never marry her because of his political ambitions. In 1960, Tierney sent Kennedy a note of congratulations on his victory in the presidential election. During this time, newspapers documented Tierney's other romantic relationships, including Kirk Douglas.

While filming for Personal Affair in Europe, she began a romance with Prince Aly Khan. They became engaged in 1952, while Khan was going through a divorce from Rita Hayworth. Their marriage plans, however, met with fierce opposition from his father, Aga Khan III.

Cassini later bequeathed $500,000 in trust to Daria and $1,000,000 to Christina. Cassini and Tierney remained friends until her death in November 1991.

In 1958, Tierney met Texas oil baron W. Howard Lee, who had been married to actress Hedy Lamarr since 1953. Lee and Lamarr divorced in 1960 after a long battle over alimony, then Lee and Tierney married in Aspen, Colorado, on July 11, 1960. They lived quietly in Houston, Texas, and Delray Beach, Florida until his death in 1981.

Despite her self-imposed exile in Texas, Tierney received work offers from Hollywood, prompting her to a comeback. She appeared in a November 1960 broadcast of General Electric Theater, during which time she discovered that she was pregnant. Shortly after, 20th Century Fox announced Tierney would play the lead role in Return to Peyton Place, but she withdrew from the production after suffering a miscarriage.

Tierney's autobiography, Self-Portrait, in which she candidly discusses her life, career, and mental illness, was published in 1979.

Tierney's second husband, W. Howard Lee, died on February 17, 1981 after a long illness.[24]

In 1986, Tierney was honored alongside actor Gregory Peck with the first Donostia Lifetime Achievement Award at the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain.

Tierney has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6125 Hollywood Boulevard.

Tierney died of emphysema on November 6, 1991, in Houston, thirteen days before her 71st birthday. She is interred in Glenwood Cemetery in Houston.

Certain documents of Tierney's film-related material, personal papers, letters, etc., are held in the Wesleyan University Cinema Archives, though her papers are closed to the public.

#gene tierney #golden age of hollywood #classic hollywood #old hollywood #classic movie stars

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agentnico · 4 years

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The Irishman (2019) Review

“As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster.”

Plot: Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran is a man with a lot on his mind. The former labor union high official and hitman, learned to kill serving in Italy during the Second World War. He now looks back on his life and the hits that defined his mob career, maintaining connections with the Bufalino crime family. In particular, the part he claims to have played in the disappearance of his life-long friend, Jimmy Hoffa, the former president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, who mysteriously vanished in late July 1975 at the age of 62.

Netflix has released arguably it’s biggest motion picture to-date, both financially and artistically, costing over $140 million (oh my!) and starring the likes of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino and being directed by none other than Martin Scorsese himself. Getting back into the mobster genre, Scorsese has a lot of fun bringing together this acting legends, and the film is at its best when it allows these stars to simply sit together in a room and talk. In fact, some of the best moments within the film come from scenes shared between De Niro and Joe Pesci (returning from retirement for this role no less!) as they chew on the dialogue and scenery and it really just makes you think that these actors won’t live forever, and how lucky we are to see them still do what they do best now and in such a fantastic way. Joe Pesci especially does something new by not being the desperado he usually is in his other films, and rather playing the sharp-witted quiet sensible guy and he’s absolutely electric on-screen. Al Pacino is at his most Al Pacino-est, and appearances by Harvey Keitel and Ray Romano are more than welcome. The latter especially impressed me, having to stand up side by side with these legends and managing to still bring his A-game. What makes The Irishman work is its stars. This is some of the year’s best acting work and so I expect a few of these fellas taking over the Oscars ceremony.

There’s also the element of using new de-aging technology to make the likes of De Niro and Pesci look younger (and consequently even older and more ancient) and I must say that generally it does work and is an impressive feat. There are a couple of shots where the CGI on their faces is obvious (a quick flashback with De Niro’s Frank during his soldier days really stands out) and then there is also the fact that they can de-age these actors’ faces all they want, but they can’t change the fact that the way their bodies move is the way 70 year old men’s bodies move. And this can lead to some scenes looking a bit dodgy/awkward and takes you out a little from the experience of movie magic.

The Irishman has been critically acclaimed by both critics and fans, and has already won Best Film at the 2019 New York Film Critics Circle Awards, however I might disappoint some by saying that I think this film is a tad over-rated and and overwhelming. It’s a bit too much, spanning over 3 hours with some scenes that could definitely have been cut, and then there is also the fact that this movie cannot help but live in the shadow of the likes of The Godfather and Scorsese’s own Goodfellas. Yes, I feel like I might get a lot of hate for that last statement, but heck, I’m a maverick. Yeah, I’m unstoppable! Come at me, bro! I can say whatever I want, this is the internet, the place for cat memes and endless news reports from The Guardian about Boris Johnson being, well, Boris Johnson. That’s a whole different conversation, let’s not get into that. Getting back on track, The Irishman has a lot to offer in terms of enjoyment, and it is obviously filmed immaculately due to Scorsese being a master of his craft, but I cannot lie, after hearing all the critical ravings I kind of expected something more better, memorable and unique. Instead we’ve gotten yet another fairly decent mob-flick on our hands that is boosted by some fantastic acting work. Alright, that’s it, Nico out!

Overall score: 6/10

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ishy-man · 4 years

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IB REVIEW: THE IRISHMAN

Written by ishmael Mainoo

An ambitious comeback for a director that needs no introduction, Italian American film director Martin Scorsese’s cinematic adaptation of the Charles Brandt Biography: ’I heard you paint houses’ a detailing the life of Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran and his dealings with the Buffalino crime family, and Jimmy Hoffa head of the teamsters union. Can be described as enthralling. Informative and macabre as well as thoroughly enjoyable. Speaking as a man familiar with the filmography of the ‘new Hollywood’ icon, it was refreshing to see an auteur like Scorsese returning to his artistic roots. Reminiscent of such previous works as Casino and The mafia classic Goodfellas. And with the line-up of an all-star cast. Scorsese could well be likened to Marvel’s S.H.I.E.LD agent: Nick Fury as he assembles his avengers. Seeing him team up once again with the likes of Stout ‘tough guy’ Joe Pesci, The Ragin bull Robert De Niro, And of course Al Pacino. All of whom are no strangers to appearing in the odd gangster flick or two. All this along with the addition of British actor Stephen Graham who has indeed starred in his fair share of crime productions from Tommy in the guy Ritchie film ‘Snatch’ to Chicago mob boss Al Capone in the critically acclaimed HBO series ‘Boardwalk empire’, I think we can safely say this cast will take to any gangster role like a duck to water. And an appearance by Harvey Keitel as the respected Mob boss Angelo Bruno as well as a little something for the young people as new York rapper Action Bronson has a bit part as a coffin salesman, but I digress…

The Irishman is yet another biopic style film about an antihero in Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro) who’s line of work lead to the slow and subtle dismantling of his family life especially his relationship with his daughter Peggy who witnesses certain sides to her father that she knows are less than pleasant and eventually her fear of him turns to hatred as she realises her father is a cold blooded killer. Within the opening shot we see our silver haired protagonist and humble narrator; Frank Sheeran sitting alone in his section of the cafeteria at a nursing home for the elderly. Almost held in captivity by his wheelchair. As he reminisces to us in the typical Scorsese fashion of breaking the fourth wall. About how life used to be. Treating the audience as an eager child hearing stories of the ‘the good ol’days’ from Grandpa. Showing muted attrition for his acts and almost a sense of self pity in his tone before even getting into the story. The elderly Irish American hitman still has an air of military philosophy in his character. That one could attribute to the character’s time in the second world war as he rationalises his acts as any quintessential soldier would, by stating he was only following orders.

From a technical standpoint the film’s cinematography was nothing short of trademark Scorsese, the tracking shot through the nursing home and into the room where frank sits, almost emulating the single take done by Henry and Karen Hill entering through the staff entrance at the Copacabana club in Goodfellas, or the quick cross cuts between Jo Hoffa (Welker white) turning on her ignition and an exploding car from another job. Indeed, it is the suspense created from the long pause of Jo anxiously awaiting to turn her engine on that transforms the scene alone into something of sheer brilliance. The Irishman to me was a testament to the scorcese cinematic mafia world. And will leave you either fascinated with the mafioso subculture or leave you ultimately disgusted with their heinous and nonchalant behaviour to murder. However unlike Goodfellas, casino or even the wolf of wall street, I found the film to be ‘an acquired taste’ if it so can be called, unlike it’s predecessors I found that the film was more dialogue driven than films before it and set at a slower pace. Compared to the aforementioned names. Well written though the film was and with the certain east coast lexical flair which all added to a believable and natural dialogue. I couldn’t help but feel that this came at the expense of momentum for the film. even the opening scenes of Scorsese’s films beforehand struck you with action from the very beginning. Whether it’s three guys driving at night with a halfdead body in the trunk. (Goodfellas). or a Casino boss leaving a restaurant ready to turn on the ignition in his car only to unknowingly detonate a car bomb (Casino). Or even a midget toss at an office party in the heart of New York’s financial district. (The Wolf of Wall Street). I feel that if the Irishman was a horse it is in no way shape or form a front runner and is a film that requires a viewer’s patience.

Which is probably why a handful of viewers (philistines) complained after it’s initial release stating it to be ‘boring’ and ‘too long’, I can empathise with these people on the ‘boring’ part, upon my first viewing even I had to wave my cursor to check the time marker to see how long I had left of this picture. However, to simply complain a film is ‘too long’ is in my mind nothing short of nonsense. Especially if you are familiar with Scorsese’s works: The runtime for the Wolf of Wall street is exactly three hours, Goodfellas two hours and twenty-eight minutes and Casino at Two hours and Fifty-eight. To conclude the runtime of a film should have no bearing on the quality of the film itself. And would not be a problem for most were the film more visually stimulating. Where the wolf of wall street, casino and Goodfellas featured frequent fast cuts and dynamic shots of abhorrent drug use, rampant sex, and/or poor bastards getting their brains blown out. All set to a multitude of complimenting soundtracks by artists such as Ray Charles, The rolling stones, Smokestack lighting or frank Sinatra etc. The Irishman had a distinct lack of all mentioned. However, this muted tone made for a more earnest watching. instead of relying on fast cuts and music sequences, it relied on the tension created by nuances in dialogue. The tension was even made sharper by the lack of non-diegetic sound. Seen multiple times especially when Tony Slaerno and Russel Buffalino (Joe Pesci) Tell Frank to persuade Jimmy (Al Pacino) to retire. (Essentially, ‘tell him to retire or we whack him’)

To the finish, the film’s story as a whole reminded me of Goodfellas in the sense of a character being indoctrinated into the mob life and showing the day to day stresses and moral dilemmas of working in such a career. Such as attempting to blow up a laundry place only to find out before the act that it belongs to your mob boss. And trying to prevent your hot-headed friend from getting killed by your employers. However I believe this picture goes a step further by showing how our protagonist got to work for the mafia - what life was like working for the mafia - and life after the mafia as an old man riddled with arthritis. Which leaves one to almost sympathise with this Irishman. As he sits alone in his nursing home. Isolated from the open world, with all his friend’s dead. Or in prison and a family that wants nothing to do with him because of who he was.

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wazafam · 3 years

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Cristin Milioti will always be remembered for playing the titular "Mother" in How I Met Your Mother, but the actress has been in several notable titles since the sitcom came to an end. Despite playing the key character, Milioti only starred in the ninth and final season after making her debut in the season 8 finale. Before bringing Tracy McConnell to life, Milioti gained her acting credits with roles in TV shows like The Sopranos, The Good Wife, 30 Rock, and Nurse Jackie. Aside from a few indie movies, the actress also spent a lot of time performing on stage, including a Tony-nominated role in Once.

Milioti continued to appear in Once when it moved to Broadway, eventually winning a Grammy award for her musical work. The fact that she was a multi-talented rising figure helped her get the role of Tracy, considering the character's connection to music. Milioti officially joined How I Met Your Mother in 2013, which was the same year she appeared in the comedy Bert and Arnie's Guide to Friendship. She also portrayed Teresa Petrillo Belfort in Martin Scorsese's critically-acclaimed film, The Wolf of Wall Street.

Related: How I Met Your Mother: What Happened To Max, The Mother's Boyfriend

Sadly, Milioti only had a short time to shine in CBS sitcom since it came to an end in March. Tracy's fate in How I Met Your Mother remains a controversial topic to fans of the beloved series. Granted, the actress was able to find a new gig right away, acquiring the lead role of Zelda Vasco in NBC's A to Z. In 2015, Milioti moved onto Fargo season 2, playing Betsy Solverson, before appearing in The Mindy Project, The Venture Bros., and the Black Mirror episode titled "USS Callister." The Broadway vet also returned to the stage after joining David Bowie's Lazarus as Elly.

More recently, Milioti had a lead role in season 2 of the CBS All Access comedy, No Activity, which is known for its ensemble cast and guest appearances. After having a small role in the romantic-comedy series Modern Love, Milioti briefly starred in an episode of 2020's Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet opposite Jake Johnson. 2020 turned out to be a big year for the actress after serving as the female lead of Sarah Wilder in the time loop comedy Palm Springs, alongside Andy Samberg. The popularity of the Hulu movie gave Milioti more exposure to wider audiences, which has increased his star status. By the end of the year, she also appeared in the British mockumentary titled Death to 2020, reteaming with the Black Mirror creators.

Next up, the former How I Met Your Mother actress will headline the forthcoming HBO Max original series, Made for Love. Milioti is set to play Hazel Green-Gogol, a woman attempting to end a decade-long marriage before realizing her husband fitted her with a tracking device in her brain. Billy Magnussen plays the role of her husband, Byron, in a cast that includes Ray Romano, Dan Bakkedahl, Noma Dumezweni, and Augusto Aguilera.

More: How I Met Your Mother’s Alternate Ending Explained

What Cristin Milioti Has Done Since How I Met Your Mother from https://ift.tt/32nX4UF

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slimkhezri · 4 years

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📺🎞 #LateNightCinema Watching “The Irishman” (subtitled onscreen as I Heard You Paint Houses), a 2019 American epic crime film directed and produced by Martin Scorsese and written by Steven Zaillian, based on the 2004 nonfiction book I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt. It stars Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci, with Ray Romano, Bobby Cannavale, Anna Paquin, Stephen Graham, Stephanie Kurtzuba, Jesse Plemons, and Harvey Keitel in supporting roles. It received critical acclaim, with praise for Scorsese's direction and the performances of De Niro, Pacino, and Pesci. The film received numerous accolades; at the 92nd Academy Awards, it received 10 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor for Pacino and Pesci, and Best Adapted Screenplay. Additionally, at the 77th Golden Globe Awards, it was nominated for five awards, including Best Motion Picture – Drama, while it earned 10 nominations at the 73rd British Academy Film Awards, including Best Film. Plot: In the 1950s, truck driver Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro) gets involved with Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci) and his Pennsylvania crime family. As Sheeran climbs the ranks to become a top hit man, he also goes to work for Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino) -- a powerful Teamster tied to organized crime. #movie #film #theirishman #martinscorsese #robertdeniro #alpacino #joepesci #epiccinema #gangster #harveykeitel #netflix #drama @netflix (at Los Angeles, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/B-wReMFpiMB/?igshid=qw39mqvi66om

#latenightcinema #movie #film #theirishman #martinscorsese #robertdeniro #alpacino #joepesci #epiccinema #gangster #harveykeitel #netflix #drama

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lifelastingcouples · 4 years

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Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman

Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward was born on the 27ᵗʰ of February 1930. Joanne met Paul Newman in the early 1950s while working in Broadway production of the romantic drama Picnic. The show was a success and they both headed to Hollywood, where he signed a contract with Warner Bros and she began working with 20ᵗʰ Century Fox. In 1957, Newman was cast opposite Woodward and Orson Welles in The Long, Hot Summer, a film set in a small, sweltering Mississippi town and based on stories by William Faulkner. By the time filming ended, Newman and Woodward were discreetly living together.

In January 1958 they married en Las Vegas. On the 26ᵗʰ of March 1958 Joanne won the Academy Award of Best Actress for The Three Faces of Eve.

Over the course of the next two decades, Newman starred in a series of critically acclaimed movies. Newman and Woodward also starred together in a number of films although none as popular as The Long, Hot Summer. In 1968, Newman made his directorial debut with the film Rachel. As the title character, Woodward garnered an Oscar nomination for Best Actress, one of four total nominations that the film received. Upon the film’s release, Newman remarked in the press that Woodward had “given up her career” for him, and that’s why he directed the movie “for her.” By that time, Woodward and Newman had three daughters and were living in Connecticut, far from the glare of the Hollywood spotlight. In addition, the couple was also active in liberal politics, lobbying for various causes and speaking publicly on behalf of Democratic candidates. Newman was later appointed by President Jimmy Carter to serve on a United Nations Conference on Nuclear Disarmament. Throughout, the couple diligently defended the solidity of their marriage against press speculation, posing together for a LIFE magazine spread in 1968 and placing a full-page ad in the Los Angeles Times the following year proclaiming that they were still happily together. The marriage weathered some hard times–they later admitted that their work together on The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the Moon Marigolds (1972), in which Newman again directed his wife, caused strain in the marriage–and sustained them through tragedy, as Newman’s son Scott died from a drug overdose in 1978. In 1987, Newman once again directed his wife in the well-reviewed film The Glass Menagerie. That same year, he won his first Oscar, for Best Actor, after he reprised his Hustler role as Fast Eddie Felson in the Martin Scorsese-directed sequel, The Color of Money. In 1990, Newman and Woodward starred together for the 10ᵗʰ time, in Mr. and Mrs. Bridge. By that time, Newman had turned another of his “hobbies”–a small salad-dressing company he started in 1982–into a retail empire, Newman’s Own, which would eventually generate more than $220 million in charitable donations and expand to include pop-corn, pasta sauces, salsas and fruit drinks. Paul died on the 26ᵗʰ of September 2008, at the age of 83, after more than 50 years of marriage with Joanne.

Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman at 30ᵗʰ Academy Awards (1958)

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daydreamer0078 · 4 years

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10 Best Films in 2019 You Must Watch If You Haven't Seen

10 Best Films in 2019 that You Must Watch If You Haven't Seen

You may have missed these movies. Well because there are some movies out there which got a lot of recognition and had got billions of collections in Box Office. For Instance, Avengers Endgame, Joker and Once Upon a time in Hollywood. These all had got a lot of hype and ofcourse done a magnificent job in the box office. Despite these films, You people may have missed the other 10 best films that were released in 2019 which you must watch if you haven't seen them yet. However, if you're a film lover and binge watch films then you should watch these movies too. The reason because of their stories. They had been picturized, well-directed and well-narrated movies. If you miss them watching. Maybe, you've missed some of the greatest films. Well, recently Parasite ( Non-English ) Movie has won Oscar Award for Best Picture. Why it has won? Only because of its story and the message. Regardless, there are some other films too that had nominated for Oscars which you should watch them without missing. Let's see what are the 10 Best Films in 2019 you must watch ( In No Particular Order ) 1917

1917 is Must watch film. It has great cinematography experience, magnificent war scenes and tells the beautiful message towards humanity. It is well directed and great produced which you shouldn't miss. You'll never regret watching it. Despite of critics, I'm sure you will love the experience. About Movie: 1917 is a British war epic film directed, co-written, and produced by Sam Mendes in 2019. The film stars George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman, supporting roles include Mark Strong, Andrew Scott, Richard Madden, Claire Duburcq, Colin Firth, and Benedict Cumberbatch. The film received ten nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director at the 92nd Academy Awards, and won three, including Best Cinematography. Plot: 6 April 1917. Two soldiers are assigned to race against time as a regiment assembles to wage war deep in enemy territory and deliver a message that will stop 1,600 men from walking straight into a deadly trap. Marriage Story

Marriage Story tells us the beautiful values of the family. The film is acclaimed by the critics and people too for its narration, screenplay and in the same way, the performances of the actors. The film was similar to the reality which everyone can relate to. Although, It is a great watch movie. About Movie: Marriage Story is a drama film that Noah Baumbach wrote, directed and released in 2019. It stars Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver, supporting roles with Laura Dern, Alan Alda, Ray Liotta, Julie Hagerty, and Merritt Wever. It received six nominations, including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor (Adam Driver), Best Actress (Johansson), at the 92nd Academy Awards and won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Plot: Noah Baumbach's incisive and compassionate look at a marriage breaking up and a family staying together. The Irishman

The Irishman is must watch film only because it was directed by the greatest director Martin Scorsese. If you're a lover of Martin Scorsese then you should watch this film. The films follow the events of crime and biography. About Movie: The Irishman is an American historical crime film made and directed by Martin Scorsese and produced by Steven Zaillian in 2019. It stars Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci, with supporting roles from Ray Romano, Bobby Cannavale, Anna Paquin, Stephen Graham, Stephanie Kurtzuba, Jesse Plemons, and Harvey Keitel. The film has received numerous awards; it has earned 10 nominations at the 92nd Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor for Pacino and Pesci and Best Adapted Screenplay. Plot: The film follows Frank Sheeran (De Niro), a truck driver who becomes a hitman with mobster Russell Bufalino (Pesci) and his criminal family, including his time working for the powerful Jimmy Hoffa (Pacino) Teamster. JOJO Rabbit

Jojo Rabbit is a classic comedy film that you must watch. It is well directed by Taika Waititi. The film is greatly produced, well narrated and magnificent cinematography work. You'll thoroughly enjoy watching the movie. About Movie: Jojo Rabbit is a 2019 American comedy-drama film, written and directed by Taika Waititi, based on the book Caging Skies by Christine Leunens. The film stars Roman Griffin Davis, Waititi, Thomasin McKenzie, Scarlett Johansson, Rebel Wilson, Stephen Merchant, Alfie Allen and Sam Rockwell. The film received six nominations at the 92nd Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress for Johansson and won Best Adapted Screenplay. Plot: A young boy in Hitler's army figures out that his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in their household. He then has to doubt his convictions while struggling with his imaginary friend's involvement, Adolf Hitler's fanciful version Knives Out

Knives Out is a thriller film that excites you every minute. It is well directed and well-executed. The film stars an ensemble cast whom you love. Additionally, the film has the elements of comedy, drama, and thriller. You'll enjoy every minute while watching the film. About Movie: Knives Out is an American thriller film written, produced and directed by Rian Johnson in 2019. The film stars amazing cast, including Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Eric Johnson, Toni Collette, Lakeith Stanfield, Katherine Langford, Jaeden Martell and Christopher Plummer. The film received three Best Motion Picture,Best Actor for Craig, and Best Actress for de Armas nominations at the 77th Golden Globe Awards. Plot: A detective investigates the death of an eccentric, combative family patriarch. Parasite

You can't describe the words after watching Parasite Movie. It is the first non-English language to win Best Picture at Oscars in 2019. Maybe, that's enough to tell how much the movie is. All I can say is a MASTERPIECE. Especially, if you're a film lover and haven't watched this one yet. Then, maybe you shouldn't call yourself a film lover though. This movie will be on the list of best films of the decade. About Movie: Parasite is a 2019 South Korean dark comedy suspense film directed by Bong Joon-ho who also co-wrote Han Jin-won's screenplay. It includes Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-Kyun, Cho Yeo-Jeong, Choi Woo-Shik, Jang Hye-jin, and Park So-dam. At the 92nd Academy Awards Parasite won a leading four awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best International Feature Film. It became the first non-English-language film to receive Academy Award recognition to win Best Picture. Plot: A poor family, the Kims, are making their way into servants of a wealthy family, the Parks. But when their secrecy is threatened with exposure their easy life gets complicated. The Farewell

The Farewell is a comedy family drama carries emotional elements and a beautiful message to the audience. Every Family should watch this film and get some messages. It was beautifully portrayed and well narrated. About Movie: The Farewell, written and directed by Lulu Wang, is a 2019 American comedy-drama film. It stars Awkwafina, Tzi Ma, Diana Lin, Zhao Shuzhen, Lu Hong and Jiang Yongbo. The film was nominated for two awards for Best Foreign Language Film at the 77th Golden Globe Awards, with Awkwafina winning Best Actress–Musical or Comedy. Plot: A Chinese family finds out that their grandmother only has a short time left to live and decides to keep her in the dark, scheduling a wedding before she dies. Ford Vs Ferrari

Ford vs Ferrari is a biopic about how ford defeats Ferrari's capability. It is well narrated and nominated for the best picture. Especially, if you're cars lover and also a film lover, then you have to watch this film About Movie: Ford v Ferrari is a 2019 American sports drama film directed by James Mangold and written by Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, and Jason Keller. It stars Matt Damon and Christian Bale, supporting roles with Jon Bernthal, Caitriona Balfe, Tracy Letts, Josh Lucas, Noah Jupe, Remo Girone, and Ray McKinnon. Four nominations, including Best Picture, were received at the 92nd Academy Awards, and it won Best Film Editing and Best Sound Editing. Plot: American car designer Carroll Shelby and driver Ken Miles are fighting commercial influence and the laws of physics to create Ford's groundbreaking race car to beat Ferrari in the 1966 Le Mans 24 Hours. Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Portrait of a Lady on Fire is beautifully picturized from cinematography to everything. The film has well-executed and narrated which carries emotional elements and overwhelming love story. About Movie: Portrait of a Lady on Fire is a historical French drama film written and directed by Céline Sciamma in 2019, starring Noémie Merlant and Adèle Haenel. The film stars Noémie Merlant, Adèle Haenel and Luàna Bajrami. It was Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film for Independent Spirit Awards, Critics Choice Awards and Golden Globe Awards. Plot: At the end of the 18th century, a female painter is forced to paint a wedding portrait of a young woman on an isolated island in Brittany. Apollo 11

Apollo 11 follows the events of Neil Armstrong who was the first person to land on the moon. If you're a space movie lover then you have to watch this film. About Movie: Apollo 11 is an American documentary film produced, edited, and directed by Todd Douglas Miller in 2019. The movies are starred by Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin. The film was nominated at the Independent Spirit Awards for Best Documentary Feature and won Best Editing at the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards. Plot: A look at the Apollo 11 landing on the moon with commander Neil Armstrong and pilots Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins in the lead. You might be interested in these articles, Have a look at them. MCU Timeline – Watch Every Marvel Movie in Order 16 Most Anticipated Movies in 2020 MARVEL PHASE 5 MOVIES AND SHOWS LIST HUGE MARVEL PHASE 5 LEAK – MCU Deadpool will Join with Avengers Soon – MCU Best Hollywood Movies of 2019 that You Must See! Read the full article

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