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forgottenlivesobverse · 2 years

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The Island of Aeons

The first story in Forgotten Lives 2 is James Bojacuik's 'The Island of Aeons', in which the Christopher Barry Doctor takes a sea voyage. James answers some questions about his story and the book...

What made you want to write for Forgotten Lives 2?

Imagine if Doctor Who had a secret history, stretching back alongside the history of film and science fiction. I love how Forgotten Lives explores an imaginary version of Doctor Who's development, and I adore the fun that can be had telling stories in now uncommon (but never outdated) styles. A little bit pastiche, a little bit mockumentary, a little bit of a spin on the games Sherlockians play, Forgotten Lives is some of the most fun I've had with Doctor Who. The moment I had the chance, I knew I needed to write for it. It added light to my life when I needed it most! What's your story about?

An unimaginable treasure waits on a secret island. Pirates and a mysterious expedition race across the globe to claim it for themselves. Amidst it all, the Doctor faces an impossible choice. What did you most enjoy about writing for this version of the Doctor?

Standing at the hazy earliest history of Doctor Who, the Christopher Barry Doctor is shrouded in mystery. All of the aspects we take for granted--the TARDIS, regeneration, even time travel--are still being figured out and often only exist by implication. And yet, he also embodies so much of what 'later' writers and actors would pull out of the character. While I see signs of all the classic Doctors, he most strongly recalls our first two. He is as stern and grandfatherly as Hartnell; as playful and tenacious as Troughton. Any adult will easily doubt him, but any child would instinctively adopt him. What were the influences on your story, and what genre were you writing in?

First and foremost, Simon Bucher-Jones's story for the first collection. I wanted to write something at peace with his mysterious early history of Doctor Who. His stories for the Barry Doctor play with being reconstructions from scanty sources: a few frames of footage, some remaining documents of doubtful provenance. In that vein, 'The Island of Aeons' is a story from the pulps of the early 1930s, a 'novelization' of a lost talkie matinee film or serial. A film that would have delighted children of the depression: swashbuckling pirates, horrible monsters made with in-camera special effects and gorgeous make-up, elaborate sets that stretch beyond the imagination, larger than life heroes and villains, and an unerring moral compass. A film that did not need Technicolor to roar with all the colour of life. These were the movies I was raised on, and adored, even at 60+ years remove. Somewhere, the child I was cheered. But this is 'the story of the film', as a pulp byline would have put it in a blazing font. And as such, its true home is in the crumbling, vanilla-scented pages of the popular magazines. The next strongest inspiration were the pulp fantasy stories of authors like Robert E Howard. Fantasy stories taking place in wholly invented worlds were still rare; instead, they wrote stories that took place in reassembled versions of history, where cultures stood at their most recognizable point and set against each other. 'Rome' is always about to fall. 'Egypt' is always a bastion of high culture under the pharaohs. 'Greece' is always Athens and Sparta and the controversies of the philosophers. The middle east's equivalent preserves lost learning, and 'Britain' shines in an Arthurian dawn. This story imagines what would happen if the Doctor was thrown into a world where all the romantic heights of the ancient and medieval world have congealed into a new form. He fights to preserve the lives here, and in history as it 'should' be. 'The Island of Aeons' can be found in Exciting Adventures, a magazine sold by any quality imaginary news stand. In the real world, we are lucky enough to find it in Forgotten Lives II.

Aside from the one you've used, which of the Forgotten Lives Doctors is your favourite?

I especially love the Robert Banks Stewart Doctor as I adore occult detectives, British supernatural horror literature from the 1940s, and B&W British horror films. I also have particular soft spots for Chuckaboo and his companion the Gallaccio Doctor, Jilly and Cedric and their companion/father the Christopher Baker Doctor, and the Hinchcliffe Doctor.

Can you describe your story's Doctor in three words?

The Definitive Article.

#forgotten lives ii #morbius doctors #christopher barry #doctor who

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denimbex1986 · 9 months

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'The last time I went to a cinema in London to watch a film I really wanted to see was more than 20 years ago. Time Regained, an adaptation of Marcel Proust’s À la recherche du temps perdu, was shown at an indie cinema in the West End. A couple of years later I happened to meet its director, Chilean filmmaker Raúl Ruiz, in the lobby of the hotel where I worked. I took the opportunity to thank him for turning the final volume of Proust’s great novel into a very fine film. However, I have never felt tempted to watch a blockbuster movie until I saw a poster for Oppenheimer in the London Underground.

The film opened simultaneously in London and the city of Srinagar, the town of my birth, which sits in a disputed region of India. When I was growing up, we had to wait for ages after its release date for a Hollywood film to reach a cinema in our town. I cycled many miles from my home to see American movies in a cinema called Broadway on the outskirts of town – its name a tribute to New York’s theatreland. I have never forgotten watching a scary Frankenstein film at Broadway as a youngster.

Like other cinemas in Srinagar, which is the largest city in the Kashmir region, Broadway closed for three decades because of political troubles. But as a friend told me over the phone, it has recently reopened as a multiplex and is now screening Oppenheimer to packed audiences.

I must confess that I hadn’t seen a Christopher Nolan film before – neither Dunkirk nor Interstellar. However, I wanted to watch Oppenheimer because it depicts a crucial moment in human history – the development and use of nuclear weapons. The fear of nuclear fallout is ever present in my native Kashmir, a region that’s surrounded by three of the world’s nine nuclear powers. It’s also home to several geological fault lines that run beneath its snow-clad mountains. Earthquakes, both manmade and natural, feel possible at any moment. In fact, India and Pakistan have come close to a nuclear confrontation twice in the past 24 years in the dispute over Kashmir. I was horrified when I saw a series of diagrams published in National Geographic during one of these near-catastrophic conflicts in 1999, depicting the many millions of people who would die in both of these countries if such an event were to occur.

Nolan’s film is based on the book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is also subtitled The Modern Prometheus. It’s an apt moniker for Oppenheimer – in Greek mythology, Prometheus, god of fire, tricks the god of gods, Zeus, and steals fire from Olympus in order to give it to humanity, but is condemned to suffer in eternity for his actions.

Oppenheimer himself was deeply interested in literature and the classics. He chose the code name Trinity for the first detonation of a nuclear bomb because he liked the 17th-century English poet John Donne, particularly his holy sonnet Batter my heart, three-person’d God. He read 19th-century French poet Charles Baudelaire’s Flowers of Evil while working on the first nuclear test. He was an aesthete who read Proust while on a walking holiday in Corsica and found a very reassuring passage in À la recherche about human moral frailty.

I hopped on my bike to go to see a matinee of Oppenheimer at an indie cinema in my neighbourhood in London. A small group of elderly cinemagoers, one of whom was using a walker, had arrived before me to see this historical saga. They must have been well acquainted with the McCarthy era, when several prominent Americans left the country and moved to Europe and Britain under suspicion of harbouring communist beliefs in the aftermath of the Second World War. Oppenheimer himself was under constant government surveillance while working on the Manhattan Project, having taken an interest in communism during his academic career. As Albert Einstein (portrayed in a cameo role in the film, though Einstein never participated in developing the bomb) once tellingly remarked: “The trouble with Oppenheimer is that he loves a woman who doesn’t love him – the United States government.”

After the war, government distrust would follow Oppenheimer for the rest of his career. When he met president Harry Truman at the White House in October, 1945 (the atomic bombs had been dropped in August), he apparently said: “Mr. President, I feel I have blood on my hands,” which privately enraged Truman. Martin J. Sherwin, co-author of the film’s source book, believes Oppenheimer’s words made the president see the scientist as a weakling. President Truman saw himself as ultimately responsible – somebody had to act decisively – and had ordered the bombs to be dropped on Japan.

Nolan’s film, shot both in monochrome and colour, also reveals the rivalry between Oppenheimer and Lewis Strauss, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission chairman. Strauss would eventually bring about the downfall of the eminent Manhattan Project leader by having one of his colleagues send a letter to J. Edgar Hoover, head of the FBI, instilling doubts about Oppenheimer’s loyalty to the United States. It was a simple bureaucratic procedure with grave consequences. Before going to see Nolan’s film, I had watched the BBC documentary The Trials of Oppenheimer, which details the scientist’s appearance before an FBI security hearing in 1954. During the hearing, Oppenheimer described himself as “an idiot.” Being a genius is evidently no guarantee of wisdom.

Oppenheimer died of throat cancer in 1967, at the age of 62. But his tragedy doesn’t end there. A decade later, his daughter killed herself at the age of 32. She had struggled with her father’s death, but also constraints on her career. In 1969, she was denied a position as a translator in the United Nations because the FBI refused to grant her security clearance because of her father’s past entanglements.

Nolan’s film supplies interesting perspectives on the Oppenheimer story. The director seems painfully aware that Oppenheimer never properly apologized for the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the two Japanese cities he had contributed to shortlisting for the attacks. Despite his deep readings of Donne, who wrote 19 religious sonnets in remorse for his sins, Oppenheimer never publicly repented.

I left the cinema in the early evening. It had rained lightly and the pavement was wet. After watching this thought-provoking three-hour epic, I found that I had lost all sense of time.'

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naturecoaster · 1 year

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Flex Passes for Live Oak Theatre’s two Spring musicals

Until Noon on March 1, 2023, you may reserve Seats for Live Oak Theatre’s Two Spring Musicals for only $40 for adults and $15 for children 13 and Under with the purchase of an adult reservation. Flex Passes for Live Oak Theatre’s two Spring musicals are available until NOON on March 1st! Here’s how it works… Buy a FLEX Pass for The Sound of Music and the Acorn Theatre production of Singin’ in the Rain, Jr. for only $40 for adults, and $15 for children 13 and under with the purchase of an adult reservation.. Then, at your leisure, choose the dates you wish to attend. To buy Flex passes, go to https://liveoaktheatre.square.site/. To reserve your dates, email [email protected] or call 352-593-0027. - The Sound of Music, in Partnership with The Law Office of Paul H Nessler Jr, P.A., Karen E. Leonardo, Attorney at Law, will be performed from March 17 through April 2. - Singin’ in the Rain, Jr., in Partnership with Mark and Sharon Taylor, will be performed from May 5 through May 21. Friday and Saturday evening shows are at 7:30 PM; Saturday and Sunday matinees are at 2:30 PM. Doors open approximately 30 minutes before showtime. - Advanced seats for only The Sound of Music are $25 for adults, $10 for children 13 and under with the purchase of an adult reservation.. - Advanced seats for only Singin’ in the Rain, Jr. are $20 for adults, $10 for children 13 and under with the purchase of an adult reservation. - Advanced prices are available up to approximately 24 hours before each performance. 24 hours prior to showtime seat prices increase by $5 for adults and children. About The Sound of Music The Sound of Music is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers. Set in Austria on the eve of the Anschluss in 1938, the musical tells the story of Maria, who takes a job as governess to a large family while she decides whether to become a nun. She falls in love with the children, and eventually their widowed father, Captain von Trapp. He is ordered to accept a commission in the German navy, but he opposes the Nazis. He and Maria decide on a plan to flee Austria with the children. Many songs from the musical have become standards, including "Edelweiss", "My Favorite Things", "Climb Ev'ry Mountain", "Do-Re-Mi", and the title song "The Sound of Music". The original Broadway production, starring Mary Martin and Theodore Bikel, opened in 1959 and won five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, out of nine nominations. The first London production opened at the Palace Theatre in 1961. The show has enjoyed numerous productions and revivals since then. It was adapted as a 1965 film musical starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, which won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The Sound of Music was the last musical written by Rodgers and Hammerstein; Oscar Hammerstein died of stomach cancer nine months after the Broadway premiere. About Singin’ in the Rain Jr. The "Greatest Movie Musical of All Time" is faithfully and lovingly adapted by Broadway legends Betty Comden and Adolph Green, from their original award-winning screenplay in Singin' in the Rain JR. Hilarious situations, snappy dialogue and a hit-parade score of Hollywood standards make Singin' in the Rain JR. a guaranteed good time for performers and audience members alike. Singin' in the Rain JR. has all the makings of a Tinseltown tabloid headline — the starlet, the leading man and a love affair that could change lives and make or break careers! In silent movies, Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont are a hot item, but behind the scenes, things aren't always as they appear on the big screen! Meanwhile, Lina's squeaky voice might be the end of her career in "talking pictures" without the help of a talented young actress to do the talking and singing for her. About the Acorn Theatre Acorn Theatre is Live Oak’s Youth Theatre program for students ages 8-18. This performance class meets to rehearse on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4:00- 6:30. The class will run in 8-week periods with 6 performances at the end of each term. The Acorn Theatre works together to produce and perform 3 shows each year as well as participate in Brooksville’s annual Tree Lighting. The Acorn Theatre production team consists of rotating Directors/Instructors who are assisted by a team of apprentices in the areas of Stage Manager, Assistant Director, costumes, choreography, lighting, sound, music and set design. Parent volunteers are always welcomed in these areas as well. Acorn Theatre apprentices are chosen from regular performers of Live Oak who have “grown up” on our stage. They assume leadership roles in the production and mentor the students of the Youth Theatre. About Live Oak Theatre Company (LOT), Live Oak Theatre Company (LOT) is a not-for-profit 501 (C) (3) repertory company of local artists, located at the Carol and Frank Morsani Center for the Arts, 21030 Cortez Boulevard, Brooksville, FL 34601. The Live Oak Theatre Company exists to enrich families, individuals, and the community by providing positive artistic experiences in the Performing Arts - including excellent, affordable, and edifying family friendly entertainment, performance, and educational opportunities for Theatre patrons and participants of all ages. For more information about the Live Oak Theatre Company, including sponsorship and audition opportunities, go to www.LiveOakTheatre.org, email [email protected] , or call 352-593-0027. Visit us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/LiveOakTheatre. Read the full article

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kdjonesfla · 3 years

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Christopher Jones

#christopher jones #movies #60’s #70’s #matinee #idol

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thedearidiot · 2 years

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“Some nights you wake me and tell me what you've seen happen to me, to you. There's a knife, a rope, a window. Go back to sleep. Dream it. Try to dream it with me, you whisper. Sometimes when we don't have enough money for the movies you get me to lie under the covers with you. Now dream, you command. I pretend I don't notice you slipping letters up my pajamas sleeves, messages in silver ink you'll say I've brought back from Azarth, from your severe lords, Nisthar, Cyndril, names that smell of smoke in the curtains, in the old books in the attic. There are strange watery syllables I can't read but as soon as your hands are on them you're translating. There are gifts you've left to bring with us into sleep: a brass weeping bowl, mother's cameo brooch an antique dagger. Waking, you rise from your dreams with the same defiance you meet the harsh sun with after a matinee. Even though your hands are empty, you insist I touch the dust of jewels there. A man led you to a high chamber where the sun glittered and he dressed you in silk that felt as if you were wearing the light itself. You've returned only for my sake, make me feel the broken parts of your body, make me confess whose grip I tore myself from, what I sacrificed to come back to you”

- Christopher Bursk, The Two Princes of Azarth.

#christopher bursk #poetry #am i my brother's keeper?

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booksellergothic · 3 years

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31 Days of Halloween Reading - October 13th

I may have mentioned I love movies. In fact, my love of movies comes very close to equaling my love of books and horror movies are probably my favorite genre. From the original Halloween, to the arty madness of The VVitch, the not nearly well known enough genius of The Blackcoat’s Daughter, even going back to the silent Nosferatu, I have never, and will never get enough.

Despite being produced by my least favorite horror film studio Blumhouse’s* publishing division the supreme talents of Ellen Datlow are here to class up the place in Final Cuts : New Tales of Hollywood Horror.

More than any other genre, horror lends itself to the short story format. That short, sharp shock of fear, without the relief offered by the length of a novel where at least a little comfort might be found in the pages, means that for me many of the most memorable scares I’ve had have come in anthologies.

The problem is, or course, that even a great anthology is going to have some clunkers, so to get it out of the way, I would skip Kelley Armstrong’s story about friends who run a vlog, which is both not very good and stretches the theme to far, and Christopher Golden’s entry is purely hokey.

That said, every other story in here is worth the read. Many of my favorite writers - a few of whom I’ve already recommended books from here, and a few of whom I will before the end of the month - are represented.

Rather than go story by story I will only mention my two favorites.

In Insanity Among the Penguins by Brian Hodge, is a heartbreaker about what happens to people who no longer feel the world has a place for them. This simple story of the movie fanatic narrator and his friend who owns a dying video store attend a rare screening of a cursed Werner Hertzog documentary haunted me. And it is so well-written, and Hertzog being Hertzog, I genuinely found myself questioning if this story might be real.

Lord of the Matinee by Stephen Graham Jones (who you will be reading more about here before the end of the month) is a simple gut punch. With broken glass held between his fingers. A man spends time looking after his recently widowed if not bereaved father-in-law, including taking him to the movies. That’s it. And you will never forget it.

*Blumhouse does have one exceptionally good movie, Hush. But it stars Kate Segal and was written by Mike Flanagan, so even they couldn’t ruin that collaboration.

Let me know if you want to be added to my tag list for book reviews or recommendations.

@plastic-heart @joyfullymassivewhispers @caffiend-queen @dangertoozmanykids101 @myoxisbroken

#31 days of halloween reading #final cuts #ellen datlow #brian hodge #stephen graham jones

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holidayjoecoffee · 2 years

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More Bat Chat

My favourite Bat-movies would include:

Batman (1989). Not only do I have fond personal memories of attending this in a freezing-cold theatre (air conditioning- it was summertime). It was a matinee I saw with my sister.

Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson as my favourite movie Joker. I love the quirky Bruce Wayne Keaton does.

Batman Begins (2005). Best origin story and best cast.

Batman and Robin (1997). If you were a fan of the 1960s Batman TV show, or you just like camp (guilty) you'll enjoy this. It's got gaudy colours, it's got Ah-nold delivering super punny lines.

Batman Returns (1992). Direct sequel of 1989's Batman, this one is wonderfully Burton. I happen to love his style, so your opinion may vary. And Danny DeVito is almost unrecognizable. And I belive it also has Christopher Walken and Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman.

#batman movies #blog #my opinion which of course is correct

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phantomladyoverparis · 8 months

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Christopher's Movie Matinee (1968), dir. Mort Ransen

#Christopher's Movie Matinee #Mort Ransen #1960s #1968 #documentary #national film board of canada #cinéma vérité #canadian cinema

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moviemagistrate · 4 years

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ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD review

ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD is my favorite movie of the 2010’s.

I’ll give you a minute to put your recently-blown mind back together.

So why do I love this movie so much? The overall response to Quentin Tarantino’s supposedly penultimate opus has been very positive if not rapturous, but I’ve seen some surprisingly lukewarm and even negative reviews, with people criticizing it for being slow, meandering, lacking in depth or *shudder* boring. Obviously the quality of any movie is subjective, as I’m quick to remind anyone who hates Michael Bay movies, but I honestly don’t understand people who dislike OUATIH. Maybe it’s a matter of expectations, because I didn’t know how to feel about the film for much of the first time I watched it either.

The year is 1969, a time of great political and cultural change in the country and in the entertainment industry. The star-driven films of yesteryear are giving way to grittier, artsier, more auteur-driven works as we primarily follow Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio), former star of a popular cowboy show whose failed attempt to start an A-list movie career has left him relying on guest spots as TV villains-of-the-week to stay afloat. This is wonderfully laid out in the opening scene where he meets casting director Marvin Schwarz (Al Pacino, easily his best role since JACK & JILL), who lays out Rick’s lowering hierarchical status (“Who’s gonna kick the shit out of you next week? How about Batman & Robin? PING. POW”), while offering him an opportunity to be a leading-man again in Italian pictures.

Tagging along is Rick’s best, and maybe only, friend Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), Rick’s go-with-the-flow stunt-double who in the slowdown of Rick’s career has effectively become his driver and gofer, as well as Rick’s sole source of emotional support. Rick is also neighbors with Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie), the beautiful young actress and wife of then-superstar director Roman Polanski (whose inclusion in the film is minimal and handled tastefully), as she lives out her idyllic life, beloved by those around her like the ray of sunshine she was in real life. Her gated, hillside home looms over Rick’s, as he ponders aloud about how even meeting her the right way could resurrect his career.

For almost two-and-a-half hours, we follow these three characters as they just live out their lives, Rick nursing hangovers and having emotional breakdowns in front of his 8-year-old co-star on set while contemplating his future, Cliff going where the wind blows him while taking care of his adorable and highly-trained dog, and Sharon as she drives around Old Hollywood, spends time with her friends, and sneaks into a matinee showing of one of her movies, her eyes and infectious smile beaming with pride when the audience laughs at her comedic timing and cheers her martial-arts prowess.

I think it’s safe to say it’s not the film any of us were expecting from Quentin Tarantino. Having only made loud, gory, over-the-top genre pastiches for the last 15 years, you’d expect from the trailers for this to be about an actor and his sexy stunt-double getting mixed up with the Manson family before teaming up with Bruce Lee to save Sharon Tate from her horrific real-life fate, mixed with the filmmaker’s usual self-indulgent homages to films of yesteryear. While some of this is true to some extent, it’s surprisingly a much more relaxed, easygoing dramedy that follows a trio of funny, charismatic people as they just…exist, as people living in the moment instead of relics.

OUATIH is much more concerned with atmosphere, character, and capturing the feeling of a bygone era than the traditional narrative structure. It’s more effective than pretty much every nostalgia trip movie I've ever seen because you can feel Tarantino's affection for this era of his childhood bleed through every character, car, song, radio advertisement, TV show, background poster, etc. It’s through this meticulous level of detail and willingness to just hang out with these characters and take in this world that he reconstructed, Tarantino successfully resurrects the era in all its 35mm glory, but with the knowing twinge of real-world melancholy.

I guess the reason I love it so much is because the love that Tarantino has for everything and everyone in it is so tangible that it’s infectious. Watching OUATIH I honestly felt like I understood him better as both a filmmaker and as a person. He shows a level of restraint and maturity I haven’t seen since JACKIE BROWN. Even most of his trademark foot fetishizing is tasteful and subdued (I say “most” because I recall at least three close-ups of actresses’ feet that definitely made him a bit sweaty behind the camera). He’s a weird, shameless nerd with a big ego, but he’s 100% sincere about expressing his love for film and its rich history. And it’s this love, and the skill and style with which it’s expressed, that just put a big smile on my face each of the 6 (SIX) times that I’ve seen it since it came out.

Tarantino offers a tantalizing contrast between reality and fantasy. Throughout the film, as the characters of Hollywood live in their own idyllic world, relaxing in pools or driving around in bitchin’ cars, we also see the disquieting eeriness and griminess of the Manson family. The soundtrack and accompanying old-timey commercials for tanning butter or Mug Root Beer that plays through a lot of the film is a joy to listen to, but we also hear news bulletins of the war in Vietnam or the aftermath of the Bobby Kennedy assassination. You could argue this is just to set the scene for the era, but it feels too deliberate, because even after that joyously fantastical ending, we remember that it was just a fairy tale and real life didn’t turn out as pleasantly. Tarantino’s ability to make his world and characters so meticulously detailed and lived-in works to great effect in instilling a bittersweet melancholy to this film in a way I was really taken aback by. It feels like a window into his soul, someone who yearns for the fantasy of the world he grew up in but remembering that not all good things last and not everything in your nostalgic past was good to begin with.

One beautiful, spellbinding scene is Rick and Cliff coming back from their excursion into the world of Italian filmmaking. In this montage, we see Rick, Cliff and Rick’s new Italian wife arriving at the airport and driving home before unpacking their baggage, interspersed with Sharon Tate welcoming a guest at her home and having lunch, before cutting to a series of shots of famous LA landmarks like Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Taco Bell, and Der Wienerschnitzel all meticulously resurrected in their retro glory as they light up the night. “Baby, baby, baby you’re out of time”, sings Mick Jagger as we’re watching multiple stories about people who are each embodying those words: Rick’s career, his friendship with Cliff, Sharon Tate, and Hollywood itself.

Tarantino himself feels like one of the last mainstream auteur filmmakers, as well as one of the last and biggest proponents of shooting large-budget movies on film (even Scorsese’s embraced digital now, the fantastically-talented traitor). And with the rise of streaming services, one can’t help but feel like the movie-going experience itself is also becoming obsolete, especially recently, what with theaters going to war with distributors over fucking TROLLS: WORLD TOUR, not to mention that global pandemic we’ve been having lately all but killing general audiences’ enthusiasm for the movie theater experience (Christopher Nolan’s TENET certainly didn’t help). If all these things, both real and fictional, are indeed out of time, then at least with Tarantino’s penultimate film they get one hell of a bittersweet sendoff, a great time that’s more of an Irish wake than a funeral, and it’s a film I have no issue calling a truly introspective, late-career masterpiece.

And that’s without mentioning uniformly incredible cast. Leo DiCaprio, an actor I normally don’t care too much for, gives the best and funniest performance of his career as a dependent prima donna actor clinging to his remaining fame. Brad Pitt earns the hell out of his Oscar as an embodiment of old-school masculinity and charisma with an amazing set of abs (and everything else) whose outward coolness masks his mysterious past and complete badass-ness. Margot Robbie shines in her depiction of Tate, a beacon of warmth and likability who in many ways symbolized the love and carefree attitudes of the swingin’ 60’s. I’ve heard people criticize her character for not having a lot of dialogue, but to me it feels like they’re ignoring the visual storytelling, which just gives way to them assuming the film is sexist just because the female lead isn’t constantly monologuing. Every member of the supporting cast is memorable with their own quirks and great lines, no matter their screentime.

And of course, it wouldn’t be a Tarantino joint without some truly hilarious and shocking violence, and without going into spoiler territory, the last 20 minutes delivers on this promise to such a degree that I feel comfortable calling it the best thing he’s ever done. Some may decry the climax as unnecessary or over-the-top, but the way it leads to an alternate world while subtly acknowledging what happened in the real one is cathartic beyond belief. And if you’re paying attention, every scene in the movie has been quietly building towards this finale, which to me takes away any potential of feeling meandering in the story. If you saw the movie and didn’t much care for it, I recommend giving it another watch. Having the context ahead of time makes it feel so much more rewarding, and even on the fifth watch I’m noticing clever, subtle set-ups I missed beforehand.

It’s also just super cozy and really easy to watch. The two hours and 45 minutes fly by. I could watch a 4-hour version of this.

Quentin, if you’re reading this, please don’t let your last movie be Star Trek.

#tarantino #feet #hippies #brad pitt

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blackkudos · 4 years

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Calvin Lockhart

Calvin Lockhart (born Bert McClossy Cooper; October 18, 1934 – March 29, 2007) was a Bahamian–American stage and film actor. Lockhart was perhaps best known for his roles as; Reverend Deke O'Malley in the 1970 film Cotton Comes to Harlem and Biggie Smalls in the 1975 Warner Bros. film Let's Do It Again.

Early life

Lockhart was born Bert McClossy Cooper, the youngest of eight children in Nassau, Bahamas. Lockhart's father was Eric Cooper (b. 1912 or 1913– d. 1976), a Bahamian tailor. Lockhart moved to New York City, New York when he was 18. He spent one year at the Cooper Union School of Engineering, then left to pursue an acting career. He drove a taxi and operated a carpentry business in the borough of Queens while trying to establish a career as an actor.

Career

In 1960, Lockhart made his Broadway debut, playing a gang leader in The Cool World, which closed after just two performances. He then traveled to Italy and formed his own theater company in which he both acted and directed, before moving to West Germany and then England, where he landed various roles on British television and small roles in films such as A Dandy in Aspic and Salt and Pepper. Lockhart's first notable screen role was in Joanna, a 1968 film about an interracial romance, set in London. Joanna was directed by Michael Sarne, who subsequently cast Lockhart in the notorious Myra Breckinridge. Lockhart's first lead role in a film was in Halls of Anger (1970), playing a former basketball star who becomes vice-principal of an inner-city high school to which 60 white students are being moved. An article in The New York Times that year described Lockhart as having "matinee-idol looks" with "chiseled-out-of-marble features" and "skin the color of brown velvet". He also starred in Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970) as the Reverend Deke O'Malley. In 1974, Lockhart became an actor-in-residence at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. In the 1980s he was a guest star for seven episodes in the prime-time soap opera Dynasty, playing Jonathan Lake. He is familiar to horror film fans after his performance as the millionaire big-game hunter in The Beast Must Die (1974).

Later years, death and legacy

Lockhart headed a Los Angeles campaign called "Getting Off Drugs" , an anti-drug effort to get teenagers off drugs in the late-1970s. Lockhart returned to the Bahamas in the late 1990s and worked as a director on several productions of the Freeport Players Guild. Lockhart's last film role was in Rain, a movie that was shot in the Bahamas and was released in 2007. Lockhart died on March 29, 2007 in a Nassau hospital from stroke-related complications, at age 72.

Personal

Lockhart was married four times and had two sons. In 1972, Lockhart married Jamaican model Thelma Walters, they later divorced in 1978. In August 1982, Lockhart married British businesswoman Lynn Sloan in the Bahamas; they later divorced. Lockhart was married New York interior designer Jennifer Miles from 1989 until his death in 2007. Miles is the mother of his son, actor Julien Lockhart Miles. In addition to Julien, Lockhart has another son named Leslie Lockhart.

Pop culture

Lockhart character's name in the 1975 film Let's Do It Again, Biggie Smalls, was used by musical artist Christopher Wallace for his 1991 demo, and was still used by media and friends after a lawsuit forced Wallace to change it to Notorious B.I.G.

#10/18 #03/29

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theempressar · 4 years

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Saturday Matinee: Double Feature!

Down-on-his-luck private eye Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins) gets hired by cartoon producer R.K. Maroon (Alan Tilvern) to investigate an adultery scandal involving Jessica Rabbit (Kathleen Turner), the sultry wife of Maroon's biggest star, Roger Rabbit (Charles Fleischer). But when Marvin Acme (Stubby Kaye), Jessica's alleged paramour and the owner of Toontown, is found murdered, the villainous Judge Doom (Christopher Lloyd) vows to catch and destroy Roger.

Release date: June 22, 1988

(USA)Director: Robert Zemeckis

Charming scoundrel Johnnie Aysgarth (Cary Grant) woos wealthy but plain Lina McLaidlaw (Joan Fontaine), who runs away with him despite the warnings of her disapproving father (Cedric Hardwicke). After their marriage, Johnnie's risky financial ventures cause Lina to suspect he's becoming involved in unscrupulous dealings. When his dear friend and business partner, Beaky (Nigel Bruce), dies under suspicious circumstances on a business trip, she fears her husband might kill her for her inheritance.

Release date: November 14, 1941 (USA)

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Come join us, Saturday, August 8, at 12:30 PM CST for a SUSPENSEFUL...yet WHO DONE IT...afternoon!!

We will meet in our regular Discord Movie Room! Please make sure you have downloaded the links ASAP if you plan on watching!! Our Pirate @missviolethunter is on a well deserved VACAY but has provided us with all the movies for this month...Please head over and start downloading TODAY!!!

Hope to CYA There!!!

#Viewing Party #cobra kai viewing party

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weirdletter · 4 years

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Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing and Horror Cinema: A Revised and Expanded Filmography of Their Terrifying Collaborations, Second Edition, by Mark A. Miller and David J. Hogan, Forewords by Robert Bloch, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, McFarland, 2020. info: mcfarlandbooks.com.

From their first pairing in Hamlet (1948) to House of the Long Shadows (1983), British film stars Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing forged perhaps the most successful collaboration in horror film history. In its revised and expanded second edition, this volume examines their 22 movie team-ups, with critical commentary, complete cast and credits, production information, details on cinematography and make-up, exhibition history and box-office figures. A wealth of background about Hammer, Amicus and other production companies is provided, along with more than 100 illustrations. Lee and Cushing describe particulars of their partnership in original interviews. Exclusive interviews with Robert Bloch, Hazel Court and nearly fifty other actors, directors and others who worked on the Lee-Cushing films are included.

Contents: Acknowledgments, 1995 by Mark A. Miller Acknowledgments, 2019 by David J. Hogan A Note About the Text, 1995 A Note About the Text, 2020 Foreword: “The Gruesome Twosome” by Robert Bloch Foreword by Sir Christopher Lee, CBE Foreword by Peter Cushing, OBE Introduction to the 1995 Edition by Mark A. Miller Introduction to the 2020 edition by David J. Hogan 1. Christopher Lee, the Years 1922–1948 2. Peter Cushing, the Years 1913–1948 3. Two Fortuitous Pairings 4. The Color of Blood 5. Hammer’s Coup de Maître 6. The Definitive Sherlock Holmes 7. Ancestral Entrapment and Intolerance 8. Chill Winds of Fatalism 9. Hammer’s Blood Cousin 10. Love’s Paradox 11. The Warped Perspective of Evil 12. Characterization on the Boil 13. Small Parts and Spare Parts 14. Amicus’ Four-Pack of Irony 15. The Good, the Bad, and the Nasty 16. Emasculating Anachronism 17. The Pain in Spain Falls Mainly on the Train 18. The Last of the Best 19. The Stuff of Cardboard 20. Better Is Still Not Good 21. Kiddie Matinee 22. A Gala Disappointment 23. Busy Years and Brushes with Death but Not a Single Double on Film Epilogue Appendix I: Key Figures Since 1995 Appendix II: The Curious Case of Who Slew Who Filmography Sources Index of Terms

#book #essay #weird essay #horror essay #cinema essay #horror cinema #hammer horror #christopher lee #peter cushing #classic horror movies

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naturecoaster · 1 year

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Seats Are Now Available for Live Oak Theatre’s Two Spring Musicals

Seats Are Now Available for Live Oak Theatre’s Two Spring Musicals Seats are now available for Live Oak Theatre’s Mainstage production of The Sound of Music and its Acorn Theatre production of Singin’ in the Rain, Jr.: - The Sound of Music, in collaboration with The Law Office of Paul H Nessler Jr, P.A., Karen E. Leonardo, Attorney at Law, will be performed from March 17 through April 2. - Singin’ in the Rain, Jr., in collaboration with Mark and Sharon Taylor, will be performed from May 5 through May 21. All performances are at the Carol and Frank Morsani Center for the Arts, 21030 Cortez Boulevard, Brooksville, Florida 34601. Friday and Saturday evening shows are at 7:30 PM; Saturday and Sunday matinees are at 2:30 PM. Doors open approximately 30 minutes before showtime. - Advanced seats for The Sound of Music are $25 for adults, $10 for children 13 and under with the purchase of an adult ticket. - Advanced seats for Singin’ in the Rain, Jr. are $20 for adults, $10 for children 13 and under with the purchase of an adult ticket. - Advanced prices are available up to approximately 24 hours before each performance. 24 hours prior to showtime ticket prices increase by $5 for adults and children However, FLEX Passes for both shows are now available for only $40 for adults, and $15 for children 13 and under with the purchase of an adult ticket For more information about the Live Oak Theatre Company, or to reserve seating or Flex passes, email [email protected] , call 352-593-0027, or go to www.LiveOakTheatre.org. Visit us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/LiveOakTheatre. About The Sound of Music The Sound of Music is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers. Set in Austria on the eve of the Anschluss in 1938, the musical tells the story of Maria, who takes a job as governess to a large family while she decides whether to become a nun. She falls in love with the children, and eventually their widowed father, Captain von Trapp. He is ordered to accept a commission in the German navy, but he opposes the Nazis. He and Maria decide on a plan to flee Austria with the children. Many songs from the musical have become standards, including "Edelweiss", "My Favorite Things", "Climb Ev'ry Mountain", "Do-Re-Mi", and the title song "The Sound of Music". The original Broadway production, starring Mary Martin and Theodore Bikel, opened in 1959 and won five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, out of nine nominations. The first London production opened at the Palace Theatre in 1961. The show has enjoyed numerous productions and revivals since then. It was adapted as a 1965 film musical starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, which won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The Sound of Music was the last musical written by Rodgers and Hammerstein; Oscar Hammerstein died of stomach cancer nine months after the Broadway premiere. About Singin’ in the Rain Jr. The "Greatest Movie Musical of All Time" is faithfully and lovingly adapted by Broadway legends Betty Comden and Adolph Green, from their original award-winning screenplay in Singin' in the Rain JR. Hilarious situations, snappy dialogue and a hit-parade score of Hollywood standards make Singin' in the Rain JR. a guaranteed good time for performers and audience members alike. Singin' in the Rain JR. has all the makings of a Tinseltown tabloid headline — the starlet, the leading man and a love affair that could change lives and make or break careers! In silent movies, Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont are a hot item, but behind the scenes, things aren't always as they appear on the big screen! Meanwhile, Lina's squeaky voice might be the end of her career in "talking pictures" without the help of a talented young actress to do the talking and singing for her. LET US TELL YOU ABOUT THE NEW UV LIGHT AIR PURIFIER IN OUR THEATRE... Historically, ultraviolet (UV) light has been used to disinfect water, surfaces, and the air. UV air purifiers are designed to use short-wave ultraviolet light (UV-C light) to inactivate airborne pathogens and microorganisms like mold, bacteria, and viruses. They have the same goal of all air purifiers: to reduce indoor air pollutants. The technology is also referred to as UV germicidal irradiation, or UVGI air purifiers. This is different from other air purifier technologies that contain UV light technology but do not use it directly against air pollutants. Daikin Advantage Live Oak Theatre’s new HVAC system is a Daikin. Daikin offers its unique air purifying technology in air purifiers to protect air environments in the home, office, and everywhere clean air is important. Streamer and filtration technologies remove airborne allergens such as mold, mites, and pollen as well. Daikin’s unique air intake design enables a greater volume of air to be cleaned for faster air purification. About Live Oak Theatre Company (LOT), Live Oak Theatre Company (LOT) is a not-for-profit 501 (C) (3) repertory company of local artists, located at the Carol and Frank Morsani Center for the Arts, 21030 Cortez Boulevard, Brooksville, FL 34601. The Live Oak Theatre Company exists to enrich families, individuals and the community as a whole by providing positive artistic experiences in the Performing Arts - including excellent, affordable, and edifying family friendly entertainment, performance, and educational opportunities for Theatre patrons and participants of all ages. For more information about the Live Oak Theatre Company, including sponsorship and audition opportunities, call 352-593-0027, email [email protected] , or go to www.LiveOakTheatre.org. Visit us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/LiveOakTheatre. Read the full article

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darkknightrisea · 4 years

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Dark Knight Rises, The (United States/United Kingdom, 2012)

For most superhero franchises, the third movie is a trap. It's there that the Tim Burton/Joel Schumacher iteration of Batman started its rapid descent. It's there that the Christopher Reeve Superman saga had the wheels come off. It's there that Sam Raimi lost his way with Spider-Man. The list goes on. Movie #3, at least when it comes to a comic-book inspired series, is often one too many, the result of greed not creative necessity. It's a little different with Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy, because the second sequel, named The Dark Knight Rises, is also the last chapter. the dark knight rises movie download And not having to plan for a fourth installment affords the filmmaker an extraordinary opportunity: the ability to conclude a superhero saga. That's something we really haven't seen before (although it kind-of, sort-of happened with X-Men). In fact, it's so rare that it could be argued that Nolan has ventured into virgin territory.

Nolan's decision to make The Dark Knight trilogy a self-contained series allows us to consider the previously unthinkable going in: Could Batman die? If there's a given in any superhero movie, it's that the title character will be around at the end credits. No spoilers here - I'm not going to reveal the Caped Crusader's fate - but the potential of his demise will be in many viewers' thoughts before they see the movie. And that's the genius of the way Nolan has sold and constructed his films. Never have the stakes been higher in a product of this genre.

There will probably never be a darker superhero series than what we have seen with Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises; these movies have forever altered the way viewers see superhero stories and the way filmmakers approach them. Before Batman Begins, there was a standard template that most superhero movies followed (some more closely than others). Batman Begins cracked the mold and The Dark Knight smashed it. Those weren't lightweight entertainment for popcorn-munching Saturday matinee viewers. They were deep, rich motion pictures - films that could proudly stand alongside any serious Oscar contender released in November or December (although, inexplicably, The Dark Knight was snubbed in the Best Picture category, with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button getting a nod instead). Now, makers of superhero movies are faced with a choice: either go huge like The Avengers or go serious like The Dark Knight. Nolan has helped render the traditional approach obsolete.

The Dark Knight Rises is the longest, darkest, and most ambitious of the three. In the final assessment, it must be acknowledged that Nolan has perhaps overreached in trying to top The Dark Knight, yet this is by no means a failure. The structure is a little unwieldy, there's too much exposition and too little Batman, and one twist is transparent from the early going. The Dark Knight Rises ultimately justifies its length (in fact, a good argument could be made for a longer cut) and the last 45 minutes is nothing short of spectacular. From the point where the narrative takes a leap of faith, it never lets up.

Fans of the Caped Crusader have a long wait before he makes his appearance and, when he finally arrives, he isn't what he used to be. A commentary on mortality, perhaps? It's not the only philosophizing Nolan does. As was true in the previous installments, he shows an obsession with sociology and the essence of human nature. When faced with the grimmest possible outcome, do people turn rabid? Or, as The Joker learned, is there something more enlightened buried deep within mankind? A lot of what happens during the course of The Dark Knight Rises hearkens back to Batman Begins not only in terms of thematic content but in terms of narrative thrust.

The story opens eight years after the conclusion of The Dark Knight, when Batman rode off into obscurity to allow the image of the disgraced Harvey Dent to remain unsullied. Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) has become a recluse, a broken man hidden away in his rooms with only his faithful butler, Alfred (Michael Caine), to tend to his needs. He pines for a lost future with the long-dead love of his life, Rachel. Enter Bane (Tom Hardy), the masked mercenary once ex-communicated from The League of Shadows by Ra's Al Ghul (Liam Neeson, seen only in flashbacks and dreams). He has come to Gotham to wreak havoc, an activity at which he is an expert. Not unexpectedly, this is a cover for his true motives. Only Batman can stop him, but Batman is no more. By the time Bruce pays a visit to Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) and see what new gear this Q-like tinkerer has invented, he has acquired two sidekicks. The first is Detective John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a disciple of Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman). The second is a nimble cat burglar named Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway). Bane, however, proves to be far more than the aging, injured Batman can overcome and Selina is not as trustworthy as Batman initially believes her to be.

The level of suspension of disbelief for The Dark Knight Rises is high, but not as high as that for The Avengers or The Amazing Spider-Man. Despite its dark tone and sometimes lugubrious approach, this is first and foremost a superhero movie, as is evidenced by some kick-ass action sequences. Most of these are more hardware-oriented than physical in nature, although there are a couple of one-on-one grapples between Batman and Bane, and Catwoman/Selina gets her kicks in on more than one occasion. But the highest octane action comes with vehicles attached: Batcars, Batplanes, and a Batcycle with new and improved handling. Nolan knows how to use this stuff without overdoing it. No fear of CGI overload here and, thankfully, no 3-D! (You can't get it even if you want it, although I'm not sure who would fall into that category. You can get IMAX, though, if you wait long enough for a seat to open up.)

Batman is more heroic, more flawed, and more conflicted than in either of the previous two movies. At times, he makes Hamlet look decisive. In the end, we get the character we yearn for, but a lot has to happen for the movie to get to that point. Jonathan Nolan admits to having been influenced by Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities when writing The Dark Knight Rises, but one line more than any other became the seed that germinated the final story. You don't have to wonder about it; it's referenced explicitly.

Ambiguous endings have become something of a Nolan trademark, and one can interpret The Dark Knight Rises' final few scenes to be more or less optimistic, depending on your personal inclination. This is nowhere near as maddening as the concluding image of Inception, but neither is the resolution as clear-cut as it might initially seem.

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