1.
California
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California is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area. Located on the western coast of the U. S, California is bordered by the other U. S. states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California. Los Angeles is Californias most populous city, and the second largest after New York City. The Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nations second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, California also has the nations most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The Central Valley, an agricultural area, dominates the states center. What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish Empire then claimed it as part of Alta California in their New Spain colony. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its war for independence. The western portion of Alta California then was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA. Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups also were diverse in their organization with bands, tribes, villages. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years later English explorer Francis Drake also explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila galleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565
2.
Ghost (1990 film)
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Ghost is a 1990 American romantic fantasy thriller film starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, Tony Goldwyn, and Rick Aviles. It was written by Bruce Joel Rubin and directed by Jerry Zucker, the plot centers on a young woman in jeopardy, the ghost of her murdered lover and a reluctant psychic who assists him in saving her although the psychic had previously been faking her powers. The film was an commercial success, grossing over $505.7 million at the box office on a budget of $22 million. It was the film of 1990. Adjusted for inflation, as of 2015 Ghost was the 93rd-highest-grossing film of all time domestically, the film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Score and Best Film Editing. It won the awards for Best Supporting Actress for Goldberg and Best Original Screenplay, Swayze and Moore both received Golden Globe Award nominations for their performances, while Goldberg won the BAFTA, Golden Globe, and Saturn Awards in addition to the Oscar. Sam Wheat, a banker, and his girlfriend Molly Jensen, one afternoon, Sam confides in Carl his discovery of unusually high balances in obscure bank accounts. He decides to investigate the matter himself, declining Carls offer of assistance and that night, Sam and Molly are attacked by a mugger who kills Sam in a scuffle before stealing his wallet. Sam sees Molly crying over his body and discovers he is now a ghost, Molly remains distraught in the days after Sams death, as Sam remains close to her. Carl comes over and suggests Molly take a walk with him, moments later, the mugger enters the apartment in search of something. When Molly returns, Sam scares their cat into attacking the thug, Sam follows the mugger to his Brooklyn apartment and learns that the man, Willie Lopez, was sent by an unknown party. After leaving Willies residence, Sam happens upon the parlor of psychic medium Oda Mae Brown, Sam convinces her to warn Molly that she is in danger. To allay Mollys skepticism, Oda Mae relays information that only Sam could know, Molly gives Willies address to Carl, then goes to the police, who inform her that Willie has no criminal record, whereas Oda Mae has a lengthy one as a forger and con artist. Meanwhile, Sam follows Carl and is devastated to learn he, Sam learns from a violent poltergeist haunting the subway system how to manipulate objects with his mind. Sam then persuades Oda Mae to help him thwart Carl, before Carl can transfer the money for his clients, Oda Mae impersonates Rita Miller, closes the account, and gives the $4 million cashiers check to charity. As Carl desperately searches for the money, Sam reveals his presence by typing his name on the computer keyboard, Carl goes to Molly, who reveals she spotted Oda Mae closing an account at the bank. Carl and Willie go to Oda Maes place but Sam warns her to take shelter, when Willie arrives, Sam tosses objects at him until Willie flees into the street in a panic and is killed by an oncoming car. Shadowy creatures emerge from the darkness to drag Willies ghost down to Hell, Sam and Oda Mae return to the apartment where—by levitating a penny into Mollys hand—he convinces Molly that Oda Mae is telling the truth about him
3.
Total Recall (1990 film)
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Total Recall is a 1990 American science fiction action film directed by Paul Verhoeven, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin, Sharon Stone, Ronny Cox and Michael Ironside. The film is based on the Philip K. Dick story We Can Remember It for You Wholesale. It tells the story of a worker who is having troubling dreams about Mars. It was written by Ronald Shusett, Dan OBannon, Jon Povill, and Gary Goldman, the original score composed by Jerry Goldsmith won the BMI Film Music Award. In 2084, construction worker Douglas Quaid is having troubling dreams about Mars, at Rekall, a company that provides memory implants of vacations, Quaid opts for a memory trip to Mars as a Secret Agent fantasy. However, during the procedure, before the memory is implanted, something goes wrong, the company sedates him, wipes his memory of the visit, and sends him home. On the way home, Quaid is attacked by his friend Harry and some construction co-workers, he is forced to kill them, using elite fighting skills. He is then attacked in his apartment by Lori, who states that she was never his wife, their marriage was just a false memory implant and he is then attacked and pursued by armed thugs led by Richter, Loris real husband and Cohaagens operative. After evading his attackers, Quaid is given a suitcase containing money, gadgets, fake IDs, a disguise, Hauser instructs Quaid to remove a tracking device located inside his skull before ordering him to go to Mars and check into the Hilton Hotel with a fake ID. Quaid makes his way to Mars and follows clues to Venusville and he meets Benny, a taxi driver, and Melina, the woman from his dreams, but she spurns him, believing that Quaid is still working for Cohaagen. Quaid later encounters Dr. Edgemar and Lori, who claim Quaid has suffered an embolism and is trapped in a fantasy based on the implanted memories. Edgemar warns that Quaid is headed for lunacy and a lobotomy if he not return to reality. Quaid puts the pill in his mouth, but after seeing Edgemar sweating in fear, he kills Edgemar, Lori alerts Richters forces, who burst into the room and capture Quaid, but Melina rescues him, with Quaid killing Lori in the process. The two race back to the Venusville bar and escape into the tunnels with Benny, unable to locate Quaid, Cohaagen shuts down the ventilation to Venusville, slowly asphyxiating its citizens. Quaid, Melina, and Benny are taken to a base, and Quaid is introduced to Kuato. Cohaagens forces burst in and kill most of the resistance, including Kuato, Benny reveals that he is also working for Cohaagen, and that he alerted Cohaagens forces. Quaid and Melina are taken to Cohaagen, who explains that the Quaid persona was a ploy by Hauser to infiltrate the mutants and lead Cohaagen to Kuato, thereby wiping out the resistance. Cohaagen orders Hausers memory to be re-implanted in Quaid and Melina programmed as Hausers obedient wife and they work their way to the control room of the reactor, and Benny attacks them in an excavation machine
4.
Saturn Award
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The award was initially, and is still sometimes, loosely referred to as a Golden Scroll. The Saturn Awards were created in 1973 and are the oldest Award ceremony dedicated to science fiction, fantasy. The physical award is a representation of the planet Saturn, with its ring composed of film, the Saturn Awards are voted upon by members of the presenting Academy. The Academy is a organization with membership open to the public. Its members include filmmakers Jeff Rector, Rich Correll, Tom De Santo, Mark A. Altman and Irwin Keyes, among others. Although the Award still primarily focuses on films and television in the fiction, fantasy and horror categories. There are also awards for lifetime achievement in film production. The 42nd Saturn Awards were held on June 22,2016, in Burbank, the Saturn Awards are often criticized for having a broad and inconsistent definition of genres, as well as for nominating and awarding movies not related to sci-fi, fantasy or horror. Hugo Award Scream Awards Official website Saturn Awards 2009 at FEARnet Saturn Award at the Internet Movie Database
5.
Science fiction film
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Science fiction films have often been used to focus on political or social issues, and to explore philosophical issues like the human condition. The genre has existed since the years of silent cinema. The next major example in the genre was the film Metropolis - being the first feature length science fiction movie, from the 1930s to the 1950s, the genre consisted mainly of low-budget B movies. After Stanley Kubricks landmark 2001, A Space Odyssey, the fiction film genre was taken more seriously. This definition suggests a continuum between empiricism and transcendentalism, with science fiction film on the side of empiricism, and horror film, however, there are numerous well-known examples of science fiction horror films, epitomized by such pictures as Frankenstein and Alien. The visual style of fiction film can be characterized by a clash between alien and familiar images. This clash is implemented when alien images become familiar, as in A Clockwork Orange, as well, familiar images become alien, as in the films Repo Man and Liquid Sky. For example, in Dr. Strangelove, the, distortion of the make the familiar images seem more alien. Finally, alien and familiar images are juxtaposed, as in The Deadly Mantis, Science fiction films appeared early in the silent film era, typically as short films shot in black and white, sometimes with colour tinting. They usually had a theme and were often intended to be humorous. In 1902, Georges Méliès released Le Voyage dans la Lune, generally considered the first science fiction film, several early films merged the science fiction and horror genres. Examples of this are Frankenstein, a adaptation of Mary Shelleys novel. Taking a more adventurous tack,20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is a based on Jules Verne’s famous novel of a wondrous submarine. In the 1920s, European filmmakers tended to use science fiction for prediction and social commentary, as can be seen in German films such as Metropolis and Frau im Mond. In the 1930s, there were big budget science fiction films, notably Just Imagine, King Kong, Things to Come. Starting in 1936, a number of science fiction comic strips were adapted as serials, notably Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers and these serials, and the comic strips they were based on, were very popular with the general public. Other notable science fiction films of the 1930s include Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, Doctor X, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, F. P. The 1940s brought us Before I Hang, Black Friday, Dr. Cyclops, The Devil Commands, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Man Made Monster, It Happened Tomorrow, It Happens Every Spring and The Perfect Woman
6.
Fantasy film
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Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually involving magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered a form of speculative fiction alongside science fiction films and horror films, Fantasy films often have an element of magic, myth, wonder, escapism, and the extraordinary. Several sub-categories of fantasy films can be identified, although the delineations between these subgenres, much as in literature, are somewhat fluid. The most common fantasy subgenres depicted in movies are High Fantasy and Sword, both categories typically employ quasi-medieval settings, wizards, magical creatures and other elements commonly associated with fantasy stories. High Fantasy films tend to feature a more richly developed fantasy world, often, they feature a hero of humble origins and a clear distinction between good and evil set against each other in an epic struggle. Many scholars cite J. R. R, to some, the term Sword and Sandal has pejorative connotations, designating a film with a low-quality script, bad acting and poor production values. Another important subgenre of films that has become more popular in recent years is contemporary fantasy. Such films feature magical effects or supernatural occurrences happening in the world of today. Fantasy films set in the afterlife, called Bangsian Fantasy, are less common, other uncommon subgenres include Historical Fantasy and Romantic Fantasy, although 2003s Pirates of the Caribbean, The Curse of the Black Pearl successfully incorporated elements of both. As noted above, superhero movies and fairy tale films might each be considered subgenres of fantasy films, as a cinematic genre, fantasy has traditionally not been regarded as highly as the related genre of science fiction film. Since the late 1990s, however, the genre has gained new respectability in a way, tolkiens The Lord of the Rings and J. K. Jacksons The Lord of the Rings trilogy is due to its ambitious scope, serious tone. These pictures achieved phenomenal commercial and critical success, and the installment of the trilogy became the first fantasy film ever to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. The Harry Potter series has been a financial success, has achieved critical acclaim. Following the success of ventures, Hollywood studios have greenlighted additional big-budget productions in the genre. These have included adaptations of the first, second, and third books in C. S and this is in contrast to science fiction films, which are often released during the northern hemisphere summer. The huge commercial success of these pictures may indicate a change in Hollywoods approach to fantasy film releases. Fantasy films have a history almost as old as the medium itself, however, fantasy films were relatively few and far between until the 1980s, when high-tech filmmaking techniques and increased audience interest caused the genre to flourish
7.
Horror film
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Horror film is a film genre that seeks to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on their fears. Inspired by literature from authors like Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker, the macabre and the supernatural are frequent themes. Horror may also overlap with the fantasy, supernatural fiction and thriller genres, Horror films often deal with viewers nightmares, fears, revulsions and terror of the unknown. Plots within the genre often involve the intrusion of an evil force, event. Another of his projects was 1898s La Caverne maudite. Japan made early forays into the genre with Bake Jizo and Shinin no Sosei. The era featured a slew of literary adaptations, with the works of Poe and Dante, in 1908, Selig Polyscope Company produced Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In 1910, Edison Studios produced the first filmed version of Frankenstein, the macabre nature of the source materials used made the films synonymous with the horror film genre. Before and during the Weimar Republic era, German Expressionist filmmakers would significantly influence later productions, the first vampire-themed movie, Nosferatu, was made during this period, though it was an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stokers Dracula. Other European countries also, contributed to the genre during this period, though the word horror to describe the film genre would not be used until the 1930s, earlier American productions often relied on horror themes. Some notable examples include The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Phantom of the Opera, The Cat and the Canary, The Unknown, and The Man Who Laughs. Many of these films were considered dark melodramas because of their stock characters and emotion-heavy plots that focused on romance, violence, suspense. The trend of inserting an element of macabre into American pre-horror melodramas continued into the 1920s, directors known for relying on macabre in their films during the 1920s were Maurice Tourneur, Rex Ingram, and Tod Browning. Ingrams The Magician contains one of the first examples of a mad doctor and is said to have had a influence on James Whales version of Frankenstein. The Unholy Three is an example of Brownings use of macabre and unique style of morbidity, he remade the film in 1930 as a talkie, during the early period of talking pictures, Universal Pictures began a successful Gothic horror film series. Tod Brownings Dracula was quickly followed by James Whales Frankenstein and The Old Dark House, some of these films blended science fiction with Gothic horror, such as Whales The Invisible Man and featured a mad scientist, mirroring earlier German films. Frankenstein was the first in a series of remakes which lasted for years, the Mummy introduced Egyptology as a theme, Make-up artist Jack Pierce was responsible for the iconic image of the monster, and others in the series. Universals horror cycle continued into the 1940s with B-movies including The Wolf Man, the once controversial Freaks, based on the short story Spurs, was made by MGM, though the studio disowned the completed film, and it remained banned, in the UK, for thirty years
8.
Jeff Daniels
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One of his most notable roles is Harry Dunne in the buddy comedy Dumb and Dumber opposite Jim Carrey, a role he reprised in the 2014 sequel Dumb and Dumber To. He received Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Actor for his performances in The Purple Rose of Cairo, Something Wild and The Squid, Daniels work outside of the film industry has received similar acclaim and accolades as to his work on screen. He has received a number of nominations for his work on stage, including Tony Award nominations for Best Actor for his roles in the plays God of Carnage. He is the founder and current executive director of the Chelsea, Daniels was born in Athens, Georgia, to Marjorie J. and Robert Lee Bob Daniels. He spent the first six weeks of his life in Georgia, where his father was then teaching and his father owned the Chelsea Lumber Company and was also a onetime mayor of Chelsea. He attended Central Michigan University and participated in the theater program. Daniels performed in New York in The Shortchanged Review at Second Stage Theatre and it was the first show of the inaugural season for Second Stage Theatre. Daniels has starred in a number of New York productions, on and off Broadway. On Broadway, he has appeared in Lanford Wilsons Redwood Curtain, A. R. Gurneys The Golden Age and Wilsons Fifth of July, for which he was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Best Supporting Actor. Off-Broadway, he received a Drama Desk nomination for Wilsons Lemon Sky, and he returned to the stage in 2009, appearing in Broadways God of Carnage opposite Hope Davis, James Gandolfini and Marcia Gay Harden. In 1991, he founded the Purple Rose Theatre Company, a stage company in Chelsea. Daniels has written more than a dozen plays for the company, in 2016, Daniels received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performance in Blackbird, opposite Michelle Williams. Daniels made his debut in Miloš Formans Ragtime in 1981. His next film, the Oscar-winning Terms of Endearment, in which he played Debra Wingers callow and he garnered a Golden Globe nomination as the star of The Purple Rose Of Cairo, directed by Woody Allen. It was the last film that inspired the name for the company he established. Daniels earned his second Golden Globe nomination for starring in Jonathan Demmes Something Wild as an unassuming businessman swept up into a night by a mysterious woman. Daniels then starred in the horror–comedy Arachnophobia in 1990, the next year, Daniels starred in two films. His next notable role was as Colonel Joshua Chamberlain in Gettysburg, Daniels reprised the role of Chamberlain ten years later in the prequel film Gods and Generals
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