1.
Alfred Hitchcock
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Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock KBE was an English film director and producer, at times referred to as The Master of Suspense. He pioneered many elements of the suspense and psychological thriller genres and he had a successful career in British cinema with both silent films and early talkies and became renowned as Englands best director. Hitchcock moved to Hollywood in 1939, and became a US citizen in 1955 and he also fashioned for himself a recognisable directorial style. Hitchcocks stylistic trademarks include the use of movement that mimics a persons gaze. In addition, he framed shots to maximise anxiety, fear, or empathy and his work often features fugitives on the run alongside icy blonde female characters. Prior to 1980, there had long been talk of Hitchcock being knighted for his contribution to film, Hitchcock later received his knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II in the 1980 New Year Honours. Hitchcock directed more than fifty films in a career spanning six decades and is often regarded as one of the most influential directors in cinematic history. His flair was for narrative, cruelly withholding crucial information and engaging the emotions of the audience like no one else, Hitchcocks first thriller, The Lodger, A Story of the London Fog, helped shape the thriller genre in film. His 1929 film, Blackmail, is cited as the first British sound feature film, while Rear Window, Vertigo, North by Northwest. Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born on 13 August 1899 in Leytonstone and he was the second son and the youngest of three children of William Hitchcock, a greengrocer and poulterer, and Emma Jane Hitchcock. He was named after his fathers brother, Hitchcock was raised as a Roman Catholic, and sent to Salesian College, Battersea, and the Jesuit grammar school St Ignatius College in Stamford Hill, London. His parents were both of half-English and half-Irish ancestry and he often described a lonely and sheltered childhood that was worsened by his obesity. Around age five, Hitchcock recalled that to him for behaving badly. This incident implanted a lifelong fear of policemen in Hitchcock, and such harsh treatment, sources vary on Hitchcocks performance in school. Gene Adair reports that by most accounts, Alfred was only an average, or slightly above-average, however, McGilligan writes that Hitchcock certainly excelled academically. When Hitchcock was 15, his father died, in that same year, he left St. Ignatius to study at the London County Council School of Engineering and Navigation in Poplar, London. After leaving, he became a draftsman and advertising designer with a company called Henleys. Hitchcock joined a regiment of the Royal Engineers in 1917
2.
Strangers on a Train (film)
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Strangers on a Train is a 1951 American psychological thriller film noir produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and based on the 1950 novel of the same name by Patricia Highsmith. It was shot in the autumn of 1950 and released by Warner Bros. on June 30 the next year, the film stars Farley Granger, Ruth Roman and Robert Walker, and features Leo G. Carroll, the directors daughter Pat Hitchcock and Laura Elliott. The film is number 32 on AFIs 100 Years, the story concerns two strangers who meet on a train, a young tennis player and a charming psychopath. The psychopath suggests that because they want to get rid of someone, they should exchange murders. The psychopath commits the first murder, and then tries to force the player to complete the bargain. Amateur tennis star Guy Haines wants to divorce his vulgar and promiscuous wife Miriam, so he can marry the elegant Anne Morton, the daughter of a senator, and hopefully have a career in politics. On a train, Haines accidentally meets Bruno Anthony, who recognizes Guy from the sports pages, Bruno tells Guy about his idea for the perfect murder scheme, the two should swap murders. Bruno will kill Miriam, and, in exchange, Guy will kill Brunos hated father, each murderer will kill a perfect stranger, having no identifiable motive, so neither will be suspected. Guy does not take Brunos suggestion seriously, he humors Bruno by pretending to find it amusing, Guy lets Bruno light a cigarette with his monogrammed cigarette lighter, instead of returning it, Bruno puts it in his own pocket. Guy meets with Miriam, who is pregnant by someone else and she tells him that she is no longer willing to agree to a divorce. She threatens to follow Guy to Washington, D. C. Guy calls Anne with the bad news and, speaking figuratively, tells her he would like to break neck. that he could strangle her. Meanwhile, Bruno follows Miriam and her two beaux to an amusement park, stalks her through various rides, and strangles her to death on the Magic Isle. Later, Bruno tells Guy that Miriam is dead and that Guy must honor his part of the deal, Bruno sends Guy his house key, a map to his fathers room, and a pistol. Senator Morton, Annes father, informs Guy that his wife has been murdered, the police do not arrest Guy, but assign a police escort to ensure he does not flee while they continue to investigate. To pressure Guy into fulfilling his obligation, Bruno introduces himself to Anne, soon after, Bruno appears at a party at Senator Mortons house. To amuse another guest, Bruno demonstrates how to strangle someone by playfully putting his hands around her neck and his gaze falls upon Annes sister Barbara, who physically resembles Miriam. Her resemblance to Miriam triggers a flashback, staring at Barbara, he begins actually strangling the guest, and then blacks out. Barbara tells Anne, His hands were on her throat, and her suspicions aroused, Anne confronts Guy, who tells her the truth about Brunos crazy scheme
3.
Performing arts
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Performing arts are a form of art in which artists use their voices and/or their bodies, often in relation to other objects, to convey artistic expression. It is different from visual arts, which is when artists use paint/canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects, performing arts include several disciplines, each performed in front of a live audience. Artists who participate in performing arts in front of an audience are called performers, examples of these include actors, comedians, dancers, magicians, circus artists, musicians, and singers. Performing arts are supported by workers in related fields, such as songwriting, choreography. A performer who excels in acting, singing, and dancing is commonly referred to as a triple threat, well-known examples of historical triple threat artists include Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, and Judy Garland. Performers often adapt their appearance, such as costumes and stage makeup, stage lighting. Performing arts may include dance, music, opera, theatre and musical theatre, magic, illusion, mime, spoken word, puppetry, circus arts, performance art, recitation and public speaking. There is also a form of fine art, in which the artists perform their work live to an audience. Most performance art also involves some form of art, perhaps in the creation of props. Dance was often referred to as an art during the Modern dance era. Theatre is the branch of performing arts, concerned with acting out stories in front of an audience, using a combination of speech, gesture, music, dance, sound, any one or more of these elements is performing arts. In addition to the standard narrative style of plays. In the context of performing arts, dance generally refers to movement, typically rhythmic and to music. Definitions of what constitutes dance are dependent on social, cultural, aesthetic artistic and moral constraints and range from functional movement to codified, in dance, the connection between the two concepts is stronger than in some other arts, and neither can exist without the other. Choreography is the art of making dances, and the person who practices this art is called a choreographer, music is an art form which combines pitch, rhythm, and dynamic in order to create sound. It can be performed using a variety of instruments and styles and is divided into genres, as an art form, music can occur in live or recorded formats, and can be planned or improvised. Starting in the 6th century BC, the Classical period of performing art began in Greece and these poets wrote plays which, in some cases, incorporated dance. The Hellenistic period began the use of comedy
4.
Celebrity
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Celebrity status is often associated with wealth, while fame often provides opportunities to make money. Successful careers in sports and entertainment are commonly associated with celebrity status, People may also become celebrities due to media attention on their lifestyle, wealth, or controversial actions, or for their connection to a famous person. Throughout recorded history there are accounts of people who attracted the trappings of celebrity which would be recognized today, athletes in Ancient Greece were welcomed home as heroes, had songs and poems written in their honor, and received free food and gifts from those seeking celebrity endorsement. Ancient Rome similarly lauded actors and notorious gladiators, and Julius Caesar appeared on a coin in his own lifetime, in the 12th century, Thomas Becket became famous following his murder. He was promoted by the Christian Church as a martyr and images of him, the cult of personality can be traced back to the Romantics in the 18th Century, whose livelihood as artists and poets depended on the currency of their reputation. The establishment of cultural hot-spots became an important factor in the process of generating fame, for example, London, newspapers started including gossip columns and certain clubs and events became places to be seen in order to receive publicity. The movie industry spread around the globe in the first half of the 20th Century, yet, celebrity wasnt always tied to actors in films, especially when cinema was starting out as a medium. The second half of the century saw television and popular music bring new forms of celebrity, such as the rock star, unlike movies, television created celebrities who were not primarily actors, for example, presenters, talk show hosts and news readers. In the sixties and early seventies the book publishing industry began to persuade major celebrities to put their names on autobiographies and other titles in a genre called celebrity publishing. In most cases the book was not written by the celebrity but by a ghost-writer, cultures and regions with a significant population may have their own independent celebrity systems, with distinct hierarchies. For example, the Canadian province of Quebec, which is French-speaking, has its own system of French-speaking television, movie, a person who garners a degree of fame in one culture may be considered less famous or obscure in another. S. Whereas the francophone Canadian singer Celine Dion is well known in both the French-speaking world and in the United States, regions within a country, or cultural communities can also have their own celebrity systems, especially in linguistically or culturally distinct regions such as Quebec or Wales. Regional radio personalities, newscasters, politicians or community leaders may be local or regional celebrities and these informal rankings indicate a placing within a hierarchy. However, due to differing levels of celebrity in different regions, a Brazilian actor might be a B-list action film actor in the U. S. but an A-list star in Portugal. Some elements are associated with fame, such as appearing on the cover of Time, being spoofed in Mad, having a wax statue in Madame Tussauds, certain people are known even to people unfamiliar with the area in which they excelled. If one has to name a famous boxer, they are likely to name Muhammad Ali or Mike Tyson. The same phenomenon is true for fictional characters, superman, Spider-Man, The Hulk, Wonder Woman and Batman represent super heroes to a far wider audience than that of the comics and graphic novels in which they appear. Disney have themeparks around the world rely on the fame of its creations headed by Mickey Mouse
5.
Film director
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A film director is a person who directs the making of a film. Generally, a film director controls a films artistic and dramatic aspects, the director has a key role in choosing the cast members, production design, and the creative aspects of filmmaking. Under European Union law, the director is viewed as the author of the film, the film director gives direction to the cast and crew and creates an overall vision through which a film eventually becomes realized, or noticed. Directors need to be able to mediate differences in creative visions, there are many pathways to becoming a film director. Some film directors started as screenwriters, cinematographers, film editors or actors, other film directors have attended a film school. Some outline a general plotline and let the actors dialogue, while others control every aspect. Some directors also write their own screenplays or collaborate on screenplays with long-standing writing partners, some directors edit or appear in their films, or compose the music score for their films. Film directors create a vision through which a film eventually becomes realized/noticed. Realizing this vision includes overseeing the artistic and technical elements of production, as well as directing the shooting timetable. This entails organizing the crew in such a way as to achieve their vision of the film. This requires skills of leadership, as well as the ability to maintain a singular focus even in the stressful. Moreover, it is necessary to have an eye to frame shots and to give precise feedback to cast and crew, thus. Thus the director ensures that all involved in the film production are working towards an identical vision for the completed film. The set of varying challenges he or she has to tackle has been described as a jigsaw puzzle with egos. It adds to the pressure that the success of a film can influence when, omnipresent are the boundaries of the films budget. Additionally, the director may also have to ensure an intended age rating, thus, the position of film director is widely considered to be a highly stressful and demanding one. It has been said that 20-hour days are not unusual, under European Union law, the film director is considered the author or one of the authors of a film, largely as a result of the influence of auteur theory. Auteur theory is a film criticism concept that holds that a directors film reflects the directors personal creative vision
6.
Athlete
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An athlete or sportsman is a person who is good at a sport and competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed or endurance. The terms application to those who participate in activities, such as horse riding or driving, is somewhat controversial. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs, most professional athletes have particularly well-developed physiques obtained by extensive physical training and strict exercise accompanied by a strict dietary regimen. The word athlete is a romanization of the Greek, άθλητὴς, athlētēs, one who participates in a contest, from ἄθλος, áthlos, or ἄθλον, áthlon, athletes involved in isotonic exercises have an increased mean left ventricular end-diastolic volume and are less likely to be depressed. Due to their strenuous physical activities, athletes are far more likely than the population to visit massage salons and pay for services from massage therapists. An all-around athlete is a person who competes in sports at a high level. Examples of people who played numerous sports professionally include Jim Thorpe, Lionel Conacher, Deion Sanders, Danny Ainge and Babe Zaharias. Others include Ricky Williams, Bo Jackson, and Damon Allen, japanese athletes such as Kazushi Sakuraba, Kazuyuki Fujita, Masakatsu Funaki and Naoya Ogawa have successfully competed in both professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. The title of Worlds Greatest Athlete traditionally belongs to the worlds top competitor in the decathlon and heptathlon in track and field. The decathlon consists of 10 events,100 meters, long jump, shot put, high jump,400 meters,110 m hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin, and 1500 m. The heptathlon consists of seven events, the 100 m hurdles, high jump, shot put,200 meters, long jump, javelin, and 800 meters. These competitions require an athlete to possess the whole spectrum of ability in order to be successful including speed, strength, coordination, jumping ability. Although the title Worlds Greatest Athlete seems a natural fit for these two events, its association with the decathlon/heptathlon officially began with Jim Thorpe. During the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden, Thorpe won the medal in the Decathlon. Thorpe notably also competed professionally in soccer, baseball, American Football, and basketball, and competed collegiately in track and field, soccer, baseball, lacrosse, and did ballroom dancing. King Gustav V of Sweden, while awarding Thorpe the decathlon gold said, You and that title has become associated with the decathlon event ever since. Outdoor enthusiast Jock Athlete of the Year Suresh Joachim Multiple Guinness World Record holder
7.
Musician
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A musician is a person who plays a musical instrument or is musically talented. Anyone who composes, conducts, or performs music may also be referred to as a musician, Musicians can specialize in any musical style, and some musicians play in a variety of different styles. Examples of a musicians possible skills include performing, conducting, singing, composing, arranging, in the Middle Ages, instrumental musicians performed with soft ensembles inside and loud instruments outdoors. Many European musicians of this time catered to the Roman Catholic Church, providing arrangements structured around Gregorian chant structure, vocal pieces were in Latin—the language of church texts of the time—and typically were Church-polyphonic or made up of several simultaneous melodies. Giovanni Palestrina Giovanni Gabrieli Thomas Tallis Claudio Monteverdi Leonardo da Vinci The Baroque period introduced heavy use of counterpoint, vocal and instrumental “color” became more important compared to the Renaissance style of music, and emphasized much of the volume, texture and pace of each piece. George Frideric Handel Johann Sebastian Bach Antonio Vivaldi Classical music was created by musicians who lived during a time of a middle class. Many middle-class inhabitants of France at the time lived under long-time absolute monarchies, because of this, much of the music was performed in environments that were more constrained compared to the flourishing times of the Renaissance and Baroque eras. This age included the initial transformations of the Industrial Revolution, a revolutionary energy was also at the core of Romanticism, which quite consciously set out to transform not only the theory and practice of poetry and art, but the common perception of the world. Some major Romantic Period precepts survive, and still affect modern culture, in 20th-century music, composers and musicians rejected the emotion-dominated Romantic period, and strove to represent the world the way they perceived it. Musicians wrote to be. objective, while objects existed on their own terms, while past eras concentrated on spirituality, this new period placed emphasis on physicality and things that were concrete. The advent of recording and mass media in the 20th century caused a boom of all kinds of music—popular music, rock music, electronic music, folk music. Singer Composer Music artist Tour Manager Media related to Musicians at Wikimedia Commons
8.
Oxford English Dictionary
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The Oxford English Dictionary is a descriptive dictionary of the English language, published by the Oxford University Press. The second edition came to 21,728 pages in 20 volumes, in 1895, the title The Oxford English Dictionary was first used unofficially on the covers of the series, and in 1928 the full dictionary was republished in ten bound volumes. In 1933, the title The Oxford English Dictionary fully replaced the name in all occurrences in its reprinting as twelve volumes with a one-volume supplement. More supplements came over the years until 1989, when the edition was published. Since 2000, an edition of the dictionary has been underway. The first electronic version of the dictionary was available in 1988. The online version has been available since 2000, and as of April 2014 was receiving two million hits per month. The third edition of the dictionary will probably appear in electronic form, Nigel Portwood, chief executive of Oxford University Press. As a historical dictionary, the Oxford English Dictionary explains words by showing their development rather than merely their present-day usages, therefore, it shows definitions in the order that the sense of the word began being used, including word meanings which are no longer used. The format of the OEDs entries has influenced numerous other historical lexicography projects and this influenced later volumes of this and other lexicographical works. As of 30 November 2005, the Oxford English Dictionary contained approximately 301,100 main entries, the dictionarys latest, complete print edition was printed in 20 volumes, comprising 291,500 entries in 21,730 pages. The longest entry in the OED2 was for the verb set, as entries began to be revised for the OED3 in sequence starting from M, the longest entry became make in 2000, then put in 2007, then run in 2011. Despite its impressive size, the OED is neither the worlds largest nor the earliest exhaustive dictionary of a language, the Dutch dictionary Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal is the worlds largest dictionary, has similar aims to the OED and took twice as long to complete. Another earlier large dictionary is the Grimm brothers dictionary of the German language, begun in 1838, the official dictionary of Spanish is the Diccionario de la lengua española, and its first edition was published in 1780. The Kangxi dictionary of Chinese was published in 1716, trench suggested that a new, truly comprehensive dictionary was needed. On 7 January 1858, the Society formally adopted the idea of a new dictionary. Volunteer readers would be assigned particular books, copying passages illustrating word usage onto quotation slips, later the same year, the Society agreed to the project in principle, with the title A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles. He withdrew and Herbert Coleridge became the first editor, on 12 May 1860, Coleridges dictionary plan was published and research was started
9.
Cameo (carving)
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Cameo is a method of carving an object such as an engraved gem, item of jewellery or vessel made in this manner. It nearly always features a relief image, contrast with intaglio. Today the term may be used loosely for objects with no colour contrast. This derives from another generalized meaning that has developed, the cameo as an image of a head in a frame in any medium. In cheaper modern work, shell and glass are more common, glass cameo vessels, such as the famous Portland Vase, were also developed by the Romans. Modern cameos can be produced by setting a carved relief, such as a portrait and this is called an assembled cameo. Sometimes dyes are used to enhance these colours, sir Wallis Budge alleged that the noun Cameo apparently comes from Kameo, a word used in kabbalistic slang to signify a magical square, i. e. A kind of talisman whereupon magical spells was carved, stone cameos of great artistry were made in Greece dating back as far as the 3rd century BC. The Farnese Tazza is the oldest major Hellenistic piece surviving and they were very popular in Ancient Rome, especially in the family circle of Augustus. Roman Cameos became less common around in the leading up to 300AD although production continued at a much reduced rate right through the Middle Ages. The technique has since enjoyed periodic revivals, notably in the early Renaissance, the Neoclassical revival began in France with Napoleons support of the glyptic arts, and even his coronation crown was decorated with cameos. In 1852 Théophile Gautier titled a collection of his highly polished, during the Roman period the cameo technique was used on glass blanks, in imitation of objects being produced in agate or sardonyx. Cameo glass objects were produced in two periods, between around 25 BC and 50/60 AD, and in the later Empire around the mid-third and mid-fourth century. Roman glass cameos are rare objects, with only two hundred fragments and sixteen complete pieces known, only one of which dates from the later period. Blanks could be produced by fusing two separately cast sheets of glass, or by dipping the base glass into a crucible of molten overlay glass during blowing, the most famous example of a cameo from the early period is the Portland Vase. Although occasionally used in Roman cameos, the earliest prevalent use of shell for carving was during the Renaissance. Before that time, cameos were carved from hardstone, the Renaissance cameos are typically white on a grayish background and were carved from the shell of a mussel or cowry, the latter a tropical mollusk. In the mid 18th century, explorations revealed new shell varieties, helmet shells from the West Indies, and queen conch shells from the Bahamas and West Indies, arrived in Europe
10.
Television program
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It may be a single production, or more commonly, a series of related productions. A limited number of episodes of a show may be called a miniseries or a serial or limited series. Television series are without a fixed length and are divided into seasons or series. While there is no defined length, U. S. industry practice has traditionally favored longer television seasons than those of other countries, a one-time broadcast may be called a special, or particularly in the UK a special episode. A television film is a film that is initially broadcast on television rather than released in theaters or direct-to-video, a program can be either recorded, as on video tape, other various electronic media forms, played with an on-demand player or viewed on live television. Television programs may be fictional, or non-fictional and it may be topical, or historical. They could be primarily instructional or educational, or entertaining as is the case in situation comedy, a drama program usually features a set of actors playing characters in a historical or contemporary setting. The program follows their lives and adventures, except for soap opera-type serials, many shows especially before the 1980s, remained static without story arcs, and the main characters and premise changed little. If some change happened to the characters lives during the episode, because of this, the episodes could be broadcast in any order. Since the 1980s, there are series that feature progressive change to the plot. For instance, Hill Street Blues and St. Elsewhere were two of the first American prime time television series to have this kind of dramatic structure. While the later series, Babylon 5 is an example of such production that had a predetermined story running over its intended five-season run. In 2012, it was reported that television was growing into a component of major media companies revenues than film. Some also noted the increase in quality of television programs. When a person or company decides to create a new series, they develop the elements, consisting of the concept, the characters, the crew. Then they offer it to the networks in an attempt to find one interested enough to order a prototype first episode of the series. They want very much to get the word out on what types of shows they’re looking for, to create the pilot, the structure and team of the whole series must be put together. If the network likes the pilot, they pick up the show to air it the next season, sometimes they save it for mid-season, or request rewrites and further review
11.
Publicity stunt
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A publicity stunt is a planned event designed to attract the publics attention to the events organizers or their cause. Publicity stunts can be organized, or set up by amateurs. Such events are frequently utilized by advertisers, celebrities, athletes, organizations sometimes seek publicity by staging newsworthy events that attract media coverage. They can be in the form of groundbreakings, world record attempts, dedications, by staging and managing the event, the organization attempts to gain some control over what is reported in the media. Successful publicity stunts have news value, offer photo, video and sound bite opportunities and it is sometimes hard for organizations to design successful publicity stunts that highlight the message instead of burying it. For example, it makes sense for a company to bake the worlds largest pizza. The importance of publicity stunts is generating news interest and awareness for the concept, edward Bernays Guerrilla Marketing Photo op Media circus Media prank Stunting Viral marketing
12.
Novel
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A novel is any relatively long piece of written narrative fiction, normally in prose, and typically published as a book. The genre has also described as possessing, a continuous. This view sees the novels origins in Classical Greece and Rome, medieval, early modern romance, the latter, an Italian word used to describe short stories, supplied the present generic English term in the 18th century. The romance is a closely related long prose narrative, Romance, as defined here, should not be confused with the genre fiction love romance or romance novel. Other European languages do not distinguish between romance and novel, a novel is le roman, der Roman, il romanzo, a novel is a long, fictional narrative which describes intimate human experiences. Most European languages use the word romance for extended narratives, fictionality is most commonly cited as distinguishing novels from historiography. However this can be a problematic criterion, historians would also invent and compose speeches for didactic purposes. Novels can, on the hand, depict the social, political and personal realities of a place and period with clarity. Even in the 19th century, fictional narratives in verse, such as Lord Byrons Don Juan, Alexander Pushkins Yevgeniy Onegin, vikram Seths The Golden Gate, composed of 590 Onegin stanzas, is a more recent example of the verse novel. Both in 12th-century Japan and 15th-century Europe, prose fiction created intimate reading situations, on the other hand, verse epics, including the Odyssey and Aeneid, had been recited to a select audiences, though this was a more intimate experience than the performance of plays in theaters. A new world of Individualistic fashion, personal views, intimate feelings, secret anxieties, conduct and gallantry spread with novels, the novel is today the longest genre of narrative prose fiction, followed by the novella, short story, and flash fiction. However, in the 17th century critics saw the romance as of epic length, the length of a novel can still be important because most literary awards use length as a criterion in the ranking system. Urbanization and the spread of printed books in Song Dynasty China led to the evolution of oral storytelling into consciously fictional novels by the Ming dynasty, parallel European developments did not occur for centuries, and awaited the time when the availability of paper allowed for similar opportunities. By contrast, Ibn Tufails Hayy ibn Yaqdhan and Ibn al-Nafis Theologus Autodidactus are works of didactic philosophy, in this sense, Hayy ibn Yaqdhan would be considered an early example of a philosophical novel, while Theologus Autodidactus would be considered an early theological novel. Epic poetry exhibits some similarities with the novel, and the Western tradition of the novel back into the field of verse epics. Then at the beginning of the 18th century, French prose translations brought Homers works to a wider public, longus is the author of the famous Greek novel, Daphnis and Chloe. Romance or chivalric romance is a type of narrative in prose or verse popular in the circles of High Medieval. In later romances, particularly those of French origin, there is a tendency to emphasize themes of courtly love
13.
Shared universe
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It is common in genres like science fiction. It differs from collaborative writing where multiple artists are working together on the work and from crossovers where the works. The term has also used in a wider, non-literary sense to convey interdisciplinary or social commonality. Incidental appearances, such as that of dArtagnan in Cyrano de Bergerac, are considered literary cameo appearances, more substantial interaction between characters from different sources is often marketed as a crossover. While crossovers occur in a universe, not all crossovers are intended to merge their settings back-stories and are instead used for marketing, parody. The version deemed official by the author or company controlling the setting is known as canon, not all shared universes have a controlling entity capable of or interested in determining canonicity, and not all fans agree with these determinations when they occur. A fanon may instead find some degree of consensus within the settings fandom, one such tool is retconning, short for retroactive continuity, which resolves errors in continuity that came about through previously-written conflicting material. Readers may also object when a story or series is integrated into a shared universe, the expansion of existing material into a shared universe is not restricted to settings licensed from movies and television. Niven has since clarified that his setting is still to be used only under restricted circumstances and with permission, by contrast, author Eric Flint has edited and published collaborations with fan fiction writers directly, expanding his 1632 series. A setting may also be expanded in a similar manner after the death of its creator, many other published works of this nature take the form of a series of short-story anthologies with occasional standalone novels. Examples include Robert Lynn Asprins Thieves World, C. J. Cherryhs Merovingen Nights, marshal Ludlum Universe Jason Bourne Star Wars Star Trek X-Men Fast and Furious Fast-Verse Transformers Cloververse Middle-Earth Harry Potter Hasbro Cinematic Universe G. I. By 1961, Marvel Comics writer and editor Stan Lee, working with artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, Marvel sets its stories in an increasing number of alternate realities, each with an assigned number in a greater multiverse. DC and Marvel have also periodically co-published series in which their respective characters meet and these intercompany crossovers have typically been written as self-limiting events that avoid implying that the DC Universe and Marvel Universe co-exist. Exceptions include the comics released under the metafictional imprint Amalgam Comics in 1996. Marvel has since referred to this as part of its settings greater multiverse by labeling it Earth-692, although DC and Marvels shared universe approaches to comics have set them apart from competitors in the industry, other companies have attempted similar models. Valiant Comics and Crossgen both produced titles primarily set from their inception in a single, publisher-wide shared universe, known respectively as Unity, amateur authors have created shared universes by contributing to mailing lists, story archives and Usenet. One of the earliest of these settings, SFStory, saw its spin-off setting Superguy cited as illustrative of the potential of the Internet, another example is the furry-themed Tales from the Blind Pig created at the Transformation Story Archive which some limited publication. Other early examples include the Dargon Project, Devilbunnies, and the popular SCP Foundation wiki, kingdom Hearts Rockstar Games Grand Theft Auto, Manhunt, Red Dead, and Bully
14.
Benjamin Franklin
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Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Franklin was a polymath and a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, freemason, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman. As a scientist, he was a figure in the American Enlightenment. As an inventor, he is known for the rod, bifocals. He facilitated many civic organizations, including Philadelphias fire department and the University of Pennsylvania, Franklin earned the title of The First American for his early and indefatigable campaigning for colonial unity, initially as an author and spokesman in London for several colonies. As the first United States Ambassador to France, he exemplified the emerging American nation, in the words of historian Henry Steele Commager, In a Franklin could be merged the virtues of Puritanism without its defects, the illumination of the Enlightenment without its heat. To Walter Isaacson, this makes Franklin the most accomplished American of his age, Franklin became a successful newspaper editor and printer in Philadelphia, the leading city in the colonies, publishing the Pennsylvania Gazette at the age of 23. He became wealthy publishing this and Poor Richards Almanack, which he authored under the pseudonym Richard Saunders, after 1767, he was associated with the Pennsylvania Chronicle, a newspaper that was known for its revolutionary sentiments and criticisms of the British policies. He pioneered and was first president of The Academy and College of Philadelphia which opened in 1751 and he organized and was the first secretary of the American Philosophical Society and was elected president in 1769. Franklin became a hero in America as an agent for several colonies when he spearheaded an effort in London to have the Parliament of Great Britain repeal the unpopular Stamp Act. An accomplished diplomat, he was widely admired among the French as American minister to Paris and was a figure in the development of positive Franco-American relations. His efforts proved vital for the American Revolution in securing shipments of crucial munitions from France, during the Revolution, he became the first US Postmaster General. He was active in community affairs and colonial and state politics, from 1785 to 1788, he served as governor of Pennsylvania. He initially owned and dealt in slaves but, by the 1750s, he argued against slavery from an economic perspective, Franklins father, Josiah Franklin, was a tallow chandler, a soap-maker and a candle-maker. Josiah was born at Ecton, Northamptonshire, England on December 23,1657, the son of Thomas Franklin, a blacksmith-farmer, and Jane White. His mother, Abiah Folger, was born in Nantucket, Massachusetts, on August 15,1667, to Peter Folger, a miller and schoolteacher, and his wife, Mary Morrill, Josiah Franklin had seventeen children with his two wives. He married his first wife, Anne Child, in about 1677 in Ecton and emigrated with her to Boston in 1683, after her death, Josiah was married to Abiah Folger on July 9,1689 in the Old South Meeting House by Samuel Willard. Benjamin, their child, was Josiah Franklins fifteenth child and tenth
15.
Beer
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Beer is the worlds oldest and most widely consumed alcoholic drink, it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. Most beer is flavoured with hops, which add bitterness and act as a natural preservative, the fermentation process causes a natural carbonation effect, although this is often removed during processing, and replaced with forced carbonation. Beer is sold in bottles and cans, it may also be available on draught, particularly in pubs, the brewing industry is a global business, consisting of several dominant multinational companies and many thousands of smaller producers ranging from brewpubs to regional breweries. The strength of beer is usually around 4% to 6% alcohol by volume, archaeologists speculate that beer was instrumental in the formation of civilisations. Approximately 5000 years ago, workers in the city of Uruk were paid by their employers in beer, the earliest known chemical evidence of barley beer dates to circa 3500–3100 BC from the site of Godin Tepe in the Zagros Mountains of western Iran. The Ebla tablets, discovered in 1974 in Ebla, Syria, a fermented beverage using rice and fruit was made in China around 7000 BC. Unlike sake, mould was not used to saccharify the rice, almost any substance containing sugar can naturally undergo alcoholic fermentation. It is likely that many cultures, on observing that a liquid could be obtained from a source of starch. Bread and beer increased prosperity to a level that allowed time for development of other technologies, Beer was spread through Europe by Germanic and Celtic tribes as far back as 3000 BC, and it was mainly brewed on a domestic scale. The product that the early Europeans drank might not be recognised as beer by most people today, alongside the basic starch source, the early European beers might contain fruits, honey, numerous types of plants, spices and other substances such as narcotic herbs. What they did not contain was hops, as that was an addition, first mentioned in Europe around 822 by a Carolingian Abbot. Beer produced before the Industrial Revolution continued to be made and sold on a scale, although by the 7th century AD, beer was also being produced. During the Industrial Revolution, the production of beer moved from artisanal manufacture to industrial manufacture, the development of hydrometers and thermometers changed brewing by allowing the brewer more control of the process and greater knowledge of the results. Today, the industry is a global business, consisting of several dominant multinational companies. As of 2006, more than 133 billion litres, the equivalent of a cube 510 metres on a side, of beer are sold per year, the process of making beer is known as brewing. A dedicated building for the making of beer is called a brewery, a company that makes beer is called either a brewery or a brewing company. Beer made on a scale for non-commercial reasons is classified as homebrewing regardless of where it is made. Brewing beer is subject to legislation and taxation in developed countries, however, the UK government relaxed legislation in 1963, followed by Australia in 1972 and the US in 1978, allowing homebrewing to become a popular hobby
16.
The Bastard (novel)
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The Bastard is a historical novel written by John Jakes and originally published in 1974. It is book one in a known as The Kent Family Chronicles or the American Bicentennial Series. The novel mixes fictional characters with historical events or people, to tell the story of the United States of America in the period leading up to the American Revolution. The novel was adapted into a television film in 1978. The story begins in November 1770 in Auvergne, France, near Chavaniac, Philippe Charboneau, a seventeen-year-old boy, is living with his mother, Marie, in an inn inherited from her deceased father. The young Philippe never knew his father, having kept it a secret from him for years, she finally told him his father was James Amberly, the 6th Duke of Kent. The Duke began an affair with Marie when she was performing on stage in Paris. When Philippe and Marie received word that the Duke had taken ill they immediately made plans to travel to Kent, England, once at Kent, the Duke’s wife, Lady Jane Amberly, and Roger, her son, refused to recognize Philippe as the son of the Duke. Marie insisted otherwise and was determined not to leave Kent until her son inherited what she felt was rightly his, Philippe and his mother stayed months at an inn in hopes that Lady Jane would reconsider, but she never did. The situation became more tense when Philippe began a sexual relationship with Roger’s fiancée. When Philippe and Marie were informed that the Duke had died they returned to his home, instead Philippe and Roger brawled, and Roger’s hand was badly wounded. Philippe escaped with his life, though he remained in danger, Alicia warned him to leave Kent because Roger was bent on killing him for injuring his hand. Lacking the funds to return to France, they fled to London, not knowing their way around the city of London, they made for St. Paul’s Church, hoping to find sanctuary there. What they found instead were violent beggars who tried to rob Philippe and they were saved by Esau and Hosea Sholto, the sons of Solomon Sholto, a deeply religious man who believed in charity and compassion. Philippe and his mother were allowed to stay with the Sholtos, the Sholto family owned and operated a printing company and a lending library. Convinced that his claim to Kentland would never be validated, Philippe decided to take Solomon’s advice, when Philippe confided his desire to emigrate to America, Solomon introduced him to Benjamin Franklin, who was at that time an American trade representative to England. London was no longer safe for Marie and her son and they fled again, Philip arrived at Boston, Massachusetts penniless and for several days he was homeless and starving. Having been in Boston not long he angered a British soldier by accidentally splashing mud on him and he was saved from a beating by William Molineux
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John Jakes
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John William Jakes is an American writer, best known for American historical fiction. He has used the pen name Jay Scotland, Jakes was born in Chicago, Illinois. He first sold stories to magazines while still in college in the early 1950s. He studied creative writing at DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana and he then earned an M. A. in American literature from The Ohio State University. ISFDB catalogs 28 more speculative fiction stories published 1951 to 1953, in 1971, he began to write full-time. During this time, he was a member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers Guild of America, the eight original members were self-selected by fantasy credentials alone. They sought to promote the popularity and respectability of the Sword, Jakes lives in Florida with his wife, Rachel, to whom he has been married since 1951. They have four children, Andrea, Ellen, J. Michael. It was followed by The Rebels and The Seekers, the North and South trilogy was made into three miniseries on ABC in the 1980s and 1990s. List of bestselling novels in the United States John Jakes at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database FantasticFiction — bibliography and book covers Authors website — biography
18.
Vladimir Nabokov
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Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov was a Russian-American novelist and entomologist. His first nine novels were in Russian, and he achieved prominence after he began writing English prose. He was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction seven times, Nabokov was an expert lepidopterist and composer of chess problems. Nabokov was born on 22 April 1899, in Saint Petersburg, b to a wealthy and his father was a leader of the pre-Revolutionary liberal Constitutional Democratic Party and authored numerous books and articles about criminal law and politics. His cousins included the composer Nicolas Nabokov and his paternal grandfather, Dmitry Nabokov, had been Russias Justice Minister in the reign of Alexander II. His paternal grandmother was the Baltic German Baroness Maria von Korff, Vladimir was the familys eldest and favorite child, with four younger siblings, Sergey, Olga, Elena and Kiril. Sergey would be killed in a Nazi concentration camp in 1945, Olga is recalled by Ayn Rand as having been a supporter of constitutional monarchy who had first awakened Rands interest in politics. Nabokov spent his childhood and youth in Saint Petersburg and at the country estate Vyra near Siverskaya and his childhood, which he had called perfect and cosmopolitan, was remarkable in several ways. The family spoke Russian, English, and French in their household and he relates that the first English book his mother read to him was Misunderstood by Florence Montgomery. In fact, much to his fathers chagrin, Nabokov could read. While the family was nominally Orthodox, they felt no religious fervor, Nabokovs adolescence was also the period in which his first serious literary endeavors were made. In 1916, Nabokov had his first collection of published, Stikhi. At the time, Nabokov was attending Tenishev school in Saint Petersburg and they lived at a friends estate and in September 1918 moved to Livadiya, at the time part of the Ukrainian Republic, Nabokovs father became a minister of justice in the Crimean Regional Government. After the withdrawal of the German Army and the defeat of the White Army and they settled briefly in England and Vladimir enrolled in Trinity College, Cambridge, first studying zoology, then Slavic and Romance languages. His examination results on the first part of the Tripos, taken at the end of year, were a starred first. He sat the second part of the exam in his third year, Nabokov feared that he might fail the exam, but his script was marked second-class. His final examination result was second-class, and his BA conferred in 1922, Nabokov later drew on his Cambridge experiences to write several works, including the novels Glory and The Real Life of Sebastian Knight. In 1920, Nabokovs family moved to Berlin, where his set up the émigré newspaper Rul. Nabokov followed them to Berlin two years later, after completing his studies at Cambridge
19.
Lolita
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Lolita is a 1955 novel written by Russian American novelist Vladimir Nabokov. Lolita is his nickname for Dolores. The novel was written in English and first published in Paris in 1955 by Olympia Press. Later it was translated into Russian by Nabokov himself and published in New York in 1967 by Phaedra Publishers, Lolita quickly attained a classic status. Today it is regarded as one of the achievements in 20th century literature. The novel was adapted into a film by Stanley Kubrick in 1962 and it has also been adapted several times for the stage and has been the subject of two operas, two ballets, and an acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful Broadway musical. Its assimilation into popular culture is such that the name Lolita has been used to imply that a girl is sexually precocious. Lolita is included on TIME magazines list of the 100 best English-language novels published from 1923 to 2005, a European literary scholar writing his memoir under the name Humbert Humbert narrates his life from his Paris childhood to his present incarceration. Growing up in a family, Humbert meets his childhood sweetheart. Annabels family moves away, and she dies shortly after from typhus, as an adult, Humbert develops a hebephilic fixation with girls aged 9–14, whom he refers to as nymphets. After a misadventure when he requests an underage girl from a pimp, Humbert marries a woman, Valeria. His marriage with Valeria dissolves after she admits to having an affair, after another visit to a psychiatric ward after a mental breakdown, he moves to America to write. Upon his arrival in Ramsdale, however, he discovers that their house has burned down, a landlady named Charlotte Haze offers to accommodate him instead, and Humbert visits her residence out of politeness. Initially planning to decline the widowed Charlottes offer, Humbert agrees to rent when he sees her 12-year-old daughter and he quickly becomes infatuated with Dolores, in part because of her resemblance to Annabel, and privately nicknames her Lolita. Humbert starts a diary in which he records his obsessive and sexual thoughts about Dolores, and also hateful comments towards Charlotte, Charlotte and Dolores argue intensely and often, and Humbert finds himself growing closer to Dolores. One day, when alone with her, Humbert has her sit on his lap. To continue living near Dolores, Humbert returns Charlottes adorations and the two are soon married, after Charlotte voices her plan to send Dolores to a boarding school when she returns from camp, Humbert contemplates murdering her to remain close to Dolores, but stops before carrying it out. A few days later, Charlotte finds and reads his diary and furiously confronts him, Charlotte runs out of the house with the letters that she had just written, but is killed by a passing car before she can mail them
20.
Quentin Tarantino
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Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American director, writer, and actor. His career began in the late 1980s, when he wrote and directed My Best Friends Birthday and its popularity was boosted by his second film, Pulp Fiction, a black comedy crime film that was a major success both among critics and audiences. Judged the greatest film from 1983–2008 by Entertainment Weekly, many critics, for his next effort, Tarantino paid homage to the blaxploitation films of the 1970s with Jackie Brown, an adaptation of the novel Rum Punch. Tarantino directed Death Proof as part of a feature with friend Robert Rodriguez. His long-postponed Inglourious Basterds, which tells the fictional alternate history story of two plots to assassinate Nazi Germanys political leadership, was released in 2009 to positive reviews, after that came 2012s critically acclaimed Django Unchained, a Western film set in the antebellum era of the Deep South. It became the film of his career so far, making over $425 million at the box office. Tarantinos films have garnered critical and commercial success. He has received industry awards, including two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, two BAFTA Awards and the Palme dOr, and has been nominated for an Emmy and a Grammy. He was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by Time in 2005, Filmmaker and historian Peter Bogdanovich has called him the single most influential director of his generation. In December 2015, Tarantino received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the film industry, Tarantino was born on March 27,1963 in Knoxville, Tennessee, the son of Connie McHugh and Tony Tarantino. His father is of Italian descent, and his mother has English and Irish ancestry, Quentin was named after Quint Asper, Burt Reynolds character in the CBS series Gunsmoke. Quentins mother met his father during a trip to Los Angeles and she married him soon after, to gain independence from her parents, but the marriage did not last. Connie Tarantino left Los Angeles, and moved to Knoxville, where her parents lived, in 1966, Tarantinos mother, after finishing her nursing studies, moved back to Los Angeles with her then three-year-old son. They lived in the South Bay, in the part of the city. Tarantinos mother married musician Curtis Zastoupil soon after coming to Los Angeles, and the moved to Torrance. Zastoupil encouraged his love of movies, and accompanied him to film screenings. Tarantinos mother allowed him to see movies with adult content, such as Carnal Knowledge, after his mother divorced Zastoupil in 1973, and received a misdiagnosis of Hodgkins lymphoma, Tarantino was sent to live with his grandparents in Tennessee. He remained there for six months to a year, before returning to California
21.
Peter Jackson
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Sir Peter Robert Jackson ONZ KNZM is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and film producer. He is best known as the director, writer, and producer of The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit trilogy and he also produced District 9, The Adventures of Tintin, The Secret of the Unicorn, and the documentary West of Memphis. Jackson began his career with the horror comedy Bad Taste. He shared a nomination for Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay with his partner Fran Walsh for Heavenly Creatures, Jackson has been awarded three Academy Awards in his career, including the award for Best Director in 2003. He has also received a Golden Globe, four Saturn Awards and his production company is Wingnut Films, and his most regular collaborators are co-writers and producers Walsh and Philippa Boyens. Jackson was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2002 and he was later knighted by Anand Satyanand, the Governor-General of New Zealand, at a ceremony in Wellington in April 2010. In December 2014, Jackson was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Jackson was born on 31 October 1961 in Wellington and was raised at the nearby coastal town of Pukerua Bay. His parents—Joan, a worker and housewife, and William Bill Jackson. Bill Jackson was a veteran of the Siege of Malta in World War II, as a child, Jackson was a keen film fan, growing up on Ray Harryhausen films, as well as finding inspiration in the television series Thunderbirds and Monty Pythons Flying Circus. After a family gave the Jacksons a Super 8 cine-camera with Peter in mind. Jackson has long cited King Kong as his film. Most notable though was a 20-minute short called The Valley, which won him a prize because of the shots he used. In school, Jackson expressed no interest in sports and his classmates also remember him wearing a duffle coat with an obsession verging on religious. He had no training in film-making, but learned about editing, special effects and make-up largely through his own trial. As a young adult, Jackson discovered the work of author J. R. R. Tolkien after watching The Lord of the Rings, when he was 16 years old, Jackson left school and began working full-time as a photo-engraver for a Wellington newspaper, The Evening Post. For the seven years he worked there, Jackson lived at home with his parents so he could save as much money as possible to spend on film equipment. After two years of work Jackson bought a 16 mm camera, and began shooting a film later became Bad Taste. Jackson has long cited several films as influences and it is well known that Jackson has a passion for King Kong, often citing it as his favourite film and as the film that inspired him early in his life
22.
Bad Taste
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Produced on a low budget, it is Jacksons first feature film. Jackson and friends take on most of the key roles, both on and off-screen and it was a film that provided Jackson with the necessary leverage needed to advance in the industry. Since its release, Bad Taste has become a film and has received generally positive reviews. The Astro Investigation and Defence Service sends Derek, Frank, Ozzy and they find the town has been overrun by space aliens disguised as humans in blue shirts. Barry kills one of the aliens and is attacked by others, after Derek notifies Frank and Ozzy, he begins torturing Robert, an alien they caught earlier. Roberts screaming attracts a number of aliens in the area, Derek kills the would-be rescuers, but he is attacked by Robert and falls over a cliff, to his presumed death. Meanwhile, a charity collector named Giles is passing through Kaihoro and he is attacked by Robert, who has been eating the brains of the alien killed earlier by Barry. Giles escapes in his car and stops at a house for help. Another alien answers the door and captures Giles and he later wakes up in a tub of water and is told he is about to be eaten. Derek also wakes up to find that he landed in a seagulls nest and he also finds that his brain is leaking out the back of his head, so he stuffs it back in and uses a hat to hold it in place. That night, Frank, Ozzy, and Barry sneak into the aliens house and they kill an alien by ripping off its head and Frank wears its shirt to infiltrate an alien meeting. He finds out that the residents of Kaihoro have been harvested for alien fast food, Robert vomits into a bowl, which the aliens dine on, including the disguised Frank. He escapes and tells the members of the plan. They sneak out to save Giles as the aliens sleep, at sunrise, they try to leave but are attacked by the aliens. Dereks hat is shot off, and he starts losing more of his brain and he grabs a chainsaw from the boot of his car and heads for the alien house. As the boys leave with Giles, the leader and his followers transform into their true form. Ozzy uses a rocket launcher to blow up Franks car, which has been overrun by aliens, Frank and Ozzy hunt for Lord Crumb and kill a lot of aliens along the way. Meanwhile, Derek kills an alien with his chainsaw and replaces the missing parts of his brain with alien brain, an alien prepares to shoot Frank and Ozzy, but it is beheaded by Derek after he bursts through the wall behind it
23.
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
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The Hobbit, The Battle of the Five Armies is a 2014 epic high fantasy action film directed by Peter Jackson and written by Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Guillermo del Toro. It was produced by New Line Cinema, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and WingNut Films, the Battle of the Five Armies was released on 11 December 2014 in New Zealand,12 December 2014 in the United Kingdom, and on 17 December 2014 in the United States. It stars Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Evangeline Lilly, Lee Pace, Luke Evans, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ken Stott and it also features Cate Blanchett, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, and Orlando Bloom. The film received mixed reviews and grossed over $956 million worldwide, making it the second highest-grossing film of 2014, at the 87th Academy Awards, the film received a nomination for Best Sound Editing. Bilbo and the Dwarves watch from the Lonely Mountain as the dragon Smaug sets Laketown ablaze, Bard the Bowman breaks out of prison, and eventually kills Smaug with the black arrow brought to him by his son Bain. Smaugs falling body crushes the fleeing Master of Laketown, who was escaping Laketown on a boat laden with the towns gold. Bard reluctantly becomes the new leader of the people of Laketown, Thorin, now struck with dragon sickness over the vast treasure in the mountain, searches obsessively for the Arkenstone, which Bilbo had previously found but kept hidden. Thorin, hearing that Laketown survivors have fled to Dale, orders the entrance of the Lonely Mountain sealed off, meanwhile, Galadriel, Elrond and Saruman arrive at Dol Guldur and free Gandalf, sending him to safety with Radagast. They battle and defeat the Nazgûl and Sauron himself, banishing them to the East, Azog, marching on Erebor with his vast Orc army, sends Bolg to Gundabad to summon their second army. Legolas and Tauriel witness the march of Bolgs army, bolstered by Orc Berserkers, Thranduil and an elf army arrive in Dale and form an alliance with Bard in order to re-claim white gems that are part of the Mountain treasure. Bard goes to the mountain and asks Thorin for the share of gold that he had promised the people of Laketown. Gandalf arrives at Dale to warn Bard and Thranduil of the threat posed by Azog, Bilbo sneaks out of Erebor to hand the Arkenstone over to Thranduil and Bard, so that they can trade it for the gems and gold they were promised and prevent a battle. Outraged by what he sees as betrayal, Thorin nearly kills Bilbo, Thorins cousin Dáin arrives with his Dwarf army, and a battle of Dwarves against Elves and Men begins, with the Elves and Men having a significant advantage. Wereworms emerge from the ground, releasing Azogs army from their tunnels, with the Orcs outnumbering Dáins army, Thranduil and Bards forces, along with Gandalf and Bilbo, join the battle. However, a front is opened when many Orcs, Ogres. Inside Erebor, Thorin suffers traumatic hallucinations before regaining his sanity and he rides towards Ravenhill with Dwalin, Fíli and Kíli to kill Azog, Bilbo follows them using the One Ring to through the combat unseen. Meanwhile, Tauriel leaves with Legolas following her to warn the Dwarves of Bolgs approaching army, Azog kills Fíli, as Bilbo and the other Dwarves look on. As Thorin engages Azog in a fight to the death, Bolg knocks Bilbo unconscious, overpowers Tauriel and then kills Kíli, Legolas battles Bolg and eventually kills him
24.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
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The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring is a 2001 epic high fantasy adventure film directed by Peter Jackson based on the first volume of J. R. R. Tolkiens The Lord of the Rings. It is the first instalment in The Lord of the Rings series, set in Middle-earth, the story tells of the Dark Lord Sauron, who is seeking the One Ring. The Ring has found its way to the young hobbit Frodo Baggins, released on 10 December 2001, the film was highly acclaimed by critics and fans alike who considered it to be a landmark in film-making and an achievement in the fantasy film genre. It has continued to be featured on lists of the greatest fantasy films ever made. The film was a box office success, earning over $871 million worldwide. As of January 2017, it is the 50th highest-grossing film of all time worldwide unadjusted for inflation and it also won four British Academy Film Awards, including Best Film and Best Director BAFTA awards. The Special Extended Edition was released to DVD on 12 November 2002, in 2007, The Fellowship of the Ring was voted No.50 on the American Film Institutes list of 100 greatest American films. The AFI also voted it the second greatest fantasy film of all time during their 10 Top 10 special, the film ranks #24 on Empire magazines 2008 list of the 500 greatest movies of all time. Isildur is later killed by Orcs, and the Ring is lost for 2,500 years, found, the Ring is then found by a Hobbit named Bilbo Baggins. Sixty years on, Bilbo celebrates his 111th birthday in the Shire, Bilbo reveals he intends on leaving the Shire for one last adventure and leaves his inheritance to his nephew Frodo, including the Ring. Gandalf investigates the Ring, discovering its true identity and warns Frodo, learning Gollum was tortured by Orcs and told them that Bilbo took the Ring, Gandalf instructs Frodo to leave the Shire, accompanied by his gardener Samwise Gamgee. Gandalf rides to Isengard, meeting fellow wizard Saruman the White, but learns he is in league with Sauron, after a brief battle, Saruman imprisons Gandalf. The Hobbits are ambushed by the Ringwraiths, one stabbing Frodo with a morgul blade, Arwen, an elf and Strider’s lover, comes to Frodo’s aid and successfully takes him to Rivendell where he is healed, meeting Gandalf who escaped Saruman on the back of a giant eagle. Arwen’s father, Lord Elrond, holds a council, deciding that the Ring must be destroyed in Mount Doom, Bilbo gives Frodo his sword, Sting. The Fellowship of the Ring sets off but Saruman’s magic forces them to travel through the Mines of Moria, the Fellowship find the dwarves within Moria have been slain, and they are attacked by Orcs and a cave troll. They defeat them, but are confronted by an ancient demon called a Balrog, Gandalf casts the Balrog into a vast chasm, but its fiery whip drags Gandalf down into the darkness with it. The rest of the Fellowship, now led by Aragorn, reach Lothlórien, home to elves Galadriel, Galadriel privately informs Frodo that only he can complete the quest and one of his friends will try to take the Ring. Meanwhile, Saruman creates an army of Uruk-hai to track and kill the Fellowship, the Fellowship leave Lothlórien by river to Parth Galen
25.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
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The Hobbit, The Desolation of Smaug is a 2013 epic high-fantasy adventure film directed by Peter Jackson and produced by WingNut Films in collaboration with New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was distributed by Warner Bros, pictures and is the second installment in the three-part film series based on the novel The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien. The film was preceded by An Unexpected Journey and followed by The Battle of the Five Armies, the film follows the titular character Bilbo Baggins as he accompanies Thorin Oakenshield and his fellow dwarves on a quest to reclaim the Lonely Mountain from the dragon Smaug. The film also features the vengeful pursuit of Azog the Defiler and Bolg, the ensemble cast includes Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Benedict Cumberbatch, Evangeline Lilly, Lee Pace, Luke Evans, Ken Stott, James Nesbitt, and Orlando Bloom. Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro wrote the screenplay, the films were shot simultaneously in 3D at a projection rate of 48 frames per second, with principal photography taking place around New Zealand and at Pinewood Studios. Additional filming took place throughout May 2013, the Hobbit, The Desolation of Smaug premiered on 2 December 2013 in Los Angeles and was released internationally on 11 December 2013 in both conventional and IMAX theatres. Thorin and his company are being pursued by Azog and his Orc party following the events of the previous film and they are ushered along by Gandalf to the nearby home of Beorn, a skin-changer who can take the form of the bear. That night, Azog is summoned to Dol Guldur by the Necromancer, Azog then delegates the hunt for Thorin to his son Bolg. The following day, Beorn escorts the company to the borders of Mirkwood and this coincides with a telepathic message from Galadriel urging him to investigate the tombs of the Nazgûl. He warns the company to remain on the path and leaves them, upon entering the forest they lose their way and are ensnared by giant spiders. Bilbo then sets about freeing the dwarves with the help of his recently acquired invisibility ring and he subsequently drops the Ring and first begins to understand its dark influence after he brutally kills a creature to retrieve it. The remaining spiders are fended off by the Wood-elves led by Tauriel and they also capture the Dwarves, and bring Thorin before their king Thranduil. Thorin confronts the Elvenking about his neglect of the Dwarves of Erebor following Smaugs attack 60 years earlier, Bilbo, having avoided capture, arranges an escape using empty wine barrels that are sent downstream. While being pursued by the Wood-elves, they are ambushed by Bolg and his Orc party and they engage in a running three-way battle down the river, but ultimately the Dwarves are able to escape both groups of pursuers. Thranduil then seals off his kingdom when an Orc captive reveals an evil entity has returned and is amassing an army in the south, meanwhile, Gandalf and Radagast go to investigate the tombs of the Nazgûl, which they find to be empty. The company are smuggled into Esgaroth by a bargeman called Bard, Thorin promises the Master and the people of Laketown a share of the mountains treasure. It is then revealed that Bard is a descendant of the last ruler of Dale, Kíli is forced to remain behind, tended to by Fíli, Óin, and Bofur, as the remaining company receive a grand farewell. Meanwhile, Gandalf travels south to the ruins of Dol Guldur, Gandalf finds the ruins infested with Orcs and is ambushed by Azog
26.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
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The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers is a 2002 epic high fantasy adventure film directed by Peter Jackson and based on the second volume of J. R. R. Tolkiens novel The Lord of the Rings. It is the installment in The Lord of the Rings film series. Continuing the plot of The Fellowship of the Ring, the film intercuts three storylines, Frodo and Sam continue their journey towards Mordor to destroy the One Ring, meeting and joined by Gollum, the rings former owner. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli come to the nation of Rohan and are reunited with the resurrected Gandalf. Merry and Pippin escape capture, meet Treebeard the Ent, meeting high critical acclaim, the film was an enormous box-office success, earning over $926 million worldwide and is currently the 39th highest-grossing film of all time. The film won accolades and was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee continue their journey to Mordor to destroy the One Ring by throwing it into Mount Doom and they are attacked in the night by Gollum, former owner of the Ring, but they capture him. Sympathising with Gollum for their shared burden, Frodo asks Gollum to lead them safely to Mordor, meanwhile, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli pursue the Uruk-hai who kidnapped their friends Merry and Pippin. The Uruk-hai are slaughtered by the Rohirrim army of Rohan, Aragorn’s group later meet the Rohirrim who have been banished by their king Théoden, who is manipulated by Saruman’s servant Grima Wormtongue. Tracking the Hobbits in Fangorn, Aragorn’s group encounter a resurrected Gandalf who perished in Moria, Gollum leads Frodo and Sam through the Dead Marshes while evading the Nazgûl. They reach the Black Gate to Mordor but Gollum stops them, saying its too risky, the trio later are captured by the Rangers of Ithilien, led by Faramir, brother of the late Boromir. When Faramir discovers Frodo has the Ring, he intends on taking him to Gondor, Aragorn, Gandalf, Legolas, and Gimli travel to Rohan’s capital Edoras where Gandalf releases Théoden from Saruman’s power and Wormtongue is banished. Aragorn strikes up a friendship with Théoden’s niece Éowyn who quickly falls in love with him, during a Warg attack, Aragorn falls off a cliff into a river, but is found by his horse and taken to Helm’s Deep. In Fangorn, Merry and Pippin attend an Ent council but learn Treebeard and they convince them otherwise when they show the destruction Saruman has unleashed on the forests around Isengard. The Ents storm Isengard, and release the dam placed upon the nearby river, the Uruk-hai army arrive at Helm’s Deep, finding a makeshift army of civilians and Elves from Rivendell waiting for them. A great battle follows with Théoden losing hope until Aragorn convinces him to ride out, Gandalf and the Rohirrim arrive, turning the tide of the battle and destroying the Uruk-hai. Frodo, Sam, and Gollum are taken to the fallen Gondor city Osgiliath but they are attacked by the Nazgûl, Sam informs Faramir of how the Ring nearly drove Boromir mad, stunning Faramir. Frodo is nearly captured by the Nazgûl but Sam tackles him down a flight of stairs, after the attack ends, Faramir frees the trio and sends them on their way
27.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
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It is the third and final installment in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, following The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, preceding The Hobbit film trilogy. Released on 17 December 2003, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King received rave reviews and universal acclaim, the film was the highest-grossing film of 2003 and, by the end of its theatrical run, the second highest-grossing film in history. As of January 2017, it is the fourteenth highest-grossing film of all time, at the 76th Academy Awards, it won all 11 Academy Awards for which it was nominated, therefore holding the record for highest Oscar sweep. The wins included the awards for Best Picture, the first and only time a film has done so, it was also the second sequel to win a Best Picture Oscar. The film jointly holds the record for the largest number of Academy Awards won with Ben-Hur, the film has been re-released twice, in 2011 and 2017. Gandalf leads Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and King Théoden to Isengard where they reunite with Merry, with Saruman defeated, Gandalf retrieves Sarumans palantír. Pippin later steals a glance into the seeing-stone, and suffers an attack from Sauron himself. Gandalf deduces that Sauron will attack Gondors capital Minas Tirith and he rides there to warn them, taking Pippin with him because Sauron believes Pippin is the ring bearer. The hobbits begin climbing a precarious stair carved in the face that will take them into Mordor via a secret way. But having overheard Gollums plot to regain the Ring, Sam keeps an eye on him. Saurons army strikes and overwhelms the city of Osgiliath, forcing Faramir, while helping Théoden gather his forces, Aragorn is approached by Elrond who informs him Arwen is dying. Following a vision of her son, she refused to leave Middle Earth, Elrond gives Aragorn the sword Andúril, Isildurs sword Narsil reforged, so he can reclaim his birthright while gaining reinforcements from the Dead Men of Dunharrow. Joined by Legolas and Gimli, Aragorn travels to the Paths of the Dead, Faramir is gravely wounded after a futile effort to retake Osgiliath, and believing his son to be dead, Denethor falls into madness. Gandalf is left to command the city defences against the Orc army led by Gothmog, but as Gothmogs forces eventually force their way into the city, Denethor attempts to kill himself and Faramir on a pyre. Pippin alerts Gandalf and they save Faramir, but Denethor leaps to his death from the top of Minas Tirith just before Théoden and the Rohirrim arrive. Initially, the Rohirrim have the advantage at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, though Théodens niece Éowyn, having posed as a male soldier, battles and slays the Witch-King with Merrys help, Théoden dies of his wounds. Aragorn arrives with the Army of the Dead, they overcome the Orcs, Aragorn and the other captains of Men decide to lead all who can march upon the Black Gate as a distraction, so Frodo and Sam can get to Mount Doom. Gollum disposes of the last of the food, blaming Sam
28.
Martin Scorsese
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Martin Charles Scorsese is an American director, producer, screenwriter, and film historian, whose career spans more than 50 years. Scorseses body of work addresses such themes as Sicilian-American identity, Roman Catholic concepts of guilt and redemption, faith, machismo, modern crime, many of his films are also known for their depiction of violence and liberal use of profanity. Part of the New Hollywood wave of filmmaking, he is regarded as one of the most significant. In 1990, he founded The Film Foundation, an organization dedicated to film preservation. Their third film together, The Departed, won Scorsese the Academy Award for Best Director in addition to the winning the award for Best Picture. Their collaborations have resulted in numerous Academy Award nominations for both as well as winning several other prestigious awards. His work in television includes the episode of the HBO series Boardwalk Empire and Vinyl. He won the Academy Award for Best Director for the crime drama The Departed, with eight Best Director nominations, he is the most nominated living director and is tied with Billy Wilder for the second most nominations overall. Scorsese was born in Queens, New York and his family moved to Little Italy, Manhattan before he started school. His father, Charles Scorsese, and mother, Catherine Scorsese and his father was a clothes presser and an actor, and his mother was a seamstress and an actress. His fathers parents emigrated from Polizzi Generosa, in the province of Palermo, Sicily, Scorsese was raised in a devoutly Catholic environment. As a teenager in the Bronx, Scorsese frequently rented Powell, Scorsese was one of only two people who regularly rented that reel. The other was future Night Of The Living Dead director George A. Romero, Scorsese has cited Sabu and Victor Mature as his favorite actors during his youth. He has also spoken of the influence of the 1947 Powell and Pressburger film Black Narcissus, whose innovative techniques later impacted his filmmaking. Enamored of historical epics in his adolescence, at least two films of the genre, Land of the Pharaohs and El Cid, appear to have had a deep, Scorsese also developed an admiration for neorealist cinema at this time. He acknowledges owing a debt to the French New Wave and has stated that the French New Wave has influenced all filmmakers who have worked since. He has also cited filmmakers including Satyajit Ray, Ingmar Bergman, Michelangelo Antonioni and he went on to earn his M. F. A. from NYUs School of the Arts in 1966, a year after the school was founded. Scorsese attended New York Universitys Tisch School of the Arts making the short films Whats a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This. and Its Not Just You, Murray
29.
Who's That Knocking at My Door
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This film was the winner of the 1968 Chicago Film Festival. J. R. is a typical Catholic Italian-American young man on the streets of New York City, even as an adult, he stays close to home with a core group of friends with whom he drinks and carouses around. He gets involved with a girl he meets on the Staten Island Ferry. As their relationship deepens, he declines her offer to have sex because he thinks she is a virgin, one day, his girlfriend tells him that she was once raped by a former boyfriend. This crushes J. R. and he rejects her and attempts to return to his old life of drinking with his friends, however, after a particularly wild party with friends, he realizes he still loves her and returns to her apartment one early morning. He awkwardly tells her that he forgives her and says that he marry her anyway. Upon hearing this, the tells him marriage would never work if her past weighs on him so much. J. R. becomes enraged and calls her a whore and she tells him to go home, and he returns to the Catholic church, but finds no solace. Martin Scorsese appears in a role as a gangster. Whos That Knocking at My Door was filmed over the course of years, undergoing many changes, new directions. The film began in 1965 as a student short film about J. R. in 1967, the romance plot with Zina Bethune was introduced and spliced together with the earlier film, and the title was changed to I Call First. This version of the received its world premiere at the Chicago International Film Festival in November 1967. Scorsese shot and edited a technically beautiful but largely gratuitous montage of J. R. fantasizing about bedding a series of prostitutes, the film was then re-issued under the title J. R. in 1970, however all subsequent releases have been published under the 1968 title. The film was shot with a combination of 35 mm and 16 mm cameras, Scorsese shot most of the 35 mm footage with a Mitchell BNC camera, a very cumbersome camera that impeded mobility. He opted to shoot scenes with the 16 mm Eclair NPR camera in order to introduce greater mobility. American critic Roger Ebert gave the film a positive review after its world premiere at the Chicago International Film Festival in November 1967. He called the film a work that is genuine, artistically satisfying. I have no reservations in describing it as a moment in American movies
30.
After Hours (film)
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After Hours is a 1985 American black comedy film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Joseph Minion, and starring Griffin Dunne with an ensemble cast. The film follows Paul Hackett, portrayed by Dunne, as he experiences a series of misadventures while making his way home from New York Citys SoHo district during the night, warner Home Video released the film on VHS in 1991 for both widescreen and pan-and-scan NTSC laserdiscs. It has also released on DVD. After a long and boring day at work, Paul Hackett and they discuss their common interest in Henry Miller. Marcy leaves Paul her number and informs him that she lives with a sculptor named Kiki Bridges, later in the night, under the pretense of buying a paperweight, Paul visits Marcy, taking a cab to her apartment. On his way to visit Marcy, a $20 bill is blown out the window of the cab, the cab driver is furious that he cannot pay. This is the first in a series of misadventures for Paul that turn hostile through no fault of his own. At the apartment Paul meets the sculptor Kiki and Marcy, and comes across a collection of photographs and medications which imply that Marcy is severely disfigured from burns on her legs and torso. As a result of this implication, and as a result of a conversation with Marcy. Paul then attempts to go home by subway, but the fare has increased at the stroke of midnight and he goes to a bar where Julie, a waitress, becomes enamored with him. At the bar, Paul learns that there have been a string of burglaries in the neighborhood, the bars owner, Tom Schorr, offers to give Paul money to cover the subway fare, but cannot open the cash register. They exchange keys so Paul can go to Toms place to fetch the cash register keys, on the way back from Toms apartment, Paul is questioned by suspicious neighbors. Afterwards, Paul spots two actual burglars, Neil and Pepe, with one of Kikis sculptures, after he attempts to confront them, they flee, dropping the sculpture in the process. When Paul returns the sculpture to Kiki and Marcys apartment, he finds Marcy has committed suicide, Kiki and a stout man named Horst have already left to go to Club Berlin, a nightclub. Paul attempts to return to Toms bar, but it is locked up, Paul meets Julie, the waitress, in the street, who invites him up to her apartment to wait for Tom to reopen the bar. Julie is enamored with Paul, but Paul goes back to Toms bar, finding Tom grieving over Marcy, Paul returns to Julies apartment where she begins to sketch his portrait while they talk. Ultimately, Paul rejects Julies advances and leaves and he goes to Club Berlin to find Kiki and Horst, where a collection of punks attempt to shave his head into a Mohawk hairstyle. On the street, Paul is mistaken for a burglar and is pursued by a mob of local residents
31.
Taxi Driver
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Taxi Driver is a 1976 American vigilante film with neo-noir and psychological thriller elements, directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Paul Schrader. Set in New York City following the Vietnam War, the film stars Robert De Niro, and features Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel, Cybill Shepherd, Peter Boyle, and Albert Brooks. Nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Taxi Driver won the Palme dOr at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival and it is regularly cited by critics, film directors, and audiences alike as one of the greatest films of all time. In 2012, Sight & Sound named it the 31st-best film ever in its critics poll, ranked with The Godfather Part II. The film was considered culturally, historically or aesthetically significant by the US Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1994. Travis Bickle, a 26-year-old honorably discharged U. S. Marine, is a lonely and he becomes a taxi driver to cope with his chronic insomnia, driving passengers every night around the citys boroughs. He also spends time in seedy porn theaters and keeps a diary, Travis becomes infatuated with Betsy, a campaign volunteer for Senator and presidential candidate Charles Palantine. After watching her interact with fellow worker Tom through her window, Travis enters to volunteer as a pretext to talk to her, on a later date, he takes her to see a Swedish sex education film, which offends her, and she goes home alone. His attempts at reconciliation by sending flowers are rebuffed, so he berates her at the campaign office, before being kicked out by Tom. Travis confides in fellow taxi driver Wizard about his thoughts, which are beginning to turn violent, a fellow taxi driver refers Travis to illegal gun dealer Easy Andy, from whom he buys a number of handguns. At home, Travis practices drawing his weapons and constructs a sleeve gun to hide, one night, Travis enters a convenience store moments before an attempted armed robbery and he shoots and kills the robber. The shop owner takes responsibility for the shooting, taking Travis handgun, earlier, child prostitute Iris had entered Traviss cab, attempting to escape her pimp Matthew Sport Higgins. Sport dragged Iris from the cab and threw Travis a crumpled twenty-dollar bill, which reminds him of her. Some time later, Travis hires Iris, but instead of having sex with her and he fails to completely turn her from her course, but she does agree to meet with him for breakfast the next day. Travis leaves a letter to Iris at his apartment saying he will soon be dead, with money for her to return home. After shaving his head into a mohawk, Travis attends a rally, where he plans to assassinate Senator Palantine. He flees and later goes to the East Village to invade Sports brothel, a violent gunfight ensues and Travis kills Sport, a bouncer, and a mafioso. Travis is severely injured with gunshot wounds
32.
The Color of Money
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The Color of Money is a 1986 American drama film directed by Martin Scorsese from a screenplay by Richard Price, based on the 1984 novel of the same name by Walter Tevis. The film stars Paul Newman and Tom Cruise, with Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Helen Shaver, the film featured an original score by Robbie Robertson. Newman won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance, his first Oscar win after eight nominations, seven of them for Best Actor. The film continues the story of pool hustler and stakehorse Edward Fast Eddie Felson from Tevis first novel, The Hustler, the film begins more than 25 years after the events of the previous film, with Eddie retired from the pool circuit. Although Tevis did author a screenplay for the film, adapting the storyline from his novel, the Color of Money was released by Touchstone Pictures. Eddie Felson is a pool hustler turned successful liquor salesman. One night he meets Vincent Lauria, a young, charismatic pool player, with Eddie staking their bets, Vincent visits a series of billiard halls where Eddie tries to teach him that pool excellence is not about excellent pool. Although Carmen is a study, Vincent chafes at Eddies scams. Eventually, Fast Eddie picks up a cue himself, and does well in several games, humiliated, Eddie leaves Vincent and Carmen with enough money to make it to the championships in Atlantic City. Wearing new prescription eyeglasses, Eddie begins working out and practicing and he enters the 9-ball tournament in Atlantic City and, after several victories, finds himself facing off against a more world-wise Vincent. He beats Vincent, but later, when he is celebrating with girlfriend Janelle, Vincent arrives and he gives Eddie $8,000 as his cut. During his semi-final match against Kennedy, Eddie sees his reflection in the cue ball, disgruntled, out-hustled again, Eddie returns the money, saying that he wants to beat Vincent legitimately. The two set up a match, where Eddie informs Vincent that if he doesnt beat him now. Director Scorsese has a cameo walking his dog, and another playing pool, another notable cameo is that of Iggy Pop, who plays one of the many contenders on the road. Screenwriter Richard Price also has a cameo as a bar fly in the hall where Eddie plays Amos. Scorsese has cited the influence of techniques and lighting in the 1947 Powell-Pressburger classic Black Narcissus in making the film, in particular he states that the extreme close ups of Tom Cruise around the pool table were inspired by those of the nuns in that film. Newman said that the best advice he was given by Scorsese was to try not to be funny, Cruise performed most of his own shots. An exception was a shot over two balls to sink another
33.
Gangs of New York
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Gangs of New York is a 2002 American epic period drama film directed by Martin Scorsese, set in the mid-19th century in the Five Points district of New York City. The screenplay is by Jay Cocks, Steven Zaillian, and Kenneth Lonergan and it was inspired by Herbert Asburys 1927 nonfiction book, The Gangs of New York. It was made in Cinecittà, Rome, distributed by Miramax Films and nominated for awards, including the Academy Award for Best Picture. The film is set in 1862 and follows gang leader Bill The Butcher Cutting in his roles as crime boss and political kingmaker under the helm of Boss Tweed. The film culminates in a violent confrontation between Cutting and his mob with the protagonist Amsterdam Vallon and his immigrant allies, which coincides with the New York Draft Riots of 1863 and it was released on December 20,2002 and grossed $193 million worldwide. Bill kills Vallon and orders that he be buried with honor, having witnessed this, Vallons young son hides the knife that killed his father and is taken to an orphanage on Blackwells Island. In September 1862, Vallons son, now calling himself Amsterdam, returns to Five Points seeking revenge, an old acquaintance, Johnny Sirocco, familiarizes him with the local clans of gangs and thieves, all of whom pay tribute to Bill, who controls the neighborhood. Amsterdam joins Johnnys gang of thieves and is introduced to Bill and he learns that many of his fathers former loyalists are now in Bills employ, including Happy Jack Mulraney, who is now a corrupt constable, and McGloin, who is one of Bills lieutenants. Each year, Bill celebrates the anniversary of his victory over the Dead Rabbits, Amsterdam becomes attracted to pickpocket and grifter Jenny Everdeane, who Johnny is infatuated with. Amsterdams interest is dampened, however, upon learning that she was once Bills ward, Amsterdam gains Bills confidence and Bill becomes his mentor, involving him in the dealings of corrupt politician William M. Tweed. Amsterdam saves Bill from an attempt, and is tormented by the thought that he may have done so out of honest devotion. Jenny nurses Bills wounds, and she and Amsterdam have an argument which dissolves into passionate lovemaking. Bill speaks to Amsterdam of the downfall of civilization and how he has maintained power through the spectacle of violence, on the evening of the anniversary, Johnny, in a fit of jealousy over Jenny, reveals Amsterdams true identity and intentions to Bill. Bill baits Amsterdam with a knife throwing act involving Jenny, as Bill toasts Priest Vallon, Amsterdam throws his knife, but Bill deflects it and wounds Amsterdam with a counter throw. Bill proclaims that rather than dying, Amsterdam shall live in shame, going into hiding, Jenny nurses Amsterdam back to health and implores him to escape with her to San Francisco. Monk McGinn, a barber who fought for Priest Vallon, gives Amsterdam a straight razor that belonged to Amsterdams father, Amsterdam announces his return by hanging a dead rabbit in Paradise Square. Bill sends Happy Jack to investigate, but Amsterdam kills him, in retaliation, Bill has Johnny severely beaten and run through with a pike, leaving it to Amsterdam to end his suffering. The racist McGloin attacks Amsterdams African American friend Jimmy, but is beaten by Amsterdam, the Natives confront them, and Bill promises to return when they are ready to fight
34.
The Aviator (2004 film)
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The Aviator is a 2004 American biographical epic drama film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by John Logan. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes, Cate Blanchett as Katharine Hepburn, the supporting cast features Ian Holm, John C. Reilly, Alec Baldwin, Jude Law as Errol Flynn, Gwen Stefani as Jean Harlow, Kelli Garner as Faith Domergue, Willem Dafoe, Alan Alda, and Edward Herrmann. Based on the 1993 non-fiction book Howard Hughes, The Secret Life by Charles Higham, the film depicts the life of Howard Hughes, the Aviator was released in the United States on December 25,2004. The film grossed $214 million at the box office, the movie is considered among Scorseses finest films and DiCaprios portrayal of Howard Hughes is regarded as one of the greatest performances of his career. In 1913 Houston, nine-year-old Howard Hughes mother gives him a bath and warns him about the recent cholera outbreak in Houston, fourteen years later, he begins to direct the film Hells Angels, and hires Noah Dietrich to manage the day-to-day operations of his business empire. After the release of The Jazz Singer, the first partially talking film, Hughes becomes obsessed with shooting his film realistically, despite the film being a hit, Hughes remains unsatisfied with the end result and orders the film to be recut after its Hollywood premiere. He becomes romantically involved with actress Katharine Hepburn, who helps to ease the symptoms of his worsening obsessive-compulsive disorder, in 1935, Hughes test flies the H-1 Racer, pushing it to a new speed record. Three years later, he breaks the record by flying around the world in four days. He subsequently purchases majority interest in Transcontinental & Western Air, Hepburn grows tired of Hughes eccentricity, and leaves him for fellow actor Spencer Tracy. Hughes quickly finds a new love interest with 15-year-old Faith Domergue, however, he still has feelings for Hepburn, and blackmails a reporter to keep reports about her and the married Tracy out of the press. Hughes secures a contract with the Army Air Forces for two projects, a spy aircraft and a transport unit. In 1946, with the Spruce Goose flying boat still in construction, Hughes finishes the XF-11 reconnaissance aircraft, however, one of the engines fails midflight, and the aircraft crashes in Beverly Hills, with Hughes getting severely injured. With the end of World War II, the army cancels its order for the H-4 Hercules, when he is discharged, he is informed that he must choose between funding the airlines or his flying boat. Hughes orders Dietrich to mortgage the TWA assets so he can continue the development, as his OCD worsens, Hughes becomes increasingly paranoid, planting microphones and tapping Gardners phone lines to keep track of her. The FBI searches his home for incriminating evidence of war profiteering, searching his possessions and, to his horror, Brewster privately offers to drop the charges if Hughes sells TWA to Trippe, but Hughes refuses. Hughes OCD symptoms become extreme, and he retreats into an isolated germ-free zone for three months, Trippe has Brewster summon him for a Senate investigation, certain that Hughes will not show up. Gardner visits him and personally grooms and dresses him in preparation for the hearing, an invigorated Hughes defends himself against Brewsters charges and accuses the senator of taking bribes from Trippe
35.
Roman Polanski
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Rajmund Roman Thierry Polański is a French-Polish film director, producer, writer, and actor. Born in Paris, his Polish-Jewish parents moved the back to Poland in 1937. Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany a few later, in 1939. Polanskis first feature-length film, Knife in the Water, made in Poland, was nominated for a United States Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He has since received five more Oscar nominations, along with two BAFTAs, four Césars, a Golden Globe Award and the Palme dOr of the Cannes Film Festival in France, in the United Kingdom he directed three films, beginning with Repulsion. In 1968 he moved to the United States and cemented his status by directing the horror film Rosemarys Baby. A turning point in his life took place in 1969, when his pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, following her death, Polanski returned to Europe and eventually continued directing. He made Macbeth in England and back in Hollywood, Chinatown, in 1977, Polanski was arrested and charged with the rape of a 13-year-old model during a photo session. He subsequently pled guilty to the charge of statutory rape and he was released from prison after serving 42 days, and as part of an apparent plea bargain, was to be put on probation. When he learned that the judge changed his mind and planned to reject the plea bargain, in Europe, Polanski continued to make films, including Tess, starring aspiring actress, Nastassja Kinski. It won Frances César Awards for Best Picture and Best Director and he later produced and directed The Pianist, starring Adrien Brody, in a World War II true story drama about a Jewish-Polish musician. The film won three Academy Awards including Best Director, along with numerous international awards and he also directed Oliver Twist, a story which parallels his own life as a young boy attempting to triumph over adversity. Polanski was born in Paris, the son of Bula and Ryszard Polański, a painter and manufacturer of sculptures and his mother had a daughter, Annette, by her previous husband. Annette managed to survive Auschwitz, where her mother died, Polańskis father was Jewish and originally from Poland, Polańskis mother, born in Russia, had been raised Roman Catholic and was of half-Jewish ancestry. Polański, influenced by his education in the Peoples Republic of Poland, said Im an atheist in an interview about his film, Rosemarys Baby. The Polański family moved back to the Polish city of Kraków in 1936, Kraków was soon occupied by the German forces, and Nazi racial purity laws made the Polańskis targets of persecution, forcing them into the Kraków Ghetto, along with thousands of the citys Jews. Around the age of six, he attended school for only a few weeks, until all the Jewish children were abruptly expelled. That initiative was followed by requiring all Jewish children over the age of twelve to wear white armbands with a blue Star of David imprinted for visual identification
36.
Chinatown (1974 film)
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Chinatown is a 1974 American neo-noir mystery film, directed by Roman Polanski from a screenplay by Robert Towne, starring Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway. At the 47th Academy Awards, it was nominated for eleven Oscars, the Golden Globe Awards honored it for Best Drama, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Screenplay. The American Film Institute placed it second among mystery films in 2008, a sequel, The Two Jakes, was released in 1990, again starring Nicholson, who also directed, with Robert Towne returning to write the screenplay. The film failed to generate the acclaim of its predecessor, a woman identifying herself as Evelyn Mulwray hires private investigator J. J. Jake Gittes to surveil her husband, Hollis Mulwray, chief engineer for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Gittes tails him, hears him publicly oppose the creation of a new reservoir, and shoots photographs of him with a young woman, which are published on the front page of the following days paper. Back at his office, Gittes is confronted by a woman who informs him she is the real Evelyn Mulwray, realizing he was set up, Gittes assumes that Mulwrays husband is the real target. Before he can question him, Lieutenant Lou Escobar fishes Mulwray, drowned, under retainer to Mrs. Mulwray, Gittes investigates his suspicions of murder and notices that, although huge quantities of water are released from the reservoir every night, the land is almost dry. Gittes is warned off by Water Department Security Chief Claude Mulvihill and a henchman, back at his office, Gittes receives a call from Ida Sessions, who identifies herself as the imposter Mrs. Mulwray. She is afraid to identify her employer, but tells Gittes to check the days obituaries, Gittes learns that Mulwray was once the business partner of his wifes wealthy father, Noah Cross. Over lunch at his club, Cross warns Gittes that he does not understand the forces at work. At the hall of records, Gittes discovers that much of the Northwest Valley has recently changed ownership, investigating the valley, he is attacked by angry landowners, who believe he is an agent of the water department attempting to force them out by sabotaging their water supply. Gittes deduces that the department is drying up the land so it can be bought at a reduced price. He discovers that a retirement home resident is one of the valleys new landowners. Gittes and Evelyn bluff their way into the home and confirm that the real estate deals were completed in the names of several of the homes residents. Their visit is interrupted by the retirement home director, who has called Mulvihill. After fleeing Mulvihill and his thugs, Gittes and Evelyn hide at Evelyns house, early in the morning, Evelyn gets a phone call and has to leave suddenly, she warns Gittes that her father is dangerous. Gittes follows her car to a house, where he spies her through the windows comforting Mulwrays mistress and he accuses Evelyn of holding the woman against her will, but she confesses that the woman is her sister. The next day, an anonymous call draws Gittes to Ida Sessionss apartment, he finds her murdered, Escobar tells him the coroners report found salt water in Mulwrays lungs, indicating that he did not drown in the freshwater reservoir where his body was found
37.
Mike Todd
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Michael Mike Todd was an American theater and film producer, best known for his 1956 production of Around the World in 80 Days, which won an Academy Award for Best Picture. He is known as the third of Elizabeth Taylors seven husbands and is the one whom she did not divorce. He was the force behind the development of the eponymous Todd-AO widescreen film format. Todd was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Chaim Goldbogen and Sophia Hellerman and he was one of nine children in a poor family, the youngest son, and his siblings nicknamed him Toat to mimic his difficulty pronouncing the word coat. It was from this that his name was derived, the family later moved to Chicago, arriving on the day World War I ended. Todd was expelled in the grade for running a game of craps inside the school. In high school, he produced the play, The Mikado. He eventually dropped out of school and worked at a variety of jobs, including shoe salesman. One of his first jobs was as a soda jerk, Todd began his career in the construction business, where he made, and subsequently lost, a fortune. He opened the College of Bricklaying of America, buying the materials to teach bricklaying on credit, the school was forced to close when the Bricklayers Union did not view the college as an accepted place of study. Todd and his brother, Frank, next opened their own construction company and his first flirtation with the film industry was when he served as a contractor to Hollywood studios, soundproofing production stages during the transition from silent pictures to sound. The company he owned with his brother went bankrupt when its financial backing failed in early days of the Great Depression, not yet twenty-one, Todd had lost over $1 million. Having married the former Bertha Freshman on February 14,1927, Todds subsequent business career was volatile, and failed ventures left him bankrupt many times. During the 1933–1934 Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago, Todd produced an attraction called the Flame Dance, in this number, gas jets were designed to burn part of a dancers costume off, leaving her naked in appearance. The act attracted enough attention to bring an offer from the Casino de Paree nightclub in New York City, Todd got his first taste of Broadway with the engagement and was determined to find a way to work there. The Hot Mikado, starring Bill Bojangles Robinson, opened on Broadway March 23,1939, the subsequent success of Todds production, at the expense of the Chicago production, contributed to the financial crisis and ultimate demise of the Federal Theatre Project unit in Chicago. Todds Broadway success gave him the nerve to try taking on showman Billy Rose, Todd visited Grover Whalen, president of the 1939 New York Worlds Fair, with a proposal to bring the Broadway show to the Fair. Whelan, eager to have the show at the fair, covered Todds Broadway early closing costs, Rose, who had an exclusivity clause in his fair contract, met Todd at Lindys, where Rose learned his contract covered new forms of entertainment only
38.
Around the World in 80 Days (1956 film)
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Around the World in 80 Days is a 1956 American epic adventure-comedy film starring David Niven and Cantinflas, produced by the Michael Todd Company and released by United Artists. The epic picture was directed by Michael Anderson and produced by Mike Todd, with Kevin McClory, the screenplay was written by James Poe, John Farrow, and S. J. Perelman based on the classic novel of the same name by Jules Verne. The music score was composed by Victor Young, and the Todd-AO70 mm cinematography was by Lionel Lindon, the films seven-minute-long animated title sequence, shown at the end of the film, was created by award-winning designer Saul Bass. The film won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, also included is the launching of an unmanned rocket and footage of the earth receding. Around 1872, an English gentleman Phileas Fogg claims he can circumnavigate the world in eighty days and he makes a £20,000 wager with four sceptical fellow members of the Reform Club, that he can arrive back within 80 days before exactly 8,45 pm. They set out on the journey from Paris by hot air balloon upon learning the mountain train tunnel is blocked, the two accidentally end up in Spain, where Passepartout engages in a comic bullfight. In India, Fogg and Passepartout rescue young widow Princess Aouda from being forced into a funeral pyre with her late husband, the three visit Hong Kong, Yokohama, San Francisco, and the Wild West. After sailing across the Atlantic, and only short of winning his wager, Fogg is arrested upon arrival at Liverpool. At the jail, the humiliated Fix informs Fogg that the culprit was caught in Brighton. Though he is now exonerated of the charges, he has no time to get to London and has thus lost everything – except the love of the winsome Aouda. Salvation is at hand when, upon returning to London, Passepartout buys a newspaper, Fogg then realizes that by traveling east towards the rising sun and by crossing the International Date Line they have gained a day. There is still time to reach the Reform Club and win the bet, Fogg unexpectedly arrives at the club just before the clocks chime at 8,45 pm. Aouda and Passepartout then arrive, surprising everyone as no woman has entered the Reform Club before, the film boasts a huge cast, with David Niven and Cantinflas in the lead roles of Fogg and Passepartout. Joining them are Shirley MacLaine as Princess Aouda and Robert Newton as the detective Fix, the role of Passepartout was greatly expanded from the novel to accommodate Cantinflas, the most famous Latin-American comedian at the time, and winds up as the focus of the film. While Passepartout describes himself as a Parisian in the novel, this is unclear in the film – he has a French name, in the Spanish version the name of his character was changed from the French Passepartout to the Spanish Juan Picaporte. There is also a comic bullfighting sequence especially created for Cantinflas that is not in the novel, indeed, when the film was released in some non-English speaking nations, Cantinflas was billed as the lead. According to the guidebook, this was done because of an obstacle Todd faced in casting Cantinflas, Todd allowed Cantinflas to appear in the film as a Latin, so, the actor said himself. to my audience in Latin America, Ill still be Cantinflas. Over 40 famous performers make cameo appearances, including Marlene Dietrich, George Raft, the film was significant as the first of the so-called Hollywood make work films, employing dozens of faded film personalities
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John Gielgud
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Sir Arthur John Gielgud OM CH was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trio of actors who dominated the British stage for much of the 20th century. A member of the Terry family theatrical dynasty, he gained his first paid acting work as a member of his cousin Phyllis Neilson-Terrys company in 1922. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art he worked in repertory theatre, during the 1930s Gielgud was a stage star in the West End and on Broadway, appearing in new works and classics. He began a career as a director, and set up his own company at the Queens Theatre. He was regarded by many as the finest Hamlet of his era, in the 1950s Gielgud feared that his career was threatened when he was convicted and fined for a homosexual offence, but his colleagues and the public supported him loyally. From the late 1960s he found new plays that suited him, by authors including Alan Bennett, David Storey, during the first half of his career, Gielgud did not take the cinema seriously. Though he made his first film in 1924, and had successes with The Good Companions and Julius Caesar, Gielgud appeared in more than sixty films between Becket, for which he received his first Academy Award nomination, and Elizabeth. As the acid-tongued Hobson in Arthur he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and his film work further earned him a Golden Globe Award and two BAFTAs. Although largely indifferent to awards, Gielgud had the distinction of winning an Oscar, an Emmy, a Grammy. He was famous from the start of his career for his voice and he broadcast more than a hundred radio and television dramas, between 1929 and 1994, and made commercial recordings of many plays, including ten of Shakespeares. Among his honours, he was knighted in 1953 and the Gielgud Theatre was named after him, from 1977 to 1989, he was president of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Gielgud was born in South Kensington, London, the third of the four children and youngest of three sons of Frank Henry Gielgud and his second wife, Kate Terry-Gielgud, née Terry-Lewis. The two elder boys were Lewis, who became an official of the Red Cross and UNESCO. On his fathers side, Gielgud was of Lithuanian and Polish descent, the surname derives from Gelgaudiškis, a village in Lithuania. The Counts Gielgud had owned the Gielgudziszki Castle on the River Niemen, jan Gielgud took refuge in England with his family, one of his grandchildren was Frank Gielgud, whose maternal grandmother was a famous Polish actress, Aniela Aszpergerowa. Frank married into a family with wide theatrical connections, Frank had no theatrical ambitions and worked all his life as a stockbroker in the City of London. In 1912, aged eight, Gielgud went to Hillside preparatory school in Surrey as his brothers had done
40.
Frank Sinatra
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Francis Albert Sinatra was an American singer, actor, and producer who was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century. He is one of the music artists of all time. Born in Hoboken, New Jersey, to Italian immigrants, Sinatra began his career in the swing era with bandleaders Harry James. Sinatra found success as a solo artist after he signed with Columbia Records in 1943 and he released his debut album, The Voice of Frank Sinatra, in 1946. Sinatras professional career had stalled by the early 1950s, and he turned to Las Vegas and his career was reborn in 1953 with the success of From Here to Eternity, with his performance subsequently winning an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. Sinatra released several critically lauded albums, including In the Wee Small Hours, Come Fly with Me, Only the Lonely and Nice n Easy. Sinatra left Capitol in 1960 to start his own label, Reprise Records. It was followed by 1968s collaboration with Duke Ellington, using his Las Vegas shows as a home base, he toured both within the United States and internationally until a short time before his death in 1998. Sinatra forged a successful career as a film actor. After winning an Academy Award for From Here to Eternity, he starred in The Man with the Golden Arm and he appeared in various musicals such as On the Town, Guys and Dolls, High Society, and Pal Joey, winning another Golden Globe for the latter. Toward the end of his career, he associated with playing detectives. Sinatra would later receive the Golden Globe Cecil B, on television, The Frank Sinatra Show began on ABC in 1950, and he continued to make appearances on television throughout the 1950s and 1960s. While Sinatra never formally learned how to read music, he had a natural, intuitive understanding of it, a perfectionist, renowned for his impeccable dress sense and cleanliness, he always insisted on recording live with his band. His bright blue eyes earned him the popular nickname Ol Blue Eyes, Sinatra led a colorful personal life, and was often involved in turbulent affairs with women, such as with his second wife Ava Gardner. He went on to marry Mia Farrow in 1966 and Barbara Marx in 1976, Sinatra had several violent confrontations, usually with journalists he felt had crossed him, or work bosses with whom he had disagreements. He was honored at the Kennedy Center Honors in 1983, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Ronald Reagan in 1985, Sinatra was also the recipient of eleven Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Trustees Award, Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. After his death, American music critic Robert Christgau called him the greatest singer of the 20th century, Francis Albert Sinatra was born on December 12,1915, in an upstairs tenement at 415 Monroe Street in Hoboken, New Jersey. He was the child of Italian immigrants Antonino Martino Marty Sinatra
41.
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
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The ensemble comedy premiered on November 7,1963. The cast features Edie Adams, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Buddy Hackett, Ethel Merman, Mickey Rooney, Phil Silvers, Terry-Thomas, and Jonathan Winters. The film marked the first time that Kramer had directed a comedy and he is best known for producing and directing drama films about social problems, such as The Defiant Ones, Inherit the Wind, Judgment at Nuremberg, and Guess Whos Coming to Dinner. Despite this, the film suffered severe cuts by its distributor United Artists in order to give the film a running time for its general release. The footage was excised against Kramers wishes, the lost footage seriously deteriorated through the decades and was once thought impossible to restore. It was released in a 5-disc Dual Format Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack on January 21,2014 and its a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World featured at #40 in the American Film Institutes list 100 Years.100 Laughs. Unbeknownst to them all, Captain T. G, Culpeper, Chief of Detectives of the Santa Rosita Police Department, has been patiently working on the Smiler Grogan case for years, hoping to someday solve it and retire. When he learns of the crash, he suspects that Grogan may have tipped off the passersby. His suspicions are confirmed by their behavior, everyone experiences multiple setbacks on their way to the money. Crump and his wife Monica charter an old WWI-era Jenny biplane and eventually make it to Santa Rosita and they eventually free themselves with dynamite. Bell and Benjamin charter a plane, but when their wealthy alcoholic pilot knocks himself out drunk. Finch, his wife Emmeline, and his loud and obnoxious mother-in-law, the three flag down British Army Officer Lt. Col. J. Algernon Hawthorne in his 1951 Willys station wagon and convince him to drive them to Santa Rosita. After many arguments, most caused by Mrs. Marcus, she and Emmeline refuse to go any farther, an enraged Pike catches up with Meyer at a gas station and assaults him as the gas station owners try to stop him. Meyer escapes in his car while Pike literally destroys the gas station and he then steals the stations Dodge M37 tow truck and takes off after Meyer. Pike meets up with Mrs. Marcus and Emmeline and picks them up, while in a town called Plaster City, Mrs. Meyer experiences his own setbacks, including sinking his car while trying to cross the Kern River and nearly drowning. He manages to steal a blue 1956 Ford Sunliner belonging to a passing motorist by telling him hes with the CIA, all the while, Culpeper and the police department observe their activities from afar. Around this time, two taxi drivers get in on the chase in their 1959 Plymouth Yellow Cabs, eventually all the characters arrive at Santa Rosita State Park at the same time and search for the big W. Pike finds it next and informs everyone else. Culpeper, who saw Emmelines discovery, orders all policemen to leave the area, after everyone digs up the money, Culpeper identifies himself and talks them into turning themselves in, promising a jury will be more lenient
