1.
Haverfordwest
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Haverfordwest is the county town of Pembrokeshire, Wales, and serves as the countys principal commercial and administrative centre. The 2011 census quoted a population of 12,042 only living within the confines of the parish and this agreed with the total population of all 5 wards involved. The town includes the suburbs of Prendergast and Albert Town and the residential and industrial area of Withybush. Merlins Bridge, a village and community, adjoins to the south. The strategic position at the lowest fordable point of the Western Cleddau led to importance from the Roman era to the present. The majority of the town, comprising the old parishes of St. Mary, St. Martin and St. Thomas, on the left bank are the suburbs of Prendergast and Cartlett. At this point, a pair of ridges extending east-west and separated by a deep. This leaves two high spurs on the west side of the river, on the northern spur, the castle and its surrounding settlement form the core of St Martins parish. On the southern spur, the High Street ascends steeply from the river, from the foot of each spur, ancient bridges cross the river to Prendergast, St Martins Bridge and St Marys Bridge. St Thomass parish occupies the south side of the southern spur, from these core areas, the town has spread, mainly along the ridges. In addition to the four ancient parish churches, the remains of an Augustinian priory are visible at the edge of the town. The name of the town means ford used by heifers, from Old English hæfar=heifer, in local dialect, it is pronounced Harford. The Welsh language name is said by B. G, Charles to be merely a corruption of the English name, and as such has no meaning in Welsh. Another claim is that Tudor monarchs called it Hereford or Hertford in the West, the veracity of these competing explanations of the name origin continues to be a matter of debate amongst scholars and linguistic experts. It seems likely that such a strategic location would have been settled in some way from an early date. Some have asserted there is no documentary or archaeological evidence of a settlement on the site before the 12th century. However archaeological discoveries in Pembrokeshire suggest otherwise, Edward Llwyds note to Camdens Britannia refers to a valuable find of silver coins at Llanboidy, the latest coin being one of Domitian struck in AD91. In the 1920s Sir Mortimer Wheeler partially excavated a Roman dwelling or villa at Wolfscastle, the Roman legionary headquarters at Caerleon were roofed with slates from the lower slopes of the Preseli Hills
Haverfordwest
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High Street, Haverfordwest
Haverfordwest
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The "New" Bridge at Haverfordwest
Haverfordwest
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Remains of the Priory, Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire by Gastineau, Henry G, ca. 1830
Haverfordwest
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Quay Street
2.
Pembrokeshire
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Pembrokeshire is a county in the south west of Wales. It borders Carmarthenshire to the east and Ceredigion to the north east, Pembrokeshire County Councils headquarters are in the county town of Haverfordwest. Over the years Pembrokeshires beaches have received many International Blue Flag Awards, Green Coast Awards. In 2011 it had 39 beaches recommended by the Marine Conservation Society, industry is nowadays focused on agriculture and tourism, but historically mining and fishing were important activities. The county has a geography and a complex history. Pembrokeshires population was 122,400 at the 2011 census, an increase of 7. 2% from the 2001 figure of 114,131, Pembrokeshire is bordered by the sea on three sides, and by the counties of Ceredigion to the north east and Carmarthenshire to the east. Other towns include Pembroke, Pembroke Dock, Milford Haven, Fishguard, Tenby, Saundersfoot, Narberth, Neyland, St Davids, in the west of the county, is the United Kingdoms smallest city with a population of 2,000. Saundersfoot is the biggest village in Pembrokeshire with a population of well over 2,500, see List of places in Pembrokeshire for a comprehensive list of settlements in Pembrokeshire. The countys coastline includes internationally important seabird breeding sites and numerous bays, Pembrokeshire contains a predominantly coastal park, Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, which includes a 186-mile walking trail, the Pembrokeshire Coast Path. A large estuary and natural harbour at Milford Haven cuts deeply into the coast, this inlet is formed by the confluence of the Western Cleddau, the Eastern Cleddau, and rivers Cresswell and Carew. The estuary is bridged by the large Cleddau Bridge which carries the A477 between Neyland and Pembroke Dock, upstream bridges span the Cleddau at Haverfordwest and Canaston Bridge, large bays are Newport Bay, Fishguard Bay, St Brides Bay and a portion of Carmarthen Bay. There are several islands off the Pembrokeshire coast, the largest of which are Ramsey Island, Grassholm Island, Skomer Island. Pembrokeshires diverse range of features was a key factor in the establishment of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. Younger rocks have been lost by subsequent geological processes, the land on which Pembrokeshire is today was established approximately 60 million years ago by a combination of uplift and falling sea levels. The sea cliffs and inland tors that are now a feature of the county were those that were resistant to weathering that has taken place since. The landscape was subject to change as a result of the ice ages over the last several thousand years. About 20,000 years ago the Irish Sea ice sheet deposited areas of clays, while Pembrokeshire is not a seismically active area, two periods of activity were noted in the 19th century. In 1873 there was a shock in the west of the county
Pembrokeshire
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Broad Haven South
Pembrokeshire
Pembrokeshire
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Pembroke Castle, birthplace of
Henry VII
Pembrokeshire
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Milford Haven Docks & Marina
3.
California
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California is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area. Located on the western coast of the U. S, California is bordered by the other U. S. states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California. Los Angeles is Californias most populous city, and the second largest after New York City. The Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nations second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, California also has the nations most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The Central Valley, an agricultural area, dominates the states center. What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish Empire then claimed it as part of Alta California in their New Spain colony. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its war for independence. The western portion of Alta California then was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA. Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups also were diverse in their organization with bands, tribes, villages. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years later English explorer Francis Drake also explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila galleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565
California
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A forest of redwood trees in
Redwood National Park
California
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Flag
California
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Mount Shasta
California
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Aerial view of the
California Central Valley
4.
David Bale
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David Charles Howard Bale was a South African-born English entrepreneur and an environmentalist animal rights activist. He was the father of actor Christian Bale and the husband of Gloria Steinem, Bale was born in South Africa to English parents. His father, Philip Bale, was a Royal Air Force pilot, Bale grew up in England, Egypt, and the Channel Islands. He worked as a pilot and later ran a commuter airline in England. His business activities included marketing imported jeans and skateboards, Bale was an activist for environmental and animal rights causes. He served as a member of The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund and the Ark Trust. He also served as a member for World Education, Inc. an international non-profit organization known for its work in educational development, located in Boston, Massachusetts. His first marriage to Sandra Kreunen in South Africa ended in 1964 after she filed for divorce when he returned to England to visit his mother and his second marriage to Jenny James in England also ended in divorce. He had a daughter, Erin Bale Kreunen, from the first marriage, on 3 September 2000, he married the feminist writer, journalist, activist, and political leader Gloria Steinem. The wedding, in Oklahoma, was a ceremony at the home of her friend Wilma Mankiller. At the time of the marriage, Bale had been facing deportation after overstaying his visa, both Steinem and Bale denied that Bales immigration status was the motivation for the marriage. Steinem had in the past been critical of the institution of marriage and she said of her change in attitude toward marriage, I didnt change. We spent 30 years in the United States changing the marriage laws, if I had married when I was supposed to get married, I would have lost my name, my legal residence, my credit rating, many of my civil rights. Its possible to make an equal marriage, Bale died of brain lymphoma on 30 December 2003, at the age of 62. Tribute to David Bale by Gloria Steinem
David Bale
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David Bale
5.
Art film
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An art film is typically a serious, independent film aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. Film scholar David Bordwell describes art cinema as a film genre, art film producers usually present their films at specialty theatres and film festivals. The term art film is more widely used in the United States, the UK and Australia than in Europe. A certain degree of experience and knowledge are required to understand or appreciate such films. One mid-1990s art film was called largely a cerebral experience that one enjoys because of what you know about film and this contrasts sharply with mainstream blockbuster films, which are geared more towards escapism and pure entertainment. Since art films have small initial investment costs, they only need to appeal to a portion of the mainstream viewing audiences to become financially viable. An art film may also be called an art movie, specialty film, art-house film, or, in the collective sense, there is overlap between the categories of art film, independent film and experimental film. The antecedents of art films included D. W. Griffiths Intolerance, the critics of the outside world praised these films. Art films were influenced by films by Spanish avant-garde creators, such as Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí. Cinéma Pur, a 1920s and 1930s French avant-garde film movement also influenced the development of the idea of art film, the cinema pur film movement included Dada artists, such as Man Ray, René Clair, and Marcel Duchamp. The Dadaists used film to transcend narrative conventions, bourgeois traditions, pure Cinema was influenced by such German absolute filmmakers as Hans Richter, Walter Ruttmann, and Viking Eggeling. Richter claimed that his 1921 film, Rhythmus 21, was the first abstract film ever created, nevertheless, Richters film Rhythmus 21 is considered an important early abstract film. William Siska argues that Italian neorealist films from the mid- to late-1940s, such as Open City, Paisa, Films shown in these art cinemas included. British, foreign-language, and independent American films, as well as documentaries, Films such as Rossellinis Open City and Mackendricks Tight Little Island, Bicycle Thieves and The Red Shoes were shown to substantial U. S. audiences. In the late 1950s, French filmmakers began to produce films that were influenced by Italian Neorealism and classical Hollywood cinema, auteur theory holds that the director is the author of his films, with a personal signature visible from film to film. The French New Wave movement continued into the 1960s, during the 1960s, the term art film began to be much more widely used in the United States than in Europe. In the U. S. the term is defined very broadly, to include foreign-language auteur films, independent films, experimental films, documentaries. In the 1960s art film became a euphemism in the U. S. for racy Italian, by the 1970s, the term was used to describe sexually explicit European films with artistic structure such as the Swedish film I Am Curious
Art film
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Carl Theodor Dreyer, pictured here in 1965, directed the 1928 film
The Passion of Joan of Arc, which is widely regarded as a landmark of cinema.
Art film
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A poster for Eisenstein's film The Battleship Potemkin
Art film
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U.S. photographer and filmmaker
Man Ray (pictured here in 1934) was part of the
Dadaist "Cinéma Pur" film movement, which influenced the development of art film.
Art film
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Screen shot of Apu and his mother in
Satyajit Ray 's
Indian film,
Apu Trilogy, 1955-59
6.
Steven Spielberg
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Steven Allan Spielberg, KBE, OMRI is an American director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the pioneers of the New Hollywood era. He is also one of the co-founders of DreamWorks Studios, in a career spanning more than four decades, Spielbergs films have spanned many themes and genres. His other films include Jurassic Park, A. I, artificial Intelligence, and War of the Worlds. Spielberg won the Academy Award for Best Director for Schindlers List and Saving Private Ryan, three of Spielbergs films—Jaws, E. T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and Jurassic Park—achieved box office records, originated and came to epitomize the blockbuster film. The unadjusted gross of all Spielberg-directed films exceeds $9 billion worldwide and his personal net worth is estimated to be more than $3 billion. Spielberg was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to an Orthodox Jewish family and his mother, Leah Posner, was a restaurateur and concert pianist, and his father, Arnold Spielberg, was an electrical engineer involved in the development of computers. His paternal grandparents were immigrants from Ukraine who settled in Cincinnati in the first decade of the 1900s, in 1950, his family moved to Haddon Township, New Jersey when his father took a job with RCA. Three years later, the moved to Phoenix, Arizona. Spielberg attended Hebrew school from 1953 to 1957, in classes taught by Rabbi Albert L. Lewis, as a child, Spielberg faced difficulty reconciling being an Orthodox Jew with the perception of him by other children he played with. It isnt something I enjoy admitting, he said, but when I was seven, eight, nine years old, God forgive me. I was embarrassed by the perception of my parents Jewish practices. I was never really ashamed to be Jewish, but I was uneasy at times, Spielberg also said he suffered from acts of anti-Semitic prejudice and bullying, In high school, I got smacked and kicked around. His first home movie was of a wreck involving his toy Lionel trains. Throughout his early teens, and after entering school, Spielberg continued to make amateur 8 mm adventure films. In 1958, he became a Boy Scout and fulfilled a requirement for the merit badge by making a nine-minute 8 mm film entitled The Last Gunfight. Years later, Spielberg recalled to an interviewer, My dads still-camera was broken. He said yes, and I got an idea to do a Western, I made it and got my merit badge
Steven Spielberg
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Spielberg at the
2013 Cannes Film Festival
Steven Spielberg
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Steven Spielberg and
Chandran Rutnam on a location in Sri Lanka during the filming of
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
Steven Spielberg
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Spielberg in March 1990
Steven Spielberg
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Spielberg in 2011, at the Paris premiere of
The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn.
7.
Empire of the Sun (film)
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Empire of the Sun is a 1987 American epic coming-of-age war film based on J. G. Ballards semi-autobiographical novel of the same name. Steven Spielberg directed the film, which stars Christian Bale, John Malkovich, Miranda Richardson, harold Becker and David Lean were originally to direct before Spielberg came on board, initially as a producer for Lean. Spielberg was attracted to directing the film because of a connection to Leans films. He considers it to be his most profound work on the loss of innocence, amidst Japans invasion of China during World War II, Jamie Graham—a British upper middle class schoolboy—is enjoying a privileged and spoiled life in the Shanghai International Settlement. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese begin to occupy the settlement, jamies mother shouts at him over the panicked mob to wait at their house and promises that they will come back for him. He spends some time living in his home, but after eating all the food he ventures out into the city. Hungry, Jamie tries to surrender to some Japanese soldiers, who shrug, after being chased by a street urchin, he is taken in by Basie—an American expatriate and hustler—and his partner Frank, who nicknames him Jim. They intend to leave the boy in the streets when they are unable to sell his teeth for cash, there, Jamie finds his house lit and sees a figure in the window whom he thinks is his mother. He runs to the only to discover the house is occupied by Japanese troops. They are then taken to Lunghua Civilian Assembly Center in Shanghai for processing, a truck later arrives to take selected internees to the Suzhou Creek Internment Camp, Basie is among those selected to go but Jamie is not. Because he knows of the location, a desperate Jamie convinces the soldiers to take him. On arrival at the camp Jim wanders to the airfield to witness workers servicing a squadron of Zero fighters, as Jim reaches out to touch one he is confronted by a trio of fighter pilots. Jim salutes the pilots, and they salute Jim in return and it is now 1945, nearing the end of the Pacific War. Despite the terror and poor living conditions of the camp, Jim survives by establishing a successful trading network—which even involves the camps commander, Dr. Rawlins, the camps British doctor, becomes a father figure and teacher to Jim. One night after a raid, Nagata orders the destruction of the prisoners infirmary as reprisal. He only stops when Jim begs forgiveness, through the barbed wire fencing, Jim befriends a Japanese teenager, who is a trainee pilot. Jim also visits Basie in the American POW barracks, where Jim idolizes the Americans, Basie eventually sends Jim to set snare traps outside the camps wire, though Jim succeeds, Basie is only using him to test the area for land mines—plotting to escape. As a reward, Basie allows Jim to move into the American barracks with him, one morning at dawn, Jim witnesses a kamikaze ritual
Empire of the Sun (film)
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Theatrical release poster
8.
J. G. Ballard
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James Graham J. G. Ballard was an English novelist, short story writer, and essayist. In the late 1960s, Ballard produced a variety of short stories. Described by The Guardian as the best British novel about the Second World War, in the following decades until his death in 2009, Ballards work shifted toward the form of the traditional crime novel. Several of his works have been adapted into films, including David Cronenbergs controversial 1996 adaptation of Crash. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography entry describes Ballards work as being occupied with eros, thanatos, mass media and his mother was Edna, née Johnstone. Ballard was born and raised in the Shanghai International Settlement, an area under foreign control where people lived an American style of life and he was sent to the Cathedral School, the Anglican Holy Trinity Church near the Bund, Shanghai. After the Japanese attack on Hong Kong, the Japanese occupied the International Settlement in Shanghai, in early 1943, they began to intern Allied civilians, and Ballard was sent to the Lunghua Civilian Assembly Center with his parents and younger sister. He spent over two years, the remainder of World War II, in the internment camp and his family lived in a small area in G block, a two-story residence for 40 families. He attended school in the camp, the teachers being camp inmates from a number of professions. These experiences formed the basis of Empire of the Sun, although Ballard exercised considerable artistic licence in writing the book and it has been supposed that Ballards exposure to the atrocities of war at an impressionable age explains the apocalyptic and violent nature of much of his fiction. Martin Amis wrote that Empire of the Sun gives shape to what shaped him, however, Ballards own account of the experience was more nuanced, I dont think you can go through the experience of war without ones perceptions of the world being forever changed. But also, I have—I wont say happy—not unpleasant memories of the camp, I remember a lot of the casual brutality and beatings-up that went on—but at the same time we children were playing a hundred and one games all the time. In late 1945, after the end of the war, his mother returned to Britain with Ballard and they lived in the outskirts of Plymouth, and he attended The Leys School in Cambridge. He won an essay prize whilst at the school but did not contribute to the school magazine, after a couple of years his mother and sister returned to China, rejoining Ballards father, leaving Ballard to live with his grandparents when not boarding at school. In 1949 he went on to study medicine at Kings College, Cambridge, at university, Ballard was writing avant-garde fiction heavily influenced by psychoanalysis and surrealist painters. At this time, he wanted to become a writer as well as pursue a medical career, however, he was asked to leave at the end of the year. Ballard then worked as a copywriter for an agency and as an encyclopaedia salesman. He kept writing short fiction but found it impossible to get published, in spring 1954 Ballard joined the Royal Air Force and was sent to the Royal Canadian Air Force flight-training base in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada
J. G. Ballard
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Ballard in 1993
J. G. Ballard
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Ballard's
Vermilion Sands story "The Singing Statues" took the cover of the July 1962 issue of
Fantastic, featuring artwork by
Ed Emshwiller
J. G. Ballard
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Ballard's novelette "The Time Tombs" was the cover story on the March 1963 issue of
If
9.
List of concentration and internment camps
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This is a list of internment and concentration camps, organized by country. Prisoner-of-war camps are treated under a separate category, prisoners were often forced to hand and sign over property, in acts of individual, rather than official and systematic, corruption. Small children who were taken with their relatives, and babies born to female prisoners later killed, were given for adoption to politically acceptable, often military. This is documented by a number of dating since the 1990s in which adopted children have identified their real families. These were relatively small secret detention centres rather than actual camps, according to the report of CONADEP Report. 8,960 were killed during the Dirty War, there was a total of 340 secret detention centres all over the countrys territory. ESMA During World War I,2,940 German and Austrian men were interned in ten different camps in Australia, almost all of the men listed as being Austrians were from the Croatian coastal region of Dalmatia, then under Austrian rule. In 1915 many of the camps in Australia closed, with their inmates transferred to larger camps. The largest camp was at Holsworthy in New South Wales, families of the interned men were placed in a camp near Canberra. The claims of the seekers to refugee status are processed in these centres. The clear intention of the Australian governments policy is to deter asylum seekers attempting to reach Australia by boat, the great majority of boats come from Indonesia, which is used as a convenient jumping-off point for asylum seekers from other countries who want to reach Australia. These centres are not UNHCR endorsed refugee camps, and the operation of facilities has caused controversy, such as allegations of torture. Citizens deemed enemies of the state were displaced from their homes and sent to camps throughout the Austria-Hungary Empire, to such as Doboj, Arad, Győr. During the Nazi period, several camps, for example the Mauthausen-Gusen camp, were located in Austria. These camps were run by Austrian members of the NAZI party. During the Bosnian War, internment camps were set up, mostly for Bosniaks, Camps were also set up by the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia and the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In a UN report,381 out of 677 alleged camps have been corroborated and verified and this is a massive proportion of the Cambodian population, which was only 6–8 million. Among the best-documented concentration camps were The Killing Fields and the torture camp Security Prison 21, in World War I,8,579 male aliens of enemy nationality were interned, including 5,954 Austro-Hungarians, including ethnic Ukrainians, Croats, and Serbs
List of concentration and internment camps
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Choung Ek Killing Field: The bones of young children who were killed by
Khmer Rouge.
List of concentration and internment camps
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Russian children at a Finnish-run
transfer camp in
Petrozavodsk. The sign reads, in
Finnish and
Russian: "Transfer camp. Entry to the camp and conversations through the fence are forbidden under the penalty of death."
List of concentration and internment camps
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Buchenwald concentration camp,
Weimar,
Nazi Germany
List of concentration and internment camps
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Jean-Marie Faggiano receives a doll from
Private First Class Theo Tanner of the U.S. First Cavalry. Tanner had just removed the doll from a dead Japanese soldier, killed during the liberation of the Santo Tomas Internment Camp in Manila, Philippines in February of 1945
10.
Patrick Bateman
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Patrick Bateman is a fictional character, the villain protagonist and narrator of the novel American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis, and its film adaptation. He is a wealthy, materialistic Wall Street investment banker who leads a life as a serial killer. Bateman has also appeared in other Ellis novels. In his secret life, however, Bateman is a killer murdering a variety of people. His crimes—including rape, torture, necrophilia, and cannibalism—are described in detail in the novel. Bateman comes from a wealthy family and his parents have a house on Long Island, and he mentions a summer house in Newport. His parents divorced sometime earlier, while his mother became sick and his father, who first appeared in Ellis preceding novel The Rules of Attraction, grew up on an estate in Connecticut, and now owns an apartment in the Carlyle Hotel in Manhattan. He is assumed to be dead as he is mentioned only in past tense during the novel, batemans younger brother Sean attends Camden College. Bateman attended Phillips Exeter Academy for prep school and he graduated from Harvard College in 1984 and Harvard Business School two years later, and moved to New York City. By the end of the novel, he believes he is about to be arrested for murdering a colleague named Paul Allen, and leaves a message on his lawyers answering machine confessing to his crimes. When he runs into his lawyer at a party, however, Bateman realizes that the punishment and notoriety he desires will be forever out of his reach, and that he is trapped inside a pointless existence, This is not an exit. As written by Ellis, Bateman is the stereotype of yuppie greed, rich, shallow, and addicted to sex, drugs. All of his friends look alike to him, to the point that he often confuses one for another and he is engaged to an equally rich, shallow woman named Evelyn Richards. He has a mistress on the side and has regular liaisons with prostitutes and women he encounters at clubs, the one woman in his life he has anything approaching feelings for is his secretary, Jean. She is the person in his life who is not completely shallow, so he cannot bring himself to seduce, rape. He casually acknowledges her as Jean, my secretary who is in love with me, despite his affluence and high social status, Bateman is wracked by feelings of insecurity and self-hatred. He kills many of his victims because they make him feel inadequate and he is deeply disliked by others as well—his friends mock him as the boy next door, his own lawyer refers to him as a bloody ass-kisser. A brown-nosing goody-goody, and he is dismissed as yuppie trash by people outside his social circle
Patrick Bateman
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Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman
11.
American Psycho (film)
–
American Psycho is a 2000 American black comedy horror film co-written and directed by Mary Harron, based on Bret Easton Elliss 1991 novel of the same name. It stars Christian Bale, Willem Dafoe, Jared Leto, Josh Lucas, Chloë Sevigny, Samantha Mathis, Cara Seymour, Justin Theroux, producer Edward R. Pressman purchased the film rights to the novel in 1992. After discussions with David Cronenberg fell through, Harron was brought on to direct, Lionsgate acquired worldwide distribution in 1997 and temporarily replaced Harron and Bale with Oliver Stone as director and Leonardo DiCaprio portraying Patrick Bateman. DiCaprio left in favor of The Beach and Harron and Bale were brought back, American Psycho debuted at the Sundance Film Festival on January 21,2000, and was released theatrically on April 14,2000. The film received positive reviews and was a financial success, with critics mainly praising the screenplay. Bateman describes the material accoutrements of his lifestyle, including his daily morning exercise and he also discusses his music collection, with performers such as Huey Lewis and the News, Phil Collins, and Whitney Houston. His focus on a lifestyle is also evident by his taste in expensive designer clothing. Bateman and his associates flaunt their business cards in a display of vanity, enraged by the superiority of co-worker Paul Allens card, Bateman murders a homeless man and kills the mans dog. At a Christmas party, Bateman makes plans to have dinner with Paul, with Paul mistaking Bateman for another coworker, Bateman gets Paul drunk and lures him back to his apartment. He disposes of Pauls body, then goes to Pauls apartment to stage the situation so that others believe Paul has run off to London, Bateman is later interviewed about Pauls disappearance in his office by private detective Donald Kimball, hired by Pauls family. After they have sex, Bateman tells them to stay, while taking out instruments he uses for torture, in the next scene, the prostitutes leave his apartment bruised and bloodied. The next day, Batemans colleague Luis Carruthers reveals his new business card, Bateman tries to kill Luis in the restroom of an expensive restaurant, but cannot bring himself to strangle him. Luis mistakes the attempted murder for an advance and declares his love for Bateman. After murdering a model, Bateman invites his secretary, Jean, to dinner, when Jean arrives, Bateman, unbeknownst to her, holds a nailgun to the back of her head while the two converse. When he receives an answering machine message from his fiancée, he asks Jean to leave, Kimball meets Bateman for lunch and tells him he is not under suspicion. Bateman has a threesome with his friend Elizabeth and Christie at Pauls apartment, Bateman kills Elizabeth during sex, and Christie runs, discovering multiple female corpses as she searches for an exit. She is chased by a naked Bateman wielding a chainsaw, Bateman breaks off his engagement with Evelyn. That night, as he uses an ATM, he finds a stray kitten, as he prepares to shoot the cat, a woman sees him and tries to stop him, he shoots her and lets the cat go free
American Psycho (film)
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Theatrical release poster
12.
The Machinist
–
The Machinist is a 2004 psychological thriller film directed by Brad Anderson and written by Scott Kosar. The film stars Christian Bale and features Jennifer Jason Leigh, John Sharian, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, the film is about Trevor Reznik, a machinist whose insomnia and psychological problems lead to a serious workplace accident involving a co-worker. After Reznik is fired, he goes into a spiral of paranoia. The film was well-received by critics, particularly for Bales performance and it is an international co-production of the United Kingdom, France, Spain, and the United States. Trevor Reznik is a machinist whose insomnia has led to his becoming emaciated and his appearance and behavior keeps his coworkers away, and they eventually turn against him when he is involved in an accident that causes his coworker, Miller, to lose his left arm. Trevor, who was distracted by an unfamiliar co-worker named Ivan, is blamed for the accident, no one at the factory knows of Ivan and there are no records of him. Trevor seems to find peace only with Stevie, a prostitute with genuine affection for him, and with Marie and he is haunted by brief flashes of recurring imagery, and things such as his car cigarette lighter take on a menacing air. A mysterious series of post-it notes appear on his refrigerator, depicting a game of hangman and these vague incidents send him further into paranoia, but he nonetheless attempts to establish a relationship with Marie. Meeting her at an amusement park, Trevor goes with her son Nicholas on a fun house ride called Route 666, no longer able to think clearly, Trevor suspects that the bizarre events are a concerted effort to drive him insane. These ideas are fed to him in small random clues, one of them is a picture of Ivan fishing with Trevors coworker Reynolds, which he discovers in Ivans wallet when its left behind in a pub. Another near-accident at work causes Trevor to lash out in rage at his co-workers, as a result, increasingly distracted and alienated, Trevor forgets to pay his utility bills and his electricity is disconnected. A dark, viscous liquid begins trickling out of the freezer, after several attempts to confront Ivan, Trevor tries to trace his license plate. He follows Ivans car to read its license plate, but runs out of gas during the pursuit. When a DMV clerk insists that personal information cannot be released unless a crime has been committed, Trevor throws himself in front of a car in order to accuse Ivan of committing a hit and run. He files a report with Ivans plate number on it, only to be baffled when he is told that the car in question is his own. He flees from the policemen and goes to Stevie, who clothes and washes him. Confused, Stevie says the picture is of Reynolds and Trevor and he goes to the airport diner, but is told by an unfamiliar waitress that theyve never had an employee named Maria. The waitress has served Trevor every day for a year, Trevor saying so little the waitress began to think he was a mute, in the films climax, Trevor sees Ivan take Nicholas into Trevors apartment and, fearing the worst, sneaks inside
The Machinist
–
Theatrical release poster
The Machinist
–
Bale lost more than 28 kilograms (62 lb) for his role.
13.
Batman
–
Batman is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, originally named the Bat-Man, the character is also referred to by such epithets as the Caped Crusader, the Dark Knight, and the Worlds Greatest Detective. Batmans secret identity is Bruce Wayne, a wealthy American playboy, philanthropist, after witnessing the murder of his parents Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne as a child, he swore vengeance against criminals, an oath tempered by a sense of justice. Wayne trains himself physically and intellectually and crafts a bat-inspired persona to fight crime, Batman operates in the fictional Gotham City, with assistance from various supporting characters, including his butler Alfred, police commissioner Gordon, and vigilante allies such as Robin. A large assortment of villains make up Batmans rogues gallery, including his archenemy, Batman became popular soon after his introduction in 1939 and gained his own comic book title, Batman, the following year. As the decades went on, differing interpretations of the character emerged, the late 1960s Batman television series used a camp aesthetic, which continued to be associated with the character for years after the show ended. Various creators worked to return the character to his dark roots, the success of Warner Bros. live-action Batman feature films have helped maintain the publics interest in the character. The character has also intrigued psychiatrists, with trying to understand the characters psyche. In 2015, FanSided ranked Batman as number one on their list of 50 Greatest Super Heroes In Comic Book History. Kevin Conroy, Bruce Greenwood, Peter Weller, Anthony Ruivivar, Jason OMara, Batman has been portrayed in both film and television by Lewis Wilson, Robert Lowery, Adam West, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Christian Bale, and Ben Affleck. In early 1939, the success of Superman in Action Comics prompted editors at National Comics Publications to request more superheroes for its titles, in response, Bob Kane created the Bat-Man. Collaborator Bill Finger recalled that Kane had an idea for a character called Batman, I went over to Kanes, and he had drawn a character who looked very much like Superman with kind of. Reddish tights, I believe, with boots, with a small domino mask, swinging on a rope. He had two wings that were sticking out, looking like bat wings. And under it was a big sign, the bat-wing-like cape was suggested by Bob Kane, inspired by Leonardo Da Vincis sketch of an ornithopter flying device as a child. Finger suggested giving the character a cowl instead of a domino mask, a cape instead of wings. Finger said he devised the name Bruce Wayne for the secret identity, Bruce Waynes first name came from Robert Bruce. Wayne, being a playboy, was a man of gentry, I searched for a name that would suggest colonialism
Batman
–
First image of Batman in Action Comics #12, announcing the character's debut in the forthcoming Detective Comics #27
Batman
–
Promotional art for
Batman #608 (Oct. 2002) Pencils by
Jim Lee and inks by
Scott Williams
Batman
–
Batman made his debut in
Detective Comics #27 (May 1939). Cover art by
Bob Kane.
Batman
–
The first issue of
The Dark Knight Returns redefined Batman in the 1980s. Cover art by
Frank Miller.
14.
Christopher Nolan
–
Christopher Edward Nolan is an English-American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and editor. He is one of the directors in history, and among the most successful. The acclaim garnered by his independent films gave Nolan the opportunity to make the thriller film Insomnia. His nine films have grossed over US$4.2 billion worldwide and garnered a total of 26 Oscar nominations, Nolan has co-written several of his films with his younger brother, Jonathan, and runs the production company Syncopy Inc. with his wife, Emma Thomas. Nolans films are rooted in philosophical, sociological and ethical concepts, exploring human morality, the construction of time, and his English father, Brendan James Nolan, was an advertising executive, and his American mother, Christina, worked as a flight attendant and an English teacher. His childhood was split between London and Evanston, Illinois, and he has both British and American citizenship and he has an older brother, Matthew Francis Nolan, a convicted criminal, and a younger brother, Jonathan. He began making films at age seven, borrowing his fathers Super 8 camera, growing up, Nolan was particularly influenced by Star Wars, and around the age of eight he made a stop motion animation homage called Space Wars. His uncle who worked at NASA, building systems for the Apollo rockets. I re-filmed them off the screen and cut them in, thinking no-one would notice, from the age of 11, he aspired to be a professional filmmaker. When Nolans family relocated to Chicago during his years, he started making films with Adrien. He has continued his collaboration with the brothers, receiving a credit for his assistance on their Oscar-nominated documentary Genghis Blues. Nolan also worked alongside Roko on documenting a safari across four African countries, Nolan was educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College, an independent school in Hertford Heath, Hertfordshire, and later read English literature at University College London. He chose UCL specifically for its facilities, which comprised a Steenbeck editing suite and 16 mm film cameras. Nolan was president of the Unions Film Society, and with Emma Thomas he screened 35 mm feature films during the school year, during his college years, Nolan made two short films. The first was the surreal 8 mm Tarantella, which was shown on Image Union, the second was Larceny, filmed over a weekend in black and white with a limited cast, crew, and equipment. Funded by Nolan and shot with the equipment, it appeared at the Cambridge Film Festival in 1996 and is considered one of UCLs best shorts. After graduation, Nolan worked as a reader, camera operator. He also made a short, Doodlebug, about a man chasing an insect around a flat with a shoe
Christopher Nolan
–
Nolan at the 2013 premiere of
Man of Steel in London
Christopher Nolan
–
Nolan attended
University College London, and used its Flaxman Gallery for a scene in
Inception (2010).
Christopher Nolan
–
Nolan with the cast and crew of
The Dark Knight (2008) at the European premiere in London.
Christopher Nolan
–
Nolan accepting a "Certificate of Appreciation" from
Pittsburgh during a break from filming
The Dark Knight Rises in 2011.
15.
Batman Begins
–
Comic book storylines such as The Man Who Falls, Batman, Year One, and Batman, The Long Halloween served as inspiration. The goal was to get the audience to care for both Batman and Bruce Wayne, the film, which was primarily shot in Iceland and Chicago, relied on traditional stunts and miniatures, while computer-generated imagery was used minimally. Batman Begins opened on June 15,2005, in the United States and it grossed over $48 million in its opening weekend in North America, eventually grossing over $374 million worldwide. The film received reviews and is considered by many to be one of the best superhero films of the 2000s. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography and it is followed by The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises in a continual story-arc, which has later been referred to as The Dark Knight Trilogy. The film is presented in a narrative, jumping between the present and past. This is a summary of the plot. As a child, Bruce Wayne falls down into a dry well and is attacked by a swarm of bats, while watching an opera with his parents, Thomas and Martha, Bruce becomes frightened by performers masquerading as bats and asks to leave. Outside, mugger Joe Chill murders Bruces parents in front of him, orphaned, Bruce is raised by the family butler, Alfred Pennyworth. Fourteen years later, Chill is freed in exchange for testifying against Gotham City mafia boss Carmine Falcone, Bruce intends to murder Chill, but one of Falcones assassins does so first. Bruces childhood friend, assistant district attorney Rachel Dawes, berates him for attempting to undermine the justice system, Bruce confronts Falcone, who tells him that real power comes from being feared. Bruce decides to travel the world and learn how to confront injustice, while serving a prison sentence for theft in Bhutan, he meets Henri Ducard, who trains him as a member of the League of Shadows, led by Ras al Ghul. After completing his training and purging his fears, Bruce learns that the League intends to destroy Gotham, believing it to be corrupt, Bruce rejects the Leagues cause and burns down their temple during his escape. Ras is killed by falling debris, while Bruce saves the unconscious Ducard, Bruce returns to Gotham intent on fighting crime. Inspired by his fear, he takes up the vigilante identity of the Batman. He takes an interest in his familys company, Wayne Enterprises, company archivist Lucius Fox allows Bruce access to prototype defense technologies including a protective bodysuit and a heavily armored car called the Tumbler. Bruce poses as a shallow playboy to allay suspicion, Batman intercepts a drug shipment, provides Rachel with evidence against Falcone, and enlists Sergeant James Gordon, one of the few honest cops left in Gotham, to arrest him. Crane puts on a mask and sprays Falcone with a fear-inducing hallucinogen that drives him insane
Batman Begins
–
Theatrical release poster
Batman Begins
–
The Batsuit, worn by Christian Bale.
16.
The Dark Knight (film)
–
The Dark Knight is a 2008 superhero film directed, produced, and co-written by Christopher Nolan. Nolans inspiration for the film was the Jokers comic book debut in 1940, the 1988 graphic novel The Killing Joke, and the 1996 series The Long Halloween, the nickname the Dark Knight was first applied to Batman in Batman #1, in a story written by Bill Finger. The Dark Knight was filmed primarily in Chicago, as well as in other locations in the United States, the United Kingdom. Nolan used IMAX70 mm film cameras to film some sequences, Warner Bros. initially created a viral marketing campaign for The Dark Knight, developing promotional websites and trailers highlighting screenshots of Ledger as the Joker. With over $1 billion in worldwide, it is the 26th-highest-grossing film of all time. The film received eight Academy Award nominations, it won the award for Best Sound Editing, the Dark Knight Rises, the final film in the trilogy, was released on July 20,2012. A gang of criminals rob a Gotham City mob bank, double-crossing and murdering each other there is only one left, The Joker. Batman, District Attorney Harvey Dent and Lieutenant Jim Gordon form an alliance to rid Gotham of organized crime, Mob bosses Sal Maroni, Gambol and the Chechen hold a videoconference with corrupt accountant Lau, who has taken their funds and fled to Hong Kong. The Joker interrupts, warns them that Batman is unhindered by the law, and offers to him in exchange for half of their money. After escaping and smuggling himself as a corpse, the Joker kills Gambol, the mob ultimately decides to take the Joker up on his offer. Dent arrests the mob, while Batman finds Lau in Hong Kong. The Joker threatens to keep killing people unless Batman reveals his identity, and starts by murdering Police Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb, the Joker also tries to kill Mayor Anthony Garcia, but Gordon sacrifices himself to stop the assassination. Dent learns that Rachel is the next target, Bruce decides to reveal his secret identity. Before he can, however, Dent announces that he is Batman, Dent is taken into protective custody, but the Joker appears and attacks the convoy. Batman comes to Dents rescue and Gordon, who faked his death, Rachel and Dent are escorted away by Michael Wuertz and Anna Ramirez, detectives on Maronis payroll. Batman interrogates the Joker, who reveals that Rachel and Dent have been trapped in separate locations rigged with explosives, Batman races to save Rachel, while Gordon goes to save Dent. Batman arrives at the building, realizing that the Joker sent him to Dents location instead, both buildings explode, killing Rachel and disfiguring half of Dents face. The Joker escapes the jail with Lau. Coleman Reese, an accountant at Wayne Enterprises, deduces that Bruce is Batman, after observing the unpredictability of the Joker, Maroni informs the Jokers location to Commissioner Gordon
The Dark Knight (film)
–
Theatrical release poster
The Dark Knight (film)
–
Cast and crew of The Dark Knight at the European premiere in London. From left to right: Director
Christopher Nolan, producers
Emma Thomas and
Charles Roven, actors
Monique Gabriela Curnen,
Michael Caine,
Aaron Eckhart,
Maggie Gyllenhaal and
Christian Bale.
The Dark Knight (film)
–
Director
Christopher Nolan (far left) and actor
Heath Ledger (in make-up) filming a scene in The Dark Knight with an IMAX camera
The Dark Knight (film)
–
Aaron Eckhart with make-up and motion capture markers on set. Below is the finished effect.
17.
The Dark Knight Rises
–
The Dark Knight Rises is a 2012 British-American superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan, who co-wrote the screenplay with his brother Jonathan Nolan, and the story with David S. Goyer. Featuring the DC Comics character Batman, the film is the installment in Nolans Batman film trilogy. Christian Bale reprises the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman, with a returning cast of allies, Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth, Gary Oldman as James Gordon. The film introduces Selina Kyle, and Bane, eight years after the events of The Dark Knight, merciless revolutionary Bane forces an older Bruce Wayne to resume his role as Batman and save Gotham City from nuclear destruction. Nolan drew inspiration from Banes comic book debut in the 1993 Knightfall storyline, the 1986 series The Dark Knight Returns, filming took place in locations including Jodhpur, London, Nottingham, Glasgow, Los Angeles, New York City, Newark, and Pittsburgh. Nolan used IMAX70 mm film cameras for much of the filming, including the first six minutes of the film, a vehicle variation of the Batplane and Batcopter termed the Bat, an underground prison set, and a new Batcave set were created specifically for the film. As with The Dark Knight, viral marketing campaigns began early during production, the Dark Knight Rises premiered in New York City on July 16,2012. The film was released in the United States and the United Kingdom on July 20,2012 and it received positive reviews from critics, many of whom named it one of the best films of 2012. Like its predecessor, the film grossed over $1 billion worldwide at the box office and it is currently the 17th-highest-grossing film of all time, the third-highest-grossing film of 2012, and the fourth-highest-grossing superhero film of all time. Eight years after the death of district attorney Harvey Dent, the Dent Act grants the Gotham City Police Department powers which nearly eradicate organized crime, Police Commissioner James Gordon feels guilty for covering up Dents crimes, from when he was turned into a murderer by the Joker. He writes a resignation speech confessing the truth but decides against using it, Bruce Wayne has become a recluse, broken by the death of his childhood sweetheart Rachel Dawes and has retired as the vigilante Batman after taking the blame for Dents crimes and death. Cat burglar Selina Kyle obtains Waynes fingerprints from his home and kidnaps congressman Byron Gilley and she sells the fingerprints to Phillip Stryver, an assistant to Waynes business rival John Daggett. She requests a clean slate that can wipe all traces of a person from the internet as payment, Stryver double-crosses Kyle, but she uses Gilleys phone to alert the police to their location. Gordon and the police arrive to find the congressman, and then pursue Stryvers men into the sewers while Selina flees, the police attempt to follow them into the sewers, but the men that enter are killed. Gordon is captured, while the rest of the police are assailed down by sniper fire, the assailants drag Gordon to Bane, a masked mercenary, who has him searched and finds his resignation speech. Gordon escapes and is found by John Blake, a patrol officer, Gordon promotes Blake to detective, with Blake reporting directly to him. Bane and multiple accomplices attack the Gotham Stock Exchange, using Bruces fingerprints in a transaction that leaves Wayne bankrupt, Waynes butler Alfred Pennyworth reveals that Rachel had intended to marry Dent before she died. Alfred then resigns in an attempt to convince Bruce to move on from being Batman, Wayne Enterprises is losing profits after Wayne discontinued his fusion reactor project when he learned that the core could be weaponized
The Dark Knight Rises
–
Theatrical release poster
The Dark Knight Rises
–
A
Tumbler on the set of The Dark Knight Rises in
Pittsburgh
The Dark Knight Rises
–
Wollaton Hall in Nottingham was used as
Wayne Manor, Bruce Wayne's residence.
The Dark Knight Rises
–
A digitally mapped model of Tom Hardy's face and skull was used to design and construct Bane's mask.
18.
Dicky Eklund
–
Richard Dick Eklund Jr. is an American former professional boxer in the Welterweight division. A former New England Welterweight Champion, Eklund was known as The Pride of Lowell and he is the half-brother and former trainer of former WBU World Champion Micky Ward. The 2010 biopic The Fighter is based on the two fall and rise to the boxing title. After an amateur boxing career of 200 bouts, winning 194, after losing his debut by 6-round decision to Joe DeFayette, Eklund won 10 straight fights, defeating such opponents as Doug Romano, Terry Rondeau, Carlos Garcia, Randy Milton, and Mike Michaud. He fought professionally as Dick Eklund, Dicky was a used by his family. Before his 1978 match with future world boxing champion Sugar Ray Leonard, Eklunds most notable fight was on July 18,1978, against Sugar Ray Leonard at the Hynes Memorial Auditorium in Boston, Massachusetts. He went the distance against Leonard, who won the fight by unanimous decision. During the fight, Eklund was knocked down twice, in the ninth round, the fighters got wrapped up and Leonard tripped, which was counted as a trip by the referee. In the film The Fighter, Eklund claims to have knocked down Leonard in their match, while the film acknowledges the slip, a video of the fight shows a punch/push and Leonard falling to the canvas on his back. The official verdict by the referee Tommy Rawson was a slip, in an interview regarding the knockdown, Leonard said, I slipped. Eklunds fastest victory was a first round knockout over C. J. Faison in Montreal, according to the 1983 Ring Record Book, Eklund knocked out Canadas Allan Clarke in 9 rounds on August 25,1981. Clarkes record was listed by the Ring as 21–4–1, on October 25,1983, Eklund defeated James Lucas to win the USA New England Welterweight Title. Following a rematch victory over Lucas in 1985, Eklund never fought again, Eklunds fighting career spanned 10 years from 1975 to 1985, during which he compiled a professional career record of 19 wins, including four by knockout, and 10 losses. After Eklunds fighting career ended, he became the trainer of his half-brother, Eklund was Wards full-time trainer for 26 fights, from Wards professional debut in 1985 until his first retirement in 1991. Three of Wards post-retirement fights were voted fight of the year by The Ring, Eklund served as Wards trainer until his second retirement, after his third fight with Arturo Gatti on June 7,2003. Wards biography, written by Bob Halloran and titled Irish Thunder, The Hard Life and Times of Micky Ward, discusses much of Eklunds life, Eklund now works as a personal trainer and boxing coach in New England. He also travels the United States with Micky Ward, giving speeches to college students. Eklund has two sons, Dicky Jr and Tommy, and a daughter, Kerry, paramount Pictures 2010 drama The Fighter chronicles the rise of Eklunds younger half-brother Micky Ward
Dicky Eklund
–
Eklund in 2010.
19.
David O. Russell
–
David Owen Russell is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. His early directing career includes the comedy films Spanking the Monkey, Flirting with Disaster, Three Kings, Russell received his seventh Golden Globe nomination for the semi-biographical comedy-drama Joy. Russell was born in Manhattan, to Maria and Bernard Russell and his parents worked for Simon & Schuster, his father was the vice president of sales for the company and his mother was a secretary there. His father was from a Russian Jewish family and his mother was Italian American, russells maternal grandparents were Frank Muzio, born in Craco, and Philomena Brancata, born in Ferrandina, both in the province of Matera. His paternal grandfather, a butcher from the Upper West Side of Manhattan, Russell was raised in Larchmont, New York, in an atheist, middle-class household. When he was 13, he made his first film for a school project and he attended Mamaroneck High School, where he was voted Class Rebel. He fell in love with film in his teens but aspired to become a writer, Russell started a newspaper in high school and his parents worked for a publishing company, so he grew up in a household filled with books and novels. Russell received his A. B. degree from Amherst College and he wrote his senior thesis on the United States intervention in Chile from 1963 to 1973. After graduating from Amherst, Russell traveled to Nicaragua and taught in a Sandinista literacy program and he worked manual labor jobs, including waitering, bartending, and catering. Some of his colleagues included members of the Blue Man Group. He worked for an association and later became a community organizer in Maine. He used video equipment to document slums and bad housing conditions, Russell was a political activist and canvassed and raised money in neighborhoods, he also did community work in Bostons South End. In addition to working in several day jobs, he began to write short films, Russell directed a documentary about Panamanian immigrants in Boston, which led to a job as a production assistant on a PBS series called Smithsonian World. In 1987, Russell wrote, produced, and directed Bingo Inferno, A Parody on American Obsessions, two years later, he made another short titled Hairway to the Stars, which featured Bette Davis and William Hickey. Both shorts were shown at the Sundance Film Festival, after Russell made an award-winning short film for a Boston television station, he received grants from the New York State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. Instead of the money going towards a feature about a fortune cookie writer, he decided to make Spanking the Monkey, as a result, Russell had to return the funds to the NEA. Spanking the Monkey, the 1994 independent dark comedy, was his first directorial effort, the film was produced by Dean Silvers, and starred Jeremy Davies as a troubled young man and Alberta Watson as his lonely mother. His next project was the Miramax comedy Flirting with Disaster, his collaboration with Dean Silvers
David O. Russell
–
Russell at the
Paris premiere of
American Hustle, February 2014
20.
Biographical film
–
A biographical film, or biopic, is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a person and the central characters real name is used. Because the figures portrayed are actual people, whose actions and characteristics are known to the public, biopic roles are considered some of the most demanding of actors and actresses. Biopic scholars include George F. Custen of the College of Staten Island, Custen, in Bio/Pics, How Hollywood Constructed Public History, regards the genre as having died with the Hollywood studio era, and in particular, Darryl F. Zanuck. On the other hand, Binghams 2010 study Whose Lives Are They Anyway, ellen Cheshires Bio-Pics, a life in pictures examines UK/US films from the 1990s and 2000s. Each chapter reviews key films linked by profession and concludes with further viewing list, christopher Robé has also written on the gender norms that underlie the biopic in his article, Taking Hollywood Back in the 2009 issue of Cinema Journal. The Hurricane is not a documentary but a parable, some biopics purposely stretch the truth. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind was based on game show host Chuck Barris widely debunked yet popular memoir of the same name, Kafka incorporated both the life of author Franz Kafka and the surreal aspects of his fiction. The Errol Flynn film They Died with Their Boots On tells the story of Custer but is highly romanticized, casting can be controversial for biographical films. Casting is often a balance between similarity in looks and ability to portray the characteristics of the person, anthony Hopkins felt that he should not have played Richard Nixon in Nixon because of a lack of resemblance between the two. The casting of John Wayne as Genghis Khan in The Conqueror was objected to because of the American Wayne being cast as the Mongol warlord. Egyptian critics criticized the casting of Louis Gossett, Jr. an African American actor, also, some objected to the casting of Jennifer Lopez in Selena because she is a New York City native of Puerto Rican descent while Selena was Mexican-American. Biographical novel Biography in literature List of biographical films
Biographical film
–
Chapaev
21.
The Fighter
–
The Fighter is a 2010 American biographical sports drama film directed by David O. Russell, and starring Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams and Melissa Leo. The film centers on the lives of professional boxer Micky Ward, the film also stars Amy Adams as Mickys girlfriend Charlene Fleming, and Melissa Leo as Micky and Dickys mother, Alice Eklund-Ward. The film was inspired by the 1995 documentary that features the Eklund-Ward family, titled High on Crack Street, the film was released in select North American theaters on December 17,2010 and was released in the United Kingdom on February 4,2011. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, winning the awards for Best Supporting Actor and it was the first film to win both awards since Hannah and Her Sisters in 1986. Micky Ward is an American welterweight boxer from Lowell, Massachusetts, managed by his mother, Alice Ward, and trained by his older half-brother, Dicky Eklund, Micky became a stepping stone for other boxers to defeat on their way up. Dicky, a boxer whose peak of success was going the distance with Sugar Ray Leonard in 1978 has become addicted to crack cocaine. He is being filmed for an HBO documentary he believes to be about his comeback, despite Mickys reservations, his mother and brother agree so that they can all get the purse and Micky is defeated. Micky retreats from the world and forms a relationship with Charlene Fleming, after several weeks, Alice arranges another fight for Micky, concerned it will turn out the same. His mother and seven sisters blame Charlene for his lack of motivation, Micky mentions he received an offer to be paid to train in Las Vegas, but Dicky says he will match the offer so he can keep training and working with his family. Dicky then tries to get money by posing his girlfriend as a prostitute and then, once she picks up a client and this is foiled by the actual police and Dicky is arrested after a chase and a fight with them. Micky tries to stop the police from beating his brother and a police officer brutally breaks his hand before arresting him, at their arraignment, Micky is released, but Dicky is sent to jail. Micky washes his hands of Dicky, Dicky begins training and trying to get his life together in prison. Micky is lured back into boxing by his father, who believes Alice, the other members of his training team and a new manager, Sal Lanano, persuade Micky to return to boxing with the explicit understanding that his mother and brother will no longer be involved. They place Micky in minor fights to help him regain his confidence and he is then offered another major fight against an undefeated up-and-coming boxer. During a prison visit, Dicky advises Micky on how best to work his opponent, during the actual match, Micky is nearly overwhelmed, but then implements his brothers advice and triumphs, he earns the title shot for which his opponent was being groomed. Upon his release from prison, Dicky and his mother go to see Micky train, assuming things are as they were, Dicky prepares to spar with his brother, but Micky informs him that he is no longer allowed per Mickys agreement with his current team. In the ensuing argument, in which Micky chastises both factions of his family, Charlene and his leave in disgust. Micky and Dicky spar until Micky knocks Dicky down, Dicky storms off, presumably to get high again, and Alice chides Micky, only to be sobered when he tells her that she has always favored Dicky
The Fighter
–
Theatrical release poster
22.
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
–
The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It is given in honor of an actor who has delivered a performance in a supporting role while working within the film industry. At the 9th Academy Awards ceremony held in 1937, Walter Brennan was the first winner of award for his role in Come. Initially, winners in both supporting acting categories were awarded instead of statuettes. Beginning with the 16th ceremony held in 1944, however, winners received full-sized statuettes, currently, nominees are determined by single transferable vote within the actors branch of AMPAS, winners are selected by a plurality vote from the entire eligible voting members of the Academy. Since its inception, the award has given to 72 actors. Brennan has received the most awards in this category with three awards, Brennan, Jeff Bridges, Robert Duvall, Arthur Kennedy, Jack Nicholson, and Claude Rains were nominated on four occasions, more than any other actor. As of the 2017 ceremony, Mahershala Ali is the most recent winner in category for his role as Juan in Moonlight. In the following table, the years are listed as per Academy convention, and generally correspond to the year of release in Los Angeles County. Toronto, Ontario, Canada, University of Toronto Press, ISBN 978-1-55002-574-3. org The Academy Awards Database Oscar. com Complete Downloadable List of Academy Award Nominees
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
–
Walter Brennan was the first winner in this category for 1936's
Come and Get It; He would also win for his roles in
Kentucky (1938) and
The Westerner (1940).
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
–
Van Heflin won in 1942 for his performance in
Johnny Eager.
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
–
George Sanders won for his role in 1950's
All About Eve.
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
–
Karl Malden won in 1951 for
A Streetcar Named Desire.
23.
Academy Award
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The various category winners are awarded a copy of a golden statuette, officially called the Academy Award of Merit, which has become commonly known by its nickname Oscar. The awards, first presented in 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, are overseen by AMPAS, the awards ceremony was first broadcast on radio in 1930 and televised for the first time in 1953. It is now live in more than 200 countries and can be streamed live online. The Academy Awards ceremony is the oldest worldwide entertainment awards ceremony and its equivalents – the Emmy Awards for television, the Tony Awards for theater, and the Grammy Awards for music and recording – are modeled after the Academy Awards. The 89th Academy Awards ceremony, honoring the best films of 2016, were held on February 26,2017, at the Dolby Theatre, in Los Angeles, the ceremony was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and was broadcast on ABC. A total of 3,048 Oscars have been awarded from the inception of the award through the 88th, the first Academy Awards presentation was held on May 16,1929, at a private dinner function at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel with an audience of about 270 people. The post-awards party was held at the Mayfair Hotel, the cost of guest tickets for that nights ceremony was $5. Fifteen statuettes were awarded, honoring artists, directors and other participants in the industry of the time. The ceremony ran for 15 minutes, winners were announced to media three months earlier, however, that was changed for the second ceremony in 1930. Since then, for the rest of the first decade, the results were given to newspapers for publication at 11,00 pm on the night of the awards. The first Best Actor awarded was Emil Jannings, for his performances in The Last Command and he had to return to Europe before the ceremony, so the Academy agreed to give him the prize earlier, this made him the first Academy Award winner in history. With the fourth ceremony, however, the system changed, for the first six ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned two calendar years. At the 29th ceremony, held on March 27,1957, until then, foreign-language films had been honored with the Special Achievement Award. The 74th Academy Awards, held in 2002, presented the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, since 1973, all Academy Awards ceremonies always end with the Academy Award for Best Picture. The Academy also awards Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, see also § Awards of Merit categories The best known award is the Academy Award of Merit, more popularly known as the Oscar statuette. The five spokes represent the branches of the Academy, Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers. The model for the statuette is said to be Mexican actor Emilio El Indio Fernández, sculptor George Stanley sculpted Cedric Gibbons design. The statuettes presented at the ceremonies were gold-plated solid bronze
Academy Award
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Academy Awards
Academy Award
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31st Academy Awards Presentations,
Pantages Theatre, Hollywood, 1959
Academy Award
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81st Academy Awards Presentations,
Dolby Theatre, Hollywood, 2009
Academy Award
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Pantages Theatre, 2008
24.
Screen Actors Guild Award
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The statuette given, a nude male figure holding both a mask of comedy and a mask of tragedy, is called The Actor. It is 16 inches tall, weighs over 12 pounds, is cast in solid bronze, SAG Awards have been one of the major awards events in Hollywood since 1995. It is considered an indicator of success at the Academy Awards, the awards have been telecast since 1998 on TNT, and since 2007 have been simulcast on TBS. The inaugural SAG Awards aired live on February 25,1995 from Universal Studios Stage 12, the second SAG awards aired live from the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, while subsequent awards have been held at the Shrine Exposition Center
Screen Actors Guild Award
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Trophy of the award
25.
Golden Globe
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Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign. The annual ceremony at which the awards are presented is a part of the film industrys awards season. The 74th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film, the 1st Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best achievements in 1943 filmmaking, was held in January 1944, at the 20th Century-Fox studios. Subsequent ceremonies were held at venues throughout the next decade, including the Beverly Hills Hotel. In 1950, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association made the decision to establish an honorary award to recognize outstanding contributions to the entertainment industry. Recognizing its subject as a figure within the entertainment industry. The official name of the award became the Cecil B. In 1963, the Miss Golden Globe concept was introduced, in its inaugural year, two Miss Golden Globes were named, one for film and one for television. The two Miss Golden Globes named that year were Eva Six and Donna Douglas, respectively, in 2009, the Golden Globe statuette was redesigned. It was unveiled at a conference at the Beverly Hilton prior to the show. The broadcast of the Golden Globe Awards, telecast to 167 countries worldwide, generally ranks as the third most-watched awards show each year, behind only the Oscars, gervais returned to host the 68th and 69th Golden Globe Awards the next two years. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler hosted the 70th, 71st and 72nd Golden Globe Awards in 2015, the Golden Globe Awards theme song, which debuted in 2012, was written by Japanese musician and songwriter Yoshiki Hayashi. On January 7,2008, it was announced due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. The ceremony was faced with a threat by striking writers to picket the event, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association was forced to adopt another approach for the broadcast. In acting categories, Meryl Streep holds the record for the most competitive Golden Globe wins with eight, however, including honorary awards, such as the Henrietta Award, World Film Favorite Actor/Actress Award, or Cecil B. DeMille Award, Barbra Streisand leads with nine, additionally, Streisand won for composing the song Evergreen, producing the Best Picture, and directing Yentl in 1984. Jack Nicholson, Angela Lansbury, Alan Alda and Shirley MacLaine have six awards each, behind them are Rosalind Russell and Jessica Lange with five wins. Meryl Streep also holds the record for most nominations with thirty, at the 46th Golden Globe Awards an anomaly occurred, a three way-tie for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
Golden Globe
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The Golden Globe statuette
26.
American Hustle
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American Hustle is a 2013 American black comedy-crime film directed by David O. Russell. It was written by Eric Warren Singer and Russell, inspired by the FBI ABSCAM operation of the late 1970s and early 1980s. It stars Christian Bale and Amy Adams as two con artists who are forced by an FBI agent to set up a sting operation on corrupt politicians, including the mayor of Camden. Jennifer Lawrence plays the wife of Bales character. Principal photography on the film began on March 8,2013, in Boston and Worcester, Massachusetts, American Hustle had its nationwide release in the United States on December 13,2013. It opened to acclaim from critics, who praised its writing. In 1978, con artists Irving Rosenfeld and Sydney Prosser have started a relationship and are working together, Sydney has improved Rosenfelds scams, posing as English aristocrat Lady Edith Greensly. Irving loves Sydney, though is hesitant to leave his unstable and histrionic wife Rosalyn, fearing he will contact with her son Danny. Rosalyn has also threatened to report Irving to the police if he leaves her, FBI agent Richie DiMaso catches Irving and Sydney in a loan scam, but offers to release them if Irving can line up four additional arrests. Richie believes Sydney is English but has proof that her claim of aristocracy is fraudulent, Sydney tells Irving she will manipulate Richie, distancing herself from Irving. Irving has a friend pretending to be a wealthy Arab sheikh looking for investments in America. Carmine seems to have a desire to help the areas economy. Richie devises a plan to make mayor Polito the target of an operation, despite the objections of Irving and of Richies boss. Sydney helps Richie manipulate an FBI secretary into making a wire transfer of $2,000,000. When Stoddards boss, Anthony Amado, hears of the operation, he praises Richies initiative, Carmine leaves their meeting when Richie presses him to accept a cash bribe. Irving convinces Carmine the sheikh is legitimate, expressing his dislike of Richie, Richie arranges for Carmine to meet the sheikh, and without consulting the others, has Mexican-American FBI agent Paco Hernandez play the sheikh, which displeases Irving. Carmine brings the sheikh to a party, explaining mobsters are there. Irving is surprised to hear that Mafia overlord Victor Tellegio, right-hand man to Meyer Lansky, is present, Mafia man Tellegio explains that the business needs the sheikh to become an American citizen and that Carmine will need to expedite the process
American Hustle
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Theatrical release poster
American Hustle
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Star
Bradley Cooper in Paris at the film's French premiere, February 2014.
American Hustle
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American Hustle is Russell's highest grossing film
27.
Adam McKay
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Adam McKay is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, comedian, and actor. McKay served as writer for the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live for two seasons. He directed Anchorman, The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Talladega Nights, The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Step Brothers, The Other Guys, McKay has a creative partnership with actor Will Ferrell, with whom he co-wrote all except one of these films. The Big Short was the first film McKay directed without Ferrell in the cast, McKay and Ferrell produced their comedy website Funny or Die through their company Gary Sanchez Productions also HBOs Eastbound & Down. McKay was born in 1968 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to a cocktail waitress mother and he graduated from Great Valley High School in Malvern, Pennsylvania, and attended Penn State and Temple University. McKay dropped out from the university a semester-and-a-half before he was set to earn his bachelor’s and he described it as, settling with an imaginary degree”. While a member of the mainstage cast at Second City, he wrote and performed in that companys landmark revue, the latter performance was excerpted in Second Citys 40th anniversary compilation. Mckay serves on the Creative Council of Represent. Us, a nonpartisan anti-corruption organization, McKay has an essential tremor, a benign neurological disorder that sometimes causes shaking. He is also a supporter of the Democratic Party and other liberal causes and he endorsed Bernie Sanders for President of the United States during the 2016 Presidential Election. In 1996, he married director and actress Shira Piven, who directed the 2014 feature film Welcome to Me starring Kristen Wiig and his brother-in-law is actor Jeremy Piven. McKay originally auditioned for Saturday Night Live to be an onscreen performer, however, the scripts he submitted to the long-running sketch show earned him a job as writer from 1995 to 2001, including three seasons as head writer. He also directed a number of films for the show. McKay encouraged his Second City friend Tina Fey to submit some of her scripts to Saturday Night Live, in 2007, Ferrell and McKay launched the user-submitted comedy video site Funny or Die. A video on the site, titled The Landlord features both him and his daughter, Pearl, whom Ferrell and his wife bait to say curse words. Pearl also starred in a video titled Good Cop, Baby Cop. Ferrell. He rewrote the script for the Marvel Studios feature film Ant-Man, in addition to Eastbound & Down, he has also produced the TV series Big Lake, the miniseries The Spoils of Babylon, and The Chris Gethard Show. McKay directed and co-wrote with Ferrell the George W. Bush Broadway show and he produced the horror-action film Hansel and Gretel, Witch Hunters. McKay is in talks to direct the remake of Uptown Saturday Night, with Denzel Washington, McKay directed the TV movie documentary Lifecasters
Adam McKay
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McKay at the premiere of
Ant-Man in 2015
28.
The Big Short (film)
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The film stars Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt, Melissa Leo, Hamish Linklater, John Magaro, Rafe Spall, Jeremy Strong, Finn Wittrock and Marisa Tomei. The film is noted for the techniques it employs to explain complex financial instruments. Several other actors directly address the audience, most frequently Gosling, the film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor for Bale, Best Film Editing and Best Adapted Screenplay, winning the last. The film consists of three stories which run concurrently with no plot overlap – they are only connected by the commonality of the predicted housing market collapse. Michael Burry storyline In 2005, eccentric hedge fund manager Michael Burry discovers that the United States housing market is extremely unstable, anticipating that the market will collapse during Q22007, as interest rates would rise from adjustable-rate mortgages, he envisions an opportunity to profit. His plan is to create a default swap market, allowing him to bet against market-based mortgage-backed securities. He proposes his idea to several major investment and commercial banks who readily accept, Burrys huge long-term bet, exceeding $1 billion, entails paying substantial monthly premiums to the banks. This proviso incurs his clients ire, believing he is wasting capital, and many demand that he reverse and sell, under pressure, Burry restricts withdrawals from his fund, angering his investors. A misplaced phone call alerts Front Point hedge fund manager Mark Baum to his plans, Vennett explains that the market collapse is being further perpetuated by the packaging of subprime loans into collateralized debt obligations large enough to be considered AAA ratings. Baum sends staff to investigate the Miami housing market and they discover that mortgage brokers are making money by selling risky mortgages to the Wall Street banks, in early 2007, these loans begin to default, but the prices of the CDOs somehow rise. Meanwhile, ratings agencies refuse to downgrade the ratings of these failing bonds, when Baum questions an acquaintance at Standard & Poors, he discovers conflict of interest and dishonesty amongst the credit rating agencies. When Baums employees question Vennetts motives, he maintains position and invites Baum, Baum interviews CDO manager Wing Chau, who creates CDOs on behalf of an investment bank, claiming to represent the interests of investors. Chau describes how synthetic CDOs make a chain of large bets on the faulty loans. Baum horrifyingly realizes that the fraud will completely collapse the global economy and decides to purchase as many swaps as possible, profiting from the situation at the banks expense. Waiting until the last minute to sell their position, Baums fund makes a profit of $1 billion, since they are below the capital threshold for an ISDA Master Agreement required to enter into trades like Burrys and Baums, they enlist the aid of retired securities trader Ben Rickert. When the bond values and CDOs rise despite defaults, Geller suspects the banks of committing fraud, the three also visit the American Securitization Forum, where they learn that the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission has no regulations to monitor mortgage-backed security activity. They manage to make an even more profitable payout deal than other hedge funds by shorting the higher-rated mortgage securities. These securities were considered stable and the banks were willing to sell swaps on them extremely cheaply
The Big Short (film)
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Teaser poster
29.
Circus
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The term circus also describes the performance which has followed various formats through its 250-year modern history. Philip Astley is credited with being the father of the circus when he opened the first circus in 1768 in England. Early circuses were almost exclusively demonstrations of equestrian skills with a few types of acts to link the horsemanship performances. Performances developed significantly through the next fifty years, with large scale theatrical battle reenactments becoming a significant feature, as styles of performance have changed since the time of Astley, so too have the types of venues where these circuses have performed. The earliest modern circuses were performed in open air structures with limited covered seating, from the late 18th to late 19th century custom-made circus buildings were built with various types of seating, a centre ring, and sometimes a stage. The traditional large tents, commonly known as Big Tops were introduced in the mid 19th century as touring circuses superseded static venues and these tents eventually became the most common venue and remain so to the present day. Contemporary circuses perform in a variety of venues including tents, theatres, many circus performances are still held in a ring usually 13 m in diameter. This dimension was adopted by Philip Astley in the late 18th century as the minimum diameter that enabled a horse rider to stand upright on a cantering horse to perform their tricks. In the book De Spectaculis early Christian writer Tertullian claimed that the first circus games were staged by the goddess Circe in honour of her father Helios, the modern and commonly held idea of a circus is of a Big Top with various acts providing entertainment therein. For many, circus history begins with Englishman Philip Astley, while for others its origins go back much further—to Roman times. In Ancient Rome, the circus was a building for the exhibition of horse and chariot races, equestrian shows, staged battles, gladiatorial combat, the Roman circus buildings were, however, not circular but rectangular with semi circular ends. The lower seats were reserved for persons of rank, There were also various state boxes for the giver of the games, the circus was the only public spectacle at which men and women were not separated. It was constructed during the monarchy and, at first, built completely from wood, after being rebuilt several times, the final version of the Circus Maximus could seat 250,000 people, it was built of stone and measured 400m in length and 90m in width. Next in importance were the Circus Flaminius and the Circus Neronis, a fourth circus was constructed by Maxentius, its ruins have helped archaeologists reconstruct the Roman circus. For some time after the fall of Rome, large buildings fell out of use as centres of mass entertainment. Instead, itinerant performers, animal trainers and showmen travelled between towns throughout Europe, performing at local fairs, Astley performed stunts in a 42 ft diameter ring, which is the standard size used by circuses ever since. Astley referred to the arena as a Circle and the building as an amphitheatre. Joseph Grimaldi, the first mainstream clown, had his first major role as Little Clown in the pantomime The Triumph of Mirth, or, the Royal Circus opened in London on 4 November 1782 by Charles Dibdin and his partner Charles Hughes
Circus
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Advertisement for the
Barnum & Bailey Circus, 1900.
Circus
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Sells Brothers Circus with Great Danes
Circus
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Astley's Amphitheatre in London c.1808
Circus
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Trapeze artists, in lithograph by Calvert Litho. Co., 1890
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