1.
Skeet shooting
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Skeet is one of the three major disciplines of competitive clay pigeon shooting. The others are trap shooting and sporting clays, there are several types of skeet, including one with Olympic status and many with only national recognition. For the American version of the game, the discs are 4 5⁄16 inches in diameter,1 1⁄8 inches thick. The international version of skeet uses a target that is larger in diameter, thinner in cross section. International targets are thrown a longer distance from similar heights. The firearm of choice for this task is usually a high-quality, double-barreled over and under shotgun with 26- to 30-inch barrels, often, shooters will choose an improved cylinder choke or a skeet choke, but this is a matter of preference. Some gun shops refer to type of shotgun as a skeet gun. Skeet chokes are designed to be a 30-inch circle at 21 yards distance, alternatively a sporting gun or a trap gun is sometimes used. These have longer barrels and tighter choke, many shooters of American skeet and other national versions use semi-automatic and pump-action shotguns. The use of clay targets to simulate hunting scenarios is one reason the targets are called clay pigeons, the event is in part meant to simulate the action of bird hunting. The shooter shoots from seven positions on a semicircle with a radius of 21 yards, there are two houses that hold devices known as traps that launch the targets, one at each corner of the semicircle. The traps launch the targets to a point 15 feet above ground and 18 feet outside of station 8, one trap launches targets from 10 feet above the ground and the other launches it from 3 feet above ground. At stations 3,4, and 5 the shooter shoots at single targets launched from the high house and then the low house. At stations 6 and 7 the shooter shoots at single targets launched from the house and then the low house, then shoots a double. At station 8 the shooter shoots one high target and one low target, the shooter must then re-shoot his first missed target or, if no targets are missed, must shoot his 25th shell at the low house station 8. This 25th shot was referred to as the shooters option. Now, to speed up rounds in competition, the shooter must shoot the low 8 twice for a perfect score, Skeet shooting was invented by Charles Davis of Andover, Massachusetts, an avid grouse hunter, in the 1920s as a sport called Clock Shooting. The original course was a circle with a radius of 25 yards with its circumference marked off like the face of a clock, the practice of shooting from all directions had to cease, however, when a chicken farm started next door
2.
Ridley Scott
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Sir Ridley Scott is an English film director and producer. Scott is known for his atmospheric, highly concentrated visual style and his films are also known for their strong female characters. Scott has been nominated for three Academy Awards for Directing, in 1995, both Ridley and his brother Tony received the BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Contribution To Cinema. In 2003, Scott was knighted for his services to the British film industry, in a 2004 BBC poll Scott was named the tenth most influential person in British culture. In 2015 he received a doctorate from the Royal College of Art in London. Scott was born in South Shields, County Durham, North East England, to Elizabeth and he was brought up in an army family, so for most of his early life, his father – an officer in the Royal Engineers – was absent. His elder brother, Frank, joined the British Merchant Navy when he was still young, during this time the family moved around, living in Cumberland in North West England, Wales and Germany. He had a brother, Tony, who also became a film director. He studied at Grangefield Grammar School and West Hartlepool College of Art from 1954 to 1958, Scott went on to study at the Royal College of Art in London, contributing to college magazine ARK and helping to establish the college film department. For his final show, he made a black and white film, Boy and Bicycle. In February 1963 Scott was named in title credits as Designer for the BBC television programme Tonight, about the severe winter of 1963. After graduation in 1963, he secured a job as a set designer with the BBC, leading to work on the popular television police series Z-Cars. He was originally assigned to design the second Doctor Who serial, The Daleks, however, shortly before Scott was due to start work, a schedule conflict meant he was replaced by Raymond Cusick. In 1965, he began directing episodes of series for the BBC, only one of which. In 1968, Ridley and Tony Scott founded Ridley Scott Associates, a nostalgia themed television advertisement that captured the public imagination, it was voted the UKs all-time favourite commercial in a 2006 poll. In the 1970s the Chanel No.5 brand needed revitalisation having run the risk of being labelled as mass market, five members of the Scott family are directors, and all have worked for RSA. His brother Tony was a film director whose career spanned more than two decades, his sons Jake and Luke are both acclaimed directors of commercials, as is his daughter, Jordan Scott. Jake and Jordan both work from Los Angeles, Luke is based in London, in 1995, Shepperton Studios was purchased by a consortium headed by Ridley and Tony Scott, which extensively renovated the studios while also expanding and improving its grounds
3.
Tony Scott
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Anthony David Leighton Tony Scott was an English film director and producer. Scott was the brother of film director Sir Ridley Scott. They both graduated from the Royal College of Art in London, in 1995 both Tony and Ridley received the BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Contribution To Cinema. In 2010, they received the BAFTA Britannia Award for Worldwide Contribution to Filmed Entertainment and he committed suicide on 19 August 2012, by jumping off the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro, California. Scott was born in Tynemouth, Northumberland, North East England and he followed in his elder brothers footsteps, studying at Grangefield School, West Hartlepool College of Art and graduating from Sunderland Art School with a fine arts degree. At the age of 16 he appeared in Boy and Bicycle, Scott studied art in Leeds after failing to gain admission to the Royal College of Art in London at his first attempt. He made a film in 1969 based on the Ambrose Bierce story One of the Missing. As Ridley had previously cast him in a film, he reciprocated by giving his brother a role too, the film cost £1,000, he recalled in April 2012. He graduated from the Royal College of Art, following in the footsteps of his elder brother Ridley and his eldest brother Frank had earlier joined the British Merchant Navy. It was the success of his elder brothers fledgling television commercial production outfit, Ridley Scott Associates and his brother Ridley said, Tony had wanted to do documentaries at first. I told him, Dont go to the BBC, come to me first, I knew that he had a fondness for cars, so I told him, Come work with me and within a year youll have a Ferrari. He directed many commercials for RSA while also overseeing the companys operation while his brother was developing his feature film career. My goal was to make films but I got sidetracked into commercials, I had 15 years, and it was a blast. We were very prolific, and that was our training ground, youd shoot 100 days in a year, then we gravitated from that to film, he said. Scott took time out in 1975 to direct an adaptation of the Henry James story The Author of Beltraffio. His eldest brother Frank died, aged 45, of cancer during the same year. Scott reflected on his career in 2009, Scott persisted in trying to embark on a film career. Among the ideas interesting to him was an adaptation of the Anne Rice novel Interview with the Vampire then in development, MGM was already developing the vampire film The Hunger, for which they brought Scott on in 1982
4.
Joaquin Phoenix
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Joaquín Rafael Phoenix, known formerly as Leaf Phoenix, is a Puerto Rican–born American actor, producer, music video director, musician and activist. For his work as an artist, Phoenix has received a Grammy Award, Phoenix started acting in television shows with his brother River Phoenix and sister Summer Phoenix. His first major release was in the comedy-drama film Parenthood. During his period as an actor he was credited as Leaf Phoenix. He received international attention for his portrayal of Commodus in the 2000 historical epic film Gladiator, to this date, he and River Phoenix hold the distinction of being the first and only brothers to be nominated for acting Academy Awards. Aside from his career, he has also ventured into directing music videos, as well as producing films. He has recorded an album, the soundtrack to Walk The Line, Phoenix is a social activist, lending his support to a number of charities and humanitarian organizations. He is also known for his animal rights advocacy. He has been a vegan since the age of three, and actively campaigns for PETA and In Defense of Animals, Phoenix was born Joaquín Rafael Bottom in the Río Piedras district of San Juan, Puerto Rico, to parents from the U. S. mainland. He is the third of five children, including River, Rain, Liberty and Summer and he also has a half-sister named Jodean from a previous relationship of his fathers. Phoenixs father, John Lee Bottom, originally from Fontana, California, was a lapsed Catholic, of English, Phoenixs mother, Arlyn, was born in the Bronx, New York, to Jewish parents whose families emigrated from Russia and Hungary. Arlyn left her family in 1968 and moved to California, later meeting Phoenixs father while hitchhiking and they married in 1969, then later joined a religious group, the Children of God, and began traveling throughout South America. His parents eventually became disenchanted with the Children of God, they made the decision to leave the group and they changed their last name to Phoenix, after the mythical bird that rises from its own ashes, symbolizing a new beginning. Around this time, Joaquín began calling himself Leaf, desiring to have a name like his siblings. Leaf became the name he used as a actor, until at age 15. He first used it as a credit in his big comeback film To Die For. In order to provide food and financial support for the family, in Los Angeles, his mother started working as a secretary for NBC, and his father worked as a landscaper. He went on to himself as a child actor before deciding to withdraw from acting for a while and travel to Mexico
5.
Vince Vaughn
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Vincent Anthony Vince Vaughn is an American actor, producer, screenwriter, activist, and comedian. Vaughn began acting in the late 1980s, appearing in television roles before attaining wider recognition with the 1996 comedy-drama film Swingers. He has appeared in a number of films in the 1990s, including the sports film Rudy, the sci-fi adventure dinosaur film The Lost World, Jurassic Park, and the drama-thriller Return to Paradise. In the 2000s, he acted in comedies, including Old School, Dodgeball, A True Underdog Story, Wedding Crashers, The Break-Up. He continued his comedic roles in the 2010s with The Dilemma, The Watch, in 2015, he starred as Frank Semyon in the second season of the HBO anthology crime drama television series True Detective alongside Colin Farrell, Taylor Kitsch and Rachel McAdams. Vaughn was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and his mother, Sharon Eileen, is a real estate agent and stockbroker who was once ranked as one of the United States top money managers by Bloomberg Wealth Manager magazine. His father, Vernon Lindsay Vaughn, worked as a salesman for a toy company and he has two older sisters, Victoria and Valerie. His surname comes from Ulster-Scots immigrants who first settled in Kentucky and his paternal grandmother was of Syrian Lebanese descent, and his maternal grandfather was of Italian descent, his other roots are Canadian, Dutch, English, German, Irish, Scottish, and Swiss. As a child, he was raised both Protestant and Catholic by his Catholic mother and Protestant father, Vaughn grew up in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, where he played football and baseball and wrestled, although he has called himself unathletic and very average at high school sports. He then moved to Lake Forest, where he graduated from Lake Forest High School in 1988 and he was introduced to musical theater at a young age and decided to become an actor in 1987. He has credited his mother as the inspiration behind his career, saying that I saw her overcome stuff, in 1988, Vaughn was cast in a Chevrolet television commercial and subsequently moved to Hollywood. He appeared in the 1989 season of the television series China Beach and his first film role was 1993s Rudy playing Jamie OHare, where he also struck up a friendship with featured Jon Favreau. Two years later, he was cast in a role in a proposed revival of 77 Sunset Strip that was to air on the fledgling WB Television Network. Vaughn did not receive wider success until his role in 1996s Swingers with Jon Favreau, Swingers was released in July 1996 and became a successful independent film. Vinces father Vernon also did a cameo in this film, afterwards, director Steven Spielberg cast Vaughn in the blockbuster The Lost World, Jurassic Park which gave him increased exposure. In 1998, he starred in the acclaimed drama Return to Paradise with Anne Heche. In 2000, he starred in The Cell with Jennifer Lopez and in 2001, appeared in Made, Vaughn also appeared in Dwight Yoakams directorial debut movie South of Heaven, West of Hell. Vaughns role in the successful 2003 comedy Old School skyrocketed his popularity, in 2004, Vaughn appeared alongside Ben Stiller in the hit films Starsky & Hutch and Dodgeball
6.
Janeane Garofalo
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Janeane Garofalo is an American actress, stand-up comedian, and writer. Clay Pigeons, Sweethearts, Mystery Men, and The Independent and she has also been a series regular on television programs such as Wet Hot American Summer, First Day of Camp,24, and Girlfriends Guide to Divorce. Garofalo is a progressive activist. From March 2004 to July 2006, she hosted Air America Radios The Majority Report with Sam Seder, Garofalo was born in Newton, New Jersey, the daughter of Joan and Carmine Garofalo. Her mother, a secretary in the industry, died of cancer when Janeane was 24. Her father is an executive at Exxon. Garofalo was raised in a conservative Catholic family and is of Italian and she grew up in various places, including Ontario, California, Madison, New Jersey, and Katy, Texas. She was quoted as having disliked life in Texas because of the heat, humidity, while studying history at Providence College, Garofalo entered a comedy talent search sponsored by the Showtime cable network, winning the title of Funniest Person in Rhode Island. Her original gimmick was to read off her hand, which was not successful in subsequent performances and she struggled for a number of years, working briefly as a bike messenger in Boston. Garofalo has described herself thus, I guess I just prefer to see the side of things. The glass is half empty. And I just cut my lip on it, Garofalo was initially known as a stand-up comedian, making numerous stand-up appearances on television and in live clubs and larger venues beginning in the 1990s and continuing today. Garofalo has said that she not tell jokes as much as make observations designed to get laughs. During her filmed stand-up show in Seattle, she proclaimed herself asexual, the role helped solidify Garofalos status as a Generation X icon. Initially an independent film, it became a movie when Thurman was signed. The film was a modest hit, but Garofalo disparaged it back in 2003, saying, I think its soft and corny, and the soundtrack makes you want to puke, and everybodys dressed in Banana Republic clothing. The original script and the intent was very different than what it wound up being when it became a studio commercial film. It was originally supposed to be an independent film where there would be much more complexity to all the characters, and Abby
7.
Scott Wilson (actor)
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Scott Wilson is an American film and television actor. He has more than 50 film credits, including In the Heat of the Night, In Cold Blood, The Great Gatsby, Dead Man Walking, Pearl Harbor, and Junebug. In 1980, Wilson received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture for his role in The Ninth Configuration and he played veterinarian Hershel Greene on the AMC television series The Walking Dead from 2011 to 2014. He had a role on CSI, Crime Scene Investigation as casino mogul Sam Braun. Wilson was born in Thomasville, Georgia and he made his screen debut portraying characters suspected of murder in his first three films. In his debut film, Wilson played a suspect in In the Heat of the Night. His follow-up role, in the year, was In Cold Blood. Wilson portrayed real-life murderer Richard Hickock, while Robert Blake played his partner, director Richard Brooks cast Wilson and Blake in the starring roles specifically because they were unknown at the time. The director passed over better-known actors, including Steve McQueen and Paul Newman, Wilson later explained Brooks casting motivations, Brooks hired two unknowns and he wanted to keep it that way. We were treated like two killers he had run across. Wilson appeared in Sparta on March 15,2014 to celebrate the citys 175th anniversary in reference to his appearance in the film. The film earned Wilson an appearance on the cover of Life Magazine, Wilson was just 25 years old at the time. The cover features Truman Capote standing between Wilson and Blake on an empty highway in Kansas, the caption, Nightmare Revisited, appears with them on the cover. Wilson appeared in The Great Gatsby in 1974 opposite Robert Redford and he received a 1980 Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Ninth Configuration by director and friend William Peter Blatty. He lost the Golden Globe to Timothy Hutton, in 1995 Wilson got attention for his role as a prison chaplain in Dead Man Walking, starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn, based on the book of the same name by Sister Helen Prejean. Wilson has filmed on location in South Korea, Japan and Spain, Wilson had a recurring role in several episodes of CSI, Crime Scene Investigation as Sam Braun, father of crime-scene investigator Catherine Willows. Braun was killed off in the episode Built to Kill, Part 2, in the fall of 2011 he also made an appearance opposite Laura Dern in the HBO series, Enlightened. Wilson was cast as veterinarian, Hershel Greene in the season of The Walking Dead in June 2011
8.
John Lurie
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John Lurie is an American musician, painter, actor, director, and producer. In 1996 his soundtrack for Get Shorty was nominated for a Grammy Award, since 2000 Lurie has suffered from symptoms attributed to chronic Lyme disease and has focused his attention on painting. His art has shown in galleries and museums around the world. His primitivist painting Bear Surprise became a meme in Russia in 2006. Lurie was born in Minneapolis and was raised with his brother Evan and his sister Liz in Worcester, in high school Lurie played basketball and harmonica and jammed with Mississippi Fred McDowell and Canned Heat in 1968. He briefly played the harmonica in a band from Boston but soon switched to the guitar, after high school Lurie hitch-hiked across the United States to Berkeley, California. He moved to New York City in 1974 then briefly visited London where he performed his first saxophone solo at the Acme Gallery. In 1978 John formed The Lounge Lizards with his brother Evan Lurie, robert Palmer of The New York Times described the band as staking out new territory west of Mingus, east of Bernard Herrman. While originally a somewhat satirical fake jazz combo spawned by the noisy No Wave music scene, the band made music for 20 years. In 1999 Lurie released the album The Legendary Marvin Pontiac, Greatest Hits, a collection of the work of an African-Jewish musician named Marvin Pontiac. The album includes a biographical profile describing the life of the troubled genius. Lurie wrote the music and performed with John Medeski, Billy Martin, G. Calvin Weston, Marc Ribot, the album received praise from David Bowie, Angelique Kidjo, Iggy Pop, Leonard Cohen, and others. I thought people would be up in arms about pretending to be a person, Lurie said in a 2008 interview. For a long time, I was threatening to do a vocal record, but the idea of me putting out a record where I sang seemed ostentatious or pretentious. Like the music of Telly Savalas, I dont sing very well, I was shy about it. As a character, it made it easier, parallel to the final version of the Lounge Lizards in the early 1990s, Lurie formed a smaller group, the ironically-named John Lurie National Orchestra. Personnel were Lurie on alto and soprano saxes, Grant Calvin Weston on drum kit, and Billy Martin on congas, timbales, kalimba, unlike the tightly-arranged music of the Lounge Lizards this groups music was heavily improvised and compositions were credited to all three musicians. They released an album and recorded music for the Fishing With John TV series, in February 2014 John Lurie National Orchestra released The Invention of Animals, a collection of out-of-print studio tracks and unreleased live recordings from the 90s
9.
PolyGram Filmed Entertainment
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Among its most successful films were An American Werewolf in London, Flashdance, Batman, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Dead Man Walking, Fargo, Trainspotting and Notting Hill. The music company PolyGram created PolyGram Pictures in 1980 as a partnership with film producer Peter Guber and it was a spin-off of sorts to Casablanca FilmWorks, the film unit of PolyGrams Casablanca Records which Guber previously ran and had success with The Deep and Midnight Express. PolyGram reserved the finances and Guber would run as CEO. Guber would form a partnership with Barbra Streisands hairdresser Jon Peters, Peters would produce PolyGrams films, and eventually become a stockholder with Guber. Its first film was King of the Mountain, which was a box-office flop, ancillary markets such as home video and pay television were not yet established, and broadcast television networks were paying less for licenses to films. PolyGrams European investors were not happy, they had lost about $80 million on its film division, not long after, Siemens parted with Philips. Guber and Peters left PolyGram Pictures in 1982, taking their plans for a new Batman movie with them, the duo eventually found a home at Warner Bros. A part of their proceedings, PolyGram would still own 7. 5% of profits from some of its projects. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, PolyGram continued to invest in a film unit with the purchases of individual production companies. Kuhn claimed that movies sort of green lit themselves, PolyGram also built up a sizable film and television library that could be profitable. The company purchased ITC Entertainment in 1995, through this purchase, PolyGram acquired 350 feature films, several thousand hours of television programming, and gained further access into the television market. In 1997, PFE agreed to purchase over a feature films held by Crédit Lyonnais Bank for $225 million. PolyGram also attempted purchasing MGM and The Samuel Goldwyn Companys library, PFE was based in the United Kingdom, and invested heavily in British film making — some credit it with reviving the British film industry in the 1990s. Despite a successful history, Philips decided to sell PolyGram to the beverage conglomerate Seagram in 1998. Only interested in PolyGrams music operations, Seagram, which at the time controlled Universal Pictures, after being dissatisfied with offers to buy the studio, Seagram opted to sell off individual assets and folded whatever remained into Universal. In 1998, Seagram sold the bulk of its library of films released up until March 31,1996 to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, some of PFEs North American distribution assets were sold to USA Networks. Universal Pictures via Polygram Entertainment owns the rest of the post-1996 films and this was due to Manga Entertainment being moved from Island Records to Palm Pictures. Working Title Films, acquired by PFE in 1991, propaganda Films, acquired by PFE in 1991. Interscope Communications, acquied by PFE in 1994, Gramercy Pictures, acquired by PFE in 1992
10.
Gramercy Pictures
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Gramercy Pictures is an American film production label of Universal Studios Focus Features division. It was originally launched as a distributor in May 1992 as a joint venture of PolyGram Filmed Entertainment. Gramercy was the distributor of PolyGram movies in the United States and Canada, after Seagrams buyout on PolyGram, Gramercy, along with October Films, was merged by Barry Diller, to form USA Films in 1999. As of 2015, Focus Features revived the name as a label for action, horror, Gramercy Pictures was formed in 1992 as a joint venture of PolyGram Filmed Entertainment and Universal Pictures. Gramercy Pictures released its first film, the Mario Van Peebles western Posse, in January 1996, PolyGram brought the 50% stake owned by Universal, thus assuming full control of Gramercy. The distributor also had box office hits in 1994s Four Weddings, several Gramercy releases of the 1990s have grown in stature to become cult classics in the present day, The Big Lebowski, Dazed and Confused, Clay Pigeons and Mallrats. In addition, 1995s The Usual Suspects won two Oscars, for Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor, in 1998 Seagram sold the bulk of its library of PolyGram films released up until March 31,1996 for to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. When Seagram acquired PolyGram in 1999, the merged with. It reacquired Gramercy as it controlled Universal, in turn, Seagram sold Gramercy and another specialty division, October Films, to Barry Dillers USA Networks, and merged both companies into USA Films. USA Films then transformed into Universal Focus and then Focus Features in 2002, in May 2015, Focus Features announced that the Gramercy label has been revived to release action, horror and sci-fi genre films. Its first outing was Insidious, Chapter 3 on June 5,2015, official website Gramercy Pictures at the Internet Movie Database
11.
Crime film
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Crime films are a genre of film that focus on crime. The stylistic approach to a crime film varies from realistic portrayals of real-life criminal figures, films dealing with crime and its detection are often based on plays rather than novels. Agatha Christies stage play Witness for the Prosecution was adapted for the big screen by director Billy Wilder in 1957, the film starred Marlene Dietrich and Charles Laughton and is a classic example of a courtroom drama. In a courtroom drama, a charge is brought against one of the main characters, another major part is played by the lawyer representing the defendant in court and battling with the public prosecutor. He or she may enlist the services of an investigator to find out what really happened. However, in most cases it is not clear at all whether the accused is guilty of the crime or not—this is how suspense is created. Often, the private investigator storms into the courtroom at the very last minute in order to bring a new and this type of literature lends itself to the literary genre of drama focused more on dialogue and little or no necessity for a shift in scenery. The auditorium of the theatre becomes an extension of the courtroom, in Witness for the Prosecution, Leonard Vole, a young American living in England, is accused of murdering a middle-aged lady he met in the street while shopping. His wife hires the best lawyer available because she is convinced, or rather she knows, another classic courtroom drama is U. S. playwright Reginald Roses Twelve Angry Men, which is set in the jury deliberation room of a New York Court of Law. Eleven members of the jury, aiming at a verdict of guilty. The popularity of TV brought about the emergence of TV series featuring detectives, investigators, special agents, lawyers, in Britain, The Avengers about the adventures of gentleman agent John Steed and his partner, Emma Peel, achieved cult status. In Germany, Derrick became a household word, breaking Bad character Walter White is a methamphetamine drug manufacturer, this offered a different approach whereby the protagonist is the criminal instead of being the detective. Crime films may fall under several different subgenres and these include, Crime comedy - A hybrid of crime and comedy films. Mafia comedy looks at organized crime from a comical standpoint, humor comes from the incompetence of the criminals and/or black comedy. Examples include Analyze This, The Pope of Greenwich Village, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, In Bruges, tower Heist and Pain & Gain. Crime drama - A combination of crime and dramatic films, examples include such films as Straight Time and Badlands. Crime thriller - A thriller in which the characters are involved in crime, either in its investigation, as the perpetrator or, less commonly. While some action films could be labelled as such for merely having criminality and thrills, the emphasis in this genre is the drama, examples include Untraceable, Silence of the Lambs, Heat, Seven, Witness, Memories of Murder, The Call, and Running Scared
12.
Serial killer
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Different authorities apply different criteria when designating serial killers, while most set a threshold of three murders, others extend it to four or lessen it to two. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, for example, defines serial killing as a series of two or more murders, committed as separate events, usually, but not always, by one offender acting alone. The murders may be attempted or completed in a fashion. Serial killing is not the same as mass murdering, nor is it spree killing, however, there is ample evidence the term was used in Europe and the U. S. earlier. The German term and concept were coined by the influential Ernst Gennat, psychopathic behavior that is consistent with traits common to some serial killers include sensation seeking, a lack of remorse or guilt, impulsivity, the need for control, and predatory behavior. They were often abused—emotionally, physically and/or sexually—by a family member, a disproportionate number exhibit one, two, or all three of the Macdonald triad of predictors of future violent behavior, Many are fascinated with fire setting. They are involved in activity, especially in children who have not reached sexual maturity. More than 60 percent, or simply a large proportion, wet their beds beyond the age of 12 and they were frequently bullied or socially isolated as children or adolescents. For example, Henry Lee Lucas was ridiculed as a child, kenneth Bianchi was teased as a child because he urinated in his pants, suffered twitching, and as a teenager was ignored by his peers. Some were involved in petty crimes, such as fraud, theft, vandalism, often, they have trouble staying employed and tend to work in menial jobs. The FBI, however, states, Serial murderers often seem normal, have families and/or a steady job, other sources state they often come from unstable families. Studies have suggested that serial killers generally have an average or low-average IQ, although they are often described, a sample of 202 IQs of serial killers had a median IQ of 89. There are exceptions to these criteria, however, for example, Harold Shipman was a successful professional. He was considered a pillar of the community, he even won a professional award for a childrens asthma clinic and was interviewed by Granada Televisions World in Action. Dennis Nilsen was an ex-soldier turned civil servant and trade unionist who had no criminal record when arrested. Neither was known to have exhibited many of the tell-tale signs, vlado Taneski, a crime reporter, was a career journalist who was caught after a series of articles he wrote gave clues that he had murdered people. Russell Williams was a successful and respected career Royal Canadian Air Force Colonel who was convicted of murdering two women, along with fetish burglaries and rapes, Many serial killers have faced similar problems in their childhood development. Family, or lack thereof, is the most prominent part of a childs development because it is what the child can identify with on a regular basis
13.
FBI
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The Federal Bureau of Investigation is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States, which simultaneously serves as the nations prime federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the U. S. Department of Justice, Intelligence Community and reports to both the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence. A leading U. S. counterterrorism, counterintelligence, and criminal investigative organization, although many of the FBIs functions are unique, its activities in support of national security are comparable to those of the British MI5 and the Russian FSB. At an FBI field office, a senior-level FBI officer concurrently serves as the representative of the Director of National Intelligence. Despite its domestic focus, the FBI also maintains a significant international footprint and these overseas offices exist primarily for the purpose of coordination with foreign security services and do not usually conduct unilateral operations in the host countries. The FBI can and does at times carry out secret activities overseas, just as the CIA has a domestic function. The FBI was established in 1908 as the Bureau of Investigation and its name was changed to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1935. The FBI headquarters is the J. Edgar Hoover Building, located in Washington, in the fiscal year 2012, the Bureaus total budget was approximately $8.12 billion. In 1896, the National Bureau of Criminal Identification was founded, the 1901 assassination of President William McKinley created an urgent perception that America was under threat from anarchists. The Departments of Justice and Labor had been keeping records on anarchists for years, the Justice Department had been tasked with the regulation of interstate commerce since 1887, though it lacked the staff to do so. It had made little effort to relieve its staff shortage until the breakage of the Oregon land fraud scandal at approximately the turn of the 20th Century, President Roosevelt instructed Attorney General Charles Bonaparte to organize an autonomous investigative service that would report only to the Attorney General. Bonaparte reached out to other agencies, including the Secret Service, for personnel, on May 27,1908, the Congress forbade this use of Treasury employees by the Justice Department, citing fears that the new agency would serve as a secret police department. Again at Roosevelts urging, Bonaparte moved to organize a formal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Investigation was created on July 26,1908, after the Congress had adjourned for the summer. Attorney General Bonaparte, using Department of Justice expense funds, hired thirty-four people, including veterans of the Secret Service. Its first Chief was Stanley Finch, Bonaparte notified the Congress of these actions in December 1908. The bureaus first official task was visiting and making surveys of the houses of prostitution in preparation for enforcing the White Slave Traffic Act, or Mann Act, in 1932, the bureau was renamed the United States Bureau of Investigation. The following year it was linked to the Bureau of Prohibition, in the same year, its name was officially changed from the Division of Investigation to the present-day Federal Bureau of Investigation, or FBI. J. Edgar Hoover served as Director from 1924 to 1972, a combined 48 years with the BOI, DOI, Hoover was substantially involved in most major cases and projects that the FBI handled during his tenure
14.
Phil Morris (actor)
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Phillip Morris is an American television, voice, and film actor. He played Jackie Chiles in the NBC sitcom Seinfeld and John Jones in The CW superhero drama Smallville and he last starred as Delroy Jones in Love That Girl. Morris was born in Iowa City, Iowa, and is the son of actor Greg Morris and he also is the younger brother of actress Iona Morris. Morris is a practitioner of Wing Chun under Sifu Hawkins Cheung, morriss first acting role was as a child when he appeared in the 1966 Star Trek episode Miri. Star Trek was, at the time, shot at the studio that produced Mission, Impossible. He made his film debut in Star Trek III, The Search for Spock in a small role and later guest-starred on Babylon 5, Star Trek, Deep Space Nine. In the mid-1980s, he portrayed law student Tyrone Jackson on the CBS daytime drama The Young, during a major storyline, his character used heavy theatrical make-up to appear Caucasian, in order to go undercover to expose an organized crime organization. The friendship continued, until his acting mentors own loss, on March 14,2010, Morris voiced the supporting role of Dr. Sweet in Disneys 2001 film Atlantis, The Lost Empire as well as its 2003 sequel, Atlantis, Milos Return. He played one of Will Smiths college professors on the NBC show The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and he reprised this role in the ninth-season episodes Absolute Justice, Checkmate, and Salvation. As a voice actor, he portrayed the villains Imperiex on Legion of Superheroes and he voiced WKabi in the animated series Black Panther. He appeared on one episode each of the series CSI, Miami, though largely unnoticed, Morris also was the voice of Paul the Apostle in Zondervans The Bible Experience. Morris also made an appearance as Miles Dyson in photographs in the television series Terminator. He played the voice of the character Doc Saturday in the animated show The Secret Saturdays and he also played a major supporting role in the PlayStation 2 game Ratchet, Deadlocked, Merc, one of the combat bots that accompany Ratchet during his journey. He also voiced the character of Thurgood Stubbs on the animated show The PJs and he did several voices in the animated film Dead Space, Downfall as Hansen and Glenn. He currently plays Delroy Jones on the TV One series Love That Girl, saint Walker on the Cartoon Network series Green Lantern, The Animated Series, and Ultra Richard on the Cartoon Hangover series SuperF*ckers. In 2012, Phil Morris also made an appearance in Aqua Something You Know Whatever as Zucotti Manicotti. Phil Morris at the Internet Movie Database Phil Morris Interview at Abnormal Use
15.
Rotten Tomatoes
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Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by Senh Duong and since January 2010 has been owned by Flixster, in February 2016, Rotten Tomatoes and its parent site Flixster were sold to Comcasts Fandango. Warner Bros. retained a minority stake in the merged entities, since 2007, the websites editor-in-chief has been Matt Atchity. The name, Rotten Tomatoes, derives from the practice of audiences throwing rotten tomatoes when disapproving of a stage performance. From early 2008 to September 2010, Current Television aired the weekly The Rotten Tomatoes Show, featuring hosts, a shorter segment was incorporated into the weekly show, InfoMania, which ended in 2011. In September 2013, the website introduced TV Zone, a section for reviewing scripted TV shows, Rotten Tomatoes was launched on August 12,1998, as a spare-time project by Senh Duong. His goal in creating Rotten Tomatoes was to create a site where people can get access to reviews from a variety of critics in the U. S. As a fan of Jackie Chans, Duong was inspired to create the website after collecting all the reviews of Chans movies as they were being published in the United States, the first movie whose reviews were featured on Rotten Tomatoes was Your Friends & Neighbors. The website was an success, receiving mentions by Netscape, Yahoo. and USA Today within the first week of its launch. They officially launched it on April 1,2000, in June 2004, IGN Entertainment acquired rottentomatoes. com for an undisclosed sum. In September 2005, IGN was bought by News Corps Fox Interactive Media, in January 2010, IGN sold the website to Flixster. The combined reach of both companies is 30 million unique visitors a month across all different platforms, according to the companies, in May 2011, Flixster was acquired by Warner Bros. In early 2009, Current Television launched the version of the web review site. It was hosted by Brett Erlich and Ellen Fox and written by Mark Ganek, the show aired every Thursday at 10,30 EST on the Current TV network. The last episode aired on September 16,2010 and it returned as a much shorter segment of InfoMania, a satirical news show that ended in 2011. By late 2009, the website was designed to enable Rotten Tomatoes users to create, one group, The Golden Oyster Awards, accepted votes of members for different awards, as if in parallel to the better-known Oscars or Golden Globes. When Flixster bought the company, they disbanded the groups, announcing, in the meantime, please use the Forums to continue your conversations about your favorite movie topics. As of February 2011, new community features have been added, for example, users can no longer sort films by fresh ratings from rotten ratings, and vice versa
16.
Metacritic
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Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of media products, music albums, games, movies, TV shows, DVDs, and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged, Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc Doyle, and Julie Doyle Roberts. The site provides an excerpt from each review and hyperlinks to its source, a color of Green, Yellow or Red summarizes the critics recommendations and therefore the general appeal of the product to reviewers and, to a lesser extent, the public. It is regarded as the game industrys foremost review aggregator. Metacritics scoring converts each review into a percentage, either mathematically from the mark given, before being averaged, the scores are weighted according to the critics fame, stature, and volume of reviews. Metacritic was launched in July 1999 by Marc Doyle, his sister Julie Doyle Roberts, rotten Tomatoes was already compiling movie reviews, but Doyle, Roberts, and Dietz saw an opportunity to cover a broader range of media. They sold Metacritic to CNET in 2005, CNET and Metacritic are now owned by the CBS Corporation. Nick Wingfield of The Wall Street Journal wrote in September 2004, Mr. Doyle,36, is now a product manager at CNET. Speaking of video games, Doyle said, A site like ours helps people cut through. unobjective promotional language and he added that the review process was not taken as seriously when unconnected magazines and websites provided reviews in isolation. In August 2010, the appearance was revamped, reaction from users was overwhelmingly negative. Certain publications are given more significance because of their stature, games Editor Marc Doyle was interviewed by Keith Stuart of The Guardian to get a look behind the metascoring process. Stuart wrote, the phenomenon, namely Metacritic and GameRankings, have become an enormously important element of online games journalism over the past few years. The ranging of metascores is, Metacritic is regarded as the foremost online review site for the video game industry. Nick Wingfield of The Wall Street Journal has written that Metacritic influence the sales of games and he explains its influence as coming from the higher cost of buying video games than music or movie tickets. Many executives say that low scores can hurt the sales potential. He claimed that a number of businesses and financial analysts use Metacritic as an early indicator of a games potential sales and, by extension. In 2004, Jason Hall of Warner Bros. began including quality metrics in contracts with partners licensing its movies for games, if a product does not at least achieve a specific score, some deals require the publisher to pay higher royalties. In 2008, Microsoft began using Metacritic averages to de-list underperforming Xbox Live Arcade games and these are the top 10 individual games with the highest scores on the site as of 2 April 2017
17.
British Board of Film Classification
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It has a statutory requirement to classify videos, DVDs and, to a lesser extent, some video games under the Video Recordings Act 2010. The immediate impetus for the Boards formation stemmed from the surrounding the release in the UK in October 1912 of the film From the Manger to the Cross. The film, shown at the Queens Hall, London, gained considerable publicity from an outcry in the Daily Mail. And waxed indignant about the profits for its American film producers, although the clergy were invited to see it and found little to be affronted by, the controversy resulted in the voluntary creation of the BBFC, which began operating on 1 January 1913. The Boards legal basis was the Cinematograph Act 1909, which required cinemas to have licences from local authorities. Given that the law now allowed councils to grant or refuse licences to cinemas according to the content of the films they showed, the 1909 Act therefore enabled the introduction of censorship. The Boards offices were originally at 133-135 Oxford Street, London, the building is located at the junction of Wardour Street, some decisions from the early years are now subjected to derision. Informal links, to varying degrees of closeness, have been maintained between the BBFC and the Government throughout the Boards existence, in the period before the Second World War, an extensive but unofficial system of political censorship was implemented by the BBFC for the Home Office. This trend reached its climax during the 1930s, following protests from the German Embassy after the release of a film depicting the execution of Edith Cavell, intense political pressure was brought to bear on the BBFC by the Home Office. A system of script vetting was introduced, whereby British studios were invited to submit screenplays to the BBFC before shooting started. The increasing climate of post-war liberalism ensured that from the 1950s onwards, controversies involving the BBFC centred more on depictions of sex, in 1984 the organisation changed its name to reflect the fact that classification plays a far larger part in the Boards work than censorship. At that time it was responsibility for classifying videos for hire or purchase to view in the home as well as films shown in cinemas. The horror in both came through largely in their detailed prose. Had the game publishers reprinted the text in book form, it would not have carried a certificate. The first video game to be refused classification by the BBFC was Carmageddon in 1997, in June 2007, Manhunt 2 was refused classification in both its PlayStation 2 and Wii versions, meaning that the game was illegal to sell or supply. A modified version was made that was accepted by the ESRB but was refused classification from the BBFC. The second decision was overturned by the Video Appeals Committee. On 16 June 2009, the UKs Department of Culture, Media and Sport ruled in favour of the PEGI system to be the classification system for videogames
18.
Internet Movie Database
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In 1998 it became a subsidiary of Amazon Inc, who were then able to use it as an advertising resource for selling DVDs and videotapes. As of January 2017, IMDb has approximately 4.1 million titles and 7.7 million personalities in its database, the site enables registered users to submit new material and edits to existing entries. Although all data is checked before going live, the system has open to abuse. The site also featured message boards which stimulate regular debates and dialogue among authenticated users, IMDb shutdown the message boards permanently on February 20,2017. Anyone with a connection can read the movie and talent pages of IMDb. A registration process is however, to contribute info to the site. A registered user chooses a name for themselves, and is given a profile page. These badges range from total contributions made, to independent categories such as photos, trivia, bios, if a registered user or visitor happens to be in the entertainment industry, and has an IMDb page, that user/visitor can add photos to that page by enrolling in IMDbPRO. Actors, crew, and industry executives can post their own resume and this fee enrolls them in a membership called IMDbPro. PRO can be accessed by anyone willing to pay the fee, which is $19.99 USD per month, or if paid annually, $149.99, which comes to approximately $12.50 per month USD. Membership enables a user to access the rank order of each industry personality, as well as agent contact information for any actor, producer, director etc. that has an IMDb page. Enrolling in PRO for industry personnel, enables those members the ability to upload a head shot to open their page, as well as the ability to upload hundreds of photos to accompany their page. Anyone can register as a user, and contribute to the site as well as enjoy its content, however those users enrolled in PRO have greater access and privileges. IMDb originated with a Usenet posting by British film fan and computer programmer Col Needham entitled Those Eyes, others with similar interests soon responded with additions or different lists of their own. Needham subsequently started an Actors List, while Dave Knight began a Directors List, and Andy Krieg took over THE LIST from Hank Driskill, which would later be renamed the Actress List. Both lists had been restricted to people who were alive and working, the goal of the participants now was to make the lists as inclusive as possible. By late 1990, the lists included almost 10,000 movies and television series correlated with actors and actresses appearing therein. On October 17,1990, Needham developed and posted a collection of Unix shell scripts which could be used to search the four lists, at the time, it was known as the rec. arts. movies movie database
19.
Amazon.com
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Amazon. com, also called Amazon, is an American electronic commerce and cloud computing company that was founded on July 5,1994, by Jeff Bezos and is based in Seattle, Washington. It is the largest Internet-based retailer in the world by total sales, the company also produces consumer electronics—notably, Kindle e-readers, Fire tablets, Fire TV, and Echo—and is the worlds largest provider of cloud infrastructure services. Amazon also sells certain low-end products like USB cables under its in-house brand AmazonBasics. Amazon has separate retail websites for the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Australia, Brazil, Japan, China, India, and Mexico. Amazon also offers international shipping to other countries for some of its products. In 2016, Dutch, Polish, and Turkish language versions of the German Amazon website were launched. In 2015, Amazon surpassed Walmart as the most valuable retailer in the United States by market capitalization, in 1994, Bezos left his employment as vice-president of D. E. Shaw & Co. a Wall Street firm and moved to Seattle. He began to work on a plan for what would eventually become Amazon. com. Bezos incorporated the company as Cadabra on July 5,1994, Bezos changed the name to Amazon a year later after a lawyer misheard its original name as cadaver. In September 1994, Bezos purchased the URL Relentless. com and briefly considered naming his online store Relentless, the domain is still owned by Bezos and still redirects to the retailer. The company went online as Amazon. com in 1995, Bezos placed a premium on his head start in building a brand, telling a reporter, Theres nothing about our model that cant be copied over time. But you know, McDonalds got copied, and it still built a huge, multibillion-dollar company. A lot of it comes down to the brand name, brand names are more important online than they are in the physical world. Additionally, a beginning with A was preferential due to the probability it would occur at the top of any list that was alphabetized. Since June 19,2000, Amazons logotype has featured a curved arrow leading from A to Z, representing that the company carries every product from A to Z, with the arrow shaped like a smile. After reading a report about the future of the Internet that projected annual Web commerce growth at 2, 300% and he narrowed the list to what he felt were the five most promising products, which included, compact discs, computer hardware, computer software, videos and books. Amazon was founded in the garage of Bezos home in Bellevue, the company began as an online bookstore, an idea spurred off with discussion with John Ingram of Ingram Book, along with Keyur Patel who still holds a stake in Amazon. Amazon was able to access books at wholesale from Ingram, in the first two months of business, Amazon sold to all 50 states and over 45 countries
20.
Box Office Mojo
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Box Office Mojo is a website that tracks box office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way, founded in 1999. In 2008, Box Office Mojo was bought by the Internet Movie Database, the website is widely used within the film industry as a source of data. From 2002–11, Box Office Mojo had forums popular with film fans, on October 10,2014, the websites URL was redirected to Amazons IMDB. com website for one day, but the website returned the following day without explanation. Brandon Gray began the site in 1999, in 2002, Gray partnered with Sean Saulsbury and grew the site to nearly two million readers. In July 2008, the company was purchased by Amazon. com through its subsidiary, Box Office Mojo had forums with more than 16,500 registered users. On November 2,2011 the forums were closed along with any user accounts. Tracking is still very closely to the day by day, actual tabulation of distributors. The site also creates an overall chart, combining all box office returns from around the world, excluding the United States. The overall weekend chart currently tracks the Top 40 films as well as approximately fifty additional films with no ranking, the site additionally has yearly and all time features for its various territories. Box Office Mojo was as of June 2009 reporting limited data from overseas and is work on improvements, most of the international charts have not been updated since November 2014. On October 10,2014, all traffic to Box Office Mojo was redirected to IMDbs box office page, queries about the closure to IMDb and Amazon representatives were met with no response. Neither Brandon Gray, who founded the website but left several years ago after its sale to Amazon, nor Ray Subers, on Ray Subers Twitter account, he revealed the websites return, but also stated he would not answer any questions pertaining to closure. Subers subsequently left the website seven months later
21.
People (magazine)
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People is an American weekly magazine of celebrity and human-interest stories, published by Time Inc. With a readership of 46.6 million adults, People has the largest audience of any American magazine, People had $997 million in advertising revenue in 2011, the highest advertising revenue of any American magazine. In 2006, it had a circulation of 3.75 million and it was named Magazine of the Year by Advertising Age in October 2005, for excellence in editorial, circulation and advertising. People ranked #6 on Advertising Ages annual A-list and #3 on Adweeks Brand Blazers list in October 2006, the magazine runs a roughly 50/50 mix of celebrity and human-interest articles. Peoples website, People. com, focuses on celebrity news, in February 2015, the website broke a new record,72 million unique visitors. People is perhaps best known for its special issues naming the Worlds Most Beautiful, Best & Worst Dressed. The magazines headquarters are in New York and it maintains editorial bureaus in Los Angeles, for economic reasons it closed bureaus in Austin, Miami, and Chicago in 2006. In December 2016, LaTavia Roberson engaged in a feud with People after alleging they misquoted and misrepresented her interview online. The concept for People has been attributed to Andrew Heiskell, Time Inc. s chief executive officer at the time, the founding managing editor of People was Richard B. Stolley, an assistant managing editor at Life and the journalist who acquired the Zapruder tapes of the John F. Kennedy assassination for Time Inc. in 1963. Peoples first publisher was Richard J. Durrell, another Time Inc. veteran, Stolley characterized the magazine as getting back to the people who are causing the news and who are caught up in it, or deserve to be in it. Our focus is on people, not issues, stolleys almost religious determination to keep the magazine people-focused contributed significantly to its rapid early success. It is said that although Time Inc. pumped an estimated $40 million into the venture, initially, the magazine was sold primarily on newsstands and in supermarkets. To get the magazine out each week, founding staff members regularly slept on the floor of their offices two or three nights each week and severely limited all non-essential outside engagements. The premier edition for the week ending March 4,1974 featured actress Mia Farrow, then starring in the movie The Great Gatsby and that issue also featured stories on Gloria Vanderbilt, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and the wives of U. S. Vietnam veterans who were Missing In Action, the magazine was, apart from its cover, printed in black-and-white. The initial cover price was 35 cents, the core of the small founding editorial team included other editors, writers, photographers and photo editors from Life magazine, which had ceased publication just 13 months earlier. This group included managing editor Stolley, senior editors Hal Wingo, Sam Angeloff and Robert Emmett Ginna, writers James Watters and Ronald B
22.
IMDb
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In 1998 it became a subsidiary of Amazon Inc, who were then able to use it as an advertising resource for selling DVDs and videotapes. As of January 2017, IMDb has approximately 4.1 million titles and 7.7 million personalities in its database, the site enables registered users to submit new material and edits to existing entries. Although all data is checked before going live, the system has open to abuse. The site also featured message boards which stimulate regular debates and dialogue among authenticated users, IMDb shutdown the message boards permanently on February 20,2017. Anyone with a connection can read the movie and talent pages of IMDb. A registration process is however, to contribute info to the site. A registered user chooses a name for themselves, and is given a profile page. These badges range from total contributions made, to independent categories such as photos, trivia, bios, if a registered user or visitor happens to be in the entertainment industry, and has an IMDb page, that user/visitor can add photos to that page by enrolling in IMDbPRO. Actors, crew, and industry executives can post their own resume and this fee enrolls them in a membership called IMDbPro. PRO can be accessed by anyone willing to pay the fee, which is $19.99 USD per month, or if paid annually, $149.99, which comes to approximately $12.50 per month USD. Membership enables a user to access the rank order of each industry personality, as well as agent contact information for any actor, producer, director etc. that has an IMDb page. Enrolling in PRO for industry personnel, enables those members the ability to upload a head shot to open their page, as well as the ability to upload hundreds of photos to accompany their page. Anyone can register as a user, and contribute to the site as well as enjoy its content, however those users enrolled in PRO have greater access and privileges. IMDb originated with a Usenet posting by British film fan and computer programmer Col Needham entitled Those Eyes, others with similar interests soon responded with additions or different lists of their own. Needham subsequently started an Actors List, while Dave Knight began a Directors List, and Andy Krieg took over THE LIST from Hank Driskill, which would later be renamed the Actress List. Both lists had been restricted to people who were alive and working, the goal of the participants now was to make the lists as inclusive as possible. By late 1990, the lists included almost 10,000 movies and television series correlated with actors and actresses appearing therein. On October 17,1990, Needham developed and posted a collection of Unix shell scripts which could be used to search the four lists, at the time, it was known as the rec. arts. movies movie database
23.
AllMovie
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AllMovie is an online guide service website with information about films, television programs, and screen actors. As of 2013, AllMovie. com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by All Media Network, AllMovie was founded by popular-culture archivist Michael Erlewine, who also founded AllMusic and AllGame. The AllMovie database was licensed to tens of thousands of distributors and retailers for point-of-sale systems, websites, the AllMovie database is comprehensive, including basic product information, cast and production credits, plot synopsis, professional reviews, biographies, relational links and more. AllMovie data was accessed on the web at the AllMovie. com website and it was also available via the AMG LASSO media recognition service, which can automatically recognize DVDs. In late 2007, Macrovision acquired AMG for a reported $72 million, the AMG consumer facing web properties AllMusic. com, AllMovie. com and AllGame. com were sold by Rovi in August 2013 to All Media Network, LLC. The buyers also include the founders of SideReel and Ackrell Capital investor Mike Ackrell. All Media Network offices are located in San Francisco, California, AllMusic AllGame SideReel All Media Network Official website
24.
Shanghai Knights
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Shanghai Knights is a 2003 American-Hong Kong action comedy film. It is the sequel to Shanghai Noon and it was directed by David Dobkin and written by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. In 1887, Chon Lin is drinking tea with her father and she tells him her brother, Chon Wang, is doing well as a sheriff in Carson City, Nevada, but her father replies that her brother is dead to him. At that moment, Lord Nelson Rathbone, leads a band of Boxers into the city, despite Lins efforts, her father is killed and the seal is stolen. With his last breath, he gives Lin a box and tells her to give it to her brother, meanwhile, Chon Wang is doing well as sheriff, having captured an impressive array of fugitives. His deputy is relaxing with a book called Roy OBannon Vs, the Mummy, a highly fictionalized account of the events of the first film that now portrays Wangs Shanghai Kid as a cowardly sidekick, which Wang is dismayed. Wang receives a parcel, which contains the puzzle box and Lins letter, telling him their father is dead and that she has tracked the murderer to London. Chon Wang travels to New York City to find his old partner Roy OBannon, needing his share of the gold left over from the first film to buy his ticket. Roy has left his brief stint in law enforcement, broken off his romance with Falling Leaves, spent most of the gold investing in the Zeppelin, and is now a hotel waiter and part-time gigolo. After they attempt prostitution to pay for a trip to the United Kingdom, Chon Wang fights off a number of New York police officers, and he and Roy ship themselves to London in a crate. On the way, Wang tells Roy about his father, in London, Wang and OBannon have their duster and watch stolen, respectively, by a number of street thugs including a young boy named Charlie. After an extensive battle to reclaim these items, they are arrested by the police, in Scotland Yard, Inspector Artie Doyle thanks the two for defeating the Fleet Street gang and gives Roy his watch that Charlie had stolen. He tells Wang that Lin is also in Scotland Yard, having attempted to kill Lord Rathbone, Doyle is a reader of the Roy OBannon novels, and is enthralled to meet the actual Roy OBannon. Roy tries to use this to get Lin released, but it not work. Sometime later, Roy and Wang wander through London, seeing Buckingham Palace and they encounter Charlie, who lets them into the empty house of a nobleman. Charlie brings it to their attention that the nobleman has an invitation to a gala at the castle, Roy and Wang arrive that night at the gala, wearing disguises, Roy masquerades as Major General Sherlock Holmes, and Wang is the Maharaja of Nevada. After turning down the offer to try some spotted dick, Wang, once they enter, they cannot find him, he has slipped through a secret passage, which Wang discovers in a fireplace. As Roy occupies himself with a copy of the Kama Sutra, Wang enters the secret room, rathbones guards attack Roy, but he is rescued by Lin, who has escaped from Scotland Yard
25.
Wedding Crashers
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Wedding Crashers is a 2005 American romantic comedy film directed by David Dobkin and written by Steve Faber and Bob Fisher. John Beckwith and Jeremy Grey are divorce mediators in Washington D. C. who crash wedding parties to meet and bed women. At the end of a season of successful crashes, Jeremy takes John to a wedding for the daughter of the U. S. Secretary of the Treasury, once inside, the pair set their sights on Clearys other daughters, Gloria and Claire. Jeremy ends up having sex with Gloria on a beach during the reception. Gloria is possessive and quickly becomes obsessed with Jeremy, and Jeremy urges John to escape the reception with him. Meanwhile, John attempts to court Claire, the maid of honor, but is interrupted by her boyfriend, Sack Lodge. When Gloria invites Jeremy and John to a weekend party at their family compound, John overrules Jeremy to accept. At dinner, John spikes Sacks wine with eye-drops to make him sick, John and Claire continue to bond the next day on a sailing trip. The suspicious Sack takes the men on a trip, where Jeremy is shot in the buttocks. While he recovers, John and Claire go on a ride to a secluded beach. Claire finally admits she isnt sure how she feels about Sack, meanwhile, Gloria tends to Jeremys wounds and reveals to him that she is not as innocent or inexperienced as she initially let on. Jeremy realizes that he himself has been played and that he may be in love with Gloria, betrayed, Claire turns away from John and the Secretary tells them to leave. Over the following months, John attempts to reach Claire but she refuses to see him and he attempts to crash Claire and Sacks engagement party but is caught and beaten by Sack. Confronting Jeremy about abandoning him, he learns that Jeremy has secretly continued his relationship with Gloria, betrayed, John spirals into depression, crashing weddings alone and becoming nihilistic and suicidal. Meanwhile, as Claire and Sack plan their wedding, Claires doubts grow, Jeremy proposes to Gloria and tries to ask John to be his best man, but a depressed John refuses. John visits Jeremys former wedding crashing mentor, Chazz Reinhold, who convinces him to crash a funeral, while there, he reconsiders his belief in love and marriage and rushes to Jeremys wedding. Sack interrupts, but Claire finally tells him that she cant marry him, Sack tries to attack John, but Jeremy intervenes to knock him out, and John and Claire kiss. After the wedding, the two drive away from the ceremony together, discussing crashing another wedding together, apparently skipping Jeremys own wedding reception
26.
Fred Claus
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Fred Claus is a 2007 American fantasy comedy family film directed by David Dobkin, written by Dan Fogelman and Jessie Nelson, and starring Vince Vaughn and Paul Giamatti. The film was released on November 9,2007 in the US and it is loosely based on the poem A legend of Santa and his brother Fred written by Donald Henkel. A baby is born, and within a few minutes of his birth, he starts saying, Ho, Mother Claus calls her son, Frederick, over to meet his new brother, whom she has decided to name Nicholas. Mother Claus lovingly refers to the new baby as her little Saint Nick, during Christmas, when Nick opens his gifts including Freds, he decides to give them away to orphans which makes Fred angry. Mother Claus advises Fred to be a person by stating he should be more like his brother. Feeling isolated, Fred often climbs a tree to confide his problems in a bird, on one occasion, Nick cuts down the tree, saying that now Fred can bring it inside since he liked it so much. However, the birdhouse Freds confidant lived in is smashed, causing the bird to leave, this causes a temporary rift between Fred and Nick. In the present-day, it is revealed that when Nick becomes a saint due to all his deeds, he, Fred. Nick has become the modern-day Santa Claus, giving gifts to people, Fred meets his girlfriend, Wanda, who gets mad at him for forgetting that her birthday was the next day. Wanda refers to a previous birthday where Fred promised to take her to France, when Fred gets back to his own apartment, he packs up when a young orphan boy named Samuel Slam Gibbons comes in. Slam talks about wanting a puppy named Macaroni for Christmas, after Fred gets arrested, he calls his brother for $5,000 bail money. He also asks for an additional $50,000 for a get rich quick scheme, Nick agrees to give him the bail money, but tells him that if he wants the $50,000, he has to come to the North Pole and work for it. Soon after, an elf named Willie shows up to take Fred to the North Pole and he is the head elf and has a crush on Santas Little Helper, Charlene. Once Fred and Willie arrive at the North Pole, Nick welcomes Fred, there is a snow globe in the main area of the workshop, where you can say any persons name and see if they are being naughty or nice. While Fred starts working, Nick introduces Clyde Northcut, an expert who has come to evaluate the North Pole. Clyde takes Nick to the workshop and on the way tells Nick that he has three strikes, if Nick gets three strikes, the workshop will be shut down for good. Meanwhile the workshop is in a state of chaos because of Fred and that night at dinnertime, Nick convinces Fred to come to dinner with Mother and Father Claus and Clyde. Fred teaches Willie to dance, and Willie then falls down in front of Charlene, a pep talk by Fred later lifts his spirits
27.
The Change-Up
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The Change-Up is a 2011 American fantasy comedy film produced and directed by David Dobkin, written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, and starring Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman. The film was released on August 5,2011, in North America, Dave Lockwood and Mitch Planko are close friends who are each jealous of the others lifestyle. While Dave is a lawyer with a wife and kids, Mitch is an actor who has sex with many different women. After getting drunk at a bar, Mitch and Dave urinate in a parks fountain, the next morning, Mitch and Dave realize they have switched bodies. Forced to wait a few days until the department can locate the fountain, Mitch. When Mitch arrives at Daves law firm office, he befriends Daves attractive assistant, however, Mitchs lack of professionalism and legal knowledge cause a big merger to fall through. Meanwhile, Dave arrives at Mitchs film shoot to discover that it is a porno, tired of pretending to be Mitch, Dave has them go back to his house to tell his wife Jamie the truth, but Jamie does not believe him. Dave gives Mitch advice on how to behave professionally and Mitch sets Dave up on a date with Sabrina, after speaking with his father, Mitch rededicates himself to doing everything Daves life demands, from taking care of the kids and buying groceries to making decisions at the firm. On the night of her recital, Cara, Daves eldest child, is about to be pushed by the other girl again. Cara tells Dave that she loves him and Mitch says the same thing, Jamie comforts him, and he discreetly rests his head on her breasts. The next day, Dave decides to take advantage of being Mitch, Dave does everything that he finds relaxing, including going to an aquarium and watching a showing of National Lampoons Animal House at the theater. After Dave finishes having fun, he calls Mitch to help show him how to act fun on his date with Sabrina that night, Mitch teaches Dave how to act like him, and finally shaves off Daves pubic hair. Sabrina comes to him at a classy restaurant and, despite only originally going because Mitch told her to, they eventually legitimately start liking each other. Dave walks Sabrina home, and she tells him to call her, later, Jamie asks Dave about their anniversary party and he asks why Mitch was not invited. She says that he told her not to him because he was afraid Mitch would ruin it with his usual antics. Meanwhile, Dave is rollerblading through the park when he is called by the woman from the managers office. Dave goes to meet Mitch and tell him, but when Dave gets there, he and Mitch imply that they want to stay each other, however, Mitch forgets about the Dialogue Night that he and Jamie had planned and accidentally stands her up. The following day, Mitch goes with the rest of the representatives to the new meeting between the two firms
28.
The Judge (2014 film)
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The Judge is a 2014 American drama film directed by David Dobkin. The film stars Robert Downey Jr, Robert Duvall, Vera Farmiga, Vincent DOnofrio, Jeremy Strong, Dax Shepard, the film was released in the United States on October 10,2014. Thomas Newman also received a Satellite Award nomination for Best Original Score, Hank Palmer is a successful defense attorney in Chicago who has been estranged from his family in a small town in Indiana for some time. While in court, he receives a call telling him his mother has died, as he leaves to fly to his hometown of Carlinville, it is revealed that Hank is going through a divorce and custody battle for his young daughter. In Carlinville, Hank reunites with his older brother Glen, owner of a shop, and his younger brother Dale. Hank then stops by the county courthouse, softly enters a courtroom. The judge is Joseph Palmer, Hanks father, when Joseph sees Hank for the first time in many years, at the funeral, he is treating guests with kindness but acknowledges his son coldly. The next morning, Hank notices damage to his fathers Cadillac Coupe DeVille as he is preparing to leave, upon seeing the damage, Joseph denies knowing how it happened, but Hank believes his father was drinking and driving and damaged his own car. After a heated exchange, Hank leaves, promising never to return, but after boarding his plane, Hank learns that Joseph is being questioned by police with regard to a fatal hit and run. The victim is identified as Mark Blackwell, a recently released convicted murderer whose crimes, before the killing, after Blackwells blood is found on the car, Joseph is soon indicted, with prosecutor Dwight Dickham seeking a conviction for first-degree murder. Hank agrees to defend Joseph and learns that his father was undergoing chemotherapy, Joseph saw to it that Hank was sent to a youth detention center, and Hank left Carlinville after never receiving acknowledgement from Joseph for turning his life around. Hank also reconnects with his old girlfriend Sam, whom he abandoned after going to a Metallica concert more than 20 years ago and he discovers that Sam has a daughter, Carla, born nine months after he left, and deals with his concern that he is Carlas father. At trial, Hank believes he has established enough reasonable doubt in the case to result in an acquittal, but Joseph sabotages the case by testifying that although he still cannot remember the accident, he has come to believe that he probably did kill Blackwell intentionally. Joseph confesses on the stand that he was haunted by Blackwells case, having seen Hank in Blackwell. Having misread Blackwell, Joseph afterward saw him in Hank, after acknowledging Hank as the best lawyer he knows, Joseph dies peacefully in the boat. Hank, having peace with his father, returns to the courtroom Joseph once reigned over, and spins the judges chair. The script was written by Nick Schenk. In March 2011, the script was to be rewritten by David Seidler, in April 2013, Bill Dubuque was enlisted to rewrite it
