1.
Spy Games
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Spy Games is a 1999 film directed by Ilkka Järvi-Laturi, and starring Bill Pullman, Irène Jacob, and Bruno Kirby. Written by Patrick Amos, the film is about a jaded CIA agent and a young and beautiful SVR agent fighting to save the world, their lives, filmed in Helsinki, Finland and New York City, the movie incorporates elements of romance, action, and thriller genres. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on 10 September 1999, Harry is a seasoned CIA agent who is looking to forget his past and become his cover identity—a jazz club owner in Helsinki, Finland. Natasha is a young, ambitious SVR agent who is looking to secure a future for herself amidst the chaos of the new Russian Federation and her floundering intelligence agency. Originally assigned to spy on Harry, Natasha has fallen in love with the object of her spying, like all couples, they are keeping secrets from each other—but in their case, the secrets have international implications. Harrys life with Natasha is disrupted when a young, over-zealous CIA agent, Dave, the videotapes hidden code is so sensitive that those who come in contact with the tape are soon killed. Dave is pursuing the unsuspecting courier, a manic ex-bond trader named Max, Max took the job by chance, following his recent prison term for stock market fraud. Natasha sees the videotape as a ticket out of the SVR and into the United States. In fact, everyone involved except Harry is planning to exploit the encoded videotape, harrys only plan is to prevent Natasha from getting herself killed—or worse, from leaving him for U. S. When we started casting, I knew right away that Bill was our man to play Harry, hes an absolute natural for the part—intelligent, wry, and charmingly good looking. Producer Kerry Rock saw Bill in more practical terms, Bill was the cornerstone of the casting process. We needed someone the right age, who was enough of a name, who could do the humor as well as being scary and believably violent at the tough spots of the story. Co-star Bruno Kirby also found Bill to be the match, The great thing about Bill is that he looks very straight. Filming locations On working in Helsinki, Bill Pullman observed, Theres nothing like working on a movie to see great places, weve had some of the best locations—a former czars fishing hut that was our Lapland hotel in December. And in Helsinki there some of the best art nouveau architecture anybodys seen, Bruno Kirby pleasantly surprised by his filming experience in Helsinki, I was expecting this dark place, with nowhere decent to eat, with unfriendly people. In reality, its been the opposite and its a wonderful city, with wonderful, highly educated people, great restaurants and great shops. The people want to talk, and they are proud of their city. Helsinki, Finland Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport, Vantaa, Finland New York City, New York, USA Soundtrack Courtney Pine did the original soundtrack, to reflect the main characters job running a jazz nightclub, the music soundtrack is a combination of sixties soul and cool jazz
Spy Games
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DVD cover
2.
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
Tony Scott
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Tony Scott in 2012
Tony Scott
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Tony Scott jumped off the
Vincent Thomas Bridge (pictured above in 2003) on 19 August 2012.
3.
Marc Abraham
–
Abraham began his career as a copywriter for Young & Rubicam in New York City after graduating from the University of Virginia. He left advertising to pursue a writing career and worked as a freelance sportswriter for several newspapers. He also wrote two books on the International Olympic Games for Universal Press, abrahams entry into film began with the documentary, Playing to Win, an inside look at the Cuban athletic system. He wrote several screenplays for studios and networks including 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros. and he also wrote for the popular series 21 Jump Street and Moonlighting. He was a partner, along with Armyan Bernstein, at Beacon Communications. Abraham brought to the big screen Flash of Genius, released by Universal Pictures in Fall 2008, based on a true story, this David vs. Goliath tale tells the story of a small-time inventor who takes on the Detroit automakers. Also for Universal Pictures, Abraham is producing Trouble is My Business and he produced the remake of The Thing for Strike Entertainment alongside Eric Newman. Even with the disestablishment of Strike Entertainment in 2013, Abraham, Abraham directed, wrote and produced the 2015 Hank Williams biopic I Saw the Light, which starred Tom Hiddleston. It was based on Colin Escotts 1994 book Hank Williams, The Biography, in a co-venture with Turner Pictures, Abraham executive produced David Mamets A Life in the Theatre. Abraham and fellow producer Eric Newman founded Strike Entertainment in 2002 and they produced such films as The Rundown, Slither, Flash of Genius, The Thing, and RoboCop under Strikes production name. In March 2013, Abraham and Newman dissolved Strike Entertainment after 11 years as a Universal-based production company, the Universal first-look deal dissolved the company is Spring 2013, which marked the end of a 15-year tenure at the studio for Abraham and Newman. Abraham and Newman said the partnership simply ran its course and that the parting is amicable and they will continue to work together on a projects they still have percolating under the Strike banner. Abraham is a member of the Writers Guild, the Producers Guild, and on the board of the Virginia Film Festival, marc Abraham at the Internet Movie Database
Marc Abraham
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Abraham at the Flash of Genius film premiere in September 2008
4.
Robert Redford
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Charles Robert Redford Jr. is an American actor, director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, and philanthropist. Redford is the founder of the Sundance Film Festival, Redfords career began in 1960 as a guest star on numerous TV shows, including, The Untouchables, Perry Mason, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and The Twilight Zone, among others. He earned an Emmy nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Voice of Charlie Pont and his greatest Broadway success was as the stuffy newlywed husband of Elizabeth Ashley in Neil Simons Barefoot in the Park. Redford made his debut in War Hunt. His role in Inside Daisy Clover won him a Golden Globe for best new star and he starred in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, which was a huge success and made him a major star. The popular and acclaimed All the Presidents Men was a film for Redford. The first film that Redford directed, Ordinary People, was one of the most critically and publicly acclaimed films of the decade, winning four Oscars, and in the same year, he starred in Brubaker. He starred in Out of Africa, which was a critical and box office success. He released his film as a director, A River Runs Through It. Redford won the 1980 Academy Award for Best Director in 1981 for directing Ordinary People and he was previously nominated for Best Actor in 1974 for his performance in The Sting, and went on to receive Best Director and Best Picture nominations in 1995 for Quiz Show. He won a second Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2002, in 2010, he was made a chevalier of the Légion dHonneur. He has won BAFTA, Directors Guild of America, Golden Globe, in April 2014, Time Magazine included Redford in their annual TIME100 as one of the Most Influential People in the World, declaring him the Godfather of Indie Film. In 2016, President Barack Obama honored Redford with a Presidential Medal of Freedom, Redford was born on August 18,1936, in Santa Monica, California to Martha W. and Charles Robert Redford, Sr. a milkman-turned-accountant. He has a stepbrother, William, from his fathers remarriage, Redford is of English, Irish, Scottish, and Scots-Irish ancestry. Redfords family moved to Van Nuys, California, while his father worked in El Segundo and he attended Van Nuys High School, where he was classmates with baseball pitcher Don Drysdale. He has described himself as having been a bad student, finding inspiration outside the classroom and he hit tennis balls with Pancho Gonzales at the Los Angeles Tennis Club to warm him up. After graduating from school in 1954, he attended the University of Colorado in Boulder for a year and a half. While there, he worked at the restaurant/bar The Sink, a painting of his likeness is prominent in the bars murals, while at Colorado, Redford began drinking heavily, and as a result lost his half-scholarship and was kicked out of school
Robert Redford
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Robert Redford in 2012
Robert Redford
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Redford in
Barefoot in the Park, 1967
Robert Redford
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Redford at the
2013 Cannes Film Festival.
Robert Redford
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Redford with
Melanie Griffith and
Sônia Braga, promoting
The Milagro Beanfield War at the
1988 Cannes Film Festival
5.
Brad Pitt
–
William Bradley Brad Pitt in Shawnee Oklahoma. He is an American actor and producer and he has received multiple awards and nominations including an Academy Award as producer under his own company Plan B Entertainment. Pitt first gained recognition as a hitchhiker in the road movie Thelma & Louise. His first leading roles in big-budget productions came with the dramas A River Runs Through It and Legends of the Fall, Pitt starred in the cult film Fight Club and the heist film Oceans Eleven and its sequels, Oceans Twelve and Oceans Thirteen. As a public figure, Pitt has been cited as one of the most influential and powerful people in the American entertainment industry, as well as the worlds most attractive man and his personal life is also the subject of wide publicity. Divorced from actress Jennifer Aniston, to whom he was married for five years and they have six children together, three of whom were adopted internationally. In September 2016, Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt, William Bradley Pitt was born in Shawnee, Oklahoma, to William Bill Alvin Pitt, manager of a trucking company, and Jane Etta, a school counsellor. The family soon moved to Springfield, Missouri, where he lived together with his siblings, Douglas. Pitt has described Springfield as Mark Twain country, Jesse James country, having grown up with a lot of hills, Pitt attended Kickapoo High School, where he was a member of the golf, swimming and tennis teams. He participated in the schools Key and Forensics clubs, in school debates, following his graduation from high school, Pitt enrolled in the University of Missouri in 1982, majoring in journalism with a focus on advertising. As graduation approached, Pitt did not feel ready to settle down and he loved films—a portal into different worlds for me—and, since films were not made in Missouri, he decided to go to where they were made. Two weeks before earning his degree, Pitt left the university and moved to Los Angeles, while struggling to establish himself in Los Angeles, Pitt took lessons from acting coach Roy London. Pitts acting career began in 1987, with uncredited parts in the films No Way Out, No Mans Land and his television debut came in May 1987 with a two-episode role on the NBC soap opera Another World. In November of the same year Pitt had a guest appearance on the ABC sitcom Growing Pains and he appeared in four episodes of the CBS primetime series Dallas between December 1987 and February 1988 as Randy, the boyfriend of Charlie Wade. Later in 1988, Pitt made a guest appearance on the Fox police drama 21 Jump Street, in the same year, the Yugoslavian–U. S. Co-production The Dark Side of the Sun gave Pitt his first leading film role, the film was shelved at the outbreak of the Croatian War of Independence, and was not released until 1997. He made guest appearances on television series Head of the Class, Freddys Nightmares, Thirtysomething, and Growing Pains. Pitt was cast as Billy Canton, an addict who takes advantage of a young runaway in the 1990 NBC television movie Too Young to Die. the story of an abused teenager sentenced to death for a murder
Brad Pitt
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Pitt at the premiere of
Fury in Washington D.C, October 2014
Brad Pitt
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Pitt at the 2007
Palm Springs International Film Festival
Brad Pitt
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Pitt,
George Clooney,
Matt Damon,
Andy García,
Julia Roberts, cast of
Ocean's Eleven and director
Steven Soderbergh in December 2001
Brad Pitt
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Pitt in 2001
6.
Stephen Dillane
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Stephen John Dillane is an English actor. His television work has garnered him BAFTA and International Emmy awards for best actor. Dillane was born in Kensington, London to an English mother, Bridget, the eldest of his siblings, he grew up in West Wickham, Kent. At school Dillane began performing in plays and had a certain facility for funny accents. As Rosencrantz while pointing at the audience was a thrilling thing to be able to do. He studied history and politics at the University of Exeter, concentrating on the Russian Revolution, during his early acting career, he was known as Stephen Dillon but reverted to his birth name in the 1990s. He has also performed T. S. Eliots Four Quartets in London and New York City, Dillane also portrayed Horatio in the 1990 film adaptation of Hamlet. He played Michael Henderson in Welcome to Sarajevo, a based on British journalist Michael Nicholson. Dillane is also known for his portrayal of Leonard Woolf in The Hours, legendary English professional golfer Harry Vardon in The Greatest Game Ever Played and he also starred in John Adams as Thomas Jefferson. In recent years Dillane has worked frequently in television, professing himself to be a little lost on stage at the moment and he joined the cast of Game of Thrones in 2011 as Stannis Baratheon, a major contender for the throne of the fictional realm of Westeros. In 2012 he also played Rupert Keel, head of the security agency Byzantium. The following year he went on to take the lead, opposite Clémence Poésy, in the crime drama series The Tunnel. Dillane, who had not seen the series, plays Karl Roebuck. His performance won him an International Emmy Award for Best Actor, in a second series in 2016, titled The Tunnel, Sabotage, he reprised his role alongside Poésy for a new case involving a deadly airliner crash in the English Channel. His son, Frank Dillane, plays his son in the film and that same year he also had roles in the films Zero Dark Thirty and Twenty8k. Offscreen, the actor in 2014 collaborated with visual artist Tacita Dean for the Sydney Biennale, the work, performed live and later adapted for radio broadcast and film, explored the process of filmmaking and the concept of artifice on the stage through a single actor, Dillane. The performance encompassed readings from texts as well as his personal reflections on acting, theatre,2015 saw Dillane making other brief returns to stage including a reprise of his reading of Four Quartets in London and a one-off appearance in Tim Crouchs An Oak Tree at the National Theatre. In 2016, besides appearing in the series of The Tunnel
Stephen Dillane
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Dillane at the 2012 Dinard British Film Festival
Stephen Dillane
Stephen Dillane
–
Stephen Dillane, October, 2009.
7.
Universal Studios
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Universal Pictures is an American film studio owned by Comcast through the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group division of its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal. The company was founded in 1912 by Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, Charles O. Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley and its studios are located in Universal City, California, and its corporate offices are located in New York City. Universal Pictures is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America and is one of Hollywoods Big Six studios. Universal Studios was founded by Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, Charles O. Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley, Robert H. Cochrane, one story has Laemmle watching a box office for hours, counting patrons and calculating the days takings. Within weeks of his Chicago trip, Laemmle gave up dry goods to buy the first several nickelodeons, for Laemmle and other such entrepreneurs, the creation in 1908 of the Edison-backed Motion Picture Trust meant that exhibitors were expected to pay fees for Trust-produced films they showed. Soon, Laemmle and other disgruntled nickelodeon owners decided to avoid paying Edison by producing their own pictures, in June 1909, Laemmle started the Yankee Film Company with partners Abe Stern and Julius Stern. Laemmle broke with Edisons custom of refusing to give billing and screen credits to performers, by naming the movie stars, he attracted many of the leading players of the time, contributing to the creation of the star system. In 1910, he promoted Florence Lawrence, formerly known as The Biograph Girl, the Universal Film Manufacturing Company was incorporated in New York on April 30,1912. Laemmle, who emerged as president in July 1912, was the figure in the partnership with Dintenfass, Baumann, Kessel, Powers, Swanson, Horsley. Eventually all would be out by Laemmle. Following the westward trend of the industry, by the end of 1912 the company was focusing its efforts in the Hollywood area. On March 15,1915, Laemmle opened the worlds largest motion picture production facility, Universal City Studios, studio management became the third facet of Universals operations, with the studio incorporated as a distinct subsidiary organization. Unlike other movie moguls, Laemmle opened his studio to tourists, Universal became the largest studio in Hollywood, and remained so for a decade. However, it sought an audience mostly in towns, producing mostly inexpensive melodramas, westerns. In its early years Universal released three brands of feature films — Red Feather, low-budget programmers, Bluebird, more ambitious productions, and Jewel, their prestige motion pictures. Directors included Jack Conway, John Ford, Rex Ingram, Robert Z. Leonard, George Marshall and Lois Weber, despite Laemmles role as an innovator, he was an extremely cautious studio chief. Unlike rivals Adolph Zukor, William Fox, and Marcus Loew and he also financed all of his own films, refusing to take on debt. Character actor Lon Chaney became a card for Universal in the 1920s
Universal Studios
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Mark Dintenfass was co-founder of Universal Studios.
Universal Studios
Universal Studios
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Boris Karloff in
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Universal Studios
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Ceremonial gate to Universal Studios Hollywood (the theme park attached to the studio lot)
8.
United States dollar
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The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States and its insular territories per the United States Constitution. It is divided into 100 smaller cent units, the circulating paper money consists of Federal Reserve Notes that are denominated in United States dollars. The U. S. dollar was originally commodity money of silver as enacted by the Coinage Act of 1792 which determined the dollar to be 371 4/16 grain pure or 416 grain standard silver, the currency most used in international transactions, it is the worlds primary reserve currency. Several countries use it as their currency, and in many others it is the de facto currency. Besides the United States, it is used as the sole currency in two British Overseas Territories in the Caribbean, the British Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands. A few countries use the Federal Reserve Notes for paper money, while the country mints its own coins, or also accepts U. S. coins that can be used as payment in U. S. dollars. After Nixon shock of 1971, USD became fiat currency, Article I, Section 8 of the U. S. Constitution provides that the Congress has the power To coin money, laws implementing this power are currently codified at 31 U. S. C. Section 5112 prescribes the forms in which the United States dollars should be issued and these coins are both designated in Section 5112 as legal tender in payment of debts. The Sacagawea dollar is one example of the copper alloy dollar, the pure silver dollar is known as the American Silver Eagle. Section 5112 also provides for the minting and issuance of other coins and these other coins are more fully described in Coins of the United States dollar. The Constitution provides that a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and that provision of the Constitution is made specific by Section 331 of Title 31 of the United States Code. The sums of money reported in the Statements are currently being expressed in U. S. dollars, the U. S. dollar may therefore be described as the unit of account of the United States. The word dollar is one of the words in the first paragraph of Section 9 of Article I of the Constitution, there, dollars is a reference to the Spanish milled dollar, a coin that had a monetary value of 8 Spanish units of currency, or reales. In 1792 the U. S. Congress passed a Coinage Act, Section 20 of the act provided, That the money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars, or units. And that all accounts in the offices and all proceedings in the courts of the United States shall be kept and had in conformity to this regulation. In other words, this act designated the United States dollar as the unit of currency of the United States, unlike the Spanish milled dollar the U. S. dollar is based upon a decimal system of values. Both one-dollar coins and notes are produced today, although the form is significantly more common
United States dollar
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Series of 1917
$1 United States bill
United States dollar
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Federal Reserve Notes
United States dollar
–
Spanish silver real or
peso of 1768
United States dollar
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Obverse of rare 1934 $500 Federal Reserve Note, featuring a portrait of President
William McKinley.
9.
Central Intelligence Agency
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As one of the principal members of the U. S. Intelligence Community, the CIA reports to the Director of National Intelligence and is focused on providing intelligence for the President. Though it is not the only U. S. government agency specializing in HUMINT and it exerts foreign political influence through its tactical divisions, such as the Special Activities Division. Despite transferring some of its powers to the DNI, the CIA has grown in size as a result of the September 11 attacks. In 2013, The Washington Post reported that in fiscal year 2010, the CIA has increasingly expanded its roles, including covert paramilitary operations. One of its largest divisions, the Information Operations Center, has shifted focus from counter-terrorism to offensive cyber-operations, when the CIA was created, its purpose was to create a clearinghouse for foreign policy intelligence and analysis. Today its primary purpose is to collect, analyze, evaluate, and disseminate foreign intelligence, warning/informing American leaders of important overseas events, with Pakistan described as an intractable target. Counterintelligence, with China, Russia, Iran, Cuba, the Executive Office also supports the U. S. military by providing it with information it gathers, receiving information from military intelligence organizations, and cooperates on field activities. The Executive Director is in charge of the day to day operation of the CIA, each branch of the military service has its own Director. The Directorate has four regional groups, six groups for transnational issues. There is a dedicated to Iraq, regional analytical offices covering the Near East and South Asia, Russia and Europe, and the Asian Pacific, Latin American. The Directorate of Operations is responsible for collecting intelligence. The name reflects its role as the coordinator of intelligence activities between other elements of the wider U. S. intelligence community with their own HUMINT operations. This Directorate was created in an attempt to end years of rivalry over influence, philosophy, in spite of this, the Department of Defense recently organized its own global clandestine intelligence service, the Defense Clandestine Service, under the Defense Intelligence Agency. This Directorate is known to be organized by regions and issues. The Directorate of Science & Technology was established to research, create, many of its innovations were transferred to other intelligence organizations, or, as they became more overt, to the military services. For example, the development of the U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft was done in cooperation with the United States Air Force, the U-2s original mission was clandestine imagery intelligence over denied areas such as the Soviet Union. It was subsequently provided with signals intelligence and measurement and signature intelligence capabilities, subsequently, NPIC was transferred to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
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John Brennan, the current
director of the Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
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Seal of the Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
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Aerial view of the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters,
Langley, Virginia
Central Intelligence Agency
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The 111 stars on the
CIA Memorial Wall in the original CIA headquarters, each representing a CIA officer killed in action.
10.
Suzhou
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Suzhou, formerly romanized as Soochow, is a major city located in southeastern Jiangsu Province of East China, about 100 km northwest of Shanghai. It is an economic center and focal point of trade and commerce. The city is situated on the reaches of the Yangtze River. Administratively, Suzhou is a city with a population of 4.33 million in its city proper. Its urban population grew at a rate of 6. 5% between 2000 and 2014, which is the highest among cities with more than 5 million people. Founded in 514 BC, Suzhou has over 2,500 years of history, with an abundant display of relics, around AD100, during the Eastern Han Dynasty, it became one of the ten largest cities in the world mostly due to emigration from Northern China. Since the 10th-century Song Dynasty, it has been an important commercial center of China, during the Ming and Qing Dynasty, Suzhou was a national economic, cultural, and commercial center, as well as the largest non-capital city in the world, until the 1860 Taiping Rebellion. When Li Hongzhang and Charles George Gordon recaptured the city three years later, Shanghai had already taken its predominant place in the nation. Since major economic reforms began in 1978, Suzhou has become one of the fastest growing cities in the world. The citys canals, stone bridges, pagodas, and meticulously designed gardens have contributed to its status as one of the top tourist attractions in China, the Classical Gardens of Suzhou were added to the list of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1997 and 2000. Suzhou is often dubbed the Venice of the East or Venice of China, during the Zhou, a settlement known as Gusu after nearby Mount Gusu became the capital of the state of Wu. From this role, it came to be called Wu as well. In 514 BC, King Helü of Wu established a new capital nearby at Helü City, during the Warring States period, Helü City continued to serve as the local seat of government. From the areas it administered, it known as Wuxian. Under the Qin, it was known as Kuaiji after its greatly enlarged commandery, the name Suzhou was first officially used for the city in AD589 during the Sui dynasty. The character 蘇 or 苏 is a contraction of the mountain, the sū in its name refers to the mint perilla. The character 州 originally meant something like a province or county, Suzhou is the Hanyu Pinyin spelling of the Mandarin pronunciation of the name. Prior to the adoption of pinyin, it was romanized as Soo-chow, Suchow, Su-chow
Suzhou
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Landmarks of Suzhou — top left:
Humble Administrator's Garden; top right:
Yunyan Pagoda in Tiger Hill; middle: Skyline of
Jinji Lake; bottom left: Changmen Gate in night; bottom right:
Shantang Canal
Suzhou
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Prosperous Suzhou by
Xu Yang
Suzhou
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An old area on Pingjiang Road.
Suzhou
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Changmen at night.
11.
Hong Kong
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Hong Kong, officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China, is an autonomous territory on the Pearl River Delta of East Asia. Macau lies across the delta to the west, and the Chinese province of Guangdong borders the territory to the north. With a total area of 1,106 square kilometres. Hong Kong was later occupied by Japan during World War II until British control resumed in 1945, under the principle of one country, two systems, Hong Kong maintains a separate political and economic system from China. Except in military defence and foreign affairs, Hong Kong maintains its independent executive, legislative, in addition, Hong Kong develops relations directly with foreign states and international organisations in a broad range of appropriate fields. Hong Kong is one of the worlds most significant financial centres, with the highest Financial Development Index score and consistently ranks as the worlds most competitive and freest economic entity. As the worlds 8th largest trading entity, its legal tender, Hong Kongs tertiary sector dominated economy is characterised by simple taxation with a competitive level of corporate tax and supported by its independent judiciary system. However, while Hong Kong has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world and it has a very high Human Development Index ranking and the worlds longest life expectancy. Over 90% of the population use of well-developed public transportation. Seasonal air pollution with origins from neighbouring areas of Mainland China. Hong Kong was officially recorded in the 1842 Treaty of Nanking to encompass the entirety of the island, before 1842, the name referred to a small inlet—now Aberdeen Harbour —between Aberdeen Island and the southern coast of Hong Kong Island. Aberdeen was a point of contact between British sailors and local fishermen. Detailed and accurate romanisation systems for Cantonese were available and in use at the time, fragrance may refer to the sweet taste of the harbours fresh water estuarine influx of the Pearl River or to the incense from factories lining the coast of northern Kowloon. The incense was stored near Aberdeen Harbour for export before Hong Kong developed Victoria Harbour, the name had often been written as the single word Hongkong until the government adopted the current form in 1926. Nevertheless, a number of century-old institutions still retain the form, such as the Hongkong Post, Hongkong Electric. As of 1997, its name is the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China. This is the title as mentioned in the Hong Kong Basic Law. Hong Kong has carried many nicknames, the most famous among those is the Pearl of the Orient, which reflected the impressive nightscape of the citys light decorations on the skyscrapers along both sides of the Victoria Harbour
Hong Kong
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The Cenotaph in Hong Kong commemorates those who died in service in WWI and WWII.
Hong Kong
–
Flag
Hong Kong
–
Stamp with portrait of
Queen Elizabeth II, 1953
Hong Kong
–
Development of
Hong Kong Island in 1986
12.
CNN
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The Cable News Network is an American basic cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Turner Broadcasting System division of Time Warner. It was founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner as a 24-hour cable news channel, upon its launch, CNN was the first television channel to provide 24-hour news coverage, and was the first all-news television channel in the United States. While the news channel has numerous affiliates, CNN primarily broadcasts from the Time Warner Center in New York City and its headquarters at the CNN Center in Atlanta is only used for weekend programming. CNN is sometimes referred to as CNN/U. S. to distinguish the American channel from its sister network. As of August 2010, CNN is available in over 100 million U. S. households, broadcast coverage of the U. S. channel extends to over 890,000 American hotel rooms, as well as carriage on cable and satellite providers throughout Canada. Globally, CNN programming airs through CNN International, which can be seen by viewers in over 212 countries and territories, as of February 2015, CNN is available to about 96,289,000 cable, satellite, and telco television households in the United States. The Cable News Network was launched at 5,00 p. m. Eastern Time on June 1,1980, after an introduction by Ted Turner, the husband and wife team of David Walker and Lois Hart anchored the channels first newscast. Burt Reinhardt, the vice president of CNN at its launch, hired most of the channels first 200 employees, including the networks first news anchor. Since its debut, CNN has expanded its reach to a number of cable and satellite providers, several websites. The company has 36 bureaus, more than 900 affiliated local stations, the channels success made a bona-fide mogul of founder Ted Turner and set the stage for conglomerate Time Warners eventual acquisition of the Turner Broadcasting System in 1996. A companion channel, CNN2, was launched on January 1,1982, on January 28,1986, CNN carried the only live television coverage of the launch and subsequent break-up of Space Shuttle Challenger, which killed all seven crew members on board. On October 14,1987, Jessica McClure, an 18-month-old toddler, fell down a well in Midland, CNN quickly reported on the story, and the event helped make its name. This was before correspondents reported live from the capital while American bombs were falling. Before Saddam Hussein held a press conference with a few of the hundreds of Americans he was holding hostage. Before the nation watched, riveted but powerless, as Los Angeles was looted and burned, before O. J. Simpson took a slow ride in a white Bronco, and before everyone close to his case had an agent and a book contract. This was uncharted territory just a time ago. The moment when bombing began was announced on CNN by Bernard Shaw on January 16,1991, as follows, lets describe to our viewers what were seeing. The skies over Baghdad have been illuminated, were seeing bright flashes going off all over the sky
CNN
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Replica of the newsroom at CNN Center.
CNN
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CNN
CNN
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Operation Desert Storm as captured live on a CNN
night vision camera with reporters narrating.
CNN
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The stage for the second 2008
CNN-YouTube presidential debate.
13.
Usmc
–
The U. S. Marine Corps is one of the four armed service branches in the U. S. Department of Defense and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the military officer in the U. S. Armed Forces, is a Marine Corps general, the Marine Corps has been a component of the U. S. Department of the Navy since 30 June 1834, working closely with naval forces for training, transportation, and logistics. The USMC operates posts on land and aboard sea-going amphibious warfare ships around the world, two battalions of Continental Marines were formed on 10 November 1775 in Philadelphia as a service branch of infantry troops capable of fighting for independence both at sea and on shore. The role of the Corps has since grown and evolved, expanding to aerial warfare and earning popular titles such as, Americas third air force, and, second land army. By the mid-20th century, the U. S. Marine Corps had become a major theorist of and its ability to rapidly respond on short notice to expeditionary crises gives it a strong role in the implementation and execution of American foreign policy. As of 2016, the USMC has around 182,000 active duty members and it is the smallest of the U. S. The USMC serves as an expeditionary force-in-readiness and this last clause, while seemingly redundant given the Presidents position as Commander-in-chief, is a codification of the expeditionary responsibilities of the Marine Corps. It derives from similar language in the Congressional acts For the Better Organization of the Marine Corps of 1834, in 1951, the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee called the clause one of the most important statutory – and traditional – functions of the Marine Corps. In addition to its duties, the Marine Corps conducts Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure operations, as well as missions in direct support of the White House. The Marine Band, dubbed the Presidents Own by Thomas Jefferson, Marines from Ceremonial Companies A & B, quartered in Marine Barracks, Washington, D. C. The Executive Flight Detachment also provides transport to Cabinet members. The relationship between the Department of State and the U. S. Marine Corps is nearly as old as the corps itself, for over 200 years, Marines have served at the request of various Secretaries of State. After World War II, an alert, disciplined force was needed to protect American embassies, consulates, in 1947, a proposal was made that the Department of War furnish Marine Corps personnel for Foreign Service guard duty under the provisions of the Foreign Service Act of 1946. A formal Memorandum of Agreement was signed between the Department of State and the Secretary of the Navy on December 15,1948, during the first year of the MSG program,36 detachments were deployed worldwide. Continental Marines manned raiding parties, both at sea and ashore, the Advanced Base Doctrine of the early 20th century codified their combat duties ashore, outlining the use of Marines in the seizure of bases and other duties on land to support naval campaigns. Throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries, Marine detachments served aboard Navy cruisers, battleships, Marine detachments served in their traditional duties as a ships landing force, manning the ships weapons and providing shipboard security. Marines would develop tactics and techniques of amphibious assault on defended coastlines in time for use in World War II, during World War II, Marines continued to serve on capital ships
Usmc
Usmc
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United States Marine Corps portal
Usmc
Usmc
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A Marine
Corporal and
Lance Corporal of
3rd Battalion, 6th Marines engaging the enemy during
Operation Moshtarak in Afghanistan's
Helmand Province.
14.
Scout Sniper
–
United States Marine Corps Scout Sniper is a secondary MOS designator of U. S. Marine Corps infantrymen and reconnaissance Marines that have graduated from a U. S. Marine Corps Scout Sniper School. Scout Snipers must earn the rank of Lance Corporal, be selected by their battalion to join the scout-sniper platoon, a USMC Scout Sniper is a Marine, highly skilled in fieldcraft and marksmanship, who can deliver long-range precision fire on selected targets, from concealed positions. Surveillance and Target Acquisition Platoons, very similar units, existed until shortly after the Gulf War and they consisted of Scout Snipers and Intelligence Marines. Typically, each Scout Sniper team has two members, one sniper is equipped with a long-range, specially-made sniper rifle, such as the M40, he is also frequently issued an M9 9mm pistol. The spotter is typically armed with an M4 carbine and uses a high-power spotting scope to spot targets, the shooter/spotter relationship is not always set, some platoons establish designated shooters, while others have team members switch off. Within a platoon, there are four Special Application Scoped Rifles, chambered in the.50 caliber, such as the M82 and these can be issued to a team as needed to give supported commanders the option of taking out heavy equipment or heavily armored targets. Scout Sniper teams train to engage man-sized targets with the M40 out to 1000 yards, Scout Snipers provide close reconnaissance and surveillance to the infantry battalion. Marine Scout Snipers are trained at one of the four school house locations, the motto of the Marine Scout Sniper is one shot, one kill. The term Scout Sniper is only used officially by the Marine Corps, an Army Snipers primary mission is to support combat operations by delivering precise long-range fire on selected targets. By this, the sniper creates casualties amongst enemy troops, slows enemy movement, frightens enemy soldiers, lowers morale, the snipers secondary mission is collecting and reporting battlefield information, Section 1.1 FM 23-10 Sniper Training. The Marine Corps is unique in its consolidation of reconnaissance and sniper duties for a single Marine, most other conventional armed forces, including the U. S. Army, separate the reconnaissance soldier or scout from the sniper. Most military forces believe that the separation of reconnaissance and sniper capabilities allows for a degree of specialization. The Scout Sniper Basic Course or SSBC is considered to be one of the hardest schools in the US Military, attrition is normally around 60%, but can be much higher. There are currently four different school houses in the Marine Corps that offer the Scout Sniper Basic Course and this was done concurrently with the removal of the Advanced Course and the addition of the Team Leader Course of 4 weeks. This reduction of 1 1⁄2 weeks is because of the removal of the mission planning phase. Missions are still conducted during the courses last week, but are now not a part of curriculum. In 2010, a new curriculum was introduced, with shooting as the primary focus. The new course is now 12 1⁄2 weeks long and it is no longer called the Scout Sniper Basic Course
Scout Sniper
–
Scout Snipers from the
26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (
Special Operations Capable) in
Djibouti as part of
Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa (July 15, 2003)
Scout Sniper
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Snipers train at the
Mountain Warfare Training Center
Scout Sniper
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This image's publication, showing Scout Snipers posing with an flag in Afghanistan in 2010, triggered the controversy about the Scout Snipers' use of the symbol.
15.
Vietnam War
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It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam and the government of South Vietnam. The war is considered a Cold War-era proxy war. As the war continued, the actions of the Viet Cong decreased as the role. U. S. and South Vietnamese forces relied on air superiority and overwhelming firepower to conduct search and destroy operations, involving ground forces, artillery, in the course of the war, the U. S. conducted a large-scale strategic bombing campaign against North Vietnam. The North Vietnamese government and the Viet Cong were fighting to reunify Vietnam and they viewed the conflict as a colonial war and a continuation of the First Indochina War against forces from France and later on the United States. The U. S. government viewed its involvement in the war as a way to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam and this was part the domino theory of a wider containment policy, with the stated aim of stopping the spread of communism. Beginning in 1950, American military advisors arrived in what was then French Indochina, U. S. involvement escalated in the early 1960s, with troop levels tripling in 1961 and again in 1962. Regular U. S. combat units were deployed beginning in 1965, despite the Paris Peace Accord, which was signed by all parties in January 1973, the fighting continued. In the U. S. and the Western world, a large anti-Vietnam War movement developed as part of a larger counterculture, the war changed the dynamics between the Eastern and Western Blocs, and altered North–South relations. Direct U. S. military involvement ended on 15 August 1973, the capture of Saigon by the North Vietnamese Army in April 1975 marked the end of the war, and North and South Vietnam were reunified the following year. The war exacted a huge human cost in terms of fatalities, estimates of the number of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians killed vary from 966,000 to 3.8 million. Some 240, 000–300,000 Cambodians,20, 000–62,000 Laotians, and 58,220 U. S. service members died in the conflict. Various names have applied to the conflict. Vietnam War is the most commonly used name in English and it has also been called the Second Indochina War and the Vietnam Conflict. As there have been several conflicts in Indochina, this conflict is known by the names of its primary protagonists to distinguish it from others. In Vietnamese, the war is known as Kháng chiến chống Mỹ. It is also called Chiến tranh Việt Nam, France began its conquest of Indochina in the late 1850s, and completed pacification by 1893. The 1884 Treaty of Huế formed the basis for French colonial rule in Vietnam for the seven decades
Vietnam War
–
Clockwise, from top left: U.S. combat operations in
Ia Drang, ARVN Rangers defending
Saigon during the 1968
Tet Offensive, two
Douglas A-4C Skyhawks en route for airstrikes against North Vietnam after the
Gulf of Tonkin incident, ARVN recapture
Quảng Trị during the 1972
Easter Offensive, civilians fleeing the
1972 Battle of Quảng Trị, burial of 300 victims of the 1968
Huế Massacre.
Vietnam War
–
A Japanese naval officer surrenders his sword to a British Lieutenant in Saigon on 13 September 1945.
Vietnam War
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The
Geneva Conference, 1954
Vietnam War
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U.S. President
Dwight D. Eisenhower and Secretary of State
John Foster Dulles greet President
Ngô Đình Diệm of
South Vietnam in Washington, 8 May 1957.
16.
East Germany
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East Germany, formally the German Democratic Republic, was an Eastern Bloc state during the Cold War period. The Soviet zone surrounded West Berlin, but did not include it, as a result, the German Democratic Republic was established in the Soviet Zone, while the Federal Republic was established in the three western zones. East Germany, which lies culturally in Central Germany, was a state of the Soviet Union. Soviet occupation authorities began transferring administrative responsibility to German communist leaders in 1948, Soviet forces, however, remained in the country throughout the Cold War. Until 1989, the GDR was governed by the Socialist Unity Party, though other parties participated in its alliance organisation. The economy was centrally planned, and increasingly state-owned, prices of basic goods and services were set by central government planners, rather than rising and falling through supply and demand. Although the GDR had to pay war reparations to the USSR. Nonetheless it did not match the growth of West Germany. Emigration to the West was a significant problem—as many of the emigrants were well-educated young people, the government fortified its western borders and, in 1961, built the Berlin Wall. Many people attempting to flee were killed by guards or booby traps. In 1989, numerous social and political forces in the GDR and abroad led to the fall of the Berlin Wall, the following year open elections were held, and international negotiations led to the signing of the Final Settlement treaty on the status and borders of Germany. The GDR was dissolved and Germany was unified on 3 October 1990, internally, the GDR also bordered the Soviet sector of Allied-occupied Berlin known as East Berlin which was also administered as the states de facto capital. It also bordered the three sectors occupied by the United States, United Kingdom and France known collectively as West Berlin. The three sectors occupied by the Western nations were sealed off from the rest of the GDR by the Berlin Wall from its construction in 1961 until it was brought down in 1989, the official name was Deutsche Demokratische Republik, usually abbreviated to DDR. West Germans, the media and statesmen purposely avoided the official name and its abbreviation, instead using terms like Ostzone, Sowjetische Besatzungszone. The centre of power in East Berlin was referred to as Pankow. Over time, however, the abbreviation DDR was also used colloquially by West Germans. However, this use was not always consistent, for example, before World War II, Ostdeutschland was used to describe all the territories east of the Elbe, as reflected in the works of sociologist Max Weber and political theorist Carl Schmitt
East Germany
–
GDR leaders: President
Wilhelm Pieck and Prime Minister
Otto Grotewohl, 1949
East Germany
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Flag (1959–1990)
East Germany
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SED First Secretary,
Walter Ulbricht, 1950
East Germany
–
Head of State:
Erich Honecker (1971–89)
17.
United States Navy SEALs
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The United States Navys Sea, Air, and Land Teams, commonly abbreviated as the Navy SEALs, are the U. S. Navys primary special operations force and a component of the Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs main functions are conducting small-unit maritime military operations that originate from, and return to, the SEALs are trained to operate in all environments for which they are named. As of 2016, all active SEALs are currently male and members of the U. S. Navy, the CIAs highly secretive and elite Special Operations Group recruits operators from SEAL Teams, with joint operations going back to the MACV-SOG during the Vietnam War. This cooperation still exists today, as evidenced by military operations in Iraq, the modern day U. S. Navy SEALs can trace their roots to World War II. The United States Navy recognized the need for the reconnaissance of landing beaches. As a result, the Amphibious Scout and Raider School was established in 1942 at Fort Pierce, Florida. The Scouts and Raiders were formed in September of that year, just nine months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, from the Observer Group, a joint U. S. Army-Marine-Navy unit. The Scouts and Raiders mission was to identify and reconnoiter the objective beach, maintain a position on the designated beach prior to a landing, and guide the assault waves to the landing beach. The first group included Phil H. Bucklew, the Father of Naval Special Warfare, commissioned in October 1942, this group saw combat in November 1942 during Operation Torch on the North African coast. Scouts and Raiders also supported landings in Sicily, Salerno, Anzio, Normandy, a second group of Scouts and Raiders, code-named Special Service Unit No. 1, was established on 7 July 1943, as a joint, the first mission, in September 1943, was at Finschhafen in Papua New Guinea. Later operations were at Gasmata, Arawe, Cape Gloucester, conflicts arose over operational matters, and all non-Navy personnel were reassigned. The 7th Amphibious Scouts conducted operations in the Pacific for the duration of the conflict, the third and final Scouts and Raiders organization operated in China. Scouts and Raiders were deployed to fight with the Sino-American Cooperative Organization, to help bolster the work of SACO, Admiral Ernest J. King ordered that 120 officers and 900 men be trained for Amphibious Raider at the Scout and Raider school at Fort Pierce, Florida. They formed the core of what was envisioned as a guerrilla organization of Americans and Chinese operating from coastal waters, lakes and rivers employing small steamboats. While most Amphibious Raider forces remained at Camp Knox in Calcutta, in September 1942,17 Navy salvage personnel arrived at ATB Little Creek, VA for a week long course in demolitions, explosive cable cutting and commando raiding techniques. On November 10,1942, the first combat demolition unit successfully cut cable and this enabled the USS Dallas to traverse the water and insert U. S. Rangers who captured the Port Lyautey airdrome, on 6 June 1943, LCDR Kauffman established Naval Combat Demolition Unit training at Fort Pierce
United States Navy SEALs
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UDT members using the casting technique from a speeding boat
United States Navy SEALs
–
The U.S. Navy's
Special Warfare insignia, also known as a "SEAL Trident".
United States Navy SEALs
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Members of SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team Two in a
Dry Deck Shelter of the submerged
USS Philadelphia
United States Navy SEALs
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SEALs on patrol in the
Mekong Delta
18.
Ken Leung
–
Kenneth Ken Leung is an American actor who is best known for playing Miles Straume in Lost, Admiral Statura in Star Wars, The Force Awakens and Kid Omega in X-Men, The Last Stand. Ken Leung was born in New York City and initially raised in the Two Bridges section of the Lower East Side of Manhattan and his family moved to Midwood, Brooklyn, where he grew up before finishing high school in Old Bridge, New Jersey. Leung later attended New York University as a University Scholar and he discovered acting in his junior year, when he studied acting with Catherine Russell and Nan Smithner, and then briefly with Anne Jackson at HB Studio. In 1997, Leung made his debut as the villainous henchman Sang in Brett Ratners Rush Hour, Ratner stated, s a great actor. In my opinion, hes equivalent to Philip Seymour Hoffman as far as talent is concerned and he would later work with Ratner in the films Red Dragon, The Family Man, and X-Men, The Last Stand. Edward Norton cast Leung in his directorial debut Keeping the Faith in 2000, according to The Washington Post, Norton said Leungs showstopping performance. turned a throwaway scene into one of the films best. I dont think anybodys tapped his full range yet, additionally, Leung has appeared in several independent and television films, as well as features, including four films with Brett Ratner and two with Spike Lee. In 1998, he played James the Less and God in Terrence McNallys passion play, Corpus Christi, in 2007, he starred in the independent film Shanghai Kiss with Hayden Panettiere, and earned a Special Mention at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. That same year he guest-starred in the season of the HBO drama series The Sopranos. He followed this with the ABC drama Lost as Miles Straume from the fourth season through the rest of its run. Ken Leung at the Internet Movie Database Ken Leung at the Internet Broadway Database Interviews Asia Pacific Arts - UCLA Asia Institute, May 30,2008 Hillis, interview, Ken Leung on Year of the Fish, IFC. com, August 27,2008
Ken Leung
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Ken Leung
19.
David Hemmings
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David Edward Leslie Hemmings was an English film, theatre and television actor, as well as a film and television director and producer. He founded also the Hemdale Film Corporation in 1967 and he is noted for his role as the photographer in the drama mystery-thriller film Blowup, directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. Early in his career, Hemmings was a boy soprano appearing in operatic roles, David Hemmings was born in Guildford, in the county of Surrey, to a biscuit salesman father. Most notably, Hemmings created the role of Miles in Brittens chamber opera Turn of the Screw and his intimate, yet innocent, relationship with Britten is described in John Bridcuts book Brittens Children. Hemmings had earlier played the role in Brittens The Little Sweep. Britten was furious, waved Hemmings away, and never had any contact with him. Hemmings then moved on to acting and directing in film and he made his first film appearance in the drama film The Rainbow Jacket, but he first became well known as a pin-up and film star in the mid-1960s. Antonioni, who detested the Method way of acting, sought to find a young face for the lead in his next production. Then, he found Hemmings, at the acting in small stage theatre in London, although at their first meeting, Antonioni told Hemmings. Hemmings directed the drama film The 14, which won the Silver Bear at the 23rd Berlin International Film Festival and he appeared in the Italian giallo film Profondo Rosso directed by Dario Argento. In 1977 he appeared as Eddy in the film Islands in the Stream and he directed David Bowie and Marlene Dietrich in the drama film Schöner Gigolo, armer Gigolo. The film was received, with Bowie describing it as my 32 Elvis Presley films rolled into one. Hemmings directed the horror film The Survivor, based on James Herberts 1976 novel of the name, starring Robert Powell. He once joked, People thought I was dead, I was just directing The A-Team. He directed the thriller film Race for the Yankee Zephyr, which stars Ken Wahl, Lesley Ann Warren, Donald Pleasence, Hemmings also directed the puzzle-contest video Money Hunt, The Mystery of the Missing Link. He directed the television film The Key to Rebecca, an adaptation of Ken Folletts 1980 novel of the same name and he also briefly served as a producer on the NBC crime-drama television series Stingray. Hemmings played a cop in the docudrama film Beyond Reasonable Doubt about Arthur Allan Thomas, a New Zealand farmer jailed for the murder of Harvey and Jeannette Crewe. In later years, he had roles including appearing as Cassius in the epic film Gladiator, with Russell Crowe, as well as appearing in the drama film Last Orders
David Hemmings
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David Hemmings (1976)
20.
Garrick Hagon
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Garrick Hagon is a British film, stage, television and radio actor best known for his role as Biggs Darklighter in Star Wars, A New Hope. His many films include Batman, Spy Game, Me and Orson Welles and he was the rebel leader Ky in Doctor Who, The Mutants and played Simon Gerrard, Debbie Aldridges husband in BBC’s The Archers. Hagon was born in London, England, and brought up in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and he acted with Alec Guinness in Richard III at the Stratford Festival of Canada where he played for 7 seasons and won the Tyrone Guthrie Award in 1963. He guest starred in the episode The River in the CBC television series The Forest Rangers in 1964. As a voice actor he has heard in many films and TV series including the UK dub of Star Fleet/X-Bomber. His voice is featured in the game, Divinity II, Ego Draconis. In the original version of Star Wars, A New Hope, Hagon’s role as Biggs Darklighter, Red 3, came to an early, because of Biggs, Garrick has enjoyed being invited to sci-fi conventions and inducted into Rebel Legions and 501st Garrisons around the world. Loughton in Xie Jins The Opium War, James Halgate III in Philip Stolzls The Expatriate, in 2006, he appeared in an episode of The Line of Beauty. In 2012, Hagon had a role in Doctor Who series 7 episode 3, A Town Called Mercy, filming took place in Almeria, Spain, March 2012. He also appeared in the video game Batman, Arkham Knight as Henry Adams, Hagon’s wife, actress Liza Ross, has appeared alongside him in several productions playing Mom in Batman and Lamia in Star Fleet. Liza and Garrick live in London and are co-directors of their production company. They have two children and one grandson
Garrick Hagon
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Hagon at Noris Force Con, 2011
21.
Ho Yi
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Ho Yi also known as Ho Yi Wong is a Chinese actor, director, playwright and producer of Hong Kong origin. He has lived and worked in the United Kingdom, Ho Yi was born educated in Hong Kong. His development as an actor/director coincided with the boom of the Hong Kong City Hall Culture, Ho Yi’s professional acting career began when the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre, a government subsidized company prepared itself to establish in 1977, Ho Yi became one of its earliest freelance actors. His first full-time acting job was with the government run Radio Television Hong Kong where he worked for three years, in 1983, Ho Yi founded Spotlight Productions in Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Youth Theatre Company, mainly to do theatrical stage work. He also worked with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra in three seasons and his signature play American Buffalo, first staged in 1986, became known as a theatrical milestone of Hong Kong as written up by Film Bi-weekly （電影雙周）. Ho Yi’s unique and original treatment in the delivery of the rich David Mamet dialogue in Cantonese created a new form of acting style known as Wu Li Tou for the Hong Kong stage. Ho Yi’s career as a actor, on both stage and screen, extended further afield in the early 1990s. As early as 1992, he produced, directed and acted in China, the following year he broke new grounds in Shanghai, by staging the American play Extremities in Mandarin. Ho Yi made his film directing debut with Thunderstorm, for which he also wrote the screenplay and played the leading role. Red Passage (紅色的迴廊）is Ho Yis second narrative feature film as a director for which he wrote the screenplay in 2005 and it took eight years before shooting began in July 2013. Red Passage is also produced by a Ho Yi and it is based on his own story set in 1970/71 and filmed entirely in Hong Kong, in Cantonese. Red Passage world premiered at Palm Beach International Film Festival, on 6 April 2014, on 13 September 2014, Red Passage was screened at the Awareness Film Festival in Los Angeles, where it won a Jury Award. On the same day, in the United States, Red Passage was also screened at the Reel Hope Film Festival in Indianapolis, on 24 October 2014, Red Passage premiered in Hong Kong, at the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival. In May 2015, Red Passage was selected by the Garifuna International Film Festival, after arriving in the United Kingdom, Ho Yi has appeared opposite Brad Pitt in Spy Game and Pierce Brosnan in the Bond movie Die Another Day. While residing in the United Kingdom, he appeared in the TV series Thief Takers. In May 2000, Ho Yi appeared, for an entire first run term, in a London’s West End production of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King & I, with Elaine Paige. British critic Sheridan Morley reviewed in The Spectator and the British Teletext describing Ho Yi as the Male Star of the Night for his opening performance of The Kralahome. Upon arrival in Shanghai, he appeared in Chinese film Clay fear, for the stage, he directed An Inspector Calls, A Doll’s House, Agent Penny and A Woman’s Monologue of the Classics in Shanghai
Ho Yi
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Ho Yi at the 2014 Awareness Film Festival
22.
Omid Djalili
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Omid Djalili is a British stand-up comedian, actor, television producer, voice actor and writer of Iranian origin. Djalili was born in Chelsea, London, to Iranian Baháí parents and is a Baháí himself and he attended Holland Park School and then the University of Ulster in Coleraine, Northern Ireland, studying English and Theatre studies. He did his part for Comic Relief after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, the same year he broke Edinburgh Festival box office records with over 16,500 ticket sales. The No Agenda tour DVD was released in late 2007, on 18 March 2007, he was voted by the British public as the 60th best stand-up comedian in a Channel 4 programme The 100 Greatest Stand-Ups. On 26 October 2007, he guest-presented the BBC political quiz show Have I Got News for You, the Omid Djalili Show started on BBC1 on 17 November 2007. The series is a mix of sketches and stand-up material, a second series was recorded in late 2008 and began broadcast on BBC1 on 20 April 2009. He performed on We Are Most Amused on ITV1 to mark Prince Charless 60th birthday in 2008, on 12 February 2009, producer Cameron Mackintosh announced that Djalili would appear as the second Fagin in the new West End production of Oliver. At the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, Omid took over from Rowan Atkinson, who was contracted until 18 July 2009. In 2009, Djalili became the voice of Yusuf Amir in the gaming series Grand Theft Auto. He took up the role in the Grand Theft Auto, The Ballad of Gay Tony spin-off game, in 2010, he starred in the David Baddiel scripted film The Infidel. In 2010, Djalili starred in a series of TV and cinema adverts for Moneysupermarket. com, Djalili appeared in the short-lived NBC sitcom The Paul Reiser Show, which was a midseason replacement for the 2010-11 television season. For the BBC Learning project Off By Heart Shakespeare, Omid played Lord Capulet from Romeo and Juliet and delivered the speech Hang thee, young baggage, Djalili will appear in the Sky TV adaptation of Moonfleet shooting in Ireland in 2013. Djalili also appears in the season of Thunderbirds Are Go in October 2016 as Horse Williams. Djalili also provided his voice in the 2015 stop motion animated comedy Shaun the Sheep Movie, in 2008, he was an official festival judge for the Noor Iranian Film Festival. He also appeared on the Graham Norton Show on 17 February 2012, alongside Daniel Radcliffe, Djalili is a Chelsea fan and has also appeared many times in the clubs in-house channel, Chelsea TV. He has been married to Annabel Knight since 1992, and they have three children, Isabella, Louis and Daniel, No Agenda, Live at the London Palladium Live in London Tour of Duty Iranian stand-up comedy Official website Omid Djalili at the Internet Movie Database
Omid Djalili
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Djalili at the 2010
Tribeca Film Festival
Omid Djalili
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Djalili performing at the
Arts Depot in 2007
23.
Dale Dye
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Dale Adam Dye, Jr. is an American actor, technical advisor, radio personality, and writer. Dye is also a retired U. S. Marine Corps officer and his company, Warriors, Inc. is a technical adviser to Hollywood. Dye has also contributed his expertise and voice to video games, Dale Adam Dye, Jr. was born on October 8,1944, in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, to Dale Adam Dye, Sr. and Della Grace Dye. His father was a salesman in and around St. Louis. There he heard war stories from World War II veterans, one particular story about man-to-man fighting told by a Marine who said he had fought in the Pacific Theater arrested Dales attention. He looked up the Battle of Iwo Jima that night and made up his mind to become a Marine, Dye was educated at St. Josephs Military Academy in Chicago and the Missouri Military Academy. His unit was among the first to deploy to Vietnam in 1965, officers in the unit noticed his keen observational skills and literary interest and encouraged him to reclassify as a combat correspondent. He became one of a very few Marine combat correspondents and he sent stories to military publications and to the home town newspapers of fellow Marines. As a correspondent, he saw more battle than many low-ranking infantrymen, Dye developed an immense respect for the grunts who took the brunt of any action. Dye was wounded during the Tet Offensive in 1968, while recuperating in a rear area, the 2nd Battalion 3rd Marines, the unit he had traveled with, was preparing for Operation Ford. Dye persuaded the commander to let him accompany the battalion as a war correspondent. During the next week, the battalion engaged in a number of fights with units of the North Vietnamese Army-NVA. On 18 March 1968, Dye replaced an assistant machine gunner who had been killed, the machine gun position was isolated forward of the remainder of the battalion. Although he was wounded, Dye exposed himself to enemy fire to retrieve ammunition for the machine gun to help hold off NVA soldiers during an all-night firefight. During other engagements, he exposed himself to fire in order to rescue several wounded Marines. As a result of his actions, he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal with Combat V for heroism, Dyes heart is with the grunts, says Bob Rea, who worked with Dye as a combat correspondent during the worst of Tet. He feels like he owes something to those people, during three tours of duty in South Vietnam, he participated in 31 combat operations. During his 1967 to 1968 and 1969 to 1970 tours of duty, Dye spent a total of 13 years as an enlisted Marine, rising to the rank of Master Sergeant before being appointed a warrant officer in 1976
Dale Dye
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Dale Dye
24.
Charlotte Rampling
–
Tessa Charlotte Rampling, OBE is an English actress, model and chanteuse, known for her work in European arthouse films in three languages, English, French, and Italian. An icon of the Swinging Sixties, she began her career as a model and later became a fashion icon and she was cast in the role of Meredith in the 1966 film Georgy Girl, which starred Lynn Redgrave. She soon began making French and Italian arthouse films, most notably during this time in Luchino Viscontis The Damned and Liliana Cavanis The Night Porter. She went on to star in Zardoz, Farewell, My Lovely, Woody Allens Stardust Memories, opposite Paul Newman in The Verdict, Long Live Life, Max, Mon Amour, Angel Heart and The Wings of the Dove. In 2002 she released an album of recordings in the style of cabaret, in the 2000s, she became the muse of French director François Ozon, appearing in his films Under the Sand, Swimming Pool and Angel. On television, she is known for her role as Evelyn Vogel in Dexter, in 2012 she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, both for her performance in the miniseries Restless. Other television roles include work in Broadchurch and London Spy, for the latter of which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award, a four-time César Award nominee, she received an Honorary César in 2001 and Frances Legion of Honour in 2002. She was made an OBE in 2000 for her services to the arts, in 2015, she released her autobiography, which she wrote in French, titled Qui Je Suis, or Who I Am. She later worked on an English translation, which was due to be published in March 2017, Rampling was born in Sturmer, Essex, the daughter of Isabel Anne, a painter, and Godfrey Rampling, an Olympic gold medalist and British Army officer. She grew up and spent most of her childhood in Gibraltar, France and she attended Académie Jeanne dArc in Versailles and St. Hildas School, a boarding school in Bushey, Hertfordshire, England. She had one sister, Sarah, who committed suicide in 1966 and she and Sarah had had a close relationship, and they had performed in a cabaret act together during their teenage years. She began her career as a model and first appeared in a Cadbury advertisement and she was noticed by a casting agent while walking down a street in London. Her first screen appearance, which was uncredited, was as a skier in Richard Lesters film The Knack. She also appeared as an extra in the Beatles film A Hard Days Night, in 1965, she was cast in the role of Meredith in the film Georgy Girl and was given a role by John Boulting in the comedy Rotten to the Core. In 1967, she starred opposite Yul Brynner in the adventure film The Long Duel and she also appeared alongside Franco Nero in the Italian film Sardinia Kidnapped, directed by Gianfranco Mingozzi. On television, Rampling played the gunfighter Hana Wilde in The Superlative Seven, after this, her acting career blossomed in both English and French cinema. Despite an early flurry of success, she told The Independent and it was a nightmare, breaking the rules and all that. Everyone seemed to be having fun, but they were taking so many drugs they wouldnt know it anyway, in 1969, in Luchino Viscontis The Damned, she played a young wife sent to a Nazi concentration camp
Charlotte Rampling
–
Rampling at the
2009 Venice Film Festival
Charlotte Rampling
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Rampling at the
2001 Cannes Film Festival.
25.
Rotten Tomatoes
–
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
Rotten Tomatoes
–
60–100%
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
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≤0-59%
26.
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
Metacritic
–
Metacritic
27.
Roger Ebert
–
Roger Joseph Ebert was an American film critic and historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a critic for the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert became the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism, the two verbally sparred and traded humorous barbs while discussing films. They created and trademarked the phrase Two Thumbs Up, used when both hosts gave the film a positive review. After Siskel died in 1999, Ebert continued hosting the show with various co-hosts and then, starting in 2000, Ebert lived with cancer of the thyroid and salivary glands from 2002. This required treatments necessitating the removal of his jaw, which cost him the ability to speak or eat normally. His ability to write remained unimpaired, however, and he continued to publish frequently both online and in print until his death on April 4,2013. Roger Joseph Ebert was born in Urbana, Illinois, the child of Annabel, a bookkeeper, and Walter Harry Ebert. He was raised Roman Catholic, attending St. Marys elementary school and his paternal grandparents were German immigrants and his maternal ancestry was Irish and Dutch. In his senior year, he was president and editor-in-chief of his high school newspaper. In 1958, he won the Illinois High School Association state speech championship in radio speaking, regarding his early influences in film criticism, Ebert wrote in the 1998 parody collection Mad About the Movies, I learned to be a movie critic by reading Mad magazine. Mads parodies made me aware of the machine inside the skin – of the way a movie might look original on the outside, I did not read the magazine, I plundered it for clues to the universe. Pauline Kael lost it at the movies, I lost it at Mad magazine, Ebert began taking classes at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as an early-entrance student, completing his high-school courses while also taking his first university class. After graduating from Urbana High School in 1960, Ebert then attended and received his degree in 1964. As an undergraduate, he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, One of the first movie reviews he ever wrote was a review of La Dolce Vita, published in The Daily Illini in October 1961. Ebert spent a semester as a student in the department of English there before attending the University of Cape Town on a Rotary fellowship for a year. He returned from Cape Town to his studies at Illinois for two more semesters and then, after being accepted as a PhD candidate at the University of Chicago. Instead Kogan referred Ebert to the city editor at the Chicago Sun-Times, Jim Hoge and he attended doctoral classes at the University of Chicago while working as a general reporter at the Sun-Times for a year
Roger Ebert
–
Ebert giving an interview for
Sound Opinions in 2006
Roger Ebert
–
Roger Ebert (right) with
Russ Meyer in 1970.
Roger Ebert
–
Ebert and his wife Chaz Hammelsmith Ebert (left) giving the thumbs up to
Nancy Kwan (right) at the
Hawaii International Film Festival on October 20, 2010
Roger Ebert
–
Ebert (right) at the
Conference on World Affairs in September 2002, shortly after his cancer diagnosis
28.
Chicago Sun-Times
–
The Chicago Sun-Times is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the paper of the Sun-Times Media Group. The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city and it began in 1844 as the Chicago Daily Journal, which was the first newspaper to publish the rumor, now believed false, that a cow owned by Catherine OLeary was responsible for the Chicago fire. The Evening Journal, whose West Side building at 17-19 S. Canal was undamaged, in 1929, the newspaper was relaunched as the Chicago Daily Illustrated Times. The modern paper grew out of the 1948 merger of the Chicago Sun, founded December 4,1941 by Marshall Field III, and the Chicago Daily Times. The newspaper was owned by Field Enterprises, controlled by the Marshall Field family, when the Daily News ended its run in 1978, much of its staff, including Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Mike Royko, were moved to the Sun-Times. During the Field period, the newspaper had a populist, progressive character that leaned Democratic but was independent of the citys Democratic establishment, although the graphic style was urban tabloid, the paper was well regarded for journalistic quality and did not rely on sensational front-page stories. It typically ran articles from the Washington Post/Los Angeles Times wire service, the advice column Ask Ann Landers debuted in 1943. Ann Landers was the pseudonym of staff writer Ruth Crowley, who answered readers letters until 1955, eppie Lederer, sister of Dear Abby columnist Abigail van Buren, assumed the role thereafter as Ann Landers. Kups Column, written by Irv Kupcinet, also made its first appearance in 1943, Jack Olsen joined the Sun-Times as editor-in-chief in 1954, before moving on to Time and Sports Illustrated magazines and authoring true-crime books. Hired as literary editor in 1955 was Hoke Norris, who covered the civil-rights movement for the Sun-Times. Jerome Holtzman became a member of the Chicago Sun sports department after first being a boy for the Daily News in the 1940s. He and Edgar Munzel, another longtime sportswriter for the paper, famed for his World War II exploits, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Bill Mauldin made the Sun-Times his home base in 1962. The following year, Mauldin drew one of his most renowned illustrations, two years out of college, Roger Ebert became a staff writer in 1966, and a year later was named Sun-Times film critic. He continued in this role for the remainder of his life, after the friend wrote a story about it, Grizzard fired Banks. With that, the employees union intervened, a federal arbitrator ruled for Banks and 13 months later. The articles received considerable publicity and acclaim, but a nomination for the Pulitzer Prize met resistance from some who believed the Mirage series represented a form of entrapment. In March 1978, the afternoon publication the Chicago Daily News, sister paper of the Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
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The November 19, 2008 front page of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
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Chuck Neubauer in the former Chicago Sun-Times newsroom, 1998.
Chicago Sun-Times
–
Current Chicago Sun-Times headquarters, located in the
River North Point building at 350 North Orleans Street
Chicago Sun-Times
–
Former Chicago Sun-Times headquarters with
Wrigley Building and
Tribune Tower
29.
American Film Institute
–
The American Film Institute is an American film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the moving picture arts in America. AFI is supported by funding and public membership. The institute is composed of leaders from the film, entertainment, business, a board of trustees chaired by Sir Howard Stringer and a board of directors chaired by Robert A. Daly guide the organization, which is led by President and CEO Bob Gazzale. Prior leaders were founding director George Stevens, Jr. and Jean Picker Firstenberg. <ref>AFI Board of Trustees etc. American Film Institute. October 2014. Retrieved December 24,2014. </ref>Two years later, in 1967, AFI was established, supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Motion Picture Association of America and the Ford Foundation. The institute established a program for filmmakers known then as the Center for Advanced Film Studies. The institute moved to its current eight-acre Hollywood campus in 1981, the film training program grew into the AFI Conservatory, an accredited graduate school. AFI educates audiences and recognizes excellence through its awards programs and 10 Top 10 Lists. In 1969, the established the AFI Conservatory for Advanced Film Studies at Greystone. The first class included filmmakers Terrence Malick, Caleb Deschanel and Paul Schrader, mirroring a professional production environment, Fellows collaborate to make more films than any other graduate level program. Admission to AFI Conservatory is highly selective, with a maximum of 140 graduates per year, in 2013, Emmy and Oscar-winning director, producer and screenwriter James L. Brooks joined AFI as Artistic Director of the AFI Conservatory where he provides leadership for the film program. Brooks artistic role at the AFI Conservatory has a legacy that includes Daniel Petrie, Jr. Robert Wise. Award-winning director Bob Mandel served as Dean of the AFI Conservatory for nine years, jan Schuette took over as Dean in 2014. AFI Conservatorys alumni have careers in film, television and on the web and they have been recognized with all of the major industry awards – Academy Award, Emmy Award, guild awards, and the Tony Award. The AFI Catalog, started in 1968, is a web-based filmographic database, early print copies of this catalog may also be found at your local library. Each year the AFI Awards honor the ten outstanding films and ten outstanding television programs, the awards are a non-competitive acknowledgement of excellence. The Awards are announced in December and a luncheon for award honorees takes place the following January. The juries consisted of over 1,500 artists, scholars, critics and historians, with movies selected based on the films popularity over time, historical significance, citizen Kane was voted the greatest American film twice. AFI operates two film festivals, AFI Fest in Los Angeles, and AFI Docs in Silver Spring, Maryland, AFI Fest is the American Film Institutes annual celebration of artistic excellence
American Film Institute
–
American Film Institute
30.
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
Box Office Mojo
–
Box Office Mojo homepage
31.
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
AllMovie
–
AllMovie
32.
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
IMDb
–
Internet Movie Database (IMDb)
33.
YouTube
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YouTube is an American video-sharing website headquartered in San Bruno, California. The service was created by three former PayPal employees—Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim—in February 2005, Google bought the site in November 2006 for US$1.65 billion, YouTube now operates as one of Googles subsidiaries. Unregistered users can watch videos on the site, while registered users are permitted to upload an unlimited number of videos. Videos deemed potentially offensive are available only to registered users affirming themselves to be at least 18 years old, YouTube earns advertising revenue from Google AdSense, a program which targets ads according to site content and audience. As of February 2017, there are more than 400 hours of content uploaded to YouTube each minute, as of April 2017, the website is ranked as the second most popular site in the world by Alexa Internet, a web traffic analysis company. YouTube was founded by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim, Hurley had studied design at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and Chen and Karim studied computer science together at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Karim could not easily find video clips of either event online, Hurley and Chen said that the original idea for YouTube was a video version of an online dating service, and had been influenced by the website Hot or Not. YouTube began as a venture capital-funded technology startup, primarily from an $11.5 million investment by Sequoia Capital between November 2005 and April 2006, YouTubes early headquarters were situated above a pizzeria and Japanese restaurant in San Mateo, California. The domain name www. youtube. com was activated on February 14,2005, the first YouTube video, titled Me at the zoo, shows co-founder Jawed Karim at the San Diego Zoo. The video was uploaded on April 23,2005, and can still be viewed on the site, YouTube offered the public a beta test of the site in May 2005. The first video to reach one million views was a Nike advertisement featuring Ronaldinho in November 2005. Following a $3.5 million investment from Sequoia Capital in November, the site grew rapidly, and in July 2006 the company announced that more than 65,000 new videos were being uploaded every day, and that the site was receiving 100 million video views per day. The site has 800 million unique users a month and it is estimated that in 2007 YouTube consumed as much bandwidth as the entire Internet in 2000. The choice of the name www. youtube. com led to problems for a similarly named website, the sites owner, Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment, filed a lawsuit against YouTube in November 2006 after being regularly overloaded by people looking for YouTube. Universal Tube has since changed the name of its website to www. utubeonline. com, in October 2006, Google Inc. announced that it had acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion in Google stock, and the deal was finalized on November 13,2006. In March 2010, YouTube began free streaming of certain content, according to YouTube, this was the first worldwide free online broadcast of a major sporting event. On March 31,2010, the YouTube website launched a new design, with the aim of simplifying the interface, Google product manager Shiva Rajaraman commented, We really felt like we needed to step back and remove the clutter. In May 2010, YouTube videos were watched more than two times per day
YouTube
–
From left to right:
Chad Hurley,
Steve Chen, and
Jawed Karim
YouTube
–
Screenshot of YouTube's homepage
YouTube
–
YouTube's headquarters as of 2010 in
San Bruno, California.
34.
The Hunger (1983 film)
–
The Hunger is a 1983 British-American erotic horror film directed by Tony Scott, and starring Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, and Susan Sarandon. It is the story of a triangle between a doctor who specialises in sleep and aging research and a vampire couple. The film is a adaptation of the 1981 novel of the same name by Whitley Strieber, with a screenplay by Ivan Davis and Michael Thomas. The film was screened out of competition at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival, Miriam Blaylock is a vampire, promising specially chosen humans eternal life as her vampire lovers. As the film begins, her companion is John, a talented cellist whom she married in 18th century France, in a night club in New York, they connect with a young couple who they bring home and feed upon by slashing their throats with a bladed Ankh pendant. The bodies are disposed of by an incinerator in the basement of John and Miriams elegant New York townhouse, approximately 200 years after his turning, John begins suffering insomnia and ages years in only a few days. John realizes Miriams promise that periodically killing and feeding upon human victims would give him eternal youth was only true, he will have eternal life. Sarah assumes that John is a hypochondriac or mentally unbalanced and ignores his pleas for help, as John leaves the clinic in a rage, Sarah is horrified to see how rapidly he is aging. John rebuffs her once she tries to help him, one of the Blaylocks students, Alice Cavender, drops by their townhouse to say that she cannot attend the next days lesson. In a last attempt to regain his youth, John murders and feeds upon Alice, John begs Miriam to kill him and release him from the agony of his decrepit body. Weeping, Miriam tells him there is no release, after John collapses in the basement, Miriam carries him into the attic full of coffins and places him in one. Like John, Miriams former vampire lovers suffer an eternal living death, helplessly moaning, later, a police official comes to the residence, looking for the missing Alice. Miriam feigns ignorance and claims that her husband is in Switzerland, Sarah comes looking for John at his home but only finds Miriam, who now feels alone after losing both John and Alice. The two have an encounter, during which Miriam bites her arm and some of Miriams blood enters Sarahs body. Miriam attempts to initiate Sarah in the necessities of life as a vampire, Sarah returns home and goes out to dinner with Tom, who becomes argumentative about her 3-hour disappearance at the Blaylock residence, of which she is strangely quiet. The next day at the lab, the team investigates Sarahs blood by Toms authority, confused, Sarah returns to confront Miriam about her sudden changes. Still reeling from the effects of her transformation, Sarah allows Miriam to put her to bed in a guest room. Tom arrives on Miriams doorstep, trying to find Sarah, Miriam shows him to the upstairs bedroom
The Hunger (1983 film)
–
Theatrical release poster
35.
Top Gun
–
Top Gun is a 1986 American romantic military action drama film directed by Tony Scott, and produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, in association with Paramount Pictures. The screenplay was written by Jim Cash and Jack Epps, Jr. and was inspired by an article titled Top Guns published in California magazine three years earlier, the film stars Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer, Anthony Edwards, and Tom Skerritt. Cruise plays Lieutenant Pete Maverick Mitchell, a young Naval aviator aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise and he and his Radar Intercept Officer Nick Goose Bradshaw are given the chance to train at the Navys Fighter Weapons School at Miramar in San Diego. Top Gun was released on May 16,1986, despite its mixed critical reaction, the film was a huge commercial hit with grossing $356 million against production budget of only $15 million. With its success, the became a cult film over the years. Additionally, the film won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for Take My Breath Away performed by Berlin, in 2015, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry, finding it culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. United States Naval Aviator LT Pete Maverick Mitchell and his Radar Intercept Officer LTJG Nick Goose Bradshaw fly the F-14A Tomcat aboard USS Enterprise and they, with Mavericks wingman Cougar and his RIO Merlin, intercept fictional Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-28s over the Indian Ocean. During the engagement, Maverick flies his Tomcat parallel to one of the MiGs, Cougar is almost taken out by one of the hostile aircraft, however, and afterwards is too shaken to land despite being low on fuel. In defiance of orders, Maverick aborts his landing and escorts Cougar back to the carrier being low on fuel, Cougar gives up his wings, citing his newborn child that he has never seen. Despite his dislike for Mavericks recklessness, CAG Stinger sends him, Maverick flies recklessly in part to compensate for his father Duke Mitchell, a Naval Aviator with VF-51 aboard the USS Oriskany during the Vietnam War. The elder Mitchell died when his F-4 Phantom II was shot down in an incident Maverick refuses to believe was his fault, Goose is cautious and devoted to his wife Carol and child. The two officers are nonetheless close friends and effective partners, at a bar the day before Top Gun starts, Maverick, assisted by Goose, unsuccessfully approaches a woman. He learns the next day that she is Charlotte Charlie Blackwood, upon learning that Maverick is the pilot who flipped off a MiG-28 pilot, she is instantly more interested in him. Mavericks reckless flying both annoys and impresses LCDR Rick Jester Heatherly and other instructors, during class she analyzes Mavericks engagement with Jesters aircraft, calling it an example of what not to do. Later, Charlie admits to him that she admires his tactics but criticized them to hide her feelings for him from the others, during a training sortie Maverick abandons his wingman Hollywood to chase chief instructor CDR Mike Viper Metcalf. Near the end of the program, Maverick and Iceman both chase Jester, the latter attempts to gain a missile lock on the target. Maverick is close enough to take out Jester with his guns, Mavericks F-14 flies through the jet wash of Icemans aircraft and suffers a flameout of both engines, forcing Mavericks aircraft into an unrecoverable flat spin. Maverick and Goose eject, but the force of the ejection slams Gooses head into the aircraft canopy
Top Gun
–
Theatrical release poster
Top Gun
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F-14A Tomcats of Fighter Squadrons VF-51 Screaming Eagles and VF-111 Sundowners, and F-5E/F Tiger IIs of the Navy Fighter Weapons School
36.
Beverly Hills Cop II
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Beverly Hills Cop II is a 1987 American action comedy film directed by Tony Scott, written by Larry Ferguson and Warren Skaaren and starring Eddie Murphy. It is the sequel to the 1984 film Beverly Hills Cop, although it made less money than the first film and received mixed reviews from critics, the film was still a box office success, making $153.7 million domestically. Aside from box office success, the film was nominated for an Academy Award and for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, Lutz also punishes Taggart and Rosewood by placing them on traffic duty. On the way home, Bogomil is shot and injured by Karla Fry, the chief hench-woman of Maxwell Dent, who secretly is the mastermind behind the Alphabet Crimes. Finding out about the shooting by a report, Axel Foley abandons his current undercover duties. Taggart and Rosewood agree to assist Axel because of Lutzs attempts to find an excuse to get them fired, posing as an undercover FBI agent to get past Lutz with the aid of Detective Jeffrey Friedman, Axel soon starts making the connection between the robberies and Dent. He first finds out that the ammunition fired at one of the robberies was designed by Charles Cain, Axel has Bogomils daughter Jan use her connections as an insurance agent to find out about Dents financial dealings. Dent is robbing his own businesses on purpose in order to finance firearms transactions with a dealer named Nikos Thomopolis and is discreetly using Cain as the front man for his operations. Bogomil was shot because his investigation was on the track into the case. Having foiled an attempt at a bank depot, Axel is able to trick Dents accountant Sidney Bernstein into using his computer and discovers that Dent. Axel also learns from Jan that all of Dents businesses have had their insurance coverage canceled and are about to go bankrupt except his race track, which he is convinced is the next target. On the way to the track, Axel solves the latest riddle sent to the police. However, Axel knows Cain is a designed to throw the authorities off Dents trail. The three arrive too late to stop the robbery and find Cain, shot by Karla, among those killed, the three get into a shootout with everyone involved in the deal. Dent confronts Axel in the warehouse, but Axel gets distracted by one of Dents henchmen on the roof above him and Dent gets away. Dent then crashes through the wall in his car and Axel shoots Dent through the windshield, sending his car down a hill and erupting in flames, Karla appears and is about to kill Axel, but is shot dead by Taggart. Just as the last thugs are about to flee, the police arrive upon the scene and arrest the rest of Dents thugs, Lutz and Mayor Egan arrive at the scene. Lutz tries to fire Rosewood and Taggart for their insubordination, however, both Taggart and Rosewood stand up to an infuriated Lutz and prove that Dent was the real Alphabet Bandit and the rest of the alphabet crimes were about an arms deal
Beverly Hills Cop II
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Theatrical release poster
37.
Revenge (1990 film)
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Revenge is a 1990 romantic thriller film directed by Tony Scott and starring Kevin Costner, Anthony Quinn, Madeleine Stowe, Miguel Ferrer and Sally Kirkland. Some scenes were filmed in Mexico, the film is a production of New World Pictures and Rastar Films and was released by Columbia Pictures. Revenge also features one of John Leguizamos earliest film roles, the film is based on a novella written by Jim Harrison and published in Esquire magazine in 1979. Harrison, who also wrote Legends of the Fall, co-wrote the script, Michael J. Jay Cochran is a retiring United States Naval Aviator who, after 12 years in the service, wants to relax and live one day at a time. He goes to Mexico, accepting a pair of Beretta shotguns. Tibey is a crime boss, constantly surrounded by bodyguards. While trying to find the hacienda, Cochran meets a young woman riding a horse. She is Tibeys wife, Miryea, who lives in lavish surroundings but is unhappy because her husband does not want children. Jay is a welcome guest and presents his friend with a Navy G-1 leather flight jacket, but he rubs Tibeys suspicious right-hand man Cesar the wrong way by behaving independently and not acting like an employee. After a dinner Tibey conducts a private meeting with business associates while Miryea gets acquainted with Jay, the next day they share a private walk on the beach. During a party, with Tibey and his men nearby, Jay, tension grows, as Jay is worried that Tibey will become aware of the situation. Miryea begs Jay not to leave and they arrange a secret rendezvous, Miryea pretending that she will be visiting a friend in Miami when she actually is going to accompany Jay to a remote cabin. Cesar overhears a conversation in which Miryea asks her Miami friend to lie for her, Tibey visits Jay and invites him on a trip to the Beretta factory to custom-fit his new guns, but Jay declines. At the airport, Tibey also gives Miryea one last kiss, Jay is secretly waiting to drive her to the cabin. At their hideaway, they are surprised by Tibey and his men, jays beloved dog is shot dead. Calling Miryea a faithless whore, Tibey strikes her and cuts her across the mouth with a knife, as Tibeys henchmen viciously beat, after setting fire to the cabin, they dump Jay in the desert, and leave him to die. Miryea is placed in a whorehouse, where she is drugged, abused, the young man responsible for keeping her drugged has AIDS. As Miryea no longer wishes to live the life of a prostitute, she persuades him to share a needle with her
Revenge (1990 film)
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Theatrical release poster
38.
Days of Thunder
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Days of Thunder is a 1990 American sports action drama film released by Paramount Pictures, produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Tony Scott. The cast includes Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Robert Duvall, Randy Quaid, Cary Elwes, Caroline Williams, the film also features appearances by real life NASCAR racers, such as Rusty Wallace, Neil Bonnett, and Harry Gant. Commentator Dr. Jerry Punch, of ESPN, has a cameo appearance and this is the first of three films to star both Cruise and Kidman. Cole Trickle is a racer from Eagle Rock, California. His goal was to win the Indianapolis 500 but realises that You cant win at Indy without a great car and he is recruited by Chevrolet dealership tycoon Tim Daland to race for his team in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. Daland also convinces former crew chief and car builder Harry Hogge to come out of retirement, after Trickle sets a fast time in a private test at Charlotte, Hogge builds him a new Chevrolet Lumina to drive in the Winston Cup, though the season has already started. After discovering that Cole does not understand the terminology used by NASCAR teams. This pays off at the Darlington race, when Cole uses a slingshot maneuver from the line to overtake Rowdy. The rivalry between Cole and Rowdy intensifies throughout the season until tragedy strikes, at the Firecracker 400 in Daytona, both drivers are seriously injured after their cars are destroyed in a multi-car wreck. At the same time, NASCAR president Big John, brings Rowdy and Cole together in a meeting and warns them that he, afterwards, Cole and Rowdy go out to lunch together by Big Johns persuasion, and settle their differences. Cole and Rowdy change from bitter rivals to close friends, as Cole is still undergoing therapy, Daland hires hot-shot rookie Russ Wheeler as a substitute to fill the seat. Weeks later, Cole returns to duty, with Daland now fielding two teams – the second car driven by Wheeler. Though Cole shows signs of his old self, he now himself in a rivalry with his new teammate. At North Wilkesboro, Russ gets dirty on pit road and spins Cole out to win the race, in retaliation, Cole crashes his car into Russs car following the race, resulting in Cole and Harry being fired by Daland. When Rowdy discovers that he has to undergo surgery to fix a broken blood vessel. Cole reluctantly agrees and convinces Harry to return as crew chief again, hours prior to the race, Harry discovers metal in the oil pan, a sign of engine failure, so he manages to have Daland provide him a new engine. This sets the tone for a showdown between Cole and Russ. Cole drives into victory lane, where he and Claire kiss passionately while they celebrate with his pit-crew, as he looks around to see where Harry is, he spots him sitting alone on a concrete barrier near the teams pit stall
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Theatrical release poster
Days of Thunder
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#46 City Chevrolet used by Cole Trickle.
Days of Thunder
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Coverdale at the
Monsters of Rock festival in 1990.
39.
The Last Boy Scout
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The Last Boy Scout is a 1991 American action comedy film directed by Tony Scott, starring Bruce Willis, Damon Wayans, Chelsea Field, Noble Willingham, Taylor Negron and Danielle Harris. The film was released in the United States on December 13,1991, cole ingests PCP and, in a drug-induced rage, brings a gun onto the field, shooting three opposing players to reach to the end zone. Cole then shoots himself in the head, Joes indifference frustrates Sarah, who only did it to get his attention. Outside Joes house, Mike is killed by a car bomb, after an argument where Joe and Jimmy scuffle, an annoyed Jimmy takes Cory from the stage while she is performing. Joe plans to wait outside, where he is knocked out by a team of hitmen. Jimmy and Cory leave the bar in separate cars while Joe is escorted into an alley by one of the hitmen, when Cory is struck from behind and stops to confront the other driver, she is assassinated by hitmen in the car. Jimmy is fired upon and pinned down, but is saved by Joe, Jimmy leaves to drive home in Corys other car, but Joe correctly assumes Marcone had her other car wired to explode. Two hitmen arrive planning to obtain the evidence Cory gained possession of, and Joe tricks them into blowing up the car, killing themselves, Joe reveals to Jimmy that when he was in the Secret Service, he was assigned to the Senators protective detail. One night on duty he witnessed Baynard torturing a woman in a room and assaulted Baynard to obstruct him. Baynard would later have Joe fired from the Secret Service for refusing to cover up the incident, Joe and Jimmy then form an alliance to take down Marcone. Joe takes Jimmy home, where Jimmy meets Joes abrasive daughter Darian, when Joe catches Jimmy attempting to use illegal painkillers in the bathroom, Joe kicks him out. As Jimmy leaves, Darian asks him to sign a football trading card, as he signs, she reveals that Joe had been a fan of his before he got busted, and ever since he was banned from the league, Joe has never watched another football game. He leaves her with the card, To the daughter of the last Boy Scout. The next morning the police, having learned of Mikes affair with Sarah, decide Joe must have killed Mike for revenge, but Milo, Marcones top henchman, captures Joe first, then shoots the officer who had come to arrest him using Joes gun. Marcone explains to Joe that he intends to legalize sports gambling by buying votes, when Marcone also tried to buy his vote for this purpose, Baynard blackmailed Marcone, demanding $6 million or he would go to the police. Explaining it would be cheaper to kill the Senator, aware of Joes history with him, Joe is taken to a wooded area where he is photographed handing a briefcase containing money to Baynards bodyguards. The money is then switched in the trunk with a wired briefcase, heading to Marcones stadium office to save Darian, they are caught and brought to Marcones office, but Jimmy creates a diversion, allowing them to fight their way free. Knowing Milo will attempt to shoot Baynard, Joe goes after Milo while sending Jimmy to warn Baynard, grabbing the game ball, Jimmy throws it at Baynard, knocking him down just as Milo starts shooting
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Theatrical release poster
40.
True Romance
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True Romance is a 1993 American crime film with elements of black comedy and romance, directed by Tony Scott and written by Quentin Tarantino. The film stars Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette with a supporting cast featuring Dennis Hopper, Val Kilmer, Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt, empire ranked True Romance the 157th greatest film of all time in 2008. At a Detroit theater showing kung fu films, Alabama Whitman strikes up a conversation with Elvis Presley fanatic Clarence Worley and they later have sex at Clarences apartment in downtown Detroit. Alabama tearfully confesses that she is a girl hired by Clarences boss as a birthday present. An apparition of Elvis appears to Clarence and convinces him to kill Alabamas pimp Drexl, Clarence goes to the brothel where Alabama worked, shoots and kills Drexl, and takes a bag he assumes contains Alabamas belongings. Back at the apartment, he and Alabama discover the bag contains an amount of cocaine. The couple visit Clarences estranged father, Clifford, a cop and now a security guard. Clifford tells Clarence that the police assume Drexls murder is a gang killing, after the couple leave for Los Angeles, Clifford is interrogated by Don Vincenzo Coccotti, consigliere to a mobster named Blue Lou Boyle, who wants the drugs. Clifford, realizing he will die anyway, mockingly defies Coccotti, a note on the refrigerator leads the mobsters to Clarences L. A. address. In L. A. Clarence and Alabama meet Clarences friend Dick, Dick introduces Clarence to a friend of his, actor Elliot Blitzer, who reluctantly agrees to broker the sale of the drugs to film producer Lee Donowitz. While Clarence is out buying lunch, Coccottis underboss, Virgil, finds Alabama in her motel room and she fights back and kills him with his shotgun. Elliot is pulled over for speeding and arrested for drug possession, to stay out of jail, he agrees to record the drug deal between Clarence and Donowitz for the police. Coccottis crew learn where the deal take place from Dicks roommate Floyd. Clarence, Alabama, Dick, and Elliot go to Donowitzs suite at the Ambassador Hotel with the drugs, in the elevator, a suspicious Clarence threatens Elliot at gunpoint, but is persuaded by Elliotts pleading. Clarence fabricates a story for Donowitz that the drugs were given to him by a corrupt cop, Clarence excuses himself to the bathroom, where a vision of Elvis reassures him that things are going well. Donowitz and his bodyguards are ambushed by the cops and mobsters, Dick abandons the drugs and flees. Almost everyone is killed in the gun battle, and Clarence is wounded as he exits the bathroom and he and Alabama escape with Donowitzs money as more police arrive. They flee to Mexico where Alabama gives birth to a son, True Romance was a breakthrough for Tarantino
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Theatrical release poster
41.
Crimson Tide (film)
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Crimson Tide is a 1995 American submarine film directed by Tony Scott, and produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer. It takes place during a period of turmoil in the Russian Federation, in which ultranationalists threaten to launch nuclear missiles at the United States. The film was scored by Hans Zimmer, who won a Grammy Award for the main theme, an extended cut, which incorporated seven minutes of deleted scenes, was released on DVD in 2006. When the film was released on Blu-ray two years later, however, the film was restored to the theatrical version, in post-Soviet Russia, civil war erupts as a result of the ongoing conflict in Chechnya. A US Navy nuclear submarine, USS Alabama, is assigned to a mission to be available to launch its missiles in a pre-emptive strike if Radchenko attempts to fuel his missiles. Captain Frank Ramsey is the officer, one of few commanders left in the US Navy with combat experience. He chooses as his new XO Lieutenant Commander Ron Hunter, who has an education in military history and tactics. Before the Alabama can launch its missiles, a radio message begins to be received. The radio electronics are damaged in the attack and cannot be used to decode the second message, with the last confirmed order being to launch Captain Ramsey decides to proceed. Hunter refuses to concur as is required because he believes the second message may be a retraction. Ramsey argues that the other American submarines may have been destroyed, when Hunter refuses to consent Ramsey tries to relieve him of duty and replace him with a different officer. Instead Hunter orders the arrest of Ramsey for attempting to circumvent protocol, the crews loyalty is divided between Hunter and Ramsey, but Chief of the Boat Cobb sides with Hunter in having Ramsey relieved of command and confined to his stateroom, putting Hunter in command. The Alabama is attacked again by the Russian submarine, the Alabama destroys it but during the chaos a counter-mutiny ensues and Ramsey retakes the bridge, confining Hunter, Cobb and a few others to the officers mess. Hunter escapes his arrest and gains the support of the officer in the missile control room further delaying the launch. Other crew members try to repair the radio while the battle for command continues, after several tense minutes communications are restored and they finally see the full message from the second transmission. It is an ordering that the missile launch be aborted because Radchenkos rebellion has been quelled. After returning to base Ramsey and Hunter are put before a tribunal to answer for their actions. The tribunal concludes that men were simultaneously right and wrong so Hunters actions were lawfully justified
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Theatrical release poster
42.
The Fan (1996 film)
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The Fan is a 1996 American sports thriller film directed by Tony Scott, and starring Robert De Niro and Wesley Snipes. The film is based on the novel of the name by Peter Abrahams. The Fan is a thriller that revolves around the sport of baseball. Gil Curly Renard, a salesman, is a mentally unstable temperamental divorcé who has been neglecting both his young son and his job, which he is on the verge of losing due to poor sales. Gil has a fervent loyalty to his sport, baseball, and his favorite team. Gil is obsessed with the Giants newest player, San Francisco native Bobby Rayburn and he risks his job by attending the opening game of the season while he should be meeting a client. In an attempt to bond with his son, Gil takes him to the game, the extensively hyped Rayburn suffers a chest injury, causing his performance to decline. Fans criticize his inability to live up to their expectations, the frustrated Gil, who has finally been fired after he has threatened one of his would-be customers, begins to aggressively show his support, showing his anger to fans who jeer Rayburn. Gils ex-wife, Ellen, is disgusted by his irresponsibility and tries to him from seeing their son. Gil is issued a restraining order, with his job and family lost, Gil angrily confronts his former boss and vandalizes his car with a knife, leaving it in the hood. Gil once again turns to baseball, the thing he seems to have left. Gil witnesses Rayburn fighting with teammate Juan Primo in the restroom of a bar, Gil confronts Primo in a hotel sauna and, provoked by Primos dismissive attitude, stabs him to death. Rayburn is subsequently suspected of murdering Primo, despite feeling guilty for his teammates death, Rayburn starts playing well again and ends his slump. Gil, convinced that what he did was a service to Rayburn and he goes to Rayburns beach house and unexpectedly helps save the players son from drowning. After pretending to have only a passing interest in the sport, Rayburn says he stopped caring about the game after Primos death, because he felt there were more important things in life. He makes the mistake of telling Gil that he has lost respect for the fans, remarking on their fickle nature — when hes playing, they love him, gils temper rises as he almost hits Rayburn with a fast ball and launches into a diatribe. Rayburn is slightly disturbed, especially when Gil takes off his jacket to reveal Rayburns jersey underneath, Rayburn discovers to his horror that Gil has kidnapped his son Sean and has fled in his Hummer, as well as finding a piece of Primos branded shoulder in his freezer. Disillusioned with Rayburns disrespect towards the fans, Gil spirals further into insanity and he acts as though Sean is his own son
The Fan (1996 film)
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Theatrical release poster
43.
Enemy of the State (film)
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Enemy of the State is a 1998 American conspiracy-thriller film directed by Tony Scott, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, and written by David Marconi. The film stars Will Smith and Gene Hackman, with Jon Voight, Lisa Bonet, Gabriel Byrne, Loren Dean, Jake Busey, Barry Pepper, and Regina King in supporting roles. The film tells the story of a group of NSA agents conspiring to kill a Congressman, the film was released on November 20,1998 in the US and worldwide. Enemy of the State garnered generally positive reviews from critics and audiences, with many praising the writing. NSA official Thomas Bryan Reynolds meets with U. S, Hammersley remains committed to blocking its passage, since he believes it would almost totally destroy the privacy of American citizens. In the aftermath, they discover that wildlife researcher Daniel Zavits had a camera aimed in the woods at their location, Zavits inspects the footage and, realizing he has captured the congressmans murder, calls a journalist he knows. The call is monitored by Reynoldss team who attempt to break into Zavits apartment to retrieve the tape, realising he is in danger, Zavits transfers the video to a disc before fleeing the apartment ahead of Reynoldss men. Zavits bumps into an old friend, labour lawyer Robert Clayton Dean. Shortly after, Zavits is killed when he runs into the street in front of a fire truck, when the NSA discovers that Dean might have the video, Reynoldss team raids his house and plants surveillance devices. They then disseminate false evidence to implicate Dean of working with the mob family of Paulie Pintero, the subterfuge destroys Deans life, he is dismissed from his job, his bank accounts are frozen, and his wife Carla throws him out of the house. Dean believes Pintero is behind the campaign as revenge for a prior case. Dean sets up a meet with Brill, to which the NSA sends an impostor, Brill explains that his pursuers are NSA agents and rids him of tracking devices hidden in his clothing. With Dean and Brill in hiding, the NSA agents kill Banks, Dean obtains the disc and Brill identifies Reynolds in the recovered video, but the disc is destroyed during an escape from an NSA raid. Lyle tries to coax Dean into running away, but Dean is adamant about clearing his name, Dean and Lyle trail another supporter of the surveillance bill, U. S. Congressman Sam Albert, videotaping him having an affair with his aide, Dean and Lyle hide one of the NSAs bugs in Alberts room so Albert will find it and have the NSA start an investigation into Alberts tapping. Lyle also deposits money into Reynoldss bank account to make it appear that he is taking bribes, Lyle contacts Reynolds to set up a meeting to exchange the video and get Reynolds to incriminate himself. Reynolds men instead ambush the meeting and hold Lyle and Dean at gunpoint, Dean tells them that the Hammersley murder footage is in the hands of Pintero, knowing Pinteros restaurant is under FBI surveillance. Dean, Reynolds, and the NSA team head into Pinteros restaurant, Lyle escapes while the FBI rescues Dean and uncovers the entire conspiracy
Enemy of the State (film)
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Theatrical release poster
44.
Man on Fire (2004 film)
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Man on Fire is a 2004 American crime thriller film and the second adaptation of A. J. Quinnells 1980 novel of the same name, the first film based on the novel was released in 1987. The 2004 film adaptation was directed by Tony Scott, from a written by Brian Helgeland. Man on Fire stars Denzel Washington as John Creasy, a despondent, Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance officer turned mercenary and bodyguard, who goes on a revenge rampage after his charge, nine-year-old Lupita Ramos, is abducted in Mexico City. The supporting cast includes Christopher Walken, Radha Mitchell, Giancarlo Giannini, Marc Anthony, Rachel Ticotin and Mickey Rourke. In 2003, burnt-out ex-CIA Paramilitary operations officer and former U. S. Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance officer John Creasy visits his old comrade Paul Rayburn, who runs a security firm in Mexico. Because of the high rate of kidnappings in Mexico City for ransoms. Samuel however is having problems, and intends to keep Creasy on only long enough to satisfy the requirements to renew his kidnap. Creasy suffers from alcoholism, depression and severe guilt as a result of his black ops work. Drinking heavily, Creasy attempts suicide with his pistol, but the bullet fails to fire when he pulls the trigger and he calls Rayburn, who says that a bullet always tells the truth. At first Creasy distances himself from Pita, but soon he becomes a father to the girl, allowing him to stop drinking. While Creasy is escorting Pita to her piano lesson, a group of gunmen try to kidnap her. Creasy is hospitalized but is moved to a hospital by Miguel Manzano, a senior agent of the Agencia Federal de Investigación. Meanwhile, the Ramoses agree to deliver a dead drop ransom of US$10 million per the instructions of La Voz, Samuels attorney, Jordan Kalfus, arranges for the ransom money to be collected from Samuels kidnapping insurance policy, then delivered to the kidnappers. The drop, however, is ambushed by members of La Hermandad, a crime syndicate composed of corrupt police officers. The Voice notifies the Ramoses that Pita will be killed in retribution, Creasy leaves the hospital before fully recovering, swearing to Pitas mother Lisa that he will kill everyone involved in her daughters abduction. Rayburn helps Creasy purchase black market firearms, a grenade launcher. Mariana Guerrero, a journalist investigating kidnappings, and Manzano also offer their support.5 million of actual currency while the rest was blank paper, Creasy finds Kalfus murdered and then finds evidence of his questionable financial dealings with Samuel. He confronts Samuel and Lisa for the truth behind the kidnapping, Samuel confesses to Creasy and Lisa that he agreed to Kalfus plan to stage Pitas kidnapping, so he could pay off business debts by fraudulently collecting the insurance money
Man on Fire (2004 film)
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Theatrical release poster
45.
Agent Orange (film)
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Agent Orange is an American short silent film directed by Tony Scott. The film is about a love story taking place in a shadowy dreamscape. In 2004, the film was created with a hand cranked camera and it was produced by Amazon. coms Amazon Theater. The Orange Boy was played by Christopher Carley, and Orange Girl played by supermodel Jessica Stam and it was filmed on a Panavision Hollywood camera, with Eastman Kodak film. A young man visits a subway station after discovering a shapely woman who wears all orange. He pursues this woman with great effort and he posts posters of goldfish, and his phone number, every few feet along the stations walls, for them to be torn down minutes later by the janitorial services. Watch it, QuickTime high, Windows Media high, QuickTime medium, Windows Media medium Agent Orange at the Internet Movie Database Thats Advertainment
Agent Orange (film)
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Agent Orange
46.
Domino (2005 film)
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Domino is a 2005 American action film directed by Tony Scott and written by Richard Kelly. Supporting roles are Mickey Rourke, Edgar Ramirez, Delroy Lindo, the film is dedicated to Domino Harvey, who died at only 35 years of age from an overdose of fentanyl on June 27,2005, before the film was released. Domino Harvey, a bounty hunter, has been arrested by the FBI, Domino is interviewed by criminal psychologist Taryn Mills and tells her everything she knows about the case. Domino explains about her profession and the leading up to the theft with Mills occasionally prompting her to give more detail. Domino, a model living in Los Angeles becomes a bounty hunter when, after being kicked out of college. Her colleagues are Ed Moseby, Choco and Afghan driver Alf and they are employed by Claremont Williams III, a bail bondsman who also runs an armored car business. Claremonts mistress, Lateesha Rodriguez, works for the California Department of Motor Vehicles and her granddaughter Mica is suffering from a blood disease and needs an operation that costs $300,000. Claremont sets up the robbery of $10 million from Drake Bishop, the owner of the Stratosphere Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and his bounty hunters would return the stolen money and collect a $300,000 finders fee from Bishop. Lateesha has been running a counterfeit drivers license racket at the DMV, a teenager named Frances arrives at the DMV and asks Lateesha for fake drivers licenses for himself, his brother, and two of their friends. The FBI are tipped about Lateeshas counterfeit drivers license racket and they threaten to send her to jail unless she gives them information about Frances, whom they have been surveilling. Lateesha throws them off the trail by stating that Frances, his brother, Lateesha carries out the robbery with the help of three co-workers. Claremont finds that Frances and his brother are the sons of mafia boss Anthony Cigliutti and he phones Lateesha and tells her to abort the plan, leaving the money with getaway driver Locus Fender who takes the money to his mothers trailer home. Claremont has the bounty hunters apprehend Frances, his brother and his two friends and then tells them to them to men working for Drake Bishop. Claremont tells them to retrieve the money from Locus Fender and to deliver it to Bishop at the Stratosphere Casino, following a shootout with Locuss mother, the money is retrieved. Cigliutti is told about his sons arrest and is led to believe that Bishop had his sons killed, in reality Bishops men released them on finding that they did not know anything about the robbery. Believing his sons dead, Cigliutti is out for revenge and heads for the Stratosphere, in Las Vegas, Domino takes $300,000 of Bishops money and gives it to Lateesha for Micas operation. At the Stratosphere, the bounty hunters meet with Bishop, who has a crew with him. Domino and Bishop discuss the money and what should happen next, Alf has stolen the money and filled the sacks with plastic explosives
Domino (2005 film)
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Theatrical release poster
Domino (2005 film)
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The real
Domino Harvey
47.
The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009 film)
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The Taking of Pelham 123 is a 2009 American thriller film directed by Tony Scott, and starring Denzel Washington and John Travolta. It is a adaptation of the novel by Morton Freedgood, and is a remake of the original 1974 film adaptation. Production began in March 2008, and it was released on June 12,2009, a man calling himself Ryder hijacks Pelham 123, a New York City Subway 6 train that departed from Pelham Bay Park station at 1,23 p. m. Ryder is accompanied by three heavily armed men, Bashkim, Emri and former train operator Phil Ramos. They uncouple the front car from the rest of the train, MTA employee Walter Garber is working the Rail Control Center as a train dispatcher and receives a ransom call from Ryder, who demands $10 million in cash be paid within 60 minutes. Ryder warns that every minute past the deadline they force him to wait, Bashkim kills a plainclothes Transit Police officer who approaches him after recognizing that something is amiss. He and Ramos then allow all the not in the front car to be released except for the motorman. Garber reluctantly negotiates with Ryder and develops a rapport, while Ramos, Ryder uses his laptop to watch the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunge nearly 1,000 points during the next hour in response to the hostage-taking. One of the passengers laptops also connects to the Internet, the webcam allows the people in the control center to observe Ryder and Ramos. Lieutenant Camonetti of the NYPD Emergency Service Unit enters the RCC to take over negotiations, the change infuriates Ryder, who shoots and kills the trains motorman in order to force Camonetti to bring Garber back. Garber blames Camonetti for the motormans death, Camonetti learns that Garber is being investigated for allegedly accepting a $35,000 bribe over a contract for new subway cars. Ryder expresses his admiration for Garbers willingness to risk himself to save a stranger, meanwhile, the Mayor agrees to deliver the ransom money to Ryder and orders the NYPD to deliver it. On the way to the point, the police are involved in an accident. Garber attempts to bluff Ryder by telling him the money has been dropped off, unaware that Ryder has been monitoring events on his laptop, an enraged Ryder threatens to execute one of the children hostages and the childs mother. Another hostage, a soldier, sacrifices himself to save the mother. A short gunfight erupts after an NYPD ESU sniper is bitten by a rat and accidentally discharges his weapon, based on clues that Garber receives during his conversations with Ryder, the NYPD discover that Ryders real name is Dennis Ford. He was a manager at a private equity firm before being sentenced to prison for investment fraud, Ford had agreed to a plea bargain for a three-year sentence, but was instead sentenced to ten years by the judge. Ryder demands that Garber himself deliver the money, and Garber is given a pistol
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Theatrical release poster
48.
Unstoppable (2010 film)
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Unstoppable is a 2010 American disaster thriller film directed and produced by Tony Scott in his final film as director before his death in 2012. The film stars Denzel Washington and Chris Pine, the film, loosely based on the real life CSX8888 incident, tells the story of a runaway freight train and the two men who attempt to stop it. The film was released in the United States and Canada on November 12,2010, the film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Sound Editing at the 83rd Academy Awards, but it was beaten by Inception. Initially believing the train to be a coaster, yardmaster Connie Hooper orders Dewey, Gilleece, when Oldham finds that the train has already passed where it was supposed to be, they realize that the train is running on full power and now poses a dangerous threat. Dewey and Gilleece manage to catch up to 777 using a high railing truck, Hooper alerts Oscar Galvin, director of operations for AWVR, and also instructs the local and state police and sheriffs to secure all the grade crossings to prevent injury. Triple 7 is also pulling around 5000 gallons of fuel which also poses a serious threat. News of the runaway train soon becomes a media event. S, marine Ryan Scott to descend via helicopter to 777s cab and stop the train manually. Though the lashing initially works, a hard bump knocked Scott out. Plans are made to derail the train outside the town of Arklow using a portable derailer. Barnes observes that 777 has an open knuckle, which if they could catch up to the engine, they could use to couple it to 777 and use their own brakes to slow the train before it reaches Stanton. Given that AWVR has already given him an early retirement notice, Barnes ignores Galvin. As 777 passes Arklow, police attempt to shoot the fuel shutoff switch on the engine, as Barnes predicts, the train barrels go through the derailers without slowing down. Hooper and Werner fully support Barnes plan and take control of the situation from Galvin. Barnes and Colson catch up to 777 and attempt to engage the coupling and their attempts to connect with 777 cause the grain car seal to break and leak grain at a blinding rate. Colson notices the locking pin on the coupler is not engaged and he attempts to kick it in but the couple again impacts 1206 and Colson gets his right foot crushed in the process. However, he is able to hold on enough to engage the locking pin. Colson jumps to Oldhams truck, and Oldham drives him up to the front of 777 allowing Colson to get into the cab,777 is safely stopped before it reaches the end of the line. Barnes, Colson, and Oldham are heralded as heroes, with Barnes retiring and Colson reuniting with his wife, Hooper is promoted to Galvins former position for her leadership, and Dewey goes to work into the fast food industry, indicating he was fired
Unstoppable (2010 film)
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Theatrical release poster
