Before becoming a CIA officer, Evelyn Salt swore an oath to duty, honor, and country. She will prove loyal to these when a defector accuses her of being a Russian sleeper spy. Salt goes on the run, using all her skills and years of experience as a covert operative to elude capture, protect her husband, and stay one step ahead of her colleagues at the CIA.

Other Information

• Starring: Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Andre Braugher
• Directed by: Phillip Noyce
• Produced by: Ric Kidney, Mark Vahradian, Ryan Kavanaugh
• Genres: Action/Adventure, Drama and Thriller
• Release Date: July 23rd, 2010 (wide)
• Distributors: Sony Pictures Releasing

Main Cast

• Denzel Washington
• John Travolta
• James Gandolfini
• John Turturro
• Frank Wood

Other Information

• Also Known As: The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, The Taking of Pelham 1, 2, 3, The Taking of Pelham 123 (Remake), The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
• Production Status: Released
• Genres: Action/Adventure, Thriller, Crime/Gangster, Adaptation and Remake
• Running Time: 1 hr 35 min.
• Release Date: June 12th, 2009 (wide)
• MPAA Rating: R for violence and pervasive language.
• Distributors: Sony Pictures Releasing
• Production Co.: Escape Artists, Scott Free Productions
• Studios: Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group
• Financiers: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM), Relativity Media
• U.S. Box Office: $62,900,310
• Filming Locations: New York City, New York, Unietd States, New York City, New York, USA
• Produced in: United States

Main Cast

• Ji-hyeon
• Allison Miller
• Masiela Lusha
• Andrew Pleavin
• Koyuki

Other Information

• Also Known As: Blood Vampire, Last Blood, Rasuto buraddo
• Genres: Action/Adventure, Art/Foreign, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Suspense/Horror and Thriller
• Running Time: 1 hr. 29 min.
• Release Date: July 10th, 2009 (limited)
• MPAA Rating: R for strong bloody stylized violence.
• Distributors: Samuel Goldwyn Films
• Production Co.: Edko Films, Pathe International, Production IG Inc.
• U.S. Box Office: $110,029
• Filming Locations: Russia, China, Argentina
• Produced in: China

Links

• Official site [us]

It competed in the World Cinema Documentary Competition at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize: World Cinema Documentary and the World Cinema Audience Award: Documentary. In February 2009, the film won the BAFTA for Outstanding British Film, the Independent Spirit Awards and the Academy Award for Best Documentary.

Production

The film’s producer, Simon Chinn, first encountered Philippe Petit in 2005 on BBC Radio 4′s Desert Island Discs when he decided to pursue him for the film rights to his book, To Reach the Clouds. After months of discussion, Petit agreed with the conditions that he would play an active, collaborative part in the making of the film.

In an interview conducted during Man on Wire’s run at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival, director James Marsh explained that he was drawn to the story in part because it immediately struck him as “a heist movie”. Marsh also commented that as a New Yorker himself, he saw the film as something to give back to the city. He said he hopes to hear people say that they will now always think of Petit and his performance when recalling the World Trade Center’s twin towers.

Responding to questioning as to why the towers’ destruction 27 years later was not mentioned in the film, Marsh explained that Philippe Petit’s act was “incredibly beautiful” and that it “would be unfair and wrong to infect his story with any mention, discussion or imagery of the Towers being destroyed.”

Reception

Man on Wire has won the prestigious Special Jury Award and Audience Award at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, the International Audience Award at the Los Angeles Film Festival and the Standard Life Audience Award at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. The film has also won the Jury Prize and Audience Award in the World Cinema: Documentary competition at the Sundance Film Festival. To date, Man on Wire is only the sixth film ever in the history of Sundance to pick up both top awards and the first from outside the US. In February 2009, the film won the BAFTA for Outstanding British Film. It won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 81st annual Oscars.

Film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 100% of the 137 reviews they have collected have been positive, making it “The Best of All Time” reviewed film on their site.

Soundtrack

Much of the film’s soundtrack is derived from the 2006 album, The Composer’s Cut Series Vol. II: Nyman/Greenaway Revisited.

1. Fish Beach – Michael Nyman (from Drowning by Numbers)
2. History Of The Insipid – Michael Nyman (from The Libertine)
3. Albatross – Fleetwood Mac
4. Dreams Of A Journey – Michael Nyman (from The Piano)
5. Time Lapse – Michael Nyman (from A Zed & Two Noughts)
6. The Disposition Of Linen – Michael Nyman (from The Draughtsman’s Contract)
7. A Fifth of Beethoven – Walter Murphy
8. Chasing Sheep Is Best Left To Shepherds – Michael Nyman (from The Draughtsman’s Contract)
9. An Eye For Optical Theory – Michael Nyman (from The Draughtsman’s Contract)
10. The Lark Ascending – English Northern Philharmonia (composed by Ralph Vaughan Williams)
11. A Ramble In St. James’s Park – Michael Nyman (from The Libertine)
12. Passage de L’Egalité – Michael Nyman (from La Traversée de Paris)
13. In The Hall Of The Mountain King – Philadelphia Orchestra (composed by Edvard Grieg)
14. Drowning By Number 2 – Michael Nyman (from Drowning by Numbers)
15. Trysting Fields/Sheep ‘n’ Tides – Michael Nyman (from Drowning by Numbers)
16. Memorial – Michael Nyman
17. Leaving Home (Opening Titles) – Josh Ralph
18. Leaving Home Sunday Exploration (End Credits) – Josh Ralph
19. Gnossienne No. 1 – Gheorghe Constantinescu (composed by Erik Satie)
20. Gymnopédie No.1 – Anne Queffélec (composed by Erik Satie)

Cast & Credits

• Directed by: James Marsh
• Produced by: Simon Chinn – Wall to Wall
• Starring: Philippe Petit
• Music by : Philippe PetitJosh Ralph (title theme), Michael Nyman
• Cinematography: Igor Martinovic
• Editing by: Jinx Godfrey

Other Information

• Distributed by: Magnolia Pictures (US) Icon (UK) Madman (Australia) Diaphana (France)
• Release dates: Sundance Film Festival: January 22, 2008; United States: July 15, 2008; Australia: October 16, 2008
• Running time: 90 min.
• Country: United Kingdom
• Language: English, French

Links

• Official website
• Man on Wire at the Internet Movie Database
• Man on Wire Q&A at IGN
• Man on Wire at Rotten Tomatoes
• Trailer

Incoming search terms:

• man on wire
• man on a wire
• drowning by numbers cinema
• Man on Wire image
• man on wire title photo
• new wtc optical
• wtc memorial wired new york

After directing Finding Nemo, Stanton felt Pixar had created believable simulations of underwater physics and was willing to direct a film set in space. Most of the characters do not have actual human voices, but instead communicate with body language and robotic sounds, designed by Ben Burtt, that resemble voices. In addition, it is the first animated feature by Pixar to have segments featuring live-action characters.

Walt Disney Pictures released it in the United States and Canada on June 27, 2008. The film grossed $23.1 million on its opening day, and $63 million during its opening weekend in 3,992 theaters, ranking #1 at the box office. This ranks the third highest-grossing opening weekend for a Pixar film as of July 2008. Following Pixar tradition, WALL-E was paired with a short film, Presto, for its theatrical release. WALL-E has achieved highly positive reviews with an approval rating of 96% on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. It grossed $533 million worldwide, won the 2009 Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film, and the 2009 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, and was nominated for five other Academy Awards.

Plot

In the early 29th century, the Earth is deserted and covered in trash. 700 years earlier, the world was governed by the Buy n Large (“BnL”) corporation, who evacuated humanity to live aboard fully automated luxury starliners for five years while garbage compacting WALL-E robots cleaned up the planet. Rising toxicity levels caused the evacuation to be extended indefinitely, and all of the WALL-E units broke down except for one, who survived by salvaging parts off his defunct brethren. He eventually developed sentience and became curious about love after watching a video of the film Hello, Dolly!. One day, a spaceship lands and deploys an advanced, feminine probe robot named EVE, with whom WALL-E falls in love at first sight. During a dust storm he brings her to his truck, showing her his collection of abandoned items. When WALL-E shows her a seedling plant he found earlier, EVE stores the plant inside herself and goes into standby. WALL-E protects her motionless body, even taking her out on dates, hoping that she will reboot, but to no avail.

When EVE’s ship returns to collect her, WALL-E desperately clings to the hull of the ship as it launches into space and returns to the Axiom, the flagship of the BnL starliners. WALL-E follows EVE as she is taken to the bridge. Along the way, it becomes apparent that after centuries of being reliant on the machinery around them, microgravity, and consuming liquid food, humanity has suffered severe bone loss, becoming extremely obese and unable to walk, reclining on moving chairs and communicating only through video messaging; even piloting the ship is handled by its computerized autopilot, Auto, rather than the human Captain. WALL-E perplexes several humans and robots with his peculiar behavior, particularly a cleaning robot named M-O, who obsessively follows and cleans WALL-E’s filthy tracks, and two humans, John and Mary, who talk to each other face to face for the first time when WALL-E distracts them. On the bridge, EVE is reactivated and shown to the Captain, who learns from a video recording by BnL CEO Shelby Forthright that if EVE’s plant sample is scanned by the ship’s holo-detector, the ship will make an automatic hyperjump back to Earth so that humanity can recolonize the planet. When EVE is opened, however, the plant is missing: she is deemed defective and sent to a repair ward with WALL-E whom the Captain orders to be cleaned.

In the repair ward, WALL-E mistakes EVE’s repairs for torture and tries to free her, but accidentally releases a host of malfunctioning robots, causing him and EVE to be designated “rogue robots” by security. Annoyed with WALL-E, EVE tries to send him back to Earth on an escape pod. Traveling to the pod launch room, they see GO-4, Auto’s security assistant, deposit the missing plant in a pod that he sets to self-destruct. WALL-E sneaks into the pod to retrieve the plant as the pod is ejected, and narrowly escapes with the plant. Overjoyed that WALL-E is alive and has recovered the plant, EVE dances with him around in space before returning to give the plant to the Captain. In his excitement, the Captain has EVE replay a visual recording of her mission on Earth, and discovers the planet is still devastated. During the replay, EVE realizes WALL-E protected her while she was inactive, and finally understands his feelings for her. The Captain realizes humanity must restore Earth and orders Auto to assist. Auto refuses and shows the Captain a secret recording from Shelby Forthright codenamed A113 that was made when the cleanup operation failed, in which Forthright ordered the autopilots to keep humanity in space. When the Captain resists, Auto imprisons him in his quarters, electrocutes WALL-E, and sends him and EVE down a garbage chute.

In the Axiom’s garbage hold, WALL-E and EVE are almost jettisoned into space with the trash until M-O – having followed WALL-E all this time in the hopes of cleaning him – arrives to rescue them. EVE, M-O and WALL-E fly to the holo-detector and rally the malfunctioning robots to their aid. The Captain escapes captivity by tricking Auto and battles him while the damaged WALL-E struggles to keep the holo-detector open, only to be jammed inside and crushed. The Captain summons the strength to stand up unaided and deactivates Auto, and with the help of the humans and robots, EVE places the plant in the holo-detector, releasing the damaged WALL-E. The Axiom makes a hyperjump to Earth and lands; EVE repairs and revives WALL-E with the spare parts he kept in his truck. Unfortunately, his memory and personality are corrupted, reverting him to his original programming as an unfeeling waste compactor. Heartbroken, EVE takes his hand and gives him a farewell “kiss”, causing an electric spark that restores his memory. WALL-E and EVE happily reunite as the humans and robots place the plant in the ground, and begin working together to rebuild their home.

Awards

WALL-E won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and was nominated for Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Original Song, Sound Editing, and Sound Mixing at the 81st Academy Awards. Walt Disney Pictures also pushed for an Academy Award for Best Picture nomination, but it was not nominated, provoking controversy as to whether the Academy deliberately restricted WALL-E to the Best Animated Feature category, Peter Travers commented that “If there was ever a time where an animated feature deserved to be nominated for best picture it’s Wall-E.” Only one animated film, 1991′s Beauty and the Beast, has ever been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, after which the category of Best Animated Feature was created. A reflective Stanton stated he was not disappointed the film was restricted to the Best Animated Film nomination because he was overwhelmed by the film’s positive reception, and eventually “The line [between live-action and animation] is just getting so blurry that I think with each proceeding year, it’s going to be tougher and tougher to say what’s an animated movie and what’s not an animated movie.”

WALL-E made a healthy appearance at the various 2008 end of the year awards circles, particularly in the Best Picture category, where animated films are often overlooked. It has won the award, or the equivalent of it, from the Boston Society of Film Critics (tied with Slumdog Millionaire), the Chicago Film Critics Association, the Central Ohio Film Critics awards, the Online Film Critics Society, and most notably the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, where it became the first animated feature to win the prestigious award. It was named as one of 2008′s ten best films by the American Film Institute and the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.

It won Best Animated Feature Film at the 66th Golden Globe Awards, 81st Academy Awards and the Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards 2008. It was nominated for several awards at the 2009 Annie Awards, including Best Feature Film, Animated Effects, Character Animation, Direction, Production design, Storyboarding and Voice acting (for Ben Burtt); but it won none. It won Best Animated Feature at the 62nd British Academy Film Awards, and was also nominated there for Best Music and Sound. Thomas Newman and Peter Gabriel won two Grammy Awards for “Down to Earth” and “Define Dancing”. It won all three awards it was nominated for by the Visual Effects Society: Best Animation, Best Character Animation (for WALL-E and EVE in the truck) and Best Effects in the Animated Motion Picture categories. It became the first animated film to win Best Editing for a Comedy or Musical from the American Cinema Editors.

At the British National Movie Awards, which is voted for by the public, it won Best Family Film. It was also voted Best Feature Film at the British Academy Children’s Awards. WALL-E was listed at #63 on Empire’s online poll of the 100 greatest movie characters, conducted in 2008.

Cast & Credits

• Directed by: Andrew Stanton
• Produced by: Jim Morris, Lindsey Collins (co-producer), John Lasseter (executive producer)
• Written by: Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon (screenplay), Pete Docter (story credit)
• Starring: Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard, John Ratzenberger, Kathy Najimy, Sigourney Weaver
• Music by: Thomas Newman, Peter Gabriel
• Editing by: Stephen Schaffer

Other Information

• Studio: Pixar Animation Studios
• Distributed by: Walt Disney Pictures
• Release dates: June 27, 2008 (USA); July 18, 2008 (UK); September 18, 2008 (AUS), (NZ)
• Running time: 98 min
• Country: United States
• Language: English
• Budget: $180 million
• Gross revenue: $533,692,120

Links

• Official site
• WALL-E at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• WALL-E at the Internet Movie Database
• WALL-E at Allmovie
• WALL-E at Box Office Mojo
• WALL-E at Rotten Tomatoes
• WALL-E at Metacritic

It tells the story of Michael Berg, a German lawyer who as a teenager in the late 1950s had an affair with an older woman, Hanna Schmitz, who then disappeared only to resurface years later as one of the defendants in a war crimes trial stemming from her actions as a concentration camp guard late in the war. Michael realizes that Hanna is keeping a secret she believes is worse than her Nazi past, a secret that may cost her at the trial.

Winslet and David Kross, who plays the young Michael, have received much praise for their performances. Winslet received praise and won a Golden Globe Award, BAFTA Awards, Screen Actors Guild award and the Best Actress Academy Award in 2009 for her role in the film. The film has also been nominated for several other major awards.

Plot

The Reader begins in 1995 Berlin, where Michael Berg (Ralph Fiennes) is preparing breakfast for a woman who has spent the night with him. After she leaves, Michael watches a U-Bahn pass by, flashing back to a tram in 1958 Neustadt. A teenage Michael (David Kross) gets off because he is feeling sick and wanders around the streets afterwards, finally pausing in the entryway of a nearby apartment building where he vomits. Hanna Schmitz (Kate Winslet), the tram conductor, comes in and assists him in returning home.

Michael, diagnosed with scarlet fever, must rest at home for the next three months. After he recovers he visits Hanna. The two begin an affair. During their liaisons, at her apartment, he reads to her literary works he is studying, such as The Odyssey, The Lady with the Little Dog and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. After a bicycling trip, Hanna learns she is being promoted to a clerical job at the tram company. She abruptly moves without leaving a trace.

After seeing the adult Michael, a lawyer, we see him at Heidelberg University law school in 1966. As part of a special seminar taught by Professor Rohl (Bruno Ganz), a camp survivor, he observes a trial of several women who were accused of letting 300 Jewish women die in a burning church when they were SS guards on the death march following the 1944 evacuation of Auschwitz. Hanna is one of the defendants.

Stunned, Michael visits a former camp himself. The trial divides the seminar, with one student angrily saying there is nothing to be learned from it other than that evil acts occurred and that the older generation of Germans should kill themselves for their failure to act then.

The key evidence is the testimony of Ilana Mather (Alexandra Maria Lara), author of a memoir of how she and her mother survived. Hanna, unlike her fellow defendants, admits that Auschwitz was an extermination camp and that the ten women she chose during each month’s Selektion were gassed. She denies authorship of a report on the church fire, despite pressure from the other defendants, but then admits it when asked to provide a handwriting sample.

Michael then realizes Hanna’s secret: she is functionally illiterate and has concealed that her whole life. She joined the SS to avoid a job promotion that would have revealed it. Michael informs Rohl that he has information favorable to one of the defendants but is not sure what to do since she wants to avoid disclosing this. Rohl tells him that if he has learned nothing from the past there is no point in having the seminar.

Hanna receives a life sentence for her role in the church deaths while the other defendants get shorter terms. Michael meanwhile marries, has a daughter and divorces. Rediscovering his books and notes from the time of his affair, he begins reading them into a tape recorder. He sends the cassette tapes and a tape recorder to Hanna. Eventually she learns to read, and writes back to him.

Michael does not write back or visit, but keeps sending tapes, and in 1988 a prison official (Linda Basset) telephones him to seek his help with Hannah’s transition into society upon her upcoming release. He finds a place for her to live and a job, and finally visits. The night before her release Hannah hangs herself and leaves a note to Michael and a tea tin with cash in it.

Later, Michael travels to New York. He meets Ilana (Lena Olin) and confesses his past relationship with Hanna. He tells her that Hanna was illiterate for most of her life, and that her suicide note told him to give the cash from the tea tin and some money she had in a bank account to Ilana. Ilana tells Michael there is nothing to be learned from the camps. Michael suggests that he donate the money to a organization that combats adult illiteracy, preferably a Jewish one, and she agrees. Ilana keeps the tea tin since it is similar to one stolen from her in Auschwitz.

The film ends with Michael getting back together with his daughter, Julia, at Hanna’s grave and beginning to tell her the story.

Production

In April 1998, Miramax Films acquired the rights to the 1995 German novel The Reader by Bernhard Schlink, and principal photography began in September 2007 immediately after Stephen Daldry was signed to direct the film adaptation and actor Ralph Fiennes was cast into a lead role. Kate Winslet was originally cast as Hanna, but scheduling difficulties led her to leave the film and Nicole Kidman was cast as her replacement. In January 2008, Nicole Kidman left the project, citing her recent pregnancy as the primary reason. She had not filmed any scenes yet, so the studio was able to re-cast Winslet into the lead role without affecting the production schedule.

Filming took place in the cities of Berlin and Goerlitz and was finished in Cologne on July 14th. Filmmakers received US$718,752 from Germany’s Federal Film Board. Overall, the studio has received US$4.1 million from Germany’s regional and federal subsidiaries.

Schlink insisted the film be shot in English, rather than German, as it posed questions about living in a post-genocidal society that went beyond mid-century Germany. Daldry and Hare toured locations from the novel with Schlink, viewed documentaries about that period in German history and read books and articles about women who had served as SS guards in the camps. Hare, who rejected using a voiceover narration to render the long internal monologues in the novel, also changed the ending so that Michael starts to tell the story of Hanna and him to his daughter. “It’s about literature as a powerful means of communication, and at other times as a substitute for communication”, he explained.

The primary cast, all of whom were German besides Fiennes, Olin and Winslet, decided to emulate Kross’s accent, since he had just learned English for the film.

Chris Menges replaced Roger Deakins as cinematographer. One of the film’s producers, Scott Rudin, left the production over a dispute about the release date and has had his name removed from the credit list. Rudin differed with Harvey Weinstein “because he didn’t want to campaign for an Oscar along with “Doubt” and “Revolutionary Road,” which also stars Winslet.” Kate Winslet won best actress for the Academy Awards for “The Reader”, the film she has been awarded a Golden Globe as best supporting actress. Marc Caro writes, “Because Winslet couldn’t get best actress nominations for both movies, the Weinstein Co. shifted her to supporting actress for “The Reader” as a courtesy.”

Reception

Critical reception for the film was positive to mixed, having a 60% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Variety wrote that the film was well-realized and dramatic, but that it came “across as an essentially cerebral experience without gut impact.” Manohla Dargis in The New York Times was very critical of the film’s flashback structure and its tendency to treat horrific subjects artistically.

…you have to wonder who, exactly, wants or perhaps needs to see another movie about the Holocaust that embalms its horrors with artfully spilled tears and asks us to pity a death-camp guard. You could argue that the film isn’t really about the Holocaust, but about the generation that grew up in its shadow, which is what the book insists. But the film is neither about the Holocaust nor about those Germans who grappled with its legacy: it’s about making the audience feel good about a historical catastrophe that grows fainter with each new tasteful interpolation.

Patrick Goldstein, writing in The Los Angeles Times, said “The picture’s biggest problem is that it simply doesn’t capture the chilling intensity of its source material,” and noted that there was a “largely lackluster early reaction” to the film by most film critics.

Ron Rosenbaum was highly critical of the film’s fixation on Hanna’s illiteracy.

“so much is made of the deep, deep exculpatory shame of illiteracy—despite the fact that burning 300 people to death doesn’t require reading skills—that some worshipful accounts of the novel (by those who buy into its ludicrous premise, perhaps because it’s been declared “classic” and “profound”) actually seem to affirm that illiteracy is something more to be ashamed of than participating in mass murder… Lack of reading skills is more disgraceful than listening in bovine silence to the screams of 300 people as they are burned to death behind the locked doors of a church you’re guarding to prevent them from escaping the flames. Which is what Hanna did, although, of course, it’s not shown in the film.”

Kirk Honeycutt in The Hollywood Reporter was more generous, concluding the picture was a “well-told coming-of-age yarn” but “disturbing” for raising critical questions about complicity in the Holocaust. He praised Winslet and Kross for providing “gutsy, intense performances”, and noted that Olin and Ganz turn in “memorable appearances.” He wrote that the cinematographers Chris Menges and Roger Deakins lent the film a “fine professional polish”.

The film appeared on several critics’ top ten lists of the best films of 2008. Stephen Farber of The Hollywood Reporter named it the 4th best film of 2008, Tasha Robinson of The A.V. Club named it the 8th best film of 2008, and Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times put it on his unranked top 20 list and by now (22 feb 2009) she won the oscar award of her acting in movie.

Cast & Credits

• Directed by: Stephen Daldry
• Produced by: Anthony Minghella, Sydney Pollack, Scott Rudin (uncredited)
• Written by: David Hare
• Starring: Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, David Kross, Alexandra Maria Lara, Lena Olin, Bruno Ganz, Thorben Lembke, Hannah Herzsprung, Karoline Herfurth, Burghard Klaußner
• Music by: Nico Muhly
• Cinematography: Chris Menges, Roger Deakins
• Editing by: Claire Simpson

Other Information

• Distributed by: The Weinstein Company
• Release date: December 10, 2008
• Running time: 124 min.
• Country: USA, Germany
• Language: English
• Budget: $32 million

Links

• The Reader Official Website
• The Reader at the Internet Movie Database
• The Reader at Allmovie
• The Reader at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Reader at Box Office Mojo
• The Reader at Metacritic

Incoming search terms:

• celebrity thereader

Plot

Set at the end of the eighteenth century, The Duchess is based on the life of Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire. While her beauty and charisma made her name, her extravagant tastes and appetite for gambling and love made her infamous. Married young to the older, distant Duke of Devonshire, who was blatantly unfaithful, Georgiana became a fashion icon, a doting mother, a shrewd political operator, intimate of ministers and princes, and darling of the common people. But at the core of the story is a desperate search for love. The film delves into Georgiana’s passionate and doomed affair with Earl Grey, the future Prime Minister, and the complex love triangle with her husband and her best friend, Lady Bess Foster.

The film depicts Georgiana’s tragic life story, with particular emphasis on her over-before-it-began relationship with Charles Grey. At the start of the movie, the Duchess and her friends are betting on which of their young male friends will win a race. The young mens’ names are put into a hat, and Georgiana picks Charles’ name. When he wins the race, Georgiana is delighted, and he asks for his reward. She in turn asks him what he thinks it should be, and the moment is filled with unsaid passion. Just then, though, Georgiana is summoned by her mother and Charles leaves, looking back every now and again.

Georgiana’s mother, Lady Spencer, announces that she is to be married to the Duke of Devonshire, who we later see is extremly unfaithful, and a harsh, exacting, hypocritic. Nevertheless, Georgiana strives to meet his standards and please him, but when, after six years, she does not produce a single male heir, only two daughters, his bitterness and resentment grows, even when she raises Charlotte, an illegitmate daughter of his, as if she were her own. It is around that time that Georgiana meets Lady Elizabeth, after seeing her husband talking to Lady Elizabeth at a party and suspecting that something is going on between them. However, Elizabeth reveals that there is nothing between her and the Duke, and, surprisingly, the two soon became extremely close friends. Elizabeth tells Georgiana that she has nowhere to stay and so the latter offers her a room at their house. Elizabeth, or ‘Bess’ soon becomes a permanent fixture in the Devonshire household.

One night, when the Duke, Georgiana and Bess are attending a play, Georgiana spies her old friend, Charles Grey and asks him how he found the play. When he does not show much enthusiasm, and she reminds him that it is supposed to be a comedy, and that she hopes that he has not lost his sense of humour after going to college. Upon hearing this, he looks deep into Georgiana’s eyes and says that it looked more like a tragedy to him. This is of particular significance to Georgiana, as the play is about a beautiful young girl who marries a much older, disgruntled man who only seeks a male heir, which echoes perfectly Georgiana’s predicament. Indeed, the playwright remarks to her that he had been thinking of titling the play ‘The Bad Marriage’. Accordingly, Georgiana looks into Charles’ eyes and we see the same passion and emotion we saw at the beginning of the film, when they were both young and free.

Georgiana and Charles continue to talk whenever they meet. At one of these meetings, he tells her that the campaign for his political party is not going well at all, to which she replies that she has many faults, not least of them being her ability to draw attention, and then tells him that she will use that to their advantage.

And so, with Georgiana’s help, Charles makes a speech to a huge crowd, who then cheer for him wholeheartedly, while Elizabeth looks on in a wonder bordering on adoration. After he has made his speech, the two go inside to talk and he asks her what she thought of his speech. She says that it was a ‘marvel’, and the conversation soon switches to their feelings for each other. When asked if he thinks about her when they are not together, he replies that he does, all the time, and that he always has. At that exact moment, someone informs Georgiana that her carriage is ready, interrupting the heavily anticipated kiss.

Georgiana returns home light-hearted, but her happy mood is soon quashed by the revelation that the Duke has been having an affair with Bess. Although he has had many affairs before, of which Georgiana has been, to an extent, oblivious, she is enraged that he should have an affair with her best friend, the ‘sole comfort in their marriage’, and a heated argument ensues. Georgiana insists that Elizabeth leave the house at once, but the Duke flatly refuses.

Soon, growing restless that she is forced to live with her husband’s mistress and former best friend, Georgiana proposes a deal with her husband. Georgiana will give her blessings for Bess to marry the Duke, if the Duke will accept Georgiana’s romantic feelings for Grey. Enraged, the Duke chases and corners Georgiana in their bedroom, where he proceeds to rape her. The entire household is forced to bear Georgiana’s screams, and when it is finally over, the Duke demands a son from his wife.

Trapped in her own life, the Duchess forgets her usual manners, and one evening, at a party, becomes so intoxicated that she accidentally sets her wig on fire, embarrassing her husband before other members of the court. Soon after, The Duke discovers Georgiana is pregnant, and not long after, she gives birth to a healthy son.

In the midst of all this pain and betrayal, it is Charles Grey to whom Georgiana turns. They soon begin a passionate affair, and she visits him often at his private estate, with Bess encouraging Georgiana to enjoy her lover. But soon The Duke discovers the romance and comes to take back his wife, threatening her with the loss of her children forever. Upon reading letters from her children, Georgiana returns home, prepared to endure the Duke for the sake of her children. Grey seeks her out, making a loud scene at her front door. She tries to explain her situation, and informs him there is nothing that will change her mind.

Georgiana reveals to her husband and Bess that she is pregnant with Grey’s child, and the Duke arranges for the child to be born in secret and given to Grey’s family to avoid a scandal. Soon after the birth, Georgiana is forced to surrender her new born baby girl, Eliza, to the Grey family. Georgiana returns home, and, surprisingly, The Duke attempts to comfort his wife by taking her to a party where Grey is sure to attend. Grey and Georgiana meet, and discuss where Georgiana has been. She states she has been travelling for the last year with her husband. At this, Grey informs her that he has a new niece, a beautiful girl named Eliza, implying he knows of their child. They part with humble goodbyes.

Georgiana returns to her life with her husband, Bess, and her children, with secret visits to her daughter.

Production

The Duchess is financed by BBC Films and Pathé. The Duchess was filmed at Twickenham Film Studios and on-location at Chatsworth, Bath, Holkham Hall, Clandon Park, Kedleston Hall, Somerset House and The University of Greenwich.

Regarding lead actress Keira Knightley, director Saul Dibb said The Duchess was “a chance to take a character from late childhood — she’s married at 17—into full adulthood, 10 years later.” It was also a chance to work with Ralph Fiennes, whom she regarded as one of her most accomplished co-stars to date; Dibb said, “When I said, ‘We’ve got Ralph interested in playing the Duke,’ we both took a gulp and went, ‘F—.’ [sic] … But I didn’t for one second feel that she wasn’t up to the task.”

Cast & Credits

• Directed by: Saul Dibb
• Produced by: Gabrielle Tana, Michael Kuhn
• Written by  Book: Amanda Foreman
• Screenplay: Jeffrey Hatcher, Anders Thomas Jensen, Saul Dibb
• Starring: Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, Hayley Atwell, Charlotte Rampling, Dominic Cooper, Aidan McArdle, Simon McBurney
• Music by: Rachel Portman
• Cinematography: Gyula Pados
• Editing by: Masahiro Hirakubo

Other Information

• Distributed by: Paramount Vantage, BBC Films, Pathé, Qwerty Films
• Release dates: United Kingdom: September 5, 2008; United States: September 19, 2008
• Running time: 110 min.
• Country: United Kingdom
• Language: English
• Budget: £13,5 million, $25,2 million, €17,1 million
• Gross revenue: $38,370,150

Links

• The Duchess official website
• The Duchess at the Internet Movie Database
• Twickenham Studios, the studio location
• Magnolia Mae Films, the production company
• Telegraph.co.uk on set report
• eFilmCritic.com interview with Dominic Cooper on The Duchess by Dan Lybarger
• http://www.amanda-foreman.com

The Joker’s identity is left a mystery in the film, while Dent’s transformation from heroic district attorney to disfigured killer Two-Face is presented entirely. Nolan’s inspiration for the film was the Joker’s comic book debut in 1940, and the 1996 series The Long Halloween, which retold Two-Face’s origin. The Dark Knight was filmed primarily in Chicago, as well as in several other locations in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Hong Kong. Nolan used an IMAX camera to film some sequences, including the Joker’s first appearance in the film.

On January 22, 2008, after he had completed filming The Dark Knight, Heath Ledger died from a toxic combination of prescription drugs, leading to intense attention from the press and moviegoing public. Warner Bros. initially created a viral marketing campaign for The Dark Knight, developing promotional websites and trailers highlighting screen shots of Ledger as the Joker, but after Ledger’s death, the studio refocused its promotional campaign. The film was released on July 16, 2008 in Australia, on July 18, 2008 in North America, and on July 24, 2008 in the United Kingdom.

Before its box office debut in North America, record numbers of advanced tickets were sold for The Dark Knight. It was greeted with positive reviews upon release, and became only the second film to earn more than $500 million at the North American box office, setting numerous other records in the process. It is also the fourth highest grossing film worldwide, and only the fourth film to earn more than $1 billion. Following its critical and commercial success, The Dark Knight has gone to garner multiple awards ranging from Best Director to Best Special Effects.

Plot

In Gotham City, the Joker robs a mob bank with his accomplices, whom he tricks into killing one another, ultimately killing the last one himself. That night, Batman and Lieutenant James Gordon contemplate including new district attorney Harvey Dent in their plan to eradicate the mob. However, Batman wonders if Dent can be trusted. Bruce runs into Rachel Dawes and Dent, who are dating, and after talking to Dent, he realizes Dent’s sincerity and decides to host a fundraiser for him.

Mob bosses Sal Maroni, Gambol and the Chechen meet with other underworld gangsters to discuss both Batman and Dent, who have been cracking down on the mobster’s operations. Lau, a Chinese mafia accountant, informs them that he has hidden their money and fled to Hong Kong in an attempt to pre-empt Gordon’s plan to seize the mobsters’ funds. In Hong Kong, Batman captures Lau and delivers him to the Gotham City police, where Lau agrees to testify against the mob. In retaliation, the mobsters hire the Joker to kill Batman and Lau. The Joker issues an ultimatum to Gotham, stating that if Batman does not reveal his identity to the public, people will die each day. When Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb, Judge Surillo and Gordon are murdered by corrupt police, the public’s increasing pressure prompts Bruce to decide to reveal his identity. Before Bruce can turn himself in, Dent announces at a press conference that he is Batman and is arrested as part of a plan to draw the Joker out of hiding. The Joker attempts to ambush the police convoy carrying Dent, but Batman and Gordon, who had feigned death at Loeb’s memorial to protect his family’s safety, intervene and capture him. In recognition of his actions, Gordon is appointed the new police commissioner, succeeding the assassinated Loeb.

Later that night, Dent and Rachel disappear. At the police station, Batman interrogates the Joker, who reveals that Dent and Rachel are in warehouses rigged with explosives on opposite sides of the city — far enough apart so that Batman cannot save them both. Batman leaves to save Rachel, while Gordon and the police head after Dent. With the aid of a smuggled bomb, the Joker escapes police custody with Lau. Batman arrives to save Rachel but instead finds Dent. Batman, furious with himself, successfully saves Dent, but the ensuing explosion disfigures Dent’s face. Gordon arrives at Rachel’s location too late, and she perishes when the bomb detonates.

Aboard a cargo ship, the Joker burns Lau to death atop a pile of the mob’s money and has the Chechen killed, before taking control of his men. The Joker goes to the hospital and frees Dent from his restraints, convincing him to exact revenge on the people responsible for Rachel’s death, as well as Batman and Gordon for not saving her. The Joker destroys the hospital on his way out, and then escapes with a hijacked bus full of hospital patients.

Out of the hospital, Dent goes on a personal vendetta, confronting Maroni and the corrupt cops one by one. The Joker announces to the public that anyone left in Gotham at nightfall will be subject to his rule. With the bridges and tunnels out of the city closed due to a bomb threat by the Joker, authorities begin evacuating people by ferry. The Joker places explosives on two of the ferries—one ferry with convicts, who were evacuated in an effort to keep the Joker from freeing them, and the other with civilians—telling the passengers the only way to save themselves is to trigger the explosives on the other ferry; otherwise, he will destroy both at midnight. Batman locates the Joker and the hostages he has taken. Realizing the Joker has disguised the hostages as his own men, Batman is forced to attack both Gordon’s SWAT team and the Joker’s henchmen in order to save the real hostages.

The Joker’s plan to destroy the ferries fails after the passengers on both decide not to destroy each other. Batman locates and subdues the Joker, preventing him from destroying both ferries. The Joker acknowledges that Batman is truly incorruptible, but that Dent was not, and that he has unleashed Dent upon the city. Leaving the Joker for the SWAT team, Batman leaves in search of Dent.

At the remains of the building where Rachel died, Batman finds Dent holding Gordon and his family at gunpoint. Dent judges the innocence of Batman, himself, and Gordon’s son through three coin tosses. Because of the first two flips, he shoots Batman in the abdomen and spares himself. Before Dent can determine the boy’s fate, Batman, who was wearing body armor, tackles him over the side of the building. Gordon’s son is saved, but Dent and Batman fall to the ground below resulting in Dent’s death. Batman and Gordon realize that the morale of the city will suffer if Dent’s murders become known, so Batman persuades Gordon to preserve Dent’s image by holding Batman responsible for the murders. Gordon smashes the Bat-Signal, and a manhunt for Batman begins.

Cast & Credits

• Directed by: Christopher Nolan
• Produced by: Christopher Nolan, Charles Roven, Emma Thomas
• Written by  Screenplay: Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan
• Story: David S. Goyer, Christopher Nolan
• Comic Book: Bob Kane, Bill Finger
• Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Morgan Freeman
• Music by:  Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard
• Cinematography: Wally Pfister
• Editing by: Lee Smith

Other Information

• Studio: Legendary Pictures, Syncopy Films, DC Comics
• Distributed by: Warner Bros.
• Release dates: Australia: July 16, 2008; North America: July 18, 2008; United Kingdom: July 24, 2008
• Running time: 152 min.
• Country: United States
• Language: English
• Budge: $185 million
• Gross revenue: $1,001,082,160
• Preceded by: Batman Begins

Links

• Official website
• Official site script
• The Dark Knight at the Internet Movie Database
• The Dark Knight at Allmovie
• The Dark Knight at Box Office Mojo
• The Dark Knight at MySpace
• The Dark Knight at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Dark Knight at Metacritic

Incoming search terms:

• batman film

Plot

Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki), a cellist in an orchestra in Tokyo, loses his job because of dissolution of the orchestra. After quitting as a professional cellist, he decides to sell his cello which he had recently purchased for 18 million yen, then deciding to move back to Sakata, Yamagata, his old hometown along with his wife to find a new job. One day, he finds a classified ad entitled “Assisting departures” for an NK Agency. He then has a job interview thinking it is a travel agency. But at the interview, he discovers that NK is an abbreviation for “encoffinment” and he is instead assisting the “departed”.

Awards

International

• 81st Academy Awards: Best Foreign Language Film
• 17th Golden Rooster Award :Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor (Masahiro Motoki)
• 28th Hawaii International Film Festival: Audience Choice Award
• 32nd Montreal World Film Festival: Grand Prix des Amériques
• 20th Palm Springs International Film Festival: Mercedes-Benz Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature

Domestic

• 51st Blue Ribbon Awards: Best Actor (Masahiro Motoki)
• 33rd Hochi Film Awards: Best Film
• 32nd Japan Academy Prize Best Film, Best Director (Yojiro Takita), Best writing (Kundo Koyama), Best Actor (Masahiro Motoki), Best Supporting Actor (Tsutomu Yamazaki), Best Supporting Actress (Kimiko Yo), Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Litings
• 82nd Kinema Junpo Awards: Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Actor (Masahiro Motoki)
• 21st Nikkan Sports Film Award: Best Film and Best Director
• 30th Yokohama Film Festival: Best Film, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actress (Kimiko Yo, Ryoko Hirosue)

Cast & Credits

• Directed by: Yojiro Takita
• Written by: Kundo Koyama
• Starring: Masahiro Motoki, Ryoko Hirosue, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Kimiko Yo, Kazuko Yoshiyuki, Takashi Sasano, Tetta Sugimoto, Toru Minegishi
• Music by: Joe Hisaishi
• Cinematography: Takeshi Hamada
• Editing by: Akimasa Kawashima

Other Information

• Distributed by: Shochiku, Regent Releasing (USA)
• Release date:September 13, 2008
• Running time: 131 minutes
• Country: Japan
• Language: Japanese

Links

• Official Japan web site
• Official U.S. web site

Incoming search terms:

• the departure japanese movie
• shinjiro masahiro
• departed japanese movie
• Departure japanese
• Departures (81st Academy Award Best Foreign Language Film 2009)
• Departures by Yojiro Takita (2008)
• information on movie Departures 2008
• the departure movie japanese

The film premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, then received a rolling worldwide general release that started in August 2008 in the USA, and continued in various countries each month until the June 2009 release in Japan.

Plot

Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) visit Barcelona for the summer, staying with Vicky’s distant relative Judy (Patricia Clarkson) and her husband, Mark Nash (Kevin Dunn). A narrator (voice of Christopher Evan Welch), present throughout the film, describes the two friends: Vicky is practical and traditional in her approach to love and commitment, and is engaged to the reliable but unromantic Doug (Chris Messina). She is in Barcelona getting her masters in “Catalan identity”. Cristina, on the other hand, is a nonconformist, spontaneous but unsure of what she wants from life or love.

At an art exhibition, they notice the artist Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem). Cristina is impressed with him at first sight, and grows intrigued when Judy and Mark tell the girls that the artist has suffered a publicly violent relationship with his ex-wife. Later that night, the girls notice him across the room in a restaurant. He approaches their table and quickly invites them to join him to the city of Oviedo, in the small plane he flies himself, to spend a weekend sight-seeing, drinking wine, and, Juan Antonio hopes, making love. Cristina accepts the brazen offer almost at once, but Vicky refuses, strongly resenting his assumption that the two of them would agree to go to bed with him after less than five minutes’ acquaintance. She eventually decides to accompany her friend anyway, mainly as she says “to protect Cristina from making a big mistake”.

At the end of their first day, Juan Antonio asks both women to come to his room. Vicky refuses, but Cristina agrees, though she falls ill before any love making happens. For the remainder of the weekend, Vicky and Juan Antonio are forced together while Cristina recuperates. During their trip, he tells her about his ex-wife and his tumultuous relationship with her and takes her to visit his father an old poet, making Vicky change her negative first impression of him. After more wine over dinner and an intimate guitar concert, Vicky succumbs to his charms and the two make love.

The next day, Juan takes them back to Barcelona. Vicky, feeling guilty, does not mention the incident to Cristina, and the two begin to grow apart, Vicky throwing herself into her Catalan culture studies and Cristina taking up photography. Soon Juan Antonio is dating Cristina. Meanwhile, Doug unexpectedly telephones Vicky, suggesting that they get married in Spain. She agrees, with unspoken misgivings, and he flies to meet her. Cristina and Juan Antonio grow closer and move in together.

One night, Cristina and Juan Antonio are woken up by a call, learning that Juan’s ex-wife María Elena (Penélope Cruz) has attempted to kill herself. With nowhere else to go, Juan Antonio brings her home, and she moves into the guest room. Though initially María Elena distrusts Cristina, she soon develops a fondness for her and her photography.

Cristina soon realizes that the ex-spouses are still in love, and María Elena confides that their relationship was always loving but unstable because they were missing something, a mystery element neither of them figured out. María Elena now suggests that the missing link is in fact, Cristina, and the three become polyamorous. Cristina discloses the events of her life to Vicky, who appears secretly jealous of her friend’s relationship with Juan Antonio, and to Doug, who disapproves.

As the summer winds to a close, Vicky realizes that she is unsatisfied in her married life, and is still attracted to Juan Antonio. She learns that Judy is also unhappy in her marriage, and confides in the older woman. Judy, who sees Vicky as a younger version of herself, decides to bring Juan Antonio and Vicky together. Meanwhile, Cristina becomes restless and announces she is leaving Juan Antonio and María Elena. Maria does not take the news well and breaks down. Cristina spends the last weeks of the summer in France. With their “missing link” gone, Juan Antonio and María Elena break up again.

Attempting to pair up Juan Antonio and Vicky, Judy arranges for them both to be at a party. Juan Antonio begs Vicky to meet him the next day. After lying to Doug, Vicky, against her better judgment, goes to Juan’s home for lunch, after which Juan tries to seduce her again. She is on the point of consenting when María Elena bursts in with a gun and begins firing wildly. As Juan Antonio tries to take the gun from his sobbing wife, Vicky is accidentally shot in the hand, wounding her slightly. Vicky shouts at both of them, saying they are insane and she could never live like this, and leaves.

When Cristina returns from France, Vicky confesses the entire story to her. Cristina says she never knew that Vicky felt that way about Juan Antonio, and she (Cristina) wishes she could have helped her. Doug never learns the true version of events. As the three Americans return to the USA, Vicky goes back to her married life and Cristina remains where she started, not knowing what she wants, but knowing what she doesn’t. Since Vicky chooses to live her rigidly planned (a “perfect”) life, and Cristina chooses to live without making predetermined plans, they end where they began.

Production

In 2007, controversy arose in Catalonia because the film was partially funded with public money: Barcelona’s city hall provided one million euros and the Generalitat de Catalunya (Government of Catalonia) half a million, or ten percent of the film’s budget.

In August 2008, Allen wrote a humorous version of a production diary, with entries such as:

• Jan. 2 — Received offer to write and direct film in Barcelona. Must be cautious. Spain is sunny, and I freckle. Money not great either, but agent did manage to get me a 10th of 1 percent of anything the picture does over $400 million after break even.
• June 1 — Arrived Barcelona. Accommodations first class. Hotel has been promised half star next year provided they install running water.
• June 30 — Dailies are looking good, and while Javier’s idea to add a massive Martian invasion scene complete with a thousand costumed extras and elaborate flying saucers is not a very good one, I will shoot it to make him happy and cut it in the editing room.
• Aug. 25 — End production today. Wrap party as usual a little sad. Slow danced with Scarlett. Broke her toe. Not my fault. When she dipped me back, I stepped on it … Everyone in cast and crew chipped in and bought me a ballpoint pen.

This is the third time Johansson and Allen have worked together, following Match Point and Scoop. This film also mark the second time Johansson and Hall worked together, the first one being The Prestige.

Awards and nominations

The film won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. Woody Allen won his first Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay and was nominated for the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay.

Penélope Cruz won numerous honors for her performance, including the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female, the Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress, the Goya Award for Best Supporting Actress, the Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress, the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress, the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress, and the Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Cast & Credits

• Directed by: Woody Allen
• Produced by: Letty Aronson, Jaume Roures, Stephen Tenenbaum, Gareth Wiley
• Written by: Woody Allen
• Narrated by: Christopher Evan Welch
• Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Rebecca Hall, Chris Messina, Patricia Clarkson, Kevin Dunn
• Cinematography: Javier Aguirresarobe
• Editing by: Alisa Lepselter

Other Information

• Studio: MediaPro, Wild Bunch
• Distributed by: The Weinstein Company, Optimum Releasing
• Release date: August 15, 2008
• Running time: 96 min.
• Country: United States, Spain
• Language: English, Spanish
• Budget: $15 million

Links

• Official website
• Vicky Cristina Barcelona at the Internet Movie Database