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James Jacks
James "Jim" Jacks (December 29, 1947 – January 20, 2014) was an American film producer of several blockbuster films, and was also known for cultivating visionary independent film auteurs, having produced the first Hollywood films of Richard Linklater, Joel and Ethan Coen, and Kevin Smith. Born December 29, 1947, Jacks grew up in a military family. He graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a B.S. in Industrial Engineering and from Cornell University with an MBA. He was working as a Wall Street financial analyst when he decided to be a screenwriter. Unsuccessful, he became head of production at Circle Films in the early- to mid-1980s and then senior vice-president of production at Universal Studios from the late-1980s into the early-1990s. In 1992, he became an independent producer with Alphaville Films, which he co-founded with Sean Daniel. He left Alphaville Films in 2004. The shrimp parmigiana at the Los Angeles restaurant Dan Tana's is named for him. Jacks died ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territories, nine Minor Outlying Islands, and 326 Indian reservations. The United States is also in free association with three Pacific Island sovereign states: the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau. It is the world's third-largest country by both land and total area. It shares land borders with Canada to its north and with Mexico to its south and has maritime borders with the Bahamas, Cuba, Russia, and other nations. With a population of over 333 million, it is the most populous country in the Americas and the third most populous in the world. The national capital of the United States is Washington, D.C. and its most populous city and principal financial center is New York City. Paleo-Americ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indiewire
IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Hollywood and the expanding universes of TV and streaming." IndieWire is part of Penske Media. History The original IndieWire newsletter launched on July 15, 1996, billing itself as "the daily news service for independent film." Following in the footsteps of various web- and AOL-based editorial ventures, IndieWire was launched as a free daily email publication in the summer of 1996 by New York- and Los Angeles-based filmmakers and writers Eugene Hernandez, Mark Rabinowitz, Cheri Barner, Roberto A. Quezada, and Mark L. Feinsod. Initially distributed to a few hundred subscribers, the readership grew rapidly, passing 6,000 in late 1997. In January 1997, IndieWire made its first appearance at the Sundance Film Festival to begin their coverage o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Jackal (1997 Film)
''The Jackal'' is a 1997 American action thriller film directed by Michael Caton-Jones, and starring Bruce Willis, Richard Gere, and Sidney Poitier in his final film role. The film involves the hunt for a paid assassin. It is a loose remake of the 1973 film ''The Day of the Jackal'', which starred Edward Fox, and was based on the 1971 novel of the same name by Frederick Forsyth. Although the film earned mostly negative reviews from critics, it was a commercial success and grossed $159.3 million worldwide against a $60 million budget. Plot A joint operation between the FBI and the MVD in Moscow leads to the killing of the younger brother of the Azerbaijani mafia leader Terek Murad. In retaliation, Murad hires an international hitman, operating under the codename "the Jackal", to assassinate an unidentified prominent American for $70 million. Two weeks later, the MVD capture and interrogate one of Murad's henchmen, Viktor Politovsky in Porvoo, Finland, and discover the assassina ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael (1996 Film)
''Michael'' is a 1996 American fantasy film directed by Nora Ephron. The film stars John Travolta as the Archangel Michael, who is sent to Earth to do various tasks, including mending some wounded hearts. The cast also includes Andie MacDowell, William Hurt, Bob Hoskins, Joey Lauren Adams, and Robert Pastorelli as people who cross Michael's path. The original music score was composed by Randy Newman. The dance scene and other location shots were filmed at the community center of Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Cornhill, Texas, and on country roads near Walburg, Texas, as well as at Texas' Gruene Hall. Plot The ''National Mirror'' is a tabloid publication that reports primarily on unexplainable phenomena. The editor, Vartan Malt, receives a story tip about a woman living with an angel in her house in a small town in Iowa, and decides to send three staff members to investigate. He chooses Frank Quinlan; Huey Driscoll, a photographer and owner of the ''Mirror'' star Sparky the Wonder ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mallrats
''Mallrats'' is a 1995 American buddy comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith and starring Jason Lee, Jeremy London, Shannen Doherty, Claire Forlani, Ben Affleck, Jason Mewes, Joey Lauren Adams, Michael Rooker, and Smith as Silent Bob. It is the second film in the View Askewniverse and a prequel to 1994's ''Clerks''. As in the other Askewniverse films, the characters Jay and Silent Bob feature prominently, and characters and events from other films are discussed. Several cast members, including Jason Lee, Ben Affleck and Joey Lauren Adams, have gone on to work in several other Smith films. Comic-book icon Stan Lee appeared, as did Brian O'Halloran, the star of Smith's breakout feature ''Clerks''. Despite failing at the box office and receiving a lukewarm critical reception, ''Mallrats'' has since become a cult classic. Plans for a sequel film titled ''MallBrats'' were announced in March 2015. By the following year, the project was proposed to be a television miniseries ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Village Of The Damned (1995 Film)
''Village of the Damned'' is a 1995 American science fiction-horror film directed by John Carpenter and starring Christopher Reeve, Kirstie Alley, Linda Kozlowski, Michael Paré, Mark Hamill, and Meredith Salenger. It is based on the 1957 novel ''The Midwich Cuckoos'' by John Wyndham, which was previously adapted into the 1960 film of the same name. The 1995 version is set in Northern California, whereas the book and original film are both set in the United Kingdom. The 1995 film was marketed with the tagline, "Beware the Children". This was the last publicly released film starring Reeve before he was paralyzed in an equestrian accident in May 1995, as well as his last theatrically released film. The film was panned by critics and failed at the box office upon release. Plot The people and animals of the sleepy coastal town of Midwich in California's Marin County fall asleep at a 10 AM "blackout" and regain consciousness at 4 PM. Following the blackout, ten women of child-bea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tombstone (film)
''Tombstone'' is a 1993 American Western film directed by George P. Cosmatos, written by Kevin Jarre (who was also the original director, but was replaced early in production), and starring Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer, with Sam Elliott, Bill Paxton, Powers Boothe, Michael Biehn, and Dana Delany in supporting roles, as well as narration by Robert Mitchum. The film is loosely based on real events that took place in the 1880s in Tombstone, Arizona, including the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and the Earp Vendetta Ride. It depicts several Western outlaws and lawmen, such as Wyatt Earp, William Brocius, Johnny Ringo, and Doc Holliday. ''Tombstone'' was released by Hollywood Pictures in theatrical wide release in the United States on December 25, 1993, grossing $73.2 million worldwide. The film was a financial success, and for the Western genre, it ranks number 16 in the list of highest-grossing films since 1979. Six months later, the similarly themed film ''Wyatt Earp'' was release ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hard Target
''Hard Target'' is a 1993 American action film directed by Hong Kong film director John Woo in his U.S. debut. The film stars Jean-Claude Van Damme as Chance Boudreaux, an out-of-work homeless Cajun merchant seaman and former United States Force Recon Marine who saves a young woman named Natasha Binder (Yancy Butler) from a gang of thugs in New Orleans. Chance learns that Binder is searching for her missing father (Chuck Pfarrer), and agrees to aid Binder in her search. They soon learn that Binder's father has died at the hands of hunt organisers Emil Fouchon (Lance Henriksen) and Pik van Cleef (Arnold Vosloo), a pair of a ruthless businessman and his right-hand mercenary, who arrange the hunting of homeless men as a form of recreational sport. The screenplay was written by Pfarrer and is based on the 1932 film adaptation of Richard Connell's 1924 short story "The Most Dangerous Game". ''Hard Target'' was Woo's first U.S. film and was also the first major Hollywood film made by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heart And Souls
''Heart and Souls'' is a 1993 American fantasy comedy-drama film directed by Ron Underwood. The film stars Robert Downey Jr. as Thomas Reilly, a businessman recruited by the souls of four deceased people, his guardian angels from childhood, to help them rectify their unfinished lives, as he is the only one who can communicate with them. Plot In San Francisco, 1959, four despondent strangers embark on the same night trolleybus: Penny, a single mother, regrets working the night shift and leaving her three children at home; Harrison, a would-be singer, has backed out of an important audition due to stage fright; Julia leaves her waitressing job to seek out her boyfriend John, whose marriage proposal she rejected; and small-time thief Milo has just failed to retrieve a book of valuable stamps that he had conned out of a young boy. Their driver is Hal, who becomes distracted by an attractive passenger in another car and accidentally swerves the trolleybus off of an overpass, killing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dazed And Confused (film)
''Dazed and Confused'' is a 1993 American coming-of-age comedy film written and directed by Richard Linklater. The film features a large ensemble cast of actors who would later become stars, including Jason London, Ben Affleck, Milla Jovovich, Cole Hauser, Parker Posey, Adam Goldberg, Matthew McConaughey, Nicky Katt, Joey Lauren Adams, and Rory Cochrane. The plot follows different groups of Texas teenagers during the last day of school in 1976. The film was a commercial disappointment at the box office, grossing less than $8 million in the United States. Despite this, the film has enjoyed critical and commercial success over the years, and has since become a cult classic. It ranked third on ''Entertainment Weekly'' magazine's list of the 50 Best High School Movies. The magazine also ranked it 10th on its "Funniest Movies of the Past 25 Years" list. Plot It is May 28, 1976, the last day of school at Lee High School in Austin, Texas. The next year's group of seniors are preparing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Raising Arizona
''Raising Arizona'' is a 1987 American crime comedy film directed by Joel Coen, produced by Ethan Coen, and written by Joel and Ethan Coen. It stars Nicolas Cage as H.I. "Hi" McDunnough, an ex-convict, and Holly Hunter as Edwina "Ed" McDunnough, a former police officer and his wife. Other members of the cast include Trey Wilson, William Forsythe, John Goodman, Frances McDormand, Sam McMurray, and Randall "Tex" Cobb. The Coen brothers set out to work on the film with the intention of making a film as different from their previous film, the dark thriller ''Blood Simple'', as possible, with a lighter sense of humor and a faster pace. ''Raising Arizona'' received mixed reviews at the time of its release. Some criticized it as too self-conscious, manneristic, and unclear as to whether it was fantasy or realism. Other critics praised the film for its originality. The film ranks 31st on the American Film Institute's 100 Years...100 Laughs list, and 45th on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Variety
Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), a British musical film * ''Variety'' (1935 German film), a German drama film * ''Variety'' (1971 film), a Spanish drama film * ''Variety'' (1983 film), an American independent film Music * ''Variety'' (Family Fodder album), tenth studio album by Family fodder * ''Variety'' (Les Rita Mitsouko album), seventh studio album by Les Rita Mitsouko * ''Variety'' (Mariya Takeuchi album), sixth studio album by Mariya Takeuchi * ''Variety'' (Tokyo Jihen album), third studio album by Tokyo Jihen * Variety Records, a short-lived US record label that was produced by Brunswick Records Other uses in arts and entertainment * ''Variety'' (magazine), an entertainment industry newspaper * Variety Television Network, an American former digital su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
