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Michael Laughlin
Michael Stoddard Laughlin (November 28, 1938 – October 20, 2021) was an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Life Laughlin was raised in Minonk, Illinois, where his father Donald M. Laughlin had extensive farms. He played basketball and studied law at college. During his first few days in California, he met the Dean Martin family and other movie stars, which had a lasting effect on him. His mother Hazel Stoddard Laughlin died in 1965. During the late 1960s, he lived in London, where he produced ''The Whisperers'' starring Dame Edith Evans, directed by Bryan Forbes. It was in London that he met and married Leslie Caron who had two children from her previous marriage to Sir Peter Hall. They moved to Los Angeles where they settled in Cuesta Way, Bel Air, and over the next few years, Laughlin produced a series of groundbreaking films including the cult hit ''Two-Lane Blacktop'' starring James Taylor and Laurie Bird. He also worked with writers and directors Floyd M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Honolulu
Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island of Oahu, and is the westernmost and southernmost major U.S. city. Honolulu is Hawaii's main gateway to the world. It is also a major hub for business, finance, hospitality, and military defense in both the state and Oceania. The city is characterized by a mix of various Asian, Western, and Pacific cultures, reflected in its diverse demography, cuisine, and traditions. ''Honolulu'' means "sheltered harbor" or "calm port" in Hawaiian; its old name, ''Kou'', roughly encompasses the area from Nuuanu Avenue to Alakea Street and from Hotel Street to Queen Street, which is the heart of the present downtown district. The city's desirability as a port accounts for its historical growth and importance in the Hawaiian archipelago and the broader P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 are variable but often include fever, cough, headache, fatigue, breathing difficulties, Anosmia, loss of smell, and Ageusia, loss of taste. Symptoms may begin one to fourteen days incubation period, after exposure to the virus. At least a third of people who are infected Asymptomatic, do not develop noticeable symptoms. Of those who develop symptoms noticeable enough to be classified as patients, most (81%) develop mild to moderate symptoms (up to mild pneumonia), while 14% develop severe symptoms (dyspnea, Hypoxia (medical), hypoxia, or more than 50% lung involvement on imaging), and 5% develop critical symptoms (respiratory failure ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Town & Country (film)
''Town & Country'' is a 2001 American romantic comedy film directed by Peter Chelsom, written by Buck Henry and Michael Laughlin, and starring Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn, Garry Shandling, Andie MacDowell, Jenna Elfman, Nastassja Kinski, Charlton Heston, and Josh Hartnett. Beatty plays an architect, with Keaton as his wife, and Hawn and Shandling as their best friends. It was Beatty's and Keaton's first film together since 1981's ''Reds,'' and Beatty's third film with Hawn, after 1971's '' $'' and 1975's ''Shampoo''. The film received negative reviews from critics and is one of the biggest box office flops in American film history, grossing a little over $10 million worldwide from a $90 million budget. The film was Beatty's last appearance on screen for 15 years before he starred in ''Rules Don't Apply'' in November 2016. Plot Porter Stoddard (Warren Beatty) is so prosperous an architect, he has New York homes on Park Avenue and in the Hamptons, as well as a vaca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mesmerized (film)
''Mesmerized'' (also known as ''Shocked'' and ''My Letter to George'') is a 1985 drama film directed by Michael Laughlin and starring Jodie Foster, John Lithgow and Michael Murphy.Ed. Scott Murray, ''Australia on the Small Screen 1970–1995'', Oxford Uni Press, 1996 p107 Loosely based upon the Pimlico mystery, the film was a co-production between Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom and United States with RKO Pictures. The film was titled ''Mesmerized'' during production and upon release in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK. It was released in the US in 1986 as ''My Letter to George'', and elsewhere as ''Shocked''. Plot An orphaned 18-year-old New Zealand girl marries a much older wealthy businessman. Strains soon develop between them, at great emotional and physical toll on them and those around them, from family and servants, to business and trade associates and clientele. She proceeds to cultivate a game with him in which she reads to him and also hypnotizes him. While ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Strange Invaders
''Strange Invaders'' is a 1983 American science fiction film directed and co-written by Michael Laughlin, and stars Paul Le Mat, Nancy Allen and Diana Scarwid. Produced as a tribute to the sci-fi films of the 1950s, notably ''The Invasion of the Body Snatchers'', it was intended to be the second installment of the aborted ''Strange Trilogy'' with '' Strange Behavior'' (1981), another 1950s spoof by Laughlin, but the idea was abandoned after ''Invaders'' failed to attract a large audience. Scarwid's performance earned her a Razzie Award nomination for Worst Supporting Actress. Plot In 1958, the town of (fictionalized) Centreville, Illinois is invaded by a race of aliens. The invaders fire lasers from their eyes and hands and reduce humans to "crystallized" glowing blue orbs. They took over the form of the humans who were either captured or killed. Twenty-five years later, Columbia University lecturer Charles Bigelow learns that his ex-wife, Margaret, has disappeared while at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Strange Behavior
''Strange Behavior'' (also known as ''Dead Kids'') is a 1981 slasher film written and directed by Michael Laughlin, co-written with Bill Condon, and starring Michael Murphy, Louise Fletcher, and Dan Shor. Its plot follows a series of bizarre murders being perpetrated against teenagers in a small Midwestern town, at the same time that the local university is engaging in covert mind control experiments on the youth. An international co-production between the United States, New Zealand, and Australia, the film was intended as the first installment of the ''Strange Trilogy'' which was cancelled after the second installment, ''Strange Invaders'', failed to attract a large enough audience. It is a homage to the pulp horror films of the 1950s. The film is considered a seminal work of New Zealand cinema, being the first horror film produced in the country. It has since attracted a large cult following. While not prosecuted for obscenity, the film was seized and confiscated in the UK ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Christian Licorice Store
''The Christian Licorice Store'' is a 1971 American drama film directed by James Frawley and starring Beau Bridges and Maud Adams. The title of the film is based on lyrics from the song "Pleasant Street" by Tim Buckley who makes a cameo in the film. Plot Promising tennis pro Franklin Cane lives in Los Angeles and is mentored by his coach, Jonathan "J.C." Carruthers, who warns him of the perils of success. J.C. advises him to concentrate on his game and not on outside interests, such as a lucrative offer to endorse a hair spray in a TV ad. Cane takes his advice. He wins a tournament in Houston and has a one-night stand there with a girl, cheating on Cynthia Vicstrom, the photographer he has been seeing. Things are going well for Cane until one day J.C. dies peacefully in his sleep. A distraught Cane begins going to wild California parties and spending time on Hollywood interests, neglecting Cynthia and his tennis. Cynthia breaks up with him and begins seeing Monroe, a film dire ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dusty And Sweets McGee
''Dusty and Sweets McGee'' is a 1971 American drama film written and directed by Floyd Mutrux. The film stars Clifton Tip Fredell, Kit Ryder, Billy Gray, Bob Graham, Nancy Wheeler and Russ Knight. The film was released by Warner Bros. on July 14, 1971. Production In the alternative Hollywood of the 1970s, director Floyd Mutrux got the green light to produce a film about young drug addicts. Eager to tap into the youth market, and without a clue of how to do it, studio heads signed off on the film despite it having no viable script. It was instead based on some interviews with actual drug addicts. Plot ''Dusty and Sweets McGee'' follows the two young addicts of the title as they idly spend their days in early 1970s Los Angeles. The camera rolls as the addicts roam the streets of LA from downtown to the beach. Car radios play the hits of the day as they aimlessly go about their drug-addicted lives. Eating hot dogs at Pink's, committing petty crime, scoring drugs and cruising the sun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joanna (1968 Film)
''Joanna'' is a 1968 British drama film, directed by Michael Sarne and set in swinging London. It was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. Plot Joanna, a wide-eyed somewhat naïve art student in London, has a romantic fling with her teacher, aspiring painter Hendrik Casson. She eventually leaves him for impoverished Dominic, while her gold-digging friend Beryl takes up with the quite wealthy Lord Sanderson. They travel to Sanderson's second home in Morocco, where he reveals that he has a terminal illness and sponsors an exhibit of Hendrik's paintings. Meanwhile, Dominic dumps Joanna because she refuses to stop seeing other men. Joanna's next lover, Beryl's brother Gordon, impregnates her. Beaten by criminals to whom he is in debt, Gordon takes revenge by killing one. He is convicted of murder and sent to prison, leaving Joanna alone. Cast * Geneviève Waïte as Joanna * Christian Doermer as Hendrik Casson * Calvin Lockhart as Gordon * Donald Sut ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Whisperers
''The Whisperers'' is a 1967 British drama film directed by Bryan Forbes and starring Edith Evans. It is based on the 1961 novel by Robert Nicolson. Although the fictional setting of the film is not named, it was mainly shot on location in the Lancashire town of Oldham, a once-thriving textile centre near Manchester which by 1967 had fallen into decline. Star Edith Evans received many honors for her leading performance, including her third Oscar nomination. Plot Mrs Margaret Ross, an impoverished, elderly, eccentric woman, is living in a ground floor flat, in an unnamed town in northern England. Aged 76, she is dependent on National Assistance from the British government. She is visited by her criminal son, who hides a package containing a large sum of money in her unused spare room. The son confesses to the police of his robbery, then is sent to jail. Meanwhile, Mrs Ross finds the money. Thinking the money is a windfall intended for her, Mrs Ross makes elaborate plans. She c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saturn Award For Best Writing
The Saturn Awards for Best Writing is a Saturn Award presented by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films. Unlike most awards rewarding writing in films, it recognizes only the writer(s) of the screenplay, and not those of the story. Winners and nominees 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s Multiple nominations ;7 nominations *Guillermo del Toro *Peter Jackson *Quentin Tarantino *Fran Walsh ;6 nominations *Philippa Boyens *James Cameron ;5 nominations *Christopher Nolan ;4 nominations *Lawrence Kasdan *David Koepp *George Miller ;3 nominations *J. J. Abrams *William Peter Blatty *Alex Garland *Drew Goddard *David Hayter *Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver *John Logan *George Lucas *Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely *Nicholas Meyer *Jordan Peele *Andrew Stanton *The Wachowskis ;2 nominations *Woody Allen *Michael Arndt *Brad Bird *Jeffrey Boam *C. Robert Cargill *Joel and Ethan Coen *Chris Columbus *Frank Darabont *Scott Derrickson *Michael Dougherty ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Library Of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is housed in three buildings on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.; it also maintains a conservation center in Culpeper, Virginia. The library's functions are overseen by the Librarian of Congress, and its buildings are maintained by the Architect of the Capitol. The Library of Congress is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its "collections are universal, not limited by subject, format, or national boundary, and include research materials from all parts of the world and in more than 470 languages." Congress moved to Washington, D.C., in 1800 after holding sessions for eleven years in the temporary national capitals in New York City and Philadelphia. In both cities, members of the U.S. Congress had access to the sizable collection ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
