State Of The Art (book)
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State Of The Art (book)
''State of the Art: Film Writings 1983–1985'' is the eighth collection of movie reviews by the American critic Pauline Kael. In the Author's Note at the beginning of this collection she wrote: :"The title of this book is a deliberate break with my sexually tinged titles of the past. It seemed time for a change; this has not been a period for anything like ''Grand Passions''. I hope that ''State of the Art'' will sound ominous and sweeping and just slightly clinical. What I try to get at in this collection of reviews from June 1983 to July 1985 is the state of the art of moviemaking. And despite the dubious state of the art .here has always been something to recommend." Kael reviews 117 films in this eighth collection. She gives rich praise to the work of performers and directors she admires, for example, Molly Ringwald's performance in ''Sixteen Candles'', - Steve Martin, Robin Williams, and Nick Nolte, ( three perennial Kael favourites), and Luchino Visconti, for his work ...
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State Of The Art (book)
''State of the Art: Film Writings 1983–1985'' is the eighth collection of movie reviews by the American critic Pauline Kael. In the Author's Note at the beginning of this collection she wrote: :"The title of this book is a deliberate break with my sexually tinged titles of the past. It seemed time for a change; this has not been a period for anything like ''Grand Passions''. I hope that ''State of the Art'' will sound ominous and sweeping and just slightly clinical. What I try to get at in this collection of reviews from June 1983 to July 1985 is the state of the art of moviemaking. And despite the dubious state of the art .here has always been something to recommend." Kael reviews 117 films in this eighth collection. She gives rich praise to the work of performers and directors she admires, for example, Molly Ringwald's performance in ''Sixteen Candles'', - Steve Martin, Robin Williams, and Nick Nolte, ( three perennial Kael favourites), and Luchino Visconti, for his work ...
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Under Fire (1983 Film)
''Under Fire'' is a 1983 American political thriller film set during the last days of the Nicaraguan Revolution that ended the Somoza regime in 1979. Directed by Roger Spottiswoode, it stars Nick Nolte, Gene Hackman and Joanna Cassidy. The musical score by Jerry Goldsmith, which featured jazz guitarist Pat Metheny, was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Score. The editing by Mark Conte and John Bloom was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Editing. The film was shot in the Mexican states of Chiapas and Oaxaca. Plot Russell Price is a photojournalist covering a military conflict in Chad, where he runs into Oates, a mercenary who he knows. Russell then returns to his hotel, where he attends a "Bon Voyage" party for his friend Alex Grazier, who is giving up covering foreign conflicts to take a lucrative job as a news anchor in New York. It is revealed that Russell is having an affair with Alex's girlfriend, fellow journalist Claire Stryder. Alex's article about the conflic ...
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Comfort And Joy (1984 Film)
''Comfort and Joy'' is a 1984 Scottish comedy film written and directed by Bill Forsyth and starring Bill Paterson as a radio disc jockey whose life undergoes a bizarre upheaval after his girlfriend leaves him. After he witnesses an attack on an ice cream van by angry competitors, he is led into the struggle between two Italian families over the ice cream market of Glasgow. The film received a BAFTA Award Nomination for Best Original Screenplay in 1985.. Plot A few days before Christmas, Glasgow radio disc jockey Allan "Dicky" Bird is stunned when Maddy (Eleanor David), his kleptomaniac girlfriend of four years, suddenly announces that she is moving out. His doctor friend Colin (Patrick Malahide) tries to console him, but Bird is heartbroken. One day, he goes for a drive to take his mind off his troubles. Noticing an attractive girl, Charlotte (Clare Grogan), in the back of a "Mr. Bunny" ice cream van, he follows it under a railway bridge on a whim and when the van stops, purcha ...
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A Soldier's Story
''A Soldier's Story'' is a 1984 American mystery drama film directed and produced by Norman Jewison, adapted by Charles Fuller from his Pulitzer Prize-winning '' A Soldier's Play'', an adaptation of Herman Melville's novella '' Billy Budd''. It is a story about racism in a segregated regiment of the U.S Army commanded by White officers and training in the Jim Crow South, in a time and place where a Black officer is unprecedented and bitterly resented by nearly everyone, and follows a Black JAG officer sent to investigate the murder of a Black sergeant in Louisiana near the end of World War II. The cast, composed primarily of Black actors, is led by Howard E. Rollins Jr. and Adolph Caesar (whose performance was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar). Other actors include Art Evans, David Alan Grier, Larry Riley, David Harris, Robert Townsend, and Patti LaBelle. Denzel Washington, still at the beginning of his career, appears in a supporting role. Several actors repris ...
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Stop Making Sense
''Stop Making Sense'' is a 1984 American concert film featuring a live performance by the American rock band Talking Heads. Directed by Jonathan Demme, it was shot over the course of three nights at Hollywood's Pantages Theater in December 1983, as the group was touring to promote their new album ''Speaking in Tongues''. The concert serves as a comprehensive retrospective of the band's history to that time, featuring many of their popular songs from their first hit single "Psycho Killer", through to their most recent album. In addition, the group performs one song, "Genius of Love", by the Tom Tom Club, a side project for two members of the band. The film is the first made entirely using digital audio techniques. The band raised the budget of $1.2 million themselves. The four core members of Talking Heads: lead singer and guitarist David Byrne, drummer Chris Frantz, guitarist and keyboardist Jerry Harrison, and bassist Tina Weymouth, are joined on stage by an extensive supportin ...
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Utu (film)
''Utu'' is a 1983 New Zealand film directed and co-written by Geoff Murphy; starring Anzac Wallace as Te Wheke, a warrior who sets out to get vengeance after British forces kill his people, Bruno Lawrence and Kelly Johnson. Sometimes described as "a Maori Western", ''Utu'' was reputed to have one of the largest budgets for a New Zealand film up until that time. The film'' ''screened out of competition at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival, and became the second most successful local movie released in New Zealand to that date. Positive reviews in America, including a rave review from Pauline Kael, helped win Murphy directing work in Hollywood. Partly inspired by events from Te Kooti's War, the film tells of a Māori soldier setting out to get utu, or vengeance, on his former allies after the British army destroys his home village and kills his uncle. The film is set in the 1870s. In 2013, partly thanks to the longtime existence of an alternative cut of the film aimed at internationa ...
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Carmen (1984 Film)
''Carmen'' is a 1984 French-Italian film directed by Francesco Rosi. It is a film version of Bizet's opera, ''Carmen''. Julia Migenes stars in the title role, Plácido Domingo as Don José, Ruggero Raimondi as Escamillo, and Faith Esham as Micaela. Lorin Maazel conducts the Orchestre National de France. The film premiered in France on March 14, 1984, and in the U.S. on September 20 of that year. In 1985, the film was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film. Cast * Julia Migenes-Johnson as Carmen * Plácido Domingo as Don José * Ruggero Raimondi as Escamillo * Faith Esham as Micaëla * François le Roux as Moralès * John-Paul Bogart as Zuñiga * Susan Daniel as Mercédès * Lillian Watson as Frasquita * Jean-Philippe Lafont as Dancaïre * Gérard Garino as Remendado * Julien Guiomar as Lillas Pastia * Accursio Di Leo as Guide * Maria Campano as Manuelita * Cristina Hoyos as dancer * Juan Antonio Jiménez as dancer Production Rosi selected 1875 for the perio ...
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Dreamscape (1984 Film)
''Dreamscape'' is a 1984 American dark Science fiction film, science-fiction adventure film directed by Joseph Ruben and written by David Loughery, with Chuck Russell and Ruben co-writing. It stars Dennis Quaid, Kate Capshaw, Max von Sydow, and Christopher Plummer. Plot Alex Gardner (Dennis Quaid) is a psychic who has been using his talents solely for personal gain, which mainly consists of gambling and womanizing. When he was 19 years old, Alex had been the prime subject of a scientific research project documenting his psychic ability but, in the midst of the study, he disappeared. After running afoul of a local gangster/extortionist named Snead (Redmond Gleeson), Alex evades two of Snead's thugs by allowing himself to be taken by two men: Finch (Chris Mulkey) and Babcock (Peter Jason), who identify themselves as being from an academic institution. At the institution, Alex is reunited with his former mentor Dr. Paul Novotny (Max von Sydow) who is now involved in government-fund ...
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Repo Man (film)
''Repo Man'' is a 1984 American science fiction black comedy film written and directed by Alex Cox in his directorial debut. It stars Harry Dean Stanton and Emilio Estevez, with Tracey Walter, Olivia Barash, Sy Richardson, Vonetta McGee, Fox Harris, and Dick Rude among the supporting cast. Set in Los Angeles, the plot concerns a young punk rocker (Estevez) who is recruited by a car repossession agency and gets caught up in the pursuit of a mysterious Chevrolet Malibu that might be connected to extraterrestrials. A satire of America under the Reagan administration, consumerism and the Atomic Age, ''Repo Man'' was developed by Cox in partnership with his fellow film school graduates from UCLA, independent producers Jonathan Wacks and Peter McCarthy. His inspiration for the film came from his own experiences working with repossession agent Mark Lewis. Originally conceiving of it as a road movie, Cox reconfigured the story to take place mostly in Los Angeles to maintain its b ...
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Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom
''Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom'' is a 1984 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. It is the second installment in the ''Indiana Jones'' franchise, and a prequel to the 1981 film ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'', featuring Harrison Ford who reprises his role as the title character. Kate Capshaw, Amrish Puri, Roshan Seth, Philip Stone, and Ke Huy Quan star in supporting roles. In the film, after arriving in India, Indiana Jones is asked by desperate villagers to find a mystical stone and rescue their children from a Thuggee cult practicing child slavery, black magic, and ritual human sacrifice in honor of the goddess Kali. Not wishing to feature the Nazis as the villains again, executive producer and story writer George Lucas decided to regard this film as a prequel. Three plot devices were rejected before Lucas wrote a film treatment that resembled the final storyline. As Lawrence Kasdan, Lucas's collaborator on ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'', turned do ...
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Moscow On The Hudson
''Moscow on the Hudson'' is a 1984 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Paul Mazursky which stars Robin Williams as a Soviet circus musician who defects while on a visit to the United States. It co-stars María Conchita Alonso (in her film debut), Elya Baskin as the circus clown, Savely Kramarov as one of two KGB apparatchiks, Alejandro Rey as the musician's immigration attorney, and Cleavant Derricks as his first American host and friend. The film was released on April 6, 1984. Plot Vladimir Ivanoff, a saxophonist with the Moscow circus, lives in a crowded apartment with his extended family. He stands in lines for hours to buy toilet paper and shoes. When Boris, the apparatchik assigned to the circus, criticizes Vladimir for being late to rehearsal and suggests Vladimir may miss the approaching trip to New York City, Vladimir gives Boris a pair of shoes from the queue that made Vladimir late. While Ivanoff is riding in his friend Anatoly's Lada, A ...
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Splash (film)
''Splash'' is a 1984 American fantasy romantic comedy film directed by Ron Howard, from a screenplay by Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel, and Bruce Jay Friedman, and a story by Friedman and producer Brian Grazer, and starring Tom Hanks, Daryl Hannah, John Candy, and Eugene Levy. It involves a young man who falls in love with a mysterious woman who is secretly a mermaid. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. The film is notable for being the first film released by Touchstone Pictures, a film label created by Walt Disney Studios that same year in an effort to release films targeted at adult audiences, with mature content not appropriate for the studio's flagship Walt Disney Pictures banner. ''Splash'' received a PG-rating for some profanity and brief nudity. ''Splash'' was critically and commercially successful, earning over $69 million on an $11 million budget, and received praise for the acting, humor, and chemistry between Hanks and Hannah. Plot I ...
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