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Mary Harron
Mary Harron (born January 12, 1953) is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. She co-wrote the screenplay and directed ''American Psycho'', '' The Notorious Bettie Page'''' and I Shot Andy Warhol.'' Early life Born in Bracebridge, Ontario, Canada, Harron grew up with a family with numerous connections to the arts. She is the daughter of Gloria Fisher and Don Harron, a Canadian actor, comedian, author and director. Her parents divorced when she was six years old. Harron spent her early life residing between Toronto and Los Angeles. Harron's first stepmother, Virginia Leith, was discovered by Stanley Kubrick and acted in his first film '' Fear and Desire'' and was also featured in the 1962 cult classic '' The Brain That Wouldn't Die''. Leith's brief acting career partly inspired Harron's interest in making '' The Notorious Bettie Page''. Harron's stepfather is the novelist Stephen Vizinczey. Harron's second stepmother is the Canadian singer Catherine McKinnon. Harron mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Bracebridge, Ontario
Bracebridge is a town and the seat of the District Municipality of Muskoka in Ontario, Canada. The town was built around a waterfall on the Muskoka River in the centre of town and is known for its other nearby waterfalls (Wilson's Falls, High Falls, etc.). It was first incorporated in 1875. The town is the seat of the district government and a centre of tourism for the Muskoka area and has several historical sites, such as the Clock Tower, Woodchester Villa, and the Silver Bridge, which joins Manitoba Street with Ecclestone Drive. The Silver Bridge was repaired in 2002. History The character of the town of Bracebridge is shaped by its proximity to Lake Muskoka to which it is connected by of the Muskoka River, and by the promise of abundant water power afforded by the great waterfall at the foot of the downtown. Early growth of the town occurred in proximity to the falls which powered the first factory. The arrival of the Grand Trunk Railway cemented the town's role as a transp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom), Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 1997 and held various shadow cabinet posts from 1987 to 1994. Blair was Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Sedgefield (UK Parliament constituency), Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007, and was special envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East from 2007 to 2015. He is the second-List of prime ministers of the United Kingdom by length of tenure, longest-serving prime minister in post-war British history after Margaret Thatcher, the longest-serving Labour Party (UK), Labour politician to have held the office, and the first and only person to date to lead the party to three consecutive general election victories. Blair attended the independent s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
The Piano
''The Piano'' is a 1993 historical romance film written and directed by New Zealand filmmaker Jane Campion. It stars Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, Sam Neill, and Anna Paquin (in her first major acting role). The film focuses on a mute Scottish woman who travels to a remote part of New Zealand with her young daughter after her arranged marriage to a settler. The plot has similarities to Jane Mander's 1920 novel, ''The Story of a New Zealand River'', but also substantial differences. Campion has cited the novels '' Wuthering Heights'' and '' The African Queen'' as inspirations. An international co-production between New Zealand, Australia, and France, ''The Piano'' premiered at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival on May 15, 1993, where it won the Palme d'Or, rendering Campion the first female director to achieve that distinction. It was a commercial success, grossing US$140.2 million worldwide against its US$7 million budget. The film was also noted for its crossover ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Drugstore Cowboy
''Drugstore Cowboy'' is a 1989 American crime drama film directed by the American filmmaker Gus Van Sant. Written by Van Sant and Daniel Yost and based on an autobiographical novel by James Fogle, the film stars Matt Dillon, Kelly Lynch, Heather Graham and William S. Burroughs. It was Van Sant's second film as director, following his 1988 debut '' Mala Noche.'' At the time the film was made, the source novel by Fogle was unpublished. It was later published in 1990, by which time Fogle had been released from prison. Fogle, like the characters in his story, was a long-time drug user and dealer. The film was theatrically released in the United States on October 6, 1989, and received acclaim from critics. Plot In 1971, 26-year-old Bob Hughes leads a nomadic group of drug addicts—his wife Dianne, his best friend Rick, and Rick's teenage girlfriend Nadine—who travel across the Pacific Northwest robbing pharmacies and hospitals to support their habits. After stealing from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Blue Velvet (film)
''Blue Velvet'' is a 1986 American neo-noir mystery thriller motion picture written and directed by David Lynch. Blending psychological horror with film noir, the film stars Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper, and Laura Dern, and is named after the 1951 song of the same name. The movie follows a college student who returns to his hometown and discovers a severed human ear in a field, which leads him to uncover a criminal conspiracy involving a troubled nightclub singer. The screenplay of ''Blue Velvet'' had been passed around multiple times in the late 1970s and early 1980s, with several major studios declining it because of its strong sexual and violent content. After the failure of his 1984 film ''Dune'', Lynch made attempts at developing a more "personal story", somewhat characteristic of the surrealist style displayed in his first film, '' Eraserhead'' (1977). The independent studio De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, owned at the time by Italian produc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Double Indemnity
''Double Indemnity'' is a 1944 American film noir directed by Billy Wilder and produced by Buddy DeSylva and Joseph Sistrom. Wilder and Raymond Chandler adapted the screenplay from James M. Cain's Double Indemnity (novel), novel of the same name, which ran as an eight-part serial in ''Liberty (1924–1950), Liberty'' magazine in 1936. The film stars an insurance salesman Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray), who plots with a woman (Barbara Stanwyck) to kill her husband in order to claim a life insurance payment, arousing the suspicion of claims manager Barton Keyes (Edward G. Robinson). The title refers to a "double indemnity" clause which doubles life insurance payouts when death occurs in a statistically rare manner. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards. Widely regarded as a classic, ''Double Indemnity'' is often cited as having set the standard for film noir and as List of films considered the best, one of the greatest films of all time. Plot Wounded from a gunshot, in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Roman Polanski
Raymond Roman Thierry Polański (; born 18 August 1933) is a Polish and French filmmaker and actor. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Roman Polanski, numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, three British Academy Film Awards, ten César Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, as well as the Golden Bear and a Palme d'Or. In 1977, Polanski was arrested for Roman Polanski sexual abuse case, drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl. He pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of Statutory rape, unlawful sex with a minor in exchange for a probation-only sentence. The night before his sentencing hearing in 1978, he learned that the judge would likely reject the proffered plea bargain, so he fled the U.S. to Europe, where he continued his career. He remains a fugitive from the U.S. justice system. Further allegations of abuse have been made by other women. Polanski's parents moved the family from his birthplace in Paris back to Kraków in 1937.Paul Werner, ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Claude Chabrol
Claude Henri Jean Chabrol (; 24 June 1930 – 12 September 2010) was a French film director and a member of the French New Wave (''nouvelle vague'') group of filmmakers who first came to prominence at the end of the 1950s. Like his colleagues and contemporaries Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Éric Rohmer and Jacques Rivette, Chabrol was a Film criticism, critic for the influential film magazine ''Cahiers du Cinéma'' before beginning his career as a film maker. Chabrol's career began with ''Le Beau Serge'' (1958), inspired by Alfred Hitchcock, Hitchcock's ''Shadow of a Doubt'' (1943). Thrillers became something of a trademark for Chabrol, with an approach characterized by a distanced objectivity. This is especially apparent in ''Les Biches (film), Les Biches'' (1968), ''The Unfaithful Wife, La Femme infidèle'' (1969), and ''The Butcher (1970 film), Le Boucher'' (1970) – all featuring Stéphane Audran, who was his wife at the time. Sometimes characterized as a "mainstrea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Howard Hawks
Howard Winchester Hawks (May 30, 1896December 26, 1977) was an American film director, Film producer, producer, and screenwriter of the Classical Hollywood cinema, classic Hollywood era. Critic Leonard Maltin called him "the greatest American director who is not a household name." Roger Ebert called Hawks "one of the greatest American directors of pure movies, and a hero of Auteur Theory, auteur critics because he found his own laconic values in so many different kinds of genre material." He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director for ''Sergeant York (film), Sergeant York'' (1941) and earned the Honorary Academy Award in 1974. A versatile director, Hawks explored many genres such as comedies, dramas, gangster films, science fiction, film noir, war films and Westerns. His most popular films include ''Scarface (1932 film), Scarface'' (1932), ''Bringing Up Baby'' (1938), ''Only Angels Have Wings'' (1939), ''His Girl Friday'' (1940), ''To Have and Have Not (film), To H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Fritz Lang
Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), better known as Fritz Lang (), was an Austrian-born film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary ''Variety Obituaries, Variety'', August 4, 1976, p. 63. One of the best-known ''émigrés'' from Germany's school of German expressionist cinema, Expressionism, he was dubbed the "Master of Darkness" by the British Film Institute. He has been cited as one of the most influential filmmakers of all time. Lang's work spans five decades, from the Expressionist silent films of his first German creative period to his short stay in Paris and his work as a Hollywood director to his last three films made in Germany. Lang's most celebrated films include the futuristic science-fiction film ''Metropolis (1927 film), Metropolis'' (1927) and the influential ''M (1931 film), M'' (1931), a film noir precursor. His 1929 film ''Woman in the Moon'' showcased the use of a mult ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
National Film Theatre
BFI Southbank (from 1951 to 2007, known as the National Film Theatre) is the leading repertory cinema in the United Kingdom, specialising in seasons of classic, independent and non-English language films. It is operated by the British Film Institute. ''Forbes'' called its largest cinema, NFT1, "one of the crown jewels of the London film scene". History The National Film Theatre was initially opened in a temporary building (the Telecinema) at the Festival of Britain in 1951 and moved to its present location in 1957, replacing the Thameside restaurant on the site. It opened for the first BFI London Film Festival on 16 October 1957. Later, the Southbank Centre expanded its buildings to meet the National Film Theatre from the south, while the National Theatre occupies the area to the northeast. A second screen was added on 21 September 1970. In 1988, a new building was constructed for the Museum of the Moving Image between the National Film Theatre and Belvedere Road. Designed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Punk Subculture
The punk subculture includes a diverse and widely known array of Punk rock, music, Punk ideologies, ideologies, Punk fashion, fashion, and other forms of expression, Punk visual art, visual art, dance, Punk literature, literature, and film. Largely characterised by anti-establishment views, the promotion of individual freedom, and the DIY ethics, the culture originated from punk rock. The punk ethos is primarily made up of beliefs such as non-conformity, anti-capitalism, anti-authoritarianism, anti-corporatism, a DIY ethic, do-it-yourself ethic, anti-consumerist, anti-corporate greed, direct action, and not "selling out". There is a wide range of punk fashion, including T-shirts, leather jackets, Dr. Martens boots, hairstyles such as brightly coloured hair and spiked mohawks, cosmetics, tattoos, jewellery, and body modification. Women in the hardcore scene typically wore clothing categorised as masculine. This included black, ripped jeans and tops. Punk aesthetics determine t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
