BIRTHDAY
November 22, 1984
New York, NY

RECENT CREDITS
Iron Man 2 (FILM) May. 7, 2010
He's Just Not That Into You (FILM) Feb. 6, 2009
The Spirit (FILM) Dec. 25, 2008
Vicky Cristina Barcelona (FILM) Aug. 15, 2008
The Other Boleyn Girl (FILM) Feb. 29, 2008

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Hollywood cranked out women's pictures (or 'weepies' as they came to be known, or are now known as "chick flicks") with excessive emotional fervor in the 1930s and after. In part because they contained few strong male characters and matinee idols suitable for swooning, they were films created for the female segment of the audience. Producers thought women would be more interested than men in relationships, love, and marriage, thereby escaping from their own problems, and empathizing (and weeping) with the on-screen sufferings of strong female protagonists. Female audiences would be attracted to plot lines that included doomed love affairs, infidelity, unrequited love, various family crises, or marital separation. The protagonists of women's films would often overcome stereotypical gender roles, and the films would examine the strong achievements of these characters.

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Another heroine of serials was Grace Cunard (nicknamed "The Serial Queen"), who made her Hollywood debut in 1910, later joined up with actor/director/writer Francis Ford at Universal, and soon became Universal's top action heroine. [Francis Ford was the younger brother of famed director John Ford. Ford was an actor before serving an apprenticeship as a director and actor for Thomas Ince in the early 1910s. In 1913, he transferred to Universal.] Together with Ford as her screen partner, they created numerous silent film serials and westerns. Some of their best-known serials included the 15-chapter Western serial Lucille Love, Girl of Mystery (1914) - Universal's first serial, the 22-Tempest Cody Rides Wild - 1919episode The Broken Coin (1915), and the 15-episode The Adventures of Peg o' The Ring (1916).

Another female queen of the serials was Ruth Roland, who appeared in serials such as The Red Circle (1915), the 15-episode The Adventures of Ruth (1919), and the 15-episode The Timber Queen (1922). And Universal star Marie Walcamp starred in a series of "spur and saddle" tales in 1919 as the western character Tempest Cody (e.g., Tempest Cody Rides Wild (1919)).

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Annie Hall (1977), from director-actor-co-writer Woody Allen, is a quintessential masterpiece of priceless, witty and quotable one-liners within a matured, focused and thoughtful film. It is a bittersweet romantic comedy of modern contemporary love and urban relationships (a great successor to classic Hollywood films such as The Awful Truth (1937) and The Philadelphia Story (1940)), that explores the interaction of past and present, and the rise and fall of Allen's own challenging, ambivalent New York romance with his opposite - an equally-insecure, shy, flighty Midwestern WASP female (who blossoms out in a Pygmalion-like story).

Annie Hall clearly has semi-autobiographical elements - it is the free-wheeling, stream-of-consciousness story of an inept, angst-ridden, pessimistic, Brooklyn-born and Jewish stand-up comedian - much like Allen himself (who started out as a joke writer for The Tonight Show) - who experiences crises related to his relationships and family. His unstable love affair with aspiring singer Annie Hall begins to disintegrate when she moves to Los Angeles and discovers herself - and a new life.

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The primary moods of classic film noir were melancholy, alienation, bleakness, disillusionment, disenchantment, pessimism, ambiguity, moral corruption, evil, guilt, desperation and paranoia.

Heroes (or anti-heroes), corrupt characters and villains included down-and-out, conflicted hard-boiled detectives or private eyes, cops, gangsters, government agents, a lone wolf, socio-paths or killers, crooks, war veterans, politicians, petty criminals, murderers, or just plain Joes. These protagonists were often morally-ambiguous low-lifes from the dark and gloomy underworld of violent crime and corruption. Distinctively, they were cynical, tarnished, obsessive (sexual or otherwise), brooding, menacing, sinister, sardonic, disillusioned, frightened and insecure loners (usually men), struggling to survive - and in the end, ultimately losing.

Download Primary Characteristics and Conventions of Film Noir: Themes and Styles

Ultimately, it's of minor import how much of Rob Roy is based upon historical fact and how much has been embellished by the pen of screenwriter Alan Sharp. As a hero of 18th century Scotland, Robert Roy MacGregor is known to have walked through the mists of the Highlands, living by the code that made his name a legend. This film takes the skeletal myth and builds a real person around those bones. As embodied by Liam Neeson, Rob Roy is a tremendous protagonist -- a naive man whose belief in honor and whose love for a woman, family, and clan make him a figure to cheer for.


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Starring Andy García
Val Kilmer
Richard Coyle
Emmanuelle Chriqui
Rupert Friend
Johnathon Schaech
Dean Cain
Rade Šerbedžija
Antje Traue
Heather Graham

Review:

This is one proof why I don’t understand the objective of wars in the world. I have seen many movies of this kind where war has really no justification. The Platoon, The Pianist, Enemy at the Gates, or Schindler’s List, the lost of civilian lives is just so unspeakable. 5 Days of War (5 Days of August) is no exception.

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Cast
Dolph Lundgren as Icarus aka Edward Genn
Stefanie Von Pfetten as Joey
Katelyn Mager as Taylor
Lindsay Maxwell as April
Samantha Ferris as Kerr

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Enchanted director Kevin Lima signed on to helm the DreamWorks Animation musical Monkeys of Mumbai; joining an impressive pool of talent.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Lima joined producers Lisa Stewart and Chris Chase as well as writers Gurinder Chadha and Paul Berges (Bride & Prejudice and Bend It Like Beckham), lyricist Stephen Schwartz (Wicked) and composer A.R. Rahman (Slumdog Millionaire) on the tale based on the Indian epic Ramayana, about a man battling a demon who’s kidnapped his wife.

Download Kevin Lima To Direct DreamWorks’ MONKEYS OF MUMBAI!