Title: NEIGHBOURS 3

Director: Robert Boggs

Models: Jay Ozzy Thomas Swings

©️ AYOR STUDIOS

Lançado em 1991, 'Edward Mãos de Tesoura' se tornou um dos mais amados filmes dos brasileiros. Daniel Bydlowski, cineasta e colunista do site Aventuras na História separou curiosidades sobre o longa.

Confira abaixo:

🔴 Winona Ryder, que interpreta Kim Boggs, e Depp eram noivos na vida real na época da produção, o que colaborou para construir uma química perfeita entre os personagens;

🔴 A inocência do personagem de Depp e sua reação para o mundo vieram também do cachorro da roteirista Caroline Thompson que a ajudou a moldar Edward;

🔴 A atuação de Depp foi tão intensa que ganhou os holofotes com um personagem praticamente sem falas. Durante todo o filme, Edward fala cerca de 169 palavras;

🔴 As casas “perfeitinhas” que constroem o cenário do subúrbio do filme são de verdade. Filmado em um bairro de Tampa, na Flórida, as moradias foram pintadas nos tons pastel para a produção;

🔴 Tim convidou a famosa banda The Cure e Robert Smith para comporem a trilha sonora do filme, mas por conta da falta de popularidade à época, eles recusaram. E pior, o vocalista de fato parece um dos personagens de Burton;

📸 Divulgação/20th Century Studios

A thief makes a disturbing discovery in the house where he breaks in. Later, when he returns to the same house with his partner in crime, things are no longer how he expected. Credits: TheMovieDb. Film Cast: Cale Erendreich: David Tennant Sean Falco: Robert Sheehan Katie: Kerry Condon Derek Sandoval: Carlito Olivero Riley Seabrook: Jacqueline Byers FBI Agent Olivia Fuller: Tracey Heggins Don Falco: Rob Nagle Patti Falco: Lorraine Bahr Rowan Falco: Jacob Resnikoff Nino: David Meyers Detective Wayne Banyon: Tony Doupe Helen Leyton: Lisa Brenner Jocelyn: Sofia Hasmik Officer Aguilar: Delpaneaux Wills Sabine: Hannah Barefoot Mitchell: Danny Bruno Young Cale: Austin Leo FBI Agent: Jared Q. Miller FBI Agent Driver: Lydia Reim FBI Supervisor: Brandon Boyce Female Cop: Dana Millican Girlfriend #1: Emily Kimball Horse Trainer: Sam Bangs Newscaster: Brenda Braxton Uniform Cop: David S. Hogan Valet: Alex Donnolo FBI Agent: Tim Bennett Umbrella Ped: Chris Ihlenfeldt Film Crew: Producer: Dean Devlin Original Music Composer: Joseph LoDuca Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Greg P. Russell Second Unit Director: Carsten H.W. Lorenz Property Master: John Pearson-Denning Makeup Artist: Eva Lohse Director of Photography: David Connell Art Direction: Michelle Jones Screenplay: Brandon Boyce Editor: Brian Gonosey Production Design: Nate Jones Extras Casting: Susan Funk Producer: Marc Roskin Costume Design: Critter Pierce Gaffer: Neil Holcomb Steadicam Operator: Gary L. Camp Extras Casting: Bill Marinella Second Unit Director of Photography: Matthew Moriarty Foley Artist: Jörg Klinkenberg Makeup Department Head: Christina Kortum Stunt Double: Tim Bennett Construction Coordinator: Dean G. Roberts Scenic Artist: Ellen Lepinski First Assistant Director: Gregory J. Pawlik Jr. Sound Editor: James Gallivan Dialect Coach: Mary McDonald-Lewis Script Supervisor: Andy Spletzer Co-Producer: Mark Franco Special Effects Coordinator: William Boggs Assistant Editor: Lana Wolverton Focus Puller: Bob Webeck Stunt Double: Daniel Locicero Stunt Double: Kym Stys Still Photographer: James N. Clark Key Grip: Art Bartels Assistant Production Coordinator: Naomi Yospe Casting Associate: Marin Hope Makeup Artist: Stephanie June Johnson Unit Production Manager: Brandon Lambdin First Assistant “C” Camera: Ronnie Dennis Assistant Property Master: Sean Fong Producer: Rachel Olschan Set Decoration: Benjamin Hayden Stunt Coordinator: Kent W. Luttrell Assistant Editor: Rick Chapman Sound Designer: Mark Hailstone Dolly Grip: Todd England Nicodemus Location Manager: Robert Warberg Boom Operator: Heidi DuBose Stunt Driver: Michelle Damis Utility Stunts: Lex Damis First Assistant “A” Camera: Kyril Cvetkov Hair Department Head: Autumn Sanders Production Accountant: Colleen Emry Hairstylist: Dusti Leon Stunt Driver: Ken Clark Second Assistant Director: Devan Linforth Script Coordinator: Kerry Glover Stunt Double: Anthony Oh Makeup Artist: Tammy Brant Second Second Assistant Director: Jesse Bellis Second Second Assistant Director: James McCoy Leadman: Jason Beveridge Construction Foreman: Jarred Decker Greensman: Rick Lepinski Set Designer: Jason Raines Foley Mixer: Jean-Marie Gilles Stunt Driver: Tommy Goodwin Stunt Double: James A. Smith Second Assistant Camera: Michael Crockett Second Assistant Camera: Madison Rowley Best Boy Grip: Brian Shotzbarger Best Boy Electrician: Jeremiah Skender Costume Supervisor: Alison Carlos Set Medic: Michael Fine Set Medic: Taylor Saxon Producer: Tony Malzone Movie Reviews: offscreenbabble: I did not enjoy the movie. The trailer looked really interesting and I really like David Tennant.The movie had some strange editing choices. It’s unintentionally funny but not a movie thats so bad its fun. To give you a quick spoiler free review it’s about a valet who tries to rob David Tennant’s place. When he is about to leave he sees a woman tied up. The rest of the movie is him trying to notify the police but it becomes a “Cat and Mouse” game between the valet and David Tennant. But increasingly gets silly and overall the stuff that is s...

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January 8, 2021: R.E.D. (Epilogue)

Which movie is my favorite action-comedy so far this month? Definitely goes to The Nice Guys, gotta be honest. But which movie was a hell of a lot of fun to watch, and something that I’ll definitely watch again?

R.E.D. This movie’s great! And the comedy definitely sits alongside the action in a way I wasn’t quite expecting. But, OK, let’s get into it, shall we? SPOILERS AHEAD!

Review

Cast and Acting

It’s dynamite. I’m a sucker for a good ensemble, and this one’s a GREAT ensemble. Which is funny because these people...aren’t necessarily comedy or action-specialists. Bruce Willis has done both, sure, and he does well in his role. But, honestly, he might be the least interesting performance in the group, sorry to say. It’s pretty run-of-the-mill, as Willis performances go. Malkovich has done more comedy than action, and he’s STELLAR as Marvin Boggs. Funnist character, by a mile. There’s the scene when they get to the Eagle’s Nest. I won’t spoil it here, but I was laughiiiiiiing.

Speaking of the Eagle’s Nest Helen Mirren! WOW! Known far more for drama than anything else, Helen Mirren is an absolute blast in this movie, and my second favorite after Marvin. Morgan Freeman also deserves some props, mostly for coming off as a retired Shaft-esque character, and I love that. Karl Urban and Mary-Louise Parker are also great, and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the romance between Willis and Parker. Seriously, I was all-set to hate it, but Sarah is an extremely charming character, and someone whom I enjoyed seeing get embroiled into this world.

And then, there’s Brian Cox. People tend to sleep on his performance as Ivan, but he’s one of my favorite characters in the movie. Most because his chemistry with the other characters is seamless, ESPECIALLY with Victoria, and in the scene with Frank. Cox is awesome in this movie, too, and people should notice him more than they do.

Cast and Acting: 9/10 (1 point off for Willis)

Plot and Writing

This movie is funny...but not necessarily in its writing. What I mean is, the humor doesn’t come as much through its jokes as it does through its situations and framing. And those things are FUNNY. Nothing wrong with some good visual humor, that’s for sure. But are there jokes, or at least funny lines? Yes, or course! But those jokes are enhanced by the situation around them. In other words, the written jokes don’t work nearly as well out-of-context. However, this movie is still well-written, and a fun ride in any case. As for the plot, it’s good! The mystery of the assassin does have you guessing here and there, but not too much. Less complex than that of The Nice Guys, but straightforward in its simplicity. And again, it makes way for some fun along the way!

Writing: 7/10 (mostly for the jokes thing; kind of needed in an action-comedy)

Direction and Action

Definite props to the director, Robert Schwentke, as there are some gorgeous shots in here, not to mention the action scenes and the visual gags injected throughout. Schwentke’s responsible for The Time Traveler’s Wife (haven’t seen it...should that be on my list for next month?), R.I.P.D. (heard only bad thing about that one), two of the Divergent movies (nope, no thank you), and an upcoming G.I. Joe movie about Snake Eyes (ooooooooh). So not much action. And yet, he still does very well! Credit to the director for that!

Direction and Action: 8/10 (great, but not perfect)

Production Design

This was also pretty great. The variety of locations all seem pretty distinct, and we almost get an action travelogue of sorts. The outfits throughout the movie are mostly similar, BUT there are some major standouts with Marvin and Victoria. Victoria’s winter camouflage suit is one of my favorite designs for a winter coat, and I love it. And Marvin...OH....MARVIN. SO MUCH. SO many good outfits and props. This one gets high marks!

Production Design: 9/10

Music and Editing

This movie is composed of fast cuts and short scenes, which was interesting to write a recap of, lemme tell you. Not my favorite thing, in truth, but it didn’t stop me from enjoying the movie too much. And the postcard gimmick to introduce locations is also pretty neat! Nice callback to the beginning o the film, when we see Sarah’s wall of postcards at the job she totally doesn’t have anymore.

As for the music...eh? There was one instance with memorable music for me (the Cooper/Moses fight scene), but not much else outside of it. So, a meh grade for that one.

Music and Editing: 7/10

That’s an 80%, which seems about right! This was a hell of a good movie, and one that I’ll definitely be watching again! This time, though, let’s switch it up! Let’s do something a little...crazier. And different. And...kung fu.

January 9, 2021: Kung Fu Hustle (2004)

Notes from the AHWM Explanation Livestream

This will be long, so fair warning! If you're on computer, you can press the spacebar to skip this post if you want!

There was CG smoke for the bomb

The last shot was running after the bomb goes off, filmed during the day

Many cursed images

(0:56 - Guns Blazing) November 5th = gunpowder treason & plot (a reference)

Ethan is the one yelling during the run

Helicopter/Car was filmed in a place formerly known as Spiderwoods (spiders, snakes, and bugs everywhere)

Mark's patented method to get rid of snakes is to tell them to fuck off

There was big black snake near the library

Chica snore-grumbles

Most of the choices were pretty evenly split in the video data

The guy who owned the field in Helicopter/Car also owned the helicopter

It was hard to get the cameraman to know that the camera is an interacting character

They filmed up to 10 pages a day

Prison was the first 2 days of shooting, as well as the part with the most characters/extras (12 people)

Mick gets typecasted in roles of authority

The Prison location is a functioning mental hospital

John was a Prisoner, first mate, and is a realtor IRL

There is no "why" to recording this to keep a broad audience and have fun after Mark was in a depression and made WKM

The Gregory Brothers / Schmoyoho made 2 renditions of I Don't Wanna Be Free (which is on Apple/iTunes/Spotify)

The musical was a production/recording nightmare on the 2nd day

They had 20 minutes max. to learn each segment; they had a choreographer helping them learn the dances

The original vocals didn't have the accent

Mark had to do the vocals, acting, blocking, etc. in 30 mins

Mick was supposed to cross frame during the top-hats-part, but they had already recorded it; the producers weren't comfortable telling Mark "no" yet, so they had Amy do it

The smashed bricks were styrofoam; Mark was typed to a rope that was pulled

The director of photography was Phillip J Roy; he took a pay cut to work on this project

Yancy's sleeve tattoo is the whole map again

Yancy's tattoos are Tiny Box Tim and Mark/Dark across his knuckles; those were Makeup's ideas

The Musical was only 1/4 of a recording day

There was 3 work weeks of shooting (15 days)

Day By Dave made a remix

Yancy was named "Prison Mark" until the fight scene started to be made in post-production, where he needed a name; Mark liked Yancy and Amy was very against it originally

Yancy killed both of his parents; Mark knew people were gonna fall in love with him anyway

"Yancy stans, go, march on"

Yancy has an emoji bandaid

Heapass (canonically) makes an appearance in Thanks and also Yes Please; he had "Heapass" on a cast, but it was on the wrong side from the camera

Holt Boggs (the cell guard) is an amazing man; he was overqualified ("soft hands")

The cell was in a green-screen soundstage, so there was more improve

Yancy was supposed to be hidden in the ceiling or beside the bed, but under the bed turned out better; he's hidden under the bed the whole scene

The Red Gemini was the camera that they used for this project

Mark just runs off frame in Thanks and also Yes Please

The audio-only part was very convenient for filming and fitting for a 1st-person perspective

Yancy's talk at the gate was Mark real-acting & the late shot of the 1st day of filming, which made all of them realize that the project could actually work

Yancy WANTS to be in prison; he knows all the ways out - he'd leave if he wanted to

The items in the box are more representational achievements

Mark needs our help to promote AHWM, through liking the video(s), commenting good things, and spreading the project; the performance of this dictates the ability to make another similar project

Mark worked for FREE for 5 months, taking no cut of the budget for himself

"Yancy is just Prison Mark with amnesia" "There could be a time-skip there; it could work"

Robert Rex, "a god walking amongst mere morals;" has always wearing the same thing; Mark didn't know that he was going to do different accents

Amy is the hand with the feather-duster

The Warden's desk moves into the hallway after a smash-cut

Mick's line had to be rewritten so it can be ambiguous; you can only tell if you were looking

The Warden embodies "big strong hands," something Mark writes into dialogue a lot (along with "trust you me"); everytime he touches something it cracks (his desk, Yancy's shoulder)

Pulling stuff from behind Mark's back was on-the-spot

The dirt joke was a prop-person and Mark throwing buckets

Mark helped Holt Boggs make a short video

HOLT BOGGS

The truck in Prison was a one-take-wonder; they actually bashed the truck through the wall in a such a cartoony, perfect way

The Bob/Wade skit was a reference to Prop Hunt

Mark comparing the disappointment of people not liking the video to a cup of dirt under the Christmas tree

The lid to the sewer says "a heist with markiplier"

The sewer was in an actual sewer treatment plant, which took about a week of filming; some parts were flooded so they couldn't film there; this place was scheduled to be torn down

Mark forces us to choose the Light Tunnel first

Cranbersher, GrittySugar, and Lixian collaborated for the Light Tunnel; it was originally going to be live action with a green-screen and a pre-made raft; Cranberser offered when he had a 3-month break from other projects

Amy notes that Mark did a lot of "falling"

Mark had to carry a 200 pound man and a heavy camera rig to carry Y/N

There was poison ivy, snakes, spiders, etc. on the island

The Game Grumps voiced the aliens; Erin originally was meant to play the Warden & Danny was meant to play one of the guards

Many roles fluctuated due to scheduling

Getting abducted is a reference to ADWM ("not again!")

Mark loves MatPat's scenes and acting (Build a Shelter)

There were so many mosquitos near the Cave and the actors couldn't put on bug spray because they had to preserve their makeups

There was a giant hole in the Cave from which grasshoppers rained down

They were a mile into the cave; they weren't able to staff them for 3 days, so they recorded for 2 days and had fo cut some shots

The Cave freeze-frame was unscripted; the camera director didn't tell cut and it was too funny

The Hermit was originally supposed to be Jacksepticeye but scheduling errors were in the way

Mick was originally supposed to be Crazy Ed

When the sound-guy didnt have a sound effect, one of them riffed something at the mic and it was modulated to fit as best as possible

Mark's camera loses signal/battery power

Mark has done the hot-wire-while-moving in Car before (van videos)

The blue flash during Car is you from the future/another timeline

Mark was actually driving the car; someone flashed the blue light so it was a bit dangerous

Tyler and Ethan make appearances as Zombies

Tyler actually let Mark hit him with a rock

There was a dead beaver in the shed during the Zombie Apocalypse

The Zombie Apocalypse shots were in VERY hot weather

The barricaded front door but very open back door was intentional humour

Ethan's zombie handshake was thought up on the spot

Moe was the man screaming from the fire and zombie attack, making everyone behind the camera laugh

Rosanna Pansino sings opera & speaks Chinese

The Scientist had to be broken up (the cuts are in the gunshots)

243 is a chemical identification symbol in an actual laboratory, nothing meaningful to the plot

The code leads to the AHWM website

What's truly inside the box is the real timeline, which is the team making the project

The room where the monitor was in (Amy, script manager, etc.) was locked out and no one could see what was going on, only hear it through headsets

Mark threw 2 dummies (main video, Absolutely Not!)

Chica likes to climb through the cords underneath Mark's desk

The true/canon ending is For The Greater Good, which leads to ADWM

SodaPopIn hasn't really done this before, but he went with it because he was told Mark was nice; he continued even during harsh weather, many planes, and a long take/monologue

The sandwiches are a callback to ADWM

The montage endings were inspired by the ones Amy made for ADWM

There was never any time set aside to get photos for the montages, so they had to continuously get pictures

Catherine makes an appearance in the Warfstache bit

Warfstache is just a meta joke > you respond by writing in the comments as a survey, producer Catherine is more powerful than the video-editing, ringing the bell for notifications

They rented the same place for the Warfstache bit that they used to film all the other previous Warfstache bits

Dark inserts himself wherever he feels like being

There is charity (#TeamTrees) merch for each of the egos/Mark characters in this project (including the new ones)

Edge of Sleep's last episode aired yesterday (as of the stream - 6/11/19)

A "reverse" charity livestream is happening soon

The next project(s) are already in the works

SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT HEIST

Amy originally wasn't going to work on this project until they went to Texas; she became Creative Producer once Mark put himself into too many places

Iba originally auditioned for the man in the burning truck, but his voice was so good he became the seer/guide

The project has been "cooking" since May

The next project would be a completely different project, not a continuation

SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT HEIST

Regular uploads start again tomorrow (7/11/19)

“Hickey & Boggs”

-this is a splendid, well directed new noir, with a bit of the male comradery aka buddy cop films. Damn good script too

-said script is an early piece by Walter Hill, and it has his trade mark minimal dialogue, heavy on relationships, and well sustained action sequences

-I love the opening scene, entirely without dialogue, that sets up a woman dropping a briefcase, then said briefcase being under a flower bed, covered in plastic, which is then opened and revealed to have thousand dollar bills. Excellent

-Bill Cosby is a really good dramatic actor, able to wonderfully display a weariness without saying much. +myself coming from an era where he was comedy with a capital C, this coldness in action is a delightful surprise

-lots of little good angles, like Cosby being questioned down at the station, his face obscured by a file divider but the tape recorder is obviously highlighted by the framing

-there is an easy going, layered chemistry between director-actor Robert Culp and Bill Cosby that really sells that these two men are partners and their history is deep as the ocean +that they were also a team for several years on the 60’s show “I Spy” helps

-rather intriguingly, the woman who helps set up the money doesn’t speak until the very end, thwarting the noir device of the dame who charms her way with the detectives (Cosby and Culp are trying to find her)

-Cosby’s scenes with his character’s wife are loving and tender, and gradually set up a feeling of bonding that leads to a tragic denouncement

-the way the act is inferred and the sad and slow way he picks up the phone after finding her is effective

-equally thoughtful is the way his wife’s sister chastises him while the camera is on his daughter and she starts to break down as the weight of the tragedy begins to bear fully on her

-surprisingly, the heroes are not the crack shots in most action films. They are not lousy but merely avoid the cliche of the heroes are master sharpshooters who never miss and the bad guys couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn. +here both are fairly even -the scenery at the beach, both in the beginning and near the finale scene is breathtaking

-I love the shot of the perp on the stairs, the heroes only marked by their guns entering frame and hovering just above his face

-the scenes with the assassins chasing Cosby and Culp is vintage 70’s mood

-this is a lean, cold killing machine of a film and I enjoyed every little bit of character squeeze out of it. A treat

DVD Review: Shark Bait

Shark Bait collects six schlocky shark movies - Swamp Shark (2011), Ghost Shark (2013), Zombie Shark (2015), Ozark Sharks (2016), Mississippi River Sharks (2017), and Santa Jaws (2018) - along with a bonus alligator flick - Alligator Alley (2013) - for good measure. The fin-tastic DVD set is available now from Mill Creek Entertainment in celebration of Shark Week.

Although Mill Creek presents the features in no discernible order, I opted to view them in chronological order to see if there were any patterns or growth over the seven years spanned. They're all cheesy, but it's interesting to see which of the movies embrace their inherent absurdity, which makes them easier to swallow. Case in point: Sharknado became a cultural phenomenon because it went all-in on the concept.

In viewing all seven of the movies over a short span of time, the formula is apparent. A cast with a couple of celebrities past their prime and a bunch of wooden, inexperienced actors play one-dimensional characters that spout unnatural dialogue (usually with an obligatory Jaws reference) in between animal attacks accomplished with laughable CGI.

Another fascinating fact is that a mere two directors are responsible for all seven movies. Griff Furst (Lake Placid 3) was in the director's chair for Swamp Shark, Ghost Shark, and Alligator Alley, while Misty Talley helmed the other four. I imagine making these movies is good fun, although it likely becomes tedious after a few. But their work was clearly successful enough to warrant repeat hirings, so more power to them.

Swamp Shark is an example of a pre-Sharknado creature feature that takes itself far too seriously. An animal smuggler accidentally releases a rare shark with a virtually impenetrable exoskeleton into a Louisiana river. Despite the swampland being infested with the added threat of alligators, the opportunity for shark vs. gator action is sadly missed. While the shark is predominately created with crummy CGI, a couple of shots admirably utilize a good, old-fashioned rubber head.

Kristy Swanson (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) toplines the film as the person tasked with stopping the flesh-hungry shark before it wreaks havoc at the annual Gator Fest. The cast also includes Robert Davi (The Goonies), D.B. Sweeney (Spawn), and Baseball Hall of Famer Wade Boggs. After years of independent and made-for-television work, Swamp Shark cinematographer Lorenzo Senatore recently shot the new Hellboy.

Ghost Shark is a strong contender for the most entertaining movie in the set. It starts with a practical, fake great white in the prologue until it's killed, after which point it becomes the titular, translucent Ghost Shark. It can materialize in any water, and its appearances become increasingly more outrageous, from the ocean and a swimming pool to water pipes and a slip and slide. I won't give away the most ludicrous highlight, but it's a rare unforgettable moment in a Syfy movie.

Levity is key, which is why the last act becomes more tiresome when it focuses on the why and the how, although I appreciate that its mythology is taken seriously despite the silly premise. Mackenzie Rosman (7th Heaven) stars as a girl with a personal vendetta against the specter. Richard Moll (House) brings surprising nuance to the role of the alcoholic lighthouse keeper with a dark past. Thomas Francis Murphy (The Walking Dead) plays the small town’s sheriff.

Zombie Shark (also known as Shark Island) finds a shark - named Bruce, of course - escaping from the scientific facility in which it was the subject of experimentation. It proceeds to find food on the shore of a nearby, secluded island. The shark spreads its undead virus to other sharks and, eventually, to humans. There's no shortage of voracious fish action, including a first victim that caught me off guard; a rarity in these oft-predictable films.

Cassie Steele (Degrassi: The Next Generation) stars as one of four friends on the quaint island for a getaway, and Jason London (Dazed and Confused) co-stars as the facility's head of security hunting down the shark. Although not a "name" actor, Roger J. Timber provides solid comedic relief as an islander who serves as host to the guests.

Ozark Sharks follows a family's long-weekend trip to an Arkansas cabin that holds a special place in the grandmother's heart, only to find that bull sharks have invaded the nearby lake. This happens while the town is gearing up for a big firework festival. Much like Zombie Shark, the first kill is a welcome surprise, but the film culminates with an unnecessarily melodramatic finale.

Allisyn Ashley Arm (A.P. Bio) stars as the angst-ridden lead who becomes the final girl of sorts. Thomas Francis Murphy is back, this time playing the soothsaying owner of the local bait shop. He owns an arsenal of homemade weaponry that adds a dash of fun to the bland proceedings, including a giant air canon, an oar turned into a high-voltage cattle prod, a double-bladed katana, and a crossbow that shoots dear antlers.

Santa Jaws not only has the best title, but it may very well be the strongest effort in the set. Although it lacks the star power of the other movies, it offers a radical deviation from the creature feature formula; it's a coming-of-age movie. When a dorky teen boy receives a magic pen that turns its drawings into a reality, he uses it on his comic book, Santa Jaws. Soon there's a killer shark with glowing, red eyes, a candy cane horn, and a Santa hat on its dorsal fin targeting his family amidst their Christmas gathering.

The result is something like Jaws meets Krampus by way of Ruby Sparks, if it were produced by the Hallmark Channel. Shark excitement takes a backseat in this one, and there’s a whole lot of unintentional camp present, but the youth-driven approach to the material is a breath of fresh air. With no hackneyed military or science roles, the characters feel more natural and developed.

Though not quite as far a deviation as Santa Jaws, Mississippi River Sharks spices things up a clever meta element. Jason London plays a fictionalized version of himself, the star of the Shark Bite franchise. He's the celebrity guest at a podunk town's fishing competition, and his inflated ego leads him to believe that he's the most qualified person to save the day when sharks start attacking. Unlike his blase role in Zombie Shark, London lights up the screen in this supporting role.

The real hero is Cassie Steele's Tara, but it's Dean J. West (The Hunt) who shines when London is absent. In the comedic role of Tara's friend, Wyatt, he's an overzealous Shark Bite fanboy who relishes the opportunity to live out his favorite movie... even if he doesn't know what he's doing. A brief cameo from Jeremy London (Mallrats) - Jason's twin brother - furthers the meta aspect.

Alligator Alley is included as a bonus film. Thomas Francis Murphy plays another pivotal role, this time as a bayou redneck who brews chemically-enhanced moonshine. He dumps a string of bad batches into the river, mutating the local alligator population to the point where they can shoot spikes from their tails. He has a long-standing family feud with another local Cajun family, with two star-crossed lovers - one played by Jordan Hinson (Eureka) - caught in the middle, but they must band together to stop the gators.

The first half of the film is a bit dull, as you're essentially waiting for all of these annoying characters to get eaten, but the pacing picks up when concept that can only be described as weregators is introduced. The left-field plot point is so preposterous that it makes the film vastly more interesting. And maybe it's because I had just watched six shark movies and water is hard to animate, but the CGI isn't half bad considering the time and budget.

Shark Bait crams all seven films onto two discs. Compression is apparent in every movie (particularly with murky underwater footage, for whatever reason), and of course there are no special features, but it still beats watching them with Syfy's incessant commercial interruptions. Each one clocks in at under 90 minutes, so even the poorly-paced movies - of which there are several - are over before you know it.

Although far from high art, the best films in the collection - Santa Jaws, Ghost Shark, and Mississippi River Sharks - subvert expectations by mixing up the trite formula, and they don't shy away from levity. If you're lamenting the lack of a new Sharknado film this year - the franchise concluded with its sixth installment last year - fill the shark-sized gap in your heart with the Shark Bait collection.

Shark Bait is available now on DVD via Mill Creek Entertainment.

Let's talk movies!

@uneven-odds asked me to answer all of these. thanks, love. <3

A movie you’ve seen most times in cinema. - Probably Doctor Strange or Star Wars: The Last Jedi, I’m not sure about that. I think it’s a tie.

Your most rewatched movie. - Spider-Man: Homecoming.

A movie you quote on a daily basis. - Star Wars, from all different movies.

Favorite movie soundtrack. - The Greatest Showman and Inception.

Top 5 films of your favorite actor and actress. 1. Spider-Man: Homecoming 2. The Amazing Spider-Man: Rise Of Electro 3. La La Land 4. Spider-Man: Far From Home 5. Heart of the Sea. I think by now you can tell who’s my favorite actress and actor haha.

Top 5 performances of your favorite actor and actress. Cause there are only two characters I LOVED THAT MUCH: Emma Stone as Mia in La La Land Tom Holland as Spiderman.

A movie storyline you wish you had actually lived. - The storyline of Harry Potter. I loved the books, I loved the movies, I wanted to live in this world so bad.

A movie that reminds you of your mom. - Notting Hill.

A movie that reminds you of your dad. - Der Schuh des Manitu.

Favorite movies from your childhood. - The Jungle Book, Pocahontas, Edward Scissorhand and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.

Favorite quote(s). - My ultimative fav quote of all time is: “It’s only when we wake up, we realise something was strange.

Top 5 favorite female performances. 1. Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia Organa 2. Brie Larson as Captain Marvel 3. Winona Ryder as Kim Boggs 4. Tilda Swinton as The Ancient One 5. Liv Tyler as Arwen

Top 5 favorite male performances. 1. Tom Hiddleston as Loki Laufeyson 2. Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man aka Tony Stark 3. Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing 4. Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins 5. Tom Holland as Peter Parker

Favorite year for movies. - I quite liked the year 2017.

Your favorite movies from 2014. - Interstellar, The Amazing Spider-Man: Rise Of Electro and The Imitation Game.

Favorite Johnny Depp movies? - (insert every Johnny Depp movie EVER) No, but my fav “3″ are: Edward Scissorhand, Sleepy Hollow and the first 3 Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

List all you’ve seen from Tom Hiddleston. - Thor, Thor: The Dark World, Thor: Ragnarok, The Avengers, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Miss Austen Regrets, Midnight in Paris, The Deep Blue Sea, Only Lovers Left Alive, I Saw The Light, High-Rise, Crimson Peak, Kong: Skull Island So yeah, basically every movie he’s in haha.

An underrated actor. - Dane DeHaan.

An underrated actress. - Emily Blunt.

An underrated director. - Wes Craven (ALWAYS LOVED HIS HORROR MOVIES!)

An overrated actor. - Don’t have one.

An overrated actress. - Don’t have one.

An overrated director. - Don’t have one.

A film you wish you had seen on the big screen. - All Star Wars movies. I haven’t seen all of them because, yeah well, I wasn’t born or too young.

A movie you’ve seen that you think no one else’s here will have heard of? - This Beautiful Fantastic.

Favorite movie characters. - Thranduil, Luke Skywalker, Jyn Erso, Loki Laufeyson, Peter Parker, Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel, Arwen and Luna Lovegood.

A film that was better than the book. - Uagh idk really.

Best remake. - IT. I LOVE IT, by “IT” I mean the movie haha.

Your first favorite actor. - Mark Hamill. 

Your first favorite actress. - Carrie Fisher.

Favorite animated film. - The Jungle Book.

Your most anticipated films. - Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker and IT Chapter 2.

Last movie that disappointed you. - The remake of The Lion King.

Last movie that surpassed your expectations. - Captain Marvel.

Actor in need of new agent. - Tom Holland, Imma be his new agent haha, jk.

Actress in need of new agent. - Jessica Chastain, Imma be her agent as well haha, no jk.

Share an unpopular film opinion you have. - I think that romantic movies, most of the times are all the same and really boring. Sorry, not sorry.

Favorite Oscar win/speech. - Viola Davis speech from 2017. I cried a bit.

Biggest Oscar snub(s). - There are so MANY, but I guess no. is Leonardo DiCaprio. It took way too long for him to get an Oscar.

Who do you think is overdue for another nomination/win? - Viola Davis, I love seeing her win, she’s just wonderful and I love listening to her speeches.

How many movies have you seen (rough estimation)? - Around 300 maybe.

A movie that made you go ‘wtf was that’. - Only Lovers Left Alive. I’m sorry Tom, I love you, but that just freaked me out.

A film that scarred you. - The Shining but just because it was SO BAD.

Most movies watched in a single day. - 5.

A film that always makes you cry. - Me Before You. One of the few romantic movies I LOVE. Maybe because it has a sad ending to it. Yeah I’m weird, I know.

A film that always makes you laugh. - Der Schuh des Manitu.

Movies that you think everyone should watch (not necessarily your favorites). - The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, all Star Wars movies, but especially Rogue One, it’s so underrated, all movies belonging to the MCU, A Long Way Down AND DEFINITELY BlacKkKlansman.

A movie that took you a couple of viewings to appreciate. - Legend.

A book you want to see adapted to the big screen. - Noah by Sebastian Fitzek.

A book you really, really, really don’t want to see made into a film. - The Silmarillion, I don’t think a movie will do this book any justice.

Favorite child performance. - Natalie Portman in Léon: The Professional

Favorite pre-code. - Safe in Hell.

Favorite silent film. - Nosferatu.

Favorite coming of age film. - The Breakfast Club.

Favorite superhero film. - Uff, that’s really though: Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Best cinematography. - The Revenant.

Movies you know you should watch, but can’t bring yourself to do it? - Idk, I really do watch what I want to, so currently none.

Favorite genres. - Horror, thriller, drama and fantasy.

Least favorite genres. - Comedy and romance.

Biggest movie pet peeve. - Idk rn.

At the time of the release of the films, The Hunger Games was one of the most popular franchises anywhere. The books by Suzanne Collins were an obvious hit but the movies starring Jennifer Lawrence took things to the next level. Across four entries, they grossed nearly $3 billion.

RELATED: The Hunger Games: 10 Book To Movie Differences Nobody Talks About

As popular as the movies were, they did get released between 2012 and 2015, which is now a pretty long time ago. That means a lot of fans have forgotten about some of the actors to appear. The leads are certainly remembered but some of the supporting players have gone on to have successful appearances in other movies and shows.

10 Robert Knepper

The career of Robert Knepper has often seen him portray a bad guy. It was the case when he showed up on Heroes, for his work in the Arrowverse, and certainly in his most famous role as T-Bag in Prison Break. That's why him playing someone at President Snow's side wasn't a total surprise.

Knepper took on a small part in Mockingjay Part 1 and 2, which he explained that he did for his son. He played Antonius, who was seen in meetings with Snow. Once he began questioning Snow's decisions though, he was seemingly poisoned to death as punishment.

9 Gwendoline Christie

These days, it kind of seems like Gwendoline Christie is everywhere. She first rose to fame and is still most known for playing tough warrior and eventual knight Brienne of Tarth on HBO's Game of Thrones. Then, she added Captain Phasma from the Star Wars saga to her credits.

Shortly after debuting on Game of Thrones, Christie scored a supporting part in Mockingjay - Part 2 as Commander Lyme of District 2, a former winner of the Games who helped lead the Rebellion. Christie's appearance allowed her to reconnect with Thrones castmate Natalie Dormer.

8 Elden Henson

It's hard to believe but Elden Henson has been a recognizable star for decades, first getting noticed in the early '90s as part of The Mighty Ducks franchise for his portrayal of Fulton Reed. He also more recently starred in Netflix's Daredevil series as Foggy Nelson.

Henson's part in The Hunger Games could be considered one of the more difficult ones to pull off. That's because he played Pollux, a former Avox who had his tongue cut out. Pollux is a loyal ally of Katniss' who lives on after the death of his brother Castor.

7 Wes Bentley

When someone first consumes The Hunger Games, whether it be the films or the books, it's easy to think that Seneca Crane would be a huge part of it from start to finish. As the Gamemaker, he was tasked with putting Katniss in her place but failed to do so.

RELATED: The Hunger Games: Characters Who Should Have Been Best Friends

Since Katniss and Peeta survived due to a threat with poison berries, Seneca was then killed by those same berries. The character was played by the versatile Wes Bentley, who is known for movies like Interstellar, American Beauty, and Mission: Impossible - Fallout.

6 Leven Rambin

A good place to find unexpected actors in this series is with the competitors in The Hunger Games who aren't Katniss, Peeta, or those part of the Rebellion. One of them is Leven Rambin, who showed up in the first installment of the series as Glimmer, a tribute from District 1.

Due to her skill set and the district she came from, Glimmer was a serious threat to the heroes of the story. Alas, she didn't make it past the first movie due to the nature of the games. Rambin is a veteran actor from All My Children, Grey's Anatomy, and Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters.

5 Alan Ritchson

One of the things that made Catching Fire arguably the best installment in the franchise is the sheer number of former winners who participate in the Third Quarter Quell. Among them was Gloss, a physically imposing career tribute from District 1 who is a serious threat.

Gloss ends up being the final person killed by Katniss in the Games and is actually the last person to die there in history. Gloss was portrayed by Alan Ritchson, who went on to play Raphael in Michael Bay's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films and Hank Hall in Titans.

4 Mahershala Ali

While the focus of the movies was on the teenagers, the filmmakers made sure that the adults were played by some stellar actors. Julianne Moore, Donald Sutherland, and Philip Seymour Hoffman are among them but a less notable role was played by Mahershala Ali.

RELATED: Mahershala Ali: 10 Best Roles, According To Rotten Tomatoes

Ali took on the part of Boggs, one of the most loyal people when it comes to President Coin. He goes out into the field with Katniss on several occasions and helped her a ton. Since then, Ali has gone on to have a huge career, including winning two Academy Awards.

3 Alexander Ludwig

Although the Capitol and President Snow were the overarching antagonists of the series, it was Cato who felt like the biggest threat in the first movie. That's because Cato, a career tribute, was in the Games and could do serious harm to both Katniss and Peeta.

Alas, with the District 12 competitors winning, Cato was killed off before any sequels. Thankfully, Alexander Ludwig, the actor who played him, has found success elsewhere. He has shown up in Bad Boys for Life, Lone Survivor, and as Bjorn in Vikings.

2 Amandla Stenberg

Of everyone on this list, Amandla Stenberg is likely the easiest cast member to recall. She was a huge part of The Hunger Games, playing Rue, a young girl from District 11 who proves to be a great friend to Katniss and something of an ally. Her death was a major moment in the story.

As pivotal as that is, the movie did come out nearly a decade ago by this point. That makes it easier to forget about Stenberg being in it. Since then, she has become a star, leading films like The Darkest Minds and especially her award-winning work in the powerful The Hate U Give.

1 Jack Quaid

When Jack Quaid appeared in 2012's The Hunger Games, most people probably didn't know who he was. They were likely even unaware that he was the son of longtime actor Dennis Quaid. These days, Jack Quaid is actually much more of a household name.

In the film, he portrayed Marvel, another career tribute from a high district who dies while in the games. Quaid has gone on to show up in a handful of movies and shows but his biggest role is easily that of Hughie Campbell in Amazon Prime's The Boys.

NEXT: The Boys: Most Popular Actors, Ranked By Instagram Followers

10 Actors You Totally Forgot Were In The Hunger Games from https://ift.tt/3fmZKsM

January 8, 2021: R.E.D. (2010)

Time to continue the action-comedy trend by getting away from the buddy cop trend, and hitting a different style of comedy: the ensemble. I’ll talk about this more during Comedy April, but one of my favorite comedies is an ensemble comedy. That would be 1963′s It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World.

I cannot properly explain how much I love this movie. It’s only grown over the years, and I WILL get into this one day. Don’t know HOW...but I WILL.

Anyway, what do I mean by the ensemble? It’s a cast composed of many big names, especially those famous or popular at the time the film is made. Nowadays, superhero films tend to be our ensembles, as well as some other action films that I’ll get to later this month.

But in today’s case, the ensemble is different. Rather than purely action or comedy stars, they’re kind of all over the genre map. But ere we go, here’s the list of stars:

Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Karl Urban, Mary-Louise Parker, Brian Cox, Richard Dreyfuss, Ernest Borgnine, James Remar. Seriously. LOOK at the list of people up there. That’s one hell of an ensemble. None of them particularly well-known for comedy, and that’s handled in a surprising way. Which movie is this?

R.E.D. is definitely an interesting movie as action-comedies go, but let’s get into it, shall we? SPOILERS AHEAD, as a warning heading forward!

Recap

Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) is a retiree living in suburbia, reading romance novels, and calling Sarah Ross (Mary Louise Parker), a girl working in the GSA pension office. Sarah Ross is most likely the Inevitable Love Interest of this film. The two decide to meet up in Kansas City, where she works.

But no time for that, as a group of masked assailants invade Frank’s house to kill him. But, see, it turns out that Frank’s ex-CIA. He handily takes them and turns the tables, then goes into the basement to prepare. Meanwhile…

Not very subtle, huh? I feel like the neighbors know what’s going on at this point. Frank takes on the rest, the house collapses, and he makes his way to Kansas City...directly into Sarah’s apartment. She freaks out (appropriate reaction), as he warns that people are trying to kill her, because they know how he feels about her via their (likely surveilled) phone conversations. She’s not buying it.

So he kidnaps her.

Good start, building trust, establishing boundaries, good start.

We now cut to an opulent estate, where The Butcher/Executioner/Judge Dredd Karl Urban is killing a man. He’s playing William Cooper, a CIA agent tasked to kill Frank. After Frank drops off Sarah at a motel (still kidnapped, remember), he goes to meet Joe Matheson (Morgan Freeman), another retired agent living at a retirement home, with his…

...hobbies. Using his connections, they discover that the hit quad after Frank also killed a reporter. The plot thickens. Sarah escapes, and calls 911, a call which was intercepted by Cooper. A fake cop nearly kidnaps her, but Frank saves her. Cooper catches up, leading to…

OK, yeah, that was a cool shot. Literally. Frank sets up Cooper to get arrested by the local police, and escapes with Sarah to New York City. There, they meet the mother of the NYT reporter killed, and discover clues that lead them to the NYU library, and a book with a hitlist hidden within it. They discover that everyone on the list is dead except for a Gabriel Singer. However, tempered with that, we get some unfortunate news.

Joe’s dead. Which sucks, I honestly liked Joe. He was already dying of liver cancer, but he sadly was assassinated by a mysterious assailant.

Anyway, back to Cooper. He goes to visit the Record Keeper (Ernest Borgnine), who gives Cooper the mostly redacted case file of Frank Moses. An extremely effective black ops agent in his day, the now older Frank’s been marked “RED,” or “retired, extremely dangerous.”

FLORIDA! There, we meet the paranoid and flighty Marvin Boggs (John Malkovich), who lives in the swamps of Pensacola trying not to get killed. He lives underground in a bunker whose entrance is a broken-down car, and I love it a lot. I love it a whole lot.

Turns out Marvin was given doses of LSD every day for 11 years while working for the government, which made him understandably paranoid. My MK Ultra senses are tingling, and Marvin retrieves a file detailing a case in Guatemala from 1981, in which Frank, Marvin, and everybody else on the hit list was involved. And with this, Marvin gets the pig.

I can’t wait to find out what the pig is. Because I know it’s gonna be some crazy weapon. And I’m excited for it. Now, we head to Mobile, Alabama to catch up with Singer (James Remar), the only living person on the list. Marvin then briefly holds a random bystander hostage, and he might be juuuuuuuuust a little unstable.

They meet Singer, and he explains that his job on the Guatemala mission was to carry a passenger in the middle of the night, for unknown reasons. Singer’s quickly assassinated from a helicopter after giving this information, and may I just say...these guys aren’t subtle about their assassination techniques. I feel like somebody would notice this stuff happening, throughout the entire movie.

Anyway, a group of assassins comes in to kill the group of 3. Including this person.

Nice. And as if that wasn’t enough, we now discover the purpose of the pig. It contains a grenade launcher. Of course it does. We get a cool firefight in which Marvin hits a grenade like a baseball, and Marvin and the woman from before face off in a Western standoff. And then…

Yeah. This is awesome. Seriously, I’m loving this so far.

Next destination, as our guys head to the Russian Embassy, where we meet Ivan Simanov (Brian Cox), an ex-KGB agent and former enemy of Frank Moses. The two catch up in a funny exchange, and they reminisce over their old days as agents and assassins. Almost sweet in a macabre way. Frank’s there to ask Ivan for help in breaking into the CIA, using schematics that they probably have.

Using the assistance of Sarah (who’s enjoying this a LOT, apparently), they get into Langley, making this the second movie I’ve seen this month where the protagonist breaks into the CIA. There, they meet the Record Keeper Henry, who immediately helps them, and gives them the Guatemala file. They also find out about Cooper, leading to Frank meeting him at his office, where a kickass fight ensues to some kickass music.

Frank’s not looking stellar after this fight, not that Cooper’s doing great either. They escape by setting up an explosion, stealing a firefighter’s uniform, and escaping to an ambulance There, they’re greeting by Marvin and…

Joe! He escaped, and killed the assassin. Now, it’s Joe, Frank, Marvin, and Sarah on the run in an ambulance. But Frank isn’t doing great, as he was shot in the struggle with Cooper. They head up to Chesapeake, Maryland, to the Eagle’s Nest. It’s there that we meet Victoria Winslow (Helen Mirren), yet one more R.E.D. agent, and a talented assassin as well.

They discover that the file has one redacted name, which is found on the reporter’s list as Alexander Dunning (Richard Dreyfuss), an arms trafficker and gangster, apparently protected by the CIA. Using Joe as a pretend buyer, R.E.D. infiltrates the mansion, as Dunning sneaks Joe into a safe room, where their negotiating can take place. Soon though, though, Frank and Marvin join in, and it turns from negotiation to interrogation.

We find out here that the Guatemala mission was meant to clean up the destruction of a Guatemalan village performed by the current vice president, Robert Stanton. Yikes. Apparently, he went nuts and murdered the entire village. And so, the hits are meant to cover up with war crimes, allowing him to run for President without fear of persecution.

After that reveal, Cooper calls the trio; looks like the mansion’s been surrounded by FBI, who were surveilling Dunning’s mansion anyway. Cooper, who’s been in doubt about the motives of this mission, tells Frank to surrender, and he’ll hear his side of the story. With little option for escape, Joe, who’s dying anyway, volunteers to take his place, as they know he will most likely be killed immediately.

And unfortunately, they’re right. Joe’s shot and killed, and Frank and Marvin escape with Victoria’s help. In the escape, however, Sarah falls and is captured by the agents. They escape with the aid of Ivan.

They need to get Sarah out of Cooper’s custody, while also deciding to end the cause of this: Vice President Stanton. Frank makes it into Cooper’s home, and calls him from there. This, of course, is a threat meant to protect Sarah. He also tells Cooper that he plans to kill the Vice President, who will be at a gala that night.

Vice President Robert Stanton (Julian McMahon) announces his intention to run for President, as Cooper, Victoria, and Ivan watch on. Ivan sprays a gas throughout the ballroom, while Victoria blocks the doors. Ivan causes a distraction, claiming the smell of gas (which he’s caused), then pulls a fire alarm. The Vice President is routed through the back entrance, where Victoria and Marvin are waiting with a machine gun.

They rig it to autofire, and chase the VP back through the building. Victoria’s shot in the process, and Marvin detonates a smoke grenade to aid their escape. He then rigs up a bomb to his chest and chases the VP away, into a vehicle driven by, of course, Frank.

Cooper’s defeated, and Frank has the VP, offering to trade him for Sarah. Cooper calls his boss, all of whom head to the rendezvous point. And alongside Cooper’s boss arrives Alexander Dunning. Surprise! He kills Stanton, and is in command of Cooper’s boss. And Cooper is NOT happy about that.

Cooper kills his boss, Marvin and Victoria kill the bodyguards, and Frank and Marvin kill Dunning. Cooper lets the REDs leave, unencumbered and free. But Ivan reminds Frank of his favor to him, and I smell a sequel as Frank and Sarah kiss.

Whew. That’s R.E.D.! And what a fun ride it was! Might not have come across in this recap, but this movie is hilarious fun, and I’ll explain exactly how in the review section, coming up next!

For just $3.99 The Choppers Released on November 30, 1961: A gang of teenage boys 'chops' the valuable parts from disabled cars to sell to a dishonest junk yard owner, managing to stay one step ahead of the cops. Directed by: Leigh Jason Written by: Arch Hall Sr. The Actors: Arch Hall Jr. Jack 'Cruiser' Bryan, Robert Paget Torch Lester, Burr Middleton Tony 'the Snooper' Bonelli, Rex Holman Flip Johnson, Chuck Barnes Ben Shore, Tom Brown Tom Hart, insurance investigator, Marianne Gaba Liz, William Shaw Police Lieutenant Frank Fleming, Bruno VeSota Moose McGill, Britt Wood Cowboy Boggs, Dee Gee Green Gypsy, Richard Cowl Torch's Father, Patrick Hawley Police Officer Jenks, Arch Hall Sr reporter Jim Bradford, Carmella N. Hall Tina, Bill Rolland man handing Bradford a microphone Runtime: 1h 34m *** This item will be supplied on a quality disc and will be sent in a sleeve that is designed for posting CD's DVDs *** This item will be sent by 1st class post for quick delivery. Should you not receive your item within 12 working days of making payment, please contact us as it is unusual for any item to take this long to be delivered. Note: All my products are either my own work, licensed to me directly or supplied to me under a GPL/GNU License. No Trademarks, copyrights or rules have been violated by this item. This product complies withs rules on compilations, international media and downloadable media. All items are supplied on CD or DVD.

Free VIP Day passes to our full days film screenings available to all whom register for this free event with Gerry Fialka, The list of films screening will be available as the films are selected to screen, updates to film blocks screening at the festival social media pages, and website:

https://www.facebook.com/filmfestla/

https://www.instagram.com/bighousela

https://www.filmfestlalive.com/

Nov 7th. Sat "Film Fest La & L.A. LIVE" presents FILM CAN'T KILL YOU BUT WHY TAKE A CHANCE from 3:00 P.M. to 6:00 P.M. at Regal Cinemas 1000 W Olympic Blvd, LA CA 90015, Info: 310-306-7330 Laughtears.com Free workshop and day passes sponsored by BigHouse-la.com Paramedia ecologist Gerry Fialka's fun interactive workshop explore cinema's hidden psychic effects via Marshall McLuhan's Menippean satirized percepts: "We shape our tools, then they shape us." and “The Balinese have no word for art, they do everything as well as they can.” and "How about technologies as the collective unconscious and art as the collective unconsciousness?" Delve deep into Live Cinema, Neurocinema and the metaleptic heart of movies. Read the OtherZine article: sticks-and-stones-may-break-your-bones-but-film-will-never-hurt-you.Gerry Fialka has been praised by the LA Times as "the multi-media Renaissance man." The La Weekly proclaimed him "a cultural revolutionary." His new book Strange Questions: Experimental Film as Conversation, with a foreword by David James will be published soon. His new feature The Brother Side of the Wake (BroSide) is the experimental documentary about the people of Venice, California. It probes the cliché: "Is the journey more important than the destination?" Watch the preview on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBj0UdpFEWo

Laughtears Press is proud to announce the new book,

Strange Questions: Experimental Film as Conversation

by Gerry Fialka, Edited by Rachael Kerr, Foreword by David James.Publication date: SoonContact: Gerry Fialka

310.307.7330

http://laughtears.com/

Compelling interviews with notables in avant-garde cinema offer insights into moving image art--its creative processes, formative influences, and hidden psychic effects. Through interviews with George Manupelli, Chick Strand, Tom Gunning, Lynne Sachs, Jay Rosenblatt, Martha Colburn, Evan Meaney, Mike Hoolboom, Robert Nelson, and Nina Menkes,

Strange Questions

links powerful personal stories with the contemporary media-scape.

Questions addressed in this collection include:

What role does the audience play in the creative process?

Can art-making be egoless?

Is perception reality?

What is the role of intention in the creative process?

What counts as storytelling? Are experimental filmmakers telling stories a different way or doing something completely different?

What was the motive of the cave artists?

What is more important: conviction or compromise?

Is ambition based more on fear or joy?

+++++++++++++++++

Accolades from award-winning experimental filmmakers:

"Fialka is a damn good interviewer. His questions are sometimes so precise that it tickles and sometimes so grand and thought provoking that one feels on the edge of a new spiritual awareness." --Lynne Sachs

"Fialka asks unexpected Questions about important Ideas, eliciting Answers that can surprise even those doing the answering. My Interview with him taught me something about myself; it was a Gift." --David Gatten"Fialka's was the funniest interview I have ever had. He has developed a very wise way of triggering thoughts in the interviewee." --Leighton Pierce"Fialka's interview had me buzzing inside with thoughts and memories that his engaging questions set in motion. Super stimulation." --Larry Gottheim"I thank Gerry Fialka so much. I really enjoyed his interview with me, especially his unjaded joie de vivre, hearty laugh, and endless pursuit of knowledge sparked by social curiosity." --Phil Solomon."Gerry Fialka is a master interviewer. Working out of his natural sympathies and his erudition, Gerry cannily and cheerfully guides his interviewees along a path of Socratic inquiry that goes far deeper than the average Q & A and possibly deeper than the interviewee thought himself/herself capable of going. With Gerry at the helm, the journey really is about the destination and not just the journeying." --Fred Worden"Fialka is a meteor shower in the contemporary media arts discourse. He's blowing my mind." -- Craig Baldwin

++++++++++++++

Gerry Fialka, artist, writer, and para-media ecologist, lectures on experimental film, avant-garde art, and subversive social media at NYU, USC, UCLA, Cal Arts and MIT. He has been called "the multi-media Renaissance man" by the

Los Angeles Times

and "a cultural revolutionary" by the

LA Weekly.

Fialka's interviews have been published in books by Mike Kelley and Sylvere Lotringer. They have been heard on Pacifica KPFK radio, and have appeared in magazines:

Canyon Cinema, OtherZine, CineSource,

Artillery,

AMASS magazine, LA Jazz Scene, Jazz News,

Bird, Flipside, Venice BeachHead.

"Gerry Fialka is Los Angeles' preeminent underground film curator." - Robin Menken, CinemaWithoutBorders

Rachael Kerr is a filmmaker, writer, and researcher. She is a 2017 graduate of the University of Michigan Department of Screen Arts and Cultures. As a student she collaborated on the feature documentary

The Big House

, now slated for theatrical release in Japan. In Winter 2017, Rachael was part of a UM course taught be Terri Sarris and supported by the University's Bicentennial Committee, which explored the AAFF's long relationship to the University.

David E. James has written or edited a dozen books on avant-garde cinema and other forms of non-commodity culture, especially in Los Angeles. His latest publication is

Rock ‘N’ Film: Cinema’s Dance With Popular Music

(2016). His films have screened at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Los Angeles Filmforum, and Canyon Cinema in San Francisco.

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SoonSunday 7pm at Beyond Baroque

681 Venice Blvd Venice CA

FREE Admission

MOM - Movie Or Manuscript on Mother's Day -

Celebrate the publication of Gerry Fialka's new book

Strange Questions: Experimental Film as Conversation

http://laughtears.com/strange-questions.html

and

his new feature film

The Brother Side of the Wake (test screening). Facebook=

https://www.facebook.com/events/173605590088661/

VIEW Youtube Clips=

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlhspvI86Z8

&

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vso1cEAUYRs

LilyCat Radio Show - Gerry talks about both book and film -

https://archive.org/details/20180225LilycatGerry

+++++++++++++

Upcoming volumes in the

Strange Questions

book series:

Experimental Film as Conversation, Continued.

This volume includes interviews with filmmakersDavid Gatten, Frank Mouris, P. Adams Sitney, tENTATIVELY a cONVENIENCE, Bill Brand, Pip Chodoov, Craig Baldwin, Bill Morrison, Braden King, Naomi Uman, John Smith, Patrick Turrant, Madison Brookshire, Tony Gault, Bill Daniel, Vera Brunner Sung, Alexandra Cuesta, Tooth, Fred Worden, Mark Street, Leslie Raymond, Jason Jay Stevens, Ben Russell, Bryan Konefsky, Owen Land, Peter Rose, Alfonzo Alvarez, Jesse Lerner, Terri Sarris, Chris McNamara, Oren Goldenberg, Jesse Drew, Roger Bebe, Jon Jost, Betsy Bromberg, Thom Anderson and more.

Michigan Aesthetics as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with Mike Kelley, George Clinton, Sam Green, Jack Epps Jr, Grace Lee Boggs, Marshall Crenshaw, Ari Weinzweig (Zingerman's), Steve 'Muruga' Booker, John Sinclair, and Mary Jane Shoultz.

Venice Aesthetics as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with

Venice artists

Rip Cronk, Earl Newman, and Carol Fondiller.

Art as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with artists William Pope.L, Alexis Smith, Hunter Drohojowska-Philp, George Herms, Doug Harvey, Winston Smith, and Robert Branaman.

Poetry as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with poets Amiri Baraka, SA Griffin, Suzanne Lummis, ruth weiss, Linda Albertano, Les Plesko, Harry Northrup, and David Meltzer.

Political Activism

as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with political activists Grace Lee Boggs, Tom Hayden, Haskell Wexler, Bill Ayers, Skip Blumberg, Jon Rappoport, Lila Garrett, and Marcy Winograd.

Jazz as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with musicians Horace Silver, Jon Hendricks, Annie Ross, Oscar Brown Jr, Hadda Brooks, David Amram, Perry Robinson, Theo Sanders, and jazz writers Kirk Silsbee and Greg Burk.

Literature as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with writers Eric McLuhan, John Bishop, Chris Kraus, Kristine McKenna, Janet Fitch, Brad Schreiber, and Johanna Drucker.

Comedy as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with comedians Paul Krassner, Ric Overton, Paul Provenza, David Misch, Roy Zimmerman, Wes Skoop Nisker, Lady Lord Buckley, and Darryl Henriques.

Rock N' Roll as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with musicians Mac Rebennack (aka Dr John), Pamela Des Barres, Steve Vai, Van Dyke Parks, Barry Smolin, Bruce Langhorn, Jeff Mosier, Roger Steffans, Paul Zollo, Billy Vera, Del Casher, Baby Gramps and John French.

Avant Garde Music as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with musicians DJ Spooky, Carl Stone, Patrick Gleeson, David Ocker, Blue Gene Tyranny, Frank Pahl, and Veronika Krausas.

Documentary Film as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with documentary filmmakers Ondi Timoner, Marina Goldovskaya, Rodney Ascher, Jay Weidner, Tiffany Shlain, Mary Jordan, William Farley, Chris Felver, Chris Metzler, Stan Warnow, and Jon Alloway.

Performance Art as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with performance artists Ann Magnuson, Heather Woodbury, Gordon Winiemko, Joseph Keckler, Mark Pauline, and Ed Holmes (aka Bishop Joey).

Dance as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with dancers Simon Forti and Rudy Perez.

Hollywood as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with Hollywood people James Harris, Orson Bean, Timothy A. Carey, Mews Small, Abraham Polonsky, Jeremy Kagan, Jay Cassidy, Steve DeJarnatt, and Steve Fife.

Animation as Conversation.

This volume includes interviews with animators Bruce Bickford, Karl Krogstad,and Gary Schwartz.

++++++This first book is the beginning of a 22-volume series.Upcoming

Strange Questions

will cover:More Experimental Film as ConversationMichigan Aesthetics as ConversationVenice, California Aesthetics as Conversation

Art as ConversationPoetry as ConversationPolitical Activism as ConversationJazz as ConversationLiterature as ConversationComedy as ConversationRock 'n' Roll as ConversationAvant-Garde Music as ConversationDocumentary Film as ConversationPerformance Art as ConversationDance as ConversationHollywood as ConversationAnimation as ConversationMedia Ecology as Conversation

Sculpture as ConversationPhotography as ConversationLive Cinema as Conversation

Gaming & Coding: Information Technology as Conversation

Pop Culture Cosmos #188- Disney Shakes Up Its Movie Schedule, Our Top Shows To Watch While Staying At Home, and Should Wrestlemania Last For The Entire Weekend?

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Pop Culture Cosmos #188- Disney Shakes Up Its Movie Schedule, Our Top Shows To Watch While Staying At Home, and Should Wrestlemania Last For The Entire Weekend?

Another great lineup is on tap as Josh and Gerald break down all the changes Disney announced to its lineup for movies from now and all the way into 2022. How will these changes affect big movies like Mulan, Black Widow, The Eternals, and more? Plus Robert Downey Jr. celebrated a birthday this past weekend, but could the rumors of a return to the MCU be not too far behind? All this and Mike Faber and Alex Autrey from the ESO Network stop by to gauge if Wrestlemania should stay a two-night event and thoughts on Vice’s recent Dark Side of the Ring episode focusing on the Chris Benoit tragedy. Plus Jessica Boggs from thetvratingsguide.com has her thoughts on tv shows you need to binge while staying at home and the birthday boy Noah Ian Fein from the HunnicOutcasts shares some thoughts on some retro games worth re-discovering.

Don’t forget to Subscribe to our shows and leave us that 5-Star Review with your questions on Apple Podcasts or e-mail us at [email protected]!

Presented by Pop Culture Cosmos, Rob McCallum Films, the novel Congratulations, You Suck (available for purchase HERE), and Retro City Games!

O Irlandês do filme de Scorsese apoiou Joe Biden para o senado em 1972

O presidente dos Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, do Partido Republicano, parece considerar Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. — Joe Biden —, do Partido Democrata, como seu adversário mais forte para a disputa eleitoral de 2020. Por isso, estava decidido a manchar sua imagem, sugerindo uma investigação sobre as atividades de um filho, Hunter Biden, como conselheiro numa empresa de gás da Ucrânia. O vice-presidente de Barack Obama, entre 2009-2017, teria pressionado para que um procurador ucraniano fosse demitido porque estava investigando o empreendimento do Leste Europeu.

Mesmo sabendo que “Hunter nunca foi alvo do inquérito, e as apurações se concentravam no período anterior à sua chegada à companhia” (trecho de reportagem da Reuters), Trump ligou para o presidente da Ucrânia, Volodimir Zelenski, e solicitou uma investigação sobre os Biden, notadamente Joe. Em troca, o governo dos Estados Unidos liberaria 400 milhões de dólares — mais de 1 bilhão de reais — “em ajuda militar para” o governo ucraniano.

O embaixador dos Estados Unidos para a União Europeia, Gordon Sondland — amigo e um dos financiadores políticos do líder republicano —, confirmou que recebeu “ordens expressas” de Trump para pressionar o governante da Ucrânia. Outras testemunhas, como Laura Cooper, confirmam a pressão do presidente. Frise-se que o republicano contesta a “trama”.

Trump pode sofrer impeachment por causa da conexão Estados Unidos-Ucrânia. Pesquisa da Reuters e do Instituto Ipsos registram que 46% dos americanos admitem o impedimento e 41% são contrários. O entorno de Trump — com seu advogado pessoal, Rudolph Giuliani, na linha de frente — lembra, e não vagamente, a turma do presidente Richard Nixon. Este, para não sofrer impeachment, renunciou, em 1974, depois de uma série de reportagens dos jornais americanos, como o “Washington Post” de Bob Woodward e Carl Bernstein.

Mas, afinal, Joe Biden é um político limpo — ao menos na medida do possível da realpolitik? Talvez sim. Talvez mais ou menos?

O assassino da Máfia

O filme “O Irlandês”, de Martin Scorsese, com os atores Robert De Niro, Al Pacino e Joe Pesci, está em cartaz Neflix. (Frise-se que O Irlandês era fã do filme “Sindicato de Ladrões” — do diretor Elia Kazan, com o ator Marlon Brando.)

“O Irlandês”, apontado como obra-prima pelos principais críticos de cinema do Brasil, como Inácio Araújo, da “Folha de S. Paulo”, relata a história de Frank Sheeran, o Irlandês que, sob o comando de Russell “Russ” Bufalino, se tornou um assassino da Máfia. O livro “O Irlandês — Os Crimes de Frank Sheeran a Serviço da Máfia” (Seoman, 310 páginas, tradução de Drago) resulta de um amplo depoimento do matador colhido por Charles Brandt, um ex-promotor e advogado americano. Brandt intervém, escreve textos curtos e esclarece pontos do depoimento.

O pesquisador Arthur Sloane é autor de uma biografia reputada de Jimmy Hoffa (James Riddle Hoffa), o presidente do Sindicato dos Caminhoneiros — a Fraternidade Internacional dos Caminhoneiros —, mas não conseguiu apresentar uma explicação convincente para o desaparecimento do líder sindical.

Em 2004, depois de ouvir longamente Frank Sheeran, o pesquisador Brandt conseguiu finalmente explicar quem matou Hoffa e por quê (tanto que seu livro é elogiado por Arthur Sloane, professor categorizado. “Você solucionou o mistério de Hoffa”, disse a Brandt).

O Sindicato dos Caminhoneiros tinha um fundo de 1 bilhão de dólares, que, a partir da gestão de Frank Fitzsimmons, passou praticamente a ser administrado pela Máfia. Hoffa, apesar de ligado à Máfia (que aplicava, por exemplo, em construção de imóveis), que o protegia, mantinha o controle do fundo com mão de ferro.

Ao sair da prisão, Hoffa alardeou que seria candidato a presidente do sindicato e ameaçou que poderia denunciar malfeitos de Fitzsimmons — o Fitz —, o que fatalmente atingiria a Máfia. Então, o chefão Russell Bufalino (conhecido como Russ e McGee), nascido na Sicília, advertiu-o de que não deveria ser candidato. Hoffa resistiu e, por isso, Rosario Bufalino (seu nome italiano) mandou O Irlandês alertá-lo.

O Irlandês era amigo de Hoffa. Os dois se adoravam. Frank Sheeran havia sido beneficiado pelo sindicato na gestão de Hoffa, mas não na de Fitzsimmons. Entretanto, pressionado por Russ Bufalino, seu chefe e mentor, o pistoleiro alertou o sindicalista do perigo de contrariar a Máfia.

Mesmo sob pressão da Máfia, Hoffa resistia e era o favorito na disputa pela presidência do sindicato. Mas Russ Bufalino entrou em campo e mandou O Irlandês matá-lo. A rigor, Frank Sheeran não queria aceitar a incumbência, mas nada disse. Porque sabia que, se não aceitasse a ordem do mafioso-chefe, também seria empacotado junto com Hoffa.

Por isso, no fim de julho de 1975, O Irlandês atraiu Hoffa para uma casa e, lá, o matou. O sindicalista era astuto e desconfiado, mas Frank Sheeran era um de seus melhores amigos e protetores. Pode-se dizer que era capanga tanto de Russ Bufalino quanto de Hoffa. Mas o mafioso era mais poderoso e o pistoleiro teve se alinhar com ele — traindo o amigo. Depois de ter cometido o crime, passou a beber de maneira descontrolada.

“Hoffa desapareceu” — os jornais anunciaram. Em seguida ao assassinato, o corpo foi cremado a mando de Russ Bufalino. De fato, nada sobrou do sindicalista. Mas o FBI, baseado em outros crimes, levou tanto o mafioso quanto O Irlandês para a cadeia. Tudo indica que alguém deu com a língua nos dentes.

Conexões perigosas

Frank Sheeran, bancado por Russ Bufalino e Hoffa, também se tornou sindicalista. Ele dirigia uma unidade do Sindicato dos Caminhoneiros (chegou a dirigir caminhões). Em 1972, haveria eleições para o Senado dos Estados Unidos. O senador Caleb Boggs, republicano, quis falar aos trabalhadores sob o comando de O Irlandês.

Como considerava Caleb Boggs “antissindicalista”, O Irlandês não permitiu que falasse aos sindicalizados que atuavam no Local 326. A comissão executiva aprovou, porém, que o jovem Joe Biden falasse aos caminhoneiros.

O Irlandês disse ao democrata Joe Biden: “É claro. Venha”. Os caminhoneiros apoiavam o presidente Richard Nixon. Hoffa, para sair da cadeia mais cedo, chegou a subornar seu procurador-geral, John Mitchell.

“Joe Biden era apenas um rapazola, comparado a Caleb Boggs. Ele veio e fez seu discurso — e revelou-se um excelente orador. Ele fez um discurso realmente muito bom a favor do sindicalismo para os nossos companheiros”, relata O Irlandês. “Ele disse que as suas portas estariam sempre abertas para os Caminhoneiros.”

Pois o assassino profissional passou a apoiar Joe Biden para o Senado — deixando de lado o republicano Caleb Boggs (desde o governo de John Kennedy, sobretudo por causa de Bob Kennedy, a Máfia, que havia apoiado o democrata para presidente, mudara de lado, passando a bancar os republicanos, sobretudo Richard Nixon).

“Eu disse a ele [um advogado que apoiava Caleb Boggs] que já estava ao lado de Biden”, sublinha O Irlandês. Joe Biden foi eleito senador, pelo Estado de Delaware, aos 30 anos de idade.

Caleb Boggs e Joe Biden se desentenderam durante a campanha. O primeiro dizia que Joe Biden havia distorcido “os números relativos aos eleitores registrados que votariam nele”. O Irlandês permitiu a impressão de jornais, mas vetou a circulação, por intermédio de piquetes bem orquestrados. Ele não queria que os jornais circulassem com encartes pró-Caleb Boggs e contra Joe Biden.

Terminada a eleição, um dia depois, os jornais voltaram às bancas. “Dizem que esta foi a manobra que elegeu o senador Joe Biden. Especialmente os republicanos dizem que se aqueles encartes editados pelos partidários de Boggs tivessem sido distribuídos com os jornais, isso teria causado muitos danos à imagem de Joe Biden. Se os anúncios tivessem circulado, tal como quase o fizeram, naquela última semana da eleição, não teria havido tempo para que Biden reparasse os danos à sua imagem”, conta Frank Sheeran.

“Não tenho como saber se Joe Biden algum dia soube que aquele piquete fora organizado propositalmente em seu benefício. Se ele soube, jamais me disse uma só palavra a respeito”, afirma o homem da Máfia.

“O que eu sei é que, ao tornar-se um senador dos Estados Unidos, o sujeito soube manter-se fiel à palavra empenhada aos nossos companheiros. Se você precisasse que ele lhe estendesse a mão, ele o ouviria”, afirma o mafioso Frank Sheeran, O Irlandês.

O Irlandês do filme de Scorsese apoiou Joe Biden para o senado em 1972 publicado primeiro em https://www.revistabula.com

Cited in the Russia report 65 times, her notes became Mueller's Nixon tapes

The scribe keeping track of the President's actions was Annie Donaldson, McGahn's chief of staff, a loyal and low-profile conservative lawyer who figures in the Mueller report as one of the most important narrators of internal White House turmoil.

Former White House counsel Don McGahn, pictured with Donald Trump, in August, 2018.Credit:AP Her daily habit of documenting conversations and meetings provided the special counsel's office with its version of the Nixon White House tapes: a running account of the President's actions, albeit in sentence fragments and concise descriptions. Among the episodes memorialised in Donaldson's notes and memos: the President's outrage when FBI director James Comey confirmed the existence of the investigation into possible ties between Russia and the Trump campaign, Trump's efforts to pressure Attorney-General Jeff Sessions not to recuse himself from overseeing the probe and his push to get Mueller disqualified and removed as the special counsel. The Harvard Law School graduate's unflinching words - "Just in the middle of another Russia Fiasco," she wrote on March 2, 2017 - have cast the die-hard Republican in an unfamiliar role: as a truth teller heralded by Trump's foes for providing what they view as proof he is unfit for office. House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler has already signalled that he intends to subpoena Donaldson as a critical witness. Loading Donaldson - who lives in Montgomery, Alabama, where her husband recently got a job as a federal prosecutor - did not respond to requests for comment. She left the White House in December, both proud of her service and also somewhat stung by her experience in Washington, friends said. Those close to Donaldson fear she will be thrust in the middle of the building war between congressional Democrats and the White House. Some privately worry she could become a target of the President, despite having worked hard to help implement his agenda. "My only concern for her now is not getting too caught up in this Washington meat grinder, when she really did the right thing and cooperated as she was directed," said former Republican senator Luther Strange, who hired Donaldson to work in his law firm in Alabama. 'Getting hotter and hotter' As McGahn's chief of staff, Donaldson was charged with managing 30 to 40 lawyers in the counsel's office, getting White House policies legally vetted, keeping judicial nominations on track and working with McGahn on Trump's top priorities. Along the way, she did what virtually all lawyers consider a necessity: kept a record of decisions, disputes, and tasks left to do. Nearly every day, when McGahn emerged from the Oval Office or other West Wing meetings, she would take notes as he recalled significant discussions with the President and his team, according to people familiar with her role. In the case of Nixon, the discovery of his White House taping system provided unquestionable proof of his role in a coverup of his campaign's illegal spying on opponents, precipitating his resignation in 1974. In Trump's case, Donaldson's notes depict McGahn and others as worried that the President could be accused of criminal obstruction - and as seeking to protect him from his impulses. In an entry on March 21, 2017, Donaldson recounts how Trump told McGahn he was furious with the testimony that Comey gave to Congress about the Russia probe the day before, sounding as if he might fire him on the spot. The President felt betrayed that Comey had failed to do as Trump had asked: to tell the public that he was not personally under investigation. "beside himself," she wrote of the President. "getting hotter and hotter, get rid?" McGahn was so concerned that Comey's firing was imminent that the counsel's office drafted a memo analysing the president's legal authority to do so, according to the report.

Annie Donaldson's notes were used extensively in Robert Mueller's report.Credit:ninevms McGahn's lawyer William Burck declined to comment. That day, Trump repeatedly pressured McGahn to get the Justice Department to intervene, Donaldson later told investigators. McGahn then called Assistant Attorney-General Dana Boente asking whether officials could "correct the misperception that the President was under investigation", the report said. At one point, McGahn warned the President that some of the actions he took - such as asking Comey to let go of his investigation of Flynn - could make him vulnerable to accusations of obstruction of justice. "biggest exposure . . . other contacts . . . calls . . . ask re: Flynn," Donaldson wrote that day. White House aides who know Donaldson said they are confident her notes are an accurate account of events in Trump's White House. For her part, Donaldson is dismayed her confidential work product - documenting sensitive conversations with the President that would normally be shielded from public view by executive privilege - is available for all to see, colleagues said. Loading "I doubt she had any notion that these notes would ever end up in anyone's hands, let alone Mueller's," said one former White House official, who requested anonymity to describe internal dynamics. White House advisers expect records of their confidential advice to the president to stay private, probably for decades, until they are released for historical archives. Bob Bauer, who served as White House counsel to President Obama, said Donaldson's notes bring the unprecedented nature of the Trump presidency into immediate focus. "It is impossible to imagine that these extensive notes were taken for any reason other than to document questionable presidential conduct and the counsel's office response," Bauer said. "It speaks volumes to the extraordinary challenges facing lawyers in this White House, and it raises the question: If this is what is necessary for lawyers to do their job, then how is it a job the lawyers should agree to do?" Friends and colleagues said McGahn trusted Donaldson, who worked as his associate at Jones Day, to make tough calls without him and to lead a team of deputies with their own impressive legal pedigrees. He had once compared their work relationship to that of a football coach and a defensive coordinator, according to one colleague. They had walked through all the films and plays together for so long that Donaldson knew his mind. As McGahn drank from a fire hose of meetings, deregulation debates and legal disputes, Donaldson was known for her careful tracking of small details. She met McGahn each morning with a to-do list she wanted him to tackle, and she gave similar lists to deputy counsels and associate lawyers. White House aides praised her ability to get the often prickly factions within the White House to respond to her requests. She sought to make sure McGahn was included in meetings in which some Trump advisers tried to avoid the lawyer's input. She displayed a quiet confidence, often speaking toward the end of a meeting rather than first, and made her points slowly and precisely. "She has a true desire to get things done," her friend and former boss Katie Biber, who worked with Donaldson on the 2008 Mitt Romney presidential campaign. "She's not trying to get credit." Loading "Don may have been the White House counsel, but Annie is the glue that held this all together," she added. There was one major exception to her low-key ways: Donaldson's red Corvette, an older model that once bore the vanity plate "RLL TIDE" in honor of her alma mater, the University of Alabama. She parked the Corvette on West Executive Drive; other senior White House aides would spot it there when they arrived for work and still there when they headed home, as she often arrived at the White House at 7am and stayed until 9pm. "The entire West Wing knew it was her car. It was always there," said one former administration official. "You'd walk in on a Saturday and see it: 'Oh yeah, Annie's already here.'" An unsung hero Donaldson had the legal credentials to pursue a Supreme Court clerkship, but she was smitten with politics, friends said. She joined Romney's presidential campaign in 2007, and when he lost the Republican primary to John McCain, she applied to Harvard Law. At Harvard, she served as both an editor of the Harvard Law Review and executive editor of its conservative sister publication, the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, a bastion of the Federalist Society. After graduating, she got a job as an associate lawyer at Patton Boggs, where she met McGahn. She worked for Romney's second presidential bid as a campaign lawyer in 2012, and then followed McGahn to work for him at Jones Day. There, she joined him in his work as legal counsel for the Trump campaign. At the White House, Donaldson played a significant role in helping push forward Trump's judicial nominations; a record 30 were seated on federal appellate courts in his first two years, double the amount of any previous administration. Loading "Annie is going to go down in history as a real unsung hero of the judicial nominations process," Biber said. But one nomination painfully singed Donaldson and her husband Brett Talley. Trump nominated Talley for a federal-district court seat in Alabama, but he was among a rare handful of nominees the American Bar Association rated "not qualified". Talley, who was a deputy in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Policy, had never tried a case in court. He withdrew his nomination amid questions that he failed to disclose he was married to a White House lawyer on public forms asking if any of his family could create potential conflicts. Donaldson had recused herself from his nomination. 'What about these notes?' After just eight months in the job, Donaldson would learn her notes were going to be turned over to federal investigators. Trump reacted angrily when he learned from a news report in February 2018 that McGahn kept a written record of their encounters, according to Mueller's report. "What about these notes? Why do you take notes?" Trump asked McGahn during a tense Oval Office confrontation. "Lawyers don't take notes. I never had a lawyer who took notes." (McGahn told investigators Trump was referring to Donaldson's notes, which the President thought of as McGahn's.) McGahn responded to the President that he keeps notes because he is a "real lawyer" and explained that notes create a record and are not a bad thing, according to the report. Trump replied: "I've had a lot of great lawyers, like Roy Cohn. He did not take notes." In the end, the President's desire for the investigation to come to a close ultimately led to the release of Donaldson's precise description of events. In an effort to speed up Mueller's review, then-White House lawyer Ty Cobb embraced a strategy of turning over all the administration's records to Mueller. McGahn privately warned that the approach would force him to divulge highly sensitive and privileged communications, and increase the chances that they would become public. His forecast proved true. The Washington Post Most Viewed in World Loading https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/cited-in-the-russia-report-65-times-her-notes-became-mueller-s-nixon-tapes-20190504-p51k0c.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed

Hi! I just went to see Beauty and the Beast again and I am so grateful for all your insights into film :) You only mentioned recently the relevance of clothing/change which was fantastic. Would you mind sharing if you have any recommendations for where to find the basics in terms of film insights, how to understand the subtext in these visual aspects etc? I’d love to be able to apply them more widely… but have no idea where to start looking!

Ooooh, I also just went to see Beauty and the Beast! Overall it was fun and the sets were beautiful, but it had some cinematic and directorial issues from what I could see (this could go on forever if you let it)

>.>

Anyway….

There are actually a lot of really awesome youtubers that talk about both terms and techniques that I’ve found over the years. They all do a great job of explaining things and I wish some of them existed when I was in school, haha.Most were around when I taught though. I used a couple of them a good number of times in my classes.

The Film Guy- Talks about different directors, their strengths, faults and styles. He also does video essays on film trends.

Channel Criswell- Focuses on smaller details and aspects as well as directors and their techniques. Has a very insightful video about color design(it flashes at the beginning, but the rest is good). 

Chez Lindsay- One of the structural people. She used to be the Nostalgia Chick and I’d say she’s followed it up extremely well. She even breaks down movies structurally, and it’s awesome. She also does character breakdowns over the years and focuses on some market trends. She uses the general sequence structure(I forget who coined it. It’s everywhere) rather than Blake Snyder’s. Different words, same thing really. Welcome to film.

Lessons from the Screenplay: Another structural person. He talks about screenplays as ways of talking about the movie and what makes them special. I really recommend his videos on American Beauty. He talks about some really interesting aspects of the movie that I think are relevant to some of the stuff we talk about. His most recent episode gives some broad info on tv pilot and screenplay structure. Most tv uses 6 acts now, but the ideas are similar. Michael also mentions books that he uses as reference. All of the ones I’ve seen him bring up so far are good.

Every Frame a Painting- Another who focuses more on smaller aspects. He tends to focus on editing and broader techniques but has some really awesome vignettes too. 

Folding Ideas- He doesn’t only talk about film. But his film videos are awesome and generally focus on different technical aspects like structure or editing. He has a visual style in his older videos that may seem odd at first, but pay it no mind, the content is great.

Now You See It- Video essays on style, visual storytelling, audio, editing, etc. I even found a video in there on Hollywood’s thing with milk. lol. He’s also got one on that Left and Right thing, but with movement instead of camera (which is usually how it’s used now-a-days) 

RocketJump Film School- Want all the technical? These guys are for you. They talk about shots, edits, sound design, setups, cuts, transitions, equipment, all that stuff. I really wish these guys were around when I was in college. it would have made remembering some of the equipment and things a lot easier. I used these guys a lot when I taught.

Nerdwriter1- I almost forgot about him. He talks about a lot of things in an insightful manner but when he talks about film, he usually talks about the storytelling aspect using specific movies as examples. He even uses Sherlock once to show visual storytelling with cinematography. It’s a neat video.

Hopefully these are helpful :) There are more, but I can’t remember which ones do what in my subscriptions.

There are some great books too:

Robert Mckee’s Story

Save the Cat by Blake Snyder

Movies and Meaning by Stephen Prince

The Art of Watching Films by Boggs Pierce

How to write a movie in 21 Days by Viki King

If it’s Purple, Someone’s Gonna Die by Patti Bellantoni

The Filmmaker’s Guide to Production Design by Vincent LoBrutto

Writing Screenplays that Sell by Michael Hauge

Those cheesy sounding screenwriting books are technically textbooks, believe it or not.

Writing in Pictures by Joseph McBride

Media Society by Croteau Hoynes

How to Watch a Movie by David Thomson

Film Theory and Criticism by Braudy and Cohen

The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri

Save the Cat Goes to the Movies by Blake Snyder - Contains examples of works broken down with his techniques.

Reading the Silver Screen by Thomas C Foster

There are more, but these are the ones I can find/remember/are in front of me at the moment.