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Angelina Jolie Files Petition Against Brad Pitt - SuberbNew
Angelina Jolie Files Petition Against Brad Pitt, She Accused Him Of Drunken Assault On Her And Their Children During A Private Flight In 2016 - Aged 8 To 15 At The Time. Angelina Jolie Has Filed A Petition. For more information visit this link:- https://superbnew.com/web-stories/5849/
#divorce#brad pitt wife#brad pitt#angelina jolie young#angelina jolie net worth#angelina jolie movies latest#angelina jolie movies#angelina jolie kids
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Angelina Jolie to Play Maria Callas in New Biopic from Pablo Larraín – The Hollywood Reporter
Angelina Jolie to Play Maria Callas in New Biopic from Pablo Larraín – The Hollywood Reporter
Jackie and Spencer director Pablo Larraín looks set to continue to focus his lens on some of the most famous women in modern history, and has found his next subject in soprano Maria Callas. The Chilean director has also tapped another, equally well-known, figure to play his lead in Angelina Jolie.
Maria, based on true accounts, will reportedly tell the “tumultuous, beautiful and tragic story” of…
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#Angelina#Biopic#Callas#Hollywood#Jolie#Larraín#Latest Movie News#Maria#Movie News#New Movie News#New Movie News and Rumors#Pablo#Play#Reporter#the latest news about movies
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What is it about an often-hungry and kind of lazy panda who is obsessed with kung fu that has resonated with audiences worldwide?
The Kung Fu Panda franchise — now 16 years old and four films in — centers on Po (Jack Black) who, along with his friends (voiced by a star-studded cast including Angelina Jolie, Lucy Liu, Seth Rogan and Jackie Chan), goes on adventures spanning the mystical and spiritual.
"I think people love pandas and people love kung fu, and we've got a combination," Black tells ABC News.
"The art is so great, I think we've got the best animators in the world. It's kind of like a dance between the voice acting, and these animators who've completed the performance."
For those who haven't seen the films, Po is the designated "Dragon Warrior", a kind of legendary Chosen One who can wield limitless power.
The first film focused on him figuring out who he wanted to be; he discovered more about his parents in the sequel, Kung Fu Panda 2; while Kung Fu Panda 3 saw him begin to pass on his skills to a new generation of panda cubs.
In the latest film, Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) wants Po to become the new Spiritual Leader of the Valley of the Peace, so Po must choose and anoint someone else as the new Dragon Warrior.
While Jolie, Chan and Liu don't return for this film, Bryan Cranston and James Hong reprise their roles as Po's dads. And rapper and actor Awkwafina joins the cast as Zhen, a fox burglar who crosses paths with Po during one of her thieving sprees.
When a shape-shifting sorcerer known as the Chameleon (Viola Davis) and her criminal network make themselves known, Po and Zhen team up to prevent her from getting her hands on the panda's staff of wisdom (which the Chameleon plans to use to summon Po's enemies back from the spirit realm).
"Zhen and Po are like the odd couple of the kung fu world, and it was exciting to explore their differences and watch them grow together," says Awkwafina.
"Zhen brings this scrappy, streetwise energy to the story, challenging Po in unexpected ways."
A mix of East and West
The humour and story of Kung Fu Panda is a part of why the films have charmed audiences globally.
The film series has also proven to be a massive hit in China, a highly lucrative but notoriously difficult market for Hollywood films to succeed in, because of limits the country places on foreign and Western films.
Plot threads often blend aspects of South-East Asian culture, like filial piety and duty to family, with more universal themes of working with others and having the confidence to forge your own path.
Awkwafina says it has meant a lot to her to see the franchise pay homage to Chinese culture.
"I think when [Kung Fu Panda] first came out, there wasn't a lot of movies that really took place [there], exemplifying those cultural traditions in that world," she says.
"So I'm really proud that it existed and to be a part of it now."
Black adds: "You know, any community that feels under-represented, one of the greatest ways to open up the stories to the world is to get creative.
"The ones that you've never heard before are often the most amazing ones."
The latest Kung Fu Panda also comes off the back of other successful animated films like Turning Red and Elemental, which explored similar themes of responsibility and loyalty, and growing up as part of an immigrant family.
"Those I really enjoyed, and I love Kung Fu Panda because they explore what it means to be a kid, have anxiety and what it means to be human I think in a way that's really unique," says Awkwafina.
"And I [want to] just continue watching stories that do that."
Into the future
Both actors say they related to the simple central message — to believe in yourself — that plays out across all the films.
"I definitely can think about certain times in my life, in my career, where I didn't believe in myself," Black says.
"Someone else gave me confidence and believed in me, and then I was able to push through my insecurities, and those moments and those people who gave me that strength mean so much to me, so I relate to it in that way."
Awkwafina adds, "I think it's hard to know when you're doing something right. It's hard to believe in yourself and Jack is right. It does take people to have to help you sometimes."
In terms of their characters' futures, Awkwafina says she wants Po and Zhen to "live, laugh, love".
"I'd like to see Po get even more spiritual," says Black.
"To somehow master the art of meditation and be able to create some inner peace."
Awkwafina jokingly adds: "I want to stop stealing, and we enter a program."
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#kung fu panda#kung fu panda 4#po#jack black#zhen#awkwafina#dreamworks animation#universal studios#dreamworks
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This is not an ask, more like a comment, or observation. Since Jake Weber was in one of your latest gif sets of ncis hawaii. I used to watch and like him on medium for years. Great chemistry with Patricia Arquette. Then he played a terrible man in a movie called "chained" and later on an awful character on that dreadful show "13 reasons why".. And I'm like I liked him being a good guy on tv, now he is always playing really bad men. Sorry, it's just something I recognised in the last years..
Ah, yeah, sometimes I notice stuff like that for actors too, where there'll be a chain of similar parts, sometimes even really close together, and you wonder how busy that agent was for like one week a few months ago.
He's definitely an actor I've seen i past projects as a good guy, he was a minor part but a good guy in that Angelina Jolie fire spotter movie, I'm sure he'll get back to that eventually.
Well, looking at his upcoming projects on IMDB:
And Peter Five Eight is a Kevin Spacey project???
Well... Um. Maybe after these, lol.
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5, 4, 3, 2, 1
5 Books, 4 Movies, 3 Songs, 2 Essentials, 1 Quote
Thank you for the tag @perverse-idyll - tag games are always fun! :)
Books- my latest reads are
Emma (Jane Austen), a classic favorite of mine
The Magicians (Lev Grossman) - did not like, but powered through to finish anyway
Blood Heir (Ilona Andrews) - this husband and wife author team are my self-indulgent favorites and have been for ages
A.J. Raffles, The Amateur Cracksman (E. W. Hornung) - these are so good!! everyone who has not heard of/read these stories from the late 1800s is missing out!
Gideon the Ninth and Harrow the Ninth (Tamsyn Muir) - finally got around to reading these. they’re fine, perfectly enjoyable, good writing... I was sort of underwhelmed given the hype.
Movies-
I’m going to list the BBC Historical Farm TV series here. It’s so good. I started with Tales from the Green Valley and have moved on to Edwardian Farm. It’s really cute and charming and has all this fascinating historical detail.
Sleeping Beauty - I’d never seen the 1959 version of Sleeping Beauty before. It was about what I expected. The morality is super flat. One (only one) of the fairy godmothers is funny. I like Maleficent.
Frozen - the singing animals and talking snowman annoyed me more than I remembered from when it first came out. Anna is not as cute as I remembered. Elsa is still phenomenal.
The Eternals - it was not good. I mean, I don’t like superhero movies. But I hated the ending. I really hated Angelina Jolie’s character.
Songs-
Shrug. I only listen to the radio when I run and the individual songs are pretty meaningless.
Essentials-
A vacation would be nice. Feeling more motivated to write would also be nice.
Quote-
“I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like” ― Jane Austen, Emma
Giggling over this because it’s my favorite of her books.
Tagging anyone who wants to play!
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Hayley Atwell takes on Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft!
It feels like it’s been an uncertain time for Tomb Raider lately. The producers have been trying to figure out the best way to continue the Tomb exploring legacy. For any gamers reading this, the latest trilogy of games by Square Enix/Crystal Dynamics started in 2013 are all really awesome! With Camilla Luddington taking on the voice of Lara Croft, the games were a success! This was partly thanks to the games taking on a darker and more serious tone. This is a huge shift compared to the Angelina Jolie Lara Croft movies and the original 90s games. It really shifted, and it was a gamble that kept the attention of the fanbase, and more.
https://youtu.be/cb9AUAZBcOk?si=KwonhW9qxirvpFqb
This legacy will continue in a new anime series, called Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft, with Hayley Atwell! The new anime is coming to Netflix in 2024. The show will also be set after the trilogy of the recent games. Intended to capture Lara’s “rise” we can surely expect to see that serious tone making its way to the forefront once more. The trailer also features some mysterious moments which I’m quite excited for the show itself to answer.
This trio of games wrapped up nicely in 2018 with Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Overall, we got a superb storytelling arch, with a whole host of high-octane action, within stunning global locations. They really did respect the original games, whilst bringing something excitingly new. We also saw a reboot movie in 2018 and though it did step into that serious tone that we’d seen in the recent games, it didn’t quite hit the mark for the Tomb Raider following. There were some really brilliant moments in the movie, and personally, I still think that’s a version they could carry on with. However, the Lara Croft actress Alicia Vikander is no longer attached to the role of Lara Croft. It’s hard to tell what the next movie will look like at this point.
Originally announced in 2021, the series will be brought to our screens by Crystal Dynamics, Legendary, and Castlevania's Powerhouse Animation. I must admit, that growing up I didn’t play the classic Tomb Raider games. I had a lot of friends who did indeed lock the butler in the fridge… (Google this to know more). More recently, I played the latest trilogy of games, along with Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris. I enjoyed a lot of moments from the 2018 movie (How cool is that action-packed waterfall scene?), so as a fan, I’m genuinely really intrigued to see Hayley Atwell’s anime version. So, what do you remember from Tomb Raider over the years, and how excited are you for this next iteration?
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And Garth's days are numbered. He's only got a few more things to go before he signed his feet away permanently he's way out of line and he is a big wreck and mostly he's not really a friend of our sons he's an enemy and his son is trying to express it we do have it and we do understand and the people next door and enemy and is a constant thing you're always at him and their losers they are very much consummate losers these people have no class and no understanding of what they're doing right or wrong and we're going to tell you they need to leave and they need to leave now and we're going to go after them. And threatening and saying stupid s*** during a stupid f****** movies the entire f****** time they can't act for crap they can't keep together they lost more stuff than anybody else on Earth and they're running around like little kids thinking they can threaten for it back and they're doing it here today tonight right now with their noises from the little teeny s*** yeah that's Brian the ruler of Australia how impressive and the Meathead left and they don't even know what to wear and they don't even check and we have to tell them it's really obnoxious if you tell them it takes a few hours for them to leave and send instead of minutes. But like you said we have to get stuff done I have to get rid of them in order for it to be safe so tonight there's a few things that are important to see and the movie starts soon this girl Sarah who's a wicked b**** has the Ruby around her neck and that Ruby is worth tons of money. And Angelina Jolie doesn't want to just sit around so you go off at the end of doing these action movies instead of doing things and blows your lifestyles terrible these people wanted to be dirt poor and just sit here they're absolutely nuts and it's a Mrs latest stuff leadish. They're going to be dead soon but these places that they're rating and they're trying to do it as the warlock I'm full of valuable information Mac wanted to retrieve and now the nephilim no is a Sephora they hear about it and they're going to come for people who are there and they're going to come for the places and just lift them up and walk off with them it's a war between us of course with them but that's what they're going to do and if you're caught in one of these places you're dead meat
Olympus
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As we wrote in 2010, when first attempting a retrospective of the directorial features of Oliver Stone, the outspoken director loves his country, but he is also among its loudest critics. This makes him either the perfect filmmaker to take on a non-documentary portrait of the world’s most famous whistleblower, as he does in this week’s “Snowden” (our review) or the absolute worst, depending on your point of view on Snowden, patriotism, the act of whistleblowing, the CIA, the United States of America, and of course, Stone himself.
Simply put, the one thing you cannot expect from Stone is neutrality: Whether tackling history head-on in films like “Platoon” or “Born On The Fourth Of July,” or profiling presidents in “JFK,” “W.” and “Nixon,” and even in seemingly genre-centered material like “Natural Born Killers” or “Any Given Sunday,” Stone unapologetically views America in his own unique, and sometimes contradictory, way. So, does “Snowden” represent a confrontational clash between the political ideologies of its subject and its director, or a complementary melding of those points of view? Is it hagiography or critique? And what truth can be found in a fictionalized profile of an already divisive figure if it comes through such a defiantly non-objective lens? These questions are worth bearing in mind in our assessment of the rest of Stone’s output.
His track record is certainly marked by tremendous highs, inarguable lows and the curious middle ground largely populated with unprepossessing genre excursions like “U-Turn,” “Any Given Sunday” and “The Doors.” Yet while his output might be uneven, his films are hardly ever boring, and whether his experiments work or not, he usually doesn’t refrain from playing with form, via unusual lens switches, film stocks, shooting techniques and camera angles cropping up in the most unexpected of places. Detractors maintain that such flash and dazzle can make even his best work feel dated; defenders hold it up as evidence of a distinctive, uncompromisingly auteurist vision.
But most of us lie somewhere in between those two points of view, so to help you make up your mind about whether to bother with his latest biopic this weekend, we’re taking a proper, updated look back through Stone’s feature directorial output. Excluding documentaries like “South Of The Border” and the bombastically titled “Oliver Stone’s Untold History of the United States” and those films he only wrote the screenplay for, like “Scarface,” here’s our ranking of every Oliver Stone movie prior to “Snowden.”
“Alexander” (2004)
Hoo boy, where to begin? The most ambitious film Stone has ever tackled, “Alexander” is an almost magnificent failure on every level, rendered watchable only for its camp qualities. There is skill on intermittent display —for one thing, the battle scenes are grandiose and gorgeously lensed— but the cast… sweet Lord, the cast! The director often lets his actors play fast and loose, but never has he indulged the worst impulses of subpar performances as he does here. Then again, the characters are thinly sketched and mounted with absurd exaggeration —from Angelina Jolie’s snake-handling, potentially incestuous Queen Olympias to Val Kilmer’s groggy over-eater King Philip to Jared Leto’s painfully misguided eye-shadow addict Hephaistion. A bottle blonde Colin Farrell as the titular military genius demands his own sentence-long description: you can see he’s trying really, cringingly hard (he was at the height of his alcohol and drug addiction), but the larger-than-life Alexander is just too much for him, and he feels tiny and diminished within his character’s colossal penumbra. Loaded with giggle-inducing lovers’ talk between Alexander and Hephaistion and cardboard villain scheming from Olympias, overall this is more or less the definition of hubristic filmmaking brought low by its own pomposity.
“Seizure” (1974)
If it’s not exactly been disowned by Stone, his directorial debut has never been a title he’s actively promoted either, and it’s not hard to see why. A deeply schlocky horror within which, with the best will in the world, it’s difficult to see even the nascent seeds of Stone’s filmmaking future, it features defanged “Dark Shadows” star Jonathan Frid as Edmund Blackstone, a writer whose nightmares come to life and begin to off his Agatha Christie-style cast of houseguests (all eccentric millionaires and cheating trophy wives). The three demons Blackstone’s imagination summons (like many neophyte writer/directors, Stone here is enthralled by the idea of the dangerous power of writerly creativity) are Henry Judd Baker as the Jackal, Hervé Villechaize (Nick Nack from “The Man with the Golden Gun” and Tattoo in “Fantasy Island“) as The Spider and Martine Beswick (another Bond star with small parts in both “From Russia with Love” —as one of the fighting gypsies— and “Thunderball“) as the sexy Queen of Evil. There’s not a whole lot to recommend it now except for lovers of kitsch, and while it would take seven years for Stone to be given another shot at directing, it’s sort of impressive that it happened at all, given the clunky amateurishness of this endeavor.
“World Trade Center” (2006)
Considering Stone’s reputation as a political firebrand, high was the anticipation and also the trepidation for his take on the then-still-recent events of 9/11. But following hot on the heels of Paul Greengrass‘ terrific “United 93,” the biggest surprise was how conventional a melodrama Stone’s film proved to be. He clearly needed to play nice after the tanking of “Alexander,” but no one was expecting anything close to the Lifetime movie-of-the-week that “World Trade Center” turned out to be. It’s not without its moments: the attack itself is well staged, and few directors are as adept at gruff male bonding, which makes up much of the second half of the film. But it still comes across as a somewhat dishonest piece of work, taking a tragic day and mining a happy ending from it. And the political subtexts are a little disturbing (Michael Shannon‘s character, who later served in Iraq, declaring that “they’re going to need some good men out there to avenge this”), the filmmaking unsubtle —witness the soft focus flashbacks from Nicolas Cage‘s character— and Stone’s total inability to depict women as three dimensional individuals is glaring in the short shrift given to Maria Bello and Maggie Gyllenhaal as stricken spouses.
“The Hand” (1981)
Really only comparable to Stone’s debut within his catalogue (and it does represent a significant improvement on “Seizure”), the supremely cheesy “The Hand” is probably most notable now for the always good value Michael Caine provides in one of his most obviously beach house/tax return-inspired roles: he plays a comic book illustrator pursued (even cross-country!) by his own severed hand which he loses in a freak accident. Stone’s filmmaking craft may have improved a great deal since “Seizure,” but it’s sadly put to work sustaining a ridiculous premise that even sees frequent use of perspective camerawork —from the perspective of a crawling malevolent severed hand! The unconvincing prosthetic is devoid of anything but the rubberiest terror, and though there are a lot of “it was only the cat”-style efforts at jump-scares, few of them really land. The film is also deeply misogynistic, seeing as, however reluctantly, we’re supposed to relate to the maimed man’s deep, inchoate anger (which often feels like the filmmaker’s own) at his neglected and dissatisfied wife (Andrea Marcovicco), and at a world that doesn’t appreciate him as he believes he deserves. Still, Caine’s commitment, especially at the climax as he “Strangelove’s” himself, is a sight to behold.
“The Doors” (1991)
A semi-factual look at the life and times of Jim Morrison and his acid-rock band The Doors, this biopic is marred by standard tripped-out and conspiracy-laden rhetoric typical to Stone. Who was Jim Morrison, and why did he fall apart? No matter how romantic/tragic a hero Stone views him as, it feels ridiculously overblown to ascribe such importance to these questions. The half-baked memories from Morrison’s early years do little to illuminate his evolution into the Messianic creature Stone has him become, and with all the sex, drugs and rock n’ roll that were key notes of the 1960s, Stone leaves out any real sense of the soul and the art they helped create and then destroy. It’s shot and edited like a film school project and is littered with throwaway characters, though Val Kilmer is sensational —he makes it difficult to think of Morrison without conjuring up his portrayal. But what could have been an in-depth look at a tortured musician battling America’s prudish and naive idealism becomes two hours of an insufferable whining rock star and shaky camera work, and if it’s watchable, it’s only for the soundtrack, an underutilized Kyle MacLachlan as Ray Manzarek, and Kilmer.
“Savages” (2012)
After Stone’s run of flops in the ’00s, culminating in the bland disappointment of his 2010 “Wall Street” sequel, hopes were high that the new decade would see the director return to the provocative firebrand experimentalism of yore. And an adaptation of a Don Winslow novel, starring a fresh and hungry cast of attractive rising stars certainly seemed to have more in common with the sensibility of “Natural Born Killers” than that of “World Trade Center.” But be careful what you wish for: while somewhere under the redundant voiceover and painful flashy posturing of “Savages,” the heart of Winslow’s novel does beat, mostly it’s a muddled, irritating mess that has nothing to do with the drug trade. Two young marijuana dealers (an ex-Navy SEAL and a Buddhist played by Taylor Kitsch and Aaron Johnson, respectively) share the love of O (Blake Lively, whose present comeback can largely be seen as a retreat from this sort of role), but their idyllic sun-and-sex Cali lifestyle is threatened when a cartel headed by Salma Hayek and Benicio del Toro moves into town, with Tarantino-indebted violent results. Though there’s some sort of plot involving John Travolta‘s DEA agent, nothing can conceal the vapidity of this exercise, which attempts to at once grapple with weighty, high-stakes issues and have Lively, in voiceover, deliver a description of the different climaxes she has with her two lovers (orgasms vs “wargasms,” smdh).
“U Turn” (1997)
Standing out like a sore thumb in the director’s filmography, “U Turn” sees Stone set aside the political commentary to have some lunatic pulp fun, turning in a film stylistically similar to “Natural Born Killers” but freed of the desire to make a meaningful point about global affairs. Sean Penn is as close to an everyman as he’s ever played and gives a solid performance, but he’s overshadowed by supporting players who seem to be in some kind of competition to out-crazy each other: Every inhabitant of Superior, Arizona is more batshit than the last, from Jennifer Lopez‘s femme fatale to Joaquin Phoenix‘s combustible Toby N. Tucker. It’s a crude, unrestrained piece of work, and the fun that Stone seems to have with the “Bigger! More!” direction of his actors and lurid visual excess doesn’t translate to the experience of the viewer, except in the most fleeting of ways. We’d be tempted to say that any film involving a hideously-made-up Billy Bob Thornton playing solo Twister has to be worth tracking down, but “U-Turn” is eternally less than the sum of some individually entertaining parts.
“Any Given Sunday” (1999)
“JFK” marked the perfect balance between Stone’s experimental tendencies and his storytelling rigor, but after that picture and “Natural Born Killers,” he succumbed to a kind of schizophrenic overkill for a while. When he finally calmed down (slightly), he tackled football drama with “Any Given Sunday,” but if it’s Stone on downers, the picture is still hilariously amplified and exaggerated. Note the synopsis that describes the film as a “look at the life-and-death struggles of modern-day gladiators and those who lead them.” Al Pacino, at his hammiest, loudest and most over-the-top, plays the utmost cliché version of the frustrated coach trying to bring his broken team back to glory and tame the arrogant young quarterback (Jamie Foxx), who just won’t play by the rules —literally, he just does what he wants and changes plays mid-field. Co-starring Cameron Diaz (the team’s owner), Dennis Quaid (a fading quarterback losing his edge), James Woods, L.L. Cool J (all-around hilarious), Matthew Modine, Charlton Heston, Ann-Margret and Lauren Holly, “Any Given Sunday” is so melodramatically over-the-top that the film becomes like an unintentional parody of a sports film. But laughing-at is still laughing, right?
“Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” (2010)
Long after-the-fact sequels are rarely a good idea, and Stone’s only time returning to past glories is further confirmation of just that. It’s easy to see why the film came to pass: the 2008 economic crash made the original seem particularly prescient, and it seemed like the time was ripe for Stone to turn his lens back on the high finance milieu. And some of the old magic does return: Michael Douglas, reprising arguably his most iconic turn, doesn’t miss a beat, giving a lovely ambiguity to Gekko’s quote-unquote rehabilitation. It’s one of Stone’s slickest-looking films, thanks to the sleek cinematography by Rodrigo Prieto, but the whole thing feels unnecessary and surprisingly low-stakes. Allan Loeb and Stephen Schiff‘s script never really scratches the surface, and it suffers from a lead —Shia LaBoeuf’s Jacob Moore— who is much less interesting than Charlie Sheen in the original, and whose half-baked revenge motivation and insipid romance with Gekko’s daughter (an entirely wasted Carey Mulligan) feel like distractions from what the film should properly be about. It’s perfectly watchable on a craftsmanship level, and is even momentarily diverting, but a film brought into being because of its apparent topicality should not be so toothless.
10. “Natural Born Killers” (1994)
Stone’s serial-killer film is his most kaleidoscopically strange; a savage, of-the-moment takedown of the mass media’s fascination with true-life killers —contextualizing it amidst O.J. Simpson, the Menendez Brothers, and the serial killer trading cards popular at the time doesn’t make the movie any less bonkers. It should have been a revelatory experience, especially when you factor in its A-list cast (including Robert Downey Jr., who for some reason shows off an Australian accent) and its bold visual experimentation. But as it turned out, Stone was so hyped up on the movie’s oversized too-much-ness that he forgot to, you know, tell a story. Very loosely based on a script by Quentin Tarantino and starring Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis as a pair of star-crossed spree killers, the film encompasses flashes of unforgettable mordant insight, like the laugh-track sitcom flashbacks with Rodney Dangerfield as Lewis’ pedophile father, as well as inexplicable embellishments like the rear projection of a Pegasus. What any of it means seems beside the point: this was Stone going for a mood more than a movie, a fever-dream of the American climate at the time, and while it does not at all hang together or hold up to the passage of time, it’s valuable for a glimpse of Stone at his most frenzied, giving out sparks as well as hot air.
“W.” (2008)
The most striking thing about “W.” is what it isn’t. After the embellishments and elan of “JFK” and “Nixon,” the third film in his unofficial “president trilogy” feels positively square. Straightforwardly told and edited, the story of one of history’s most reviled presidents, the war-startin’, election-stealin’, torture-endorsin’, grammar-ignorin’ George W. Bush (Josh Brolin) plays more like a mundane human drama than the toothsome takedown you might have expected. Part of this has to do with the tremendous humanity that the excellent Brolin somehow brings to the role, but a lot of it is a symptom of the movie’s production being really rushed. Perhaps there’s another definitive director’s cut somewhere in here, one with all the flourishes and pizzazz you’d expect, but we’re stuck instead with this half-formed film, which while not without its pleasures (like seeing Richard Dreyfuss mumble his way through a Dick Cheney impression), doesn’t yield anything of real substance at the end. Even a little more distance (and maybe the looming threat of a far more unapologetic demagogue as POTUS) would have helped, but 2008 felt just too soon to be able to define the 43rd president’s place in history, despite a terrific central turn.
“Heaven & Earth” (1993)
Not known for showcasing strong central female characters in his movies, nor for being that preoccupied with various foreign enemies of the U.S. (preferring to locate the good/evil dichotomy within the American ranks), Stone went for something different in “Heaven and Earth.” A searingly melodramatic look at the Vietnam war through the eyes of a Vietnamese woman, it may be the weakest of his three Vietnam films overall, but it’s not without its merits, and though it was unfairly dismissed at the time, it’s aged relatively well. “Heaven and Earth” tells the true story of Le Ly (an excellent Hiep Thi Li), a Vietnamese woman who, separated from her family by the war, meets and marries a seemingly nice, caring U.S. soldier played by Tommy Lee Jones in one of his customarily intense performances. He takes her home, only to be confronted by repressed battlefield demons. “Heaven and Earth” lacks his customary focus, but as always, it’s ambitious and sincere. And Robert Richardson’s stunning cinematography lends a genuinely epic scope, while a more intimate script from Stone also makes it a shame that this more sedate film has all but been lost in the shuffle.
“Salvador” (1986)
Given Stone’s perpetual indignation at American imperialism in the 20th century, it’s no surprise that so early on in his career he zeroed in on Central America, and more specifically the violent civil war in El Salvador that raged from 1980 through 1992, protracted in no small part due to the meddling of the U.S. government and military. Made while that conflict was still ongoing and seen through the eyes of a downtrodden, irresponsible American photographer (James Woods), the film tracks the hack as he travels to San Salvador with his equally dubious friend (Jim Belushi) in hopes of reviving his career. But caught between leftist guerrillas and the right wing military, he fails to find the Robert Capa-style romance of war photography and is faced with only the ugliness of war. While not as overt a polemic as some later titles, “Salvador” is not exactly subtle, and Stone’s leftist sympathies would have been better served had the dialogue been less on-the-nose: as valid as his concerns about U.S. hegemony and the threat of a second Vietnam were, the diatribes are so stilted as to lose impact. Still, while dated, “Salvador” remains a respectably entertaining piece of work, featuring a definitively sweaty Woods.
“Platoon” (1986)
The past is another country; they do things differently there —like give Oscars to Oliver Stone, or cast Charlie Sheen as a bookish innocent. This makes rewatching “Platoon” today an unintentionally poignant experience. It’s not a bad film —for craft and performances, it’s one of Stone’s best— but common attitudes toward war have undergone such a philosophical revolution in the intervening years as to make its message anachronistic, if not irrelevant. That Stone transposes the good vs. evil axis away from the U.S. vs. The Enemy, and towards the internal struggle of mentality and ethos between martyr Elias (Willem Dafoe) and his pot-smoking followers, and the treacherous Barnes (Tom Berenger) with his cadre of murderers and rapists, may have seemed like progress at the time, but in so doing, he ascribes every virtue of nobility to the former, and every cruelty to the latter. So all he has really done is switch one bogeyman for another. These simplistic dichotomies do the film no favors in these muddier moral times; for better or worse, the world and its wars have moved on, and “Platoon,” though well-made and intermittently affecting, has been left behind like a buried artifact, its interest now mostly archaeological.
“Talk Radio” (1988)
Stone found a partner in crime in Eric Bogosian, whose play that this film adapts, and performance supplies much of the grunt work in this tightly wound drama. Essentially a one-man show, Bogosian is aces as Barry Champlain, a shock jock whose passion for spitting vitriol at anyone unfortunate enough to cross his path is matched only by his own self-aggrandizing, caustic personality. Stone follows Champlain through a sweltering, nerve-wracking day, whirring his camera around the sound booth like a madman but maintaining a firm grip on Bogosian’s exacting performance (despite an over-reliance on sarcasm that typically goes hand in hand with the nervy Jewish film stereotype), while Leslie Hope, Alec Baldwin and Stone regular John C. McGinley all do solid work behind the scenes. “Talk Radio” must have been a passion project for Stone: it’s an unusual choice to follow two of his biggest successes, and it shows. This is personal work for both author and filmmaker, but he renders it just conventional enough to stay on the rails, speeding to a surprising and saddening conclusion. Like Barry Champlain, Stone likes to go all out, but his direction here thankfully shows noticeable restraint.
“Wall Street” (1987)
The film that spawned ’80s American icon Gordon Gekko, as well as numerous pop-culture catchphrases that Michael Douglas would spend the majority of his subsequent career riffing on, and which made Charlie Sheen a legit box office star, “Wall Street” is so much a product of its time that it fares better than other films from Stone at the time, purely because it defines its time. Stone and Stanley Weiser’s propulsive screenplay moves like a whippet; Sheen, as the naive newbie with his post-“Platoon” baby-face still intact, is a great match for Douglas’s icy villain; and their Central Park showdown, as photographed by the incomparable Robert Richardson, reaches near epic/mythic proportions as the two trade verbal blows before Gekko pops his top. It’s father vs. son, mentor vs. student, man’s-man vs. boy-man. And that’s what Stone has always excelled at —showcasing men of strong will going up against one another until someone hits the floor. “Wall Street” has a lot in common with De Palma’s “Scarface” (scripted by Stone), and much like that film, has taken on a deserved new life over the last decade as one Stone’s most influential films and a defining work in his canon.
“Nixon” (1995)
Stone’s catalog contains more than a few films that have aged badly, but also at least one truly underrated work. “Nixon” could easily have been a sanctimonious hit piece on the infamous 36th POTUS, but Stone, with a crack team of collaborators (many of them from “JFK,” like composer John Williams and cinematographer Robert Richardson) creates a rich, layered portrait of a weak-willed but power-hungry man with more than a few co-conspirators just as ruthless and cutthroat as he was. The movie lost money and was received tepidly by critics, though most remember Anthony Hopkins’ hypnotic performance as Nixon: sweaty, anxious, capable of furious rages and somewhat in thrall to wife Pat (Joan Allen), who comes off as more than a little Lady Macbeth. Despite the scope and seriousness of the subject, Stone really pushed the envelope in terms of experimentation; in what other major studio presidential biopic would you see a scene of a bigwig meeting with Nixon superimposed with time-lapse imagery of a flower blossoming? “Nixon” combines the trippy go-for-broke-ness of “Natural Born Killers” with a much more coherent script, an impressive all-star cast and an epic rise-and-fall story that justifies his over the top filmmaking.
“Born on the Fourth of July” (1989)
With “Born on the Fourth of July,” Stone finds an outlet for his Vietnam fascination that’s altogether different from the ideological jungle hell of “Platoon” or the straight-laced drama of “Heaven & Earth.” The story of Ron Kovic, based on his own memoir, stars Tom Cruise as the paralyzed Vietnam vet struggling to come to terms with a life-changing condition and a country that labels him a hero but treats him as anything but. All sarky “Oscar bait” memes aside, Cruise really is good here, delving heart and soul into Kovic and spending most of the film in a wheelchair, but more importantly channelling the broken spirit of a young man unwilling to assume the role everyone wants him to play. The supporting cast is as good as they come, with Willem Dafoe again making his mark as another wheelchair-bound veteran who whisks Kovic away to a temporary paradise. Stone’s stylistic choices are right on the money here, whether he’s using color temperature to separate flashbacks from the main story, or a brief display of slow motion to capture the incident that permanently upends Kovic’s existence. “Born on the Fourth of July” plays like a howl of anguish, but feels thoroughly earned and deeply moving.
“JFK” (1991)
Stone’s most intricate picture and still his best, “JFK” takes up the cause of controversial Louisiana district attorney Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner), who prosecuted local businessman Clay Shaw (Tommy Lee Jones) for involvement in a conspiracy to assassinate President John F. Kennedy. Historically speaking, the evidence is thin, but as a piece of propaganda, it’s second to none; even if it doesn’t convince you, by its very craft and professionalism it at least legitimizes conspiracy theorizing to a level it had never enjoyed before. The director expertly lines up the inconsistencies of the official story —the “back and to the left” scene describing the impossible arc of the “magic bullet” is still an all-timer— and makes a talky, three-hour-plus story fly past by sheer dint of bravura direction. The fill-in-the-blanks sequence with Donald Sutherland alone is a masterclass in editing —indeed “JFK” remains one of the best edited Hollywood movies of all time. And one should not undervalue the performances: Costner’s likable, principled everyman schtick has never played better, while the mammoth supporting cast, from a near-unrecognizable Jack Lemmon to a scenery-chewing Tommy Lee Jones to a brilliant Gary Oldman as Lee Harvey Oswald, is uniformly excellent.
Tell us your own favorite Oliver Stone films, take us to task for our takes, or suggest some wild conspiracy theories as to the rankings, in the comments below.
–Jessica Kiang, Drew Taylor, Nick Clement, Oliver Lyttelton, Mark Zhuravsky, Kevin Jagernauth, Rodrigo Perez, Danielle Johnsen, The Playlist, Sept 15 2016 [x]
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Tracy Pfau - A Reliable and Versatile Voice Over
If you are looking for a professional voice actress with an easygoing manner, you should consider hiring Tracy Pfau. She is an excellent choice for a wide variety of projects. Her voice has been described as urban, conversational, smooth, and confident. She has also been compared to Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie. Whether you are in need of a male or female voiceover, Pfau can provide an ideal performance.
Originally from California, Tracy Pfau grew up in Arcadia, California. She spent her summers in Ellensburg, Washington, where her family had horses for the Gunsmoke cast. Her parents met while working at a Los Angeles television station, and after their wedding, her mom motored down to Hollywood. She has a brother, who is an accomplished mountain climber. The actress is married to actor/writer Stephen Jared, and they have a son.
Aside from acting, Tracy Pfau is also a popular broadcast personality. Her radio show, KPCC FM 89.3, helped her learn to balance speed and sound perfection. Her television appearances include Beyond the Prairie: The True Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder, SLC Punk, and Touched by an Angel. Her net worth has steadily increased in the last few years, and she has continued to work hard to improve her career.
Tracy Pfau is an accomplished voiceover with a state-of-the-art sound studio. Known for her unique voice, Pfau's work is perfect for commercial, corporate, and animation projects. Her professional studio is equipped with the latest equipment, and her clients benefit from a vast array of services to enhance their productions. If you are looking for a reliable and versatile voice over, she's the right choice for you.
Tracy Pfau is from a variety of backgrounds. She is British, Irish, and Scottish, and her family is from the Yakima Indian region. Her accents are unique and her accent is strong and recognizable. Despite her ethnic background, she has an easy-going nature and is comfortable with many dialects. If you are looking for a female voice actor, you should consider this talented performer.
Her diverse background makes her a great choice for characters in a range of genres. She has worked for many different types of companies, including Disney, Nickelodeon, and Warner Brothers. She was also a pioneer in the field of voice-overs. With her unique accent, Tracy Pfau was a remarkable voice over talent and a cherished partner for many years. If you're looking for an experienced and talented actor, try calling Tracy Pfau.
TRACY PFAU's zodiac sign is Gemini. This sign represents two completely different personalities. A sociable, communicative person, a Gemini may be playful and outgoing one moment, but can also be serious and restless the next. A Gemini can be a happy and loving person, or be restless, serious, and restless in a moment. Ultimately, she was a true gem and a great role model for anyone who knew her.
Watch movies starring Tracy Pfau at https://fmovies.hn/.
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How Angelina Jolie’s Abuse Claims Impact His Reputation – The Hollywood Reporter
How Angelina Jolie’s Abuse Claims Impact His Reputation – The Hollywood Reporter
As Paramount gears up for the December launch of Babylon, its big-budget prestige swing, the studio has to contest with headlines about its leading man, Brad Pitt. Instead of chatter about the star’s first awards hopeful since he won an Oscar for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, the actor is facing accusations about a 2016 altercation on an airplane involving then-wife Angelina Jolie that have come…
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#Abuse#Angelina#Claims#Hollywood#Impact#Jolies#Latest Movie News#Movie News#New Movie News#New Movie News and Rumors#Reporter#Reputation#the latest news about movies
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Did Angelina Jolie try to serve Brad Pitt a subpoena at SAG Awards and Oscars? | English Movie News
Did Angelina Jolie try to serve Brad Pitt a subpoena at SAG Awards and Oscars? | English Movie News
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie‘s bitter lawsuit over the French winery almost got ugly on a very big stage.
According to the latest reports on Page Six, the actress’ lawyers were desperate to serve Pitt with a subpoena that they even sent a man with documents to confront the actor at the 2022 SAG Awards, with the hope of catching him off guard. An insider told the portal that the team was ready to…
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Eternals Deleted Scene Reveals How Sprites Helped Humans Climb to the Top of the Food Chain
Eternals Deleted Scene Reveals How Sprites Helped Humans Climb to the Top of the Food Chain
a deleted scene from Marvel Studios ‘Eternal’ Dan reveals a hitherto unseen conversation between Whitman (Kit Harrington) and Sprite (Lia McHugh). The scene was released online by Marvel to promote the digital and physical media release of the Chloe Zhao-directed film. It also coincides with the new release of the film.
Whitman, a mortal, knows Sprite only as an orphan, cared for by his Aunt…
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#Angelina Jolie#current#Dane Whitman#Deleted Scenes of Eternity#end of eternity movie#entertainment#Eternal#eternity deleted scenes#Explanation of the end of eternity#gemma chan#harpianews#Kit Harrington#Kumail Nanjiani#latest#news#phantom#Shashwat explained
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Unbroken (2014)
#jack oconnell#unbroken#angelina jolie#war#film aesthetic#filmstills#filmcamera#film#movie reviews#latest movie news#movie quotes#movies
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Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019)
Joachim Rønning
USA 🇺🇸 & UK 🇬🇧
#joachim rønning#maleficent#maleficent movie#angelina jolie#elle fanning#michelle pfeiffer#latest movies#2010s movies#2010s film#disney films
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Angelina Jolie Looks Gorgeous in a Black Top and Skinny Jeans on a Shopping Date
Angelina Jolie, 46, and her daughter Zahara Jolie-Pitt, 16, were photographed shopping on July 13 and spent some quality time together.
The actress and adolescent shopped at Fred Segal, a renowned clothes store in West Hollywood, CA while appearing calm and dressed comfortably but stylishly.
During the outing, Angelina wore a long-sleeved black shirt, dark-colored trousers, and black boots, while Zahara wore a long-sleeved white button-down blouse, black shorts, and white shoes.
Angelina Jolie and Zahara looked stunning on their most recent shopping trip. (image/BACKGRID)
Both women wore face masks that matched their outfits and carried handbags and backpacks.
Angelina wore her long locks down to complete her appearance, and the two didn’t seem to notice the adjacent cameras as they walked to and from the store.
Read More: Angelina Jolie accused Brad Pitt of blocking winery sales
Published in Lahore Herald #lahoreherald #breakingnews #breaking
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The film centers on a new group of Marvel heroes -- an immortal alien race who live secretly on Earth in order to keep it safe.
#Movies#News#Marvel#Marvel Cinematic Universe#Eternals#Angelina Jolie#Chloe Zhao#Gemma Chan#Richard Madden#Kit Harington#Kumail Nanjiani#news#currentindia#current india#india news#latest news#world news online#news from world#india latest news#live news india#current india news#latest india breaking news
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