I. The Rattigan Version
After his first dramatic success, The Winslow Boy, Terence Rattigan conceived a double bill of one-act plays in 1946. Producers dismissed the project, even Rattigan’s collaborator Hugh “Binkie” Beaumont. Actor John Gielgud agreed. “They’ve seen me in so much first rate stuff,” Gielgud asked Rattigan; “Do you really think they will like me in anything second rate?” Rattigan insisted he wasn’t “content writing a play to please an audience today, but to write a play that will be remembered in fifty years’ time.”
Ultimately, Rattigan paired a brooding character study, The Browning Version, with a light farce, Harlequinade. Entitled Playbill, the show was finally produced by Stephen Mitchell in September 1948, starring Eric Portman, and became a runaway hit. While Harlequinade faded into a footnote, the first half proved an instant classic. Harold Hobson wrote that “Mr. Portman’s playing and Mr. Rattigan’s writing...
After his first dramatic success, The Winslow Boy, Terence Rattigan conceived a double bill of one-act plays in 1946. Producers dismissed the project, even Rattigan’s collaborator Hugh “Binkie” Beaumont. Actor John Gielgud agreed. “They’ve seen me in so much first rate stuff,” Gielgud asked Rattigan; “Do you really think they will like me in anything second rate?” Rattigan insisted he wasn’t “content writing a play to please an audience today, but to write a play that will be remembered in fifty years’ time.”
Ultimately, Rattigan paired a brooding character study, The Browning Version, with a light farce, Harlequinade. Entitled Playbill, the show was finally produced by Stephen Mitchell in September 1948, starring Eric Portman, and became a runaway hit. While Harlequinade faded into a footnote, the first half proved an instant classic. Harold Hobson wrote that “Mr. Portman’s playing and Mr. Rattigan’s writing...
- 3/25/2015
- by Christopher Saunders
- SoundOnSight
Movies 10-1
10. Videodrome (1983) directed by David Cronenberg
In David Cronenberg’s world, sex hurts so good; it’s innately disgusting and primeval but at the same time beautiful and becoming. (Kind of like sex in the real world, when you think about it.) Bodies degenerate and mental states corrode under the influence of lust, and yet something new is engendered by the collision of bodies, bodily fluids, the ripping of flesh and the mangling of organs. Through the carrion of ugly comes the attractive flesh, the new flesh. Videodrome, as Jonathan Lethem once quipped, remains Cronenberg’s most penetrative film; he creates a world at once rooted in modernity circa 1983–a world afraid of the advent of television usurping our humanity, over-stimulated times ushering in the end times–and existing in a timeless, placeless vacuum. It’s vast and claustrophobic, prescient and paranoid, of the same lineage as early James Cameron...
10. Videodrome (1983) directed by David Cronenberg
In David Cronenberg’s world, sex hurts so good; it’s innately disgusting and primeval but at the same time beautiful and becoming. (Kind of like sex in the real world, when you think about it.) Bodies degenerate and mental states corrode under the influence of lust, and yet something new is engendered by the collision of bodies, bodily fluids, the ripping of flesh and the mangling of organs. Through the carrion of ugly comes the attractive flesh, the new flesh. Videodrome, as Jonathan Lethem once quipped, remains Cronenberg’s most penetrative film; he creates a world at once rooted in modernity circa 1983–a world afraid of the advent of television usurping our humanity, over-stimulated times ushering in the end times–and existing in a timeless, placeless vacuum. It’s vast and claustrophobic, prescient and paranoid, of the same lineage as early James Cameron...
- 10/25/2014
- by Greg Cwik
- SoundOnSight
Warner Bros. Entertainment will plant its flag at Comic-Con International: San Diego this year with a huge presence, with each individual division touting its upcoming offerings, including Film, Television, Interactive and Home Entertainment, as well as a variety of product from DC Entertainment, whose celebrations in honor of 75 years of one of the world’s most beloved Super Heroes—Batman—will be in full swing.
On Saturday, July 26th, beginning at 10 a.m., Warner Bros. Pictures brings to Hall H three of its most hotly anticipated films to this year’s Con:
Peter Jackson will be on the main stage with “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” From New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, and George Miller will be on hand to present a first look at “Mad Max: Fury Road,” from Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures. The Wachowskis’ original sci-fi actioner “Jupiter Ascending,” also from Warner Bros.
On Saturday, July 26th, beginning at 10 a.m., Warner Bros. Pictures brings to Hall H three of its most hotly anticipated films to this year’s Con:
Peter Jackson will be on the main stage with “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” From New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, and George Miller will be on hand to present a first look at “Mad Max: Fury Road,” from Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures. The Wachowskis’ original sci-fi actioner “Jupiter Ascending,” also from Warner Bros.
- 7/22/2014
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Peter Jackson brings brio and fun to Tolkien tale, but use of Hfr technology and sheer length of opener may test non-believers
"Unexpected" is right, for a couple of reasons. Peter Jackson, the man who brought Lord Of The Rings to the big screen to eardrum-shattering acclaim 10 years ago, is now taking just the same approach to Tolkien's much slighter, slimmer children's book The Hobbit. It's getting expanded into three movie episodes of which this whoppingly long film is the opener.
So Tolkien's gentle tale is going to be a triple box-office bonanza, occupying the same amount of space as the mighty Rings epic, an effect achieved by pumping up the confrontations, opening out the backstory and amplifying the ambient details, like zooming in on a Google Middle Earth.
The second unexpected point is the look of the thing. Jackson has pioneeringly shot The Hobbit in Hfr, or High Frame Rate: 48 frames a second,...
"Unexpected" is right, for a couple of reasons. Peter Jackson, the man who brought Lord Of The Rings to the big screen to eardrum-shattering acclaim 10 years ago, is now taking just the same approach to Tolkien's much slighter, slimmer children's book The Hobbit. It's getting expanded into three movie episodes of which this whoppingly long film is the opener.
So Tolkien's gentle tale is going to be a triple box-office bonanza, occupying the same amount of space as the mighty Rings epic, an effect achieved by pumping up the confrontations, opening out the backstory and amplifying the ambient details, like zooming in on a Google Middle Earth.
The second unexpected point is the look of the thing. Jackson has pioneeringly shot The Hobbit in Hfr, or High Frame Rate: 48 frames a second,...
- 12/10/2012
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Warner Bros. Pictures has released a 13-minute Television special for Peter Jackson’s prequel, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.”
The 13-minute special features behind-the-scenes footage, interviews with Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage and more in which they discuss the inspiration for film.
The film stars Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Elijah Wood, Andy Serkis, Richard Armitage, Stephen Fry, Stephen Hunter, Bret McKenzie, Graham McTavish, and James Nesbitt.
“The Hobbit” follows the journey of title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor, which was long ago conquered by the dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakensheild. Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous...
The 13-minute special features behind-the-scenes footage, interviews with Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage and more in which they discuss the inspiration for film.
The film stars Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Elijah Wood, Andy Serkis, Richard Armitage, Stephen Fry, Stephen Hunter, Bret McKenzie, Graham McTavish, and James Nesbitt.
“The Hobbit” follows the journey of title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor, which was long ago conquered by the dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakensheild. Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous...
- 12/6/2012
- by Kellvin Chavez
- LRMonline.com
I’m thinking that Peter Jackson is testing us to see how far we’ll trust him. This is edging close to the breaking point. Full text of the press release I received this evening: For Immediate Release Peter Jackson’S Long-awaited Filmed Adaptation Of The Hobbit To Be A Trilogy New Line Cinema, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, and Warner Bros. Pictures Announce Third Film in The Hobbit Trilogy Burbank, CA, July 30, 2012 — Peter Jackson will make a third film in his upcoming adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s enduringly popular masterpiece The Hobbit, it was jointly announced today by Toby Emmerich, President and Chief Operating Officer, New Line Cinema, Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum, Co-Chairman and Chief Executive Officers, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, and Jeff Robinov, President, Warner Bros. Pictures Group. Jackson, the Academy Award®-winning filmmaker behind the blockbuster “The Lord of the Rings” Trilogy, recently wrapped principal photography on what he originally planned...
- 7/30/2012
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
Maybe this might be a good year to spend your Thanksgiving holiday in New Zealand. Ahead of its mid-December release date in the States, Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will make its world debut on Wednesday, November 28, 2012. Check out the full press release below:
“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” the First Film in Peter Jackson’s Epic Adaptation of the Timeless Book, to Make Its World Premiere on Wednesday, November 28, in Wellington, New Zealand
Burbank, Calif.– Gearing up for the global release of “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” the epic adventure will have its world premiere on November 28, 2012 in Wellington, New Zealand. A production of New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” is the first of two films from filmmaker Peter Jackson, the Academy Award-winning director of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, who shot the films concurrently on locations across New Zealand.
“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” the First Film in Peter Jackson’s Epic Adaptation of the Timeless Book, to Make Its World Premiere on Wednesday, November 28, in Wellington, New Zealand
Burbank, Calif.– Gearing up for the global release of “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” the epic adventure will have its world premiere on November 28, 2012 in Wellington, New Zealand. A production of New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” is the first of two films from filmmaker Peter Jackson, the Academy Award-winning director of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, who shot the films concurrently on locations across New Zealand.
- 6/6/2012
- by Lillian 'zenbitch' Standefer
- ScifiMafia
Director Peter Jackson has announced that Scottish comedian, presenter and actor Billy Connolly (Fido, Brave) has joined the cast of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again as Dain Ironfoot, a great dwarf warrior and cousin of Thorin Oakenshield, being portrayed by Richard Armitage.
Press Release:
Billy Connolly Joins The Hobbit Cast
Los Angeles, CA—February 8, 2012—Billy Connolly is joining the cast of Peter Jackson’s highly anticipated film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic “The Hobbit.” The announcement was made today by Jackson, who directed all three “The Lord of the Rings” films and is currently in production on “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” and “The Hobbit: There and Back Again,” with the films shooting back-to-back in New Zealand.
In the films, Connolly (“The Last Samurai,” “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events”) will play Dain Ironfoot, a great dwarf warrior and cousin of Thorin Oakenshield.
Press Release:
Billy Connolly Joins The Hobbit Cast
Los Angeles, CA—February 8, 2012—Billy Connolly is joining the cast of Peter Jackson’s highly anticipated film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic “The Hobbit.” The announcement was made today by Jackson, who directed all three “The Lord of the Rings” films and is currently in production on “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” and “The Hobbit: There and Back Again,” with the films shooting back-to-back in New Zealand.
In the films, Connolly (“The Last Samurai,” “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events”) will play Dain Ironfoot, a great dwarf warrior and cousin of Thorin Oakenshield.
- 2/9/2012
- by Jason Moore
- ScifiMafia
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Stings!
We have Bilbo! We have Sting! We have an update on one unexpected, and hopefully incredible, journey! Hey, that refers to on and off the set of The Hobbit!
The La Times just shared this dramatic new image from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, and we couldn’t help but jump for joy because of it. Covered in sweat and grime, it depicts one courageous hobbit by the name of Bilbo Baggins. He is acted this time around by Martin Freeman. Sting, that very special blade, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to have changed at all.
The Times also suggested that “an unexpected journey” has become “a sort of epic inside joke” on the set. You remember, don’t you, all the trials that came along with making this prequel a reality? There were enough delays to make a grey wizard go mad.
We have Bilbo! We have Sting! We have an update on one unexpected, and hopefully incredible, journey! Hey, that refers to on and off the set of The Hobbit!
The La Times just shared this dramatic new image from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, and we couldn’t help but jump for joy because of it. Covered in sweat and grime, it depicts one courageous hobbit by the name of Bilbo Baggins. He is acted this time around by Martin Freeman. Sting, that very special blade, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to have changed at all.
The Times also suggested that “an unexpected journey” has become “a sort of epic inside joke” on the set. You remember, don’t you, all the trials that came along with making this prequel a reality? There were enough delays to make a grey wizard go mad.
- 1/18/2012
- by Sasha Nova
- Boomtron
Point/Counterpoint – More Evil, the Borg or the Aliens?
In our never-ending quest to reduce the absurd, we offer the following Point/Counterpoint discussion: Who is the better evil insidious race, the Borg, or the Aliens?
The Borg—by Eric Schlelein
I vividly remember the first time I saw the episode Q Who, because I vividly remember being startled and unnerved by the cold, unfeeling juggernaut that was the Borg. Here was a Star Trek enemy that had no political discourse, had no social mores. They were only interested in conquering cultures and civilizations by assimilating them. That is: forcibly absorbing all information and technology by scooping the cities off your planet and consuming them.
And in what is arguably the best episode of the entire run of The Next Generation (for sure the best two-parter), Best of Both Worlds amply fulfilled the promise of Q Who by not only...
In our never-ending quest to reduce the absurd, we offer the following Point/Counterpoint discussion: Who is the better evil insidious race, the Borg, or the Aliens?
The Borg—by Eric Schlelein
I vividly remember the first time I saw the episode Q Who, because I vividly remember being startled and unnerved by the cold, unfeeling juggernaut that was the Borg. Here was a Star Trek enemy that had no political discourse, had no social mores. They were only interested in conquering cultures and civilizations by assimilating them. That is: forcibly absorbing all information and technology by scooping the cities off your planet and consuming them.
And in what is arguably the best episode of the entire run of The Next Generation (for sure the best two-parter), Best of Both Worlds amply fulfilled the promise of Q Who by not only...
- 10/3/2011
- by Elisabeth Rappe and Eric Schlelein
- Boomtron
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