Happy Birthday actor Yancy Butler
Born: July 2, 1970 in New York City, New York, USA
In November 2003, she was ordered to enter a substance-abuse treatment program following her arrest for disorderly conduct after being found intoxicated and wandering in and out of traffic.
 KISS-ASS 22013 dir. Jeff Wadlow Stars: Aaron Taylor Johnson Chloe Grace Moretz |
 Kickassdir. Matthew Vaughn Stars Aaron Johnson Nicolas Cage |
Happy Birthday actor Ashley Tisdale
Born: July 2, 1985 in West Deal, New Jersey, USA
Married to: Christopher French (8 September 2014 – present)
On the Billboard Hot 100 chart of 2006-2002-2011, she became the first female ever to debut with 2 songs simultaneously. The songs, “Bop to the Top” and “What I’ve Been Looking For” were both duets with Lucas Grabeel from High School Musical (2006).
| ALIENS IN THE ATTIC 2009 dir. John Schultz Starring Ashley Tisdale Robert Hoffman |
 DONNIE DARKO2001 dir. Richard Kelly Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal Jena Malone |
 SCARY MOVIE 52013 dir. Malcolm D. Lee Stars: Lindsay Lohan Charlie Sheen |
Happy Birthday actor Lindsay Lohan
Born: July 2, 1986 in New York City, New York, USA
Lohan began her career at age three as a model at the Eileen Ford Agency, and made appearances in over 60 television commercials, including spots for The Gap, Pizza Hut, Wendy’s and Jell-O (opposite Bill Cosby). Lohan made her acting debut in 1996 as the third actress to play Ali Fowler in the television drama Another World (1964). Shortly afterward she was hand-picked by Oscar-nominated writer Nancy Meyers as estranged twin sisters in an adaptation by Walt Disney Pictures of a novel by Erich Kästner, which marked Meyers’ directorial debut.
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| TAKE A LOOK AT 100 PHOTOS OF LINDSAY LOHAN
SEE – AND SAMANTHA RONSON PHOTO
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Happy Birthday actor Margot Robbie
Born: July 2, 1990 in Dalby, Queensland, Australia
Counts True Romance (1993) as one of her all-time favorite movies.
She turned down the role of Sam in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014), which eventually went to Emma Stone.
| ABOUT TIME 2013 dir. Richard Curtis Stars: Domhnall Gleeson Rachel McAdams |
 THE WOLF OF WALL STREET2013 dir. Martin Scorsese Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio PJ Byrne |
Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca
THE BFG (USA 2016) **
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Starring: Mark Rylance, Ruby Barnhill, Penelope Wilton, Jemaine Clement, Rebecca Hall, Bill Hader
Review by Gilbert Seah
THE BFG (big friendly giant) premiered at Cannes this year in the out-of-competition category to rave reviews. So expecting a lot from Spielberg, the director who is reputed to be a creator of dreams, I went into the BFG film (a film with a story of a giant collecting dreams in a bottle) expecting a lot but was duly disappointed.
The film based on the Roald Dahl children’s novel, deals with an orphan named Sophie (Ruby Barnhill) who lost her parents when she was a baby. Sophie is kidnapped from the orphanage one night by the BFG (Oscar Winner Mark Rylance from Spielberg’s NEST OF SPIES) and brought to Giant Land. There, Sophie befriends the BFG. The book and film fail to give a satisfactory reason of Sophie being kidnapped. The BFG turns out to be one who captures dreams and delivers them to children in the human world. In Giant Land, Sophie meets the other nasty evil human-eating giants. Going back to London, she convinces the Queen (Penelope Wilton) to capture the evil giants. That is the story, a simpler one compared to other Dahl’s stories.
Spielberg opts to leave out Sophie’s orphanage life. Nothing is shown about her life there, except of a mention by her to the BFG that the matron Mrs. Conkers is nasty and gives out lots of punishments such as locking children in the cellar which is rat infested. Not one other child is shown in the film leaving out a key element in the film – the human element. Other characters like the Queen’s Head of Army and Air Force, the King of Sweden and Sultan of Bagdad are largely left out. There are no ‘real’ human beings in the film except for Sophie. Everyone else like the queen and her men are shown as clowns and just pawns for the story’s movement.
At least the special effects animation and Janusz Kaminski’s cinematography are nothing short of stunning. The look of Mark Rylance as the BFG looks very close to Quentin Blake’s illustration in the Dahl book. From the very first frame to the last, there is always the feeling of awe. But the basic human story is lost. Special effects have undermined the simple pleasure of a Roald Dahl book. There can always be too much of a good thing. After being in Giant Land for an hour, the special effects animation begin to look normal.
Spielberg keeps his film in family mode. There is not gore or any scene in which a giant gobbles a human being. When Sophie is eaten by a giant in her dream, she is seen thrown into a dark black hole. Spielberg also resorts to cheap laughs like fart jokes The BFG offers Sophie a fizzy drink called frobscottle that causes noisy green-coloured flatulence. The flatulent humour is revisited when the Queen herself drinks the frobscottle.
The film is dedicated to Melissa Mathison, the scriptwriter (she also wrote E.T.) who passed away during the film’s production.
Also, Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.
Great way to get your story out: http://www.wildsound.ca/logline.html
Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca
Watch recent Writing Festival Videos. At least 15 winning videos a month:http://www.wildsoundfestival.com
Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca
THE DAUGHTER (Australia 2015) ***
Directed by Simon Stone
Starring: Geoffrey Rush, Sam Neill, Anna Torv
Review by Gilbert Seah
Based on the Henrik Ibsen’s 2-act play ‘The Wild Duck’, THE DAUGHTER is Simon Stone’s gut wrenching drama adapted to a small loving town in Australia. It stars Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush who plays an evil father with a fondness for younger women and with no redeeming qualities. About to be re-married, his son (Paul Schneider) visits, only to open dark skeletons in the closet. This leads to things getting from bad to worse, leading to a suicide.
The film was shot in New South Wales, in an area of abandoned factories and logging forests in a soft light, like what would be expected in Denmark. Written also by Stone, the film is a compelling watch despite its over serious content that might turn out to intense for certain audiences. The play is simplified a bit, with the removal of a few characters but with no reduction in the drama.
Rush is always a pleasure to watch, even in the role of a much displaced character.
THE DAUGHTER is Stone’s first film, a little difficult to watch because of its content and a bit slow moving, made slower with a lot of slow option sequences.
Also, Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.
Great way to get your story out: http://www.wildsound.ca/logline.html
Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca
Watch recent Writing Festival Videos. At least 15 winning videos a month:http://www.wildsoundfestival.com
Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca
OUR KIND OF TRAITOR (UK/France 2016) ***
Directed by Susanna White
Starring: Carlos Acosta, Radivoje Bukvic, Stellan Skarsgård, Naomie Harris, Ewan McGregor
Review by Gilbert Seah
The new John Le Carre film scripted by Hossein Amini is a spy thriller quite different from what audiences have seen in the past. The main character is now an academic, Perry Makepeace, played by Ewan McGregor. McGregor appears in more relaxed Mode compared to Richard Burton, Alec Guinness or Gary Oldman in THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD and SOLDIER, TAILOR, TINKER, SPY respectively. This is not necessarily a bad thing as White’s treatment of Le Carre’s material has a more feminine – more human touch. This is a huge contrast to the last major Le Carre film adaptation by Tomas Alfredson, the chilling and excellent SOLDIER, TAILOR, TINKER SPY.
The story here is simple and much more straight forward compared to the extremely hard to follow SOLDIER, TAILER, TINKER, SPY. After Perry is offered a tennis game by Russian mafioso, Dima (Stellan Skarsgard), he is ‘recruited’ by him to help him and his family defect. A sort of mixed STRANGERS ON A TRAIN and TORN CURTAIN Hitchcockian story, White’s film plays well blending the cold blooded spy game with a more human aspect. With this main plot, the story weaves in some choice bits of political debate.
Director White is quick to point out that it is not only the Russian mob that are the bad guys in the movie. There is also something very nasty within the British Intelligence as there is in every character in the story. Even Perry is a philandering husband and not one to make his long suffering wife, Gail (Naomie Harris) happy as she is one to point out the faults of her partner. But surprisingly, both Perry and Gail have a change of heart to protect Dima at all costs. In the process their marriage is saved.
As in a Le Carre story, fans will not be disappointed with the plot twists, swift cold blooded killings, car chases and exotic locations, in this case Marrakech, the Alps and the cities of London and Moscow. The film has the look of the spy thrillers of the 60’s and 70’s. But the Carre story is updated with modern technology such as the downloading of key information (bank account numbers) into a usb memory stick.
The humour is also slick. When asked by Perry the reason he was picked, Dima’s reply was that he was the only one left in the restaurant. But a good pick Perry is. A lot of the humour is also derived from Dima’s behaviour – how he changes from kindness shown to his family to cold brutality.
The film contains a few outstanding performances that make the movie. Among them are Stellan Skarsgard’s flamboyant and hyper ex-Russian mafioso Dima and Damian Lewis’ Hector who starts off following British red tape and ends up fighting against it. Jeremy Northam (PRIEST, THE WINSLOW BOY) has a cameo as Aubrey Longriegg, a treacherous British politician.
OUR KIND OF TRAITOR is a milder but still entertaining Le Carre thriller.
Also, Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.
Great way to get your story out: http://www.wildsound.ca/logline.html
Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca
Watch recent Writing Festival Videos. At least 15 winning videos a month:http://www.wildsoundfestival.com
Read the top 5 entertainment news stories for Friday July 1st in 2016. Canada Day in Canada today.
‘Pacific Rim 2’ Starring John Boyega Gets Release Date
‘Tarzan’, ‘BFG’ and ‘Purge 3’ Will be No Match for ‘Finding Dory’
Scarlett Johansson Makes History, Is Highest Grossing Actress Ever
Topher Grace’s ‘Opening Night’ Set for Fall Release
‘Wreck-It Ralph’ Sequel In The Works For 2018 At Disney
Today’s PHOTO: SUICIDE SQUAD Movie Poster:
Today’s Celebrity Birthdays: Hannah Murray, Pamela Anderson, Sidney Pollack, Léa Seydoux, Hilary Burton, Dan Aykroyd, Julianne Nicholson, Olivia de Havilland, Alan Ruck, Andre Braugher, Brian George, Princess Diana
Happy Birthday Princess Diana (1961–1997)
Born: July 1, 1961 in Park House, Sandringham, Norfolk, England, UK
Died: August 31, 1997 (age 36) in Paris, France
Married to:
Prince Charles (29 July 1981 – 28 August 1996) (divorced) (2 children)
QUOTES:
[interview in “Panorama” magazine, 1995] There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.
Any sane person would have left long ago. But I cannot. I have my sons.
I’d like to be a queen in people’s hearts but I don’t see myself being queen of this country.
My role is about 80% slog and 20% fantastic.
If I’m going to comfort the suffering, I have to understand what they’ve been through.
[describing her relationship with the press] Wherever I go, it waits for me, and it tracks me down. Whatever I do, whatever I say, it will always look for controversy and contradiction. It will always criticize me.
My father always taught me to treat everybody as an equal. I have always done and I am sure that [Prince William and Prince Harry Windsor] are the same.
I was always told by my family that I was the thick one. That I was stupid and my brother was the clever one. And I was always so conscious of that. I used to go to the head mistress crying saying I wish I wasn’t so stupid.
I Know Who Killed Me
Georgia Rule
MACHETE
Mean Girls
JUST MY LUCK
BOBBY
A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION
Festival Reviews 