Happy Birthday: Michael Jai White

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michaeljaiwhite.jpgMichael Jai White

Born: November 10, 1967 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

I met Jean Claude on Universal Soldier, part 1. I was “Soldier #2.” Jean Claude and I trained together on that movie and always got along great. Years later, in the sequel, we got along just as well. This was the first movie where I showed a bit of my martial arts skills. Unfortunately, the script and the director were not very good. I wanted to show myself when compared to a martial arts icon like Van Damme. I achieved my purpose.

Why Did I Get Married Too
dir. Tyler Perry
Stars
Janet Jackson
Tyler Perry

BLACK DYNAMITEBlack Dynamite
2009
dir. Scott Sanders
Cast
Michael Jai White
Arsenio Hall
The Dark KnightThe Dark Knight
dir. Nolan
Starring
Christian Bale
Heath Ledger
Aaron Eckhart
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Happy Birthday: Roland Emmerich

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rolandemmerich.jpgRoland Emmerich

Born: November 10, 1955 in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

I came to film school in 1977 when directors like Fassbinder and Wenders were everybody’s heroes. But it was also the time that Star Wars and Close Encounters came out, and these were the seminal movies for me. Everybody is always so careful about these things. I mean, I’m good friends with Wim Wenders, but it doesn’t mean I have to like his movies. Some of them, I like. Most of them, I find boring. And I would tell him that to his face.

The Patriot
2000
dir. Emmerich
starring
Mel Gibson
Heath Ledger
MOVIE POSTERWHITE HOUSE DOWN
2013
dir. Roland Emmerich
Stars:
Channing Tatum
Jamie Foxx
The Day After Tomorrow
2004
dir. Emmerich
starring
Dennis Quaid
Jake Gyllenhaal
10,000 BC
2008
dir. Emmerich
Starring
Steven Strait
Camilla Belle
2012 Movie Poster2012
dir. Emmerich
Stars:
John Cusack
Thandie Newton
Chiwetel Ejiofor
MOVIE POSTERANONYMOUS
dir…

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Happy Birthday: Roy Scheider (1932–2008)

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royscheider.jpgRoy Scheider (1932–2008)

Born: November 10, 1932 in Orange, New Jersey, USA
Died: February 10, 2008 (age 75) in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA

Married to:
Brenda Siemer Scheider (11 February 1989 – 10 February 2008) (his death) (2 children)
Cynthia Scheider (8 November 1962 – 1989) (divorced) (1 child)

[on Bob Fosse] Fosse, I think, came to a high point in his life, with an Oscar, a Tony and an Emmy, and asked himself, “Do they think I’m really that good? They don’t know I’m really a sham, a hoax, a phony, a lousy human being, not much of a friend to anybody and a flop… they don’t know I’m covered with flop sweat.” That’s an expression Bob uses a lot — flop sweat

The French Connection
1971
dir. William Friedkin
Starring
Gene Hackman
Scheider
Sorcerer
1977
dir. William Friedkin
starring
Scheider
Bruno Cremer
ALL THAT JAZZAll that Jazz
1979
dir. Fosse

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Happy Birthday: Richard Burton (1925–1984)

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richardburtonRichard Burton (1925–1984)

Born: November 10, 1925 in Pontrhydyfen, Wales, UK
Died: August 5, 1984 (age 58) in Céligny, Geneva, Switzerland

Married to: Sally Hay (3 July 1983 – 5 August 1984) (his death)
Susan Hunt (21 August 1976 – 1982) (divorced)
Elizabeth Taylor (10 October 1975 – 29 July 1976) (divorced)
Elizabeth Taylor (15 March 1964 – 26 June 1974) (divorced) (1 child)
Sybil Williams (5 February 1949 – 5 December 1963) (divorced) (2 children)

The Night of the Iguana
1964
dir. John Huston
Starring
Burton
Ava Gardner
BECKETBecket
1964
dir. Peter Glenville
Starring
Burton
Peter O’Toole
MOVIE POSTEREXORCIST II: THE HERETIC
1977
dir. John Boorman
Stars:
Richard Burton
Linda Blair
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf
1966
dir. Mike Nichols
Starring
Burton
Elizabeth Taylor
19841984
dir. Michael Radford
Stars:
John Hurt
Richard Burton
MOVIE POSTERTHE LONGEST DAY
1962
dir. Ken Annakin
Andrew Marton
Bernhard Wicki

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Happy Birthday: Hugh Bonneville

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hughbonneville.jpgHugh Bonneville

Born: November 10, 1963 in London, England, UK

Married to: Lucinda Williams (4 November 1998 – present) (1 child)

[on the universal popularity of ‘Downton Abbey’] We have a word in England: gob-smacked. I don’t know if it translates. Overwhelmed is an understatement.

[on the appeal of Downton Abbey (2010)] It’s Breaking Bad (2008) with tea instead of meth.

DOWNTON ABBEY Season 3
2012
Best of the series
Created by HUGH BONNEVILLE

TOMORROW NEVER DIESTomorrow Never Dies
1997
dir. Roger Spottiswoode
Starring
Pierce Brosnan
Jonathan Pryce
TV POSTERDOWNTON ABBEY REVIEWS of EVERY EPISODE
Watch video reviews of the entire series.
TV POSTERDOWNTON ABBEY Season 1
2011
Created by Julian Fellowes
TV POSTERDOWNTON ABBEY Season 2
2012
Created by Julian Fellowes
MOVIE POSTERTHE MONUMENTS MEN
2013
dir. George Clooney
Stars:
Cate Blanchett
Matt Damon
TV POSTERDOWNTON ABBEY TV Series
Best of the series
Created by HUGH BONNEVILLE
nudeDOWNTON ABBEY Season 4
2014
Starring:
Jim Carter
Brendan…

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Happy Birthday: Claude Rains (1889–1967)

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clauderains.jpgClaude Rains (1889–1967)

Born: November 10, 1889 in Camberwell, London, England, UK
Died: May 30, 1967 (age 77) in Laconia, New Hampshire, USA

Married to:
Rosemary McGroarty Clark (August 1960 – 31 December 1964) (her death)
Agi Jambor (4 November 1959 – 29 July 1960) (divorced)
Frances Propper (8 April 1935 – 1956) (divorced) (1 child)
Beatrix Thomson (November 1924 – 8 April 1935) (divorced)
Marie Hemingway (1920 – 1920) (divorced)
Isabel Jeans (1913 – 1918) (divorced)

Often we’d secretly like to do the very things we discipline ourselves against. Isn’t that true? Well, here in the movies I can be as mean, as wicked as I want to – and all without hurting anybody. Look at that lovely girl I’ve just shot!

THE INVISIBLE MAN
1933
dir. James Whale
Starring:
Claude Rains
Gloria Stuart
NOW VOYAGERNow Voyager
1942
dir. Irving Rapper
Starring
Bette Davis
Paul Henreid
Notorious
1946
dir. Hitchcock

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Happy Birthday: Tracy Morgan

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tracymorgan.jpgTracy Morgan

Born: November 10, 1968 in The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA

Married to: Megan Wollover (23 August 2015 – present) (1 child)
Sabina Morgan (1985 – 2009) (divorced) (3 children)

[on Jimmy Fallon on “SNL”] …laughing and all that dumb ep] he used to do. He wouldn’t mess with me because I didn’t ep]ing play that s–t. That’s taking all the attention off of everybody else and putting it on you, like, ‘Oh, look at me, I’m the cute one.’ I told him not to do that s–t in my sketches, so he never did.

RIO
dir. Carlos Saldanha
Stars:
Jesse Eisenberg
Anne Hathaway
COP OUT Movie PosterCop Out
dir. Kevin Smith
Stars
Bruce Willis
Tracy Morgan
G-Force
2009
dir. Hoyt Yeatman
Starring
Will Arnett
Penélope Cruz
Galifianakis
movie posterTHE LONGEST YARD
2005
dir. Peter Segal
Stars:
Adam Sandler
Burt Reynolds
Death at a Funeral Movie PosterDeath at a Funeral
dir. Neil LaBute
Stars
Chris…

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Happy Birthday: Miranda Lambert

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mirandalambert.jpgMiranda Lambert

Born: November 10, 1983 in Lindale, Texas, USA

Married to: Blake Shelton (14 May 2011 – 20 July 2015) (divorced)

Really skinny actresses make me hungry. I see them and think, ‘Honey, you need to eat!’

I got in my head that my goal as a songwriter was to write songs for people who didn’t write songs – the moms who are driving their daughters to see Taylor Swift.

I take pride in being a normal size person. Girls come up to do meet and greets and are like, ‘Thank you for being normal. You make it feel like it’s attainable for us.’ And I’m like, ‘You’re welcome! Go have burger.'”

 

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Happy Birthday: Neil Gaiman

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neilgaiman.jpgNeil Gaiman

Born: November 10, 1960 in Portchester, England, UK

It’s not a bad thing for a writer not to feel at home. Writers – we’re much more comfortable at parties standing in the corner watching everybody else having a good time than we are mingling.

[his novel] The Ocean at the End of the Lane is a novel of childhood and memory. It’s a story of magic, about the power of stories and how we face the darkness inside of us. It’s about fear, and love, and death and families. But, fundamentally, I hope, at its heart, it’s a novel about survival.

This is a work of fiction. All the characters in it, human and otherwise, are imaginary, excepting only certain of the fairy folk, whom it might be unwise to offend by casting doubt on their existence. Or lack thereof.

 

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Film Review: ALMOST CHRISTMAS (USA 2016)

almost_christmas_movie_poster.jpgDirector: David E. Talbert
Writer: David E. Talbert
Stars: Kimberly Elise, Omar Epps, Danny Glover, JB Smoove, Mo’Nique, Gabrielle Union.

This is the time of the year that Hollywood dishes out their first Christmas films. The subject is often a family set around the big family Christmas dinner. It is as if Thanksgiving does not provide audiences with a similar film already. So as early as the first week of November ALMOST CHRISTMAS (not to be confused with Paul Morrison’s film ALL IS BRIGHT that was originally titled ALMOST CHRISTMAS) debuts with all its sweet sugar coating and dabbed with cliches and predictability.

This time around, it is an African American family Christmas. The family patriarch Walter (Danny Glover) is now a widower 10 months after the passing on of his perfect wife. His five children, three daughters and two sons with an assortment of tag-alongs that include wives and husbands, in-laws and grandchildren arrive for the big dinner. There is no turkey in this dinner.

The premise is the patriarch praying for his family to get along. If they can honour that wish and spend five days under the same roof without killing one another, it will be a Christmas miracle. And somewhat of a miracle that a film with this well-worn plot would turn out any good.

As expected in Christmas movies of this sort, the comedic set-ups will include: setting up of the outdoor Christmas decorations, often on a roof with lots of electric lights that will blow up; quarrelling siblings with nasty exchanges but all will be forgotten and forgiven as the season of good cheer arrives; cute kids whose cuteness will overstay their welcome some silly surprise that will be sprung on the unsuspecting family members (selling of the family house in this case) silly games that the family members will play (football in this one) ALMOST CHRISTMAS begins with the film settling on the protagonist, Walter, before any guests arrive. Auntie May (Mo‘Nique) is the first one to arrive followed by the children, one by one. There are quite many and it takes the audience a while to figure out who is who. Director Talbert does a good job here and everyone becomes a familiar face half way through the film.

The film is titled from ‘6 days till Christmas’, ‘5 days till Christmas’ till ‘Christmas Day’. This is unfortunate as the film really drags on. When the title ‘3 Days till Christmas appear’, the audience can only shrug that there are still 3 days and 3 film segments to go.

Talbert’s film begins on quite a serious note with Walter’s pouting, trying to bake a sweet potato pie his wife made. The serious note is maintained towards this basic comedy which is not all too funny. The comedic set-ups are already tired formulas tried out once and again in other similar films.

There are two lively musical numbers – the better one being in church, where the entire congregation breaks out into a song and chant. If only churches were this lively! The other is when Aunt May leads the family in an impromptu dance, when all the family members do their thing.

ALMOST CHRISTMAS appears to have satisfied the audience at the promo screening. The film generated a few laughs and also a few tears, but this reviewer did not feel much festive spirit in this movie.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY8pZ68nbrc

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