FILM 2021: MURDER MYSTERY

FILM 2021: MURDER MYSTERY

TRIVIA: This movie set a new Netflix record. Netflix claims that, in the first three days, 30,869,863 accounts watched the film: 13,374,914 North American accounts and and an additional 17,494,949 accounts watching from the rest of the world.

Adam Sandler's real life wife, Jackie Sandler, makes a cameo appearance as the flight attendant on the plane. 

Andrea Bendewald, who plays a customer in the salon, is Jennifer Aniston's best friend. Bendewald was maid of honour at her wedding to Brad Pitt and guest starred in the sitcom "Friends."

Luke Evans and Victor Turpin are a couple in real life.

FILM 1987: CRAZY RICH ASIANS

FILM 1987: CRAZY RICH ASIANS

TRIVIA: Netflix wanted to produce the film and offered a much bigger budget, but Kevin Kwan deliberately turned down the offer in favor of a modest $30-million budget from Warner Bros. This was done to send a message that Asian-American studio movies are commercially viable.

Awkwafina was supposed to wear several different wigs throughout the movie; however, after putting on the blonde wig, it was decided to scrap other wigs and just keep the one. The joke about this was kept in the scene where actor Ken Jeong starts calling her "Asian Ellen [Degeneres]".

This is Henry Golding's first movie; he was only a travel show host before this, but was introduced to the project after a producer met a studio accountant in Singapore, who suggested his name. However, Henry turned down to audition for the role several times as he did not think he was good enough for the part and believed a "legitimate" actor would be better suited. It was not until the director, Jon Chu, reached out to him via a mutual Facebook friend that he was finally convinced to do the part.

As of October 2018, the film had grossed over $235 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing romantic comedy in a decade.

The tiger in the foyer of Tyersall Park (where Nick and Astrid would hide their cigarettes) was an interesting movie prop. Per the Hollywood Reporter, "The mansion's taxidermied tiger was problematic. The best specimen was in London, and the production designer realized he'd have trouble getting it across international borders. Instead, he hired sculptors in Thailand, to create a tiger out of foam and fur, only to have it held up in Thai customs because agents thought it was the real thing. 'We finally got it installed the night before we filmed the scene,' he says."

FILM 1980: BURNING

FILM 1980: BURNING 

TRIVIA: The scene in which the main characters talk at Jong-su's house was filmed for about a month. They were only able to shoot for a few minutes every day to capture the twilight on camera.

Paju, the hometown of Jong-su, is famous for its fog. According to cinematographer Kyung-pyo Hong, there were many foggy scenes at dawn, but some were deleted because they came out so beautifully. Many of the scenes where Jong-su runs to search greenhouses at dawn were also deleted because the foggy landscapes were too beautifully shown.

Official submission of South Korea for the 'Best Foreign Language Film' category of the 91st Academy Awards in 2019.

FILM 1962: TRESPASS

FILM 1962: TRESPASS

TRIVIA: Production was disrupted on August 3, 2010 when it was reported that Nicolas Cage had abandoned the project as he had allegedly insisted on switching roles from Kidman's husband to the kidnapper. The role was then offered to Liev Schreiber. However, the following day Cage resumed his role as the husband.

The film had a budget of $35 million, the movie grossed $24,094 and was pulled from theaters after only ten days.

This film broke the fastest-ever-from-theaters-to-Home-Video record previously held by 2003's From Justin to Kelly (2003). That film took 29 days to get to DVD, Trespass made it in only 18.

FILM 1951: THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY

FILM 1951: THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY

TRIVIA: Matt Damon actually sang the song "My Funny Valentine."

Jude Law learned to play the saxophone and Matt Damon learned to play the piano for this film. However while Damon's training enabled him to recreate the proper keyboard fingering the music heard in the film is played by Sally Heath (the Bach) and Gabriel Yared (the Vivaldi).

This is Matt Damon's favorite film he has made.

Leonardo DiCaprio was considered for the role of Tom Ripley.

Fausto and Dickie (and Tom, later) sing "Tu Vuo' Fa' L'Americano," a humorous song about an Italian man in the 50s who wants to imitate the American lifestyle he sees in the movies. But American food doesn't do him any good and in the end, the money he spends comes from his mother's purse.

After viewing this film, Tommy Wiseau was so emotionally moved that he vowed to make a film just as, if not more compelling. This film would become The Room (2003).

When Anthony Minghella learned that Cate Blanchett was interested in playing the small supporting role of Meredith - as opposed to the female lead - he duly expanded the role to get her on board.

FILM 1927: BAD TIMES AT THE EL ROYALE

FILM 1927: BAD TIMES AT THE EL ROYALE

TRIVIA: The El Royale is based on the famous Cal Neva Resort and Casino that was once owned by Frank Sinatra.

Chris Hemsworth had to lose 25-30 lbs of muscle weight immediately after Avengers: Infinity War (2018) wrapped to star in this film.

FILM 1914: THOROUGHBREDS

FILM 1914: THOROUGHBREDS

TRIVIA: This was Anton Yelchin's final film before his death on June 19, 2016, at the age of 27.

Originally written for the stage.

FILM 1877: BOUND

FILM 1877: BOUND

TRIVIA: Gina Gershon recommended Joe Pantoliano for the role of Caesar.

When executives at some studios read the script, they told the Wachowskis that if they changed the character of Corky to that of a man, they would be interested. The siblings declined, saying "that movie's been made a million times, so we're really not interested in it."

Joe Pantoliano was instructed by the Wachowskis to watch The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) and base his Cesar character on Humphrey Bogart's Fred C. Dobbs.

The film was financed with the understanding that Jennifer Tilly was to play the role of Corky. The actress playing Violet dropped out of the project shortly before shooting began, however. At this point Gina Gershon became available to do the film. At first she was to play Violet; but since she was better suited to Corky, she and Tilly switched roles.

Jennifer Tilly named Violet as the best role she ever had.

Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly went fully nude for the main lesbian sex scene between Corky and Violet and they declined the use of body doubles.

The main sex scene set in Corky's apartment was filmed in one long shot. The Wachowskis believed that this would look more realistic than several shots edited together. Although it should have been a closed set, there were actually many people present, moving the walls of the set in order to allow full movement of the camera around the actors.

Gina Gershon's influences for her role were James Dean, Marlon Brando and Clint Eastwood.

This was Joe Pantoliano's first leading role in a film. It's also his favourite role.

The part of Violet was expected to go to Linda Hamilton.

CAMEO: Susie Bright: The noted sex author appears as the lesbian in the bar that Corky hits on before the lesbian cop arrives. The grey-haired woman in the next booth is Bright's ex.

BOOK 193: NO ORCHIDS FOR MISS BLANDISH: JAMES HADLEY CHASE

BOOK 193: NO ORCHIDS FOR MISS BLANDISH: JAMES HADLEY CHASE

The novel was influenced by the American crime writer James M. Cain and the stories in the pulp magazine Black Mask. Chase reportedly wrote the book as a bet to out-do The Postman Always Rings Twice.

No Orchids for Miss Blandish provoked considerable controversy because of its explicit depiction of sexuality and violence. The novel was a great critical success and was included in the Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century.

In 1942, the novel was adapted into a stage play which ran for over 200 performances at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London.[4] Robert Newton starred. In 1948, it was adapted into a British film No Orchids for Miss Blandish and given a contemporary New York City setting. The 1971 American film The Grissom Gangwas also based on the novel, moving the setting of events back several years to 1931 Kansas City.

In 1944, it was also the subject of an essay by George Orwell, Raffles and Miss Blandish, and parodied by Raymond Queneau in We Always Treat Women Too Well. In 1962 the novel was extensively rewritten and rearranged by the author because he thought the world of 1939 too distant for a new generation of readers. (Confusion can result if readers of the Orwell essay refer his quotations and references to the 1962 edition.)

( Information from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Orchids_for_Miss_Blandish_(novel) )

FILM 1873: THE WIZARD OF LIES

FILM 1873: THE WIZARD OF LIES

TRIVIA: In order to prepare for her role, Michelle Pfeiffer spent some time with the real Ruth Madoff.

This is one of two films focusing on Bernie Madoff. The other is Madoff (2016). Both films are television productions.

Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter Diana Henriques was the first to interview Bernie Madoff on August 24, 2010, after his incarceration on June 29, 2009. She plays herself in various scenes throughout this movie interviewing Madoff (Robert De Niro), and has said that the resemblance was so uncanny, she got goosebumps just sitting opposite him.

-The film's premiere drew 1.5 million viewers, making it HBO's largest premiere viewership for an HBO film in four years; additional replays and viewings through the network's streaming service brought the film's total viewers to 2.4 million for its premiere weekend.

FILM 1822: THE HURRICANE HEIST

FILM 1822: THE HURRICANE HEIST

TRIVIA: In the trailer, viewers are told that the heist is planned during the monstrous hurricane that is pushing 600 miles per hour. The Great Red Spot, a massive hurricane on Jupiter that can fit two Earths in it, is also a 600-mile-per-hour storm. The highest sustained wind speed ever recorded in a hurricane on Earth is 190 miles per hour.

In the early 1990s, Sylvester Stallone was attached to star in a similar project to this film, called "Gale Force," about an ex-Navy SEAL who defends a seacoast town from a gang of modern pirates during a hurricane. David Chappe had written the script and Renny Harlinwas going to direct. Carolco Pictures had a $40 million budget for the film, but creative disagreements over the script and concerns about cost forced Carolco to scrap the film and make Cliffhanger (1993) instead.

BOOK 189: SAPIENS: A BRIEF HISTORY OF HUMANKIND: YUVAL NOAH HARARI

BOOK 189: SAPIENS: A BRIEF HISTORY OF HUMANKIND: YUVAL NOAH HARARI

This book surveys the history of humankind from the evolution of archaic human species in the Stone Age up to the twenty-first century, focusing on our own species of human, Homo sapiens. The account is situated within a framework provided by the natural sciences, particularly evolutionary biology.

Harari surveys the history of humankind from the evolution of archaic human species in the Stone Age up to the twenty-first century, focusing on our own species of human, Homo sapiens. He divides the history of Sapiens into four major parts: 

The Cognitive Revolution (c. 70,000 BC, when Sapiens evolved imagination).

The Agricultural Revolution (c. 10,000 BC, the development of agriculture).

The unification of humankind (the gradual consolidation of human political organisations towards one global empire).

The Scientific Revolution (c. 1500 AD, the emergence of objective science).

Public reception

First published in Hebrew in 2011 and then in English in 2014, the book was translated into 45 languages (as of June 2017). It also made to The New York Times best-seller list and won the National Library of China's Wenjin Book Award for the best book published in 2014. Writing four years after its English-language publication, Alex Preston wrote in The Guardianthat Sapiens had become a "publishing phenomenon" with "wild success" symptomatic of a broader trend toward "intelligent, challenging nonfiction, often books that are several years old". Concurrently, The Guardian listed the book as among the ten "best brainy books of the decade".

Scholarly reception

Anthropologist Christopher Robert Hallpike reviewed the book and did not find any "serious contribution to knowledge". Hallpike suggested that "...whenever his facts are broadly correct they are not new, and whenever he tries to strike out on his own he often gets things wrong, sometimes seriously". He considered it an infotainment publishing event offering a "wild intellectual ride across the landscape of history, dotted with sensational displays of speculation, and ending with blood-curdling predictions about human destiny." 

Science journalist Charles C. Mann concluded in The Wall Street Journal, "There’s a whiff of dorm-room bull sessions about the author’s stimulating but often unsourced assertions." 

Reviewing the book in The Washington Post, evolutionary anthropologist Avi Tuschman points out problems stemming from the contradiction between Harari's "freethinking scientific mind" and his "fuzzier worldview hobbled by political correctness", but nonetheless wrote that "Harari’s book is important reading for serious-minded, self-reflective sapiens." 

Reviewing the book in The Guardian, philosopher Galen Strawson concluded that among several other problems, "Much of Sapiens is extremely interesting, and it is often well expressed. As one reads on, however, the attractive features of the book are overwhelmed by carelessness, exaggeration and sensationalism." 

Reviewing the book in The New Atlantis, John Sexton, graduate student at the University of Chicago, concluded that "The book is fundamentally unserious and undeserving of the wide acclaim and attention it has been receiving".

MY VERDICT: I found this book entertaining and interesting. Despite some negative reviews from scholars, I found some fascinating theories that I previously had not heard of and some of Harari’s viewpoints were thought provoking. There is a lot of information to digest and I forgot most of the history at the start by the time I got to the end, which is more to do with my memory than a fault of the book. I did feel that the last chapter prophesized too much and continued on a bit too long but overall I enjoyed it.

FILM 1746: HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE

FILM 1746: HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE

TRIVIA: Lauren Bacall's character, Schatze, says, "I've always liked older men... Look at that old fellow what's-his-name in The African Queen (1951). Absolutely crazy about him." She is referring to Bacall's then real-life husband, Humphrey Bogart.

According to Lauren Bacall, Marilyn Monroe was a challenge to work with. It wasn't because she was unpleasant, but rather her insecurity and total dependence on her personal acting coach Natasha Lytess for approval. "Betty Grable was a funny, outgoing woman, totally professional and easy. Marilyn was frightened, insecure - trusted only her coach and was always late. During our scenes she'd look at my forehead instead of my eyes; at the end of a take, look to her coach, standing behind Jean Negulesco, for approval. If the headshake was no, she'd insist on another take. A scene often went to fifteen or more takes, which meant I'd have to be good in all of them as no one knew which one would be used. Not easy - often irritating. And yet I couldn't dislike Marilyn. She had no meanness in her - no bitchery. She just had to concentrate on herself and the people who were there only for her."

Writer and humorist Dorothy Parker's famous quip that "men seldom make passes at girls who wear glasses" was purposely bobbled by screenwriter (and producer) Nunnally Johnson for Marilyn Monroe's character Pola to assert to David Wayne (as Freddie) that "you know, men aren't attentive to girls who wear glasses."

Before becoming a major Hollywood success, Lauren Bacall worked as a model for several years of her teenage life while auditioning for roles on Broadway. The modeling she did is exactly like that of her character Ms. Paige, showing pieces for clients.

FILM 1704: 99 HOMES

TRIVIA: Ramin Bahrani dedicated the film to late movie critic Roger Ebert.

Director Ramin Bahrani used a 24mm lens for close-ups of Andrew Garfield as it gave greater depth as to what was showing on his face.