The Oscars

September 22, 2019 8:13 am ,

The official name of the Oscars is the Academy Awards which were first established in 1929. The awards recognize the best actors actresses, directors and creative teams behind the previous year’s films. Winners are awarded a statue called ‘an Oscar’ which was designed by George Stanley and is said to be named as such because it looked like Stanley’s Uncle Oscar.

When the awards began in 1929 it was a small lunch held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel with just a few hundred people in attendance. Since 2002 the awards have been held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles with several thousand people attending each year.

The awards have 24 categories, which include, but are not limited to: best picture, actor, actress, supporting actor, supporting actress, directing, original screenplay, adapted screenplay, cinematography, production design, editing, original score, and original song. Traditionally the best picture award is the last award of the evening and is generally considered the most prestigious award of the evening.

In addition to being a way to cement the film’s place in history, the awards also have the potential to significantly increase the earning potential of the actors and actresses who receive an Oscar. Many actors have had their careers launched by winning the award early in their careers. The winners are a closely guarded secret. In the early days, the names of the winners were released to the press but after these were leaked the practice was stopped.

There was another major blunder in 2017 when the wrong envelope containing the name of the winner of best films was given to the presenters. After initial applause for La La Land and the actors making their way to the stage, the actual winner was revealed to be Moonlight.

There are only 5 actors who have won 3 best Oscars in the award’s extensive history. These actors are Meryl Streep, Ingrid Bergman, Jack Nicholson, Walter Brennan, and Daniel Day-Lewis. Katherine Hepburn is the only person to win 4 Oscars. She won for the films Morning Glory (1933), Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967), The Lion in Winter (1968) and finally for On Golden Pond (1981).

Fun Facts about the Oscars

  • Christopher Plummer is the oldest actor to win an Oscar at 82 for the film Beginners (2010)
  • When Liza Minnelli won her Oscar for Cabaret, she became the only winner whose parents have both won an Oscar
  • Kathryn Bigelow was the first woman to win an Oscar for directing when she picked up the gong for The Hurt Locker in 2009
  • Meryl Street has been nominated for an Oscar an impressive 18 times across her career – more than any other actor in the award’s history
Posted in: Awards

Bollywood

August 11, 2019 1:21 pm ,

Bollywood, which is otherwise known as Hindi cinema, is India’s movie-making industry and based in the sprawling city of Mumbai. Bollywood is actually larger than its American sister, producing as many as 2000 films a year and generates a little under half of India’s box office revenues. A study back in 2001 looked at the number of ticket sales in Bollywood which totaled over 3.5 billion in India compared to Hollywood which sold just over 2.5 billion tickets worldwide.

Bollywood is very stylised and always almost contains music and dancing – although not always. The most popular genre of Bollywood film is masala which is unlike any western genre and combines the fields drama, comedy, history, music, and dance into one spectacle. Bollywood is heavily influenced by Indian culture and, as in the classic Indian style, has many different subplots and side stories in addition to the main action.

In recent years, Bollywood has become popular around the world and is viewed as one of the country’s most influential sources of soft power and is credited as being one of the main drivers of people changing their perception of India.

Posted in: Movies

A Hitory of Movies

July 18, 2019 6:16 am ,

The start of the movie industry is a difficult point to define as technology developed gradually and the definition of a movie changed rapidly over the decades until the emergence of modern film in the 20th century. However, the Lumière brothers are largely considered to have made the first recognizable movie in Paris in the late1800’s. These early films were often only minutes or even seconds long as not the cinematic masterpieces we are familiar with today.

At this early stage, movies were also merely a selection of movies pictures and had no constructed narrative or even sound. By the start of the 20th century, rapid developments in technology meant that the feature film was in its inception stages. Films at this stage were also silent films as the technology to capture sound and film together was still in its infancy.

Throughout the early 2oth century and into the First World War, the film became a popular form of entertainment and the industry exploded in both the United States. While France also has a popular film industry – with a cottage industry blooming in Germany, despite its politically turbulent circumstances, came to a halt due to the war. It was during this tumultuous time that Hollywood was truly born – a place that would forever remain the unquestionable home of the cinematic medium.

<p>It was during the 1920s that Hollywood reached its peak, producing over 800 films a year which is more than the industry produces today. It was also the time when the famed and infamous studio system was developed and made stars of Hollywood’s legends. By the end of this decade, sound would dominate film with the end of the silent movie era.

The 1930s became the most successful decade of film to date, with color films becoming the norm and the latter part of the decade saw the production of some of history’s most iconic films including Gone with the Wind and the beloved Wizard of Oz starring a teenage Judy Garland.

The following decades saw several transitions in the film era from the propaganda war films in the 1940s to the sci-fi explosion of the 1970s. The 70s also saw the emergence of some of modern cinema’s popular filmmakers including Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, and Terrence Malick.

Recent decades have been noted both for their technological developments and also for their growth in inclusivity. While Hollywood is still dominated by a few overused narratives, since the 1990s, many more films about minorities such as black people and the LGBT community have entered the film canon.

As streaming has become popularized, the film industry is once again undergoing rapid and seismic shifts, with many in the film industry critical of platform such as Netflix who they argue divert revenues away from the industry.

Posted in: Movies

Genres of Movies

June 23, 2019 3:31 am ,

Action

Action movies are often based on comic books and adhere to the theme of overcoming a threat to a person, institution or even civilization itself. They regularly have large budgets and are known as crowd pleasers as they tend to be very popular with audiences. Popular action films include the Avengers and James Bond franchises, which tend to be a common feature of the action movie genre.

Comedy

Comedy is considered to be one of the harder genres of films to make, despite the fact that they are often light on plot and don’t require special effects or large budgets to make. Comedy films such as The Hangover and American Pie are modern examples, while Some Like It Hot with Marylin Monroe, made in 1959, is considered to be one of the best comedies ever made.

Historical

Historical films cover a wide range of film ranging from the costume drama to epic war movies. While these films are often based on fact, they can be fictional accounts of a particular time or period in history. These films can be low or big budget but when they are the latter they are often referred to as epics. Famed examples of historical films are the 1959 classic Ben-Hur, Schindler’s List, and Titanic. Historical films are known for winning many awards.

Horror

Horror films can either be a niche product or mainstream and often prey on our fears to evoke a sense of terror while watching the movie. They can be realistic or incorporate a wide range of special effects and cross over into other genres such as sci-fi and psychological. There are also many sub-categories of such a teen horror and slasher horror. Famous horror films include the Haloween movies, the Scream franchise and the 80s hit, Carrie with Sissy Spacek.

Musicals

In the early years of cinema with sound, musical films were very mainstream and formed a major part of the cinema lexicon. However, they began to die out in the 70s and laid dormant for many decades but have recently enjoyed a resurgence. Old musical favorites include Oklahoma, The Wizard of Oz, Grease and the Sound of Music while modern musical hits include Les Miserables, Chicago, and the ever-popular Mamma Mia.

Posted in: Movies

The Best Films to Watch Now on Netflix

June 1, 2019 2:01 pm ,

As a Netflix fan, you know that the California-headquartered media services provider has plenty of movies and other TV programmes for all ages and tastes. But given that you can’t watch all the movies at one go, there are a few films which stand out from the rest and will indeed keep you glued to your TV. Here are some of the most outstanding movies on Netflix right now.

Inception

Are you a fan of sci-fi and action thrillers? Inception, released in 2010, is an intense, coherent, complex, and original story which rewards the attention it demands. Who better else can play the leading role in this movie than the lovely Leonardo DiCaprio starring as Cobb? Cobb is a rare thief with the ability to enter your mind and steal secrets from your subconscious version. While this skill has made him the hottest asset in the corporate world, he has ended up losing everything he adores. The movie may be impeccably imaginative, but it’s so entertaining that you may think that you’re the next victim, and you may end up losing your life-changing ideas to Cobb. And did you know it’s the innovative Chris Nolan who directed this movie?

Lion

By the time the movie Lion is finished, you’ll want more of it. In fact, you won’t mind watching it several times. This is a true story of a five-year-old boy called Saroo who gets lost on a train. He is taken miles away from his home and must fast learn the ways of survival in Kolkata town. Eventually, he’s adopted by an Australian couple, and they go with him to Melbourne. But 20 years later, Saroo depends on the little memories he has of his mother and sister and, of course, Google Maps to trace his family.

Get Out

A horror movie that will surely scare the life out of you, Get Out unexpectedly became popular in 2017. Chris Washington, a young and promising African-American photographer, has been dating Rose, his white girlfriend, for almost five months. And the latter thinks that it’s time for her beau to meet her parents over the weekend. This is where the movie shows the racial alienation that’s rocking the world in bloody, profane ways. The movie is illuminating, scary and shocking but in a funny, compassionate manner which will remind you of Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. Perhaps you may consider getting help from the livi medical app if you constantly experience jumpy and heart racing moments from the scary events, and you think that it may result in anxiety disorders. This movie deservedly netted four Oscar nominations and found its way into the box office.

Current Movies to Watch on Netflix at a Glance

Inception, Lion, and Get Out are just but a few movies on Netflix. Other movies that are worth watching on Netflix (currently) include Birdman, Roma, Idris Elba’s Beasts of No Nation, and the intense sci-fi thriller Gravity, which has won a whopping seven Oscars. You may also spare some time to watch Fargo, Wind River, and Capote.

Posted in: Awards

Olivier Awards

May 15, 2019 11:39 pm ,

The Oliver Awards are named after the esteemed British actor Laurence Olivier and celebrate UK-based plays, musicals, and other theatrical events. The awards were previously referred to as the Society of West End Theatre Awards but renamed in honor of the actor in 1984 – four years before he died in 1989.

Each year, the Society of London Theater puts together a panel of judges from across the arts industries to decide on the winners. There is often one award, normally best musical, which is voted for by the general public.

The Olivier Awards mainly focus on drama and musicals with categories such as Best New Play

Best Revival, Best New Comedy, Best New Musical, Best Musical Revival, Best Actor in a Musical

and Best Actress in a Musical. There are also awards dedicated to the creative teams and also to other forms of theatre such as dance and opera.

Matilda and Hamilton are the two musical with the most awards, both earning themselves seven Oliviers. The play with the most awards is Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which in 2017 was the winner of nine Oliviers including best play. There are three individuals who have won seven Olivier awards, these are William Dudley, Matthew Bourne, and the actress Dame Judi Dench – who also won a special award back in 2004 for her contribution to the theater.

The composer Andrew Lloyd Webber has won a total of six awards plus the special recognition putting him in second place behind the aforementioned artists.

Posted in: Awards

BAFTAS

April 12, 2019 11:57 am ,

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts hosts an annual ceremony in London called the BAFTA film awards – often seen as the English Oscars and an indication of who might win at the American event which is held a few weeks later.

Most of the awards are open to people of any nationality, except for the British film and Britsh rising star awards. While BAFTA is a charitable organization which aims to celebrate and champion film, many of the winners are American due to the influence of Hollywood.

The original location of the awards was the Odeon cinema in Leicester Square before moving to the Opera House in Covent Garden and finally the Royal Albert Hall. The ceremony has had a number of hosts over the years including the actress Vivien Leigh, Roger Moore, Terry Wogan, Jonathan Ross, and Stephen Fry.

The categories of the awards largely reflect the Oscars with popular awards including best actor and actress, best supporting actor and actress, as well as best film and best director. Those behind the camera, including the creative teams who work on films, are also honored with awards at the event.

Posted in: Awards

A History of Theater

March 15, 2019 11:14 pm ,

The theater is considered one of the oldest art forms in the world and takes into account a variety of performance types including musicals, plays, opera, dance and many more. Early theater is thought to have originated in Ancient Greece, especially the kind of theater we are used to today which consists of a stage, costumes, characters, and a structures narrative.

However, it is likely that civilizations were putting on some kind of performance long before this. The Indians and the Chinese also have a long history of Theatre, though it is less prominent in these societies today – especially when compared to Britain and the United States which have the two largest theater hubs in the world.

From the 15th century, the theater has been undergoing a constant revolution. This started with the arrival of William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe who are still two of the most famed playwrights to have ever lived. The 19th century was dominated by music hall style productions where sketched and songs would be performed but without a narrative connecting them together.

The 20th century saw another explosion in theatre with playwrights such as Brecht and Samuel Beckett driving the theater revolution. Today the theatre is as big as ever with touring productions making the art form more accessible to many more people. Many musicals, in particular, have been staples of the theatre scene for more than 20 years. These stalwart shows include Les Miserables, Blood Brother and The Phantom of the Opera.

Besides the large productions of the West End and Broadway, other types of the theater include community theater, fringe theatre, street theater, and Off-Off-Broadway.

Posted in: Theatres

Plays

February 25, 2019 12:20 am ,

The play is an ever-popular form of written literature which has been performed for many thousands of years. Most of the time plays are written to be acted in theaters but there are a few who have also produced works for them to be read. One notable example of this was the dramatist George Bernard Shaw.

There are many different genres of the playthese include comedies, farces, restoration comedy, tragedy, and drama. Some of the oldest plays date back to the Greeks, notably Oedipus Rex which is still staged today. Many works from the 15th century are also still in circulation, including the works of the beloved English playwright William Shakespeare.

The structure of a play is often divided into several acts. Most modern plays consist of two acts, though historically they were many more than this. In modern productions, there is normally an interval at the end of the first act when patrons can leave the auditorium for around 20 minutes. Plays which do not have acts are called a ‘one-acter’ Each act is then divided into several scenes which are normally marked by a change in setting.

Posted in: Theatres

Highest Grossing Films

January 19, 2019 8:50 pm ,

There are many different ways which films make money, these range from merchandise related to the film to people who buy the DVD. However, the most common way in which the popularity of a film is measured is through its takings at the movie theatre box office. Here is a list of the top grossing films when adjusted for inflation. All revenues are from 2017.

1. Gone with the Wind – This 1939 classic starring Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh earned a staggering $3,703,000,000 worldwide making it the highest grossing film of all time. However, in real terms, this wouldn’t even make the top 50.

2. Avatar – Number 2 on the list is the James Cameron epic Avatar which took $3,251,000,000. the film was revolutionary in its use of technology and the depiction of life on the mythical Pandora instantly became a sci-fi classic.

3. Titanic – In at number 3 is another of James Cameron’s films. A world away from the sci-fi of Avatar, this movie of the famed ship which sank in 1912 off the coast of Canda in the Atlantic Ocean earned a tidy $3,078,000,000.

4. Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope – This installment of the classic franchise which introduced the world to the likes of Princess Leia took home $3,041,000,000 and instantly became one of the most successful films of all time.

5. The Sound of Music – The number 5 spot was taken by this classic movie-musical starring the irrepressible Julie Andrews as Maria von Trapp. Based on a true story of a family fleeing the Nazis, the film captured the hearts of audiences around the world and earned $2,547,000,000.

Posted in: Movies
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