Posts Tagged ‘journalism’

Roger & Me (1989)

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
Genres: Documentary
Countries: USA
Actors: James Blanchard | James Bond | Pat Boone | Bob Eubanks | Ben Hamper | Timothy Jackson | Tom Kay | Ted Koppel | Correy Lennox | Brian MacDonald | Dan Rather | Ronald Reagan | Fred Ross | Richard Earl Sawdon
Directors: Michael Moore
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A documentary about the closure of General Motors’ plant at Flint, Michigan, which resulted in the loss of 30,000 jobs. Details the attempts of filmmaker Michael Moore to get an interview with GM CEO Roger Smith.

The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
Genres: Comedy | Drama
Countries: USA
Actors: Meryl Streep | Anne Hathaway | Emily Blunt | Stanley Tucci | Simon Baker | Adrian Grenier | Tracie Thoms | Rich Sommer | Daniel Sunjata | David Marshall Grant | James Naughton | Tibor Feldman | Rebecca Mader | Jimena Hoyos | Gisele Bündchen
Directors: David Frankel
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Miranda Priestley, of “Runway” magazine tears up the landscape as a demanding fashion editor. She is a terror to everyone who is around her as is quickly depicted in the opening scenes of the movie. Her first assistant strives to please her and tries to emulate her, but one can sense that she is not quite as hard as she tries to put on. Into this mix comes a young woman who knows nothing of the fashion industry, has never read the magazine, and doesn’t know who Miranda Priestley is. She only sees this as a stepping stone to another journalism position. Showing no fashion sense and immediately scorned by everyone, Miranda nonetheless hires her as the second assistant. When Miranda demands that she obtain the next unpublished Harry Potter manuscript, you can sense that she is trying to force her to quit, but it makes the young woman dig in to please her boss. With the help of one of the magazine’s fashion editors, she gets a complete makeover and a new security. However, with her new appearance and the demands placed on her, she starts to lose her friends, family and her live-in boy friend. As she is whisked away to Paris with Miranda and faces all of the glamor that could be hers, including a flashy if not artificial freelance journalist, she is forced to make the decision of where she wants to be in her life.

No Man’s Land (2001)

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
Genres: Drama | War
Countries: Belgium | Bosnia-Herzegovina | France | Italy | Slovenia | UK
Actors: Branko Djuric | Rene Bitorajac | Filip Sovagovic | Georges Siatidis | Serge-Henri Valcke | Sacha Kremer | Alain Eloy | Mustafa Nadarevic | Bogdan Diklic | Simon Callow | Katrin Cartlidge | Tanja Ribic | Branko Zavrsan | Djuro Utjesanovic | Mirza Tanovic
Directors: Danis Tanovic
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After various skirmishes, two wounded soldiers, one Bosnian and one Serb, confront each other in a trench in the no man’s land between their lines. They wait for dark, trading insults and even finding some common ground; sometimes one has the gun, sometimes the other, sometimes both. Things get complicated when another wounded Bosnian comes to, but can’t move because a bouncing mine is beneath him. The two men cooperate to wave white flags, their lines call the UN (whose high command tries not to help), an English reporter shows up, a French sergeant shows courage, and the three men in no man’s land may or may not find a way to all get along.

Return to Paradise (1998)

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
Genres: Drama | Romance | Thriller
Countries: USA
Actors: Vince Vaughn | Anne Heche | Joaquin Phoenix | David Conrad | Vera Farmiga | Nick Sandow | Jada Pinkett Smith | Ming Lee | Joel de la Fuente | Richard Chang | James Michael McCauley | Brettanya Friese | Deanna Yusoff | David Zayas | Amy Wong
Directors: Joseph Ruben
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Lewis, Sheriff and Tony are three American guys who meet and hang out one summer at the beach huts of Malaysia. There they enjoy the luxuries of women, rum and hashish. As the summer ends, Tony and Sheriff go back to New York, but Lewis decides to go to Borneo to help save the orangutan. But before he got the chance to leave, he was arrested for possession of the leftover hash and sentenced to death because he was considered to be trafficking. Two years go by and Sheriff and Tony are living their lives peacefully in The Big Apple when Lewis’ lawyer tells them the news: three years each if they both go, six years if one goes, Lewis’ death if neither go. Although they both do not want Lewis to die, they do not know him well enough to really want to sacrifice three years of their life to a Third-World prison. “Return to Paradise” watches Sheriff and Tony as they struggle to decide in the short period of time.

Superman Returns (2006)

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
Genres: Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Sci-Fi
Countries: Australia | USA
Actors: Brandon Routh | Kate Bosworth | Kevin Spacey | James Marsden | Parker Posey | Frank Langella | Sam Huntington | Eva Marie Saint | Marlon Brando | Kal Penn | Tristan Lake Leabu | David Fabrizio | Ian Roberts | Vincent Stone | Jack Larson
Directors: Bryan Singer
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After eliminating General Zod & the other Kryptonian arch-villains, Ursa & Non, Superman leaves Earth to try to find his former home world of Krypton after astronomers have supposedly found it. When he finds nothing but remnants, he returns home to Earth - to find out that Lois Lane is engaged to a relative of his boss, and that Lex Luthor is at it again - after swindling an elderly, terminally ill woman. The psychopathic Luthor, whose plans to destroy California failed because of Superman’s heroics, vows vengeance against the Man of Steel and contrives a new sinister plot - using the crystals of Krypton to build a continent that will wipe out most of North America! Embedded in the continent’s structure is Kryptonite - the lethal substance that is Superman’s only weakness. Upon learning of Luthro’s sinister scheme, Superman must again race against time to stop the psychopathic Luthor before millions - possibly billions - are killed.

Good Night, and Good Luck (2005)

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
Genres: Drama | History
Countries: USA
Actors: David Strathairn | Robert Downey Jr. | Patricia Clarkson | Ray Wise | Frank Langella | Jeff Daniels | George Clooney | Tate Donovan | Thomas McCarthy | Matt Ross | Reed Diamond | Robert John Burke | Grant Heslov | Alex Borstein | Rose Abdoo
Directors:
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In the early 1950’s, the threat of Communism created an air of paranoia in the United States and exploiting those fears was Senator ‘Joseph McCarthy (II)’ (qv) of Wisconsin. However, CBS reporter ‘Edward R. Murrow (I)’ (qv) and his producer ‘Fred W. Friendly’ (qv) decided to take a stand and challenge McCarthy and expose him for the fear monger he was. However, their actions took a great personal toll on both men, but they stood by their convictions and helped to bring down one of the most controversial senators in American history.

The Killing Fields (1984)

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
Genres: Drama | History | War
Countries: UK
Actors: Sam Waterston | Haing S. Ngor | John Malkovich | Julian Sands | Craig T. Nelson | Spalding Gray | Bill Paterson | Athol Fugard | Graham Kennedy | Katherine Krapum Chey | Oliver Pierpaoli | Edward Entero Chey | Tom Bird | Monirak Sisowath | Lambool Dtangpaibool
Directors: Roland Joffé
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Sydney Schanberg is a New York Times journalist convering the civil war in Cambodia. Together with local representative Dith Pran, they cover some of the tragedy and madness of the war. When the Americans forces leave, Dith Pran sends his family with them, but stays behind himself to help Schanberg cover the event. As an American, Schanberg won’t have any trouble leaving the country, but the situation is different for Pran; he’s a local, and the Khmer Rouge are moving in.

The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
Genres: Comedy | Drama | Fantasy | Romance
Countries: Germany | UK | USA
Actors: Tim Robbins | Jennifer Jason Leigh | Paul Newman | Charles Durning | John Mahoney | Jim True-Frost | Bill Cobbs | Bruce Campbell | Harry Bugin | John Seitz | Joe Grifasi | Roy Brocksmith | John Wylie | I.M. Hobson | Gary Allen
Directors: Joel Coen | Ethan Coen
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When Waring Hudsucker, head of hugely successful Hudsucker Industries, commits suicide, his board of directors, led by Sidney Mussberger, comes up with a brilliant plan to make a lot of money: appoint a moron to run the company. When the stock falls low enough, Sidney and friends can buy it up for pennies on the dollar, take over the company, and restore its fortunes. They choose idealistic Norville Barnes, who just started in the mail room. Norville is whacky enough to drive any company to ruin, but soon, tough reporter Amy Archer smells a rat and begins an undercover investigation of Hudsucker Industries.

The Fourth Angel (2001)

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
Genres: Action | Drama | Thriller
Countries: Canada | UK
Actors: Jeremy Irons | Forest Whitaker | Jason Priestley | Briony Glassco | Charlotte Rampling | Lois Maxwell | Timothy West | Joel Pitts | Anna Maguire | Holly Boyd | Kal Weber | Ian McNeice | William Armstrong | Garrick Hagon | Serge Soric
Directors: John Irvin
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Jack Elgin is the European editor of The Economist, which is based in London, England. Jack has a wife named Maria and three kids named Joanne, Julia, and Andrew. Jack subtly changes the family vacation from a lazy week of Mediterranean fun and sun in Corfu, Greece, to a tour of India, because of a story he has to cover. Maria is not as impressed by this as the kids are. Jack himself envisioned a chance to simultaneously work an easy reporting assignment and spend a little quality time with his family. But on the way to India, the airplane, a 747 owned by AM Air, an American airline, makes an unscheduled stopover in Limassol Cyprus, because of a mechanical problem. After a while of waiting inside the Limassol airport, everyone gets back on the plane — which is then hijacked by a group of terrorists known as the August 15th Movement, led by a Serbian man named Ivanic Loyvek and his right-hand man Karadan Maldic. And they are demanding $50,000,000 from the US State Department in one hour, or everyone on the airplane will die. The demand is met, and Loyvek and Maldic start releasing the women and children, with the men to go last. But as soon as a front passenger door is opened, a local police team gunning for the terrorists opens fire. The flight attendants frantically open the rest of the airplane’s doors and start getting passengers out, but the terrorists start killing passengers, leading to an explosion. Maria, Joanne, and Julia get out of the airplane, and then Jack, holding Andrew, gets out — only to watch Maria, Joanne, and Julia get shot by the terrorists. Jack tries to hide Andrew’s face so he can’t see it. Maria and Joanne are dead, and Julia is still alive — but Julia burns to death while crying for help. Jack and Andrew survive. In all, a total of 15 passengers die, and Loyvek and Maldic, the surviving terrorists, escape, knowing that they now have the $50,000,000. The hijacking would never have ended this way if the police team had waited until after the passengers were released from the airplane before getting trigger happy. Back in London, an absolutely devastated Jack is told that the terrorists were captured, but they were released and deported secretly, with no charges and no arrest, the result of some awfully compromised politics. Jack is understandably enraged that Loyvek and Maldic got off scot-free. While helping Andrew cope, Jack tries all the legal ways to ensure justice for his family, but to no avail. Jack even pays a visit to Henry Davidson, a CIA agent who works at the American Embassy in London. Davidson tells Jack that there’s little that can be done. Obviously, the American and British governments are completely impotent when it comes to going after Loyvek and Maldic, so Jack has absolutely no choice in the matter. He must do it himself. With the help of his ex-intelligence operative friend Kate Stockton, who is well-schooled in the finer points of international intelligence, Jack becomes a one-man anti-terrorist squadron, searching for Loyvek and Maldich. Dogging Jack’s trail is FBI agent Jules Bernard, who’s cooperating with Scotland Yard on anti-terrorist activities, and who suspects that Jack is the man who has been killing anyone involved in the hijacking. But as it turns out, Jules is on Jack’s side, and he’s willing to help Jack make those responsible pay for the deaths of his family and the other people who died in Cyprus.

Any Given Sunday (1999)

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
Genres: Drama | Sport
Countries: USA
Actors: Al Pacino | Cameron Diaz | Dennis Quaid | James Woods | Jamie Foxx | LL Cool J | Matthew Modine | Jim Brown | Lawrence Taylor | Bill Bellamy | Andrew Bryniarski | Lela Rochon | Lauren Holly | Ann-Margret | Aaron Eckhart
Directors: Oliver Stone
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When a devastating hit knocks a professional football legend and quarterback Cap Rooney (Denis Quaid) out of the game, a young, unknown third-stringer is called in to replace him. Having ridden the bench for years because of a string of bad luck stories and perhaps insufficient character, Willie Beaman (Jamie Foxx) seizes what may be his last chance, and lights up the field with a raw display of athletic prowess. His stunning performance over several games is so outstanding and fresh it seems to augur a new era in the history of this Miami franchise, and forces aging coach Tony D’Amato (Al Pacino) to reevaluate his time-tested values and strategies and begin to confront the fact that the game, as well as post-modern life may be passing him by. Adding to the pressure on D’Amato to win at any cost is the aggressive young President/Co-owner of the team, Christina Pagniacci (Cameron Diaz), now coming into her own after her father’s death. Christina’s driving desire to prove herself in a male dominated world is intensified by her focus on the marketing and business of football, in which all coaches and players are merely properties.