4 months ago 14th May 15:07
Presented as the reminiscences of an elderly Chaplin, the narrative opens with the comic's impoverished East London childhood, and progresses through his vaudeville and Hollywood successes to his virtual banishment from the United States, and eventually his welcome back to accept a special Academy Award -- 20 years too late.
Directed by Richard Attenborough the film earned Downey Jr is first, and only, Best Actor Academy Award nomination. Chaplin was also nominated for Best Art Direction and Best Score.
George Clooney's directorial effort on Good Night and Good Luck brought together a great ensemble cast of David Strathairn, Robert Downey, Patricia Clarkson, Rose Abdoo, Alex Borstein.
Shot in black and white the film is set almost entirely inside the smoke-filled, pressurized newsrooms at CBS during this crucial chapter in 20th-century American history.
Good Night and Good Luck recounts the events of the mid-1950s leading up to acclaimed CBS journalist Edward R. Murrow's (David Strathairn) decision to stand up against fiery Senator Joseph McCarthy, who was out to rid the country of communism.
McCarthy's seemingly reckless behaviour, in which he condemned individuals without giving them a fair trial, angered Murrow and his producer Fred Friendly (Clooney) into action.
The resulting few episodes of Murrow's show, See It Now, found Murrow on a personal, patriotic crusade to challenge McCarthy and rid America of his callous persecution.
The film was a huge it critically and went on to be nominated Best Motion Picture of the Year at the Oscars, as well as a directing nod for Clooney.
2005 saw the return of Robert Downey Jr after facing a string of personal issues teaming up with writer Shane Black, who was making his debut as a director.
Harry Lockhart (Downey Jr.) is basically a decent guy. Sure, he's a petty thief who skates through life on a shaky cocktail of dog-eared charm and cockeyed optimism, but he wants to do the right thing. He just doesn't know how, exactly.
Harry's perpetual bad luck takes a turn for the better when he and his partner are doing some after-hours Christmas "shopping" at a New York City toy store and the security alarm breaks up the party.
In making his frantic getaway from the cops, Harry inadvertently stumbles into an audition for a Hollywood detective movie, and faster than you can say Jack Robinson, the producer flies him to Los Angeles for a screen test.
Thrust into the cutthroat world of L.A.'s pros, cons, losers and wannabes, Harry is teamed with tough-guy private eye Perry van Shrike (Val Kilmer), AKA "Gay Perry," to prepare him for his screen test. Gay Perry is ruthless, relentlessly tough and - you guessed it - gay.
He also has little patience for Harry, who tries out his acting skills by passing himself off as a detective.
It seems like nothing short of destiny when the thief-trying- to-be-an-actor- impersonating-a-detective crosses paths with Harmony Faith Lane (Michelle Monaghan), an aspiring actress who needs his help.
Inspired by her hero Jonny Gossamer, a fictitious hard-boiled private eye featured in a series of pulp detective novels, Harmony moved to Hollywood to pursue her dreams...but a few years and a lot of rejections later, she's facing the harsh reality that her best days may be behind her.
When the mysterious suicide of Harmony's sister intersects with a seemingly unrelated case that Harry and Gay Perry are investigating, they suddenly find themselves embroiled in a real-life murder mystery.
Following many conventions of the classic film noir genre Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was a hit with the critics, despite this the film struggled at the box office.
The latest release from Downey Jr sees him movie into the Hollywood blockbuster for the first time in his career.
The role of the lesser known Marvel Comic character Tony Stark has proved to be a critical and commercial success for the actor.
Tony Stark is a playboy business man, CEO of a major arms manufacturer whose family motto is 'Peace means having a bigger stick, and a mechanical genius.
But when his trip to Afghanistan, to unveil his new missile, goes wrong he is mortally wounded and kidnapped by a militant group.
During his captivity Stark befriends Yinsen, the surgeon who saves his life by using an electro magnet powered by a car battery to keep the shrapnel out of his heart, and is forced to build the devastating weapon he was unveiling to the U.S. military.
Instead, with the help of Yinsen, he builds a high tech suit of armour and escapes captivity.
When back in America he refines the armour and when he uncovers a nefarious plot, that includes his company and the suit he has designed, he dons the new suit to protect the world and those closest to him.
The film flexed it’s muscles at the American box office and exceeding expectations by grossing an estimated $101 million in it’s opening weekend.
It become only the tenth film to break the $100 million barrier in it’s first three days, having only been expected to gross $70-$80 million.
A second movie is already in the pipeline.
On the inaugural day of his university's literary festival, Grady's third wife leaves him and his mistress, university chancellor Sara Gaskell (McDormand), announces that she's pregnant with their child.
Her husband Walter (Thomas), the self-absorbed chair of the English department, suspects nothing, but with a baby on the way scandal looms just over the horizon.
To further complicate matters, Grady's reckless editor Terry Crabtree (Downey), desperate to revive his flaccid career, flies in from New York to pick up the manuscript for Grady's seven-years-in-the-making follow-up to his critically acclaimed first book -- but at 2612 pages, it remains far from finished.
As if that weren't enough to keep him reeling, Grady soon becomes an unwilling accomplice to a canine homicide and the heist of a rare jacket once worn by Marilyn Monroe, both committed by his brightest student -- the languid, slightly pathological James Leer (Maguire).
Dressed in a ratty pink bathrobe and driving a stolen car with a dead dog in the trunk, Grady must now find a way to return Marilyn's coat, write the great American novel, nurture James's literary talents, discourage the advances of an amorous co-ed (Holmes), avoid the wrath of a petite James Brown look-alike (Knox), and reconcile with Sara...all before the weekend is over.
Based on 1995 novel of the same title by Michael Chabon Wonder Boys failed at the box office despite doing well with the critics.
Charlie Bartlett is released 16th May
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
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