#samuel l jackson
HQ textless version of China poster for Avengers: Endgame.
Samuel L. Jackson, John Travolta, Harvey Keitel and Quentin Tarantino on the set of Pulp Fiction, 1993.
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John McTiernan, Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson on the set of Die Hard with a Vengeance.
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Samuel L. Jackson is back as Nick Fury and Ben Mendelsohn from Captain Marvel returns as the Skrull Talos in Marvel Studios’ Original Series Secret Invasion. Coming to DisneyPlus.
Moon Knight, an Original Series about a complex vigilante, is coming to DisneyPlus
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Alternative poster for The Hateful Eight. Digitally painted, assembled and textured in Photoshop, using promo pictures and photos as reference. The bullet hole and the wood texture inside it are photographs. More info: http://lauraracero.com/portfolio/the-hateful-eight/ Buy the art print: http://lauraracero.com/product/the-hateful-eight/
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Jurassic Park trilogy by Travis English
Prints available on Society6
Jurassic Park-The Lost World-Jurassic Park III
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1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (Marvel)
Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo
Written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely
Starring Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Robert Redford, Samuel L. Jackson
I was thinking of that poor devil you fed to the dogs today, D'Artagnan.
And I was wondering what Dumas would make of all this.
How do you emphasize to the audience that something is important? Well, you could always cut to a close-up, but how about something subtler? Today I consider ensemble staging — a style of filmmaking that directs the audience exactly where to look, without ever seeming to do so at all.
Eight Ways to Get the Audience to Look at Someone/Something:
1) Let Them Speak
2) Make Them Brighter or Bring Them Closer
3) Let Them Move (Especially Hands or Eyes)
4) Put Them in the Center of Frame
5) Turn Them Towards the Lens
6) Separate Them from the Group
7) Isolate Them by Moving the Camera
8) Have Other People Look at Them
“I keep having these memories. I see flashes. I think i had a life here… but I can’t tell if it’s real.”
I read The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey and watched the Apple TV+ limited series.
Here’s my take.
The Book
“That’s how Ptolemy imagined the disposition of his memories, his thoughts: they were still his, still in the range of his thinking, but they were, many and most of them, locked on the other side a closed door that he’s lost the key for. So his memory became like secrets held away from his own mind. But these secrets were noisy things; they babbled and muttered behind the door, and so if he listened closely he might catch a snatch of something he once knew well.”
This literary-mystery novel wasn’t what I was expecting, but kept my attention. The layered idea of an untrusting, testy, hoarding elderly man living in isolation with early stages of dementia, the will to remember and ultimately making a deal with the devil to tend to unfinished business is a clever take.
Mosley vividly depicts Ptolemy’s wandering mind in the midst of his depleting memory and the bonds he forms in the present, as well as those he formed in the past, but mentally addressees presently. Think of a dream state. The relationship between 91-year-old Ptolemy and 17-year-old Robyn was initially unsettling because of the sexual references then veers into a close friendship, treating each other with care and protection like family, bringing clarity to each other’s life.
The Series
The limited series is a great adaptation of the novel. The one thing this visual portrayal captures that the book falls short of is the innocence of Ptolemy and Robyn’s grandfather-granddaughter or uncle-great niece like relationship from beginning to end. (Those sexual references in the book that gladly doesn’t make it to the screen.)
The layers of protection amongst our primary characters, the things they hold onto and how it all carries back to past life lessons and present revelations is well-translated from book to screen. Samuel L. Jackson and Dominique Fishback deliver compelling performances that feels like the characters were made specifically for them and complements one another, along with fitting actors to fill out the ensemble cast. The cinematography is vivid when it comes to showing Ptolemy’s state of dementia and well-thought out in terms of angles and scene structure, as well as the use of dull and vibrant colors to represent a foggy life versus one of clarity.
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Pulp Fiction(1994)
Starting tomorrow Variety’s Actors on Actors will begin rolling out. Who are part of this year’s Emmys season lineup?
Jennifer Aniston (“The Morning Show”) with Sebastian Stan (“Pam & Tommy”)
Quinta Brunson (“Abbott Elementary”) with Adam Scott (“Severance”)
Viola Davis (“The First Lady”) with Samuel L. Jackson (“The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey”)
Jared Leto (“WeCrashed”) with Amanda Seyfried (“The Dropout”)
Anne Hathaway (“WeCrashed”) with Jeremy Strong (“Succession”)
Zendaya (“Euphoria”) with Andrew Garfield (“Under the Banner of Heaven”)
Courteney Cox (“Shining Vale”) with Faith Hill (“1883”)
Tom Hiddleston (“The Essex Serpent” and “Loki”) with Lily James (“Pam & Tommy”)
Jung Ho-yeon (“Squid Game”) with Sandra Oh (“The Chair” and “Killing Eve”)
Christina Ricci (“Yellowjackets”) with Sydney Sweeney (“Euphoria”)
Cynthia Nixon (“And Just Like That” and “The Gilded Age”) with Bowen Yang (“Saturday Night Live”)
Martin Short (“Only Murders in the Building”) with Jean Smart (“Hacks”)
Josh Brolin (“Outer Range”) with a mystery guest.
Trick or Treat Studios has created a replica of the Mr. Snuggles puppet as seen in Spiral: From the Book of Saw. Sculpted by The Scary Closet’s Mark Anthony, the puppet stands 16.5" tall and is packaged in a window box. It costs $199.99 and is expected to begin shipping on October 26.
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Trick or Treat Studios has created a replica of the Mr. Snuggles puppet as seen in Spiral: From the Book of Saw. Sculpted by The Scary Closet’s Mark Anthony, the puppet stands 16.5" tall and is packaged in a window box. It costs $199.99 and is expected to begin shipping on October 26.
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Django Unchained has generated quite a bit of excitement upon release. Quentin Tarantino’s previous film Inglourious Basterds was hailed as a remarkable return to form from the maverick director so hopes have been considerably high.
The plot centres on a freed slave and a bounty hunter who set out on a mission to free the wife of the slave from a charismatic but cruel plantation owner. Along the way, there is much mayhem and shooting exploits.
Undoubtedly there is some fine acting on display here. Jamie Foxx puts in a tremendously understated performance as Django, the freed slave, while Christoph Waltz is excellent as the bounty hunter. The Austrian-born actor’s star is on the rise following his Oscar win a few years ago. Leonardo Di Caprio continues his fine run of form as the dastardly plantation owner while Samuel L Jackson provides a fine slice of wit as a loyal house slave.
Django Unchained has performed well at the box office and is well in the reckoning for success at the Oscars next month. Tarantino has proven time and again that he can do whatever he wants. There is plenty of crude and racist language to be heard but also some sophisticated humour on show.
The length of the film is a crucial point. At over 160 minutes, it is a tad long and could certainly have been a bit shorter. There is plenty of blood and guts but fans of Tarantino wouldn’t have it any other way.
There is much to savour about this film but it falls far short of his best work. Having said that, it is an ambitious project to create a modern spaghetti western and Tarantino manages to achieve exactly what he set out to do.
Jules Winnfield
