Pophistory: music, movies, history, and life.
In the following short video of less than six minutes entitled “2012: The Cinescape,” Matt Shapiro put together clips that summarize the year in movies. Although others make similar montages, many consider Shapiro’s annual movie montages to be among the best. Check it out.
What was your favorite movie of 2012? Leave your two cents in the comments.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)
As the U.S. Senate, House of Representatives, and the President are going down to the wire trying to avoid the dreaded “fiscal cliff,” here is a reminder how some folks can work together to overcome cliffs. In this video, Mandy Patinkin (who played Inigo Montoya) gives a behind-the-scenes look at the Cliffs of Insanity scene from Director Rob Reiner’s classic The Princess Bride (1987). In the video, Patinkin describes how the wonderful André the Giant helped Wallace Shawn overcome his fears.
If these guys can overcome the Cliffs of Insanity, I hope our politicians can handle a little Cliffs of Fiscal.
What is your favorite scene from The Princess Bride? Leave your two cents in the comments.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)
The new full trailer for Man of Steel (2013) has been released. From the trailer, you can see that the latest Superman movie takes us back to the origin story. Some have compared the look of the trailer to Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life (2011), but the music with the images make me think of Gladiator (2000), which starred Russell Crowe who just happens to play Jor-El in Man of Steel. Check it out.
Man of Steel is directed by Zack Snider and stars Henry Cavill as Superman and Clark Kent. Others in the movie include Amy Adams as Lois Lane and Kevin Kostner as Jonathan Kent. General Zod from Superman II (1980) returns in this film and is played by Michael Shannon. Man of Steel is scheduled to be released on June 14, 2013, so you only have six months to wait for yet another reboot of a film about a classic superhero.
Will you see Man of Steel? Leave your two cents in the comments.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts).
Many know of Frank William Abagnale, Jr. because he was played by Leonardo DiCaprio in Director Steven Spielberg’s movie Catch Me If You Can (2002), which also starred Tom Hanks, Amy Adams, and Christopher Walken. As portrayed in the film, Abagnale was on the run from the FBI in the 1960s, after he started as a young man passing bad checks and impersonating people around the country. Later, Abagnale went on to work for the FBI.
You can see what the real person looked like, as well as test yourself on whether you can spot him, by watching this 1977 episode of To Tell the Truth. For those who do not remember the television show, the premise is that someone of note appears on the show with two imposters. A panel of celebrities ask the three people questions and then try to determine who is the real person.
The twist with Abagnale’s episode was that he was an imposter who was playing himself for once. Can you figure out which one is him?
How long did it take you to figure out which man was Frank William Abagnale Jr.? Leave your two cents in the comments.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)
On this date of December 2 in 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned emperor in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The 35-year-old Napoleon put the crown on his own head after receiving the crown from Pope Pius VII.
Napoleon I ruled a vast empire for a number of years before he began to encounter military defeats in 1812. Currently, one of his coded letters of an order against the Russians that year is up for auction. Anyway, after a major defeat in 1814, he returned from exile the following year but his army fell to the Duke of Wellington at Waterloo in June 1815. Napoleon lived out the rest of his life under house arrest on Saint Helena off the coast of Africa, where he died in 1821 at the age of 51, probably of stomach cancer.
Almost 200 years later in 2004, another Napoleon was king of the oddball comedies on screen, Napoleon Dynamite (2004). Although the film initially received mixed reviews and was given a limited release, it went on to become one of the iconic films with some of the most memorable quotes of the last decade. The Idaho legislature even passed a resolution praising the film. The odd story of the outcast teenager created a memorable character played by Jon Heder, who revived his portrayal of the character to deliver a humorous Top Ten list of “Signs You’re Not the Most Popular Guy in Your High School” on the Late Show with David Letterman.
Bonus Trivia: The name “Napoleon Dynamite” was first used as a pseudonym by Elvis Costello as early as 1982, but the movie’s co-writer and directer Jared Hess states that he came up with the name independently.
What is your favorite part of Napoleon Dynamite? Leave your two cents in the comments.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)
