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Posts Tagged ‘film’

Happy Birthday Elizabeth Hurley!

Posted by Katie on June 10, 2010 in General

Today I want to wish a very happy 45th birthday to English model and actress Elizabeth Hurley. Hurley’s first film appearance was in 1987’s Aria and has appeared in numerous films ranging from Passenger 57 and Bedazzled to Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.

Her film credits include cameo appearances in numerous shows as well as hosting the first season of Project: Catwalk, a British version of the popular American show Project Runway.

Hurley began modeling in 1995 for Estée Lauder and has worked on numerous product lines ranging from clothing to cosmetics ever since. Currently, Hurley owns a swimsuit line.

Perhaps best known as Hugh Grant’s former girlfriend, Hurley has been married to her current husband, Arun Nayar, for three years.

Happy birthday Elizabeth, here’s to many more birthdays!

Celebrating 72 Years of Animated Feature Films!

Posted by Katie on December 21, 2009 in General

Snow-White-and-the-Seven-Dwarfs72 years ago today, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles, making it the first full length animated film produced in America!

Despite being over 70 years old, the film has remained a favorite of fans and critics alike!

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was one of only two animated films to make it into the American Film Institute’s list of top 100 American films of all time in 2007 — and in 2008, AFI named it the greatest animated film of all time!

Other AFI animated favorites? Check out their top 10:

  1. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
  2. Pinocchio (1940)
  3. Bambi (1942)
  4. The Lion King (1994)
  5. Fantasia (1940)
  6. Toy Story (1995)
  7. Beauty and the Beast (1991)
  8. Shrek (2001)
  9. Cinderella (1950)
  10. Finding Nemo (2009)

To learn more, check out filmsite.org!

Happy Birthday Walt Disney – Check out this video!

Posted by Katie on December 05, 2009 in General

walt-disneyOne of history’s most famous entertainers, Mr. Walt Disney, turns 108 today!

When I think of Disney, I think of Mickey Mouse, Snow White, and his amazing theme parks, but Walt Disney was one of the most acclaimed producers in history — receiving 58 Academy Award nominations and winning 26 Oscars (including 4 in 1 year) and 7 Emmy Awards!

In honor of Disney’s 108th birthday, a photographer named David Roark created “A Model Day at Epcot” by shooting scenes from the rides in Future World and the international pavilions. The new tilt-shift video was released yesterday on the official Disney Parks blog and I think its great!

Now if only I were celebrating Disney’s birthday at Epcot!

Check out the video below!

Happy Birthday Owen Wilson

Posted by Josh on November 18, 2009 in General

owen_wilsonToday, actor Owen Wilson hits the big 4-0. He’s quite accomplished, having been in everything from Zoolander to Meet the Parents, and dating the likes of Demi Moore and Kate Hudson. IMDB has more:

Self-proclaimed troublemaker Owen Wilson grew up in Texas with his mother, Laura, a photographer; his father, an ad exec; and his brothers, Andrew Wilson (the eldest) and Luke Wilson (the youngest). Expelled from St. Mark’s Academy in Dallas Texas in the tenth grade, Wilson finished his sophomore year at Thomas Jefferson School and then headed to a military academy in New Mexico. He then attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he met his future mentor and friend, Wes Anderson. They wrote a screenplay, Bottle Rocket (1996), and sent it to their family friend, screenwriter L.M. Kit Carson, who sent it to producer Polly Platt, who gave it to James L. Brooks, who gave the Texans $5 million dollars to make it into a feature film. Despite critical praise, Bottle Rocket (1996) only grossed one million dollars. After making the film, Wilson moved to Hollywood, setting up house with his two brothers and Anderson. Fairly quickly, Owen found himself acting in a series of big budget films [...] such as The Cable Guy (1996), The Haunting (1999), Anaconda (1997) and Breakfast of Champions (1999). This led to more work in [films] such as Shanghai Noon (2000), Meet the Parents (2000) and Behind Enemy Lines (2001). He’s known not only for his nose, which has been broken several times, but also for his ‘free wheeling ways’ with a script. He co-wrote the film The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) with his oft partner Wes Anderson.

Happy birthday Owen. Here’s to many more!

The Hollywood Take on Planning a Birthday Party

Posted by Josh on October 25, 2009 in General

JTM-03644446285Following right on the heels of actress Salma Hayek’s party planning crisis, Hollywood has a silver-screen take on the same situation. In the movie Motherhood, which opens this weekend, Uma Thurman plays an insanely-busy mom who juggles kids, her marriage, dog, and a blog. The movie builds up to, what else, a birthday party Thurman’s character is throwing for her 6-year-old daughter.

iVillage interviewed Thurman, a mother of two, and asked her how her real-life self compares to the party-planning mom she plays on screen.

I get caught up in the birthday party situation. I had a pirate party for my son and I designed this cake myself. I drew it on a napkin: There’s a beach and the boat in the water and I had to get it right. And the baker used brown sugar instead of cookie crumbs to make the sand. So I produced this incredible birthday party under this pressure that my life depended on it, that my entire definition as a person depended on it that day. Cut the cake up, pass it around, and one boy turns to my son and says, “Brown sugar, that’s disgusting!” And my son, who I’d hyped up with so much effort, just fell apart crying. What the hell are you going to do about it? I try too hard. In the end, there’s all the hysteria, the desperate effort, that create an overdoing, so that makes someone else resentful, so that they to turn to a 6-year-old and say, “Your cake sucks.” Of course, I overdid it a bit. As my mother said, my name should be “Overdo It Uma.” I never feel like I’ve done enough.

Happy Birthday Kate Winslet

Posted by Josh on October 05, 2009 in General

kate-winsletBesides recently winning the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in The Reader, Kate Winslet has had an impressive career — and it seems like she’s only getting started. At age 22, she was the youngest actress to receive two Oscar nominations — wow! Today we wish Kate a happy and healthy 34th birthday.

Winslet leapt into the spotlight when she joined up with Leonardo DiCaprio to star in the 1998 blockbuster Titanic. New York Magazine recently took an in-depth look at Winslet’s already-accomplished career:

In Revolutionary Road, her emotions are too big for her face; she’s such an elastic actress, so in tune with her characters’ feelings, that her features seem to expand or contract in every scene. Her movements are wary, overly tight, like a woman no longer at home in her body; and when she releases that tension and moves in on DiCaprio, it’s as if she’s finally able to breathe. There is a cost to that freedom: April demolishes the marriage to survive, yet she might not be equipped to survive its demolition. There isn’t a banal moment in Winslet’s performance—not a gesture, not a word. Is Winslet now the best English-speaking film actress of her generation? I think so.

So here’s to Kate Winslett. Happy birthday, and here’s to more oscars!

Happy Birthday Wallace and Gromit

Posted by Josh on September 30, 2009 in General

thumb-wallace-gromit-sidecarIt’s hard to believe that it’s really been 20 years since the claymation pair made their debut in the British short film A Grand Day Out, but what started off as a student production went on to entertain children (and adults) around the world. Paste Magazine has a great salute to the series, and here’s an excerpt:

Begun while director Nick Park was still in college, theWallace and Gromit series is likely the most successful franchise ever built out of a student film. That the film “A Grand Day Out” went on to an Academy Award nomination at the same time as another of Park’s works, the equally surreal “Creature Comforts,” is a testament to just how good Park was right out of the gate, appearing in even his earliest works as a fully-formed artist in a way that’s pretty rare for any medium, let alone one which requires the shear level of craft as animation. Since then, the Wallace and Gromitpictures have gone on to win three Academy Awards as well as pretty much every other award offered to animated films under the sun. Not bad, considering that the series has only had one feature film and, frankly, it’s not even the series’ strong point.

Happy birthday Wallace and Gromit. Keep enjoying the Wensleydale cheese and here’s to many more!

Theme Thursday: Wizard of Oz party

Posted by Josh on September 24, 2009 in Theme Thursday

normal_100_0368To keep the Wizard of Oz theme going (it only turns 70 once), we’re featuring Wizard of Oz party theme ideas. As usual, amazingmoms.com has some great suggestions:

WIZARD OF OZ PARTY DECORATIONS
It’s easy to be creative with a classic party theme like the Wizard of Oz.

Create the beautiful land of Oz, using plenty of rainbow colored balloons,
streamers, matching party supplies and a beautifully set table.
Place rainbow swirled lollipops at each place setting.
Cover your party table with a large sheet of yellow butcher paper.
With a marker, add lines to create yellow bricks. Scatter red and emerald green sequins or faux gems all around the table. Create a centerpiece using a basket with a stuffed “Toto” dog inside, or use a pair of ruby slippers you’ve created with red glitter.
We’ve received some wonderful decorating ideas from our readers …

  • Use a roll of yellow butcher or mural paper to make a yellow brick road
  • that leads from the street continuing through the party room.
  • Cover a piece of mural paper with orange tissue poppies
  • and mount it on the wall.
  • Fashion Dorothy’s house from a large appliance box. Then, add
  • witch’s legs with striped tights and place them under the house.
  • Enlist an artistic friend or teen to paint “Munchkin’s” on
  • poster board. Hide the munchkins in the yard and party room.
  • Hang a giant banner by the front door that says
  • “Welcome to the Land of Oz” — then by the doorbell
  • a sign that says…”Bell out of Order, Please Knock.”

For many more Oz-themed party ideas, you can click here. Have a great party, keep an eye on the anniversary celebrations tonight, and here’s to many more years of movie magic!

'The Wizard of Oz' turns 70 with fanfare

Posted by Josh on September 24, 2009 in General

ozx-largeIt’s been 70 years since Dorothy first set foot on a yellow brick road, a house landed on a wicked witch, and a grand adventure reminded us that there’s no place like home. That’s right, the 1939 film ‘The Wizard of Oz’ turns 70 today. And to say there’s going to be a big party is an understatement, here’s what’s in store:

  • Designers such as Christian Louboutin, Diane von Furstenberg, Manolo Blahnik and Betsey Johnson were asked to reimagine Dorothy’s slippers for the 21st century. Their creations will be auctioned off at www.rubyslipperauction.com
  • A 71/2-story hot-air balloon that began touring the country since taking off May 13 from Kansas City, Kan., stops Thursday at New York’s Tavern on the Green. The gala features Judy Garland’s daughter Lorna Luft, surviving Munchkins and Ashanti, who plays Dorothy in New York City Center’s production of The Wiz. All this and a yellow brick carpet, too.
  • Before the gala, Ashanti will light the Empire State Building — Emerald City-green, of course.

I know I’ll be off to a theater to see this classic on the big screen, it’s coming back with a one-shot theatrical run in nearly 400 cities! Here’s to many more years of Dorothy, Glinda, Toto… even the Wicked Witch.

Happy Birthday Bill Murray

Posted by Josh on September 21, 2009 in General

bill-murrayWe all remember him fondly from Saturday Night Live (way back when), as the star of the sci-fi comedy “Ghostbusters”, and as a weatherman who just couldn’t seem to move forward in the comedy “Groundhog Day”. Yep, it’s Bill Murray’s big day, and the venerable comedian turns 59. But while he may be best known for his comedy, my favorite movie of his has got to be the 2003 film “Lost in Translation” (and I guess the critics agreed… he was nominated for an Academy Award for that performance). Here’s what Yahoo movies has to say about Murray:

A droll, iconoclastic comedic actor who enjoyed existing outside of Hollywood while thriving in it, Bill Murray carved a unique career that moved successfully from slapstick comedy to subtly complex seriocomic roles that earned him several awards and untold critical praise.

You can read more about Murray’s career here. Happy Birthday Bill Murray, and here’s to many more years of taking the critics by storm.

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