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Schindler’s List

February 6, 2012 by · Comments Off on Schindler’s List 

Schindler’s List, Schindler’s List is a 1993 American film about Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand mostly Polish-Jewish refugees during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories. The film was directed by Steven Spielberg, and based on the novel Schindler’s Ark by Australian novelist Thomas Keneally.

It stars Liam Neeson as Schindler, Ralph Fiennes as Schutzstaffel (SS)-officer Amon G?th, and Ben Kingsley as Schindler’s Jewish accountant Itzhak Stern.

The film was a box office success and recipient of seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Score, as well as numerous other awards (7 BAFTAs, 3 Golden Globes). In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked the film 8th on its list of the 100 best American films of all time (up one position from its 9th place listing on the 1998 list).

Schindler’s List won seven Oscars at the 66th Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. It was the first black and white film since The Apartment to win the Oscar for Best Picture. Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes were nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor respectively, but did not win.

At the British Academy awards, the film won Best Film, the David Lean Award for Direction, Best Supporting Actor (Ralph Fiennes), Cinematography, Editing and Score. Schindler’s List won Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture (Drama), Best Director and Best Screenplay, with John Williams awarded the Grammy for the film’s musical score.

E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial

February 6, 2012 by · Comments Off on E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial 

E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (often referred to simply as E.T.) is a 1982 American science fiction film co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Melissa Mathison and starring Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore, and Peter Coyote.

It tells the story of Elliott (played by Thomas), a lonely boy who befriends an extraterrestrial, dubbed “E.T.”, who is stranded on Earth. Elliott and his siblings help the extraterrestrial return home while attempting to keep it hidden from their mother and the government.

The concept for E.T. was based on an imaginary friend Spielberg created after his parents’ divorce in 1960. In 1980, Spielberg met Mathison and developed a new story from the stalled science fiction/horror film project Night Skies. The film was shot from September to December 1981 in California on a budget of US$10.5 million. Unlike most motion pictures, the film was shot in roughly chronological order, to facilitate convincing emotional performances from the young cast.

Released by Universal Pictures, E.T. was a blockbuster, surpassing Star Wars to become the highest-grossing film of all time, a record it held for 11 years. Critics acclaimed it as a timeless story of friendship, and it ranks as the greatest science fiction film ever made in a Rotten Tomatoes survey. The film was rereleased in 1985, and then again in 2002 to celebrate the film’s 20th anniversary, with altered shots and additional scenes.

Schindler’s List Director

February 6, 2012 by · Comments Off on Schindler’s List Director 

Schindler’s List Director, Cast: Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes, Caroline Goodall, Embeth Davidtz, Jonathan Sagalle
Director: Steven Spielberg
Producers: Steven Spielberg, Gerald R. Molen, Branko Lustig
Screenplay: Steven Zaillian based on the novel by Thomas Keneally
Cinematography: Janusz Kaminski
Music: John Williams
U.S. Distributor: Universal Pictures

There have been numerous documentaries and dramatic productions focusing on the Holocaust, including a television mini-series which many consider to be the definitive work. As a result, in deciding to film Schindler’s List, director Steven Spielberg (Jurassic Park) set an imposing task for himself. His vision needed to differ from that of the film makers who preceded him, yet the finished product had to remain faithful to the unforgettable images which represent the legacy of six million massacred Jews. Those who see this motion picture will witness Spielberg’s success.

The film opens in September of 1939 in Krakow, Poland, with the Jewish community under increasing pressure from the Nazis. Into this tumult comes Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), a Nazi businessman interested in obtaining Jewish backing for a factory he wishes to build. He makes contact with Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley), an accountant, to arrange financial matters. For a while, there is no interest and nothing happens.

March 1941. The Krakow Jewish community has been forced to live in “the Ghetto”, where money no longer has any meaning. Several elders agree to invest in Schindler’s factory and the DEF (Deutsche Emailwarenfabrik) is born – a place where large quantities of pots are manufactured. To do the work, Schindler hires Jews (because they’re cheaper than Poles), and the German army becomes his biggest customer.

March 1943. Germany’s intentions towards the Jews are no longer a secret. The Ghetto is “liquidated”, with the survivors being herded into the Plaszow Forced Labor Camp. Many are executed, and still others are shipped away by train, never to return. During this time, Schindler has managed to ingratiate himself with the local commander, Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes), a Nazi who kills Jews for sport. Using his relationship with Goeth, Schindler begins to secretly campaign to help the Jews, saving men, women, and children from certain death.

Spielberg elected to film this motion picture in black-and-white, and it’s impossible to argue with his choice. Director of Photography Janusz Kaminski has made effective use of shadow and light, meticulously limiting the application of hue. The opening scene is in color, as is the closing sequence (which features the surviving “Schindler Jews”, each accompanied by the actor who played their character, placing a stone on their savior’s grave). There are also two instances when color is allowed to bleed into the blacks, whites, and grays. One little girl’s jacket appears red so that she stands out from the masses, and a pair of candles burn with orange flames. When color is used, it makes a point and an impression.

Schindler’s List gives us three major stories and a host of minor ones. First and foremost, it tells the tale of the Holocaust, presenting new images of old horrors. These are as ghastly and realistic as anything previously filmed, and Spielberg emphasizes the brutality of the situation by not pulling punches when it comes to gore. The blood, inky rather than crimson in stark black-and-white, fountains when men and women are shot in the head or through the neck.

The second story is that of Oskar Schindler, the Nazi businessman who saved 1200 Jews from death. Schindler starts out as a self-centered manufacturer, concerned only about making money. He hires Jews because they’re cheap, not because he likes them. But his perspective changes, and he risks losing everything to save as many lives as he can. His eventual lament that he couldn’t save more is heartbreaking.

The third story belongs to Amon Goeth, the Nazi commander of Krakow, a man who teeters on the brink of madness. Despite his intense hatred for Jews, he is inexplicably attracted to his Jewish housekeeper, Helen Hirsch (Embeth Davidtz). Disgusted by his feelings, he lashes out at her with a display of violence that is almost Scorsese-like in its blunt presentation. As written, Goeth could easily have become a conscienceless monster, but Spielberg works carefully to show unexpected depth and complexity to his character.

Often, the experiences of the minor characters provide the most lasting images. Helen’s story is memorable, as is the plight of young Danka Dresner and her mother as they strive to avoid death while staying together. There’s a Jewish couple that marries in the Plaszow camp, even though their chances of survival are dim, and a Rabbi who survives a close encounter with a Nazi gun.

Cincinnati Arkansas

December 31, 2010 by · Comments Off on Cincinnati Arkansas 

Cincinnati Arkansas, (AP) – A tornado fueled by unusually warm winter air sliced through portions of northwest Arkansas early in the New Year, killing three people and wounding several others and cutting electricity to Thousands of homes and businesses.

The dead were killed in Cincinnati, a hamlet of about 100 about three miles from the Oklahoma border. Washington County sheriff’s dispatcher Josh Howerton, the storm touched down near the center of the community. He said that “many wounds” were reported, and officials in nearby Benton County, the storm injured two people and damaged five houses there.

Several flights to and from Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport in Highfill, Benton County, have been delayed or canceled Friday morning as officials worked to debris from the storm track clear.

The region was bracing for severe weather for much of the week. Moisture southerly winds pushed the Gulf District of temperatures in the upper 60’s and 70 on Thursday – before a cold front should drop temperatures into the teens by Saturday morning.

“Whenever you have a significant change in the air mass it will be unstable weather mark the two different air masses,” said Joe Sellers, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Tulsa, Oklahoma

Rick Johnson, the deputy director of emergency for Washington County, said that the same storm system caused damage in nearby Tontitown, but emergency workers had trouble reaching affected areas because power lines fallen.

The weather bureau issued a Tulsa tornado warning for Cincinnati and cities in the region to six hours, nine minutes before the storm hit.

Later Friday morning in south-central Missouri, hail baseball business was reported north of Mansfield in Wright County.

“The storm has shown significant signs that it might develop,” said Chris Buonanno, a meteorologist from the National Weather Service in North Little Rock, who was monitoring the storm as it moves deeper into Arkansas. “Conditions are favorable for seeing a severe epidemic.

“In winter, you do not always instability” that would develop tornadoes, Buonanno said. “This time we have instability.”

Associated Press Writer Kelly P. Kissel contributed to this report from Little Rock.

Copyright © 2010 the Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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