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At First Sight (1999 Film)
''At First Sight'' is a 1999 American romantic drama film directed by Irwin Winkler and starring Val Kilmer and Mira Sorvino. It is based on the essay "To See and Not See"14,000 words = short work, so the title should be in quotes, not italicized. --> in neurologist Oliver Sacks's 1995 book ''An Anthropologist on Mars'' and inspired by the true life story of Shirl Jennings. The film was written by Steve Levitt. Plot Amy Benic (Mira Sorvino) takes a vacation at a spa outside New York City. Virgil Adamson (Val Kilmer) is a masseur at the spa and gives Amy a massage. Amy inexplicably cries and Virgil comforts her. While complimenting Virgil on the massage, Amy realizes that Virgil is blind. Virgil asks her out, and the two eventually begin a relationship. Virgil lives alone, though his over-protective sister Jennie ( Kelly McGillis) lives next door and takes care of him. Virgil reveals that he went blind when he was three and that the last thing he saw was something fluffy. While ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Irwin Winkler
Irwin Winkler (born May 25, 1931) is an American film producer and director. He is the producer or director of over 58 motion pictures, dating back to 1967's '' Double Trouble'', starring Elvis Presley. The fourth film he produced, '' They Shoot Horses, Don't They?'' (1969), starring Jane Fonda, was nominated for nine Academy Awards. He won an Oscar for Best Picture for 1976's ''Rocky''. As a producer, he has been nominated for Best Picture for four films: ''Rocky'' (1976)'', Raging Bull'' (1980), '' The Right Stuff'' (1983), and '' Goodfellas'' (1990). Early life and education Winkler was born on May 25, 1931 to a Jewish family in New York City, to Sol and Anna Winkler. Growing up in Coney Island, one of his first jobs was on a bumper ride on the boardwalk. Winkler graduated early from high school and got into New York University, but felt out of place among the older and more mature students, many of whom were former World War II soldiers that had entered university under the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shirl Jennings
Shirley "Shirl" Jennings (1940 – October 26, 2003) was one of only a few people in the world to regain his sight after lifelong blindness and was the inspiration for the character of Virgil Adamson in the movie '' At First Sight'' (1999) starring Val Kilmer and Mira Sorvino. Early life Born in Bedford County, Virginia, in 1940, at age 3, Jennings became dangerously ill with three illnesses at once: meningitis, polio, and cat scratch fever. "His sickness plunged him into a coma, from which he emerged after two weeks with paralyzed legs and damaged eyesight. When he was 7 or 8, Jennings was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a progressive, untreatable disease of the retina that causes blindness. By the time he was 10, he could distinguish only light from dark. He attended the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind and later the YMCA School of Swedish Massage." Treatment and return of sight In 1991, at the urging of his then-girlfriend, Barbara, Jennings visited ophthalmologi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang. Although the name "Rotten Tomatoes" connects to the practice of audiences throwing rotten tomatoes in disapproval of a poor Theatre, stage performance, the direct inspiration for the name from Duong, Lee, and Wang came from an equivalent scene in the 1992 Canadian film ''Léolo''. Since January 2010, Rotten Tomatoes has been owned by Flixster, which was in turn acquired by Warner Bros. in 2011. In February 2016, Rotten Tomatoes and its parent site Flixster were sold to Comcast's Fandango Media, Fandango ticketing company. Warner Bros. retained a minority stake in the merged entities, including Fandango. The site is influential among moviegoers, a third of whom say they consult it before going to the cinema in the U.S. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Review Aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where users can view the reviews, sells information to third parties about consumer tendencies, and creates databases for companies to learn about their actual and potential customers. The system enables users to easily compare many different reviews of the same work. Many of these systems calculate an approximate average assessment, usually based on assigning a numeric value to each review related to its degree of positive rating of the work. Review aggregation sites have begun to have economic effects on the companies that create or manufacture items under review, especially in certain categories such as electronic games, which are expensive to purchase. Some companies have tied royalty payment rates and employee bonuses to aggregate scores, and s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Nathanson (film Executive)
Michael Nathanson (born 1955/1956) is an American film industry executive who was head of MGM Pictures. Early life and education Nathanson was raised in New York City, the son of Edith (née Landesman) and Ted Nathanson. His father was a director at NBC including the original ''Tonight Show'' and the ''Today Show'' and later the coordinating producer for numerous national sporting events for NBC Sports. His mother was a producer at ABC who worked on ''The Perry Como Show''. His paternal grandfather, Benedict Gimbel Jr., founded one of the first radio stations in Philadelphia (his father was born Benedict Gimbel III but changed his surname to that of his mother). His great-great-grandfather was Adam Gimbel, the founder of Gimbel Brothers department store. He has two sisters who are also in the industry, Laura Nathanson Knobloch, a vice president at Fox Television, and Carla Nathanson Hoffman, who worked on the '' David Letterman Show''. Career Nathanson began his career at NBC ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was founded on April 17, 1924, and has been owned by the Amazon MGM Studios subsidiary of Amazon (company), Amazon since 2022. MGM was formed by Marcus Loew by combining Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures and Louis B. Mayer Pictures into one company. It hired a number of well-known actors as contract players—its slogan was "more stars than there are in heaven"—and soon became Hollywood's most prestigious filmmaking company, producing popular musical films and winning many Academy Awards. MGM also owned film studios, movie lots, movie theaters and technical production facilities. Its most prosperous era, from 1926 to 1959, was bracketed by two productions of ''Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Turnaround (filmmaking)
Turnaround in filmmaking is the use of outside assistance to resolve problems preventing a film project from completing its development phase and entering the pre-production phase. A project stuck in development phase is said to be in development hell. Background The outside help needed to get a film project into turnaround may appear in the form of new money being invested into a project in development hell, or it might come along as another outside studio taking interest in a project which the original studio may find difficult to move forward into the pre-production phase. When an outside source takes over a film project from development hell in one studio and transfers the film project to another studio which is willing to invest further resources to move the project into pre-production, then the project is said to have gone through a 'turnaround'. The film project can now move forward out of development hell in one studio into the pre-production phase of filmmaking at anoth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sony Pictures
Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, acquires, and distributes filmed entertainment (theatrical motion pictures, television programs, and recorded videos) through multiple platforms. Through an intermediate holding company called Sony Film Holding Inc., it is operated as a subsidiary of Sony Entertainment Inc., which is itself a subsidiary of the Japanese holding conglomerate Sony Group Corporation.Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. is a wholly owned fifth-tier subsidiary of Sony Corporation. It is directly owned by Sony Film Holding Inc., a subsidiary of Sony Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation.FY2015 Securities Report(in Japanese), Sony Corporation) Based at the Sony Pictures Studios lot in Culver City, California, as one of the "Big Five" major American film studios, it encompasses Sony's motion picture, television production and distribution units. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Variety (magazine)
''Variety'' is an American trade magazine owned by Penske Media Corporation. It was founded by Sime Silverman in New York City in 1905 as a weekly newspaper reporting on theater and vaudeville. In 1933, ''Daily Variety'' was launched, based in Los Angeles, to cover the film industry, motion-picture industry. ''Variety'' website features entertainment news, reviews, box office results, plus a credits database, production charts and film calendar. History Founding ''Variety'' has been published since December 16, 1905, when it was launched by Sime Silverman as a weekly periodical covering theater and vaudeville, with its headquarters in New York City. Silverman had been fired by ''The Morning Telegraph'' in 1905 for panning an act which had taken out an advert for $50. He subsequently decided to start his own publication that, he said, would "not be influenced by advertising." With a loan of $1,500 from his father-in-law, he launched ''Variety'' as publisher and editor. In additi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laura Kirk
Laura Ellen Kirk (born 1966 in Lecompton, Kansas) is an American actress and university professor. She is most known for her role in '' Lisa Picard Is Famous'' (2000). Career A graduate of the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, Kirk made her film debut in '' At First Sight'', opposite Val Kilmer and Mira Sorvino. In 2000, Kirk co-wrote and starred in the comedy film '' Lisa Picard Is Famous''. The film had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. The film was released in a limited release on August 22, 2001. She played Shelia Denning in the 2004 made-for-TV movie, '' A Boyfriend for Christmas'', as well as a guest on the television series ''House'' and ''Third Watch''. Kirk earned the award for Best Actress at the Newport Beach Film Festival and a nomination for Best Actress at the Milano International Film Festival for her portrayal of Kelly Conrad in the 2014 drama ''The Sublime and Beautiful''. She appeared in the 2016 road film '' American Honey'' as an af ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drena De Niro
Drena De Niro is an American actress and filmmaker. Life and career De Niro is the daughter of actress Diahnne Abbott, and the adopted daughter of actor Robert De Niro, whose last name she took upon her mother's marriage to him in 1976. De Niro had a bohemian upbringing and divided her time living in New York City, Los Angeles, and Italy. The transient lifestyle is said to have been a factor in her choice to work in the arts. After high school she began her career in the entertainment industry working as a model.Living the De Niro Dream , avenuemagazine.com, 2011 Having interests in fashion and music she became a DJ and fashion consultant. It led to working as a musical supervisor for |
New York Rangers
The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in New York City. The Rangers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games at Madison Square Garden, an arena they share with the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). They are one of three NHL franchises located in the New York metropolitan area; the others being the New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders. Founded in 1926 by Tex Rickard, the Rangers are one of the Original Six teams that competed in the NHL before its 1967 NHL expansion, 1967 expansion, along with the Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs. The team attained success early on under the guidance of Lester Patrick, who coached a team containing Frank Boucher, Murray Murdoch, and Bun Cook, Bun and Bill Cook to win the Stanley Cup in only their second s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
