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Paul (2011 Film)
''Paul'' is a 2011 science fiction comedy road film directed by Greg Mottola from a screenplay by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. Starring Pegg and Frost, with the voice and motion capture of Seth Rogen as the title character, the film follows two science fiction geeks who come across an alien. Together, they help the alien escape from the Secret Service agents who are pursuing him so that he can return to his home planet. The film is a parody of other science-fiction films, especially those of Steven Spielberg, as well as of science fiction fandom in general. ''Paul'' is a British-French-American venture produced by Working Title Films, StudioCanal, Big Talk Pictures and Relativity Media and distributed by Universal Pictures. It was released on 14 February 2011 in the United Kingdom and on 18 March 2011 in the United States to generally positive reviews from critics and grossed $98 million worldwide on a $40 million budget. Plot Best friends Graeme Willy and Clive Gollings are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greg Mottola
Gregory J. Mottola (born July 11, 1964) is an American film director, screenwriter and television director. Early life and education Mottola grew up in Dix Hills, New York, in a Catholic family of Italian and Irish descent. He received his BFA in art from Carnegie Mellon University and MFA in film from Columbia University. Career He wrote and directed the 1996 independent film '' The Daytrippers'', then concentrated for several years on directing in television for series such as '' Undeclared'' and ''Arrested Development''. More recently, he has directed the feature films '' Superbad'', '' Adventureland'' and ''Paul''. '' Adventureland'' (2009) is a "first love" story about a group of college-age kids working at an amusement park in the 1980s. The film starred Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig. It premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and received critical praise. He directed ''Paul'', a science fiction/comedy film about two comic boo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Working Title Films
Working Title Films Limited, formerly Visionensure Limited and Working Title Limited, is a British film and television production company that is a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, which is itself a division of Comcast. The company was founded by Tim Bevan and Sarah Radclyffe in 1983. Bevan and Eric Fellner are now the co-chairmen of the company. Company history Bevan and Radclyffe were partners in pop music promotional company, Aldabra, and set up Working Title Films in London in 1983 where they were commissioned by newly created UK broadcaster, Channel 4, to make a television film, '' My Beautiful Laundrette'' (1985), directed by Stephen Frears. ''My Beautiful Launderette'' was a success at the Edinburgh Film Festival and received a theatrical release, where it was successful internationally. Accountant Graham Bradstreet joined as a third partner in 1986. '' A World Apart'' was entered in competition at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival and won the Special Grand Prize of the Ju ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comic Book
A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and written narrative, usually dialogue contained in word balloons emblematic of the comics art form. ''Comic Cuts'' was a British comic published from 1890 to 1953. It was preceded by ''Ally Sloper's Half Holiday'' (1884), which is notable for its use of sequential Cartoon, cartoons to unfold narrative. These British comics existed alongside the popular lurid "penny dreadfuls" (such as ''Spring-heeled Jack''), boys' "story papers" and the humorous ''Punch (magazine), Punch'' magazine, which was the first to use the term "cartoon" in its modern sense of a humorous drawing. The first modern American comic book, American-style comic book, ''Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics'', was released in the US in 1933 and was a reprinting of earlier newsp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Science Fiction Fandom
Science fiction fandom or SF fandom is a community or fandom of people interested in science fiction in contact with one another based upon that interest. SF fandom has a life of its own, but not much in the way of formal organization (although formal clubs such as the Futurians (1937–1945) and the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society (1934–present) are recognized examples of organized fandom). Most often called simply "fandom" within the community, it can be viewed as a distinct subculture, with its own literature and jargon; marriages and other relationships among fans are common, as are multi-generational fan families. Origins and history Science fiction fandom started through the letter column of Hugo Gernsback's fiction magazines. Not only did fan (aficionado), fans write comments about the stories—they sent their addresses, and Gernsback published them. Soon, fans were writing letters directly to each other, and meeting in person when they lived close together, or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is the highest-grossing film director of all time. Several of Spielberg's works are considered among the greatest films in history, and some are among the highest-grossing films ever. Spielberg was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. He moved to California and studied film in college. After directing several episodes for television, including '' Night Gallery'' and '' Columbo'', he directed the television film ''Duel'' (1971), which was approved by Barry Diller. He made his theatrical debut with '' The Sugarland Express'' (1974) and became a household name with the summer blockbuster ''Jaws'' (1975). He directed more escapist box office successes with '' Close Encounters of the Third Kind'' (1977), '' E.T. the Ext ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parody
A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, etc), but a parody can also be about a real-life person (e.g. a politician), event, or movement (e.g. the French Revolution or Counterculture of the 1960s, 1960s counterculture). Literary scholar Professor Simon Dentith defines parody as "any cultural practice which provides a relatively polemical allusive imitation of another cultural production or practice". The literary theorist Linda Hutcheon said "parody ... is imitation, not always at the expense of the parodied text." Parody may be found in art or culture, including literature, parody music, music, Theatre, theater, television and film, animation, and Video game, gaming. The writer and critic John Gross observes in his ''Oxford Book of Parodies'', that parody seems to flourish on te ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Extraterrestrial Life
Extraterrestrial life, or alien life (colloquially, aliens), is life that originates from another world rather than on Earth. No extraterrestrial life has yet been scientifically conclusively detected. Such life might range from simple forms such as prokaryotes to Extraterrestrial intelligence, intelligent beings, possibly bringing forth civilizations that might be Kardashev scale, far more, or far less, advanced than humans. The Drake equation speculates about the existence of sapient life elsewhere in the universe. The science of extraterrestrial life is known as astrobiology. Speculation about the possibility of inhabited worlds beyond Earth dates back to antiquity. Early Christianity, Christian writers discussed the idea of a "plurality of worlds" as proposed by earlier thinkers such as Democritus; Augustine of Hippo, Augustine references Epicurus's idea of innumerable worlds "throughout the boundless immensity of space" in ''The City of God''. Pre-modern writers typicall ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Motion Capture
Motion capture (sometimes referred as mocap or mo-cap, for short) is the process of recording high-resolution motion (physics), movement of objects or people into a computer system. It is used in Military science, military, entertainment, sports, medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robots. In films, television shows and video games, motion capture refers to recording actions of Motion-capture acting, human actors and using that information to animate Character animation, digital character models in 2D or 3D computer animation. When it includes face and fingers or captures subtle expressions, it is often referred to as performance capture. In many fields, motion capture is sometimes called motion tracking, but in filmmaking and games, motion tracking usually refers more to match moving. In motion capture sessions, movements of one or more actors are sampled many times per second. Whereas early techniques used 3D reconstruction from multiple images, ima ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Road Film
A road movie is a genre of film in which the main characters leave home on a road trip, typically altering the perspective from their everyday lives. Road movies often depict travel in the hinterlands, with the films exploring the theme of alienation and examining the tensions and issues of the cultural identity of a nation or historical period; this is all often enmeshed in a mood of actual or potential menace, lawlessness, and violence, a "distinctly existential air"Cohan, Steven and Hark, Ina Rae. "Introduction". ''The Road Movie Book''. Eds. Cohan, Steven and Hark, Ina Rae. Routledge, 2002. p. 1 and 6 and is populated by restless, "frustrated, often desperate characters".Laderman, David. ''Driving Visions: Exploring the Road Movie''. University of Texas Press, 2010. Ch. 1 The setting includes not just the close confines of the car as it moves on highways and roads, but also booths in diners and rooms in roadside motels, all of which helps to create intimacy and tension betwee ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Science Fiction Comedy
Science fiction comedy (sci-fi comedy) or comic science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction or science fantasy that exploits the science fiction genre's conventions for comedic effect. The genre often mocks or satirizes standard science fiction conventions, concepts and tropes – such as alien invasion of Earth, interstellar travel, or futuristic technology. It can also satirize and criticize present-day society. An early example was the '' Pete Manx'' series by Henry Kuttner and Arthur K. Barnes (sometimes writing together and sometimes separately, under the house pen-name of Kelvin Kent). Published in '' Thrilling Wonder Stories'' in the late 1930s and early 1940s, the series featured a time-traveling carnival barker who uses his con-man abilities to get out of trouble. Two later series cemented Kuttner's reputation as one of the most popular early writers of comic science fiction: the ''Gallegher'' series (about a drunken inventor and his narcissistic robot) and th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Box Office Mojo
Box Office Mojo is an American website that tracks box-office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way. The site was founded in 1998 by Brandon Gray, and was bought in 2008 by IMDb, which itself is owned by Amazon. History Brandon Gray began the site on August 7, 1998, making forecasts of the top-10 highest-grossing films in the United States for the following weekend. To compare his forecasts to the actual results, he started posting the weekend grosses and wrote a regular column with box-office analysis. In 1999, he started to post the Friday daily box-office grosses, sourced from Exhibitor Relations, so that they were publicly available online on Saturdays and posted the Sunday weekend estimates on Sundays. Along with the weekend grosses, he was publishing the daily grosses, release schedules and other charts, such as all-time charts, international box office charts, genre charts, and actor and director charts. The site gradually expanded to include weekend charts goin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of newspapers in the United States, sixth-largest newspaper in the U.S. and the largest in the Western United States with a print circulation of 118,760. It has 500,000 online subscribers, the fifth-largest among U.S. newspapers. Owned by Patrick Soon-Shiong and published by California Times, the paper has won over 40 Pulitzer Prizes since its founding. In the 19th century, the paper developed a reputation for civic boosterism and opposition to Trade union, labor unions, the latter of which led to the Los Angeles Times bombing, bombing of its headquarters in 1910. The paper's profile grew substantially in the 1960s under publisher Otis Chandler, who adopted a more national focus. As with other regional newspapers in California and the United Sta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
