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The Box (2009 Film)
''The Box'' is a 2009 American science fiction film, science fiction thriller film written and directed by Richard Kelly (filmmaker), Richard Kelly, who also serves as a co-producer. It is based on the 1970 short story "Button, Button (Matheson short story), Button, Button" by Richard Matheson, which was previously adapted into an Button, Button (The Twilight Zone), episode of ''The Twilight Zone (1985 TV series), The Twilight Zone''. The film stars Cameron Diaz and James Marsden as a couple who receive a box from a mysterious man (played by Frank Langella) who offers them one million dollars if they press the button sealed within the dome on top of the box but tells them that once the button has been pushed, someone they do not know will die. ''The Box'' was released on November 6, 2009, by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $33.3 million worldwide against a budget of $30 million. Plot The film opens with a Central Intelligence Agenc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Kelly (filmmaker)
James Richard Kelly is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He wrote and directed the films ''Donnie Darko'' (2001), ''Southland Tales'' (2006), and ''The Box (2009 film), The Box'' (2009). Early life Kelly grew up in Midlothian, Virginia, where he attended Midlothian High School (Virginia), Midlothian High School and graduated in 1993. When he was a child, his father worked for NASA on the Viking program, Mars Viking Lander program. He won a scholarship to the University of Southern California to study at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, USC School of Cinema-Television where he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. He made two short films at USC, ''The Goodbye Place'' and ''Visceral Matter'', before graduating in 1997. Kelly spoke of viewing the film Brazil (1985 film), ''Brazil'' with author Robert K. Elder in an interview for ''The Film That Changed My Life'': I think the greatest thing I learned from Terry Gilliam, Terry is that every frame is wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Weinstein Company
The Weinstein Company, LLC (usually credited or abbreviated as TWC) was an American independent film production and distribution company, which was founded in New York City by Bob and Harvey Weinstein on March 10, 2005. TWC was one of the largest mini-major film studios in North America as well as in the United States. However, the firing of Harvey Weinstein following allegations of sexual harassment and rape against him, as well as financial troubles that followed, led to the company's decline. The studio eventually declared bankruptcy in February 2018, with independent studio Lantern Entertainment acquiring a majority of its film library and assets. Co-founder and chief executive Bob Weinstein previously owned a small stake in the company. The company dismissed joint founder and chief executive Harvey Weinstein in October 2017, after more than 100 women accused him of sexual harassment, abuse, assault, and rape. On February 26, 2018, the Weinstein Company announced in a st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Celia Weston
Celia Weston (born Celia Watson; December 14, 1951) is an American character actress. Weston received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for her performance in '' Dead Man Walking'' (1995), and also had supporting roles in more than 40 movies, including '' The Talented Mr. Ripley'' (1999), '' In the Bedroom'' (2001), ''Hulk'' (2003), and '' The Village'' (2004). On television, she is best known for her role as Jolene Hunnicutt in the CBS sitcom ''Alice'' (1981–85). Early years Weston was born in Spartanburg, South Carolina on December 14, 1951. She was born Celia Watson, but changed her professional name to Weston because a British actress was already using Celia Watson professionally. She attended high school at the Spartanburg Day School, graduating in 1966. She is a graduate of Salem College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Career Weston began her career on stage, making her Broadway debut in 1979. After a re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gillian Jacobs
Gillian MacLaren Jacobs (; born October 19, 1982) is an American actress. She is known for playing Britta Perry in the NBC sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015), Mickey Dobbs in the Netflix romantic comedy series '' Love'' (2016–2018), and Mary Jayne Gold in the Netflix miniseries '' Transatlantic'' (2023). Her other notable television roles include Mimi-Rose Howard in the fourth season of the HBO comedy-drama series '' Girls'' (2015), Atom Eve in the animated superhero series '' Invincible'' (2021–present), and Tiffany Jerimovich in the FX on Hulu comedy-drama series '' The Bear'' (2023–present). She has also appeared in films such as '' Gardens of the Night'' (2008), '' Don't Think Twice'' (2016), '' Ibiza'' (2018), '' I Used to Go Here'' (2020), and the '' Fear Street'' trilogy (2021). Early life and education Gillian MacLaren Jacobs was born in Pittsburgh on October 19, 1982, the only child of college administrator Martina Magenau and husband, investment banker Wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Santa Claus
Santa Claus (also known as Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle or Santa) is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts during the late evening and overnight hours on Christmas Eve. Christmas elves are said to make the gifts in Santa's workshop, while flying reindeer pull his sleigh through the air. The popular conception of Santa Claus originates from folklore traditions surrounding the 4th-century Christian bishop Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of children. Saint Nicholas became renowned for his reported generosity and secret gift-giving. The image of Santa Claus shares similarities with the English figure of Father Christmas, and they are both now popularly regarded as the same person. Santa is generally depicted as a portly, jolly, white- bearded man, often with spectacles, wearing a red coat with white fur collar and cuffs, white-fur-cuffed red trousers, a red hat trimmed with white fur, a b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Security Agency
The National Security Agency (NSA) is an intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the director of national intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collection, and processing of information and data for global intelligence and counterintelligence purposes, specializing in a discipline known as signals intelligence (SIGINT). The NSA is also tasked with the protection of U.S. communications networks and information systems. The NSA relies on a variety of measures to accomplish its mission, the majority of which are clandestine. The NSA has roughly 32,000 employees. Originating as a unit to decipher coded communications in World War II, it was officially formed as the NSA by President Harry S. Truman in 1952. Between then and the end of the Cold War, it became the largest of the U.S. intelligence organizations in terms of personnel and budget. Still, information available as of 2013 indicates that the C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States's civil list of government space agencies, space program, aeronautics research and outer space, space research. National Aeronautics and Space Act, Established in 1958, it succeeded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) to give the American space development effort a distinct civilian orientation, emphasizing peaceful applications in space science. It has since led most of America's space exploration programs, including Project Mercury, Project Gemini, the 1968–1972 Apollo program missions, the Skylab space station, and the Space Shuttle. Currently, NASA supports the International Space Station (ISS) along with the Commercial Crew Program and oversees the development of the Orion (spacecraft), Orion spacecraft and the Sp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and conducting covert operations. The agency is headquartered in the George Bush Center for Intelligence in Langley, Virginia, and is sometimes metonymously called "Langley". A major member of the United States Intelligence Community (IC), the CIA has reported to the director of national intelligence since 2004, and is focused on providing intelligence for the president and the Cabinet. The CIA is headed by a director and is divided into various directorates, including a Directorate of Analysis and Directorate of Operations. Unlike the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the CIA has no law enforcement function and focuses on intelligence gathering overseas, with only limited domestic intelligence collection. The CIA is responsibl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Twilight Zone (1985 TV Series)
''The Twilight Zone'' is an American anthology series, anthology television series which aired from September 27, 1985, to April 15, 1989. It is the first of three Revival (television), revivals of Rod Serling's acclaimed The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series), 1959–64 television series, and like the original it featured a variety of speculative fiction, commonly containing characters from a seemingly normal world stumbling into paranormal circumstances. Unlike the original, however, most episodes contained multiple self-contained stories instead of just one. The voice-over narrations were still present, but were not a regular feature as they were in the original series; some episodes had only an opening narration, some had only a closing narration, and some had no narration at all. The multi-segment format liberated the series from the usual time constraints of episodic television, allowing stories ranging in length from 8-minutes to 40-minute mini-movies. The series ran for two se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Button, Button (The Twilight Zone)
"Button, Button" is the second segment of the 20th episode of the first season of the revival of the television series '' The Twilight Zone''. The segment is based on the 1970 short story of the same name by Richard Matheson; the same short story forms the basis of the 2009 film '' The Box''. It poses the question of whether an ordinary person would be willing to cause a total stranger to die in exchange for $200,000 ($1 million in ''The Box'') by simply pushing a button. In a documentary on the making of the movie ''The Box'', Matheson states the inspiration for the story came from his wife, whose college professor had asked a similar question as a way of promoting a class discussion. Matheson, who was one of the most prolific contributors to the original '' The Twilight Zone'', wrote the teleplay for the segment himself under a pseudonym, making "Button, Button" one of just two segments in the series written by one of the original ''Twilight Zone'' writers (the other being " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thriller Film
Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. Tension is created by delaying what the audience sees as inevitable, and is built through situations that are menacing or where escape seems impossible. The cover-up of important information from the viewer, and fight and chase scenes are common methods. Life is typically threatened in a thriller film, such as when the protagonist does not realize that they are entering a dangerous situation. Thriller films' characters conflict with each other or with an outside force, which can sometimes be abstract. The protagonist is usually set against a problem, such as an escape, a goal, mission, or a mystery. Screenwriter and scholar Eric R. Williams identifies thriller films as one of eleven super-genres in his Screenwriters Taxonomy, screenwriter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Science Fiction Film
Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses Speculative fiction, speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as Extraterrestrial life in fiction, extraterrestrial lifeforms, List of fictional spacecraft, spacecraft, robots, cyborgs, Mutants in fiction, mutants, interstellar travel, time travel, or other technologies. Science fiction films have often been used to focus on politics, political or social issues, and to explore philosophical issues like the human condition. The genre has existed since the early years of silent cinema, when Georges Méliès' ''A Trip to the Moon'' (1902) employed Special effect, trick photography effects. The next major example (first in feature-length in the genre) was the film ''Metropolis (1927 film), Metropolis'' (1927). From the 1930s to the 1950s, the genre consisted mainly of low-budget B movies. After Stanley Kubrick's landmark ''2001: A Space Odyssey (film), 20 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
