A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

Dunkirk (2017) Written and directed by: Christopher Nolan Starring: Fionn Whitehead, Tom Glynn-Carney, Jack Lowden, Harry Styles, Aneurin Barnard, James D'Arcy, Barry Keoghan, Kenneth Branagh, Cillian Murphy, Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy Dunkirk is one of the great untold stories in modern cinema. Having made a trip on a small boat across the Channel about 25 years ago, the roughness of the water, the sheer physical challenge of making that crossing - but without anybody dropping bombs, without traveling into a war zone - cemented in my mind an extraordinarily high level of admiration for the people who in 1940 just got into those little boats and came over to help the soldiers. - Christopher Nolan , in a Time interview, explaining why he chose to make a movie about the Dunkirk evacuation.    Christopher Nolan's latest film, Dunkirk, is a World War II-set drama that looks a lot like an epic but feels like a thriller. It has many of the elements of a post- Saving Private...

Recently, I was lurking around in Quora (a site where people ask questions about any topic under the sun - from Abstinence to Zulus - and other people answer them). I was looking at my feed for something interesting to reply to when I saw this: Do Democrats realize that nobody hyperventilated over Obama like they are doing over Trump? I, of course, was aghast. The original poster  - who upon seeing the avalanche of replies to his literal whitewashing of the past , deleted the question - was claiming that conservatives and Republicans had never "hyperventilated" (i.e. attacked, lied about, insulted, or even criticized )   President Barack Obama during his two four-year terms in the White House, while poor President Trump was being unfairly attacked by liberals, the mainstream media, and illegal aliens.  This is what I wrote in response: Really, Original Poster? Are you kidding me? A slick bit of right-wing propaganda which falsely claimed that (a) Obama ...

"We've got to figure out a way to get into that detention block."   (C) 1977 20th Century Fox Film Corporation The Luke Skywalker Initiative Cast Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) See-Threepio (Anthony Daniels) Han Solo (Perry King) Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi (Bernard "Bunny" Behrens) Princess Leia Organa (Ann Sachs) Artoo-Detoo Chewbacca 1st Crewman 2nd Crewman 1st Trooper 2nd Trooper Officer 2nd Officer 3rd Officer Soldier Console Voice Narrator (Ken Hiller) Announcer: Opening credits. Music: Opening theme. Narrator: A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away there came a time of revolution, when Rebels united to challenge a tyrannical Empire. In the Rebellion's most desperate crisis, plans vital to the defeat of the Empire were hidden in the memory banks of the astrodroid Artoo-Detoo. Artoo and his companion droid, See-Threepio, have come into the hands of young farmer Luke Skywalker and the veteran Jedi Knight Ben Kenobi. Having ...

"That's no moon. It's a space station." (C) 1977 20th Century Fox Film Corporation Rogues, Rebels, and Robots Cast Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) See-Threepio (Anthony Daniels) Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi (Bernard Behrens) Han Solo (Perry King) Chewbacca  Artoo-Detoo  Announcer: OPENING CREDITS. Music: Opening theme. Narrator: A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away there came a time of revolution, when Rebels united to challenge a tyrannical Empire. In the Rebellion's most desperate crisis, plans for the Empire's mightiest weapon, the Death Star, were stolen by Rebel agents and placed in the memory banks of the astrodroid Artoo-Detoo. Artoo and his fellow droid, See-Threepio, are now under the protection of the young farmer Luke Skywalker and the veteran Jedi Knight Ben Kenobi. Their plan is to deliver the droids to Rebels on the planet Alderaan.  Sound: The Millennium Falcon' s booming passage through hyperspace. Then engine hum and ...

"This station is now the ultimate power in the Universe..." (C) 1977 20th Century Fox Film Corporation Death Star's Transit Cast Lord Darth Vader (Brock Peters) Princess Leia Organa (Ann Sachs) Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin (Keene Curtis) Imperial Star Destroyer Captain Star Destroyer Navigator Imperial Commander 2nd Officer Commander Tagge Admiral Conan Antonio Motti (David Clennon) Imperial Guard Announcer: OPENING CREDITS. Music: Opening theme. Narrator: A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, there came a time of revolution, when Rebels united to challenge a tyrannical Empire. The Princess Leia Organa, an Imperial Senator from the planet Alderaan, is also a leader in the secret councils of the Rebel Alliance. But her most daring mission, to deliver the plans for the Empire's most awesome weapon, the Death Star, has failed. In a last desperate bid to get the information into Rebel hands before being captured, she has placed it into the ...