For this month's Movie Dearest Calendar Wallpaper, we spotlight all sorts of spirits and spooks and things that go bump in the night with our favorite movie Ghost Stories.
From Casper and Beetlejuice to Samara and the Grady sisters, these cinematic specters can make you laugh or scare the daylights out of you, or possibly even swoon like Mrs. Muir. We hope you enjoy this October trick or treat treat, and happy hauntings!
All you have to do is click on the picture above to enlarge it, then simply right click your mouse and select "Set as Background". (You can also save it to your computer and set it up from there if you prefer.) The size is 1024 x 768, but you can modify it if needed in your own photo-editing program.
After you've spent a number of years watching movies, there are a number of evergreen stories that you end up seeing several versions of... whether you want to or not. Some of these have been filmed and filmed so many times, there is no joy left in the retelling, no matter how "rebooted" or "darkened" the newest attempt may be. I personally have sworn off watching any other versions of A Christmas Carol, Dracula and Peter Pan at all costs for just this reason.
One would think the tale of Cinderella, the scullery maid-turned-princess thanks to a fairy godmother, a pumpkin and some unconventional footwear, has also been done to death. After all, over the years everyone from Julie Andrews to Drew Barrymore to Anna Kendrick have tried on Cindy's glass slippers, not to mention the iconic 1950 Disney animated version and all its video, theme park and Once Upon a Time iterations. Yet it is Disney that has gone back to the wishing well again this time, with a live action take no less. And as it turns out, happily, this Cinderella may be the happiest ever after after all.
Directed by Kenneth Branagh (who knows his ornate classics) and written by Chris Weitz (Chuck &Buck's Chuck, of all people), the newest Cinderella does not lack for opulence (expect Oscar nods for the sumptuous sets and Sandy Powell's gorgeous gowns) yet still feels grounded in, if not reality, at least a fantasy-tinged facsimile of reality. With no songs or talking mice, the story has more breathing room, resulting in a more gradual and believable transition of our heroine from darling daughter to indentured servant. And with an expanded back story featuring her rarely seen mother (Hayley Atwell), Cinderella actually has a credible reason to stay with her wicked stepmother, played deliciously to the hilt by Cate Blanchett.
As the title character, Lily James imbues her character with a lovely grace, innocence and period-perfect poise; her time as Downton Abbey's Lady Rose serves her well here. Her prince (Game of Thrones' Richard Madden) is sufficiently charming in the usually thankless role, and has some nice father-son moments with the King (Derek Jacobi). Stepsisters Anastasia (Holliday Grainger, The Borgias' Lucrezia) and Drisella (James' Downton co-star Sophie McShera) and the scheming Grand Duke (Stellan Skarsgård) round out the villains, but it is Helena Bonham Carter as the befuddled, bibbid-bobbidi-booing Fairy Godmother who practically steals the show, even with her curiously pearly white teeth and brief screentime (Carter also narrates the film).
While it does suffer the current movie malady of over-computerized special effects, this latest Cinderella is a joyous fairy tale treat for all ages, whether you've seen it all before or not.
Roland Emmerich — the city-smashing director responsible for such apocalyptic blockbusters as Independence Day, 2012 and The Day After Tomorrow — has now set his destructive sights on… Stonewall? Sure, sections of the titular LGBT watering hole in New York City were damaged after four nights of rioting in June, 1969 but it hardly qualified as a disaster.
As it turns out, the openly gay, German-born Emmerich has long wanted to tell the story behind this milestone event in LGBT history. His long string of hit movies finally earned him the Hollywood clout needed to do so. Emmerich’s Stonewall will open nationwide Friday following its world premiere this month at the Toronto Film Festival.
The historical drama stars 25-year old British actor Jeremy Irvine (War Horse, Great Expectations) as the all-American Danny Winters, a young gay man who flees his conservative home life in Indiana for uninhibited, 1960’s Greenwich Village. Other big names among the film’s cast are Jonathan Rhys Meyers as a leader in the local chapter of the Mattachine Society, Ron Perlman as Stonewall Inn manager Ed Murphy, and Matt Craven from the TV series Justified and Resurrection.
“When you get to work with people you grew up admiring, it’s always cool,” the in-demand Irvine said when he recently spoke with me via telephone from London. “I could be real with everyone in the cast.” I asked if this was especially the case between him and Rhys Meyers, with whom Irvine both dances and makes out in the movie. He laughed in reply. “Yeah, all my gay friends are quite jealous about that. I’ve done lots of straight sex scenes but this was my first gay one. (Rhys Meyers) was so relaxed and chill, he made it easy.”
Stonewall’s screenplay was written by Jon Robin Baitz, a successful playwright and creator of the television hit Brothers & Sisters (2006-2011). When the script first came Irvine’s way, he was familiar with the basic facts surrounding the uprising by LGBT patrons of the mafia-owned bar against police oppression but was surprised by how little he knew. “My first thought on reading the script the first time was ‘Wow, why doesn’t the global community know more about this story?’ It seemed like a story that needed telling.”
Upon Danny’s arrival in New York, he is befriended by a number of fellow gay and trans young people who have found themselves homeless and are forced to resort to prostitution. There is a title card at the end of the finished film referencing the large number of homeless youth who are LGBT. “That really moved me,” Irvine recalled. “I had no idea.” Given Stonewall’s subject matter and his rising stardom, I asked Irvine if he had any hesitancy in taking on the role of Danny. “None whatsoever,” he replied. “It was a brilliant script so it was really a no-brainer. I’m also a big fan of Emmerich’s films like Anonymous as well as his big epic movies, so I really jumped at the chance to work with him.”
Irvine (who was born Jeremy William Fredric Smith in 1990) has already had the opportunity to work with several world-class directors in his relatively brief career, including Steven Spielberg, Mike Newell and Emilio Aragon. When I inquired whether he deliberately seeks such filmmakers, he immediately responded “Absolutely! So much goes into the making of a movie, and only one person really shepherds the movie from when the script is written to when the movie comes out. The director is the captain of the ship.”
He continued, “I think we should choose the people we work with and be very picky. I’ve sometimes picked a movie on the strength of the script but you still need a director who will honor it.” Irvine describes Emmerich as being “very calm and subtle on set, which may surprise people who are only familiar with his big spectacles.”
A previous, 1995 independent movie about the Stonewall riots suffered somewhat from its low budget. This has been rectified in the well-financed new version, which boasts a larger cast and greater historic authenticity as reflected in its sets and costumes. In fact, this led to a particularly memorable moment for Irvine during production.
“One night, we were filming the main riot and there were these beautiful, restored cars from the 1960’s on set,” he relates. “Me and another actor, Jonny Beauchamp (who plays trans character Ray/Ramona), in the heat of the moment jumped up on one of the cars and they yelled ‘Cut! Cut! You can’t jump on the car!’ Turns out the owner had just bought it and didn’t fancy anyone jumping on it and throwing bottles. Go figure (laughs).”
I asked Irvine in what way or ways he is similar to his character, Danny. “He’s not the most comfortable kid growing up, and is still very much finding himself. He’s very much an outsider and I think we all feel like that sometimes.” Irvine has been public about the challenges he’s faced living with Type 1 Diabetes, which he was diagnosed with when he was only 6 years old and subsequently had to receive four insulin injections a day. He continues to be involved with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
On playing Danny, Irvine said “He goes through this wonderful journey of finding himself, and I felt honored to help show Danny’s journey.” Although his character is fictional and not to be confused with the late Danny Garvin, a real-life homeless gay youth who participated in the riots, Irvine revealed “he is based on someone I know personally but who wasn’t involved in Stonewall.”
Controversy over Stonewall erupted after its first trailer premiered this summer. Some viewers have voiced concerns that the new movie “whitewashes” history and doesn’t adequately depict the black, latino, lesbian and trans figures involved.
“You know, the trailer is two minutes as opposed to the two-hour movie,” Irvine responded when I asked him about the controversy. “The movie is very careful to include all the activists involved in the riots, including (black trans woman) Marsha P. Johnson; we really tried to do justice to the story and the people who were involved.”
Having seen the final cut of the film (which actually runs 129 minutes), I agree that these concerns are unfounded despite its mix of fictional and real-life characters. It also shows, true to the historical record but not always accurately dramatized, that a lesbian was the first patron to forcefully resist arrest and spark the riots.
Irvine, who will next be seen as poet Percy Bysshe Shelley in a new take on the Frankenstein story titled Mary Shelley’s Monster, is optimistic about Stonewall’s reception this month. “I hope it sheds a bit of light on the history,” he says. “Every once in a while, you get a film that is more than just entertainment. I was kind of shocked by how little I knew about (the Stonewall riots). It was a huge year for the civil rights movement and I think the time is ripe now for remembering it.”
"People leave, you know... but with some people it just doesn't seem fair."
It is close to impossible to hear the late Robin Williams speak lines such as this, in his last dramatic role in Boulevard, and not be deeply moved by the unexpected, retrospective irony. That it is a part of one of his finest screen performances, as a flawed man who spent his entire life pretending to be something else, makes it all the more tragic.
Williams plays Nolan Mack, a kind man and doting husband who spends his days toiling away as a banker. One aimless night driving he, literally, runs into Leo (Roberto Aguire), a brooding young street hustler who awakens within Nolan long dormant feelings. Their relationship remains platonic, yet complicated, and Nolan's secrets inevitably spill into his mundane life, threatening his marriage, job and future.
A natural caretaker, Nolan lives in fear of hurting other people, but at the cost of who he truly is. Yet when, at the age of 60, he tentatively begins to explore his true self, the delicate façade of his life crumbles around him, shattering those he holds dear. Williams (who also played gay in The Birdcage and The Night Listener) wholly embodies Nolan; one can feel his lifelong heartbreak in every forced smile and repressed gesture.
Kathy Baker as Nolan's wife Joy, a strong woman gut-punched by reality, and Bob Odenkirk as their cynical college professor best friend, match Williams in excellence. Opposite such acting veterans, relative newcomer Aguire isn't as effective as he should be, creating more of a cypher than a fully fleshed-out character. Regardless, Boulevard (sagely directed by Dito Montiel from a script by Douglas Soesbe) is Williams' show, a fitting, bittersweet swan song for a beloved talent gone far too soon.
