Even if you’ve never heard of Seth MacFarlane, there’s a strong chance that you already know his face or his voice from somewhere. The comic provides the voice for many of the characters in Family Guy and American Dad!, and stars in The Orville sci-fi series as Captain Ed Mercer. MacFarlane is also known for […]
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Images courtesy of Universal Pictures
In a recent interview with Zack Sharf for Variety, Julia Roberts, one-half of the Oscar-winning top billing of Trouble in Paradise alongside George Clooney, had this to say about the hey-day of romantic comedies:
“I think we didn’t appreciate the bumper crop of romantic comedies that we had then. You don’t see all the effort and puppet strings because it’s fun and sweet and people are laughing and kissing and being mischievous. This is a genre that I love to participate in and watch, and I think they are hard to get right. There is a really simple math to it, but how do you make it special? How do you keep people interested when you can kind of predict what is coming?”
LESSON #1: THEY DON’T MAKE ‘EM LIKE THEY USED TO– Two notions stand out from those Variety quotes. First, she’s completely right. The multiplex movie scene has long missed, and has not come close to matching, the 1990s peak of the genre from decades ago. In classic “they don’t make ‘em like they used to” fashion, the majority of romantic comedies from the last twenty years have either evolved into dramedies (think something like The Big Sick) that reduced the signature hamminess or devolved into cookie-cutter Netflix streamers or, worse, the ever-churning syrup of Hallmark Channel movies.
LESSON #2: MAKE IT SPECIAL AND KEEP IT INTERESTING– Romantic comedy offerings can do better and be better, which highlights the second emphatic idea from Julia’s quotes. She asks the exact two questions of simple movie math that make or break a good romantic comedy. Ticket to Paradise does not need any calculators, extra algorithms, tutors, or cheat sheets to get their math right. That’s because it’s light arithmetic and not trigonometry, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
David and Georgia Cotton (Clooney and Roberts) are two ultra-successful divorcees who avoid each other at all costs. The pettiness between the two of them towards each other, even when the other is not present, is off the charts. We meet the two characters telling co-workers polar opposite versions of how they met, married, and imploded. Hearing her insistent curtness and his pessimistic sarcasm swirls like oil and water and brings out the first chuckles of plenty to come.
Seemingly, David and Georgia’s one shared and sustained success is their law school graduate daughter Lily, played by Kaitlyn Dever (currently starring in Rosaline). Her commencement event reunites the quarreling cockatoos. Afterwards, they see her and her partying bestie Wren (Dever’s Booksmart costar Billie Lourd) off to a summer vacation to Bali before entering the adult phase of career and personal independence. For the two parents, the hardest part of their work is done and they likely won’t have to share a setting again until their girl gets married someday.
As fate would have it, that next joyous occasion arrives sooner than they could have ever imagined. Within the short months away, Lily has accepted a marriage proposal from Gede (Maxime Bouttier of Meet Me After Sunset), a local handsome, earnest, and successful seaweed farmer. Very much feeling the old burn scars of their own marital disaster, David and Georgia fear the worst and travel to Bali together with a hellbent united front to sabotage the nuptials. Naturally, hijinks ensue and the requisite predictability challenge grows.
LESSON #3: LET YOUR ADULT CHILDREN MAKE THEIR OWN DECISIONS– There’s a great line of self-admission later in Ticket to Paradise that says, “A parent will do anything for their kids except let them be themselves.” You have two trajectory-driven parents here that raised a successful and intelligent daughter, yet fail to be supportive of letting her figure out the unknown potential for happiness or mistakes. It’s a very real parental knock, and this cautionary chestnut of trust is wisely as dramatic as the movie gets. We have Lily and Gede’s mature resolve portrayed confidently by Dever and Bouttier opposing the big stars to thank for that bit of weight.
LESSON #4: GO AHEAD AND CALL A TRAVEL AGENT– It does not take long for Ticket to Paradise to become a travelogue for the culture and decadent dalliances possible on the Indonesian island province. With every sunrise, sunset, and establishing shot that floats over a beach with swooping beauty, the film can be a wallet-emptying advertisement all its own that magic and peace (as well as par-for-the-course rom-com privileged finery and entitled conveniences) are automatic in this place. Kudos to first-time location manager Joseph J.U. Taylor and Judy cinematographer Ole Bratt Birkeland for making Bali look like a million bucks. Go ahead and start your Airbnb and TripAdvisor searches.
Director Ol Parker (Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again) and his debuting screenplay partner Daniel Pipski knew to step back and let the veterans work. Roberts and Clooney are two former students of the romantic comedy game who have aged like fine wine to become masters of their craft. A sharp viewer will notice, remember, and be impressed by the measured subtleties coming from the physical sides of their boundless screen presences. George and Julia are experts at emoting charm and wit without words, and that includes Clooney’s dancing dad face which ranks uglier than any Star Wars blaster face this side of Tatooine. Alas, every adjustment of posture, wince of composure, and physical tick coming from George and Julia tell more about character than their provided lines.
It’s a pleasure to watch the reunited Ocean’s series co-stars work together again. Admittedly, the two screen legends are more fun when they are at each other’s throats early on in Ticket to Paradise than later when they are cuddled closer together by rekindled circumstances. You root for the competitive one-upmanship more than the softening comeuppance their characters have coming. For a while, there is a sizzling and infectious comedic burn to their verbal clashes and invasions of personal space that wanes with time. Who knew getting nicer would sap a little of the enjoyment?
On a few levels, it’s reductive to call Ticket to Paradise a “throwback.” The movie couldn’t be more modern with its trappings and attitude. It’s also too soon to label it a “resurrection” or “resurgence” for the whole romantic comedy genre. Time will tell whether loyal audiences return to tally enough profits that turn a studio exec’s head to make more. Instead, take Ticket to Paradise for what it is in the here-and-now as a welcome new addition to the resumes of two cherished audience favorites. Better yet, match the movie’s repeated dare between the former spouses of “Why save the good stuff for later?” Get that date night now and go.
LOGO DESIGNED BY MEENTS ILLUSTRATED (#1073)
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Since its inception in 2017, Bolton Film Festival has gone from strength to strength. The BAFTA and BIFA qualifying festival is heading into its sixth year. It’s consistently voted one of the best film festivals on FilmFreeway, and it’s clear to see why. There’s a whole team of people, led by festival director Adrian Barber, […]
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Screen recording on the iPhone has always been a bit of a pain. You have to open up the camera app, find the screen you want to record, and hit the record button. With the new iPhone update, that process has gotten a bit easier. You can now enable screen recording without having to open up the camera app at all.
Screen recording, also known as video capture or software recording, is the process of capturing a continuous stream of video footage from a computer screen. The footage can then be saved for later viewing or use in creating digital media. Screen recording can be done with special software or devices, or by using the built-in features of most modern browsers.
As technology advances, more and more people are using their cell phones as their primary form of communication. This trend has led to increased use of phones for various purposes, including as a means of recording phone screens. The purpose of this paper is to explore the rationale behind this practice, which has been growing in popularity among users.
There are several reasons why users might want to record phone screens. Some people may want to keep a transcript or video of a conversation for future reference. Others may want to document a specific event or encounter for future recollection. Still, others may simply find it helpful to review past conversations or exchanges in order to better understand them.
By providing transcripts and videos of conversations, users can easily access the information they need when needed most. If you are looking for software that let you record important information on the screen in high-quality, you can try a one-time purchase of Snagit. Whatever the reason, it is clear that recording phone screens are gaining popularity among users due to their many benefits.
If you are looking to be able to easily capture your screen activities on your iPhone, then you will want to enable screen recording. This is a great way to create videos or recordings of your phone's screen while you are using it. Here are the steps on how to enable screen recording on your iPhone:
First, open the Settings app on your iPhone and navigate to the General section.
Under the Screen Recording section, you will find a switch that will allow you to turn this feature on or off.
When screen recording is enabled, a red dot will appear in the lower-left corner of the display.
To start capturing footage, just press and hold down on the Home button until the red dot turns green.
You can then release the Home button and continue recording.
Yes, external software for screen recording on iPhone can provide a number of benefits over using the native iOS video recording features. External software is typically more user-friendly and provides additional features, such as the ability to export recordings in different formats. Additionally, external software may offer a higher quality output than native iOS video recording, making it preferable for certain purposes.
Screen recording softwares for iPhone have become quite popular in recent years. They are extremely useful for capturing video or audio of what is happening on your iPhone screen, without having to use the camera app. Here are some screen recording apps for iPhone:
Screen Recorder Plus by Appcelerator is the most popular screen recorder for iPhone. It is very easy to use and has a wide range of features, including support for audio recordings and video exports in a variety of formats, including MP4, H.264, AVI, MOV, and FLV.
Snagit is a versatile screen recording tool that can be used on both Mac and PC. It has a simple user interface and supports a variety of file formats, including MP4 and AVI. Snagit is well-suited for video editing, so you will need a Snagit promo code if you want to get this app for its premium recording and editing benefits.
Camtasia Studio is a popular choice for intermediate to advanced users because of its wide range of features for screen recording. It's also relatively affordable and offers a lot of flexibility when it comes to editing videos. You can add music, effects, and titles to your videos easily, making them look professional in no time.
Third-party apps can be helpful for capturing moments or ideas, but they can also be a time-consuming inconvenience. Fortunately, there are ways to enable screen recording on these apps without having to use the built-in features.
To start screen recording on a third-party app:
1) Open the app and locate the menu bar at the top of the screen.
2) Scroll down to “Screen Recording” and select it.
3) Click on “Start Screen Recording” to begin recording.
4) When finished, click on “Stop Screen Recording” to end the recording.
In conclusion, there are a few ways to enable screen recording on an iPhone. The best way to find out is to try different methods and see which one works best for you. One way to do this is to go to the Settings app on your iPhone and scroll down until you find the “Screen Recording” option. After enabling screen recording, you can use any recorder app that is compatible with your device to start capturing your screen.
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Director: Georgia Oakley Cast: Rosy McEwen, Kerrie Hayes, Lucy Halliday Release: February 10, 2023 (UK) The infuriating reluctance to outright ban conversion therapy, with the broken promises stacking up, vicious attacks squarely aimed at transgender men and women, propped up by an acid-tongued right-wing press majority. These immediate battles are not considered strangers to the older […]
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Director: Fridtjof Ryde Cast: Rory Alexander, Mark Rylance, Kathryn Hunter, Shaun Dingwall Released: BFI London Film Festival 2022 22-year-old Fridtjof Ryder makes his debut with the meditative, unorthodox Inland, the tale of a troubled young man who returns to his hometown in the wake of his mother’s disappearance. The film, called initially Black Twist, has […]
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Image courtesy of Orion Pictures
LESSON #1: A MOTHER’S WORRY– Till is a heartbreaking and meaningful film presented almost entirely through a mother’s point of view. Any mother of any background will tell you that one of, if not, the most ever-present emotions is worry. Debilitating considerations and worst case scenarios often percolate and betray otherwise happy thoughts and sweet moments. All too often, it’s a mental gear that cannot easily be turned off. One of those flustering pauses begins the film and an agonizing tone for Till is set right away.
In the opening scene, Mamie Till (Danielle Deadwyler of The Harder They Fall) and her teenage son Emmett (newcomer Jalyn Hill) are singing along to a ballad on the radio while driving through Chicago. The song is the lovely “Sincerely” by The Moonglows and its sweet lyrics warm the storge love between them. Without warning, the moment of casual bliss is broken by a sharp, short sensation of worry imagined by the mother. We don’t see what she’s thinking, but the sound design warps the song and the camera loosens to show Mamie’ composure broken ever so slightly as they reach their destination.
Very soon, we learn the roots of her worry. Begun as an encouraging suggestion from her mother Alma (Academy Award winner Whoopi Goldberg) and supported by her significant other Gene Mobley (Save the Last Dance’s ageless Sean Patrick Thomas), Emmett will soon be making a trip to stay a few weeks with extended family in Money, Mississippi. The slightly more tolerant urban Midwest is all the bright boy and stutterer knows.
LESSON #2: BE SMALL WHEN NECESSARY– As Mamie laments, Emmett has never known true fear. With a stern eye, she repeatedly implores to her son before this trip to understand the different rules he will enter when it comes to the deep American South of 1955. She distills her warnings down the unifying direction of “be small.” She knows getting noticed brings trouble, especially to a boy like Emmett who is gregarious to a fault.
As unfolded history in Till will show us, Emmett would not survive to see his mother or his Chicago home again. After a cross incident with a married white shopkeeper named Carolyn Bryant (Haley Bennet of The Girl on the Train), Emmett Till was kidnapped from his uncle Mose’s (TV veteran John Douglas Thompson) home in the middle of the night. He was tortured, mutilated, lynched, and dumped into the Tallahatchie River.
Thanks in part to the involvement of the NAACP, Emmett’s death was given national attention. The burning fuse of fear and prayer that encompassed Till has exploded into a spectacle born from tabloid death. The multi-layered support of the NAACP–embodied in the film by Spike Lee good luck charm Roger Guenveur Smith as Dr. T. R. M. Howard, Doctor Who’s Tosin Cole as Medgar Evers, and Kevin Carroll of Let the Right One In as Rayfield Mooty–was the right push under the wrong circumstances as a general public of ostriches with their heads in the sand needed the prodded shock while those emerging political leaders of the Black community sought to make lynching a federal crime.
LESSON #3: MAKE PEOPLE SEE– Through it all, Mamie Till was uncomfortably front and center as the grieving mother. Flashbulbs popped as she wailed and clutched the box containing her son’s body being offloaded from a train back in Chicago. The appalling and gut-wrenching imagery would multiply when Mamie insisted on an open-casket funeral and allowed a Jet magazine photographer to publish photos of her son’s mangled face for all to see. It shouldn’t take the horrific, scarred truth to change public sentiment, but it surely works like a sledgehammer to heart. The power of photographs from journalists has changed the attitude and course of history time and again. This, soberingly and in an excruciating fashion, was one of those moments.
LESSON #4: A MOTHER’S POWER– There’s a tectonic shift of strength orchestrated by Clemency director Chinonye Chukwu at Mamie’s lowest moment when she is viewing her son’s body in the morgue. She has asked to be alone and her breath-stealing tears begin to subside. Mamie longingly looks over the contours of her son’s body. True to the maternal bond between mother and son, the woman knows every inch, every curve, and every blemish, even in this disfigured state. The poignant musical score, easily one of the year’s best, from Abel Korzeniowski (Nocturnal Animals) rises when she does. With a line not long later from Deadwyler of “You’re not just my boy anymore,” a new resolve has been forged, and Till shifts to display the arduous quest for justice that followed.
Till is a mother’s story through and through and rarely ever leaves the lead actress’s pendulum of steadiness and trembles. Cinematographer Bobby Bukowski (Arlington Road) stays on Danielle Deadwyler like a microscope. You are wholly absorbed by her eyes and the poise that she uses to compose Mamie Till’s hardships, memories, unbroken faith, and brave will. Deadwyler is at her most powerful during scenes of stillness that maximize pause, absorption, and reflection. Chukwu, utilizing Ron Patane’s editing to the fullest, often arrives before interactions and stays a beat or two after to catch catalysts and ripples.
Worthy of high appreciation from a cinematic storytelling standpoint, Chinonye Chukwu was adamant about not displaying physical pain meted out to Black characters in her film. Her assertion that too much has been shown and exploited before was a correct choice. The resulting mood is a remarkable dramatic effect, as a viewer’s imagination is guided enough by dialogue of testimony or, in what is always more affecting, their own imagination of fearing and picturing the worst. The mournful tears and shuddered thoughts come easily on their own, and more historical films of inhumane trauma should follow this film’s lead. The preeminent deliverer of those tears and thoughts is the tremendous Danielle Deadwyler.
LESSON #5: ACTION AND CHANGE HAVE TAKEN TOO LONG– As a final note, the topical history that echoes from this 67-year-old murder remains resonate and chilling to say the least. No one anywhere should die as Emmett did, especially a child. Black leaders knew the long game then in the 1950s, yet one must ask how far the country has progressed since the aftermath of Emmett Till. Point of fact, it took a century and over 200 attempted bills before 47th President Joe Biden signed the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act in March 2022 designating lynching a federal hate crime. Folks, that is 67 years too long and 67 years too late, and we know it. Till is an empowering reminder that sufficient action and change are not over.
LOGO DESIGNED BY MEENTS ILLUSTRATED (#1072)
