Favorite Films From Years that End in "5"

In celebration of the new year here's my favorite films from each of the year's that end in five.

1935: Alice Adams (dir. George Stevens)
1945: Christmas in Connecticut (dir. Peter Godfrey)
1955: The Wages of Fear (dir. Henri-Georges Clouzot)*
1965: The Sound of Music (dir. Robert Wise)
1975: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (dir. Milos Forman)
1985: Back to the Future (dir. Robert Zemeckis)
1995: Dead Man Walking (dir. Tim Robbins)
2005: The Constant Gardner (dir. Fernando Meirelles)

To see similar posts from previous years you can view favorite films from year zero (2000), one (2001), two (2002), three (2003) and four (2004).

 Here's to a great 2015.

*My film list is categorized by US Release date, while The Wages of Fear was released in 1953 in France and other European counties, it's US premier was in 1955.

10 Key Elements in a "Hallmark Christmas Movie"

I write the term "Hallmark Christmas Movie" in quotes, because all movies in this genre are not Hallmark movies, but Hallmark seems to have excelled in their marketing of this genre of films.

For various reasons, this year we caught a great deal of these (again produced by a number of different sources, including but not exclusively Hallmark). Perhaps you caught some of these as well.

Below are the films in this genre that my wife and I saw this season:

1. A Christmas Kiss (2011, directed by John Stimpson, staring Elisabeth Röhm, Laura Breckenridge, and Brendan Fehr)
2. The Mistle-Tones (2012, directed by Paul Heon, staring Tia Mowry-Hardict, Tori Spelling and Jonathan Patrick Moore)
3. A Bride for Christmas (2012, directed by Gary Yates, staring Arielle Kebbel and Andrew W. Walker)
4. Let it Snow (2013, directed by Harvey Frost, staring Candace Cameron Bure and Jesse Hutch)
5. A Very Merry Mix-Up (2013, directed by Jonathan Wright, staring Alicia Witt and Mark Wiebe)
6. Christmas Under Wraps (2014, directed by Peter Sullivan, staring Candace Cameron Bure, David O'Donnell, and Brian Doyle-Murray). 

It's a little overkill - I admit it. Yet, like watching infomercials, they sometimes just grab you and don't let go. And I realize these do not reflect the full cannon of Christmas films (in fact, in addition to these we also watched White Christmas and our favorite Christmas in Connecticut).

Here are the key elements of the modern "Hallmark Christmas Movie:"

1. The lead is a single female (may or may  not be engaged or dating at start of the movie)
2. If engaged/dating, the one she is engaged or dating is not the one she will be with at the end of the film
3. If the first guy she meets has a bad haircut she will not be with him at the end.
4. If a boyfriend/potential love interest is obsessed with his career or brings a laptop to a Christmas event or her parent's house she will not be with him at the end (unless she convinces him to "break loose"...i.e. The Mistle-Tones).
5. All shows must include characters with parent issues (either pressure to be like their parents, or parents who think they should be making different choices).
6. An alternative variation to parent issues can also include characters who's parents died while young or were distant for other reasons resulting in a character never "truly experiencing Christmas" or hasn't been able to experience Christmas since.
7. Parents, particularly mother's, must be especially keen on their children getting married and married quickly (long dating periods or engagements are not encouraged).
8. The love interest may not have an impressive job but he probably knows how to play the piano.
9. If a girl is wearing a white dress, do not underestimate the possibility of an impromptu wedding happening in that scene, even if she is not yet officially engaged 
10. The film should reference "following your heart" at least once.

These films will be predictable from start to finish, and anything else would be entirely unacceptable.

Really, The Interview, Non-Stop Press

Granted - the premise of The Interview (directed by Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogan) is extreme in creating a rude comedy about the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Yet, who would have ever thought that this movie would make such a splash. The president speaking about, people hacked, insulted, lawsuits, and press, press, press. So much press for a movie that at the time of this post has a 52% Rotten Tomatoes scores. 52% and the president is talking about a comedy that is rated R for pervasive language, crude and sexual humor, nudity, some drug use and bloody violence.

I get in my car and every time I hear stories about the movie. Today it's been all about independent and art house cinema chains speaking out and sharing why they are sharing this gift of a movie with the world.

Surely, this isn't the path Sony wanted to take on this film, especially with the embarrassing hacking leaks, but this film with a $44 million dollar budget and a Christmas release is jamming the air waves with press -- and it's hard to tell how the story continues to shape. But today it includes conspiracy theories about North Korea losing their own internet. "Was it an American response?" people are asking. Who knows (well, maybe some people know...) but this movie...really?

I keep scratching my head. And yet, in many ways this becomes the big film press story of the month, maybe the year.

I must admit - for all the exposure, I hope it ends, because I can't imagine what type of new news would make this a story, other than people leaving the theater disappointed or some insane box office figures.

Chicks and Salsa

I love it when a book captures my kids and it becomes a part of our collection of favorites. This past fall the book that has captured all of our children (6, 3 & 2) is the book Chicks and Salsa by Aaron Reynolds and illustrated by Paulette Bogan.

It's pretty hillarious, with a fun tone and candence as well as enjoyable artwork. In the spirit of books like Click, Clack, Moo by Doreen Cronin, the barnyard animals are up to their own unnatural mischief, in this case cooking with a Mexican flare. The artwork has little "bonus material" that goes beyond the text. The text references some mystery (such as were did the chips come from?) and the pictures reveal some additional detail that is fun to see the kids discover.

Highly recommended - probably our favorite new book of 2014.

Reel People: Eddie Redmayne is Stephen Hawking

The film is The Theory of Everything. The film is directed by James Marsh (Oscar winner for the documentary Man on Wire). The screenplay is written by Anthony McCarten based on the book Traveling to Infinity: My Life With Stephen by Jane Hawking.

Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking's parents, Frank and Isobel had met at a medical institute in London at the start of WWII. Both had been students at Oxford. Frank had studied medicine, while Isobel studied Philosophy, Politics, and Economics.  Stephen Hawking was born shortly after, January 8, 1942. He would go on to have two younger sisters and an adopted brother.

Hawking's family high value education, and he attended Saint Albans in London where he was connected with friends and mathematician Dikran Tahta, with whom he did projects such as creating a computer from clock parts and who inspired him to study mathematics at University.

In 1959, at the age of 17 he breezed through his university years at Oxford and then went on to begin his graduate work at Cambridge in in 1962. At Oxford he had been bored with his studies and had been engaged with a rowing team. But at Cambridge, life began to change when at 21 he was diagnosed with motor nueron disease at the age of 21, his speech began to slur and he experienced some general clumsiness and challenges with motor skills such as rowing.

Given a life expectancy of two-years he struggled with depression while at the same time also developed a relationship with his sister's friend Jane Wilde with whom he would become engaged to in 1964 -- the relationship helping him through those initial challenging years as his motor skills continued to decline. They would be married in 1965.

Continuing his studies during this time, he spent a lot of time on physics topics including the big bang theory and black holes. Hawking obtained his PhD degree in 1966.

Continuing his work in physics Stephen stayed busy, while his wife Jane was also obtaining her own PhD. While keeping his physical challenges a subject not spoken about, Jane carried a great deal of the burden's for domestic life. In 1967 they would have their first child, Robert, followed by Lucy in 1970.

Hawking would publish his first book with fellow physics and leading cosmology theorist George F. R. Ellis in 1973 called The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time.

As Hawking continued his studies in quantum mechanics continued and developed public interest in black holes grew and Hawking was regularly interviewed and in the public eye.

In 1979 he and Jane would have their third child, Timothy. Around that time Hawking was also appointed the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge.

Stephen's notary continued to grow and his studies and writings continued to gain increasing interest. He also would lose his voice and begin to use a speech generating device. Jane and Stephen's thoughts on religion would become more and more different as Stephen's religious beliefs which were contrasting with Jane's growing devotion to God.

In 1992 Hawking picked up a wider audience when Errol Morris did a film version of of Hawking's 1988 book A Brief History of Time: From Big Bang to Black Holes. This book would become a best-seller, selling more than 10 million copies over the next twenty years.

Stephen and Jane would divorce in 1995 when Stephen decided to leave Jane for one of his nurses Elaine Mason with whom he married in 1995.

Hawking had a unique pop culture populaity during the 1990s with an appearance on Star Trek and The Simpsons as well as having his synthesized voice used in the Pink Floyd song "Keep Talking."

This continued into the next decade with some more serious subject matters including documentaries and television appearances as well as continued character work on shows like Futurama.

In 2006 Stephen and Elaine would divorce and Stephen became increasingly involved in the life of Jane, his children, and grandchildren. Jane published the book Traveling to Infinity, My Life with Stephen in 2007.

Stephen Hawking continues to speak, write, and make public statements - often statements which are controversial and tend to deal with a variety of subjects including politics and religion. He also has continued to receive recognition and honors for his work in the field of physics.

The Theory of Everything

The film The Theory of Everything focuses on the romantic relationship of Stephen Hawking and Jane Wilde in the 1960s at Cambridge. In addition to staring Eddie Redmayne as Stephen, the role of Jane is played by Felicity Jones.

Supporting performances in the film include Emily Watson (as Stephen's mother Isobel) and David Thewlis (as British physicist Dennis W. Sciama).

Will Eddie Redmayne receive his first Oscar nomination for his portrayal of this Real (Reel) Person?

A Hologram For The King by Dave Eggers

Just finished the book A Hologram for the King by Dave Eggers.

I told my wife the other night that if Oprah was a white-man than this would be on his book club list.

But, men don't typically have book clubs and read books together and discuss how they relate to the feelings and experiences of the characters, discuss the themes and plot - so since this is not White Oleander or Where The Heart Is, so maybe it never has the chance to grab that type of group-love.

But instead a story about a middle-aged sales man who goes with a group of young business people to present an energy plan to the king of Saudi Arabia, in hopes of landing a big contract for a new development underway.

So they sit in a tent, waiting for the king to present the hologram presentation. He goes to the hotel. He laments his past, his crazy ex-wife, his career, and globalization. Oh, and he's obsessing about a growth on his neck. It's lovely.

It's well written - it's interesting, even though hardly anything happens.

In many ways, one of the most interesting thing plot wise is the friendship he forms with a Saudi man who drives him between the hotel and the remote future city being developed.

I won't lie, it's the type of book that is an interesting read, because I have to think that despite the unique setting that many cannot relate to personally, the themes, emotions, and life reflections have to resonate with the current American experience.

I'm not sure the story would grab all readers, but I certainly enjoyed the read - Eggers is a great writer and could probably write about a man watching butter melt and it would be strangely insightful.

This 2012 book, a finalist for The National Book Award is being made into a film directed by Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run, Cloud Atlas), with Tom Hanks playing the main character (Alan Clay). It'll be interesting to see how this comes to the big screen, being that it's plot is basically the story a man in the desert obsessing about neck growth.

Reel People: Jack O'Connell is Louis Zamperini

The film is Unbroken, directed by Angelina Jolie. The screenplay is written by Joel & Ethan Coen, Richard LaGravenese, and William Nicholson. The film is based on the book Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand.

Louis "Louie" Zamperini

Louis was born in New York in 1917. He was born of Italian immigrants, the second of four children. A few years after his birth his family moved to Torrance, California. Where we would grow up, including his attendance at Torrance High School. While at Torrance High School he joined his older brother Pete on the track team. While breaking records he would go on to get a scholarship to the University of Southern California.

In 1936 he decided to try out for the Olympics, and qualified at the age of 19 to compete in the 5000 meter in the Berlin Summer Games. He would finish 8th, but is said to have caught the eye of Hitler at the games for his fast finish in the final lap.

In 1941 Louis enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces where he was deployed to the pacific island of Fanafuti, as crew member of a B-24 bomber.

In 1943, when the bomber ("Super Man") was damaged in combat, Louis was assigned to search for lost crew members utilizing another plan ("The Green Hornet") which crashed while on the search. Only three of the 11 crew members survived the crash.  Louis, along with the other two crew members Russel Alan Phillips and Frances McNamera were adrift 47 days at sea until they reached the Marshall Islands were they were captured by the Japanese Navy.

While captives, they were poorly treated, and Louis Zamperini was transferred between a number of Prisoner of War camps before being released after the war ended in 1945.

After his release he would return to the United States, having previously been declared dead following the 1943 B-24 crash. He would get married to Cynthia Applewhite, a celebrated in his home town. The Torrance Airport was renamed Zamperini Field in his honor in December 1946.

Upon his return though, he found himself traumatized by his experience, regularly having nightmares of his experiences, notably his prison guard tormented Mutsuhiro Watanabe ("the bird") from the Naoetsu Prisoner of War Camp his final POW camp from the end of the war.

His wife persuaded Louis to attend a Billy Graham crusade in 1949, and although he stormed out the first night was persuaded to attend a second night where he became a follower of Jesus.

Louis Zamperini quickly became sharing his new found faith with a number of different communities and church groups. In 1950 he returned to Japan to share his faith in the country, sharing a message of forgiveness, and offering forgiveness to Japanese war criminals who had previously been his tormentors.

Zamperini would go on to have a career in commercial real-estate while staying active in his church and community.

In 2001 his wife Cynthia died.

In 2014, Louis Zamperini died of pneumonia in his home at the age of of 97. His survivors included daughter Cynthia, and son Luke.

Unbroken

The film Unbroken tells Zamperini's story with particular focus on his WWII story.

In addition to Jack O'Connell playing the role of Louis Zamperini, the film also stars Domhnall Gleeson (Russel "Phil" Phillips) and Finn Whitrock (Francis "Mac" McNemera). Japenese musical Artist Miyavi plays Mutsuhiro Watanabe. Morgan Griffin plays the role of Cynthia Applewhite. The film also stars Jai Courtney, Garrett Hedlund, and Alex Russell.

Jack O'Connell is relatively unknown, but will his feature role in a potential Oscar darling propel him into the Oscar spotlight for his role as this Real (Reel) Person?

The Sense of an Ending

Julian Barnes' Booker Prize winning novella, The Sense of an Ending, was my reading pleasure from this past weekend. It's been a bit since I read a novel (or novella in this case), and certainly some time since I tore through a book cover-to-cover in a single weekend.

In some ways, a book like this is my favorite type of book. I hardly know how to describe this type of book that I enjoy so much other than to say it's the type of book that somehow manages to be incredibly interesting to read while having hardly any real plot at all. For me my best description here is a book that is so enjoyable, yet you know would make a horrible film.

Books I have enjoyed that have fallen into this category that quickly come to mind are books like Ian McEwan's Atonement, J. M. Coetzee's Disgrace, Marilynne Robinson's Gilead, Kazou Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go.

In the book The Sense of an Ending the author writes in an interesting voice, a voice that wants you to disassociate it from being a novel including lines like: “This was another of our fears: that Life wouldn't turn out to be like Literature."

The narrator Tony Webster tells this story first by telling us about a period of time in his childhood amongst a core group of four friends who's lives diverge as they head off to university. A series of events that occur during that time are then revisited as Tony is in retirement and he revisits his past.

The central thought of this book to me is captured in an early quote that is referenced a few times in the book, which is: “History is that certainty produced at the point where the imperfections of memory meet the inadequacies of documentation.”

It's interesting to me, because on a personal level this quote and the thoughts presented in this book have stuck with me past my reading. The way we look at our life does have a tendency to be in the form of narrative and certain key messages and tracks that play in our mind about the past, but these memories are imperfect, and the documentaiton behind our own past and the past of others is often limited by our memories and the documentation that get's left behind.

I very much enjoyed this book, it far exceeded my expectations. It's a wonderfully thought provoking and well crafted story.

Wow...Robin Williams...Farewell

I can hardly believe it. You never really expect to hear certain celebrities have died. Robin Williams is definitely not someone who I'd expect to hear was dead.

Robin Williams is like a pop-culture institution.

Beyond shocked, I am truly disappointed to hear that he had died.

I've blogged about Robin Williams before, and strangely enough my last post from almost three years ago was called "Robin Williams - Will You Come Back?" In this post, I lamented his lackluster career in the 21st century, after already declaring him the most disappointing actor of the first decade of the 21st century..

That said, I must say, after writing that post, I did find myself enjoying episodes of The Crazy Ones, and maintained hope for Robin Williams second (or third) life.

In 2007, I posted my Top 5 favorite Robin Williams roles. This post was met with a flurry of comments. Here is that list I posted:

1. John Keating, Dead Poets Society (`1989)
2. Genie, Aladdin (1992)
3. Sean Maguire, Good Will Hunting (1997)
4. Daniel Hillard/Mrs. Euphegenia Doubtfire, Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
5. Parry, The Fisher King (1991)

One of the things that I digested after writing this post is how each of these characters tells the story of a person (or genie, as the case might be) who is interested in inspiring others to change their life through interconnected relationships.

Maybe it's in light of these themes in Robin Williams roles, or perhaps his comic persona, that his death is extra shocking.

In light of the early reports that this might be a suicide, likely the result of his depression it's hard to reconcile how to reflect on Robin Williams' life and death.

There's a message in there somewhere - or maybe it's more of a warning, or even a reminder. A death that says you can have the whole world but still somehow be missing something, to feel incomplete, or at a minimum be battling a very serious disease.

Reel People: Reese Witherspoon is Cheryl Strayed

The film is Wild, directed by Jean-Marc Vallée (Dallas Buyer's Club). The film is written by Nick Hornby based on the memoir Wild: From Lost to Found on The Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed.

Cheryl Strayed

Cheryl Strayed was born in Spangler, Pennsylvania on September 17, 1968. At the age of 5 her family moved to Minnesota. Her parents would divorce, and her mother would remarry. She would later move again to a rural community of Minnesota in a house that there family built after they used an injury settlement to buy 40 acres of land. That home for some time did include electricity or indoor plumbing. At 17 she would graduate from high school having been involved with track, cheerleading, and was homecoming queen.

She would go to the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota for one year, with her mother also attending classes with her at that time. She would later transfer to the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, where she would eventually earn her double major in English and Women's Studies. During her college years she got married and for a period of time they traveled in London and Europe before she returned to Minnesota to finish school. In Cheryl's senior year of college (her mother's as well), her mother, Barbara Ann "Bobbi" Lambrecht was diagnosed with lung cancer. Bobbi died of lung cancer at the age of 45 during Cheryl's senior year.

After college, while writing and traveling throughout the United States Cheryl held a variety of jobs (youth advocate, waitress, emergency medical technician). Her step father also disengaged from her at the time and she became isolated and addicted to heroin. During this time she also divorced her husband Paul.

In June of 1995 she began a solo journey along the Pacific Crest Trail with a plan to begin in Mojave, California and end in Ashland, Oregon. While going on her soul seeker journey she occasionally altered her travel plans by talking a bus and hitching a ride for a short portion. She also traveled with companions she met on the trails as well. As she traveled she also adjusted her path to trek the Oregon-Washington boarder as well. She would end her journey of around 1100 miles at the Bridge of the Gods on the boarder of the two states.

took a  In 1999 she married documentary film maker Brian Lindstrom. They would go on to have two children. Cheryl also went on to get her Masters in Fine Arts at Syracuse University.

In 2006 she would publish her first book, Torch, a novel loosely based on her own experiences facing the death of her mother.

In 2012 she would publish her memoir Wild: From Lost to Found On Pacific Crest Trail, which was a best-seller, assisted by being the first book for Oprah Winfrey relaunched book club in 2012.

Wild

The film Wild was optioned by Reese Witherspoon for her company Pacific Standard three months before the memoir publication.  Nick Hornby wrote the screenplay. In addition to Reese Witherspoon staring in the lead role, the film will also feature Laura Dern as Bobbi (Cheryl's mother).

Reese Witherspoon, won an Oscar for her first and nomination for her 2005 performance in Walk the Line, and director Jean-Marc Vallée recently brought Oscar success with his stars in Dallas Buyer's Club. Will Reese Witherspoon earn and academy award nomination or perhaps win a second Oscar for her portrayal of this Real (Reel) Person.

Sherlock Season 3 - As Wonderful As Ever

Bennedict Cumberbatch in Sherlock (Season 3, Episode 2: "The Sign of Three")

There is all types of TV shows. While some are wildly entertaining and original, others can be more mindless or unoriginal in a cookie-cutter type of way.

Yet more than original or entertaining, the television show BBC's Sherlock is something even more. It's intelligent and artfully prepared. Artful from it's cinematography, editing, writing, and overall creativity.

My wife and I finished the third season (each season has had three 90 minutes episodes), and it is as enjoyable as ever. This is a true delight.

In season 3 not only does the three episode answer the mysteries the season 2 final let linger, but it also introduces and incredibly entertaining character, Mary Morstan (Dr. John Watson's girl friend/wife played incredibly well by Amanda Abbington).

Of every episode in this entire series, one of my favorite episodes to date was the 2nd episode called "The Sign of Three." This episode is based off of Arthur Conan Doyle's second Sherlock Holmes book The Sign of the Four. The majority of this episode is framed with a very long, funny, and awkward wedding toast by Sherlock Holmes (Bennedict Cumberbatch). This episode has a wonderful complexity to it, mixed with amazing humor, beautifully intriguing filming, and something that I really think is a truly unique television experience.

The fact of that matter is, that the way these episodes are crafted each episode is stand-alone-amazing.

Martin Freeman does a wonderful job playing Dr. Watson, Bennedict Cumberbatch will always be the modern Sherlock Holmes, and I hope this series continues season after season with high caliber writing and filming.

In addition to each episode being a perfectly packaged TV event, each of the three episodes did a great job progressing an overall plot as well with some very exciting surprises and story resolution that unfortunatly I can hardly write about without being spoiler free.

Creator/writers Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat have done something wonderful here, that truly deserves recognition and more than that I highly recommend tracking each of these seasons down and watching this wonderful series.

Great DVDs for Road Trips with Young Kids

This summer we've had a couple road trips and it's clear that my kids (1, 3, and just-turned 6) can tolerate a long road trip in the car with the joy of the DVD player built into our minivan. It's almost genius.

Our trip this past week ended up being about 13 hours each way, and the kids were awesome, largely thanks to the car entertainment. My two oldest especially enjoy a DVD on a road trip.

Some elements that make up good car trip DVDs in our family this summer have been.

► TV shows (instead of feature length movies): My experience with my kids has been that what holds there attention and interest best on a trip is DVD's of kids TV shows, rather than feature length kids films. The TV shows are often probably more age-appropriate and also a 15-30 minute episode followed back-to-back by another seems to flow nicely, and many times these DVDs pack the punch with some considerable length (a kids movie might be 70 minutes, but a disk of shows in some cases last over three hours)

► Shows they have never seen or seen very little of: If my kids watch TV it is typically going to be something that is part of the PBS kids lineup (Curious George, Super Why, Peg + Cat, Thomas & Friends). But for road trips we've had great success when it's a show they've never seen before. It's guaranteed to be episodes they've seen before and it's special.

► Non-Gender Defined Shows: My oldest is a girl who loves Angelina Ballerina, and my three-year-old boy loves Thomas the Train. But I try to avoid anything that screams "that's a girl show" or "that's a boy show" because I want them both happy and don't want to have to go through any type of back and forth on choices.

► No Choices - It's Always A Surprise: Because the shows are often things they haven't seen before - I like to bring the element of surprise. When we put in a movie they're curious about what it will be and it makes everything seem like a treat. Similarly I avoid letting them see the movies before hand. The movies are out of sight until my wife or I press play.

Below is a list of favorite DVDs from car trips this summer.

Our 10 Favorite DVDs for Car Trips This Summer:

• Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood: Life's Little Lessons
• Franklin: Reading Club
• Maya & Miguel: Funny Fix-ups
• Little Bear: Rainy Day Tales
• Magic School Bus: In a Pickle
• Justin Time: Amazing Adventures
• Max & Ruby: BunnyTales
• Little Einsteins Flight of the Instrument Fairies
• Timothy Goes To School: The Great Race
• Wild Kratts: Lost At Sea



**Feel free to share some of your favorite DVD finds for car road trips in the comments, and include your child(ren)s age(s) as well.**

Reel People: Timothy Spall is J.M.W. Turner

The film is Mr. Turner. The drama is written and directed by the seven time Oscar nominee Mike Leigh.

J.M.W. Turner

Joseph Mallord William Turner was born in 1774 to William Turner a barber and wig maker. He had a younger sister Mary Ann who died at the age of 4 in 1783.

Then in 1785 he was sent to live with his maternal uncle, Joseph Mallord William Turner who lived on the river Thames. As early as this time, young Turner started drawing and his father would sell his pictures in his shop.

Before entering the Royal Academy of Art in 1789 he was busy as doing pencil sketches and water color work as well as working for architects. Turner did all sorts of work at the academy, and exhibited watercolors each year at the academy. In 1796 he exhibited his first oil painting, Fisherman at Sea.

Into the next decades his career as a painter continued to take off and he traveled through out Europe, studied at the Louvre, and became a member of society with friends like parliament member Walter Fawkes and George Wyndham, the Earl of Egremont.

Also during this time he had a relationship with a woman either older widow, Sarah Danby or her neice Hannah Danby. Regarless, he was never married, but believed to have had two daughters with one of these woman born in 1801 and 1811, Eveline and Georgiana.

Also during the early days after the Royal Academy his father would come and live with him. His father would live with him for 30 years working as his studio assistant. When his father died in 1829 Turner was impacted by episodes of deep depression. Turner who's paintings were increasingly respected also had fewer friends and developed increasingly eccentric behavior. Hannah Danby during these years also became Turner's housekeeper.

In 1851 Turner would die at the home of his mistress Sophia Caroline Booth in Chelsea, where his last words are said to have been "The sun is God."

Mr. Turner

The film Mr. Turner tells the story of the eccentric painter in the last 25 years of his life, including the impact of the death of his father, his relationship with his housekeeper, his social life, and his time with his mistress.

In addition to Timothy Spall playing the part of the famous romantic landscape painter, his father is played by Paul Jessen, his housekeeper Hannah Danby is played by Dorothy Atkinson, and his mistress Sophia Booth is played by Marion Bailey.

Timothy Spall already won the Palm d'Or for his role in his film will he also get an Academy Award nomination or perhaps even a win for his portrayal of this Real (Reel) Person.

Reel People: John Lloyd Young is Frankie Valli

 

The film is Jersey Boys, in which John Lloyd Young reprises his Tony Award winning role on the big screen. The feature-length film of the Broadway play is directed by Clint Eastwood. The screenplay is written by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice based on their musical book.

Frankie Valli

Francesco Stephen Castelluccio was born in Newark, New Jersey on May 3, 1934. He developed the dream of being a musician at an early age after his mother took him to a Frank Sinatra concern at the Paramount Theater in New York when he was seven.

Until Frankie could support himself as a singer he followed in his father's footsteps as a barber.

His singing career started in 1951 singing with the Variety trio  (Nickie DeVito, Tommy DeVito and Nick Macioci). The Variety Trio would disband, and Frankie and Tommy DeVito would become part of other groups together. His first single, My Mother's Eyes" came out in 1953 under the name Frankie Valley (the last name adapted from a favorite singer "Texas" Jean Valli).

While auditioning as background singers he was identified along with former Variety trio (now in a group called The Varitones) members by RCA and they formed a group called The Four Lovers. The group would undergo some changes in the late 1950s and by the 1960s the group was renamed The Four Seasons. The group featured Franki Valli as lead singer, Bob Gaudio on keyboard and tenor vocals, Tommy DeVito on lead guitar and baritone vocals, and Nick Massi (formerly Macioci) on bass guitar and bass vocals.

The set up on the group gave them the opportunity to have solo artist tracks and group tracks giving them wide appeal and versatility. By 1966 Valli attempted his own solo release.

In the 1970s Valli suffered from Otosclerosis, an abnormal growth of bone by the ear that causes hearing loss. This required Valli to sing from memory until his hearing was restored in the 1980s with surgery.

Valli continued to release albums, with his most recent studio album released in 2007 (Romancing the '60s).

Frank Valli was married 3 times, first to Mary Mandel (divorced in 1971), MaryAnn Hannigan (Married 1974, divorced in 1982), and then Randy Clohessy (married 1984, divorced in 2014). Valli is father of three daughters, Antonia, Francine, and Celia, a son, Francesco, and twin boys, Emilio and Brando.

Jersey Boys

The film Jersey Boys is the feature film version of the Tony award winning Broadway play about The Four Seasons.

In addition to John Lloyd Young playing the part of Frankie Vallie, the other members of The Four Seasons portrayed in the film are Erich Bergen (as Bob Gaudio), Vincent Piazza (as Tommy DeVito), and Michael Lomendo (as Nick Massi).

The film also features Christopher Walken as mob boss Gyp DeCarolo, Mike Doyle as producer Bob Crewe, Renee Marino as Mary Delgado (Frankie's first wife), and Joey Russo as a young Joe Pesci.

Will John Lloyd Young repeat his Tony success and earn himself an Oscar nomination, or perhaps an Oscar win for his portrayal of this Real (Reel) Person?