#Edward Ricourt

[adamwatchesmovies]

Now You See Me (2013)

I don’t like dismissing premises outright. You never know. A sufficiently stylish presentation or engaging story might make it work. I'll make an exception for Now You See Me. This heist thriller was doomed from the start. It cheats so frequently and so obviously that even before the twist ending comes around, you’ve already started booing it off the stage. It’s less “sleight of hand” and more “pumping the auditorium full of knock-out gas”.

Magicians J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson), Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher) and Jack Wilder (Dave Franco) are brought together by a mysterious benefactor. One year later, they perform together as “the Four Horsemen” and baffle authorities when they transport an audience member inside a bank in Paris, steal all the money inside the vault and then give it away to their audience. FBI agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) and Interpol agent Alma Dray (Mélanie Laurent) investigate what HAS to be a trick… right?

Audiences are immediately suspicious any time we see magicians on-screen. These sleight of hand, escape acts, illusions, etc. are not the same as those that amaze us in person. They’re cheap facsimiles created by tricks of the camera. Ostensibly, this movie is about a quartet of magicians who use their skills to become Robin Hoods but every time you see them perform, you don’t buy it. The obviously fake tricks, which include Henley flying in a giant bubble and Merritt hypnotizing audience members to aid the group’s escapes, create a canyon between you and the investigators. You know what they’re doing is impossible. I don’t mean that it looks impossible. It's impossible unless they're all wizards and that’s just the beginning. Early in the film, we see the Horsemen interact with a hologram courtesy of “the Eye”, a Freemason-like group of magicians who steal from the rich and give to the poor. So it’s a science fiction film now? The FBI should be less worried about magic wands and more about alien tech teleporting people across the ocean.

This movie is like a four-year-old playing Snakes and Ladders against a blind man. It cheats at every opportunity. You don't believe for a second that the Four Horsemen - as wealthy and influential as they might be - could install a giant mirror in a secure location to make it seem like they’ve stolen an entire safe. Why? because you realize that if anyone stepped up close to check if it was actually missing, they'd spot the trick immediately. It’s one insult to your intelligence after another… and then we get to the ending

So it turns out Dylan was the one who brought the Horsemen together. Why? So he could get revenge on various people who contributed to his father’s death years ago, or failed to compensate his family after a tragic magic trick went wrong. Let's break down that sequence of events. Dylan spent DECADES plotting this whole thing, getting a job at the FBI, assembling a team, praying to the dark gods that he would get assigned to the Four Horsemen case, then thanked his lucky stars he took all those acting classes so he could act all frustrated when the Horsemen ran circles around him, even going so far as to maintain character even when alone, just in case someone was watching. His scheme involved chasing Jack through the streets of New York at high speed, the other Horsemen stealing a corpse from the morgue so they could fake Jack’s death in a fiery crash - a crash that conveniently does not burn a critical piece of paper that leads the investigation to the next clue. The Count of Monte Cristo must be blushing somewhere. The whole thing almost gets railroaded when Dylan begins falling for Alma - a magic trick in itself because there’s no reason the two of them should like each other, much less form any lasting attachment - so it's a miracle the thing worked out like it did.

Even if you can swallow the rabbit-sized ball of suspension of disbelief Now You See Me wants you to, the characters are thin and their motivations illogical. The plot tries to do way too much but I suspect that’s a deliberate strategy from director Louis Leterrier and writers Boaz Yakin, Edward Ricourt and Ed Solomon to keep your brain spinning past the ending. It's the only way to prevent you from realizing how little sense this story makes. One more thing. Some versions of the film feature a post-credit scene that hints towards a sequel (released in 2016). Others don’t. If you are determined to catch Now You See Me and want to get the most out of it, you might have to do a bit of digging. (August 27, 2021)

[screenmovie]

The Four Horsemen,

Now You See Me, Extended Cut (2013), directed by Louis Leterrier and written by Ed Solomon, Boaz Yakin, and Edward Ricourt.

[nine-frames]

Now You See Me, 2013.

Dir. Louis Leterrier | Writ. Ed Solomon, Boaz Yakin & Edward Ricourt | DOP Larry Fong & Mitchell Amundsen

[iseltwalds]

Maybe WyNovo could work for Stacy and Edward? Something similar to DonLuca, using their last names :) But if we keep that same concept for Margaret and Kevin’s... RiCourt? Or it could be the other way around, DelaChard? I’m not really sure 😂

I Almost Do

— Stacy and Edward meet again after fifteen years, or so Stacy thought.

Set in an alternate universe where Edward is sent to The US undercover for university and ends up falling in love with Stacy before the events in the movies occur.

—

Her meeting ended precisely at 5 PM.

Thank heavens it did, because she was dying to go home, actually no, scratch that. She was dying to go somewhere else, somewhere far from home, down some alcohol, and forget about every memory in her mind that had any regard or connection to the man she once loved.

Running off right away from the function hall, Stacy was able to catch the departing empty elevator right before it closed.

Since she was rushing her way through, she thought it was empty. It was departing from the floor where the hotel’s multiple function halls were anyway. If there were any people she would expect to be in it, it would be her assistant, her team, or the hotel staff.

So to her shock, it wasn’t actually empty.

There was a man, dressed in a black three-piece suit, standing in front of the control buttons of the elevator, smiling at her like it was the easiest thing to do.

Worse, it was the man he had been avoiding since he stepped out of her breakfast meeting earlier that morning.

“Hey.” He called out softly, still smiling, but Stacy refused to look at him and give him any attention.

She didn’t care about his outfit, she didn’t care if he was there, but what bugged her was how easy it was for him to smile at her like she was someone he had just met.

In a way, that could be true. It was the first time they saw each other after he left days before their college graduation.

And that was fifteen years ago.

Was she expecting for him to be mad at her?

Maybe. She didn’t know.

But for her, all she wanted was a little bit of peace, a little clarity as to why he had left her.

Seeing that Stacy had ignored him, the man remains silent, patiently waiting for the elevator to move — but it doesn’t. He takes a peek at the buttons and sees that none of them are lit up, indicating that no destination has been selected.

He turns to Stacy slowly, his eyes meeting hers, then he asks “What floor?”

“Basement, Your Majesty.” She returned so coldly that her voice sent shivers down her spine.

Edward nods and presses the button and soon enough, the elevator makes its way down

But that doesn’t last long.

About halfway through, the elevator stalls and the lights close out, leaving them stuck in the dark, cold, tiny metal room.

Neither of them grasp the situation right away — it is Stacy who does first, and she immediately screams and her mind goes overdrive, panicking as darkness envelopes the place. She feels tears forming in her eyes so she fans her eyes. The last thing she wants to happen is for the man beside her to see her in a crying mess.

When she doesn’t move or do anything, Edward takes the matter into his hands and pulls Stacy away from the control panel so he could see the buttons. In an instance, he finds the ring button and presses it to inform that the elevator has completely stopped. Then he searches for his phone, grabs it and dials a number.

Miraculously, the call goes through and he is able to get in touch with Frank. When he got off the phone, there was nothing else Edward could hear but Stacy heaving loud sighs as she tried to calm herself down.

“Hey…” Edward sits beside her, taking her cold hands into his in an attempt to help her. “You’re fine, we’ll be fine.” He knew about her history and he knew that she couldn’t last in small spaces. “Frank says they’ll get this fixed in no time. We’ll be out of here soon, I promise.”

His words instantly turn her into a crying mess, “Thank you Edward” She is able to breathe out in between sighs.

They stay silent. Not until Stacy musters up some courage in him to speak.

“Why did you leave, Edward?” It takes almost her entire being to let those words out of her mouth. It scares her that it might scare him, it scares her that it might hurt him but this was for her peace of mind too. She needed to do this.

Edward laughs — one that she isn’t sure if she was amused or offended. “You know, now that you’re the one asking me that question, I also don’t know why I did.”

She frowns. “What do you mean? So you’re saying it had nothing to do with me?”

“You were my saving grace, Stacy.” He shared, voice so tender that it made her heart swell. “The reason I chose to study in The States was because I wanted to get away from the pressure of royalty. It was doing no good to my mental health and I know that if I stayed in Belgravia, I would go on to believe that I was not capable of serving my people with my own abilities.”

“That doesn’t have anything to do with my question.” She returns, bitterly laughing for a second.

“I’m saying I also don’t know why I left you, Stacy. Back then, you were the only person who accepted me for who I was, with or without my shortcomings.”

They weren’t looking at each other — and even if they were, neither of them would even see; but Edward could feel her gaze on him, and he knew that she could feel him looking at her as well.

“Okay.” She simply says, but underneath the thick darkness where Edward couldn’t see her, tears cloud her vision as she slowly and silently sobbed.

It takes moments for either of them to speak, and it is Edward who breaks the awful silence reigning inside the cold metal room.

“I’m sorry, Stacy. I know it’s long overdue and I know it won’t take away the pain in your heart, but I’m sorry. I really am.” He says, voice shaking as tears start to fall down her cheeks. Edward quickly wipes them off and fans her face in hopes that it would stop the tears from falling down.

Stacy doesn’t respond, but in the next seconds, she feels the royal beside her move closer, finding her body and pulling her closer to him. No words. Just their bodies pressed beside each other. No more, no less.

They stay like that for a while. Stacy takes in his hands, slowly massaging them just like how she used to. She does it so delicately that it makes Edward’s heart warm and he doesn’t want her to stop, but when she reaches his right hand, she abruptly stops when she notices there is a thick band wrapping around his ring finger — a simple gold band that seemed like a wedding ring.

Stacy stops for a moment before removing her hands from his, “I don’t know how long it’s been, but congratulations on your marriage.” She says slowly, careful enough so that he wouldn’t notice the tears that were uncontrollably falling down.

Edward lets out a bitter laugh but thanks him nonetheless.

And silence reigns. Yet again.

This time, it lasts longer. It lasts until the lights turn back on, and they find each other with red eyes, wet cheeks, and forced smiles on their faces.

Despite the worry that overcomes both of them, no words are spoken, no words come out of their lips, just their eyes stuck to one another like it were their eyes who were conversing.

His eyes were saying “Sorry.”

Her eyes were saying “Congratulations, I’m happy for you.”

Whatever their eyes were saying, they didn’t dare to say out loud.

Silence continues to reign until the doors of the elevator open and Stacy steps out of the metal room but before he leaves, she spins to him and a smile appears on her lips.

“Congratulations again, Your Highness.” She says so easily like she hadn’t been crying over it minutes ago. “Have a blissful marriage. I’ll see you when I see you.”

And in the next second, she’s out of his sight.

With tears in his eyes, Edward leans on the cold wall of the elevator as the doors close, gently rubbing the gold band on his ring finger — the same one she touched earlier, and whispers.

“Bold of me to think she’s remembered. She’s really forgotten about us.”

[universalmovies]

Sony svilupperà un spin-off Spider-Man dedicato a Nightwatch diretto da Spike Lee?

#Sony svilupperà un spin-off #SpiderMan dedicato a #Nightwatch diretto da #SpikeLee?

L’universo cinematografico Marvel legato al personaggio di Spider-Man continua ad espandersi, a quanto pare in casa Sony Pictures si pensa ora a Nightwatch.

Al momento si tratta solo di un rumour, anche se accredito da una fonte solida come il super blogger Jeff Sneider, proprio per questo diamo alla notizia un valore ancora da calcolare. Ma veniamo ai fatti. Durante l’ultimo episodio di Meet the…

[blaze8403]

American heist thriller film directed by Louis Leterrier from a screenplay by Ed Solomon, Boaz Yakin, and Edward Ricourt and a story by Yakin and Ricourt. It is the first installment in the Now You See Me series. The film features an ensemble cast of Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, Mélanie Laurent, Michael Caine, and Morgan Freeman. The plot follows an FBI agent and an Interpol detective who track a team of magicians who pull off bank heists and robberies during their performances and reward their audiences with the money, attempting to bring them to justice The film premiered in New York City on May 21, 2013 before its official release in the United States on May 31, 2013, by Summit Entertainment. The film received mixed reviews from critics but became a box office success, grossing $351.7 million worldwide against a budget of $75 million. The film won the People's Choice Award for Favorite Thriller Movie and also received nominations for the Empire Award for Best Thriller and the Saturn Award for Best Thriller Film and Best Music. Now you see me now you dont the plot Magicians J. Daniel Atlas, Merritt McKinney, Henley Reeves, and Jack Wilder each receive a tarot card leading them to a New York City apartment, where they discover hologram technology with instructions from an unknown benefactor. A year later in Las Vegas, they perform as “the Four Horsemen” in a show funded by insurance magnate Arthur Tressler. Their final trick appears to transport an audience member inside the vault of the Crédit Républicain bank in Paris. Stacks of euros are drawn into the vault’s air vents and showered on the Las Vegas crowd; the Paris vault is found empty of its recent shipment of euros.FBI agent Dylan Rhodes and Interpol agent Alma Dray question the Horsemen but have no evidence to hold them, and turn to Thaddeus Bradley, a former magician turned magic debunker. Thirty years ago, Lionel Shrike, a magician exposed by Thaddeus, attempted to relaunch his career, but died inside a safe during a failed escape trick. Thaddeus demonstrates how the Horsemen used a mock vault under the Las Vegas stage, and explains that they stole the money before it arrived at the bank, replacing it with flash paper which ignited without a trace. He reveals that they manipulated the audience participant to attend the show, where he was hypnotized into helping to perform the final trick.

Thaddeus and the FBI follow the Horsemen to their next show in New Orleans, where the magicians transfer over $140 million from Tressler's private accounts to the audience, made up of people whose insurance claims were denied by Tressler's company in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The magicians elude arrest, and a vengeful Tressler hires Thaddeus to expose them.

Lesson Plan C Three San not NSA or NAS three or Sir - T Rhee

[kerrysdominicanlitblog]

Five Interesting Nonfiction Books

History and Culture of Dominican Republic, Government, Politics Economy, Tourism

"The Dominican Republic experienced many setbacks on the road to the democratic system under which it functioned in the late 1980s. In this book, you will be having the following, early history of Dominican Republic, Present history, Government, Politics, Culture, People, environment, and more. The nation did not enjoy full independence until 1844, when it emerged from twenty-two years of occupation by Haiti; this liberation came later than that of most Latin American countries.

Reacceptance of Spanish rule from 1861 to 1865 demonstrated the republic's insecurity and dependence on larger powers to protect it and to define its status. Dominican vulnerability to intervention from abroad was also made evident by the United States military occupation of 1916-24 and by a more limited action by United States forces during a brief civil war in 1965. Politically, Dominican history has been defined by an almost continuous." (amazon.com)

Hispaniola Hell or Home?

"Grand Narratives of colonization, especially ones related to the Spanish and Portuguese Americas, began circulating soon after 1492. The danger of these Grand Narratives is that they are often mistaken as reality and eclipse all other possible narrations pertaining to a particular place and/or time. As more Caribbean territories become independent, the questioning of Grand Narratives has permeated many disciplines in the region, and archaeology is no exception.

This work attempts to examine the lifeways at the archaeological site of Concepción de la Vega during its occupation from 1494 through 1564, using a Decolonial approach. Situated in present-day Dominican Republic (Hispaniola island), this site was one of the earliest and most affluent in Caribbean colonial history.

The Decolonial approach used here critically analyzes and reinterprets primary data about Concepción from the point of view of those colonized, particularly non-elite, Indigenous peoples, and those of African descent. This approach uses various sources of data to recreate early lifeways, and helps gain a better understanding of the process through which the Spanish-American cultural tradition was created, and later disseminated, to the rest of Latin America." (amazon.com)

The Dominican Racial Imaginary

"Honorable mention, 2017 Gordon K. and Sybil Lewis Award from the Caribbean Studies Association This book begins with a simple question: why do so many Dominicans deny the African components of their DNA, culture, and history?  Seeking answers, Milagros Ricourt uncovers a complex and often contradictory Dominican racial imaginary.

Observing how Dominicans have traditionally identified in opposition to their neighbors on the island of Hispaniola—Haitians of African descent—she finds that the Dominican Republic’s social elite has long propagated a national creation myth that conceives of the Dominican as a perfect hybrid of native islanders and Spanish settlers. Yet as she pores through rare historical documents, interviews contemporary Dominicans, and recalls her own childhood memories of life on the island, Ricourt encounters persistent challenges to this myth. Through fieldwork at the Dominican-Haitian border, she gives a firsthand look at how Dominicans are resisting the official account of their national identity and instead embracing the African influence that has always been part of their cultural heritage.   Building on the work of theorists ranging from Edward Said to Édouard Glissant, this book expands our understanding of how national and racial imaginaries develop, why they persist, and how they might be subverted. As it confronts Hispaniola’s dark legacies of slavery and colonial oppression, The Dominican Racial Imaginary also delivers an inspiring message on how multicultural communities might cooperate to disrupt the enduring power of white supremacy" (amazon.com)

Gangs in the Caribbean: Responses of State and Society

"For decades, gangs have been emerging across the globe, disrupting citizen security, the rule of law, health and education, and local economies. The Caribbean, like many other regions, has a significant gang problem. Unfortunately, however, there has been limited academic attention given to the issue. Gangs in the Caribbean is intended to fill this gap by providing sound research conducted by leading Caribbean criminologists that encourages thoughtful and data-driven discussions between researchers and policymakers. The articles range from those that focus on the scope and nature of the Caribbean gang problem, with cutting-edge descriptions of both organized crime groups and street gangs and an analysis of how these differences impact the types of problems that communities face, to those that explore the policies and programs designed and implemented to respond to Caribbean gangs, as well as what we have learned about such policies and programs in terms of their effectiveness and unintended consequences. In doing so, Gangs in the Caribbean provides researchers, policymakers, and students with a foundation of knowledge on a core issue confronting the Caribbean and provides these readers with a clear roadmap for responding to gangs in the future." (ebay.com)

Black behind the Ears

"Black behind the Ears is an innovative historical and ethnographic examination of Dominican identity formation in the Dominican Republic and the United States. For much of the Dominican Republic’s history, the national body has been defined as “not black,” even as black ancestry has been grudgingly acknowledged. Rejecting simplistic explanations, Ginetta E. B. Candelario suggests that it is not a desire for whiteness that guides Dominican identity discourses and displays. Instead, it is an ideal norm of what it means to be both indigenous to the Republic (indios) and “Hispanic.” Both indigeneity and Hispanicity have operated as vehicles for asserting Dominican sovereignty in the context of the historically triangulated dynamics of Spanish colonialism, Haitian unification efforts, and U.S. imperialism. Candelario shows how the legacy of that history is manifest in contemporary Dominican identity discourses and displays, whether in the national historiography, the national museum’s exhibits, or ideas about women’s beauty. Dominican beauty culture is crucial to efforts to identify as “indios” because, as an easily altered bodily feature, hair texture trumps skin color, facial features, and ancestry in defining Dominicans as indios. Candelario draws on her participant observation in a Dominican beauty shop in Washington Heights, a New York City neighborhood with the oldest and largest Dominican community outside the Republic, and on interviews with Dominicans in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Santo Domingo. She also analyzes museum archives and displays in the Museo del Hombre Dominicano and the Smithsonian Institution as well as nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century European and American travel narratives." (amazon.com)

[serieouslymovieing]

Now you see me (2013)

Título original    Now You See Me

Año    2013

Duración    124 min.

País    Estados Unidos Estados Unidos

Dirección    Louis Leterrier

Guion    Boaz Yakin, Edward Ricourt, Ed Solomon (Historia: Boaz Yakin, Edward Ricourt)

Música    Brian Tyler

Fotografía    Larry Fong, Mitchell Amundsen

Reparto    Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Mélanie Laurent, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Common, Michael Kelly, José Garcia, David Warshofsky, Jessica Lindsey, Caitriona Balfe, Stephanie Honore

Productora    Summit Entertainment / Kurtzman Orci Paper Products / See Me Louisiana

Género    Thriller | Robos & Atracos. Crimen. Magia

Sinopsis    Un equipo del FBI debe enfrentarse a una banda de criminales expertos en magia que se dedican a atracar bancos. Son "los cuatro jinetes”, un grupo formado por los mejores ilusionistas del mundo. Durante los atracos, siempre contra hombres de negocios corruptos, hacen llover el dinero robado sobre los espectadores, ante la atónita mirada de un equipo de élite del FBI que les sigue la pista. (FILMAFFINITY)

[popculturebrain]

Rumor: Spike Lee may direct a ‘Spider-Man’ universe movie

Not to be outdone by Disney, WB, and Fox, Sony is developing a Spider-Man cinematic universe featuring spin-offs of characters from the Spider-Man comics. A new rumor pegs Spike Lee as a potential director for the big screen treatement of a lesser known character.

According to Jeff Sneider’s “Meet the Movie Press” podcast, as reported on by Indiewire, Lee might be directing a ‘Nightwatch’ movie. But take this with a huge grain of salt.

Sneider is confident that the movie is in development and says it’s being written by Edward Ricourt (’Now You See Me’), but Spike Lee as director seems to be much more based on rumor. Getting Lee would be a super interesting choice and a big win for Sony. 

Nightwatch, aka Dr. Kevin Trench, has an unusual origin story. According to Indiewire, “He sees a masked man die in a fight and, upon unmasking him, learns that it’s an older version of himself.”

[screenmovie]

Mark Ruffalo as Dylan Rhodes,

Now You See Me, Extended Cut (2013), directed by Louis Leterrier and written by Ed Solomon, Boaz Yakin, and Edward Ricourt.

[adriansdominicanlitblog-blog]

Five Nonfiction Books

 1. In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez

Set during the last days of the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic, three young sisters, members of a conservative, pious Catholic family, who had become committed to the revolutionary overthrow of the regime, were ambushed and assassinated as they drove back from visiting their jailed husbands.

Thus martyred, the Mirabal sisters have become mythical figures in their country, where they are known as Las Mariposas (the butterflies), from their underground code names. Alvarez, a Dominican-American, has fictionalized their story in a narrative that starts slowly but builds to a gripping intensity. Each of the girls–Patria, Minerva and Maria Terese (Mate) Mirabal–speaks in her own voice, beginning from their childhood in the 1940s; their surviving sister, Dede, frames the narrative with her own tale of suffering and dedication to their memory.

Alvarez captures the terrorized atmosphere of a police state, in which people live under the sword of terrible fear and atrocities cannot be acknowledged. As the sisters’ energetic fervor turns to anguish, Alvarez conveys their courage and their desperation, and the full impact of their tragedy. (From Publishers Weekly)

2.  The Dominican Republic Reader: History, Culture, Politics by Eric Paul Roorda

Despite its significance in the history of Spanish colonialism, the Dominican Republic is familiar to most outsiders through only a few elements of its past and culture. Non-Dominicans may be aware that the country shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti and that it is where Christopher Columbus chose to build a colony. Some may know that the country produces talented baseball players and musicians; others that it is a prime destination for beach vacations. Little else about the Dominican Republic is common knowledge outside its borders. This Reader seeks to change that. It provides an introduction to the history, politics, and culture of the country, from precolonial times into the early twenty-first century. Among the volume's 118 selections are essays, speeches, journalism, songs, poems, legal documents, testimonials, and short stories, as well as several interviews conducted especially for this Reader. Many of the selections have been translated into English for the first time. All of them are preceded by brief introductions written by the editors. The volume's eighty-five illustrations, ten of which appear in color, include maps, paintings, and photos of architecture, statues, famous figures, and Dominicans going about their everyday lives. (Amazon.com)

3. Dividing Hispaniola: The Dominican Republic's Border Campaign against Haiti by  Edward Paulino

The island of Hispaniola is split by a border that divides the Dominican Republic and Haiti. This border has been historically contested and largely porous. Dividing Hispaniola is a study of Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo’s scheme, during the mid-twentieth century, to create and reinforce a buffer zone on this border through the establishment of state institutions and an ideological campaign against what was considered an encroaching black, inferior, and bellicose Haitian state. The success of this program relied on convincing Dominicans that regardless of their actual color, whiteness was synonymous with Dominican cultural identity. (Amazon.com)

4. The Dominican Racial Imaginary: Surveying the Landscape of Race and Nation in Hispaniola by Milagros Ricourt

This book begins with a simple question: why do so many Dominicans deny the African components of their DNA, culture, and history?  Seeking answers, Milagros Ricourt uncovers a complex and often contradictory Dominican racial imaginary. Observing how Dominicans have traditionally identified in opposition to their neighbors on the island of Hispaniola—Haitians of African descent—she finds that the Dominican Republic’s social elite has long propagated a national creation myth that conceives of the Dominican as a perfect hybrid of native islanders and Spanish settlers. Yet as she pores through rare historical documents, interviews contemporary Dominicans, and recalls her own childhood memories of life on the island, Ricourt encounters persistent challenges to this myth. Through fieldwork at the Dominican-Haitian border, she gives a firsthand look at how Dominicans are resisting the official account of their national identity and instead embracing the African influence that has always been part of their cultural heritage.   Building on the work of theorists ranging from Edward Said to Édouard Glissant, this book expands our understanding of how national and racial imaginaries develop, why they persist, and how they might be subverted. As it confronts Hispaniola’s dark legacies of slavery and colonial oppression, The Dominican Racial Imaginary also delivers an inspiring message on how multicultural communities might cooperate to disrupt the enduring power of white supremacy. (Amazon.com)

5. Blacks, Mulattos, and the Dominican Nation by Franklin J. Franco

Blacks, Mulattos, and the Dominican Nation is the first English translation of the classic text Los negros, los mulatos y la nación dominicana by esteemed Dominican scholar Franklin J. Franco. Published in 1969, this book was the first systematic work on the role of Afro-descendants in Dominican society, the first society of the modern Americas where a Black-Mulatto population majority developed during the 16th century. Franco’s work, a foundational text for Dominican ethnic studies, constituted a paradigm shift, breaking with the distortions of traditional histories that focused on the colonial elite to place Afro-descendants, slavery, and race relations at the center of Dominican history. (Amazon.com)

[waha-no-baka]

[center] Jessica Jones # Bloc Technique Titre original : Marvel’s Jessica Jones Genre : Action, drame, policier, science-fiction, super-héros, thriller psychologique Créateur : Melissa Rosenberg d’après la série de Comics de Marvel Comics, créé en 2001 Brian Michael Bendis et Michael Gaydos Scénario : Michael Brian Bendis, Michael Gaydos, Melissa Rosenberg, Jenna Reback, Liz Friedman, Jamie King, Scott Reynolds, Micah Schraft, Hilly Hicks Jr, Dana Baratta, Edward Ricourt Réalisation : S.J. Jackson, David Petrarca, Stephen Surjik, Uta Briesewitz, Billy Gierhart, Simon Cellan Jones, Rosemary Rodriguez, John Dahl, Michael Rymer Sociétés de production : ABC Studios, Marvel Television, Netflix, Tall Girls Productions Sociétés de distribution : Netflix Pays d’origine : États-Unis Nombre de saisons : 2 saisons pour le moment Nombre d’épisodes : 26 épisodes Durée : 50–54 minutes Date de diffusion : 20 novembre 2015 – en production Site Web officiel : http://bit.ly/1HNZkkT Distribution : Krysten Ritter (VF : Victoria Grosbois) : Jessica Jones Mike Colter (VF : Daniel Lobé) : Luke Cage David Tennant (VF : Sébastien Desjours) : Kilgrave Rachael Taylor (VF : Hélène Bizot) : Patricia « Trish » Walker Carrie-Anne Moss (VF : Danièle Douet) : Jeri Hogarth Eka Darville (VF : John Kokou) : Malcolm Ducasse Erin Moriarty (VF : Célia Asensio) : Hope Schlottman Wil Traval (VF : Valentin Merlet) : Will Simpson # Synopsis de Wikipedia Jessica Jones, souffrant de stress post-traumatique à la suite d’une confrontation avec Kilgrave, a remisé ses envies d’être une super-héroïne au placard afin d’ouvrir une agence de détective. Malgré le soutien de Patricia Walker, sa sœur adoptive, elle ne parvient pas totalement à tourner la page. Lors d’une nouvelle enquête, ses anciens démons vont resurgir. # Trailer https://youtu.be/nWHUjuJ8zxE Tags : #serie_tv #Marvel_s_Jessica_Jones #Jessica_Jones #Action #drame #policier #science_fiction #super_héros #thriller #psychologique #Melissa_Rosenberg #Marvel_Comics #Brian_Michae_Bendis #Michael_Gaydos #David_Petrarca #Stephen_Surjik #ABC_Studios #Marvel_Television #Netflix #Tall_Girls_Productions Lien vers la fiche : http://bit.ly/2Dp3FRV http://bit.ly/2GxnFEK

[blogmoviereview-blog1]

Now You See Me (2013)

Plot Summary

Four magicians each answer a mysterious summons to an obscure address with secrets inside. A year later, they are the Four Horsemen, big time stage illusionists who climax their sold out Las Vegas show with a bank apparently robbed for real. This puts agents Dylan Rhodes of the FBI and Alma Dray of Interpol on the case to find out how they did it. However, this mystery proves difficult to solve even with the insights of the professional illusion exposer, Thaddeus Bradley. What follows is a bizarre investigation where nothing is what it seems with illusions, dark secrets and hidden agendas galore as all involved are reminded of a great truth in this puzzle: the closer you look, the less you see.

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg (J. Daniel Atlas), Mark Ruffalo (Dylan Rhodes), Woody Harrelson (Merritt McKinney), Isla Fisher (Henley Reeves),Dave Franco (Jack Wilder), Mélanie Laurent (Alma Dray), Morgan Freeman (Thaddeus Bradley), Michael Caine (Arthur Tressler)

Genre: Crime, Mystery, Thriller

Director: Louis Leterrier

Writer: Ed Solomon, Boaz Yakin, Edward Ricourt

Run Time: 1h 55mins

Age Rating: 12

Imdb Rating: 7.3

Opinion:

When this movie originally came out I watched it at the cinemas and I thought it was absolutely amazing, it was totally blowing my mind how everything just blended in together and I absolutely love it. Now a few years on I still think this movie is crazy, it still amazes me how easy they made it look even though they are just normal actors.

It is however one of those movies that you have to devote 100% attention too otherwise you miss important details so you’ve kind of got to pay total attention or it doesn't make sense but its a fantastic movie if you pay attention to it. It can be rather confusing but it’s totally worth the watch.

Personal Rating: 8.0

[themoviestore]

Now You See Me

Now You See Me

Now You See Me is a 2013 American heist thriller film directed by Louis Leterrier and written by Ed Solomon, Boaz Yakin, and Edward Ricourt.

Plot :

Four stage magicians, J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson), Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher), and Jack Wilder (Dave Franco), are each given a tarot card that leads them to the same empty New York City apartment where…

[8spade]

My friend received this in the mail today from Dickinson College. Edward Ricourt??? !!! MAKE THIS MAN A MEME