#mark o'halloran

[camyfilms]

MARY & GEORGE 2024

They don't give me anything. I am the power. I am the King. I am England.

[doughmonkey]

Whaaat? Benicio Del Toro was the executive producer of Viva in 2015? And I did not know this?? Loved that movie, written by my favourite Irish screenwriter, Mark O'Halloran. Check out his other works: Garage, Adam and Paul (that movie makes me cry every single time...) O'Halloran is a good actor as well but I prefer his writing.

[mikyapixie]

🦇HAPPY BATMAN DAY🦇

Happy 85 years of Batman!!!

V1

I made this while listening to The Future by Mystery Skulls, unexpectedly it was good motivator!!!😁😁😁

[no-saints-no-scholars]

Duncan meets Courtney in the third week of freshman year.

He managed to skip the first two weeks until his dad caught him, and after one of the worst lectures he's ever been given, Duncan drags himself to school on the third Monday. He shows up ten minutes late to his English class, and all the seats in the back are already taken. It's a punishment he should've seen coming, and the teacher, Ms. O'Halloran, tells him with a wink that he can sit in the front, where she can keep an eye on him.

There's a girl sitting there already, fine brown hair falling an inch or two below her chin. Her notebook is open on the desk, her handwriting so neat it looks like it was typed, and her hands are politely clasped in front of her.

At that moment, Duncan decides he's not going to survive this class.

He trudges over to the empty seat beside her- her possessions take up exactly fifty percent of the desk, it seems- and slings his backpack underneath the table. He has maybe half a notebook and two pencils in there from last year. The girl doesn't make eye contact with him, jotting down notes as Ms. O'Halloran explains what they'll be studying for the next hour.

Duncan pays not an iota of attention, instead stealing glances at the girl beside him. She's too engrossed in what their teacher's saying to notice. Her eyes are brown, focused. He sees smatterings of freckles across the bridge of her nose and her cheekbones. There's a beauty mark or two below her jawline, nearly hidden by her hair. So she's organised, and pretty. He seriously doubts they'll ever speak.

When he looks down at her textbooks, stacked in a well proportioned manner on the corner of the desk, he sees a label. Courtney Reyes. He swears he's heard the name Reyes before.

He spends the rest of class giving himself temporary tattoos with a ballpoint pen he found in the lining of his bag. When the bell rings, he grabs his things and heads for the door. It's lunch period, and with everyone rushing out the door he manages to bump into the girl. She drops her books, and before Duncan can apologise she's scowling at him from beneath her perfectly combed bangs.

"God, do you mind?"

He blinks. It's not what he was expecting at all, and it's not like he did it on purpose, but she's pissed and looks like she's expecting a response. An apology, probably.

"I'm so sorry your highness," he says dramatically, "is the damsel's escort off duty today? Not used to carrying her own books?"

Too bad.

The shock on her face is gone nearly as fast as it came, and the next thing Duncan knows she's muttering "neanderthal" and walking briskly out the door. She throws a dirty look at Duncan over her shoulder as she leaves, and something about the disdainful look in her eye does funny things to his heart.

He decides that maybe English isn't an entirely useless subject, and it wouldn't kill him to be on time every once in a while.

[jenneferofjengaberg]

I recently finished Mary & George, a limited series that portrays a fictionalized version of the story of Mary Villiers and her son George, aka The Duke of Buckingham, who rose to power in the early 17th century court of King James VI (Scotland) and I (England).

It's very good, probably one of the better historical pieces I've seen this year. Julianne Moore (Mary Villiers) and Nicholas Galitzine (George Villiers) are excellent in their roles, and it's full of a great supporting cast as well, with particular honorable mentions going to Tony Curran as King James, Laurie Davidson as Somerset, Niamh Algar as Sandie, Nicola Walker as Lady Hatton, and Mark O'Halloran as Francis Bacon.

The story basically goes like this. Mary Villiers, the widow of a minor member of the aristocracy, molded her handsome son George into becoming a lover of King James, who was well known to prefer the company of beautiful young men. (Or as the show puts it, in probably the funniest line I've ever heard, James was, "So cock-struck it's like a curse.")

The trailers for the show seemed to lean heavily on the raunch and comedy aspects, and there certainly are plenty of steamy sex scenes and irreverent laughs to be had, but there's a more serious story here as well, with themes of corrupting power taking precedence over the lighthearted.

Mary Villiers is obsessed with gaining power and favor, and more than willing to pimp out her gorgeous son to do it. And yet Julianne Moore adeptly shows Mary's side of the story, with the complicating factors of being a woman in the 17th century and therefore lacking in any traditional access to the avenues of power and wealth. "Women grow by men", as Shakespeare's Nurse famously puts it, in a play written around the time that Mary was giving birth to her son.

Moore and the script infuse the character with wit and sarcasm, even when she's being her most evil self. And yet Mary is an unreliable narrator at best. There's a scene in the final episode, where she questions George's by now outrageous behavior, and seems to sincerely claim, "You are not who I raised". But her every action thus far makes that an obvious and galling lie, and the fact that she believes this lie renders the character's level of self-awareness as practically non-existent. To the end, she seems to accept no guilt or responsibility at all for either the predictable corruption and downfall of her son or the brutal consequences suffered by her girlfriend and co-conspirator, Sandie (Niamh Algar). But Moore's performance of this unconscious amorality is both fascinating and liberating to watch.

Galitzine is also exceptional at presenting the journey of George Villiers from a vulnerable young man into quite a monstrous egomaniac. In the beginning, George seems to act mostly out of a desire to keep his mother satisfied and even, at times, a sincere affection for the King. But as time goes on, and he must scheme and plot to maintain his place as the King's favorite, he transforms into an arrogant, selfishly ambitious, and recklessly dangerous member of the royal court. It's a complicated portrayal of a character that's a little slutty, a lot scheming, but still occasionally sincere, and sometimes even struck by conscience. His best moments, such as his patience and care for his neurodivergent brother, make the audience mourn the loss of the uncorrupted young man he was, and not the petty tyrant he turns into. Galitzine also looks screen scorchingly beautiful in every scene, which doesn't at all detract from his more nuanced performances.

My one quibble with the piece is the script's characterization of King James. Actor Tony Curran is very charming as the romantic, mercurial, and "cock-struck" King, but that may be a fault rather than a feature of this depiction. James gets off rather easy, compared to everyone else. After all, he's the one who turned his personal relationships into a patronage system that basically boiled down to a sex-for-power scheme. People like Somerset, Mary Villiers and Buckingham may have exploited that system, but they didn't author it. And, although this is obviously imposing a wildly modern set of sensibilities on a historical show/events, one wonders if a man who made a habit of sleeping with much younger men who had far less power than he, should be made out to be quite so much the victim as he is in this series. Particularly the way they changed the historical circumstances of his death to fit the narrative of the pitiable gay king who just wanted to be loved but was continually let down or betrayed by his lovers.

Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy the performance overall. And his relationship with George also seemed touchingly sincere, but I also think they could have examined his role in corrupting those around him, both Somerset and Buckingham, more fully, rather than winking at it and mostly letting him off the hook.

Grade: A-

[detournementsmineurs]

"Mary and George" mini-série créée par D. C. Moore - adaptée du roman" The King's Assassin" de Benjamin Woolley (2017), basé sur la liaison entre Jacques Ier d'Angleterre et VI d'Ecosse (1566-1625) et George Villiers, 1er duc de Buckingham (1592-1628) - avec Julianne Moore, Nicholas Galitzine, Tony Curran, Laurie Davidson, Niamh Algar, Mark O'Halloran, Kate Fleetwood, Samuel Blenkin, Nicola Walker, Adrian Rawlins, Trine Dyrholm et Mirren Mack, juin-juillet 2024.

[james-vi-stan-blog]

The people would love to hear your humble opinion on the M&G trailer

I've really been trying to come up with anything insightful or interesting to say but honestly, bleep blorp my brain has no thoughts just jamesworms. It's also a lot of the same scenes we've seen from the teaser!

More of George's horrible brothers has been teased, I'm excited for that, if "excited" is the right word. Kit was a drunk and John was mad, which is sympathetic—imagine having mental illness in the 17th century—but IIRC also violent, and his wife had a horrible time of it and it looks like a fair part of that will be shown in M&G.

The burning an effigy of the king on a bonfire was intriguing, I wonder if this is to show anti-Spanish sentiment after the return of George and Charles and will form part of their motive to assassinate James (though again… sigh… they didn't… they shouldn't… I'm dreading).

I am extremely bad at recognizing faces, have we seen Mark O'Halloran as Francis Bacon yet anywhere?

[greensparty]

Movie Review: The 4:30 Movie

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Kevin Smith's directorial debut Clerks, one of my all-time favorites. When I was getting into filmmaking, seeing Clerks was highly influential. It was a full-on “you can do this too” moment for me. Since that debut, Kevin Smith has had such a unique career in that he has made big budget movies, low budget, and everywhere in between for both studios and independently. He has built up a cult following and brought his characters into various sequels including 2022's Clerks III (read my review here). When I interviewed Clerks III stars Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson after it's release, they both spoke fondly of Smith and the fun environment he creates. Smith's earlier work like Mallrats and Chasing Amy are his strongest era. Since then, he has tried to dip his toes in other genres with mixed results (i.e. Red State and Tusk), but he tends to do his best work when it's somewhat personal. Being released this week from Saban Films is his semi-autobiographical coming-of-age comedy The 4:30 Movie.

movie poster

In suburban NJ during the Summer of 1986, teen Brian David (Austin Zajur) gets up the guts to call Melody Barnegat (Siena Agudong), a girl he flirted with the previous Summer and never got the guts to do ask out. She agrees to meet him for a movie at 4:30PM that day. Before that he goes with his goofy buddies Belly (Reed Northrup) and Burny (Nicholas Cirilo) to the same movie theater for some cinema trickery (one buys a ticket and sneaks the others in, etc). But when they piss off Manager Mike (Ken Jeong) the plan for Melody to meet Brian at that same cinema becomes endangered. There's small appearances from Kate Minucci, Method Man, Sam Richardson, Adam Pally, Rachel Dratch and loads of View Askew alumni.

Smith directing

The tone of this movie is similar to Mallrats in that it is a teen movie that's combining romanticism with crude humor, which isn't always easy to pull off. It is a coming-of-age teen movie in the vein of Smith's hero John Hughes, which in 2024 is refreshing to see. I'll start with the positive about this movie: this was something that truly spoke to me and more specifically the person I was at 16, even though that was more than a few years past 1986. The protagonist is a teen film geek, who has a vast knowledge of film and pop culture, insists on keeping quiet during a movie and staying for the credits, and reads Starlog magazine. To say I could relate would be an understatement! There was a real heart to this movie that looked back a pre-cell phone era (there's a funny gag where a character calls the movie theater and ties up the landline, drawing the ire Manager Mike). Now here's what I had an issue with: since this was Kevin Smith, I had hoped it was going to be LOL funny throughout. Instead there was some funny parts and then long periods before the next part I laughed at. Some of the jokes were low-hanging fruit winking-at-the-audiences references to the time period and what we know changed since (i.e. jokes about how no one would care about Star Wars sequels, prequels or spin-offs). In other coming-of-age comedies like Adventureland for example, I'm alright with it not being laugh-a-minute, but there's a certain expectation with Kevin Smith and because of this I wished it had been funnier. There's also some characters that are more like caricatures. I am pleased to see Smith going inward and personal like a lot of his best work (i.e. the Clerks movies). Clerks III was a serious comeback for him and here he's trying to sustain that...with mixed results, but it's the main character / Smith alter-ego Brian who makes this movie as we don't often get movies about film geeks (Clarence in True Romance being one of the notable exceptions). Let's hope Smith's next semi-autobiographical film is even better!

For info on The 4:30 Movie

3.5 out of 5 stars

[moorheadthanyoucanhandle]

FEEL THE BERN(ADETTE)

Now in theaters:

The Miracle Club--After many decades in Boston, Chrissie has returned to her working class neighborhood in Dublin in 1967, after the death of her long-estranged mother. She gets a cold reception from her old friend Eileen (Kathy Bates) and from Lily (Maggie Smith), the mother of her teenage lover who later died by drowning.

Lily and Eileen are about to leave on a trip to Lourdes; somehow Chrissie (Laura Linney) ends up on the bus too. Also on the trip is Dolly (lovely Agnes O'Casey; a descendant of Sean, no less!), a young mother hoping the waters at Lourdes will heal her little son Daniel, who hasn't started speaking yet.

This comedy-drama, directed by Thaddeus O'Sullivan from a script by Jimmy Smallhorne, Timothy Prager and Joshua D. Maurer, doesn't push too deep into the psychology and theology of pilgrimages to holy places and the search for authentic supernatural miracles. About as far as the exploration goes is the pronouncement of the priest (Mark O'Halloran): "You don't go to Lourdes for a miracle; you go for the strength to go on when there is no miracle." Well, okay, but...so many questions.

Mostly the pilgrimage is used here as a device to gradually tease out the poignant backstory of the characters, and to give them a symbolic redemption. There's also a good deal of comedy derived from the bumbling husbands, including Stephen Rea as Eileen's not-much-better half, cluelessly trying to manage back home without their wives.

So the movie is slight, despite being adjacent to some intriguing themes. But if you appreciate fine acting, can you really afford to miss this ensemble? Between the quietly intent Linney, the bitter and frightened Bates and the chastened, open-hearted Smith, trying to decide who carries the most grandeur is not a critical task I find myself up to. Their talent is, you know, miraculous.

[jimmyaquino]

Comic News Insider Episode 1412 - Top 3 x 5!

Comic News Insider: Episode 1412 is now available for free download! Click on the link or follow on Spotify/subscribe on iTunes!

We had so much Heroes Con coverage and Jimmy hasn't done a Top 3 in ages. So he decided to do 5 Top 3 picks. Yep, you old math wizard, that's 15 recommendations this episode! All comics! Hear his thoughts on:

FAMILY STYLE by Thien Pham

IN LIMBO by Deb JJ Lee

THE BOOKS OF CLASH by Gene Yang/Les McClaine/Alison Acton

RAIN by David M. Booher/Zoe Thorogood/Chris O'Halloran

COSMO KNIGHTS by Hannah Templer 

THE SECOND FAKE DEATH OF EDDIE CAMPBELL by Eddie Campbell

SNIPPETS: 52 WEEKS OF DIARY COMICS by Rachael Smith

MESSENGER: THE LEGEND OF MUHAMMAD ALI by Marc Bernardin/Ron Salas

A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING by Dan Santat

NIMONA by ND Stevenson

THE COMPLETE IRREDEEMABLE by Mark Waid/Peter Krause/Andrew Dalhouse

MEGA-CITY MAX ONE-SHOT by various

BARNSTORMERS by Scott Snyder/Tula Lotay

I'M JUST A DOG by Anya Driffill

UNSTOPPABLE TUFF GIRL by Bryan L. Mon/Merrill Hagan

Also, get a hold of us.

Thanks for listening!

[filmjunky-99]

Adam and Paul, 2004 🎬 Mark O'Halloran and Tom Murphy

[105nt]

I finished watching Conversations with Friends on iPlayer. Spoilers.

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I mentioned before that I didn't like any of the characters at the start and I kept on not liking them right to the end. It's a tribute to Sally Rooney and the scriptwriters that it didn't occur to me to stop watching because I wasn't feeling much for them.

The central character, Frances, embarks on a relationship with a married man and, through the ripples that spread from it, discovers that she can live well without being a heroine in her own drama. I loved the development of Frances' character in this, and found the ending deeply satisfying. I still don't like her at the end but she is extremely real and convincing.

I have consciously avoided any reviews of the book, because I know it's one I want to read one day. Now I can't wait. It might have to come with me on holiday.

[esperwatchesfilms]

The Happening (2008)

ESE: 55/100

50 +5 for Kristen Connolly, even though she’s disowned this movie -10 for mass suicides +10 for Mark Wahlberg +5 for Jake being kind of hilarious +10 for Zooey Deschanel -10 for leaving your daughter behind -10 for really crap math problem with super incorrect answer -5 for the military dude acting like he knows what’s up +5 for plant guy not being so crazy after all +5 for “Be scientific, douchebag!” +5 for talking to a plastic plant +5 for LAWNMOWER’D -10 for killing a couple of kids -5 for the least-convincing-even-though-it’s-true “What? No!” +5 for walking out to each other +5 for “the event” having ended +5 for Aunt Alma -10 for insufficient “act of nature” response +5 for Alma’s pregnant! -5 for the French trees rebelling

[cantquitu]

[why-i-love-comics]

Venom #200 (2021)

written by Donny Cates & Phillip Kennedy Johnson art by Ryan Stegman, Kev Walker, Danilo S. Beyruth, Ron Lim, Guiu Villanova, Gerardo Sandoval, Mark Bagley, JP Mayer, Jay Leisten, Scott Hanna, Victor Nava, John Dell, Frank Martin, Chris O'Halloran, Jim Campbell, Matt Milla, Alex Sinclair, Chris Sotomayor, & Richard Isanove

[historyofid]

Summary, Week 12

Computers have, in one form or another, been around for a very long time. Mechanisms like the Antikythera mechanism, or the Curta calculator show that our ability to use devices to extend our mathematical abilities and understand, interpret, and record complicated realities has been with us for centuries. During World War 2, mechanical computing devices took huge steps forward to help break codes. The Harvard Mark 1, developed at this time, was in non-stop operation from 1944 through 1959. Vacuum tubes replaced gears, and then transistors replaced vacuum tubes, and then circuit boards came along to refine the technology into what we now recognize as computing. 

Electronics created problems for designers, as time-honored thinking about the relationship between form and function no longer applied. With function being dematerialized, designers struggled to find new considerations for form language like emotion and narrative and even humor. "Product Semantics" is the fancy term we use to talk about this effort to infuse design with layers of narrative in the absence of mechanical constraints. The use of electronics was easy to find in toys in the late 1970's. As circuit boards transformed other objects, designers began to realize the importance of operational sequences, and new kinds of interfaces that could explain the mysterious operations of a screen-and-button object. 

Because design began to be more focused on external form, designers became known for their personal, sculptural form sensibilities. From the Memphis movement in the early 1980s to the Alessi Coffee and Tea Piazza series to Philippe Starck in the 1990s to Marc Newson and Ross Lovegrove today, the era of the Celebrity Designer was born.

Computers challenged designers' abilities to house electronics in designed objects with some sort of logic. They also allowed a new approach to design with the introduction of CAD and CAM systems. Early CAD setups were expensive and limited, and as a result useful in only a few environments. As personal computers became more sophisticated in the 1980s, more professions began to develop computer assisted design tools. When Hollywood began creating 3D animations, putting skins over the wire form drawings, and creating controlled lighting effects, CAD began to resemble what we still use today for design. Because CAD software is inherently math-based, designers were (and still are to a lesser extent) forced to compromise their form language and arrive at a frequently clumsy hybrid of personal expression and geometry. 

In a fevered attempt to end with an example of design gone RIGHT, I crashed the class into Smart Design and OXO. Sam Farber spent a lifetime in kitchenware design (Farberware, Copco). His last company was OXO, founded to distribute ergonomic kitchen tools designed in partnership with Smart Design. This was, and continues to be, a happy and successful combination of everything we looked at this semester. Now it is your turn…

Designers and other useful names Included: Archimedes Joseph Marie Jacquard Curt Herzstark Hartmut Esslinger/frogdesign Susan Kare Jonathan Ives Leon Theremin Isamu Noguchi Mario Bellini Dietrich Lubs Nobutoshi Kihara Martin Cooper Ettore Sottsass Graham Hinde Klaus Krippendorff Lisa Krohn Tucker Viemeister Leslie Fontana Ideal Group Donald Booty Jr. Technology Design Michael Graves Ronald Lytel Donald Booty Jr Philippe Starck Luigi Colani Ivan Sutherland Patrick Hanratty Anna Castelli Ferrieiri James O'Halloran/Kevin Foley Peter Schneider Jürgen Greubel Marc Newson Karim Rashid Guido Ventorini Alessandro Mendini Mattia di Rosa Stefano Giovannoni Ross Lovegrove Konstantin Grcic Marco Zanini Masanori Umeda Michele De Lucchi Martine Bedine Giovanni Alessi Alberto Alessi Carlo Alessi Aldo Rossi Kazumasa Yamashita Charles Jencks Oscar Tusquets Stanley Tigerman Richard Meier Hans Hollein Robert Venturi Yves Béhar Naoto Fukasawa Sam Farber Michael Lax Smart Design (Tucker Viemeister)

There were many more: Jack Kilby, Jerry Merryman, James Van Tassel  Howard J. Morrison Ralph Baer Rüdiger Bachorski Robert Nakata  Paul Montgomery William Wurz Till Winkler Duy Phong Vu Björn Kling Steve Vordenberg, Allen Zadeh, Arsenio Garcia