Author: BRWC

Hollywood continues to tell the stories of great fictional leaders of all shapes and sizes.  Reflection on these men and women reminds us that each would have a very different take on how best to serve as President of the United States.  With the upcoming release of Olympus has Fallen sequel, London has Fallen on digital platforms from 11^th July, 2016 and onto Blu-ray & DVD from 18^th July, 2016, we get another look at the courageously selfless (not to mention badass) leadership of President Benjamin Asher.  Like President James Marshall of Air Force One, and even the bumbling but heroic Prime Minister David of Love Actually, Asher is great leader.

Alternately, we have also seen our fair share of the worst fictional leaders on film through the likes of the power hungry Lego Movie tycoon, President Business, and the menacing President Snow of The Hunger Games trilogy, to the meek efforts of presidential leaders like President James Dale in Mars Attacks.

This list of men represents an array of leadership styles ranging from heroic, to comical, to downright terrifying.  To celebrate top dog prez Benjamin Asher’s return in London has Fallen, we set him alongside some of his most applauded and notoriously remembered peers of the silver screen…

BEST LEADERS

President Benjamin Asher

As if saving the world from global demolition once in a four year term was not enough, in the Olympus has Fallen sequel, London Has Fallen, President Benjamin Asher must do it all over again.  Only this time, with a side of tea and biscuits, and the backdrop of Big Ben and Westminster Abbey.  Played by Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight), the dashing Commander in Chief loses his beloved wife to an explosion on a Washington DC bridge in Olympus Has Fallen.  Heartbroken and determined, President Asher is resolved to stand up to the enemy, and conserve the indomitable image of the United States in the face of danger.  The stalwart leader assumes a bromance with his security detail, Mike Banning, played by Gerard Butler (300), the only man who can help him do what needs to be done.  Now, with yet another threat to world safety looming, the unstoppable pair are back in action.  This time, at the first sign of danger, it is clear that President Asher has learned a thing or two from his secret service bestie.  This is certainly not his first time on the merry-go- round of international crises and he is ready.  Passionately resolute, President Asher never backs down in the face of danger, and consistently puts the safety of his country first.  It’s a shame American presidents can’t be elected for a third term.  If we had it our way, he’d be royalty.

President James Marshall

From broad cityscapes, to an airplane with presidential cargo, the entire plot of Air Force One takes place in flight on the American presidential air craft carrier HC-130.  In this 90’s action thriller, President James Marshall played by Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones, Star Wars) single handedly takes down a group of Russian loyalists that have snuck onto his plane with the plot to release a detained Russian prisoner and execute the president himself.   A military hero and Medal of Honour recipient, when President Marshall is pushed into an escape pod for safety, the clever politician instead stashes himself in the plane’s cargo pit.  Once presumed to have been ejected from the aircraft, President Marshall kills off the unsuspecting guards and plane hijacker, and returns the rest of the passengers to safety, including his wife and daughter.  U.S. President Bill Clinton loved the film, and reportedly saw it twice in theatres.  He did admit however, there is no such escape pod on Air Force One.  Regardless, Ford did a beautiful job portraying one hell of a leader.

Prime Minister David

Shifting to a slightly less stalwart, but certainly more loveable leader, in Love Actually, Hugh Grant (Notting Hill, About a Boy) perfectly portrays David, newly elected Prime Minister of England who charms us endlessly with his endearing humanity.  Elected into office just around Christmas time, the bachelor Prime Minister falls in love with Natalie, the woman that brings him his afternoon tea. When the POTUS comes to visit for negotiations between the U.K. and the U.S., the flustered P.M. is initially permeable to the president’s unfair requests.  However, when the PM witnesses the married president making a pass at Natalie, he is suddenly emboldened to stand firm for Great Britain.  Not sure this is how things would actually go down outside the realms of Hollywood.  We certainly wouldn’t want a negotiation to hang on the balance of one bachelor’s lust for the cabinet tea waitress.  However, none can feign indifference when the underdog P.M. finds glory in his term through love.  It also makes for a great storyline in one of our favourite Christmas films.

WORST LEADERS

President Business

He may be a 4cm tall plastic Lego figure who’s plots are imagined by the crafty mind of a nine year old boy, but don’t let that undermine the sheer tyranny of President Business over the plebeian workman of the Lego community.  Voiced by the comedian Will Farrell (Anchorman, Zoolander) President Business, evil owner of all the buildings in Lego land is plotting to glue everything stuck so that no more building and rebuilding can ruin his precious empire.  Fortunately, President Business has a change in heart when he is moved by the impassioned words of one solo workman, voiced by the little boy playing the Legos in the film, who argues ardently for the power of imagination and freedom.  While we are appreciative of the happy ending, President Business proves himself as somewhat of a push-over as far as despotic leaders go.

President Snow

Where President Business fails, President Coriolanus Snow shines.  Mysteriously elegant, yet devilishly devious, the tyrant is played by the white haired, red lipped Donald Sutherland (Cold Mountain, Pride and Prejudice).  Killing anything or anyone that comes in the way of his power, President Snow has managed to slyly operate under the visage of selfless martyr in the name of the unity of Panem for far too long.  Leaving a signature rose wherever he goes, it is said the dictator wears a genetically manufactured ever- fragrant rose on his lapel to mask the stench of blood on his breath.  Though an astonishing mastermind of manipulation, President Snow is finally defeated by the brazen Katniss Everdeen and the resistance in the third and final film of The Hunger Games trilogy.  The thought of President Snow as the next candidate for U.S. president is properly chilling.

President James Dale

Despite a seasoned career of portraying endlessly maniacal and vigilant villains such as The Joker in Batman, and Jack Torrance in The Shining, in 90’s comedy, Mars Attacks, Nicholson plays exactly the opposite.  Though he is technically on the side of good as the leader of a nation attacked by invader aliens, President James Dale qualifies as one of the worst on screen leaders in that he is as ignorant as he is pompous.   A comedic satire of foreign affairs, in Mars Attacks, when aliens land in Washington D.C. with a plot to take over the world, President James Dale attempts to set up a negotiation for peace.  When the Aliens shoot down a Dove that has been released in the air to symbolize peace only to subsequently kill several more U.S. officials, President Dale brushes this off as the foreign creatures’ misunderstanding of the universal symbol for peace.  After a second violent attack from the aliens, President Dale is again encouraged to take nuclear action against the aliens, yet the president nonchalantly refuses.  Where the aforementioned Presidents Asher and James, and even Prime Minister David take action in face of territorial threat, President Dale is oblivious, and then cowardly in his country’s time of need.  I believe the lesson here is to never underestimate your competition.

LONDON HAS FALLEN- On digital platforms from 11^th July, 2016.  On Blu-ray & DVD from 18^th July, 2016 courtesy of Lionsgate Home Entertainment

“Game of Thrones” is a worldwide sensation. No other show draws ratings, gasps and awe like “Game of Thrones” does. Only problem is you’ve already seen all the episodes and season seven isn’t slated until a likely spring 2017 release. So how can you, as a hardcore fan, go beyond the show?

Read

This doesn’t mean you should read up on the forums, the BuzzFeed articles and top-ten “Game of Thrones” listicles. No, this means actually picking up a book because that’s how this whole show got started. If you’re a true fan of “Game of Thrones,” you won’t let thousands of pages about your favorite characters sit and collect dust. You want all the details that make the show more immersive. You can read all the fan theories you want, but nothing will give you more hints of what is to come than the hidden clues in the books.

While some have a difficult time with fantasy novels, “Game of Thrones” is not a typical fantasy. The prose is written in a careful hand, and despite the length of each book, the writing is meticulously picked over and honed. No matter your typical book preference, you won’t be able (or want) to put these books down.

Social Media

“Game of Thrones” engrosses so many people, it regularly trends on social media. Use Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr to connect with other hardcore fans. You can go beyond the show as part of the online community, live tweet previous episodes with your thoughts, theories or some good jokes. Other “Game of Thrones” fans will likely enjoy your commentary and play along. In fact, AdWeek found that during the weekend of the “Game of Thrones” season six premiere, there were more than 829,000 tweets about the show and HBO.

With all these fans, it’s no surprise that there are a couple “Game of Thrones” podcasts. Listen to debates on theories and discussion over characters and battles with podcasts like “Boars, Gore, and Swords,” “Game of Owns” and “A Cast of Kings.”

Interactive Features

If any service can take you behind the show and give you a more immersive experience, it’s the service that brought you “Game of Thrones” in the first place — HBO. HBO Go has an interactive “Game of Thrones” feature, exclusively for iOS. It works great on the iPhone 6s Plus, as it has a larger screen and better resolution.

The interactive features give you behind-the-scenes footage, actor and director commentary, and an interactive map. As you watch each episode, alerts are triggered at certain scenes. Press the alert buttons and get the inside details on houses, the interactive map and more. You can also share your thoughts with friends on Facebook and Twitter directly from the HBO Go interface. However, the interactive features are only available on seasons one and two for mobile devices and seasons one, two and three for desktop. This may be a drawback, as the latest seasons and episodes are the ones you need answers to, but HBO Go will surely have more in depth features for all “Game of Thrones” seasons in the future.

It’s difficult to hear Bruce Willis’ name without thinking: Die Hard; or picture Mark Paul Gosselaar as anything but 90’s sitcom heartthrob Zack Morris from Saved by the Bell.  Similarly, Claire Forlani will always have a place in our hearts as Dr. Susan Parish from Meet Joe Black.   However, in the action-packed thriller Precious Cargo, these talented actors come together and in roles so compelling and different, we can almost forget those career defining roles of the past.

Arriving in cinemas and on demand from July 15^th, 2016, Precious Cargo opens on a murderous crime boss, Eddie (Willis) in search of Karen (Forlani), the seductive thief who failed him in a botched heist.

In order to win back Eddie’s trust, Karen recruits her ex-lover and premier thief Jack (Gosselaar) to steal a cargo of rare precious gems. But when the job goes down, allegiances are betrayed and lines are crossed as Jack, Karen, and Eddie face off in a fateful showdown.

In celebration of three actors so well remembered for their breakout roles, here’s a look back at those, and the other significant work in their respective careers leading up to the release of Precious Cargo.

Bruce Willis

Though first introduced to the world on the small screen as a comedic actor on the television series, Moonlighting, opposite Cybill Shepherd, it was Bruce Willis’ appearance in the 1988 film Die Hard that solidified his place in Hollywood as the go-to action film star of the 90’s.  What followed were two more instalments of the Die Hard series including Die Hard 2, and Die Hard with a Vengeance.  These films, along with his portrayal of Butch Coolidge in Quentin Tarantino’s award winning film Pulp Fiction, and starring roles in blockbusters like Armageddon and M. Knight Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense have continued to keep Willis on the list of most coveted starring vehicles in Hollywood over the years.  Though traditionally playing the “good guy,” with equal knack for comedy, as he has for action, in Precious Cargo, Willis shows his impressive range by easily shifting into the complicated role of a deranged villain.  Despite the dramatic nature of the film, the now 61 year old Hollywood vet still adds a bit of signature charm and humour to the complex character in a way that only Bruce Willis can.

Claire Forlani

English born actress Claire Forlani first got her start in Hollywood in the American TV mini-series JFK: Reckless Youth as Ann Cannon, old college girlfriend to the president.  From there, the young beauty scored a role in the 1995 popular Rom-Com, Mallrats.  One year later, Forlani was cast in the 1996 action film, The Rock working alongside Hollywood heavyweights such as Michael Bay, Jerry Bruckheimer, Sean Connery, and Nicholas Cage.  1998 brought Forlani her breakout role in Meet Joe Black as Dr. Susan Parish, love interest to international heartthrob Brad Pitt.  Following the success of Meet Joe Black, Forlani returned to the small screen for stints on both CSI: New York, and CSI: Los Angeles.  Forlani’s wide range of roles in all categories of film and television over the years demonstrates her flexibility to tackle any role.  In Precious Cargo, it’s a delight to see Forlani portray a slighter darker role than she’s taken on in some time.

Mark Paul-Gosselaar

Bleach Blonde hair, pastel t-shirts with acid-washed jeans, a mischievous yet winning grin, and a giant portable phone glued to his ear, the image of Zack Morris is permanently etched in all our brains as an iconic memory of 90s sitcom television.   However, Mark Paul-Gosselaar’s career actually started long before he was cast as the star of Saved by the Bell at age 15.  The young California native grew up in showbiz; beginning as a child model at 5, Gosselaar guest starred  in numerous popular sitcoms including The Wonder Years, Punky Brewster, and The Twilight Zone to name but a few.  Saved by the Bell ran for 4 seasons, but Gosselaar continued to reprise the role of Zack Morris well beyond the series’ end in several different spin off series throughout the 90’s.  Gosselaar has since worked on several television hits throughout his career including Hyperion Bay, NYPD Blue, Franklin & Bash, and CSI.  Gosselaar has also worked on a number of films over the years including 1998 drama Dead Man on Campus, and most recently, the 2015 crime thriller Heist working alongside Robert De Niro, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Kate Bosworth.  In Precious Cargo, Gosselaar shows us he’s come a long way since his days as suave trouble maker Zack Morris.  However, despite admiring his notably heftier acting chops, we can’t help but admit that winning grin of his is still his Gosselaar’s secret weapon.

PRECIOUS CARGO is in cinemas and on demand from July 15^thcourtesy of Signature Entertainment.

By Ben Taylor.

Look back a few decades, and you’ll find a series of summer classics, from “Back to the Future” (1985) to “Top Gun” (1986), “Jurassic Park” (1993) to “The Lion King” (1994). Today, films like these remain iconic, with cult followings, Broadway spinoffs and theme park rides. Next to today’s glut of super hero sequels, you have to wonder whether summer blockbusters have lost their edge, trading innovation for familiarity, risky bets for safe retreads.

But could it just be nostalgia?

In order to find out, the PrettyFamous team looked at every summer movie with at least $50 million in inflation-adjusted box office proceeds since 1985. The team then charted the average Rotten Tomatoes scores for these films for each of the last 30 summers.

Explore Thousands of Movies on PrettyFamous