Showing results for "Nick" in Film & TV

This wildly entertaining account of the golden age of the action movie charts Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s carnage-packed journey from enmity to friendship against the backdrop of Reagan’s America and the Cold War. Revealing fascinating untold stories of the colourful characters who ascended in their wake, it tells the story of how the era of the invincible action hero who used muscle, martial arts or the perfect weapon to save the day began to fade.

Wild and Crazy Guys is the larger-than-life story of the much-loved Hollywood comedy stars that ruled the 1980s. As well as delving behind the scenes of classic movies such as Ghostbusters, Beverly Hills Cop, The Blues Brothers, Trading Places and dozens more, it chronicles the off-screen, larger-than-life antics of Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, John Candy et al. It’s got drugs, sex, punch-ups, webbed toes and Bill Murray being pushed into a swimming pool by Hunter S Thompson, while tied to a lawn chair.

We all know and love The Sopranos, one of the most important television dramas to ever hit the small screen, having run for six seasons on HBO. The story of the Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano balancing his family life with his role as the leader of a criminal organization pioneered decades of genre-bending "peak TV". Now, Off the Back of a Truck takes you one step further into the world of Tony Soprano and his families, offering an Italian potluck of fresh and fun takes that any true fan can get lost in for hours.

Lock downs and masks had no significant impact on the spread of COVID-19, and the vaccine didn't stop transmission. The authorities and the media pushed the false "everyone's at risk" narrative, and instead of focusing protection on the elderly and immuno-compromised people who were at genuine risk, they shut down the world. Trillions of dollars were wasted, economies crashed, kids' education was stunted, and civil liberties were set back a generation. This is the incredible story of how it happened.

Week after week, SNL has produced unforgettable sketches and provocative political satire, adapting to changing times while staying true to its original vision of performing timely topical humor. With essays that address issues ranging from race and gender to authorship and comedic performance, Saturday Night Live and American TV follows the history of this 36-time Emmy-winning show and its place in the shifting social and media landscape of American television.

In How Star Wars Conquered the Universe, veteran journalist Chris Taylor traces the series from the difficult birth of the original film through its sequels, the franchise’s death and rebirth, the prequels, and the preparations for a new trilogy. Taylor provides portraits of the friends, writers, artists, producers, and marketers who labored behind the scenes to turn Lucas’s idea into a legend.

Star Wars dominates the film world. The combined box office revenue of the Star Wars movies equates to over $10 billion, making it the second highest-grossing film franchise of all time. But this franchise is no blaster from the past. Its fantastically successful films have now been followed by multiple television series set in that same galaxy far, far away. The franchise’s flagship television series, and likely the firmest fan favorite for some time to come, is The Mandalorian.

Stand-up comedian, comedy writer, radio presenter, and children’s author, Ricky Gervais's talent have brought him extraordinary success over the last few years.

Best-selling author Michael Heatley reveals how Gervais journeyed from his childhood in Reading to international stardom with his groundbreaking TV series The Office and the critically acclaimed Extras.

Learn the inside thinking behind 23 highly successful, classic, low-budget movies and discover techniques for making a little go a long way. Includes in-depth interviews with screenwriters with such credits as the Academy Award®-nominated films You Can Count on Me, Metropolitan, and Capote - plus such classics as Repo Man, Re-Animator, Paris, Texas, Living in Oblivion, Suburbia, Hester Street, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, and Eve’s Bayou.

The Boys in the Band's debut was revolutionary for its fictional but frank presentation of a male homosexual subculture in Manhattan. Based on Mart Crowley's hit Off-Broadway play from 1968, the film's two-hour running time approximates real time, unfolding at a birthday party attended by nine men whose language, clothing, and behavior evoke a range of urban gay "types." Although various popular critics, historians, and film scholars over the years have offered cursory acknowledgment of the film's importance, more substantive research and analysis have been woefully lacking. The film's neglect among academics belies a rich and rewarding object of study. The Boys in the Band merits not only the close reading that should accompany such a well-made text but also recognition as a landmark almost ideally situated to orient us amid the highly complex, shifting cultural terrain it occupied upon its release-and has occupied since.

A fascinating, complex dual biography of Hollywood's most dazzling—and famous—brothers, and a dark, riveting portrait of competition, love, and enmity that ultimately undid them both—one most famous for having written Citizen Kane (with Orson Welles, as most recently portrayed in David Fincher's newly released Netflix film Mank); the other, All About Eve....

In the remote reaches of the Alaskan North Slope lies a place of scientific intrigue and controversy: HAARP, which ventures into the realm of mind control, utilizing high frequency signals to influence behavior. From World War II's clandestine operations to modern-day DARPA research, the quest for control over the mind has persisted, shrouded in secrecy.

Author Nick Hornby on this edition of Fresh Air. Hornby's most recent book, A Long Way Down, is now out in paperback.