Name	Marcus Nispel
Birthname	Marcus Nispel
Birth date	May 26, 1963
Birth place	Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Occupation	film director, and producer
Yearsactive	}}

Marcus Nispel (born 26 May 1963) is a German–American feature film director and producer, and formerly a director of television commercials and music videos. Many of his films have been remakes.

Life and early career

Nispel was born in Frankfurt am Main, West Germany. He started his career in advertising as an art director for Young & Rubicam in Frankfurt. He came to America on a Fulbright scholarship in 1984 at the age of 20 and made his directing debut in 1989 with a series of music videos for C&C; Music Factory.

While living in New York, Nispel founded and operated his own production company, Portfolio Artists Network, before merging with RSA-USA, and then joining MJZ in 2000.

To date, Nispel has directed over 1000 commercials and music videos. His commercial clients include: AT&T;, Audi, Canon, Chase, Coca-Cola, Dr Pepper, Fidelity, Kodak, Levi's, L'Oréal, Marlboro, Mercedes-Benz, Motorola, Nike, Panasonic, Pepsi, RCA, Showtime, Sprint, Sprite, Unisys, UPS, US Postal Service, VISA Gold as well as MTV, ABC, CBS and NBC.

His music videos include over fifteen #1 songs and several breakthrough videos for artists such as the Spice Girls, Simply Red, Puff Daddy, Bush, No Doubt, the Fugees, George Michael, Janet Jackson, Elton John, Billy Joel, Aretha Franklin, Cher, Nina Hagen, Mylène Farmer, Olé Olé (Marta Sánchez), Mariah Carey, k. d. lang, Tony Bennett, C+C Music Factory, Bette Midler, LL Cool J, Bryan Adams and Gloria Estefan.

Nispel has been awarded numerous international advertising accolades including several Clio Awards, the Moebius Award, the Grand Prix at the BDA Awards, honors from the New York, Houston and Chicago Film Festivals and the Art Directors Club. His work has garnered 12 MTV Music Video Award nominations resulting in four MTV Video Music Awards, including a 1993 MTV Best European Video Award for "Killer/Papa was a Rolling Stone" by George Michael. Nispel has won two Billboard awards and Music Video Filmmaker Association Awards as well as the MVPA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001.

Marcus Nispel has been the subject of two documentaries and was featured in Time Magazine’s year-end issue "Best of 1996" for his Fidelity Investments campaign, "A Time Has Come Today." In 1997, Nispel was featured as a speaker at the AICP MOMA Show. The AICP has honored him with several awards and his work is now part of the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art. His work has been highlighted and screened at the New York Film Festival, the Art Director’s Club and at the Film and Broadcast Museum in Frankfurt.

In 1996 he was honored at the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s "Cross Cultural Dreams" retrospective of his music videos. He was featured in a chapter of Armond White’s book on the pop revolution and was a recipient of the Black Achievement Award for the positive portrayal of African Americans in mass media.

Nispel has been featured in Vogue, Vanity Fair, Details, The New York Times, The LA Times, AdWeek, AdAge and Creativity.

Marcus is married to songwriter/editor Dyan Humes Nispel, they have twin sons.

Film career

In 2003 Platinum Dunes owner filmmaker Michael Bay hired Nispel to direct the remake of the classic 1974 horror film ''The Texas Chainsaw Massacre''. Nispel's version was a box-office success but garnered mixed critical reviews. A prequel and a comic-book series based on the film soon followed. The success of the remake ushered in a series of remakes of horror films from the 70's and the 80's.

In 2007 he directed and produced the epic action film ''Pathfinder'', a remake of a Norwegian film with the same title. The film failed at the box-office and was poorly received by critics. Nispel blamed the failure on 20th Century Fox's demands to reduce the gore and violence (requiring digital manipulation of scenes that were already shot) to earn an "R" rating, and to sacrifice plot development to improve runtime and pacing. Despite being labeled a flop, the film gained a small cult following, and was followed by a successful graphic novel adaptation.

In 2009 he directed the remake of ''Friday the 13th'', intended to reboot the franchise. It was box-office success and the second highest-grossing film in the ''Friday the 13th'' series, but met with negative response from critics and fans of the original film series.

Nispel directed the 2011 reboot of the Conan the Barbarian franchise. He has stated that this was his childhood dream project.

Filmography

! Year	! Title	! Director	! Producer
2003
2004
2007
2009
2011

References

Marcus Nispel To Direct Conan

Marcus Nispel is directing Conan

External links

The Hollywood Reporter

Innamoramento.net : Interview de Marcus Nispel

Marcus Nispel at the Music Video Database

Category:1963 births Category:German film directors Category:Horror film directors Category:Living people Category:American people of German descent Category:German art directors Category:Advertising directors Category:German music video directors

de:Marcus Nispel es:Marcus Nispel fr:Marcus Nispel it:Marcus Nispel sw:Marcus Nispel pt:Marcus Nispel ru:Ниспель, Маркус fi:Marcus Nispel tr:Marcus Nispel

Name	Nina Hagen
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Catharina Hagen
Birth date	March 11, 1955
Origin	East Berlin, German Democratic Republic
Genre	Punk rockPost-punkNew wave Gothic rockGlam rockNeue Deutsche WelleGospel
Occupation	Singer, Activist
Years active	1971–present
Associated acts	Automobil The Nina Hagen Band Apocalyptica
Label	Columbia Records Mercury Records
Website	nina-hagen.com}}

Nina Hagen (born 11 March 1955) is a German singer and actress.

Early years

Hagen was born as Catharina Hagen in the former East Berlin, East Germany, the daughter of Hans Hagen (also known as Hans Oliva-Hagen), a scriptwriter, and Eva-Maria Hagen, an actress and singer. Her paternal grandfather died in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp (one of her great-grandparents was Jewish). Her parents divorced when she was two years old, and growing up she saw her father infrequently. At age four, she began to study ballet, and was considered an opera prodigy by the time she was nine.

When Hagen was 11, her mother married Wolf Biermann, an anti-establishment singer-songwriter. Biermann's political views later influenced young Hagen.

Hagen left school at age sixteen, and went to Poland, where she began her career. After that, she returned to Germany and joined the cover band Fritzens Dampferband (''Fritzen's Steamboat Band'', together with Achim Mentzel and others). She added songs by Janis Joplin and Tina Turner to the "allowable" set lists during shows.

From 1972–73, Hagen enrolled in the crash-course performance program at The Central Studio for Light Music in East Berlin. Upon graduation, she formed the band Automobil.

Music career

1970s

In East Germany, she performed with the band Automobil, becoming one of the country's best-known young stars. Her most famous song from the early part of her career was "Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen" ("You forgot the colour film") in 1974. However, her musical career in East Germany was cut short when she and her mother left the country in 1976, following the expulsion of her stepfather.

The circumstances surrounding the family's emigration were exceptional: Biermann was granted permission to perform a televised concert in Cologne, but denied permission to re-cross the border to his home country. Hagen submitted an application to leave the country. In it, she claimed to be Biermann's biological daughter, and threatened to become the next Wolf Biermann if not allowed to rejoin her father. Just four days later her request was granted, and she settled in Hamburg, where she was signed to a CBS-affiliated record label. Her label advised her to acclimate herself to Western culture through travel, and she arrived in London during the height of the punk rock movement. Hagen was quickly taken up by a circle that included The Slits and the Sex Pistols; Johnny Rotten was a particular admirer.

Back in Germany by mid-1977, Hagen formed the Nina Hagen Band in West Berlin's Kreuzberg district. In 1978 they released their self-titled debut album, which included the single "TV-Glotzer" (a cover of "White Punks on Dope" by The Tubes, though with entirely different German lyrics), and ''Auf'm Bahnhof Zoo'', about West Berlin's then-notorious Berlin Zoologischer Garten station. The album also included a version of "Rangehn" ("Go For It"), a song she had previously recorded in East Germany, but with different music.

According to reviewer Fritz Rumler:

''… she thrusts herself into the music, aggressively, directly, furiously, roars in the most beautiful opera alto, then, through shrieks and squeals, precipitates into luminous soprano heights, she parodies, satirises, and howls on stage like a dervish''.

The album gained significant attention throughout Germany and abroad, both for its hard rock sound and for Hagen's theatrical vocals, far different from the straightforward singing of her East German recordings. However, relations between Hagen and the other band members deteriorated over the course of the subsequent European tour, and Hagen decided to leave the band in 1979, though she was still under contract to produce a second album. This LP, ''Unbehagen'' (which in German also means ''discomfort'' or ''unease''), was eventually produced with the band recording their tracks in Berlin and Hagen recording the vocals in Los Angeles, California. It included the single "African Reggae" and a cover of Lene Lovich's "Lucky Number". The other band members sans Hagen, soon developed a successful independent musical career as Spliff.

Meanwhile, Hagen's public persona was steadily creating media uproar. She became infamous for an appearance on an Austrian evening talk show called ''Club 2'', on 9 August 1979, on the topic of youth culture, when she demonstrated (while clothed, but explicitly) various female masturbation positions and became embroiled in a heated argument with another panelist. The talk show host had to step down following this controversy.

She also acted with Dutch rocker Herman Brood and singer Lene Lovich in the 1979 film ''Cha Cha''.

1980s

A European tour with a new band in 1980 was cancelled, and Hagen turned to the United States. A limited-edition 10-inch EP was released on vinyl that summer in the U.S. Two songs from her first album ''Nina Hagen Band'' were on the A side, and two songs from her second album ''Unbehagen'' were on the B-side. All four songs were sung in German.

In late 1980, Hagen discovered she was pregnant, broke up with the father-to-be Ferdinand Karmelk, and moved to Los Angeles. Her daughter, Cosma Shiva Hagen, was born in Santa Monica on 17 May 1981. In 1982, Hagen released her first English-language album: ''NunSexMonkRock'', a dissonant mix of punk, funk, reggae, and opera. She then went on a world tour with the No Problem Orchestra.

In 1983, she released the album ''Angstlos'' and a minor European tour. By this time, Hagen's public appearances were becoming stranger and frequently included discussions of God, UFOs, her social and political beliefs, animal rights and vivisection, and claims of alien sightings. The English version of ''Angstlos,'' ''Fearless,'' generated two major club hits in America, "Zarah" (a cover of the Zarah Leander (#45 USA) song "Ich weiss, es wird einmal ein Wunder geschehen") and the disco/punk/opera song, "New York New York" (#9 USA).

Her 1985 album ''Nina Hagen In Ekstasy'' fared less well, but did generate club hits with "Universal Radio" (#39 USA) and a cover of "Spirit In The Sky" and also featured a 1979 recording of her hardcore punk take on Frank Sinatra's ''My Way'', which had been one of her signature live tunes in previous years. She performed songs from this album during the 1985 version of Rock in Rio. Her contract with CBS over, she released the ''Punk Wedding'' EP independently in 1987, a celebration of her marriage to a 17-year-old-punk nicknamed 'Iroquois'. It followed an independent 1986 one-off single with Lene Lovich, the anthemic ''Don't Kill The Animals''. In 1989, Hagen released the album ''Nina Hagen'' which was backed up by another German tour.

In 1989 she had a relationship with Frank Chevallier from France, with whom she has a son, Otis Chevallier-Hagen.

1990s

In the 1990s, Hagen lived in Paris with her daughter Cosma Shiva and son Otis. In 1991 she toured Europe in support of her new album ''Street''. In 1992 Hagen became the host of a TV show on RTLplus. Also in the same year (1992) she collaborated with Adamski on the European smash and minor UK hit single "Get Your Body". The following year, she released ''Revolution Ballroom''. In 1994 Laramy Smith recorded Nina at Ferber Studios in Paris, for the "Somebody Help Me" project, a song to aid the homeless worldwide available at laramysmith.com. In 1994, Nina starred in the acclaimed San Francisco Goethe Institut's "The Seven Addictions and Five Professions of Anita Berber", playing the singer version of "Anita" alongside dancer Jennifer Pieren who portrayed the other "professions" of "Anita". Also, her voice was heard on the Freaky Fukin Weirdoz single "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick". 1995 brought the German-language album ''Freud Euch'' appeared, recorded in English as ''BeeHappy'' in 1996. Nina returned to San Francisco to star in another San Francisco Goethe Institut show, "Hannusen, Hitler's Jewish Clarvoyant." Hagen also collaborated with electronic music composer Christopher Franke, along with Rick Palombi (credited as Rick Jude) on "Alchemy of Love", the theme song for the film ''Tenchi Muyo! in Love''. In May 1996, she married David Lynn, who is fifteen years younger, but divorced him in the beginning of 2000. In 1997 she collaborated with German hip hop musician Thomas D.

In 1998, Hagen became the host of a weekly science fiction show on the British Sci-Fi Channel, in addition to embarking on another tour of Germany. In 1999, she released the devotional album ''Om Namah Shivay'', which was distributed exclusively online and included an unadulterated musical version of the Hare Krishna mantra. She also provided vocals to "Witness" and "Bereit" on KMFDM's ''Adios''.

Also in 1998 she recorded the official club anthem (Eisern Union !) for FC Union Berlin and four versions were issued on a CD single by G.I.B Music and Distribution GmbH.

In 1999, she played the role of Celia Peachum in ''The Threepenny Opera'' by Kurt Weill and Berthold Brecht, alongside Max Raabe. She also regularly performs songs by Kurt Weill, Hans Eisler and Paul Dessau set to Brecht's texts.

2000s

In 2000, her song ''Schön ist die Welt'' became the official song of Expo 2000. Another cover of a Zarah Leander song "Der Wind hat mir ein Lied erzählt" was a minor hit the same year. The album ''The Return of the Mother'' was released in February 2001, accompanied by another German tour. In 2001 she collaborated with Rosenstolz and Marc Almond on the single ''Total eclipse/Die schwarze Witwe'' that reached #22 in Germany. On 14 October 2002 Nina hit Moscow by coming there with her concert, while interviews with the eccentric singer were aired on many TV-channels.

Hagen dubbed the voice of Sally in the German release of Tim Burton's ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'', and she has also done voice work on the movie ''Hot Dogs'' by Michael Schoemann. Hagen has been featured on songs by other bands, for instance on Oomph!'s song "Fieber". She did a cover of Rammstein's "Seemann" with Apocalyptica. Later albums include ''Big Band Explosion'', in which she sang numerous swing covers with her then husband, Danish singer and performer, Lucas Alexander. This was followed by ''Heiß'', a greatest hits album. Her most recent album, ''Journey to The Snow Queen'', is more of an audio book—she reads the ''Snow Queen'' fairy tale with Tchaikovsky's ''The Nutcracker'' in the background. In 2005 Nina Hagen headlined the Drop Dead Festival in New York City. Hagen has been an active protester against the war in Iraq. In 2006 she was a part of the Popstars team. She is a vegetarian. In August 2009 she was baptized in the Protestant Reformed church of Schüttorf. On October 21 after seven years passed she visited Moscow again. Her latest album, ''Personal Jesus'' was released July 16, 2010, after a four year lapse.

Discography

''See: Nina Hagen discography''

Acting career

Filmography

+ Actor
! Year	! Film	! Role	Notes
2004		The Queen

Quotations

''Both of my parents were atheists, and I found the way to God all alone on my own. You have to invite him, so that he shows up.'' Asked if she was happy, she replied: ''Of course, I'm a family member of Christ and I have a Lord. He marched ahead of me and showed me the way.''

References

External links

Seltene Live/Video Aufnahmen von Nina Hagen

Nina Hagen discography

Nina Hagen Electronic Shrine

Trouser Press Nina Hagen Discography

Nina Hagen - MySpace page

Nina Hagen on Europopmusic.eu (English)

''Nina Hagen:'' Interview (German)

''Nina Hagen vertreibt Wissenschaftler aus Talkshow Maischberger'' (German)

Drop Dead Magazine with issue 0 with Nina Hagen on the cover as well as a large interview inside

1979 ''Club 2'' talk show with loose translation in ''More info''

Nina Hagen interviewed on Swedish TV during the 80s (English with Swedish subtitles)

Category:1955 births Category:Living people Category:People from East Berlin Category:Converts to Christianity Category:Female punk rock singers Category:Female New Wave singers Category:Female rock singers Category:Gothic rock musicians Category:German-language singers Category:German Calvinists Category:German vegetarians Category:German autobiographers Category:German female singers Category:German punk rock musicians

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Armond White (born 1953) is a New York-based film and music critic. He is known for his provocative and idiosyncratic film criticism, which some describe as contrarian. Most recently, he was the lead film critic for the alternative weekly ''New York Press'' (which ceased publication August 2011). Other publications that have carried his work include ''The City Sun'', ''Film Comment'', ''The Nation'', ''The New York Times'', ''Slate'', and ''First Things''.

Early life

White was born in Detroit, Michigan as the youngest of seven children. His family was the first African-American family to move to a primarily Jewish neighborhood, where he grew up. Raised Baptist, he later became Pentecostal, and still identifies himself as "a believer".

His interest in journalism and film criticism began as a student at Detroit’s Central High School, when he first read Pauline Kael's book, ''Kiss Kiss Bang Bang'' whom he cites for "her willingness to go against the hype", along with Andrew Sarris, for his "sophisticated love of cinema", as being a major inspiration on his choice of professional career. White is a recipient of a Master of Fine Arts degree from Columbia University’s School of the Arts.

Career

White was the arts editor for ''The City Sun'', where he wrote film, music and theater criticism, for the span of its publication from 1984 to 1996. He was hired by ''New York Press'' in 1997.

He is a member of New York Film Critics Circle, National Society of Film Critics and New York Film Critics Online. He was the three time chairman of the New York Film Critics Circle (1994, 2009 and 2010), and has also served as a member of the jury at the Sundance Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival and Mill Valley Film Festival and was a member of several National Endowment for the Arts panels. He has taught classes on film at Columbia University and Long Island University.

In 1992 White won the 25th Annual ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for music criticism for "The Gloved One Is Not A Chump", his essay on Michael Jackson's "Black or White" video.

White claims to watch "five to 10 movies a week" and "as many as 400 films a year".

Style and personal tastes

White, who describes himself as a "pedigreed film scholar", claims that "[l]iking [a film] or disliking it is irrelevant" to his reviews, and insists that "[he] tell[s] it how it is and write[s] what a film deserves" rather than offering mere personal opinion. He has stated that he has a "politically minded perspective on film" and is known for his often controversial "socio-political interpretations of cinema". Writer Matthew Ross cited White's "unrelenting tone of moral seriousness, caustic dismissal of [...] filmic sacred cows and obsessive championing of [...] relatively 'unhip' films" as well as his "unlikely compare-and-contrast reviews" as distinctive characteristics of his work. White's reviews often draw extended comparisons between films of disparate genres and historical periods, an approach Mark Jacobson described as a "Darwinian praxis [in which] all films must plead their case against all other similar films, with White as judge and jury."

White, who has asserted in an interview that "most films are dismissable", has been described as the "most contrarian" of film critics for allegedly "position[ing] himself in diametric opposition to virtually every film critic on earth". White has dismissed these allegations, stating that he has never "said anything about a movie out of meanness or indifference" and that he always contrasts movies he evaluates negatively with ones he considers superior, as in his annual "Better-Than Lists". Rotten Tomatoes, a website that aggregates film reviews, indicates that he agrees with the consensus of other professional critics 52% of the time. He has been compared to such critics as Pauline Kael, Dorothy Parker, Kenneth Tynan and Nathan Cohen for his "intransigent refusal to think what people expect him to think".

White is known for his use of the term "hipster nihilism" as a description of what he sees as a prevalent, and destructive, attitude toward film and the world, as well as his controversial notion of "kinetic art" which he identifies in many action films. He coined the label "the American Eccentrics" to describe a group of "millennial" filmmakers including Wes Anderson, Spike Jonze, David O. Russell, Alexander Payne, Paul Thomas Anderson, and Sofia Coppola whose works "offer an unabashed solipsism, whimsy, and undisguised film savvy."

White is known for his advocacy for the works of directors Steven Spielberg and Brian De Palma and for the music and films of Michael Jackson. In a 2002 ''Sight & Sound'' poll he ranked Spielberg's ''A.I. Artificial Intelligence'' as the greatest film of all time.

Relations with other critics and filmmakers

White has bemoaned the state of contemporary film criticism, describing it as "intellectual anarchy" and saying that "the profession is in dismal shape, fucking dismal condition." In an online discussion with other film critics, White emphasized that "I don't read criticism for style (or jokes). I want information, erudition, judgment, and good taste. Too many snake-hipped word-slingers don't know what they're talking about". He has singled out Roger Ebert for particular condemnation, telling an interviewer that "I do think it is fair to say that Roger Ebert destroyed film criticism" and accusing him of "talking about movies as disconnected from social and moral issues, simply as entertainment". He has called ''Village Voice'' critic J. Hoberman "pathetic", "despotic", "traitorous", and "racist", describing him as "the scoundrel-czar of contemporary film criticism" whose malign "influence (as NYU instructor to the Times’ Manohla Dargis and innumerable Internet clones) stretches from coast to coast, institution to institution"; he also categorically described Hoberman's associates in the film community as "brown shirts", "facists", and "backwards children". Other film writers he has singled out for criticism include A. O. Scott, David Thomson, David Denby, Gary Indiana, David Bordwell, Georgia Brown, Karina Longworth and Lisa Schwarzbaum, who along with J. Hoberman he has accused of racism. Of such accusations, White has written that: "I have called critics out by name, but when I do so, I don't call them names. I'm after the vigorous defense of an idea. Sometimes that means going at certain ideological and professional suppositions that other critics take for granted. I guess that's when they feel personally attacked. They call it 'bullying' or 'slightly nuts' simply because their unexamined values or arrogant prejudices have been shown up."

White has been an outspoken opponent of online film criticism, which he associates with "amateurism, gossip [and] cliques" rather than the "education, expertise [and] experience" he attributes to professional film criticism. He has cited film review aggregators in general and Rotten Tomatoes in particular as examples of how "the Internet takes revenge on individual expression" by "dumping reviewers onto one website and assigning spurious percentage-enthusiasm points to the discrete reviews" and "offer[s] consensus as a substitute for assessment." He has also stated his opinion that "there should be no film critics younger than 30" since they would lack the necessary scholarship and life experience.

In interviews he has repeatedly demurred when asked to identify critics other than himself whose work he values. However, in other settings he has praised the writing of Molly Haskell and GayToday.com critic John Demetry. Among film critics of previous generations, in addition to Kael and Sarris, White has credited James Agee and former ''New York Times'' critic Bosley Crowther.

Because of his consistently negative reviews of Noah Baumbach's and Spike Lee's films - and his ''ad hominem'' attacks on their creators - he was barred by publicists from press screenings of their films ''Greenberg'' and ''Get on the Bus''. In the case of ''Greenberg'', the ban was rescinded in time for White to watch the film with other critics. Director Darren Aronofsky also publicly disparaged White's film criticism.

Evaluations by others

Film critic and essayist Phillip Lopate wrote that White "has staked out a position as a renegade film critic, the Last Angry Man, unafraid to attack popular favorites or make enemies with colleagues." His criticism has been described as "unique" and also as "thoughtful" since it "allows readers the opportunity to interpret films as more than just entertainment". Also, he has been described as "not boring" and "capable of wicked insights", "often-contrarian (and always fun to read)", "extremely knowledgeable", "immensely readable, fearless, provocative" as well as "passionate, idiosyncratic and a natural polemicist". Film critic Jack Mathews had described White as a "classic, unapologetic elitist" whose "haughty, theoretical approach is the stuff of academia and film journals", but also as "a critic in a world of cinema that does not exist, except in the margins of independent and ''avant garde'' film." Critic Kyle Smith has argued that White "simply has a different aesthetic from that of the herd", while critic David Chen suggested that he "(perhaps too) vehemently believes in the integrity of his art and longs for the golden era when the mainstream still cared what film critics thought".

Detractors have criticized White for his "hyperbolic rhetoric" and "misanthropic mudslinging". Critic Glenn Kenny called White "a bully and a hypocrite" and complained that "the sub-theme of every White review [...] is that every other critic is a moral degenerate and an aesthetic cretin." Essayist Dan Schneider dismissed White as a "critical clown" and "a contrarian with political and personal axes to grind", Similarly, critic Vadim Rizov described White as "a jerk who combines rhetorical misdirection with bullying behaviour". In an in-depth "meta-review" of White's negative review of ''Toy Story 3'', freelance writer Paul Brunick noted that "it's the swipes he takes at the audience that are most objectionably nasty: viewers who enjoyed ''TS3'' are 'brainwashed,' 'suckers,' 'saps,' and (my personal favorite) 'non-thinking children.' Take that, kids!" Brunick nonetheless concluded that he found White's reviews "perversely fascinating" in that "he is so obviously intelligent, yet this intelligence has been harnessed to the warped imperatives of an increasingly frustrated personality."

Because he often castigates critical and audience favorites, White has been labeled "contrarian for the sake of being contrary" and "America's most hated movie critic". Citing the straw man arguments in White's review of the 2006 film ''Dreamgirls'', critic Jim Emerson wrote that "White doesn't necessarily practice film criticism, although what he writes is almost always based on his real or imagined characterization of what other critics have already written. The movie itself sometimes gets lost in White's internal monologue as he rages against some chimerical critical consensus." In 2009, following an eruption of controversy on the Rotten Tomatoes website over White's negative pre-general release review of ''District 9'' (which ruined its 100% rating up to that point), Roger Ebert defended him against the "fanboys" of the "Tomatoes lynch mob": "The fact that you don't know what someone is writing about is not a real good reason for disagreeing with him [...] [White is] an intelligent critic and a passionate writer, and he knows a very great deal about movies, dance, and many other things." However, after being presented with a list of films that White had liked and disliked, Ebert withdrew his overall support of White's work, writing "It is baffling to me that a critic could praise ''Transformers 2'' but not ''Synecdoche, NY''. Or ''Death Race'' but not ''There Will Be Blood''. I am forced to conclude that White is, as charged, a troll; a smart and knowing one, but a troll." White condemned Ebert's response, saying "the guy has won a Pulitzer Prize for criticism [...] Criticizing colleagues is not what we do". Ebert stated that he had shown "very poor judgment" in writing that entry.

Bibliography

Books

''The Resistance: Ten Years of Pop Culture That Shook the World'' (ISBN 978-0879515867)

''Rebel for the Hell of It: The Life of Tupac Shakur'' (ISBN 978-1560254614)

''Keep Moving: The Michael Jackson Chronicles''

Essays (partial list)

''"Avant-Lard: Is anyone still waging the fight against junk populism and elitism''

''"What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Movies"''

''"Discourteous Discourse: The social networking approach to film criticism is not about democracy"''

''"Smugness: Self Satisfaction, Hollywood Style"''

''"In Bed with Hollywood."''

''"Do Movie Critics Matter?"''

''"My Greenberg Problem - and Yours''

''Wes Anderson: Why does it take you so long to make a movie?"''

''Up and Smell the Oscars: They Stink!"''

''"Our Soul Man"''

''"Cinema Armondiso: A concise history of film"''

References

Sources

Roberts, Jerry. ''The Complete History of American Film Criticism''. Santa Monica Press, 2010. ISBN 978-1-59580-049-7

Lopate, Phillip (ed.). ''American Movie Critics: An Anthology From the Silents Until Now''. Library of America, 2006. ISBN 1931082928

Lee, Spike and Fuchs, Cynthia. ''Spike Lee: interviews''. Univ. Press of Mississippi, 2002. ISBN 1578064708

External links

Armond White at Rotten Tomatoes

Armond White at ''New York Press''

Armond White's Top Ten Lists 1997-2006

Category:1953 births Category:People from Detroit, Michigan Category:Living people Category:American film critics Category:American music critics Category:New York Press people Category:African American journalists

birth name	Karl-Heinz Urban
birth date	June 07, 1972
birth place	Wellington, New Zealand
occupation	Actor
years active	1990–present
website	}}

Karl-Heinz Urban (born 7 June, 1972) is a New Zealand actor.

He is known for playing Éomer in the second and third installments of Peter Jackson's ''The Lord of the Rings'' trilogy, Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy in the 2009 film ''Star Trek'' and Julius Caesar on ''Xena: Warrior Princess''. He played Vaako in ''The Chronicles of Riddick'', the Russian assassin Kirill in ''The Bourne Supremacy'', and Ghost in ''Pathfinder'' and won acclaim for his performances in New Zealand films ''The Price of Milk'' and ''Out of the Blue''.

Early life

Urban was born in Wellington, New Zealand. His father, a German immigrant, owned a leather goods store, and his mother once worked for Film Facilities in Wellington, through which the young Urban was exposed to classic New Zealand cinema and developed an interest in the film industry. Urban attended St Mark's Church School, where he showed an early love for public performance. His first acting role came at age eight, when he had a single line in one episode of the New Zealand television series 'Pioneer Woman'. Though continuing to take part in school stage productions, he did not act professionally again until after high school.

He attended Wellington College from 1986-1990, then Victoria University of Wellington in the Bachelor of Arts programme for one year, but left to pursue his acting career. Over the next few years, he landed several theatre roles in the Wellington area, and eventually he moved to Auckland, where he was offered many guest roles in local shows (one of which was playing a heroin addict in the police drama ''Shark in the Park''). The role which launched him to local fame was that of gay paramedic Jamie Forrest in the hit New Zealand TV series ''Shortland Street''. He appeared on the show for the 1993–1994 season.

Urban then moved to Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia in 1995, returning to New Zealand the following year.

Career

New Zealand roles

As well as appearing in films and television shows, Urban had various roles in theatre productions and TV advertisements. In February/March 1998, he was in a play called ''The Herbal Bed'' at the Maidment Theatre in Auckland. In August 1998, he played Mark Antony in Auckland Theatre Company's production of ''Shakespeare's Julius Caesar''. The following year he starred in the Auckland Theatre Company's production of the New Zealand classic ''Foreskin's Lament''.

Urban was seen on the internationally syndicated American TV series ''Hercules: The Legendary Journeys'' and on its spin-off ''Xena: Warrior Princess'', in which he played the recurring roles of both Cupid and Julius Caesar from 1996 to 2001. Both shows were filmed in New Zealand. In 2001 he appeared in the offbeat rural romance ''The Price of Milk'', for which he received his first nomination at the New Zealand Qantas Film and Television Awards. Urban later won acclaim for his portrayal of policeman Nick Harvey in ''Out of the Blue'', a dramatisation of New Zealand's Aramoana massacre, for which he won the Qantas Film and Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2008.

International roles

Urban's first Hollywood role was in the 2002 horror film ''Ghost Ship''. Since then, he has worked on many high-profile movies, including the second and third installments of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (''The Two Towers'' and ''The Return of the King''), ''The Bourne Supremacy'', ''The Chronicles of Riddick'' and ''Star Trek''.

''The Hollywood Reporter'' speculated that Urban was one of several actors being considered for the part of British secret service agent 007 in ''Casino Royale'', directed by fellow New Zealander Martin Campbell. The role eventually went to Daniel Craig.

Urban played John "Reaper" Grimm in Universal Pictures' ''Doom'' (based on the classic first-person shooter video game Doom), which was released on 21 October 2005. In 2007 he starred in the Viking adventure ''Pathfinder''. A longtime fan of Westerns, Urban appeared as Woodrow Call in ''Comanche Moon'', the CBS miniseries prequel to ''Lonesome Dove'', in January 2008.

In 2009, he played Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy, a role famously originated by DeForest Kelley, in the eleventh ''Star Trek'' film. A fan of the Star Trek franchise since childhood, Urban actively pursued a role in the film. His performance was widely embraced by the Star Trek fan community for its faithfulness to the spirit of Kelley's McCoy.

In 2009, Urban appeared as himself in the documentary film ''Reclaiming the Blade'', discussing his sword-wielding experience in films such as ''The Lord of the Rings''.

Urban next appeared as CIA agent William Cooper in ''RED'', adapted from the DC Comics graphic novel of the same name and co-starring Bruce Willis and Helen Mirren. He portrayed Black Hat, a villainous priest-turned-vampire, in the film adaption of the Korean manhwa ''Priest'', released in 3-D in 2011.

In July 2010, Urban was cast as law-enforcing comic book hero Judge Dredd for the upcoming film entitled Dredd. In an interview with Shave Magazine, Urban described it as a "high-octane, action-fueled film... about the day in the life of Dredd." The film is directed by Pete Travis, with a script by Alex Garland.

Urban is currently filming the ensemble thriller ''Loft'', a remake of the Belgian film of the same name. Filmed in New Orleans and Belgium, it is helmed by the director of the 2008 original, Erik Van Looy.

Personal life

Urban married Natalie Wihongi (who was his makeup artist on ''The Privateers'') in September 2004. Together they have two sons: Hunter, born November 2000, and Indiana ('Indy'), born January 2005 and named for the eponymous hero of the ''Indiana Jones'' franchise, which Urban has cited as among his favorite films. They live in the Auckland, NZ suburb of Herne Bay.

Urban serves as a celebrity ambassador for KidsCan, a charity which currently supports over 16,000 disadvantaged children all over New Zealand by providing them with essentials such as food, coats and shoes.

He is an avid fan of rugby union; in particular, the New Zealand All Blacks national team.

Filmography

+ Film	! Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
1992		Wellington Soldier
1998	''Heaven''	Sweeper
1998	''Via Satellite''	Paul
2000	''The Irrefutable Truth about Demons''	Harry Ballard	''Nominated – New Zealand Film and Television Award for Best Performance by an Actor in Film''
2000	''The Price of Milk''	Rob	''Nominated – New Zealand Film and Television Award for Best Performance by an Actor in Film''
2002		Munder
2002	''The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers''	Éomer
2003	''The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King''	Éomer	''Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast National Board of Review Award for Best Cast Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Nominated – Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast''
2004	''The Chronicles of Riddick''	Vaako
2004
2005
2006		Nick Harvey	''Qantas Film and Television Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in Film''
2007		Ghost
2009
2009	''Black Water Transit''	Earl Pike	''not yet released''
2010		Michael
2010		William Cooper
2011		Black Hat
2012			''announced''
2012	''Dredd''	Judge Dredd	''post-production''
2013		Vincent Stevens

+ Television	! Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
1990	''Shark in the Park''	Rohann Murdoch	Episode: "Suffer Little Children"Episode: "Thicker Than Water"Episode: "Et Tu, Brute"Episode: "Give A Dog A Bad Name"Episode: "A Sensitive Family Matter"Episode: "Nothing But The Truth"
1992	''Homeward Bound''	Tim Johnstone
1993		David	Episode: "Tough Kid"
1993–1994	''Shortland Street''	Paramedic Jamie Forrest
1995	''Riding High''	James Westwood
1996, 1998	''Hercules: The Legendary Journeys''		The Green-Eyed Monster (Hercules: The Legendary Journeys)
1996–2001	''[[Xena: Warrior Princess''
1997	''Amazon High''		Unsold TV-Pilot
2000	''The Privateers''	Capt. Aran Dravyk
2008		Woodrow F. Call	CBS miniseries

References

External links

Karl Urban Interview at www.sci-fi-online.com

Category:1972 births Category:Former students of Wellington College (New Zealand) Category:Living people Category:New Zealand film actors Category:New Zealand stage actors Category:New Zealand television actors Category:New Zealand people of German descent Category:Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:People from Wellington City

ar:كارل أوربان bg:Карл Ърбан de:Karl Urban es:Karl Urban fr:Karl Urban gl:Karl Urban ko:칼 어번 id:Karl Urban it:Karl Urban he:קארל אורבן sw:Karl Urban hu:Karl Urban (színész) nl:Karl Urban ja:カール・アーバン pl:Karl Urban pt:Karl Urban ro:Karl Urban ru:Урбан, Карл sl:Karl-Heinz Urban sr:Карл Ербан fi:Karl Urban sv:Karl Urban th:คาร์ล เออร์บัน uk:Карл Урбан zh:卡爾·厄本

Name	Moon Bloodgood
Birth name	Korinna Moon Bloodgood
Birth date	September 20, 1975
Birth place	Anaheim, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress/Model
Yearsactive	1997–present }}

Korinna Moon Bloodgood (born September 20, 1975) is an American actress and model. She starred as "Lt. Blair Williams" in the film ''Terminator Salvation'' alongside Christian Bale and Sam Worthington. Bloodgood previously starred in the films ''Eight Below'' and ''Pathfinder''.

Early life

Bloodgood was born in Anaheim, California. Her father, Shell Bloodgood, is an American of Dutch and Irish descent, and her mother, Sang Cha, is South Korean. Her father was stationed in Korea when he met her mother.

Career

Bloodgood is a former member of the Laker Girls. In 2009, she appeared for the fourth time on ''Maxim's'' Hot 100 list, at #20, her highest appearance. She was #99 in 2005, #53 in 2006, and #40 in 2007.

In ''Day Break'' (2006–2007), she portrayed Rita Shelten, the girlfriend of a detective who is framed for murder and arrested in the span of a day but continually finds himself reliving that same day. In 2007, Bloodgood starred as Livia Beale in the American science-fiction television series ''Journeyman'' on NBC.

She had a role in the movie ''Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li'', which opened in February 2009. She starred as Blair Williams in ''Terminator Salvation'', the fourth film in the ''Terminator'' series and reprised her role in the video game and the prequel series of short film ''Terminator Salvation: The Machinima Series''.

In the Spring of 2009 she joined the third season of the show ''Burn Notice'' in a recurring role as Detective Michelle Paxson.

She currently portrays Dr. Anne Glass in TNT's science fiction series ''Falling Skies'' executively produced by Steven Spielberg.

She also voice acts the role of Uriel the Archangel in the video game ''Darksiders''.

Filmography

! Year !! Movie !! Role !! Notes and Awards
2004	''Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!''	Gorgeous Woman
2005	''A Lot Like Love''	Bridget
	''Moonlight Serenade''	Marie Devrenier
''Eight Below''	Katie
2007		Starfire
2008	''What Just Happened''	Laura
	''Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li''	Detective Maya Sunee
''Terminator Salvation''	Lt. Blair Williams
		Marina
	Beth
	Trish
		Nikki
Television
! Year	! Title	! Role	! Notes
	''Just Shoot Me!''	Penny
		Maid	"Iced"
''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation''	Dancer	"Assume Nothing"
		Maid	"Vice"
	Haley
	''Day Break''	Rita Shelten
		Livia Beale	13 episodes
	''Burn Notice''	Detective Michelle Paxson
		Doctor Jessica Shaw	"Tanarak"
	''Falling Skies''	Anne Glass
Voice Acting
! Year	! Title	! Role	! Notes
	''Darksiders'' (PS3/Xbox360/PC)	Uriel, The Archangel

References

External links

Category:1975 births Category:Actors from California Category:American actors of Korean descent Category:American cheerleaders Category:American film actors Category:American people of Dutch descent Category:American people of Irish descent

Category:American television actors Category:American video game actors Category:American voice actors Category:Living people Category:Military brats Category:People from Anaheim, California

de:Moon Bloodgood es:Moon Bloodgood fr:Moon Bloodgood ko:문 블러드굿 it:Moon Bloodgood sw:Moon Bloodgood hu:Moon Bloodgood nl:Moon Bloodgood pl:Moon Bloodgood fi:Moon Bloodgood sv:Moon Bloodgood th:มูน บลัดกูด tr:Moon Bloodgood uk:Мун Бладгуд