Hardly has there ever been a film that has entered into the general lexicon as the Full Monty. Although the term is now generally described as a strip show, the English slang, if you look it up in the diction is actually to do something “by whatever means necessary.”

The Full Monty was a blockbuster hit released in 1997 and launched the careers of some very important British actors including Robert Carlyle and Tom Wilkinson.

The story revolves around a group of steel mill workers from Sheffield who find themselves unemployed with the mill shuts down.  One day, one of the former steelworkers, Gary, sees a lineup of outside a local club to see a Chippendales' striptease act. He gets the idea to form his own striptease group using local men in hopes of making enough money to pay off his child support obligations.
​
The first to join the group is a security guard at the steel mill where the men worked. Feeling depressed, Lomper attempts suicide, but is rescued and convinced to join the group. Next, they recruit Gerald, their former foreman at the mill, who is hiding the fact that he is unemployed from his wife. In total six men join the group. 

Apple is getting ready to launch a movie streaming service to compete with Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon. The tech conglomerate is widely expected to unveil its offering at an event on Monday and it could give us a first look at some of the exciting original programming that’s in the works.
​
Apple is already behind their competition and will have to play catchup – with Netflix especially which is pumping out new content in what seems like new television shows and new films every week.  However if anybody can dive into the content gave, it will be Apple.

One of the biggest internet debates among the nerds is what will the streaming service be called. Will it have a different name from Apple TV to distinguish it from the current device that is already available? Maybe Apple Stream or iStream? Or will it be seamlessly integrated into existing services.

The Apple TV app is probably going to be the access point for all the Apple programing. You will also likely be able to access the content via iTunes as well.

Disney is expected to unveil its streaming service, Disney+, next month, and NBCUniversal is planning to release a streaming service in 2020. Both companies will be able to rely on deep back catalogs of beloved movies and shows, making an entrance even harder for a Apple which is starting at zero.

Even though the Apple service has yet to be announced, movie acquisitions, rights deals, and orders for new TV series all get reported months before they debut. So we know a good deal about what Apple has in store for its upcoming service.

People have always loved true crime stories but it was really Truman Capote with his book ‘In Cold Blood’ that really ignited the genre, exposing a wide range of readers to this kind of long-form journalism. Now Netflix has brought out several documentaries and dramas based upon real life events which has sparked new interest in the genre.

Recently Netflix released an eight-part series ‘The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann’. It was preceded by the Oscar-nominated short documentary, ‘Detainment’, about the two boys convicted of killing James Bulger, and it will shortly be followed by a three-part BBC Four series on Peter Sutcliffe, otherwise known as the Yorkshire Ripper. The streaming service also recently came out with a documentary on serial killer Ted Bundy but also a biopic staring Zac Efron.

What is the purpose of stirring up all these painful memories – some of which are real stains on modern history? Are they important contributions to journalism, to understanding human behaviour and will they help prevent a repeat of the past? Or are they merely capitalizing on our fascination with grizzly and bloody crime, tormenting the victims’ families?

Documentaries are important. They allow us to explore the world outside of our own narrow lenses, giving us knowledge and insight to different cultures and events. It’s unfortunate crime is often part of life and society. As such, it’s impossible to write about, record and document crime as it occurred. Part of it is for our own knowledge and part of it is to record history. People are naturally hurt and effected by these reports – in whatever form they take place. But should that prevent journalists and producers from reporting on them? 

Most great men need a number two. Sid Sheinberg was that person for Lew Wasserman who was the revered head of MCA and Universal Studios . Sid Sheinberg, who died at the age of 84, served for more than 40 years as president and Chief Operating Officer of MCA, Inc and Universal Studios and helped build the company into an entertainment conglomerate.

Sheinberg often had to play bad cop that allowed his his boss, Lew Wasserman, to assume the role of nice guy when needed. The plainspoken Sheinberg helped lead MCA Inc. and Universal through a phase of prosperity, expanding the company’s entertainment, theme park and publishing divisions and ultimately helping to mastermind its sale to Matsushita for more than $6 billion in 1989. It was a rocky affair for the two executives who were used to free rein. In 1995, Matsushita sold 80% of its holdings in the company to Seagram, and soon thereafter Wasserman and Sheinberg stepped down.

Despite Sheinberg’s considerable success, his most notable achievement was discovering and nurturing a young Steven Spielberg, giving him his first directing job, one of the most commercially successful directors of all time

When Jaws ran over budget and critics were questioning Spielberg’s directing ability, Sheinberg stood by an inexperienced Spielberg. Sheinberg pushed for Jaws to be completed and it went on to redefine how blockbuster films were made.  

Wasserman and Sheinberg transformed MCA from a traditional talent agency into an international entertainment empire that included the development of 420-acre spread that would become Universal City and another one in Orland Florida, building the highly successful theme parks that would be the envy of the other major studios. 

It’s hard to believe that it was fifty-two years ago this Spring that S.E. Hinton wrote one of the best-selling young adult novels of all time – her era-defining book, The Outsiders. The Outsiders took after another great coming-of-age story The Catcher in the Rye, which was published in 1951. And like J.D Salinger’s novel, the Outsiders took away the adults’ perspective and focuses purely on the teenager experience. In other words, The Outsiders is about teenagers and spoke directly to young readers.

What is perhaps even more amazing is that the author, Susan Eloise Hinton, was an Oklahoma high school student when she completed the manuscript she was then calling “A Different Sunset”. The novel was a major feat for Hinton, who started writing it when she was 15 and sold it two years later. Her mother had to co-sign the contract because Hinton was still considered a minor.

The Outsiders—which still sells half a million copies every year—forever changed the way books are written for young readers. The Outsiders depicts a group of lost boys  including the orphaned Curtis brothers and their gang called “greasers”.
​
Hinton has acknowledged that she borrowed from life which is probably why it feels authentic and real. Her first-person narrator, Ponyboy, and his friends were inspired by a true-life gang. Yet their world of drive-ins and drug stores, freight trains and churches, could be anywhere in middle America. Perhaps that is what makes the book so universal and appealing.  

For those trying to make it on the big screen, it can be a difficult journey. There are many lonely nights, struggles with rejection, and ignoring the naysayers. Often we think that famous actors don’t go through the troubles of other mere mortals. But even people who are on the top of the world like Lady Gaga have at one time or another had to deal with the haters. The Oscar winning singer and nominated actress shared screenshots of a Facebook group that was set up by Gaga’s fellow university students on Twitter.

She had an extremely vicious group of haters, who even went as far as to create a Facebook group titled “Stefani Germonotta, you will never be famous”, posting regularly about how she was an “attention whore”, not good enough, and would never fulfill her dreams of becoming a pop star.

The group viciously attacked Lady Gaga and is the type of group that Facebook is now trying hard to police and distance itself from. Some of the comments like “Who does she think she is?” were made on the page when Lady Gaga was a freshmen at NYU. Since then the pop star has opened up how hurtful they were and how she carried them around for a long time.  

Some people might argue that James Cameron is the most successful commercial director of all time. I know die-hard Steven Spielberg fans are probably throwing things at the screen right now but in terms of dollars grossed, Cameron has the two biggest box office hits of all time with Titanic and Avatar which account for almost $5 billion dollars alone. Some naysayers might point out that Spielberg’s films have totaled  over $10 billion but with 34 films under his belt that number becomes less impressive.
​
However, if Cameron is so successful, what has he been doing for the last 10 years  – ever since the release of Avatar. Cameron spent years developing the motion capture technology used to bring the exotic landscape and extraterrestrial world to life. Whisper campaigns began to spread that costs were overrunning and that Avatar was going to be an almighty flop. Once again, Cameron got the last laugh.

Since the release of Avatar in late 2009, however, James Cameron has pretty much disappeared. Sure, he’s coming back as a producer for the newest Terminator film but how involved he is debatable. It’s been a long time since he’s actually taken charge creatively and directed.

When Avatar was released, it lived up to the hype – making over $2.7 billion worldwide. Even Before the  film hit theaters, Cameron stated his intention to make two sequels. When the extent of Avatar’s profits became clear, Cameron began talking a bit more about what the first sequel would entail: further adventures of the central pairing, Sully and Neytiri, with sequences taking place in the planet Pandora’s ocean and returning appearances from Sigourney Weaver and Stephen Lang. However 10 years later, those plans seem in jeopardy.