Today is the birthday of British film director/ writer/ producer Guy Richie.

“I am relatively familiar with getting a good old rumping from the critics. In some cases, the critics just didn’t like the film – fair cop. Others, I think, didn’t understand it.”
~Guy Richie

Guy Stuart Ritchie as born on 10 September 1968 in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England. He dropped out of school at 15.

He got a job as a runner (an errand runner on film and TV sets). He was a fast learner and soon started directing music videos and commercials.

He wrote and directed his first short movie A Hard Case (1995) which was a prequel to his hit feature debut film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (2000). Lock Stock won him a (best director) Tokyo Film Festival award and a (best new filmmaker) MTV movie award.

He then made my favourite Richie film: Snatch (2000). The movie is hilarious and violent and features popular actors like Brad Pitt,Benico Del Toro and Jason Statham. Richie won the Empire “Best British Director” award for the brilliant movie. It was very successful at the box office. I have watched this flick several times

Guy Richie is perhaps more famous for his marriage to Madonna, which has since folded, than for his films. In 2002 he cast his wife as the leading lady in a remake of the 1974 Lina Wertmüller film Swept Away. He won a “worst director” Razzie for this box-office flop. Not surprisingly, it was ill received by critics and disappointed his fans. I think this movie sucks big time. I thougt I’d buck the trend and give it a rave review… but then I actually watched it… and I just could not. Watching it only once was more than enough. Luckily I waited for it to be on TV, so there was no money lost.

He also directed:

• Star (2001) – Short
• Revolver (2005)
• Suspect (2007) – TV
• Rock n Rolla (2008)

His latest film is Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Downey Jnr, which will be released this year. I look forward to seeing this movie. Judging from the trailers: it looks awesome!

Happy Birthday Guy! I think I’ll pop Snatch into the DVD player tonight and have a good laugh.

Filmography: IMDB
Photo Credit: Albert L. Ortega / PR Photos

Legendary director, writer and producer, John Hughes passed away last week (6 August 2009). Since a week has now passed, I thought it fitting do a short profile on him. Mr Hughes is best known for his coming of age comedies of the 1980s.

John Hughes was born on 18 February 1950 in Lansing, Michigan, USA.

He graduated from Glenbrook North High School in Northbrook, Illinois in 1968. Most of his films were set in Illinois. He married Nancy Ludwig, whom he met in high school, in 1970. He had two sons John (1976) and James (1979). He had four grandchildren.

After dropping out from university in 1970 he got a job copy-writing for an advertising company in Chicago.

He wrote a story titled Vacation ‘58, which got him a job with National Lampoon and was the basis of the movie Vacation.

His wrote five episodes for Delta House (1979) and first feature length screenplay was National Lampoon’s: Class Reunion (1982). He also wrote the screenplays for all the movies he directed.

A few of 39 the films he wrote include:

* Sixteen Candles
* Home Alone [1-4]
* Beethoven [1-3]
* Dennis the Menace
* Maid in Manhattan
* Drillbit Taylor

He had his directorial debut with Sixteen Candles (1984) and ended his directorial career with Curly Sue. His director filmography includes:

1. Sixteen candles (1984)
2. Breakfast Club (1985)
3. Weird Science (1985)
4. Ferris Bueller’s Day (1986)
5. Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)
6. She’s having a Baby (1988)
7. Uncle Buck (1989)
8. Curly Sue (1991)

Hughes was also the producer on 23 films spanning from The Breakfast Club (1985) to New Port South (2001).

John Hughes died of a heart attack on August 6, 2009 whilst walking in Manhattan. He was buried in Chicago. John Hughes definitely left a mark on the film industry and on the kids of the 1980s. His movies are still as fresh now as they were then. He will be sorely missed.

He’s movies would make a great edition to your DVD collection. If you have some of his DVDs or videos, which you have watched a thousand times, you could probably sell or trade them in the classifieds, but my guess is if you’re a true fan, you’ll hang on to them. Ferris Bueller, Breakfast Club. Pretty in Pink and Sixteen Candles are legendary.

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He directed as well as wrote the screenplays for six of his films. His feature directorial debut was the indie hit Say Anything (1989), which was well received by critics. Say Anything starred John Cusack.

His next film was Singles (1992) which feautured the then not yet famous band Pearl Jam.

His most famous film is Jerry Maguire (1996) – about a sports agent who decides to leave his job and go it alone – and starred Tom Cruise. Cruise later starred in his film Vanilla Sky (2001).

In his semi-autobiographical film Almost Famous (2000) a teenage boy hangs out with a band and writes articles for Rolling Stone Magazine. Almost Famous earned Crowe the Best Original Screen play Academy Award. The film starred Kate Hudson, Billy Cudrup and Jason Lee. Jason Lee also had a supporting role in Vanilla Sky.

His 2005 film Elizabeth Town, about a failing designer who’s on the brink of committing suicide but then receives a phone call that he has to go to his father’s funeral, received mixed reviews and starred Kirsten Dunst and Orlando Bloom.

Cameron Crowe is a great writer/ director that still manages to make character-driven offbeat yet popular films. I have not seen a film of his that I didn’t like. He is probably my favourite filmmaker and I would definitely add more of his movies to my collection next time I buy DVDs.

Sofia Coppola was born on 14 May 1971 in New York City. She is the daughter of Francis Ford Coppola and a member of one of the major Hollywood families. She started acting at a young age due to the fact that her father was a director and first appeared as a baby “boy” in The Godfather.

She studied photography at Mills College in Oakland, California and painting at the California Institute of the Arts.

Sofia Coppola made her directorial debut in 1996 with Bed, Bath in Beyond. In 1999 she received acclaim for The Virgin Suicides staring Kirsten Dunst.

She directed Lick the star in 1998 and followed the success of Virgin Suicides with Lost in Translation in 2003 for which she won a best screenplay Oscar. She became the 3rd woman in history and the 1st American woman to be nominated for a Best Director Academy Award (Lost in Translation).

She did a segment on VOID (Video Overview In Declaration) called “This here giraffe” in 2005.
She then directed Marie Antoinette in 2006 again starring Kirsten Dunst.

Sofia is definitely a director to watch out for and probably one of the most beautiful directors in the business.

So the next time you want to buy a DVD, pick up one of Sofia Coppola’s movies.

For more info visit The Internet Movie Database