I'm a Movie-Theatre-Goer!

Visiting Ravenna during the Golden Night, 9 October 2011

2011-10-13T09:55:00.000-07:00

I never forget that Ravenna is beautiful and full of important monuments, but visiting it by evening, with a wonderful sunset in the background, is always like to visit it for the first time. I feel excited each time!

(if you use these images, please report at least the source: my blog ad me MovieTheatreGoer as author)

Ravenna - Golden Night, 9 October 2011

After having left the car in the parking, we arrived nearby San Vitale:

Then, we visited the center, full of visitors. Don't you think Ravenna is like a smaller Venice?

Since I like a lot this square and I wanted to take some pictures of the house in which the English poet Lord Byron, aka George Gordon Noel Byron, lived for some time, we went into the S. Francesco Square.

For you, Lynne/Athenais, here the house and the plate in memory of him:

Poor man in that awful house, isn't it? ;)

Now the square with the church of S. Francesco....

Nearby there's the Dante's grave:

I made the last photos before the light went off, inside the courtyard nearby the grave.

There were some amazing artworks made with mosaic!

Marshmellows...

A tv...

A tree, a pillow and a book...

A model of a building:

To be or not to be...

Last but not least, in the centre of Ravenna there is also an hotel dedicated to Lord Byron!

Another fantastic tour of Ravenna!

Italy is full of ancient stuff!

2011-09-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

WOW! Thanks to that summer dry weather, our river is almost empty and now we've descovered pieces from an old Roman bridge in its bed!!!

Other archeological finds were hide by the water:

- pieces of another old wooden bridge...

- and military hardware...

View from the "Ponte delle Grazie".

People already knew about them, but didn't imagined there still can be pieces of these bridges in the river!

The story of Azzurrina’s Ghost, as it was told to us...

2011-09-19T01:37:00.000-07:00

This story makes me think we “modern people” are not the worst people in the history of the World. The ancient world was full of violence and prejudices and lot of blood was shed.
Today we are aware that intolerance is wrong and unfair, at least!

If you want to visit this place, soon or later, consider my story a sort of spoiler and don't read any further!

We visited it Sunday the 11th of September 2011.

……………………………..

First, there was the Fortress of Montebello, near San Marino/Rimini, very old building.

Around 300 bC a Roman battalion fought against a village of Gauls and won the territory. They founded a guard tower and since they couldn’t excavate the foundation in that hard rock, they thought to build the walls around the summit of the mountain, so the fortress was secure. Today you can still see a wall deformed by the presence of the rock in a corridor. The place was used as military outpost in centuries.

It’s a fact that the original name of the place, “Mons Belli”, doesn’t mean “beautiful mountain” but “mountain of war”.

In the Middle Ages the place was still a military outpost.

Some testimonials say that at the end of the 1300 AD, the little Guendalina, daughter of a certain Ugolinuccio or Uguccione, feudatory of Montebello, born in that important family, but when the parents saw the newborn were devastated, since the baby was “albina”: she had white hair and pal skin and at that time that was considered like a curse. People thought ”albini” were bewitched like babies with red hair, so certainly the life of Guendalina was in danger.

In the secret of her bedroom, the mother tried to hide the color of her hair with black dye but it didn’t work. The hair of the “albini” are particular: they react to the pigment and the color doesn’t remain. But something strange happened: the head of the baby turned blue. That’s why they began to call her Azzurrina.

To protect her life, the father, who was very influential, obtained to left her inside the Fortress of Montebello, full of guards, so people wouldn’t think there were someone else there.

The baby was put in the charge of two loyal guards. She used to play with a ball made of rags and the guards left her free to run in the corridor above an ice-room, the only access of which was through few steps. There weren’t other entrances.

The legend tells that the 21th of June 1375 the child played with the ball like every day, when the ball rolled down the stairs and Azzurrina went down to retrieve the ball, but never came back. The two guards waited for a while, then they went down to search her, but the baby was never found again. Another tale says they heard a scream when the baby disappeared.

There aren’t much proofs of the existence of Guendalina and real elements melt into the fantasy of people. They suppose the baby was between three and five years old then.

It’s said that every five years during the Summer Solstice night, the cry of a baby comes up from the ice-room.

The legend of the ghost remained in centuries. After having changed owners many times, in 1990 the fortress became a museum. Since then, some scientists try to tape that voice and during the tour, the visitors can listen the recordings.

It’s true the guide, at the end of the tour, brings you at the top of the stairs of the ice-room and you find there a copy of the portrait of Azzurrina, made some years ago by a lady who imagines her that way. There’s a blue light which raises from the stairs, to help the atmosphere.

Then the guide plays a recorder and you can hear five registrations. In four of them, you hear a tiny voice of a crying baby and thunders. I find more scary the last registration of 2005: incomprehensible growing voices. But you’re free to believe it or not. Since many old buildings in Italy have a peculiar conformation which creates an echo, that can be an answer: in our opinion the voices can arrive from very far and seem ghost’s voices.

The fortress saw other tragic moments: in one of the first rooms you can see a hole, from which the soldiers threw from above hot oil, prepared in the near kitchen, over the enemies.

Then the guide told us the story of the dining room with the furniture we use to call “credenza”: it hadn’t the meaning it has today (to recover dishes, cutlery and glasses), but had a very evil use. The feudatory could decide to offer a banquet to his enemies for strategy reasons and it was better they accepted, or he could decide to move a battle against them.

To make them at easy, he employed a taster and all the food was posed over that big furniture, which still has a very dark unsettle surface, and the man started to taste the dishes. Then, he stood near the furniture until the end of the banquet and the guests could “believe” (”credere”=”credenza”) that the food hadn’t poisons inside. But it was a deception: the poison could have a delaying action (and the poor man died after hours) or being inserted only in a plate or around the rim of a glass. So for the guests there wasn’t safety.

I wonder how many people died that way.

And during the centuries, other battles were fought there. You can still feel there is something strange in that place, even if you don’t believe in ghosts.

………………………………

We were a group of 15-18 people during the day tour and there were children with us, so the guide didn’t told us the entire story. Other two friends of us, who visited the castle during the night tour, told other scary details.

One anecdote is: it seems one night a watchman walked through the rooms and some plaster fell over his shoulder. He didn’t care of that and continued his tour. When he returned in that room, he rose his eyes by chance and he got shivers seeing a sort of dwarf (or the other friend told it was the child) walking on the ceiling upside down, with hair downward and he/she left prints of the feet in the wall. The guide shows the room to the visitors during the night tour and the prints are still there!!

Apart from that story, the fortress is charming and impressive, considering how old is the part of Roman wall which is still there. And you have a beautiful point of view of the valley and of San Marino and in sunny days you can even see the Adriatic sea.

The place is not so bad by day, the photo in the Montebello official website is much more scary to me. But you can’t sleep that good the night after having visited it!

The site is in Italian, but I imagine they can send you information in English, if you’re interested.

http://www.castellodimontebello.com

I wonder what might have happened to the two guards, after the baby disappeared.
That can be a good plot for a movie.

(I’m sorry for the errors with English there can be)

And this is Ben with glasses! Augh! And thinking he had to make

2011-07-20T05:38:00.000-07:00

And this is Ben with glasses in a scene of the movie Fanny & Elvis! Augh! And thinking he had to make "Law & Order: UK"! :)

(copyright TheFilmConsortium)

Ben Daniels interview in the extras of the DVD Fanny & Elvis!

2011-07-20T05:36:00.000-07:00

From the movie Fanny & Elvis: some screenshots from the DVD, I made myself. Ben Daniels interviewed during a windy day!

(copyright TheFilmConsortium)

BAND OF BROTHERS: Jumping For Heroes: Jumping For Heroes: UK

2011-06-13T03:31:00.000-07:00

BAND OF BROTHERS: Jumping For Heroes: Jumping For Heroes: UK: "THE UK JUMP On Sunday 21st August 2011, i n conjunction with the Richard Winters Leadership Project , the cast of HBO's miniseries Band O..."

10 June 2011: Happy Birthday Ben Daniels!

2011-06-09T06:33:00.000-07:00

Since tomorrow will be the birthday of our favorite actor Ben Daniels, I've thought to use this new blog to wish him HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

My favorite live-photo of him, from www.broadway.com

Just in these days, he started working in Luise Miller at Donmar Warehouse:

http://www.donmarwarehouse.com/pl125.html

so I wish him to have very great fun and satisfaction with this new play and to repeat again the success he had with Liaisons in New York just the day of is 2008 birthday!

Ben: have a great birthday with your family and friends!

His fans can add their wishes to him below, tomorrow I'll tweet the wishes to him, hope he could appreciate them. But also direct tweets to him would be welcome for sure!!!!

Antonella

xx

Last movie seen on big screen:

2011-06-09T05:44:00.000-07:00

X-Men: First Class

Seen 2011/06/08 at 9 pm

	James McAvoy	...	Charles Xavier
	Laurence Belcher	...	Charles Xavier (12 Years)
	Michael Fassbender	...	Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto
	Bill Milner	...	Young Erik
	Kevin Bacon	...	Sebastian Shaw
	Rose Byrne	...	Moira MacTaggert
	Jennifer Lawrence	...	Raven / Mystique
	Beth Goddard	...	Mrs. Xavier
	Morgan Lily	...	Young Raven (10 yrs)
	Oliver Platt	...	Man In Black Suit
	Álex González	...	Janos Quested / Riptide
	Jason Flemyng	...	Azazel
	Zoë Kravitz	...	Angel Salvadore
	January Jones	...	Emma Frost
	Nicholas Hoult	...	Hank McCoy / Beast
	Caleb Landry Jones	...	Sean Cassidy / Banshee
	Edi Gathegi	...	Armando Muñoz / Darwin
	Corey Johnson	...	Chief Warden
	Lucas Till	...	Alex Summers / Havok
	Demetri Goritsas	...	Levene
	Glenn Morshower	...	Colonel Hendry
	Matt Craven	...	CIA Director McCone
	James Remar	...	US General
	Ludger Pistor	...	1st German / Pig Farmer
	Wilfried Hochholdinger	...	2nd German / Tailor
	Greg Kolpakchi	...	Russian Soldier No. 1
	Andrei Zayats	...	Russian Soldier No. 2
	Rade Serbedzija	...	Russian General
	Ray Wise	...	Secretary of State
	Michael Medeiros	...	Political Officer
	Olek Krupa	...	Soviet Captain
	Yuri Naumkin	...	Soviet Fire Control
	Gene Farber	...	Soviet Radioman
	David Agranov	...	Soviet NCO
	Katrine De Candole	...	Swiss Receptionist
	James Faulkner	...	Swiss Bank Manager
	Éva Magyar	...	Edie Lensherr
	Annabelle Wallis	...	Co-Ed
	Juan Herrera	...	Airport Worker
	Greg Savage	...	Coastguard
	Jarid Faubel	...	US Fire Control Officer
	Gregory Cox	...	Dr. Leigh
	Josh Cohen	...	Junior Agent No. 1
	David Crow	...	Weasley Agent
	Kieran Patrick Campbell	...	Little Boy
	Sasha Pieterse	...	Teenage Girl
	Brendan Fehr	...	Communications Officer
	Michael Ironside	...	Captain (as M. Ironside)
	Jason Beghe	...	XO
	Venya Manzyuk	...	Lt. Commander (as Veniamin Manzyuk)
	Tony Curran	...	Man In Black Suit Agent
	Randall Batinkoff	...	Man In Black Suit Agent
	Peter Stark	...	Storm Trooper No. 1
	Leonard Redlich	...	Storm Trooper No. 2
	Carlos Besse Peres	...	German Bartender (as Carlos Peres)
	Neil Fingleton	...	Russian General's Bodyguard 1
	Marios	...	Russian General's Bodyguard 2
	Georg Nikoloff	...	Mr. Lensherr (Erik's Dad)
	Arthur Darbinyan	...	Aral Sea Captain
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
	Sean Brown	...	Russian Chopper Pilot
	Don Creech	...	William Stryker Sr.
	Hugh Jackman	...	Logan / Wolverine (uncredited)
	Rebecca Romijn	...	Raven / Mystique - older (uncredited)

I like a lot this new movie on X-Men, the storyline introduces us into the youth of the characters.

Have you noticed how many European actors are in the movies on X-Men? This is very good to me!

Back to home after having seen it, I confirm again: Magneto, the mutant with such a past, but so strong to survive for his revenge, is my favorite character, thanks also to the charming Michael Fassbender who is not afraid to show pain and tears, together with strenght! Both Ian McKellen and Michael are brilliant as Magneto, even if so different in manners and physique!

James McAvoy is lovely, always so sweet in the roles he plays, but also so strong in his own particular way, from Shameless to X-Men I admire how he plays his characters, very smart man! You can't do nothing but find him adorable.

I like the way the plot tells us how Charles and Erik meet, the scene in the water is amazing.

Rose Byrne is so sweet and it's good to see her, (she was the best element in Troy to me)!

Kevin Bacon, well is Kevin Bacon, the man you love to hate, very good in his role!

Short role for Nicholas Hoult, but in line with other characters he played. I'll keep an eye on him!

The ladies mutants are charming: January Jones, Jennifer Lawrence and Zoë Kravitz.

A funny cameo (totally unexpected) and I've recognized some actors I've liked in other movies: for example, it's good to see nice Jason Flemyng, unrecognizable here! And Olek Krupa plays the Soviet Captain.

Anyway, the movie has at least two weak points:
- it's slow in some scene, or it's better if I say some characters are too slow while there is danger around, maybe it's fault of some special effects,
- the Italian dubbers are not too good in these last years, I started to watch movies in original languages, it's hard not to listen the real, beautiful voices of the actors.

Would like to share opinions with other fans of X-Men. Your comments are welcome!

Why I like actor Ben Daniels

2011-04-06T07:26:00.000-07:00

Okay, there are many actors and actresses in the History of Acting.

Especially, I can’t find almost nothing as romantic as a young boy or girl who starts a career on stage.

Being a lover of Shakespeare, to me the most romantic actor is the young British actor

who “slips” into the theaters of London and tries to give the audience the best.

Some of them are lost over the years or, after brief success, choose awful roles to continue working.

But some of them, on the contrary, continue to improve year after year, even in the Cinema and on TV.

That’s why I dedicate a tribute to Ben Daniels, who is so talented and passionate about his work.

He impressed me in some roles he played and for some decisions about his career .

I noticed him for the first time in Beautiful Thing, a movie I watch often. Later, each time I saw him in the cast of other works, I started to see that certain series or movie because of him and I continued to follow his career.I think he really deserves appreciation and awards for his dedication and passion for his work.

I’m happy he has success in the theatre, as well as on tv and in the cinema. So I’ve thought to dedicate a fan site to him and I’m trying to do the most exhaustive site on him!

He seems to have a magic feeling with the actresses he works with, like with sweet Freema Agyeman for example, but also with his male-colleagues.

Even if usually I prefer the bad characters which Ben Daniels plays very well, I like him a lot also in good roles like James Steel in L&O UK (he is the main reason why I started to watch that series).

He surprised me also making a movie with a leopard, “Passion in the Desert”, from a Balzac novel! That's why he refused to work in two US movies which were offered to him.

I would really like to see him in a Western movie or tv-series, what a perfect union would be!

I hope to see him on stage in UK, one day...

ACTING is the greatest Art in the World.

2011-04-06T07:19:00.000-07:00

I have always admired talent, culture and physical qualities of an actor or an actress.

Since I was a child, also in readings, I couldn't get along without visualize a book character with the aesthetic characteristics of a certain actor.

That's why I dedicate this blog to this great passion of mine. I really like to talk about movies!

I like films about World War I & II + western + comedy + musicals + drammatic pictures.

I like some science-fiction films and detective stories.

I can't stand boring horror movies, but I can appreciate "psychological" horror movies.

Another passion of mine is Theatre, even if I go less often for some reasons.

Movies made my own world better!

I loves Arts and Entertainement, I'm particularly proud of my Fan Page on amazing actor Ben Daniels and good series Law&Order:UK.

I've dedicated another Fan Page to the late Richard Warwick, Ian Charleson, Christine Noonan and other stuff on Cinema.