Alfred Hitchcock has been named the Master of Suspense. He
was a Television Personality, Screenwriter, Producer, and Director. He was born
on August 13, 1899 in Leytonstone, England. Hitchcock was interested in photography and
this led to him working in the film industry in 1920. He was a really good
artist and started out designing sets. Five years later he became a director. Hitchcock
quickly became known as a director who provided suspense and plot twists. He
made many successful films in the UK including The Man Who Knew Too Much, The
39 Steps, and The Lady Vanishes before moving to America. In 1940, he decided
to move to Hollywood and was hired by a producer to direct his first American
film called Rebecca.
Hitchcock had a successful television anthology called
Alfred Hitchcock Presents, which was changed to The Alfred Hitchcock Hour in 1962.
He hosted it from 1955-1965 and his humor made him a celebrity. Hitchcock actually
drew the title card for the show.
He created over 50 films, some of the most popular that I
have seen include, Psycho, Rear Window, and Strangers on a Train. I really
enjoyed Psycho because of the twist at the end that I never expected. I watched
Rear Window in high school and I think it was great that my school exposed us
to Alfred Hitchcock. My mom introduced me to Strangers on a Train and I really
liked the interesting plot. I also, like one of his other films called The
Birds. It was really crazy to see birds attacking everyone. Hitchcock said it
was his most technically challenging film because he had to use trained and mechanical
birds.
Hitchcock would frequently make cameo appearances in his
films and trailers. Below you can see him introducing his film, The Birds, in
this trailer.
Hitchcock came up with many camera and editing techniques
that became very popular. In 1958, he made the film, Vertigo, which used a
camera technique called the dolly zoom, which has been used by many filmmakers
since. In his career he earned, two Golden Globes, eight Laurel Awards, an Oscar,
and five lifetime achievement awards. He was also nominated five times for an
Academy Award for best director. He is one of the most influential filmmakers
in history. What are some of your favorite Alfred Hitchcock movies? My favorite
is probably Psycho, which is probably his most popular and profitable film ever
earning $15 million.
Sources:
http://www.alfredhitchcock.com/
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000033/?ref_=nv_sr_1
Hurricane Bianca is a comedic film starring Roy Haylock as
his drag counterpart Bianca Del Rio. The movie begins in Texas as Richard
Martinez (Roy Haylock), he is a teacher who is struggling to find a job after
he is fired for being gay. One night when he is depressed, he meets this girl
named Karma Johnstone, who’s a transgender woman, who takes him to a gay bar
where he says drag queen Ambrosia Salad (Alyssa Edwards) performing her gig. 
She asks the audience if anyone wants to perform and Karma forces Richard to
get into drag, and the scene blurs out to symbolize everyone becoming black-out
drunk. Richard wakes up the next morning as Bianca Del Rio, and he gets an
idea. Bianca applies for the same teaching position that Richard was fired from
and gets hired. As she enters the classroom, the students immediately attempt
to get her to quit, but she doesn’t step down. She makes fun of the students in
a humorous scene, even calling one of the students “bathmat.” She meets a coach
at the school and befriends him, unknowing that he is Karma’s brother. As the staff around the school become
threatened by Bianca, the vice principal, Deborah Ward (Rachel Dretch) and her
daughter, Carly Ward (molly Ryman) 
begin to uncover secrets regarding Miss
Bianca Del Rio in an effort to have her fired. Towards the end of the movie,
Bianca is nominated as teacher of the year and is then kidnapped by her
neighbor so that she can’t win the award. In a fierce scene towards the ending,
Bianca is seen walking to the school to accept her award,
while plotting to
reveal to the school that the vice principal used to sleep with students. Her
plan works successfully, and the vice principal is fired. I like this movie due
to the entertaining content and funny script. It’s a bit of a low budget film,
however humorous and entertaining nonetheless.
To Wong Foo: Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar is probably
the most amazing movie I’ve seen in a while. 
Vida Boheme (Patrick Swayze) and Noxeema
Jackson (Wesley Snipes) are both drag queens in New York City who have tied for
the Drag Queen of the Year contest.
As they prepare for their winning flight to
California to take part in the Miss Drag Queen of America Pageant, they
encounter one of their losing opponents Chi-Chi Rodruguez (John Leguizamo). Chi
Chi is crying because she lost, and after much thought, the queens decide to
take Chi-Chi under their wings and teach her how to be a true Queen. They
embark on their journey and encounter a police officer in a rural town who
tries to rape Vida, he discovers that she isn’t a woman and he falls backwards
and gets knocked out and they drive off. After their car stops working, they
flag down a passerby and he takes him to his small town named Snydersville. The
queens stay in the bed and breakfast for the weekend while their car is being
fixed. The queens totally transform the town, taking the women and giving them
complete makeovers while helping set up for their annual Strawberry Social. 
The
sheriff eventually finds out where the queens are hiding and sets off to get
his revenge. When he arrives in Snydersville, he is confronted by the
townspeople who have come to embrace the queens, regardless of their gender.
Each of the townspeople, even the so-we-thought homophobic ones, step up and
tell the sheriff they’re drag queens. He becomes so humiliated that he flees
the town. The queens say their final goodbyes and then depart to California
where Chi Chi eventually ends up winning the same contest won by Vida and
Noxeema and is crowned by Julie Newmar. 
such an entertaining movie filled
with many laughs. I recommend watching it if you would like to be entertained.
Patrick and Wesley do an amzing job playing drag queens and I commend them for
this role!
Paris Is Burning was released in 1991 and is an entertaining
documentary about the New York gay scene in the 1980’s which was Directed by
Jennie Livingston. Jennie focuses on the different aspects of gay culture such
as Houses, Mothers, Reading, Shade 
and also focuses on the negative elements such as
Homelessness, Aids, shoplifting, and poverty of the LGBT community. Jennie does
an amazing job showing how the New York Balls were done. A queen would perform
in a category ranging from Butch Queen (A gay man dressed as a masculine woman)
to Butch Queen First Time In Drag (a gay man dressed as a masculine woman,
dressing as a feminine woman for the first time). It even had categories for
Military personnel, Executive realness, and Fem Queen Realness. She interviews
several legendary queens like Pepper LeBeija who was presently the mother for
the House of LeBeija, Venus Xtravaganza, Octavia St. Laurent, Willi Ninja,
Dorian Corey, Paris Dupree, and many more fabulous queens.
As expected, this
movie faced a bunch of controversy and criticism. The National Endowment for
the Arts provided a majority of funding for the film, yet Livingston kept most
details of the film hidden due to a fear of having the funding taken away.
Towards the end of the movie a shocking confession was made about the young
queen Venus Xtravaganza. This allowed the queens to speak on the danger of
surviving as a transgender woman during that time period. This is a super
interesting documentary if you’re into Drag Queens or gay culture and could
even enlighten some people on the dangers and challenges the LGBT culture faced
circa 2000. I highly recommend everyone watch this movie as it will keep you
interested throughout the whole film. by Tucker Vermillion
