Memento (2000)

Memento is a 2000 American neo-noir mystery thriller film written and directed by Christopher Nolan, and produced by Suzanne and Jennifer Todd.

The film's script was based on a pitch by Nolan's brother Jonathan, who wrote the 2001 story "Memento Mori" from the concept. Guy Pearce stars as Leonard Shelby, a man who suffers from anterograde amnesia, resulting in short-term memory loss and the inability to form new memories. He is searching for the people who attacked him and killed his wife, using an intricate system of Polaroid photographs and tattoos to track information he cannot remember. Carrie-Anne Moss and Joe Pantoliano co-star.

The film's nonlinear narrative is presented as two different sequences of scenes interspersed during the film: a series in black-and-white that is shown chronologically, and a series of color sequences shown in reverse order (simulating for the audience the mental state of the protagonist). The two sequences meet at the end of the film, producing one complete and cohesive narrative.

Memento premiered at the 57th Venice International Film Festival on September 5, 2000, and was released in the United States on March 16, 2001. It was acclaimed by critics, who praised its nonlinear structure and motifs of memory, perception, grief, and self-deception, and it earned $40 million over its $9 million budget. Memento received numerous accolades, including Oscar nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing. The film is now widely regarded as one of Nolan's finest works and one of the best films of the 2000s. In 2017, the United States Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.

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Sargon Chess Software

Sargon (or SARGON) is a line of chess-playing software for personal computers. The original SARGON from 1978 was written in assembly language by Dan and Kathleen "Kathe" Spracklen for the Z80-based Wavemate Jupiter III.^[1]

History

SARGON was introduced at the 1978 West Coast Computer Faire where it won the first computer chess tournament held strictly for microcomputers, with a score of 5–0.^[2][3] This success encouraged the authors to seek financial income by selling the program directly to customers. Since magnetic media were not widely available at the time, the authors placed an advert in Byte magazine selling for $15 photocopied listings that would work in any Z80-based microcomputer.^[1] Availability of the source code allowed porting to other machines.^[4] For example, the March–April 1979 issue of Recreational Computing describes a project that converted Sargon to an 8080 program by using macros.^[5] Later the Spracklens were contacted by Hayden Books and a book was published.

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Moonstruck (1987)

Moonstruck is a 1987 romantic comedy film directed by Norman Jewison. The movie was released on December 18, 1987, and earned largely positive reviews from critics. The film went on to gross $80,640,528 at the US box-office alone, making it the 5th highest grossing movie of 1987 at the box office.

Plot

The story takes place within the Italian-American neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights in the borough of Brooklyn, New York , to which nearly all characters belong, and in many scenes the dialogue includes a few words in Italian before going back to English.

The main protagonist is a 37-year-old woman named Loretta Castorini (Cher). The first scene - in a funeral parlor where she prepares an income tax report and sharply reproves the owner for the mess in his receipts and documents - instantly defines her character: a cool and rational woman, dressed in neat, sober clothing, who makes and executes carefully detailed plans in both her personal and professional life, and who habitually manages the lives of men.

Loretta and Ronny Especially, she manages the life of the 42-year-old Johnny Cammareri (Danny Aiello) who rather clumsily proposes to her in the early part of the film (with her immediately taking charge of the process and instructing him in the details of how to carry on).

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Orphan (2009)

Orphan is a 2009 American psychological horror film directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and starring Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard, and Isabelle Fuhrman. The film centers on a couple who, after the death of their unborn child, adopt a mysterious nine-year old girl.

Orphan was produced by Joel Silver and Susan Downey of Dark Castle Entertainment and Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson Killoran of Appian Way Productions and was released theatrically in the United States on July 24, 2009.

The film received mixed critical reviews although Fuhrman's performance as Esther was acclaimed.

Storyline

Kate and John Coleman are rebuilding their troubled marriage. Kate had a drinking problem, but is in therapy and is doing well. She has been sober for one year. The couple decide to adopt a child. When they meet the nine-year-old Russian girl, Esther, at the St. Marina Orphanage, they immediately fall in love with the well-educated orphan. Their young son, Daniel, is hostile to his new sister; but their deaf daughter, little Max, is enchanted with her - at first. Eventually, Kate begins to feel that Esther is manipulative and possibly even psychologically disturbed. John refuses to listen to his wife's misgivings, and the wounds in their marriage reopen. Kate calls Sister Abigail at the orphanage, and the nun informs her that Esther has a troubled and mysterious history. Kate delves further into Esther's past and discovers she is not all she pretends to be.

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