Latest news with #MacGuffin
New York Post
20-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Pee-wee Herman's iconic red bicycle to be permanently displayed at the Alamo
No, it won't be in the basement. The red-and-white souped-up Schwinn bicycle made famous in the 1985 film 'Pee-wee's Big Adventure' will soon have a new permanent home in what is arguably one of the unusual movie tie-ins in the history of celluloid. The bike — which served as the MacGuffin in the Tim Burton-directed cult favorite — will be permanently displayed in the Alamo Visitor Center and Museum in San Antonio to mark the 40th anniversary of the movie's theatrical release. Advertisement 6 The iconic red Schwinn from 'Pee-wee's Big Adventure' will soon be on display for visitors at the Alamo in San Antonio. The Alamo 6 The red-and-white souped-up Schwinn bicycle made famous in the 1985 film 'Pee-wee's Big Adventure' will soon have a new permanent home. ©Warner Bros/courtesy Everett Co 'We are thrilled to add this beloved piece of film history to our collection,' Dr. Kate Rogers, executive eirector of the Alamo Trust, Inc. told CBS affiliate KENS 5. 'The Alamo holds a special place in the hearts of people everywhere, and Pee-wee's Big Adventure helped to introduce a new generation to the historic site. This artifact perfectly illustrates how the Alamo lives on in pop culture, and soon, visitors to Texas' top tourist destination will be able to see it up close in our new world-class museum.' Advertisement In the hit movie, the theft of the titular character's beloved bicycle sparks a madcap multi-state search, during which Pee-wee meets an unscrupulous fortune teller who feeds the desperate hero the misinformation that the stolen cruiser is in the basement of the Alamo. After meeting a slate of oddball characters and having a wild series of misadventures — which finds Pee-wee keeping company with a felon on the run, ticking off a biker gang and hitching a ride with the ghost of a dead trucker named Large Marge — he arrives at the Alamo, only to learn it doesn't even have a basement. Since the release of the film, the bicycle has shared an inexorable connection with the famous fortress among fans and has become a widely recognizable piece of movie memorabilia. Advertisement The movie marked the major motion picture directorial debut of Tim Burton, as well as the first film scored by frequent collaborator Danny Elfman. 6 In the hit movie, the theft of the titular character's beloved bicycle sparks a madcap multi-state search, during which Pee-wee meets an unscrupulous fortune teller who feeds the desperate hero the misinformation that the stolen cruiser is in the basement of the Alamo. The Alamo 6 The bike was made famous by the oddball stage and screen character Pee-wee Herman, portrayed by actor Paul Reubens. ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection It was also the first starring vehicle for Pee-wee Herman, a childlike comedic character created and portrayed by actor Paul Reubens, who was a staple of stage and television throughout the 1980s.. Advertisement Reubens died in 2023 at age 70 after a private battle with cancer. With a production cost of just $7 million, 'Pee-wee's Big Adventure' grossed nearly $41 million ($119 million in 2025 dollars) and sparked a much-maligned and less-successful sequel, 'Big Top Pee-wee' in 1988. 6 Since the release of the film, the bicycle has shared an inexorable connection with the famous fortress among fans and has become a widely recognizable piece of movie memorabilia. The Alamo 6 Reubens died in 2023 at age 70 after a private battle with cancer. ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection The Alamo itself excitedly trumpeted the news of the bike's arrival, sharing on Facebook that it'll be viewable to visitors later this year in a limited showing inside the Ralston Family Collection Center before it's permanently placed in the fall of 2027. 'We'll also be hosting a free public screening of the film in the newly reopened Plaza de Valero. Until then, don't worry… the bike will be stored for safekeeping. Maybe in the basement!' Pee-wee's bike sold at auction to a private collector in May for $125,000 — after it was originally expected to fetch between $30,000 and $60,000, according to People.
The Herald Scotland
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
I entered a world of subversive games and dark sexual politics
The book seems ready to take you into a world of threatening violence akin to the movie Funny Games. In Michael Haneke's Austrian arthouse horror, two strange young men arrive at the holiday home of a perfect young family before all hell breaks loose. The sense of dread mounts as these young heavies return the next day with a pair of older thugs linked to gangsters and politicians. The hoodlums want to know why Rekha is ignoring a local gangster's son who loves her, and believe her father should set her straight. Read More: To make matters worse, Rekha is visiting family in a rural village with no phone or internet connection. Her parents fear something terrible might happen to her, so are soon en-route to the countryside to bring her home to safety. Don't get too caught up in this 'thriller', though. It's just an Hitchcockian MacGuffin - the plot device Shanbhag uses to lure you into his deconstruction of Indian society. The scab which the author really wants to pick at is the tension between India's relentless drive towards modernity versus the rise of an intensely conservative and nationalist form of Hindhu populism under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. If Harold Pinter was still alive and fancied anatomising this nation of contradictions, Sakina's Kiss is probably how he'd do it. Harold Pinter (Image: PA) Initially, Venkat and Viji seem perfectly matched. They have similar tastes, similar backgrounds. The couple both seem equally modern, despite mocking fellow Indians so influenced by the west that they think 'we can only progress by destroying our own culture'. Indeed, Viji may earn more than her husband, but we can't be sure as she won't tell him what her salary is, and Venkat is our rather unreliable narrator so we're trapped seeing the world from his perspective, and knowing only what he knows. The couple's differences emerge after those strange, threatening Pinteresque men arrive, wounding Venkat's sense of masculinity. We soon discover that Venkat has a markedly conservative streak to his character. He's both submissive towards the women in his life - fearing to talk about issues like feminism - whilst secretly longing to dominate them. Read More: The tensions Shanbhag explores are playing out across the world today as men struggle to come to terms with the loss of power masculinity once conveyed. This fragile male paranoia is found in everything from Trump's MAGA movement to the rise of online misogynist influencers. Rekha, who can sense the patriarchy lurking inside her father, even physically overpowers Venkat at one point when he tries to restrain her. He's jealous of other men who have a better relationship with her, like teachers. Venkat wants to present a liberal veneer to his family, friends and colleagues but inside he's truly and bitterly reactionary. This isn't a reductive novel, though, where liberal women are good and conservative men are bad. There are plenty of times when you pity Venkat. He tries to be decent but he's emotionally clumsy. At one point, his wife - disappointed in another of his clunky attempts at connection - pushes him away when he tries to hold her hand. You feel how much he burns with shame and embarrassment. Any pity for him, however, quickly evaporates when the idea of 'forcing' his wife to hold his hand flashes through his mind. This book is a deft balancing act, at times making you empathise with characters you've no desire to offer empathy to, or prompting you to recoil from characters you've rooted for throughout. Indian cricket match (Image: PA) Venkat was raised in a deeply patriarchal family, where wives and mothers were treated as glorified servants at best. The cocktail of tradition and modernity which Venkat has imbibed has given him a spiritual hangover. He doesn't know who he is - thus all the self-help books he reads. Indeed, Venkat longs to be 'transformed'. Other dominant facets of Modhi's India appear in cameo. Viji talks of the police 'thrashing people to death'. WhatsApp is used as a tool for radicalisation of the masses by both the left and right. The issue of how women dress constantly flows through the book. Patriotism and patriarchy are bedfellows. Venkat is also that most cursed of creatures: torn between tradition and modernity, he attempts to strike a centrist position. Venkat is always both-siding any debate - even when one side is thoroughly repugnant. All sides just need a hearing, he says, blind to the fact that by indulging extremism he legitimises it. Indeed, Venkat is the kind of man who has quietly acquiesced in India's slide towards authoritarianism. There would be no Modhi without the Venkats of India. He's not evil - he's just very self-centred and secretly longs for the power men of the past once wielded. As the book finishes, we find ourselves in the midst of an election. The candidate is a vile sexist. Venkat has been told by his wife and daughter not to vote for him. Who will our anti-hero support? Let's just say, the book doesn't offer much hope of change in India. The title of the novel is perfectly fitting. It's a reference to a line misread in a letter. Thanks to some terrible handwriting one phrase is misconstrued as 'Sakina's kiss'. The book itself is one long play on the notion of misinterpretation: what we think is a thriller, is actually a deeply, political - and at least in India - subversive text. Modhi's culture warriors won't be pleased with Shandbhag's covert satire. The book closes on a distinctly meta note, offering us not an ending but a choice of endings. Like a playful Paul Auster novel, we're encouraged to chose what we'd prefer to happen: not just to the characters, but to the soul of India - a nation in flux, changing every day. Sakina's Kiss by Vivek Shanbhag is out now from Faber in hardback priced £12.99
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Parkway celebrates anime and MacGuffins throughout April
The Parkway Theater will spend April celebrating MacGuffins and anime. The south Minneapolis theater and concert venue has announced two series that will take place throughout the month, with one focused on classic films from director Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. The second will bring in films with famous MacGuffins. (A MacGuffin is an object that is central to a film's story, but is ultimately meaningless. One of the most famous MacGuffins is the falcon statue in The Maltese Falcon. It doesn't really mean anything in itself, but it's the entire reason the story plows forward.) The Studio Ghibli series starts with Spirited Away (2001) on April 5. It'll be followed by screenings of Howl's Moving Castle (2004) on April 12, My Neighbor Totoro (1988) on April 19, and the less-loved but still charming Ponyo (2008) on April 26. All the Ghibli films will play on Saturdays at 1 p.m. Meanwhile, "MacGuffins! at The Parkway!" kicks off on April 3 with a 35mm screening of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and its Ark of the Covenant. On April 10, it'll pay a visit to the "great whatsit"-inspired glowing trunk of Repo Man (1984). Those are followed by Pulp Fiction (1994) and its illuminated briefcase on April 15 and The Evil Dead (1981) on April 21, a day when Ash definitely won't mess with the Necronomicon. Like every series at the Parkway, there are all-movie passes available, which save you a few bucks and come with a bag of popcorn during each movie.
Chicago Tribune
29-01-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
‘Paradise' review: A Secret Service agent goes rogue
In the Hulu series 'Paradise,' Sterling K. Brown plays Xavier Collins, a Secret Service agent who shows up to work one morning to find the president dead on the floor of his bedroom. Looks like murder. But the official story — determined by those higher up the food chain than Xavier — will be natural causes. Why? Because there's a bigger story going on. Who killed the president, and why, is a MacGuffin in the eight-episode thriller. The real premise driving 'Paradise' is a spoiler that's revealed in Episode 1, but Hulu's secret is out with the release of the show's first three episodes, so I will be discussing that premise here. If you prefer to go in cold, here's your cue to set aside this review until after you've watched. The series comes from Dan Fogelman, the creator of the NBC family drama 'This is Us,' who is re-teaming with Brown for a very different genre. This time out, the pair have shifted their focus to speculative fiction wrapped inside an action-thriller. It's a big departure from the kind of show that turned them into household names, and creative variety like this is healthy. If only 'Paradise' didn't suffer from an issue affecting too many shows on streaming series: It should have been a movie. The president is named Cal Bradford, played by James Marsden. Instead of occupying the White House, he's wiling away his days in a mansion that's located in an eerily placid community with an uncanny 'Truman Show' quality, which is a tipoff. All is not what it seems. That's because the ultra-rich have decamped to a suburban fantasia constructed in an unusual location. How unusual? Well, it requires an artificial sky. Nothing is real, not exactly. Sequestered in perpetual comfort, this is where Cal is living in boring bliss before he's found in a pool of blood at the foot of his bed. 'Paradise' starts in the middle (the murder) rather than the beginning (the event that drove them into this place) and the jumbled timeline functions as an artificial spoiler that is parceled out through the generous use of flashbacks. Playing around with chronology can be intriguing. But sometimes it's a technique to hide flaws in an idea that isn't robust enough to unfold in order. It's all in the telling, right? And a shuffled timeline can't add what isn't there in terms of character development or emotional honesty. 'This is Us' relied on flashbacks too, exploring the formative years that shaped one family's dynamic. 'Paradise' attempts something similar (while not going quite so far back in time), and yet too often these moments come across as reductive explanations for complicated human behavior. A single father of two, Xavier brings a stoic quality to his work. He's buttoned up and formal, with the bearing of a man who never slouches. He is forever choosing his words carefully and clearly has many thoughts that he's decided are wiser left unsaid. In his marriage, Xavier's wife was the more emotionally expressive one, but in the present, she's conspicuously absent and eventually we learn why. There's a suggestion early on that Xavier might be suffering from a deteriorating memory or a brain injury. Before heading out for a morning run, he writes on a whiteboard the confusing words: 'Get brushed! Dress your teeth!' But any further hints that something is amiss are quickly abandoned; Xavier is very much on the ball and increasingly skeptical about the fakey-perfect surroundings he now calls home. Who can he trust and who is conspiring behind his back? He's ready to shed his quiet resignation and respectability politics in favor of something more proactive and renegade. It's a great performance, stuck in a show that doesn't fully know what to do with it. The architect of this faux city, where sunrises are sometimes delayed due to maintenance, is a tech billionaire played by Julianne Nicholson. Grief is what drove her to megalomania and we see in flashbacks which emotional buttons were pushed that led her there. But her backstory is too simplistic to work and the show isn't interested in the hows and whys of the corrupting power of massive wealth. Then there's the president himself, the handsome and charming son of billionaire Kane Bradford (Gerald McRaney). Cal has daddy issues and a habit of drinking away his self-loathing and disappointments. Most of the time he comes off as a ding-dong who failed his way to the top. 'Just another day in paradise,' he says sarcastically of their seemingly lovely but vaguely sinister community. Cal is actually the most intriguing character as written, because there's more to him than meets the eye (revealed through yet more flashbacks) and Marsden plays both sides of that coin — the spoiled rich kid who is his father's pawn, and the man of substance buried within — with real nuance and skill. Fundamentally, 'Paradise' falls into the narrative rut that befalls most sci-fi shows predicated on a population existing long-term somewhere else, where the powerful have a vested interest in maintaining lies and manipulating perceptions. There are only so many ways to tell that story, but I give 'Paradise' credit for finding a unique way into it. 'Paradise' — 2.5 stars (out of 4) Originally Published:
