Apple’s 'Tetris' movie trades real-life drama for spy fantasies

No, the origins of Tetris didn't involve a high-speed car chase, but the true story behind the game still reads like a spy novel. There's corporate intrigue, nefarious government agencies and an envious amount of globe-trotting. But the reality wasn't enough for the creative minds behind Apple's Tetris film, which premieres on March 31st. Director Jon S. Baird and writer Noah Pink couldn't help but spice up the story with hyperactive pixel art, cartoonishly evil villains and wildly discordant tonal shifts. The result is a film that may entertain general audiences – or critics who have somehow never heard of Tetris before – but will probably leave true aficionados of the game cold.From its opening scenes, in which a young Henk Rogers (The Kingsman's Taron Egerton) recounts the magical moment he encountered Tetris at CES, the film aims for the snappy dialog of Aaron Sorkin's scripts for The Social Network and Steve Jobs. But it never reaches those heights. Rogers is the entrepreneur responsible for working together with Alexey Pajitnov (Nikita Efremov), the Soviet programmer who created Tetris, to bring the game to the rest of the world. He makes for a compelling main character on paper, and yet the film doesn't delve too deeply into why he'd risk his life and business (he was the founder of Japan's Bullet-Proof Software) for a single game.AppleCall that a failure of storytelling, or perhaps it's just dramatic shorthand. Rogers is one of the first people to become truly... Continue reading at 'Engadget'

[ Engadget | 2023-03-30 12:30:20 UTC ]

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International Prize for Arabic Fiction Shortlist Announcement

The shortlist for the 2019 International Prize for Arabic Fiction was announced today at the El-Hakawati Palestinian National Theatre in East Jerusalem. The IPAF - often referred to as the ‘Arabic Booker’ - is an annual literary prize for prose fiction, which encourages the readership of... Continue reading at British Council global

[ British Council global | 2019-02-05 16:33:45 UTC ]
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Ready for Frankfurt Book Fair: Next Page’s Balkan Catalogue in Arabic

In the run-up to Frankfurter Buchmesse, a joint project between the Translation Collider and Next Page Foundation: translators’ choices of Balkan works in Arabic   By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson ‘The Important Role of the Literary Translator’ ranslators are the ones... Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2017-09-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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LBF: Fairgoers upbeat but editors hedge bets

Publishers and agents have noted an “upbeat” mood at this year’s fair, with many saying that the publishing industry can play an important role in helping people to navigate through or escape from the prevailing turbulent political climate. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2017-03-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Authors Guild Calls for 'Vigilance In These Not Normal Times'

In a statement on the group's website, the Authors Guild has called the current political climate a time "when writers have a particularly important role to play" in the preservation of democracy. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-02-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Imprints have an important role as trade brands'

The announcement of a new imprint might seem like another corporate PR exercise. Why bother when few - if any - readers buy a book because of a logo on a spine? Of course, while the launch of Trapeze - our new imprint under the Orion umbrella - is a positive news story about the wider company,... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-04-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Little Book Distributor That Could

Small Press Distribution has carved out an important role in the distribution landscape, filling spaces overlooked by the bigger players through its commitment to independent and small presses. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-09-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Why Russia is calling a book by a holocaust survivor 'Nazi propaganda'

In preparation for Russia's Victory Day celebration, to be held May 9 to commemorate the Soviet Union's defeat of Nazi Germany, the country is cracking down on anything displaying the Nazi swastika – including the cover of Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel 'Maus.' Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2015-04-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Licensed Characters Add Spice to Cookbooks

Licensing has long played an important role in the cookbook category. While most of the action has been in brands and cooking shows that have been extended into licensed cookbooks, more recently quite a few characters and entertainment properties have entered the category, and those deals have... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-07-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Toxic Tourism to HarperCollins

Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Wed, 08/06/2011 - 15:12 HarperPress has bought an offbeat travel guide, charting a journey to the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear reactor, the dried out Aral Sea and the Baikonur Cosmodrome, the Soviet Union's answer to Cape Canaveral.... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A Young (and Very Ambitious) Group of Publishers

The current crop of Russian publishers is collectively on the young side, many of them born shortly before the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Then, teething problems were many and the growth path rocky at times. But today these publishers produce nearly 120,000 new titles per year,... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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