Wednesday, April 30, 2014

The Principles Of Animation Nicely Illustrated


Bob Hoskins Dead At 71, R.I.P

Bob Hoskins dies of pneumonia at age 71.

More here BBC.com


The Future Of Movies, Paying By Screen Size?

Do you want to pay a different price to watch a movie based on the size of the screen you're watching on?  As part of an overall panel discussion about the future of movie distribution Jeffrey Katzenberg suggested that charging based on the presentation device and screen size would "reinvent the enterprise of movies."

The full article is here:

Variety.com

How about we pay based on the quality of a movie?  A bad movie is $1 and a good movie is $15?


Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Star Wars: Episode VII Cast Announced!

There has been some exciting news regarding the upcoming Star Wars films.   The cast has been officially announce today.   The news was released at StarWars.com.


Except for Max Von Sydow, who are these people?
I suspect they will all become household names soon.

I like the choice to cast relatively unknown actors,  just as with the original Star Wars.  The cast of Star Wars was mostly unknown to movie goers at the time.  This gave audiences the chance to discover new talent and not distract from the characters or the story.   It was preciously announced that JJ Abrams is set to direct.  Filming is due to start in the next two weeks in Tunisia.  The new film will be released December 18, 2015.   Additional information can be found here:

Don't mess this up JJ!

Friday, April 25, 2014

Trailers From Hell

There is a interesting and informative YouTube channel that I subscribed some time ago called Trailers From Hell.  It's a well produced channel that provides some unique material.  TFH includes analysis of classic movies and movie trailers.  Some of the trailers are well know and others are more obscure.  Most people would be familiar with many of them.  The commentary comes from many well know film makers including John Landis and Joe Dante.   John Landis is one of my favorites.  For those that aren't familiar with his work a few examples include Animal House, The Blues Brothers, An American Werewolf In London, Trading Places, Coming To America, as well as the great music video for Michael Jackson's Thriller.  I really appreciate the opportunity to hear directly from film makers.  Trailers From Hell provides this rare opportunity as they provide their candid opinions.

Great directors commenting on a great movies is very interesting to me and I hope that others find it interesting also.  Many of these video have a very low number of views, some have less than 1000 total views, at the time of the writing of this article.  It may be that people have just not yet discovered this channel.  I'm going to do my part and spread to word in the hopes that the channel will continue.  Please subscribe and watch Trailers From Hell.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Sunday, April 20, 2014

2014 Hugo Awards Nominations Are Out

The awards will be officially presented at: Loncon 3, London, United Kingdom, August 17, 2014

Hugo Awards nominations recorded live



More info here...
http://www.thehugoawards.org/

Drew & Bob – The Masters of Movie Art, Now Playing At A Cemetery Near You.

Located on the serene rolling hills of Forest Lawn Cemetery is a small museum.  Forest Lawn may seem to be an unlikely location for a museum but the cemetery, which was founded in 1906, is the home to many interesting exhibits, some permanent, and others that are in rotation. The museum is currently the home to Drew & Bob - The Masters of Movie Art a fantastic exhibit of movie poster art.  Drew Struzan and Bob Peak are two of the most talented and prolific painters of movie poster art.   They have created many iconic images for movies like Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Blade Runner, Back To The Future, and many, many more.  There are some excellent examples on display at the exhibit which will be ongoing from January 24 - May 26, 2014.  On the heals of the recently released documentary Drew: The Man Behind the Poster there will be a screening of the film followed by a book signing by Drew Struzan himself, May 10, 2014 1:00PM.   It's an exciting opportunity for fans.

Drew: The Man Behind the Poster - Trailer

The film is currently available to stream on Netflix. 

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Always Bet On Orphan Black!

I've started watching Orphan Black.  I may be a little late to the party but I finished watching all of season 1 last week and I'm looking forward to the premiere of season 2 tonight.  For those that needed to catch up there was an Orphan Black - Season 1 marathon today leading up to the new season.  You can also catch the first season on  Amazon Prime.


Afterward The Graham Norton Show has some great guests including most of The Amazing Spiderman 2 cast,  Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, and Jamie Foxx.
Check out BBC America's YouTube channel here:  BBC America

The Real History Of Science Fiction - New from BBC America

BBC America has really stepped up their game.   I started watching one of their new shows,  The Real History Of Science Fiction.  It has some great interviews with much of the talent behind the best science fiction films in the last 50 years.  There is a lot of interesting and insightful interviews with actors, writers, and directors.  My DVR is working overtime recording all of the new shows.




You can find out more information about The Real History Of Science Fiction and other show at BBC America.


Friday, April 18, 2014

The Art of Roy Carnon

I became aware this really great artist today, Roy Carnon, after watching some behind the scenes extras on the 2001: A Space Odyssey Blu-ray.  His work is amazing.  There should be a book dedicated to his work but so far I can't find one.   I like to purchase Sci Fi art books when I discover a new artist like this. You can see some of his work here  The Art of Roy Carnon


2001: A Space Odyssey Commentary

I just watched 2001: A Space Odyssey, again on  Blu-ray, with the commentary from lead actors Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood.  The movie leaves most watchers with a lot questions like "What the heck was that big black box thing?," and "What happened at the end when that astronaut guy saw a bunch of streaky lights whooshing past him?," and "Why did he grow into an old man and then become a giant baby?"  The commentary endeavors to answers some of these questions as the actors offer their opinions regarding how they interpreted the story.  If you're a fan of the movie I highly recommend that you check it out.  There are a lot of other great extras on the Blu-ray including a rare audio only interview with Stanley Kubrick.  It's the first time I've heard his voice.  He has a New York accent.  I had thought that he was from England because he had lived there for so long.  It's too bad that Kubrick himself never provided commentary to help shed more light on this classic film.  He is a fascinating person with a brilliant career.

Here is one of the videos included in the extras. It's great stuff.

First post

I'm exploring a lot of new ideas...

New Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes Trailer

  How many more of these are there going to be?