(Welcome to Tales from the Box Office, our column that examines box office miracles, disasters, and everything in between, as well as what we can learn from them.)
"Shrek" was a very important movie in animation history. It provided DreamWorks with its first true breakthrough hit, taking in $492 million in 2001. It ensured that Disney would have meaningful competition in the animation space for years to come, which has only been furthered in recent years with the dominance of Illumination in the marketplace. For DreamWorks though, it birthed what would become the studio's flagship franchise, one that has generated more than $3 billion since its inception. That franchise's biggest moment came in 2004 when "Shrek 2" hit theaters.
The animation house founded by former Disney executive Jeffrey Katzenberg hit a home run by pairing Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy as Shrek and Donkey in the first film, in no small part thanks to the stellar supporting cast.
"Shrek" was a very important movie in animation history. It provided DreamWorks with its first true breakthrough hit, taking in $492 million in 2001. It ensured that Disney would have meaningful competition in the animation space for years to come, which has only been furthered in recent years with the dominance of Illumination in the marketplace. For DreamWorks though, it birthed what would become the studio's flagship franchise, one that has generated more than $3 billion since its inception. That franchise's biggest moment came in 2004 when "Shrek 2" hit theaters.
The animation house founded by former Disney executive Jeffrey Katzenberg hit a home run by pairing Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy as Shrek and Donkey in the first film, in no small part thanks to the stellar supporting cast.
- 4/13/2024
- by Ryan Scott
- Slash Film
All through Fairytale (aka Skazka), characters recite the opening of the Divine Comedy and Dante’s preamble to his plunge into hell. But the black-and-white world Alexander Sokurov’s souls are stranded in feels closer to a kind of purgatory. A liminal wasteland of derelict buildings, rubble, and skeletal trees, it’s a nightmare yanked out of a Gustav Doré print, and no surprise one of its denizens—none other than Winston Churchill himself—should wonder early on if it is all a (very bad) dream. Churchill shares the hallucination with a number of other iconic figures from the twentieth century, a sordid cast that includes the likes of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Joseph Stalin. But Fairytale has no cast, strictly speaking: these four play themselves. The film’s sleight of hand—and the source of its disquieting allure—lies in its technical wizardry. Brought to life by Sokurov...
- 8/7/2022
- by Leonardo Goi
- The Film Stage
We have video games like the upcoming Scorn and Darkseed that have taken inspiration from Giger, but what about other artists? Solo developer Walter Woods’ upcoming horror title Imperfect switches things up a bit, taking inspiration from the wood etchings of 18th century artist Gustave Doré for their first-person psychological horror adventure. Imperfect is an […]
The post Psychological Horror Game ‘Imperfect’ Draws Upon Gustave Doré for Inspiration [Trailer] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.
The post Psychological Horror Game ‘Imperfect’ Draws Upon Gustave Doré for Inspiration [Trailer] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.
- 7/19/2022
- by Mike Wilson
- bloody-disgusting.com
Although Alex Proyas was originally signed to direct an epic live-action feature film version of Legendary Pictures' "Paradise Lost", adapting the 17th-century English poem by John Milton, the project could still be developed as an animated feature, taking its inspiration from the 19th century engravings of French artist Gustave Doré:
Premise of the story focuses on the 'epic war' in heaven between the archangels 'Michael' and 'Lucifer'.
Milton's poem, published in 1667, contained ten books, with over ten thousand individual lines of verse.
A second edition followed in 1674, redivided into twelve books, with minor revisions.
The majority of the poem was written while Milton was blind, and was transcribed for him, dealing in diverse topics including marriage, politics, monarchy, grappling with difficult theological issues, including fate, predestination, the Trinity and the introduction of sin and death into the world.
Click the images to enlarge...
Premise of the story focuses on the 'epic war' in heaven between the archangels 'Michael' and 'Lucifer'.
Milton's poem, published in 1667, contained ten books, with over ten thousand individual lines of verse.
A second edition followed in 1674, redivided into twelve books, with minor revisions.
The majority of the poem was written while Milton was blind, and was transcribed for him, dealing in diverse topics including marriage, politics, monarchy, grappling with difficult theological issues, including fate, predestination, the Trinity and the introduction of sin and death into the world.
Click the images to enlarge...
- 4/11/2020
- by Unknown
- SneakPeek
Ryan Lambie Apr 26, 2017
To mark Alien Day, we look back at 2012's Prometheus, and wonder what lies ahead for the franchise in Alien: Covenant...
Nb: The following contains spoilers for Prometheus and speculation about Alien: Covenant.
See related Why Alien: Isolation proves the Alien deserves another movie
Talk about melodramatic. Having stepped out of a Saturday afternoon IMAX screening of Prometheus in June 2012, your humble writer fell into a steep pit of gloom. A picture of a torn cinema ticket with the caption, “My broken heart” (or something to that effect) was posted on Twitter. A pub was visited; consolatory beers were imbibed.
A film that seemed to have so much promise going in - Ridley Scott’s form in the sci-fi genre, those fan-baiting trailers, complete with the hooting space owls from the old Alien promos - had largely evaporated by the time the end credits rolled. Prometheus...
To mark Alien Day, we look back at 2012's Prometheus, and wonder what lies ahead for the franchise in Alien: Covenant...
Nb: The following contains spoilers for Prometheus and speculation about Alien: Covenant.
See related Why Alien: Isolation proves the Alien deserves another movie
Talk about melodramatic. Having stepped out of a Saturday afternoon IMAX screening of Prometheus in June 2012, your humble writer fell into a steep pit of gloom. A picture of a torn cinema ticket with the caption, “My broken heart” (or something to that effect) was posted on Twitter. A pub was visited; consolatory beers were imbibed.
A film that seemed to have so much promise going in - Ridley Scott’s form in the sci-fi genre, those fan-baiting trailers, complete with the hooting space owls from the old Alien promos - had largely evaporated by the time the end credits rolled. Prometheus...
- 4/25/2017
- Den of Geek
Plus: Netflix gets some new talent, a post roundup and five perfect shots.
It’s been three years since director Jennifer Kent released The Babadook, and in all that time I still haven’t gotten a good night sleep, either because I was terrified said titular entity might be lurking in the shadows, or because I was wondering when and what Kent’s next project would be. A year or so ago she started dropping some hints, but as of a press release issued yesterday, we now have all the gory and glorious details.
The film is called The Nightingale — I’ve already got chills — and it sounds like we’re in for another dark thriller, albeit a little more grounded in reality. Dig the synopsis:
Set in Tasmania in 1825, The Nightingale follows a beautiful 21-year-old Irish female convict who witnesses the brutal murder of her husband and baby by her soldier master and his cronies. Unable...
It’s been three years since director Jennifer Kent released The Babadook, and in all that time I still haven’t gotten a good night sleep, either because I was terrified said titular entity might be lurking in the shadows, or because I was wondering when and what Kent’s next project would be. A year or so ago she started dropping some hints, but as of a press release issued yesterday, we now have all the gory and glorious details.
The film is called The Nightingale — I’ve already got chills — and it sounds like we’re in for another dark thriller, albeit a little more grounded in reality. Dig the synopsis:
Set in Tasmania in 1825, The Nightingale follows a beautiful 21-year-old Irish female convict who witnesses the brutal murder of her husband and baby by her soldier master and his cronies. Unable...
- 3/16/2017
- by H. Perry Horton
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
If one is still getting nightmares from Jennifer Kent‘s impeccably-realized debut film The Babadook, start getting prepared for more frightful imagery as she’s gearing up to begin production on her follow-up this month. The Nightingale is a Tasmania-set feature that takes place in 1929 and follows a young convict woman named Claire who seeks revenge for the murder of her family.
Revealed in a press release today, Aisling Franciosi (Jimmy’s Hall) and Sam Claflin (The Hunger Games) have been cast in the lead roles. “It’s certainly not a horror film, but it’s a pretty horrific world,” she said last year, noting that the worst criminals in the British empire were sent to the locale. “It was a really crazy time for women. We only hear the sanitized version and I wanted to explore it for real.”
Also starring Damon Herriman, Ewen Leslie, Harry Greenwood, Baykali Ganambarr and Magnolia Maymuru,...
Revealed in a press release today, Aisling Franciosi (Jimmy’s Hall) and Sam Claflin (The Hunger Games) have been cast in the lead roles. “It’s certainly not a horror film, but it’s a pretty horrific world,” she said last year, noting that the worst criminals in the British empire were sent to the locale. “It was a really crazy time for women. We only hear the sanitized version and I wanted to explore it for real.”
Also starring Damon Herriman, Ewen Leslie, Harry Greenwood, Baykali Ganambarr and Magnolia Maymuru,...
- 3/14/2017
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
A Tribute to King Kong takes place as part of the The St. Louis International Film Festival Sunday, Nov. 6 beginning at 6:00pm at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium. The first film screened will be the new documentary Long Live The King, which explores the enduring fascination with one of the biggest stars — both literally and figuratively — in Hollywood history: the mighty King Kong. Produced and directed by Frank Dietz and Trish Geiger, the creative team behind the award-winning “Beast Wishes,” the documentary devotes primary attention to the 1933 classic, celebrating the contributions of filmmakers Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, stars Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, and Bruce Cabot, writer Edgar Wallace, and especially stop-motion innovator Willis O’Brien. But Kong’s legacy is also fully detailed: the sequel “Son of Kong,” the cinematic kin “Mighty Joe Young,” the Dino DeLaurentis and Peter Jackson remakes, even the Japanese versions by Toho Studios.
- 11/2/2016
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Ryan Lambie Oct 14, 2016
We chat to director Ron Howard about his latest film, Inferno, conspiracy theories, and the place for cinema in the 21st century...
Renowned symbologist Robert Langdon’s back for another mystery to crack, but Inferno sees in less than great shape. At the start of the movie - once again adapted from a hit Dan Brown novel - Langdon wakes up in a Florentine hospital with a head injury and no idea of the past few days’ events. Worse still, there’s a man-made super-virus hidden somewhere, and only by solving a series of clues left in classic works of art can Langdon track it down before the pestilence wipes out half the planet.
Director Ron Howard, who’s now on his third Langdon movie, attacks Langdon’s apocalyptic visions with evident relish. The location of the virus is somehow linked to Dante’s epic poem, the Inferno,...
We chat to director Ron Howard about his latest film, Inferno, conspiracy theories, and the place for cinema in the 21st century...
Renowned symbologist Robert Langdon’s back for another mystery to crack, but Inferno sees in less than great shape. At the start of the movie - once again adapted from a hit Dan Brown novel - Langdon wakes up in a Florentine hospital with a head injury and no idea of the past few days’ events. Worse still, there’s a man-made super-virus hidden somewhere, and only by solving a series of clues left in classic works of art can Langdon track it down before the pestilence wipes out half the planet.
Director Ron Howard, who’s now on his third Langdon movie, attacks Langdon’s apocalyptic visions with evident relish. The location of the virus is somehow linked to Dante’s epic poem, the Inferno,...
- 10/13/2016
- Den of Geek
There’s an antithetical, creatively damaging notion in the world of filmmaking that once an actor or director receives some sort of acclaim for their work, the ultimate next step is being “ready” to commandeer their very own blockbuster. The thought of someone that shows true talent “graduating” to a system that harnesses their creative liberties is a depressing one, but thankfully a handful of emerging directors are developing projects that seem harmonious with the instincts that made them ones to admire in the first place. One such director that certainly falls into this category is Jennifer Kent, who landed on our radar with her horror hit The Babadook.
“It’s funny, when I hear people crying about, ‘Oh, female directors are never offered these big tentpole films … what about Jennifer Kent? She’s not doing anything!,’ I sort of read it and chuckle because, well, you have no idea...
“It’s funny, when I hear people crying about, ‘Oh, female directors are never offered these big tentpole films … what about Jennifer Kent? She’s not doing anything!,’ I sort of read it and chuckle because, well, you have no idea...
- 5/31/2016
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Who are you and what do you do?”
I am Bob Eggleton multi-Hugo Award winning artist (Forry won the first one many years ago so there is a lineage), and recently a Rondo Award winner (for FM covers) who has been in the Sf/Fantasy field for over 30 years. I do lots of things: my own ideas, bookcovers, comics, and I have worked as a movie concept artist on several animated films and, I’m a huge Godzilla and Classic Monster fan.
What mediums are you most fond of working with?
I play with all media. Oils are really nice with painting, though I work in acrylics and, my most basic but favored medium is the pencil. I love pencil.
What inspires you the most?
Many things. Nature, dinosaurs, space….classical artists work, like what you see in a museum.
What/who is your favorite artwork/artist?
Wow. I could...
I am Bob Eggleton multi-Hugo Award winning artist (Forry won the first one many years ago so there is a lineage), and recently a Rondo Award winner (for FM covers) who has been in the Sf/Fantasy field for over 30 years. I do lots of things: my own ideas, bookcovers, comics, and I have worked as a movie concept artist on several animated films and, I’m a huge Godzilla and Classic Monster fan.
What mediums are you most fond of working with?
I play with all media. Oils are really nice with painting, though I work in acrylics and, my most basic but favored medium is the pencil. I love pencil.
What inspires you the most?
Many things. Nature, dinosaurs, space….classical artists work, like what you see in a museum.
What/who is your favorite artwork/artist?
Wow. I could...
- 2/12/2016
- by Caroline Stephenson
- FamousMonsters of Filmland
“We’ll give him more than chains. He’s always been king of his world, but we’ll teach him fear. We’re millionaires, boys. I’ll share it with all of you. Why, in a few months, it’ll be up in lights on Broadway: Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World!”
King Kong screens at Schlafly Bottleworks (7260 Southwest Ave.- at Manchester – Maplewood, Mo 63143) Thursday, May 7th at 7pm. It is a benefit for Helping Kids Together
Doors open at 6:30pm. $6 suggested for the screening. A yummy variety of food from Schlafly’s kitchen is available as are plenty of pints of their famous home-brewed suds. A bartender will be on hand to take care of you. “Culture Shock” is the name of a film series here in St. Louis that is the cornerstone project of a social enterprise that is an ongoing source of support for Helping Kids Together (http://www.
King Kong screens at Schlafly Bottleworks (7260 Southwest Ave.- at Manchester – Maplewood, Mo 63143) Thursday, May 7th at 7pm. It is a benefit for Helping Kids Together
Doors open at 6:30pm. $6 suggested for the screening. A yummy variety of food from Schlafly’s kitchen is available as are plenty of pints of their famous home-brewed suds. A bartender will be on hand to take care of you. “Culture Shock” is the name of a film series here in St. Louis that is the cornerstone project of a social enterprise that is an ongoing source of support for Helping Kids Together (http://www.
- 4/24/2015
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Cameos, mistakes and in-jokes. We’ve trawled the Game Of Thrones season 4 DVD commentaries for what went on behind the scenes…
Warning: contains spoilers for Game Of Thrones season 4.
If you’re a busy Game Of Thrones fan who can’t find the spare ten hours required to re-watch season four with the accompanying disc commentaries, then we have your back. Gleaned from said audio tracks provided by the cast, crew and creators George R.R. Martin, Dan Weiss and David Benioff, is the below list of nerdy facts and anecdotes about the making of season four.
Granted, skip the commentaries and you won’t experience first-hand Peter Dinklage’s rendition of Let It Go from Frozen, a stream of filthy innuendo from Lena Headey, or the general sense of awe, adoration and good-natured mockery everyone who works on the show has for everyone else (“If only you could act, Peter...
Warning: contains spoilers for Game Of Thrones season 4.
If you’re a busy Game Of Thrones fan who can’t find the spare ten hours required to re-watch season four with the accompanying disc commentaries, then we have your back. Gleaned from said audio tracks provided by the cast, crew and creators George R.R. Martin, Dan Weiss and David Benioff, is the below list of nerdy facts and anecdotes about the making of season four.
Granted, skip the commentaries and you won’t experience first-hand Peter Dinklage’s rendition of Let It Go from Frozen, a stream of filthy innuendo from Lena Headey, or the general sense of awe, adoration and good-natured mockery everyone who works on the show has for everyone else (“If only you could act, Peter...
- 2/15/2015
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
The man behind the Godzilla: Generations Covers is FM-favorite artist Bob Eggleton—multiple Hugo Award winner, Chesley Award recipient, and all-around awesome dude who is an endless source of creativity and monsters. We sat down with him at Big Wow! In San Jose to chat mythology and giant reptiles .
Famous Monsters. As a painter primarily of things that don’t actually exist, how do you reference them? Is it all your imagination, or do you derive things from existing animals like snakes and lizards?
Bob Eggleton. I do look at existing snakes and reptiles. Form is going to follow function wherever you are, even if you’re on another planet or in some mythical realm. Muscles will work like muscles; arms will work like arms. It’s just a matter of physics and biology. Especially if the creature is created for its environment. Something that is, say, in a lighter...
Famous Monsters. As a painter primarily of things that don’t actually exist, how do you reference them? Is it all your imagination, or do you derive things from existing animals like snakes and lizards?
Bob Eggleton. I do look at existing snakes and reptiles. Form is going to follow function wherever you are, even if you’re on another planet or in some mythical realm. Muscles will work like muscles; arms will work like arms. It’s just a matter of physics and biology. Especially if the creature is created for its environment. Something that is, say, in a lighter...
- 5/29/2014
- by Holly Interlandi
- FamousMonsters of Filmland
Gareth Edwards' take on the classic joins Noah and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes as another of summer's anti-humanist fables
Godzilla: first look review
My favorite quote from the trades last week was, "Warner Bros has avoided making Godzilla out to be a monster movie." What else are they going to make it out to be? A coming-of-age picture about the Summer that Changed Everything? A Merchant Ivory flick? Actually, the new film arrives in cinemas boasting the highest pedigree of any creature feature hitherto, with an Alexandre Desplat score, and roles for David Strathairn, Bryan Cranston and Juliette Binoche, thus making it the first and surely only time Juliette Binoche and 300-foot lizard will ever be uttered in the same sentence. Its a good movie maybe too good, with its visual sophistication leaving its B-movie roots poking through. Was Godzilla ever meant to have $200m spent on him?...
Godzilla: first look review
My favorite quote from the trades last week was, "Warner Bros has avoided making Godzilla out to be a monster movie." What else are they going to make it out to be? A coming-of-age picture about the Summer that Changed Everything? A Merchant Ivory flick? Actually, the new film arrives in cinemas boasting the highest pedigree of any creature feature hitherto, with an Alexandre Desplat score, and roles for David Strathairn, Bryan Cranston and Juliette Binoche, thus making it the first and surely only time Juliette Binoche and 300-foot lizard will ever be uttered in the same sentence. Its a good movie maybe too good, with its visual sophistication leaving its B-movie roots poking through. Was Godzilla ever meant to have $200m spent on him?...
- 5/15/2014
- by Tom Shone
- The Guardian - Film News
In January, BoingBoing featured a piece on the The Library of Congress scans of artwork from an original print of Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Raven." These scans bring to vivid life one of Poe's most famous and beloved works. "The Raven" is a familiar tale of love, loss, mourning and insanity. It was no secret that Poe was something of a tortured individual, but his melancholy never stopped him from creatively and meticulously planning his works. He was well-known for saying that writers should plan out their works ahead of time. In that respect he was a perfectionist and, like most writers, extremely critical of his own work. Whether or not one agrees with his belief that writers should always have a plan (or outline) before creating a story, poem or other written work, it is clear to see that "The Raven" is a great example of writing at its finest.
- 4/4/2014
- by Nancy Greene
- FEARnet
It is one of Beckett's most famous – and most startling – images. But what inspired the half-buried woman in Happy Days? His friend and biographer James Knowlson tracks down the first Winnies
Samuel Beckett was a passionate lover of art and a friend of many painters and sculptors. He loved Dutch and Flemish painting in particular – and art almost certainly inspired some of his most memorable theatrical images. Even his earliest plays, such as Waiting for Godot or Endgame, recall the old masters: the character Lucky in Godot may well remind you of a Brueghel grotesque; Estragon and Vladimir's physical antics echo scenes in Adriaen Brouwer's paintings ("Dear, dear Brouwer", Beckett called him); Hamm in Endgame appears to share genes with some portraits by Rembrandt, staring out at the viewer – Jacob Trip in his armchair, perhaps.
As for Beckett's late miniature works – recently revived by the Royal Court with a tour...
Samuel Beckett was a passionate lover of art and a friend of many painters and sculptors. He loved Dutch and Flemish painting in particular – and art almost certainly inspired some of his most memorable theatrical images. Even his earliest plays, such as Waiting for Godot or Endgame, recall the old masters: the character Lucky in Godot may well remind you of a Brueghel grotesque; Estragon and Vladimir's physical antics echo scenes in Adriaen Brouwer's paintings ("Dear, dear Brouwer", Beckett called him); Hamm in Endgame appears to share genes with some portraits by Rembrandt, staring out at the viewer – Jacob Trip in his armchair, perhaps.
As for Beckett's late miniature works – recently revived by the Royal Court with a tour...
- 1/22/2014
- The Guardian - Film News
Feature Ryan Lambie 25 Oct 2013 - 07:12
This week's Crowdfunding Friday has a dream theme, as we bring you a selection of film and gaming projects with a surreal edge...
The sheer volume of crowdfunding projects appearing online every week presents a bit of a problem. How do you choose just three or four to highlight in a brief post like this? Well, this time, we've come up with a cunning plan - we've chosen some crowdfunding offerings that all based around the theme of dreams. Or at least feel like they have something to do with dreams. Yes, it's a bit of a tenuous link, but it's better than nothing.
This week's selection includes two very different but extremely worthy videogames, a science fiction film that looks like an arthouse Inception, and a book that collects together Poe illustrations by an under-appreciated Victorian artist.
Secrets Of Raetikon
There's certainly a surreal,...
This week's Crowdfunding Friday has a dream theme, as we bring you a selection of film and gaming projects with a surreal edge...
The sheer volume of crowdfunding projects appearing online every week presents a bit of a problem. How do you choose just three or four to highlight in a brief post like this? Well, this time, we've come up with a cunning plan - we've chosen some crowdfunding offerings that all based around the theme of dreams. Or at least feel like they have something to do with dreams. Yes, it's a bit of a tenuous link, but it's better than nothing.
This week's selection includes two very different but extremely worthy videogames, a science fiction film that looks like an arthouse Inception, and a book that collects together Poe illustrations by an under-appreciated Victorian artist.
Secrets Of Raetikon
There's certainly a surreal,...
- 10/24/2013
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
Article by Tom Stockman
The big guy once known as ‘The 8th Wonder of the World’ is celebrating his 80th birthday. A landmark accomplishment in cinema and fantasy, King Kong still holds the power to astonish and inspire, so in honor of its 80 years, here’s a look at the movie’s groundbreaking production and significant legacy.
Carl Denham, who brought Kong from Skull Island to New York, was an adventurous, globe-hopping filmmaker and the same was true of Merian C. Cooper, the mastermind behind the movie King Kong. Born in 1893, Cooper had been an aviator and hero in the First World War. He began his movie career in the mid-1920s at Paramount Pictures where he teamed up with Ernest B. Schoedsack, a pioneering motion picture photographer and news cameraman who would become his filmmaking partner. Their first successes were a pair of ambitious anthropological documentaries inspired by the...
The big guy once known as ‘The 8th Wonder of the World’ is celebrating his 80th birthday. A landmark accomplishment in cinema and fantasy, King Kong still holds the power to astonish and inspire, so in honor of its 80 years, here’s a look at the movie’s groundbreaking production and significant legacy.
Carl Denham, who brought Kong from Skull Island to New York, was an adventurous, globe-hopping filmmaker and the same was true of Merian C. Cooper, the mastermind behind the movie King Kong. Born in 1893, Cooper had been an aviator and hero in the First World War. He began his movie career in the mid-1920s at Paramount Pictures where he teamed up with Ernest B. Schoedsack, a pioneering motion picture photographer and news cameraman who would become his filmmaking partner. Their first successes were a pair of ambitious anthropological documentaries inspired by the...
- 9/26/2013
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Special effects master on fantasy films including Jason and the Argonauts and Clash of the Titans
In 1933, the 13-year-old Ray Harryhausen saw King Kong at the cinema and was hooked – not only by Kong, who was clearly not just a man in a gorilla suit, but also by the dinosaurs. He came out of the theatre "stunned and haunted. They looked absolutely lifelike … I wanted to know how it was done." It was done by using stop-motion animation: jointed models filmed one frame at a time to simulate movement. Harryhausen, who has died aged 92, was to become the prime exponent of the technique and its combination with live action. He created the special effects for fantasy films such as The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad (1958); Jason and the Argonauts (1963), with its famous army of skeletons; and Clash of the Titans (1981).
He was born in Los Angeles to Frederick and Martha Harryhausen,...
In 1933, the 13-year-old Ray Harryhausen saw King Kong at the cinema and was hooked – not only by Kong, who was clearly not just a man in a gorilla suit, but also by the dinosaurs. He came out of the theatre "stunned and haunted. They looked absolutely lifelike … I wanted to know how it was done." It was done by using stop-motion animation: jointed models filmed one frame at a time to simulate movement. Harryhausen, who has died aged 92, was to become the prime exponent of the technique and its combination with live action. He created the special effects for fantasy films such as The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad (1958); Jason and the Argonauts (1963), with its famous army of skeletons; and Clash of the Titans (1981).
He was born in Los Angeles to Frederick and Martha Harryhausen,...
- 5/7/2013
- by Sheila Whitaker
- The Guardian - Film News
Today's classic from horror cinema's dawning days is an Italian film from 1911, based on the literary masterpiece The Inferno by Dante Allegheri. If you've taken any literature classes, or just love dark fantasy tales, you probably have at least some knowledge of this segment of long-form poem The Divine Comedy penned by Dante in the early 14th Century, whose narrator is given a guided tour of the nine levels (or circles) of Hell. As a morality tale, or just a straight-up scary story, It's perfect horror movie material; director Giuseppe de Liguoro and his creative partners knew that, and crafted the first feature film adaptation, which went on to shock and horrify audiences around the world. The film's plot, like the story, is simple: the main character is Dante himself (Salvatore Papa), who is taken on a literal trip through Hell by the poet Virgil (Arturo Pirovano) so that he...
- 5/3/2013
- by Gregory Burkart
- FEARnet
The Cinémathèque Française is currently running a major exhibition titled Le monde enchanté de Jacques Demy (through August 4) devoted to the great romantic fantasist who brought us such candy-colored musical reveries as The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, The Young Girls of Rochefort and Donkey Skin. What caught my eye was a video on their website (unsubtitled, unfortunately) in which the head of the poster department, Jacques Ayroles, takes us into the Cinémathèque’s vaults (which contain some 25,000 posters) and talks about the various posters for Demy’s films.
The exhibition seems to place particular emphasis on Peau d’Âne or Donkey Skin, Demy’s beloved Cocteau-esque fantasy which, in 1970, was his greatest success (with over 2 million admissions in France) and which came hot on the heels of one of his most disappointing flops, the L.A.-set Model Shop. Based on the 17th-century fairytale by Charles Perrault (famously illustrated by Gustave Doré...
The exhibition seems to place particular emphasis on Peau d’Âne or Donkey Skin, Demy’s beloved Cocteau-esque fantasy which, in 1970, was his greatest success (with over 2 million admissions in France) and which came hot on the heels of one of his most disappointing flops, the L.A.-set Model Shop. Based on the 17th-century fairytale by Charles Perrault (famously illustrated by Gustave Doré...
- 4/27/2013
- by Adrian Curry
- MUBI
Tom Hooper's gamble of filming Les Misérables with on-set singing has resulted in a work of unusual power and colour
Asked who was France's greatest poet, André Gide responded with the famously rueful answer: "Victor Hugo, hélas!" Cameron Mackintosh, the impresario who brought Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel's Les Misérables to London and transformed it into a worldwide phenomenon after its mild Parisian success and disastrous British first-night reception, would give a rather more positive response. I was in that first-night audience on 30 September 1985, and shared the general opinion that it was an indifferent show, shallow and somewhat forced in tone. I emerged with only one song planted in my head, Master of the House, sung by Alun Armstrong as Thénardier, the outrageously opportunist innkeeper, a number that struck me as rather like You've Got to Pick a Pocket or Two from Oliver!
I wasn't writing about the...
Asked who was France's greatest poet, André Gide responded with the famously rueful answer: "Victor Hugo, hélas!" Cameron Mackintosh, the impresario who brought Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel's Les Misérables to London and transformed it into a worldwide phenomenon after its mild Parisian success and disastrous British first-night reception, would give a rather more positive response. I was in that first-night audience on 30 September 1985, and shared the general opinion that it was an indifferent show, shallow and somewhat forced in tone. I emerged with only one song planted in my head, Master of the House, sung by Alun Armstrong as Thénardier, the outrageously opportunist innkeeper, a number that struck me as rather like You've Got to Pick a Pocket or Two from Oliver!
I wasn't writing about the...
- 1/13/2013
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Sally Field knits her brow into those famous migraine furrows, 66 years deep, trying to decide whether to judge a book by its cover. Through tortoiseshell bifocals, she studies a $50 copy of Dante’s Divine Comedy with an unremarkable cover but vivid Gustave Doré illustrations inside. A salesman here at Argosy Books, the midtown mecca of rare editions, is trying to up-sell the two-time Academy Award winner. He doesn’t recognize the intermittent leading lady, the long-ago Gidget and flying nun, and the co-star, with Daniel Day-Lewis, of Steven Spielberg’s new biopic Lincoln. She plays First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln—famously sharp, obstinate, and batty. “It’s pretty, but it’s not antique,” the salesman says of the Dante book. She asks what else he has of The Divine Comedy or another bucket-list read, Don Quixote. He shows her a four-volume set of the latter that blooms in scaly, multicolored paisley—H.
- 11/10/2012
- by Boris Kachka
- Vulture
Since 1984, The Criterion Collection has been dedicated to compiling the greatest classic and contemporary films of all time and releasing them in pristine laser disc, DVD and now Blu-Ray editions loaded with extensive supplemental features, extensive essays from an assorted host of acclaimed film critics and, of course, the highest technical picture and audio standards available. Translation? They make the best… and most expensive… DVDs on the market.
All this month in stores and online, Barnes & Noble is offering every title in the Criterion Collection on DVD and Blu-Ray at 50% off. Where to start? For all you aspiring film scholars out there, here's a list of 10 essential Criterion Collection discs, presented in chronological order. Take a look:
The Rules Of The Game (1939)
Directed by Jean Renoir
One of the greatest (and, initially, most controversial) films of all time, Renoir's The Rules of the Game was destroyed during World War II,...
All this month in stores and online, Barnes & Noble is offering every title in the Criterion Collection on DVD and Blu-Ray at 50% off. Where to start? For all you aspiring film scholars out there, here's a list of 10 essential Criterion Collection discs, presented in chronological order. Take a look:
The Rules Of The Game (1939)
Directed by Jean Renoir
One of the greatest (and, initially, most controversial) films of all time, Renoir's The Rules of the Game was destroyed during World War II,...
- 7/24/2012
- by Brett Warner
- Celebsology
Since 1984, The Criterion Collection has been dedicated to compiling the greatest classic and contemporary films of all time and releasing them in pristine laser disc, DVD and now Blu-Ray editions loaded with extensive supplemental features, extensive essays from an assorted host of acclaimed film critics and, of course, the highest technical picture and audio standards available. Translation? They make the best… and most expensive… DVDs on the market.
All this month in stores and online, Barnes & Noble is offering every title in the Criterion Collection on DVD and Blu-Ray at 50% off. Where to start? For all you aspiring film scholars out there, here's a list of 10 essential Criterion Collection discs, presented in chronological order. Take a look:
The Rules Of The Game (1939)
Directed by Jean Renoir
One of the greatest (and, initially, most controversial) films of all time, Renoir's The Rules of the Game was destroyed during World War II,...
All this month in stores and online, Barnes & Noble is offering every title in the Criterion Collection on DVD and Blu-Ray at 50% off. Where to start? For all you aspiring film scholars out there, here's a list of 10 essential Criterion Collection discs, presented in chronological order. Take a look:
The Rules Of The Game (1939)
Directed by Jean Renoir
One of the greatest (and, initially, most controversial) films of all time, Renoir's The Rules of the Game was destroyed during World War II,...
- 7/24/2012
- by Brett Warner
- TVology
Since 1984, The Criterion Collection has been dedicated to compiling the greatest classic and contemporary films of all time and releasing them in pristine laser disc, DVD and now Blu-Ray editions loaded with extensive supplemental features, extensive essays from an assorted host of acclaimed film critics and, of course, the highest technical picture and audio standards available. Translation? They make the best… and most expensive… DVDs on the market.
All this month in stores and online, Barnes & Noble is offering every title in the Criterion Collection on DVD and Blu-Ray at 50% off. Where to start? For all you aspiring film scholars out there, here's a list of 10 essential Criterion Collection discs, presented in chronological order. Take a look:
The Rules Of The Game (1939)
Directed by Jean Renoir
One of the greatest (and, initially, most controversial) films of all time, Renoir's The Rules of the Game was destroyed during World War II,...
All this month in stores and online, Barnes & Noble is offering every title in the Criterion Collection on DVD and Blu-Ray at 50% off. Where to start? For all you aspiring film scholars out there, here's a list of 10 essential Criterion Collection discs, presented in chronological order. Take a look:
The Rules Of The Game (1939)
Directed by Jean Renoir
One of the greatest (and, initially, most controversial) films of all time, Renoir's The Rules of the Game was destroyed during World War II,...
- 7/24/2012
- by Brett Warner
- Filmology
How a gonzo road trip, Halo 3 and the Arab Spring helped make the British director's debut anything but Grimm
It is the morning after a quite colossal night before for director Rupert Sanders. There is an empty glass bottle of Coke on the coffee table in front of him. A full one is brought in to replace it, almost immediately. He inspects the window, the lamps, the doorway, desperately looking for any way to get light and air into our muted hotel room. Today's hangover is the sort of broken-headed hell that might usually render a person defeated. But if anyone had a reason to celebrate, it was Sanders.
The previous night saw the premiere of his first film, Snow White & The Huntsman. There was the red carpet, which he walked with his cast (Charlize Theron, Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth, Toby Jones, Ray Winstone, Lovejoy etc). Then there was the...
It is the morning after a quite colossal night before for director Rupert Sanders. There is an empty glass bottle of Coke on the coffee table in front of him. A full one is brought in to replace it, almost immediately. He inspects the window, the lamps, the doorway, desperately looking for any way to get light and air into our muted hotel room. Today's hangover is the sort of broken-headed hell that might usually render a person defeated. But if anyone had a reason to celebrate, it was Sanders.
The previous night saw the premiere of his first film, Snow White & The Huntsman. There was the red carpet, which he walked with his cast (Charlize Theron, Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth, Toby Jones, Ray Winstone, Lovejoy etc). Then there was the...
- 6/1/2012
- by Francesca Babb
- The Guardian - Film News
Frankenstein Alive, Alive! #1
Idw
Story: Steve Niles
Art: Bernie Wrightson
Okay, monster kids. You may not frequent a comic shop, but here are five good reasons that you should go out of your way, take the scenic route to a store, and buy this issue.
1. It is, simply put, a gorgeous book. The weight of the paper feels good in your hands. The text begs for repeated readings. The black and white spreads will take you back to times when a grey film palate was the pinnacle of imagination and wonder. In fact, if you buy the issue digitally, you are doing yourself a disservice.
2. Steve Niles. He is king of the comic monsters, and if anyone knows Frankenstein, it’s Niles. He’s created a smorgasbord of awesomely horrific properties. Niles is also a true punk rock champion of creators and artists. He set up a donation pool for...
Idw
Story: Steve Niles
Art: Bernie Wrightson
Okay, monster kids. You may not frequent a comic shop, but here are five good reasons that you should go out of your way, take the scenic route to a store, and buy this issue.
1. It is, simply put, a gorgeous book. The weight of the paper feels good in your hands. The text begs for repeated readings. The black and white spreads will take you back to times when a grey film palate was the pinnacle of imagination and wonder. In fact, if you buy the issue digitally, you are doing yourself a disservice.
2. Steve Niles. He is king of the comic monsters, and if anyone knows Frankenstein, it’s Niles. He’s created a smorgasbord of awesomely horrific properties. Niles is also a true punk rock champion of creators and artists. He set up a donation pool for...
- 5/10/2012
- by Holly I.
- FamousMonsters of Filmland
Alex Proyas' adaptation of the John Milton poem "Paradise Lost" is already packed with angels, both good and, well, not so good, from Lucifer (Bradley Cooper) to Michael (Benjamin Walker) and Gabriel (Casey Affleck), but so far Adam and Eve are Awol.
However, rumor has it that if Proyas has his druthers, the gorgeous Camilla Belle will play the first woman.
Other than being a gorgeous red carpet mainstay and fashion designer's dream, Belle hasn't really made her mark in Hollywood yet, but this plum role could push her into the spotlight. What's more epic than a master poet's magical visions of the war in heaven and the fall of man and woman on the big screen?
Meanwhile, pretty young thing Diego Boneta is in the running to play Adam. Boneta is known for her work on shows like "Pretty Little Liars" and "90210" but will soon make his big-screen...
However, rumor has it that if Proyas has his druthers, the gorgeous Camilla Belle will play the first woman.
Other than being a gorgeous red carpet mainstay and fashion designer's dream, Belle hasn't really made her mark in Hollywood yet, but this plum role could push her into the spotlight. What's more epic than a master poet's magical visions of the war in heaven and the fall of man and woman on the big screen?
Meanwhile, pretty young thing Diego Boneta is in the running to play Adam. Boneta is known for her work on shows like "Pretty Little Liars" and "90210" but will soon make his big-screen...
- 9/23/2011
- by Jenni Miller
- NextMovie
Why Watch? Because the combination of animation, experiment, and Welles is a palpable one. In 1977, experimental filmmaker Larry Jordan used work from 19th century French artist Gustave Doré and the thunderous tones of Orson Welles to bring Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s most famous epic poem to life. It’s a potent story of a sea captain who kills an albatross while on the ocean and pays a hefty penalty. But chances are that you already knew that, having had to memorize it for freshman English class in high school. The version here, which is more than a bit different from Raúl daSilva’s 1975 take, is surreal at times but also direct. The engravings are wonderful, but there’s no denying that Welles is the star. What does it cost? Just 40 minutes of your time. Check out The Rime of the Ancient Mariner for yourself: The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner (1977) Trust us. You...
- 8/13/2011
- by Cole Abaius
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
The horror movie, in all its multitude of cinematic guises, has offered up many a piece of friendly advice throughout the years. Whether it’s a deranged old man warning a bunch of witless teenagers to skip this year’s camping vacation, an urban legend warning the curious amongst us all to avoid speaking a certain name out loud five times whilst staring into a mirror or a pub full of especially suspicious punters suggesting we all just “stick to the roads” and “keep clear of the moors” as many an important life lesson has been learnt from the silver screen as from our dear and loving parents.
And so, for an overly imaginative teenager of the Nineteen Eighties, it’s understandable that a great deal of curiosity was to be aroused when Angela Lansbury kindly warned us all to “never stray from the path, never eat a windfall apple...
And so, for an overly imaginative teenager of the Nineteen Eighties, it’s understandable that a great deal of curiosity was to be aroused when Angela Lansbury kindly warned us all to “never stray from the path, never eat a windfall apple...
- 12/6/2010
- by Nick Turk
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
It is kind of thrilling to see that the ever-exemplary U.K.-based Eureka!/Masters of Cinema label is so bullish on the Blu-ray disc format. July and August were big Blu-ray months for the label, seeing the releases in that format of two titles previously unavailable from the label: Jia Zhangke's The World and Kon Ichikawa's The Burmese Harp—and two high-definition updates of previous Eureka!/Moc releases: Shohei Imamura's Vengeance Is Mine and Rene Laloux's La planete sauvage.
All of these releases are highly noteworthy, but my selection of the Laloux film for this review is not entirely arbitrary. First off, there's the matter of the material upgrade in and of itself. The standard-def edition of La planete sauvage, a.k.a. Fantastic Planet, spine number 34 in the Eureka!/Moc series, released in 2006, was created from an interlaced master. The DVD was nonetheless very beautiful. Created at...
All of these releases are highly noteworthy, but my selection of the Laloux film for this review is not entirely arbitrary. First off, there's the matter of the material upgrade in and of itself. The standard-def edition of La planete sauvage, a.k.a. Fantastic Planet, spine number 34 in the Eureka!/Moc series, released in 2006, was created from an interlaced master. The DVD was nonetheless very beautiful. Created at...
- 9/28/2010
- MUBI
John Milton’s epic blank-verse poem Paradise Lost is to be given the 3D action movie treatment by director Alex Proyas and Legendary Pictures. It’s certainly an interesting approach to a classic text more revered than read these days.
Proyas, you may also remember, is attached to direct Universal’s Dracula: Year Zero with Sam Worthington in the lead as Vlad the Impaler. So is this story of the Fall going into production before or after? It looks to be the latter as this was announced towards the end of last week by Variety.
Warner Bros will be distributing the celestial action saga and such writers as Stuart Hazeldine, Byron Willinger, Philip de Blasi, Lawrence Kasdan and Ryan Condal have bashed out drafts of the script.
It’ll probably depart some way from Milton’s religious story and will have scholars and purists foaming at the mouth with indignation.
Proyas, you may also remember, is attached to direct Universal’s Dracula: Year Zero with Sam Worthington in the lead as Vlad the Impaler. So is this story of the Fall going into production before or after? It looks to be the latter as this was announced towards the end of last week by Variety.
Warner Bros will be distributing the celestial action saga and such writers as Stuart Hazeldine, Byron Willinger, Philip de Blasi, Lawrence Kasdan and Ryan Condal have bashed out drafts of the script.
It’ll probably depart some way from Milton’s religious story and will have scholars and purists foaming at the mouth with indignation.
- 9/20/2010
- by Martyn Conterio
- FilmShaft.com
Alex Proyas ("I, Robot") has been signed to direct Legendary Pictures' upcoming feature "Paradise Lost", adapting the 17th-century (public domain) English poem by John Milton.
Premise of the film, to be developed as an action vehicle, will focus on the 'epic war' in heaven between archangels 'Michael' and 'Lucifer.
Legendary's Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni will produce with Vincent Newman ("A Man Apart").
Screenplay is by Stuart Hazeldine, Byron Willinger and Philip de Blasi with polishes by Lawrence Kasdan and Ryan Condal.
Milton's poem, first published in 1667, contained ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse. A second edition followed in 1674, redivided into twelve books, with minor revisions.
The majority of the poem was written while Milton was blind, and was transcribed for him, incorporating Paganism, classical Greek references, and Christianity. Milton dealt in diverse topics including marriage, politics and monarchy, grappling with difficult theological issues,...
Premise of the film, to be developed as an action vehicle, will focus on the 'epic war' in heaven between archangels 'Michael' and 'Lucifer.
Legendary's Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni will produce with Vincent Newman ("A Man Apart").
Screenplay is by Stuart Hazeldine, Byron Willinger and Philip de Blasi with polishes by Lawrence Kasdan and Ryan Condal.
Milton's poem, first published in 1667, contained ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse. A second edition followed in 1674, redivided into twelve books, with minor revisions.
The majority of the poem was written while Milton was blind, and was transcribed for him, incorporating Paganism, classical Greek references, and Christianity. Milton dealt in diverse topics including marriage, politics and monarchy, grappling with difficult theological issues,...
- 9/17/2010
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
Chicago – The Winter Olympics coverage on NBC made it impossible for viewers to ignore the fact that there is indeed a “Clash of the Titans” remake coming out in April. This may seem redundant, since the vast majority of modern fantasy has in some way ripped off Greek mythology. Both “Harry Potter” and “Percy Jackson” include a variation on Medusa, the reptilian villain with snake hair and a stoney stare.
Medusa has been giving young moviegoers nightmares for decades, thanks to Ray Harryhausen, whose distinctive stop-motion effects have enhanced cinema since the early 40s. Their herky-jerky movement has a life and immediacy that simply can’t be mimicked by today’s all-too-fluid CGI. 1981’s “Titans” marked the last time Harryhausen served as “special visual effects creator.” It’s a tribute to his mastery that the film still has a timeless grandeur, despite the fact that its effects now seem to...
Medusa has been giving young moviegoers nightmares for decades, thanks to Ray Harryhausen, whose distinctive stop-motion effects have enhanced cinema since the early 40s. Their herky-jerky movement has a life and immediacy that simply can’t be mimicked by today’s all-too-fluid CGI. 1981’s “Titans” marked the last time Harryhausen served as “special visual effects creator.” It’s a tribute to his mastery that the film still has a timeless grandeur, despite the fact that its effects now seem to...
- 3/9/2010
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Top: animating The Great God Porno ("Flesh Gordon" 1972) Bottom: Jim within the "Planet of Dinosaurs" (1978)
Jim Aupperle (pronounced “Aw-pearl”) is one of the most respected technical artists of his generation; he’s made the crucial task of lighting visual-effects shots his specialty. Jim has worked with the best, and he successfully made the transition from traditional techniques to CGI some years back. He regularly contributes to online forums about the field and is a historian of the craft. FM was delighted to have a chance to speak with Jim.
—
FM: Please tell us about your connections to Forrest J Ackerman and “Famous Monsters of Filmland.”
Ja: My first connection, and what got me started, was Issue #24.I saw it on the newsstand in 1963 when I was 11 years old. I was already a fan of horror films but I had no idea how they were made, and I was incredibly excited.
Jim Aupperle (pronounced “Aw-pearl”) is one of the most respected technical artists of his generation; he’s made the crucial task of lighting visual-effects shots his specialty. Jim has worked with the best, and he successfully made the transition from traditional techniques to CGI some years back. He regularly contributes to online forums about the field and is a historian of the craft. FM was delighted to have a chance to speak with Jim.
—
FM: Please tell us about your connections to Forrest J Ackerman and “Famous Monsters of Filmland.”
Ja: My first connection, and what got me started, was Issue #24.I saw it on the newsstand in 1963 when I was 11 years old. I was already a fan of horror films but I had no idea how they were made, and I was incredibly excited.
- 2/17/2010
- by Steve
- FamousMonsters of Filmland
It's charming to watch a director with his own fanbase become a fan himself, sitting down with someone he admires and conducting an informal interview. Thanks to the blog AustinTranslation, we've found a three-part interview on YouTube in which director Tim Burton chats with special-effects master Ray Harryhausen about the ways in which Harryhausen designed creatures and spacecraft of all sorts for classic science-fiction and fantasy movies like Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, Mighty Joe Young and Jason and the Argonauts. You can check out the three clips after the jump. After you've watched the clips, read the blog entry on AustinTranslation, since it includes artwork from Gustav Dore, a big influence on Harryhausen.
The three interviews total about 25 minutes, and the talk ranges from flying saucer design to the reasons why audiences sympathize with the creatures in monster movies, to the odd ways Harryhausen has collected sound effects. Burton...
The three interviews total about 25 minutes, and the talk ranges from flying saucer design to the reasons why audiences sympathize with the creatures in monster movies, to the odd ways Harryhausen has collected sound effects. Burton...
- 9/21/2009
- by Jette Kernion
- Cinematical
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