Making a Scene: Avatar
Ninja November 26th, 2009
Watch the making of a VFX scene for James Cameron’s much hyped upcoming movie, Avatar. Everything, from the subtlest movement of facial expressions to strands of hair, is captured.
Related postsArchive for the 'Movies' Category
Tim Burton retrospective at MoMA
Ninja November 20th, 2009
Here’s a small taste of Tim Burton’s Museum of Modern Art exhibit! It opens this Sunday, November 22, 2009 and runs to April 26, 2010.
This retrospective features Burton’s childhood drawings, student artwork, paintings, sketchbooks, concept artwork, storyboards, puppets, and costumes.
A behind the scenes look:
Purchasing link
+ Get your MoMA tickets here
The Making Of Fantastic Mr. Fox
Ninja November 17th, 2009
Take a look behind the scenes of Wes Anderson’s first stop-motion animated film based on Roald Dahl’s book of the same title, Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Via Making Of
Related postsChris Appelhans’ fantastic concept art
Ninja November 17th, 2009
Chris Appelhans rarely updates his blog, but when he does, oh my! Check out his fantastic concept art for Wes Anderson’s upcoming movie, Fantastic Mr. Fox! For more concept art, visit Chris’ blog.
This tauntaun cake smells sweet on the outside!
Ninja October 24th, 2009
Penguin always teases me when I play with his tauntaun action figure (complete with a little trap door) and shout “And I thought they smelled bad on the outside!”
Naturally, I geeked out when I saw Courtney Clark’s AMAZING dead tauntaun wedding cake commissioned by Chris and Julie Trevas.
Thanks for the tip, Ray
Via Star Wars blog
Related postsOut for jury duty
Ninja October 23rd, 2009
I’m serving grand jury duty today. Thank you for all the fun stories, advice, and this 30 Rock clip.
But I think I’m just going to take my chances by dressing nicely and acting professionally. ^_____^
Related postsBrief Interviews with Hideous Men
Ninja October 19th, 2009
John Krasinski, best known as Jim Halpert from The Office, is making his directorial debut with the dark comedy, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men. Adapted from the book by David Foster Wallace
See Ben Gibbard’s acting debut below:
Via Stereogum
Related postsGo see (500) Days of Summer
Ninja August 10th, 2009
Last Friday, (500) Days of Summer released nation-wide. I instantly fell in love with charmingly heartfelt boy-meets-girl story. But it’s not your typical rom-com, the film starts off with this warning: “this is not a love story.”
This is the story of Tom and Summer. Tom (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a greeting card copywriter and hopeless romantic who is dumbfounded when his girlfriend, Summer (Zooey Deschanel of She & Him fame), dumps him. Rather than linear storytelling, the narrative events shift back and forth through key moments of their 500 days. Gordon-Levitt and Deschanel are an endearing and believable couple with good on-screen chemistry.
From first-time director, Marc Webb
This is one of my favorite sequences where they visit an IKEA furniture store:
Stars of (500) Days Of Summer star Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in a music video directed by Marc Webb. The video features the two dancing to She & Him’s Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?
And I want Zooey Deschanel’s retro-chic wardrobe:
+ Denim skirt from Built By Wendy
Dr. Strangelove’s Lost Ending
Penguin June 25th, 2009
It’s always a blessing to be able to peak into the master’s process. And Kubrick is one of the great masters. In this snippet, Glen Kenny talks to Anthony Harvey, who edited Strangelove, about the ending over at The Auteurs’ Notebook.
Harvey, who had also cut the director’s prior film Lolita, recalls the press screening, which happened to occur on or around November 22, 1963, the day of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. “There we are. I was showing it to the press, I remember, around that time. We canceled everything and we all trudged on to Grosvenor Square, stood in shocked silence as the news unfurled. That’s the date. And some weeks after that, I believe, the film was going to be released.
Columbia Pictures were very nervous about anything to show the president—any president—in that state, as it should be…That ending, how it started, the George Scott character threw a custard pie to the Russian ambassador, and it missed and hit the president. And then all hell broke loose. And it was like there was about two minutes when, after this brilliantly constructed film, it devolves into a kind of silent Mack Sennett sort of thing, with everybody getting hit by custard pies.
[S]omehow they were very worried, the studio, about releasing it. They found it might be offensive or something. So Stanley took it out for the moment, and then the film opened and he just didn’t feel like putting anything back. So that remained in the cutting room floor. But it was a brilliant piece of work. Who knows? I certainly thought it was. But I think when you get to a point in working on a film for almost a year, and this sort of sudden pressure comes in as a result of what happened to Kennedy, it’s a sort of clear-cut situation. So that was removed. And it never went back.”
While stills of the footage exist, it’s still unclear as to whether the scene survived the loss of the original negative, or exists in Kubrick’s archive. Despite the hopes of some cinephiles, it is not, finally, included on the new Blu-ray disc of Strangelove.
I find it interesting that the serendipitous cut was what made the Strangelove ending the way it is. Usually, the work of masters is meticulous with every detail being purposeful and reasoned. Granted, there was a reason behind the cut, but not to serve the work.
Via: In Contention
Related postsThe 50 greatest Simpsons movie references
Ninja June 23rd, 2009
I know I’ve posted about The Simpsons homages in the past, but Total Film offers some additional Simpsons‘ winks at classic film moments (complete with detailed descriptions about the film reference and corresponding Simpsons episode). Below are a few of my favorites. You can see the top 50 greatest Simpsons movie references listed here.
Requiem For A Dream (2000)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Full Metal Jacket (1989)
Night Of The Hunter (1955)
Night Of The Living Dead (1968)
Psycho (1960)
The Godfather (1972)
The Red Balloon (1956)
The Silence Of The Lambs (1991)
Via Total Film
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