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Animated Oscar Winners 2008
The Oscar for Best Animated Feature went to Brad Bird’s Ratatouille from Pixar, beating out Persepolis, which was my favorite. In so doing, the members of the Academy went against the trend to honor...
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Willis O’Brien, Iwerks’ Multiplane Camera and Fleischer’s Stereoptical Process
This post is by way of a posing a possible historical question. In reading Richard Rickitt’s book, Special Effects: The History and Technique, I was brought up short by the following illustration (on...
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Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D
Eric Brevig’s version of Jules Vernes’ Journey to the Center of the Earth is not a film I would usually comment on, but several things piqued my interest. First, I’ve always been something of a sucker...
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More From Life: Ernie Kovacs
The Life archive notes: "Electronic sight gag created by comic Ernie Kovacs in which he appears to be peering thru head of actress Barbra Loden as part of his TV special ‘Ernie Kovacs’." This and the...
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The Soloist’s Synesthesia Sequence
I went to see Joe Wright’s The Soloist mainly because it was based on the book by Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez; I haven’t read the book, but I do recall reading his initial column about...
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Visual Effects Über Alles
From the for what it’s worth department: In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle on his work on The Twilight Saga: New Moon, special effects maestro Phil Tippett (seen here accepting the 2009...
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Alice in Wonderland (1903)
I just became aware of the British Film Institute’s YouTube Channel which is featuring the first screen version of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, which was directed by Cecil Hepworth and Percy...
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Deneroff’s Law … of Filmmaking and Everything Else
After seeing How to Train Your Dragon and The Secret of Kells back to back, I noticed that both films finished with rather elaborate and visually complex climaxes. Such sequences have become...
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A Trip to the Moon: Back in Color
The Bioscope, Luke McKernan’s invaluable blog, notes that tomorrow the Cannes Film Festival is presenting “what may be the film restoration to beat all other film restorations — the colour version of...
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Martin Scorsese’s Hugo
Martin Scorcese makes a cameo appearance in Hugo. Right off the bat, let me say that Martin Scorsese’s Hugo is a wonderful film which I cannot recommend too highly. In a sense,it’s one of those...
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Ray Harryhausen
The recent passing of special effects animation master Ray Harryhausen has been widely noted. I must admit to having little to add to the many well-deserved hosannas. A disciple of Willis O’Brien, he...
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