Ray Harryhausen passed away last week. This has been noted by people more qualified than I to discuss the master of stop-motion magic—Rick Baker, Adam Savage, Todd Masters, George Lucas, Peter Jackson, and more. The superhuman talent and perseverance evident in a Harryhausen effects sequence can easily be seen in countless visual effects artists since he first brought his creations to frame-by-frame life on the big screen. That makes sense. So how can I really say anything of worth when I say that I was also profoundly influenced by the artistry of Ray Harryhausen? With modesty, and a story about Clash of the Titans. Continue reading…
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Recent Features
Ray Harryhausen and Me: A Life of High Adventure and Escapism
Things That Change You Forever
I have a ghost story of my own. At least, I have a ghost-cat story.
My final year as an undergraduate was spent in relative splendor. My friends and I lucked into tenancy in the house of a professor on sabbatical. Twelve foot ceilings! Built in bookshelves! Three cats! Real, grown-up furniture! Wait… let’s get back to the cats. The professorial family had three cats and a dog, though the dog was sent to a friend with a farm (later, they told us later that we clinched the lease when they told us that cat care was part of the deal and our response was, “Aw, we don’t get the dog?”).
So. Three housemates, three cats. One morning around the (solid oak!) table, we were chatting about the cats’ sleeping habits. Two of the cats routinely slept in my room, the third with one of the others. Feeling a little left out, the third roommate said, “That’s okay, because Ghost Cat slept on my bed last night.” Continue reading…
Secret Agent, Detective, Genius, Jerk: Modernizing Sherlock Holmes
A man with dark wavy hair wakes up in an iron-framed bed in the middle of a windowless room. He leaps out from under the white sheets and stares intently at a corner of the white ceiling. Suddenly, gracefully, he spins to defeat an invisible opponent in four swift motions, finally falling to his knees in front of an empty chair, hands outstretched.
There’s something about the way Benedict Cumberbatch plays the lead role in the BBC series Sherlock that seems like it could be Holmes’ fantasy version of how a brilliant detective behaves. Continue reading…
My New Weapon of Choice
In April, the Guttersnipes like to mix it up a little. This month, Comics Editor Carol Borden writes about romance.
“You hit him with a frying pan,” he said to her. “How come you didn’t grab a knife?”
“The frying pan was closer.” Her eyes slid away. “It’s not like I had time to pick a weapon. It’s not like the frying pan is my weapon of choice.” –Agnes And The Hitman (27)
Growing up in a town where Elvis was sighted post mortem, I despised and mocked The King. Now, I have held wakes in his honor. I used to only like punk. Then I used to say I liked everything but country. Now I don’t even bother arguing that I’m listening to “Americana,” not country. It is a truth universally acknowledged that something I once despised I will come to appreciate and, often, love. So when both Chris and alex recommended Jennifer Crusie, the author of many romance novels, and in particular her collaboration with Bob Mayer, Agnes And The Hitman, I knew I needed to read it. Continue reading…
The Hapless Humans of Infomercials
A gallery of incompetent people from informercials. (via @TarsTarkasnet)
Interview with Simon Yam Tat-Wah
PaikJiyeon’s People Inside features Simon Yam in all his sartorial splendor. “Simple, that is the best.” (First of multipart interview)
Jim Brown’s Hollywood
“As a Black man in American, I brought something to the screen that hadn’t really been there before.”Jim Brown talks about his film career, making the transition from football to film and producing films in two parts of a documentary by Spike Lee. Here and here.
Reservoir Dogs at The Projection Booth
Mr. White and Mr. St. Mary have an in-depth look at Reservoir Dogs at The Projection Booth podcast. Special Guests: podcaster Jamie Jenkins, Film Threat‘s Paul Zimmerman and Reservoir Dogs executive producer, Monte Hellman. Special features include, Mike White’s video, “Who Do You Think You’re Fooling?” comparing Ringo Lam’s City On Fire and Reservoir Dogs, [...]
Phil Lamarr at Anime USA 2012
3 Black Geeks record actor, comedian and voice actor Phil Lamarr answering questions at Anime USA 2012 in Washington, D.C.
Interview with Lee Byung-hun
Paul Quinn interviews actor Lee Byung-hun (The Good, The Bad, The Weird; I Saw The Devil) for Hangul Cellulloid. “Every actor, especially the beginners, if they’re asked ‘Do you eventually want to be a star or a real actor?’ will answer that they want to be a real actor and not a star, 100%. However, [...]
The Gothic Imagination
BBC Radio 4 presents dramatizations of Frankenstein and Dracula, as well as extras including discussions of the difficulty of performing Frankenstein’s Creature, Vitalism, and who Stoker might’ve based his Count on. Click through to The Gothic Imagination. (via @booksadventures)
Two Interviews with Divine
Two interviews with Divine from a 1981 documentary and on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross.
A Hero Dies 50,000 Deaths!
In chanbara, Japanese sword-fighting movies, actor Seizo Fukumoto is a master of the art of dying. Anthony Kuhn interviews him about his life dying on screen. “In a trademark move, Fukumoto is dealt a fatal blow, then bends over backward, seemingly suspended in midair for a moment of final agony before crumpling to the ground. [...]
“Girls Will Be Boys”
There’s a fantastic gallery of actresses portraying male characters including four adaptations of Viktor and Victoria at Movie Morlocks. Kimberly Lindbergs writes a little on each performance and film, too.
3 Interviews with Vincent Price
Vincent price interviewed by Terry Wogan, Johnny Carson (promoting Theatre of Blood) and Elwy Yost with special bonus Roger Corman interview.
Interview with Adam West
Comics Alliance‘s Senior Batmanologist Chris Sims interviews Adam West, who starred in the 1960s tv classic, Batman. Make sure to follow the link through to his earlier interview with voice actor, Kevin Conroy, who has played Batman in animation and videogames since Batman: The Animated Series.
Movies with Four or More Harry Potter Wizards
Movies with four or more Harry Potter wizards, or an illustration of how small the British film industry is. (Thanks, James!)
4:14
4:14 of Nicolas Cage losing his shit.
How Hollywood Killed Stunts
Salon has an excellent piece on the death of stunts in Hollywood movies, exploring everything from the history of film stunts, the reliance on CG effects and new-fangled “intensified continuity” editing. The piece also mentions Michelle Yeoh, Tony Jaa, Zoe Bell and Yakima Canutt. (Thanks, Brian from Shelf Life CC).
For Jean-Claude on his 50th Birthday
Mubi has a lovely, thoughtful post on Jean-Claude van Damme in honor of his 50th birthday. ” But what does that make of an action-star-inverse like Van Damme, who’s at his most interesting when he’s at his most vulnerable and who does not, unlike Stallone or Willis, wield that vulnerability as a weapon, but presents [...]
The Grave of Bela Lugosi
Today is Bela Lugosi’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Bela! J. W. Ocker writes about Bela’s perfection as a vampire and about the sadness of his grave.
HIS SOUL’S STILL DANCING
In the course of making The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans, Werner Herzog seems to have discovered how to save Nicolas Cage: let him drown.
Scarred by SuperFriends
Friends, I wasn’t always the superhero-loving comics reader you see before you. I underwent a tribulation, a trial of faith, wandering in a wilderness without capes. My resistance to superheros and the Justice League of America in particular stemmed from one root: The SuperFriends. I can’t, in general, argue with the idea of super-friendship, but [...]
Ricky Gervais vs. Elmo
At the low-key yet awesome See Monkey blog, Marc Hirsh writes about his fear that any moment Ricky Gervais could descend into schtick, becoming a painful parody of himself. But more importantly, he’s got a video of those Ricky Gervais/Elmo interview outtakes with good quality sound.
keep looking »Of Note Elsewhere
“It’s easier to tell the same stories everyone else does. There’s no particular shame in it.
It’s just that it’s lazy, which is just about the worst possible thing a spec fic writer can be.
Oh, and it’s not true.”
Kameron Hurley writes about lazy writing, cannibal llamas, female soldiers, and women here. (Thanks, James!)
Patton Oswalt’s multi-franchise super-movie described in his Star Wars filibuster from Parks and Recreation, animated.
Corrigan Vaughan writes an open letter to “Fans of Geek Things“: “I appreciate that you think I have a nice rack and that some of you even find my friends and I to be pretty. That’s very kind. I’m not, however, super in love with the fact that having a rack at all seems to preclude me from being considered a ‘real’ fan.”
The Hollywood Reporter interviews director Takashi Miike about his new film, Shield of Straw: ” In Japan now, films are very safe. When I was young and went to old cinemas, they had a distinctive feel, an adult smell about them. As you got in your seat and the lights went down, there was a feeling of excitement: What if the film is scarier than I thought it’s going to be? You’re taken into that world. Nowadays, you can sit in the theater and know it’s going to be safe. That’s good for business, but not for filmmaking.”
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