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…
Hear Mysteries of the Inner Sanctum!
The Internet Archive has a collection of the old time radio show, Inner Sanctum Mysteries, sure to spookify any All Hallow’s Eve.
Midnight Madness 2011, Updated
Here are two more trailers for films screening at this year’s Midnight Madness Program at the Toronto International Film Festival. First up, a teaser and clip from Eduardo Sánchez’ Lovely Molly. There’s also a trailer for Frederic Jardin’s thriller, Sleepless Night / Nuit Blanche. (Updated: The Incident trailer was incorrect).
The History and Art of the Title Sequence
A couple of looks at the art and history of film title sequences.
Summer Fun Time Reading ’11
It’s summer time and instead of beer bottles exploding out of coolers in a shower of refreshing ice, bikini-clad hotties and fireworks as we know it should be, everything is wilting and perhaps even melting. As far as I can tell there are only two possible explanations—Hot Lava Monsters have readjusted the earth’s thermostat to [...]
Soulless Gialli
“What have they done to gialli?” wonders Allison Nastasi about new giallo films and then offers up 5 examples of the genre at its best.
Minoru Kawasaki: Look Back in Fun Fur
Every April at the Gutter, the editors write about something outside their usual domains. This month Comics Editor Carol Borden writes about movies. This is not even close to a full retrospective, because while Minoru Kawasaki doesn’t have a huge number of films, many of them are not available with English subtitles and I don’t [...]
“Tomorrow Never Say Never” Starring George Lazenby
The Random James Bond Movie generator gives you a title, a plot and a particular Bond. (Also provides book titles).
Second Place Ain’t Second Best
Previously, I wrote a column about Meredith Duran, who got her start in publishing when her first novel, the astonishingly good Duke of Shadows, won the Gather.com First Chapters Romance Writing Competition. I liked the interesting and collaborative nature of the online contest. Entrants posted their first chapters on the Gather.com site for the community [...]
Most Anticipated Asian Films of 2011
Wildgrounds breaks down their most anticipated films of 2011.
80 Years of Genre Snubs
Horror movies are celebrating their hundredth year in 2010, with the anniversary of the 1910 Edison Lab’s production of Frankenstein. Bloody Disgusting catalogs “some of the biggest…genre snubs in Oscar history, in Part Four of B-D’s ’100 Years in Horror’ series.”
Inception in Real-Time
Inception in Real-Time. All the dreams played against one another and with editorial comments. (via Entertainment Weekly’s blog)
RIP, Irvin Kershner
Irvin Kershner has died. He directed The Empire Strikes Back, Robocop 2, Eyes of Laura Mars and The Raid on Entebbe. Vanity Fair recently posted an interview with him about working on Star Wars. Agence France-Presse has a report. Film School Rejects has 5 great Kershner films besides The Empire Strikes Back.
Heros de las Artes Marciales
Laurie’s Wild West brings you pulps from Franco’s Spain.
Heroes vs. Villains
It might be Round 7, but it’s not too late to particpate in Cinematical’s Heroes vs. Villains tournament. Vote here.
Mission: Kill the Werewolf King
Writers receive the sanction to assassinate a troublesome actor’s character, The Werewolf King in the 1980s tv show, Werewolf.
Midnight Madness 2010 Trailers
Here are trailers for 6 of the 10 movies at the Toronto International Film Festival’s Midnight Madness program this year: Fubar II; The Vanishing on 7th Street; The Butcher, The Chef and The Swordsman; Red Nights; Fire of Conscience; and Stake Land. (SUPER, Insidious, Bunraku and John Carpenter’s The Ward don’t have trailers yet).
Quien es La Pantera Negra?
La Pantera Negra is on the prowl in this trailer for Iyari Werrta’s stylish tribute to 1950s and 1960s Mexican films. Catsuits! Fedoras! Flying saucers! Suspenso! (via SF Signal).
Elmore Leonard, Hats and Adaptations
Elmore Leonard talks hats and adaptations, sometimes both.
Kathryn Bigelow Retrospective
Kathryn Bigelow won a best directing Oscar for The Hurt Locker. Time for a retrospective. Here’s the trailer for Near Dark and some clips. Point Break (i.e. Keeanu Reeves best movie). Jamie Lee Curtis in the cop thriller, Blue Steel. The premillennial tension of Strange Days. The Pirelli ad, Mission Zero. And her sub movie, [...]
Science Determines the Best and Worst Genres
Science analyzes the best and worst types of genre movies. Results listed here.
« go back — keep looking »Of Note Elsewhere
Support Manos The Hands of Felt–The Master will be pleased.
At Sequart, Julian Darius makes the case that Star Trek: Into Darkness damages the Star Trek franchise and that “Starfleet must be destroyed.” (via Mike White)
“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.”
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