The Academy Award-Winning film Wings is coming to both DVD and Blu-ray.
That’s the 1927 Academy Award-winning film, in case you didn’t know…
Archive for the ‘Movies’ Category
A Very Old New Film
Tuesday, January 17th, 2012A Christmas Story, in 30 Seconds, With Bunnies
Saturday, December 24th, 2011Pretty much self-explanatory.
Thanks, Angry Alien!
And a Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
The…Master…Would…Approve
Wednesday, November 30th, 2011Even though it’s been on Fark, I feel I would be remiss in not mentioning that a man has found the workprint for Manos: the Hands of Fate. He intends to restore the film to all it’s, um, glory, and sell Blu-Rays of the newly remastered version.
May his work be blessed by Torgo the White.
Notes from the World of Philip K. Dick
Tuesday, November 29th, 2011The first volume of The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick has finally been published. (Note: That Amazon link has it at half cover price, something I (and most probably other booksellers) can’t hope to match.) Paul Di Filippo offers a review: “It’s like the greatest Spalding Gray staged monologue ever conceived.”
Also of interest to the devoted Dickhead: The Philip K. Dick estate is suing the people who made The Adjustment Bureau, saying they’re owed additional money for the film rights. Media Rights Capital, in turn, is saying that the copyright was never properly renewed. Previous coverage of the dubious status of SF works that might (or might not) be out of copyright can be found here.
Finally, there’s another book of PKD interest coming out, not about Dick himself, but about his missing android head.
Hugo and Georges Méliès
Monday, November 28th, 2011Howard Waldrop and I reviewed Hugo over at Locus Online, which we liked an awful lot.
The film involves (slight spoiler) the work of French film pioneer Georges Méliès, who produced, directed, wrote, and starred in over 500 silent short films, many of which no longer exists. But several of the ones that do are up on YouTube, and I thought I would gather them here. Méliès, a former stage magician, was the first to create a number of optical effects.
His most famous film, A Trip to the Moon, with the classic image of the shell embedded in the man-in-the-moon’s eye.
Interestingly, this was not his first film featuring the moon, as shown by The Astronomer’s Dream:
Another interplanetary voyage, this time by train, to the sun (in hand-tinted color, no less):
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea:
The Haunted Castle:
Mélies himself is front and center as each of The Four Troublesome Heads:
Likewise as the Man With the Rubber Head:
Spinal Tap: Unwigged and Unplugged
Tuesday, November 15th, 2011The men behind Tap decided they’d like to go out and perform without the having to get into character. Here’s the result:
Strangely enough, unwigged.com now seems to be some sort of language learning site.
On why they did it:
And just for the hell of it, here’s “Stonehenge” live from Wembley in 2009:
Nigel Tufnel on Stonehenge
Monday, November 14th, 2011Nigel Tufnel Day may have passed, but the Spinal Tap madness continues!
National Geographic did an interview with him regarding the origins of Stonehenge. He turns out to have many fascinating insights as to how it was actually built, some involving dinosaur spit.
Happy Nigel Tufnel Day!
Friday, November 11th, 2011I hope you’re celebrating both Veterans Day and Nigel Tufnel Day (11/11/11) today. Tonight I will be celebrating by viewing the historical documents.
It was slightly difficult to find an embeddable version:
And now the obligatory video of “Stonehenge”:
Edison’s Frankenstein
Saturday, November 5th, 2011Did you know that the first first filmed version of Frankenstein was not the James Whale movie, but a 1910 Edison studios film?
Though full of the hokey melodramatic tropes of early silent cinema, it actually follows the basic plot of the Mary Shelly novel more closely than the Whale movie, at least up until the happy (and vaguely slipstreamy) ending. The creation of the monster scene uses not one, but two special effects: running the film backwards and at high speed. I’m sure it blew people’s minds in 1910.
Cartoons for the Halloween Season: Betty Boop in Minnie the Moocher
Monday, October 24th, 2011Cab Calloway, Betty Boop and dancing skeletons. What more could you ask for?