Dennis Neuschaefer-Rube’s Stilled Films are individual works, each consisting of thousands of still frames from the movie that gives each piece its title. He has “stilled” nearly every film by Stanley Kubrick, which makes his work just that much better. You really get a feeling for each film’s mood and atmosphere. Pictured here is Eyes Wide Shut, with its golden hued opening scenes and darker sequences throughout the middle.
Will WALL-E Live Up to Expectations?
In one word: Yes. In two: Of course.
Pixar’s winning streak is no longer a streak. It’s a guarantee. Even Cars (2006), widely labeled their “worst” film, was a great film. I don’t hope that WALL-E is good. I don’t think that it will be good. I know that it will be fantastic. It’s like when Apple was getting ready to release the iPhone. People didn’t hope they liked it. They knew they would. It was simply a matter of sitting around and waiting until the moment it was released so they could run out, line up, and swipe their plastic as fast as humanly possible.
I didn’t line up for an iPhone, but I’ll be damned if I’m not in line to see WALL-E the second it hits theaters.
Still not convinced? Early reviews from Ain’t It Cool News are calling it a “masterpiece,” “gorgeous,” “a Buster Keaton silent film mixed with the wonder of the original STAR WARS and the morals of the best fables.” John Gholson has this to say:
Thanks to Pixar, I have no choice but to go into wild, unrestrained
hyperbole regarding their new film, the animated sci-fi adventure love
story titled Wall-E. Ready? Here we go.Visionary. Emotional. Fantastic. A Must-See. A Thrill Ride. Romantic.
Eye-Popping. Incredible. Instant Classic. The best Pixar film ever
made. Let that sink in for a minute.The best. THE. BEST.
WALL-E hits theaters this weekend. Who will be there with me?
How Stanley Kubrick’s Editing Conveys a Horrifying Supernatural Vision in The Shining
During a scene in Stanley Kubrick’s horror film The Shining (1980), when Danny envisions the girls in a hallway of the Overlook Hotel, Kubrick’s editing in both the classical and montage style heightens suspense, creates dramatic tension, and suggests Danny’s psychological state.
The scene opens with an extreme long shot tracking Danny as he rides his tricycle away from the camera, down a hallway in the Overlook. Danny goes through a doorway in the distance and turns, riding out of sight. Kubrick holds this shot for another few seconds, suggesting that Danny has just entered a dangerous place to where the camera is afraid to follow.
This effectively foreshadows imminent peril, so that when Kubrick finally cuts to a close tracking shot of Danny from behind as he approaches a turn in the hallway, the viewer, in trepidation, anticipates something around the bend.
7 Pieces of Evidence Suggesting Cloverfield Is Based on The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms
If you haven’t already heard, producer J.J. Abrams, the man behind the TV series Lost and Alias, is working on a new movie whose title was recently revealed to be Cloverfield.
The film first sparked interest when a teaser trailer was shown before Transformers earlier this summer. Its lack of clues as to what exactly the film was about, including the absence of a title, immediately ignited curiosity on the Internet. Those intrigued by the film became detectives, analyzing the teaser frame by frame, searching for anything that might reveal the specifics of the film.
The only concrete information to be obtained from the teaser was that the film would be set in New York City, star some sort of catastrophic monster on a rampage that involved decapitating the Statue of Liberty, be shot with a handheld camera to simulate amateur footage caught by someone in the midst of this apocalyptic mess, and be released on January 18th, 2008.
Since then, new information has become available to help solve this mystery, including viral marketing websites, film stills, and a full-length trailer.
However, it was a comment by a man named Rick, in response to a post at FirsShowing.net describing the new trailer, that synthesized these new clues and made what I believe to be an accurate prediction that Cloverfield will be a retelling of The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.
Here’s the evidence.
Trailer released for Wall-E, Pixar’s project for 2008
Wow, this was unexpected! I don’t know why I’m always surprised when Pixar has a trailer ready for their upcoming project before their current one, in this case Ratatouille, is even released. However, they always do, usually a teaser, and this is year is no different.
Former head of MPAA, Jack Valenti, dies at 85
The man who was hired by the Motion Picture Association of America in 1966 to “prepare the public for the news of a new code revision” to the conservative, Catholic Production Code that regulated screen content for more than 30 years, far past its expiration date, and who successfully helped develop the ratings system, G-M-R-X, on which today’s ratings system is still based, passed away today at the age of 85.
Resigning in 2004, Valenti served as head of the MPAA for an unprecedented 40 years. It truly is amazing that anyone could last four decades as head of the association that serves the film industry — the industry that puts out what is perhaps the most controversial mass-mediated product ever to exist. His predecessors, William Hays, Eric Johnston, and Ralph Hetzel, managed 23 years, 18 years, and 3 years respectively, and while these numbers pale in comparison to the 40 years Valenti spent lobbying for the movie industry, one must also take into consideration the fact that Hays, for example, saw the industry through the inception of regional censorship boards in the 1920s, the creation of the Production Code in 1930, the enforcement of the Code in 1934, the Great Depression, World War II, and, through it all, endured the constant pressures of special interest groups threatening the industry with federal regulation of its product.
Still, the 40 years that Jack Valenti spent in the MPAA were no skip in the park either. With his assistance, the film industry embraced the ratings system, marking the most significant change in the regulation of film since the adoption of the Production Code in 1930. By creating the ratings system, Valenti found a way for the industry to maintain what had been most important to it from the start: voluntary self-regulation, rather than regulation at the federal level that was out of its control. In addition, as with his predecessors, Valenti helped to protect the creative expression of filmmakers, even in the face of constant accusations that motion pictures are to blame for all things negative in the world, from the popularity of cigarettes to gun violence and school shootings.
Coincidentally, Valenti passed away on the same day that I took my final exam in a course I took this semester on the censorship of Hollywood films. In fact, just a few hours ago, I completed the essay portion of the exam with a discussion of what led to the demise of the Production Code, as well as how and why the ratings system was embraced as its replacement. Of course, more than once, my pencil scrawled the name “Jack Valenti.”
Here’s to you, Jack.
The fall of the sci-fi genre in film
Kristin Thompson, of the Bordwell-Thompson duo that studies and writes on various topics related to the art of film, recently wrote an interesting article, titled “Swords vs. lightsabers”, regarding the recent fall of the science fiction genre in film and its replacement by that of fantasy. Audiences have apparently become so turned off by science fiction that producers, directors, and Hollywood studio executives persistently avoid labeling their films as sci-fi, either explicitly denying their film’s relation to the genre, or using terms like “post-apocalyptic” instead.
International trailer for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix finally released!
“This year, tyranny will rise and the rebellion will begin.”
This movie looks amazing! I would pay a very hefty sum of money to be able to see it tomorrow. It appears that the film stays true to the progressively darker tones of the series, capturing the fifth book’s notably more mature themes in both content and style. I am looking particularly forward to Helena Bonham Carter’s portrayal of Bellatrix Lestrange, seen in the trailer at 1:59 (time elapsed, not time remaining). The last 20 seconds of the trailer literally give me chills.
Harry Potter fans rejoice — the trailer is here!