A few years ago, in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the death of influential film critic Pauline Kael, I wrote the following:
“I think (Kael) did a lot to expose the truth… that directors, writers and actors who often work awfully close to the surface may still have subterranean levels of achievement or purpose or commentary that they themselves may be least qualified to articulate. It’s what’s behind her disdain for Antonioni’s pontificating at the Cannes film festival; it’s what behind the high percentage of uselessness of proliferating DVD commentaries in which we get to hear every dull anecdote, redundant explication of plot development and any other inanity that strikes the director of the latest Jennifer Aniston rom-com to blurt out breathlessly; and it is what’s behind a director like Eli Roth, who tailors the subtext of something like Hostel Part II almost as...
“I think (Kael) did a lot to expose the truth… that directors, writers and actors who often work awfully close to the surface may still have subterranean levels of achievement or purpose or commentary that they themselves may be least qualified to articulate. It’s what’s behind her disdain for Antonioni’s pontificating at the Cannes film festival; it’s what behind the high percentage of uselessness of proliferating DVD commentaries in which we get to hear every dull anecdote, redundant explication of plot development and any other inanity that strikes the director of the latest Jennifer Aniston rom-com to blurt out breathlessly; and it is what’s behind a director like Eli Roth, who tailors the subtext of something like Hostel Part II almost as...
- 4/2/2017
- by Dennis Cozzalio
- Trailers from Hell
Move over Mulder and Scully, former West Midlands detective John Hanson and his partner Dawn Holloway are the latest to believe the truth is out there.
The pair, from Alvechurch, Worcestershire, have collected information on UFO sightings across the region, and the rest of the UK, over the past 60 years.
Their detailed research is catalogued in a series of books called Haunted Skies: The History of British UFOs.
John's interest began when his son, also a police officer, saw a huge flying saucer over Birmingham while investigating 999 calls about strange phenomena in the sky. John himself had a UFO experience in 1996.
Among the sightings he and Dawn have researched is the so-called Dudley Dorito, a giant black triangular object seen over the West Midlands town of Dudley several times since 2007.
For the full article on the Birmingham Mail website, click here.
The pair, from Alvechurch, Worcestershire, have collected information on UFO sightings across the region, and the rest of the UK, over the past 60 years.
Their detailed research is catalogued in a series of books called Haunted Skies: The History of British UFOs.
John's interest began when his son, also a police officer, saw a huge flying saucer over Birmingham while investigating 999 calls about strange phenomena in the sky. John himself had a UFO experience in 1996.
Among the sightings he and Dawn have researched is the so-called Dudley Dorito, a giant black triangular object seen over the West Midlands town of Dudley several times since 2007.
For the full article on the Birmingham Mail website, click here.
- 7/5/2012
- by David Bentley
- The Geek Files
"The Adventures of Tintin" dominated the nominations but it was "Rango" that received the most trophies at the 10th Visual Effects Society (Ves) awards. Stan Lee received the the Lifetime Achievement Award and visual effects pioneer Douglas Trumbull received the George Melies Award. Patton Oswalt hosted the event held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Antonion Banderas, Lou Ferrigno, director Chris Miller, Marc Webb, and Jennifer Yuh Nelson presented awards. But the surprise appearance by Martin Scorsese was the highlight of the evening.
Here's the full list of winners (highlighted) and nominees of the 10th Annual Ves Awards, to visit our Awards Avenue coverage of other award-giving bodies, winners and nominees, click here:
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Feature Motion Picture
Captain America: The First Avenger
Charlie Noble
Mark Soper
Christopher Townsend
Edson Williams
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Tim Burke
Emma Norton
John Richardson
David Vickery...
Here's the full list of winners (highlighted) and nominees of the 10th Annual Ves Awards, to visit our Awards Avenue coverage of other award-giving bodies, winners and nominees, click here:
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Feature Motion Picture
Captain America: The First Avenger
Charlie Noble
Mark Soper
Christopher Townsend
Edson Williams
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Tim Burke
Emma Norton
John Richardson
David Vickery...
- 2/9/2012
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
Paramount had a big night at the Visual Effects Society awards. We knew that Hugo was bound to do well given that the Ves Statue is already Papa Georges friendly (pictured left). But they won in other categories too thanks to Rango and Transformers. Will all three of those movies take home prizes at the Oscars? Transformers has the biggest hurdle there in all three of its categories but especially in visual effects since its battling Rise of the Planet of the Apes. "Caesar" is probably too agile to fall prey to "The Driller"
Visual Effects Rise of the Planet of the Apes: Dan Lemmon, Joe Letteri, Cyndi Ochs, Kurt Williams
Supporting Visual Effects Hugo: Ben Grossmann, Alex Henning, Rob Legato, Karen Murphy
Visual Effects in an Animated Feature Rango: Tim Alexander, Hal Hickel, Jacqui Lopez, Katie Lynch
Animated Character in a Live Action Feature "Caesar" Rise of the Planet of the Apes...
Visual Effects Rise of the Planet of the Apes: Dan Lemmon, Joe Letteri, Cyndi Ochs, Kurt Williams
Supporting Visual Effects Hugo: Ben Grossmann, Alex Henning, Rob Legato, Karen Murphy
Visual Effects in an Animated Feature Rango: Tim Alexander, Hal Hickel, Jacqui Lopez, Katie Lynch
Animated Character in a Live Action Feature "Caesar" Rise of the Planet of the Apes...
- 2/9/2012
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Getty Comic book writer Stan Lee on November 16, 2011 in Hollywood, California.
There was less nerd-oriented humor than one might have expected at the Beverly Hilton Tuesday night where the best of Hollywood’s below-the-line creative types assembled for the Visual Effects Society’s 10th annual awards ceremony. Host Patton Oswalt even managed to avoid a “basement-dwelling geek” joke (although he called the evening their “night out of solitary confinement”) as he shepherded attendees through a long but surprisingly engaging ceremony...
There was less nerd-oriented humor than one might have expected at the Beverly Hilton Tuesday night where the best of Hollywood’s below-the-line creative types assembled for the Visual Effects Society’s 10th annual awards ceremony. Host Patton Oswalt even managed to avoid a “basement-dwelling geek” joke (although he called the evening their “night out of solitary confinement”) as he shepherded attendees through a long but surprisingly engaging ceremony...
- 2/8/2012
- by Todd Gilchrist
- Speakeasy/Wall Street Journal
Rango, the animated film starring Johnny Depp as a fibbing lizard charged with saving a wild West town, won four trophies at the 10th annual Visual Effects Society Awards last night in Beverly Hills. The CG adventure won for Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature Motion Picture, Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture, Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature Motion Picture, and Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in an Animated Feature Motion Picture.
Hugo, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Transformers: Dark of the Moon all won two awards in the movies categories, while Boardwalk Empire...
Hugo, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Transformers: Dark of the Moon all won two awards in the movies categories, while Boardwalk Empire...
- 2/8/2012
- by Jeff Labrecque
- EW - Inside Movies
The 10th annual Visual Effects Society Awards were handed out last night, with Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Hugo and Rango picking up the top awards in their respective feature categories. Unlike the broad award category at the Oscars, I always like how in-depth they are here. Below you will find awards for specific CG models, environments, compositing and more.
The biggest oversight comes with The Tree of Life, a film I thought blew away anything I’d seen all year in terms of cohesive, jaw-dropping effects. They did give Douglas Trumbull the Georges Méliès award, but Terrence Malick‘s film certainly deserved more. Nonetheless, if you are looking for the best in blockbusters, it is a good round-up. Check out all the winners below via THR.
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Feature Motion Picture
Rise of the Planet of the Apes: Dan Lemmon, Joe Letteri,...
The biggest oversight comes with The Tree of Life, a film I thought blew away anything I’d seen all year in terms of cohesive, jaw-dropping effects. They did give Douglas Trumbull the Georges Méliès award, but Terrence Malick‘s film certainly deserved more. Nonetheless, if you are looking for the best in blockbusters, it is a good round-up. Check out all the winners below via THR.
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Feature Motion Picture
Rise of the Planet of the Apes: Dan Lemmon, Joe Letteri,...
- 2/8/2012
- by [email protected] (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
By Sean O’Connell
hollywoodnews.com: The Ves announced the winners of the 10th Annual Ves Awards Tuesday evening at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.
Gore Verbinski’s Oscar-nominated “Rango” was the night’s biggest winner, collecting four awards including Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature Motion Picture, Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture, Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature Motion Picture, and Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in an Animated Feature Motion Picture.
“Hugo,” “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” and “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” all took home two awards in the Feature Motion Picture categories. The annual event recognizes outstanding visual effects artistry in 23 categories of film, animation, television, commercials, special venues and video games.
The complete list of winners of the 10th Annual Ves Awards is as follows:
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Feature Motion Picture
Rise of the Planet of the Apes...
hollywoodnews.com: The Ves announced the winners of the 10th Annual Ves Awards Tuesday evening at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.
Gore Verbinski’s Oscar-nominated “Rango” was the night’s biggest winner, collecting four awards including Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature Motion Picture, Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture, Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature Motion Picture, and Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in an Animated Feature Motion Picture.
“Hugo,” “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” and “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” all took home two awards in the Feature Motion Picture categories. The annual event recognizes outstanding visual effects artistry in 23 categories of film, animation, television, commercials, special venues and video games.
The complete list of winners of the 10th Annual Ves Awards is as follows:
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Feature Motion Picture
Rise of the Planet of the Apes...
- 2/8/2012
- by Sean O'Connell
- Hollywoodnews.com
The Visual Effects Society (Ves) has weighed in with their 2012 awards and Paramount cleaned house beginning with their animated feature Rango which took home four awards followed by Hugo and Transformers: Dark of the Moon with two each. 20th Century Fox and their Oscar-frontrunner for the Visual Effects Award, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, also took home two. This is a nice bit of notoriety for Rango, which is largely considered the best seen animated movie from 2011, though not many have seen fellow animated Oscar nominees A Cat in Paris and Chico & Rita, the latter of which I will actually be seeing this Friday. Rango, however, was not nominated for Best Visual Effects at the Oscars while the other three films I mentioned above are along with fellow nominees Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 and Real Steel. Those two, however, can probably consider themselves on...
- 2/8/2012
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
The visual effects that we are seeing in movies these days are absolutely mind blowing. At this point it doesn't seem like there's any excuse for a film to have bad visual effects unless the people hired lack talent, or the studio is keeping the cash in their pockets.
There's a lot of good nomination this year such as Captain America, Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean 4, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Out of all of these I think that Planet of the Apes might take home the top prize, those apes were incredibly freaky looking. Weta did an amazing job with this movie, and out of all the other nominations this was the movie I was most impressed by. What are your thoughts? What movie did you think have the best visual effect in 2011?
Here's the full press release with all of the nominations:
Los Angeles,...
There's a lot of good nomination this year such as Captain America, Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean 4, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Out of all of these I think that Planet of the Apes might take home the top prize, those apes were incredibly freaky looking. Weta did an amazing job with this movie, and out of all the other nominations this was the movie I was most impressed by. What are your thoughts? What movie did you think have the best visual effect in 2011?
Here's the full press release with all of the nominations:
Los Angeles,...
- 1/9/2012
- by Venkman
- GeekTyrant
By Sean O’Connell
hollywoodnews.com: Over the weekend, the Visual Effects Society announced the nominees for its 10th Annual Ves Awards ceremony, recognizing summer tentpoles (“Harry Potter,” “Captain America”) and surprise hits (“Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” “Hugo”) for their outstanding visual effects artistry in 23 categories of film, animation, television, commercials, special venues and video games.
“The standard of the creative work that is being considered this year is unbelievably high across all categories,” said Jeffrey A. Okun, Chair of the Visual Effects Society. “The judges faced a huge challenge because all of the work was so far above the norm. We’re honored to have the opportunity to focus the spotlight on the outstanding work that has contributed to some of the highest grossing films and broadcast projects of all time.”
As previously announced, Stan Lee will be honored with the Ves 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award and...
hollywoodnews.com: Over the weekend, the Visual Effects Society announced the nominees for its 10th Annual Ves Awards ceremony, recognizing summer tentpoles (“Harry Potter,” “Captain America”) and surprise hits (“Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” “Hugo”) for their outstanding visual effects artistry in 23 categories of film, animation, television, commercials, special venues and video games.
“The standard of the creative work that is being considered this year is unbelievably high across all categories,” said Jeffrey A. Okun, Chair of the Visual Effects Society. “The judges faced a huge challenge because all of the work was so far above the norm. We’re honored to have the opportunity to focus the spotlight on the outstanding work that has contributed to some of the highest grossing films and broadcast projects of all time.”
As previously announced, Stan Lee will be honored with the Ves 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award and...
- 1/9/2012
- by Sean O'Connell
- Hollywoodnews.com
Here's your daily dose of an indie film in progress; at the end of the week, you'll have the chance to vote for your favorite. In the meantime: Is this a movie you’d want to see? Tell us in the comments. Tweetable Logline: 2 ex-best friends reunite to find $500,000 of mob money buried on a golf course in Wisconsin. A comedy about do-overs. Elevator Pitch: Mulligan tells the story of John Hanson (Jonathan Eliot), a frustrated cartoonist who reluctantly teams up with his ex-best friend Karl (Dean Chekvala) to find $500,000 buried on an abandoned golf course in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin. Along the way they cross paths with a dangerous local cop (Vincent Teninty), two beautiful femme fatale camp counselors (Amy Sloan and Kaitlin Doubleday) and some mobsters (Christian Stolte and Paul Dichter), all of whom are after the cash. A buddy comedy/road trip movie along the lines of Bottle Rocket.
- 1/5/2012
- Indiewire
With 2010 only a week over, it already feels like best-of and top-ten lists have been pouring in for months, and we’re already tired of them: the ranking, the exclusions (and inclusions), the rules and the qualifiers. Some people got to see films at festivals, others only catch movies on video; and the ability for us, or any publication, to come up with a system to fairly determine who saw what when and what they thought was the best seems an impossible feat. That doesn’t stop most people from doing it, but we liked the fantasy double features we did last year and for our 3rd Writers Poll we thought we'd do it again.
I asked our contributors to pick a single new film they saw in 2010—in theaters or at a festival—and creatively pair it with an old film they saw in 2010 to create a unique double feature.
I asked our contributors to pick a single new film they saw in 2010—in theaters or at a festival—and creatively pair it with an old film they saw in 2010 to create a unique double feature.
- 1/10/2011
- MUBI
Revolver Entertainment have announced the UK DVD release of fantasy epic Dragon Storm on May 24th 2010.
Set in a fantasy medieval realm two Kings are feuding. King Fastrad is continually plotting to invade the neighboring kingdom of his nemesis, the noble King Wednesbury. It is not until King Fastrads castle is attacked by dragons that he must swallow his pride and beg King Wednesbury to come to his aid. ?Together they must work together to protect their kingdoms from being ravaged by the deadly dragons, so a team of skilled warriors is assembled to kill the beasts.
Action packed with stunning special effects Dragon Storm is a modern take on the great fantasy films of old, starring John Rhys Davis (Lord of the Rings), John Hanson, Maxwell Caulfield, Tony Amendola and the ever gorgeous Angel Boris. Check out the trailer:
You can pre-order Dragon Storm on DVD now at Amazon.
Set in a fantasy medieval realm two Kings are feuding. King Fastrad is continually plotting to invade the neighboring kingdom of his nemesis, the noble King Wednesbury. It is not until King Fastrads castle is attacked by dragons that he must swallow his pride and beg King Wednesbury to come to his aid. ?Together they must work together to protect their kingdoms from being ravaged by the deadly dragons, so a team of skilled warriors is assembled to kill the beasts.
Action packed with stunning special effects Dragon Storm is a modern take on the great fantasy films of old, starring John Rhys Davis (Lord of the Rings), John Hanson, Maxwell Caulfield, Tony Amendola and the ever gorgeous Angel Boris. Check out the trailer:
You can pre-order Dragon Storm on DVD now at Amazon.
- 5/13/2010
- by Phil
- Nerdly
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