movies

Article

One Does Not Simply Unicycle into Mordor

For your daily dose of geekiness, I bring you The Unipiper (yes, a unicycling bagpiper), practicing his unique brand of performance art in anticipation of the upcoming movie adaptation of The Hobbit. Behold: I have actually met the mysterious Unipiper (Portland is like the Shire, in that we're all friendly weirdos, and of course we live in mossy underground burrows). So I asked him to clarify exactly which tunes he's piping here. "The first part is from 'Concerning Hobbits' followed by the... READ ON

Article

Director Christopher Nolan Discusses Making His First Film, Following

Last night, director Christopher Nolan visited the IFC Center in New York City to screen his own restored print of his first film, Following. After showing the film (as well as one of his early shorts, Doodlebug), Nolan and incoming Village Voice film critic Scott Foundas discussed the film’s restoration, the challenges behind making Following—and how it compares to making big budget films like Inception and the Batman trilogy. Shot in London over the course of a year with practically no... READ ON

List

Forget Wayne's World 3: 8 Movie Sequels Actually on Track for 2015-16

This week reports surfaced online that we'd be getting another installment of Wayne's World. Sadly, it was just a rumor. But it got us thinking of other sequels that are definitely coming down the line. 1. Kung Fu Panda 3... READ ON

Article

The Back to the Future DeLorean Is Being Restored

Marty McFly's time traveling ride is getting a restoration. To get the DeLorean from the Back to the Future films back into shape, a team completely disassembled the car and is rebuilding it from the ground up. The biggest challenge, according to Back to the Future co-writer and co-creator Bob Gale (who once explained to us how Doc and Marty became friends), is finding all of the pieces. "Great care is being taken to ensure that every bulb, bolt, and wire is 100 percent screen accurate," Gale says in a... READ ON

Article

The Red Balloon

In 1956, French filmmaker Albert Lamorisse created The Red Balloon, a fantastical short film in which a boy (played by Lamorisse's son Pascal) discovers a sentient red balloon. The balloon follows the boy through his daily life, and (no spoilers!) other kids become jealous, eventually causing other balloons to get involved. I saw this Technicolor film in school as a child, and it enthralled me, particularly the final shots -- which you'll recognize as a likely inspiration for scenes in the Pixar movie... READ ON

Article

11 Movie Chess Scenes Where The Board Is Set Up Wrong

Once you start to look for them, you see chessboards everywhere. In commercials, print ads, TV shows, and movies, chess is a go-to symbol for class, intelligence and the drama of strategic one-upmanship. However, very often – by some estimates almost 50% of the time – the board is set up wrong. For whoever is in charge of these things, here's a tip: from the perspective of the player, the bottom left corner square should be black. The bottom right corner square should be white. Here are 11 movies where... READ ON

Big Question

Is It Legal To Kill A Zombie?

Like the Shaun of the Dead slogan says, "aim for the head." But before you start readying your zombie apocalypse weapon of choice, you'd better find out if you're going to get in trouble for taking out the infected. According to San Diego criminal lawyer Peter M. Liss, zombie killing won't result in murder charges; after all, while zombies were once people, they aren't technically living anymore. There are other issues you need to consider,... READ ON

Article

Making Dinosaur Sounds for Jurassic Park

How do you make a dinosaur roar, when we have no idea what dinosaurs actually sounded like? The sound designers for Jurassic Park recorded living animals and combined them. In this short video, we learn a little about field recording, sampling, and the art of making an extinct dinosaur roar. Keep an eye out for the super-sweet 90s computer plus Synclavier in the audio studio. According to this very blog in 2006: "T-Rex’s roar was a remix of sounds from a crocodile, a lion, a tiger and a baby... READ ON

List

17 Famous Actors in Tiny Background Parts

Before they were headlining movies and TV shows, these celebs were just like everyone else trying to make it in Hollywood: thrilled to call home to report that the “Flight Attendant #3” role was totally in the bag. Check out a few of today’s big names back when they were cast as no-names. 1. Jason Segel as “Watermelon Guy” in Can’t Hardly Wait 2. Lucy Liu as waitress on Beverly Hills 90210 3. Alexis Bledel as an unnamed student in Rushmore 4. Michelle Williams as Brad’s... READ ON