Go Back to the Future With the Live Stream of 3rd Annual Creativity Conference
In Back to the Future Part II, Marty McFly's trip in the DeLorean took him all the way to…October 21st, 2015. If that doesn't make you feel old, we envy you.
Today at the 3rd annual Creativity Conference, held at The Newseum in Washington. D.C., Microsoft researcher Sidhant Gupta and a former studio technology executive and indie filmmaker Howard Lukk will explore the zany, futuristic world of 2015 that Marty McFly encountered, one that revealed all sorts of surprising innovations —...
From Spader to Scarlett: 5 Great Voice Performances in Sci-Fi Films
So we saw Avengers: Age of Ultron yesterday and in an effort not to disclose any spoilers, we’ll just say this; James Spader absolutely nails his voice work as the eponymous villain. Spader’s articulate, sonorous baritone is put to perfect use, and the sound design work done to enhance his voice and give it a digital sheen was outstanding. His Ultron is a witty, wired (literally), emotional artificial intelligence, which puts him in league with a few other classic Sci-Fi vocal performances,...
Bow Down Humans! Could an Evil AI Like Ultron Become Our Master?
What we create may someday destroy us. It’s been a pervasive fear in human consciousness since well before the dawn of film, appearing in Ovid’s narrative of Pygmalion and the late 16th Century legend of the Golem of Prague, a creature created to protect the Jewish ghetto who – in some versions of tale – eventually went on a murderous rampage.
Avengers: Age of Ultron is the latest in a long list of movies built around a similar idea: man builds smart thing,...
Green Screen: Celebrating Earth Day
According to the New York Times, a billion people will take action to protect the planet today in honor of the 45th annual Earth Day, which attracted about 20 million people worldwide when the movement began in 1970. This includes hikers in China cleaning up part of the Great Wall, tree-planting projects in Cameroon and Uganda, and a ceremony in Peru to start up a new wind turbine to help bring renewable energy to a rural community...
The Man behind the Machines – Ted Moser, Picture Car Coordinator
Ted Moser has been one of the most knowledgeable picture car coordinators in the film business for decades. His resume includes movies that have breathtaking chases and car stunts, including Munich, Argo, The Town, Rush Hour 3 and 2 Fast 2 Furious. He’s also the founder and owner of Picture Car Warehouse, which he created after he saw the need for a picture car service that could solve the complex, time-sensitive problems major film productions often have when it comes to all things automotive...
From Home Builder to World Builder, Carpenter Jason Allard’s Life in the Movies
One of the most important and most highly skilled crew jobs in Hollywood is that of the carpenter, those men and women who create the scenery and props that plunge us into the physical world of the film. “It’s construction with a twist,” says Jason Allard, a man who knows how to turn a description in a script into the reality we see on screen. Allard is a virtuoso – a construction gang boss, foreman, and prop maker,...
CinemaCon 2015: Warner Bros.’ Mad Summer Slate
Today at CinemaCon, Warner Bros. Pictures is presenting an exclusive highlight reel of their upcoming summer slate. While technically starting in spring, the studio’s first big release will be Mad Max: Fury Road, which bows on May 15. We’ve already taken a look at the latest trailer from Fury Road, which looks relentlessly entertaining and beautifully shot.
On May 29, San Andreas, starring Dwayne Johnson as a search and rescue helicopter pilot looking to save his daughter after a magnitude 9 earthquake levels California...
Set Designer Ricardo Guillermo on Creating Meth Labs for Breaking Bad and More
Ricardo Guillermo helped create some of the most iconic sets in recent television history as a set designer on Breaking Bad. Guillermo used his considerable skills as a set designer to help fashion Walter White’s various meth labs, Saul Goodman’s ridiculous/awesome office, Walter, Skylar and Walt Jr.'s house and many other sets on that groundbreaking show.
Guillermo is no stranger to the big screen, either, having worked on The Book of Eli, The Lone Ranger,...
From Mockingjay to Boardwalk Empire, Seamstress Lara A. Greene Has Dressed the Best
I Make Movies – Seamstress from WhereToWatch on Vimeo.
If clothes make the man or woman, than costumes often go a long way towards making a movie, particularly in historical dramas. Costumes are a major part of setting the tone of a film or a television show; they tell us so much, even before an actor utters his or her first word. We sat down with seamstress Lara A...
Which Dinosaur Would You Fear The Most in New Jurassic World Trailer?
First of all, who in their right mind would get into one of those transparent orbs and go rolling off into a huge herd of dinosaurs? Tourists, will they ever learn? Anyway, this new Jurassic World trailer gives you a bevy of dinosaurs to fear, and the morbid question that popped into our heads was; which way you rather go if you had to be eaten by a dinosaur at this completely insane theme park?
Would you care to be swallowed more or less whole by the genetically modified,...
Alex Garland on Building Ex Machina‘s Perfect Woman
Novelist-turned-screenwriter Alex Garland knows how to create strong characters that are trapped in inhospitable and oftentimes dangerous situations.
In 28 Days Later (2002), his characters were faced with the outbreak of a disease that was turning people into zombies. In Sunshine (2007), his characters were sent on a dangerous space mission to prevent the destruction of the human race. In the remake Dredd (2012), his main character was trapped in a criminal’s lair and forced to fight through hundreds of thugs eager to end his life...
7 Questions After Watching the New Star Wars Trailer
Oh man, so that happened. Once the trailer was released at the Star Wars Celebration yesterday, a not insignificant portion of the global population went a little bit nuts. It appears what our country has needed, a way to achieve a sort of psychic release, was by giving people what they’ve always wanted—Chewie and Han Solo. Honestly, wow. For all the great little easter eggs in that trailer for Star Wars geeks, and even casual fans alike (you have to hand it to George Lucas and his production design team from the very jump—even all the years later,...
Why NBA Star Serge Ibaka is the Son of the Congo
He would wake up at four in the morning to go running through the streets of Congo. He'd play as much basketball as he could, in old sneakers or barefoot, if need be. When his mom died and his dad was thrown in prison, he was kicked out of his uncle's house and lived on the streets, often sleeping in a parking lot. But Serge Ibaka never wavered in his commitment to make basketball his life. And when he did, becoming a star forward for the Oklahoma City Thunder,...
The Next James Bond? Paul Blart Returns, Takes Vegas
Remember Paul Blart? The hapless mall cop who Segwayed into our hearts? Well, he’s back. This time, he’s heading to Vegas to take down a new crew of bad guys.
We spoke to Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 director Andy Fickman (She’s The Man, Parental Guidance) about putting his spin on the sequel and how filmmaking is like sport.
It’s been six years since the original Paul Blart Mall Cop,...
Four Films to Make Tax Day a Little Less Taxing
Nobody likes taxes (although as John Oliver recently reminded us, blaming the IRS is understandable but actually sort of ridiculous), but here are four films on the subject to celebrate getting the task done! To find out where to watch these four go to: http://wheretowatch.com
The Blues Brothers (1980)
Expanding on their Saturday Night Live characters, John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd star as Jake and Elwood Blues,...
The Mindy Project’s Chris Messina Moves Behind the Camera with Alex of Venice
We had a both delightful and thought provoking conversation with busy actor Chris Messina about his feature film directorial debut – Alex of Venice. Having premiered at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival, this heartwarming and emotionally wrenching story of a woman and her family in quiet crisis is set to open on April 17th.
While Messina is perhaps best known as Dan Castellano in The Mindy Project, his expansive resume includes meaty television dramas like ...
James Franco, Jonah Hill Matched up for Murder? Director Rupert Goold Explains
True Story is just that: the real-life story of a journalist who meets with a criminal to understand his crime and write a book about the experience.
In one corner is Michael Finkel, a former star journalist for The New York Times who gets fired after stretching the truth in a magazine cover story. And across the table is Christian Longo, an Oregon man accused of murdering his wife and two children and then going on the run in Mexico...
Abraham Lincoln in Film, on the 150th Anniversary of his Assassination
Today, April 14th, marks the 150th anniversary of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln while attending a performance of ‘The American Cousin’ at Ford’s Theater in Washington, DC. The 16th President passed the following day, leaving a shocked, grieving nation to heal the wounds of the Civil War without its leader.
Lincoln’s epic story has been manna for filmmakers from the inception of the medium. From D.W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation (1915) to Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln (2012) to the television movie Killing Lincoln starring Tom Hanks in 2013,...
Writer/Director Vindu Vinod Chopra on Broken Horses
The bonds of brotherhood are explored and testing in Broken Horses, the gritty thriller from writer-producer-director Vindu Vinod Chopra (Parinda, 1942: A Love Story.). The story follows a young music prodigy, Jacob Heckum, (Anton Yelchin) who returns to his desolate hometown only to discover that his brother, Buddy (Chris Marquette), has been persuaded by a local drug gang to join their ranks. As they grapple with the memories of their father’s murder when they were children,...
Game of Thrones Music Editor David Klotz Makes Melody of Mayhem
On the surface, it may seem like Game of Thrones, Glee and American Horror Story have little in common. The first is a mythological drama about feuding families lusting for power. The second is a musical comedy focused on the daily activities of a high school singing group, and the third is an anthological horror series.
One asset they do all have in common though is David Klotz, a two-time Emmy-winning music editor whose indelible influence has been featured on all three programs...
