Archive for May 2010
You are browsing the archives of 2010 May.
Doctor Who: Time of the Angels/Flesh and Stone
The Eleventh Doctor Is In Good Hands
I’ve been watching the fifth season of the BBC’s revived DOCTOR WHO series on BBC America with great interest. New producer Steven Moffat is branching off from the often inconsistent, but memorable tenure of Russell T Davies, who brought the series back from limbo. It’s early days yet, [...]
Metropolis Restored: The Cinefantastique Podcast, 1:14
In Volume 1, Episode 14 of the Cinefantastique Horror, Fantasy & Science Fiction Podcast, Dan Persons, Lawrence French, and Steve Biodrowski visit the futuristic city of METROPOLIS, the 1927 science fiction classic from director Fritz Lang. The subject of a recent restoration that added over twenty minutes of footage, the film is ripe for reappraisal. [...]
The Making of Metropolis: Creating the Female Robot
In this article, taken from the book Fritz Lang (Oxford University Press, 1977) by Lotte Eisner, the sculptor Walter Schultze-Mittendorf reveals how he created the iconic “false Maria” robot for Metropolis.
The Birth of the female robot in METROPOLIS
By Walter Schultze-Mittendorf
Problems of form? No! Expressionism lived. Technological form had been discovered as motif for painting [...]
The Making of Metropolis: Actress Brigitte Helm
Brigitte Helm as Maria
Fritz Lang discovered the 17-year old actress Brigitte Helm for the double-role of Maria and her robot counterpart in METROPOLIS and she gives a remarkable performance in the film, convincingly portraying both angel and whore . In this 1927 article she discussed the rewards and difficulties of working with Fritz Lang, a [...]
The Making of Metropolis: Special Effects by Gunther Rittau
In this 1927 article written by cinematographer Gunther Rittau, he discusses the many groundbreaking special effects that were devised for the film. Metropolis took an astounding 310 days to shoot in 1926, requiring the services of hundreds of technicians, and Gunther Rittau shared the camerawork with Karl Freund, who like Lang came to Hollywood where [...]
Director Fritz Lang on the Making of Metropolis
The best film of the year is easily the newly restored version of Fritz Lang’s science-fiction masterpiece, METROPOLIS which features twenty- five minutes of missing footage that hasn’t been seen since the movie had it’s premiere in Berlin, 83 years ago. This new footage restores important subplots and makes it clear just how badly METROPOLIS had been [...]
Worthington will space out as Allan Quatermain
Sam Worthington in Avatar
MTV.com reports that Sam Worthington – who hit big in two science fiction films last year, AVATAR and TERMINATOR SALVATION – will produce and star in QUATERMAIN, a sci-fi updating of H. Rider Haggard’s Victorian adventurer Allan Quatermain, who served as the inspiration for numerous cinematic action heroes (I’m looking at you, [...]
Smallville:Salvation — Review
The Season Finale and A Look Back at Season Nine
SPOILERS ABOUND!
Just saw the season Finale of the CW Network’s SMALLVILLE, ‘SALVATION’. Quite a dramatic ender for this year, with multiple cliffhangers.
To protect readers who haven’t seen it, I’ll start with the official description of the episode–which has some spoilers itself.
“Zod (Callum Blue) unleashes his [...]
Wong set to remake Neighbor Number 13
Hollywood Reporter informs us that James Wong (X-FILES, FINAL DESTINATION) will write and direct a remake of the 2005 Japanese film THE NEIGHBOR NUMBER 13 (Rinjin 13-Go) for Distant Horizon productions. Shooting is scheduled to begin this year, with distribution targeted for the fall of 2011.
NBC Cancels Heroes, Keeps Chuck
According to The Hollywood Reporter, NBC has officially cancelled it’s “real world” superhero series, HEROES.
I’d given up on the show early this season, as it had, in my view, seriously run out of steam. I no longer cared what happened to the characters, as they seemed no more than puppets dancing to the odd and [...]
Tsui Hark’s Detective Dee – trailer
Coming attractions for the latest Fant-Asia effort from Tsui Hark, the man behind such classics of the form as A CHINESE GHOST STORY and the SWORDSMAN trilogy. The film is also known as D-PROJECT and DETECTIVE DEE AND THE MYSTERY OF THE PHANTOM FLAME.
Dario does Dracula in 3D
Alan Jones – one time London correspondent for Cinefantastique – revealed on his Twitter account today that Italian filmmaker Dario Argento is planning to remake DRACULA in 3D. Filming, which will retain the original novel’s period setting, is supposed to start in January.
Little Orphan Annie Ends Run
“Who’s that little chatter box? The one with pretty auburn locks?
Whom do you see? It’s Little Orphan Annie!”
Well, you won’t be seeing her much longer, it seems. After 86 years, the newspaper comic feature will run it’s final Sunday strip on June 13th, 2010, according to Tribune Media Services. (The daily strip is also ending, presumably [...]
