Immersed in Blu-ray/DVD


The Great Escape, Richard III, Badlands, Sansho the Bailiff, and the original Fast and Furious are the latest home entertainment releases I've enjoyed. The Great Escape (Fox/MGM) This 50th anniversary Blu-ray release of the World War II classic may not be

VFX Retrofitting Star Trek Into Darkness


Like Skyfall, Star Trek Into Darkness is a hybrid of the old and the new in completing its rite of passage reboot. Except that J.J. Abrams has the advantage of time travel, which he introduced in the first movie, for creating a parallel universe that allows him to

The Academy Tackles Storytelling in the Digital Age


Tech and storytelling converged during a fascinating series of discussions at the Academy on May 15 about Zero Dark Thirty, Argo, and Star Trek Into Darkness, hosted by screenwriter John August. After showing a funny collage of clips about ditching cell phones and

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Books

Trailering The Congress

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Bill Desowitz in Animation, Books, Tech, Trailers, VFX, Virtual Production | Leave a comment

Watch the international trailer for The Congress, in which Ari Folman (Waltz with Bashir) continues his trippy experiment with live-action and animation. Read more

Catherine Martin Talks Designing Gatsby in 3-D

Posted on May 11, 2013 by Bill Desowitz in 3-D, Below the Line, Books, Movies, previs, Production Design, Tech, Trailers, VFX, Virtual Production | Leave a comment

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Zoic Provides VFX for Midnight’s Children

Posted on May 4, 2013 by Bill Desowitz in Books, Movies, Production Design, Tech, Trailers, VFX | Leave a comment

Zoic Studios entered the dizzying world of Delhi’s slums during the end of British colonial rule for Midnight’s Children, adapted from Salman Rushdie’s acclaimed novel by director Deepa Mehta (opening May 3 in L.A. and select cities and June 26 in NYC through Paladin/108 Media). Read more

Jerry Beck Launches Animation Scoop

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Bill Desowitz in 3-D, Animation, Blu-ray, Books, performance capture, Shorts, stop-motion, Tech, Videogames | Leave a comment

Animation historian Jerry Beck (formerly co-owner of Cartoon Brew) has launched Animation Scoop, which will be part of the Indiewire blog network, where I will serve as contributing editor, writing about animated features with interviews and behind the scenes pieces. Read more

Remembering Ebert

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Bill Desowitz in Animation, Books, Movies | Leave a comment

Roger Ebert’s passing got to me more than I thought, probably because I took him for granted. I always enjoyed his weekly jousting with Gene Siskel, but never took him seriously enough until I heard him speak eloquently about Psycho at Telluride in ’84 during a Janet Leigh tribute. Then I realized why he was a Pulitzer Prize-winning critic: TV was just the appetizer and his reviews were the main course (Siskel made snap judgments purely on emotion while Ebert had a more open-minded intellect that was still raring to go after the balcony closed). Still, he was adept at all media and his enthusiasm was infectious; and it wasn’t surprising that he embraced the internet and social media with his passionate discourse. Read more

Trailering New Gatsby

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Bill Desowitz in 3-D, Below the Line, Books, Movies, Music, Tech, Trailers, VFX, Virtual Production | Leave a comment

The latest trailer for Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby (May 10) makes it look like a Jazz Age Romeo + Juliet, with the hot sounds of Beyonce, Andre 3000, Lana Del Ray, and Florence + The Machine with lots of help from rapper and exec producer Jay-Z.

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Who Should Direct Bond 24?

Posted on March 7, 2013 by Bill Desowitz in Books, James Bond, Movies | Leave a comment

With yesterday’s revelation on Empire that Sam Mendes will not return for Bond 24 (too much already on his plate and ultimately he got Bond creatively out of his system), who should replace him? I explore a few options. Read more

Immersed in Blu-ray: Schindler’s List

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Bill Desowitz in Blu-ray, Books, Clips, Movies, Oscar, Tech | Leave a comment

Hard to believe it’s been 20 years since Steven Spielberg came of age with his Oscar-winning Schindler’s List. Universal releases the Blu-ray this week and the black and white image mastered from the original negative looks crisp and luminous. Read more

Trailering More Iron Man 3

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Bill Desowitz in 3-D, Animation, Below the Line, Books, Movies, previs, Tech, Trailers, VFX, Virtual Production | Leave a comment

In the third trailer for Iron Man 3 (May 3), Tony Stark has definitely met his match when The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) unleashes unparalleled terror and the motivation is very personal. Read more

Cracking the Plot of Tomorrowland

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Bill Desowitz in Books, Movies, Tech, VFX | Leave a comment

Drew Mcweeny at HitFix has come across “an official description” of Brad Bird’s super-secret Tomorrowland (Dec. 19, 2014) starring George Clooney and Hugh Laurie.  If accurate, then the Aug. 1928 issue of Amazing Stories inside the mysterious box of Disney goodies holds an important clue in unraveling the plot of the trippy sci-fi feature that Bird is working on with Damon Lindelof. Read more

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