Industrial Light and Magic

Anybody hear of a company by the name of Industrial Light and Magic? Most people havn't. This company was started by george lucas around the late 70's. This company brought about the birth of a new generation of special effects in movies. Industrial light and magic used computers to generate images and textures and all sorts of effects that today we would laugh at, but back in the day it was absolutely breathtaking. Does this logo not remind you of the Lucas Arts video game logo? It should.

This company became extremely popular with film makers as they had the ability to creat what they called "the impossible" and that brought about a new standard for how good special effects needed to be. Star Trek II: The wrath of Khan became quite the buzz when it released its film that contained the first full scene completely created using CGI. Heres a trailer for that movie. Im not a Trek fan by the way, my heart beats in a different galaxy... far far away....

Whats even more awesome is that even though you havnt heard of this company, you actually have, you just know it by a different name. George Lucas sold his wonderful company to just some guy... by the name of Steve Jobs... that guy. You better know who Steve Jobs is. Jobs bought this company, improved it and named it PIXAR. now your starting to recognize this company. Pixars most famous work of art was the very first toy story. This movie became an absolute phenomenon and now is used every year to create animated films they bring in money and viewers galore. Later after Pixar started gaining some heavy popularity Steve sold it to Disney for an astronomical amount of dough. George Lucas has been kicking himself everyday for delling ILM for so cheap. Now Disney continues to use pixar and is responsible for the creation of countless animated films. Just though I'd share that with you. It truely is incredible to see how a company was created by a legend, purchased by a legend, and now owned by an even bigger legend within movie's history. Just to close this up here is a trailer for toy story, watch this and relive your childhood a little.... that is if you were of course born in the 90's like me.

 

Hope you all enjoyed halloween, I know I did. We had a trick-or-treater dressed as a pirate carrying around a live chicken in her arms.... She wanted a parrot since she was a pirate, so a chicken was the best she could do. Just thought I might share that with you. So to cool off your halloween fun-ness lets look at one of our favorite masked heroes! When I saw Batman.... you think of this guy!

Yes that was a trailer from Batman Dark Knight Rises. That was a beastly series now wasn't it? Would you believe it if I told you batman came from..... this.....?

Yes! Oh Yes! It's amazing! When TV started to become more of a common household item TV shows began to increase and flourish, eventually they made this into a show hoping to grab more attention and viewers from some younger fans. The man playing Robin is Burt Ward and Batman himself is the legendary one and only Adam West. For little kids this was awesome, but for adults they feasted upon its purposeful cheesy-ness. This movie/show inspired many more movies years later some good, others.... well we try to forget about them (George Clooney as batman just didn't work) unless of course you really liked and thats cool with me if thats your preference. I believe it's safe for all of us to say that batman has really come a looooong way! With some amazing progress too! Whats even more awesome? Is Batman and in the same production Bruce Lee. This actually happened.

Ohhhh really suspenseful scene huh? That fighting just puts shame to Dark Knight Rises. That small guy in the black kicking the daylights out of Robin was Bruce Lee. Bruce Lee got his start in the show Green Hornet playing as the trusted side-kick Kato. Thus began Bruce Lee's popularity and sparked more international influence in film with China and KungFu movies galore! Ain't that awesome?

Hope you all are enjoying the fall weather kicking in and Halloween approaching ever so quickly. since we are so close to the time, why not take a look at a topic that seems to capture that creepy essence of Halloween that will satisfy that classic cinematic crave you have.

Alfred Hitchcock. I really hope you know who this guy is. You have most likely heard the name in your lifetime. If you do not know who he is, then you do not know that he is one of the most famously known directors of all time. He was one of the first people that truly understood and mastered the art of suspense in movies. he was able to introduce a new level of eerie strange-ness into a movie that even modern day directors have attempted to mimic yet fail miserably. Check out some of his work below.

North by Northwest. This film is one of the top films I know of that has so many plot twists and genius story line. This film was not really a huge creepy type of suspense flick, however this is one of his best known works of art, to not mention this film would be absolutely foolish of me. This film also contains one of the most iconic stars of that era, Cary Grant.

You think Zombies are bad? How about birds that have gone mad and decided they are tired of bird seed and now wanna eat people... that's just disturbing. Seeing a gang of crows waiting on a playground for kids to come out so they could attack them is down right freaky. It's such an odd and bazaar story it drew people and in and sure enough it created a perfect suspenseful and creepy movie. This film is a classic. watch it... now!

Psycho, this films title pretty much explains the main idea behind this movie. This was Hitchcock's most well known film he made and most popular. You've probably even seen cartoons mock or joke about this films most well known scene involving a shower and... well... a psycho! I wont spoil this one for you either. What I want you to do is to please explore these films. If you have not seen these, at least check out one. Alfred Hitchcock's work is undoubtedly the best suspense out there that jump started the whole genre. But, don't just stop at theses films, look for more of Hitchcock's movies on IMDB.com, you will find the whole list. I can guarantee you that if you are a true fan of the classics check them out, you will not be disappointed. Hope you enjoy!

The Westerns

Greetings again my fellow readers that are interested in motion pictures and awesomeness! This week we are looking at one of my personal faveorites from older films. The westerns! there have been western films ever since the silent film, however, around the period just before they introduced colored film was when the western genre began to explode into popularity and its popularity stretched well into the color era!

Now I'm not talking about Clint Eastwood really. I like him, but specifically we are going to look at the legend just before Clint. The one and only John Wayne. If you don't know who this is... I don't know whats wrong with you, but you should probably go repent of your sins. John wayne was like the Zeus of mythology in western films. John Wayne was involved in over 160 film productions, that is absolutely rediculous. But anyway, John Wayne started off fairly young in westerns and his popularity just kept growing. For many people he's the first they think of when they hear the term cowboy, his natural bluntness and voice was just a perfect match and stuck so well with the theme.

Ever seen True grit with Jeff Bridges? Well this one came first. Didn't follow the original book as accurately however it is very worth watching! This is probably one of the best characters John Wayne has portrayed. He didn't fool around when he was serious, and when he was serious... he kicked some serious tail. It's amazing to me how movies like these came out so long ago, yet they still hold their legendary value to this day. Yes you have to look past the fact that it does not use special effects... duh, but look at the story of it, you know... that thing that the movie is supposed to be around but nobody cares about anymore? I have stop there or I will get off on a rabbit trail about how poor movies have been with a good storyline these days.

I love this movie! John Wayne, and Robert Mitchum, who also was another legend who grew to be really popular at one time. Also James Caan, you would know him as Sonny from the Gofather... or Buddy the Elfs dad in Elf... which is even more ironic because the guy that played as Santa Clause in that film is one of the main badguys in this. Anyways, this film is a great western, the action is actually very well scripted and has characters you get attached to as well as a good respectable story. You just can't compare these flicks to the westerns that come out today, they were something of a different work of art. This film actually had a one of the first scenes where film makers recorded a man shot out of a bell tower and we see him falling from the floors perspective looking up. It looks kind of funny bu back then that was ground breaking.

Back then westerns truely were the fan favorite to so many viewers. Everybody liked seeing the good guy when and watching the bad guy get royally punched in the face with a one-liner that you can't beat by John Wayne, and let me tell you, he did a lot of that! Look into these movies and more of the older ones. They are absolutely classicly awesome!

Classic Horror

    
     Halloween is coming next month, it may not be soon, but it certainly is coming. So, why not use this time to look into the early classic horror films that we are still building off of today.

I’m sure we are all familiar with names like Dracula, Frankenstein, or the Wolfman. But have you ever watched the originals? I don’t mean watch a couple of pieces or text you boyfriend/girlfriend during the whole thing. I mean have you actually sat down and watched the entire film? If not, you need to do that for sure. No I don’t expect you to be scared of the movie nor do I expect you to be amazed at its special effects. They are cheesy and sometimes humorous in their most serious moments. However, look at this from the perspective of the era it was made in, and you will see the true art and value of these films.

    
     Yes, this trailer can feel comical and you may not even find Bela Lugosi to be that scary as Dracula. However, picture yourself waiting at a bus stop at night with nobody around except that guy standing there staring at you... I’m not going to lie I'd probably scream like a little girl. Bela Lugosi was infamous for playing a creepy fellow, and back in the day he did a fantastic job. Its silly looking when he turns into a little rubber bat on strings, but during this movie's popularity the special effects were out of this world and people were stunned.

    
     Did you ever watch the old cartoon version of the Grinch? You remember the narrator? That’s this guy! Boris Karloff. The man was just naturally creepy, he was tall, lanky, and had a gaunt face. He also played as the original Frankenstein monster. If you say that you are not disturbed by him in this movie...then you’re lying. Boris Karloff was legendary on screen because he looked so natural playing his parts. He knew exactly what the director was looking for in his emotions and mannerisms including his very distinctive voice.

    
     The original Wolfman! If you cannot bring yourself to watch this movie, you should probably seek psychiatric help. The main star of this film is none other than the infamous Lon Chaney Jr. This guy is the son of a legend. His father Lon Chaney was known as the man of a thousand faces. He was responsible for the roles of many creepy characters back in the days of silent films. Now his son got into acting and is very well known mainly for his character... the wolfman!

     To sum up this post up, you gotta check these out! These mentioned films are just the tip of the iceberg. If you want to watch these but can’t find them or don’t want to buy them, check your local library. It is very likely they will have these available along with countless other classic horror titles. In the next few days I'm planning on making some more posts on more of these horror classics so check back in if you are interested. In the meantime, I will leave you with this creepy picture of Boris Karloff... try going to sleep at night thinking about this picture...