Movies were always my first love but I’d been a technology reporter for almost a decade before I broke into entertainment in a serious way. I never imagined it at the beginning of my career, but tech actually gave me an edge as a movie and entertainment reporter.
I not only joined the throngs of other stringers going to junkets to interview great directors, actors and writers, my experience with computers, software and devices gave me a unique grasp of behind-the-scenes tools and skills.
I talked to puppeteers and engineers about the renaissance in animatronic robots. I tracked down and spoke to the writer/director of the first movie with completely CGI backgrounds (and have the distinction of being the first reporter he spoke to since the initial release, so burnt was he by its handling and so appreciative of my approach).
I’ve talked to editors about their lives and times, VFX animators about realistic worlds and stunt people about the field’s inherent dangers and how the industry occasionally lets them down.
And when publicists and gatekeepers have blocked me from the people or material I need, I’ve gone ahead and written the story from my own knowledge or gone straight to the source.
One other thing. As a longtime film reporter I’ve also been a critic for several publications, but you’ll only find a handful of examples of movie reviews on this site. The first reason is because there are literally hundreds of them going years back, and the second is because even if they were all here, I’d be doubling up. Since 2001 I’ve maintained filmism.net, which contains the reviews of every new movie I see and every old movie I’ve watched and includes all my professional reviews.
Two characters in a sci-fi movie are arguing in hushed tones over a computer screen showing data about the invading alien force, the fleet of next-gen fighter planes in the
Now 32 years old, Bob Zemeckis’ animated/live action hybrid noir murder mystery broke boundaries of filmmaking technology and technique, and it’s every bit as fresh, warm and funny today as
I just want to see what the world thinks of it, I’m kind of holding my breath right now waiting for that reaction and then I’ll probably go sit on a beach for a while and decompress. … Continue readingLeigh Whannell talks The Invisible Man
Call it the J.J. Effect. Animatronics – along with similar techniques like puppetry, makeup effects and miniatures – is making a comeback. The work was long responsible for some of
While Hollywood executives were wringing their hands about making their movies appeal to all four quadrants, apparently staunch in their belief that female comedies would never sell, Feig realised something it seemed to take them forever to catch up on. Women can be very, very funny. … Continue readingDirector Paul Feig talks Last Christmas
While T shirts with logos, designs and characters from Star Wars, Hello Kitty, The Avengers and all the other giant comic/toy/movie/blockbuster brands are a dime a dozen, who the heck are Lao Che Air Freight, Frog Comics Santa Carla, Camp Crystal Lake, Tyrell Corp, Plainview and Son Oil Corp, Abe Froman and The Paper Street Soap Company? … Continue readingHeading for Nowhere
How far back can we trace current trends in Hollywood? Digital filmmaking in the late 1990s? Talkies in 1927? Celluloid, Georges Méliès and the Lumiere brothers in the 19th century? How about an inexpensive action adventure yarn from 2004 that did okay with critics and so-so at the box office? … Continue readingBuilding the World of Tomorrow
In director Brian Kirk’s 21 Bridges, Chadwick Boseman plays a very different kind of hero than T’Challa in Black Panther. He’s an intense New York cop tracking a pair of
When thinking of Star Wars, we invariably think of a single name: George Lucas. And while Lucas is a natural-born world builder, many will tell you the influence that gave
Filmgoers don’t know the name Paul Hirsch nearly as well as those of Brian De Palma, George Lucas or John Hughes, but after a five-decade career as a film editor,