Archive Category: Movies & SciFi
xkcd Movie Graphs
Randall Munroe of xkcd has posted intricate movie graphs that help explain the sequence of characters for those who have trouble figuring out what went on over a long narrative. The most helpful is the largest graph, which deals with the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Grouping of lines shows which characters are together over time. There are also graphs for the original Star Wars trilogy, Jurassic Park, 12 Angry Men, and Primer. Only a small portion of the LOTR graph is shown here. Link -via reddit
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Internet Movie Firearms Database
If you’ve ever watched a movie and wondered what kind of gun that is, or if you have argued with a friend about movie weapons, here’s the perfect resource. The Internet Movie Firearms Database (imfdb) has the answers! You can look up movies by title, actors, television shows, the weapons themselves, and even video games. Pictured is Johnny Depp with a M1911A1 in the 2001 film Blow. Link -via Transbuddha
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Storm Troopers Using Google
Maybe they’ll get it right this time! From Flickr user Stefan. Link -via Geeks Are Sexy
Update 11/1/09 by Alex – Stefan has the whole Storm Trooper photoset here.
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Darth Vader Conducting an Orchestra Performing the Imperial March
(YouTube Link)
Darth Vader did not approve of how the conductor of the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra was leading a performance of The Imperial March, so he stepped in to do the job himself.
In the links, you’ll find a longer video of this event from CNN.
via Topless Robot | CNN Video | Orchestra Website
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Lightsabers Make Everything Cooler
So says Mathue Shell of Geekstir, who is (presumably) the creator of this photoshop. It’s an adaptation of John Trumbull’s 1795 painting “The Death of General Mercer at the Battle of Princeton”, owned by the Yale University Art Gallery.
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25 Scariest Moments From Non-Horror Movies
IFC compiled a list – unlike everybody else’s list this year – regarding scary movies. Sometimes, as you’re watching a comedy, science fiction, or drama flick, they pull a fast one on you, and the next thing you know you’re jumping out of your seat. For instance, the “Large Marge” scene from Pee Wee’s Big Adventure.
“When they finally pulled the driver’s body from the twisted, burning wreckage,” she groans. “It looked… like THIS!” Suddenly, Nunn’s face is replaced by a ghoulish claymation head, which howls at Pee-Wee with bulbous bug eyes, serpentine tongue, and enormous, snaggle-toothed maw. An understandably frightened Pee-wee asks to be let out at the next truck stop, where he learns that he couldn’t have gotten a ride from Large Marge; she died in the very accident she described, ten years earlier.
See all 25 examples at IFC. (Photo: Warner Bros.)
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Pulp Fiction Audio Remix
Here’s a nicely done audio remix using sound elements from the movie, Pulp Fiction. It incorporates beats using sounds like soap being slapped into the hands of Jules and Vincent, the smoke alarm, the Wolf hanging up the phone, and lots more. No credits…anyone know who made this? Enjoy.
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When Monsters Change Sides: 10 Horror Icons Who Turned Good
The way to get more mileage out of a monster is to make him/her the hero. It’s been done quite a few times, sometimes resulting in more confusion than entertainment.
We’d love to say that we can’t blame Dell Comics for trying to cash in on the Batmania of the 1960s by turning Dracula into a superhero, but… Well, it’s Dracula as a superhero. Even worse, it’s a modern-day Count Dracula as a scientist who accidentally swallows some formula that allows him to transform into a bat and then decides to fight crime in a purple jumpsuit. Seriously, in what world is that a good idea?
I thought for sure this list would include Godzilla and The Terminator, but it is limited to classic Halloween-type horror monsters. Link -via Digg
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How To Grrrowl Like Chewbacca
If your Halloween costume is anywhere near as clever as this one, or you’ve finally decided on Chewie as your go-to outfit, be sure to top it off with the authentic roar, as taught here.
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Klingon Military Recruiting Video
(YouTube Link)
Meredith Woerner of the sci-fi blog io9 suspects that this video might be viral marketing for the next Star Trek movie. Ostensibly, it’s a Klingon military recruiting commercial. I’m not sure what is the original language, but thankfully it’s been dubbed into Klingon for your convenience.
via io9
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Comic Strip/Sci-Fi Mashups
Image: Ryan Dunlavey
Artist Ryan Dunlavey has created several comic strips mixing science fiction franchises with classic comics, such as the above mashup of Family Circus with The Fantastic Four. Others include He-Man with Garfield, Peanuts with X-Men, and Alien vs. Predator with Spy vs. Spy.
Previously on Neatorama: Dunlavey’s Action Philosophers comic book series.
Link via io9 | Artist’s Website
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Bizarre Spike Jonze Short
Last February, director Spike Jonez (Where the Wild Things Are) agreed to shoot a video for Kanye West’s song, “See You in My Nightmares,” which was then expanded into a creative, short film – shot at a nightclub over two days.
The end result is an uneasy glimpse of Mr. West at his worst, premonitions of his MTV Video Awards appearance abound, and the ending says a lot about the musician’s own battered image of himself. It’s a fine piece, and will soon be available on iTunes.
Unfortunately for Spike Jonez, it was leaked last week with the help of…Kanye West.
“We Were Once a Fairytale” was leaked to the Internet and posted on Mr. West’s official Web site, kanyeuniversecity.com. Within a couple of days it was taken down without explanation. Mr. Jonze said the film was accidentally leaked from the postproduction studio of a friend, and that Mr. West did not realize that it was not meant to be circulated yet. “I think he was like: ‘Oh, it’s out. I’ll link to it,’ ” Mr. Jonze said. (A representative for Mr. West declined to elaborate.)
NYT has the whole story here and here.
“We Were Once a Fairytale” (embedded video)
(Photo: Spike Jonez, Inc. & Getting Out Our Dreams Pictures)
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Taun Taun Cake
According to The Empire Strikes Back, there’s no smell in the galaxy as bad as the inside of a dead Taun Taun. When Chris and Julia Trevas got married, they hired Food Network baker Courtney Clark to make the cakes. The groom’s cake was in the shape of a dead Taun Taun, complete with Luke Skywalker inside! I would guess the authentic smell was not included. Link -via Boing Boing
(image credit: mod4)
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Movies - One Letter Off
More fun with movie posters and Photoshop can be had at The Chive. Inspired by a Worth 1000 contest, users re-imagine popular movies if one letter in their title was changed, or removed. Here, The Chive lays claim to The Ark Knight and No Country For Old Hen.
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42 Essential 3rd Act Twists
Image: Aaron Diaz
In this issue of the webcomic Dresden Codak, Aaron Diaz pokes fun at the contrived plot devices of movie makers, such as the Reverse MacGuffin and the Double Shyamalan. My favorite is the Unreliable Reader — a counterpart to the Unreliable Narrator. Click on the link for a larger image.
Link via Popped Culture | Interview with the Artist
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The 10 Commandments in Star Trek
For a science fiction series, Star Trek had a lot of references to religion. Gene Roddenberry once said he rejected all religions, yet one or another of the Ten Commandments showed up in quite a few episodes. Beliefnet takes a look at some of those episodes.
In “The Apple” from the original “Star Trek” series, Captain James Kirk and his crew encounter an idyllic world whose ageless inhabitants feed a computer named Vaal.
It seems like a dandy setup to Mr. Spock, but Dr. McCoy argues that it can’t be healthy to have all your needs met by a “hunk of tin” (perhaps shortly after polishing off a meal created by the Enterprise’s replicator). Eventually, the Enterprise is forced to zap Vaal with its phasers, sending the binary being to an ignoble, smoky end.
The natives are seriously bummed, but Kirk cheers them up by telling them they can now work and struggle and get sick and die just like everyone else. Yay!
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Themes From Scary Movies
Quick, think of a piece of music from a scary movie.
If you could think of seven different themes, chances are a few of them are on Cinematical’s list.
One of the seven is one of my favorite movies of the genre, Poltergeist, music by Jerry Goldsmith.
Jerry Goldsmith previously contributed a classic horror theme with his score for Richard Donner’s Omen, but this one, not unlike Komeda’s work on Rosemary’s Baby, runs counter to expectations that horror movie music needs to be naturally dark or heavy to be menacing. That said, the children’s chorus that sweetly and innocently provides a theme for the film’s young protagonist – ironically, sort of the conduit for both its “monster” and heroine – is at once wholesome and terrifying, creating a similar sense of unease and eventually terror as the kids embody the film’s themes of childhood swallowed by a mysterious and terrifying world.
More great themes at Link.
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Top Ten A.I. Characters (redux)
Still from Blade Runner; Warner Bros. 1982
A long time ago they were called robots. That rather pedestrian term evolved into android, droid, cyborg, and artificial intelligence, among others. Plenty of movies have featured them in one fashion or another, and Unreality’s Madison cobbled together the ten best, with Blade Runner’s Roy Batty coming in at number 5.
Roy Batty, quite simply, is a bad, bad dude. As leader of the Nexus-6 replicants, Batty is a combat model used for military battles, and so his speed, strength, and combat skills are far beyond those of a human being. He also has a genius level intellect, which he employs to torment Deckard. He eventually shows empathy for Deckard, though, and Batty himself appears to be more human than the humans who sought out to have him destroyed.
Find out which cinematic circuit board made the top of the list.
Link (updated link has blasted malware worm away, all should be well).
Update 10/18/09 by Alex – delinked. The malware is in Unreality Mag’s ad server. There’s a rogue ad rotating amongst regular ads. Pls keep this delinked and do not remove/repost. Thanks!
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Hundred of Maxes At A Wild Rumpus
Hundreds of kids dressed up as Max and cavorted with (attacked) a Wild Thing at a Wild Rumpus party held in Toronto October 4th in anticipation of the Where the Wld Things Are Movie, which opens nationwide today.
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Klingon-Language Rapper
(YouTube Link)
Klenginem is a German rapper who performs in the Klingon language, mostly modified Eminem songs. Here is his performance of “SuvwI’pu’ qan tu’lu’be”, which is known in English as “Without Me.”
Official Website via Popped Culture
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Guess The Nerd Movie
UGO’s Guess the Movie quizzes are challenging. This one I thought I’d ace, but had to settle for 6/10. All of their quizzes are hard, and categories vary from Coen Brothers Movies to the Halloween movies, and more.
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The Munchkins after 70 Years
(Video Link)
Newsweek interviewed five actors who played munchkins in The Wizard of Oz. They reminisce about the production of the movie and how it impacted their lives. Did you know that Toto got paid more than they did? You can read about the movie in Stacy’s trivia post.
via io9 | Run time: 5 minutes, 38 seconds.
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Mod Hitchcock Posters
Posters by Matt Needle
Remembering to keep it simple, Alfred Hitchcock fan/artist Matt Needle re-imagined a series of posters for the films of Hitch. As you can see, the only differences are an iconic image from each movie placed in the director’s famous profile, and the titles.
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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy at 30
Although the story was first composed as a radio script, the novel The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was published 30 years ago today. Fans in Britain are marking the occasion by wearing dressing gowns and carrying towels. Chris Irvine writes in The Daily Telegraph:
Hitchcon’09, the fans’ convention at the Royal Festival Hall contained a spacesuit worn by a Vogon, the galactic galaxy’s bureaucrats notorious for their aggressive manner and terrible poetry, as well as Adams’ bath, where the author, who died in 2001, claimed to have some of his best ideas.[...]
The Hitchhiker books began as a Radio 4 comedy show in 1978. Adams then adapted the radio series to create the initial book, completing four more instalments over the next 20 years. He died of a heart attack in 2001, which writing The Salmon of Doubt, published post humously.
Link via GeekDad | Image: Random House
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Hollywood's Top Villains
Forget heroes. I find villains much more interesting. Here’s a wonderful montage titled: Heart of Darkness, a Montage, Cinema’s Top Human Villains, by YouTube user hh, listing 45 of the best (worst?) Hollywood baddies.
The music, East Hastings by Goodpseed You! Black Emperor, certainly contributed much to the awesomeness of the clip.
I’m glad that Kathy Bates’ character Annie Wilkes from the movie Misery made the list. Who do you think is the best Hollywood villain?
Link [embedded YouTube clip]
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Film's Best Geek Girls
Cinematical put together a shockingly small list of great geeky girl movie characters. They’re all fine examples, but surely there must be more out there along the lines of Thora Birch in Ghost World (left).
Geeky girls are few and far between in the 100+ years of cinema, but they are key to the revelation that technology and freethinking are not the sole playground of men. Geekology is omnisexual, and has been since…well that’s the mystery.
Check out their list, and tell us what they missed. They did well as far as post 1990 goes, but what about the classics? I’m calling dibs on Lt. Uhura, possibly the first geek girl who simultaneously had a free, sometimes kooky mind, and access to a computer. Who else is a geek grrl of filmdom?
Link (Image: MGM)
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The 10 Greatest Books Adapted Into Movies
Here’s a list sure to spark debate. Which is better, the movie or the book? Usually one is much better than the other. With the ten books and movies listed here, it’s all a matter of opinion because both the book and the movie are classics. Still, I will always recommend reading the book before seeing the movie. Link [possible malware alert @ link - go there at your own risk]
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Return to Malibou Lake
Screenwriter John Cox posted a guest blog at Frankensteinia about his search for the site of the only location shot in the 1931 movie Frankenstein.
Where did Universal shoot the famous Maria meets the Monster scene in the classic 1931 Frankenstein? For years I could never get a straight answer. Some claimed it was shot on the Universal backlot along with the rest of the movie. But it’s clear from the size of the lake and the rugged mountains in the distance that this can’t be true.
Cox found that the scene was filmed at Malibou Lake and set off to find the exact location of the scene, despite the knowledge that it was now in private hands, and that after almost 80 years, it might not look the same. But he was surprised at what he found! Link -via Metafilter
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10 Reasons Not to Bring Someone Back from the Dead
You can learn a lot from science fiction. For example, you should not try to bring someone back from the dead because they will try to kill you. Proof comes from seven different stories that send chills down our spines.
Pet Sematary: Any dead creature buried in the ancient Micmac burial ground comes back to life, just not quite the way you put it in. After losing his young son Gage, Louis buries his son in the graveyard. Sure enough, Gage comes back — and promptly murders his mother.
That’s only one of ten reasons not to resurrect dead bodies. Link -via Gorilla Mask
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Man Builds Batmobile Replica for $1 Million
Photo: Simon Måssebäck
Leif Garvin of Sweden spent about $1 million building his own Batmobile. It’s built onto the chassis of a 1973 Lincoln Continental and has a 700 hp engine. Like the, uh, real Batmobile, it’s loaded with all sorts of gadgetry:
There’s sat-nav to help you find the scene of the crime (and other helpful POIs), a plasma TV for video calls to Albert (and for distraction during Stockholm traffic jams), voice recognition to keep your fighting hands free (and avoid nasty fines), height-adjustable suspension for navigating dramatic obstacles in your path (and speed bumps), a rear-view camera to watch your back (and help with tight parking squeezes), and machine guns for, er, shooting stuff. Worryingly, there is no word on whether said firearms are real…
UPDATE 10/4/09: Simon Måssebäck emailed to correct a mistake. He didn’t make the Batmobile — a man named Leif Garvin did. Thanks, Simon, especially for allowing us to use your photo!
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