Electric Shadow

Daily Grab 49: Flare for the Dramatic

About four years ago, I wrote an article that took me all night.

"I wasn't born until 1983, so I've only heard stories from friends and their parents about the summer of '77. You didn't have to be a "geek" or a "nerd" or a five year old who loves CG to go see Star Wars."

I went into work the next day without any sleep, because my wife and I were part of the first audience in North America to see the new Star Trek movie. So sue me, I liked the lens flares (and still do):

"Star Trek has never been this visually dynamic. The camera work is full of lens flares, reflections, and focus effects that really sell the atmosphere as being less steady and...overly-tidy than before. You also have a more nuts n' bolts, gaskets n' pipes styled Enterprise, where the ship feels like a labyrinthine submarine merged with an aircraft carrier. The mixture of practical and CG alien and creature effects are also fantastic, with all kinds of new stuff never seen before in the franchise in terms of design or quality."

Now JJ Abrams is apparently set to direct Star Wars: Episode 7: Revenge of a New Subtitle, and...I think he's a perfect fit.

How to Watch Import Blu-rays

from ITV Studios's Blu-ray of Michael Powell's The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (Region B only)

Rian Johnson had a dilemma yesterday. The Hive Mind tried to help. I hope this solves it for him.

This guide is written from the English-speaking, US perspective (predominantly), but its contents are generally applicable regardless of which region-locking wall you're behind. Just about everyone in Europe can just swap the UK/EU references for US and vice versa.

Did you just hear about some amazing release of a movie that's not yet available in the States? Whether a BFI or Masters of Cinema disc from the UK, or a Ghibli Collection disc with English subtitles (Region B people, think Criterion), the solutions are generally the same.

Read More

Daily Grab 48: In For the Kill

A Holmes kick gave way to finally giving a good look at Sidney Lumet's excellent film adapted from Ira Levin's Deathtrap. One of the two hardest choices I've had as a stage actor was having to turn down the role of Clifford Anderson (the Christopher Reeve part) in lieu of doing an obscure David Mamet play called The Water Engine.

Deathtrap is only available on Blu-ray thanks to the great people at Warner Archive, who have started doing limited-batch Blu-rays like this and Gypsy (1962). The Hudsucker Proxy is coming soon from them on Blu-ray as well.

Daily Grab 46: Where There's Smoke

I'm rather certain that I at least registered that Shout Factory was putting The Seven-Per-Cent Solution on Blu-ray today. It may have subconsciously driven my posting of Holmesian editions of this feature late last week.

Three years ago, I wrote a piece (for a now-deprecated feature) wishing that the screen adaptaion of Nicholas Meyer's apocryphal Holmes novel would come back into print on DVD at least, if not Blu-ray.

Nicol Williamson (Excalibur) plays the Great Detective, Robert Duvall plays one of the best screen Watsons (not joking), Laurence Olivier is kindly math professor Moriarty, and none other than Alan Arkin plays Sigmund Freud.

The Blu-ray/DVD Combo edition runs $25 on Amazon, and includes a freshly-recorded, 20ish-minute interview with Nicholas Meyer. If you're any sort of Holmes fan, just get the thing. I found a single copy in one store in Austin, so Amazon is your best bet.

I'm writing a review to go up on Ain't It Cool. I'm thrilled that this one is back out in the world.

Daily Grab 45: Lorre

Peter Lorre's big English-language breakthrough role came in 1934's The Man Who Knew Too Much, which director Alfred Hitchcock later remade with James Stewart in the lead. My attachment to Peter Lorre accounts for a lot of why I prefer the original over the remake. The cold, reptilian indifference that he radiates is pure malevolent magic. I've become more and more fond of Hitch's early British work of late.

Criterion's new Blu-ray restoration is stellar, and a great example of why they do early 20th Century film restoration better than just about anyone. I'm glad to see the Restoration Demonstration extra feature come back into the fold especially (alongside about 20 minutes of Guillermo del Toro talking Hitch).

Screen Time 22: Pure Game Language

iTunes link / RSS link (for other podcatchers)

5by5 site show notes

I added a blazing-fast news segment to the front end, and an equally-fast New Releases piece at the end of this episode. Let me know what you think as I continue to monkey with format.

Tom Hall has had a major impact on my creative development ever since I was in elementary school.

A nice fellow who helped set up our blazing-fast 386SX GeoWorks-brand computer put a game on it that he thought I would like. That game was Commander Keen, a platform adventure game like few others (then or since). It's available on Steam, albeit Windows-only. It's not hard to...find a way...to make all 6.5* games work on the Mac.

Tom has a big, cool new thing that he's got attached to a Kickstarter. We hoped to include that announcement in this episode, but Amazon Payments threw a wrench in our plans. That short segment of this interview will be included in next week's episode, and it'll also be posted as an After Dark attached to this episode for good measure.

 

*Keen Dreams really only counts as .5 of a whole game.

Daily Grab 43: Red

I got so preoccupied recording yesterday on toip of loads of housework that I missed hitting publish on this.

In the Mood for Love is one of Criterion's best Blu-grades of last year, and is one of the specific titles that make instant fans of Wong Kar-wai. I previously featured a grab that was taken in the middle of a fade to black. This one shows off the vibrancy of the color much better.

Critical Path 71: Max Headroom

iTunes link / RSS link (for other podcatchers)

5by5 site show notes

Hit the site for links to the stories we discuss in the show.

I love hearing Horace tear bad analysis a new one. He was initially reluctant to even bring up our opening topic. I told him in our pre-show prep that the audience needed to hear his precise process of dismantling this "supplier checks" speculation. It's not just that it's stupid, it's important to know why this is an "all hat, no cattle" situation for the Wall Street Journal.

We get a tiny tease of TV and media consumption disruption talk at the end. It's going to be an interesting year.

Giant Size 9: Across from Android's Dungeon

iTunes link

5by5 site

Jennifer de Guzman is Marketing & PR Coordinator for Image Comics.

She was EIC of Slave Labor Graphics for over 10 years, and has written some great editorials and gotten into some outstanding internet debates over gender equality and acceptance in the comics industry (linked on the 5by5 show page).

We finally catch back up with Brandon at Austin Books & Comics, looking back at 2012 and forward to the insanity of 2013. 

Comic Shack 24: Dark and Weird

iTunes link

5by5 site

We talk about Superior Spider-Man #1, taking a moment to breathe as fans, and what is and is not "Peter Parker" as a known quantity.

The current end to 5by5's ongoing arc of shows obsessed with Spider-Man. Reading Order:

Ihnatko Almanac 48: Massage the Octopus

The Incomparable 119: The Guilt-Trip Superhero

Comic Shack 22: Heaven Looks a Lot Like Queens

Comic Shack 24: Dark and Weird

[think of this as a Point One issue] Back to Work 102: Hunter Ready to Write

 

Guest Panelist: Andy Ihnatko of the Chicago Sun-Times joins us this week.