War of the Worlds/movie fx old and new etc.

[John Rayner]

I just scanned through this thread, and noticed a Few things...

LOTR, the movie sucked. Once you have read the book... they did not even stick to the plot. I didn't like it except for gollum. Only thing they got half right.

Bell, book and Candle with Jimi Stewart, now that was a good movie. Or Harvey... now that was another masterpiece.

[Klaus Nordby]

Maya, Cary Grant is one of my three all-time favorite movie stars -- along with Jimmy Stewart and Katharine Hepburn. Put them all toghether with a dynamite script -- and you have "The Philiadelphia Story." Wow! Yup, "Arsenic & Old Lace" is charming, too. But I prefer "Rear Window" to "North By Northwest" -- maybe we should quarrel over those? :-)

For what it's worth: I am now working on moving from Scandinavia to New Hampshire -- yup, right in the heart of New England. I've rented a lovely house there from mid-October, in the Lakes District, near a town called Moultonborough, which is pretty much like the tiny town in "Trouble with Harry." See ya there?

[Crow Haven]

I LOVED Peter Jackson's LOTR. I like also to study the extras on the dvds about how WETA accomplished it's model building and fx....really cool dvd extras there. I first got into reading the LOTR books when I was in grade school -- I had a very cool 5th grade teacher who introduced the classs to Tolkien's world of Middle Earth starting with of course The Hobbit. He even had a huge b/w photo poster of Tolkien on the wall. Then in high school I did a large painting based on the character Aragorn/Strider, which included elements in the background of Mordor, "The Eye", some of the Nazgul on their black steeds and winged ones, etc.... The painting I sold long ago, the shock to my system came when Jackson's LOTR came out and the actor Viggo Mortgensen and the other elements I'd put into that painting, over 20 years before Jackson's film was made, was just like what I'd envisioned! I wished now I'd kept that painting!!!! I've read LOTR many times...and while some things were cut out and Jackson has done his own vision of it I really enjoyed it...it meshed well with mine anyway. The cgfx are, imo, usually great, and Gollum is one of the most realistic cg characters I've seen so far.

John, I am also a fan of "Bell, Book and Candle," and have a copy of it on dvd! I once had a black cat I named "Pyewacket", inspired by the film's cat.... The combination of Novak and Stewart is really amusing, as well as the other actors/actresses. It has some very funny moments.


Yep, Klaus, once again I'd have to agree about Grant, Hepburn and Stewart! I love Hepburn -- she has that sass and spirit that comes through. I wouldn't be able to argue with you about any of those, I love them all -- including Hitch's "Rear Window" with Grace Kelly and Jimmy Stewart! I also have a copy of it on dvd and it's a great favorite of mine too. There was some interesting info I ran across regarding some of the special fx in N By NW -- that unique Vandamm house on the piers which leans waaaay out over the rocks was actually achieved with great matte painting fx. An interesting book on movie matte painting I've got is entitled, "The Invisible Art, The Legends of Movie Matte Painting," by Mark Cotta Vaz and Craig Barron, it's available at Amazon....if anyone here is a bit interested in the matte painting aspect in the special fx of these films. I have a real interest in it myself.

Klaus, since you loved the scenery in "The Trouble With Harry," I bet you will find Autumn in New England very inspiring!!! I lived in NY a few years ago and those seasons there were so enjoyable... Autumn is my favorite time of year and when the leaves turn their beautiful golden colors and the air becomes crisp I feel reborn somehow. I loved to jump in the leaves, watch them swirl in the air, wear soft wooly sweaters, view the orange pumpkin patches and golden harvest colors everywhere against the deep blue sky. Listen to the geese and crows. Watch the squirrels busily stashing the acorns and winged maple seeds away for their winter snacks. Taste the maple syrup, cider, and warm cinnamon apple pies too -- mmmmm. Be sure and sample it and some of the maple candy... Curl up by the fireplace at night and dream --- thoughts of it all makes me want to paint! I will be envying your Autumn stay there.
Best wishes, Klaus, for a safe and successful move to New Hampshire! And if you ever get to Vermont you might investigate about Bernd Heinrich's raven studies...he's written several books on his studies in Maine and Vermont. His book "Ravens in Winter" is full of interesting info.

[John Rayner]

Hi Maya,

My son got me an autographed poster from Viggo Mortgensen right after the the ROTK walked away with lots of oscars. he was vacationing here in the hills, and my son got him to sign the poster.

I haven't seen a movie yet capture what I see when I read the trilogy tho... Still practicing myself. One of these days I will get Smaug right...

[Crow Haven]

Wow John! That would be sooooo cool to talk with someone like that who's actually been involved in the making of such a film! But not only that, apparently from some bits I've gleened, Viggo also paints and writes some poetry so I'm sure he'd have interesting things to tell about the filming from not only an actor's point of view. What a lucky meeting for your son and getting the poster signed too!

I'm really interested in how Jackson will portray good ol' Smaug. Some other really well-conceived dragons, imo, were in the movie "Reign of Fire." I liked the designs of those a lot, and the fire-breathing fx were great too. I found a cg article quite a while back which talked a bit about the development of the Thompson dragons in it...their study of various other creatures like snakes and bats for inspiriation for the body/wing design. I love the cg fx of this film, the dragons look gritty and dangerous and real to me. Another take on dragons was the recent film "Dragon's World" narrated in a TV version by Patrick Stewart. I saw it on TV and just had to get a dvd copy too. There's extra material with the dvd explaining those artist's concepts and the biology they considered in the designing of their dragons, also interesting filming work for lighting and combining actual footage of various landscapes with the cg modeled dragons -- very well done, imo. If you haven't seen it yet grab a copy, I think you might find it interesting John. Some other nice dragon fx in an older film was in "Dragonslayer" I thought...that was a rather funny film too.

Let's keep our fingers crossed about Smaug's development.

[Gare]

Hi Maya--

"Dragonslayer" was done with miniatures, stop-motion animated like Willis O'Brian did in the original movie, which Ray Harryhausen, his apprentice, continued to do in such heart-stoppers as "Earth vs. The Flying Saucers".

But physical effects supervisor Phil Tippett at ILM added technology to stop-motion in Dragonslayer, calling it Go-Motion. He'd rig the tiny models' armatures to move ever-so-slightly while the camera lens was open, mostly eliminating the "chatter" of motion.

Pity Phil hadn't invented GoMotion in time for Star Wars 1 (4) and 2(5). The "Let the Wookie Win" chess game was pretty awful, and the Tauntauns moved marginally stiffer than Gumby!

My Best,

Gare

[Crow Haven]

Great info, Gare -- no wonder the movement was much smoother in Dragonslayer...part of the animation evolution. I agree on the Star Wars chess game and especially those scenes with the Tauntauns which were so jerky in motion.

I liked Harryhausen's "Jason and the Argonauts" and "Clash of the Titans" even though those fx weren't so smooth and other things far less realistic. That stop motion work must have really been time consuming.

Thanks for the Go-Motion info!