“In 1929, the Russians produced their first talkie, the snappily titled The Five Year Plan for Great Works. The possibility of synchronized sound inspired a trio of pioneers, composer Arseny Avraamov, animator Mikhail Tsihanovsky and engineer Evgeny Sholpo who were fascinated by the curved loops, arcs and waveforms […]
Cinetropolis has a vintage feature on the making of Silent Running (1972). “Here writer and first time director Douglas Trumbull, famous now for his pioneering special effects work and advances in cinematography, guides us through every aspect of the making of his sci-fi parable, with great insights from […]
This week guest star is Holly Hunt is covering for Carol Borden. Holly Hunt hopes someday to write about Hans Holzer’s The Habsburg Curse as the book that changed her life. ~~~ In Search of… the classic–I’d even say paradigmatic–paranormal reality show, ran from 1977 to 1982. The […]
Mainstream Hindi cinema doesn’t particularly gravitate towards making superhero films. It hardly needs to, given what physical feats the average film hero can pull off anyway. But like many parts of the world, Indian audiences certainly have a taste for American-style superhero films, so home-grown characters pop up, […]
“One day in Venice, sometime near the end of the 14th century, a busy merchant found himself with a few spare moments. Maybe it was a slow day at the docks, or he arrived home too early for dinner. Whatever the reason, he did what people of his era […]
One of my favorite things about mortal existence is when TV programming goes pumpkin-spiced in the fall. Not just the buffet of special Halloween episodes and, perhaps perversely, chopped-up broadcast versions of horror movies*, but the glut of compulsively-watchable spooky reality shows…if you can call heavily-edited tall tales […]