The Bearded Trio

The existence of a new Star Wars cartoon based on a line of super-deformed toys has leaked out of Skywalker Ranch.
A source at IESB has revealed a new Star Wars animated series that will be based on the Star Wars: Galactic Heroes line of toys. The Galactic Heroes toys are a collection of super-deformed miniature figures that include a wide variety of characters from Lando Calrissian to Yoda.
A director has just been hired to guide the new show, which reportedly has a working title of Squishies. This may seem like an incredibly odd name, but it makes a little more sense when you consider that a very young audience of preschoolers to kindergartners is being targeted for the show. Even for a kid's cartoon, this is a pretty young age group, so maybe Squishies could end up being some kind of educational program in the same vein as Yo Gabba Gabba or the like, but one that features lightsabers and Boba Fett. I, for one, think that would be pretty cool for kids.
 Read th…

Steven Spielberg’s Rep has rubbished claims that Steven is near-paranoia and security paranoid.  A new book by former Variety reporter Nicole LaPorte suggested that the Saving Private Ryan helmer enforces strange conditions on set to ensure that details of his films never leak.
The book also alleges that Spielberg is obsessed with being prepared for natural disasters and dispenses survival kits to his staff.
Claims that Spielberg has Plexiglass half-moon, which prevents sound from reverberating so that his phone conversations remain ultra-confidential and ablack cloth is draped over the projection booth window on the screening room to hide the screen are false according to the Rep who also said that all the claims “doesn’t deserve a comment”.  Proves not to listen or believe all the silly rumours that get claimed or passed around.

This demo-reel shows examples of film-effects work done by James Rowell at Industrial Light & Magic, Pacific Data Images (now Dreamworks Animation) and ESC.

The work done by James in this video includes particle and dynamics effects, 3d lighting and digital image compositing. For a shot breakdown - please see the write-up at www.orangeimagination.com.

At the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), THX Ltd. and other partners will showcase the world's first live high-definition (HD) 3 dimensional (3D) streaming demonstration using Microsoft Silverlight,  THX® Media Director™ and a complete THX Certified home theater system. THX® Media Director™ will be integrated with the 3D demonstration to enable home theater components to automatically configure and switch between 3D and 2 dimensional (2D) playback settings as content is streamed live. The NAB demo will take place at the Microsoft booth # SL220 and will also showcase the capabilities of Level 3's global internet backbone, Silverlight and Internet Information Services (IIS) Smooth Streaming and Inlet Technologies' Spinnaker™ multi-screen real-time encoding solution. Film and TV production company, TVN GROUP, will provide live HD 3D content from its studio in Germany. The demo will show how content providers can use these technologies to capture and distribute 3D str…

Album: Supergirl (1984) - Track: 1 // Composed and Conducted by Jerry Goldsmith // Orchestration by Arthur Morton // Performed by The National Philharmonic Orchestra Category:

So Avatar is out Monday 26th April, just in time for Earth Day but the general vibe on the web is that this is a bare bone version with the ultimate version out next year.  No extras are on the DVD or Blu-Ray with Fox saying that they wanted all the room on the discs for the picture and sound quality.  Hmmmm!  I'm not convinced on that statement as a second disc could have contained all the extras.

  Anyway is it worth buying?  Well if you have a blu-ray player then one hundred percent yes it is!  The picture and sound quality is the best yet and will definetely show off your home cinema setup.  The colours are remarkable and Pandora will still come to life even with the missing 3D.  If you have a standard DVD then I would save your money until the Summer when Avatar will get released in the cinema again with six minutes of delete scenes.  Avatar is like beer.  You buy a beer and on the side of the bottle it will say "best served cold".  Avatar should say "best watc…

Noted filmmaker, and benefactor George Lucas will be awarded the USC Presidential Medallion -- the school's highest honor -- by university President Steven B. Sample on Monday, April 26, 2010.

"We at USC are so proud to count George Lucas as a member of our Trojan Family," said Sample. "He has distinguished himself as a creative genius, a prescient supporter of multimedia literacy, and a devoted alumnus. Not only has he inspired and delighted audiences worldwide with his imagination, but he is generous in ensuring that new generations of artists and innovators can illuminate the human condition and give wings to their greatest dreams.

"Through his extraordinary imagination, wisdom and continuing guidance, he has helped create a wealth of opportunities for the talented young women and men in the USC School of Cinematic Arts."

Added USC School of Cinematic Arts Dean Elizabeth M. Daley: "Since his graduation in 1966 from USC School of Cinem…

On "Jaws," he and his producing partner, David Brown, worked with a gifted young director, Spielberg, who had to sink or swim when the visual effects work that was supposed to deliver a terrifying shark was slow-going and clunky. There could have been blood in the water on the production but, instead, the director and producers looked for ways to hide the deficiencies with props, flipped (and flipper) perspectives and the sublimely scary theme by John Williams. "In desperation, we came up with so many good ideas -- like the floating barrels, for instance, that were shown on the screen to suggest this shark beneath them, underwater -- and we did it because we didn't have the shark," Zanuck said. "In the script, the shark is on Page 1 when the girl gets eaten. It became more terrorizing than anything we could have hoped for. If we had CG then we would have had the shark in every frame."

(Zanuck and Spielberg spoke a few years ago about going back to the …

The duel between Van Helgen and Guybrush in Monkey Island 3

The Explosion and The End from Black Sunday (1977) by John Williams



Beirut (Main Title) and Commandos Arrive from Black Sunday (1977) by John Williams

CULT film Star Wars is being made into a SITCOM, it has been revealed.Seth Green and Matthew Senreich, the funnymen behind the Robot Chicken Star Wars spoof, have joined forces with the animation arm of George Lucas's Lucasfilm to create the TV show. Details are closely guarded but Austin Powers star Seth, 36, sent a message to Star Wars fans saying: "Let us assure you this isn't going to suck as much as you think it is." He also revealed that the sitcom will be narrative and character-driven rather than being done like a sketch or spoof. In a nod to often-slated character Jar-Jar Binks, Seth added: "We're not talking about Jar-Jar electrocuting his tongue. It's not that kind of humour."


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Steven Spielberg has admitted that he was impressed by Avatar.
The movie, directed by James Cameron, has broken box office records and was nominated for nine Academy Awards.
According to Showbiz Spy, Spielberg has now praised the film.
"I say thank goodness for Avatar," he said. "It is such an inspiration for all of us. I really think Jim has changed the industry forever, in a good way."

The problem with email, especially getting several hundred a day, is you miss some. Some more important than others. One email I completely missed was from Rick McCallum. Producer of the Star Wars prequels and many other films and TV shows at Lucasfilm. He said he loved my work and wanted to talk to me about working together on a movie they were making. I missed this email. Not good. Fortunately they didn’t give up on me. Head of post production Mike Blanchard phoned me up 3 weeks later to see if I could come over and consult about the potential of using video DSLRs for their productions. He called whilst I was shooting so it went to voicemail. I picked it up the next day and thought holy shit! They must have thought I was playing hardball by not replying to Rick. I wasn’t. I am just a bit useless with all the emails!

Read the amazing article here:

http://philipbloom.co.uk/2009/12/12/skywalker/

President Barack Obama presented John Williams with the 2009 National Medal of Arts on Feb. 25, 2010 at the White House in Washington. Williams was lauded “for his achievements in symphonic music for motion pictures", and cited "as a pre-eminent composer and conductor [whose] scores have defined and inspired modern movie-going for decades."


Video of the awards - John Williams is about 17 minutes in

As a child, he survived rampaging velociraptors. Two decades later, he has emerged from self-imposed acting exile to reunite with Steven Spielberg for 'The Pacific'.

Mazzello plays former US marine Eugene Sledge in The Pacific
People almost recognise Joe Mazzello as he wanders around the Four Seasons hotel in Beverly Hills; almost, but not quite. You can see little cogs in their heads whirr as they try, and then mostly fail, to place him in a mental list of celebrities. And since it's definitely not cool to stare at famous people, they'll discreetly nudge each other and whisper about who that strangely familiar young man might be. "I get used to being sort-of spotted," he explains. "Sometimes, strangers come up to me and ask: 'Aren't you that guy from...?' Then they'll just stop talking, because they've forgotten what film they saw me in." The film was almost certainly Jurassic Park, in which Joe played mad dinosaur…

Imagine what the Star Wars saga would be without John Williams’ brilliant touch. Of course, the first thought in your mind was likely the iconic title sequence, and it’s not so crazy to think that track is more recognizable than the films, or even the late Darth Vader. The music of the saga has had a profound effect on me as a film lover. It is likely the original source of my passion for composed scores and I find myself going back to it whenever I’m in need of some tunes.

Read The Article Here - http://screenrant.com/movie-music-mikee-49042/all/1/

Just to make my last post complete here is the Midnight Special from Twilight Zone The Movie

I have been waiting for this soundtrack for a long long time.  Today it finally arrived and WOW!  I always rememember thinking way back when Twilight Zone The Movie was released how good the soundtrack was and in particular the Steven Spielberg story - Kick The Can.


This track is caled Young Again/Take Me With You/ A New Guest.  I strongly recommend adding this to your soundtrack collection.  The CD comes with a 28 page booklet packed with facts about the movie and the soundtrack.
I quote from the booklet:


Goldsmith provides a waltz variation of his main theme as the young agee dances with the young Mrs Dempsey.  The score suddenly quiets and winds its way into the more plaintive secondary melody as the children speakwith Bloom and begin to realize that reliving their lives would also include the challenges they all endured.  Synthesizer brings back the main theme as they begin to grasp Bloom's true point:  that it is more meaningful to maintain youth mentally rather than physicall…