Revisiting Cinefex (38): Terry Gilliam

Ready to be enchanted? Then take a look at the front cover of Cinefex #38, which shows the fanciful hero of The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) dancing an aerial waltz with the goddess Venus. The two figures are half-scale miniatures, though at a glance you'd swear they were alive. The chap on the back cover is … Continue reading Revisiting Cinefex (38): Terry Gilliam

Revisiting Cinefex (37): Star Trek: TNG, The Fly II, Oxford Scientific Films

Putting the world's most iconic spaceship on the front cover must have helped shift a few extra copies of Cinefex #37. But wait a second. Isn't that the USS Enterprise from Star Trek - The Next Generation? What's a TV show doing on the cover of a journal that's all about cinematic visual effects? Maybe … Continue reading Revisiting Cinefex (37): Star Trek: TNG, The Fly II, Oxford Scientific Films

Revisiting Cinefex (36): Dead Ringers, Alien Nation, Die Hard, The Blob

Jeremy Irons playing dead might seem an odd choice of picture for the front cover of a visual effects journal. All becomes clear when you realise this is a still from David Cronenberg's Dead Ringers, a film that both advanced the craft of split-screen 'twinning' and allowed its director to indulge his fascination with 'body-horror' … Continue reading Revisiting Cinefex (36): Dead Ringers, Alien Nation, Die Hard, The Blob

Revisiting Cinefex (35): Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Willow

Cinefex #35 contains behind-the-scenes stories on two big films of the late 80s, although both front and back covers feature just one: Robert Zemeckis's milestone marriage of live-action and animation, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? While the front is dominated by Roger himself - looking as manic as ever - the back is reserved for his … Continue reading Revisiting Cinefex (35): Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Willow

Revisiting Cinefex (34): Beetlejuice, Batteries Not Included

The cover of Cinefex #34 presents me with a problem. How do I describe the front cover without saying the name of the character out loud? What's that? It doesn't count if I write it down? Well, sorry, I just can't take that chance. Let's just say the scary animated snake-man comes from one of … Continue reading Revisiting Cinefex (34): Beetlejuice, Batteries Not Included

Revisiting Cinefex (33): James Bond, Dick Smith, Predator

We've been swindled! The front cover of Cinefex #33 doesn't have any visual effects on it. It's just a picture of some old geezer. Wait a second. Strike that. It's not an old geezer. It's what might be the best old-age makeup ever created for a motion picture, namely Dick Smith's incredible transformation of a 45 … Continue reading Revisiting Cinefex (33): James Bond, Dick Smith, Predator

Revisiting Cinefex (32): RoboCop, Innerspace

With its modest $13 million budget and domestic takings of over $50 million*, Paul Verhoeven's RoboCop was one of the big summer hits of 1987. Its main character became a classic '80s icon - thanks largely to Peter Weller's compelling performance and Rob Bottin's remarkable costume and makeup effects - and is clearly represented here on … Continue reading Revisiting Cinefex (32): RoboCop, Innerspace

Revisiting Cinefex (31): Spaceballs, The Witches of Eastwick, Masters of the Universe

Want to see a Winnebago zooming through space? Just park yourself in front of Mel Brooks's 1987 sci-fi parody Spaceballs. Alternatively you could take a look at the front cover of Cinefex #31. The celestial camper in question goes by the name of Eagle 5 and is in fact a detailed miniature photographed on Apogee's … Continue reading Revisiting Cinefex (31): Spaceballs, The Witches of Eastwick, Masters of the Universe

Revisiting Cinefex (30): Little Shop of Horrors, The Gate, The Golden Child

Ellen Greene's looking worried on the front cover of Cinefex #30, and why wouldn't she? She's face to face (or is that lips?) with carnivorous space-plant Audrey II in a scene from Frank Oz's 1986 musical Little Shop of Horrors. The voracious vegetable was created live 0n-set by Lyle Conway in a tour-de-force of puppetry. … Continue reading Revisiting Cinefex (30): Little Shop of Horrors, The Gate, The Golden Child

Revisiting Cinefex (29): Star Trek IV, King Kong Lives, Top Gun

It's hardware all the way on both the front and back covers of Cinefex #29. Up front is the Klingon 'Bird of Prey' spaceship swooping under the Golden Gate Bridge in Leonard Nimoy's 1986 film Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. The back cover shows a missile strike on a MiG fighter from Tony Scott's … Continue reading Revisiting Cinefex (29): Star Trek IV, King Kong Lives, Top Gun