If you're a fan of Star Wars, visual effects, or just movies in general, you won't want to miss this hour-long virtual session with Dennis Muren, senior visual effects supervisor and creative director of Industrial Light & Magic. On Friday 23 October, 2020, the final day of this year's epic VIEW Conference, Muren will not … Continue reading Dennis Muren at VIEW 2020
Tag: Dennis Muren
Revisiting Cinefex (40): Ghostbusters II, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
You need a pair of big name stars to put on the front cover of Cinefex #40. Who you gonna call? Why, Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray, of course, garbed as Ghostbusters and waving their nutrona wands in an image from Ivan Reitman's 1989 sequel Ghostbusters II. The supernatural vibe extends to the back cover, … Continue reading Revisiting Cinefex (40): Ghostbusters II, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Are special effects still special?
Dennis Muren, a living legend in the highly specialised field of visual effects, was recently quoted by movies.com as saying, 'In some ways, I think special effects aren't special any more.' It's fighting talk, especially when it's followed up with: 'If you're going to make a motion picture, don't just throw computer graphics in to … Continue reading Are special effects still special?
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 (26): Poltergeist II, Young Sherlock Holmes
Carol Anne's in trouble on the front cover of Cinefex #26, assailed by a whole new host of ghostly apparitions in Brian Gibson's 1986 sequel Poltergeist II: The Other Side. The apparitions come courtesy of Richard Edlund's Boss Film Studios and are thus of superior quality (though most folk wouldn't say the same about the … Continue reading Revisiting Cinefex (26): Poltergeist II, Young Sherlock Holmes
Revisiting Cinefex (18): Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Star Trek III
The front cover of Cinefex #18 is a real sizzler, showing as it does one of the hapless victims of the ruthless Thuggee cult descending into a lake of fiery lava. The image is one of the many impressive models created by Dennis Muren's team at Industrial Light and Magic for Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones … Continue reading Revisiting Cinefex (18): Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Star Trek III
Making the beauty shot beautiful
JJ Abrams's movie Super 8 is one of those that slipped through my viewing net when it was first released. This week I finally got round to watching it. I'm not here to review the film (other than to say I found a lot to like about it, not least the fabulous performances from the juvenile … Continue reading Making the beauty shot beautiful
Revisiting Cinefex (13): Return of the Jedi
I reckon the front cover of Cinefex issue #13 must have shot off the press like a rocket, featuring as it does a dynamic still of the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy (AKA that most famous of pirate ships, the Millennium Falcon) speeding through the innards of the second Death Star. Open the … Continue reading Revisiting Cinefex (13): Return of the Jedi
Graham Edwards 