Launching Today – The Cinefex Blog

Today sees the launch of the brand new Cinefex visual effects blog. The inaugural post is written by Cinefex publisher Don Shay, and it does a splendid job of setting out the new blog's agenda. While the parent magazine's mission remains unchanged - "to report rather than editorialize, to remain diligently objective, rather than subjective" … Continue reading Launching Today – The Cinefex Blog

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

Revisiting Cinefex (39): The Abyss

It's a shame there are no books about the making of The Abyss. I hear the behind-the-scenes stories are as enthralling as the movie itself. Wait a second ... here's issue #39 of the popular visual effects journal Cinefex and - what do you know - all 80 pages of it are devoted entirely to James … Continue reading Revisiting Cinefex (39): The Abyss

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