Supernal Dreams: The Amazing… IRON MAN!

Tony Stark, the millionaire playboy, as incarnated by bad boy actor Robert Downey, roars into theaters today, with the kind of adrenalin rush Stark gets from racing his shiny new Audi A8 down the Pacific Coast Highway from his super-cool cliffside mansion. As the first of this summer’s big comic book adaptations, Iron Man is …

Supernal Dreams: Vincent Price on Edgar Allan Poe

Here, from the vast CFQ archives are Vincent Price’s “Thoughts about the horror films that made him famous.” It’s a piece I wrote for the fabulous double issue of Cinefantastique, from January, 1989 on the career of “Horror’s crown prince,” Mr. Vincent Price. Of course, earlier today, Steve B. posted the sad news about the …

Ruins delivers chills and thrills

Given the apparent lack of faith Dreamworks felt about the critical reaction they might get for The Ruins, they decided not to screen the movie for the press until 10:00 p.m. on Thursday night, thus making (what they presumably felt would be mostly bad reviews), impossible to appear in Friday morning’s newspapers. Perhaps they were …

Supernal Dreams: Joe Dante talks Poe with Roger Corman & Daniel Haller

The new issue of Video Watchdog (#138) due out today features a long round table discussion between three top genre directors: Roger Corman, Daniel Haller and Joe Dante, with myself acting as moderator. The idea behind this get together was to talk in some detail about Corman’s work with Richard Matheson for Visions of Death, …

Supernal Dreams: Elijah Wood on "The Two Towers"

One of the great joys about writing for Cinefantastique, was to find that actors like Elijah Wood and directors like Peter Jackson actually enjoyed talking to you! It was thanks to the very good reputation CFQ enjoyed in the biz. So we never had very much difficulty in convincing most fantasy filmmakers to speak with …

Supernal Dreams: Tolkien artist Alan Lee on designing middle-earth for "Lord of the Rings"

While watching the extended DVD version of LORD OF THE RINGS: RETURN OF THE KING the other night, I was once again enthralled by the magnificence of the production, and thought back to several of the interviews I had done on the movie that never made it into CFQ’s December 2003 issue on the film. …

The Art of Ray Harryhausen: Interview Part 3 – "One Million Years, B.C."

Since Ray Harryhausen recently completed a mini-tour of California in February, here – in advance of the opening of 10,000 YEARS, B.C. – are some of Ray’s comments on his own prehistoric dinosaur epic from 40 years ago: ONE MILLION YEARS, B.C. LAWRENCE FRENCH: After doing THE ANIMAL WORLD, you didn’t work with dinosaurs again …

Supernal Dreams: Should Roger Corman and Christopher Lee recieve Honorary Oscars?

At next Sundays Academy Awards show, art director Robert Boyle will be awarded with an honorary Oscar. While he certainly deserves such an honor, it’s rather amazing to consider how many living genre artists have been overlooked in this area. Today, in an article in The Washington Post, Ann Hornaday argues that Roger Corman is …

JUMPER is a surrealistic surprise – Film Review

There’s a feeling that Doug Liman is constantly pursing the truth. On this film, everything outside of the teleportation had to feel completely real to him. In doing so, he demanded the most of everyone working with him. —Hayden Christensen Given all the worn out genre retreads Hollywood turns out these days, it’s nice to …

The Art of Ray Harryhausen: Interview Part 2

Ray Harryhausen’s epic s-f fantasy film, EARTH VS THE FLYING SAUCERS saw him destroy the White House and other sacred American monuments in Washington, D.C. during those long and dreary McCarthy era-years. It has been re-issued and restored in a colorized version on Columbia DVD, just in time to remind us that our own McCarthy …