The Sci-Fi Boys

                                                                    

Last night my husband and I had gone to see the Hobbit Movie: The Battle of the Five Armies and, while I loved it my husband was not as impressed. We also got to see the trailers of upcoming films and 2015 is going to be a blockbuster year. On the ride home we talked about the special effects of today’s films as compared to when we were kids. After Dan had gone to bed, I worked on an interview which I’ll be posting later today and then settled down to watch something different on television. I came across a documentary called The Sci-Fi Boys. Hmmm? What was this about? I decided to watch and I am so happy I did.

The Documentary

This was a tribute to the men who made special effects an important part of the film industry and featured film industry giants like Peter Jackson, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, John Landis, Dennis Muren, Rick Baker, Roger Corman, Ray Harryhausen, Forrest J Ackerman, Stephen Sommers and my all-time favorite Ray Bradbury.

                                                                       

 

The focus was on the legendary Ray Harryhausen for his stop-action Claymation monsters check his bio here: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0366063/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

And, also on Forrest J Ackerman for bringing to life the famous monsters of Film in his magazine, Famous Monsters of Filmland. He was the editor and principal writer of this magazine as well as an actor, from the 1950s into the 1980s and was credited for coining the name Sci-Fi. Check out Ackerman’s impressive history here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forrest_J_Ackerman

 

                                                                  

It was a delight to listen to famous directors who I admire talk about their love of movies and how they were hooked into making their own backyard horror films after seeing some of Harryhausen’s monsters and reading Ackerman’s monster magazines. We even get to see some of their earlier work on their parent’s 8mm camera.

I especially enjoyed seeing how the monsters were made to look so realistic with the earlier methods of stop motion action and learning what the directors’ feelings are concerning today’s CGI’s

You can catch this documentary On Demand or you can buy the CD. Check out the official site of The Sci-Fi Boys: http://www.webring.org/l/rd?ring=worldwideindepen;id=15;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Epauldavids%2Ecom%2Fsci_ficomp%2Ehtml

I found this on Youtube. Enjoy

Rise of the Guardians

 

                                                                           

 

Okay, so you all know by now that I have a hard time sleeping, but I’m not complaining. I get to see some really good, and sometimes, bad movies on T.V. Today’s blog is about one of the good movies, Rise of the Guardians. I had seen the trailers for this little gem when the film first came out, and I think my youngest grandson went to see it; I unfortunately missed it, until last night. Yes, my little zombie snacks, I do watch movies that don't feature zombies or vampires.

                                                                   

The Plot

Pitch Black (voice of Jude Law), the maker of nightmares is tired of all the happiness in the world. He has to take a back seat to North (Alec Baldwin), the Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman), the Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher), and Sandy the sandman, who brings young children their happy dreams. Pitch Black’s plan is to destroy Sandy in order to invade children’s dreams, and one by one, destroy the wee one’s belief in all that is good. I thought we adults were already doing this with wars, pollution and GMO’s. Okay, I’ll be good and not rant.

                                                                            

                                                                                    

The Guardians

While North and his abominable snowmen and elves are busy at making toys for Christmas, and the Tooth Fairy and her faeries collect teeth from under the children’s pillows, and the Easter Bunny is busy painting eggs for the big egg hunt deadline, we learn about a boy called Jack Frost.

                                                                               

Jack

Jack Frost’s (Chris Pine) only memory is waking up under the full moon. He has no memory of his past, but it doesn’t take him long to find out that he can make things pretty damn cold. The only problem is that no one can see him or hear him; he’s lonely. Hundreds of years go by and then one day he, for no particular reason, helps a group of children enjoy a great snowball fight. He even becomes protective of James (Dakota Goya) and his baby sister.

                                                                     

The Moon

Every good story has a battle and it’s usually about good vs. evil. The Man in the Moon has picked Jack Frost to be a Guardian. Santa, Tooth, Bunny and Sandy try to teach Jack why it’s so important to protect a child’s belief in good, but because Jack can’t remember his past, he’s hesitant to help. Meanwhile, Pitch Black is gaining power over the world with his nightmares, and if all the children in the world stop believing; the good guys will fade away. Will Jack Frost be able to save the children of the world and the other Guardians?

                                                                           

Conclusion

This is a great 3D computer-animated film based on William Joyce’s The Guardians of Childhood. This DreamWorks animation is filled with adventure and it’s a great family film that you will enjoy. How can you go wrong if Steven Spielberg is behind this film? In my opinion, he’s also a protector of childhood dreams.