tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8795280.post7199202574560934838..comments2024-03-24T13:26:57.317-07:00Comments on Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule: SLIFR REVIVAL PICK: Feb. 24 - Mar. 3Dennis Cozzaliohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01954848938471883431noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8795280.post-72836768260763378402010-02-26T10:35:25.198-08:002010-02-26T10:35:25.198-08:00Really well said Dennis. I am totally with you reg...Really well said Dennis. I am totally with you regarding the "how did he do that" sense of wonderment I still get when I watch a Harryhausen film. It just never ceases to amaze me. Just last night I was showing my son THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS and several times during the movie he asked me questions about what was a real set and what was a model and how things were done. <br />I love living close to LA in that there is so much for cinefiles to do on any given week or weekend night. You gotta love it! Just wish I had more time!Rupert Pupkinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12198415905923278482noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8795280.post-62881788305373480482010-02-26T08:46:23.920-08:002010-02-26T08:46:23.920-08:00Peter, I couldn't agree more. There's some...Peter, I couldn't agree more. There's something truly awe-inspiring about that sequence, and about the best of Harryhausen's other great sequences, that touch on something that escapes more sophisticated special effects. It has something to do with perceiving their handmade quality, of course, and even with the degree to which the lo-fi approach (as we experience it in 2010, anyway) directs you to utilize your imagination to fill in the spaces where the effects fall short in the photo-realism department. <br /><br />But I think also that, even after years and years of exposure to a computer-generated philosophy of effects which has more or less erased the line between simple physics and seeing things realized that are physically possible <i>while being encouraged to believe they're really happening</i>,* a sequence like the skeleton attack in <i>Jason</i> remains magical because it has somehow managed to retain, some 50 years after its conception, the ability to make us go, <i>"How did he do that?"</i>, despite our supposed sophistication regarding matters of movie magic.<br /><br />We know about the painstaking work and Herculean patience Harryhausen must have had to design and execute those sequences (which he did on his own, with minimal assistance). But it's not a process most of us can relate to in any way. CGI comes as part of the package in an age where I'd say 90% of the population is tied to their computers, either for work, play or through some sort of psychological addiction. Therefore even though most of us couldn't actually do what Pixar does, or what the teams that create memorable effects like those seen in <i>Starship Troopers</i> or in any other average action film do, we at least have a day-to-day familiarity with the language, the hardware and software, the virtual world of the computer in which those effects are created.<br /><br />But the idea of sitting down with models of one's own creation under hot lights on a miniaturized set, in relative isolation, and creating a spectacular fusion of stop-motion and live-action imagery like the skeleton attack in <i>Jason</i>, well, I'd wager most of us wouldn't have the foggiest idea where to even begin to <i>fantasize</i> about such an undertaking, let alone actually doing it. May we never figure it out.<br /><br />(* Of course, the very nature of those swooping, diving camera moves, taking us over cliffs and under moving vehicles and out the other side, or tracking past miles of terrain in a few seconds, we know are not physically possible, and the knowledge of that is welded to every one of these shots, making it almost impossible for me to suspend my disbelief in the way that I manage to just fine with less polished effects even to this day.)Dennis Cozzaliohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01954848938471883431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8795280.post-44269770286964280612010-02-26T05:35:24.240-08:002010-02-26T05:35:24.240-08:00The FilmMuseum in Berlin has one of their rooms de...The FilmMuseum in Berlin has one of their rooms devoted to Ray Harryhausen. As many times as I've seen them, those sword fighting skeletons never fail to thrill me.Peter Nellhaushttp://www.coffeecoffeeandmorecoffee.comnoreply@blogger.com