FILM 1525: EDGE OF TOMORROW 

TRIVIA: Based on the manga and novel "All You Need Is Kill" by Hiroshi Sakurazaka.

It was never stated in the movie, but in the manga, the reason why Rita uses a melee weapon is because during her "resets" she would often run out of ammo, which resulted in her deaths. Keiji (in the manga) also learned about the convenience of a melee weapon and started using one.

While filming the car chase scene which includes a minivan, Emily Blunt was instructed to drive fast and then to take a right hand turn so that the van would shake. However, Blunt missed her mark and she drove the car right into a tree. She later said that it was both hilarious and terrifying, as she almost killed Tom Cruise, who was in the passenger seat, but both of them started laughing after the incident.

Emily Blunt admitted that after putting on the metal suit, she started crying because it was so heavy (it weighed 85 pounds) and that she would be required to perform action scenes in it for five months. She was jokingly told by Tom Cruise to "stop being such a wuss."

When Emily Blunt's character is introduced, she is doing a "planche" hold. Although she needed a wire for help on long takes, she is actually capable of doing that maneuver without assistance. In fact, when discussing the introduction, a cast member said, "Em, show that yoga move," and she casually demonstrated it.

The default language setup for Cage's battle armor is Japanese, a nod to the novel's country of origin.

Operation Downfall, the name the movie gave the planned invasion, was in fact a real planned invasion: the final invasion of the Japanese Home Islands to end World War II. The real Operation Downfall never happened, as the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki brought about the surrender of Japan.

Rita, for her bravery, was nicknamed by the public "The Angel of Verdun." In real life, Verdun was the site in France of the bloodiest battle of WWI in 1916. It lasted almost a year and an estimated one million men on both sides died, and Mons was the site in Belgium of a battle in 1914 and spawned tales of what many consider an otherworldly miracle. A 1914 newspaper short story about the battle, "The Bowmen," written by horror-story specialist Arthur Machen, told the tale of how during the battle, soldiers on both sides saw "supernatural" medieval archers appearing in the sky and causing the enemy to retreat. Despite Machen's attempts to prevent it, his story, which was entirely fictional, quickly inspired a popular and strongly believed account of "the Angels of Mons." The Battle of Verdun occurred two years later and there was no association with angelic apparitions, but Rita's nickname does seem to be inspired by the "Angels of Mons" story.

The sound design of the jacket is the same gun used in Aliens (1986).

At the beginning of the movie, there is a montage of different newscasters, news footage, and public officials trying to deal with the alien invasion. One of the public officials they showed was Hillary Clinton, implying that she was President of the United States. The movie was released in 2014, two years before the 2016 presidential elections.

While preparing for her role here, Emily Blunt was tutored in the Israeli self-defense system of "Krav Maga".

Doug Liman wanted to do the film because it showed a role that Tom Cruise hadn't done yet; someone very bad at what they do.

FILM 1468: MAD MAX: FURY ROAD 

TRIVIA: Over 80% of the effects seen in the film are real practical effects, stunts, make-up and sets. CGI was used sparingly mainly to enhance the Namibian landscape, remove stunt rigging and for Charlize Theron's left hand which in the film is a prosthetic arm.

In creating the look of the film, director George Miller laid down two stipulations for the production to follow. Firstly the cinematography would be as colorful as possible in order to differentiate the film from other post apocalyptic movies which typically have bleak desaturated colors. Secondly the art direction would be as beautiful as possible, as Miller reasoned that people living in the post apocalypse would try to find whatever scraps of beauty they could in their meager environment.

The film editor, Margaret Sixel, is director George Miller's wife. When she asked her husband why he thought she should do it as she had never edited an action film before, Miller replied, "Because if a guy did it, it would look like every other action movie."

In a Cannes press conference for the movie, Tom Hardy apologized to George Miller for the reportedly complicated relationship between the star and the director during filming. He stated: "There was no way, I mean, I have to apologize to you because I got frustrated. There was no way George could have explained what he could see in the sand when we were out there. Because of the due diligence that was required to make everything safe and so simple, what I saw was a relentless barrage of complexities, simplified for this fairly linear story. I knew he was brilliant, but I didn't know how brilliant until I saw it. So, my first reaction was 'Oh my god, I owe George an apology for being so myopic.'"

After George Miller screened some footage at SWSX film festival, a man stood up and asked: "How the hell did you film that!?" That man was none other than director Robert Rodriguez.

Riley Keough, the actress who plays the red-haired bride, Capable, is daughter of Lisa Marie Presley and grand-daughter of Elvis Presley. In real life, Elvis Presley purchased Cadillacs for his friends and family which outnumber his personal collection (in real life he purchased 14 1959 Cadillacs as 'give away' automobiles, mostly used for charitable causes; in real life he does not own the 1959 model since he was stationed in West Germany when serving in the U.S. Army). Only film to date where Keough is seen in an automobile connected with her grandfather, who was an admirer of the Cadillac product line.

In a July 2014 interview at San Diego Comic-Con International, George Miller said he designed the film in storyboard form before writing the screenplay, working with five storyboard artists. It came out as about 3,500 panels, almost the same number of shots as in the finished film. He wanted the film to be almost a continuous chase, with relatively little dialogue, and to have the visuals come first. Paraphrasing Alfred Hitchcock, Miller said that he wanted the film to be understood in Japan without the use of subtitles.

The second sequel to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture without any of its predecessors being nominated, the first being Toy Story 3 (2010).

 

FILM 1186: AVATAR

TRIVIA: At the time of auditioning, Sam Worthington was living in his car.

James Cameron, known for being tough on set, allegedly kept a nail-gun on set that he would use to nail cell phones, that had the misfortune of ringing, to a wall above the exit sign.

The Na'vi language was created entirely from scratch by linguist Paul R. Frommer. James Cameron hired him to construct a language that the actors could pronounce easily, but did not resemble any single human language. Frommer created about 1000 words.

Each frame (1/24 of a second) of the CGI scenes took an average of 47 hours to render.

James Cameron was convinced that CGI effects had progressed enough to make this film when he saw Gollum in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002).

To help the actors prepare for their roles, director James Cameron took the cast and crew to Hawaii, where they spent their days trekking through the forests and jungles and living like tribes (building campfires, eating fish, etc), in order to get a better sense of what it would be like to live and move around in the jungle on Pandora, since there would not be any actual jungle sets to aid and guide the actors and crew. Zoe Saldana even dressed up as a warrior during these journeys, complete with an alien tail symbolic of the one her character has in the movie. These hikes were only done during the daytime, though; the cast and crew spent their nights at a Four Seasons hotel.

The book Grace picks up in the abandoned school is called 'The Lorax' by Dr. Seuss. Like the plot of the film the book is about a mystical forest full of beautiful trees and mystical creatures that are destroyed by man's lust for ever growing industry.

Jake's atrophied legs were prosthetics cast from the legs of a real paraplegic. Sam Worthington's real legs were tucked into the wheelchair and digitally removed in post-production.

The word "na'vi" in Hebrew means prophet. A na'vi is a visionary or someone who communicates directly with God. Its plural, nevi'im, also refers to the prophetic books of the bible, which include "Daniel," "Micah," and "Isaiah."

"Unobtainium" is a humorous term used mainly in the aerospace industry. It describes a material that is perfect for an application, but does not exist, is extremely expensive, or violates the laws of physics. Its chemical symbol is Uo. "Unobtainium" is also a general concept term used by sci-fi enthusiasts for any fictional substance that is needed to build a certain device that is crucial to the plot of a sci-fi story. "Unobtainium" is featured in the movie The Core (2003), where the earth-boring vessel called the "Virgil" has a hull made from unobtainium to help it withstand the massive pressures inside the Earth's core. "Unobtainium" is also an anti-gravity element in the online multi-player video game "Skyrates."

Colonel Quaritch mentions that being on Pandora made him feel "like a shave-tail Looie." "Shave tail" was a term originally used in the 19th century among U.S. cavalry regiments. Newly assigned cavalry troopers were given horses with a shaved tail, to let other troopers know that the rider was dangerously inexperienced, and should be given extra room to maneuver during training. "Looie" is a nickname for lieutenant, the lowest ranking, and least experienced, rank among U.S. Marine Corps officers.

The common spirit of Pandora where every creature is constantly connected to each other and the planet itself is based on the concept of Gaia described in Isaac Asimov's novel 'Foundation's Edge' (1982).

Though he is not credited in the film, several locations look very similar to paintings by English surrealist Roger Dean, most notably his works "Floating Islands" and "Arches".

In Korean, "Na'vi" is spelled like "nabi", the Korean word for "butterfly", and a very common name of cats.

FILM 1182: HARAKIRI

TRIVIA:  While filming, Tatsuya Nakadai was afraid during most of the sword and spear fighting scenes because real swords were being used, a practice now forbidden in Japanese films. His concern was not alleviated even though professional swordsmen were employed during the choreographed swordplay.

Seppuku and harakiri (the US working title) both mean to commit ritual suicide in Japanese. However, seppuku is the formal term, derived from the kanji characters for "hara" (belly) and "kiri" (cut); harakiri is the cruder, less polite term for this act.