FILM 1974: THE CELL

FILM 1974: THE CELL

TRIVIA: Jennifer Lopez wanted the costumes to be comfortable to wear. Costume designer Eiko Ishioka advised Lopez to feel uncomfortable because her character, Catherine, is "tortured".

(At around one hour and three minutes) When Catherine (Jennifer Lopez) talks with Carl (Vincent D'Onofrio) while he is "cleaning" his first victim, the scenery resembles the music video "Losing My Religion" by R.E.M.; that video was directed by this film's director, Tarsem Singh.

(At around one hour and twelve minutes) The scene where Peter Novak (Vince Vaughn) first enters the mind of Carl Stargher (Vincent D'Onofrio), and is confronted by three females with open mouths to the sky is based on the painting "Dawn" by Norwegian painter Odd Nerdrum.

(At around forty-four minutes) The scene in which the horse is cut into segments suspended in glass cases is inspired by the work of British artist Damien Hirst (e.g., the installation "Some Comfort Gained from the Acceptance of the Inherent Lies in Everything").

Vincent D'Onofrio later admitted that his wife refused to sleep in the same bed with him for two weeks after seeing his performance in the movie.

Named by Roger Ebert as one of his top-ten films of 2000.

Vince Vaughn and Vincent D'Onofrio played brothers in The Break-Up (2006).

FILM 1941: MARS ATTACKS!

FILM 1941: MARS ATTACKS!

TRIVIA: The writers weren't sure what the Martians should sound like, so the script read "ack, ack, ack, ack" for all of their lines of dialogue. This became the actual words spoken by the Martians in the film.

The Martian Girl costume had no zipper or buttons (to make it as smooth as possible), so Lisa Marie had to be sewn into it every day.

Although supposedly taking place in the 1990s, the U.S. Army's uniforms, tanks, Jeeps, artillery, et cetera, all date from the 1950s, when the movies being spoofed were made.

When people had their flesh vaporized from their bones, the remaining skeletons were either red or green. Tim Burton explained this had been done because the movie had been scheduled for a Christmas release. Also, the red and green skeletons were first seen in Beetlejuice (1988). When Barbara and Adam were in Juno's office, you can see them with other ghouls looking at the screen. 

Tim Burton pitched the idea of the film to Warner Brothers by showing them the Topps trading cards that inspired the screenplay.

The little dog owned by television hostess Nathalie Lake (Sarah Jessica Parker), is actually owned by Lisa Marie (Martian Girl).

Tim Burton had wanted the Martians brought to life via stop-motion animation, but finally went with CGI. The animators told Burton they could animate the Martians without motion blur to make them look more "stop-motiony," but Burton decided against that.

The Martians land in Pahrump, Nevada, home of radio talk-show host Art Bell. Bell is well known for featuring guests who are involved, in one way or another, with the subject of outer-space life forms. This ranges from scientists investigating the possibility of extraterrestrial life, to people who claim to have been contacted, kidnapped, examined, or impregnated (sometimes all at the same time) by space aliens. 

Martin Amis worked on the script for this movie. He said, "I rather liked the film, though it contained not a word I wrote."

DIRECTOR TRADEMARK (Tim Burton): (cast): Features many actors and actresses who appeared in previous Burton films: Sylvia Sidney from Beetlejuice (1988), Jack Nicholsonfrom Batman (1989), O-Lan Jones from Edward Scissorhands (1990), Danny DeVito from Batman Returns (1992), Sarah Jessica Parker, and Lisa Marie Smith from Ed Wood(1994).

DIRECTOR TRADEMARK (Tim Burton): (music): Music by Danny Elfman.

FILM 1899: ANNIHILATION

FILM 1899: ANNIHILATION 

TRIVIA: Due to a poorly received test screening, David Ellison, a financier at Paramount, became concerned that the film was "too intellectual" and "too complicated," and demanded changes to make it appeal to a wider audience, including making Portman's character more sympathetic and changing the ending. Producer Scott Rudin sided with Garland in his desire to not alter the film, defending the film and refusing to take notes. Rudin had final cut.

Oscar Isaac filmed this movie and Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) on adjacent studio lots. He had the same trailer for both films and would often film scenes for both movies on the same day.

Director Alex Garland decided not to reread the novel "Annihilation." Instead, he decided to adapt it "like a dream of the book."

During the lecture, Lena describes the cells in the video presentation as "cervical cancer" from a "31-year old patient." These are most likely HeLa cells, an immortalized cell line derived from a cervical cancer taken from Henrietta Lacks. The cells are widely used in Biomedical research, and the story of how cells from a patient biopsy were derived without her consent or knowledge is shown in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks(2017). The movie is based on the book of the same name, and Lena is reading a copy of the book when she sits on the couch with Kane.

FILM 1875: ALIENS

FILM 1875: ALIENS

TRIVIA: Like most films, the movie wasn't shot in sequence. But for added realism, James Cameron filmed the scene where we first meet the Colonial Marines (one of the earliest scenes) last. This was so that the camaraderie of the Marines was realistic because the actors had spent months filming together.

When filming the scene with Newt in the duct, Carrie Henn kept deliberately blowing her scene so she could slide down the vent, which she later called a slide three stories tall. James Cameron finally dissuaded her by saying that if she completed the shot, she could play on it as much as she wanted. She did, and he kept his promise.

In both the standard and special edition versions, the fifteen minute countdown at the end of the film is indeed fifteen minutes.

Sigourney Weaver's Best Actress Academy Award nomination for this movie was the first ever for an actress in a role in an action movie.

None of the models or the original designs of the Narcissus (the Nostromo's shuttle) from Alien (1979) could be found, so set designers and model-makers had to reconstruct the model of the ship and the interior set from watching Alien (1979).

Budget constraints meant that they could only afford to have six hypersleep capsules for the scenes set aboard the Sulaco. Clever placement of mirrors and camera angles made it look like there were 12. Each hypersleep chamber cost over $4,300 to build.

Ripley's miniature bathroom in her apartment is actually a British Airways toilet, purchased from the airline.

The film takes place in 2179.

Having hired James Cameron to write the screenplay, 20th Century Fox then did the unthinkable when he left the production to direct The Terminator (1984): they agreed to wait for Cameron to become available again and finish the screenplay. Cameron had only completed about 90 pages at that stage, but the studio had loved what he had written so far.

Hicks was originally played by James Remar, but Michael Biehn replaced him a few days after principal photography began. The often given reason for Remar being removed was due to "artistic differences" between Remar and director James Cameron. But in episode #128 of the 'Sidebar' podcast, Remar states that he was fired from the production because he was busted for possession of drugs. He said this was in a period of his life where he said he had developed a terrible drug problem. Remar still appears in the finished film - he is seen for one shot when the marines enter the alien nest. Because he is seen from behind wearing the same armor as Michael Biehn, it's impossible to tell the difference between the two actors.

The various screens and displays, seen mostly in the backgrounds, are actually TV screens with a video running. The film was shot in the UK where televisions run at 25 frames per second, however, film is normally shot and projected at 24 frames per second! Filming the TV monitors at that speed would cause the TV screens to run out of sync with the film, so they would have flickered terribly. Instead, the shots containing the monitors were taken at 25 frames per second to keep the monitors in sync, so when these are then projected at the standard rate of 24 fps, they now run a bit slower than real-life.

The button on the control panel Ripley presses to shut the air lock doors on the ship at the end of the film is actually a "Hold" Button from a UK style "Fruit Machine" or "Bandit"!

The video screen park background at Gateway Station hospital is actually a still photograph of the gardens at Pinewood Studios, where the movie was made.

Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.

FILM 1865: WAR OF THE WORLDS

FILM 1865: WAR OF THE WORLDS

TRIVIA: During the filming of the underwater scenes (where the ferry capsizes), director Steven Spielberg played a prank on Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning by playing the dramatic music from Jaws (1975) (also one of Spielberg's films) through the massive underwater speakers on the sound stage.

The tripod design for the alien machines is based on H.G. Wells' original description from his book, including the heat rays at the ends of arms. The "red weed" is also from the novel, as is the alien "need" for humans.

When the aliens are investigating the junk in the basement, one of them plays with a bicycle wheel. This is a reference to the original book; the main character observes that, with all the advanced technology the aliens possess, they do not use any wheels, and wonders if the alien life form had skipped the invention of the wheel.

Due to Steven Spielberg's last minute post-production work, he had to drop out of a scheduled appearance with Tom Cruise to promote the film on The Oprah Winfrey Show(1986). This was the episode of Cruise's highly publicized "couch jumping" incident.

An actual out-of-use Boeing 747 was bought to be used as the crashed plane.

Before David Koepp was hired, Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise asked J.J. Abrams to write the script. But, he had to turn it down, as he was working on the pilot for Lost(2004) at the time.

In 2005, the plane crash set was featured in Universal Studios Hollywood's public Studio Tour. The wreckage was located only a few feet from the infamous Psycho (1960) house and Bates Motel sets.

The opening voiceover monologue paraphrases and updates the first paragraph from H.G. Wells' novel. For example, "nineteenth century" is changed to "twenty-first century".

Tom Cruise's sixth consecutive film to break the 100 million dollar barrier domestically since 2000, and his thirteenth movie to break that barrier in total.

After her actions in the film, Dakota Fanning's character was voted 'most useless thing to have in an apocalypse' by MTV

Ray drives a rare 1966 Shelby Mustang GT-350H, black with gold stripes. 1,001 were produced in total, with around 800 being produced in the black and gold color scheme. Also known as the "Rent-A-Racer", it was available for rent at Hertz for seventeen dollars per day, and seventeen cents per mile. An original example sold at auction in 2006 for 180,900 dollars, and since a crane driver would be unlikely to own such a valuable car, it's probably one of the many replicas which have subsequently been made, worth a fraction of that.

DIRECTOR TRADEMARK: Steven Spielberg: [fathers] The main character is a divorced father whose children are angry at him, mirroring Spielberg's experience with his absentee father.

BOOK 182: SEX CRIMINALS, VOL. 1: ONE WEIRD TRICK: MATT FRACTION & CHIP ZDARSKY

BOOK 182: SEX CRIMINALS, VOL. 1: ONE WEIRD TRICK: MATT FRACTION & CHIP ZDARSKY

Sex Criminals is an ongoing, monthly comic book published by American company Image Comics. It is written by Matt Fraction and illustrated by Chip Zdarsky. The first issue was published September 25, 2013 and the series received positive reviews.

Sex Criminals was nominated for two Eisner Awards in 2014 including Best Continuing Series and won Best New Series. On February 25, 2015, it was announced that Matt Fraction made a deal with Universal TV to turn Sex Criminals into a television show.

Critical reception

Time honored Sex Criminals as the #1 comic series/graphic novel of 2013.

IGN tagged the work as "amazing", and said that the story is "so addictive, you'll find yourself staring at the last page in horror when you realize you'll have to wait another month to find out what happens next".

Paste called the first issue "splendid", with "an immediately likable character", specifying that although one "wouldn’t trust most comic creators to turn a sexual awakening into compelling pulp fiction (...) Fraction and Zdarsky pull it off masterfully.

WhatCulture.com called Sex Criminals a "masterpiece", with "an adorable cast, virtuoso writing and stunning art,", and Sciencefiction.com called it "entertaining", "witty", and "very fun", while emphasizing that the sexual content is "tastefully presented."

The first compilation, Sex Criminals: One Weird Trick, was nominated for the 2015 Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story.

FILM 1541: THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS

TRIVIA: The triffids inspired the E.T. plants of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

In an interview, producer Bernard Glasser said that in order to satisfy a British government requirement that productions shot in British have a certain percentage of British executives, George Pitcher, a retired film executive, was hired as basically a "frontman"; although credited as producer, he had no actual authority over the production.

Kieron Moore and Janette Scott were only added to the cast when it was discovered on completion of filming that there was only 57 minutes of good usable footage available . The whole lighthouse sequence, directed by the veteran Director of Photography Freddie Francis, was only added on to help extend the movie's running time.

BOOK 150: THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS: JOHN WYNDHAM

TRIVIA: The story has been made into the 1962 feature film of the same name, three radio drama series (in 1957, 1968 and 2008), and two TV series (in 1981 and 2009). It was nominated for the International Fantasy Award in 1952, and in 2003 the novel was listed on the BBC's survey The Big Read.

According to director Danny Boyle, the opening hospital sequence of The Day of the Triffids inspired Alex Garland to write the screenplay for 28 Days Later (2002).

In an homage to the story, the game "The Simpsons: Tapped out" offers a variety of crops on Cletus's farm, such as tomacco and GMO potatoes, and every crop specifies how many game dollars it costs to plant it, how long it takes to grow, and its reward in game dollars and experience points. But for the crop "triffids" the only reward promised is "the end of humanity".