Event Horizon (1997)

We can't help ourselves, so we're heading to hell for another stab at a Paul W.S. Anderson film. This time we're talking about Event Horizon from 1997, written by Philip Eisner, starring Laurence Fishburne og Sam Neill, along with Anderson regulars Jason Isaacs and Sean Pertwee.

On this track we cover:

- The flawed story and what could have been
- The physics-defying techno babble
- Visual effects and designs
- We explain why we love the film unconditionally anyway
- And why, in the future, we're still going to need old-fashioned pens

DOWNLOAD

Download the mp3 file here. Link.

Subscribe to the commentary podcast in iTunes. Link.

STATS

Participants: David Bjerre and Dennis Rosenfeld.
Day of recording: September 11th, 2014.
Version: Bluray version.
Movie runtime: 1.35.57

SCREENSHOTS

Laurence Fishburne as Captain Miller, and Sean Pertwee as "Smitty".

Cool sci-fi design.

Best scene Paul Anderson ever staged? Discuss.

Entering the haunted house... erhm ship.

The meat grinder!

Goth designs.

Poor Jason Isaacs.

Visions of hell. Indistinguishable from footage more or less removed from a major Hollywood film.

Where we're going we don't need eyes. Ironically the audience didn't see fit to face that problem.

ADDITIONAL IMAGES

The gigantic daylight station model.

Lewis & Clark to the rescue.

The Event Horizon was built at almost full size.

David's costume from the movie! (Scenes cut. Lawsuit pending)

No matter how advanced we get, we'll always need pens. From Alien (1979), 2010 (1984), Total Recall (1990), and Event Horizon (1997).

Paul WS Anderson likes to steal from Alien. Top right and left: Alien (1979). Bottom left: Alien vs. Predator (2004). Bottom right: Event Horizon (1997).

ARTICLES

Cinefex, March 1998, article by Kevin H. Martin
American Cinematographer, August 1997, articles by Ron Magid
Fangoria, August 1997, article by Dave Hughes

AUDIO/VIDEO

Commentary and making of from the Special Edition.

Event Horizon miniature effects. Link.

LINKS

Alternate film studio logos. Link.

Fire in zero G. Link.

Planet distances. Link.

IMDb. Link.

Mission: Impossible (1996)

Tom Cruise stars as Ethan Hunt in Brian De Palma's 1996 big screen adaptation of Mission: Impossible, the classic TV show, created by Bruce Geller.

Our mission is: To investigate this fantastic action movie, with a critical eye, especially in terms of plot and connection to the original show.

On this track we cover:

- The logic of the plot
- The movie franchise vs. the series
- The origin of the series
- Tom Cruise the movie star
- And much more

Please note this track includes spoilers for all four Mission Impossible films, plus Stolen and The Untouchables.

DOWNLOAD

Download the mp3 file here. Link.

Subscribe to the commentary podcast in iTunes. Link.

STATS

Participants: David Bjerre and Dennis Rosenfeld.
Day of recording: June 20th, 2013.
Version: Bluray or NTSC DVD.
Movie runtime: 1:50:12.

SCREENSHOTS

Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt.

Jim Phelps explains the bad plan to the troops.

Rob Bottin makeup on Tom Cruise. That guy behind him fought aliens!

Prague by night.

Explain this paradox thing to me again.

When we're done here, you guys are gonna have sex, right?

The Kubrick room, by production designer Norman Reynold.

Cruise. Movie star.

A split diopter shot.

The fantastic final explosion.

Jim clearly shoots himself.

To the left: A cameo from visual effect supervisor John Knoll.

ARTICLES

American Cinematographer, June 2000, article by Eric Rudolph.
Cinefex No. 81, April 2000, article by Kevin H. Martin.
Premiere, Issue #109, June 1996, article by Tom Friend.

LITERATURE

The Complete Mission: Impossible Dossier, Patrick J. White
Mission: Impossible - A Novel, by Peter Barsocchini

AUDIO/VIDEO

Bluray and DVD extras.

The Mythbusters episodes mentioned are:
- Crimes and Myth-Demeanors (Airduct stunt)
- Mission Impossible Mask
- Bouncing Bullet (Riding an explosion)

CNBC Show with a Cast Reunion of "Mission Impossible". Link.

LINKS

IMDb. Link.

Wiki. Link.

CORRECTIONS

Alex North wrote the discarded score for 2001, not Lalo Schifrin.

David says the train background plates were shot at high speed. He means low speed, so that they appear to go fast.

ADDITIONAL

You can find even more screenshots and interesting goodies in this The Mission Impossible Visual Companion blog.

Cliffhanger (1993)

"Hang on!"

After a few comedy flops Sylvester Stallone's A-list status was hanging on his next project. Luckily Cliffhanger proved to be a fantastic return to form.

In this commentary we discuss this Renny Harlin directed movie, from 1993, written by John Long, Michael France, and Stallone himself. Co-starring John Lithgow, Michael Rooker, Janine Turner, and Rex Linn, and with stellar visual effects from Boss Film Studios.

On this track we cover:
- The demise of the classic action movie
- What happend to the old action stars?
- Visual effects on the cusp of the digital revolution
- The story of Carolco
- Mountain climbing films

DOWNLOAD

Download the mp3 file here. Link.

Subscribe to the commentary podcast in iTunes. Link.

STATS

Participants: David Bjerre and Dennis Rosenfeld.
Day of recording: March 29th, 2012.
Version: Bluray or NTSC DVD
Movie runtime: 1:53:00

SCREENSHOTS

Stallone. Back in his element.

The bad guys. Oh, and Michael Rooker.

1) Stallone in the studio. Helicopter sweeps through the frame, to reveal: 2) Stallone's double on a real mountain.

Joyner, Rooker, and Stallone in the studio.

Stallone's double, Rooker, and Joyner on location.

The famous aerial stunt.

A less than convincing model.

Artificial sense of height. There's a Wal-Mart just below the cliff.

Studio cliff, with front projection background.

Matte painted cliff.

The fake-looking ice-bridge set.

Model cliff, model chopper, Stallone puppet, CGI rotor.

LITERATURE

Cinefex No. 54, May 1993, article by Debra Kaufman

Making a Movie Out of a Mountain, by Bill Stall. Link.

Going Over The Edge with Sylvester Stallone, by Dirck Halstea. Link.

AUDIO/VIDEO

Bluray/DVD special features.

LINKS

The real story behind Cliffhanger. Link.

About Carolco Pictures. Link 1. Link 2. Link 3.

The story of Gale Force. Link.

Michael Rooker interview. Link.

IMDb. Link.

Wikipedia. Link.

The Shadow (1994)

"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?".

The Shadow from 1994 was the first big budget Hollywood attempt to make a film about the classic pulp anti-hero. Did they succeed? We investigate. The film was directed by Russell Mulcahy, written by David Koepp, based on the work of Walter B. Gibson, and produced by Martin Bregman.

On this track we cover:

- Creating a modern retro action adventure
- The origin of The Shadow
- The pulps and the radioplays
- Visual effects
- The utter implausibility of being able to cloud men's minds.
- And David talks about Alec Baldwin's hair

DOWNLOAD

Download the mp3 file here. Link.

Subscribe to the commentary podcast in iTunes. Link.

STATS

Participants: David Bjerre and Dennis Rosenfeld.
Day of recording: December 8th, 2011.
Version: German Bluray version, Netflix, or Fullscreen NTSC DVD.
Movie runtime: 1.47.25.

SCREENSHOTS

Tibet matte painting by Matte World.

Green screen Alec Baldwin in front of a model hut and model mountain in this Matte World shot.

The horrible painted backdrop.

Matte painting by Illusion Arts.

Aaaaw! I saw her first!

The split-focus shot.

The spectacular Illusion Arts matte painting, using the same street set twice.

Early CGI face by R/Greenberg Associates.

9 out of 10 megalomaniacs now recommend smoking.

You wouldn't like me when I'm William.

LITERATURE

Cinefantastique, No. 25, vol. 4 (August 1994)
- Article by Mark A. Altman
- Additional text by George Zebrowski, Tim Prokop, and Dan Scapperotti

Cinefex, No. 60 (December 1994), article by Mark Cotta Vaz
Starlog, Issue #205 (August 1994), article by Will Murray
Starburst, Issue #195 (November 1994), article by Alan Jones

Walter B. Gibson and The Shadow, by Thomas J Shimeld
The Shadow Scrapbook, by Walter B Gibson
The Shadow novelization, by James Luceno

The Pulps.
- A complete list of stories. Link.
- Reviews of the stories. Link.

AUDIO/VIDEO

Bluray special features.

The radioplays. Link 1. Link 2.

The Shadow Strikes (1937). Download.

International Crime (1938). Download.

LINKS

Shadow Fan Site. Link.

IMDb. Link.

Wikipedia. Link.