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Joseph Viskocil
Joseph Viskocil (December 21, 1952 – August 11, 2014) was an American special effects artist who had over 80 film credits from 1974 to 2014. He created special effects for some of the most famous movie franchises and was awarded an Academy Award for his work on '' Independence Day'' (1996). Career In 1977, Viskocil assisted John Dykstra and George Lucas in creating the pyrotechnics for '' Star Wars'', including the explosion of the Death Star at the film's climax. In 1980, he returned to create pyrotechnics for ''The Empire Strikes Back''. For the next three decades, he worked on films from the most famous franchises, including ''Ghostbusters'', '' Batman'' and '' Star Trek''. After serving as pyrotechnics supervisor for the 1996 film '' Independence Day'', Viskocil was awarded the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects alongside Volker Engel, Douglas Smith and Clay Pinney at the 69th Academy Awards. Viskocil and miniature supervisor Mike Joyce were responsible for the creat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world's most populous megacities. Los Angeles is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Southern California. With a population of roughly 3.9 million residents within the city limits , Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic and cultural diversity, being the home of the Hollywood film industry, and its sprawling metropolitan area. The city of Los Angeles lies in a basin in Southern California adjacent to the Pacific Ocean in the west and extending through the Santa Monica Mountains and north into the San Fernando Valley, with the city bordering the San Gabriel Valley to it's east. It covers about , and is the county seat of Los Angeles County, which is the most populous county in the United States with an estimat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Computer-generated Imagery
Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is the use of computer graphics to create or contribute to images in art, printed media, video games, simulators, and visual effects in films, television programs, shorts, commercials, and videos. The images may be static (still images) or dynamic ( moving images), in which case CGI is also called ''computer animation''. CGI may be two-dimensional (2D), although the term "CGI" is most commonly used to refer to the 3-D computer graphics used for creating characters, scenes and special effects in films and television, which is described as "CGI animation". The first feature film to make use of CGI was the 1973 film '' Westworld''. Other early films that incorporated CGI include '' Star Wars'' (1977), ''Tron'' (1982), '' Golgo 13: The Professional'' (1983), ''The Last Starfighter'' (1984), '' Young Sherlock Holmes'' (1985) and ''Flight of the Navigator'' (1986). The first music video to use CGI was Dire Straits' award-winning " Money for No ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johnny Mnemonic (film)
''Johnny Mnemonic'' is a 1995 cyberpunk film directed by Robert Longo in his directorial debut. Based on the 1981 story of the same name by William Gibson, it stars Keanu Reeves and Dolph Lundgren. Reeves plays the title character, a man with an overloaded, cybernetic brain implant designed to store information. The film portrays Gibson's dystopian, prophetic view of 2021 with the world wracked by a tech-induced plague, awash with conspiracies, and dominated by megacorporations, with strong East Asian influences. Shot on location in Canada, with Toronto and Montreal filling in for the Newark and Beijing settings, a number of local sites, including Toronto's Union Station and Montreal's skyline and Jacques Cartier Bridge, are prominently featured. A longer version (103 mins) of the film that is closer to the director's cut premiered in Japan on April 15, 1995, featuring a score by Mychael Danna and different editing. The film was released in the United States on May 26, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apollo 13 (film)
''Apollo 13'' is a 1995 American space docudrama film directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Ed Harris, and Gary Sinise. The screenplay by William Broyles Jr. and Al Reinert dramatizes the aborted 1970 Apollo 13 lunar mission and is an adaptation of the 1994 book '' Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13'', by astronaut Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger. The film depicts astronauts Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise aboard Apollo 13 for America's fifth crewed mission to the Moon, which was intended to be the third to land. En route, an on-board explosion deprives their spacecraft of much of its oxygen supply and electrical power, which forces NASA's flight controllers to abort the Moon landing mission and improvise scientific and mechanical solutions to get the three astronauts to Earth safely. Howard went to great lengths to create a technically accurate movie, employing NASA's assistance in astronaut and flight-controller training ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
True Lies
''True Lies'' is a 1994 American spy action comedy film written and directed by James Cameron. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Arnold, Art Malik, Tia Carrere, Bill Paxton, Eliza Dushku, Grant Heslov and Charlton Heston. It is based on the 1991 French comedy film ''La Totale!'' The film follows U.S. government agent Harry Tasker (Schwarzenegger), who struggles to balance his double life as a spy with his familial duties. For her performance, Curtis won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and the Saturn Award for Best Actress, while Cameron won the Saturn Award for Best Director. The film ultimately grossed $378 million worldwide at the box-office, becoming the third-highest-grossing film of 1994, behind ''The Lion King'' and ''Forrest Gump''. It was also nominated at the Academy Awards and BAFTAs in the Best Visual Effects category, and also for seven Saturn Awards. ''True Lies'' was the first Lightstorm Entertai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Batman Returns
''Batman Returns'' is a 1992 American superhero film directed by Tim Burton and written by Daniel Waters. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, it is the sequel to ''Batman'' (1989) and the second installment in the 1989–1997 ''Batman'' series. In the film, the superhero vigilante Batman comes into conflict with wealthy industrialist Max Shreck and deformed crime boss Oswald Cobbleplot / The Penguin, who seek power, influence, and respect regardless of the cost to Gotham City. Their plans are complicated by Selina Kyle, Shreck's formerly-meek secretary, who seeks vengeance against Shreck as Catwoman. The cast includes Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Michael Gough, Pat Hingle, and Michael Murphy. Burton had no interest in making a sequel to the successful ''Batman'', believing that he was creatively restricted by the expectations of Warner Bros. He agreed to return in exchange for significant creative control, including replacing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Judgment Day
The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Reckoning, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, Doomsday, Day of Resurrection or The Day of the Lord (; ar, یوم القيامة, translit=Yawm al-Qiyāmah or ar, یوم الدین, translit=Yawm ad-Dīn, label=none) is part of the Abrahamic religions and the ''Frashokereti'' of Zoroastrianism. Christianity considers the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to entail the final judgment by God of all people who have ever lived, resulting in the approval of some and the penalizing of others. The concept is found in all the canonical gospels, particularly in the Gospel of Matthew. The Christian tradition is also followed by Islam, where it is mentioned in the 43rd chapter (''Az-Zukhruf'') of the Quran, according to some interpretations. Christian futurists believe it will follow the resurrection of the dead and the Second Coming of Jesus, while full preterists believe it has already occurred. The Last Judgment has inspired numerous artistic depi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barton Fink
''Barton Fink'' is a 1991 American period black comedy psychological thriller film written, produced, edited and directed by the Coen brothers. Set in 1941, it stars John Turturro in the title role as a young New York City playwright who is hired to write scripts for a film studio in Hollywood, and John Goodman as Charlie Meadows, the insurance salesman who lives next door at the run-down Hotel Earle. The Coens wrote the screenplay for ''Barton Fink'' in three weeks while experiencing writer's block during the writing of '' Miller's Crossing''. They began filming soon after ''Miller's Crossing'' was finished. The film is influenced by works of several earlier directors, particularly Roman Polanski's '' Repulsion'' (1965) and '' The Tenant'' (1976). ''Barton Fink'' had its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1991. In a rare sweep, it won the Palme d'Or as well as awards for Best Director and Best Actor (Turturro). Although the film was a box office bomb, only grossing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Abyss
''The Abyss'' is a 1989 American science fiction film written and directed by James Cameron and starring Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and Michael Biehn. When an American submarine sinks in the Caribbean, a US search and recovery team works with an oil platform crew, racing against Soviet vessels to recover the boat. Deep in the ocean, they encounter something unexpected. The film was released on August 9, 1989, receiving generally positive reviews and grossed $89.8 million. It won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and was nominated for three more Academy Awards. Plot In January 1994, the U.S. USS ''Montana'' has an encounter with an unidentified submerged object and sinks near the Cayman Trough. With Soviet ships moving in to try to salvage the sub and a hurricane moving over the area, the U.S. government sends a SEAL team to ''Deep Core'', a privately owned experimental underwater drilling platform near the Cayman Trough to use as a base of operations. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Killer Klowns From Outer Space
''Killer Klowns from Outer Space'' is a 1988 American science fiction horror comedy film written, directed and produced by the Chiodo Brothers, and starring Grant Cramer, Suzanne Snyder, John Allen Nelson and John Vernon. It is the only movie written and directed by the Chiodo Brothers, who also created the practical effects and makeup. It concerns a clan of evil extraterrestrials who resemble clowns. They arrive on Earth and invade a small town in order to capture, kill and harvest the human inhabitants to use as sustenance. ''Killer Klowns from Outer Space'' was filmed in Watsonville, California, and at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. The film utilizes practical effects, including rubber suits. The score was composed by John Massari. The movie received generally positive reviews and has been considered a cult classic. Sequels have been in development hell since the original film's release. Stephen Chiodo stated in 2016 that he hopes to produce three additional movies, o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Masters Of The Universe (film)
''Masters of the Universe'' (stylized as ''Masters of the Universe: The Motion Picture'') is a 1987 American superhero film directed by Gary Goddard, produced by Yoram Globus and by Menahem Golan and written by David Odell. The film stars Dolph Lundgren, Frank Langella, Jon Cypher, Chelsea Field, Billy Barty, Courteney Cox, Robert Duncan McNeill, and Meg Foster. It is based on the Mattel toy line of the same name and tells the story of two teenagers who meet He-Man, the most powerful man in the universe, and his friends, who arrive on Earth by chance from their home planet Eternia and go on a mission to save the universe from He-Man’s archenemy, the evil Skeletor. ''Masters of the Universe'' was released theatrically in the United States on August 7, 1987. It was a critical and commercial failure, grossing $17 million worldwide against a budget of $22 million, but is now regarded as a classic cult film. Plot On the planet Eternia, Skeletor's army seizes Castle Grayskull ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Return Of The Living Dead
''The Return of the Living Dead'' is a 1985 American comedy horror film written and directed by Dan O'Bannon in his directorial debut, and starring Clu Gulager, James Karen, Thom Matthews and Don Calfa. The film tells the story of how a warehouse owner, accompanied by his two employees, mortician friend and a group of teenage punks, deal with the accidental release of a horde of unkillable, brain-hungry zombies onto an unsuspecting town. The film, described as a "mordant punk comedy," is known for introducing multiple popular concepts to the zombie genre: zombies eating specifically brains, as opposed to eating any form of human flesh; zombies being invulnerable to a gunshot to the head; zombies being capable of at least some level of thought; and zombies running at full speed rather than being shambling hulks. The movie's soundtrack was noteworthy, as it featured several Los Angeles-based deathrock and punk rock bands of the era. The film was a critical success and perfo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
