nedgo Reviews

Space Race Ride (1993 Video)

Notes on the films creation...

[8/10 · 21 October 2007]

OKAY - this is biased as I had the job of writing and producing this project at ILM in the early 1990's. There were no screen credits placed on the film due to nature of its exhibition as a "simulator ride experience." I am encouraging anyone who contributed to the show to add their names to this database for posterity.

Over the years I have run in to people who saw the film in its longest running venue in Toronto; It's gratifying to hear they have fond memories of the show.

A few notes of possible interest for the record:

* The story concept was by the legendary Dennis Muren. * SPACE RACE was the last 100% optically composited project to be produced by ILM. The digital age was upon us, though the technology was prohibitively expensive. * In order create the illusion of a continuous view through the window of a space shuttle, the film was composited in 9 (I think - hard to recall now) individual shots. The transitions between each comp were masked by a another ship or object wiping across our view. The idea was borrowed from Alfred Hitchcock's "ROPE". * Look carefully for the image of Elvis! (it's on a sign before a tunnel entrance to the pit stop.) * All of the pit stop technicians are ILM employees.

The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum (1975)

Any milarity between 1975 and 2003 is .. unavoidable

[9/10 · 27 September 2003]

This film is as prescient about the abuses of the so-called liberal media, as another film made the same year: NETWORK. Though the political agendas of the two films run somewhat different tracks, they arrive at the same station. One's private life, passions and convictions are reduced to fodder for the lowest common denominator of the semi-literate whenever it suits the status quo's purpose.

If you're about to see "The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum" for the first time, attempt to avoid thinking of it as an old film; As with Network, the passing decades have proved it more a documentary.

Dances with Wolves (1990)

Changed my mind ...

[9/10 · 17 June 2003]

This post refers to the extended DVD special edition of DANCES WITH WOLVES. Rarely does a film improve with the addition of 50+ minutes of film, certainly not a multiple Oscar winner. DANCES is that rare beast. A fine film at its original theatrical running time; it is a true masterwork in its extended DVD presentation. I'd viewed the film but once in its original theatrical run in 1990. I was impressed by Mr. Costner's directorial debut, though I felt much of the same material about the Caucasian race's shameful treatment of Native Americans had been stated as eloquently in LITTLE BIG MAN. Seeing the 4-hour cut of DANCES renders my initial reaction invalid. I recently viewed LITTLE BIG MAN for the first time in 15 years, and then bought my copy of the extended DANCES. Comparing the two works is like saying THE LONGEST DAY covers the same turf as SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. They may cover the same history but they are different poems in different languages. Get the new DANCES extended edition and treasure it as one of THE great American films.