Persephone's (Gothic) Insights

As part of my ongoing Q & A series on " Alien: Ore " (2019), this is part two of my interview with Kailey and Sam Spear on the making of their movie.   New interview segments post every Friday at 2 p.m., EST. In case you missed it, r ead  part one !  Production (cont.) [ editor's note: Most of my questions about the contest, itself, are based off  the contest brief , on Tongal's website. ] Nick:  Kolton Brown was the man who finds Al’s body, was he not? K & S:  Yes, indeed. Played by Steven Stiller . He is such a great guy! Steven Stiller and his "Aspen Beer" t-shirt, covered in grime  ( courtesy of  Shimon Photo ). Nick:  Having the Aspen Beer logo on his shirt was a nice touch. Whose idea was that? K & S:  Thank you! We liked that one. We figured there would be at least one guy in this colony who would be the type to wear a beer shirt to work. Kolton was th...

This write-up concerns my initial thoughts about   The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (2019), including its   new trailer .  I also consider how Gothic its dark fantasy approach is. Spoilers! Based off the writings of Jim Henson and Dave Odell,  Age of Resistance is the upcoming Dark Crystal  miniseries. Set inside their dark, enchanting world, much is the same as it was, decades ago (more than you might expect in this age of soulless reboots and nostalgia cash-grabs). However, there are some differences, too. For example, in the original Dark Crystal (1982), the imagery spoke solely for itself. The only names belonged to Aughra, Jen, Fizzgig and Kira. Virtually everyone else was a position ("Chancellor") or entity ("podlings"). It was a simple, fairy tale world. Things will be less simple, this time. Mark my words. In Age of Resistance , the purpose of our visit is educational: to explore much of what Henson and company left out, back in 1982. F...

This post catalogs the entirety of my interviews with the cast and crew for "Alien: Ore" and includes any salient links. :) Foreword Since the release of Scott's  Alien: Covenant  (2017), details on a new  Alien  project have been limited. Recently, however, there’s been something of an  Alien  renaissance:  a now-famous high school play , and six  Alien  shorts produced by  Tongal  in conjunction with Fox. While all of them are enjoyable, and nicely varied in terms of technique and style, “ Alien: Ore ” (2019) is the best of the lot. Well-rounded and technically superb, it captures  Alien  (1979) from every angle; the acting, writing, editing, photography and special effects are all top-shelf. The purpose of this ongoing series is to cover "Alien: Ore" from every possible angle, interviewing the cast and crew... "Alien: Ore" Q&A Compendium The Actors Mikela Jay  interview : Mikela is t...

As part of my ongoing Q & A series on " Alien: Ore " (2019), this part one of  a two-part interview with Kailey and Sam on the making of the movie.  New interview segments post every Friday at 2 p.m., EST. "Alien: Ore" Interview, Kailey and Sam: Making "Alien: Ore" Entering the Contest [editor's note: Most of my questions  about the contest, itself,  are based off  the contest brief , on Tongal's website.] Nick:  How and when did you find out about the contest? Did you have time in advance, or was it short-notice? K & S:  When we saw the call-out for pitches, we had less than six days to come up with something. The first portion of the pitch required a "beat sheet" of the full story as well as listing the key team, on board. [To] make sure that we were giving them options to choose between, [we] pitched three different stories. "Ore" was actually the first idea we came up with. Sam Spear, ...

This is part two of my article analyzing the  new trailer   for Tim Miller's upcoming movie,  Terminator: Dark Fate  (2019). Part one examines   The Terminator/T2   (1984/1991) and outlines the trailer. Part two will now examine its pros and cons, in further detail.   Spoilers! As mentioned in part one, Miller has clearly taken some gambles on his special effects. Suchgambles are hardly new. Cameron has rolled the dice before, as well; he was simply smarter about it. In  T2 , he shoots Arnold jumping off of, and rolling away from, the crashing tanker. Both are in the shot, but the footage of the tanker is clearly a blue screen: Note how their tones don't match. Blink and you'll miss it. However, this shot is very quick, thus "hiding" the visual imperfections. This being said, many shots in  T2   are longer because Cameron did them live—with a real stunt crew photographed in real time. While either "surfs" the tanker,...