Emperor

The beginnings of cosmic horror and Lovecraftian fiction stem from the weird genre of the mid-20th century. So too is the modern cosmic horror genre connected to the often-contentious New Weird genre of the 21st century. The delineation of this new genre, the New Weird, appeared after several authors felt certain science fiction stories of the 21st century were of a wholly distinct literary styling from other narratives of the time [1]. Highly debated, New Weird arose from the combination of elements found in two modern science fiction genres. This new genre, individuals claimed, combined the already blurred lines of fantasy and science fiction of slipstream and interstitial science fiction with elements and narratives found in the horror genre. This new genre explored themes and narratives similar to the weird genre of the 1940s, but with a modern viewpoint and mindset. Due to the similarities between the two genres, the authors called the new genre the New Weird [2].

New Weird is the result of the constant evolution of genres. While seemingly similar to its predecessor, upon closer inspection New Weird was a wholly different entity than the 1940s weird genre. However, 1940s weird was also a source of numerous sub-genres, so does the same hold true of New Weird? Yes; cosmic horror and Lovecraftian fiction is a staple of modern culture, but similar to New Weird, modern narratives of the genre have a similar appearance yet follow different principles. Modern cosmic horror media, especially tabletop gaming, utilize a different mentality than found in previous works of cosmic horror.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/16431722

Director Wes Ball's new installment in the franchise, which takes place 300 years after 2017's War for the Planet of the Apes, comes out on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on Aug. 27, and that is the only way fans can see a side-by-side cut of the movie using the raw performance-capture footage next to the final version — the first time an entire film has been released this way.

"Inside the Lens: The Raw Cut" is a full-length split-screen version of the movie included as a special feature on the 4K Blu-ray, featuring unfinished VFX and showing how the actors use motion capture to deliver their performances as apes with optional audio commentary by the director, editor Dan Zimmerman, and VFX supervisor Erik Winquist.

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"During the year or so spent in post-production, working on more than 1,500 VFX shots, we would frequently compare our VFX works-in-progress with the original footage, ensuring we were getting the details right," Ball tells EW. "I often found myself completely mesmerized by the magic of WetaFX's work and how seamlessly it translated from the raw dailies. Around the latter half of post, it struck me how fantastic it would be to share this experience with fans like myself — those who relish peeking behind the curtain of movie making."

Ball was pleasantly surprised at the response he got to his idea. "When I brought the idea to the studio, there was unsurprisingly no resistance," he says. "They, too, are film nerds and thought it was a cool idea. The only challenge we faced was logistical — navigating the technicalities of 'data budgets' and figuring out how to include an entirely separate version of the film on the discs without sacrificing visual quality."

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Ball was inspired to release this raw cut because he grew up "in the era of DVDs and their rich behind-the-scenes features."

"I often found myself watching those documentaries more than the movies themselves," he says. "Unfortunately, we don’t get a lot of that stuff today. So this release is my way of giving back, offering something that would have inspired me as a young filmmaker. Perhaps more importantly, I see this as a unique way to celebrate the extraordinary work of our VFX team at WetaFX, as well as the unseen talent of our amazing actors. Without their dedication, these films simply wouldn’t exist."

Director Wes Ball's new installment in the franchise, which takes place 300 years after 2017's War for the Planet of the Apes, comes out on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on Aug. 27, and that is the only way fans can see a side-by-side cut of the movie using the raw performance-capture footage next to the final version — the first time an entire film has been released this way.

"Inside the Lens: The Raw Cut" is a full-length split-screen version of the movie included as a special feature on the 4K Blu-ray, featuring unfinished VFX and showing how the actors use motion capture to deliver their performances as apes with optional audio commentary by the director, editor Dan Zimmerman, and VFX supervisor Erik Winquist.

...

"During the year or so spent in post-production, working on more than 1,500 VFX shots, we would frequently compare our VFX works-in-progress with the original footage, ensuring we were getting the details right," Ball tells EW. "I often found myself completely mesmerized by the magic of WetaFX's work and how seamlessly it translated from the raw dailies. Around the latter half of post, it struck me how fantastic it would be to share this experience with fans like myself — those who relish peeking behind the curtain of movie making."

Ball was pleasantly surprised at the response he got to his idea. "When I brought the idea to the studio, there was unsurprisingly no resistance," he says. "They, too, are film nerds and thought it was a cool idea. The only challenge we faced was logistical — navigating the technicalities of 'data budgets' and figuring out how to include an entirely separate version of the film on the discs without sacrificing visual quality."

...

Ball was inspired to release this raw cut because he grew up "in the era of DVDs and their rich behind-the-scenes features."

"I often found myself watching those documentaries more than the movies themselves," he says. "Unfortunately, we don’t get a lot of that stuff today. So this release is my way of giving back, offering something that would have inspired me as a young filmmaker. Perhaps more importantly, I see this as a unique way to celebrate the extraordinary work of our VFX team at WetaFX, as well as the unseen talent of our amazing actors. Without their dedication, these films simply wouldn’t exist."

On Monday (19 Aug), a 52-year-old office manager visited a police station in Phan Thong District in Chonburi Province with his bullet-riddled car to report an incident regarding an attempted murder, Thai news site Khaosod reports.

Mr Payungsak (name transliterated from Thai) was shot at more than 10 times while he was in his car.

Unexpectedly, the victim survived without any injuries.

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While there were multiple bullet marks on his car, none of the bullets caused Mr Payungsak any injury.

One of the bullets hit his wristwatch, causing it to shatter, but Mr Payungsak remained unscathed.

Talking to the press, he said that this was all because of an amulet that he got from a temple in Trang Province. He said he had worn it for over 40 years and believed it protected him from being hurt in the shooting.

A shop assistant in Guernsey has been awarded 40 sausage rolls for 40 years of service.

Fifty-six-year-old Kevin Parsons started working at the island's Alliance supermarket in 1984.

Bosses marked the anniversary by giving him a certificate, a tropical-themed mural for his home and a sausage roll for each of his next 40 shifts.

Mr Parsons, who was described as an "Alliance celebrity" by bosses, said "words can't express my appreciation" for his gifts.

Star Wars: The Acolyte will reportedly not be getting a second season – and that leaves the LEGO Star Wars team with a tricky decision to make.

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This is uncharted territory for the Star Wars universe. It’s not the first time a project has performed poorly enough to prompt Lucasfilm to pull the plug on any planned follow-ups – Solo: A Star Wars Story would like a word – but it is the first time the studio has left things on such a major cliffhanger, with so many unresolved threads that will now never be tied up on-screen.

Comic books and novels will presumably fill in the gaps, as the High Republic era returns to the mediums in which it began, and Disney shifts its focus to its upcoming slate of Star Wars movies hooked to Rey, The Mandalorian and the dawn of the Jedi Order. But that doesn’t help the LEGO Star Wars theme, which now faces a dilemma: should it play catch-up on The Acolyte, or ignore it altogether?

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Leaving all that on the cutting room floor is undoubtedly not going to sit well with those who did enjoy The Acolyte (and are now ruing the discontinuation of its story), but the LEGO Star Wars team’s strategy around these shows doesn’t inspire much confidence that they’ll dive into this setting in 2025 or beyond. Yet if they don’t, it would mark the first time a live-action Star Wars series has been completely ignored by the LEGO Group.

Previously: ‘The Acolyte’ Canceled: No Season 2 For Disney+’s ‘Star Wars’ Series

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/16425987

28 Years Later and its planned sequels get a surprising update from producer Andrew Macdonald. Released in 2002, Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later follows Cillian Murphy's Jim as he attempts to survive after the "Rage Virus" turns British citizens into zombie-like monsters. After a mixed-reviewed sequel from director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo in 2007, Boyle is set to re-team with Murphy and original movie writer Alex Garland for the upcoming 28 Years Later, which is intended to serve as the first installment in a new trilogy.

Now, Macdonald reveals to THR that 28 Years Later has just wrapped filming. According to the producer, work on 28 Years Later Part II is also set to get underway imminently. The planned fifth film in the franchise, however, seems less concrete at this stage, though Macdonald seems hopeful. Check out his comment below:

“We’re making, hopefully, three more 28 films with the first one called 28 Years Later that Alex has written, and Danny has directed, and has finished shooting. Then we’re just about to start, tomorrow morning, actually, part two. And then we hope there’s gonna be a third part and it’s a trilogy.”

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/16425987

28 Years Later and its planned sequels get a surprising update from producer Andrew Macdonald. Released in 2002, Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later follows Cillian Murphy's Jim as he attempts to survive after the "Rage Virus" turns British citizens into zombie-like monsters. After a mixed-reviewed sequel from director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo in 2007, Boyle is set to re-team with Murphy and original movie writer Alex Garland for the upcoming 28 Years Later, which is intended to serve as the first installment in a new trilogy.

Now, Macdonald reveals to THR that 28 Years Later has just wrapped filming. According to the producer, work on 28 Years Later Part II is also set to get underway imminently. The planned fifth film in the franchise, however, seems less concrete at this stage, though Macdonald seems hopeful. Check out his comment below:

“We’re making, hopefully, three more 28 films with the first one called 28 Years Later that Alex has written, and Danny has directed, and has finished shooting. Then we’re just about to start, tomorrow morning, actually, part two. And then we hope there’s gonna be a third part and it’s a trilogy.”

28 Years Later and its planned sequels get a surprising update from producer Andrew Macdonald. Released in 2002, Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later follows Cillian Murphy's Jim as he attempts to survive after the "Rage Virus" turns British citizens into zombie-like monsters. After a mixed-reviewed sequel from director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo in 2007, Boyle is set to re-team with Murphy and original movie writer Alex Garland for the upcoming 28 Years Later, which is intended to serve as the first installment in a new trilogy.

Now, Macdonald reveals to THR that 28 Years Later has just wrapped filming. According to the producer, work on 28 Years Later Part II is also set to get underway imminently. The planned fifth film in the franchise, however, seems less concrete at this stage, though Macdonald seems hopeful. Check out his comment below:

“We’re making, hopefully, three more 28 films with the first one called 28 Years Later that Alex has written, and Danny has directed, and has finished shooting. Then we’re just about to start, tomorrow morning, actually, part two. And then we hope there’s gonna be a third part and it’s a trilogy.”

I can’t tell you how many times I get an email asking about what happened to this or that director. There are so many great filmmakers who haven’t released a film in 10+ years, for one reason or another, mostly due to financing issues.

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Sadly, there are too many talented hermits out there. Of course, you have filmmakers who are purposely inactive — I wouldn’t be surprised if we never again hear from the likes of Haneke, Weir, Carpenter and Darabont.

This decade has been difficult for many talented directors to get their projects going. Hollywood’s been stuck in a risk-averse mindset. There’s been far less of an emphasis on investing in filmmaker-oriented films. It’s more about the bottom line, and that means IP product is king.

These are just some of the filmmakers who haven’t released anything in a very long time:

Kathryn Bigelow, David Lynch, Michael Haneke, Bennett Miller, Kenneth Lonergan, Peter Weir, Spike Jonze, Richard Kelly, Mark Romanek, John Carpenter, Frank Darabont, Peter Jackson, Shane Carruth, John Waters, Todd Solondz, Charles Burnett, Terry Zwigoff, Tony Kaye, Cameron Crowe, Wong Kar-Wai, Maren Ade, Derek Cianfrance, John McTiernan, Alex Proyas, Shane Black, Carl Franklin, Brad Bird, John Sayles, Vincent Gallo, Martin Brest, Lisa Cholodenko, Joe Dante.

The good news is that Bigelow, Solondz, Crowe, Cianfrance, Bird, Black, Dante and Proyas all have films that have been shot or are set to be shooting this year.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/16411743

The first trailer for new vampire thriller The Radleys, starring Line of Duty's Kelly Macdonald, has been released.

Adapted from Matt Haig's novel of the same name, the film centres around a married couple who are hiding a dark secret from their children: they're vampires.

The film will receive its world premiere at the upcoming Edinburgh International Film Festival on Tuesday, August 20. Sky has also confirmed The Radleys will then be released on Sky Cinema and in cinemas on October 18.

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"The Radleys are an ordinary family who hold a dark secret... they are abstaining vampires," reads the official synopsis for the film.

"As if being a teenager wasn't bad enough, bloodthirsty instincts take over the teens of the family, revealing the terrifying truth and opening the door for an extended family member to re-enter and upend The Radleys' once perfect slice of suburbia."

Trailer