Phil Tippett – Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers

RoboCop 2, 1990

Welcome back to another edition of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers’ 2019 Summer of Sequels! Blake and Dion are leaving the car in neutral this week, staying in 1990, and hitting up a sequel that doesn’t seem to get a fair shake–the dystopian future noir Motor City film, RoboCop 2!

The boys breakdown this disturbing sequel, utilizing the novelization, and deleted scenes and other outtakes, to paint a broad comprehensive overall picture of what the writers and filmmakers were going for. They discuss the complexities of the Robocop 2 miniature design, and the reasons behind it, and again tell their Tom Noonan sighting story… which leads to reflections of encounters with John Lithgow and Peter Weller. So grab your popcorn and Auto 9 pistols, because the boys are headed to the old 313, Detroit, on an all new exciting and hilarious episode of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!

Extras!

Watch these guys in their small apartment create a life-sized scale puppet of ED 209!

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Category: Action, Comic Books, Police, Sci Fi, Television, Thriller, toys | 2 Comments

January 11

Willow, 1988

Welcome to an all new 2019 edition of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers! J. Blake and Dion Baia are kicking off the season with a fantasy classic, a movie which has collected a huge cult following over the years. The boys are chatting the George Lucas and Ron Howard epic, Willow, from 1988!

Dion and J. Blake reminiscence about this movie gem, discussing their history with it and the other fantasy films of the era that populated the genre. They talk about George Lucas and his influence in creating the story and working hand and hand with Ron Howard, to see this project to fruition, and the giant leap in CGI Effects, courtesy of ILM and SFX legend Dennis Muren; revolutionizing the “morphing” effects which played significant roles in many blockbusters of the late 1980’s and 1990’s. So come on and take a seat, as the fellas kick off a fun, informative and hilarious brand new installment of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!

Extras!

Take a look at this vintage trailer for Willow!

Check out this behind the scenes 1988 featurette discussing Willow!

Here’s a great 2013 interview with Warwick Davis and Val Kilmer!

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Category: Action, Adventure, Classic, Fantasy | LEAVE A COMMENT

June 15

Jurassic Park, 1993

Welcome back to another edition of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers! Dion Baia and J. Blake are back talking about a mega summer blockbuster that turns 25 years old this month, a film that literally changed the face of cinema with its use of DTS and Computer Generated Imagery for the better (or worse, depending on your feelings about CGI vs Practical Effects). That’s right, the boys are chatting the Michael Crichton/Steven Spielberg classic, Jurassic Park, from 1993!

Blake and Dion jump right in, discussing memories of seeing this film that glorious summer of 1993, and how incredible the visuals and audio were for cinema-goers at the time. They discuss the revolutionary Special Effects within this movie and how they evolved with the story from being robotic and stop-motion effects, to ground-breaking CGI. They cover the inception of this story from the brilliant mind of Michael Crichton, and how he was able to sell this idea to Steven Spielberg even before the book was published. They also dissect Spielberg‘s choices within the film and the moments that have now become that of cinema legend! So grab your partners, pile into the autonomous Ford Explorers, and whatever you do, don’t get out of the vehicles if there’s a power outrage, because the fellas are talking dinosaurs this week with an all new installment of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!

Extras!

Check out this 1993 behind-the-scenes making-of documentary on Jurassic Park!

Take a look at these great and rare behind the scenes footage at Stan Wintson’s workshop, developing the various practical dinosaur Effects!

Here’s a great behind-the-scenes featurette creating and sculpting the full-size T-Rex dinosaur!

Have a gander at this great interview with Michael Crichton talking about Jurassic Park.

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Category: Action, Adventure, Books, Fantasy, Sci Fi, Thriller | 2 Comments

July 21

Robocop, 1987

Welcome back to another edition of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers! The boys are taking on another fan-favorite, a movie that has become an absolute cult classic for a generation of filmgoers. This week J. Blake and Dion Baia discuss the future of law enforcement and OCP’s Crime Prevention Unit 001, aka Robocop, from 1987.

RoboCop

The fellas rebound quickly after some technical difficulties but quickly get down to business, attempting to unpack this legendary film that just turned 30 this very week. Dion and Blake reflect on their connections with this classic and their first exposure to this iconic film. They go through the history behind the project and lay out how all the stars aligned to make a movie that almost didn’t get made. The lads cover the amazing SFX within the movie, be it Practical, Visual and Stop-Motion. They compare the two cuts of the film, and discuss the subtle differences that had the censors going crazy. They contrast the difference between visual and visceral filmmakers and how that translates to a young child watching something like Robocop who might not understand the social satire, as opposed to an adult who may see this story in a completely different light. So, since modern audiences are of course familiar with the iconic title ‘Robocop’ because it has transcended into the Urban lexicon, but out of context, did it actually sound like a B-movie script to some in the mid-1980s? What were the legendary problems with the robo-suit that actually shut down production so all the flaws could be ironed out? How many times was Robocop screened before it was able to receive an R rating and remove the scarlet letter X? And did the forced cuts that were made to appease the MPAA to get that R rating actually take the gratuitous violence (which was meant to satirize) out, and instead turn it into something completely different and all that more disturbing and graphic for audiences? Well grab your Cobra Assault Cannons, your tickets to see Bixby Snyder and the keys to your new 6000 SUX’ (all of course installed with Blaupunkts), because we’re headed to Old Detroit in this all new episode of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!