Cinema Retro has received the following press release:

OSCAR-WINNING VFX ARTISTS

TOM WOODRUFF, JR. & ALEC GILLIS OF studioADI

TO LAUNCH

THE studioADI COLLECTION

WITH 20TH CENTURY FOX CONSUMER PRODUCTS

THE HIGH-QUALITY FINE ART PIECES

WILL INCLUDE ALIEN³ AND ALIEN: RESURRECTION

HAND-CRAFTED WORKS OF ART

CREATED BY THE SAME ARTISTS AT THE SAME STUDIO WHO MADE THE CREATURES FOR THE FILMS

The studioADI Collection Will Initially Consist of Seven Unique Pieces Including:

The Queen Alien Embryo from Alien³, The 1/3 Scale Queen Alien Head and

The Newborn Alien Full Body Design Maquette from Alien: Resurrection

Los Angeles, CA (November 20, 2017) For 30 years, Los Angeles based Amalgamated Dynamics, Inc. (studioADI) has been the premier Creature Effects studio in the motion picture business. studioADI was co-founded by the Academy Award winning duo of Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff, Jr. in 1988. The team has been responsible for 3 decades of iconic Creature Characters from the Alien and Predator franchises to the recent smash hit horror film IT. Today Woodruff and Gillis announced The studioADI Collection, art inspired by their iconic creations from Alien³ and Alien: Resurrection.

The studioADI Collection consists of high quality fine art pieces which are not mere collectibles replicated by factory workers. These are hand-crafted works of art created by the same studio and artists who originally created them for the films, from the actual molds used in the production of the history-making films Alien³ and Alien: Resurrection.

“This is the collection designed for fans of these entries into the Alien franchise as well as aficionados of the art of creatures and monsters of iconic pedigree,” said Woodruff.

The studioADI Collection will launch on December 1, 2017 and the art pieces will initially be available exclusively at: http://studioadi.bigcartel.com/category/art

“The studioADI collection is our tribute to the films that have been an important part of our legacy as artists. Each piece of art reflects the same detail and passion we poured into the characters when we created the original Alien films,” said Gillis.

Full descriptions and dimensions of all the art will be available December 1. Some pieces will be available as exclusive limited editions. The pieces will be priced from $250.00 - $4,000.00.

Below are descriptions of two items:

“The Newborn” from Alien: Resurrection was the terrifying mix of human and Alien DNA gone wrong. This Full-Scale Bust is cast from hand-laid translucent polyester resin from ADI's original production molds and is painted to the same exacting specifications by ADI's painter who painted the character for the original film. The piece measures 30"x20"x40"

“The Queen Alien Embryo” was seen in David Fincher's Alien³ was nestled next to the beating heart of Ripley, played by Sigourney Weaver. Cast in translucent urethane and hand painted by the same ADI artists who created the piece for the film in 1991.

At 7" x 9" this piece of art is perfect for desktop display.

The studioADI Collection launch on December 1, 2017 will include the following art pieces, which are all hand-crafted and individually made to order:

Queen Alien Embryo from Alien³

Newborn Alien Design Maquette Bust from Alien: Resurrection

Newborn Alien Full Body Design Maquette from Alien: Resurrection

Swimming Alien Study Model from Alien: Resurrection

1:1 Alien Warrior Half Head from Alien: Resurrection

1:1 Newborn Alien Head from Alien: Resurrection

1:3 Scale Queen Alien Head from Alien: Resurrection

studioADI will celebrate their 30th Anniversary in 2018, and the launch of The studioADI Collection is the first of many exciting announcements Gillis and Woodruff have planned in conjunction with this historic milestone! Always in-demand, they move into their 30th year riding high on the huge success of IT and their creature makeup creation for Pennywise, an instant iconic Movie Monster. Upcoming projects include Bright, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, The Predator, and Godzilla: King of Monsters.

###

Official website: www.studioADI.com

studioADI Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/studioADl/

studioADI YouTube Channel:  https://www.youtube.com/user/studioADI

About studioADI

We are Academy Award winning creators of special characters and character effects. Calling upon a diverse range of talents and techniques, we create prosthetic make-ups, animatronic puppets, actor duplicates and replica animals. With over twenty-five years of professional experience, we bring "real" character effects to the set to interact with actors, lighting, and practical atmosphere. We pride ourselves on working with the industry's leading cgi companies to find the right balance of digital and practical effects. We continue to provide film-makers with realistic and economical character effects that best serve the story and the production.

About 20th Century Fox Consumer Products

20th Century Fox Consumer Products licenses and markets properties worldwide on behalf of 20th Century Fox Film, 20th Century Fox Television and FX Networks, as well as third party lines.  The division is aligned with 20th Century Fox Television, the flagship studio leading the industry in supplying award-winning and blockbuster primetime television programming and entertainment content and 20th Century Fox Film, one of the world’s largest producers and distributors of motion pictures. 

Writing on the Atlantic web site, Christopher Orr accuses Woody Allen of being essentially a lazy filmmaker whose work in recent years has been over-rated. Orr is no Woody-basher. In fact, he defends the filmmaker's earlier works but says that he is squandering his potential by continuing his eccentric habits which include keeping his cast members as disengaged from the films as possible and intentionally ensuring that he forms no personal bonds with them. Orr also says that Allen's penchant for having as few takes as possible often compromises the final product. Allen himself would seem to agree, having stated in a 2015 NPR interview "“I’m lazy and an imperfectionist. Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese will work on the details until midnight and sweat it out, whereas for me, come 6 o’clock, I want to go home, I want to have dinner, I want to watch the ballgame. Filmmaking is not [the] end-all be-all of my existence.” Still, one might feel that Orr is being rather harsh with Allen's achievements, since he has made one film a year over the last fifty years. While Orr correctly states that many of Allen's efforts receive little attention or audience interest, he seems overly-dismissive of his biggest hit, "Midnight in Paris" as well as minor delights such as "To Rome with Love". In the end, it's up to the individual reader to render judgment as to whether Allen is still an invigorating force in the film industry or someone who has been living on past glories. Click here to read. 

Now back in the "Star Wars" spotlight, Mark Hamill commands $295 per autograph- and another $286 to pose for a fan photo.

BY LEE PFEIFFER

The Washington Post takes a detour away from the endless political scandals with a front-page article by Amy B. Wang that explores the world of "Star Wars" autograph collectors and the soaring prices to obtain signatures from the series' stars. Wang attended a recent convention in New York City where collectors waited on line for hours to get the prized signatures- and paid dearly for the opportunity, with stars commanding in excess of $200 per autograph. Since Disney acquired the franchise, they have teamed with Topps to make available licensed autographed items in a systematic method via mail order. The advantage is that it eliminates the many fraudulent signatures that have coopted the on-line market but some fans complain that it also takes a good deal of fun out of the hobby by removing the "thrill of the hunt". Click here to read. 

The National Film Registry has made its selections of 25 classic movies for 2017. As usual, it's an eclectic list featuring films from the silent era up to relatively recent years. 

Films Selected for the 2017 National Film Registry

(alphabetical order)

Ace in the Hole (aka Big Carnival) (1951)

Boulevard Nights (1979)

Die Hard (1988)

Dumbo (1941)

Field of Dreams (1989)

4 Little Girls (1997) 

Fuentes Family Home Movies Collection (1920s and 1930s)

Gentleman’s Agreement (1947)

The Goonies (1985)

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967)

He Who Gets Slapped (1924)

Interior New York Subway, 14th Street to 42nd Street (1905)

La Bamba (1987)

Lives of Performers (1972)

Memento (2000)

Only Angels Have Wings (1939)

The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918)

Spartacus (1960)

Superman (1978)

Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser (1988)

Time and Dreams (1976)

Titanic (1997)

To Sleep with Anger (1990)

Wanda (1971)

FOR MORE CLICK HERE

The "Last Jedi" roving mini vacuum depicts the image of Darth Vader.

BY LEE PFEIFFER

A couple of years ago  I was in London to attend the royal premiere of "Spectre". While inside a Boots pharmacy, I came upon the official  Gillette "Spectre" electric razor, which was amusing since there isn't a any reference or scene in the film relating to said razor. The box was also  devoid of any imagery from the film except for the logo.  I thought at the time that the obsession with manufacturers to tie their products to a hot movie franchise has reached an extreme. The release of "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" only reinforces that belief- and I'm not alone. As Variety writer Matt Fernandez points out in a recent article, the products licensed to tie-in to the film are as surrealistic as any space alien seen in the franchise. Do people really buy bananas or a pineapple simply because there is a tag with the film's logo attached? The people at Dole certainly think so. They've made the connection between fruit and outer space with a campaign based on "Unite for a Healthy Galaxy". How about "Last Jedi" bags of salad or a mini roving vacuum with Darth Vader's image? Makeup tie-ins to the Bond franchise have been around for decades but at least that makes sense: 007 movies always feature gorgeous women dressed to the nines. But a "Last Jedi" make-up line? Really? I guess every lady wants to look her best while brandishing her light saber in an attempt to save the universe. Then there are the "Last Jedi" line of fine fountain pens, ice cream  and, of course, the "Last Jedi" Storm Trooper line of razors from Phillips, which should fit snugly on your collectibles shelf next to the one you have from "Spectre". Click here to read.  

A UK gun amnesty program yielded some unexpected results when, among the weapons turned in to law enforcement authorities, was the actual sub-machine gun film prop used by Clint Eastwood in the 1969 WWII classic "Where Eagles Dare". The gun was turned in by an anonymous man who claimed to have worked in the film industry. In the movie, Eastwood- disguised as a German soldier- wields the weapon with devastating effect as he, Richard Burton and Mary Ure wreak widespread destruction on a castle occupied by enemy forces. The prop gun will be donated to the Royal Armories Museum in Leeds. Click here for more  (Thanks to reader Peter Davis for the heads up.)