Trevor Hogg chats with Academy Award-nominated visual effects supervisor Michael Owens… “I grew up in the Bay Area,” states Michael Owens. “There was no moviemaking there. I fell into filmmaking when I was in high school.” Not wanting to move to Los Angeles, the teenager floundered. “When ILM [Industrial Light & Magic] came to Marine […]

Public Enemies, 2009. Directed by Michael Mann. Starring Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard, Billy Cudrup, Stephen Dorff, Stephen Lang, Stephen Graham, Carey Mulligan, Giovanni Ribisi and Channing Tatum. SYNOPSIS: Infamous American gangsters John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd are targeted in a “war on crime” campaign by the fledgling FBI during […]

Thomas Roach on whether the rumours of Marvel Studios stopping origin stories is a good thing or a bad thing…. I’s been rumoured that the upcoming Doctor Strange movie that is expected to be released in 2016 will not be an origin story of the character. Apparently we will meet the  character already established, he […]

The Canal, 2014 Writen and directed by Ivan Kavanagh Starring Rupert Evans, Hannah Hoeskstra, Antonia Campbell-Hughes, Steve Oram, Kelly Byrne, Callum Heath SYNOPSIS: Film archivist David has been having a rough time lately, as he suspects that his wife Alice has been cheating on him with one of her work clients. This stress is compounded when […]

Housebound, 2014 Written and directed by Gerard Johnstone Starring Morgana O’Reilly, Rima Te Wiata, Glen-Paul Waru, Cameron Rhodes, Millen Baird, Ross Harper SYNOPSIS: Kylie Bucknell is forced to return to the house she grew up in when the court places her on home detention. Her punishment is made all the more unbearable by the fact she […]

Miami Vice, 2006. Directed by Michael Mann. Starring Colin Farrell, Jamie Foxx, Li Gong, Naomie Harris, Ciarán Hinds, Justin Theroux, Barry Shabaka Henley, Luis Tosar, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Eddie Marsan and John Ortiz. SYNOPSIS: Two Miami Vice detectives go undercover to bring down drug traffickers. “When I first read Tony Yerkovich’s screenplay for the original Miami […]

Heat, 1995. Directed by Michael Mann. Starring Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, Tom Sizemore, Diane Venora, Amy Brenneman, Ashley Judd, Mykelti Williamson, Wes Studi, Ted Levine, Dennis Haysbert, William Fichtner, Natalie Portman, Danny Trejo and Jeremy Piven. SYNOPSIS: A professional thief is hunted by an unrelenting detective in the streets of […]

Manhunter, 1986. Directed by Michael Mann. Starring William Petersen, Brian Cox, Kim Greist, Joan Allen, Dennis Farina, Tom Noonan, Stephen Lang, David Seaman and Benjamin Hendrickson. SYNOPSIS: A mentally fragile FBI profiler is drawn out of retirement to catch a serial killer known as The Tooth Fairy. “It’s interesting that [Michael] Mann trimmed out some […]

Trevor Hogg delves into The Making of Star Wars by J.W. Rinzler to explore the creation of George Lucas’ epic space opera, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope… After discovering over 50 interviews conducted by Charles Lippincott between 1975 and 1978 with the likes of George Lucas, John Barry, Gary Kurtz, and John […]

Trevor Hogg delves into Writing with Hitchcock by Steve DeRosa to explore the collaborations of director Alfred Hitchcock and screenwriter John Michael Hayes in the second of a two part feature… (read part one here)… During the preparation for To Catch a Thief (1955), Alfred Hitchcock handed a book to his screenwriter composed by first-time […]