the hollywood sign is undoubtedly one of the most well-known landmarks on earth and the fact that it exists, proudly sitting on hollywood hills advertising the world’s movie industry, has never seemed strange to most people. what is strange (to me at least) is the fact that the 50ft high sign was originally an advert of a different kind in a couple of ways. check out the photo above. up until 1949 the sign had an extra 4 letters and was created as an enormous marketing tool to help sell a housing development of the same name which sat in the hills above los angeles. eventually in 1949, after the properties were sold and the sign was redundant, control was assumed by the hollywood chamber of commerce who agreed to maintain the sign without the ‘l-a-n-d’ attached and minus the 4,000 power-hungry flashing lightbulbs.

what intrigues me more though are the numerous imitations of the structure across the globe. i managed to find a few (below) after seeing a list on wikipedia (see here), if you know of any other photos let me know. i won’t label the photos as i’m assuming you can all work out the locations from the signs.

 
(cheers to reader adam for this mammoth example in pennsylvania)

seeing these makes me wish that all communities were clearly labelled in a similar fashion, preferably at mid to high altitude using the same typeface. even better still, towns and cities should erect these gigantic adverts in neighbouring areas so as to advertise the place to outsiders.

here’s hoping.

sources: 1, 2, 3, 4

however this is also giving a few movie geeks a real chance to shine and it seems they’re not content with a simple in-home movie theatre decent enough to hold a premiere in - they clearly want to be fully immersed in the worlds created by their favourite films.

so, in no particular order, here are 10 of the best themed home cinemas on earth…

1. indiana jones cinema

this amazing indy-themed room was designed by home theatre expert doug charrois for larry and colleen halliday in canada. the room even features ‘replicas of the holy grail, a jacket, hat, whips, torches and more—including the idol from the opening of the original movie’.

more info here.

2. the batcave

above is possibly the sleekest home theatre i’ve ever seen. it was created by canadian-based experts ‘elite home theater seating’, who, as the name suggests, specialize in hand-made, custom home theater furniture for ‘high-end’ clientele. and bruce wayne.
more info here.

3. the enterprise ncc-1701d cinema

based on starship enterprise ncc-1701d, this stunner consists of a cinema, bar area and apparently ‘one of the largest kaleidoscope hard-drive based storage systems (..) in a residential installation. at last count, there were eight servers with 3,816 dvds’. there’s even a red alert button which brings on red flashing lights and appropriately tense music.

more info here.

4. the bridge

trekkie gary reighn decided to cut out the middle man and design & build his home cinema himself on a relatively small budget of $15′000. his basement was cleared to make way for the creation and from start to finish took 2 years.

more info here.

5. evergreen ultimate theater

apparently ‘one of the most technically and structurally advanced private theaters in the united states’, this phenomenal star trek home cinema even contains motorised sliding doors, as requested by the unbelievably rich client who paid around $3′000′000 in total for the transformation.

more info here.

6. titanic

the ceiling dome in this titanic themed set-up contains 1′230 fiber optic light strands in order to provide the artificial night sky and entry to the luxurious bar next door can be found behind a motorised bookcase. the whole project was designed by donny hackett of ‘casa cinema design’.

more info here.

7. the death star

it doesn’t get much cooler than this. the 10-seat death star home cinema was designed for vic wertz and lisa stevens and includes, amongst other things: automatic doors, a twinkling fiber optic star field and a thx sound system. the best fact? the room was designed by doug chiang, lead designer on episodes I & II.

more info here and here:

8. the nautilus

this beauty was built as a result of film geek randy moran’s love of the nautilus submarine from the film 20′000 leagues under the sea. he hired ‘dillon works inc’ to build and fabricate all the trusses, wall panels, screen frames, and portholes and ‘acoustic innovations’ to supply the plush red seating.

more info here.

9. the pirate cove

the pirate cove was created as a result of avs forum user pkonold’s love of the pirates of the carribean disney ride and movies. to make the atmosphere as authentic as possible he and his wife ensured that when seated ‘you feel like you are floating down “the bayou” at night. to accomplish this we have built a star field in the ceiling, complete with real constellations and shooting stars!’.

more info here.

10. the sci-fi cinema

ok, so the screen isn’t the biggest and the seats are slightly lacking but inside dr. david winn’s home cinema can be found: a hydraulic alien bursting through the wall, a talking robbie the robot and both the predator and the creature from the black lagoon behind bars. the cinema, including all collectibles, cost approximately $100′000.

more info here.

there’s a relatively easy way to give the audience a chill during a film: slip in a shot of a deserted city centre, a city centre that’s notoriously busy in real-life, the scene preferably culminating in the camera panning out to prove the crew didn’t just manage to clear 10ft of road for 5 seconds.

it’s a guaranteed talking point. look at vanilla sky: the film was bordering on atrocious but the one thing that always gets mentioned (apart from cameron crowe losing his grip) is the ‘how the fuck did they manage to clear times square?’ bit. if i was a director i’d have a deserted city scene in every film, regardless of the movie’s plot.

here are my 5 favourite goosebump inducing ‘empty’ scenes.

5. philadelphia - twelve monkeys, 1995 (imdb)

the opening shot of terry gilliam’s top-notch ‘twelve monkeys’ is superb, bruce willis’ character coming above ground in a post-apocalyptic philadelphia to be faced with a world deserted but for wild animals roaming the streets. gilliam’s crew were given a corner of the city hall to work with, built a lip around the area to hide surrounding traffic and added snow to make it feel ‘more desolate’.

4. los angeles - omega man, 1971 (imdb)

‘omega man’ was the 2nd film based on the novel ‘i am legend’, the 1st being ‘last man on earth’ and the 3rd being ‘i am legend’, to be released in a few weeks. after coming to terms with the fact that a huge set would be too costly the producer realised prior to filming that l.a. was surprisingly quiet early in the day at weekends so all of the deserted city scenes were shot at that time of the week. the scene below even includes a pan-out for added despair and the echoes of ringing payphones.

3. madrid - abre los ojos, 1997 (imdb)

the gran via in madrid was completely closed off to film the scene below, the inspiration for vanilla sky’s big budget version in times square. it may not have the flashing billboards and an a-list star to run down the street like a maniac but the street’s architecture more than makes up for it. this clip is actually the first 10 minutes of the film, the initial 3-4 minutes being the ‘deserted’ section.

2. manhattan - vanilla sky, 2001 (imdb)

this remake of ‘open your eyes’ was largely disappointing, this scene being the best part of it. the crew were given 3 hours to shoot the times square sequence early on a sunday morning and crowe was determined not to use cg to remove any signs of life. the whole process included lenghty discussions with the new york mayor’s office, the new york film commission and the police department. the result is incredible.

1. london - 28 days later, 2002 (imdb)

it took 6 days to shoot the ‘deserted’ sections of this brilliant film on mini-dv cameras, the crew only able to get permission to close off entire streets in london for minutes at a time, and the effort was worth it. for the empty motorway scenes, they even managed to persuade the traffic police to close off a 10 mile stretch of the m1 for a very short period of time. warning: the clip below has been subjected to a shit soundtrack by the youtube user. turn the volume down.

sources: 1, 2, 3

it’s easy to stumble around, roll your eyes and slur your words in front of a camera but it’s not that often you watch a movie and wonder whether an actor was actually hammered during shooting due to such a convincing turn as a drunken fool.

i’m sure you will anyway but let me know of any glaring omissions, preferably not in the following format that i’ve become accustomed to recently:

“you cock, you don’t know anything. you fucking missed __________. i hate you”.

so, the list…

10. steve buscemi - trees lounge (imdb)

first off: the guy’s a legend and i wish he was in every film i chose to watch.

he wrote and directed this film and it’s definitely worth a watch - it’s one of those films where not much happens but the not much is extremely enjoyable. he plays tommy barilio, an alcoholic who spends his days sitting at the bar. the thing is, no matter what film i see him in he looks either pissed or extremely hungover so the chances of him not being convincing as a pisshead when he actually makes the effort are always gonna be slim.

9. val kilmer - tombstone (imdb)

ahh, rememeber when val kilmer was a decent judge of a script? he’s the best thing about this film as the permanently drunk doc holliday and passes the convincing drunkard test with flying colours. the amount of extremely quotable, half-cut lines he delivers totals a very large number that i really can’t be bothered to work out.

8. elizabeth taylor - who’s afraid of virginia woolf? (imdb)

taylor deservedly won an oscar for her performance in this classic and it’s easy to see why, playing one half of a volatile, alochol dependant couple opposite richard burton who also excels in his drunken role. taylor pips it though and is often frighteningly convincing as she lays into pretty much every other character on screen.

7. bing crosby - the country girl (imdb)

bing crosby plays an alcoholic actor in this 1954 film alongside grace kelly as his long-suffering wife. she actually won an oscar for her role but he walked away empty handed - if i was him i’d have been pretty pissed off. he’s brilliant in every scene and appears to be literally drunk in a large percentage of his appearances during the film. bravo.

6. william h macy - magnolia (imdb)

possibly the most criminally under-used actor on earth, macy gives an incredible performance in this incredible film. there’s only really one scene of drunkenness (see below) but he completely nails it as a drunk quiz-kid donnie smith. the word tragic doesn’t do the scene justice.

5. ray milland - the lost weekend (imdb)

before i watched this film i was the sort of person that hated black and white films for no good reason. then i saw the light. it’s a great movie in every way and milland’s performance is legendary, his slow descent into drink-fuelled insanity totally believable from start to finish. there’s a scene where his character starts hallucinating due to an alcohol overload which is harrowing to say the least and how he managed to switch off after filming is anyone’s guess.

4. dudley moore - arthur (imdb)

i must’ve watched this film at least 10 times when i was a kid and every time i assumed dudley moore was actually drunk. there’s a possibility that i was hugely gullible as a child but even so, i’ve never been as entertained as when i witnessed dudley expertly slurring every sentence and generally making a fool of himself as arthur. his drunken comedic timing was especially good. if ever there was a pissed character that i looked up to it was this one.

3. richard e grant - withnail & i (imdb)

it’s an obvious inclusion in this list but only because it’s so good. there’s a couple of things that make it even more worthy. firstly, this was richard e grant’s first film. secondly, before filming this he had never been drunk - not because he can really take his booze but because he’s teetotal. the director apparently forced grant to go on a drinking binge before shooting so he could experience drunkenness and the following hangover, something the actor was apparently not too happy about.

2. mickey rourke - barfly (imdb)

interesting fact: before mickey rourke’s head expanded and started resembling a giant walnut he actually looked like a human.

as with leaving las vegas, after watching this film you may actually feel slightly drunk. it was written by charles bukowski and is based on a period of his life when all he did was drink. rourke is astounding as drunk poet henry and is utterly convincing as an alcoholic who meets a lady in the same predicament. the script is pretty clever too but rourke’s acting draws you in and after a while you could easily believe him to be genuinely hammered.

1. nicolas cage - leaving las vegas (imdb)

fucking hell, this film is hard work to watch. not just because of the subject matter but due to the utterly convincing portrayal of an alcoholic by nicolas cage. to prepare he spent weeks binge drinking with a friend who filmed his behaviour so he could then study the effects and if the acting had been any less than perfect this film could have been an embarassing shambles. there are so many amazingly effective scenes that it’s impossible for me to pick one out. if for some reason you haven’t watched it, make sure you do soon. but not on a first date.

catherine zeta jones - traffic

remember when steve soderbergh made brilliant films? i do. traffic was an incredible example of soderbergh at his peak but the cracks were already starting to show - namely the casting of catherine ‘oggy’ zeta ‘oggy’ jones as an american. considering she’s been using a fake american accent at every opportunity since marrying michael douglas you’d think she’d have been a bit better.

trailer…

keanu reeves - dracula

i was tempted not to even mention this one due to the fact that he’s not an actor. it’s just a given that he’ll never be able to imitate someone with an english accent because he can’t imitate anything unless it has no emotion, voice or physical presence. and to say yes to the part after finding out the gary oldman is gonna share scenes with you and make you look even worse is just acting suicide.

tommy lee jones - blown away

ahh, tommy lee jones. seriously, tell me a good film he’s been in apart from the fugitive? there isn’t one. maybe all casting directors were alerted as soon as blown away was released and the whole world watched him play an irish terrorist with an icelandic accent. if he wants to get any awards in future he’s gonna have to hope that bjork biopic gets made and someone’s needed to play her dad.

incredibly dramatic trailer…

kevin costner- robin hood

am i correct in thinking that robin hood was meant to be english? if i am then this is the most extreme case of shit ‘accenting’ i have ever witnessed. as if having bryan adams at no.1 in the charts for 2yrs isn’t bad enough, costner turns up on set and doesn’t even consider putting on an accent to play mr hood. there are even some scenes where it sounds as if he’s trying to sound more american just to piss me off.

dick van dyke - mary poppins

there’s a reason why dick’s performance in mary poppins is always mentioned when the subject of shit movie accents is brought up: because it’s absolutely hilariously bad. if the director had said to him before the film, “listen dick, i want you to do a comedy cockney accent throughout filming. don’t take it seriously.” he still couldn’t have done a worse accent.

don cheadle - oceans 11

i couldn’t find a decent clip of cheadle doing his dick van dyke impression but nevermind, it would’ve made me wretch anyway. so what’s the matter with soderbergh? doesn’t he do auditions of any sort? all he needed to hear was one sentence of cheadle’s disgraceful cock-er-ney accent before realising he was absolutely not suitable for the part. maybe not though because the fucker hired him again for the sequels.

sean connery - the untouchables / hunt for red october / highlander

[update] his accent in the untouchables was so shit i actually remembered it as being american when in reality he was trying to play an irishman.

sean connery was good for only 2 things: indiana jones & the last crusade and james bond. every other film could be wiped from his back catalogue and he’d be better off. his russian impression in the hunt for red october is bad. his egyptian impression in highlander is awful. his american irish accent in the untouchables is the funniest piece of acting ever unintentionally produced. watch the clip below and then tell me you didn’t urinate at least a little bit in your pants.

brad pitt - seven years in tibet / devil’s own

pitt’s austrian accent in seven years in tibet isn’t actually that bad. the problem is, he keeps forgetting to fucking use it. at the start it isn’t too much of a problem but by the end of the film he, and the rest of the crew, seem to have given up. with devil’s own however, his oirish accent is just shit. he’d have been better off using the pikey accent he somehow managed in snatch than the poor attempt he gave.

mike myers - shrek

i know it’s an animated comedy but i don’t care - the scottish accent that comes from myers’ lips is really shit. i’ve worked it out and he only sounds scottish 4% of the time, other noted accents coming from shrek during the film including australian, south african and russian.

trailer…

josh hartnett - blow dry

‘from the creators of full monty’. that’s one sentence that should immediately ring alarm bells as you walk into the cinema, closely followed by an evacuation of the building as you realise that someone has employed josh ‘charisma’ hartnett to play someone from yorkshire in a comedy about hairdressing. even for british people it’s a difficult accent to imitate - now imagine training a dog to pull it off. pretty bad? the dog would’ve been more consistent. strangely i couldn’t find any footage of josh in character on the intertubes.

julia roberts - mary reilly

first off, it’s an awful film. secondly, julia roberts’ attempt at an irish accent is disturbingly bad. at best she sounds like a posh english woman, at worst she seems to be playing someone from texas. watch the trailer - there are plenty of examples. at one point when she says, “i don’t believe there’s anyone out there sir”, she apparently drops any kind of attempted accent and ploughs on regardless.

patsy kensit - lethal weapon 2

i can only imagine they gave kensit the part due to her looks because she can’t act for shit. when she has a line she looks as if she’s reading from a piece of paper covered in text the size of ants and her accent is just confusing. unless i was mistaken and she was actually playing the part of an alcoholic norwegian woman, she was crap.

trailer…

michael caine - cider house rules

he won an oscar for this performance and if there’d also been an award for ‘weakest fake accent’ he’d have bagged 2 trophies. maybe it’s just because whenever i hear his voice i immediately think ‘…blow the bloody doors off…’ but like all shit accent performances it ruined the film for me. it’s just far too distracting.

trailer (narrated by caine)…

john malkovich - rounders

(cheers to rodge for reminding me)

a late addition, i completely forgot about malkovich’s absurd accent in rounders. supposedly a russian character, he sounds like a drunk count dracula. or anyone evil from a cartoon. watch…

first off, i’ll give you my take on ‘method acting’ as there seems to be a few different explanations around. by method actor i mean someone who doesn’t simply learn some lines, turn up on set, read those lines in front of camera with little conviction, get changed and then go home with a fatter bank balance. i’m talking people who, as soon as they’ve signed up for a part, dive head-first into the experience, research every possible angle, live and breathe the character throughout the production, go to extraordinary lengths to try and understand the part they’re playing, change their outlook on life purely for the movie, even drastically change their appearance to understand the reaction of others and generally try to become something as close to the scripted character as they possibly can in order to be utterly convincing.

or as ian mckellan would put it…

anyway, here’s my take on the top 5 extreme method actors alive today.

1. daniel day lewis

it was a tough choice for the top spot, the obvious winner being de niro. however, i can’t think of an actor alive today who puts as much effort into the preparation or is able to become a character as naturally and powerfully as day lewis. even if the film sucks slightly, it’s watchable due to his performance.

it seems that mr day lewis is unable to start filming a movie without having physically or psychologically battered himself through some kind of intense preparation. he’s one of the less prolific actors of the world and it’s easy to see why. if i was going to put myself through the same kind of shit before every job i’d want a couple of years off in between projects too.

method acting madness:

- the boxer: trained for 18 months with former world champion barry mcguigan who later said that day lewis could definitely have been a professional boxer.

- the crucible: etched tattoos onto his own body.

- gangs of new york: in preparation for his role as bill the butcher daniel day lewis actually took up an apprenticeship as a butcher and during his breaks during filming would frequently sharpen his butcher’s knives. he was also diagnosed with pneumonia on set after continuously refusing to wear warm coats as they ‘wouldn’t have existed in the 19th century’.

how to own the screen…

- my left foot: during filming as paralyzed christie brown, daniel day lewis refused to leave his wheelchair between scenes in order to truly experience the problems associated with the character’s condition. his constant refusal to break from characted also earnt him 2 broken ribs, a result of his hunched position in the wheelchair.

- last of the mohicans: lived in the wild for 6 months, learning to survive on the absolute basics.

- in the name of the father: after taking the part of a prisoner, day lewis lived in solitary confinement at a disused prison.

2. robert de niro

in his prime he was a powerhouse and seemed immune to having a bad day at the ‘office’, however these days he seems to be coasting to retirement and i for one can’t think of much to shout about since heat in 1995. even so, his back catalogue is so strong that he easily makes 2nd place.

method acting madness:

- new york new york: learned to play saxophone for the part of jimmy dallon. due to his comittment his playing apparently reached ‘virtuoso’ standard.

- deer hunter: lived amongst steel workers in ohio for months.

- raging bull: trained so effectively to play boxer jake la motta that he was reputedly among the 10 best middleweights in the world, with la motta himself declaring, “there’s no doubt he could have been a pro“. he then put on 60lbs to play an ageing la motta during filming.

- cape fear: had his teeth ground down by a dentist to fit the part.

- godfather, part II: lived in sicily whilst learning to speak sicilian fluently to play vito corleone.

- taxi driver: worked 12 hour shifts as a cabbie for 3 months prior to filming in order to prepare for the role of travis bickle.

bob de niro and jack nicholson on method acting…

3. christian bale

christian bale’s track record is pretty solid, plus the fact that he starred as a kid in empire of the sun, one of my favourite childhood movies. in the past 10 years he’s also seemed to pick better and better roles, each film being extremely watchable, and when it comes to the preparation, not many people make more of an effort than bale… 

method acting madness:

- the machinist: to play trent reznik bale studied insomnia for months. he also slept as little as possible throughout the shoot to understand the condition to a greater degree and during the few months prior to the project he lost 63lbs before the director and his doctor stepped in to stop the madness.

- american psycho: as soon as he found out he was to play patrick bateman he started visiting the gym every day to gain the physique needed, this carried on throughout filming: after every session on set he went to the 24hr gym and earned the nickname ‘robo-actor’ amongst the cast and crew. he also refused to socialise with anyone to keep the attitude.    

- batman begins: following the machinist, bale gained 100lbs and converted it to muscle through visits to the gym and martial arts training. during preparation and filming (including all press and interviews) he also refused to drop the american accent.

4. forest whitaker

until recently, forest whitaker wasn’t considered a force to be reckoned with in film. for most it was his role in ghost dog: way of the samurai that caught the attention of the public, but whitaker had already starred in some big films: the color of money, platoon, good morning vietman to name a few. since the start though, he’s always been fully prepared for every role…

method acting madness: 

- ghost dog: studied eastern philosophy intensively and meditated at every opportunity.

- the last king of scotland: holy shit - in order to play the part of dictator idi armin, whitaker studied all of amin’s recorded speeches, put on 50lbs, met and lived with amin’s family, colleagues and victims in uganda, learnt to speak swahili fluently and mastered the accordian. he was rewarded with an oscar and rightly so.

- bird: to play charlie parker, forest whitaker decided to shut himself off in a los angeles apartment with a bed, couch and saxophone until he could play the instrument.

5. adrian brody

he may not choose the most successful of films (box-office wise) to star in but he’s always consistent with his acting…

method acting madness:  

- the jacket: to prepare for scenes in a mortuary drawer, brody spent hours on end in a ’sensory deprivation chamber’, taking on quadruple sessions at a time, then during filming breaks he asked the director to keep him locked in the actual drawer on set. he also kept on the straightjacket as often as possible in between takes and refused to speak to anyone.

- the pianist: in order to play the polish pianist who had everything taken away by the nazis, brody sold his apartment and car, got rid of his mobile phone and learnt to play chopin on the piano perfectly.

- oxygen: demanded that real braces be attached to his teeth rather than prosthetic ones for the filming, to find out afterwards that they needed to be ripped off.

the worst thing though was the product placement for ebay, culminating in one of the funniest product placement moments in history (i don’t want to spoil it for you but let’s just say that a huge, menacing, shape-shifting robot growling the words “ebay” and “ladiesman217″ in a threatening manner amounts to criminal direction in my opinion).

anyway, got me wondering about product placement in other walks of life, particularly politics. surely no politician or party would stoop so low as to sneakily advertise a product for some kind of gain?

tony blair

in 2005, tony blair decided to ask anthony minghella (english patient, cold mountain) to direct a labour party election broadcast - the oscar-worthy short consisted of blair and george brown chatting about policies and looking loved-up in a beautifully natural setting. i for one was surprised when they didn’t rip each other’s cleanly pressed clothing off and make love on the table top, until i realised that a couple of gleaming bottles of ‘highland spring mineral water’ had already reserved said table, thus rendering the surface out-of-bounds for any hardcore politician-based action.

you can watch a blurred version of the short below. either no youtube uploaders own a clear copy or the authorities decided to censor the soft-drink sponsored lovefest following mass complaints.

arnold schwarzenegger

this little gem, released in 2005, was a campaign ad and featured the future governor chatting to colleagues in what seems to be a canteen. on the dinner table are clearly the following brands:

pepsi, arrowhead water, cheetos, sun chips, sobe and ruffles

all brands are owned by either nestle or pepsi and these 2 monsters donated, in total, $279,800 to arnie’s campaign. hmm, smells fishy. many groups called for the ad to be banned and/or the financial backing to be given back to the advertisers donors.

my advice? don’t give the terminator a governor’s job in the first place. he’s clearly a machine with no morals.

video below…

george bush jr

you can always count on dubya.

november 8th, 2006: bush was giving a press conference and decided to namecheck the company that donates a ginormous amount of money to bush’s election campaigns. i’d normally be prepared to let this go due to the fact that he’s pretty much brainless but think about it - who ever thinks of dell when trying to come up with a tv manufacturer?

watch with your eyes…

ronald reagan

’soon after ronald reagan became governor of california in 1967, he began eating “pectin” jelly beans made by herman goelitz candy company, in order to help him give up a pipe-smoking habit. when herman goelitz’s jelly bellies first appeared on the market in 1976, reagan quickly switched to them. three-and-a-half tons of jelly bellies were shipped to the white house for the 1981 inaugural festivities. blueberry, one of the most popular current flavors, was developed for president reagan’s inauguration so that there would be red, white and blue jelly beans at the festivities.’ from here.

check out the jar of goodies at his desk.

extras:

- saddam hussein’s capture.

above is a picture of saddam’s final hideway, click on it for a bigger version. then read this funny article.

- here’s one of my favourite ever movie product placement moments.

that must have been about a minute of quality screen time for fedex, plus a gag enforcing the supposed prompt delivery service they offer. the whole thing is fucking hilarious: the logo is always unobscured, the joke is shit and the actual vehicle must be the cleanest white van i’ve ever witnessed.

real white van:

- a classic scene from wayne’s world…

- a quick word from david lynch:

nicely said.

- go here to see lists of all the brands that have appeared in cinema over the past few years.

this documentary is extremely hard to get hold of and has just (9th july) been uploaded to google video. it’s a 1979 documentary about plants and was one of the very few at the time to use time-lapse photography. on top of that, there’s a soundtrack by stevie wonder.

imdb entry is here.

it’s the full movie and if you don’t already know it’s about the motion picture association of america (mpaa) film rating system - imdb link.

it’s funny and worrying in equal doses and the best thing you can do right now is watch it through your balls (eye)….

(there’s an interesting interview with the director here)

nothing riles me more than having an enthralling movie ruined by a spot of bullshit-physics. you know the scene - a moment just so unbelievable you feel like throwing the director off a bridge to remind him that it’s actually impossible to spin round and grab onto the railing that quickly.

purely to vent some frustration here’s my top 7 6 worst movie physics moments. i’m sure you’ll disagree with my choices, feel free to offer your own favourites.

6. what the (bleep) do we know? - whole film

a film/documentary supposedly about quantum physics which has earned worldwide condemnation from physicists around the world due to the fact that it’s full of shit and is essentially pseudoscience. the first part of the whole film is below if you’re curious (later parts can be found here if you look hard enough) and there’s an interesting article about the film here.

5. speed - bridge jump

it’s a classic movie-physics moment and one i’ll always hold close.

fuck knows how the bus would go anywhere but down after leaving the edge. there’s no visible ramp or elevation on the tarmac yet the bus still manages to soar as if filled with helium. even at 200mph it’d have trouble making the gap.

4. the core - melting the golden gate bridge

this movie is full to the brim with scientific nonsense and to be honest i wasn’t sure which part to include.

here’s a clip of the golden gate bridge being melted by microwave radiation. read about the many other bullshit moments hither.

(by the way, if you want to experience every single shit-physics moment in the movie, bizarrely the whole film is on google video here)

3. die hard - firehose escape

yippee-ky-something.

i always had massive doubts about mclane leaping from the burning building, hose around the waist, magically managing to swing to safety. surely he’d fall straight down at immense speed and crush some internal organs?

yes, he would’ve. follow this link and you’ll see that someone has done the maths and proven mclane wrong.

2. independence day - virus transfer

remember when goldblum’s character helped to take down the aliens by installing a handmade virus onto the ufo’s computers with his laptop? holy fuck, that was more than genius. usb’s really are universal huh?

1. unknown movie - horse slide

please, if you know the name of this film let me know so i can find the director and shake his hand.

one of the funniest and least realistic chase scenes i’ve witnessed. first the horse falls over and visibly stops travelling, then we see a man on a fake horse sliding under a lorry after magically acquiring momentum from an unknown source. even a car manages to leap over the lorry shortly afterwards, good job it managed to catch that ramp at the right time.

also worth a look:

- hollywood science: car chases

- insultingly stupid movie physics, a brilliant and hilarious site

- bad astronomy, another brilliant site but focusing on shit astronomy in cinema rather than physics