Special Effects

IT'S easy to see where all the money went in ''Terminator 2: Judgment Day.'' Arnold Schwarzenegger stars. By his own admission, the film cost $80 million, and most of that, apparently, went into the special effects.The money was well spent. These are very special special effects, but that's about all the film is, special effects.A sequel to the original ''The Terminator'' released in 1984, the new film is 2 hours and 14 minutes of car, truck, bike and anything else that crashes on the move.

The complete serial "Grammarnoir 2: Pulp Diction" in a podcast. My narration, with special effects by my colleague and fellow lapsed Kentuckian Steve Sullivan. 

Patricia Blau is one of those people responsible for the awesome special effects that are part of ''Rocketeer,'' the new comic-book film currently playing at local theaters.Blau is with Industrial Light and Magic, a division of LucasArts Entertainment, in Marin County, California.The 35-year-old has been with Light and Magic for almost 13 years. When she began there, the work force was 32. Today, there are 350 people working for the company.On the telephone, Blau discussed some of the film's special effects, particularly the dummy that is supposed to be the young pilot who finds a rocket pack that allows him to fly.Early in the film, the character wears the pack that sends him off into the wild blue, and then is dumped into a lake.

Anyone who's been to the movies lately knows that "RELEASE THE KRAKEN!" is probably the catchphrase of the season. As uttered in the trailer for "Clash of the Titans" by a bearded, berobed, Olympic-size Liam Neeson in reference to an 800-foot beast with bad teeth and a worse attitude, it doesn't have the romantic tingle of "You had me at hello." Or the saltiness of "I'll have what she's having." But as movie mantras go, it captures the exclamatory quality of "Clash of the Titans."

Rob Legato's favorite astronaut is Buzz Aldrin.The second man on the moon unwittingly bestowed the highest praise on special-effects supervisor Legato last month after viewing a preview of "Apollo 13." Wandering over to director Ron Howard after the screening, Mr. Aldrin had some questions about the footage used in the film -- particularly the stunning shots of the Brobdingnagian Saturn V rocket lifting majestically off the pad.Mr. Aldrin had never seen those shots before and wanted to know from what NASA archive the film had been retrieved.

Just because a generation of young moviegoers has been raised on special effects and silicone-enhanced superstars doesn't mean it's numb to the dated yet legendary tale of love and civil war, "Gone With The Wind.""It's in the same vein as 'Citizen Kane' and 'Casablanca,' " says Doug Bradley, 22. The UMBC student came to the Loews White Marsh Theatre Tuesday night to see "Gone With The Wind" in re-release. "You haven't lived until you've seen it.""You're living tonight," says his Gap-sweatshirt-clad friend Becky Kulaga, 18, who has seen "GWTW" numerous times and dragged Bradley along with her."

Just when you think network television has shrunk to nothing but cheap "reality" specials, hyped newsmagazine interviews and tired sitcoms following the same bankrupt formula, along comes a grand and magical production like "Alice in Wonderland" tomorrow night on NBC.It's almost enough to restore your faith in network TV.Hallmark Entertainment's Robert Halmi Sr. -- he of the big-budget "Gulliver's Travels" and "Merlin" -- joins forces with Jim Henson's Creature...

Like explosions? Space invaders? Three-hundred-pound basketball players?Your latest special effects blockbuster may feature one or two of the above, but rarely all three.The Maryland Science Center IMAX's latest presentation, "Special Effects," solves that problem and is the ultimate antidote for special effects fanatics as well as average moviegoers who can't help but think, "How did they do that?"Such special effects wonders as "Star Wars," "Jumanji" and the recently released "Independence Day" are used as stunning study guides.

The complete serial "Grammarnoir 2: Pulp Diction" in a podcast. My narration, with special effects by my colleague and fellow lapsed Kentuckian Steve Sullivan. 

THE QUESTION With gruesome special effects easier than ever (and on full display in Saw II), we wonder: Are today's movies scarier than classic chillers or less so? WHAT YOU SAY The films coming out today are far from scary. Perhaps if the people making these movies would pay attention to the movie behind the special effects, the box office would be doing better. CHRISTINA MAZZETTA, ABINGDON Scariness or fear is not created with "special effects," but rather evolved through imagination and anticipation on the big screen.

The wizardry of computer graphics has become so other-worldly that it's easy to imagine the army of specialists that worked on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen hidden in some underground laboratory-bunker, scurrying like super-intelligent lab rats to create "sights no one has ever seen before" under the excruciating pressure of a hugely expensive franchise picture. But the role of visual effects supervisor is as hands-on and real-world as jobs come. Industrial Light and Magic's Scott Farrar has performed it to perfection on both Transformers pictures.

Celebrate your roots. That's what Balticon -- Baltimore's annual science fiction and fantasy convention -- is all about. Although technology and special effects have provided a visual manifestation of the sci-fi universe, Balticon's emphasis is on literature, the original medium that exhibited so many otherworldly characters, concepts and locations. "It's clear that we focus on the written aspect of the genre," says Gregory Wright, a Balticon chairman and coordinator. "There are numerous programs that focus on books and short stories and allow open discussion on the genre."

Petersburg, Ky. -- The glass display case, soon to be filled with a variety of finches, could be in any natural history museum. It is set among exhibits on frogs and lizards, across from a gift shop and a diorama of life in ancient times. But this is something different: The Creation Museum is a $27 million destination that is expected, on its Memorial Day opening, to bring a new level of high-tech polish to the argument against evolution. The text below the display case says scientists are "puzzled" by the varieties of finches.

For many years now, the Loud Eaters have terrorized me in movie theaters. The lip-smacking popcorn munchers, the Mountain Dew slurpers, the Peanut M&M crunchers with their horsy teeth, the nachos rustlers scooping their steaming globs of melted cheese and licking their fingers - inevitably they end up sitting next to me. Or directly behind me. Or directly in front of me. This has almost become a preordained event. But the other night, I witnessed a spectacle so breathtaking that it was surely a pivotal moment in the history of eating at the movies.

Eric Dyer, a 35-year-old Baltimore filmmaker, probably does not see himself as revolutionary. But in a world dominated by computers and digitized special effects, Dyer's championing of ages-old techniques to tell stories in new, untried ways has propelled him into the ranks of the truly avant-garde, so much so that the likes of Robert Redford, at the recent Sundance Film Festival, have stood up and taken notice. If you go Eric Dyer's UMBC class will collaborate with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra on Visual Symphony during a family concert at 2 p.m. Sunday at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, 1212 Cathedral St. $12-$20.

THE QUESTION With gruesome special effects easier than ever (and on full display in Saw II), we wonder: Are today's movies scarier than classic chillers or less so? WHAT YOU SAY The films coming out today are far from scary. Perhaps if the people making these movies would pay attention to the movie behind the special effects, the box office would be doing better. CHRISTINA MAZZETTA, ABINGDON Scariness or fear is not created with "special effects," but rather evolved through imagination and anticipation on the big screen.

Visual magicSpecial effects will mesmerize you at Visual Magic, where the world of computer animations, 3-D graphics and digital eye candy comes to life. The online magazine is produced by visual and special effects artists from around the world, and has info on everything from movies to make-up to cartoons. Follow the bouncing pixel to http://visualmagic.awn.com/ and discover how the filmmakers from "Titanic" created digital humans and other extraordinary effects. You'll also get the lowdown on 3-D scanners, software and killer graphics applications.

Rose Kryzak, 99, who lobbied for senior citizens' rights for 27 years, died Thursday in New York. She was chosen New York State Senior Citizen of the Year in 1986 by the state Legislature and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls in 1997.George E. Turner, 73, a special effects illustrator, author and former editor of American Cinematographer magazine, died Sunday in Pasadena, Calif. Mr. Turner began as a cartoonist and illustrator. He created special effects for the television series "Zorro" and films including "The Shape of Things to Come," "One From the Heart" and "Creature."

With Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, director Alfonso Cuaron has wrought a wondrous fantasy that's light on its feet and full of heart. This movie targets the funny bone and tingles the spine. Maybe the prosaic doggedness of the first two Harry Potter films (directed by Chris Columbus) was necessary to prime the books' fans for the bop, boogie and ballet of the third. Must you know the entire saga before you can soar with this picture's flights of action poetry or dance to its zesty narrative rhythms?

As he walked off the field after his team's 44-6 win Sunday, Ravens safety Ed Reed ran into an old college friend who helped provide a little insight into the San Francisco 49ers' game plan. San Francisco starting cornerback Mike Rumph, who did not play because of an injury, clued Reed in as to why he never came close to blocking any of Bill LaFleur's punts. Reed, who has four blocked punts in his 28-game career, drew so much attention, he eventually stopped rushing the punter. "[Rumph]