RIP Stan Winston

Now, some people reading this are going to be wondering who the heck Stan Winston is. To put it simply, he has shaped cinema in the last 30 years maybe more than any director, producer or actor could have dreamed of. He is the creative genius behind the looks of the Terminator (Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day), the Predator (Predator), the Alien Queen (Alien and Aliens), Edward Scissorhands (Edward Scissorhands), Gotham City, Penguin and Cat Woman (Batman Returns), various dinosaurs including a full scale T-Rex (Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park 2) and various cybertronics (AI).

He was nominated for nine Oscars and won four, as well as other numerous acolades.

People from James Cameron to Steven Spielberg talk about what a genuinely passionate person Stan was. His company boardroom was a perfect a example of his personality, with full scale models of the Termintor, Predator and velocoraptors all seemingly pouncing on those who sat down and a full scale Tyrannosaurus Rex head over the seat of the chairman.

His last fully complete project was the suit for Ironman, with work being carried out at the moment for Terminator: Salvation. He died in his sleep on 15th June at his home in Malibu, California, after suffering with multiple myeloma for seven years.

So next time you watch one of the films above, spare a second to think of the failed actor who was trained in make-up at Disney and then went on to change the movie world. But then push this to the back of your mind and enjoy the film, I'm guessing thats what Stan would have wanted.

His fame is their fortune

Big budge American series are everywhere at the moment, spreading movie style effects, acting and filming over multiple episodes to grip audiences everywhere.
Now personally I'm very hit and miss with these programmes. I never got into 24, I lost Lost after the first season and the same happened with Heroes. So when a friend came over and said he was bringing a DVD, I thought a movie was inbound. But no, he made me sit through the first two episodes of one of these American shows.

And to my surprise, I enjoyed it. The show in question is Entourage. Many people in the U.K. will probably be wondering what the hell I am on about.
This is because, ITV bought the rights to this show, and screened it on ITV2, which is all sounding good so far. But, some bright spark in the publicity department decided to try to advertise it as Sex and the City for men.

The premise of the show is that we follow Vince, a young man who has just broken into to Hollywood A-list and looks like being a big star. Joining him on this adventure are his two childhood friends and his brother. Eric is the kind of friend that a new star would need, level headed, loyal and always with Vince's best interest at heart. Turtle is another friend along for the ride that flicks between selfish and selfless. Finally Drama, the idiot brother of Vince and one time network TV star. There is also a fifth character, celebrity agent Arie.

With the exception of Eric, all of the characters are self obsessed, with not a likeable human being amongst them. But I still ended up caring about them. This is because of some fantastic writing, the chemistry between the five guys is brilliant and the cameos from real celebrities are well judged. I emplore anyone who has not seen this show to watch an episode and judge for themselves.

And as a final note, Jemery Piven who plays Arie, won an Emmy for his role, its not hard to see why.