Diciembre 29 - "Django Unchained" / "Les Misérables"

Criticamos la películas "Django Unchained" y "Les Misérables". Con Marcos Rodríguez, Jesús Velaquez "DJ Mista OZ" y José Saul Nieves. Duración 63 Minutos, 15 Segundos. Música por Maxarathiel Les'Shyerar.

Diciembre 22 - "Jack Reacher" / "This Is 40"

Criticamos la películas "Jack Reacher" y "This Is 40". Con Marcos Rodríguez, Jesús Velaquez "DJ Mista OZ" y José Saul Nieves. Duración 62 Minutos, 20 Segundos. Música por Maxarathiel Les'Shyerar.

Diciembre 16 - "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"

Criticamos la película "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey". Con Marcos Rodríguez, Jesús Velaquez "DJ Mista OZ" y Alberto Reyes. Duración 55 Minutos, 59 Segundos.

Diciembre 8 - "Killing Them Softly" / "The Perks Of Being A Wallflower"

Criticamos la películas "Killing Them Softly" y "The Perks Of Being A Wallflower". Con Marcos Rodríguez, Jesús Velaquez "DJ Mista OZ" y Rafi Reynoso. Duración 59 Minutos, 25 Segundos. Música por Isao Tomita, del Album "Tomita's Greatest Hits".

Diciembre 1ro. - "Lincoln" / "Rise Of The Guardians"

Criticamos la películas "Lincoln" y "Rise Of The Guardians". Con Marcos Rodríguez, Jesús Velaquez "DJ Mista OZ", Laura Pereira y Rafi Reynoso. Duración 60 Minutos, 14 Segundos. Música por Isao Tomita, del Album "Tomita's Greatest Hits".

Octubre 27 - "Paranormal Activity 4"/ "Sinister"/ "Under My Nails"/ "Silent Hill: Revelation"

Criticamos la películas "Paranormal Activity 4", "Sinister". "Under My Nails" y "Silent Hill: Revelation". Con Marcos Rodríguez, Alberto Reyes, Jesús Velazquez "DJ Mista OZ" y Rafi Reynoso. Duración 60 Minutos, 01 Segundos. Música por Max Les'Shyerar del Album "Lost and Found".

Octubre 6 - "Looper" / "Hotel Transylvania"

Criticamos la películas "Looper" y "Hotel Transylvania". Con Marcos Rodríguez, Alberto Reyes, Jesús Velazquez "DJ Mista OZ", Laura Pereira y Rafi Reynoso. Duración 60 Minutos, 57 Segundos. Música por Max Les'Shyerar del Album "Lost And Found".

Michael Clarke Duncan- Actor "The Green Mile", "Armaggedon", "Daredevil". 1957 - 2012

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Michael Clarke Duncan, the hulking, prolific character actor whose dozens of films included an Oscar-nominated performance as a death row inmate in "The Green Mile" and such other box office hits as "Armageddon," ''Planet of the Apes" and "Kung Fu Panda," is dead at age 54.
Duncan died Monday morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where he was being treated for a heart attack, said his fiancée, reality TV personality Rev. Omarosa Manigault, in a statement released by publicist Joy Fehily.
The muscular, 6-foot-4 (1.96 meter) Duncan, a former bodyguard who turned to acting in his 30s, "suffered a myocardial infarction on July 13 and never fully recovered," the statement said. "Manigault is grateful for all of your prayers and asks for privacy at this time. Celebrations of his life, both private and public, will be announced at a later date."
In the spring of 2012, Duncan had appeared in a video for PETA, the animal rights organization, in which he spoke of how much better he felt since becoming a vegetarian three years earlier.
"I cleared out my refrigerator, about $5,000 worth of meat," he said. "I'm a lot healthier than I was when I was eating meat."
Duncan had a handful of minor roles before "The Green Mile" brought him an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor. The 1999 film, based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, starred Tom Hanks as a corrections officer at a penitentiary in the 1930s. Duncan played John Coffey, a convicted murderer with a surprisingly gentle demeanor and extraordinary healing powers.
Duncan's performance caught on with critics and moviegoers and he quickly became a favorite in Hollywood, appearing in several films a year. He owed some of his good fortune to Bruce Willis, who recommended Duncan for "The Green Mile" after the two appeared together in "Armageddon." Duncan would work with Willis again in "Breakfast of Champions," ''The Whole Nine Yards" and "Sin City."
His industrial-sized build was suited for everything from superhero films ("Daredevil") to comedy ("Talledega Nights," ''School for Scoundrels"). His gravelly baritone alone was good enough for several animated movies, including, "Kung Fu Panda," ''Delgo" and "Brother Bear." Among Duncan's television credits: "The Apprentice," ''The Finder," ''Two and a Half Men" and "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody."
Born in Chicago in 1957, Duncan was raised by a single mother whose resistance to his playing football led to his deciding he wanted to become an actor. But when his mother became ill, he dropped out of college, Alcorn State University, and worked as a ditch digger and bouncer to support her. By his mid-20s, he was in Los Angeles, where he looked for acting parts and became a bodyguard for Will Smith, Jamie Foxx and other stars. The murder of rapper Notorious B.I.G., for whom Duncan had been hired to protect before switching assignments, led him to quit his job and pursue acting full-time.
Early film and television credits, when he was usually cast as a bodyguard or bouncer, included "Bulworth," ''A Night at the Roxbury" and "The Players Club."

Tony Scott, Director - "Top Gun", "Days of Glory", "Crimson Tide" 1944-2012

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tony Scott, director of such Hollywood hits as "Top Gun," ''Days of Thunder" and "Beverly Hills Cop II," died Sunday after jumping from a Los Angeles County bridge, authorities said.
The 68-year-old Scott's death was being investigated as a suicide, Los Angeles County Coroner's Lt. Joe Bale said.
"I can confirm that Tony Scott has passed away. The family asks that their privacy is respected at this time," Scott's spokesman, Simon Halls, said in a statement.
Several people called 911 around 12:35 p.m. to report that someone had jumped from the Vincent Thomas Bridge spanning San Pedro and Terminal Island in Los Angeles Harbor, according to Los Angeles police Lt. Tim Nordquist.
A dive team with Los Angeles Port Police pulled the body from the murky water several hours later, Nordquist said. Scott's body was taken to a dock in Wilmington and turned over to the county coroner's office.
One lane of the eastbound side of the bridge was closed to traffic during the investigation. Cargo vessels moved at reduced speeds through the east side of the port's main channel during the search, said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey.
Investigators found a note in Scott's black Toyota Prius, which was parked on the bridge, according to the Los Angeles Times. That note listed contact information. A suicide note was later found at his office.
The British-born Scott, who lived in Beverly Hills, was producer and director Ridley Scott's younger brother. Distinct visual styles mark both siblings' films — Ridley Scott mastering the creation of entire worlds with such films as "Gladiator," ''Blade Runner," ''Alien" and this year's "Prometheus," Tony Scott known for hyper-kinetic action and editing on such films as his most recent, the runaway train thriller "Unstoppable," starring regular collaborator Denzel Washington.
Scott was a thrill-seeker himself in his personal life, an avid rock climber who also liked driving fast cars and motorcycles. Still, filmmaking was his real thrill.
"The biggest edge I live on is directing. That's the most scary, dangerous thing you can do in your life," Scott said in an interview for his 1995 naval adventure "Crimson Tide." ''The scariest thing in my life is the first morning of production on all my movies. It's the fear of failing, the loss of face and a sense of guilt that everybody puts their faith in you and not coming through."
Tony was the first of the Scott brothers to enjoy blockbuster success with "Top Gun," starring Tom Cruise, the top-grossing film of 1986 at $176 million. Scott teamed with Cruise again four years later on the hit "Days of Thunder." He also had a sequel to "Top Gun" in development.
But Ridley Scott later managed more and bigger hits than his brother and earned a level of critical respect never achieved by Tony Scott. "Gladiator" won the best-picture Academy Award for 2000 and earned Ridley Scott one of his three best-director nominations; Tony Scott never was in the running for an Oscar, and critics often slammed his movies for emphasizing style over substance.
Even Scott admitted that it was a challenge to infuse drama into some of his scenarios — for example, cars racing in circles in "Days of Thunder." In an interview for that 1990 summer hit, Scott was blunt about where some of the ideas came from.
"I went back and I stole from all race movies to date," Scott said. "I took the better elements, then tried to build on them. Really, the speed, the energy and the placement of the audience inside some of the cars came in the editing room. ...
"I'm always pushing for something new and fresh in the way things are shot, and the rest happens in the editing room. ... The real speed comes from the cutters and what they do with the celluloid."
While Ridley Scott had an auspicious start to his film career with 1977's acclaimed period drama "The Duellists" and 1979's "Alien," Tony Scott bombed with his debut, 1983's supernatural romance "The Hunger," with David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve.
He vaulted into Hollywood's top ranks the next time out, with "Top Gun," followed a year later by "Beverly Hills Cop II," both with producer Jerry Bruckheimer.
The two brothers ran Scott Free Productions and were working jointly on a film called "Killing Lincoln," based on the best seller by Bill O'Reilly. Along with countless commercials, their company produced the CBS dramas "NUMB3RS" and "The Good Wife" as well as a 2011 documentary about the Battle of Gettysburg for the History Channel.
Tony Scott said he gained perspective by mixing things up between film, TV and commercials.
"I like changing the pace of my life, changing my discipline. It gives me ideas for how to see the world differently," Scott said in a 2007 interview.
Besides "Unstoppable," Scott worked with Washington on four other movies: "Crimson Tide," ''Man on Fire," Deja Vu" and "The Taking of Pelham 123."
In a tweet Sunday, director Ron Howard said, "No more Tony Scott movies. Tragic day."
Director Jon Favreau tweeted, "Such sad news about Tony Scott. Heartfelt condolences to his family and friends."
Other Scott films include "True Romance," written by Quentin Tarantino, "The Fan," with Robert De Niro, and "Enemy of the State," starring Will Smith.
Scott was married to actress Donna Scott, who appeared in several of her husband's films. They have twin sons.
Completed in 1963, the 6,060-foot Vincent Thomas Bridge links rises 185 feet at its highest point above the Los Angeles Harbor. Many have taken their lives by jumping from the span.
The bridge has been used in many Hollywood productions, among them "Charlie's Angels," ''Gone in 60 Seconds" and "The Fast and the Furious."

Richard D. Zanuck, Producer, "Jaws", "The Sting", "Cocoon". 1934-2012

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hollywood movie producer Richard D. Zanuck, whose films include Oscar winner "Driving Miss Daisy," died on Friday of a heart attack, his spokesman said in a statement. He was 77.

"Richard D. Zanuck, one of the film industry's most progressive and distinguished leaders died today (Friday, July 13th) of a heart attack in Los Angeles at age 77," spokesman Jeff Sanderson said in a statement.

Zanuck, the son of early Hollywood mogul Darryl Zanuck, earned numerous awards over more than 50 years of making movies, and he ran the 20th Century Fox film studio at a time when it cranked out hits such as "The Sound of Music," "Patton" and "The French Connection," which all went on to win best film Oscars.

As a producer with business partner David Brown, he helped usher into theaters hits such as "Jaws," "The Sting" and "Cocoon."

Zanuck continued to be active in Hollywood throughout his life, working recently on movie "Dark Shadows," which starred Johnny Depp and was directed by Tim Burton.

He is survived by his wife Lili Fini Zanuck, sons Harrison and Dean, and nine grandchildren.

Ernest Borgnine, Actor, "Marty", "Poseidon Adventure". "McHale's Navy", "The Dirty Dozen", "The Wild Bunch"- 1917-2012

Ernest Borgnine, who created a variety of memorable characters in both movies and television and won the best-actor Oscar for his role as a lovesick butcher in "Marty" in 1955, died Sunday. He was 95.

Borgnine's longtime spokesman, Harry Flynn, told The Associated Press that Borgnine died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles with his family by his side.

A prolific and talented character actor, Borgnine was known for gruff, villainous roles such as the heavy who beats up Frank Sinatra in "From Here to Eternity" and one of the bad guys who harasses Spencer Tracy in "Bad Day at Black Rock."

Borgnine, who earned a salary of $5,000 for playing his Academy-Award winning role Marty, once said "I would have done it for nothing."

orgnine, who was born Ermes Effron Borgnino on Jan. 24, 1917 in Hamden, Conn., began acting after serving in the Navy during World War II. He made his film debut in 1951's "Whistle at Eaton Falls" before winning an Academy Award four years later. He appeared in other notable films including "Jubal," "Flight of the Phoenix," "The Dirty Dozen,""The Wild Bunch," "The Poseidon Adventure," "Johnny Guitar," and "Escape from New York."

"No Stanislavsky. I don't chart out the life histories of the people I play," Borgnine told The New York Times in 1973 when asked about his acting methods. "If I did, I'd be in trouble. I work with my heart and my head, and naturally emotions follow."

Sometimes he prayed, he said, or just reflected on character-appropriate thoughts. "If none of that works," he added, "I think to myself of the money I'm making."

He was also known as the Navy officer in the television series "McHale's Navy," which aired from 1962-66. Younger audiences would know him as the voice of Mermaid Man in "Spongebob Squarepants."

Borgnine earned an Emmy Award nomination at age 92 for his work on the series "ER," and was honored with the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2011.

"The Oscar made me a star, and I'm grateful," AP reports that Borgnine told an interviewer in 1966. "But I feel had I not won the Oscar I wouldn't have gotten into the messes I did in my personal life."

The actor was married five times, including to singer Ethel Merman, who became his third wife in 1964. The marriage barely lasted a month.

He is survived by his fifth wife, Tova Traesnaes — whom he married in 1973 —his children Christofer, Nancee and Sharon Borgnine; a stepson, David Johnson; six grandchildren; and his sister, Evelyn Verlardi.

One of my favorite actors. May he rest in Peace. And Thank You for the memories!

Nora Ephron - Writer- "Silkwood", "When Harry Met Sally" And more. 1941-2012

By Adam Bernstein, Washington Post.

Nora Ephron, who gained a devoted following for her perceptive, deeply personal essays and parlayed that renown into a screenwriting career of wistful romantic comedies “When Harry Met Sally” and “You’ve Got Mail,” the marital exposé“Heartburn” and the whistleblower drama “Silkwood,” died June 26 at a hospital in New York. She was 71.

The death was confirmed by her friend Richard Cohen, the Washington Post columnist. She died of complications from the blood disorder myelodysplasia, with which she was diagnosed six years ago.

As a young woman, Ms. Ephron modeled her self-deprecating and deadpan writing style on Dorothy Parker, part of the Algonquin Round Table of sophisticated New York writers and humorists that also included Robert Benchley and S.J. Perelman. Of the philandering husband in her 1983 novel “Heartburn” — modeled on her marriage to former Washington Post journalist Carl Bernstein — Ms. Ephron wrote he was “capable of having sex with a Venetian blind.”

In time, Ms. Ephron became a social confederate of New York playwrights, filmmakers and wits, including Mike Nichols, Woody Allen and Calvin Trillin; Washington journalists including former Post executive editor Benjamin Bradlee and his journalist wife, Sally Quinn; and a Hollywood coterie that included Rob Reiner, Tom Hanks, Steve Martin and Steven Spielberg.

As a woman in the male-dominated movie business, Ms. Ephron was a rare “triple-hyphenate” as writer, director and producer. But making movies for and about women was a battle, at times. She observed how, to male studio moguls, “a movie about a woman’s cure for cancer is less interesting than a movie about a man with a hangnail.”

From her early years as a journalist for Esquire and New York magazines, Ms. Ephron was regarded as a keen cultural barometer. She repeatedly channeled her interest in the zeitgeist to the screen. Her last film, “Julie & Julia” (2009), starring Meryl Streep as the French-cooking apostle Julia Child and Amy Adams as a modern disciple, explored the trendy fascination with blogging and gourmet cooking.

In “Silkwood” (1983), a biographical drama directed by Nichols and starring Streep as a plutonium plant employee and union activist, Ms. Ephron tapped into the era’s fear of nuclear meltdowns and corporate coverups. Her novel and 1986 screenplay for “Heartburn” — which starred Streep and Jack Nicholson — reflected what countless other women were experiencing through their disappointing marriages and efforts to balance career ambitions with homemaking obligations.

Una de mis autoras favoritas. Que descanse en paz.

Ray Bradbury, Sci-Fi Author, "Fahrenheit 451", "The Martian Chronicles" 1920-2012

Ray Bradbury, author of Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, and other beloved science fiction novels, died Tuesday night at the age of 91, according to the AP.

"His legacy lives on in his monumental body of books, film, television and theater, but more importantly, in the minds and hearts of anyone who read him, because to read him was to know him. He was the biggest kid I know," his grandson told the i09 science fiction blog.

Bradbury sold eight million copies of his books in 36 languages, according to The New York Times' obit.

He attributed his success as a writer to never having gone to college--instead, he read and wrote voraciously. "When I graduated from high school in 1938, I began going to the library three nights a week," he said in an interview with The Paris Review. "I did this every week for almost ten years and finally, in 1947, around the time I got married, I figured I was done. So I graduated from the library when I was twenty-seven. I discovered that the library is the real school."

"The universe is a little emptier right now," Texas A&M Commerce English Professor Robin Ann Reid told Yahoo News. She wrote a book about Bradbury's works and sits on the board of the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies. "There's less of that sense of joy and exultation that he was writing in his works all the way to the end."

Reid said Bradbury was the first writer to jump from pulp magazines to mainstream literary magazines, thus bringing science fiction writing into the mainstream. Bradbury also wrote fantasy and horror.

His best known book, Fahrenheit 451, was a dystopian tale set in the future about a society where books were banned and firefighters spent all day burning them. "Bradbury's novel anticipated iPods, interactive television, electronic surveillance and live, sensational media events, including televised police pursuits," the Associated Press writes.

Bradbury suffered a stroke in 1999, and lost his wife in 2003, but he continued to write.

Bradbury's biographer Jonathan Eller said in a statement that Bradbury "hated intolerance, and those who deny the existence of intolerance. He was not afraid to write about and condemn the evils of prejudice and racial inequality at a time when such stories were hard to publish in America." Eller also pointed to Bradbury's words to Caltech's graduating class of 2000, whom he urged "to witness, to celebrate, and to be part of this universe...you're here one time, you're not coming back. And you owe, don't you? You owe back for the gift of life."

Bradbury recently wrote a short essay responding to his favorite Snoopy comic strip about how much rejection he faced when he first began writing. "Starting when I was fifteen I began to send short stories to magazines like Esquire, and they, very promptly, sent them back two days before they got them! I have several walls in several rooms of my house covered with the snowstorm of rejections, but they didn't realize what a strong person I was; I persevered and wrote a thousand more dreadful short stories, which were rejected in turn," he wrote.

But he said later in The Paris Review interview that he did not feel responsible for his own writing success, saying he felt that God helped him write. "The best description of my career as a writer is 'at play in the fields of the Lord.' It's been wonderful fun and I'll be damned where any of it came from. I've been fortunate. Very fortunate," he said.

In a recent issue of the New Yorker, Bradbury wrote about discovering science fiction stories as a child growing up in Waukegan, Illinois, and his love for his grandfather. "I would go out to that lawn on summer nights and reach up to the red light of Mars and say, "Take me home!" I yearned to fly away and land there in the strange dusts that blew over dead-sea bottoms toward the ancient cities," he wrote.

Richard Dawson, Actor, "Hogan's Heroes", host of "Family Feud" 1932-2012

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Richard Dawson, the wisecracking British entertainer who was among the schemers in the 1960s TV comedy "Hogan's Heroes" and a decade later began kissing thousands of female contestants as host of the game show "Family Feud" has died. He was 79.

Dawson, also known to TV fans as the Cockney prisoner-of-war Cpl. Peter Newkirk on "Hogan's Heroes," died Saturday night from complications related to esophageal cancer at Ronald Reagan Memorial Hospital, his son Gary said.

The game show, which initially ran from 1976 to 1985, pitted families who tried to guess the most popular answers to poll questions such as "What do people give up when they go on a diet?"

Dawson won a daytime Emmy Award in 1978 as best TV game show host. Tom Shales of The Washington Post called him "the fastest, brightest and most beguilingly caustic interlocutor since the late great Groucho bantered and parried on 'You Bet Your Life.'" The show was so popular it was released as both daytime and syndicated evening versions.

He was known for kissing each woman contestant, and at the time the show bowed out in 1985, executive producer Howard Felsher estimated that Dawson had kissed "somewhere in the vicinity of 20,000."

"I kissed them for luck and love, that's all," Dawson said at the time.

He reprised his game show character in a much darker mood in the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger film "The Running Man," playing the host of a deadly TV show set in a totalitarian future, where convicts try to escape as their executioners stalk them. "Saturday Night Live" mocked him in the 1970s, with Bill Murray portraying him as leering and nasty, even slapping one contestant (John Belushi) for getting too fresh.

The British-born actor already had gained fame as the fast-talking Newkirk in "Hogan's Heroes," the CBS comedy about prisoners in a Nazi POW camp who hoodwink their captors and run the place themselves.

Despite its unlikely premise, the show made the ratings top 10 in its first season, 1965-66, and ran until 1971.

Both "Hogan's Heroes" and "Family Feud" have had a second life in recent years, the former on DVD reissues and the latter on cable television's GSN, formerly known as the Game Show Network.

On Dawson's last "Family Feud" in 1985, the studio audience honored him with a standing ovation, and he responded: "Please sit down. I have to do at least 30 minutes of fun and laughter and you make me want to cry."

"I've had the most incredible luck in my career," he told viewers.

"I never dreamed I would have a job in which so many people could touch me and I could touch them," he said. That triggered an unexpected laugh.

Producers brought out "The New Family Feud," starring comedian Ray Combs, in 1988. Six years later, Dawson replaced Combs at the helm, but that lasted only one season.

According to the Internet Movie Database, Dawson was born Colin Lionel Emm in 1932 in Gosport, England. His first wife was actress Diana Dors, the blond bombshell who was Britain's answer to Marilyn Monroe.

"Survey Says! Rest In Peace."

Ralph McQuarrie, Graphic Artist, "Star Wars","E.T", "Cocoon". 1929-2012

(CBS News) Ralph McQuarrie, the artist whose conceptual paintings were instrumental in designing the landmark "Star Wars" films, has died at age 82.

The announcement was made on his official website, ralphmcquarrie.com.

A commercial artist and designer whose career included stints at Boeing and Kaiser Graphic Arts and creating animations of Apollo space flights for CBS News, McQuarrie created the concept art that was crucial in winning 20th Century Fox's approval to put George Lucas' "Star Wars" in production.

The success of his "Star Wars" paintings launched a late feature film career for McQuarrie that included helping design such classics as "Raiders of the Lost Ark," "E.T.: The Extra-terrestrial," "Back to the Future," "Cocoon," "Total Recall," and the original TV series "Battlestar Galactica."

"I am deeply saddened by the passing of such a visionary artist and such a humble man," George Lucas said in a statement. "Ralph McQuarrie was the first person I hired to help me envision Star Wars. His genial contribution, in the form of unequaled production paintings, propelled and inspired all of the cast and crew of the original 'Star Wars' trilogy. When words could not convey my ideas, I could always point to one of Ralph's fabulous illustrations and say, 'Do it like this.'"

"In many ways, he was a generous father to a conceptual art revolution that was born of his artwork, and which seized the imaginations of thousands and propelled them into the film industry. In that way, we will all be benefiting from his oeuvre for generations to come," Lucas said.

"Beyond that, I will always remember him as a kind and patient, and wonderfully talented, friend and collaborator."

Following his work on Apollo TV newscasts, McQuarrie came into contact with Hal Barwood and Matthew Robbins, who had worked with Lucas on that director's first feature film, "THX-1138," about designing a science fiction film. That project never materialized, but through their work Lucas met with McQuarrie and asked him to design what ultimately became "Star Wars."

Even after the success of "American Graffiti," Lucas could not find a buyer for his script for "Star Wars" - science fiction at that time being thought box office poison.

"George felt that it was the kind of script that people weren't very impressed with," McQuarrie told Cinefantastique magazine in 1978. "The idea seemed kind of funky. He envisioned the picture as a real visual experience, much more so than a story. It wasn't true science fiction. George called it a science fantasy, and even the fantasy aspect was non-traditional."

Lucas provided McQuarrie with comic book illustrations and other source material, but McQuarrie contribution was to make the alien worlds, species, spaceships and costumes tactile.

He created the look of robots and light sabers, (C-3PO was inspired in part by the robot of "Metropolis"), stormtroopers and Darth Vader, the Death Star and TIE-Fighter dogfights, and other crucial elements.

"I wanted to make these paintings as close to what would be on the screen as possible," McQuarrie told Cinefantastique. "That was a product of, or a result of our wish to make the people at Fox feel that we had a picture that was going to have a quality image, one that wasn't going to be trashy science fiction . . . It was going to be a real polished product."

McQuarrie's nearly two-dozen illustrations proved crucial in getting the backing of 20th Century Fox to go into production, though there were variations from the final product given the early pre-production stage - the fact, for example, that Luke Skywalker is depicted as a girl.

"Fox thought there should be some romantic interest - I think this is why George made Luke a girl," McQuarrie recalled. "Then Han Solo would be the robust hero and we could have a little tension between the two characters. That was okay, but at some point George decided to make Luke a boy again and bring in the Princess as a third character."

In addition to film work, McQuarrie also designed book covers (notably for science fiction) and advertising.

David Kelly, Actor- "Waking Ned Devine", "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" 1929-2012

DUBLIN (AP) — Irish character actor David Kelly, who played Grandpa Joe in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and motorcycled naked in "Waking Ned Devine," has died. He was 82.

His family and friends said Kelly died Sunday in Dublin after an acting career on stage, film, TV and radio that spanned a half-century. His cause of death was not announced.

Kelly was best known in Ireland for his 1980 depiction of doomed tenement dweller Rashers Tierney in the historical miniseries "Strumpet City" and for his large body of work as a Dublin stage actor in the 1950s and 1960s.

British and Irish TV viewers also could recognize his face and bony frame from short, usually comedic turns on myriad soaps and sitcoms, most memorably as a work-dodging Irish builder opposite John Cleese in a 1975 episode of "Fawlty Towers." He also played a dim-witted, one-armed dishwasher in the late 1970s British sitcom "Robin's Nest."

A longtime colleague, Gate Theatre director Michael Colgan, noted Kelly's old-school charms, punctuated by his propensity for bow ties and smart suits.

"In rehearsal he had a biting wit. He wouldn't do a part unless he knew he could bring something to it no one else could," Colgan said.

Whenever he was filming programs at Irish broadcasters RTE, Kelly was a common sight for Dubliner commuters on the bus traveling from his native district of Goatstown. Kelly was always at the back of the bus, appearing to be talking to himself, but actually memorizing his day's lines.

Irish comedian Niall Tobin, who worked alongside Kelly in the 1990s village comedy-drama series "Ballykissangel," said Kelly "would make you laugh all the time. Even when he was in the depths of a hangover, he would make you laugh."

Usually consigned to bit parts in film, Kelly's two most prominent roles came late in life.

In 1998's "Waking Ned Devine" he portrayed an Irish villager who must impersonate the late Devine to collect a huge lottery win — and finds himself hurtling down a muddy road, naked apart from his motorcycle helmet, socks and shoes, to keep the ruse intact.

Kelly often joked that his career took off in his 70s once casting agents finally knew about his sexy body.

In 2005 he played Charlie Bucket's grandfatherly escort in Tim Burton's adaptation of the fantasy world of Willy Wonka. That year he also received a lifetime achievement award from the Irish Film & Television Academy.

His final role was in 2007's fantasy film "Stardust," in which he played the guard between the English village of Wall and the magical kingdom of Stormhold.

Kelly's Dublin funeral at the Catholic Church of the Miraculous Medal and cremation are scheduled for Thursday. He is survived by his wife, actress Laurie Morton, and their two children.

Zalman King, Director, "Wild Orchid", "Red Shoe Diaries". 1942-2012

The director of the erotically charged films Two Moon Junction, Wild Orchid and Red Shoe Diaries and producer/co-writer of Adrian Lyne’s cult hit 9½ Weeks died today at his home in Santa Monica after a long battle with cancer, a family member confirmed to Deadline. He was 70. King, dubbed “the high priest of erotic filmmaking,” has dozens of film and TV producer, director and writer credits and often collaborated with his wife, writer-producer Patricia Louisianna Knop. They co-penned 9½ Weeks, the 1986 film that starred Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger as a pair of strangers who begin a relationship based solely on sex and was notably hot and heavy for its time. The MGM title grossed $6.7 million. King and his wife also co-wrote 1989′s Wild Orchid, starring Rourke and Jacquline Bisset, as well as many episodes of Red Shoe Diaries, the Showtime series that spawned a 1992 TV movie and numerous direct-to-video titles.

Ben Gazzara, Actor, "Anatomy of a Murder", "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof" 1930-2012

Ben Gazzara, the veteran actor of stage, movies and television, died of pancreatic cancer at Bellevue Hospital Center, his attorney Jay Julien told the New York Times. He was 81. The New York native studied at the Actors Studio and starred in numerous Broadway productions including Tennessee Williams’ Cat On A Hot Tin Roof directed by Elia Kazan, though for the film version he lost out to Paul Newman. In the movies, he made a strong impression as the accused killer in Otto Preminger’s 1959 courtroom drama Anatomy Of A Murder. Of his extensive TV work, he’s perhaps best remembered for NBC’s 1965-68 Run For Your Life, in which he played a terminally ill man trying to squeeze the most out of his remaining time alive. He continued to work with numerous acclaimed film directors. His initial collaboration with John Cassavetes was on Husbands, which also starred Cassavetes and Peter Falk. Other films included the Coen brothers’ The Big Lebowski, Spike Lee’s Summer Of Sam, David Mamet’s The Spanish Prisoner, Todd Solondz’s Happiness, John Turturro’s Illuminata and John McTiernan’s 1999 version of The Thomas Crown Affair. Gazzara is survived by his third wife, the former Elke Stuckmann, and their daughters.

The Oscar nominations are out!

These are the nominations for the 84th Academy Awards. They will be televised Sunday, February 26 at 9pm AST on ABC.

Actor in a Leading Role

Demián Bichir in "A Better Life"
George Clooney in "The Descendants"
Jean Dujardin in "The Artist"
Gary Oldman in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"
Brad Pitt in "Moneyball"

Actor in a Supporting Role

Kenneth Branagh in "My Week with Marilyn"
Jonah Hill in "Moneyball"
Nick Nolte in "Warrior"
Christopher Plummer in "Beginners"
Max von Sydow in "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"

Actress in a Leading Role

Glenn Close in "Albert Nobbs"
Viola Davis in "The Help"
Rooney Mara in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"
Meryl Streep in "The Iron Lady"
Michelle Williams in "My Week with Marilyn"

Actress in a Supporting Role

Bérénice Bejo in "The Artist"
Jessica Chastain in "The Help"
Melissa McCarthy in "Bridesmaids"
Janet McTeer in "Albert Nobbs"
Octavia Spencer in "The Help"

Animated Feature Film

"A Cat in Paris" Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
"Chico & Rita" Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
"Kung Fu Panda 2" Jennifer Yuh Nelson
"Puss in Boots" Chris Miller
"Rango" Gore Verbinski

Art Direction

"The Artist"
Production Design: Laurence Bennett; Set Decoration: Robert Gould
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"
Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
"Hugo"
Production Design: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
"Midnight in Paris"
Production Design: Anne Seibel; Set Decoration: Hélène Dubreuil
"War Horse"
Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales

Cinematography

"The Artist" Guillaume Schiffman
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Jeff Cronenweth
"Hugo" Robert Richardson
"The Tree of Life" Emmanuel Lubezki
"War Horse" Janusz Kaminski

Costume Design

"Anonymous" Lisy Christl
"The Artist" Mark Bridges
"Hugo" Sandy Powell
"Jane Eyre" Michael O'Connor
"W.E." Arianne Phillips

Directing

"The Artist" Michel Hazanavicius
"The Descendants" Alexander Payne
"Hugo" Martin Scorsese
"Midnight in Paris" Woody Allen
"The Tree of Life" Terrence Malick

Documentary (Feature)

"Hell and Back Again"
Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner
"If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front"
Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
"Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory"
Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
"Pina"
Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel
"Undefeated"
TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas

Documentary (Short Subject)

"The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement"
Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin
"God Is the Bigger Elvis"
Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson
"Incident in New Baghdad"
James Spione
"Saving Face"
Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
"The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom"
Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen

Film Editing

"The Artist" Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
"The Descendants" Kevin Tent
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
"Hugo" Thelma Schoonmaker
"Moneyball" Christopher Tellefsen


Foreign Language Film

"Bullhead" Belgium
"Footnote" Israel
"In Darkness" Poland
"Monsieur Lazhar" Canada
"A Separation" Iran

Makeup

"Albert Nobbs"
Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"
Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
"The Iron Lady"
Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland

Music (Original Score)

"The Adventures of Tintin" John Williams
"The Artist" Ludovic Bource
"Hugo" Howard Shore
"Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" Alberto Iglesias
"War Horse" John Williams

Music (Original Song)

"Man or Muppet" from "The Muppets" Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
"Real in Rio" from "Rio" Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown Lyric by Siedah Garrett

Best Picture

"The Artist" Thomas Langmann, Producer
"The Descendants" Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" Scott Rudin, Producer
"The Help" Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers
"Hugo" Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers
"Midnight in Paris" Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
"Moneyball" Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
"The Tree of Life" Nominees to be determined
"War Horse" Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers

Short Film (Animated)

"Dimanche/Sunday" Patrick Doyon
"The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore" William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
"La Luna" Enrico Casarosa
"A Morning Stroll" Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
"Wild Life" Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby

Short Film (Live Action)

"Pentecost" Peter McDonald and Eimear O'Kane
"Raju" Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren
"The Shore" Terry George and Oorlagh George
"Time Freak" Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
"Tuba Atlantic" Hallvar Witzø

Sound Editing

"Drive" Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Ren Klyce
"Hugo" Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon" Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
"War Horse" Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom

Sound Mixing

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"
David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson
"Hugo"
Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
"Moneyball"
Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon"
Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin
"War Horse"
Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson

Visual Effects

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"
Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson
"Hugo"
Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning
"Real Steel"
Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg
"Rise of the Planet of the Apes"
Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon"
Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

"The Descendants" Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
"Hugo" Screenplay by John Logan
"The Ides of March" Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
"Moneyball" Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin Story by Stan Chervin
"Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" Screenplay by Bridget O'Connor & Peter Straughan

Writing (Original Screenplay)

"The Artist" Written by Michel Hazanavicius
"Bridesmaids" Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
"Margin Call" Written by J.C. Chandor
"Midnight in Paris" Written by Woody Allen
"A Separation" Written by Asghar Farhadi

Bob Anderson-Sword Master "Star Wars", LOTR Trilogy, James Bond Films. 1922-2012

LONDON (AP) — Olympic fencer and movie sword master Bob Anderson appeared in some of film's most famous dueling scenes — though few viewers knew it.

Anderson, who has died at age 89, donned Darth Vader's black helmet and fought light saber battles in two of the three original "Star Wars" films, "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi."

Anderson, who worked with actors from Errol Flynn to Antonio Banderas during five decades as a sword master, fight director and stunt performer, died early New Year's Day at an English hospital, the British Academy of Fencing said Monday.

Vader, "Star Wars'" intergalactic arch-villain, was voiced by James Earl Jones and played by six foot six (1.98 meter) former weightlifter David Prowse, but Anderson stepped in during the key fight scenes.

"David Prowse wasn't very good with a sword and Bob couldn't get him to do the moves," said Anderson's former assistant, Leon Hill. "Fortunately Bob could just don the costume and do it himself."

The scenes worked beautifully, although Anderson, then nearing 60, was several inches shorter than Prowse.

Few knew of Anderson's role until Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker, said in a 1983 interview that "Bob Anderson was the man who actually did Vader's fighting."

"It was always supposed to be a secret, but I finally told (director) George (Lucas) I didn't think it was fair any more," Hamill told Starlog magazine. "Bob worked so bloody hard that he deserves some recognition. It's ridiculous to preserve the myth that it's all done by one man."

Robert James Gilbert Anderson was born in Hampshire, southern England, in 1922, and was drawn to fencing from an early age.

"I never took up the sword," he said in an interview for the 2009 documentary "Reclaiming the Blade." ''I think the sword took me up."

Anderson joined the Royal Marines before World War II, teaching fencing aboard warships and winning several combined services titles in the sport.

He served in the Mediterranean during the war, later trained as a fencing coach and represented Britain at the 1952 Olympics and the 1950 and 1953 world championships.

In the 1950s, Anderson became coach of Britain's national fencing team, a post he held until the late 1970s. He later served as technical director of the Canadian Fencing Association.

His first film work was staging fights and coaching Flynn on swashbuckler "The Master of Ballantrae" in 1952.

He went on to become one of the industry's most sought after stunt performers, fight choreographers and sword masters, working on movies including the James Bond adventures "From Russia With Love" and "Die Another Day"; fantasy "The Princess Bride"; Banderas action romps "The Mask of Zorro" and "The Legend of Zorro"; and the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

Fencing academy president Philip Bruce said Anderson was "truly one of our greatest fencing masters and a world-class film fight director and choreographer."

Hill remembered him as "a splendid man, a great man who gave so much to fencing that can never be repaid."

Anderson is survived by his wife Pearl and three children. Funeral details were not immediately available.