#neil krepela

[brokehorrorfan]

Cliffhanger will be released on Steelbook 4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital on May 30 via Sony. Celebrating its 30th anniversary, Sylvester Stallone stars in the 1993 action thriller.

Renny Harlin (Deep Blue Sea, Die Hard 2) directs from a script by Stallone and Michael France (Fantastic Four, Hulk). John Lithgow, Michael Rooker, Janine Turner, Leon Robinson, Paul Winfield, Ralph Waite, and Rex Linn also star.

Cliffhanger has been newly restored in 4K, approved by Harlin, with Dolby Vision/HDR and Dolby Atmos and 5.1 DTS-HD MA audio options. Special features are listed below.

Disc 1 - 4K UHD:

17 never-before-seen and previously available deleted scenes (new)

Disc 2 - Blu-ray:

Audio commentary by director Renny Harlin and and actor/co-writer Sylvester Stallone

Audio commentary by editor Frank Urioste, special effects artists Neil Krepela and John Bruno, and production designer John Vallone

Introduction from director Renny Harlin

Stallone on the Edge: The Making of Cliffhanger featurette

Special Effects featurette

Deleted scenes with introduction by Renny Harlin

Storyboard comparisons

Theatrical trailer

For Rocky Mountain Rescue, the mission is almost routine: locate five climbers. With the woman he loves (Janine Turner) and his best friend (Michael Rooker), Gabe Walker (Sylvester Stallone) braves the icy peaks only to discover that the distress call is really a trap set by merciless international terrorist Eric Qualen (John Lithgow). Now millions of dollars and their own lives hang in the balance. Against explosive firepower, bitter cold, and dizzying heights, Walker must outwit Qualen in a deadly game of hide-and-seek.

Pre-order Cliffhanger.

[thestarwarsarchives]

Neil Krepela prepares to project live-action elements onto the painting of Cloud City and photograph them together - The Empire Strikes Back

[flickdirect]

Sylvester Stallone (Rocky) had a string of hit action movies in the 1970s and 1980s but those hits waned by the latter part of 1980s and he didn't make movies for a few years. Then in 1993, he starred in another action film called Cliffhanger. Based in the mountains of the Northwestern United States and filmed in the Italian Alps, the Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2) directed movie had audiences thrilled to see Stallone back to the action hero he was before. Twenty-five years later Sony Pictures has decided to release the film on 4K so it is headed to stores the middle of this month.

Gabe Walker (Stallone) is a mountain ranger with a skill for climbing and rescues. HIs girlfriend Jessie (Janine Turner; Northern Exposure) is a helicopter pilot who works with him and his best friend Hal (Michael Rooker; Guardians of the Galaxy) making rescues. When Jessie and Gabe find themselves rescuing Hal and his girlfriend, Sarah (Michelle Joyner; Outbreak), things go terribly wrong and Sarah ends up falling to her death. Hal blames Gabe for the tragedy fracturing their friendship forever.

Eight months later we see Gabe returning to the mountain simply to get the rest of his things from Jessie and severing ties with his past. While there a distress call comes into the ranger station and Jessie begs him to help since he knows those mountains better than anyone. When Gabe reluctantly agrees finally, he finds himself with Hall caught up in something much more than they ever could have imagined. It turns out there weren't any lost hikers in need of rescuing but a group of plane hijackers in need of someone to help them find their lost money. Playing a deadly game of cat and mouse Gabe must find the money before they do and save his friends from the robbers headed by Eric Qualen (John Lithgow; 3rd Rock from the Sun).

There is no denying that Stallone is one of the true action heroes of our generation and Cliffhanger reminds us why that is. Physically he was in top shape for this movie and the scenes of him climbing the mountains were impressive. Turner is an excellent compliment to him and they seem to have an easy that would make it believable that they had been romantically involved. Rooker completes this triangle nicely and Lithgow is strong as the villain in this tail.

Unfortunately, the 4K upgrade isn't exactly kind to the film as the heightened detail makes some of the backgrounds look fake. Conversely, the colors are spectacular and when the views are real they are magnificent. However, the Dolby Atmos audio fares much better with the sounds surrounding the viewer from all sides. The 4K disc doesn't house any of the extras and the Blu-ray has the same extras that were released eight years ago. These include: Audio Commentary with Director Renny Harlin and Actor Sylvester Stallone, Audio Commentary: Technical Crew including Editor Frank Urioste, Co-Visual Effects Supervisors Neil Krepela and John Bruno, and Production Designer John Vallone., A Personal Introduction from Renny Harlin, Deleted Scenes, Stallone on the Edge: The Making of Cliffhanger, Special Effect, Storyboard Comparisons, Original Theatrical Trailer, and Previews: Additional Sony titles.

If you are a Stallone fan and enjoy watching him as the action star he generally is then you would want to own this title in 4K. While the dialogue is cheesy and the story little too far fetched for my taste, Cliffhanger offered some great actions sequences and an always excellent performance from Lithgow.

Grade: B-

About Allison Hazlett-Rose Mrs. Hazlett-Rose attended Hofstra University where she earned her bachelor's degree in communications and is Vice Chair of the Florida Film Critics Circle and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists. She can be found in print, online, and on talk radio, WENG 107.5 FM.

Read more reviews and content by Allison Hazlett-Rose.

via FlickDirect Entertainment News, Exclusive Celebrity Interviews, and Film Reviews

[thestarwarsarchives]

Seventy matte paintings were created for The Empire Strikes Back by three artists from Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). Two of them, Ralph McQuarrie and Michael Pangrazio, were relatively new to the art form; the other, Harrison Ellenshaw, had practically been raised for the task as the son of Walt Disney’s chosen matte painter, Peter Ellenshaw.

Using acrylic and oil paints, some mattes were fragments to complete an existing shot, others were full windows into a galaxy, and all of them were painted on framed, rectangular glass. The matte department had its own studio on the second floor of ILM’s “Kerner Optical” facility in San Rafael, California; where even the slightest shakes in the building could affect a shot-in-progress. To create many of the effects, the paintings were combined with elements front-projected onto the clear or neutral areas of the painted glass. Neil Krepela and Michael Lawler were the matte photographers, assisted by Craig Barron and Robert Elswitt.