Ray Harryhausen, whose stop-motion animation made monsters come alive in films from the 30′s through the 80′s, has passed away, his family has announced. He was 93.
Stop-motion may be cheesey to those of us who grew up in the post-Star Wars era, but Harryhausen’s work – the most famous of which is perhaps the fighting skeletons of Jason and the Argonauts – was hugely influential. (Though to this 80s’ kid, it’s his Medusa in the original Clash of the Titans who kept me up at night!)
“Ray has been a great inspiration to us all in special visual industry. The art of his earlier films, which most of us grew up on, inspired us so much,” said George Lucas. “Without Ray Harryhausen, there would likely have been no Star Wars.”
Den of Geek’s top fifty movie special effects shots is a hell of a list. It willingly embraces all eras, movies that you might not expect (Hitchcock?!?) and hell, I think I learned a thing or two. (And all the scenes have a video. That’s some serious dedication.) It probably goes without saying that A New Hope and Return of the Jedi get entries.
Plus I’ll take any excuse to lead off with Harryhausen.
What?We hate Moby? Apparently he got a lot of flack from Star Wars fans while dating Natalie Portman. But he’s the only person I’ve ever seen on Cribs with actual books! (Okay, him and Hanson. I know, right?)
TIE-tanic. “The ability to control a medium for 20 years is insignificant next to the power of a good chick-flick.” Pure. Freaking. Genius. With Ewoks! On fire!
‘Guy Love,’ a song from the upcoming musical episode of Scrubs. I dare you not to laugh at this. And, um, it’s not off-topic: Donald Faison appears wearing a Star Wars t-shirt. Watch for it!
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