Santa Monica and Melbourne-based visual effects studio Luma, known for its feature film work, has extended its reach into the advertising arena. Leading this expanded offering at Luma are managing director Jay Lichtman and creative director Matt Lydecker who join co-founder and executive supervisor Payam Shohadai and VP/VFX supervisor Vince Cirelli at the company helm. Lichtman most recently was with MassMarket where as managing director he oversaw both the NYC and L.A. offices. He earlier served at such shops as Method Studios, MPC and Glassworks London. Lydecker spent the past 10-plus years in L.A. working as both lead artist and creative director at a number of studios including Framestore, Pysop, Brand New School, and Gentleman Scholar. His body of work spans such brands as Adidas, Apple, Nike, BMW, Google, Coca-Cola, Samsung and Toyota….
2C Creative in Miami has named Luis Martinez its design director. Martinez has rejoined 2C from motion design house King and Country, where he was instrumental in the campaigns for such broadcast and advertising clients as History Channel, NBC Sports, La Quinta, Ford and US Cellular. Martinez has already led the design on such high-profile 2C promo projects as the HBO-Showtime Mayweather vs. Pacquaio “Fight of the Century” and Science Channel’s “Are We Alone?” week. In his first tour of duty at 2C, Martinez led the company’s art department for seven years—his efforts exemplified in the campaigns of HBO, Travel Channel, DISH, NatGeo, Weather Channel, Animal Planet and Telemundo, among others. 2C has also recently added sr. designer Chris Newton who’s worked with such clients as FX, NBC, History Channel, NuvoTV, MTV, The EMMYs and Ancestry.com….
Review: Writer-Director Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance”
In its first two hours, "The Substance" is a well-made, entertaining movie. Writer-director Coralie Fargeat treats audiences to a heavy dose of biting social commentary on ageism and sexism in Hollywood, with a spoonful of sugar- and sparkle-doused body horror.
But the film's deliciously unhinged, blood-soaked and inevitably polarizing third act is what makes it unforgettable.
What begins as a dread-inducing but still relatively palatable sci-fi flick spirals deeper into absurdism and violence, eventually erupting — quite literally — into a full-blown monster movie. Let the viewer decide who the monster is.
Fargeat — who won best screenplay at this year's Cannes Film Festival — has been vocal about her reverence for "The Fly" director David Cronenberg, and fans of the godfather of body horror will see his unmistakable influence. But "The Substance" is also wholly unique and benefits from Fargeat's perspective, which, according to the French filmmaker, has involved extensive grappling with her own relationship to her body and society's scrutiny.
"The Substance" tells the story of Elisabeth Sparkle, a famed aerobics instructor with a televised show, played by a powerfully vulnerable Demi Moore. Sparkle is fired on her 50th birthday by a ruthless executive — a perfectly cast Dennis Quaid, who nails sleazy and gross.
Feeling rejected by a town that once loved her and despairing over her bygone star power, Sparkle learns from a handsome young nurse about a black-market drug that promises to create a "younger, more beautiful, more perfect" version of its user. Though she initially tosses the phone number in the trash, she soon fishes it out in a desperate panic and places an order.
The one rule to follow is that... Read More