July in Review

Bitesize History, Books & Film Reviews

Hello and welcome back to Popped! A newsletter about cinema history and culture. This week is a roundup of things I've learned, read and seen in July.

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I've spent the last 30 days wondering whether I’d made it clear that I’m having a month off.

I’ve been on holiday, woohoo!

A week in Greece has definitely hit the spot. Sunshine, endless food and Aperol Spritz. I get back home and there is still the endless sunshine but it’s the muggy, inescapable sort we have in the U.K. coupled with a lack of air-con. Nightmare.

Though I’ve been off having a lovely time, there has been an extraordinary amount of mental capacity used in thinking about this newsletter. I can’t wait to get stuck back in and try some new things out. More to come on that, but for now, I wanted start with another of my “bits & pieces” posts, so let’s take a look at what I’ve been reading, learning and watching during my month of leisure.

Bitesize History

Making of the Blade Runner city scape

Some amazing behind the scenes pictures here which show how they achieved an atmospheric and futuristic Los Angeles in Blade Runner back in 1982.

Hades Landscape in Blade Runner

The picture above is actually taken from a 15ft by 8ft table. The buildings themselves were etched into brass, with the bigger buildings up front to give that sense of scale. There were also hundreds of metres of fibre-optics to light up the skylines.

Douglas Trumbull, who was behind the effects on, 2001: A Space Odyssey, needed to find a way to add smoke to the city for that added atmosphere. It needed to be controlled, as each frame would take seconds or even minutes to film. Left to its own devices, the smoke would appear fake when played in realtime. They ended up using fans embedded with sensors. Computers would then ensure the smoke was distributed evenly and realistically in each frame! I never thought I would be impressed by a smoke machine, but here we are.

The time this would have taken to get right is staggering and the pictures show how hands-on the creators had to get to make these city scape shots a reality.

The crew installing fibre optic cables (left), the fans that controlled the smoke (right).

I found the story via this tweet which includes further reading. The pictures are here.

Reading Like it’s 1999

I can’t pretend to have only read books about film on my month off. But between the trashy crime novels, I finally got around to reading this book,

Biggest. Movie. Year. Ever. - How 1999 Blew Up The Big Screen

It takes you through an expanse of films during that year, from The Blair Witch Project to The Matrix. From 10 things I Hate About You to Election. It’s not only how the films were made, but also how they got them to the screen, and the reaction with audiences.

This book reminded me just how big the fear of the millennium bug was in 1999, an unknown future loomed over us all. It’s not often that a year is filled with so many iconic films, Brian Raftery delves into how so many classics were spawned in ‘99, and the feeling in Hollywood at the time. Well worth a read.

What I’ve been watching

I’m not a big review writer. Having to be critical makes the people pleaser in me feel itchy.

That being said, I've watched quite a lot of new films this month, so I’ve figured out a couple of ways to get my thoughts on the latest films to you without taking away from the heart of this newsletter.

1. Mini-Podcast:

   I’ve recorded an additional piece where I share with you what I think the July’s releases. In this mini-podcast I talk about:

   Deadpool vs Wolverine, Twisters, Longlegs, The Bikeriders, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, Kinds of Kindness, and Bad Boys: Ride or Die.

   Let me know what you think:

2. Note Reviews:

   If you download the Substack app, there is a much more positive alternative to X called Notes. You can follow me and get unforgettable nuggets like this:

Want more film reading?

Over the past few months I've noticed a flurry of new and interesting newsletters on this platform providing interesting takes on film. Here are a handful of new ones I really like if you want more of this kind of stuff in your inbox:

Story Has It - A similar wheelhouse to Popped, Story Has It is great for nuggets of film history as well as weekly dose of what to watch, listen to and read. Love this

Balls on Film - This is a newsletter specifically about sports movies. What a great niche. Having a brilliant time reading these.

Textual Variations - This takes a deep dive into alternative cuts of films, how they’re different, why they are, and how those changes came about. Again, it’s a brilliant niche and very well written.

A Celebration of Cinema - Oene Kummer - Regular reviews with an honest yet positive approach.

Thanks folks, I’ll be back with some more history stories next time! Until then, please share if you found anything interesting, and if this is your first time here, do consider subscribing!

Gareth