The Elves are all very happy this afternoon. One of them returned to TLCB Towers with this, an absolutely wonderful Aston Martin DB5 by Flickr’s ER0L, and we’re so enthralled by it we’re letting them all watch 007 at the wheel in the 1960s film classic Goldfinger.
Er0l’s beautiful recreation of the famous British GT is only seven studs wide, but a more perfect replica of the DB5 we couldn’t imagine. It might be the best Town scale car you’ll see all year. Click the link above to visit Er0l’s photostream (and let him know that a version with Q’s bullet shield and machine guns is what we’re all waiting for!).
One of the defining coming-of-age films of the 1980s, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off told the story of one young man’s quest to have a day of extraordinary leisure. It starred Matthew Broderick, Jennifer Grey, Mia Sara, and even (briefly) Charlie Sheen, but the real star of the movie is of course the gorgeous 1961 Ferrari GT California.
TLCB favourite Ralph Savelsberg (aka Mad Physicist) has recreated the beautiful classic from the film (complete with Ferris figure) in his un-mistakable building style, and you can see all the photos at Ralph’s photostream here.
The Lego Car Blog Elves are spectacularly sulky today. The office went to the cinema to see The LEGO Movie and, sadly, we couldn’t take them.
Don’t feel sorry for the Elves though as it’s entirely of their own making. We’ve been banned from several cinemas and possibly still have an outstanding lawsuit from a particularly disastrous previous cinematic trip, so they’ll just have to wait for the DVD. However, you dear Readers, can go to see The LEGO Movie at the cinema. But should you? Read on to find out!
Synopsis:
The LEGO Movie was previewed here last June, and has been in development by Warner Brothers for the past six years. Set in a bustling and beautifully animated LEGO metropolis where ‘Everything is Awesome!’, The LEGO Movie is the tale of one mini-figure’s quest to save the world as he knows it. Emmet Brickowski (voiced by Chris Pratt of ‘The O.C’ and ‘Parks and Recreation’ fame) is an ordinary construction worker following the instructions available for every aspect of life in the city in the vain hope of becoming a ‘somebody’. Success and popularity eludes him until, one day, his life changes forever.
Unbeknownst to Emmet, the World is under threat from the evil Lord Business (voiced by a wonderfully on-form Will Ferrell), whilst a secret society of Master Builders attempts to stop him. Emmet accidentally stumbles across the long-lost ‘Piece of Resistance’, fulfilling the Master Builders’ prophesy of a saviour, and is thrust into the apocalyptic struggle between good and evil.
Mentored by the beautiful Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) and wise Master Builder Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman), Emmet must defeat Lord Business’ plans to create his ‘perfect’ world at the expense of everyone that lives within it. Adults will find the plot faintly Orwellian and actually quite dark, but it’s punctuated with such humour and so many pop-culture references that you may not realise until the end the intelligence that lies within.
The stellar lead cast is backed up by an impressive roster of supporting voice-actors, including a brilliant Liam Neeson as ‘Good Cop/Bad Cop’, Channing Tatum as ‘Superman’, Will Arnett as ‘Batman’ and the delightful Alison Brie as ‘Uni-Kitty’.
TLCB Verdict:
The LEGO Movie looks like a stop-motion animation, though it’s really computer animated, and it is at times quite busy. However it’s created in a beautifully bright way that only LEGO as a subject matter could inspire. It’s also available in 3D, but to be honest the movie doesn’t really need it and we suspect it will be just as enjoyable in only two dimensions.
A sort of Toy Story meets The Matrix, The LEGO Movie is a superbly animated film that both children and – more surprisingly – adults will enjoy. It’s also a children’s film that is quite rare in today’s cinema, in that the key message isn’t just aimed at the children viewing it, but perhaps more at their parents in attendance. We certainly hope it’ll give a few LEGO collectors within the online community something worth thinking about. The live-action finale is undoubtedly one of the sweetest movie moments of 2014, especially when you realise who is really the author of the enthralling story just witnessed.
So is ‘Everything Awesome’?
We’d have to say yes. The LEGO Movie might just be the animated movie of the year, and thus gets a TLCB rating of 4 Stars.
The LEGO Movie is in cinemas worldwide now, and success at the Box Office also means we can look out for a sequel following sometime in 2017. We can’t wait!
Steven Spielberg’s incredible 1993 blockbuster Jurassic Park isn’t a particularly car-y movie; most of the few cars that feature are the Ford Explorers used to shuttle tourists around the theme park. These were – being an American SUV built in the early ’90s – utter garbage, but in Jurassic Park livery they suddenly became very cool. So cool that Mercedes decided to sponsor the first Jurassic Park sequel in order to get its new ML-Class SUV in the spotlight.
Back to the Explorer, and it’s ripe for recreating in LEGO; it’s blocky and wonderfully colourful. TLCB regular (and Brothers Brick writer) Ralph Savelsberg has done just this in his usual brilliant studs-up style, and completed the build with the movie’s main characters (well, apart from the dinosaurs). See all the photos at Ralph’s photostream here, whilst we give the Elves a rare afternoon off to watch giant lizards running amok.
In the early days of cinema one comedy due rose above all others, becoming giants of the medium. Laurel and Hardy starred in dozens of films and brought laughter to millions. Almost 100 years later they are still one of the best known double acts in film comedy.
Ralph Savelsberg (aka Mad Physicist) pays homage to the legendary twosome with the car most associated with them, the Ford Model T (and of course, with everyone else in the late 1920s, as it’s estimated over 70% of all the cars on the roads worldwide during this period were Ford Model Ts). See more of Laurel, Hardy and their vintage wheels on Flickr at the link above.
Brothers Brick writer Ralph Savelsberg (aka Mad Physicist) adds another movie-star car to his already spectacular collection. The Deuce Coupe became one of the most watched cars in the world after its appearance in the 1973 classic American Graffiti and Ralph has recreated the film icon beautifully in his easily recognisable Model Team style. You can view all the photos at his Flickr photostream here, and you can see his previous Lego film and TV vehicles here on The Lego Car Blog by using the Search function at the foot of this page.
The chase. The desert. The shack. The girl. The roadblock. The end. Nick Barrett recreates the ultimate road movie with his superb forced-perspective scene from the legendary 1971 film ‘Vanishing Point’. The piece earns him a place in the MOCpages 2013 MOC Olympics semi-finals, and you can see the amazing techniques that Nick used to create the above shot at his MOCpage here.
From Ridley Scott’s 1979 masterpiece ‘Alien’; the USCSS Nostromo
This hulking black freighter is one of the most important spaceships in cinema history. Probably the first spacecraft that wasn’t all sleek and light inside, the Nostromo was more like a seagoing cargo ship; dirty, lived in, and not all that palatable. And it contained something that would definitely put a dent in its resale value when, after answering a distress call, the unfortunate crew discovered that there was another life-form sharing their air…
Before the franchise descended into the whole Alien Vs Predator farce it was also one of the few stories where the sequel (Aliens) was as good as the original, something only matched by The Godfather.
Anyway, the MOC: This stunning recreation of the Nostromo is the work of Mihe Stonee on MOCpages. Containing over 9,000 pieces and at over 70cm long it features complete landing gear, engine detail, lifts and communication systems. View the full gallery at the above link.
