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Marco Lanzagorta

About Marco Lanzagorta

Marco Lanzagorta received a PhD in physics from Oxford University and has worked at prestigious research institutions in England, Italy, Switzerland, Mexico and the US. During the past 18 years, he has conducted research in physics, computer science, and neuroscience. Currently, Marco is a scientific consultant for the US Department of Defense at a major research laboratory in Washington DC, and an affiliate associate professor at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.

But Marco's true love is, and always has been, horror cinema. Pursuing his dreams while at Oxford, Marco also studied filmmaking at the eminent Oxford University Film Workshop and produced and directed a couple of short films. Years later, he took more film courses at George Mason University and at the Smithsonian Institution.

In addition to its cultural importance, Marco sees film as the grand fusion of art and science, so he is deeply interested in the technologies that drive filmmaking, and keeps himself up to date on the latest advances in cinematography and special effects. Then, perhaps it is not coincidence that some of the research work he does for the Department of Defense involves the exact same technologies as those used by Hollywood to create movie magic. As such, every year he is an active contributor at Siggraph, by far the most important computer graphics, animation and digital effects conference.

Marco has also been offering his expertise in digital technologies to an independent film company associated to the University of Missouri in Columbia, where he taught an intensive course on computer animation and digital effects. While there he also starred in a major role and helped in the production of the upcoming Mil Mascaras vs. The Aztec Mummy the first US production in the legendary "Mexican Masked Wrestlers vs. Monsters" genre.

In addition to cinema, Marco is also interested in military history, science, technology, criminal psychology, and sagas of world exploration. He listens to movie soundtracks and he is currently doing research on the evolution of horror film music. Marco has read most of the books by Tom Clancy, Michael Crichton, Frederick Forsyth, Stephen King, H.P. Lovecraft, David Morrell and the Douglas Preston-Lincoln Childs team. His favorite books include Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness, Forsyth's The Day of the Jackal, and Richard Matheson's I am Legend. Marco equally enjoys reading graphic novels about seriously disturbed superheroes such as Batman, The Punisher, Spawn and Venom.

Features

DVDs

The Perfect Lean, Mean, Macho Machine

[26.Mar.08] :. The Die Hard series is a true rollercoaster of visual excesses guaranteed to raise the viewer’s adrenaline levels – while invoking intriguing ideological and cultural subtexts that deal with race, gender, masculinity, and social anxieties.

Recent features

 

Columns

Dread Reckoning

A Terrifying Ruby Jubilee

[15.Apr.08] :. As a pivotal year of social change and as a cultural stepping stone, 1968 saw the radicalization of American society, and an accompanying revolution in the realm of horror genre filmmaking.

Recent columns

 

Dread Reckoning

American Gothic

[19.Feb.08] :. Grant Wood's 'American Gothic' is an elegant representation of the American nightmare: the horrors and monsters that constantly lurk behind the face of normality.

Recent columns

 

Dread Reckoning

Horror Cinema By the Numbers

[26.Nov.07] :. Technology is not the only reason for the recent worldwide glut in horror films. Ease of access and influence also contribute to their continuing creation.

Recent columns

 

Dread Reckoning

Bringing Home the Horror

[1.Nov.07] :. Fright film fans have an innate desire to "own" that which they obsess over. Thanks to the ever changing face of home theater technology, and the genre's link to same, they can easily satisfy their creepshow cravings.

Recent columns

 

Dread Reckoning

The Year of the Wolf

[5.Oct.07] :. Leave it to the geniuses running the Hollywood studios to offset each other by delivering three legendary lycanthrope movies, 'The Howling', 'An American Werewolf in London' and 'Wolfen' during the same seminal genre year: 1981.

Recent columns

 

Dread Reckoning   A Matter of Morbid Elegance

Dread Reckoning   The Unseen Masters of Horror

Dread Reckoning   Fear Factoring: Part 2

Dread Reckoning   Fear Factoring: Part I

Dread Reckoning   The Gruesome Gazettes Part 2: Fangoria and Beyond

Dread Reckoning   The Gruesome Gazettes

Dread Reckoning   Legends of the Fang

Dread Reckoning   Trilogy of (T)errors

Dread Reckoning   A New Kind of Magic: Part III: Cinematic Symbiosis

Dread Reckoning   A New Kind of Magic: Part II: The Modern Prometheus

Dread Reckoning   A New Kind of Magic: Part I: The Power of Prestidigitation

Dread Reckoning   One Wedding and Lots of Funerals

Dread Reckoning   Not Just Zombies

Dread Reckoning   A Fistful of Maggots

Dread Reckoning   A Horror Renaissance

Reviews

DVDs

America at War Megaset

[29.Apr.08] :. The US has been involved in so many wars and conflicts that comparably the depth of this DVD set is very thin

Recent DVD reviews

 
Featured Article

DVDs

Pierrot le Fou

[25.Apr.08] :. This film illustrates the genius and brilliance of Godard, who always was a step or two ahead of most critics, academics, and viewers.

Recent DVD reviews

 
Featured Article

DVDs

Dresden

[10.Mar.08] :. A rather accurate historical recreation of the fiery destruction of the German city, and a comment on the difficult moral issue of justifying or condemning the strategic bombing of densely populated areas.

Recent DVD reviews

 
PopMatters Pick

DVDs

The John Frankenheimer Collection

[29.Feb.08] :. The rather complex ideological issues and unique sense of aesthetics that Frankenheimer infused in his films can be fully appreciated in this collection.

Recent DVD reviews

 
Featured Article

DVDs

Doctor Who: The Complete Third Series

[21.Dec.07] :. Even though Doctor Who has never been as ideologically sophisticated as the Star Trek franchise, as the new millennium accelerates and the specter of war continues to haunt the entire world, the liberal attitude of the Doctor seems far more palatable than the militarism of Captain Kirk.

Recent DVD reviews

 

DVDs   C.S.I. Miami: The Fifth Season

DVDs   Hitler: The Rise of Evil

DVDs   Casshern

Featured Article

DVDs

The War: A Film By Ken Burns and Lynn Novick

[26.Oct.07] :. Overall, The War is one of the most educational, informative, enlightening, and inspiring documentaries ever made.

Recent DVD reviews

 

DVDs   Robinson Crusoe on Mars

Featured Article

DVDs

Saturday Night Fever

[12.Oct.07] :. Unfortunately, even though our collective cultural memory has rightfully situated Saturday Night Fever as the film that launched disco music into the mainstream, it also has ignored or forgotten the powerful story it told.

Recent DVD reviews

 
PopMatters Pick

DVDs

The Milky Way

[18.Sep.07] :. In this surrealist masterpiece, Luis Buñuel poses important questions about religious beliefs and organized religion.

Recent DVD reviews

 
Featured Article

DVDs

Voyage to the Bottom of Sea - Season 3, Vol. 1

[4.Sep.07] :. This landmark TV series was one of the first cultural products that successfully generated a large demand for tie-ins and collectibles such as toys, books, comics, and lunchboxes.

Recent DVD reviews

 
Featured Article

DVDs

20 Million Miles to Earth

[16.Aug.07] :. This flick faithfully subscribes to the major conventions that characterized the science fiction genre during the paranoid '50s, but it's so well done that it's required viewing for those interested in modern cinema.

Recent DVD reviews

 

DVDs   Bones - Season One

DVDs   24 - Season 5

DVDs   Population 436 (2006)

DVDs   Heartstopper (2006)

DVDs   The Prophecy: Forsaken (2005)

DVDs   The Saint: The Early Episodes, Set 2

DVDs   Heimat: A Chronicle of Germany (1984)

TV   Criminal Minds

DVDs   Oldboy (2003)

DVDs   Sorum (2001)

Books   The Mexican Masked Wrestler and Monster Filmography by Robert Michael "Bobb" Cotter

DVDs   The Prophecy: Uprising (2005)

DVDs   The Saint - The Early Episodes, Set 1

DVDs   Séance (2004)

DVDs   Star Trek: Enterprise - The Complete First Season

DVDs   Whispering Corridors (1998)

DVDs   Millennium: The Complete Second Season

DVDs   Jesus, Mary, and DaVinci

DVDs   Species III (2004)

DVDs   The 4400: The Complete First Season

DVDs   Stargate SG-1: Season 7

TV   Lost

DVDs   Sniper 3 (2004)

DVDs   Star Trek: The Original Series - The Complete First Season

DVDs   Star Trek: Voyager, Season Two

DVDs   Night of the Living Dead: Millennium Edition (1968)

Film   Replay (2003)

DVDs   Day of the Dead (1985)

DVDs   Dawn of the Dead (1979)

DVDs   Barbarians

DVDs   The Complete UFO Megaset

DVDs   The Persuaders

DVDs   Winged Migration (2001) - PopMatters Film Review )

DVDs   Returner (2002)

DVDs   Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

TV   Navy NCIS

DVDs   Versus (2000)

TV   The Century of Warfare (1993): CAST

DVDs   Santo & Blue Demon vs. Dracula & the Wolfman (1972)

DVDs   Das Experiment (2001)

DVDs   Two Evil Eyes (Due occhi diabolici) (1990)

DVDs   S.W.A.T.: The Complete First Season

TV   King of the Hill

DVDs   Séance (2004): Koji Yakusho, Jun Fubuki, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, Hikari Ishida - PopMatters Film Rev

Blog posts

Short Ends and Leader

Surround Sound: The Standalone Experience

[1.May.08] :. Arguably, soundtracks are more than simple music. That is, while music itself can be described in terms of compositions, orchestrations, harmonies, melodies, and performances, movie scores also evoke...

Short Ends and Leader

 

Short Ends and Leader

Surround Sound: Soundtracking (Part 1)

[4.Jan.08] :. When we think about soundtracks, it is impossible to avoid bringing up the names of the giants in the field: Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams, John Barry, Ennio Morricone, and Bernard Herrmann, to name...

Short Ends and Leader

 

Short Ends and Leader

Summer Bliss - The Bourne Ultimatum/ Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix/ No Reservations

[27.Sep.07] :. Since the overwhelming success of Jaws (Steven Spielberg) back in 1975, the summer has become a dramatic battleground where Hollywood studios briskly compete for the audience’s attention...

Short Ends and Leader

 
 
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