A spectacular and comprehensive authorized retrospective of Oscar-winning visual effects master Phil Tippett, founder and namesake of iconic Tippett StudioFrom Star Wars to Jurassic Park and RoboCop to Starship Troopers, special effects master Phil Tippett has brought his magic to some of the most iconic films of all time. His unparalleled career in visual effects spans more than 40 years, with two Academy Awards, one BAFTA, and two Emmys. This stunning book celebrates Tippett's career, from early Super 8 explorations through his groundbreaking work with Industrial Light & Magic, DreamWorks, and beyond. While Tippett's first love remains the stop-motion animation that made him a Hollywood legend, he was present at the birth of big-screen digital effects, and his genius has evolved with the times. In 1984 he founded Tippett Studio, which has come to specialize in digital effects.Packed with over a thousand behind-the-scenes photographs, Mad Dreams and Monsters includes never-before-published stories from the master himself and a veritable who's who of visual effects luminaries-a must-have for movie fans, film students, and anyone who's ever been captivated by movie magic.

In the future, mankind has been invaded by a lethal alien bug race, thirty feet tall and possessing the ability to fly. Freedom fighter Johnny Rico sets about training up an elite military unit in order to combat the alien invaders, while his girlfriend, Carmen, becomes a fighter pilot. However, in the heat of battle, Johnny is unaware that Carmen is being seduced by her dashing flight instructor.

Paul Verhoeven directs this classic sci-fi action feature starring Peter Weller. Set in the near future, Detroit's soaring crime rate is unsuccessfully policed by a corporation which plans to build a new city. When the new 'enforcement droid' proves unworkable, a murdered cop (Weller) is wired into a computer-controlled titanium body and set to the task at hand. Unimpressed, 'Robocop' seeks vengeance on all sides in this violent but often funny tale.

"What if the purpose or function of a parable is not to instruct but to haunt?" So begins Listening to the Parables of Jesus, edited by Edward F. Beutner, who suggests that, from time to time, even scholars scratch their heads in puzzlement over the yin and yang of Jesus' parables. This concise, well-edited book brings together insights from world-renowned scholars into the interpretation of parables. Lane McGaughy's opening essay provides high fidelity earphones that let readers hear the vivid and distinctive nature of the language of parable. Robert Miller offers an original treatment of two parables from the gospels of Matthew and Thomas, parables that he renames, "The Overpriced Pearl" and "The Treasure of Immorality." With his eye for narrative structure, film director Paul Verhoeven identifies fault lines in Matthew's version of the Vineyard Laborers and proposes an alternative version in which the ?first will be first.? In his essay on the Leased Vineyard, Brandon Scott demonstrates how rabbinic parables can illuminate the otherwise shadowy nooks and crannies of a dark parable of violence found in Mark's gospel. The final three essays describe the parables globally as artful language events?as fulcrums, so to speak, upon which our understanding of the world gets overturned and undermined. According to Robert Funk, Jesus? parables are knotholes in the cosmic fence through which we glimpse the world as Jesus saw it. In Listening to the Parables of Jesus, leading scholars of the parables help readers find the knotholes. The rest is up to them.

A triple bill of sci-fi cops. The first film, 'Robocop', is set in the near future and Detroit's soaring crime rate is unsuccessfully policed by a corporation which plans to build a new city, if its workers can go about unmolested. When its new 'enforcement droid' proves unworkable, a murdered cop (Peter Weller) is wired into a computer-controlled titanium body and set to the task at hand. Unimpressed, 'Robocop' seeks vengeance on all sides in this violent but often funny tale. In the second film, 'Robocop 2', a new model, Robocop 2 (Tom Noonan), is built while Robocop 1 still patrols the streets of Detroit. Robocop 2 is given a maniac's 'soul', thereby setting the stage for a showdown between the two computer constables. Finally, in 'Robocop 3' Robocop is befriended by a young girl whose parents have been killed, and after his partner is killed by the head of a private security firm, he joins a group of rebels to fight back against the evil businessmen. There is a notable fight sequence between a plastic-like robot Ninja and the sluggish metal Robocop, which, together with the rebels hiding out in the derelict General Motors Factory, constitutes a thinly veiled critique of the Japanese car industry from the heart of Detroit - the original motor city.

Paul Verhoeven's attempt to couple the softcore sex film with the Hollywood musical stars Elizabeth Berkley as a Las Vegas stripper who lap-dances her way to the city's most prestigious chorus line. Vying with the show's established star for the leading role in a new erotic spectacular, Berkley gives the director (Kyle MacLachlan) a close-up demonstration of what she can do. Dave Stewart of Eurythmics provides the music for the steamy dance routines.

The new millennium brings man face to face with the deadliest enemy of all... an intelligent race of alien bugs, some thirty feet tall, some that fly and all capable of destroying every living thing on Earth!

That's where brave young freedom fighter Johnny Rico comes in. While Johnny trains in an elite infantry unit, his stunning girlfriend Carmen becomes a top fighter pilot - but is seduced by a suave flight instructor! Join their mission to the aliens' home planet where an all-out intergalactic war is about to begin and with the future of mankind on the line.

Epic filmmaking and jarring action sequences that put you in the middle of it all make Starship Troopers the definitive space-age adventure thriller in this or any universe!

Starring iconic actress Isabelle Huppert in a career-defining role, Elle is already one of the most acclaimed films of the year and earned a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress as well as an Oscar nomination.

Huppert is Michèle LeBlanc; founder and CEO of a successful video game company, who is attacked and raped in her own home. She shrugs off the terrifying incident, locks the door after her attacker leaves and refuses to tell the police. Upending our expectations, Michèle begins to track down her assailant, and soon they are both drawn into a curious and thrilling game, one that at any moment may spiral out of control. From legendary filmmaker Paul Verhoeven, Elle is a gripping psychological noir thriller. Exhilarating and multi-layered, the film recalls the ambience of Hitchcock, De Palma and Polanski, with a thrilling cerebral edge.

(Academy Award nomination for: Best Actress)