When Total Recall went before the cameras - with director Paul Verhoeven at the helm - it was only after a maddening decade of rewrites and stalled development that would have spelled terminal doom for most film properties. But the concept of a man who learns that the body he inhabits belongs to someone else and that everything he remembers of his life is nothing more than a bogus memory implant was sufficiently intriguing to sustain it through a succession of starts and stops.  A key player in the production was makeup effects designer Rob Bottin who provided the futuristic tale with a wide range of prosthetic and animatronic creations. In charge of the miniatures and opticals was effects supervisor Eric Brevig of Dream Quest Images. After nearly six months of principal photography and a year of postproduction effects work, Total Recall thundered onto the screen as a relentless thriller with a haunting psychological twist.

Article by Paul Roberts

In a leap of faith and enthusiasm - bolstered by Amblin Entertainment and Universal Pictures - director Robert Zemeckis undertook back-to-back sequels to his phenomenally successful Back to the Future. Reuniting most of his original cast and crew, Zemeckis continued his time travel trilogy by whisking Marty McFly and Doc Brown thirty years into the future for a mind-boggling excursion into the paradoxes of temporal displacement and then brought the series to a rousing finale by propelling them a hundred years into the past. Supplying physical effects that ranged from compact hoverboards to giant trains was mechanical effects supervisor Michael Lantieri. Providing the less tangible film magic - multiple split-screen characters, holographic sharks and flying vehicles - were visual effects supervisor Ken Ralston and the illusionists of Industrial Light & Magic. Together they enlivened a whirlwind celebration of fantasy and imagination.

Article by Jody Duncan