Latest news with #retrofuturism
New York Times
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Designing ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps'
What if the dreams and design features of Disney's Tomorrowland were realized in 1960s Manhattan? One gets a sense of the possibilities in Marvel's 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps,' which begins on Earth-828, a doppelgänger for our own planet and the home base of the film's titular superheroes, before spilling out into space. This alternate universe includes mod fashions and flying cars, Flash Gordon-inspired rocket ships and robot butlers, midcentury modern chairs and space-age architecture. In this iteration of the franchise, directed by Matt Shakman, the superhero team inhabits a planet devoid of other Marvel superheroes — no X-Men or Spideys here — and a vastly transformed Manhattan simultaneously familiar yet alien. For the film's fashions, the Oscar-winning costume designer Alexandra Byrne ('Elizabeth: The Golden Age') looked at everything from Ernst Haas photos and '60s ski wear to fashion designers like Rudi Gernreich and Bonnie Cashin. Little was overlooked. Byrne even wrestled with the challenges of how the massive Thing might dress himself. 'He's got rock hands,' she said. 'He would never be able to do buttons up.' Other artists and designers drew from concept cars, Modernist architects, period newspaper comic strips and archival NASA footage to create the film's retrofuturist world, said the production designer Kasra Farahani. 'So much of retrofuturism is kind of jokey and naïve,' he said. 'We were looking to move past that, to take the important archetypical bits, the tail fins, the turbines, the visual icons of that era, but then shed some of the silliness and move to a more sophisticated version of midcentury futurism.' Below is a closer look at how three specific design aspects were achieved. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
The Australian
3 days ago
- Automotive
- The Australian
US goes nuts over Musk's latest move
Tesla has officially opened it's highly anticipated diner in Los Angeles, which combines retro nostalgia with futurism and a version could be coming to Australia soon. Telsa CEO Elon Musk initially announced his plan to create a nostalgic drive-in restaurant, complete with roller skating and rock music, at Tesla supercharger locations in LA in 2018. Tesla Diner opens in LA. Picture: Tesla MORE: Huge blow to Australia's EV dream Following his announcement, Tesla promptly filed a permit for the project. However the process has taken much longer than expected. Although Musk promised in 2023 that the diner would be open later that year, the restaurant chef – California food icon Eric Greenspan – wasn't revealed until earlier this year. The cool diner finally opened in LA on Monday (local time) to rave reviews. From videos published on YouTube and pictures on Musk's own X account, the stunningly aesthetic diner appears to be halfway between a flying saucer and a 1950s diner. This design aligns perfectly with Elon Musk's vision for the project when he first announced it seven years ago. According to Tesla's support page, the 24/7 Diner 'offers visitors a classic American diner experience with a retro-futuristic twist.' The Tesla Diner offers a convenient spot to grab comfort food, including burgers and fries (served in boxes shaped like Cybertrucks), as well as milkshakes, while charging a Tesla vehicle at one of 80 V4 supercharger stalls. Chip me! Picture: Tesla Nostalgic futurism. Picture: Tesla Videos and photos posted on X by people who attended the soft launch over the weekend showed servers on rollerskates and the famous humanoid robot dubbed Optimus scooping popcorn. The official video on YouTube pays homage to both America's nostalgic past and it's 'optimistic future' in featuring an actor playing Olivia Newton-John's Sandy from Grease and a scene from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. MORE: Tesla's reign challenged by new Chinese rival The site has 80 EV chargers. Picture: Tesla In addition to being a restaurant, the diner also features a giant screen, allowing Tesla enthusiasts and customers to watch movie clips while charging their cars. However, it's also possible to watch clips from a Tesla's screen while it's charging. The diner features 80 V4 Supercharger stalls available for all NACS-compatible EVs, making it the largest urban Supercharger in the world, according to Tesla. If the diner succeeds, there could be plans for similar buildings to pop up globally, as Elon states on his social media platform. 'If our retro-futuristic diner turns out well, which I think it will, Tesla will establish these in major cities around the world,' Musk wrote on X. Read related topics: Elon Musk James Chung Digital Content Creator James is a Digital Content Creator at and is part of the News Corp Australia's digital real estate team. His previous experience includes working for Sky News Australia.
New York Times
24-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps' Review: A Newborn Franchise
A nagging feeling begins to grow early on in 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps': that rather than the first film in a shiny new franchise reboot of the superhero quartet, we have actually been plopped into a sequel. That's both a strength and a drawback of the audacious approach taken by a movie that represents Marvel's most earnest attempt at something daring in years, bumpy as it may be. This new 'Fantastic Four,' coming a decade after the doomed reboot of the forgettable mid-aughts originals, throws us right into the action, essentially skipping the team's origin story and opting instead for a highlight-reel summary of how cosmic rays gave four astronauts superhuman powers and turned them into protectors of Earth-828, an alternate version of our world. That narrative evasion is no grave sin, and in fact, the immediacy with which the film immerses us into the tactile, fully formed retrofuturism of this world serves as its greatest delight. But after the brief introduction to our ensemble and this alt-planet, the film, directed by Matt Shakman, locks quickly into the mode of a superhero family sitcom that partly defined the original comics: Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) and Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) as the signature superhero couple, Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) and Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn) as the playfully antagonistic third and fourth wheels. But the party is quickly broken up when the mysterious Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) arrives and declares that a planet-eating god named Galactus (Ralph Ineson) is on his way to destroy Earth, prompting the four to suddenly go into space to confront this new villain. It all makes for an introduction whose pacing and tone operate as if on top of the pre-existing groundwork of a previous movie. We're often left wondering who these four heroes are exactly and why we ought to believe in the emotional or comic resonance of them as a family. To help us buy in, the film mostly relies on the polish of this retro universe and its premium cast (who turn in uneven performances, save for Moss-Bachrach), along with one's faint familiarity with the iconography of the heroes, to do the legwork. But those pieces sometimes are sufficient to keep this a smooth-enough ride that can even be periodically thrilling. Most of all, there's the accompanying relief that this Marvel movie has an interest in actually building a sensibility, aesthetically and thematically, that is entirely its own, without the invisible hand of an extended universe pulling its strings. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
News.com.au
23-07-2025
- Automotive
- News.com.au
New Tesla ‘retro-futuristic' diner could open in Australia soon
Tesla has officially opened it's highly anticipated diner in Los Angeles, which combines retro nostalgia with futurism and a version could be coming to Australia soon. Telsa CEO Elon Musk initially announced his plan to create a nostalgic drive-in restaurant, complete with roller skating and rock music, at Tesla supercharger locations in LA in 2018. Following his announcement, Tesla promptly filed a permit for the project. However the process has taken much longer than expected. Although Musk promised in 2023 that the diner would be open later that year, the restaurant chef – California food icon Eric Greenspan – wasn't revealed until earlier this year. The cool diner finally opened in LA on Monday (local time) to rave reviews. From videos published on YouTube and pictures on Musk's own X account, the stunningly aesthetic diner appears to be halfway between a flying saucer and a 1950s diner. This design aligns perfectly with Elon Musk's vision for the project when he first announced it seven years ago. According to Tesla's support page, the 24/7 Diner 'offers visitors a classic American diner experience with a retro-futuristic twist.' The Tesla Diner offers a convenient spot to grab comfort food, including burgers and fries (served in boxes shaped like Cybertrucks), as well as milkshakes, while charging a Tesla vehicle at one of 80 V4 supercharger stalls. Tesla software integration at its finest. As you are navigating to the Tesla Diner, a notification appears in your UI asking you if you want to order your food ahead of time so it’s ready on arrival. Everything about the Diner was so thoughtfully designed. Well done. — Nic Cruz Patane (@niccruzpatane) July 22, 2025 Videos and photos posted on X by people who attended the soft launch over the weekend showed servers on rollerskates and the famous humanoid robot dubbed Optimus scooping popcorn. The official video on YouTube pays homage to both America's nostalgic past and it's 'optimistic future' in featuring an actor playing Olivia Newton-John's Sandy from Grease and a scene from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. In addition to being a restaurant, the diner also features a giant screen, allowing Tesla enthusiasts and customers to watch movie clips while charging their cars. However, it's also possible to watch clips from a Tesla's screen while it's charging. The diner features 80 V4 Supercharger stalls available for all NACS-compatible EVs, making it the largest urban Supercharger in the world, according to Tesla. If our retro-futuristic diner turns out well, which I think it will, @Tesla will establish these in major cities around the world, as well as at Supercharger sites on long distance routes. An island of good food, good vibes & entertainment, all while Supercharging! — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 21, 2025 If the diner succeeds, there could be plans for similar buildings to pop up globally, as Elon states on his social media platform. 'If our retro-futuristic diner turns out well, which I think it will, Tesla will establish these in major cities around the world,' Musk wrote on X.
Yahoo
22-07-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Tesla's retro-futuristic diner officially opens as Elon Musk hints at more locations
The Tesla Diner & Drive-In, a long-awaited and hyped facility that combines retro nostalgia and futurism with the automaker's fast-charging network, officially opened at 4:20 p.m. Monday in Hollywood, California. The Tesla Diner & Drive-In is technically a place for Tesla drivers to charge their EVs and maybe get hamburger, hot dog, or other classic diner menu items (which Eater shared in full). The diner, which per reporting from Not a Tesla App is loaded with Tesla-branded merchandise, an Optimus robot, and two 45-foot LED movie screens, is clearly hoping to attract more than just Tesla owners. It's too early to tell if the diner, which boasts 80 v4 Superchargers stalls and a drive-in movie theater that syncs with speakers inside a driver's Tesla, will become an enduring fixture of Hollywood. The long lines of people who queued up Monday morning suggests the diner will attract crowds for awhile. Even before its doors officially opened, Tesla CEO Elon Musk mused about establishing more of the diners globally. 'If our retro-futuristic diner turns out well, which I think it will, @Tesla will establish these in major cities around the world, as well as at Supercharger sites on long distance routes,' Musk posted on X.
