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Wednesday, November 11
Earlier today, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences announced the list of 20 animated movies that will be considered for nomination at the Oscars, which air March 7, 2010.
The Best Animated Feature category traditionally consists of three nominees. (We should add that the use of the "traditionally" is kind of funny, considering the category is less than 10 years old). But according to Academy rules, if at least 16 movies are submitted for consideration, then the number of nominees increases to five.
Among the potential contenders already released are Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Coraline, Disney's A Christmas Carol, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Monsters vs Aliens, Ponyo, and Up. Also being considered are several titles yet to be released, such as Fantastic Mr. Fox, Planet 51, and The Princess and the Frog.
Although it's not likely, there is a slight chance the whole five-nominee thing might not happen. Variety cites the fact that for a title to qualify, a print of the movie must first be submitted to the Academy by this coming Monday. In addition, a movie can be disqualified simply on the basis of bad quality. The nominating committee has to confirm each of the 20 entries by awarding each a score of at least 7.5 (on a scale of 6 to 10). Titles falling below that range will not be eligible for competition.
Posted 11/11/2009 by Rich Z
Related: The Princess and the Frog | Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs | Planet 51 | Up | Monsters vs. Aliens | Coraline | Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs | A Christmas Carol | Ponyo | Fantastic Mr. Fox
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Thursday, October 29
With "balloon boy" costumes "practically flying off the shelves" this Halloween — and April Fools' Day less than six months away (OK, it's a bit of a stretch) — we thought we'd offer some alternative balloon viewing.
Here are five balloon mishaps from movies that are guaranteed to elicit a variety of emotional reactions, with one notable exception: Disgust.
Posted 10/29/2009 by reelz
Related: Jack Nicholson | Richard Pryor | The Hindenburg | Batman | The Wizard of Oz | Casablanca | The Muppet Movie | Up
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Friday, June 19
In one of the most-touching stories so far this year, Pixar granted the last wish of 10-year-old Colby Curtain. The young girl, who was diagnosed with vascular cancer about three years ago, wanted to see Pixar's Up before she died.
However, at the beginning of June her health had deteriorated to the point where going to the theater was too much for the child. A family friend stepped in and began to cold call Disney and Pixar to see if something could be done. The next day a Pixar employee flew down to Orange County, DVD and other memorabilia in hand, and gave Colby a private showing at her home. Just seven hours after seeing Up, Colby passed away.
The Orange County Register reported that among the Up memorabilia given to Colby was an "adventure book" — a scrap book the main character's wife used to chronicle her journeys. "I'll have to fill those adventures in for her," Lisa Curtin (Colby’s mother) said.
Posted 6/19/2009 by reelz
Related: Up
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Monday, June 1
Lou Romano has lent his voice talents to several Pixar movies, including Ratatouille, in which he played the protagonist Linguini. He's also one of Pixar's artists, and he recently posted some production sketches he worked on during the development of Up, which grossed $68.2 million at the box-office during its opening weekend (third all-time for the studio behind The Incredibles and Finding Nemo).
Check out Romano's blog for the complete gallery.
Posted 6/1/2009 by Rich Z
Related: Ratatouille | Up | Lou Romano
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Friday, May 29
Pixar has released the first teaser trailer for Toy Story 3, due in June 2010.
Be sure to pay close attention when you see Up this weekend, as it was earlier reported that Pixar will unveil a look at a character from Toy Story 3 somewhere in the movie.
Below, you can see the trailer followed by a fun video that chronicles Pixar's tendency to introduce upcoming characters in its movies. (We find Wall-E's appearance in Toy Story particularly amazing.)
Posted 5/29/2009 by Rich Z
Related: Wall-E | Toy Story 3 | Up
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Thursday, May 28
The day is almost here: Up arrives in theaters tomorrow, and the reviews, just like the early ones, continue to be overwhelmingly positive.
Robert Wilonsky of The Village Voice says that the trailer sells the film short:
That is not to fault the trailer, loaded with pretty pictures andpratfalls intended to woo the wee ones. But it doesn't prepare you for the emotional punch of Up's first few minutes, when it presents the most heartfelt -- the most sincere -- love story in recent memory: the love between a boy and a girl, who become a man and a woman, who become a husband and a wife, who become a widower and a memory that haunts the rest of what follows. The first 10 minutes of Up are flawless; the final 80 minutes, close enough
Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly talked about some of the artistic elements:
Michael Giacchino's gorgeous music, invoking great Max Steiner scores from the '40s and '50s, steers the story's emotional shifts with great elegance. The renderings, the color palette, the small and generous jokes, the perspective as balloons lift a whole house in the air -- all are breathtaking.
There were some differences in opinion, however, regarding the merits of seeing the film in 3-D. David Edelstein of New York Magazine urged viewers to take advantage:
By all means, see Up in its 3-D incarnation: The cliff dropsare vertiginous, and the scores of balloons -- bunched into the shape of one giant balloon -- are as pluckable as grapes. The dogfight with caninepilots would have brought a salute from the late Charles M. Schulz.
Wilonsky disagreed:
Do not see Up in 3-D. It's inessential to the tale and altogether distracting.
Our reviewer, Gerrad Hall, promises you'll be happy either way. We also have one last image update -- French Pixar-themed site Buzz & Cie has seven more stills from the film.
Posted 5/28/2009 by Rich Z
Related: Up | Max Steiner | Michael Giacchino
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Wednesday, May 27
Pixar, the CGI animation production company born out of Lucasfilm's Computer Division and acquired by Disney in 2007, has produced several of the most-enduring animated characters of the past two decades, from Buzz Lightyear to Nemo to WALL-E. In Up, Pixar's latest release, you won't find any animated toys or talking cars, only a curmudgeonly old man and his chubby 8-year-old Wilderness Explorer sidekick (and a few talking dogs, naturally).
With many of Pixar's other films -- Toy Story, Finding Nemo, A Bug's Life, Monsters, Inc. -- the title gives you a clue about what the film is about; not so with Up. When asked to describe the film, even director Pete Doctor had a hard time summing it up:
It's a hard movie to talk about in a way because it's got a lot of elements to it.... That's what we're trying to do all the time, is surprise people.
Up tells the tale of Carl Fredricksen (voiced by Ed Asner), a grumpy old man who ties balloons to his house and sails off for South America, hoping to leave his cares behind him. The concept of flying away when life gets too irritating grew out of some of Doctor's own discomfort with social interactions, which he discussed in a recent interview:
I'm just not an extroverted person. I think a lot of us became animators because talking to people is kind of scary ... especially girls. So it's easier to draw. It's easier to just communicate through drawing. It's a way to communicate with people.
It was really hard becoming a director on Monsters, Inc. because up until then I had a chance to withdraw to my office and animate. As a director, you're thrust out and you're talking to people all day. And at the end of the day, I just want go hide under the bed or something and talk to nobody. This film was kind of born out of that.
Up is the first Pixar film to be released in Disney Digital 3-D and is the first animated film to open the Cannes Film Festival.
Posted 5/27/2009 by BrentJS
Related: Monsters, Inc. | Peter Docter | Up
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Monday, May 18
Pixar's Up opened Cannes last week and is due in theaters next Friday. The New York Times sat down with director Pete Docter and production designer Ricky Nierva to talk about the movie's four central characters. These include the 78-year-old curmudgeon Carl Frederickson and Russell, the intrepid explorer 70 years Carl's junior who leads him on an adventure. Docter said:
Russell is like a whirling dervish. He's spinning and moving, so we designed him more like a top or a balloon. He's got multiple levels of clothing on top of each other. All of this is researched down to the detail about what weave of the cloth it is.
Nierva spoke about how his team used simple shapes to reflect character. Since Carl is so stubborn, for example, he was represented with very square features:
The shape symbolism is present in the photo frames within this shot totell a snapshot story of Carl's life. Anytime you see Carl in a picture by himself, he's in a square frame. And anytime you see [his deceased wife], she's in an oval frame. And anytime you see them together, we thought of a square frame with an oval matte. So all of these things help balance his world of squares and circles.
The full article, Well-Rounded Boy, Meet Old Square, includes an interactive feature with design photos and audio commentary.
Posted 5/18/2009 by Rich Z
Related: Ed Asner | Up | Pete Docter | Jordan Nagai
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Friday, May 15
This morning, Cinema Blend posted several excerpts and production videos from Pixar's Up, which opens in two weeks. If you're rabid Pixar fans (as we definitely are), you might already have seen most of these. But hey, it doesn't hurt to have them all in one place.
In addition to all the released movie excerpts, it also includes three behind-the-scenes clips and the following production featurette:
Posted 5/15/2009 by Rich Z
Related: Up
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Wednesday, May 13
The Cannes Film Festival is underway and Pixar's latest effort Up, due in theaters in two weeks, makes history as the first animated feature screened on opening day. The movie is being shown in 3-D for the Cannes audience, although that will not be the norm for the wide release.
In the days leading up to today's screening, some reviews have already surfaced.
"Winsome, touching and arguably the funniest Pixar effort ever, the gorgeously rendered, high-flying adventure is a tidy 90-minute distillation of all the signature touches that came before it."
-- Michael Rechtshaffen, Hollywood Reporter
"And though it's not yet summer, we can declare that Up, like WALL-E, will prove to be one of the most satisfying movie experiences of its year."
-- Richard Corliss, Time
"A captivating odd-couple adventure that becomes funnier and more exciting as it flies along."
-- Todd McCarthy, Variety
Given that, it seems likely the Cannes response will be radically different from the last time an American movie opened the festival. In 2006, The Da Vinci Code resulted in the audience laughing in ridicule; it also prompted The New York Times' A.O. Scott to write one of his most ruthless and carping reviews of the year. It seems safe to say nothing like that will happen this time.
Posted 5/13/2009 by Rich Z
Related: The Da Vinci Code | Peter Docter | Up