Despite the unexpected critical admiration Byron Howard and Nathan Greno’s Tangled seems to have gained, I was somewhat neutral in approaching the film. In the end, though, I found much to admire in it, especially its use of lighting. The film, which is inspired by the Brothers Grimm version of Rapunzel, is not without its [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Feature films'
Tangled
December 8th, 2010 · 1 Comment · American cinema, Cinematography, Computer animation, Feature films, Stereoscopic films
Tags: Byron Howard·David Goetz·Mohit Kallianpur·Nathan Greno·Tangled (2010)
Two Films Added to the New UK Memory of the World Register
July 18th, 2010 · No Comments · Awards, British cinema, Documentary films, Feature films
The young David Lloyd George’s dream of David and Goliath in Maurice Elvey’s The Life Story of David Lloyd George. On July 14th, the UK’s National Commission for UNESCO announced the 10 items and collections to be included in its first UK Memory of the World Register, which follows in the footsteps of UNESCO’s [...]
Tags: Britain’s Loneliest Isle·Maurice Elvey·St Kilda·The Life Story of David Lloyd George·UK Memory of the World Register
Are New Oscar Rules for Mocap a Power Grab?
July 10th, 2010 · No Comments · Animation technology, Awards, Feature films, Motion capture
I’m writing this from Edinburgh, Scotland, where my wife and I have been enjoying a really wonderful Society for Animation Studies conference. A full report will follow when I get back home, but I can’t help responding to the Motion Picture Academy’s new rules for defining what is animation (see press release here), which states [...]
Tags: Academy Awards·Avatar·Happy Feet·James Cameron·Monster House
Ari Folman’s The Congress
March 19th, 2010 · No Comments · Animation and live action, Feature films, Filmmakers
Raz Greenberg, in a post on the Society for Animation Studies discussion group, pointed out the above Spanish-language clip from a Euronews report on Ari Folman’s new film, The Congress, which mixes animation and live-action. The movie is based on Stanislaw Lem sci-fi novel The Futurological Congress and is follow-up to Folman’s acclaimed animated documentary, [...]
Max Linder’s The Three Must-Get-Theres
December 2nd, 2009 · 1 Comment · Actors, Feature films
Europa Film Treasures, which I wrote about earlier here, has really put a major treasure online in the form of Max Linder’s The Three Must-Get-Theres (1922), the last of his American films, which he also considered his best film; a hilariously anachronistic spoof of Douglas Fairbanks’ Three Musketeers (1921), it is presented in a fine [...]
Indian Animated Movies Stumble at Box Office
March 10th, 2009 · 4 Comments · Feature films, Indian cinema
Trailer for Yash Raj Films’ Roadside Romeo coproduced with Walt Disney Pictures. A veritable flood of locally-made animated movies were released in India in 2008, but according to The Times of India, Trade sources confirm that Bollywood has had a bad run with animation this year. Between Hanuman Returns, Krishna, Roadside Romeo, Dashavatar, Ghatotkach and [...]
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Nina Paley’s Sita Sings the Blues on the Big Screen in Atlanta and Online
March 7th, 2009 · No Comments · Feature films, Independent animators, Screenings
Nina Paley‘s Sita Sings the Blues, the highly-acclaimed animated feature whose distribution has been hampered by copyright problems, will have a special screening sponsored by ASIFA-Atlanta at the Plaza Theatre (1049 Ponce De Leon Ave. Atlanta 30306. 404 873-1939), Wednesday, March 11th, at 7:30 p.m. Prices are $8 for ASIFA-Atlanta members and $10 for non-members [...]
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Ari Folman on Funding Animated Documentaries
December 24th, 2008 · No Comments · Documentary films, Feature films
Although animated documentaries are one of the most exciting areas of filmmaking today, in an interview for Comingsoon.net, Waltz with Bashir director Ari Forman in discussing the problems getting funding, notes, The problem was clearing the film as an animated documentary. This was the main problem, because people sit in documentary funds, they get 10 [...]
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Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa & Bolt
December 22nd, 2008 · 1 Comment · Animation technology, Computer animation, Feature films, Stereoscopic films
I am a little late in reporting my thoughts on Madagascar: Escape to Africa, the new DreamWorks Animation movie directed by Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath, and Bolt, the new stereo 3D film directed by Byron Howard and Chris Williams. Madagascar 2, which continues the screwball capers of the original, seems much the better of [...]
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Azur et Asmar Finally Gets U.S. Release
October 21st, 2008 · No Comments · Feature films, French cinema
When I reviewed Michel Ocelot’s latest film, Azur et Asmar in August, I bemoaned the fact that it did not have an American distributor. This has now changed. As Dave Jesteadt wrote me: I enjoyed reading your thoughts about Michel Ocelot’s Azur and Asmar, and wanted to let you know that the film is indeed [...]
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Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D
September 2nd, 2008 · 1 Comment · Feature films, Special effects, Stereoscopic films
Eric Brevig’s version of Jules Vernes’ Journey to the Center of the Earth is not a film I would usually comment on, but several things piqued my interest. First, I’ve always been something of a sucker for stereoscopic films ever since seeing Bwana Devil, the film that started the first wave of 3D films, when [...]
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Azur et Asmar
August 4th, 2008 · 1 Comment · Feature films, French cinema
As I noted in my previous post, I had the chance to see Michel Ocelot’s latest film, Azur et Asmar (France, 2006), in the British release version, Azur & Asmar: The Princes’ Quest, at the Society for Animation Studies conference in England, with the director present. Unfortunately, a lack of 35mm facilities meant a DVD [...]
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Presto, WALL·E
June 30th, 2008 · No Comments · Feature films, Short films
Doug Sweetland’s Presto, the new Pixar short that shows before Andrew Stanton’s WALL·E, is an absolute delight. As good as some of best classic Hollywood cartoons, it is brilliant, very funny and a much better piece of filmmaking than the accompanying feature. The nonstop piling of gag upon gag seems more in line with more [...]
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Kung Fu Panda
June 17th, 2008 · No Comments · Feature films
I was delighted that John Stevenson and Mark Osborne’s Kung Fu Panda, DreamWorks Animation’s latest effort. more than lived up to its hype. I really have little to add to general critical applause the film has elicited for its sharp take on martial arts films, which compares favorably with Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill films (though [...]
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Animated Oscar Winners 2008
February 26th, 2008 · No Comments · Feature films, Short films, Special effects
The Oscar for Best Animated Feature went to Brad Bird’s Ratatouille from Pixar, beating out Persepolis, which was my favorite. In so doing, the members of the Academy went against the trend to honor smaller independent films in the Best Picture category, as opposed to blockbusters like Ratatouille. The Best Animated Short Film went to [...]
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