Over the Hedge Tagged Articles at Cinematical
56 Tunes Are Set to Compete for Best Song Oscar Spots
Filed under: Music & Musicals », Awards », Oscar Watch »
On January 23, in just a little more than a month, the Academy will announce its nominations for the 79th Annual Academy Awards. Among the anxious will be the original song competitors -- 56 songs competing for the 3-5 available spots. We've covered how many great songs have failed to meet the Academy's requirements. The words and music of the song have to be written specifically for the film, and a clear rendition has to appear in the film, or as the lead song in the credits. It's all about originality.You might think that the selection of the top contenders would be a long process. There are a ton of songs to choose from, with lyrics to examine, and relevance and quality to consider. That's not the case. Only one week earlier, on January 16, voters in New York City and Beverly Hills will sit down and view clips of each song in random order, and then vote on their choices once the screenings are over. I hope that the voters are already familiar with the songs and films, because a clip of each song, whether as part of a film clip or not, are just that -- a piece.
While the collection of songs are diverse, I think it will be fairly easy to pick out a few of the sure contenders. Both Dreamgirls and Over the Hedge scored 3 cracks at a spot. And to keep things fresh, Borat's O Kazakhstan is also in the mix. Personally, I'm curious to hear the Rocky Balboa song, It's a Fight, because it has some big shoes to fill. The Hollywood Reporter has a full list of songs. Out of the 56, which do you think should make the top 5?
Animated Oscar Hopefuls
Filed under: Action », Animation », Comedy », Drama », Horror », Independent », Awards », Family Films », Cinematical Indie »
Now here's a weird Oscar rule that you probably never knew (I sure didn't): In order for there to be five Best Animated Feature nominees, there have to be at least sixteen eligible titles. The last time this happened was in 2002, when Miyazaki's Spirited Away proved to be the year's best ieffort n animation. (According the The Academy, anyway.)Warner's Happy Feet, Weinstein's Arthur and the Invisibles and Sony's Paprika have yet to "officially" open, but once they do it means we'll get five nominees in one of Oscars' more colorful categories. (Last year we only had three, and that wasn't as much fun.) In addition to the three mentioned above, the other eligibles are The Ant Bully, Barnyard, Cars, Curious George, Everyone's Hero, Flushed Away, Ice Age: The Meltdown, Monster House, Open Season, Over the Hedge, Renaissance, A Scanner Darkly and The Wild. (What, no Ultraviolet?)
So if you had to pick only five of those flicks (aside from the three we haven't seen yet, of course), what would be your picks as "Oscar material?" If I'm predicting the field, my five picks would be Cars, Monster House, Over the Hedge, Renaissance and A Scanner Darkly. If I'm casting a vote for my favorite: Over the Hedge. Flick made me giggle.
Avalanche of Animated Adventures Alienates Audiences
Filed under: Animation », Disney », New Yorker », Paramount », Sony », Warner Brothers », 20th Century Fox », Dreamworks »
Have you noticed how many animated movies have been in the theater over the past few months? There have been Monster House, Open Season, The Wild, Over the Hedge, Barnyard, Cars, and The Ant Bully to name a few, which doesn't even cover the glut of sequels and straight-to -video DVDs that have been released and re-released, including last week's The Little Mermaid: Ultimate Line Our Pockets Disney Adamantium Edition. Of those, only Monster House doesn't focus on talking animals, insects or vehicles. As a result, the novelty of both animated films, and the concepts they bring with them are making audiences weary, according to The New York Times.Popular animated movies used to belong only to Disney, and they released them sparingly, not wanting to step on the toes of their own product. However, once Disney/Pixar became a force to reckon with, Disney was releasing CGI films on top of its own traditionally animated films, and began crowding the schedule with more films each year. These days, animated films crowd theaters with offerings from Disney/Pixar, Sony Imageworks, Dreamworks Animation, Warner Bros., and Paramount/Nickelodeon. It's a jungle out there -- or a forest, or a farmyard, or ... well, you get the idea.
This is typical of the Hollywood "me too!" syndrome that hits when something works well and starts making tons of money for a studio. Everyone else wants in on it. Horror films started making money, so now everyone is putting out a lot of horror movies. The Lord of the Rings opened the door for more fantasy films like The Chronicles of Narnia, and Eragon, and the popularity of X-Men gave rise to a slew of comic book movies including Spider-Man, Superman Returns and the upcoming Ghost Rider.
Animated films have always been a treasure for younger and older audiences alike, and are part of a dwindling part of the theater experience that people can still enjoy as a family. Are you still going to see animated movies?
Other animation on Cinematical:
The Demise of Hand-Drawn Animation
Studios Still Don't Get Animation
Dreamworks Choosing Quantity over Quality
Golden Globes Adds Animation Award
Box Office Report: Wolverine Gets Dumped
Filed under: Animation », Comedy », Documentary », Drama », Romance », Box Office », Comic/Superhero/Geek », Remakes and Sequels »
Despite a critical reception that was lukewarm at best, The Break-Up did shockingly good business this weekend, outpacing even studio expectations by over 30% on its way to an estimated total of $38.1 million. Dropping way off from its record-setting first weekend but holding on to the second spot was X-Men: The Last Stand with $34.4 million, which pushed its total domestic gross to $175.7 million in just 10 days (it took X2 a week longer to reach that mark). In the third spot this weekend was the quietly ass-kicking Over the Hedge; though the movie cuts its exposure by 100 screens, its take of $20.1 million was down less than 25% from last weekend.At the other end of the chart was An Inconvenient Truth (AKA that Al Gore movie of which you may have heard) which continued to do stunning business on just a handful of screens. Though it was only in 77 theaters this weekend, the movie nevertheless made over $1 million, good enough to make it the ninth-biggest earner over the past three days. Like last weekend, the film's per-screen average (over $17,000/screen this week) dwarfed the earnings of every other release.
The full top 10 is after the jump.
Box Office Report: Who Doesn't Love Controversy?
Filed under: Action », Animation », Comedy », Drama », Horror », Mystery & Suspense », Box Office », Family Films », Remakes and Sequels »
Riding gleefully on a wave of controversy-driven publicity -- not to mention the backs of zillions of eager Dan Brown-lovers -- The Da Vinci Code soared to the top of the box office the weekend, scoring the biggest open of 2006. The $77 million the film earned from 3735 screens gave it the 13th largest domestic open in history (for comparison's sake, Mission: Impossible III opened on over 4000 screens and made $47.7 million on its first weekend out) -- and that without even talking about the $120 million the movie made abroad, which was the second-biggest foreign debut ever for an American film. Who the hell needs critics, anyway?The weekend's other big debut, Over the Hedge, finished a distant second with earnings of $37.2 million, while See No Evil made a paltry $4.4 million on just over 1200 screens. Joining The Da Vinci Code and Over the Hedge in the top five were MI3, which made $11 million (pushing its three week total over $100 million), Poseidon, which continued to disappoint with only $9.2 million, and RV at $5.1 million. The full top 10 is after the jump.
New On DVD - The Producers, The Ringer, When A Stranger Calls
Filed under: New Releases », DVD Reviews », New on DVD », Home Entertainment », Columns »
• Doogal - A saccharine, cheap-looking CGI import from Britain about a lazy, cowardly, sugar-addicted pooch (with a mullet cut) who must find a way to save the world from an icy death is not the follow-up to Hoodwinked that Disney escapees Bob and Harvey Weinstein hoped for...or we asked for. At least they've got the swell Over The Hedge in theaters this week. Formerly titled The Magic Roundabout and re-dubbed (Doogal, that is. Not Over The Hedge.)
• Duma - With most arthouse films rated "R", it is always a pleasure when one comes along that culture mavens can take their kids to, and The Black Stallion director Carroll Ballard's latest nature trek -- a visually lovely adventure -- certainly does fit that bill. It is about a 12-year-old South African boy (Alexander Michaletos) who must return his pet cheetah to the wild, encountering and overcoming a number of obstacles along the way, the biggest one being our initial reluctance to accept its premise.
Review Roundup: Over the Hedge, The Da Vinci Code, Not See No Evil
Filed under: Animation », Comedy », Drama », New Releases », Mystery & Suspense », Family Films », Review Roundup »
You may not have heard, but some movie based on a big book came out today. I can't remember what it's called, but there's an artist in the title -- The Rembrandt Follies, or something. Anyway, it's supposed to be the worst move ever, but actually most critics just found it boring, not hate-able. And, when they wanted to have fun, film writers this week went to see Over the Hedge, which they found to be a clever, vaguely environmentally conscious film, buoyed by great casting. Of the voices, obviously. For details, read on.
- Over the Hedge: It's amazing how many reviews specifically mentioned the good voice casting -- who knew film critics were sitting around, just wishing that someone would cast Nick Nolte as the voice of a lion? Whether they dream of a leonine Nolte or not, most of the critics were fans of this one. While the majority went out of their ways to caution that the movie was no Finding Nemo or Wallace & Gromit, they got a kick out of it, and enjoyed the film's slightly edgy humor.
- The Da Vinci Code: Contrary to what you might expect, the world is not full of reviews that scream "I HATED IT!" or "ZERO DAMN STARS FOR YOU, OPIE!" Instead, there are just a whole lot of people who, like Kim, were troubled by the film's endless exposition (borne, in part, of its extreme fidelity to Dan Brown's novel), something that most agreed caused it to drag even more than the 150-minute running time would suggest. As a result, critics were bored, and seem to find the film average at best. If you want to read a rave, though, there is at least one: Look for quotes from Lou Lumenick of the New York Post to show up on Da Vinci Code posters in a few days.
Bruce Willis Isn't the Only One Who Knows Animals
Filed under: Animation », Comedy », Casting », Family Films »
This is definitely one of the stranger follow-up stories I've found myself writing recently. I recently told you of Bruce Willis chatting with Sci Fi Wire about his voice-acting role in the upcoming CGI kiddie flick Over the Hedge, and how Willis feels particularly prepared for the part because he spent 10 years living in rural Idaho and thus knows something about wild animals. Well, apparently not wanting to be outdone by Mr. Willis, co-star Garry Shandling has also declared he shares a particular affinity with the animal he'll be voicing in Over the Hedge.Shandling voices Verne the turtle, who according to Shandling has insecurity issues which cause his tail to twitch. While Shandling does not have a tail, he does understand the personal insecurity his turtle counterpart experiences. "I'm in show business. That happens to me every day." Not to be outdone by Verne's twitch tail, Shandling also admits sometimes his insecurity causes his own rear to tingle. "[The role] was not only made for me; it's what I've played my entire life." Shandling further says he thinks he may be more turtle-like than Verne, because "I was always coming in late, and Verne in the film seems to move faster than me."
Okay, so the "I'm in touch with my animal character" bit is actually somewhat amusing, and it's fun to read these actors half-jokingly explain why they're a good fit for whatever animal they were chosen to portray -- but I definitely do not need to know about Gary Shandling's tingling buttocks.
Cinematical Summer: Junior Critics on the Family Film Lineup
Filed under: Animation », Comedy », Disney », Paramount », Sony », Warner Brothers », 20th Century Fox », Family Films », Dreamworks », Movie Marketing »
When it comes to summer family films, who, we figured, is better to ask than kids? So we gathered our junior film critic crew in Seattle ( AKA my kids): Neve (9), Jaxon (6), Veda (4.5) and Luka (2.5), and asked them to tell us what they think about the summer kiddie-flick lineup, based on the trailers. We watched each trailer two times, and I recorded their reactions and asked a few questions about what they thought, and which movies they're most excited about seeing. Here's what the junior squad has to say about the summer family lineup. (Note: I included Superman Returns and X-3 because a lot of families will take their kids to these flicks, or at least watch the "family" version of X-3 on pay-per-view. Also, the crew flatly refused to watch the trailer for Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties, so you're on your own on that one).
Bruce Willis Knows Animals
Filed under: Animation », Comedy », Casting », Fandom », Family Films »
Bruce Willis feels he was particularly qualified as an actor to voice a CG raccoon thanks to the many years he spent living in the rural-esque countryside of Idaho. Willis spent twelve years there with his family while raising his children, because he didn't want them turning into "Hollywood brats." According to Willis, he experienced all manner of animal encounter while living there, including his pet dog going to the vet to have quills removed from his mouth after attacking a porcupine. Willis' pets also had encounters with wild beavers (one of which apparently almost killed his dog) and a skunk or two. Willis said he never expected this experience to help with with a movie role, but was also quick to note Over the Hedge is not meant to actually teach anyone about wild animals or the environment.So the main thing I drew from these Willis comments is Bruce Willis' dogs are particularly unlucky. I mean, beavers can get pretty riled up when they get going (Bruce isn't the only one around here who grew up rural) but nearly killing a dog is a pretty mean feat for a beaver ... they tend to run much more readily than they stand and fight. Maybe the furry little sucker was a C.S. Lewis fan and got inspired by the Narnian beavers ...
Jeremy Renner Wants To Be An Avenger
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Indie Roundup: 'Sweetgrass,' 'Clarkworld,' 'Broken Embraces'
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