Wall-E Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Are Kids' Animated Movies Leaning Too Far Left?
Filed under: Animation », Family Films », Politics »
Over at Moviefone's Inside Movies blog, a lively discussion is going on about animated family films. Jason Newman is concerned that many recent movies like Wall-E, Battle for Terra and the upcoming Astro Boy may be presenting young audiences with a hidden left-wing agenda.I've watched a fair number of children's films for someone who has no kids of her own, and I'm not seeing the "blatant socialist themes" to the extent Newman is. For one thing, I disagree about Wall-E. Saying that Wall-E promotes liberalism is insulting to conservatives, as though they are the equivalent of the slothful humans on the spacecraft. "Don't be wasteful" isn't a liberal agenda, it's something most parents try to teach their kids. Astro Boy won't be in theaters until Oct. 23, so I can't say if it really contains "Marxist" themes and story elements. However, Newman says these story elements are played for laughs, and it strikes me that laughing at Communism is traditionally a right-wing practice.
Meet the Real-Life Wall-E
Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Fandom », Newsstand »
He's not as cute and adorable as Pixar's Wall-E, and he probably isn't all-too familiar with Hello Dolly, but this real-life robot certainly knows how to pick up trash like his animated counterpart. The DustCart is part of a $3.9 million DustBot research program designed to help clean up the streets of Italy. According to Inhabitat, the robot "collects trash and measures atmospheric pollutants like sulfur oxide, benzene, ozone, and nitrogen oxide with its on-board sensors. The robot can even be summoned with a cell phone and can go door to door, identify residents with a personal ID number, and sort their trash into organic, recyclable, or waste!"
Read the rest on SciFi Squad
Credits Report: WALL-E
Filed under: Animation », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Film Clips », Trailers and Clips »
Wall-E is such a good, sappy, funny, adventurous, touching, and enjoyable movie, that by the time you get to the end you're exhausted. Plus you probably have a single tear sliding down your cheek like Iron Eyes Cody. So by the time the end credits roll, you're looking for something to bring you back down to Earth, no pun intended. Aw, who am I kidding -- that pun was definitely intended.
Thankfully that thing isn't a Randy Newman song, although it does come via his cousin Thomas Newman who thank all the stars above wisely lets Peter Gabriel sing the outtro song "Down to Earth." Hey, it netted him an Oscar nod. The song is slow, beautiful, and plays out against visual images depicting the "new" history of mankind on the planet: cave drawings, hieroglyphics, mosaics, sketches, pointilism, Van Gogh skies ... and when it finally slides down underground and turns into a traditional credit crawl, you've got 8-bit graphics closing things out. Great stuff.
To quote Rob Reiner, "But hey, enough of my yakkin'! Whaddaya say? Let's boogie!" Check out the full end sequence after the jump.
Watch This: Pixar's Luxo Jr. Makes His Live-Action Debut
Filed under: Classics », Fandom », Exhibition », Family Films »
Disney buffs are no doubt aware of the theme park's "Living Character Initiative," where guests of Walt Disney World (and the surrounding parks, like Disney's Hollywood Studios and Epcot Center) are treated to a live-action experience with some of the more memorable Disney/Pixar animated characters. I believe the initiative began a couple years ago with the Muppet Mobile Lab, and it continues now with the character Remy from Ratatouille (who hangs around French restaurants at Epcot Center) and the newest edition -- Luxo Jr. (aka the hopping Pixar desk lamp), who visitors to Disney's Hollywood Studios can now see hanging out over at Pixar Place.
We posted videos of both Luxo Jr. and Remy after the jump, as well as the inflatable Up house stationed over at Downtown Disney. And now if you'll excuse me, Wall-E is about to start on cable and the thing looks absolutely smashing in HD. Enjoy your Sunday!
Discuss: The Similarities Between 'WALL-E' and 'Up'
Filed under: Animation », Fandom », Family Films »
Now that we've all had a chance to see Pixar's Up (right??), let's talk about how it compares to the studio's last film, 2008's Oscar-winning WALL-E. I noticed right off that while WALL-E tried to create a vision of the future that was plausible, with machines that looked like they could actually work, Up has no qualms about being a fantasy adventure. The dogs with thought-translating collars, the house that is lifted by nothing more than a few hundred balloons, the insane explorer living alone in the jungle well into his 90s? The filmmakers obviously had different philosophies here (which is just fine, of course).But it turns out that Up resembles WALL-E in a lot of smaller, less significant ways. Nothing major in terms of themes or messages; just little parallels. Here are some that I spotted -- and be warned, there are SPOILERS afoot.
Both films begin with characters who don't talk much, and both films have nearly wordless opening sequences. (The one in Up comes after a couple of dialogue scenes.) Carl and WALL-E both live alone, basically, until something happens that motivates them to head for the skies. WALL-E does it because his beloved EVE has boarded a spaceship and he wants to pursue her; Carl does it because his beloved Ellie has passed away and he's being forced out of his home. WALL-E is a stowaway, while Carl has a stowaway, the over-eager Wilderness Explorer Scout named Russell.
Fan Made: WALL-E Computer Case
Filed under: Fandom », Images », Fan Made »
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While I'm totally in love with this fan creation, upon first discovering it I was definitely let down to learn it wasn't something I could purchase, like, yesterday. It took this Russian guy 18 days to build this WALL-E Case Mod from scratch out of solid metal sheets, paint and a whole lotta talent. Yup, dude's entire computer is housed inside the robot, with the exception of the keyboard, mouse and monitor, of course. But the plugs, on/off switch, CD drive and everything else is all neatly tucked into the body of our cute, robotic friend.
The only problem with something like this is you'd probably want to keep it on your desk (as seen in the image above) so you can play around with it and show it off to your friends -- but you'll need a pretty solid desk since that puppy is all metal and most desktop computers are pretty heavy to begin with. Screw it, though, I'd find a way to make it work -- there's just something about this little toy that gives me an instant film-nerd-gasm . Check out a few of the "making of" images below, then head over here to witness every single little step that went into making this fantastic piece of gotta-have-it-right-now.
(Note to Disney: Please make one of these. Thanks.)
[via TheAwesomer]
Peter Gabriel Refuses to Sing Butchered 'WALL-E' Song at Oscars
Filed under: Awards », Celebrities and Controversy », Oscar Watch »
What does the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have against music? First they only nominated three songs instead of five in the Best Original Song category -- omitting such obviously worthy choices as Bruce Springsteen's title number from The Wrestler -- and now they're drastically reducing the amount of time those three songs will get during the Oscar telecast. And Peter Gabriel won't stand for it!Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood Daily is reporting that Gabriel, who co-wrote and sang "Down to Earth" in WALL-E, has backed out of the ceremony after the show's producers allotted him only 65 seconds to sing an abbreviated version of the song. Finke says the Oscar-runners have crammed all three tunes into a medley -- easy to do, since two of them are from the same movie, Slumdog Millionaire, and sound a lot alike anyway -- with each one getting somewhere between a minute and a minute and a half. Gabriel said no dice, and wrote a letter to the AMPAS telling them so -- an epistolary sledgehammer, if you will.
"I don't feel that is sufficient time to do the song justice, and I have decided to withdraw from performing," he wrote. "I fully respect and look forward to the producers' right to revamp the show. Even though song writers are small players in the filmmaking process, they are just as committed and work just as hard as the rest of the team, and I regret that this new version of the ceremony is being created in part at their expense."
Last Minute Wild Oscar Guess: 'Dark Knight' Gets Snubbed for 'Wall-E'
Filed under: Awards »
I haven't really done any comprehensive Oscar predicting this year. There's a glut of prognosticators, and I'm not any good at it anyway. But I figure I should go out on one limb the day before nominations are announced -- how else can I look foolish on the 22nd? -- and here it is: I predict that Wall-E slips into the Best Picture final five and leaves The Dark Knight in the cold. Now, I'll admit that I'm doing this partially to annoy Josh "Snub It And There Will Be Consequences" Tyler (because seriously, that was insane). But here's the thing: if you accept the conventional wisdom that four of the five Best Picture slots will be occupied by Slumdog Millionaire, Frost/Nixon, Milk and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, that leaves Dark Knight and Wall-E (and possibly Doubt) fighting for #5. Since we're talking about Academy voters here, I think the smart money is on the beloved, endlessly charming Pixar flick over the pitch-black superhero epic. It's less divisive and more accessible. (I'll agree that it's not quite as awesome.) The Bat will content itself with tech noms and Heath Ledger.
So that's my last-minute sucker's bet. You got any? Aronofsky for Best Director? Dev Patel for Best Actor? Last chance, kids.
OFCS Gives Best Picture to 'Wall-E'
Filed under: Action », Animation », Comedy », Documentary », Drama », Foreign Language », Horror », Independent », Romance », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Awards », Mystery & Suspense », Disney », Magnolia », Warner Brothers », Fox Searchlight », Comic/Superhero/Geek », Remakes and Sequels »
Last-ish but not least-ish so far as awarding year-end, um, awards goes, the Online Film Critics Society has decided to honor Wall-E with its top prize, not to mention Best Original Screenplay and Best Animated Feature.Numbers-wise, The Dark Knight and Let the Right One In co-dominated with four awards each. Christopher Nolan took home Best Director for the former, which also won Best Supporting Actor for Heath Ledger's performance, Best Cinematography and Best Original Score. The latter won Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Foreign Language Film, and both Breakthrough awards -- for director Tomas Alfredson and young actress Lina Leandersson.
It was then The Wrestler with two wins (Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress), and one awards each for Wendy and Lucy (Best Actress), Man on Wire (Best Documentary), and Slumdog Millionaire (Best Editing). Truth be told, I'm kind of glad to see the love spread around, although I say that with an already established fondness for most of these films, and even if I wasn't the biggest fan of Wendy and Lucy, I can admit that it got just the award it deserves.
Fan Made: Celebrity Time Travel
Filed under: Fandom », Images », Fan Made »
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Once again, we're sending some love to our warped friends over at Worth1000 for their latest brilliant photoshop contest. This time they asked readers to take any celebrity and place them in a different time period. So, for example, above you see WALL-E making a cameo in a Charlie Chaplin movie (my personal favorite). Or, you could take, say, Charlie Chaplin and photoshop him into an image from 2009. Get the idea? Folks were all over the place with this one -- from Marilyn Monroe starring in The House Bunny to Casablanca starring George Clooney, Nicole Kidman and Christian Bale, you'll no doubt find some fascinating imagery in this particular contest, even if some of them are just so very wrong. Check out our favorites in the gallery below, and the rest over at Worth 1000.
[via Superpunch]
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