pixar Tagged Articles at Cinematical
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.
Pixar Promises a Mature and Classy 'Toy Story 3'
Filed under: Animation », Classics », Comedy », Disney », Scripts », Family Films », DIY/Filmmaking », Remakes and Sequels »
When Toy Story 3 was announced to the wider world thanks to that little teaser before Up, a lot of people groaned. I don't know of a single person who hates either of the Toy Story films, and I don't think it's too mushy to say that they hold a pretty special place in everybody's heart. You don't want to see that watered down and exploited. Thankfully, it's PIXAR at the helm rather than sequel-squeezing Disney, and they assure everyone that the third installment will actually bring closure to the series. SciFi Wire caught up with animator Angus MacLane at the Saturn Awards (he was responsible for Burn-E, and has been with Pixar since Toy Story 2 where he created the crazy Buzz clone), and he spilled a few secrets on the newest adventures of Buzz and Woody. To the surprise of no one that saw Up, their final installment will be a bittersweet one. Lee Unkrich will be directing, and the storyline will center on Andy leaving for college.
"I feel like we've grown up making these movies, and each of the films represents where the filmmakers were at the time of making the films," MacLane said. "Certainly we're approaching this film 10 years later, so I think we're sort of coming at it from the standpoint of [Andy] has grown up, and we've grown up with these toys, and we have a reverence for them, but we also have different things as a priority." In other words, you should start stocking up on Kleenex now, and prepare to feel old and tired when you leave the theater.
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!
Pixar Grants a Dying Girl's Final Wish
Filed under: Animation », Classics »
I'm used to getting a little misty-eyed around Pixar's flicks. Those animation magicians are as good at studying the human condition as they are at making pretty pictures that walk and talk ... but this is something pretty special. I'll refer you to the full story at The OC Register, but the short version is this: A 10-year-old girl was dying of cancer, and her last request was to see Pixar's Up. Unfortunately she was too fragile to make a trip to the multiplex ... so Pixar sent someone to her house with an Up screener and an armful of presents.
Young Colby Curtin died about seven hours after the movie.
Our hearts go out to her friends and family, and (once again) we owe a debt of gratitude to the Pixar people. They did all they could to make Colby's final hours as sweet as possible, and they never once looked for any attention or praise for their actions. Well, we want to give it to them anyway. Stay classy, Pixar.
Ask Pixar to Make a Movie About a Girl? Why, That's Just 'P.C. B.S.!'
Filed under: Animation », Fandom »
Over at NPR.org, writer Linda Holmes dared to blog an open letter to Pixar, politely asking to see a few adventures with, maybe, girls as the main characters. Her tone was set nicely in the opening of her piece, titled "Dear Pixar, From All The Girls With Band-Aids On Their Knees":This is not an angry letter. It is especially not an angry letter about Up, which I adored. I could have sat in the theater and watched it two more times in a row. I cried, but I also laughed so hard in places that it wore me out.
So I'm not complaining; I'm asking. I'm asking because I think so highly of you.
Please make a movie about a girl who is not a princess.
So I'm not complaining; I'm asking. I'm asking because I think so highly of you.
Please make a movie about a girl who is not a princess.
Holmes points out that of the ten features that Pixar's released theatrically so far, all ten have been boy's adventures. She acknowledges that the movies "feature women and girls to varying degrees -- The Incredibles, in particular -- but the story is never 'a girl and the things that happen to her,' the way it's 'a boy and what happens to him.'" She mentions again that she loves Pixar's movies ... she'd just like to see a character like Up's Ellie or The Incredibles' Violet as the main character for a change.
There are over 100 comments on the piece and, this being NPR, the overwhelming majority of the responses are intelligently expressed and in agreement with Holmes point of view. But if you skip over to Jerry Beck's animation blog, Cartoon Brew, you'll find a lot of readers with a different perspective.
Disney Planning 'Monsters Inc 2' and Delays 'Pirates'
Filed under: Action », Animation », Disney », RumorMonger », Family Films », Newsstand », Remakes and Sequels », Western »
I was just watching Monsters, Inc this past week, and wondering why it belonged to Pixar's no sequel club ... and guess what's in the works now? Dedicated Disney blogger Jim Hill visited this year's Licensing International Expo, and talked to the fine people who were representing Disney and Pixar, and buying up licensing rights.Reportedly, Pete Docter (fresh off his success with Up) is planning to return to Monstropolis and helm a sequel to his previous Pixar effort, Monsters, Inc. Obviously, story details are shrouded in secrecy, but they've got Cars 2 and Toy Story 3 in the works, it's not much of a stretch to believe they'd revisit Mike and Sully. While it's a delightfully complete film, it's also a wonderful world, and I'd like to go there again.
Hill also reports that Disney is really focusing its efforts on The Lone Ranger, and are hoping to have it in theaters by Summer 2011. As you may remember, Mike Newell was hired to direct, and Johnny Depp is set to play Tonto.
Intent on launching a Ranger franchise, they've pushed back Jack Sparrow's, and are now planning to release the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean installment to a tenative date of Summer 2012. Both franchises offer a dose of Depp, so the Pirates fanbase should be pretty happy with that. Frankly, I'm willing to trade tricorns just to know just who they cast as that masked man ....
Interview: 'Away We Go' Director Sam Mendes
Filed under: Comedy », Drama », New Releases », Interviews », Summer Movies »
Sam Mendes started his feature directorial career with American Beauty, an incisive look at suburban malaise that in addition to netting multiple Oscar nominations, earned him a reputation for being a keen if not altogether optimistic observer of human nature. Ten years later he's virtually cemented that pessimistic point of view with films like Jarhead, Road to Perdition and Revolutionary Road, all chronicles of characters desperately in search of something, if not better, than at least different than what they already have. But while his latest film, Away We Go, uses a couple's road trip as yet another journey of self-discovery, Mendes looks at the central characters' future with one another with optimism and genuine hope, offering a reassuring rejoinder that the director does not in fact believe that all relationships are destined to fail.
Cinematical recently sat down with Mendes to discuss Away We Go, an intimate but broadly appealing comedy about two lovers, Burt (John Krasinski) and Verona (Maya Rudolph), who embark on a road trip to figure out where they want to raise a family, if not also determine what kind of family they want that to be. In addition to talking about his own feelings – cinematically and otherwise – about the prospect of living happily ever after, Mendes discussed the process of helping his co-stars get comfortable with one another, and ruminated on making a movie for the first time that's unfettered to the expectations of an awards season.
The Geek Beat: Just So Stories
Filed under: The Geek Beat »
I'm not going to review UP because it would be the umpteenth review you've read in a handful of days, and it's not as though I'm going to be the one sour lemon of the bunch. Please. It's PIXAR. Hating one of their films is like hating your own mom.
But I think UP is more than a fantastic movie. I think it might go down as an important moment of animation, storytelling, film making, and even this nebulous thing called "geekdom." That's a lot to put on its helium-hoisted shoulders, I'll grant you, but the reaction surrounding the film isn't something I've seen from any PIXAR effort yet. This is something special, and my first thought when the credits rolled was "This wasn't for kids. PIXAR has grown up ... and this movie makes me cry because I've grown up."
I'm starting to see their films as the story of fandom, geekdom, and the painful march into true adulthood. I'm not saying it's an overt theme, but just a gentle interpretation that begins with Toy Story, a movie that's very much about being a kid, the thrill of having the newest and the best, and the fear of being uncool and left out. It's childhood. It's the purity of fandom, which sets the stage for the darker side of Toy Story 2. If Toy Story remembers how wonderful it is to see Star Wars for the first time, the sequel reminds you of how seductive and destructive nostalgia can be. This is the darker side of fandom, not only in its damning picture of the basement dwelling collector, but in its portrayal of those who would do anything to bottle up childhood. It's about being so obsessed with something that you would hermetically seal yourself. (Wait, did The 40 Year Old Virgin rip off Toy Story 2?)
But I think UP is more than a fantastic movie. I think it might go down as an important moment of animation, storytelling, film making, and even this nebulous thing called "geekdom." That's a lot to put on its helium-hoisted shoulders, I'll grant you, but the reaction surrounding the film isn't something I've seen from any PIXAR effort yet. This is something special, and my first thought when the credits rolled was "This wasn't for kids. PIXAR has grown up ... and this movie makes me cry because I've grown up."
I'm starting to see their films as the story of fandom, geekdom, and the painful march into true adulthood. I'm not saying it's an overt theme, but just a gentle interpretation that begins with Toy Story, a movie that's very much about being a kid, the thrill of having the newest and the best, and the fear of being uncool and left out. It's childhood. It's the purity of fandom, which sets the stage for the darker side of Toy Story 2. If Toy Story remembers how wonderful it is to see Star Wars for the first time, the sequel reminds you of how seductive and destructive nostalgia can be. This is the darker side of fandom, not only in its damning picture of the basement dwelling collector, but in its portrayal of those who would do anything to bottle up childhood. It's about being so obsessed with something that you would hermetically seal yourself. (Wait, did The 40 Year Old Virgin rip off Toy Story 2?)
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.
'Up' ... On A Scale of 1-10?
Filed under: Animation », Comedy », New Releases », Fandom », Summer Movies », Polls »
It was tough to choose one film to highlight for our 1-10 poll this weekend since both Up and Drag Me to Hell are worthy of your opinion and your hard-earned dollars. So, with that in mind, we'll be doing two 1-10 polls tonight: One for Up and one for Drag Me to Hell. First, um, up, is the annual Pixar flick ... and, like Pixar movies in the past, this one is quickly shaping up to be one of the best reviewed films of the year. But does that mean you folks at home will like it more than, say, Star Trek, which is currently leading the summer 1-10 poll pack?
From Jette's review: "Is Up a children's film with side jokes for adults, a family film, or a film that's made for grownups but has many elements that children also can enjoy? At times it seems to fit in any of these categories as well as others -- it would be a great date film -- but ultimately it boils down to being a very good movie that defies demographic categorization. In other words, if you're old enough to sit quietly through a feature film, go see it. (And bring tissues.)"
Now tell us what you think in the comments section and by voting in the poll below.
Our Favorite Summers: 1981
To the Calendar! Comic-Con 2009 Schedule Released
Exclusive: Eli Roth Talks 'Thanksgiving'
Raja Gosnell to Direct Live-Action 'Smurfs'
First Look: Ellen Page Ready to 'Whip It'
_thumbnail.jpg){kind=spacer}
_thumbnail.jpg)
_thumbnail.jpg){kind=spacer}
