Bolt
One of the trailers (which really shouldn’t be called trailers anymore, since they rarely trail the film) before Wall-E was one for a new Disney movie: Bolt. At first, I was skeptical, because first of all, John Travolta and Miley Cyrus. That doesn’t really spell to be a fantastic movie. Then, a super dog? Really? Hasn’t that already been done in some form or another?
But, as it went on, the trailer convinced me that the movie might actually be worth seeing. It’s the first trailer out of Disney-only that I have really wanted to see. Pixar films are a category all their own. Anyway, have a trailer:
Wall-E!
Johnathan and I braved late night and possible teeny-boppers to see Wall-E at the midnight release last night. Once upon a time, we would have had no problem with the midnight showing, even with work following the next day. Our schedules being what they are, though, it was a bit rough managing to stay up until the movie started.
The night was unfortunately laden with small disasters. The first was that the second the “first look” came on, it was painfully loud. We were hoping the assault on our eardrums would cease when the previews came up, but we had no luck there. It was only after Johnathan sought someone out and informed them of our dilemma that they even realized there was one. They did bring the volume down to a level that wasn’t painful, even if it was still over-loud for a movie theater.
Later on, during the middle of the film, the reel got off so that we were seeing the bottom part of the frame at the top and the top was in the middle. It was incredibly annoying and it probably took almost five minutes for someone to fix it. If it had kept up much longer, I’d have probably pitched a fit and demanded my money back - which would have been the first time I’ve ever done that at a movie theater. It was fixed before the climax of the movie, at least, and we were able to enjoy the rest of the movie in peace.
After being slapped in the face again by the trailer for Beverly Hills Chihuahua and having to see Brendan Frasier try to act again (as well as a couple of previews for some movies that look entertaining), we got to see the Pixar short! It was about a magician and a rabbit, and past that, aside from the hat that was remniscent of the Sorcerer Mickey hat, I can’t bring myself to divulge any further information about it. Pixar still has that spark and talent that I think you should see it for yourself rather than read my inadequate description of it.
Movie review continues beyond here. There will be spoilers.
Read the rest of the snark » »
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
I’ve been a fan of the Chronicles of Narnia series since I was about twelve years old when I got the books as a Christmas present. Considering the amount of time that I have been a fan of these books (which, I know, pales in comparison to others who read the books long before I was even an egg), I was really, really looking forward to these movies.
The first one, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, looked exactly as I imagined it would be, so I was really excited to see the next one made into a movie. Keeping in mind, of course, that I haven’t read the books in a few years, so my thoughts on this next installment of Narnia is based on the movie itself, not the translation of the movie from text to screen.
(And in case you were wondering, yes, there will be spoilers.) Read the rest of the snark » »
Will the Real Wall-E Please Stand Up?
As the fervor for the newest Disney-Pixar film increases, more and more merchandise and neat little tidbits do as well.
A small promotional website is where the trail starts. The site is called Buy n Large. It appears to be a company within the canon atmosphere of the Wall-E universe which sells both space condos and robots. These robots are cute little things with names like Sall-E, Wend-E and Gar-E. This site was clearly created for promotion of the movie and is packed with cute little tidbits of non-information dealing with this fictional company. It looks very much like any well-designed corporate website might and I think the Pixar team did a good job in the creation of this as advertising. I’m a sucker for things like this, unnecessary though they may be.
The biggest piece of promotional gobbledegook (and, frankly, the best) is the totally real and functional Wall-E robot. Disney called it the Ultimate Wall-E Robot when it was debuted at Maker Faire 2008 in early May. The Wall-E robot can sense your presence and the presence of surrounding objects which enables him not to run into things, he has sound sensors on multiple sides which can allow him to go toward the voice which speaks to him (or the crash which accidentally happens too near to him, but one can’t be too picky), and he’s a generally functional (toy) version of the robot that we will see in the movie next month. (You can bet I’ll be going on opening day if I can swing it.) I think the best way to display this really awesome robot is through video taken at Maker Faire 2008. Here - don’t hurt yourself with excitement:
The Beverly Hills Chihuahua
I had the good fortune to be able to go to the movie theater last night with the intent of seeing The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. Before the movie started, we were treated with the typical preview fare: a new epic action movie which promises to be woefully bad, if only for the inclusion of Brendan Fraser, an animated movie or two, the trailer for Wall-E and a little gem advertising The Beverly Hills Chihuahua. I kid you not. Disney has pumped out a piece of schlock which appears to be a movie for kids about a small breed of dog which is a popular fashion accessory for the rich and famous. I only wish I were kidding. Nothing can describe how truly horrifying this is except for the trailer itself.
I don’t know what Disney was thinking when they put their time and money into this, but I sincerely hope that they think it was worth it. I have a feeling that not many others will.
There isn’t much more that can be said about what is most certainly put into the way of the American movie-goer to make money rather than to entertain. I only hope that this movie precedes John Lasseter, because if he approved this horrifying piece of junk then I fear that Disney may not end up so well off as we had hoped.
Linkspam time!
Yes, sorry darlings. I’m not dead, and I’M GONNA REVIEW SOMETHING SOON, DAMMIT.
Disney (Animation Studios) and Pixar have announced their upcoming movie slate for 2008-2012, the list which as follows, is:
- WALL-E. DWEE.
- Bolt. Christ, another dog movie again?
- Tinkerbell (Straight to DVD). WHATTT?! WHAAAAAT?! DIDN’T BOB IGER SHUT THIS DOWN? (Oh wait, he didn’t. Le sigh.)
- Up. Spacetiemz 4 old man dreamz come tru. You just know this is going to be heartwrenching story. I’m taking my hanky.
- Toy Story in 3D. Not interested. 3D makes me all crosseyed and dizzy.
- The Princess and the Frog. I seriously cannot contain my joy at 2D making a comeback.
- Tinkerbell: North of Neverland (Straight to DVD). Okay.
- Toy Story 2 in 3D. Still not interested. Speaking of which, I need to go dig out my TS2 DVD.
- Toy Story 3. I’m… really okay on this. I didn’t like 2 very much, I adored 1, so… we’ll see.
- Rapunzel. YEAH! YEAH YEAH YEAH GLEN KEANE ILU!
- Tinkerbell: A Midsummer Storm (Straight to DVD). … Okay.
- Newt (Pixar). It’s the same guy who directed ‘Lifted’, if you remember that hilarious short. I’m definitely looking forward to this.
- The Bear and the Bow (Pixar). It’s Pocahontas meets Brother Bear, from the synopsis of it.
- Tinkerbell: A Winter Story (Straight to DVD) (Disney). Okay, I give up. !$*&#!@$*(!#^$!*(#$^!@(*#&!*(#&!@(*#
- Cars 2 (Pixar). The synopsis didn’t give too much away, but since it’s directed by Brad Lewis, I have good faith in it. It does puzzle me that they would choose Cars of all the movies to get a sequel - in comparison to the other Pixar films, this one didn’t do as spectacularly at the box office, neither did it fare as well with the critics.
- King of the Elves (Disney). Snow White in guy form. Sounds like it.
New Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian posters and promo images. Yum, although he looks like he’s 15.
New promo images for Cars 2, Toy Story 3, Bolt and a bunch of others.
Next Prince of Persia rumour: Jake Gyllenhaal. Still DO NOT WANT.
High School Musical 4 in the works already, even before HSM 3 has begun shooting. President Rich Ross already stated the whole cast isn’t coming back in HSM4, so I think they’re going to dub it ‘the next generation’ as their subtitle or something. Too much of a good thing isn’t good, Disney! Remember the boybands mantra - when one guy leaves, everything goes to pot!
The Pixar Story: To Infinity and Beyond
The adventure started when Johnathan and I were at the Cleveland International Film Festival. Last Thursday, we saw a movie around mid afternoon and out of sheer curiosity, checked the movie listings for the rest of the festival (which runs through today). Imagine our surprise when we saw a movie called The Pixar Story listed among more obscure international titles! Unfortunately, by the time we noticed it and went online to check for ticket availability, we found that it was on standby, which meant lining up an hour or more before the movie was scheduled to start, then waiting around to find out if we would be able to be seated after all the current ticket and pass holders had been seated. Thankfully, we got tickets five and six, so we were able to get in, though it meant sitting in the very front row. John Lasseter was pretty much right in our faces!
The film chronicles Pixar’s history starting with John Lasseter’s college days and early career at Walt Disney Animation. It goes through the early days of their inclusion in LucasFilm, branching into the very early days of Pixar as its own studio with Steve Jobs as the primary investor. It follows Pixar’s meager beginnings while they struggled just to pay the bills, through its contractual friendship with Disney and repeated movie successes. It continues on to tell the story of the poor politics of Walt Disney Studios and how greatly it had the potential to affect Pixar’s future as well as how it affected the morale around the somewhat untraditional smaller studio. The film wraps up with information about the new merger between Disney and Pixar and the shakeup that merger meant for Disney as well as the possibilities that it allows for Pixar in the future.
Overall, it was an excellent documentary - well-paced, including enough information to enlighten anyone but not so much as to bore the less enthusiastic fans. It included interviews with various people who worked for or with Pixar over the years, including John Lasseter, Ed Catmull, Steve Jobs, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson, Brad Bird, Lee Unkrich and Joe Ranft. It also includes interviews with greats such as Roy E. Disney, Michael Eisner, Robert Iger, Ollie Johnson, George Lucas, Frank Thomas, Glen Keane and Diane Disney Miller.
After the documentary, however, we found that we were in for an unexpected (for us, at least) treat. After the credits finished and the lights came up, we were introduced to none other than Lee Unkrich. He obliged those who were able to get in to see the documentary with a fairly lengthy Q&A session. (For those who are obliging me with blank stares, Lee Unkrich has been with Pixar for over fifteen years and is the director for the the coming Toy Story sequel, Toy Story 3.) He answered questions from everything to what Steve Jobs is like (he had only good things to say about the contribution of the well-known Apple company founder) to what the future of 2D animation is at Walt Disney Studios.
Some facts that came out of the Q&A:
- John Lasseter has plans to revive the 2D animation studios at Disney, giving a new place to the art form on which the Walt Disney Studios were built.
- There will be no more Direct-to-Video sequels as was announced last year, but John Lasseter has something up his sleeve that will go directly to DVD. However, according to Lee Unkrich, this project is something “original.” He did not share any additional information about this project, just that it would not follow the way of the Direct-to-Video Sequels which, in his words, lacked in integrity.
- Brad Bird is moving on to live action films, as he has interest in making many different types of movies.
- And in truly unannounced news, Lee Unkrich revealed that for the first time in Pixar history, a woman is scheduled to direct a full-length Pixar film. The feature has not been announced to even be in production yet, so many thanks to Lee Unrkrich for the scoop!
The Pixar story was educational and interesting, but more than that, there is nothing that can beat the energy of a room full of people who love Pixar. Johnathan and I came away feeling positive about the futures of both Disney and Pixar, especially with John Lasseter at the helm of Disney Imagineering and as Chief Creative Officer for Disney Animation. The future at Disney once again looks bright, and with Pixar now at a release schedule of one movie a year, the future of Pixar looks set to prosper as well.
Indiana Jones Trailer!
Here you go! It’s only available on Yahoo!Movies. Everyone’s cracking down rather hard on YouTube. MERRY VALENTIEM THING!
HD480p (36MB), HD480p (91MB), HD1080p (133MB)
The trailer will be shown before The Spiderwick Chronicles, and you know you’re just going in there for the kicks before going into the other theatre watching the movie that you paid for. More stuff’s available at the official site too.
Indiana Jones and his Cracking Knees
Or The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - whatever. Three new photos are up on the official site, and rumours are floating around that a new trailer will be screened on Valentine’s Day (February 14th). Because the very first thing you need on a day of love is to watch a 50 year old man raiding caves for treasure. I’m sure there’s a sexual innuendo hidden in there somewhere.
As with all Lucasarts films, prepare to be swamped with Indiana Jones merchandise come May 22nd, when the film releases, and then watch as people criticize the saturation of merchandising a la The Phantom Menace.
I’ve haven’t followed the Indiana Jones series since I was 8, when my innocent little brain was scarred for life after watching them eat live monkey brains. This Mr. Potato Head figurine caught my attention, though.
He looks like a pimp, dear lord.
