At the screening I attended of Jan Švankmajer’s Surviving Life (Theory and Practice) (2010), there were two walk-outs. I was tempted to follow, but my love of the great Czech animator’s previous work won out, making me want to experience, if not enjoy, every minute of his latest film. Newcomers to Švankmajer would do [...]
The feature debut of director Tomáš Lunák, Alois Nebel (2011) is an animated film based on a trilogy of graphic novels by Jaromír99 and Jaroslav Rudiš. The film’s black-and-white images sometimes look like a graphic novel come to life. At other times, they possess the stark enchantment of woodblock prints. Through the use of rotoscope [...]
The animated features Hop and Rio have a few things in common, aside from their one-word titles. An animal plays the lead role in each (‘E.B’ the rabbit in Hop and ‘Blu’ the parrot in Rio), and both films kick off with a prologue sequence featuring the animal as an adorably fluffy baby, then flash [...]
In Cave of Forgotten Dreams Herzog couldn’t resist commenting on the cinematic dimensions he perceived in the 32,000 year old Chauvet cave paintings. He noted that some of the animals portrayed had 8 legs, suggesting that even at this early stage in human development, we wanted to represent movement: the cinematic impulse was there. Michel [...]
With the resurgence of movies based on toys in recent years, it was high time to reach into the past and dust off the hidden gem that started it all. Many people who grew up watching the “Transformers” television show will remember that in 1986 Hasbro released a full length animated feature film called “The [...]
Pixar isn’t blazing any new trails in the realm of critically acclaimed animated cinema. Its parent company, Disney, has been winning Oscars with its hand-drawn masterpieces since 1937. But, the relatively young computer animation studio, through a flawless record of mature, innovative, deftly crafted pictures, has positioned itself atop the heap as a perennial Oscar [...]
The trilogy used to be the golden standard for film franchises prior to the aughts. Every now and then a “James Bond” or a “Godzilla” or a “Star Trek” would come along and break the mold, creating a veritable cash cow for the property’s delighted studio. But properties with that level of fan loyalty and [...]
Mr. Fox, although a kleptomaniac and an irresponsible sociopathological thrill-seeker, sure is charming and sometimes even quote-unquote fantastic. But what about the farmers? Boggis, Bunce and Bean are certainly “three of the meanest, nastiest, ugliest farmers around,” but does that really warrant us victimizing and sympathizing with Mr. Fox for troubles he brings upon himself? [...]
When I learned that my favorite childhood book, Judi Barrett’s “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs,” would be made into a film I was overcome by a very strange and unexpected defense instinct, as if a substandard adaptation of an illustrated, 32 page book I last read 20 years ago would somehow sour my romanticized [...]
Pixar Animation Studios is a dazzling anomaly–a brilliant aberration on the drab and dour landscape of mainstream, commercial cinema. Creatively bankrupt Hollywood has sent originality into death throes. The auteur has given way to an army of mercenary filmmakers with little time for characterization, motivation, or plot. But John Lasseter’s Pixar, located about 350 miles [...]
Loco: London’s 1st Comedy Film Festival
Orlando: Does Sex Matter?
A soothing demise: Lars von Trier’s ‘Melancholia’ considered
The Power of Limits in The Five ObstructionsSurviving ‘Surviving Life’
‘The Other’ at The 2nd London Iranian Film Festival
‘Leaving’: Made in Prague
A Step Forward: New African Film in Paris
Adapting to The Skin I Live In: The Antidote to Horror
Chicken with Plums: Better on Paper
