Public Enemies - What Did You Think?
Essay: Is Kevin, the Tropical Bird in Pixar’s UP, a Nod to the LGBT Movement?
Posted on Tuesday, June 9th, 2009 by Hunter Stephenson
Yesterday, CBS News aired a segment on an “ongoing blogger debate” over the representation of black people and negative stereotypes in Disney’s The Princess and the Frog. Of course, after previous and longer segments on the failing economy and Air France, even the way in which Katie Couric mentioned “bloggers” carried a decidedly trivial tone connoting birds-on-a-wire. Snob. However, given that hardly anyone has seen a near-complete version of the fourth-quarter film, I have to agree that any “chirped” anger, feigned or genuine, is premature. Also: the world is mad, get over it.
But heated discussions about Disney’s movies, especially in this case, do have precedent: clips from the studio’s infamous 1946 film, Song of the South, are forever available to support and fan the issues of political correctness. Moreover, theories about sociological, hidden and subliminal messages in Disney films and characters are so prevailing that I have enjoyed intriguing classes on the very subject in junior high (for free) and at university (for a repossessed Porsche).
Which brings me to Disney’s Pixar, where animated films are made to awe kids and—and arguably more-so—adults. Feted, beloved, and at times “progressive” as it may be, Pixar is not immune to similarly “bloggy” issues regarding political correctness; a debate over the absence of female lead characters in their films began earlier this year and remains a valid and popular talking point.
What If Finding Nemo and WALL-E Featured an All-Human Cast?
Posted on Friday, March 27th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
What would Pixar’s WALL-E look like if it was an anime series starring human characters instead of robots? Or what about Finding Nemo set on land instead of the ocean? These two Pixar/Andrew Stanton reimaginings were found on 4chan. The Finding Nemo art (available after the jump) is credited to Andrew Kalko, but I’m not sure who created the Wall-E piece.
Does Pixar Have a Problem Creating Good Female Characters?
Posted on Wednesday, February 25th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
Does Pixar have a gender problem? A blog called Vast Public Indifference thinks so, claiming that the Emmeryville computer animation studio doesn’t have any good women characters as the central protagonists in their stories. Caitlin GD Hopkins claims that most of Pixar’s female characters are “helpers, love interests, and moral compasses to the male characters whose problems, feelings, and desires drive the narratives.” I highly recommend reading Hopkins’ rant as she examines each and every Pixar film, one by one, even taking a look at the studio’s future projects.
Does Pixar have a problem with creating strong female protagonists? I’m a Pixar fanatic and this is a question that has never even occured to me. I would like to think that Hellen/Elasticgirl and Violet were well rounded female characters in Brad Bird’s The Incredibles, and you could argue that WALL-E’s EVE is both smart and strong. While she is the romantic love interest of the film’s title robot, EVE is a driving force within the story, many levels above Dory from Finding Nemo or Ratatouille’s only female lead, Colette.
But I do see the point — why does Remy have to be a male rat anyways? Or as someone quickly pointed out in the comments, would that then open the argument up to perpetuating a stereotype by making a female the one who is good at cooking. It might have been more interesting if Linguini was a woman. Heck, even Colette said that it’s harder for a female to make it in the kitchen.
Discuss: Does Pixar Have a Problem Creating Good Female Characters?
via: Kottke
Juno, WALL-E and The Dark Knight Take Home Grammy Awards
Posted on Sunday, February 8th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
The 51st Annual Grammy Awards are in progress, and the movie awards were front loaded.
The soundtrack for Fox Searchlight’s Juno won a Grammy for Best Compilation Soundtrack, beating out American Gangster, August Rush, Mamma Mia and Sweeney Todd.
James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer took home a trophy for Best Score for The Dark Knight, beating out Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Iron Man, There Will Be Blood and Wall-E.
And the Grammy for Best Motion Picture Song went to Thomas Newman and Peter Gabriel for “Down to Earth” from Pixar’s WALL-E, beating out Carrie Underwood’s Ever Ever After from Enchanted, John Mayer’s Say from The Bucket List, Amy Adams’ That’s How You Know from Enchanted and John C Reilly’s Walk Hard from Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. As much as I loved WALL-E, I still think the Newman/Gabriel song is overrated, and would have liked to see Amy Adams of John C Reilly walk away with a Grammy, but alas, I don’t get to vote in the Grammys.
I just got done watching David Poland’s 37 minute interview with Finding Nemo and WALL-E director Andrew Stanton, and WOW. If you’re at all interested in the way Pixar makes films, this interview is a much watch. I highly recommend you check it out. You can even put it on and listen to it play in the background as you work. I’m actually surprised that Polland doesn’t also release these interviews as a iTunes podecast.
Stanton spends a lot of time talking about what makes he Pixar creative process different, and how ideas are developed in the Emeryville-based animation studio. He talks about the idea of WALL-E came up, and how Finding Nemo allowed him to make the film and gave him the freedom to take chances like the inclusion of the songs from “Hello, Dolly”. He talks about how the Animation industry became restrained by ridiculous rules and forgot that anything should be possible if it fits/helps the story, and taking advantage of the medium that you’re in. He talks about how Pixar only test screens their films once to the public, but more-so internally. And he talks breifly about working on John Carter of Mars. I’ve embedded the video after the jump, so you have no excuse.
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WTF: WALL-E Completely Snubbed at Annie Awards?
Posted on Saturday, January 31st, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
WALL-E got completely snubbed at the 36th Annual Annie Awards. For those of you who don’t know, the Annie Awards is an all-animation award show presented by the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood since 1972. The awards range form Character Animation in a Feature Presentation to Production Design in an Animated Feature Production, the the more obvious, more prestigious Best Animated Feature award.
DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda beat WALL-E in every single category, including Best Animated Feature, Animated Effects, Character Animation, Directing in an Animated Feature, Production Design, Storyboarding, and Voice Acting categories. WALL-E didn’t even receive nominations in the Writing, Music, and Character Design categories. In Fact, Kung Fu Panda ended up taking home 15 statues in all (including the short film spin-off). Now I understand that Kung Fu Panda completely surprised everyone. It’s an awesome movie, no question about it. But the story is essentially a pared down version of Star Wars, the supporting voice acting is passable at best, and some of the character designs are just sloppy.
I’m sure the commentators will just write my rant of as being a WALL-E/Pixar fanboy (which I’ll freely admit). But I think everyone will agree that an award show for animation (the Annies are basically consider the Oscars of animation) to award Kung Fu Panda a whopping 15 statues, and present WALL-E with not even one, is completely ridiculous. You can read the full list of results after the jump.
LOL: Bolt’s Reaction to WALL-E’s Golden Globe Win
Posted on Monday, January 12th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
The photo above shows Bolt and Rhino’s backstage reaction to WALL-E’s Best Animated Feature win at last night’s Golden Globe Awards. Bolt was overheard screaming “I thought you said we were be-awesome!?!” Either that or it’s just some random photo we found on the disney blog.
AFI’s Top 10 Movies of 2008; Boston Critics Name WALL-E and SlumDog Best Picture
Posted on Sunday, December 14th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
The American Film Institute has packed their Top 10 films of the year. Like any AFI list, the films are all over the map from indies to big Hollywood blockbusters, and I find myself a little bit angry after reading through the selections (although, not as much as I usually am). Why was Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire snubbed? I thought it was considered to be partly an American production? I am also surprised that they included two comic book films in the results (not that I disagree).
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Frozen River
Gran Torino
Iron Man
Milk
WALL-E
Wendy and Lucy
The Wrestler
Also, the Boston Society of Film Critics have voted and declared WALL-E and Slumdog Millionaire both the Best Movies of the Year. And for those of you counting, this is the second critic association to give the Best Picture Award to WALL-E. Could this be a foreshadowing of what might be to come with the Academy Awards?
The Best Picture category was not the only tie, the BSFC awarded both Sean Penn (Milk) and Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler) Best Actor of the Year honors. The rest of the list follow:
Best Actress: Sally Hawkins for Happy-Go-Lucky
Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight
Best Supporting Actress: Penélope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Best Director: Gus Van Sant for Milk and Paranoid Park
Best Screenplay: Dustin Lance Black for Milk
Best Cinematography: Christopher Doyle and Rain Kathy Li for Paranoid Park
Best Documentary: Man on Wire
Best Foreign-Language Film: Let the Right One In
Best Animated Film: WALL•E
Best Film Editing: Chris Dickens for Slumdog Millionaire
Best New Filmmaker: Martin McDonagh for In Bruges
Best Ensemble Cast: Tropic Thunder
via: In Contention
Although the end of the year is coming, along with all of its attendant and obligatory “Top 10″ lists, I thought this year I’d try something different . While 2008 was a year of great films, I wanted to pause and reflect on some of my favorite quotes of the year. Some pretty great actors said some powerful stuff this year. Taken together, these quotes capture some of the memorable moments, and give a taste of the zeitgeist of 2008. Before we begin, you should know:
MAJOR SPOILERS FOR ALL THE FILMS MENTIONED BELOW. YOU’VE BEEN WARNED…
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Pixar’s cute little robot WALL-E made an appearance in Homer’s post-apocalyptic nightmare on this week’s episode of The Simpsons. I too, have never dreamed that the future can be scary.
Thanks to /Film reader Harry F for the tip.
Video of the Day is a daily feature of /Film showcasing geekarific video creations. Have a video we should be feature on VOTD? E-Mail us at orfilms@gmail.com.
The Los Angeles Film Critics Association has named Pixar’s WALL-E as the Best Picture of the Year. This is the first time in the 33-year history of the LAFCA that an animated film has won the top prize. Disney has been pushing the film for both Best Animated feature and Best Picture for the upcoming Academy Awards and Golden Globes. Critic Association awards like this are a stepping stone to the big stage, and are often looked at as a prognosticator of sorts. The Dark Knight was awarded the runners up prize.
Other notable winners include Danny Boyle being awarded the Directing Award for Slumdog Millionaire, and Christopher Nolan being named the runner up. Heath Ledger was named Best Supporting Actor, and Sean Penn (Milk) ousted Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler) for Best Actor. Slumdog’s AR Rahman was awarded best Music/Score.
But as I said, the real story is WALL-E - the little robot that could…
But the question is — Will the Academy award an animated film with a Best Picture Nomination?
Over the weekend we posted Roger Ebert’s Top 20 films of 2008. Well now Time Magazine has released their Top 10 listing of the Best Movies of 2008. The barebones list below, check out the full thing on Time.com.
1. WALL-E
2. Synecdoche, New York
3. My Winnipeg
4. 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days
5. Milk
6. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
7. Slumdog Millionaire
8. Iron Man
9. Speed Racer
10. Encounters at the End of the World.
Wait… Speed Racer is on the list, but no Dark Knight or The Wrestler?
