Location
Stavanger, Norway
School
University of Stavanger
Expertise
Shonen Anime, Star Wars Animated Projects, Kids' Animation
- Rafael was part of a team of writers that selected the 100 best animated sequences in history that won an award from the New York Press Club.
- He interviewed Hideaki Anno about making the last Evangelion movie.
- Rafael has covered every major international festival, from Cannes to Venice.
Experience
Rafael Motamayor has worked as a writer specializing in covering animation since 2018 for outlets such as Vulture, IGN, Polygon, IndieWire and The Hollywood Reporter. He keeps up with as many new anime shows as humanly possible while looking forward to his next film festival.
Education
Rafael has bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism and documentary production from the University of Stavanger, where he combined his passion for both filmmaking and journalism.
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George Lucas obviously had an incredible vision for the original Star Wars trilogy, but he relied heavy on his collaborators to help fill out the action scenes.
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Cartoon Shows
By Rafael Motamayor
Margaret Loesch, who ran Fox Kids in the 1990s, believed so much in X-Men: The Animated Series that she risked her job to make sure it got on the air.
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Animation Movies
By Rafael Motamayor
Chainsaw Man - The Movie: Reze Arc is coming home, with both the subtitled and dubbed versions available to rent and purchase on digital platforms.
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Exclusives
By Rafael Motamayor
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem 2, which arrives in October 2027, will feature a character redesign that presents fun storytelling opportunities.
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Movie News
By Rafael Motamayor
Netflix has entered into an agreement to buy Warner Bros., including its film and television studios, HBO Max and HBO, changing the movie industry forever.
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Documentaries
By Rafael Motamayor
Michael Bay's documentary We Are Storror, one of the best films we saw in 2025, still does not have distribution. Here's why you should put it on your radar.
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Animation Movies
By Rafael Motamayor
Most live-action remakes of animated films are creatively bankrupt despite their box office success, but here's how to make them work.
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The first wave of reactions to James Cameron's upcoming Avatar: Fire and Ash have arrived, and they're not uniformly positive.
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Superhero Shows
By Rafael Motamayor
Rob Lowe is known for playing the near-superhuman Chris Traeger on Parks and Recreation, but he also played a true superhero in a DC animated show.
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Animation Movies
By Rafael Motamayor
Several ambitious animated movies hit theaters in the early 2000s, including this Disney-backed dinosaur adventure (which has a fascinating origin story).
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Pluribus episode 4 features an intense sequence with many, many members of the hivemind, and it was just as challenging to coordinate as you'd expect.
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Documentaries
By Rafael Motamayor
James Cameron is co-directing a 3D concert film that's coming out in March of 2026. Does this signal that he's ready to explore more non-Avatar stories again?
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With Brendan Fraser gearing up to return for The Mummy 4, the actor has spoken candidly about why The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor swapped Egypt for China.
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Anime Shows
By Rafael Motamayor
As its eighth and final season draws to a close, My Hero Academia has paid homage to a famous moment from Avengers: Endgame in the very best way.
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Anime Shows
By Rafael Motamayor
The supervillain in the latest episode of My Hero Academia season 8 has been revealed to be even worse than we thought, and we're here for it.
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Interviews
By Rafael Motamayor
Sisu: Road to Revenge's Jalmari Helander tells us about filming the movie's most challenging action scene, a lengthy vehicular chase he called "motor mayhem."
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Exclusives
By Rafael Motamayor
The director of Netflix's excellent new drama Train Dreams tells us how his live-action film shares some DNA with an unexpected animated classic.
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Cartoon Shows
By Rafael Motamayor
The creator of The Owl House went scorched earth against the Mouse House after Disney's announcement that it would be incorporating AI into Disney+.
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The best idea in Edgar Wright's adaptation of The Running Man was, surprisingly, not in the original Stephen King/Richard Bachman novel.
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A big character revelation from the live-action Ahsoka TV series went against what the writers of Star Wars Rebels had in mind.
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Superhero Movies
By Rafael Motamayor
James Gunn has formed his own acting troupe over the years, even subtly bringing back multiple Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy actors for The Suicide Squad.
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Fantasy Movies
By Rafael Motamayor
Nintendo has unveiled the first images of Bo Bragason and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as Link and Zelda in the live-action Legend of Zelda movie. Check 'em out!
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Varanasi, the new movie from RRR director S. S. Rajamouli, somehow looks even bigger and crazier, and we can't wait. Check out the trailer.
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Steven Spielberg executive produced this spectacular live-action superhero project that remains one of the best adventure movies of the past 30 years.
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Cartoon Shows
By Rafael Motamayor
Paramount has canceled two of its children's cartoon series amid 'restructuring,' in Hollywood's latest blow to the medium of animation.
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TV News
By Rafael Motamayor
The Fallout season 2 trailer features a deep and mysterious voice that has video game fans anticipating the arrival of super mutants.
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Anime Shows
By Rafael Motamayor
A character first mentioned in the One Piece manga many years ago was finally shown 'in person,' and this fantastic character was well worth the wait.
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