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1-20 of 105 articles from 2009 « Prev | Next »
The ten best animated films of 2009
26 December 2009 3:21 PM, PST
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True, the once neglected art of animation has undergone a rebirth in both artistry and popularity. Yet having escaped one blind alley, it seems headed into another one: The dumbing-down of stories out of preference for meaningless nonstop action. Classic animated features were models of three-act stories: Recall "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" or "The Lion King." The characters were embedded in stories that made sense and involved making decisions based on values. Now too many stories end in brain-numbing battles, often starring heroes the age of the younger audience members. Here is no food for growth and for the imagination, just brainless kinetic behavior.
The year saw more animated films intended instead for adults, and a film like "Waltz with Bashir" used the freedom of the form to show matters unthinkable in a live action feature. Several of these films were true crossovers, truly freed from the demographic vise.
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- Roger Ebert
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If Sherlock Holmes Isn't The World's Greatest Detective, Then Who Is?
23 December 2009 2:00 PM, PST
| MTV Movies Blog
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Is Sherlock Holmes the greatest detective that's ever lived? It's hard to make such a statement without some serious subjective reasoning (Editor's note: espeically since he's a fictional character and thus, never lived!), but there is at least one objective fact that we can all agree upon — Sherlock Holmes is the greatest detective that has a movie coming out this weekend.
The eccentric private eye's fan base is likely to grow following the release of Guy Ritchie's upcoming film, which stars Robert Downey Jr. as the titular detective and Jude Law as his mustachioed sidekick Watson. But even with the man occasionally known as Tony Stark behind Sherlock's pipe, there is a formidable faction of cinematic investigators that Holmes must contend with for the title of fiction's greatest detective.
Here are just a few of the other fine detectives that could give Holmes' deductive skills some stiff competition.
Batman
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- Josh Wigler
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‘Taken’ Gets a Pseudo-Sequel
8 December 2009 7:57 AM, PST
| ReelLoop.com
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I didn’t see Liam Neeson in Taken. I heard conflicting reports — some loved its over-the-top violence, others found it to be a complete waste of time. Considering my personal tastes, I’d bet that I will side with the first group whenever I get the chance to see it.
For those of you who are fans of Taken, however, I have good news for you: Robert Mark Kamen, the screenwriter behind Taken, has just sold a script entitled Vengeance to CBS Films. The goal is to create another modestly budgeted action picture, “very much in the vein of Taken.”
Kamen himself had some words about the script:
“Basically, it’s a contemporary revenge love story — what happens when violence meets love,” Kamen said. “The main characters are 20 and Italian, and there are themes that echo films like The Godfather. It’s about family loyalty and how much someone owes their family and the past.
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- John Cooper
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Not Every Suit's A War Machine: Five Armors That Won't Appear In 'Iron Man 2'
7 December 2009 6:01 AM, PST
| MTV Splash Page
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This week's debut of the first official "Iron Man 2" poster impressed a lot of fans by showcasing Tony Stark's latest duds back-to-back with James Rhodes' righteous War Machine armor.
Generally speaking, fans seem to have responded well to what appear to be two pretty spot-on comic book adaptations modernized for a contemporary movie-going audience. It's a good thing too, because not every outfit that's rolled out of Stark's lab has necessarily met present-day cinematic specifications. As brilliant as the many versions of Tony Stark have been over the years, his fashion sense hasn't always been in line with the summer of 2010.
Continue reading for a glimpse of armors that aren't — and likely will never be — ready for the big screen.
Heroes Reborn
Everyone likes Jim Lee, but his "Heroes Reborn" Iron Man redesign circa 1996 had some less-than-practical extremities (crazy back vent tubes, meshy underarmor) and an overall beefiness that
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- Caleb Goellner
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DS Icon: Christopher Lloyd
3 December 2009 10:00 PM, PST
| digitalspy
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Great Scott!! Very few actors are blessed enough to earn the status of cult icon for just one thing, which makes the career of Christopher Lloyd all the more amazing. As well as starring alongside Jack Nicholson in the movie adaptation of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Lloyd also appeared in Danny DeVito sitcom Taxi, as Uncle Fester in both Addams Family movies and as the terrifying Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. What he's best known for is, of course, his three Back To The Future movies as the irrepressible Doctor Emmett Lathrop Brown. We caught up with The Doc (and newly-crowned Digital Spy Icon) ahead of the release of new kids' movie Santa Buddies. You've been in a lot of really well-loved work - do you consider yourself something of a cult icon?
"I've never really given it much thought, but (more)
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- By Mayer Nissim
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What does the NBC/Comcast deal mean for you?
3 December 2009 3:01 PM, PST
| AOL - TVSquad
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All this talk about Comcast gobbling up the NBC empire like an English orphan going for the last morsel of figgy pudding at the Christmas dinner table may have some viewers lost in the void of the vortex.
TVTattle has compiled a smart series of stories on exactly what the deal could mean to you, the viewer. For instance, Comcast, a cable company, may have purchased NBC to "devalue" free TV, much in the same way Judge Doom from Who Framed Roger Rabbit? bought the Red Car company so he could "dismantle it" to run his freeway through Toontown. And if you British literature snobs can think of a better metaphor, be my guest.
There is also talk that Comcast might drop the NBC brand. Does that mean the company will also take out the NBC peacock Ol' Yeller style?
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- Danny Gallagher
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Lloyd Eyes Roger Rabbit Return
27 November 2009 8:16 AM, PST
| WENN
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Christopher Lloyd is calling on filmmakers to push through a sequel to Who Framed Roger Rabbit - because he'd love to reprise his villainous Judge Doom role.
The Back To The Future actor starred as the sadistic cartoon killer in the 1988 comedy classic, which mixed animation and live-action together for the big screen.
Recent rumours suggest director Robert Zemeckis has commissioned a script for a follow-up, and Lloyd has quickly expressed his interest in bringing his character back to life.
But the star is still waiting to be invited on board the project, he tells Digital Spy, "I haven't. I know Bob Zemeckis of course, we're sort of neighbours in California and I just saw him the other day.
"Some of the people that work for him, co-producers, have mentioned it but nobody's come to me to say, 'We're doing another one, we'd like you to be in it', yet. I would absolutely love to though, yes. No doubt about it."
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Christopher Lloyd up for 'Rabbit' sequel
27 November 2009 12:00 AM, PST
| digitalspy
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Christopher Lloyd has said that he would love to reprise his role as Judge Doom in a sequel to Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The Santa Buddies star played the character in the Robert Zemeckis-directed 1988 fantasy comedy which combined traditional animation with live action. When asked if he had been approached to appear in a mooted update, Lloyd told Digital Spy: "I haven't. I know Bob Zemeckis of course, we're sort of neighbours in California and I just saw him the other day. "Some of the people that work for him, co-producers, have mentioned (more)
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- By Mayer Nissim
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Zombieland sequel in 3D – a small rant
25 November 2009 4:20 PM, PST
| ReelLoop.com
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With notable exceptions such as the Godfather trilogy, up until recently film series were known for their decreasing quality as each new instalment passed. Trying to capitalise on the “name” success of a brand, studios would try and quickly rush out a sequel whilst the original was still fresh in the minds of the cinema audience. A case in point would be the Planet Of The Apes series which, with each new film, saw the series regress from innovative special effects to rushed out hackery.
It was not until Spielberg and Lucas, with the Indiana Jones and Star Wars series, did the idea occur of making sequels bigger, grander than their original films. The trend grew and grew until this decade when the box office has been dominated by franchise sequels – The Lord of the Rings, The Pirates of the Caribbean, the Harry Potter films, The Dark Knight, New Moon and many,
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- Kieron
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Jeffrey Katzenberg Plans on Living Happily Ever After
23 November 2009 11:58 AM, PST
| Fast Company
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Photograph by Robert Maxwell
Box Office Monsters DreamWorks investors are banking on the 2010 releases of "How to Train Your Dragon" -- with Jay Baruchel ("seen" above), Gerard Butler, Kristin Wiig, and Craig Ferguson -- and "Shrek Forever After" (below), the fourth tranche of the franchise.
As a young prince, Jeffrey Katzenberg made billions for the Magic Kingdom, but his ambition got him banished. Now the CEO of DreamWorks Animation has a (smaller) kingdom of his own -- and every intention of living happily ever after.
"I'm certain when you came through those gates, your impression was, This is about a micromanaging, hands-in-every-pie, ain't-a-decision-being-made-without-him kind of place," says DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg.
At 59, with his tightly cropped hair and outsize biceps straining against a fine-knit black polo, Katzenberg exudes an aggressive fitness. "The myth," he says, "is a far distance from the reality."
In truth, I had come expecting just that.
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- Mark Borden
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Robert Zemeckis Eyeing The Nutcracker 3-D?
12 November 2009 6:30 AM, PST
| FilmJunk
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Robert Zemeckis is a director who was once mentioned alongside visionaries like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, having directed such blockbusters as Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Forrest Gump and the Back To The Future trilogy. He certainly earned that reputation, but lately his career has taken a strange detour into the realm of motion capture technology, where his focus seems to be exclusively on taking existing stories and putting them on the big screen in a new way. Certainly Spielberg and Lucas have been big on pushing technology forward as well, but is Zemeckis letting his desire to pioneer get in the way of making good movies?
His latest film A Christmas Carol hit theatres just last weekend and the reviews haven't been so hot, but that hasn't stopped him from lining up another Christmas movie to immediately follow it. According to Pajiba [1], Zemeckis wants to use motion capture to
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- Sean
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Aykroyd, Faris, and Timberlake in Negotiations For Yogi Bear
6 November 2009 12:35 PM, PST
| Beyond Hollywood
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Cartoon/live action hybrids have had a rocky history. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? was excellent, aided by the fact that it was more of an original story, but films like The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Garfield weren’t that great (although Bill Murray has the kind of laconic, lazy speech that worked well for the morose cat). However, studios aren’t giving up on the style. Entertainment Weekly reports that three stars have signed on for the live action/CG film Yogi Bear.
Dan Aykroyd is planning to voice Yogi, while Justin Timberlake is in talks to voice his sidekick, Boo-Boo. Anna Faris might play Rachel, a nature documentary filmmaker trying to film the two bears for her next project. Right now there is no word on Ranger Smith. Aykroyd seems like a solid piece of casting, but I’ve never actually seen Timberlake act; he must have done something to impress.
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- Jacob
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A Christmas Carol Review
5 November 2009 7:28 PM, PST
| Collider.com
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When it was announced that Robert Zemeckis was directing an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” starring Jim Carrey and made with 3D motion-capture, my response was viciously negative. Zemeckis had left behind movies like “Back to the Future” and “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”, movies with characters and charming stories, in favor of 3D motion-captured films featuring CG characters who resembled the voice actor except they were trapped deep within the uncanny valley (the place where CG facsimiles of people look like very expensive animatronics). Throwing Jim Carrey into the mix to have him constantly mug for the camera made the idea of a 3D motion-captured film even more unappealing. And “A Christmas Carol”? How many times do we need to see this story? Seeing it in 3D with Jim Carrey as Ebenezer Scrooge was an argument not to make the movie. (Hit the jump to find out why
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- Matt Goldberg
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Review: Did you ever see… Who Framed Roger Rabbit
5 November 2009 4:01 PM, PST
| HeyUGuys.co.uk
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This week sees the release of the year’s first Christmas movie, Robert Zemeckis’ A Christmas Carol. The latest in a long line of adaptations of this classic story, Zemeckis has made it using his motion capture animation. This is the third movie Zemeckis has made using the technique, having perfected it after Polar Express and Beowulf. Zemeckis has been interested in combining human actors and animation for a long time. With news breaking last week of a sequel in development, it’s the perfect time to look back at 1988’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
Following huge success with Back to the Future in 1985, Robert Zemeckis was in big demand. This allowed him the clout to take hold of what would be a hugely ambitious project. Live action had been combined with animation previously, most notably in Mary Poppins. No-one yet, however, had attempted a feature length movie.
Bob Hoskins is a 1940’s private dick,
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- Barry Steele
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Roger Rabbit 2: Two-Dimensional Toons & CGI Humans?
5 November 2009 12:57 PM, PST
| ScreenRant.com
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Don’t act like you’re surprised. You knew this announcement was coming from the moment we first heard that director Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future) was making a sequel to his 1988 smash hit, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? It was just a matter of time, really. With three Mocap (that’s the new slang for “motion-capture”, Fyi) films already under his belt – Polar Express, Beowulf, and A Christmas Carol – it was a natural leap of thought to assume Zemeckis would use his favorite new toy in a Roger Rabbit sequel.
However, it appears that the Toon characters (Roger, Jessica, Benny the Cab) will not be the ones making the leap into the 21st century. According to his interview with MTV, Zemeckis doesn’t plan on using Mocap for those characters, just the human ones (as if that makes it any better). Read what he had to say below:
“I
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- Paul Young
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Robert Zemeckis 'Never Been Offered' A Superhero Movie
5 November 2009 7:30 AM, PST
| MTV Movies Blog
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From Splash Page: "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" and "Back to the Future" director Robert Zemeckis is certainly no stranger to the art of bringing fantasy fare to life on the big screen, so when we had the chance to chat with him during a press event for "A Christmas Carol," we had to ask: why hasn't he tackled a superhero movie yet?
"I'm a superhero fan, although I actually have never been offered one," Zemeckis told MTV News. "I've never really brought one to someone and said I really want to do this superhero [movie]. Obviously, I love the form, as movies really are the extension of comic books."
Continue reading Robert Zemeckis Explains Why He Hasn't Directed A Superhero Movie (Yet)
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- Rick Marshall
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Roger Rabbit Sequel Will Contain Both 2D and Mo-Cap Animation
4 November 2009 6:02 PM, PST
| Cinematical
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As Peter reported a few days ago, Robert Zemeckis is going forward with a Roger Rabbit sequel. We all seem to be intrigued by the possibility of returning to Toontown, but Zemeckis' obsession with motion capture really casts a Judge Doom-like shadow over the project. Will he motion capture Roger Rabbit and his Toontown friends? Or will Zemeckis return to the old school of hand-drawn animation?
MTV caught up with Zemeckis, who was quick to assure fans of the bumbling Roger that he will remain his cuddly 2D self. "I wouldn't use it for the cartoon characters, because I think they should stay two-dimensional because that's what - I wouldn't dimensonalize Roger," he said. "And I couldn't dimensonalize Jessica even if I wanted to because she doesn't have a nose. We wouldn't want to give her a nose." But motion capture will be a part of Roger Rabbit 2. The technology is like Zemeckis' whale,
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- Elisabeth Rappe
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Motion Capture and Writers for Roger Rabbit 2
4 November 2009 5:19 PM, PST
| newsinfilm.com
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Doing the rounds to promote his latest motion capture venture (A Christmas Carol starring Jim Carrey), director Robert Zemeckis opened up about his plans to revisit Toontown.
In April, the filmmaker simply said he had ideas for a sequel to Who Framed Roger Rabbit and new technology had him “starting to think about it.” He later followed this up with a confirmation that Roger would remain in 2D, but didn’t rule out the possibility of 3-D and motion capture, the two techniques dominating his filmography for the past 5 years.
In a brief chat with MTV, Zemeckis said, “All the other characters that [the cartoons] would sort of have fun with would be magnificent in performance capture technology.” Unfortunately, this probably means the sequel will be a combination of 3-D mo-cap and 2-D animation, not the live-action/cartoon hybrid of the original, which explains why Bob Hoskins has been using the “I’m too old” excuse.
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- Jeff Leins
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Guttenberg, Danson and Selleck = 'Three Men and a Bride'
4 November 2009 4:45 PM, PST
| Cinematical
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We are now in the age of the 20-year-old sequel. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Wall Street 2, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Beverly Hills Hop 4, The Untouchables: Capone Rising. It hasn't been "too long," it isn't awkward to go back. It'll make you feel young again! Now we've reached the pinnacle of past grabs, as WENN is reporting that Steve Guttenberg, Tom Selleck, and Ted Danson are reuniting for Three Men and a Bride.
"Disney's developing Three Men and a Bride. That's going to be a smash. A smash hit. They're bringing everybody back for that," says Guttenberg. "Nobody knows about it. I'm the first to talk about it."
Guttenberg might just become king of the It's Never To Late To Return! movement, as he dreams of reviving all of his past franchises. "It's definitely time for another Police Academy. And I think they could make another Cocoon.
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- Elisabeth Rappe
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Robert Zemeckis Explains Why He Hasn't Directed A Superhero Movie (Yet)
4 November 2009 2:08 PM, PST
| MTV Splash Page
| See recent MTV Splash Page news
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"Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" and "Back to the Future" director Robert Zemeckis is certainly no stranger to the art of bringing fantasy fare to life on the big screen, so when we had the chance to chat with him during a press event for "A Christmas Carol," we had to ask: why hasn't he tackled a superhero movie yet?
"I'm a superhero fan, although I actually have never been offered one," Zemeckis told MTV News. "I've never really brought one to someone and said I really want to do this superhero [movie]. Obviously, I love the form, as movies really are the extension of comic books."
"When I was real young, we had the George Reeves 'Superman' on TV all the time," he explained when asked if he had any favorites in the comics world. "I've seen every one of those episodes and probably have them all memorized and
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- Rick Marshall
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