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Directors of the Decade: Brad Bird

21 November 2009 7:34 AM, PST | FilmExperience | See recent FilmExperience news »

Robert here. My initial thought for my series on the directors who shaped the past decade was to combine the Pixar guys into one big entry. Five minutes later I was filled with great shame. How dare I think that just because these men make animated films, they don’t deserve their own entries. It was ghettoization all over again! Sure, Pixar films all tend to have similar themes but that doesn’t mean that the great Pixar directors are interchangeable. Over the next few weeks we’ll take a look at them and see what makes them the same and different. First up: Brad Bird.

Number of Films: Two.

Modern Masterpieces: One. With my apologies to The Incredibles, which is an incredible film, the masterpiece is Ratatouille.

Total Disasters: Not even close.

Better than you remember: If you think either of these could be better, you should probably just stop reading now. »

- Robert

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Blu-Ray Review: Pixar’s HD Collection Continues With ‘Monsters, Inc.’

19 November 2009 2:49 PM, PST | HollywoodChicago.com | See recent HollywoodChicago.com news »

Chicago – As Disney/Pixar continues to release new films on Blu-Ray, they often “piggy-back” one title with another from their catalog, choosing to release Pete Docter’s first directorial effort for the company, “Monsters, Inc.” in HD on the same day that they release his new film, “Up”. In a beautiful 4-disc combo pack that includes Blu-Ray, DVD, and digital copies of the film, “Monsters, Inc.” continues the Pixar Blu-Ray tradition.

Blu-Ray Rating: 4.0/5.0

John Goodman and Billy Crystal star as the lovable-and-gigantic Sulley and his wisecracking sidekick Mike Wazowski, respectively. Sulley and Mike work for a scream-processing factory in Monstropolis known as “Monsters, Inc.” A little girl named Boo finds her way into the world, scaring the monsters in return, and it’s up to Sulley and Mike to restore order and get the wee one back home where she belongs.

Monsters, Inc. was released on Blu-Ray and DVD on November 10th, »

- adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)

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Blu-Ray Review: Pixar’s Beloved ‘Up’ Continues HD Dominance

17 November 2009 9:21 PM, PST | HollywoodChicago.com | See recent HollywoodChicago.com news »

Chicago – One of the most beloved films of the year and a likely contender for the Oscar for Best Picture now that the category has expanded to ten nominees, Pixar’s “Up” was recently released on Blu-Ray in yet another lovingly produced set from a company that has been a pioneer in the next-gen format. “Up” doesn’t exceed expectations but also doesn’t falter from the critically-acclaimed pattern.

Blu-Ray Rating: 5.0/5.0

Pixar has built a reputation by taking unexpected character models and turning them into movie magic. Whether it be toys that come to life, a refined rat, a family of superheroes, or a lovable robot, one never can judge a Pixar character by its cover. Such is the case with Carl Fredericksen (Ed Asner), the delightful hero of “Up” who just happens to be a crotchety old man.

Up was released on Blu-Ray and DVD on November 10th, 2009.

Photo »

- adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)

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So Long, Originality

16 November 2009 8:04 PM, PST | Atomic Popcorn | See recent Atomic Popcorn news »

Remakes. Sequels. Prequels. Screen adaptations of books, cartoons, comics, and TV shows. It can’t be denied that the film industry is starting to run rampant with movies based on something that has already been done. What’s shocking, though, is just how few original ideas Hollywood is really seeing.

Wikipedia recently posted a list of the highest grossing films of the past decade. In the top 20, only one film wasn’t based off of any other previous idea. One.

Think it gets better looking at a larger sample size? Think again. In the top 30, only two films were based on original ideas, and in the top 50 a total of nine were considered original.

The interesting thing about the nine original concepts is that all but two were animated films, and of those seven animated films five were from Pixar, with Finding Nemo being the only one in the top »

- Carly

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Producer John Lasseter To Receive PGA Achievement Award

22 October 2009 8:32 AM, PDT | icelebz.com | See recent iCelebz news »

"Finding Nemo" animator John Lasseter is set to be honored at the Producers Guild of America with Selznick Achievement Award in Motion Pictures. PGA is acknowledging the producer's role as the first producer of animated films to receive the award.

Lasseter, the chief creative officer for Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, will collect the trophy at the PGA awards show on January 24 at the Hollywood Palladium.

He is also currently the Principal Creative Adviser for Walt Disney Imagineering.

Some of the Academy Award-winning producer's film credits include the critical and box office hits "Toy Story" (1995), "Toy Story 2" (1999), "Monsters, Inc." (2001), "Finding Nemo" (2003), "The Incredibles" (2004), and "Wall-e" (2008).

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Pixar aims high but stays grounded with its new film Up

15 October 2009 7:02 AM, PDT | t5m.com | See recent t5m.com news »

Having led the way for so long in the field of advancing animation, Pixar have been lagging behind somewhat in the technical race. The new wave of 3D had already become an often seen feature of animations in particular as well as live action films like Journey to the Centre of The Earth 3D before Pixar announced that Up would require its viewers to don Eric Morcambe style glasses to watch it in cinemas. Though their Disney half did venture into the territory with Bolt, an early runner of the technique. Up is, in a way, the least typical Pixar film. There's no other world as such, no completely imagined environment like those of Monsters Inc., The Incredibles or Wall-e. Though the vastness of the skies is used to impressive effect, really putting the 3D glasses to good use. The main characters are simply a very normal, grumpy old man »

- Ben Kippin

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Disney/Pixar's John Lasseter Talks 'Rapunzel' Casting, 'Toy Story 3' Plot, 'Cars 2', 'Winnie the Pooh' and More!

13 September 2009 3:02 PM, PDT | Cinematical | See recent Cinematical news »

Spoiler alert: The Marvel / Pixar Ant-Man rumors flying around are purely that ... rumor. That's according to John Lasseter, who headlined an enormous Disney Animation / Pixar presentation this morning. We spoke with him at a press conference afterwards, where he squashed the Ant-Man rumors, and wouldn't comment on possible sequels to The Incredibles or Monsters, Inc. He also said they have no plans to reopen the closed Disney Orlando animation studios, and when we asked him how they'll handle Doc's (Paul Newman) absence in Cars 2, to which he replied "You'll see."

Plus he had no news whatsoever of any Disney/Pixar/Marvel plans, although I guess that's hardly surprising since the ink is still drying on that contract.

That's the big news about what he didn't clue us in on. So what did he tell us? We found out that Rapunzel will feature the voice of Mandy Moore as Rapunzel, and »

- Kevin Kelly

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D23 Expo: Lasseter on Ant-Man & Possible Pixar Sequels

13 September 2009 | Comingsoon.net | See recent Comingsoon.net news »

Following his presentation this morning at Anaheim's D23 Expo, John Lasseter held a press conference, fielding questions about upcoming projects, including dismissing a rumor that Pixar may be looking at Marvel Studios' Ant-Man and offering a sly "no comment" on potential sequels to other Pixar properties. "I had met all the folks from Marvel a couple of times and they're terrific," says Lasseter, a man of few words regarding Pixar's interest in Marvel properties, "The whole 'Ant-Man' thing is just a rumor." Lasseter also played it coy with another question, asking whether or not the future might hold sequels to Monsters, Inc. or The Incredibles . "That's a great question," says Lasseter, "Unfortunately, I can't answer that... »

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Pixar's Lasseter Receives Golden Lion Accolade In Venice

7 September 2009 3:06 PM, PDT | WENN | See recent WENN news »

Disney/Pixar animator John Lasseter has been honoured at the Venice Film Festival in Italy with a prestigious Golden Lion award in recognition of his career achievements.

The illustrator was hailed by his peers on Sunday at a ceremony that also paid tribute to Lasseter's bosses, Disney/Pixar directors Brad Bird, Peter Doctor, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich.

Iconic filmmaker George Lucas - who sold off Pixar in 1986 - presented the awards to the group, congratulating the honorees as members of "my little backroom operation that started in 1979".

Accepting his prize, Lasseter said, "Pixar is founded on true creative collaboration.

"These (Disney/Pixar executives) are my best friends and my brothers in creative filmmaking. Our dream is always simple: to entertain our audiences around the world, everybody."

The Disney/Pixar animators are the brains behind the hit movies Finding Nemo, Toy Story, The Incredibles and Wall-e. »

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Pixar Team Honored at Venice Film Festival

7 September 2009 11:41 AM, PDT | Manny the Movie Guy | See recent Manny the Movie Guy news »

For the first time ever, an entire studio has been given career recognition at the Venice Film Festival! And that honor goes to Pixar.

The home of Nemo, Woody, and Wall-e received the lifetime achievement award! And it's truly deserving!

The award was given to five Pixar directors including John Lasseter (the first two "Toy Story" films and "Cars"), Brad Bird ("Ratatouille" and "The Incredibles"), Pete Docter ("Up" and "Monsters Inc."), Andrew Stanton ("Finding Nemo" and "Wall-e"), and Lee Unkrich ("Toy Story 3").

Pixar, founded in 1986, has made 10 feature films to date. 4 of those movies have won Oscars!

To make the joyous occasion, the festival premiered 3-D versions of "Toy Story" and "Toy Story 2." Both 3-D versions will be shown in the fall.

Pixar merged with Disney three years ago, and the audience was also treated to a few minutes of "The Princess and the Frog." Lasseter, chief creative for both Pixar and Disney animation, »

- Manny

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News: Pixar Win Lifetime Achievement Award

7 September 2009 11:27 AM, PDT | HeyUGuys.co.uk | See recent HeyUGuys news »

Pixar started life in 1979 as the graphics group, part of the computer division of Lucasfilm before it was bought by Apple's co-founder Steve Jobs in 1986. The Walt Disney Company then bought Pixar in 2006 for $26m. Pixar first graced our cinema screens with Toy Story back in 1995 and I can't believe it's that long ago that we saw the likes of such brilliance. Since that time, they have brought us more 9 more feature films which include The Incredibles, Monster's Inc, A Bugs Life, Finding Nemo and more recently Cars and Wall-e.

Pixar are, in my opinion pure genius. They have wonderful creative minds, brilliant graphics artists, a knack for inventing brilliant new original characters and a desire to always be better. It therefore comes as no surprise that today, John Lasseter (Director of Toy Story and now CEO of Disney's animation department) picked up The Lifetime Achievement Award on behalf of »

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Will Pixar Make a Marvel Movie?

31 August 2009 10:10 AM, PDT | Cinematical | See recent Cinematical news »

Ever since the news broke early this morning that the Walt Disney Co. had acquired Marvel Entertainment for upwards of $4 billion in cash and stocks, a number of additional details have emerged via a shareholder conference call regarding the deal. Now, first, it's important to understand that Disney just doesn't nab every Marvel character in existence when it comes to movies, since the rights to some characters -- like Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four and The X-Men -- are in the hands of other studios. Also, Paramount still has five more Marvel movies to distribute under their deal (Thor, Iron Man 2, The Avengers, Captain America and one other), so don't look for Disney to begin screwing around with those (or any) upcoming Marvel projects just yet. Eventually, though, Disney wants to become the sole distributor for all of Marvel's films.

However, when you step away from those projects currently in »

- Erik Davis

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The Future’s Bright, The Future’s Pixar!

28 August 2009 1:49 AM, PDT | FilmShaft.com | See recent FilmShaft.com news »

The Internet is buzzing at the prospect of information regarding a new Pixar project. It seems that during a featurette for Up while Greg Dykstra shows off one of his many character models for the film there happens to be some very interesting concept art which has gotten all the fans all in a flutter!

The concept art in question consists of a young boy and a dinosaur.

The image was first spotted by the eagle eyed folks at Pixar Planet. Rumours started flying around and questions have been asked as to what it can be for. One thing is for sure, it’s not for Toy Story 3 as Ronnie Del Carmen confirmed via Twitter when he was asked if he knew what the mysterious art was for.

“I do but not telling. Nothing to do with anything Toy Story, tell you that”

Ronnie Del Carmen was a storyboard »

- Alex Wagner

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Terry Gilliam wants to make a Pixar movie

25 August 2009 12:24 PM, PDT | Corona's Coming Attractions | See recent Corona's Coming Attractions news »

Pixar has a well-deserved standing as a studio that produces quality adventure and quality family-oriented movies but to film fans that follow the inner workings of the company, Pixar's reputation is probably raised a little higher. Before he came on to direct The Incredibles, geeks savvy to Brad Bird's reputation praised Pixar for giving the writer an opportunity to fly with their approach to constructing the story for a movie. The company has also earned additional brownie points for not going after easy wins and producing fast-tracked sequels to their hits.

So to many of us familiar with the hyper-kinetic world view of director Terry Gilliam, the idea of the man that brought us Time Bandits, The Fisher King, Brazil, Twelve Monkeys and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus riding his horse to Pixar's ranch sounds like a dream come true. In an interview with Slashfilm's Brendon Connelly, Gilliam waxes »

- Patrick Sauriol

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Will Ferrell, Jonah Hill, and Brad Pitt Join ‘Oobermind’

17 August 2009 7:04 PM, PDT | newsinfilm.com | See recent newsinfilm news »

DreamWorks Animation announced today Will Ferrell, Jonah Hill, and Brad Pitt have joined Oobermind, an animated twist on the superhero genre.  Ferrell replaces Robert Downey Jr. as the voice of Oobermind, a diabolical villain with a bit of a quandary. Maybe the official synopsis can clarify:

When super villain Oobermind (Will Ferrell) defeats his archrival Metro Man (Brad Pitt), the world should be his oyster.  But instead, Oobermind falls into total despair.  It turns out that life without a rival is life without a point for him.  So, he creates a new superhero rival, Titan (Jonah Hill).  Unfortunately, the new hero wants to be a super villain, too.  Caught in the middle, star reporter Roxanne Ritchi (Tina Fey) asks the tough questions:  Who can we turn to?  Who has what it takes to stand up to this menace?  Who will defend the innocent?  Oobermind!  That’s who.

It sounds like »

- Jeff Leins

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Wall-e Wins Hugo Award as Best Science-Fiction Film of 2008

13 August 2009 11:43 AM, PDT | FilmJunk | See recent FilmJunk news »

The 2009 Hugo Awards were announced earlier this week, which, for those who don't know, are probably the highest-profile awards to honour creative works that fall strictly within the realm of science-fiction and fantasy. The categories includes novels, short stories, graphic novels, film and TV, among others, and I was a little bit surprised to learn that the winner for the past year in "Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form" was Pixar's animated film Wall-e. Upon hearing this my first thought was, sure it's a good movie, but is it really the best science-fiction film to be released in 2008? The more I think about it though, it just makes me realize that 2008 was a pretty weak year for science-fiction movies in general. The other nominees were The Dark Knight, Iron Man, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, and METAtropolis (an audiobook anthology). I guess looking at those choices, I might be more inclined to vote for Wall-e. »

- Sean

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Penélope's Embraces (and Other Wonders)

3 July 2009 10:04 AM, PDT | FilmExperience | See recent FilmExperience news »

The new trailer to Almodóvar's Broken Embraces is up over at Guardian. Looks terrific and much like other Pedro gems such as Law of Desire and Bad Education it appears to be cinematic in all senses of the word (visually, thematically, environmentally).

It's less than two minutes long but it gives the impression that the whole movie consists of shots of Penélope Cruz through screens, mirrors, doorways and her own hair. Which is maybe the best thing a movie could consist of these days. It opens Stateside in 140 days but many of you overseas readers have already had the opportunity to see it. I'm green with envy but wearing red in keeping with the Almodóvar theme.

Links

Film Doctor on the movie love within Public Enemies

Animation World Nancy Cartwright (Bart Simpson!) interviews Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Ratatouille) about his caree. He even discussed Family Dog (pictured left) at length, »

- NATHANIEL R

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134 New Names Invited to Join the Academy

1 July 2009 1:08 AM, PDT | Rope of Silicon | See recent Rope Of Silicon news »

Yesterday came the yearly announcement from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as it extended 134 invitations to several artists and executives "who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures" read the press release. Of course all of them can decline, but I wouldn't necessarily expect that to happen as all who accept the invitation will be the only additions in 2009 to the Academy's roster of voting members. "These filmmakers have, over the course of their careers, captured the imagination of audiences around the world," said Academy President Sid Ganis. "It's this kind of talent and creativity that make up the Academy, and I welcome each of them to our ranks." The list follows below and reading around the best analysis I saw of it came from Nathaniel Rogers at The Film Experience who, among other things, pointed out the addition of longtime Darren Aronofsky's »

- Brad Brevet

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June 26: DVD alternatives to this weekend’s multiplex offerings

26 June 2009 10:49 AM, PDT | www.flickfilosopher.com | See recent FlickFilosopher news »

We all know how it is. You'd like to get out to see a new movie this weekend, but those pesky mental messages from the Allspark filling your head are compelling you to take a mysterious trip around the world. But you can have something close to that blockbuster experience on the road with the proper application of DVDs. In fact, you might even be able to one-up everyone else at the watercooler come Monday, because while they're saying, "Hey, did you check out that new Transformers movie?" you can respond, "No, I saw a movie about a boy and a giant robot that has heart instead of explosions." Instead Of: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Michael Bay’s latest ode to the insecurities of Michael Bay, in which giant robots beat the crap out of one another while recruitment ads for the U.S. military try to stop them. »

- MaryAnn Johanson

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Up Sets Course For Number Two On The Animated Film List

16 June 2009 6:30 PM, PDT | WENN | See recent WENN news »

Hit family film Up is on course to become the second biggest animated movie of all time, behind fish tale Finding Nemo.

The quirky 3-D film, about a grumpy old man and a boy scout who become unlikely adventure partners, has already grossed over $187 million (£124.6 million) in America alone in less than a month.

That puts the picture in fifth place behind Ratatouille, Wall-e, The Incredibles and Finding Nemo.

Experts predict Up will easily sail past The Incredibles' $261.4 million (£174.2 million) U.S. box office haul before the end of its cinema run. But the movie is unlikely to reach Finding Nemo, which scored a whopping $339.7 million (£226.4 million) at the U.S. box office alone in 2003. »

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2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003

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