Netfrost

Well, the OIAF just started selling tickets and announced the selections for this year’s festival. Can’t wait!

If anyone is interested in going, let me know, cause I’m hoping to be there everyday.

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First of all… bring a box of tissues with you! I found myself, not being able to see the screen half way through the movie, because my eyes were completely filled with tears from all the laughing… later on, if you’re the emotional type, there’s some touching bits that could cause a tear or two to well up. The comedy style includes some nice crass jokes about bodily functions, as well as some well placed sarcasm and pure slapstick.

Despicable Me is a film about Gru (Steve Carell), the world’s #1 villain… who was just outdone by a new villain in town… Vector (Jason Segel)! Gru, desperate in regaining his place in the ladder of villains, goes to no end to reclaim it… even if that involves unsuspecting orphans! With the help of his evil scientist, Dr. Nefario voiced by comedian Russell Brand, who… well is no Q and his countless minions (best one has to be Dave!), Gru tries to steal the moon.

Some of the other voice talents include Julie Andrews, Will Arnett, Kristen Wiig and Nickelodeon’s Miranda Cosgrove.

As with every thing else coming out of Hollywood these days, Despicable Me was done in Stereoscopic 3d… but unlike the multitude of films where the 3D was an after thought… I found myself loving this… All through the movie, you could notice that perspective was there… and make sure you stay seated during the credits, as the fun little minions play with a plethora of 3D stereotypes… ie: A ladder going into the audience, a fishing pole etc…

So, the story is fantastic… actually on par with Pixar’s story telling… but how was the animation itself? Just fantastic… Carter Goodrich was the brains behind the character design for this film and he seriously didn’t disappoint… you may remember some of his other creations in such films as Ratatouille and The Prince of Egypt.

Now, stop reading this and run out and go see it on the silver screen… seriously… I have to say, that this movie is possibly now one of my favorite films.

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Two side of the coin, day and night, appear as characters and look on at one another in awe and jealousy. Written and directed by Pixar storyboard and concept artist Teddy Newton (Who also voices the Fisher Price Chatter Phone in Toy Story 3) with music by Oscar winner Michael Giacchino.

 
The real interesting thing with this short is that all the great 3D animation we’ve come to expect and love from Pixar… shows up INSIDE the two main characters Night and Day… who are actually traditionally drawn and act more as a mask on the screen.

Great story with a great message, awesome art (heck I was even hard pressed to believe some of it wasn’t filmed with a regular camera instead of modeled and rendered). Hope to see lots more from Teddy…
 
 
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Where to start? Toy Story 3, directed by Lee Unkrich, who started off as an editor on Toy Story, then co-directed Toy Story 2. The movie starts off with one of the play sessions the toys loved so much… which turns to a great home video montage. Toy Story 3, progresses the story, with Andy now being 17 years old and heading to college. Unfortunately, with leaving for college comes the responsibility of starting to clear out your childhood stuff. The toys end up in a daycare, run by a brutal dictator (that smells like strawberries) Lotso…(voiced by Ned Beatty) This once cuddly pink bear, has become tough and heartless over the years and rules the daycare with an iron fist… and basically sentences our favorite toys to be played with by infants who honestly are too young to play with such toys. It’s now up to Woody to rescue the toys.
 

By far the best Pixar story to date… we found ourselves laughing, clenching our fists… and tearing up at various points in the movie. Now, the story was amazingly written, The animation was top notch… there’s scenes where Woody is running, and I have to give props to the riggers and animators, cause the really made him look like a boneless doll… not to mention Mr Tortilla head :)
 
Now, I wouldn’t say the movie was 100% perfect… there was a few things that bothered me. The first… Big Baby… he really seemed out of place… not to mention he gave me the creeps. An other thing was, we went to see it on the IMAX 3D screen… the movie started out great and we could really see the stereoscopic aspects of the film… come 1/3 of the way through… I forgot we were watching a stereo movie… (I can’t believe I’m going to say this… but it could of used some more 3D clichés). But all in all… FANTASTIC movie… I definitely want to see it again in theaters.

 
 
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Just got back from drooling over myself for 2 hours. Lee outdid himself, this was even better than I expected. I won’t give anything away as I’ll be posting the review in the morning, but wow.

I’ll also be posting a review of Day & Night… which was also way better then I expected. Teddy Newton is a visionary!

Stay tuned for a review in the morning.

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Tickets in hand… and just waiting… less then 12 hours and I get to see the masterpiece that is Toy Story 3.

I was showing Ange some pics of the new characters last night, cause well was never a fan of the Toy Story franchise and wasn’t exactly looking forward to this movie… other then the fact that it’s in 3d… As soon as she saw Lotso, she fell in love with it. Which doesn’t surprise me, since her favorite Pixar film is Monsters Inc… (guess I should really pick up “Shave and a Haircut” 5.0 and model some fuzzy creature for her.

Anyway, or tickets are for pretty much smack center seats at the IMAX for the late show. Expect a review later tonight!

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Donkey X follows the classic tale of Don Quijote, his “squire”, Sancho Panza, Sancho’s donkey, Rucio (who wants to be a horse) and a real horse, Don Quijote’s faithful steed, Rocinante (who hates leaving his stable) on their adventure to duel the “Knight of the Moon” where, if Don Quijote wins the duel the true identity of Dulcinea will be revealed.

This is definitely not your Shrek or Up quality film. This little spanish film, trying to capitalize on the popularity of other 3D animated films kinda fell flat. On the technical side, it can’t be faulted, the modeling and textures are pretty good, but you can tell they spent more time working on the main characters then anything else, there’s no famous actors lending their voices to the film and the story seems more like a spoofed telling of the classic story.
 
I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys the tale of the wandering knight and just wants to escape in movie about an other time…
 
 
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So 4 days left till Toy Story 3.

Most of you know that I’m borderline obsessed with Disney and Pixar (shush! yes.. borderline), but to be honest, I’ve never been a real fan of the Toy Story franchise. I do admire it for what it is, the first full feature 3D film. Yes, the story is cute, but I never found anything about it mind blowing, like say Monsters Inc… or Up. But Toy Story 3 really has me excited… it looks fresh and full of cool new stuff.
Can’t wait for the weekend to arrive.

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So with the 82nd Academy Awards last night, Pixar won 2 more Oscars!
Congrats guys!
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Based on a cartoon series created by Arthur Qwak and produced by the French company Futurikon, Dragon Hunters follows Zoe little girl who believes in fairy tales. Not because she is naive, but because she likes fairy tales. So in order to help her uncle Lord Arnold get rid of a terrible dragon, Zoe decides she has to find some heroes. In comes Gwizdo (Rob Paulsen) and Lian-Chu (Forest Whitaker) a pair of two-bit, fly-by-night dragon hunters.
 
The art style is very stylized and quite reminiscent of Igor. Set within a colorful fantastic world with floating islands and dragons (ok, so they aren’t the typical mid-evil dragons… it’s more of a, any monster is called a dragon.. but who cares)
 
Definitely not worth the acclaim of any major awards, it’s a cute story and it’s easy to get swept into their world.
 
 
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