As we drove up to Skywalker Ranch, the excitement was clearly growing in the packed van. After watching the Skywalker Sound reel and some animation clips in the impressive Stag Theatre, we met with Randy Thom, who is nominated for his sound work on Ratatouille.
A first for the tour, but most likely not a first for the Madame Tutli-Putli team was about their enigmatic ending. Maciek explained that the intention of the film was less about plot and more like a poem where one scene doesn’t dictate the next, but informs the preceding scene.
The Animation Pit, where the artists work, is filled with intricately decorated offices, a haven for toy lovers. When more office space was needed, traditional cubicles were brought in, but the artists hated them. So after a little research, for the same amount of money, they were able to bring in little huts called tough shed, which have been transformed into mini-offices in the middle of the wide halls.
After the ILM Q&A, the studio hosted a dinner for the nominees, where we sat with animation supervisor Hal Hickel, who is nominated for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.
All were impressed with the gorgeous view from the cafeteria, where one can see the Golden Gate Bridge, the Palace of Fine Arts and the CalTrains Building all from the same room, which is a rare feat in San Francisco.
The tired filmmakers who have flown in from all corners of the globe took the opportunity to rest before Ron whisked them away in the whirlwind that is the Oscar Showcase tour.
Currently, I'm touring the studios of San Francisco and Los Angeles with the Oscar nominees for Outstanding Animated Short Film. While I'm busy blogging about the experience, Rick's Flicks Picks will be on hiatus. I will return on before the Oscars with this year's RFP Overlooked Awards. So for the meantime, you should check out my exploits over at the Oscar Tour Travelogue.
My first reaction to Kung Fu Panda was, (bored, Droopy voice), whoopee, here we go again: hopeless slob (Jack Black, who else?) makes good in spite of himself, done with that trademark DreamWorks unattractive angular character design.
Mea culpa, friends. I just saw a lengthy promo reel for the film hosted by Ol’ Bullet-head himself, Jeff (nyah-nyah Michael, I’m still a player, what are you doing these days?) Katzenberg – and I am blown away. This is going to turn into an Anton Ego review (end of Ratatouille Anton that is), but here we go.
My first reaction to Kung Fu Panda was, (bored, Droopy voice), whoopee, here we go again: hopeless slob (Jack Black, who else?) makes good in spite of himself, done with that trademark DreamWorks unattractive angular character design.
Mea culpa, friends. I just saw a lengthy promo reel for the film hosted by Ol’ Bullet-head himself, Jeff (nyah-nyah Michael, I’m still a player, what are you doing these days?) Katzenberg – and I am blown away. This is going to turn into an Anton Ego review (end of Ratatouille Anton that is), but here we go.
This is the most gorgeous cgi film I’ve seen to date, in terms of the world it’s created for itself, surpassing Pixar’s best. There are some backgrounds so otherworldly they look as if they came out of a sci-fi film, while at the same time obviously inspired by Chinese landscape art.
I banned them from talking about it as I was getting so nervous and then I checked the Oscar website in the afternoon and there we were! And then the phones all started ringing and Rosto gave me some flowers and champagne and whisked me off to dinner!
George Clooney squeezed my arm a few times at the nominee luncheon. Then he asked me where the bar was. That was pretty exciting.
Someone emailed about our upcoming ONLINE lessons and asked specially about cartoon hands and how to construct them. So here is a demo - hot off the camera - on the topic.
Our online lessons will be out soon...
Thanks for asking!
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/6E4Wcht_r0A" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
With STEP UP 2 hitting theaters this weekend, and the tradition that unrelated sequels are worse than the originals, than you want to step away from this franchise. Cheap dance movies of late have been a dime a dozen, but they make their studios millions. Most of them feature plots that serve as an excuse to strip great dance numbers together. This clunker gives viewers two dance numbers that are not worth your time.
Tyler Gage (Channing Tatum, COACH CARTER) is a white kid who leaves in the ghetto. He's a well-mannered and well-meaning young man, who gets in trouble by stealing cars with his friends Mac and Skinny Carter (Damaine Radcliff, GLORY ROAD, & De'Shawn Washington, screen debut). When Tyler isn't stealing or scamming kids on the basketball court, he dances. Tyler finally gets nabbed and is sentenced to community serve as the school for the arts. While working as a janitor, he volunteers to help out senior Nora Clark (Jenna Dewan, TAKE THE LEAD) with her senior dance after her original partner gets injured. The poor guy and the rich girl sure make for an odd couple.
Warren Beatty's epic chronicling American reporters John Reed and Louise Bryant and their involvement with the Russian revolution was nominated for 12 Academy Awards, taking home three Oscars for Best Director (Beatty), Best Cinematography (Vittorio Storaro) and Best Supporting Actress (Maureen Stapleton). At 194 minutes, the film takes its time to develop its characters bringing us into their history before they begin to play key roles in important historical events of the 20th century. Mixing documentary interviews of people who knew the couple with dramatic recreations, REDS not only gets a wide view of its protagonists, but also the era in which they lived.
Married Louise Bryant (Diane Keaton, ANNIE HALL) meets playboy reporter John Reed (Beatty, MCCABE AND MRS. MILLER) at a Liberal Club meeting, where she asks to interview him. He agrees, with the hope of a one-night stand, but after a long night of debate, Louise sends John packing. The pair will meet again and Louise will take the aggressor's role. Later Louise will leave her husband and follow John to New York, where she becomes overshadowed by the dynamic personalities of John's Greenwich Village friends, which include outspoken activist Emma Goldman (Stapleton, COCOON) and writer Eugene O'Neill (Jack Nicholson). John and Louise's relationship will be tumultuous, spurred by infidelity of both of their parts, loneliness when they are separated and artistic competitiveness.
Nik and I do love Portugal - so when we were invited to participate in the FIRST INTERNATIONAL STUDENT MEETING FOR ANIMATION ARTS we jumped at the chance. I was very pleased and honored to be invited to be a part of the International Jury along with renowned Ukrainian animator Evgeniy Sivokon and Portugal’s animation treasure Sepe. Nik gave a three day workshop with music students from the school during which they composed and performed in live performance two programs of music with animation.Needless to say I recommend this festival to all students and animation schools. Your work will be given serious consideration and if selected screened in the lovely theatre on the campus and on a DVD which will be shown at other festivals. HURRY THOUGH, the DEADLINE is near.Students can enter both Monstra and First.
Two years ago Nik and I were guests of festival director Fernando Galrito at the MONSTRA ANIMATION FESTIVAL in Lisbon, Portugal where Nik performed an IDEAS IN ANIMATION program with three Portuguese musicians and gave a hands-on music workshop. I can personally attest to the high quality of the festival. This event is a meeting of animation and various mediums and art forms including workshops, exhibitions, seminars, and music. Competition films alternate yearly between short and feature length films, and this year will be devoted to films under 30 minutes with all techniques and genres accepted.
In the 2008 MONSTRA FESTIVAL there will be a student competition with a cash award of 1500.00 Euros. Students from schools all over the world are encouraged to send their films and are eligible to win the top prize.
Tamara Jenkins follows up her solid first feature SLUMS OF BEVERLY HILLS with a sophomore effort that shows her tackling more mature material, as she matures as a filmmaker. For her work she was rewarded with an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay, which chronicles the tale of two aging siblings dealing with the impending death of their father. Part character study, part black comedy, this satire makes you go ouch more than it makes you go ha ha.
Wendy and Jon Savage (Laura Linney, BREACH, and Philip Seymour Hoffman, CAPOTE) have been called upon to travel from New York to Arizona to deal with their father Lenny (Philip Bosco, WORKING GIRL), whose physical and mental abilities have declined quickly following the death of his longtime girlfriend. They move him to a nursing home close to Jon's home near Buffalo where he teaches. Wendy, who lives in NYC, moves in until the end of the winter holidays to help deal with the transition.
Director Lasse Hallstrom works from John Irving's own Oscar-winning adaptation of his novel creating a thoughtful coming-of-age story that was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. Michael Caine won a Supporting Actor Oscar for his pragmatic and ornery doctor. Additional Oscar nods were given for the film's art direction-set direction, Hallstrom's direction, editing and original score. The love for the film by the Academy was great, but it might be remembered in the future for its early performances from then up-and-coming stars Toby Maguire and Charlize Theron.
Dr. Wilbur Larch (Caine) oversees an orphanage in Maine where he has raised Homer Wells (Maguire) as if he were his own son. Homer has trained under Larch to be a fine physician, but he questions the morality of the abortions his mentor performs. When Wally Worthington (Paul Rudd, KNOCKED UP) brings his pregnant girlfriend Candy Kendall (Theron) to get an abortion, Homer's longing to see what the world outside the walls of the orphanage is like comes to a peak. Despite Dr. Larch's protests, Homer heads off with Wally and Candy to work as an apple picker for Wally's family orchard. Wilbur comes under the tutelage of Mr. Rose (Delroy Lindo, HEIST), a migrant worker who has been picking fruit with his daughter Rose Rose (Erykah Badu, BLUES BROTHERS 2000) for years. As Homer breathes in the joys of his new freedom, he learns that life is full of tough moral decisions, especially when he falls for Candy after Wally goes off to serve in WWII.
Someone called me when I had friends over for dinner. It was someone who speaks English. I needed time to switch my brain in the English mode, but I understood: “…academy… motion picture…. Congratulations!!!” So I answered, “Yes ?! Thank you!” But I didn’t really understand what it was all about.
I was approached by a conductor, Mark Stephenson (who went on to be our Music Director on the film, and conducted the world premiere at the Royal Albert Hall) who had heard about the awards that I had picked up at film school, and he asked me if I had ever thought about doing films with live music.
The studio was crammed with interesting bits of artistry that clearly pulled in influences from a broad base of culture — art, theatre and film. Amidst the puppets, props, collage assemblages, posters and paraphernalia, I remember one sign that they had up on the wall, that said something like, “an impossible task, a tight budget and a crazy deadline are the mothers of invention”. No doubt, a little spirit catcher for stray producers.
The Jan. 9th This Weekend's Film Festival was dedicated to "The Five Best Westerns of the 21st Century (That I've Seen)" where I mentioned that I hadn't yet seen THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD. Now that I have seen the film, I would have placed it at #2 of that list. So for this week I felt it was a good idea to look at the portrayal of assassins on film. The opening film looks at the results of an assassin's actions while the following four films deal with the inner turmoil of assassins.
One of the most tragic assassinations in U.S. history was the murder of President John F. Kennedy. Oliver Stone's JFK looks into the assassination with a skeptical eye. Whether one buys all the points the film makes is not what makes the film so great. As I said in my original review, "this passionate pursuit of the truth reminds us that dissent can be a patriotic act." Costner's determined performance as DA Jim Garrison questions the government's explanation of the murder. Stone does a good job creating doubt in going along with the party line completely. For our look at assassins, we have Gary Oldman's Lee Harvey Oswald. Was one of history's most infamous assassins really just a disgruntled ex-soldier or a patsy as the film argues? The film questions our government's actions, but it also underlines our inability to believe that one solo mad man could change the course of history so profoundly. Does it make us feel better that it took a mass conspiracy to murder one of our great leaders? When watching this thought-provoking film this time around, focus on how an assassin's bullet can make people question not only their leaders, but also the meaning of it all as well.
John Frankenheimer's political thriller is as gripping as it is intelligent. Dripping with irony, the film skewers the Red Scare while never undermining the perceived or realistic threats of Communism at the time. Eerily preceding the assassination of JFK, the film was held from audiences for years. Now the classic stands a one of the best of all time.
Raymond Shaw [Laurence Harvey, BUTTERFIELD 8] is the stepson of a U.S. Senator named Sen. Johnny Iselin (James Gregory, CLAMBAKE), who has made a name for himself by claiming there are Communists among the American government. Raymond's mother (Angela Lansbury, TV's MURDER, SHE WROTE) is a domineering woman who uses both her husband and her son to make political moves. Shaw hates her for it, especially when she gets in the way of his romance with Jocelyn Jordan (Leslie Parrish), the daughter of the liberal senator Thomas Jordan (John McGiver, TV's THE TWILIGHT ZONE). Turns out, Shaw and his troops where taken prisoner in Korea and brainwashed to be assassins. Maj. Bennett Marco (Frank Sinatra, FROM HERE TO ETERNITY) keeps having nightmares, which lead him to contact his fellow soldiers and uncover what happened to them during the war. Along the way, he gains help from the beautiful blonde Eugenie Rose Chaney (Janet Leigh, PSYCHO).
After a year of experience behind me, I feel this year’s travelogue will be even more comprehensive and complete than last year’s edition. I hope you enjoy the glimpse behind-the-scenes of what the Oscar nominees’ lead up to the big night is really like.
We received notification that OUR WORLD was one of FOUR finalists in the animated short category at the Beaufort Film Festival- a part of a four day event called THE BEAUFORT KALEIDOSCOPE in beautiful town Beaufort, South Carolina - less than an hour from Savannah.
Beaufort has a rich film history as a location with THE BIG CHILL, THE GREAT SANTINI, FOREST GUMP, PRINCE OF TIDES and THE GENERAL'S DAUGHTER being shot in that area. In the BIG CHILL, when Kevin Kline and friends take their morning jog - it is through downtown Beaufort, SC.
Here's a look at one of their posters....
A recent OUR WORLD card...just found out last week the producer and good friend Alexandra Ohlsen is engaged to be married.
