Dominic von Riedemann's Blog
Posted by Dominic von Riedemann
Can Disney/Pixar's next film, Up, top the stellar one-two punch that is Ratatouille and WALL-E? It's too early to say just yet, but if a 30-second clip is any indication, this film should be a good time at the theatre next Spring.
Up 30-Second Clip
The good folks at JoBlo.com recently scored a 30-second clip from the Pete Docter/Bob Peterson flick. It's based on a sequence – seen in heavily-edited form – in the full trailer that Pixar recently released into Cyberland a little over a month ago.
This clip depicts the initial conversation between Carl Fredericksen (Ed Asner) and 8-year-old Russell (Jordan Nagai) after Fredericksen finds the young Wilderness Ranger clinging to the front porch of his house.
It probably should be mentioned that the aforementioned house is currently 35,000 feet above the Earth.
Naturally, the animation is top-rate, and the conversation between grumpy old Carl and naïve, slightly dim Russell is priceless: gotta love Asner's snapped out "No!" when Russell begs him, "Can I come in, please?" High comedy indeed.
It's hard to say how good Up is from one tiny clip, but the Emeryville studio seems constitutionally incapable of making a bad film (2006's Cars was probably the weakest of the bunch, and even that was pretty good). Docter and Peterson, while not Disney/Pixar's finest directors, have contributed some pretty solid films to the studio's back catalogue, including 1998's A Bug's Life and 2001's Monsters Inc.
So the signs are looking good that this film will be something to look forward to in the coming year.
Up flies into theatres on May 29, 2009.
Posted by Dominic von Riedemann
(Writer's Note: Once again, I'm using this space for a news story that doesn't have enough information to warrant a full article)
Nina Paley's independent animated film Sita Sings the Blues has won the "Best Film Not Playing at a Theatre Near You" prize at the 18th Annual Gotham Independent Film Festival. The prize carries with it a $15,000 cheque.
The Daily Show correspondent Aasif Mandvi hosted the event at Cipriani Wall Street.
This is one of several prizes Sita Sings the Blues has won at various film festivals, including the Grand Prix at the 2008 Annecy International Animated Film Festival, Special Mention at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival, and an Honourable Mention at the OIAF as well.
Writer/director Paley animated nearly all of the film on her laptop, over a 5 year period.
Sita Sings the Blues Won't Be Coming to a Theatre Near You
Despite the film's multiple awards, Paley has been unable to find a distributor for Sita Sings the Blues due to several copyright issues. The animator used several 1920's era recordings by jazz vocalist Annette Hanshaw in the film. Despite the fact that Hanshaw's recordings have since entered the public domain, the publishing rights for the songs themselves are still under copyright.
According to Paley, these publishing companies are demanding she pay them somewhere between $15,000 and $26,000 per song so that she can use the tunes in her film.
You can read more about this by clicking on Suite 101's exclusive interview with Paley, or on her blog.
Posted by Dominic von Riedemann
Writer's Note: Once again, I'm using this space for a news story that doesn't contain enough information to warrant a full article)
Ari Folman's animated documentary Waltz With Bashir has won two international film awards.
On Sunday, the film defeated Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud's 2007 animated film Persepolis, plus the live action flicks The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Gomorrah and I've Loved You So Long to win the Best Foreign Film prize at the 11th Annual British Independent Film Awards.
That same day, Waltz With Bashir also won the Grand Prize at the 9th Annual Tokyo Filmex Festival. The judges at the Japanese fest honoured the film for “inventing a new cinematographic language.”
Waltz With Bashir Up for 2 Academy Awards?
Sony Pictures Classics is the domestic distributor for both Persepolis and Waltz With Bashir.
Israel has also selected the film – which features the art design of David Polonsky – to compete for Best Foreign Film honours at next year's Oscars. Waltz With Bashir is also a dark horse candidate for the Best Animated Feature Film category, taking on such Hollywood animated fare as Disney Animation's Bolt, DreamWorks Animation's Kung Fu Panda and Disney/Pixar's WALL-E.
Waltz With Bashir is receiving a limited release in Los Angeles on December 25th, and in New York on December 26th. Sony Pictures Classics is releasing it on those dates, so the film will be eligible for Academy consideration.
Posted by Dominic von Riedemann
I've recently been in touch with Walt Disney's marketing team, discussing coverage for their upcoming CG animated film Bolt. It's directed by Chris Williams and Byron Howard, and stars John Travolta (Pulp Fiction) and Miley Cyrus (Hannah Montana).
As part of the promo for the upcoming flick, we'll be offering a couple of animation tidbits that will only appear on Suite 101.
- There will be an exclusive interview with Mark Empey, the CG supervisor for the flick. Mark's been with the Mouse House since the mid-1990's, and has worked on such animated flicks as 1997's Hercules, 2000's Dinosaur, and 2007's Meet the Robinsons.
- I will also interview voice actors Susie Essman (better known as Susie Greene from Curb Your Enthusiasm) and Mark Walton (Loosey Goosey from Chicken Little). Essman voices the world-weary cat Mittens, and Walton is the fanboy hamster Rhino. Walton also works as a storyboard artist with the Mouse House.
By the way, my review of the movie will not appear in this space until its release date (November 21st): Disney requests that writers don't publish reviews of their films until the day it opens in theatres.
I hope you enjoy.
Cheers,
Dominic
Posted by Dominic von Riedemann
You know a flick's in trouble when the spoof looks more interesting than the original film. Such is the case with Jennifer Shiman's bunnified spoof of My Dinner With André.
Granted, the original live-action movie appears on many movie critics' best-of list (including Roger Ebert's) but there's not a lot you can spoof with 2 guys (Wallace Shawn and André Gregory, apparently playing themselves) sitting around a dinner table discussing life, the universe and everything. However, by stringing some total non-sequitors together, Shiman's managed to pull blood from a stone, and generate some laughs. Inconceivable!
Speaking of inconceivable, click on a couple of bunny icons in order to discover Shiman's tribute to Shawn's classic role as Vizzini in The Princess Bride.
You can find Shiman's bunnification of My Dinner With André by clicking the link.
Fun Fact: As a Hallowe'en bonus, here's the link for 30 Second Bunnies Theatre's version of Freddie Versus Jason. Enjoy some animated decapitations, and have a happy Hallowe'en!
