3D today

Recently, RealD 3D has been really revolutionizing the 3D process. I remember being highly skeptical of it, based on my previous 3D experiences. Anaglyph systems took the color out, leaving the image just red and green. Fortunately, RealD or Polarization systems leave the film much like a traditional 2D film. We have color, clarity, and above all, filmmakers have really embraced this format. Avatar and Alice in Wonderland have been gigantic successes, not only in terms of box office receipts but in fan acceptance.

Face it: 3D is here to stay and it’s here in our homes. Samsung and Panasonic has just released new 3D TV’s, a LED and a Plasma for consumer purchase. As skeptical as some still are on 3D in cinema, people are really apprehensive about 3D at home. Having tested out the Samsung 55″ LED 3D TV recently, I’m here to offer my opinions from a consumer standpoint.

Pros

Right off the bat, the Samsung model number UN55C7000WF is a superb set. You got your basics: 240 HZ, 1080p, ultra-slim design, and whether it’s a Blu-ray movie or HDTV, you’re treated to gorgeous colors and amazing HD. Well, duh, right? Samsung has quickly become the leader in HDTV’s and this is no different. But the added capabilities on 3D is this set’s calling card. Currently, the only 3D Blu-ray to test out is Monsters vs. Aliens. Seeing the film at the theaters in RealD 3D, I had a great resource to compare the home video version too, and in all honesty, it looks exactly like it did theatrically. The DreamWorks film is a superb launch title on 3D home video. I noticed nary an issue in the 3D. Dimensionality and objects looks superb in 3D. I think maybe it would have looked better if the store I was at dimmed the lights more, because darker is an ally to 3D, but the set accurately recreates the theatrical polarization system of 3D.

While you must buy a new Blu-ray player, as I tested it out on the new Samsung 3D Blu-ray player and have a HDMI cable with 1.4 abilities, I’m eager to see more. The TV itself has the ability to offer three modes of 3D. Currently planned are the World Cup televised on PPV in 3D and some cable/satellite companies are planning a slew of 3D only channels, so having a few different modes will help out. ESPN will broadcast 3D differently than say HBO. Also, the TV can take films that are not in 3D originally, and convert them to 3D. How does this work? Well, the set takes the image and adds background dimensionality to it. I tested out Pirates of the Caribbean and everything from the opening titles to when Jack Sparrow’s first appearance on the port offered some wow factor. I was pretty impressed with this gimmick. I think it’ll add some new flavor to old favorites.

All in all, first impressions of mine were high.

Cons

Looking at the market, the economy is still slow, but getting better, and new technology is always pricey. Granted this 3D is essentially a bonus to a great set, $3,000 is pretty steep now, especially if there’s currently only one title released and if you recently just bought a new set. Samsung is offering a free starter kit when you purchase the TV, that includes Monsters vs. Aliens 3D and two pairs of glasses. But remember, you need the new 3D Blu-ray player, so that’s another $400.

Blu-ray stumbled slightly out of the gate when it was launched, with high disc and player prices, making the average Joe a bit nervous to adopt. Not only that, but the economy crashed. 3D TV doesn’t have the competition like Blu-ray did against HD-DVD, but the economy and lack of titles hurt this launch. The glasses by themselves are pricey as well. Yes, they are just like the ones you get at the theater, but these are powered helping out to take full advantage of the 3D, so you can’t use the million you have sitting around. Not only that, but they are a tad fragile as the store I was at said they had three but two quickly broke (out of consumer negligence mostly).

No Avatar (It’s a Panasonic exclusive until 2012). That’s what everyone is saying. Currently Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, along with the fore-mentioned Monsters vs. Aliens are possibly the only three titles we got in 2010. James Cameron at the Avatar official announcement party said this: “There just aren’t that many players and screens yet. We have more of a long-term strategy, in that area. But, I think it would be a shame to hold back the Blu-ray when people want it now, and I love it. I think it’s a great format.” He’s right. Currently, there’s about 25 titles released for 3D Blu-ray. We have two reviewed on the site.

The once lack of titles, the fragile glasses, and price are the early cons of what is essentially a superb idea and TV set. There wasn’t a chance for me to explore films like Freddy’s Dead that use the old Anaglyph 3D on its DVD or Coraline that uses an updated Anaglyph 3D on its Blu-ray, so I have no opinion on the use for films like those on this set.

To Home 3D or Not to Home 3D?

Again, Cameron said it best: “If you’re going to go 3D, go big. Get the biggest set you can, and then sit as close as you can stand. That’s my advice. Get the coffee table out of the way and slide the couch over, right in front of the TV.” I think if one understands 3D, which many don’t, the future is bright for this technology at home. People still think 3D must pop out at you to wow you, and with films like Up and Avatar, 3D has shown filmmakers and audiences that opening up an environment can be just as impressive as a pick-axe being thrown at you like in My Bloody Valentine. Also, some people can get 3D to work for them due to personal issues with their eyes. I read where having near perfect eyes, like 20/20, really benefit those over people who don’t in enjoying 3D.

But in all honestly, for the average Joe, 3D is here and while it’s a bit pricey out of the gate at launch, consider making your next TV purchase a 3D capable one. I know the Panasonic Plasma is getting some positive chatter, but the Samsung LED is just jaw-dropping gorgeous. Still, I say wait. Since players are new and $400 and the lack of live-action titles (although rumors of Avatar 3D Blu next year are swirling), waiting isn’t a bad option. Plus, once studios find a happy medium to releasing 3D and once sports and television programs jump on-board, 3D is here and it is no longer a gimmick.

In case the constant slew of 3D theatrical titles aren’t convincing you yet, let Killer Film say this: 2011 is the defining year for 3D and this new Samsung model is a prime example of why. Still not convinced? Read Consumer Reports thoughts here and if you have experienced 3D TV, tell us what you thought below!

The Film:

It’s amazing how certain stories, or in this case, certain fairy tales never get old. The first recorded publication of the fairy tale – Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bête) – was in 1740 by a Parisian author, Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, who instilled many common traditions of the story, with a savage beast character, who was literally just that, instead of a metaphorical use. But it was about 15 years later, when the real archetype of the story was famously retold, a version by author with an equally long name and French background, Jeanne Marie Le Prince de Beaumont.

But in the world of film, there’s no better telling of the story than the Gary Trousdale/Kirk Wise-directed animated Disney film and the first animated film to recieve an Oscar nomination for Best Picture in 1991 (the second was also a Disney film, in Pixar’s Up). Sorry, Jean Cocteau.

The film came at the zenith of the new Golden Age of Disney animated films, and probably the last great age in cell animation. After a sluggish 1980s, Disney resurrected their animation department with The Little Mermaid in 1989, only to be followed by one stellar picture after another (Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas, and of course, the subject of this review) and while each are equally as enduring, there’s a quality in Beauty and the Beast that makes it easy to see what the Academy of Motion Pictures thought when they awarded the film a Best Picture nomination. It’s one of the few animated films that transends the medium into a rare stratosphere that even few live-action films achieve, making it a sure handed masterpiece.

While the theme is easy to see: Belle must see beyond physical appearance to find her true love and the Beast must learn from his selfish ways in order to find love too, but the film plays out much like a Universal Pictures horror film of the 1930s, mixed with rousing set pieces, and elements reminiscent of RKO’s King Kong. The Beast is scary, loud, abrasive. Belle is intelligent, ageless in her design, loving. The villagers are ignorant, grabbing pitch forks and torches. It’s an incredible animated action-epic, mixed with a timeless love story. It’s perfection. Yet despite all of these elements, themes, set pieces, the single scene that scored the film its Oscar nomination for Best Picture (it lost to Silence of the Lambs) is the dance scene towards the end of the second act, with Belle finally accepting the Beast. The sweeping camera leads us into the stunning, grand ball room is a sight rarely seen in animation; a combination of the best cell animation, music, and early CG for one great sequence.

There’s nothing ill to say about the film. As The Joker said in Batman (1989): “As though we were made for each other… Beauty and the Beast. Of course, if anyone else calls you beast, I’ll rip out their lungs.” I don’t think many would argue that Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is the finest adaptation of the classic story and one of their best they have ever produced. And that’s saying something.

The Blu-ray:

Audio/Video: Like the film, Disney’s first ever HD version of Beauty and the Beast is perfection. The video is detailed, bold, colorful, three-dimensional to a wowing factor for a nearly 20 year old film. The DTS track is just as bold and powerful, with swelling music in all channels, constant activity, deep bass, and clear dialogue. It’s a whole new way to see this film.

Disney has given this release three discs: Disc 1 has the Blu-ray presentation with minimal extras; Disc 2 is the DVD copy of the film; and Disc 3 is all of the extras.

Special Extended and Original Theatrical Editions: The difference is six minutes, which include a once deleted song “Human Again”, with a nice moment of Belle reading Beast Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet. The sequence is nice, but it slightly throws off the pacing of the film, since it comes a few minutes before the Ball Room sequence. Still, it’s great to have the option on which version to choose.

Storyreel Picture-in-Picture Experience: A third version of the film is presented much like a split-screen feature of the final version of the film next to the work print, giving fans of animation a unique look at the process this classic went through.

Commentary: The two co-directors and producer Don Hahn speed through the Special Edition of the film, chatting about its origin, its production, themes, characters, and everything else under the sun for the film in a great track.

Beyond Beauty: Here’s the definitive making-of Disney has ever created for a film. Running 157-minutes in HD, this is an extensive and all-inspiring historical look at not only making the film, but also a look at Disney animation from the late 1980s to their zenith in the early to mid-90s. Also, a pop-up icon occasionally comes up, allowing for further interactivity for this. Just wow.

Composing a Classic: Arguably the best, unsaid component of the film is the music and it gets a nice 30-minute appreciation in HD for composer Alan Menken and his work on the film.

Deleted Scenes: In HD, we’re treated to an new opening sequence, an extended scene in the library of Beast’s, and more with interviews and reasons of why they were never finished.

Classic DVD Bonus Features from the prior DVD editions are nicely included for purists and collector’s sake. Making-of’s, music videos, games, trailers are all included. Also, we get a Sing-Along Track on the Special Edition of the film for fans of the music to sing along too; a slew of Trailers; some fun, interactive games Disney is known for on their releases; Broadway Beginnings which is a quick look at the stage version of the film; another Music Video from Jordan Sparks, and BD-Live stuff that finishes out this amazing set.

Conclusion: A must own Blu-ray for fans, collectors, and families.

The Film: Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

The Blu-ray: Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

The Film:

Toy Story is such a groundbreaking film, it’s really hard to assess the reasons why, even 15 years since its theatrical release. In 1995, Walt Disney’s animated films were at a new age pinnacle, the so-called “Disney Renaissance” . Just a few years prior, Beauty and the Beast was the first and only animated film nominated for Best Picture (until 2009′s Up). Aladdin and Lion King followed and were classics in their own right, then this thing called a Pixar film was released using new technology, and that’s when animation changed forever.

But why? I would hope that animators today would decide upon the animation style based on what is needed for the story, but due to 1995′s debut from this up-start studio called Pixar, proudly owned by Disney, animation studios saw that this new style of computer animation along with the film’s box office success, looked like a recipe to copy. They did, and here we all are today. That’s the game-changer aspect. Toy Story changed animation, for better or for worse. But the real reason Toy Story worked then and holds up today, is how Pixar handled the Disney formula.

The story is layered and timeless. The premise of what do toys do when we aren’t around, mixed with the brilliant use of how kids handle new toys over old ones, are just timeless. Handled with nuances and subtlety, the story is a rare blend perfection that adults along with the kids can enjoy, yet the morals and themes are elements adults can appreciate in letting their kids be around. The film is funny, but unlike other studios, doesn’t hinge its idea on the jokes themselves. This has been Walt’s idea from Snow White on, and something that is strictly Disney, and here is this Pixar studio doing just that.  From this release on, based on the story is what made traditional cell animated films seem stuffy, yet many have failed to realize that it wasn’t the animation, but the beautiful story in Toy Story. But success can be seen on a surface level, and from that point on, traditionally animated features fared less than stellar compared to future Pixar and computer animated films.

It’s curious to note, in hindsight, how revolutionary Toy Story was in 1995, yet how far in the intervening years, that technology has changed. Something like Sleeping Beauty in pure animation sense, is timeless, but revisiting Toy Story after the continued stellar work in growing in the medium of computer animation, how primitive the film looks. Take note not on how the toys are, but how the humans and the dog are. This should not hurt the film, with its superb story like I’ve mentioned a paragraph ago, but could the primitive early use of computer animation hurt Toy Story for future generations? We have never really cited any of the previous cell animated films from Disney as films of a by-gone era, in terms of animation. They’re just timeless and classic in story and animation terms, yet with Toy Story, I can fully see the current advances in computer animation, hurting it for future fans. The debate of cell animation versus computer animation seems like a dead issue, yet this could be the match that start the fire again.

It’s a little footnote, but in 15 years Toy Story just isn’t just a great film, it’s a game-changing masterpiece, a name recognized product, that is more than a sum of its origins. If anything, it’s a modern Disney classic; a stunning computer animated film that was the first, yet the one we compare all since too.

The Blu-ray:

Audio/Video: Disney has been the most consistent studio in releasing superb high-def discs, and they also have been releasing their Pixar films at a regular pace. This is just another stellar Blu-ray from them. The video is just great. The colors are still bold and bright, definition is crystal clear, and while computer animation has grown since 1995, this is just as good as it looked in 1995 (if not better). Fans will be jumping with joy. The audio is a DTS track; loud, powerful, clear, all great. The surround activity is nicely done, creating a fully realized audio environment. The only issue I noticed was the film is too bass heavy. It’s a borderline distraction. It will all depend on the sub-woofer you have in your own home theater, but I found the bass to be obnoxious in the low end.

Disney has nicely separated the new extras from the old on the menu screen.The two previous DVD edition have been cherry-picked through their extras in being ported over to this high-def release. Fans be advised.

(New extras; all in HD)

Toy Story 3 Sneak Peek-”The Story”: Runs two minutes and clues us into, without spoiling, the story to the new film. It really is just EPK, but we don’t mind, do we?

Paths to Pixar: Artists: A short and sweet interview piece with some Pixar animators as they chat about the medium and how they got involved. Pretty nice, if you’re an animation fan.

Buzz Lightyear Mission Logs: Blast Off: This works as an all-new short, that is essentially like a PSA with Buzz, Hamm, and Rex introducing kids to NASA. Neat.

Studio Stories: This is an all-new animated short that retells stories the Pixar team has had in their decade long work. Funny, cute, yet not really Toy Story related.

Black Friday: This excellent little piece tells of a possible Toy Story idea that was scrapped in favor of the film we’re all familiar with. Really neat piece.

Buzz Takes Manhattan: Lasseter talks about Buzz’s Macy’s Day Balloon for a bit.

Those are the new extras, and then the disc is filled with most of the two previous DVD’s extras, including the great Commentary, Deleted Scenes, and plenty of Making-of material. These are all great, but I wanted to focus my review on the new, since I assume you’ve owned the previous versions already.

This Special Edition also includes the DVD copy with the new extras in SD on Disc 2, making this a nice combo package for families and fans.

Conclusion: What else can we say? Toy Story is great, a timeless film. Disney has done another great job on the film’s first high-def release. A must own.

The Film: Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The Blu-ray: Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The Film:

When Disney announced that they were returning to cell animation, it felt like they were going to make a quaint homage to their classics of yesteryear. For the past decade, cell animation has been regulated to TV shows, and for the theatrical films, computer animation has been the medium of choice. To think, a whole generation of kids growing up on computer animated films. I imagine they would initially think that what we call traditional animation, 2-D cell animation, is some old relic that Disney dusted off for a second. That’s a shame, because it’s not that styles die, it’s that film makers forget how to use them properly. Leave it to Disney to show why they are the once and future kings of cell animation. The Princess and the Frog is not just a return to glory days for the studio, but a superb, borderline masterpiece.

It always comes down to storytelling. No matter the style or medium, if your story isn’t that interesting, then your film isn’t going to succeed. I think that’s what happened to Disney in the late 1990s, after delivering classic after classic with The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Lion King, their films lost a little heart, and were just average stories without much hoopla to them. Don’t get me wrong, I think Brother Bear is a bit under appreciated, yet something like Atlantis felt too un-Disney for a lot of us. Then came Pixar. The whole game changed, because those last few cell animated films flopped, and Pixar’s use of computer animated films delivered at the box office, signaling an unfair death toll for cell animation. But it came down to stories. Pixar understood the formula of great storytelling, and those latter films did not.

The Princess and the Frog is a warm-hearted, play on the Disney Princess story archetype, as well as the classic story of a prince who became a frog. Tiana is a unique female character in the Disney universe, and I’m not saying that because of her race, the much talked about first Disney Princess that is African-American. I think it’s unfair to really comment on that. For one, anything mentioned about her race, or the fact that it has taken this long for Disney to have a character like her, is shortsightedness, and maybe a little bit ignorant. I don’t doubt a post-Obama world helped, but in the end, the simple mention of this feels outdated and besides the point. She is a smart, independent woman, who believes in hard work and the power of the self. While more progressive, than she should be, a woman in the ’20s, it’s a powerful statement, and a source of inspiration.

The constant play on the traditional Walt Disney formula for the so-called Princess films here in The Princess and the Frog makes the film feel smart and alive. The New Orleans, Depression Era setting has some flavor to formula, as well as housing some great secondary characters, a Disney trademark. But aspect of these films, seemingly now forgotten in our animated world of today, is the songs. Songs return, and they are electric, catchy, and wholesome. When I first visited New Orleans, the warmth of the people and their great food, felt like going to Grandma’s house for welcomed visit. The Princess and the Frog is a return to form, not in style or medium, but in terms of great Disney film making.

The Blu-ray:

Audio/Video: Is there anyone better than Disney (Criterion aside) about releasing films on Blu? This transfer is perhaps more vibrant and gorgeous on high-def than when I saw it theatrically. Each color pops and is vivid. The film is naturally a colorful film, but the transfer really showcases this aspect. Color is the showcase of the transfer and the mastering was really up to the task. The black levels are thick as ink, a plus, and this is, all things considered, a flawless presentation. The audio is as alive as it is on Bourbon Street, with a blitz of sound effects and music coming in from all channels, bass is rich, and despite all of the noise, it never hampers the dialogue or overall track. Well done, again, by the Mouse House.

Commentary: The co-directors and producer are featured on this great, focused, informative track. They never tire on chatting about the film, but it’s never aimless chit-chat. Thoroughly involved and engaging, making it a mandatory listen.

Work in Progress Track: Here’s an extra just for animation fans and students. It’s basically a picture-in-picture track, showing the finished film along side storyboards, rough animated sequences, all here to give you the developmental process of the film.

Magic in the Bayou: In HD, this is a pretty candid little behind-the-scenes piece, giving us insight into the film’s production (without repeating too much from the commentary) and about Disney’s return to cell animation.

Bringing Animation to Life: This 8-minute HD piece shows us how he animators used real actors to help out in two difficult scenes.

Deleted Scenes that are in rough animated shape with a discussion on why they were deleted, EPK pieces The Return to Hand Drawn Animation and The Disney Legacy are okay at best, A Return to the Animated Musical and Disney’s Newest Princess are average looks at each, Princess and the Animator and Conjuring the Villain briefly look at the art side of the characters, with Galleries, Trailers, Music Video, and an interactive game rounding out the slew of extras.

Look for a second disc that is a DVD and a third that is the Digital Copy of the film in Disney’s neat packaging idea.

Conclusion: A near masterpiece, a vailant return to cell animation, and perhaps a film better that their Best Picture nominee in Up, all on a superb Blu-ray. Own it.

The Film: Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

The Blu-ray: Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

One of the more surprising outcomes of the night goes to James Cameron’s Avatar which got less than what was predicted by a many of us, and surprisingly getting the Academy Award for Best Cinematography. Up definitely got it’s recognition, despite losing the Best Picture category, and Crazy Heart got an Oscar more of love than previously anticipated by some.

Enough of the jibber-jabber, here’s the list of all of the winners for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards below. Air out your thoughts and let us know what you think of the winners, whether or not you agree with each one as well.:

Best Picture

• The Hurt Locker (Summit Entertainment) – Producers Mark Boal, Katheryn Bigelow, Nicolas Chartier & Greg Sharpio

Best Director

• Katheryn Bigelow – The Hurt Locker (Summit Entertainment)

Best Actor

• Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart (Fox Searchlight)

Best Actress

• Sandra Bullock – The Blind Side (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Best Supporting Actor

• Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds (The Weinstein Company/Universal Pictures)

Best Supporting Actress

• Mo’Nique – Precious: Based on the novel Push by Sapphire (Lionsgate)

Best Original Screenplay

• Mark Boal - The Hurt Locker (Summit Entertainment)

Best Adapted Screenplay

• Geoffrey Fletcher – Precious: Based on the novel Push by Sapphire (Lionsgate)

Best Foreign Language Film

• El secreto de sus ojos (Argentina)

Best Cinematography

• Mauro Fiore – Avatar (Twentieth Century Fox)

Best Animated Feature

• Up - Directed by Pete Docter & Bob Peterson (Walt Disney Pictures/Pixar Animation Studios)

Best Original Score

• Michael Giacchino – Up (Walt Disney Pictures/Pixar Animation Studios)

Best Original Song

• “The Weary Kind” – T Bone Burnett & Ryan Bingham – Crazy Heart (Fox Searchlight)

Best Art Direction

• Avatar (Twentieth Century Fox)

Best Costume Design

• Sandy Powell – The Young Victoria (Apparition)

Best Makeup

• Star Trek (Paramount Pictures)

Best Sound Editing

• The Hurt Locker (Summit Entertainment)

Best Sound Mixing

• The Hurt Locker (Summit Entertainment)

Best Editing

• The Hurt Locker (Summit Entertainment)

Best Visual Effects

• Avatar (Twentieth Century Fox)

French Roast:

(Directed by Fabrice Joubert, France) This 8 minute short is semi-cute, but the payoff is underscored. The film follows an uptight business man as he discovers he forgot his wallet. To stall time, he keeps ordering more cups of coffee, hoping to figure out how to pay. While it is paced excellently, it just never gels and the jokes seem flat and conventional. Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

The Lady and the Reaper (La dama y la muerte):

(Directed by Javier Recio Gracia, Spain) This short reminds me a lot like a long-lost Animaniacs segment. An elderly woman longs to be with her dead husband, finally dies, only to be caught in a tug-and-pull between the Grim Reaper and a hot-shot doctor. It’s a breeze, highly entertaining, and offers up a darkly comedic ending. Look for a great end credit joke, as well. Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Wallace and Gromit in A Matter of Loaf and Death:

(Directed by Nick Park, England) – Having reviewed the film here and as well as another review here, I won’t go into it too much. The 30 minute film is a blast, as Wallace and Gromit fans will be instantly pleased. Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Granny O’ Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty:

(Directed by Nicky Phelan, Ireland) – Here’s another short that feels undercooked. I longed for the joke to go on, as in 6 minutes we see a Grandma offering up an odd retelling of the Sleeping Beauty legend to her young granddaughter. It wants to be quirky and hilarious, but it falls flat. The CG and the 2-D animation looked great, though. Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Logorama:

(Directed by Francios Alaux, Herve de Crecy, and Ludovic Houplain, France) – Here’s the program’s best short. It’s an adult-themed satire full of profanity, blood, and violence, but don’t let that dissuade you for seeing it. The 16 minute short tells of a world where corporate logos have come to life, as everything is part of the corporate machine. Esso Girl and Big Boy are caught in a Heat-styled gun fight between Ronald McDonald and the Michelin Tires. It’s brilliant, dark, and very funny. You might also want to re-watch it since there’s a lot of cameos. The satirical elements might go over some people’s heads, but Logorama is one of the more original animated shorts in years. Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Also shown were three “Highly Commended” shorts:

Partly Cloudy:

(Directed by Peter Sohn, USA) – If you went to see Up or bought the Blu-ray/DVD, then you’ve seen this. It’s a very cute short with your typical Pixar humor and warmth. Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Runaway:

(Canada) – Using some old school animation, this if one quirky short. A runaway train is out of coal and needs to get up the hill. It’s decent, mildly funny. Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

The Kinematograph:

(Directed by Tomek Baginski, Poland) – Why wasn’t this nominated for an Oscar? This heart-breaking short tells of a old man on the verge of discovering color film, only to have his wife offer up the solution. She dies, crippling the man’s life, as his invention is never known, allowing the Lumiere Brothers to make their moving pictures. It’s really, really good. Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Conclusion: This year featured a slew of CG animated films, some looked spectacular, others bland. I was hoping for more diversity, yet what was seen offered up some interesting talent. Not as good as other years, but still is recommended.

Overall: Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

The ceremony honored those who produced some of the best films of this past year, a vital part of the filmmaking process to bring the idea off of paper and help bring it to the big screen. Here’s the winners below from the folks at  Indie Wire.:

Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award in Theatrical Motion Picture

• The Hurt Locker
• Producer(s): Awaiting final credit determination.

PGA Producer of the Year Award in Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures

• Up
• Producer: Jonas Rivera

PGA Producer of the Year Award in Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures

• The Cove
• Producers: Paula DuPre Pesman, Fisher Stevens

David L. Wolper Producer of the Year Award in Long-Form Television

• Grey Gardens
• Producers: David Coatsworth, Lucy Donnelly, Rachael Horovitz, Michael Sucsy

PGA Producer of the Year Award in Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures:

PGA Producer of the Year Award in Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures:

• Burma VJ -
Producer: Lise Lense-Moller
• The Cove -
Producers: Paula DuPre Pesman, Fisher Stevens
• Sergio -
Producer(s): Awaiting final credit determination.
• Soundtrack for a Revolution -
Producer(s): Awaiting final credit determination

David L. Wolper Producer of the Year Award in Long-Form Television:

• Georgia O’Keeffe - Producer(s): Awaiting final credit determination.
• Grey Gardens - Producers: David Coatsworth, Lucy Donnelly, Rachael Horovitz, Michael Sucsy
• Little Dorrit - Producers: Lisa Osborne, Anne Pivcevic
• Prayers for Bobby - Producers: Stanley M. Brooks, Damian Ganczewski, David Permut, Daniel Sladek, Chris Taaffe
• The Prisoner - Producer(s): Awaiting final credit determination.
• Taking Chance - Producers: Lori Keith Douglas, Ross Katz, Brad Krevoy, Cathy Wischner-Sola

Best Direct-to-DVD Horror Film: Laid to Rest (read the original review here)

Best Wide Release Horror Film: (TIE) Zombieland (read the original review here); The Collector (read the original review here).

Best Documentary: The Cove (read the original review here)

Best Limited Release Film: Medicine for Melancholy (read the original review here)

Honorable Mention Films: Che (here), The Girlfriend Experience (here), Coraline (here), Food, Inc. (here), and Observe and Report (here).

And now (insert drum roll) my Best Films of 2009, all in alphabetical order:

(500) Days of Summer

You know ladies, guys can be crushed from break-ups as well, as this film does so wonderfully well to depict. A great soundtrack, a clever premise and construction of the falling in and then out of love, with two solid leads, makes for one superb film.

Antichrist

Brutal, sickening, demented, and sorely misunderstood. There are images here so talked about, that will never leave your memory, but Von Trier gives us more than some gore scenes. The story of a couple’s descent into depression is harrowing, yet beautifully photographed. One of the prettiest films of the year, as well as, a borderline masterpiece. A modern Salo: Or, the 120 Days of Sodom. (read the original review here)

Avatar

I was one of this film’s biggest skeptics, until I saw it in the glorious IMAX 3-D. Say what you will about it’s simple story arc, it’s the event of the film, with the scope of Cameron’s vision, that makes the culture of aliens so appealing. This is what the Star Wars prequels should have been: a spectacle of effects, story, and event. (read the original review here)

Goodbye Solo

An intimate film about a friendship and tragedy and hope. Some superb acting, with Ramin Bahrani’s distinct direction. A small film in terms of budget, but a great film that I hope finds some Oscar love. (read the original review here)

Hunger

Riveting and heart-wrenching, a film I’m sure many of you haven’t caught theatrically. Please get the Criterion DVD soon, because you’ll be treat to some astounding filmmaking of the Irish Hunger Strike. There’s a 25 minute scene done in one take that is as powerful, as any 90 minute feature. (read the original review here)

The Hurt Locker

In a star making role, Jeremy Renner anchors this unique Iraq war film, that doesn’t parade heroism. Some people are just war junkies, and this film explores the why. (read the original review here)

Inglourious Basterds

Tarantino’s best script.  Granted the whole Mike Myers sequence could have been deleted, the first 45 minutes are so good, who cares? Funny, epic, a sprawling American fantasy of how WWII should have ended. (read my original review here)

The Messenger

A heart-breaking look at the team sent out to notify loved ones that their kin has died in war. Ben Foster is excellent, as is the under-appreciated Samantha Morton. (read the original review here)

The Princess and the Frog

Disney return to the Princess formula and cell animation is a stunning showcase of wonderful animation, great songs, and great storytelling. Pixar is not needed this time. (read the original review here)

Up in the Air

A keen look at both our economic woes and a man finding redemption, makes for a comedy that could nab the one Oscar, comedies don’t win: Best Picture.

What are you favorites from this year? Feel free to leave a comment!

Each critic will admit to something different, but after you un-belt your pants, due to all of the food you just ate, sit back and relax, and let’s give thanks to these five, for making 2009 pretty cool:

5- The Return of Horror – It seems to run in cycles, every few years horror becomes good again, after a drought, this year was a stellar year. Now, to each their own, but I was pleasantly pleased with the vast majority of horror this year, ranging from studio films, indie, direct-to-DVD, everything seemed to click. Vampires are all the rage again, thanks (or not) to Twilight, but somewhere lost in the talk of vampires, was the re-emergence of the slasher. Robert Hall’s Laid to Rest featured a mean, slick new killer in ChromeSkull, violent, ultra bloody deaths, and felt like a proper film a slasher should be. Dave Parker’s Hills Run Red felt that way too.

In the mainstream, Jason returned in a decent remake and so did Harry Warden in a 3-D My Bloody Valentine. Cheap thrills, but lots of fun. For me, the slasher that stands tall this year was The Collector. Inventive, sick, violent, and a super cool new killer in the Collector, this flick hurt me. Huh? I took a dear friend, and due to the film’s intensity and level of gore, she put a death grip on my arm, so much so, that she left little bruises where her fingers were. Thanks Marcus Dunstan!

Slashers aside, Drag Me to Hell rocked, Grace was neat, Haunted World of el Superbeasto was worth the wait, Orphan surprised, Trick ‘r Treat is a new classic, Saw VI was an impressive capper, Paranormal Activity was the scariest thing since Bush was elected to a second term, Zombieland was all sorts of awesome, and while there were a few clunkers, can we say thanks for Horror’s return in 2009?

4 – Steven Soderbergh - Three diverse genres, three awesome films. Sometimes, we are lucky enough to get one good film every3-4 years from a director, but Soderbergh gave us three great films, and all completely different from one another. In Che, he gave us an epic 5 and a half hour bio on the radical Che Guevara. It’s a long sweeping film, covering two key areas of his life. Del Toro IS Che, and owns the role in a completely gripping manner. The battle scenes are loud and spontaneous, but just as interesting as the psychology of Che. Should be a great Criterion disc, when they release it.

Soderbergh.

The Girlfriend Experience gets Soderbergh in his “let’s pick up an HD camera, and film something” mentality, and he films the gorgeous beyond words, Sasha Grey. Interesting, clever, experimental, the film lands itself a month prior to the election of Barack Obama, finding conversation on the crashing economy on the tips of everyone’s tongue, even that of a callgirl. Grey is really good in her first non-porn film, and his HD films are always worth a look.

Finally, Soderbergh’s The Informant! proves 2009 was the year of Soderbergh, as this film does an about face from the prior two, and is a dark humored look at shady pricing in the food industry. I’ll agree these three films aren’t masterpieces and are at times a bit flawed, but I’ll be damned if Soderbergh didn’t give me something to talk about after seeing these films, making me thankful a director like Soderbergh doesn’t flinch at taking chances, and never repeats himself.

3- X-Men: The Animated Series on DVD…finally! – Well, what took so long? Seriously though, the rights issue debacle kept this wonderful series in limbo forever. Luckily, I’m not the only rabid fan of this show out there, as this was the most request TV series around, and thankfully, Buena Vista/Disney listened! With all the hype for these discs, one thing was lost to us: would they hold up after over a decade of being out of syndication?

The classic animated show returns.

Quickly, after popping in Volume 1, the answer was yes, they are still as good as they were all those years ago. Sadly, there’s no extras on these discs, but lucky for you, I’m a huge nerd for this wonderful animated show, and if you search around, I got interviews with the producers, writers, and voice cast, making me incredibly thankful to relive each of the episodes forever…in constant loop…forever…and ever.

2 – Ramin Bahrani – Goodbye Solo is a superb film, one of the year’s best, and yet why are only myself and Ebert championing this great, young American independent director? Last year, his Chop Shop was one of the best reviewed movies of that year, and again, with Goodbye Solo it too, is one of the year’s best reviewed films. What is it with Bahrani that we love? He is incredibly sincere, and it shows within his films. Mature characters that are wholly American, even if their nationality is not of European descent. Bahrani usually works with so-called non-actors, and has a very still approach to his visual style, all of which sucks you up into the story he is telling. Powerful, moving, and all independent, I mean true, blue independent.

Bahrani directing.

He’ll shoot a movie with a $1.oo or $100,000, doesn’t matter because the end result is so moving and well-done, all you can say is thank you. Thank you, Mr. Bahrani for making a superb film in Goodbye Solo and being a true filmmaker. You know characters and stories worth telling, and you don’t cheat the audience or the characters. Hollywood is too shortsighted for your talents; do what you do, and continue, because your film is perhaps the best film of 2009.

1 – Blu-ray – Isn’t it silly to give thanks to a format, nearly three years old? They finally got it right this year, after finding themselves through innovation and quality. Discs are cheaper now, players have came down in price, and our favorite films have come out in stunning HD. What’s not to love? Sadly, the weak economy has put a damper on Blu-ray, because people, at least half, are strapped for cash, and currently DVD works for them. Also, Blu-ray has been fighting a tougher enemy than HD-DVD was: Digital downloading and online streaming. Despite the economy and downloading, Blu-ray is a head, and here is why:

First, the economy. Now, times might be tough, and something like a $20-$30 disc isn’t a top priority for some. Cool, but recessions always end, and we love movies. As soon as the economy picks up a bit more, and disc and player prices keep this new lower price tags, the Average Joe (a key buyer us film fans forget) will jump on board. Why? Well, he/she has already bought the HDTV, and has enjoyed either seeing HD movies via cable or satellite or have witnessed an upconverted DVD. It’s cool, and with these lower prices, and that $1000-$3000 TV sitting there, he/she will want to maximize that unit.

Two, don’t underestimate us film fans. We love movies, and Blu-ray is offering our favorites in 1080p, sometimes in stunning restorations, and solid extras. The collecting mentality can be squashed by the majority’s decisions, see Laserdisc’s quick life that was lost to DVD, but DVD made everyone into a collector. Collectors are gamers too, and the PS3 is the best Blu-ray player on the market.

Third, Digital downloading and online streaming will only cut into the rental market, not home video. I know, there are some saps that illegally download films, and I don’t know why. Why would you do that, when you forked over over a $1000 for an HD TV, maybe over $300 plus on surround sound, a $50 or more HDMI cable, to watch a shaky cam in Thai subtitles or a shoddy 480p copy, when you shelled out that much on that equipment? You really want to sit in front of your computer all day watch a film? Not me, and not people who love the cinema. I’ll admit, if that’s one thing that is holding back Blu-ray, it’s the fact that there’s a handful of things to do, in order to get the best picture and sound. First, a quality HDTV that’s 1080p and preferably 120HZ. Next, surround sound, and one that’s a separate receiver, with a speaker set, and a 10 inch sub. Then the cables, and a player. Expensive, yes, but worth in the long run.

I don’t mean to sound like a sales rep for Blu-ray. I am and will always be, a film fan. Blu-ray offers me my favorite movies, regardless of age, genre, color, black and white, the best possible experience. Blu-ray got it right this year. Watchmen from WB was a superb disc, Repulsion from Criterion proved why Blu-ray is the format of choice for black and white films, Up was so good it hurt my eyes (in a good way), I could go on and on, about my favorite discs, but I just got to thank this format for being the end all, be all in home video for years to come.

That’s what I’m thankful for this year, what about you? Feel free to leave a comment or email me at jon@killerfilm.com

The Film:

Remember when we, as little boys and girls, checked under our beds, and in our closets for that spooky monster we swore was there? Our parents would let us rest assured that we were alright from that noise in the dark, and would shut off our lights again, only to have us with the sheets pulled tight, griped in fear, hoping such a thing was what our parents have said: “it was just your imagination”. Did we ever believe them?

Even if you were a bit more like me as a child, who embraced such creatures of the night, that’s one of the great things about Pixar’s Monsters, Inc. how they took this childhood fear, and crafted such an imaginative, pleasing, and charming film for 80 minutes. I also love how people really get into categorizing Pixar films, ranking them from worst to best, but for Pixar, like the keys on the piano, there’s no duds, just fine notes played differently each time, and each time they always seem to be the right note. Monsters, Inc., if anything, proved to movie goers that they weren’t a one and done studio, that each time, their films are going to be worth your dollar, and equally as pleasing as the last.

Pixar crafts stories, with little exposition to this world we are about to step into and they’ve really mastered the art of story telling, because this film’s world is pretty complex, yet we instantly know about it with such soft gestures and little hints. The doors are portals directly into the kids rooms, yet the film explodes with imaginative ideas from this simple notion, ideas that are timeless, as now with some years on the picture, it holds up with each repeated viewing. Ideas like contamination as a sock gets stuck on the back of a monster, or a scene where a monster is equally as scared as the kid it’s trying to scare, are standouts for the fun twist and humor. But what sets Pixar miles ahead of their competition is that they know when to turn off the humor, to focus on the theme of the film, and with Monsters, Inc. is about friendship between Sulley and Mike, much like all of their films, but each film has something different to tell.

This balancing of notes, between humor, themes, storytelling, and ideas has always been a Disney trademark from good old Walt himself, yet it seems like everyone misses the mark, except for Pixar. No wonder Disney snatched them up back in the day, and will never let go. Monsters, Inc. as an idea would have been a solid animated film, but with the Pixar team, namely Pete Docter (who would later go on and give us Up), we get a special film on all accounts.

The Blu-ray:

Audio/Video: Disney’s Blu-ray efforts are second to none, especially in animation, and again, it should go without saying how amazing this presentation is. The DTS track is bombastic; everything from the crunching bass, to the hyper active surround activity, to dialogue, could not be better. Demo quality? I believe so. Having seen Monsters, Inc. on a variety of formats and TVs, even ones that were calibrated, nothing holds a candle to this video perfection. Details are as high as the animators put in, colors vibrant and rich, textures clearer now than before…hey, it’s Disney, Pixar, and on Blu-ray. Expect perfection.

Disney has given us the DVD’s extras from the release a few years ago, sadly not in HD.

Commentary: Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton (Wall*E), and more sit down to discuss the film from its origins to final product, and the track is a rich and enlightening experience for film fans of all kinds. No dead spots, no boring insights, it feels like a free film school chat, worth listening too for those types of people, yet it doesn’t alienate non-students either. If you have any interest in film as a fan or student, here’s a great track.

Mike’s New Car: This short is in HD, and it’s a quick and light-hearted effort. Cute, funny, and worth a watch.

For the Birds: This short is also in HD, as this was the short film that played in front of Monsters, Inc. prior to the film back theatrically. Not their best, but still pretty fun to watch. I love how Pixar has kept the short popular theatrically, and I hope it continues.

Trailers: HD looks at Toy Story 3, Up, and Disney’s new release of Dumbo.

Banished Concepts: Hosted by Lee Unkrich, we get to see five deleted scenes from the film. In HD.

Storyboard to Film Comparison: A side-by-side look at their storyboards and how they translated to final film version, all in HD too.

Here’s what is new to this Blu-ray version:

Director’s Intro: Docter talks for a minute on what to expect from the film’s first Blu-ray release. In HD.

Filmmakers Round table: In HD, this 22 minute chat with the guys from Pixar feels like the commentary filmed, so expect a lively, fun discussion of the film and more, from the cafe they love to go too.

Monsters, Inc Ride and Go Seek: Docter introduces us to the new Monsters, Inc. ride at Disneyland in Tokyo. Looks cool, but when am I ever going to go? I have never been to any Disneyland or World. Sad me. In HD.

Roz’s 100 Door Challenge: Disney loves putting games on their discs for everyone, especially kids to enjoy and I think they’re neat. Not really their best though, as it feels too cheap for most to enjoy.

That does it for the HD extras, as the rest of the extras are ported over from the once awesome 2-disc set from a few years back. This is on disc 2.

Animation is a 28 minute look at the process that went into the film, as it’s broken up into six parts. Music & Sound is a quick featurette on the sound design of the film and the song Billy Crystal sings, Location Flyarounds is a look at the setting without the characters present, Monster File take s look at the film’s various characters, Set Dressing looks at how the filmmakers created each scene’s look of the set, Release is the film’s EPK material, Monsters Only is a section for the trailers, music videos, and other odds and ends, with Art Gallery rounding out the extras with over 900 (!) stills to shuffle through.

That’s a lot of extras, perhaps too much for a single viewing, but it covers all aspects of the film’s production. Personally, the commentary and the Filmmakers round table is where the best material is at.

Disc 3 is the DVD version of the film. Disc 4 is the Digital Copy of the film.

Conclusion: The film? Great. The Blu-ray? Perfection. Your wallet? $30 less. ‘Nuff said? Yep, just buy it!

The Film: Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The Blu-ray: Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Q: You’ve been with Pixar since the beginning. What has that been like?
A: I think of the keys to our success is that we grew up together as artists, working on the various commercials we did, and then Toy Story. John Lasseter [chief creative officer of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios and principal creative advisor at Walt Disney Imagineering], Andrew Stanton [writer/director of WALL•E], and Joe Ranft [writer/co-director of Cars], who has since passed away – we all got to work with each other early on, and now that we’re split up, we still check in with each other. We speak a common language, we know each other’s strengths, and so on. That collaboration has been really key.

Q: Tell me about the genesis of UP.
A: Looking back I’m not even really sure where the idea came from – it was a very organic process. Bob Peterson (co-writer, co-director) and I came up with this concept of a floating house, and that was something that spoke to me. I’m really not much of an extrovert. As a director, by the end of the day, I’m exhausted from just talking to people. So there’s this great temptation just to escape and get away from everything and everyone… and it seemed really appealing to be able to float your house off into the sky. So we started thinking, “Who would be in there? Why are they doing it? Where are they going?” And it was answering questions like that that led us to this film.

Q: What do you think UP is about?
A: UP is the story of Carl Fredricksen, who ties thousands of balloons to the roof of his house and flies to South America to have a adventure. On a more foundational level, it’s about discovering what adventure really is. Carl and his wife, Ellie, had always dreamed of exotic travel, seeing wild beasts and plants that no one’s ever seen before… but what Carl comes to discover is that even though he and Ellie never got the adventure they wanted, they had life’s greatest adventure: a wonderful rich relationship. The things that make life really special, our family and friends, the little events that happen every day… that’s what life is really about.

Q: How would you describe the film’s style, and what do you think are the features of that style?
A: Up is a to caricatured world. We wanted to take advantage of what computer animation can do – rich textures and detail and lighting – but also to stylize the film to a place where you could believe that a house could float off with balloons. Most real people are about seven heads tall, if you use your own head size to measure height, and Carl is three. So he’s quite cartoon-y and caricatured. To me, the joy of animation is in simplicity and reduction, and by taking certain things away and bringing other things forward. A good analogy would be the great caricaturist Al Hirschfeld, who with just a few lines could capture someone and make them look more like themselves than a photograph. He could distill them down to their essence, which is just amazing. Good animation can do that as well, in design as well as movement, and that’s what we were trying to do in this film.

Q: Can you talk about your main characters, and if there were any inspirations or references for those characters?
A: Carl is largely inspired by our own grandparents, and a few other folks as well. There have been some people that I have met over my life who have been older, and at first blush it would seem kind of like a non sequitur that my wife and I’d be friends with them. We met this man named Mike Oznowicz who lived in Oakland, California. He was a widower in his 70s, and though he clearly had a huge gap in his life without his wife, he was incredibly full of life. He surrounded himself with young people. He’d always seen every new movie before I did, every show, every museum exhibit, was always looking for new ideas and culture. He was just incredible, and he taught me a lot about really engaging with the world. It’s people like Mike that teach you the way to live. He was like Carl at the end of the movie.

At the beginning of the film, Carl is stuck in a box of his own making. His wife Ellie showed him how amazing life is and how much it has to offer, and after she died he just withdrew and went into that box. We tried to use squares in the designs of Carl and in the house, to symbolize Carl and his approach to life. You see a lot of him in framed, small, flat, confined spaces in the beginning of the film. And as he begins to open up, you get more rounded shapes, more open air — kind of like Ellie is speaking through this other character, Russell.

Russell is the reincarnated spirit of Ellie. He’s that spirit of adventure – getting out there in the world and becoming interested in everything. He’s basically the opposite of Carl, and we designed him to pull Carl out of his shell. Carl is saddled with this kid, and in caring about him ends up re-engaging with the world in a more meaningful way. It’s mostly through Russell that that happens. We designed his basic shape to be like a spinning top, or a balloon. He’s always moving, and he’s relentless in his optimism and enthusiasm.

Dug the dog actually came from another project that Bob [Peterson, co-director / co-writer] and I developed. Those of us who have pets, we often end up making up dialog for them. Our dog will come up to my kids and stare at them, and I voice something like, “Could we go for a walk now, could we, could we, please, please?” And we thought of this unique approach to have these collars that translate what the dog is thinking, rather than have lip synced dialog. Bob wrote the dialogue for Dug and ended up voicing him – he channels dogs really well. Oh – also, Bob tells a story of being a camp counselor in High School, and this kid came up to him, gave him a big hug and said, “You are my counselor and I love you!” Dug is just a simple dog, he just wants to please people.

Muntz is a world traveler extraordinaire. He’s a combination of Howard Hughes and Charles Lindbergh, and a little bit of Walt Disney thrown in – these people who had taken these amazing risks and done things no one else had done. We looked at a lot of real life adventurers like Percy Faucett and Roy Chapman Andrews and combined them into one guy. For Carl and Ellie, Muntz represents what they want to do with their lives: “Someday, I want to be like this guy!”

Q: UP is the first release from Disney•Pixar authored in 3D, and you’d just come off of directing the huge 2D hit, Monsters, Inc. How different was the process for you?
A: Well, 3D was not figured in from the beginning. We came up with the story first, and 3D got introduced along the way. I wanted to make sure that the 3D did not get in the way for an audience. A lot of times you go to a 3D movie and there are things flying at you and the whole audience is going, “Whoooooaaa! Look, it’s 3D!” And when that happens, you get taken out of the story – you’re more aware of the medium than the story. Our goal was to draw you into this world, to take you somewhere else, and let you lose yourself for an hour and a half. For us to break that spell for people by calling attention to the 3D is doing them a disservice. We tried to use it more subtly, treating the screen like a window you look into. So you still get the sense of depth and perspective, but it’s not in your face.

Q: Your studio is known for the amount of research that goes into a film. Can you talk about the amazing research trip you took that went into the creation of UP?
A: Yeah, it was great! On Toy Story, we got to go to the toy store, on Bug’s Life we crawled around in the grass. But on this one, we got to go to South America, where the story takes place! We needed a location, story-wise, where Carl and Russell could go and end up stuck with no outside connection. We initially thought of a tropical island, but that’s been used so much. Then we discovered these tabletop mountains – they are almost like islands in the sky. It was difficult to find photos that had useful views of the unique plants and rocks. We decided that there was no other way to create this place believably than to go down there and experience it ourselves. And we did-there was a group of ten of us, and it took about three days just to get there, plane rides and jeeps and helicopters. We hiked up this mountain called Roraima [of the Venezuelan Tepuis], it inspired the book by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World. When it was first discovered by westerners in the 1800s, they figured that these mountains had been separated from the rest of the world for so long that there might actually still be dinosaurs or undiscovered creatures up there! Unfortunately we didn’t see any, but it was a blast anyway.

Q: Can you talk a little about your working relationship with producer Jonas Rivera?
A: Jonas and I first worked together on Monsters, Inc. where Jonas was the manager of the Art Department. To say both of us “like” Disneyland is sort of like saying, “we like to breathe.” We bonded over our love for that place, as well as our love for Disney movies. It was a great pleasure working with him on this film – he’s got such a passion for animation, and though he claims he’s not an artist, he’s got a deep understanding and appreciation for what it takes to make these films. Plus he’s such a nice guy, and he put together a great team of talented people who were also just fun to be around. Jonas and his team put our schedule together in such a way that everybody didn’t have to kill themselves to finished on time. At the same time, I think we were still able to push the artistic limits of what we have done in the past. Quite amazing to be able to do both. Jonas and I hope to continue working together on more of these.

Q: If there were such a thing as an average day during film production, what would that look like for you, the director, who probably has to be three places at once all the time?
A: The thing is – and again, this is Jonas and the production team – they know what needs attention when, and they balance it all out, which is an impossible job. Usually, they would tell me at the beginning of the week, “Well, we added up all the requests for your time and it totals 700 hours, and we somehow have to fit that in this week.” So we decide where I’m needed most and what sort of information the departments need to finish their work on time. I’ll walk in at the beginning of the day around 8am, and my assistant Vic Manley hands me what they call a “dance card” that has my schedule mapped out down to five minute increments, usually until 7 or 8 pm. It’s mostly meetings and reviews. Meanwhile, Jonas and the team are trying to figure out how to deal with the stuff that I’m not getting to and still finish on time. It’s pretty crazy.

Q: Given that, what were your biggest challenges on this film-not necessarily technical?
A: I think the biggest challenge was our doing something more caricatured than we had done before. I don’t want to make it sound like we haven’t done caricature. I think The Incredibles was a wonderful foray into that. But a lot of the computer scientists we work with start from a logical, reality-based approach. Clouds, for example. They’ll start by learning everything there is to know about how clouds form, where they come from, what is happening on a molecular level to create what we see, and then try to duplicate that in the computer. That’s where we want to start, but sometimes as artists, we want to push things to be more stylized, more interpreted. So for example, instead of getting these noodley, little filigreed edges to the cloud, we’ll want just nice, simple rounded shapes, like cotton puffs. We’ll want that because that’s how the scene feels to the character. And sometimes this simplifying is actually more difficult, because it’s not reality. Sometimes even communicating what we’re after is a challenge.

Q: How do you think the themes of UP will play internationally?
A: I think everybody has hopes and dreams, whether it’s owning a restaurant, winning a marathon, or traveling to exotic places. Yet we tend to take for granted the things we have, the people, our families… and it’s often not until those people are gone that you realize how lucky you are to have had them with us in our lives. That’s certainly true for me. And that’s what UP is really trying to shine a spotlight on.

Q: You’ve come up through and helped build a studio that has set the industry standard for this type of film. Is that a source of inspiration or pressure for you?
A: Inspiration, definitely. Everyone at Pixar looks forward to pushing the envelope on the next film. We really try to make every movie that comes out as cool as possible, and then we think about ways we could make one even more interesting or cool or engaging or visually interesting.

Q: What do you think are your greatest triumphs on UP?
A: I think the thing I’m most proud of is the emotion in the film. We really tried to balance the comedy and adventure with emotion. As caricatured as this world and characters are, people watch the movie and tell me, “I cried five times!” To have elicited that reaction, with characters as stylized as they are, I’m really proud of that. Of course, everything you see on the screen is created. artificial, fake. Even down to the real actors-they aren’t even recording in the same room with each other, sometimes not even the same city! But you believe that they’re together having dinner, or having an argument. It’s all constructed. To use the word “artificial” maybe sounds negative, but to me the artifice is part of the magic. And when this made up world is believable to the point where you are drawn to tears, or to laugh… to me, there is something magic about that.

Q: If you could fly a house anywhere, other than your family, who would you take and where would you head?
A: Wow, I don’t know. There are so many people that I just enjoy hanging out with on this film – Jonas and Bob and Ronnie [del Carmen, Head of Story], they’re just so much fun to be around. I would want to bring all the folks who worked on this movie. It’d have to be an awfully big house, I guess! And as far as destination, there are some days when I come in to work in the morning and see this long list of meetings, sometimes I of fantasize about being marooned on a small island in the South Pacific. I like coconuts; I think I’d be fine.

About the Director/Screenwriter
PETE DOCTER (Director/Screenwriter) has carved out an illustrious career as one of Pixar Animation Studios’ most prodigious talents. Joining the studio in 1990, he began by animating and directing a variety of Pixar-produced commercials for Tropicana Fruit Juice, Tetra-Pak drink box recycling, and Lifesavers.

Along with John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton, Docter developed the story and characters for Toy Story, Pixar’s first full-length animated feature film, for which he also served as supervising animator. He served as a storyboard artist on A Bug’s Life, and wrote the initial story treatment for Toy Story 2. Docter made his debut as a director on Monsters, Inc.,
which was nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Animated Feature Film. As one of Pixar Animation Studios’ key creative contributors, Docter garnered an original story credit for early story development for Disney/Pixar’s Golden Globe® winner and six-time Oscar® nominee, WALL•E. For his contributions on WALL•E, Docter was nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Original Screenplay.

Prior to joining Pixar, Docter was an animator for The Walt Disney Company, Bob Rogers and Company, Bajus-Jones Film Corporation and Reelworks in Minneapolis.

Docter’s interest in animation began at the age of eight when he created his first flipbook.
He studied character animation at CalArts (California Institute of the Arts) in Valencia,
California, where he produced a variety of films, including Winter, Palm Springs, and the
Student Academy Award®-winning Next Door.

Disney*Pixar’s UP is Available on Blu-ray & DVD November 10th!

Tell us about your new movie, Up…
Up is about a young wilderness explorer called Russell. Russell needs his last wilderness explorer badge – the Assisting The Elderly Badge – so he goes to his elderly neighbor, Mr. Fredricksen, to see if he can get it.

What happens when Russell meets Mr. Fredricksen?
Mr. Fredricksen has just lost his wife and he is about to lose his house, so he decides to go on an adventure by attaching balloons to his home. He sails into the sky, but Russell accidentally goes along for the ride.

What is Russell like?
Russell is an active, enthusiastic and determined 8-year-old boy. He loves animals and he loves the wilderness, so he has a great time exploring when they land near Paradise Falls. Russell is a funny, helpful and smart boy – and he wants to get this last badge to please his father.

What is Mr. Fredricksen like?
Mr. Fredricksen is grumpy and he doesn’t like going outside. Russell loves being outside and he loves running around, so they’re opposites. Russell has only been to museums. He’s never experienced the forest for real, so this is his first trip into a wilderness.

What do you like about Russell?
I like the way that he’s funny. He makes a lot of jokes – and he sometimes shows off what he knows from his wilderness explorer camp. He shows Carl – Mr. Fredricksen – different knots and the different calls of animals.

How similar are you to Russell?
We both love animals and I’m pretty determined at getting things that I really want. I’d love to explore the wilderness too!

How did you get the part of Russell?
The principal at my school sent out an email to all students saying there was a audition for 9 and 10 year old boys. My brother was 9 years old at the time and he went to the audition, so I went along with him. Even though I was only 7 years old, I was allowed to do the audition too. I did several auditions after that – and finally, I got the part!

How difficult was it to record your voice in the sound booth?
It wasn’t very difficult, but I had to repeat the same lines over and over again. I also had to stand for a long time, so it was a little tiring. The director – Pete Docter – tried to make it easier for me, so I took a lot of breaks. I had a lot of fun recording the voice!

How did you prepare for the recording sessions?
Before some recordings, I’d do jumping jacks or I’d run around the studio to pump up my energy. When I needed to be excited, Pete would make obstacle courses for me to run around too!

What was your funniest moment from the recording sessions?
There was one time when I needed to laugh, so Pete held me upside down and tickled me. That was really funny.

How weird is it to hear your voice coming out of a cartoon character?
It’s pretty weird, but it’s cool too.

What do your friends think of your new fame?
They are all very excited for me. We went to see the movie together on opening day. They like the movie a lot and they think that I’m very lucky.

Have you always wanted to be an actor?
It wasn’t my plan, but I really enjoyed working on Up.

What other films would you like to star in?
Toy Story would be a great movie to work on. My brother and I have always liked Toy Story. I think it’s really cool when the toys come alive and have their own adventure.

What do you like to do in your spare time?
I like to swim and play basketball. I also love judo. I like the drum and the guitar!

Russell heads off to South America in the movie… Where in the world would you most like to visit?
I would like to go to Africa. I want to go on safari and see the wild animals, like the cheetah. That would be very cool!

Disney Pixar’s Up is available on High-Def Blu-ray and DVD November 10th!

• “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel”
• “Astro Boy”
• “Battle for Terra”
• “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”
• “Disney’s A Christmas Carol”
• “The Dolphin – Story of a Dreamer”
• “Fantastic Mr. Fox”
• “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs”
• “Mary and Max”
• “The Missing Lynx”
• “Monsters vs. Aliens”
• “9”
• “Planet 51”
• “Ponyo”
• “The Princess and the Frog”
• “The Secret of Kells”
• “Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure”
• “A Town Called Panic”
• “Up”

Which of these films do you hope will make the cut?

Source: AwardsDaily

It’s New Release Tuesday for November 10^th, and Killer Film has got you covered today on what’s being released. Did you know you can order from Amazon by clicking on the cover art? If you don’t know, now you know…

Up

Want an incredible film? Here you go! Funny, inspiring, emotional, everything you want in a film, Pixar-again-delivers. (Formats: Blu-ray/DVD) Jon says: Buy Donny says: Buy

The Ugly Truth

I’m sure all of you rom-com lovers ate this up. Us on the other hand? Not so much. (Formats: Blu-ray/DVD) Jon says: Rent Donny says: Rent

Enlighten Up!

One of the surprise films of this year, is Kate Churchill’s documentary on yoga. Yes, you heard right. The film follows a skeptic as he and Kate hope through learning the art, he’ll gain some sort of enlightenment. What transpires is more enlightening than that thought. A must see. Read my DVD review and as well as my interview with Kate soon. (Formats: DVD only) Jon says: Buy Donny says: Buy

Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut

If I’m correct, this is an extended cut, even longer than the Director’s Cut. You’ll also get the Motion Comic and the Tales of the Black Freighter, with the latter being reinserted into the film. Look for some all new extras as well. (Formats: Blu-ray/DVD) Jon says: Rent Donny says: Buy

Ballast

Finally! Kino releases one of my favorite films from 2008 today, and fans of great indie films should seek this out ASAP. (Formats: Blu-ray/DVD) Jon says: Buy Donny says: Buy

New to Blu

Heat

Godzilla (1998)

Logan’s Run

Monster’s Inc.

Red Heat

Near Dark

As always, keep it here at Killer Film for reviews of these discs and more!