How Brad Bird Approaches Filmmaking

The two-time Oscar winner was on hand for an In Conversation at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in which he shared a career’s worth of insight, anecdotes and lessons learned in his 30+ year career.

New Device Allows Further Communication Between Humans and Dogs

Dogs have done plenty to earn their place as man’s best friend. From hunter’s assistant to search and rescue heroes, canines have been a great asset to humans, and with a recent advancement in communication technology, humans may soon be able to return the favor.

James Hance’s Relentlessly Cheerful Art

Relentlessly Cheerful Art is the name of artist James Hance’s website (As well as the title of this article. Clever, eh?) and it also happens to best describe his work. But before looking at his stuff it may be best if we get to know the man and who better to do that than his own UK website?

Pixar Makes Their Small-Screen Debut with ‘Toy Story of Terror’

Although the masterminds at Pixar handled the ending of their Toy Story trilogy in a perfect way (and in a manner that could make even Ron Swanson choke back tears), I still want to see more of the toys that I first fell in love with back in 1995. After following their lives over the course of 15 years, I would love to get a glimpse at how Woody and Buzz are handling their change in ownership. This Halloween, Pixar makes that happen with a 22-minute TV special: Toy Story of Terror.

This is Pixar’s first special made for the small-screen. With its light-hearted humor and witty use of toys for gags (did you see the PEZ dispenser scene?), Toy Story of Terror feels like a return to the original Toy Story films despite the change in screen size. Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, and Joan Cusack have all returned to voice their iconic characters. A new toy, Combat Carl, joins the gang and is fittingly voiced by Carl Weathers (of Rocky and Predator fame).

The short starts out with the toys embarking on a road trip with their new family. As they take a detour and stop at a creepy roadside motel for the night, the terror implied in the title begins. Toys start disappearing one-by-one throughout the night and unless they can solve the mystery, Woody, Buzz, and our other favorite toys will suffer the same fate. I can’t wait to see how Rex reacts to this situation.

Grab some candy corn and get ready for Halloween with Pixar. Toy Story of Terror airs October 16 on ABC.

DVD Catastrophe – Mock Buster Round Up – What’s Up: Balloon to the Rescue! (2009)

Since the dawn of cinema, studios have always managed to milk the next best thing until it is bone dry. Genres that come back in vogue again are quickly reused and tons of very similar products instantly hit the market. For the best example, just look at the zombie movie genre now. Since its resurgence (roughly around when Land of the Dead and Shaun of the Dead came out) we are constantly bombarded with new zombie titles every few months with varying degrees of entertainment value. However, some companies are a lot more blatant than just copying a genre; they go one step further and actual copy everything. This is what I want to look at with this section, the cheeky chappies who put out movies copying the entire plot lines and even the cover art too. So welcome to Mock Buster Round Up where it is with much pride that we promote these movies (good or bad) so you know what you are getting yourselves in for the next time you look up a movie on Netflix!

Look familiar? It should, as it looks pretty much like a small, teeny-tiny Pixar movie from 2009 titled Up (as if you did not know). Even having a title as long as What’s Up: Balloon to the Rescue barely disguises that the word ‘Up’ takes up a third of the cover box. Look at the description below from Amazon for even more shameful re-using of plot devices.

[quote]Packed with magic and eye-popping animation, What’s Up Balloon to the Rescue! takes off with a bang when the brilliant, but befuddled Dr. Crumb discovers a magical stone that turns his house into a hot air balloon. The discovery allows Crumb and his trusted brainiac companions to pursue a heroic career of monster-chasing. But soon, the criminal-minded Jean-Pierre hatches a particularly diabolical plan which sends this airborne voyage into a new level of turbulence!
Without the magic stone, will the scientists crash land, or will they be able to save the world by using their own ingenuity? What s Up Balloon to the Rescue! is a gravity-defying adventure for the entire family. [/quote]

So we have a house that floats (only one balloon this time), a quirky old man (this time a doctor) and a balloon having trouble flying. Looks like all bases are covered then. Amazon reviews for this are as you would expect and it seems that some serious borrowing has been going on here. You will no doubt be seeing a lot of Disney and Pixar copy cats in this section just because they can knock out the animation pretty quickly. Just so you can see how bad this is here is a collection of the (so called) best bits some off which come of as slightly racist.

For comparison purposes I leave you with this, the actual cover for Up, one of the most tear jerking Pixar movies ever created. Enjoy.

 

Pixar’s Monsters University: Four New Teaser Trailers!

While we’re on the subject of prequels (because, really, when are we not, America?), Disney and Pixar have released teaser trailers from their latest love child, Monsters University which will hit theaters next summer.  The film is a prequel to Monsters, Inc., released in 2001 and will depict our favorite monsters as college students before they ever hit the scare floor; and will take us through the story of how Mike and Sulley met and how they became friends from rivals.  The four new teaser trailers were released by Disney, Apple, Yahoo, and the Huffington Post; and on first viewing appear to be all exactly the same.  However, when Sulley pulls the sheet off of the bed and reveals Mike, each trailer has a line Mike utters in his sleep that is unique unto itself.  (I kind of hope they use “My pony made the Dean’s List…haha.”)