This clever 2007 animated/live action film by Alan and Frank Shannon, was produced by Dublin based animation studio Jam Media for RTE, Ireland’s public broadcasting channel. It’s in two parts on YouTube, Part 1 above, Part 2 here
(Thanks, Niall Mooney)
Michael Sporn’s Splog is a daily must-read for anyone interested in cartoons, their history and the experiences of a life-long New York independent animator. Today, Michael posts several vintage articles on the old Terrytoons studio based in New Rochelle, NY.
I want to thank Mike for giving me an excuse to post this fun TV commercial from the mid-1950s, below, featuring future Oscar winner Patty Duke playing with a Remco toy Drive-In Movie Theatre — which came complete with Terrytoons:
Forget Barrier and Gabler, I found the real deal at the Columbus airport bookstore this weekend. The haunting cover art of Who Was Walt Disney? (above) was staring at me, mocking me, compelling me to purchase it.
This 106 page paperback, “not authorized, licensed or endorsed by The Walt Disney Company or any affiliate” as noted on the cover, is simply a children’s book. Author Whitney Stewart nicely condenses Walt’s life story, but this is strictly for Disney completists only – the ones who have to have everything. Amazon is only selling a Kindle download, a physical copy is apparently only available at the Penguin Group website – or at Paradies News & Gifts on Concourse C at the Port Columbus International Airport.
Anchor Bay Entertainment will be releasing Rob Zombie’s The Haunted World of El SuperBeasto direct-to-video on September 22nd.
The film stars Paul Giamatti, Rosario Dawson and comedian Tom Papa (as El Superbeasto himself). The IMDB plot synopsis says, “The story follows the adventures of El Superbeasto, a washed-up Mexican luchador, and his sultry sidekick and sister Suzi-X (Dawson) as they confront an evil villain by the name of Dr. Satan (Giamatti). The adventure, set in the mythic world of Monsterland, also has a character named Murray the robot (Brian Posehn).” I saw an early rough cut over a year ago and it is a pretty wild ride – one I highly recommend. There are two short clips on Amazon.com which do not do the film justice – in fact, I think these are the only two G-rated scenes in the entire film! It’s R-rated for extreme violence and cartoon nudity. You can pre-order it at Amazon.com now.
The 21st Annual Society for Animation Studies Conference, subtitled The Persistence of Animation, will be held July 10-12, 2009, at the Atlanta campus of the Savannah College of Art and Design.
Held under the auspices of SCAD-Atlanta’s Animation Department, the conference features over 50 scholars and filmmakers from around the world who will present papers on a wide range of topics relating to animation history and theory; in addition, there will be workshops on teaching animation history and animation production. The conference itself will kick off with a keynote address Andrew Darley, a renown British media theorist.
In conjunction with the conference, the SCAD Library will be presenting a special exhibition, Behind the Cels: Selections from SCAD’s Don Bluth Collection, featuring art work donated to the school by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman; Goldman will introduce the exhibit during the conference on Saturday, July 11th, and will also be present at a free reception, which is open to the public, Thursday evening, July 9th, from 6:00-8:00 pm.
Finally, ASIFA-Atlanta, in conjunction with the High Museum of Art, is organizing Georgia Animation on Our Mind: A Retrospective of Peachtree State Animation, which will screen at the nearby Woodruff Arts Center’s Rich Auditorium. The program features short animations, including experimental shorts, TV commercials and Avery Matthews, a never-aired Cartoon Network pilot.
For details on the SAS conference, including registration fees, check out the conference blog. You can also sign up for free tickets to the Friday night screenings at the ASIFA-Atlanta website.
London-based animator Murray John (check his very-cool reel) sent us his latest music video, created for musician Luke Jackson. below. Says John:
“I set out to capture the bitter sweetness of London life, using urban sketchy drawings on walls. All the stop motion photos were taken around London, and I added the drawn 2-D animation using After Effects.”
Love the song, love the video…
These are too cool. The spots were conceptualized by London-based Thinkmake and directed by Tomás GarcÃa of Buenos Aires-based Pepper Melon. Complete artist credits are on the Pepper Melon website.
Where Dan Meth sees Hollywood updates of classic toy and cartoon properties going. He’s not far off:
(Thanks, Sterling Sheehy)
And now, no joke, a Public Service Announcement:
Apparently Warner Bros. is supporting the effort to Save the Tasmanian Devil by donating the character (and a bit of animation) to the cause.
(Thanks, Dave Carter)
I’ll be in Columbus Ohio tonight to introduce a screening of Disney’s 101 Dalmatians (1961) and to celebrate the recent acquisition of Mort Walker’s International Museum of Cartoon Art Collection by Ohio State University’s Cartoon Library and Museum.
I will be doing a book signing at 6pm in Wexner Center, then at 7pm we’ll be screening Disney’s 1961 feature. The movie will be preceded by the 1938 Mickey Mouse short, The Brave Little Tailor, and the 1949 Paramount cartoon Leprechaun’s Gold – all in beautiful 35mm! For information on this screening and tickets, go to the Wexner Center website. Come by and say hello!
I will be screening an evening of classic Frank Tashlin Cartoons at the Silent Movie Theatre on Fairfax in Hollywood, Tuesday July 7th at 8pm. This program is the first in a series of “first Tuesday” animation screenings each month at the Silent Movie.
Frank Tashlin spent the first part of his screen career as an animator, storyman and cartoon director at various Hollywood animation studios in the 1930s and 40s. In addition to a selection of his best Warner Bros. cartoons, we will be screening his earliest work at Van Beuren, his rare stop motion puppet animation and several of his Columbia cartoons (Fox & Crow in 35mm!). For more information, visit The Silent Movie Theatre website.
It was announced yesterday that the Academy will now nominate ten films for Best Picture. From their press release:
For more than a decade during the Academy’s earlier years, the Best Picture category welcomed more than five films; for nine years there were 10 nominees. The 16th Academy Awards (1943) was the last year to include a field of that size; “Casablanca” was named Best Picture. (In 1931/32, there were eight nominees and in 1934 and 1935 there were 12 nominees.) “Having 10 Best Picture nominees is going to allow Academy voters to recognize and include some of the fantastic movies that often show up in the other Oscar categories, but have been squeezed out of the race for the top prize,” commented Ganis.
One might coin this “the Wall-E decision”, as there was much speculation and controversy last year over Pixar’s Wall-E — that it could (or should) have been nominated for Best Picture.
This move to include more movies as nominees will allow more commercially successful films (i.e. big budget Hollywood fantasies) to compete with the artier fare (Slumdog Millionaire, The Reader, Milk, etc.), no doubt to help increase the ratings for the Oscar broadcast. Ten nominees could also boost box office gross and DVD sales for twice as many films.
But how will this affect the animated features? Will Pixar’s Up have a shot to go one-on-nine against the likes of James Cameron’s Avatar, Michael Mann’s Public Enemies and Sam Mendes Away We Go? Industry pundit Jeffery Wells thinks not.
Hollywood still places animation in a ghetto and nothing is going to change that. I hope Up, Coraline, The Fantastic Mr. Fox or some animated film can somehow crack the Best Picture category – but I won’t bet on it. Until perceptions change, I’m just glad we have the Best Animated Short and Best Animated Feature categories.
Speaking of which, at the mid-way point it’s looking like a great year for the Animated Feature category. There are already 13 releases set for 2009 (14 if you count Jim Carrey’s mo-cap Christmas Carol – I don’t). If a few more “dark horse” foreign films get submitted, as they usually do at the end of the year, that could trigger five nominees (I’m rooting for Mary & Max and Secret of Kells to get a legitimate U.S. release). However, recall that last year three eligible studio films were not submitted to the Academy (Fox ignored Space Chimps, Warner Bros. withheld Star Wars: Clone Wars, and Universal omitted The Pirates That Don’t Do Anything), thus forcing the Academy to consider only three nominees. It just goes to show, the major studios still control the process no matter how you perceive the results.
Worst. Hanna-Barbera Production. Ever!
Roy Clark and Bonnie Franklin host a roast of Fred Flintstone – on Ice!
All five parts now on You Tube. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
(Thanks, Kliph Nesteroff)
Here’s a DVD I’ve been waiting to see for over a decade – Beany & Cecil: The Special Edition Vol. 2.
Volume 1 is a must have for all fans of Bob Clampett. It was loaded with bonus material and rare footage we’d been dying to see for decades. Volume 2 promises to be more of the same: 11 classic Beany & Cecil cartoons, remastered from 35mm camera negatives, and several bonus features including rare Time for Beany kinescopes and an alternate version of Beanyland. It’ll be available September 8th from Hen’s Tooth Video.
The annual Marc Davis Celebration of Animation continues with a second helping at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills, California. On July 28th, the Academy will honor Hayao Miyazaki in a special tribute which will include screening clips from his greatest films and an in-person conversation between Miyazaki and John Lasseter.
Need I say anymore? Tickets are on sale now. $5. for general public, $3. for Academy members. Seating is (ahem) limited. Go here now.
