Variety is reporting that the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn. has named Disney/Pixar’s “Wall-E” its best picture of the year, the first time in its history that it has given its top prize to an animated film. The L.A. group also named Waltz With Bashir Best Animated Film of the Year and Bashir was also named Runner-up in Documentary category.
And you thought the live action movies were the end of it? Think again!
I don’t know how I missed this news item buried in a story about writer Marco Pennette (Ugly Betty) in Daily Variety last Tuesday:
Pennette also is expanding to stage: Scribe is close to signing on to write the book for a musical based on “The Flintstones.” The legit production, aimed at Broadway, will come from Warner Bros. Theater Ventures. Pennette was brought in by Jeff Marx, who’s writing the music and lyrics with Jake Anthony. Gary Griffin is directing. Pennette’s script will rely on contemporary issues: Wilma, for example, mulls leaving Fred because he still acts too much like a caveman and hasn’t adapted to more modern ways. Barney and Betty tackle fertility issues before deciding to adopt. Musical will also tackle global warming — but in this case, as “The Flintstones” takes place before the ice age, the characters will confront “global cooling.”
Broadway has truly run of of ideas.
This isn’t new, but I feel the videos from the Japanese pop band Sour are certainly worthy of Brew attention. Hangetsu, above, combines hand shadows and animation; their latest, Omokage No Saki, uses pixilation (or cleverly done CG) over live-action–really clever ways to visualize the band’s music.
(Thanks, Will Mendes)
Fulfilling its obligation to qualify for an Oscar nomination, the latest anime feature from Mamoru Oshii (Ghost In The Shell) opened in L.A. last Friday (at the Los Feliz Cinemas). In case you miss it this week, The Sky Crawlers will open in New York next Friday at the Walter Reade Theatre, and they’ll be free screenings for Asifa-Hollywood and Academy members within the month. Here’s the trailer.
Click control arrow to see the trailer for $9.99:
I caught an advance screening of Tatia Rosenthal’s $9.99 (Thank you, Asifa-Hollywood) a few weeks ago, and it’s a remarkable film. Smart, funny and at the same time, deadly serious – it stands with Ari Folman’s Waltz With Bashir, Bill Plympton’s Idiots and Angels and Nina Paley’s Sita Sings The Blues as the advance guard of the coming wave of independently made adult animated features.
The film opens Friday (12/12) in Los Angeles at the Laemmle Music Hall on Wilshire Blvd. It’s absolutely worth seeing and highly recommended.
(Thanks, Jake Friedman and Ken Priebe)
J.J. Sedelmaier and Howard Beckerman are assembling rare materials for a forthcoming series of animation exhibits showcasing the legacy of New York area animation. In preparation for the display, Beckerman is digging out rarely seen pencil animation sequences from his archive, and J.J. is refilming them, adding inbetweens where necessary. This one, above, looks like an outake from Famous Studios’ Lumberjack And Jill (1949).
There will be screenings/panels at the Jacob Burns Center on Silent Cartoons, Cartoons for Kids, as well as J.J. Sedelmaier Productions and Blue Sky Studios retrospectives. The Pelham Picture House will be doing NY Commercials & Indy Animation programs. Howard and J.J. are also doing a presentation on the History of New York Animation at the NY ComicCon (Feb 6-8). The centerpiece exhibit, It All Started Here!, featuring vintage art, photos, equipment, film programs and panels at the Westchester Arts Council Gallery in White Plains, runs from the evening of January 17th until February 28th. More information, when available, will be posted here.
Starting today, the Nicktoons Network presents Frederator Studios’ Random! Cartoons each Saturday and Sunday at 10:30am Pacific time /1:30pm Eastern time. This week, Saturday (12/6) Episode 101 (Doug TenNapel’s Solomon Fix, Kyle Carrozza’s MooBeard, Nikki Yang’s Two Witch Sisters) and on Sunday (12/7), Episode 102 (Jeff DeGrandis’ Finster and Finster, Pen Ward’s Adventure Time, and Anne Walker’s Mind the Kitty).
I’ve been informed that my Random cartoon, Hornswiggle, may be delayed from its originally scheduled December 20th slot and is being held for a “possible stunt” next Spring. As usual, I’ll keep you posted. You’ll know when I know.
Click the arrow to watch “Villains” by Zack Keller.
Zack Keller used to work for Pixar and is currently in LA working as a writer/director. He and Ed Skudder have established RootFilms and just finished a music video (using Flash/After Effects) called William. Their other work is multi-media, utilizing live action, puppets, CG and special effects. Fun stuff. Check it all out at www.rootfilms.com.
Animation historian, artist, logo designer, friend and colleague Leslie Cabarga is having a yard sale on ebay – and there are some amazing things here of historical importance. Many of his auctions end this Sunday night and others are Buy It Now. Check out Leslie’s ebay store page here. He’ll be putting up lots more next week too, so check back. Rare Hollywood photos, Paramount model sheets, Fleischer animation art, Terrytoons backgrounds, Disney stills, Harvey Comics original art, and more!
Tamás Patrovits (aka “Patro”) is a 40 year-old Hungarian animator and illustrator – and also the president of ASIFA Hungary. Six months ago he started an online Flash cartoon series for one of Hungary’s biggest news sites. Says Patro:
I make these alone, sometimes with a musician. All the shorts are made in 5-10 days, and are about our Hungarian public life and political bullshit – created with with old-style graphic design mixed with Flash animation. The series becomes more popular every month. Please take a look my blog site. Unfortunately its in Hungarian, but I plan English subtitles in the future.
If you enjoyed this one, here are 9 reasons not to ride a bike in Hungary.
The voice of Donald Duck was a guest on the December 12, 1954 broadcast:
If you are reading this blog and didn’t purchase Volume 1 of Woody Woodpecker and Friends last year… well shame on you! You still can still order it here. If cost was an issue, or if Walter Lantz cartunes aren’t your thing, I urge you to seek out this special “spotlight collection”, Woody Woodpecker Favorites (box art above center) which goes on sale March 10th, 2009.
The disc contains 15 Woody Woodpecker Cartoons (Knock Knock, Pantry Panic, The Barber of Seville, Ski for Two, Chew-Chew Baby, The Dippy Diplomat, The Loose Nut, Who’s Cookin’ Who?, Bathing Buddies, Fair Weather Fiends, Musical Moments from Chopin, Banquet Busters, Wet Blanket Policy, Sleep Happy, The Redwood Sap), plus bonus cartoons: Fish Fry with Andy Panda, Pied Piper of Basin Street a Swing Symphony, and these Tex Avery classics: The Legend of Rockabye Point (with Chilly Willy), Sh-h-h-h-h-h and Crazy Mixed Up Pup. If that isn’t enough, the disc includes two bonus episodes of The Woody Woodpecker Show: Episode #53 (Featuring Kiddie League, Charlie’s Mother-in-Law, The Bird Who Came to Dinner, Fish & Chips) and Episode #56 (Featuring Billion Dollar Boner, Coming Out Party, Romp in a Swamp, Pest of Show).
Sounds like a bargain at $19.98 (it’s going for $13.99 on Amazon.com). Now you have no excuse not to try some classic cartoon goodness from Universal Pictures.
Click on thumbnails above for full screen image. Mike Van Eaton just acquired these very rare cels from the Ub Iwerks studio of 1930s and wanted to share. Take a look and drool! The first is apparently a model sheet on a cel, probably created for the ink-and-paint department for reference. The one on the right comes from Aladdin and The Wonderful Lamp (1934), but strangely enough the Genie is green here, on screen he’s red (or orange). Could this have been a test cel for the ink & paint crew? That film, and the center one from The Headless Horseman (1934), were released in the two-color CineColor process. Note that Bram Bones vest is yellow, but on screen its orange. Mike is also wondering about the background:
The background on the headless horseman piece has a very strange timing bar across the bottom…almost looks like a ruler..see if you can see it in the scan. Have you ever seen anything like that? Do you know what it was used for?
Van Eaton plans to sell these in the near future. If interested contact Mike through his website.
Bob Clampett’s daughter Ruth has started a blog!
Baby Ruthy’s Blog is an extension of Ruth’s Wildsville Gallery where she sells limited edition art based on Warner Bros. and DC Comics properties (as well as Beany & Cecil originals). She plans to post a few times a week and will definitely dip into the Clampett personal archives for topics to discuss. I know several fans (including myself) who will be regularly checking in to see what Ruthy has to show and tell.
L.A. area Cartoon Brew readers are invited to attend the Asifa Hollywood membership screening of Waltz With Bashir tonight (Tuesday 12/2) at the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. If you can make it, you must call the RSVP and leave your name. I’ll be doing a Q & A with the film’s writer/director, Ari Forman, at 7pm, right before we screen the film.
Update: The screening is tonight, Tuesday, December 2, 2008 7:00 p.m. at Mann’s Chinese 6, 6801 Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood, California. To RSVP, please call (323) 634-7031. Mention Asifa Hollywood or Cartoon Brew and you’ll get in!
