Vacation manages to stand on its own while also paying tribute to the original National Lampoon film. The jokes are raunchy, the cameos are plenty, and the ride is worth it if you're not overly sentimental about this kind of thing.
The appeal of Rio 2 to adults will be quite minimal since it’s designed and calculated to be the best possible babysitter for undiscriminating tykes who have never seen any movies outside of the first Rio.
We talk to Rio 2 director Carlos Saldanha about how the sequel came together, presenting ecological messages to children, the sounds and colour of Rio, and the creation of one of the most memorable character of the year that he thinks deserves a lot more credit (and rightfully so).
It took the better part of 60 years, but finally the work of master animator Jay Ward has a proper big screen adaptation in Rob Minkoff’s Mr. Peabody & Sherman. It stays faithful to the tone of the original show, delivers all new jokes, enhances the characters without destroying them, and by just updating the material enough so it doesn’t feel like a forced attempt at being hip.
We talk to filmmaker Rob Minkoff, who returns to entirely animated feature filmmaking for the first time in 20 years (following his success with some obscure movie called The Lion KingMr. Peabody and Sherman this weekend. We talk about balancing the cartoon’s old school feel with new school storytelling techniques, what it’s like returning to animation, how long the film was in development, why he’s generally averse to overdoing pop culture references in films, and why Jay Ward’s work stands up so well on its own after so long.
The Bling Ring is a fun and pointed tale of being young, privileged, and fake in LA that could only have been made by the talented Sofia Coppola.
Despite not being able to fully balance the autobiographical elements of This is 40 within his top heavy screenplay, Judd Apatow still delivers a loose, but satisfying slice of life comedy.
From top to bottom, ParaNorman is a little genre gem for longtime fans and pint-sized newcomers. This is an animated film that refuses to talk down to children, packs in more entertainment value than should be legally allowed, and actually has something to say to the impressionable viewers.
In the age of the omnipresent CG animated film and vapid big budget spectacle, it’s incredibly refreshing to see a lovingly handcrafted stop-motion animated movie like ParaNorman come along. We had a chance to speak with directors Chris Butler and Sam Fell earlier this year, and talked about the talented young cast of the film, the directors' own experiences with bullying, ParaNorman's relationship to the horror genre, the importance of zombies, and much more.
In the age of the omnipresent CG animated film and vapid big budget spectacle, it's incredibly refreshing to see a lovingly handcrafted stop-motion animated movie like ParaNorman come along. We had a chance to speak with directors Chris Butler and Sam Fell earlier this year, and talked about the "John Carpenter meets John Hughes" origins of the film, how technology has helped make stop-frame animation more practical, and much more.
Enter to win one of five family four packs of passes to see an advance screening of the 3D animated zombie comedy ParaNorman in Toronto on Saturday, August 4th at 10am from Dork Shelf and Alliance Films!
