April Foolish Predix Pt 1: The Toons!

by Nathaniel R

Last year's animation race proved, just as we predicted, that the Academy's animated branch will only put up with a couple of sequels in any given year. For 2020 that wasn't going to be an issue as the scheduling wasn't sequel heavy. But then COVID-19 happened and the release schedules of everything got pushed back -- the latest calendar move is Disney/Pixar's Soul power-walking to Thanksgiving week where it will replace Disney's Raya and the Dragon, now pushed to 2021...

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Never bet against Disney

by Cláudio Alves

While not all of Disney’s movies get Oscar gold, it’s never a good idea to bet against the studio. This year, Captain Marvel, Dumbo and Aladdin failed to conquer any nomination, but many other Disney properties got in the race, even in categories people weren’t expecting them to. Think of Maleficent: Mistress of Evil’s makeup nod, for instance. It’s true most of those movies don’t seem like frontrunners, but if we trust in the patterns of Oscar history, then we can be assured the House of Mouse will earn a couple of statues come Hollywood’s biggest night. 

To prove this point, let's peruse the last decade of the Academy Awards and explore Disney’s many nods and victories. Notice there’s at least a win per year…

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Chatting with Disney's vfx contenders

by Abe Fried-Tanzer

When the Oscar shortlists were announced in nine different categories a few weeks ago, the remaining films up for Best Visual Effects were halved from twenty to ten. It turns out that five of those films left are Disney productions, and so we had the chance to sit down with the team from each to learn a bit more about what went into creating everything you see on screen.

Team Endgame
Avengers: Endgame
Each member of this specific team was beyond excited to have worked on the epic blockbuster conclusion, which, to each of them, was a scope that they had never experienced before. They code-named their work “Mary Lou,” after the famous gymnast, to reference a need to “stick the landing”...

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Year in Review: Mainstream Box Office (feat. Lupita, Queen Elsa, and lots of Superheroes)

Our Year in Review party is getting off to a bit of a slow start (we launched with 50 biggest documentary hits) but we hope to speed up now and what better festive topic during the holiday moviegoing season than an audience participation one? Herewith six "top ten-to-twenty" box office hit lists regarding various subgenres of the mainstream and what we can learn from them... at least in terms of moviegoers today.

We're starting with female-led pictures because this should not be regarded as a minority or special interest topic given that half of the world's population is female! Little Women was a major late-breaking success in this arena but it wasn't the only success from 2019. Let's look at that chart first.

🔺= the movie is still in over 100 theaters. Figures are as of February 23rd

1. TOP GROSSING (LIVE-ACTION) FILMS WITH A FEMALE LEAD
(Excluding films where a male lead is just as prominent as his female co-star)

Captain Marvel

01 Captain Marvel $426.8 (Disney/Marvel, March 8th) starring Brie Larson
02 Us $175 (Universal, March 22nd) starring Lupita Nyong'o
03 Maleficent Mistress of Evil $113.9 (Disney, Oct 18th) starring Angelina Jolie
04 Little Women $107.1 (Columbia, Dec 25th) starring Saoirse Ronan
05 Hustlers $104.9 (STX, Sept 13th) starring Constance Wu & Jennifer Lopez...

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Review: "Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker"

by Cláudio Alves

"Let the past die. Kill it, if you have to." were the desperate words of an angry man. "The greatest teacher, failure is." was the philosophy of a wise master. Somewhere in between the two sentiments, those of Kylo Ren and Yoda, lies the ethos of Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi. There's no place for toxic nostalgia in that director's vision of the Star Wars universe, though a critical look at what came before is necessary or else we're bound to never grow. Independently of Episode VIII's other faults, one would think such a theme would be unanimously celebrated and generate little to no controversy. One would be mistaken. 

Johnson's Star Wars feature sparked a wave of antagonistic discourse that's still active two years after its release. While the perpetual litigation of that production's merits is no one's idea of a good time, it's crucial to consider its themes when analyzing the latest episode in the saga. If every film in a franchise is having a conversation with its brethren, The Rise of Skywalker represents a repudiation of The Last Jedi's core ideals. JJ Abrams' return to the saga is an open celebration of uncritical nostalgia. Indeed, it appears to have been conceived more as a cowed response to fans' complaints than as a satisfying narrative…

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