Behind the Scenes of "Wolfwalkers"

by Nathaniel R

Today's must read is a memoir piece from storyboard artist Iker Madigan about working on Cartoon Saloon's Wolfwalkers.  There are all sorts of interesting tidbits including how difficult compositional choices are with the two dimensional "flat graphic style" that Cartoon Saloon is known for. Here's another interesting note. I've never heard animators described like this but it makes emotional sense:

Depending on the degree of freedom entrusted to them, story artists can exhibit qualities from both directors and writers. Truth is, they can be something like a cross between a second unit director and a script doctor. 

And the following, about artists who are part of "story teams" that most animated features employ, is the type of honesty you rarely get in such pieces...

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SXSW: The dystopian visions of Executive Order & Witch Hunt

By Abe Friedtanzer

 

It’s sadly not all that difficult to imagine our society slipping into dystopian territory, and while that might have seemed impossible here in America, recent events have suggested we’re not that far away from authoritarian misery. Cinema has long explored such inevitabilities, and it’s those “very near future” concepts that don’t look so different from what we know today that can be especially terrifying. They can also be insightful, strong pieces of filmmaking, and SXSW has two this year that are indeed frightening and thought-provoking...

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Showbiz History: Jupiter Ascending, Coraline, and silent sex symbol Ramon Novarro

6 random things that happened on this day, February 6th, in showbiz history

1942 The comic western Valley of the Sun hits theaters. Hollywood was struggling to figure out what to do with Lucille Ball that decade. This was one of those 'well, how about this genre?' attempts...

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First annual (?) "Super" Awards

by Nathaniel R

The Old Guard takes "best superhero film" honors

We're still trying to wrap our heads around the absolutely bizarre decision by the executives of the Critics Choice Association to launch a genre-specific awards show (think the Saturn Awards only from talking heads at various outlets rather than the fans) in the very year where most of those kinds of movies didn't actually open and in which none of the big stars would be able to actually attend. It's a head scratcher in so many ways though happily two good movies (Palm Springs and Soul) led with the most prizes.

Here are the winners (no, we did not vote)...

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Review: The Midnight Sky

by Tony Ruggio

The Midnight Sky is a mild return to form for director George Cloonney. It’s simultaneously a greatest-hits album of science fiction filmmaking of the last ten years and a beautiful, melancholic story about regret. In the midst of a global pandemic, with more proof arriving every year of what danger might await us in our planet’s future (or even right now), we’re all more aware than ever of what terrible things are possible in this world. Somehow, decades of apocalyptic cinema did not prepare us.

Clooney is Augustine Lofthouse, a scientist who has spent his life finding habitable planets at the expense of his personal life, pushing away those closest to him to devote his life to saving our future...

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