You readers get a treat this morning. Two Daily TwitPics for the price of one. Sure, it's all free to begin with. So instead of being a jerk about it, why don't you just appreciate the fact that today there is two where there would usually be one.
"Toy Story 3" director Lee Unkrich apparently put the shout out on Twitter for fans to send in pictures of their Pixar-themed tattoos, with the best one getting a studio-branded baseball cap. The two images you'll see after the jump -- from "Toy Story" and "Up" -- belong to the one winner, who offered to get the Pixar character of Unkrich's choice inked onto himself if he won. Now the director is taking suggestions for who that should be. My vote is for Luxo Jr. Tell Unkrich what you think on his Twitter feed, @leeunkrich. Read more...
Is Pixar hiring? If so, visionary filmmaker Terry Gilliam (“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”) would like to apply. And if he needs a letter of recommendation, I’d be happy to provide one. According to /Film, Gilliam confessed at a recent BFI event that he would sweep the floors at the animation studio just to be around such creative people.
Fans of Gilliam’s work, myself included, would much rather see him directing films for the Disney-owned animation studio than providing them with janitorial services. Gilliam began as an animator and first became famous through the cartoons he made for “Monty Python’s Flying Circus.” Given his difficulties since then with live-action filmmaking -- looking at you, "Brothers Grimm." And "Tideland." And "Man of La Mancha." -- it might actually be a good idea for him to return to his original medium. Read more...
Ah, "Toy Story." You're the best. Err... second-best. I actually prefer your younger brother, "Toy Story 2." But you were great first. And the two of you make for an entertaining pair.
As you've probably heard by now (if you're a fan that is), Pixar's revolutionary first feature and its sequel are getting a 3-D makeover this fall. The double-feature will hit theaters on October 2, and will stick around for two weeks. I know it's a small window, but that should motivate fans to actually buy tickets rather than putting off a trip to the movies.
Whatever your plan is, here's the latest trailer for the upcoming paired 3-D release. Cute. I hope I'll be able to set aside some time to check this out in October. How about you?
Think you’re too good for 3-D? Well think again, because the film format is apparently now cool for highbrow cineastes too. The Venice Film Festival has announced a new award for best Stereoscopic 3D film, the first of which will be handed out this September. Appropriately sponsored by a sunglass brand, the prize will go to “the most creative feature film among those in Steroscopic 3-D produced between September 2008 and August 2009.”
Earlier this year, 3-D got a classy boost from the Cannes Film Festival when the 3-D version of Pixar’s “Up” opened the event. The French film fest has already been comparatively more commercial than other European film fests. Venice, the world’s oldest film festival, brings a little more prestige to the format with this recognition. Or so it may seem. Read more...
FROM HOLLYWOOD CRUSH: Over at NPR, Linda Holmes wrote an excellent open letter to Pixar asking the esteemed animation studio to make a film about a girl. And not just that, a girl who isn’t a princess. Pixar, whose latest flick “UP” is a smash success and possibly surpasses last year’s “WALL-E” for sheer awesomeness, is known for its storylines that are equally appealing as family outings or date movies (hey, was that you crying during “WALL-E”? Thought so!). But so far, none of them have a female anything as the lead protagonist — not a robot, not a fish, and certainly not any “girls in Band-Aids,” as Holmes described them.
Continue reading We’d Like To See Some Girl Leads, Pixar!
It looks like Friday night audiences enjoy a raunchy comedy before heading out to start working on their own future hangovers. Variety reports that Warner Bros' "The Hangover" brought in $16.5 million on its first day out, making it the second-best opening take for an R-rated comedy, and a personal best for director Todd Phillips. Like any good party, it's not relying on star power, but is enjoying a solid buzz of positive reviews and enthusiastic word-of-mouth.
"The Hangover" eclipsed Will Ferrell's "Land of the Lost," which opened to only $7.2 million, placing it at #3, behind Pixar's "Up." The re-imagining of the classic '70s Sid and Marty Krofft-spawned TV show opened to mixed reviews, with many of the negative observations focused on how family unfriendly the movie really is. Parents are still bringing their chldren to "Night at the Museum" Battle of the Smithsonian" however, which is riding close to "Lost" with Friday earnings of $4.5 million. Read more...
FROM MTV.COM: The new Pixar Animation feature "Up" goes boldly where even live-action movies rarely dare. The film's hero, Carl Fredricksen, is a hunched and grumpy 78-year-old man, for one thing. We meet him, though, at the age of eight — a sparky kid with a yen for adventure and an avid interest in the exploits of a world-famous explorer named Muntz. When Carl encounters Ellie, a spunky little girl with exactly the same passions, they form a bond, and the picture takes wing on a surge of emotion. In a long, wordless montage we see their lives play out. They dream of the real-life adventures they'll have when they grow up. They marry and settle into an old abandoned house they'd discovered as children (it was the headquarters of their two-member explorers club). Carl works as a balloon salesman, and they try to save money for a dream trip to South America — to Paradise Falls, the last known destination of the long-vanished Muntz. But life keeps getting in the way — sometimes, as usual, tragically — and in the end, Carl is left alone, the dream he shared with Ellie still unfulfilled.
Continue reading 'Up': New High, By Kurt Loder
Immediately after reading Larry's post revealing the cameo appearance of a new "Toy Story 3" character in Pixar's soon-to-be-released "Up," I tracked down the teaser trailer so I could see the image myself. Can you find it?
See it? No? Well keep reading. I went and did the hard work for you. Read more...
There are many, many reasons to love Pixar. First and foremost is that they’ve made nine consecutive instant classic films – a streak that will go to ten when the amazing “Up” opens later this month. But another is that they know what geeks want, and often insert Easter eggs and in-jokes for us fans.
Now, we’ve got the scoop on a top-secret “Up” bonus for eagle-eyed viewers: Pixar’s first peek at a never-before-seen character from 2010’s “Toy Story 3.”
“On ‘Monsters [Inc.]’, when Sulley is putting Boo back in her room, and he’s going to say goodbye to her, she hands him all these toys,” saidd Pete Docter, a director on “Up” and “Monsters,” and a writer on the “Toy Story” films. “One of them was this fish – which was Nemo – but nobody knew it at the time, because ‘[Finding] Nemo’ hadn’t come out yet. We have a similar thing [in ‘Up’].” Read more...
When it comes to Pixar films, we assume by now we’ll get eye-popping computer animation, superior storytelling and hilarious supporting characters. At the same time, we’ve also come to expect the unexpected: You liked a rat who loves to cook? Okay, try a robot that doesn’t speak, cleaning up garbage on an abandoned planet. On Friday afternoon at the Disney theater in Manhattan, Pixar showed off 45 minutes of its May 2009 feature “Up,” and delivered on expectations while once again subverting them.
“It’s an action adventure story staring an old man,” said co-director Pete Docter. The old man in question, Carl, is a septuagenarian widow who channels the grief over his deceased wife into a crazy stunt: tying thousands of balloons onto his house and flying it to South America’s Paradise Falls, which the couple had always dreamed of visiting. The hitch—and the makings of an “Odd Couple”-style buddy comedy—is that a feisty 9-year-old named Russell gets swept along for the ride—a ride that includes dangerous adventures and more than a few run-ins with a kooky cast of secondary characters. Read more...
