Posts tagged HOLLYWOOD
That Old Pixar Magic: Reframing our Perception of Computer-Animation’s Beloved Studio
That Old Pixar Magic: Reframing our Perception of Computer-Animation’s Beloved Studio

Undeniably, Toy Story (John Lasseter, 1995) changed the global animation industry forever, properly introducing the world to Woody, Buzz and a studio that would come to define the childhoods of millions of people. Following an unprecedented streak of beloved crowd-pleasing computer-animated films, Pixar Animation Studios made a name for itself with a brand built on a gold standard of quality, a reputation that has since become both a blessing and a curse. Ever since the start of the 2010s, and tied to the lacklustre reception of Cars 2 (John Lasseter, 2011), the common refrain that the latest Pixar release is missing that “old Pixar magic” has become a staple of most new releases from the studio.

Read More
EDITORIALOliver VigniINDUSTRY, PIXAR ANIMATION STUDIOS, HOLLYWOOD, COMPUTER-ANIMATED FILMComment
Review: LAIKA: Frame x Frame (BFI Southbank)
Review: LAIKA: Frame x Frame (BFI Southbank)

The joy of stop-motion films lies in noticing the little details, those intricate features crafted in miniature and tucked into the background of a scene, adding a richness of texture to the (usually) fantasy world onscreen. It is these little details that are celebrated by the British Film Institute’s new exhibition LAIKA: Frame x Frame, opening on August 12th and running until October 1st at the BFI Southbank, as part of their Stop-Motion season. With over 700 artefacts on display, walking through the exhibit evokes the very best stop-motion viewing experience, each glance revealing another miniscule, yet exquisitely modelled feature.

Read More
EVENT REVIEWMarkus BeekenSTOP-MOTION, CRAFT, LABOUR, HOLLYWOODComment
Animation vs Automation: Labour, Artificial Intelligence, and the Silent Crisis in the Animation Industry
Animation vs Automation: Labour, Artificial Intelligence, and the Silent Crisis in the Animation Industry

In 2009, Vivian Sobchack asked: “what might it mean to bring together the concepts and practices of ‘animation’ and ‘automation’”? At the time Sobchack was writing on the visibility of labour within a modern computer-generated cinematic framework, where computers have become advanced enough that they appear to “have a life of their own” (2009, 375). In her examination of Pixar’s computer-animated film WALL-E (Andrew Stanton, 2008), Sobchack notes that it is the machines, the robots like WALL-E and EVE, who are imbued with “the movement of life,” while the humans are left motionless.

Read More
EDITORIALOliver VigniANIMATION, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, LABOUR, HOLLYWOOD, INDUSTRYComment
Fantasy/Animation: David Bordwell (1947-2024)
Fantasy/Animation: David Bordwell (1947-2024)

To mark the life of distinguished film theorist and historian David Bordwell (1947-2024), and to add to the many tributes from across the disciplines of film and media studies, Chris and Alex have begun to collect some of Professor Bordwell’s writings that connect to fantasy and animation both in print and on his website davidbordwell.net and accompanying blog Observations on Film Art.

Read More
EDITORIALChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantHOLLYWOOD, FILM HISTORY, CRITICISM, INTERPRETATION Comments
Colour and Motion: Some Notes on Spielberg’s Fantasy and Science Fiction Films and the Visual Style of Vincente Minnelli
Colour and Motion: Some Notes on Spielberg’s Fantasy and Science Fiction Films and the Visual Style of Vincente Minnelli

As a student, a long time ago, at the University of Warwick, I took a seat in the library one day, the photocopiers nearby chugging and churning away, and opened the new issue (May-June 1992) of Film Comment. As a lifelong devotee (I was only 19) of Steven Spielberg’s movies you can perhaps imagine my astonishment when I turned a page to find an essay entitled “The Panning of Steven Spielberg (Part One),” written by Henry Sheehan. To this day, Sheehan’s piece remains a touchstone in writing about Spielberg’s filmmaking. Limited to the space of a magazine page, Sheehan’s eventual two-part essay made such sense, and it was the first time that I’d really read something about Spielberg’s films that looked so consistently at the film style being deployed across his body of work.

Read More
EDITORIALJames ClarkeMUSICAL, STYLE, COLOUR, HOLLYWOODComment
“Two Cadaverous Vultures”: Disney’s Gift to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York
“Two Cadaverous Vultures”: Disney’s Gift to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York

In January 1939, the Metropolitan Museum of Art announced its acceptance of an animation cel set-up from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (David Hand, 1937) and “presented by the artist, Walt Disney” (Burroughs, 1939) (Fig. 1). The gift — an ink and gouache painting on transparent celluloid, laid over a hand-painted background — was duly hung with the museum’s other “recent accessions,” and immediately generated considerable coverage in the nation’s major newspapers, magazines, and wire services.

Read More
EDITORIALHeather HolianARCHIVES, HOLLYWOOD, CARTOON, DISNEY, CEL ANIMATION, ARTISTComment
Candyfloss Clouds and Vampires: Notes on Peter Pan (2003)
Candyfloss Clouds and Vampires: Notes on Peter Pan (2003)

Screen adaptations of the story about the boy who never grew up are plentiful, and there’s certainly a pleasure in plotting the variations and distinctions of each version. Contrary to the idea that a sequel, another retelling, or another iteration, suggests creative bankruptcy might it instead suggest new things of interest to find in each successive contribution to a particular franchise or filmography.

Read More
EDITORIALJames ClarkePETER PAN, FANTASY, ADAPTATION, HOLLYWOODComment
Rethinking the Disney Renaissance
Rethinking the Disney Renaissance

The Disney Renaissance is one of those curious constructs that circulates among the Walt Disney Company and its fan communities, entering academic studies of Disney animation largely unchallenged. What, exactly, was the Disney Renaissance? One of the many pleasures and privileges of being an animation scholar is not only to think about Disney, but to think about how we think about Disney. And unsurprisingly, a lot of the critical discourse on Disney is shaped by Disney itself.

Read More
EDITORIALPeter C. KunzeDISNEY, HISTORY, ANIMATION, CEL ANIMATION, HOLLYWOODComment
Hollywood’s Big Little Lie: why are digital VFX still cinema’s bad objects?
Hollywood’s Big Little Lie: why are digital VFX still cinema’s bad objects?

Judging from both the pre-release marketing materials and industry narratives that have surrounded both Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (Christopher McQuarrie, 2023) and Oppenheimer (Christopher Nolan, 2023), one would be forgiven for thinking that Hollywood still retains something of an aversion to digital VFX.

Read More
EDITORIALChristopher HollidaySPECIAL EFFECTS, DIGITAL, COMPUTER ANIMATION, HOLLYWOOD, FRANCHISEComment
The Hunchback of Notre Dame's "Hellfire"
The Hunchback of Notre Dame's "Hellfire"

Adapted from Victor Hugo’s gothic novel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Gary Trousdale & Kirk Wise, 1996) tells the story of bellringer Quasimodo (Tom Hulce), born with a physical deformity that gives him a hunched back. The Disney animated film first depicts Quasimodo as a baby, when he was stolen from his Romani parents by Judge Claude Frollo (Tony Jay) during one of his nighttime raids on the streets of Paris. The judge reluctantly raises Quasimodo as his own child, but keeps him locked high in a belltower away from all outside contact, until one day, a Romani dancer named Esmeralda (voiced by Demi Moore) enters Quasimodo’s life.

Read More
SEQUENCE ANALYSISAlyson HendersonVILLAINY, DISNEY, ANIMATION, MUSIC, HOLLYWOOD, ADAPTATION, GOTHICComment
Review: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers & Justin K. Thompson, 2023)
Review: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers & Justin K. Thompson, 2023)

True to the promise of its title, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson, 2023) is an exhilarating and emotional journey that continues to blaze the narrative and visual trail started by its predecessor. Made by Sony Pictures Animation in association with Marvel, the film does not open with the previous film’s Spider-Man, Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) as one might expect. Instead, it shifts the focus to Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), also known as Spider-Woman, as she finds herself embroiled in the multiversal machinations of the taciturn, pragmatic Spider-Man 2099, Miguel O’Hara (Oscar Isaac), and his spider society.

Read More
FILM REVIEWJonathan MachoHOLLYWOOD, COMPUTER ANIMATION, ADAPTATION, STYLE, FICTIONAL WORLDS, SUPERHERO Comments
Mortality over Legacy: An Analysis of The Last Unicorn
Mortality over Legacy: An Analysis of The Last Unicorn

The Last Unicorn is a fantasy feature-length animation that studies the essence of mortality. Adapted from Peter S. Beagle’s 1968 novel of the same name, it was produced by Rankin and Bass Production in 1982 and animated by Topcraft, the Japanese studio that would later splinter to become Studio Ghibli. The film follows an immortal unicorn’s journey to find the rest of her species, and it is in representing her interactions and personal struggle with the other characters she encounters, The Last Unicorn weaves an allegorical tale about the nature of humanity and the framework of mortality. Throughout her journey, the unicorn encounters characters wrestling with their own brief lives, and after an eternity of eternal youth confronts what a mortal life truly means. As I will demonstrate in this blog post, The Last Unicorn is a complex piece of memento mori literature due to its profound and intricate explorations of death, immortality, and the essence of a transient life.

Read More
EDITORIALHayden StaplesHOLLYWOOD, MAGIC, DEATH, MEMORY Comments
Review: BAFTSS Animation SIG Posthumous & Posthuman Animation Online Seminar
Review: BAFTSS Animation SIG Posthumous & Posthuman Animation Online Seminar

Last week the BAFTSS Animation SIG presented another stellar online event. This time the SIG offered to explore the uncanny territories of posthumous and posthuman animation. Organized by Dr. Sam Summers (Middlesex University) and featuring works-in-progress by a doctoral student Alice Giuliani (University of West London) and Dr. Christopher Holliday (King’s College London), the Posthumous & Posthuman Animation seminar took place on Zoom on May 10th 2023.

Read More
EVENT REVIEWAnastasiia GushchinaPOSTHUMANISM, DIGITAL, ANIMATION, HOLLYWOOD, POLITICALComment
On Tom Cruise's Animated Face
On Tom Cruise's Animated Face

Mission: Impossible II (John Woo, 2000) - the second feature in the evergreen Hollywood blockbuster franchise - is a film fascinated by the creative possibilities of Tom Cruise’s face. The film’s extended opening sequence (comprising ostensibly of two action set-pieces, see left) is structured from the start by the drama and jeopardy engendered by the star’s recognisable physiognomy.

Read More
EDITORIALChristopher HollidayHOLLYWOOD, STARDOM, DIGITAL, FACE, COMPUTER ANIMATION, SPECIAL EFFECTS, DEEPFAKESComment
Mouse House sees the value of sequels in post-pandemic Hollywood
Mouse House sees the value of sequels in post-pandemic Hollywood

Recently returned Disney CEO Bob Iger – reappointed to the company following the abrupt dismissal of his successor, Bob Chapek in November 2022 – confirmed late last week that the celebrated animation studio would be producing a slate of sequels to three of its blockbuster films. News of Zootopia 2 within Disney’s upcoming roster of features was a welcome, if not entirely unexpected, surprise given both the box office success of the 2016 original (the film took $1.02 billion and won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature) and the recent arrival of spin-off web television series Zootopia+ (Trent Correy & Josie Trinidad 2022), which premiered on Disney+ the same month as Chapek’s acrimonious exit.

Read More
EDITORIALChristopher HollidayDISNEY, SEQUEL, COMPUTER-ANIMATED FILM, PIXAR, FRANCHISE, HOLLYWOODComment
Private Snafu: Going Home (1944): Politics and Propaganda
Private Snafu: Going Home (1944): Politics and Propaganda

The American government utilized the rising popularity of animated films during the 1930s and 1940s to curate several propaganda shorts during the Second World War. The Private Snafu series aired from 1943-1946 and followed the eponymous Private Snafu whose mishaps functioned as a cautionary tale against misbehaving in the military.

Read More
SEQUENCE ANALYSISSarena DubignonPROPAGANDA, POLITICAL, WARNER BROTHERS, FILM HISTORY, HOLLYWOODComment
Spirit of Invention: The Fantasy Films of Robert Zemeckis, Part 2
Spirit of Invention: The Fantasy Films of Robert Zemeckis, Part 2

At the beginning of 2022, the film industry news reported that writer-director Robert Zemeckis was already preparing a follow up to his then-upcoming Pinocchio (2022) with another fantasy movie, albeit one that might be described as a little more ‘sombre’ in tone, being an adaptation of the graphic novel Here by Richard McGuire.

Read More
EDITORIALJames ClarkeHOLLYWOOD, COMPUTER-ANIMATED FILM, ADAPTATION, NARRATIVEComment
Review: BAFTSS Animation SIG Animated Horror Mini-Event
Review: BAFTSS Animation SIG Animated Horror Mini-Event

The first event of the new BAFTSS Animated SIG was a very spooky one. Threading the often-unexplored relationship between animation and horror and organized by Dr. Sam Summers (Middlesex University), “Animated Horror: An Online Mini-Event” (Fig. 1) took place online on October 19, 2022. Even though it was a short one, the seminar offered a great deal of varied richness on issues of liminality, transformations, and the overlapping of horrific and seemingly innocent content, within animated horror.

Read More
EVENT REVIEWJuliana VarelaHORROR, ANIMATION, DISNEY, HOLLYWOODComment
Review: Sotiris Petridis, Anatomy of the Slasher Film: A Theoretical Analysis (2019)
Review: Sotiris Petridis, Anatomy of the Slasher Film: A Theoretical Analysis (2019)

Systematic genre criticism has gone out of fashion and Sotiris Petridis’s Anatomy of the Slasher Film: A Theoretical Analysis (2019) is an attempt to respond to this pressing need in genre studies. Anatomy of the Slasher Film (Fig. 1) consists of an introduction, four chapters, a conclusion, two appendices (“Films Referenced” and “Semantic Elements”), endnotes, a filmography, a bibliography, and an index.

Read More
BOOK REVIEWJoshua TuttleHORROR, GENRE, HOLLYWOOD, HISTORYComment