We begin this issue with a bit of news that isn’t exactly new. You may have heard that Rhythm and Hues, the company behind the Academy Award-winning visual effects in Life of Pi, declared bankruptcy shortly before the Oscars. What is new, and just as jaw dropping as the digital READ MORE >
A book recommendation? In the Hollywood issue? You bet. We love our moving pictures, but we’ll never turn down a subject that moves us, and the central theme driving Ty Burr’s new book does just that. As ad people we get an inside look at how products go from idea READ MORE >
You may have heard of a little film festival in Park City Utah called Sundance. It’s no Lebowskifest, but we hear it’s quite popular with Hollywood’s tabloid elite and idealistic young filmmakers itching to sell out. Want a taste? A little catnip, perhaps? You can watch 12 of the festival’s READ MORE >
We know it’s fun to bemoan just how far the original spirit of Sundance has jumped over the proverbial shark. We’re guilty of it ourselves (see above). But then we’re really just denying the reality of what Sundance has to offer year in and year out, and that’s quality filmmaking. READ MORE >
If you’ve seen the film HUGO you’ve probably been exposed to the wonder and vision of an early film maker named Georges Melies. The film orchestrates a fictional relationship between Melies and a young boy, who helps him rediscover his love of the moving image. In real life Mieles was READ MORE >
The animated movie Up is now available on disc. This, of course, it not news. We just want to pay tribute to the brilliance of this love story. The first 12 minutes of this film are simply magical. Not because of how high they take you, but how low. There READ MORE >
On September 1st we posted about the advertising documentary Art & Copy and referenced that advertising great Lee Clow bore a striking resemblance to the late great Jim Henson – but we didn’t provide proof. Our bad. We’ll let you guess who’s who.
We are very excited to hear that Warner Bros has a major motion picture in the works for one of our all-time favorite toys – LEGO. Rumor has it the movie will mix live action with animation. Whatever happens, we can’t wait because few toys have been able to capture READ MORE >
Want to succeed in business? Then fail. Make mistakes. But do it quickly and move on. Sound scary? Not when it comes from John Lasseter, former Pixar chief and now top dog at Walt Disney Animation. In this article from Variety, Lasseter preaches learning from failure and, coming from the READ MORE >
Many years ago, American Express ran a print ad featuring Lee Clow, an ad man who looks a lot like the late Jim Henson. It would be fair to say 99.9% of the people who saw the ad probably said, “I thought Jim Henson was dead.” But to the .1% READ MORE >