Daily post 12 Dec 2008 09:12 am
Odds and Friends
- For those of you who haven’t seen it, there is a blog devoted to artwork and photographs and some film clips of animator, Fred Moore. It’s a Spanish site run by Pedro Daniel. (Thanks to Matt Jones for directing me to it – again.)
And speaking of Matt Jones, he has a great post on his Ronald Searle tribute blog. it tells of his “pilgrimage” to meet Searle. it’s a great read.
Oswald Iten‘s blog offers intelligent and thoughtful consideration of a number of films, but his writing on 101 Dalmatians is excellent. Currently, he discusses the voice of the narrator throughout the film as it changes perspective. this has been one of my principal concerns in making and watching films. Who is telling the story? Whose perspective are we supposed to be viewing? When films slip in and out of this, I grow too easily annoyed. Lately, there’s been a lot of lax storytelling; many film makers have gotten lazy and are not telling the story properly. It makes for a good read on Oswald’s blog.
Also, if you haven’t read some of his consideration of the color design of the Dalmatian film, you should take the time to read.
- For some reason, I have this photo/clipping in my folder. These are Walt Disney’s hand prints. The image came from a Life Magazine issue. I’m not sure if I actually scanned this from the magazine (I think I did since I own the issue) or if I lifted it from someone else’s blog. If I did, I apologize, but the image is a great one.
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- My friend Stephen MacQuignon has his first two published children’s books for sale on Amazon.
I’d like to congratulate Steve and direct you to the link. It’s been a long time coming, and he deserves a little praise for the fine work he’s done for so many years. Steve was THE principal colorist on my film,
The Red Shoes and many others.
Go here to check them out or buy them.
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- Finally, it’s always fun watching the year’s choices for the Film Bests of the year. The LA Film Critic Assn chose Wall E as Best Picture of the year, but Waltz with Bashir was the Best Animated Feature. Is that telling or just confusing?
The NY Film Critics Circle named Wall E as Best Animated Feature.
We’ll hear from Boston and Chicago in the next week.
I have to admit that there was a good crop of features this year. I’d call Waltz with Bashir the best Flash animated feature I’ve seen, but that honor belongs to Sita Sings the Blues. Nina Paley’s Sita Sings the Blues is certainly the best of the lot though it’s $220,000 away from the possibility of a release. Bill Plympton’s Idiots and Angels is possibly his best feature and deserves more attention. Officially, though, it won’t be released until next year.
on 12 Dec 2008 at 5:22 pm 1.Emmett Goodman said …
WALL-E winning a best picture award is something big, in my opinion. I heard its the first time the LA Film Critics awarded best picture to an animated feature. And at least WALTZ WITH BASHIR got recognized as well.
I hope Nina Paley gets the distribution she deserves. I still can’t believe copyright is that stingy. Hopefully, she will sell enough DVD’s at screenings to make it by fall next year.