Michael Sporn Animation – Splog

- John Canemaker’s latest column for Print Magazine is now posted on the website. Called Fred Astaire, the Human Mickey Mouse, the title was taken from a review of Follow the Fleet written by Graham Greene in 1936. John elaborates on the theme and gives video examples such as Thru the Mirror and Top Hat or Cock o’ the Walk and Flying Down to Rio or many others to back up his piece. Worth the read.

___________________
.
- Brad Bird’s The Iron Giant, The director’s feature debut, will have a Holiday Week Engagement at the
Film Forum, December 22-28.

From the Press Release

Released at a time when digital animation, musical numbers and abundant pop-culture references were in vogue, the elegantly hand-drawn, filmed in Scope, IRON GIANT met with critical praise but underwhelming returns at the box office. The film so impressed Pixar they hired Bird for his next project, THE INCREDIBLES. Bird’s subsequent successes have aroused new interest in THE IRON GIANT, though it has rarely been revived in theaters.

Anyone who loves animation should see this rerelease, even if ou’ve seen it before. It’s an important film marking the start of the director’s career. It’s only playing for one week, so schedule it now.
December 22 – 28 at Film Forum, 209 W. Houston St. (W. of 6th Av.)
with screenings daily at 1:00, 2:50, 4:40, 6:30, 8:20 and 1010.

___________________
.
- William Benzon‘s fine blog, New Savannah, has an excellent piece on Miyazaki‘s My Neighbor Tototoro. Bill wrote me about the article:

While the film is quite different from Porco Rosso or Spirited Away, I¹m pursuing the same conceptual thread, how Miyazaki deploys fantasy characters. In this case it¹s the Totoro. Despite that fact that they¹re the title characters, they don¹t appear until 29 minutes into the film, just over a third of the way through. And the way Miyazaki brings them in ‹ from acorns, to soot sprites, to Totoro ‹ is astonishing in its deft detail. And I didn¹t even mention Miyazaki¹s use of tunnel views (which starts early in the film, even before the camphor tree), though you can see it in the screen shots.

___________________
.
- A reminder for all those living in NY and LA: The Illusionist will open on Christmas Day, Dec. 25th and will follow soon, thereafter, in other cities.

I’m sure there won’t be a lot of advertising behind it, but I suggest you see it. It’s my favorite animated film of the last year. Actually, it may be my favorite film of the year.

I’ve seen it once and have arranged to see it again and can’t wait to share it with Heidi. I’ll certainly write about it again, so you’ll have to put up with that or click to another blog.

Subscribe to the comments through RSS Feed