The Boxtrolls movie review: avert your eyes
There’s a fine line between baroque and grotesque… and The Boxtrolls crosses it. Here is a film that actively makes you want to look away.
Coraline
ParaNorman (review)
Dismal, yet profound and pungent, ParaNorman makes its points in ways more sharp and brutal than other “children’s” films. This is a story about ostracism and bigotry taken to extremes, and about our own unspoken prejudices and assumptions.
question of the day: What are some good movies (and TV and books) with young girls as heroes?
Dan addressed this to me, but I’m opening it up to everyone because this is a tough one. There simply aren’t that many movies that fulfill Dan’s requirement…
this is why Neil Gaiman is a god
I don’t know why it took this long, but yesterday, the Guardian published “A nobody’s guide to the Oscars,” by Neil Gaiman. He was present at that august event because he wrote the source material for Coraline, which was nominated for Best Animated Feature: I had also written a 15-second sequence for the Oscars, in … more…
Oscar predictions: ‘The Hurt Locker’ won’t be hurting
UPDATED: Winners are indicated with ♦s. I made informed guesses in 20 of the 24 categories; of those, I guessed 12 correctly. (Well, 13, really, except that in the animated short category in the original version of this page, I had both “The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)” and “Logorama” checked … more…
Neil Gaiman is awesome, Regis Philbin is an idiot, Jay Leno and the end of America, and more: leftover links
Every week my browser gets cluttered up with tabs for stuff that I stumble across and figure I might be able to use as a Question of the Day or a WTF Thought for the Day or grist for some other post. And inevitably, I end the week with most of that material unused. But … more…
totally quotable! 2009
Here are the most quotable movie lines of the year 2009. No ranking — newer quotes are posted at the top. [Warning: May contain spoilers.] “I’m craving a burger. Is that strange?” –Sergeant Matt Thompson (Guy Pearce), as he puts on his bomb suit, The Hurt Locker “If he wasn’t an insurgent, he sure the … more…
question of the day: Is this the greatest year ever for animated films?
Peter Hartlaub at SFGate’s The Poop — a baby blog, not a movie blog — recently asked raised an intriguing possibility: [T]his may be the greatest year for animated feature films of all time. One could make make a strong argument for 1937 with the seminal “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” 1940 with “Pinocchio” … more…
question of the day: What will the five nominees for Best Animated Feature Film be?
The 20 pictures in contention for five nominee slots — up from three in recent years — for the upcoming Academy Awards in the Best Animated Feature Film category have been announced. They are: Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel Astro Boy Battle for Terra Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Coraline Disney’s A Christmas … more…
September 18: DVD alternatives to this weekend’s multiplex offerings
We know how it is: You’d like to go to the movies this weekend, but it’s raining spaghetti and meatballs out there. But you can have a multiplex-like experience at home with a collection of the right DVDs. And when someone asks you on Monday, “Hey, did you check out that new 3D animated movie … more…
