After a breakup, we often need a moment of reinvention. However, getting transported to a mythical world is not usually in the cards. Unicorn Boy, a new animated feature from Matt Kiel, pushes its protagonist into chasing a new life. Using themselves as a model for its protagonist, Kiel pushes the visual envelope while maintaining … Continue reading 2023 Florida Film Festival: ‘Unicorn Boy’ Presents a Trippy Restart to Life
2023 Florida Film Festival: ‘My Love Affair with Marriage’ – A Post-Modern Attempt to Understand
Exploring the ways that men try to dominate women continually makes for fertile storytelling. Decades of gaslighting and generational violence warp the sensibilities of how humans should treat each other. Yet, in some cases, men will not accept their partner as an equal. Instead, they believe their domination should be inherent in the relationship. Director … Continue reading 2023 Florida Film Festival: ‘My Love Affair with Marriage’ – A Post-Modern Attempt to Understand
Review: ‘Suzume’ Radiates Visual Beauty and a Strange Fantastical Plot
One of the benefits of animation as a medium is that the director is only limited by their imagination. Any idea or concept can find its way onto the page. How one communicates the visual language of the idea and makes it tangible is another story entirely. Director Makoto Shinkai proved himself one of the … Continue reading Review: ‘Suzume’ Radiates Visual Beauty and a Strange Fantastical Plot
Review: ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ Brings Fun Nostalgia and Easter Eggs Galore
The curse of the video game movie seems over. A string of successful hits turned around the genre in the past few years. Pokémon: Detective Pikachu, Uncharted, and Mortal Kombat all landed positive praise. The Last of Us just dominated television. However, none of these hold a candle to the worldwide appeal of Super Mario. … Continue reading Review: ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ Brings Fun Nostalgia and Easter Eggs Galore
SXSW 2023: ‘This World is Not My Own’ Celebrates an Almost Undiscovered Master
When genius is discovered later in life, it's rarely celebrated on the same terms as those who live in the spotlight. Yet, we should recognize the near-impossible nature of going one's entire life without earning their just reward. For Nellie Mae Rowe, a local folk artist, success came in the waning years of her life. … Continue reading SXSW 2023: ‘This World is Not My Own’ Celebrates an Almost Undiscovered Master
Blu-Ray Review: ‘The Boxtrolls’ Remains a 4K Technical Behemoth
LAIKA continually pushes its animators and artisans to break new ground. Coming off the success of ParaNorman and Coraline, LAIKA could have returned to grim stories. Yet instead, they decided to tackle a far more challenging story about false narratives and government corruption. The Boxtrolls also forced LAIKA to develop as visual storytellers, especially with … Continue reading Blu-Ray Review: ‘The Boxtrolls’ Remains a 4K Technical Behemoth
Blu-Ray Review: Kubo and the Two Strings – LAIKA and Shout Factory! Deliver Another Gem
In 2016, LAIKA Studios released its most ambitious project to date. Director Travis Knight had worked as an animator on their previous films and despite being CEO of LAIKA, had waited for the right project to step into the director's chair. Knight's choice brought East-Asian influence and centered storytelling above all else. Kubo and the … Continue reading Blu-Ray Review: Kubo and the Two Strings – LAIKA and Shout Factory! Deliver Another Gem
Review: ‘Puss in Boots: The Last Wish’ Brings Big Laughs, and Shockingly Big Heart
In 2005, a star took over a young franchise on the come-up. While 2001's Shrek won the first-ever Best Animated Feature Oscar, the arrival of Puss in Boots, voiced by Antonio Banderas, became a watershed moment for Dreamworks. Rather than rest on the laurels of the first film, their new character stole Shrek 2 from its established stars.
Review: A Whole New ‘Strange World’ for You and Me
The Walt Disney studios first released a full-length animated movie in 1937, a full eighty-five years ago. Eighty- five years before that, the United States was still 9 years away from engaging in civil war. Perhaps a strange way to begin a review, but not without context. Eighty-five years is a long time when generational … Continue reading Review: A Whole New ‘Strange World’ for You and Me
Shout! Factory Releases an Exciting 4K Restoration of ‘Coraline’ from LAIKA Studios
After releasing two stop-motion features for Disney, Henry Selick teamed up with a company without much of a reputation. A small studio reorganized after being purchased by Phil Knight (Nike's owner and CEO), adopting the new name of LAIKA Studios. After bringing in Selick, the new studio developed stop-motion features, the first of which would … Continue reading Shout! Factory Releases an Exciting 4K Restoration of ‘Coraline’ from LAIKA Studios