The Illusionist
An aging stage magician is feeling depressed at being phased out in favor of rock musicians. And the he's uplifted by meeting a young woman who believes his magic is real. But sustaining her belief may lead to his financial ruin. A charming and beautiful and melancholy animated film. Sad and yet a joy to watch...
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Megamind
You know when you remove Superman's humility and self-sacrifice, its really easy to understand Lex Luthor's desire to snuff him. Anyway, funny movie. Also, more super-villains should have musical accompaniment...
The Secret of Kells
So pretty. So very, very pretty. I liked Toy Story 3 quite a bit, but this totally kicks its ass in terms of imagination and story...
Summer Wars
Pretty. Very pretty. Ok and you've also got a lonely math nerd and a video game nerd teaming up to attempt to save the internet (and the rest of the world) from a rogue military A.I. using the power of family. But mostly, oh so pretty...
All-Star Superman
Doomed Planet.
Desperate Scientists.
Last Hope.
Kindly Couple.
The four panels that encapsulate Superman's origin and open the Grant Morrison All-Star Superman. And the same eight words serve to open the animated adaptation. Lex Luthor has a new plan to kill Superman and it looks like its working. Now, dieing from an overdose of solar radiation Superman speeds about putting his house in order. Until once again, its time for a climatic battle with Luthor...
While much had to be cut in the adaptation, the All-Star Superman animated film still retains much of what was important from the original. Including of course a brief moment of cross-dressing Jimmy Olsen...
Desperate Scientists.
Last Hope.
Kindly Couple.
The four panels that encapsulate Superman's origin and open the Grant Morrison All-Star Superman. And the same eight words serve to open the animated adaptation. Lex Luthor has a new plan to kill Superman and it looks like its working. Now, dieing from an overdose of solar radiation Superman speeds about putting his house in order. Until once again, its time for a climatic battle with Luthor...
While much had to be cut in the adaptation, the All-Star Superman animated film still retains much of what was important from the original. Including of course a brief moment of cross-dressing Jimmy Olsen...
Tangled
I nice mid-carder of a Disney movie. Feisty new style Disney Princess lead, couple of anthropomorphic animal companions, decent villain, pleasant if forgettable songs. Cute and enjoyable but nothing truly special...
Rango
A fun and enjoyable Western. The Nickolodean animators did an amazing job creating one of the ugliest casts of talking animals I've seen in a talking animal picture. The plot wasn't terribly innovative, being Fool Hero wins thru Lies & Luck, is Forced to Admit to Falsehood by Big Bad, Epiphany Quest and Heroic Return. But well done nonetheless...
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
This was a..surprisingly good action/disaster movie. Much more so then the recent spate of "and then the world was fucked and their was nothing anyone could do" movies. And the animation of the giant weather food was very cleverly done. Plus plenty of funny. Just a delightful surprise all around...
Despicable Me
Fun movie. The little kid characters were cute without being cloying. The main "villain" was face-punchingly annoying as he was meant to be. And I totally called his origin. The only big downside was that, other than the title song, I don't think the r&b soundtrack meshed with the movie's style very well...
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Daria: Is it College Yet?
An enjoyable finish to one of the better animated shows around. Daria and Jane, the cynical queens of sarcasm prepares to graduate high school and go off to college. This short movie also spends time looking at the various supporting cast members. And its always nice to be reminded that younger sister Quinn wasn't quite as shallow as she acts...
The Princess & the Frog
The only major disappointment with this movie is that Disney missed the chance to have a truly memorable sound-track by shackling the musical numbers to the cookie-cutter talents of Randy Newman. Just hammering home that even when they try to be different with their fairy tale adaptations, Disney stays the same...
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Legion of Super-Heroes, vol.3
Yay, Subs episode! Ok and the Sorceror's World and Cosmic Boy and Matter Eater Lad and the return of the Fatal Five and heroic last stands and hey the Subs again. Yay Subs!
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Things I've Learned From Polling #7, vol.2
1. Space Turtle and Space Pony #3 tie in popularity as pets.
2. People who are displeasing to despotic overlords should be shot out of a cannon at holidays or just plain exploded.
3. People would be most likely to watch Prohibition Cheers or Her Majesty Catherine the Great and Mr. Ed.
4. Of all the many and varied anthromorphic teen/animal hybrids, Turtle Power still ranks supreme.
5. Marc Singer, Ernest Borgnine and/or Michael Keaton seem to be the most likely to make a come-back as an action star.
6. People hate Scrappy Doo the most of all annoying sidekicks. Not surprising.
7. The most popular reason to be interested in space travel is to get off this death trap planet.
8. A) Owl knows what Owl did and B) Owl puts the lotion in the basket or Owl gets the hose again are the most popular scenarios.
9. Thrill to the adventures of Dr. Funkadelic Kung-Fu Jones, Dr. Umlaut VonMetal and/or Dr. Johnny Fever Sanchez.
10. Luthor narrowly edges out VonDoom as favoritest super-villain.
2. People who are displeasing to despotic overlords should be shot out of a cannon at holidays or just plain exploded.
3. People would be most likely to watch Prohibition Cheers or Her Majesty Catherine the Great and Mr. Ed.
4. Of all the many and varied anthromorphic teen/animal hybrids, Turtle Power still ranks supreme.
5. Marc Singer, Ernest Borgnine and/or Michael Keaton seem to be the most likely to make a come-back as an action star.
6. People hate Scrappy Doo the most of all annoying sidekicks. Not surprising.
7. The most popular reason to be interested in space travel is to get off this death trap planet.
8. A) Owl knows what Owl did and B) Owl puts the lotion in the basket or Owl gets the hose again are the most popular scenarios.
9. Thrill to the adventures of Dr. Funkadelic Kung-Fu Jones, Dr. Umlaut VonMetal and/or Dr. Johnny Fever Sanchez.
10. Luthor narrowly edges out VonDoom as favoritest super-villain.
Ponyo
Miyazaki tells a tale of a fish who is the daughter of a wizard and a goddess who falls in love with a young boy and decides to become a human. And then lots of weird stuff happens including mass flooding and giant ancient fish-monsters that just swim along being all mellow. Watching this one I was struck by how well Studio Ghibli does movement. Especially things moving fast. People and animals running, cars zipping along tiny roads, water rushing about. Or just the way liquids slosh and divide and merge in their films. Also, this Miyazaki tale is very slight on character and story but heavy on some gorgeous sea-themed imagery...
Toy Story 3
An excellent finale for the series. Plenty of truly touching moments, genuinely funny jokes and lines and even a few brief creepy scenes. Plus this is the first one with what comes off as an actually evil villain...
Hell, even the scenes with Ken & Barbie were enjoyable. Especially the fashion sequence...
Hell, even the scenes with Ken & Barbie were enjoyable. Especially the fashion sequence...
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