New Trailer: Frozen

Here's a first look at Arendelle, 'the land covered in eternal snow' in the first official trailer of Disney's Frozen which arrives in theaters this Thanksgiving.  We finally get to see the characters who reside in the world of Arendelle such as the ice man Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), the prince Hans (Santino Fontana), the snowman Olaf (Josh Gad) and of course, the two warring sisters Anna (Kirsten Bell) and Elsa (Idina Menzel).  There's lots of action, lots of adventure and lots of ice and snow! I'm really liking what I see of Olaf already, he's by far my favorite character in the film.  Anna and Kristoff really remind me of Finn and Rapunzel in Tangled.  What did you think of the new trailer?

New clip from Tangled Ever After!

Wow, I didn't know there was a new short from Tangled premiering in front of the re-release of Beauty and the Beast in 3D.  Thanks to Big Screen Animation for finding this out.  I'm glad that will be more stories to tell in the Tangled universe.  I really liked Rapunzel and Flynn Rider.  The short is called "Tangled Ever After" and here's a summary of what it is about:

The Kingdom is in a festive mood as everyone gathers for the royal wedding of Rapunzel and Flynn. However, when Pascal and Maximus, as flower chameleon and ring bearer, respectively, lose the gold bands, a frenzied search and recovery mission gets underway.
As the desperate duo tries to find the rings before anyone discovers that they’re missing, they leave behind a trail of comical chaos that includes flying lanterns, a flock of doves, a wine barrel barricade and a very sticky finale. Will Maximus and Pascal save the day and make it to the church in time? And will they ever get Flynn’s nose right?

I can't wait to see this! Looks absolutely gorgeous! 

For Your Consideration

Today is the last day for the ballots to vote for Oscar and since this is my blog, I'm going to make a case for the films that I loved over the past year.  This will make absolutely no difference to the Oscars being held on Sunday, but I'd like to believe they will.  Humor me! Without further ado, here are a few films that deserve the big prize:

How To Train Your Dragon

Inception

The Social Network

Tangled

Movie Review: Tangled

Disney's 50th animated feature Tangled (what an incredible achievement!) doesn't disappoint.  It has all the requisite things that make it a typical Disney film: a strong female lead who knows what she wants, a hero who won't know what he wants until he meets the heroine, a cast of supporting characters who amuse and entertain us and music that will leaving you humming from the theater.  Honestly, what's not to love?

Tangled is the tale of Rapunzel (Mandy Moore), a princess stolen during infancy and kept locked away in a tower until the day a thief called Flynn Rider (Zachary Levi) tries to hide in her tower and changes her life.  The lead characters, Rapunzel and Flynn are extremely likable.  Rapunzel, with her impossibly big eyes and that hair, is so giddy at being allowed to break all the rules because she wants to see what lights up the skies every year on her birthday.  Flynn has to take her to see lanterns because she holds hostage an item dear to him, the royal crown. 

Of course, it's not going to be as simple as that, though.  Fresh on their heels are Mother Gothel (Donna Murphy), the woman who kidnapped Rapunzel all those years ago, the palace guards, and the Flynn's former partners.  And Mother Gothel is seriously bad, she only uses Rapunzel to keep herself young.  Obviously, you can guess what happens next.  Flynn and Rapunzel make it to see the lanterns in one of the most breathtaking parts of the whole film, the lake and the lanterns that float over it are absolutely gorgeous.  It had echoes from The Little Mermaid with Ariel and Prince Eric.   The song, "I See the Light" is typical Alan Menken and that's a good thing.  Who knew that Zachary Levi could sing so well?    

I mustn't forget Maximus the horse and Pascal the chameleon, the supporting characters and friends of our hero and heroine who thankfully do not talk but provide the necessary humor and love in the story.  The animation of Maximus was the best, it got the biggest laughs in the theater.  I loved this throwback to the old Disney princess tales of the 1990s and it would be a shame if it was the last of the Disney princess stories because I grew up watching these kind of animated tales and it is what Disney is most well known for.  

Directed by Nathan Greno and Bryan Howard; Screenplay by Dan Fogelman; Original Music by Alan Menken

Voice Talents of: Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi, Donna Murphy, Ron Perlman, M.C. Gainey, Jeffrey Tambor, Brad Garrett, Paul F. Tompkins

Rating: 

Annie Awards Nominations

The Annie Awards nominations are out!! No, it's not about little red-haired orphan girls.  These are the Animation Awards, the highest awards given out by the animation industry.  As usual, it's mostly between the big 2, DreamWorks and Pixar.  A couple of months ago, Pixar famously withdrew from the Annie Awards for unjust judging.  A close eye shall be kept on these proceedings for sure.

PRODUCTION CATEGORIES

Best Animated Feature
Despicable Me – Illumination Entertainment
How to Train Your Dragon – DreamWorks Animation
Tangled – Disney
The Illusionist – Django Films
Toy Story 3 – Disney/Pixar

Best Animated Short Subject
Coyote Falls – Warner Bros. Animation
Day & Night – Pixar
Enrique Wrecks the World – House of Chai
The Cow Who Wanted To Be A Hamburger – Plymptoons Studio
The Renter – Jason Carpenter


Rest of the nominees under the cut

New Movie Posters - Animation Edition

Don't mess with the Po-Po!!!

More posters from Kung Fu Panda 2, Megamind, The Illusionist, Tangled and Rio after the cut...

Around the world in Posters!

When Johnny met Angelina

Around the world in Posters!

It's already released but I couldn't resist putting up these cute Korean posters.

It's Trailer Time!!!

It's here, The Tourist.  After seeing pictures of Brad, Angelina and the kids all summer in Venice (but no Johnny Depp), I was wondering what will this movie be about?



In recent years, Johnny Depp has played all sorts of interesting and varied characters, Jack Sparrow, Willy Wonka, Sweeney Todd and the Mad Hatter to name a few. This time, Depp plays an American tourist named Frank who meets a woman, Elise (Angelina Jolie), on a train and quite suddenly is involved in a case of mistaken identity and boat chases and lots of men with guns after him.

Best exchange of the trailer
Depp: You're ravenous!
Jolie: Do you mean ravishing?
Depp: I do.

This will be interesting if only for the star power the movie has. Along with Depp and Jolie, the cast includes Paul Bettany, Timothy Dalton and Rufus Sewell. The film is directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film for The Lives of Others, one of the best German films and has possibly the best ending of any movie I've seen.

Disney's Tangled is impressing me with each trailer it releases. It's warm and fuzzy and I think I want to live there. With the voice talents of Zachary Levi (Chuck), Mandy Moore (A Walk to Remember) and Brad Garrett (Everybody Loves Raymond), this one is sure to please. The UK trailer, I believe, is slightly different and that's the one I've posted here.



Also from Disney, Disney Pixar that is, is the first look at the Cars Toon: Mater's Tall Tales. The 9 short toons from the Cars universe will be released on DVD November 2.



The Fighter brings together Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale for the first time. Directed by David O. Russell (Three Kings), The Fighter is the story of the early years of boxer 'Irish' Micky Ward (Wahlberg) and his brother (Bale). Amy Adams and Melissa Leo are also a part of the cast.



Last but not least, to remind you that Christmas is only 3 months away comes The Nutcracker 3D. Because everything is better in 3D. Let's hope it doesn't suffer the same fate as last year's A Christmas Carol 3D. Starring Elle Fanning, John Turturro, Nathan Lane and Charlie Rowe and directed by Andrei Konchalovsky, it's the movie the whole family can enjoy during the holidays.

Around the world in Posters!

Poster lineup time!

This one's a beauty.  Absolutely gorgeous.

aka Glitter 2.  You know it's true.  

The darling of festival season

There's something to be said about pictures being louder than words. 

And then everything becomes clear.  Check out the title written IN BLOOD!!!

Remove Anne Hathaway and this poster will be perfect. 

Tagline: It takes two to get tangled.

Tangled Poster by way of France. Love the colors!

Creepy poster of The Town

Not so creepy French poster.

This sort of reminds me of the Star Wars posters minus the illustrations. 

Tron Poster from France

And from Russia

Newest film from Woody Allen

I prefer this poster from Spain.  Lovely!