Subject: Animated Films

• REMINDER: "PAPRIKA" TONIGHT AT THE NEWPORT BEACH FILM FEST

  Don't miss out on Satoshi Kon's newest anime masterpiece, tonight at 7 p.m. at the Lido Theater, a full month before anyone else in the country gets to see it. More info here, but it looks like tickets are only available at the box office, not online. And no, Satoshi didn't pay us to plug his flick. It's just that damn good.

  April 25, 2007

• Orange County in The Simpsons Movie Trivia Contest!

  Am still groggy from staying up for last night's midnight screening of The Simpsons Movie at Fullerton's AMC 20. Packed house, mucho laughs (although it's nowhere near genius, and South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut was much better) and you should make your Simpsons avatar soon. Not only that, we were delighted to see TWO explicit references to Orange County in the movie (okay: one's a bit less obvious than the other, but if you drive past the southbound 405 Freeway at night around Costa Mesa,

  July 27, 2007

• Comic-Con 2007: Wall-E

  "What if mankind had to evacuate Earth, and somebody forgot to turn the last robot off?" This is the idea behind Wall.E, which stands for Waste Allocation Load Lifter - Earth class (pronounced "Wally," as in George). Director Andrew Stanton is determined to capture the epic spirit and sense of wonder in the '70s sci-fi flicks he grew up with...but done PIxar-style. yep, this is a Pixar-Disney production, and in the spirit of the MTV movie awards, is next year's "Best Summer Movie You Haven't S

  July 28, 2007

• Comic-Con 2007: Masquerade Ball liveblogging

  Saturday night is costume contest time at Comic-Con.Let's try live-blogging this mofo while vaguely inebriated. Logging in a bit belatedly. Line for free nachoes was huge -- they went instantly. Most costumes so far are cute li'l kids as Huntress, Rayden/Scorpion from Mortal Kombat, other similar heroes. Sand-People choir was funny. Good Boba Fett to start. Bollywood-style Medusa -- nice concept. Dr. Who costume not so good -- but working Dalek w/lights is cool. Ghost Rider w/bike -- nice

  July 28, 2007

• "Death" takes to DVD

  One (or two, depending on how you look at it) of the highlights of the past Newport Beach Film Festival was the Death Note movies, the latest in a powerhouse franchise from Japan that began with comics, then spawned an anime series and many toys, and finally these live-action adaptations. Death Note and Death Note: The Last Name are really more like one big story cut in a half than a story with a sequel; fans of the anime have been hard of them, but I wrote at the time that "for all the twists a

  September 18, 2007

• Oscar Nominations are announced

  And yes, I'm up prior to the crack of dawn to get them to you. The biggest surprise, if you can call it that, is the strong showing by MICHAEL CLAYTON, with six nominations. Not so surprisingly, THERE WILL BE BLOOD and NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN each have eight. Via CNN, because it announced even before the official Oscar site: The nominees for best picture are "No Country for Old Men," "There Will Be Blood," "Atonement," "Juno" and "Michael Clayton." JUNO? Really? Just goes to show there's a ri

  January 22, 2008

• Hit List

  WEB EXCLUSIVE! The top movies of 2007

  December 27, 2007

• The future, Now Past, Looks Like the Present in the Newest Philip K. Dick Anthology From the Library of America

  September 18, 2008

• In the Latest Round of Effects vs. Storytelling, Effects Win Big in 'Monsters Vs. Aliens'

  March 26, 2009

• Jeffrey Katzenberg's Cure-All for an Ailing Movie Economy, In All Three Dimensions

  December 25, 2008

• 'Bolt,' Disney's Latest 'Toon, Is a Starry Dog Story

  November 20, 2008

• Oil Can

  June 5, 2008

• [Special Screenings] Local Showings of 'Harold and Maude,' 'Iron Giant,' 'Lawrence of Arabia,' More

  June 5, 2008

• Cult Disney

  May 1, 2008

• 'Horton Hears a Who!' Is a Surprisingly Strong Dr. Seuss Adaptation

  March 13, 2008

• It Doesnt Suck!

  WEB EXCLUSIVE! Breathe easy, Simpsons fans. The movie is eeeexellent

  July 26, 2007

• Trendzilla

  Trendzilla dons sorting hat, fits right in with the Slytherins—being a reptile and all
  

  July 19, 2007

• New Reviews

  We recommend: Eagle Vs. Shark, Ratatouille, Sicko, Strike

  June 28, 2007

• Cartoon geekboys are go!

  July 1, 2004

• Ogreload

  Third times the charmless for Shrek franchise

  May 17, 2007

• Over the Hedge and Under the Radar

  Mapping todays kiddie-movie landscape

  May 18, 2006

• Dreamgirl

  Paprika leaps into the collective consciousnessand spices it up

  April 12, 2007

• Twelve Films I'm Excited to See

  (And eight I plan to avoid like the plague)

  April 12, 2007

• John, Long Gone

  A final introspective, before the Sympathy records founder moves
  

  February 1, 2007

• Dance of the Penguin

  That whole talking animal genre? Let's be done with it

  November 16, 2006

• Unreal Estate

  July 20, 2006

• Truly, Madly, Darkly

  July 6, 2006

• Turning Japanese

  June 30, 2005

• White Magic

  June 9, 2005

• Drawn Out

  March 17, 2005

• The Realm of the Unreal

  January 13, 2005

• A Tale of Two Tokyos

  January 15, 2004

• Zip It!

  April 4, 2002

• Fear Factory

  May 31, 2001

• [Special Screenings] Q Film Festival, 'Fight Club,' 'Princess Mononoke,' More

  May 7, 2009

• Short-Attention Spanners Rejoice: 8 Solid NBFF Shorts

  There are many solid feature-length films on the bill at this year's Newport Beach Film Festival, which shifts into full gear today and continues through Thursday, April 30. But some of the best stuff pre-screened for your consumption were shorts, in particular these eight animated and live-action diddies. All are shown in the Edwards Island Cinemas at Fashion Island in batches with other shorts, which explains why some showtimes given match other films listed here. Just go with it . . .BECAUSE

  April 24, 2009

• 'Up' Soars in Entirely Unexpected Ways

  May 28, 2009

• Dishney: D23 Full Schedule Revealed!

  ​How much do you like Disney? Annual Passport holder? Fine. But are you dedicated? Or rather: Are you 23? Like we discussed previously, the first ever d23 Expo is coming to town September 10-13. It's four whole days dedicated to all things Disneyana at the Anaheim Convention Center. The schedule for the event has recently been announced and even for an admitted closet Disney fanatic, it seems pretty promising. Thursday's highlights brings us speaker and CEO of the Walt Disney Company Bob Iger

  August 26, 2009

• In '9,' Shane Acker Creates an Animated Postapocalyptic Hellscape

  September 10, 2009

• Wes Anderson Brings His Wes Anderson-ness to the Animated 'Fantastic Mr. Fox'-and It's a Perfect Fit

  November 12, 2009