It's possible that everyone in the world has seen this Banksy storyboarded and directed intro to the latest episode of The Simpsons. I still wanted to post it here as it is a great piece of animation. The score and content works perfectly and at just over a minute long this is an incredibly emotive piece of film.
This short animated film for the New Zealand Book Council is beautiful. Animated by Andersen M Studio and produced by Colenso BBDO it's a lovely evocative piece of work that fits Maurice Gee's Going West perfectly.
Released yesterday is the new trailer for Norwegian film - Trollhunter. It's the story of a documentary film crew trying to uncover the truth about trolls and that the Government has been covering up their existence for years.
The trailer features some great looking effects work and I wonder if we will ever see a release here in the UK.
Due to start screening on TV at the end of October in the US and here on FX shortly after is the Frank Darabont (of The Shawshank Redemption fame) adaption of the Image comic by Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard and Tony Moore, The Walking Dead.
The Walking Dead is the story of small town police officer Rick Grimes, who survives a Zombie apocalypse. A trailer was shown at the San Diego Comic-Con recently which revealed a series that looked astounding and is on my must see TV list for the autumn.
A few days ago Daniel Kanemoto posted his version of an opening title sequence for the show, and to be honest I can't see the official version surpassing it. It is a truly inspired piece of work that fits the comic and hopefully the show that follows perfectly.
Who said 2D animation is dead? Anime studio Madhouse's new film Red Line is getting an American screening at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas this weekend.
The trailer looks great and I wonder how long it will be before we see a release here in the UK.
The first of the two films bringing the Harry Potter story to a close is almost upon us. Machinima has posted the latest trailer and it looks astounding. I'm so pleased they are releasing this around the Christmas period as I much prefer seeing the Harry Potter films in the winter, it just seems to suit the magical nature of the films.
Anyway if you haven't seen it already - feast your eyes on this, I for one am excited about seeing this film.
Space Battleship Yamato may be better know to western anime and manga fans as Star Blazers, a little seen, in the UK at least, series from 1974. I remember seeing images from the series in imported magazines and was always impressed by the battleship in space designs. It's an idea that Battlestar Galactica would use to great effect a few years later, but we won't mention that.
Takashi Yamazaki is now bringing a live action version to Japanese screens in December and after seeing this trailer I hope it's not long before be see a DVD release in the UK.
Next month sees the release of a new book showing an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at one of my favourite films - Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. Full of never-before-published photos, design sketches, paintings, production notes, interviews, anecdotes and scripts this looks to be the perfect companion to already available The Making of "Star Wars": The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film
To promote the launch of the new book a trailer has been made available and just seeing those images and hearing one of the greatest film scores of all time has sent a massive shiver down my spine. This is the definitive Star Wars film for me. It got nearly every aspect perfect; story, music and one of the best film endings ever, this book is going straight on the Amazon wishlist.
The Making of the "Empire Strikes Back": The Definitive Story Behind the Film
Please have a look at the plays blog - The Three Musketeers & The Princess of Spain - to see some of Colin's superb set designs and artist Kev Harpers illustrations, of which I hope there will be at least a T-Shirt produced. The designs are looking very burtonesque and I'm loving the interviews and other materials available on the blog, great work Belgrade!
The play will run on the Belgrade Theatre Coventry's Main Stage from 9 - 23 Oct 2010 and I urge you to go see it if you can.
I'm still not convinced 3D works that well for live action films, but I'm pleased to see more animations using the technology. This is Patrice Leconte's adaptation of Jean Teule's novel 'Les Magasin Des Suicides' (The Suicide Shop). It's not slated for release until 2012, but this short trailer already has me counting the days.
One of my favourite film series from the 80's is heading back to the big screen (in the UK at least). If you've only seen Back To The Future on TV then do yourself a favour and catch it at your local flea pit from 1st October.
Jeffster from the TV show Chuck are the stars of this spin-off film as a promotion tool for Halo: Reach.
Edgar Wright tweeted about this last night. I love Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. I love Avatar: The Last Airbender. So it was obvious I'd love this great little mashup.
A few people have put me on to this little film by Ro Rao who has worked with Curious Pictures producing shorts for Amnesty International and music videos.
This short is a little on the gruesome side so be warned.
It's time for yet another Scott Pilgrim related post and it's all thanks to the incredible work of AEmovieguy. By splicing the soundtrack to the Scott Pilgrim trailer with clips from the Matrix trilogy AEmovieguy has created something incredible - a short film that makes the Matrix sequels look okay.
Do check out all of AEmovieguys other trailer mashups - my personal favourite is the Toy Story 3 / Clash of the Titans - pure genius.
jump the gun - to do something too soon, especially without thinking carefully about it
I am somewhat unhappy.
Well folks, it's time for another of my seemingly endless Scott Pilgrim related posts.
This time round I want to show you a short animation produced by Adult Swim that fills in some of Scott Pilgrims back story.
It's a really nice piece of animation so I hope you enjoy.
Scott Pilgrim the comic book has been a master class in storytelling. Bryan Lee O'Malley created an incredibly believable world. It is a world that reflects the dreams and ideas I had when I was a 22 year old, finding my way through life and love.
Edgar Wright began bringing his Scott Pilgrim vision to the screen before the comic version had been given it's ending. And although the two diverge slightly when it comes to wrapping up the story, Edgar and his team have managed to bring the snowy world of Scott's Toronto to the big screen just as it appears in the comic. Some scenes are perfect matches for their black and white counterparts. Edgar has also transferred the sounds of the comic to the screen, by taking some of O'Malley’s soundtrack suggestions (in each volume of the comic Bryan Lee O'Malley recommends a set of music tracks to accompany that volume) along with some of his own. It all works flawlessly, the perfect melding of sight and sound.
I'm not going to give you a full synopsis of the film, you can find that in most other reviews, but in essence the film is about finding the girl of your dreams and overcoming not only the physical barriers to making that relationship work but the mental ones we all put in the way of our true happiness. As an added bonus we get high octane video game/anime style fight scenes, fantastic acting, great music and a director at the top of his game, who understands his source material and his audience.
In fact, Scott Pilgrim has a lot in common with Spaced, the Channel 4 show Edgar directed over 10 years ago (it was written by and starred Simon Pegg and Jessica Hynes). Much like in Spaced there is a character somewhere in this film we can all wholly identify with. And as in Spaced, the film understands the complexity of relationships and how we deal with them.
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World may seem like an all out fantasy action film with all the pop culture bells and whistles, but the film, like the comic that inspired it, is really about people. It’s about how we deal with growing up, taking responsibility for our actions and dealing with the consequences. It’s about life and that is something that Edgar Wright has placed at the heart of his film.
I cannot recommend this film enough, its charm and wit shine. It wears its heart on its sleeve and it certainly walked away with mine. Go see it as soon as it opens in the UK on 25th August.
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
Directed by Edgar Wright
Produced by Edgar Wright, Marc Platt, Eric Gitter & Nira Park Written by Edgar Wright (Screenplay), Michael Bacall (Screenplay)
Based on the comic by Bryan Lee O’Malley
Narrated by Bill Hader
Starring Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ellen Wong, Kieran Culkin, Chris Evans, Anna Kendrick, Alison Pill, Brandon Routh, Jason Schwartzman
Music by Nigel Godrich
It's almost here - the cinema event of the year - Scott Pilgrim vs The World. If your not already convinced this will be the greatest film of all time then let me introduce you to the wonder that is the 8-bit interactive trailer. Introduced by director Edgar Wright the trailer takes you behind-the-scenes of the movie. Filled with easter egg, video game references and more, this is all the over excited geek fans of the film could want.