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2020 has been full of unwelcome surprises, but a great one has finally arrived: Don Hertzfeldt is working on a new “World of Tomorrow” film — the third in the franchise — and the acclaimed animator released a teaser trailer for the project on Monday morning.

The animated teaser is as strikingly beautiful as it is brief; a stylized landscape of some barren alien planet sets the scene, while a small creature that seems to be receiving signal inputs and jarring robotic sounds stumbles and falls. It’s not much to go on, but the melancholic music and beautiful art contrasts nicely with the jarring, whirring electronics and seemingly distressed creature. It’s artsy and contemplative — in other words, it’s just what fans of Hertzfeldt’s work will expect.

The film is subtitled “The Absent Destinations of David Prime” — take that for what you will. A release date was not provided.

The...

This year’s Sundance Film Festival will boast an eclectic mix of 66 short films across four sections, including U.S. Narrative, International Narrative, Animated, and Documentary. This year’s slate includes new offerings from filmmakers like Don Hertzfeld, who is bringing the followup to his previous Sundance effort, “World of Tomorrow,” to the annual festival, plus names like Marshall Curry, Diane Obomsawin, and Marc Johnson. Talents best known for their on-screen skills, like Dev Patel and Anna Margaret Hollyman, will also be bringing directorial efforts to the festival.

After debuting at Sundance, select short films will be presented as a traveling program at 75 theaters in the U.S. and Canada, and short films and filmmakers take part in regional Master Classes geared towards supporting emerging shorts-makers in several cities. The Short Film program is presented by YouTube.

Read More:Sundance 2018 Programming Breakdown: Big Buys, Actor-Directors, and Hot-Button Issues

Mike Plante, Senior...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the 10 short films that have been selected to advance in the voting process for the 90th Academy Awards. The 10 short films are vying for a nomination for Best Short Film. The shortlist includes the Pixar film “Lou,” written and directed by Dave Mullins. The short premiered at SXSW earlier this year and was shown in theaters ahead of “Cars 3.”

Read More:2018 Oscar Predictions: Best Animated Feature

One of the year’s highest profile short films is Don Hertzfeldt’s “World of Tomorrow Episode Two: The Burden of Other People’s Thoughts,” but it was left off the shortlist. IndieWire gave Hertzfeldt’s sequel an A+ review and the film already had a theatrical qualifying run. Hertzfeldt has been nominated for the Best Short Film Oscar twice: “Rejected” in 2000 and “World of Tomorrow” in 2016.

The 10 qualifying short films are listed...

On his Twitter profile, fiercely independent filmmaker Don Hertzfeldt describes himself as a “director of things / 2x oscar loser.” He’s selling himself short on both counts. For starters, “things” is an endearingly modest way of describing some of the most essential short films of the last 20 years, animated or otherwise; from revered early work like “Rejected,” to the trio of vignettes that were ultimately stitched together into a feature-length omnibus called “It’s Such a Beautiful Day,” Hertzfeldt has created a singular universe of stick figures in crisis.

And then there’s the bit about being a two-time “oscar loser,” a distinction that Hertzfeldt earned when “World of Tomorrow” — his first digital project — was a 2015 Academy Award nominee for Best Animated Short Film. It may not have won its creator the chance to give a speech on global television, but it did win him a legion of new fans.

Chris here. Even the most niche of cinema is getting sequelized these days. Remember Don Hertzfeldt's masterwork animated short World of Tomorrow? Of course you do. The mini-major was an unforgettable science-fiction mix of rudimentary and complex visuals with equal bits silliness and profundity, and gained as much popularity as any short film in recent memory. Well we'll get to revisit Emily Prime for Hertzfeldt's follow-up, World of Tomorrow Episode Two: The Burden of Other People's Thoughts.

Hertzfeldt has been teasing the new short on Twitter for a few months and it played Fantastic Fest to equally high praise as its predecessor. Could this mean that Hertzfeldt could be back in the Oscar shorts race again after losing two years ago? The bigger question might actually be found in the film's not-so-short title: is Hertzfeldt planning an entire saga on Emily Prime or is "episode" simply a cheeky word choice?...

Get ready! Acclaimed filmmaker Don Hertzfeldt is returning this year with another of his one-of-a-kind animated shorts called World of Tomorrow Episode Two (in full World of Tomorrow Episode Two: Burden of Other People's Thoughts), the sequel to his highly successful World of Tomorrow from a few years ago. If you've never seen it, stop what you are doing and watch World of Tomorrow right now - it's a brilliant "sci-fi" story based around the ramblings of Hertzfeldt's five-year-old niece. This sequel once again uses recordings of his niece to tell the follow-up story of Emily, who is swept into the brain of an incomplete backup clone of her future self, on a mission to reboot her broken mind. The film premiered at Fantastic Fest to some seriously rave reviews, including a rare A+ from David Ehrlich at Indiewire. I really can't wait to see this, I'm sure it's...

One of the best films of 2015 was only 17 minutes long. Don Hertzfeldt‘s brilliant, funny, heartbreaking animated short World of Tomorrow packed more nuance and emotion into its brief running time than most feature length films, and received an Oscar nomination in the process. Now Hertzfeldt is returning to the World of Tomorrow with World of Tomorrow […]

The post ‘World of Tomorrow Episode 2’ Trailer Brings You The Burden of Other People’s Thoughts appeared first on /Film.

In my time reviewing movies here on Collider, I have only ever given one A+ rating to a film. That film is World of Tomorrow Chapter Two: The Burden of Other People's Thoughts, Don Hertzfeldt's incredible follow-up to his mind-bending, soul-crushing animated short, World of Tomorrow. Appropriately, this new teaser is all about telling you how damn amazing this movie is without actually showing you much from the film. Back in 2015, the sci-fi short took home the Sundance Grand Jury Prize and went on to earn an Oscar nomination, not to mention a …...

Every week, IndieWire asks a select handful of film critics two questions and publishes the results on Monday. (The answer to the second, “What is the best film in theaters right now?”, can be found at the end of this post.)

This week’s question: In honor of “The Killing of a Sacred Deer,” what is Nicole Kidman’s greatest performance?

Vadim Rizov (@VRizov), Filmmaker Magazine

I don’t know about “best” — I haven’t seen an embarrassing chunk of what are considered her most significant roles, and I’m weak on understanding acting — but the performance that sticks most in my mind (quite possibly because I saw it at impressionable high school age) is “Dogville.” Kidman is spookily withdrawn, like an observer alien in a human body dropped into a moral wasteland which she attempts to navigate with understanding and decorum until finally it’s just too much. As in “Birth,...

Filmmaker Don Hertzfeldt is an animator who gained internet fame with his wacky and subversive short film “Rejected,” an early viral video back in 2000 way before YouTube was even a thing. His crude, stick figure drawings have come a long way since then, when his 2015 short “World of Tomorrow” won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and was eventually nominated for an Oscar. Now he’s made a sequel to that daring, award-winning short, “World of Tomorrow Episode Two: The Burden of Other People’s Thoughts,” which premiered at last monht’s Fantastic Fest. And today on Twitter,...

It seems a little too generous to be getting the first previews for our two most-anticipated films of the fall on the same day, but we won’t complain. Following the trailer for the next film from Paul Thomas Anderson, the first teaser for Don Hertzfeld’s sci-fi sequel World of Tomorrow Episode Two: The Burden of Other People’s Thoughts has landed.

The follow-up to his 2015 Oscar-nominated short film, we’ll hopefully soon learn about distribution details, but in the meantime, check out the teaser below, following an excerpt from our review, which is quoted in the trailer.

Accompanying the mesmerizing visuals, complex themes, and endlessly insightful humor, the moral remains the same. There is much value in seeing the world through Emily Prime’s eyes, free from the contamination of real life, open to all the potential goodness that has yet to be discovered. While it treads similar ground,...

Back in June 2016, we asked our film critic David Ehrlich to name the 10 best movies of the 21st century so far. Coming in at #7 was Don Hertzfeldt’s “World of Tomorrow,” an animated short film about a young girl and her older clone on a journey through the girl’s memory. The existential story may only last 17 minutes, but Hertzfeldt’s ideas stay with you pretty much forever. The animator announced a surprise sequel in August, and now we officially have the first trailer for the movie, entitled “World of Tomorrow Episode Two: The Burden of Other People’s Thoughts.”

Read More:‘World of Tomorrow Episode Two: The Burden of Other People’s Thoughts’ Review: Don Hertzfeldt Does it Again

In his A+ review of the sequel, IndieWire’s David Ehrlich raved. “Blisteringly funny, deeply touching, and endlessly quotable, the second chapter of Don Hertzfeldt’s sci-fi satire makes life a better place…...

This year, Fantastic Fest turned 13, a number that felt apt if you’ve been following the news. Most conversations started like this:

“How are you?”

“How are you?”

Exhale. Hug. Repeat.

Eventually, people got around to talking about the films. Even those were emotional.

Tortured Souls

In past years, bringing context into the Alamo Drafthouse theater meant deciding not to chomp chips and queso during a hushed thriller. This time, audiences welled up watching Carla Guigino confront a lifetime of abuse as the emotionally and physically handcuffed wife in Stephen King’s “Gerald’s Game,” a Lifetime movie-looking low budget adaptation whose blockbuster impact at the Fest might not translate to people at home when it premieres on Netflix. (Guigino, however, is terrific in a dual-of-sorts role as the manacled victim and her empowered subconscious.)

Read More:Fantastic Fest Under Fire: Why America’s Preeminent Genre Festival Needs Its Fans...

Given the way he made his feature-length debut It's Such a Beautiful Day — by releasing three chapters as each was completed, then packaging them as one magnum opus — it will not surprise Don Hertzfeldt's devoted fans that he's chasing 2015's Oscar-nominated The World of Tomorrow with a second installment. As with that last slow-assembling masterpiece, World of Tomorrow Episode Two: The Burden of Other People's Thoughts retains enough of the whimsy and humor of the first section to intrigue newcomers, while deepening its questions about memory and what constitutes an individual consciousness. Technical experiments from the last film...

Introducing the world premiere of World Of Tomorrow 2, the sequel to the Oscar-nominated short film described by The A.V. Club’s Noel Murray as one of the best films of 2015, Don Hertzfeldt seemed tired. Years spent alone in a dark room doing painstaking work on rickety equipment—in the Q&A, Hertzfeld said that he’s…

Read more...

Any number of superlatives have been hurled at Don Hertzfeldt’s “World of Tomorrow” — this critic listed the 16-minute short as one of the 10 greatest films of the 21st Century — but perhaps the highest compliment it’s received is that nobody ever really asked for a sequel. Well, maybe that’s not true, maybe Hertzfeldt has actually spent the last two years being hounded by fans who wanted more of a movie they loved, but I’ve watched the original more times than is medically advisable, and the thought never occurred to me.

That’s because “World of Tomorrow” is a truly perfect thing, an immaculate eruption of ideas that’s contained within a closed loop of continuous delight (click here to rent it right now). Conceived as an excuse for Hertzfeldt to teach himself the basics of digital animation, written around unscripted recordings of his four-year-old niece, and ultimately...

For those of you who are fans of Futurama, you'll be happy to hear that we will be getting a new episode! It will come in the form of a radio drama, but it's coming and I'll take whatever I can get!

This new episode will tie into the TinyCo's recently released mobile game Futurama: World of Tomorrow. It includes new original content from creator and executive producer Matt Groening, executive producer David X. Cohen, and many of the other team members behind the TV classic animated series.

The game "takes players across the universe in search of ancient alien artifacts to restore the fabric of spacetime after it is transformed by the one and only Hypnotoad."

I loved how the series ended, but I'm up for a new story that features the continuing adventures of these fantastic characters.

Nerdist has paired with TinyCo to bring us the radioplay,...

Greg is back home from Telluride, Jessica is still pounding the pavement in Venice, and I’m getting my bags packed for Toronto, but you better believe there is much more to come from the fall festival season. And the folks at Fantastic Fest have served up their final wave of programming and it’s impressive stuff.

Organizers have nabbed the World Premiere of the Netflix action flick “Wheelman” starring Frank Grillo, as well as Don Hertzfeltd‘s “World Of Tomorrow: Episode Two — The Burden Of Other People’s Thoughts” (love that title).

Continue reading Fantastic Fest Adds ‘Downsizing,’ ‘Wheelman,’ ‘World Of Tomorrow Episode Two,’ More at The Playlist.

Alamo Drafthouse’s annual Fantastic Fest has announced its final portion of its lineup, including a closing night screening of Alexander Payne’s “Downsizing,” a slew of new world premieres, and the much-anticipated follow-up to Don Hertzfeldt’s “World of Tomorrow,” this one titled “World of Tomorrow Episode 2: The Burden of Other People’s Thoughts.”

Other highlights include Angela Robinson’s kinky new “Professor Marston & and the Wonder Women” — the year’s other “Wonder Woman” movie — plus Coralie Fargeat’s appropriately titled “Revenge,” Joachim Trier’s mind-bending “Thelma,” Viktor Jakovleski’s literally explosive “Brimstone & Glory,” a 4K restoration of Takashi Miike’s “Ichi the Killer,” and much, much more.

Read More:Fantastic Fest 2017 Announces Lineup, Including ‘Gerald’s Game’ and Plans for Nationwide Programming

As ever, the annual festival is offering up a bevy of unique and off-kilter programming picks, including “a crowded cornucopia of events that invade all corners of the fest.

“Some of these images may frighten you. My subconscious is not a happy place.”

With a single image on August 18, Don Hertzfeldt ignited a surge of excitement across Twitter and beyond, revealing he’s at work on a surprise sequel to his brilliant Oscar-nominated short World of Tomorrow. Now, only a few weeks later, not only is the sequel to his wildly imaginative, deeply funny, and existentially tragic short completed, it was already available to view, albeit in a very specific timeframe and location.

Screening at only one theater, once a day, Hertzfeldt’s follow-up to World of Tomorrow, bearing the sub-heading The Burden of Other People’s Thoughts, snuck into the Downtown Independent Theater in Los Angeles this past week. As explained by the director, this awards-qualifying run will be followed by a to-be-announced official premiere this month, then a wide theatrical release, perhaps tied to an upcoming feature...

Don Hertzfeldt‘s short film World of Tomorrow packs more ideas and genuine emotions into its 16-minute run time than many contemporary full-length feature films even attempt, so it’s no wonder the movie was nominated for an Oscar for Best Short Film at the 2016 Academy Awards. If you haven’t seen it, you can remedy that by checking […]

The post ‘World of Tomorrow 2’: Don Hertzfeldt’s Oscar-Nominated Short is Getting a Sequel appeared first on /Film.

On days like these, when the only joys we are still able to experience seem to be spiteful ones, what we need most is something pure. Something beautiful, even if it’s devastating at the same time. Something that gives us something to look forward to. Something like this:...

Don Hertzfeldt is a bit of a hero to my alumni (Ucsb), so I of course have some fondness for him for that reason alone. But I also really love his work. It's beautiful, elegant, with a lot of heart and emotion mixed with weird, sick humor. I just love it. His most recent film - the Oscar-nominated sci-fi short World Of Tomorrow - was also one of his best. It was funny, cynical, enlightening, dark, sad,... Read More...

It’s not often that an animated short captures the easily distracted attentions of the film world, but then again, there aren’t many animators like Don Hertzfeldt. At only 33 years old, he received the San Francisco International Film Festival‘s Lifetime Achievement Award for his groundbreaking, unique work. That’s not to mention he’s been nominated for two Oscars, most recently for “World Of Tomorrow,” his visually stunning, funny, melancholy animated short.

Continue reading Don Hertzfeldt Announces ‘World Of Tomorrow’ Sequel at The Playlist.

Don Hertzfeldt has teased on Twitter that he’s been putting the finishing touches on a new project, but he dropped a bombshell today by apparently confirming that his new movie is actually a sequel to his Oscar-nominated “World of Tomorrow.” The independent filmmaker posted a photo of a title card that reads: “World of Tomorrow Episode Two: The Burden of Other People’s Thoughts.”

pic.twitter.com/MSd0YIZ5A4

— don hertzfeldt (@donhertzfeldt) August 18, 2017

“World of Tomorrow” followed a young stick-figure girl named Emily as she’s taken on a mind-bending tour of her distant future, one that includes making contact with her clone 227 years in the future. The 16-minute short premiered at the Sundance Film Festival where it won the Grand Jury Prize for Short Film. Other accolades include the Annie Award for Best Animated Short of 2015 and an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Short Film.

IndieWire senior...

In a seedy Hollywood motel room, Minnesota cop Gloria Burgle looks behind a curtain and finds a box, with a unlabeled switch on the top. She flicks it on. A light turns green, and the lid opens just slightly. A robotic hand comes out, moves the switch to the off position, then retreats as the light turns red. This is all the device does.

This week's Fargo episode, blessed with the superb title "The Law of Non-Contradiction," is all about unpacking what this box means. A mere three weeks into its third season,...

Simon Brew Apr 20, 2017

What tend to be the highest rated movies, where the criteria is said films have been watched at least five times?

One aside in a recent piece I penned at this site questioned whether films such as The Shawshank Redemption – for some time ranked as the best film of all time by popular vote at the IMDb – were favoured amongst those who’d seen it more than one time. I was questioning whether the films we tend to salute as the greatest – rather than our favourites – are the ones we tend to watch time and time again.

In the same article, for instance, I highlighted Schindler’s List, an excellent film, but not one I see too many people watching on six monthly rotation. That doesn’t make it a lesser film, rather, it’s the kind of movie that I’d imagine most have seen once or twice at best,...

For some filmmakers, Sundance is a life-changing experience — for Simon Fitzmaurice, the tragedy is that it was. A strapping, kind-hearted Irish lad who grew into an athletic build that seemed to belie his artistic spirit, he was 34 when Sundance selected his short, “The Sound of People,” for the fest’s 2007 edition. Reluctantly leaving his pregnant wife at home, Simon followed his dreams to the mountains of Utah. It was there, as Simon walked down Park City’s picturesque main drag, visions of a career behind the camera projecting against the walls of his imagination, that he first noticed the pain that would signal his diagnosis with Als.

In time, Simon would find a way to rationalize why his symptoms kicked in at the height of his happiness. In his memoir, which he wrote with the help of a system that tracked his pupils’ movement along a digital keyboard, Simon observed...

With their feature film line-up now set (see here and here), Sundance have unveiled their 2017 short program, which in past years has included such gems as World of Tomorrow, Glove, and Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash. This year’s line-up includes Kristen Stewart‘s Come Swim, featuring a score by St. Vincent, as well as Project X, the latest film from Citizenfour director Laura Poitras.

Check out the full line-up of 68 films below, along with the first look at Stewart’s film.

U.S. Narrative Short Films

American Paradise / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Joe Talbot) — A desperate man in Trump’s America tries to shift his luck with the perfect crime in this story inspired by true events.

Cecile on the Phone / U.S.A. (Director: Annabelle Dexter-Jones, Screenwriters: Annabelle Dexter-Jones, Ellen Greenberg) — Overwhelmed by doubt and confusion after her ex-boyfriend’s return to New York, Cecile embarks on...

Sundance Film Festival just gave attendees 68 new reasons to look forward to the January event with the announcement of their short films program that features several titles for genre fans to keep an eye on, including the creature short feature Kaiju Bunraku, the suburban satanic cult-centric Fucking Bunnies, and the post-apocalyptic Dawn of the Deaf.

We have the official press release below with full details, and stay tuned to Daily Dead for our upcoming coverage of the festival.

Press Release: Park City, Ut — Sixty-eight short films, announced today, will complement the lineup of longer fare at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. The short film slate aligns thematically with other Festival categories, including Midnight and The New Climate, the Festival’s new programming strand highlighting climate change and the environment. The Festival hosts screenings in Park City, Salt Lake City and at Sundance Mountain Resort January 19-29.

The Institute’s support for...

Short film lovers, never fear, the Sundance Film Festival has not forgotten about you. After rolling out their various feature categories, the annual winter festival has now announced their full short film lineup, including narratives, documentaries, animated offerings and midnight chillers. The slate is packed with picks from such diverse filmmakers as Laura Poitras (who will screen her latest, “Project X,” co-directed with Henrik Moltke, at the festival) and Kristen Stewart (who will make her directorial debut with “Come Swim”), along with Annabelle Dexter-Jones, Zachary Zezima, E.G. Bailey and many, many more.

If you’re hoping to find the next big thing in independent filmmaking, start here. Among the shorts the festival has shown in recent years are “World of Tomorrow,” “Thunder Road,” “Whiplash,” “The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom” and “Gregory Go Boom.”

Read More: Sundance 2017 Announces Competition and Next Lineups, Including Returning Favorites and Major Contenders

Mike Plante,...

Every week, the CriticWire Survey asks a select handful of film and TV critics two questions and publishes the results on Monday morning. (The answer to the second, “What is the best film in theaters right now?” can be found at the end of this post.)

This week’s question: This past weekend saw the release of “Lights Out,” which is based on a horrifying short film. Shorts can have tremendous value, though even the best of them tend to fly under the radar. What is your favorite short film, and why?

Miriam Bale (@mimbale), freelance

I count this Resnais film about plastics, “La chant de la styrene,” and an industrial film by Les Blank about factory farm chickens, “Chicken Real,” among the best films, and certainly best docs, I’ve seen. And the Safdies’ short “John’s Gone” is probably my favorite of their movies, if not their best.

It’s one thing to come up with a top 10 list of the best movies in any given year. The best movies of the decade is even harder. But the best movies of a century? Ok, when it comes to the new millennium, that’s just a decade and a half. Still, it’s no easy task to consider the highlights from 16 years of viewing — but that’s part of what makes it such a compelling challenge.

Recently, BBC polled a large group of critics, including IndieWire’s Eric Kohn and David Ehrlich, for their lists of the best achievements of the 21st century. (The full results will run in mid-to-late August.) The results of the poll have yet to run, but as countless participants have begun sharing their results, we felt compelled to weigh in. Of course, lists are highly subjective and almost always omit some major titles, so...

There’s something inherently remarkable about the field of animation: that, with just a paper and pen, one can use infinite imagination to create a world unbound by physical restrictions. Of course, in today’s age it goes far beyond those simple tools of creation, but it remains the rare patience-requisite medium in which a director’s vision can be perfected over years until applying that final, necessary touch.

With Pixar’s 17th feature arriving in theaters, we’ve set out to reflect on the millennium thus far in animation and those films that have most excelled. In picking our 50 favorite titles, we looked to all corners of the world, from teams as big as thousands down to a sole animator. The result is a wide-ranging selection, proving that even if some animation styles aren’t as prevalent, the best examples find their way to the top.

To note: we only stuck with feature-length animations of 60 minutes or longer — sorry, World of Tomorrow, and even Pixar’s stunning Piper — and to make room for a few more titles, our definition of “the 21st century” stretched to include 2000. We also stuck with films that don’t feature any live-action (for the most part) and that have been released in the U.S. thus far, so The Red Turtle and Phantom Boy will get their due on a later date. Check out our top 50 below and let us know your favorites in the comments.

50. The Lego Movie (Phil Lord and Christopher Miller)

Admit it: When The Lego Movie was announced, you did not expect it to wind up any best-of-the-year lists. But, against all odds, Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s first smash hit of 2014 is an unadulterated pleasure. This bold, original film has a wildly clever script (by the directors) with a message of creativity that made it a glorious surprise. It is also well-cast: Lego is the first movie to fully make use of Chris Pratt’s essential sweetness, and offered Elizabeth Banks, Will Ferrell, Liam Neeson, and Morgan Freeman their freshest parts in years. It is not often that a “kids” film entertains adults as much as their children, but The Lego Movie is far more than a piece of entertainment for the young ones. What could have been a headache-inducing, cynical creation is instead a pop treat. Everything is, indeed, awesome. – Christopher Schobert

49. 5 Centimetres per Second (Makoto Shinkai)

Makoto Shinkai’s emotional tour de force is the embodiment of the Japanese term “mono no aware,” which describes a wistful awareness of life’s transience. In the way its characters are haunted by bygone moments in the face of a vast and shapeless future, 5 Centimetres per Second could function as a spiritual companion to the oeuvre of Wong Kar-wai, but whereas Wong’s lovelorn protagonists are stuck in the past, Shinkai’s move forward, steadily, in a state of melancholic acceptance. Time is itself a character here, a fact brought to our attention by shots of clocks, the evolution of technology alongside the characters’ aging, and scenes where narrative stakes ensure that the passing of each second is palpably felt. And yet it is precisely the ephemerality of these seconds that lends them elevated significance —fittingly, the film’s animation is breathtakingly detailed and tactile, allowing us to identify with the characters by having us inhabit each, vivid moment before it vanishes. – Jonah Jeng

48. The Adventures of Tintin (Steven Spielberg)

Leave it to Steven Spielberg to eke more thrills out of an animated feature than most directors could with every live-action tool at their disposal. The Adventures of Tintin is colored and paced like a child’s fantastical imagining of how Hergé’s comics might play in motion, and the extent to which viewers buy it depends largely on their willingness to give themselves over to narrative and technical flights of fancy. Me? Four-and-a-half years later, I’m still waiting for a follow-up with bated breath. – Nick Newman

47. Titan A.E. (Don Bluth, Gary Goldman and Art Vitello)

It’s the movie that took down Don Bluth, netted Fox a $100 million loss, and starred the young voices of Matt Damon and Drew Barrymore. From a script by Joss Whedon, John August, and Ben Edlund, Titan A.E. is a swashbuckle-y tale with stirring visuals and moments of sheer originality that now feels like a more-accomplished precursor to something such as Guardians of the Galaxy. If you’re going to go down, this is an impressive picture to sink with. – Dan Mecca

46. Metropolis (Rintaro)

Metropolis has more than a little in common with the apocalyptic orgy of violence of 1988 anime touchstone Akira, as the story follows the tragic inevitability of mans’ relationship with overwhelming power. But Rintaro’s Metropolis — which is based on Osama Tezuka’s manga and Fritz Lang’s canonical film — is also a story of overwhelming kindness in its central relationship between Kenichi, a well-intentioned and naïve child, and Tima, a cyborg capable of immense destruction. Distinguished by its washed-out watercolor character designs and its inventive cast of characters, Metropolis is a distinctly lighter take on the characteristically dreary dystopia genre. – Michael Snydel

45. Song of the Sea (Tomm Moore)

Animation has never shied away from grief. It’s the bedrock of everything from Grave of the Fireflies to the majority of Pixar’s filmography, but it’s rarely been as unbearably beautiful as in 2014’s unfairly overlooked Song of the Sea. Animated with a mythic tableau style, steeped in Celtic folklore, and filled with a cast of characters worthy of Hayao Miyazaki, Tomm Moore’s work is the rare heartwarming family film that knows it doesn’t need to compromise genuine emotion with fake-outs or Hollywood endings. – Michael Snydel

44. The Secret World of Arrietty (Hiromasa Yonebayashi)

While much of Studio Ghibli’s popularity focuses on the adored writer-director Hayao Miyazaki, some works from other directors deserve equal praise. One of them — which, yes, cheats a bit because Miyazaki scripted it — is The Secret World of Arrietty by first-time helmer Hiromasa Yonebayashi. The film follows a little boy’s fascination with the Borrowers — small humans that live in our world — and weaves the story of him and his family with Arrietty, one of the Borrowers. There are intensely dramatic moments as the Borrowers are constantly striving to survive amidst this world of luxury and easy life that the larger humans enjoy. Much like some of the best of Ghibli’s work, the film works on multiple levels and layers and thus becomes one of the studio’s most beautiful, enjoyable, and enduring works. – Bill Graham

43. ParaNorman (Chris Butler and Sam Fell)

A story of bullies and the bullied, Laika Studios’ second stop-motion film, ParaNorman, was unfortunately overshadowed by their astounding previous effort, Coraline. But time has been kind, and ParaNorman feels ahead of its time in both the exploration of darker themes (witch hunts, child murder, bigotry) and its juxtaposition of a Puritan New England ghost story and a vividly supernatural present. Buoyed by Jon Brion’s characteristically thoughtful score and an inventive reconfiguration of horror movie iconography, ParaNorman is a coming-of-age story that recognizes that even the “bad guys” have their reasons. – Michael Snydel

42. Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were Rabbit (Nick Park and Steve Box)

Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were Rabbit, Aardman Animation’s second feature collaboration with DreamWorks, brings Nick Park‘s brilliant claymation series about an absentminded inventor and his mute canine companion to the big screen. Working as humane pest removal specialists, Wallace and Gromit have hatched a plan to brainwash every hungry rabbit in town to dislike vegetables, preventing Gromit’s prized melon from being ruthlessly devoured. But the experiment backfires and the Were-Rabbit, a monstrous beast with an unquenchable appetite for veggies, is unleashed on the lush gardens of Tottington Holl. On par with the most uproarious shorts of Park’s career (working this time out with co-director Steve Box), the film slyly evokes fond memories of Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein in never treating its goofy leads as seriously as its surprisingly effective scares. It’s a shame that Park has announced the titular duo are likely retired, due to the failing health of voice actor Peter Sallis. Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were Rabbit is a light-hearted and whimsically clever gem that also works as a charming introduction to the horror genre for young cinema-lovers. – Tony Hinds

41. Lilo & Stitch (Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois)

What other film can pull off starting with an all-out sci-fi adventure and transition into a heartful ode to culture and family? Before they delivered an even more impactful variation on a similar sort of creature-human bond with How to Train Your Dragon, Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois created this touching tale. Featuring a return to watercolor-painted backgrounds for Disney, as well as a reliance on 2D animation, it’s one of the company’s last in this era to have that long-missed tangibility. As often repeated in the film, “Family means nobody gets left behind,” and, by the end credits, you’ll feel like you’ve added a few new members to your own. – Jordan Raup

Continue >>...

Tonight's edition of Hit Me With Your Best Shot is our annual short film episode. The genre is sci-fi but we're looking at two trippy but altogether unalike films.

The first is True Skin (2012) which has rather extraordinary visual effects considering it comes from the Diy world of short filmmaking. It was once earmarked for the feature film treatment but when that didn't work out earlier this year Amazon snatched it up to develop into a TV series. The second film is recent Oscar nominee World of Tomorrow (2015) from animation legend Don Hertzfeld. (His career being Oscarless is just not right.) Lets look at the "Best Shots" as chosen by your host and the volunteer panelists elsewhere after the jump. ...

Io Interactive’s weakness for lavish settings may be the closest you or I ever come to an exotic vacation. Hitman’s debut gave players a whiff of Paris, a chance to fraternize with high-fashion models and choke on caviar at an invite-only pageant. Opulent French ballrooms, gardens, and basements built a beautiful playground for Agent 47 to arrange assassinations, catering to fans with falling chandeliers and dirty martinis. Hitman’s season opener laid a strong foundation, and episode two reinforces it. But even contract killers need the occasional break.

Hitman’s second act trades claustrophobic crowds, electronica albums, and blinding lights for a quiet, coastal retreat along Italy’s shimmering shores. Although it can’t be said for the men and women players eradicate, the fictional Sapienza comes alive, embracing a “home is where the heart is” atmosphere. The town butcher markets salivating meats behind his bistro counter; the barber...

Rushes collects news, articles, images, videos and more for a weekly roundup of essential items from the world of film.News"Once upon a time, two people met.A woman, a man… Their memory has almost been erased.All that’s left is a picture… torn, faded, almost gone.Cinema is not eternal but it does sometimes escape oblivion. And it is possible to restore a picture.And what will there be then between these two characters who perhaps stepped out of an English or Italian comedy or an Éric Rohmer film?When you see a poster like this, your imagination fills in the blanks, just like it does at the movies."—Édouard Waintrop, Artistic Director of the Directors’ Fortnight, about its 2016 posterSpeaking of Cannes, the festival has revealed its Opening Night Film, Woody Allen's Café Society, starring Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart, and shot by the great Vittorio Storaro.

Posthumous Empire Legend award for Alan Rickman; Matt Damon collects Best Actor award and Best Actress goes to Alicia Vikander

Star Wars: The Force Awakens led the pack at the Jameson Empire Awards in London on Sunday evening, winning five trophies including Best Director for J.J. Abrams, Best Visual Effects, Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy collected by C-3Po actor Anthony Daniels, and Best Male and Female Newcomer awards for stars John Boyega and Daisy Ridley, who were both present on the night.

Three honorary awards included the Empire Inspiration award, which was presented to British actor-director Paddy Considine by long-time collaborator Shane Meadows, while actor Stanley Tucci was named Empire Hero. Miranda Richardson, currently filming Churchill with Tucci, presented him with the award in recognition of his recent performances in high-profile films including the Hunger Games series and Spotlight.

The late Alan Rickman was posthumously named this year’s Empire Legend.

Other stars honoured...

I'm sure most of you watched the Academy Awards last night, so I wanted to create a place for you to talk to us and your fellow commenters about the winners, losers, snubs, performances, and host. For good reason, the topic of diversity was looming large in the minds of the producers of the broadcast, and I thought host Chris Rock did a great job of ripping Hollywood while at the same time creating a call to action for equal opportunity in the industry (which is all the controversy really boils down to). For addressing a tough, complicated issue that obviously doesn't start and end with the organization of the Oscars, I thought it was handled about as well as it could have been.

As for the winners and losers, I was pleasantly surprised to see Mad Max: Fury Road take home as many awards as it did, considering what...

The winners of the 88th Annual Academy Awards have been announced, the biggest award Best Picture went to 'Spotlight.' 'The Revenant' took home the Best Director Oscar for Alejandro González Iñárritu, making Iñárritu the third director in history to win back-to-back directing and Leonardo DiCaprio finally got his Oscar for Best Actor (and there was much rejoicing).

Emmanuel “Chivo” Lubezki also won his third Best Cinematography Oscar in a row for 'The Revenant.' 'Mad Max: Fury Road' was the big winner of the night for most awards, sweeping the technical categories to earn six Oscars, including Best Production Design.

It was a great year for Irish talent picking up nominations but only Stutterer, which was directed by Irishman Benjamin Cleary managed to pick up a award in Best Short Film (Live Action). The short can be viewed on the Rte player here.

With all the talk of Leonardo DiCaprio...

It’s Hollywood’s biggest night. In an awards season with no true clear frontrunner for Best Picture, we’re finally finding out who’s taking home the coveted statuettes at the 2016 Oscars ceremony. Below is the full list of nominees. HitFix will keep you updated on the winners here as they’re announced. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ honors are being presented at Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, CA. Best Picture The Big Short Bridge of Spies Brooklyn Mad Max: Fury Road The Martian The Revenant Room Winner: Spotlight Best Actress Cate Blanchett, Carol Winner: Brie Larson, Room Jennifer Lawrence, Joy Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn Best Actor Bryan Cranston, Trumbo Matt Damon, The Martian Winner: Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl Best Supporting Actress Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight Rooney Mara, Carol Rachel McAdams, Spotlight Winner: Alicia Vikander,...

Best Picture

Spotlight

The Big Short

Bridge of Spies

Brooklyn

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

The Revenant

Room

Best Actor

Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant

Bryan Cranston, Trumbo

Matt Damon, The Martian

Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs

Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl

Best Actress

Brie Larson, Room

Cate Blanchett, Carol

Jennifer Lawrence, Joy

Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years

Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn

Best Supporting Actor:

Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies

Christian Bale, The Big Short

Tom Hardy, The Revenant

Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight

Sylvester Stallone, Creed

Best Supporting Actress

Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl

Jennifer Jason Leigh,...

Awards season comes to a glitzy end tonight with Sunday's broadcast of the Academy Awards.

Chris Rock returns to host one of the most competitive races in years -- with front-runners emerging late in the game, or not at all, in some categories. Will "The Revenant" sweep? Will Leo finally take home an Oscar? Can "Spotlight" ride its early buzz into the winners' circle?

We'll be updating the winners' list throughout the show. So make sure to check back to see who won, and who lost.

Best Picture

"​Spotlight"​ -- Winner

"The Big Short"

"Bridge Of Spies"

"Brooklyn"

"Mad Max: Fury Road"

"The Martian"

"The Revenant"

"Room

Best Actor

Leonardo DiCaprio, "The Revenant" -- Winner

Bryan Cranston, "Trumbo"

Matt Damon, "The Martian"

Michael Fassbender, "Steve Jobs"

Eddie Redmayne, "The Danish Girl"

Best Actress

Brie Larson, "Room" -- Winner

Cate Blanchett, "Carol"

Jennifer Lawrence, "Joy"

Charlotte Rampling, "45 Years"

Saoirse Ronan, "Brooklyn"

Best Director

Alejandro G. Iñárritu,...

First of all, I'm very happy that my favorite film of the year, Tom McCarthy's "Spotlight," wins big at the 88th Academy Awards! I was losing hope after "The Big Short" won the Producers Guild Award and "The Revenant" zoomed onto the frontrunner status!

But no. At the night of the Oscars, "Spotlight" won two major awards including Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay!

Kudos to McCarthy and team!

My heart felt "Spotlight" would win but my mind said "The Revenant." See? The heart always wins!

Now, onto the show itself. I thought Chris Rock did a good job in softening the #OscarsSoWhite controversy! But the show itself? A bit of a bore. It felt long! Not quite the 4 hours and 23 minutes of the 74th Oscars but long nonetheless.

And really? Only Sam Smith, The Weeknd, and Lady Gaga were invited to perform the Best Original Song nominees? What...

Kicking off at 8:30Pm Est tonight is the 88th Academy Awards, hosted by Chris Rock. Leading the pack of nominations is The Revenant, which picked up 12 nominations, while Mad Max: Fury Road is close behind with 10, The Martian had 7, while Carol, Bridge of Spies and Spotlight each picked up 6, so we’ll have to see who comes out on top. We’ll be live updating the winners below (in red) with more coverage on Twitter.

Update: See the full list of winners below, topped by Spotlight, while Mad: Max Fury Road picked up the most with six.

Best Picture

The Big Short

Bridge of Spies

Brooklyn

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

The Revenant

Room

Spotlight

Best Directing

Adam McKay – The Big Short

George Miller – Mad Max: Fury Road

Alejandro González Iñárritu – The Revenant

Lenny Abrahamson – Room

Tom McCarthy – Spotlight

Best Actor

Bryan Cranston – Trumbo

Matt Damon – The Martian...

I will be posting updates of all of the Oscar action here tonight in this post (and live tweeting). You can check out all of the nominations below, I will Red Bold the winners as they are announced. 2015 brought a crazy amount of competition and there’s absolutely no telling which way the votes will go with this room of talent. Will Leo finally win his Oscar? Will George Miller take the Oscar for Best Director? Will Stallone finally earn the gold for Rocky after all these years?

The Revenant leads the way with 12 nods, including Picture, Director (Alejandro G. Iñárritu), Actor (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Supporting Actor (Tom Hardy). Mad Max: Fury Road follows with 10 nods, with the action epic getting the well deserved Picture and Director nominations.

Here we go…

Best Original Screenplay

Spotlight – Tom McCarthy, Josh Singer

Inside Out – Josh Cooley, Pete Docter, Meg LeFavue

Straight Outta Compton — Jonathan Herman,...

Join me on my Facebook page about 5 p.m. Pacific and let's talk all things Oscars! Click here, it'll be fun! Grab your favorite drink and finger foods and let's blog the Oscars away! Go to facebook.com/MannyTheMovieGuy and I'll see you there!

Here's my full Oscar predictions again:

Best Picture

"The Big Short"

"Bridge of Spies"

"Brooklyn"

"Mad Max: Fury Road"

"The Martian"

"The Revenant"

"Room"

"Spotlight"

Will Win: .The Revenant.

Should Win: .Spotlight.

Best Director

Adam McKay, "The Big Short"

George Miller, "Mad Max: Fury Road"

Alejandro González Iñárritu, "The Revenant"

Lenny Abrahamson, "Room"

Tom McCarthy, "Spotlight"

Will Win: Alejandro González Iñárritu, "The Revenant"

Should Win: George Miller, "Mad Max: Fury Road"

Best Actor

Bryan Cranston, "Trumbo"

Matt Damon, "The Martian"

Leonardo DiCaprio, "The Revenant"

Michael Fassbender, "Steve Jobs"

Eddie Redmayne, "The Danish Girl"

Will Win: Leonardo DiCaprio, "The Revenant"

Should Win: Matt Damon, "The Martian"

Best Actress

Cate Blanchett,...

For once, we have an Oscar race with some actual suspense.

Last year, "Boyhood" and "Birdman" went neck-and-neck for most of awards season, but by the home stretch, the results were easy to predict if you were paying attention. This year, with three strong contenders for Best Picture, guessing who'll go home with trophies on Sunday is that much harder.

Nonetheless, most of the acting categories, as well as a few others, have been pretty much locked down for months. Here, then, are my picks for who'll triumph at the 88th Academy Awards, based on research, many years spent covering the Oscars, and my gut feelings.

1. Best Original Song

Could this be the year that perennial Oscar also-ran Diane Warren finally wins? After all, she's teamed with Lady Gaga, who's been on a roll lately, in creating the tune "Til It Happens To You," from "The Hunting Ground." Warren's...

Are you sick of those ordinary Oscar office pools? Tired of only guessing the top 6 or 8 categories for the Academy Awards? Let your inner-movie geek shine with Bowl the Perfect Oscar Score (aka Oscar Bowling).

Try to nail 300 points on the 2016 Academy Awards.

This is a confidence list.

There are 24 categories.

How to play

Pick your winners in all 24 categories. Then, give each winner a confidence score. Your most confident pick gets 24 points, second most confident gets 23 points, third most confident gets 22 points, and eventually your least confident pick gets 1 point.

This is perfect for Oscar parties, because the lead keeps changing. The winner is the one with the most points at the end. A perfect score is 300. If there is a tie (there never is a tie), then the winner is the one with the most points in these three categories combined (Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress).

You...

With The Academy Awards going down this weekend, members of the Cinelinx team compares our picks for who we think will win versus who should win. Come inside to see our choices!

The biggest movie awards show around is finally upon us, and as we’ve been preparing for it here on the site, we thought today would be a great chance to talk about our own Oscar predictions. Let’s start off talking about the big ones first and our own hopes:

Best Supporting Actor

Garrett: Look, I’m glad for Sly that he got a nomination after all these years. He’s definitely the surprise nominee for this year’s Oscars, especially considering the lack of other awards for the much-appraised Creed. He’ll win too. Another shock. But does he deserve it over the other nominees?

Christian Bale is usually good, and his performance in The Big Short is another solid performance,...