herbiehancock

No 343 - Monsters Inc Director - Pete Docter (Co Director David Silverman ) I am a very vocal fan of Pixar and yet I feel I had criminally neglected this film. The last time I saw it was at the cinema. 9 years ago (cripes). So I sat down to watch it and I loved it. Probably loved it more now then I did then. - Now I admire not only the cracking story (which I'll discuss below) but also the amazing visuals. What I like about Pixar is that they constantly challenge themselves. Whether it is with the story telling side (can they make a silent movie about a lovable robot) or on the animation side of things. In the same way that Finding Nemo was a challenge to animate water, or A Bug's Life was about organic shapes - here the challenge was Fur. And in the example of Sulley they manage it beautifully. I'll chat about the characters later. Lets begin with the story. It continues the Pixar tradition of being all about story telling and cracking central concepts. This time it...

No 400 - The Incredibles Director - Brad Bird Pixar is a brave and very interesting stable. I mean look at it... it definitely has a strong concept, after all despite the obvious differences Monsters Inc, Toy Story, Nemo , Ratatouille, Cars are all buddy films. About a mediocre person who finds someone to pull them up to greatness . You've then got The Incredibles which is a domestic drama superhero film in which a member of a family is trying to pull the rest of them to greatness after they've struggled to get down to mediocre. It is a surprisingly dark film - it is tight, well script and wickedly funny at times. Not only does this stand up against Pixar's phenomenal back catalogue, it stands up against Superhero films. I'd probably but this up there in the top 5 superhero films, and it is a cartoon.... featuring entirely made up characters who don't have a legion of comic book fans. It is easy to view this as ' Watchmen for kids' - both stories tack...

No 179 - Toy Story 2 Director - John Lassiter Times are changing when it comes to children. Where Toy Story begins with a cardboard town and a toy western, Toy Story 2 begins in the vivid landscapes of space. A fully functioning, Jetpack flying, laser blasting, forcefield toting Buzz Lightyear adventuring their way to defeat the evil emperor Zurg . Only to be blasted to smithereens. Game Over. Welcome to the world of computer games. The geek in me is impressed that this is all played on a SNES (excellent graphics). This film is impressive because it continues the themes of Toy Story, but inverts the story. So, where Toy Story was about fear of rejection and Buzz realising he is less than he initially thought, Toy Story 2 continues the fear of rejection but is about Woody realising he is more than he initially thought. A collectors item. The film also continues ideas that were only slightly hinted at in the first film. Here Al's Toy Barn moves from being a fleeting advert for Bu...

No 99 - Toy Story Director - John Lasseter 100 FILMS!!! 100 BLOGS!!! Yes indeedy ... this is my 100 th film. It as taken a pitifully long time to get this far. I almost feel ashamed. But I'm trucking along at a much better pace now. We're gathering up steam and we'll hit 200 before you know it! I promise ya. My Sunday ended up being delightfully Pixar -tinted. Starting with this, their first feature film, followed by Up - which has a delightfully poignant introductory sequence followed by 90 minutes of Looney Tunes style insanity and finally a really interesting South Bank documentary on Pixar . Naturally - I'll be following it up today with Toy Story 2. Makes sense. It makes me feel disgustingly old to think that Toy Story came out 14 years ago. 14 YEARS ago. That is just strange. I remember going to see it at the cinema and the excitement of seeing the Disney logo appear in glorious CGI . My how things have changed now.... All it takes is the Disney castle to ...

We had a bit of a break from the snow and ice for a few days, but the snow has returned here today. We are under a winter storm warning with the weather man predicting 6 - 10 inches of snow for this weekend. It snowed most of the day today, and we have at least four inches of fresh snow on the ground. Schools were let out early this afternoon and school related sporting events have been canceled for tonight and tomorrow. I'm feeling a little like the snowman in this video. Well, it's snowing outside and we are stuck inside. We might as well dance, right? Shake it up, Baby! For a bit of snow globe fun where you are the one in control of the shaking, click here .