Short Animation - The Terrible Thing of Alpha-9 (2009)

Directed by Jake Armstrong, visit his blog.

Everybody love presents

New Year is almost here, it's time to get in the festive mood, with all the songs and gifts, as suitable for the spirit of the season.



This video was created by the team behind Moldavian animated film Gypsy, that I've already mentioned before with two funny video segments they did. Now they released third special segment just for New Year's Eve celebration.
Visit their production blog (English version available) for more details, or this user on Vimeo to see the actual working process on animation.

Short Animation - Speed (1980)

Amazing what can be achieved with just simple drawing of lines and colors, and of course with fantastic soundtrack. This is classic anime by independent animator Taku Furukawa, that I've never heard of before. He created many short films over the years, some are very abstract and experimental, and they all seem to be in such minimalistic and very basic, child-like style of hand drawing. The film is described as "chronology of human progress, or the lack of it".



There was a DVD release in 1998, with compilation of his works. You can read this very informative article about it, with reviews and analysis of his films.
Taku Fukurawa also has active website and blog.

Short Animation - Golden Island (2008)

I am having some troubles to collect solid info about these guys, it's all in Chinese and even the link to their official website is not working for me, but it seems that they are China based animation studio named TINKID, relatively new. They are creating flash animation for commercials and TV, and have plans to make bigger projects.
I saw this short and immediately loved it for its cool visual style. I couldn't find it as video in good quality, so I have this embedded Shockwave, hope it works. It may take a while to load, but it's worth it.



In case the video is not working, head to their Chinese blog, with more info and other works, to see it in other format.

Short Animation - The TV Show (2009)

This video is pretty much storming the web right now. I am glad to join the club.



Created by animator Sugimoto Kousuke, remember that name, that I see only bright future for him. Visit his website to see his other works and appreciate his style.

Short Animation - Snow Blood (2008)

Shady Oaks

As part of the promotion for DVD sales of Pixar's Up, some folks at the studio created this simple short animation about George and A.J, two Shady Oaks caretakers that came to pick Mr. Fredricksen, and what happened to them in the week after the incident.

Short Animation - Even Pigeons Go to Heaven (2007)

Short animated film that was nominated for Oscar in 2008.



Visit director's website to see more of his works.

Oooh, a piece of candy

Two years after the broadcast of the two episode special Blue Harvest, which was parodying the first film in Star Wars saga, Family Guy team continues to destroy and mock the classics with the second part and will be releasing the Something, Something, Something, Dark Side on DVD and Blu-Ray at December 22nd, right before the Christmas.
Here is the not so funny trailer.



You can watch the trailer in other formats on this page. Third part, We Have A Bad Feeling About This, is planned as well.

Short Animation - Knight Fever (2009)

Love the music and character's design. So funny.

Music Video - Lion's Den by The Nextmen (2009)

Cool music video for the song "Lion's Den", by The Nextmen featuring Ms. Dynamite



The video was created by Kenny Frankland of Tinspider Studio.

Short Animation - Wail to God (2009)

Short Animation - The Flower (2008)

One of the directors, Dale Hayward, has a nice and a bit naughty blog. Feel free to visit it and get impressed.

Cute and Fluffy

Here is the trailer for the new animated film How to Train Your Dragon, based on the children's novel by the same name. It will be released in March 2010, on the same slot that Monsters vs Aliens was released this year. Looks like DreamWorks really like the spot. And both films are pretty much in the same spirit, innocent and non-offensive family fun with cute animals and simple moral lesson in the end. So I guess I don't need to expect original and breaking the rules animation in this one.



And is it me or this dragon, Toothless, which actually has nice set of teeth from what I see, for some reason looks exactly like Stitch, from highly popular classic Lilo & Stitch?

Trailers Roundup

Few interesting trailers appeared lately and I didn't have the chance to post them separately, so I gathered all of them together.

First is the new trailer for The Wolfman. Much better and more action packed than previous trailer, and more or less indicates the entertaining intensity of the movie. I still don't care for Emily Blunt though, she reminds me mold piece of cheese with stale taste.



More various trailers are below.

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Here is new trailer for Sherlock Holmes, that seems to be misplaced and should be a regular summer movie, but instead it will be a summer breeze in the middle of winter.

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Dominic Sena, another average Hollywood director of formula movies, just flopped with Whiteout a month ago, and his next film is another potential disaster with the king of bad movies in the last few years, Nicolas Cage. This time it's a fantasy/horror movie called Season of the Witch, something about medieval knights hunting a witch during Black Plague. The teaser is not very impressive, but maybe it's just poor video quality.

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I've already posted about this movie before, and here is new footage from True Legend, a welcome throwback to the wushu martial arts style of the 90's. Great stuff.

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Another martial arts film with the scent of 90's is new collaboration between Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung, called 14 Blades, which looks like another huge production for the masses.



By the way, don't get me wrong and I love to see sweet Zhao Wei in films, but I am getting the feeling that she's been kinda mistreated in Chinese productions lately. She is a great actress, everyone should see her in excellent Green Tea to fully appreciate her acting abilities, but with all them historical war and martial arts pictures she is doing lately, which are just shallow pop products, I think she is simply wasting away. And her upcoming lead role in over the top patriotic Mulan is not going to make things better.

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And martial arts film that is a sequel to one from 90's, but definitely doesn't have the same style, is Storm Warriors. Here the final trailer before the release.

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And this is one strange film. Ninjas, sword fights, machine guns, rockets, space ships? Heavily based on computer graphics with the main emphasis on visual side, this attempt to make live action anime looks like a warm and pleasant mess. And the strangest thing is that it's coming from Ireland, out of all possible places. Called The Cup of Tears, and directed by unknown Gary Shore, it looks more like an over stylized music video. I am really curious to see the full movie, although I suspect it will be hard to find any sensible story in there, something that usually happens in such projects.

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And now some zombies. Trailer for highly anticipated remake of George Romero's The Crazies is very impressive, bringing back the exciting vibe to the classic "small town in distress" zombie flicks. Great actors and high production values is exactly what zombie movie needs. Going high to my "want to see" list.

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Another zombie film, but with very different approach is The Revenant. Apparently there are many ways to explore zombie genre, and this film is taking it to some interesting places. Clearly, as oppose to beat up and washed-up vampire themed abominations, that lost their subversive appeal once vampires became synonym to "stupid teenagers", zombies still remain exclusively in the grown-ups area, simply because no one can make zombies young and sexy. And while shirtless vampires or werewolfs, or whatever, are fighting to win the heart of some dumb chick because this is what they usually do, looking to fall in love, zombies are slowly overtaking serious movies that actually worth seeing. And this is one of them.



Official website - here.

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And the last one is animated feature from Argentina Boogie, El Aceitoso, which can be translated as The Slick Boogie (?). Based on the works of famous Argentinian cartoonist and writer Roberto Fontanarrosa, the story is about Boogie, a ruthless mercenary killer who seems to feel utter contempt for everything and everyone. An American veteran of the Vietnam war, Boogie does everything for money.
I am guessing that through all that machoism, sexism and racism that this character possesses, Fontanarossa was expressing his criticism of US, and though I am not familiar with the original comics, it seems that it was filled with political context. Through the volumes of the comics, the character of Boogie and his attitude were changing, and since he is lovable character after all, I think there was more that merely anti-American lashing and the whole thing was more complex that it may appear.
Anyway, judging from the trailer the film seems to have some of that misanthropic and racist tone, but also dark humor and bad ass attitude. Offensive but fun, and with a bit of luck it will be also as charming as South Park. I like it already.



Official website - here.

Second Squad

The official Twitter page of the First Squad, has some interesting information. Apparently the film was originally planned to be a 13 episode OVA with larger story arc, but eventually it was decided to make it a movie. The creators are not letting their offspring go away so easy, so they are planning three more sequels, while the script for the second film is already completed and the production will begin this winter. The sequel will be in horror genre, at least they will try to make it a horror. I am not sure what they mean by that, but it sounds exciting.

Wild adventures of Leopold Stotch

I missed it last week, but the freaking South Park is back! The remaining episodes of the 13th season will be aired in the next months and with new Family Guy episodes airing as well it just can't be better for the animation fans.
Here is a sneak peek to the next episode Butters' Bottom Bitch, in which Butters is preparing to kiss a girl for the first time, and overly dedicated cop wages war on rising prostitution in South Park.

Animation Projects # 5

First, is computer animated TV series, called Yans! Gans! It is series of short episodes, set in New York in the future, when plants and dinosaurs have overrun the city. Yans and Gans are carnivorous dinosaurs who spend their days scaring and hunting down the herbivore creatures, not always with desired results. The series starts its broadcast in Japan at upcoming Friday, and the first episode already available on their youtube channel for some time.
This is very funny cartoon, very representable for crazy style of Japanese animation and design, and it even features amusing pop culture references that familiar to international audience as well.



More animation projects - below.

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Moldavian cinema is not really known internationally, they did number of films long time ago when Moldova was still part of Soviet Union, but I am not sure if they have serious film industry right now. They do try to create some animation in there, and here is an example for that.
This 3D full length animated film is called Gypsy, and it's about, yes, the gypsies. Favorite subject of Emir Kusturica's films, with their travel wagons and uplifting folk music, is getting animation treatment.

A band of the gypsies are walking along Basarabia [Area between Romania and Moldova]. Unexpectedly the horse of the main character dies, and he has to buckle down to the covered wagon were his family is because he has to follow the entire band. He is carrying the covered wagon all around the hills, it is really hot in spite of all obstacles.
During night’s lodging, after an exhausting day, the tired gypsy is hearing from the oak wood neighing of a horse and decides to steel the horse.

The film is currently in production, and as it is very common in case with independent filmmakers, they don't have money to work on it steadily. But they don't have plans to give up either, and as they say it's a matter of pride for them to complete the movie.
In the meantime two segments were released, that are not part of the film, but feature the characters and the animation style of the future film. I must admit, it looks very good and absolutely charming.





More details, characters designs and work stages you can find at the production blog, which has English version as well.

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Next is short animated film Sherlock Holmes and Dr.Watson 2, created by Russian animator Alexander Bubnov. It is a sequel to his previous short, about the famous duo, from 2005, and it was so popular all around the world, that he decided to make another one. The work on the film is still in progress, Bubnov and his team are slowly working to complete it, raising money in between. They even addressed to all the people that loved the first film and asked them to donate as much as they can.
More details about the film, including some sketches, beginning of the script and interviews with animators can be found at this website. There is also two blogs for the film, Bubnov's personal blog and production blog, but all of them are in Russian.

The first film from 2005 you can see below in two parts and with accurate English subtitles. It is very amusing and funny short with great imagination and unexpected turn of events.

Short Animation - Monsieur COK (2008)

Watch this great award winning short animation, translated as Mister COK. I like the sapient WWI retro look and the steampunk style, very cool visuals in this one.



Official website - here.

Take a breath

Here is a teaser for short animated film I Love You, illustrated and directed by unknown young Russian artist Rinat Timerkaev. As he writes on his blog, the animation style was inspired by the works of Makoto Shinkai and the film will be about love confession, but not a cheesy one and with unusual approach. His words.
I do love the clean and dream-like aesthetics, lets hope that it will be good enough to get bigger attention. Since this is a non-commercial project, he will probably post the full movie at some point on the web. Waiting.