Thompson on Hollywood

Oscar Watch: Casarosa Talks 'La Luna,' Pixar's Longest Short

Awards

Pixar, of course, cut its teeth on shorts, winning its first Oscar for "Tin Toy" (1989), which paved the way for "Toy Story." Since then, Pixar has continued to regularly leverage its shorts program as a training ground for directors and incubator for technology.

By Bill Desowitz
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February 12, 2012 11:51 PM
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Oscar Watch: William Joyce Talks Brave New Interactive World of Oscar Winner 'Fantastic Flying Books' UPDATED

Awards

Who says high and low tech can't come together in animation and publishing?

By Bill Desowitz
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February 11, 2012 7:22 PM
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Immersed in Movies: 'Avatar' VFX Wiz Letteri Compares 'Apes' and 'Tintin,' Caesar and Haddock

Features

It's been a great year for Joe Letteri, Weta Digital's senior visual effects supervisor, with "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" as the front runner for the VFX Oscar and "The Adventures of Tintin" opening today and competing in the animation category.

By Bill Desowitz
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December 21, 2011 12:04 PM
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Immersed in Movies: Spielberg Talks Adventures of Tintin, War Horse

Features

The moment Steven Spielberg stepped onto the motion capture stage in LA and watched James Cameron shooting "Avatar" with the virtual camera, he knew he had found the right medium for "The Adventures of Tintin."

By Bill Desowitz
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December 16, 2011 1:44 PM
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Immersed in Movies: Jennifer Yuh Nelson Lifts Kung Fu Panda 2

Features

Of all the sequels competing for the best animated feature Oscar, "Kung Fu Panda 2" was really the only one with unfinished business. It begged the question: How did Po wind up living in the same house with his father goose?

By Bill Desowitz
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December 7, 2011 10:39 AM
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Immersed in Movies: Revisiting Hollywood's Silent Golden Age with The Artist

Features

By Bill Desowitz
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November 23, 2011 4:22 PM
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Spielberg, Tintin, and the Race for Oscar

Tintin v. Rango

If the animated Oscar competition comes down to originality and boldness, then you can't rule out a potential horse race between "Rango" and "The Adventures of Tintin." Make no mistake: despite the outcry from traditionalists, "Tintin" is nothing if not animated, and definitely a performance capture game-changer: a unique hybrid of the caricature and photoreal, thanks to the wizards of Weta, who've struck again after their "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" coup. The rendering of skin, eyes, mouth, and hair is so tactile, and there's a more believable sense of weight and movement.

By Bill Desowitz
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November 11, 2011 11:41 AM
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Pixar Launches Legacy Start Up in Vancouver, Air Mater Short Takes Flight

Features

It’s been a great week for Pixar, writes TOH columnist Bill Desowitz in this week’s Immersed in Movies.

By Bill Desowitz
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November 6, 2011 1:33 PM
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Brad Bird Talks Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol: IMAX vs. 3-D, Animation vs. Live Action, Trailer

Several animation directors are trying their hand at live action of late, most notably Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Ratatouille), who talks to Bill Desowitz about Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol, which boasts a new trailer and featurettes starring daredevil Tom Cruise (below).

By Bill Desowitz
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October 27, 2011 12:11 PM
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Fall/Holiday Preview: Four Films to Get Animated About, Especially Tintin

Bill Desowitz considers the Fall/Holiday seasons animated features, The Adventures of Tintin, Puss in Boots, Arthur Christmas and Happy Feet Two. Which have the right stuff to join Rango as an Oscar contender?It's obviously been a terrific week for Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin, given the mostly positive reviews coming out of Europe timed to the October 26 international release. And judging by the stunning new trailer and the footage I've already seen, the experiment seems to have paid off well for Spielberg and producing partner Peter Jackson. In fact, Tintin could very well turn out to be the performance capture game-changer for animation that we've been expecting, feeding off the momentum from Weta's innovative work on Avatar and Rise of the Planet of the Apes.