Thompson on Hollywood

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: 'Tree of Life' Tech Visionary Trumbull Talks Future Cinema

Features

Douglas Trumbull's been on a mission to improve the theatrical moviegoing experience for decades. Digital technology has finally caught up with need, and the tech guru ("2001: A Space Odyssey"), who believes he can do something about reviving a sense of showmanship with superior-looking, mind-blowing presentations before it's too late.

By Bill Desowitz
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February 8, 2012 4:24 PM
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Oscar Nominations Bring Surprises in Animation and VFX: 'Cars 2,' 'Tintin,' and Superheroes Snubbed

Awards

Well, we heard it was coming -- and, sure enough -- the animation branch rejected Pixar's "Cars 2" and Steven Spielberg's "The Adventures of Tintin" in favor of two hand-drawn European indies: "A Cat in Paris" from France and "Chico & Rita" from Spain.

By Bill Desowitz
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January 24, 2012 5:21 PM
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Visual Effects Designer Douglas Trumbull to Receive Academy's Gordon E. Sawyer Award

Awards

The Academy will award Douglas Trumbull, the visionary behind some of the most significant visual effects innovations in recent film history, its Gorden E. Sawyer Award.

By Jacob Combs
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January 11, 2012 4:26 PM
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'The Adventures of Tintin' Dominates Visual Effects Society Nominations

Awards

Yet again this weekend I had a conversation with an animator who adores Steven Spielberg's "The Adventures of Tintin," but doesn't consider the film to be animation, but performance capture, which is a visual effect. Thus the film from Peter Jackson's Weta Digital did dominate the Visual Effects Society (VES) film categories with six nominations.

By Anne Thompson
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January 9, 2012 10:39 AM
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Academy VFX Bakeoff Will Cull Final Five Oscar Nominees from Shortlist of Ten

Awards

Ten films are now in the running for a Visual Effects Oscar nomination. Members of the Academy Visual Effects Branch will vote for the final five VFX nominees after viewing ten-minute excerpts from each of the shortlisted films at the Thursday, January 19 "Bakeoff." "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" beating out "Thor" and "Super 8" are the biggest upsets in the list of ten.

By Anne Thompson
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January 4, 2012 4:29 PM
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John Knoll Talks 'Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol' and Brad Bird

Features

For John Knoll, it didn't matter that "Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol" only required 700 VFX shots, and most of them invisible. It was the opportunity to work with director Brad Bird, whom he's known for years, on his first live-action film away from animation stardom at Pixar.

By Bill Desowitz
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December 23, 2011 6:35 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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Fifteen Pictures Vie for Academy Visual Effects Noms; What Didn't Make the Cut?

Awards

With new rules this year permitting five nominations, the Academy VFX Branch executive committee has picked fifteen films to be checked out at the annual Visual Effects Bakeoff in early January. That's when the committee will narrow the list to ten, and then, five for nominations morning January 25.

By Anne Thompson
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December 9, 2011 9:11 PM
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Hugo: The 3-D Game-Changer

Martin Scorsese's Hugo

"Hugo's" the 3-D film we've been waiting for: the one we were promised by James Cameron and the other true believers when this so-called stereoscopic revolution began; the one that was going to alter our perception of moviegoing the way the coming of sound and color did.

So leave it to Martin Scorsese to boldly pave the way with his storybook valentine to Georges Méliès and early French cinema and every other voyeuristic delight that has inspired him. Indeed, as the wondrous opening demonstrates -- a complicated fly-through into the Paris train station and Hugo's eye through a clock --this movie's about 3-D. Hell, even Roger Ebert liked it.