Author: artofthecartoon

Set the VCR: Happy Birthday Lisa, from Bart and Michael Jackson…

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2006257928018765212_rsYesterday was one of those surreal days. I think mostly everyone will remember the day Michael Jackson died. Combine this with the whirlwind of Farrah Fawcett passing away earlier in the day and Ed McMahon passing 2 days before that, it was just madness. I’m not even sure how they went through with an NBA Draft. Anyway, my dude jabok stated it best over twitter:

the worlds coming to an end. =(

A little overblown, but I think that was the general consensus. Now I know everyone is doing their little tributes and look backs to the “King of Pop” at the moment. It’s amazing really, MTV started to play music videos again… really! I’m going to ignore all the craziness and all the controversy surrounding the last few years of Michael Jackson’s life for the moment, and focus on this one touching moment in television animation history.

Hit the Jump to read more about this Set the VCR moment: Continue reading →

Review: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

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Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen/ dir. Michael Bay/ 2009

As a huge fan of the Transformers franchise, especially of the original Generation 1, all I really expect from the 2nd live-action Transformers movie is some great Autobots vs. Decepticons fighting complete with guns, explosions, battle damage combined with a bunch of transforming action, and give a nod to the fans, especially those of Generation 1. If you do that, I can pretty much forgive the shortcomings of the film. For example:

Weak Story/ Confusing Plot: That’s fine! Let’s be real, Transformers has never been about story, its been about huge robots that transform and fight each other. And as a veteran of countless animes, I can deal with a confusing plot. Continue reading →

Bootleg Classics: Transformers “Heavy Metal War”

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Who is going to see the new Transformers tonight? Raise your hand…

(Raises hand)

Yeah, you know I was going to go see the newest live-action Transformers tonight. I mean I started this blog with a post about Transformers! And even though we won’t get near the number of homies attending this showing as the last one, the nostalgia factor is just too strong for me to resist. Look for a review of the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen hopefully tomorrow. But in the meantime, I would like to re-visit one of my favorite Transformers Generation 1 episode, and yes… it is a bootleg classic.

Transformers “Heavy Metal War” December 15, 1984

Primeheavymetalwar1Background:

You already know! But just in case… they are those robots that change (transform)  into cars, airplanes, etc.  C’mon you know… Optimus Prime and the Autobots (aka the good guys)  vs. Megatron and the Decipticons (aka the bad guys).  You know what!?  If you need a background on Transformers why you reading this blog!

The Episode:

Megatron challenges Optimus Prime to an honorable one-on-one gladiator style duel. The loser of the duel must take his respective team and leave Earth forever, thus ending the long bitter war between the Autobots and the Decipticons. However, unbeknownst to Optimus, Megatron cheats by taking the abilities of the other decipticons, giving Megatron a huge advantage in the duel.

(Hit the Jump to find out what makes this a Bootleg Classic) Continue reading →

SIFF 09: Nak

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Nak/ dir. Natthapong Rattanachoksirikul/ 2009/ Thailand

Nak_ext3Out of all the animated features at SIFF, I was most excited to watch Nak. The big reason for my excitement was that Nak was a Thai animated movie, and I was looking forward to seeing some Southeast Asian animated cinema. (Because from my observations, if the animated feature isn’t from China, Korea, or especially Japan, nobody is really taking notice. ) Plus, the guy who produced Nak, Prachya Pinkaew, was the same dude who produced Ong Bak, and Nak featured Thailand’s most famous ghost, Nak, alongside  some other mythical ghosts from Asian lore.

Although Nak is a solid animated effort by director Natthapong Rattanachoksirikul and cast and crew, (and yes, I was thoroughly entertained)I can’t front, after watching Nak I was a little disappointed… Continue reading →

SIFF 09: Egon & Dönci

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Egon & Dönci/ dir. Ádám Magyar/ 2008/ Hungary

3949How does one make a movie an experience? When a movie stops being about story, plot, and characters and the  focus is so much about the visuals, the sights and the sounds that we, as an audience, really don’t give a damn about the story.

That’s what Egon & Dönci attempts to do. This quirky Hungarian animated feature (apparently Hungary’s first CG animated movie) has no dialogue whatsoever, and uses gestures and sounds to communicate its characters thoughts and ideas, a technique that is not new by any means to the animation field, but still powerful when done right. Continue reading →

Voltron: The SLR Camera! (1985)

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I have a slew of reviews that should be upcoming (busy with school and work), so to break the monotony, I thought I would quickly post this:

In 1985, this came out…

voltroncam

It is a fully functional, transforming Voltron SLR –wannabe 110 film camera. Let me repeat in ALL CAPS and bold for emphasis. FULLY FUNCTIONAL AND TRANSFORMING VOLTRON SLR!

How come I didn’t know about this? And how do I get one now? I’m willing to switch from digital to 110 film (Do they even make 110 film anymore?)

Anyway. DO WANT!

From Gizmodo

SIFF 09: Mamma Mu och Kråken/ Der Mondbär: Das große Kinoabenteuer

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Mamma Mu och Kråken (Mamma Moo and Crow)/ dir. Igor Veyshtagin/ 2008/ Sweden

packshot

Der Mondbär: Das große Kinoabenteuer (Moonbeam Bear and His Friends)/ dir. Thomas Bodenstein & Michael Maurus/ 2008/ Germany

moon-1

I saw Mamma Moo and Crow and Moonbeam Bear and His Friends at Admiral Theater for SIFF this past weekend. Both showings were filled with cute little children and their parents. I’ll be honest I felt a little weird being there. Luckily I wasn’t the only one there without kids.

Anyway, I have a new found respect for animated projects that are geared toward those in society that are 5 years old and YOUNGER. If I were being really critical, I would mention the sub-par and simplistic animation, the thin story and plot, and general cheese factor for both films. Yeah, it was cool seeing animation from other countries but these films screamed PBS kids special. Hey the filmakers know their audience and simple animation combined with simple story and basic dialogue is perfect for the target demographic.

I did have some quibbles after the fact though. Mamma Moo and Crow was a story about friendship, but to me it seemed that the Cow and Crow had something more  going on (if you know what I mean). That aint age appropriate is it?

As for Moonbeam Bear and His Friends, I enjoyed that story more, but there were rapping crows! That’s right crows that rapped!  I almost yelled “THAT’S RACIST!” in the theater. That aint age approriate is it?

The real question for these kinds of films is “Is there a good message for the kiddies?” The answer is yes. However, I would never let MY kids watch this sh#%!

The NEW Batman…

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If you weren’t paying attention, Bruce Wayne is NOT Batman at the moment. After the 3 issue Battle For the Cowl storyline, there is a new Batman in town. Meet the NEW Batman:

Grayson_Batman

Don’t recognize him? Well the new Batman is… (drumroll) Dick Grayson, who was the first Robin:

grayson31

Of course, he eventually had a falling out with Bruce Wayne and became one of my favorite superheroes, Nightwing:

2008-11-02-nightwingMy Take: I think Dick Grayson was an obvious choice, however Dick Grayson was already Batman once, shortly after the Knightfall Series (BTW, Prodigal was an underrated storyline!!!) I think it’s pretty obvious that DC Comics will eventually give the mantle of Batman back to Bruce Wayne (Bruce is currently perceived to be dead, but is actually trapped in the past). But for this to work, DC needs to have Dick hold onto the mantle of Batman for at least a year. And they need to delve into the reasons why Dick decided to take up the mantle of Batman (because Battle for the Cowl did not address that!)

There is one last thing about Dick Grayson becoming Batman, I’m going to miss the eskrima sticks…