Animated Films
After Pixar Ouster, John Lasseter Returns With Apple and ‘Luck’
LOS ANGELES — The most Pixar movie of the summer is not from Pixar. It’s from Apple TV+ and the lightning-rod filmmaker-executive who turned Pixar into a superpower: John Lasseter. Five years ago, Mr. Lasseter was toppled by allegations about his behavior in the workplace. Almost overnight, his many accomplishments — building Pixar from scratch, […]
Know More
Ken Knowlton, a Father of Computer Art and Animation, Dies at 91
Dr. Knowlton remained at Bell Labs until 1982, experimenting with everything from computer-generated music to technologies that allowed deaf people to read sign language over the telephone. He later joined Wang Laboratories, where, in the late-1980s, he helped develop a personal computer that let users annotate documents with synchronized voice messages and digital pen strokes. […]
Know More
‘Lightyear’ Opens at No. 2, as ‘Jurassic World’ Holds Strong
Buzz Lightyear failed to reach box office hyperspace over the weekend. But it was unclear why. “Lightyear,” the first Pixar movie to be released in theaters in more than two years, sold an estimated $51 million in tickets at 4,255 locations in the United States and Canada in its first three days in release, according […]
Know More
‘The Bad Guys’ and the Crossroads Its Author Faced
The Australian author and illustrator Aaron Blabey gave himself an ultimatum in 2014. The father of two, then 40 years old, had been working a series of increasingly dissatisfying day jobs — from acting to advertising — and although his children’s books were “warmly received” (as he put it), the earnings were not supporting his […]
Know More
‘The 2022 Oscar Nominated Short Films’ Review: Small Tales, Big Ideas
With three out of five nominees, Netflix is almost bigfooting this year’s documentary short category, but one of those three is a standout. “Audible,” directed by Matt Ogens, observes the high school football team at the Maryland School for the Deaf, zeroing in on one player, Amaree McKenstry. His senior year is eventful beyond the […]
Know More
Is Disney the Met’s Fairy Godmother?
“Inspiring Walt Disney: The Animation of French Decorative Arts,” which opened this month at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is a classic holiday exhibition: family-friendly, frothy, not asking for much heavy lifting. And like that of the holiday season itself, its promise is a little overstated. The exhibition traces, often in granular detail, the disparate […]
Know More
Hayao Miyazaki Prepares to Cast One Last Spell
STUDIO GHIBLI MIGHT never have existed had Suzuki, now 73, not found a way to get past Miyazaki’s anger. The two men met in 1979, when, as the editor of an animation magazine, Suzuki showed up at Miyazaki’s workplace to procure an interview. (I speak with Suzuki in a separate online session, in which he […]
Know More