 What better way to spend the holidays than curling up under the covers after a hard day of work and play, ready for a long nap only to then be woken up by a creaking sound, your closet door slowly opening and out emerges a vicious monster ready to steal your screams away! Wait, that actually sounds horrible, so instead I suggest you make the most of this merry season by getting your monster-fill at a screening of Disney•Pixar’s Monsters, Inc. 3D. Like Finding Nemo 3D just a few months back, I hadn’t immersed myself with this timeless Pixar adventure in over a decade. While Monsters, Inc. doesn’t age quite as well as the aforementioned film that traversed the deep blue sea and plundered America’s deep black wallets, you can’t argue against the manic bliss that Mike, Sully and Boo treat you with for an enthralling ninety minutes. Read more on Monsters, Inc. 3D (***½)…
 Something that many never thought would ever happen is going on in Hollywood right now. Yes, ‘Star Wars Episode VII’ is in pre-production, and it’s not even being fully brought to us by George Lucas. We’re all aware by now that Oscar winner Michael Arndt has been hired to pen the script, and filmmakers like Colin Trevorrow and Matthew Vaughn have been rumored to be taking the directing job. Of course, A-listers like J.J. Abrams, Zach Snyder, Steven Spielberg, and Quentin Tarantino have already pretty much said no, while people like David Fincher and Christopher Nolan aren’t really even worth seriously discussing. That got me thinking though…who else would get people excited? I know Brad Bird is a popular name, but I wanted to get the input of the community here at The Awards Circuit. I’ll be sharing seven names that I’d be interested in seeing get the gig (not including Matt Reeves, who I always put in pieces like this and decided to take a short break from), but I’m just as interested in getting your names as I am in sharing mine. We’re likely not too far out from finding out who the directing choice of Disney is, so before long we’ll know the director of a new Star Wars movie! Until then, here are my picks for filmmakers who could do a good job with the new trilogy…
Read more on Who should direct ‘Star Wars Episode VII’?…
Categories: Article Tags: Andrew Stanton, Brad Bird, Christopher Nolan, Colin Trevorrow, David Fincher, Drew Goddard, Duncan Jones, Edgar Wright, Episode VII, George Lucas, J.J. Abrams, Joe Johnston, Jon Favreau, Josh Trank, lists, Mark Romanek, Matt Reeves, Matthew Vaughn, Michael Arndt, opinion, Quentin Tarantino, rumors, Star Wars, Steven Spielberg, upcoming projects, Zach Snyder
 Over the next few months to a year, many rumors will start circulating the web about who will be starring/writing/directing the upcoming “Untitled Star Wars Episode VII” film due out in 2015. Anne Thompson of Thompson on Hollywood and Beth Hanna are reporting that director Matthew Vaughn, most responsible for directing X-Men: First Class (2011), Kick-Ass (2010), and Layer Cake (2004) is rumored to being considered for the project. Read more on Rumors Suggest Matthew Vaughn being considered to direct ‘Star Wars Episode VII’…
Categories: News Tags: Andrew Stanton, Anne Thompson, Beth Hanna, Brad Bird, Director, director at Disney, Edward Douglas, Entertainment/Culture, Epic films, Film, Greg Mottola, Guillermo del Toro, Harrison Ford, Human Interest, Illusionist, Kick-Ass, Matthew Vaughn, Movie Release, Neil Burger, Neill Blomkamp, Star Wars, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Tom Tywker, X-Men: First Class
By Joseph Braverman (****)
In my estimation, the two greatest films ever to be made concerning the “deep blue sea” come from Disney: 1989′s The Little Mermaid and 2003′s Finding Nemo. Sorry Spielberg, but when it comes to the visual splendor and untold adventures one can obtain from the giant, often uncharted world we call “the ocean,” nobody does it quite like Disney. So when I heard there was to be a re-release of Finding Nemo in 3-D, I immediately perked up at the idea. Not only is Finding Nemo one of Pixar’s best efforts to date, but I hadn’t seen the movie in nearly ten years, perhaps since its initial release. I was worried that my opinion of the movie was going to change, and also wondered whether the 3-D would distract my emotional attachment with Marlon and his journey to find and rescue his physically limited son, Nemo. Ten years later and wiser — 23 years old versus 14 at the time of Finding Nemo’s original release — I am proud to report that the 3-D is infused seamlessly into the classic animated feature. There is never an issue with jagged lines or the other nuisances that often appear when watching a film that’s released in 3-D. In fact, I daresay Finding Nemo’s extra use of dimension makes for an even bigger, more involved, deeper felt movie-going experience the second time around. You cannot help but embrace Dory’s mantra when watching: “just keep swimming, just keep swimming.” Read more on Finding Nemo 3-D (Duo-Review)…
Categories: Film Reviews Tags: Andrew Stanton, Best Animated Short, Disney, Ellen DeGeneres, Entertainment/Culture, Finding Nemo, Pixar, The Little Mermaid, Tim Allen, tom hanks, Willem Dafoe
 It’s clear that Pixar as a company is now deep into making franchises out of their biggest hits, and as long as we get more ‘Toy Story’ franchises and less ‘Cars’ ones, you won’t hear me complaining much. I’ll admit that I need to revisit ‘Finding Nemo’, and apparently I need to do it in the next couple of years before the sequel hits. Deadline is reporting here that at least we’ll have a recognizable director shepherding it in Andrew Stanton. It makes perfect sense for Disney/Pixar to want Stanton back, but it initially seems like an odd choice on his part (especially after getting to do live action with ‘John Carter’), though there seems to be a method to his madness. After the jump you can see what he has up his sleeve, but in any event…try and get excited for another adventure with Nemo!
Read more on Andrew Stanton will direct the ‘Finding Nemo’ sequel!…
 A gregarious sci-fi epic that does enough things right to make for an entertaining film, ‘John Carter’ has a number of small missteps that don’t detract from your enjoyment, but do manage to keep the film from being anything really special. Andrew Stanton’s transition from Pixar animation to live action direction is a mostly successful one, but he has some growing pains, there’s no doubt about it. An incredibly interesting blockbuster flick that can’t always live up to its promise, it winds up settling for just being good when it could have been great. Granted, this is a story (based on a book by Edgar Rice Burroughs called “A Princess of Mars”) that has been attempted as a feature for more than half a century, but I still couldn’t shake the feeling here and there that it could have used a little bit longer in the oven. The issues are never large, but they hold back the work. The aforementioned Stanton’s writing and directing aren’t quite as good as I was hoping for, but it’s easy to see he’s got a live action future ahead of him. A pleasant surprise was the acting, which goes over the top at times but always stays on the right path. I was especially skeptical of Tyler Kitsch and Lynn Collins as the leads, but they’re actually pretty good. The special effects are excellent, even if the 3D is somewhat unnecessary (like that’s a new complaint these days anyway), making for a visual treat on the eyes. Disney hasn’t been marketing this film very well, but have no fear, the movie they’re hiding isn’t a bomb by any stretch…it’s just a hard sell. If you take the way that J.J. Abrams took his ‘Star Trek’ reboot and applied that sensibility to ‘Star Wars’ and filtered it a bit through the lens of last year’s ‘Cowboys & Aliens’, that should give you a small idea of what you’re in for here (even if Disney seems confused by what it is, going by how they originally placed a release date embargo on this flick for some reason…I actually saw the movie back at a screening in February).
Read more on John Carter (***)…
Categories: Film Reviews Tags: Andrew Stanton, book adaptation, Cirian Hinds, Disney, Dominic West, Early Review, James Purefoy, John Carter, Lynn Collins, Mark Strong, Samantha Morton, Taylor Kitsch, Thomas Haden Church, Willem Dafoe
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