What was the last movie you've seen?

[prfsnl_gmr]

am I the only one who prefers drawn animations over 3D?

No. I also prefer hand-drawn animation. Unofortunately, and somewhat surprisingly, however, a high-quality, hand-drawn animated film is more currently more expensive to produce than a computer-animated film. Accordingly, we are more likely to see new computer-generated animation.

Also, wish another company could do kids movies other than Disney. I know they exist but they are few and far in between. Not sure how come Disney got no competition even though every movie they make profits a bazillion dollars.

I read that Dreamworks also makes profitable family films...

.....

Last night, my wife and I watched:



The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec (2012). It is an excellent family film from director Luc Besson, and it very much reminded me of the excellent "adventure" family films of the 1980s. (The film is based on a historical french comic book character, Adele Blanc-Sec, who is basically a female Indiana Jones.) I recommend it very highly, but if you plan on watching it with your children, you should be warned that it is sub-titled. (Accordingly, your childrens' reading skills will probably be put to the test with this film. My five-year-old daughter, who cannot read, did not watch the movie with us, but I am confident that she will enjoy it tremendously five years from now.) With or without children, however, it is a very fun adventure film, and - Sorry, Fifth Element and Le Femme Nikita! - it is probably my favorite Luc Besson film. It is also available for streaming through Netflix; so, those of you with the service can watch it instantly.

[isiolia]

Also, wish another company could do kids movies other than Disney. I know they exist but they are few and far in between. Not sure how come Disney got no competition even though every movie they make profits a bazillion dollars.

Currently in U.S. theaters are Legends of Oz: Dorothy Returns (Clarius Entertainment) and Rio 2 (20th Century Fox). Next month is How to Train Your Dragon 2 (Dreamworks). Earlier this year we had the Lego Movie (WB) and Mr. Peabody and Sherman (Dreamworks). Just for a few.

Big Hero 6 would be Disney's one animated theatrical release this year, not counting limited release of DisneyToon stuff (for all your Tinkerbell spinoff needs).

[dsheinem]

finally watched Machete Kills and Evil Dead (2013), trying to catch up on some of my film backlog. The former was surprisingly boring and uninspired, the latter was about what I expected (good, not great).

Also caught most of Casino on TV the other day, which I'd not seen in years. Still a great film, and maybe at this point one of Scorsese's most underrated.

[Luke]

Also caught most of Casino on TV the other day, which I'd not seen in years. Still a great film, and maybe at this point one of Scorsese's most underrated.

You can't blame Marty on sticking with what works and the guy is a genius... You already knew there was going to be a "but" here right?

But his repetitive style hinders me from loving movies that are great. Plain and simple: His movies are incredible, but I feel like I'm watching the same excellent movie over, and over, and over, and over...

[RCBH928]

I thought CGI movies costs more than drawn movies, I know a lot more work goes in the drawing for the animation to complete but I always imagined the CGI needs huge teams and big super computers to do the rendering. I guess I am wrong...

I guess anime series are really expensive to make then...

Also, wish another company could do kids movies other than Disney. I know they exist but they are few and far in between. Not sure how come Disney got no competition even though every movie they make profits a bazillion dollars.

Currently in U.S. theaters are Legends of Oz: Dorothy Returns (Clarius Entertainment) and Rio 2 (20th Century Fox). Next month is How to Train Your Dragon 2 (Dreamworks). Earlier this year we had the Lego Movie (WB) and Mr. Peabody and Sherman (Dreamworks). Just for a few.

most of these studios are not directly competing with Disney. Many would release 1 animated every few years, Disney is about the only organisation kids know. For example in movies you have Warner Brothers, Columbia TriStar, Paramount. In videogames you have Nintendo, 2K, Ubisoft. For kids there is almost only Disney for theme parks, animated movies, tv channels, tv series, merchandise, and everything else... there is another big organisation that competes with Disney as an alternative for it.

[AppleQueso]

I thought CGI movies costs more than drawn movies, I know a lot more work goes in the drawing for the animation to complete but I always imagined the CGI needs huge teams and big super computers to do the rendering. I guess I am wrong...

I guess anime series are really expensive to make then...

Most anime is pretty cheap because they use a lot of shortcuts and outsourcing. If you want a high quality 2D movie with high quality animation, it's going to cost a LOT more than an equivalently high quality CG movie.

[isiolia]

I thought CGI movies costs more than drawn movies, I know a lot more work goes in the drawing for the animation to complete but I always imagined the CGI needs huge teams and big super computers to do the rendering. I guess I am wrong...

I guess anime series are really expensive to make then...

Animation can be done dirt cheap, or for as much money as they can throw at it.

You're right though, most of the CGI movies have actually been more expensive than the preceding hand-drawn ones. Part of that is likely creating tools and processes, as costs have come down some over the past few releases. Tangled was a $260M movie. Frozen was $150M. Compared to the Princess and the Frog ($105M, Disney's most recent 2D film), both are expensive...but both also made back a lot more money.

The big catch there though is that the 3D movies tend to be raising the bar. They can do scenes that, if done by hand, would be prohibitively complex or expensive. The Princess and the Frog was able to come in cheaper than previous 2D efforts because they deliberately went for an older style. CGI movies are also shoe-ins for showing in 3D, where that'd be a costly process for 2D animated ones.

Anime, or the plethora of 2D TV shows and straight to video content, largely fall under that too. A lot of them, if you pay attention, minimize how much actual animation is being done. Or they trade off costly action scenes with a ton of flashbacks and panning over static images (*cough*Attack on Titan*cough*).
A lot of the stuff that's given a pass on TV isn't for a mainstream movie.

For kids there is almost only Disney for theme parks, animated movies, tv channels, tv series, merchandise, and everything else... there is another big organisation that competes with Disney as an alternative for it.

Being fair, Disney owns a ton of stuff across age groups - they now own Lucasfilm, and Marvel, and ESPN, and ABC, and A&E, etc.

In general though, it'd depend on age group. What I gave were simply the other CGI family movies in theaters or that have been/will be out this year. Disney isn't the only one putting out toys, cartoons, and all that though - but I would agree, they're the big name for it, especially now.

[MrPopo]

Days of Future Past

Why are you reading this thread instead of seeing it?

[Sano]

Salt Lake City Punk

Matthew Lillard and some other peoples. Some of you may recognize one of the girls they hang out with as Kes from ST: Voyager.

Good movie, IMO. Check it out if you like off the wall semi-independent films.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Dredd (2012). I went in thinking it would be exactly what it was - a "hard R" throwback to the carnage of classic 1980s action films - and what it was was awesome. (The thumping "Hotline Miami" soundtrack was, however, a nice, unexpected touch.)