Tag: Animation (11-20 of 266)

Jul 17 2012 08:10 PM ET

Tom Hanks' dystopian web series debuts on Yahoo

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Image Credit: Playtone / Reliance

Creating content exclusively for the web is a growing area for mega TV and film personalities — just this week Larry King launched an online news network and Jerry Seinfeld‘s web series is also coming soon — but the latest to join in the interactive content game is Tom Hanks, whose new animated web series, Electric City, premiered on Yahoo! Screen Tuesday.

The series is set in a seemingly peaceful but troubled city, a settlement that has sprung up in the aftermath of a series of ecological and human-caused disasters. Hanks, who also wrote the series, voices Cleveland Carr, a mysterious man of mixed morals, in the dystopian city where there are two ways to access news and information: newspapers and radio, both easily controlled by the powers that be.

“The theme that drives the plot of every episode is ‘Who’s gonna control the information?’” Hanks explained to a group of reporters via conference call. “And are those people gonna be benevolent and tell the truth, or are they going to be proactively lying in order to promote their own agenda? That’s Electric City in a nutshell.” READ FULL STORY »

Jul 2 2012 03:15 PM ET

Tom Hanks' 'Electric City' looks for light in the darkness

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Tom Hanks is heading to Electric City. No, Dunderheads, he’s not guesting on The Office, which is, of course, set in Scranton, Pa., a.k.a. Electric City. The two-time Oscar winner has created a new animated web series about a seeming oasis of idealistic possibility set amongst a dystopian, post-apocalyptic future. Hanks has been working on the idea for years, at one point contemplating bringing his characters to life with puppets. Instead, Yahoo will host a series of short five-to-seven-minute episodes, the first 10 of which will premiere on July 17. Additional episodes will follow on July 18-19, completing the 90-minute adventure.

Hanks himself will lend his voice to the cast, along with Jeanne Tripplehorn, Holland Taylor (Two and a Half Men), Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Antoon, Chris Parnell, Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, and Georg Stanford Brown. Hanks’ character is new to Electric City, and after the world nearly ended, safe housing is rare — and expensive. His only affordable option? Dressing in drag, and getting a job in a knitting factory… I kid. Watch a quick trailer here. READ FULL STORY »

Jun 26 2012 10:00 AM ET

What is your damage, Princess Merida's hair?

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Welcome to ‘What Is Your Damage,’ Annie Barrett’s summer shop of all the melodrama and self-absorption she misses from springtime reality TV. Every Tuesday and Friday, she’ll rant about a current offense to her humanity, then assess readers’ damages via video replies. Don’t be shy about admitting what annoys or intrigues you. We’re all in this pop cult together!

What is your damage, Princess Merida’s hair? I am going through some MAJOR HAIR ENVY this week and it’s all 1,500 of your individually animated CGI curls’  fault!

You’ve completely mesmerized me. I see you everywhere now — undulating and breathing fire over my bed, waving your honorary Independent Spirit award in front of my face and whispering with varying degrees of fierceness, “Look at all my different textures.” I want to buy a blanket of you that I could drape over my head while in public and prop up somewhere in my line of vision while resting in private, non-mirrored rooms. Since you came into my life, I’d mist you so bad. READ FULL STORY »

Jun 24 2012 11:17 AM ET

Could the heroine of Pixar's 'Brave' be gay? (Warning: Spoilers!)

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Image Credit: Pixar/Disney

Today, crowds will line the streets of cities like New York and San Francisco for parades that mark the high point of LGBT Pride Month. At the same time, legions of kids will swarm into theaters to watch Pixar’s Brave, the animated story of a young Scottish princess named Merida who goes to extreme lengths to avoid having to marry one of the three noblemen that her parents have chosen for her. The two events don’t seem to have much in common at first glance.  But it’s quite possible that while watching Brave’s tomboyish heroine shoot arrows, fight like one of the boys, and squirm when her mother puts her in girly clothes, a thought might pop into the head of some viewers: Is Merida gay? READ FULL STORY »

Jun 20 2012 05:03 PM ET

Melanie Lynskey and Ed O'Neill are leaving on a jet plane to New Zealand

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When was the last time you actually paid attention to an airline safety video? Been a while? Well, Air New Zealand is hoping to change that, thanks to some help from a couple of celebs.

Backed by some music from The Naked and Famous, your hosts for this new animated in-flight safety video are Ed O’Neill (Modern Family) and New Zealand-born actress Melanie Lynskey (Up in the Air). And Melanie seems a little… disappointed that her seatmate is the Married With Children veteran. “Oh… nice,” she says after he’s introduced himself. Whether she appears shocked/frightened to see him because he’s Ed O’Neill or because his head just appeared out of thin air is debatable.

READ FULL STORY »

Jun 17 2012 08:21 AM ET

What's your go-to movie on Father's Day?

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There are any number of great movies out there meant to honor great dads in the world. Father of the Bride, National Lampoons Vacation, Parenthood. But if there’s one movie I’m going to watch on Father’s Day, it’s The Lion King.

I know that’s a pretty grim choice, considering the father at the center of the animated flick dies in the first third of the movie. (Though, if you watched it, you know he LIVES ON IN SIMBA!) But it’s my go-to movie because it’s one of my earliest theater-going memories with my dad. And before you ask: yes, watching Mufasa’s death for the first time while sitting next to your actual father is one of the most upsetting moments in the world when you’re seven years old. But one of the best? Realizing your dad does a mean impression of Mufasa and having him entertain your pleas for repeated performances. I may have even recorded one or two of these on my Talkboy. Oh, the ’90s.

Living here in New York, I’m about 2,000 miles from where my parents live in Texas, and on Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, and even their birthdays, every mile between us feels like 100. They might as well be on the other side of the world. So once the customary phone call is made today, if I’m still looking to close the gap a little, I’m pretty sure I know what I’m going to pop into the Blu-ray.

Well, that or Goodfellas. But that’s another story entirely.

Related:
20 Best Dressed TV Dads
Book review: Father’s Day
12 TV Dads I’d Like to Friend

Jun 12 2012 07:52 PM ET

Play the videogame behind Disney's animated ode to arcade villains, 'Wreck-It Ralph'

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It’s a good rule of thumb that you should pretty much avoid any and all videogames based on feature films — not to mention feature films based on videogames. But I think a special exception can be made for Fix-It Felix. It’s the (fictitious) ’80s-era arcade game at the heart of the Disney animated film Wreck-It Ralph, about a gaming villain tired of everyone always being upset with him just for doing his job.

And he does it so well, too! Disney’s made Fix-It Felix available to play on the Web, and I’m here to tell you, while it may look simple, it’s a really tough game to beat. READ FULL STORY »

May 31 2012 10:20 AM ET

This is the 'Dark Knight Rises'/'My Little Pony' trailer mashup we deserve, not the one we need -- VIDEO

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Because nobody really needs fan videos that combine Friendship Is Magic with The Hunger Games, or The Happening, or Rock of Ages — but aren’t you glad that they exist?

In the following clip, a YouTube-savvy brony (or pegasister!) named cloverfieldmoster skillfully blends audio from the theatrical Dark Knight Rises trailer with images from The Hub’s hit series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It shouldn’t work — but thanks to Batman Batmare stand-in Rainbow Dash’s intense gaze and the cartoon’s surprisingly epic feel, these diametric opposites actually go pretty well together. Best part: when Bane replacement Discord laughs evilly as what look like hamburgers fall from the sky.

READ FULL STORY »

Apr 13 2012 05:16 PM ET

Saddle up: You're invited to a 'My Little Pony' royal wedding -- EXCLUSIVE

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Image Credit: The Hub

Love is always in the air in Equestria, the neigh-borly realm that’s home to My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic‘s four-legged stars. But on Saturday, April 21, this animated world will celebrate a particularly momentous occasion: Winged unicorn Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, a dapper colt, are tying the knot (reins?). And we’ve got a first look at the pony-focused announcement that’ll appear in The New York Times‘ wedding section this Sunday. That’s right: The paper of record is running a notice (full disclosure: it’s really an ad) about two cartoon horses getting hitched.

Naturally, the invitations request bridle attire.

Confused? Here’s the hoof, the whole hoof, and nothing but the hoof: READ FULL STORY »

Mar 21 2012 04:47 PM ET

Wallace and Gromit praised on the floor of Parliament. Hear hear! -- VIDEO

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WALLACE-GROMIT

Image Credit: DreamWorks Animation

Place yourself, for just a moment, back in the days of the George W. Bush administration. Now imagine the head of Bush’s economic team standing before Congress and declaring that their newest budget was expanding tax breaks not just to Hollywood, but the world of videogames, pay-cable television, and animation as well — with a full-throated endorsement of Woody and Buzz Lightyear to boot.

Kinda hard to picture, isn’t it?

But that’s exactly what happened this week across the pond in Parliament — and we’ve got the footage to prove it below. READ FULL STORY »

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