Wednesday, June 24, 2009

He's Barack Obama

A new video about the American president is creating a huge buzz on the Internet. It is an animated short movie by JibJab showing the president as an American super hero who can solve all the world's problems in a blink of an eye. This politically satirical clip was watched by the president himself in the 65th annual Radio and TV correspondents dinner in Washington.

It is arguable JibJab's best effort till this day. While the movie clearly pokes fun at the extreme optimism among some of President Obama's supporters throughout the world, whether you find it poking fun at the president himself or not will depend on your political preference. Or maybe it pokes fun at the USA!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Pixar is still going UP.

Pixar's finishing of their first decade of movies couldn't have been better. UP has been in theater's for almost two and half weeks and it is doing great. There are even some speculations about it being one of the best performance of Pixar in terms of the box office. One can't help wondering why Pixar keeps going up?!

Having seen many animation movies lately, it is fair to say that Pixar is by far the leader in this industry. It is not hte techniques they use in the animation, it is not the amount of innovation in the way they render their scenes, it is something much more simple and much more appealing to the regular viewers that makes the difference between Pixar and the rest. It is their stories that appeal to all the ages. It is the worlds they create, not only by their stunning visuals, but by their incredible storytelling abilities also.

From a fish looking for it's son to a rat who wants to be a chef, and from those talking toys, to that old guy who wants to fulfill his late wife's dream; each story has something to laugh about, something to learn, and in some cases (especially with UP), something that will almost make you cry.

Pixar is taking 3D animation to a whole new level in a time when this genre began to be dominated by banal movies. It is doing what Disney had been doing with 2D animation until a decade ago. Now, with both companies unified, one can only expect the best to come.