The Dilla Dimension

You'll be hard-pressed to find a producer more ubiquitously applauded and dissected than that of the late J Dilla. A formidable beat-maker whose production has been the bedrock of some of hip-hop's most venerated albums and artists, the man affectionately known by his fans and loved ones as Jay Dee passed away in 2006 on the eve of Donuts', his most successful album, release.

The shadow of his influence still hangs heavy and low over the face of contemporary music even nine years since his passing, which is why CGI-studio Cartelle Interactive has created this interactive browser film to commemorate Dilla's last record by transforming it into a kaleidoscopic tunnel-trip through a outer-spacial odyssey of confectionery oddities.

The Dilla Dimension is an interactive, short film that tells the story of two sugarcoated souls and their psychedelic journey through outer space. Each step of their voyage is crafted to a selection of tracks from J Dilla’s classic album, Donuts.

An alternate universe, blanketed with hypercolor sugar and fluorescent glaze, gives birth to an unlikely cluster of donut holes. Suddenly, they are split apart and scattered across a sea of hypnotic, interstellar chaos. But the impossible takes shape when a love is sparked, leading to a desperate search across the universe for one another.

Black Dynamite's Musical Season Finale is 'The Wiz' meets 'The Wire'

Tonight, Adult Swim is airing the one-hour Black Dynamite season finale "The Wizard of Watts". The Black Dynamite series, created in 2009 by Michael Jae White and directed by LeSean Thomas and Carl Jones of Boondocks fame, has never been a stranger to bizarre humor and brazen social commentary driven from off the beaten path. But this episode is something else entirely.

Feeling in need of some well-deserved off time after a long stretch of solving cases and beating up drug dealers, Black Dynamite decides to take a holiday only to be serendipitously hit in the head by a brick. Dynamite's catatonic dreams transport him to the magical world of "Oz-Watts", a fantastical wonderland of foul-mouthed poodles (Tyler, the Creator), flying junkies, harpy hookers (Erykah Badu), a wizard Magic Johnson, and a benevolent fairy James Brown welcoming him to "the black version of the Wiz". Oh, and an army of pig enforcers hell-bent on beating the s#*@& out of him. What could go wrong?

It seems like New York production house Ars Nova is going all-out for this season's finale. Though I must admit I haven't watched much of the show save a few episodes of the first run, I'm genuinely looking forward to seeing this episode. Michael Jai White, Carl Jones, Kym Whitley, and Scott Sander of the Black Dynamite crew are also hosting a Google Hangout session before, during and after the episode's premiere. Check out the episode tonight and let us know what you think!

"Big Hero 6" Gets It's First Official Trailer

Following a few months of trailer, we finally got the first official trailer for Big Hero 6, Disney's upcoming feature-length animated release for 2014. Based off of the relatively fringe comic created by Marvel's Steven T. Seagle and Duncan Roleaue, Big Hero 6 follows the exploits of a Japanese superhero team, although the film adaptation takes place in a hybrid setting called 'San Fransokyo,' a trans-Pacific megalopolis.

Based off of the images released of the cast so far with characters including Go Go Tomago, Honey Lemon and Wasabi it seems like the cast has also been quite culturally diversified compared to their comic incarnations. Seems like a safe move to guarantee the broadest appeal possible when the movie comes out.

The movie follows lead character and robotics prodigy Hiro Hamada and his robotic sidekick Baymax as they team up with a group of reluctant crime fighters to take on a mysterious, Kabuki mask donning villain called Yokai. Fun fact, the comic book also starred the likes of Silver Samurai and Sunfire, but it's likely that those characters were sidelined due to Fox Studios currently having the Xmen license in their pocket.

The movie is being co directed by Don Hall (Winnie The Pooh) and Chris Williams (Bolt) as well as a whole smattering of staff from high profile projects like Frozen and Wreck It Ralph, so there's a pretty good chance that this will be quite an entertaining flick. The movie is slated to release on November 7. Check out a few more images of the rest of the Big Hero 6 cast after the break.

"The Last Fiction" - An Initial Glimpse At Iran's Feature Animation Industry

While the media has made it a point to regularly convey Iran as a one dimensional country obsessed with nuclear power, the country actually has an amazing arts scene that we've been following for a while. They've made some amazing strides in the international movie industry, including 2010's critically acclaimed Farewell Baghdad and 2011's drama A Separation winning an Academy Award.

This week brings us a new chapter in Iran's attempt to capture international audiences with The Last Fiction- a production by Hoorakhsh Studio, founded in 2005. The initial trailer is showing some amazing promise so far as a historical feature, employing a realistic hand animated style with a palpable sense of epic scale.

Adapted from a 1,000 year old epic poem called Shahnama (The Book of Kings), The Last Fiction is based off of one of the country's highest regarded literary masterpieces, chronicling the rise of the Persian empire. The movie itself will actually focus on the tale of Kaveh, a blacksmith who leads a revolt against a ruthless, despotic foreign ruler with mythical powers called Zahhak.

As of now it's unknown how far off the movie is from release, but considering the quality of animation so far, I'm really excited to see what these guys will be able to accomplish. Check out a look into Hooraksh's animation studio after the break, to get a rare glimpse at how Iran's young animators and artists work.

"When Marnie Was There" - A First Look At Studio Ghibli's Upcoming Feature

Studio Ghibli's next project will feature Hiromasa Yonebayashi (Arrietty) resuming the directors post in this adaptation of Joan G. Robinson's novel by the same name. This premiere trailer seems to indicate that this will be another understated feature following a trend that the studio has adopted since 2008's Ponyo, which was probably their last 'fantastical' feature. Not that we mind, The Wind Rises (2014) was probably one of the best movies the studio's ever put out. Looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

Anna hasn't a friend in the world - until she meets Marnie among the sand dunes. But Marnie isn't all she seems...

An atmospheric ghost story with truths to tell about friendship, families and loneliness. Anna lives with foster parents, a misfit with no friends, always on the outside of things. Then she is sent to Norfolk to stay with old Mr and Mrs Pegg, where she runs wild on the sand dunes and around the water. There is a house, the Marsh House, which she feels she recognizes - and she soon meets a strange little girl called Marnie, who becomes Anna's first ever friend. Then one day, Marnie vanishes.

"Paddington Bear" Trailer Is Anything But Adorable

This post might be more catered to European audiences due to the prevalance of Paddington Bear as a childhood book overseas, but think of him as a foreign Winnie The Pooh equivalent. Based off of Michael Bond's series which spawned with 1958's a A Bear Called Paddington, it seems like a hybrid CG/live action adaptation is in the works as evidenced by this initial trailer.

The problem is, whoever called the shots on the look of this film seems to have opted for the uncanny valley route- Choosing to adapt the adorable bear into an ultrarealistic CGI animal with no stylization whatsoever. As someone who grew up with the series, the design just begged to be adapted into an animated feature...Not this hybrid project with gross out humor and a creepy, dead eyed bear with a penchant for destruction.

This trend with toilet humor has been ongoing in the adaptation scene for a while, ranging from the rather terrible Alvin And The Chipmunks movies, Marmaduke and even the ill fated Hong Kong Phooey movie attempt. To think that this low brow formula will be applied to an adorable, marmalade loving bear who was always well known for his politeness makes me appreciate Disney's respect for their movie adaptations of beloved characters. The Paul King (Mighty Boosh) directed feature is expected to hit theaters in the UK and US around the holiday season of this year.

If you want to get a good idea as to how the public reacted, check out the Creepy Paddington Tumblr that's been set up in honor of this trailer.

Robo Reminder - "How To Train Your Dragon 2" Releases Tomorrow

Get hype! How To Train Your Dragon 2 is coming out tomorrow in theaters and the media barrage has begun already. Trailers are dropping, shots are being fired- Certain trailers are already saying it's More fun than Frozen! Featuring Hiccup and Toothless reuniting with his mother in order to counter a new threat- A dragon controlling antagonists called Drago Bludvist who's intent on taking over their hometown of Berk and eventually the world.

After learning a little bit about Dreamworks from some folks I talked to, I came to realize that there's a bunch of different teams at play on various projects..And the one that worked on How To Train Your Dragon 2 was the equivalent of the A-team, some of the same people who brought us the first Kung Fu Panda and moved on to create the original installment of this franchise. Get your tickets already!

E3 2014 - Insomniac Unveils "Ratchet And Clank" Movie

Following the reveal of the Sly Cooper film earlier this year and the recent announcement of a Ratchet And Clank film at this year's E3- It seems like Sony is intent on expanding some of their most popular franchises into the cinematic realm. Not a bad thing necessarily as Ratchet And Clank always had the stylings of an animated feature, especially in the most recent installments. Set to be released sometime in 2015, the movie appears to be an incredibly faithful adaptation of the franchise.

The multiple installments of the games games followed Ratchet, a cat like tinkerer with an affinity for gadgets hailing from an extinct race of intelligent creatures called Lombaxes. Driven from their home following a great war, Ratchet's hunt to find traces of his fellow Lombax became a reoccurring theme of the franchise since the release of the first title in 2002. Looking forward to learning more about this feature, which is slated to release sometime in 2015.

Ratchet and Clank tells the story of two unlikely heroes as they struggle to stop a vile alien named Chairman Drek from destroying every planet in the Solana Galaxy. When the two stumble upon a dangerous weapon capable of destroying entire planets, they must join forces with a team of colorful heroes called The Galactic Rangers in order to save the galaxy. Along the way they'll learn about heroism, friendship, and the importance of discovering one's own identity. 

"Song Of The Sea" - A New Animated Feature From Ireland's Cartoon Saloon Studio

Cartoon Saloon is an Academy award nominated studio based out of Kilkenny, Ireland-Best known for their work on The Secret Of Kells, which garnered international acclaim for it's rich art style and mythological narrative. The same director behind Kells, Tom Moore just recently announced Song Of The Sea, which will be a similar romp into an untapped realm of Celtic mythos.

From a first glance the animated feature is looking absolutely beautiful, featuring a slightly different direction from the high stylization present in Secret Of Kells. Their first feature seemed intent on emulating a flat woodcut look in every shot, which was a little hit and miss. Cartoon Saloon seems to be retaining the same look for the characters with Song Of The Sea, but are focusing more on a fairy tale book illustration approach to the rest of the world.



On a fun note, Cartoon Saloon actually released a pretty spot on proof of concept for the movie back in 2009, which was pretty fun to compare to the final look that the studio decided to go with (Above). The movie will be released sometime this year, and we're hoping it gets picked up for wider western distribution rather than limited release, an issue that it's predecessor suffered from.

Song Of The Sea tells the story of Ben and his little sister Saoirse -- the last Seal-child -- who embark on a fantastic journey across a fading world of ancient legend and magic in an attempt to return to their home by the sea. The film takes inspiration from the mythological Selkies of Irish folklore, who live as seals in the sea but become humans on land. 

"The Book Of Life" - Life, Death And Guillermo Del Toro's First Foray Into Animated Features

Interesting. It seems like 2014 and 2015 are years dedicated to La Dia De Los Muertos, with both Fox Animation and Disney/Pixar attempting to take a stab at the Mexican holiday celebrating those who have passed. Disney recently hit a negative PR road block by attempting to actually copyright the phrase 'Dia De Los Muertos,' which drew international ire in their direction for their 2015 feature. That aside, from a visual standpoint The Book Of Life is looking beautiful, drawing from the colorful folk art that's prevalent during the festivals.

My only concern comes from the indications that there will be plenty of pop music covers present throughout the movie- but hopefully those won't detract from the absolutely gorgeous visual style that director Jorge Gutierrez and producer Guillermo Del Toro crafted up for the upcoming feature. During protagonist Manolo's adventures, he'll end up visiting a total of three worlds: The land of the dead, the land of the remembered, and the land of the forgotten. Looking forward to getting engrossed in all three worlds come October 17.

The Book of Life is the journey of Manolo, a young man who is torn between fulfilling the expectations of his family and following his heart. Before choosing which path to follow, he embarks on an incredible adventure that spans three fantastical worlds where he must face his greatest fears. Rich with a fresh take on pop music favorites, The Book of Life, encourages us to celebrate the past while looking forward to the future.

"The Unsung Soldier" Miyu Studio Announces Their WWI Animated Feature

French animated collective Miyu studios just announced that they're hard at work on a new docudrama called Le Soldat Meconnu (The Unsung Soldier), which narrates the unfortunate tale of a soldier in the final hours of WWI.

The feature will employ a mix of live and animated sequences to retell the tale of this unsung soldier, who suffered a most unfortunate fate. The black and white sequences have a truly unsettling feel to them, replicating the gritty look of archival footage from that war.

In November 11, 1918 the war came to an end over an armistice signed in the forest of Compiègne between the Allies and German nations. When word hit the 415th regiment on the bank of Meuse, where intense fighting was still ongoing between French and German sides, soldier Augustin Trebuchon was tasked with spreading the word about the cease fire to the various outposts. Trebuchon would ultimately be killed by a bullet to the head a few minutes before the cease-fire, symbolizing the absurdity of war as a whole. A total of ten million soldiers lost their lives in the conflict.

Animating "Ernest & Celestine" - An Unlikely Friendship

This is an awesome little behind the scenes look into the very unique style of Ernest & Celestine, a critically nominated feature movie from France narrating the unlikely relationship between a bear and a little mouse (I never knew they were foes). What struck me about the feature was it's distinct look, which uses a very loose line quality and hand painted watercolor backgrounds.

Based off of long form childrends book series by Belgian artist Gabriel Vincent, it looks like the animation team managed to faithfully recreate the look of the books with this series. Benjamin Renner really made some great points about choosing to go with analog on certain aspects (Like the watercolor backgrounds) to force accidents to happen and make it more true to the medium it was originally created in. The problem is computers is that when we make an accident, we tend to correct.



Following the slow burn acclaim that the movie garnered since it's release in 2012, the movie will be getting a US release this year. Looking forward to checking out, it looks like it'll be quite a cute feature and hit on some relevant points about societal barriers.

The Fake - An Animated Thriller From South Korea

The recent Toronto International Film Festival made us aware of Korean director Yong Sang-Ho's sophomore feature effort called The Fake, which has been garnering attention at various festivals. Ho developed quite a reputation with his first animate feature called King Of Pigs, which focused on bullying and class inequality, whereas this new feature centers around the hypocrisy of organized religion.

The interesting thing about The Fake is the protagonist called Min-Chul, a man living on the fringes of society who definitely walks a moral gray line. Upon realizing that a religious elder is attempting to take advantage of his flock, he chooses to take matters into his own hands to expose the wrongdoing when he realizes he's in no position to point the finger.

Aside from really loving Yeon Sangho's  grounded style, which reminded me of Naoki's Urasawa's Monster-The movie ventures into narrative territories that are fresh for the Korean animated feature scene, which have historically focused more on younger audiences. Really hoping that we'll get a limited release sometime soon in the US considering how great the reviews have been.

Laika's "The Box Trolls" Finally Gets A Full Trailer

Following months (More like years) of teasers here and there, it seems like the first trailer for LAIKA's third feature, The Box Trolls is finally out. Offering us a look into the hazy city of Cheesebridge, we're given tastes of the plot, without spoiling or giving away any aspect of the story (Something we've come to appreciate in recent years).

Coraline never quite did it for me, feeling like an ode to Tim Burton's rather played out style as well as feeling like LAIKA struggling to find a footing in the already crowded animated feature market. However, Paranorman was a much more confident feature, knocking it out of the park by offering an interesting narrative that both children and adults could enjoy equally, as well as dealing with issues that most features would shy away from (Like having the first openly gay character in an animated feature).

The Box Trolls seems like it'll be in tune with the typical flavors we've seen from the studio, with hints of the protagonist siding with the trolls that society (And some antagonist) have shunned. The feature is slated to release on September 26, 2014.

Malaise

Created as Daniel Beaulieu's final animated project at Vancouver Film School, Malaise was an animated short created to pay tribute to movies including elements of Solaris, Barbarella and Alien. It's quite obvious thanks to the chunky retro-futuristic look he captured with the interior design of the ships, which pay homage to that era of scifi. Beaulieu chose to marry a more stylized look for the characters with more realistic animation, which actually ended up working pretty well within the confines of this mini narrative.

Beijing's Studio Vasoon Premieres Their Incredible "God Hunters" Animated Feature Trailer

Well damn, this was an awesome find. Looks like China is stepping up their animated feature game with God Hunters, a new animated movie coming out in 2015 based off of the legendary exploits of Sun Wukong, aka the Monkey King. Rather than going whimsical with it, the movie is taking the more epic route, focusing on his rebellion against heaven and his war against various gods.

With an animation style that resembles a mix of Ghibli films and Peter Chung's signature style seen in series like Aeon Flux, this is probably the most impressive animation I've seen come out of China other than Studio Wolfsmoke's efforts. The feature is being directed by Wang Chuan in collaboration with Studio Vasoon, and is set to premiere sometime in 2015. Keep your eyes peeled for this one, as it's looking mighty ambitious.

The Satellite Girl and Milk Cow - A Rather Trippy Animated Feature From Korea

Every once in a while we get a peek at some of the features coming out of the Korean animation market, and I always find myself a little bewildered due to the sheer cultural differences. This Jang Hyung-yun directed feature titles The Sattelite Girl And Milk Cow has some great animation quality (A little reminiscent of Studio Ghibli's house style), and has a story that seems to be inspired by Astro Boy, My Neighbor Totoro and Pinocchio respectively. The story features a satellite who becomes a human, a heartbroken boy that turns into a cow, an angry incinerator, an anthropomorphic toilet paper roll and a human organ trafficker armed with a plunger among it's list of characters..I'm not kidding. After watching the trailer a few times I'm convinced that this is what Hayao Miyazaki's fever dreams are made of.

A pianist-in-training loses his heart and becomes a cow, while, with the help of Merlin (the Wizard, who has taken shape as a role of toilet paper) a satellite felled from the cosmos by a supernova is transformed into a girl. Following a narrow escape from secret agents chasing heartless people, the two mismatched characters draw close.

Well, that sounds absolutely insane. Anyway, there are no current plans for this movie to be distributed in the US just yet. The feature was created by the Korean 'Now Or Never' animation studio, which has been around since 2005.

Sly Cooper Getting A Feature Length Adaptation

It seems like Sony is finally tapping into some of their more iconic videogame franchises for film adaptations, with Sly Cooper being the first announced IP to get the feature length treatment. Penned by Kevin Munroe, best known for his work on 2007's TMNT, I doubt this franchise will have a hard time jumping onto the big screen with it's wide cast of characters. While the 'teaser' above is most probably fluff subject to some major changes, the final feature is set to premiere sometime in 2016 and will probably arrive after a next gen installment/reboot of the franchise.

Sly Cooper is a kinetic and comedic heist film that tells the story of Sly Cooper, an orphaned raccoon thief, along with his childhood friends and partners in crime, Bentley Turtle and Murray Hippo. In the film, Sly learns of his birth family’s secret legacy; that he comes from a long line of talented and international thieves. 

Endowed with this knowledge, Sly and his friends are catapulted into a global adventure as they race to reassemble pieces of an ancient book holding The Cooper Clan’s family secrets before it can fall into the hands of Clockwerk — an evil Russian metallic owl bent on ending the Cooper family line. From romantic Parisian backdrops to the lush mountains of China, gritty film noir meets bright, colorful graphic novels in this origin story of the world’s greatest thief-turned-hero.”

How To Train Your Dragon 2 Gets First Official Trailer

Hot damn does this look amazing. After Dreamworks' more than stellar How to Train Your Dragon and the announcement of a sequel, the fear that the studio would produce a shoddy cash-in was becoming a bit worrisome. While the teaser provided some hope that the new sequel would be a solid followup, I wasn't ready for the incredible feeling of excitement that the first full-length trailer has brought.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 is looking to be the continuation that the original deserves, giving that feel-good warm feeling that the original instilled over countless views. I'm really digging the time-lapse, and I'm interested to see how Hiccup and Toothless' relationship has grown (as well as their combat skills).

In an age where soulless sequel cash-in are all too prevalent, it's great to see Dean DeBlois raise his animated baby the way it should be. It's always a little dangerous to judge a movie by it's initial trailer, but I'll be giving this the benefit of the doubt. All that's left now is to cross our fingers in hope that the third entry will hold up the quality.

Jeff Gabor's "Epic" Animation Reel

Animator Jeff Gabor just released this truly fascinating reel showcasing his process for cinematic animation on Blue Sky's 2013 feature, Epic in all it's different stages. I think it's awesome to get a behind the scenes glimpse as to how animators bring different scenes to life. In Gabor's world he plays the role of everyone and really gets into it to deliver the best performance possible. To some companies, it's just as important to see the process of the artist as the final product before hiring, keep that in mind.

On a side note, Blue Sky's Epic was a truly fascinating example of the type of damage that kneejerk media coverage can cause to a movie's reputation. When the movie came out and had a slow opening weekend, every single news outlet, movie forum and person I knew was quick to label it as a 'bomb,' dismissing it without even giving the movie a chance. After doing some research I learned it had actually grossed over $260 million worldwide on a budget of $93 million. After watching it it's actually not half bad, just a good case of misleading word of mouth and overshadowing by other features.