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What's often forgotten or given little recognition in the wake of his untimely passing on Wednesday is Steve Jobs' influence on the development of computer-animated movies. Before his return to Apple in 1996 and his championing of devices such as the iPod, iPhone, and iMac, Jobs made an astute purchase from moviemaker George Lucas of a struggling graphics company. His drive and commitment to a fledgling project at Pixar eventually realized itself as Toy Story, the first computer-animated feature-length movie ever produced.
Widely regarded as "one of the greatest and most revolutionary films in the history of animation," Toy Story has become the touchstone of the Pixar brand that has gone on to create such award-winning and commercially successful movies as Wall-E, Up, and Finding Nemo. Eventually, Disney bought Pixar in 2006 for $7.6 billion, naming Steve Jobs to the board of directors and leaving him the single largest individual shareholder in the company (7%).
In tribute to his passing, we're asking you to vote for your favorite Pixar movies. We've compiled a list of all the studio's feature-length movies released to date. Just order the list to reflect your personal top 10 and hit submit.
Vote for Your Top 10 Pixar movies >>
Posted 10.06.11 by reelz -
Isn't there something inherently great about watching people set aside their individual differences, tap their inner resources, and apply themselves to a greater goal?
Well, a large number of moviemakers must think so — they've taken the basic team-building idea and run with it in so many directions that not even a 'copter piloted by The A-Team's "Howling Mad" Murdock could track them all down. If we weren't busy building a tank out of a water cooler and some stuff we found in the stationery closet, we'd provide a comprehensive list. Instead, here are the 10 most-memorable team-ups.
See Top 10 "Rally Your Forces" Movies >> Posted 06.10.10 by reelz -
It's not for nothing that Hamm the Piggy Bank is the first toy Andy picks up as he nostalgically looks through his old toy box in the trailer for Toy Story 3. John Ratzenberger, who voices Hamm, has been in every Pixar movie — the only actor who can claim that honor. In fact, the studio considers him its good-luck charm.
So in anticipation of Toy Story's return (one of our must-see movies this summer), we've picked our favorite scenes for each Ratzenberger-Pixar character.
Watch John Ratzenberger's 10 Best Pixar Moments >> Posted 06.02.10 by reelz -
Jill Simonian is a correspondent for Dailies (ReelzChannel TV, weeknights @ 6PM ET), and occasionally shares stories from the field. This week: WALL-E
No, we're not talking drunken stoopers.
In WALL-E, John Ratzenberger's character -- "John" -- is a human floating around in space. But Ratzenberger himself has his feet planted firmly on the ground. After putting his friendly-but-know-it-all mailman Cliff Clavin from TV's Cheers to rest in 1993, Ratzenberger quickly –- and affectionately -- became Disney-Pixar's "good luck charm." Since 1995's Toy Story, he's been the only actor to voice a role in every Disney-Pixar movie to date. (After Hamm the Piggy Bank, P.T. Flea, Abominable Snowman, Fish School, Underminer, Mack, Mustafa... finally he gets to play a "John!")
At the junket for this impeccably-animated sci-fi love story last weekend, Ratzenberger himself told me that "feeling like a rabbit's foot" is a good thing. But when I asked WALL-E director/writer (and Pixar's ninth employee) Andrew Stanton about it, I found out how Ratzenberger pulled off this feat:
To become Pixar's pet he simply went to cocktails with Toy Story's creative team after the press junket for that movie 13 years ago. As Stanton recalled, the team invited the entire cast to meet at the hotel bar for celebratory drinks that night after their interviews were over, and Ratzenberger was the only actor who showed up. Amazing. Stanton and the rest of the Pixar team appreciated his down-to-Earth personality that night, so they wrote a part for him in 1998's A Bug's Life, and the rest is history.
Finally! The secret to having a steady gig for the rest of your life! (I guess all that work from Cheers paid off?) Drinks, anyone?
Posted 06.27.08 by reelz