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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 -
With all the summer movies released, it's time to take stock of what we saw on-screen. And what their successes and failures have taught us. For starters, we've learned that there can, in fact, be too many superhero movies; that not even Pixar can bat 1.000 forever; and that the funniest comedy of the season can, despite sexist naysayers, star an almost entirely female cast.
It also seems we've gotten really (really) comfortable with sequels, reboots, and remakes. You could say 2011 was the summer of comfort food.
2011 Movies: Summer's Top 10 >>
Posted 08.24.11 by reelz -
| Title | Weekend | Total | Analysis |
| Cars 2 | $68.0M | $68.0M | Sequel bested the original by $8M on opening weekend. |
| Bad Teacher | $31M | $31M | Strong showing for raunchy comedy panned by most critics. |
| Green Lantern | $18.4M | $89.3M | Huge Week 2 drop-off as $200M budget pic has a lot of making up to do. |
| Super 8 | $12.1M | $95.2M | Very profitable sci-fi pic ($50M budget) nears $100M milestone. |
| Mr. Popper's Penguins | $10.3M | $39.4M | Popper's Penguins pooping out. |
Posted 06.27.11 by reelz -
There are not too many things cooler than the Batmobile ... except the Batmobile redone as a Pixar car. With Cars 2 now in theaters, what better way to finish out the workweek than checking out a gallery of some famous Hollywood cars that get a Pixar makeover.
The gallery comes courtesy of Old Red Jalopy who has a reputation of redoing some pretty awesome movie posters (their "revision" of The Terminator is a good example).
Back to the Future's DeLorean, The Dukes of Hazzard's General Lee, and Bumblebee from Transformers all got the makeover. Which famous movie car would you want to see in a Pixar movie?
Posted 06.24.11 by Chris -
Summer 2011 is filled with sequels, spin-offs, and reboots. That's right, as exciting as the season's blockbusters may seem, we're being inundated with one of the most unoriginal summers the movies have ever seen. Within that context, though, which movies rise above the "Yeah, we phoned this one in" benchmark? Find out with our patent-pending originality meter.
From 1 to 10, where do these releases register? >>
Posted 06.24.11 by reelz -
It's always been curious that Pixar would make a sequel to arguably its weakest movie. They did, and critics can't agree if it was a good decision or not.
"The rare sequel that improves on its predecessor, this lightning-paced caper-comedy shifts the franchise into high gear with international intrigue, spy-movie spoofery and more automotive puns than you can shake a stickshift at, handling even its broader stretches with sophistication, speed and effortless panache."
— Justin Chang, Variety"No special knowledge or memory of the original is required to get one's bearings, as this beautifully designed sequel stands easily on its own four tires."
— Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter"...forced and overloaded..."
— Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly"...sparkles, but it can't energize centerpieces lacking in suspense..."
— Nick Schager, Village Voice"...in a shocking miscalculation, the usually brilliant folks over at Pixar coped with [Paul] Newman's death in the stupidest possible way — by transforming [director] John Lasseter's shiny love letter to the automobile into an unabashed vehicle for the hayseed comedy stylings of Larry The Cable Guy."
— Nathan Rabin, Onion AV Club"...a crass and uncharacteristically threadbare cash-grab..."
— Jaime N. Christley, Slant Magazine -
For whatever reason, Cars has long been considered the black sheep of the Pixar flicks. Critics tend to rank it merely as "really good" rather than "mind-blowingly, beyond-all-comparison amazing." And for many fans, having Cars 2 as their big, tentpole release is a disappointment. We're still convinced it could be one of the highlights of the summer, though, and we've got five reasons to convince you doubters to give it a try.
5 Reasons to See Cars 2 >>
Posted 06.23.11 by reelz -
Cars 2 opens on Friday, and a new version of the movie's characters may be available soon as well. Volkswagen revealed a new VW Minibus (aka Bulli) concept car in the spring, and its slick new styling looks nothing like hippie-inspired Fillmore, with his hand-painted flowers and peace symbols. Despite those differences, the new concept car has a lot in common with the Volkswagen Type 2 minibus that appears in the Cars sequel.
So What Do They Have in Common? >> Posted 06.21.11 by Mandy -
Amongst the many sequels, tentpoles and blockbusters crammed into this year's jammed summer season, it's easy to forget about Disney Pixar's June release of Cars 2. After releasing two international trailers at the end of last year, the latest trailer expands on the adventures of Lightening McQueen (Owen Wilson) and Mater (Dan Whitney a.k.a Larry the Cable Guy) as they travel to the World Grand Prix and Mater gets involved in international espionage with Finn McMissile (voiced by Michael Caine) and Holley Shiftwell (voiced by Emily Mortimer).
Watch the trailer >> Posted 05.12.11 by Ryan -
It's been a long, brutal winter in most parts of the country, so it's no surprise that even Hollywood is looking to get a jump on summer. The rollout of blockbuster movies starts this Friday, a full month before the Memorial Day Weekend.
As you'd expect (and hope), the mix of movies being offered up is heavy on the Action/Adventure movies (11) and Comedies (10). There's also plenty of offerings for Kids/Families (8). What's new this year is the addition of more R-rated comedies, thanks in no small measure to The Hangover's runaway success two summers back. Along with it's sequel, see what else is playing this summer — complete with trailers and photo galleries.
See the 2011 Summer Movie Guide >>
Posted 04.25.11 by reelz