The wrong trousers

December 31st, 2007

Directed by Nick Park, written by Nick Park and Bob Baker.

Description (Rob Hartill): Plasticine animation of the loveable duo of Wallace and Gromit; inventors of all manner of useful devices. In this Oscar winning story, Gromit (a dog) finds himself being pushed out of his room and home by a new lodger who is actually a ruthless criminal (and a small penguin). The penguin is planning a robbery and needs to use Wallace and his mechanical remote controlled trousers to pull off the raid. However, Gromit is wise to the penguin and comes to the rescue. A must see for all ages.

IMDB link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0108598/

Posted in wallace and grommit, animals, claymation, funny | No Comments »

Harvie Krumpet

November 9th, 2007

Directed and written by Adam Elliot.

Description (Jon Reeves): The sad, strange life of Harvie, who is born into an impoverished Middle European existence, and whose one constant is the book of “fakts” he keeps adding to, worn around his neck. After a childhood tragedy, he emigrates to Australia, where he has a succession of menial jobs, eventually ending up in a retirement home. Along the way, he has a string of bad luck, leaving him with, among other things, a steel plate in his skull that becomes a magnet.

IMDB link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0382734/

Posted in claymation, humanity, time, life and death, funny | No Comments »

Stage fright

November 2nd, 2007

Written and directed by Steve Box, produced (among others) by Nick Park.

Description: This is one of the earlier animated pieces for which Nick Park acted as executive producer, and although it won a BAFTA award, it is quite different from some of his more famous later work, such as the acclaimed animated comedy series, Wallace and Grommit. The animation is a representation of the transition from vaudeville to cinematography and it shows the hardships a dog juggling vaudevillian and his partner must go through in order to secure their future. Although excellently animated, it is slightly disturbing and most certainly a strange piece, not really recommended for the young audience.

IMDB link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0120193/

Posted in claymation, conceptual, weird | No Comments »

Balance

November 1st, 2007

Directed by Christoph Lauenstein and Wolfgang Lauenstein.

Description (fordraff[at]verizon[dot]net) : This short film was completely absorbing and finely worked out. It held my attention from the moment it began until the conundrum of an ending, which earned it a round of applause at the 19th Street Theatre in Allentown, PA, where I saw it. The film illustrates the need for humankind to cooperate and shows what happens when one doesn’t do so, when he puts his selfish interest above the good of the group, even to sending others to their death. One’s selfish pursuit cannot be justified, the film implies, even in the pursuit of art (after all, it was music in the box and the man wanted that music for himself or wanted to explore the interior of the box, i.e., the music, in greater depth). Film has many implications, would repay several viewings and stimulate much discussion.

IMDB link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0096880/

Posted in claymation, humanity, conceptual, weird | No Comments »

Seryi volk & Krasnaya Shapochka

October 27th, 2007

Written and directed by Garry Bardin.

Description: Many consider this to be a true gem of modern russian animation, produced in a society where censorship was losing control and depicting a funny perspective of the decaying USSR. This is a comical remix and mix at the same time of stories such as the Little red riding hood, The three little pigs and Snow white, a cocktail of russian irony and american culture. Even though it is in russian, the picture is subtitled and is a really funny wonderful watch.

IMDB link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0210974/

Posted in russia, claymation, political, musical | No Comments »
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