The 25 best animated films

Time has a feature up on the 25 best animated films of all time. Quite honestly, I think it's a pretty crap list. I'm really not a fan of Happy Feet, Paprika, Yellow Submarine, Up, Toy Story or the Little Mermaid... to name a few.

So... I'll just go ahead and make my own.

Caveats; I haven't seen many older foreign releases, although researching this has given me quite a few additions to my Netflix queue (did you know there was a stop-motion Hansel and Gretel Opera? or a Russian The Cat Who Walked by Herself?). In fact, I think the only foreign releases I had seen pre-Totoro were the Dot series from Australia. (Does anyone else remember those? I may have found them very influential as a child...)

And this list skews more recent, both because that's what I know best, plus I think more movies have pushed the boundaries of animation recently. Furthermore, there are just many, many more animated films being made today (compare the 46 films released in '98 alone to the 37 released in all of the 1950s).

I love animated films. They are important culturally, because they are how most of us are first exposed to the world of cinema. I still vividly remember sitting in a theater watching a re-release of Fantasia. And I'm pretty sure I could still quote-a-long with The Land Before Time, Robin Hood, the Care Bears Adventure and Ponteffel Pock, Where Are You? Every Disney release growing up was an event (and yes, I still need to see Waking Sleeping Beauty), and classics were watched and re-watched on rapidly deteriorating VHS tape. My father used to play old Betty Boops for us, and I'm still grateful to my mother for letting us endlessly re-watch our favorites. Although, come to think of it, it was probably a good way to get some quiet time to herself. Well, I appreciate her taking us to All Dogs Go To Heaven, which couldn't have been what she wanted to spend an afternoon and $20 on.

Anyways, I love the variety of styles animation takes. Take, for example, Fear[s] of the Dark, which, while all in black and white, has seven different visual styles at play. Then you've got stop motion like James and the Giant Peach or Coraline (3-D!), rotoscoping like A Scanner Darkly, or motion capture animation, along the lines of King Kong (one wonders if the technology will have advanced enough for Tintin). The animated shorts programs are often my favorite part of any film fest, just because you get the broadest array of creative and visually stunning work all together.

For example, take one collection of shorts from the 2010 IFFBoston:
Junko's Shamisen
Sebastian's Voodoo
One Square Mile of Earth
Wisdom Teeth
Varmints

Even live action is more and more heavily influenced by animation. Look at Sin City, Watchmen, and 300, which each try to replicate the visual styles or exact panels of their source drawings. And Avatar was practically animated. In fact, it was pretty much a continuation of the live action/animation mix which goes back to films like Mary Poppins, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, and the Three Caballeros.

There are many more movies which did not make this list which are all good films. Disney has made many, many solid films. I simply included the ones here that I thought were the best, most ground-breaking, or influential, but that doesn't mean I dislike 101 Dalmatians. You know? Same with Pixar, Cars aside (topical!).

Two final notes; Don Bluth is totally brilliant and I adore his work very much. And this is the best song in any animated film. (I can't in good conscience add Robin Hood as one of the best, but it is one of my favorites).

25. Halloween is Grinch Night. I include this one because I think Dr. Seuss was a highly influential artist. I also think it is one of the better films of the crazy, hallucinatory psychedelic 60s/70s era (as I mentioned - not a Yellow Submarine fan here.) Grinch Night came out the same year as Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure, which begs the question of why the hell my mother let me watch them. Repeatedly. Seriously. What the hell was everyone ON?

24. The Brave Little Toaster. The animation on this one isn't fabulous, but it's a great plot. Apparently a lot of the original Pixar gang was involved in this one, which explains why it has so much heart.

23. Charlie Brown's Christmas/Mickey's Christmas Carol. Of the entire genre of animation that sprung up around Christmas stories, these two are the best (I know, I know - cheating to include two).

22. Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day. The best of the Hundred Acre Woods gang. I also always really liked how they nodded to being books.

21. The Mind's Eye. A collection of early computer animation tests and shorts turned into a bizarre, fabulous fever dream set to a new soundtrack. It's a fascinating look at the beginnings of what would soon become the dominant form of animation.

20. Sleeping Beauty. The best of all the Disney princess films and one of the best villains ever committed to celluloid.

19. Charlotte's Web. The best thing Hanna-Barbera ever did. Interestingly, it was one of the best selling VHS tapes of the year when it was released in '94, 21 years after it opened in theaters.

18. Academy Award Review of Walk Disney Cartoons. Okay - not a proper film, but a round up of Silly Symphonies, several of which had won academy awards as shorts on their own. Also: Flowers and Trees! That's a great one.

17. Howl's Moving Castle. The first appearance of Studio Ghibli on the list. Based on a Dianna Wynne Jones novel, the film combines fantasy and lush visuals far better than Spirited Away did. My earlier review; "Nearly as good as Princess Mononoke, this is another triumph from Studio Ghibli. They continue their tradition of gorgeous 2-D animation, this time adapting a story by Dianna Wynne Jones about a girl transformed into an old woman by a spell, a sorcerer, and his castle which frequently rambles from place to place. Set against an epic backdrop of political machinations and magic, Howl's Moving Castle is imaginative and beautiful."

16. Persepolis. Another graphic novel adaptation, but this one was kept in the original artist's drawings. It also shows animation moving into more adult-only territory and tells both the story of the Iranian revolution and the coming–of-age of its heroine.

15. The Wrong Trousers. The first stop motion film on the list, and the best Wallace and Gromit.

14. Totoro. Just completely wonderful. My first exposure to an anime film, and it holds up all these years later.

13. Watership Down. In all honestly, this may deserve a higher spot on the list, but I was so scarred watching part of it as a child, that I haven't seen it since. I should probably see it again, though.

12. Pinnochio. Definitely one of Disney's best.

11. Wall*E. Aww. Now, this movie suffers from the first half being wildly better than the second. But it is super cute and the animated 'silent film' section in the beginning is completely brilliant.

10. Nightmare Before Christmas. Ignore the Hot Topic merchandising. This is still a wonderful film about being true to yourself and outsiders finding love, all with Tim Bruton's aesthetic and the fabulous Laika stop-motion animation.

9. Fantastic Mr. Fox. My earlier review; "Wes Anderson stylization comes to animation, which recalls Wallace and Gromit crossed with Gumby. The story, based on a Roald Dahl tale, follows a fox family and their woodland neighbors as they fight off the local farmers. A whimsical action caper that is completely endearing."

8. Finding Nemo. That is some seriously beautiful animation there.

7. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? The best mash up of animation and live action around.

6. Triplets of Belleville. My earlier summary; "Such an odd little film. Almost a throwback to the days of Silly Symphonies and Betty Boop, it's a near silent romp through eccentric French oddballs and the Tour de France."

5. Waltz with Bashir. My earlier review; "The only animated documentary I know of, the film examines the 1982 Israeli-Lebanese war through one veteran trying to remember what happened. It examines memory, culpability, and the emotional wounds soldiers carry long after fighting has finished." An amazing example of animation pushing into new genres of filmmaking.

4. The Lion King. Some of Disney's best recent animation and, by cribbing from Shakespeare, the story matches up as well.

3. Secret of NIMH. Like Pinnochio, this film takes the Grimm's Fairytales' approach to children's story telling. One of my complaints about many recent animated children's films is that they are bland, un-challenging and seemingly overly concerned with reactionary parental complaints. Yes, parts of this movie are scary for young children. That's a good thing. Anywho. Based on excellent source material, and with fantastic voice actors and stunning visuals, this is one of the all-time best.

2. Princess Mononoke. Studio Ghibli's beautiful landscapes are at their most resonant in this environmental parable. Here, A. O. Scott is more eloquent than I.

1. Fantasia. The culmination of what animation is capable of. The movie encompasses a wide range of styles and is utterly unforgettable.

Notable omissions (films I have yet to see): Akira, South Park, How to Train Your Dragon, Secret of Kells, Twice Upon a Time, Grave of the Fireflies, Millennium Actress, Waking Life, Sita Sings the Blues, Rango.

The half-way point

indieWire has a round-up of indie films released/premeired in the first half of the year. While I'll try to get around to a write up of my 6-month standings soon, here are some movies to be watching for either in theaters or on DVD:

Top English-Language Films of 2011
1. Sound of my voice, directed by Zal Batmanglij (Sundance 2011)
criticWIRE average: A- (10.0 out of 13)

2. Martha Marcy May Marlene, directed by Sean Durkin (Sundance 2011)
criticWIRE average: A- (9.64 out of 13) [Ed: Cannot WAIT for these top 2. Although I'm surprised Sound of my Voice is in the Top 10 and Another Earth isn't....]

3. Weekend, directed by Andrew Haigh (SXSW 2011)
criticWIRE average: B+ (9.43 out of 13)

4. Pariah, directed by Dee Rees (Sundance 2011)
criticWIRE average: B+ (9.27 out of 13)

5. Cold Weather, directed by Aaron Katz (SXSW 2010/Theatrical Release 2011)
criticWIRE average: B+ (9.43 out of 13)

6. Like Crazy, directed by Drake Doremus (Sundance 2011)
criticWIRE average: B+ (9.14 out of 13)

7. Meek’s Cutoff, directed by Kelly Reichardt (Venice 2010/Theatrical Release 2011)
criticWIRE average: B+ (9.08 out of 13) [Ed: I've seen this one. It's good, although you have to appreciate languid films to enjoy it.]

8. Terri, directed by Azazel Jacobs (Sundance 2011)
criticWIRE average: B+ (8.81 out of 13)

9. Submarine, directed by Richard Ayoade (Toronto 2010/Theatrical Release 2011)
criticWIRE average: B+ (8.79 out of 13) [Ed: This one is very cute and has a fantastic cast.]

10. Take Shelter, directed by Jeff Nichols (Sundance 2011)
criticWIRE average: B+ (8.71 out of 13)


*sigh* So many Sundance films I'm dying to see...

Top Foreign Language Films of 2011
1. To Die Like a Man, directed by João Pedro Rodrigues (Cannes 2010/Theatrical Release 2011)
criticWIRE average: A- (10.17 out of 13)

2. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Cannes 2010/Theatrical Release 2011)
criticWIRE average: A- (9.74 out of 13) [Ed: ARGH. NEED TO SEE THIS!]

3. Le Quattro volte, directed by Michelangelo Frammartino (Cannes 2010/Theatrical Release 2011)
criticWIRE average: A- (9.50 out of 13) [Ed: This is awesome. GOATS!!!!]

3. Circumstance, directed by Maryam Keshavarz (Sundance 2011)
criticWIRE average: A- (9.50 out of 13) [Ed: This is incredibly brilliant. Highly, highly recommended.]

5. The Kid With a Bike, directed by Jean Pierre and Luc Dardenne (Cannes 2011)
criticWIRE average: B+ (9.08 out of 13)

6. Le Havre, directed by Aki Kaurismaki (Cannes 2011)
criticWIRE average: B+ (9.07 out of 13)

7. Certified Copy, directed by Abbas Kiarostami (Cannes 2010/Theatrical Release 2011)
criticWIRE average: B+ (9.02 out of 13)

8. I Saw the Devil, directed by Kim Jee-woon (Toronto 2010/Theatrical Release 2011)
criticWIRE average: B+ (9.00 out of 13)

9. Tuesday After Christmas, directed by Radu Muntean (Cannes 2010/Theatrical Release 2011)
criticWIRE average: B+ (8.95 out of 13)

10. Incendies, directed by Denis Villeneuve (Venice 2010/Theatrical Release 2011)
criticWIRE average: B+ (8.90 out of 13) [Ah yes, the one I had a ticket for and missed... I should see this.]

Top Documentaries of 2011
1. The Interrupters, directed by Steve James (Sundance 2011)
criticWIRE average: A- (10.20 out of 13)

2. How to Die in Oregon, directed by Peter D. Richardson (Sundance 2011)
criticWIRE average: A- (10.00 out of 13)

2. The Black Power Mixtape 1967–1975, directed by Göran Hugo Olsson (Sundance 2011)
criticWIRE average: A- (10.00 out of 13)

4. We Were Here, directed by David Weissman (Sundance 2011)
criticWIRE average: A- (9.88 out of 13)

5. Hell and Back Again, directed by Danfung Dennis (Sundance 2011)
criticWIRE average: A- (9.75 out of 13)

6. The Arbor, directed by Clio Barnard (Tribeca 2010/Theatrical Release 2011)
criticWIRE average: A- (9.73 out of 13)

7. Bill Cunningham New York, directed by Richard Press (New Directors New Films 2010/Theatrical Release 2011)
criticWIRE average: A- (9.63 out of 13)

8. Nostalgia for the Light, directed by Patricio Guzman (Cannes 2010/Theatrical Release 2011)
criticWIRE average: A- (9.58 out of 13) [Ed: Ugh. Not my cup of tea.]

9. Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop, directed by Rodman Flender (SXSW 2011)
criticWIRE average: A- (9.57 out of 13)

10. Project Nim, directed by James Marsh (Sundance 2011)
criticWIRE average: A- (9.52 out of 13)



Ummmm.... How is Cave of Forgotten Dreams not in the Top 10? IT HAS ALBINO ALLIGATORS.

Kaiser Chiefs

Hmmm..... intriguing.

So I discovered the Kaiser Chiefs while I was living in Ireland. They're a good band, although their second and third albums didn't quite live up to their first. Still, there are lots of their songs that I like. Anyways, they have an intriguing concept going on. I'll let Amanda Palmer explain here. I thought I would just play around with the album creator for a bit, and then either buy someone else's album or download a few songs to see which I liked and then create one. But the album creator is REALLY fun to play around with, and an hour later; voila! Instant personalized Kaiser Chiefs record. It's a pretty ingenious concept. It discourages piracy, encourages word of mouth promotion, and it will let the band know which of the songs are resonating most with visitors. Very smart! Anyways - if you don't have an hour to play around on the creator, you can also buy my album (link below), and you get the 10 songs I picked, the album art I created, and I get 1 pound in my pay pal account. Nifty, eh?

Favorite musicians?

So I was trying to come up with a new iPod playlist this week and I found it an interesting thought exercise. Basically, I already had a Green Day/AFI mix that I listen to a lot. They're two of my favorite bands (so I know the majority of each of their repertoires) and since they are both East Bay punk rock, they fit together well on a playlist. But I wanted something broader that incorporated more of my favorite artists. So I decided I'd put together a Top Ten artist list. The criteria would be the top ten bands whose work I know best.

But that ended up changing a bit. Obviously I know Elastica really well as the original line-up only released one (very brilliant) album. So I decided I should go with bands where I know tons of their songs. I modified the criteria to be any band where I knew three (or more) of their albums intimately. Side projects could be added to the mix, too.

Now, this would leave off someone like Poe, who only has two albums, and Bush, because I really only know "Sixteen Stone" and the "Science of Things" (although it makes me wonder if I should take another listen to "Razorblade Suitcase"). Ditto The Offspring - I know "Smash" and "Americana" pretty well, and I know a handful of songs off of "Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace", "Conspiracy of One" and "Ixnay on the Hombre", but I can't claim to know three of their albums inside and out.

Furthermore, I'm going back and forth on including Tori Amos. She's definitely one of my all time favorites, but she doesn't mesh as well with some of the other artists. (And technically, if we are talking about album familiarity - then the San Francisco Girls Chorus should be on there, too. Although I suppose that is music from many different composers... otherwise the SF Symphony, would be on it too. And, I suppose, certain Broadway composers... okay - let's limit this to rock.)

So - which artists/albums fit the criteria?

Garbage
-Garbage (1995)
-Version 2.0 (1998)
-Beautiful Garbage (2001)
-Bleed Like Me (2005)
-B-Sides and leaked Shirley Manson demos
I put in the B-Sides because if Garbage has done it, I have and know it. (Witness to Your Love, #1 Crush, Tell Me Where it Hurts, Lick the Pavement, Pretty Horses, The World is Not Enough, Enough is Never Enough, I Just Wanna Have Something to Do (cover), or how about Girl Don't Come? I'm Really Into Techno? Alien Sex Fiend? *sigh* I love Garbage.)

Green Day
-Dookie (1994)
-American Idiot (2004)
-21st Century Breakdown (2009)
-Bullet in a Bible (2005)
-International Superhits (2001)
-Awesome as Fuck (2011)

AFI
-Sing the Sorrow (2003)
-Decemberunderground (2006)
-I Heard a Voice (2007)
-Crash Love (2009)
-Cex Cells (Blaqk Audio - 2007)
-leaks from Bright Black Heaven (Blaqk Audio - 2011)

Muse
-Origin of Symmetry (2001)
-Absolution (2003)
-Black Holes and Revelations (2006)
-H.A.A.R.P. (2008)
-The Resistance (2009)

Red Hot Chili Peppers
-Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991)
-Californication (1999)
-By The Way (2002)

Tori Amos
-Little Earthquakes (1992)
-Under the Pink (1994)
-From the Choirgirl Hotel (1998)
-To Venus and Back (1999)
-The Beekeeper (2005)
-Original Bootleg: BofA Pavilion (2005)

(Interestingly - I'm not including Boys for Pele (1996) on here, because I'd say I know about half of that album. Actually - yeah. 9/18 songs exactly. Also - make a channel on youtube already!)

The Cranberries
This one was funny - because I don't often listen to The Cranberries much anymore and I tend to forget about them when I'm rattling off favorite bands. But really - I still know their stuff backwards and forwards (seeing them last year at the Orpheum in Boston was a trip). Anywho:
-Everybody Else is Doing it, So Why Can't We? (1993)
-No Need to Argue (1994)
-To the Faithful Departed (1996)

Amanda Palmer
-Who Killed Amanda Palmer (2008)
-Evelyn Evelyn (Evelyn Evelyn - 2010)
-Yes, Virginia (Dresden Dolls - 2006)

Fiona Apple
-Tidal (1996)
-When the Pawn (1999)
-Extraordinary Machine (2005)
Okay - this one is a little bit of a stretch. I know just over half of Tidal really well. I need to listen to it more...

So there you have it - 9 artists whom I know three or more albums for.

Ok. Your turn.

Whoops!

I had some linkspam I was putting together about a month ago that I never ended up posting. Better late than never?
The Future Trailer

Eating your Cultural Vegetables

Meek's Cutoff Review

Nostalgia for the Light Review

I love the SF Appeal weekend roundups. This week's makes a particularly good point; "Everything Must Go - Everywhere It's the latest entry in the "Old White Man Finds Himself" genre. These are especially poignant if they star Michael Douglas or Jack Nicholson. Or an ex-SNL star, as is the case here. You know what sucks? Besides EVERYTHING? This: Everyone is wondering about the box office potential of a comedy starring a woman (the horror!), but nobody is worried about a film that's basically two hours of a boring old white man sitting on a lawn?"

Locke & Key. ARGH. I am holding out hope that SyFy may turn this into a miniseries at some point. Otherwise, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Nick Stahl auditions for the Michael Chabon/Darren Aronofsky project about WWII magicians. Because that is the next tv project in development that I am going to stupidly get my hopes up for.

The 100% Fresh List

From an email meme: supposedly all the films on Rotten Tomatoes with a 100% Fresh Rating. (Bolded I've seen)

11:14
12 Angry Men
A Hard Day's Night
A Shot in the Dark
Aliens
All About Eve
All the President's Men
American Radical: The Trials of Norman Finkelstein
Anatomy of a Murder
Batman: Under the Red Hood
Before Sunrise
Bob Roberts
Boy
Bride of Frankenstein
Broken Blossoms
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Chinatown
Citizen Kane
City Lights
Coal Miner's Daughter
Comfort and Joy
Cool Hand Luke
Das Boot (I've seen parts...)
Days of Wine and Roses
Dr. Strangelove
Fat City
Frankenstein
Gasland
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
Ikiru
Jaws
King Kong
La Belle Noiseuse
Last Train Home
Le Samourai
Lenny
Lord of the Flies
M
Mad Max 2 (I think? There are a few of these I feel like I watched with my parents when I was young, but I don't really remember the details clearly...)
Man on Wire
Marwencol (Yay! Marwencol!!)
Mary Poppins
Melvin and Howard
Modern Times
Murder on the Orient Express
My Life as a Dog
North by Northwest
On the Waterfront
Rashōmon (ugh.)
Rear Window
Rebecca (again - think I watched this with my mother... I tend to confuse Rebecca and Jane Eyre though...)
Rio Bravo
Road to Rio
Roger & Me
Rogue
Room at the Top
San Francisco (wow. Seriously?)
Sátántangó
Say Anything...
Scarface: The Shame of the Nation
Seven Faces of Dr. Lao
Seven Samurai
Shadow of a Doubt
Sherlock, Jr.
Shoot to Kill
Singin' in the Rain
Sons of the Desert
Soy Cuba
Stagecoach
Stalker
Suspicion
Sweet Smell of Success
That's Entertainment!
The 400 Blows
The Adventures of Robin Hood
The African Queen
The Band Wagon
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
The Endless Summer
The Evil Dead (that's fabulous)
The Godfather
The Gold Rush
The Grapes of Wrath
The Heiress
The Hidden Fortress
The Invisible Man
The Kid
The Killer
The King and I
The Last Picture Show
The Lion King
The Maltese Falcon
The Mark of Zorro
The Miracle Worker
The Misfits
The Odd Couple
The Red Balloon
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
The Terminator
The Third Man
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
The Wrong Trousers (wait - Wallace and Gromit? Really? I guess that makes sense...)
Them!
Thoroughly Modern Millie
Three Colors: Blue
Tokyo Story
Toy Story 1 & 2
War and Peace
Waste Land
Witness for the Prosecution
Woodstock

I like this list. It's an interesting mix of classics, populist, and critically beloved. And it has a great mix of old (Sherlock Jr., etc.) and new (Man on Wire, Marwencol). [Actually - great representation from modern documentaries.]

While I'd only argue for a couple of the ones that I've seen to make any "best 100" type list, it is kind of fun to have a list with both Them! and Woodstock together... or the Adventures of Robin Hood and the Evil Dead.

Plus it has a bunch that have been in the top 25 of my Netflix queue for donkey years (Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, All About Eve, Witness for the Prosecution...) Really have to get around to those....

Ranking the SFIFF films

Excellent:
Another Earth
Stake Land
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Circumstance

Really Good:
Meek's Cutoff
Le Quattro Volte
The Future
Submarine

Good:
Page One; A Year Inside the New York Times
The Trip
The Whistleblower
The Troll Hunter
My Joy

Didn't like:
Nostalgia for the Light

(The 15th film I saw was La Dolce Vita in a restored print, but since it was a special program, it doesn't seem to make sense to review and rank it with the rest. That said, it was beautiful and very, very long. I liked it, but I think I need to see some more Fellini, because I think I'll like some of his other films better. I get the impression that many of his films touch on similar themes, so.)