Please contact us
with corrections
or breaking news
Cohen’s Cartoon Corner: Nov 2019 by Karl F. Cohen
Happy Birthday Felix the Cat
All of us at cineSOURCE would like to wish a happy 100th birthday to the beloved, crazy feline
Felix The Cat
Animation’s first star, Felix came into being on November 9, 1919, a creation of Otto Messmer and Pat Sullivan for Paramount Studios.
New Pixar Cartoon
Is the world ready for a cartoon character missing his upper body? See the first trailer here for “Onward”, Pixar’s next feature and decide for yourself. Disney and Pixar’s “Onward” will open March 6, 2020.
Disney's new 'Onward', stars a headless character—pretty crazy! image: courtesy Disney
“Onward” introduces two teenage elf brothers, Ian and Barley, voiced by Tom Holland and Chris Pratt, who embark on an extraordinary quest to discover if there is still a little magic left in the world. The cast also includes Julia Louis-Dreyfus as their mom, and Octavia Spencer as the voice of the Manticore. The film’s director is Dan Scanlon and the producer is Kori Rae, the team behind “Monsters University.”
The story has the brothers seeking an ancient map from the Manticore, a creature who is part lion, part bat and part scorpion. The Manticore was once a fearless warrior whose tavern served as a way station for travelers embarking on epic quests.
Bollywood at the Castro
The Castro will present the animated Indian film ‘Bombay Rose” on Saturday, November 9th at 8:00 pm. Indian animation has it hard, despite India's massive film industry. Indeed, Gitanjali Rao is one of the few women and one of a handful of artistic animators making a go of it.
Scene from Bombay Rose' premiering at the Castro, November 9. image: courtesy Gitanjali Rao
Her 2006 "Printed Rainbow" took three awards at Cannes, including best short. She returned to Cannes with her short "True Love Story" in 2014, which she then expanded into "Bombay Rose". All of her films have a spectacular look, given they are painted frame by frame.
“In this gorgeous and evocative hand-painted animated feature, a single red rose weaves together three fantastical tales of unsung heroes and impossible loves," the promotion for this screening reads. "In the sensual animation, there is an ethereal brightness to the chaotic Mumbai streetscapes where Bollywood cinema is both satirized and romanticized. Fresh from rave reviews at the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals, this captivating jewel will entrance you and should not be missed.”
Martin Scorsese frets about the future of film. image: courtesy French TV
Scorcese Slams Theme Park Films
Martin Scorsese says cinemas are being "invaded by theme park films.” Expressing this opinion in two speeches in London, it appears he considers Marvel films essentially theme park attractions.
“It's not cinema, it’s something else,” Scorsese stated. “We shouldn’t be invaded by it."
"Theaters have become amusement parks. That is fine and good for those who enjoy that type of film but don’t invade everything else," he continued. "By the way, knowing what goes into them, I admire what they do. It’s not my kind of thing, it simply is not. It’s creating another kind of audience that thinks cinema is that."
Media Giants Kowtowing to China
Vietnam recently pulled the new film “Abominable” from cinemas over a territorial dispute with China. A scene in the DreamWorks film shows a map that includes the disputed islands in the South China Sea as belonging to China. Since part of the feature was created by DreamWorks’ Shanghai Pearl Studio, the showing of that map was probably deliberate as the Chinese government has a financial interest in the studio.
ESPN has also upset many countries recently when it showed a map, in their coverage of the controversy between the NBA and China, with both the disputed islands and the nation of Taiwan as belonging to China. Taiwan is an independent and democratically governed nation. It is not under the control of the Chinese Communist Party.
When I was a kid my mother told me that a map in her high school classroom left the world’s largest nation, the USSR, unnamed. At the time the US government refused to recognize the USSR as a sovereign nation. Was that a more tactful solution?
Disney Opposes Me Too
Although Disney the man did show up, hire and defend women to a large extent for the day, the corporation tried to stop female workers from joining together to create a class action pay bias lawsuit. Disney claims its corporation is simply too big to sue in a class action suit, which would make it impossible to resolve it in court.
I am guessing they claim that not all of their departments have the same standards in the way they discriminate against their female workforce. It is demanding that women suing them for allegedly violating California Fair Pay Act do so on an individual basis, which means more money for lawyers.
The Hollywood Reporter, however, says, “The California Fair Pay Act dates back to 1949, but it has been largely toothless thanks to loopholes that allowed companies to justify a gender wage gap.”
Exploiting women remains a hot topic. Women in Animation, an industry organization, and other groups have been quite vocal about the disparity of pay between men and women in the animation industry.
Scene from 'What Makes Neon Glow' short by local Lippy. image: courtesy Lippy
How Does Neon Work
“What Makes Neon Glow” is a virtual reality short by the single-named Lippy, who lives in Mill Valley. “The making of this piece is a gripping tale of irrational expectations,” he said, “massive black holes of failure, and finally, bright beacons of success!” He cobbled together a team, “which was a difficult process, by the way,” as the team had no previous VR experience, and created his successful Ted Talk cartoon.
You can see it of your desktop or cell phone, but for optimized viewing view on a high tech headset like an Oculus Go. If you use the fancy equipment you can turn your head to the left or right and explore, see the work space here.
Karl F. Cohen—who decided to add his middle initial to distinguish himself from the Russian Karl Cohen, who tried to assassinate the Czar in the mid-19th century—is an animator, educator and director of the local chapter of the International Animation Society and can be reached .Posted on Nov 07, 2019 - 12:42 AM