The film Despicable Me is about the supervillain Gru, voiced by Steve Carell, and his attempt to remain the baddest evildoer in the world. And these yellow monsters are his henchmen.

Listen to that evil cackle — we want nothing to do with it. It's like two twinkies got rolled around in some hair. Meanwhile, the film itself, with the voice talent from Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Will Arnett, Kristen Wiig, Danny McBride, Miranda Cosgrove, Jack McBrayer, Mindy Kaling, Jemaine Clement and Julie Andrews, we're still quite interested in.

Plus the theme song by Pharrell Williams is addictive...

[via Yahoo]

The official name for the Empire Strikes back spoof is Something Something Something Dark Side, and it'll be on DVD & Blu-ray 12/22.

The series was created for IFC, and is available online here.

Granted, I make this assertion not as one of those folks who saw the movie in the last day, just as someone who has seen the early footage from Comic Con and Avatar Day and the other clips released so far.

An interesting thing about seeing the footage at Comic Con: hours before the audience's first trip to Pandora, we got to see another 3D motion capture preview, scenes from Robert Zemeckis' A Christmas Carol. You can almost see the gears turning in Zemeckis' head when he introduces a new movie, the tweaks he made to try to improve his particular brand of mo-cap aided animation. Casting Jim Carrey, a man famous for being able to act beneath five pounds of makeup, in multiple roles was an inspired attempt to remedy the notorious flatness of his animated characters. But it proved impossible to forget that these characters were simply sophisticated digital puppets, with Ebenezer Scrooge nearly as ethereal as the ghosts he's scheduled to encounter.

While watching the Avatar footage, by contrast, it was so easy I was watching an animated movie. Certainly it's jarring to see a giant blue person standing next to humans when Sully is first connected to his Avatar body. But when the Na'vi step into their animated native habitat, it's easy to suspend that disbelief that so stubbornly hangs over Zemeckis' animation. Pandora and the Na'vi may be shy of photorealistic (although there are some incredible moments, especially during the Thanator chase and when Jake engages with his Banshee for the first time), but they do feel alive, the way their facial muscles move, the sometimes distracting way their ears twitch to convey emotion, the play of light in their eyes. At times, it almost looks like we're seeing actors in blue makeup rather than the motion capture mask. Cameron has very nearly crossed the uncanny valley and that's an achievement in itself.

But it's Pandora itself that's truly thrilling, thanks to a combination of multilayered 3D technology and Cameron's obsessive nature. Cameron has talked a great deal about how he and his army of concept artists and biologists designed every plant and creature on Pandora. It's an impressive feat (and I can't wait to see that bioluminescence again), but it's only a small component of what makes the planet seem real. Early viewers are describing Avatar as akin to a nature documentary on an alien world, and it goes far beyond glowing flora. When a Banshee lands on a tree or a Thanator runs through the forest, leaves fall. If a creature pounces on a stalk or branch, it splinters. These aren't small details Cameron and his team have inserted for the sake of realism; they're present throughout the early clips. More than that, in 3D, these components exist on different planes, each obeying the laws of physics independent of the others. When Sully first encounters Neytiri, the air is simply stuffed with bugs, embers, and bits of dust, and their depth is such that you imagine you could stick your hand in it and swirl it around. I've been fairly 3D-agnostic until this point; I enjoy the novelty of movies where the 3D reaches out and grabs you, but I've never found it adds much to the experience. Avatar's 3D, which pulls you in instead of reaching out, does create a special experience, that sense that you are actually present, looking inside an entirely invented world.

However, the technology, as amazing as it is, leaves us with a lot of questions. Is there a point to all this spectacle? Is this good filmmaking? Avatar is antithetical to the Hitchcockian mode of filmmaking, where the director carefully controls the audience's gaze. In Avatar, Cameron gleefully surrenders that kind of control, inviting us instead to look all over the screen and try to drink in as much as humanly possible as we go along. In fact, I imagine that a good deal of Avatar's repeat business will come from a sense that viewers missed a lot the first time around. I haven't seen the film in its entirety yet, but I can't help but wonder if all that spectacle distracts from other aspects of the movie. And, if it works well with Cameron's particular brand of filmmaking, will it work equally well with others'?

As for its purpose, Cameron has set it to worldbuilding — and the idea that you can create a global, digital set that you can return to any time. And you can extrapolate big things from that — incredibly detailed video games, franchises set and filmed on many worlds by many filmmakers. But it's important to remember that Cameron and his team built this technology as they went along. Early reviews indicate that Avatar stands up as a movie on its own, but it's also a proof of concept. I can't imagine that Cameron has found the exhaustive — or even the best — uses for his remarkable motion capture and animation technologies. I would love to see what happens when this technology lands in the hands of someone whose craft is animation. Avatar itself might not change all movies forever, but I'll wager that the technology that birthed it will give rise to something wonderful — and stranger than we could have imagined before.

Publisher's Weekly noticed this little gem on Amazon. Both complete series will be available soon, along with The Best of Rocko's Modern Life but when, we're not sure. There is no date as of right now, but we'll keep checking. Maybe this is the holiday miracle we've been dreaming about. Now all we need is the complete DVD set of Liquid Television, and we're set.

You can watch the first episode of the The Maxx, which was adapted from Sam Kieth's comic book below, along with the first episode of The Head.

The International Animated Film Association announced the nominations for the Annie Awards. Laika's Coraline was the most-nominated feature, with ten nominations including Best Animated Feature, Best Character Design, and Best Directing in a Feature. Just behind Coraline is Pixar's Up with nine nominations and Disney's The Princess and the Frog with eight. In the television category, Disney's upcoming computer-animated Christmas special Prep and Landing led the way with nine nominations. Monsters vs. Aliens and 9 took just two nominations each, both earning one nod for animated effects; Hugh Laurie was nominated for his voice work in Monsters vs. Aliens, and 9 earned its second nomination for feature design.

Last year, the Annies courted controversy when Kung-Fu Panda swept the awards, shutting out the much-acclaimed (and eventual Oscar winner) WALL-E.

Below are a few of the big categories for features. You can see the full list here.

Best Animated Feature
"Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" - Sony Pictures Animation
"Coraline" - Laika
"Fantastic Mr. Fox" - 20th Century Fox
"The Princess and the Frog" - Walt Disney Animation Studios
"The Secret of Kells" - Cartoon Saloon
"Up" - Pixar Animation Studios

Directing in a Feature Production
Wes Anderson "Fantastic Mr. Fox" - 20th Century Fox
Pete Docter "Up" - Pixar Animation Studios
Christopher Miller, Phil Lord "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" - Sony Pictures Animation
Hayao Miyazaki "Ponyo" - Studio Ghibli
Henry Selick "Coraline" - Laika

Writing in a Feature Production
Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach - "Fantastic Mr. Fox" - 20th Century Fox
Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy - "Up" - Pixar Animation Studios
Timothy Hyde Harris and David Bowers - "Astro Boy" - Imagi Studios
Christopher Miller and Phil Lord - "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" - Sony Pictures Animation

[via Variety]

In honor of the 10th anniversary of The Matrix, a group of fans recreated nearly 900 frames of the film. The entire sequence is animated "in camera," with no wire removal, no Photoshop, and no special effects other than what can be created with the Lego blocks themselves. The entire project took 440 hours, and you can see videos of the laborious process on the project website.

You can also see a side-by-side comparison of the Lego version with the original:

[Lego Matrix via Cinematical]

WARNING, there are a lot of spoilers in these clips.

While the plot is very predictable, how adorable is this little moon rock collecting bot who pees oil when scared? Actually that's two urine gags, what with the Alien puppy peeing acid and all. Planet 51 is out November 20th.

While the theme is certainly catchy, and the voice cast is impressive what's with the orphans? Read the official synopsis...

Synopsis:

In a happy suburban neighborhood surrounded by white picket fences with flowering rose bushes, sits a black house with a dead lawn. Unbeknownst to the neighbors, hidden beneath this home is a vast secret hideout. Surrounded by a small army of minions, we discover Gru (voiced by Steve Carell), planning the biggest heist in the history of the world. He is going to steal the moon.

Armed with his arsenal of shrink rays, freeze rays, and battle-ready vehicles for land and air, he vanquishes all who stand in his way. Until the day he encounters the immense will of three little orphaned girls who look at him and see something that no one else has ever seen: a potential Dad.

The world's (second) greatest villain has just met his greatest challenge: three little girls named Margo, Edith and Agnes.

Hmmmm, I see no orphans in the teaser trailer. Seems like a big responsibility for a single supervillain to take on. Couldn't he get a basket of kittens instead? Here are a few stills.

Despicable Me is in theaters July 9, 2010.

[trailer via Apple]

Sad news for the playful and clever collection of CG pals cast in Dreamworks Monsters Versus Aliens. While taking a conference call, Jeffey Katzenberg explained why the monsters needed to be put down:

I'd like to tell you there's a perfectly rational, clear and easy answer as to why not, but there isn't. There was enough of a consensus from our distribution and marketing folks in certain parts of the world that we would be pushing a boulder up a hill.

In my humble opinion, nobody knows how to market animation anymore, except Disney/Pixar. This makes me sad because I was dearly hoping for an Insectosaurus stuffed animal, and it was all but impossible to find. Still haven't seen it in stores. But besides the marketing the movie fared pretty well in theaters and was wildly entertaining. So this is sad news.

Sadly this will be the last time we spend with our dear Monster friends, in this brand new Halloween special clip, on Tonight! That is until they get their own TV show...

[via Slashfilm]

Plus there's also a chance that this is fan made, in which case this person is a very impressive artist. The attention to detail is wonderful, especially with all the giant nods to early Communist propaganda. It's got us wishing we'd have Klingon choristers going caroling at our houses come December. [Via TrekMovie, thanks Kyle!]

Rick Lacy, a character designer and storyboard office for The Venture Bros., posted this concept art, which he describes as a "female lead in season 4." The images are labeled "Nikki mid-30s" and "Nikki nightgown." So will this Nikki be friend, foe, or just another incredibly screwed up character from the Venture universe?

For folks on the West Coast who ended up seeing the first 15 minutes of last night's episode twice, you can head over to the Adult Swim website to catch the episode in its entirety.

[Rick Lacy Presents]

Update: So it seems the episode we previewed was in fact next Sunday's episode — not the premiere. Hopefully, we'll get more details on what's happened since last season' finale in the premiere.

The Venture Bros returns Sunday with an episode featuring that rainbow-wearing superhero Captain Sunshine. Don't remember Captain Sunshine? The Monarch mentioned him a while back when he was in prison:

You've sent the charred remains of Wonder Boy to his beloved Captain Sunshine?

Needless to say, Captain Sunshine is still holding a grudge. But he'll get distracted from any revenge attempts as soon as he gets entangled with the Venture family.

This Sunday's premiere is at once satisfying and exceedingly frustrating. Superman and Batman have been parodied to death, but Captain Sunshine manages to be a surprising combination of the two with a twist of pure Venture Bros. wrongness. Just when you think you've anticipated the brand of jokes coming, the writers run it a tiny bit farther over the line. So why is it frustrating? For those of us chomping at the bit to see the fallout from last season's finale, we're going to be mostly kept waiting. Yes, we do find out who Rusty's new bodyguard is (although I'm not sure it's someone who will last the whole season). Otherwise, we mostly get little nods to the changes from last season. Yes, the clones have been destroyed and Hank's hair is a little longer, Number 21 is taking even worse care of himself than usual, and the Cocoon is still pretty much a wreck, but the main focus is the stand-alone plot. It looks like the creators are going to be slowly dropping breadcrumbs for a while until they lead us to the bigger answers. Of course, gradually evolving mythology is one of the hallmarks of The Venture Bros., but it's been well over a year since we've had any new Venture action, and I've gotten impatient.

But I'll take what I can get, and what I can get is a quintessential episode with a nice blend of new faces and old standbys. Plus, the episode sets up one of the weirder subplots teased in the trailer. And even if there are still a lot of questions left unanswered, at least we can look forward to some regular Venturing for a while.

The fourth season premiere of The Venture Bros. airs Sunday, October 18th at midnight on Adult Swim.

Cussing Badger Bill Murray

Who Am I?

We Look Good, Personal Fav Clip!

Whack Bat Rules, Thanks owen Wilson

Thinking Is Happening

Wes Anderson Talks Dahl's Books

Here's the trailer for the new season again, this year looks packed with lunacy and clone free! First person to start the real life orchard street wolf pack larp crew, and sends pictures will get all of my love.

Joyce wrote and illustrated the book A Day with Wilbur Robinson, which was eventually optioned by Disney and turned into a film about an orphaned boy genius who travels to a bizarre and wondrous future to foil the plans of the Bowler Hat Guy, who wants to keep this future from every happening. Joyce also provided concept art for movie, and shows them side-by-side with Disney's final products:

[William Joyce]