One of the great things about the blogosphere, at least for animation buffs like myself, is that a lot of artists from big studios like Dreamworks and Pixar have started personal blogs, giving anyone who is interested a chance to see what they can create beyond the output of their day jobs. Case in point: Jim Capobianco, a story artist for Pixar, has been working, when he has free time, on a hand-drawn animated short called "Leonardo." He's created a blog where you can follow along with his creative process. Capobianco has been working on the short since 1999 (cut him some slack, animation is a busy business) but he hopes to have it finished by the middle of next year.

[via Cartoon Brew]

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If you're looking for a few yucks on a lazy weekend afternoon, Cold Hard Flash points to a funny series of shorts on the BBC's Web site called A Fairly Reliable History of British Film in which Keith Guttenberg, who has been in more movies than anyone in history, talks about what he's learned while working in the world of cinema, and shows clips from some of his appearances in famous movies. Think of it as a kind of English version of The Critic with plenty of sly references to famous filmmakers and historical events. Read

Finally, it's happened. I never had the slightest interest in seeing Bridget Jones' Diary. There was nothing in that movie that would have appealed to me. I would stay up for days wondering, 'is there any way they could make this movie interesting to me?' Why yes, there is: film it in another country with actors speaking a language I don't understand. That's what a Hong Kong TV station plans to do in May when they'll air a Cantonese version of the popular film. Like Renée Zellweger in the original, actress Woo Han-yi is also putting on weight for the role. I am so there. Except, of course, I'm not.

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Director Peter Greenstreet's documentary This Divided State, which covered the controversial plan to bring Michael Moore to the ultra-conservative Utah Valley State College in Orem, Utah, has raised the ire of Sean Hannity, who was brought to the college in response to Moore's scheduled appearance. Hannity says he plans to sue the filmmakers due to this footage, which, quite frankly, makes him look like a complete jerk (actually, "jerk" isn't the right word, but I'm trying to keep this family friendly). You can also watch the first 26 minutes of the documentary on the official web site. While the clip shows Hannity being cheered by huge numbers of conservative students and being asked questions by the handful of liberals in attendance (who are often shouted down by the crowd), there's nothing especially "political" about it. Its intent seems to be an indictment of Hannity himself, but what it really reveals, to me anyway, is the sorry state of political discourse and what happens when emotions take over and people begin to block out differing opinions entirely. And, needless to say, that happens at both ends of the political spectrum.

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The Air Bud movies are consider by many critics and scholars to be the greatest movies ever made about a dog that plays sports. There have been five movies in the series so far; two were theatrical releases and three were created specifically for video. It's been three years since the last installment came out, and people across the globe have been screaming, "Why, Hollywood? Why won't you make another movie where a dog does things with a ball for two hours?"

As it turns out, the Air Bud franchise hasn't breathed its last. This year will see the theatrical release of Air Buddies, at least according to IMDb. This time the plot apparently revolves around Buddy's puppies, who set out to rescue him and his wife Molly from dognappers. It sounds as if sports doesn't play a major role in this installment. This is unfortunate, because after seeing Bud play basketball, football, soccer, volleyball, and baseball, I was hoping the next movie would somehow involve fencing. I really wanted to see a dog running around with a sword in its mouth and jabbing people in the shins. Maybe they'll do that for the next movie.

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Films are never marketed as just "live-action," because that wouldn't make sense. Is the "live-action" movie a drama, a comedy, horror, or something else? This is obvious, but I mention it because it's exactly the kind of approach used to market and distribute animated features. When the Best Animated Feature Award was introduced for the 2002 Academy Awards, it seemed to give some legitimacy to animated features, but it also gave the wrongful impression that animation is just animation, and not, as is clearly the case, a method of making a film that can be scary, or dramatic, or weird, or funny, or any other adjective you can come up with. Animated features run the same gambit as any live-action flick, but when it comes to marketing and distribution they're often crammed under the "Animation" rubric.

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Most people, the kind who don't mind the occasional big budget popcorn flick anyway, had good things to say about Jurassic Park when it came out in 1993. The sequels, however, didn't impress quite as much. I can agree that The Lost World took the franchise to puzzling levels of goofiness, but I think the series redeemed itself somewhat with the third installment. It wasn't perfect, and the raptors by that point conveniently switched from intelligent to dimwitted as arbitrarily as Homer Simpson, but at least some elements of realism were brought back and the kitsch of the previous episode was tastefully discarded.

The lesson, perhaps, is that you can never go back. Michael Crichton is an intelligent man, but he's far too left-brained to write a truly compelling story. This made Jurassic Park the perfect vehicle for Spielberg, as he could take the best elements of Crichton's tale of  science vs. nature and flesh it out into the mega blockbuster it became.

So what of Jurassic Park IV? Producer Frank Marshall says the script has been written and production will begin next year. Nothing is really known about the script, though it's been rumored the story will focus heavily on the character of Lex, the granddaughter of the billionaire investor, John Hammond (Sir Richard Attenborough), who funded the park. It is doubtful, however, that Ariana Richards, who played Lex in the original movie, will reprise her role. I don't see how the series can duplicate the original movie at this point, and I don't think it should try to. Jurassic Park III was a step away from The Lost World, and it was a wise step to take. If the fourth installment continues on that path, so much the better.

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