Simon’s Best Games And Movies Of The Year

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It’s time to interrupt the endless barrage of Christmas calories

that I seem intent on shoving down my throat as quickly as possible

seriously, it’s like Gluttony Man in Se7en

but I don’t have my body tied down,

my arms are wilfully ladling anything alcoholic or sweet or tasty into my mouth

like it’s going out of fashion

to round up what I think have been my personal favourite games and movies of 2013.

Continue reading “Simon’s Best Games And Movies Of The Year”

Review: Frozen

Frozen

There’s two things I can tell you right off the bat about Frozen. First, contrary to what the marketing would have you believe, it isn’t a movie about a snowman and a reindeer. Second, it is in facta Disney Princess movie.

What’s interesting about these two facts is that I have no idea _why_ they marketed so heavily on the snowman and the reindeer because it’s actually a _really_ good Disney Princess movie. More than that it’s actually just a really good movie.

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Great Moments Of The Generation: Pressing Split/Second’s Button

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The fatness of *Split/Second*’s cars perfectly captures the spirit of the game. Bright, colourful and ridiculously wide, they are quick to slam into anything that dares to get in their way,  growling all the time like caffeinated angry tigers. At the risk of actually creating a genre, this is a determinedly *Michael Bay* racing game full of sparks and popcorn, a plump hog that has eaten the extra American fat and wants to drag you along screaming behind it.

So what does a Michael Bay game absolutely need?

*Explosions*.

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Holy Shit: Disney Announces A New Star Wars EVERY YEAR Starting with Episode VII

Disney Star Wars

In case you were wondering if Disney was going to beat the horse until it died and then keep on beating it some more, here’s [Adam Chitwood writing for Collider](http://collider.com/star-wars-movies-every-year-2015-disney/):

> Get ready for a whole lot of Star Wars, folks. Disney took the stage today for its presentation at CinemaCon—a convention for theater owners—in Las Vegas, and the studio made the bold announcement that it is planning on releasing a new Star Wars film into theaters every summer starting with 2015’s Star Wars: Episode VII. The studio will alternate every other year with an “Episode” film and a standalone film, and based on previous rumors there certainly won’t be a lack of characters for them to mine.

It’s strange, Disney has Marvel pumping out 2 movies a year now and I am not really worried about the quality of them. Disney says they’re going tp pump out a new Star Wars film every year and I get all worried.

This is likely because I can’t seem to forget how bad the new trilogy of movies was, or remember that a lot of the rest of new Star Wars stuff (eg: The Clone Wars series) has been pretty good.

No matter how it turns out though, this is officially a thing that is happening. Any thoughts guys?

Not Awesome: Disney Has No Plans for Traditional Animation

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[Ben Child Writing for The Guardian](http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2013/mar/07/disney-hand-drawn-animation)

> Speaking at an annual shareholder’s meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, on Wednesday, chief executive Bob Iger revealed that none of the studio’s animation companies was working on 2D, hand-drawn material for the big screen. While Iger did not rule out returning in the future to the style which made the company famous, the long gestation period for Hollywood animated productions means a gap of several years before any new film might emerge.

> “To my knowledge we’re not developing a 2D or hand-drawn feature animated film right now,” said Iger. “There is a fair amount of activity going on in hand-drawn animation but it’s largely for television at this point. We’re not necessarily ruling out the possibility [of] a feature but there isn’t any in development at the company at the moment.”

> The news will upset fans of traditional hand-drawn animation, who had been cheered by the revival of the form under John Lasseter, the Pixar boss who also became Disney Animation’s chief creative officer in 2006. Lasseter told a London audience for a 2009 screening of Bolt (a CGI animation) that he had re-hired many of the animators who were ditched by the previous regime because of the emergence of computer-generated technology in the 1990s.

The sad fact is that their last couple of hand drawn animated films haven’t found audiences. The Frog Princess made nearly 300$ Million to be sure, however it’s the exception. Remember that Winnie the Pooh movie they put out a couple years back? Yeah, neither do I. Most of the rest of 3D animated films have pulled in 300$ as a minimum.

However, [Paperman](https://awesomefriday.ca/2013/02/watch-disney-animated-short-paperman/) was produced by people drawing with computers, so while pencil may not hit paper again any time soon let’s hope at least that stylii hit screens (because that movie was gorgeous).

Trailer: Monsters University

Monsters University

I was about to write that it’s not that often that Pixar revisits material, but then I remembered Toy Story 2 and 3, and now Monsters University.

A lot of people I know still count _Monsters Inc_ as their favourite Pixar film but I am not one of them (it comes in th middle of the pack for myself, with _Up!_ and _The Incredibles_ alternately at the top of the list). One of the things I really did like about it though was how self contained of a film it is. There’s really no room to make a sequel to it.

So they went ahead a prequel. I’d love to say I’m excited but to be honest I’m kind of worried. Prequels so rarely work out in my mind because I never feel like I need to know the back story, and often the back stories that are produced are nowhere near as cool as I’d imagined them to be.

Still, this is Pixar so it’s definitely worth giving them the benefit of the doubt. Are you excited for Monsters University?

Watch Disney Animated Short “Paperman”

Paperman

Paperman is a Disney Animation short film that came out in theatres with Wreck It Ralph back in the fall. Now they’ve released it online for free, and here it is thanks to [Disney Animation Studios](http://www.youtube.com/disneyanimation):

What a great, sweet little film. The basic story is that a man meets a woman on his morning commute but they are separated before they can speak. He then notices her in the office across the street from his and spends the day trying to get her attention.

Trying to get the attention of the object of your affection is a situation that most of us have been in, but this is a pretty cute take. There’s no dialogue but everything is communicated gorgeously through body language and actions.

The mix of 2D and 3D animation techniques means that the whole things just flat out looks gorgeous too.

Paperman already won the Annie Award for best animated short and it’s nominated for an Oscar in the same category.