by Brad Chmielewski

In earlier January 2005 Patrick Smith sent me an e-mail asking if I would write a review for his new film “Handshake.” I was more then happy for two reasons; the mean reason being that I rather enjoyed his short “Delivery” that was featured on Square Footage Film’s “Avoid Eye Contact” and the second reason was because that meant I would get a free copy.

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by Brad Chmielewski

When I was first asked to do this review I was rather excited, I thought I was going to get a chance to have one of the first DVD’s of “The Batman.” Unfortunately when the package finally arrived (much sooner then I expected) to my disappointment it was “Batman – The Animated Series” and not even volume one or an appealing special edition. Instead what had been delivered was a four episode DVD entitled “Secrets of the Caped Crusader.” I am going to be straight forward this is not a series I ever got into or could get into, it for some reason lacks what I look for when I sit down to watch television. I enjoyed “Batman Beyond” much more and would recommend that show to everyone. Still, given that I agreed to write this review I decided to take another look at the show, since first impressions are often wrong.

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by Rob Kohr

Annecy, France – June 7-12, 2004 – I wasn’t really all that sure that I would be attending this festival at all. But because of a last minute bid on Priceline and a bit of luck, I am here now. In brief, this is just a short monologue of the daily events at this years festival. I hope that this is of some interest. If you have any comments contact me at [ rkohr@animatorsunite.com ].

MONDAY – I arrived yesterday at around 1pm and was awed by the absolutely astounding beauty of this French City. On top of that I went exploring in the old section which is sort of reminiscent of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney World.

Regardless of what kind of pass you have, you have to get up early in the morning to attempt to beat the crowds to the tickets for the shows that are “In Competition”. In addition to these there are also films that are “Special Screenings” and “Panoramas”. Annecy is honoring Korean Animation this year so a majority of the films in the “Special Screenings” category are Korean. The films to be screened include: WONDERFUL DAYS, HAMMER BOY, EMPRESS CHUNG, and OSEAM (which is also in Competition). The features that are in Competition are OSEAM, HAIR HIGH, PINOCCHIO 3000, EL CID, and TOTO SAPORE AND THE MAGICAL STORY.

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by Robert Kohr

A month has passed since the end of Big Apple Anime Fest 2003. Last year I wrote about BAAF/ AXNY, Anime Expo’s first try at building a traveling anime festival. AXNY was not in New York this year, rather they are running an expo in Tokyo. BAAF was the only show in town. From talking with some of the speakers, I found that BAAF is in a unique rank of festivals where they actually do have access to a movie theater, where most do not. BAAF is still young and the only festival that hits New York City, though semi-disorganized at times, in the end it seems that they pulled it off pretty well at least better than last year.

This year the big feature was “Initial D The Movie”. This film did nothing for me, “Initial D” just seemed like souped up video game trailer rather than a feature film. The end of the story did pick up as a love interest was developed. Keep in mind that this is a third part to a trilogy rather than and original entity. Sure I liked “The End of Evangelion”, but without seeing the entire 26 episode series it makes absolutely no sense. I have never encountered “Initial D” prior to this screening; it is a road-rat, muscle car flick with nothing to offer to a female audience or to anyone not privy to the series. To add insult to injury it was projected in High Definition Video rather than on film.

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by Rob Kohr

AXNY/BAAF, if you are unfamiliar with these acronyms you would think that is some clever new onomatopoeia for a sneeze. But actually it stands for Anime Expo New York and Big Apple Anime Fest. During Labor Day weekend there was a mass gathering of Anime aficionados and otoku (the Japanese word for someone who is obsessed with Anime; it is used with disdain in Japan but here in the States the otoku regard it as a compliment). This was actually my first experience with an Anime Expo and I felt that it is a very intriguing sub culture of the animation world that gets almost no coverage from the animation community let alone pop culture.

Earlier in the summer I picked up ANIME by Susanne Napier. The book gave a detailed account of how and why anime is, how it is affected by Japanese culture, how it influences Japanese Culture and also a brief evaluation of the subculture of anime fans in the USA. The book explained that in Japan, animation accounts for nearly 65% of Japan’s total media exposure (which includes films, internet and television). Japan is also the world’s main exporter of animation too. Because Hollywood has a world wide strangle hold on the live action industry, early on Japan attempted to find its own identity; thus the birth of Anime. Ms. Napier’s book delves much further into this any many other issues; it is a definite must read if you want to know more about the worlds largest animation market.

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by Robert Kohr
Loews IMAX Lincoln Square On January First Disney will be re-releasing its acclaimed hit “Beauty and the Beast” on IMAX formatted screens. Recently Disney provided a special screening at the Loews IMAX Theater at Lincoln Square screen along with a question and answer session with some of its creators, including Don Han, Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise, Roy E. Disney, and some of the voice talent.

As expected, the film held up to its “small screen” brilliance from the early 90’s. There were some issues with bringing the original 35mm print over to the enormous 70mm IMAX print. Least of these problems were the image quality, due to the fact that “Beauty and the Beast” was the second animated film to be shot entirely digitally; the first being “Rescuers Down Under”. After being disappointed by the revamped “Sorcerer’s Apprentice” segment in “Fantasia 2000″, I was unexpectedly surprised by the stunningly crisp opening shot in “Beauty and the Beast”.

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