The Cinefamily draws us in this weekend with Animation Breakdown, a killer cartoon line-up featuring Pixar, Adult Swim, Don Hertzfeldt, Bruce Bickford & a kaleidoscope of Polish surrealists! more ›

The man best-known for being the bright mind behind much of Apple Computer's innovative technology products has died. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was 56. He stepped down from his post as Apple CEO just this August, saying he could no longer meet his duties more ›

The short film was once a cornerstone of the theatrical experience (think "The Twenty", only worth watching). A cinematic laboratory, short films test talents & technologies, often in less time than it takes to read this column. In an age of digital streaming, the LA Shorts Fest offers a rare opportunity to see these small films back on the big screen. The 15th annual fest begins tomorrow at the Sunset 5, and runs through the 29th. more ›

Pixar and Disney animator, director and filmmaker John Lasseter received a lifetime achievement award at Shorts International’s first annual Short Awards in West Hollywood on Friday. The award was presented to Lasseter for his achievements in short filmmaking, which includes all projects under 40 minutes-or-less. more ›

It's like Sunday - silent, gray and cold. Dash the December doldrums with a colorful change of pace! The UCLA Film & Television Archives kicks off its Les Illusionistes: A Celebration of French Animation series Friday with jazz-inspired The Triplets of Belleville, paired with a preview of L'Illusioniste, the latest from Triplets director Sylvain Chomet. Mia et Le Migou is a charming rainforest adventure, while Kirikou and The Wild Beasts builds off of West African mythology. If that isn't enough Bruin Franimation, the Hammer also sponsors its own free screening of the medieval-tapestry tale Azur and Asmar on Sunday. more ›

To tell the truth, we didn't even remember what the heck "Toy Story 2" was about when we agreed to take our 5 year-old son Calvin to an advanced screening of "Toy Story 3" this week but in doing a bit of research we thought it was nuts that there hasn't been a "Toy Story" movie since 1999! That being said, we were less than sanguine when we went to the theater to absorb what we thought would be another phoned-in installment of this Hollywood franchise but we ended up being more than pleasantly surprised. more ›

This is my third year-end best list for LAist (2007, 2008), and it ain't getting any easier. I could easily list forty films that are worth your time and money, but that would get all sorts of unwieldy and expensive so I'll limit it to the traditional ten. I won't even try to rank them. All I'll say is that each one captured my imagination in a unique way, and each still lingers clearly in my memory. There's a mixture of studio and independent films, documentary and narrative -- in short, something for everyone. If there are any films listed below that you haven't seen, I urge you to spin up your Netflix queue and go add them now. Also, if there's anything you believe I've criminally ommitted, please let me know and I'll be happy to joust with you in the comments. more ›

In an instance of fitting justice, Pixar's Up, uh, ballooned past expectations to pull in a mammoth $68.2M and easily top the weekend box office chart. Night at the Museum 2: Needless Sequel lost more than half its audience from last week's debut, but still managed to earn $25.5M ($105.2M). The week's other newcomer Drag Me To Hell scared up $16.6M worth of business to edge a plummeting Terminator Salvation ($16.1M/$90.6M). Meantime, the reliable Star Trek continued to plug along at a good pace ($12.8M/$209.5M). more ›

Pixar continues its phenomenal string of delivering fantastic films with would have benefited from more Blake Lively and changing the setting to a Swiss nudist colony. Werner Herzog may not be the best director around, but he's on the short list of most interesting. How can anyone not already own all of these Monty Python masterpieces? more ›

slipped badly in its third weekend ($9.2M/$115.5M). more ›

Sooner or later Pixar has to release a dud, right? They can't just keep releasing great film after great film can they? Won't the odds eventually catch up to them? Maybe not. The early critical reception for Wall-E has been nothing short of ecstatic. If you thought the first ten, dialogue-free minutes of . more ›

The people behind SaveGriffithPark.org write in and ask the hard questions: more ›

Pixar today released a new trailer for their upcoming movie, WALL-E. The movie is about the last robot on a human abandoned earth who's task is to clean up the mess we made. more ›