Smash and Grab is adorable, heartwarming, and incredible for how short it is. This is the second Pixar SparkShorts I’ve ever reviewed, and once again, the quality is evident. This is better than some whole-length movies.
It was difficult limiting this to only ten favorite articles. Ultimately, it boiled down to a quirk of memory. Which ones, upon looking through the year, evoked the strongest memories, the most potent feelings.
Last year, I took a look at some of my favorite and least favorite pieces of media I reviewed for 2022.
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget is inescapably a nostalgia grab of a movie, relying on people like me and our fond memories of the original film. If it weren’t for that history, I’m not sure it would’ve been that big of a deal for there to be a new kid’s movie about chickens attempting to escape being eaten.
Almost all “speculative” fiction is fantasy fiction. Horror is fantasy. Most science fiction is science fantasy or just fantasy with some aesthetic changes. Superhero fiction is fantasy fiction. Time travel stories are fantasy.
Elemental marks Pixar’s first romance-focused story since Wall-E, and as a fan of romance stories—yes, most people also find that surprising when they find out—I have to give it a glowing endorsement right off the bat.
Congratulations SAG-AFTRA! You fought hard and for so long, and you won! That’s so incredible! Your members help make the art we love possible, and it’s so wonderful to hear that you and the WGA struck a victory for the fair treatment of creatives!
Luca serves as another reminder of why Pixar has the reputation it does. Yes, stuff like The Good Dinosaur and the Cars franchise unsettled that a little, making it guesswork if the newest Pixar movie will be worth the time, but Luca is worth the time.
Hi, everyone! We get a lot of requests from artists and creators to review their work, and we want to cover more of those indie projects. To make that easier on our end and on yours, we’ve created a form where you can tell us about your project.
Nimona hit the media landscape with such explosive power that avoiding spoilers was difficult. A stylized, bombastic, irreverent sci-fi fantasy mashup with an animation style reminiscent of Spider-Verse and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish has become a winning combination, practically guaranteed to get the attention of the critic community, and I’m no different. The question of Nimona was when I would review it, not if I would.
The thing about watching Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is there was no question of if the movie would be good. The first Spider-Verse movie was a revelation, an epoch for animation, and I barely mean that as hyperbole.
Even after all this time, I’m still impressed by Baymax—and that only proves my point. Good writing and excellent storytelling don’t need hours to wow an audience. Originally Published: September 28th, 2022 Short Art Has A Different Vibe Than Other Projects I love long-form content: epic scope books, five-hour video essays, and sprawling television shows….
