Briefly: Below you'll find the official track listing for Cars 2, (courtesy of Amazon) featuring Weezer, Brad Paisley, and, of course, Michael Giacchino.
The soundtrack will be released on both CD and digital download this June 14. Unless otherwise noted, the tracks below are instrumental and by everyone's favorite composer (or at least mine) Michael Giacchino.
You Might Think—Performed by Weezer
Collision Of Worlds—Performed by Brad Paisley and Robbie Williams
Mon Caeur Fait Vroum (My Heart Goes Vroom)—Performed by Bénabar
Briefly: Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich is having another set of charity auctions on eBay, this time to help the earthquake victims of Japan. There are only two items this time around, as opposed to the smorgasbord of items he offered for Haitian relief.
The items include an awesome, limited edition print (pictured to the left) from the film's story artist Adrian Molina and the complete TS3 soundtrack on a two-disc set, exclusive to Pixar employees.
The bid amounts are really getting up there, but if you love Pixar and want to support a good cause, get bidding!
Watch the above video. It's a very interesting look at the process behind the score for California Adventure's upcoming attraction Ariel's Undersea Adventure. It includes some never-before-seen looks at the attraction, which is currently in the final stages of construction.
This ride is gonna be awesome. (Although I don't know about that creepy King Triton animatronic . . . )
It is, of course, apart of Disney's total revamp and renovation of the sorry little stepbrother to Disneyland in California. I'll be heading down to LA later this summer, excited to see more of the changes! . . .
Here is a link to the French Disney website, on which you can, for a limited time, stream the entire Winnie-the-Pooh soundtrack!! It is a bit finnicky and takes a bit to load, but it is totally worth it!! When before I thought there was no way for me to become more excited for the movie, they have to go and release an amazing soundtrack like this, which makes me exponentially more excited.
Not only does it include Zooey Deschanel, as I giddily and previously reported, but it also includes the musical stylings of M. Ward (the "Him" in the group She & Him)!! This is such exciting news, I can't even explain how exciting it is . . . I listen to She & Him and M. Ward's solo stuff at least twice a week, usually more. Seeing that they are going to be teaming with Disney on Winnie-the-Pooh is making me, in fact, freak out.
Listen to the soundtrack (which will be available to purchase on July 12) now while you have the chance, and then go and see the sure-to-be-awesome Winnie-the-Pooh this July 15!
The above video is a short featurette recently released by Walt Disney Animation Studios discussing the music for their upcoming film Winnie-the-Pooh. Songs for the film will be provided by one of my favorite actresses and singers, Zooey Deschanel. You may remember her as the female lead of Elf and (500) Days of Summer, and the lead singer of the super awesome band She & Him.
Listen to a preview for the brand new song So Long, by Zooey made just for Pooh, in the video above. Never-before-seen footage from the film can be seen in the video, too!
The film will be released on July 15 later this year, and now I am even more excited to see it since one of my favorite musical artists is providing the music... Oh boy!
The biggest night in Hollywood has just about wrapped up (at least it has for you and I--I'm sure the night has just begun for all of the big stars out there), and I have to say there were absolutely no surprises this year. The King's Speech was the big winner, with four awards for Best Actor, Screenplay, Directing, and Picture--it certainly deserved these awards. It was a phenomenal cinematic piece.
And, of course, Toy Story 3 won for Best Animated Feature (see pics of the Animated Feature Symposium from a few days ago at TPB here) and Randy Newman won for Best Original Song, "We Belong Together." Oh, and he had, by far, the best acceptance speech of the night. Although I am ecstatic he won this award, what was up with his "live performance"? The tempo was way sped up, Randy's voice was drowned out, and none of the instrumentation but the piano was live. That aspect of the awards were a bit of a let-down.
In fact, the whole ceremony felt very detached and weird; they kept trying to find a theme with their little vignettes about past Oscar shows, but nothing really clicked. Not only that, but all of the jokes were, quite frankly, just lame. And Anne Hathaway was plain annoying. The whole time . . . I approve of the winners (although I still think Toy Story 3 should have won Best Picture, and Day & Night for Animated Short), but the show itself could have been much better.
Congrats to the crew at Pixar, the guys behind The King's Speech, and all of the other winners.
There's been a lot of Pixar news recently, and I decided I'd share it with you like the good, little Blogger I am. You'll find it all packaged, nice 'n' neat, below . . .
Toy Story 3, ever the favorite of everyone, has won two more awards: a Grammy for Best Score Soundtrack Album and a BAFTA Award for Best Animated Feature. Good job, Pixar! Now all that's left is for the Academy to give you that award for Best Picture.
New Cars 2 characters have been announced, including some voiced by John Turturro and Eddie Izzard. Those are two very funny and wonderful actors, so I am very excited that they will be joining the cast of Pixar's next film. However, the fact that the cast keeps growing on the film is making me anxious . . . is Pixar really being this gimmicky with their film and marketing campaign? I haven't had a good feeling about Cars 2 from the get-go, but let's hope that I'm wrong.
Last but not least, we have Pixar at the American International Toy Fair! Watch the embedded video above for the scoop, including Michael Caine revealing a life-size Finn McMissile, and an on-stage discussion with voice actors Caine and Emily Mortimer. Also check out this link and this one and, for kicks, this one for more of the Cars 2 toy announcements from the fair . . . and you know there's lots of 'em! Disney loves merchandising, especially when it comes to Cars.
This past weekend I saw Gnomeo and Juliet. It's a film from the defunct banner under Disney, Miramax. Any of you who frequent Disney, etc. would know after one look at the trailer that it's the type of film I tend to avoid and, frankly, smack talk on a regular basis--it's filled with pop culture references, motormouth sidekicks, and just about every other gimmick in the book that takes away from what's important: story. However, even with those faults, I found the movie very witty, the characters very entertaining, and the entire thing a joy to watch.
I think the reason that I liked it so much in lieu of the gimmickry is that it is a retelling of Romeo and Juliet, and therefore you aren't really looking for a story as you watch it. I know this is utterly contrary to everything else I have ever preached on the blog before, but it's true--since I know the plot of Romeo and Juliet and know exactly what will happen next, I am not looking for a story, and therefore the empty gimmicks were not a distraction, since there was nothing for them to distract from. In fact, the gimmicks were quite welcome--think of the film as more of a basic retelling of a Shakespearean tale as the backdrop for countless jokes, musical numbers, and hilarious characters. This was less of an actual movie and more of a circus, if you will--you don't watch it for the plot or emotional value, but for the sheer spectacle and great humor. Something like Shrek 3 (or 4 or 5 or whatever-the-heck number they're on now) falls flat because it's a "circus" that's trying to tell a story; while it has clever gimmicks and funny jokes, these are strewn across an attempt at a plot, which is meant to create emotional reaction in the audience. When this plot and the "circus-ness" mix inside the viewer's head, what results is a muddled mess of confusion and disappointment. The creators of Gnomeo and Juliet cleverly stepped around this problem by simply ignoring the plot aspect and replacing it with a well-known and purposefully predictable story.
So, I think that's the main reason I enjoyed Gnomeo and Juliet despite its constant gimmicks. Besides, the gimmicks were really funny. There were several characters, such as the rubber garden frog, a plastic Hispanic flamingo, and a small, angry reindeer that were very unique and funny and great to watch. Also, there were numerous Shakespeare references throughout the film that I most certainly appreciated, such as a moving truck which read "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Moving Company," a glue bottle labeled "The Taming of the Glue," and neighbor apartments with the addresses "2B" and "Not 2B". It was filled with back-to-back jokes, and I laughed out loud more times during that film than I have since Toy Story 3 . . . and that's a lot. I am a huge Elton John fan, so I was ecstatic when I found out that the entire soundtrack was Elton John songs and the score was based on his works. The integration of the songs was great, and I especially loved it when they replaced the lyrics with garden gnome-related terms and it was sung by the characters themselves. Elton should be proud. Great stuff.
Needless to say, Gnomeo and Juliet is worth seeing. While it lacks a plot, it is funny with great characters and an Elton John soundtrack to boot. It won't be winning any Oscars or getting any raving reviews from the stuck-up critics or even a decent standing at the box office, but if you can manage to shut your brain off for a few hours and just let yourself be entertained, I don't think you'll be disappointed.
7 out of 10.
(Oh, and you'll enjoy the film much, much more if you read the play Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare before seeing it. There are many little inside jokes and nods to the play that are really cool and quite hysterical.)
Since Disney, etc.'sposting has been on a temporary hiatus as of late, this shall be a massive link round-up summarizing all of the important Disney, Pixar, entertainment, and "everything in-between" news from the last few weeks. Enjoy....
At the top of this post, you will find some wonderful mash-up art from DeviantArt user iamclu, courtesy of HeyUGuys. It is just awesome, ain't it?...
Rumors that a Toy Story short will be attached to Cars 2 have been all but confirmed. After it was leaked that the next short will include Ken and Barbie going to Hawaii, Mike at The Pixar Blogdid some very thorough investigating and discovered an Amazon.com product page for a picture book based on the short. Here's the synopsis:
Bonnie is off to Hawaii, and Barbie and Ken are excited to go along on their first tropical vacation! But when they're accidentally left behind, it's up to Buzz, Woody, and the rest of the toys to create a Hawaiian paradise right in Bonnie's room.
Based on the latest animated short featuring the toys from Disney/Pixar Toy Story, this full-color storybook includes punch-out postcards that girls and boys ages 3-7 will love sending to their friends!
Read all about the short and its synopsis at The Pixar Blog here or Amazon here.
Above you will find a video tribute, The Beauty of Pixar, by Leandro Copperfield, who says that "Pixar's films have always been important in my life." It is a very well-edited video, and will remind you just how great Pixar is.
As we get further and further into this Awards season, more news of the Oscars are being leaked and announced. Recently, Variety has reported that Disney will not enter Randy Newman's Toy Story 3 scoreinto the running for Best Original Score. Instead, they will focus their efforts on promoting his tune We Belong Together for Best Original Song. It really is a great song, and helps to lighten the mood of the film while it plays during the closing credits. Not only that, but it is a great song on its own. It definitely deserves one o' them little gold guys. Also, I think it is a smart move for Disney not to enter Newman's score--there are tons of great scores this year, and I doubt the Academy would vote for a score that is simply (yet expertly) an extension of two already-existing scores.
You may have heard of Disney's brilliant "For Your Consideration" ad campaign for where they are comparing stills from Toy Story 3 to past Best Picture winners including The Sting, Lord of the Rings, The Sound of Music, Platoon, Shakespeare in Love, and Slumdog Millionaire, among others. They are very funny, and I hope they manage to snag Pixar the Best Picture nom and, with some luck, the award itself. Go to the Disney Awards site here to see the newly-released series of advertisements, as well as an additional (and boldly hilarious) one here.
Current accolades for Toy Story 3 include: being at the top of Moviefone's list of the best films from 2010, being at the top of Rotten Tomatoes' list of the best films from 2010, being on Quentin Tarantino's list of the best films of 2010 as well as Edgar Wright's top 5 list, a Golden Globe nom for Best Animated Feature, being one of the films honored on AFI's list of the top ten films of 2010, and being at the top of Time Magazine's list of the best films from last year. With all of that under its belt, how can you say that it won'twin that Best Picture Oscar? I think it will. It just has to...
While we're on the topic of Pixar, it's worth noting that the U.S. Postal Service has announced that later this year, a collection of commemorative Pixar stamps will be released. They'll be in sheets of twenty, include the above five designs, and instead of having a set value, they'll be valid for every first-class letter forever. Expect to see them on August 19 later this year.
Above, you will find a behind-the-scenes video for the upcoming animated film Rango. The short video, which features Johnny Depp, is very interesting, showing how director Gore Verbinski coached the voice actors while also incorporating their movements into a type of mo-cap/animation hybrid. It's really quite interesting...
The headline How Disney Designed The Military's Electromagnetic Launch System says enough about this article. A bizarre, surprising, and thoroughly engaging read... Check it out here.
In an interview with Collider, David Fincher let loose the information that his upcoming remake/adaptation 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea will be in 3D. Although I hate 3D with a fiery passion, I am very, very excited to see a version of Jules Vernes classic story told with modern effects by one of my favorite directors. Read the full interview here.
Tron: Legacy was visually-stunning, but was quite under-whelming. The story was weak, the acting was dry (although I appreciated seeing Jeff Bridges returning to a Dude-type philosophy on the big screen), and the overall feel of the movie just didn't do justice to its original counterpart. I couldn't even follow the Light Cycle scene well enough to enjoy it! I certainly agree with RT's 49%. However, it is doing decently at the box office, having made over $130 million so far. They still need $40 million more to make their money back, but I'm sure that they will...
Let's conclude this New Year's link round-up with a bang. Watch the above video of the "Fountains and Fireworks" show that was shown at Disney's California Adventure a couple of nights ago...
And that's all there is to post about for now! You are now completely up-to-date on all Disney, Pixar, entertainment, and everything in-between news. I hope you enjoyed it, and be sure to keep checking your favorite blog for all of the best news...
Billy Joel is one of my favorite musical artists. Only the Good Die Young, Piano Man, Vienna...he's written so many classics. In fact, if I was on a desert island and could only listen to one artist for the rest of my life, I very well might choose Billy Joel.
It is for that reason that I am ecstatic about his presence on the new Rock Band 3 game, being released this Tuesday, October 26. He won't be featured on the actual game disc, but his music will be available in the Rock Band online music store. And I'll be first in the virtual line to buy each and every song.
I'm especially excited about this because I'll be able to use my full-sized MIDI keyboard to play along with Mr. Joel, and be able to learn his guitar riffs on their exciting new pro guitar.
Better than the news of Billy Joel being on Rock Band, however, are his reasons behind the decision.
In the past, Billy has rejected Harmonix and has wanted nothing to do with musical video games. That all changed after a joke during a recent episode of The Office. In the episode, members of the office play a fictitious game, Rock Band: Billy Joel. In his review of the episode for Entertainment Weekly, Darren Franich, in reference to the Billy Joel edition of Rock Band wrote: "God forbid that should ever happen!"
After reading that, Billy Joel told USA Today that he "called my people and said, 'Get me on that Rock Band game.' Then I wrote the critic, saying that every time I get a check, I'll give him a little nod."
You've gotta love Billy Joel. If that isn't some of the cleverest spite I've ever heard of, then I don't know what spite is...
Read the full tale from Mr. Joel himself over at USA Today.
I have recently been reflecting and thinking a lot about Disney, etc. I like the articles that I write, but there simply aren't enough of them. And not only that, but they are all about news. While news is very important and I will continue posting on it, I want to do more to share my passion for all things Disney, Pixar, movies, and everything in-between.
That is why I am starting a new feature on Disney, etc. entitled What Makes it Timeless. I was inspired by the NPR series, What Makes it Great, which is a segment of their radio program in which Rob Kapilow, a renowned composer and conductor, discusses what makes our favorite songs so great. He goes into vivid detail regarding melody and the smallest things within the music that you'd never think to listen to--all in order to tell us what makes the song so great. I highly encourage you give the show a listen, especially when he discusses what makes Over the Rainbowso great--that one is my favorite.
Instead of music, I'm going to be writing about Disney movies, Pixar movies, shorts, scores, Disney songs, theme park attractions, theme park songs, studios in general, directors, producers, other Hollywood films, and even voice actors--I will delve into every facet of Disney, Pixar, and movies in general to describe just what it is that makes that specific thing timeless to us. Much like Rob Kapilow, I will be going beyond face value in order to discover why a certain film or song or ride makes our brain believe it to be so amazing and special. I'll combine each aspect, no matter how mundane or obvious, of the given film or song or studio in order to help describe why we like it so much.
This is very experimental and still in development, but, nevertheless, I am very excited to start sharing more of my opinions and ideas about animation, movies, Disney, Pixar, and everything in-between with all of you, my beloved readers.
Expect to see the first edition of What Makes it Timeless within the next few days. But I won't tell you what the topic is yet--that's a surprise.
Once again, John Williams has declined to score a theme park attraction for Disney. So, for Star Tours 2.0, they have turned to music extraordinaire Michael Giacchino--the Oscar-winning genius behind the scores of Ratatouille, The Incredibles, Up, Partly Cloudy, Day & Night, Mission Impossible: III, and Star Trek, among others.
This is great. Ever since The Incredibles, Giacchino has been my favorite contemporary composer. But then he wrote that glorious score for Up, which moved him up to possibly being my favorite composer of all time (he's definitely in the top three).
Hearing how he utilizes the original Star Wars and Star Tours themes to compose his own score is going to be very, very cool. My favorite composer combined with one of the most recognizable film themes ever written? Yes, please.
We'll get to hear his brand new, intergalactic score next year when Star Tours 2.0 makes its debut.
The Amazon product page for the Toy Story 3 album has just gone live, and reveals a lot. It has a complete track listing, the album cover, and a 30-second sample of each track.
All tracks on the soundtrack are by Randy Newman. All, that is, except for the Spanish version of "You've Got a Friend in Me," which is performed by one of my favorite bands, the Gipsy Kings.
Here's the complete track listing:
We Belong Together
You've Got a Friend in Me (para el Buzz Español)
Cowboy!
Garbage?
Sunnyside
Woody Bails
Come to Papa
Go See Lotso
Bad Buzz
You Got Lucky
Spanish Buzz
What About Daisy?
To The Dump
The Claw
Going Home
So Long
Zu-Zu (Ken's Theme)
The album will be available through Amazon, iTunes, and other online music sellers on Tuesday, June 15, and, unfortunately, will be available in the digital download format only. It will, however, come with a PDF booklet filled with pictures, album credits, song notes, etc.
Very exciting! I am definitely most excited for the Gipsy Kings' rendition of one of my favorite songs, "You've Got a Friend in Me"; it's gonna be great. See the product page for the album here.
Toy Story 3 comes out in theaters on June 18--only 13 days left!
Hopefully, by now, you are aware that Disney owns the superhero giant Marvel. It was big news back in August, and, ever since, Disney has been raking in the dough from Iron Man 2's box office success and has been loading up its stores with Marvel merchandise.
What you may not know, however, is that the recent superhero flick starring Robert Downey, Jr. (my favorite actor in Hollywood right now) has more ties to Disney than just shoveling money into their bank account.
When you see the film, something should seem very familiar about Tony's father, Howard Stark. You only get to see archival footage of our protagonists' late father, but there is enough screen-time there to make it obvious that he is supposed to resemble Walt Disney. Not only does he have the iconic moustache, a similar hair cut, and a striking suit like Mr. Disney does, but he is shown with a diorama that looks a lot like EPCOT during its early stages. Click on the "Stark Expo 1974" button on the right side of the screen at the viral site StarkExpo2010.com to see a video featuring the EPCOT-esque diorama, and the Disney-look-a-like.
But that's not the only connection that Iron Man 2 has to Disney.
When you went to the Stark Expo 2010 website, you heard an instrumental version of a song written by renowned Disney song-man Richard Sherman. The entire song (lyrics and all) can be heard during the end credits of the film, and it is entitled "Make Way For Tomorrow Today." The song sounds an awful lot like the theme song for the Carousel of Progress, "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow," and, like all other work by Sherman, is great.
All of these ties to Disney make you wonder whether or not Jon Favreau, the director, was trying to make deliberate nods to the recent Disney-buying-Marvel deal. And the answer is a resounding no. Production began months and months before anybody knew anything about the deal. The Disney references in Iron Man 2 have nothing to do with the studio's business deal, but instead have to do with Favreau wanting Tony's father to give off a showman-genius-from-the-50s vibe.
Iron Man 2 is a great film, and is made even better by these subtle references to Walt Disney that only a true Disney fan would notice.
Hi. My name is Adam and I love to write and to read. I shoot and go to a lot of movies. I am an avid collector of Disneyland souvenirs, Pixar stuff, celebrity photographs, and everything else.
Briefly: Below you'll find the official track listing for Cars 2, (courtesy of Amazon) featuring Weezer, Brad Paisley, and, of course, Michael Giacchino.
