Pixar

News, Reviews & Features

Deconstructing Pixar's Inside Out, the film I admire most

Movie Feature | Ali Gray | 29th July 2018

There are films that I loathe, there are films that I tolerate and there are films that I enjoy, but there are few films that I truly admire. With some movies I find it best you don't think too carefully how the sausage was made, because nothing spoils the illusion of cinema more than peeking behind the, uh, sausage curtain. Remember the pre-release behind the scenes photos of Robert Zemeckis' The Walk, that showed Joseph Gordon-Levitt doing a tightrope walk on a massive green plank? Cheers for saving me £12.50, idiots. Some movies, on the other hand, practically invite you to climb into the filmmaker's headspace; they want you to know just how much effort went into its creation. Pixar's Inside Out is one of those movies, where you can't help but marvel at the myriad thought processes that led to its genius inception and flawless execution. It's the movie I admire most and I still can't stop thinking about it.

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Incredibles 2

Movie Review | Matt Looker | 9th July 2018

With more than a decade between Toy Stories or Finding Fish Characters, Pixar’s recent run of belated sequels is clearly part of a canny business plan rather than a sign of creative exhaustion, because these franchise returns do the job of appealing to both the original fans and a whole new generation of toy-demanders. If this has always been the strategy though, Incredibles 2 takes home the trophy for longest audience payoff of all time. Because, with the original film invoking everyone’s childhood fantasies of wanting to be superpowered, this sequel - delivered 14 years later - teaches those of us that have become parents in the meantime that our wish has been fulfilled: we now are heroes.

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Cars 3

Movie Review | Matt Looker | 10th July 2017

As someone who has barely seen the first Cars, and who actively and selfishly steers his son away from knowing that a sequel even exists simply because I’ve heard it’s not very good, I am clearly not the best person on the Shiznit staff to review this film. No, that honour goes to Ali, who, for the past two years, has an unfinished article sitting in the site admin area entitled "What I've learned from Cars 2 after watching it 200 times". Yet, here I am, ready to impart my own unique viewpoint on the latest instalment of Pixar’s most-derided franchise. You ready? Here goes: It’s… alright?

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Finding Dory

Movie Review | Ali Gray | 31st July 2016

I was supposed to write a review for Finding Dory about a month ago, but I, er... forgot. Now, in the spirit of the movie's hopelessly forgetful protagonist, allow me to piece together what I can remember in an attempt to create some coherent thoughts. Please also forgive me if I use the same bullshit excuse when filing my Jason Bourne review in six weeks.

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The Good Dinosaur

Movie Review | Ali Gray | 26th November 2015

After hitting dizzying new heights with this summer's mind-bending, mind-bonding masterpiece Inside Out, Pixar are now suffering the subsequent downer: not only is The Good Dinosaur one of the bleakest and most relentlessly grim movies they've ever made, it's possibly the lowest high concept movie they've conceived to date. Although there's no denying The Good Dinosaur is the most incredible-looking movie of the year, its beauty hides the scars of a screenplay that has been diced and spliced like dino DNA at Jurassic Park.

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Inside Out

Movie Review | Matt Looker | 26th July 2015

We've all seen the list of Pixar's story concepts throughout the years, right? 1995: What if toys had feelings, 1998: What if bugs had feelings, etc until we get to the Inside Out punchline: What if feelings had feelings? It's an apt joke, not just because you can imagine that this formula for success was actually decided years ago in a boardroom somewhere, but because Inside Out really does feel like the ultimate Pixar film. In terms of fun, emotion, gags and - yes - cries, Inside Out meets the very best of what the studio has done to date, and it does so within a simple, lovable realisation of an incredibly complicated abstract concept. This really is Pinnacle Pixar.

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The true identity of Andy's Dad in Toy Story will blow your mind

Movie Feature | Ali Gray | 25th February 2014

No doubt you have already seen the impressive theory online this week regarding the origins of Andy's mother in Toy Story? It's very convincing, but pales into comparison to the mind-blowing discovery I made upon poring through the Pixar archives for clues. It turns out that there is lots of evidence to suggest that Andy's absent father is actually none other than... DARTH VADER.

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Suggestions for the new Pixar Star Wars film

Movie Feature | Matt Looker, Ali Gray, Luke Whiston | 27th January 2014

Last week, news arrived that Pixar will be jumping on the franchise juggernaut bandwagon and will make its very own Star Wars film. But how? Who? When? And indeed, wuh?

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The IMDb trivia for the Finding Nemo sequel doesn't fuck about

Movie News | Ali | 28th June 2013

Sorry kids, your favourite snooty French shrimp won't be back because the guy who provided his voice died in horrible circumstances. Sleep well!

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Today's news in happiness

Movie News | Ali | 17th July 2012

Disney force a shackled Andrew Stanton to make back his John Carter millions with Finding Nemo 2: official. Still no news on A Bug's Life sequel.

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