Category Archives: Animation

Carbon Arc Reviews: The Winter/Spring 2016 Season

Regular readers will know that for most of the past year I've been working at Halifax's Independent Cinema, Carbon Arc. At the beginning of 2016, I took on the role of Writer-in-Residence, writing on the site blog about the films we were watching and describing audience reactions. Reaching out to a growing community of cinephiles. At…Read More

Inside Out review — Coming to your emotional rescue

Directed by Pete Docter and Ronaldo Del Carmen, written by Docter, Del Carmen, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley Up, also written and directed by Pete Docter, was the last original Pixar creation to arrive in cinemas but for Brave in 2012. Between and since those, they've only released sequels; to Toy Story, Cars, and Monsters Inc. And many more sequels…Read More

Big Hero 6 review — A light, slight cartoon

Directed by Don Hall and Chris Williams, written by Jordan Roberts,  Daniel Gerson, Robert L. Baird, based on characters and concept by Duncan Rouleau and Steven T. Seagle Disney's animation studio is picking up the slack their Pixar colleagues have been letting slip. Wreck It Ralph and Frozen were huge successes, packing in the kids and offering…Read More

How To Train Your Dragon 2 review

Directed by Don DeBlois, adapted by DeBlois from a book series by Cressida Cowell Steering clear of all things Transformers this week—does anyone really need another one of these Michael Bay monstrosities?—I decided to catch a friendlier looking sequel. I do have to say, there's something kind of shameless when a sequel comes out with…Read More

The Wind Rises (Kaze Tachinu) review

Written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki If this is to be Miyazaki's final film with Studio Ghibli—which, despite many false retirements, he says it will be—a romantic, historical drama about an engineer is an unorthodox subject matter to go out on. That said, it still has plenty of the fantastic and surreal whimsy he's become…Read More