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Most people thank (or blame) Ridley Scott's 1984 Macintosh ad for inventing the spectacle of the Super Bowl commercial, but the Independence Day spot that 20th Century Fox unleashed during the big game in 1996 was an equally significant milestone. Ever since 100 million Americans gawked at their televisions in awe as a massive alien spaceship blew up the White House, the football championship has become the ultimate launching pad for the next wave of spring and summer blockbusters. These days, it almost feels like there’s an entire Comic-Con worth of...

The most high-profile Justice League origin story sees a shift away from the traditional with new villain Darkseid (Steve Blum) threatening the new world. His would-be adversaries are doing their own thing - Batman (Jason O'Mara) is considered a myth by Gotham City folk, The Flash (Christopher Gorham) keeps an eye on Central City, Green Lantern (Justin Kirk) has the beat of the whole planet while Superman (Alan Tudyk) is keeping a watchful eye over Metropolis. What they need is a new adversary to unit them in a common cause...

The cult 1988 anime taught western film-makers new ideas in storytelling, and helped cartoons grow up

Internet lore has it that Steven Spielberg and George Lucas turned down the chance to pick up the rights to the exalted 1988 anime Akira, believing it to be unmarketable in America. Twenty years later, something had changed: Spielberg and DreamWorks were in production on a live-action remake of Ghost in the Shell, perhaps the next-biggest crossover anime title, with the beard buttering it up in the press as "one of my favourite stories". But he missed the chance to be there at the beginning for artist-director Katsuhiro Otomo's earlier masterpiece – 25 this year – when its enervating hyper-realism left retina burn in the eyes of action fans and film-makers worldwide.

Akira swiftly became midnight-movie fodder in the Us, on a small release through Streamline Entertainment. Its dynamism and attention to detail – honed by Otomo in the...

The full Fantasia 2013 lineup has now been revealed, and we have here the third and final wave of titles to share. Prepare to drool!

From the Press Release:

The Fantasia International Film Festival is proud to announce the rest of our 120-feature lineup that comprises our 2013 event, along with a string of additional details that mark our 17th edition as a standout. Fantasia will engulf the city of Montreal from July 18-August 6, 2013. Be sure to visit the Fantasia Film Festival website for detailed essays on every title announced here, as well as all films previously disclosed over the last weeks.

Before we get started on titles... Meet Our 2013 Juries

Main Competition For The Cheval Noir Award For Best Film

Jury President: Laura Kern (Critic, Curator, managing editor, Film Comment)

Jean-Pierre Bergeron (Actor, Director, Screenwriter)

Samuel Jamier (Co-Director of the New York Asian Film Festival, Programmer at Japan Society)

Jarod Neece (Senior Programmer and Operations Manager,...

The Fantasia Film Festival is taking place from July 18th to August 6th in Montreal and will feature over 100 films from around the world. We gave you a look at the initial lineup last month and now have an additional list of Fantasia 2013 films that will be screening, including Curse of Chucky, You’re Next, and Frankenstein’s Army:

Horror Is Child’S Play – Don Mancini’S Curse Of Chucky (World Premiere)

A rarity among genre franchises, the Child’S Play series (begun in 1988) has retained the sure-handed guidance of original screenwriter/creator Don Mancini throughout killer doll Chucky’s decades’-long reign of horror. Mancini, who will be hosting our “scar-studded” world premiere, graduated to the director’s chair with 2004’s Seed Of Chucky, after having co-written or written every entry in the series. His longevity with the project is, of course, matched by the fiendish voiceover work by...

Ryan Lambie Sep 20, 2016

Katsuhiro Otomo's classic animated film is returning to UK cinemas to mark Manga Entertainment's 25th anniversary. We take a look back...

For anime, 1988 was an extraordinary year. That April, Studio Ghibli released My Neighbor Totoro and Grave Of The Fireflies, two films that would soon cement its already growing reputation as one of Japan's finest animation houses. And three months later, writer, artist and director Katsuhiro Otomo would unveil Akira, one of the most important and influential animated features of the entire decade.

Based on Otomo's best-selling, voluminous manga of the same name (which was still being published when its adaptation was released), Akira is set in a 2019 Neo-Tokyo balanced on a knife-edge. Rival motorcycle gangs fight in the streets. Revolutionaries and religious fanatics clash with the police. Behind the scenes, the military and sneaky politicians tussle for control, while scientists carry out strange experiments on grey-faced children.

Feature Ryan Lambie 28 Jun 2013 - 06:13

In July 1988, one of Japan’s finest animated films appeared in cinemas. Ahead of its 25th anniversary, Ryan looks back at Akira...

For anime, 1988 was an extraordinary year. That April, Studio Ghibli released My Neighbor Totoro and Grave Of The Fireflies, two films that would soon cement its already growing reputation as one of Japan's finest animation houses. And three months later, writer, artist and director Katsuhiro Otomo would unveil Akira, one of the most important and influential animated features of the entire decade.

Based on Otomo's best-selling, voluminous manga of the same name (which was still being published when its adaptation was released), Akira is set in a 2019 Neo-Tokyo balanced on a knife-edge. Rival motorcycle gangs fight in the streets. Revolutionaries and religious fanatics clash with the police. Behind the scenes, the military and sneaky politicians tussle for control, while scientists carry out strange experiments on grey-faced children.

Toy Story 3 has got an Oscar nomination, but Japanese anime has produced works of great poignancy and depth for decades

Toy Story 3 is in the running for the best picture award at the 2011 Oscars, and pundits and public alike have been singing its praises; The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw called it "genuinely groundbreaking, pushing at the boundaries of cinema", dealing as it did with such issues as "growing up, growing old, and making way for one's children". A true coming-of-age story, then.

Bradshaw also pointed out that, because Toy Story 3 is animation, it was subject to snobbery and condescension by those who feel that live action is the only way to tell a story. He makes a good point: animation is often unfairly pushed aside to make way for "real" movies. It is a point that needs extending, for there is an entire industry, and a culture, that has been using...

Update: According to People.com [1], Stewart's reps said: "There are a number of fabricated stories circulating. The fact is that she has not met on this film nor has she been approached for this film." Our original story remains below. Now that Zack Snyder has cast his Clark Kent [2], our attention has turned to the second lead in Metropolis, Lois Lane. The rumor mill is stirring over which actress will play the intrepid reporter in Snyder's Superman reboot and seemingly every young woman in Hollywood [3] has been floated as a possibility. One name on the list that raised a few eyebrows, however, was Kristen Stewart. Apparently not only does the Twilight star agree, she thinks one franchise is more than enough and has reportedly taken herself out of the running. Read the juicy details after the break. According to the New York Daily News [4], Stewart met with Snyder and his...

Unless you get to visit a film set, you'll likely never get a chance to set foot in the iconic cities of Metropolis or Gotham City, homes to superheroes Superman and Batman respectively. Of course, these two cities are essentially alternate versions of New York, and other heroes have simply been placed at the center of the Big Apple itself for their stories. Well, now you can dream a little dream of how you might be convinced to travel to one of these superhero cities as graphic designer Justin Van Genderen designed (via The Daily What) travel posters for Gotham City, Metropolis and two other NYC variations with several familiar superheroes.       While it's not a superhero city, the poster for Neo Tokyo by way of Katsuhiro Ôtomo's Akira has a very cool look to it, too. However, my favorite is definitely the Metropolis poster with Superman zooming across the skyline.

Last week we asked you what the best anime film of all time was, and the results were pretty interesting. It's not so much that the winners were unexpected per se, but the top 3 choices were more closely matched in votes than probably any other poll we've had previously. Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke ended up on top with 21% of the votes, while another Miyazaki film, Spirited Away, was #2 at just shy of 20%. (Clearly we're going to have to do a showdown between all of Miyazaki's films at some point in the future.) Akira followed immediately after that, with Ghost in the Shell and Ninja Scroll rounding out the top 5. I was a bit surprised to see Rintaro's Metropolis relegated to last place, but I suppose given the competition it's understandable. Do you concur with these results? 1. Princess Mononoke -- 21.4% 2. Spirited Away -- 19.9% 3. Akira -- 19.6% 4. Ghost in the Shell...

The Japanese pop culture icon .Astro Boy. made a leap onto American soil in 1963 in a black and white television series. Based on Osamu Tezuka.s legendary manga (Japanese comic book), .Astro Boy. garnered a devoted U.S. following, becoming another hit 1980 television series, and then again in a TV show that debuted in 2003.

I was never a fan of the .Astro Boy. series and its many incarnations. But I can tell you right now, the new animated adventure .Astro Boy. has made a believer out of me.

Narrated by Charlize Theron, the film is an origin story about how a boy named Toby becomes Astro (both characters voiced by the fantastic Freddie Highmore). We learn that Earth has become a dumping ground of used robot parts, so humans built a gleaming Metropolis in the sky known as Metro City. The scientist behind the technical revolution is Dr. Tenma (Nicolas Cage), Toby.s father.

There is a lot of love around here for last years (rather ignored at the Japanese Box Office) animated feature (Damn you Ponyo!): The Sky Crawlers. Mamoru Oshii‘s high-flying social science fiction melodrama is certainly one of the most handsome films I have seen in ages, and features the best sound design ever. Period. (The aerial dog-fight footage pounded the cinema I was in, yet even the lighting of a cigarette or a character walking down the hall had aural resonance.) It is also a swanky mixture between the directors predisposition for the ‘heady stuff’ and a mainstream accessibility. The balance is quite nice actually, and the narrative story telling is complicated, rich, and satisfying. Am I being hyperbolic on this film? Well, the darn thing deserves some love. And for those who missed the really thin theatrical release in North America, the DVD and Blu-Ray is going to drop on May 26th.

Just when you thought there was never enough Samurai animations in the world Ghost in the Shell’s lord and master Mamoru Oshii is developing a animated samurai film for Japanese animation powerhouse Production I.G.

This new film, slated for a Summer 2009 bow, will be based on the life of Japan’s most celebrated Samuarai, Musashi Miyamoto. This new film will be called Miyamoto Musashi: Sōken ni Haseru Yume (Musashi Miyamoto: The Dream of Riding with Two Swords). Musashi created and perfected a two-sword kenjutsu technique called niten’ichi ("two heavens as one") or nitōichi ("two swords as one"). He was also the author of The Book of Five Rings, a book that is still studied today. Word is it rivals Sun Tzu’s Art of War in regards to strategy and tactics.

Should be interesting. Oshii is gathering quite the talent together for this project. Mizuho Nishikubo, an...

With guys like Chris MaGee around over at the Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow I barely have to lift a finger; he’s done all the work for me. But seriously now, Chris is a good friend of mine and he wanted to make sure that the Twitchees knew about the upcoming adaptation of- wait for it- Osamu Tezuka’s 1976- here it comes- manga “Mw” to the big screen. Osamu Tezuka of course was the Father of Anime and creator of classics like Astro Boy and Metropolis.

A diligent and efficient bank employee, Yuuki Michio, has another side: that of a brutal kidnapper who commits horrible crimes, one after the other. Yuuki frequently visits Father Garai at his church, repenting for his sins each time he commits a crime. The two had witnessed a terrible event on Okinomabune Island in the neighboring of Okinawa Island fifteen years ago. During the incident,...