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Quick Links The Far Side Had Two TV Specials The Far Side Specials Have Not Aired Often The Specials Never Saw A Threequel Why The Far Side's Specials Stopped Airing

Gary Larson's classic comic strip, The Far Side, is generally remembered as a groundbreaking work of art. It was a daily strip that ran in newspapers around the world. Every new issue consisted of a single panel, which told an episodic story with entirely new characters. Unlike most strips, it neglected to feature recurring characters, consistent storylines, or even a stable world. Every new release presented an entirely new reality, which contributed to the uniqueness and whimsical nature of Larson's work.

The strip ran from 1979 to 1995 and was always under Larson's strict direction. While he retired from cartooning in 1995, he began releasing several new Far Side panels on his website during the pandemic in 2020. These releases are staggered and rather rare,...

Quick Links The Far Side Was Not Just a Comic Tales From The Far Side Is Worth Watching Tales From The Far Side Had a Hidden Sequel Where To Watch Tales From The Far Side

Gary Larson's Tales from The Far Side marked a definitive moment for Larson's strip. Known for its art style, eerie settings, and often confusing jokes, the comic strip quickly grew to become a worldwide phenomenon. Nearly 2,000 newspapers published the strip at its height, and 4,000 panels were eventually released throughout its run. Larson is still publishing new releases to this day, though his output has decreased since the height of the comic's run.

With so much love and respect for his bizarre world, Larson did not just restrict his characters to the comic medium. In 1994, he agreed to create a made-for-tv special that would see his animated world brought to the small screen. Tales...

U.S. audiences tend to accept Toho's earlier Godzilla movies as being high camp, usually thanks to Gen-x's half-remembered airings of late-'60s kaiju flicks broadcast on Uhf TV channels back in the 1980s. While there are some absurd and terrible Godzilla films from the Showa era (1954-1975), and many of them contained surreal, kitschy plot elements like invading aliens, one might also find several movies -- "Gojira," "Destroy All Monsters" -- that focus on Japanese national pride, the role of destructive weapons in the world, and a barely-simmering resentment lingering after a massive attack on the country. If modern superhero movies sprung from the U.S. subconscious as a fantastical revenge/preventative measure against 9/11, so too did Godzilla spring fully formed from the trauma left behind by the U.S.' atomic bomb attacks.

In the original "Gojira," that is literal. The titular creature, a stories-high amphibious animal,...

Mike Gribble, co-founder of Spike & Mike’s Festival of Animation, was just 42 years old when he died of pancreatic cancer in 1994 — an awful case of a larger-than-life film-world figure dying before his work was done. That probably would have been the perfect time for Kat Alioshin’s short, oh-so-adulatory “Animation Outlaws,” which plays more like a pop-art tribute video than a well-rounded documentary about Gribble and marginally less eccentric accomplice Craig Decker (aka “Spike”).

As it is, the film arrives long after the world of animation has been permanently reconfigured, thanks to a rebellious CG venture known as “Toy Story” and a little innovation called the internet. Today, it could be difficult to convince college kids — who grew up on Cartoon Network/Adult Swim, and for whom anime has moved mainstream — that there was a time just a few decades back when Disney was practically the only game in town.

Always pursue your dreams, no matter how stupid and weird they may be. That's the underlying message of Dreamworks' latest high-concept, celebrity-voiced animated offering, Turbo. It's the story of an outsider snail named Theo who, deep in his heart of hearts, wishes he was a race car. Is Turbo the 3D animated race car snail movie that the world's been waiting for? David Soren, whoever he is, certainly thought so. Soren's name appears in rapid succession in the closing credits of the film (Director, Screenplay, and I believe also Story), momentarily evoking the way Marv Newland's name intentionally and humorously dominates the credits of his singularly created "Bambi Meets Godzilla." So it's probably safe to say David Soren (this being his debut feature film, coming...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Marv Newland’s classic animated short Bambi Meets Godzilla has been delighting animation fans since way back in 1969. The roughly 90-second clip, which comes in at number 38 in the book The 50 Greatest Cartoons, has been playing at festivals and even turned up on some copies of the VHS release of Godzilla 1985 (though it was never made with Disney's approval). But it’s been hard to find a good copy online – until now. Coda Shetterly has made a complete re-creation/restoration of Newland’s short – one that is viewable at 4K resolution and features a 5.1 audio track – all the better to hear the film’s biggest moment, I guess. The new version certainly looks better than the old ones floating around on the Internet...

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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences brings you the Oscars (yep, that's why they're called Academy Awards), and on Friday, the organization announced that it was prepared to invite 176 new folks to its fold.

In a list posted on its website, the Academy deemed Matthew McConaughey, Jean Dujardin, Terrence Malick, Jonah Hill, Berenice Bejo, Jessica Chastain, Octavia Spencer and a host of other film luminaries worthy of inclusion in its nearly 6,000-member army.

The Academy has drawn the ire of critics who bemoan its overwhelmingly male, white population. A Los Angeles Times investigation found that of all Academy members, 94 percent are Caucasian and 77 percent are male. A mere 2 percent are black, with Latinos constituting an even smaller portion. Only 14 percent of members are under the age of 50.

Full members of the Academy select and vote on Oscars nominees. The organization was started in 1927 and is now governed by a 43-person board.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is extending invitations to join the organization to 176 artists and executives who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures. Those who accept the invitation will be the only additions in 2012 to the Academy.s roster of members.

.These film professionals represent some of the most talented, most passionate contributors to our industry,. said Academy President Tom Sherak. .I.m glad to recognize that by calling each of them a fellow Academy member..

Voting membership in the organization has now held steady at just under 6,000 members since 2003.

The 2012 invitees are:

Actors

Simon Baker . .Margin Call,. .L.A. Confidential.

Sean Bean . .Flightplan,. .The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

Bérénice Bejo . .The Artist,. .Oss 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies.

Tom Berenger . .Inception,. .Platoon.

Demián Bichir . .A Better Life,. .Che.

Jessica Chastain . .The Help,. .The Tree of Life.

Clifton Collins,...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences extended their 2012 membership invitations today to 176 lucky actors, directors, cinematographers, and other members of the filmmaking industry.

Terrence Malick, who somehow wasn’t already a member, received an invitation, as did fellow directors Rodrigo Garcia and Asghar Farhadi.

For actors, Melissa McCarthy’s invitation continues her incredible post-Bridesmaids rise. In addition, actors Jonah Hill, Matthew McConaughey, Andy Serkis, Jessica Chastain, and Octavia Spencer were all invited to be members, among others.

Voting membership in the organization has now held steady at just under 6,000 members since 2003, according to the Academy’s website.

HollywoodNews.com: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is extending invitations to join the organization to 176 artists and executives who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures. Those who accept the invitation will be the only additions in 2012 to the Academy’s roster of members.

“These film professionals represent some of the most talented, most passionate contributors to our industry,” said Academy President Tom Sherak. “I’m glad to recognize that by calling each of them a fellow Academy member.”

Voting membership in the organization has now held steady at just under 6,000 members since 2003.

The 2012 invitees are:

Actors

Simon Baker – “Margin Call,” “L.A. Confidential”

Sean Bean – “Flightplan,” “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring”

Bérénice Bejo – “The Artist,” “Oss 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies”

Tom Berenger – “Inception,” “Platoon”

Demián Bichir – “A Better Life,” “Che”

Jessica Chastain – “The Help,” “The Tree of Life”

Clifton Collins,...

Michelle Williams, Luke Kirby, Take This Waltz With four nominations, Michel Hazanavicius' silent comedy-drama The Artist is the top nominee in the international categories of the Vancouver Film Critics Circle's 2011 Awards. [Full list of Vancouver Film Critics nominees.] Starring Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo, The Artist is set at the dawn of the talkie era, as screen icon George Valentin (Dujardin) sees his star fade while newcomer Peppy Miller (Bejo) becomes a hit in early talkies. Hazanavicius says The Artist was inspired by the life of silent-era superstar John Gilbert, but the film — officially an original screenplay — clearly owes quite a bit to What Price Hollywood? and the first two A Star Is Born movies. (Gilbert was, to a certain extent, an inspiration for those movies as well. His career stalled, while wife Ina Claire fared well in a couple of early talkies, most notably The Royal Family of Broadway. Gilbert's one-time girlfriend Greta Garbo, I should add,...

The 28th annual Vancouver International Film Festival (Viff) will be held October 1-16, 2009. Founded in 1982, Viff's mandate is "...to encourage the understanding of other nations through the art of cinema, to foster the art of cinema, to facilitate the meeting in British Columbia of cinema professionals from around the world and to stimulate the motion picture industry in British Columbia and Canada..." Over 150,000 people are expected to attend 640 screenings of 360 films from 80 countries. Here is an up-to-date list of directors, confirmed to attend Viff 2009, along with their films : "1428" Du Haibin "1999" Lenin Sivam "65_RedRoses" Philip Lyall & Nimisha Mukerji "Adelaide" Liliana Greenfield-Sanders "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Phil Spector" Vikram Jayanti "Ana & Arthur" Larry Young "The Anchorage" Anders Edström & Curtis Winter "Antoine" Laura Bari "Argippo Resurrected" Dan Krames "The Art of Drowning" Diego Maclean "At Home By Myself... With You" Kris Booth "At The Edge Of The World" Dan Stone...