Simpsons / Slamdance

Big announcement!  I completed another "Couch Gag" for the opening of "The Simpsons" - it's my third one, and it's running this Sunday, January 12 at 8 pm.  It's a pretty cool clip of animation, I think you'll love it.  You should tell all your friends and check it out!

Also, coming up in Park City on January 17 is the North American premiere of my new feature film "Cheatin'" - I'm honored to say it's the opening night film of the prestigious Slamdance Film Festival.
Check out the great line-up at Slamdance.com - 

I'll be there to introduce the film, as soon as I can find a place to stay - I've got a couple irons in the fire so something should work out.  Hopefully I'll see you in Park City!

--Bill Plympton

Worst Films of the Year

So, if I can make a list of the best films of 2013, surely I can also make a list of the worst films of the year...

"The Wind Rises", or as I like to call it, "The Wind Blows" by the Japanese Master, Hayao Miyazaki.  A sugary, melodramatic story about a kid who later designed the Japanese WWII fighter "The Zero".

"The Great Beauty" - an art film for elitist snobs.  No real story and a bunch of intellectual platitudes.

"Inside Llewyn Davis" - and I LOVE the Coen brothers.  This film had some great side characters, but the lead is the most uncharasmatic character ever in a Coen brothers film.  And what's with the cat?

"The Unknown Known", by Errol Morris.  An interview with Bush's Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld.  Instead of asking him questions about how the Iraq war started, he shows images of water, spiffy graphics and talks about his marriage.

"Under the Skin", starring a sexy Scarlett Johansson.  The director, Jonathan Glazer, also made the wonderful "Sexy Beast", but this is a bomb.  I saw it at Telluride and it will never get distribution in the U.S., because it's so boring.

"The Congress" by Ari Folman ("Waltz With Bashir"), written by Stanislaw Lem.  Made no sense to me at all.  Maybe if I were stoned it would have been better.

--Bill

Top Ten List

Well, it's after New Year's, and as per the movie critics' tradition, it's time for my Top Ten Movie List.

This year has been a very good year for films, both critically and in box office, so it was difficult to narrow my list down to ten - but anyway, here it is:

#10 - "Captain Phillips" - a great action film with political overtones.

#9 - "Prisoners" - a terrific kidnap film that takes very surprising turns.

#8 - "Philomena" - a tragic forced-adoption story with hilarious comedy from Steve Coogan.

#7 - "Despicable Me 2" - the rare sequel that's as good as, or better than, the original.  Plus, it was animated in France.

#6 - "Saving Mr. Banks" - Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks are great as P. L. Travers and the great Walt Disney.

#5 - "Ernest and Celestine" - another French animated feature that's just a wonder to watch.  Great design!

#4 - "12 Years a Slave" - from director Steve McQueen, the most powerful anti-slavery film ever made.  It will take home a lot of Oscars.

#3 - "This Is the End" - by Seth Rogen, James Franco and Jonah Hill.  In my estimation, the funniest film of the year.  I saw it on an airplane, and I was laughing so hard it bothered my seat neighbors.

#2 - "The Wolf of Wall Street" - by Martin Scorsese, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.  A very funny look at Wall Street corruption.

And the number 1 film of the year!!!....

"Gravity" - it's such an unusual film - a unique concept, yet it had me on the edge of my seat throughout.  I was a mass of sweat at the end.

--Bill

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 / Despicable Me 2

It's awards time, so I'm getting a lot of DVD's in the mail, by way of soliciting my votes.  The great part is, I get to catch up on all of the animated features that I missed when they were released in theaters.

I was a big fan of the original "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" - in fact, the director, Chris Miller, worked for me as an intern years ago.  I found it original and clever.  The follow-up, however, didn't work for me - I found it too frenetic and haphazard.  It's like they tried to cram as many jokes into it as possible, thereby losing any character or story possibilities.  It's always good to leave a little room in films, so people can catch their breath.  Also, I found the colors too garish and the character design very amateurish.  I think they should have put my buddy Chris Miller back at the helm.

On the other hand, I believe that "Despicable Me 2" is a rousing success and as good as, or better than, the original.  The design (by Carter Goodrich, one of the best designers in the business) is wonderful, and the voices and story are terrific.

But for me, the best part was the bad guys.  I love bad guys, and if the evil characters are fun to watch, then the whole film is fun to watch.

Also, as opposed to "Cloudy", there was a very deliberate sense of pacing and tone in "Despicable Me 2" that made the film a delight to watch - and I wanted the film to continue, it felt too short.

We'll see at Oscar time if the other Academy members agree with me on "Despicable Me 2".

My score for "Cloudy 2" is C+ and for "Despicable Me 2", A-

--Bill

New Year Babies.. leyendecker..

Added a few new ones to my collection this year.. I didn't put it in chronological order:-/ Hope everyone has a great new year and an even better 2014!!  oh, also, i dropped a Rockwell in here.. can anyone tell me which one? hahaha


 

 

 

hmmm... one of these things is not like the other..

Cheatin' Update

It's been a while since I've given you, my fans, news about the progress of "Cheatin'".  We were hoping to get the film into the Sundance Film Festival, but alas, they turned it down.  I'm not sure why, but I do know that I've probably shown more films, shorts and features, in Sundance than any other filmmaker.  So perhaps they felt I was over-exposed.

But not to worry - my office manager noticed that Slamdance had a category for alumni filmmakers (we screened "Hair High" there in 2004) so we entered that festival too.  Slamdance loved my film and offered it the opening night slot - Yeah!  It should be a very prestigious night - so our "Cheatin'" crew is flying out to Utah in January to present the film at the U.S. premiere and hopefully get some distribution for the film.

"Cheatin'" will screen at Slamdance on Friday, January 17 at 8 pm, and again on Monday, January 20 at 9:05 pm.

 You can see the whole Slamdance Festival line-up here:

http://showcase.slamdance.com/Film-Festival

And you can buy tickets here:

http://slamdance.festivalgenius.com/2014/films


My French distributor, E.D. Distribution, is now holding preview screenings of the film in selected festivals.  I heard that at one screening, the film got a 3-minute ovation - I love the French!  They didn't feel that the title "Cheatin'" would work in France, so they came up with an alternative title: "Les Amants Electriques", which means "The Electric Lovers".  Perfect!

Also, even though the film is only now entering the U.S. festival circuit, it's already won two prizes at international festivals.  So we feel very optimistic about the future for "Cheatin'" - I just hope we can break the damn U.S. distributors' prejudices against animated films that are hand-drawn, not CGI, and for mature audiences.  I've been banging my head against those barriers for 6 films and I believe that "Cheatin'" is the film to break through.

Keep checking this blog for updates on the film's progress -

Bill

Obscure Namesakes #19

Obscure Namesakes #18

Buttnumb-a-thon

I became aware of Harry Knowles and his "Ain't It Cool News" website a few years ago when we wrote a glowing review of "Hair High" in his blog.  I was amazed by the power of his site and his knowledge of film.

At this year's New York Comic-Con, Harry came by my booth in his wheeled chair pushed by his hot girlfriend and we got to talk about my new film "Cheatin'", and he said he'd like to show it in his "Buttnumbathon".  And what, you may ask, is a "Buttnumbathon"?  Basically, it's Harry's 24-hour film screening held in Austin, Texas at the famous Alamo Drafthouse.

                                 Bill and Harry working out the screening details at NYCC.

He's been holding this weird event for a number of years and it's become so popular that thousands of film fans send in long letters as to why they should be invited to the event, hoping to be one of the 250 or so select few who get to watch Harry Knowles' favorite films.

Because Harry selected to show "Cheatin'", I was awarded a select seat in the theater.  So my executive producer James Hancock and I flew out to a freezing cold Austin to partake in the Buttnumbathon.

Harry has a seat in the back of the restaurant/cinema - where, much like "The Wizard of Oz", his image is projected on the screen as he introduces the films with amazing tidbits of trivia.  His tastes vary from 1950's exploitation films to Hollywood blockbusters - two of the films which Hollywood allowed him to show, because he's such a power in the Geek World, were Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug", which is wonderful, by the way, and Martin Scorsese's "The Wolf of Wall Street", which (along with "Gravity") is now one of my favorite films of the year.

So, if your butt is iron-willed, and you love weird films, please apply to Harry Knowles' 24-hour Buttnumbathon, it'll be the highlight of your life.  I give it an A+.

--Bill

Maverick Philosophy

I found this speech, from one of my heroes, as he was accepting the AFI's Lifetime Achievement Award.  I realized that it reflected my philosophy perfectly:

"There are a few of us left in this conglomerated world of ours who still trudge stubbornly along the lonely, rocky road and this is, in fact, our contrariety.

"We don't move nearly as fast as our cousins on the freeway.  We don't even get as much accomplished, just as the family-sized farm can't possibly raise as many crops or get as much profit as the agricultural factory of today.

"What we do come up with has no special right to call itself better.  It's just different.  No, if there's any excuse for us at all, it's that we're simply following the old American tradition of the maverick.  And we are a vanishing breed.  This honor I can only accept in the name of all the mavericks.  And also as a tribute to the generosity of all the rest of you, to the givers, to the ones with fixed addresses.

"A maverick may go his own way but he doesn't think that it's the only way or ever claim that it's the best one except maybe for himself.  And don't imagine that this raggle-taggle gypsy is claiming to be free.  It's just that some of the necessities to which I am a slave are different from yours."

--Orson Welles

Maureen McElheron's new book

If you know my films at all, then you know about Maureen McElheron.  She's the musical genius behind the wonderful songs heard in "Your Face", "The Tune", and the great "Hair High", among others.

I met Maureen when I first moved to New York and she was performing in a Greenwich Village nightclub.  I immediately fell in love with her voice and her original songs.  Fortunately, we became friends and when I began to create animation, I asked her to contribute some songs for the film.  Her music just seemed to fit perfectly with my style of art and humor.

And speaking of humor, she has a brand new book out, co-written with another friend of mine, Richard Smith - it's called "There Is a God!", published by Tarcher/Penguin Books.

Just so you know, it's not a religious book, although I suppose there's a bit of religion in there.  No, it's about that expression "There is a God" that people say when something miraculous happens - like
"#4 - Watching your toddler take his first steps"
 or
"#261 - Mob justice for the neighbor with the leaf blower"
or
"#270 - He doesn't know they're implants"
or
"#114 - Hitting the lottery 4 months after your divorce is finalized"

Now that it's the holiday season, this is a great gift to get for your friends.

I think Maureen and Richard should receive the Nobel Prize for Humor.  Oh, wait, there isn't one.  Well, there should be.

I give "There Is a God!" an A+

Check the book out here:
http://tarcherbooks.prohost.mobi/144995/show/ec5343a653d829fd9af6cdd4d60fefcf/

and here:
http://www.amazon.com/There-Is-God-Heartwarming-Hilarious/dp/0399167803/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386356231&sr=8-1&keywords=There+is+a+god+1001

Bill

                                   Bill and Maureen at the Traverse City Film Festival, 2012
                                              (my thanks to Brian Harwood for the photo)

Sunday Film Series, Brooklyn, Dec. 15

For all you Bill Plympton junkies who live in the NYC area - I have good news!

I'm having a very special screening of all of my new films, an excerpt from "CHEATIN'", plus some surprise films.  This will be part of the Sunday Film Series in Brooklyn, on December 15, at 6 pm.

I'll end by taking questions - although I won't answer them....just kidding.  Also, everyone who comes will get a free drawing from Mr. Plympton himself.  I'll also be offering DVDs and special prints from my new feature - they make terrific Christmas gifts.

So, tell all your friends to come by.  The screening will be at 61 Local, located at 61 Bergen St. in Brooklyn, $5 admission - and join the festivities.  See you all there!

Bill