Movies

Coming to a sky near you: a large cluster of multicolored balloons carrying a real-world version of the flying armchair featured in Pixar's forthcoming film, "Up."

The film, Pixar's 10th animated feature, focuses on the fate of 78-year-old Carl Fredricksen, his house, and a wayward 8-year-old who happens by one day. Together, launched into the sky by a cluster of balloons tied to the roof of Fredricksen's house, the two set off on, you know, the adventure of a lifetime.

For most of us, we'll have to go to the theater to share in … Read more

This had to be one of the weirdest pieces of media I've ever seen: watching actor Ashton Kutcher, streaming live on the Web, and Anderson Cooper, broadcasting live on CNN, each pimping their Twitter accounts, trying to exhort the world to help them become the first to reach 1 million followers.

As Kutcher--as well as a host of guests at what I presume was his and wife Demi Moore's house, and even P. Diddy, who was on speakerphone at the house--put it, this was a battle between old-guard TV and newer-kid-on-the-block Web.

In the end, the battle to … Read more

Update 6:08 p.m. PST: This story has been changed to add comment from Google, and to address streaming adult content on the iPhone.

LAS VEGAS--Apple might not want anything to do with it, but if one thing is clear, it's that porn on the iPhone is going to be huge.

While there don't seem to be any porn-related apps available for the iPhone, there is a plethora of adult entertainment available on the Web, and a growing amount of that content is being optimized for Apple's hit device.

At the Adult Entertainment Expo (AEE) here … Read more

It's a long-established truism in technology journalism: That stories about Apple are pretty much guaranteed to do better than just about any other subject.

And why? It's certainly not because of the total size of the user base of Apple products. Rather, as has been very well chronicled in newspapers, magazines, online and in books, the passion felt by the community of Apple users far outstrips its size.

Now, with the release of MacHeads, you can add movies to the roster of media documenting the full fervor of the Mac faithful and their particular brand of do-it-yourself brand … Read more

For the faithful planning to attend MacWorld 2009 next month in San Francisco, there's one more reason, beyond the usual iPhone, Mac and iPod news, to get excited.

That's because the producers of the Mac and Apple culture documentary, MacHeads, say they are going to debut the film at the show.

The film, which takes an in-depth look at the evolution of the so-called "cult of Mac," is scheduled to premiere on January 7, 2009, at Moscone Center's North Hall.

The producers noted that showing MacHeads for the first time at MacWorld is an appropriate … Read more

In its bid for our ticket-buying dollars, Hollywood has long sought to reach into our pockets by giving us films that appeal to our current sense of hopefulness or fearfulness.

Over the years, one of the most reliable mechanisms for doing that has been the alien, the evil, destructive invaders hell-bent on laying waste to everything we hold dear (The War of the Worlds, say) or the inquisitive visitors curious to make our acquaintance and see what they can learn from us and our experience (Close Encounters of the Third Kind, maybe).

And to many, the extent to which these … Read more

Are you a stud digital animator who hasn't quite managed to find a venue for your work?

If so, a new project being run by former Sony Digital Pictures president Yair Landau could be your ticket to the recognition you deserve.

Starting Monday, Landau--backed by several corporate partners--is opening up a competition which will give Facebook users the opportunity to animate one or more sequences in a short film that he is making.

Called Mass Animation, the competition tasks users with taking storyboarded shots from Landau's planned short film, Live Music and creating animations of them. The idea … Read more

If you think you know what a movie is, get ready to have your assumptions dashed to pieces.

That's because of Breathe, a multimedia, multipart film project that is in the works from the London-based social entertainment company, Expanding Universe.

Equal parts cinema, alternate-reality game (ARG), dance club, and social network, Breathe is Expanding Universe's attempt at both redefining existing entertainment genres and inventing entirely new ones.

At its most basic level, the project is a multistage, interactive murder mystery with a time line, said Yomi Ayeni, Expanding Universe's creative director.

But Breathe, which the company hopes … Read more

Updated at 4:13 p.m. PDT: This story now includes more information from the press event announcing 'Star Wars: The Old Republic' at LucasArts Tuesday.

SAN FRANCISCO--At a press event at LucasArts' headquarters in the Presidio here Tuesday afternoon, LucasArts and BioWare unveiled Star Wars: The Old Republic, a new massively multiplayer online game.

The game is set about 350 years after the popular Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic games and about 3,500 years before the Star Wars movies.

The companies did not divulge a release date and it appears that they will not show any … Read more