Rob Reiner was at the Cannes Film Festival to drum up excitement for the just-announced sequel to "This is Spinal Tap." Michael McKean, Harry Shearer and Christopher Guest will reprise their roles as band members David St. Hubbins, Derek Smalls and Nigel Tufnel.
For a while, it was fashionable to unfavorably compare DreamWorks Animation to Pixar. While Pixar made ambitious movies about complex topics set in unique worlds, DreamWorks just made animals do human things and make the arched-eyebrow “DreamWorks Face,” or so the criticism went. But, while it is true that several characters… do indeed make that face, dumping on DreamWorks says more about the person doing the diss than DreamWorks Animation, which has and frankly always has made lots of great movies.
"Monsters vs. Aliens" is possibly the most commercial title of the year. How can you resist such a premise, especially if it's in 3-D animation? Very readily, in my case. I will say this first and get it out of the way: 3-D is a distraction and an annoyance. Younger moviegoers may think they like it because they've been told to, and picture quality is usually far from their minds. But for anyone who would just like to be left alone to see the darned thing, like me, it's a constant nudge in the ribs saying never mind the story, just see how neat I look.
On this week's 51%, we continue our conversations with the Carey Institute's Logan Nonfiction fellows. Documentarian Tsanavi Spoonhunter previews her upcoming film, Holder of the Sky. And reporters Jillian Farmer and Cheryl Upshaw discuss their in-progress podcast, 50-Foot Woman, on the rare pituitary disease acromegaly.