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Movies

Monsters University Easter Eggs

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Monsters University, Mike, Disney, Pixar

Pixar loves to throw little nods to past projects into their films and have going back to old short film references in the original Toy Story.  If you’ve seen Monsters University, did you catch these?

MONSTERS UNIVERSITY

A113
This number refers to the classroom where John Lasseter, Brad Bird, Pete Docter, and Andrew Stanton studied at CalArts.

MONSTERS UNIVERSITY

Pizza Planet Delivery Truck
 The delivery truck in the drive away is the same one that carried Buzz and Woody to the now iconic pizza restaurant.


MONSTERS UNIVERSITY

Luxo
The ball with a star on it made it’s first appearance in a groundbreaking short produced in the early days of the studio.

Monsters University, Sully, Mike, Pixar, Disney

Movies, Review

Movie Review: Monsters University (2013)

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Monsters University, Mike, Disney, PixarIt’s not Cars 2.  Relax.  Peace out (drops the mic and walks off the keyboard).


More?  So needy, you people.  Pixar delivers a solid double with it’s 14th animated effort.  For any other studio this is incredibly, but it’s lumped in the middle pack of really good movies, below the classics, above the abomination.  It’s a fun expansion of the Monster world, clever, cute and fun for kids of all ages.

The film tells how Mike and Sully met at Monsters University roughly 10 years before the events of Monsters Inc.  Rather than destroy any affection you had for the characters like Cars 2 did, MU enhances the world in which they inhabit and give insight and depth to characters (especially Randall Boggs).


The animation is just astounding.  When you think Pixar could not possibly make something more gorgeous, they turn around and up themselves.  The vibrancy and diversity of the literally hundreds of monsters populating the screen at some points is incredible.  When you look at Boo in Monsters Inc and compare her to the kids in this film, the strides in complexity are night and day.

No Pixar film is complete without a short film (usually worth the price of admission alone) and MU’s is called The Blue Umbrella.  It takes its place amongst the other wonderful shorts, but I would be remiss if I didn’t say that this is THE best computer animation I have ever seen anywhere.  It’s astounding.  I could not believe it wasn’t live action.


Pixar is beginning to erase my ire (and as a notorious grudge holder that’s saying something) over Cars 2 with two fun outings in Brave and Monsters University.  Next year is The Good Dinosaur and 2015 will have both Pete Docter‘s Inside Out and Finding Dory, so the future looks bright once more for the best name in family entertainment.
8.25/10
Monsters University, Sully, Mike, Pixar, Disney

TV

NBC Announces 2013 – 2014 Fall Show Premiere Dates

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nbc,

It seems like only yesterday that I was writing absurdly long articles speculating on pilots on what would and what would not be canceled (it was two months ago).  The CW announced their return dates, but because they make me (with the exception of Arrow) giggle, I just Tweeted that one out so if you’re not following the Twitter stream, you missed out.  NBC has some promising pilots and they could sure use them.  The once proud peacock has fallen to fourth place among the major networks.  Personally, I watch Parks & Recreation, Parenthood and I will return to Community since Dan Harmon is descending from the heavens to save us who languished in his absence.  The new shows?   Who knows?  There’s some promising premises.  Maybe we’ll get some new blood this year.

NBC has announced premiere dates for its fall programming, which will kick off on September 23rd.  Briefly:

  • The James Spader-led new crime drama series The Blacklist will premiere on Monday, September 23rd at 10 p.m., followed by the two-hour season premiere of The Voice.
  • The second season of Chicago Fire kicks off on Tuesday, September 24th at 10 p.m.
  • Revolution’s second season begins on Wednesday, September 25th in its new time slot of 8 p.m.
  • The sixth season of the brilliant comedy series Parks and Recreation will kick off with a special hour-long episode on Thursday, September 26th at 8 p.m. that takes place in London, followed by back-to-back episodes of the new comedy The Michael J. Fox Show at 9 p.m.
  • The swell tear-inducing drama Parenthood begins its fifth season on Thursday, September 26th in its new 10 p.m. time slot (aka the “death knell” time slot).
  • Just in time for Halloween, the third season of Grimm begins on Friday, October 25th at 9 p.m., followed by the premiere of the new limited series Dracula starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers at 10 p.m.
  • As previously reported, the Dan Harmon-led fifth season of Community will premiere mid-season along with season two of Hannibal.

You can click here to watch trailers for the network’s new series.

Here’s the full fall lineup for NBC:

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. — June 21, 2013 — NBC has announced premiere dates for its fall schedule, which include the launch of two highly-anticipated new shows: “The Blacklist” on Sept. 23 and the series debut of “The Michael J. Fox Show” with back-to-back episodes on Sept. 26.

“The Blacklist,” starring James Spader as an international criminal who works with a rookie FBI agent in order to bring down some of the world’s most wanted, begins Monday, Sept. 23 at 10 p.m., immediately following the fifth-season two-hour premiere of “The Voice” at 8 p.m. that will reunite the four original coaches: Christina Aguilera, CeeLo Green, Adam Levine, and Blake Shelton. (All times are ET.)

“Chicago Fire” will begin its second season at 10 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 24 following the Tuesday edition of “The Voice.”

On Wednesday, Sept. 25, the sophomore season of “Revolution” will begin the night in its new time period at 8 o’clock, followed by the season premiere of the 15th season of “Law & Order: SVU” at 9 p.m. in which Det. Benson (Mariska Hargitay) will be fighting for her life against a madman.

Highly-acclaimed comedy “Parks and Recreation” will launch its sixth season with an hour-long episode at 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 26 that takes the show to London. That will be followed by back-to-back episodes for the debut of “The Michael J. Fox Show,” starring the iconic actor as a father and husband returning to work as a news reporter in New York after a brief leave of absence to get his Parkinson’s under control.

“Parenthood,” which is beginning its fifth season this year, moves into the 10 p.m. time period on Sept 26 (immediately following “The Michael J. Fox Show”) with special guest star Ray Romano.

“Dateline NBC” will premiere with a two-hour episode Friday, Sept. 27 at 9 p.m.

The new Blair Underwood-starring action drama “Ironside” will begin its run at 10 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 2.

New first-year comedies “Welcome to the Family” (8:30 p.m.) — about the clash between two families forced to deal with the surprise pregnancy and marriage of their teenage kids — and “Sean Saves the World” (9 p.m.) — bringing Sean Hayes back to NBC as a single dad balancing his teenage daughter, opinionated mother and overbearing boss — both launch Thursday, Oct. 3

The debut for the third season of “Grimm” will begin at 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 25. That will be immediately followed by the series launch of “Dracula,” starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers as the iconic character returning to Victorian England to seek revenge on those who doomed him to immortal hell. Appropriately, both shows will launch within a week of Halloween.

The night will be led off at 8 p.m. with “Dateline NBC,” as the news magazine will shift to its regular time slot.

And finally, “The Biggest Loser” will start its newest cycle with an hour-long telecast at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 8.