The 9 Biggest Tearjerkers in Pixar Films

Cars 2 is a mess, going to say that right now. And the main reason why Cars 2 doesn’t work as a decent movie is because of its utter lack of heart that we are used to seeing from Pixar. There is no standout moment in the movie, no moment that tugs at the heartstrings. Well, prepare those tissues because I am about to deliver my saddest list yet: the ten saddest and more tear-jerking moments in the history of Pixar animation. These 9 moments propelled their movies into new quality heights, sometimes achieving emotional value that you don’t find in live-action dramas. Prepare for sadness, here we go:











Spoiler Alert. Plenty of spoilers ahead.











#9: Monster's Inc Ending






#8: Wall-E Ending






#7: Finding Nemo's Opening Sequence






#6: Furnace Scene in Toy Story 3






#5: Don't Want to Forget from Finding Nemo






#4: Married Life scene from Up






#3: When Somebody Loved Me from Toy Story 2






#2: Toy Story 3's Ending











#1: Turning the Page Scene from Up




Here's to hoping we get more of these classic Pixar scenes as opposed to this drivel.

Five Oscar Categories that should be included in the Academy Awards

It is never too early to talk about the Academy Awards. Okay, I lie it is too early when there hasn’t been any Oscar-worthy flicks that have come out in recent times. For crying out loud even Harry Potter 7.2 has a shot at Best Picture, and while it was a good movie its not even the best of the Harry Potters. Our year of movies in terms of Oscar-caliber has been extremely weak. But enough about that, I think its time to add a little spice to the Academy Awards. I think its time for some brand new categories that could make the public more interested, and can give recognition to some of the more underrated talent in Hollywood.

Now, I know you will complain that the Oscars are already run long enough with the categories that already exist, but I have the solution to that. Two things: first the Oscars should start much earlier than 9:00. They should run at around 7:00 eastern time, giving more leverage room in case anything runs too long. Second, I will quote myself from an article from a while back:

“…there should be some awards that shouldn’t even mention the nominations, but mention the winners and then give them about 2 minutes of fame by discussing the procedure and why it wins. The awards that should be handed out without mentioning the nominees include: Documentary, Short Film, Short Animated Film, Makeup, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Costume Design). Give these winners 1-2 minutes and you’ll save at least 10-15 minutes of unnecessary Oscar time. Not diminishing these awards, but I actually think the audience would pay more attention if all the focus is on the winner.”

Will the Oscar committee and the public buy into this? Not sure, but it would definitely make things faster. And now, my picks for what new Oscars should come out in the coming years….and which people should get honorary Oscars for their work in that realm. And these are not in any order:





1) Best Stunts
Honorary Oscar: Buster Keaton (Arguably the first true stuntman)
Jackie Chan (I do not need to explain myself)
Zoe Bell (Adding flower power to the world of stunts)
For years the stuntmen of Hollywood have been fighting for their own Oscar. After all, stunts are truly essential to all the big (and small) action/suspense/drama/spy flicks that you see coming out every single year. And with CGI replacing nearly everything in terms of stuntwork, we need to save the industry by introducing an Oscar before everything becomes CGI’d and none of it containing the realistic touch. Adding the Stunts Oscar would also give big blockbuster flicks (that aim for entertainment above Oscar recognition) a chance to earn some gold.



2) Best Choreography
Honorary Oscar: Jackie Chan (Yes, he deserves this one too)
Bob Fosse
Yuen Woo-ping
Choreography is extremely essential to dance/action movies, and its an utter shame that this is not an Oscar yet. What would the Matrix be without the incredible choreography work of Woo-Ping? What would Jackie Chan films look like without the extremely unnerving and relentless efforts of Jackie Chan? And how would Chicago and Cabaret run without Bob Fosse’s touch? It is time that the people coming up with the dance moves and fight scenes deserve their chance to shine.




3) Best Soundtrack
Honorary Oscar: Quentin Tarantino
Martin Scorsese
This one is a fun one, because this Oscar doesn’t require that the music in the movie be original. Sometimes, a good soundtrack full of older music (some of it used before) can actually propel a movie to a new level. The greatest example is in 1994, when Pulp Fiction’s surf rock and edgy 60s tunes and Forrest Gump’s amazing collection of classic 60s-70s hits helped push these two movies to be the best to come out that year. A third example would be Goodfellas, which featured barely any instrumental work or any music made FOR the movie, yet had dozens of songs that when you listen to now—will bring you back to a scene in that film. Goodfellas immortalized “Layla” by using the piano sequence to introduce the massacre that eventually arrived two-thirds into the movie.



4) Best Opening Titles
Honorary Oscar: Saul Bass
Sometimes the opening titles alone gets you excited (or scared) for the movie that’s about to be shown. This aspect of the movies has become very dated, as there is very little effort in the opening sequences, unlike what happened back in the 50s and 60s when legendary Hollywood designer Saul Bass ruled the world. He was responsible for the creepy opening of Psycho, the majestic opening of Vertigo, and the thrilling opening to North by Northwest—all now-classic Hitchcock movies. But they wouldn’t be the same without Saul Bass’ extra touch in the intro. Best opening title in recent years? Fight Club of course. David Fincher knows its essential to get a movie off in the right foot--with Fight Club and Se7en being the best examples.




5) Best Quote
Honorary Oscar: Samuel L. Jackson
Will Ferrell
Sometimes in life all you need is a very good quote. Comedies have the toughest time earning the Oscars, as comedies tend to not be taken as seriously (pun not intended) as dramas in the Oscar field. But with the Best Quote, comedies can now strive for some gold by delivering a line that can become a classic staple in American pop culture as well as garnish the only Oscar they can ever get. The big question is who should get the Oscar— the person that wrote the line? Or the actor/actress that delivered it?

Bottom Line: The Oscars over the years has done a good job in recognizing talent in the film industry, but with these awards we can expand the talent recognition as well as award certain types of films that otherwise would never have a shot at earning anything at all in February of each year. Someone like Jackie Chan is a household name and one of the greatest men to ever make movies, but until categories like Best Stunts develop, he will not get that well-deserved gold unless he gets an Honorary one. And trust me, I've fought over that one too.

Any awards you guys would like to see added to the Academy Awards?

The Inexcusable Shunning of Winnie the Pooh

Not sure if anybody noticed, but Winnie the Pooh came out in theaters. It was the first major Pooh film coming from the head Disney animation studio since 1977, when The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh hit theaters and was quickly overshadowed by the other Disney animated film The Rescuers, and of course Star Wars. Not sure if anyone noticed, but this is Disney’s 51st animated film in the official canon. Not sure if you noticed, but it has opened to very positive reviews. Not sure if you noticed, but Disney is pushing this film quickly out of the way for unknown reasons…despite being the second most popular Disney character (after Mickey Mouse of course).

The conspiracy theorist in me is beginning to ponder: is John Lasseter, lead of Disney animation nowadays, purposely sabotaging the movie? Is he setting up the movie to fail because it’s not Pixar? Is he not putting forth any sort of effort because of its lack of computer animation or lack of technological advancements? Is he trying to make this film flop for a secret, hidden reason? On paper, this sounds preposterous, but let us analyze the facts:

Winnie the Pooh had a release date of July 17th, which the entire planet knew was the release date of Harry Potter. Why on earth did you release this on the same day as the final Harry Potter movie? Any marketing major would have told you that it was box office suicide. Usually on major-major blockbusters the other studios tend to back away from the release date, or release it sooner, or throw a grade-B counter-marketing flick. None of this happened to Winnie the Pooh, as Harry Potter’s fanbase is of all ages and Winnie’s release date was never fixed to avoid the assault.

Why didn’t they release it just a week before? They would have had to take on….The Zookeeper. Much easier competition. They could have been the counter-measure to Horrible Bosses and really could have racked up some more millions before Harry Potter conquers the planet. And then the total lack of hype for this movie remains a baffling mystery. ABC Family, a Disney-owned network, was constantly airing marathons of the Harry Potter movies in anticipation for the next chapter. But it’s not Disney, why aren’t we airing previous Winnie the Pooh films instead? Why is Disney Channel not mentioning a single blurb about Winnie the Pooh when they went apeshift over Cars 2 for months?

Now, one of two things is happening: Disney’s marketing continues to fail miserably (if the film is not blockbuster-potential, expect the Disney movie to struggle making money nowadays) or since it’s not Pixar, Lasseter is letting the movie die out in the box office without a complaint. This is the same studio that complained about the lack of marketing towards Ratatouille and Wall-E several years ago. And yet a movie based off a character that has earned the company billions upon billions of dollars over the years is making barely past $15 million as of right now...and nothing is being said. By the end of the run it will be lucky if it can cross $40. Now I know this new Winnie the Pooh wasn't going to break records, but its the lack of effort that's bothering me more than the lack of success. Cars 2 on the other hand thanks to its marketing-blitz campaign made over $40 mill in three days…and that’s with its dismal reviews. Want more proof that they might be setting up this movie for fail? Check out the poster: it says Spring. So why move it from spring to fight Harry Potter? Hmmm..

Bottom Line: Disney is being ridiculous by not advertising this movie and Pixar and pals are being more ridiculous by not ruffling any feathers over the whole ordeal. Before, I used to say that Pixar was as close to Walt Disney’s old-school films as we will ever get. But with the extremely disappointing Cars 2, which went against everything Disney animation usually stands for, and with Winnie the Pooh being brushed off as a C-List animated movie despite being part of the main canon and being a sequel to one of Walt Disney’s final works of art is making me reconsider a little. Where is the love for Pooh, the one character that best represents the innocence, charm, and quality of old-school Disney? Look at all the positive reviews, we have a potentially beautiful film here that’s a total contrast from the 3-D, loud, computer-crazy, and sometimes obnoxious animated works of nowadays. Where is the love?

Shame on you Pixar.

Shame on you Disney.

You are backing away from a link to the past, a past that if it had not existed, you would not be the success story that you are today.

Shame.