You know what would be nice?  A seasonally-themed animated adventure that isn't predicated upon crassly commercial, winking pop-cultural references and fart jokes.  The first official trailer for Rise of the Guardians has landed online, and it seems as though the film will fit that bill. 

It's a big day for next summer's release schedule, with three big Warner Bros. movies getting dates in the dog days of summer in 2013.  First up, there's a new date for an original, then there are two release dates for continuations of existing properties.  The former is Pacific Rim, and the latter are 300: Battle of Artemesia and The Hangover Part III, which the Brothers Warner have officially announced will close out the trilogy on May 24, 2013.

It was a very animated morning at the Directors Guild of America in Hollywood on Wednesday as filmmakers, actors, executives and press gathered for DreamWorks Animation’s 2012 Film Preview. The studio was prepared to show sneak peeks of two of their most anticipated upcoming 3D computer animated films including Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted, and Rise of the Guardians. The studio is coming off of an incredible year in 2011 with both of their animated projects, Kung Fu Panda 2 and Puss in Boots, being nominated for Best Animated Film at this years Academy Awards. The studio is hoping to repeat that success in 2012 with its new slate of animated projects.

Puss in Boots is up for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film next week but this Friday, February 24th, it arrives on Blu-Ray and DVD. Puss in Boots director Chris Miller is a man of many talents. He worked his way up the ladder at DreamWorks, cutting his teeth as a story artist on Shrek (2001) while also writing additional dialogue and providing the voices for such characters as the Magic Mirror and Gepetto. For Shrek 2 (2004) Chris served as head of story production, which allowed him to work amongst different departments interfacing with the directors, writers, and the story department. He co-directed Shrek the Third before helming the franchise’s spin-off, Puss in Boots.

Puss in Boots is a prequel to the Shrek series that focuses on the character Puss in Boots (voiced by Antonio Banderas) and his adventures prior to his appearance in Shrek 2. Accompanied by his sidekicks, Humpty Dumpty (voiced by Zach Galifianakis) and Kitty Softpaws (voiced by Salma Hayek), Puss attempts to steal magic beans from the murderous outlaws Jack (voiced by Billy Bob Thorton) and Jill (voiced by Amy Sedaris).

The movie will be accompanied on the BluRay/DVD release by a 13-minute short film, entitled Puss in Boots: The Three Diablos. The short is directed by Raman Hui, Chris Miller’s co-director from Shrek the Third and will pick up where the film left off. The Three Diablos focuses on Puss’s quest to recover a Princess’s stolen ruby from the notorious French thief, The Whisperer. In order to help the Princess, he teams up with three little kittens, Adorable, Fuzzy, and Deadly, who prove they might be more of a hindrance than an asset.

I recently had a chance to speak with Chris Miller about Puss in Boots. The director discusses his new film, getting a creative boost from executive producer Guillermo del Toro, collaborating with his crew, the importance of his past jobs at DreamWorks, working with his wife, his philosophy on narrative-driven comedy, and a Puss in Boots sequel.

Guillermo del Toro is a believer in telling stories across multiple media, but even just within film, he stays exceptionally busy.  He tends to be developing any number of projects as producer and/or director at any given time.  Right now he's busy with a mega-monster movie for next summer, but there's one would-be movie in particular that suddenly looks like it could be his Pacific Rim follow-up.  The Beauty and the Beast retelling Beast now has Emma Watson nearly set to star and Andrew Davies on board to write the screenplay.

Everyone is stocking up on champagneand ticker tape for 2012.  Earth has completed yet another orbit of the sun, and as wecontinue to cruise through an oblivious and indifferent solar system at about 67,000 miles perhour, it's time to look back on the year that was.  Like every other year, the conclusion of2011 means a veritable avalanche of year-end lists, from chronicles of favorites to bests toworsts to pretty much everything in between.  Here at IAR, we've looked back with Jami Philbrick's picks for the Top Ten Movies of the Year, and we've looked forward with Brett Gursky's Oscar Predictions for the 84th Annual AcademyAwards.

Now, like anydevastatingly handsome individual, IAR is going to look in the mirror and say, "Damn, I looked good this year."  Okay, not quite.  But what we are going to do is showcase some of the content produced this year that showed what the organization is all about and what it does best.  This end-of-the-year compilation is broken down into ten categories: News, Press Conference Coverage, Screenings, Documentary Coverage, On Camera Interviews, Convention Coverage, Oscar Contender Interviews, Comic Book Movie Coverage, Legends, and finally, Scoops and Exclusives.  You'll find all those categories right here, complete with links to all manner of articles.

When Shrek hit theaters in 2001, the winkingly self-aware comedic fantasy tale announced DreamWorks Animation as a unique rival to Disney, which dominated the animation game for decades.  Audiences loved the adventures of Shrek, Donkey, and Princess Fiona, voiced respectively by Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, and Cameron Diaz, and the film was a huge hit.  DreamWorks pretty much immediately got to work on a sequel that would expand their fairy tale world and keep the clever references coming for the grown-ups in the audience.  When Shrek 2 debuted in 2004, it quickly became the most successful animated film of all time, a record it maintained until 2010, when Toy Story 3 finally unseated it.

While Shrek 2 introduced a whole mess of new characters, the most popular of them – and almost certainly the most popular element of the film itself – was Puss in Boots, a swashbuckling feline voiced by Antonio Banderas.  With his sword-swirling heroism and overzealous ladies' man charm, Puss in Boots is sort of a combination of Errol Flynn and Pepe Le Pew, with plenty of Latin suavity and kittenish adorability thrown in as well.

After four films, the Shrek franchise has retired, but Puss in Boots lives on his third theatrical adventure, Puss in Boots, a spin-off feature arriving in theaters this Friday.  Shrek the Third co-director Chris Miller directs the prequel, which follows Puss on a quest to find the mythical goose capable of laying golden eggs, a quest that leads him to his appearance in Shrek 2.  Originally conceived as a direct-to-DVD release, the project is now a 3D, family-friendly blockbuster poised to kickstart the new movie season.  IAR's Managing Editor Jami Philbrick was on hand at the Puss in Boots press conference in Los Angeles, where voice actors Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Bob Thornton, and Amy Sedaris discussed their roles, fairy tales, and vocal acting.

Opening in theaters on October 28th is the new DreamWorks animated film Puss in Boots, which is based on the furry breakout character from the Shrek franchise. The movie was directed by Chris Miller (Shrek the Third) and executive produced by Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth). Actor Antonio Banderas (The Skin I Live In) reprises his role as the voice of the title character, and is joined by a talented cast of performers including Salma Hayek (Grown Ups), Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover Part II), Billy Bob Thorton (Faster), and Amy Sedaris (Tanner Hall). 

IAR's managing editor Jami Philbrick recently had a chance to speak with director Chris Miller about Puss in Boots. The director spoke candidly about the new film, the beloved character, Antonio Banderas' performance, casting Selma Hayek, and Guillermo del Toro's influence on the film. 

Last week, DreamWorks Animation released a bunch of stills from Puss in Boots showing off the titular swashbuckling, life-loving cat, as well as supporting characters like Kitty Softpaws and Humpty Dumpty.  The thing is, when you're talking about a hero with as much charisma, as much raw animal magnetism and swaggering sexuality as the feline voiced by Antonio Banderas, you don't need any other characters.  The final one sheet poster for Puss in Boots supports this assertion, as it sells the film exclusively on the merits of Puss In Boots.  After all, the character who started out as a supporting player in Shrek 2 is spinning off his own hopeful franchise, so why not give the people what they want, nay, demand?  It worked for the Old Spice parody spot, it can work as a poster.

It’s my birthday; I’m sitting in the bedroom I grew up in at my parent’s house in Massachusetts … and I’m waiting for Ron Perlman to call me. Does life get any better than this?

Last week while I was home visiting my family, I had the pleasure of spending the evening of my 36^th birthday speaking with one of my all-time favorite actors. I first became aware of Ron Perlman’s immense talent as a performer from his work on the popular ‘80s fantasy series Beauty and the Beast, but it’s his impressive and vast resume of film accomplishments that has made me a fan. I loved his unique portrayal of characters in movies like The City of Lost Children, Alien Resurrection, and Star Trek Nemesis, but it is his collaborations with lifelong friend Guillermo del Toro (Cronos, Blade II, Hellboy, and Hellboy II: The Golden Army) that I think marks some of his finest work.

But recently it seems like Perlman’s career could not be hotter. For the past three seasons he’s starred as Clay Morrow on FX’s hit motorcycle gang series Sons of Anarchy, which just began airing its forth season. He is also currently getting rave reviews for his role as a crime boss in director Nicholas Winding Refn’s critically acclaimed movie Drive, starring Ryan Gosling. Not to mention that he was seen this past summer playing the father of Conan the Barbarian in Lionsgate’s big screen adaptation of Robert E. Howard’s beloved character. Now the actor once again plays a crime boss in the new film Bunraku, which opens in theaters on September 30^th.