The Incredibles

CHICAGO – Director Mark Andrews is a part of the one of the most important creative brain trusts of the last twenty years — the men and women at Pixar. He was one of the story supervisors for Brad Bird’s “The Incredibles” and took over the directorial reins from Brenda Chapman on this week’s “Brave.”

CHICAGO – Pixar continued their line of excellent Blu-ray releases a couple of weeks ago by adding “The Incredibles” to their line. As new Pixar flicks have come out or hit Blu-ray, the company has usually reached into the vault to offer one of their past hits as a companion. With only one Pixar film left to be released in HD (“Finding Nemo”), your collection is nearly complete.

CHICAGO – Being a super-villain is apparently going out of style as “Megamind” follows relatively quickly on the heels of “Despicable Me” and both tell the story of a bad guy realizing that it’s more fun to be good. The title character of “Megamind” (Will Ferrell) is a nefarious super-powered fellow who has just barely lost every fight he’s had with the beloved Metroman (Brad Pitt). It seems appropriate that the film about them is also a marginal affair in which the good just barely outweighs the bad.

CHICAGO – One of the most beloved films of the year and a likely contender for the Oscar for Best Picture now that the category has expanded to ten nominees, Pixar’s “Up” was recently released on Blu-Ray in yet another lovingly produced set from a company that has been a pioneer in the next-gen format. “Up” doesn’t exceed expectations but also doesn’t falter from the critically-acclaimed pattern.

CHICAGO – Pixar continues their plan for world dominance with their 2009 film “Up” being announced today as the opening film for the 62nd Cannes Film Festival in May. Produced under John Lasseter’s supervision, the film that follows “WALL-E,” “Cars,” “The Incredibles,” “Finding Nemo,” “Toy Story,” and more under the prestigious Pixar banner will be the Opening Ceremony film in Disney Digital 3-D on Wednesday, May 13th, 2009.