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Animation Arena Reviews

Featured Review
Grand Theft Auto IV

(XB360/PS3)

Grand Theft Auto IV has finally hit store shelves and it's landed with a boom. Shattering sales records in the UK, selling nine million (that's 9,000,000) copies during the American midnight release alone, and angering overprotective mothers and pandering senators across the nation – the 2008 Game of the Year has arrived. GTA IV, for those who haven't seen the sun in over a decade, is the latest game in a series of open-world crime dramas created by what is inarguably the most controversial game developer in the history of the medium: Rockstar. Players are thrust into the role of an Eastern European immigrant named Nico Bellic who has just arrived on American soil. He is lured to the land of opportunity by emails from his cousin Roman Bellic who claims he is “living the American dream” – sports cars, mansions, numerous supermodel girlfriends and more money than he can spend...

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Video Game Reviews
Sample Article Tomb Raider: Legend Reviews

Now, we have Tomb Raider: Legends and man is it nice. Having passed reigns to Crystal Dynamics, the creators of such games as Legacy of Kain and Soul Reaver, the gameplay was scrapped to create an entirely new property that, mostly, washes off any malingering stink. In place of controls that are based on a grid system (creating improper jumping controls among other issues), the new movement feels fluid and is...

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Sample Article Becoming an animator

(by Shanna Smith)

What does it take to be a Disney animator? What spectrums of talent and elements of training are needed to produce these wonder-working "actors with pencils" called animators? We recently put these questions to Frank Gladstone, Manager of Animation Training for Disney, who works out of the Disney-MGM Studios at Walt Disney World.

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DVD Reviews
Bobby Boom Beck Hellboy: Sword of Storms

he story has HB, Liz and Abe go to Japan where a local historian has gone missing and a priceless exhibit damaged. While at the scene, HB wanders off, following a strange Fox and ends up trapped somewhere in time. Liz and Abe have no idea where he is but have their own problems to deal with as the weather takes a turn for the worse...

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Bobby Boom Beck Animaniacs, Vol. 1

Yeah, it's a not really a full first season, but the first 25 half-hour shows is still a big number for a 5-disc set! I just can't wait to buy this for my siblings, because I loved the show as a kid, and nowadays, I still appreciate the zany Looney Tunes-esque slapstick antics, solid art style, and great voice-acting...

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Movie Reviews
Bobby Boom Beck Iron Man Review

by Matt Makepeace

If you had told me five years ago that Downey Jr. would one day play a very convincing and likeable superhero, I would have laughed in your face. However, the man does just that in Iron Man, playing Tony Stark with a real human glow that makes his dramatic character transition from a womanizing and boozing power player to a self-sacrificing idealist believable and understandable...

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Bobby Boom Beck Monster House Reviews

I just saw this film today (after missing out on a sold out sneak preview last weekend) and the increased level of expectation was met with one of the most rewarding moviegoing experiences I've had in the last five years. Monster House gives us one doozy of a spooky antagonist, a decrepit domicile of living malice that gobbles errant toys and passerby with equal ingenuity and viciousness...

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Bobby Boom Beck Pixar Cars Reviews

As far as CGI animation is concerned, the folks at Pixar remain king. While not quite as enchanting as their previous film "The Incredibles", "Cars" still delivers on all cylinders. It's a visual stunning and extremely funny adventure through the heart of Route 66...

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Coming soon
Bobby Boom Beck Choosing an 2D Animation School

If you interested in Animation, then don't go to a school that _doesn't_ offer a program in Animation, electives don't count. A lot of schools offer electives in using animation software, and that's not the same thing as being educated in Animation...

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