The Last Unknown Boozers - Motion Comic Series on Challenges of Substance Abuse Recovery

No matter where you grew up or what your upbringing was like, chances are that you have some personal experience with substance abuse. It could have been someone you barely knew, but it could have also been a family member. In fact, it could have been - or still is - even you. In our modern world, substances like alcohol and narcotics are seemingly more present and widespread than ever, causing this issue to become more prevalent.  

At the same time, the fallout of their vicious addiction all too often reaches beyond the affected individuals. Instead, it impacts families, neighborhoods, and entire communities. That is why The Last Unknown Boozers: We don't drink, no matter what - not even a zombie apocalypse is such an important piece of contemporary art. This motion comic series deals with the problems one faces on the hard road of substance abuse recovery, but does it in a really unusual, novel, and interesting way. Check out the full first episode right here:

The series, written by Mike Zee, was produced with the help of Sober Mic and focuses squarely on the idea of the 12-step program to recovery. However, the series also starts with a zombie apocalypse. Here, a newcomer to the program meets two young men who have been sober for a while. In these extremely unusual circumstances, the ideas of sobriety, danger, addiction, and the everlasting desire to change for the better clash in front of the viewers.

The series is well-written and produced as a form of a moving comic book. Here, visually, the characters and their out-of-this-world zombie setting provide a great backdrop to the emotional and spiritual demons of addiction and self-destruction. Throughout the length of the series, which is available in its entirety on YouTube, this dynamic plays out as the 12 steps take place as well. 

If you're interested in sobriety and how one reaches it, check out the entire series on this YouTube playlist right now. It very well might be one of the most important things you discover on your road to becoming someone else.

Predator: Killer of Killers

Intensity and energy are the main hallmarks of Predator: Killer of Killers. These elements shine through from the first moment and keep up relentlessly throughout the film. That's not an easy feat in any genre, let alone feature-length animated movies. It is also important to note that the director, Dan Trachtenberg, who previously made, among other things, 10 Cloverfield Lane, has diverse experience working on atypical projects. That helped him to keep both going even though the majority of the film's storyline is broken into three separate vignettes. 

Each of these covers a different warrior on Earth, each in its period. That includes a Viking clash, a violent political turmoil in feudal Japan, and finally the Pacific theatre of WW2. In each, a predator seeks to find the strongest prey, take it down, and become the killer of killers. At the same time, the clueless humans hang desperately to nothing more than the raw desire to survive. 

The vignettes come together in the crescendo of the film, erupting in even more action and bloodshed. But, these work together perfectly with rough but still defined characters, each from a different era and culture. Through a well-chosen style of animation, the desperate humans, just like the unwavering predators, managed to offer one of the best films in this franchise. Simply put, Predator: Killer of Killers is truly a killer movie (I had to go there).

VasDahiv Uncharted - YouTube Mystery-Horror Animated Series

It's always fantastic to see innovative art that blends a range of influences. VasDahiv Uncharted is an episodic YouTube animated series that was made in the same manner, with origins that are both diverse and global. That covers the subject matter of the series, but also how its team approached its storytelling. Here's how the series describes itself:

The first issue of VasDahiv: Uncharted introduces Vandad, a young adventurer, and his companions as they explore the mystical desert landscape of VasDahiv. While on a quest to solve an ancient mystery involving a strange box and a broken seal left by Vandad’s father, they encounter strange characters, including a mysterious old man who may not be what he seems. With elements of supernatural danger, tension, and Persian mythology, the series blends adventure, horror, and suspense as Vandad and his friends face unforeseen challenges that test their resolve and uncover secrets that have remained hidden for centuries.

In the first episode, the skill of the team behind VasDahiv Uncharted is immediately clear. The style of the animation is a great blend of cartoon, cell shading, and realistic approaches. From the perspective of the narrative, characters, and the entire storyline, the episode quickly sets up its premise and the central mystery, all the while using familiar elements like a road trip, (seemingly) random encounters, and abandoned, spooky gas stations. All of these immediately catch the attention of the viewer and draw them into the emerging story of VasDahiv.

On the production side, the series is really well-made, featuring great voiceover acting and soundtrack. Also, the level of polish that the animation comes with, especially that of the characters’ faces and facial expressions, is impressive, showing that the team painstakingly made sure everything looks, sounds, and feels excellent. All of this shows that the director Younes Hommasi and the team around him know what they're doing not just now, but for future episodes as well.

If you're into animated series and ancient mysteries that combine numerous elements, check out the official website of VasDahiv Uncharted. But first, watch the entire first episode of the series right here, and be sure to subscribe to its official YouTube channel for future episodes!

Tales of Atonement Episode 2 Development News!

It’s been a couple of months since the first episode of Tales of Atonement, a new and very dynamic web-animated series that came out. Initially, the animated version of the book series from A.A. Moreland generated plenty of attention, especially from fans of indie animation and fantasy. Over the coming weeks, the attention attracted a substantial following on its YouTube channel, which now has well over 1,000 subscribers. But, more importantly, there is some big news coming from the team when it comes to new episodes.

Presently, the whole Tales of Atonement team is working hard on the new episode, which is Episode 2. The story so far set in medieval Scotland built its foundation of intrigue and mystery, with a local family welcoming refugees from England who is escaping apparent religious persecution. The same involves accusations of one of the family members being accused of witchcraft. This, along with many interesting characters, great hybrid animation, and excellent sound, music, and voiceover work, makes Episode 1 a joy to watch. If you didn’t see it before, watch the entire episode right here:

Now, the next installment of the series should come out somewhere in May 2023, so it's basically around the corner. Yet, one of the most important mechanisms that would speed up the entire production would be if the Tales of Atonement Patreon page got some supporters. 

 

This way, the team would be able to create episodes in a much faster manner and get it to their growing audience with a smaller gap between the installments. So, if you can, support this amazing creative effort and check the team on TikTok and Facebook as well. But, most importantly, subscribe to the Tales of Atonement YouTube channel and be among the first to watch Episode 2 when it comes out!

Tales of Atonement || Monomyth || Episode 1: The Day We Met - First Episode of a Promising Animated YouTube Series

Several months ago, Tales of Atonement promised to bring an innovative and engaging mixture of genres and storytelling approaches. Using a series of novels from A.A. Moreland, the animated adaptation, wanted to tap into the huge domain of digital tools that can create brand-new worlds of fiction.

Now, the first episode of Tales of Atonement is finally here and it more than lives up to the expectations. The story follows a family living in medieval Scotland, where a family greets a refugee couple and their daughter running from prosecution back in England. The Scottish family is somewhat shocked to hear that a member of the same family was accused of witchcraft, but still welcomes them with open arms. Watch the whole Episode 1 right here:

Almost immediately, the episode draws the viewers in, offering a range of interesting characters, all with their personalities and layered motives. The historical and geographical setting of the story gives it plenty of appeal, while the mystery of the plot is set up with great pacing.

From a technical standpoint, Tales of Atonement is also exceedingly effective. At its core, the series uses motion graphics of a standard coming book format. However, it adds to them fantastic voiceovers, with authentic accents, as well as a range of other elements. These include actual full-motion videos, short vignettes of things like doors opening, and other similar things that really help the world of Tales of Atonement come to life. Even the sound design, with sound effects and accompanying music score.

There is a lot to be excited about when it comes to this unique animated series. The future episodes will only expand on the great foundations that Episode 1 established and many fans of fantasy and animation will surely find a lot of enjoyment by following Tales of Atonement! If you’re one of them, subscribe to the channel now and be there for Episode 2 and the whole series!

When Cancel Culture Strikes Santa - Animated Short Feature

 The concept of canceul culture and its presence in the modern world is a hotly-debated topic. That also makes it a prime material for comedy and this short animated film makes good use of it as its parody focus.

In When Cancel Culture Strikes Santa, the same beloved childrens' character gets into hot water over a supposed problematic video. In it, the catchphrase of "ho-ho-ho" gets interpreted as an insult. The fallout of that is a cancellation of Santa Claus and possibly his ultimate doom.

The animated video applies the visual approach made famous by South Park, making great use of simple character animation and excellent voice-over acting. The result is a hilarious animated short that raises some valid questions related to the same social phenomena. Watch the entre short film right here:

Tales of Atonement: the animated series - Upcoming Web Show coming to YouTube

The potential of modern online technologies for story-driven projects is both immense and hugely underutilized. This means that a lot of effort goes into more or less traditional narrative mediums, like TV shows and feature-length movies, while many other exciting possibilities are overlooked. Tales of Atonement: the animated series is a new venture that tries to do the opposite and uses modern technology, especially one video streaming platform, to offer something new. At the same time, the whole project is based on an existing series of novels, which gives it an additional level of appeal.

This animated web series is soon coming to YouTube and it is based on the novel by the name of Tales of Atonement: To Make a Hero by A.A. Moreland, a duo of authors working together, as well as its subsequent series. The new show is also going to be in the realm of fantasy and science fiction. The story begins in medieval Scotland, where a boy discovers a weapon of apparently magical nature. From here, the story of Tales of Atonement asks a simple but intriguing question: are heroes born, or are they made?

It is clear that the upcoming web series, like the novels on which it is based, is a labor of love, commitment, and dedication. Besides, the fact that the author aims to use modern tech to deliver this tale of a hero's journey through a very modern medium is also more than commendable. Tales of Atonement: the animated series is coming to YouTube this winter, so subscribe to its official channel and be among the first to watch this amazing adventure come to animated life!

Two Paragraph Review: Blame! (2017, Netflix)

Copyright: Netflix

Disclosure: I’m a huge fan of the Blame! manga which is easily the best work of art in this genre I ever read and one of the best comics/graphic novels in general. This is why I’m delighted to say that Blame! Netflix adaptation is both true to the spirit of the Tsutomu Nihei’s original and successful in plotting its own artistic course. In the film, Killy as a wanderer comes across a village in the megastructure when local electrofishers might sit on the best clue he came across since he started looking for the net terminal gene, hoping he will stop the rampant Builders and Safeguard, while allowing people back into the system.

If you didn’t read the manga (and in many cases, including my own, even if you did) this will probably make very little sense to you, but the movie manages to come to grips with its complex and odd narrative structure in a very elegant fashion, just like it approaches its animation. The visual style of the manga is distinctive and presented in full glory here, finely combined with CGI animations of the characters and fight scenes. While the film is more talkative than the manga, all of the foreboding feel of it is in there, making this a worthy interpretation of the brilliant work of art made by Nihei almost two decades ago. So, to compress my review, I can only tell you: go see Blame! on Netflix, it’s good.

Crowdfunding Push: The Toymaker

There is a strange and inherent magic in the notion of toys, no matter where they come from, to whom they belong or what price tag they might once carried. A new mixture of a documentary and an animated feature desires to explore the idea of toys and how they made an impact on a man who produces them. 

This film is called the The Toymaker and it's currently in the final stretch of its crowdfunding. Here's how the movie presents itself on its official IndieGoGo page: 

Crowdfunding Push: Custodian

The domain of crowdfunding provides incredible opportunities for artists, but also, sometimes, nightmare scenarios. Scott Storm, a US-based writer, director, and animator recently experienced something similar when a funded project of his got a sum of $10,000 pulled out by on of the investors. Fortunately for him, the Seed&Spark service decided to cover 50% of that sum and now Scott is looking to attain the other half through an additional crowdfunding process. But, what is his film all about? Here’s what the page on Seed&Spark states:

Film Review: Zootopia (2016)

Copyright: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Here’s the key selling point to the entire Zootopia shtick – let’s imagine all animals are anthropomorphic and that they live in a single location. Sure, why not, but many kids’ animated movies already did those assemble animal casts, for example, Madagascar.

But, Zootopia smartly spun the same concept and upgraded it with a simple idea of keeping the animals in their relatively accurate scales.  For example, mice use small doors; giraffes use doors many times larger, standing side by side.

This is the main thing working for the film and the generator of 70% of the jokes. The rest come from the notion of animal affiliation, which divides all members of Zootopia, a place where all animals live in harmony, to predators and everyone else. Here, the film and its director duo of Byron Howard and Rich Moore tried to play the tolerance&animosity card, but unlike the scales thing, it didn’t really stick well to the root plot.

Voices From The Mist - A short film by Vladislav Pantić

Vladislav Pantić is a visual artist and animator from Belgrade, Serbia. As a veteran of the gaming industry, Vladislav was included in the game development process for several years before he published his first short animated film called Voices From The Mist.

Featuring a combination of the classic frame by frame animation and CGI element, the short film tells about the relationship between humanity and the hidden world of the fairies.

With a brilliant voice over acting and plenty of atmosphere, the short piece really has that vintage fantasy feel that marked so many fantastic films from the 70's and the 80's. 

Film Review: The Lego Movie

Copyright: Warner Bros. Pictures

Lego bricks (and everything else in their cardboard boxes) are a brilliant toy. Apart from being very fun, it is also one of the truly unbound creative activities that kids can get into from a very early age. It’s only fitting that one of the finest toys in the world received one of the best children’s films probably since Wall-E.

The Lego Movie makes use of the fantastic opportunity to take advantage of the companies’ copyright rules, which make many characters from popular culture available and license free in the Lego universe. That is why this adventure includes characters like Superman, Han Solo, Green Lantern, Gandalf and Wonder Woman, while Batman fills one of the leading roles.

In its story, an ordinary Lego construction worker called Emmet, one day gets a call from destiny, and is placed in the situation where only he can stop an incredible danger from destroying his world, but also many other Lego worlds.

He teams up with a band of other Lego characters to put a stop to the plans conceived by an evil wizard Vitruvius, who plans to use his super weapon Kragle.

What comes after that is an awesome adventure, just like the movie’s theme song suggests. Because of that in this movie, yes, everything really is awesome. Emmet and his gang go through amazing scenery, including the Wild West and much stranger lands, while looking for a way to defeat Vitruvius. Here, the 3D tech presents in full glory all the Lego-based gimmicks used in the film. At the same time, all the A-list voice actors do an excellent job, complimenting the colorful characters perfectly.

Film Review: L'illusionniste

Copyright: Sony Pictures Classics

Sometimes a movie in which only a dozen understandable sentences are exchanged is enough to remind us about the existence of cinematic magic.

L' illusionniste (The Illusionist) is an animated film from 2010. It is based on a screenplay by Jacques Tati, a French actor and director, who was, several decades ago was, a very influential figure in the film world. Apparently, he wrote the story as a letter to his estranged daughter, with no clear idea of what kind of movie it will turn out to be (if any). But, the origin story of the movie is a little blurry, so this might be just a tall tale. Even if it is not true, I'm sure that work successfully addresses so many real feelings because of the obvious personal stamp that resulted from the difficult relationship between Tati and his child. This film, made nearly 30 years after Tati's death, is a great tribute to parenthood, no matter in what circumstances it reveals itself.