Armchair Commentary

"Mr. CSI" Shares Some Inside Stories ... and His True Feelings About Caruso's Shades

If he had it to do over again, would the creator of CSI: Miami let David Caruso wear the sunglasses that have become such a defining element of the show? Anthony Zuiker, aka “Mr. CSI,” shares some behind-the-scenes stories about the immensely popular TV franchise he created in our exclusive interview.

Hear more of our interview with Zuiker on the Amazon Studios blog, where he talks about the Vegas influence, how CSI has grown and changed, and making it in Hollywood. And on the Amazon books blog, Omnivoracious: Zuiker talks about his two new books: a memoir called Mr. CSI: How a Vegas Dreamer Made a Killing in Hollywood, One Body at a Time and the crime novel Dark Revelations.

Amazon Goes to Pixar

A few weeks ago, two lucky Amazonians got the chance to travel down to Pixar Animation Studios for a campus tour and a chat with the creators of Cars 2. Watch our blog and site for the resulting interviews with John Lasseter, Denise Ream and the lead animators and artists of Cars 2. In the meantime we wanted to share a little bit of our behind the scenes experience at Pixar.  - Megan Newman

 

 Entrance

Pixar is located in Emmeryville, CA, adjecent to Berkeley.  Specifically it’s located on Park Avenue. The street name has inspired a New York themein building names across the campus. The main building, and home to the poshest offices, contains the Upper East Side and Upper West Side. We also saw a sign pointing to offices a little further out that were named, appropriately, Brooklyn.

 

 

 

Luxo Lamp and Ball

Located right outside the main office the Luxo Lamp and ball greet employees and visitors.  The Luxo lamp and ball play an important part in Pixar’s early history and have been incorporated into their logo. It’s also one of the most popular spots for visitor photos on campus.

 

 

 

 

 

Howdy Partner

Several of Pixar’s main characters guard the entrance to the main building and are scattered throughout. Lego Buzz and Woody are particularly impressive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Main Building

The Pixar campus opened in 2000. It was built on the location of an old canning factory and the factory vibe inspired the architecture. Steve Jobs, one of the Pixar founders was heavily involved in the design. He wanted Pixar's main building to serve as a central gathering place where employees would come several times a day to interact and share ideas. In service of this goal a cafeteria, coffee shop and the employee mail room were clustered within steps of each other within the atrium of the main building. Pixar lore is that Jobs was so obsessed with the idea of all employees venturing to this area at least once a day that he advocated for only having one bathroom on the campus. He was overruled.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bathrooms

Speaking of bathrooms, Boo Peep for the ladies and Woody for the men.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Upstairs Galleries

Lining the main building’s upper floor are two mini-Pixar centric art galleries. The right side (the Upper East Side) features art from, or inspired by, the current release. Cars 2 inspired art ranged from photos from the crew’s reserach trips to the clay figures used to help model the characters. This side changes every year to focus on the current film release. The left side (i.e. The Upper West Side) features art created by Pixar employees. The art featured in the gallery is a myriad of different subject types and provides an outlet for Pixar artists that is separate from their work. Unfortunately no cameras were allowed upstairs.

 

 

Awards

One of the coolest displays is the awards, a case full of Academy Awards, Baftas and more prominently displayed by the entrance. One Oscar we spotted was inscribed “Awarded to Brad Bird” for “Ratatouille”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Café Luxo

When Pixarites need a caffeine fix they visit Café Luxo. Drip coffee is provided gratis to employees. They can enjoy their caffeine boost while they peruse the cereal bar, also free, featuring dozens of different cereals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Screening Room

The main building holds at least one screening room (we suspect there are more.) Velvet couches fill the mini movie theatre which is used by employees to view, edit and discuss movies in production.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Café & The Evil Dead 2

It’s not all kid’s stuff at Pixar. Screenings of a wide variety of films are held regularly for employees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amphitheatre & Campus

Pixar's campus has plenty of green space. Adding to the collegiate vibe is the amphitheater located directly outside the main building.

In addition to company meetings, smaller groups of employees gather here. Upon our arrival we saw a small group sword fighting, a one-off clinic to ensure accuracy for their upcoming film Brave.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Goodbye!

Until next time. Thanks for letting us visit, Pixar!

An Interview With "Waiting for 'Superman'" Director Davis Guggenheim

Davis Guggenheim directed a documentary 10 years ago called The First Year, which chronicled several California public-school teachers and the daily struggles they faced in the first year of their careers. Guggenheim went on to direct documentaries on global warming (The Oscar-winning An Inconvenient Truth) and the history of the electric guitar (It Might Get Loud) but the problems that plagued public education were never far from his mind. So he began filming Waiting for "Superman" in late 2008.

"This is not just a movie for me," Guggenheim says. "This is a cause... Every kid in America, no matter how tough things are, where you're born, or how much money you have, every kid deserves a great education."

Guggenheim and his team chose five kids from different parts of the country, whose future may be determined by their names being drawn in a school lottery. The message is bleak: those picked get to attend the better school, those who aren't must trudge along in their severely underfunded classrooms with teachers who fall far short of the standard but whose membership in unions protect them from being fired. He also profiles reformers who are shaking up the system and trying to make a real change in the school system.

Waiting for "Superman" won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival and is on the shortlist for this year's Best Documentary Oscar race.

Watch our interview with Guggenheim below, then order Waiting for "Superman" on DVD or Blu-ray. And for a limited time, your purchase comes with a DonorsChoose card inside the case worth $25 you can donate to a teacher of your choice. -- Ellen

 

"Like" Us on Facebook and Get a Ridiculously Great "Mad Men" Deal

And now, a special announcement: Amazon Movies & TV is running a special Facebook offer and needs your help.

We want to run a four-hour Lightning Deal on Black Friday for Mad Men seasons one through three at $7.99 each on DVD and at $9.99 each on Blu-ray. (That's at least 80% off, guys). But in order to make that happen, we need to get 50,000 people to like us on Facebook by Thanksgiving.

 

Just click the “Like” button at the top of the Amazon.com Movies & TV Facebook page. When you follow us on Facebook, you’ll be the first to know about our best Movies & TV deals and special offers. You'll also get all our latest blog posts sent to your News Feed. Thanks for all your support! --Ellen

"The Pacific": Exclusive Iwo Jima featurette

Watch an exclusive featurette about the battle of Iwo Jima for HBO's The Pacific, nominated for 24 Primetime Emmys and coming out on DVD and Blu-ray on November 2. See more in The Pacific Store. --David

Amazon exclusive: "The Mission" on Blu-ray

Right now you can pre-order The Mission on Blu-ray, exclusively at Amazon.  It's an epic drama, starring Jeremy Irons as an 18th-century Jesuit missionary in South America and Robert De Niro as a mercenary taken in by Irons who later chooses to defend the mission against opposing forces.  Directed by Roland Joffe (The Killing Fields) and also featuring Liam Neeson early in his career, The Mission might be just as famous for its Ennio Morricone score as it is for its plot. One theme in particular, "Gabriel's Oboe," has become a favorite in concert halls for its lyric beauty.  In the first clip below, Irons' character, Father Gabriel, calms a tribe of Guarani warriors with the tune.  In the second clip, Morricone conducts his own music in concert.  --David

"Cold Souls": Paul Giamatti on Being Stalked, Playing "Himself," and His Essential Movie

Paul Giamatti in person is about what you expect him to be: extremely humble, eloquent, uncomfortable with fame (prior to our interview he had to stand for a photo shoot, and looked about as at-ease as a kid in the dentist chair). And now the guy who memorably threw a hissy fit over drinking merlot in Sideways and pretty much steals every film he's in (heck, I still remember him as Bellhop Who Shares a Smoke With Julia Roberts in My Best Friend's Wedding) and still doesn't have an Oscar (though he now has an Emmy and a Golden Globe thanks to his starring role in HBO's John Adams), is famous to the point of playing himself in a movie.

Though not exactly: In his newest film, Cold Souls (which played at Sundance before opening in limited release last year) Giamatti plays an actor named "Paul Giamatti," who is so stressed over his preparation for "Uncle Vanya" on Broadway that he literally sells his soul; he takes his agent's suggestion and visits a lab in which he can put his soul in storage, renting another's soul in its place. If that's not strange enough, it turns out his soul is the size and shape of a... chickpea.

Giamatti and director Sophie Barthes, directing her first feature film, discussed with Amazon how she stalked him at a film festival to pitch him her script (how many drinks she'd had beforehand is debatable, they say); the challenges of playing your own, soulless self; and finally, Giamatti's pick for a Paul Giamatti Essential DVD. Listen to the interview below.--Ellen

Michael Moore Interview for "Capitalism: A Love Story"

Turns out spending 30 minutes on the phone with Michael Moore is a great antidote to apathy disease.  So is watching Capitalism: A Love Story.  These days caring about the state of our country and following politics tends to be an emotional rollercoaster ride (at least for me).  I don’t pretend to be anything but the choir Moore’s critics most often complain he’s preaching too, but it’s been too easy to check-out in frustration and pretend like it doesn’t matter.  Moore’s new movie is a reminder that it does and that we have power over the state of things.  Talking to him felt like an extension of watching his intensely personal films and confirmed his intense commitment to igniting change and his deep love for our country.  It was completely inspiring (note my use of that word in the interview about 2000 times :)).  -- Kira

Harry Potter Ultimate Editions Years 1 and 2

Timed for today's release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince are new Ultimate Editions of the first two movies in the series, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, both available on Blu-ray and DVD. The editions include both the extended and theatrical editions of the films (the first movie is seven minutes longer, the second 13), two parts of the documentary Creating the World of Harry Potter (watch below), photo books, and character cards. Want more Potter?  Watch an exclusive video "The Theme of Friendship" for free courtesy of Amazon Video On Demand.  --David

George Feltenstein Blu-ray interview: "The Wizard of Oz," "Gone with the Wind"

We recently had the pleasure of speaking with George Feltenstein, Senior Vice President of Theatrical Catalog Marketing for Warner Home Video. He's well-known on sites like highdefdigest.com for being the guy in charge of what films from the huge Warner catalog get released on DVD and Blu-ray, and the guy who knows what's coming up. He talked to us about the Ultimate Collector's Editions of The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind, including how they were restored for Blu-ray and the various bonus materials in each set. He also gives us some tips on what to expect in 2010.  --David