Song of the South is a 1964 Walt Disney production that has never seen the light of day on home video in the United States due to issues of political correctness. Is the film broad and offensive in its treatment of black Americans? Not particularly. The problem seems to come down to […]
As I stated in my original review, Mulan is a strong entry from Disney animation at a time when they were really blowing hot and cold. The story still has a lot of the formulaic problems that marked Disney films of the day, but it is at least executed very well, with good songs, […]
Robin Hood is considered by many to be a weak point in the Disney Animated Feature canon, but I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for it. Watching it again after all these years I can agree that it doesn’t measure up, but not, perhaps, for the same reasons others feel that […]
Chariots of Fire is a somewhat fictionalized account of the 1924 British Olympic track & field team, their struggles (both personal and professional) and how they navigated these difficulties to bring home glory.
The focus is on two members of the eventual team, Irish missionary Eric Liddell (Ian Charleson) and the Jewish Cambridge man Harold Abrahams […]
Melody Time is the next-to-the-last of Disney’s “package” films (The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad would end the era). It has a larger number of individual stories than most and, being music-based, it has more in common with Fantasia than the other package films.
First up is “Once Upon a Wintertime”, a short, unmemorable […]
Well, we hit one of my favorites again. This time, it’s my favorite Woody Allen film: Broadway Danny Rose. As far as I’m concerned it’s the perfect balance between the two sides of Allen’s filmmaking. It is a film steeped in show business, has lots of humor, solid and believable drama, and […]
I’ve previously covered 2005’s King Kong and wrote a full review here, but I thought this time around I’d do a kind of contrast and compare, tale of the tape kind of thing alongside the 1998 version of Godzilla. So let’s see how they stand up to each other.
Approach
Godzilla took the more common road […]
After a long, strange journey from stage to screen, Evita finally reached theaters in 1996, twenty years after the original concept album was released.
I think things really started going with the selection of director Alan Parker. With a strong background in musical films that are not really musicals (Pink Floyd: The Wall, Birdy, The […]
After the end of the Monty Python TV show, the various members of the troupe went their separate ways, each pursuing different projects (although often with one or more fellow members involved). Graham Chapman was no different, but (perhaps due to his well documented drinking problems) he only ever got one film project to […]
Blazing Saddles is Mel Brooks’ boldest film. Not by today’s standards, of course. In an age more defined by American Pie, it’s rather tame. Only it’s liberal use of the “N” word qualifies as being in any way shocking in this day and age.
But back when it was first released, it was […]
No film has ever f-ed with my head the way Time Bandits did. Now, if you haven’t seen this film, I won’t go into exactly what about it f’ed with my head, but suffice it to say that I think the marketing guys who sold this as a children’s film shouldbe in line for […]
When the musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum crossed the Atlantic, the lead role of Pseudolus (originated by Zero Mostel) went to British comedian Frankie Howerd. After re-fashioning the role to fit his cheeky sense of humor, it was a huge success for him. In 1969, in an […]
Hercules is an interesting entry in the Walt Disney Feature Animation canon. Directed by Ron Clements and John Musker (previously of The Great Mouse Detective, The Little Mermaid and Aladdin) and with music by Alan Menken, it reunited much of the creative team behind two of the greatest films in Disney’s “Renaissance”. After […]
Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 are two of Disney’s more interesting releases. Originally envisioned by Walt Disney as an “event” (one that you would dress up for, as if going to a real concert), Fantasia was a financial disaster for the company, almost bringing them to ruin.
And it wasn’t all that warmly received critically, either. […]
From the ridiculous (Barbarella) to the sublime. Zelig is, to put it simply, the best mockumentary ever made. To me, anyway. And I’ve already mentioned how much I love This is Spinal Tap, so you know that’s a bold statement. But it deserves no lesser phrase. Year before Forrest Gump […]
I found Troy to be a great movie from a lot of different angles. It is beautifully shot. The performances were much better than I expected, and I was particularly impressed with how the filmmakers had a healthy disrespect for the story as it previously existed, and instead told the story they wanted […]
I love Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. It does something that I always admire in a film: it builds its own take on reality and blindly holds onto it no matter what. The world of Anchorman is a specific take on the 1970s: male chauvanist, environmentally unfriendly, yet harmlessly naive (despite the […]
The Cheap Detective followed hard on the heels of writer Neil Simon’s previous mystery parody, 1976’s Murder by Death. While Murder by Death had an impressive cast (David Niven, Alec Guiness, Maggie Smith, Peter Sellers, etc.) playing parodies of a wide variety of mystery characters, I think it was clear that the standout was […]
For a complete change of pace, I next watched what I consider to be one of the best (if not THE best) documentary of a music group, The Filth and the Fury. Filth tells of the rise and fall of The Sex Pistols, with the approval and involvement of the band. Much of […]
Next up, was The Emperor’s New Groove, which I reviewed fully last year. It had been my intent to watch the Disney Feature Animation canon in chronological order, but this one came on TV and I couldn’t help but watch it. Since getting into the whole “Emperor’s” universe, I’ve learned a lot about […]
Viewed December 29, 2006
Hellboy is a film adaptation of Mike Mignola’s cult comic book series. It tells of a demon brought forth by Nazis to be the key to a worldwide apocalypse, but is instead captured by American military forces and raised as a force for good.
When we meet up again with Hellboy (Ron […]
Viewed December 27, 2006
Three Ages is an ambitious comedy from Buster Keaton, where he strives to show how love has changed (but mostly stayed the same) throughout the ages. He does this by illustrating three cases of love: a caveman, a Roman citizen and a modern day man (well, modern for 1923, anyway).
All three […]
Viewed December 26, 2006
Hitler: Dead or Alive is a propoganda film that portrays what would happen if there was a successful attempt to assassinate Hitler in the early days of World War II. That this attempt is put together by gangsters due to a $1 Million bounty tags it as Hollywood through and through.
The […]
Viewed December 21, 2006
GE recently debuted their “Imagination Theater“, a web site devoted to short films (and clips about GE products). The films are a mix of live action office-based films and animated shorts that are more abstract.
The Crossing shows the value of “thinking outside the box”, as they say. Its shows four […]
Viewed December 20, 2006
Naughty Marietta marked the beginning of one of the most successful film pairings in history, that of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. MacDonald was already a popular film star when seh was paired with Eddy, who was a well-known (but not super-famous) singer. All that changed after this film and […]
Viewed December 7, 2006
King Arthur ’s subtitle is “The Untold True Story That Inspired The Legend”. By taking that stand, the film claims to portray the truth. And yet it gets an awful lot wrong. You can divide the wrongness into three distinct areas: failure against the Arthurian Myth (the least important), […]
Viewed November 29, 2006
It’s All True began as a project by Orson Welles back in 1942. He was sent to Brazil as part of the US’s “good neighbor” policy (which also resulted in films like Disney’s The Three Caballeros) to make what was thought to essentially be a high-end travelouge. But they sent […]
Viewed November 11, 2006
So here’s another one. I’d never seen Highlander before I watched it for the project. I know. I know. It’s an all-time cult classic, so why hadn’t I seen it? To be honest, I missed it the first time around (who didn’t?) and by the time I […]
Viewed October 18, 2006
Mulan is a film that was created in the middle of Disney’s “second dark age”, the period following the release of The Lion King, the film considered by most to be the pinnacle of the “second golden age”. And it must be said that it suffers from some of the lackluster […]
Viewed October 7, 2006
In Old Caliente is a formulaic western starring a pre-Dale Evens Roy Rogers and his usual sidekick from this era, George ‘Gabby’ Hayes. The most interesting aspect of the film is the portrayal of racial tensions between the Hispanic populace and incoming white settlers.
It’s basically a typical story of treachery and […]
Viewed October 1, 2006
Ever since I started this project I planned to watch a lot of horror movies during October. So, naturally, when the month rolled around, I promptly forgot and watched Sherlock Holmes in New York. Not that I mind, because I quite liked it. It’s just I had meant to […]
Viewed September 30, 2006
I can’t even begin to go into the long, strange history of Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation.* The short version is that in 1982, three kids of about twelve or thirteen years of age began remaking Raiders of the Lost Ark, shot-for-shot. Finally completing the film in 1989, […]
Viewed September 23, 2006
I really wanted to like writer/director Woody Allen’s Sweet and Lowdown. When he’s on his game, there are few actors better than Sean Penn and everything seemed to point to a solid performance here as fictional guitar great Emmet Ray. But it’s not from Penn that the great performance comes.
It […]
Viewed September 21, 2006
There are three reasons I bought Brother Bear. First, I’ve been buying a lot of Disney films lately and this one popped up during by searching. Second, it features songs by Phil Collins. Even if I didn’t like the film, there’s a good chance I’d like the songs. […]
Viewed September 16, 2006
Daredevils of the Desert is one of the “Young Indiana Jones” TV movies. Now, I can’t be sure if it’s an episode of the TV show expanded into a film or a film that was later condensed into an episode, but creator George Lucas refers to it as a “film”, so […]
Viewed July 29, 2006
Pony Express Days tells the tale of the brief lifespan of the Pony Express. George Reeves plays Bill Cody and much of the focus of the short is on his desire to ride for the Express. Things come to a head when secession talk in California leads to a desperate […]
Viewed July 7, 2006
Okay, so here’s the idea: a big-budget film based on a theme park ride. Sounds crazy? that’s because it is. Until the success of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, I daresay no one thought this notion could possibly work. Yet it does, and […]
Viewed July 3, 2006
Kate Capshaw’s character, singer Willie Scott, is the perfect example of all that is wrong with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom: beautiful on the outside, devoid of any value on the inside.
Now, I have read that George Lucas originally intended Indiana Jones to be more of a James Bond type […]
Viewed May 14, 2006
I only decided to watch Timeline because I had recently finished listening to the book on tape and was interested in how they would adapt it. Unfortunately, they did everything one expects from Hollywood, and that’s not a good thing.
The story revolves around a group of archaeologists who get sucked into […]
Viewed April 23, 2006
Hero has a lot going for it. There is exciting action and strong drama, good characters and beautiful camerawork. Unfortunately, somehow it never quite comes together as well as it should.
The story is actually pretty simple: a nameless warrior (Jet Li, actually called “Nameless”) has apparently defeated three deadly assassins. […]
Viewed April 17, 2006
The Ripper is an interesting take on the Jack the Ripper story that follows on Inspector Jim Hansen (played by Patrick Bergin) as he tries to track down the killer, while being drawn to one of his potential victims, Florry (played by Gabrielle Anwar).
The focus is not on discovering who the killer […]
Viewed April 6, 2006
Sense and Sensibility is another one of those films that I haven’t bothered to watch, even though I don’t really have anything against it. Jane Austen just doesn’t really appeal to me. That said, I found this adaptation to be excellent.
Most of the credit goes to Emma Thompson, who not […]
Viewed February 3, 2006
Your ability to enjoy Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades (1972)* is probably directly linked to your tolerance for violence. The “Lone Wolf and Cub” movies are exceptionally violent affairs. Based on the comics by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima, they tell the story of Ogami Itto, a […]
Viewed January 22, 2006
Carry On Cleo is considered to be one of the high points of the “Carry On” series. It certainly looks better than anything else so far. This is not only due to the fact that it is extremely well costumed, but because it was actually shot on the sets built […]