Tag Archives: Disney

Trailer Wednesday: Maleficent

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Welcome to “Trailer Tuesday” where I talk about trailers for upcoming movies, since I’ve always found them to be fascinating.

We’ve gotten what will probably be the final trailer for Maleficent, now that the film is just two months away, and this final trailer goes deeper into the story we’re going to see, while giving us some new looks as well.  The first trailer mostly focused on the film’s imagery, while telling us little about the movie itself.  The second trailer gave us a bit more, while highlighting the parallels between Maleficent and Sleeping Beauty.  But this final trailer is the one that for the first time has lead me to being genuinely excited about the film, beyond the curiosity that had held my interest thus far, though I fully admit that it may just be the dragon that’s gotten my attention.  Take a look below, and read on for my breakdown of the trailer:

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Friday Favorites: Favorite Montage – The Great Movie Ride

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Welcome to “Friday Favorites” which highlight some of my favorite movie-related things.

I haven’t done a Friday Favorite in a while, mostly because no one read them, but I was in the mood to revive it for at least today.  Whenever the Oscars roll around, I always find myself thinking back to go the great films throughout 100 years of movie history.  And whenever I find myself contemplating the power and history of film, I always turn to one, 3 minute montage that completely embodies film for me.  Take a look:

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Analysis: The Deleted Songs of Frozen

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At this point I’m just going to assume you’ve seen Frozen, or are at least familiar with it and its music.  The Oscar-nominated film (Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song for “Let It Go”) is approaching a billion dollars at the box office and its soundtrack was the number one album on the Billboard charts for four weeks and has been certified platinum.  It’s been everywhere lately, from its constant position among the box office top 10 to its successful sing-along version to the countless youtube videos of little girls belting out “Let It Go”.  There’s even talk of a stage adaptation of the film that’s in the works.  And as far as I’m concerned Frozen deserves all of its success.

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Trailer Tuesday: Maleficent

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Welcome to “Trailer Tuesday” where I talk about trailers for upcoming movies, since I’ve always found them to be fascinating.

A while back I featured the first trailer for Disney’s Maleficent, a new take on the story of Sleeping Beauty starring Angelina Jolie as the titular villain and Elle Fanning as Princess Aurora.  Now we’ve got a new trailer that gives us a better look at the film.  Take a look, and read on for my comments:

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My Top 10 (and Bottom 3) at the Movies in 2013

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Now that 2014 is well under way it’s a good time to look back at the movies of 2013.  I went to the movies 40 times in 2013, a pretty low number for me, seeing 32 new films (the other 8 were either movies I saw more than once or classics I got the chance to see on the big screen).  Through a variety of reasons, I’ve managed to miss most of the big awards contenders including 12 Years a Slave, American Hustle, Her, Philomena and The Wolf of Wall Street, unlike last year when I had seen most of them.  Instead of simply ranking my favorite films from the past year, however, I prefer to highlight my top 10 (and bottom 3) movie-related things from 2013.  Some of these will be particular movies or performances, some will be scenes or aspects of production, and some are bits of news or interpretations.  I hope you enjoy it, and remember to let me know your favorite (or least favorite) film-related things from 2013! Continue reading →

Analysis: Saving Mr. Banks and Disney Ideology

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Saving Mr. Banks is an interesting film, and one that’s deeper than it may appear at first glance.  The story of P. L. Travers and Walt Disney and the making of the 1964 film Mary Poppins is used as a way to examine how we deal with the harsh realities of the world in which we live and also what responsibilities we have towards preparing children for those realities.  It examines how the events of our youth shape our lives as adults and presents some of the choices we can make about how to live our lives.  It offers a critique of the pre-judgments that people have a tendency to make, particularly as it pertains to Disney as a man, a company, a brand and an ideology.  It defends that ideology specifically, without invalidating other methods of thought.  And it has done all of this while facing some surprisingly harsh criticism and claims that the film is nothing but propaganda.  I feel like that makes it ripe for some analysis.  (Spoilers Below!)

*Disclaimer:  For those who regularly read this blog, it’s fairly obvious that I’m a Disney fanatic.  I’m a stock-owning, fanclub-card-carrying, happy-to-take-every-vacation-to-the-parks obsessive.  I seek out every Disney experience I can find, but more than that I buy into the ideology.  Whether that makes me a mindless drone or a corporate stooge (I promise I’m not getting paid by Disney, though I’d love to be) is for someone else to decide.  The short of it is that I am in no way unbiased when it comes to Disney, and I’ve defended the company before.  And while it hurts whenever something we love is criticized, my goal here is not for this to simply be one more “Disney is awesome and how dare you say otherwise!” post, but instead an examination of the film and what it has to say about varying worldviews and the Disney ideology in particular.  Take from it what you will.  You can read my review of the film here.

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Review: Saving Mr. Banks

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Mary Poppins is a legendary figure in 20th century pop culture.  From the eight books written by P. L. Travers to the 1964 Disney musical (and the 1984 Soviet version), to the 2004 stage version, to the 30 Mary Poppins’ who showed up at the 2012 London Olympics to vanquish the villains of British literature, there are probably very few people who are not at least familiar with the famous nanny.  But while Travers’ books were famous decades beforehand, most people probably know Mary Poppins through the Disney film, which is one of the most famous and successful films of its time, garnering 13 Oscar nominations (and 5 wins), launching the film career of Julie Andrews, and filling our heads with memorable music.  In fact, I would guess that these days far more people have seen the film than have read the books, and those who have read them most likely did so after seeing the movie.  But what most people probably don’t know, and what Saving Mr. Banks sets out to tell, is the story of how the film was made, and the struggle of Walt Disney and P. L. Travers to find a way to understand each other.

It’s 1961 and Mrs. Travers (as she likes to be called) is having some financial difficulties.  Continue reading →

What if there was a Best Voice Performance Oscar? – 2004

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(Note: This is a fictional creative thinking exercise, inspired by hours of contemplation of which animated performances have been most worthy of attention over the years.  This feature imagines that a Best Voice Performance category was added to the Oscars following Beauty and the Beast’s nomination for Best Picture at the 64th Academy Awards.  Each week I’ll cover the hypothetical nominees and winner from one year of animated performances.)

Following the nomination for Andy Serkis at the 76th Academy Awards, audiences looked ahead to 2004 for any other motion capture performances that might also earn a slot among the Best Voice Performance nominees.  However, the only potential candidate turned out to be The Polar Express, which most insiders felt did not produce performances worthy of nomination.  Instead, discussion focused on a potential Disney/Dreamworks rematch, with a sequel to the film that put Dreamworks on the map and another new film from them on one side and a new traditionally animated film from Disney and the latest Pixar film on the other.

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What if there was a Best Voice Performance Oscar? – 2003

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(Note: This is a fictional creative writing exercise, inspired by hours of contemplation of which animated performances have been most worthy of attention over the years.  This feature imagines that a Best Voice Performance category was added to the Oscars following Beauty and the Beast’s nomination for Best Picture at the 64th Academy Awards.  Each week I’ll cover the hypothetical nominees and winner from one year of animated performances.)

After the controversy at the 75th Academy Awards, it seemed all anyone could talk about was Andy Serkis and the eligibility of his portrayal of Gollum in the Lord of the Rings films.  His motion capture performance wasn’t nominated either for Best Supporting Actor or Best Voice Performance, and there was considerable debate over whether the acting or the animation branch (or both) would bend and give him the nomination.  What the speculators didn’t count on was the arrival of Pixar’s latest film, one which would go on to be regarded as a game-changer in the industry on account of its depth and storytelling.

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