Like Dandelion Dust
Release: September 24, 2010
Director: Jon Gunn
Writer: Stephen J. Rivele, Michael Lachance, Karen Kingsbury
Cast: Mira Sorvino, Barry Pepper, Kate Levering, Maxwell Perry Cotton, Cole Hauser
Minggu, 19 September 2010
Like Dandelion Dust
Like Dandelion Dust
Release: September 24, 2010
Director: Jon Gunn
Writer: Stephen J. Rivele, Michael Lachance, Karen Kingsbury
Cast: Mira Sorvino, Barry Pepper, Kate Levering, Maxwell Perry Cotton, Cole Hauser
Latest Targ's Up!
And with this week's episode of U62: The Targ, the challenge begins!
With Episode 4.02: The Daily Grind, it's time to see if this new format I've created can be sustainable. Will I be able to pump out a half-hour of entertainment every week? Will this new blend of my new features, favourite tunes, and my usual ramblings about movies and DVD be success?
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Jumat, 17 September 2010
Various Animation Ramblings
I can't believe that I didn't notice that my favourite Disney animated film, The Black Cauldron, just got a brand-new, 25th anniversary special edition DVD! And it came out on Tuesday!
Reading the tech specs, it doesn't sound like too much of an improvement over the original "Gold Collection" DVD. It's finally in anamorphic widescreen, and for new bonus features, they added a deleted scene and an interactive game.
Sadly, the deleted scene isn't the most famous deleted scene.
Here's the most famous deleted scene from The Black Cauldron: the evil Horned King unleashed his Army of Cauldron-Born...you know, your basic unstoppable army of the undead. There's this eerie green mist that surrounds them. The Cauldron-Born encounter one of the Horned King's, you know, living warriors. The Cauldron-Born leap on the warrior and
The green mist strips the flesh from the warrior's bones, turning him into one of the Cauldron-Born
Now a Cauldron-Born, the warrior leaps out of the green mist and joins the ranks of the Cauldron-Born.
According to legend, the scene was deleted because Jeffrey Katzenburg just became head of the Disney Studios, and when he saw the scene, he was mortified that such a graphic image was in a Disney animated film. So he ordered it cut.
It does exist. I've seen screen grabs online. It's shocking that such a thing exists, but The Black Cauldron was Disney's infamous attempt to create an animated film for adults.
Actually, there's a similar scene in my favourite DC Comics direct-to-DVD animated film, Wonder Woman. In the film's climax, Ares has gained all the powers of the gods. The Amazons unleash an attack on him. Using his powers, Ares raises from the dead ever Amazon that's ever fallen in battle. So, we have Amazons vs. undead Amazons.
In the battle, one of the undead Amazons slays an Amazon. The Amazon falls to the ground, dead. Her skin shrivels up to the dull, grey skin tone of the undead. Her eyes snap back open, the dead, soulless eyes of the undead, and she starts fighting alongside the undead Amazon that killed her. A very chilling scene.
Have I mentioned that Wonder Woman is my favourite of the DC animated films? It's so good!
Switching gears to Star Wars now, I read an interview the other day that made me laugh.
I'm not a big fan of the Clone Wars cartoon. I saw the movie, and the movie was just so bad, that it killed all desire to see the series. Well, I just read an interview Dave Filoni, the supervising producer on the Clone Wars cartoon, and what I read made me laugh.
The interviewer asked that, now that the series has grown and evolved and is so drastically different from the film, if he could go back and change the film, would he? Filoni said he loved to, and has even asked George Lucas about doing it. Lucas said, "Sorry, dude, the film is done. You have to let it go."
"C'mon man, let me do a special edition!" said Filoni, and George Lucas just gave him an icy glare.
So, there you go. Apparently, George Lucas doesn't like anyone changing Star Wars...unless it's him.
Reading the tech specs, it doesn't sound like too much of an improvement over the original "Gold Collection" DVD. It's finally in anamorphic widescreen, and for new bonus features, they added a deleted scene and an interactive game.
Sadly, the deleted scene isn't the most famous deleted scene.
Here's the most famous deleted scene from The Black Cauldron: the evil Horned King unleashed his Army of Cauldron-Born...you know, your basic unstoppable army of the undead. There's this eerie green mist that surrounds them. The Cauldron-Born encounter one of the Horned King's, you know, living warriors. The Cauldron-Born leap on the warrior and
The green mist strips the flesh from the warrior's bones, turning him into one of the Cauldron-Born
Now a Cauldron-Born, the warrior leaps out of the green mist and joins the ranks of the Cauldron-Born.
According to legend, the scene was deleted because Jeffrey Katzenburg just became head of the Disney Studios, and when he saw the scene, he was mortified that such a graphic image was in a Disney animated film. So he ordered it cut.
It does exist. I've seen screen grabs online. It's shocking that such a thing exists, but The Black Cauldron was Disney's infamous attempt to create an animated film for adults.
Actually, there's a similar scene in my favourite DC Comics direct-to-DVD animated film, Wonder Woman. In the film's climax, Ares has gained all the powers of the gods. The Amazons unleash an attack on him. Using his powers, Ares raises from the dead ever Amazon that's ever fallen in battle. So, we have Amazons vs. undead Amazons.
In the battle, one of the undead Amazons slays an Amazon. The Amazon falls to the ground, dead. Her skin shrivels up to the dull, grey skin tone of the undead. Her eyes snap back open, the dead, soulless eyes of the undead, and she starts fighting alongside the undead Amazon that killed her. A very chilling scene.
Have I mentioned that Wonder Woman is my favourite of the DC animated films? It's so good!
Switching gears to Star Wars now, I read an interview the other day that made me laugh.
I'm not a big fan of the Clone Wars cartoon. I saw the movie, and the movie was just so bad, that it killed all desire to see the series. Well, I just read an interview Dave Filoni, the supervising producer on the Clone Wars cartoon, and what I read made me laugh.
The interviewer asked that, now that the series has grown and evolved and is so drastically different from the film, if he could go back and change the film, would he? Filoni said he loved to, and has even asked George Lucas about doing it. Lucas said, "Sorry, dude, the film is done. You have to let it go."
"C'mon man, let me do a special edition!" said Filoni, and George Lucas just gave him an icy glare.
So, there you go. Apparently, George Lucas doesn't like anyone changing Star Wars...unless it's him.
Kamis, 16 September 2010
New Tangled Trailer
Well, Disney just released the new trailer for the next animated blockbuster, Tangled, and as always, it's leaving people scratching their heads.
A lot of Disney fans think Disney is messing up the marketing on this one. See, last year, Disney gave us The Princess and the Frog, and even though it was beloved by critics and a hit at the box office, it didn't meet Disney's financial expectations. The experts say it's because the marketing for The Princess and the Frog focused too much on the princess and the romance and the fairy tale, and thus, boys found it icky.
So, the knee-jerk reaction was the marketing for Disney's next film, their animated take on Rapunzel. They changed the name to Tangled, and now they're focusing on the prince, his exploits, and trying to make it look more like an action movie...and thus, boys won't find it icky, they'll drag their parents to it, and Disney will make more money.
Anywho, here's the trailer. Mandy Moore voices Rapunzel and Zackary Levi voices the prince, Flynn. It hits theatres November 24.
A lot of Disney fans think Disney is messing up the marketing on this one. See, last year, Disney gave us The Princess and the Frog, and even though it was beloved by critics and a hit at the box office, it didn't meet Disney's financial expectations. The experts say it's because the marketing for The Princess and the Frog focused too much on the princess and the romance and the fairy tale, and thus, boys found it icky.
So, the knee-jerk reaction was the marketing for Disney's next film, their animated take on Rapunzel. They changed the name to Tangled, and now they're focusing on the prince, his exploits, and trying to make it look more like an action movie...and thus, boys won't find it icky, they'll drag their parents to it, and Disney will make more money.
Anywho, here's the trailer. Mandy Moore voices Rapunzel and Zackary Levi voices the prince, Flynn. It hits theatres November 24.
Billie Mae Richards
Some tragic news came across my desk that I felt I must share with the world.
Back on Friday, Billie Mae Richards passed away.
Richards was a highly acclaimed Canadian actress and singer. She was, however, best known for her work as a voice actress. She started as a voice actress in the CBC radio drama department, where her specialty was voicing children. Back in the 1960s, when she got her start, the CBC radio drama department was regarded as being the best group of voice actors in North America, and she got to do a lot of cartoon voices. She did many voices on the original 1960s Spider-Man cartoon and Rocket Robin Hood. In the 1980s, she did the voice of several Care Bears characters...most notably Tenderheart Bear in the first two movies, and Brightheart Racoon in the subsequent TV series. In fact, according to the IMDB, her last credited role was reprising the voice of Brightheart Racoon for a direct-to-DVD Care Bears movie about five years ago.
But perhaps her most famous role is the one we hear every Christmas.
That's right, she was the voice of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Apparently, she could do Rudolph's voice right up until her dying days. When her great-grandkids friends didn't believe that she was Rudolph, she would do the voice, and the kids would be gobsmacked.
She was 88 years old.
Back on Friday, Billie Mae Richards passed away.
Richards was a highly acclaimed Canadian actress and singer. She was, however, best known for her work as a voice actress. She started as a voice actress in the CBC radio drama department, where her specialty was voicing children. Back in the 1960s, when she got her start, the CBC radio drama department was regarded as being the best group of voice actors in North America, and she got to do a lot of cartoon voices. She did many voices on the original 1960s Spider-Man cartoon and Rocket Robin Hood. In the 1980s, she did the voice of several Care Bears characters...most notably Tenderheart Bear in the first two movies, and Brightheart Racoon in the subsequent TV series. In fact, according to the IMDB, her last credited role was reprising the voice of Brightheart Racoon for a direct-to-DVD Care Bears movie about five years ago.
But perhaps her most famous role is the one we hear every Christmas.
That's right, she was the voice of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Apparently, she could do Rudolph's voice right up until her dying days. When her great-grandkids friends didn't believe that she was Rudolph, she would do the voice, and the kids would be gobsmacked.
She was 88 years old.
Rabu, 15 September 2010
At the Movies Returns!
This news is actually about a week old...I just haven't had a chance to blog about yet.
About a month or so ago, like a lot of movie geeks, I was lamenting the loss of At the Movies, that classic movie review show started by Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert all those years ago, and known as Siskel & Ebert during its heyday. After 35 years on the air in one form or another, it was canceled this past August due to declining ratings.
Well, for over a year now, Roger Ebert has been mentioning at his blog that he was seeking other avenues to resurrect the show and bring it back to its roots. Ebert, and many others agree, that in this growing age of digital downloads and pay-per-view and so many ways to get your movies, there still exists the need for some kind of program that tells you if movies are good or not.
And so, last week, Roger Ebert announced the creation of his new TV show, Roger Ebert presents At the Movies. He really is going back to his roots. Just like the very first seasons of the show, it'll be produced by and air on PBS.
The new critics on the show will be Christy Lemure of the Associated Press and Elvis Mitchell of NPR. Regular contributors and occasional guest hosts will be film bloggers Kim Morgan and Omar Moore. Ebert himself will appear in a regular segment called "Roger's Office," in which Ebert will geek out over one of his favourite films...either something new, or an overlooked classic.
In addition to movie reviews, there'll be regular segments classic films, on-demand viewing, and genre films.
The series will also the return of the classic "Two Thumbs Up" rating system made popular by Siskel & Ebert. The whole "Two Thumbs Up" system is actually owned by and a registered trademark of Roger Ebert and the Estate of Gene Siskel. The original At the Movies program stopped using it when Ebert and Disney (the produers of At the Movies) got into royalty dispute. Others say Ebert stopped letting Disney use it when Ebert didn't like the direction of the new show. Either way, Two Thumbs Up is back.
The new show will be premiering on PBS stations all across the USA this January.
Here's Ebert's official announcement from his website.
About a month or so ago, like a lot of movie geeks, I was lamenting the loss of At the Movies, that classic movie review show started by Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert all those years ago, and known as Siskel & Ebert during its heyday. After 35 years on the air in one form or another, it was canceled this past August due to declining ratings.
Well, for over a year now, Roger Ebert has been mentioning at his blog that he was seeking other avenues to resurrect the show and bring it back to its roots. Ebert, and many others agree, that in this growing age of digital downloads and pay-per-view and so many ways to get your movies, there still exists the need for some kind of program that tells you if movies are good or not.
And so, last week, Roger Ebert announced the creation of his new TV show, Roger Ebert presents At the Movies. He really is going back to his roots. Just like the very first seasons of the show, it'll be produced by and air on PBS.
The new critics on the show will be Christy Lemure of the Associated Press and Elvis Mitchell of NPR. Regular contributors and occasional guest hosts will be film bloggers Kim Morgan and Omar Moore. Ebert himself will appear in a regular segment called "Roger's Office," in which Ebert will geek out over one of his favourite films...either something new, or an overlooked classic.
In addition to movie reviews, there'll be regular segments classic films, on-demand viewing, and genre films.
The series will also the return of the classic "Two Thumbs Up" rating system made popular by Siskel & Ebert. The whole "Two Thumbs Up" system is actually owned by and a registered trademark of Roger Ebert and the Estate of Gene Siskel. The original At the Movies program stopped using it when Ebert and Disney (the produers of At the Movies) got into royalty dispute. Others say Ebert stopped letting Disney use it when Ebert didn't like the direction of the new show. Either way, Two Thumbs Up is back.
The new show will be premiering on PBS stations all across the USA this January.
Here's Ebert's official announcement from his website.
Minggu, 12 September 2010
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