Saving Mr. Banks

Saving Mr. Banks ~ The twenty year quest of Walt Disney to gain the rights to P.L. Travers' "Mary Poppins" is the stuff of movie-making legend. Here finally, let's say, dramatized for the screen is that journey, or at least the final steps of it. With Tom Hanks as Disney and Emma Thompson as Travers, both in the running for Oscars this year along with the film, and rightly so, Saving Mr. Banks is a terrific film, maybe not as true as it contends, but still a great film.

While I have heard Hanks and Thompson's names bandied about for various awards, Also in the running should be Paul Giamatti and Colin Farrell first and foremost, as their performances trump both of the leads in my opinion. I was also fascinated to see Jason Schwartzman and BJ Novak as the Sherman brothers, seemingly getting along in this flick. An all-star cast in and all-star movie that may or may not be 100% true.

For a more extensive review of Saving Mr. Banks, you should check out this special episode of The Make Mine Magic Podcast where The Bride and I go into great detail about the film. Check it out. Highly recommended.

Mickey Mouse - "Get a Horse!"

Last week I talked about Frozen on the blog, and today, the review of the film by myself and The Bride can be heard on the newest episode of The Make Mine Magic Podcast. You can hear that episode here.

In that podcast, you'll hear not only our thoughts on Frozen, but also my assertion that the best part of the movie wasn't even in the movie, but before it. I really dug what at first seemed to be an early black and white Mickey Mouse cartoon called "Get a Horse!," but was in fact, a brand new animated treat. In the cartoon, the characters break through the screen as three-dimensional full color versions and jump back and forth.

The 'toon not only features the return of old school characters like Horace Horsecollar and Clarabelle Cow, but also the voice of Walt Disney himself as Mickey Mouse. I loved this, and recommend you go see Frozen just for this. It's awesome. Here's a taste of the beginning:

Roy E. Disney Passes Away

Roy E. Disney, nephew of Walt Disney, and family figurehead of The Walt Disney Company, passed away earlier today from complications of stomach cancer after a year long battle with the illness. He was 79.

Roy was a major influence on the company's renaissance in animation during the 1980s that continues to this day. His commitment to the artform brought it to new heights not only for Disney, but for the film industry as well. he began in the family business in the 1950s and continued his passion and influence to this day. He will be much missed and remembered.

The Mouse Turns 80

Eighty years ago, on November 18th, one of the world's major cartoon icons was born - Mickey Mouse!

The cartoon short, "Steamboat Willie," was released theatrically on this day and was notable for being the first syncronized sound cartoon.

The creation of animation genius Walt Disney as well as a few of his friends, Mickey has gone on to worldwide fame. Surely there are not many in this world who don't know the Mouse.

More info can be found here.

Happy Birthday, Mickey!

Quickies 7-12-2008

The Ruins ~ Adapted by Scott B. Smith from his own novel, for a change, at this is supposedly a horror flick that might have some of the same bite as its book. The previews for The Ruins gave me the willies just seeing less than a minute of it, and as I watched the DVD I hoped I hadn’t seen it all. Well, I hadn’t seen it all, but I did guess most of it. And my original thoughts on the writing proved wrong as for whatever reason the author chose to change around a few characters and their names and fates. It has a few good scares, not counting Shawn Ashmore with a perm, and is quite graphic and gory, genuinely hard to watch in a few places – but just an average horror outing, nothing special.

Camp Rock ~ I have nothing against Disney trying to bottle lightning again in the High School Musical vein, except when it seems packaged and formulaic. Other than being an average Disney Channel movie, and an obvious vehicle for the Jonas Brothers, the biggest sin of this flick is its painful similarity to HSM in plot, characters and tone. Sometimes lightning just doesn’t strike twice. Harmless and entertaining, but it’s no High School Musical. Nice to see Julie Brown again though.

Don’t Worry We’ll Think of a Title ~ Written and produced by Morey Amsterdam and starring the lesser half of the old “Dick Van Dyke Show” suffers from a feeling that it would have been a bad 1940s soundstage comedy when in reality it was made in 1966. An early scene features Moe Howard staring January Jones right in the breasts. That’s about as funny as it gets, and that wasn’t in the script. I think, if I had been fourteen when I first saw this, I would have been in stitches. A case of mistaken identity, lots of classic cameos and one liner set-up after one liner set-up make this mediocre flick sometimes painful to watch. It would have been a great sketch but not a whole movie.


The Devil’s Rain ~ If you’re not a horror fan, most folks when they think of this flick will remember it’s John Travolta’s first film, but then gain, it’s nothing to get excited about because he’s barely in it. As far as acting goes, this is a great flick for seeing William Shatner and Ernest Borgnine overact, and to see some of Keenan Wynn and Tom Skerritt’s more embarrassing performances. Also look for Ida Lupino in one of her last roles. Eddie Albert is there, as is real father of the Church of Satan, Anton LaVey. Other than the above The Devil’s Rain is actually an above average devil worship B-movie for the time. Sone of the things that kick it up a level are things like the credit sequence featuring art by Hieronymus Bosch and the aforementioned LaVey as a ‘technical advisor.’ Good and scary popcorn movie for a Friday night with the lights out.