Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, and this week with special guests Deirdre Molumby and Graham Day, The 250 is a weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users. New episodes are released Saturdays at 6pm GMT.
So this week, Pete Docter and Kemp Power’s Soul.
Music teacher Joe Gardner catches a once-in-a-lifetime break, the opportunity to play on stage with the legendary Dorothea Williams. Joe boasts that he could die a happy man, which makes it doubly ironic when a freak accident sends Joe hurdling into the Great Beyond. However, Joe is convinced that a little thing like death won’t keep him from living the best day of his life.
At time of recording, it was ranked 178th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.
Show Notes:
- Recorded 6th January 2021.
- Note: Due to the COVID-19 situation, this episode was recorded remotely. We suspect, going forward that a lot of our episodes will be until the crisis resolves.
- Soul at The Internet Movie Database.
- The IMDB Top 250 as it appeared at time of recording.
- Follow Dee on Twitter.
- Read Dee’s reviews at entertainment.ie.
- Read Graham’s reviews at Scannain.
- Hear Graham on Speaking Geek.
- Read Graham’s guide to Irish Gaming at Gameir.
- Follow Graham on Twitter.
- Read Graham’s review of Soul at Scannain.
- Matt Binder at Mashable offers a brief introduction to “bean dad”, January 2021.
- Rowan Atkinson talks to Deadline about “cancel culture”, January 2021.
- Clint Eastwood talks to Esquire about “the pussy generation”, August 2016.
- Rebecca Rubin at Variety discusses the move of Soul from a June to December release date, April 2020.
- Reuters reports on Soul going direct to streaming at Disney+, October 2020.
- Laura Snapes looks back at Bridget Jones’ Diary for The Guardian, June 2020.
- Niall Murphy at Scannain reports on Bridget Jones’ Baby becoming the biggest movie at the Irish box office, October 2016.
- Deirdre Molumby at entertainment.ie lists the most successful movies of all-time at the Irish box office, December 2018.
- Ed Catmull at Fast Company looks at the development of the Pixar braintrust, March 2014.
- Rebecca Keegan at The Hollywood Reporter on how Pete Docter helped heel Pixar following the departure of John Lasseter, January 2021.
- Jordan Ruimy at World of Reel reports on the world premiere of Soul at the London Film Festival, October 2020.
- Dana Murray describes Soul to The Denton Record Chronicle as “an adult film that kids can enjoy”, December 2020.
- The Ringer debates whether Soul is a movie for adults or children, December 2020.
- Phil Hoad at The Guardian explores Pixar’s recurring fascination with mortality, December 2020.
- Martin Cavna at The Washington Post on how Pixar deals with mature themes like death and loss, March 2020.
- Hans Qu at Film School Rejects looks back on Kung Fu Panda as the start of “the Dreamworks renaissance”, June 2018.
- Petrana Radulovic at Polygon looks at plans for “Kung Fu Panda Land of Awesomeness” at Universal Studios in Beijing, October 2019.
- Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross discuss their work on the soundtrack for Soul with NME, December 2020.
- Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross talk to DP/30 about their soundtrack work for Soul, Mank and Watchmen, August 2020.
- Jon Batiste talks to Billboard about writing music for Soul, December 2020.
- Jon Batiste talks to NPR about working with Pixar on making Soul, December 2020.
- Simon Brew at Film Stories talks about the strange backlash against reviewers for liking Wonder Woman 1984, December 2020.
- Dani Di Placido at Forbes on the internet’s response to films like Wonder Woman 1984 and TENET, December 2020.
- Tony Cantwell gets angry about The Rise of Skywalker while reviewing Cats for Tony Cantwell’s Sh!tshow, December 2019.
- Bill Desowitz at IndieWire looks at some of the innovative animation techniques in Soul, December 2020.
- Ramin Zahed at Animation Magazine looks at the craft at play in Soul, October 2020.
- Matt Jones writes a tribute to Ronald Searle at Cartoon Brew, January 2012.
- Sonaiya Kelley at The Los Angeles Times looks at how Pixar crafted “the Great Before” for Soul, December 2020.
- Dan Sarto at Animation World Network on how Pixar animated the inhabitants of Soul, December 2020.
- Anna Menta at Decider on Pizza Rat’s cameo in Soul, December 2020.
- Richard Gonzalez at Latinx on the production and development of Coco, October 2017.
- Lee Unkrich talks to The Verge about the pressure of producing Coco, November 2017.
- Shea Serrano discusses the joy of representation in Coco at The Ringer, November 2017.
- Charles Solomon at The New York Times talks to Pixar about making their first movie with an African American protagonist, December 2020.
- Kemp Powers talks to The Washington Post about his work on Soul, December 2020.
- Kemp Powers talks to Slate about the challenges of crafting Pixar’s first black protagonist, December 2020.
- Mike Jones and Kemp Powers talk to Slate about working on Soul, December 2020.
- Kemp Powers talks to The Los Angeles Times about the breakout success of Soul and One Night in Miami, January 2021.
- Daveed Diggs talks to The Guardian about collaborating with Pixar on the making of Soul, December 2020.
- Pete Docter talks to Star Tribune about the challenges of writing Soul, December 2020.
- Margaret Troup at Iowa State Daily talks about the recurring trope of transforming black characters in animation, May 2020.
- Sydneye Olkowski at Media Milwaukee discusses the trend of transforming African American animated characters into animals, December 2019.
- Christi Carras at The Los Angeles Times reports on the complaints about Tina Fey’s use of blackface in 30 Rock, June 2020.
- Roxana Hadadi at Vulture writes about the “handsome man” from Wonder Woman 1984 at Vulture, December 2020.
- Darren Mooney and Jack Packard review Wonder Woman 1984 for The Escapist, December 2020.
- Dana Murray talks to Polygon about the development and evolution of Soul, December 2020.
- Pete Docter talks to /Film about how Soul was inspired by his own children, November 2019.
- Pete Docter talks to Insider about how Soul also developed in response to his Oscar win for Inside Out, November 2020.
- Shaye Weaver at TimeOut looks at how Soul understands New York City, January 2021.
- Brittani Tuttle at Attractions Magazine talks to the cast and crew of Soul about how the film evolved, December 2020.
- Mekado Murphy at The New York Times looks at how Soul animates jazz, December 2020.
- Tara Brady at The Irish Times talks to the Pixar team about how Soul came together, December 2020.
- Michael Kaminer at The Jewish Chronicle on the influence of Jewish musicians of the evolution of jazz, January 2017.
- Kurt Schleier at The Forward provides a list of Jewish composers and performers who changed jazz, December 2014.
- Jamie Foxx talks to Variety about the importance of accuracy in the portrayal of black culture in Soul, December 2020.
- Mackenzie Dawson at The New York Post discusses the cultural importance of the barbershop to African Americans, September 2020.
- Monica Torres at The Huffington Post on Soul as a cautionary tale about obsession, January 2021.
- Tina Fey and Jamie Foxx talk to Entertainment Weekly about their work on Soul, November 2020.
- Petrana Radulovic at Polygon looks back on the troubled production of The Emperor’s New Groove, June 2020.
- Sting talks to NME about his objections to the planned ending to The Emperor’s New Groove, December 2000.
- Nivea Serrao at SyFy talks about how Pixar portrayed and developed the afterlife in Soul, December 2020.
- Felix Salmon review Matt Yglesias’ One Billion Americans for The New York Times, January 2021.
- Jacob Bacharach critiques Matthew Yglesias’ One Billion Americans for The New Republic, September 2020.
- Dan Seddon at Digital Spy looks at the arc (and deleted resolution) of “Mr. Mittens” in Soul, January 2021.
- Meghan Cooper at Ja Monkey discusses a number of hidden easter eggs in Soul, December 2020.
- The Laughing Place confirms that John Ratzenberger made a physical cameo in Soul, December 2020.
- John Boone at Entertainment Tonight talks to the production team at Pixar about alternate endings for Soul, December 2020.
- Dave Gonzales at Vanity Fair on the manipulative and misleading marketting of Avengers: Endgame, April 2019.
- Darren Mooney reviews Soul for Escapist Magazine, December 2020.
- Darren Mooney reviews Soul for the m0vie blog, December 2020.
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Filed under: This Just In | Tagged: African American, black, death, deirdre molumby, graham day, jamie foxx, jazz, meaning of life, pixar, soul, the great beyond, tina fey |
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