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.
This week, we’re kicking off a season focusing on the work of one particular director: Brad Bird’s The Iron Giant.
Hogarth Hughes is a lonely kid coming of age in fifties Maine, when he comes across a very strange creature living in the local wilderness: a gigantic metal man who has crashed on this planet from another world. The two strike up a deep and abiding bond. However, Hogarth very quickly discovers that other forces are also trying to track down his new friend.
At time of recording, it was ranked 250th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.
Show Notes:
- Recorded 20th October 2022.
- 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.
- The Iron Giant 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.
- Barry Hertz at The Globe and Mail argues that Tomorrowland is the best example of Brad Bird’s Objectivism, May 2015.
- Forrest Wickman at Slate discusses criticisms of Brad Bird as an “Objectivist” filmmaker, May 2015.
- Emily St. James at Vox discusses another round of criticism comparing Brad Bird to Ayn Rand, June 2018.
- Tom Huddleston Jr. at CNBC looks back on how Brad Bird got started in animation, June 2018.
- Ryan Lambie at Den of Geek looks back on the “dark phase” of Disney animation during the seventies and eighties, June 2019.
- Brad Bird talks to The New York Times about his time working at Disney, August 1999.
- Brad Bird talks to The Los Angeles Times about his early life and career, October 1999.
- Brad Bird’s pencil-test for The Spirit, 1980.
- Jim Korkis at Cartoon Research looks back on Brad Bird’s attempts to animate The Spirit, December 2019.
- Stephen Cavalier at Skwigly looks back on the impact and influence of The Family Dog, December 2014.
- Don Bluth writes at Vulture about collaborating with Steven Spielberg on An American Tale, July 2022.
- The Associated Press discusses Steven Spielberg’s plans to launch a series of animated films and shows with Warner Bros., January 1989.
- Dalin Rowell at /film looks back on the short but influential history of Amblimation, September 2017.
- Brad Bird talks to IndieWire about what he learned from working on The Simpsons, April 2015.
- Brad Bird looks back on some of his animation work for The Simpsons, October 2018.
- Brad Bird discusses directing the iconic Do The Bartman music video, November 2020.
- Jake Rossen at Mental Floss looks back on Brad Bird’s attempts to make Ray Gunn as his feature film debut, July 2016.
- Christopher Marc at The Playlist looks at reports that Brad Bird’s next film will be Ray Gunn at Skydance, February 2022.
- Alex Dudok de Wit at Cartoon Brew looks back on how Don Bluth brought a host of American animation talent to Ireland, July 2020.
- Katie Notopoulos at BuzzFeed considers the hotness of the lead character in Disney’s Robin Hood, May 2015.
- Megan Kinch at Universal Cinema considers the “radical allure” of Disney’s Robin Hood, June 2020.
- Petrana Radulovic at Polygon looks back on the production of Quest for Camelot at Warner Bros., May 2021.
- Anita Gates reviews The King and I for The New York Times, March 1999.
- Roger Ebert reviews The King and I for The Chicago Sun Times, March 1999.
- Sam Adams at Slate considers the message and meaning of The Iron Giant, September 2016.
- Joe George at Tor.com argues that The Iron Giant is best understood as an anti-gun film, August 2019.
- Kirsty Puchko at Pajiba looks back on the personal tragedy that informed the anti-gun subtext of The Iron Giant, May 2018.
- Brad Bird talks to IndieWire about the production and release of The Iron Giant, August 2019.
- Brad Bird talks to Entertainment Weekly about animating The Iron Giant, August 2016.
- Drew McWeeny writes at Ain’t It Cool News about watching an earlier leaked version of The Iron Giant, February 1999.
- Ryan Lambie at Den of Geek looks back on how Snow White and the Seven Dwarves completely changed American cinema, February 2019.
- Kyle Wilson at Polygon contemplates the weight of history and representation pressing down on Bros, September 2022.
- Melanie McFarland at Salon discusses the botched marketting campaign for Bros, October 2022.
- Vince Mancini at Uproxx contemplates the lack of genitals in the remake of The Lion King, July 2019.
- Yohana Desta reports on the infamous “butthole cut” of Cats, April 2020.
- Amy Wallace at The Los Angeles Times looks at the prestige and high-profile production of The Prince of Egypt, November 1998.
- Jeffrey Katzenberg talks to The Tampa Bay Times about the production and development of The Prince of Egypt, December 1998.
- Brandon Zachary at Comic Book Resources looks back on Pocahontas and Tarzan as the end of the so-called “Disney Renaissance”, June 2021.
- Mari Ness at Tor.com reflects on the prestige-driven approach that Disney took to Pocahontas, February 2016.
- Mari Ness at Tor.com considers Tarzan as the death knell for Disney’s prestige-driven animated features, April 2016.
- Matthew Luhn shares Joe Johnston’s original sketch design for The Iron Giant, April 2018.
- Peter Hartlaub at The San Francisco Chronicle puts together an oral history of The Iron Giant, September 2016.
- Robert W. Welkos and Charles Solomon at The Los Angeles Times discuss the challenges facing The Iron Giant on its path to release, April 1999.
- Drew Turney at Inverse writes about how Marvel will farm out individual sequences to different effects houses to meet deadlines, March 2022.
- Charles Solomon at The Los Angeles Times talks about the difficulty convincing audiences to show up for The Iron Giant, August 1999.
- The Los Angeles Times reports on the small but enthusiastic response to The Iron Giant, September 1999.
- Patricia Ward Biederman at The Los Angeles Times reports on the popularity of The Iron Giant in the nominations for the Annies, October 1999.
- Patricia Ward Biederman at The Los Angeles Times reports on the success of The Iron Giant at the Annies, November 1999.
- Mekado Murphy at The New York Times discusses how the Iron Giant got folded into Ready Player One, April 2018.
- Zack Zwiezen at Kotaku muses on the incorporation of the Iron Giant into Multiversus, May 2022.
- Brady Langmann at Esquire discusses the cameo from the Droogs in Space Jam: A New Legacy, April 2021.
- Matthew Dessem at Slate reflects on the weirdness of the shared universe created by Space Jam: A New Legacy, July 2021.
- Charles Pulliam-Moore at The Verge looks at how Warner Bros. is killing Cartoon Network, October 2022.
- Sam Thielman at NBC News reflects on AT&T’s plans to vertically integrate Warner Bros. into their business model, December 2020.
- Chris Lee at Vulture looks at the merger of Warner Bros. and Discovery, August 2022.
- Brad Bird discusses the original end of The Iron Giant with Collider, October 2015.
- Anna Menta at Decider argues that Dean from The Iron Giant is hot, July 2019.
- Follow The 250 on Twitter.
- Subscribe to The 250 on iTunes.
- Subscribe to The 250 on Stitcher.
- Listen to The 250 on Soundcloud.
- Listen to The 250 on Spotify.
- Browse listening options at pod.link.
Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: 1990s, adults, animation, bird watching, Brad Bird, Cold War, disney, iron giant, kids, nineties, podcast, Russia, self-actualisation, sexy, studios, The 250, the cold war, Vin Diesel, warners |
the m0vie blog 
Leave a Reply