Earlier in the week, I had the pleasure of stopping by The Pat Kenny Show on NewsTalk to discuss the recent spate of remakes of classic films.
It was a pleasure to sit down with Pat and Charlene Lydon to discuss the recent trend, obviously attracting a lot of attention given the success of The Lion King and Aladdin.
Filed under: Movies, Podcasts! | Tagged: aladdin, Lion King, newstalk, pat kenny show, podcast | Leave a comment »
As well as counting down the top twelve films, I’m also going to count down my top twelve movie related “moments” of 2012. The term “moment” is elastic, so expect some crazy nonsense here. And, as usual, I accept that my taste is completely absurd, so I fully expect you to disagree. With that in mind, this is #1…
If you ever need proof of how delightfully absurd The Muppets was, the sight of Oscar-winner Chris Cooper dancing and rapping across his desk, only to unleash a storeroom full of chorus girls while Jason Segel looks on in confusion should do the trick. It’s a fantastic moment because it’s so ridiculously surreal. Cooper is rapping for about a minute of screen-time, meaning that it’s over before it has really begun – leaving both the characters and the audience wondering what the hell just happened.
In a great way.
Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Academy Award, amy adams, art, avengers, Bret McKenzie, Chris Cooper, Dark Knight Rises, film, Hollywood Reporter, jason segel, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Kermit, Lion King, Movie, multimedia, Muppet, New York City, popular culture, ricky gervais, Ty Burrell | 3 Comments »
You said you’d always be there for me! … But you’re not.
– Simba rages at the heavens
The Lion King is my favourite Disney film. I don’t know if I could argue that it’s objectively the best or anything like that, as I imagine that there are a lot of external factors that contribute to making a person’s favourite Disney films – most of which are matters of timing, with the film appearing at “just the right time”, to borrow a cliché. I was seven years old when the film was first released, but I don’t believe that I saw it in the cinema (hence my trip to the cinema to see it on re-release), so perhaps I was eight or nine when I first caught Disney’s adaptation of Hamlet. It’s a dodgy proposition revisiting something you loved as a child, as there’s a risk that the finished product won’t quite live up to your memories of it – perhaps because you say it differently through younger eyes, or because time has marched on, or because you’ve become too cynical. So, I was taking a considerable risk as the theatre went dark, wondering if perhaps I had made a mistake.
I hadn’t. Sometimes some things areas good as you remember them.
"The fault, dear Simba, lies not in our stars... but in ourselves..."
Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: disney, Disney Renaissance, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Lion King, Little Mermaid, Matthew Broderick, non-review review, review, simba, the lion king, The Lion King 3D, Walt Disney Company | 7 Comments »
So, yep. It’s a bad time for the US box office. The Lion King, a movie first released in 1994, managed to hold on to the number one spot at the top of the charts for two whole weeks, and ranking higher than any new release in its third week. If anything, the major movie studios have been very quick to jump on any trend that offers even the slightest hint of a money-making opportunity. It’s a trend one can easily see from the way that Hollywood pursues ideas. After Harry Potter was a breakout hit, every studio in town was looking for a young adult franchise to adapt to the big screen. After The Dark Knight, it became customary to plan for the superhero sequel before the original even hit theatres. It’s a trend even more obvious with technological gimmicks. After Christopher Nolan proved that you could make money in Imax, it seemed every other movie was being released in the format (even if it didn’t warrant it). Avatar led to a wave of 3D releases, which seemed to be growing old fast. So the success of a film originally released nearly two decades ago in the cinema, remastered in 3D, is pretty much assured to be the next big thing.
I'd be lion if I didn't admit I want to see it...
Filed under: Movies | Tagged: 3d, cinema, disney, films, finding nemo, george lucas, james cameron, Lion King, Little Mermaid, monster, Movies, originality, re-release, release, rerelease, Star War, the lion king, The Lion King 3D | 6 Comments »
I watched Tangled again this weekend with the family, and was quite impressed about how well it held together. It genuinely is the best animated picture that Disney has produced in quite some time, and I honestly hope that it is remembered fondly. As I was watching it, I noted that I really, genuinely disliked Mother Gothel. Gothel is hardly either the most quantifiably evil, nor violent, nor ruthless character in Disney lore, but she was still a great villain. That’s something I’ve always admired about Disney. While still maintaining a G-rating, the company is able to produce some of the most genuinely disgusting individuals ever put on film.
One evil mother...
Filed under: Movies | Tagged: animation, Claude Frollo, disney, Disney Villains, inglourious basterds, Lion King, List of The Lion King characters, mother gothel, scar, The Walt Disney Company | 9 Comments »
the m0vie blog 