It is no surprise that 20 years later, Aladdin, quite possibly the most amazing and crowd-pleasing film in the Disney Renaissance, still holds up. While the film is ever more than the sum of its parts, two decades of having songs and characters ingrained in our brains and pop culture have shown just how transcendent the film was, and continues to be. A colorful mix of great voice talent, witty writing, dazzling visual splendor, and of course the songs that nearly everyone knows the words to contribute in making this animated effort an outstanding cinematic achievement. There are plenty of other places to find gushing and glowing reviews of this…
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Off the Shelf…’Cop Car’
In Jon Watts‘ simplistic thriller, Kevin Bacon portrays a shady police officer who oozes unsavory from the very first moment we see him. Forget that the film starts with him dragging a body to dump in makeshift, yet well-worn pit in some clandestine location. Most of the time, Bacon has a uniquely effortless way of telegraphing that he’s a bad dude with very little effort. Still, his insidious delivery can be as charming as it is nebulous. Playing a corrupt Sheriff, he’s prepared to go great lengths to conceal his nefarious deeds, but also keep the fact he’s a dirty cop under wraps. Yet, like a modern-day Scooby-Doo episode, he would have gotten away with it…
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Off the Shelf…Kenneth Branagh’s ‘Cinderella’
When a film is said to be “iconic”, it means that the story itself has become infused with a certain mythos, whereby the idea of said property is ever grander than the actual film. In instances like that, it really takes someone (or a studio) with a certain resolve to attempt to successfully retell a famous yarn. In the case of 2015’s Cinderella, a live-action adaptation offers the chance, an obligation really, to truly flesh out the story and make it memorable, in more ways than one. After all, Cinderella is a tale that has existed in cultures all over the world for, believe it or not, nearly 2000 years. It’s…
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Off the Shelf…’Walt Disney Animation Studios Short Films Collection’
Walt Disney Animation has always been at the forefront of the animation curve, and nothing says that more than a casual glance at their vast catalog of beloved and award-winning pictures. But while people will forever remember the accomplishments of the Mouse House, and the subsequent laurels and praise, there are many times where the feature is the end product of a lot of trial and error. To make things more clear, many films are the direct result of techniques and methods tested in a variety of the studio’s short films. Furthermore, some now famous directors and luminaries got their start with a trial run – once they showed competency and…
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Off the Shelf…Ernesto Díaz Espinoza’s ‘Redeemer’
Genre filmmaking staple, and Fantastic Fest regular, Ernesto Díaz Espinoza has been working with Marco Zaror for years. With each succeeding film, the two have been crafting yarns meant to be a little more serious than their B-Movie homages and send-ups from the glory days of VHS. Even if, like us, you’re a fan of Espinoza (check out our review of Bring Me the Head of Machine Gun Woman here), the Dark Sky trailers that precede this, his fifth feature, don’t give a lot of confidence. Yet one need not worry, this is not the pinnacle of Espinoza’s career. It’s an opportunity to let Marko Zaror be a badass, again. These days,…
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Off the Shelf…Disney’s ‘Descendants’
Disney’s latest foray in to live-action entertainment finds the studio dipping back into their vault, but they pull out something entirely unexpected and quite inspired. The alluring conceit in this original feature finds the most evil (and popular) villains from Disney lore have long since been exiled far from present-day Auradon where King “Beast” (from Beauty and the Beast) and Belle are getting ready to allow their son to give his first royal decree. What he says surprises them as he plans to give the exiled kids, who have done nothing wrong, a chance to grow up in Auradon. It’s true, they may be innocent, as it is their parents…
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Off the Shelf…’Big Hero 6′
With so many comic book properties having either run their course, or underwhelming at the box office, it’s great that fans of the genre are getting a breath of fresh air in the form of lesser-known properties. Big Hero 6, for those of you who don’t follow anything but A-list super heroes, is a Marvel property. Albeit an obscure one, sometimes it takes a horse of a different color to not only grab audiences, but keep them engaged. Given that Disney Animation has turned a corner in recent years (see: Wreck-It Ralph, Frozen) – not only embracing the digital realm but doing so with equal portions of talent and budget…
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Off the Shelf…’Porco Rosso’
Of all the fanciful adventures Hayao Miyazaki has taken the world on, fan-favorite Porco Rosso might just be the odd member of the family. A male-centric story about a fighter pilot, cursed to live life as a pig, doesn’t seem that odd or whimsical when you stack up the film’s brief synopsis against any other Studio Ghibli title. But while this story comes across as a breezy mix of ideas (and a quasi love-story), there’s a real sweetness to the themes, a fun sense of adventure, and lots of laughs. There are also plenty of lovable characters in Miyazaki’s love letter to the films right out of Hollywood’s golden age. At GoSeeTalk, we are…
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Off the Shelf…’Pom Poko’
Without fail, and regardless of the plot, there are a number of similar and familiar themes running through every Studio Ghibli feature. Yet among the most prominent – feminism, and characters far removed from their element or comfort zones – environmentalism is a common through line. Co-founder Isao Takahata isn’t normally known for a lot of levity or fluff in his films. Think about Grave of the Fireflies and The Tale of Princess Kaguya and it’s easy to imagine Takahata as the Felix Unger to his partner, and fellow Studio Ghibli co-founder, Hayao Miyazaki. Pom Poko is rife with weighty and mature themes. At the heart of the film is the message…
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Off the Shelf…’Tales From Earthsea’
Even now, more than a year after the announcement, the world continues to reel from the news of Hayao Miyazaki’s retirement. His swan song was the well-received and beautifully haunting The Wind Rises. Yet it wasn’t the first time he hinted at bowing out. Of all the animators out there, it was thought that another Miyazaki would keep the studio banner waving. In fact, this particular Studio Ghibli film is directed by his son Goro. We first took a look at Tales From Earthsea years ago, and we were really hoping that now, after a third outing, it would have grown on us. Considering the talent involved, even on the dubbed…
