Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 15th, 2009
“England. August in the year 1940. Again – A time for valor. A time of whispered events, now faded with the passing years.”
In 1971 what had not faded in the 7 years since its release was the enormous success of Walt Disney’s Mary Poppins. With its charming story and characters and the breakthrough special effects that the studio had developed, the film was a milestone for the entire film industry. I suppose it isn’t too surprising that the folks at Disney would want to try to recapture that success all over again.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 26th, 2009
“A dragon. A dragon. You bet we saw a dragon. So big and brave he came to save a village in distress. He kept the ship from crashing when he heard the SOS. He faced a group of villains and he fought them with success…”
When Walt Disney Studios released Mary Poppins, the entertainment world was turned on its ears. The integration of live action footage with animation had never been done with such success before. The studio that nearly singlehandedly perfected modern methods of animation was also the studio that learned how to combine it almost seamlessly with real breathing actors. With the release of Pete’s Dragon many years later, audiences couldn’t wait for a peek at how far Disney had perfected the process in those years. While as children we got a big kick out of Pete’s Dragon, anyone looking for the latest in integration technology was in for a dragon-sized disappointment. The creature effects bore no resemblance whatsoever to that earlier technique. The animation itself was crude, by Disney standards at least, and never, not for a second, appeared as if it existed in the same place as the rest of the film. The beast’s green color would fluctuate in hue as well as brightness. There were many obvious mismatches where the two media connected. Even many of the actors’ sightlines were far off the mark. Walt Disney Studios took several steps backwards with the 1977 release of Pete’s Dragon.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 9th, 2009
Dr. Stephen Arrowsmith is a haughty scientist who sees himself above such petty concerns as ethics. He has married his wife Muriel (Barbara Steele) for her money, and when he catches her in the arms of one of the servants (Rik Battaglia), he tortures and kills them both, cuts out their hearts, and uses their blood to create an elixir of youth for the maid/co-conspirator Solange (Helga Liné). He then marries the psychologically fragile Jenny (Steele again, now blonde), Muriel's heiress, planning to drive her insane and take control of the his dead wife's fortune. Sure enough, Jenny starts seeing things, but the ghosts she is seeing are real.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 7th, 2009
“Now this might be the room of any small boy, but it happens to belong to a boy named Christopher Robin, and like most small boys, Christopher Robin had toy animals to play with. And together they had many remarkable adventures in an enchanted place called The Hundred Acre Wood. But out of all of his animal friends, Christopher Robin’s very best friend was a bear called Winnie The Pooh.”
“Oh Bother”A.A. Milne was quite an eclectic writer. He wrote murder mysteries that even appeared on Alfred Hitchcock Presents. From that fertile mind would also come a place known as the Hundred Acre Wood. In that select place some of literature’s finest characters had the greatest adventures any boy could imagine. And adventures are certainly no fun on your own. Young Christopher Robin was joined by Piglet, Tigger, Owl, Rabbit, Eeyore, and, of course, Winnie-The-Pooh. Who didn’t fall in love with that silly old bear… Winnie-The-Pooh. OK, so maybe Dahmer or Bundy might have been exceptions. Still, anyone growing up in the last 30-40 years who isn’t a psychopath has had a love affair with Winnie-The-Pooh, all stuffed with fluff.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 19th, 2009
Made-for-TV crapper Depth Charge, a new action film starring Jason Gedrick and that B-movie slut brother of Julia Eric Roberts, hits DVD with a bare bones release you will welcome, if by chance, you happen to work for Upcoming Discs and want to get your next bad movie project over with as quickly as possible.All others may find it difficult mustering enthusiasm for what is essentially an ultra-low budget remake of Die Hard on a submarine.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 17th, 2009
Daniel’s Daughter comes to DVD with star Laura Leighton back in the spotlight. Unfortunately, it’s a pretty dim spotlight. Fans of Melrose Place may be happy to see her, but that happiness will be short-lived when they also realize what a flat-lined EKG her film turns out to be.It seems as though the emotional pulses of this film never rise above comatose, relating a love story that doesn’t deliver and characters that were dead on arrival with the first page of the script. Something feels off about the whole affair. The sets are gorgeous. The actors are capable. The story appears heartfelt. But that’s before it’s all set in motion. Overly melodramatic and flatly rendered, Daniel’s Daughter is a made-for-television movie in the worst sense of the term, whether it wants to be or not.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 13th, 2009
“Once upon a time in New York City…”
Walt Disney might well have been the storyteller of more than one generation of kids. Is it any wonder that when we think of such characters as Winnie The Pooh or Peter Pan our minds conjure the images wrought by Disney animators and not necessarily the classic literature descriptions? That might not be the case with this Charles Dickens story, retold through Disney’s trademark animal point of view. Oliver & Company doesn’t appear to have had the staying power of films both before and after its time. After watching the film again, perhaps for the first time since its 20 years ago release, I can’t imagine why it has never quite caught on. From a popular culture standpoint the film has all of the elements that have led to other more beloved Disney classics. The Dickens story is a familiar one, read by most literature students as a matter of course. Many of the era’s biggest names lent their voice talents to the characters, including Billy Joel and Bette Midler. The songs are about as catchy as anyone might have hoped for. Just what was it that relegated this little seen Disney adventure to the bargain bin of animation classics?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 28th, 2009
Mary Poppins was the subject of a series of books by P.L. Travers. Long before Harry Potter came on the scene, Mary was delighting children all over the world with her spectacular magical abilities. At the time Walt Disney was making a name for himself and his studio by bringing many of the children’s classics to the big screen. From fairy tales to Winnie The Pooh, the studio was providing the look and the soundtrack to the imaginative worlds already known and beloved by millions. It was a magnificent strategy, and it would pay off huge for the company. The problem with Mary Poppins was that it needed to be a live action film. Mary and her pals needed to appear as real people. The worlds themselves could be animated, of course, but Mary and Bert and the children had to be real. Walt insisted upon it. And so a painstaking effort was begun to bring the story to life on screen in a way no film had yet done before. The results were as magical as Mary herself and have captivated children of all ages ever since.
In the 1960’s Walt Disney was the center of some of the most groundbreaking f/x technology in Hollywood. Disney was that era’s Industrial Light & Magic. Even films not produced by the Mouse Factory went to their f/x wizards for their high end work. Films like Forbidden Planet made use of the Disney magic for a few of their trickier sequences. Mary Poppins is a wonderful example of the magic that Disney was capable of at the time. The film is a wonderful blend of live action and hand drawn animation work. The two worlds interface seamlessly even by today’s standards.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 4th, 2008
A combination of controversial subject matter and the physical transformation of Jared Leto garnered this film considerable attention (positive and negative). Leto here morphs into an uncannily accurate physical recreation of Mark David Chapman. The film follows Chapman on his fateful trip to New York City. Over the course of three days, he hangs around outside John Lennon's home, becomes friendly with fellow fan Lindsay Lohan, and endlessly ruminates about how the events in his life are paralleling The Catcher in the Rye, and (rather less explicitly) why he's going to kill Lennon.
Leto is unrecognizable, and disappears completely into the role. But is the film a good one? It is somewhat limited by the fact that nothing much happened during Chapman's stay in NYC prior to the murder, and so nothing much happens here, either, beyond Chapman acting so obviously insane it's a wonder no one had him locked up within minutes of arrival. Does the film give us some insight into the mind of the killer? Only a little. It hints at motivation, but those hints are only really clear if you're already pretty familiar with the case. In other words, the picture doesn't bring anything new to the table. It's a striking work, but not an altogether successful one.
