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There is always Alexander. Nobody expects you to pretend to like that.
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I generally agree, though I did watch an old Gerswhin biopic recently that was pretty entertaining. Alan Alda’s dad played the main man, and a guy who really was a friend of Gerswhin’s played himself, Oscar Levant. Best part was how seriously the movie’s makers took the music itself, recreating it wonderfully well.
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As we bid farewell to the Cartoon Network website, which, as of a couple days ago, now redirects to Max.com, why not watch some animation?
Circles (Oskar Fischinger 1933, Germany)
Some abstract animation to kick off our little program. Fischinger started directing in Germany during the silent era. In 1936, when Paramount offered him a job in the US, Fischinger jumped at the chance, as his work was considered degenerate art by the Nazis. He never stayed with any US studio for very long, as there wasn’t much market for this sort of thing, but he did work on the Bach section of Fantasia, although his ideas were generally rejected as being too abstract.
Birthday (Janno Põldma 1994, Estonia)
An early short from Põldma, a film director and children’s writer who is probably best known for the Lotte series, although not so much in the US. This experimental work was designed by children and features a brief cameo from the star of one of our other films.
Legal Smuggling with Christine Choy (Lewie Kloster 2016, US)
Kloster specializes in animated portraiture, with a heavy focus on people in the arts. This documentary, his first as director, gives us an anecdote from Oscar nominated documentary director Christine Choy.
Goof Gas Attack (1962, US)
This is, of course, Rocky and Bullwinkle, a complete serial from end to end, without all of the interruptions that were featured in the show. In this saga, Boris and Natasha stupefy America’s geniuses with “goof gas.” They don’t bother with the politicians, as it seems unnecessary.
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (Arthur Rankin Jr., Jules Bass 1985, US/Japan)
The very last of the Rankin/Bass stop motion films, based on a novel by Wizard of Oz creator L. Frank Baum. Beautifully designed, arguably their best looking effort. Extremely non-traditionally plotted, beginning with a gathering of a group of Immortals debating on whether or not Santa should be granted immortality. (Of course, the other Rankin/Bass films tended to be bizarre as well, but the shared mythology of the various holiday films seemed to make that more easily acceptable. This Santa film doesn’t even have Mickey Rooney!)
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This theatrical animated feature film was produced based on the first color Japanese TV animation series, “Jungle Emperor” (also known as “Kimba the White Lion”) broadcast in 1965. The film, released in no less than 39 countries, received the San Marco Silver Lion Prize at the 19th Venice International Film Festival in 1967.
The story of Leo, the white lion that serves as the King and guardian of animals in the African jungle is vividly portrayed with vibrant animation and rich music that captivates the audience, delivering powerful messages about peace. This time, the channel presents a 4K remastered version of this timeless work inspiring many artists over the years. By the way, many may recall the significant debate sparked among the media in Japan and the U.S. following the release of The Lion King in 1994, highlighting the similarities between the two works. It might be a way to enjoy the work with such a point of view.
OFFICIAL SITE – [TEZUKA OSAMU OFFICIAL]
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If you are in Japan, you can watch for free “Like the Clouds, Like the Wind”, a Studio Pierrot´s cartoon by Hisayuki Toriumi, made with the help of a lot of people who used to work at Studio Ghibli.
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Do you dig Kubrick?
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The whole film for free from an official source! Pretty impressive!
If you haven’t seen it, check it out, it’s great!
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A little known movie, but one of my favorite, is the one his son made, Muppets in Space. It has that same joy that Jim Henson had. It was shot in Wilmington, NC, where I lived.
His son was really into funk, and it has one of the best soundtracks of any movie ever.
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Got around to watching The Iron Claw…
A lovely film about a very tragic family…
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What I love about Kubrick is that his films are all so different from each other, and mostly are even totally different generes from each other. Spartacus, Dr. Strangelove, A Clockwork Orange, 2001: A Space Odyssey… how did these all spring from the same mind as the director of a 18th-century period piece that required special lenses to film scenes by candlelight? That’s one guy who never fell into a creative rut.
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Good to hear that my instincts were apparently right about this stinker:
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For Dylan pics I’d recommend Todd Haynes’ I’m Not There, an obvious choice, and Masked and Anonymous, which almost all the critics hated, but I thought was great. Its portrait of the US as a banana republic is more and more accurate these days.
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Yes, I did like the much more thoughtful Haynes film (the Jacobin writer also cites it as a better biopic, of sorts). I’ll have to dig up Masked, thanks!
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For the last few years my son has been celebrating the new year by creating short animations using characters that had just fallen into the public domain. First Oswald, then Mickey, and now Popeye. (Although the spinach thing isn’t public domain yet)
Next year he’ll probably do something with Betty Boop.
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Nice work!
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I should probably clarify that Masked and Anonymous is not a biopic, but it stars Dylan, it’s full of his music, and he co-wrote it, so it’s definitely got a lot of him in it.
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I just binged Junior Taskmaster. If you are familiar with regular Taskmaster, it is basically the same thing but with 9-11 year old kids. That sounds like it could be a disaster, but it was much more fun than I expected. The choice of hosts and contestants was great and they changed just the format just the right amount, i.e. not that much. The biggest departure is that it is a mini tournament with five sets of contestant. It is a bit unfortunate that we see so little of most of them, but I can see how a full season might have been overwhelming.
I think they chose a good age range. The kids are old enough that they are familiar with the regular version and they get the format, but they are young enough that they are clearly children and free from teenage insecurities and cynicism.
The whole thing is on Youtube: fully officially for countries without their own Taskmaster, less officially for the rest.
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Great movie! As a long time Muppet fan, I know it.
Used to listen to Gonzo’s sad song on repeat back in the day.
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For my birthday, we went to the movies to see Nosferatu…
Very well done film! Lily-Rose Depp is great in it, as is Nicholas Hoult… But Depp had to do some incredibly physical and emotional work in this one. She’s a much better actor than her father ever was.
Worth seeing in the theater if you can!
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