Turner Classic Movies and Disney: Unite!

You wonder what took so long! When the Disney/MGM Studios (now Disney's Hollywood Studios) opened, the center piece attraction was the "The Great Movie Ride" which highlights some of the most famous film moments in silver screen history.  Disney had negotiated rights to use many of MGM's greatest cinematic moments, including the Wizard of Oz and Singing in the Rain.  The MGM library ended up in the possession of Turner Broadcasting in 1986 and Turner Classic Movies went on the air in 1994 and now its quite full circle.

  The Great Movie Ride is set to receive a TCM-curated refresh of the pre-show and the finale.  The finale will feature an all-new montage of classic movie moments, which has been updated over years but will now get a glossy major makeover, expecially with more access to classic movies. The TCM-curated refresh is set to launch by spring.    The part that is equally exciting to me is that TCM will launch Treasures from the Disney Vault, a recurring on-air showcase.  This is similar to the Vault Disney program that ran on The Disney Channel in the early 2000s.  These programs have been sorely missed and many are not even available currently anywhere. Programming will include such live-action Disney features as Treasure Island (1950), Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959) and Pollyanna (1960); animated films like The Three Caballeros (1944) and The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949); classic nature documentaries, including The Living Desert (1953) and The African Lion (1955); made-for-television classics, such as the Davy Crockett series; special episodes from Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color; documentaries about the studio, including Walt & El Grupo (2009) and Waking Sleeping Beauty (2010); and animated shorts, such as 1932's Oscar®-winning "Flowers and Trees."
 
It is likely that some of the other animated features could be presented at a later time.  And unlike the current Disney Channel format, they would not be broken up with spot breaks and announcements.  These could be given all new introductions by Robert Osborne and Leonard Maltin, just think of it!


Treasures from the Disney Vault is scheduled to premiere on TCM Sunday, Dec. 21 at 8 p.m. 

The big opening night of the showcase will include the holiday and winter animated shorts "Santa's Workshop," "On Ice" and "Chip An' Dale," followed by The Disneyland Story. The night will also include The Reluctant Dragon, Disney's 1941 film that combined a live-action tour of the Walt Disney Studios facility with animated shorts; Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier (1955), a compilation of the first three episodes of the iconic series starring Fess Parker; the Oscar®-winning documentary The Vanishing Prairie (1954), part of Disney's True Life Adventure series; the rarely seen Third Man on the Mountain (1959), an Alpine tale starring Michael Rennie and James MacArthur; and Perilous Assignment (1959), a documentary about the making of Third Man on the Mountain. Did you know that the Matterhorn ride at Disneyland was inspired by Third Man on the Mountain?

Jersey Boys - the movie!

It opened on Broadway in 2005 and then Las Vegas had a exclusive contract to run the show for several years, which kept it from touring the southwest.  The show did finally make it around in 2011 to little fanfare, but since the film release, it seems to be playing stronger houses than ever. I just missed in during its OC run, but I plan to catch it on stage in October when it plays LA.  My point here, I never saw the stage production before seeing the film.  I know the music, I had a vague idea of their background but really, I went into it with modest expectations.

The Four Seasons, Tommy DeVito (Vincent Piazza), Nick Massi (Michael Lomenda), Frankie Valli (John Lloyd Young), and Bob Gaudio (Erich Bergen) each tell a portion of their story. Each was supposed to also represent a season in their representation of the story line.  This was not really clear from my point of view and perhaps it is more apparent on stage.  The boys really made sure during those early days to keep their personal history a secret, so as to maintain the squeaky clean image. But like almost every entertainment success story, there was some drama and darkness behind the curtain.

The biggest surprise to me was that Frankie Valli, at least in his younger days, always tried to do what was right. He put as much priority on his family that he could, he backed up his friends and held strong to his Jersey street ethics.  What seems to have been downplayed in the film is the significance of Bob Crewe's lyrical contributions. Bob Gaudio composed the music but the words were Crewe's.

I've seen many of Clint Eastwood's movies. He's a director that focuses on human relationships. There was plenty of attention paid to the interactions of these people: the band, their families and the people that made the Four Seasons who they became. What I would have enjoyed more was some creative cinematography. It did unfortunately seem to suffer from time to time from being a stage adaptation. Most of it was excusable, except... when we flash forward to the the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame appearance in 1990. The old age make up in closeups was just too distracting and no believable. It took me out for a moment.

The performances were solid. Not many of us know what the other three guys acted like or sounded like off stage, so it was easy to accept them in their roles. DeVito and Massi were drawn as caricatures mostly, with DeVito being the Jersey tough guy and Massi being the simple minded bass singer. Massi contributed greatly in real life to Valli's performance style and DeVito was the guy who put the group into motion.  All but Piazza played their respective roles on stage at some point. Bergen also has bragging rights to having been fired from the Vegas cast several years back.

The movie is actually very family friendly with no nudity and only some adult language.  It's music you know and a great time in the theater.  Who knew Joe Pesci was so musically influential?

"Nebraska"

Nebraska is not a road trip movie, it's not a character study, it's not a father and son tale.  The film is about focusing on what you want and remain determined until you get what you want, but be realize that getting what you want may lead to disappointment.

Bruce Dern plays Woody, an aging married man and father of two adult sons.  He is well into his golden years and lived a hard life following his time serving in the Korean War. He is also one of the youngest of a large family of brothers.  He grew up in Hawthorne, Nebraska but raised his family in Billings, Montana.  After Woody receives a letter from a magazine company telling him that he's won a million dollars, he is bound and determined to travel from Montana to Nebraska to pick up his winnings.  His younger son, David (Will Forte) agrees to drive Woody there, since he can no longer drive.

On their way, they two end up staying with family in Hawthorne and he is reunited with family and old friends from the neighborhood.  Through some miscommunication, Woody becomes very popular in the town and everyone wants some attention from him.  Through these interactions, we learn more about him and the lives he's affected throughout his life.  This is all contrary to him, a man who is not prone to speaking much and does not seem to carry even an ounce of sentimentality.  Whether due to mental illness, aging senility or just personality, Woody is only semi-present in the here and now.

The scene stealer is Woody's wife, played by June Squibb.  She is the balance in the relationship. Where Woody rarely speaks, his wife Kate always speaks her mind and has an opinion about everything.  As with many couples married for decades, she seems exhausted by Woody but deep down still cares about the man and will defend him when necessary.

Alexander Payne films are notable for portraying real-life and reflecting on some of the more depressing aspects of living. My experience with his other films are that the characters are solid, the performances are strong and the film will leave you feeling sad but satisfied.  That holds true for this movie as well.  This film did not have some of the trademark "shocking" sequences seen in prior films, like Kathy Bates naked in a hot tub.  It did not need them.  Nebraska is much more focused and deliberate.  The dreariness is magnified through the use of black and white.  The soundtrack reflects the droll northern mid-west life, where this is not much going on. Little employment, little hope.  Woody has lived his life out and realizes there is only two things he still wants after picking up his million - a new truck and an air compressor.  With those things, his life is complete.

While I have been trying to write about every new movie (or new to me movie) in the past year. I have realized that I can only really write something when I am moved either from hate and disgust or from enjoyment.  Nebraska is a film I enjoyed. The "R" rating was only for language and mild violence.

"Saving Mr. Banks"

It's been an exciting couple of years for me. First they make a big-screen bio pic of one of my cinema heroes: Alfred Hitchcock. (I'll pretend The Girl, the less-flattering HBO bio pic, didn't happen) and now Saving Mr. Banks. Of course, Saving Mr. Banks is not really a movie about Walt, it's more of a bio pic of P.L. Travers, the author of Mary Poppins.  It is, however, the first time that Walt Disney has been featured PROMINENTLY in a major motion by an actor.  What's more is that the struggle to get Mary Poppins made, itself, makes for a great story and turned into a wonderful.

The film tells the tale, with use of flashbacks, as to just how personal Mrs. Travers held the characters from Mary Poppins.  We see the relationship between Travers and her doting father who had his own demons to deal with.  Disney struggled for 18 years to convince Travers to adapt the books into a film. Like many, she saw Disney as a guy that makes cartoons for children. She was deathly afraid of the characters being trivialized, animated and candy coated. This is another film where we know the ultimate conclusion, she allowed Disney to have the rights to the character, but it was not without a lot of charm from Walt, the Sherman Brothers (song composers), Don DaGradi (screenwriter) and likely many other people from the Disney camp. The process to convince Travers to allow Disney the rights to make the film is the framework for the film.

I was packed into a theater with hard-core Disney fans who signed up for the Disney Parks Blog meet-up, so this was an audience that really wanted to see this film done right. I think I can speak on behalf of the majority and say the film was "practically perfect in every way." Hanks as Walt Disney did the man justice. He was not a caricature, but actually portrayed Disney at his essence. He still looked like Tom Hanks, but there was just enough make up and hair styling to allow you to forget that it was him. Emma Thompson was wonderful and I was able to completely believe she was Mrs. Travers.

Of the many things I love about Disney - the institution, is Disneyland. I recall last summer when all they were filming a couple of key sequences inside the park. I was unable to get over there that day, by my Disney social media friends provided plenty of coverage on Twitter and Instagram. The moment I was most looking forward to seeing was when Travers was brought to the park for a personal tour by Walt Disney, himself.  The park has evolved a lot since 1963, when that meeting actually occurred. Other than the addition to a few elements at the entry to the park, there was little done as far as set dressing to date the park back to the 60s. Instead, the art designers focused on the clothing worn by the extras. They were really the only thing you could see in focus, as the rest of the back was merely a background.

The film, Mary Poppins was Walt Disney at his finest. We've seen through time that Mary Poppins was the pinnacle of live action films while Walt was alive. The film was released in 1964 and Walt passed away just two years later in 1966.  By all acclaims, Travers remained critical of the film, even after it's release. She continued to hold tightly onto the rights. It was only after she passed away that a stage musical version of Mary Poppins could even be considered.

Dorothy, Meet Metallica

In the last couple of weeks, I have watched my first two IMAX 3D films. First, I was able to catch The Wizard of Oz up at the TCL (Grauman's) Chinese Theater. Then, last Friday night, I sat with a large crowd at the local AMC IMAX in Riverside to catch Metallica: Through the Never. These are the perfect juxtaposed films to discuss in a single post, in my opinion.

I am not a big fan of 3D, but I am a little more forgiving when the movie was at least shot in 3D. The Wizard of Oz has seen numerous restorations and re-releases. The last digital restoration was in 2009 and now we have another restoration along with a 3D conversion. I found the 3D titles to be captivating but as for the rest of the film, the 3D was basically detectable in only a handful of sequences. Overall, I found it unnecessary. That being said, the film looked fantastic in IMAX. The fear of a large grainy, blown up image, was put at ease. There were some fantastic details I had not seen, such as the rivets on the Tin Man.  I also noticed that the fishing line holding up the Lion's tail was non-existent in this version.  Overall, I was once again reminded that films that were never intended in 3D, should just stay that way, in 2D.

There was something very enjoyable about hearing Judy Garland sing "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" in IMAX proportions. The same can be said for watching James Hetfield sing "Master of Puppets" in the third dimension, as well as in front of a wall of sound.  I am not a huge Metallica fan and was the only male audience member not wearing a Metallica shirt, but I was surprised by the fact that I was familiar with every song played in the movie. That could also be due to the fact that it was basically a "greatest hits" type of set list.  But he movie was not just a concert film. There was also a thin plot about a young roadie who was tasked to go retrieve a bag from a truck that had run out of gas in the middle of the city. A crazy adventure ensues that involves riots, angry dogs and a living doll.

Through The Never, reminded me about the last concert film I saw in a theater, Shine a Light, the Rolling Stones film from 2008. Much like the Metallica film, it showcased a band that is timeless, sharp as ever and the definition of longevity.  This was the perfect time (August 2012 concert dates) to put Metallica on 3D film.

Both The Wizard of Oz and Metallica: TTN, had small releases, just over 300 screens. It is hard to say if there will be a profit made in the box office.  Through The Never had a $18 million dollar budget and getting Oz into 3D was north of that amount.  Oz will continue making money, regardless. It is available tomorrow on Blu-ray and in 3D, if you've got the equipment for that.  And Through The Never will likely recoup it's investment via DVD and soundtrack sales.  Maybe it will turn into a IMAX midnight movie, who knows?

"Blue Jasmine" (2013)

I like movies. I especially like when I get to go watch movies by made by auteurs.  I enjoy Allen's films but I have not seen all of them, in fact, I've seen only a handful, but I have enjoyed most every one.  During my 7:30 show last night, I again also had the privilege of being the youngest audience member. I'm 37, so I'm not a kid and I should say that the theater I attended usually has a disproportionally high amount of seniors that come to see movies there.  It could also be said, film buffs aside, that few people under 40 would venture out anymore for a Woody Allen film.

The film tells the story of Jasmine, who's life has undergone some major changes recently in her life and we are witness to what brought her to this point.  Honestly a big attraction for me to come see this film was to see Andrew Dice Clay in a straight role. I had heard a recent interview with him and he was very excited to have been part of this film and having the chance to work with Woody Allen. Clay was truly a highlight to the movie. Allen has three talents: writing, directing and casting.

After catching on that the film uses sudden and frequent flashbacks, I found that I really wanted to see more interactions between married couple Jasmine (Cate Blanchett) and Hal (Alec Baldwin).  It was not necessary, however, because their relationship is established with very little exposition needed.  Look out also for a hilarious but short cameo from baby-faced Max Casella, who was almost unrecognizable and appears to finally have done some aging.

Again, with my limited familiarity with Allen's full canon, I can't help but think he definitely harbors anger against women. The lead role of Jasmine is put through the ringer of modern day turmoils: monetary, relationships, family and mental health.  Part of Allen's persona has always been his self-deprecating nature, which is often portrayed onscreen by Allen himself or whomever the male protagonist leads the film. In the case of Blue Jasmine, the role of Jasmine could be interpreted as a female representation of himself, complete with neurotic tendencies and dependent on psych medications.  The film has some really funny moments, but it is more of a drama than anything. 

The recent Allen films have used big cities to feature heavily in the film. I'm especially thinking of Midnight In Paris and To Rome with Love. Blue Jasmine predominantly takes place in San Francisco and uses the city for some fantastic background settings. It's an engaging film. Go see it.

The Lone Ranger - not a review

Today, The Lone Ranger opens. Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer star in Disney's new film and attempt at a 3rd Johnny Depp franchise for the studio, right behind Pirates of the Carribean and Alice in Wonderland, which has a sequel in the works. I have not seen the movie yet, although I think I want to. My kids, ages 6 and 8 want to see it. This could partially be due the fact that they have been inundated with ads on Disney XD about the movie.

It's no secret, the film is getting really bad reviews. This is not a complete surprise, merely due to the fact that there were production problems. Production on the film was shut down for several months after it had began in order for the studio to rework the budget. It also has had it's opening date moved three times, which sometimes is another red flag. Although, to be honest, it got moved to 4th of July weekend due to another studio pushing their big film release back, thus freeing up this big holiday weekend.

Reviews of the film seem to be universal in their critique at the films length and plot. Again, I haven't seen the movie yet, so I cannot comment on the plot. It does seem that perhaps they tried to hard to force a franchise and by using the Pirates template should have made it a slam dunk.  I am dreading seeing the comparisons that will be made this weekend to the release of John Carter last year and it's devastating box office numbers.  Sadder yet, the box office will be dominated by Universal's Despicable Me 2, an animated film from a rival studio.

I will get around to seeing the movie soon and I will give my own thoughts shortly. Meanwhile, I am still trying to find time for that other box office failure, The Hangover 3, which I am still looking forward to see, for real. I love those characters.