While we are now awash in public expressions of hysteria directed towards Muslims, the voice of fear in American society has always been there in one form or another. Witness The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the forced removal of Japanese-Americans to internment camps during World War II, and the on-going discriminatory laws against blacks…
She enters in a swan boat to a meager audience barely populating the struggling studio wherein her talk show is being recorded and aired for the first time. Her is she. She is me. Me is Alice Klieg. Alice is a Californian divorcee in her early 40’s who has been fighting against mental illness for…
Perhaps there’s irony in the fact that it took Disney buying Pixar, sucking the animation giant into the maw of the even bigger animation giant, to jump start the studio’s feature animation production and give it the creative spark that once gave Pixar an arm up on its now parent company. Or perhaps it’s just…
2014 is, apparently, the year for the unconventional hero movie. Marvel struck gold with “Guardians of the Galaxy” this summer and now Walt Disney Animation is bringing Big Hero 6 to theaters this winter. Loosely based off of a Marvel comic miniseries of the same name, the family friendly pic revolves around an inflatable healthcare…
The feature directorial debut of Dan Beers, Premature, doesn’t capture the complete or debaucherous high school experience like most of its raunch-fest predecessors (“American Pie,” “Superbad”) do, but the comedy is smart and in tune with a new generation of frustrated hornballs. At its heart is high school senior Rob (John Karna) and his world…
In a world of ice, Disney finds great warmth. It’s the sort of cutesy irony that sounds like it should be coated in sugar, but with Frozen, Disney takes the sweet concept and transforms it into their most poignant and powerful picture in over a decade. Or nearly even two decades if you consider that…
I suppose every new animated feature has to have a comic relief side-kick that follows in the footsteps of Scrat of “Ice Age” fame. In Walt Disney Studio’s Frozen that sidekick appears to be a snowman named Olaf. His purpose is unclear (other than to make the kids laugh) but from the synopsis of the…
