Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971) – Yoshimitsu Banno

The next film in the Godzilla series is probably the most psychedelic entry to date, and even features brief animated sequences. It also has a pretty important environmental message. The newest threat for Godzilla, and humanity, to confront is an ever-evolving, and shape-shifting creature from outer space, christened Hedorah, by young Godzilla fan (who he…

TIFF 2021: Where is Anne Frank? dir. Ari Folman

Waltz with Bashir directot Ar Folman delivers a poignant animated feature, that touches on some important concepts, and ideas. Kitty is the imaginary friend that Anne Frank wrote to in her diary, pouring her thoughts and feelings, while documenting the events of her life, including two years of living in hiding from the Nazis during…

Star Trek: Short Treks (2018/2019) – Blu-Ray Review

This week my Trek Tuesday gets a little extra boldly go. This week, Paramount Pictures has released to blu-ray a collection of the Short Treks that were made in conjunction with Star Trek: Discovery. These are short side stories that give us glimpses of the Trek universe with character moments, or situations which we have…

Dumbo (2019) – Tim Burton

I’m not sure how I feel yet about Disney’s apparent need to revisit their classic animated films and turn them into live-action films with computer-generated animation. Are they worried that the relevance of their classic films has reached an end and want to revitalize what they see as diminishing returns on them? I’m not sure….

Treasure Island (1950) – Byron Haskin

Disney’s tale on Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic tale of pirates and high adventure is the first recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my screening of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl for the action genre. Disney branched away from animated shorts and films with this,…

The Breadwinner (2000) – Deborah Ellis

House of Anansi press has released an updated version of Deborah Ellis’ poignant and beautifully written tale, The Breadwinner. Aimed at younger readers, the book puts a face to stories that help the reader empathise and understand some of the issues that are taking place in Afghanistan. Canadian born Ellis has crafted a whole series, with…

Fantasia (1940) – James Algar, Samuel Armstrong, Ford Beebe jr., Norman Ferguson, David Hand, Jim Handley, T. Hee, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, Bill Roberts, Paul Satterfield, and Ben Sharpsteen

After Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Disney’s Fantasia, from 1940, was quite possibly the studio’s riskiest and definitely their most experimental film. Before 1938, the idea of animated feature was unheard of. The thought that a story could be created, and cartoon characters could be involving enough to carry an entire full length film…