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…

The Mummy (1932) – Karl Freund

Somehow in my exposure to the Universal Monsters, and classic films I had missed this Boris Karloff classic that allowed the Mummy (Karloff) to join the ranks of such classic monsters as Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, The Invisible Man and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Now, thanks to DK Canada’s The Movie Book,…

Aladdin (1992) – Ron Clements and John Musker

The next recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my screening of The Lion King, is yet another modern Disney classic, and once again like Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid features music by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman. Featuring a wonderfully manic performance by Robin Williams as…

Chaplin (1992) Richard Attenborough

As I return to DK Canada’s The Movie Book, the next film they highlight is the Chaplin classic, City Lights. That is a title I’d previously reviewed, and so I dove write into What Else to Watch, as I had already reviewed his key movies, and the first one on the list I hadn’t previously…

Beauty And The Beast (1991) – Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise

The new classics of the Disney renaissance continue as the recommendations from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my screening of The Lion King brings me to Beauty and the Beast. Taking on the classic tale that had been visited in both film and television formats the story gets the Disney…

Cabaret (1972) – Bob Fosse

The next title on the What Else to Watch list in DK Canada’s The Movie Book, following their recommendation of Blue Angel (previously reviewed) is Bob Fosse’s 1972 Oscar winning classic. Starring Liza Minnelli as Sally Bowles, the film is set in Berlin. Sally, an entertainer in a local club, is the film’s centre but…

A Wrinkle in Time (1963) – Madeleine L’Engle

Somehow this was a book that slipped though the cracks of my childhood, and it never found its way home from the school library with me. I figured I am long overdue to review this one, and considering it’s considered a classic of both the science fiction and fantasy genres it was time to dig…

Ghost in the Shell (2017) – Rupert Sanders

Paramount Pictures’ live action adaptation of the classic anime, Ghost in the Shell, hits blu-ray and DVD today. I am going to eschew any discussion of the white-washing controversy surrounding the film’s production, and just focus on the movie itself. I love the original anime, and constantly saw it as kin to the cinematic version…