If you go down in the woods today, you’re sure of a big surprise If you go down in the woods today, you’d better go in disguise For every bear that ever there was Will gather there for certain because… Read More ›
animation
“Goodbye, Don Glees!” Hello, innumerable possibilities.
As long as there are children who grow into adulthood via adolescence, there will always be coming-of-age stories. They may not be indicative of your experience, but they will speak to the universal ideas of growing up, shifting from an… Read More ›
Revisit the wild landscape of “Cool World” in a brand-new collector’s edition from Shout! Factory.
There’s a romantic notion that “there’s someone for everyone,” and it isn’t just for the lovesick or lovelorn. This very much applies to the arts where something you create may not be for a wide audience, but that doesn’t mean… Read More ›
Get the full experience of Mamoru Hosoda’s “BELLE” through the 4K UHD collector’s edition from Shout! Factory and GKids Films.
After hitting the festival circuit in 2021, writer/director Mamoru Hosoda’s musical drama BELLE landed in select U.S. theaters in January of 2022 and then shelves the following April. Both times, my reviews of the film lauded the look and sound… Read More ›
Keep the beat whenever and however you like with “Vivo” on home video.
The recent go-to writer for making a family film, especially one with music, is Lin-Manuel Miranda. He’s not just the mind behind global phenomenon Hamilton, he’s the lyricist behind Moana (2016) and Encanto (2021). It makes sense, then, that if… Read More ›
Blast off into a spacetime adventure with Buzz Lightyear anytime you like with “Lightyear” on home video.
With sequels, prequels, and legacy sequels all the rage as a means of tapping into pre-existing IP to create media for consumption, that Disney/Pixar would reach into their catalogue to do the same is neither unheard of (The Lion King… Read More ›
Next time on Crunchyroll Movie Night: an old foe returns in “Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero.”
It’s fair to say that in the pantheon of manga-adapted anime series, Dragon Ball is among the greats. Starting as part of Shueisha’s “Weekly Shonen Jump” in 1983, creator Akira Toriyama’s series has taken on many iterations (Dragon Ball, Dragon… Read More ›
Open Dialogue with “LEGO Star Wars: Summer Vacation” actor Yvette Nicole Brown.
Yvette Nicole Brown is an acting and voice talent with connections to Community, the MCU, DC, and the Star Wars properties. Today on Open Dialogue, she chats with Noel T. Manning II about Chewbacca, Troy and Abed, and the Russo… Read More ›
Anachronistic musical fusion “Inu-Oh” adapts an old story to tell a very modern tale of artistic freedom and personal identity. [Fantasia International Film Festival]
One of the oldest storytelling conveyances is the oral tradition. Before we could write or read, we spoke and the sounds we made transfixed audiences, transporting them to times before their present. With the advent of the written-word, one might… Read More ›
Good news! “Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko” arrives on home video with our two-hours of bonus materials.
The latest GKids Films release, Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko, is set to arrive on home video from Shout! Factory with a host of special features that celebrate the last adaptation of author Kanako Nishi’s work. In this case, the adaptation… Read More ›
Get your order of “The Bob’s Burgers Movie” to-go smothered in bonus feature sides.
According to the “Making of the Movie” featurette featuring Bob’s Burgers creator Loren Bouchard, the inception point for the film began with the two-night Bob’s Burgers Live shows from 2017. Before switching to a fairly detailed walkthrough of the process… Read More ›
Turn down the lights, pop some corn, and snag your favorite candy to celebrate the home release of “Pompo: The Cinéphile” with a well-deserved movie night.
It all begins with three words: Lights. Camera. Action! Sure, with the changing of technology, the specific terms have changed, but they all go back to these three. Three words which, while not large, immediately call to mind tales of… Read More ›
No need to pull a heist, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment is sending the “The Bad Guys” to your home.
Mr. Wolf, Mr. Snake, Mr. Shark, Mr. Piranha, and Ms. Tarantula. Without hesitation, any cinephile will think you’re talking about Quentin Tarantino characters whose origins either come from Reservoir Dogs (1993) or Pulp Fiction (1994). In reality, these are the… Read More ›
Before there could be “Toy Story,” there was “Lightyear.”
In 1995, Pixar’s first film, Toy Story, tapped into the imaginations of filmgoers young and old through an adventurous animated story of friendship told from the perspective of toys, specifically, a group of toys owned by a young boy, Andy… Read More ›
Phil Tippett’s “Mad God” is a gem…an oozing, ugly, horrid gem.
As much as I find amazement in the animation work of studios like Pixar and DreamWorks and feel the warmth of a hug in the hand-drawn animation of Studio Ghibli and Folimage, stop-motion always has felt like the pinnacle of… Read More ›
“Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko” with lots of love, and that’s all you need.
Author Kanako Nishi has written 22 novels, as well as assorted illustrated and nonfiction works. Five of her novels have been adapted for theaters with her 2011 novel, Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko, being the fifth. This adaption, a collaboration between… Read More ›
“The Bob’s Burgers Movie” is a savory self-contained story, creating no onion-tended consequences for future episodes.
After 12 seasons to the tune of 237 episodes, the Loren Bouchard-created animated family comedy Bob’s Burgers jumps from the small screen to theaters worldwide (no one tell Bob). The long-running series has already released four-albums-worth of music from its… Read More ›
No case too big, no case too small: “Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers” return in an adult-centric adventure.
Originally introduced in 1943, animated chipmunks Chip and Dale made the jump from animated shorts to home release tales and then, in 1989, to broadcast television when the duo was remade into detectives for the series Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue… Read More ›
Let the gales of song guide you to director Mamoru Hosoda’s “BELLE,” coming to home video from Shout! Factory and GKids Films.
One can never really predict what we’ll discover with art — what emotions, what memories, what reactions will be triggered through an artist’s work. When I first learned of writer/director Mamoru Hosoda’s BELLE, I presumed, like most, that it would… Read More ›
Available on home video, you can ride or die with “Turning Red” never leaving your side.
After landing on Disney+ in March to a largely positive bang, director Domee Shi’s feature-length debut Turning Red is headed home for purchase. Much like the Oscar-winning Encanto from Walt Disney Animation Studios, Shi’s Pixar film explores generational trauma through… Read More ›