"Grease" is a song written by Barry Gibb and recorded by Frankie Valli as the title song for the film Grease in 1978 (which was based on the earlier stage musical of the same name).  Released as the second single from the “Grease” soundtrack, it quickly become a smash. Entering the Billboard Hot 100 at #69, it climbed to the top of the chart thirteen weeks later.

Gibb was commissioned to write the title track and the song was recorded separately from (and later than) the rest of those in the film. Valli was approached to provide the vocals, due to his vocal range being similar to that of Gibb and his status as a popular singer from the era that Grease represented.

"Grease" was one of four songs in the film that had not been part of the original musical, and it was the only one not performed by the cast. Valli had been offered the part of the "Teen Angel" (which ended up being played by Frankie Avalon) but chose to sing the theme song instead, stating that although that character's song ("Beauty School Dropout") did not chart as a hit, both Valli and Avalon profited mightily from their respective appearances through album royalties, and thus the choice worked out.

The film's opening title sequence animation was created by animator John David Wilson's Fine Arts Films studio. The still caricatures of the film's stars were done by Mort Drucker, the famed cartoonist from Mad magazine.

For Fun: Here's My Favorite Disney Songs That Were Deleted/Changed In The Final Film (Part 4)

"Someday" was meant to be Esmeralda's song in Hunchback of Notre Dame, but was replaced by "God Help the Outcasts" in the final version. It was sung over the credits, however, and both would be sung in the stage adaptation.

"Shooting Star" was the original "I Want" song from Hercules, but was cut for being "too soft". I could take either or, but "Go the Distance" is still a classic.

"I Can't Believe My Heart" was Meg's original song. It was cut for similar reasons as "Shooting Star". I definitely prefer the version we got.

Stephen Schwartz, who wrote the lyrics for Pocahontas and Hunchback with Alan Menken as well as all the music for Wicked, was originally tapped to write the music for Mulan. He left early in production to work on the music for "The Prince of Egypt" at DreamWorks. "Written In Stone" is the only song of his version available to listen to. It would've been in the spot where "Reflection" exists in the final film.

Speaking of "Reflection", when composers Matthew Wilder and David Zippel joined the film after Schwartz left, they wrote a much longer version of the song. The fact that this version is not in the film is a crime.

"Keep 'Em Guessin'" would've been Mushu's song as he introduces himself to Mulan, but Eddie Murphy's dialogue worked much better, and made things much more succinct. The song is enjoyable imo, tho.

Famously, Disney was working on a film set to release in late 2000 called Kingdom of the Sun. It was a sort of an Incan retelling of The Prince and the Pauper, with some magic and gods thrown in for good measure. It was supposed to be another grand musical on the scale of The Lion King, even sharing its co-director, Roger Allers. To match that scale, they brought in musician Sting to write the songs, thinking he'd bring the same energy that Elton John brought to Lion King's songs. Sting and co-composer David Hartley wrote three songs for this version. The first, "Walk the Llama Llama", would've been the opening song. It was to be sung by the main character, Pacha (here played by Owen Wilson), a teenage llama herder who coincidentally looks exactly like the spoiled teenaged Emperor Manco (played by David Spade). The song is Pacha expressing his love for the llama as he herded them. Pacha's singing voice would've been Sting himself in the final film. There also would've been a reprise halfway through the film and at the end, though nothing from these reprises has appeared online. Unfortunately, the only clean version of the song is this country-fied version by Rascal Flats on the Emperor's New Groove soundtrack.

The second song, "Snuff Out the Light", would have been sung by the villain of the film, Yzma (as played by Eartha Kitt). In this version, Yzma would have been an aging sorceress who hated the sun for causing her wrinkles. She would've discovered that Manco and Pacha swapped, and turned the real Pacha into a non-speaking llama. She would've manipulated Pacha into doing what she wanted. She planned to summon the Dark God, Supai to block out the sun so she wouldn't grow old. This song was fully recorded, and the sequence had quite a bit of animation finished on it before the story changed.

The third song, "One Day She'll Love Me" would have been the love song of the film, and been sung by Pacha and the emperor's betrothed, Nina. Pacha has fallen in love with Nina, but feels guilty for living a lie. Nina is starting to fall in love with him, but still believes he's Manco, and doesn't know why he's changing.

Continued in Part 5!

The secret of Nimh was Don Bluth's debut as an independent animator, fresh out of working at Disney and disappointed with how Disney storytelling was going.

"We haven't been telling better stories than Snow White, and we should be. We're doing the same thing over and over again, but we're not doing it any better. Yet we know enough now so that we should be preparing the films in which the color and the music and the layouts and the backgrounds all change to fit the moods of a story in which everything combines to touch you. The pictures now are entertaining, they're fast-paced, and they're clear. Walt had all those things, and he touched you besides."

-interview with Don Bluth

So does the movie hold up to these ideals? Well after watching it, I'd say yes and no. First of all, the art is fantastic, it's absolutely beautiful and there were many moments that made me go "wow". Nimh absolutely holds up in terms of art and animation, with little details in the background that would catch my eye that made the world feel really "alive". The soundtrack also added to the feel of the movie, with orchestral scores that added to many of the beautiful visuals. But I am not here for just the animation and the music, I also watched for the story, and the story simply does not hold up. The first half of the movie has poor pacing, and the characters don't hold much appeal. Specific ones that caught my attention were Jeremy the crow and Mrs. Brisby, the main character. Jeremy might be one of the most insufferable characters in all of animation, if you haven't watched Nimh, picture Genie from Aladdin with all his charm removed. Every scene Jeremy appeared in, I immediately wanted to dart away from the movie. He is just insufferable as a character, not charming, nor funny, nor entertaining. Mrs. Brisby is the opposite, where the problem is for the majority of the movie, her character is pretty blank, and I consider her one of the blandest main characters of all time. Most of her character is being concerned about her son Timmy and being the wife of Mr. Brisby. The Bechdel test is a meme these days, but watching this movie made me understand why it was made. The rest of characters range from unlikable to bland, there isn't much of a reason for you to feel for any of them, root for the heroes, or feel anger towards the villain. Even if you don't mind the characters, the story as a whole doesn't really get interesting until halfway through, when Mrs. Brisby finally gets into the Rats of Nimh's hideout and learns the backstory of them. I remember watching this movie once as a kid as a Blockbuster rental and the backstory scene was the one that stuck with me and still is striking to me as an adult. If there's one specific scene from this movie to seek out, it's that. Sadly even after the backstory, there's still a lot of empty holes in the movie's story that aren't patched out and a lot of questions left about the world that are never answered. I like a good mystery, but NIMH has too many and the audience will go in and out of the experience with as much information as Mrs. Brisby does. Which is next-to-nothing.

------

TLDR;

✅ What I liked:

Great animation

Great score

Fantastic backstory scene

❌ What I didn't like:

Left too many questions

Characters range from outright insufferable to bland

Doesn't pick up until halfway through

Overall ranking:

At the end of these I like to ask: "is it a good replacement for Disney movie?" For those who want to live a hypothetical Disney-free life for themselves and their children.

For The Secret of Nimh, I think it solely depends on which era of Disney you are referring to. It's a good replacement for a 70s Disney movie, back when they were releasing stuff like "The Rescuers" and "Robin Hood". Not so much for any other Disney eras. The fantastic animation is the highlight of Nimh, but everything else, sadly, has aged poorly and no longer holds up in the modern era of animation storytelling.

Chip ‘N Dale Rescue Rangers Gets Physical Vynil Album From Disney Music Emporium and Walt Disney Records

Some times, some crimes and soundtracks go slipping through the cracks.....

Disney Music Emporium and Walt Disney Records has revealed that a special vinyl edition of the official soundtrack to the Primetime Emmy Award winning film, Chip ‘N’ Dale Rescue Rangers is now available.

Enjoy The Toons Records in partnership with Walt Disney Records, Disney Music Emporium and Enjoy The Ride Records, is proud to present the premiere vinyl release for Walt Disney Pictures and Mandeville Films "Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers". A comeback 30 years in the making, Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers catches up with the former Disney Afternoon television stars in modern-day Los Angeles. In this hybrid live-action/CGI animated action-comedy film, Chip and Dale are living amongst cartoons and humans in modern-day Los Angeles, but their lives are quite different now. It has been decades since their successful television series was canceled, and Chip voiced of John Mulaney (Sony Pictures Animation "Spiderman Across The Spiderverse" franchise, Dreamworks Animation "Puss In Boots: The Last Wish") has succumbed to a life of suburban domesticity as an insurance salesman. Dale voiced by Andy Samberg (Sony Pictures Animation "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse"), meanwhile, has had CGI surgery and works the nostalgia convention circuit, desperate to relive his glory days. When a former castmate mysteriously disappears, Chip and Dale must repair their broken friendship and take on their Rescue Rangers detective personas once again to save their friend.

Featuring the fantastic score by Brian Tyler (Illumination "The Super Mario Bros Movie"), featuring "Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers Theme" Performed by Post Malone , and "Disney Afternoon Theme / Whale Rap Performed" by Andy Samberg, John Mulaney & Nathaniel Motte. Notably, the album is available on Chip N' Dale Stripe colored vinyl.

Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers (2022) is one the attempts from Disney to bring the beloved The Disney Afternoon characters and shows to a new generation of fans, other projects include DuckTales (2017) with 3 seasons now streaming, Darkwing Duck and TaleSpin with upcoming animated reboots by Point Grey Pictures and Disney Television Animation and a live action Gargoyles reboot from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse Television set for Disney+.

My favorite Ghibli film

Spirited Away was the first Studio Ghibli movie, I saw in cinema. Or rather, it was the first Studio Ghibli movie that was actually shown in a cinema when I was a kid. And really, I would love to watch this movie again in cinema, because it is just so hecking beautiful!

It still is my favorite Ghibli movie and it is by far the Studio Ghibli movie that I have seen most often. And it is fascinating how even now rewatching the movie still lets me see new stuff and realize new aspects of the story.

Miyazaki always has, politically speaking, been very based with his stories. Note, that we can have a long conversation on how he treats his workers concerning crunch, but that does not change his politics as displayed in those movies.

And Spirited Away is not different, there, with the entire bathhouse functioning as a metaphor for capitalist exploitation and the pressure of foreign interest.

It should be noted, too, that this movie in its core is a movie of that lost decade. For those who do not know: After the end of World War II, Japan experienced a massive economic boom that lasted them for decades. And then, in the early 1990s, there came the economic bust. A lot of people lost their jobs. A lot of companies had to close down. A lot of stuff that had been build for entertainment and the like closed down with not even enough money to tear it down.

As Chihiro and her parents come out through the tunnel, her father notes that this has to be "one of those old amusement parks", which refers to that exactly. (Please note: It is actually something that shows up in anime movies released since 2000 a lot. That there are old and abandoned amusement parks that just stand there and rot. Just from the top of my head movies that feature this include "Lu over the wall", "Suzume" and "Drifting Home".) I do assume that the mixture of "old amusement park" and the themes of the movie is tied to the Shinto idea that old abandoned things will usually becomed spirited.

Something I still struggle with interpretation-wise is the duality of Yubaba and Zeniba. Given they both are very heavily coded in Western (mostly Slavic) imagery, I do think they are somehow linked to the idea of foreign interest and their exploitation. But... Reading the movie like that... What is it about Zeniba, who is a positive force in the movie.

But... Even without those readings it should be said that the movie is just a wonderful movie about coming of age and all those sweet things. There are so many great scenes - and also the soundtrack just slaps so hard.

God, I love this movie.

Is It Really That Bad?

Disney and Dreamworks have been locked in combat since day one, and honestly, can you blame them? The Katzenberg/Eisner feud is pretty legendary, with both men taking potshots at each other in films, and the drama behind stuff like A Bug’s Life and Antz has been done to death. The thing is, in the early years of Dreamworks, it was pretty clear that no matter how hard they tried, Disney was the one who was taking the Ws when it came to the cinemas. Stuff like Sinbad and The Road to El Dorado were flopping pretty hard, and while The Prince of Egypt was a success, the failure of the former two ended Dreamoworks’s hopes of ever competing with Disney in the 2D animated market. What’s a studio to do in a situation like that? Well, someBODY ONCE TOLD ME...

Shrek didn’t just solidify Dreamworks as a contender, that movie changed the course of animation in the 2000s all on its own. With its snarky humor, pop culture references, awesome pop soundtrack as opposed to musical numbers, and celebrity cast, Shrek codified many trends for animation going forward—for better and for worse. But whatever impact the film had pales in comparison to one simple, unignorable fact: This movie came out on top over Disney. It won the first ever Academy Award for Best Animated Picture, and considering how long Disney was in that game that must have really fucking stung. While Disney spent the early 2000s floundering and releasing flops that would only become cult classics later, Dreamworks was riding that green wave Shrek produced all the way to the bank. What’s a studio to do in a situation like that? Well, someBODY ONCE…

Oh no.

Chicken Little was Disney’s blatant attempt at making their own Shrek (with blackjack! And hookers!), but to say that things didn’t pan out well for Disney there is a vast understatement. Michael Eisner made sure to meddle as much as possible, turning a more straightforward adaptation of the fairy tale into a snarky, self-deprecating comedy about baseball and aliens, which certainly is a choice. This choice had some dire consequences; while not a bomb by any means, the film ruined the already-struggling career of The Emperor’s New Groove director Mark Dindal, producer Randy Fullmer left Disney with Dindal and went into making guitars, and ultimately Eisner himself became a victim of the film as well, with it being the final blow to his tenure at Disney after a decade of failed investments. Eisner ended up passing the torch to Bob Iger, who turned out to be a better leader than Eisner who never did or said anything quite as stupid!

Audience reaction to the movie has always been pretty mixed, to say the least. Reviewers on YouTube such as Schafrillas, Doug Walker, and Mr. Enter have used the film as their punching bag at various points, with the latter in particular helping shape the image of Buck Cluck as Disney’s most vile father figure. Audiences these days aren’t particularly receptive to it either, with most people considering it Disney’s absolute worst film, though there are nostalgic viewers with a soft spot for it. I first watched the film myself a few years back, and I was thoroughly disgusted and unimpressed by what I saw; for the longest time, I had it higher than Doogal on my list of the worst films ever. Fucking Doogal! Can a film really be that bad?!

Well, I decided to give it a second chance and find out if maybe my perception was just colored by all the negative reviews. Is Chicken Little really that bad, or is this just a so-so Shrek ripoff that people overreacted to?

THE GOOD

Most of the characters in this movie are actually decent, even if they’re a little cringe. Chicken Little himself is a likable dork, which only makes all the suffering and setbacks he goes through that much harder to watch; I think they made him too likable, y’know? His friend group is pretty solid as well, with Abby being an okay love interest, Runt being a nice guy (or maybe I should say Nice Guy considering what he does with a bimbofied Foxy Loxy at the end), and Fish Out of Water being a cute “lol so random XD” character. They aren’t the best thing ever, but they’re all pretty decent. I can see why Zach Braff likes voicing the title character so much, and it is cool he got to be in the best Kingdom Hearts game, so that’s something!

Though of, course none of them hold a candle to the absolute Chad that is Morkubine Porcupine, a character so fucking cool that he refuses to give this movie the dignity of more than three single words out of his mouth. If he had more dialogue, the whole movie might collapse under the sheer power of his voice. He’s like Black Bolt, except a porcupine, and in a marginally better piece of Disney media.

There’s a great sequence at the end of the movie that has a Pee-wee’s Big Adventure-esque film within the film about Chicken Little’s exploits… except he’s a ridiculously buff rooster voiced by Adam West in a film that looks like an insane version of Star Fox from the brief clips we see of it. Runt is in there as a hardcore, ugly warthog and Abby is an overly-sexualized space bimbo, but I’m not even particularly bothered by the fact they gave the girl chicken breasts because Adam West’s chicken breasts are so much more massive. 

The entire scene, as brief as it is, is delightful thanks to West being West, and it honestly makes you wish that the whole movie was just a ridiculous space battle adventure… And everyone’s wish was granted when they released a pretty good video game based on this silly concept!

Of course, as is typical of any Disney movie, the best part is without a doubt the villain: Buck Cluck, Chicken Little’s own father.

 In his youth, he was a strapping sports star, and because of this he feels a deep sense of shame at his son’s wild antics and is completely unable to relate to him. He constantly puts him down in front of others to try and salvage his own reputation, throwing him under the bus at every opportunity and refusing to support him. And even after Chicken Little pushes himself to the limit and becomes a baseball star all so he can earn even the slightest smidgen of his father’s respect, Buck is quick to cast him aside once more all so that he can try and keep the dignity among the townsfolk he mooched off of his son’s victory. Buck Cluck is the proto-Mother Gothel, a distant and absent parent for the ages, and one of the most despicable foes the studio has ever produced. Hell, I might even go as far as to say he’s one of the greatest villains of all ti-

Wait, hold on. I’m being informed that Buck… isn’t intentionally a villain? He’s supposed to be… sympathetic…?

THE BAD

I’VE COME TO MAKE AN ANNOUNCEMENT! BUCK “THE CUCK” CLUCK’S A BITCH-ASS MOTHERFUCKER!

Ok, ok, let’s be serious for a second. I’m gonna get a bit controversial here, but Buck Cluck isn’t nearly as evil as people make him out to be.

Let me explain: While the film’s narrative completely and utterly fails to make his redemption feel earned at all, it’s not like he was ever really intentionally or even physically abusive like Frollo, Gothel, or Lady Tremaine were. Buck Cluck has a very real problem a parent can have, in that he has a hard time relating to his son while being a single parent that is likely still dealing with the loss of his wife. The issue is the movie doesn’t bother trying to flesh him or his feelings out and tries its damndest to make him look like a good guy all while he emotionally neglects his child.

All this being said, his vocal performance from The Princess Diaries director Garry Marshall is actually pretty great, he gets a few good jokes here and there, and it’s actually really endearingly goofy when he overcompensates with loving his son in the third act. While I’m never going to stop treating the character like he’s Chicken Hitler, I want it to be clear that my jabs at him are very much in the same vein as someone like Huey Emmerich. The difference, of course, is that Huey is an intentional case of making a character you love to hate, while Buck is accidental. And that’s why this segment is here, in “The Bad” part of the review: The movie failed this man so bad that he is put alongside characters like Shou Tucker, Ragyo Kiryuin, and Fire Lord Ozai in animated parent rankings. How do you fuck up that badly? Mainly by deleting the scenes where he actually gets development or characterization beyond being a lousy parent, that’s how!

These writing issues don’t just affect Buck, though; literally the entire movie is as messy as that Kentucky fried bastard’s characterization. The main issue is with the story itself. Now, when you have a movie called Chicken Little, you kind of expect an adaptation of the fable of the same name. And since this is Disney, you wouldn’t be stupid to assume that’s what they’d do, considering adapting fables, myths, and fairy tales is basically their bread and butter. But that is decidedly not what they did here; instead, they decided to make Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius by way of Shrek, because movies like that were popular at the time, and what we’re left with is a film populated by mean-spirited jerkasses who do nothing but dump on our likable main character as he takes part in a story to win the love of his dad via baseball that suddenly, out of completely nowhere, turns into an alien invasion movie about halfway through. Absolutely none of these elements work well together, and the film comes off felling like it was stitched together from unrelated scripts and turned into an unholy Frankenstein of bad ideas.

Not helping helping the disjointed story are the desperate attempts to seem cool. I like Morkubine Porcupine, he’s one of the better gags in the film, but he is so plainly a desperate attempt at creating an ensemble darkhorse that it hurts (the fact it actually worked in spite of this is nothing short of miraculous). The humor is very much aping Shrek, with lots of snarky humor and mean-spirited characters which ends up not working because it’s too cruel, and even ignoring that the pop culture references (a staple of Dreamworks at the time) just all come out of nowhere. Why is the fish reenacting King Kong? Why are these animals watching Raiders of the Lost Ark, and why is Indy still a human? Why did Disney think referencing the lemming suicide myth was a good idea when they literally perpetuated that myth by driving lemmings off a cliff for a movie?

Then there’s the animation. It is so blatantly obvious that this is Disney’s first time making a fully computer animated movie without Pixar’s help. A lot of characters look really unpolished, and even worse is that a lot of the characters are extremely overanimated. If you wanna see what I mean, watch Abby at the end of the dodgeball scene when she’s talking to Chicken Little. She just never fucking stops moving! Once you notice it, it becomes really distracting.

But by far the worst thing this movie does is the constant needle drops. This movie would make The Super Mario Bros. Movie blush with its overuse of licensed music, and it sure feels like Suicide Squad took notes from this because they cram so many tracks in here it’s not even funny. Sometimes they even just have thew characters sing them because… who fucking knows. Barenaked Ladies gets a pretty fat W with their song “One Little Slip” playing over our introduction to Chicken Little, but after that we either get the most obvious songs possible for any given seen (“It’s the End of the World as We Know It” plays over the alien invasion at the end, because of course it does) to “what the actual fuck is this doing here in the movie” (“Wannabe” by the Spice Girls is sung by Runt and Abby during a karaoke session, proving that canceling the Spice World review was not enough to save me from this band).

IS IT REALLY THAT BAD?

Alright guys, here comes my hottest take ever: Chicken Little… isn’t that bad.

Now, don’t get me wrong! This movie is still not really good at all. It’s disjointed, mean-spirited, confused, and stuffed to the brim with the tropes and trappings of every bad animated movie of the 2000s. But all of that is also what helps make this so genuinely fascinating! When Dreamworks did stuff like this, it was whatever, that studio is a rising contender in the animation game… but this is Disney! This is THE animation studio, the biggest around, and they’re making every single mistake possible because they want to try and beat Dreamworks at their own game, and they are failing at it! It’s honestly so funny that they tried to make their own version of Shrek without any sort of understanding of what made Shrek work.

But even beyond that, even though this movie is bad, it’s not really worse than Shark Tale is, and that is a premier so bad it’s good film. Really, this movie is the opposite of that film in many ways. Where that film had a world that was too overly nice and propped up the shittiest main character animated at the time, this movie has an insanely cruel world where the sweet, charming, heavily traumatized child is incessantly beaten down and belittled to the point you half expect him to try and dive headfirst into a deep fryer; where that film had a single generic plot that was at least remarkably consistent, this film has two separate plots that don’t go together at all and just end up making both halves of the film feel stupid and pointless; and where in that film Oscar is desperately seeking love from his peers due to his sheer selfishness, Chicken Little just wants the love and respect of his father. Pile on that the mountain of similarities, from the overuse of lame pop culture references for the sake of pop culture references gags to the bland love interests, and you have the Awesomely Bad Animation Double Feature of your dreams.

So yeah, I think the rating it has is about what it deserves. This is easily one of Disney’s weakest entries for sure, but it’s not without its moments and it has some amusing jokes, charming characters, and Adam West as a buff space chicken. If you go in with lowered expectations, you might be amused, but honestly I get why this film is so absolutely despised. It really isn’t great at all, and is firmly in the “so bad it’s good” category. You can’t really expect much more from a movie that presents a character whose biggest crime was just being an asshole getting their personality overwritten with a girly-girl one that the comic relief fat guy insists is perfect as a hilarious joke and then leads into a dance party ending where the whole cast sings Elton John.

...Or you could expect more if it weren’t for that son of a bitch Buck Cluck. Fuck that guy.

Week 1 Blog Essay

Kyle Ryan

April 14th, 2024

The film that I have decided had the single most impact and influence on me as an individual and the film I rewatched this week was Spider-Man Into The Spider verse. I understand that initially, it may sound cheesy or just plain dumb to say a superhero movie ended up having the most impact on me out of all of the great movies I’ve seen, but the one-of-a-kind flashy and unique look of the animation in combination with the incredible soundtrack and story was my main inspiration for me choosing to pursue editing for a future full-time career, with this clip from the movie sticking out in particular, it being deemed the leap of faith.

This clip embodies the progression Miles Morales had gone through throughout the movie to be able to finally have the necessary control of his powers to gracefully swing out of the fall from the skyscraper, and in that moment he pulls the mask over his face and it solidifies him as Spider-Man. This is because the idea of Spider-Man throughout the movie is that Spider-Man is not simply one man, but rather anyone who is brave enough and willing to take that leap of faith as Miles had finally become strong enough to do. This movie was the first of its kind when it comes to the unique style of imagery Into the Spider-Verse has, and I believe this was a major contributing factor to the film's irrefutable success. The film was created using a budget of $90 million and by the end of its run it had ended up making around $384 million worldwide for a profit of around $294 million in total, and that's not even including the absurd amount of money they’ve made with merchandise from the film like action figures, toys, etc. This statistic was a little surprising from memory just because of the sheer amount of money it made, but I remember the movie being a success and hearing everyone who had watched it had loved it. Though animation tends to cost much more than filming traditional live-action, it’s clear to see that the first-of-its-kind animation style was a common reason for people to go out and see the movie. While the animation was a big selling point, for some it also meant they were immediately not going to watch the film because many people will not want to watch animated content. In addition to the use of a widely known and beloved character like Spider-Man and the soundtrack featuring popular music artists like Post Malone and Lil Wayne, having these large names certainly helped bring people to theaters. These big names and massive budgets also align this movie much more towards the conventional movie side as opposed to the unconventional side. It's safe to say that this movie was absolutely a critical success achieving a 97% on rotten tomatoes and as the movie has gone on, even with the release of a sequel, it is still considered by many to be the single greatest comic book superhero movie ever to be released still to this day. One very important topic that was heavily utilized throughout the movie was the idea of breaking past barriers and actualizing the true potential all of us are capable of. Miles Morales as a character has been a symbol for equality and representation for Black communities as well as Puerto Rican communities as well and the idea in this film is centered around this one quote which the movie even ends on, that being “Anyone can wear the mask. You can wear a mask. If you didn't know that before, I hope you do now.” It's clear to see how some people of minority groups could be empowered or inspired by quotes like these or scenes like The Leap of Faith. Some would say that the film failed in one of its goals to act as a film to empower minorities as only 2 years after its release in 2018, in 2020 the George Floyd tragedy and protests ensued, however, the character Miles was thought of by some as the goal to strive for when it comes to the honor, selflessness, and bravery he exhibits to the extent of some people even wearing Spider-Man costumes at Black Lives Matter protests as can be seen in this image from the 2020 protests.

It’s not for me to say whether these issues have improved or worsened, but I can say that there are most definitely issues with discrimination upon people’s race still present today.

Hyperfixation Talk: Lion King

Now this may come as a surprise to some of you but I’ve had an on/off fixation with the original 1994 animated film for roughly 20-some years. Of course I grew up listening to the soundtrack on cassette and rewatching the film on VHS more times than I can count to the point I do, in fact, have certain parts of dialogue stuck in my brain.

You might be thinking, that’s all well and good but here’s some… trivia you might not know.

The Stampede sequence had to have a completely unheard of, at the time, computer program made and implemented in so the herd wouldn’t bump into each other while going through the gorge.

The fire effects during the final confrontation on Pride Rock was sort of an accident. But the team really liked how the effect looked so they kept it in.

The ending sequence of Be Prepared with the cracking ground was heavily inspired by an earthquake that happened near the animation team working on the west coast at the time.

It took 25 years after the film was released for the full score to be released, which included demos of some of the tracks.

On the subject of the animation team, they were actually the “B Team” at the time while the more experienced “A Team” was working on Pocahontas. We see which film did better

okay I’m currently going through my Spotify wrapped through the years and it’s a mess

2016: we don’t talk about it… lots of music my mom listened to and she basically shaped my taste in music back then. The songs are pretty alright… but then there’s some songs I don’t wanna talk about because it’s embarrassing (generic pop and other stuff you listen to at 13), bit of twenty one pilots tho… I found them in this year

2017: experimenting with music myself… we have twenty one pilots, against the current (a LOT), Dat Adam (also a lot), some kpop, generic pop and still some mom influences from the year before

2018: a BIG mess… from the descendants soundtrack over my chemical romance/twenty one pilots/fall out boy over the same kpop from the year before over some 80s bangers over piano music to dubfx/monolink (electronic/dance/reggae) with some more 2016/17 mom influences and don’t forget the basic pop

2019: uhm can you tell trench released end of the year before? Definitely… the whole album and more twenty one pilots is featured predominantly in this year… loads of 80s, billie eilish, some fall out boy/p!atd… and some pop (that is getting better tho) and the same electronic/… mix

2020: twenty one pilots obviously, cavetown, ajr, (children’s) film music and random songs I thought were cool… dinosaurs in love (a highlight), Lorde, still the electronic/… mix, oh and girl in red

2021: all the gay™ songs, one direction/Louis Tomlinson/Harry Styles (yep, I had my 1D phase… like 10 years too late), Grace Vanderwaal was a big one, Ruelle (yes, I also had my shadowhunters/Malec phase)… still twenty one pilots, but not as much

2022: glass animals (yes, dnf phase)… still the gay™ songs, lots of songs I heard in series/movies, twenty one pilots, 80s stuff (I listened to music for 105.706 minutes that year… that’s 1761,76 h… or 73,41 days… or 10,49 weeks… or 2,62 months)

honestly I’m glad my taste in music is getting better… I can’t even look at the 2016 playlist without wanting to slap my younger self into some senses (I mean the good foundation of knowing who twenty one pilots were were there, I just didn’t really use it)… 2018 for sure was my self discovery phase and I think 2019/2020 was when I finally discovered my taste in music (it’s still all over the place but at least it’s music I actually enjoy)

Honestly I might even know what my 2023 wrapped kinda looks like… but I guess I’ll only see in like November…

🎶Get wild and tough! Get chance and luck!🎶

My City Hunter collection. City Hunter, created by Tsukasa Hojo, is my favorite anime of all time! I got introduced to this series by my mom. She's always been a huge fan of Jackie Chan and because he made a loose City Hunter adaptation in the early '90s she discovered the City Hunter anime and manga through it!

Originally, the City Hunter anime was licensed by ADV Films (A.D. Vision Holdings) but they went under back in 2009 and the City Hunter license was neglected until it was aquired by Discotek Media. I always wanted to physically own all of the City Hunter series but unfortunately I couldn't afford it back then. After it was rescued by Discotek I pounced on it as fast as I could.

The original manga was released here in English by Raijin Graphic Novels, but they only released 5 of the volumes out of a 35 volume series. There was also a weird bit of editorial commentary in between panels that they did. I only own 2 of these volumes.

I also have the first part of Cat's Eye, another series created by Tsukasa Hojo and set in the same universe as City Hunter, but I still need to get the final second half.

To this day, City Hunter has my all-time favorite soundtrack in anime, rivaled only by the stellar Bubblegum Crisis soundtrack!

Disney's 'Wish' is Disappointing.

RJ Winter

[This review contains spoilers for Wish (2023)]

Before I watched Wish, I did something I don't normally do: I let myself read one of the (non-spoiler) reviews that was published before the movie released. I don't usually like to do that, because I feel it gives away too much of the story if I want to be surprised, but I was intrigued after talking with a friend about how the critic consensus was that it was mediocre and didn't push the boundaries of Disney.

All in all, those complaints didn't turn me off the movie. If anything, it made me look forward to it; those same reviews praised the soundtrack and the homages to Disney's history, and that's arguably the most important thing for a musical intended to celebrate the studio's centennial anniversary.

As a rule, Disney holds itself to a certain standard of quality. I thought that it would be fine, maybe a little bit boring.

Let me say this: Wish is not boring.

To follow up on that, though, it also isn't good. It's not even really mediocre. I hesitate to call it bad outright, if only because there's quite a bit of potential underneath, but I certainly can't give it the same praise I've seen others offer.

Let's start off with the things that this movie does well: the visuals are beautiful, calling back to the 2D animation that Disney was built on without directly returning to that style. Most of the character designs feel the same way. The standout song, This Wish, was the only thing from the soundtrack I let myself listen to before watching the movie (as it was the first song they released), and I'll probably continue listening to it on my own time because I do really like it. Perhaps most importantly, considering this movie's entire reason for existence, the subtle homages to Disney's history were a welcome addition and a nice touch. Also, the little star critter is adorable; as is its way of communicating, given that it can't talk.

And now that I've sufficiently praised the things I thought were good, let's address the parts where the movie falls flat: first, and most damningly, Wish is a musical comedy with jokes and songs that both tend to miss the mark. A number of the homages to Disney's history aren't the subtle ones I praised before, but instead a lot more overt in a way that's often distracting.

Its comedy is often in the same vein as something like Frozen, and while I'm in the camp that does still like that movie I have to admit that ten years on I'd like to see them try a different approach. I had hope that they would lean more into the old styles of storytelling, of something timeless, but Wish is unfortunately filled with jokes that rarely land and already feel somewhat dated. The best example of that is the goat, Valentino, whose design feels as out of place as his comedic timing.

Earlier I praised This Wish, the standout song, because it made it feel like a true return to form for Disney--feeling somewhat fresh but also calling back to the classics. However, it exemplifies some other problems with the movie: first, that the pacing in this film is outright bad. It feels like they had to squish a much longer story into their 95-minute runtime, or maybe like a handful of scripts got squished together and the final product either wasn't edited at all or went through one too many revisions.

And, similarly, the entire thing feels disjointed; none of these songs feel like they belong in the same story. A musical is only as good as its soundtrack, so let's go over each song and my personal gripes with it:

Welcome to Rosas, the opening number, is a passable opener for this movie. I actually like the first minute or so of it, before it devolves into heavy foreshadowing and jokes that don't seem to land, at least for me. It does feel the most tonally consistent overall with the rest of the movie, so there's that.

At All Costs, the duet between Asha and King Magnifico, is clearly a remnant from an older draft. The demo makes it an outright love song duet, and I've heard that an earlier version had the star be a boy and potentially had a romance between him and Asha in the script, so that's quite possibly where this came from. It feels strange and out of place, especially in the scene it's in, and the alterations to make it less overtly romantic do it a disservice. I do like the demo version, though.

This Wish is, as mentioned, the standout song; my issues with it are unrelated to the music. It's a song that belongs in a movie with more heart behind it than this one, and feels like another remnant from a different take on the storyline; the movie itself feels like it was rushing to get to this point and so the moment doesn't feel earned. Several things, such as Asha recalling her late father's lessons, would have more impact if we'd seen them more clearly beforehand. Most importantly, though, Asha hasn't gone through any real development or change at this point in the story--despite the song itself claiming that it should be a turning point for her.

I'm A Star has a lot of little bits that I like, but the focus on comedy that slowly slips in brings it down; the ending having the 'homage' to Disney's history that I found the most painful to watch. I think that with less comedic asides, I would like the overall song more. It's another one that feels like it was at least meant for this version of the movie, but I don't think that's necessarily a good thing.

This Is The Thanks I Get is just not a good villain song, which pains me to say as someone who absolutely adores the old ones. It lacks style and substance, and overall it feels like a first draft song that would benefit from some heavy rewrites; as is, it's not funny or menacing. Magnifico in general suffers from them seeming to take him from being an outright villain from the start to trying to give him a sympathetic origin but only ever committing to it halfway. A villain song about someone being corrupted by the darkness in their panic can work; but he snaps too quickly.

Knowing What I Know Now is another song that feels like a very disjointed first draft. There's potential underneath it, but it's buried in how everything is so rushed and seemingly haphazardly slapped together.

The reprise of This Wish feels even more unearned than the original song does; existing solely to serve this scene in the plot rather than for the sake of the story and the characters. I like the idea behind it, it has some of the same heart, but it feels strange and out of place in this version of the movie. It definitely doesn't hit the way it was intended to.

In the end, Wish feels like several movies, all of which have the potential to be good, but none of which were successfully realized; and that genuinely pains me to say, as someone who grew up loving Disney and its history.

Round 4

Note: This is a three-way poll to even our numbers going into the semi-finals! Only the winner will advance to the final four!

Pokémon TV Series: I want to be the very best, like no one ever was. The Pokémon TV series or Pokémon anime is the iconic all-ages animated show based on the immensely popular Pokémon trading card and video game franchise. Premiering in 1997, the series follows the irresponsibly-young adventures of a trainer named Ash Ketchum and his electrifying companion Pikachu as they travel through the many regions in the Pokémon world, capturing and training Pokémon, competing in battles, and aiming to become Pokémon Masters. Along the way, they encounter friends and rivals, foil the plans of the villainous Team Rocket, and of course document and capture lots of funny little guys (Pocket Monsters, as it were.) You gotta catch 'em all!

Princess Mononoke: Cut off a wolf’s head, and it still has the power to bite. Princess Mononoke is a critically acclaimed animated film created by renowned director Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, released in 1997. The film tells a complex environmental story, set in a fantastical ancient forest based on late Muromachi period Japan; we join a young warrior, Ashitaka, who becomes embroiled in a conflict between the inhabitants of the forest and a mining town encroaching on their land. At the heart of the story is San, a human girl raised by wolves, and Lady Eboshi, the leader of the mining community. Princess Mononoke is admired by Ghibli and non-Ghibli fans alike for its beautiful hand-drawn animation and its exploration of the themes of nature, industrialization, and the delicate balance between the consistent push of humanity and the weariness of a long-surviving environment. It was the highest-grossing film in Japan for 1997, and also held Japan's box office record for domestic films until Miyazaki’s 2001 release Spirited Away.

End of Evangelion: It all returns to nothing. So says the haunting tune 'Komm, Süsser Tod' by Arianne, which soundtracks the fate of humanity in the End of Evangelion. The film serves as an alternate ending to the original anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion, which bewitched viewers with the then-unconventional match of giant mecha and existential depression all wrapped up in religious iconography. The final episodes of the anime are incredibly cerebral and proved controversial for viewers at the time, which led to director Hideaki Anno further expressing himself in the 1997 film... which took the heady themes and conflicting stylistic choices of the show and put them in a high-octane blender, along with a tall glass of Human Tang. At its core, End of Evangelion asks if individualism is the one great folly of humanity and the source of our suffering, or if it is the very point of it; it shows the loss of barriers between people and subsequent extinction of loneliness as a sort of cosmic horror. Looking back at the scenes, imagery, and music most associated with the anime and its continued influence, much of the franchise's legacy stems from the End of Evangelion.

What I’ve Been Watching This Year

by Isobelle Cruz [April 13, 2023]

March has passed and I figure it’s too late to follow through with a post on the female directors I love, so instead, here’s a short list of the shows and films I’ve been watching this year in no specific order.

Beef (2023)

Directed by Lee Sung Jin

My most recent and favorite watch…lo and behold, Beef. A show about two extremely vulnerable and flawed people masking themselves through pride and borderline pettiness. Beef has it all from road rage, heist, and arson, to child abduction.

The Netflix Original starring Ali Wong and Steven Yeung features some of the most lonely characters I’ve seen on film. Danny Cho is a struggling self-proclaimed contractor that works every opportunity he’s given to keep him and his brother afloat while also standing by his promise to buy their parents a house in Los Angeles. With all of that weight at hand, Danny resorts to attempts at suicide and at the perfect time, meets Amy Lau—a woman just as lonely, struggling, and desperate at life as Danny.

But I promise you, it is not as touching as I made it out to be.

Danny and Amy take turns attacking each other after a road rage incident—pissing in Amy’s bathroom floor, vandalizing Danny’s truck, breaking into her house, fucking his brother, kidnapping her daughter—it never seems to end. … Until it does, in the middle of nowhere. The final episode of Danny and Amy in the Deserts reminded me of animals in the wild, a representation of what humans are in the grand scheme of it all. Beef is a must-watch for the hot-tempered, prideful Asians out there who are looking to see themselves on screen

Aftersun (2022)

Directed by Charlotte Wells

Aftersun was an experience. It was uneventful yet somehow spoke so much to me about the joys I’ve been holding myself back from and continue to do. I’d say that Aftersun is so well-loved because of how much it’s able to connect with its audience, despite their varying experiences in life.

It reminded me so much of a trip I had gone on with my father when I was about the same age as Sophie. It’s happened, it’s passed, and I can’t say it really made a drastic impact on my life. But it was there. It is now a memory—which is exactly what the film was. Instead of showing a major turning point in the protagonist’s life, it showed a memory, and it was enough for me to love.

Daisy Jones & the Six (2023)

Directed by James Ponsoldt, Nzingha Stewart, and Will Graham

Let me start off by saying how rich the production for Daisy Jones & the Six was, firstly through their music. I still remember when I first got my hands on the book and searched the band on Spotify, knowing very well that no results would come up, but now there they are—-with 3 million monthly listeners and 24 songs released.

Although the production and marketing went beyond my expectations, the writing seemed to lack, unable to show depth and establish the characters’ relationships with each other. The show went straight to the point, as though the writers had been scared of losing the audience’s attention by putting more focus on the little things, which I would doubt. It lacked the craziness that was found in the book. It lacked the drugs, women, fans, and the skyrocketing feel of their career that were always present in Reed’s works.

Nonetheless, these things never dragged down my rating of the show. It was interesting to finally see what Daisy and Billy’s chemistry looked like on screen and hear their lyrics come to life, which were, oh, so difficult to read on paper. Amazon Prime did its job to reach DJATS fans’ expectations and to entertain newcomers to the fictional band. — Let’s just hope Netflix does the same for Evelyn Hugo.

Suzume (2023)

Directed by Makoto Shinkai

My first anime experience in the cinema. Suzume’s soundtrack blasting from the speakers and Makoto Shinkai’s breathtaking art displayed before me brought this urge to jump through the screen. The atmosphere his art carried through the room was something I wish I could do with my own works.

Throughout the whole watch, it didn’t come to me that this was a love story between two people. There was that obvious crush Suzume had on Sōta, but it surprises me to hear a few people refer to this film as romance. It was moreover an emotional adventure, shining light on the lost souls that have made inches of the world alive.

My favorite scene, before Sōta is turned into a keystone, wherein Tokyo is shown in slow-motion with people going through their everyday lives—eating, shopping, and commuting–-while not knowing their world was on the brink of end, made me ponder of the unseen things that make life the way it is. Everything that has brought everyone to where they are.

There had been times when Suzume and Sōta would prepare to lock up a door once again and I’d think to myself, when will this end? It was as though listening to a song that would repeat the same line over and over again, but besides that, the pacing was captivating---had my eyes stuck to the screen the whole time.

Suzume is exactly what you would expect from Makoto Shinkai. Beautiful art, music, and an okay story.

Babylon (2023)

Directed by Damien Chazelle

Ask me if I’m tired of watching films set in Hollywood and I would likely say yes. But that doesn’t stop me from doing just so over and over again. It surprised me to see how negative the reviews on Babylon have been and almost allowed myself to be swayed by them, but thankfully, had chosen otherwise.

Although I do see where some of the negativity comes from.

The film has been branded as “ Chazelle’s attempt to pander to the Academy for another best pic nomination” by audiences, and as yet another film showing off the lavish and wild lives of Hollywood. Inequality, drugs, women, abuse, and everything. What’s new?

Well, I don’t really care about what’s new or what makes Babylon a poorly-made knockoff of Cinema Paradiso or Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Chazelle was able to keep me entertained and laughing throughout its 3-hour duration, and sometimes it gets really tiring trying to make cinema a technical experience. I can proudly say (shaking as I type this) that I loved Babylon.

Have you seen Tetris (2023)? Unrelated: what music do you like, or listen to?

-R

I have seen Tetris, yes! Just a few weeks ago, sometime in March, matter of fact, so your timing is particularly incredible. It first haunted me in music form, believe it or not, I kept getting songs from its soundtrack recommend on Spotify.

While I usually really don't like the KGB is in your walls stuff that the Western films always insist on showing, I'll make an exception for this movie because it's pretty fun. I actually liked the Evil Liar KGB had going on, I thought it was very funny. I do have one complaint about the whole thing, though. I wish the pixel animation was utilised throughout the whole movie, not just in That One Scene... :( Just small, little bits (ha) would have been fine...

Fun (not really) fact: I was first introduced to the character of Robert Maxwell through this movie (you have to forgive me for not giving many fucks about the aristocrats of Britain). I have then immediately learnt that his daughter is Ghislaine Maxwell. The Ghislaine Maxwell. Jeffrey Epstein's partner (in crime). How delightful...

What music do I like... That's a terrible question to ask me because I'm very passionate about music... I have playlists for everything I like, even Chernobyl related one... there's not a free minute in my day that I'm not listening to something. I associate music with everything.

I mean, judging solely by the fact that my wardrobe consists of one too many Sabaton and Rammstein shirts, I'd have to say I'm particularly fond of metal. And punk. And rock. I occasionally listen to Hollywood Undead because I discovered it when I was a... young teen, much too young to be listening to that kind of stuff lmao, and so I feel oddly nostalgic about them.

I really like the... weird and experimental stuff? If it has some kind of a connection with nature, I will probably like it. I've been a long time fan of Cosmo Sheldrake - and he just released a brand new album Eye To The Ear on the 12th of April AND a new single just a few days ago... it's everything I could have expected and more, truly. His brother, Merlin (whimsical names is the theme) is a biologist and he wrote a book about fungi, which I really like, but haven't finished because I didn't have the time nor brain capacity to take in all that new information.

And continuing with the theme of slighly weird, I also enjoy video games/movies OSTs. The creepier the better. Little Nightmares (I&II) soundtrack? Perfection. I talk a lot of shit about HBO's Chernobyl but that show's OST is phenomenal (and that's the last nice thing I have to say about it 🙄). From not horror-esque soundtracks: stuff from DOOM.

I've also been mesmerised by the Polish folk music used throughout The Peasants and have been regularly listening to the whole soundtrack. I need to rewatch that movie ASAP... more on movie tracks, I also really like Mad Max: Fury Road's and Moon (2009)'s OSTs.

I also like older, classic bands... Pet Shop Boys, Soft Cell, Bronski Beat, Depeche Mode... Kult, if we're talking local... And because I AM beating the toxic masculinity allegations: MARINA, Paris Paloma, Caro Emerald and sometimes even Lana Del Rey and Mitski. Other than that, I'm rarely attached to one particular artist or band, I usually like two or three songs and hate the rest haha

I'm gonna add a bunch of songs I like under the cut as a little treat, just because:

The final episode... for now, at least.

Transcript below the break

Hello and welcome to the conclusion of The Rewatch Rewind, the podcast where I counted down my top 40 most frequently rewatched movies from 2003 through 2022. To those of you listening to this on the day it’s coming out, Happy Cary Grant’s Birthday! This felt like an appropriate day to release this fun bonus episode to analyze my list a bit more, get into some statistics, talk about what I’ve learned from this project, wrap things up, etc. If that sounds boring to you, that’s totally fair, I won’t hold it against you if you want to skip this. But before you turn it off, I want to mention that my brother Quinn, my guest from the Ella Enchanted episode, put together a “Sounds of the Rewatch Rewind” Spotify playlist featuring the songs and soundtracks from the movies I’ve talked about that he could find on there, which I’m going to link in the show notes, so now that you’ve listened to me talk about these movies, you can listen to parts of the movies themselves.

Assuming the runtimes on IMDb are correct, I spent approximately 99,258 minutes watching these 40 movies from 2003 through 2022, which is 1,654 hours and 18 minutes, or 68 days, 22 hours, and 18 minutes. So almost 10 weeks. Which sounds like a lot, but it was spread out over 20 years, so I don’t feel like that’s particularly excessive. I wouldn’t have been surprised to learn I had spent more time watching these movies. And that’s one of the main things I’ve learned from actually keeping track of the movies I watch: I’m very bad at estimating how frequently I rewatch movies. Before I started writing down what I watched, I thought there were lots of movies I regularly watched dozens of times per year, and probably several that I’d seen over 100 times. But now I know that watching a movie five times in a year can feel like a ton, and there are relatively few that I feel like sitting through more than 20 times total, let alone 100. Part of that could come from maturing, or from having a much wider array of movie choices at my fingertips, but a significant part of it is that it takes fewer rewatches than I think it does for a movie that I love to stick in my brain. There are plenty more films that didn’t make it anywhere near my top 40 that I feel like I know backwards and forwards and inside out. So I just want to reiterate what I said in the introductory episode: I don’t think these are the 40 best movies ever made, and I don’t even think they’re my 40 favorite movies. But I do love them all, and I don’t regret getting to talk about any of them.

When I first started keeping track of what I watched back in 2003, I thought of myself as someone who primarily loved “old movies,” with a few newer movies managing to worm their way into my heart. I would have expected most of my top 40 movies to be in black and white, and almost all of them to be from before 1970. But as it turns out, 18 are fully live action and in color, 16 are live action in black and white, four are fully animated, and two are a mix of animation and color live action. The breakdown of which decade these films are from tells a particularly fascinating story. Five of these movies came out in the 1930s, nine in the 1940s, three in the 1950s, three in the 1960s, zero in the 1970s, four in the 1980s, four in the 1990s, nine in the 2000s, and three in the 2010s. Which means that exactly half were from before the 1970s and exactly half were from after the 1970s. Many of the views of movies from the 2000s occurred in the first few years I kept track, so clearly the pretentious “I only love old movies” persona I tried to cultivate as a young teen was never very accurate. Stories from a variety of eras resonate with me. But what, you may be wondering, do I have against movies from the 1970s?

First of all, to be clear, there are several movies from the 1970s that I love, they just didn’t happen to make it into my top 40. But the thing about the ‘70s is… that’s when Hollywood movies became more explicitly sexy. By which I mean that after the Motion Picture Production Code was abandoned in the late 1960s, filmmakers started putting much more explicit sexual content into their movies because they were finally allowed to. Now, I’m not saying I’m in favor of censorship. I think people should be able to make movies about whatever they want, provided they’re not actively hurting people. But a lot of 1970s movies feel particularly overwhelmingly sexual to me, like Hollywood was trying to release decades’ worth of previously forbidden sex scenes as quickly as possible. And I want to be clear that I don’t necessarily think there’s anything inherently wrong with that, although I feel like it was often executed in ways that objectified women, which I do have a problem with. But I also think a not insignificant reason I’m not as into movies from that era is related to my asexuality. I’m not judging 1970s movies for having too much sex, and obviously not every movie from that decade has explicit sexual content, but I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the decade after the production code went away is the one that doesn’t have any representation in my top 40 most frequently rewatched movies. While movies with sexual content continue to be made long after the 1970s, it does feel a bit like once the novelty wore off, filmmakers kind of toned it down a bit, or at least incorporated it into more interesting stories. It’s kind of like when a kid learns a swear word. At first it’s like, a huge deal, and they get in trouble for using it, and then when they get older they’re like, “allowed” to swear, and they feel so cool for a while, but then it stops feeling cool and they learn how to use it more selectively and effectively. That’s how it feels like sexual content in the Hollywood film industry evolved. So as a relatively sex-indifferent asexual who doesn’t exactly mind sexual content, but doesn’t particularly like it either, it makes sense that that transition period doesn’t appeal to me as much.

And I do have to keep saying that I’m specifically talking about the Hollywood film industry because the vast majority of the movies I watch are from Hollywood. Really the only “foreign” film in my top 40 is Pride and Prejudice, and even that was co-produced by an American company. I have seen and enjoyed several films from other countries, but I could definitely watch more. There is an upsetting lack of diversity on this list: the vast majority of these films are primarily about white, straight, cis, allo, middle-to-upper-class Americans or Europeans. There are characters who don’t fit all of those, but most of them play relatively minor supporting roles in the main stories. I’m pretty sure that all of the directors on this list are white, and all of the screenwriters are at least half white, but I don’t know all of their backgrounds, so forgive me if I’m unintentionally erasing the identity of any of these filmmakers. Regardless, I definitely need to watch more movies made by people of color. As I addressed in previous episodes, only two of these movies were directed solely by a woman, one was co-directed by a man and a woman, and the other 37 were directed by men, so I also need to watch more female-directed films. The screenwriter gender breakdown is a little better, with eight written solely by women, eight written by a combination of men and women, and 24 written solely by men. I would personally love to see more movies written and directed by non-binary people, but mainstream society doesn’t seem to want to give them much of a voice, so I think I’ll have to look into more independent films to find that. The two newest movies on this list were independently produced with funds raised through Kickstarter, so I do seem to be moving in that direction, even though the vast majority of my top films were made by major Hollywood studios. I wasn’t surprised that Disney was the studio with the most films on this list, with nine – what can I say? I grew up during the Disney renaissance, I was indoctrinated. But I wasn’t necessarily expecting RKO to have the second most, with seven, considering that studio hasn’t been around since the 1950s. MGM is in third place with six, but I would have expected that to have more than RKO, considering it made a lot of classic Golden Age gems and still technically exists today (even though it’s now owned by Amazon). Over half of the movies on this list were made by one of those three studios. Again, an embarrassing lack of diversity.

I’m not sure how many LGBTQIA+ filmmakers were involved with the films on this list, since even now people don’t always feel safe or comfortable coming out publicly, and in the past it was even more dangerous to do so. However, the director with the most films on this list, George Cukor, with four, was openly gay, and as I mentioned in several episodes, sometimes movies with supposedly straight characters give off queer vibes. No character in any movie on this list is openly aromantic or asexual, but I was still able to spend a lot of this podcast talking about the ways I related to these stories as an aroace person. Since I’ve been so focused on how much I wish there was less romance and sex in movies, I thought it would be interesting to give each of my top 40 a score indicating how important romance and sex were to the story, on a scale of 0 to 3 for each, with 0 meaning there’s essentially none and 3 meaning there’s a lot. Now, I will point out that no movie on this list is rated higher than PG-13, so a 3 on the sexual content scale is still pretty mild. I also feel like reasonable people could disagree about how to rate some of these movies, so please indulge me as I go through each movie and state and briefly justify my scores.

Mary Poppins gets a zero for both, even though there is a kiss between Mr. and Mrs. Banks, but they were already married at the beginning and their relationship is far from the main focus of the story, which goes out of its way to keep Mary and Bert’s relationship platonic.

Similarly, while Emperor’s New Groove does show that Pacha and Chicha are in a loving married relationship, that’s such a tiny portion of the film that I’m also giving this one a zero for both romance and sex. So we’re off to a great start.

Legally Blonde is a bit trickier because at the beginning Elle is extremely focused on romance, but she becomes less so as the story progresses, although other characters remain focused on romance throughout. Also there are no sex scenes, but there are still some rather explicit sexual references. So I’m giving Legally Blonde a 2 for romance and a 2 for sex.

The Princess Bride has a lot going on, but the romantic love between Westley and Buttercup is consistently one of its main focuses, so I’m giving it a 2 for romance, but apart from some very slight innuendo I don’t remember any sexual content, so it gets a 0 for sex.

Frozen is another kids’ movie, so another 0 for sex, but the romance aspect is fascinating because it starts out tricking you into thinking it’s going to be very romance-focused, but ends up demonstrating that the initial romance was fake and other kinds of love are just as important, so I’m giving Frozen a 1 for romance.

Chicago is probably the most sexually explicit movie on this list, so I have to give it a 3 for sexual content, but there’s only a little bit of romance, so it gets a 1 for romantic content.

The Sound of Music has quite a bit of non-romantic stuff going on, but the relationship between Maria and Georg, and Maria’s internal conflict between wanting to be a nun and wanting to be with him, are important parts of the story, so I’m saying romance 2, sex 1.

Holiday is mostly about Johnny thinking he’s in love with Julia and learning he’s really in love with Linda. The social commentary keeps it from being a 3 on the romantic content scale in my opinion, but I can’t give it lower than a 2. I suppose sex is meant to be implied because they talk about marriage so much, but I don’t recall any specific innuendo, so I’m giving it a 0 for sexual content.

Newsies is mostly about the strike but there’s still the Jack and Sarah romance stuck in there, and the “Lovey Dovey Baby” song is pretty suggestive, so I’m saying 1 for romance, 1 for sex.

Stage Door is one of the few Production Code-era movies that actually has more sexual content than romantic content – there’s a lot more focus on potentially using sex to get ahead in show business than on romance, although there’s still a bit of romance in there too, and the sex isn’t super explicit, so I’m saying 1 for romance, 2 for sex.

Monkey Business is mostly about the formula to make people young, but that seems to manifest itself by stirring up relationship drama. The sexual aspect is mostly innuendo, so I’m going with 2 for romance, 1 for sex.

Father Goose starts out with no romance, but by the end becomes mostly focused on Walter and Catherine’s relationship, and there are some mild sexual references, so I’m again going with 2 for romance, 1 for sex.

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House is mostly about the house. There’s some minor relationship drama, but even that is more about stress caused by the house situation than actual romance, so I would argue that it only deserves a 1 for romance. I’m tempted to give it a 0 for sex, but there’s enough innuendo when Bill spends the night alone with Muriel that I think I have to give it a 1.

Adam’s Rib is another tricky one because it’s about a trial that impacts romantic relationships, but the focus is rarely on the romantic aspect of those relationships. And by today’s standards, there really isn’t that much sexual content either, although for its time it feels pretty explicit. So I’m saying 1 for romance, and 2 for sex.

Mamma Mia has enough focus on non-romantic relationships that I’m only giving it a 2 for romance, but even though there aren’t any explicit sex scenes, there’s enough talk about it and enough suggestive dancing that I think it deserves a 3 for sexual content, at least on my scale.

I know that The Lion King features one of the most romantic Disney songs of all time, but I would argue that a relatively minuscule amount of the plot is actually dedicated to the romance between Simba and Nala, so I’m giving it a 1 for romance. And despite the misinterpretation of the leaves spelling SFX as the word SEX, and the rather suggestive look that Nala gives Simba in the middle of their love song, overall I don’t think it has enough sexual content to justify a rating above 0.

Freaky Friday appears at first glance to be heavily focused on romance, since Tess is about to get married and Anna wants to pursue a romantic relationship, but it’s way more about the mother/daughter relationship, so I’m giving it a 1 for romance, and also a 1 for sex because there’s a bit of innuendo.

The romantic aspect of The Major and the Minor is weird and kind of toxic, but it’s still there and it’s pretty important, so I’m giving it a 2 for romance. Then there’s the whole Pamela assuming Phillip slept with Susan part and some sexual harassment before it was called that… it’s not super explicit but I’m still saying that’s a 2 for sexual content, at least for its time.

I argued in the Bringing Up Baby episode that I don’t really believe that the main romantic storyline is actually romantic, but the characters seem to think it is, and Susan at least is pretty focused on that, so I’m saying 2 for romantic content, and once again there’s a bit of innuendo, so 1 for sexual content.

Enchanted is very much a romantic story, so I have to give it a romantic rating of 3. And while I’d like to give all kids’ movies a sexual content rating of 0, I’m sorry, that shower part boosts it up to 1. Kids might not know they’re talking about sex, but… there’s really no other way to interpret that.

Ella Enchanted has quite a bit of romance, but the main storyline is Ella trying to get rid of her curse, so I think that keeps the romantic content rating at a 2. And again, I want to say 0 sexual content because it’s a kids’ movie, but then I remembered some of the things Char’s fangirls say and…yeah I have to give it a 1.

Notorious is ultimately a spy movie, but the spying is accomplished by Alicia seducing and pretending to fall in love with Alex, and actually falling in love with Devlin, so that sounds like a 2 for both.

It’s a Wonderful Life is about a lot of other things, but a good chunk of it is devoted to George and Mary’s relationship, and there’s enough innuendo that I’m going with 2 for romance, 1 for sex.

Again, I argued in the Beauty and the Beast episode that I’ve never seen Belle and the Beast’s relationship as a typical romance, but most characters and audience members seem to. I still maintain that there’s enough other stuff going on to keep it from being a 3, but I don’t think I’d be justified in giving it a romance score below a 2. But I’m not giving it a sexual content rating above a 0, despite what the childhood ruiners say.

A Mighty Wind is mostly about a concert, but it gets a bit into Mitch and Mickey’s romance, and there are a few sex jokes, so I’m saying 1 for both.

His Girl Friday is pretty focused on Hildy wanting to marry Bruce but still being in love with Walter, but that’s not the only thing it’s about so I’m giving it a 2 for romantic content. If you read between the lines and interpret Molly as a prostitute, I guess an argument could be made to give it a higher sexual content rating, especially because there are a few other veiled sexual references as well, but I’m sticking with 1 because it’s all innuendo.

Gaslight is an interesting one because it’s very focused on the relationship between Gregory and Paula, but it’s more about the abuse than the romance, and nobody should think of this as a romantic movie, so I’m saying 1 for romantic content, and 1 for sexual content, because while there’s nothing explicit, it is very heavily implied that Nancy is sleeping with Constable Williams.

Edgar Allan Poe’s Murder Mystery Dinner Party is quite focused on friendship, but the party wouldn’t be happening in the first place if Edgar wasn’t trying to woo Annabel, and there’s also the whole Lenore/HG Wells thing, so I’m saying 2 for romantic content. And while it’s not at all explicit for the 2010s, there are definitely some sexual references, so that’s a 1.

The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer is almost entirely about romance, so I can’t give it below a 3 for romantic content. And while the movie does make it very clear that the bachelor does not sleep with the bobby-soxer, again, there’s enough innuendo that I have to give it a 1 for sexual content.

North by Northwest is mostly about Roger trying to figure out what’s going on. While he does fall in love with Eve, for a good chunk of the movie we think she’s trying to kill him, so I don’t think it deserves higher than a 1 for romantic content. But it was fairly sexually explicit for its time, so I’m giving it a 2 for sexual content.

The Sure Thing is very focused on both sex and romance, so that one gets a 3 for both.

Ishtar has a little bit of romantic content, but it’s mostly about the incompetence of the bumbling songwriters, so I’m giving it a 1 for romantic content. But there is some nudity and rather frank conversations about sex, so I feel like I have to give it a 3 for sexual content. I actually thought Ishtar was rated R until I double checked before making that episode. It’s PG-13, but just barely.

My Man Godfrey is about a lot of things, but although Godfrey the character would prefer to keep romance out of it, Irene keeps forcing it into the story, so it gets a 2 for romantic content. And, like most movies of its era, there’s no explicit sexual content, but there’s enough innuendo to earn it a 1.

The Princess Diaries is mostly about Mia learning she’s a princess, but enough of it is about her relationship with Michael and her crush on Josh that I have to give it a 2 for romantic content. But, as my sister Rosemary pointed out in that episode, the romance is very innocent, and I don’t recall even enough innuendo to bring the sexual content rating above a 0.

The Case of the Gilded Lily mirrors the innuendo but no real sexual content of production code-era films, but with significantly less romance than most of them, so I’m giving it a 1 for both.

Top Hat is extremely focused on the confusing romance between Jerry and Dale, so that’s a 3 for romantic content, but despite the fact that their dancing has been compared to making love, I’d argue that as far as sexual content there’s barely enough innuendo to earn it a 1, let alone anything higher than that.

Singin’ in the Rain is mostly about the change in the motion picture industry from silents to talkies, but Don’s love life pulls enough of the focus that it gets a 2 for romantic content. And while there’s barely any sexual content, Cyd Charisse’s dancing is suggestive enough to earn it a 1.

I’m going to be bold and say that Clue has zero romance, because even though there is some kissing, none of it is really romantic. But most of the suspects are being blackmailed for sexual reasons, so it gets a 2 for sexual content.

While I don’t watch Pride and Prejudice specifically for the romance, I can’t deny that that’s what most of the story is about, so I have to give it a 3 for romantic content. And the whole Lydia/Wickham thing brings the sexual content score up to 2 – one could even make an argument for 3, since we do briefly see them in bed together, but I think it’s a small enough proportion of the mini-series to keep it at 2.

Similarly, The Philadelphia Story has lots going on, but it is all about Tracy’s wedding, and which of the three possible grooms she’s most in love with, so I have to give it a 3 for romance. And even though she doesn’t actually sleep with Mike, there’s enough talk about it that I’m giving it a sexual content score of 2.

To sum all that up: as far as romantic content goes, 3 of these movies got a score of 0, 13 got a score of 1, 18 got a score of 2, and 6 got a score of 3. For sexual content, 8 got a score of 0, 19 got a score of 1, 9 got a score of 2, and 4 got a score of 3. And if we add the romantic and sexual ratings together, only 2 movies got a score of 0, two got a score of 1, 11 got a score of 2, 13 got a score of 3, 8 got a score of 4, 3 got a score of 5, and one got the maximum score of 6.

So why did I go through all of that? Well, aside from wanting an excuse to go back through all 40 movies again, I also wanted to emphasize that even when you’re not interested in sexual or romantic content, it’s extremely difficult to avoid. Allonormativity and amatonormativity are everywhere. I was able to find ways to relate to these movies from an aroace perspective, but every single one ultimately leans, at least to some extent, into the pervading societal assumption that every normal human fundamentally desires a long-term, monogamous, romantic and sexual partner of the opposite sex. This is so normalized that the two movies that earned a zero for both romantic and sexual content still include romantic kissing, and while I stand by my assertion that those movies don’t have enough romantic content to justify a higher rating, I also know that if those throwaway background romantic moments had been between two characters of the same sex, a bunch of people would have made a huge deal about how the LGBT+ “agenda” was being “shoved down their throats” and “forced on their children.” You know who really shoves their lifestyle down people’s throats and forces them on children? Straight cis allos! If children’s sexual and romantic orientations could be changed just by seeing them in movies, I would be incredibly straight and allo by now. But even spending all those years bombarded with the message that normal people were like that, it didn’t make me feel attraction that my brain wasn’t wired to feel, it just made me confused. What I would love to see in my next 20 years of movie watching is more normalization of other ways of being outside of amatonormativity. Right now that’s feeling very unlikely, given the enormous backlash against LGBTQIA+ rights that is currently escalating throughout much of this country. More awareness of aspec identities has led to more explicit aphobia. But it has also led more people like me to understand ourselves better, and I would love to see that continue until acceptance overwhelms the bigotry. And that could be greatly helped by more aspec artists getting to tell their stories. I know of some good aspec representation in books and TV shows, but I really haven’t heard about much in feature films, apart from the sort of vague ace coding I’ve discussed throughout this podcast. But I would love to hear recommendations if any listeners out there know of any openly asexual and/or aromantic movie characters.

Many of the movies on this list are silly comedies, which don’t tend to be recognized by the Academy Awards, but I thought it would be fun to look into the Oscar stats a bit anyway. Of these 40 movies, 23 were nominated for at least one Oscar, and 10 had at least one win. Among those, there were a total of 98 nominations and 28 wins. The most nominations for a single film was 13, achieved by both Mary Poppins and Chicago, and the most wins was 6, again by Chicago. Two movies that were nominated won 100% of the Oscars they were nominated for: Frozen with two and The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer with one. I did go through and watch all the Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar winners, at least up to a certain year, and those projects added to the view counts of five of the movies that made it into my top 40: Mary Poppins, Chicago, The Sound of Music, Gaslight, and The Philadelphia Story. I have considered tackling other Oscar categories, and I’ll probably make a podcast about it if I do, so that could potentially be on the horizon, we’ll see. Another movie podcast idea I have is to pick either an actor or director and go through their entire filmography chronologically and talk about that. I’m not sure if or when any of those ideas will come to fruition, but I have greatly enjoyed talking about movies on this podcast and would love to continue in a similar vein.

As for The Rewatch Rewind, I like to think that for now it will just be on a rather long hiatus rather than being completely finished. I have continued to track the movies I watch, and my top 40 has already changed in the last year, so it will be interesting to see how my movie watching continues to change in the years ahead. After I’d been keeping track for 10 years, I blogged about the 35 movies I’d seen at least 10 times, and 30 of those movies were still in my top 40 after 20 years of keeping track. The 10 new movies that were added for this list obviously include the three movies that hadn’t come out yet 10 years earlier – Frozen, Edgar Allan Poe’s Murder Mystery Dinner Party, and The Case of the Gilded Lily – in addition to Notorious, Adam’s Rib, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, Father Goose, Holiday, The Emperor’s New Groove, and Mary Poppins. The five movies that were in my top 35 after 10 years but were not in my top 40 after 20 were Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Neptune’s Daughter, Duck Soup, and The Phantom of the Opera. For the 30 movies that were on both lists, I still had a lot of new things to say about them ten years later. I’m not sure if I’ll wait until I’ve been keeping track for 30 years to return to this podcast, or if I’ll also do something for 25 years, but I do have every intention of returning for another season of something similar eventually. I probably won’t do the exact same thing, maybe I’ll do a top 100, or I’ll talk about my top movies from each decade or year, either of keeping track or when they came out – I haven’t decided yet. So stay subscribed or following to hear more from me in a few years – assuming these podcast platforms are still around in a few years.

Regardless of what the future has in store, thank you so much for listening to my analysis of the 40 movies I rewatched the most in my first 20 years of keeping track. Since I don’t know what movie I’ll be talking about next, in honor of his 120th birthday I’ll wrap this up with a quote that at least has been attributed to Cary Grant, although I couldn’t find where or when he said it, so maybe he didn’t, but it’s a good quote anyway: “My formula for living is quite simple. I get up in the morning and I go to bed at night. In between, I occupy myself as best I can.”

What do you think of the one piece movies?

Oh boi, that's a loaded question. 😭 I will reply honestly but please remember this is my personal opinion, whatever you like it's all legit!

In general, I don't particularly care for the OP movies too much. I did see them, almost all, even enjoy some or part of them, but I'm grateful that they're non-canon. I don't hate them and I'm always happy when a new one is announced (more OP content!), but that's about it. Same goes for the special/OVAs, although they kinda stopped with those. I will only go through the movies in this post.

Movie 1 (One Piece: the Movie) and 2 (Clockwork Island Adventure) are basically like filler arcs in the early days of the anime. They are not bad, nor good. I haven't seen them in a long while but I remember being pretty neutral towards them.

Movie 3 (Chopper's Kingdom on the Island of Strange Animals) and 5 (The Cursed Holy Sword) actually SUCK. They suck so much I could hardly get to the end. The Chopper one is just a total bore with a super predictable plot, while the Zoro one is actually painful. Zoro and the crew are totally OOC, and the poorly-thought magic lore introduced in the movie just doesn't fit with the OP universe.

You'll noticed I skipped movie 4 (Dead End Adventure). And that's because this one I like. It's also like a filler arc, but it fits perfectly in the plot (love the quick reference to Navarone), it flows well, it's dynamic and engaging, and the original characters are actually good. Shout out to Shuraiya Bascùd, whose design is basically Ace in a different color palette, but has a complex personality.

Movie 6 (Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island) is a unique One Piece product, quite distant from what we're used to, and therefore I consider it a must-see. Not really for the plot, which doesn't make much sense, but for the art and the direction. In fact, it was directed by Hosoda, a very notable anime movie director (Wolf Children, The Girl who Leapt through Time, Summer Wars, Digimon...).

Movie 7 (The Giant Mechanical Soldier of Karakuri Castle)... I remember absolutely nothing of this movie except Nami's bouncing boobs.

Movie 8 (Episode of Alabasta) and 9 (Episode of Chopper plus) are revised re-tellings of the Alabasta and Drum saga. They aren't bad, especially Chopper's, some dramatic sequences are very touching. They made a great use of the soundtrack, or lacking thereof.

I will place Movie 11 (One Piece 3D: Straw Hat Chase) here because it doesn't fit with the remaining ones. This may as well be a special: it's only 30 minutes long, most of the Strawhats barely appear, it doesn't feature a villain-based adventure, and it's in a graphic format never used again. Take it as a slice-of-life episode, and it's enjoyable.

Movie 10 (Strong World) is a turning point, because this is when OP movies became "films", Oda started to get involved, some original canon elements were dropped in, and there were theatrical releases. The difference in quality (at least plot-wise) is immediately clear. Strong World is the last movie set before the timeskip (excluding movie 11), and it may well be my favorite.

Movie 12 (Z) is probably close second. The villain is a great character, and I LOVED the inclusion of Aokiji and Kizaru, how different they were, the implications they brought to the plot.

Movie 13 (Gold) is okay. Enjoyable. Once again, good villain, nice setting, good animation.

Movie 14 (Stampede) has a special place in my heart because it included the Kid Pirates, and Kid & Killer have a few scenes. Buuuut if I have to be honest, the plot is quite weak and, if you take off the (scarce) screen time of my beloved, it's a little boring.

And finally! The most recent, movie 15, Red. I haven't had the chance to watch it yet because it didn't get a theatrical release where I live, so I'm waiting for the DVD to be out. What I can say is that I've watched reviews from my two favorite OP youtubers (Tekking101 and Sawyer7mage), and they were not particularly impressed with it. My best friend also watched it and found it incredibly boring, so my hopes aren't really too high. I think they went waaaay too hard on the marketing for this one, they pushed Shanks and Uta SO MUCH. (Also it doesn't help that I'm one of the very few people that don't really care about Shanks, huh). I heard the songs and they were amazing, Ado is a masterclass singer. I read about the plot and I do think some details are quite interesting, like Uta's whole psychology and possibly the ending (?). I guess I'll have to update my opinion when I actually watch the movie.

That's all for now. Feel free to ask for more details if you want.