During the 1960s and 1970s, Madeline Anderson broke racial and gender barrier in nonfiction filmmaking through her work as a director, producer and editor. This DVD gathering of three of her short documentaries offers a fascinating consideration of how Anderson used her medium to spotlight the tumultuous fights for civil and women’s rights.
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BOOTLEG FILES 636: “A Special Tiny Tim” (1970 television special).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: The program was never released in the U.S. for either broadcast or home entertainment audiences.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Unlikely.
On January 22, 1968, American television viewers got their first view of Herbert Buckingham Khaury, an entertainer who appeared in the New York club scene for years under a variety of stage names before settling on Tiny Tim. The performer was featured on the premiere episode of “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In,” and with his long and flowing hair, large beaked nose and fluttery movements he made quite an impression. Tiny Tim came on stage, pulled a soprano ukulele from a shopping bag and began singing “A Tisket, A Tasket” and “On the Good Ship Lollipop” in an astonishing falsetto while funnyman Dick Martin looked on in astonishment. Although the response from the viewers’ mail was decidedly mixed, Tiny Tim was invited back two weeks later, performing “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” in the same eccentric style as his first appearance.
It’s finally all coming together on Friday where all the superheroes from the Marvel Cinematic Universe clash to bring down one of the galaxy’s biggest threats. Since its introduction in 2008, Marvel and Disney have made building universe look easy, but many modern studios have proven it’s an impossible task to pull off competently. Before Marvel and DC there were many established Extended and Shared, and if you’re looking for a break from Marvel, these are five you might love.
Mars Roberge’s comedy is “Office Space” with a bit of “Fear and Loathing” with a dash of mumblecore thrown in for good measure. It’s definitely rough around the edges, but it’s also a movie that I had a good time with. The movie just drips charisma and enthusiasm and Roberge creates a comedy that’s filled to the brim with eccentric characters and a ton of sub-plots. While it wasn’t always easy to follow, Robrerge is able to derive a lot of fun moments from his entire cast.
With superhero movies now bringing down box office records and garnering mass critical acclaim, the genre has transcended TV schlock and has now become a legitimate cinematic sub-genre. From it, auteurs all over Hollywood from Christopher Nolan to Taika Waititi have lensed some of the best superhero movies of all time.
But back in the nineties, Hollywood didn’t always want to put money behind a movie starring caped superheroes and crime fighters. A long time superhero buff, Felix Vasquez, editor of Cinema Crazed, takes a look at the decade where superhero movies were considered very risky gambles for FOX and Warner.
“Everyone knows Iron Man, Superman, Captain America, and Batman.
They are some of the biggest cinematic icons of the modern era.
But do you remember the technological hero M.A.N.T.I.S.? How about the super powered being known as Meteor Man? The Master of the Unknown, Doctor Mordrid? Ever met the super model crime fighter known as Lady X? How about the Roger Corman leather clad heroine Black Scorpion?
In the 90’s, the prospect of superhero entertainment was still in its infancy and considered a big gamble for major studios like FOX and Warner, thus superheroes were confined to television movies, and low budget films. Prepare to go back to a decade where the time of The Avengers, and Iron Man were still very far off.”
“Galaxy on Fire” has a lot of potential and creativity behind it, but it has a lot of work to do before it can be watchable. It’s not unwatchable in the sense that it’s bad, but in that it feels mostly incomplete and rushed. The animation varies from sharp to fuzzy, the voice work is stiff and rigid, the sound varies from loud to barely audible, and there is no real momentum to the narrative. Even for a twenty six minute movie it doesn’t do a lot to grab the audience.
Whether you love or hate “Batman Ninja,” you have to admit DC is at least going for something completely different and radical this time around. With a different crew and approach toward the mythology, “Batman Ninja” is a unique time traveling tale that finds Batman at his most godlike, worshipped as a near invincible warrior in Feudal Japan. Beautifully directed by Junpei Mizusaki, “Batman Ninja” puts the entire aesthetic of the DC character in to some of the wildest anime filters, and it works most of the time. Some concepts land with a thud, but when “Batman Ninja” soars, it’s quite spectacular.