One of the things about “Fury of the Gods” that made me laugh is that people gave “Man of Steel” so much crap for its blatant product placement. And yet, with “Fury of the Gods” there is literally an entire plot point centered on the candy Skittles. At one point one of the characters even proclaims “Taste the rainbow!” as they ride unicorns in to battle with the film’s villainesses. It’s really not a hindrance on the movie as a whole, but I was kind of laughing to myself at those that made such an issue about big product placements playing key roles in major films.
Tag Archives: Adaptation
Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Super-Rabbit (1943)
2023 marks the 85th Anniversary of Bug Bunny’s first animated appearance in 1938’s “Porky’s Hare Hunt.” Debuting originally as Happy Rabbit, Bugs eventually became one of the most iconic animated characters of all time. In honor of the landmark anniversary, we’re discussing every animated appearance by Bugs Bunny. We’re big fans of Bugsy and we hope that you are, too.
Follow us on this massive journey where we discover and re-discover Every Bugs Bunny Ever.
Super-Rabbit (1943)
Directed by Chuck Jones
Written by Tedd Pierce
Music by Carl W. Stalling
Animation by Ken Harris
“Look up there in the sky! It’s a boid…!”
“Naw, it ain’t no boid, it’s a dive bommah!”
“No… it’s Super Rabbit!”
This is my wheelhouse, baby. This is my niche. This is my milieu. This is my territory. They took Bugs Bunny, my favorite cartoon character of all time. They took Superman: My favorite fictional character and superhero of all time. Then they mixed them together to form this wonderful amalgam, satire, and homage that I loved as a kid and adore even more now. As a Superman fanatic going in to his forties, “Super-Rabbit” makes me happy. It makes me smile. And it’s also very funny, which is a plus. Superman was once upon a time the most popular character in America. He was a huge star of the radio, a big star on TV, and one of the highest selling comic book characters ever. Superman was a superstar of the early 1900’s, and continued to be, well in to the 1950’s.
So it only made sense for Merrie Melodies to not only satirize Superman, but satirize Superman by using one of the most popular cartoon characters of the time, Mr. Bugs Bunny.
“Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai” is an Exciting Introduction to the Wider “Gremlins” Universe
It’s been almost thirty five years since we saw any semblance of “Gremlins” entertainment rear its scaley head. Now in the midst of reviving old IP’s HBO and Warner take a shot on reviving Joe Dante’s classic film series. “Secrets of the Mogwai” is thankfully built very much in the vein of the classic 1984 film, and less like “The New Batch.” It’s a dark fantasy (with charming animation obviously influenced by LAIKA Studios) with a lot of harrowing action and terror, but also revels in the inherent awe and wonder of Gizmo and the concept of the Gremlins, twisted as they may be.
You Have to See This! Shiva Baby (2020)
Streaming on Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max
It’s unreal that Emma Seligman is a newcomer director when watching “Shiva Baby.” She manages to build and introduce us to what is easily one of the most chaotic and absolutely uncomfortable movies I’ve ever seen. “Shiva Baby” is a master class in making its viewer absolutely uneasy and anxious as Seligman just revels in amping up the anxiety to every single bit of her narrative every minute. Seligman, despite making “Shiva Baby” her work of absolute love, is not one who ever lets her characters off the hook. Despite focusing the entirety of “Shiva Baby” on her central protagonist Danielle, Seligman has a great time making her squirm, panic, and just about heave in sheer horror as she twists the screws on her throughout “Shiva Baby.”
My Five Favorite “Grease” Musical Numbers
If there’s anything that Paramount loves to do is unleash “Grease” at any given opportunity. They consistently re-release it on physical media, and in theaters. And while it sounds like I’m complaining (I kind of am), the re-release of “Grease” was only inevitable since Paramount is now streaming “Rise of the Pink Ladies,” the prequel series to “Grease.” With “Grease” being a bonafide childhood favorite, and set to be put in to theaters once again on May 14th and 17th for its 45th Anniversary, I ran down my five favorite numbers from the classic film. I never could figure out why Danny drives away with Kenickie’s hot rod in the end. I love the movie. Honest.
Pleasure (2021) [LA&M Film Fetish Forum]
Many times in our lives we spend it eating our meals, but never really knowing how the meal is prepared. We never know how the sausage is stuffed, we never see the cow butchered, and “Pleasure” is, in a way, a look at how the cow is butchered for our entertainment. “Pleasure” isn’t so much an indictment of the porn industry, it’s more so a look at the rough and shoddy experience that is the porn industry and how much it can destroy someone that isn’t quite prepared for it. Our main protagonist Bella Cherry is a woman who will do anything to be a famous porn star, but the question lingers is how far is she willing to go to achieve that stardom?
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)
Director James Gunn commits to a very interesting fear in avoiding the third film curse by shifting a lot of the focus for his odyssey of the Guardians of the Galaxy. Rather than continue on the journey of Peter Quill, Gunn focuses on the more problematic characters that have entered in to the Marvel Universe. Throughout the trilogy we’ve only know a bit about Nebula and Rocket Raccoon. We know that they’re in essence hard heroes to understand and cope with and Gunn gets down to the nitty gritty and give us compelling back stories. Along the way their back stories allow us to garner a further understanding as to why they relate to the other characters as they do.