Harry Potter came seemingly out of nowhere over twenty years ago. It was a fantasy series that quickly blasted off in to a cultural phenomenon and began to re-think the whole fantasy genre for a new generation. Say what you want about the “Harry Potter” series. I was never a fan. But the book series and its cultural influence is powerful, as is its long, long (read: long) series of movies that started twenty years ago.
Tag Archives: Family
Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021)
It’s kind of ironic that the villain of the sequel to 1996’s “Space Jam” is named Al G. Rhythm, the physical manifestation of an algorithm who decides the fate of not just star Lebron James but of the Looney Tunes. “A New Legacy” (Or “Space Jam 2”) feels like it was directed not by a person, but a committee of people that followed algorithms about what was appealing to modern audiences, and what was “hip.” The film doubles as a two hour EPK for the HBO Max Streaming Service. “A New Legacy” premieres on the aforementioned streaming service (and theaters), so Warner takes full advantage of exploiting every single (repeat: every single) IP that they have at their disposal.
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) [4K UHD/Blu-Ray/Digital HD]
Celebrating its 50th anniversary June 30th of 2021, “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory” is a movie that hasn’t aged since 1971 and shows no sign of aging any time soon. Even with the Tim Burton second adaptation and the upcoming prequel, Mel Stuart’s cinematic version of the Roald Dahl fantasy book still remains on the top of the heap. Even looking at it without nostalgia lens, the Gene Wilder fantasy is excellent in every sense of the word, while Wilder’s titular performance is unrivaled.
Five Good (and Five Terrible) Movies Heavily Influenced by “Home Alone”
“Dial Code Santa Claus (aka 3615 code Père Noël),” now available for collectors, is generally accepted as the original “Home Alone.” Also with the reboot now in the works over at Disney+, I thought it’d be fun to harp on Chris Columbus Christmas classic. Originally a huge hit when it arrived in theaters (my brother and I saw it in theaters with my dad three times!), the film inspired a huge slew of rip offs, and copycats from competing studios looking for their own piece of the pie.
I thought it’d be fun to look at four films heavily “inspired” by the classic that were Terrible and five that were actually quite good. There’s a good chance I’m missing a few, so feel free to let me know in the comments what I should have included.
TV On DVD: Garfield
After Viacom acquired Paws Inc. Jim Davis’ orange feline icon has been getting his due on DVD thanks to PBS of all places. For the last few years, PBS has taken it upon themselves to give Garfield fans the treatment of the character that they’ve been asking for, for a long time. The long hard to find releases of the original series are now readily available in crisp transfers. Thankfully, the series is about as good as ever. Even without the nostalgia goggles, “Garfield and Friends” is hilarious and Garfield at his best.
Earwig and the Witch (2020) [Blu-Ray/DVD]
I’m one of the traditionalists that think Studio Ghibli should have stuck to hand drawn animation, but sometimes there’s just no fighting change. With “Earwig and the Witch” there’s so much new, that you’re almost tricked in to forgetting that the movie almost has no real narrative. At all. This is one of Studio Ghibli’s more aimless movies that doesn’t have a whole lot to it. Substantially, the movie packs in some great animation, and it’s quite startling how some of the motion for some scenes looks so realistic. I’m not going to say that the movie is an accomplishment in regards to Ghibli because Pixar has pulled off so much better.
Hell, Dreamworks has accomplished so much more with this medium.
Dolphin Island (2021)
10 years after a girl lost her parents and became the charge of her paternal grandfather, her maternal grandparents show up and demand to get custody of her as she lives on an island with her grandfather and her dolphin, something they consider to be less-than and want to fix asap, no matter what it takes.