It's almost embarrassing how long it's been since I've posted on this blog. It's not that I haven't watched many movies, although I've seen fewer than I'd like. Mostly, I've simply found that I didn't have much to say about the movies I have watched--nothing beyond a simple tweet or two. That changed recently, starting this past Mother's Day when my oldest son gave me a copy of Stephen King's 11/22/63. He'd kept the receipt because he knew that it was likely that this book was already a part of … [Read more...] about It’s About Time
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Who Doesn’t Love A Good Magic Trick?
There's a reason I call this blog "Exploring the Magic of Movies", and I suppose it has more to do with how I watch movies than the movies themselves, at least these days. In the early days of cinema, moving pictures truly looked like some kind of wizardry, and if you saw Martin Scorsese's Hugo a couple of years ago, you might have noticed the bit where audience members watching one of the first movies got up out of their seats and ran away in terror at the shot of an oncoming train. [youtube … [Read more...] about Who Doesn’t Love A Good Magic Trick?
An Epiphany About Bambi’s Mother (and Other Notable Deaths by Disney)
I think I've finally answered that nagging question that runs through my brain from time to time, namely: why is it that so many Disney characters have dead family members? If these are fairy tales created for children, why is there so darned much death? I suppose the first and most obvious answer to the question would be that Disney based his movies on fairy tales, which themselves were at times quite dark and had plenty of death in them, but it's not as though those stories were followed … [Read more...] about An Epiphany About Bambi’s Mother (and Other Notable Deaths by Disney)
Wreck-It Ralph: A Sweet Treat Rather Than An Animated Wreck
Dinosaur. Treasure Planet. Brother Bear. Home On The Range. Mostly forgettable films from the House of Mouse. I'm a huge Disney fan (not to mention a parent of three), and I didn't even bother watching that last one. So when Wreck-It Ralph came to theaters last fall--right after Brave, if I recall--I didn't even bother to go see it. I didn't know anything about the character(s), had no idea what the story was about, and I don't think I even saw the trailer, even though it would have been perfect … [Read more...] about Wreck-It Ralph: A Sweet Treat Rather Than An Animated Wreck