By: preme | On: 19 Jan, 2010
Amazon.com essential video
This simply irresistible first feature from the Muppets has Kermit the frog going from the swamps to Hollywood to be a star. As he travels and picks up his usual friends (Miss Piggy, Fozzie the Bear), Doc Hopper (Charles Durning) is in pursuit, looking for Kermit to be the spokesman for his frog-leg cuisine. A loose rendition of The Wizard of Oz, the film incorporates the same cagey humor as their breakout syndicated TV series The Muppet Show. This is one of the few times that a human cast (notably Steve Martin, Orson Welles, and Carol Kane) are integrated seamlessly with nonhumans. Worth noting is Paul Williams’s score, which includes the Oscar-nominated “The Rainbow Connection.” Williams’s music, much like Howard Ashman’s work on The Little Mermaid and other Disney films, provides more than atmosphere; there’s a degree of magic here. Williams did not work on the future Muppet films until A Muppet Christmas Carol. His contributions made thes (more…)
By: preme | On: 18 Jan, 2010
Amazon.com essential video
This simply irresistible first feature from the Muppets has Kermit the frog going from the swamps to Hollywood to be a star. As he travels and picks up his usual friends (Miss Piggy, Fozzie the Bear), Doc Hopper (Charles Durning) is in pursuit, looking for Kermit to be the spokesman for his frog-leg cuisine. A loose rendition of The Wizard of Oz, the film incorporates the same cagey humor as their breakout syndicated TV series The Muppet Show. This is one of the few times that a human cast (notably Steve Martin, Orson Welles, and Carol Kane) are integrated seamlessly with nonhumans. Worth noting is Paul Williams’s score, which includes the Oscar-nominated “The Rainbow Connection.” Williams’s music, much like Howard Ashman’s work on The Little Mermaid and other Disney films, provides more than atmosphere; there’s a degree of magic here. Williams did not work on the future Muppet films until A Muppet Christmas Carol. His contributions made thes (more…)
By: preme | On: 17 Jan, 2010
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By: preme | On: 16 Jan, 2010
Honesty. Integrity. Family. Stories of a family’s – and a nation’s – yesteryear continue in six Reunion Movies. Set in the 1940s are A Wedding on Walton’s Mountain (will Erin have a change of heart?), Mothers’ Day on Walton’s Mountain (honoring the person everyone turns to when crises arise) and A Day for Thanks on Walton’s Mountain (with Robert Wightman as John-Boy). Taking place in the 1960s and featuring Richard Thomas as John-Boy are A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion (as a nation mourns the death of JFK), A Walton Wedding (no big-city Manhattan nuptials for John-Boy) and A Walton Easter (Happy 40th, John and Olivia!). Six warm Walton memories are yours to share. For fans of the family-friendly classic TV series, this 3-disc set features six made for television holiday-themed movies.
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By: preme | On: 14 Jan, 2010
Amazon.com
Even within the subgenre of grab-bag comedy, Disaster Movie sets a new bar for free-associative lunacy. To what degree there is a plot, it’s vaguely stolen from Cloverfield: A handful of twentysomethings try to rescue someone in a city assaulted by an incomprehensible threat–in this case, falling asteroids. But that’s just a thread on which to string a long and increasingly tedious series of gestures towards recent movies (ranging from High School Musical to Enchanted to Sex and the City to Kung Fu Panda) and pop culture figures (Amy Winehouse to Flavor Flav to Dr. Phil to, of course, perpetual punching-bag Michael Jackson). No one over 30 will recognize more than a fraction of the movie’s references, but the movie’s bigger problem is that there are hardly any actual jokes–the filmmakers seem to think that simply alluding to Hancock or Jumper is funny in and of itself… and it just isn’t. Disaster Movie will probably appeal to its primary audience of high- (more…)