Jon is one of the co-founders of InBetweenDrafts. He hosts the podcasts Thank God for Movies, Mad Men Men, Rookie Pirate Radio, and Fantasy Writing for Barbarians. He doesn't sleep, essentially.
JOY (voice of Amy Poehler) Joy’s goal has always been to make sure Riley stays happy. She is lighthearted, optimistic and determined to find the fun in every situation. Joy sees challenges in Riley’s life as opportunities, and the less happy moments as hiccups on the way back to something great. As long as Riley is happy, so is Joy.
FEAR (voice of Bill Hader) Fear’s main job is to protect Riley and keep her safe. He is constantly on the lookout for potential disasters, and spends time evaluating the possible dangers, pitfalls and risk involved in Riley’s everyday activities. There are very few activities and events that Fear does not find to be dangerous and possibly fatal.
ANGER (voice of Lewis Black) Anger feels very passionately about making sure things are fair for Riley. He has a fiery spirit and tends to explode (literally) when things don’t go as planned. He is quick to overreact and has little patience for life’s imperfections.
DISGUST (voice of Mindy Kaling) Disgust is highly opinionated, extremely honest and prevents Riley from getting poisoned — both physically and socially. She keeps a careful eye on the people, places and things that Riley comes into contact with — whether that’s broccoli or last year’s fashion trend. Disgust always has the best of intentions and refuses to lower her standards.
SADNESS (voice of Phyllis Smith) None of the other Emotions really understand what Sadness’s role is. Sadness would love to be more optimistic and helpful in keeping Riley happy, but she finds it so hard to be positive. Sometimes it seems like the best thing to do is just lie on the floor and have a good cry.
Unfortunately, Pixar hasn’t released the official character bios for any of the human characters, like Riley and her parents, as well as Riley’s imaginary friend Bing Bong.
But I absolutely love the ideas behind each of these characters, especially Fear, Anger, and Disgust. When you watch the trailer, it’s easy to find these emotions less “important” because they mess everything up without Joy and Sadness around. It’s sort of easy to look down on them for being themselves.
These character descriptions go a long way toward generating real depth to these emotions. Anger isn’t just angry because he’s voiced by Lewis Black. He has a real interest in making sure the world is “fair” for Riley. Fear is simply trying to protect her. In the same way, Disgust preserves Riley’s true sense of self. That’s just good writing.
Interestingly, Sadness is the least fleshed out, which is surely intentional. Her motivations are something we’ll have to see pan out over the course of about an hour and a half. Is it June yet?
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Divergent Series: Insurgent (or just Divergent 2: Insurgent if you want it to have a better title) tries hard to make a “great” movie out of the good first entry in this franchise, but it fails to set itself apart.
While Divergent was a familiar, but exciting, mashup of several young adult book movie tropes, Insurgent is essentially one long chase scene that relies solely on ripple effects from the first film (which wasn’t that strong to begin with).
Gone are the interesting, sometimes compelling, themes of discovering where you fit into society and the abuse of power as a consequence of obsessive classification. Instead, the movie swaps its genre — and even some of its themes — for “you are very special” ideas that feel like the easy way out for this decently built world.
Though the action scenes are excellent and the characters are worth investing into, Insurgent has a weak, convoluted narrative filled with plot holes and gaps in its story that will provoke eye-rolls. Of course, fans of the franchise will be much more forgiving, since there’s still plenty for them to love here.
Woodley herself does an admirable job of balancing her inexperience as a teenager with a thirst for violence that is welcome when she unleashes it. This time around, she has less of a physical growth that completes her training from the first film, as they instead run around and work to solve problems with resources of a previous story. This would be fine if the hero was surrounding by more interesting players.
Strangely, her chemistry with anyone but Four is a highlight, but it falls completely flat when it’s meant to count the most. Because of this, everyone from her brother to frenemy played by Miles Teller is reduced to a repeat arc of Divergent. Only the most hardcore fans of this series will find that to be entertaining, and rightfully so.
Grade: D
Rated: PG-13 (For intense violence and action throughout, some sensuality, thematic elements and brief language)
Starring: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Kate Winslet, Miles Teller
Genre: Drama, Action & Adventure, Romance, Science Fiction & Fantasy
Directed By: Robert Schwentke
Written By: Akiva Goldsman, Brian Duffield, Mark Bomback
In Theaters: Mar 20, 2015 (Wide Release)
Runtime: 1 hr. 59 min.
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…filming is set to begin this week on Deadpool for Morena (Baccarin) and star Ryan Reynolds. The latter recently took part in an official photoshoot for the film. Seems like we’ll get an official look at him as the Merc With A Mouth some point soon.
I’m still pleasantly surprised that Inara—er—Morena Baccarin will be in this. I’ve assumed up to this point that she will be playing Domino (how could she not?), even though the character never appears in the leaked script according to what I’ve been told by people brave enough to read it. Another great guess is that she will play Copycat.
As for Reynolds, he’s already been hyping this latest movie, calling it “great for Green Lantern haters” in passing. The movie doesn’t come out for another 11 months, but it’s already more interesting than half of what Marvel is working on this year (so, Ant-Man, basically).
Here’s to hoping something Deadpool-related happens at Comic-Con.
(Click here to download this week’s podcast episode)
Hey conspirers! This week on the podcast, we talk Cinderella, the latest Disney fairy tale movie to grace the big screen. Critics have been pretty kind to the film, but does it stand out amidst the ranks of Red Riding Hood, Jack the Giant Slayer, Snow White and the Huntsman, Alice and Wonderland, last year’s Maleficent…OK, maybe the competition isn’t so stiff.
On TWIL (this week I learned), we share some of our favorite YouTube channels for mocking our favorite movies, as well as the recent news on Popeye. Stick around for the Netflix Recommendation of the Week, as well as new Movie Releases for this coming weekend.
Our Song of the Week is “Our Own House” by Misterwives (yes, they do a song besides “Reflections” and I argue it’s better).
Enjoy the show, and don’t forget to rate and subscribe us on iTunes if you haven’t already! We always appreciate your feedback.
Question of the Week: What is your favorite live-action fairy tale movie?
I could leave it at that, but I’ll also add that if you’ve seen Ever After: A Cinderella Story with Drew Barrymore from 1998, then you’ve seen the entire movie.
This new live-action retelling of the fairy tale classic combines the beauty and magical whimsy of the classical animated film with the sincerity and fleshed out character development of Ever After. Oddly enough, 2015’s Cinderella surpasses neither of these movies.
It plays it safe and matches the original fairy tale formula to the letter. Nothing more, nothing less. It’s not funny, though it manages to be charming thanks to beautiful sets, inspired musical scores, and Cate Blanchett as the wicked stepmother working as an acceptable counter balance to the fresh face of Lily James (no Harry Potter jokes, please). Even Helena Bonham Carter finds a way to fit her own flavor into this mostly vapid retelling.
Everything else is sadly forgettable, but that won’t prevent Cinderella from pleasing its many fans. I just wish it could have tried a little bit harder to be a little bit more.
Cinderella mostly excels at costume design and more in-depth imaginings of crucial characters, namely the prince. No longer a side character, there’s a real story now behind who Prince Charming is and why he’s so desperate for a life love. His first meeting with Cinderella is now outside of the ball, and under more humble circumstances. This time, she’s the one who doesn’t quite know what to make of the Prince, and that’s a fun change to the original story.
There’s less focus on the misadventures of the animals, but there’s a surprisingly odd amount of anti-feminism present in Cinderella herself. Unlike previous adaptations where she at least tried to escape the clutches of her evil Stepmother, this incarnation is content to just wait for someone to rescue her. It’s a strange decision for a movie that otherwise tries harder to feel more updated.
But in the end, this is the cut and dry Cinderella story with more detail, style, and story. It’s just a shame they forgot to infuse the little substance this movie has with some classic Disney whimsy.
Grade: B
Extra Credits:
Director Kenneth Branagh also helmed Thor, another “B” movie that feels surprisingly empty for such a rich mythology.
I would argue that Branagh is overshadowed in the credits by Chris Weitz, best known for About a Boy. Unfortunately, the script here is more akin to his other film, The Golden Compass.
If you’ve never heard of Genndy Tartakovsky, then you’ve at least loved his work. The animation director is an under-the-radar legend in the business, despite never acquiring the acclaim he truly deserves.
Some of his early work included Batman: The Animated Series, but the man is better known for creating Dexter’s Laboratory, Powerpuff Girls, and Samurai Jack. When I was a kid, this guy was one of the kings of animation, at least for people who could get Cartoon Network on their cable subscription.
This is the man George Lucas entrusted the keys to the first Star Wars: The Clone Wars miniseries (long before it was ever computer animated), which won three Emmies. Before that, Tartakovsky directed the somewhat successful The Powerpuff Girls Movie and (it bears repeating) creating the legendary series, Samurai Jack, which also won multiple awards.
Sadly, this was the end of Tartakovsky’s reign. After 2004, the momentum of his work went into a gradual free fall, as new projects like Adult Swim’s Korgoth of Barbaria were canceled before they even started. This kicked off a trend for Tartakovsky that we’re still seeing today.
Tartakovsky planned on creating the long-awaited Samurai Jack movie to complete the series, but Bad Robot abandoned him to work on Star Trek. Genndy’s new Cartoon Network series, Sym-Bionic Titan, only lasted one, short season.
But in 2012, Tartakovsky’s luck changed when he moved to Sony and directed the animated monster movie, Hotel Transylvania, starring Adam Sandler. Though the film received mixed reviews, it was a huge financial success for Sony, earning Tartakovsky the chance to strike gold again with a sequel. The trailer just came out this week, and the movie is set to release this fall.
Amidst this Gennaissance, the animator/director was also announced as the director of the new Popeye movie, which we’ve already seen early footage of. And it looks amazing. But just this week, Sony kicked Tartakovsky off the project for unknown reasons, and it’s unclear whether or not the movie will still go forward.
In an interview with Moviefone, Tartakovsky explained the sudden shift:
“Popeye, at least, we put up a great screening, everybody really liked that sizzle, we got a positive reaction. I was in love with what we were doing, but I think the studio is going through changes and I don’t know if they want to make the Popeye that I want to make. So they’ve got to make a decision…It was hard to let Popeye go, but that’s the business.”
To be clear, Tartakovsky still works for Sony, and we all know the production studio is currently in the midst of some unprecedented turmoil. His personal project Can You Imagine? is still in the works for now, which is an original story about a boy and his imagination.
Before we delve into the why behind Genndy’s expulsion from Popeye, let’s review the man’s career. As the headline implies, Tartakovsky is one of the rulers of my childhood. His work influenced me greatly through shows like Dexter’s Laboratory and Samurai Jack. Just the other day, I reflected on the chaotic genius of “Ego Trip,” the TV movie for Dexter’s Laboratory that made me embrace time travel as the fluid concept it really is.
I still look back on Tartakovsky’s “Clone Wars” with wonder, remembering almost every detail of every set piece. I remember wishing the man had been allowed to work on Revenge of the Sith, even (at least when it came to General Grevious. That final scene of the second season sent chills up my spine).
I can’t pinpoint the exact reason for why Tartakovsky’s work happens to work. I don’t know if it’s that he understands how the mind of a child operates or if he just has a gift for maintaining his own childlike imagination. Whatever it is, there’s something bizarre and magical about the way Tartakovsky visualizes a story, and it’s something noticeable that made me appreciate Hotel Transylvania before even realizing whose vision developed it.
And yet Tartakovsky hasn’t ascended to the level of greatness that I personally believe he’s earned. For all I know, he could be difficult to work with, or his vision could be akin to George Lucas, in that he needs many checks and balances to prevent his story from descending into pure lunacy.
Whatever the reason, I take solace in knowing that for now, it appears Tartakovsky and Sony are on OK terms. He’s still getting his Can You Imagine? movie, and for all we know, Sony is just gun-shy about putting out an expensive Popeye movie after the middling success of similar nostalgia projects that seem to have doomed DreamworksAnimation, despite them being great movies (I’m looking at you Mr. Peabody and Sherman).
Yes, the hopeless optimist in me somewhat believes there’s a chance Sony wants Tartakovsky to redirect his efforts to finishing Samurai Jack before a Kickstarter finally does it for him. We’ve been waiting 14 years for that series to have a conclusion, after all (and no, I don’t count the comics that started in 2013).
To sum up, Tartakovsky is a young guy (only in his mid-forties), and I personally believe his best work is ahead of him. I just hope that whatever is going on with Sony is either resolved, or someone else manages to recognize Tartakovsky’s talent and snatches him up. Can you imagine (har har) how good a DreamWorks movie would be if they brought in Tartakovsky? Specifically, I bet the animator would’ve breathed some incredible life into Rise of the Guardians or the upcoming Home (which looks awful to me).
For now, we’ll see if Tartakovsky and Sony can surprise us all with something completely unexpected. And if anyone can do that, it’s Genndy.
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At a Disney shareholder meeting in San Francisco this morning, Bob Iger revealed a wealth of new information about several big projects, including a Frozen sequel(announced with John Lasseter), the release date and director of Star Wars VIII, and the name and cast of the first Star Wars spinoff, Rogue One.
I already wrote at length about the latter Star Wars news here, which goes into more detail.
Honestly, it’s the breaking news about Frozen 2 that has me the most excited. Though it’s not the movie itself that has my attention.
See, it’s very surprising that Frozen 2 is being made. Disney has said many times that a sequel would never happen, which baffled many people who think Disney is missing a huge opportunity to milk this franchise to death.
But they’ve “seen the light,” so to speak, and yes, it’s great news for people who don’t care about Frozen. Why?
Because it sets a new precedent for Disney sequels.
Long ago, in a decade not that far away, Disney was completely averse to ever releasing sequels on the big screen. That’s why the Disney Renaissance sequels (Lion King, Aladdin, etc) are all shoddy for the most part and direct-to-DVD.
Pixar, however, paved the way for how lucrative and critically acclaimed sequels can be if the studio badly wants to make them with Toy Story. Even the Monsters Inc. prequel and Cars sequel, though not culturally impactful on their own, generated a ton of revenue for Pixar.
If Disney is now OK with making Frozen 2, then that’s great news for Big Hero 6 fans like me who really want Big Hero 7 to happen. Now THAT’S a movie that demands a sequel, and I have zero doubt the talented group behind BH6 would love to continue the franchise if they haven’t already.
So rejoice Frozen fans and non-fans alike. Today’s a good day.
Interestingly, Sadness is the least fleshed out, which is surely intentional. Her motivations are something we’ll have to see pan out over the course of about an hour and a half. Is it June yet?
