The gang has its typical falling-out in TOY STORY 3.

This week, the podcast review of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror takes you from the sublime to the ridiculous, as Dan Persons, Lawrence French, and Steve Biodrowski review TOY STORY 3 and JONAH HEX. Does TOY STORY 3 live up to its predecessors? Is JONAH HEX the biggest bomb of the summer or simply two films in one? Also on the menu, a round up of recent news, a calendar of upcoming events, and a preview of the week’s home video releases.

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON

In this week’s episode, Dan Persons, Lawrence French, and Steve Biodrowski debate the merits of domesticated dragons as they bring their combined acumen to bear upon analyzing DreamWorks 3D aerial extravaganza, HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON. Also on the chopping block: news from the world of horror, fantasy, and science fiction film-making; a look at upcoming home video releases; and a glance at what’s coming to theatres in April.

A Typical Staff Meeting Documented in WAKING SLEEPING BEAUTY

Diversity is what we’re all about here at MIGHTY MOVIE PODCAST. Actually, what we’re all about these days is trying just to get the frakking show out in the midst of all the other stuff going on in our lives (hence the lateness this week), but when we’re not pulling our hair out about that, yup, diversity is our beat. And this week’s episode is nothing if not diverse, featuring as it does a documentary about that most hallowed of family-friendly institutions, the Disney animated feature, and an erotic thriller by the guy who’s managed to turn the form into a complex, challenging exploration of the human condition.

This episode features interviews with Don Hahn and Peter Schneider of WAKING SLEEPING BEAUTY, the documentary that looks at how, in 1984, the Disney Company – newly running under the command of Michael Eisner and backed up by Jeffrey Katzenberg and host of others, including Messrs. Hahn and Schneider — sought to revivify their moribund animation division. The film’s a detailed, and admirably candid, exploration of how the company eventually wound up creating such classics as THE LITTLE MERMAID, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, and THE LION KING before a couple a tragic deaths and some corporate politics threw a spanner into the works.

HOW Much for an Auteur Sandwich?! Amanda Seyfried (left), Atom Egoyan, and Julianne Moore consult on the set of CHLOE.

Then we sit down with Atom Egoyan, to talk about his new film, CHLOE, wherein an uptight Julianne Moore hires call-girl Amanda Seyfried to report on wayward husband Liam Neeson, with everyone eventually dealing with more than they bargained for. If you know your Egoyan (EXOTICA; THE SWEET HEREAFTER), you know that the guy can juggle the sensual and the suspenseful like no other. CHLOE is no exception.

Another double-up of good stuff for ya. Click the player to hear the show.

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WAKING SLEEPING BEAUTY

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CHLOE

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www.sonyclassics.com/chloe

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Another Sensual Mystery

The Magic's in the Details: Aisling (voiced by Kristen Mooney) and Brendan (Evan McGuire) in THE SECRET OF KELLS

I’m not sure when I first heard of THE SECRET OF KELLS. Probably last year, likely through AICN, definitely way before it wound up on the Oscar nominee list for animated feature (and everybody started going, “The what of who?”). At that time, the buzz was growing around this small, exquisitely designed film out of Ireland. Who imagined it getting any further than a small band of passionate geeks?

I got to finally see it courtesy of my friend Russ, who imported a U.K. region DVD and through channels too sinister to mention (I may be exaggerating a bit), had it converted to a U.S. region disk. The distributors announced press screenings not too long after, but I still felt Russ was well-justified in going to all that the effort. Over at Cinefantastique, we like to champion films with “a sense of wonder,” and THE SECRET OF KELLS meets that standard on nearly every front. Beautifully animated — imagine the simple but expressive designs of Genndy Tartakovsky (SAMURAI JACK; STAR WARS: CLONE WARS) wedded to the elaborate illuminations of the Book of Kells — and imbued with that rarefied magic that seems the sole domain of Ireland, the film well-earned its buzz, not to mention the Oscar nom and hopefully a growing audience as it is rolled out across the U.S. in the next few months.

I got to talk to KELLS’ Tomm Moore — who directed the film with Nora Twomey — a few days after the Oscar ceremonies, and we delved into matters both cultural and technical, as well as discussed the current state of the animation industry in Ireland. Click on the player to hear the interview.

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www.kellsmovie.com

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By Genndy Tartakovsky

I pull out my camcorder and power up, and am instantly intercepted by a MoMA PR person, who politely but firmly informs me that practically nothing in the room, save for Edward and Headless and a vitrine with some figures from THE CORPSE BRIDE, can be filmed.

“Including,” she points out, “the angora sweater.”

Okay, I can dig that, for whatever reasons legal or contextual, stuff may be off-limits (fortunately, no such prohibitions existed for the rest of the exhibit, and, as you’ll see in the video, it’s a big durn exhibit). But specifically throwing the barbed wire up around the angora sweater? Really? Is there some sort of legal constraint, or is this humble strip of fluff so iconic of… something… that dissemination of its presence here could completely blow the intent of the exhibit?

So sorry, all you PLAN 9 maniacs. You want to worship at the alter of the angora, you’re just going to have to make a pilgrimage to New York. Happily, once you’ve performed your obeisances, you’ll then have an opportunity to drink deeply of Tim Burton’s mad genius. There are tons of concept work here, drawn by Burton’s own hand, plus a stunning variety of original and heretofore unseen artwork, sculptures and installations created specifically for the exhibit, and a copy of the hard-to-see HANSEL AND GRETEL adaptation that Burton directed for Disney in 1982.

A lot of the film stuff — including concept designs for ALICE IN WONDERLAND and the aborted Burton version of SUPERMAN RETURNS — was not verboten, so you get a taste of it in this podcast, along with a good sampling of original art, some thoughts from the exhibit’s curators on the director’s life and work, and some footage of Burton’s very Tim Burtonesque appearance at the press presentation. Click on the player above to get a look.

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Burton & Sondheim: Together at Last

Don't Make Me Happy. You Won't Like Me When I'm Happy: Tom Hardy relishes the pain in BRONSON

You wanna talk extreme? Charles Bronson, ne Michael Peterson, has spent thirty-four of his fifty-six years of life in incarceration of one form or another — most of that time has been in solitary confinement. The system has been violent to him, but he’s been violent back, and an anti-authoritarian cult has risen around his two-fisted brand of rebellion.

He’s an artist and poet, and has published an instructional book on how to keep fit under restricted resources (like, say, if you’re kept in solitary for most of your life). He’s not the guy you’d want to have a beer with. He’s most likely the guy you’d fear is going to break the beer bottle over your head. (Although, to be fair, he’s been certified as clinically sane and hasn’t been violent for the last seven years.)

In telling Bronson/Peterson’s story in the new movie, BRONSON, Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn has decided to meet extreme with extremes. The narrative style is surreally hyperbolic; the violence is blunt and unsparing; a framing device has Bronson — played by Tom Hardy — telling his tale from a proscenium stage. There are saturated color schemes, animated sequences, and even, for obscure reasons, a reference to the artist Magritte. Some of this seems to push too hard (Whiteface? Really?), but Refn clearly has his reasons and, while I may not have bought it all, I didn’t regret being taken on the trip. If you’re going to go out there, I think, then, frack, you’d better go all the way out there. Congrats, Nick, mission accomplished.

Refn and I got to talk about the motivation behind the narrative madness and discussed how one confronts an audience with a character who defies empathy. (I also got to meet his three month old daughter, who’s another kind of extreme: extremely adorable.) Click on the player above to hear the interview.

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www.magnetreleasing.com/bronson

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FOCUS FEATURES’ 9 OPENS IN THE UK ON OCTOBER 28TH
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Refn’s Saga of Danish Drug Lords