Movies That Move Me Part 3: Don Bluth Special

Don Bluth has to be one of the greatest animators of my time-perhaps of ALL time. Two of my earliest movie experiences were the Land Before Time and An American Tail-both movies he is responsible for.

Don Bluth among his creations

He has done movies, video games, MAYBE a tv special(?)… he is someone who stands with the likes of Walt Disney and Hayao Miyazaki in my humble opinion.

He worked mostly in the 80’s and 90’s back when kids movies were allowed to scare children, which is a good thing because it taught us that bad times often make us more grateful for the good times. I still remember the dream sequence from All Dogs Go to Heaven and it makes me shiver!! He is a master storyteller who I feel has become forgotten in these modern times.

A few of the films Don Bluth worked on

He left Hollywood after his last feature film (Titan AE) flopped HARD. How hard? Well, it kinda killed WB Animation Studios. But that was due mostly to management malfeasance and had nothing to do with the work Mr. Bluth put into the film. He tried getting back into it with a crowdfunding project meant to bring Dragon’s Lair to Netflix as a series, but it fell through (I donated to that campaign and have some swag from it. I’ll have to look for it sometime.)

I don’t know if Mr. Bluth does anything on WordPress but if he does, I hope he sees this and it brings a smile to his face. The man brought so many to mine.

Thank you Don Bluth!

Movies That Move Me, pt. 2: Robocop

The 1980’s one, naturally

I first watched this movie when I was 8 years old. It had come out four years prior and my family had a Beta tape of the movie. Remember BETAVISION? If you do, take your daily multivitamin with pride, cuz you, like me, are in need of some vitamins…

Anyway, the movie revolves around the idea of “what if we took a cop movie and made the cop a robot?” Only in this case the cop is in fact, a cyborg, not a robot.

The movie benefited from a good director (Paul Verhoven) and a script that was deeper than its initial idea would garner in modern times. The movie takes a look at humanity and what makes us, us. The title character is given a brief backstory before getting “upgraded” and follows his arc from normal cop to corporate tool and finally back to humanity. The movie also gives us a parodic look at 80’s corporate life, with Omno Consumer Products corporation at the center.

Officer Lewis asks Robocop if he remembers his name.

The movie spawned two sequels (one with a script by Frank “Sun City” Miller) and a 2014 remake that was a watered down imitation of the original. In my book the first one is the best, and not because of nostalgia. It is the one movie that beat utilized the effects of its time, especially the blood squibs.

OUCHIES!!

I’ll see you guys next week. Till next time!

Movies That Move Me

Part 1: the Last Unicorn

I first saw this film when I was in my single digits. I was lost in the throes of Kindergarten and as such had no real grasp of animation per se, but this film stuck with me in the back recesses of my childhood mind.

It centers around the titular character, who ventures outside her forest to look for others of her kind. Along the way, she gathers companions (a magician named Schmendrick and Molly Grue, the old maid). Together they seek the Red Bull (who drove the other unicorns into the sea) and its master King Haggard.

I stumbled upon this film again at my local video store (DVD copy) and instantly remembered it. I bought it right then and there, and it went into my video backlog for a year or two.

Eventually I gave it a watch and was instantly enchanted! The animation is top notch, songs by America (the band, not the nation) and imaginative and memorable characters like Schmendrick and Molly Grue… can’t rave about the film enough!!

The film is based on a book by Peter S Beagle, which I admittedly have never read. There’s also a graphic novel that I do own (I skimmed it but haven’t given it a dedicated read)

In summation, I recommend the movie, book and GN to fans of fantasy, animation and romance. I will try to check in next week with another inspiration of mine…

Eroticism is beyond my understanding

Maybe it is because I gave up on romance to build better relationships with my friends or because I’m just not good at it, but the art of being romantic and even (gasp!) sexy is beyond me.

To be fair, I don’t look like a sexy beast at all. I look more like a taller love child of Danny DeVito and Robin Williams. At 5’8” with thinning hair and a profound gut, I won’t be winning any beauty contests unless the only participant is Steve Buscemi. And it would be too close to call confidently.

I wasn’t always this resigned; I was a prowler in my younger years and a shameless flirt. It didn’t work for me as a strategy or as a lifestyle-Johnny Bravo is not who I wanna be!

At one point I took stock of my life and found it wanting, so I decided to turn my attention towards other matters; being a good son, a good friend, and trying my hand at writing. It has been more fulfilling than hopeless flirting could ever be.

Till next time, everyone!

New year…

Hope it’s good for everyone! I’m right where I been at this time last year (eating dinner and watching YouTube) and I hope things are at least doing well for whoever reads this.

My resolution this year is to KEEP MY DEADLINES!!! How am I supposed to be a writer if I can’t deliver a single story when I promise to? I gotta work on that…

Hopefully it’ll be a year where things get better. Not crossing me fingers for it though. Things are getting progressively worse and our “leaders” aren’t really doing anything to save us. Maybe we should take things in hand ourselves…

Well, till next time…

Dreams of a God I Only Kind of Believe In

Had two dreams that at least mention or allude to God (as in Yahweh, the Christian god, or as I call him “the Bad Parent”)

In the first instance, it was a fleeting mention in a doctor’s orders, which said “make time for god”. Been thinking about that one for weeks now. Never talked about it till now.

The latest is a doozy. In it God spat a fireball that ended the world, and the dream didn’t end there! An Angel (the Angel of Death I figure) tells me that if I can convince Him/Her/Them they will spare the Earth and return it to before the fireball loogie thing.

I try to talk sense to Them and, after failing multiple times finally get through by saying that we (humanity) need some time to figure things out and grow on our own. That seems to calm The Bad Parent and he returns things to normal.

Strange dreams lately… what do you think of them? Let me know, and till next time!!

Life’s busy dance

How much is weighed by fate n’

How much is wasted waitin’

How much time is lost

In life’s busy dance?

We have our obligations

Rushing to each waiting station

Too busy to relax,

If only we took it easy

If we were able,

But life is greedy.

Too greedy to let us take a breath!

So we keep on moving

Keep on shaking, keep on grooving,

Till life is done, and then it’s death!

Between the obligations

And the feelings between people

To say nothing of the feelings of nations,

Never any time to take a breath.

Never any time to enjoy the dance!