Blog Archives
Happy Monday!
Disney’s timing is impeccable.
People are in need of some unifying good news and Emma Watson and Co. may have a remedy that sparks our imaginations and pulls our heart strings in the best ways. Ladies and gentlemen, there was a movie trailer that was released just this morning and it’s one you’ll want to see…
The 1991 animated masterpiece Beauty and the Beast from Disney remains one of the greatest movies ever made. An incredible feat not only for an animated film, but one courtesy of Disney. When news broke of a live-action version, skepticism immediately followed. The room for error was, potentially, too great to risk the legacy and feel of the original. However, when Emma Watson was cast as Belle, people’s confidence skyrocketed.
For good reason.
And Emma Watson, along with the featured cast, director, set designers, producers, etc., seem to have created something bordering on amazing.
Have an Uplifting Week!
Happy Halloween!
There’s one movie that put a hypnotic spell on all of us ’90s kids…
and one of the famed Sanderson sisters recently knocked it out of the park for us.
The 1993 cult movie phenomenon Hocus Pocus continues to cast its nostalgic magic on anybody who has seen the film throughout the past 23 years since it premiered in movie theaters. Much like John Carpenter’s Halloween series, Hocus Pocus has become one of the must-see Halloween movies. That’s definitely impressive company for this time of year.
Disney, incredibly, seems to have the support of the main cast to reunite for an entertaining sequel. What’s more is that the original movie didn’t rely too heavily on grand special effects, which means the sequel would likely be story first. And the movies that focus on story, characters and settings first always succeed.
(ex.- Hocus Pocus in 1993).
Hopefully, fans won’t have to wait 300 years for someone to light a black flame candle of screenwriting for a sequel.
Happy Halloween!
The One Where We Made 6 Friends
September 22, 1994: The world changed.
Friends, widely regarded as the (or one of the greatest TV shows) in history premiered on NBC exactly 22 years ago. Stop doing the math of where/how old you were on this day, I have and no good comes from it. The names Ross, Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Joey and Phoebe would redefine popular culture in a supremely special way. If you’re flipping through channels and a rerun of a Friends episode is on, odds are decent (as in a guarantee) that you’ll watch it…and then the episode that comes next.
Speaking of which, remember the first glimpse we all got of everyone’s favorite six friends?
Ladies and gentlemen, today’s blog post is one of the reasons why “Throwback Thursday” exists. And it’s been a little while since I’ve seen a rerun of the Friends pilot, which was a fantastic first chapter in the epic 10-season story of this epitome of what a sitcom should be.
I guess you could say the pilot and I had been on a break.
Violins Have a Fuse?
What if movies existed in the late 1700s?
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 and Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 defined music in the late 18th century and early into the 19th century. John Williams and Hans Zimmer have arguably made the same contribution with definitive styles and sounds to musical compositions in the late 20th century and early into the 21st century.
Add composer Danny Elfman and artist Artie Kane to the honorable mention list.
And add violinist extraordinaire and movie super fan Taylor Davis as well…?
Inspired by her fandom of a B-movie classic from 1996, violinist Taylor Davis achieved a new, cool level of nostalgic vindication as the cinematic fuse dramatically burns. She beautifully bridged two moments in time separated by nearly four centuries (the creation of the violin and a movie soundtrack) for the original performance above that’s primed for social media sharing. Pop culture is often regarded as a lesser art form. That’s the truth, rightly and wrongly. And yet, absent a fondness for decade defined by brilliant major motion pictures, including Mission: Impossible, the creativity and skill shown by modern musician Taylor Davis wouldn’t exist.
The talent of Ms. Davis makes one wonder about the shelf-life of film scores. As a longtime fan of movie soundtracks, my vote is indisputably in the category that music written and performed for movies are tragically underrated. Why aren’t songs from popular film scores played on the radio?
Some movie soundtracks and its unforgettable instrumentals reveal musical genius.
At least I know Taylor Davis agrees with that sentiment.