Podcast appearances and mentions of james berardinelli

https://m.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?sid=tindogpodcast&_pgn=1&isRefine=true&_trksid=p4429486.m3561.l49496 Atlantis: The Lost Empire is a 2001 American animated science fiction adventure film directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, produced by Don Hahn, and written by Tab Murphy. Produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation, it stars Michael J. Fox, James Garner, Cree Summer, Don Novello, Phil Morris, Claudia Christian, Jacqueline Obradors, Florence Stanley, David Ogden Stiers, John Mahoney, Jim Varney, Corey Burton and Leonard Nimoy. Set in 1914, the film follows young linguist Milo Thatch, who gains possession of a sacred book, which he believes will guide him and a crew of mercenaries to the lost city of Atlantis. Development of the film began after production had finished on The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996). Instead of another musical, directors Trousdale and Wise, producer Hahn, and screenwriter Murphy decided to do an adventure film inspired by the works of Jules Verne. Atlantis: The Lost Empire was notable for adopting the distinctive visual style of comic book artist Mike Mignola, one of the film's production designers. The film made greater use of computer-generated imagery (CGI) than any of Disney's previous traditionally animated features and remains one of the few to have been shot in anamorphic format. Linguist Marc Okrand constructed an Atlantean language specifically for use in the film. James Newton Howard provided the film's musical score. The film was released at a time when audience interest in animated films was shifting away from traditional animation toward films with full CGI. Atlantis: The Lost Empire premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on June 3, 2001, and went into its general release on June 15. The film received mixed reviews from critics. Budgeted at around $90–120 million, Atlantis grossed over $186 million worldwide, $84 million of which was earned in North America; its lackluster box office response was identified as a result of being released in competition with Shrek, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, The Fast and the Furious and Dr. Dolittle 2. As a result of the film's box office failure, Disney cancelled a planned spin-off animated television series, Team Atlantis; an underwater Disneyland attraction; and a volcanic Magic Kingdom attraction based on it. Atlantis was nominated for several awards, including seven Annie Awards, and won Best Sound Editing at the 2002 Golden Reel Awards. The film was released on VHS and DVD on January 29, 2002, and on Blu-ray on June 11, 2013. Despite its initial reception, reception in later years became favorable and has given Atlantis a cult following[5] and reappraisal from critics as a mistreated classic, due in part to Mignola's unique artistic influence.[6][7] A direct-to-video sequel, Atlantis: Milo's Return, was released in 2003. Plot In 1914 Washington, D.C., archaeo-linguist Milo Thatch obsesses over finding the legendary lost city of Atlantis, believed to have sunk thousands of years ago. His employers ridicule his theories, but he gains an unexpected ally in eccentric millionaire Preston B. Whitmore, a friend of Milo's deceased adventurer grandfather who also sought the city. Determined to honor his old friend's quest, Whitmore recruits Milo for an expedition to Atlantis, having recently uncovered the Shepherd's Journal, an ancient Atlantean manuscript that contains directions to the lost city. Aboard the submarine Ulysses, Milo meets his teammates: Commander Lyle Tiberius Rourke, Lieutenant Helga Sinclair, demolitions expert Vincenzo Santorini, geologist Gaetan "Mole" Molière, medical officer Joshua Sweet, mechanic Audrey Ramirez, radio operator Wilhelmina Packard, mess cook Jebidiah "Cookie" Farnsworth, and a platoon of mercenaries. Upon reaching a cave entrance leading to the lost city, the submarine is destroyed by a massive mechanical leviathan, killing most of the crew. Milo and the survivors escape in smaller craft, navigating through the cave to emerge among ancient ruins. Milo translates the journal, guiding the team through caves beneath a dormant volcano until they reach the worn remains of Atlantis. There, they are greeted by Princess Kidagakash "Kida" Nedakh, who, despite being around 8,500 years old, has the appearance of a young woman. She leads them to her father, King Kashekim, who orders them to leave. Learning that Milo can read their language—a skill lost to the Atlanteans over millennia—Kida asks for his help in uncovering their forgotten history and highly-advanced technology, without which the city has declined and resources have dwindled. Milo learns that Atlantis is powered by the Heart of Atlantis, a massive crystal that grants longevity and health to its citizens through the smaller crystals they carry. Rourke betrays Milo and the Atlanteans, revealing his true intention to steal the Heart for profit, despite knowing the Atlanteans will perish without it. He mortally wounds the King while seizing control and uncovers the crystal's hidden location beneath the city. Sensing the danger, the crystal merges with Kida, who is then captured by Rourke. He departs with the crystallized Kida and his mercenaries, except for Vincenzo, Molière, Sweet, Audrey, Packard, and Cookie, who refuse to take part in the Atlanteans' destruction. Before dying, the King reveals that Atlantis was devastated by a megatsunami after he attempted to weaponize the crystal's vast power. To protect the city, the crystal merged with a royal family member, Kida's mother. This created a protective dome over the city's inner district, shielding it from total destruction as Atlantis sank beneath the waves, but Kida's mother never returned. To prevent the crystal from ever merging with Kida, the King hid it, inadvertently accelerating Atlantis' decline. He warns Milo that Kida will be lost forever if she is not soon separated from the crystal and pleads with him to save her. Alongside his allies, Milo rallies the Atlanteans to reactivate their long-dormant flying machines. Together, they eliminate Rourke and his mercenaries in the volcano. Milo and the others fly the crystallized Kida back to Atlantis as the volcano erupts. Kida ascends into the air and awakens Stone Guardians, who erect a barrier that shields the city from the lava flow. With Atlantis saved, the crystal separates from Kida and remains suspended in the sky. Milo chooses to stay in Atlantis with Kida, having fallen in love with her. Before returning to the surface, Vincenzo, Molière, Sweet, Audrey, Packard, and Cookie each receive a small crystal and a share of treasure. The six reunite with Preston on the surface and agree to keep their adventure a secret to protect Atlantis. Preston opens a package from Milo containing his own crystal and a note thanking him. The newly crowned Queen Kida and Milo carve a stone effigy of her father to join those of past rulers floating beside the Heart of Atlantis, as the city stands restored to its former glory. Voice cast Production layout sketch of Milo and Kida. Milo's character design was based in part on sketches of the film's language consultant, Marc Okrand. Michael J. Fox as Milo James Thatch, a linguist and cartographer at the Smithsonian who was recruited to decipher The Shepherd's Journal while directing an expedition to Atlantis. James Garner as Commander Lyle Tiberius Rourke, the leader of the band of mercenaries for the Atlantean expedition. Cree Summer as Kidagakash "Kida" Nedakh, the Princess of Atlantis and Milo's love interest. Natalie Strom provided dialogue for Kida as a young child. Summer also voiced the unnamed Queen of Atlantis, Kida's mother and Kashekim's wife who was "chosen" by the Crystal during the sinking of the city. John Mahoney as Preston B. Whitmore, an eccentric millionaire who funds the expedition to Atlantis. Lloyd Bridges was originally cast and recorded as Whitmore, but he died before completing the film. Mahoney's zest and vigor led to Whitmore's personality being reworked for the film.[8] Claudia Christian as Lieutenant Helga Katrina Sinclair, Rourke's German-born second-in-command. Don Novello as Vincenzo "Vinny" Santorini, an Italian demolitions expert. Phil Morris as Dr. Joshua Strongbear Sweet, a medic of African-American and Arapaho descent. Jacqueline Obradors as Audrey Rocio Ramirez, a Puerto Rican mechanic and the youngest member of the expedition. Corey Burton as Gaetan "Mole" Molière, a French geologist who acts like a mole. Jim Varney as Jebidiah Allardyce "Cookie" Farnsworth, a Western-style chuckwagon chef. Varney died in February 2000, before the production ended, and the film was dedicated to his memory. Steven Barr recorded supplemental dialogue for Cookie. Florence Stanley as Wilhelmina Bertha Packard: an elderly, sarcastic, chain-smoking radio operator who is also the expedition's photographer. Leonard Nimoy as Kashekim Nedakh, the King of Atlantis and Kida's father. David Ogden Stiers as Fenton Q. Harcourt, a board member of the Smithsonian Institution who dismisses Milo's belief in the existence of Atlantis. Production Development The production team visited New Mexico's Carlsbad Caverns to get a sense of the underground spaces depicted in the film. The idea for Atlantis: The Lost Empire was conceived in October 1996 when Don Hahn, Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise, and Tab Murphy lunched at a Mexican restaurant in Burbank, California. Having recently completed The Hunchback of Notre Dame,[9] the producer, directors and screenwriter wanted to keep the Hunchback crew together for another film with an "Adventureland" setting rather than a "Fantasyland" setting.[10] Drawing inspiration from Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864) and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas (1870), they set out to make a film which would fully explore Atlantis (compared to the brief visit depicted in Verne's novel).[11] While primarily utilizing the Internet to research the mythology of Atlantis,[12] the filmmakers became interested in the clairvoyant readings of Edgar Cayce and decided to incorporate some of his ideas—notably that of a mother-crystal which provides power, healing, and longevity to the Atlanteans—into the story.[13] They also visited museums and old army installations to study the technology of the early 20th century (the film's time period), and traveled underground in New Mexico's Carlsbad Caverns to view the subterranean trails which would serve as a model for the approach to Atlantis in the film.[14] The filmmakers wanted to avoid the common depiction of Atlantis as "crumbled Greek columns underwater", said Wise.[15] "From the get-go, we were committed to designing it top to bottom. Let's get the architectural style, clothing, heritage, customs, how they would sleep, and how they would speak. So we brought people on board who would help us develop those ideas."[16] Art director David Goetz stated, "We looked at Mayan architecture, styles of ancient, unusual architecture from around the world, and the directors really liked the look of Southeast Asian architecture."[17] The team later took ideas from other architectural forms, including Cambodian, Indian, and Tibetan works.[18] Hahn added, "If you take and deconstruct architecture from around the world into one architectural vocabulary, that's what our Atlantis looks like."[19] The overall design and circular layout of Atlantis were also based on the writings of Plato,[18] and his quote "in a single day and night of misfortune, the island of Atlantis disappeared into the depths of the sea"[20] was influential from the beginning of production.[9] The crew wore T-shirts which read "ATLANTIS—Fewer songs, more explosions" due to the film's plan as an action-adventure (unlike previous Disney animated features, which were musicals).[21] Language The Atlantean letter A, created by artist John Emerson. Kirk Wise noted that its design was a treasure map showing the path to the crystal, "The Heart of Atlantis". Main article: Atlantean language Marc Okrand, who developed the Klingon language for the Star Trek television and theatrical productions, was hired to devise the Atlantean language for Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Guided by the directors' initial concept for it to be a "mother-language", Okrand employed an Indo-European word stock with its own grammatical structure. He would change the words if they began to sound too much like an actual, spoken language.[16] John Emerson designed the written component, making hundreds of random sketches of individual letters from among which the directors chose the best to represent the Atlantean alphabet.[22][23] The written language was boustrophedon: designed to be read left-to-right on the first line, then right-to-left on the second, continuing in a zigzag pattern to simulate the flow of water.[24] The Atlantean [A] is a shape developed by John Emerson. It is a miniature map of the city of Atlantis (i.e., the outside of the swirl is the cave, the inside shape is the silhouette of the city, and the dot is the location of the crystal). It's a treasure map. — Kirk Wise, director[25] Writing Joss Whedon was the first writer to be involved with the film but soon left to work on other Disney projects. According to him, he "had not a shred" in the movie.[26] Tab Murphy completed the screenplay, stating that the time from initially discussing the story to producing a script that satisfied the film crew was "about three to four months".[27] The initial draft was 155 pages, much longer than a typical Disney film script (which usually runs 90 pages). When the first two acts were timed at 120 minutes, the directors cut characters and sequences and focused more on Milo. Murphy said that he created the centuries-old Shepherd's Journal because he needed a map for the characters to follow throughout their journey.[28] A revised version of the script eliminated the trials encountered by the explorers as they navigated the caves to Atlantis. This gave the film a faster pace because Atlantis is discovered earlier in the story.[29] The directors often described the Atlanteans using Egypt as an example. When Napoleon wandered into Egypt, the people had lost track of their once-great civilization. They were surrounded by artifacts of their former greatness but somehow unaware of what they meant. — Don Hahn, producer[30] The character of Milo J. Thatch was originally supposed to be a descendant of Edward Teach, otherwise known as Blackbeard the pirate. The directors later related him to an explorer so he would discover his inner talent for exploration.[31] The character of Molière was originally intended to be "professorial" but Chris Ure, a story artist, changed the concept to that of a "horrible little burrowing creature with a wacky coat and strange headgear with extending eyeballs", said Wise.[32][33] Don Hahn pointed out that the absence of songs presented a challenge for a team accustomed to animating musicals, as action scenes alone would have to carry the film. Kirk Wise said it gave the team an opportunity for more on-screen character development: "We had more screen time available to do a scene like where Milo and the explorers are camping out and learning about one another's histories. An entire sequence is devoted to having dinner and going to bed. That is not typically something we would have the luxury of doing."[16] Hahn stated that the first animated sequence completed during production was the film's prologue. The original version featured a Viking war party using The Shepherd's Journal to find Atlantis and being swiftly dispatched by the Leviathan. Near the end of production, story supervisor John Sanford told the directors that he felt this prologue did not give viewers enough emotional involvement with the Atlanteans. Despite knowing that the Viking prologue was finished and it would cost additional time and money to alter the scene, the directors agreed with Sanford. Trousdale went home and completed the storyboards later that evening after visiting a strip club where he boarded the new sequence on a napkin.[34] The opening was replaced by a sequence depicting the destruction of Atlantis, which introduced the film from the perspective of the Atlanteans and Princess Kida.[35] The Viking prologue is included as an extra feature on the DVD release.[36] Casting Kirk Wise, one of the directors, said that they chose Michael J. Fox for the role of Milo because they felt he gave his characters his own personality and made them more believable on screen. Fox said that voice acting was much easier than his past experience with live action because he did not have to worry about what he looked like in front of a camera while delivering his lines.[37] The directors mentioned that Fox was also offered a role for Titan A.E.; he allowed his son to choose which film he would work on, and he chose Atlantis.[38] Viewers have noted similarities between Milo and the film's language consultant, Marc Okrand, who developed the Atlantean language used in the film. Okrand stated that Milo's supervising animator, John Pomeroy, sketched him, claiming not to know how a linguist looked or acted.[24] Kida's supervising animator, Randy Haycock, stated that her actress, Cree Summer, was very "intimidating" when he first met her; this influenced how he wanted Kida to look and act on screen when she meets Milo.[39] Wise chose James Garner for the role of Commander Lyle Tiberius Rourke because of his previous experience with action films, especially war and Western films, and said the role "fits him like a glove". When asked if he would be interested in the role, Garner replied: "I'd do it in a heartbeat."[40] Producer Don Hahn was saddened that Jim Varney, the voice of Jebidiah Allardyce "Cookie" Farnsworth, never saw the finished film before he died of lung cancer in February 2000, but mentioned that he was shown clips of his character's performance during his site sessions and said, "He loved it." Shawn Keller, supervising animator for Cookie, stated, "It was kind of a sad fact that [Varney] knew that he was not going to be able to see this film before he passed away. He did a bang-up job doing the voice work, knowing the fact that he was never gonna see his last performance." Steven Barr recorded supplemental dialogue for Cookie.[41] John Mahoney, who voiced Preston Whitmore, stated that doing voice work was "freeing" and allowed him to be "big" and "outrageous" with his character.[42] Dr. Joshua Sweet's supervising animator, Ron Husband, indicated that one of the challenges was animating Sweet in sync with Phil Morris' rapid line delivery while keeping him believable. Morris stated that this character was extreme, with "no middle ground"; he mentioned, "When he was happy, he was really happy, and when he's solemn, he's real solemn."[43] Claudia Christian described her character, Lieutenant Helga Katrina Sinclair, as "sensual" and "striking", and was relieved when she finally saw what her character looked like, joking, "I'd hate to, you know, go through all this and find out my character is a toad."[44] Jacqueline Obradors said her character, Audrey Rocio Ramirez, made her "feel like a little kid again" and she always hoped her sessions would last longer.[45] Florence Stanley felt that her character, Wilhelmina Bertha Packard, was very "cynical" and "secure": "She does her job, and when she is not busy, she does anything she wants."[46] Corey Burton mentioned that finding his performance as Gaetan "Mole" Molière was by allowing the character to "leap out" of him while making funny voices. To get into character during his recording sessions, he stated that he would "throw myself into the scene and feel like I'm in this make-believe world".[47] Kirk Wise and Russ Edmonds, supervising animator for Vincenzo "Vinny" Santorini, noted Vinny's actor Don Novello's unique ability to improvise dialogue while voicing the role. Edmonds recalled, "[Novello] would look at the sheet, and he would read the line that was written once, and he would never read it again! And we never used a written line, it was improvs, the whole movie."[48] Michael Cedeno, supervising animator for King Kashekim Nedakh, was astounded at Leonard Nimoy's voice talent in the role, stating that he had "so much rich character" in his performance. As he spoke his lines, Cedeno said the crew would sit there and watch Nimoy in astonishment.[49] Animation For comparison, the top image (panoramic view of Atlantis) is cropped to Disney's standard aspect ratio (1.66:1); the bottom image was seen in the film (2.35:1). At the peak of its production, 350 animators, artists and technicians were working on Atlantis[50] at all three Disney animation studios: Walt Disney Feature Animation (Burbank, California), Walt Disney Feature Animation Florida (Orlando), and Disney Animation France (Paris).[51] The film was one of the few Disney animated features produced and shot in 35mm anamorphic format. The directors felt that a widescreen image was crucial, as a nostalgic reference to old action-adventure films presented in the CinemaScope format (2.35:1), noting Raiders of the Lost Ark as an inspiration.[52] Because switching to the format would require animation desks and equipment designed for widescreen to be purchased, Disney executives were at first reluctant about the idea.[16] The production team found a simple solution by drawing within a smaller frame on the same paper and equipment used for standard aspect ratio (1.66:1) Disney-animated films.[52] Layout supervisor Ed Ghertner wrote a guide to the widescreen format for use by the layout artists and mentioned that one advantage of widescreen was that he could keep characters in scenes longer because of additional space to walk within the frame.[53] Wise drew further inspiration for the format from filmmakers David Lean and Akira Kurosawa.[16] The film's visual style was strongly based upon that of Mike Mignola, the comic book artist behind Hellboy. Mignola was one of four production designers (along with Matt Codd, Jim Martin, and Ricardo Delgado) hired by the Disney studio for the film. Accordingly, he provided style guides, preliminary character, and background designs, and story ideas.[54] "Mignola's graphic, the angular style was a key influence on the 'look' of the characters," stated Wise.[55] Mignola was surprised when first contacted by the studio to work on Atlantis.[56] His artistic influence on the film would later contribute to a cult following.[57] I remember watching a rough cut of the film and these characters have these big, square, weird hands. I said to the guy next to me, "Those are cool hands." And he says to me, "Yeah, they're your hands. We had a whole meeting about how to do your hands." It was so weird I couldn't wrap my brain around it. — Mike Mignola[56] The final pull-out shot of the movie, immediately before the end-title card, was described by the directors as the most difficult shot in the history of Disney animation. They said that the pull-out attempt on their prior film, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, "struggled" and "lacked depth"; however, after making advances in the process of multiplaning, they tried the technique again in Atlantis. The shot begins with one 16-inch (40.6 cm) piece of paper showing a close-up of Milo and Kida. As the camera pulls away from them to reveal the newly restored Atlantis, it reaches the equivalent of an 18,000-inch (46,000 cm) piece of paper composed of many individual pieces of paper (24 inches [61 cm] or smaller). Each piece was carefully drawn and combined with animated vehicles simultaneously flying across the scene to make the viewer see a complete, integrated image.[58] Scale model of Ulysses submarine by Greg Aronowitz, used by digital animators as reference during production.[59] At the time of its release, Atlantis: The Lost Empire was notable for using more computer-generated imagery (CGI) than any other Disney traditionally animated feature. To increase productivity, the directors had the digital artists work with the traditional animators throughout the production. Several important scenes required heavy use of digital animation: the Leviathan, the Ulysses submarine and sub-pods, the Heart of Atlantis, and the Stone Giants.[60] During production, after Matt Codd and Jim Martin designed the Ulysses on paper, Greg Aronowitz was hired to build a scale model of the submarine, to be used as a reference for drawing the 3D Ulysses.[59] The final film included 362 digital-effects shots, and computer programs were used to seamlessly join the 2D and 3D artwork.[61] One scene that took advantage of this was the "sub-drop" scene, where the 3D Ulysses was dropped from its docking bay into the water. As the camera floated toward it, a 2D Milo was drawn to appear inside, tracking the camera. The crew noted that it was challenging to keep the audience from noticing the difference between the 2D and 3D drawings when they were merged.[62] The digital production also gave the directors a unique "virtual camera" for complicated shots within the film. With the ability to operate in the z-plane, this camera moved through a digital wire-frame set; the background and details were later hand-drawn over the wireframes. This was used in the opening flight scene through Atlantis and the submarine chase through the undersea cavern with the Leviathan in pursuit.[63] Music and sound Since the film would not feature any songs, the directors hired James Newton Howard to compose the score after they heard his music on Dinosaur. Approaching it as a live-action film, Howard decided to have different musical themes for the cultures of the surface world and Atlantis. In the case of Atlantis, Howard chose an Indonesian orchestral sound incorporating chimes, bells, and gongs. The directors told Howard that the film would have a number of key scenes without dialogue; the score would need to convey emotionally what the viewer was seeing on screen.[64] Gary Rydstrom and his team at Skywalker Sound were hired for the film's sound production.[65] Like Howard, Rydstrom employed different sounds for the two cultures. Focusing on the machine and mechanical sounds of the early industrial era for the explorers, he felt that the Atlanteans should have a "more organic" sound utilizing ceramics and pottery. The sound made by the Atlantean flying-fish vehicles posed a particular challenge. Rydstrom revealed that he was sitting at the side of a highway recording one day when a semi-truck drove by at high speed. When the recording was sped up on his computer, he felt it sounded very organic, and decided to use it in the film. Rydstrom created the harmonic chiming of the Heart of Atlantis by rubbing his finger along the edge of a champagne flute, the sound of sub-pods moving through the water with a water pick, while a ceramic pot from a garden store was used for the sounds of the movement of the Giant stone guardians.[66] Release Atlantis: The Lost Empire had its world premiere at Disney's El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on June 3, 2001[67] and a limited release in New York City and Los Angeles on June 8; a wider release followed on June 15.[4][61] At the premiere, Destination: Atlantis was on display, featuring behind-the-scenes props from the film and information on the legend of Atlantis with video games, displays, laser tag, and other attractions. The Aquarium of the Pacific also loaned a variety of fish for display within the attraction.[68] Promotion Atlantis was among Disney's first major attempts to utilize internet marketing. The film was promoted through Kellogg's, which created a website with mini-games and a movie-based video game give-away for UPC labels from specially marked packages of Atlantis breakfast cereal.[50] The film was one of Disney's first marketing attempts through mobile network operators, and allowed users to download games based on the film.[69] McDonald's (which had an exclusive licensing agreement on all Disney releases) promoted the film with Happy Meal toys, food packaging and in-store decor. The McDonald's advertising campaign involved television, radio, and print advertisements beginning on the film's release date.[70] Frito-Lay offered free admission tickets for the film on specially marked snack packages.[71] Home media Atlantis: The Lost Empire was released on VHS and DVD on January 29, 2002.[72] During the first month of its home release, the film led in VHS sales and was third in VHS and DVD sales combined.[73] Sales and rentals of the VHS and DVD combined would eventually accumulate $157 million in revenue by mid-2003.[74] Both a single-disc DVD edition and a two-disc collector's edition (with bonus features) were released. The single-disc DVD gave the viewer the option of viewing the film either in its original theatrical 2.39:1 aspect ratio or a modified 1.33:1 ratio (utilizing pan and scan). Bonus features available on the DVD version included audio and visual commentary from the film team, a virtual tour of the CGI models, an Atlantean-language tutorial, an encyclopedia on the myth of Atlantis, and the deleted Viking prologue scene.[72] The two-disc collector's edition DVD contained all the single-disc features and a disc with supplemental material detailing all aspects of the film's production. The collector's-edition film could only be viewed in its original theatrical ratio, and also featured an optional DTS 5.1 track. Both DVD versions, however, contained a Dolby Digital 5.1 track and were THX certified.[72][75] Disney digitally remastered and released Atlantis on Blu-ray on June 11, 2013, bundled with its sequel Atlantis: Milo's Return.[76] Reception Box office Before the film's release, reporters speculated that it would have a difficult run due to competition from Shrek and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Regarding the market's shift from traditional animation and competition with CG-animated films, Kirk Wise said, "Any traditional animator, including myself, can't help but feel a twinge. I think it always comes down to story and character, and one form won't replace the other. Just like photography didn't replace painting. But maybe I'm blind to it."[61] Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly noted that CGI films (such as Shrek) were more likely to attract the teenage demographic typically not interested in animation, and called Atlantis a "marketing and creative gamble".[77] With a budget of $100 million,[3] the film opened at #2 on its debut weekend, behind Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, earning $20.3 million in 3,011 theaters.[78] During its second weekend, it would drop into fourth place behind the latter film, Dr. Dolittle 2 and The Fast and the Furious, making $13.2 million.[79] The film's international release began September 20 in Australia and other markets followed suit.[80] During its 25-week theatrical run, Atlantis: The Lost Empire grossed over $186 million worldwide ($84 million from the United States and Canada).[4] Responding to its disappointing box-office performance, Thomas Schumacher, then-president of Walt Disney Feature Animation, said, "It seemed like a good idea at the time to not do a sweet fairy tale, but we missed."[81] Critical response Atlantis: The Lost Empire received mixed reviews from critics,[82][83][84] many of whom criticized its story.[85] The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 48% of 144 professional critics have given Atlantis: The Lost Empire a positive review; the average rating is 5.5/10. The site's consensus is: "Atlantis provides a fast-paced spectacle, but stints on such things as character development and a coherent plot".[86] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 52 out of 100 based on 29 reviews from critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[87] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[88] While critics had mixed reactions to the film in general, some praised it for its visuals, action-adventure elements, and attempt to appeal to an older audience. Roger Ebert gave Atlantis three-and-a-half stars out of four. He praised the animation's "clean bright visual look" and the "classic energy of the comic book style", crediting this to the work of Mike Mignola. Ebert gave particular praise to the story and the final battle scene and wrote, "The story of Atlantis is rousing in an old pulp science fiction sort of way, but the climactic scene transcends the rest, and stands by itself as one of the great animated action sequences."[89] In The New York Times, Elvis Mitchell gave high praise to the film, calling it "a monumental treat", and stated, "Atlantis is also one of the most eye-catching Disney cartoons since Uncle Walt institutionalized the four-fingered glove."[90] Internet film critic James Berardinelli wrote a positive review of the film, giving it three out of four stars. He wrote, "On the whole, Atlantis offers 90 minutes of solid entertainment, once again proving that while Disney may be clueless when it comes to producing good live-action movies, they are exactly the opposite when it comes to their animated division."[91] Wesley Morris of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote positively of the film's approach for an older audience: "But just beneath the surface, Atlantis brims with adult possibility."[92] Other critics felt that the film was mediocre in regards to its story and characters, and that it failed to deliver as a non-musical to Disney's traditional audience. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a C+ rating, writing that the film had "gee-whiz formulaic character" and was "the essence of craft without dream".[93] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times said the storyline and characterizations were "old-fashioned" and the film had the retrograde look of a Saturday-morning cartoon, but these deficiencies were offset by its "brisk action" and frantic pace.[94] Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote, "Disney pushes into all-talking, no-singing, no-dancing and, in the end, no-fun animated territory."[95] Stephanie Zacharek of Salon wrote of Disney's attempt to make the film for an adult audience, "The big problem with Disney's latest animated feature, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, is that it doesn't seem geared to kids at all: It's so adult that it's massively boring."[96] Rita Kempley of The Washington Post panned the film, calling it a "new-fashioned but old-fangled hash" and wrote, "Ironically Disney had hoped to update its image with this mildly diverting adventure, yet the picture hasn't really broken away from the tried-and-true format spoofed in the far superior Shrek."[97] In 2015, Katharine Trendacosta at io9 reviewed the film and called it a "Beautiful Gem of a Movie That Deserved Better Than It Got" and said that the film deserves more love than it ended up getting.[6] Lindsay Teal considers "Atlantis" to be "a lost Disney classic". Describing the film as highly entertaining, she praises the writing and characterisation – in particular, Sweet, Helga and Kida.[7] In particular, much praise has been given to the character of Kida.[98] Summer has regarded the character of Kida as one of her favourite roles and even considers the character among the official Disney Princess line-up. Themes and interpretations Several critics and scholars have noted that Atlantis plays strongly on themes of anti-capitalism and anti-imperialism. M. Keith Booker, academic and author of studies about the implicit messages conveyed by media, views the character of Rourke as being motivated by "capitalist greed" when he pursues "his own financial gain" in spite of the knowledge that "his theft [of the crystal] will lead to the destruction of [Atlantis]".[99] Religion journalist Mark Pinsky, in his exploration of moral and spiritual themes in popular Disney films, says that "it is impossible to read the movie ... any other way" than as "a devastating, unrelenting attack on capitalism and American imperialism".[100] Max Messier of FilmCritic.com observes, "Disney even manages to lambast the capitalist lifestyle of the adventurers intent on uncovering the lost city. Damn the imperialists!"[101] According to Booker, the film also "delivers a rather segregationist moral" by concluding with the discovery of the Atlanteans kept secret from other surface-dwellers in order to maintain a separation between the two highly divergent cultures.[102] Others saw Atlantis as an interesting look at utopian philosophy of the sort found in classic works of science fiction by H. G. Wells and Jules Verne.[103] Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water controversy When the film was released, some viewers noticed that Atlantis: The Lost Empire was similar to the 1990-91 anime Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, particularly in its character design, setting, and story.[104] The similarities, as noted by viewers in both Japan and America, were strong enough for its production company Gainax to be called to sue for plagiarism. According to Gainax member Yasuhiro Takeda, they only refrained from doing so because the decision belonged to parent companies NHK and Toho.[105] Another Gainax worker, Hiroyuki Yamaga, was quoted in an interview in 2000 as saying: "We actually tried to get NHK to pick a fight with Disney, but even the National Television Network of Japan didn't dare to mess with Disney and their lawyers. [...] We actually did say that but we wouldn't actually take them to court. We would be so terrified about what they would do to them in return that we wouldn't dare."[105] Although Disney never responded formally to those claims, co-director Kirk Wise posted on a Disney animation newsgroup in May 2001, "Never heard of Nadia till it was mentioned in this [newsgroup]. Long after we'd finished production, I might add." He claimed both Atlantis and Nadia were inspired, in part, by the 1870 Jules Verne novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas.[106] However, speaking about the clarification, Lee Zion from Anime News Network wrote, "There are too many similarities not connected with 20,000 Leagues for the whole thing to be coincidence."[107] As such, the whole affair ultimately entered popular culture as a convincing case of plagiarism.[108][109][110] In 2018, Reuben Baron from Comic Book Resources added to Zion's comment stating, "Verne didn't specifically imagine magic crystal-based technology, something featured in both the Disney movie and the too similar anime. The Verne inspiration also doesn't explain the designs being suspiciously similar to Nadia's."[110] Critics also saw parallels with the 1986 film Laputa: Castle in the Sky from Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli (which also featured magic crystals, and Atlantis directors Trousdale and Wise both acknowledged Miyazaki's works as a major influence on their own work)[104] and with the 1994 film Stargate as Milo's characteristics were said to resemble those of Daniel Jackson, the protagonist of Stargate and its spinoff television series Stargate SG-1 — which coincidentally launched its own spinoff, titled Stargate Atlantis; the plot of the 1994 film is also paralleled involving a group visiting an unknown world, a fictional language made for the other world's people, the main protagonist having apparent knowledge of the people's culture, falling in love with one of the female locals and electing to stay behind when the others return home.[111] Accolades Award Category Name Result 29th Annie Awards[112] Individual Achievement in Directing Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise Nominated Individual Achievement in Storyboarding Chris Ure Nominated Individual Achievement in Production Design David Goetz Nominated Individual Achievement in Effects Animation Marlon West Nominated Individual Achievement in Voice Acting – Female Florence Stanley Nominated Individual Achievement in Voice Acting – Male Leonard Nimoy Nominated Individual Achievement for Music Score James Newton Howard Nominated 2002 DVD Exclusive Awards[113] Original Retrospective Documentary Michael Pellerin Nominated 2002 Golden Reel Award[114] Best Sound Editing – Animated Feature Film Gary Rydstrom, Michael Silvers, Mary Helen Leasman, John K. Carr, Shannon Mills, Ken Fischer, David C. Hughes, and Susan Sanford Won Online Film Critics Society Awards 2001[115] Best Animated Feature Nominated 2002 Political Film Society[116] Democracy Nominated Human Rights Nominated Peace Nominated World Soundtrack Awards[117] Best Original Song for Film Diane Warren and James Newton Howard Nominated Young Artist Awards[118] Best Feature Family Film – Drama Walt Disney Feature Animation Nominated Related works Main article: Atlantis (franchise) Atlantis: The Lost Empire was meant to inspire an animated television series entitled Team Atlantis, which would have presented the further adventures of its characters. The series would have been akin to an animated steampunk version of The X-Files and feature a crossover with Gargoyles. However, because of the film's underperformance at the box office, the series was not produced.[119] On May 20, 2003, Disney released a direct-to-video sequel titled Atlantis: Milo's Return, consisting of three episodes planned for the aborted series.[120] Disneyland planned to revive its Submarine Voyage ride with an Atlantis: The Lost Empire theme with elements from the movie. These plans were canceled and the attraction was re-opened in 2007 as the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, its theme based on the 2003 Pixar film Finding Nemo, which was far more successful commercially and critically.[121] In addition, after the Submarine Voyage's Magic Kingdom counterpart, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Submarine Voyage, closed down in 1994, four years before Disneyland's, there were proposals of a new attraction that would take its place, with one of them a volcano attraction inspired by that film's Vulcania location, being approved for the Magic Kingdom's Adventureland area. Around 1999, during development of Atlantis: The Lost Empire, it was decided that it would be themed to the movie, with it taking place in 1916, two years after the film's events. The ride would have focused on Preston Whitmore, a character from the film, seeking to make Atlantis existence public and offer expeditions to visitors in newly developed vehicles. However, due to mishaps, the vehicles would be forced to make a detour through the lava-filled caverns of the volcano. The attraction would have used a unique hybrid ride system, in which it would start as a standard coaster before the trains hook up to a suspended track midway through to fly through the caverns. The attraction would have been accessed by a new canyon path in between Pirates of the Caribbean and a re-routed Jungle Cruise that would have led to a Whitmore Enterprises base camp at the edge of the Walt Disney World Railroad path, with the mountain itself being built outside the berm. However, like the previous Submarine Voyage retheme, the ride was cancelled due to the film's disappointment in the box office.[122]

In this episode, Michael and Tom celebrate Halloween with a haunting look at the 1983 Ray Bradbury fantasy Something Wicked This Way Comes.Links:Michael's Disneyland History SegmentsImportant DIS links and more information!Connecting with Walt on TwitterDreams Unlimited TravelSources:Websites/Articles:Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983) for The Great Disney Movie RideSomething Wicked This Way Comes (film), WikipediaDisney Plus-Or-Minus: Something Wicked This Way Comes by Adam JahnkeDisney's adaptation of Ray Bradbury's “Something Wicked This Way Comes,” 40 years later … for Musings of a Middle-Aged GeekSomething Wicked This Way Comes a movie review by James Berardinelli for ReelViewsSome Case Wicked This Way Comes, The Black Case Diaries Movie/TV PodcastRe:Vieww: Something Wicked This Way Comes by The Dark Herald for Ark Haven ComicsThrowback Thursday: “Something Wicked This Way Comes” (1983) By Tony Schaab for Science Fiction.com“It's a thousand years to Christmas”/Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983) by Grant Watson for Fiction MachineSomething Wicked This Way Comes, Cinefantastique MagazineSomething Wicked This Way Comes, MoviepediaSomething Wicked This Way Comes by wondersinthedark Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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"It's at a certain point toward the finale that this SCREAM becomes almost as drearily repetitious as the reboot culture it skewers." Pat Smith of Slant Magazine lines up SCREAM for a stab wound, and sadly, we mostly agree. One of our hosts is kind to the movie, and the other is Dave. We talk about waiting too long, the lack of difference between Scream 4 and 5, and how these kids never quite live up to noted thespians like Matthew Lillard and Jamie Kennedy. But then we move on to a great movie! Right? Well… “In the end, for all its pleasures, it's difficult to view Blade Runner 2049 as anything but an elaborate echo of the original, neither true sequel nor reboot, unclear of its own identity.” - Melissa Anderson, Columns “Blade Runner 2049 honors the original in many ways - some small and some large - but it's not a soft reboot. It's a new story with new ideas and new purpose” - James Berardinelli, ReelViews Two very different reviews here for what has been dubbed in cinephile circles as the movie we should have paid for, an underseen masterpiece. But what will Dave and Mike think? That's why you're here. Listen in to hear about fantastic visuals, stupid sounds, and Inspector Gadget threesomes. Hell yeah, that'll bring in the listeners (unlike stupid Marvel garbage) Subscribe on Apple Podcasts/Spotify/Google Podcasts/Amazon Music Twitter @offscreendeath Instagram @theoffscreendeath Letterboxd: @daveagiannini and @projectingfilm Artwork by Nathan Thomas Milliner Music by Joplin Rice Find out more at https://offscreendeath.pinecast.co This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 92% based on 88 reviews and an average rating of 7.87/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A Bug's Life is a rousing adventure that blends animated thrills with witty dialogue and memorable characters – and another smashing early success for Pixar." Another review aggregator, Metacritic, gave the film a score of 77 out of 100 based on 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote, "Lasseter and Pixar broke new technical and aesthetic ground in the animation field with Toy Story, and here they surpass it in both scope and complexity of movement while telling a story that overlaps Antz in numerous ways." James Berardinelli of ReelViews gave the film three and a half stars out of four, saying "A Bug's Life, like Toy Story, develops protagonists we can root for, and places them in the midst of a fast-moving, energetic adventure." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three and a half stars out of four, saying "Will A Bug's Life suffer by coming out so soon after Antz? Not any more than one thriller hurts the chances for the next one. Antz may even help business for A Bug's Life by demonstrating how many dramatic and comedic possibilities can be found in an anthill." Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times gave the film four out of five stars, saying "What A Bug's Life demonstrates is that when it comes to bugs, the most fun ones to hang out with hang exclusively with the gang at Pixar." Peter Stack of the San Francisco Chronicle gave the film four out of four stars, saying "A Bug's Life is one of the great movies – a triumph of storytelling and character development, and a whole new ballgame for computer animation. Pixar Animation Studios has raised the genre to an astonishing new level". Richard Corliss of Time wrote, "The plot matures handsomely; the characters neatly converge and combust; the gags pay off with emotional resonance." Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B, saying "A Bug's Life may be the single most amazing film I've ever seen that I couldn't fall in love with." Paul Clinton of CNN wrote, "A Bug's Life is a perfect movie for the holidays. It contains a great upbeat message ... it's wonderful to look at ... it's wildly inventive ... and it's entertaining for both adults and kids." Michael Wilmington of the Chicago Tribune gave the film three and a half stars out of four, and compared the movie to "Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (with a little of another art-film legend, Federico Fellini, tossed in)." where "As in Samurai, the colony here is plagued every year by the arrival of bandits." On the contrary, Stephen Hunter of The Washington Post wrote, "Clever as it is, the film lacks charm. One problem: too many bugs. Second, bigger world for two purposes: to feed birds and to irk humans."

"Black Widow represents the MCU looking back when it should be moving forward. Everything about the movie seems small, even the big action set pieces." James Berardinelli gives words to our comments but not our feelings. Mike and Dave talk about the small scale, road trip camaraderie between ScarJo and Florence Pugh, and touch on why it's suddenly ok to make fun of superhero nonsense. We also briefly discuss why we are Team ScarJo in the lawsuit connected to this small scale, small profit movie. We mostly had a good time with BLACK WIDOW, which of course is underperforming by Marvel/Disney conglomerate standards, but who cares? Watch it and have a good time too! Or don't! Stimulate that ScarJo economy this Labor Day! Subscribe on Apple Podcasts/Spotify Twitter @offscreendeath Instagram @theoffscreendeath Letterboxd: @daveagiannini and @projectingfilm Artwork by Nathan Thomas Milliner Music by Joplin Rice Find out more at https://offscreendeath.pinecast.co This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

The Ice Harvest is a 2005 American black comedy film directed by Harold Ramis and written by Richard Russo and Robert Benton, based on the novel of the same name by Scott Phillips. It stars John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, and Connie Nielsen, with Randy Quaid and Oliver Platt in supporting roles. It was distributed by Focus Features, and it was released on VHS and DVD on February 28, 2006, making it the last Focus Features film released on VHS format. The Ice Harvest grossed $10.2 million worldwide. The film has a rating of 47% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 134 reviews and an average rating of 5.50/10. The consensus states: "The Ice Harvest offers a couple of laughs, but considering the people involved, it should be a lot funnier." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 62 out of 100 based on 32 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". James Berardinelli of Reelviews gave the film 2 and a half stars out of four, saying, "Despite its brevity, it seems padded, with all sorts of irrelevant scenes and dead-end subplots taking up time. [...] Next time, Ramis should work to his strengths, and film noir isn't one of them. The Ice Harvest will have melted away long before the turkey leftovers are polished off." Roger Ebert gave the film 3 out of 4 stars and said: "I liked the movie for the quirky way it pursues humor through the drifts of greed, lust, booze, betrayal and spectacularly complicated ways to die. I liked it for Charlie's essential kindness, as when he pauses during a getaway to help a friend who has run out of gas. And for the scene-stealing pathos of Oliver Platt's drunk, who like many drunks in the legal profession achieves a rhetorical grandiosity during the final approach to oblivion. And I liked especially the way Roy, the man in the trunk, keeps on thinking positively, even after Vic puts bullets through both ends of the trunk because he can't remember which end of the trunk Roy's head is at. Maybe it's in the middle."

With the British monarchy at its lowest ebb of popularity since the week after Diana's death, we consider these two moments within the context of the wretched institution's ignoble history. We watch Christopher Hitchens' documentary DIANA: THE MOURNING AFTER (1998) - a controversial dissenting take on the Diana myth - and also discuss Netflix's THE CROWN and the Harry/Meghan phenomenon. In the process, we speculate how the existential threat facing this frankly worthless institution might lead to an unholy reinvention. PLUS: a rueful look back at James Berardinelli, the most popular web-based critic of the '90s. "The British Monarchy Will Not Survive Late Capitalism — And Harry and Meghan Are Proof" by Luke Savage - https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/03/british-monarchy-neoliberal-age-prince-harry-meghan-markle

With the British monarchy at its lowest ebb of popularity since the week after Diana's death, we consider these two moments within the context of the wretched institution's ignoble history. We watch Christopher Hitchens' documentary DIANA: THE MOURNING AFTER (1998) - a controversial dissenting take on the Diana myth - and also discuss Netflix's THE CROWN and the Harry/Meghan phenomenon. In the process, we speculate how the existential threat facing this frankly worthless institution might lead to an unholy reinvention. PLUS: a rueful look back at James Berardinelli, the most popular web-based critic of the '90s."The British Monarchy Will Not Survive Late Capitalism — And Harry and Meghan Are Proof" by Luke Savage - https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/03/british-monarchy-neoliberal-age-prince-harry-meghan-markle

By the time we're releasing this we may know who won the American Presidential election, so we thought Aaron Sorkin's The American President was a perfect choice for this week's episode. It also happens to be having a 25th anniversary which seemed even more of a reason to deep dive into this film.Timmy St.Sauver is a lifelong friend of Rob's and has been on the pod numerous times. We know he's a lover of everything Sorkin and it was a no-brainer choosing him for this special election episode.We end with a fun Imitation Game and our Patrons get to hear us draft our Top 5 Favorite Movie Presidents.No matter who wins this election, let's all just be thankful that we won't have to deal with another one for another 4 years...Enjoy!1:58 Moneyball (Netflix)2:51 The Trial of Chicago 7 (Netflix)5:45 Bridesmaids 7:00 Schitt's Creek Season 6 (Netflix)7:53 Buegs' Favorite Meal8:48 Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng10:50 Plugarooni's 11:30 patreon.com/theavidindoorsmen13:19 Timmy St.Sauver15:01 The American President Plot Synopsis15:36 Rotten Tomatoes16:15 James Berardinelli from Reel Views17:13 Janet Maslin from The New York Times17:53 Buegs' Hot Take19:55 Rob's Hot Take22:20 Timmy's Hot Take23:17 The Dude Award28:00 The Tucci Award33:08 The Dingus38:40 Show Me The Money48:04 Buegs Boo Hoo Moments50:06 Movie Trivia58:07 Judgement Day58:51 Imitation Game1:16:08 Top 5 Favorite Movie Presidents

While we are still being encouraged to social distance and stay at home, we continue our Social Distancing Sessions! We've been trying to keep it upbeat for the most part, so we figured since Just Friends is celebrating a 15th year Anniversary and currently on Netflix, it would be a fun one to chat about!We brought in one of our favorite recurring guests in @benny_elledge and making her AI Debut is fellow Broadway Actor, Stephanie Torns @Tornsy18! Lots of laughs were shared while breaking down this film and we got to hear what these actors felt about the performances they saw in Just Friends.This episode ends with a fun Imitation Game and our Patrons get to hear us draft our Top 5 Favorite Films Where The Main Character Returns To Their Hometown.We hope you're all staying healthy and safe during the complete mess that is 2020 and hope you're enjoying listening to our show!Enjoy!2:22 Castaway3:47 Sorry To Bother You6:15 Love Life9:00 Middleditch and Schwarz11:23 Buegs' Favorite Meal12:08 Rob's Favorite Meal13:24 Plugarooni's 13:53 Patreon.com/theavidindoorsmen16:03 Benny Elledge and Stephanie Torns17:30 Jusy Friends Plot Synopsis18:02 Rotten Tomatoes18:46 James Berardinelli from Reel Views19:35 Michael Wood from The Village Voice19:56 Rob's The Hot Take23:02 Buegs' Hot Take25:21 Stephanie's Hot Take27:00 Benny's Hot Take29:07 The Dude Award35:25 The Tucci Award43:01 The Dingus51:09 Show Me The Money1:02:00 Buegs' Boo Hoo Moments1:07:16 Movie Trivia1:10:12 Judgement Day1:13:15 The Imitation Game1:33:49 Top 5 Films Where The Character Returns To Their Hometown

On this week's episode, we dive into 2004's 'Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow'. It's not really a comic book movie, not really a sci-fi movie, and probably not really good.How is this movie ripping off a million things at once? Where's our spinoff movie about Angelina Jolie's character? Why does Chris absolutely despise Gwyneth Paltrow? Listen to find out.You can find us on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/tomatotomatopodChris' Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheChrisVittoeJenna's Twitter: http://twitter.com/heyitsjennalynnJenna's articles on ComicBook.com: http://comicbook.com/author/heyitsjennalynnReviews/articles we reference:Empire: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow Review by William Thomas:http://www.empireonline.com/movies/sky-captain-world-tomorrow/review/CinemaWriter: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow:https://cinemawriter.com/2010/09/03/sky-captain-and-the-world-of-tomorrow/ReelViews: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow by James Berardinelli: http://www.reelviews.net/reelviews/sky-captain-and-the-world-of-tomorrow

On this week's episode, we dive into 2004's 'Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow'. It's not really a comic book movie, not really a sci-fi movie, and probably not really good.How is this movie ripping off a million things at once? Where's our spinoff movie about Angelina Jolie's character? Why does Chris absolutely despise Gwyneth Paltrow? Listen to find out.You can find us on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/tomatotomatopodChris' Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheChrisVittoeJenna's Twitter: http://twitter.com/heyitsjennalynnJenna's articles on ComicBook.com: http://comicbook.com/author/heyitsjennalynnReviews/articles we reference:Empire: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow Review by William Thomas:http://www.empireonline.com/movies/sky-captain-world-tomorrow/review/CinemaWriter: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow:https://cinemawriter.com/2010/09/03/sky-captain-and-the-world-of-tomorrow/ReelViews: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow by James Berardinelli: http://www.reelviews.net/reelviews/sky-captain-and-the-world-of-tomorrow

This week, OscarWatch addresses the troops with a very special look at the 1970 Best Picture winner, Patton. Joining the discussion is internet critic legend, fantasy novelist, and all-around cinephile, James Berardinelli of Reelviews.net (@reelviews). James explains his longtime admiration of the WWII biopic, a film he has named his favorite of all time (and he's seen his share of movies in his nearly 25 year career as a film critic!) From the central performance, to the script, the music, and technical mastery on display, James and OscarWatch get down to the reasons why Patton will always be 5-stars. Find James Berardinelli and his writings at www.reelviews.net And look for OscarWatch on iTunes, SoundCloud and GooglePlay. Follow along on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @oscarwatchpod and if you'd like to drop a line, shoot us an email at oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com

As most people do, I receive a lot of spam in my email.  One day, while attempting to clean out my inbox, I ran across this advertisement from New Release Tuesday, a Christian music website.  As soon as I saw this it made me very angry.  There is a lot a bad sentiment implied here; it is also misleading, and exploitative.  A little harsh, you say? I shall explain why I think this is an exploitative film and why you should not go see Left Behind with Nicolas Cage. First, I shall describe the bad sentiment behind this ad.             There has been a long history of bad blood between Hollywood and conservative Christians.  Robert K. Johnston gives a very good account of this in his book Reel Spirituality: Theology and Film in Dialogue.  It begins, strangely enough, with Cecil B. DeMille.  Today, DeMille’s movie The Ten Commandments (1956) is generally held in high regard as the ultimate example of what a religious movie should be.  It details the life of Moses, from growing up in the Egyptian royal house to leading the Israelites triumphantly into the Promised Land.  It depicts God as a real entity and Moses coming to trust in the Lord after wrestling with Modern philosophical concerns about him.  ABC still broadcasts the film on television every Easter (or Passover, depending on your point of view), and has done so for so long it has become an unbreakable tradition.  Despite the fact that nearly the entire first half of the movie has no basis in the Biblical story, or that—in an opening sequence often deleted for time on television—DeMille comes out from behind the curtain to say this movie is an explicit metaphor of the Cold War,[1] the general opinion amongst Christians is that this classic movie is a highly accurate representation of the Genesis tale.  My pastor once told the story in one of his sermons how his parents, who were the conservative types that shunned all motion pictures, made the exception to see DeMille’s spectacle in the theater.              But what few people know is that this was DeMille’s second movie bearing the title The Ten Commandments.  In 1923, he produced a film with that moniker, but it was not a sword and sandal epic.  It was of the genre which he basically invented and was first famous, or more precisely, infamous.  Based on the rationalization that indiscretion could be presented on the screen as long as the sin was eventually corrected, his spectacles were little more than glorified melodramas that included an effective combination of debauchery and piety. They were, however, hits with the public. In The Ten Commandments (1923), which was produced for the then-astronomical figure of one-and-a-half million dollars, DeMille housed his portrayals of orgies within a larger moral framework of the giving of the Law (Johnston, 44).[2]   It was objections to Demille’s graphic portrayal of sinful behavior which prompted groups like The Catholic Church to form the Legion of Decency to start boycotting movies they felt were objectionable.[3]  In response, the film industry instituted the first Production Code in 1930.[4] Our modern ratings system is the ideological descendant of this Code.             Boycotting films is a tactic which did not cease in the early part of the former century.  More recently, films like Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ and Kevin Smith’s Dogma have seen opening nights surrounded by picket signs.[5]  All of this goes to show that the relationship between Hollywood and the conservative church has always been uneasy at best.             Things have changed in the last ten years or so with the rise of the faith based family film.  The unexpected and overwhelming success of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ demonstrated that there is a demand for religious based fare in the movie marketplace.  The website Box Office Mojo has compiled a list of the top 100 Christian movies released in the last twenty years, the majority of which have been release in the wake of Gibson’s Passion. The total gross of these movies is over $1.5 billion.[6]  Left Behind (2014) is the most recent addition to this genre, and is typical to most of those movies made in that time period in terms of its modest budget and independent production values.  They are a far cry from the massive Biblical epics of the 50’s like The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur, and Quo Vadis. And here is where I take issue with what is implied in the advertisement for Left Behind.             It seems to me that when it is said, “Show your support for Christian based films and see the movie now,” the implied meaning is “Show Hollywood they need to make more Christian movies like this.”  If that is the case and you, dear reader, run out to see Nicholas Cage in Left Behind in hopes that Hollywood executives in the major studios will start throwing big bucks at Christian morality tales, you will be sorely disappointed.  It is very unlikely that we will see the return of the big Christian Biblical epic.  On the contrary, the films we are seeing now are a new genre of exploitative movies, the Christploitation film, if you will.             How are films like Left Behind, God’s Not Dead, and Son of God exploitative?  Let us look at the definition of exploitative.  Webster’s dictionary identifies it: ex·ploit·ative adjective ik-ˈsplȯi-tə-tiv, ek-ˌsplȯi-:  exploiting or tending to exploit; especially :  unfairly or cynically using another person or group for profit or advantage    Take notice of the last example in the definition.  Exploitative films have been around so long that they are in the dictionary.  There are many kinds of exploitative films, including various horror films, monster movies, and the Blaxploitation film.  Even DeMille’s first The Ten Commandments (1923) can be classified as exploitation.  Wikipedia puts it this way, “Exploitation film is an informal label which may be applied to any film which is generally considered to be low budget, and therefore apparently attempting to gain financial success by "exploiting" a current trend or a niche genre or a base desire for lurid subject matter.”[7]  An argument might be made that these faith based movies do not fit this definition because they are anything but lurid.  In fact, their core audience wants to see sanitized fare that is safe for the whole family.              But fitting the definition, the Christian faith based movie (or Christploitation flick) is a niche genre and definitely a current trend. “Over the last five years, independent Christian movies—films with overt proselytizing—have been among the most profitable independent releases across all genres.”[8]  Also fitting the above definition, the majority of them are made on modest budgets to turn a quick profit. For example, let us look at the budgets of some Christploitation films released in the last year.  Heaven is for Real was made for $12 million and grossed $91.4 million.  Mom’s Night Out grossed over $10 million and was produced for half of that, while God’s Not Dead earned $60 million on a budget of only $2 million.[9]  So you see, studios are going to make these small movies with the intention of reaping huge dollars at the box office.  Contrary to this trend, the recent Left Behind was made for a larger budget of $16 million, but in its third week of release it has only earned just over $13 million.[10]             The reason this movie seems to be bucking the trend is because it is an awful movie.  The filmmakers decided to take more of a gamble and throw a little more money at this movie expecting the same ratio of success the other movies enjoyed.  It didn’t pay off this time.  A 2012 article states, “But this year, Cloud Ten is quadrupling down on Left Behind.  It plans to spend roughly $15 million to remake just the first of the series, nearly four times the budget of each of the original three.”[11]  It was the hope of the producers that this movie would cross over from the group of Christian movie goers to whom Christploitation flicks pander to the mainstream audience.  This didn’t happen.  A look at the professional reviews of Left Behind elucidate why.             Rotten Tomatoes is a website that compiles movie reviews in order to find a consensus on the general quality of a film.  Looking at the overall positive or negative nature of the critiques, Left Behind earned a rating of 2% fresh, meaning just one out of 57 critical reviews was positive.  If you are a Christian still deciding if you want to catch this remake, just don’t. Listen to some of the reviews compiled by Rotten Tomatoes. “Left Behind isn't a movie for progressive Christians any more than it's a movie for people who appreciate top production values, convincing acting or superlative dialogue.” Matt Brunsen.  “The movie unravels in its own destruction. Every effort to milk the tragedy of the apocalypse is met with terrible music, acting and effects that soak (and drown) the pathos in camp fare.”  Monica Castillo.  “Not only is this an amateurish travesty combining fundamentalist Christian eschatology with disaster movie b.s., but it's plodding and tedious.” James Berardinelli. [12]             The last review makes a point that I would like to touch on, that this movie is based on bad theology.  Like the literal, fundamentalist interpretation of Genesis leads to bad theology (which I discussed at length in several episodes of my podcast, which you can find here and here), taking the book of Revelation at face value can lead one to get lost trying to find meaning in the dreamlike, apocalyptic imagery of the tome and lose the real meaning behind it. Left Behind is an example of this, using the end of the world as the McGuffin for an action movie instead of offering hope to those who follow Jesus that are facing insurmountable persecution.  A nice, short read which can help all people discover the long held, orthodox interpretation of both Genesis and Revelation is book The Beginning and the End by Michael W. Paul.              So whether you are hoping to see Left Behind because you are looking for a good action movie, or because you are looking for a faith based movie which displays orthodox Christian theology, then Left Behind will disappoint you on both accounts.  As New York film reviewer Susan Granger says, “Faith-driven audiences deserve better.”[13]             Does this mean we should avoid all Christploitation movies because we deserve to see better? By all means, no! Not all of these movies are as terrible as Left Behind.  I personally liked God’s Not Dead.  Kevin Sorbo is compelling as the atheist philosophy professor who demands that his students likewise deny God’s existence.  The ensuing classroom debate harkens back to the drama in Inherit the Wind.  Even though the rest of the acting is wooden (sorry Dean Cain), and there are too many plot threads trying to prove too many preachy points, this movie is pretty good overall.              That does not mean that Christian moviegoers should blindly throw their money at terrible movies solely because they are faith based.  As the old saying goes, you get what you pay for.  If we keep paying for garbage, the movie industry will keep serving up garbage.  But is Left Behind really that bad?  The ad above claims that Fandango fans gave it four stars, and the audience score on Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 65% approval rating.  A closer examination of the reviews on both websites belies these apparently favorable indicators.  For every five-star rating with a simple “I liked it” review, there are several one-star diatribes describing every inferior aspect of the movie.   In the end, the answer to the question just posed is: yes, Left Behind really is that bad.             So if you are a Christian and a fan of the movies, do not feel compelled to fall into the old way of thinking, the “us versus them” attitude conservatives copped towards Hollywood for so much of the twentieth century.  Please do not drag your friends to Left Behind just to feed a desire to see more faith based movies in the theater.  Do your research, look at the reviews, and spend your money on quality.  If Left Behind fails to meet expectations (which I say it has, both in quality and financially) it does not mean the end of the world. The end of the world will come at a time no one expects and in a way no one can predict, just as Jesus said in Matthew 24.  In the meantime, Christploitation films are, for the foreseeable future, going to keep premiering at the cineplex.  Just because one falters, it will not dissuade any other movie producers from making money in the genre.  That is my prediction. Works Cited Bennett, Cory. "Christian films find fans at multiplex." Akron Beacon Journal 3 May 2012: F21-F22. Newspaper. Christian Movies at the Box Office. n.d. website. 27 Oct 2014. . Flesher, Paul V.M. and Robert Torry. Film & Religion: An Introduction. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2007. Johnston, Robert K. Reel Spirituality: Theology and Film in Dialogue. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006. Left Behind - Rotten Tomatoes. n.d. website. 27 Oct 2014. . Riley, Robin. Film, Faith, and Cultural Conflict: The Case of Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2003. [1] Flesher, Paul V.M. and Robert Torry. Film & Religion: An Introduction. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2007. Pg. 72 [2] Johnston, Robert K. Reel Spirituality: Theology and Film in Dialogue. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006. Pg. 44 [3] Johnston , pg. 46 [4] Johnston,  pg. 45 [5] Riley, Robin. Film, Faith, and Cultural Conflict: The Case of Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2003 [6] http://www.boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=christian.htm [7] www.wikipedia.com [8] Bennett, Cory. "Christian films find fans at multiplex." Akron Beacon Journal 3 May 2012: F21-F22. Newspaper. Pg.  F21 [9] http://www.boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=christian.htm [10] http://www.boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=christian.htm [11] Bennett, pg. F21 [12] http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/left_behind_2014/?search=left%20b [13] http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/left_behind_2014/?search=left%20b

Each week on 15 Minutes of Fiction...with Fictional Frontiers, Host Sohaib Awan will highlight the best in genre entertainment. Dedicated to a serious discussion on pop culture, industry leaders will provide their unique takes on science fiction and fantasy. This week...enjoy our chat with the nation’s best online film critic and founder of ReelViews: James Berardinelli.This week, James and Sohaib talk about:The MasterDreddEnd of WatchLooperFictional Frontiers on Suvudu: http://suvudu.com/tag/fictional-frontiers

Each week on 15 Minutes of Fiction...with Fictional Frontiers, Host Sohaib Awan will highlight the best in genre entertainment. Dedicated to a serious discussion on pop culture, industry leaders will provide their unique takes on science fiction and fantasy. This week...enjoy our chat with the founder of ReelViews and one of the nation's best online film critics, James Berardinelli.Fictional Frontiers on Suvudu: http://suvudu.com/tag/fictional-frontiers

Each week on 15 Minutes of Fiction...with Fictional Frontiers, Host Sohaib Awan will highlight the best in genre entertainment. Dedicated to a serious discussion on pop culture, industry leaders will provide their unique takes on science fiction and fantasy. This week...enjoy our chat with the nation's best online film critic and founder of ReelViews: James Berardinelli.Fictional Frontiers on Suvudu: http://suvudu.com/tag/fictional-frontiers

Each week on 15 Minutes of Fiction...with Fictional Frontiers, Host Sohaib Awan will highlight the best in genre entertainment. Dedicated to a serious discussion on pop culture, industry leaders will provide their unique takes on science fiction and fantasy. This week...enjoy our chat with the nation's best online film critic and founder of ReelViews (http://www.ReelViews.net/): James Berardinelli.Fictional Frontiers on Suvudu: http://suvudu.com/tag/fictional-frontiers

Each week on 15 Minutes of Fiction...with Fictional Frontiers, Host Sohaib Awan will highlight the best in genre entertainment. Dedicated to a serious discussion on pop culture, industry leaders will provide their unique takes on science fiction and fantasy. This week...enjoy another segment with the best online film critic in America and founder of ReelViews (Reelviews.net): James Berardinelli.In this episode, Sohaib and James talk about: Dark Shadows, Battleship, The Dictator, The AvengersPlus:* The annual summer movie false start.* Johnny Depp and Tim Burton: Is it time for an intervention?* Will we ever see one-off superhero films?* Upcoming movies: Men in Black III, Snow White and the Woodsman, Finding a Friend for the End of the WorldFictional Frontiers on Suvudu: http://suvudu.com/tag/fictional-frontiers

Each week on 15 Minutes of Fiction...with Fictional Frontiers, Host Sohaib Awan will highlight the best in genre entertainment. Dedicated to a serious discussion on pop culture, industry leaders will provide their unique takes on science fiction and fantasy. This week...enjoy another extended chat with the nation's top online film critic, James Berardinelli.Fictional Frontiers on Suvudu: http://suvudu.com/tag/fictional-frontiers

Each week on 15 Minutes of Fiction...with Fictional Frontiers, Host Sohaib Awan will highlight the best in genre entertainment. Dedicated to a serious discussion on pop culture, industry leaders will provide their unique takes on science fiction and fantasy. This week...enjoy our segment with the founder of ReelViews (http://www.reelviews.net) and, according to Roger Ebert, the "best of the web-based film critics": James Berardinelli.  James offers his take on Disney's John Carter and the film version of Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games.Fictional Frontiers on Suvudu: http://suvudu.com/tag/fictional-frontiers

Each week on 15 Minutes of Fiction...with Fictional Frontiers, Host Sohaib Awan will highlight the best in genre entertainment. Dedicated to a serious discussion on pop culture, industry leaders will provide their unique takes on science fiction and fantasy. This week...enjoy our segments with author Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff, co-author of Del Rey's Star Wars: Shadow Games and James Berardinelli, the founder of ReelViews and, according to Roger Ebert, the "best of the web-based" film critics. Suvudu: Fictional Frontiers on Suvudu: http://suvudu.com/tag/fictional-frontiers