Show Notes

First - I am sorry about the short bursts of crackling, my editing skills were no match. They are few and brief.

It’s the beginning of the 1950s and Disney enters strong with Cinderella. This is the first film of the series that legitimately feels like it was made for children. We’ve got animals with various levels of personality and anthropomorphism, helpfully delineated by the addition of tiny clothing. We’ve ...

Show Notes

It’s time to close out the 40s with an adventure and a terror. Mr. Toad goes on a wild ride in spite of his friends’ best efforts and then Ichabod goes on a wild ride at the behest of his rival. Two more stories from the library and the last of the piecemeal films, not only do the characters go on wild rides, we do too!  Recommendations: The Wind in the Willows (80s Stop Motion available on Peacock) and Longlegs...

Show Notes

Seven songs, seven cartoons - from near death by waterfall to Pecos Bill, with Johnny Appleseed and a tugboat in between. This one is chock-full of stunning animation and fun music in short vignettes so you can’t even get bored. Fun songs, sweet poems and silly gags - it’s a fun one!

Recommendations: Quesadillas - yes, those quesadillas

Next up: The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad (1949)

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Show Notes

We’ve got a duology as well as a debate - is this movie fun, and is it fancy free? We start with a staid tale of the power of love which is expressed through violence as Bongo the bear tries to make his way among nature’s savage beasts after living amongst the civilized circus animals. After nothing happens for a while, he does get there in the end - all he has to do is murder his rival and slap his girlfriend. ...

Show Notes

Back into the world of propaganda and lack of narrative throughline, we learn about birds, burritos and piñatas this week as we discuss The Three Caballeros (no, not Los Tres but The Three…). Donald Duck once again wants to learn all about places and kin from south of the equator. From heat seeking penguins to sex-starved ducks (that’s Donald doing an excellent Pepe Le Pew impersonation) we get to see so many bi...

Show Notes

Travel with us - and the Disney animators - to the wild world of South America - from Lake Titicaca to the Argentine Pampas to Rio, we get a cartoon’s eye view of the our neighbors to the south. Disney was trying to lure these South American countries away from the Nazis and Donald Duck was the tool.    Recommendations: Gilda (Tubi), The Traitors (Peacock), The Anniversary Party (Rentable)   Next up: The Three C...

Show Notes

We were introduced to a wobbly legged pre-cursor Simba this week as we watched 1942’s Bambi. With the story arc of simply growing up, we get to see baby Bambi and his woodland friends frolic freely until Man comes and does what he does best - destroy everything. But everything comes out twitterpated in the end.     Recommendations: Go outside and/or make something with your hands   Next up: Saludos Amigos (1943)...

Show Notes

This week we follow the adventures of a silent baby as he is tormented by all but the one creature who he is supposed to fear - Jumbo Jr. stars as Dumbo! The physically largest circus in all of creation, built on the backs of faceless slaves, and populated by bullies, welcomes a new baby and has nothing nice to say. We remind you and ourselves that our protagonist is a BABY. But at least there are some animals l...

The combination of music and animation goes back to the beginning of animation and Disney dives all the way into the motif in 1940’s Fantasia. We get dinosaurs, dancing mushrooms and hippos, the first color Mickey Mouse and a full Bacchanal - all while listening to some of the most popular classical music of all time - would you dare ask for anything more? A plot? Nah, not this time. Just kick back and let it wash over you.    Reco...

Show Notes

We’re going deep on one of the most unsettling movies of all time - Pinocchio. A movie full of horny animals, butts, and human trafficking, we never would have thought we would want to screen a Disney animated film from the 40s before showing it to a kid, but this thing is bonkers and more than a little frightening. From gross Italian stereotypes to the theme song for all of Disney, it’s a whiplash inducing feve...

Show Notes

We enter the vault and go all the way back to the beginning to the Disnification of their first Grimm’s fairy tale with Snow White. Being the fairest in the land is a tough and dangerous gig, as this pale princess finds out when the evil queen and her narc of a mirror come after her. So loveable that she woos 7 grown men in less than 12 hours, she has a heart of gold to go along with the skin of snow and the voi...

Show Notes

In our final episode of the season, we’re talking Train to Busan from 2016. In a film that mashes 28 weeks later and Snow piercer had a baby we follow the adventures of Bad Dad, Bad Ass, and Baseball Boy, along with their respective women, trying simply to survive both zombies and capitalists while hurtling through space on a train. We find out what makes a good person and if your job speaks to your morality (hi...

Show Notes

Ready, set, drive! This week we watched Mad Max – Fury Road, a diesel soaked naked prey in an the apocalyptic future vision out of the mind of George Miller. Rictus Erectus, Vuvalini, Immortan Joe, Furiosa, the Doof warrior, Splendid, Capable, Nux, The Dag and … Max, the gang’s all here. Stunts galore – explosions and crashes and motorcycles and sand storms – it’s got everything you could want.   Next up: Train ...

Show Notes

This week we’re talking STDs with 2014’s It Follows. It’s not a slasher movie, but it sure looks up to John Carpenter. Girls just want to have fun, and this supernatural buzzkill comes out to keep that from happening unless you want to be ****ed to death by something that looks like your parent’s corpse. It’s slow, but it’s not stupid, and it’s scary!   Recommendations: Companion (In Theaters)   Next up: Mad Max...

Show Notes

It’s the best modern day action franchise – maybe the best American action franchise – John Wick. Never have so many people died because a dipshit made a dumb decision and killed a dog. We talk all things Keanu, the hubris of waiting for an assassin while nude, the assassin’s code and how cool the underground world they build really is. Join us for the watch – and keep on – make it a whole marathon! It’s gotta b...

Show Notes

This week we go back in time to when AI was a remarkable step forward instead of a feature on all of our devices, whether we like it or not, with Alex Garland’s Ex Machina. Oscar Isaac plays a billionaire that falls into all of the billionaire stereotypes that have proven true with the rise of Elon Musk: a self-proclaimed demi-god. Domhnall Gleeson plays a patsy for every other speaking character. Alicia Vikande...

Show Notes

It’s a love story this week as we watch Gone Girl directed by fave David Fincher. We extoll the virtues of Ben Affleck and Carrie Coon and spend a lot of time asking about love and romance. What is love? Is this it? Why? What? How? Come to your own conclusions but not until you hear ours.   Recommendations: Wolf Man (in theaters); Self-care   Next up: Ex Machina (2014) (Rentable)     Email us at latecomers@gmail...

Show Notes

This week we watch Bong Joon-Ho’s dystopian masterpiece – no not that one, the other one – Snowpiercer. Chris Evans doesn’t want to be a hero, and can he truly be if he know what people taste like? We argue yes, when the villain is capitalism, any man can be a hero. Tilda Swinton puts in a grounded and naturalistic performance (her words) and Allison Pill is just a delight while Kang-ho Song plays his normal hil...