Reaction: Disney's Oscar Nominations 2013

Ryan Dosier - The Academy Award nominations for 2013 films were announced today and Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Marvel all received some great nominations. Check them all out below:

Animated Feature Film
   - FROZEN
     Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, and Peter Del Vecho

Makeup and Hairstyling
   - THE LONE RANGER
     Joel Harlow and Gloria Pasqua-Casny

Original Score
   - SAVING MR. BANKS
     Thomas Newman

Original Song
   - "Let it Go" from FROZEN
     Music and Lyric by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Bobby Lopez

Animated Short Film
   - GET A HORSE!
     Lauren MacMullan and Dorothy McKim

Visual Effects
   - IRON MAN 3
     Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Erik Nash and Dan Sudick

   - THE LONE RANGER
     Tim Alexander, Gary Brozenich, Edson Williams and John Frazier

As with every year, there were some major snubs as well. Here are the (Disney-related) snubs that shocked me completely...

• Emma Thompson not nominated for Best Actress - Emma Thompson received NOTHING for her role as P.L. Travers in Saving Mr. Banks. This is just an egregious error that I completely don't understand. Shutting out the strongest part of Saving Mr. Banks and one of the finest performances by an actress this year? Baffling. Many critics agree with me that Meryl Streep's performance in August Osage County does not merit a nomination. How she won out on a nomination over Emma Thompson I will never know.
• Monsters University not nominated for Best Animated Feature - What?! I just... HUH?! Nominating The Croods over Monsters University is just unbelievable. I'm stunned to see Pixar shut out of the Oscars completely for the first time since 2001. I never thought I'd have to say this, but Pixar was robbed.
• Tom Hanks not nominated for Best Supporting Actor - The fact that Tom Hanks wasn't nominated for Best Actor (Captain Phillips) is one thing, but to see him snubbed for Supporting Actor as well is crazy. I'm very disheartened to see that no one is awarding--or even nominating Tom Hanks for his turn as Walt Disney in Saving Mr. Banks. Incredibly disappointing.

I could go on, but these are the biggest snubs that completely infuriate me this year. Seeing Saving Mr. Banks only receive one nomination is also ridiculous... but maybe I'm biased.

Nonetheless, huge, huge, HUGE congratulations to everyone at Disney for their nominations. Especially the folks at Walt Disney Animation, who have elevated the studio back to where it belongs. To my friends at the Animation Studio who worked on Frozen and Get a Horse!, I'm so proud to know you!

REVIEW: The Lone Ranger on Blu-Ray

Mitchell Stein- I love Western movies. There’s nothing like the classic Westerns, like Zorro, A Fistful of Dollars or The Good, The Bad and the Ugly and even Back to the Future: Part III. Unfortunately, The Lone Ranger is nothing like those.

I have mixed reactions towards Disney’s $300 million budget summer blockbuster. On one hand, I enjoyed it and remained on the edge of my seat, but in other scenes I was just waiting the scene to be over and they cut back to the action.

The story begins with a strange narrative by a featured character which was totally unnecessary. The narration lasts throughout the movie, and usually at specifically bad times (i.e. in middle of action sequences) and just really brings the movie down to a complete low. It should’ve cut right to the action sequence and dived right into the movie, the movie starts off boringly, bad story-telling, and some other problems, by the time they cut to the action, most people probably got to the ticket counter and asked for a refund. But once it gets rolling and on its feet, it remains steady for the most part. 

The film unites the unlikely duo of John Reid (a.k.a The Lone Ranger) with the Indian native Tonto for their ride for justice, and both seeking revenge against the film’s badguy, Butch Cavendish.

The first excitement of the film only starts about 15-20 minutes into the film, so bear with the first couple of scenes while it establishes the story and character, once past that, most of the movie is filled with action, suspense and a dash of comedy, but of course, spoiling that is the narration scenes and a really long sequence featuring the tribe smacked in middle of the movie.

The movie is also very violent. I believe this is a part of the strategy from Disney to shatter any stereotype that might be surrounding Disney, like “Disney only makes kids’ and princess movies”. The scenes are extremely bloody and sometimes very frightening. The violence felt too extreme at times, and felt like they were only one step away from the R rating for violence. 

On top of that, some things in this movie are completely uncalled for. I won't go into full detail, but there's some explicitly violent sequences, and another scene that was completley uncalled for. The movie would've been fine without those. 

The characters are very strange as well. Johnny Depp plays Tonto, where you’re never sure whether to laugh or not at him, and he creates some very strangely awkward scenes. 

As well as that, Helena Bonham Carter’s character is absolutely ridiculous. She played no important role in this film, except for using her 'superpower' when our heroes are in trouble: Showing her tattooed legs to distract the male badguys. When our heroes are in peril, Carter’s character stops and shows her legs to the bad-guys, who suddenly stop what they’re doing to look. This is not what you’d call cinematic brilliance. 

But over all of those complaints, the action sequences really left me on the edge of my seat. Some of those scenes were so intense, and so exciting that it would’ve been worth the price of admission just for those scenes.

The bonus features add some excitement to it, showing how the incredible train sequences were filmed, along with ‘Becoming A Cowboy’ showcasing some of the training the actors went through to shoot this film and a deleted scene. It also includes bloopers, which is made to look like a trailer gone wrong. I wouldn’t suggest you buy the DVD, since that seems to be the only feature on there.  

It’s unfortunate that The Lone Ranger didn't do as well at the box office, since Disney really wanted to make a franchise out of this like they did with the Pirates of the Caribbean series.

They took a big gamble with this movie’s budget, and created a whole slew of Ranger merchandise before the movie even came out. Just like John Carter, only a handful of people even knew who or what The Lone Ranger even was in the first place, and while up against Despicable Me 2 over the July 4^th weekend, the Ranger didn’t stand a chance. Plus, The Lone Ranger's budget was $250 million, so to be honest, I don't really know what Disney was expecting in total at the end of it's run.  

The Lone Ranger was really supposed to be Disney's next big 'Avengers' or 'Pirates' franchise, but it completely went the other way. I'm sure the folks at Disney are scratching their heads wondering where it went wrong. 

 If you never liked Westerns in the first place, don’t bother. But if you are a big fan of Western style films, I suggest you make sure to check out this movie. 

Rating: 2.5/5 pieces of silver

The Lone Ranger is now available on Blu-Ray and DVD. 

Upcoming Disney Blu-Ray Announcements: December 13th 2013

Mitchell Stein- Happy Friday the 13th everyone! I decided to take a look at a few upcoming Blu-Rays and share some very exciting upcoming announcements today, as we look ahead to home-releases in the upcoming new year of 2014 (all dates are American release dates).

The Lone Ranger- 

While The Lone Ranger flopped at the box office, it simply isn't a bad film. It has it's problems (and quite a few of them) and while it might not live up to some of Gore Verbinski's other work, it sure brings a great, fun fast-paced film with Johhny Depp as Tonto and Armie Hammer as the Lone Ranger. The bonus features reveal some really cool behind-the-scenes look at how the film was made and a hilarious blooper-reel. Look for a full review sometime next week.

Release Date: December 17th 2013








The Jungle Book- 




Forget about your worries and your strife! The famous 1967 film will be returning to the small screen, this time in high definition. Relive the animated classic over again in a stunning restored version of the film never seen before. Sounds like a load of fun for fans of the film.

Release Date: February 11th, 2014







The Jungle Book 2- 

The probably less classic film, The Jungle Book 2, will be swinging on to Blu-Ray March 18th 2014. It probably would've made more sense for Disney just to release both films in a double feature copy, which would probably sell more. But, this is an exciting time for The Jungle Book fans.

Release Date: March 18th 2014






Winnie the Pooh: Springtime With Roo- 

Another lesser-know classic film, Springtime With Roo will bounce onto Blu-Ray this March. In the film, Rabbit decides to cancel Easter and replace it with 'Spring Cleaning Day' instead. Rabbit later learns that putting others first turns every day into a precious gift.

I remember owning this movie on VHS and loving it, so I personally, am super excited for this release.

Release Date: March 11th 2014




Frozen- 

It feels like only two weeks ago that the incredible movie, Frozen was released in theaters..wait, that's because it was!
Even though the film just came out, believe it or not, there's already cover art for the release, and you can already pre-order it online. I ordered seven!

Release Date: Unknown

UPDATE: The official date for Frozen is currently March 18th 2014. Believe it or not, Saving Mr. Banks is also set to release on that day as well as The Jungle Book 2. 

That's all for now! I hope you enjoyed this, and I hope to continue to do this every couple of months or so, or whenever a lot of Blu-Rays are announced! Have a great weekend.