Disney’s Dumbo, When I See An Elephant Fly!

When Walt Disney delivered Dumbo to RKO Pictures for distribution, the studio demanded that the film be lengthened from its 64 minute running time or cut up into short subjects. Disney refused. RKO then suggested that a 64 minute film would work better as a B-movie, under a live-action picture. Again, Disney refused, and the frustrated studio bosses at RKO released Dumbo as a feature length cartoon.

Released on October 23, 1941 Dumbo was instant hit with kids and adults. Although Pearl Harbor and the United States entrance into World War Two two months later was at first thought to be a hindrance to the film’s success, audiences wanted a distraction from the horrors of war, and this made Dumbo extremely profitable for Walt Disney’s company.

Dumbo was the first Walt Disney picture to be released on videocassette. It was released in 1981 for rental only. In 1982 it was put on sale for the first time. Dumbo has never been out of print, since then. Therefore, it’s fitting that Dumbo is part of the first group of Walt Disney pictures streaming on ReelTime. Almost 70 years after its initial release, Dumbo still entertains young and old, with a classic story that resonates with anyone who has felt like an outsider.
Dumbo
Tags: 1941, disney, dumbo, streaming video

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The Real Love Guru

I’m not too familiar with the work of Mike Meyers, but it seems to me he’s trying to become some kind of later-day Peter Sellers. I’ve heard some pretty wild stories about his on-set antics as a prima dona, which make me hesitant to work with the guy, but truthfully, I’m sure they’ve said the same about me, on occasion.

No, I didn’t see The Love Guru (2008) this weekend, but neither did most of you out there in the Magic Kingdom. What I did do was get a call at about 2AM Sunday night. I was having a sauna in the carriage house at the time when my phone vibrated.

It’s a young friend – the English director. He’s shooting a movie in Tunisia and the ol’ ball and chain is giving him problems. Two artists, you know? I just don’t think it works. Better you find yourself a nice young schoolteacher, Guy, I tell him, like my first wife. He’s freaking out a little, I imagine he’s in his trailer, either they’re waiting for him on set, or he’s got a little time before they start waiting on him. We met at Cannes in ‘98 and kept in touch. I liked his style and I’m always interested in the European sensibility. I don’t know the wife, but I do know, as you know, yourself, she’s a big star. I never quite got her, to be honest. Disco was never really my thing.

I tell him this, but he’s unimpressed. He’s in love. Have you told her this, I ask? He grumbles. The worst part of it all, he says, is that she leaves the cap of the toothpaste covered in sticky blue goo. She does? This sounds like a sexual problem, to me, Papa Freud. Are you two shagging, I ask. Not in a long time, he mopes. We’re too busy.

There’s your problem, I say. I tell this to my kids, all the time: ‘if you’re too busy, maybe you’re too busy.’ They don’t get it, but The Director does. I should get down to Malawi, huh, he says. Get down, babe. Get down.

I press the phone off and pour a plastic cup of water onto the rocks. Steam rushes up with a hiss and quickly fills the room with white smoke. I can’t believe the kid listened to me. I give ‘em six months.

Tags, reeltime, movies, movie streaming, movie reviews, new releases, the love guru, mike myers, at the theaters, reeltimes, funny, austin powers.

rick roll, oh so beautiful

I love rick rolling, I try to do as much rolling as I can. I mean honestly it is hilarious.

Simply put Rick Astley is better than Chuck Norris.

http://www.rickrolled.com/

Dewey Cox

Today on ReelTime reviews and more, a movie review!

It took the movie Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story for me to realize the talents of Dewey Cox. His career spanned four decades and he truly revolutionized modern pop music. Played perfectly by his almost exact look-a-like John C Reily (Days of Thunder) and directed by the son of my favorite director Lawrence Kasdan, Jake, Walk Hard truly opened my eyes to a world of music I had no idea existed.

Growing up I mostly listened to whatever was on the radio, top of the pops. Some of my favorites and still are: Rick Astley, El DeBarge, Huey Lewis and the News, Green Day, and Semisonic. But as I got older and began to research the origins of music, I found that Dewey Cox was really behind a great deal of musical movements in the late 20th century!

He even hung out with the Beatles and took drugs with them! I didn’t know that, and found out from the movie! LOL! But seriously JUST SAY NO! It didn’t help Dewey Cox at all, and in fact, at the end of his life, he realized the things that matter most in life, are family, friends, and the joys of music.