There are many kinds of prisons in this world, some literal and some figurative but no less destructive to the basic human need for freedom. And from childhood, one fairy tale that teaches us about that imprisonment and quest to be free is “Rapunzel,” the story of a girl who’s locked away in a tower to hide her amazing golden hair from the world.

Now, Disney has finally gotten around to bringing Rapunzel’s story to life on the big screen with the new 3D cartoon “Tangled.” Since Disney scored lackluster results with last year’s Christmas-season cartoon, “The Princess and The Frog,” and realized that that film had almost zero appeal to boys, they’ve strived to make sure this new cartoon holds strong appeal for males and females of all ages.

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So here, the Mouse House wisely decided to add a heroic male character named Jake (voiced by Zac Levi of “Chuck”), who stumbles across Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) in the highly hidden tower she’s kept in by an evil woman, Mother Gothel (Donna Murphy) who kidnapped her as a child. Mother Gothel has kept Rapunzel a lifelong prisoner because of the fact that her golden hair has the magical power of imparting eternal youth upon whomever sings a special song to it, and Mother Gothel wants that power for herself alone.

When Rapunzel tricks Mother Gothel to embark on a three-day journey for supplies, she takes advantage of her new friendship with Jake and embarks on her first journey to the outside world in the hopes of discovering why a shower of lights hits the night skies every year on her birthday. The lights are launched by the king and queen she was taken from, as they hope someday she’ll see them and return to her rightful life as royalty.

As she and Jake make their way to the kingdom, they befriend a bar-ful of scary-looking yet good-natured rogues who become invaluable support as the duo are threatened repeatedly by the Stabbington Brothers, two giant and malevolent goons enlisted by Mother Gothel to force her return to the castle. (more…)

WARNING: ‘FLORA & FAWNA’ IS CRUDE (and this is even cruder than the last one)

Striving to outdo a rival celebutard at the 2010 Slammy Awards, Flora and Fawna debut a radical new eco-trend: The Booty Blast Blocker which traps CO2 emissions of a decidedly personal kind.  But the ass-blast trapping trend backfires in ways the girls may never be able to live down.

YouTube FLORA & FAWNA - Gasbags

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if you like comics and super-hero movies you can’t go wrong with DC’s latest animated film, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. It’s a terrific translation of classic comics stories to film with a contemporary flavor.

Set during the early days of the League when they’re constructing their space station (pre-Justice League Unlimited). For the sake of this discussion, they live on Earth One. Meanwhile, on a parallel earth (known as Earth Three in the comics) there is another Justice League that’s the opposite of the one on JLA’s World. In this world, the villains are the heroes and visa-versa. Superman is a criminal thug named Ultraman. He runs a mob called the Crime Syndicate which is made up of evil versions of the Justice League. But the Justice League of that world is run by Lex Luthor and is composed of good versions of the villains in Earth One.

The good Lex Luthor has just stolen something from the Crime Syndicate. He escapes to Earth One using a device that allows him to travel between quantum realities. He needs the Justice League’s help in defeating the Crime Syndicate which has killed all the remaining heroes on his world. The Justice League questions why they should try to save a world other than Earth when they have so many problems to deal with here. But they know they can’t refuse.

Lots of fun ensues. (more…)

The way I see it television needs, among other things, the following:

1. Science Fiction/Thriller/Horror Channel

A short form/short film channel showcasing those genres. Independent producers, writers, creators could submit work to be aired. It wouldn’t have to be, nor should it be at the Sundance level of professionalism delivered on DigiBeta and starring Cameron Diaz doing a favor for the filmmaker because it’s her friend’s cousin, either.

We don’t want that. There’s plenty of that kind of venue and they turn down 99% of the stuff submitted anyway, mainly because it’s not the work of someone’s friend’s cousin. So forget that right away. It has to be underground, guerilla, shoestring and, most important, good. Very good. Damn good. But not expensive. How can you do that, you say? 

With writing.   (more…)

Since the election of Barack Obama, aggressive political parody has been hard to come by outside of Comedy Central. But, as noted here on Big Hollywood, ABC and Mike Judge are taking on political correctness and progressive activists with The Goode Family.

When Bush and Cheney left office, they became old news. Mocking them now is like making Eisenhower jokes, but that doesn’t stop the occasional hack like Wanda Sykes trotting out tired material. And Obama seems off limits lest anyone wants to look like a buzz kill during the ever-lengthening, forced-fed honeymoon. In fact, the only show that really dared effectively to venture into political mockery consistently this season was South Park.

Mike Judge

And spare me any mention of The Daily Show or The Colbert Report. Both shows kiss the Democratic ass (the donkey, I mean) all week until they realize how biased they’ve become. Then they scramble around to make fun of some minor Dem Congressman for 30 seconds and applaud their own objectivity. Meanwhile, Stewart rages at every conservative cause he can find with the furor (not the wit) of Murrow until he’s called on it. Then he scrambles back into his hole screaming, “I’m only a comic!”

Fortunately, The Goode Family levels the satirical skills of Judge (creator of Beavis and Butthead and King of the Hill) at the taboo supporters of global warming, racial hypersensitivity, animal rights and any other cause over-hyped by self-righteous busybodies. (more…)