Dean Fleischer Camp and Jenny Slate’s mockumentary is one of the most lovely family films I’ve ever seen. In the hands of Disney, it probably would have been a treacly exercise in trite sentimentality, but leave it to independent filmmakers to create something pithy, poignant and rather beautiful. Marcel (adorably voiced by Slate) is indeedContinue reading “Film Review: Marcel The Shell With Shoes On”
Tag Archives: Family film
The Gentle Subversion of ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’
People often misunderstand Frank Capra’s classic Christmas film It’s A Wonderful Life. Released in 1946, it didn’t do very well initially in the United States. People found it too dark. Nowadays, many people find it too sentimental. I think both of these appraisals are a little wide of the mark. It’s both dark and sentimental,Continue reading “The Gentle Subversion of ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’”
Frankenweenie(1984)
In many ways, the original short film version of Frankenweenie is a sharp satire on horror cinema and its tropes: after all, Shelley Duvall plays the Mom, which foreshadows the macabre undertow (isn’t she the archetypal horror film Mom as resilient Wendy Torrance in The Shining?) Written by Lenny Ripps and directed by a youngContinue reading “Frankenweenie(1984)”
Hit The North 