Show #62: The Parfait After Tomorrow

Martin Schneider returns to deliver a forecast of film fun in Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs!

Click Here To Download (Right Click, Save As)

Wringing an enormous amount of potential from an old children's picture book Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs spins a bright, humourous and touching story along with a loving homage to blockbuster disaster movies.That it does all this while subverting numerous cinematic tropes makes it stand out as a unique and wonderful feature and a refreshing alternative to other comparatively cynical animated movies.

Martin's Twitter

Current Releases Movie Reviews

THE SHORT VERSION

Mad scientists

(Un)seasonable weather

Positive representations

Show #61: Baywatch Orcs

Bound in the darkness no more it's time to shed a little light on Ralph Bakshi's Lord Of The Rings!

Click Here To Download (Right Click, Save As)

We live in an era of privilege where JRR Tolkien's fantasy saga has received the blockbuster film treatment so it may be a tad unfair to compare it against this 1978 effort from Ralph Bakshi of Fritz The Cat and Fire & Ice fame. That aside numerous problems exist in the way it handles its narrative and that's before we get to the visuals which certainly don't hold up with age. An ambitious effort for its time but which ultimately leaves you wanting.

THE SHORT VERSION

Seamless visuals (and is that John Belushi on the left?)

MC Saru The Man exits the stage

GO BALROGS!

Show #60: Garguys and Gargirls

Jake Bourke has broken free of his prison of living stone just in time to join us for some Gargoyles!

Click Here To Download (Right Click, Save As)

An experiment by Disney in the 90s to create an action show which turned out pretty well, Gargoyles is a dramatic and thematically complex cartoon. Alongside contemporaries such as Batman: The Animated Series and Swat Kats it brought some much needed substance to daytime animated fare as well as keeping a good portion of the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast in business. We talk loss, betrayal, cool voices and Jake reveals his innermost desires.

Jake's Twitter

Jake's Site

THE SHORT VERSION

ANGEL OF THE NIIIIIGHT

Legitimate businessman

Pranks

Show #59: Tiger Doesn't Make Any Sense

There's big trouble in Little China and all over the world as well in the third season of Jackie Chan Adventures!

Click Here To Download (Right Click, Save As)

It's Jackie Chan Adventures! So obviously we love it, although this season is littered with caveats. The writing feels a lot less sharp in places than previous episodes, with dialogue and storylines clearly targeting a younger audience than before. On the plus side we have the wonderful James Hong channeling Lo Pan to great effect and the better plots take enough crazy turns to justify viewing.

THE SHORT VERSION

Better call Jack Burton

A makeover

You guys suck!

Show #58: Powered By Puns

It's a spine tingly dingly Halloween edition of SOTSM with the cursed comedy and horrifying humour of Count Duckula!

Click Here To Download (Right Click, Save As)

Springing from Cosgrove Hall's Danger Mouse into his own spin-off series is everybody's favourite vegetarian vampire duck and his gang of gruesome servants. The comedy routines are often a bit stale and the frequent use of cultural stereotypes for cheap laughs do the show no favours either but it's buoyed up by some great voice work, extending to the narrator who does an excellent job selling the supposedly sinister side of the cartoon. Your tolerance of David Jason's American accent as Duckula may make or break it for you so consider yourself forewarned! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

THE SHORT VERSION

Cultural insensitivity

Old jokes

True terror

Show #57: Wot A Noice Asgard You Got 'Ere

We journey into the mysterious realm of motion comics with the theatrical stylings of Thor & Loki: Blood Brothers!

Click Here To Download (Right Click, Save As)

The 1966 Gantray-Lawrence Marvel Super-Heroes cartoons were a lesson in just how limited animation could get and still be able for worthwhile discussion here at SOTSM. Going off that we deemed motion comics as worthy topics for podcasting and thus we return to the Marvel universe and their Asgardian heroes.

Blood Brothers delivers Loki's perspective on the never-ending struggle against his sibling and adoptive parents, filled with pathos & tragedy and showing the complex motivations that led him down his villainous path. Esad Ribic's artwork is reverently handled with some subtle techniques employed to put it into motion while Robert Rodi's writing is brought to life by a talented cast of stage actors, David Blair as Loki being the standout performance. Warning: This podcast contains silly voices.

THE SHORT VERSION

Bullying

The ravages of villainy

THIS face

Show #56: Regular Old Brown Lions

After a few weeks of consternation where the tyrannical producers of SOTSM demanded rewrite after rewrite we finally bring you the strange story of Disney's The Emperor's New Groove.

Click Here To Download (Right Click, Save As)

The Emperor's New Groove is a competent, fairly entertaining piece of animation bouyed up by a very strong cast and an unusual choice of protagonist. The real meat of this podcast however delves behind the scenes of the film's creation; a six year saga of heartache, corporate interference and general all round frustration, all preserved for posterity in Trudie Styler's illuminating documentary The Sweatbox.

Throw in some speculation about the production woes afflicting other areas of the media and this show is just about worth the wait. Hey, maybe they'll make a documentary about the troubled production of this episode in the future!

THE SHORT VERSION

Friendship

Moral Choices

The wonderful Eartha Kitt