SPECIAL: Anime Talk

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Funny Anime Fan GifThis episode was original recorded in 2009 as two separate episodes.  When the podcast changed from The Power of Friendship Podcast to The Fantasy Movie Podcast a couple of years ago I took several episodes out.  They were taken out because I thought it was weird that The Fantasy Movie Podcast had several episodes in a row that had nothing to do with fantasy movies.  I had always intended to sporadically rerelease them, but for some reason I forgot all about them!  So here are two of them.  They’re edited together due to their short lengths and similar topics.

- Part I -  Shojo Anime/Manga -

Melanie and Kasey discuss their overall opinion on shojo manga.  It isn’t particularly positive.  Shojo manga is full of wimpy crying heroines and often is disturbingly sexist.  Most disturbingly is the unhealthy relationships they often support.  The jerk often gets the girl even if he’s roughed her up a bit or threatened her life.

They also are almost always solely focused on romance. Shonen titles can have romance too, but they also come in variety of genres.  Romance can be a subplot.   Shojo manga usually doesn’t get the luxury.

Kasey doesn’t hate all romance by the way, despite what this episode may lead you to believe, lol.

Not all shojo manga and anime sucks though.  Kasey highly recommends Basara and Melanie likes the yaoi comic Yami no Matsui.  They both agree that the Josei titles Nodame Cantabile and Tramps like Us are great.

Re-editing this episode made me a little sad.  In one part you can hear my long dead dog in the background…

- Part II – Anime Expiration Date -

Is there an age expiration date for anime fandom? Do most fans drop out of anime fandom in their late twenties and early thirties?  Or do they just stop talking on the internet about it?

We know for sure there is less and less anime made that we actually enjoy and want to watch.  Is that our age showing or are they just not making shows that appeal to a wider audience anymore?

What about you?  Do you think an anime fan expiration date exists?

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Tinman

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Tinman Cast

Tinman is a 2007 Syfy Miniseries directed by Nick Willing.  It is loosley based on L. Frank Baum’s Oz book series.  Very loosely.

The miniseries has great production values, intriguing writing, and most of the cast are talented.  Zooey Deschanel gives an odd almost autistic portrayal of the main character D.J.  I’m not sure if she was directed that way or if it’s just Zooey Deschanel being Zooey Deschanel.  The rest of the cast is fantastic, particularly Neal McDonough and Kathleen Robertson.

The world building rivals a Hollywood film.  Everything in the world, from the steampunk technology to the rare glimpse of magic fits well into the world. The technology, politics, history, etc of the O.Z. is well thought out and has its own internal logic.  The world feels like it could really work.

The miniseries updates the world of the O.Z (pronounced ‘Oh Zee’) without disrespecting the original.  There are a lot of homages to the original books and films some obvious, some not.  You can tell there’s a real reverence to the source material.

The miniseries is easy to obtain.  It’s often on Netflix Instant Watch in the U.S. and readily available on blu ray and DVD in most countries.  Check it out, you won’t be disappointed.

Tinman Miniseries Trailer


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Sleepy Hollow

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Sleepy Hollow Movie PosterSo here’s a podcast about Tim Burton’s 1999 version of Sleepy Hollow starring Johnny Depp and Christinia Ricci… only a month after Halloween is over! That’s nearly on time! Right? Right? Well, it was recorded on Oct 30th at least.

Tim Burton’s version of Sleepy Hollow is vastly different from the original short story but for the better. It has a great cast, special effects that hold up pretty well, and some top notch spooky atmosphere. Is it great? Not really, there are several plot holes, shortcuts taken with characterization, and Johnny Depp and Christinia Ricci don’t have fantastic chemistry together. It’s still a solid film though, that’s enjoyable to watch every few years on Halloween.

This fills a request from Monica G. I hope you enjoyed the episode.

Sleepy Hollow Trailer

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The Addam’s Family

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The Addams Family Movie Poster They’re creepy, they’re cooky, they’re altogether ooky they’re The Addams Family!

This was meant to come out in October, but since it took me so long to make the website you’re getting it now.  The Addams Family is about family though and Thanksgiving is about family (well in the U.S. at least) so that sort of fits right? Maybe?

The Addams Family is a 1991 film directed  by Barry Sonnenfeld that’s loosely based on the 1960s television series and on Charles Addams Original comics.  The Addams Family is a group of macabre, gothic, and possibly nigh invulnerable family who enjoy such wholesome pastimes as sword fighting, knife throwing, torturing their siblings, keeping lions as pets, and reveling in the forces of darkness.  In this adaption, Uncle Fester shows up on their doorstep with amnesia after having disappeared for decades.  Only, he thinks he’s not Uncle Fester but a guy named Gordon whose going to con them out of their fortune.  It’s kind of like the plot of Anastasia only you know, evil.

The Addams Family holds up really well to this day and the whole franchise in general is still awesome as far as we’re concerned.  You can watch several episodes legally on youtube here. The original series is also all available on Netflix as of this recording.  The movies themselves (The Addams Family and its sequel The Addams Family Values) can be easily obtained usually in a fairly cheap combo pack.

On a random note, during this episode Melanie was wondering if the boy who played the human version of Casper (which also starred Christina Ricci) grew up to be a hot man.

Picture of Devon Sawa

Devon Sawa. Hot dude.

During the podcast she was unable to find a picture, but I was able to find one now.  And the answer is yes, he DID grow to be a hot man. lol.

 

 

 

 

 

Next Episode:  Sleepy Hollow.  A request by Monica G and also it makes this an unintentional month of Christina Ricci on the Fantasy Movie Podcast.

Don’t forget to VISIT OUR FORUMS!


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Welcome to the brand new Fantasy Movie Podcast website!

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Welcome to the brand new Fantasy Movie Podcast website!  Now the blog won’t suck.  Who hoo.  Note that the podcast RSS feed will not change!  So no reason to change any subscription options.  The url won’t really change either as long as you have http://www.fantasymoviepodcast.com or http://fantasymoviepodcast.com bookmarked.  If you have the old libsyn address bookmarked (http://thepoweroffriendship.libsyn.com/)  please update your bookmarks because that site will no longer be updated.

We now have a competent commenting system on the blog! There are threaded comments, you can reply to one another, get notifications from other people who have replied to you, spellcheck your comments, have gravatars, etc.

The blog also is nicely indexed with podcast categories, tags, and an episode index listing what topics we cover in each episode.

We also have a FORUM! There’s not much there right now, but I hope we can grow it into a nice little community where people can chat about fantasy movies, tv series, and books.

Legend

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Legend Movie PosterLegend is a 1986 fantasy film directed by Ridley Scott of Blade Runner and Alien fame. It stars Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, and Tim Curry. The plot of the movie is that there’s an evil red demon dude who wants to destroy all goodness and light in the world because he’s evil and that’s what evil dudes do. He gets his chance when a young girl taints a unicorn by touching it, allowing darkness and his minions to kill one of the unicorns and plunge the world into eternal winter.

I’m surprised we haven’t done this movie yet. Its one of the quintessential eighties fantasy films alongside Black Crystal, Labyrinth, and the Neverending Story.   It’s a film that holds up pretty well as long as you watch the director’s cut.     Unlike most director’s cuts, the theatrical version and the director’s cut of legend are drastically different.   The latter even makes sense! If you’ve never seen this movie definitely check it out and if you’ve only ever seen the theatrical version, you should try the vastly improved director’s cut.

Legend Trailer

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The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

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League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Movie PosterThe League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a film adaption of an Alan Moore comic about classic book characters who team up to save the world.   It stars Sean Connery as Allan Quatermain (a book character that no one but Alan Moore remembered) and some other people play a vampire, invisible man, Captain Nemo, Dorian Gray, Tom Sawyer, and Dr Jekyll/Hyde.

This is a  fun but rather shallow action movie.  It was a request from regular listener Charlie.    On reflection,  he might have been referring to the comics but he needs to differentiate better next time.   Although we’re lazy so we might not have read the comics.   Still, we don’t regret watching this movie and its a fun romp the first time through.   Its worth watching at least once if you can see it on television or borrow it from a friend, but don’t pay any extra money for it.

This was recorded several weeks ago, so if you left feedback since then for the Tangled episode it hasn’t been ignored.   Your feedback will be read and discussed during the next episode.

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Trailer

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Tangled

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Tangled Movie PosterTangled is Disney’s take on Rapunzel. Its a cute and fun movie that’s filled with dangerous lies. Liesssss.

This is the second time we attempted to record this. The first time was a beautiful and magical podcast of wonder but you’ll never be able to hear that because we lost Melanie’s side of the recording. Then my computer crashed so I rebuilt a new one. Soo… yeah. Fun times. Enjoy the filthy Disney liessss.

No seriously, we liked this film.


Tangled Movie Trailer

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Stardust

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Stardust is a 2007 fantasy film directed by Mathew Vaughn based on the book by Neil Gaiman.   It has a pretty star studded cast (ha ha ) of Claire Danes, Charlie Cox, Robert Deniro, and Michelle Pfeiffer.

Stardust Movie PosterPlot:   An awkward young man named Tristan Thorn crosses a wall into a fantasy realm in order to retrieve a falling star for his beloved Victoria.   Only when he gets there, the fallen star is actually a woman named Yvaine.   And unfortunately, he’s not the only one trying to retrieve the fallen star.

This episode came out okay.   I tried to edit out more of the pauses then I was previously taking out as Podcast Squared suggested.   Can anyone tell a difference?   I didn’t want it to be super snappy, because I wanted to preserve the feeling of just listening to regular people talk about movies.   I think it’s possible to become too polished and come off sounding fake and generic.

Stardust is a mixed bag.   It has some great visuals, fun character moments,  and a stellar cast.   But it also has some major plot problems, and the main couple are anything but star crossed.   However, overall it’s a fun movie that’s worth watching at least once.

Stardust Movie Trailer

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