#fantasia-1998

[favoriteanimatedtheatricalfilm]

Click here to find out more ;)

*Up to and Including the 2022 films, as Wish (2023) hasn’t come out yet.

Last one for the year!

[bones4thecats]

Uhhhhh.... I don't think this is all right...

[mikelogan]

PINK & BLUE IN ANIMATION

Fantasia (1940) + Sleeping Beauty (1959) + Kiki's Delivery Service (1989) + The Lion King (1994) + Hercules (1997) + FernGully: The Last Rain Forest (1992) + The Black Cauldron (1985) + Mulan (1998)

[atarahderek]

Disney Horses

Disney has never tried doing a franchise focused on their equine characters, and I am disappointed. So here is a partial compilation of Disney horses--namely the ones I think would be the most marketable--just in case Disney should ever change their mind on that point and wants a reference guide to which horses they should include in the line.

Major (Cinderella, 1950)

Major is a gray stallion who is temporarily transformed into a coachman for Cinderella's night at the ball.

Samson (Sleeping Beauty, 1959)

Samson is a gray stallion belonging to Prince Phillip. He is shown to be fast and fearless, and he hates distractions and detours.

Captain (101 Dalmatians, 1961)

Captain is a gray draft stallion who lives in the English countryside. He is instrumental in aiding in the rescue of Pongo and Perdita's puppies, and helps provide them with shelter and protection during their trek back to London.

Frou Frou (Aristocats, 1970)

Frou Frou is a flaxen chestnut light draft mare belonging to Madame Adelaide Bonfamille of Paris, France. She is a close friend of Duchess and her kittens. She is the only mare to be prominently featured in a Disney animated feature film with a specific storyline. Fantasia (1940) features a pegasus mare in one of its sequences (the mother of Peter Pegasus).

Philippe (Beauty and the Beast, 1991)

Philippe is a flaxen chestnut Belgian draft stallion who belongs to Maurice and Belle. He is very cautious and skittish, but bravely returns with Belle to the Beast's castle to find her father.

Achilles (The Hunchback of Notre Dame, 1996)

Achilles is a gray warhorse who belongs to Captain Phoebus. He is trained to respond to commands the same way a dog would, and even knows how to sit and heel. He appears to get along with Frollo's Friesian stallion Snowball, despite their owners being on opposites sides.

Pegasus (Hercules, 1997)

Pegasus is a pegasus stallion belonging to Hercules. He is white with a blue mane and tail. Pegasus isn't the most intelligent horse, but he's very loyal and courageous.

Khan (Mulan, 1998)

Khan is Mulan's faithful black stallion. He carries her into battle against the Huns.

Bullseye (Toy Story 2, 1999)

Bullseye is a chestnut stallion who serves as Woody's loyal steed in the children's show that spawned the toy line Woody is part of. In the Toy Story films, Bullseye is Jessie's closest friend and ally.

Buck (Home on the Range, 2004)

Buck is a bay stallion belonging to Sheriff Brown. He is incredibly egotistical and admires the bounty hunter Rico until he learns Rico is working for the notorious Alameda Slim.

Maximus (Tangled, 2010)

Maximus is a light silver Andalusian stallion who loyally serves the Captain of the Guard, acting as both his mount and his right hand man. He is intelligent, brave and fiercely patriotic. He dedicates his life to protecting Princess Rapunzel on all her adventures.

Angus (Brave, 2012)

Angus is a black Shire stallion who serves as Merida's mount and best friend. He has good judgment and hates having to carry Merida into danger, but will do so if the cause is just.

Sitron (Frozen, 2013)

Sitron is a brunblakk (brown dun) fjord stallion who belongs to Prince Hans of the Southern Isles. Despite his owner's sinister nature, Sitron is a polite, friendly horse with fast reflexes and an instinct to protect.

Fidella (Tangled the Series, 2017)

Fidella is a bay draft mare who belongs to Cassandra. She is fast, strong and brave, and Maximus develops a crush on her. Fidella does not come from a feature film, but this list desperately needed another mare.

The Nokk (Frozen II, 2019)

The Nokk is a Scandinavian water spirit tamed by Elsa. It serves as her mount. While it is Elsa's friend and allows her to ride it, it is still very wild and will drown trespassers on the Dark Sea.

[susieporta]

FANTASIA e IMMAGINAZIONE

La FANTASIA è la facoltà che ci consente di pensare e “fare” cose inverosimili, ma anche irrealizzabili. Simbolicamente, la fantasia è legata ai sogni e alla Luna, non sempre del tutto visibile e con un lato sempre oscuro.

La luce della Luna è riflessa, mai diretta, e questo aspetto può generare stramberie. La fantasia è come il “sonno della ragione, che - secondo Goya - genera mostri”.

Invece l’IMMAGINAZIONE “vede” di colpo ciò che non c’è, ma può diventare reale mediante la creatività e l’invenzione. Bruno Munari (1907-1998) colse – da Artista – le differenze e scrisse: “La fantasia, l’invenzione, la creatività pensano, l’immaginazione vede”.

L’intuizione e l’immaginazione sono facoltà “mercuriali”, cioè dell’intelligenza e della sua capacità di elaborare tutto ciò con cui entra in contatto. L’intuizione e l’immaginazione ci aiutano a “entrare dentro��� (intus-ire) ai simboli, agli emblemi, alle allegorie o alle parabole.

Francesco Indraccolo

[a-silent-symphony]

We got Nightwish's Tuomas Holopainen to rank every single album by the band from worst to best

We asked Nightwish founder Tuomas Holopainen to rank the band's albums from worst to best - and some of his choices surprised us

From fantastical realms to elaborate filmic sagas and love-letters to Darwinism, the Nightwish discography is rich in intrigue – and low on dullmoments. As its central creator, Tuomas Holopainen is inextricably bound to the sounds, feelings and memories that saturate each of these nine albums.

His life is in this music. But if it came to it, in a castaway situation, which albums would he most (and least) want to be stuck with? It’s a tough call. “They are my children,” he pleads, “how would they feel if they saw the ranking? Wishmaster would be so sad!” Still, he did manage to settle on an order, and here it is...

9. Wishmaster (Spinefarm, 2000)

“It went to No.1 in Finland, but to me Wishmaster is one of those albums that was kind of ‘in-between’. It doesn’t stand out to me on a personal level. There was nothing revolutionary about it after [1998’s] Oceanborn.

It was made in a really good spirit – everybody in the band was happy after the success of Oceanborn – so this was just a natural continuation of that. But it didn’t really introduce anything spectacularly new for me personally. I think that’s my problem with it. If Ihad to pick a favourite song, I think I’d pick Dead Boy’s Poem; lyrically, it’s very much in the essence of Nightwish.”

8. Angels Fall First (Spinefarm, 1997)

“Our debut sounds so innocent because it was done as a demo. It was never supposed to be released, but we sent it to the record label and they said, ‘Let’s put this out!’ It still has my parents’ home address on the booklet.

“When I founded Nightwish in July 1996, I just wanted to do moody acoustic music. Since me and Emppu [Vuorinen, guitars] had a strong metal background, it was a natural transition to do something heavier, but that original acoustic band idea can be heard strongly. We couldn’t find anybody to sing, so I kind of dug a hole and fell into it myself.

"We played Elvenpath years later on the Decades tour, and I can’t understand how Floor was able to keep a straight face singing those lyrics – to her credit, she did! I just remember the kid that I was back then, writing those songs, and I kind of miss that kid, because it was all about Donald Duck and fantasy books and snowmen and things fantastical.

"Nymphomaniac Fantasia? Not my proudest moment. But it was done because there was a young kid who had some, I don’t know�� issues, ha ha ha! Love-life gone wrong or something. It was a different time.”

7. Century Child (Spinefarm, 2002)

“After Wishmaster, I seriously considered quitting the band, especially thanks to the departure of the [original] bass player [Sami Vänskä] and my slight burnout. Then I went on a hiking trip in Lapland with Tony Kakko from Sonata Arctica, and he talked me over that.

"We needed a new bass player, and we needed management because until then it was me and Jukka [Nevalainen] the drummer taking care of the business side. So we got management, and we got Marko [Hietala, bassist/ singer until 2021], who was already a big name in Finnish metal – we were all big fans.

"There was a lot of bad stuff happening in the band as well – that’s reflected on the album. Slaying The Dreamer was a way to get rid of all that frustration. Artistically I found film music, Hans Zimmer above all, and that really can be heard on Century Child. But the album didn’t take us much on the next level. Artistically it did, but not commercially.”

6. Dark Passion Play (Nuclear Blast, 2007)

“It was a really easy album to write because all the emotions were there so strongly, after what happened with Tarja [Turunen, original vocalist who was dismissed from the band in 2005], and everything in my personal life. I was about to lose my mental health, and then doing the songs for this album saved it.

"I’m a very private person, but I write about some really personal things, and these people – Anette [Olzon], for this record – are singing it out for the whole world to hear. Ineeded to do a song like The Poet And The Pendulum, where I killed myself in the lyrics; I had to do it for my mental health, and it ended up being a wonderful piece of music.”

5. Imaginaerum (Nuclear Blast, 2011)

“Again, this was a pretty easy album to write – we all had a good time with it. When it comes to songwriting, I’m a morning person. I’ll wake up about six when I’m at home, then a litre of coffee and I’m off. Usually I’m done by two or three o’clock. I write songs upstairs in my little home studio – just a keyboard and a lakeside view. In the studio with the band, the other members and the engineers are more night owls. Also in the tour bus it’s always me up first, making coffee downstairs.

“It was clear from the start that this would end up being a film. We thought, ‘What haven’t we done yet? Let’s do a music video for every song on the album, and then somehow combine them to become this really weird film.’ It’s a very optimistic album. It just puts a big smile on your face.”

4. Once (Nuclear Blast, 2004)

“One of the best times that this band has ever had was 2003- 2004, making the Once album, and the first part of the tour after that. In late 2003 we flew to London to record the orchestras. I rang the studio doorbell and Rick Wakeman opened the door. I think I said, ‘Errr… [makes incoherent starstruck noise] Thanks!’

"We went to the studio, started playing Ghost Love Score and my face melted. Like, ‘I’m next to Wembley, listening to the orchestra playing a song that I wrote, this is really life at its best.’

"Something happened with that album – all the stars were aligned. I remember looking at the album charts and seeing ‘Nightwish, Michael Jackson, Anastasia’ and going ‘Really?!’ I don’t think any of us were quite prepared. You get sucked into this massive world of big tours and worship from the fans, then the money starts to flow in, and it’s easy to lose your perspective. Impulse purchases? I did a round the-world trip on my own, it was wonderful. But money has very little meaning to me."

3. Oceanborn (Spinefarm, 1998)

“Our ambition went through the roof after Angels Fall First, because we all realised that this is actually really fun. I was studying biology, Tarja was studying singing, I think in Germany, Jukka was studying to be a computer engineer, Emppu was working in a carpet factory.

"Music was just a hobby. And then we realised, ‘There’s something going on here, so let’s put all the focus in Nightwish for maybe a few years, and see what happens.’ It was eight hours every day in the rehearsal room, playing the songs and just really feeling it. It was the watershed album for us, it took us to the next level.

"All the guys, we had just gotten out of the army so we all had short hair, we had no idea about the metal scene at all. We were complete countryside hickeys who just happened to like metal music, and we were given this chance to show what we could do with a three-album deal. It shouldn’t have worked on paper, but somehow it did.”

2. Endless Forms Most Beautiful (Nuclear Blast, 2015)

“If Floor hadn’t come along, I think that would have been the end of the band. We got over an ugly divorce once [with Tarja], then again with Anette, then Floor comes along and everything shines bright again. She learned the setlist in 48 hours – when I called her, she was at her sister’s wedding. Even from the first show the fans embraced her. So we took a lot of that good feeling for Endless Forms Most Beautiful [named after a line from Charles Darwin’s On The Origin Of Species].

"We went to Röskö campsite in Finland to record. It’s a four-hectare area by a lake in the middle of nowhere, belonging to the Boy Scouts. We stayed for three months. Every morning we’d rehearse for a few hours, have lunch, go back, rehearse and then spend the evening with each other by a campfire, barbecuing, playing acoustic guitar, singing, going to the sauna and talking about the songs all the time. The Greatest Show On Earth, that’s the Nightwish desert island song. I’m sure we’ll play that at the end of the setlist until forever.

"We recorded Richard Dawkins’ part in Oxford. He’s quite the character. I’m a huge fan, so I was really starstruck. He did his parts beautifully, it was over in about 30 minutes and then he gave us a ride back to central Oxford in his Tesla. And halfway back he asks us, ‘So are you musicians or something?’ Ha ha! So his head’s somewhere… all the time! But he’s a wonderful guy.”

1. Human. :II: Nature. (Nuclear Blast, 2020)

“I immediately knew after Endless Forms Most Beautiful that ‘OK, we have to do more songs about this.’ And so the idea of Human. :II: Nature. was first to have songs about humankind, and then you play the other CD and relax and go into nature. My memories of making the album are of happy times, no conflicts. We returned to Röskö to make it.

"When the pandemic hit, it was like, ‘Should we postpone the release?’ But it was all printed and the advertisements had gone out to the papers. So the record label said, ‘Let’s go with it. Maybe people will have more time to concentrate on it…’

"Noise was a big single, but there’s also something about Shoemaker [named after famed geologist/astronomer Eugene Shoemaker]. It’s on the artsy side, but not in a pretentious way.

"Realising what evolution is… it’s about realising our mortality, at least for me. And it’s made all the difference. When I kind of realised that this is very likely the only life we’re gonna have – it’s only after that that I started hugging my dad. I never hugged my dad before that. I’ve just felt much more liberated and in the light ever since.”

[rachelbethhines]

60 Years of Doctor Who Anniversary Marathon - T. Baker 1st Review

Disney Time - Behind the Scenes

So for the Third Doctor we looked at trailers and promos for the show itself, well for the Fourth Doctor we’re looking at promotional material and advertisements for things that aren’t related to the show.

See Doctor Who is so popular that the series has been used to advertise various products, charities, PSAs, both for the UK and other countries, and even promote other IPs.

Which leads us to Disney Time. 

Disney Time was an annual special that ran in the UK from 1961 to 1998. And it was literally just one giant advert for Disney each and every year. It would show clips from it’s newly released or up coming movies, including recent re-releases and shorts, and promote it’s other tv shows.  

Each year the segment was hosted by a celebrity who would provide linking segments and explain the context of the clips being shown. And in 1975 that celebrity was Doctor Who.

Not just Tom Baker, who played the Doctor, but the actual character of the Doctor, running around the theater proclaiming how great Disney is, how much he loves classic Disney characters like Donald Duck, and horribly mispronouncing Mowgli’s name.

The in universe explanation being that the Doctor is on vacation. Having just dropped off Harry and Sarah Jane back home at the end of Revenge of the Cybermen, he enjoys his holiday by going to the movies. At the end of his day off he gets a message from the Brigadier which is supposed to lead directly into Terror of the Zygons. So yeah, this is meant to be canon to the show.

The segment has never officially been released due to copyright, but mega fans with home recorders have kindly posted Tom Baker’s clips to youtube.

In order to watch the show as intended, I pulled up the missing clips off of Disney Plus and kept the Doctor Who linking clips up in another tab; switching between the two when needed.

To re-create the experience yourself, this is the line up.

To start everything off, you have

“The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” from Fantasia

The Doctor’s 1st clip

The Clock-cleaners (the short was edited down for the episode, but I don’t know where the cuts were made, so I just watched the entire short) 

2nd Doctor clip

“Blackbeard drives a car and says fuck the police” from BlackBeard’s Ghost (the clip starts with Dean Jones and Blackbeard driving in the car and ends with Dean Jones getting handcuffed) 

3rd Doctor Who clip

"Trust in Me" from The Jungle Book (clip starts with Kaa singing, and ends Kaa being pushed out of the tree by Mowgli. just end when the segment fades to black) 

Back to the Doctor; 4th clip

“The hippopotamus segment” from The African Lion  

5th  intro by the Doctor

“Theodore and Amos try to rob the bank” from The Apple Dumpling Gang (the segment starts with Theodore telling Amos his plan for using a rope to haul himself to the roof, it ends at the next scene with the Sheriff finding the two thieves tied up together in front of the vault. cut the scene before the trial starts)

6th clip for the Doctor

"The Beautiful Briny" from Bedknobs and Broomsticks (start with them meeting Mr. Cod and end as soon as they accept the trophy)

Another Doctor segment, the 7th clip

“A cougar attacks a child” from  Return of the Big Cat (This TV movie is on youtube not Disney+; and clips were actually shown out of order for the episode. first clip time stamp 41:52 to 43:53, and the second clip time stamp is 37:30 to 39:27)

 7th Doctor Who clip

“The puppets dancing” from Escape to Witch Mountain (the scene starts with the kids being stuck inside while it rains. they make the puppets come to life, the villains watch them from a hidden camera, next scene the children discuss running away)

8th Doctor who clip 

“He’s a Tramp” from Lady and the Tramp (scene kicks off with Lady being brought into the pound, ends with the song ending)

Final Doctor Who clip

Of course it’s Disney and Doctor Who, two my favorite things combined so I love it. THe best bits were the songs, but even the segments from ‘lesser’ films proved to be at least interesting given their context.

The Apple Dumpling and Escape to Witch Mountain were the big theatrical releases at the time, hence their inclusion.

BlackBeard’s Ghost, The African Lion, and Jungle Book were all getting planned releases that following year, and indeed the theater where this was filmed was playing Lady and the Tramp at the time. Which is why the episode ended on that segment in particular. 

But most interesting of all was the Return of the Big Cat segment. A movie that I didn’t even knew existed until this marathon.

It’s not a theatrical release, but rather a made for tv movie that was created for Disney’s anthology show The Wonderful World of Color.

Disney made original tv movies from time to time for his anthology and they’re basically the prototype for the Disney Channel Original Movies that I grew up on. With about the same level of quality too.

With new Doctor Who coming to Disney Plus soon, this was a fun look in that I wouldn’t mind revisiting again. Especially since I know where the clips actually begin and end. It took a while to figure that part out.

[imagitory]

Okay, disclaimer here. I can't really call myself a true fan of Disney's Wish, just as it is. I do think the film had a LOT of really good ideas and I do think that a lot of artists and creative types put sincere work into it -- I mean, all one really has to do is look at the Wish art book to see that the creators wanted to salute a lot of Disney's overall legacy with their work. However the result turned out -- and I personally found it a bit half-baked with a lot of story and character elements that just didn't quite come together for me -- I like the overall concept enough that I've really enjoyed seeing the fandom embrace those good ideas and reinterpret them. I like the art people have started doing based on Star's old designs by artists like Brittney Lee. I like people writing drafts with villainous-couple-goals Amaya and Magnifico. I like people envisioning Asha as becoming a fairy godmother more in the vein of Whitney Houston's version of the Fairy Godmother in the 1998 Rodger's and Hammerstein's Cinderella! So everything I'm going to write here is from a place of sincerely wanting to add onto the original concept and perhaps improve on it, rather than just out of a desire to make petty pot-shots at the film.

With this out of the way, let me get to the crux of it.

(concept art by Brittney Lee, found in Disney's The Art of Wish)

Now of course people have discussed the concept of Star as a love interest for Asha before. And I won't lie, I do think it's cute! It could even offer a great potential for diversity if Star remained androgynous gender-wise, the way they are in the finished film. Honestly, even having a completely mute leading character and love interest throughout the entire picture would undoubtedly be a unique and special challenge for any animator and storyteller...and for those people who want to evoke old Disney projects, it would prove a great opportunity to build on the legacies of voiceless Disney characters like Dumbo, Bambi, and Tinker Bell, while still adding a new twist in the form of this character being magical and therefore being able to express their feelings not just through colors and body language like Tink does, but perhaps also through the instrumental score! You could embody the whole core of Fantasia -- a passion project of Uncle Walt's that he never saw appreciated in his lifetime but is widely considered to be a masterpiece of animation and music -- in one character!

This leads nicely into another tack this could've played into -- the idea that Star could be an embodiment of Golden/Silver Age Disney, while Asha embodies Renaissance/Revival Disney. Star could be endlessly optimistic and a bit naive, but strangely resilient -- something that seems fragile and helpless at first glance until you realize just how many people and creatures alike gravitate toward them and want to help and protect them. Meanwhile Asha could be all about proving herself -- she could want to become a powerful magician and do great things like her master King Magnifico, but lack confidence in her own abilities and feel isolated thanks to how much her service to and desire to honor Magnifico has isolated her from others.

Star would be Snow White to Asha's Tiana. The Aurora to her Mulan. The Tinker Bell to Asha's Elsa. The bright star to Asha's cool, thoughtful night.

And this is what I love most about this idea -- their relationship wouldn't need to be romantic. It could be platonic. It could be romance-adjacent. Or, if one wants to really go and do something different for a Disney movie...Star could be a child. A mute, sweet, brand-new star, one just born, that responded to a wish that Asha made when she thought no one could hear -- a wish she has trouble admitting to anyone, especially her mentor and toxic father figure, King Magnifico -- because as much as she plays contentment, there is a part of Asha deep down that wants something more. That remembers the loving embrace of her deceased parents and how much Magnifico can't quite capture that warmth and nurturing, however tight his hold might be and placating his words might be. And out of that wish is born this little bundle of stardust, which Asha is now suddenly responsible for and wants desperately to hide and protect from Magnifico.

In essence, Asha would be put in the same position that Willow is put in, when he suddenly becomes the caretaker for baby Elora in the film Willow.

Now that would change up the context for At All Costs, wouldn't it? This lullaby-like song would resonate awfully well in a story where Magnifico sees Asha as an apprentice and almost surrogate daughter and wants to "protect" her a la Mother Gothel by controlling everything in her life, while Asha sees this new Star who's now reliant on her and feels this strange, new desire to protect them from the man who filled the role of her father after his death in a selfless way that man could never understand?

If someone tried to hurt you... I don't see how that could happen! I'd fight for you in ways you can't imagine! Felt this? No, I haven't -- I hope it would be alright to Stay right here beside you...

It would be such a beautiful picture on how love can be both selfish and selfless -- how a villainous person can love, perhaps, but that that love is poisoned by the desire to mold someone into your image and hoard that person away from others who could "take them away" or "change" them...how love at its truest core is selflessness and fighting on behalf of others, to give them a world where they could live safely. And again, this could be either in a scenario where Star is Asha's "child" or her peer -- for a world can't be safe for all if anyone is under threat because of who we are. And Asha, Star, and Rosas all deserve to know true happiness, not just mindless, complacent contentment -- the happiness that can come from the birth of ideas we never thought possible, until we're given the freedom to dream and dream big.

[coldcollectionstarfish]

The Ghost of Slumber Mountain (1918)

The Lost World (1925)

King Kong (1933)

Fantasia (1940)

Dinosaurus (1960)

Valley of Gwangi (1969)

Planet of Dinosaurs (1978)

Prehistoric Beast (1984)

Land Before Time (Sharptooth) (1988)

Jurassic Park (1993)

Back To The Cretaceous (1998)

Walking With Dinosaurs (1999)

When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth (1999-2000)

When Dinosaurs Roamed America (2001)

Chased by Dinosaurs (2002-2003)

Dinosaur Planet (2003)

King Kong (2005)

Prehistoric Park (2006)

Grumpy Land of The Lost (2009)

Momma Ice Age 3 (2009)

Tiny The T-Rex Meet the Robinsons (2009)

Clash of The Dinosaurs (2009)

Jurassic Fight Club (2008)

Primeval (2011)

One-Eye Dino-King (2012)

Stumpy (Dinotasia) (2012)

Jurassic World (2015)

Fang Primal (2018)

Prehistoric Planet (2022)

[favoriteanimatedtheatricalfilm]

Click here for Rules and Contenders

Edit: Here are links the other polls running this week

1995 Poll

1998 Poll

[superfan44]

The 100 Favorite Movies Challege

As a huge movie buff, I thought I'd try something fun on here. I have decided to launch a new internet challenge: "The 100 Favorite Movies Challenge". The rules are pretty simple and straight forward. You create a list of 100 of your personal favorite movies in alphabetical order, post the list on your home page, then nominate other people/users of your choosing to do the challenge.

There is no limit to what movies can be included on your list. Films within any medium (live action or animated), genre, and decade are more than welcome. Whether it's longtime favorites you were introduced to when you were younger, favorites that you've picked up over the years, or recent discoveries or releases that quickly became your favorites, anything and everything is on the table here.

I'll start off by sharing my list. To be clear, I have way more than 100 favorite movies, but to have the number be anything past that may be a bit much for some people. Please don't judge me if it seems like there might be a few noteworthy titles missing on here. I mainly put this list together just for fun. Alright, here we go!

9 (2009)

Airplane! (1980)

American Graffiti (1973)

Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)

The Avengers (2012)

Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Baby Driver (2017)

Batman Begins (2005)

Beetlejuice (1988)

Beverly Hills Cop (1984)

Big Hero 6 (2014)

Black Dynamite (2009)

The Blues Brothers (1980)

Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940)

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

Castle in the Sky (1986)

Chicago (2002)

Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (Knockin' on Heaven's Door) (2001)

Deadpool (2016)

Death Proof (2007)

Desperado (1994)

Die Hard (1988)

Django Unchained (2012)

Double Indemnity (1944)

Dragon Inn (1967)

Fantasia 2000 (2000)

Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

Flash Gordon (1980)

Ghostbusters (1984)

The Godfather (1972)

Goodfellas (1990)

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

History of the World, Part 1 (1980)

Hot Fuzz (2007)

How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)

The Incredibles (2004)

Independence Day (1996)

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

The Italian Job (2003)

Jaws (1975)

John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019)

Jurassic Park (1993)

Logan (2017)

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)

Lupin the 3rd: The Castle of Cagliostro (1980)

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Meatballs (1979)

Men in Black (1997)

Moana (2016)

Monsters vs. Aliens (2009)

Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005)

The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)

National Lampoon's Animal House (1978)

Network (1976)

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

North by Northwest (1959)

Notorious (1946)

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)

The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

Porco Rosso (1992)

Princess Mononoke (1997)

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Ready Player One (2018)

Rear Window (1954)

Rio Bravo (1959)

Robin Hood (1973)

The Rocketeer (1991)

Romeo and Juliet (1968)

Scream (1996)

Seven Samurai (1954)

Shaun of the Dead (2004)

Sherlock Holmes (2009)

Skyfall (2012)

Smokey and the Bandit (1977)

Spaceballs (1987)

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

Spirited Away (2001)

Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983)

The Suicide Squad (2021)

Surf's Up (2007)

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)

The Thin Red Line (1998)

Tombstone (1993)

Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

Treasure Planet (2002)

Tremors (1990)

Tron: Legacy (2010)

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007)

The Wind Rises (2013)

Wonder Woman (2017)

Yojimbo (1961)

Young Frankenstein (1974)

Zombieland (2009)

Now, before I wrap things up, I would like to nominate @skygent, @is0gild , @firecraker-j, @mrcowboytoyou, and @piglets-not-so-big-adventure to do this challenge. Hopefully we can get the ball rolling so more and more people can join in. I look forward to seeing what kind of lists you guys will put together. Good luck!

[disneymoviebracket]

Disney Movie Bracket Films

1.) Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937)

2.) Pinocchio (1940)

3.) Fantasia (1940)

4.) Dumbo (1941)

5.) Bambi (1942)

6.) The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad (1949)

7.) Cinderella (1950)

8.) Alice in Wonderland (1951)

9.) Peter Pan (1953)

10.) Lady and The Tramp (1955)

11.) Sleeping Beauty (1959)

12.) One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)

13.) The Sword in the Stone (1963)

14.) The Jungle Book (1967)

15.) The Aristocats (1970)

16.) Robin Hood (1973)

17.) The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)

18.) The Rescuers (1977)

19.) The Fox and the Hound (1981)

20.) The Black Cauldron (1985)

21.) The Great Mouse Detective (1986)

22.) Oliver and Company (1988)

23.) The Little Mermaid (1989)

24.) Beauty and the Beast (1991)

25.) Aladdin (1992)

26.) The Lion King (1994)

27.) A Goofy Movie (1995)

28.) Pocahontas (1995)

29.) The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)

30.) Hercules (1997)

31.) Mulan (1998)

32.) Tarzan (1999)

33.) Fantasia 2000 (2000)

34.) The Emperor's New Groove (2000)

35.) Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)

36.) Lilo and Stitch (2002)

37.) Treasure Planet (2002)

38.) Brother Bear (2003)

39.) Home on the Range (2004)

40.) Meet the Robinsons (2007)

41.) Bolt (2008)

42.) The Princess and the Frog (2009)

43.) Tangled (2010)

44.) Wreck-It-Ralph (2012)

45.) Frozen (2013)

46.) Big Hero Six (2014)

47.) Zootopia (2016)

48.) Moana (2016)

49.) Coco (2017)

50.) Raya and the Last Dragon (2021)

51.) Encanto (2021)

52.) Strange World (2022)

[canesenzafissadimora]

Questa è la prima pietra del Ponte sullo Stretto. Non sono sicuro che sia l’originale, perché ne esistono a decine, di tutte le epoche. E comunque, non ne esiste una sola che sia quella autentica.

Non esiste una vera prima pietra del Ponte sullo Stretto. Tutte valgono quanto questa: sono solo una promessa, una fantasia, una millanteria politica. Perché non è mai stata posata una seconda pietra. Di prime pietre, invece, si è ormai perso il conto.

La prima promessa di costruire il Ponte sullo Stretto risale agli anni Settanta. Che cosa avete capito: gli anni Settanta dell’Ottocento, un secolo e mezzo fa. Il governo Zanardelli promise di unire Sicilia e Calabria, sopra o sotto il mare, ovvero con un ponte o con un tunnel. Erano gli anni della rivoluzione industriale, c’era una fede illimitata nel progresso. Tutto pareva possibile, anche l’impossibile.

Vent’anni dopo il terremoto e maremoto di Messina, ottantamila morti, sconsigliò di costruire ponti da quelle parti.

Anche il cavalier Benito Mussolini disse che il Ponte si sarebbe fatto, per maggior gloria della nazione. Ma la cosa non ebbe seguito, nell’agenda politica del fascismo c’erano altre priorità, invadere l’Albania, spezzare le reni alla Grecia, si sa che la guerra è un’opera pubblica molto costosa.

Passano gli anni, i bimbi crescono, le mamme imbiancano, e nel 1981 il governo Forlani istituisce la società Stretto di Messina spa con il compito di realizzare l’opera. Per vent’anni la società è in essere e lavora al progetto, ma non ne rimane traccia percepibile.

Bettino Craxi nel 1988 annuncia che il Ponte sarà realizzato entro il 1998, ma anche lì, dopo un po’ non se ne sa più niente. Nessuna traccia del Ponte, a meno che il modellino che Berlusconi portò nel 2004 a Porta a Porta fosse il frutto paziente del lavoro ventennale della Società Stretto di Messina. Sapete, come quelli che costruiscono i modellini delle navi con i fiammiferi. Ci vogliono tempo e pazienza.

Nel 2008 il governo Prodi blocca il progetto, perché non ci sono soldi. Due anni dopo Berlusconi torna al governo e annuncia che il Ponte sarà fatto, anzi rifatto perché lo aveva già fatto, direi personalmente, a Porta a Porta sei anni prima.

Nel 2012 il governo Monti dice di nuovo che non ci sono i soldi e mette in liquidazione la nuova società che Berlusconi aveva nel frattempo istituito, che si chiamava Eurolink.

Nei giorni scorsi il governo in carica ha rilanciato l’idea. Anzi, ha proprio detto: il Ponte si farà. C’è dunque una nuova prima pietra, identica a questa, già pronta a Roma e in partenza per Villa San Giovanni. Il costo stimato (di tutto il Ponte, eh, non della prima pietra) è intorno ai 4 miliardi di euro, secondo calcoli meno ottimisti potrebbe raddoppiare, si sa come funzionano in Italia i preventivi, per ristrutturarti un bagno ti dicono dieci e tu già sai che saranno venti.

In attesa degli eventi, le vere notizie sono due:a prima è che gli unici a costruire effettivamente un ponte sullo Stretto furono i romani durante le guerre puniche. Secondo Plinio il Vecchio i romani costruirono un ponte di barche per far passare gli elefanti sequestrati ai cartaginesi. Per fortuna Berlusconi non ha letto Plinio il Vecchio, altrimenti avrebbe portato a Porta a Porta un elefante. La seconda notizia è che per andare da Palermo a Ragusa con i mezzi pubblici ci vogliono 12 ore. Esattamente come il tempo dei cartaginesi.

Concludendo. I ponti sono opere meravigliose. Spesso molto belle anche da vedere, comunque bellissime per la loro funzione, che è unire, avvicinare. Ma l’esatto contrario dei ponti sono le promesse a vuoto. Le promesse a vuoto rappresentano, appunto, il vuoto: allargano la distanza tra le due rive, la riva delle parole e la riva della realtà. Il famoso “Tra dire e il fare c’è di mezzo il mare”.

Mi piacerebbe essere il primo che passa lo stretto in tre minuti, percorrendo il nuovo ponte e dedicando il trionfo della tecnologia agli elefanti di Annibale. Ma prima di mettermi in coda voglio aspettare almeno la seconda pietra. Non per sfiducia. Per esperienza.

Michele Serra

[a-silent-symphony]

Here are all the songs Nightwish have never played live (by Metal Hammer)

Symphonic metal giants Nightwish have recorded around 117 songs, with only 34 never seeing the light of day

If you’ve ever seen the Finnish symphonic metal giants Nightwish at one of their 951 gigs (at the time of penning this list), there’s a good chance you’ll have heard them play Nemo, Wish I Had an Angel and Dark Chest of Wonders. The band’s top three most-played songs all come from the 2005 album Once, but what are they not playing?

With the help of tour Bible and gig reviewer’s best friend, Setlist.fm, we found 34 tracks from the band that have never been played live. For context, there are around 117 recorded songs in their discography; “around”, because their later albums have frequently been accompanied by a second disc of purely orchestral versions, and because Tuomas Holopainen has a penchant for composing songs that go over the 25-minute mark and consist of multiple movements.

Some of these, like the Lappi (Lapland) quadrilogy, are treated as four separate tracks here per the album’s tracklisting, whereas songs like The Greatest Show On Earth are treated as one long song. Cover songs that are B-sides such as Where Were You Last Night, and the instrumental Imaginaerum soundtrack album, haven’t been included, nor has the second disc of Human. :||: Nature.

Now that we’ve explained our highly sophisticated scientific methodology, below are the songs that have never seen the stage lights. Is your favourite Nightwish song on here? Get ready to strap in, and nerd out…

Angels Fall First (1997)

Besides the recently released Human. :||: Nature, the band’s debut album is the one they’ve delved into the least when it comes to live shows: the aforementioned Lappi (Lapland) and the largely acoustic Nightwish demo have all been skipped over, as have the mellow Return to the Sea and the folky Nymphomaniac Fantasia.

Oceanborn (1998)

The release of Oceanborn saw the band start to tour outside of Finland, and with the 1998 record full of tracks like Sacrament of Wilderness and Passion & The Opera, you could forgive them for overlooking The Riddler and Nightquest. Though if you ask us, we might swap Walking In The Air for either.

Wishmaster (2000)

From the band’s second-most played record, there are just two songs they’ve consistently skipped over: the mournful ballad Two for Tragedy, and the histrionic Bare Grace Misery, a song with a delightfully melodramatic chorus that frankly deserves at least one live outing.

Century Child (2002)

2002’s Century Child and the addition of Marko Hietala’s powerful voice ushered in a new era for Nightwish and brought what would become a new setlist staple in the form of the stunning Ever Dream. It’s not surprising they favoured other songs over the slow, plodding Forever Yours and Ocean Soul, but we reckon that the sultry Feel For You should have its day in the sun at least once. Speaking of which…

Once (2004)

Once is big for many reasons: their most played album, their last with Tarja Turunen, and the one that gained them a significant new following outside of Europe; of all its songs, only one has never been played, and it’s the guitar-driven Dead Gardens.

Dark Passion Play (2007)

The Dark Passion Play tour was, and still is, Nightwish’s biggest tour to date, which is why it comes as little surprise that they’ve played nearly every song on the record with the exception of the sweet mid-tempo For The Heart I Once Had and the vitriolic Master Passion Greed.

With the latter widely understood to be a thinly-veiled jab at Tarja’s husband, perhaps the band felt that playing the song live would be taking things a bit too far, or that those bitter feelings are best left in the past.

Imaginaerum (2011)

With a feature film to promote and another massive world tour, only the instrumental Arabesque and the gentle folky ballad Turn Loose The Mermaids were missed off the setlist for the Imaginaerum shows. The latter, featuring a gorgeous violin solo by Pekka Kuusisto, definitely deserves to be heard in a live setting.

Endless Forms Most Beautiful (2015)

Enter Floor Jansen to take Nightwish into their Attenborough-metal era. Nothing says “I’ve got a National Geographic subscription” like writing an instrumental track called The Eyes of Sharbat Gula as tribute to the publication’s most iconic cover photograph, featuring the piercing green-eyed stare of a young Afghan woman. Of course, instrumentals are tricky to do justice live, so we’ll let them off for not giving this one an airing.

Human. :||: Nature (2020)

They band are only now touring their most recent record two-and-a-bit years after its release, thanks to a little something we’d probably rather not think about anymore, but so far they haven’t shown any love to the album opener Music (except as an intro played over the PA), Procession or closing track Endlessness. Watch this space.

Deeper Cuts

Like any band with as many albums and singles as Nightwish have, they bring out the odd B-side from time to time. Personally, we’d love to hear Floor have a stab at the ludicrous The Heart Asks Pleasure First, a sweeping, cinematic waltz from with some eye-wateringly high notes and beautiful violin outro.

They’ve also never played Away, Lagoon, Live to Tell The Tale, Once Upon a Troubadour, Sagan, Sleepwalker, The Wayfarer or White Night Fantasy. While there’s probably little chance of them playing Erämaan Viimeinen unless Floor really knuckles down in her language studies, perhaps Tuomas’ wife, Finnish singer Johanna Kurkela, could join in for the Dark Passion Play-era jig.