We’ll be recording the Movie Club Podcast later this evening and we’ll be reviewing Grave of the Fireflies and Wizards, two decidedly different takes on the children’s film, yet both are strongly anti-war in their own ways. And while Grave of the Fireflies is a somber film, Wizards reflects creator Ralph Bakshi’s more spastic and goofy take on animation. And while Wizards is my favorite Bakshi film, I don’t think its his best, that I’d reserve for the much maligned Coonskin, a film which skewers the inherent racist nature of Blaxploitation films, as well as craps all over white supremacy, the Mafia and for good measure, Disney.

Sadly people who failed to examine the film for any length of time simply labeled the film racist due to its being directed by a curmudgeony Jew and its fairly outrageous characterizations of its black faced animated leads. Of course, if people took even a fraction of time they would have found that not only was the film attacking racist stereotypes, but that Bakshi employed both numerous African Americans as animators on the film (most notably Brenda Banks, who was the first female African American animator) as well as several graffitti artists to give the film a remarkably authentic and streetwise attitude that is appallingly absent from most American films that deal with similar themes. Juxtaposing that with aggressive dialogue and a staggering amount of cartoons and live actors integrated into a single frame create a remarkably unique and aggressive look at the struggle African Americans must endure to simply survive in 1970′s America.

So do yourself a favor, track down this ridiculously hard to find film and treat yourself to one of the best satirical films ever made in this country. And once you’re finished with it do what so rarely modern mainstream films require of you; think about what this film is saying. You’ll be the better for it.

Opening Credit sequence to Coonskin

Not much is known about the upcoming animated film Rango, outside of the fact its directed by Gore Verbinski and stars Johnny Depp and somewhere near a million other great actors (Isla Fisher, Abigail Breslin, Timothy Olyphant, Ned Beatty, Bill Nighy, Alfred Molina, Ray Winstone, Stephen Root and Harry Dean Stanton round out most of the cast).

Well, nothing more outside of the thinnest of plot details, which at this point point to Rango being a chameleon having an existential crisis of some degree, and who dreams of being a swashbuckling hero until he stumbles upon a town terrorized by bandits and he has to live this role and protect them. Granted this plot line is alluding more towards Seven Samurai than any of the films about a certain wandering ronin, but hey, I’ll get my Kurosawa fix any way I can get it. Even if it comes from a chameleon.

Rango is scheduled to open in the US on March 4th of next year.

If you haven’t had the chance yet to see the 2010 Oscar Award winner for best animated short film, you are going to get your chance now. Created by the French Animation studio H5, and directed by François Alaux, Hervé de Crécy and Ludovic Houplain, Logorama follows the exploits of the residents of a sleep California town in which slowly but surely everything goes terribly wrong.

Logorama Official Site
H5 Web Site

Want a quick way into my heart? Make a short film about robots killing capitalist pigs. Well, having a frantic visual style, plenty of humor and a pretty slick soundtrack certainly doesn’t hurt matters. Which is probably why I love Tarboy so much. The husband and wife team of James and Hania Lee have made a great little animated yarn about a boy made of tar who is trying to free the world’s robots from being enslaved by their fat cat corporate masters. Even better? A sequel is in the works.

Dare I hope for a whole series on the adventures of Tarboy?

Official Site
Hania Lee’s Blog
Tarboy (Facebook Fan Page)
Hania Lee (Twitter)

Just in time for the upcoming Oscars, shocking I know, several theatres here in the Twin Cities have decided to host some movie marathons of films nominated for this year’s Oscars, from Live Action and Animated short films, to Documentary to every Best Picture nominee, you can find them somewhere in the Cities this weekend and next.

Live Action and Animated Short Films
The Lagoon Cinema
Animated – 2:50 & 7:15 (Daily)
Live Action – 5:10 & 9:30 (Daily)
Matinee $7 | General $9

Twin Cities Gold Film Festival
Woodbury 10 Theatre
The Most Dangerous Man in America – Sat @ 7:00 (Twin Cities Premiere)
Food Inc – Fri @ 1:00 | Sat @ 5:00 | Sun @ 3:00
Burma VJ – Fri @ 3:00 & 9:00 | Sat @ 3:00 | Sun @ 1:00
Which Way Home – Fri @ 7:00 | Sat @ 9:00 | Sun @ 5:00 (Twin Cities Premiere)
The Cove – Fri @ 5:00 | Sat @ 1:00 | Sun @ 7:00
Tickets $6 | Festival Pass $25

Best Picture Marathon
Day 1 (Feb 27th)
AMC Eden Prairie 18
10:30 – Avatar
1:45 – Up
3:45 – A Serious Man
6:30 – Precious
8:45 – District 9

AMC Arbor Lakes 16 & AMC Rosedale 14
10:30 – Avatar
1:45 – Up in the Air
4:00 – Precious
6:45 – The Blind Side
9:15 – Inglourious Basterds

Day 2 (March 6)
AMC Eden Prairie 18
10:30 – An Education
12:45 – The Hurt Locker
3:25 – Up in the Air
6:00 – The Blind Side
8:30 – Inglourious Basterds

AMC Arbor Lakes 16 & AMC Rosedale 14
10:30 – Up
12:45 – A Serious Man
2:45 – The Hurt Locker
6:00 – An Education
8:00 – District 9

Two Day Pass $50 | One Day Pass $30