This week on End Credits, we court controversy. We dig into arguably the most controversial pick for Best Picture in the last 20 years, and ask if it might be too much to expect a road move to solve racism. Yup, we're reviewing Green Book, and we're talking about the last days of a movie studio, another Simpsons squabble, the trailer for *that* Disney movie, and whether or not it's okay to be okay.
This Wednesday, March 20, at 2 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Vince Masson will discuss:
The End. This week marks the end of 20th Century Fox as its own Hollywood studio, and the beginning of its time as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Walt Disney Corporation. While a lot of the focus has been on what will happen to your favourite franchises, there could be as many as 10,000 people out of a job, and fewer movies being made in a given year with Disney controlling nearly half of the market. We'll consider the bigger implications of this change.
Stark Raving Bad. The Simpsons executive producer Al Jean took the bold step of pulling one of his most signature episodes of the series from syndication, the one that guest-starred Michael Jackson. In the wake of the HBO documentary Leaving Neverland, Jean said he suspected that the episode might have been used by Jackson to lure some of his alleged victims though he has no proof. But really, how much of Jackson's legacy can be erased from pop culture?
Oh Kay, Captain, My Captain. Captain Marvel is a box office smash, but many critics have noted that they're not as bowled over by the film as they would like it to be. It's entertaining enough, sure, but it doesn't exactly re-invent the wheel. This prompts the question: Is it okay that Captain Marvel is just okay? Many cultural commentators hope so because the demand for perfection has been holding female-led films back. We'll talk about this new debate.
Arabian Blights. Disney has created something of a cottage industry doing live-action versions of their big animated hits, but they may have met their match in Aladdin. While at first there was concern that the film wouldn't be culturally sensitive enough, now the concern is whether the movie looks too impossibly silly to overcome. From Will Smith's not-so-blue Genie, to a less-than-threatening looking Jafar, we'll look at all the way we're concerned with Aladdin.
REVIEW: Green Book (2018). It was the Academy Award winner for Best Picture this year, and it's been the subject of a great deal of controversy because of it. The inspired-by-true-events tale of Dr. Donald Shirley, and his 1962 tour through the South while being driven by Tony Lip, a low level enforcer for the New York mob, certainly seemed to be a crowd-pleaser, and it has three Oscars, but are people judging the movie for what it is, or what it isn't? We'll bring a critical eye to Green Book and consider if the blowback has been overblown.
https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/s57hb2/endcredits_mar20_podcast.mp3
20th Century Fox, Aladdin, Captain Marvel, Disney, Green Book, Marvel Studios, Michael Jackson, The Simpsons, Walt Disney Company