Interview: Double Lopez on "Into the Unknown"

by Eric Blume

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down to speak with Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, nominated for the Best Song Oscar for "Into the Unknown" for Frozen 2.  This talented duo has already won the Oscar twice in this category, for the megahit "Let It Go" from the original Frozen, and "Remember Me" from Coco.  They could not be more charming and charismatic, as witnessed here...

[This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity]

Eric: At what point in the process were you brought in on FROZEN 2?

KRISTEN: Very early on when it was like, 'I think we're going to do Frozen 2. We're thinking it's about change.' Jennifer Lee [Frozen 2's writer/director] called us, sort of tipped us off.

ROBERT: It needed to happen because, you know, the sounds in a musical are as integral as any dialogue and in fact, they have to bear a lot more weight. So we had to be there. We helped influence the story and they helped influence the songs...

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What's the Best Song in "Frozen II"?

by Cláudio Alves

Back in 2013, when the first Frozen had just opened and "Let It Go" was on everyone's ear, Disney made an astute decision when it came to its Oscar campaign. Despite the movie having around 10 original songs, only one was submitted for awards consideration. It was, of course, Elsa's world-famous anthem. The decision paid off and the songwriting couple of Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez took home their first well-deserved Academy Award.

With Elsa and Anna back in theatres for another musical adventure, Disney is trying to repeat the same scheme. The only problem is that this time around it's not clear what the best song is...

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Review: Frozen II

By Tim

Frozen, the 2013 feature from Walt Disney Animation Studios, is one of the decade's most extreme success stories: it's the highest-grossing film of the decade that's neither a remake nor a sequel, as well as the highest-grossing animated feature in history (depending on where you set the definition of "animation"; this summer's all-CGI remake of The Lion King bumped it down a notch). Even given Disney's historical reluctance to produce theatrically-released sequels, it's not really much of a surprise that the studio has succumbed to the temptation to chase that blockbuster with a six-years-later follow-up. And so it is that Frozen II is upon us.

The biggest question facing the film is, of course, "does it live up to the original?" And I do wish that I had a less wishy-washy answer than "maybe." A lot depends on what you think about Frozen: for me, it's the third-best of Disney's three original princess movies this decade, behind 2010's Tangled and 2016's Moana, largely because of what a shambling wreck it becomes as the story structure loosens in the second half. Frozen II has the same problem, but in reverse: the first half of the movie feels more like script notes than a script, scene after scene in which neither the stakes, nor the locations, nor the emotions, nor the narrative momentum seems to carry through. Then, at a particular point midway – the particular point depicted in the film's dramatic teaser trailer, no less – everything snaps into focus and the plot and mood suddenly seem like they make sense, more or less. Which is irritating, because it means that talking about everything Frozen II does well would bring us into spoiler territory, and thus this review is going to involve a lot more complaining than the film necessarily deserves...

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Blueprints: "Rent"

To celebrate Pride Month, every week of June Jorge has been highlighting the script of a movie that focuses on a different letter of the LGBT acronym. For “B”, he goes back to the film adaptation of one of the most seminal modern musicals, and dissects a number about our favorite bi heartbreaker.

It’s no surprise that it was astoundingly hard to find a movie to discuss that had an openly bisexual lead or prominently supporting character. Bisexuals have had the most lackluster representation in movies among the LGBT community. Usually bisexuality onscreen is only implied and never openly identified as such. To find a strong bi character, I had to go back to something that wasn’t initially a film, but a theater piece; the theater has always been ahead of films when it comes to LGBT representation.

Even though Jonathan Larson’s Rent has not aged particularly well, it did feature an incredibly diverse cast in race and sexuality; from a trans woman of color to a black lesbian, and from your token white guys to, of course, the bi lady to end all bi ladies: Maureen Johnson...

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u know where i'm at, u know where I be, u in the blog just to linky 🎵

If you missed part one of our massive link roundup to catch up on news and such, that's here. Going a lot shorter for part two

/Film on the 20th anniversary of Boogie Nights
This is Not Porn Sigourney Weaver with a pumpkin
/i09 Jeff Goldblum riffing on the meaning of "Ragnarok" - I was personally alarmed to see this whole story this morning because I feel like I knew all this classic mythology stuff when I was in diapers and I KNOW we learned some of it in school. Is mythology not taught anymore? Weird cause kids tend to love it (since there are superpowers, monsters, etcetera)
Jezebel a fine interview with famous primatologist Jane Goodall about her work, the new documentary about her, and climate change

Film School Rejects 35 things we learned from Edgar Wright's Baby Driver commentary
AV Club Carla Gugino and Bruce Greenwood on filming Gerald's Game, another Stephen King adaptation that people are actually liking (what is happening?)
Coming Soon Director Taiki Waititi (What We Do in the Shadows, Thor Ragnarok) is very coy about whether or not he'll direct the long gestating live action remake of anime classic Akira but if he does, he won't be casting non-Asians. So if they must make this movie, let's hope he gets the job.
Playbill Idina Menzel didn't want to write a memoir so her sister wrote a book about their lives "Voice Lessons: A Sisters Story"
/Film Corey Haim & Corey Feldman, teen idols of the late 80s, are getting the Lifetime movie treatment
W Magazine Cara Delevingne is now an author ("Mirror Mirror") and a brunette
The New Yorker "Everything that I'm afraid might happen now that I've lost my headphones"

Congrats to the MacArthur Genius Grant Winners.
The 24 recipients for 2017 have been named who will each receive the grant of $625,000 which is a lot of change for most writers and artists and performers. Celebrities of course make truckloads of money but that's much different than toiling away for your craft in most arts careers. Twenty four recipients from many different kinds of field were chosen so let's just list those in the arts: Annie Baker (playwright), Rhiannon Giddens (musician), Taylor Mac (performance artist ♥︎), Yuval Sharon (opera producer), Tyshawn Sorey (composer), and Jesmyn Ward (writer)