Three Little Links

• The Guardian - an excellent profile of Pedro Almodóvar by Xan Brooks
• /Film Daveed Diggs to play Sebastian in the live-action Little Mermaid. But Sebastian is a crab so this is probably not fully live-action but half and half style.
• Vulture - 15 essential Judy Garland performances. Solid list with some strong points made, though I think dead wrong about why Zellweger is awards worthy in Judy (as noted on the podcast I liked her performance quite a bit but what’s missing is exactly what’s cited here as the chief strength, the capturing of Judy’s once in a century kind of talent.

No More Links (Enough is Enough)

• NYT a fascinating new interview with the always odd Nicolas Cage
• Cartoon Brew an indie animated short is getting a theatrical release! Hair Love will open for Angry Birds 2 in theaters. Should we watch out for it at the Oscars?
• Variety sad news for those who love Asian cinema and follow the Golden Horse Awards (which we've often covered here at TFE)... a political storm is brewing and mainland China and Hong Kong are looking to boycott the event given Chinese feeling that Taiwan (where the ceremony always takes place) is not an independent nation but part of China. Naturally Taiwan feels otherwise (as do the American Oscars which invite Taiwan to submit their own films and don't lump them in with China itself)

More after the jump including new showbiz books, odd news concerning The Little Mermaid, a Barbra Streisand and Ariane Grande duet and more...

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such wonderful things surround you, what more is you linkin' for 🎵

• /Film Why Lulu Wang turned down a huge streaming offer for The Farewell to go theatrical with A24
• Vulture ranking the Spider-Man villains -- Into the Spider-Verse villains ought to be flipped and Far From Home's big bad is a spot or too low but otherwise a very correct list! 
• The Atlantic good piece on the possibly self-parodic elements of Spider-Man Far From Home
• The Guardian an interesting but depressing report on directors getting away with making LGBTQ films in homophobic countries 

After the jump The Little Mermaid, The Lost Boys, Toy Story 4, and Be More Chill...

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Aladdin Pt 2: Manic Magical Improv, Sight Gags, and "Prince Ali"

In Part 1 of our re-watch of Disney's Aladdin (the proper one, from 1992, not the live-action thing coming out this weekend) Ben got us through the introductions to good-hearted "street rat" Aladdin, frustrated princess Jasmine, and up to the mouth of the Cave of Wonders. We enter as Aladdin takes his first step into a whole new world…

Part 2 by Tim Brayton

0:28:04 – Let's take just a minute to appreciate the atmospheric concision of this descent into the cave. First, we had a shot of Aladdin stepping over the tiger-god's teeth, dissolving into this beautiful wide shot of him (below) at the top of an impossible flight of stairs, a tiny bright dot in the overall gloom that shifts from cold blue to hot, threatening red as our eye glides down the lines of the composition.

Then another dissolve takes us to the foot of stairs, with Aladdin about to step into the heart of the cave. It's a swift, visually-driven way of taking us down into… Hell? It's hard to say just yet, but it creates a terrific sense of mystery, both promising and foreboding...

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Rob's Got Whosits & Whatsits Galore

by Jason Adams

I'm still traumatized (yes I know that's a strong word, but I need a strong word to get across the scope of the trauma) by the fact that we won't be getting Sofia Coppola's version of The Little Mermaid, so perhaps I'm not the best person to report this news, but here we are. Rob Marshall, the man who inflicted Nine upon the world, has according to Deadline been offered the gig of updating the Beloved Disney Classic to live-action. They say he will make up his mind over the holidays...

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