You will definitely want them for this, then 
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100’s of Beavers: for those with a current library card, i found it available to borrow on Hoopla.
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Oh yeah, that was fun.
Hundreds of Beavers
It’s a live action cartoon. I personally thought it was absolutely brilliant, but it really did NOT do it for some other folks.
I suggest those folks try again after a few drinks/tokes/whathaveyou…
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Hell Hole (2024) - dir. John Adams and Toby Poser
The Adams Family are pretty remarkable. Married couple John Adams and Toby Poser, and their daughter Lulu, make films together. Mostly horror films. Their previous film, Hellbender, done on a shoestring with mostly just the three of them, was a fantastic little lighting-in-a-bottle low budget gem you always hope to find at festivals or deep in some streaming library. But it got picked up by Shudder, and even featured on Joe Bob Brigg’s The Last Drive In.
Now, they have at least somewhat of a budget. And they’re shooting on location in Serbia! And what we get is a tight little eco-horror that manages to be scary and serious and funny, by virtue of a cast playing it DEADLY SERIOUSLY.
A small crew of Americans (Adams and Poser) is heading up a Serbian fracking site, waiting for the go ahead from environmental scientists that there’s no endangered wildlife nearby. Instead, they dig up a live man, who is actually a French soldier from Napoleon’s army, somehow alive after years beneath the earth. What follows is like a riff The Thing or Alien, as a parasitic monster begins to make its way through the cast.
There’s no bloat here. The film starts off, hits the gas, and mostly doesn’t slow down 'til the last frame. The script is tight, the characterizations all seem like recognizable humans, and no one acts like a complete moron just to move the plot along. The effects are a nice combo of old school rubber and latex with a little CG enhancement, and if they’re a touch rough around the edges, that just adds to this movies considerable charm.
Currently on Shudder here in the US. If you like monsters and don’t mind some blood-n-guts, seek this out.
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We tried. We really did. Maybe we need stronger stuff around 
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Aren’t these terms mutually exclusive?
If you’d seen the film, you would know that in this instance, they are not.
And there’s actually a lot of precedence for the ‘live-action cartoon’ designation. Off hand, I can think of the Warren Beatty Dick Tracy, The Mask starring Jim Carey, Casper w/ Christina Ricci and Bill Pullman (which was the first film I ever worked on!), Baby’s Day Out (essentially a "Swee’Pea wanders around the factory narrowly avoiding death while Popeye attempts to ‘save’ him), as well as experimental weirdness like Ralph Bakshi’s Cool World and Bill Plympton’s J. Lyle.
We will not be mentioning the rather divisive Disney “live action” remakes of Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, etc., though it might apply there, too… depending on how far one wants to stretch the definition of “live action” and “cartoon.”
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Cartoons are generally defined as being drawn, rather than photographed (or drawn before they are photographed). If this is what you’re talking about:
it looks like live action to me. The movies you mention are live action with cartoon elements. Like Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
First episode of season 2 of We Are Lady Parts was excellent. Love those ladies. Also enjoyed episode 2 of the very quirky Steph Curry/Adam Pally sitcom, Mr. Throwback. Both on peacock.
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I was wondering about that one. Lots of commercials during the Olympics but I was still scratching my head.
Well, more than one person (including at least one other person here) has described Hundreds of Beavers the same way. People I saw it with all said similar things.
So clearly, the phrase is perfectly cromulent.
I suggest seeing it for yourself. You may find the experience enbiggening.
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Such a great watch!
When you are finished with that series, you might also like Girls5Eva on Netflix (which actually started on Peacock). Another riotous comedy about a group of women in the music business, smartly written and deftly performed.
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I am a big fan of Sideways and a couple weeks ago I realized that after we got DD moved in at USC for junior year we could do a day trip to Santa Barbara County. I did my usual research and found the Foxen Canyon Wine Trail. We had a great time. Started in the amazing town of Los Olivos, home to 1120 souls and 40 tasting rooms. No joke, so I was told. Picked up some sandos at the Gandolfo Family grocery store and made our way to the remote and picturesque Rancho Sisquoc winery where we enjoyed sharing a red flight and a white flight. NB: The red flight includes a merlot! LOL The wines were generally very good and we ordered a few bottles to be shipped back to VA.
Acting upon a tip from some locals we chatted up, we then made our way to the Zaca Mesa winery back down Foxen Canyon Road towards Los Olivos. They specialize in Rhone varietals – their current offerings include seven different Syrahs! They have also established a sister operation called TREAD Winery that makes their cabs and chards now so they can maintain Zaca Mesa as Rhone specialists. Again, very good wines and we ordered a few more.
Got back to Los Olivos and while wandering the streets I came upon the Solminer Tasting Room, which offers “orange wines.” What could this be? I ventured inside and learned that Solminer specializes in Austrian-style wines and that orange wines are not made from oranges but from white grapes with the skins left on long enough to create the beautiful orange hue. Picked up two more bottles and headed back to LA.
NB: Visiting the area gave me a completely different impression than what Sideways left. First, the valleys are really steep! I mean crazy hilly. Second, this is a big area for cattle and horse ranches too. It’s like the wild west. I had no idea The Hitching Post (which we drove past) was so apty named. Third, it’s nothing like what you think of when you picture “wine country.” Some areas looked more like African Savannahs. Beautiful vineyards right in the middle of nothing. The amount of water used to irrigate the vineyards must be off the hook.
Pics: Some Zaca Mesa vineyards; some of the local wineries; and map of Los Olivos
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Netflix, The Tourist. Just finished Season 2. I was genuinely surprised how much I enjoyed this caper. Funny, dramatic, romantic, family saga-kinda had it all. well cast.
Season 1 set in Australia, S2 in Ireland. Fingers crossed they take on a S3.
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I love Girls 5Eva. Fingers crossed they get another season (or two). Another show I really enjoyed recently was Extraordinary that has the same quirky charm as the aforementioned shows. And in that same vein loved Starstruck.
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I love We Are Lady Parts (Channel 4 here in the UK).
I’m currently watching We Might Regret This (which is great, and on BBC2). And if anyone has MUBI, I highly recommend Robot Dreams, which is simply lovely-- both sad and sweet. It’s an (actual) animated film with no dialogue but beautifully realised.
I’ve been doing a lot of Fringe-ing this year (Edinburgh) and just finished it off with Sue Perkins’ show, A Piece of Work in Progress. One of the nice things about the Festivals (because otherwise the city is overrun and exhausting) is getting to see people workshop their projects that they will take on tour. It can be bumpy but that’s part of the charm.
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MTPR, Missoula, MT public radio. Nevet a dull moment, music and podcast-wise. I tune out the news nowadays. Too much, too much!
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The orange wines are beautiful, aren’t they? I wish I could drink them.
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