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You know, sometimes there are absolutely fantastic movies that, for whatever reason, just don’t receive the love they deserve. Maybe the studio didn’t believe in it so it wasn’t advertised well, or the audience at the time just wasn’t feeling it but then it becomes a cult hit later on. One of my favorite animated movies as a kid, and even to this day, unfortunately suffered from this circumstance. But it was, and still is, such a great movie that I stan it ’til this day. As a fellow BNP contributor once put it, “What happened to all those animal actors that DIDN’T get hired for Fantasia?” Let’s hop in the way-back machine for this retro review of 1997’s animated classic, Cat’s Don’t Dance.

Imagine if Bugs Bunny was hired to make a Disney movie in the 90s and that’s this movie in a nut shell. Taking place in 1939, Cat’s Don’t Dance is about small town tabby cat Danny (Scott Bakula) with dreams of making it in Hollywood. He ultimately crosses paths with the child star powerhouse, Darla Dimple (Ashley Peldon). Out to get his big break, Danny meets a colorful cast of animals including the sarcastic and disenchanted white cat Sawyer (Jasmine Guy), plucky penguin Pudge (Matthew Herried), the chipper Tiny Hippopotamus (Kathy Najimy), the wise piano playing elephant Woolie the Mammoth (John Rhys-Davies), sassy rude fish Fances Albacore (Betty Lou Gerson), the always grumpy and elderly Cranston Goat (Hal Holbrook) and the timid T.W. Turtle (Don Knotts).

I took the time to name all of the main cast because this is a weird hodgepodge of, at the time, old-school heavy hitters and newer actors in their prime which works exceedingly well in this style of film. The actors really capture the zany antics and caring, quiet moments of the characters. The Tex Avery style always keeps something fun on screen, from big set pieces to character gags to the running joke of the ever changing size and speed of the impossibly gargantuan Max, Darla Dimple’s bodyguard/butler. The song and dance numbers are great. They honestly hold up today, with music by Randy Newman and choreography by Gene Kelly. And who knew Scott Bakula, Mr. Quantum Leap himself, had them pipes!? For Sawyer, they brought in Natalie Cole to provide her singing voice and it slides in effortlessly. I love the two songs she’s featured in.

What I like about this movie is that it can be seen as an allegory for people of color trying to break into old Hollywood. The animals are stuck in their roles, never given anything outside of scrap roles no matter what their actual talent. The struggle of not being treated fairly and not wanting to give up on their dreams is well balanced with still being a heartwarming fun kids movie. If there was one thing I could point to as a detractor it would be that, taking place in 1939, there are a lot of references to old Hollywood that will go over the heads of most, if not all, kids and younger adults. Hell, when this movie came out I only knew some of the references from old Looney Toons cartoons. But that’s not even a detractor, just a part of the cartoon styles of the 90s. Seeing as that’s all I can point to, says something about how enjoyable this movie is.

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The post You Slept on This Movie – Cats Don’t Dance Retro Review appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.

This episode of Southern Fried Asian was recorded in February before the coronavirus shut down everything. While Disney may have taken Mulan off its release schedule, we’re filling the void by releasing Keith’s conversation with one of the film’s stars, Chen Tang! https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/southernfriedasian/SFA_Chen.mp3 Chen talks about immigrating to Memphis as a small child and growing […]

I have some interesting updates about the MLB schedule. They have released the MLB schedule prior to the covid-19 cases in Florida. The schedule says that the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies will be playing on Monday, and the Miami Marlins and the Baltimore Orioles are scheduled to play on Tuesday. They also noted that the Phillies players may have false positive tests which is definitely a good sign for Philly fans and the Cardinals and the Brewers game has been postponed to Saturday’s game (Today).

In other news… The MLB and the MLBPA have agreed to 7-inning doubleheaders starting in August (Today). They will last for the rest of the 2020 season when games are rained out. The doubleheaders will feature two seven-inning games. Even a few days without games for one team can drastically impact the schedule in a division in a division race since teams are playing 40 of their 60 games against division opponents. The union asked its players to consider a handful of rule changes in an effort to make it through the season as healthy as possible, including hosting seven-inning games during doubleheaders. The Miami Marlins and Philadelphia Phillies, who represent 40 percent of the National League East, as well as the New York Yankees, who already saw their schedules altered because of a Covid-19 outbreak among Marlins players.

There was a rumor that the MLB season could shut down as Rob Manfred told MLBPA the season may end if the league doesn’t do a better job of managing Covid-19. The issue is that the covid-19 pandemic is still spreading rapidly in the United Stated, with 65,406 cases confirmed Friday alone (Yesterday). The vast majority of MLB teams haven’t had players test positive for Covid-19 through one week, but as the past few days have shown, one team’s outbreak can have a ripple effect on other teams. Games are postponed, schedules are altered, and previous opponents have to be on high alert for positive tests. In the matter of fact, there have been 29 positive tests through Thursday. This includes 21 Marlins and the other eight include two players, one player at an alternate site and five staff members. All of this information came from the MLB Bleacher Report.

Stay tuned for MLB updates.

The post MLB Schedule Updates appeared first on The Nerd Element.

It might be hard to believe, but it has been five whole years since Mad Max: Fury Road dropped like a megaton bomb onto movie theaters and rocked our world. (2015 sure seems like a lifetime ago now, doesn’t it?) As a way of celebrating five years of her now-iconic role as the badass Furiosa in the fourth Mad Max film, Charlize Theron is participating in a very special drive-in movie screening of of Fury Road. And it’s all to benefit The Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project.

As a way of celebrating the screening, which takes place on Friday July 31st, the Oscar winner shared a special flashback video via Twitter of the day the magic happened. That is, the very day she shaved off her legendary locks and began her onscreen journey as Furiosa. You can watch the video below.

For those lucky enough to attend the charity screening, the show will include dinner and a live Q&A with not only Theron, but also her co-star Nicholas Hoult. This screening will happen on Level 8 at The Grove, Los Angeles’ famous shopping center. The Level 8 setting will offer audience members an incredible view of LA at sunset. As if watching Fury Road with its stars wasn’t epic enough!

Warner Brothers

Theron’s CTAOP charity champions young people living in Africa, and does so by investing in organizations that prioritize and advance the health, education, and community support for youth. When COVID-19 broke out earlier this, CTAOP partnered with Entertainment Industry Foundation and CARE to launch a campaign called Together for Her. The campaign is designed to help in the fight against campaign gender-based violence during the pandemic.

A Furiosa prequel is on the way from director George Miller. Unfortunately, it won’t star Theron. According to the director, the role will be assumed by an actress two decades younger. As cool as a prequel sounds, we’d give anything to see Theron become Furiosa again.

Here’s hoping it happens eventually in some capacity once this prequel has been made. Because we’re not sure anyone out there can beat the original.

Featured Image: Warner Brothers

The post Charlize Theron Flashes Back to the Day Furiosa Was Born appeared first on Nerdist.