While guys like Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas spent the 1970s reinventing live action moviemaking, animation had just one lone figure toiling away. Ralph Bakshi, trained on Terrytoons and involved in 1960s television animation, began exploring the possibilities of animated features in the shadow of Walt Disney’s death. His Fritz the Cat made people sit up and take notice, followed by Heavy Traffic, and Coonskin – urban, funky, raw tales set in a familiar world.
After that, he set his sights on something fantastic and gave us, in 1976, Wizards. I’ve been waiting for this film to be restored, cleaned up, and released on Blu-ray given its visual artistry and fun story. Finally, 20th Century Home Entertainment has released it for the film’s 35th Anniversary and they’ve given it a handsome treatment. Encased in a hardcover case with a 24-page booklet, the Blu-ray is striking to watch.
After that, he set his sights on something fantastic and gave us, in 1976, Wizards. I’ve been waiting for this film to be restored, cleaned up, and released on Blu-ray given its visual artistry and fun story. Finally, 20th Century Home Entertainment has released it for the film’s 35th Anniversary and they’ve given it a handsome treatment. Encased in a hardcover case with a 24-page booklet, the Blu-ray is striking to watch.
- 3/21/2012
- by Robert Greenberger
- Comicmix.com
We know the greats; movies like Metropolis (1927), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Star Wars (1977).
And there are those films which maybe didn’t achieve cinematic greatness, but through their inexhaustible watchability became genre touchstones, lesser classics but classics nonetheless, like The War of the Worlds (1953), Godzilla (1954), Them! (1954), The Time Machine (1960).
In the realm of science fiction cinema, those are the cream (and below that, maybe the half and half). But sci fi is one of those genres which has often too readily leant itself to – not to torture an analogy — producing nonfat dairy substitute.
During the first, great wave of sci fi movies in the 1950s, the target audience was kids and teens. There wasn’t a lot in the way of “serious” sci fi. Most of it was churned out quick and cheap; drive-in fodder, grist for the Saturday matinee mill.
By the early 1960s,...
And there are those films which maybe didn’t achieve cinematic greatness, but through their inexhaustible watchability became genre touchstones, lesser classics but classics nonetheless, like The War of the Worlds (1953), Godzilla (1954), Them! (1954), The Time Machine (1960).
In the realm of science fiction cinema, those are the cream (and below that, maybe the half and half). But sci fi is one of those genres which has often too readily leant itself to – not to torture an analogy — producing nonfat dairy substitute.
During the first, great wave of sci fi movies in the 1950s, the target audience was kids and teens. There wasn’t a lot in the way of “serious” sci fi. Most of it was churned out quick and cheap; drive-in fodder, grist for the Saturday matinee mill.
By the early 1960s,...
- 3/17/2012
- by Bill Mesce
- SoundOnSight
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: March 13, 2012
Price: Blu-ray Book $19.99
Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
The year before his The Lord of the Rings was released, Ralph Bakshi tackled Wizards, which comes to high-definition in Blu-ray Book packaging for the movie’s 35th anniversary.
Set in a post-apocalyptic Earth, the 1977 animated film tells the story of the kindly Avatar (Bob Holt, Gremlins).
He’s the eccentric sorcerer ruler of Montagar, a rainbow paradise inhabited by elves and fairies.
Avatar’s evil brother Blackwolf (Steve Gravers) dominates Scortch, a bleak land of goblins and wraiths, and sets his sights on Montagar. To save his world, Avatar, a spirited young woman and a courageous elf must go into the dark world of Scortch.
A popular flick with the trippy-hippie midnight movie audiences of the 1970s, Wizards also features the voice of Mark Hamill (Batman Beyond: The Return of the Joker) and David Proval...
Price: Blu-ray Book $19.99
Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
The year before his The Lord of the Rings was released, Ralph Bakshi tackled Wizards, which comes to high-definition in Blu-ray Book packaging for the movie’s 35th anniversary.
Set in a post-apocalyptic Earth, the 1977 animated film tells the story of the kindly Avatar (Bob Holt, Gremlins).
He’s the eccentric sorcerer ruler of Montagar, a rainbow paradise inhabited by elves and fairies.
Avatar’s evil brother Blackwolf (Steve Gravers) dominates Scortch, a bleak land of goblins and wraiths, and sets his sights on Montagar. To save his world, Avatar, a spirited young woman and a courageous elf must go into the dark world of Scortch.
A popular flick with the trippy-hippie midnight movie audiences of the 1970s, Wizards also features the voice of Mark Hamill (Batman Beyond: The Return of the Joker) and David Proval...
- 1/10/2012
- by Sam
- Disc Dish
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