This is a good set and only around $20 new from marketplace sellers
http://www.amazon.com/Animated-Sovie...iet+Propaganda

Yup, Youtube is a great source. I agree about the Winnie the Poohs. It's a bit odd at first, but I found them very charming. Also, Hedgehog in the Fog is great. What I do, is follow the link to the list at Icheckmovies.com. Then, if a title catches your eye, click on it and then check the comments-you may have to go past the top comments to find a link. The majority of the time, a link to a free version is there, though sometimes the video has been removed. That happens pretty rarely though.

I watched Zhil-byl pyos this year and it was ok.

I kind of like these-makes me see stuff I wouldn't normally watch and I've found a few very charming shorts that I've really enjoyed over the past couple years.

Lots of Soviet animation on YouTube.

Here's "The Golden Antelope" (1954):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWsP...2BFF108E805C96

For some reason, the past couple days, haven't been able to get into the mood to watch cartoons. Think I'll take a little break for another day or so, and then go out hard the last few days.

I've been slowing down myself the last several days. I have one more on the list that I made myself to watch, which I hope to get to tonight, and then I'm just going to random stuff to watch for the rest of the month. Maybe branch out a little more from Disney. Either than or sit down and watch WDT The Complete Pluto. I probably should do that, get it off my to watch list. Mmmm...

I just watched this. It's beautifully animated and designed. It's set in India and owes a lot to the 1942 film version of THE JUNGLE BOOK, which starred Sabu. The lead character here is drawn and animated to resemble Sabu a great deal. I wish I'd seen this on the big screen. The director, Lev Atamanov, also directed the 1957 version of THE SNOW QUEEN, which was released in theaters in the U.S. in an English-dubbed version in 1960, when I saw it as a child.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/OWsP71Odht4?list=PL822BFF108E805C96" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Here's the info on that Russian fisherman cartoon I cited above:

“The Fisherman and the Goldfish” (1950, USSR, 30 min., in Russian with English subs.) DVD
On RUSLAN AND LUDMILA disc /2nd disc/extras click on Ruscico

Here's an image from it:

The final episode of Pinky and the Brain seems like it may have been a left over Animaniacs idea, featuring as it does studio-head Plotz, Dr. S'n'S, Nurse, Slappy & Yoda and the Warners'. Odd ending to a very satisfying series, and I can't decide the final sung lines "3-Pinky, 3-Pinky and the Fridge, Fridge, Fridge..." are a hilariously fitting end, or a little sad. The end of Animaniacs really feels like a satisfying coda; not saying "Brain" at the end of P&B is a little sad.

However, the out-of-continuity P&B episodes are hilarious and wonderful. Third Man, Wild West, Reality TV, Broadway Melody... so many excellent parodies. And the catch-phrases (almost) never get old. I like many of Pinky's un-Ponderances - some even seem very close to being double-entendres - but possibly my current favourite is "Tuesday, weld [blank]? That's not even a complete sentence!" The Brain Song is brilliant, and the episode full of tongue-twisters contains a) so many moments of superb voice-work, b) so many censorship close-calls and c) potentially-real outtakes over the credits!

Do any (other) cartoon shows have extant outtakes..?

Justice League Unlimited really lives up to its name. I'm just annoyed that the library discs we borrowed keep glitching. Why can't people be careful..?

Just so you know, the DMC has a couple of Criterion titles available, too. Armageddon is one, I forget if there's one or two more...

Yes, Cinderella II isn't even really a film! III is quite good, though, I thought...

Probably cheaper to pick up at a pawn shop for a couple bucks. I remember that used to always be at pawn shops.

Exactly! III isn't too bad, but I do find it odd that they pretty much ignore II (that one sister's storyline). Odd.

I've had HEAVY METAL (1981) for years and finally got around to seeing it today. I don't know if this film has fans around here or not, but it sure didn't inspire any enthusiasm in me. If you get off on voluptuous animated nudes, pretty much the only women in the film, you should like it. If you want some decent stories, forget it. Not a single story in it is adequately developed at all.

The first story, the one about a cabbie in a future NYC, clearly inspired THE FIFTH ELEMENT and I seem to remember a lot of talk to that effect when THE FIFTH ELEMENT came out. The second story, "Den," has some similarity to AVATAR. Not sure if anyone noted that or not.

I liked Elmer Bernstein's music score, but not the rock songs on the soundtrack. John Candy's voice work was fun.

I was never a fan of it.

I was at the perfect age when this movie came out, slightly underage. I had read a few issues of the magazine by then and so my friends and I were really into this movie. It was a great drive-in flick, and that's where we saw it. The soundtrack was perfect at the time as well and we loved it too. The music holds up, for me, but the movie sure doesn't. Perfect for pubescent boys, but there is the internet now, so this movie is completely unnecessary. If you hated this movie, don't even go near HMII! It's much worse!

Okay, I admit, I'm late to the game to finally see this movie, but I just watched Frozen for the first time. It was very good! And man, can Kristen Bell ever sing! A very refreshing flick from Disney. The end was also (obviously on purpose) against type for Disney as well. Caught me off guard anyway. Very good film.

Been making my way through The Transformers. Finished S2, watched The Transformers: The Movie for the zillionth time, and this morning I've made my way through the first third of S3.

Three offhand observations:

I think part of why I found the second half of S2 so hard to get into is that I knew I was building up to the movie and I kinda started getting the itch to jump to that, where the savagery upped the stakes quite a bit from the contrived, tidy, everyone's-always-okay-at-the-end episodic structure.

The other thing I've noticed is how much of S3 is dedicated to following the movie rather than returning to standalone, generic Autobot vs. Decepticon shenanigans. A whole lot more of the animated lore is explored in these episodes than in the previous two seasons, including the origins of the Transformers themselves - something I'm keen to see handled in the next live action movie, since that's clearly where things are headed at the end of Age of Extinction.

I will always love Grimlock.

Since I don't have a Pawn shop around here, I'll probably get Armageddon next month. Where can I find a list of other DMC Criterion eligible titles?

I saw it when it came out and was generally unimpressed. As you say, the stories are undeveloped and it feels somewhat disjointed. It's also a anthology film, a type I generally don't much care for in theatrical releases as a bad segment or two can really drag down a otherwise good effort. IIRC this one *did* have at least a couple of weak segments. While it's been decades since I've seen the film I also recall not caring for the animation, thinking much of it looked somewhat crude and/or unfinished/rushed. Of course it didn't help I went in wanting (but not truly expecting) to see animation on a par with the posters and magazine art. The rock song choices were also somewhat odd with many not pairing well with the story. They felt somewhat tacked on. This is one of those films I keep telling myself I should own but keep resisting due to those first viewing impressions.

Search "Criterion".

It's just three, though: Armageddon, The Rock and Rushmore.

(Also, bear in mind that they may not count towards your membership requirements due to price... so tack them on for 50% off or something. )

I was on vacation last week, so I left myself a bit of a hole if I want to reach my goal of 100 entries this month as I had only 56 going into today.

Today, I took the opportunity to finally get caught up to date with JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Stardust Crusaders. I really can't recommend it enough. I watch a lot of airing anime and this has been the best action series for me in several years.

Watching Puppet Master now, as the Horror Challenge thread has got me in the mood for horror. I also have a question. I can't tell if the Crypt Keeper segments in "Tales From The Crypt" are enough animation to count or not, so I am asking for opinions. Thoughts anyone?

Something to consider is that the consensus has been that the segments from MST3K is enough to make a non-science fiction movie count in the sci-fi challenge.

Did you also watch the Videozone for Puppet Master? That should count.

Beware: Spoilers for Le Chevalier D'Eon

I finished watched Le Chevalier D'Eon and enjoyed it quite a bit. It didn't immediately grab me like Fullmetal Alchemist or Wolf's Rain, but it put a nice fantasy spin of historical events and proposed some intriguing questions and themes. The series looks at the importance of words and fate. Poems are literally forged in blood and materialize when spoken by those with power. The series also looks at the interplay between established power and revolution as well as the many ways both of those can play out.

I watched the first episode for the June Historical Challenge on DVD Volume 1 and liked it so much I bought the entire series. Now I just have to watch it.