This weekend, I showed my daughter the Italian parody of Fantasia, Allegro Non Troppo. I think it’s actually better than Fantasia. The animation isn’t anywhere near as impressive, but the movie is far more entertaining.
Warning: It has a fair amount of animated nudity. No sex though.
Warning: “The Sad Waltz” portion is brutal.
It’s not trying so hard.
Holy crabapples! Just realized there may be a few others familiar with The Secret Policemans Balls! The only one I ever saw was a bootlegged copy my dad had on VHS of the Secret Policemans Ball that I am rather pleased to admit that even as a young kid (6-10) I personally played until the tape broke. That’s where I first saw David Rappaport, still one of my favorite actors gone too soon. Also, just looked up the cast of that one and saw the cast of the sequel, my mind is reeling. Russel Brand? Bob Odenkirk? Mike Judge? Liam Neeson? Paul Rudd? In '82? WTF??? Not to mention Sting, Clapton, and Townshend, etc ad nauseam… Best charity series ever.
I remember renting The Secret Other Policeman’s Ball back in the late 80s or early 90s. It had some Python veterans doing sketches, but that’s all I remember.
Has anyone here seen the animated films of French director René Laloux? The most famous one is Fantastic Planet/La Planete Sauvage, but there are also a couple of other features, Light Years/Gandahar and The Masters of Time/Les Maîtres du Temps. A unique animation style and adult storytelling with very high-concept sci-fi.
That acoustic version of “Won’t Get Fooled Again” was the first one I’d heard. I was sort of living this Joe Perra bit:
John Williams, who I think sat down with Townsend for the first time that day, maybe that performance IDK, was a big influence in me studying classical guitar.
Yeah, seen that one many times, not the other two. Genuinely novel.
We’ve been waiting for you…
Just ‘Fantastic Planet’ for me.
It shames me to admit as many times as I have tried, I just can’t make it through Fantastic Planet. Not sure why, but just not my jam. On the other hand, I had no idea he had done others. Gonna have to check them out.
The animation is rough. The story is choppy, probably due to the economic constraints imposed by doing animation in the first place. (I believe the studio was an all-female Czech team!) It’s generally considered to be an allegory which comes off as very far-out sci-fi. That is, if you can’t (or don’t) thinking of it in allegorical terms, the literalness of it is very, very alien and somewhat inaccessible as a result.
Once again I find your opinion to be flawless. Had no idea about the Czech component. That actually makes it far more intriguing. There have been quite a few movies I have seen that I wouldn’t have were it not for the environmental and time period components. The Impossible Voyage, Thief of Bagdad, and A Trip to the Moon for example. May have to give it another try.
The art cinema in Houston used to run ‘The Fantastic Animated Film Festival’ and FP as a double feature once or twice a year.
I would like to recommend Invention For Destruction. Weird Czech movie based on a Jules Verne story with sets painted to look like comic books or animation but with live actors. I watched it on a whim when Criterion Channel had it as a Saturday Matinee a couple years ago and loved it.
Adding to watch list now. 
Karel Zeman, yeah, he’s pretty cool, I think they have a few of his at Criterion.
Hey, y’all seen The Final Programme ? The movie based on a Moorcock book?
I love the soundtrack for Until the End of the World so much. All killer, no filler.
This just popped up in my memory. It’s a mockumentary played totally straight until the end credits (which shows the outtakes) which is about how Kubrick faked the Moon Landing. It’s pretty brilliant.
That’s it’s French title. The film is shot in English and the English title is Dark Side of the Moon. There’s a very low-quality copy on YouTube if you’re desperate.
Has anyone else seen Rectify?
I tend to lean toward escapist shows, but this is easily one of the best series I have ever seen.