The Mouse Castle Lounge 02-26-2016 - We Preview the 88th Annual Academy Awards

By Tim Callaway

Tim and Christi spend Oscar Week at Trader Sam's

This week, Team Mouse Castle didn't make our usual trek to the red carpet in Hollywood to preview the Academy Awards. We found a pretty suitable substitute venue though, Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar at the Disneyland Hotel. Give a listen to Christi Andersen and me for our annual vague and highly suspect predictions on who will win at Sunday's Oscars.

Joining us will be Carolyn with an award-worthy edition of Adventure Thru Liquid Space. What are you wearing? Who cares? What you're drinking on Oscar night is what really matters.

Here are the major categories we'll be taking a stab at on today's show. We apologize in advance for how you score on your Oscar pool.

Best Picture
The Big Short
Bridge of Spies
Brooklyn
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Room
Spotlight

Best Actor
Bryan Cranston, Trumbo
Matt Damon, The Martian
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl

Best Actress
Cate Blanchett, Carol
Brie Larson, Room
Jennifer Lawrence, Joy
Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years
Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn

Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale, The Big Short
Tom Hardy, The Revenant
Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight
Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
Sylvester Stallone, Creed

Best Supporting Actress
Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight
Rooney Mara, Carol
Rachel McAdams, Spotlight
Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl
Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs

Best Animated Feature
Anomalisa
Boy and the World
Inside Out
Shaun the Sheep Movie
When Marnie Was There

Best Animated Short Film
Bear Story
Prologue
Sanjay's Super Team
We Can't Live without Cosmos
World of Tomorrow

Chris Rock hosts the Oscars on ABC Sunday, February 28 at 4:00 p.m. PT. 

Enjoy!

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The Mouse Castle Lounge 02-21-2016 - Filmmaker Pamela Tom Talks About Disney Legend Tyrus Wong

Tyrus Wong

Tyrus Wong is a Disney Legend. Though his time at the Disney Studios was brief—only three years from 1938-1941—his contributions there were profound. It was Tyrus’ artistic vision that gave Disney’s Bambi it’s lush impressionistic forest backgrounds, a look that still influences and inspires artists and animators nearly 75 years after the film’s release.

Tyrus’ work on Bambi represents only a small portion of his life’s prolific artistic output. Tyrus was part of the “Orientalist” art movement popular in the U.S. in the 1930s. After leaving Disney, Tyrus would spend over 25 years at Warner Bros. as a production illustrator and concept artists on such films as The Sands of Iwo Jima, Rebel Without a Cause, Harper and The Wild Bunch. He designed menus for restaurants and greeting cards for Hallmark. Today, at 105 years old, he still creates art, most notably ornate kites that he flies once a month on the beach at Santa Monica.

Bambi concept art by Tyrus Wong.

Two and a half years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with Tyrus Wong for an episode of The Mouse Castle Lounge. We were at the opening of an art exhibition at The Walt Disney Family Museum--Water to Paper, Paint to Sky—that celebrated Tyrus’ life’s work. Our interview remains one of my all-time favorites as I was charmed by the man’s modesty, good humor and immense talent. It was also at this exhibition where I first met filmmaker Pamela Tom, who was in the middle of shooting a documentary about Tyrus. Today, that film is complete and Pamela is my guest.

Pamela Tom

Her film, appropriately titled Tyrus, is a moving and inspiring story of a man who overcame the hardships of poverty and racism to succeed as both a popular and fine artist. Completing this film has been a labor of love for Pamela as she met Tyrus Wong and conducted her first interview with him over 15 years ago.

Pamela is an award winning producer and director who has been involved with numerous film projects on PBS including WW2: Behind Closed Doors, Wired Science and the short film Two Lies. She is a respected educator who has taught at UC Santa Barbara, Loyola Marymount and UCLA Extension.

Tyrus will open CAAMFest in San Francisco on March 10, 2016. Save $15 on tickets to the opening night screening and gala. Use discount code CAAMTYRUS.

For more information about Tyrus, visit www.tyrusthemovie.com.

Enjoy!

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By Tim Callaway

Inside The Mouse Castle 02-17-2016 - 'Star Wars: Episode VIII,' 'Guardians, Vol. 2' and 'Frozen' on Broadway

By Tim Callaway

Principal shooting has begun on both Rian Johnson's Star Wars: Episode VIII and James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2. Naturally, that sparks Anthony and I to devise a mashup crossover film combining the two franchises. And, oh what the heck, lets toss Jurassic Park (World) into the mix too. 

I guess it was a slow news week. Of course, that never deters us on in Inside The Mouse Castle. What we can't report on we just make up. Here's what else we have on tap in today's show:

• Bob Iger officially confirmed what the rest of us pretty much already knew. There will be a standalone Han Solo film joining the Star Wars universe. No other details were mentioned except for a release date sometime in May 2018.

Harrison Ford as Han Solo

• Disney and Lucasfilm are in trouble with the Health and Safety Executive, Britain's answer to OSHA. Foodles Productions, A Disney subsidiary that oversaw production of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, was cited for safety violations related to the on-set accident at Pinewood Studios that injured Harrison Ford. Ford's leg was broken in June 2014 when it was struck by a hydraulic door aboard the Millennium Falcon.
• It's official! Kurt Russell has joined the cast of Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2. Is he playing Peter Quill/Star-Lord's long-lost dad? We can only hope. Director James Gunn shared this Wednesday on his Facebook page:

Official photography on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 has started, and I couldn't be more stoked.My favorite movie as...
Posted by James Gunn on Wednesday, February 17, 2016

• The Food & Wine Festival is coming to Disney California Adventure on weekends from April 1 to May 1. We're already making travel plans.
• Coinciding with that, the Mad T Party is disappearing down the rabbit hole at DCA on March 30. No word yet on what will replace the nighttime dance party. Freeze the Night again? Something Star Wars-ish? We'll see.
• We're starting to like what we're seeing in the new trailer for Alice Through the Looking Glass.

• A lot of it has to do with P!nk's kick-ass cover of "White Rabbit."

• It was inevitable. Frozen is headed to Broadway. A stage musical based on Disney's runaway animated hit will debut in New York in spring 2018. Pre-Broadway performances can be seen in Denver in August 2017.

Enjoy!

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