Friday, January 18, 2013
Production features 58 actors from Northern Virginia homeschool community.
Looking for a place to stay warm this cold this weekend? Then step into another world with the Northern Virginia Players as they take you “under the sea” in their production of Disney’s “The Little Mermaid Jr.” This production features 58 actors, ages 8-18, from within the homeschool community in the Northern Virginia region. Kate Wittig and Ann Eul, the directors of the Northern Virginia Players, began this theatre troupe three years ago and have developed it into a professional organization designed to provide excellence in community theatre, but perhaps more importantly build strong character qualities within the actors. The students work together in building a team, while enhancing problem solving skills, self esteem and …
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Cinema Siren's top picks for 2012.
Last year I offered my top 10 Christmas cartoons for the first time. As an animation art gallery owner of 25 years, and an animation historian, I have been studying and enjoying them a long time. What an uproar I caused! I got a veritable avalanche of emails about the cartoons I "couldn't possibly overlook." While I stand by all last year's excellent offerings, I do have some amendments this year. Here is the list with some considered additions and subtractions. The cartoons listed below are all classics and are wonderful opportunities for holiday viewing with friends and family. You can enjoy them while chomping down highly caloric peppermint bark, or swilling down highly spiked eggnog! #10. Arthur Christmas - 2011 Such a new movie…
Saturday, June 23, 2012
PG film by Disney/Pixar debuted in theaters this weekend.
The first film from Pixar with a female protagonist is well worth seeing, even if only to celebrate a positive and complex portrayal of the mother-daughter relationship represented in the film. The story, which screenwriter Brenda Chapman said was fashioned in the style of The Grimm Brothers and Hans Christian Andersen, is of headstrong Scottish princess Merida (voiced by Scottish actress Kelly Macdonald) who, in a desire to stay free from an unwanted betrothal, inadvertently casts a spell that she must find a way to break before the cursed changes take hold permanently. The odyssey to find that way leads to an exciting and charming series of scenes, many of which boast new advancements in animated special effects. As an expert in …
Nicole
10:02 pm on Saturday, December 15, 2012
I’ve seen some of these, but The Nightmare Before Christmas has been a long time favorite of mine because it brings Christmas cheer year round. I haven’t seen a few of these older versions of movies like How the Grinch Stole Christmas from 1966, but I have found that the majority of the cartoons listed here are available through my Blockbuster @Home that I get through DISH. I can actually stream … more ›