Verbal Diorama

Warning. This episode contains jokes about balls. Lots of balls. Sports movies are ten-a-penny in Hollywood, sports comedies even more so. There's nothing funnier than a ball being flung in the vicinity of a person's face or private parts, let's be honest. But DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story is more influential than you might think. Not only is it a sharp satire of the fitness and health industry...

The Crow is so bittersweet to talk about. It’s a dark, but stunning visual movie that looks unlike anything else. It’s hard to avoid the idea that perhaps Brandon Lee’s untimely death contributed to the popularity of the movie, and who knows if the movie would have been as big without the shadow of his death looming over it, but it’s hard to deny the screen presence of Brandon Lee, and that this c...

I'm doing my part! Young people all over the globe are joining up to save the future. We must meet this threat with our courage, our valour, indeed with our very lives to ensure that human civilization, not insect, dominates this galaxy now and always! All right, let's sum up. This year we explored the failure of democracy. How our social scientists brought our world to the brink of chaos. We talk...

For 145 episodes, Jess was an almost constant feature on Verbal Diorama, whether that was by making noises in the background, featuring on episodes as herself, or just by being in the next room during recording. Jess passed away after a brief period of illness on 15th March 2022, aged almost 18. She was a guiding light, my constant companion, and brought joy to literally everyone who knew her. She...

My Best Friend's Wedding - a romcom without the rom - was remarkably different in its original script. There were only two lines of dialogue for George (then named Digger), Kimmy just magically forgave all of Julianne's transgressions and not only that, but Julianne would be rewarded at the end of the movie by, not getting her man, but getting a man - a handsome stranger at the wedding played by J...

The official line from Disney and Pixar post the release of Toy Story 3 in 2010 was "we're not planning Toy Story 4" The honest truth was, they were, and they had been for several months too. Originally not planned as a continuation of the story, Toy Story 4 was intended to be a romantic comedy focused on Woody and Bo Peep, but all that soon changed..... Can I finish Animation Season with a bang?...

Animation Season 2022 finally reaches Pixar! After the huge success of Toy Story in 1995 and Toy Story 2 in 1999, a sequel seemed inevitable, but it'd take eleven years and a lot of behind the scenes issues. With the relationship between Disney and Pixar soured, Disney exercised its right to make sequels without Pixar's involvement. Disney decided to forge ahead with Toy Story 3 through their own...

To celebrate the third birthday of this podcast, I wanted to take a look into the history and legacy of The Lion King , a movie that, despite some plagiarism controversy, became the biggest commercial success of Disney's Renaissance, and the highest-grossing animated movie of all time (until the next episode of this podcast, at least!) Thank you for being here with me and supporting me and this po...

To celebrate the third birthday of this podcast, I wanted to take a look into the history and legacy of Beauty and the Beast , a movie that started out as a non-musical, but was scrapped, started again as a musical, and eventually became the first animated feature film to be nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award. Thank you for being here with me and supporting me and this podcast over the las...

To celebrate the third birthday of this podcast, I wanted to take a look into the history and legacy of The Little Mermaid , a movie that not only changed Disney's fortunes, but also changed the face of animation forever. Thank you for being here with me and supporting me and this podcast over the last three years! This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podscribe - http...

Verbal Diorama. The podcast all about the history and legacy of movies you know, and movies you don't. Available wherever you get your podcasts! This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podscribe - https://podscribe.com/privacy OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is such an underrated gem. I know I say that a lot, but it is. Adults fall into the trap of seeing a bright, colourful, funny animated movie, and assuming it's "just for children" (as we know from the Verbal Diorama mantra, animation is not just for children!), but also because it is a bright, colourful, funny animated movie that just happens to masquerade as some...

Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov, the fourth child and fourth consecutive daughter for Russian Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Tsarina Alexandra, was a disappointment at the time of her birth. She wasn't the long-awaited son and heir for the couple. He would come along three years later. And, well, the rest of the tragic story of the Russian imperial family is fairly well-known. But Anastasia has led...

For the longest time I knew I wanted to cover Grave of the Fireflies . This is a movie that needs to be talked about, but I've put it off so many times. Honestly, this is a movie burned into my brain, and one that always makes me sob uncontrollably every single time. This is why it's a slightly shorter-than-normal Nanorama episode. The shorter episode is not a comment on the quality of this movie....

Meant to be the first animated DreamWorks movie (it wasn't, thanks to DreamWorks bringing the release date of Antz forward to annoy Disney), The Prince of Egypt takes a well-known Biblical tale (the basis of three of the biggest religions in the world; Christianity, Islam and Judaism) and grounds it in humanity and empathy, by making it a simple tale of two brothers; one who's destined to be Phara...

Corpse Bride , a co-production between Tim Burton Productions and Laika, is a genuinely heart-warming, beautifully made gothic fairy tale based on Jewish-Russian folk tales. It has a great cast and stunning visuals, but honestly despite seeing it several years ago, I could not remember a thing about it. Watching it again for this podcast was like watching it for the very first time. And therein li...

Wolfwalkers takes the myth and legend everyone knows surrounding werewolves, and transports it to a stunning 2D hand-drawn animated version of Kilkenny in 1650's Ireland, during the Cromwellian occupation of the country, and a dark time for Irish Catholics. At its heart it's a story about the unlikely friendship between Robyn, an English immigrant to Ireland and daughter of the new local wolf hunt...

Welcome to Animation Season 2022! Happy New Year and Ba weep granah weep nini bong to you all! We're starting this new season with a movie that traumatised a generation of children - The Transformers: The Movie . Transformers started out as a toy line, and became a comic and a TV series, and it was making huge profits for parent company Hasbro, but what do you do when you want to introduce a whole...

Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays! It looks like you’ve been good this year. How do I know? Well, this episode will only show in your podcast app if you’re officially on Santa’s nice list, so well done for being a really good person and keep up the excellent work! And who better to help you celebrate your good deeds, than Klaus ? Verbal Diorama will return in 2022! Wishing you a fun, s...

Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays! It looks like you might have been a little bit naughty this year. No judgement from me, but this episode will only show in your podcast app if you’re on Santa’s naughty list! And who better to teach you a lesson if you’ve been naughty, than Krampus? Verbal Diorama will return in 2022! Wishing you a fun, safe and brilliant holiday season! This podcast...

What were you the God of again? Joining me on this special bumper conclusion to Chris-mas 2021, is the awesome Sam from Movie Reviews in 20 Q's. He's an all-round legend, and a well-known Marvel nerd, and I simply had to have him for this episode on Thor: Ragnarok . After two previous Thor movies, Marvel decided to hire Kiwi Taika Waititi, impressed with his show reel consisting of Big Trouble in...

After the success of Kenneth Branagh's Thor in 2011, a sequel for the God of Thunder was quickly put into motion, with a quick turnaround of two years. The race was on to find a director with a passion for the project, which they did in Patty Jenkins. Her appointment was a big deal too: she would have been the first female director to helm a movie in the MCU. Ultimately Jenkins' passion didn't ali...

Whosoever listens to this episode, if they be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor. It's Phase 1 of the MCU. We've just had Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man 2 - all very grounded and Midgard-based. It was the perfect time, therefore to not only introduce a cosmic location, but a character steeped in rich Norse mythology. In 2011, we got Thor , aka Doth Mother Know You Weareth Her Drap...

Welcome to the third Nanorama episode - episodes slightly shorter, but focusing on interesting titbits of information. For this episode, I'm concluding the Alien franchise by talking a little about the saga's attempts at crossover events: Alien vs Predator was conceived instead of James Cameron's Alien 5, and was going to be the crossover event to end all crossover events. An Alien and a Predator...

1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4.... Everyone's favourite movie uncle Tom Hanks isn't as known for his directorial or screenwriting career, as he is for his many Oscar-winning acting roles. That Thing You Do! was his first foray into both directing and writing, and boy does he knock it out of the park with this. It's a charming, sweet, nostalgic tale of Erie, PA teenagers Guy, Jimmy, Lenny and Tobias (the retrosp...