Saturday, November 26, 2016

D&M Exclusive : Shanghaî Disneyland First Christmas Season !

It's the first Christmas season for Shanghaî Disneyland and thanks to D&M faithful reader Nick Moody, Disney and more has exclusive pictures for you! Christmas decorations can be seen specially at the entrance of the park, whether it is on the entrance arch, in Mickey Avenue or in the shops...

...and Shanghaî Disneyland also have a big Christmas tree which stands in the Gardens of Imagination, between the Fantasia Carousel and SDL castle! Flowers with a Christmas red color also have been placed in the flower beds.

Shanghai Disneyland guests can see another Christmas tree in Disneytown near the LEGO store!

All my thanks again to Nick Moody for providing to D&M these great pictures!

Pictures; copyright Nick Moody

Discover "Soy Cuba" One of the Most Beautiful and Visually Stunning Film in Cinema History

The big news of the day - internationally speaking - is of course the death of Fidel Castro, "El Comandante" in Cuba since 1959. The last big political figure of the 20th Century died yesterday and tears in Havana, Cuba, contrast with joy of Cuban exiles in Little Havana, Miami, as Castro was loved or hated depending on what side you were. I have one story for you that you won't read anywhere else and it's about a GORGEOUS movie filmed by Mikhail Kalatozov, award winning Russian director in the early 1960's. Castro had asked him a movie about the Cuban revolution and Kalazotov did "Soy Cuba" a sumptuous movie which in fact starts before the revolution, showing the era of dictator Batista and ends with the revolution forces marching on La Havana. The movie took three years to be filmed and had its premiere of course in La Havana. But there is a big "but" as what happened next is that, inexplicably, Fidel Castro hated the movie and ordered that the movie was never shown!

During the next thirty five years or so the film stayed on the shelves of the Mosfilm archives in Moscow until it was finally shown late 80's - early 90's during a film festival in America. Martin Scorcese and Francis Ford Coppola who were there almost fell off their chairs when they discovered it, and Scorcese said at that time that "if the world could have seen this movie in the early sixties the way to film movies would have been changed forever". Why? Because Mikhail Kalatozov had filmed almost the whole movie in "sequence shots", i.e there is no "cuts" during a five minutes sequence, or more. And this at a time when the "Steadycam" was not invented yet, neither the visual effects by ILM wizards! The result is that we have a movie in which in fact "it's the camera which tells the story" as Scorcese said, as there is just a few dialogues during the whole movie. The whole film is fascinating and truly gorgeous, so gorgeous that it's on my list of one of "the ten movies i would take with me on a desert island" if i had to choose ten. I can't recommend enough to anyone to find it and watch it, and i still don't understand why Castro hated it as it is a hymn to Cuba and the Cuban people.

I've found for you two amazing sequences filmed, as i've said, in "sequence shot" mode. The first one below is the very start of the movie - which, by the way, is entirely filmed in a gorgeous black and white - and, after a start with a woman reading a poem about Cuba while the camera follows a fisherman boat, the next scene shows a fashion show on the top of a hotel of Cuba when Batista was still in power ( so before the revolution began ). WATCH what the camera is doing all in one shot without cuts. Nowadays the sequence shots are often used but back in the 1960's with he exception of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Rope" ( which was filmed entirely in studios and not outdoors like here ), there was not a lot of movies which were filmed that way, as it is incredibly difficult to stage a scene with no cuts during five minutes. The other sequence, even more incredible is below.

And this other one "sequence shot" is even more incredible. In that scene the camera follows funeral of a young man killed by the forces of Batista police. Look closely how the camera starting in the street goes up all along a building, enter a room with dozens of people making cigars and then goes out again literally flying over the crowd of the funeral in the street below. It's this kind of shot who left Martin Scorcese voiceless when he discovered the film, and Martin had to see the film again and again to find how they did it. Absolutely beautiful! Again, try to find "Soy Cuba" and watch it, it's one of the most beautiful film in cinema history, not only for its beautiful sequence shots but also for its humanity!

For those interested ( and you should be, believe me! ) Soy Cuba (also titled: I am Cuba ) is available on Amazon.com in its "ultimate edition" ( Dvd only ) HERE for $24.79. Language: Spanish with English subtitles - Run Time: 141 minutes.

Also exist in French DVD with French subtitles in normal edition for 15.99€ on Amazon.fr HERE.

"A classic... absolutely astonishing! I AM CUBA is that rarity of rarities, a genuine hidden treasure. It puts to shame anything we're doing today." - --Martin Scorsese

"One of the most deliriously beautiful films ever made". - --Manohla Dargis, L.A. Weekly

Thursday, November 24, 2016

Disneyland Paris Update : Moana Arrives at DLP and WDS, New Floats in Christmas Parade, and more

Here is a new DLP update thanks to Max, D&M contributor and DLPWelcome webmaster! Plenty of great pics and videos await you below but first i remind you that the Disneyland Paris book Christmas special offer has started and it's a chance for you to get this gorgeous 320 pages book at the best price ever! You'll hardly find a better Christmas gift for a Disneyland Paris fan so don't miss it as it is the last copies of the book which will not be reprinted! The Christmas offer is for both english update edition or the french collector's edition at 60€ ( + 15€ shipping worldwide ) and that include too a great additional surprise gift!

Special note to buyers with a shipping address in Italy or Belgium : For shipments to Belgium or Italy, the shipping cost is 25 €.

To place your order please send an email to: neverlandeditions@gmail.com - Please let me know in your email if you want the english or french edition!

Important note: shipping takes 3-4 days for France,10-15 days to European countries, 2 to 3 weeks for countries outside Europe. To make sure you will receive the book on time for Christmas, if you buy it for a Christmas gift, please place your order as soon as possible,thanks.

You can pay with Paypal bus ending the full amount including shipping to: neverlandeditions@gmail.com or use the Paypal button below. The Paypal button works for both french or english edition but confirm me by email or in your Paypal payment which edition you want ( english or french ). Also note that the Paypal button includes an additional discount for those who want to order 2 or 3 copies instead of one.

If you do NOT have a Paypal account you can pay by credit card, or bank transfer, just send me an email about it at: neverlandeditions@gmail.com

Friday, November 17 Mickey Mouse celebrated his 88th birthday. A unique opportunity to celebrate at Disneyland Paris. To celebrate the anniversary, a new final to the show « Mickey and the magician » to have everyone singing a happy birthday to the most famous Mouse in the world!

At Disneyland Park, the « Royal christmas Wishes » started for the first time last Friday. Dynamic with all couples of Princes and Princesses and !deal for children after each « Disney’s Christmas Parade ».

At Adventureland the « Colonel Hathi’s Pizza Outpost » restaurant had some update with the arrival of the new sponsor « San Pellegrino », new decoration and the return of the little Audio-Animatronics birds in the main room after several years of absence.

At Frontierland, the Lake is now filled. The tests continue on Big Thunder Mountain and the Geysers ( sound effects are noticeable in this part of the Park ).

New details near BTM train station:

Near Big Thunder Mountain, smoke machines finally start to be hidden under a themed building.

Finally, the lest tow events on Friday was the pre-parade for a Happy Birthday Mickey and the first appearance of Moana at DLP!

This Sunday, November 20, two new things in the parks: The first is the possibility to meet Moana at the Walt Disney Studios Park in the attraction « Art of Disney Animation ». It’s a real good news, where during the 2 h in the Park, you have a very long queue. Regarding the character, nothing to say, she is faithful to the film and the costume is wonderful!

About the Christmas parade, a new float to makes its appearance. it must apparently rescembler to a toy factory, but in reality it shows an assemblage of geometric shapes to the dubious colors that do not integrate with the rest of the parade. Finally, another flaw with the other new float with Max and Pluto, the height ! It’s perfect if we’re away, but in the parade route, it’s difficult to see the top part and the character of the parade.

Max will be back soon with a new DLP update and in the meantime don't miss the Disneyland Paris book Christmas special offer as it's a chance for you to get this acclaimed 320 pages book at the best price ever! You'll hardly find a better Christmas gift for a Disneyland Paris fan so don't miss it as it is the last copies of the book which will not be reprinted! The Christmas offer is for both english update edition or the french collector's edition at 60€ ( + 15€ shipping worldwide ). And that include too a great additional surprise gift!

Special note to buyers with a shipping address in Italy or Belgium : For shipments to Belgium or Italy, the shipping cost is 25 €.

To place your order please send an email to: neverlandeditions@gmail.com - Please let me know in your email if you want the english or french edition!

Important note: shipping takes 3-4 days for France, 10-15 days to European countries, 2 to 3 weeks for countries outside Europe. To make sure you will receive the book on time for Christmas, if you buy it for a Christmas gift, please place your order as soon as possible, thanks!

You can pay with Paypal bus ending the full amount including shipping to: neverlandeditions@gmail.com or use the Paypal button below. The Paypal button works for both french or english edition but confirm me by email or in your Paypal payment which edition you want ( english or french ).
Also note that the Paypal button includes an additional discount for those who want to order 2 or 3 copies instead of one.

If you do NOT have a Paypal account you can pay by credit card, or bank transfer, just send me an email about it at: neverlandeditions@gmail.com

Those of you who have never seen the book will find at the end of this DLP update a video presentation of the full book which will show you each of the 320 pages of the book AND you can see more pictures on the book website HERE

Although you've probably heard about this beautiful book, many of you may have never seen a copy of it. So we've done a video presentation of the full book which will show you each of the 320 pages of the book! The book includes 750 pictures of the park, including 250 gorgeous renderings of Walt Disney Imagineering and stunning pictures of the park seen from above. The book is so big that it took us seven and a half minutes to show you the full book, and that's without stopping turning each pages! So, if you want to have a closer look at a page don't hesitate to stop the video!

Pictures: copyright DLP Welcome