The ThawedCast
Episode Playlist
The ThawedCast
Conversations about Animation

 Episode 154 - Strange Magic

In celebration of Wicked Month, Philip, Bridget, and Lara discuss the 2015 LucasFilm animated feature, 'Strange Magic.' Featuring the voice talents of Evan Rachel Wood, Alan Cumming and Kristin Chenoweth, this fairytale combines the fantasy romance of ‘A Midsummer Night's Dream’ and the musical tastes of George Lucas, who curated this jukebox musical's all-pop soundtrack. The musical selections range from the titular song by ELO and the main protagonist's eponymous "C'mon Marianne" by The Four Seasons to more recent hits from Beyoncé and Kelly Clarkson. Marianne is a fairy princess who abruptly ends her engagement to the self-obsessed knight Roland. Presumptive heir to the fairy kingdom, she must follow her destiny to protect her kingdom from the Dark Forest as well as from the scheming Roland. Follow @thawedcast on Twitter and Instagram. Email: genresavvypodcast@gmail.com. Find us: @philipehlke, @bridget5246, @partoflarasworld

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Episode 153 - Late Night with the Devil 

Samara and Philip review and discuss the found-footage horror film from directorial sibling duo Cameron and Colin Cairnes, Late Night with the Devil. This re-creation of a 1970s late night talk show, the fictional "Night Owls" with Jack Delroy, depicts one night of the show gone horribly wrong, as the broadcast becomes infiltrated by an evil force. Desperate to rise to the top of the ratings, Delroy pulls out all the stops for his 1977 Halloween special, bringing on a colorful panel of guests culminating with a psychologist and her patient. Each round of guests successively leads the show down the road toward a hellish outcome, providing a spectacle that confirms the old adage for Delroy: Careful what you wish for. Follow @thawedcast on Twitter and Instagram. Email: genresavvypodcast@gmail.com. Find us: @philipehlke, @samara_mitchell9

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 Episode 152 - Transformers One

Philip and Elliott chat about Transformers One, the new animated film from Paramount Animation depicting the origins of the Autobots and Decepticons and their respective leaders, Optimus Prime and Megatron. These central characters within the Transformers franchise begin as humble miner bots on Cybertron, a planet ravaged by conflicts that have depleted its key natural resource, Energon, needed for life to exist on Cybertron. In order to become Transformers, miner bots would need to acquire a "cog," which are also scarce. The ambitious miners simply known as Orion Pax and D-16 hatch a plan to attempt to raise all miners' status within Cybertronian society, all while attempting to unlock the secrets of their world's mysterious past. Follow @thawedcast on Twitter and Instagram. Email: genresavvypodcast@gmail.com. Find us: @philipehlke, @ellimundo

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 Episode 151 - The Boy and the Heron

Hayao Miyazaki directs the latest film from Studio Ghibli, The Boy and the Heron (2023). This Oscar-winning film serves a magnum opus for a venerated animator nearing the end of his career, reflecting on his early life in this quasi-autobiographical fantasy. Mahito Maki leaves his home in Tokyo following the death of his mother in a World War II firebombing. Raised in a wealthy family, Mahito struggles to get along with his peers at his new rural school. He spends his time exploring his maternal family's palatial estate, including an abandoned tower that holds a profound secret. A mysterious gray heron beckons him to enter the tower, and when it appears his aunt-turned-stepmother has gone to the tower as well, Mahito hurries after her, plunging headfirst into a glimpse at destiny itself. Join Philip, Jodi, and Bridget as they discuss this animated epic. Follow @thawedcast on Twitter and Instagram. Email: genresavvypodcast@gmail.com. Find us: @philipehlke, @bridget5246, @jodipolasky

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Episode 150 - Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind 

Philip and Bridget discuss the 1984 film from Hayao Miyazaki Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, the film that kick-started the animation output of Studio Ghibli, co-founded by Miyazaki in 1985. Based on a manga series by Miyazaki, the film takes place in an environmentally ravaged word a millennium after a major apocalyptic event. The remaining human population struggles to survive alongside vast expanses of inhospitable toxic jungles and the giant insects that inhabit them. Nausicaä, the adventurous Princess of the Valley of the Wind, gets caught up in the tribal struggles of two adjacent kingdoms; one of which has awakened an ancient weapon it foolishly hopes can ward against the various existential threats to humanity. Follow @thawedcast on Twitter and Instagram. Email: genresavvypodcast@gmail.com. Find us: @philipehlke, @bridget5246

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 Episode 149: Alien: Romulus

Philip and Samara discuss the latest film in the Alien franchise, Alien: Romulus. This new release from Twentieth Century studios and director Fede Álvarez delivers sci-fi thrills and chills as a group of young colonists attempt to escape their bleak circumstances. Their opportunity comes when a wayward research station is pulled into orbit above their hazardous mining planet. Follow @thawedcast on Twitter and Instagram. Email: genresavvypodcast@gmail.com. Find us: @philipehlke, @samara_mitchell9

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Episode 148 - Twister 

Philip, Jodi, and Lara discuss the 90s blockbuster Twister and growing up in the 1990s in rural environments. Also discussions on modern blockbusters and introducing kids to media. Follow @thawedcast on Twitter and Instagram. Email: genresavvypodcast@gmail.com. Find us: @philipehlke, @laraakal

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Episode 147 - Inside Out 2

Philip and Bridget discuss the latest film from Pixar Animation, Inside Out 2, the smash hit sequel to 2015’s Inside Out. Riley Andersen is on summer break just as her emotions, Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust, are forced to reckon with a major renovation to their Headquarters. The upgrades, a.k.a. puberty, have resulted in the creation of all-new emotions: Anxiety, Embarrassment, Envy, and Ennui, much to the Original Five’s dismay. These newer, more complex emotions clash with the old over control of Riley’s mind, especially when it becomes clear that the new emotions were never meant to replace the old ones. Follow @thawedcast on Twitter and Instagram. Email: genresavvypodcast@gmail.com. Find us: @philipehlke, @bridget5246

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 Episode 146 - Dune: Part Two

Jodi, Philip and Bridget discuss the sequel to Dune from 2021, concluding Denis Villeneuve's adaptation of the original Dune novel by Frank Herbert. After the massacre of House Atreides on Arrakis, the Harkonnens have retaken their stronghold over spice and resumed their war with the Fremen. Paul Atreides and his mother, Jessica, enlist the help of Fremen leaders to organize a resistance capable of crippling the Harkonnens and commanding the attention of the Emperor. Follow @thawedcast on Twitter and Instagram. Email: genresavvypodcast@gmail.com. Find us: @philipehlke, @bridget5246, @jodipolasky

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 Episode 145 - Nope

Philip and Jodi discuss the 2022 film from Jordan Peele and Universal Pictures, Nope, an alien-abduction tale with a few genre twists. OJ and Emerald Haywood are a brother-and-sister duo who experience strange phenomena on their horse ranch and attempt to capture images of what they believe to be a real UFO. They enlist the help of Angel, a security camera technician and Antlers, a cinematographer, to capture the ultimate "Oprah shot" of the elusive craft. Follow @thawedcast on Twitter and Instagram. Email: genresavvypodcast@gmail.com. Find us: @philipehlke, @jodipolasky

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Episode 144 - Star Wars: The Bad Batch and Tales of the Empire

Philip and Elliott discuss some recent animated offerings from the Star Wars universe, The Bad Batch and Tales of the Empire. Both series depict the transition from the era of the Jedi and the Republic into the tyrannical Empire secretly controlled by the evil Sith. The Bad Batch follows a select group of clones with desirable mutations who have formed their own mercenary team following the events of Order 66 and the Clone Wars. Tales follows former Nightsister Morgan Elsbeth in her embrace of imperialism after witnessing her people massacred by separatists. The series then switches perspectives midway to former Jedi Barriss Offee on her path to joining the ranks of the ominous Imperial Inquistors. Follow @thawedcast on Twitter and Instagram. Email: genresavvypodcast@gmail.com. Find us: @philipehlke, @samara_mitchell9, @ellimundo

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Episode 143 - ThawedChat: Wicked Wishes and Film Franchise Fantasies 

Philip, Bridget, and Jodi chat about musicals, film franchises, motherhood and other entertainment hopes and hangups in the ever-evolving 2024 media landscape. Will new throwback franchise installments like Twisters inject some much needed life into the box office? Or will new properties like The Fall Guy and IF provide a sense of originality that audiences are craving? Plus some thoughts about the upcoming Wicked adaptation and Wish on Disney Plus. Follow @thawedcast on Twitter and Instagram. Email: genresavvypodcast@gmail.com. Find us: @philipehlke, @bridget5246, @jodipolasky

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Episode 142 - Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget

After the chickens escape the Tweedys' farm in 2000's Chicken Run, they settle on a secluded island and enjoy their newfound freedom. In this stop-motion sequel, again from the claymation experts at the UK's Aardman animation studio, the heroic duo Ginger and Rocky have hatched a daughter named Molly. Molly grows to be as adventurous and freedom-loving as her parents, and resolves to explore the world outside their chicken oasis. However, the human threat to chickens has only grown to encompass a much greater new peril: fast food. Follow @thawedcast on Twitter and Instagram. Email: genresavvypodcast@gmail.com. Find us: @philipehlke, @bridget5246, @jodipolasky

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Episode 141 - Chicken Run 

The first feature animated film from Aardman, the animators of the famous Wallace and Gromit stop-motion "claymation" short films, Chicken Run was one of DreamWorks' first great successes as an up-and-coming rival to Disney and Pixar. The film is an homage to World War II prisoner-of-war stories like The Great Escape and Stalag 17, depicting its cast of toothy, anthropomorphic chickens in their attempts to escape captivity from a rural English egg farm. One hen in particular, Ginger, is determined to lead the coop to freedom, and a chance encounter with a flying rooster named Rocky gives her renewed hope that she and her fellow hens will escape by making one slight alteration to their strategy: by flying over the fence. Follow @thawedcast on Twitter and Instagram. Email: genresavvypodcast@gmail.com. Find us: @philipehlke, @bridget5246, @jodipolasky

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 Episode 140 - A Whisker Away

Bridget and Philip discuss A Whiker Away, a 2020 anime film from Studio Colorido, Toho Animation and Twin Engine and distributed on Netflix. The film follows Miyo, a fanciful eighth grader in Japan who finds herself embroiled in a Faustian bargain with a feline seller of magical Noh masks. Her newfound power to transform into a cat provides a welcome escape from the stresses of her unhappy life, but she runs the risk of losing sight of the many people who love and are concerned for her. Can the love of family and friends stop Miyo from falling fully for under a cat spell forever? Follow @thawedcast on Twitter and Instagram. Email: genresavvypodcast@gmail.com. Find us: @philipehlke, @bridget5246

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Episode 139 - Suzume 

Suzume is the 2022 animated feature from CoMix Wave Films and the seventh film from writer/director Makoto Shinkai, who most recently saw global crossover success with Your Name (2016) and Weathering with You (2019). Suzume is a supernatural adventure wherein the eponymous heroine accompanies the mysterious Souta across Japan on a quest to track down Daijin, a mischievous cat-god who places a curse on Souta. Along the way they must close several gates that are unleashing restless spirits upon humanity. Failure to do will spell certain disaster for a populace whose ignorance has only inflamed the earthquake-yielding wrath of the spirits. Follow @thawedcast on Twitter and Instagram. Email: genresavvypodcast@gmail.com. Find us: @philipehlke, @bridget5246

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Episode 138 - Wish 

Philip and Jodi review Wish, the 62nd animated feature from Walt Disney Animation Studios. Wish continues a legacy that is currently being celebrated in the Walt Disney Company's 100-year anniversary as the foundation upon which the rest of the company is built. The Disney Empire has come a long way since its humble beginnings in 1923 as a company set up by Walt and Roy Disney to produce short cartoons. The role of animation as the core of the company has fluctuated significantly, from nearly seeing the animation division shut down in the mid-eighties to the highs of the nineties Renaissance. Despite a post-Covid, post-Disney+ cooling at the box office, Disney Animation continues its output of blockbuster-level films with a story inspired by the Wishing Star referenced in the company logo and theme song, "When You Wish Upon a Star." In Wish we follow Asha, a new heroine who aspires to apprentice under the benevolent sorcerer-king Magnifico, who has power over wishes. The purity of one of Asha's wishes outshines Magnifico's power and makes him envious, sending an idyllic kingdom into a precarious state of discontent as it suffers under increasingly evil and despotic rule. Follow @thawedcast on Twitter and Instagram. Email: genresavvypodcast@gmail.com. Find us: @philipehlke, @jodipolasky

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Episode 137 - Wait, What? - Frozen Turns 10

Lara joins Philip to reminisce about ten years of Disney's Frozen. They discuss the film's influence and how the film and animation industries have changed since 2013. They also explore the fandom of Frozen and Disney more generally and consider the future for the franchise in the context of Disney's status as a film studio in 2023. Follow @thawedcast on Twitter and Instagram. Email: genresavvypodcast@gmail.com. Find us: @philipehlke, @laraakal

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 Episode 136 - Ahsoka

Philip and Elliott discuss the latest live-action Star Wars series from Lucasfilm and Disney Plus, Ahsoka, spotlighting the popular Jedi who first appeared in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Ahsoka Tano is portrayed by Rosario Dawson in this eight-episode exploration of the roving former Jedi. Ahsoka is searching for clues to the location of Grand Admiral Thrawn, who disappeared years prior along with Rebel hero Ezra Bridger. Rumors abound of Thawn’s possible return, and his leadership could prove devastating to the frail New Republic. A small band of heroes must work together to thwart the actions of a secretive group of agents who are working to unlock the secret route to a faraway planet--a world that plays host to mysteries pivotal to the future of the galaxy. This may prove too tempting a Pandora's box to simply allow it to remain unopened, as it may be the key to rescuing Ezra. Follow @thawedcast on Twitter and Instagram. Email: genresavvypodcast@gmail.com. Find us: @philipehlke, @samara_mitchell9, @ellimundo

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 Episode 135 - Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)

Jodi, Bridget and Philip discuss the 1992 Francis Ford Coppola Film Bram Stoker's Dracula. This film follows the 1897 Dracula novel and lends a signature artistic flourish courtesy of Coppola's visionary direction and diverse practical visual effects, vibrant costumes, ornate period sets and atmospheric score. Originally conceived as a minimalist adaptation of the original source material, Coppola along with his son Roman, who has worked on numerous music videos and Wes Anderson films, decided to expand what would have been an eccentric costume drama into a scrappy Gothic epic employing many unconventional techniques and creative choices more a film from classic Hollywood, and what results is a truly unique cinematic classic that feels simultaneously grand and intimate, with a stellar cast lending a timeless theatricality to the project. Follow @thawedcast on Twitter and Instagram. Email: genresavvypodcast@gmail.com. Find us: @philipehlke, @bridget5246, @jodipolasky

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Episode 134 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem 

Bridget and Philip discuss the new animated film from Paramount and Nickelodeon Studios, 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.' Directed by 'Mitchell's vs the Machines' alumni Jeff Rowe and Kyler Spears, 'Mutant Mayhem' incorporates numerous hand-drawn elements to enhance the cel-shaded 3D animated world of the Ninja Turtles. This new take on the franchise introduces the supervillain "Superfly," who shares a common origin with the Turtles. Initially tempted to join Superfly and his gang, and feeling stifled in their situation under their surrogate father and master, the boys Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael decide to seek favor in the eyes of humanity with the help of the PR-savvy journalist April O'Neil. Follow @thawedcast on Twitter and Instagram. Email: genresavvypodcast@gmail.com. Find us: @philipehlke, @bridget5246

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Episode 133 - TRON: Legacy 

Philip and Jodi discuss 2010's TRON: Legacy, the long-awaited sequel to 1982's TRON starring Jeff Bridges as a plucky computer programmer who gets sucked into the computer world. This seminal "legacy sequel" from Joseph Kosinski, who would go on to direct the 2022 mega-hit Top Gun: Maverick, also stars Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn and centers around Kevin's son Sam, who lost contact with his father who has been missing since 1989. Bruce Boxleitner returns as Alan Bradley/Tron and Olivia Wilde costars as the enigmatic Quorra. Sam and Alan receive their first sign of contact from Kevin in two decades, and Sam's investigation leads him to the mythical "digital frontier" from his father's bedtime stories. Though a third TRON film has long been rumored, the series has seen some recent rejuvenation with Walt Disney World attraction TRON: Lightcycle Run,' which opened in Magic Kingdom in April 2023. Follow @thawedcast on Twitter and Instagram. Email: genresavvypodcast@gmail.com. Find us: @philipehlke, @jodipolasky

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 Episode 132 - Asteroid City

Wes Anderson's genre-bending, fourth wall-breaking new film Asteroid City features a colorful cast collected in a remote desert setting. The government research hub of Asteroid City has few permanent residents but plays host to a science convention honoring the achievements of brilliant young minds. Suddenly, a quarantine befalls Asteroid City, and whether or not this eclectic congregation is allowed to leave their impromptu purgatory unscathed, it's clear that some characters carry their cage with them. Perhaps this is the diversion they need to escape their own personal prison. Philip and Jodi discuss the film's fantastical whimsy, compelling characters and wry observations on creativity and human nature. Follow @thawedcast on Twitter and Instagram. Email: genresavvypodcast@gmail.com. Find us: @philipehlke, @jodipolasky

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