Watched: Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope

Basically a cornerstone of my childhood. I hate that the only version you can find these days is the remastered, re-released one from the 2000's when Lucas added a bunch of unnecessary CGI to various scenes so we could all benefit from extra shots of Jabba the Hut's backside and the backdrops to various wide shots somehow looking even less realistic. Hubris. Ugh.

So many iconic shots in the first 20 minutes.

Especially that one.

I loved the Banthas! They look like the love children of woolly mammoths and bison and I want to ride one.

Brutal.

I don't care how you edit it, Lucas, he shot first!

This was stupid. It looks WORSE.

ALSO STUPID.

Hurray, happy ending! For now.

Watched: Lady and the Tramp

There's a bit more racist/nationality-based stereotypes than I remembered, which I guess shouldn't surprise about movies coming from the early Disney era, but this one still remains a classic that introduced little Emily to the true sadness of seeing a sad dog on screen. I also named the first dog we had for whom I got to have input on the name process after Lady, mistakenly thinking that the dog in this movie was a beagle. She's not, she's a cocker spaniel. And our dog, although I loved her, was no lady. Ah well.

There is also some very lovely animation and artwork in this.

Russian and Mexican stereotypes? Sure why not!

CRYING DOG YOU STILL GET TO ME.

This dog was voiced by Peggy Lee. Huh.

Another beautiful piece of animation.

Watched: Anastasia (1997)

This movie is weird. As a child watching this I thought it was epic and amazing (in that way that you do when you're a kid watching an animated film) but even now I can kind of see where little mini-me was coming from. The story is still good but it is very much a fairy tale, and wishful thinking as to what actually happened to the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna. They give the reason for the downfall of the Romanovs and the rise of Communism as basically: Rasputin was an evil wizard who turned the Russian people against the royal family. Also they show the family escaping on a train (except for Anastasia) but then, mysteriously, only the matriarch of the family has survived years later and is living in Paris. No real discussion about the rest of the czar's family, or where they ended up. Also, the plot to present a young woman as the princess to her grandmother was real. Several people claimed to be Romanovs but the most successful (notorious) Anastasia impostor was Anna Anderson. Honestly the whole story is really interesting but it's only gotten a very sanitized cartoon version and the 1950's (also sanitized) film with Ingrid Bergman and Yul Brynner.

The Proletariat.