Fun Fact this upcoming version is the 2nd time Netflix has produced a Hunchback version but that other 2018 Idris Elba led version was canceled.
Vincent Cassel to play a version of Quasimodo in a Netflix produced movie
Anyway
It’s been about six months since it was first announced that there was to be a new movie adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame starting Vincent Cassel as Quasimodo. Well in a way since this version is more based on the “historical” Quasimodo who was said to have inspired Victor Hugo.
Anyway it’s been six months so what more do we know about this movie?
Last year I did a post of about games that were in some way related to Notre dame de Paris, either through setting, history, branding or actually based on the book/the building.
It was writing that post that I learned of the existence of Lego’s Notre Dame de Paris set as part of their Architecture line. Now I had at that point never ever had or owned a lego set but it was very tempting all the same. Shortly after being tempted by the Notre Dame de Paris set I got the Poinsettia kit which made me want the Notre Dame one even more. And Christmas of 2024 I got my very own Notre Dame de Paris set to build and maybe love.
So now that it’s been about a year what do I think about this set. Is it good? Is it overrated? Did I even start it? Is it even that nice to look once it’s done if I indeed finished the thing?
Notre Dame de Paris returns to the Palais des Congrès after touring venue throughout Asia. The Palais des Congrès was the venue of the original cast back in 1998. The production runs from December 19th to January 4th. Also the original French cast did a special performance in Canada and there also a documentary. Though I think this concert was actually put on back in the summer and its anniversary was back in September.
And while the original cast is very much beloved there is also the latest cast of the French Revival/World Tour of which some members have been part of the cast since it began in 2016 and others have been promoted to the leads in the intervening years.
Fragrance enthusiasts will already know this but smelling like a cathedral/church is major inspiration for perfumes. Typically the fragrances will be very incense forward but they can differ widely. For instance many invoke abandoned churches deep in the woods while others are light and airy in addition be smelling of incense and smokey. While other still are more herbaceous and woodsy. Some can be more specific like a mass on Christmas while other combine the smokiness with delicate floral notes giving a sense of summertime.
This is not a complete list by any means but if you want to smell more like Notre Dame de Paris or just a generic cathedral/chruch here are some options.
In honor of Zootopia 2, I’m do a list of my top favorite Disney Reptiles plus one technical amphibian because it was too cute not to include.
These rules or strictly speaking guidelines that are not to strict. I had wanted this ranked list to only in closed non-magical, non anamorphic reptiles but that went out the window pretty quickly. SO really the only rule is no dragons (sorry Mushu.) Though that gives me another idea for another list for another day and maybe more animal types because I happen to love animals of all kinds.
Also because not including Pixar as it’s “the other” studio BUT there will a Pixar honorable mention to two.
On the one hand it’s hard to judge a movie based on less a minute long teaser trailer. On that other much larger hand the Live action teaser trailer so the so-called Live Action remake of Moana actually really does a great job showcasing this movie. It’s a mostly photo-realistic CG shot-for-short remake devoid of any amount of soul and purely exists to make for money.
Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein (2025) Starring Oscar Issac
Recently I sat down and watched Guillermo Del Toro’s latest film offering, his take on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. And here is a review.
Shelley’s Frankenstein was never part of my school ciriculum and oddly enough I’m not much of a horror/sci-fi fan to have read it on my won, so a critique this film on its adhesion to the novel is not something I can fully comment on maybe someday but as now I have a backlog of reading*. That being said I have read other reviews and takes on Del Toro’s Frankenstein to know that this is very much his take and more of spiritual interpretation of the novel that an adaptation of Shelley’s novel. Though it seems none of the movie adaptations actually do a by the book version with its theme but an approximation.
So what was my take or impress of Del Toro’s Frankenstein based solely on his vision? Also Spoilers
First issue, What is an “I want” song? Because it’s not a clear as a villain song. There seems to be a few guidelines like the protagonist or secondary protagonist sings about wanting something. Some of rankings I sampled listed songs that I wouldn’t personally consider an “I Want” songs but they do so they were counted. Like “Let it Go” do you think it counts? Also Love as a want, or is that a love song?
For this survey, I analyzed 30 different lists ranking Disney “I want” songs there is a big however though. I couldn’t find 30 lists of dedicated “I Want” songs. So generic ranking of Disney songs were used only considering songs that “fit” into the “I want” type. So if a song I personally don’t consider an “I Want” was ranked on one of those dedicated “I Want” list it was counted for this survey for those generic ranking of Disney songs. So for example if “Let it Go” was on a ranked list that that solely “I Want” list it was in the consideration pool. And let’s say, on a generic best Disney songs list it ranked 15th overall but was the third “I want” song from the top, it would ranked third for the sample.
Also reprises are tricky. One song I counted with the its reprise. Also there a bias towards older songs because of ages of some of these lists. This really impacts two songs.
Also I DID NOT add my own personal rankings to this list. What I did do was weighted mean. So if a song appeared on all 30 lists at 9th ranking it won’t rank as high as one that was on 80% but was consistency ranked in the top three. I also considered how many times a song ranked in each position. Again, I’m not a statistician, I just like doing these more objective lists and will mostly likely do more.
There was also a very clear winner early on which appeared on but two lists and was ranked #1 eighteen times. Try and Guess if you can. (Seriously, for real life, it’s not that hard)
So which of the Disney “I want” song made the cut? Did “Out There” make it? Is this just a list of Frozen songs*?
Without further Adieu, Here is the Statically Definitive Ranking of the Ten Best Disney I Want songs
Most of the trivia was an actor expressing interest in a role and according to the Trivia (which may or may not have been true,) Lin-Manuel Miranda expressed interest in the role of Clopin. To this bit of trivia I expressed ambivalence saying in that blog post ” On a personal level I think I would prefer another actor to play Clopin but I’m more ambivalent about this casting should it come to pass.” At the time, the project was still being worked on but there was no real news on it.
So while Disney has since shelved the live-action remake (at least while Iger is CEO) let’s just see if Miranda would/would’ve be a good choice for Clopin or if past me was correct in my ambivalence.
Also Fun fact, it’s been a while since we done a hypothetical casting pick for Clopin.
Here’s the aged old question, Is Tim Burton’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas” a Halloween Movie or a Christmas Movie? I’d say it’s both! It’s a Holiday movie, watch it whenever you want.
So because it’s Halloween, The Spooky Season, as well as being 32th anniversary of the movie’s release, I’m going to rank the songs in order of personal preference.
On the whole I think the soundtrack to The Nightmare Before Christmas is pretty solid and there is not one song that stands-out as being weaker than the rest but this ranking is based solely on my own taste and you can agree or disagree. Also as far as the movie goes I neither love it nor hate, I’m ambivalent about it.
Also I will reveal my favorite non-named citizen of Halloweentown as a bonus
