Cinema Boston's World Cup of Film

 Cinema Boston’s World Cup of Film

Hello and welcome to Cinema Boston. I am your host David, and today’s episode is the first of at least two episodes (not sure if we’ll need a 3rd!) to crown the winner of Cinema Boston’s World Cup of Film!

If you’re a regular here and watch under our non-FIFA approved name, you know this is our 2nd Cinematic World Cup episode!

The first one was E22 of S1, and we based that one on a country's historical cinematic “body of work.”

The final four teams in that tournament were England, Japan, France, and Germany (not bad soccer teams either!).

Japan and France met in the final, and France was victorious, so you know that was on the up and up since I root against France in everything, even history.

For THIS  World Cup of Film, we will not be going with a country's cinematic body of work; these matchups will be based on the most recent film I watched from that country, and that film ALONE!

So it’ll be “what have you done for me lately” which has the ability to change since I haven’t stopped watching films while I’m watching all the soccer.

The United States film for this tournament was decided just yesterday, and by the time the knockout round comes around, the US will undoubtedly be represented by another film.

The same is true for England since I watch a lot of films from the UK, and you never know what other countries may be affected by this rule.

For this project I needed to rely on the Cinema Boston archives to research the most recent film I had screened from each country.

The oldest one in this tournament was 2010.

There are two countries from which I have NEVER seen a film so, sadly, they were eliminated before even getting here for the tournament. 

Today we’re just going to present the Group Stage of the tournament and it will mimic the soccer tournament.

There are 12 groups. The TOP TWO countries in all 12 of those groups will go through to the knockout round along with the BEST 3rd place countries in 8 of the 12 groups.

Our second episode in this series will feature the knockout round and our film bracket will mirror how the soccer bracket is set up which is kind of complicated (the winner of Group F plays the 2nd place team in Group C, J’s winner plays, H’s 2nd, and so on). 

It’s called the knockout round for a reason, and all countries losing films next time will be out of the tournament for good.

Today’s winners live to see another match!

Here we go!

Cinema Boston’s World Cup of Film: The Group Stage!

Cinema Boston’s World Cup of Film: Group Stage

Group A

1) Czech Republic Spaceman (2024) 👍 Adam Sandler and an alien spider become friends in space

2) South Africa Yesterday (2004) 👍 ON! HIV+ mother’s goal is to live long enough to see her daughter go to school

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3) South Korea Wall to Wall (2025) New apartment with mysterious noises & neighbors

4) Mexico The Big Cube (1968) 💣 Psychedelic nonsense with Lana Turner

Group B

1) Switzerland Sew Torn (2024) 👍 A seamstress makes that age old movie mistake of picking up that briefcase of money at a crime scene

2) Canada Perfectly a Strangeness (2024) 👍 ON! Short about 3 donkeys wandering around an abandoned astronomical observatory

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3) Bosnia and Herzegovina Quo Vadis, Aida? (2020) Very high rankings, but I didn’t enjoy the story

4) Qatar Coffee-Shop (2012) I have zero memory of watching this, so…

Group C - GROUP OF DEATH!!

1) Brazil The Secret Agent (2025) 👍 4ON! In 1977 Brazil, a technology expert is forced into hiding

2) Scotland Dog Soldiers (UK: 2002) 👍 Scottish werewolves - that’s all you need to know for now

3) Haiti When the Drum is Beating (2011) 👍 Music doc about a 20 member band who has been making music for 62 years

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4) Morocco Le Grande Voyage (2004) 👍 Dad & son road trip from France to Mecca

Group D

1) United States Raw Deal (1948) 👍 Film noir with a guy taking the rap for a guy who then double crosses him

2) Paraguay Landfill Harmonic (2015) 👍 Music doc about the Recycled Orchestra who makes instruments out of recycled trash 

3) Australia Thrash (2026) Shark movie with some very questionable marine science

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4) Turkey Do Not Disturb (2023) Unemployed waiter gets a night shift job in a hotel and weirdness ensues 

Group E

1) Ecuador Maria Full of Grace (2004) ON! Story of a pregnant teenage drug mule 

2) Germany Brick (2025) Another creepy apt. Building movie - this one is suddenly surrounded by a mysterious brick wall

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3) Ivory Coast Black and White in Color (1976) Lost French colonists during WWI decide to attack Germany 

4) Curacao NO RECORD OF ANY MOVIE FROM CURACAO

Group F

1) Netherlands Amsterdamned  (1988) 👍 Serial killer working the canals of Amsterdam 

2) Tunisia The Voice of Hind Rajab (2025) 👍ON! Docudrama about a 6 year old girl’s calls for help pleading for rescue while under IDF fire

3) Sweden Trouble (2024) 👍 Actioner with a wrongfully accused man being mistaken for a pilot

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4) Japan Youth in Fury (1960) New Wave film about a young man flirting with extremism

Group G

1) Egypt The Square (2013) 👍 ON! Satire about a controversial art exhibit

2) Iran Our Uniform (2023) 👍 ON! Animated short about a young girl and her school uniform

3) New Zealand The Quiet Earth (1985) 👍 Dystopian sci-fi about a scientist alone in the world

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4) Belgium Beautiful Men (2023) ON! Animated short about 3 bald brothers getting hair transplants in Istanbul

Group H

1) Saudi Arabia Alkhallat+ (2022) 👍 Anthology film about social deception and trickery

2) Uruguay Blanes Esquina Muller (2020) 👍 A man moves in with his new girlfriend and is then visited by his future self warning him about her

3) Cape Verde Cabralista (2011) 👍 Documentary about political activist Amilcar Cabral

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4) Spain Close Your Eyes (2023) Interesting premise of an actor disappearing during the filming of a movie

Group I

1) Norway Sentimental Value (2025) 👍         OW! International Feature Film about family, movies, and art

2) France All Boys Are Called Patrick (1959) 👍     21 minutes of Godard w/two college girls getting hit on by the same guy on the same day

3) Senegal Sembene! (2015) 👍             Documentary about African freedom fighter Ousmane Sembene whose weapons were his stories

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4) Iraq Ahlaam (2006) Takes place during Shock and Awe in 2013 Baghdad - in an asylum

Group J

1) Algeria Days of Glory (2006) 👍             Four North African men enlist in the French army during WWII

2) Argentina Argentina, 1985 (2022) 👍 ON!  about lawyers taking on the countries’ military dictatorship

3) Jordan Theeb (2014) 👍                     Coming of age story of a young Bedouin boy during WWI

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4) Austria Benny’s Video (1992) A 14-year-old boy obsessed with violent films makes one of his own

Group K - GROUP OF DEATH!!

1) Colombia Bad Lucky Goat (2017) 👍             Two incompatible teen siblings need to fix things when they accidentally kill a bearded goat with their father’s truck

2) Portugal Ice Merchants (2022)  👍                     ON! Animated short about a man and his son parachuting off a cliff every day to sell the ice they produce

3) Democratic Republic of Congo Benda Bilili! (2010) 👍 Another music doc, this one about paraplegic street musicians

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4) Uzbekistan The Desert of Forbidden Art (2010) 👍 Excellent documentary about a man who rescues over 40,000 forbidden works of art to create a museum in the desert

Group L

1) England A Night to Remember (1958) 👍      The Titanic story as experienced by surviving crew & passengers - 39 yrs. before Cameron

2) Croatia The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent (2024)         ON! short where a passenger train is stopped by paramilitary forces during an ethnic cleansing operation

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3) Ghana Kukurantumi Road to Accra (1983)             Comedy about a bus driver who plots a marriage between one of his daughters and a prosperous businessman

4) Panama NO RECORD OF ANY MOVIE FROM PANAMA

Well, that is a wrap from here at Cinema Boston as we conclude the Group Stage of our World Cup of Film.

We hope you’re with us as we continue this tournament with our Knockout Stage episode!

Or the Best & Worst of June, whichever comes first.

Until then, take care.

Disney Princess Mt. Rushmore

 Disney Princess Mt. Rushmore

Hello and welcome to Cinema Wellman. I am your host, David, and today we’re going to celebrate some amazing, animated heroines!

I realize I teased a hockey movie episode at the end of May’s Best & Worst show, but the World Cup and my OCD got in the way, so that episode has been postponed. It will still be happening, but it’ll be at the start of the hockey season instead of at the end of it.

So today is all about the Princesses. A fitting episode for Father’s Day even though most of these ladies’ fathers aren’t very good at being fathers.

You know how I feel about Disney in general, but I am all in on the Princesses, and today we’re going to celebrate four of them in our Official Cinema Wellman Disney Princess Mt. Rushmore.

I am lucky enough to have visited the real Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota three times in my life and it is a magical place, especially when no one is there and you can watch the sun come up on those big heads.

There are four presidents on Mt. Rushmore, so we’ll have four princesses on this Cinema Wellman Rushmore.

For this episode I didn’t want to just give you my Princess Rushmore, so I once again asked for help in determining the final lineup.

I ended up getting input from 15 people, so this final four came from them and not me. 

While researching this episode I found that while there is an official list of Disney Princesses, there is NOT an official list of criteria for making that list.

First, the lineup of 13 Princesses!

Presented in chronological order of their film’s release:

1. Snow White

2. Cinderella

3. Aurora a.k.a. Briar Rose a.k.a. Sleeping Beauty

4. Ariel

5. Belle

6. Jasmine

7. Pocahontas

8. Mulan

9. Tiana

10.  Rapunzel

11.  Merida

12.  Moana

13.  Raya

And what gets you on this list? 

Unofficially, of course:

*You must star in a theatrically released animated Disney or Pixar film 

   (NO straight to video princesses!)

*You are usually royal by birth, marriage, or tribal leadership

*You must be human/mostly human (and I’m not sure what they mean by “mostly” human)

*You must be central to the story

So if that’s what it takes to get “Princess Status,” who gets snubbed?

1. Mirabel Madrigal from Encanto - not royal

2. Alice from Alice in Wonderland - not royal, but has certainly seen some shit

3. Giselle from Enchanted - hybrid animation/live action character

4. Tinkerbell - not human

5. Princess Leia (not animated, but Disney does own her and she’s a princess!)

And then there’s the debate surrounding Frozen’s Elsa & Anna. 

While they do meet the criteria for admission to the club, I read that the Frozen brand became too gigantic to simply place those two characters under the regular Disney Princess umbrella.

In other words, Elsa & Anna aren’t Disney Princesses because of Disney greed. The rat’s gotta eat.

Six of those “unofficial princesses” earned votes in my polling because I wasn’t about to tell someone that their character wasn’t “Princess Worthy.”

I’ll leave that to Disney.

I’ll get to our Mt. Rushmore in a bit, but first I want to talk a little about the “2nd Tier” of Princesses according to our voting.

These ladies finished 5th through 8th in our very unscientific, yet heartfelt, poll:

Merida from Brave, Rapunzel from Tangled, Tiana from The Princess and the Frog, and Pocahontas from Night of the Living Dead. (just kidding, she’s a “title character,” as you know).

Speaking of title characters, of the 13 official Disney Princesses, only FIVE are given title recognition; Snow White, Cinderella, Mulan, Moana, and Pocahontas.

I just watched a film titled Ariel, but it was a bleak Finnish rom com about a coal miner.

I’m not making that up.

Merida, Rapunzel, Tiana, and Pocahontas were our worthy runners-up to our top four ladies, and all have merit and deserve some recognition.

As I mentioned, I did not vote in these proceedings. The results came from the 15 people I enlisted for help in this project and thank you to all of them for continuing to participate in my shenanigans. 

I did NOT vote, but three of our top four are on my personal Disney Princess Mt. Rushmore, and I have zero issues with today’s number four. 

Presenting, in no particular order…. The Warrior, The Explorer, The Rebel Princess (no, it’s NOT Leia!), and The Intellectual.

Our Warrior Princess is courageous, clever, persistent, and strong.

Our Explorer Princess is curious, adventurous, spirited, and determined.

Our Rebel Princess is self-reliant, strong, confident, and compassionate.

Our Intellectual Princess is independent, kind, brave, and intelligent.

Firing off those adjectives like an 8th grade teacher filling out a private high school application!

Let’s begin with that Warrior Princess who is courageous, clever, persistent, and strong.

AND she’s the only member of our Mt. Rushmore who has title recognition!

From 1998, it’s Mulan, voiced by Ming-Na Wen!

IMDb: “To save her father from death in the army, a young maiden secretly goes in his place and becomes one of China's greatest heroines in the process.”

Mulan was the very first Disney film to be released on DVD, and it features one of only two Disney Princesses to wear trousers! The other trouser wearing princess ALSO made our final four! Wearing those pants!

Mulan is one of two left-handed princesses, and we love that! The other being Tiana.

This was Disney’s first movie to openly deal with warfare and has a body count of close to 4,000!

This Princess means business! 

Disney itself emphasizes Mulan’s courage, creativity, determination, and ability to challenge expectations.

Here’s a quote of Mulan’s from one of her songs that explores the inner conflict she’s facing, and everybody has some inner conflict now and then.

"Look at Me, I will never pass for a perfect bride, or a perfect daughter

Can it be, I'm not meant to play this part?

Now I see that if I were truly to be myself,

I would break my family's heart

Who is that girl I see, staring straight back at me?

Why is my reflection someone I don't know?

Somehow, I cannot hide who I am, though I've tried

When will my reflection show who I am inside?

You can be strong and still struggle with inner conflict, that's for sure.

There seems to be some interest in a future episode about Disney Princess sidekicks, so I’ll mention that Mulan’s sidekick is Mushu, voiced by Eddie Murphy.

Our next princess is our Explorer Princess, and she is curious, adventurous, spirited, and determined.

From 1989’s The Little Mermaid, it’s Ariel, voiced by Jodi Benson!

IMDb: “A mermaid princess makes a Faustian bargain in an attempt to become human and win a prince’s love.”

Wow. “Faustian?” Highbrow allusion there, IMDb!

Ariel is the 1st Disney Princess with biological siblings!

Ariel is the 1st red-headed Disney Princess!

And, Ariel is the 1st Disney Princess to rescue her romantic interest! No damsel in distress here, it’s Eric in distress!

Ariel’s defining traits are her fascination with the unknown, her desire to explore, and her willingness to chase her dreams. 

I’m not going to sing it, I don’t want to make you hate this movie, but once again, our princess gets her point across with a song:

"What would I give if I could live out of the water

What would I pay to spend a day warm on the sand

Betcha on land they understand that they don't reprimand their daughters

Bright young women, sick of swimmin, ready to stand!

And ready to know what the people know, ask 'em my questions and get some answers!

What's a fire and why does it...what's the word? Burn!

When's it my turn?

Wouldn't I love, love to explore that shore up above?

Out of the sea, wish I could be part of that world!"

The old grass is greener debate brought to you by Hans Christian Andersen and Disney songwriters.

I consulted my Little Mermaid expert when it came to Ariel’s sidekick, and it would be Flounder (voiced by Jason Marin), but Sebastian (voiced by Samuel E. Wright) was also there to support Ariel and guide her way.

Our 3rd princess is our Rebel Princess, and she is self-reliant, strong, confident, and compassionate.

And she also wears trousers! Very cool Barbara Edenesque pants!

From 1992’s Aladdin, it’s Jasmine, voiced by Linda Larkin!

IMDb: “A kind-hearted street urchin and a power-hungry Grand Vizier view for a magic lamp that has the power to make their deepest wishes come true.”

NO mention of Jasmine in that synopsis at all! 

So while Jasmine is Disney’s 1st Middle Eastern Princess, her speaking and singing voices are provided by an American and a Filipina, so two steps forward…

Jasmine is admirable because she is someone who refuses to let others decide her future and stands up for herself and others, as shown by one of her best quotes from the film;

"How dare you! All of you! Standing around deciding my future?! I am NOT a prize to be won!"

You go, Jasmine! I, personally, have always liked her attitude.

Jasmine's sidekick is her trusty tiger Rajah who isn't voiced by anyone since he doesn't speak. He is, however, very protective of and affectionate toward our princess.

We have one princess to go and Our Intellectual Princess is independent, kind, brave, and intelligent.

Must be all those books she reads.

From 1991’s Beauty and the Beast, it’s Belle, voiced by Paige O’Hara!

IMDb: “A prince cursed to spend his days as a hideous monster sets out to regain his humanity by earning a young woman’s love.”

Belle’s blue & white dress and hairstyle were inspired by Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz.

Belle is our 1st brown-haired Disney Princess.

Belle is the only official Disney Princess with hazel eyes.

Belle is the 3rd Disney Princess to live in France (Cinderella & Aurora).

Belle is the ONLY Disney Princess to not wear her signature dress for the majority of the film. She only dons the yellow gown for “Tale as Old as Time” and at the very end of the film.

Belle is almost universally framed as the “book-loving” princess: curious, thoughtful, compassionate, and willing to sacrifice herself for her father.

“Can anyone be happy if they aren’t free?” and “I want so much more than they’ve got planned,” are two of Belle’s quotes that show her desire to live her best life.

When it comes to sidekicks, Belle really doesn’t have any, unless you count her “adopted” sidekicks once she moves into the castle. If they count then you have Cogsworth (voiced by David Ogden Stiers) and, my all-time favorite, Lumiere (voiced by the great Jerry Orbach).

Our official Cinema Wellman Disney Princess Mt. Rushmore is now complete! We have Mulan, Ariel, Jasmine, and Belle, and the adjectives I’ve been using throughout this episode that describe these four princesses have nothing to do with appearance.

Remember it’s what’s inside that counts, and Belle would remind us not to judge a book by its cover. 

Well, that is a wrap from Cinema Wellman for a Father’s Day episode honoring Disney Princesses who are all better people than their fathers!

I can say the same about my own daughters, and I’m proud of that! (Not that I’m a bad person or anything, they’re just better…)

Next up for us will be the Best & Worst of June episode followed by a jam-packed July featuring our World Cup Episode, Cinema Wellman’s 2nd Annual Shark Week (in which we’ll rank EVERY Sharknado film, and the Top 10 and Bottom 5 of 1976 (that’s 50 years ago!), so plenty of Summer Shenanigans are planned, and we hope you’ll be here for them all!

Until then, take care.