Tom Riggin (@tomrig.bsky.social)

Tom Riggin

@tomrig.bsky.social

Animator, Director & Storyboard Artist, now retired. Space Jam (the original), Bob’s Burgers, The Super Hero Squad Show, Bebe’s Kids and a bunch of other stuff you might have seen.

782 followers 261 following464 posts

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Tom Riggin

@tomrig.bsky.social

4 Jan

Trying to stop myself from doomscrolling. If you’re reading this you can probably guess how well THAT’S going.

Tom Riggin

@tomrig.bsky.social

22h

This. This right here. You can keep your fancy-schmancy steelbooks, slipcovers and book-bounds. This was the pinnacle of package design for physical media. #TheSimpsons #physicalmedia #DVD

Tom Riggin

@tomrig.bsky.social

Tough couple of days. Eric Bauza and Walter Koenig. Rest in Peace and thanks for the years of entertainment.

Tom Riggin

@tomrig.bsky.social

My #LastFourWatched is all over the timeline this week: an iconic ‘80s comedy, an enduring ‘60s Disney musical, a silent Harold Lloyd short from 1919 and a 1944 Universal Studios monster rally. My comments are, as usual, in the replies below. #LetterboxdFriday

Tom Riggin

@tomrig.bsky.social

I’ve been itching to rewatch “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure” since our visit to the Cabazon Dinosaurs last year. Did I buy a “Large Marge Sent Me” T-shirt? How could I not?

“Mary Poppins” is evergreen. It’s the Walt Disney studio of the early 1960s at the peak of its craft in every department. As always, Peter Ellenshaw’s almost-but-not-quite-realistic matte paintings are a joy to behold.

In the silent short “Young Mr. Jazz”, Glasses and his girlfriend duck into a seedy dance hall to evade her disapproving daddy. Slapstick mayhem ensues. Directed by Hal Roach and starring Harold Lloyd. Fun, but that pedigree had me expecting more.

Objectively, “House of Frankenstein” isn’t a particularly good movie… but I kind of love it. It’s a fun watch during spooky season. Good performances by Boris Karloff and J. Carrol Naish as the mad scientist and his hunchback assistant respectively.

Tom Riggin

@tomrig.bsky.social

I backed SPACE HELL!

D.J. Kirkbride@djkirkbride.bsky.social

If you like science fiction horror in the style of John Carpenter and the original ALIEN movie, that kind of slow burn spookiness with synth soundtrack kinda vibes, SPACE HELL is the comic for you-- and it’s live on Kickstarter now! #SpaceHellComic #SciFi #Horror #Comicsky #CreatorOwnedComics

kickstarter.comSpace HellAn all-new 24-page black & white one-shot comic book of creeping dread and science fiction horror in the darkness of space.

Tom Riggin

@tomrig.bsky.social

Share someone who looks stylish wearing a cape:

Mark Thompson@sonofathomp.bsky.social

Share someone who looks stylish wearing a cape.

Tom Riggin

@tomrig.bsky.social

Add “for Tax Purposes” to a movie: The LEGO Movie for Tax Purposes

D.J. Kirkbride@djkirkbride.bsky.social

Add “for Tax Purposes” to a movie: Four Weddings and a Funeral for Tax Purposes

Tom Riggin reposted

4fuxake

@blueheartedly1.bsky.social

👏👇

Tom Riggin reposted

Paul Marvin

@paulmarvin.bsky.social

Tom Riggin

@tomrig.bsky.social

Three recent releases and a Frank Capra classic. As usual I’m putting my comments below. #LetterboxdFriday #LastFourWatched

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Tom Riggin

@tomrig.bsky.social

In addition to the play’s 1937 Pulitzer, the film received 7 nominations at the 1939 Academy Awards and took home the Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director. More than a little of YCTIWY’s DNA can be found in 1978’s “La Cage aux Folles” and its 1996 American remake “The Birdcage”.

Tom Riggin

@tomrig.bsky.social

Apologies for being long winded on this one, but 🧑‍🍳👌for James Stuart as Kirby’s son talking about his wanting to research the possibilities of harnessing solar energy to supply our needs as he woos Jean Arthur! A scene written in 1938, people!

Tom Riggin

@tomrig.bsky.social

Three recent releases and a Frank Capra classic. As usual I’m putting my comments below. #LetterboxdFriday #LastFourWatched

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Tom Riggin

@tomrig.bsky.social

Anthony P. Kirby, played by fourth-billed (in a stacked cast!) Edward Arnold. No longer the play’s boilerplate stuffy Wall Streeter, Kirby is established as the head of an investment firm with designs on circumventing anti-trust laws and war profiteering. (cont.)

Tom Riggin

@tomrig.bsky.social

Kirby’s redemption arc becomes the lynchpin of the film as his encounter with the free-spirited Vanderhof/Sycamore family forces him to reconsider his choices. Arnold gives a master class in acting by reacting throughout. (cont.)

Tom Riggin

@tomrig.bsky.social

Three recent releases and a Frank Capra classic. As usual I’m putting my comments below. #LetterboxdFriday #LastFourWatched

Tom Riggin

@tomrig.bsky.social

In “You Can’t Take It With You”, Capra and his frequent collaborator, screenwriter Robert Riskin, do some considerable reworking of the Pulitzer Prize winning 1936 Kaufman & Hart stage comedy. They re-center the story on the character whose arc has to bend the most: (cont)

Tom Riggin

@tomrig.bsky.social

Three recent releases and a Frank Capra classic. As usual I’m putting my comments below. #LetterboxdFriday #LastFourWatched

View full thread

Tom Riggin

@tomrig.bsky.social

Not all Star Wars projects have to do this, but “The Mandalorian…” is at it best when it emulates the breathless matinee-serial pace of the original trilogy. Once it strays from that it never totally gets back on track. About time the good guys got a base on a planet with great beaches, though.

Tom Riggin

@tomrig.bsky.social

“YH2BT” is a terrific documentary about how the casting of the 1972 Toronto production of “Godspell” altered the trajectory of Canadian and American comedy. It’ll stream eventually, but if you have the opportunity to see it in a theater, do so. As if I didn’t already miss Gilda Radner enough…

Tom Riggin

@tomrig.bsky.social

Three recent releases and a Frank Capra classic. As usual I’m putting my comments below. #LetterboxdFriday #LastFourWatched

Tom Riggin

@tomrig.bsky.social

“Coyote vs. Acme” is a lot of fun. I would have been happier if the animation was 100% hand drawn. That being said, about 85% of the cel-shaded CG looks really damn good. Kudos to the live-action cast for not trying to play it as broadly as their cartoon costars.

Tom Riggin reposted

Sukie 💙🇺🇸🇺🇦🌊

@froggybottompond.bsky.social

''I'd like to go ahead and solve it. The Atlanta Hawks.''

Tom Riggin

@tomrig.bsky.social

If you see this, post a vampire that isn’t Dracula.

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Tom Riggin

@tomrig.bsky.social

The problem, as I see it, is that we have a surplus of James Bond Villains and a shortage of James Bonds.

Tom Riggin

@tomrig.bsky.social

Since my last post on the subject just five days ago, the price per gallon of regular gasoline at my local SoCal Costco has rocketed up to $5.96.9. Wheeee? #priceofgas #trump’swar #trump’sfolly #inflation #costco

Tom Riggin reposted

Allison Gill

@muellershewrote.com

21 Sept

California has settled with Paramount. The Warner Bros. merger will apparently go forward. I guess anti-trust violations are okay? www.cnbc.com/2026/09/21/p...

cnbc.comParamount and state AGs will settle lawsuit, allowing Warner Bros. merger to proceed, reports sayThe antitrust lawsuit threatened to delay Paramount's acquisition until mid-2027 and to cost the company hundreds of millions of dollars in fees.

Tom Riggin reposted

Jules⚖️📨

@northjules.bsky.social

20 Sept

noparamountconcessions.com 🚨Twelve state attorneys general sued to block Paramount’s takeover of Warner Bros. Concessions don’t protect workers, consumers or creators. Tell the AGs to hold strong. #Pinks

noparamountconcessions.com#BlockTheMergerTwelve state attorneys general sued to block Paramount’s takeover of Warner Bros. Concessions don’t protect workers, consumers or creators. Tell the AGs to hold strong and take it to trial. SIGN THE P...

Tom Riggin

@tomrig.bsky.social

17 Sept

Once again I feel compelled to tell you all what the gas prices are at our local SoCal Costcos. A quick survey this morning shows a range from $5.69.9 per gallon at the low end to $5.79.9 at the high. Woof.

Tom Riggin reposted

Blue sky nice ghost

@rajandelman.bsky.social

16 Sept

"60 Minutes. More like 60 viewers!"

Tom Riggin

@tomrig.bsky.social

11 Sept

A terrific Billy Wilder noir, a Disney animated classic, a fun documentary about one of baseball’s all-time greats and a superhero who honestly deserved better. As usual I’m putting my comments below. #LetterboxdFriday #LastFourWatched

…and spends a fair amount of time moping over his estrangement from his daughter Betty (Liv Tyler in a brief cameo) who never forgave him for his persecution of Banner/Hulk.

Tom Riggin

@tomrig.bsky.social

11 Sept

So what we seem to have here is a sequel to “The Incredible Hulk” (2008) in which The Hulk himself is MIA and Captain America has been shoehorned in in his place. The plot also involves a rather large dangling thread from 2021’s “Eternals”. Sam deserved better than this, dammit!

“CA:BNW” features two of The Hulk’s classic antagonists: Big-brained villain The Leader, played by Tim Blake Nelson, and Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, played by Harrison Ford tapping in for the late William Hurt. Ross has been elected President…

Others have made this observation before, but I agree: “The Jungle Book” is not so much a great animated feature as it is a film that showcases the brilliant work of its artists, particularly it’s character animators. The “I Wanna Be Like You” sequence is mind-blowingly great.

I’m a child of the ‘60s with a built-in association of Fred MacMurray with his rather mild characters from Disney comedies and his sitcom “My Three Sons”. How great his performance as ultimate heel Walter Neff is just blows me away every time I revisit “Double Indemnity”.

Tom Riggin reposted

Seth Abramson

@sethabramson.bsky.social

10 Sept

Deliberately crashing the American economy—costing American families well over $5,000 each—and then promising to pay those families back $5,000 but *only if* they keep letting him abuse them and the country for two more years... ...is some *seriously* dark, domestic-abuser shit.

Tom Riggin

@tomrig.bsky.social

6 Sept

Downgrade a Movie: The So-so Seven

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Tom Riggin

@tomrig.bsky.social

5 Sept

It’s been a while since I posted the price per gallon of regular gasoline at the local (San Fernando Valley) Costco stations. Currently ranging between $5.49.9 and $5.55.9, so still hovering near the high of the quagmire-inflated price.

Tom Riggin reposted

Mike Luckovich

@mluckovich.bsky.social

“My Mother the Car”. Why yes, I am older than dirt. Thanks for asking.

Sitcom People@sitcompeople.bsky.social

What’s the worst sitcom you will admit to have watched?

Tom Riggin

@tomrig.bsky.social

14 Aug

The Marx Bros, An Ernst Lubitch classic paired with a Friz Freleng Daffy Duck cartoon and the most recent Jack Ryan adventure. Only one of the 3 features seems of the current moment… and it ain’t Jack Ryan. My comments will be in the replies below, as usual. #LetterboxdFriday #LastFourWatched

Tom Riggin

@tomrig.bsky.social

14 Aug

John Krasinski’s latest outing as Jack Ryan is a relic of an international order that no longer exists in any meaningful way. As such, I found it pretty difficult to invest in the film’s stakes. Always great to see Wendell Pierce, though.

In “Daffy - The Commando”, Freleng picks up a running gag from “To Be…” and runs further with it. It’s always great to see “Woo-hoo” era Daffy, especially when he’s whacking Hitler in the head with a giant mallet. Mel Blanc’s stream-of-conciousness “German” dialogue will never not be funny.

In “To Be…”, Lubitch mines comedy gold from the darkest of times and places as a Polish theatrical troupe is forced to find ways to outwit the occupying Nazis. Great performances by Jack Benny, Carole Lombard and a cast of great character actors.

Tom Riggin

@tomrig.bsky.social

14 Aug

Also, Sig Ruman, well remembered as a rather humorless foil for The Marx Bros., is terribly funny working opposite Benny as Colonel "Concentration-Camp" Erhardt.

With the death of producer Irving Thalberg the Marx Bros. lost the buffer between them and Louis B. Mayer who famously did not care for them. Pictures like this one are the result. Still, I can’t give less than three stars to a movie in which Groucho sings “Lydia the Tatooed Lady”.