Zombieland Excellent, Fall Anime, Cupcake Prep

[kosquarepelli]

First, Zombieland -- absolutely as fun as the trailers look. Great comic timing, invention, AND restraint -- not something you'd expect to be able to say about a zombie* apocalypse roadtrip action comedy starring Woody Harrelson, but the creators seem to know when they need to hold back and when they can go for it, and make very few missteps.

Comments

[jahrhundert]

Wait, Tsubasa is finished?! THAT MEANS I CAN START READING IT AGAIN JUST TO SEE SUBARU!!! Ahem, anyway, I would be very glad if it's over.

Also, which The Thief of Bagdad are you recommending? Is it the Conrad Veidt one or the Douglas Fairbanks one? Or perhaps another version? And was it Fritz Lang's Harakiri you watched?! If so, I am very jealous.

[kosquarepelli]

Yeah -- in fact today, scans are out for the special epilogue chapter that wraps everything up (apart from explaining Fei Wong's motivations, what exactly the deal was with him and Yuuko and Clow, etc.). It was kind of cute, though.

The Conrad Veidt one (haven't seen the Douglas Fairbanks version yet). And Masaki Kobayashi's Harakiri (Seppuku). I haven't heard much about the Fritz Lang one -- is it supposed to be good? (Kobayashi's reminds me of Rashomon -- there's just one narrative, but the bulk of the story is told via flashback. Tugs at the heartstrings a little more than Rashomon, though.)

[jahrhundert]

Ok, I need to get my ass moving to read Tsubasa. All of my volumes have been collecting dust :/ And scans? Are they on CLAMP's website?

I don't know too much about Lang's Harakiri, but I think it's just one of those films you watch to see how a director improved over the years.
I still haven't watched Rashomon. I FAIL AS A FILM STUDENT!

[kosquarepelli]

lol You want to talk fail as a film student? I started my graduate program NOT HAVING SEEN CITIZEN KANE. XD;; I think you just have to see as much as you can, keep a list (mental or otherwise) of what you still need/want to see, and not get too overwhelmed at how much is still out there. (But definitely see Rashomon. And if you like Kurosawa, Red Beard and Hidden Fortress are kind of hidden gems that are well worth seeing -- probably more the former than the latter, but I enjoyed them both.)

I'm not sure where you'd download scans, but pretty much the entire run is at OneManga here if you don't mind reading online. (I'm slowly collecting the TPBs -- I can't wait to read the whole thing straight through once they're all out. :D)

[ladyuranus]

Well now I've definitely got to watch Zombieland-- I was turned off by the over-marketing (in LA, at least) but it sounds like my type of film. And the lack of serious gore is a good thing...

You liked Zohan? Really?

[kosquarepelli]

I had the same fears about the overhyping, but it was a great time. (The zombies do tend to drip dark-colored liquid from their mouths, so if you think that would bug you, you might want to hold off. And in hindsight, hope you see this before you go... XD;;)

I know, I know, but I have a weakness for Adam Sandler movies (especially his older ones), and I thought Zohan was actually pretty clever at times. (You know, for an Adam Sandler movie.) What I loved was when it came out, a few critics actually wrote that Zohan handled the Israel/Palestine situation with more nuance than Steven Spielberg's Munich. I can't weigh in on that having not seen Munich, and it reeked of grudgy "Take that!", but I was amused. XD