OMGNEWIRONMAN2TRAILERSOCOOOOOOL!!!!!

I KNOW!!!

You know, I regret seeing the IM trailer. I'm gonna see the movie anyway, right? So if you can hold off, I say do it. Because it looks like it gives away the entire plot. (HOWEVER look for my friend the extra, who plays a Monaco police!)

Yeah, it did seem to give away more than previous trailers, and although I kind of wished I didn't know, it has also made me more excited!

I had to tell DH to stop saying "Hey, they're showing the last scene!" during the Best Pic montages, because if he hadn't said anything I probably wouldn't have known they were giving away all the endings.

SERIOUSLY. What the fuck.

One of my favorite movie blogs reviews Superbatman v. Mazinger V (1990, South Korea)

I know that Super Batman & Mazinger V is just one of many patchwork, copyright-flaunting children's films made in South Korea during the 80s and early 90s, but there is something about its combination of lazily disguised knock-offs of both American and Japanese nerdy pop cultural icons that seems so specifically designed to lure me in that I wouldn't be surprised if it was part of some kind of trash cinema based sting operation with me as its target. And watching the film did nothing to allay this paranoid mindset on my part. I just couldn't shake the feeling that the film was somehow speaking to me directly.

Super Batman & Mazinger V briefly approaches the level of sublimity promised by its title at about the one hour mark, when its hero flies through an opening in the Earth into a subterranean hell world. Here Super Batman undergoes an ordeal of near mythical proportions, which, in its presentation, is a triumph of limited animation combined with cut-outs from still photographs. (It looks a lot like a filmed version of one of those old Santo photo-comics.) First he's attacked by cartoon bats, and then has his head vomited on by a giant cartoon spider, after which he is threatened by a giant cartoon snake before having to fight some cartoon skeletons and some hooded vampires that he vanquishes using a cross and a laser beam that shoots out of his mouth. Throughout all of this, Super Batman is screaming in pain and terror, which, as you might imagine, is more than a little unsettling.

In honor of Akira Kurosawa's 100th birthday, TCM is running Kurosawa films every Tuesday this month.

Tonight: Ikiru, Throne of Blood, The Hidden Fortress, Hakuchi (unavailable on DVD, I think), and The Lower Depths.

The 16th: The Bad Sleep Well, High And Low, Red Beard, and I Live In Fear.

The 23rd (which is actually Kurosawa's birthday): Sanshiro Sugata, The Most Beautiful (not on DVD), The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail (not on DVD), Sanshiro Sugata II, Regrets For Our Youth, One Wonderful Sunday (not on DVD), Drunken Angel, Stray Dog, Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Sanjuro, Dodes 'Ka-Den

The 30th: Dersu Uzala, Kagemusha, Ran

Dodes 'Ka-Den

This one reminds me a bit of the Love and Rockets comic book, particularly Gilberto's Palomar stories. Except, you know, it's Japanese.

The Hidden Fortress

From which Lucas stole R2-D2 and C-3PO.

The Bad Sleep Well

Noir!

High And Low

Noir!

Throne of Blood

MacBeth!

Yojimbo

Dashiel Hammet!

Seven Samurai

The Magnificent Seven!

The best Kurosawa films (for those with casual interest) are Ikiru, The Seven Samurai, High And Low, and Yojimbo.

The next tier is Throne Of Blood, The Hidden Fortress, Stray Dog, Rashomon, and Ran.

If you've seen those, go with Red Beard, I Live In Fear, Drunken Angel (actually this and Red Beard should be a double feature), and Sanjuro.

Serious fans only: Sanshiro Sugata I & II, The Bad Sleep Well, and Kagemusha. I've never seen the others showing this month.

(xpost with David!)

I share my birthday with Kurosawa! And I've had my dvr programmed to record Throne of Blood for the past week.

Y'know, I seriously encourage anyone who has never watched a Kurosawa film to catch at least one. The guy was one of the best filmmakers of the 20th century, if not The Best. Considering that he was a Japanese man making films in the 50s and 60s, it's pretty amazing how well his movies translate to modern Western audiences, but that's mostly because he stole shamelessly from American and European directors and, in turn, some of the most influential filmmakers of today stole shamelessly from him. His films are full of beautiful cinematography and well-observed moments of pure human behavior for the art set, while still fun and witty and action-packed for the mainstream.

I share my birthday with Kurosawa!

Awesome!

And I've had my dvr programmed to record Throne of Blood for the past week.

Also awesome!

Seven Samurai is one of the most emotionally satisfying action movies you'll ever see. The characters are so well drawn and the situation is played for maximum drama that pays off beautifully. And Kurosawa, of course, set the standard for cinematic action at that time.

Yojimbo's the coolest, though.

Which of the Kurosawa's is the version of (I think) Bad Day at Black Rock or (I think, it has Bruce Willis) Last Man Standing. I suck at titles, I just say, "You know, the one they've remade all over the place, with the guy who plays two gangs against each other."