To all of the mommies (I had two) who either helped to bring us into the world or shape us into who we are, whether you’re with us or not, thank you. I think of this song when I think of Mother’s Day.
Monthly Archives: May 2011
6 Trailers That Make Lisa Marie Go Yay!
Hi everyone!
I will be the first to admit that I can occasionally be a little moody but tonight, as I sit here typing, I am in such a good, extremely hyper mood. Maybe it’s because I’m wearing my beloved black Pirates shirt. Or it could be because, for once, this house is neither too cold nor too warm. Then again, it could just be because it’s time for me to bring you another edition of Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation Trailers!
1) I Dismember Mama/The Blood-Splattered Bride (1974)
This is a trailer for a “double feature of horror,” featuring I Dismember Mama and The Blood-Splattered Bride. When I’ve spoken with other grindhouse movie fans on the web, this trailer is often cited as being a favorite. Personally, I think it goes along for about a minute too long but I can understand why it’s so popular. For one thing, it’s nothing like the trailers that are currently playing in theaters across America in that it’s a short film in itself. By the way, the trailer for Blood-Splattered bride sans I Dismember Mamma can be viewed here.
From the wonderful nation of Italy comes this example of the odd little grindhouse genre known as nunsploitation. I can probably count the number of good nunsploitation films on one hand. And yet when confronted with a film like this, I cannot look away. Maybe it’s because I was raised in the Catholic church. Or it could just be because the totally hot and lickable Joe Dallesandro is in so many of them. Along with Dallesandro, Killer Nun features Anita Ekberg of La Dolce Vita fame and Alida Valli of Third Man, Suspiria, and Inferno fame.
(Sidenote: Once when I was going to Catholic school, this really mean, fat girl was jealous of me because I was prettier than her so she whacked me in the face with a ruler so hard that it actually broke the skin right over my right eye and I had to get 3 stitches to close the cut and I’ve still got this little scar and sometimes, when I wink or seductively arch my right eyebrow, it still hurts a little. I hope somebody eventually went all Killer Nun on that girl…)
When I showed my sister Erin this trailer, she said, “You’re not going to jump up and start trying to do any of that stuff yourself, are you?” “Uhmmm…no,” I replied but, to be honest, I was totally about to do it. I don’t know much about Angela Mao but just, on the basis of this trailer, she’s my hero. This trailer is just infectious and, as I watched, I wondered, “How difficult can it be?” Well, apparently, it’s very difficult but that’s a story for a different time.
4) The Bullet Machine (1969)
“He can hack it!” Uhmmm….well, yes, okay then. At first, I thought I had actually found a trailer that was more violent than the trailer for Massacre Mafia Style but, upon careful reflection, I have to say that Massacre Mafia Style is still the king. The two hitmen in Massacre Mafia Style may not fire as many bullets but they still manage to kill everyone else in the trailer. Whereas The Bullet Machine is constantly shooting his gun but doesn’t really seem to accomplish much as a result. Plus, the mafia hitmen had style whereas the Bullet Machine just seems to be kind of a prick. If ever I have to prove the thesis that most men use guns as a substitute for their own limp penis, this trailer will be exhibit one.
I don’t know much about this film other than it’s obviously an Italian attempt to capitalize on the success of the original Alien and it is not — as I originally assumed — the same film as Luigi Cozzi’s Alien Contamination. One of the things that I love about Italian exploitation cinema is just the pure shamelessness of it all. I imagine there had to have been about a thousand remakes of Alien in the early 80s but only the Italians would have the balls to actually name a film Alien 2.
As for this trailer, it has its slow spots but seriously, stick with it for the final shot. And remember — you could be next!
(On the plus side, a young Michele Soavi is in this film. YAY!)
I’m in such a good mood right now that I’m just going to have to end this latest entry with a little Jean Rollin. Now, just in case anyone out there is unfamiliar with the unique cinematic vision of Jean Rollin, you should understand that this trailer is far more explicit than any of the other trailers featured in this post. In fact, I’m surprised that Youtube hasn’t taken it down yet. So, if you’re easily offended, I don’t know why you would be visiting this site in the first place. But anyways, if you’re easily offended, consider yourself warned.
As for Fascination, it’s actually one of the more accessible of Jean Rollin’s vampire films. The image — seen towards the end of this trailer — of Brigittie LaHaie with a scythe has become iconic.
What Lisa Marie Watched Last Night: South Park Episode 15.02 FunnyBot
Last night, I watched the latest episode of South Park, Funnybot.
Why Was I Watching It?
Because it’s South Park, of course!
What Was It About?
Aspiring stand-up comedian Jimmy Vulmer puts together the first annual Comedy Awards show at South Park Elementary. Only Tyler Perry shows up to accept his award and only Token Black seems to be happy to see him. Once he’s arrived, Perry refuses to leave and instead spends his time wandering around the school, dressed up like Madea and saying, “Oh Lord!” Soon, every student except for Token is sick of him and demanding that Perry go away. However, Token — who has apparently been hypnotized by Perry — finds himself incapable of not giving Perry money to stick around.
However, there’s an even bigger problem than Tyler Perry. During the Comedy Awards Ceremony, the Germans are named the least funny people on the planet. The Germans react by creating Funnybot, a robot with a very methodical, rather German approach to humor. Soon Funnybot is the biggest, most popular stand-up comedian on the planet even though his jokes are simply a mad lib-style of random pop cultural references mixed in with a few standard situations. However, the world loves Funnybot and they continue to love him even after he starts to violently murder everyone who comes to see his shows.
After all of South Park Elementary is taken hostage by the comedians that have been put out of work by Funnybot. Kyle, Cartman, and Stan try to talk some sense into Funnybot. Funnybot responds by explaining that he’s going to destroy the world.
And, as the world awaits destruction, Barack Obama watches a Tyler Perry movie…
What Worked?
I’ll be honest. I love South Park so, as far as I was concerned, the whole show worked. Funnybot was a great creation and, according to my friend Jeff, Funnybot was a reference to Dr. Who and that made Jeff happy which was pretty cool. I’ve seen a few people online who are complaining that it wouldn’t make any sense for Funnybot to remain a popular comedian even after he starts killing people but those people are obviously not true fans of South Park. A true fan of South Park would know that South Park always presents the entire population of the world as a bunch of sheep who are incapable of thinking for themselves.
Plus, this show did what South Park does best in that it bluntly acknowledged an inconvenient truth — i.e., that white people just do not get Tyler Perry and that many of us find watching his “style” of comedy can be a very awkward experience. As well — and this is something that seems to have gone over the heads of a lot of people who watched this show — South Park’s Tyler Perry is essentially portrayed as being the human equivalent of the Funnybot. Just as Token is shown to be incapable of resisting Perry, all the other (white) characters are incapable of resisting Funnybot.
(I am going to say one thing in his defence: the year that Precious was nominated for best picture, Perry was one of the presenters at the Academy Awards and he actually came across as endearingly nervous and almost likable. Or, at least, he did to me.)
Finally, on a purely silly level, I loved the way that Jimmy responded to every problem by saying, “But I think we can all agree that the 1st Annual Comedy Awards was a great success.” It just made me laugh.
What Didn’t Work?
Hmmm…well, as funny as the idea of a bunch of stand-up comedians taking an elementary school hostage is, I kinda wish that Trey Parker and Matt Stone had done more with it. That said, I love Matt and Trey and I hope they win all sorts of Tony Awards for The Book of Mormon.
“Oh my God! Just like me!” Moment
Much like Funnybot, I find that going “Awkward!” in a cute little voice is the perfect way to make an unfunny joke funny.
Lessons Learned:
Logic is a hideous bitch goddess.
Song of the Day: Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood (performed by Santa Esmeralda)
Okay, two quick confessions. First off, I really wanted to write this post in Spanish because it’s Cinco De Mayo but unfortunately, other than a few phrases I picked up from my mom, I don’t speak Spanish. Secondly, I’ve done some research and I’ve discovered that the band featured here (Santa Esmeralda) is actually a French group. So, despite the fact that Santa Esmeralda’s cover of Don’t Let Me Misunderstood is obviously influenced by Latin music, it’s still not exactly ideal for Cinco De Mayo.
But you know what? When I first heard this song on the soundtrack for Kill Bill Volume One, I immediately fell in love with it and I forced my mom to listen to all 10 minutes of it and she loved it too. And unlike me, my mom grew up speaking Spanish and actually had a very pretty singing voice. She was also very proud of her heritage. So, if this song was good enough for her, it’s good enough for me.
I have to admit, as well, that when I first heard Santa Esmeralda’s version, I assumed that the cover had been recorded specifically for the Kill Bill soundtrack. Well, turns out I was not only wrong, I was way wrong. This cover version was actually recorded way back in 1977.
I also thought, before I started writing this post, that the song was originally performed by the Animals. Wrong again. The song was first written in 1964 by Bennie Benjamin, Gloria Caldwell, and Sol Marcus and it was originally performed by Nina Simone. Then, in 1965, the Animals did their famous cover. The Animals’ version of the song is the one that got stuck in my head when I was dating this guy who worked at Mervyn’s because, oh my God, it was playing all the freaking time in that store!
But the Santa Esmeralda version is my favorite and it is today’s song of the day.
Trailer: Conan the Barbarian
1982 saw the release of one of the most iconic fantasy films ever with the John Milius and Arnold Schwarzenneger collaboration, Conan the Barbarian. There was a follow-up sequel that wasn’t as great as the first, but still did well enough that down the year there was talk of a third film to finish off the Schwarzenneger Conan trilogy. It never happened as the project continued to be shelved year after year until even Arnold himself backed out and thought a third film was never in the cards.
This trailer suggests otherwise though it’s more of a reboot to the Conan film franchise and sticks much closer to the character and world created by it’s creator Robert E. Howard. This film is directed by German filmmaker Marcus Nispel whose body of work tends to be in the genre arena like the remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre to the Viking-Indians mashup story, Pathfinder. There’s also to be a new Conan in the form of Jason Momoa (who played the character of Ronan in the long-running scifi tv series, Stargate Atlantis) who is currently gaining some fans outside of his Stargate work due to his casting as the mighty Khal Drogo in HBO’s critically-acclaimed and very popular fantasy series, Game of Thrones.
This Conan the Barbarian remake looks to return the character to it’s Age of Hyboria roots. The trailer gives ample evidence of the film using much of the fantasy world Robert E. Howard created with long-lost civilizations, evil warlords, sorcery and, of course, fantastic monsters. While the trailer doesn’t show just how well Jason Momoa acts as the character Conan it does show that he fits the role the way Howard originally wrote him. While still having a muscled physique this Conan also is more agile and lithe than the Schwarzenneger iteration.
Conan the Barbarian is set for an August 19, 2011 release on both 2D and 3D screens.
Song of the Day: O-Daiko (by Kodo)
The latest “Song of the Day” was inspired by having witnessed on April 23, 2011 at the Hynes Convention Center during Anime Boston 2011 a performance by the Odaiko New England (ONE). This traditional taiko drum group performed both traditional taiko set numbers and more modern compositions. To say that the experience was quite primal would be an understatement. Since then I’ve searched and listened to many other taiko drum groups and I’ve come to realize that the band Kodo really shows the Japanese art of taiko drumming at its best. I chose their song “O-Daiko” as the latest song of the day.
“O-Daiko” by Kodo is traditional taiko drumming at its finest. It begins quite subtly and gradually builds up to the booming, heart-pumping bass beats that could only come from taiko drummers playing their instruments in perfect tempo. It’s difficult to listen to any taiko music and not have oneself brought back to a simpler time. Taiko drum music has been a mainstay with Shinto shrine rituals, but they’ve also been instrumental in warfare during the warring period of Feudal Japan. The drum beats would be used to signal coded information to allies and friendly forces. They could also be used to demoralize opposing enemy forces.
So, if you ever learn that a taiko drum group is going to be performing in your area I highly recommend that you attend said performance. It’s an experience everyone should have at least once in their life.
Trailer: Green Lantern (2nd Official Trailer)
The WonderCon 2011 exclusive trailer and footage was a major step in creating major buzz and hype for Warner Brothers’ and DC Entertainment upcoming superhero film Green Lantern. With just a little over a month left before the film premieres the second (most likely the final trailer for the film) trailer has been released and whatever doubts early marketing and ads the film seemed to give rise to have gone away with this final release.
Green Lantern is sort of the Iron Man of the DC Comics pantheon in that he’s one of the more powerful characters in that universe, but he never got to the level of iconic status as Superman and Batman. There’s a reason why the only DC comic characters to have sustained any sort of film franchise have been Superman and Batman. The Green Lantern character was never about fighting evil on Earth. His fight was always on a much more cosmic-scale and this trailer shows that the danger in the Green Lantern is cosmic in scale even. The last superhero to attempt such a concept story-wise was the Fantastic Four sequel with Silver Surfer and Galactus. That didn’t turn out as well as many hoped it would. Here’s to hoping that Green Lantern will succeed where the Fantastic Four sequel failed.
Green Lantern is set for a June 17, 2011 release. It will come out in both 2D and 3D (RealD and IMAX 3D).
AMV of the Day: Repeat (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)
The latest AMV of the Day continues my current obsession over a great mahou shoujo (magical girl) by the name of Puella Magi Madoka Magica. This amv is called “Repeat”.
“Repeat” uses the song “Sleep Now” by Hugh Hall and it’s atmospheric sound goes hand in hand with the dark, almost gothic sensibilities, of Puella Magi Madoka Magica. I’m none too familiar with Hugh Hall’s music, but the song that creator Chiikaboom used to highlight the dark nature of this anime series really makes this amv seem like a well-made trailer for the series. In fact, if I didn’t know that this video was an anime music video I would’ve thought it was a professionally done teaser trailer for the anime series.
This amv once again shows just how engaging an anime series Puella Magi Madoka Magica really is. Yes, the animation and character designs are quite cute, but that lighthearted aspect of the show doesn’t last very long. This video shows just how mature, dramatic and tragic this series ends up becoming.
Song: “Sleep Now” by Hugh Hall
Anime: Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Creator: Chiikaboom
Review: Game of Thrones Ep. 03 “Lord Snow”
Please bear with me. I don’t know if I’ve ever written about a tv show before and as a result, this may come across as being more of a capture of what happened rather than the typical “Conversation With You” style I’m used to writing (as that can get a little long winded and off track). This is new to me here.
This week’s episode of Game of Thrones is something of an in between episode, more of an exposition piece than anything. You can’t have action all of the time, so you need one of these every now and then. To start, things are changing in the map, we are given the usual scenes until near the end, where we see the Dorthraki army making it’s way across the land. I’m really enjoying that.
Arriving at King’s Landing, he finds Jamie Lannister waiting for him. The two share words over the death of Stark’s father, but we have some understanding into the Lannister / Stark conflict. Stark then meets with a counsel of the King’s men (including an interesting cameo by Julian Glover). Together, they inform Stark that they are going to have a tournament, but that actually paying for it would be an issue because the land is facing a debt.
I liked the discussion between the Queen and her son on being a King, in that ruling is not all about inflicting your will on others. She’s taking her time with going against the Starks, but the son really needs to learn that. He’s like Draco Malfoy whining about having to down “filthy mudbloods”. Tyrion clearly needs to smack him up a little more.
It seems like Ned is having some fatherly issues with his girls. One resents him for thinking of her as a child and the other is still trying to prove the truth of Joffrey’s attack on her. I have to admit that I liked Ned’s approach with the younger daughter, Arya. He explains to her why her sister couldn’t back her on what Joffrey did, but at least let her keep the sword. That, coupled with the way the episode ended was nice to see.
I get the feeling that no one in this land really likes the Lannisters (save for Tyrion, who’s fantastic in my eyes). I loved seeing the King somewhat tear into Jamie Lannister about their smug faces. They’re just so uppity (for lack of a better word), that I wonder how the King ended up with the Queen in the first place.
Although Jon is at The Wall, kicking tail as if he were the Dark Knight himself, he’s not making too many friends there. As always, Tyrion is able to get him out of a nasty situation, and Peter Dinklage really has been amazing in this show. I wouldn’t be shocked to see him get an Emmy nod somewhere down the line.
Daenerys, upon hearing about how the slaves are acquired, orders the convey to stop. Viserys catches word of this and threatens her only to be stopped by one of Drogo’s men. I’m really liking how Daenerys is adjusting to her new role. She’s making decisions and learning the language. The surprise of her pregnancy seems to be a good thing, but I’m not yet sure why her advisor had such a problem with it. I’m imagining that this will be brought out in the next episode, but that’s definitely something I wouldn’t mind finding out about.
The ending of this episode was great, with a nice teacher / student scene with Arya. She’s learning to fight, and I’m hoping that at some point, she manages to “stick the pointy end” of her blade into little Joffrey. Of course, this may be a little much to ask at this point, but see there being at least one action point with her in the future.
Anime You Should Be Watching: Puella Magi Madoka Magica
“mahou shoujo” – def. subgenre of Japanese anime and manga involving young girls (usually early to mid teens) with superhuman abilities who either volunteer or forced to fight for good and protect the Earth from destruction.
It has been awhile since I’ve profiled an anime series or OVA on the site. The great thing about attending anime/manga conventions is one discovers new anime or manga to obsesse over. This year, after a visit at this past April’s Anime Boston 2011, my latest anime obsession looks to be our latest “Anime of the Day”. My choice happens to be the latest in a long line of mahou shoujo anime series: Puella Magi Madoka Magica.
This series was actually recommended to me by someone on Twitter months ago but I was still hesistant to check it out until recently. It was while doing some last-minute research before heading over to Anime Boston 2011 that I finally latched onto Puella Magi Madoka Magica. This is peculiar since I’m not that much into the mahou shoujo (“magical girl”) subgenre of anime and manga. Fellow site writer pantsukudasai56 is the one who probably knows about this subgenre than I. It didn’t stop me from finally checking it out. Once back from Anime Boston 2011 I went and found all 12-episode of the first season (it’s just been recently announced that there’s to be a second season). I ended up watching all twelve episodes over a week and fell in love with it.
Puella Magi Madoka Magica is about very cute teen high schoolgirls who suddenly get thrust into a world of magic and science. There’s a major character that I always call an anime series’ mascot and this time it’s a creature resembling something crossed between a bunny and a siamese cat. Kyuubei (others spell it’s name Kyubey, Kyubei, QB, etc…) is a very cute creature who will grant a chosen girl any wish they want as long as they enter into a contract with it to become a Puella Magi who is a girl with magical powers to fight evil and witches.
How can you not love this little guy…
The series’ animation and characters actually make it out to be a very cutesy anime. From the playful and gothic lolita-style design of the girls. Even the creature known as Kyuubei was drawn to elicit nothing but “awwwws” and “d’awwwws” from those who first see the initial episodes. But it’s not that which got me to love this series. Unlike most other mahou shoujo series this one actually becomes quite serious after a couple episodes and turns a major corner into becoming quite a dark series. This turn is even more disturbing considering that the animation continues to be cute and lighthearted. The look of the character design might turn some people off, but for this particular series the gosurori (“gothloli” aka “gothic lolita”) style fits the series and should change the minds of even those who hate the look.
The animation by the anime studio SHAFT is exquisite despite a few inconsistencies here and there, but overall it’s one of the more beautiful and inventive looking anime series of late. The writing by Urobuchi Gen is what sells the series as it combines the early cutesy nature of the series with the darker turns it makes until the very end which is heartbreaking and emotional, to say the least. Here’s to hoping that some enterprising and brave licensor in the U.S. like Sentai or FUNimation will take a chance and license the series for a North American release.
Puella Magi Madoka Magica looks to be the anime series of 2011 and has only been seen in Japan. How those outside Japan are able to see the twelve episode is something to be left unsaid. Maybe those still wanting to know the answer can enter into a contract with Kyuubei and find out.
Some of the transformation animations from the series…
Through the Shattered Lens 