My pick is from 1998. The Storm Riders adapting a Chinese comic book series. It is total over the top and an overly involved story attempting to convey in one movie what the comic did over years. Filled with spectacular martial arts fighting and special effects looking exactly like a comic book movie should. And how do you go wrong with Sonny Chiba as the big bad Lord conqueror?!?

The plot is about two children, Whispering Wind and Striding Cloud, who are trained to become powerful warriors/weapons under the evil Lord Conqueror's (Chiba) tutelage. The two children are really children of former opponents's of Lord Conqueror who find the truth of their parentage and rebel.

This is a favorite i watch at least once a year. It is the Chinese version of an American Summer Action Movie and it is fabulous!!! Do yourself a favor and check it out if you haven't seen it...

Starting at #12, I give you 2011's Le chat du rabbin




Adapting books 1, 2 and 5 of Joann Sfar's brilliant series, it is a charming movie. There was no way any film could be as good as the comic, but it manages to be charming in its own right and its title sequence is a lovely piece of animation. Partly surrealistic, deeply humanist, this movie made me smile almost continuously. The artwork of the series could not have been translated straight to the screen, but the aesthetics of Sfar's pages is at least referred to.

The title character is the nameless cat of an Algerian rabbi, sometimes in the early years of the 20 century. After eating a parrot (a misdeed he denies, mouthful of feathers notwithstanding!) the cat gains the ability to talk. Since he next wants a Bar mitzvah, the cat and his master get in a long argument on whether cats can become Jewish, a discussion that ends up involving several other rabbis and touches on the mysterious ways of the Eternal.

Complicating matters, a crate of sacred texts arrives from revolutionary Russia...a crate that also contains a Russian escapee from a Cossack pogrom! Since the young fellow (an artist) doesn't speak French nor Arabic, the cat has to act as a translator... He apparently understands Russian.

The young artist dreams of traveling to Ethiopia, where Russian documents claim live Dark-skinned Jews descended from King David and the Queen of Sheba. He wants to see the Ethiopian Jerusalem, where people live in peace and shielded from racism and violence. The rabbi joins him in his continent-crossing trek, along with the rabbi's dear friend, Sheik Muhammad Sfar. And in this period of tense religious relations, what a joy it is to see these two guys serenely converse and be united, rather than divided, by their faith in different prophets).

An episode involving a very strict imam brings a discordant note, I think, but is perhaps relevant to our times because of the contrast with Sheik Muhammad.

Along the way, the Russian artist falls in love with an Ethiopian girl; their quest for their fabulous Jerusalem fills the rest of the movie.

It's the kind of film that gives one faith in mankind. And that confirms our beliefs about cats!

The Addams Family (1991)

I'm a huge fan of Charles Addams' panels, particularly those about the mysterious and ooky family.  I didn't hold out huge hope for the film, though the casting was largely spot-on.  But I was very pleasantly surprised.  Raul Julia and Angelica Huston are fabulous as Gomez and Morticia.  There are plenty of easter eggs to spot from both the panels and the earlier television show.  It really is just a terribly fun movie and shows the the skewed humans can be amongst the most human of us all. 

On the first day of Christmas, Ben Edlund gave to me...

12. The Tick (1994-1997)

Duh-dwee a duh duh dwee dou. Duh-dwee...

Okay, I'll admit I don't know the words.

In some sense, I don't like this series. Because Ben Edlund left the comics to make it and never returned, having found a happy home writing for television and film. And sure he's worked on plenty of things I like. Firefly, Titan AE... But I'd trade it all to read Tick #13.

Because #12 was a cliffhanger. And because those first 12 issues of Tick are the best superhero parody comics I have read without contender. And also the funniest comics I have ever read.

And yes, the show captures that humor. It's actually pretty sophisticated humor for a kid's show. Not sure I really appreciated Bipolar Bear as a child, but I thought it was funny that a superhero didn't want to get out of bed.

Most of the series seems to be available on Youtube (at least until a DMCA notice comes in)

www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_Y3COSsN1HbesasVroI1Ldc_nPRx8cnf

I've been watching scatted episodes (didn't quite make it through the whole series last night as planned). Remember his sidekick, the little wooden boy.



That episode ended with one of his summarizing monologues:



Oh, and when Tick got a mustache. That episode had Jim Rage, Agent of SHAVE. And Taft! Darn right.




Spoon!

Next entry tomorrow. I'll leave you in the dark about it until then. No joke.

Always enjoyed this, in a Roger Corman-cheesy kind of way.  I did a review on IMDB, called Nick Slightly-Annoyed, Agent of CHEESE.  The Helicarrier is awesome, though I had to wonder why it needed the watertight doors (probably ventured down to look at an old ship and replicated that on the set)?  Air filling the space isn't a problem, compared to water.

I have too many favorites, so this isn't necessarily a reflection of my ranking of them, as picking 12 and then ordering them. Today's entry is Barbarella.



It's pure 60s camp, when that was a good thing, and is a ton of fun. What's even more surprising is that it is pretty faithful to Jean-Claude Forest's original stories. They were reprinted in English, by Grove Press, around the time of the movie and the tone is there, the plot is there, and the characterization is spot on.



Dino De Laurentiss, like many Italian filmmakers, was a fan of comics. He optioned many for films, producing Barbarella, Baba Yaga (based on Guido Crepax's Valentina), Diabolik, Flash Gordon, Conan (inspired more by Marvel than Howard), and Red Sonja (same).

Jane Fonda is great in this as the slightly naive intergalactic agent and sexpot. It's both liberated and ridiculously chauvinistic, at the same time. Mostly, it's just plain fun. It breezes along quite well, has a kicking jazzy/pop soundtrack, and everyone seems to be having fun. Marcel Marceau has a speaking role! There are tons of 60s international stars, like Ugo Tognazzi (La Cage Aux Folles) and John Phillip Law (who made his name in Italian cinema), and David Hemmings (Camelot and Airwolf, of all things). Hemmings is hilarious, in a scene where he has enlightened sex with Barbarella (involving taking a pill then pressing palms together, rather than the more "barbaric" method), as his hair curls up. See Barbarella vs Death by Orgasm! See the evil kids with the killer dolls! See the sexy Black Queen! See the weird soldiers explode! See the blind Angel, Pygar! See a whole lot of Jane Fonda, and I don't mean screentime!

This is Jane, before the politics overshadowed her talent, when she showed off her flair for comedy, rather than focusing so much on drama. This is a film that doesn't take itself seriously, yet takes making an entertaining film seriously. It's also a great entry into what many call "Continental Cinema," films from Europe that were big on style, often playful and campy; but always fun and exciting. It's also a film that shows that if you respect the source material, it will translate to the screen.

In the interest of fairness, it does kind of stall out, before getting to the climactic battle, and some of the acting is rather stiff (Anita Pallenberg and John Phillip Law, especially). You do need to have a tolerance for 60s decadence and irreverent attitude, and a lot of the plot revolves around contriving a situation that gets Barbarella into bed. However, like the original, it is a satire of such puritanical thinking and is filled with the more positive atmosphere of the Swinging Sixties.

I'm sure I had absolutely no idea that The Addams Family started out as a single panel comic strip. I always thought that it started out as a TV series in the '60s. This is why I love these Classic Comics Christmas events....you learn so much from other people's posts.





Yeah, this was on my shortlist too. Great to see you picking it, Hal.




Heh! Snap!

Great minds, and all that...