Bubble

- Bubble. (Japan, 2022. Dir. Tetsuroh Araki)

After the world is invaded by mysterious alien bubbles that bend the laws of physics, Tokyo is walled off as a particularly dangerous zone. But inside live several teams of teenagers spending their time in hair-rising parkour competitions for trade. One, of them, champion Hibiki, has dealt with hypersensitive hearing since he was a child. Increasingly, he hears a haunting zone coming from the destroyed Tokyo tower...

Charming, highly energetic YA (for teenagers) action yarn, a contemporary take of sorts on "The little mermaid". Gorgeously animated in both action and quiet moments and with a delightful cast, the result is a highly entertaining film for youths. Quite recommended.

*

January 2022 extras.

 *

More stuff finished in the last month.

- Voir. A collection of film essays ranging from genre to format to design to cultural impact. Thoughtful and ponderous, quite recommended --each of the six essays.

- Sailor Moon Eternal. I re-watched the entire "Sailor Moon Crystal" anime, then these two movies  --it holds up much better than we remember all in all, away from pointless discourse and seen more as its own thing.

 

*

My heart is a chainsaw

 

- My heart is a chainsaw. Stephen Graham Jones.

Jade Daniels, half Blackfoot, desperately seeks an escape from her stiffling, lonely life. She finds solace in pranks --and especially in her open vice: Slasher films. She's even written several lenghty essays on the matter. Thus, it is perhaps fitting when she starts noticing unmistable signs that an horror tale of the kind is about to unfold on her sleepy Idaho town. But Jade is about to learn that sometimes reality can be far, far harsher than the most brutal films...

Extraordinay novel from Graham Jones, described as his third slasher (after "Demon theory" and "The last final girl"). As is often the case with Jones' fiction it is at once a gleefully wicked pulp yarn --and underneath that bloody mask, a complex, thoughtful meditation on loneliness, abuse, and the historical consequences of racism, segregation and genocide. Like the best writers of the style, Jones plants subtle clues in plain sight --the resulting gut punch as they unfurl and reveal themselves all the more effective because of that.

Quite recommended all in all --and hopefully used to start several fascinating discussions.

*

December 2022 extras.

 *

Also watched, near the end of the month: 

*

TV SHOWS

LIVE ACTION

- Wednesday. 

- The Good Cop. 

Copaganda at its most blatant, being a sitcom that asks us to believe that a policeman arrested and discharged for drug traffic is undeniably a good and sympathetic guy. Even as he tries to kill someone he has a personal grudge against. None of it presented as a black comedy even. 

- The Boys, season 2.

ANIMATED

- Bojack Horseman, season 3. 

MOVIES

- Black Adam. 

*

Trigger Warning

 

- Trigger Warning: Short fictions and disturbances. Neil Gaiman. 

Gaiman’s third short story collection, after “Smoke and mirrors” and “Fragile things” offers another mix of fantasy, horror, humor —with some sci-fi even, plus poetry, short-shorts and even a novella! All dealing with sudden changes in the world, as noted by both title and introduction. Even Gaiman’s traditional short story hidden in the Introduction!

Far less shocking than a title like “trigger warning” would suggest, yet it’s a very good, very enjoyable collection. often more memorable than the previous “Fragile things”. There is a recurrent theme of fairytales, folklore and rituals. Some brought to modern times, others essentially taking place in all eras and none. All sort of familiar faces show up, from assorted folk characters to tv personalities like Dr. Who and even Gaiman’s own Shadow (of the novel “American Gods” and others). Also famous fairytale and literary characters here and there. 

On the whole, accessible both to longtime Gaiman fans and to newcomers. While not entirely on par with his 90’s work, certainly the pinnacle of his creativity, it’s still very much a kind of book downright needed nowadays. Both stimulating and thought-provoking. 

*

November 2022 Extras

*

Also read / watched in the month: 

TV SHOWS

LIVE ACTION

- The midnight club. 

Inspired by assorted books from 90’s YA horror author Christopher Pike (not just the titular one). Good companion to other recent adaptations of YA / Children’s horror —like the "Fear Street" and "Goosebumps" movies (all drawn from R. L. Stine), or “Scary tales to tell in the dark” —and one would be tempted to include the tv series “I know what you did last summer”, had that one not been a disappointment. 

In any case, The midnight club is a fairly entertaining thriller that, like the Fear Street movie trilogy, brings the diversity (in particular the Queerness) that was barely present in the original books. 

- Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of curiosities. 

Fairly entertaining horror anthology. Though at times it’s little more than a new season of “Masters of Horror”, rather than the Twilight Zone vibe it seems to be aiming for, it’s nevertheless worth a look for horror aficionados. 

- The boys (season 1). 

Media satire disguised as a bad-taste superhero parody. Better than one would expect from the trailers, if still more clever than intelligent. Still, worth a look —definitely not for everyone, however. 

ANIMATED

- Dead end: Paranormal park. (season 2)

Extraordinary dark fantasy for children, notable both for the queer elements (that are here an integral part of the story) and for becoming an apologia for rebellion against God. Quite recommended. 

- Zootopia+. 

Shorts derived from the famous movie. Nicely animated and amusing, if short enough to count almost as deleted scenes. Still, pretty entertaining. 

- Sailor Moon Crystal. (Seasons 1 - 2)

The much maligned second anime adaptation of the world-famous manga —I found it to hold up surprisingly well. Perhaps it works much better completely ignoring the Fandom Discourse around it, both positive and negative, and simply watching this one on its own merits. 

WEBCOMIC

- Some other animal’s meat. Emily Carroll. 

Excellently creepy horror comic from a master of the genre. The basis for a Cabinet of curiosities episode that truly did not do justice to the original. 

MOVIES

- Sailor Moon R: The movie. 

- Sailor Moon S: The movie. 

- Sailor Moon SuperS: The movie. 

The movies spun off from the original anime all hold up nicely, each with their own themes and aesthetic.

- Sing.

So-so animated musical. While entertaining and nice to look at, something is missing and overall is fairly unmemorable. 

*

Spooky comics.

 *

Read the following comic book anthologies: 

- Archie Halloween Spectacular. 

- Archie & Friends Thrills and Chills. 

- Jinx: Grim fairy tales. 

- Weirder mysteries. 

From Archie comics; the first two all-ages, the latter rated Teen. Somewhat slim, but pretty fun, suitably spooky. 

- Infinite Halloween. 

- The multiverse who laughs.

From DC comics. Scary tales set in the DC Universe, often to its detriment —the first volume is 13 tales that feel like they would be much better without the superhero element (not to mention as a stand-alone). The second is possibly the apotheosis of fandom obsession with things they ultimately dislike —familiar DC stories, diving deep into decades of continuity, but all re-told as something of a gross-out contest. 

- Tales from the darkside. 

IDW adaptation of a failed tv revival from Joe Hill. As is typical of Hill a little too weird for Horror, yet firmly unwilling to let his tales be anything BUT horror, and thus too cynical for Fantasy. 

- Creepshow.

Image revival of the famous anthology movies —much better, and the most successful anthology of this list, after the Archie ones —very much for adults in this case. 

Fun little bunch for the end of the spooky season. 

*