Who's Who In The CBU Update 2008
Who are... Park and Barb?
Barbara Lien-Cooper writes the comic GUN STREET GIRL at Panel 2 Panel, was an original founder of Sequential Tart, is the managing editrix of the 2004 Eisner award-winning print magazine COMIC BOOK ARTIST, and was named by Mark Millar (The Authority, Ultimates, Wanted) as one of the three most promising new talents in the next wave of comics writing.
Park Cooper started writing about comics at the now-defunct DC FANZINE website.
Barb On Film
http://www.amazon.com/Atelier-Marie-Elie-Zarlburg-Alchemist/dp/1598165259
Atelier Marie and Elie -Zarlburg Alchemist- Volume 1
This new manga that's out now was the first adapted by Barb for Tokyopop... You know, someone does a literal translation of the Japanese-to-English, and then someone comes and rewrites it so you don't end up with 'All your base are belong to us.' Well, with Atelier Marie, that second someone was Barb, so please pick it up and enjoy it.
"Welcome to the Zarlburg Royal Magic Academy-- producers of the best alchemists in the world! When Marie, Zalburg's prodigal daughter and premier alchemist, returns to her alma mater after thrilling journeys in many foreign lands, she suddenly realizes things are not too exciting at home. But all that changes after running into fellow alchemist Elie, who has plans to open an alchemy workshop and become famous."
Barb enjoyed it, I enjoyed it, there's adventure, comedy, fantasy, all that stuff you like.
So please go to your local store or however you purchase things and get it. Enjoy!
Anyway, Drew Edwards of Halloween Man got a meme where he listed 100 favorite films. Then he listed some more. I showed it to Barb and next thing you know she couldn't help but run off and start listing things herself:
Barb sez:
Favorite Films, In No Particular Order
Not a Top 100 List (close but no cigar), just films I like.
As anyone interested can see, I like comedies, film noir, and horror best. Weirdness, creativity, a certain degree of cynicism, characterization, and intelligence are things I'm a sucker for. I also have a slightly secret sweet tooth for Hollywood soap operas, goofy bits of pop culture, and good all-ages films.
His Girl Friday
The best screwball comedy ever made. My favorite film and one of my biggest influences as a writer.
Performance
Sex, drugs, rock and roll, magik, mob violence, Memo from Turner…what's not to love? My other favorite film and one of my biggest influences as a writer.
Now Voyager
All This And Heaven Too
Yeah, I know, soap operas. But I love Bette Davis films, so sue me.
My Man Godfrey
William Powell is a comedic genius, matched wit for wit by his ex-wife, Carole Lombard.
The Servant
Psychological Drama that feels like a horror film. Atmosphere bounds.
The Haunting (the original version)
A horror film for adults. Very smart, very creepy.
The Changeling
Another horror film for adults. Also very smart, very creepy…and a big influence on Asian horror films (of which I am also a big fan)
Inner Senses
My favorite Asian horror film. It's been poorly marketed as Asia's answer to The Sixth Sense, but its closest relative is Stir of Echoes (which just missed being on my fave movies list).
The Producers (original version)
The best written and acted first twenty minutes of comedy that I've ever seen. The rest is pretty darned funny, too.
Gods and Monsters
Really just a two-character sketch, but when one of the characters is Sir Ian doing Frankenstein director James Whale, that's reason enough to love this film.
My Neighbor Totoro
Heck, it could be just about any Miyazaki film. They're almost all classics.
Get Carter
It doesn't get much more hardboiled than this.
Strange Love of Martha Ivers
Oh, sure, there are better film noirs, but few that are crazier or more sexually, um, deviant? Weird? Absolutely dedicated to linking sex and death? Love the gun as phallic symbol ending. Martha might be crazy, but she's the one who pulls the trigger, let us say…
Rock and Roll High School
School of Rock
Two films that totally capture what it means to love rock and roll.
Time After Time
David Warner finally gets a role he can sink his teeth into. A truly great adventure film.
Brimstone and Treacle
I love British weirdness. Let's leave it at that.
Les Diaboliques (aka Diabolique)
Suspenseful and dark suspense, with a ghost story hint at the end, just the way I like 'em.
The Lady Vanishes
Hitchcock's most fun and perhaps best British suspense film.
If…
More British weirdness. If only Clockwork Orange had looked like this instead of that plastic science fiction look…
Quatermass and The Pit
Nigel Kneale was a god amongst script writers. Science fiction that feels like horror. Smart and imaginative. His work is an inspiration to me.
Laura
Clifton Webb is magnificent.
Manchurian Candidate (original version)
Lawrence Harvey's finest hour as an actor. Maybe Frank Sinatra's too. Whenever this film comes on, I can't keep my eyes off of it. Complex, smart, weird, and scary films do it for me every time.
Night of the Hunter
American noir weirdness. Preacher Powell is as scary as any movie monster.
Singin' In The Rain
Hilarious. Great dancing, great acting, great songs, great singing. Almost perfect, although I can live a happy life without ever seeing the "Gotta Dance" sequence again.
The Late Show
A '70's neo-noir classic that is often sadly overlooked by critics, perhaps because it's a sad goodbye letter to noir, a reminder that we really can't "make 'em like they used to".
The Lady Eve
Ball of Fire
Both films star a joy named Barbara. Two whipsmart comedies by two of the best directors in the business.
High and Low
Japanese film noir. Tough and tender, terribly suspenseful.
In A Lonely Place
Just about the saddest film noir ever.
My Favorite Year
A pleasure named O'Toole.
Toy Story II
Heck, it could be just about any classic Pixar film: Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo. I just picked this one because it has my gal Joan Cusack in it. She's one funny lady.
Wild in The Streets
Bizarre American exploitation with the astounding song "Shape of Things to Come" in it. As my thesaurus puts it about another subject, this film is blatantly guilty of "showing a quantum characteristic of strangeness…"
Privilege
One of the best rock films ever. Also one of the most disturbing (along with Wild in the Streets)
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Not the greatest film ever made, but a serviceable version of Bradbury's best foray into horror. Imagination and the theme of the transience of childhood, regret, and growing older. I'm a sucker for scary carnival films. Which leads to…
Nightmare Alley
Con games, film noir, fake psychics, circus geeks. One bizarre film.
X-Men II: X-Men United
The best superhero movie ever. Great acting, very good plot, very good dialog, neat thematic concerns. And Nightcrawler at his most Nightcrawler-est.
Star Trek IV
I was a Star Trek fan as a kid. This entry into the franchise is funny in the ways that my favorite episodes of the show were. Plus, they saved the whales!
Leon: The Professional
Jean Reno breaks your heart in this one. He's good, he's noble, and he's the best hitman I've seen onscreen. It has plenty of sick, violent moments, done incredibly well, too.
Red River
Called "the first Freudian Western". That just about sums it up.
My Darling Clementine
John Ford sure directs him some durned pretty Westerns, don't he?
The Crying Game
I like the characters. Sure, Mona Lisa or The Long Good Friday might be better examples of British neo-noir, but this one's definitely the most personable.
To Have and Have Not
Plot: Bogie and Baby would like to get it on, but the French resistance keeps interrupting them. Plus, we get to hear "How Little We Know". Sexy.
Shadow of a Doubt
Hitchcock's best psychopath. Perhaps his best film.
The Shining
Weird, way way way over the top horror with plenty of nutty twists and turns.
Adventures of Robin Hood
The Sea Hawk
Errol Flynn is a joy to watch.
A Fish Called Wanda
The 1980s answer to the Ealing Brothers. John Cleese is strangely sexy and sympatric. Jamie Lee Curtis is, well, just plain sexy.
The Nutty Professor (original)
You watch this enough times you'll start seeing what the French see in Jerry Lewis. Crazy comedy with an unexpected hipness factor.
All The President's Men
Winter Kills
The two reigning champions of the '70s paranoia film.
Galaxy Quest
Well, I did mention that I like Star Trek…
Addams Family Values
More quotable lines per square inch than any film since The Producers. The one about the Aristotelian unities is one I haul out when I particularly hate a comic or a movie.
Don't Look Now
Scared me as a kid, scares me as an adult.
Tiger Bay
The Parent Trap (the original)
Pollyanna
Hayley Mills fascinates me. Few child actors are as natural, yet professional as she was. She acts like a real kid.
The Curse of the Cat People
Strange little fantasy horror film. Oddest looking little blonde girl heroine I've ever seen. She's as scary as her imaginary friend.
Grosse Pointe Blank
Say Anything
John Cusack, when he does films he really believes in, is a wonder to behold. I like both films equally. Grosse Point Blank has a slight edge because it's a black comedy with some really great ultraviolence.
Born Yesterday
Judy Holliday was sweet, funny, incredibly smart (something like a 165 IQ)…and supposedly a lesbian. She's just the most glorious actress, so loveable. She died young, sadly.
The Major and The Minor
Ginger Rogers was an excellent comedian. This comedy has lots of nice dirty moments, too.
Portrait of Jennie
Supernatural romance that always leaves me in tears.
A Little Romance
Americanized Truffaut-esque comedy. Absolutely charming.
The Heiress
Soap opera as horror, maybe? Intense.
Klute
Jane Fonda's performance is one for the books. Anger, pain, hurt…she's just so damned good in this neo-noir.
Mimbo
Interesting, original, and always entertaining Asian film. Almost impossible to categorize.
Ginger Snaps
A first. A contemporary feminist werewolf film. Scary, funny, and original.
Pretty Poison
Tony Perkins' best psychopath. Tuesday Weld is just plain evil (and hot as a furnace) in this film!
Alphaville
Strange French science fiction detective film from the 1960's. Neat.
400 Blows
Beautiful, sad, funny film about childhood. Unblinkingly honest in tone.
Tron
That's entertainment!
Auntie Mame
I'm an Auntie Mame nut. Can't really say more than that.
Bedazzled (original)
Cook and Moore do the Faust legend. Hilarious comedy by two former University lads…and you can tell. Clever clever and clever.
Band Of Outsiders
Idiosyncratic French neo-noir. Joyful instead of cynical, which is weird for a noir. Anna Karina is lovely as a rose in all of her films.
The Birdcage
Elaine May's script, Williams and Lane, a nice message about tolerance. Sweet.
Curse of the Demon
Mature, sophisticated British horror with a tip of the hat to Val Lewton horror films.
David and Lisa
Mental patients in love. Deeply affecting, very watchable.
Intacto
Bizarre film. I guess it's in the suspense category, as it's a nail-biter. Unique.
Freaky Friday (original)
Yeah, yeah, a Disney farce. But Barbara Harris and Jody Foster are great in this film!
Grace of My Heart
John Turturro and Illeana Douglas make a flawed but interesting film into something great. They're both incredible.
Love at First Bite
Slight, silly but truly funny vampire farce.
Victor/Victoria
Robert Preston! He brings up the quality of anything he's in.
Pleasantville
Lovely liberal values! Great film. Hard to stop watching.
To Wong Foo: Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar
I can't help it. I like this film. I can't explain why, just that I like the characters, in spite of myself.
What's Love Got to Do with It?
One of the all time great bio-pics.
What's Up Doc?
On an objective level, this film is probably just failed neo-screwball comedy, but it was the first one I ever saw and I laughed a lot. If I hadn't seen it, I probably wouldn't have gotten into classic screwball comedies. Besides, I still watch it when it's on TV.
3:10 To Yuma (original)
It's a rare thing for a film I've only seen once (and recently) to make my list. But this film is perfect and something a little different: a film noir Western with a villain you like as much (if not more) than the hero, in spite of his evil ways. Basically, it's a psychological showdown between lawful good and lawful evil with a nice "will there be a shoot out or not" climatic scene. Great stuff.
The Brady Bunch Movie
The Wedding Singer
Sure, neither of these films are likely to win any awards, but they're both funny, sweet little pieces of pop culture that make me smile every time I see them. After all, this is a favorite movie list, not a best-films-I've-ever-seen list.
And that's it from Barb. Maybe some time I'll point out all the ways most of those films have influenced Barb in her writing...
--P
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http://www.amazon.com/Atelier-Marie-Elie-Zarlburg-Alchemist/dp/1598165259