"Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind" Manga Box Set Coming

VIZ MEDIA ANNOUNCES THE RELEASE OF NAUSICAÄ OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND DELUXE MANGA BOX SET

Hayao Miyazaki’s Acclaimed Manga Fantasy Adventure Offered In A New 2-Volume Hardcover Box Set That Arrives In Time For The Start Of The 2012 Holiday Season

San Francisco, CA, November 1, 2012 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest publisher, distributor and licensor of manga and anime in North America, is proud to announce the release of the NAUSICAÄ OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND Deluxe Box Set, which collects all 7 volumes of the original celebrated manga (graphic novel) series by Hayao Miyazaki into 2 new hardcover editions packaged in a special illustrated slipcase. A full-color double-sided poster is also included and each volume features 8 full-color page inserts.

The NAUSICAÄ OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND Deluxe Box Set is scheduled for release on November 6th, is rated ‘T’ for Teens, and carries an MSRP of $60.00 U.S. / $67.99 CAN. A movie adaptation is also available on DVD and Blu-ray from Walt Disney Home Entertainment.

In a long-ago war, humankind set off a devastating ecological disaster. Thriving industrial societies disappeared. The earth is slowly submerging beneath the expanding Sea of Corruption, an enormous toxic forest that creates mutant insects and releases a miasma of poisonous spores into the air. At the periphery of the sea, tiny kingdoms are scattered on tiny parcels of land. Here lies the Valley of the Wind, a kingdom of barely 500 citizens; a nation given fragile protection from the decaying sea's poisons by the ocean breezes; and home to Nausicaä.

“NAUSICAÄ OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND is a true manga masterpiece, an epic fantasy story written and illustrated by legendary Studio Ghibli founder/director, Hayao Miyazaki, the creator of My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, and Howl’s Moving Castle,” says Masumi Washington, Senior Director, Editorial. “NAUSICAÄ OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND remains one of Hayao Miyazaki’s most widely acclaimed works and delivers a powerful message of ecological conservation and preserving our fragile environment for future generations. This new Deluxe Box Set arrives just in time for the start of the 2012 Holiday shopping season and we know it will be high on many fans’ wish lists this year. We invite them to look for this newest addition to VIZ Media’s Studio Ghibli Library.”

Hayao Miyazaki is one of Japan's most beloved animation directors. In 2005 he was awarded the Venice International Film Festival's Golden Lion Award for Lifetime Achievement. His Studio Ghibli received the festival's prestigious Osella Award for overall achievement in 2004. Miyazaki's films include Spirited Away, winner of the 2002 Academy Award® for Best Animated Feature Film, as well as Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke, Howl's Moving Castle, and Ponyo, all of which have received tremendous acclaim in the U.S. Miyazaki's other achievements include the highly regarded manga series NAUSICAÄ OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND and STARTING POINT: 1979-1996, a collection of essays, interviews, and memoirs that chronicle his early career and the development of his theories of animation. Both titles are available in English from VIZ Media.

For more information on NAUSICAÄ OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND, or other manga titles from VIZ Media, please visit www.VIZ.com.


About VIZ Media, LLC
Headquartered in San Francisco, California, VIZ Media distributes, markets and licenses the best anime and manga titles direct from Japan. Owned by three of Japan's largest manga and animation companies, Shueisha Inc., Shogakukan Inc., and Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions, Co., Ltd., VIZ Media has the most extensive library of anime and manga for English speaking audiences in North America, the United Kingdom, Ireland and South Africa. With its popular manga anthology WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP ALPHA magazine and blockbuster properties like NARUTO, BLEACH and INUYASHA, VIZ Media offers cutting-edge action, romance and family friendly properties for anime, manga, science fiction and fantasy fans of all ages. VIZ Media properties are available as graphic novels, DVDs, animated television series, feature films, downloadable and streaming video and a variety of consumer products. Learn more about VIZ Media, anime and manga at www.VIZ.com.

Review: "Halloween H20" is a Standout in the Franchise

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 82 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux

Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)
Running time: 86 minutes (1 hour, 26 minutes)
MPAA – R for terror violence/gore and language
DIRECTOR: Steve Miner
WRITERS: Robert Zappia and Matt Greenberg; from a story by Robert Zappia (based on the characters created by John Carpenter and Debra Hill)
PRODUCER: Paul Freeman
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Daryn Okada
EDITOR: Patrick Lussier
COMPOSER: John Ottman with Marco Beltrami and Jeremy Sweet

HORROR/THRILLER

Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Josh Hartnett, Adam Arkin, Michelle Williams, LL Cool J, Adam Hann-Byrd, Jodi Lyn O’Keefe, Janet Leigh, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Nancy Stephens, and Chris Durand

The subject of this movie review is Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, a 1998 slasher film from director Steve Miner. Although he is only credited as one of the executive producers, Kevin Williamson, the screenwriter of the hit horror movie, Scream, contributed as a writer on Halloween H20.

Halloween H20 is also the seventh film in the Halloween horror film franchise that began in 1978 with the highly influential John Carpenter film, Halloween. Halloween H20 takes place 20 years after the events depicted in Halloween and its sequel, Halloween II (1981). Once again, the cursed brother-sister duo of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode must struggle against one another. Halloween H20 ignores the third (which did not involve Michael Myers) through the sixth installments of the franchise.

Halloween H20: 20 Years Later opens in 1998. As Halloween approaches, Michael Myers (Chris Durand) reappears. Meanwhile, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) is living in Summer Glen, Northern California under the assumed name, “Keri Tate.” She is the headmistress at the posh, secluded, private boarding school, Hillcrest Academy High School. Laurie also has a boyfriend, Will Brennan (Adam Arkin), but her life isn’t quite perfect. She is a functioning alcoholic, forever fearful that Michael will come coming looking for her. Her son, 17-year-old John Tate (Josh Hartnett), is tired of dealing with his mother’s paranoia. On Halloween night, however, John will discover that his mother has to face her fears one more time.

I have to keep it real. I really like Halloween H20: 20 Years Later. I have seen it in its entirety three times, and I still watch bit and pieces of it whenever it is shown on television. It never fails to thrill me, and it is easily the best Halloween film since the first two. I give a lot of the credit for this movie’s quality to director Steve Miner and the various screenwriters.

Miner is a veteran film director, having helmed several horror films, including House (1986), Lake Placid (1999), and two installments of the Friday the 13th franchise. Miner uses some of the techniques that Carpenter used in the original film. He builds intensity with musical cues, eschews gore in scenes of violent death, uses darkness and shadow to create an atmosphere that suggests fear and mystery, and turns every setting into a place of danger, regardless of the time of day. Halloween H20 is quiet and ominous rather than frantic and clumsy, which some of the Halloween films are.

I don’t know which writers contributed what to the screenplay, but clearly (to me at least) the respect for the original films comes first for Kevin Williamson. Halloween H20 is smooth and also stripped down to its raw essence: Michael Myers’ relentless drive to kill his sister and Laurie’s naked fear of Michael finding her and killing both her and her son.

Without John Carpenter and actress Jamie Lee Curtis, the Myers character had not been able to carry this franchise. With Myers alone, each Halloween was simply another bad slasher flick – a movie that was little more than product turned out, like a cheap fast food hamburger, to separate a sucker from his money. With Miner doing his best work, Curtis returns and makes Halloween H20: 20 Years Later one of the best horror movies of the 1990s. It is scary, thrilling, a little funny, and sometimes a nail-biter. The people that control this franchise should have stopped here.

8 of 10
A

Thursday, November 01, 2012

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Star Wars Franchise Now Belongs to Disney

[Internet issues stopped Negromancer from commenting in a timely manner on the bombshell news that The Walt Disney Company had acquired Lucasfilm Ltd. and now owned Star Wars (gasp). The following press release was released on Tuesday (October 30, 2012), so some of the time sensitive infomation has been removed.]

DISNEY TO ACQUIRE LUCASFILM LTD.

Global leader in high-quality family entertainment agrees to acquire world-renowned Lucasfilm Ltd, including legendary STAR WARS franchise.

Acquisition continues Disney's strategic focus on creating and monetizing the world's best branded content, innovative technology and global growth to drive long-term shareholder value.

Lucasfilm to join company's global portfolio of world class brands including Disney, ESPN, Pixar, Marvel and ABC.

STAR WARS: EPISODE 7 feature film targeted for release in 2015.

Burbank, CA and San Francisco, CA, October 30, 2012 – Continuing its strategy of delivering exceptional creative content to audiences around the world, The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) has agreed to acquire Lucasfilm Ltd. in a stock and cash transaction. Lucasfilm is 100% owned by Lucasfilm Chairman and Founder, George Lucas.

Under the terms of the agreement and based on the closing price of Disney stock on October 26, 2012, the transaction value is $4.05 billion, with Disney paying approximately half of the consideration in cash and issuing approximately 40 million shares at closing. The final consideration will be subject to customary post-closing balance sheet adjustments.

"Lucasfilm reflects the extraordinary passion, vision, and storytelling of its founder, George Lucas," said Robert A. Iger, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company. "This transaction combines a world-class portfolio of content including Star Wars, one of the greatest family entertainment franchises of all time, with Disney's unique and unparalleled creativity across multiple platforms, businesses, and markets to generate sustained growth and drive significant long-term value."

"For the past 35 years, one of my greatest pleasures has been to see Star Wars passed from one generation to the next," said George Lucas, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lucasfilm. "It's now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers. I've always believed that Star Wars could live beyond me, and I thought it was important to set up the transition during my lifetime. I'm confident that with Lucasfilm under the leadership of Kathleen Kennedy, and having a new home within the Disney organization, Star Wars will certainly live on and flourish for many generations to come. Disney's reach and experience give Lucasfilm the opportunity to blaze new trails in film, television, interactive media, theme parks, live entertainment, and consumer products."

Under the deal, Disney will acquire ownership of Lucasfilm, a leader in entertainment, innovation and technology, including its massively popular and "evergreen" Star Wars franchise and its operating businesses in live action film production, consumer products, animation, visual effects, and audio post production. Disney will also acquire the substantial portfolio of cutting-edge entertainment technologies that have kept audiences enthralled for many years. Lucasfilm, headquartered in San Francisco, operates under the names Lucasfilm Ltd., LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic, and Skywalker Sound, and the present intent is for Lucasfilm employees to remain in their current locations.

Kathleen Kennedy, current Co-Chairman of Lucasfilm, will become President of Lucasfilm, reporting to Walt Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn. Additionally she will serve as the brand manager for Star Wars, working directly with Disney's global lines of business to build, further integrate, and maximize the value of this global franchise. Ms. Kennedy will serve as executive producer on new Star Wars feature films, with George Lucas serving as creative consultant. Star Wars Episode 7 is targeted for release in 2015, with more feature films expected to continue the Star Wars saga and grow the franchise well into the future.

The acquisition combines two highly compatible family entertainment brands, and strengthens the long-standing beneficial relationship between them that already includes successful integration of Star Wars content into Disney theme parks in Anaheim, Orlando, Paris and Tokyo.

Driven by a tremendously talented creative team, Lucasfilm's legendary Star Wars franchise has flourished for more than 35 years, and offers a virtually limitless universe of characters and stories to drive continued feature film releases and franchise growth over the long term. Star Wars resonates with consumers around the world and creates extensive opportunities for Disney to deliver the content across its diverse portfolio of businesses including movies, television, consumer products, games and theme parks. Star Wars feature films have earned a total of $4.4 billion in global box to date, and continued global demand has made Star Wars one of the world's top product brands, and Lucasfilm a leading product licensor in the United States in 2011. The franchise provides a sustainable source of high quality, branded content with global appeal and is well suited for new business models including digital platforms, putting the acquisition in strong alignment with Disney's strategic priorities for continued long-term growth.

The Lucasfilm acquisition follows Disney's very successful acquisitions of Pixar and Marvel, which demonstrated the company's unique ability to fully develop and expand the financial potential of high quality creative content with compelling characters and storytelling through the application of innovative technology and multiplatform distribution on a truly global basis to create maximum value. Adding Lucasfilm to Disney's portfolio of world class brands significantly enhances the company's ability to serve consumers with a broad variety of the world's highest-quality content and to create additional long-term value for our shareholders.

The Boards of Directors of Disney and Lucasfilm have approved the transaction, which is subject to clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act, certain non-United States merger control regulations, and other customary closing conditions. The agreement has been approved by the sole shareholder of Lucasfilm.


About The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company, together with its subsidiaries and affiliates, is a leading diversified international family entertainment and media enterprise with five business segments: media networks, parks and resorts, studio entertainment, interactive media, and consumer products. Disney is a Dow 30 company with revenues of over $40 billion in its Fiscal Year 2011.

About Lucasfilm Ltd.
Founded by George Lucas in 1971, Lucasfilm is a privately held, fully-integrated entertainment company. In addition to its motion-picture and television production operations, the company's global activities include Industrial Light & Magic and Skywalker Sound, serving the digital needs of the entertainment industry for visual-effects and audio post-production; LucasArts, a leading developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software worldwide; Lucas Licensing, which manages the global merchandising activities for Lucasfilm's entertainment properties; Lucasfilm Animation; and Lucas Online creates Internet-based content for Lucasfilm's entertainment properties and businesses. Additionally, Lucasfilm Singapore, produces digital animated content for film and television, as well as visual effects for feature films and multi-platform games. Lucasfilm Ltd. is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

Another November, Another Negromancer

Welcome to Negromancer, a ComicBookBin blog (www.comicbookbin.com). This is rebirth of the former movie review website as a movie review and movie news website and blog.

All images and text appearing on this blog are © copyright and/or trademark their respective owners.

Review: 1981 Version of "Halloween II" is a Worthy Sequel

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 120 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Halloween II (1981)
Running time: 92 minutes (1 hour, 32 minutes)
MPAA - R
DIRECTOR: Rick Rosenthal
WRITERS/PRODUCERS: John Carpenter and Debra Hill
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Dean Cundey
EDITORS: Mark Goldblatt and Skip Schoolnik
COMPOSERS: John Carpenter and Alan Howarth

HORROR/THRILLER

Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasence, Charles Cyphers, Jeffrey Kramer, Lance Guest, Pamela Susan Shoop, Dick Warlock, Leo Rossi, Gloria Gifford, Tawny Moyer, Ana Alicia, and Ford Rainey

Halloween II, the sequel to the highly influential 1978 horror film, Halloween, picks up right where the original ended. In fact, Halloween II begins with footage from the first film that finds high school babysitter, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), and psychiatrist-with-a-gun, Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence), fighting off masked killer, Michael Myers.

Loomis shot Myers six times at the end of the first film, but Myers walked away from what should have been kill shots. After that recap (with some new footage mixed in), Laurie is hauled off to the local hospital, but Myers tracks her across town and enters the hospital, where he begins to kill off the hospital staff so that no one can be in his way when he moves in to kill Laurie. Meanwhile, Dr. Loomis is running into his own problems, as Michael’s murder spree from the first film has the entire state in an uproar, with the blame placed squarely on Loomis’ shoulders. Dr. Loomis also learns a hidden secret, which reveals that Laurie was Michael’s main target all along. Can he get to the hospital in time?

Although the screen credits for Halloween II list John Carpenter, who directed the first film, as strictly a co-writer and co-producer for the second film, Carpenter thought Halloween II director, Rick Rosenthal, had delivered a sequel that was too tame. Carpenter did three days of re-shoots for Halloween II and added the new scenes into the footage Rosenthal shot in order to make the final version of the sequel bloodier, and Halloween II certainly is. The body counts exceeds 10 (whereas there were only four onscreen killings in the first film), and the sequel certainly reflects the gory nature of 1980’s slasher films like the Friday the 13th franchise, although the original Halloween, which almost single-handed gave birth to the 80’s slasher craze, does not have an abnormally high body count.

Despite the bodies piling up, Halloween II has a superbly chilling atmosphere that will have goose flesh raised and the viewer cowering in his seat. The hospital, operating on a nighttime skeleton crew, is all dark rooms and shadowy corridors, which is perfect for the spooky sequences of Myers slowing stalking the hallways, his slow footsteps bringing him from one scene of bloody mayhem to the next. Rosenthal, who would later direct the 2002 installment of this franchise, Halloween: Resurrection, should probably get credit for creating this frightful ambiance. Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasance give good performances, in particularly Pleasance, who gives Dr. Loomis a droll sense of humor and a matter of fact attitude about his quest to stop Myers. However, this flick’s true stars are the darkened exteriors and interiors and the murderous wraith that stalks them. Halloween II may be inferior to the original film, but it’s not inferior by a whole lot.

7 of 10
A-

Friday, June 02, 2006

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Review: "The Howling" Still Has Bite

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 52 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Howling (1981)
Running time: 91 minutes (1 hour, 31 minutes)
MPAA – R
DIRECTOR: Joe Dante
WRITERS: John Sayles and Terence H. Winkless (from the novel by Gary Brandner)
PRODUCER: Daniel H. Blatt, Jack Conrad, Michael Finnell, and Steven A. Lane
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jim Hora
EDITOR: Mark Goldblatt and Joe Dante
COMPOSER: Pino Donaggio

HORROR/THRILLER/DRAMA/FANTASY

Starring: Dee Wallace, Patrick Macnee, Dennis Dugan, Christopher Stone, Belinda Balaski, Kevin McCarthy, John Carradine, Slim Pickens, Elisabeth Brooks, Robert Picardo, Margie Impert, Noble Willingham, James Murtaugh, Jim McKrell, Kenneth Tobey, Don McLeod, and Dick Miller

The subject of this movie review is The Howling, a 1981 werewolf movie from director Joe Dante. The film is loosely based on Gary Brandner’s 1977 novel of the same name. The film starred real-life husband and wife Dee Wallace and Christopher Stone, who were married from 1980 to Christopher Stone’s death in 1995.

One of the few great werewolf movies of the last quarter of the 20th Century is The Hollowing. Directed by Joe Dante, the film is part tongue-in-cheek and part tribute to B-movie horror, but to describe the film as merely cheeky or cheesy would be a disservice to a film that features some really great scary movie atmosphere and some fantastic monster makeup effects.

After a traumatic experience with a serial killer, TV news reporter, Karen White (Dee Wallace) and her husband, Bill Neill (Christopher Stone), move temporarily to a rustic California resort called The Colony, at the behest of the resort’s founder, Dr. George Waggner, who is Karen’s therapist. Once at the colony, both Karen and Bill dislike the kooky yokels. However, Bill starts to blend in after a comely and brazen young woman puts some moves on him. Karen is upset by this attention Bill is getting, but she is more worried by what she hears at night, right outside her window – the howling. Meanwhile, Karen’s colleagues, Terry Fisher (Belinda Balaski) and Christopher (Dennis Dugan), are getting closer to making a shocking connection between the serial killer who attacked Karen and The Colony.

The Howling for all its humorous edge is also quite intense. In fact, Dante directs the shrewdly and tightly (co-written script by John Sayles) in a straight fashion and with a straight face. Considering the subject matter, the viewer may take The Howling as a howler or as a riveting horror flick. It works quite well either way, plus, the film’s sexual edge is quite effective. The women in this film are by far the most interesting players. Dee Wallace and Belinda Balaski’s primary mode is either breathless wonder or wild-eye terror, and they do it so well.

The Howling’s best aspect is the monster costumes and special makeup effects; the werewolf transformation scenes are fascinating and mesmeric, each one a unique, mind-bending, imaginative showcase of the immense talents of Rob Bottin. Unfortunately for Bottin, his work was overshadowed by his mentor, Rick Baker, who won an Oscar for his make up work in 1981’s other werewolf movie, An American Werewolf in London. Bottin’s work, Dante’s directing, and the Sayles/Winkless script make this a must-see for horror movie fans.

8 of 10
A

April 6, 2005

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"Ringu" a Gooseflesh Generator

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 145 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux


Ringu (1998)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Japanese
Running time: 96 minutes (1 hour, 36 minutes)
Not rated by the MPAA
DIRECTOR: Hideo Nakata
WRITER: Hiroshi Takahashi (from the novel by Kôji Suzuki)
PRODUCERS: Takashige Ichise, Shin'ya Kawai, and Takenori Sentô
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jun'ichirô Hayashi
EDITOR: Nobuyuki Takahashi
COMPOSER: Kenji Kawai

HORROR/MYSTERY with elements of a thriller

Starring: Nanako Matsushima, Hiroyuki Sanada, Rikiya Otaka, and Katsumi Muramatsu

The subject of this movie review is the 1998 Japanese horror film, Ring, which is better known under the title, Ringu. The film is directed by Hideo Nakata and is based upon Ring, a 1991 novel by Kôji Suzuki. Ringu was released in the United States and the United Kingdom in 2000.

In this film, there is an urban legend in Japan that if you watch a peculiar videotape, you will die a week later. After watching a mysterious videotape, a group of teenagers die gruesome deaths. One of the teenagers was the niece of reporter Reiko Asakawa (Nanako Matsushima), who had been trailing the urban legend of the cursed videotape for her newspaper. But her niece’s death troubles her and makes her believe that there may be some validity to the story. She tracks the tape to a mountain resort and watches it, and immediately after gets a phone call promising death in seven days. Reiko panics and fears for her life, so she calls on the help of her ex-husband Ryuji Takayama (Hiroyuki Sanada), who may actually already know something about the strange girl on the tape. Time becomes of the utmost purpose when the divorced couple’s young son, Yoichi (Rikiya Otaka), watches the tape, so they must uncover the secret of breaking the tape’s curse to save all their lives.

Ringu was the subject of a 2002 remake from DreamWorks Pictures called The Ring. Both films are based upon Kôji Suzuki novel, Ring (the first in a horror trilogy). Both films are similar, although Ringu is not as oblique as The Ring. Director Hideo Nakata drenches his films in deep and penetrating shadows, and haunting reflections suddenly appear dreamily in reflective surfaces when you least (but should) expect it. Even the daylight is filled with a sense of the haunted and the foreboding, and the most benign everyday sounds, such as a phone ringing, hints at evil. Nakata, more than Gore Verbinski did in his remake, creates the overwhelming suggestion that around every corner and just over one’s shoulder is doom and gruesome death.

Nakata’s best feat, however, may be in that he surrounds the cast with a sense of normal, everyday life. There is the illusion that everything is normal, and that what goes on every day happens this very day. But just beneath the normalcy is another real world of horror and creeping evil. That’s the scariest kind of horror of all.

8 of 10
A