It’s the weekend and I’m an avid window shopper. I’m so bad about it, I often wonder if should have been born a girl in light of just how much I enjoy the act of shopping (even if it’s only looking at stuff I can’t afford =^_^;;=). Luckily, for folks like me, The Right Stuf is hosting a mega sale on on their already heavily discounted bargin bin items. I LOVE Right Stuf’s bargain bin and I’ve been buying my gifts for folks out it for years. With discounts on products often ranging between 50% to 85% off, it’s quite easy to buy several boxsets worth of DVDs for less than $50. If you’ve got some money to burn and looking to stock up on some older anime and manga, do yourself a favor and check out the links below. =^_^=

DVD Bargain Bin
Manga Bargain Bin
Apparel, CDs, Videogames and Collectibles Bargain Bin

According to an article posted on ICv2 this morning, AMC has purchased the rights to make a TV series based on the zombie comic book series, The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman. The series, which follows the day to day struggles of a small band of everyday people trying to stay alive in the wake of a zombie apocalypse, would be written, directed and produced by three time oscar winner, Frank Darabont.

No word yet on when casting or production will begin, but it’s safe to assume that zombie nerds like my wife and I are suitably stoked to see this project come to fruition. Despite the pedigree of the individuals involved in the project so far, I still have deep reservations concerning AMC’s potential handling of the dark, violent and extremely gory content that is prevalent through out the series.

To read the full article, please head over to ICv2.

It’s a given that Samuel L. Jackson automatically improves the quality of any film or TV show he’s put in, but not only does he steal the show in The Spirit, he’s pretty much the only good thing in the entire film. Well, him and Scarlett Johansson (loved her as Silken Flossy *swoon* *raging hard-on* =^_^;;=)

As Frank Miller’s directing debut, The Spirit is a showcase of the celebrated artist/writer’s distinct style. Stark, iconic imagery fills every scene, every character is a larger than life persona, and every line of oozes with his trademark noir-style dialogue. Unfortunately, Frank stamps his style so hard on everything that it actually becomes a detriment to the film as a whole. Although Frank supposedly worked with The Spirit’s original creator, Will Eisner, to bring it to the big screen, the fruit of that collaboration appears to suffer from having two distinct visions that are in direct conflict with each other throughout the film. One moment we have a scene of light-hearted campiness that hearkens back to the more innocent days of comic book superheroism only to be immediately followed by scenes of graphic violence and dark brooding.

This bi-polar approach made the film a real trial for me to watch. On the one hand, I understand that Miller was trying to capture the essence of the early days of superhero comics; complete with their silly plots, outrageous villains and campy dialogue. On the other hand, there’s a big difference between understanding something and being entertained by it.

Ultimately, I wish the plot for The Spirit had been a bit more memorable, if only so I could have felt like I actually accomplished something by finishing the movie. Instead, it plays out more like then an ill-fitting jigsaw puzzle full of ideas that never really go anywhere. The film just sort of wanders from scene to scene, focusing for awhile on one subplot only to get bored and move on to another one. The Spirit’s main plot, which deals with the Octopus (Samuel L. Jackson) and San Seraf (Eva Mendes) tussling over a pair of relics from Greek mythology, feels more like an afterthought than anything else.

The only real bright spots in the whole film were the ones where Samuel L. Jackson’s character, The Octopus, would just hang out in his underground lair and act like a crazy villain. In fact, I greatly preferred these random scenes of bizarre behavior to any of the ones where he actually had to interact with the film’s titular character.

Bottom Line:
The Spirit is a terrible film even by comic book movie standards. The last film that I saw that was this bad was the terrible Elektra film from a few years ago. Don’t waste your money buying it if you can help it. Rent it instead.

Final Score: 1 out of 5 stars
Review by: LC1
Review Format: DVD