Seth Grahame-Smith Archives | Otaku No Culture

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

I very rarely get excited about all the toys released along with an animated film. With How to Train Your Dragon, the variety of reptiles seen on-screen only salivated my appetite for owning a model of each because I love the designs. In the movie, LEGO Batman, I got giddy over the garage full of vehicles the caped crusader uses in his fight against crime and if only I had a couple of thousand dollars. Buying the bricks is not cheap because a lot of the money goes towards name brand recognition and licensing rights than manufacture. All reason went out the window when I saw Scutter, Batman’s mech change from robot mode to airplane.

Can I hope the model does the same? I’ll have to look at YouTube videos to find out, or just buy it. I caved and bought the set, not only because I liked the personality given to it, and enjoyed how the film gave to fans a perfect examination of two properties. Not only did it examine why the man behind the cowl is what he is but also it stayed true to what the brick represents. It’s become more than a kid’s construction toy and it helps creates a foundation to spur creativity.

Continue reading “Going Beyond the Brick with LEGO Batman”

The gimmick of marrying Victorian age attitudes with pop culture is nothing new. Neither is trying to sell Shakespearean stylized takes on Star Wars, but woe be thy author who tries to find innovation in this weird mash-up. The movie version of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies does not add upon what Seth Grahame-Smith wrote in his twist of Jane Austen’s classic. A few minor changes exist to make the on-screen version palatable, including tossing every single variation of a zombie (from a baby to a butcher) into the presentation, but they feel minuscule when compared to the concept that’s being presented at large.

Burr Steers provided the screenplay adaptation of an action-comedy adventure where Elizabeth Bennet (Lily James) refuses to marry. Like the book, to improve their station in life, both she or her sisters should marry well-to-do men. Liz quite simply does not like the idea. Jane (Bella Heathcote), Kitty (Suki Waterhouse), Lydia (Ellie Bamber) and Mary (Millie Brady) are more receptive than her, and when the world is in the onslaught of being taken over by zombies, to court an easy life in this new world is neigh tough.

Continue reading “Exorcising Pride and Prejudice and Zombies”