Usagi Yojimbo mentioned in movie "Sydney White"

[twootton]

I have never seen the movie personally, but a friend of mine who did tells me that the main character and one of her "seven dork" friends discovers
that they are mutual "UY" fans and discuss in the movie. Not clear on details, as I am reporting this "second hand". Just thought I would pass it along...

//Tim

[Steve Hubbell]

I read the following review a couple weeks ago and meant to re-post it here, but I forgot....

Comics Worth Reading
Sydney White
Posted by Johanna on August 29, 2007 at 11:04 pm Category: Movies/TV

Just got back from a sneak preview of a fun new movie I think a lot of my readers will enjoy: Sydney White. It’s a loose retelling of Snow White, only the dwarfs are now seven dorks, and the heroine is played by Amanda Bynes as a construction-working comic geek. Who starts out as a sorority girl … but as always, the actress pulls it all off with good humor.


She’s off to college, trying to live up to her mother’s legacy, but she soon finds that the princess who runs the local sorority doesn’t much care for her unpretentious ways and acceptance of outsiders. Think Mean Girls mixed with Revenge of the Nerds with a house out of PCU.

The movie isn’t subtle — the frat boy love interest is named Tyler Prince, for example — but it’s entertaining. And some of it is only obvious afterwards, as when it took me fifteen minutes to get the literal poisoned apple (although I was pretty tired tonight). I thought translating the Magic Mirror showing the most beautiful into a Hot or Not #1 website ranking was a nifty idea.

Prince is played by Matt Long (who according to IMDB also played “Young Johnny Blaze” in Ghost Rider). He’s very cute, and I like the way he’s fascinated first by Bynes’ tomboyishness. Another vague comic connection: John Schneider does a great job playing the dad. I’d like to have seen more of him, actually.

I thought it was cool that half her going-off-to-college luggage was a suitcase full of comics. (The only ones we recognized were Usagi Yojimbo and Rex Mundi, so obviously a Dark Horse girl.) Many of you will either identify with or want to meet a together chick like that. And she’s never made fun of for it.

When we first see the group of dorks, they’re arguing over whether pirates or ninjas are better, something else many of you will identify with. One of my favorites was played by Danny Strong (Jonathan on Buffy, although I liked him better as Doyle on Gilmore Girls) as a Grumpy blogger. (Sadly, his website URL doesn’t really exist; promotional opportunity missed there.)

Bynes does a terrific job. Her expressions really sell the sometimes familiar material, and she’s always a pleasure to watch. As we meet the misfits she becomes friends with, KC and I kept whispering to each other how they matched up. Sleepy was the easiest. Bashful was obviously the kid who only talked through a puppet. (We love puppets!)

At first we thought the hypochondriac was Doc, but then we realized he was Sneezy. Dopey was the puppy-like boy scout, so Happy must be the sex-obsessed one played by Samm Levine (Freaks and Geeks). I guess there’s a joke in there about self-pleasure making one happy. There’s even a reshoot of the famous “dwarfs go off to work with their tools slung over their shoulders” sequence that has the best reworking of “Hi ho”.

We did think that the evil witch girl should have gotten more of a comeuppance, but I think her ultimate downfall (come on, you knew it was going to happen) will be more painful to her in the long run than a more obvious humiliation.

How can you not like a college film where the big inspirational “come on, we can pull together and do this” speech revolves around taking a lesson from when the Avengers fought the Black Knight who’d trapped a city in foam glue?

Sydney White opens in wide release September 21. It’s rated PG-13 for “some language, sexual humor, and partying”. Since when is that last one something that has to be noted? I’m surprised, since I didn’t notice much objectionable. We had a great time seeing it.

http://comicsworthreading.com/2007/08/29/sydney-white/

[morna-san]

well, that's kool. Is this a new movie?

edit: ok nevermind

Steve you snuck one in before me - again!

;p

[Stan Sakai]

Every so often, I will get a request from Dark Horse that a tv series or movies wants to use comics as props. I usually consent to these, but have never followed up to see if Usagi was actually visible. I'm glad to hear that it was in this movie.

The latest request was about three weeks ago to use comics in the new (Geico) Cavemen TV series.

[Andy]

Hey, if they are reading Usagi comics, those cave men must be pretty advanced.

Maybe they are getting a bum rap!

[go]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=002

[MikeM]

I actually watch the Cavemen TV show so I will keep an eye out for that...if it lasts that long. I have to admit, its really really bad. But I can't stop watching it!

MikeM

[Stan Sakai]

I actually watch the Cavemen TV show so I will keep an eye out for that...if it lasts that long. I have to admit, its really really bad. But I can't stop watching it!

MikeM

Of course, just because they request the comic props does not mean they will use it, or have it visible.

The latest request was from the TV show Numbers. This partiular episode deals with a Comic-con-type convention. They need 25 booths decorated with comics, artwork, and stuff.

[MikeM]

I actually watch the Cavemen TV show so I will keep an eye out for that...if it lasts that long. I have to admit, its really really bad. But I can't stop watching it!

MikeM

Of course, just because they request the comic props does not mean they will use it, or have it visible.

The latest request was from the TV show Numbers. This partiular episode deals with a Comic-con-type convention. They need 25 booths decorated with comics, artwork, and stuff.

I read about that. That episode is to air at the end of November I believe.
I think its great that comics are popping up in TV and movies more often now.

MikeM

[Todd Shogun]

I've been watching the Cavemen TV show too. Glad to hear Usagi will (hopefully) pop up on a comic there. I agree, it's so bad it's hard to stop watching.

[Stan Sakai]

The latest request was from the TV show Numbers. This partiular episode deals with a Comic-con-type convention. They need 25 booths decorated with comics, artwork, and stuff.

The Numbers episode ran last night. They got donations for props from a lot of publishers and artists, but the only things I could really focus on were a Captain Kirk life-size poster, a WizKids booth, and a Bone stuffie that Peter MacNicol carried around.

The only comic creator I saw was Tone Rodriguez in the background arguing about the authenticity of a comic.

I had never seen the series, but I was less than impressed with this episode. It centered around the theft of the world's rarest and most valuable comic, an ashcan of Ultra World worth $2,000,000. However, 14 counterfeits pop up at this convention. They are all going to auction, but the real one is mixed in that group. Only the FBI and the bad guy knows this, and only the bad guy knows which is the original. He has a proxy in the audience (literally) doing his bidding. The first counterfeit is auctioned at $600. The next at $700. One after another, they are auctioned off at $600-700. One more comes up for auction and the bad guy (through his proxy) opens his bidding at $2,000. The FBI guys say, "Aha!", and outbid him.

If only bad guys in real life were this stupid.

[MikeM]

Tone Rodriguez? Is that the guy who did Violent Messiahs? That was a great comic.

I have never seen the show either. The plot seemed really weak.

MikeM

[Steve Hubbell]

The article on Comic Book Bin about it made the episode sound like it might be interesting, but it really didn't talk too much about the actual plot of the story. Unfortunately, I work second shift mainly and my VCR (very low-tech here) seems to be on strike, or hungry, or sick, or what-ever since it refuses to cooperate and record anything anymore.

http://www.comicbookbin.com/news1184.html

[Stan Sakai]

Tone Rodriguez? Is that the guy who did Violent Messiahs? That was a great comic.

I have never seen the show either. The plot seemed really weak.

MikeM

That's Tone. He's a really big guy with a beard and mustache, and usually wears a bandanna on his head. He's pretty hard to miss. He's a nice guy, and a pretty good friend of mine. He's also talented as heck. There were a few real comics creators as extras--including Dan Brereton--but Tone was the only one I saw.