I’m a big fan of Wes Anderson, even though his last live-action film left much to be desired. I would count Rushmore as one of my favorite films and his handling of adolescents in his movies is second to none.
Moonrise Kingdom seems to be a return to form there.
And the trailer made me laugh out loud.
It’s good to see him branching out and bringing in new talent. Bruce Willis and Edward Norton seem like perfect additions to his regular stable.
This film hits theatres on the 35th anniversary of Star Wars, May 25, 2012.
If there’s two things I love in movies, it’s Robert Shaw and Walter Matthau. Seeing the two of them on screen together facing off during a hostage situation wasn’t anything I’d ever expected to be able to see, but I assure you, such a thing exists.
For context: Robert Shaw is the James Bond villain in From Russia With Love and was Quint in Jaws. Walter Matthau is… well, he’s just Walter Matthau.
In this film, Robert Shaw plays the mastermind of a ransom situation, where he and his team of mustachioed men (all named after colors, a precursor to Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs) take over a New York Subway Train and take everyone inside hostage for a million dollars.
The film is cleverly written for what is essentially a throwaway of a suspense/heist thriller. The dialogue is snappy and all parties deliver it brilliantly. In fact, the supporting cast in this film is as good as the leads. Jerry Stiller plays a great transit cop, Martin Balsam and Hector Elizondo do fantastic turns as robbers, Tony Roberts is an incredibly compelling deputy mayor. The whole film works masterfully, even though it’s very much a by-the-numbers robbery movie.
Seeing it on Blu-ray for the first time (it came out theatrically years before I was born) was a real treat and I tried to imagine what it would be like to see this film in the theatre in 1974 when it came out. In fact, going to the movies, even to see the big dumb action movies like this must have been a treat. The craft of screenwriting and filmmaking on display for even popcorn movies like this seems head and shoulders above what passes for popcorn entertainment these days.
I never saw the remake of this film and after watching this version, I’m not really interested. This film worked so beautifully for me as a document of classic 1970s cinema that I’d hate to tarnish it with a remake. It should be a rule (with very few exceptions) that you only remake bad movies. This film is anything but.
It’s fun to watch and it’s incredible to witness it unfolding.
If you’re looking for a well-put together movie with great actors, you could do a lot worse than this film. In fact, I think you almost have to watch it. It informs quite a lot of cinema today (especially the parts Tarantino stole).
The Mission: Impossible series has been hit or miss over the years, but it’s been getting better since the last installment that JJ Abrams took the helm on. Between the last installment and the choice of director for this film, my expectations were sky high. Brad Bird has directed some of the best films I’ve ever seen, from The Iron Giant to The Incredibles, he has a lot of potential and a lot to live up to.
And I have to admit was that this film met my expectations.
Was the story as good as the rest of the films in Brad Bird’s filmography? No. But it was completely adequate for what this film was. They needed to stop a nuclear war and that’s the goal. Everything else is inconsequential.
The way this film was assembled is second to none. While Brad Bird wasn’t necessarily flexing his story muscles with his live-action film debut, he was certainly showing off his understanding of craft. Each sequence in this film is so neatly fit together and each level of it raises the stakes on the action and the intensity so much that, at times, you can get dizzy if you’re not careful. Or afraid of heights.
This was just an incredibly well put-together film with action sequences that put the rest of the action sequences we saw in 2011 to shame. Particularly the fight scene in the automated parking garage in India. That was incredible to behold. And it was put together with the eye of an animator, someone obviously accustomed to putting together every single shot with care.
The other thing about this film was that it wasn’t just the Tom Cruise hour. There was an entire team of IMF agents on display and each of them brought something to the table, though none more hilarious or witty than Simon Pegg.
This movie is definitely worth your time and I have to say: See it in IMAX if you can.
One thing I only barely noticed in the film was the shoes.
The shoes? Yes. You’re as surprised by me saying that as I was when I got an email from Giorgio Brutini asking me if I’d like to review a pair of the shoes featured in the film.
I said, “Why not?” and they sent them right out to me.
I’ll admit that I didn’t notice them in the movie, but the shoes they sent me (pictured above) are way cooler than I deserve. They’ve been incredibly comfortable, stylish looking (as though I know what that is), and just all around solid.
I’m not accustomed to being complimented on my shoes. In fact, before this pair of shoes, I’ve never been complimented on my footwear. They seem completely durable and if you’re looking for a really solid dress shoe, these might be the ones for you. As I’ve worn them in over the last week, they’ve actually become more comfortable than when I first put them on, which was surprising to me.
Today would have been Charles Addams’ 100th birthday, and the Google homepage is celebrating with an image of the creepiest and kookiest family ever. The image, courtesy of the Tee and Charles Addams Foundation, depicts Morticia, Gomez, Cousin Itt, Pugsley, Wednesday, Lurch, and Uncle Fester standing in front of their mysterious and spooky mansion.
According to PCMag, Charles Addams was born in New Jersey on January 7, 1912. He became an artist for The New Yorker, with the first Addams family cartoon appearing in 1938. In 1964, a producer approached Addams and asked him to turn the comics into a television series. The series only ran for two years, but people have constantly discovered it and re-discovered it due to syndication.
I’ve always been a huge fan of the television series, having seen nearly every episode. They had some interesting residents of the household. Remember their pet lion named Kitty? And Morticia’s plant Cleopatra? I seem to recall an iron maiden in the children’s playroom, and Gomez loved blowing up trains. Gomez is one of the greatest characters of the show . . . his childlike enthusiasm, his love for Morticia (particularly when his Cara Mia speaks French!), his penchant for standing on his head . . . it all combined to make him extremely fascinating.
I think Cousin Itt truly stole the show whenever he appeared, however. The hairy cousin who only spoke gibberish had a bit of a temper, and he brought even more weirdness to the ooky family. Thing also seemed to have a lot of character . . . for a hand.
The Addams Family made it to the big screen in the early 90’s in a film called unsurprisingly The Addams Family, starring the late Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston. Christopher Lloyd was impressive in his role as Uncle Fester, but Christina Ricci brought the character of Wednesday to life in an entirely new way. Her lack of emotion and chillingly calm lines offered sharp contrast to the exuberance and passion of Gomez.
The movie proved popular enough to earn a sequel, and Addams Family Values premiered in 1993. A revival of the television show hit the air in the late 90’s, with the original Gomez John Astin portraying Grandpapa Addams. An animated series and a direct-to-video movie also contributed to the franchise, and now even a musical is currently touring the nation after initially running on Broadway.
Charles Addams created characters that have thrived for over half a century. His dark humor and portrayal of family relationships has not aged or lost relevance in this day and age. So, happy birthday to a creepy and kooky, mysterious and spooky, altogether ooky artist.
If you don’t know who the incredibly British named Benedict Cumberbatch is do yourself a favor and hop onto Netflix and watch Sherlock from the BBC. There are three 90-minute episodes and there are amazing. The second season started on January 1st in the UK and should show up in America in a few months. Now once you’re done with that you can go see War Horse or Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy or you can envision him as the voice of Smaug the Dragon to his Sherlock co-star’s Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit next year. Guy is set to be loved by geeks everywhere for a while.
Now onto the fun. There have been multiple people up for the role of the villian in the Trek Sequel and they were all Spanish speaking types that led people to believe we would be getting a rebooted Kahn. Now we have the Whitest, most British, non Kahn, we can keep speculating for months!
Anime Update: Bandai Entertainment will no longer Distribute Titles in North America
I’ve just heard the awful announcement from Bandai Entertainment. The company has said that they will no longer localize and distribute anime and manga titles in North America.
Japanator reported today: “They will continue to sell and even re-order the titles they currently distribute until the respective licenses expire, but planned titles they have yet to release have been subsequently cancelled. This includes:
Anime:
Gosick
Nichijou
Turn A Gundam
Manga:
Code Geass: Renya
Kannagi volume 4, 5 and 6
Lucky Star: Boo Boo Kagaboo
Mobile Suit Gundam 00I
Nichijou
Tales of the Abyss: Jade’s Secret Memories
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann volume 7
Novels:
Code Geass R2″
This news is absolutely devastating for the anime and manga community, and apparently this decision was made several months ago in Japan. It seems as though Bandai has suffered some serious management problems over the years with U.S. distribution. Furthermore, it’s now being said in many articles around the web (and in a comment at the bottom of this one) that Bandai simply wasn’t making all the right decisions when it came to localization of their titles. Anime News Network published a fairly informative article in which Bandai representative Ken Iyadomi discusses some of the problems between licensing and distribution.
“…the broader reasons are quite clear from the outside. The physical anime business in North America has shrunk substantially over the last five years, and shows no sign of returning to its former glory. “A couple of times we were hit with huge returns, and the financial result was pretty bad,” Iyadomi admits. Still, he believes the division might have been able to keep going for a few more years, had the SBU allowed it.”
Iyadomi also went on to say, “The pricing range for our products kept dropping in Western countries, and people tended only to buy sets with very reasonable prices, which we understand is what fans want, but it lead us to a different strategy than what Japanese licensors wanted,” he remarked. “So we always had a problem [with licensors wanting something different than what consumers wanted].”
Kotaku writer Charlie Maib also makes an excellent point that speaks to another possible reason that may have greatly influenced Bandai’s decision (and it’s one I believe is affecting the anime industry as a whole, so I want to discuss it in depth). Piracy of anime in North America is simply out of control. Let’s be honest here – we all know people who regularly pirate anime and who probably haven’t bought a single title in years – and therein lies the problem… Nobody (very few of us, lets face it) is supporting the industry.
Maib writes: “Bandai Entertainment isn’t going out of business. They’re a pretty big company and have a market far beyond that of the United States; but their actions do serve as a red flag as to what’s on the horizon unless the fan community stops it’s selfish and destructive behavior. If we examine the actions of the last 20 years, and put our own selfish desires to the side we can see that the only thing fan translated anime, manga, and games serve to advance is our own desire of want. It does not help the industry, it does not call positive attention to our hobbies, and while it may attract a small number of new consumers, more often than not these new faces will continue to feed on free pirated content because that’s how they were turned on to it in the first place.”
Personally, I’m pretty sad about the news. Bandai has brought us some fantastic anime and manga over the years like the various Gundam series and Haruhi Suzumiya – but perhaps they have been too expensive compared to the other distributors out there. I remember paying somewhere around $130 for a Gundam Wing Complete DVD Collection back in 2005 (in retrospect, this was a bit pricey), and I had spent all semester saving up for it (while living on my own and paying for college by myself – but video games and anime were the purchases I occasionally splurged for. Everybody needs something, right?). Honestly, I like having an anime collection (it includes lots of VHS since I began collecting in the 90’s, but I’ve also added quite a few DVDs and Blu-rays over the years). Whenever it came up in conversation that someone had just downloaded a really rad series – I would try to get it through a legal streaming site or purchase it if I could (This is sometimes impossible, I know, but we can try at least.). Now that I really think about it, though, Bandai really was quite a bit more expensive than most of the other suppliers. It doesn’t give us the right to steal their work, but it’s also too bad they didn’t start seeking out cheaper ways to distribute materials in the US or focus on streaming content for some series like Funimation and Viz Media did.
When I spent my first semester living in Japan in 2006, it became apparent to me that very few people I met were pirating anime. For one, it was on broadcast television so I suppose you really didn’t need to, but also, it just seemed to be only the American students I knew who were going about pirating anime. Most of my Japanese friends seemed to gladly pay for anime the day it came out and were really excited to add something new to their collection. To be fair, I know there are plenty of people in countries other than America pirating anime, but this still forces me to ask the question, “Is piracy a cultural phenomenon that’s gone completely out of control in America?”
I certainly hope this isn’t a sign of things to come…if more Japanese companies choose to make these decisions, (and believe me, they definitely can) or continue to fall by the wayside like ADV Films, Geneon, etc., it will just continue to hurt all the hard work that’s been done to bring anime and manga to America over the past thirty years. Seriously, give Maib’s article a read and look at just how much effort it took to bring us to where we are today! And you know what? As much as I love watching anime in Japanese, I often love watching it in the English dub, too! There are tons of awesome voice actors here in America, along with tons of employees at Funimation and Viz Media who could just disappear from the anime scene if we let the import industry crash and burn here. (And there were employees at Bandai America who I assume are losing their jobs, too. Not cool!)
I’ll miss you Bandai. Hopefully I’ll be seeing you around next time I’m in Japan, or maybe, (if we’re lucky) you’ll come back to stream your product on sites like Crunchyroll or Hulu?
Hey there fellow anime-watching robots – Happy New Year! I hope your 2012 is filled with lots of fun adventures and great anime! Without further ado, I present to you my must-see anime picks that aired (and/or released on Blu-ray/DVD) in North America in 2011. If you haven’t checked these out, you might want to give them a chance soon – many of them will be back with more episodes in 2012:
Baka and Test – Summon the Beast (Series) – This series tries to break the mold of high school drama by adding in some innovative twists – namely, the fact that the students summon their respective knowledge as little cute avatars that battle it out for top scores (and a better class rank). The show is a crazy blend of high school comedy and drama; rpg-esque, summoning-based video game themes; and mayhem. It’s a fun series and though it falls prey to many over-used anime conventions (boys + girls = nosebleeds abound), it’s a good watch and I really enjoyed the first and second seasons. The protagonist is hilarious to watch (as he fails and fails again) and his counterparts in class F are equally amusing in their own way. Watch as Class F tries to battle their way from the bottom to the top – and attempt to earn the best classroom in the school with a private snackbar, lounge, air conditioners and laptops.
Season one of Baka and Test released on DVD and Blu-ray in the US in early 2011, and season two is soon to follow. You can still catch episodes on several streaming sites around the internet including Funimation’s site and Hulu.
Bunny Drop (also called Usagi Drop) (Series) -based on the beautifully written manga by Yumi Unita, this heartfelt story really stood out amongst the other series of the year (you can read my review here). When Daikichi learns that his grandfather had an illegitimate child, Rin, he ends up being the only one in the family with the heart and will to take care of her (despite being a single Tokyo salaryman with no time and absolutely no knowledge of how to raise a kindergarten aged child). The series is grounded in true-to-life locations and characters that breathe life into this well crafted story. Even little things like Daikichi’s long daily commute on the trains and the Japanese system of “Emergency Daycare/Nursery School” are addressed with a remarkable amount of accuracy and straight-forwardness. The animation is stunning and I give this series my highest marks.
Season one was Simulcast by Crunchyroll and Anime News Network. You can probably still find Usagi Drop streaming somewhere on the net, and it should be releasing on DVD and Blu-ray soon. There’s also a live action film for those interested in seeing the story told in another medium.
Dragon Ball Z: Kai (Series) – the classic series returns with an entirely new edit and all new dubbing (for those of us watching the English version). Kai cuts out all the filler and focuses on the action of the series. As much as I love the original series, I found Kai to be really enjoyable and honestly refreshing since it allowed a whole new generation to enjoy the Dragon Ball universe in its most concise format. Also, I have to admit, it’s kind of nice to skip over some of the really unnecessary filler like Gohan wandering around the forest alone for two episodes (Was it really necessary to the story anyways? Probably not). Kai follows the manga much more closely, giving die hard fans of the original story a satisfying watch.
The entire run of Kai aired on Nickelodeon from May 24, 2010 to December 23, 2011, and can now be found on Broadcast TV, streaming online, and on Blu-ray and DVD.
Eden of the East( Series and two movies: 2010/2011) and Eden of the East Movie 2: Paradise Lost (2011) –
Eden of the East was arguably the breakout series of 2010/2011, and it was definitely stood out to me as one of the more original series to come out in many years. It didn’t get a whole lot of hype before it came out, but became extremely popular after its release. The concept behind the show – that a rich, anonymous individual can force 12 people to become “saviors of the world” or die by his hand – makes it one of the best series to come out in many years. Some people call it a Bourne Identity rip-off, but I say look a little closer and you’ll really enjoy this series.
Eden of the East: Complete Collection just came out on Blu-ray and DVD on December 27th, 2011.
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (Series/Re-imagining) – fans of the original manga should be sure to check this one out – it’s a re-telling of Fullmetal Alchemist with focus on telling Hiromu Arakawa’s story. Those who didn’t read the manga may not know that the first Fullmetal series had a lot of story added in that was quite different from the manga. I think everyone should give this series a chance because it’s just as excellent (if not more) than the first series. You can still find Brotherhood streaming around the net and it’s also available on Netflix Instant streaming.
Hetalia: Axis Powers (2010) and Hetalia: World Series (2011) – What can I say – Hetalia is one of those shows that has to be seen to be believed. What started as little shorts for cell phone subscribers turned into one of the most inexplicably popular anime around the world. Called racist by some and idiotic by others, Hetalia is one of those shows you either love or hate – and I just can’t get enough of it. I first watched the show in Japanese and then gave the English dub a chance – to my surprise I found the English dub even more hilarious and far more funny considering the English voice actors were doing their best to portray stereotypical versions of their characters (accents and all). Keep in mind, folks, that this show is insensitive to everyone…so it’s not really discriminating, right? Check out this scene from the first season:
You can find both series streaming on Hulu and Funimation’s website. It’s also available on Blu-ray and DVD. If you’re attending any anime conventions this year, you’re bound to see hundreds of Hetalia cosplayers and lots of fun meet-ups / photo shoots. Which reminds me, I’ve got to get to sewing my Hungary dress for this year’s Anime Boston!
High School of the Dead – High School of the Dead is fun zombie mayhem mashed up with anime high school antics. (You can read my review here.) The story surrounds a group of high school students who manage to escape when a zombie apocalypse comes crashing through the gates of their Fujimi campus. I can only assume that the writers have included a lot of stereotypical, high-school-drama characters in hopes of making this show somewhat comical for anyone that’s watched a lot of teen drama anime. You’ve got a badass girl who was captain of her Kendo team, a military-fanboy otaku who manages to fashion himself a nail gun to fend off zombies, a fairly average guy and girl who are set up to be the “romantic couple” right from the start, and a wide array of other characters who seem almost too much like ones we’ve seen from other series. Overall, I’d say give this one a watch if you enjoy anything zombie related, but don’t expect it to follow ” Romero zombie cannon” …it breaks the “rules” and I’m okay with that. Definitely give it a watch if you feel like you’ve seen too many high-school anime and need to see some of your favorite (or least favorite) character types fight off zombies! That aspect of the show is just plain fun!
https://youtu.be/IDcQc5NG-Ho
You can find the series streaming on both Hulu and Funimation’s website. High School of the Dead is also available on Blu-ray and DVD.
Summer Wars (Film) – Summer Wars first premiered in Japan in 2009, and was an overnight success. Since its Japanese premier, it has won several awards including the coveted 2010 Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year. The film is directed by Mamoru Hosoda, who is well known from his prior award-winning film “The Girl Who Leapt through Time.” The film is awesome – definitely my favorite anime feature film of 2011. I picked it up on Blu-ray and was hooked in the first ten minutes.
The story centers around mathematical genius Kenji and his geeky friend Takashi, who spend their time working as the maintenance “code monkeys” for the OZ virtual realm. Their friend Natsuki comes into the story when she asks Kenji if he wants a job, and subsequently drags him off to her home in Ueda (near Nagano) to pretend to be her fiancé. Once there, Kenji solves a mega math problem on his cell phone that frames him as a criminal hacker who brings chaos to the virtual space known as OZ. You can read the rest of my review of Summer Wars here.
Summer Wars can be found on Blu-ray and DVD.
X-Men ( Series) – a fantastic series done by Madhouse Animation Studios and Marvel. Fans of X-Men and Anime alike seemed to really dig this series in 2011. I thought it was a great crossover and you can read my review here.
I’ll be honest. I didn’t have a lot of high expectations for the remake of Fright Night. I wasn’t any great fan of the original (in fact, I only barely recall seeing it once, vaguely) and as much as I like vampires, most movies about them tend to blow. (That sentence originally ended in the word suck, but I thought better of it.)
The remake of Fright Night had things going for it that I rather liked. Anton Yelchin is a fantastic actor, for one. For two, I’m a big Doctor Who fan and who doesn’t like seeing David Tennant cutting loose? Third, I really like Colin Farrell. I even liked him in Daredevil.
And I’ll be even more honest. When this movie started and it was sort of like a teen angst movie, I was on the verge of tuning out.
Then it got awesome. Fast.
It had the absolute perfect mix of comedy, suspense, tension, and fantastic scenes to not only regain my interest but get me rooting for the characters and be hanging on the edge of my seat by the end. This was movie was so damn fun that I can’t even begin to describe to you…
There were a few scenes that would, on their face, seem so innocuous that they would never be a standout, but the director was able to pull it off. Take the scene where Jerry, Anton Yelchin’s vampire neighbor, wants to borrow some beer, but he can’t enter the house uninvited. The scene dripped with all kinds of tension and dread and I was biting my fingernails. Colin Farrell (as Jerry) just oozed danger and menace, completely making my skin crawl.
And David Tennant, as soon as he comes into the movie, manages to steal every scene he’s in. It’s such an oddly different character than I’ve seen him play and it makes me want to watch more Doctor Who.
But really, the person that carries this film is Anton Yelchin. He’s one of the finest young actors of his generation. You’d remember him as Chekov in the latest Star Trek movie. He pulled me through the beginning of the film and really brought me into it.
The film was well-shot, well-edited, the music was great, the performances were fantastic. Was it a little cheesy? Yes. But it was a remake of Fright Night.
Daniel Logan (@Daniel_Logan) has tweeted that legendary swordmaster Bob Anderson has died. He may not have been a household name, but fans of swashbuckling and swordfights knew of him. Inspired by his work in film, I even once took a fencing course. I wanted to learn how to wield my Force FX lightsaber like a professional, but I don’t think I’ll be winning any duels anytime soon.
Born in England in 1922, Anderson competed in the 1952 Olympic Games in fencing. His movie career began shortly afterwards when he was contacted to help with Errol Flynn’s Master of Balantrae. He also doubled for David Prowse during the lightsaber battles in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, though initially his work on the films went unnoticed. Mark Hamill credited him in a 1983 interview: “Bob Anderson was the man who actually did Vader’s fighting. It was always supposed to be a secret, but I finally told George [Lucas] I didn’t think it was fair any more. Bob worked so bloody hard that he deserves some recognition. It’s ridiculous to preserve the myth that it’s all done by one man.
In addition to the Star Wars films, his impressive resume includes Disney’s The Three Musketeers, The Princess Bride, Highlander, The Mask of Zorro, The Legend of Zorro, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, First Knight, and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, just to name a few.
From EW.com regarding the filming of The Three Musketeers:
Under Anderson’s instruction, actors begin with slow-motion choreography, then gradually build up to real-time movements. For Musketeers that process took a month, and Anderson, to his delight, found his students eager learners. ”Chris O’Donnell became very athletic and gymnastic,” he says. ”Kiefer Sutherland got really wrapped up in his role — he couldn’t wait for the sword action to happen. Charlie Sheen was very precise, very technical. And they couldn’t have picked anybody better than Oliver Platt for Porthos. He’s a fun man, with a whole bag of tricks and gimmicks.” But Anderson’s students rarely take up the sport seriously. ”Actors almost never do,” he says. ”They enjoy the make-believe.”
One can probably safely say that he has been the greatest swordmaster and stunt fencer in cinema’s history, and that brief paragraph offers some insight into his training methods. He knew the strengths of each of the actors, and I’m impressed that anyone could train four actors in a month. Fencing is not nearly as easy as it looks, and Anderson had a way of making each fight seem effortless.
Thanks to MediaBistro GalleyCat, we learned that Lionsgate has updated the official Hunger Games YouTube channel with a song for the upcoming companion album for the March 2012 film. Deadline Hollywood reports that the album will be released separately from the soundtrack, and James Newton Howard is composing the score.
The song is a collaboration between Taylor Swift and the musical duo The Civil Wars. Swift recently tweeted her excitement about the release. Within 12 hours of its release, it became one of iTunes’ top 10 songs. A sampling of the lyrics:
I remember tears streaming down your face
When I said, I’ll never let you go
When all those shadows almost killed your light
I remember you said, Don’t leave me here alone
But all that’s dead and gone and passed tonight
Just close your eyes
The sun is going down
You’ll be alright
No one can hurt you now
Come morning light
You and I’ll be safe and sound
After listening to it a few times, I think it’s haunting and beautiful. Since it looks like this is for a companion album, it’s doubtful this song will even appear in the film, but I think it would be perfect for a scene with Rue or even Peeta. Or perhaps a great song over the final credits. We’ll just have to wait and see what songs will be on the official soundtrack.
“Safe and Sound” is already available on iTunes for $1.29 and will be available on Amazon on January 3 for a mere $0.99.
