The Atom video site has a ton of enjoyable content, and one of the recent additions there is the webisode series My Anime Girlfriend. Put together by a team from Comedy Central with some help from an SNL alumni, this combined live action/anime production is just silly fun. Here is the first one to get you started…
The new Simon Pegg and Nick Frost movie Paul will be on the big screen tomorrow (or possibly midnight tonight, depending on where you live), and they have been all over the place promoting it this week. This is one of the things they got up to while filming the program; an impromptu parody of a classic scene from the original Star Wars movie. Thanks to e folka College Humor for this one.
Doctor Who returns to BBC America with season 6 on April 23rd. Of course, this Friday, March 18th, The Doctor, Amy and Rory will be showing up for Red Nose Day in an all new adventure. Folks on this side of the Atlantic may have to wait until the DVD comes out to see it, but they have put The Curse of Fatal Death online for viewing even in this country. That was the Steven Moffat written episode from 1999’s Red Nose Day which starred Rowan Atkinson as The Doctor, at least at first.
The new Super 8 trailer gives you a taste of what to expect from this collaboration between J. J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg. The film itself will hit the big screen on June 10th. To almost no-ones surprise, once more J.J. buried some clues in the video, including a link to the Super 8 Editing Room. Once there you can turn on the projector and watch the few clips already posted, although it looks like they intend to add a bunch more over time until you get a small little self contained movie. If you have a video editor that allows you to step through the trailer a frame at a time you will find some interesting still photos at the end of it as well.
We have several good choices this time around, with the action/adventure selection being Limitless. The premise is simple; what if taking a drug allowed you to use 100% of your mind, rather than the usual 10%, but came with some brutal side effects. Everything in this film evolves from that simple starting point, and between De Nero and the trailer, I am figuring this for a must see.
The comedy winner this week is Paul, another Simon Pegg/Nick Frost humor extravaganza. They play two nerds on holiday going to Area 51 on holiday, where they run into space alien slacker Paul, who is trying to escape.
In limited release another action comedy looks tasty; Dao Jian Xiao, with the English title The Butcher, The Chef, And The Swordsman. Three interrelated stories involving various bladed objects made from melted down legendary swords with minds of their own, and the extreme emotions of the people wielding them. As you might suspect, this import is from Hong Kong.
If you are in the mood for a documentary, Nostalgia for the Light will be in limited release, telling the story of Astronomers looking for clues on the origin of life from the Atacama Desert in Chile.
Hereafter is a story of three people touched by Death in different ways. Matt Damon is the Psychic who doesn’t want to speak with those who have passed over any more, while others need his gift to understand what has happened to them. Strangely enough, this movie was directed by Clint Eastwood. Interplanetary is a low budget independent film in which everyone on Mars dies. You have to be a B movie horror fan for this one, I am afraid, as well as Sharktopus, which at least had a few names I have heard of involved.
I consider it a bit strange that I didn’t find any live action genre TV series coming out this week, but it had to happen sooner or later.
In Anime, D. Gray-Man: Season Two is the story of young exorcist Allen Walker, and the ghosts and demons he must battle to save humanity. Weighing in at 103 episodes (so far), if you like this one you can be comforted knowing there is more to come. Also, Gunslinger Girl: Complete Collection is hitting the shelves in a single box set, all 13 episodes plus the OVA’s, for less than $50. You should shop around for something noticeably less than $50, because you can pick up the 13 episode series for $29, and the OVAs for $9, or a combined price of $38.