According to the Hollywood Reporter, Screen Gems has picked up the rights to distribute Attack the Block in the US. This fun little teen space invasion film has already been picking up awards around the festival circuit, and includes Nick Frost in the lineup.
This amazing chunk of video is a set of time lapsed filming done of the skies over (and near) Kirkenes, Norway. They had an unusually active Aurora Borealis this past month, and it only promises to get better in the next few years, as solar activity peaks. This and many other similar incredible images can be found at the APoD, the Astronomy Picture of the Day at NASA.
The Aurora from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.
Episode one of Tiger and Bunny is now streaming online over at Anime News Network, a superhero Anime series including some giant mecha drivers.
One of the things I love watching (and listening to) online is music, from amazing artists from all over the world. Back when I was a DJ for a living I had a fun thing I used to announce with a quote like the third of one in a row, where I would play multiple versions of a single song. This is one of those kind of things, using the classic song “Summer Wine”.
The original, from Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood, was an instant classic, along with several other songs that couple recorded. To this day I still believe she never would have gotten into the studio without daddy’s influence, but I find I currently appreciate her limited talents a lot more, because I really do enjoy all her songs.
Noticeably better than the original is this rendition recorded live by the Corrs and Bono;
From France (but still sung in English) comes this version by Emilie Simon and Alain Bashung, recorded live at La Music. Emilie Simon is one of my four favorite French vocalists, a truly amazing talent you would do well to pay attention to.
My vote for best version of this song goes to the Euro-Couple Ville Valo & Natalia Avelon, who had an entire production company promoting their movie behind them. The movie was titled Das Wilde Leben which translated into English is The Wild Love, telling the tale of the “It Girl” from 1968 Germany, Uschi Obermaier. Born Ursula Obermaier in 1946 Munich, she found her way to Commune 1 in Berlin, where she was much more interested in Free Love and partying than supporting The Party. She was one of the forces which eventually brought the Berlin Wall down, through her influence on popular opinion over the next few decades and her refusal to be anyone but who she was. I believe Natalia Avelon was a brilliant choice to play her, and a perfect vocal balance for Ville on this song.
It looks like the silliest fun this weekend at the movie theaters is going to be Your Highness, a comic fantasy involving a quest and at least one person who shouldn’t be on it. I am guessing Natalie Portman has to be loving her role on this one, and it looks like Zooey Deschanel had fun as well as the Damsel in Dis Dress. While not primarily genre (if this was a graphic novel, I missed it, but it should have been), Hanna looks like the other movie worth checking out this time around. Very definitely an edge of your seat experience, this one appears to be targeting the adrenalin junky audience.
And one trailer to get you ready for the next episode in the Shrek universe; Puss In Boots.
Topping the list this week is Tron: Legacy, the absolute must-add for every collection. This one really did deliver after the 30 year wait for the sequel. Also out this week is The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the third book in C.S. Lewis’s classic series to be converted to a movie. While it was also the third book published in that series, it is the 5th book in the internal chronology of the series. I am not sure if they intend to convert all of the books, but they are at work on the next one. The Australian film Beauty and the Beast: A Dark Tale didn’t get much time in the theaters in this country when it came out last year, but now those of us in the US finally have a chance to see it with it’s DVD release.
The TV show of note is a full series box set of Babylon 5, one of the best TV shows ever made. Brainchild of J. Michael Straczynski, this 5 year story arc told an amazingly complex tale of a war cycle that flared up every ten thousand years or so, and did it in a way that made you care about each character, loving some and hating others. This has been out for a long time as individual season box sets, but this is the first time it has been compiled into a single package.
I should mention that we do have one entry this week in the wacky conspiracy theory category: Kubrick’s Odyssey: Part 1 Kubrick & Apollo. Trust me when I say even though this one appears at first glance to be a documentary, it is the purest of science fiction of the parallel timelines/alternate history variety. At no time did Stanly Kubrick every run the Apollo Program, or film any moon landings.
On the Anime front, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Part 4 brings the next 13 episodes of the series. Edward is still trying to retrieve his missing limbs and Alphonse’s entire body in this Alchemy driven Steampunk story spread out across multiple timelines. This is one of the better Animes made in the last handful of years, and if you are not familiar with it you could always watch it online to get an idea of what it is about.
From some of the same creators, and released in the US through the same distribution house as F.M. Alchemist, Hero Tales: Part 1 and Part 2 are also becoming available this week. This is more of a fantasy, where fate and the Gods have decreed a conflict that legendary heroes leading the tribes of men must resolve. Again, you can watch episodes at the series home page to decide if this is something for your collection.
Finally, Strike Witches – Complete First Season is being re-released as a Viridian Collection box set, so you should be able to find a more affordable price tag if you haven’t already put this one on your shelves.
Courtesy of Wondercon, four minutes of new Green Lantern footage. This may be the closest thing we will ever get to seeing Doc E E Smith’s Grey Lensman books done as a movie, which I always thought was the inspiration for the Green Lantern comic book series. The film hits the big screens on June 17th, and I am seriously looking forward to it.