Priest comes from the TokyoPop graphic novel series, and is the first of their movie projects. Now that they have shut the doors on their US operations I don’t know if any of the others they had planned will make it to the big screen, but at least we get this one this weekend. The girl has been kidnapped by the renegade vampires, and the heavily armed priest is out to get her back. Also this weekend, The Big Bang is Antonio Banderas as a noir-ish detective on his strangest case yet; scientists are out to recreate the Big Bang, and all sorts of things are going wrong.
Sadly, there are two productions riding on the coat tails of others this week that are counting on your being numbered among the terminally confused to make their sales quota. With incredibly bad CGI monsters (and I am not going into the script, directing, acting, or cinematography, because I just don’t have the stomach for it), Almighty Thor is last night’s Made for Syfy Movie of the Week and then gets released on DVD this Tuesday. I can tell you it is in fitting (note I did not say good) company, alongside offerings like Mansquito and Sharktopus, to name but a few. I continue to be gobsmacked by how a single channel can produce such wonderful TV series (including Eureka, Warehouse 13, and Haven) and incredible Mini Series (Like Tin Man, Riverworld, Alice, and so many more), yet completely fail at every Made for TV Movie they have ever done. With the exception of 1994’s Deep Red, which was made a year before the channel existed.
We all realize the real Thor movie will be out the day before the cheap knockoff airs on Syfy; a bit more subtle (and the other offering hoping you have no clue) is Chop Kick Panda, a direct ripoff of the wonderful Kung Fu Panda franchise, who’s second film hits the big screen on May 26th.
Supernatural: Seasons 1-5 has been available individually, but now it is coming out in a box set. If you haven’t previously acquired any of these episodes, this does tend to reduce the per-season price.
For western animation The Illusionist is the choice this week, from the same team who created Les Triplettes de Belleville. This previously unproduced film comes from a script created by the French comic genius Jacques Tati in 1956 as a means of becoming closer to his daughter.
The anime masterpieces Coffee Samurai / Hoshizora Kiseki are being released this week in a single package, from the same folks who brought you Voices of a Distant Star and The Place Promised in Our Early Days. Hoshizora Kiseki, in English
Starry-sky Miracle, is about a girl who loves astronomy who meets a boy in a vacuum suit helping astronomers understand the stars, and how they impact one another. It was streamed online in 2006 from Japan for a few months, but while I watched it, the pipe wasn’t there to do it justice. It also made the film festival rounds, picking up a few awards, and was released on DVD in Japan that year, but no where else. I am glad it will finally be available here. Coffee Samurai is a bit different, with the woman in love with a coffee vending machine who goes by the name of Jin. It seems Jin was a Sengoku period samurai who died desperate for an invulnerable steel body to save him from the assassins. This is most definitely a case of be careful what you wish for; you might get it in your next life.
There are a few classics being re-released this time around. The original tale of boy loves computer, computer loves boy back will again be available: Chobits is a Persocomp made for one. If you are not sure that robot romance is for you, you can watch episodes online to get a feel for it. If you prefer your cyberneticly augmented women to be combat certified, Kiddy Grade has all the galaxy spanning action you could wish for, with a mystery to be solved. Again, if you don’t know if this is your kind of thing, you can watch the first few episodes online and then make your decision.
Finally, if it is Samurai action your looking for, Shigurui: Death Frenzy is being re-released in the Viridian Collection edition, which means you can pick up the series for just under $20 if you shop around.
For all those Neko moments, this is the unbeatable apparel accessory; brainwave powered cat ears by NeuroWear. The first video is their commercial, the second is various people at a Con trying them out and getting them to react. Two details immediately spring to mind while watching these, the first being that in the tryouts, everyone has a sensor smack in the middle of their foreheads while in the commercial it is in the models hair and a lot less obvious. I have to wonder whether that is a design improvement they have made or just another case of inflated advertising promises. The other interesting detail is that some wearers in the tryouts were able to simply control them on their own, while others needed artificial stimulation to generate a specific reaction in the form of an aromatic in a small blue jar. This would lead one to believe that the different ear action patterns are caused by calling up specific types of brain activity, which should give method actors instant mastery. I expect we will be seeing a lot of these among the Cosplay addicted over the next year, and I am sure the Furry’s will be adapting them for many other species. New toys!
The Sacramento State Jazz Singers were recorded at Monterrey doing the Battlestar Galactica version of the Bob Dylan song made famous by Jimi Hendrix; All Along the Watchtower. This sounds amazingly like it it was scored by Yoko Kanno as part of her Ghost In The Shell soundtrack. I got goosebumps listening to this, and had to share it.
A new trailer for the remake of Conan the Barbarian has been released, and I am a lot more likely to see the film now that I have watched it. For tonight’s viewing though Danny Choo’s Culture Japan has launched for free at Crunchyroll. You are never going to get a better understanding of the phenomena than by watching Tokyo’s top Otaku take you behind the scenes of the latest Manga, Anime, Music, and Games, explaining it all. They have a dozen episodes now for premium members (that’s the entire first season!), with 5 online right now for everyone and more coming over the next 2 weeks; enjoy!
Attack the Block with Nick Frost is out in the UK, and will hopefully be coming around here soon. While you are waiting, check out a track Basement Jax made for it, a very tasty number. In fact, they did the entire soundtrack, and a number of the songs can be listened to at that site.