Immortals hits the big screen this weekend, bringing the ancient Greek tale of Theseus and King Hyperion to life. Mickey Rourke gets to play the evil king in this epic. Also out this week, Melancolia, in which the relationship between two sisters is strained by the giant planet about to smash into Earth.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 completes the epic series, and for those who don’t have any of the others they are also releasing the Harry Potter: Complete 8-Film Collection. This really was an amazing series, and I am glad the studio buckled down around the time they did the third one and decided to spend the time and money to do it right.
The Sleeping Beauty is a French variation on the classic fantasy with a group of witches trying to find an antidote to a lethal curse laid on the young protagonist. This one I probably will go for, as it seems much less ordinary than some other choices. Atlas Shrugged part 1 is the latest incarnation of the Ayn Rand classic story updated for the modern audience, with some interesting casting choices. This will also be on the to-be-acquired list.
On the lighter side, The Change-Up tells the story of two guys who swap bodies after expressing a wish. What, you have heard this one before? Yep, they do variations on this one every 5 years or so, always with a serious difference between the protagonists. Often that difference is age, but this time the difference is marital status. I will wait to see this one when it comes to Netflix or Hulu or HBO, whatever. And finally for movies, Mortal Combat: Legacy started out being assembled as a Web based series but has a number of quality actors involved with the project, as well as the history and background of the series.
The two entries for live action TV series this time around are both from the UK, but completely different from each other. First is Doctor Who: Series Six, Part Two, and I still object to their breaking a single season up into two parts, but it does make each part easier to afford (even though the total cost for the season is higher that way). I should probably also mention it looks like you might be able to play the new game on the web site even if you are in the US. The other UK series is Bedlam, which I have not found very interesting so far, but horror fans should love it.
In anime, Squid Girl – Part 2 continues the story of the invertebrate who became a human girl when she invaded the world of the air breathers. She does not seem noticeably more successful in her war against the bipeds. Loup Garous also comes out this week, a feature film presentation involving deadly viruses and a cloistered existence.
The other new release is Amagami SS Collection 2, but there is some dispute between different sites as to exactly when it becomes available. In this instance, it may have come out before this date, but it will definitely be available come Tuesday.
Two titles are being re-released in lower cost full series editions, Mushi-shi and Romeo × Juliet – The Complete Tragedy. If you shop around, you can pick these up for as little as $18 each.
Short and to the point, the Hulk vs. Ewok video is a hoot. Or perhaps you would prefer the Chuck Norris vs. Stormtrooper footage, which takes place on the same planet. Finally, a Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon Light Saber Fight just to show earthlings can be silly too.
The folks over at SFX got together with the team from Spoken Word Audio and created a Sci-Fi Quiz App that runs on various iDevices. And unlike many of the BBC offerings, this one is available for us in the US as well. If you think you have what it takes to beat the quiz and you are in America, you can grab it here; if you are in the UK, use this link instead.
The good news is that the shared universe multi-author ongoing masterpiece Wild Cards is going to be made into a film of some flavor, and original authors George R. R. Martin and Melinda Snodgrass are both involved. In fact, Melinda Snodgrass will be writing the screenplay for the production, according to the Hollywood Reporter. I would be a bit concerned about this since the project belongs to the Syfy Channel, who has made consistently excellent miniseries and consistently dreadful TV Movies. But this is the very first project for the new Syfy Films (a new joint venture between Syfy and Universal Pictures), so there is hope this could be treated as it deserves. If you are not familiar with the series, do yourself a favor and go out and buy the first 10 books in the series now, and read them in one non-stop marathon. The story opens not long after WWII, when an alien spaceship comes to use a biologic weapon to eradicate the human race, but is engaged in aerial combat by Jetboy, who defeats them to the point where only a single bomb goes off. That bomb impacts on New York City, where the virus kills 99% of everyone it touches. Of those who survive, 99% have bizarre physical and mental modifications, sometimes with a power to counteract their loss: the Jokers. The one percent of one percent who are left are the Aces, blessed with superhuman powers. This series has been going on since its inception in 1987, with some of the best science fiction authors on the planet contributing characters and stories. It treats its superheroes and villains even more like real people than the graphic novels do, although there are graphic novel versions available as well. I can’t wait to see how they do with this one!
The Doctor Who Experience was quite memorable, and I wanted to include a few more images from it. While it is difficult to determine what constitutes the proper chronological order for a Timelord, I have no problem posting them in episode order. The first image is from the very first Tom Baker episode, Robot. The second are two Daleks from completely different eras, while the third is the junk Tardis console they cobbled together for Matt Smith’s episode The Doctors Wife.
