I love Tangled, and was excited to hear they did a short sequel called Tangled Ever After. So far they have played it before the theatrical run of the 3D version of Beauty And The Beast, and that has been about it. I am not big on seeing re-releases of 2D movies processed for 3D, considering the process to be right up there with colorization as a way to destroy the original artistic vision of the creators, so I didn’t get to see it there. No word on when the DVD might be available, although you can buy the movie poster, a read-along book, and even a Mini Princess Doll Set. But it should pop up soon on the Disney Channel, so keep an eye peeled for it to appear on VOD or streaming online from the official web site.
The first Official Doctor Who Convention will be held in Cardiff the weekend of March 24th and 25th. The guest list is every bit as impressive as you would expect, and since they actually film in Cardiff there will be outrageous new opportunities, including a TARDIS set tour on the actual sound stage. Pretty much every special presentation ever held at the Doctor Who Experience will be part of the weekend, which makes sense when you realize they have already closed in London and moved it to Cardiff, where they are now putting it back together, along with various new bits. I feel the need for another excursion to the UK coming on…
Marina Orlova is better known online under the name HotForWords, and she celebrated her 100 Millionth View on YouTube in the middle of 2008. In a recent posting she examined the origin of the name of her new cell phone, and tied it into Philip K. Dick’s classic work Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep, renamed to Bladerunner when they made the movie version. So for the 17 people in the world who don’t know Philip or Marina, here is her comment on his work…
It is finally time for John Carter, and we get a Who-related film the same weekend! I have been ranting about the Burroughs movie for a few years now, and after yesterday’s post I don’t need to say much more, I am sure. The other film worth hitting this weekend stars former Doctor Who incarnation David Tennant in The Decoy Bride. The trailer and the write up make it look really, really funny, so this one may just be worth spending some time to check out.
Top movie choice this time around is Immortals, a tale of war and oppression in the time of the Greek Gods. In fact, it would pretty much be the only movie choice if it wasn’t for the direct to DVD release of Tooth Fairy 2 starring Larry the Cable Guy. And no, it doesn’t have its own home page that I could find, or I would have linked it.
A made-for-TV movie sits right on the border between the two video forms: My Future Boyfriend is a rather silly story without much substance, but kind of sweet. If I did food comparisons, cotton candy would definitely come to mind. If you prefer your stories with a bit of meat on their bones and noticeably more adult, Game of Thrones: The Complete First Season is the way to go. George R. R. Martin is still writing the books, hopefully he will be able to keep ahead of the filming schedule as they convert one book a year into video footage. He has been releasing the books a bit slower than that, and now that his other main project, Wild Cards, has been picked up by the new Universal/SyFy Channel production house he may have less time for writing than ever.
For western animation there isn’t anything new as such, but they are releasing Robot Chicken: Seasons 1-5, giving you the opportunity to grab everything currently available at once, and for a bit of a discount. Season 6 is currently airing and should be available soon.
Anime shows a single new release in the form of the House of Five Leaves – Complete Series, a historical drama involving a shy Ronin and the gang of kidnappers he falls in with. The animation looks interesting, and there is promise of personal growth in the evolution of the protagonist.
There are several re-releases worth mentioning, starting with Grave of the Fireflies – Remastered Edition. This semi-true story about orphaned children in wartime Japan has been digitally remastered to rip your heart out with improved video resolution and audio quality. If you haven’t seen this masterpiece trust me when I say it is right up there with Barefoot Gen as an object lesson in the human condition during war, especially as it applies to children.
On a much lighter note, Sands of Destruction – The Complete Series is being released in a S.A.V.E. (Super Amazing Value Edition) package, which means you can pick up the whole thing for around $15. Also being released in a single box set, Hetalia: Axis Powers – The Complete Series also brings the price down for those who have been waiting, but not by anywhere near as much.
It is almost time for John Carter to hit the big screen, and the center point the entire series of stories pivoted around was the relationship between John Carter and Dejah Thoris. So here is another nice little teaser that focuses on that story aspect, and thanks to Disney for modernizing her character to be even more independent than Burroughs portrayed her as. I have been waiting for this movie since I first read A Princess of Mars when I was 14, and yes, I did manage to track down the other volumes in the series and read them all by the time I was 16. And then I reread them, in the correct order, and after that I tracked down everything else Burroughs had written. He grew up in Virginia in the 1800s after the American Civil War, so the racism built into his 25 Tarzan books as basic assumptions made my skin crawl (and do NOT get me started on the sexism built into every story he ever wrote), but his Mars and Venus series were rousing tales once you learned to spot and toss out that aspect of his writing, separating it from the core stories. And now you don’t have to, because Disney is doing it for you; do NOT miss this film if you love science fiction!