There are many aspects to a SIGGRAPH convention, but one of my favorites has always been the Computer Animation Festival, and the SIGGRAPH Asia 2014 con coming up next month looks to have a good collection. The gathering takes place in Shenzhen, China, from December 3rd to the 6th, and as always will feature the cutting edge in what is being created in the world of computer graphics.
The winner this week is The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, the next installment in the Hunger Games saga. They had to break this one into two pieces, not because the book was huge, but because so much of the story happened off the page and was just mentioned as something the primary characters heard about. That doesn’t work as well in a movie, so those parts of the plot needed to be brought to the screen. Also out this week are Extraterrestrial (aliens out to kill you) and A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (vampires out to kill you), but why go there?
The final Miazaki masterpiece The Wind Rises hits the shelves this week, in a combo BD+DVD pack. Unusually for an anime, it tells the true story of one of Japan’s top aircraft designers, or at least as true as any movie ever gets. It follows his life from that of a young man almost to the end, with all the style and compassion Miazaki is known for. With a totally different attitude we also get Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, another twisted story from Frank Miller told from the pages of his graphic novel, with an excellent cast. Automata goes in still another direction, with Antonio Banderas as the robot hunting enforcer in a world where the machines are more human, and humane, than the people. Even though several versions are already on the shelves, I had to mention that the Frozen Sing Along Edition is being released this week as well; follow the bouncing snowflake!
The only genre TV show I found a reference to being released this week is Wolfblood: Season 2, and for a 13 episode series to go for $10 on its day of release says something about the level of quality you can expect from this one, I suspect. Although it is a BBC (or CBBC, more accurately) show, and airing on Disney in the US, so that says some good things.
In Anime, besides the previously mentioned The Wind Rises, two other Miyazaki animation classics are being released on Blue Ray for the first time; Kiki’s Delivery Service, and Princess Mononoke. I am thinking I will have to upgrade my copies from DVD.
New this week is the very amusing I Couldn’t Become a Hero, So I Reluctantly Decided To Get a Job, about a man who graduated Hero School, then had to get a job in retail when the war against the Demons ended unexpectedly, also ending his paycheck. But his culture shock is nothing compared to his new co-worker, the daughter of the now-deceased Demon King! We also have One Piece Season 6 Part 2, bringing us up to episodes 349 through 360 on disc, while streaming just showed episode 670 this past week.
A Certain Magical Index: Complete Season 1 brings the entire first season together in a single box set for the first time, which means you can pick it up for a bit under half as much as you would have paid by buying the previously released Season 1 Part 1 and Part 2 individually. This story is a heady mix of science and sorcery in the same universe as the genetically modified parapsychics of A Certain Scientific Railgun. Likewise, Death Note: The Complete Series includes all 37 episodes of the TV show for a decent price, but none of the movies, either live action or animated.
The new Superfly release comes out Tuesday, called By Blowing the Love to the Body (approximately) for the regular edition, they change the word order a bit for the special edition. They are a great rock band who have been cranking out music since 2007, you can pick up their stuff on iTunes.
Just because it is both silly, and very well done, here it is: the regeneration of the 11th Doctor into the 13th. The numbering assumes the War Doctor existed in the order his episode aired, not his progenitor and descendant Doctors proper order. Just to show you how well Blob Van Dam did at creating this Lego animation, I am also including the original regeneration scene from the official Doctor Who channel.
Another tale of the future from South Africa, co-written, directed, and co-produced by Neill Blomkamp, the man who brought us District 9. Chappie is a robot with a brain based on learning heuristics and a neural net, meaning he starts out with only the instinct to learn, knowing nothing. Actors include Sigourney Weaver, Hugh Jackman, Ninja and Yo-Landi Vi$$er (those last two you probably know better under the name Die Antwoord), and the trailer tells me I need to see this film. In the US it will be on the big screen on March 6, 2015.