The more I see of the new live action version of the classic Disney animation Cinderella, the more I like it. The story was a classic folk tale first published in 1634, with the first movie version by film pioneer Georges Méliès coming out in 1899, but somehow I still think Disney when I hear the name. This is the second official US trailer for the new film, which will be in theaters March 13th. Be sure to take your seat early enough so you don’t miss the new animated short Frozen Fever, which takes place just a few months after the original movie Frozen ended.
This short animation, Le Gouffre, was created by just 3 animators who took two years bringing it to life. It has won a number of awards including Best Animated Short at three film festivals and Official Selection at about 35 more. The quality of the finished work is amazing, from the oil painting textures to the story itself, all told without words.
Le Gouffre from Lightning Boy Studio on Vimeo.
This week we get another excellent comic book turned into a movie, Kingsman: The Secret Service, which should be quite a lot of fun. It being Valentines Day weekend, I suppose I should mention that Fifty Shades of Grey will also be on the big screen. And for those in one of the limited markets that will be showing it, What We Do in the Shadows is a Vampire comedy about modern problems plaguing ancient minds. It has won a bunch of film fest awards and gotten positive comedic appreciation from a lot of reviewers.
A word of caution, the Kingsman trailer included with this post is NSFW.
In Movies we get Predestination, based upon a 1959 short story by Robert A.Heinlein, All You Zombies. This very convoluted time travel tale is the more-or-less sequel to the earlier Heinlein story, By His Bootstraps. The other film this week is In Your Eyes, an award winning supernatural romance by Joss Whedon, is pretty much the ultimate opposites attract saga. This one was never in theaters, having been made to go direct to streaming, and now it is on disc just in time for Valentines day. If you don’t know about it, have a trailer on me…
In western animation there is LEGO: DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League vs. Bizarro League, for those looking for good silly fun. If you hadn’t heard, Lego is putting out a Doctor Who Lego Edition later this year. TV gets the long awaited Batman: The Second Season, Part 1, the first 30 episodes of season 2, with Adam West and Burt Ward.
In Anime Reideen: Collection 2 has Mechanical Beasts continuing to attack the Earth, who’s major defender is a high school boy piloting an alien-built giant robot. The problem is, no one knows who the robot is actually working for or what its purpose is. This is a remake of the 1975 Super Robot anime Brave Raideen. Engaged to the Unidentified may be a reference to UFOs, as a young woman meets her fiance from an arranged marriage for the first time. Something just isn’t right about her new family, who are very strange. Finally, Sailor Moon: Season 1 Part 2 continues the newest entry into this classic series.
The Wagakki Band has released the song Ikusa, which is the opening song for the new anime Sengoku Musou, or Samurai Warriors. Wagakki means traditional Japanese instruments in English, and the band uses them to create a fusion rock sound that is pretty unique. Thanks to Rocket News 24 for the heads up on this one.
Sadly the new animation, Frozen Fever, is a short rather than a feature length project. It will be the opening presentation before the live action version of Cinderella in theaters on March 13. Since I was going to be there anyways for the movie, this is pure bonus fun.