The short film Harlequin is quite nicely done, and worth the time it takes to watch it. Pretty much a Batman variation, so it fits right in with the Comic Book Movies theme I enjoy sharing so often. It was created by Tara Alexis, who has some other interesting shorts to her credit, including some music videos (see the second one listed here, Haunted).
This is a fan made trailer put together to help us imagine what an animated version of BLADERUNNER would be like.
The award winning short film Somnium was created by Team Somium of The Animation School in South Africa, the team being Gerard Seymour, Riann Sholtz, Pieter Louw, Eben De Waal, Jasmine Morvan, and Greta Pepler. The award it won was the World Silver Award from the New York Festival’s International Television & Film Awards of 2014, and it only takes about 5 minutes to watch. I find it interesting but appropriate that they named it after the 1608 science fiction story Somnium by astronomer Johannes Kepler. Enjoy!
It will be hard to top this past weekend’s monster film Jurassic World after it blew the doors off of the previous opening weekend record holder, The Avengers. But if you are in need of a mental pick-me-up I recommend Inside Out, the latest animated fun fest from Pixar. I am thinking I will have to be in the theater for this one… although I might follow it up with another round of Dinosaurs.
On the movie front, Chappie is the clear winner. This Robot/AI coming to life tale is engaging on so many layers you won’t ever wonder why it belongs on this list. There were aspects of this production that surprised me, like their choices of gangsta-rap celebrities as core cast members (that would not have been my choice, but then I wasn’t the one telling the story), but the film as a whole had my approval. The other near-genre film this time around, The Lazarus Effect, was just a cheap horror flic as far as I was concerned, and not worth the time it takes to watch it. A non-genre release that was nominated for an Academy Award (best foreign language film) because of its amazingly twisted story was Wild Tales, which certainly is worth the time it takes to watch it, if you can handle how completely off the hook it gets. And then there is the documentary offering: The Wrecking Crew, about the studio musicians who showed up on almost every major recording from the 60s and 70s that is still overplayed today, because they were just that good.
In TV there is only one choice this time around: Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman: Season 5! This show has been one of my favorite programs for quite a few years now, and this season just proves it yet again. Trust me when I say you want to watch this one and see if you don’t also find it both entertaining and educational.
In Anime, there seems to be some confusion about Tokyo Ravens: Season 1 Part 2, which is being released either this week or at the end of the month. Both of the sites I trust to get it right say at the end of the month, but I am going to mention it this week anyways. Whichever it is, this rather dark series will draw you in, and hold your attention. Hard though it may be to believe, Is This a Zombie? of the Dead is a much more lighthearted adventure, with much sillier situations springing up, and it really does come out this week. Finally, Captain Earth: Collection 1 begins to tell the story of yet another teenager who is tasked with saving the world using his special video games skill set. All of these look like fun to me, and I have been enjoying them; I hope you do, as well.
One of the two best Ska bands in Japan, Ore Ska Band got together when they were in the same high school, and have been making good music ever since. The first song is the title track of 2014s Carry On mini-album, while the second is 2009s What a Wonderful World.