Skip to main content

All forms of audio/video/text storage

JAPAN FILM FESTIVAL of San Francisco

Yesterday I mentioned that the JAPAN FILM FESTIVAL of San Francisco was going to be running Library Wars on Friday, but they have a number of other amazing films you will also want to see on the big screen if you can make the festival (note: it started several days ago, so a time machine would be useful. But it also runs for at least another week).

They have a large selection of Anime films, but if I had to pick just one to attend it would be the US premiere of Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo, a reboot of the classic Evangelion mecha masterpiece. This is the third of four films in the new series, and things are not looking good for Earth or humanity at this point in the war. My live action pick is Space Battleship Yamato, a classic story previously done as an Anime. The groundbreaking original ushered in science fiction anime, and this live action adaptation looks pretty amazing. I like the fact that they kept to the original ship design and costuming while bringing modern special effects to the mix. There are a bunch of other great films, anime and live action both, if you are going to be in town during the event be sure to check it out.

Something to Do: Movies, 2Aug13

Europa Report is the planetary adventure this week, searching for life on Jupiter’s fourth largest moon. While not the largest budget film ever, this one looks very interesting indeed. The other one I would really like to see is Library Wars, if I can just make it over to the Japan Film Festival of San Francisco. In 2019 a new law is passed, which allows the government to create an armed force to destroy objectionable printed material. Opposing this is the Library Force, teachers and librarians out to protect all books, and they too are heavily armed. I know which side I would be fighting on! Or you could just go for the action roller coaster and see 2 Guns; it’s not genre, but it looks like a lot of fun. Notice how I didn’t even mention Cockneys vs Zombies?

Something to Watch: DVDs, 30Jul13

I somehow missed G.I. Joe: Retaliation when it was in the theaters, but I suspect I will watch it eventually. After all, it has both Bruce Willis and Dwayne Johnson, so it has to be a roller coaster of an action film. Something to watch for the mindless violence and special effects, in other words.

There seems to be some conflicting information about Time Trax: The Complete Second Season, which is listed as a new release on the Warner Archive site, and listed as coming out this week on Video ETA, but at the same time is listed as being In Stock at most of the sites where you can buy it. I have the feeling some of the confusion is generated by the fact that this is an On Demand release, meaning they do not actually burn it to DVD or Blue Ray until you order it. I like this approach a lot, since it means a lot of shows that would otherwise never get released because of low audience demand become available. The flip side of that coin is they are generally a bit pricier than they could be because they will never go on sale to clear out the stock. The other release worth noting this week is Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 4 on Blue Ray. They have been doing quite a fine job of upgrading this series to 1080p, although I have to wonder how long it will be before they start working up the 3D version, then the 4K version…

In western animation this time we have Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, which brings into existence a very different alternate timeline to the DC universe.

Anime starts off with Another: Complete Collection, a story about a popular girl still hanging out at her school 23 years after her death, and the boy who can see her. He has to solve the mystery of her death before his own demise comes to claim him. Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie is the first two films they have put out, Beginnings and Eternal; the third film in the series, Rebellion, will be on the big screen soon. The problem from my perspective is these animations are being released as imported special editions, which makes them about 6 times more expensive than I consider the programming itself to be worth. So I will be waiting for something more realistic in the way of a release format before they are added to my collection.

I normally don’t mention re-releases, but there is a classic being made available for the first time in a while that is very worth watching. Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine takes you back to the beginning of the franchise, so you can see how it all began, and come to know the woman at the core of the stories. Hard to believe this animation is now 40 years old; while the character design is old school, the animation style is still quite fresh and holds its own to this day.

More Strange J-Commercials

Japanese commercials are even stranger than the ones they build to catch our attention in the west. Having said that, a lot of these would work anywhere around the world, but about 25% of them could only come from Japan. That probably has as much to do with the globalization of culture on Earth as it does with the difference in cultures from different parts of the world. As recently as 40 years ago, only about 15% of them had anything in common at all. These days, they are selling you the same products with a slant that they hope will increase sales within the national borders of a given country. That tends to limit creativity, but there are still a few interesting and unique commercials among the collection.

Something to Do: Movies, 26Jul13

There is no doubt that the primary choice this weekend will be The Wolverine, next from the Marvel X-Men franchise. I am pretty much on the must-see bandwagon when any new Marvel movie hits the big screen, so I don’t even need to think about it any more. If you are in the mood for silly fun instead, The To Do List may be more your speed. There is also Stranded, but I am not a horror fan unless it comes with a lot of comedy.