Gantz was the least subtle anime I have ever watched, at least in its unedited form. The version that aired on late night TV (midnight Tokyo time) in Japan was so heavily edited for sex and violence that some episodes made no sense at all, with very few complete sentences. But now a group in Japan is gearing up to make two live action films based on the Manga that drove the anime. 26 companies around the world are already negotiating to get distribution rights for the two films, and a company each in the US and UK are inquiring about remake rights. I will keep my fingers crossed that they don’t wimp out, but stay true to the original story.
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Remember a month or two back when the short animation Pixels was all over the web? Now it apparently is going to become a become a feature length movie according to Geeks of Doom.
Frank Frazetta died yesterday at the age of 82. One of the most amazing artists I know, he pretty much defined barbarian fantasy art. If you don’t recognize the name, go to his home page and check his galleries, where you will discover you have known his art all your life. It is sad to think he is no longer with us, and there will be no new works from his hand.
In the theaters this weekend the best new film looks to be Robin Hood, the gazillionth time someone has converted the story to a video format. With folks like Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett and Ridley Scott involved, this version might just be something special.
If you are anywhere near Oregon, you might want to make some time to see Wild Space A Go Go, a rather silly sounding retro 60s multidimensional outer space musical comedy and sex farce. While not actually a movie what with the live human beings on the stage and all, it certainly sounds like a lot of fun.
For those with a leaning to fantasy based thrillers, there are a few good movies this week. Legion tells the story of one heavily armed angel out to save the life of a single human being, doing battle against the hoards of evil. While Daybreakers tells the story of R&D time traveling Vampires out to save the human race as a whole. With an all star cast and a soundtrack that includes compositions by Kate Bush, Daybreakers is the one I am bringing home this week before the others.
In the imported live action movie category, Legend Of The Tsunami Warrior from Thailand has an impressive array of talent and resources. It successfully blends fantasy, action and romance into a thrilling tale of the four sided race to retrieve sunken treasure and control a weapon of mass destruction. With Princesses, Pirates, and Paupers all going for the finish line you might be able to catch your breath every so often, but not frequently.
A twisted little variation on the classic theme is Malice in Wonderland, this one from the UK. You need a warped sense of humor to fully appreciate this movie, but it does look like a lot of fun.
Samurai Harem: Asu No Yoichi Complete Collection also looks to have a serious humor component, as well as being the first Anime for today’s post. A typical coming of age story involving a clueless martial arts teenage master and an assortment of heavily armed homicidal young women who take offense at his lack of social graces.
A release of Xenosaga DVD Complete Series – Viridian Collection puts this series into a low cost package for the first time, so if you haven’t already grabbed it, now is you chance. While this anime series was based on a game of the same name, it has interesting characters using giant robots in outer space to fight aliens, so whats not to like?
This one is a bit different, a fantasy classic in the making based on the Ramayana called Sita Sings the Blues. It blends the original epic tale with the creators own experiences and commentary supplied by an assortment of Indonesian Shadow Puppets to present a wonderful little story. I am glad to see there is now an official DVD release, assuming Nina Paley, the person who brought this into existence, is getting a fair percentage of the take. She originally released this under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License last year, giving it to the world. She did set up a way to Donate your approval to the movie (I contributed; did you?), but I suspect a lot more folks would be willing to support the project when they get their own physical copy for their permanent collection. More information is available here.
The best version of Star Wars yet… at least the best version that tells the original 3 movies in 2 and a quarter minutes using Lego’s. This one’s a hoot; thank you Science Fiction Geeks for the heads up on this one.
The video after that is a real commercial for the TomTom team, who now has an assortment of official voices from Star Wars to feed you your driving instructions. It just cracked me up, so I had to include it today. Thanks to SciFi/Fantasy author Lillith Saintcrow for that link!