Wednesday we get Attack on Titan: Part 1, and while it is in somewhat limited release it is still in a number of theaters per city. Thanks to Funimation for setting up the network of digital theaters this live action movie duo will be showing in. Friday we get The Martian, another film I have been waiting a long time for. That one is actually late Thursday, which has pretty much become the default for weekly movie releases. I think because it boosts the claimable box office for the Opening Weekend just enough to make films look like they had a good opening. I intend to see both of these this week.
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The winner in films this week is Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, one of the best artificial intelligence movies I have ever seen. TV has Grimm: Season 4 with more Wessen intrigue and mystery, as the story line gets more convoluted with each episode. If you are more into temporally displaced bodice rippers, then Outlander: Season One, Part 2 concludes the first season. I suppose I should also mention iZombie: Season 1 is out this week, but I’m not sure I want to. I suppose I should watch an episode and see if it is any good.
In Anime Bleach: Season 26 brings us episodes 355 through 366 of the continuing epic of the Soul Reapers. For those who have been counting, that means we are finally getting Bleach releases up to date with the episodes that are streaming, but it took years to get there. Nobunaga the Fool: Collection 2 sees the Eastern Star on the cusp of full-scale interstellar war.
Go Nagai is one of the most prolific creators of anime, coming up with entire genres that never existed before. In 1991 he did it again in the OVA Go Nagai World; if you ever wonder where Chibi characters came from, wonder no longer. In these three episodes he transferred a number of his most popular protagonists to a deformed world where their bodies were seriously misshapen, and they spent the rest of the story line trying to return to normal. The other classic being released this week is Super Dimension Century Orguss, made back in 1983/1984 as part of the Super Macross series of space adventures. What makes this release notable is in its only previous US release back in 2007 only the first 7 episodes of the total 35 episodes had an English voice track, with the rest being subtitled. This time the first 17 episodes are dubbed, and there is a good chance the original voice actors did the next 10, since they appeared on stage together at this years MacrossWorld Convention to make an exciting announcement.
Durarara!! x 2 (#1) is out this week, but it is way overpriced for a single series, and it isn’t even that; it is only the first 6 episodes of the second series, which is already streaming episode 24. I will be watching this one online for the foreseeable future.
Dick and the Back Beats are quite a bit of fun, being a German band playing Rockabilly versions of classic 1980s New Wave songs. The first track is Just Can’t Get Enough from 2011, the second is Just The Way You Are which arrived by way of Filtr Germany. There are several more excellent songs out there, but I could not vet their legitimacy so I can not post them here.
Starring Bruce Campbell and Lucy Lawless, Ash vs Evil Dead is going to return us to one of the best horror comedy’s ever made.
Russia is finally producing a superhero movie under the title Zaschitniki (The Guardians), and the trailer looks quite good. In a parallel timeline during the height of the Cold War, the superheroes are gathered together from the different countries under Russian rule, each heroes powers reflecting the strengths of their homelands. They must protect their countries from August Kuratov’s clone army and a device he built which controls other machines, turning them against their owners. I really enjoyed the Nightwatch/Daywatch films, and am looking forward to this one, which will be in theaters in 2016.
This week we get the animated silliness of Hotel Transylvania 2, with an all star voice cast that includes Adam Sandler as Dracula and Mel Brooks as his father, Vlad. There is another comedy worth noting; Intern has Robert De Niro as Anne Hathaway’s Intern in a very interesting movie. As far as I know this will also mark the first time his daughter, Drena De Niro, will be sharing the big screen with him, but don’t be fooled into thinking this is nepotism. She has been working in media her entire life, and has won awards for film direction.