The primary option this week is Deadpool, a unique anti-hero in the Marvel pantheon. I will definitely be in the theater for that one, but that isn’t to say it is the only option. There are two music inspired films as well, Bigger Than the Beatles being about the Beach Boys and songwriter Charlie Manson, and Punk’s Dead: SLC Punk 2. I don’t think either of those are in too many theaters, and the only web site I could find for the first one had been hacked and taken over by a fashion blogger, so I am sticking with the Marvel offering this time around.
This week Pride and Prejudice and Zombies will be in the theaters, giving a whole new twist to the classic story. It is the kind of thing you might have gotten if Jane Austen was writing episodes of Buffy for Joss, and it might just be enough fun to watch to overcome my dislike of horror. There is a non-genre film that also looks pretty interesting, Hail, Caesar!. From the trailers it looks very amusing and the might just end up being the movie that gets my ticket money this weekend.
The Variety Artisans series is a collection of interviews that explain how all the stuff at the core of telling a story in a movie format works. This particular one is about the Oscar Ballot Guide: Animation Character Design, where you will learn the major points of making a character the audience will want to follow and become friends with. If you enjoy this one, you may want to watch the entire series.
The only choice this weekend is Kung Fu Panda 3, at least from my perspective, another excellent entry in the franchise. The animation on this series has been very well done, using different artistic styles to differentiate the different aspects of the story. The cast is world class, and the story itself is one worth telling. I have been a fan since the first one, no way I am missing this on the big screen.
Parasyte: The Maxim was fun as an Anime, I can’t wait to see what they do with it as not one, but 2 Parasyte Live Action Films. The films have already been made and released, but I missed them, in part because the only theaters I know they showed in were in Australia. You can pick it up as an import DVD or Blue Ray, but it is just as pricey as you would expect for that release path. I guess I will have to lobby for someone to release it domestically in North America, because even though I am not a horror fan I do love comedy, and this series has a lot of that in all its iterations.
Get ready for The Boy and the Beast, in select theaters this March. It is the latest film from Mamoru Hosoda, who’s previous works include The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, the cyber adventure Summer Wars and the Ghibli-esque Wolf Children. It has picked up a number of Film Festival awards already, no surprise considering its creator actually worked at Studio Ghibli before forming his own small animation studio with the goal of making quality animations like the world had never seen before. This is another presentation made possible by Funimation, and they have more coming soon.