The movie of choice this week is Edge of Tomorrow, based on Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s light novel All You Need Is Kill. The book was excellent, I expect they did their best to do it justice bringing it to the big screen. If you are in the mood for lighter fare, or maybe want a movie you can share with your kids, they are re-releasing Ratatouille in a 3D version.
OK, maybe just the teaser-trailer, but Big Hero 6 does look like a fun ride. The 3D modeling/animation software the boy is playing with to create his robot looks like the kind of interface the animators used to make the movie, which makes sense. You use what you know to create, after all, and today’s animator certainly knows 3D modelling software. This has to have one of the first uses of 3D Printing I have seen in a cartoon, but that should happen more often now that the technology has gotten cheap enough that ordinary hobbyists can afford them for casual use. I should mention the Big Hero 6 Game, and the fact that there are Anime tropes embedded all over this feature, putting it solidly in the J-Pop Culture category. I find that kind of interesting for a Disney project; perhaps they are missing the recently retired Miyazaki. Then again, the film is based on the Marvel Graphic Novel of the same name, which takes place in Japan and is itself a non-stop tribute to Otaku culture and sensibilities. The premise is the Giri (a secret consortium of government and private sector interests) decides it needs its own set of superheroes, and sets out to create them. A 13 year old super genius they try to recruit wants nothing to do with them, until his mother is kidnapped by Everwraith, the spiritual remains of everyone killed in the 1945 nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, acting as a kind of group poltergeist.
As far as I know is the first Marvel property to get the full Disney Animation treatment. I don’t count Motion Comics as full animation, no matter how many of the same tricks are used in Anime to make the productions less expensive to create. I am looking forward to this one, which should be in theaters on November 7th.
It get’s its world premier in L.A. on Wednesday, but on Friday Maleficent is on big screens everywhere. Another Disney prequel, this time about the evil witch who cursed the newborn in Sleeping Beauty, only to realize later she may have made a mistake. If you are looking for something funnier (notice I didn’t say lighter, since it is just as dark) there is A Million Ways to Die in the West. The trailers have been funny as hell, and the theme song is an instant classic. I am thinking I need to see both of them this weekend, although if I only have time to see one, I think the comedy is going to win out.
The new trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy includes a new 70s one-hit wonder song, plus we get to hear both Groot and Rocket speak for the first time. This is not one of Marvel’s better known properties, but I am definitely looking forward to it. It will be on the big screen come August 1st.
The latest Anime in the Appleseed franchise brings the story to a head. From Stage 6 and the other related creators, this iteration put the entire series into perspective. Based on the original story by Masamune Shirow, creator of Ghost In The Shell and Dominion Tank Police, this series is well worth your time to check out.
I am so ready for Nolan’s Interstellar, and I do love the Tag Line; Mankind was born on earth. It was never meant to die here. Come November, I will be in the theaters on opening weekend for this one.