Because the world will never have enough Godzilla movies, here is the newest trailer for the latest version. Notice how the monster is bigger, by an order of magnitude, from one film to the next? This one should be in theaters on May 16th.
Topping the list this week is the long awaited Odd Thomas, the Dean Koontz masterwork series now in Movie format (at least the first volume). There are also Webisodes of Odd Thomas you might enjoy. While it opened last week at an extremely limited number of theaters, The Wind Rises goes into wide release this week. The latest creation of Hayao Miyazaki is a biography for once, the story of a real person who designed some of the most innovative airplanes in the world for his time. It is up for an Academy Award for best animated feature film, you have this brief opportunity to see it on the big screen. Even though it is a Japanese production, this is animation, not anime; like all Studio Ghibli works it is very much in the style of Walt Disney. Even though it isn’t genre, Stalingrad looks like a very unusual WWII movie you might want to take note of, and catch if you are in one of the towns it is playing in.
Guardians Of The Galaxy is a bit different than the other Marvel film outings so far, and I am definitely looking forward to it. Let’s see… a bunch of misfits who ended up together because no one else understood them, and then the Galaxy As We Know It was threatened with destruction and they are the only ones who can save us from the danger. Yep, sure enough, that was never used as a Marvel plot line or premise before. 🙂 Seriously, though, I WILL be in the theaters on opening day, or at least opening weekend. I have really been waiting for this one for a while.
A bizarre blend of Edo era Samurai action, and wild west Cowboy violence, the Japanese remake of Unforgiven is just a little surreal. Taking place in Hokkaido in 1880 with Tombstone right next door, it looks like they did an excellent job blending the two cultures to tell a story that is equally heart-wrenching in either one. I particularly liked the scene of the cowboys riding off across the western terrain against the backdrop of Mt. Fuji.
This is more about the author and his books than the movie; perhaps I should call it Something To Read? I have been waiting for a decade or so for them to turn Dean Koontz’s wonderful character Odd Thomas into a movie, and I have heard about them doing so for the last few years. It has finally gotten beyond the rumor stage; a week from Friday, this one hits the big screen! The delay was caused by some legal issues between film making partners which should never have gotten in the way. From the trailer it looks like they have built the perfect film version of the first book in the series, and I am keeping my fingers crossed that they pull the box office numbers necessary to allow them to continue cranking out the entire collection of stories for our viewing enjoyment!
Have you read the Odd Thomas books or graphic novels? Oddy is a short order cook working the breakfast crowd at the grill, because that simple job allows him to zen out and let his mind come up with the proper solutions to help the various dead who appear to him. They don’t speak to him, for the dead do not talk. But they do make him aware of what their problems are, so he can help them. Most often they are looking for Justice, to have their killer stopped so they can not kill others. Sometimes they just need to be reassured they will be remembered, or that their mother knows how much they loved her, or maybe they just need that final ball to fetch. Odd Thomas has been seeing the dead since he was a child, and he is finally beginning to figure out how he can best serve them.
Dean R Koontz is a unique writer because his genre is horror, and his message is about how beautiful the world is, and how wonderful most of the people in it are, and most of all how full of hope and love even the most terrifying situation is. I never liked horror until I started reading this author. Actually, I still don’t like horror, but when the story carries this strong a message about how the world is right and good when good people stand up against evil, how could I not like it? The other series Dean does that impresses the hell out of me is his Frankenstein set, where Victor is trying to reduce people to slaves/robots, and not just a couple of folks, but entire cities and states. Meanwhile, the first Monster he created is still alive a few hundred years later, has learned the trick of quantum teleportation from the Dali Lama, and is out to save humanity from him with the help of some New Orleans cops, a sentient cancer tumor, and the 10th clone of Victor’s first wife. Trust me when I say Dean will always take you on a fun ride with lots of surprising stops along the way and will always leave you grinning ear to ear when you finally get to your destination.
The Studio Ghibli film nominated for an Academy Award, The Wind Rises, is finally on the big screen for American audiences to enjoy. This is a bit different as Anime goes, because it is a look at the real life of a man who designed fighter planes for Japan during WWII. While Anime does not shy away from hard story lines, it does not often tell you about actual people, other than historical figures long dead in completely different eras. It has some stiff competition in the Awards, it is up against both Despicable Me 2 and Frozen; I am looking forward to seeing it in the theater. After I do, I will have finally seen everything nominated and can make my decision as to which one I would vote for. Also out this week, Pompeii is about a gladiator making a mad dash to save his true love from being married to a corrupt Roman Senator (is there any other kind?) while the Volcano trashes the town. That one sounds like it should be a lot of fun. There is a chance that Angels in Stardust might be an interesting fantasy as well, or at least an indie quirky kind of film.