We hit the jackpot this week, and I don’t mean the ton of horror flics coming out on Halloween. Best action/adventure based on a literary property is definitely Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game, which comes complete with a world-class cast. For those in the mood for a heartwarming time travel romance we have the wide release (previously in Limited) of About Time from the team that did 4 Weddings And A Funeral. The animated treat for the weekend is Free Birds, with time traveling turkey’s out to change the Thanksgiving menu forever. Finally, the foreign film of note is Man of Tai Chi, which is a Hong Kong martial arts film, even if Keanu Reeves is directing and starring in it.
The action/comedy winner is R.I.P.D., the after life cop story based on the excellent Dark Horse comic. The other film of note this week is Byzantium, the dramatic fantasy about two beautiful vampires.
There didn’t seem to be any live action TV options this time around, at least not from North America. The western animation is a good one, though: Disney’s Monsters University. This was released as a digital HD download at the beginning the first week of the month, but this is your first chance to actually get the discs.
In Anime, Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day is the story of 5 childhood friends who grew apart after the death of Meiko, another friend. Years later, while they are in High School together, the ghost of Meiko returns and draws them back together to fulfill a promise they made to her as children. Thermae Romae: Complete Collection is about a bath house builder from ancient Rome who travels in time to modern Tokyo and gets some great ideas to incorporate into his designs from contemporary bath houses.
The remake of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty looks really good, possibly even better than the original, although I think I will have to watch them both on the same day before I come to any conclusions. It is based on the book by American humorist and illustrator James Thurber.
For those wondering what the count down clock is all about, it is all about the Doctor Who 50th Celebration and the episode they will air around the world that night, Day Of The Doctor.
The one film that looks like fun this week is Mickey Virus, a Bollywood comedy about a computer hacker, his tomboy sidekick, his imaginary girlfriend (which he programmed into a computer game), a whole lot of police, and the computer hackers he has to stop.
The Wall is a German fantasy adventure about a woman who suddenly finds herself isolated from humanity by an invisible barrier she can not cross. This looks like it could be a very powerful interior movie if it is done right. The documentary this time is Necessary Evil: The Villains of DC Comics, because there just isn’t enough nerdyness already in the world.
In TV, the excellent but short lived Primeval New World: The Complete Series is available to bring home. I liked that series, and was very sorry it did not get renewed. The other tasty series is Nikita: The Complete Third Season, spy fun for the whole family.
In Anime, Blood-C: The Last Dark is the feature film that complements the TV series about the half-monster vampire killing girl. Kokoro Connect: Complete is about a group of friends who suddenly find themselves swapped in each others bodies with no clue as to why. Even with the cross-gender swapping, objectionable content is mild; this one is played strictly for the laughs.
Winning the award for this rounds longets title, Yamibo – Darkness, the Hat, and the Travelers of the Books: Complete Collection, I find the premise of this one interesting. Our protagonist has had her elder sister/love interest vanish in front of her. In the process of seeking her out, a talking parakeet leads her to the Great Library, where every book is a gateway to its own unique world. Not surprisingly, this is from Bandai, the same folks who distributed Read Or Die.
Di Gi Charat: Complete is centered around an extraterrestrial princess and her friends who descend on Tokyo with the objective of making her an Idol. The original anime and OVA were kind of promotional, since the Gamers store it is set in, in Akihabara, actually exists, and is part of a chain that has stores as far away as LA, California. This is more of a re-release, but it has been quite a while since the series was available in North America.