This is an excellent weekend for movies, starting with R.I.P.D., the Rest In Peace Department from the comic book of the same name. It has Mary-Louise Parker costarring with Jeff Bridges, Ryan Reynolds, and Kevin Bacon in this comedy fantasy crime drama. If that wasn’t enough to keep you entertained another action/adventure/comedy based on a comic book is also hitting the big screen, RED 2, in which Mary-Louise Parker is costarring with Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, and Anthony Hopkins. That girl is definitely getting around, and getting some excellent parts in the process. Those are both on Friday, and I am going to have to attend both of them. On Wednesday the 17th Turbo is in the theaters, an animation about a snail who wants to be a race car. I really can’t afford to do three movies this weekend, even though it is from Dreamworks, one of my favorite western animation houses. This time around, the animation loses.
Not a great week for movies, with the remake of Evil Dead being about the only new film out there. And without Bruce, I just don’t see the point. We do better in TV, with Alphas: Season Two continuing the story for our team of special powered investigators. Unfortunately Syfy cancelled it, so it didn’t get a season 3, which means this is it for this series. Also this week the excellent BBC America original series Orphan Black: Season One hits the shelves. If you haven’t seen this one yet put it on your must-watch list and join the Clone Club.
In anime, Naruto Shippūden rolls out box set 15, bringing us up to episodes 180 through 192. The latest episode to stream out of Japan is 320, so we have a ways to go to catch up yet, but you can watch them on either the Viz or Hulu web sites. There is a re-release I am excited about this week, in the form of Patlabor (The Mobile Police) TV Series; Collection 1. Giant Robots, sociopaths, madmen waving guns – these aren’t just the problems the Mobile Police have to deal with every day, these ARE the Mobile Police! is a truly apt description, even if it is part of the current ad copy. This wonderful series is directed by Mamoru Oshii, who later went on to do Ghost In The Shell and many other excellent cyberpunk anime stories.
The next film of the franchise, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, doesn’t come out until November, but the trailer indicates it may be just as good as the first one. Suzanne Collins has done a superb job with these books, hopefully the film studio will continue at the quality level they brought to the first movie adaption.
Japanese commercials look strange to western eyes mostly because we do not have the cultural context to appreciate them. While some of these look very like what you might find on TV over here, some are just bizarre looking. Enjoy.
I am more than ready for Pacific Rim to hit the theaters! Finally the US gets its own Giant Mecha vs. Monsters kind of movie!
I have been waiting for Pacific Rim for quite a while, and finally It Is Gojira Season! We get to don our Giant Mecha suits and battle the monsters head on, at least in the virtual universe of the big screen. I fully expect to be completely entertained by this one, and will probably come home only to spend the rest of the day being fully immersed in more Giant Mecha excitement.