I have been reading about Robot And Frank making the rounds of the Film Fests for a while now, and am excited that it is finally coming to some regular theaters finally! I say some because it is still only in limited release, but at least it is available.
It is a sad week when your choices for movies are between Zombie A-Hole and Attack of the Killer Backpacks.
In TV we have Planet Dinosaur, speculative science rather than Sci-Fi, and quite worth your time to check out. You might enjoy taking a look at this page as well if you are looking for a bit more.
Anime has a few new goodies this week starting with Shangri-La, one of my favorite shows from last year. It deals with a future Japan in the middle of a climatic crises and under economic attack, with a ruling elite holding onto the ultimate gated community while the poor starve and live on the street. Until Kuniko take up the gauntlet and fights for the survival of her people, storming the heavily armed gates of heaven’s suburb itself to see them through.
Shakugan no Shana is a story of a warrior who battles demons with a flaming sword, and the dead human boy who has been turned into one of those flames. They work together to defeat evil and maintain the balance between the supernatural world and the mundane.
Finally, No. 6: The Complete Collection takes place in a near future world where a handful of survivors cling desperately to life. There is a mystery to be solved if our two protagonists are to have any hope of survival, and they have to do it before the corrupt elite wipe them out.
The new show from BBC America is Copper, about a cop in 1864 New York City. As far as I know this is something new for them, producing their own original TV series, but they have some good ones in the pipe. I am particularly looking forward to seeing David Tennent as a spy, the closest he might get to playing Bond.
The target location being Woodlawn Park in Portland, Oregon. The team from Atomic Arts are doing live presentations of Journey to Babel as presented on screen by TOS (The Original Series, as if you didn’t already know). I will now be going through all the Con Event postings in my part of the country to see if I can find them performing at a venue a little close than the other side of the continent, since I would love to see this on stage.
The story itself was written by D.C. Fontana, and first published in the March 1953 edition of the pulp magazine Incredible Tales of Scientific Wonder. J/K, because that’s the magazine from the DS9 episode Far Beyond the Stars in which the entire cast got to be humans putting out a science fiction magazine, one of my personal favorites from that series. But they posted it that way in Memory Alpha, and after I got done laughing I just had to pass the joke along.
This week’s selection is another spooky but funny animation, ParaNorman. A town is invaded by zombies, and their only recourse is to ask the help of the strangest kid in town. It certainly looks like silly fun to me.
The top spot in movies this week goes to The Hunger Games, which I suspect may do as well as a DVD as it did as a book and movie. This one will definitely be coming home with me, and I am looking forward to seeing if they can sustain the momentum in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Also out this week, Juan Of The Dead brings still more humor to the Zombie Apocalypse. And for fans of the classic Japanese giant monsters series, Gamera: War of Monsters Collection has 6 movies of the giant turtle god being reissued together in a box set. And finally in the live action feature films category, The Sword Identity comes our way from China. I am sure you will be shocked to learn it is a historic martial arts epic.
In TV we have Dr. Who: Greatest Show in the Galaxy, a Sylvester McCoy classic tale with Sophie Aldred as Ace. Another option is Dexter: Season 6, which is also coming out in a box set of seasons 1 through 6.
Western animation brings us Marvel Knights Astonishing X-Men: Torn, and I do have to say I have been enjoying the entire Marvel Knights series.
New Anime releases start with Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror, a feature-length presentation that has Haruka off in a wonderland like environment searching for her lost treasure. The trailer looks cute as hell, I will be interested to see if the animation quality is consistent and how the story holds up. Another new entry this week is called This Boy Can Fight Aliens, which is good, because Earth has been invaded. Except, of course, the boy has lost his memory and doesn’t have a clue how to use his powers. This is an OVA, not a feature film or a TV show, and the entire thing is only 28 minutes long, so unless it comes with some outrageous extras I am thinking it is overpriced.
The third and last new entry for this week is One Piece – Collection 7, with the Straw Hat Gang continuing to contend for the crown of King of the Pirates. Besides the new stuff, there is a re-release in more cost effective packaging: Trinity Blood – The Complete Series reduces the price over buying the seasons separately by a good 25%. And I do like their tag line: Vampire action without all that teen angst.