It is finally time to go see Pirates! Band Of Misfits in all its silly animated glory, and I am ready! If you are in the mood for something a bit more serious, John Cusack plays Edgar Allen Poe working with a Baltimore detective trying to catch the killer reenacting all of Poe’s most horrible scenes in The Raven. Right now the link to the film’s web page takes you to IMDB instead, I think their DNS entry is hosed. If you are in an area that gets limited release films, Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale tells the true story of the aboriginal Seediq tribes who rebelled and almost drove the conquering Japanese army off the island in 1930s Taiwan. Quite a range to choose from this week.
There are no well known movies coming out this week, which is how we end up with Thor at the Bus Stop and Planet of the Vampire Women sharing the first mention, because they are at least sort of genre. I really can’t recommend either of them to anyone, even a little. I can, however, recommend Let The Bullets Fly, a nice little action comedy that takes place in 1920s China. A bandit arrives in a small town in the middle of nowhere claiming to be its new mayor and then has to go head-to-head with a tyrannical petty noble, and the results are a lot of fun to watch.
The 1933 version of The Perils of Pauline serial is also coming out this week. This one has a bit of history, as it was one of the original movie theater serials done in 1914 based on the Charles Goddard Book. It has been redone several times since, including a 1947 version where Betty Hutton played Pearl White, which is kind of interesting since in the 1914 version Pearl White played Pauline. Serials were of course what lead to episodic TV series in later years, so it seemed fitting to mention this one in the TV section of this entry.
In western animation we have Iron Man – Complete Series and X-Men Complete Series, which are actually part of Marvel Anime, western characters re-imagined for the Japanese anime fans. So while not exactly western, close enough to mention here.
In anime proper, the exciting release this time is Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos, a new feature length film in the ongoing saga of the Elric brothers. This is one of my favorite steampunk anime series, so I should also note they are releasing another repackaged box set of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood – Collection 1 containing the first 33 episodes in a single collection.
Finally, Jyu-Oh-Sei: The Complete Series has been released in a S.A.V.E. edition, which means you can now pick up the entire series for around $20.
If you are a Studio Ghibli fan, and love movies like My Neighbor Totoro, Howls Moving Castle, or Spirited Away, and you happen to live in the central East Coast portion of the US, the AFI Silver Theater is presenting Castles in the Sky: Miyazaki, Takahata and the Masters of Studio Ghibli. These masterpieces of animation equal or exceed anything done by the classic Disney studios and have won critical acclaim all over the world. The American Film Institute Silver Theaters in Silver Spring, MD, is not alone in this presentation. The co-presenters are the Freer Gallery of Art, the National Gallery of Art, and the Japanese Information Center, a department of the Japanese Embassy. I already own almost all of these on DVD (one has yet to be released in the US), but I have never before seen the ones in this program on the big screen. After this past weekend, I can tell you they are amazing to see in a real theater, and if you have the chance to go there are plenty of wonderful films yet to be presented.
There are no wide releases of note this week, but if you are near a theater that gets limited release films, My Way is the most interesting film out there, and the sad part is it is based on a true story. Two high school rivals, one Korean and one Japanese, become enemies and end up fighting together in most of the major theaters of WWII, and eventually have no one to depend on except each other. They start out fighting for the Japanese in China, one an officer and the other a conscript, where they are captured and forced to fight for the Chinese on the Russian front. Soon they are captured by the Russians, who in turn place them on their western front to fight the Nazi’s. In turn, they are captured by the Nazi’s, who put their new cannon fodder along the entrenched installations in Normandy, to fight the invading Allies. Originally titled D-Day, this is a Korean film which has won some awards around the world and done some serious box office in Asia.
No movies to speak of this week, beyond Robotropolis, which is a remake of Westworld without the budget.
In TV, the 1980s spinoff series from the movie of the same name, Starman: Season 1 stared Robert Hays as the alien, come back to Earth to visit his kid. I still love the movie, the TV show was not as impressive but still might be worth watching again, if only to see if it got better with perspective. Ernie Kovacs: The ABC Specials also comes out this week, and that period of his career holds some of his most creative work. If you got the huge Ernie Kovacs DVD collection that came out last year like I did, you already have these. If you were waiting for something resembling a best-of, this would be it.
We do have a treat in Western Animation: Shaun the Sheep: Shear Madness. The folks at Aardman have a new movie coming out in the next few weeks as well, Pirates, Band of Misfits that also looks to be pretty funny. The other western animation this time around is Young Justice: Season 1, Volumes 1-3, which is still funny, but more action oriented.
In Anime, Someday’s Dreamers – Complete Collection looks to be the humorous choice, being the story of a magical girl who can’t spell very well, and who moves to Tokyo for some advanced training. Winning the ward for most redundant title this week is Legend of the Legendary Heroes, with both Part 1 and Part 2 coming out at the same time. This one is a much more serious story of war and power.
Re-released in a more cost effective package, Tsubasa, RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE – OVAs Collection S.A.V.E. edition completely changes the way you view that set of universes, as the two OVA series tells you what lay underneath the tale you thought you understood.
The movie Looper is a movie about a bounty hunter in the present who gets paid to kill time travelers arriving from the future. And one day, the guy who arrives is an older version of him, and all sorts of hell breaks loose. They do have a nice tag line: Hunted By Your Past, Haunted By Your Future. Bruce Willis is the older-me time traveler, this one will be hitting the big screen on September 28th.