The trailer isn’t triple X, in fact it is safe for work. The movie itself is a XXX parody of Tomb Raider, and according to several sources it actually looks like it could be fairly entertaining. This is being released to DVD sometime in February, so you might want to keep your eye out for it. Thanks to the folks at Kotaku for the heads up on this one.
Just recently the new movie a href=”http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1990314/”>Robot and Frank was at Sundance, where it won the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize. It is something of a buddy film, with Frank Langella and his robot sidekick as the buddies. Until someone picks it up for distribution, you can catch it on the film festival circuit.
While there is nothing major being released nationally this week, there are a few films worth your attention getting limited engagements. Unicorn City is the story of an out of work gamer who decides to prove himself to his potential employer by founding a utopian society comprised of his LARPing collective. As you might expect, things don’t go quite as he planned, especially when his nemesis shows up to challenge him for leadership and the girl. This one has won a bunch of awards on the film fest circuit. Also out, The Fairy (Le Fee) tells the tale of a man who searches all over Le Havre for the fairy who granted him two wishes and disappeared, taking his heart with her. Both of these are comedies, whatever else they might be.
It is kind of sad when the only live action genre movie for the week has a title like Bong Of The Dead, but it did win some awards, including Cannes, and the zombies are the ones being hunted for their brains in this horror comedy. In animated movies we have Puss in Boots, both as a stand alone and bundled with Puss In Boots: The Three Diablos. Staring Antonio Banderas, this Shrek spin off has all the humor associated with that series.
The genre TV series this week is The Fades: Season One, fresh from its run on BBC America. This one is a bit more horror than I prefer, and without the humor, but it is exceedingly well done.
In Anime Strike Witches Season 2 continues the story of propeller booted aerial combat during WWII. Also being released, Broken Blade – Complete Collection is a giant mecha combat set.
The reboot of Spiderman might be noticeably better than I was thinking it would be. At the very least, this trailer is definitely looking good and showing the Spidey humor that the McGuire incarnation sadly lacked.
The two main offerings this time are Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance and The Secret World of Arrietty, bringing entertainment to two different audience segments. I enjoyed the first Ghost Rider movie enough that I don’t mind a sequel and expect to enjoy it. On the other hand, any animation from Hayao Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli is a work of art on a par with Disney at its best, and even Disney thinks so; it is why they are the North American distributors for them. This one is their version of The Borrowers, and as always it is beautifully executed. While they don’t have a theme park, they do have their own museum which you should visit the next time you are in Japan. There are a few other movies this weekend, such as No Sanctuary, but I am going to be lucky to have time to see the first two.