The comic book film choice this week is Jonah Hex, with John Malkovich as the villein and Megan Fox as the eye candy to Josh Brolin’s Jonah. Based on what I have seen and read I am expecting adventure fun rather than anything profound, but I expect it to be visually interesting enough to require the big screen. For animation fans Toy Story 3 continues the franchise that kicked it off for Pixar, starring everyone you ever heard of. As usual I will be endorsing the 3D version.
Two of each this time: Movies, TV, Anime. To start with Movies, the one that is gut-level intense is the Book of Eli, the first apocalypse story I have seen since Mad Max (the original film, not the sequels) that rings true on every level. Even the touch about the disaster happening because the sun flared through and past the stripped off ozone layers matches in every detail with our current atmospheric situation. The other film of note this week is When In Rome, a romantic comedy that takes several cultural preconceptions and scrambles them beyond belief. Each of these is worth your attention, although one is a bit more important on a long term basis than the other.
In the TV series category, Sanctuary: The Complete Second Season is the top choice. Hopefully you already know why, but if you don’t, consider Nikola Tesla as a Vampire and Jack the Ripper as a Teleporter, and realize they are a few of the more normal regular characters in this series. I recommend this one to everybody. The other TV release worth noting this week is the MacGyver: The TV Movies set, two made for TV movies from 1994. While not strictly SciFi, MacGyver was a Geek Hero, building whatever he needed from whatever was available, the way we all do. It was a nice surprise in those days to have a character who shared our understanding of the world.
On the Anime front, we have 3 box sets this week, with the first two being new. First we have the Clannad: Complete Collection series for 24 episodes, in the growing up damaged category. The other new release is X: TV, not to be confused with the X: Movie series. Both of these are somewhat deceptive, since single season collections have been released for each, but not complete collections until now. The Witchblade DVD Complete Series has been previously released, but this week the Viridian Collection version becomes available, making it much more affordable. If you haven’t been reading the Top Cow comic, and somehow missed the live action TV series, and didn’t know about this Anime TV series, trust me when I say you want to watch this. The weapon chooses its wielder, and modifies their perceptions/gestalt during combat to produce the results it desires. It takes a very strong person indeed to overcome the handicaps to change the end results to something acceptable to them, and watching the protagonist work their tail off to make that happen is the core of this series.
There is a category I don’t usually include that is valid this week: Sleazy Pulp SciFi Collections. One of those collections is the Golden Age of Sci Fi, Fantasy & Adventure, which is a documentary with folks like Ray Bradbury involved. The other is Sleazy Sci-Fi of the 1970s, which is pretty much as the name implies. We go months sometimes before a DVD about SciFi is released, so to have 2 in the same week is well worth noting. While I will do my best to pick up both, I can only recommend one; make your own choices.
Sadly, it is another one-movie weekend, and this weekend the film is the remake of The Karate Kid, so it is not even an original story. But it could be OK; Jackie Chan is doing the grizzled old master bit, and Jaden Smith (son of MIB Will Smith, the child who we last saw doing a great job in the 2008 The Day the Earth Stood Still) is doing the clueless kid. The original movie bored me to tears, but this one has a touch of promise to it because of the actors and the potential to increased edginess. And since Jackie is still making more Asian than American movies (see yesterday’s post) the style should be a lot more authentic this time.
Top choice of the week has to go to Not the Messiah (He’s a Very Naughty Boy), a live oratorio based on The Life of Brian. And yes, most of the surviving Pythons are there for the event. So far I have only seen the trailer (at the bottom of this post), but it is hysterical; this is on my Must Have list for the week. You might enjoy reading the Eric Idle interview about it at the IFC.
San suk si gin, in English the Shinjuku Incident, is a return to the classic Jackie Chan Crime/Drama/Thriller venue that originally made him a star in China. But this time he is not one of the good guys, and the movie tells a more complex and twisted story than any fans of his US movies are used to seeing. If you liked the Police Story series, you will love this one. Fans only of Jackie’s comedy work should skip this and perhaps pick up his other release this week, Jackie Chan & The Karate Kids 8 Film Set. I am sure some marketing person scrambled to find enough old (in this case, 1980 to 1989) Jackie Chan movies with kids doing Kung-Fu to release together in a package, with an eye to cashing in on the new Karate Kid movie hype. But if only two of these films are good, that’s two decent Jackie Chan movies for 10 bucks each, and what if 4 of them are good? And what a surprise, it looks like the new version of Karate Kid hits the big screen Friday.
Somebody decided to release 2008’s Metal Man on DVD, most likely in the hopes that people world confuse it with Iron Man and accidentally buy it. I disagree with the reviewer at IMDB though; I think the SyFy channel would air this movie, probably right after Mansquito, but even they would show it well after midnight but before the infomercials kick in.
A real gem, and my other Must Have recommendation is Animation Express from the National Film Board of Canada. The short films in this collection have between them won 99 awards (and one Academy Award nomination). Some of these have aired on the IFC, and most of them have been making the Film Festival rounds, so I was a bit surprised to find I am already familiar with a number of them. Because of that, I am going to do something I have not previously done, and recommend the Blu-Ray edition of this disk if you have the tech to support playing it. The additional animations include one of the best I have ever seen, Ryan, a groundbreaking animation about a broken former groundbreaking animator; all by itself it is worth the price point difference. Judge for yourself, the animation is at the bottom of this entry.
In Anime, Tuesday has the US DVD release of the Bleach Uncut Box Set: Season 5 and that season brings us up to episode 109 by the time it finishes. As I mentioned a few days ago, Tuesday is also when you can watch the latest episode of Bleach an hour after it airs in Tokyo on Crunchyroll, because that is when they start simulcasting it. There is a definite lag between episodes aired in Japan and the DVD releases in the US, since the current season starts with episode 266 and the one airing this week will be episode 274.
The new trailer is out for Scott Pilgrim Versus The World, and it’s a hoot. Thanks to SFX for the heads up on this one.
Yes, that is correct! You can watch the latest episode of Bleach an hour after it airs in Tokyo on Crunchyroll, and not only is it legal but TV Tokyo, Shueisha, and Studio Pierrot actually make money off of the streaming distribution model. Crunchyroll has been doing this for a number of quality Anime programs, including Naruto Shippuden, for quite a while, as they gradually become The place for streaming Anime online. And hey, they even have some live action programming from Japan, Korea, and China. Don’t be fooled by the Drama header on the page, there is plenty of comedy and action available as well.
Here’s how it works. If you are a Premium Member of Crunchyroll (and if you’re not, please use the link below if you want to sign up; I think they give me an extra 4 hours on my premium membership for referring someone) you can watch the simulcast stream of the episode one hour after it airs in Tokyo. That gives Viz time to bolt the subtitles onto it, but still make it as close to realtime as possible, and you can watch it at 480p and 720p resolutions. If you are not a premium member all is not lost; you have access to stream the new episode a week after it airs, at slightly reduced resolution. Either way beats waiting the months it takes for the episodes to be dubbed and released on Disk in the US, although I still find myself buying the boxed sets as they come out.
There is, of course, a downside or two. First, Bleach starts next Tuesday, June 8th at 5:30AM EDT, 2:30am PDT; likewise, Naruto Shippuden runs on Thursday mornings at 7AM Eastern, 4:00AM Pacific Time. That’s a bit early for me, but I don’t really care. I just watched this weeks Naruto episode when I got home from work yesterday (Streaming is the Video On Demand of the internet), which means I still got to see it the same day as Tokyo, just adjusted to be convenient for my schedule. The other downside is the current season of Bleach consists of episodes #266-#273, going live on the 8th, with 274 being this Tuesdays Simulcast. Why is that a downside? Because the latest US DVD release of the Bleach Uncut Box Set: Season 5 also happens this Tuesday, the 8th, and that season ends with episode 109. I think there is going to be a bit of a gap in my understanding of the story arc. Again, I don’t really care, because eventually that gap will be filled, and until then I will have a steady diet of new episodes to watch.