Not really; there don’t seem to be any new genre films hitting the big screen this week, although Shutter Island could be interesting. So you might want to take this weekend and see one of the films that recently came out that you haven’t caught yet. I was planning to see Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, as I hadn’t dug out from the snow last weekend, and based on the trailer it looks like something you really want to see on the big screen.
For live action, 20th Century Boys 2: The Last Hope, part 2 in the trilogy, is the clear import winner for this week. The gang continues to do their best to save the world from improbable attacks, and succeeds even against the scriptwriters assaults. The sad part is, staying true to the original Manga is what bogged the story telling down, but they got it going again in time to retrieve the film. If they shoot some properly selected extra scenes, they even have a chance to redeem the slower parts of the movie; I for one would love to purchase a Directors Cut version of the DVD that brought it all back into center focus.
Loosely based on the game of the same name, the movie Zombie Apocalypse is hardly worth mentioning here. But there don’t seem to be any other US movies worth commenting on, so there it is.
In the realm of animation, there are actually a few good choices this time round, from rather diverse sources, and in somewhat different styles. If you can only get one of them, I recommend Shaun The Sheep – A Woolly Good Time, created by the team that brought you the various Wallace and Grommet movies. There is little to no dialog in these animations, and everything is G rated, but neither of those details will prevent you from laughing your ass off. These 6 episodes appear to be from the 2007 run of the Brit TV series.
Halo Legends gives you seven stories from the gaming universe that go beyond the original Red-Vs-Blue structure I loved so much. The animation itself borders on Machinima, blurring the lines between the 3D game enviro and that of the animation studio.
With one of the longest titles of any film this month, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief looks to be very entertaining. The cast includes Pierce Brosnan and Uma Thurman, and the style looks very Harry Potterish. No real surprise there, as the movie is based on the first book in a series for YA Demi-Gods by Rick Riordan; I am sure they are hoping to tap the same youth market as the Potter films.
Also out this Friday, The Wolfman is a powerful remake of the original Universal movie, staring Anthony Hopkins and Benicio Del Toro. While it doesn’t look as Steampunk as either of the recent Sherlock Holmes releases, it does seem to lean in that direction.
The live action movie release to consider this week is The Time Traveler’s Wife, and yes, this is a love story, much in the tradition of Richard Matheson’s Time And Again. This close to Valentines Day, it seems appropriate, and it is a fairly decent treatment of the book.
The animation to be aware of is Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic, but be warned this animation is not for children, nor is it work friendly. The structure is the same as Animatrix, with a separate writing, directing, and production team (all leaders in the field who have created Anime classics) for each segment. This has not been released in theaters that I am aware of, although a limited number of lucky viewers got to see it on the big screen at various film festivals around the world. The DVD is being released in parallel with the game (the game company commissioned the film), both of which are based on the original epic poem.
The TV collection to look for this time around is SG-U Stargate Universe: 1.0; they lost the annoying blue vampires and re-invented the franchise as a Battlestar-style lost in space adventure. The Stargates have been relegated to the same role as Trek’s Transporters, and the galaxy spanning communications system introduced near the end of SG1 are used to keep the episodes from being limited to the ship, the landing zone of each planet, and the characters trapped on the ship. I personally loved SG1, and found any episode of SG-Atlantis that had the blue guys in it unwatchable (which did leave them with 20 or 30 good episodes over their 5-year run). So far I find SG-Universe to be about half way between the two, but if they stop trying so hard to be the new BSG (which they are failing at) and go back to the core strengths of SG1 (good mix of humor to go with the OMG moments, excellent dialog, and retain the good ensemble chemistry they have to bolster the dynamic tension), this series has the potential to equal or surpass the original.
On the anime front, Soul Eater Part 1 bears a style resemblance to Dead Leaves, both for the graphics and the audio, and looks like it could be a lot of fun. You can watch Soul Eater episodes online at that link to give you an idea if it should become part of your permanent collection. Gaogaigar Season One Litebox comes from the folks who built Godanner and Betterman, and shows you how that team started out. And while Naruto Shippuden: Volume 6 is also coming out on Tuesday, I will be waiting for the next season-long box set before plunking my money down; there are just too many episodes in the series for me to be able to afford any other choice.
I have been waiting for the sequel and it is finally out: Banlieue 13 – Ultimatum follows up on the original Luc Besson film District 13. Besides being a thrilling story involving corrupt government officials trying to nuke part of their capitol to get rid of the gangs and violence, the original film had the first example I had ever seen of parkour, or free running, now an internationally recognized sport. This allowed them to shoot many of the action scenes without wires or special effects, and still have them turn out amazing.
One of the best movies of 2009 (certainly in the top 5) is coming out on Tuesday: Cold Souls. This one isn’t an action/adventure tale with Sci-Fi special effects wallpaper like so many others, but the core premise of the story is science fiction, and the rest of the film explores the consequences spinning off from that premise. Because it was in such limited release in the theaters a lot of folks didn’t get the chance to see this on the big screen. Do not miss it now; the acting is amazing, and the story itself is wonderfully presented.
The other movie worth noting is Zombieland, yet another comedy about the living dead; at this rate, they could become almost as numerous as TV shows about Vampire Cops/Detectives.
Speaking of TV, also this week are the final David Tennant Doctor Who episodes, >Dr. Who: End of Time Parts 1 & 2 and Doctor Who: The Water of Mars. If you haven’t already acquired the other two Who Specials, Doctor Who: The Complete Specials box set gets released Tuesday as well.
the only new Anime I found coming out this week is Skull Man: Complete Collection, which looks like it would make a good double feature with Red Garden (if you have 12 hours to watch a double feature). I just wanted to mention last weeks Sands of Destruction again, because they have a great tag line: Destroying the world solves everything.