Robot & Frank is a great little indi film about the robot Frank’s kids get for him, to help him around the house. But Frank see’s a chance to come out of retirement, and starts teaching the bot how to be a cat burglar. This one absolutely has to come home with me this week. In The Man with the Iron Fists the Emperor’s gold is stolen, and everyone in China is out to claim it for themselves. Aladdin and the Death Lamp is one of those Syfy Channel made-for-TV movies that they would be better off not making. However, I can’t wait until the production company that they formed with Universal Pictures comes out with their first movie, based on the first Wildcards book, with both George R.R. Martin and Melinda Snodgrass involved with the project.
Skyfall has to be mentioned, because Bond is the character that made Spy stuff so out there it became genre. For the documentary fans we have two items, the first being 50 Years of Bond Cars from the mainiacs with Top Gear. There is also an offering called Jedi Junkies, all about Star Wars fans. It includes the usual collection of interesting people, of whom my favorite has to be Olivia Munn.
In TV we have Weeds: Season Eight which, while not genre, is a twisty little series. I am amazed so many of the characters lived to make it to the final season, but I don’t hold out much hope many of them will survive it. The other TV show of note is Duck Dodgers: Dark Side of the Duck Season 1; any program that has Marvin the Martian as a regular character definitely gets my vote.
In Anime, InuYasha: The Final Act – Set 2 finally brings the saga to a close. I think. This series has been running for a very long time, there is no rule saying they couldn’t continue it if they wanted to. Also this week, New Fist of the North Star – Complete Collection brings us more story for that show, but not a lot. This one is a 3 episode OVA. What the two shows have in common is they are both old school anime of a style common in the 1980s and 1990s, probably because that’s when each series originated.