There are several interesting movies this week, starting with The Sorcerer and The White Snake, the latest of many film versions of the white snake/green snake legend, two demigoddesses who take the form of human women to experience love. First written down during the Ming Dynasty, it has also been made into TV series a number of times, as well as stage plays and operas, the first performed around 400 years ago. I am looking forward to seeing how this version goes, as some of the earlier movies were quite surreal and fantastic. Jet Li is one of the costars in this production. The Four has been referred to as the Chinese X-Men, a team of extremely skilled assassins and detectives working for the Emperor to eradicate evil. Their task in this story is to stop a gang of counterfeiters, and the trailer looks quite tasty. The action sequences alone should be worth the price of admission, as each member of the team reveals their power.
Sexy Evil Genius is a psycho-thriller comedy with an amazing cast of Sci-Fi alumni including Seth Green, Katee Sackhoff, Michelle Trachtenberg, and Anthony Michael Hall. If you are in the mood for wicked fun, this may be the one for you; I know I will be checking it out. Also this week, William Burrough’s Naked Lunch, which was converted into a Fantasy/SciFi film by David Cronenberg in 1991. It stars Peter Weller, and this re-release is part of the Criterion Collection.
In TV, Merlin: The Complete Fifth Season looks to be the only new selection, and also sadly closes out this series. It was quite a fun ride while it lasted, but I think they made the proper choice of shutting it down before it jumped the final shark.
For Anime, Inu X Boku Secret Service is a seriously wacky little series where no one, not even our lovely protagonist, is completely human. The mandatory bodyguards (also not human) just magnify the weirdness for this haunted condominium. Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee Reverse rolls out part one of the second season, and if the concept of hive oriented postal workers leaves you confused, trust me when I say it should all make sense shortly. If you happen to be a fan of Gordon R. Dickson’s wonderful novels, his Half Pint Posted story, The Right To Arm Bears, will set the mood for this presentation. There is also a re-release of the 1996 Shamanic Princess for those catching up on their collections.