The fun film for this weekend looks to be RED, or Retired, Extremely Dangerous. Like most of the quality films these days it is based on a comic book of the same name, and has an impressive cast.
This week sees comic book into film Jonah Hex lead the movies onto the shelves, if only for the presence of Selma. The direct to disk Lost Boys: The Thirst was the second attempt to milk some additional box office returns out of the original cult classic. I don’t see how it can hope to cover the original attitude when its immortal vampires have aged so completely; I will not be adding this to my collection, but might Netflix it if they have it streaming. On the other hand, the 1959 classic Hakuôki (Samurai Vendetta in English) does look to be worthy of everyone’s attention, even if some of the sound stage filming is a bit surreal because of the background choices. Also out this week, the feature film animation How To Train Your Dragon from Dreamworks. If you enjoyed the movie and want more, they are also releasing it in a two pack with Legend of Boneknapper for further Dragon/Viking adventures.
Topping the TV choices this week is Dollhouse: The Complete Second Season. This is an amazing series, containing some of the best work of both Joss Whedon and Eliza Dushku, and this box completes the set. Also out this week, both the final season and complete box set of Ghost Whisperer.
If you only buy one Warner Brothers classic cartoon collection, make it this one: The Essential Bugs Bunny. This collection includes those musical masterpieces The Rabbit Of Seville and What’s Opera Doc?, and a lot of the top classic Bugs bits, including works with Elmer Fudd and Marvin the Martian. Of course, if you can afford to, you can skip this one and grab the full series of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, which includes everything in this package and a lot more. Whichever way you go, these wonderful shorts never grow old.
Sengoku Basara Samurai Kings: The Complete Series takes you into a brutal world in feudal Japan of the Warring States period. This era was marked by continuous fighting between the various generals and warlords in an environment reminiscent of the city-states of medieval Europe, until the rise of the Devil King, Oda Nobunaga. He proved such a threat to all concerned that there was no choice; everyone else had to band together or be destroyed. And yes, this isn’t quite a pure history; there is enough genre content here to justify its inclusion. The other new Anime release this week is Tytania: Collection 2, finishing up the story of two Galactic Empires that go to war, and the rebel force that battle generates as common people do their best to survive.
Economical re-releases this week include the crossworlds demon combat story Tokyo Majin and the delightfully twisted hikikomori tale Welcome to the NHK, both in S.A.V.E. editions. If you shop around, you can pick up Super Amazing Value Edition complete 26 episode series for less than $20, quite a bargain.
It started life as a tweet from the Flynn Lives movement, with the link http://xdqlrpgmqivgca9tfjcqddnbxt.com/. When you went there, you were faced with a set of puzzles to solve, and according to Coming Soon the folks over at the Unfiction message boards/forum solved them in record time. The results were yet another URL, this time to TRON Night 2010, a site that will let you register to see 20 minutes of TRON Legacy on October 28th for free. Registration opens on Tuesday the 12th at 1PM EST, and there is a link that allows you to see if it will be in your area. It is only granular down to the state level at the moment, but it will also only be at IMAX 3D theaters, so that should give you a rough idea of where it will be relative to you. There can never be too much TRON!
This weekend is the New York Anime Festival, one of the truly monster events of the Anime calendar. This party is embedded in another one, the New York Comic-Con, but it has kind of become the tail wagging the dog. Musical guests alone include the Boom Boom Satellites, Vamps, Puffy Ami Yumi, Yoshiki of X-Japan, Zazen Boys, and many more. Tricia Helfer and Bruce Campbell will be there for the other con as well. Cosplay, Anime screenings, panels and parties, everything an Otaku could want in one place.
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This one looks very interesting; from October 10th to the 24th this year the USA Science & Engineering Festival will take place in the Washington, D.C. area. Billing itself as the the country’s first national science festival, it already has over 500 organizations signed up to participate, and will end with a two day Expo in the nation’s capital. This event will give science & engineering groups the opportunity to present themselves to the public with hands-on science activities to inspire the next generation of researchers and developers. The teams involved are wide ranging, and include such diverse outfits and events as the 4H National Youth Science Day, the You Can Do The Cube competition, a presentation from Hollywood Movie Physics, and the Versatile Mr. Freeze from FermiLabs, to name but a few. And yes, you can follow them on a boatload of social media tools, including Twitter.
Doctor Who Live Kicks off this Friday in London, and will then tour another eight cities across the UK. Running under the tag line The Monsters Are Coming, this will bring a full orchestra with an integrated video and live action presentation to arena venues across the British Isles. Nick Briggs will be on the tour, while Matt Smith has recorded voice tracks to be used in the program. My Pandora Feeder Radio stream is playing Concrete Blond’s Walking in London as I type this, and considering yesterday’s blog topic of Sci-Fi London’s Oktoberfest, I am beginning to think it might be time to get off my ass and get my passport.