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Something to Do: Movies

There is nothing really new in the theaters this week, unless you are part of Sci-Fi London, so this might be a good weekend to catch up on anything you have missed that is still in the theaters. Coming up in May there are some great films on tap, starting with the sequel Iron Man 2. I expect the seats to be packed for that on, opening on May 7th. I may even have to brave the crowed for a midnight show, just because I can’t wait. The other big-screen epic I am expecting a large crowd to attend is Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time on May 28th. While movies based on games have not generally been of high quality or very successful with a very few exceptions, the trailers give me great hopes for this one, as does what Disney did with Pirates of the Caribbean.

There are a few less well known movies in May I think might end up being quite enjoyable, and surprise a lot of people. TiMER has been winning awards hand over fist on the Film Festival circuit (I think they are just shy of 20 or so by now), and has a great cast and an original concept. It hits New York on the 8th, but goes into wider release on the 14th. The Wild Hunt tells the story of a young man who follows his ex-girlfriend into a medieval re-enactment game, and the lines between reality and fantasy get fairly blurred.

And there are a few films which just plain look like fun; Shrek Forever After (the Final Chapter) on May 21st, and Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood on the 14th. And there are more coming, it should be a great summer for movies.

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Something to Watch: DVDs

Finally available this week is The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, the Terry Gilliam masterpiece. If you didn’t get to see it in the theater you should watch your copy on the largest HD TV you have access to, because the visuals are truly amazing. The other must-have movie this week is Luc Besson’s Banlieue 13 – Ultimatum, the sequel to District 13. If you missed the original, they are also being released as a 2-DVD set; both of these are non-stop thrill rides in the tradition of The Transporter.

If you are looking for a few laughs, check out Transylmania; the humor is a bit lowbrow (a bit?) but still kind of fun. Probably on a par with Venus Ranger: Complete Collection which also comes out this week.

For TV series, the modern remake of Terry Nations The Survivors, Complete Seasons 1 and 2 becomes available, and if you were wondering how faithful it is to the original 1970’s series, Survivors: The Complete Original Series 1975-77 is also being released. For American TV, Tales from the Darkside: The Third Season is being released both as a stand alone and in a packaged set with the previous two seasons.

In Anime, Gintama – Collection 1, a story about how the lives of Samurai changed in Feudal Japan after the aliens landed and took over. This one looks like a lot of fun, but be aware collection one gets you started with the first 13 episodes, and there are over 200 episodes and counting so far. Also, the Augmented Reality hijacking of the convenience store and high school where Evangelion took place has been canceled due to huge mobs of fans flooding the area. The rest of the promotion for the release of the next Evangelion reboot, You Can Not Advance, will take place as scheduled, and the release itself is next month.

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New Iron Man 2 Trailer

We have seen little bits and pieces of this before in other trailers, but here finally is the full Iron Man Suit in-a-briefcase sequence. There are only a few weeks left before Iron Man II hits the big screen, and I am ready! Also just released is the new trailer (the 3rd one in the set) for M. Somebody’s live action version of the Anime series Avatar: The Last Airbender. Every previous movie he has made has bored me to tears where it wasn’t abusing my Suspension of Disbelief (which actually requires some vague basis in reality in order to function), but if this trailer is indicative of the film quality and not merely all the good bits, perhaps he will have finally made something worth watching.

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Multiple Doctors, Smith and Jones are back

This has been a week for multiple Doctors. We just had the wonderful rollout of Matt Smith as The 11th Doctor on BBC America in The Eleventh Hour, and I had already commented on how BBC7 was running Tom Baker reading classic 4th Doctor stories. Starting yesterday, just before the Tom Baker reading BBC7 started running Wally K Daly’s Before the Screaming Begins, which has as one of the voice actors Patrick Troughton; the 2nd Doctor. If some of the older incarnations are unknown to you, io9 just put together a great article called Everything you need to know about Doctor Who. And while it is not very Doctor-like, I should also mention that Smith and Jones signed up to come back for one more Men in Black movie, this one in 3D.

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Somthing to Do: Cons

The best Media Con this weekend may be Sci-Fi Expo in the Dallas, Texas suburb of Richardson. Guests include Adam Baldwin, Jamie King, Mira Furlan, Richard Hatch, Bruce Boxleitner, and many more. Of course, if you are a 12 to 14 year old girl, you might prefer the Twighlight Con in Arlington, VA instead.

EerieCon is a readercon in Niagara Falls, NY, with GoH’s Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta, and it has everything you would expect at such a con. Also this weekend, Conestoga XIV takes place in Tulsa, OK, with GoH S. M. Stirling, and again all the fun stuff one goes to conventions for. And let’s not forget Jordancon in Atlanta, focused on Robert Jordan and the world of fantasy.

This one may be in a category all its own; the Full Moon tattoo and Horror Festival in Nashville is just what its name implies.

There are a boatload of Anime cons this weekend, including Tora-Con II in Rochester, NY, Kami-Con 2 in Tuscaloosa, AL, and Anime Detour in Bloomington, MN.

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