You can jump over to Nickelodeon if you want to watch the next episode of the new animated version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles before it airs on Friday on their cable channel. I don’t know if they plan on doing this on a regular basis, or if it is just the A Chinatown Ghost Story episode that gets to be seen early on their site. Thanks to the folks at Comic Book Movies for the heads up on this one.
Movies lead off with Captain America: The Winter Soldier which is the second movie in its franchise, and it is even better than The First Avenger. In fact, Marvel movies as a whole just seem to be getting better and better. Their TV offering is doing nicely too, and we get Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Complete First Season this week. Which is appropriate, since the new season starts on September 23rd.
Also in TV, The Vampire Diaries: The Complete Fifth Season and Supernatural: The Complete Ninth Season are both out from the CW. I generally only mention series, but for those who like to collect their TV one episode at a time, be aware that Doctor Who: Deep Breath is out this week as well. Interestingly enough, they had to cut out the same sex kiss from the episode before it could air in Asia.
Sadly, there is no genre Anime this week,, just the slice-of-life drama/comedies Listen to Me, Girls. I Am Your Father! and Tamako Market: Complete Collection.
Low-fi Sci-fi lives, as this wonderful little clip from China makes abundantly clear. Ai Wei Wei, the iconic Chinese dissident, becomes a mysterious figure in this short film from Jason Wishnow set in a dystopian Chinese city of the near future. THE SAND STORM (沙尘暴) should at least teach a bit about water conservation in a Mad Maxian kind of world. This was a kickstarter project meant (as near as I can tell) to be a test platform for a feature length film, but it didn’t pull in the support it was hoping for once the original backers saw the end result. I am of two minds about this, since I thought the production quality was excellent, but I have also seen all the Mad Max Wannabies I will ever require in my life. So I will withhold judgement for now, and keep my eyes open for the next Ai Wei Wei story, and hope for something a bit more robust in the next iteration.
THE SAND STORM (沙尘暴) from jason wishnow on Vimeo.
This film won’t be out until February, but Seventh Son looks like a tasty adventure fantasy. It stars Jeff Bridges, Ben Barnes, and Julianne Moore, and is based on Joseph Delaney’s The Last Apprentice.
I am definitely looking forward to this one coming out… Go Marvel! Big Hero 6 will be hitting theaters in November.
In movies we have R.L. Stine’s Mostly Ghostly: Have You Met My Ghoulfriend?, which appears to be a direct-to-DVD release. R. L. Stein has written a lot of fun books, so they stated with a quality property to convert into a movie. Although none of the movies are new I also have to mention the Universal Classic Monsters: Complete 30-Film Collection with films like Dracula, Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, Wolf Man, The Mummy, Invisible Man, Creature from the Black Lagoon, and Phantom of the Opera. They are also breaking them out into sub-collections, so if you just want all of the classic Dracula movies, as an example, you can have them. If your in the mood for some martial arts, 14 Blades stars Donnie Yen as a member of the Ming Dynasty secret police. It has won a number of awards at Asian film festivals, mostly Best Actress for Zhao Wei. If her name sounds familiar, her last pile of awards was for her work in Mulan in 2009.
In TV we get The Originals: Season 1, the spin off from the Vampire Diaries. The CW has definitely been giving Sci-Fi and Fantasy shows a chance, I am particularly a fan of Arrow.
In Anime, Gatchaman Crowds: Complete Collection is about a quite little city that doesn’t notice that it is at war with alien criminals trying to conquer and destroy. They are being protected from the attacks by random citizens wearing super suits that give them amazing powers, and a surprising number of them are high school students. On the other hand, in Blood Lad its no secret that Vampires, Werewolves, zombies, and the Abominable Snowman are all battling for the tittle of Boss. Except for one vampire who watches anime, plays video games, and wants to go to the Human World.
In Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya is a magical girl story about a runaway wand who chooses a new human to wield it. Her previous human is none too happy about it, and is out to get the wand back. Hal – The Movie is about a girl who withdraws from the world when her boyfriend dies. To pull her back into it a scientist makes a robotic copy of him, complete with emotions. This one is different, and a bit emotional itself. I should also mention that Baka and Test seasons 1 and 2 are each being released in a S.A.V.E. edition, so you should be able to pick them up for around $20 a season.