Prometheus starts out being about the origin of mankind, but gets to be more about the alien life before long. It is the prequel to the Aliens series, and this first full length trailer looks really good. I like the fact that they pulled in Noomi Rapace, her amazing performance in the three Girl With The Dragon Tattoo movies showed just how powerful an actress she is. She is he only modern actress who stands a chance of holding a candle to Ripply.
The obvious must-see movie this time around is The Hunger Games, and it is good to know that it is still possible to tell a story important enough that it needs no sparkling vampires to draw ones attention. The book was well done, I can’t wait to see how the movie turns out.
The two movies this week could not be more different. First is the American version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, a movie I completely enjoyed in it’s original language. I haven’t seen the US remake, so I have no way to know if it is a fraction as good as the original movie trilogy. As a contrast to that we have The Muppets, with their new silly movie outing.
While there is no new live action TV this week, it is worth noting they are re-releasing Lexx, season 3 and 4, in case you need to complete your collection. Also Batman The Brave & the Bold: Season 2, Part 2 is hitting the shelves.
In animae, Heaven’s Lost Property Forte – Complete Season 2 brings us more fun falling from the skies.
The John Carter movie the other week was world class and amazing, but it was not Disney’s first attempt to convert ERB’s Mars stories to video. Back in 1957 Disney animator Ward Kimball built this very short but very fun little sequence. Thanks to io9 for the heads up on that one, who had it from Progress City.
This is going to be a Canadian remake of the UK series, with Niall Matter (he played Zane on Eureka) channeling Connor and Sara Canning (she was Jenna on The Vampire Diaries) doing the Abby type persona. Right now they have signed up channels to show it in Canada and England, and I am personally hoping someone in the US agrees to air it. Amanda Tapping, Martin Wood and Andy Mikita (Stargate SG1 veterans all) are all signed up to direct various episodes, and Andrew-Lee Potts (the original Connor) will be showing up as a guest star. Thanks to the Hollywood Reporter for the heads up on this one.
A glut of great DVDs this time around, starting with the Steampunk action adventure instant classic The Three Musketeers, which I loved in the theaters and look forward to adding to my own collection so I can watch it over and over. Melancholia is a beautiful and award winning movie which tells the tale of a woman who’s wedding is interrupted by the end of the world. There are also a couple of animated feature length films worth your time, including The Adventures of Tintin with Daniel Craig, Nick Frost, and Simon Pegg. Happy Feet Two also has a huge and star studded cast, and is every bit as fun as the first one.
The TV miniseries Neverland sees Bob Hoskins reprise his role as Smee in this Peter Pan prequel. A classic Tom Baker Doctor Who episode also becomes available with the release of Dr. Who: The Face Of Evil, with every one’s favorite savage Leela as the companion.
Western animation has the return of two of my favorite characters in Wallace & Gromit’s World of Invention. This originally ran on BBC1 in 2010 and has our beloved duo being the hosts of a TV show about some crackling good inventions and showing off some of their own accomplishments.
New anime this week includes the Bleach – Season 12 uncut box set, continuing the soul reapers story with episodes 180-193. To put that in perspective, I think the latest episode to air on Tokyo was 367. One Piece – Collection 5 also hits the shelves bringing us the next 27 episodes of the Straw Hat Gang making friends and having adventures. these are episodes 104 through 130, out of a current total of 538. It will be a while before all of these are going to be available in the US. Also new this week, Kekkaishi DVD Set 4 brings episodes 40 through 52, which in this case actually completes the series.
I was all excited when I heard there was going to be a new Mardock Scramble release, and then anoyed when I learned it was going to be Mardock Scramble: The First Compression [Director’s Cut]. I just bought this thing back in September or so, why are they trying to sell me a different version of the one I have seen, before the ones I haven’t seen become available? And the difference between the theatrical version and the directors cut (both of which are on the new DVD, but not the original release) is 5 minutes of additional scenes. This is definitely one of the most impressive and twisty new animes to come along in a while, but I do not feel that this is treating the fan base right. They should have come out with both versions get from the get go.