Here is the latest Cowboys and Aliens trailer, this time with enough actual dialog to start giving you a feel for the characters as the film will present them. Release date for this one is July 29th, and each new goodie like this just makes me that much more ready to take the ride.
If you missed Super when it hit the big screen Friday before last, don’t feel alone. It got a very limited run, much less than it deserved. Which is why the IFC VOD project was started. With Video On Demand, Independent films that formerly were only heard of can now be seen by a much wider audience almost as soon as they are released. Go to the IFC web page and select your provider to find out if you can see it now. They started Super today, and they launch 1 to 2 new independent titles per week. It is a great way to keep up with new quality films that break the Hollywood mold and tell a different kind of story.
Who is John Galt? If you have been asking this question since the mid 1950’s, the wait is over. The Ayn Rand sci-fi classic Atlas Shrugged is finally seeing widespread release on the big screen this week. It is flagged as Part 1, hopefully that means there is a Part 2 on the horizon as well. Before the ’70s the number of genre books recognized as actual Literature across the decades could be counted without having to take your shoes off, and this masterwork was one of them. Since the 70’s a tendency to claim one’s work was a normal drama about the human condition that just happened to have a setting on another planet with a protagonist from another dimension became the PR ploy du jour for serious literature authors. Just in case you haven’t read this, take a peek at the trailer. As usual, it gives you a set of scenes and dialog meant to encourage you to buy a ticket, but this one also gives you momentary images of a huge number of world-class actors who all wanted to be in on the production. You don’t see that without a world class story and incredible characters to drive actors to excel at their craft, so I have high hopes for this one.
The feel-good family friendly choice for this week is Rio, about a non-flying Macaw (raised in a cage in a small town in Minnesota) who travels to Brazil to meet a girl, and gets a LOT more than he bargained for. The animation is from the same team who did the Ice Age series, so get ready for non-stop visuals and action of the highest caliber. I’m thinking, one film Friday, one Saturday.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Screen Gems has picked up the rights to distribute Attack the Block in the US. This fun little teen space invasion film has already been picking up awards around the festival circuit, and includes Nick Frost in the lineup.
It looks like the silliest fun this weekend at the movie theaters is going to be Your Highness, a comic fantasy involving a quest and at least one person who shouldn’t be on it. I am guessing Natalie Portman has to be loving her role on this one, and it looks like Zooey Deschanel had fun as well as the Damsel in Dis Dress. While not primarily genre (if this was a graphic novel, I missed it, but it should have been), Hanna looks like the other movie worth checking out this time around. Very definitely an edge of your seat experience, this one appears to be targeting the adrenalin junky audience.
And one trailer to get you ready for the next episode in the Shrek universe; Puss In Boots.
Topping the list this week is Tron: Legacy, the absolute must-add for every collection. This one really did deliver after the 30 year wait for the sequel. Also out this week is The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the third book in C.S. Lewis’s classic series to be converted to a movie. While it was also the third book published in that series, it is the 5th book in the internal chronology of the series. I am not sure if they intend to convert all of the books, but they are at work on the next one. The Australian film Beauty and the Beast: A Dark Tale didn’t get much time in the theaters in this country when it came out last year, but now those of us in the US finally have a chance to see it with it’s DVD release.
The TV show of note is a full series box set of Babylon 5, one of the best TV shows ever made. Brainchild of J. Michael Straczynski, this 5 year story arc told an amazingly complex tale of a war cycle that flared up every ten thousand years or so, and did it in a way that made you care about each character, loving some and hating others. This has been out for a long time as individual season box sets, but this is the first time it has been compiled into a single package.
I should mention that we do have one entry this week in the wacky conspiracy theory category: Kubrick’s Odyssey: Part 1 Kubrick & Apollo. Trust me when I say even though this one appears at first glance to be a documentary, it is the purest of science fiction of the parallel timelines/alternate history variety. At no time did Stanly Kubrick every run the Apollo Program, or film any moon landings.
On the Anime front, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Part 4 brings the next 13 episodes of the series. Edward is still trying to retrieve his missing limbs and Alphonse’s entire body in this Alchemy driven Steampunk story spread out across multiple timelines. This is one of the better Animes made in the last handful of years, and if you are not familiar with it you could always watch it online to get an idea of what it is about.
From some of the same creators, and released in the US through the same distribution house as F.M. Alchemist, Hero Tales: Part 1 and Part 2 are also becoming available this week. This is more of a fantasy, where fate and the Gods have decreed a conflict that legendary heroes leading the tribes of men must resolve. Again, you can watch episodes at the series home page to decide if this is something for your collection.
Finally, Strike Witches – Complete First Season is being re-released as a Viridian Collection box set, so you should be able to find a more affordable price tag if you haven’t already put this one on your shelves.