This week we have a particularly silly title: Gnomeo and Juliet. It takes the classic Shakespeare tale and applies it to garden gnomes, by way of some of the folks involved with the Shrek series of feature length films. This one comes in 3D and is silly fun of the family friendly variety. If you want something a bit more gritty and adventurous, The Eagle takes place in the 2nd century British islands, an environment so alien to the modern world it might as well be on another planet. The 9th Legion of the Roman Empire had disappeared several years before the story opens, with a son of the expeditions leader out to figure out what happened to them.
Sanctum is a James Cameron 3D thriller hitting the big screens this weekend. I fully expect the movie to be visually stunning, which is the reason I am mentioning it here, but it is not even close to sci-fi or fantasy. In fact I believe it is based on a true story, and you can find episodes on the National Geographic Channel.
Every year in the UK there is a great little film festival that comes along, the Sci-Fi London Film Festival, happening next from April 23nd to May 2nd. It actually turns up twice every year, because besides the April event they also run an Oktoberfest. Part of the festival focus is to support new film makers, with panels, workshops, and a 48 hour film challenge which usually funds the winner to make a feature length version of the winning entry. Well, it seems they put a number of the shorts, features, documentaries, and interviews online to check out at Sci-Fi London Web TV. You will find all the 2010 48 Hour entries there (with the tag line These films were made for zero budget in 2 days!), lots of the shorts from the previous Oktoberfest, a behind-the-scenes look at Paul, feature films including The Brain That Wouldn’t Die and Planet Outlaws, and a whole lot more. To see their entire collection you can also hit the Daily Motion SFLondon site. And if you don’t watch anything else, be sure to take the time for The Hunt For Gollum. If you happen to be in the UK, The Sci-Fi London team will be part of the SFX Weekender event on the 4th and 5th of February, where, surprise, a lot of science fiction will be screened.
On Friday, the 28th, IP Man 2 hits the screens, more of a historical martial arts film than anything else, but with amazing action sequences. Scream of the Banshee is also released that day, a horror flic with a hot archeologist digging up supernatural beings best left undisturbed. And
Kaboom claims it is Sci-Fi when you check it out at IMDB, but this American movie’s web site lives in France, and the trailers it shows have no science fiction in them, not even a flying saucer. Bottom line is I do not see any actual Science Fiction or Fantasy movies being released this week but there is one coming next week; The Adjustment Bureau, written by Philip K. Dick…
The live action version of Gantz will be on the big screen for one night only this Thursday, January 20th. It will only be at about 340 theaters around the US, so if you want to see if it is near enough for you to make the show, go to Fathom Events and enter your zip code. It will display a list of the closest sites and set you up to buy tickets. If you are not sure if this is a movie you want to see, check out my previously published review and then just buy the damn tickets anyways. The following day, also under limited release, the anime re-imaging of the second quarter of the story in the classic series Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance hits a select assortment of theaters across the country.
A project with a reasonable budget hits the broadcast TV screens on January 9th: The Cape. This one looks like it will be a lot of fun, as you can probably tell by looking at the trailer. And it has Summer Glau in it, always a draw for me, and I think this time she even gets to play a normal human… sort of. Also, on the first BBC America kicks off season 4 of Primeval: Back from Extinction. This is their second attempt to turn the series in a whole new direction, and the tag line is in part a play on words both from the plot line (since two of the characters, Abby and Connor, return from the prehistoric to rejoin the rest of the cast) and the fact that they had been canceled at the end of season 3. With season four, they also bring Alexander Siddig to the party.
This months major hits have already hit the big screen, but you would think there would be one left for the final weekend. As it turns out, there is: No Sanctuary is the tale of a group of strangers pinned down in a church, trying to protect a girl with incredible powers from an army of the undead. I don’t hold out much hope or even interest in this one; you would probably do better to catch up with a movie you had previously missed this week.