This time around, a new entry from a rather silly animated franchise: Ice Age: Continental Drift. Strangely enough, what I thought was a stand alone cartoon playing before feature length animations now looks to be the trailer for this one. And for those counting, yes, this is the 4th film in this series.
You know it is a slow week when the only two American offerings to roll out are Elvira’s Movie Macabre: Giant Monsters, a set of four movies, except none of the stores trying to sell you this package have a clue what any of the four movies are called, and Mysteries at the Museum: Season 2, a documentary series from The Travel Channel. That’s it, nothing else on offer this time around. Guessing the US holiday weekend made a major impact on the release decisions.
From an overseas source but still with a US release we have Needless: The Complete Collection as the new offering, where World War 3 has run its course and the survivors are depending on a pervert superhero to put the planet back together. Meanwhile, Ergo Proxy: The Complete Series gets re-released in a cost effective package, so if you shop around you should be able to grab it for just over $20.
If there is anything else interesting coming out on DVD this week, I haven’t been able to find it. If you have better luck, post a comment and let me know.
They haven’t set up the web site yet, but I loved the original Pixar animation Monsters Inc, and am looking forward to the sequel Monsters University.
There are actually 3 excellent choices on the big screen this weekend: the Pixar animated Brave, the politically incorrect Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, and the sleeper indi film Seeking a Friend for the End of the World. I pretty much have to be at all three of these, but I don’t think I will have enough time what with everything else going on this weekend. If you ask which one I will see first, my answer will change from one hour to the next; I may end up flipping a coin when I hit the theater, these all look too good to make a decision.
Darwin Fish keeps creating interesting time laps videos, and I am pretty sure the last one posted here was his life size Gundam rebuild (remember, a Gundam is much bigger than a human). This one is the new Tokyo Sky Tree, the new home of Radio and Television antennas in Japan’s most impressive city. These are actually several different stop motion studies edited into the finished product, and I find it quite visually impressive. Thanks to Crunchyroll for the heads up on this one.
We have a few good movies this week, starting with Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, second in the film series. This is a required addition for my permanent collection, and extends into two of my favorite new media distribution trends. First, it includes an Ultraviolet copy, which means you can stream it from the cloud to any of your compatible devices, and download it to your computer if you want to back up the digital copy for when you do not have INet access. Second, you can download one or more apps (more, in this case) so you can slave your tablet/smartphone to your internet aware Blue Ray device, and run all kinds of additional information about the programing. Warner Brothers (who made the Sherlock Robert Downey movies) added this functionality to their Maximum Movie Mode, while Disney (who had the same combination of Cloud presentation with Apps extras slaved to the point the Blue Ray player is currently showing you built into John Carter last week) refer to it as the Disney Second Screen. They have been building towards this integrated combined presentation for quite a while now, slowly creating and debugging each process required to make it happen. Welcome to the future!
Another movie worth a look this week is Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, which is definitely worth your time to check out. While it may not be on a par with the first film mentioned today, it has a serious story to tell of its own. And let’s face it, it is always fun to watch Nick Cage go over the top with some silly or serious action. If you are in the market for something different, The Sultry Assassin: The Aphrodisiac Kill is the first in a series of eroninja novels turned into movies that will be making its way to the US.
For TV, the top spot has to go to The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Fifth Season, which unfortunately will be the final round of these. Doctor Who was a children’s show when it began (and still is, though it is hard for some geeks to recognize), and when they spun off Elisabeth Sladen’s character for the new series they definitely kept that in mind. She kept the original promise to the audience; this would always be a show that promoted a way for children to recognize positive problem solving influences and incorporate them into their own lives, so they could be the ones solving the worlds problems when it became their turn.
In new Anime, Zakuro, the Complete Series tells of the Ministry of Spirit Affairs, and the human/spirit teams they put together to solve the mysteries of the world.
For returning Anime, Bleach: Season 13 brings us episodes 194 through 205, in which Karakura town is threatened with destruction. One Piece: Collection 6 brings us episodes 131 through 156, and for the first time they actually try to get their pirate ship to fly.
We also have a couple of returning favorites coming out in more cost effective packaging. Mongolian Chop Squad: The Complete Series is coming out in a S.A.V.E. version, so you should be able to pick it up for around $20 if you shop around. If you are not already familiar with it, it is basically an animated version of the band BECK’s origin story, somewhat fictionalized. Also the Simoun – Endless Melody Collection is a re-release of that entire series for under $20, and you can find it for $15 if you shop around, so now is a good time to add both of these to your collection.