Ghostbusters is the obvious movie choice this weekend, but not the only one. Phantom Boy is a French animated feature film noir presentation in which a boy with superpowers trapped in a wheelchair helps a policeman (also trapped in a wheelchair) attempt to bring down a mob boss. This is from the folks who made A Cat In Paris, a truly amazing animation; you can expect that same level of quality here.
Movies have The Divergent Series: Allegiant, which was the final book of the trilogy but only the third out of four films. Like certain other books-into-movies series, they broke the final volume out into two films. There is something to be said for the argument that there was too much going on in the book to tell the story in a single feature length presentation, but the same is true of every book ever converted. Which tends to lend weight to those who argue that it is greed on the part of the movie companies, trying to milk every last buck out of the audience, which causes the last book in a series to be broken in two. I wasn’t able to find any other genre movies or TV shows this week, although Road Games is dystopian enough to be considered (no direct relation to the 1981 Hitchcock classic of the same name, but it was certainly an influence).
We do noticeably better in Anime, beginning with the Osamu Tezuka classic masterpiece Belladonna of Sadness, which has never before been released in the US. The artwork, animation, and soundtrack have to be experienced to be understood, much as the films contemporaries, Fantastic Planet and Wizards, were unique in ways that made them difficult to describe. A bit of caution is appropriate, because this feature presentation is nothing like Astro Boy or Tezuka’s other kid-friendly works. The original Belladonna was not for children, and this release is unrated, but it is probably somewhere between a hard R to a soft X if it is uncut, with a distinctly feminist plot line.
In more current anime, A Good Librarian Like a Good Shepherd is the story of a boy who is the only member of his schools Library Club, until the mysterious Shepherd sends him a text message, enabling him to rescue a girl. Her joining the club is just the first step in what turns out to be a somewhat supernatural progression of events. Speaking of supernatural, Rin-Ne 1 contains the first 13 episodes of the Anime about half-Shinigami Rinne Rokudo. Based on world famous Rumiko Takahashi’s Manga series Rinne of the Boundary, it tells how Sakura Mamiya meets and befriends Rin-ne as he works to help the spirits of the departed overcome their regrets and move on to the Wheel of Reincarnation. The Manga, which has been continuously published since its inception in 2009, hit the 30 volume mark last April, and as of this week the Anime is up to episode 39.
In Yatterman Night, 40 years ago a pair of heroes known as the Yatterman defeated a dangerous gang threatening the population of their country, and went on to rule it and protect them. But their descendants are oppressing the nation now, using that population for forced labor, and the descendant of the gang leader steps up to be this generations hero. This is the latest installment to the anime franchise, which stretches back to its initial episode in January of 1977, and was itself the sequel to the earlier series Time Bokan. Finally, Robotics;Notes: Complete Series is being released in a S.A.V.E. edition, which means you will be able to pick up the whole thing for less than a single season went for when it first came out.
This variation is from Disney, a live action reboot of the classic animated
Kevin Smith is going to be building the TV show version of The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension, all because he did such a good job directing some recent episodes of The Flash. Some people at MGM saw those episodes and offered him a shot at creating a TV show for them, and that is what they decided on. As he said on a podcast at the Kevin Smith Blog: Basically you just do the entire movie for season one, then season two you finally do the sequel we’ve all dreamed about, Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League. I can’t wait! No guesses who might carry it yet, but this is one TV show I have been waiting a few decades for them to make. Thanks to pretty much everyone for the heads up on this, but the first one I saw was from Cheryl Eddy at IO9, which is part of Gizmodo these days.
We have several this week, including Psycho-Pass the Movie in theaters for a limited run on Tuesday and Wednesday, the 15th and 16th. Topping the wide release list is The Divergent Series: Allegiant, where Tris and 4 must escape Chicago, or die trying. The Little Prince is a children’s classic with a core story as true today as it was back then, and very nicely animated in this version. Pee-wee’s Big Holiday and Midnight Special are also available to check out…
Tessa Violet was known as Meekakitty when she recorded I’ll Be Your Star Trek Girl and her video of the ALL CAPS classic Don’t Unplug Me. Now she has another instant classic with Sorry I’m Not Sorry under her own name, the fist track presented here, and I have to say I love her music. Sadly, her Star Trek Girl video has been removed from the internet except for bootleg copies, so I can’t post it here. It sounds like her Don’t Unplug Me instance has some corrupt audio around the 3rd verse, but otherwise it appears to be both intact and legal, so I do get to include it. The third track of the set (and she has a TON more songs, please check them all out) is her Wizard Love, a Harry Potter Music Video that she recorded with heyhihello which should be in everyone’s collection. The final track is a bit of a tribute to Alice herself, and if you haven’t already been following Tessa Violet for years, now you know why you should be. For more, grab her songs on iTunes or pick up her Maker Shop album.