I completely missed the release of MONKEY KING 2 on Blue Ray on January 3rd, and only found out about it when a friend called to tell me they found it in a store. Good thing this isn’t my day job. So, a bit late, but here is the trailer for this fun little movie.
Monster Trucks looks like good silly fun, and sometimes that’s all that you need to keep yourself entertained. Aliens are the engines for this wild romp, I may have to check it out. Bad Kids of Crestview Academy gets a mention because it is based on the graphic novel ‘Bad Kids Go 2 Hell’ and because it appears to be that rare crossbreed: horror/comedy. While I don’t expect it to be in Shaun of the Dead territory it might just surprise me, and they did a great job of casting the actors to match the manga characters. I will briefly also point out The Crash because it claims to take place in the ‘near future’ (it’s another get-the-hackers-to-protect-the-country film), and Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies as winner of this week’s Silliest Title award, another horror/comedy. Perhaps they are not as rare as I thought.
The new season of Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Saga has begun with Rin Okumura now under the direct supervision of Shura. He either gets his flames under control and uses them to defeat evil, or he gets wiped out himself as part of the problem. This is the first week of the winter season, I am going to have to spend some time and check out the new shows as well as the returning ones. There is the usual collection of reviews at Anime News Network to get you started, with shows streaming at Crunchyroll, Funimation, Daisuki, and Viz, among others.
The Fantasy A Monster Calls has won two awards and been nominated for 51 more before it even went into wide release, and may be the movie of choice this week. Underworld: Blood Wars puts Kate Beckinsale squarely between the Lycans and Vampires as she moves in to end the ages old war. Hidden Figures is the true story of the women who calculated the launches, orbits, and landings for the Mercury and Apollo space programs, and what they had to overcome to do it. It was a double whammy against them in the 19050s and 1960s because besides being female they were African Americans, but they were also some of the finest engineers this country has produced. Finally, Railroad Tigers is the story of a railroad worker in 1941 China who leads a team of freedom fighters against the Japanese to get food to the poor. Since it starts Jackie Chan, there is a chance it may have some comedic moments.
With the Christmas buying season over, very little in the way of new movies or TV is coming out this week. Operation Avalanche is another retelling of the Apollo Mission to the Moon as a conspiracy rather than the actual event. Based on the trailer, I suspect that Moonwalkers starring Ron Perlman was a more amusing variation on the concept. The real winner this week is Rurouni Kenshin Part III: The Legend Ends, bringing the latest live action cinematic retelling of the Samurai legend home. Finally, in Anime, The World God Only Knows: Ultimate Collection packages up both seasons plus the OVAs into a single box set for the first time. And that is pretty much it for this time around.
I have been a serious fan of Minions for years, and when I spotted the trailer for Despicable Me 3 I had no choice but to include it here. It will be hitting the theater on heaters on June 30, 2017, and I can’t wait to see what new and twisted tropes they brutalize next as they destroy all things disco!