Every year on May 25th we celebrate Towel Day, taking a towel with us everywhere we go all day long. This is of course in honor of the brilliant author Douglas Adams, creator of the radio play that grew up to be the five books of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy trilogy. It then went on to become a computer game, a TV series, and a movie, among other things; and that was only one of the works created by Doug. Another began as a book, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, then became a radio play, and finally turned into a TV show. Wear your towel with pride; I had DON’T PANIC printed on mine.
But silly fun, and it is from Marvel…
Top of my list this time around has to be Gulliver’s Travels. While I didn’t care at all for the performance turned in by the flabby guy playing Gulliver, the entire rest of the cast did a truly wonderful job of bringing this Johnathon Swift masterpiece to the screen. I think this may be the first time I have ever seen Chris O’Dowd playing a bad guy (although to be fair it was a very comedic bad guy). Another movie of note is Ip Man 2: Legend of the Grandmaster, continuing the story of the legendary martial arts grand master who trained Bruce Lee. And if you are in the mood for epic fantasy’s this week Goemon was the Robin Hood of Japan, except he was an actual historical figure. This film is visually amazing and, as near as I can tell, fairly true to the legend. I am including a clip at the bottom of this entry to give you a feel for the production.
In TV, a blast from the past: The Ernie Kovacs Collection. Ernie was Televsion’s Original Genius in every sense of the word. He invented visual gags that are still in use today and intuitively grasped a media format that would forever change the way we interacted with the world. Programs which acknowledged him as a major part of their inspiration include Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Laugh-In, and Saturday Night Live, to give you an idea of just how pivotal his work was. This collection includes a number of things that haven’t been seen since their original broadcast in the 1950s.
For western animation, Shaun the Sheep: The Big Chase is the optimal choice. Another fine set of mostly non-verbal comedy from the folks who bring you Wallace and Gromit from the UK. I should mention that the Wallace & Gromit: A World Of Cracking Ideas exhibition just kicked off this past Friday, the 16th, at the Newcastle Life Science Centre, and will be running through October 30th. They built a version of 62 West Wallaby Street (the home of Wallace & Gromit) and filled it full of all kinds of interactive exhibits and activities to teach the history of invention and innovation, and show how you can protect your own inventions. Visit the Official Cracking Ideas page for a lot more, including games and competitions.
In Anime, Darker Than Black: Complete Season 1 sets the pace. An impenetrable force field called Hell’s Gate has appeared in Tokyo, along with a class of psychics out to unlock its mysteries. As you would expect, the powers the psychics suddenly received came at a price none of them actually agreed to. Also out this week, One Piece Season 3: Fifth Voyage.
Toriko looks to be silly fun, with a bit of old-school animation. Japan in general, and Tokyo in particular, has always had a population of oversized beasts of various kinds (Insects, Lizards, and Amphibians) roaming the countryside and stomping on buildings. Toriko is the legendary Gourmet Hunter, out to capture and kill these creatures and eat them, while Komatsu is the timid chef who’s goal it is to turn them into diner, one after the other. Episode one of the series aired in Japan a few nights ago on the 14th of April at 6PM PST, and new episodes become available each week at that time, being simulcast on both Funimation and Hulu.
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.