Logan is the next chapter in the Wolverine saga, one of two successful spinoff series from the X-Men franchise. The Great Wall is chock full of Kaiju rampaging towards the populous centers of civilization, with only a 5,000 mile long wall and a few thousand heroes standing in their way. Cinematography on that one was amazing, it was worth seeing it in an IMAX theater, and it should translate well to the smaller screen. Anime has Dimension W: The Complete Series, with energy drawn from another dimension fueling a small but intense war, and sometimes other things cross between the dimensions. One Piece: Collection 19 brings episodes 446 through 468 home; to put that in perspective, the current episode is 789.
The Orville is a Star Trek parody that looks amazing, with Seth MacFarlan at the helm. It will be launching on Fox this fall, and I am so ready! Hopefully it won’t be cancelled 5 episodes in, like most quality sci-fi TV shows have been on that network. Next week I will no doubt get back to music entries on Saturday nights, but I had to post this as soon as I stumbled across it!
The franchise finally winds down with Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, one of the best movie franchises based on a game I have ever seen. The Space Between Us is also on the shelves this week, with the first person born on another planet coming back to visit Earth.
In Anime The Seven Deadly Sins: Season 1 Part 1 brings the first dozen episode of this amusing quest tale home, after a long run on Netflix and a shorter one on Funimation. Ajin: Demi-Human puts the entire 13 episode series plus the movie in one box, and Divine Gate likewise gets you the entire show. Both stories are about people who look normal at first glance but contain more-than-human powers, the former leaning more towards horror and the latter comprising a war between universes. Girls & Panzer der Film has the Tankery Team fighting to save their school ship from being sent to the scrapyards.
This time we get King Arthur: Legend of the Sword for those into historic fantasy, with a really different take on the legend and a 40 foot tall elephant. For myself, I will be seeing Absolutely Anything, starring Simon Pegg, Joanna Lumley, Kate Beckinsale, and pretty much all the surviving Monty Python members. It was also Robin Williams final film, doing the voice work for the dog, the ONLY character on Earth who seemed to understand what was going on.
There isn’t any western genre that I could find, but Simon Pegg’s A Fantastic Fear of Everything is finally being released in the US on Disc (previously available as an all-format import or streaming on Netflix). In Anime, Kizumonogatari Part 2 Nekketsu becomes available Tuesday, but at $69 for a 68 minute animation I think I will pass. It should be noted that Momotaro, Sacred Sailors is being released in the US Tuesday, possibly for the first time ever. That was the first feature length animation produced in Japan, and it helped pave the way for Anime. Sharing the blue ray box is Spider & Tulip, another WWII era animation, although I am not clear if both of them were financed by the Navy Ministry of Japan, or only the former, but they are worth seeing for their historical significance.
This weekend is all about Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and I am guaranteed to be in the IMAX 3D version, probably about 4 rows from the screen.