Frankly, I am surprised anything new is being released on Christmas day, and not surprised there are only a couple of titles, all some form of animation. Mass Effect: Paragon Lost is a Machinima coming out on the 28th, but it has been out for viewing in Video On Demand for several weeks already. I suspect some regular Anime fans will enjoy this, but it is targeting the Gamers first. Hakuoki: Record Of The Jade Blood is coming out with season two of this story of the ninja/samurai wars of the Edo period. IDOLM@STER: Xenoglossia brings collection 2 with more Mecha action as the war heats up, as well as developing relationships between the giant robots and their pilots.
We have a good one for Wednesday, in the form of the re-release of Monsters, Inc: 3D, a Pixar favorite of mine that has never before been available in a 3D format. I am afraid I am going to have to go see it, if for no other reason than to get ready for the new Monsters University. Although not quite genre, Jack Reacher is quite a twisty little murder mystery based on a great series of books. There are a boatload of other films this week, hopefully you will find the one you want to see in a theater near you.
This fun little video edit was put together by the very creative Debbie Saslaw, and is just what its title infers: a supercut of the phrase There’s No Time To Explain. If you have some video editing software and a favorite phrase you see in TV and movies all the time, you could build one of these yourself, and I know for myself it would be a good practice project to help me overcome my editing suites learning curve. I think the first thing I might learn is that this kind of project is a bit harder than it looks. Thanks to Laughing Squid for the heads up on this one.
If you are in the mood for twisted comedy, Ted has to be top of your list this week. If its action/adventure, The Bourne Legacy is a great choice (yes, it is genre, genetically engineering humans is still science fiction, although barely). If you enjoy quirky foreign sci-fi/horror/comedy, Doomsday Book is a Korean film about the end of the world, and includes a zombie apocalypse and a Robot Buddhist among the three tales that make up the film. No, it is not based on the award winning book of the same name written by Connie Willis, but it has won a number of awards itself, including the top prize at the Fantasia International Film Festival. If cheesy B movies with no understanding of basic science in their science fiction premiss is your favorite, then Collision Earth is the movie for you. Apparently the company that made Collision was too embarrassed to put up a web page for it, as well they should be. If you are looking for sexy spy spoofs then The Girl From B.I.K.I.N.I. may be for you, but be warned the rating on that one is somewhere between a hard R and soft porn.
TV this week seems to consist of Futurama: Volume 7, which is fine by me since it is a favorite show of mine. The other western animation choice is the feature film Ice Age: Continental Drift, the fourth in the Ice Age franchise.
A while back I posted the Level E OP song by Chiaki Kuriyama in its original live action music video format, and this week you can finally pick up Level E: The Complete Series for your own. Earth is home to a lot of aliens, and one boys life is turned upside down by an alien prince with amnesia and a bad attitude. Also new this week, Letter Bee: Collection 1 takes place on a dark world where a single artificial sun lights a small portion of the planet, and there are monsters waiting in the darkness. The Letter Bees keep the scattered human settlements in communication with each other, at great personal risk.
In returning series, Bleach – Season 15 is coming out in an uncut box set. Also, the classic Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi is being re-released, so if you have not already seen it, now is your chance. It is a wonderful little tour through the multiverse, all while staying inside a shopping mall that seems to be located in Tokyo, Texas.
Tom Hanks showed up recently on the late night talk show hosted by Craig Ferguson and briefly discussed Doctor Who. Based on this my best guess is he saw a Tom Baker episode involving the Daleks, got completely confused, and never watched another episode. Of course, it would have been even more amusing had he said the Doctor was the British equivalent of Captain Picard, but I take my amusement where I can find it.
There are several choices this weekend, although none of them are the action/adventure I tend to look forward to at this time of year. Bad Kids Go to Hell is The Breakfast Club meets The Ring, and there is something about the trailer that makes me think that was exactly how it was pitched to get the funding to make it. Based on the graphic novel of the same name, this is a comedy/thriller.
Dino Time is a time travel jaunt into the world of T-Rex and friends, and the kids who make the ride don’t have much time to figure out how to get home again. The animation looks quite good in this joint US/Korean production, with CJ Entertainment doing the art and story, and the US supplying some quality voice talent. I have found at least one source that believes the release date will be January 1st and another from a few days ago listed as Unknown, but most everybody else is pointing to this Friday.