The one that gets my vote this week is Epic, an animated fantasy from the folks who did Ice Age and Rio. They did pretty good on the voice actor department to, with a cast that includes Collin Farrell, Chris O’Dowd, and Beyonce to name a few. If you’re in the mood for something darker, the no budget film No Sanctuary will also be out in at least some theaters.
R.I.P.D, the Rest In Peace Department, looks like it’s going to be the funniest action/adventure movie about lawmen in the afterlife ever made. Based on the Dark Horse graphic novel of the same name, I linked to them since I wasn’t able to find its stand alone home page quite yet. This should be hitting the big screen on June 28th.
I have gathered together a few favorite films to keep me distracted during recovery for the next few days, starting with 2009’s Fish Story. This excellent Japanese Sci-Fi tale covers multiple decades and generations, showing how a punk rock song saved the world through a series of circumstances that don’t at first glance appear to be related. Luc Besson’s Angel-A is also in the collection, a French film about an angel who has fallen to Earth to save the heart and soul of a petty criminal. And then there is Iron Sky, about the Nazi’s who fled to the Moon at the end of WWII and are now returning to invade the Earth, from the Finnish film making team that brought us Star Wreck. That last one even has an English sound track, so I won’t have to read the subtitles, hurrah! If you have missed seeing any of these amazing films you can watch them on many VOD or Streaming services, such as Netflix, and I recommend dong so soonest!
Have a friend you want to intro to Sci-Fi Anime, but are wondering what a good choice would be to get them into it? Top 10 Gateway Anime Series was posted by Aaron Magulick on his Go Boiano site, and it has the definitive list. And a few of the series listed, like Cowboy Bebop and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood are gateways to addict your friends to science fiction as a whole, not just anime, giving you a double edged attack vector. Bet they can’t watch just one!
There are several interesting movies this week, starting with The Sorcerer and The White Snake, the latest of many film versions of the white snake/green snake legend, two demigoddesses who take the form of human women to experience love. First written down during the Ming Dynasty, it has also been made into TV series a number of times, as well as stage plays and operas, the first performed around 400 years ago. I am looking forward to seeing how this version goes, as some of the earlier movies were quite surreal and fantastic. Jet Li is one of the costars in this production. The Four has been referred to as the Chinese X-Men, a team of extremely skilled assassins and detectives working for the Emperor to eradicate evil. Their task in this story is to stop a gang of counterfeiters, and the trailer looks quite tasty. The action sequences alone should be worth the price of admission, as each member of the team reveals their power.
Sexy Evil Genius is a psycho-thriller comedy with an amazing cast of Sci-Fi alumni including Seth Green, Katee Sackhoff, Michelle Trachtenberg, and Anthony Michael Hall. If you are in the mood for wicked fun, this may be the one for you; I know I will be checking it out. Also this week, William Burrough’s Naked Lunch, which was converted into a Fantasy/SciFi film by David Cronenberg in 1991. It stars Peter Weller, and this re-release is part of the Criterion Collection.
In TV, Merlin: The Complete Fifth Season looks to be the only new selection, and also sadly closes out this series. It was quite a fun ride while it lasted, but I think they made the proper choice of shutting it down before it jumped the final shark.
For Anime, Inu X Boku Secret Service is a seriously wacky little series where no one, not even our lovely protagonist, is completely human. The mandatory bodyguards (also not human) just magnify the weirdness for this haunted condominium. Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee Reverse rolls out part one of the second season, and if the concept of hive oriented postal workers leaves you confused, trust me when I say it should all make sense shortly. If you happen to be a fan of Gordon R. Dickson’s wonderful novels, his Half Pint Posted story, The Right To Arm Bears, will set the mood for this presentation. There is also a re-release of the 1996 Shamanic Princess for those catching up on their collections.
There is really only one choice this weekend: Oz the Great and Powerful. Based on the Oz books of L. Frank Baum, it is a prequel to the 1939 classic Judy Garland film, telling the story that came before. I am so ready for this one, and will definitely be doing the IMAX 3D showing!