There are a very few artists I have ever seen who can pull off this kind of stage presence: David Bowie, Mylene Farmer, Fee Waybill, a very few others. And yes, the links between this one and Bowie’s Glass Spider tour are obvious. But if I had to pick just ten musical genius’s and limit myself to only their creations for the next thousand years, Mylene Farmer would be on that list. Just to put it in perspective, she only felt the need to sue two people for supposedly stealing her dance routines and music video structures: one for the one Michal Jackson allegedly stole, and the other one when Madonna allegedly did the same thing for a different song. If you don’t already know who this singer is, you have a serious treat in store for you.
This short from 2008 France is quite well done, and is part of the Esma Movie collection on YouTube. Strangely enough, most of the credits go to the orchestra, and not so many to the animators.
There are several excellent choices this weekend, with Branded giving us an insight into just how twisted and horrific the world would become if it was run by marketing department teams from this or any other planet/dimension. If you liked Inception this may be the movie you should go for this time around, and I will definitely be in the theater for it, since it looks like it will need the big screen to display the video properly. From Bollywood Raaz 3: The Third Dimension is a recursive tale of a film director who must save his love from supernatural attacks from a wicked witch. This is the third entry in this horror franchise, but being a Bollywood series they take it in directions you never would have suspected. And if you just want to kick back with an old favorite, Raiders of the Lost Ark is rolling out for a limited IMAX engagement, and by limited I mean one week only. I may have seen this movie 30 times or so, but I have NEVER seen it remastered for IMAX, so I am also going to have to be in the theater for this one. Not a bad collection of choices, ne?
The movie will be hitting the big screen on October 19th, but here is the first trailer to get you ready for Tai Chi 0, the Steampunk Kung-Fu movie. While the first two are variations on the same trailer, they are a little different to tilt them towards their target audiences in each country. The third one has more different footage and a different approach to the whole building a trailer process, and the three of them together give a fairly extensive view into the movie. It will be in theaters in September if you live in Asia, the rest of us have to wait a bit longer.
While there are no exciting new movies this week, there is one exciting movie being released in IMAX for the first time: Flying Swords of Dragon Gate IMAX 3D. This is a 2011 remake of the classic Dragons Inn films from China, starring Jet Li, and the 3D is some of the best I have seen from that part of the world. It will only be around for 2 weeks, so catch it while you can.
We have a few good movies this week, starting with Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, second in the film series. This is a required addition for my permanent collection, and extends into two of my favorite new media distribution trends. First, it includes an Ultraviolet copy, which means you can stream it from the cloud to any of your compatible devices, and download it to your computer if you want to back up the digital copy for when you do not have INet access. Second, you can download one or more apps (more, in this case) so you can slave your tablet/smartphone to your internet aware Blue Ray device, and run all kinds of additional information about the programing. Warner Brothers (who made the Sherlock Robert Downey movies) added this functionality to their Maximum Movie Mode, while Disney (who had the same combination of Cloud presentation with Apps extras slaved to the point the Blue Ray player is currently showing you built into John Carter last week) refer to it as the Disney Second Screen. They have been building towards this integrated combined presentation for quite a while now, slowly creating and debugging each process required to make it happen. Welcome to the future!
Another movie worth a look this week is Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, which is definitely worth your time to check out. While it may not be on a par with the first film mentioned today, it has a serious story to tell of its own. And let’s face it, it is always fun to watch Nick Cage go over the top with some silly or serious action. If you are in the market for something different, The Sultry Assassin: The Aphrodisiac Kill is the first in a series of eroninja novels turned into movies that will be making its way to the US.
For TV, the top spot has to go to The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Fifth Season, which unfortunately will be the final round of these. Doctor Who was a children’s show when it began (and still is, though it is hard for some geeks to recognize), and when they spun off Elisabeth Sladen’s character for the new series they definitely kept that in mind. She kept the original promise to the audience; this would always be a show that promoted a way for children to recognize positive problem solving influences and incorporate them into their own lives, so they could be the ones solving the worlds problems when it became their turn.
In new Anime, Zakuro, the Complete Series tells of the Ministry of Spirit Affairs, and the human/spirit teams they put together to solve the mysteries of the world.
For returning Anime, Bleach: Season 13 brings us episodes 194 through 205, in which Karakura town is threatened with destruction. One Piece: Collection 6 brings us episodes 131 through 156, and for the first time they actually try to get their pirate ship to fly.
We also have a couple of returning favorites coming out in more cost effective packaging. Mongolian Chop Squad: The Complete Series is coming out in a S.A.V.E. version, so you should be able to pick it up for around $20 if you shop around. If you are not already familiar with it, it is basically an animated version of the band BECK’s origin story, somewhat fictionalized. Also the Simoun – Endless Melody Collection is a re-release of that entire series for under $20, and you can find it for $15 if you shop around, so now is a good time to add both of these to your collection.