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Something to Do: Movies

Not a lot out this weekend, but there are a few that might be worth seeing. Vampires Suck is silly fun poked mostly at the Twilight franchise (OK, pretty much totally at the Twilight franchise). For the first time ever I can honestly say that the parody was better than the film it was making fun of, at least in terms of acting, cinematography, believability, scriptwriting, and a few other details. I suspect that has less to do with how good the parody is and more to do with how bad the original was, and I will be seeing the parody if someone pays me enough to make wasting my time that completely worthwhile (and only then).

While on a more serious topic, and with far superior actors, What If… still bears a noticeable resemblance to the other film in one respect; it is a modified remake of another movie. This time around, the original I associate this with is one of the true classics of film making: the Frank Capra/Jimmy Stewart legend It’s A Wonderful Life, itself a modern day retelling of the Scrooge story. From what I can tell from the write up and the trailer, other remakes like Mr. Destiny or What Women Want may be better representations of this film, but I am always willing to check out a new Paratime story, and so few of them make it to the big screen.

Mars Water and Mars Movie

Yes, this is a geek post; deal with it! One of the major results the various Mars orbiters and rovers have been trying to work out is whether or not the red planet has ever harbored life, and one of the preconditions of life is a water supply. At least our kind of carbon based life, and there are good reasons why two planets in the same solar system would bear the same flavor of life. The most obvious two are:

1) Our planets condensed out of the same orbital dust cloud around our condensing star, and are therefore made from the same ratio of elements at the same stellar evolution stage, and

2) High speed impacts on either planet by rocks with enough kinetic energy to blast objects beyond escape velocity will tend to include any organic building blocks. Some percentage of those ejecta will end up raining down on the other planet, thereby sharing enzymes, RNA, DNA, and other life building structures between bio-zones.

With that as a given, it is exciting to find out they now have the evidence that Mars had water, enough to completely reshape the planet and generate clay deposits, as recently as 4 billion years ago. Since life on this planet started evolving 5 billion years ago, we had a clear billion years to cross-pollinate.

But there is one more detail that gave me the biggest grin of all about this; Did you notice that in each article the scientist reporting the Mars results was named after the ERB character John Carter of Mars? Is this going to impact on the movie? I am ready for that film!

Steampunk Japan

A while back I mentioned the Karakuri, the 16th through 18th century Japanese robots, or programmable clockwork dolls. Nor did it end there; the Karakuri continued to develop in the following centuries, becoming the basis for the development of an advanced robotics industry in that country.

There is an anime series dedicated to the Meiji period and Karakuri called Clockwork Fighters Hiwou’s War that I would like to recommend. Besides being a great Giant Robot series (but the robots are made out of wood and brass, and driven by springs or steam) it is a fun quest-type adventure where a group of kids are out to find their father and save their village. But like Carmen Sandiego, it includes some quality education embedded in the entertainment. The story begins eight years after the port is opened up to ships from the west, a time of cultural and political turmoil that is nicely represented in the program. Many of the people they meet are historical figures, some already famous and some on their way to getting there, and we get to learn a bit about each of them, their attitudes and actions both. Additionally, in virtually every episode there are little 15 to 45 second pieces that give still more of the background and events happening that help put the story into focus, but are also historically accurate. The animation is good and the voice acting is great; this is very definitely worth your time to check out.

Things to Do: Movies

This weeks offering, Afterlife, is a thriller on the edge of horror, but it does have a great cast in the form of Christina Ricci, Liam Neeson, and Justin Long. I am undecided if this will be worth time in a theater chair, but it may be a moot point since it is in limited release. There are two movies about the history of music coming out this week as well, also in limited release but well worth mentioning. Who Do You Love tells the story of Chess Records, who made records from people like Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Etta James, and Chuck Berry available to the public in the 40s and 50s, introducing America to the blues and leading to the birth of Rock and Roll. The other film is When You’re Strange, a documentary about the Doors narrated by Johnny Depp, and including footage never before seen.

Something to Watch: DVD’s

The TV show that stands out this week is Blood Ties: The Complete Series. While all of this had been previously released in two series boxes, it is nice to have everything available in a single package.

The silly montage of copyright-free footage taken from vintage porn and 1950’s Sci-Fi films know as Sex Galaxy will also be hitting the shelves. If you are an MST3K fan, this should be right up your alley.

On the Anime front, Ah My Buddha – The Complete Collection is a good choice, with enough action to keep it interesting. The fan service built into the premise (he only gets strong enough to banish demons when he sees naked women) never really delivers, since naked women without nipples are obviously not really naked; think Sophia Loren in a bodysuit in that 1960’s movie.

Lucky Star Complete Collection is an entirely different critter on several fronts. To begin with, the young women in this series are the focus, not the eye candy. In addition, it tells a high-school tale that almost works for guys as well…

Rental Magica – Collection 2 takes us back to the world where multiple systems of magic work, each with its own set of practitioners (all of whom are in competition with each other), based on the book voted “Best Action Story” by Japanese fans as part of the 2007 Light Novel Awards (the Manga came after the book).

Hidamari Sketch × 365 – Complete Collection is also being released on Tuesday. I probably shouldn’t mention it here, since it has virtually no Sci-Fi elements, but the artist in me couldn’t resist.