I am not a big horror fan, but this story was never really horror at its core. And depending on how true to the book they stay (remember Who Goes There by John W Campbell?) this second re-release of 1951’s The Thing could be quite enjoyable. Most folks today tend to remember the 1982 John Carpenter remake, which was better done than most. What both movie versions had in common with the best Hitchcock thrillers or modern Japanese horror is that neither film showed you any blood and gore; the scary bits were all off screen, but they were implied so well that your imagination ran away with you filling in all the details. Of course, this meant you would be imaging the scene in the way that would be most terrifying TO YOU, so while no two people ever watched the same movie, every one who saw it found it one of the scariest things they had ever seen. It is rare when a film captures the essence of a book, but having the audience visualize the missing bits like that brought the movie experience a lot closer to the process the human brain goes through while reading, and trust me when I say this is a technique more films should make use of. It remains to be seen how well this latest incarnation of the story is done, but this is one of the true classics of science fiction.
Movies this week kick off with Green Lantern, quite a fun little film for the action/adventure junkies. There is a related animation release, The best of Green Lantern, which seems to be a total of 5 episodes from 4 different series (I vote for just getting the compiled Justice League series and skipping this one). For folks looking for something noticeably sillier, we have Zookeeper.
Several interesting TV releases this time around, my favorite being the complete Chuck, Season 4. A couple of old classics finally coming out, including The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. released as a complete series, but broken up into two box sets (first and second parts). A related release for the same week, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Movies Collection brings out the 8 stand-alone Man From U.N.C.L.E. movies. Note these were not included in the Man from U.N.C.L.E. complete series attache case, which only had a single feature length film in it.
Speaking of complete, Doctor Who – The David Tennant Years is a 26 disk set of every David Tennant episode, special, confidential, animation, and anything else they could find. I have a hard time visualizing who they are going to sell this to, since everyone who might want it has already bought each season as they came out.
In western animation The Penguins of Madagascar: All-Nighter Before Xmas becomes available. This is from the TV series, not the movie production project.
For anime, Tales of the Abyss – Part 1 brings us the story of building global conflict in an alternate reality timeline filled with sorcery. Note that this title is also a platform game from Bandai/Namco if you are looking for a more interactive story format. Also out new this week is Naruto Shippuden Uncut Set 8, and this box set brings us up to episode 100 for the series. The final new title for the week is Kobato – Collection 2, a magical girl series where our protagonist uses her magic healing flask to ease the pain and suffering of others.
No doubt about it, this week the movie to beat is Real Steel, in which Hugh Jackman is an ex-boxer making a comeback by way of his own rock-em sock-em robot.
You might not of heard of any of the interesting movies this week, but a few of them are quite good. I’m a Cyborg But That’s OK is a 2006 romantic dramedy from Korea that mostly takes place in a mental institution. Yes, it is every bit as quirky as that description makes it sound, and it goes places you wouldn’t expect; I have owned the subtitled import version of the film for years, and it is quite worth the time to experience. This first domestic release is also subtitled rather than dubbed into English. Lunopolis has won fistfuls of awards at film festivals all over the world and tells a sci-fi drama about lunar occupation, cover ups, and conspiracies. Done documentary style, this one looks quite good. And there is Phase 7, a sci-fi/horror/comedy that has been compared with Shaun of the Dead, all about the end of the world.
In live action TV we have The Bionic Woman: Season 3, the spinoff from the 6 Million Dollar Man. I thought both of those series were campy when they were made, but unlike Knightrider they are still watchable today.
On the animation front, I don’t have a clue why the production team behind Chop Kick Panda are not all in jail for copyright violation, since it is a direct ripoff of Kung Fu Panda, but they have a new one coming out this week as well. On the other hand, The True Story of Puss ‘n Boots is a legitimate original work based on the public domain source material, but this time the cat has a French accent rather than Spanish.
In anime, La Corda D’Oro: The Complete Collection tells the entire story of a slacker girl given a magic violin by an interesting fairy. More interesting for me is Glass Maiden – Complete Collection about an offbeat detective agency and an impossible girl.
They have released a new trailer for Immortals, which will be in theaters on 11/11/11.
There are two interesting films hitting the theaters this week. If you are in an Action kind of mood, the one you want is Bunraku, starring Ron Perlman, Woody Harlson, Demi Moore, and Gatk (I believe this is his first time in an American movie). Kind of American movie anyways; the title and the plot line came from a traditional school of puppet shows from Japan, Gakt is a Japanese rock star, and they filmed the movie in Rumania. It is opening in very limited release, if it does well it may go to wider release down the road. If you are more in the mood for a dark comedy, Tucker and Dale vs. Evil is the way to go. It is about two good ole boys on vacation at their dilapidated shack in the mountains when they are attacked by a bunch of preppy collage kids who have seen Texas Chain Saw Massacre one too many times.