Skip to main content

Things to Do: Film Festivals

The Berlin International Film Festival comes around for the 60th time from February 11th to the 21st. This monster festival is broken into 7 sections, each with its own director. There are a ton of movies, I thought I should mention a few that sound interesting to me.

One Life, Maybe Two is another paratemporal story, in which a single event goes both ways, and the fork between worldlines explores each outcome. The premise matches up with Sliding Doors in that regard, but the kind of events explored are quite different. While I suspect no one is referencing the Spanish Inquisition in this one, I am looking forward to seeing it some day.

Another film worth noting is Shutter Island, a rather surreal film about a disappearing mass murderess who may have escaped from a psychiatric prison. The talent involved with this film includes names like Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Kingsley, and Max von Sydow, and the trailer looks great. This one is not just for the film festivals; it goes into public release on the weekend of the 18th/19th of February.

There are a few other films you might want to check out. Howl has been making the festival circuits, a DocuDrama about the Ginsburg obscenity trial in 1957. That was the birthplace of the American Counterculture movement, and everything that it evolved into over the following 50 plus years. This film includes a presentation of the poem itself, which more than anything else puts into perspective just how far we have come since then.

And Ginsburg begat Dury; so how appropriate this festival also includes Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll, a film format reconstruction of Ian Dury’s biography, showing how he became key to the development of Punk and New Wave music, and the culture they spawned. He influenced The Clash, The Pretenders and the Sex Pistols to name just a few. He toured the US with Elvis Costello and Lou Reed back in the seventies. As the title of the film (it is also the title of his smash hit song) might make you suspect, he really was on the direct line of decent from Ginsburg, and was a major influence on the development of his segment of the Counterculture.

And Ginsberg begat Warhol and Waters; also in the 70s, No Wave film making was born in New York City, mostly in the low-income parts of the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The movie Blank City does a good job of presenting just how intense this Counterculture cauldron became, and what kind of film movements it spawned.

Wish I could be in Berlin for this fest, but I guess I will just have to cheer them on from here.

Things to Do: movies

With one of the longest titles of any film this month, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief looks to be very entertaining. The cast includes Pierce Brosnan and Uma Thurman, and the style looks very Harry Potterish. No real surprise there, as the movie is based on the first book in a series for YA Demi-Gods by Rick Riordan; I am sure they are hoping to tap the same youth market as the Potter films.

Also out this Friday, The Wolfman is a powerful remake of the original Universal movie, staring Anthony Hopkins and Benicio Del Toro. While it doesn’t look as Steampunk as either of the recent Sherlock Holmes releases, it does seem to lean in that direction.

Things to Watch: DVDs

The live action movie release to consider this week is The Time Traveler’s Wife, and yes, this is a love story, much in the tradition of Richard Matheson’s Time And Again. This close to Valentines Day, it seems appropriate, and it is a fairly decent treatment of the book.

The animation to be aware of is Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic, but be warned this animation is not for children, nor is it work friendly. The structure is the same as Animatrix, with a separate writing, directing, and production team (all leaders in the field who have created Anime classics) for each segment. This has not been released in theaters that I am aware of, although a limited number of lucky viewers got to see it on the big screen at various film festivals around the world. The DVD is being released in parallel with the game (the game company commissioned the film), both of which are based on the original epic poem.

The TV collection to look for this time around is SG-U Stargate Universe: 1.0; they lost the annoying blue vampires and re-invented the franchise as a Battlestar-style lost in space adventure. The Stargates have been relegated to the same role as Trek’s Transporters, and the galaxy spanning communications system introduced near the end of SG1 are used to keep the episodes from being limited to the ship, the landing zone of each planet, and the characters trapped on the ship. I personally loved SG1, and found any episode of SG-Atlantis that had the blue guys in it unwatchable (which did leave them with 20 or 30 good episodes over their 5-year run). So far I find SG-Universe to be about half way between the two, but if they stop trying so hard to be the new BSG (which they are failing at) and go back to the core strengths of SG1 (good mix of humor to go with the OMG moments, excellent dialog, and retain the good ensemble chemistry they have to bolster the dynamic tension), this series has the potential to equal or surpass the original.

On the anime front, Soul Eater Part 1 bears a style resemblance to Dead Leaves, both for the graphics and the audio, and looks like it could be a lot of fun. You can watch Soul Eater episodes online at that link to give you an idea if it should become part of your permanent collection. Gaogaigar Season One Litebox comes from the folks who built Godanner and Betterman, and shows you how that team started out. And while Naruto Shippuden: Volume 6 is also coming out on Tuesday, I will be waiting for the next season-long box set before plunking my money down; there are just too many episodes in the series for me to be able to afford any other choice.

Things to Do: Cons

Topping the MediaCon list this time around is the SFX Weekender, being held in Camber Sands in the UK. Media guests include Doctor Who’s Tom Baker, Buffy’s James Marsters, Torchwood’s Gareth David-Lloyd, True Blood’s Michelle Forbes, Sarah Jane’s Elisabeth Sladen, and Red Dwarf’s Mac McDonald; and that’s just the Actors (the Author guests list is every bit as impressive).

In the US, The Official Xena Convention (the 15th year) takes place this weekend over in LA, and while the guest lineup may not be as varied as the SFX Weekender, it does include many major players in the Xena world, including Lucy Lawless, Renee O’Connor, Hudson Leick, and Gina Torres. If you were ever a Xena fan, you don’t want to miss this one.

And there is a chance some of you might be able to find your way to BasauriCon in Basauri, Spain, which starts February 5th. It is primarily a Battlestar MediaCon, with Edward James Olmos & Mary McDonnell as the main guests.

In Canada, G-Anime takes place at the Palais des congrès in Ottawa. Besides all the usual Anime Con events, this gathering include a Competitive Cosplay Dance Workshop; be sure to bring your costume for any outfit-specific queries you might have.

Things to Do: Movies

I have been waiting for the sequel and it is finally out: Banlieue 13 – Ultimatum follows up on the original Luc Besson film District 13. Besides being a thrilling story involving corrupt government officials trying to nuke part of their capitol to get rid of the gangs and violence, the original film had the first example I had ever seen of parkour, or free running, now an internationally recognized sport. This allowed them to shoot many of the action scenes without wires or special effects, and still have them turn out amazing.

Things to Watch: DVDs

One of the best movies of 2009 (certainly in the top 5) is coming out on Tuesday: Cold Souls. This one isn’t an action/adventure tale with Sci-Fi special effects wallpaper like so many others, but the core premise of the story is science fiction, and the rest of the film explores the consequences spinning off from that premise. Because it was in such limited release in the theaters a lot of folks didn’t get the chance to see this on the big screen. Do not miss it now; the acting is amazing, and the story itself is wonderfully presented.

The other movie worth noting is Zombieland, yet another comedy about the living dead; at this rate, they could become almost as numerous as TV shows about Vampire Cops/Detectives.

Speaking of TV, also this week are the final David Tennant Doctor Who episodes, >Dr. Who: End of Time Parts 1 & 2 and Doctor Who: The Water of Mars. If you haven’t already acquired the other two Who Specials, Doctor Who: The Complete Specials box set gets released Tuesday as well.

the only new Anime I found coming out this week is Skull Man: Complete Collection, which looks like it would make a good double feature with Red Garden (if you have 12 hours to watch a double feature). I just wanted to mention last weeks Sands of Destruction again, because they have a great tag line: Destroying the world solves everything.