Quite a few choices this weekend, I may just end up spending most of it sitting in dark rooms staring at big screens. Morgan was created using artificial genetic material, has been kept in a lab his whole life, and now a consultant is going to decide if he lives or dies. The 9th Life of Louis Drax is about a boy who died for two hours, and was revived, but has a secret that poses a serious mystery. Skiptrace has Jackie Chan and Johnny Knoxville as a Hong Kong detective and an American gambler charging across Asia to take down a Chinese crime lord. Bingbing Fan and Eve Torres are both in the action/comedy as well, it looks very entertaining. Finally Yoga Hosers was written and directed by Kevin Smith, so you know it is going to be full of silly fun. It is a spinoff of 2014’s Tusk, going into more detail on the two convenience store clerks we first saw in that film, but with a lot more humor.
Movies have the live action version of The Jungle Book hits the shelves this week, bringing home the latest incarnation of Rudyard Kipling’s classic story. TV’s Star Wars Rebels: Complete Season Two really ramps up the action in the animated battle for the fate of the galaxy.
Anime did better this week with When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace: Complete Collection getting my vote for best title. A variation on Magical Girls, the one boy in the school club with powers is pretty unimpressive. Doamayger-D is a tip of the hat to old-school Mecha shows from the 70s and 80s, right down to the animation style. The episodes are very short, weighing in at 3 minutes or so each, and the premise is a bit goofy; the giant Mecha fights the monsters by creating elaborate deserts. When the monsters eat the deserts they turn back into human beings. Beelzebub Part 1 is the first 30 episodes of this 2011 series which has not been previously released in the US as far as I can tell. It is about a delinquent who finds a mystical baby who makes his life difficult by doing things like throwing lightning bolts around.
Arrival hits theaters November 11, and watching this trailer it looks like it could be a winner. Mankind is on the edge of global war thanks to the aliens prodding, forcing the team to race against time for answers to how to stop the war and greet their visitors. Amy Adams plays expert linguist Louise Banks, and this appears to be her vehicle; I will enjoy finding out where she drives it.
The only genre offering this week is a zombie movie called Daylight’s End, so I would rather go with Mechanic: Resurrection with Jason Statham and Jessica Alba. I enjoyed the original movie, and when Jason did the remake it was even better, so I can’t wait to see what they do with this one.
Movies bring us The Huntsman: Winter’s War, part two of the story begun in Snow White and the Huntsman. This series is nicely done Fantasy which has already been nominated for a number of awards. Game based Ratchet and Clank has our heroes fighting to save every planet in the Galaxy, with more than a little humor along the way. While not genre, The Man Who Knew Infinity is the true story of mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan’s time at Trinity College. TV has Ash vs. Evil Dead: The Complete First Season and The Walking Dead: The Complete Sixth Season, which seems slightly redundant somehow.
In Anime, Hakuoki: Warrior Spirit of the Blue Sky is finally getting a North American release for those in need of more Samurai vs. Demon/Vampire action. Cross Ange Collection 2 contains the next dozen episodes about the princess who’s throne was stolen, and the fight to get it back puts the fate of two worlds in alternate timelines at risk. The final battle between man, dragons, and machines will decide it all. The Heroic Legend of Arslan also has an heir to the throne fighting to get it back, but don’t think this is a copy cat. This one is crafted by the team who did Full Metal Alchemist, and is full of the same kind of complex politics, situations, and characters as you know from their earlier works. Finally, two of the Ikki Tousen story lines are being released in S.A.V.E editions; Great Guardians and Xtreme Xectuor. If you have been waiting to pick them up when the price came down, now is the time!
I haven’t noticed many trailers on TV (possibly because I don’t actually watch commercial TV as a general rule), so I thought I would post one here.