Apocalypse was the mutant who could absorb the powers of other mutants, controlling them until he had drained them dry. After thousands of years he is back, and wants to remake the world as his own plaything. X-Men: Apocalypse will arrive on the big screen on May 27, 2016. I assume no one is surprised that I am looking forward to seeing the latest addition to the franchise, since it just seems to get better every movie from my perspective.
Silly fun at its finest, The Brothers Grimsby is a warning that the only thing more dangerous than the world’s greatest spy is his brother. It will be on the big screen next March 11th.
Independence Day: Resurgence will be on the big screen on June 24, 2016, and I was already looking forward to it before this trailer was released. Having scavenged recovered alien technology and merged it with our own, the nations of Earth have collaborated on a defense program they hope will allow us to survive the next attack. When that attack finally arrives, it turns out we are nothing close to ready, and only the brilliant innovations of a select group of individuals give us any chance at all.
Written by J.K. Rowling, because everyone needs to revisit the world of Harry Potter, comes Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. In theaters November 2016.
This is the weekend we finally get to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and I have been ready since they first announced J.J. Abrams would be heading up the new films. I am definitely seeing it Friday, and will let the film decide if it needs to be seen again Saturday and/or Sunday. Also out this week is He Never Died, the crowdfunded fantasy starring Henry Rollins. And if you are a fan of great Asian films Mojin: The Lost Legend is a good Indiana Jones/Tomb Raider kind of story based on the #1 bestselling series of novels by Zhang Muye. This particular movie is based on his book Ghost Blows Out the Light, and if it does good enough at the box office perhaps they will turn the entire series into movies, one after the other.
As you might expect just before Xmas, a bunch of good movies have been released in time for you to grab them to give out as gifts. They include the Fantastic Four reboot and the second story in the literary franchise Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials. In addition there is the incredibly silly (and politically incorrect) Ted 2, and the latest entry in another fantasy franchise, Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation. With that many new films coming out it is kind of sad that there isn’t a new idea in the collection, only studios trying to cash in on preexisting properties. There is one original new cinematic work, but it isn’t genre; Slow Learners is a romcom about the terminally dorky, and what they go through in the effort to have a real life. TV brings us Extant: The Second Season, which definitely is genre. Just the bit about the astronaut mother looking for her half-alien son to protect him from the government’s killer robots should be enough to put it squarely in the realm of Science Fiction.
In Anime, we have two tales about Earth being under attack by aliens, with Daimadaler: Prince V.S. Penguin Empire, The Complete Series and Majestic Prince: Complete Collection. We also get two butler-centric stories in Hayate the Combat Butler: Heaven is a Place on Earth, and Ladies versus Butlers! Complete Collection. Hayate at least is genre, the other I don’t know about as I haven’t watched it.
There is a new One Piece: Season 7 Voyage 4 which brings us episodes 422 through 433. Finally, Chaika: The Coffin Princess is refreshing, in that it misses a lot of the standard Anime tropes and tells its own unique fantasy story.