Nothing of interest coming out this week, so it is a good time to catch up on something previously released you might have missed. I will be seeing Hugo myself, since life was a bit too hectic to catch it this past weekend what with the holiday and all.
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.
Real Steel hits the big screen in October, and they have turned loose another few trailers to get us ready for it. If you have ever built your own combat bot (all of mine have been in the Nano class, I can’t afford the heavy weight hardware it takes to make it to Robot Wars), you will appreciate this movie. It is also yet another Sci-Fi movie starring Hugh Jackman that has no mutants in it (remember The Fountain, or Van Helsing , or Kate & Leopold?).
I am not actually in favor of this as a trend, but it was interesting enough I figured I should mention it. When they do the Mikunopolis concert starring my favorite Virtual Idol being held this weekend at Anime Expo in Los Angeles, the folks at NicoNico Douga will stream it live. Why am I, a serious Hatsune Miku fan, not thrilled? According to the folks at Crunchyroll, they will be selling tickets to get the live stream for 1500 yen (around $18) each. Of course, the concert is completely sold out, so even if I was on the left coast I couldn’t get in, and they have added some more Vocaloid singers to the lineup (and Danny Choo will be the MC). I’m going to have to think about this one…
Originally scheduled for release Friday, now on Wednesday, Transformers: the Dark of the Moon hits the big screen. I am expecting the same non-stop thrill ride Michael Bay provided us in the first two movies, and while Megan Fox won’t be in this one, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley looks like she can fill that gap rather nicely.
On Memorial Day, Monday evening, the Science Channel has some combat goodness from our new robot overlords. Mythbuster’s Grant Imahara will be hosting Killer Robots: RoboGames 2011, for the first television coverage of the International RoboGames from San Francisco. Previously known as RobOlympics, this competition has been going on for a decade and gets better every year. The actual gathering took place over three days in April with 50 separate events, so I am expecting to see the very best instances of mechanical mayhem in the 45 minutes they edited it down to. If you want to get in on the fun yourself, the next one is the Combots Cup, a combat only event on Oct 28-30th, 2011; start building your bot now.