So far, the only film for this weekend I have found is Night of the Living Dead: Genesis, which is pretty close to nothing at all from my perspective, since I am not a horror fan. Since New Years Eve and New Years Day happen this weekend, that becomes a non-issue! You can just party your way through the weekend and skip videos altogether, or use the opportunity to binge-watch your way through a season of a series you have been meaning to catch up on, your choice. Enjoy!
If you are looking for something to read, one of the best series ever written is Wild Cards, a Superhero shared-universe where around 40 authors have contributed to the mosaic novels and short stories. It started in 1986, when George R.R. Martin and Melinda M. Snodgrass came up with the concept of Superpowers and horrible mutations and a lot of folks who just plain died when exposed to an Alien Xenovirus. That was meant to rid the Earth of Humans while leaving all our stuff intact so the aliens could take over the planet without destroying it in a war, but it didn’t quite work out the way they had planned. The stories are written by some of the best Science Fiction authors on the planet (there are too many to list, and I didn’t want to leave anyone out, so I gave the link so you could see for yourself), each of whom has created one or more characters. While it is difficult to pick a favorite with so many wonderful characters in the books, if I had to name just one it would be Roger Zelazny’s < href="http://www.wildcardsworld.com/characters/the-sleeper/">Croyd, The Sleeper. 24 books have already been published and there are two more in the pipe, one ready for release. And because that isn’t enough, the long-awaited TV series is finally in production; George can’t be directly involved with that due to his exclusive contract with HBO for Game of Thrones, so Melinda is heading up that project. This is one of the trailers for High Stakes, the 11th book in the series, updated to include mention of the TV series.
Netflix is posting a 2 hour Sense8 Christmas Special which will begin airing on December 23rd, J. Michael Straczynski’s story of another kind of telepathic evolution. I was also happy to hear the story will continue May 5th, 2017, with 10 new episodes. Since the trailer was posted I wanted to include it here as well.
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. have some new Webisodes streaming: Slingshot! Each Webisode is about 5 minutes long, and a major percentage of the core characters are here, telling a story they couldn’t fit in to the regular TV episodes. This is one of the aspects of the multi-screen experience I really appreciate, where they expand the universe the stories take place in rather than just use it to sell the main TV show. Considering how much greater depth each actor gets to bring to their character’s story, I can’t help but believe they appreciate it as well. Here is the first episode of the Slingshot mini-series; be sure to visit their YouTube channel to see the entire sequence.
In this war, Legion is the key; But who or what is Legion? The new Marvel series rolls out on the FX Network on February 8th, and it has the potential to become the most interesting story line in the entire MCU. For those of you who may have missed it, I am including the first trailer as well.
As Christmas gets ever closer you would expect there to be quality new releases, and there are. Suicide Squad was a very pleasant surprise after all the dark DC movies, which I am pretty sure was a direct result of how much fun (and how much money it made) Marvel’s Deadpool generated. Trying to jump on that bandwagon was the best thing any DC movie director ever did, and the results were the first DC movie since the 80s I wanted to watch a second time. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children lived up to the book very well, and I can only hope they go ahead and turn all of the books in that franchise into movies. Morgan is a different story, leaning a bit too close to horror for my tastes.
In Anime, Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions! Heart Throb is season two of this story, and everyone’s relationships continue to undergo changes; not least of which is chuunibyou-plagued Satone, who keeps showing up in the most unexpected places and times. Will her delusions shatter the delicate relationship the other three are forming? In Rampo Kitan: Game of Laplace, the Complete Series, a serial killer dispenses justice while the police and investigators race to shut him down, before the copy cat killers take out everyone left standing. The artwork and animation are somewhere between gorgeous and grotesque, the music is interesting, and the plot line is keeping me guessing. If you are a fan of murder mysteries the odds are good you will like this one. This time around we also get One Piece: Season 8 Voyage 5 with episodes 505 through 516, and The Legend of the Legendary Heroes: The Complete Series in a S.A.V.E. edition.