TV

I usually don’t mention horror films here, but I am making an exception for The Cabin in the Woods, another Joss Whedon masterpiece. As always, he brings some twists to the table you never saw coming, which makes for quite an enjoyable film. Dawn of the Dragonslayer is the story of a young man out to avenge the death of his father at the hands of a dragon. I suppose in the interests of completeness I should at least mention Housewives from Another World, which does have a sci-fi premise.

There are a couple of documentaries you might want to check out. In movie format we have Adventures in Plymptoons, and as you might suspect from the title it is about Oscar nominated animator Bill Plympton. There is also Katy Perry: Part of Me The Movie, and yes, I am a Katy Perry fan. There is something about the attitude and energy she puts into her music that I just find addictively positive. There is a TV format documentary that also looks interesting, Project Earth from The Discovery Channel. This is a series of eight experiments that will give you a different perspective on our world.

Speaking of TV, Supernatural: The Complete Seventh Season also comes out this week, as does The Mentalist: The Complete Fourth Season. Yes, I know that last one isn’t genre, but it is quite an intelligent series that I really enjoy.

Anime starts out with two feature length films this time around. In King of Thorn a virus is sweeping the planet turning people into stone. A group of 160 with the disease are frozen to await a cure, but wake up to find their refuge has been overrun with thorny vines and hungry monsters, and it becomes hard for them to tell the difference between the waking world and a dream. This is from the director of Appleseed and The Big O, and has collected a number of awards on the festival circuit and elsewhere, so it should be a good one.

Venus Wars takes place in a future where a cometary impact helped terraform Venus into a world mankind can colonize. And of course, anywhere mankind goes, his darker nature follows, so it is no surprise that war breaks out. This is a classic of old school anime from 1989 being re-released, with the cometary impact in question taking place in the far future of 2003.

In TV, Fafner: The Complete Series has a group of Mecha riding students battling aliens out to assimilate the minds of all humans (yes, think Borg-like). Of course, the folks wielding the giant robots are also at risk of being absorbed.

Allison and Lillia: The Complete Collection (or Allison to Lillia depending on who is translating) tells of a world divided by mountains and rivers, where the two groups on either side of the divide have been at war forever. Now two completely different women and their two completely different male partners are doing their part to end the wars forever.

Persona 4: Collection 1 brings the first 12 episodes of this series, where a young man moves out of the city to a small town in the country. Instead of the peaceful more relaxing pace he is expecting, he finds himself up to his neck in a series of strange weather patterns and murders that lead him into a weird alternate reality where he must go up against the murderer from inside television shows.

Finally, The Tower of Druaga: The Complete Series is being released in a more cost effective S.A.V.E. edition this week as well.

In movies Snow White and the Huntsman is an excellent retelling of the classic tale, focusing on the darker side of the legend. I am sorry to report I missed this one in the theaters, and I have every intention of watching it now. In fact, I will probably go with the extended version. Beyond the Black Rainbow is a surreal little movie taking place in a near-future commune, and focusing on one of the inhabitants who is trying to escape. I hope she makes it.

Terra Nova: The Complete Series is a drama about a family who went back 85 million years in time to help colonize the Earth. The first season is the entire series so far, but it was not canceled outright. Rather it was announced it would be shopped to other networks, but so far I haven’t heard of anyone picking it up. The Vampire Diaries: The Complete Third Season is also out, which I find a bit surprising, since I didn’t think the series had these kind of legs on it. While not genre Castle: The Complete Fourth Season makes its way to the shelves as well. I admit I only watched this at first because the male lead had been in Firefly and Buffy, but I found it rather enjoyable and just kept watching. I suppose to keep it balanced I should also mention The Big Bang Theory: The Complete Fifth Season is coming out, but the show just doesn’t do anything for me. Maybe it is the laugh track that makes me cringe and turn the channel in the first 30 seconds of its appearing on my TV set.

In Anime, Cat Planet Cuties (Asobi Ni Iku Yo!) is an absolutely enjoyable silly little ride that pokes fun at many of the Neko tropes. I particularly liked the various religious movements and secret agents of various organizations all clustering around our primary cat-girl, as well as the evil machinations of the dog empire representative. Also firmly entrenched firmly on the side of silly, Ghastly Prince Enma Burning Up is a story of rampaging Yokai (evil spirits) and the team sent from Hell to subdue them. Filled with surreal action-comedy that includes a bit of lechery and a boatload of obscure anime references and in jokes, this one would be even more attractive at a more reasonable price point. I consider $5 per 25 minute episode a bit steep, and will be waiting for a more cost effective offering of this one.

Bleach Box Set 14 continues that saga, bringing us episodes 206 through 217. I think this means we are beginning to catch up, since they are currently running episode 275 in Tokyo. Cluster Edge – Collection 1 starts a new series about an academy where the children of the elite are trained to take over and control the world, but one new student may just turn the whole place on its ear and change everything. Even the artificial soldiers and religious fanatics may have a problem this time.