More Live Action: The Initial D Movie

Yet another bit of live-action adaption news:

Apparently there is going to be a live action movie adaption to the extremely cool Initial D series. I haven't been able to find much in terms of a definitive or official site for the movie, but in a short search I was able to find a few references -- most of which are from AnimeNewsNetwork:

• Initial announcement
• Director changes hands
• Making-of featurette movie
• Some pictures from movie

I've read some rumors about this for a while, but I always thought it was a hoax. (There actually was a "hoax" out there for a while in the form of a poster parodying Initial D as the 3rd Fast and the Furious movie. But this is totally different.) I'm definitely interested to see how this turns out.

FullMetal Alchemist Website

The highly anticipated Fullmetal Alchemist just opened up its official website with a countdown to its premiere on Cartoon Network. It will be premeiring on November 6 at midnight alongside my current all-time favorite TV series ever Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex which is showing at 11:00pm but is currently available on DVD.

Renting Anime

I was poking around the AnimeNation forums (which I haven't done in a while) and I found an area dedicated to this site called RentAnime.com. It's obviously a anime dvd rental site and, although I haven't actually used it yet, the site appears pretty well-designed and user-friendly. It looks like the rental program works very similiarly to NetFlix (which also has an anime section, though probably relatively limited) where you pay a monthly fee and can rent an unlimited number of DVDs (though only 3 at a time) and you don't have any designated return date. Here's what the site has to say about it's free 2-week trial membership:

Rent as many DVDs as you want for free! After your two week trial ends, you'll pay only a small monthly fee. For only $19.95, you can keep a revolving library of up to 3 DVDs at a time and exchange them for new available DVDs as often as you like. If you don't rent a lot of DVDs and are looking for a plan that is more affordable, try our 1-at-a-time plan for only $9.95.

On the down side, it looks like it takes up to 6 days to get your videos. Though that may vary by location.

Now, I'm not paid to endorse this site or anything. I just happend to stumble upon it and figured it might be useful to people with an under-funded anime obsession. Especially since there are not that many rental programs dedicated to this one genre.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Trailers

Okay, so maybe I'm just catching up on all the stuff that I've seen before I ever got this blog thing, because here's another oldie but goodie.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children is a movie which is a sequal to the FF7 video game. From all the trailers that I've seen, it looks promising. (Although I never actually finished the game itself, so I might be a little lost as far as knowing the background of the movie. Maybe I'll try going back and work my way through it again.) As of this typing, the official FF7:AC site is down, but you can still find all the trailers at this fan site.

The DVD is supposed to be released some time this year, but some film festivals have already been showing the first 30 minutes of the film -- most recently Montreal's Festival Nouveau Cinema.

There is also a review of this initial screening, from when it was showing at the Venice Film Festival.

Appleseed Movie Site

And in another attempt to add a new posting with old news, here is the Official Site for the Appleseed Movie.

The movie is making its US premere at the Boston Film Festival on Saturday, October 16 at 7:30 pm.

And lastly, here's a very short review of the film off of Slashdot.

Disney Sets Release Date for next Miyazaki DVDs

So apparently now -- according to UltimateDisney.com -- Disney is going to release Nausicaa (1984), My Neighbor Totoro (1988), and Porco Rosso (1992) on February 22, 2005.

This release date has been pushed back a few times before (well, at least once), so hopefully this one will stick. Maybe they pushed it back to coincide with the theatrical release of Howl's Moving Castle.

Live Action Evangelion News Website

The live action Evangelion movie isn't exactly breaking news, and there really hasn't been much in the way of new information on the project since it's initial announcement (short of a few pre-production sketches by WETA). But if you are interested, there is a good website available where you can keep up-to-date on the lates developments relating to this slowly evolving movie. So enjoy.

Sin City Movie Clips/Trailer

Well, I found the trailer for the Sin City movie (and a very extended trailer at that). The movie seems like it's going to be an almost word-for-word and panel-for-panel faithful adaption of the graphic novels. Whether that's a good thing or not, I am not yet sure. Just because something works in graphic novel form, doesn't necessarily mean it will work in live action.

From what I have read the movie will be adapting 3 of Sin City's storylines: The original Sin City, The Big Fat Kill, and That Yellow Bastard. (Unfortunately A Dame to Kill For is nowhere to be seen. Maybe in the sequel?)

The trailer starts out showing an adaption of a Sin City short story which I think is called The Customer is Always Right. However, I am not sure if that short story is actually going to be part of the movie or if it was just made as a promotional item.

Anyway, enjoy the trailer.