DVD

The Darkest Hour has five teens in Moscow when alien invaders take over the Earth, and they spend the movie trying to survive. It is not a bad little film, but I think they made a mistake when they opened it in theaters on Christmas day, as it was not exactly holiday fare.

A rather amusing family oriented TV miniseries this time is The Witches of Oz, where best selling author Dorothy Gale discovers the stories she has been writing are based on suppressed childhood memories, and Oz is real.

The other TV choices are all older programs now available for the first time, starting with Night Gallery: Season Three. Joining Rod Serling in Season 3 were Vincent Price, Mickey Rooney, Sally Fields, Sandra Dee, Bill Bixby, and Leonard Nimoy, amongst others. Logan’s Run: The Complete Series ran on TV for the 1977/1978 season and also comes out this week.

Finally, Dark Shadows: Fan Favorites pulls all the way back to the 1960s for its episodes. Dark Shadows ran for five years, but as a soap opera it ran every weekday during that time, so it had over a thousand episodes. Besides being the first TV series to focus on the emotional needs of Vampires, Werewolves, and Witches, it was also one of the few shows of its time to include time travel and alternate universes as regular plot devices in its ongoing story arc. Every one of those details is represented in this small collection.

In western animation, Marvel Knight’s Astonishing X-Men: Dangerous becomes available this week, the second release in the series.

The new release in Anime is Naruto Shippuden: DVD box set 10, which I am not going to bother to describe, on the theory that if you liked the series enough to watch the previous 9 box sets you probably already know the story thus far.

The other anime releases this week are consolidations or Blue Ray or just plain re-releases. Oh! Edo Rocket – Complete Series is a consolidation, previously available in a box set per season, now with both seasons in a single box. Infinite Stratos is a re-release, except it also includes the OVA Infinite Stratos Encore, a short sequel, together for the first time.

A glut of great DVDs this time around, starting with the Steampunk action adventure instant classic The Three Musketeers, which I loved in the theaters and look forward to adding to my own collection so I can watch it over and over. Melancholia is a beautiful and award winning movie which tells the tale of a woman who’s wedding is interrupted by the end of the world. There are also a couple of animated feature length films worth your time, including The Adventures of Tintin with Daniel Craig, Nick Frost, and Simon Pegg. Happy Feet Two also has a huge and star studded cast, and is every bit as fun as the first one.

The TV miniseries Neverland sees Bob Hoskins reprise his role as Smee in this Peter Pan prequel. A classic Tom Baker Doctor Who episode also becomes available with the release of Dr. Who: The Face Of Evil, with every one’s favorite savage Leela as the companion.

Western animation has the return of two of my favorite characters in Wallace & Gromit’s World of Invention. This originally ran on BBC1 in 2010 and has our beloved duo being the hosts of a TV show about some crackling good inventions and showing off some of their own accomplishments.

New anime this week includes the Bleach – Season 12 uncut box set, continuing the soul reapers story with episodes 180-193. To put that in perspective, I think the latest episode to air on Tokyo was 367. One Piece – Collection 5 also hits the shelves bringing us the next 27 episodes of the Straw Hat Gang making friends and having adventures. these are episodes 104 through 130, out of a current total of 538. It will be a while before all of these are going to be available in the US. Also new this week, Kekkaishi DVD Set 4 brings episodes 40 through 52, which in this case actually completes the series.

I was all excited when I heard there was going to be a new Mardock Scramble release, and then anoyed when I learned it was going to be Mardock Scramble: The First Compression [Director’s Cut]. I just bought this thing back in September or so, why are they trying to sell me a different version of the one I have seen, before the ones I haven’t seen become available? And the difference between the theatrical version and the directors cut (both of which are on the new DVD, but not the original release) is 5 minutes of additional scenes. This is definitely one of the most impressive and twisty new animes to come along in a while, but I do not feel that this is treating the fan base right. They should have come out with both versions get from the get go.

Top movie choice this time around is Immortals, a tale of war and oppression in the time of the Greek Gods. In fact, it would pretty much be the only movie choice if it wasn’t for the direct to DVD release of Tooth Fairy 2 starring Larry the Cable Guy. And no, it doesn’t have its own home page that I could find, or I would have linked it.

A made-for-TV movie sits right on the border between the two video forms: My Future Boyfriend is a rather silly story without much substance, but kind of sweet. If I did food comparisons, cotton candy would definitely come to mind. If you prefer your stories with a bit of meat on their bones and noticeably more adult, Game of Thrones: The Complete First Season is the way to go. George R. R. Martin is still writing the books, hopefully he will be able to keep ahead of the filming schedule as they convert one book a year into video footage. He has been releasing the books a bit slower than that, and now that his other main project, Wild Cards, has been picked up by the new Universal/SyFy Channel production house he may have less time for writing than ever.

For western animation there isn’t anything new as such, but they are releasing Robot Chicken: Seasons 1-5, giving you the opportunity to grab everything currently available at once, and for a bit of a discount. Season 6 is currently airing and should be available soon.

Anime shows a single new release in the form of the House of Five Leaves – Complete Series, a historical drama involving a shy Ronin and the gang of kidnappers he falls in with. The animation looks interesting, and there is promise of personal growth in the evolution of the protagonist.

There are several re-releases worth mentioning, starting with Grave of the Fireflies – Remastered Edition. This semi-true story about orphaned children in wartime Japan has been digitally remastered to rip your heart out with improved video resolution and audio quality. If you haven’t seen this masterpiece trust me when I say it is right up there with Barefoot Gen as an object lesson in the human condition during war, especially as it applies to children.

On a much lighter note, Sands of Destruction – The Complete Series is being released in a S.A.V.E. (Super Amazing Value Edition) package, which means you can pick up the whole thing for around $15. Also being released in a single box set, Hetalia: Axis Powers – The Complete Series also brings the price down for those who have been waiting, but not by anywhere near as much.