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Something to Watch: DVD’s

For those with a leaning to fantasy based thrillers, there are a few good movies this week. Legion tells the story of one heavily armed angel out to save the life of a single human being, doing battle against the hoards of evil. While Daybreakers tells the story of R&D time traveling Vampires out to save the human race as a whole. With an all star cast and a soundtrack that includes compositions by Kate Bush, Daybreakers is the one I am bringing home this week before the others.

In the imported live action movie category, Legend Of The Tsunami Warrior from Thailand has an impressive array of talent and resources. It successfully blends fantasy, action and romance into a thrilling tale of the four sided race to retrieve sunken treasure and control a weapon of mass destruction. With Princesses, Pirates, and Paupers all going for the finish line you might be able to catch your breath every so often, but not frequently.

A twisted little variation on the classic theme is Malice in Wonderland, this one from the UK. You need a warped sense of humor to fully appreciate this movie, but it does look like a lot of fun.

Samurai Harem: Asu No Yoichi Complete Collection also looks to have a serious humor component, as well as being the first Anime for today’s post. A typical coming of age story involving a clueless martial arts teenage master and an assortment of heavily armed homicidal young women who take offense at his lack of social graces.

A release of Xenosaga DVD Complete Series – Viridian Collection puts this series into a low cost package for the first time, so if you haven’t already grabbed it, now is you chance. While this anime series was based on a game of the same name, it has interesting characters using giant robots in outer space to fight aliens, so whats not to like?

This one is a bit different, a fantasy classic in the making based on the Ramayana called Sita Sings the Blues. It blends the original epic tale with the creators own experiences and commentary supplied by an assortment of Indonesian Shadow Puppets to present a wonderful little story. I am glad to see there is now an official DVD release, assuming Nina Paley, the person who brought this into existence, is getting a fair percentage of the take. She originally released this under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License last year, giving it to the world. She did set up a way to Donate your approval to the movie (I contributed; did you?), but I suspect a lot more folks would be willing to support the project when they get their own physical copy for their permanent collection. More information is available here.

Something to Watch: DVDs

Top of the list this week has to be William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. While it is not Sci-Fi, I think having conversations with ghosts counts as Fantasy, but there is an even better reason to add this to your collection: This is the version staring David Tennant and Patrick Stewart. It also just aired this past week in the US on PBS, and you can watch it online any time you like at PBS or embedded here (at the bottom of this entry).

For comedy films there is Tooth Fairy, starring Dwayne Johnson as a man who bursts the mental bubbles of children by telling them Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny do not exist. As his punishment, he is forced to be a real tooth fairy for a week.

In the TV series category, the Saving Grace Collection becomes available on Tuesday. This is actually a repackaging of seasons one and two, released together where they were previously released separately, gearing everyone up for the release of the final season in June. If you are not familiar with this series you want to be; you can start by watching episodes online (the direct link goes to a “series so far” video, you can watch full episodes there).

While it should have been a series or miniseries, The Fallen were built as a couple of made-for-TV movies and originally aired at ABC Family. Like Samurai Girl from the same network, this involves a high school student having to go to war with the forces of good and evil (on a celestial level, in this instance). If you missed them when they originally aired, now is your chance to see them.

There are a couple of interesting entries in the 17+ category this week. The Ultimate Pleasure Box from Surrender Cinema is a collection of R rated films that pretended to be porn but were actually Sci-Fi and Fantasy films with periodic breaks for some soft core action. As near as I can tell they used the porn aspect to get the funding to make the films, and instead created some modern B movie SF/F classics. In case there was any doubt, there is nothing socially redeeming in any of these movies, but they are good clean dirty fun. The other one is Space Girls in Beverly Hills, which seems to have started out like the other set but never got the funding.

For Anime releases this week, most (like Darker than Black) are re-releases, sometimes because the original release was recalled. The exception is Rozen Maiden + Rozen Maiden Traumend DVD Complete Set, available in a single package for the first time.

Something to Watch: DVDs

Finally available this week is The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, the Terry Gilliam masterpiece. If you didn’t get to see it in the theater you should watch your copy on the largest HD TV you have access to, because the visuals are truly amazing. The other must-have movie this week is Luc Besson’s Banlieue 13 – Ultimatum, the sequel to District 13. If you missed the original, they are also being released as a 2-DVD set; both of these are non-stop thrill rides in the tradition of The Transporter.

If you are looking for a few laughs, check out Transylmania; the humor is a bit lowbrow (a bit?) but still kind of fun. Probably on a par with Venus Ranger: Complete Collection which also comes out this week.

For TV series, the modern remake of Terry Nations The Survivors, Complete Seasons 1 and 2 becomes available, and if you were wondering how faithful it is to the original 1970’s series, Survivors: The Complete Original Series 1975-77 is also being released. For American TV, Tales from the Darkside: The Third Season is being released both as a stand alone and in a packaged set with the previous two seasons.

In Anime, Gintama – Collection 1, a story about how the lives of Samurai changed in Feudal Japan after the aliens landed and took over. This one looks like a lot of fun, but be aware collection one gets you started with the first 13 episodes, and there are over 200 episodes and counting so far. Also, the Augmented Reality hijacking of the convenience store and high school where Evangelion took place has been canceled due to huge mobs of fans flooding the area. The rest of the promotion for the release of the next Evangelion reboot, You Can Not Advance, will take place as scheduled, and the release itself is next month.

Something to Watch: DVDs

Avatar; if you only buy one DVD this year, this should be it. Enough said.

Among the imported live action movies, K-20: Fiend With Twenty Faces looks like a fun choice, from the teams that brought out 20th Century Boys and Death Note.

For TV series, Merlin, the Complete First Season hits the shelves this week. Seen in the US on NBC and Syfy, this re-imagining of the Arthur legend was built by the BBC.

Comrades in Dreams was a documentary produced in 2006 about a select few people around the world who bring the magic of movies to people and places that otherwise might not have the opportunity to see them on the big screen. I know it is hard to believe in this age of instant streaming video, but these media activists are serving a vital purpose.

Naruto Shippuden Box Set 2 probably tops the popularity charts for this weeks Anime series. This show just keeps getting better.

Previously released as individual seasons, Otogi Zoshi: Collection of Ages is the full 26 episode series. The story takes place in then-capital Kyoto (Then being around 972 A.D.), where a female Samurai archer takes on a journey in search of a jewel with mystic powers.

One of the stranger anime box sets being released this week is Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-chan; fans of vigilante style justice for perverts or people who like their ultra violence served up cutesy ought to love this one.

Something to Watch: DVDs

The live action feature film selection for this week is Defendor, and no, spelling is not one of his super powers. A comic book super hero (and his shrink) movie that should go very well with this weeks theatrical release, Kick Ass. This was in very limited release in theaters, so this is your chance to see it.

The one that could have been a documentary but wasn’t is Pirate Radio. It also could have been science fiction, but wasn’t, since this kind of radio was a central part of the evolution of Rock-N-Roll in England, accompanied by its US equivalents in the form of Underground Radio during those same years. As a former DJ at one of those stations, I enjoyed every moment of this film, even the painful ones which sometimes had the highest percentage of truth in them.

The one that actually was a documentary is Digital Nation, a PBS special out this week on DVD. Part of an ongoing Frontline report, this one investigates what it means to grow up digital, and presents it in a format that the digitally impaired (predominantly parents) can relate to. Not genre, but definitely geek friendly.

There seems to be a bit of confusion about Sex Galaxy, with some sites reporting it comes out this week. You missed the target, folks, that was last week, but if you don’t have it already it is silly fun you should add to your collection.

Space Ranger: Complete Collection is a live-action offering from Japan that may be on a par with Power Rangers (it is a bit hard to tell, as no one seems to want to talk about them). I won’t be tracking this one down until I learn a bit more about it, and will wait for Venus Ranger later in the month… or perhaps not.

The live action import from the orient I will be tracking down and adding to the permanent collection is Three Kingdoms-Resurrection of the Dragon. The Three Kingdoms period of China’s history generated some of the best sources of heroic struggle known to man, and with the backdrop of such a large canvas (the land the history took place in, and the people who lived there) the epic nature of the tales combined with the wide screen cinematography it takes to tell such epics has produced some wonderful movies.

On the animation front Living for the Day After Tomorrow – Complete Collection also becomes available this week. Fans of Big or Freaky Friday should enjoy this one; a young girl who hates being treated like a child and a young woman who longs for simpler times get to exchange ages.

The rather more mature animation Rei Rei (OAV) also becomes available this week, for the first time in a while.

Something to Watch: DVD’s

The TV show that stands out this week is Blood Ties: The Complete Series. While all of this had been previously released in two series boxes, it is nice to have everything available in a single package.

The silly montage of copyright-free footage taken from vintage porn and 1950’s Sci-Fi films know as Sex Galaxy will also be hitting the shelves. If you are an MST3K fan, this should be right up your alley.

On the Anime front, Ah My Buddha – The Complete Collection is a good choice, with enough action to keep it interesting. The fan service built into the premise (he only gets strong enough to banish demons when he sees naked women) never really delivers, since naked women without nipples are obviously not really naked; think Sophia Loren in a bodysuit in that 1960’s movie.

Lucky Star Complete Collection is an entirely different critter on several fronts. To begin with, the young women in this series are the focus, not the eye candy. In addition, it tells a high-school tale that almost works for guys as well…

Rental Magica – Collection 2 takes us back to the world where multiple systems of magic work, each with its own set of practitioners (all of whom are in competition with each other), based on the book voted “Best Action Story” by Japanese fans as part of the 2007 Light Novel Awards (the Manga came after the book).

Hidamari Sketch × 365 – Complete Collection is also being released on Tuesday. I probably shouldn’t mention it here, since it has virtually no Sci-Fi elements, but the artist in me couldn’t resist.