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Something to Watch: DVD’s

Not much in the way of movies this week; the only things I could find are Aliens vs. Avatars and Area 51, neither one of which I find worth watching.

In TV, we have Fringe: Seasons 1-3 in a single box set. What I find strange about this release is the pricing; at Amazon as an example the season 1 through 3 box set runs $162.00; but you can pick up season 1 for $19, season 2 for $25, and season 3 for $37, totaling up to $81, or half of what the first 3 seasons box set runs. Also out this week is Castle: The Complete Third Season, which I have to mention because it stars The Captain.

In Anime, the main release is the feature movie The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya. This only got a very limited theatrical release in the US, so for most fans this will be their first opportunity to see it. It came out in Japan between the first and second season of the Aliens/Espers/Robots/Time Travelers show, but I am not sure where in the story arc it properly resides. Also out this week, Katanagatari Premium part 2 continues the katana collection adventures with foes forced to cooperate if they have any hope of success. Looking at the picture on the series home page you could be forgiven for coming to the conclusion the series was a romantic fantasy rather than assembling a weapons supremacy. On the other hand, Amagami SS IS about romance across alternate universes, where we get to see what happens to different versions of the same boy in different timelines. One of the nice touches in this series is that each episodes closing theme song is sung by the female protagonist for that episode. This series is based on an eroge, or Japanese romance game.

New Real Steel trailer

Real Steel hits the big screen in October, and they have turned loose another few trailers to get us ready for it. If you have ever built your own combat bot (all of mine have been in the Nano class, I can’t afford the heavy weight hardware it takes to make it to Robot Wars), you will appreciate this movie. It is also yet another Sci-Fi movie starring Hugh Jackman that has no mutants in it (remember The Fountain, or Van Helsing , or Kate & Leopold?).

Live Action Kite

According to Digital Spy, there will be a live action version of the Anime classic Kite coming to the big screen. The director will be David R Ellis, probably best known for Snakes on a Plane, with no word yet on the expected release date or rating. The original anime was Hentai and would have been rated X in the US, but it was so popular it went through two different edits, one to bring it down to R, and another that brought it to PG13 or so, and released in theaters worldwide.

Fantastic Fest

On September 22nd through the 29th Fantastic Fest take place in Austin, Texas. Billed as the largest genre film festival in the U.S., specializing in horror, fantasy, sci-fi, action and just plain fantastic movies from all around the world, this one is worth the effort to get to. Some of the more interesting films already in the venue (they are still adding more) include Beyond The Black Rainbow, a dystopian retro-future with a unique visual style, and Invasion Of Alien Bikini, a Korean ultra low budget kung-fu/action/comedy/sci-fi/bikini romp that made 5 times its production cost when it won the Grand Prize at the Yubari Film Festival. Also A Lonely Place TO Die, a UK presentation of a survival film that has fully believable characters in every roll and real heart in its storytelling, and Underwater Love, a Japanese romantic comedy about the relationship between a woman and her Kappa (watersprite deity). The list goes on, including a rare big screen presentation of Versus, the classic Yakuza vs. gun toting Zombies fim, a from Japan.

Something to Do: Movies

The most interesting selection this week is in very limited release: Restless is a story about a man who crashes funerals with his best friend (the ghost of a WWII Kamikazi pilot) who meets and falls in love with a dying girl while doing so. Like all the best stories, this is about how people change and grow while proceeding through life, even when their life is a bit stranger than average. The question at the core of this one is Who do you live for, I look forward to seeing if they can pull it off well enough to make the film live up to the promise of the trailer. If it does, it may just become another cult classic on a par with Harold and Maude.

Something to Watch: DVDs

Top of the movie list this week is Thor, another world class entry in Marvel’s steady build to The Avengers. A related release is Marvel Knights: Thor & Loki, Blood Brothers, which is a motion comic, that bastard child of comic books and animation. Personally, I like motion comics, particularly the ones with quality artwork, which this seems to have. Also of note this week, Star Wars: The Complete Saga finally has it’s Blue Ray release. The only reason it didn’t get top billing this week is that everyone who is interested already owns all these movies, so this becomes a way to sell you again something you already own. Now if they had a trade-up deal, where you got half or more of the money you originally paid for them off the cost for the new set when you turned them in, this release would have definitely gotten top billing. Finally, a few Asian films getting US releases this week. First, True legend tells the story of a retired Qing dynasty general who is attacked and left for dead, with his son kidnapped. The true story of what he went through to train up and get his son back was the source of the “King of Beggars” legend. Then a classic film that helped pave the way for independent women in martial arts movies, 1968’s Golden Swallow tells a tale of a woman falsely accused of crimes committed by another.

Carrie Fisher: Wishful Drinking isn’t a movie but rather a documentary, but I think it will be well worth checking out, if only for her commentary on being Princess Leia.

The top TV spot this week is a bit hard to judge. For me it is a tossup between Sanctuary: The Complete Third Season and Supernatural: The Complete Sixth Season. I have enough arguments for and against each series being the stronger contender that they pretty much even out. And it is entirely possible that Camelot: The Complete First Season might beat them both out; I don’t know because I missed scheduling that series on my DVR and haven’t seen any of it yet. Luckily it is available on Starz Video on Demand, so I will watch a few episodes before making any decisions as to how good it is. Also new this week is about the only reality show I watch, coming out with Mythbusters: Collection 7. If I had the right kind of engineering background, this show would be my dream job. Finally there is The Big Bang Theory: The Complete Fourth Season, which I mention for completeness. I want to like that show, I love the premise; if only it didn’t have the laugh track I might be able to watch it without cringing.

For western animation, Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space is still more wackiness from Dreamworks, and has the original cast including Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogen, Hugh Laurie, Will Arnett, and Kiefer Sutherland. If you liked the original feature length movie you will no doubt want to add this short to your collection. I know it will certainly be following me home the day it comes out. In fact, I will be looking for the bundled set, where they combine it with Scared Shrekless, another great short available for the first time this week.

in Anime, MM Complete Collection is a twisted tale about some very troubled people, and I am not sure having them all in the same support group is the best option for them (including the god; he is also a bit twisty). Then there is Kekkaishi Set 2 continues the story of the teenage boy training to kill monsters with his childhood sweetheart. This release brings us to the half way point in this particular story arc, since each box set contains 13 episodes and the full series has 52.