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Something to Watch: DVDs

For silly action fun we have Drive Angry, in which Nick Cage escapes from hell and goes on a road trip. There is one interesting classic collection being released as a box set this week: the Stanley Kubrick: Essential Collection. It has nine films, including genre favorites Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, and The Shining. Of course, you can pick up the individual programs for 7 to 9 dollars each, but if you don’t have any of them this could be a cost effective way to go, especially since the non-genre films have the same high quality.

There is a miniseries I absolutely had to mention, Phil Plait’s Bad Universe. Phil has been blogging for years under the heading Bad Astronomy, which he started to post corrections to the bad physics and astronomy he saw in the science fiction TV shows and movies he otherwise loved to watch. He was somewhat qualified for this, being an astronomer with ten years working on the Hubble Space Telescope, an astronomy educator, and on the side wrote some books on the topic as well. The Discovery Channel brought his blog on board and put the programs together, but you can still see the original Bad Astronomy here.

There are two good entries in the TV series category this time around, starting with season three of True Blood. This gives you plenty of time to catch up or review the season before season 4 kicks off on June 26th. Or you can re-watch all three seasons with HBO GO, which allows HBO subscribers to watch a vast library of their series and movies on your computer, ipad, ipod, or android phone or tablet any time you like (and anywhere you have a connection). The best bit is if you have HBO with your cable or dish service it just comes with it for no additional charge, yet another VAR (Value Added Resource) all the media services are adding to their arsenals to keep their subscribers happy. And did I mention, the George R.R. Martin series, Game of Thrones, has exclusive interactive features with every episode you can’t get from your TV set? Trust me, if you are paying for HBO anyways, you really want to add this functionality. Unless you have it already from your cable or satellite provider, since they are also in the category of media services madly implementing portable viewing with Apps and websites for no additional charge to make their product more appealing and keep you as a customer.

The other TV series is SG-U: Stargate Universe: The Complete Final Season, which is a bit sad when you realize the entire cast found out the show was cancelled when they received tweets about it. You can, of course, also watch episodes online.

There are likewise two Anime choices worth noting. Guin Saga – Part 2 continues the story for the final 13 episodes as the leopard-headed gladiator and his two young royal charges continue to unravel the mystery that has plunged their original land and this new sorcery-infested local into war. Mazinkaiser Skl is an old school mecha combat series OVA that was an offshoot of the Mazinger series. It has that whole Go Nagai 1970s early Saturday morning cartoon thing going for it, so I don’t expect to see it racking up any amazing sales records (it won’t be coming home with me, as an example). But it was a major entry into the evolution of the Giant Robo genre, and is worth watching just for its historic value.

Something to Watch: DVDs

The lead movie this time is definitely I Am Number Four, a fun little teenage alien romp from Michal Bay. Don’t be looking for compelling dialog or an intricate plot with this one, but it is a visual adrenalin ride that is quite enjoyable. Compare that to Death Hunter: Werewolves vs. Vampires, a movie apparently so bad that it doesn’t seem to have a web page even on IMDB, and it looks even better. Death Hunter might make a double feature with Gothic Lolita Psycho, a gore fest in a style unique to Japan, also being released this week.

The western animation offering this time around is Gnomeo and Juliet, the twisted classic Shakespeare tale as told by garden gnomes by way of the folks who did Shrek.

New anime this time around includes Shin Koihime Muso: Otome Tairan, a story about a girl who will turn into a cat without the proper antidote. While a team works on putting that antidote together, other things come to light indicating she may just be the first victim in an attack on the kingdom. I almost didn’t mention Queens Blade 2: Evil Eye Series Part 1, since I generally wait for box sets rather than individual volumes (it’s more cost effective, but the real reason is I want to watch an entire program in a back to back marathon). This release falls between the volume (at 4 episodes usually) and the season (usually 13 or 26 episodes, depending on the complexity of the story and the depth of the pockets financing the project). This Series Part 1 release has 6 episodes, breaking the smaller season in half or the larger one in quarters. There have been quite a few programs released in this way the last few years for the express purpose of charging you for 75% the total price of a season twice, but the manufacturers SRP of this one is the same as a volume while delivering 133% of the entertainment. Even if Season 2 ends up being 26 episodes long, I find this a good inducement to pick these up as they become available since they are not very expensive for the amount of anime you get, especially if you shop around.

This time around, Air Gear: Complete Box Set S.A.V.E. is getting re-released, giving you a cost effective option for this modern classic. High school combat on jet-powered wheels forms the conflict for this story, while the core is more about the Noyamano sisters and how they relate to each other and to our protagonist. Another classic re-release is Samurai Champloo: The Complete Series, where two antagonistic Samurai and one crazy waitress team up for a road trip they should have never started and might not survive. Finally, Soul Eater: The Meister Collection gives you the first 26 episodes in a single box set. In a lot of ways this is the Bleach wannabe series, but as usual you can watch a few episodes online before you plunk your money down. And did I mention that the story was excellent, and included a lot of fan service?