In live action domestic movies, The Box comes out Tuesday. I missed that one at the theaters, but I think I’m going to rent it to watch before I decide if it needs to be part of the permanent collection. The one I will be bringing home for sure is Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant, since my collection needs more comedy. For the imported live action movie this week, Battle Girl: Living Dead in Tokyo Bay would be the perfect gift for that Troma fan on your list.
The top TV offering this week is the first 10 episodes (first half of season one) of Flash Forward, one of the few SF TV series currently running based on an actual science fiction book, written by Robert J. Sawyer. While the whole DVD Release Pattern for Season 1.0 and Season 2.0 seems mostly to be a scam to get you to pay more for fewer episodes (my local BestBuy charged $49.95 each for seasons One and Three of Battlestar Galactica, but 44.95 each for seasons 2.0, 2.5, 4.0, and 4.5, even though the full season 4 had almost the same number of episodes as season 3, as one example), this time they did it right. The Season 1.0 package has a coupon to get the Season 1: Complete release at $15 off when it comes out. Since it only costs $20 for 1.0, you are basically paying $5 to catch up on the first 10 episodes now, as we get ready to roll into season 1.5. I hope this works out for them, so we can see this distribution model used for other TV series going forward.
If you have an interest in the history of experimental animation as I do, you might find Celestial Navigations: The Short Films of Al Jarnow would be worth a look. Some of his work you have already seen in PBS presentations like Sesame Street, others will be new, and most will be interesting. Al Jarnow himself is into creating a lot of different kinds of art, check out his site when you get a chance.
There are several interesting Anime titles out this week, the most unusual of which may be the Maria-holic: Complete Collection. This starts off with several standard Anime tropes and gives each of them a twist, and then run the combined results full tilt; even when it gets more-than-normally weird, it stays fun and entertaining. And regardless what that review says, it really does come out this week.