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Something to Watch, DVDs 25Jun13

The fantasy film this week is a re-release of 1965’s Beatles Help!, but since this is the first time ever a fully restored version will be available on Blue Ray, perhaps it could be counted as a new release. Also, while not exactly genre, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone is a fun film with more than a tip of the hat to the magically inclined.

In TV, Todd & the Book of Pure Evil: The Complete Second Season is finally being released in the US. It has been available on streaming for a while through various paid streaming services, but this will be the first opportunity to add it to your permanent collection in this country. Meanwhile, the cast and crew have been trying to raise the funds to get a third season going; read about it at their web site.

In Anime, Heaven’s Lost Property: Forte is season 2 of the series and continues the trail of havoc the wishes of the high school protagonist creates as his android angels (or angelic androids, they are a little unclear on that point) carry them out. Juden Chan: The Complete Series is about spirit girls from another universe who charge up the depressed so they can live their lives, and what happens when they meet a boy who can see them.

Another spirit girl is a shinigami called Momo: The Girl God of Death, who does her best to help the spirits of the no longer living she guides to the other side. Helps so much she herself winds up in trouble, in fact. This is more of an OVA than a series, since the entire thing is only six 25 minute episodes long, but all of them are here.

Old school anime from the late 80s, Saint Seiya Movies 1 & 2 are being re-released together, with the 3rd and 4th movies in another box set. I couldn’t find a link to the official web site, so I linked one of the TV series instead, where you can watch episodes and get an idea of the program.

New Mortal Instruments trailer

The new official trailer for Mortal Instruments: City of Bones has been posted, and it is looking quite good. Based on the YA series of urban fantasy novels by Cassandra Clare, I am sure Sony is hoping for the same kind of audience reaction earned by the Twilight and Hunger Games series. If they get it, they have 5 more books already written and ready to turn into films, as well as 3 Steampunk prequels set in the Victorian era. Having one of her books turned into a movie has to be pretty exciting stuff for someone who started out writing Fan Fiction.

Something to Watch: DVDs, 18Jun13

The prime movie this time is Jack the Giant Slayer, where Jack accidentally opens a gateway to a land of giants, who immediately invade the world they were driven out of long ago and attempt to take it back. Also coming out is The Ghastly Love of Johnny X, aliens exiled to Earth for delinquency who just keep getting in trouble once they arrive. This one is campy silliness with some fun musical numbers and several surprises in the cast you might enjoy.

In TV, Wilfred: The Complete Season Two brings more strangeness between a man and his neighbor’s anthropomorphic dog. In both TV and western animation, Kung Fu Panda Legends of Awesomeness: Good Croc, Bad Croc is the first release of the Panda-centric TV show. The production house changed, the original films were a joint production of Disney and Chinese animation works, and most of the voice actors are different than the films as well, but there is still some good stuff here.

In Anime, last year’s Kill Me Baby brings a truly bizarre series of events to a normal high school filled with anything but normal students. Things like escaped bears, several separate groups of assassins, a family of ninjas, voodoo curses, and killer mosquitoes, to name just a few.

Saiyuki: The Complete Collection brings 50 episodes of Demon fighting goodness. Long ago demons and humans lived together in peace, but now some renegade demons are trying to manifest a great evil. A small group of disparate souls come together to oppose them, and the fight is on! This classic anime series is from 2000, and if you shop around to can pick this one up at a decent price. Finally, Chrome Shelled Regios has been released in a S.A.V.E. edition, so you can pick up the entire series for just around $20.

Jackie Chan New Drunken Master

Jackie Chan reprises his roll as Drunken Master all over Edo era Edo, Japan (they changed the name to Tokyo a few hundred years ago, thus ending the Edo Period) in a short film for Kirin Beer. He spends the film training his young friends to fight and drinking beer, then watching them fight while drinking beer. Until his male protegee is defeated, at which point he beats the crud out of the leader of the opposition, of course. This short film is in Japanese, and you can tell the difference between Jackie saying a phrase in Nihongo (the actual name of the Japanese language) and a voice actor being dubbed over him but trust me when I say you will not have any problem following the action. Everyone knows about Japanese Sake, or Rice Wine, but Japan also brews some of the best beers in the world, and Kirin happens to be my personal favorite, so I am not surprised they put this project together. Go ahead and watch, it is just 7 minutes of silly fun.

New Wolverine trailer

A new Wolverine trailer is out, and it looks like Marvel has another excellent entry into their universe. Somewhat Torchwoodishly, somebody intends to make the character mortal, taking away his ability to heal and regenerate. This one will be in the theaters on July 26th, if you were wondering. Of course, I liked the last Wolverine movie, and it seems a lot of other folks did not, so you might want to mistrust my reaction.