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Something to Watch: DVDs, 29Jan13

Getting my vote for strangest movie with the best cast this week is Seven Psychopaths, which I completely enjoyed. All Superheroes Must Die is about four Superheroes stripped of their powers and trapped by their arch-nemesis in a situation where they must fight to avoid total destruction for their entire town. The western animation Hotel Transylvania is out this week as well for those in need of silly fun.

We finally get the US release of Misfits: Season Two, the show about the strangest group of Superheroes ever remanded to public service. Let’s see how many social workers sent to rehabilitate them they manage to kill off this season, while trying ever so hard to stay out of trouble. This is one of the best done shows out of the UK on virtually every front, and the soundtrack includes some of the best tunes I never heard here. I strongly recommend this show to everyone old enough to not get offended, but mentally young enough to not get bent out of shape.

In new Anime releases, Baka and Test: Season Two is coming out. It has a nice silly premise; class standings and personal differences are resolved using battle avatars who’s strength is determined by the students academic standing. Our protagonist Yoshii is a warm-hearted goofball with a solid string of F’s in all his classes, who wants to advance his station. He has nowhere to go but up, and he can’t even spell surrender, which makes for an amusing series.

Viz rolls out Naruto Shippuden: Box Set 13, bringing us up to episode 166 by the end of it. For those in need of a silly time, Shin Chan: Season Three may be the way to go.

Arakawa Under the Bridge Season 1 is the story of a man who falls into the river, to be saved by cutely insane Nino, who lives there. To repay her kindness he sets out to help her, meeting many of her friends in the process, some of whom are not human. This is a bit of a re-release, having been previously come out in a limited premium edition. Likewise, Fate/Stay Night: Collection 1 has seen the light of day before, but this time it is coming out as a Blue Ray Disc.

Occultic;Nine is coming

I am happy to report that the franchise begun with Chaos;Head, and continued through Steins;Gate and Robotics;Notes, has another series added to its universe: Occultic;Nine. I have enjoyed everything they have done so far, hopefully they will keep up the quality work on the new offering. Steins;Gate was one of the twistiest time travel stories I have seen in a while, and word is Robotics;Notes is getting a stage play treatment soon.

25 Years of Pixar

It’s been a bit more than that, but this video was made a few years back by Nick Kinder. And unlike some shortsighted production companies, Pixar not only didn’t get mad or threaten lawsuits, they sent him a library of their work because they liked his appreciation video. Which makes sense; you need serious heart to make the kind of films they do, I make a point of never missing opening week because of that.

Something to Do: Movies, 25Jan13

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters stars a few of my favorite Sci-Fi folks (including Gemma Arterton) and looks like it should be quite the serious ride. I would select it as my top pick for the week, but I am not sure I can do that. There is also a Jason Statham option this time around, Parker, and while not exactly genre they are usually intense enough that they should be. And one more for the silly factor: Noobz is a gamer film about four friends out to win the Gamecon championship which includes Jason Mewes as one of the competitors. I may just have to see three movies this weekend, and certainly a minimum of two… but which two?

Something to Watch: DVDs, 22Jan13

There are a number of new movies this week, of which Tai Chi Zero is the top of the list for me, being a Steampunk Kung-Fu action comedy. How could I possibly resist that combination? If you are looking for something a bit more serious, Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai from the creator of 13 Assassins should have everything you could want in a story of martial arts revenge under an oppressive government. Both of these films are quite good and worth your time to watch.

noobz is a gamer film that looks like silly fun this time around, and yes, the name is lower case. Jason Mewes is involved with the project, which I appreciate, but the DVD is coming out only a matter of 4 days after the film was released in theaters, which is never a good sign.

There are a couple of direct to DVD choices this time, or maybe they just never played in my part of the world, or were on a TV channel I don’t watch. Night of the Templar might be interesting, it is a bit hard to get an idea of the quality from the trailer. Hansel & Gretel: Warriors of Witchcraft is being released in the hopes that people will confuse it with the new movie coming out this week (at least, that’s my theory), and I have no real idea why they are releasing Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning. Or any of that series after the original movie, for that matter. At least with Death Race 3: Inferno, also out this week, I actually like the first two films in the franchise.

There are no actual genre releases in TV this week that I found, but there are a few geeky items. Chris Hardwick: Mandroid is his Comedy Central special, now on DVD and noticeably expanded from what they broadcast, covering a range of Nerdist topics. The other offering is an award winning British sitcom, Spy: Series 1, in which a divorced father in a custody battle for his son goes looking for a new job, and accidentally gets recruited by MI6.

Anime is comprised of OVAs and a feature film this time. Saiyuki Gaiden is a three episode OVA telling of the battles Goku and his allies fought to escape Heaven. The Shakugan no Shana: Movie and Shakugan no Shana S, a five episode OVA telling four new stories, bring us new tales of Shana’s flaming sword as she and her powerful human partner Yuji destroy demons across two worlds. OVA stands for Original Video Animation, and the instances mentioned here are examples of studio projects for existing series that are released direct to DVD, without a movie or TV showing first. They can also be a privately funded short set of episodes that are then used to shop a project around to the studios in the hopes of getting it picked up as a series.