Skip to main content

Something to Watch: DVDs

The only US live action movie selection this time around is good, but isn’t genre: The Rum Diary, where once more Johnny Depp channels Hunter S. Thompson. Sword of Desperation from Japan tells the tale of a Swordsman who tries to raise his niece after the death of his wife and his release from prison while developing his own school of fighting. Also out is the classic film Three Outlaw Samurai, more of an origin story than a pilot for the TV series of the same name. And I am going to mention Nude Nuns With Big Guns because I figure that has to have some kind of a bizarre effect on my search engine results.

The top TV choice this time around is the Dr. Who show The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe which I am sure everyone recognizes as the 2011 Christmas Special. Like all that went before, this one has its own special moments. To counterbalance that, They Came From Outer Space: The Complete Television Series lasted on the air for nearly a season back in 1990, being the story of two alien brothers touring California in a classic corvette while government agents tried to capture them.

There are several western animations offerings this time around, but all spinoffs or direct to disc sequels. From Dreamworks, Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury is a sequel to How To Train Your Dragon. The other two are from a single source, the Penguins of Madagascar TV show, with the titles New to the Zoo and Operation Get Ducky being released separately.

In Anime, Chrome Shelled Regios – The Complete Series brings it out in a single package now, and drops the price from the $60 of the Part 1 and Part 2 release down to $45 or less if you shop around. In addition the Hell Girl: Three Vessels – Complete Collection does pretty much the same thing, but with different price points for each package.

Visual Effects Awards

The 10th Visual Effects Society Awards were handed out this past Tuesday, and as is often the case, a small number of shows got several awards each. Transformers: Dark of the Moon seemed to get the most (no, I didn’t count them, so I could be wrong), but Hugo, the animated Rango, the semi-animated live action Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and various episodes of Game of Thrones walked away with more than one each. But there were a number of projects that got a single award each, such as Captain America, and this little gem here, called A. Maize, which was awarded Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project

The First Question

In November of 2013 Doctor Who will be 50 years old, having first aired in November, 1963. Moffat and company have been doing a great job of building up to it, and promise a really exciting series of events throughout the year. In honor of that, a trailer for the last question, and a snippet of an interview with Aldred and McCoy about their interest in joining in on the fun.

Fun Stuff This Weekend

There are a whole bunch of fun events coming up this weekend, and I wanted to mention a few of them. FaerieCon West is all about the art of Faeries, and while most of that is tied to various graphics formats, some is music, some is programming, and some is authoring. As an example, Abney Park will be hanging out and playing music at this Seattle event. If you don’t now who they are check out The Ballad of Ranch Hand Robbie and I’ve Been Wrong Before, both from their latest album (click to play, right click to save-as to disc). The other event I wanted to mention was the Boston Science Fiction Film Festival which has some amazing movies gathered together this year. Here are a few trailers to give you an idea of what they are up to…

Something to Do: Movies

First off, a reminder that the Boston Science Fiction Film Festival takes place from the 10th to the 18th of February, but there is new Sci-Fi for folks not in Boston as well this week. Journey 2: the Mysterious Island is based on the Jules Verne book, and is the sequel to the version of Journey to the Center of the Earth from a few years ago. I suspect that is going to be the movie to beat this weekend, but it does have a bit of competition. Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace is being re-released in is 3D incarnation. This may actually end up being worth watching, because unlike most post-production 3D processing jobs, they have the money to do it right. Now if only they could improve the story and kill Jar-Jar while they are at it.

Something to Watch: DVDs

There are several movies this week, of which Anonymous is the most interesting, as speculative historical fiction based on the concept that Shakespeare was a front man rather than a playwright. With the best cast and highest production values, it is hands down the film to beat this week. On the silly side, A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas is also out on disc this week. Other options include The Yakuza Weapon and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1, neither of which will be joining my collection.

I didn’t find any live action TV shows worth mentioning this week. That doesn’t mean there aren’t any coming out, I just didn’t find them.

Anime fares quite a bit better this week, starting with the second season of the ever wacky Arakawa Under the Bridge × Bridge – Complete Premium Edition and all the craziness the characters each bring to it. This release is a bit pricy, consisting as it does of a Blue Ray disk set, as well as DVD disks, and a full color 32 page hardcover art book. I am going to wait for a more cost effective release to be made available before I add this to my collection, but it will be there as soon as that happens.

Also new this week Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings – Season 1 and Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings – Season 2 are both coming out. They both run 325 minutes, with the first one having 13 episodes and the second 12 episodes and an OVA, but the SRP for the second one is $20 higher ($12 higher if you shop around). As near as I can tell the only physical difference between them is the second season comes with Cardboard “art box” big enough to hold both seasons. I am not sure if I want to pay $12 for 50 cents worth of cardboard even if it is printed with pretty pictures, so I will probably be waiting to catch this one on sale. Another two at once release, Tales of the Abyss – Part 3 and Tales of the Abyss – Part 4 both become available on Tuesday. This is a series of stories on another planet that seem to have one character in common from volume to volume, cementing the world together.

And the last of the new releases for this week is Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 – Complete Season 2, a parallel Earth in which our protagonist is executed and the rebellion is crushed forever… or is it? Even though it isn’t genre, I also wanted to mention that K-ON! Season 1 box set is also coming out.

Xam’d: Lost Memories – Complete Collection brings this excellent anime together in a single box set, at a much better price then you got when you bought the two seasons separately. Akira, the movie that really broke anime out into public awareness for North America, is also being re-released, no doubt because of the American live action movie project.

A re-release I am particularly excited about is Gasaraki – Complete Series Collection, another giant mecha combat story with excellent animation and production values. I first stumbled across this one in a used DVD section of a local brick-and-mortar where they had two of the volumes. Over the years I managed to find 3 more used volumes (it was already out of print when I found the first one), but I have never been able to see the entire program. Now finally I can. And speaking of giant mecha, there are a handful of classic Gundam series being re-released this time around, three different series second seasons.