Skip to main content

Something to Watch: DVDs 28Jan14

There is not a lot coming out this week, but there are a few things. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 is animated silly fun, and the only US movie I can recommend this week. From Korea we get The Cat, a story about a woman murdered on an elevator with her cat being the only witness. Park Min Young takes the cat in at the request of the police, only to have strange visions and mysterious events start to happen to her. And from Italy, France, and Spain, Dario Argento’s Dracula 3D has all the sex and violence they could cram in and still get an R rating, with Rutger Hauer as Van Helsing. That last is an interesting choice, since he played Dracula in 2005’s Dracula III: Legacy. And I am not quite sure why the only web site I could find for this Italian movie was in Japan.

The only TV show worth mentioning is Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain, an award winning animated series about trying to take over the world, which was wiped out by the network that bought it for broadcast.

In Anime, Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan: Demon Capital: Set 1 is the only new release, continuing the story of the Nura Clan’s fight against the Yokai. One of the most powerful Yokai, which are somewhere along the demon-monster-spirit spectrum, has returned to Earth after his defeat by the Nura several generations ago. They will have to defeat him again to protect their town and family. These 13 episodes are part one of season 2. There is a cyberpunk classic being re-released this week: Serial Experiments Lain – The Complete Collection. The artwork and animation are amazing, the story is a surrealistic mystery that takes place among the Wired, from a time before the world went wireless. If you haven’t seen this one before, you get another chance. You can also watch it online at the Funimation home page linked here.

Something to Watch: DVDs, 21Jan14

After Death brings together four siblings who gather for their inventor father’s funeral, who then discover their father and deceased brother (killed years ago in another of dad’s experiments) may not be as dead as they all supposed. I know it sounds like a plot for a horror film, but this 2012 UK feature film is actually a quirky comedy in the British style. I mention the year and country because there is a 2014 American movie by the same name that is a horror film. The superhero movie this time is Iron Girl, in Japanese with English Subtitles. The actress playing the lead role is famous in Asia for her genre work, but it is not the same genre I mean when I use the word, so put this one in the NSFW category, just in case. In Japan it is listed as 12Up (pretty much our PG13), in Korea it is listed as 18 (somewhere near our R), the US release is flagged as Not Rated, and the trailer looks like a PG13 Action film. So I certainly have no clue, you can decide for yourself whether to check it out.

While there aren’t any TV shows as such this week, The Doors: R-Evolution is a music performance compilation that includes their early TV appearances and highlights the evolution of their image presentation as they gained more control over how they were displayed on the small screen. It includes early music films (video did not yet exist) through later professional cinematic productions, and is as interesting for the evolution of the artistic style it promoted for other bands to follow, as for the music it showcases.

In Anime we have one new release this week: Medaka Box Abnormal: The Complete Collection. In season 2 of the series, Medaka Kurokami has to use every hidden resource of the Student Council in her possession, including the super power wielding Abnormals, in order to defeat the dark plans of their enemies. Her War God Mode will not be enough to save the day by itself this time.

Something to Watch: DVDs, 14Jan14

In Movies Riddick hits the shelves this week, both as a stand-alone and as part of the Riddick: The Complete Collection 4 film package. For those scratching their heads, this includes an animated story called Dark Fury that was released direct to DVD just after the first film came out. The remake of the cult film Carrie is also out this week.

I haven’t found any genre TV coming out this week, but Top Gear: Season 20 is being released, and they are always a lot of fun.

In western animation, Marvel Knights: Wolverine versus Sabretooth is being billed as the final battle between these two long-time foes. The Marvel Knights brand is for showcase stories that allow the best writers and illustrators to push the bounds of cannon, if not ignore them entirely, so anything is possible. I should also mention that this is a motion comic, rather than a true animation, a media style that Marvel excels at.

In Anime, Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic is your basic dungeon quest, merging and changing the stories of Alibaba and Aladdin. This set is season 1, giving you the first 13 episodes of the series. The show is also streaming on a number of services, including Crunchyroll and Hulu. The release of Naruto: Shippuden Box Set 17 brings us episodes 206 through 218 of the ongoing story of the 9 Tailed Fox. The current episode streaming on their site is 344, if you were wondering. Also beginning to catch up, One Piece Season 5 Part 5 brings the tail of Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates to episodes 313 to 324. Of course, the currently streaming episode from Tokyo is 627.

Something to Do: Movies, 10Jan14

Her opened in very limited release back in December, this week it goes into wide release, after winning a number of awards. The Legend of Hercules also comes out this Friday, and it looks like they took some pains to keep it close to the original story line.
In somewhat more limited release is EVANGELION: 3.0 – You Can (Not) Redo; mostly it will only be playing for one day in each theater, but there are a bunch of US and Canadian theaters on the list. Two of the theaters are within driving distance for me, I can’t wait to see the latest chapter in the rebuild of the franchise on the big screen.

Something to Watch: DVDs, 31Dec13

Shaolin Warrior comes very close to being genre, since all martial arts movies are fantasy films at heart. I don’t mean because of the various gods and demons that sometimes populate them, that is a matter of personal belief and spiritual worldview. I am referring to the superhero-like powers the fighters have, which enable them to do many things on a par with Captain America, Thor, or Spider Man. The other movie that looks interesting this week is CBGB, a movie about the punk scene centered around the legendary club n New York.

In TV there is a BAFTA-nominated fantasy/supernatural program focused on teens called Wolfblood. They are high school aged werewolves who must hide what they are even from their closest friends, or their entire specie may be hunted down and killed. Like being in high school wasn’t stressful enough. This release is the first season of the CBBC series, hopefully season 2 will be along soon.

In Anime, So I Can’t Play H: Complete Collection is not the most subtle series you will run across (Hint: in these kind of titles, the H always stands for Hentai). This is about a teenage boy who makes a deal with a Shinigami to let her use some of his essence to stay in this world, but instead of taking years off his life like a normal goddess of death would do, she drains off his lecherous libido. Now he has to figure out how to get those feelings back, or he will completely miss out on a major aspect of any mans youth. Fate/Zero: Complete 2nd Season continues the epic of the Holy Grail Wars, with Zero being (rather confusingly) the 4th such war, but the first one to take place.

Ikki Tousen: Great Guardians is the third series in the original martial arts with exploding clothes franchise. Each of these high school students is the reincarnation of one of the most famous martial artists from throughout history, and they will battle it out to see who is the best. Chrono Crusade is coming out in a S.A.V.E. edition, which means if you shop around you can pick up the entire series about the premiere Combat Nun of the 1920s (and her demon sidekick) for around $20.

Something to Watch: DVDs, 24Dec13

I would have thought this would be the perfect date to release some blockbusters to drive last minute Xmas shopping, but not so much it seems. In fact, I didn’t find a single live action sci-fi/fantasy movie or TV show that had not been previously released. Pretty disappointing, especially if you were looking for some last minute gift inspirations.

I had hoped to do better in Anime, and I did, marginally, finding a single new title. Humanity Has Declined is about a woman who takes up the family business of arbitrating between Humanity and Fairies only to discover the task more difficult than she had imagined. And even though the Fay are taking over the Earth as humanity dies off, there is always hope for the future.