The TV show Misfits has run for two seasons in the UK with the third under way now, but hasn’t appeared on traditional TV over here yet. You can buy it from iTunes or watch it on Hulu Plus, however, and now you can download and play the Misfits Community Service Game App for free. They have versions available for both the iDevices and the Android OS, you can use the links on their page or search the appropriate marketplace directly. In the game, you are on the community service team performing tasks and are looking to make money and win popularity points. If you play well enough, you will be invited to cash them in for a new superpower and a fresh mission. At the whopping cost of free, I recommend any fan of the show tries this one out.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 completes the epic series, and for those who don’t have any of the others they are also releasing the Harry Potter: Complete 8-Film Collection. This really was an amazing series, and I am glad the studio buckled down around the time they did the third one and decided to spend the time and money to do it right.
The Sleeping Beauty is a French variation on the classic fantasy with a group of witches trying to find an antidote to a lethal curse laid on the young protagonist. This one I probably will go for, as it seems much less ordinary than some other choices. Atlas Shrugged part 1 is the latest incarnation of the Ayn Rand classic story updated for the modern audience, with some interesting casting choices. This will also be on the to-be-acquired list.
On the lighter side, The Change-Up tells the story of two guys who swap bodies after expressing a wish. What, you have heard this one before? Yep, they do variations on this one every 5 years or so, always with a serious difference between the protagonists. Often that difference is age, but this time the difference is marital status. I will wait to see this one when it comes to Netflix or Hulu or HBO, whatever. And finally for movies, Mortal Combat: Legacy started out being assembled as a Web based series but has a number of quality actors involved with the project, as well as the history and background of the series.
The two entries for live action TV series this time around are both from the UK, but completely different from each other. First is Doctor Who: Series Six, Part Two, and I still object to their breaking a single season up into two parts, but it does make each part easier to afford (even though the total cost for the season is higher that way). I should probably also mention it looks like you might be able to play the new game on the web site even if you are in the US. The other UK series is Bedlam, which I have not found very interesting so far, but horror fans should love it.
In anime, Squid Girl – Part 2 continues the story of the invertebrate who became a human girl when she invaded the world of the air breathers. She does not seem noticeably more successful in her war against the bipeds. Loup Garous also comes out this week, a feature film presentation involving deadly viruses and a cloistered existence.
The other new release is Amagami SS Collection 2, but there is some dispute between different sites as to exactly when it becomes available. In this instance, it may have come out before this date, but it will definitely be available come Tuesday.
Two titles are being re-released in lower cost full series editions, Mushi-shi and Romeo × Juliet – The Complete Tragedy. If you shop around, you can pick these up for as little as $18 each.
Short and to the point, the Hulk vs. Ewok video is a hoot. Or perhaps you would prefer the Chuck Norris vs. Stormtrooper footage, which takes place on the same planet. Finally, a Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon Light Saber Fight just to show earthlings can be silly too.
This is one of those rare weekends with multiple genre films being released together, starting with In Time. This story explores what might happen if the gene responsible for aging (telemerase is the enzyme that governs its expression, and therefore the switch) was turned off. Obviously, the world would be overpopulated pretty damn quick, so to keep everything in balance you have to pay with your days, weeks, and years to purchase anything. Pretty much the talking heads quote goes here, Same As It Ever Was. Now there is a temporal Robin Hood, and he could ruin everything for the folks in power by giving time away to the poor.
Also out this week, Anonymous, the tale of what happens when someone hands Shakespeare his plays and demands he perform them on stage. A historical epic fantasy, this one explores some possibilities a number of scholars would prefer you avoid.
On a completely different note, Sleeping Beauty is a romantic fantasy that goes back to the original story you remember, but only if you remember the adult version of it.
Finally, there are 2 rather strange movies this week, but still genre. Johnny English 2 tells us what would happen if James Bond were really Rowan Atkinson, and The Rum Diary returns Johnny Depp to the roll of renowned journalist Hunter S. Thompson. Either of these would be silly. Both of them together pushes us to the realm of the absurd.
A lot of things are being released this week, probably in the hopes you are in that holiday present shopping mood, so get ready for goodies. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is a great addition to the franchise, using the Tim Powers book as its jumping off point. Attack the Block is a comedy about urban combat with aliens from the producers of Shaun of the Dead and starring Nick Frost. There are also two made-for-TV Captain America movies in a packaged set, which were attempts at pilots for this failed 1979 TV series that never got made.
In addition there are two Sci-Fi documentaries this time, and The Captains looks very good indeed. Written and directed by William Shatner, it stars everyone who ever captained the Enterprise for the franchise and a ton of your favorite actors and actresses from the series. That one is definitely coming home with me. The other was a docudrama which did not get good reviews, the made for Lifetime presentation Magic Beyond Words: The JK Rowling Story.
Surprisingly, there was only one live action TV show that I found for this week: V: The Complete Second Season. Sadly there will not be a third season, so this is the last of this one.
Western animation starts off with Shaun the Sheep: We Wish Ewe A Merry Christmas, yet another nearly wordless romp of complete silliness. Also out, Star Wars The Clone Wars: The Complete Season Three brings us the next round of Star Wars tales. Finally Batman: Year One is a first class addition to the animated caped crusader collection with an all star voice cast.
Two new anime series become available this week, the first of which is all about otaku. Oreimo Complete Limited Edition DVD Box has the alternate title My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute for those who prefer English. It is a story about a little sister addicted to anime and eroge, and when her older brother discovers this by accident she gradually turns him into an ally in her fight to keep it all hidden from her parents and classmates so she can keep enjoying her hobby. She also ends up noticeably corrupting him into the ways of an otaku. This is subbed not dubbed, has all 12 episodes of the original series, the 4 episodes of the OVA, a 24 page booklet with the character designs, a set of 16 “end cards” (postcards for collectors, one for each episode) and a full poster. And with all of that, the extras on the disk are just the usual clean opening and closing segments without anything much else. That seems pretty minor until you realize that they did a different open and closing song/video for every episode, and all 32 of them are here. In other words, this is a show about otaku built the way an otaku would want to collect it! Great job, Aniplex!
The other new anime this time around is Ray: the Complete Collection, about a young woman grown to be spare parts for the wealthy. Her eyes were harvested before she was rescued by a renegade surgeon, and a decade later her synthetic eye replacements are part of the reason she is considered one of the best surgeons ever. The surgery is just a means to an end, a cover for her true mission; to rescue the other children she was raised with, and bring the organ harvesters to justice.
It has been reported that Himawari: Complete Collection is coming out this week as well, but it does not appear as available with that date on very many of the sites that sell mostly anime, and doesn’t appear on Amazon at all, while Barnes and Noble says October 25th just for season 1, so I can not put a lot of confidence into the announcement.
In the category of anime already available but being re-released in more cost effective or otherwise desirable packages we have three. First on the list is Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid – Complete Collection which makes this funny high school war zone series available for as low as $19 if you shop around. On the same day, the Hell Girl – Two Mirrors Complete Collection box set becomes available, the first time to find the entire season two storyline in a single box set. Finally, Bamboo Blade – The Complete Series [S.A.V.E. Edition] is again a very wallet friendly version coming in at less than $20 if you shop around.
Finally, a classic of Giant Mecha proportions is getting re-released in its entirety: Robotech. Old school giant robots defending humanity from alien destruction, these were several different series that were tied together by their basic premise. It is being released in a single box set with the entire series called Robotech: The Complete Original Series (catchy title, huh?) or you can pick them up separately as First Robotech War: Macross Saga at 36 episodes, Robotech: Masters Saga – Second Robotech War at 24 episodes, and Robotech: New Generation – Third Robotech War at 25 episodes.
You might not of heard of any of the interesting movies this week, but a few of them are quite good. I’m a Cyborg But That’s OK is a 2006 romantic dramedy from Korea that mostly takes place in a mental institution. Yes, it is every bit as quirky as that description makes it sound, and it goes places you wouldn’t expect; I have owned the subtitled import version of the film for years, and it is quite worth the time to experience. This first domestic release is also subtitled rather than dubbed into English. Lunopolis has won fistfuls of awards at film festivals all over the world and tells a sci-fi drama about lunar occupation, cover ups, and conspiracies. Done documentary style, this one looks quite good. And there is Phase 7, a sci-fi/horror/comedy that has been compared with Shaun of the Dead, all about the end of the world.
In live action TV we have The Bionic Woman: Season 3, the spinoff from the 6 Million Dollar Man. I thought both of those series were campy when they were made, but unlike Knightrider they are still watchable today.
On the animation front, I don’t have a clue why the production team behind Chop Kick Panda are not all in jail for copyright violation, since it is a direct ripoff of Kung Fu Panda, but they have a new one coming out this week as well. On the other hand, The True Story of Puss ‘n Boots is a legitimate original work based on the public domain source material, but this time the cat has a French accent rather than Spanish.
In anime, La Corda D’Oro: The Complete Collection tells the entire story of a slacker girl given a magic violin by an interesting fairy. More interesting for me is Glass Maiden – Complete Collection about an offbeat detective agency and an impossible girl.