While nothing stands out this week, there are a few amusing titles. The Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse is a horror comedy geared to a younger audience, which makes it somewhat strange that they went for an R rating. Freaks of Nature is also a comedy horror where humans, vampires and zombies had to team up together to fight off the alien invasion. Again it seems written for 12 year olds but has an R rating. I won’t be seeing either of these but figured I should mention them.
This time Pixels arrives home with the mind numbing premise that Aliens take our inclusion of video games on the Voyager disc as a declaration of war, and return the attack with one of their own. Don’t think that Pixels is strange, though, because also this week an underground classic of a film comes out on disc: Forbidden Zone. It seems back in 1980, Richard and Danny Elfman, along with their Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo theater troupe, decided to assemble the stuff they were doing into a movie. The results were one of the strangest and most offensive films ever made, and someone had the guts to finally release it as a 2 disc set, the film on DVD, the soundtrack on CD. I don’t actually recommend that film to anyone because of the included offensive parts, but it is extremely bizarre sci-fi fantasy, so I have to at least mention it. There are also several live concert DVDs coming out this week for the musically addicted, including the Prismatic World Tour from Katy Perry, Roxy the Movie from Frank Zappa (The videos of the December 1973 concert series that became the album Roxy and Elsewhere), and From the Vault: Live at the Tokyo Dome 1990 from the Rolling Stones.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail Limited Edition Castle Catapult Gift Set is one of the sillier things they are doing in honor of the film’s 40th anniversary this week. It is a re-release, obviously, but I had to at least put that title in print, so you could imagine just how interesting the box set with accompanying catapult looks. In TV the Doctor Who: Christmas Specials Giftset includes all of the so far available David Tennant, Matt Smith, and Peter Capaldi Christmas Specials. Plus, they are throwing in a Sonic Screwdriver with every set, but they don’t mention which Doctor’s screwdriver is included. Quite frankly, that takes care of four of my Christmas gifts this year with two of each.
In Anime, Black Bullet: Complete Collection tells of a virus spreading fast and mutating rapidly, giving their hosts unexpected powers and abilities, along with a compulsion to attack others to continue to spread the virus. The entire thing is 13 episodes long, as is Blade & Soul: Complete Collection. In Blade, Alka has been her clan’s assassin her entire life, but now her clan is dead and she lives only to destroy those who killed them.
Continuing favorites include Lupin III vs. Detective Conan The Movie, which is a crossover story between the 2 series created in 2013 that has lots of action and humor. Plus it is a hoot to see a favorite thief go up against a favorite detective, leaving me a bit confused about which one to cheer for. One Piece: Season 7 Part 3 has episodes 410 through 421, but before you get your hopes up you are getting there, the current episode is 714, or maybe 715 by now. Or maybe even 716, I saw 714 listed a week or two back, but I am not sure what day the new episodes come out, so I don’t know how many times it has changed since then. Sailor Moon R: Season 2 Part 2 brings episodes 69 through 89 home, meaning the battle against the time traveling Black Moon royal family story arc, or at least a lot of it.
I left Aldnoah.Zero: Set 2 to the final paragraph because even though it is a new release, it is only half a season’s worth of episodes, 7->12 to be specific. Even that is only a quarter of the series so far, which runs to 24 episodes; and I try my best not to reward marketing teams which release things in tiny pieces so they can sell a lot of them for what other groups make the price of an entire season or better. While I will sometimes mention something with 6 episodes like this series, it will only happen when they are quite good (or 6 or fewer IS the total number of episodes available). The other side of that coin this time around is Dance in the Vampire Bund: Complete Series S.A.V.E. Edition, S.A.V.E. standing for Super Amazing Value Edition. The S.A.V.E. releases are quite inexpensive box sets that give you an entire series but generally run you one side or the other of $20, and you can catch them for $12 or so when sales happen. So even though most of those series are a year or two old, and have usually already been released as a complete series, I find them worth telling folks about, so they can get the most Anime for their buck (which is the way I always try to buy this stuff).
Well Go USA recently released The Avenging Fist on DVD, a combat fantasy in a future where all weapons are outlawed. The super-powers of the human brain have been unlocked by the Power Glove, which is in the hands of the police. Some of the few remaining survivors of the Glove’s human experiments band together in order to stop the evil it generates. Yes, this is full of over-the-top martial arts silliness, and the comedy this invokes wasn’t actually intended, but that just adds to the fun.
Movies bring us Jurassic World, this year’s continuation of the classic series. In my opinion the latest addition stands up to the original in terms of action and story, and surpasses it for special effects. If you don’t already have the previous installments you can also pick up all 4 at once in the Jurassic Park Collection. Also out is a post apocalypse tale called Z for Zachariah about what may be the last 3 people on Earth after a nuclear war. I suspect the release timing for this one may be because Chris Pine stars in both sci-fi movies and they are hoping that might boost its sales. I did not see any genre TV this time around.
In Anime, Hayate the Combat Butler 2nd Season embeds 25 episodes of combat fun into the domestic matrix. Meanwhile, Space Brothers: Collection 5 has both brothers being hit with failing health while they are being overworked. Collection 5 adds episodes 52-64, so we are past the half way point on the current story.
In the Anime series Mobile Suit GUNDAM: Iron Blooded Orphans you have the continuation of the war between Earth and Mars in all its depth and complexity. The Martian independence movement has gained an important supporter in the person of Kudelia, daughter of one of the major terrestrial governing families on the red planet. She has chosen the child soldiers to escort her to Earth, and the are abandoned by the adults looking to save themselves when the assassination teams arrive. The consequences could be much different than the ruling houses on both planets would ever wish. If you are not already a fan of the Gundam franchise, this might be the series that opens your eyes and brings you on board.
My first choice for this weekend has to be Goosebumps, with Jack Black representing R.L. Stine; I think this one is going to be a serious hoot. If you are looking for a more serious thriller this Halloween season then Crimson Peak might be just the ticket for you. Finally, as a Spy fan I have to admit I am excited to see what they do with Bridge of Spies, staring Tom Hanks as the lawyer who had to try to negotiate the release of the pilot of the U2 plane shot down over Russia.