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Something to Watch: DVD’s

The Flowers of War is a period piece set in 1937 Nanjing in which a disparate group of people coalesce around the need to save the children trapped with the rest of them inside a church, while the invading army roams the streets outside. Starring Christian Bale, Ni Ni, and Atsuro Watabe, the director Zhang Yimou’s previous movies include Raise the Red Lantern, Hero, and House Of Flying Daggers. Add to that the fact that this movie was nominated for a Golden Globe, and I suspect this one is a winner.

On the other hand, I Kissed a Vampire is a musical, and might just be campy enough to have some entertainment value… or might fall flat on its face. It is hard to tell from just the trailer which way it will go. Dark Nemesis is another after the apocalypse film of people fighting for their lives while running across the landscape. Pass, thanks.

In TV, Warehouse 13: Season 3 brings us still more fun episodes from this quality Syfy channel franchise, and as usual just in time to get caught up with the previous season before the new one kicks off in a few weeks.

For western animation we have Earthworm Jim: The Complete Series, the Earth Worm in the Alien Super Suit. I will confess to actually watching some of these and being amused by them.

There are two new Anime releases this week, beginning with Naruto Shippuden: DVD Box 11 which brings more Ninja goodness in this ongoing story. Also out, a limited edition of Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt: The Complete Series. If you have not already been following them, they are a pair of foul mouthed angels kicked out of heaven for profanity and debauchery, and must now earn their way back in by killing ghosts.

There are a number of re-releases worth noting, especially if you missed them the first time around. El Cazador de la Bruja: The Complete Series is being released in a S.A.V.E. edition, so if you shop around you should be able to pick it up for $20. The other re-releases do not have those kind of savings, but at least they are once more available to add to your collection.

Mahoromatic, the Ultimate Collection includes both seasons of the series, the summer special, and the I’m Home special in a single box set. In addition, they are also releasing the I’m Home special as a rather pricy stand alone, considering it only has two 25 minute episodes on it. When I pulled my copy of Mahoromatic, Complete Collection off the shelf and examined it, I discovered it included everything listed here except the Home special, so if I want the full set I still need the stand alone. On the plus side though, the earlier Geneon release of the collection included the complete soundtrack CD, which this new version lacks.

Dirty Pair Flash: the Complete Collection brings the original Girls-With-Guns team back for another round of mayhem as they continue to prove collateral damage is an art form best practiced on a planetary scale. This is a truly old school Galactic Police series that set the bar for everything happening since in the way of comedic combat anime. There are two other titles being re-released this week, MeiKing and Cool Devices: Collection, but just in case you are at work I will keep you out of trouble by not posting the links here.

Local cable just added MNet!

I am happy to report my local cable system just added MNet America to the channel lineup. They were already running two Korean channels, two Japanese channels, over 10 Chinese channels, 6 Indian channels (4 in Hindi, one in Punjabi, one in a language I didn’t recognize), 3 Filipino channels, a Vietnamese channel, and a few more I have not been able to identify. I do not count the New Zealand channel, because they are A) an English language country, and B) all Cricket matches, nothing there very oriental even though they come from the same part of the pacific rim. MNet is short for Music Network and it has a ton of music, mostly Pop in nature. It is based out of South Korea, but they do carry more than music and more than just Korean programing. The show I am excited about having weekly access to now on that network is Danny Choo’s Culture Japan, where I can see footage of events and interviews with creators of all the Japanese stuff that will become a major part of life here in 6 months to a year. And yes, by Stuff I mean Manga, Anime, Live Action, Games, Cosplay, collectables, Music, and everything else that you might see in Akihabara. Also a lot of convention coverage, as Danny is very popular as an Anime Con guest.

Barbarella as TV Show

I have a hard time imagining how they could do this justice, unless it was shown on an HBO-equivalent premium channel where running a hard-R program was a good thing. The are looking at making Barbarella as a TV Show according to that article from /Film. Both of the recent attempts to resurrect and re-imagine the original film for the big screen crashed and burned before they began filming. I have no real confidence that the TV version will be created either, but perhaps it might make it to the screen this time. The original report came from Deadline, and the closest anyone has ever come to creating a remake was 2001’s CQ, a very nicely layered film within a film which succeeded on many levels and which I recommend for everyone’s permanent collection.

Something to Do: Movies

Simultaneously exceedingly cute and eerily disturbing, Ted is about a talking stuffed teddy bear who came to life while its owner (Mark Wahlberg) was a child, and he has never been able to get rid of him since. This is the first feature film project Seth MacFarlane has done since he developed Family Guy, and besides writing and directing it he also does the voice work for the bear.