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Something to Watch: DVDs

Topping the list this week is The Avengers, one of the best films I have seen in quite a while. Everything else would pale against this film anyways, but when the only other live action feature film has a title like Strippers vs. Werewolves, one wonders why they bothered.

However, there is a movie series release worth noting: Bond 50: Celebrating Five Decades of Bond. Supposedly this box set has every James Bond movie ever made, 22 movies in Blue Ray format, but that’s not really true. Obviously it doesn’t have Skyfall, but the Woodie Allen version of Casino Royale is also conspicuous by its absence. Each movie lives on its own disk and includes hours of extras, so this does end up being quite the collection.

In TV, American Horror Story: The Complete First Season also comes out. I am not a horror fan, but this series has its moments and so is worth mentioning.

For western animation, the TV version of The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes Volume 5 will be released in support of the primary film.

For animated feature films, Resident Evil: Damnation will also be released, but while this isn’t western animation it also isn’t Anime. It is more of a Machinima filmed in the 3D gamespace that the franchise grew from.

In Anime, Steins;Gate: The Complete Series Part 1 is one of the more convoluted and interesting time travel stories I have ever seen. Our primary mad scientist keeps sending text messages to the past through the microwave, at first to try to correct what he sees as a few interpersonal relationship hiccups with girls he wanted to be with. As each message changes the past, and therefore the present he lives in, things go from bad to worse on so many levels, and every effort to get back to the timeline he started in just digs it deeper. This package has the first dozen episodes, which gets you half way through the story. It is a special edition in both blue ray and DVD formats, so it is a bit pricey. The only extras I see are commentary on 2 episodes and a map of Akihabara, so I plan to wait for either a good sale on this package or a more cost effective release, but it absolutely will become part of the permanent collection.

The other two new anime series are historical epics. In Hakuoki: Season 1 a young woman disguises herself as a boy to seek out her father and his magical elixir of speed and strength, but ends up with the Shinsengumi as they battle the vampires of Kyoto. Croisée in a Foreign Labyrinth: Complete Collection is about revolution; the industrial revolution in Europe at the same time as the cultural revolution in Japan which opened the country to the western world. Our protagonist may be just the one to bridge the gap and help both sides grow into their new forms.

One Piece: Complete Collection 8 is the returning anime this time around, bringing more fun adventures from the Straw Hat Gang.

Tiny’s Star Wars

This is Tiny’s from Second Life doing Star Wars, and it is a mighty impressive presentation. If you know anything about Machinima you will no doubt have recognized the incredible effort that went into this, from the costumes, the set building, the weapons and other props, the characters and their associated animations, the camera work, the editing… Just because it wasn’t filmed in the Real World doesn’t mean that it was some silly game. A lot of the same production hurdles are faced and overcome whichever world you are creating your film in.

Red Vs. Blue Season 9

Season 9 of Red Vs. Blue is now running, with the first 3 episodes already posted online. This is personally my favorite Machinema of all time, and while I thought they were done at eight seasons, I am very happy to be proven wrong. If this is new to you, the first 8 seasons are also posted online, so you can start at the beginning. If you are as blown away as I was by this show, you will end up getting the DVDs for your permanent collection.

Killer Machinima Music

The first track is All Things In Passing by Bowie Bravin vs The Beautiful Freaks, and then Facelessape Mefusula and Deepskytraveler playing live at Raglan Shire earlier this year. These are just a few of the bands you can hear playing live inworld at Second Life; if you thought all the live music was a voice with a single instrument, now you know better. Finally, Portishead’s Mysterons featuring the Guerilla Burlesque Dancers from Idle Rogue… I don’t know if they played inworld, but the music and machinima were too good not to include it here.

Duleks Live… sort of

The Duleks is an interesting home made video series which claims to have no relationship to Doctor Who or the Daleks. I am not sure how long they will be around, but figured I should post the first episode here so everyone could catch a glimpse of it. Along with some rather good satellite tracking software and a bunch of other machinima, it is the product of Satscape Films mastermind Scott Hather, and the series has now been nominated for an Ollie Award.

Something to Watch: DVD’s

In the too silly to be avoided department, this weeks winner is Ninjas versus Zombies. While I personally won’t be adding this one to my collection, I will watch it when it comes to late night cable. You know with that title someone will be picking it up. It is kind of sad when this is the only movie worth mentioning for the week (unless something sneaked past me).

Live action TV series did much better, with Lost: The Complete Sixth and Final Season finally being available. Which also means that Lost: The Complete Collection will be on the shelves as well, for anyone who hasn’t been collecting the seasons one by one.

I am happy to be able to report that Red vs. Blue: Recreation, Season 7 is also being released this week. That only leaves one more season before all of them are available as well, and this series is my favorite Machinima program.

In Anime, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Part 2 completes season two of this excellent paratemporal Steampunk story. A series I have not run into before, Persona -trinity soul-2 is also being released. I missed the release of the first half of the series in July as well somehow. This one is Subbed, not Dubbed, and features a series of mysteries to be solved in a futuristic city. If you prefer your action on galactic scale battlegrounds, then Tytania: 1 may be just what you’re looking for. This box set is the first 13 episodes of the series, with the second half to release separately later.