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Something to Watch: DVDs

It is a sad week when the optimal DVD live action movie release is a choice between Mongolian Death Worm or Bonnie & Clyde vs. Dracula (although the latter did win a bunch of Film Festival awards). I think I’ll pass this week, but there are some Anime goodies.

Usually I avoid reality shows like the plague, since they offend me, but this is closer to a documentary series. So I thought I should at least mention Stan Lee’s Superhumans: Season One, which has been running on the History channel.

For Anime, Eden of the East: King of Eden tops the list for me this week. A feature film length presentation continuing the story begun with last years TV series, Eden of the East. The tale moves back to the USA, and the other Selecao are becoming more active trying to eliminate Takizawa and create their own version of a more perfect Japan.

Another Anime title of note is the Girl Who Leapt Through Space, about an A.I. Leopard who comes out of hyperspace to seek repair. Akiha helps out, a soon joins forces with Itsuki of the police to battle the brain colony Nerval, who wants to enslave all humanity. And a new entry in the long running Naruto franchise, Naruto Shippuden: Box Set 6 also hits the shelves this week.

I almost never mention single volumes here, considering anything less than a box set to not be a cost effective way to collect series programming, but K-ON! Volume 1 finally brings the rock anime to the US, and even if it isn’t genre, this one is worth a look see.

Of lesser note, Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl: Vocal Collection is a bit of a mystical gender bender now re-released under the Vocal Collection flag. For those who haven’t seen my previous posts on Vocal Collections, they are not as you might suspect radio plays bringing new stories to the series. Rather they are exactly the same Anime series previously released Subbed (Subtitled), now available Dubbed with an English soundtrack. I haven’t quite made my mind up as to what I think about these, since on the one hand it seems like a ploy to get you to by the same TV series twice, once in each spoken language. But on the other hand, when they do release the Dubbed version, it is generally for around $15 to $20 dollars for an entire season of episodes, making it very attractively priced while simultaneously more accessible to a wider audience.

Something to Do: Movies

Not much new around this weekend, and the only interesting looking ones are in limited release. Legend of the Fist: the Return of Chen Zhen has Donnie Yen as a masked vigilante, Batman style, in 1920s Shanghai. At that point in history the city was torn in half, with segments controlled by the Japanese and the British, with neither power block caring about the fate of the Chinese who lived there. Playboy by day, masked warrior by night, Zhen works to undermine the Japanese invasion.

Something to Watch: DVDs

Top of my list this time around has to be Gulliver’s Travels. While I didn’t care at all for the performance turned in by the flabby guy playing Gulliver, the entire rest of the cast did a truly wonderful job of bringing this Johnathon Swift masterpiece to the screen. I think this may be the first time I have ever seen Chris O’Dowd playing a bad guy (although to be fair it was a very comedic bad guy). Another movie of note is Ip Man 2: Legend of the Grandmaster, continuing the story of the legendary martial arts grand master who trained Bruce Lee. And if you are in the mood for epic fantasy’s this week Goemon was the Robin Hood of Japan, except he was an actual historical figure. This film is visually amazing and, as near as I can tell, fairly true to the legend. I am including a clip at the bottom of this entry to give you a feel for the production.

In TV, a blast from the past: The Ernie Kovacs Collection. Ernie was Televsion’s Original Genius in every sense of the word. He invented visual gags that are still in use today and intuitively grasped a media format that would forever change the way we interacted with the world. Programs which acknowledged him as a major part of their inspiration include Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Laugh-In, and Saturday Night Live, to give you an idea of just how pivotal his work was. This collection includes a number of things that haven’t been seen since their original broadcast in the 1950s.

For western animation, Shaun the Sheep: The Big Chase is the optimal choice. Another fine set of mostly non-verbal comedy from the folks who bring you Wallace and Gromit from the UK. I should mention that the Wallace & Gromit: A World Of Cracking Ideas exhibition just kicked off this past Friday, the 16th, at the Newcastle Life Science Centre, and will be running through October 30th. They built a version of 62 West Wallaby Street (the home of Wallace & Gromit) and filled it full of all kinds of interactive exhibits and activities to teach the history of invention and innovation, and show how you can protect your own inventions. Visit the Official Cracking Ideas page for a lot more, including games and competitions.

In Anime, Darker Than Black: Complete Season 1 sets the pace. An impenetrable force field called Hell’s Gate has appeared in Tokyo, along with a class of psychics out to unlock its mysteries. As you would expect, the powers the psychics suddenly received came at a price none of them actually agreed to. Also out this week, One Piece Season 3: Fifth Voyage.

Super VOD

If you missed Super when it hit the big screen Friday before last, don’t feel alone. It got a very limited run, much less than it deserved. Which is why the IFC VOD project was started. With Video On Demand, Independent films that formerly were only heard of can now be seen by a much wider audience almost as soon as they are released. Go to the IFC web page and select your provider to find out if you can see it now. They started Super today, and they launch 1 to 2 new independent titles per week. It is a great way to keep up with new quality films that break the Hollywood mold and tell a different kind of story.