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Something to Watch: Discs

I couldn’t find any genre movies or TV shows this week other than re-releases, but there is a TV show that comes close. Ripper Street: Season 3 is close to being a Steampunk police procedural, and so becomes worth mentioning. An actual Steampunk police procedural, and my favorite of the type, is Murdoch Mysteries, complete with guest stars Nikola Tesla, H.G. Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle, Thomas Edison, Mark Twain, and many more. Sadly, that show is not having a new release this week. Another non-genre release worth mentioning is the Rolling Stones From the Vault: The Marquee Club Live in 1971 if you are looking for a taste of classic rock.

In Anime we do noticeably better, starting with Nyaruko: Crawling with Love!: Season 1 in a limited release. By limited I mean only one US store seems to be stocking it for its initial release, in this case RightStuf. The story of the Soul Reapers continues this week with the Bleach: Season 25 Uncut Box Set, bringing episodes 343 through 354 to the shelves. The currently streaming episode is 366, so this release finally puts us right up to date on the disc production.

Hayate the Combat Butler: Season 4 AKA Cuties is also out this week. This fantasy series (how can a Combat Butler be anything but a fantasy?) has a goodly balance of action and comedy, and if you haven’t been following it you can start from the beginning at Crunchyroll and stream your way up to the current season. Finally Origin: Spirits of the Past is coming out in a S.A.V.E. edition, allowing you to pick it up for around $12.

Something to Do: Movies

It will be hard to top this past weekend’s monster film Jurassic World after it blew the doors off of the previous opening weekend record holder, The Avengers. But if you are in need of a mental pick-me-up I recommend Inside Out, the latest animated fun fest from Pixar. I am thinking I will have to be in the theater for this one… although I might follow it up with another round of Dinosaurs.

Something to Watch: Discs

On the movie front, Chappie is the clear winner. This Robot/AI coming to life tale is engaging on so many layers you won’t ever wonder why it belongs on this list. There were aspects of this production that surprised me, like their choices of gangsta-rap celebrities as core cast members (that would not have been my choice, but then I wasn’t the one telling the story), but the film as a whole had my approval. The other near-genre film this time around, The Lazarus Effect, was just a cheap horror flic as far as I was concerned, and not worth the time it takes to watch it. A non-genre release that was nominated for an Academy Award (best foreign language film) because of its amazingly twisted story was Wild Tales, which certainly is worth the time it takes to watch it, if you can handle how completely off the hook it gets. And then there is the documentary offering: The Wrecking Crew, about the studio musicians who showed up on almost every major recording from the 60s and 70s that is still overplayed today, because they were just that good.

In TV there is only one choice this time around: Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman: Season 5! This show has been one of my favorite programs for quite a few years now, and this season just proves it yet again. Trust me when I say you want to watch this one and see if you don’t also find it both entertaining and educational.

In Anime, there seems to be some confusion about Tokyo Ravens: Season 1 Part 2, which is being released either this week or at the end of the month. Both of the sites I trust to get it right say at the end of the month, but I am going to mention it this week anyways. Whichever it is, this rather dark series will draw you in, and hold your attention. Hard though it may be to believe, Is This a Zombie? of the Dead is a much more lighthearted adventure, with much sillier situations springing up, and it really does come out this week. Finally, Captain Earth: Collection 1 begins to tell the story of yet another teenager who is tasked with saving the world using his special video games skill set. All of these look like fun to me, and I have been enjoying them; I hope you do, as well.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. trailer

There is a new trailer from the reboot of The Man From U.N.C.L.E., which looks even better than the first one. I loved the original series, and I will definitely be doing the 3D IMAX screen for this one. I even got ready for it by taking a recent journey to The Spy Museum, which was running a huge exhibit called Exquisitely Evil: 50 Years of Bond Villains. I should see if any of my pictures came out and post a few of them here.