Search
Partners
Anime News
|
DVD Round-Up: Week of June 15th It's 'Seth MacFarlane Week' Date: 6/14/2010 |
|
We?re still in the summer doldrums as far as DVD releases are concerned, but there are 3 ?TV on DVD? releases that fans of Seth MacFarlane will want, plus a stylish and gritty police procedural from the U.K., one of the most interesting stop-motion animated features ever made, and a new English dubbed version of a contemporary anime classic from Kyoto Animation. TV on DVD This is a good week for Seth MacFarlane fans thanks to the release of Family Guy Vol. 8 (Fox, 344 min., $49.98), the latest volume of MacFarlane?s flagship series, along with his spy spoof American Dad Vol.5 (Fox, 280 min., $39.98), and Johnny Bravo Season 1 (Warner Bros., 270 min., $24.98), the late 1990s animated series, which MacFarlane worked on as both a writer and illustrator, and in which it?s easy to detect his penchant for pop culture satire and parody in clever references to Schoolhouse Rock, The Wizard of Oz, The Jungle Book, and Dr. Seuss. A couple of first seasons of interesting series including the Web-based science fiction show Sanctuary: The Complete First Season (E1, 585 min., $49.98), which airs on the Syfy Channel and Supernatural: The Complete First Season, which is broadcast by the CW, are now available on Blu-ray for the first time along with Sanctuary: The Complete Second Season (E1, 585 min., $49.98). Continuing sets of a number of series are available including the college-based The Best Years: The Complete Second Season (E1, 308 min., $24.98), The Secret Life of the American Teenager: Season 4 (Disney, 516 min., $39.99), Everwood: The Complete Third Season (Warner Bros., 780 min., $39.98), Hawthorne: Season 1 (Sony, 430 min., $34.95), Here?s Lucy: Season 3 (MPI, 960 min., $29.98), Leave It To Beaver: Season 3 (Shout Factory, 930 min., $44.99), My Three Sons: Season 2, Vol.2 (Paramount, 376 min., $39.98), and McGyver: The TV Movies (Paramount, 185 min., $19.99). As usual there are a couple of excellent TV offerings from the United Kingdom. Trial and Retribution: Set 4 (Acorn Media, 408 min., $49.99) includes three feature-length episodes from the latest police procedural series from producer Lynda LaPlante (Prime Suspect). Like Law & Order this series follows its ?ripped from the headlines? cases through both the investigative and trial phases, and like CSI it includes plenty of forensic recreations. David Hayman (Hope and Glory), and Victoria Smurfit (About a Boy) star as former rivals who are now working together to solve a number of tough cases in Set 4 including an English version of the Menendez Brothers case, the death of an 18-month-old toddler at the hands of her nanny, and the racially-charged killing of a white school teacher with a black boyfriend. Plenty of forensic gore and appropriately rough language mark this uncompromising series as ?adult material? in the best sense of that word. Raffles: The Complete Series (Acorn Media, 726 min., $59.99), which was based on the 1890s stories of E.W. Hornung, who was Conan Doyle?s brother-in-law, represents an entirely different sort of British crime drama. A.J. Raffles is the archetypal gentleman thief, a cricket-playing Oxbridge swell, who is also a master of disguises and regional accents, talents that help him relieve the upper classes of the burden of excessive wealth. The 4-disk set includes all 14 episodes of the 1977 series produced by Yorkshire Television. While the visual quality can?t compare with more recent series, the full color transfer is very acceptable. The lighting is standard 1970s studio stuff, which at times gives the interiors a soap opera look, but the exteriors are quite good, and the period costumes are excellent. This series is a must for those who enjoy the traditional turn-of-the-century English adventure/mystery story. Theatrical It?s certainly not a great week, but there is The Book of Eli (Warner Bros., ?R,? $29.98, BD $35.99), a post-apocalyptic action film from the Hughes brothers, who directed the screen adaptation of Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell?s From Hell. Released in January, The Book of Eli earned nearly $95 million at the domestic box office. Critics were divided over The Book of Eli, which received just a 47% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but the film should do well on DVD, though it doesn?t quite have the cult film potential of Miguel Arteta?s Youth in Revolt (Sony, "R," $28.95, BD $34.95), which is based on C.D. Payne?s novel and earned a 69% positive rating from the critics. Michael Cera, who stars in the upcoming Scott Pilgrim movie, gives an under-rated performance as a self-aware teen who invents a French alter ego in his comedic pursuit of his dream girl. Considerably less successful is When in Rome, a too-predictable romantic comedy that wastes the talents of Kristen Bell, Jon Heder, Angelica Huston, and Dax Shepard with a cliche-filled script. The most critically-acclaimed film out this week is Adam Elliot?s Mary and Max (MPI, Not Rated, $24.98, BD $29.98), an adult-oriented stop-motion feature, which earned a 90% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes and awards at numerous festivals. The film chronicles a 22-year penpal relationship that begins in 1976 when a chubby 8-year-old Australian girl writes a letter to an obese 44-year-old with Asberger?s Syndrome who lives in New York. Elliot?s film, which features excellent vocal performances from Toni Collette and Philip Seymour Hoffman, deftly mixes humor with a poignant look at the lives of two damaged people and marinates the quirkly blend in a caustic brew of dark themes such as suicide, neglect, anxiety, and depression. Anime It?s another slim week in the anime category, but there are some definite deals for bargain hunters. The one new treat for anime fans is the Clannad Complete Collection (Sentai Filmworks, ?13+,? 600 min., $69.98), which provides for the first time an English dub version of the first 24-episode season of the Kyoto Animation series based on a visual novel/game, that centers on dating. Unlike Kanon and Air, two other PC games from the same software company Key, which were released as ?adult? games, Clannad, in which the protagonist has to choose between five different girls, was an ?all-ages? game without risqu? situations. While the anime series does have ?harem comedy? elements, it is really one of the more realistic and well-produced romantic sagas in modern anime. More and more anime series are becoming available in lower-priced editions. This week there is the second season of the 1998 mecha adventure series Gaogaigar, which is available in a Season Two Litebox Edition (Media Blasters, ?13+,? 600 min., $29.99), along with the Witchblade Complete Series Viridian Collection (Funimation, ?13+,? 600 min., $49.98), which contains all 24 episodes of the 2006 series based on the Top Cow comic book, and the X TV Series Complete Collection (Funimation, ?14+,? 625 min., $49.98), with the entire 24-episode 2001 anime series based on the manga series by Clamp. Documentaries It Came From Kuchar (IndiePix, Unrated, $24.95) is a fascinating documentary by Jennifer Kroot about the twins George and Mike Kuchar--movie-crazed 8mm wonder kids in the 1950s, who absorbed the aesthetic of the New York underground (Warhol, Brakhage, Anger) in their teens and transmuted it into a some of the strangest schlock films ever made. George Kuchar also worked alongside Underground Comix artists Art Spiegelman and R. Crumb at the groundbreaking Arcade magazine. The most enlightening aspects of this documentary are provided by the testamonials of various artists and filmmakers including Bill Griffith (who confesses that Zippy the Pinhead was based in part on George Kuchar) John Waters, Buck Henry, Atom Egoyan, Wayne Wang, and Guy Maddin, who explain how the Kuchar brothers? films have influenced their work. |
| Source: ICv2 |
