DVD/Blu-Ray
Movies
The Peanuts Movie – The Peanuts Movie celebrates the 65th anniversary of the original Peanuts comic strip and the 50th anniversary of the classic A Charlie Brown Christmas. Charlie Brown attempts to become more confident when he instantly falls in love with the Little Red-Haired Girl that just moved in across the street in an attempt to gain her favor. At the same time, Snoopy writes his tale of the World War I Flying Ace against the Red Baron. Snoopy is also trying to win the love of his life Fifi, though I can’t tell if she’s real or just part of his imagination when he’s writing his book. A few positives that The Peanuts Movie has in its favor is it uses archive recordings of Bill Melendez to remain as the voice of Snoopy and Woodstock as well as Charles Schultz’ son and grandson were writers for the film and helped produce it, giving them final say on the content and production of the film. Stars Noah Schnapp, Bill Melendez, Hadley Belle Miller, Mariel Sheets, Anastasia Bredikhina, Noah Johnston, Rebecca Bloom, Mar Mar, William Alexander Wunsch, Francesca Capaldi, Venus Schultheis, Madisyn Shipman, AJ Teece, Alexander Garfin, Micah Revelli, and Kristin Chenoweth. Directed by Steve Martino. Rated PG.
In the Heart of the Sea – The only wide release movie this week is In the Heart of the Sea which is based on the book of the same name that tells the story that inspired Moby-Dick. The movie tells the story of the American whaling ship Essex in 1820 when it was attacked by a massive sperm whale that ended up sinking the Essex and left the survivors in nothing but small whaleboats. The survivors have to suffer through storms, starvation, dehydration, cannibalism, and multiple attacks from the sperm whale before the last survivors were finally found and saved. It is only later in 1850 that one of the survivors is able to tell the story to Herman Melville who uses it to create Moby-Dick, itself a commercial failure until several decades after its original release. Stars Chris Hemsworth, Benjamin Walker, Cillian Murphy, Tom Holland, Ben Whishaw, and Brendan Gleeson. Directed by Ron Howard. Rated PG-13.
Victor Frankenstein – Victor Frankenstein is another movie that the trailers make it seem like a much different movie than it is. The trailers make it look like Igor was never a hunchback, that Victor and Igor were making monsters the entire movie and more but that isn’t the case at all. Igor is originally a nameless hunchback circus clown that also was their doctor. When an acrobat falls and saves her by resetting a bone with a pocket watch, Victor Frankenstein takes an interest in him and saves him from the circus. Fixing Igor’s hump and giving him the name of his roommate, Victor Frankenstein and Igor work together to reanimate various body parts and attempt to create life from death. Along the way, Igor discovers a new life, romance, and the rest of what the world has to offer. Stars James McAvoy, Daniel Radcliffe, Jessica Brown Findlay, Andrew Scott, Charles Dance, Mark Gatiss, Callum Turner, and Daniel Mays. Directed by Paul McGuigan. Rated PG-13.
TV
It’s a busy TV week so I will only say important comments.
Community: The Complete Sixth Season – The likely last season of Community especially with Yahoo not faring well these days. Get it while you can before the streaming is gone.
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Season 1 – The first season of the hit Netflix sitcom.
Grease Live! – The popular live production of Grease that FOX did.
Rookie Blue – The Final Season
Cartoon/Anime
Open Season: Scared Silly – The most confusing release I’ve seen in a while. Open Season: Scared Silly is considered Open Season 4, and about scaring Boog the bear and finding the mystery of the Wailing Wampus Werewolf. Ostensibly this seems like a Halloween movie that should come out in October. Instead it was released in theaters in TURKEY in December 2015, and then released on video in the USA in March 2016. Not sure why on pretty much every part of this release. Rated PG.
Pokemon Movie 18: Hoopa and the Clash of Ages – The 18th Pokémon movie that originally premiered on Cartoon Network in December 2015 but finally making it to video. In a desert town by the sea, the mythical pokémon Hoopa, that uses its magic ring to summon both people and pokémon. It’s up to Ash and his friends to stop Hoopa before its rampage gets out of control. Rated G.
Yu-Gi-oh! GX: Season 3 – The third season of the second Yu-Gi-Oh! series with Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. Jaden starts as a third year at Duel Academy and a new teacher, Professor Viper, is forcing everyone into Survival Duels to as part of their grade. Not Rated.
Brothers Conflict: The Complete Series – Ema finds out that her father is getting married and not only finds out that she will be getting 13 new step-brothers but is going to have to move in with them and they all start falling for her. A dubbed anime series by Funimation, Brothers Conflict is a little odd in that it’s about the main character having love interest in her step brothers. Brothers Conflict originally started as a novel series, before expanding to a pair of otome PSP games, a manga series, and now an anime and OVA. The set does include both the entire series and the OVA. Not Rated.
Psycho-Pass 2: Season 2 – The second season of Psycho-Pass and one of the first Broadcast Dubs finally comes to video just in time for the movie to come out in theaters next week. The Sybil System continues to be controlling Japan and now criminals have found someone that can lower their psycho-pass to undetectable levels. The special edition of with a 60 page artbook as well as a nice case for the series. Not Rated.
Kingdom: Season 2 – The Second season of Kingdom. A slightly odd release from Funimation. The series originally was released online as a simulcast in 2012 by Funimation but it wasn’t until October 2015 that it was announced that it was getting an English dub and released on DVD. In this second season set, the pressure continues to unite China under one ruler and Xin is still trying to become the world’s greatest general. Not Rated.
Wolf Girl & Black Prince – Wolf Girl and Black Prince is a sub only release from Sentai Filmworks about a girl named Erika who lies about having a boyfriend while actually having none. She uses a random photograph of a handsome boy who turns out to a classmate at her school. Though you wouldn’t know it by his appearance, Kyota is a total sadist that gets pleasure out of treating Erika like a dog and uses her secret to take advantage of her. The series is based on a still continuing manga series as well. Not Rated.
Video Games
Tom Clancy’s The Division – A new third person shooter set over Christmas in the future where a smallpox infection placed in banknotes, spreads across the country and destroys the country and the government in 5 days. A classified group called The Division that normally leads ordinary lives is tasked to save society, and in the game, try to organize New York City. Available for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Rated M for Mature.
There is one comment