I suspect that the number of releases each week can be used as an indicator of the economy. When I started writing these columns, each Tuesday between October 1 and December 26 would have over 1000 releases to sift through. For the past three years, those same weeks have been in the 170-250 release range. This week is up to 396, which I take as a sign of recovery.
Title | Available Formats |
---|---|
Action | |
Cowboys and Aliens | |
Blaine: This cast and director still appeal to me, but I haven’t heard good things about the finished product. An extended cut that runs 17 minutes longer than the theatrical cut could be either the best or worst thing for the movie. | |
Mission: Impossible Giftset Collection | |
Includes the first three Tom Cruise movies | |
Anime | |
Birdy The Mighty Decode: The Complete Series | |
Devil May Cry: The Complete Series, SAVE Edition | |
Alex: I reviewed this series earlier this year. | |
Dragonball Z Movie Pack Collection 2 | |
Contains the films “Return of Cooler”, “Super Android 13”, “Broly, The Legendary Super Saiyan”, and “Bojack Unbound” | |
Master of Martial Arts: Box Set | |
Alex: A particularly detestable fan-service heavy martial arts series. | |
Mazinkaiser SKL | |
Go Nagai’s sequel to Mazinger Z. | |
Rozen Maiden Complete Collection | |
Squid Girl – Season 1, Part 2 | |
Art House | |
Dragon Tattoo Trilogy: Extended Edition | |
Classics (Cult) | |
Mystery Science Theater 3000 Volume XXII |
|
Includes Time of the Apes, Mighty Jack, The Violent Years and The Brute Man | |
Classics (Traditional) | |
Dirk Bogarde: The Rank Collection |
|
Includes Campbell’s Kingdom, Penny Princess, Simba and Agent 8 3/4 | |
Comedy | |
Designing Women: Season Five |
|
NEW Complete Doctor Collection |
|
The Falcon Mystery Movie Collecion |
|
Blaine: Tim Conway starring in a spy spoof? Why haven’t I heard about this? | |
Going My Way – The Complete Series |
|
Gene Kelly and Dick York together on weekly TV. Who new? | |
The Hangover II | |
The Lucy Show: The Fifth Season |
|
Portlandia – Season 1 | |
Alex: Mockumentary series about (basically) my home town. (Okay, technically it’s not my home town – I live in a suburb of Portland, but close enough) | |
The Simpsons: The Fourteenth Season | |
Documentary | |
Histoire du Cinema |
|
Drama | |
Big Love | |
Kirk Douglas: The Legacy Collection |
|
Blaine: The description says this includes 5 features, but gives no indication about which five. | |
The Help | |
Law and Order: The Ninth Year |
|
Family | |
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Driving Dave Crazy |
|
Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future: The Complete Series |
|
Blaine: This was “must see” TV for me when I was a kid. This was before I started reading credits. Had I been reading them, I’d have noticed the name “J. Michael Straczynski” in a very prominent position. One of the least intellectually insulting merchandise tie-in shows I’ve ever seen. If they had something we could refer to as a “budget,” this could have been incredible. | |
The Looney Tunes Show: Volume Two |
|
Mr. Popper’s Penguins | |
The Sarah Jane Adventures: Season Four |
|
Blaine: I still need to watch the first three seasons. | |
Skeleton Warriors: Complete Series |
|
Spongebob Squarepants: Complete Season Seven |
|
Transformers Prime: Darkness Rising |
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Voltron: The Black Lion Collection |
|
Romance | |
Cheaper to Keep Her |
|
Design for Living (Criterion Collection) | |
Science Fiction | |
Alien Armageddon | |
Blaine: This sequel to “Battle for Los Angeles” has a guy on the cover that looks like a cowboy. | |
I Am Legend / Omega Man Double Feature |
|
Seasonal | |
Christmas Spirit |
|
A Christmas Wedding Tail |
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A Christmas Wish |
|
Elvira’s Movie Macabre |
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Includes Santa Claus Conquers the Martians and Beast from Haunted Cave. | |
Santa Claus | |
Not the Dudley Moore version; it’s a 179 minute international version. | |
Santa Claus vs. the Zombies |
|
Suspense | |
The Debt | |
The Lady Vanishes (Criterion Collection) |
|
War | |
Tora! Tora! Tora! |
|
Vietnam in HD |
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Finally, the picks of the week. Alex says, “I’m Netflixing Portlandia – I don’t have cable, so I didn’t get a chance to watch it when it first ran. However, the clips of it I’ve seen have been absolutely hilarious – and it helps that the show’s writers live here, so they really understand my fair city.” Blaine says, “Criterion putting out Hitchcock on Blu-Ray is generally the hands-down winner any week. This time around it’s The Lady Vanishes.”
You sure its not an indicator of it’s getting close to xmas? (;
That’s why I noted that I’m comparing the same season in all years.
Oh yeah. Then are you sure it’s not an indication that they already re-released all the old (and good) stuff and all that’s left is just the new crap?
Damn me and my eternal optimism…
They are still releasing legacy titles on Blu-Ray. The proportion of soft core porn is also up considerably this year, which could be an indication that the producers think they can compete with the Internet’s free supply again.
I don’t claim to be an economist, but I think it’s looking better than it has been. Granted, it’s not close to the 1200+ weeks we had a decade ago, but it’s up from 2009 or 2010.
Does soft-core porn count as genre? I’d love to see THOSE reviews…
I suppose I should have guessed there’d be a Santa/zombies film.
And Tora! Tora! Tora! is worth seeing, if a little stilted in places.
Nothing terribly exciting for me this week. I added Cowboys & Aliens to my BB queue, but it’ll be a couple weeks before it comes up in the rotation.