I’m doubling up this week, as I doubt there will be very many people browsing online for titles coming out on Boxing Day when the column would be scheduled for Christmas Eve. There’s not a lot coming out on Boxing Day, anyway.
First, the genre releases for Dec. 19:
- Alex Rider – Operation Stormbreaker
- Atom Age Classics, Vol. 4: A collection of education films for classroom use from the 1940s through 1960s. Includes “Veneral Disease and You.”
- : Includes “‘C’ Is For Communism.”
- Lady In The Water: Also available on Blu-ray and HD DVD.
- Magical Meow Meow Taruto – Complete Collection
- Mars Daybreak: Complete Collection
- A Scanner Darkly: Richard Linklater directed this Philip K. Dick adaptation that I still haven’t gotten around to seeing.
- Spacemen and Go-Go Girls Double Feature: Holidays and go-go girls.
- Theater of Horror
- Walt Disney Treasures – More Silly Symphonies: The long awaited second volume of Disney’s choreographed cartoons.
- Walt Disney Treasures – The Complete Pluto, Volume Two: This is one I’ve been really looking forward to. The first volume has some of the best animation I’ve ever seen from the company.
- Walt Disney Treasures – The Mickey Mouse Club Featuring the Hardy Boys: The first Hardy Boys serial that ran on the Mickey Mouse Club.
- Walt Disney Treasures – Your Host, Walt Disney: The first few episodes of the show that became “The Wonderful World of Disney.”
- The Wicker Man: A special edition of the original.
- The Wicker Man: The remake.
Now, the non-genre releases for Dec. 19:
- All The King’s Men: Also available on Blu-Ray.
- American Pie Presents – The Naked Mile: How many direct to video brandings are going to show up?
- Best Foot Forward: An old Lucille Ball film available exclusively through Amazon.com.
- Dreamland
- Driving Force – Complete Season One
- ER – Complete Sixth Season
- Gene Simmons – Family Jewels – Season One
- Hogan’s Heroes – Complete Fifth Season
- Invincible: This recent Disney football flick is also available on Blu-ray.
- Jackie Chan’s Police Story: This is a new special edition.
- Little Miss Sunshine: Another Indie sleeper hit.
- Married… With Children – The Complete Sixth Season
- National Lampoon’s Pledge This!: With Paris Hilton and Sarah Carter.
- Presenting Lily Mars
- The Simpsons – The Complete Ninth Season: also available in Lisa’s head packaging.
- Step Up
- Up Periscope: With James Garner and Alan Hale Jr.
Finally, the pick of the week of Dec. 19.
I’ve got to go with the new Pluto collection from Disney. Now, on to Boxing Day.
First, the genre releases for Dec. 26:
- Airwolf – Season Two
- The Descent: The unrated edition.
- FLCL – Ultimate Edition
- Naruto, Vol. 7 – The Chunin Exam
- New Adventures of He-Man, Vol. 1: This is the 1990 version, not the more recent version.
Now, the non-genre releases for Dec. 26:
- The Black Dahlia
- Girls Behaving Badly – Volume One
- Hammer Film Noir Vol. 4: Includes “Terror Street” and “Wings of Danger.”
- Hammer Film Noir Vol. 5: Includes “The Glass Tomb” and “Paid To Kill.”
- Jackass – Number Two: Yes, they somehow survived making another one.
- The Last Kiss: Written by Paul Haggis.
- Mr. Fix It: A David Boreanaz movie I’ve never heard of.
- The Spectator: I’ve heard good things about this, and strongly suspect it’s a rerelease.
- Two-A-Days – Hoover High – Complete First Season
- Where The Hell’s That Gold?: Willie Nelson and Delta Burke. Yeah, their careers are going well.
Finally, the pick of the week of Dec. 26. My advice this week is to just stay home, or visit friends and family. The Hammer collections are the most interesting titles here, but nothing is worth fighting the Boxing Day crowds for.
Black Dahlia
I have an interest in seeing De Palma’s The Black Dahlia, since I enjoyed Elroy’s novel (reviewed here), I missed it at the theater, and it has Scarlett Johansson.
Beware of a same-title schlock film, released at the same time and loosely inspired by the same case.
Dec. 19 genre releases
It looks like Stormbreaker may not be coming out tomorrow. Amazon lists it as not currently available and Netflix does not have a release date. However, Dec. 19th is the release date for My Super Ex-Girlfriend. Has anyone seen this?
FLCL might be worth getting.
If you don’t already have FLCL, then I’d say it’d be worth getting (though get it online, not at the store – I wouldn’t dare any retail store the day after Christmas.
Police Story
Anyone who’s a Jackie Chan fan, this is a good one. One of his old movies (1985 I think?) actually made in Hong Kong so no Hollywood stuff. I’m a bit worried about American releases of Jackie Chan movies, as they tend to have some serious edits.
Alex Rider, any good?
I never saw it when (if?) it was in theaters. How was it? The film (and concept) certainly sounded interesting, but I’ve been proven wrong before.