It’s a mediocre week for rereleases, but a somewhat lousy week for everything else.

First, the DVD picks:

• 1984: The remastered version of the 1984 movie.
• The Amazing Adventure: 1917, remastered
• Anna Karenina: This is the 1961 BBC edition starring Sean Connery, who (at the time) had a moustache and no beard. Man, that looks weird on him.
• Asian Action Pack
• Assignment Outer Space / Space Men: Remastered
• The Best of Dragon Gate Vol. 1: IMHO one of the best of the Japanese wrestling promotions not founded by a student of the late Rikodozan gets a wide release DVD in the US (For those keeping track, that’s AJPW – founded by Giant Baba, and NJPW – founded by Antonio Inoki).
• The Best of the Super Mario Bros. Super Show!
• Black Lagoon the Second Barrage: Re-release. I’ve finally seen all of this, and of the two anime coming out this week, this is the best. I’m not making it my pick though, as it’s a re-release.
• Bled
• The Caller
• The Curious Adventures of Mr. Wonderbird
• Dark Matter
• Death Note Box Set: Season 2 of Death Note.
• Exosquad – Season 1
• Fight Night
• Intelligence: Season 2
• Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter: Remastered
• The Jungle Book: The remastered edition of the 1967 non-Disney version.
• Killers from Space: Remastered
• Knots Landing: Complete Second Season
• The Little Shop of Horrors: This is a remastered edition of the 1960 original.
• Long John Silver: Return to Treasure Island: Remastered
• Lost in Austen
• Malcolm and Eddie – Season One
• Mask of the Ninja: I’m only bothering to mention this one because I think this is the first Ninja-sploitation film since the late 80’s, early 90’s.
• Paris
• Phantom of the Opera: The 1943 edition remastered
• Pillow Talk: Rock Hudson and Doris Day. 50th Anniversary edition
• Private Snuffy Smith: Remastered
• Quicksand: Remastered
• The Reader
• Red Cliff – Part II: This is the second half of John Woo’s historical epic film about the battle of Red Cliffs – from what I understand the film is supposed to strike a balance between the fanciful depiction of events in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and the more accurate account in The Chronicle of Three Kingdoms. The first half is already out – though Amazon doesn’t seem to have it in their store, but people are selling it through their Z-Shops. I’m just going to wait for an boxed set release myself – less overall cost and I’ll be able to sit down and watch the film in one whack.
• Skins, Vol. 2
• The Spirit: Single disc edition
• The Spirit: Two disc special edition
• Splinter
• Story of India: This is the BBC Documentary by Michael Wood which I’d previously made my pick-of-the-week, and which I had previously said needed a Blu-Ray release. Apparnetly someone with the BBC and/or PBS was paying attention.
• Super Hero Harry: A family friendly British comedy. Those don’t come along often…
• Teenagers from Outer Space: Remastered
• TNA Wrestling Presents Jeff Jarret: King of the Mountain
• Wings, The Final Season
• WWE Presents Greatest Wrestling Stars of the 90’s: All of the guys on the cover of this (Bret Hart, The Undertaker, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and The Rock) have their own boxed sets, and in the case of Austin and Undertaker – multiple DVD releases – so I’m really not seeing any reason to get this at all.
• Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain: This is the martial arts film that inspired John Carpenter to make “Big Trouble in Little China”

Now, the Blu-Ray picks:

• 8 Mile
• The Last Kiss
• Mean Girls
• Mutant Chronicles: The film based on the very obscure RPG.
• Pride and Prejudice
• The Spirit
• Splinter
• The Thirteenth Floor
• Universal Soldier: The Return

Finally, the picks of the week. AceCaseOR says, “I previously made Story of India my pick, and hoped it would come out on Blu-Ray. Well, it’s out, get it – Michael Wood does excellent documentaries. Since they are apparently paying attention – how about everything else Michael Wood has done (In Search Of The Trojan War, In Search of Shakespeare, In The Footsteps of Alexander The Great, Conquistadors) on Blu-Ray? Though, if you’re in to pro-wrestling, get the Best of Dragon Gate DVD too – they combine the sort of Japanese MMA-style of Pro Wrestling (Strong Style/King’s Road) with the Mexican Lucha Libre style to great effect. I haven’t seen this. DVD, but I’ve seen some of their other matches through… various channels (plus they’ve got a talent swap deal going with Ring Of Honor).” Fiziko says, “This is a pretty lackluster week. Fans of old school cheese can grab a remastered copy of Little Shop of Horrors or Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter, but you may be better off just waiting for a more populated week down the road.”