This could be the weakest slate of DVD releases in 2010 so far, but there are a couple of strong debuts in the “Direct-to-DVD” and “Anime” categories.  Dante’s Inferno is a collaborative animated film with tie-ins to a new DC/Wildstorm comic and a popular video game, while Soul Eater not only has a strong manga source (published here by Yen Press), but a real chance at becoming a hit with those who like the popular Bleach manga and anime series.

 

Direct to DVD

 

It seems strange to lead with this category for two weeks in a row, but it might even happen again next week when Halo Legends is released.  Dante’s Inferno (Anchor Bay, Not Rated, $26.97, BD $34.98) is an animated feature film based on the Electronic Arts multi-platform video game, which also hits stores on February 9th, and which was the beneficiary of a $30 million ad in the Super Bowl.  Though it features the work of a number of Korean and Japanese anime studios, Dante’s Inferno differs from such anime anthology films as The Animatrix, Batman: Gotham Knight, and Halo Legends, which feature self-contained animated stories with totally different narrative lines and wildly dissimilar styles of animation.  It is possible to recognize the smooth and inventive work of Shuko Murase and Manglobe (Ergo Proxy) in their work on “Limbo” and the other early circles of Hell sequences and the stamp of director Yasoumi Umetsu (Kite: Liberator) and Production I.G. is visible on the frozen ninth circle of Hell segment.  But as Dante’s Inferno follows Dante and Vergil’s descent through the nine circles of Hell, though the styles of animation differ slightly, the characters remain easily recognizable and the narrative flow is constant as Dante proceeds in his quest to rescue Beatrice from the clutches of Satan.  The voice work in Dante’s Inferno is excellent throughout with Graham McTavish, who sounds a lot like Gerard Butler, doing an exceptional job as Dante and Peter Jessop voicing a superb Vergil.

 

It is somewhat surprising that it has taken this long for some enterprising video game designer to see the possibilities of conflating the levels of a video game with Dante’s nine circles of Hell.  Well EA’s Visceral Games has now remedied that oversight, but don’t expect a straight rendering of Dante’s epic poem.  The great poet is portrayed (ahistorically) as a crusader in this animated epic, and his sins during the taking of Jerusalem come back to haunt him as they result in the death of Beatrice and the abduction of her soul by Lucifer, which precipitates Dante’s descent into Hades in this version.  Some of Dante’s finely wrought allegories remain, and the bard’s penchant for poetic justice in the torment of sinners is explored to some degree, but the emphasis of this film is on action rather than allegory, and much of the latter is obscured as the poet/crusader has to hack his way through all manner of demons as he descends to the final frozen circle of Hell. 

 

Both the Halo 3 and Dante’s Inferno video games are rated “Mature, 17+” by the video game industry, but the Halo Legends direct-to-DVD is correctly rated “PG-13” for its violence.  The Dante’s Inferno DVD is “Not Rated,” though with its surfeit of blood and violence plus its copious nudity, it would appear that, if it were rated, it would be very close to video game in age rating.  Abandon all hope ye who enter here expecting an accurate animated rendering of the first portion of the Divine Comedy, but if the Dante’s Inferno game is the kind of major hit that EA is hoping for, gamers will have an excellent animated guide to the kind of challenges that await them on screen.

 

Anime

 

The top anime release this week is the first 2-disc set of the Soul Eater anime from Bones.   Soul Eater, Part 1 (Funimation, Rated “TV-14,” 325 min., $59.98) includes 13 episodes of the 51-episode series that aired in Japan in 2008 and 2009.  Based on the shonen manga series by Atsushi Otobo that is published here by Yen Press, Soul Eater takes place at the Death Weapons Meister Academy, a sort of training school for shinigami.  The series focuses on boy/girl pairs like Maka Albarn and her partner Soul Eater and Black Star and his partner Tsubaki.  Unlike that other shinigami epic Death Note, the tone of Soul Eater is much more comedic and far less realistic.  Soul Eater also contains many more conventional “fan service” elements than Bleach and features faster-paced, more modern animation that mixes surreal images and super-deformed 2-D images.  The Soul Eater manga, which debuted in November (Vol. 2 is out this month), has been a hit in both the bookstore and comic shop markets, which bodes well for the property.

 

Also out this week is the latest single-disc Naruto Shippuden (Vol.6 ,Viz Media, 100 min., $24.92) release, the 1990s giant robot epic Gaogaigar Season 1 Litebox (Media Blasters, 625 min., $29.95), and the sexy seinen saga Girl’s High Complete Collection (Media Blasters, 500 min. $19.99).

 

TV on DVD

 

Stargate Universe (MGM, 436 min., $49.98, BD $69.98 leads a fairly weak slate of TV releases.  A Canadian/American co-production, Stargate Universe is the latest iteration of the popular Stargate franchise that began in the movies, but has hit its stride on TV.  The 10-episode first season of Stargate Universe starring the always reliable Robert Carlyle debuted last October and has been successful enough that the Syfy network has ordered a 20-episode second season.

 

Another excellent new series out this week is Emma (BBC/Warner Home Video, 240 min. $34.98), the latest superb adaptation of a Jane Austen novel from the BBC.  Austen’s Emma was the inspiration for the movie Clueless and remains one of the novelist’s most subtly humorous works.

 

Other debuting series include Gary Unmarried: The Complete First Season (Buena Vista, $39.99), The Life and Times of Tim: The Complete First Season, the first HBO animated production since Todd MacFarlane’s Spawn, the Australian animated kids’ series, Dork Hunters From Outer Space (Image, 794 min., $19.98), and the Hollywood-themed Maneater mini-series (Sony, 176 min., $24.94).  Returning series’ releases include the second season of the vintage TV series, The Patty Duke Show: Season 2 (Shout Factory, 900 min. $44.99), and the 10th and final season of the military/legal series JAG (Paramount, 969 min. $55.98).

 

Theatrical Films

 

Critics hated the Vince Vaughn-starring Couples Retreat (Universal, “PG-13” $29.98, BD $36.98), but audiences loved the comedy, which earned nearly $110 million at the domestic box office.  On the other hand the critics adored A Serious Man (Universal, “R” $29.98, BD $36.98), the Coen Brothers’ modern variation on The Book of Job, but the film earned less than $10 million at the box office.  An Academy Award nomination should help the film’s chance on DVD.

 

Adrienne Rich, whose film Waitress has become something of a cult hit, wrote the screenplay for Serious Moonlight (Magnolia, “R” $26.98) before her untimely death, but this mixture of comedy and tragedy could have used Rich’s directorial touches (and perhaps some script revisions).  Even less effective is I Hate Valentine’s Day (MPI, “PG-13” $19.98, BD $29.98), Nia Vardalos’ ill-considered follow-up to My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

 

The Time-Traveler’s Wife (New Line, “PG-13” $28.98, BD $35.99) is a science fiction romance based on a popular novel by Audrey Niffenegger.  The film attracted nearly $64 million at the domestic box office where it attracted a largely female audience.

 

The Stepfather (Sony, $28.98, BD $38.98) is a tepid remake of the 1987 cult classic thriller.  With the original available on DVD (Shout Factory, Rated “R,” $19.98), there’s no need to buy (or rent) the remake.

Adventurous movie lovers might want to check out Bronson (Magnolia, “R” $26.98, BD $29.98) a true life biography of the most violent prisoner in Great Britain, which turns out to be a rather disturbing meditation on the nature of violence and its role in human nature.

 

Foreign Films

 

Tadashi Imai’s 1963 film, Bushido: The Cruel Code of the Samurai (Animeigo, $24.98) provides a penetrating look at the relentless creed of the samurai with a fictional story about a young man who examines his family’s history after his fiancé attempts suicide.

 

Classics

 

This week Sony is releasing two Bad Girls of Film Noir collections ($24.96 each).  Not all the heroines of these films qualify as “bad girls,” and not all the films are true film noir, but each set contains four films and Lizabeth Scott in Two of a Kind (1951), Gloria Grahame in The Glass Wall (1953), and Janis Carter in Night Editor (1946) are each worth the price of set on their own.

 

Documentaries

 

Sex: How to Do Everything (Kino/Alive Mind, $39.98) is formatted like a TV series with two cheerful hosts (Em and Lo) who frankly discuss every aspect of what Preston Sturge used to call “Topic A.”  They dispense generally sensible and useful advice on a wide range of topics aided by charts, diagrams, and simulations.  The least successful portions of the various episodes are the “man and woman on the street interviews” in New York and London, which are often more self-conscious than enlightening, though they are occasionally amusing.  Most of this documentary involves only “R” rated nudity and simulated sexual activity, though the series’ most hilarious segment in which a male contortionist pleasures himself is a definite “X.”