This week’s top home entertainment offerings include two excellent examples of Scandinavian noir TV series, a BBC docudrama about the creation of the first Doctor Who TV series, and some interesting anime including some of the first directorial efforts of anime grandmasters Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata.
TV on DVD
This week’s top offerings are from overseas including The Bridge (Broen/Bron): Season 1 (MHz Networks, 580 min., $49.95), which includes the influential Danish TV series Broen/Bron that aired in 2011 and spawned the U.S. series The Bridge, which airs on the FX network (and was recently renewed for a second season). The Bridge (Broen/Bron) is an excellent example of the brooding (some say “plodding”) “Scandinavian noir” style of TV mystery. All ten episodes follow the investigation of the murder of a female Swedish politician whose dismembered body is found on the border between Denmark and Sweden.
Also of interest to fans of Nordic noir is Wallander: Season 3 (MHz Networks, 549 min., $69.95), which includes six episodes from the excellent Swedish detective series starring Krister Henriksson as worldwide Detective Kurt Wallander.
Serious Doctor Who fans are in for a treat with Doctor Who: An Adventure in Space and Time (BBC, 90 min., BD $24.98), a 2013 BBC docudrama about the creation of the long-running Doctor Who TV series. Commissioned for the 50th Anniversary of the original Doctor Who TV series, An Adventure in Time and Space was written by Sherlock scribe Mark Gattiss. This intriguing docudrama comes with a DVD that contains the very first Doctor Who saga, Story 001: An Unearthly Child.
For those who enjoy stylish period mysteries, there is another excellent series from overseas, the Australian mystery series, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries: Series 2 (Acorn Media, 727 min., $59.99, BD $59.99), which stars Essie Davis as Phryne Fisher, author Kerry Greenwood’s feisty, flapper detective. This stylish series with its fully emancipated heroine is one of the most expensive ever produced in Australia with each episode budgeted at a million dollars. With production values like this, it definitely pays to go for the Blu-ray version if at all possible.
The best contemporary American release is a Blu-ray edition of the first two seasons of the A&E mystery series Longmire, which is based on the excellent detective novels by Craig Johnson. Longmire: Seasons 1 & 2 (Warner Bros. 880 min., BD $49.95), includes 23 episode of the well-photographed mystery series that stars Robert Taylor as the brooding Sheriff Walt Longmire of Absaroka County, Wyoming.
Also of interest is the CIA espionage series Covert Affairs: Season 4 (Universal, $39.98), which contains all sixteen episodes of the USA Network series that stars Piper Perabo and Christopher Gorham.
The top vintage series release is The Bob Newhart Show: The Complete Series (Shout Factory, 3200 min., $129.99), which contains all 142 episodes of what was one of the very best sitcoms of the 1970s. Also due this week is Cimarron Strip: The Complete Series (eOne, 1620 min., $79.98), a western starring Stuart Whitman that aired on CBS in 1967 and 1968.
Anime
There are some very interesting releases this week led by Aquarion Evol Part 2 (Funimation, “14+,” 325 min., BD/DVD Combo $64.98), which includes the final 13 episodes of the 26-episode 2012 sequel to the 2005 mecha series, Genesis of Aquarion. Directed by mecha specialist Shoji Kawamori, Aquarion Evol, which has spawned a manga adaptation as well as a light novel, was produced by Satelight and should please those who enjoy big robo anime.
Also of great interest is the Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions (Sentai Filmworks, “14+,” 325 min., $49.98), the 2012 series from Kyoto Animation (Haruhi Suzumija, Kanon, K-On). This romantic comedy series is based on a light novel written by Torako, which was submitted in a competition sponsored by Kyoto Animation in 2010. Kyoto Animation continues to excel in the production of quirky romantic comedies, and Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions continues this strong tradition.
Many fans of old school anime have a special place in their hearts for the various adaptations of Monkey Punch’s Lupin III manga. Lupin III: The Complete First Series (Eastern Star, 520 min., $39.95) includes all 23 episodes of the first Lupin III TV anime series that aired in Japan in 1971 and 1972. Episodes 8,10, 11, and 13-23 were all directed by Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, the founders of Studio Ghibli—and represent some of their first directorial efforts. Many Miyazaki fans are aware of his brilliant Lupin III anime film, The Castle of Cagliostro, but haven’t seen these slightly earlier Lupin III efforts.
Also due out this week is Lupin III: The Hemingway Papers (Eastern Star, 92 min., $24.95), a TV special that originally aired in Japan in 1990. The Lupin III specials began airing in Japan in 1989, and a new 90-minute Lupin III special has been broadcast every year since.
Re-priced reissues due this week include the Tenjho Tenge Complete Collection (Eastern Star, 600 min., $49.95), which includes all 24 episodes (and 2 OVAs) of the fan service-filled 2004 Madhouse series based on the manga by Oh Great, and the DearS Complete Collection (Eastern Star, 325 min., $39.95), which includes all 13 episodes of the 2004 cute alien series based on the manga by Peach-Pit.
Theatrical Movies
It’s a very weak slate of titles in this category this week, with few offerings of interest unless you can enjoy the very black comedy of Cheap Thrills (New Video, “Not Rated,” 85 min., $19.95, BD $24.95). In E.L. Katz’s directorial debut, a recently fired family man agrees to take on an escalating series of insane challenges at the behest of a very twisted and very wealthy couple. Any allegorical allusions to the plight of American workers in the aftermath of the Great Recession are purely intentional. Cheap Thrills is definitely not for everyone, but it did manage a very respectable 85% positive rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.
Otherwise it is slim pickings with the likes of the very disappointing 2014 remake of the 1981 romance Endless Love (Universal, “PG-13,” 105 min., $29.98, BD $34.98), which stars Alex Pettyfer and received just a 15% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and another ill-advised makeover, Gambit (Sony, “PG-13” 89 min., $26.99, BD $30.99), which stars Colin Firth and Cameron Diaz in an unnecessary do-over of the classic 1966 caper film starring Michael Caine.
--Tom Flinn
The opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect those of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.
Week of May 27th, 2014
Posted by ICv2 on May 26, 2014 @ 10:03 pm CT