Tuesday
Nov112008
Tuesday, November 11, 2008 at 3:48AM New to Home Video: 'Kung Fu Panda,' 'Hellboy,' 'The Clone Wars'
Hellboy II: The Golden ArmyI'll go on record and say I'd like to see a trilogy for Hellboy, even though I didn't find either film so far to approach perfection. They've both got problems, but it's such a cool universe, particularly in the hands and mind's eye of Guillermo del Toro.The sequel tried to be a summer blockbuster and really wasn't. Just imagine if they'd released it on Labor Day or even Halloween. It would've done much, much better, I think.
If you get the special edition DVD, it's one of those three-disc deals, which seems like overkill a lot of times (*cough* Forgetting Sarah Marshall). But there's a lot to study with a del Toro film, so it makes a little more sense here.
(Read our Hellboy II review)
Star Wars: The Clone WarsI guess we shouldn't have been surprised that a movie created as a promotional tool for a TV show would've been a little threadbare. Like Hellboy, however, I enjoyed The Clone Wars for a couple of reasons: The animation style, a modification of the approach they used on the first incarnation of this basic story, and the lack of involvement by George Lucas.
It underperformed, the first Star Wars project to do that since the Ewok Christmas special, I believe, and from what I hear, a lot of audience members really hated the new characters and young, hip dialogue. It's a valid beef. Only of any substantial value if you're obsessed with the entire Lucasverse.
(Check out our review)
Sukiyaki Western DjangoSukiyaki Western Django is a very hard film to describe succinctly. Here's what I can tell you: It's a Japanese homage to spaghetti westerns set in 19th century Nevada, only about half the characters are in contemporary dress, like they're gearing up for a drift race. It's also a bit of Shakespeare's Henry VI. And Quentin Tarantino wields an identifiably terrible southern accent with impunity. But that's nothing compared to the all-Japanese cast speaking English. Badly.
And it's also really, really cool. Of all the new releases, it's got the most unexpected turns and might even showcase the most creativity and artistry. It certainly has the name with the most bad-assedness.
(Our review)
Kung Fu PandaFinally, we're bookending the actual release date of the Kung Fu Panda DVD. We mentioned it last week, because it came out before today, and we're mentioning it today in case you missed it. The biggest animated flick of 2008 actually came out on Sunday. I'm sure we'll find out why someday why that made sense. But if you're conditioned to look for new DVDs on Tuesdays or Fridays, this is technically a new release.
They're doing a sequel, you know, which is both expected and anticipated. It's got good animation, though not as pristine as Wall-E, but I've said all along it may actually be more entertaining for 90 minutes than Wall-E, using the kids from 8-80 approach, anyway.
(Blah blah review blah blah)
Reader Comments (2)
Most stores (i.e. Wal-Mart, Target, etc) put out Kung-Fu Panda on Saturday to capitalize on their pre-Black Friday sales, so I suspect that's the reason it came out early.
Yeah, but that's two whole weeks before Black Friday. I could understand it if it were the 23rd.