Directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi
Featuring Voices by Bridgit Mendler, Amy Poehler, and Will Arnett

Is this Japanese anime adaptation of a famed children’s book series larger than life, or will it make as small an impact as its diminutive stars?

The Film

From famed Japanese anime film producer Studio Ghibli (2002’s Academy Award-winning Best Animated Feature Spirited Away), Arrietty and her family of borrowers – a species of miniature people surviving on what they “borrow” – have their lives turned upside down when the young normal-sized boy Shaun discovers the little people during his vacation at his aunt’s country home. Now the borrowers must decide if they can trust the kind Shaun or follow their instinctual fear of humans – or “beans” – and leave the home they love.

A lot of Studio Ghibli films are adaptations, but this is probably the most familiar being from Mary Norton’s classic Borrowers children novel series. The borrowers themselves are faithfully adapted in terms of names and likenesses. What intrigues me in most tales of miniature people in our world is the inventive reusing of human trinkets, and Arrietty doesn’t disappoint. Some neat uses for adhesive tape and ear rings spring to mind.

Arrietty is translated and released in the US by Walt Disney Pictures, as are most other Studio Ghibli films. Disney tends to stock its Ghibli dub casts with Hollywood talent, which aren’t always the best suited for voice work. Thankfully, this cast proves up to the task and does an excellent job. Star talent includes Disney Channel’s Bridgit Mendler as the titular Arrietty, Carol Burnett as the cantankerous maid Hara, and real-life couple Amy Poehler and Will Arnett as Arrietty’s parents Homily and Pod respectively. The names of the human characters are changed in the English adaptation (Sho, Sasako, and Haru become Shaun, Jessica and Hara), but it doesn’t hurt the story.

Ultimately though, the film lacks a sense of accomplishment. The “villain” of the story is an old lady who halfway through goes on a vindictive borrower-napping rampage, her obsessiveness almost out of the blue. Her outburst justifies the borrowers’ fears despite the bonding between the young borrower girl Arrietty and the young human boy Shaun, instead of their friendship overcoming all as would be expected in this kind of family flick.

I’m actually surprised the film doesn’t follow up the more dynamic aspects it introduces to add some action and suspense. Instead, it ends anticlimactically, leaving you wondering if anything of note actually happened.

7/10

The Video

The Blu-Ray is in 1.85:1 widescreen. It’s a pretty film. Studio Ghibli continues to be a high mark in beautifully drawn and colored animation. Since it’s not a really active film though, some of the superb scenery shots are just static images breaking the animation flow of motion.

9/10

The Audio

The Blu-Ray also includes Dolby Digital 5.1 surround in English, French and original Japanese (with English and French subtitles for Japanese –language purists). It’s all clear, easy to hear. The soundtrack is populated mostly by the Celtic-themed tunes of French singer Cécile Corbel (including the main theme “Arrietty’s Song”). All of these perfectly match the green, lush setting of the country home the film takes place in. Tacked onto the ending credits is Arrietty’s English voice Bridgit Mendler’s generic poppy “Summertime,” which doesn’t fit as well.

9/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

This release doesn’t have many interesting bonuses. Included are a couple of music videos – one with the calm and soothing Celtic-like “Arrietty’s Song,” and the generic and forgettable pop song “Summertime.” Unfortunately the latter is the one with the “making of” video.

The disc includes storyboards for the film, but instead of appearing in a slide show, they’re presented as an optional replacement to the film’s animation in the main feature. It’s a unique gimmick, to show the film following the original storyboard plans, but it slows down anyone wanting to simply browse the art.

This set also comes with a DVD copy of the film, which only included the “Summertime” music video and its “making of” feature, so skip that disc.

6/10

Overall (Not an Average)

I want to like the newer Ghibli movies more than I do, being a fan of earlier films like Princess Mononoke, Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, and even Howl’s Moving Castle. But at the end of this family film, I felt that nothing really came out of it. It’s pretty and has a good score, which is great for background noise, but that’s about it.

7/10

The Review
The Film 7/10
The Video 9/10
The Audio 9/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 6/10
Overall (Not an Average) 7/10

Directed by Robert Rodriguez
Starring David Arquette, Salma Hayek, and William Sadler

Rodriguez describes the film in the commentary as Happy Days for the first 75 minutes and Fonzie snapping with a shotgun in the last 10. Except, Fonzie’s not a self-destructive and pretentious ass, and Happy Days has likeable characters, so that doesn’t work at all.

The Film

Dude (played by David Arquette and not to be confused with THE Dude) is a small-town greaser in the 1950s, clashing with other switchblade-wielding greasers and constantly at odds with the hard-ass sheriff (William Sadler). Dude’s girl Donna (Salma Hayek) keeps trying to get Dude to do something with his life and pursue his music, but Dude just can’t stay tied down. He’s got to rebel against the system, against society, against the girlfriend trying to tame him.

The film is part of a series of 1950s period pieces for the Showtime network. It’s Robert Rodriguez’s first Hollywood production, fresh off El Mariachi, taking several of his quick, one-man-crew tricks with him. The film is well made, that’s for sure. The shots and editing is good. It consistently flows and actually remembers how much ammunition a gun can hold (not true for a lot of movies). The acting is good. It’s the actual story and the written characters where the film flounders.

Dude really is a rebel without a cause, in that I don’t really get any motivation out of him other than being a self-involved jerk. He has some daddy issues to give him a push to make something out of his life, but he doesn’t try that either. He’s rude and lewd when there’s no call, cares more for being his own man than for his friend or girlfriend. The Invasion of the Body Snatchers references (with cameo from Kevin McCarthy) try to play on Dude’s anti-conformist nature, but he’s trying too hard at it that it comes off as pretentious. David Arquette does a good job playing Dude, but he’s playing a character I don’t care about. Pretty sad for the focus of the film.

And the hair grease, I don’t know why, but it just looks disgusting. At least it pays off with the funniest part of the film at the skating rink.

There’s no catching ending or thrilling action. The movie is well made, but it’s just not captivating. Most of the characters are hard to connect to, and those who aren’t don’t get enough attention. The few high points it has where Dude outwits the others aren’t enough to save it.

3/10

The Video

The film is presented in 1.78:1 widescreen, with 1080p high definition. Really though, the Blu-Ray release doesn’t add anything noticeable. Rodriguez did re-color the film for home video, and the colors are vivid. The actual footage though doesn’t have that Blu-Ray pop of clarity, and some scenes are downright blurry thanks to poor zoom-ins.

4/10

The Audio

The audio is all English, with 5.1 and 2.0 stereo, and it’s clear enough. The soundtrack is pretty fitting, with a lot of period early rock songs performed by Johnny Reno, who also played the head of the band in the film. There’s a weird clip from The Shadow radio shows added into the score, which doesn’t fit, but I can still appreciate it.

6/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

If you look at this box and see Sin City, a more famous Robert Rodriguez film, you’d fall into the same trap I did. The cover puts stars Arquette and Hayek in black and white, except for Hayek’s red dress and lips. The back similarly mutes all the colors except red. Roadracers is not like Sin City, so don’t get your hopes up. (There’s also not a lot of roadracing either, but that’s a different story)

Bonuses are limited to audio commentary with Robert Rodriguez, and a 10-minute behind-the-scenes “film school” with Rodriguez. The commentary and the film school feature are really the only reason to own this at all. Not because they’re amazing, but because they showcase a prominent director who really is proficient at several aspects of movie making. The audience gets to see the process as he learned as well in making a Hollywood production on short time and cash and how to pull that through.

5/10

Overall (Not an Average)

One of the main reasons Robert Rodriguez says he did the film was simply to get Salma Hayek an English acting credit so the studio would let him cast her in Desperado. That level of directorial interest doesn’t speak highly. This film is a much better study piece on working with little time and cash, learning what tricks and tips to use. Beyond that, with its unlikeable characters that never seem to learn anything, it’s not worthwhile.

4/10

The Review
The Film 3/10
The Video 4/10
The Audio 6/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 5/10
Overall (Not an Average) 4/10

Written by Donald Glut
Art by Jesse Santos

Doctor Spektor sets off on his final set of adventures to investigate what otherworldly beings plague humanity.

The Story

Doctor Adam Spektor is a researcher of the supernatural, pursuing mysteries across the globe and beyond. His studies lead to face offs with leviathans, mummies, ancient demons, and other-worldly deities. His assistants – including girlfriend Lakota Rainflower, his cousin Anne, the psychic Elliot Kane, and more – help Spektor investigate the mystic evils that plague man, but his relationships strain from his occult obsessions.

This fourth and final volume from Dark Horse collects the last seven issues of the mid-1970s comic series from original publisher Gold Key (other Gold Key characters like the Owl and Doctor Solar make cameos). The table of contents can confuse this by listing eight issues. That’s because the “final” issue 25 is a reprint of the first issue with a variant cover, with only that cover in this book.

Being a fourth volume, it’s actually not difficult to jump into. Doctor Spektor is from a time where every issue was expected to be someone’s first, so it has a reasonable amount of exposition to get the readers in without bogging them down. Each issue is a fairly stand-alone adventure, with all references explained well enough. Some references may even pique interests in checking out the previous books (Spektor used to be a werewolf?).

With that said though, you’re left wondering why Spektor searches out the abnormal, how he makes a living from it, and more importantly, what he has a doctorate in. You won’t find these in the previous volumes though. The book was cancelled, and as co-creator/author Donald Glut explains in the introduction, the origin story was planned as the next issue before the book was put on the chopping block.

Despite its untimely demise, Doctor Spektor is an intriguing supernatural mystery series, although it’s honestly and sadly not as surreal as I would have thought. I’m glad this volume explores some more Lovecraft-inspired mythology over the generic vampires, werewolves and mummies. The negatives? The characters take their relationships over melodramatically, and the mysticism seems solved too quickly, but that was the pacing of the day. Get everything in and out in one issue, with as much impact as possible. It doesn’t always help the story, but The Occult Files of Doctor Spektor manages through.

7/10

The Art

First off, you have to remember that this is truly a pre-digital comic of its day. The hallmarks of color bleed and over-inking are present throughout the work. I’m a fan of the covers. They’re look very surreal and even horrific in some cases. They look more like paintings than simple comic covers, with soft and detailed brush strokes to get everything just right. I wish the interior art was painted the same, but that would have taken even more months just to create a single issue. Even with the simpler penciling, inking and coloring, the interior is decent.

8/10

Overall

Is the book worth it? This trade is listed at $49.99. It only contains seven issues, so that’s about $7 an issue, too much even today. Especially since the book was cancelled in the first place for poor sales. The only bonuses are the hardback cover, an introduction by author Donald Glut, and excerpts from Doctor Spektor’s occult files (which were included in the original issues’ printings).

With such a small issue count and unremarkable bonuses, I can’t justify the high cost for anyone but a big Spektor fan from the ‘70s, needing their fix. If a cheaper softcover comes down the road, it’ll be a much easier recommended read.

6/10

The Review
Story 7/10
Art 8/10
Overall (Not an Average) 6/10

Directed by Michael E. Briant
Starring Tom Baker and Louise Jameson

The Doctor finds himself in a murder mystery where the only possible suspects are the ever-loyal robots everyone trusts, which means it’s probably the robots.

The Series

The Doctor (Tom Baker) and his new companion, the primitive Leela (Louise Jameson), find themselves on a futuristic mining vessel in the middle of a rash of murders. Everyone suspects each other, but no one suspects the loyal robot servants, bound by programming to never harm a human. No one, that is, except the Doctor.

Yes, it sounds like the 2004 I Robot film and a dozen other robot murder mysteries. This one though came out in 1977, itself only a few decades removed from Isaac Asimov’s creation of his famed Three Laws of Robotics that dictate robots shall not injure people. It wasn’t quite the cliché story it is today.

Take away that, and you still have a decent mystery story. Someone on this ship is pulling the strings to manipulate these robots into murdering the crew. The question is who. The show does a good job casting plausibility on all of the crew of the ship. Any of them could be the mysterious mad robot scientist Taren Capel, and it’s not definitely certain who it is until the big reveal.

The acting is good. Tom Baker does a fine Doctor, and it’s easy to see why he’s such a fan favorite. He is intelligent and aloof, yet still passionate and humorous. The crew of the mining ship is unique and life-like. The robots themselves are performed in a way that seems mechanical and lifeless, yet still give off an ambiguous feeling of possible emotion, helping to add to the mystery of these robots murdering and why.

The design of the robots comes across as futuristic butlers, and it works. The masks in particular are well molded and crafted human faces with a Victorian-era hairdo, very ornamental yet emotionless. The decorative attire matches well. These may be tools, but they’re also servants in a decadent society, so of course they’d look nice.

Where this goes downhill is in the ending. The Doctor’s actual technique for turning the tables on Taren Capel is almost laughable. The following resolution is over before you know it happens, with almost no care to the characters lost or left behind. It almost makes the entire adventure trivial to the Doctor, which is possibly true given everything he’s gone through.

Basically as soon as the good murder mystery is solved, the show putters out and rushes the ending. However, the ending doesn’t detract from the whole, so it’s still a good Doctor Who story.

7/10

The Video and Audio

The video and audio are television standard fullscreen in mono. The footage is littered with weird light flares off of the robot costumes. I’m sure that could have been cleaned up a bit for the DVD release, but it could have been worse in the original broadcast.

4/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The single-disc set has a bunch of extras that seem to be standard with these Who releases, with commentary from cast and crew, test footage, set design images and so on. The making-of documentary “The Sandmine Murders” gives a good bit of insight into the production and is a good follow-up to the actual show. The light-hearted documentary “Robophobia” covers the usage of robots throughout the stories of Doctor Who, even going so far to call out Daleks and Cybermen for not technically being robots. Both these docs are worth revisiting the disc after watching the feature.

7/10

Overall (Not an Average)

This Fourth Doctor adventure is decently entertaining, even if the ending feels rushed. It’s got enough going for it, in the actual feature and the bonuses, to make it a worthwhile watch for Who fans.

7/10

The Review
The Series 7/10
The Video and Audio 4/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 7/10
Overall (Not an Average) 7/10

Directed by Xavier Gens
Starring Lauren German, Milo Ventimiglia and Michael Biehn

Next time, choose better bunk mates for your post-apocalyptic fallout shelter.

The Film

Running from nuclear attacks, apartment tenants fun for dear life to their 9/11-obsessedd superintendent Mickey’s bomb shelter. Too bad he’s not keen on the company.

I reviewed an advance copy of this film on CineGeek a few months ago. As far as I can tell, this final release hasn’t been changed, and given how little time has passed, my opinion hasn’t really either.

This film covers these random, mostly unconnected neighbors as they try to survive alone and isolated from the world, and then eventually survive each other. It’s an examination of the mental and physical breakdown of all of these characters, and it does a great job exploring the depths they fall.

These characters suffer from hunger, thirst, low oxygen, radiation poisoning, and a severe case of cabin fever. And they don’t generally get along, which only gets worse and worse. When they all snap, they all go in very different directions, yet logical for their characters. Some go psychotic and terrifying. Some break down and become submissive and meek. The cast does a great job making these transformations believable, making sure that even at their most inhuman that there’s still some humanity to these characters.

The film has a problem keeping track of time with the film’s pacing. An off-hand remark refers to weeks having gone by, and with the physical deterioration, that seems likely. However, and despite its two-hour run time, it feels like less time actually passes. This makes some of the character development seem rushed.

This is a long movie, and it’s not easy. The characters do some gross and even despicable things. But it’s an intriguing character study if you can make it through. The pay off won’t be cheery, but it’ll be fulfilling.

7.5/10

The Video

The film is presented in 1080p 2.35:1 widescreen. Compared to early screeners, the video is a lot crisper and cleaner. With some of the subtle physical changes – from thinning, hair loss, wrinkling and so on – the added detail definitely adds a needed touch.

8/10

The Audio

The Blu-Ray comes with English Dolby TrueHD 7.1, with French 5.1 and Spanish mono (we see who got the short end of that audio stick). The audio comes through fine and clear, but there’s nothing remarkable about it.

6/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

This release is pretty bare bones in terms of extras – only the film trailer and audio commentary with director Xavier Gens and actors Michael Biehn (Mickey), Michael Eklund (Bobby) and Milo Ventimiglia (Josh). Also included is a DVD version of the film, with the same features.

The commentary adds some good insight to the production, such as the filming done sequentially, as well as the improvisation of the cast. There does seem to be a slight delay at times on what they’re commenting on, so that’s a bit disconcerting. Also weird, the director even refers to a “making-of” at one point in the commentary, but obviously that wasn’t added on this set.

6/10

Overall (Not an Average)

The Divide is a worthwhile film if you want to see some of the worst of humanity brought out. It’s a good insight into being trapped with one another will cause people to become. The set is pretty no-thrills, and it’s not a must own, but it’s worth checking out.

7.5/10

The Review
The Film 7.5/10
The Video 8/10
The Audio 6/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 6/10
Overall (Not an Average) 7.5/10

Directed by Mervyn Pinfield and Frank Cox
Starring William Hartnell, Carole Ann Ford, William Russell and Jacqueline Hill

This early Doctor Who adventure features an alien species that hangs around in pajamas all day. That’s not very alien to this reviewer.

The Series

The TARDIS crew find themselves in a ship adrift in space, with its three-person crew under mental imprisonment from the Sensorites, an isolationist species of a local planet who try to protect their people and world by keeping everything secret. Now that the Doctor, his granddaughter Susan, and her teachers Ian and Barbara are also unable to escape, they must combat the Sensorites’ prejudices in order to broker peace and stop the disease ravaging the Sensorites… and one of their own.

The meat of the show is pretty solid. An alien species is as mistrusting of us as foreigners as we would be of them. Only the wiser, calmer heads of the Doctor and friends on both sides can overcome the fear-mongering of those wanting to eradicate the other. Everyone learns the dangers of blind anger, as well as blind trust, and that people must be open and try to learn about one another so we can get along. Always a good lesson and usually always topical.

The actors do a good job conveying their emotions of fear and anger, as well as earnest hope and understanding. Unfortunately conveying their lines is a separate matter, as several stumbles should have underwent another take.

The main drawback to the show is its length. Six episodes already sound like a lot, even with being a half-hour instead of the hour episodes of modern Who. However, this could have been done in five or even four. The characters take too long to piece together the machinations of the main anti-foreigner Sensorite faction, which the audience already knows. The audience is left impatiently waiting on the Doctor and friends to finally catch up.

A rough barrier of entry will also be William Hartnell’s Doctor. This isn’t the manic and dashing hero of modern day. Hartnell’s Doctor is a temperamental old man. The show in general more subdued and talkative, which will probably be too slow for some. The black and white footage and cheap affects may also turn away some, but they don’t detract from the story. In fact, the black and white probably helps cover for the cheap effects and costuming (although nothing can help the Sensorites’ pajama uniforms)

It’s a decent show with a good story, but it drags too long and probably won’t be what newer fans are looking for.

5/10

The Video and Audio

This is an old TV show that simply hasn’t stood up to the test of time. Shown in original 4:3 fullscreen and black and white, the footage will occasionally have a cloudy haze and even motion blur. The mono audio as well isn’t well recorded, sounding muffled and unclear.

The soundtrack is sparse for background and mood music, which seems to be on purpose. Commentary with actor William Russell (Ian) actually mentions a trend at the time against mood music. It almost works given the in-story weakness the Sensorites have against loud noise, but there is still often too much quietness.

3/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

This one-disc feature is in standard packaging, with a Sensorite on the cover looking a bit more life-like and alien than they do in the actual footage.

The bonuses add educational trivia about early television production, and most of it is pretty good. From the cast and crew commentary to interviews with the vision mixer, it’s neat to learn about how shows were produced then versus now.

The one that falls flat is the well-produced documentary on writer Peter Newman, which really doesn’t detail anything about making the show, instead simply explaining about the man who otherwise isn’t very interesting.

6/10

Overall (Not an Average)

Even remastered, The Sensorites suffers as a product of its age, both in the quality of the actual production (hazy video and muffled audio), and the ideas of production that don’t hold up today (drawn-out plot, little background noise). It’s a worthwhile story, and most of the bonuses are decent enough, but there are simply better shows and even better Doctor Who stories in specific. Unless you’re a completist or a student of ‘60s television production, this one can be passed over.

5/10

The Review
The Series 6/10
The Video and Audio 3/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 7/10
Overall (Not an Average) 5/10

Created by Hasbro Studios
Starring: Peter Cullen, Frank Welker, Jeffrey Combs, Ernie Hudson and Steve Blum

The age-old battle between Autobots and Decepticons continue with old favorites and new graphics, but does it hold up without the nostalgia?

The Series

Autobots and Decepticons are at it again. The complete first season covers the opening miniseries “Darkness Rising” (Overall 8/10 at CineGeek) and goes from there, covering the exploits of the Autobots and their new human friends as they try to protect Earth from the hidden Decepticon threat.

This series is dramatic and action packed. While it has its humor to keep the whole show from being super dark, the show generally takes itself seriously. All the threats feel credible, and the suspense is really solid. While some of the stories are the general race between Autobot and Decepticon to find energon/Cybertronian artifact/MacGuffin of the week, others are more character and plot based. We learn back story of several of the Transformers, and the show runners did their research. From new interpretations of Unicron to the Orion Pax back story and more, franchise fans will be more than pleased by this new yet familiar territory so well fleshed out.

The human characters are bearable and even likeable at times, not all too common with humans in a Transformers series. Still, the kids are too prone to follow when told not to, which ends up causing more problems than they solve. I’m still not a fan of the smarter-than-his-age-group cliché that is Raf, but at least he doesn’t tend to cause as many problems as the far-too-impulsive Miko. The more surprising aspect would be the human villains, a techno-terrorist unit called M.E.C.H. that actually provides a serious opposition to the Autobots (and a thankful break to Starscream’s constant whining about energon and his inferior superiority complex).

All around though, the characters are well acted. Thankfully, there’s no one I find annoying to listen to as I wait for the combat to commence. Obviously, you can’t go wrong with Peter Cullen and Frank Welker reprising the wise and fearless Optimus and maniacally evil Megatron respectively. Everyone else does a stand-up job, from Jeffrey Combs’ Ratchet, Ernie Hudson’s Agent Fowler, Steve Blum’s Starscream, Gina Torres’ Airachnic, Clancy Brown’s Silas, to the kids and more.

I would like to see more Transformers, or at least more Autobots. The only new addition out of the main five is the one-episode appearance of Wheeljack. The Decepticons do a much better job fleshing out their lineup. I’m much more a fan when this war is on a much larger scale, and there are Autobots and Decepticons everywhere, but obvious limits in CG models makes this difficult.

With good storytelling, good acting, and great bot-on-bot action, Transformers Prime is an excellent show for any mecha enthusiast.

8/10

The Video and Audio

The video is presented in 1080p anamorphic widescreen, and the audio comes in both 5.1 surround and 2.0 stereo English tracks. The CGI is crisper and more detailed than I recall from the miniseries DVD release. While I still can’t get used to Bumblebee’s Groucho-Marx-styled eyebrows or Optimus having a mouth, the animation in general is still really impressive. From the fluid action, down to the dinged metal and scraped glass, with the dramatic soundtrack to accent it all, the series shows that a lot of work went into this series.

9/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The whole season comes on a four-disc set in a Blu-Ray case, packaged with an IDW graphic novel in a cardboard box. The graphic novel is a prequel telling how Arcee and Cliffjumper came to be partners. It’s decent enough on its own, but it works well in making this a complete collection.

The discs themselves are packed with select episode commentary with cast and crew (even the voice of Bumblebee, so think about that), a trailer for season two, a making-of video, and a toy featurette video. The toy featurette is more of a making of than the actual making-of, discussing the franchise legacy, making the toys to match the series and so on. Plus, unlike the making-of video, the toy featurette is obviously made after the series, so the Hasbro cast gets to discuss aspects throughout the series. Overall, the toy featurette is a neat piece about what goes into a Transformers series beyond just the technical show making, and the making-of has interviews with Peter Cullen and Frank Welker, so it’s all a win-win.

The minor complaint comes from the packaging, with the flip cover in the Blu-Ray case lists the episodes starting at #1 on each disc, instead of episode numbers in terms of the full season (Example: episode 4 on disc 3 should instead be episode 17).

8/10

Overall (Not an Average)

I’m glad to see my high opinion of the series maintained throughout this first season. If these robots in disguise have been a part of your childhoods at all, Transformers Prime does your nostalgia justice. Definitely check it out.

9/10

The Review
The Series 8/10
The Video and Audio 9/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 8/10
Overall (Not an Average) 8/10

Directed by Graeme Harper
Starring Peter Davidson and Nicola Bryant

The Doctor fights against corporate greed, militarism, and 1980s sci-fi fashion!

The Film

The Doctor (Peter Davidson) and Peri (Nicola Bryant) find themselves caught up in the petty resource dispute on the barren planet Androzani Minor. Suspected as spies and caught between the creepy masked man Sharaz Jek and the militant Androzani Major forces, this time-traveling duo finds themselves combating corporate greed in a race against time and a deadly toxin.

“The Caves of Androzani” is the climatic finish to Peter Davidson’s career at the Fifth Doctor. This four-episode story features the Doctor stuck between warring factions, fighting to save not so much the world or all of time, but simply the life of  his friend Peri. It’s neat to see the Doctor go through such effort over something more personal. His struggle is more against individual greed, such as the corrupt businessman Morgus, as well as hostile vengeance from Jek and the military. The actors for the most part do a decent job. Davidson’s Doctor is smart and a smart aleck at times, but he’s serious when he needs to be. The mercenary leader is also fun to watch backstab everyone and be a general ass. Sharaz Jek is creepy and Morgus is a great slime ball as he’s meant to be.

From a production stand point, however, this is pretty low tier. The sets are laughably cheap, and despite cleaver tricks, such as wheeled walls to move around to make new “locations,” the cave set in particular still comes off as poor and repetitive. More so, the sense of ‘80s flash added to assumptions of futuristic attire cause a horrible visual clash at times, leading to almost laughable clothing and sets. Most of the budget probably went into monster costuming and special effects, which are still pretty cheap looking but are otherwise decent for the time and budget (which is to say next to nothing).

However, low budgets can be overlooked for good storytelling. Direction often cannot. The camera movement and actor staging is clunky, and years later, director Graeme Harper is more than glad to point out during the commentary how very novice he was. The actors often don’t face each other in conversations, making them seem very staged and unnatural. Odd and sudden close ups from directorial mix ups seem very awkward, as characters randomly talking to the audience tends to disrupt the immersion.

The story is good, and the actors do the best with what they have, but the bad direction choices and cheap feel put a damper on the production.

5/10

The Video and Audio

Unfortunately, the show’s age shows. The main feature is presented in its original television broadcast 4:3 fullscreen aspect ratio. That haze you see? That’s not nostalgia. The show really looks as old and low budget as it is, and yet it’s clear enough to see the hokey sets and props. Even worse, at some points, the footage scrolls horizontal lines, as if an error in the recorded playback. Somehow, the footage used in the documentary extras looks better than in the feature, probably thanks to cherry picking what looks best. If you have a pair of VHS nostalgia goggles, you’d better grab them.

The audio, also a product of its time, is in mono, but it’s still decent enough to hear Nicola Bryant forgetting to use an American accent.

4/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

This two-disc set is pretty loaded with extras. The second disc is just extras, and the first disc has plenty as it is. There are several documentaries and behind-the-scenes features, making sure you know everything about everything that went into the making of “The Caves of Androzani.” The footage ranges from the period of the original airing (including a television interview with both Doctors of the feature – Peter Davidson and Colin Baker) to modern-day look backs with the cast and crew.

The navigation could be a bit better, as the commentary is hidden under the not-so-obvious “Audio Options.” Once you find it though, it’s worth hearing Peter Davidson, Nicola Bryant and director Graeme Harper reminisce about the shoot and how things have changed since then (and how Holmes keeps pointing out his novice mistakes in his directorial early days).

One unique feature is the isolated score audio mode for the feature, which plays ONLY the score with the footage, not the dialog or sound effects. It goes to show how quiet most of the show is, with scores being far between and often painfully on the nose when they do play.

8/10

Overall (Not an Average)

This is actually my first outing into the original Doctor Who television series. I had only seen from the 2005 revival through now, and everything else, I got through Wikipedia and a Whovian of a roommate. One has to keep the period in mind, but even still, this might be rough for some with more modern tastes, spoiled by more recent advances in special and computer-generated effects.

For Who fans though, as well as people interested in the progression of “sci-fi on a budget,” this is a great find. The amount of extras that detail the makings of this work from every aspect will keep you entertained long after the four episodes are done.

6.5/10

The Review
The Film 5/10
The Video and Audio 4/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 8/10
Overall (Not an Average) 6.5/10

Directed by Hideyuki Hirayama
Starring Etsushi Toyokawa, Chizuru Ikewaki and Koji Kikkawa

A loyal samurai commits high treason by murder, but instead of death, he finds a life he didn’t expect.

The Film

Kanemi Sanzaemon (Etsushi Toyokawa), a samurai in service to his lord during the Edo period in Japan (Edo period being 1603-1868), suddenly and without provocation murders his lord’s mistress. Expecting a beheading, Sanzaemon is instead spared with a year of house arrest and servitude as his lord’s bodyguard. With his wife dead from disease, Sanzaemon must now find a new future for himself and his caretaker and wife’s niece Rio (Chizuru Ikewaki).

Sword of Desperation, or Hisshiken Torisashi, is an adaption of the historical fiction book of the same name by Shuhei Fujisawa. Don’t go into the film expecting a samurai epic, with swords flying about. Despite the box copy calling Sanzaemon an expert swordsman, the film doesn’t even reference it for the first hour, at which point it seems out of place. It’s not until an hour and a half into the film that there’s any actual combat. This film is not about swordplay, but it is about desperation.

This is a character study on Sanzaemon trying to find meaning in his life after he loses his wife and resigns himself to his own execution. His entire life is desperation, from losing his wife to killing the mistress to his service to his lord and the final showdown. He’s almost like a lost puppy, and the audience can’t help but be enthralled in watching Sanzaemon being toyed with by the whims of his superiors.

Overall, he’s a stoic and nice guy, so much so that the audience can tell right away that the murder he commits is out-of-character. The rest of the cast puzzle over why he kills the lord’s mistress, and although I believe one of them is correct, Sanzaemon himself never says why. Not that she didn’t have it coming though, as the film spells out how corrupt she and the lord are, but that doesn’t seem to bother Sanzaemon.

Some may  be frustrated by the film’s lack of answers or redemption for Sanzaemon’s crime (he doesn’t really attempt to make up for it), but any clear answer would simplify the character and spoil the exploration the film and the audience undertake.

The film also excels in its design and attention to detail. It’s pretty in its scenic setting of a country village in Edo-period Japan. The costuming and set design are well done and look as period accurate as this non-historical-expert reviewer can tell. Basically, it’s nice to look at.

The film starts to come apart in its heavy flashback usage. It doesn’t always do a good job transitioning back and forth between the past and present. Often the transition looks like a regular scene change, so it may take a moment to realize you’ve just been jettisoned back a few years from what was just happening. Sometimes there’s a color fade to signify the change, but not always. Sometimes it’s even a flashback within a flashback. You get used to it, but there is a small adjustment period that may be jarring.

7/10

The Video and Audio

Video is 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. It’s crisp and clean, allowing the audience to easily see the detail in the film. Audio is only in Japanese and comes in both 5.1 surround and 2.0 stereo. It’s nice that the film gives the option of yellow or white subtitles. Both sets are readable, thanks to bold black outlining that keeps the subtitles from disappearing into the background, so the choice is more a matter of preference.

8/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The film comes on a single disc in standard packaging. I like the simple cover with a close up of Etsushi Toyokaya’s Sanzaemon on a dark blue background with a couple of film festival awards listed.

In terms of extras, the most interesting and useful is the set of Program Notes on the disc. These informational slides help explain some of the period aspects a western audience may not be familiar with, as well as give background info on the original creator Shuhei Fujisawa, director Hideyki Hirayama and star Etsushi Toyokawa. Still, these notes would have probably been more helpful as a booklet or on-screen pop-up notes so you could read along with the film. Also included are trailers for other AnimEigo samurai films and an image gallery.

7/10

Overall (Not an Average)

If you know what you’re getting into, watching this guy Sanzaemon be a plaything for the forces in his world and being unable to control his life, then Sword of Desperation will be a good pick for you. If you’re expecting unrelenting sword-on-sword combat, you’ll still get it, but you’ll have to wait a while before your blood-splattering tastes are sated.

7/10

The Review
The Film 7/10
The Video and Audio 8/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 7/10
Overall (Not an Average) 7/10

Directed by Yoshiharo Ashino
Featuring Voices by Cassandra Lee, Michael McConnohie and Tony Oliver

Why is a Soviet teen psychic soldier fighting with a katana?

The Film

Just as World War II comes to Russia, an amnesiac teen girl Nadya finds herself caught up in a Nazi scheme to revive an undead, Russian-hating crusader army. Conveniently for her (or at least for Russia), she’s a Soviet psychic soldier trained to tackle the occult threat, and her friends on the other side are itching to join her for some pay back.

This anime film is sadly an example of the sum being worth less than the parts. There’s so much about this project that’s intriguing. It’s a Japanese-Russian co-production, being created and written by Russians Aljosha Klimov and Misha Shprits, with a healthy amount of production staff between the two countries. The animation studio Studio 4°C has done good work in the past (the film Tekkon Kinkreet; shorts in The Animatrix and Batman: Gotham Knight; the new ThunderCats). Even the concept sounds exciting, psychic kid soldiers fighting Nazi occultists and an undead army from the Crusades. It’s just missing Indiana Jones, Hellboy or Captain America.

It’s just too bad that the film itself is pretty boring. The main character Nadya is an emotional dud. Her English voice actress (Cassandra Lee) doesn’t convey anything other than apathy. The dialog is clunky and awkward. Large parts of the film are flashbacks and exposition that halt the pace and make the audience wait impatiently for something to actually happen. The few action scenes in the film are inevitably and frustratingly cut short. The combat we’re promised in the opening credits only happens in the last five minutes, and it’s just as anti-climatic as the overall story.

The film is listed twice on the disc as short and long versions. The short version that runs for an hour is just the anime feature. The long version (which has the 75-minute run time listed on the cover) splices the film with live-action and realistic fictional interviews of Russian and German WWII veterans, historians, psychiatrist, etc. This documentary-style element tries to give the film some grounding, playing off the occult conspiracies abound in that era to make this film appear to be an actual military effort.

Just remember that unless you speak Russian, have subtitles on when watching the long version. While the film defaults in English, it starts with an interview with a Russian-speaking gentleman, and the disc doesn’t compensate for this with those subtitles defaulting to on, nor are the interview segments dubbed over.

Unfortunately, the interviews , with their realism and believability , turn out to be far more interesting than the actual film. This anime should have gone full force into the mockumentary instead of trying for a lack-luster supernatural drama.

3/10

The Video

The film is 1080p in a 1.78:1 widescreen. It looks crisp enough, but its muted coloring, slow animation and general lack of movement makes this film visually uninteresting.

4/10

The Audio

The film is presented in 2.0 and 5.1 surround sounds in English, Russian and Japanese languages. However, the Japanese language track is only available in the short, anime-only version of the film. No idea why, unless the Japanese version of the film never included the interviews, but even still that’s an audio editing change that could have been made for the production of this disc.

The audio quality is clear, but it’s also flat and emotionless. Most of the background effects and music are quiet, down beat and soporific. Great if you want to take a nap.

4/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The Blu Ray comes in a standard case and is fairly no thrills. The only extras it has are trailers for Redline and Battle Royal. A no-brainer extra would have been to take the documentary portions in the long version of the feature and put them together for one extra. If they can set aside the anime portion for its own feature, they should be able to do the same for the live-action interviews.

2/10

Overall (Not an Average)

I wanted to like this, but First Squad: The Moment of Truth is mediocre at best. There is potential here, so I wouldn’t mind seeing this work revisited.  This first outing though is completely passable.

3/10

The Review
The Film 3/10
The Video 4/10
The Audio 4/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 2/10
Overall (Not an Average) 3/10

Directed by Takeshi Koike
Featuring Voices by Patrick Seitz, Michelle Ruff and Liam O’Brien

“In the far future, the greatest velocity in space is decided.” And that velocity is how quickly you should pick this Blu-Ray up.

The Film

The film opens on a humanoid-dog-inhabited planet watching a race in progress. Your eyes lock onto the unique character and car designs animated with an odd beauty and fluidity that many may not be accustomed to. Suddenly, this pompadour-sporting Trans-Am driver hits the nitro, and the film’s got you through the end. Twelve minutes later, the title sequence plays, but you’re so engrossed that you forgot the film hasn’t even told you its name.

That’s Redline by Takeshi Koike (from The Animatrix – “World Record,” ), a spectacular spectacle of speed, packed with great characters, awesome cars, stunning visuals and more than enough action and humor to please any movie-watching adrenaline junkie.

The story (by Katsuhito Ishii) goes that every five years, the Redline race is held to determine the fastest drivers in the universe. No holds are barred, as drivers deck their rides with any weapon or trick they can, except for our pompadour-topped greaser star JP (voiced in English by Patrick Seitz), who wants to win on speed alone. With the help of his mob-lackey mechanic friend Frisbee (Liam O’Brian) and his tricked-out custom Trans-Am, JP competes with the best of the best – including a certain female racer Sonoshee (Michelle Ruff). This year’s race takes place on a heavily-militarized planet that doesn’t want Redline anywhere near its secret projects and will stop at nothing to wipe out the racers before they can cross the finish line.

If that sounds like lot, don’t worry. The film is rarely bogged down, yet it still surprisingly manages to establish perfectly serviceable and deep characters. You learn about relationships and rivalries, back histories, even intergalactic political conflicts all while the film blazes by. This great job in world building is both satisfying and yet leaves you wanting more, which isn’t a bad thing in this case.

You don’t need to be a racing fan to like this film. I’m certainly not. Don’t think NASCAR. Instead think Speed Racer mixed with sci-fi dystopia, topped with a healthy amount of humor, violence, rough language and a little bodacious fan service. It’s not rated, but it’s definitely not for the kiddies.

You don’t even need to like Japanese anime. Redline is a good action film entirely on its own. Anyone who likes fast action and humor in their space tales will have a blast watching it. Anyone who claims to enjoy animation in general will marvel at this visual masterpiece, animated with over 100,000 hand-drawn cells that took three years of the film’s seven-year production to complete.

If you stay away from anime because nothing has been stylish or cool since Cartoon Network premiered Cowboy Bebop, if you’re tired of having to sift through hundreds of episodes  of a series to find anything worthwhile, if you’re sick of over-reliance of CGI in animation, Redline is just what you need. It’s a stand-alone piece of carefully-crafted visual wonder and high-octane action, and most movie goers can find something in it to enjoy.

9.5/10

The Video

This film makes me glad to own a Blu-Ray player. It’s in widescreen 1.78:1 and 1080p HD, and it’s gorgeous. It’s hand-drawn animation at its finest, with incredible care going into making each cel. Everything is incredibly crisp and clear. The animation is fluid and kinetic, superbly conveying the feel of speed. The colors are breathtakingly vibrant, popping out with contrast from deep black shadowing. I can’t see the DVD version looking as sharp as this Blu-Ray. Definitely the way to own this movie.

10/10

The Audio

The film has both English and Japanese languages, each in 2.0 and 5.1 surround sound. Be sure you choose the correct setting though, or some of the dialog will be overpowered by the sound effects and background music. You might not notice though, since the sound effect are well done in matching every little detail, right down to the car noises and JP’s leather jacket. The electronic rock music is a perfect fit with energetic popping beats synching perfectly with these high-speed cars and characters.

8.5/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The film comes in a standard Blu-Ray case and has three neat extras: a full-fledged documentary “Perfect Guide,” an abridged and flashier “Quick Guide,” and an early 2006 concept trailer made entirely of animation not used in the final film.

The so-called Quick Guide would be sufficient on its own, clocking in at about 25 minutes long and covering plenty of creator comments, behind-the-scenes footage, and in-depth character bios. The Perfect Guide goes much deeper into the seven-year effort to create this spectacle, spending more time on the drawing process, voice recording and the movie’s time on the film festival circuit.

All together, these extras show the dedication and effort that went into making Redline, leaving the audience with a greater appreciation of the work and a burning desire to own the toy cars shown throughout the documentaries.

8.5/10

Overall (Not an Average)

Redline is an adrenaline rush. Its fun action and humor will leave you on the edge of your seat, and its stunning graphics will keep you glued to your TV. You don’t need to be an anime or even general animation fan to have fun watching this movie. The Blu-Ray is the must-have version of this film for the complete visual experience.

9.5/10

The Review
The Film 9.5/10
The Video 10/10
The Audio 8.5/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 8.5/10
Overall (Not an Average) 9.5/10

Directed by Xavier Gens
Starring Lauren German, Milo Ventimiglia and Michael Biehn

Before you run for cover with your neighbors, make sure you actually like them.

The Film

Random strangers living in the same apartment building run for dear life as nuclear strikes hit New York City. The only safe place is the apartment building’s basement, retrofitted into a bomb shelter by their 9/11-obsessed superintendent. Only he’s not too happy about company.

This film is almost a study piece on the social and mental breakdown of a variety pack of people locked away for an extended amount of time, as seen through the main protagonist Eva (Laruen German). Eva is a decent audience surrogate, quiet and emotionally downbeat. The audience reacts with Eva to everyone else’s more dynamic developments, with her neighbors including the punk Josh (Milo Ventimiglia) and his friends, the young mother Marilyn (Rosanna Arquette), the intelligent and sadly stereotypical doomed older black guy Delvin (Courtney B. Vance), and the cantankerous building superintendent Mickie (Michael Biehn).

Some of the characters become hostile and domineering over their fellow residents, much to Mickie’s contention. Others become timid and submissive, latching onto the few things they feel empowering. For the most part, all the actors believably portray these characters’ developments, making these relations and deterioration’s feel real. You could easily imagine some similar behaviors from your own neighbors if trapped together with no hope of survival.

However, some of their more drastic breaks feel too quick, almost out of nowhere. This seems to be more so out of the film failing to keep track of the passage of time. It’s possibly an editing problem but more likely the decision not to include (or just forgetting) signs of how much time has passed. It’s hard for the audience to do so without scenes of day or night or without the audiences changing clothes (while running for cover in a nuclear explosion, you too may forget to pack a change of clothes). Nor do the facial-hair-growing cast members show much of a noticeable change in that region (although they do have a razor as seen in the last act, so maybe they shaved regularly).

By the end, we can assume several weeks have gone by (thanks to an off-hand remark). It’s believable upon retrospect, as the characters succumb to symptoms of be either malnutrition or radiation poisoning. Never specifically saying which adds good sense of wonder and fear for the audience – hoping some are malnourished and may be saved and taken care of, while others are poisoned by nuclear fallout and are cooked from the inside out.

The film is a slow burn at over two hours. It’s not generally a fast film either, aside from a misleading mid climax and the actual climax at the end. The film gives the false idea that the characters will leave early on, just to shut them back in to watch them fall apart on the edge of the end of the world.

This is not a happy film by any means, not even in the ending. It’s a view of the post-apocalyptic that’s not often shown, focusing more on the emotional damage of normal people with better comforts than many could hope for, as opposed to leather-clad badasses roaming barren wastelands. It’s not quite on par with The Road in terms of actual people being changed by the end of the world, but if you enjoyed its emotional trip, you should find The Divide to have similar takeaways.

7.5/10

Written and Art by Mark Crilley

Being haunted and forced to catch murderers really cuts unto hangout time.

The Story

Brody is a young man searching for a murderer in a seedy city, with the help of ghosts. Specifically, the ghosts of a young teen girl who can shatter glass and of an ancient samurai training Brody to unlock his supernatural senses.

Brody is a hapless good guy who doesn’t want to be a psychic detective but nonetheless commits himself to finding this murderer. He’s likeable enough, wanting to do the right thing and help people, but he doesn’t want to dedicate his life to it as the final story cramps into his personal time. Still, how he found the time to spend a week and a half in a sewer, I have no idea.

This one-shot is made of four short tales featuring Brody training and working on the Penny Murder case. Each short is self-contained and works on its own. The first shows Brody saving a girl and talking to the ghosts, telling the reader the basics to get started. The series ranges from dramatic to comedic, dealing with Brody saving people from thugs and seeing the affects of murders on loved ones, as well as putting up with crazy training high jinks and a persistently annoying and pushy teenage girl (who happens to be a ghost that can shatter glass).

This book feels less like a one-shot and more like a pilot, and that’s because it is. These segments were originally published online in MySpace Dark Horse Presents #30-33 in 2010, previews to the then upcoming main comic series.

Because this is essentially a preview to an already started series and all of these segments are stand-alone stories, this specific book feels incomplete.

It’s an odd combination I’d expect to see in the bonus material of the main books. Fans of the series will appreciate having these stories combined in print. There’s enough here to interest new readers as well,  the ghost concept is interesting, as is seeing Brody’s emerging abilities that are only referenced in here. It can grab new readers for the series, so I hope the book is filled with advertisements for the already-published books.

7.5/10

The Art

Crilley has a serious manga influence in his character designs, with simplified figures, enlarged eyes and spiky hair. It works with the story, especially with the samurai ghost character. Otherwise, it’s not particularly remarkable, but it gets the story told well enough. The only knocks I’d really have are some off eyes and occasional background color inconsistencies.

Speaking of colors, after the first segment, Dan Jackson takes over coloring from Crilley. Jackson’s colors are vibrant and sharp, with better shading to give more shape to the artwork. Crilley’s coloring by comparison looks a bit flatter and washed out, but only barely and after more critical reflection.

6/10

Overall

This one-shot is a decent enough preview of the main series. As a stand-alone, it feels incomplete and leaves the reader wanting more, which means it’s done its job.

7/10

The Review
Story 7.5/10
Art 6/10
Overall (Not an Average) 7/10

Written by John Ostrander
Art by Stephane Roux

“The name is Cross. Jahan Cross. I’ll take my Blue Milk shaken, not stirred.”

The Story

Jahan Cross is an intelligence officer for the Empire, going undercover to thwart threats to the security of Palpatine’s rule. After all, not every situation requires Vader force choking someone (just most of them). This time, Jahan’s mission takes him into the heart of the Corporate Sector to learn about a mysterious “Iron Eclipse” project that may bring harm to the Empire.

Jahan is supposed to be the James Bond of the Star Wars universe, a government agent working to ensure the security and safety of the Empire, just not the British one. And that’s just what he is. Ostrander simply put a Star Wars skin over a by-the-numbers Bond story. The issue starts with Jahan wrapping up a mission of corporate espionage, which then unfolds into to the current underlying threat to the Empire. Following a meeting with his “M” supervisor and a trip to space “Q” – complete with exploding gadgets – Jahan Bond is off on his next assignment.

Because of this, the story feels stale as soon as you start, reminiscent of a fan cross fiction between those two franchises.

The book hits the breaks for some drawn out narrated exposition about a deceased industrialist named Iaco Stark, who seems to be involved with the sinister anti-imperial plot at hand. First off, really? Stark? There are better, more original ways to pay Iron Man homage. Anyway, while this back story will likely come into play in the following issues, the narration from Jahan and his boss draw out a forced conversation into something that could have been introduced more naturally to the reader.

Original trilogy fans will be glad to see a familiar face or two – the original space badasses Han Solo and Chewbacca. Han and Jahan have history as Imperial Academy students. Han is in classic form, escaping from some thugs that disagree with his beating them gambling.

This story reminds me of a Star Wars role playing game I played with some friends once. In one way, it’s dealing with the corporate underbelly of the Star Wars universe, which can be interesting and unique. In another, it feels like fans inserting their own hero characters into the universe just for that sake alone. Still, it’s hard to argue with more Han.

4.5/10

The Art

For the most part, the book looks nice. The characters and settings are well designed and look like they fit within the Star Wars universe. The technology especially. Han and Chewie translate well into this art style. The police sergeant is a bit too “terrestrial” for my tastes though, with a ragged brown coat and fedora looking like a generic Earth detective.

When you stare long enough, you start to see the awkwardness in some of the characters. Unnaturally slanted shoulders and oddly scrawny and distorted arms pop up throughout the book, but for the most part, it’s not problematic.

7/10

Overall

The real thing that hurts this book is that it really just feels like a James Bond fan fic in the Star Wars universe. This is the first issue, and it may break from that mold in later issues. Until then, it is what it is.

5/10

The Review
Story 4.5/10
Art 7/10
Overall (Not an Average) 5/10

Written by Dave Lapham (script), Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan (story)
Art by Mike Huddleston

A vampiric plague may threaten the world. Symptoms do NOT include sparkling, raging fangirls or horrible writing.

The Story

To preface, I haven’t read the original Strain books by Del Toro and Hogan. This comic is my first experience with the franchise.

The issue begins with an old Jewish woman in 1927 telling her grandson about a kind giant noble in a local village involved in a hunting accident which turns him into a monster kidnapping children. The perfect tale to scare kids into being good to avoid this boogieman. Cut to today, our star Center of Disease Control agent Ephraim is pulled away from family quality time to investigate a plane landing that’s sealed up and curtained, hiding its passengers mysteriously dead… and a coffin of course.

This issue is all set up, but it’s still interesting. The opening bedtime story of the giant feels like an original and fresh urban legend, and even the giant in this story-within-a-story is sympathetic enough for the reader to follow. The actual main character Ephraim is fully developed in these few pages as a caring father with a troubled marriage and more troubled divorce, yet who is pulled between his family and his CDC work with a bit of a hero complex. It’s a bit clichéd, but what horror story isn’t?

Nothing is revealed about the vampires or how they work in this world. You don’t even see them beyond the cover. The title implies a pathogenic origin, but the urban legend in the beginning by its very nature adds credence to a darker supernatural aspect. The book is smart in not playing its hand too early. A good suspense is building for its eventual vampiric antagonists, and readers will be driven to the following issue to see what happens next.

8/10

The Art

The artwork sets the theme of this grotesque horror story. Coloring is dark, and what bright colors there are appear somewhat muted. The shading is often strong, giving that hidden-by-the-shadows affect. The characters and the backgrounds are well detailed. Overall, it’s a well drawn book.

From only the cover, the vampire designs in this are a nice change of pace from the generic pointy fanged variety we’re used to (thankfully not in a sparkling way). Their tongues pointed and barbed on one side, as if for a puncturing weapon, and their length gives Venom and Gene Simmons a run for their money. These vampires stick out their tongues so far, the stomach they’re attached to come with out too, making for creepy a visual of a guy breathing into his own stomach like a brown paper bag. Add their baldness and pale complexion, and dark red eyes, and these aren’t the type teen girls will poster their room with.

8/10

Overall

This definitely feels like a Del Toro movie works, even with the issue writing not by himself. The darker and fleshed out plot feels like some of his works, and the vampires have a passing resemblance to Del Toro’s Blade II. If you’re looking for a good suspense horror tale, The Strain is off to a good start.

8/10

The Review
Story 8/10
Art 8/10
Overall (Not an Average) 8/10

Created by  Hasbro Studios
Starring Peter Cullen, Frank Welker, Jeffrey Combs, Ernie Hudson, Steve Blum and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson

Is this latest outing for Optimus and company a start to a good series or a piece of slag in disguise?

The Series

Optimus Prime leads a small band of Autobots stranded on Earth, keeping an undercover lookout for any Decepticon activity after some supposedly-final confrontation three years ago. Needless to say, now is when Megatron, Starscream and the rest of the baddies choose to emerge. With a teammate missing and three Earth kids to look after, the Autobots may have more than they can handle as Megatron comes knocking with an undead Transformer army.

This five-part miniseries kicks off the series to a good start. Presented together as a full-length movie, it’s an easily digestible introduction into this new incarnation of the Transformers franchise. The show adapts the look of the Michael Bay films, albeit in a simplified and more cartoonish fashion. Also adapted are plot elements, such as Optimus and Megatron originally being brothers in arms before Megatron defected to the Decepticons. While the Bayformers films have their share of detractors (often myself included), we can all put our biases aside as this is a good cartoon.

The Transformers themselves share the spotlight with their human companions instead of being overshadowed by them. This series brings some great talent to the mic. Peter Cullen and Frank Welker reprise their roles as the original Optimus Prime and Megatron respectively. Just as in the recent films, Cullen sounds noticeably older and somewhat tired, but it works well for this battle-hardened Prime.

Joining the cast includes the always great Jeffrey Combs as the cranky know-it-all medic Ratchet, giving the character far more personality than the films ever did. Ernie Hudson did a good job as the US Government contact Agent Fowler. Even Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson pulled off a good Cliff jumper for his cameo appearance. The rest of the voice cast, while not as well known, is just as strong actors.

The three children characters – Jack, Raf and Miko – are actually entertaining and don’t detract from the Transformers. The only real drawback is Raf falling into the tired cliché of being a little kid who’s a super-genius hacker. If he were the same age as the older kids, it would work a bit better.

In fact, the only knocks I really have are the super smart kid cliché, the low count of actual named individual Transformers, and Soundwave not having an actual voice (especially if Frank Welker is already here doing Megatron).

This film is full of fun action and dialog between the Transformers and surprisingly humans alike. The Transformers get plenty of screen time, dedicated both to action and to actual character development (with no horrible racist stereotypes). The animation isn’t half bad. The action and transformations are clear and exciting. The devious Decepticon plot is a legitimate threat in the world of the show. And Optimus Prime is a badass as he should be. This is a good cartoon for any fan of Transformers, robots in general or anyone looking for a classic tale of good versus evil.

9/10

The Video and Audio

The video is presented in widescreen and the audio is clear. The CGI is fluid and decent, and while I prefer a more traditional design to the Transformers, this simplified version of the live-action films is a good middle ground. The soundtrack uses some of the same background from the movies, and it works to keep the show feeling serious and dramatic.

7/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

As mentioned earlier, the miniseries is presented as one feature film. Everything is on one disc in a regular DVD case. The cardboard casing duplicates the DVD cover.

Bonuses include character and set concept art, as well as a storyboard animatic of the first episode accompanied with the voice work and some sound effects. No background music or noise makes for an often quiet view. The animatic is neat for one viewing, but these aren’t going to keep you revisiting the bonuses after one viewing.

5/10

Overall

I’m actually pleased with this series. It’s a good incarnation of the Transformers franchise that should please most die-hard and new fans alike. I would wager that this miniseries would come with a more featured season one box set, whenever that is released, but this is worth a good viewing to see if the series would quench your robot battlin’ thirst.

8/10

The Review
The Film 8/10
The Video and Audio 7/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 5/10
Overall (Not an Average) 8/10

Written and Art by Evan Dorkin

These spoiled rotten dairy products may upset your stomach. Probably out of spite.

The Story

Plain and simple, this is the story of a milk carton and cheese wedge being assholes and running amok. That doesn’t sound so bad if there were more to it. Something like a plot. Or maybe good jokes. Instead, Milk and Cheese spend their time experiencing random events, from going to the movies to voting, from joining the war on drugs to protesting just to cause civil unrest, from getting ready for The Phantom Menace to mindlessly rioting while shouting “Merv Griffin” for no discernible reason. And it’s not really funny.

The cover art says these characters hate what you hate, which seems to be the book’s hook. These characters are supposed to be the reader’s aggression and anger played out, but they go much further than that. Maybe I’m just not that angry right now. An angsty teen (or angsty comic book writers quoted on the back of this book) may find this to be a cathartic release, but I don’t and I don’t see many people doing so as well.

The characters also make a habit of breaking the third wall and insulting the readers and mainstream comics. This is very much that cynical and edgy dark comedy of the late ’80s early ’90s, but there’s no heart or character in the writing. At least it knows it’s a one-joke concept, which it points out in its in-character FAQ comic strip in the middle of the book, but that doesn’t forgive anything.

The series was originally published individually in magazines, eventually being collected in batches for full-fledged comics, which were then further compiled into trades like this hardcover collection from Dark Horse. This becomes a bigger problem than one would think. The unadulterated hate and hostility of Milk and Cheese might be bearable in short bursts, funny even to some (although I don’t see it). Compiled together, back to back to back, the series becomes an increasingly downward spiral of repetitive rampant destruction.  All the reasons and light plots melt away as the book becomes one long violent tirade.

Instead of just being short annoying bursts, this is instead a terrible book with unbearable characters, a painful chore to read all 200-plus pages. If Milk and Cheese hate what I hate, then they have some serious self-loathing issues.

1/10

The Art

The art is simplistic, reminiscent of a high-school/college amateur. All the strips are in black and white, with varying line thickness, sharpness and detail.  The panel placement is all over the place, with half the panels being overcrowded scene-to-scene Milk and Cheese waging senseless destruction. After a while, it all blends in together into one large mess.

3.5/10

Overall

There’s a point where Milk and Cheese fake their own deaths in order to increase fan fervor, and of course no one cares. Sometimes real life imitates art.

2/10

The Review
Story 1/10
Art 3.5/10
Overall (Not an Average) 2/10

There’s nothing like that feeling of seeing a loved one open your gift and realizing that you literally managed to get them the perfect gift. In fact, the gift is so damn perfect that you wish you had kept it for yourself. You sit there watching them as they brag about it, thank you countless times and fondle the gifty goodness of it, all the while your plotting their murder in order to get the gift back for yourself. Ok, so not murder, but there has to be a way to get that gift back right? Sure you could just go buy another one but it just won’t be the same as having that first one you bought right?

So, in order to avoid a possible near murder during your holiday festivities some of the writers here at CineGeek have put together a list of the must have geeky gifts for the holiday season. This way, you can buy that first one for yourself and if you are feeling generous you can pick up a second one for that special someone.

Niko’s List

George R. R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones 4-Book Boxed Set: A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, and A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire) [Print] [Mass Market Paperback]

Thanks to the popularity of HBO’s Game of Thrones series, George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire book series which spawned it has shot up in notoriety. Season two won’t air until spring 2012, but you can revisit the first season and read ahead with the first four books of the popular franchise. Myself being only up to book three, I can tell you the series maintains the level of intricate characters, political intrigue and mysterious wonder found in this swords-and-shields fantasy series.

Spider-Man: The Complete Ben Reilly Epic Book 1

Marvel Comics have been regularly releasing portions of the infamous and divisive ’90s Spider-Man Clone Saga. With The Complete Ben Reilly Epic, the titular character breaks out into his own. First trying to succeed as the blue-hooded Scarlet Spider then going back to his roots as a redesigned Spider-Man, Ben Reilly is the first to show us it doesn’t necessarily have to be Peter Parker in the webs (even if he kind of maybe was Peter Parker anyway). A must have for Clone Saga apologists like myself.

Mobile Suit Gundam Complete Collection 1

One of the most seminal giant robot cartoons to make its way out of Japan, the original Mobile Suit Gundam TV series finally makes its bilingual US DVD debut. Previous releases only have the English dub track and come in individual volumes. This set (with the pending release second and final part) allows fans to easily purchase one of the first series to combine the fantasy of giant robots with the realism of war, politics and the shattering of childhood innocence.

Telestrations the Telephone Game Sketched Out!

This fun party game merges the Telephone Game with Pictionary. Get in a group of friends and pass your dry-erase notebook around and see if you end with what you started. The recommended age is 13+, but that age may need upping depending on the players and some of their… mature artistic interpretations. Requires 4-8 players. Dry erase cleaner is recommended with regular use.

Grid-It Ultimate Organizer

It’s hard to keep up with the tiny little trinkets you take with you. The Grid-It organizer helps keep all your small items tidy and in place. Pull up one of the elastic bands to hold your travel tools in any order you want. Great for holding down small electronics, toiletries or whatever other random items you need, making it a useful little tool for convention trips.

Directed by Atsuko Kase
Featuring Voices by Miki Shinichiro, Ueda Yuji and Kobayashi Yu

I know what you’re thinking. No, this is not a sequel or spin-off of the famous Tennessee Williams play “The Glass Menagerie.”

The Series

Local Rags Town detective Shu and his agency get wrapped into a mystery about a covert agency making female soldiers that subsequently turn into glass. They discover an amnesiac young girl they name Sara, who has some great fighting potential and a half-decent Emma Frost impression. Unfortunately she’s in high demand, as the secret organization who made Sara what she is wants her back, and Shu’s S&A Detective Agency gets caught in the middle.

The show is supposed to be a sexy noir detective story, but it drags. Some of the show deals with lively gunfire action and mystery intrigue, and those bits work. When there is action, it’s usually energetic and captivating.

However, most of the show alternates between the detective Shu being listless and boring and his staff being too manic and wacky to maintain the dramatic feel. One of the detective agency staff, a teen girl named Manami, is loud and manic as she yells at other characters and yearns to be involved, but she makes decisions that are stupid, annoying and endanger the main characters, losing any possible audience sympathy. And she gets almost as much focus as the detective and the glass maiden.

While the story tries to touch on all of the characters back story, it doesn’t hit enough of a single character to form any audience attachment. The end of the series leaves you knowing mostly superficial, basic knowledge of the characters and the world they inhabit, leaving the audience feeling uninvolved as a spectator only getting snippets of what’s going on.

The show also can’t seem to decide what should be serious and what should be funny. A side character’s death becomes a pivotal point and driving motivation for one character, while the show makes the sad, weepy and screaming reaction of another character into a punch line.

Ultimately though, it’s not that the show can’t decide to be serious or funny, but that it’s neither. It’s simply unemotional. It takes several episodes in, by the second disc, for the first real moving emotional impact that the audience could feel along with the characters. Prior to that, the series is often quiet with monotone conversations interrupted by the occasional obnoxious outburst. There’s nothing substantial that captivates the viewer, and the action is far in between for that to be a hook.

With annoying characters, partial storytelling, indecisive mood setting and simple boredom, it’s hard to recommend this series. It tries too much with its ensemble cast and its attempt at a noir detective story with a sci-fi bent, so it fails at doing a good job on any of its selling points.

2/10

The Video

The show is presented in 19:9 anamorphic widescreen. The visuals are nothing special. There’s some CG work with the actual glass maiden, especially their shattering sequences which sticks out over the regular animation as if layered on top of it. The animation itself is mediocre with plenty of stagnant still scenes and stiff motions.

3.5/10

The Audio

Audio is Japanese 2.0 surround only. The sounds come through clear and fine, but there are some quiet moments that should have had more background music playing. The soundtrack itself has a decently smooth opening song, but everything else is either forgettable or annoying (such as the two-tone number played at the episode number card after opening credits).

4/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The release is the standard lackluster fare we typically get from the sister Sentai Filmworks brand of shows. The two-disc set is in a regular DVD case and has no extras save for the clean opening and ending, with the it’s-not-a-bonus-feature-no-matter-how-much-they-say-it-is trailers for other series. It’s not impressive way to kick off a new brand.

2/10

Overall (Not an Average) 3/10

Glass Maiden is ultimately a boring show with subpar visuals and a no-thrills release. I can’t see much reason in owning it. Small trivia, the show was originally called “Crystal Blaze” but was changed for its international release. It sure makes more sense, but I don’t think it helps one way or the other.

This is one of the first titles released under the “Maiden Japan” brand, a sub-label of Switchwork Pictures and basically a sister brand to Sentai Filmworks. The latter is obvious from how the packaging and bonus features are the same standard fare that Sentai Filmworks puts out. It’s definitely not starting out with a top title, so hopefully the other shows out of the starting gate do a better job.

The Review
The Series 2/10
The Video 3.5/10
The Audio 4/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 2/10
Overall (Not an Average) 2/10

Written by Haden Blackman
Art by Rick Leonardi

Star Wars’ preeminent bad guy is back on a mission to find a lost admiral. Time to start stapling missing notices to lamp posts.

The Story

The prospect of Darth Vader after all the annoying Anakin bits from the trilogy is usually a hopeful venture. The dark, foreboding figure of Darth Vader is a very captivating figure in our popular culture and obviously in Star Wars fandom. A book all about Vader going on a search and rescue mission full of lightsaber dismemberment SOUNDS like a sure fire hit, right?

The titular “Lost Command” is a missing battalion commanded by Admiral Garoche Tarkin, son of the infamous Empire loyalist Moff Tarkin. Vader is tasked in finding the younger Tarkin and bringing his kidnappers to justice.

Vader is definitely the high point of the series. We get to see some of the behind-the-scenes of the man who is Darth Vader, from the maintenance on his cybernetic limbs to the internal struggles and fantasy life he leads in his head. The mysterious villain from the original trilogy gains some humanity without going so far back as to be saddled with the whiny Anakin from the prequels.

Sadly the series falls flat as Vader turns out to be the only thing it has going for it. He isn’t presented with a mission that tests his abilities as a Force user or a warrior. Instead we are presented with some lingering emotional trauma following the events of Episode III that don’t go anywhere as the status quo is restored by the end. All the physical challenges he is presented with, from laser shots to being blown up multiple times, Vader brushes off and wipes away the illusion of any of this being difficult. Perhaps not much could have been expected to change given the concrete canonical status of Episode III and Episode IV, but having nothing of impact or of excitement leads to a lackluster story.

The  Atoan people as characters are sadly uninteresting. With no real personality or cultural development, there’s no sympathy about their mutilation and murder by Vader and the 501^st. There are seeds of possibility with some throwaway lines about their gods, their magic and their anatomy, but they lack the depth or the dedication to blossom. Instead almost all the enemy combatants are cannon fodder speaking gibberish in a weak show of a foreign language.

My interest in this story isn’t nearly as high as it is in the stories being referred to. Early on in the book, Moff Tarkin mentions a previous failed mission of Vader where his Jedi-hunting obsession got in the way of his mission. Vader versus Jedi and failing?! That’s the story I’d want to read. This one, while not horrible, feels uneventful and unnecessary.

5/10

The Art

The art is hit or miss. Overall, it looks rough and sketchy, more so on the actual individual characters. The Vader fantasy scenes are purposefully more so for stylistic choice, but even knowing the intent doesn’t make it look like a polished work.

Often, proportions will seem off.  Vader’s head will be too small and occasionally neck-less on his otherwise stocky body and Emperor Palpatine will look like a troll. There are some neat Vader poses, but there are even more with awkward turns or contortions combined with the aforementioned proportion issues.

Panel angles and direction also suffer from questionable quality at times, with at least one instance where you aren’t sure what Vader is actually doing at first glance.

The technology in the series is well detailed while looking complete, with the prime examples being in Vader’s maintenance of his robotic limbs and in the vehicles. In some of the ship design, the art tries to bridge the giant technological gap between the prequels and the supposedly more advanced original trilogy. The V-Wings and Vader’s personal fighter almost look as if they could evolve into the original trilogy’s respective X-Wings and Vader’s personal TIE-Fighter, but they still look more advanced with their sleeker design.

The Michael Kutsche and Tsuneo Sanda covers are nicely detailed and textured, well proportioned and colored. The cloth looks like cloth and the metal like metal. Vader himself just looks good.

5/10

Overall

I don’t tend to expect much of franchise tie-in material, and the Star Wars expanded universe definitely has its ups and downs. Darth Vader and the Lost Command falls in the middle. It’s not horrendous, and it doesn’t ruin or really contradict anything important, but it doesn’t feel like a story that needed to be told, a story that would really expand the universe of Star Wars.

5/10

The Review
Story 4/10
Art 5/10
Overall (Not an Average) 5/10