New Geek DVD Day - 01/20/08

It's yet another really slow week for geeky DVD releases. We've reached the dulldrums of January and find ourselves in a post christmas drought of new things to watch. I've collected some stuff that may be of interest this week, but really only one truly good thing came out.

 



 

The So Odd It May Be Decent:  Repo! The Genetic Opera

 

Why It May Be Decent:  I haven't seen this yet, so it may be total crap, but the premise sounds fun.  Anthony Head (Giles from Buffy The Vampire Slayer) stars as a repo man for an organ company in a bleak future where people are dying from organ failure left and right.  Giles' job is to collect replacement organs from people who have failed to keep up with their payments.

 

The film is also a musical.  So think of it sort of like a modern Rocky Horror Picture Show, but with a lot more blood and gore.  It's a rock opera afterall.  It does sound just about wacky enough to be entertaining, but be warned...Paris Hilton also stars in the film too which means it could just as easily suck mad donkey balls.

 



 

The Meh:  Max Payne

 

Why It's Meh:  Max Payne was a much loved video game.  But as goes with most much loved video games, it got a fairly bad movie adaptation made of it.  Critics trashed it, and most of the reviews I've heard from fans of the game say it's pretty awful. 

 

It is a video game movie though, so you can't really expect much can you.  It stars Marky Mark, and as long as he's shooting lots of people or monsters it may at least be fun to watch with the sound turned off.

 



 

The Underrated:  City of Ember

 

Why It's Underrated:  It stars Bill Murray as an evil character (not something you see often).  That's got to be worth something, right?  Plus, it's a post apocalyptic world in which everyone lives in a giant city underground.  That's always a plus in my book too.  It also has Tim Robbins who I will always like just because he starred in the Hudsucker Proxy.

Sure, it's about two kids so it's sort of a kids film, but I've read some positive reviews that say the script is rather good and the sets are gorgeous.  If you are needing a new Sci-fi fix this week, this would be the way to go.

 



 

The Awesome:  The Powerpuff Girls - The Complete Series

 

Why It's Awesome:  It's Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup!  They're three little girls who are also badass superheroes.  They protect the city of Townsville and their enemies include the amazingly awesome Mojo Jojo (a super-intelligent and evil Chimpanzee. 

 

The show was a groundbreaking piece of animation history.  Featuring a unique artistic style (designed by Genndy Tartakovsky who created Samurai Jack and the original Clone Wars series), witty dialogue and enderaring characters, The Powerpuff Girls was ahead of its time and it pushed the entire genre of animation ahead as the 20th century came to a close.  It was the first ever superhero cartoon show to star exclusively female lead characters, and it was one of the first original series Cartoon Network had that became a smashing success.

 

This set has all 78 episodes from the series as well as the Christmas special they made.  And it's only $42.99.  Hell, just the episode Meet The Beat-alls is worth that price alone.  You aren't going to find another great show like this for such a cheap price.  This is a definite must-have for any animation fan and for any fan of superhero stories.