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Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu - Vol 1 - Full Metal Pandemonium
Anime.Comedy A.D. Vision NR
For the second season of the popular comedy-adventure "Full Metal Panic" (2003), the filmmakers dropped the sci-fi elements and focused on the romantic contretemps. Kaname no longer commands psychic powers; Sousuke has been furloughed from Mithril. But that doesn't mean life at Jindai High gets any calmer. Sousuke remains highly trained, extremely suspicious and terminally dense. When a girl leaves a love note in his locker, he notices the locker has been tampered with and blows it up. Unable to get through the line at the cafeteria, he fires off a pistol and declares his order. When a gang member tries to threaten Sousuke, someone has to translate thug slang into military jargon and vice versa. Kaname's standard response to Sousuke's excesses is to belt him with an outsized paper fan. Winning performances by voice actors Chris Patton and Luci Christian make Sousuke and Kaname the most fractious anime couple since Ranma Saotome met Akane Tendo. (Rated TV PG V: comic violence, minor risqué humor, tobacco use) "--Charles Solomon"

Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu - Vol 2 - Full Metal Fracas
Anime.Comedy A.D. Vision NR
As the romantic contretemps continue at Jindai High, the filmmakers reveal how the second season of the popular action comedy "Full Metal Panic" got the unlikely moniker "Fumoffu." In episode 5, Sousuke takes on karate club captain Issei Tsuhaki. A martial artist who's too nearsighted to recognize whom he's attacking, Issei plays Ryoga to Sousuke's Ranma. When the school president makes them care for the janitor they inadvertently punched out, they nearly destroy the school in a bout of competitive nurturing. Sousuke infiltrates an amusement park by disguising himself as Bonta-kun, a mascot reminiscent of "Hamtaro" in the hilarious "Single-Minded Stakeout." The comic violence makes a wonderful foil for the character's aggressive cuteness. (Sousuke later outfits the plush suit with a helmet and flak jacket.) During lulls in the insanity, Kaname and Sousuke grudgingly admit to liking each other, but it's obvious that the course of their true love will never run smoothly. (Rated TV PG V: comic violence, minor risqué humor, alcohol and tobacco use) "--Charles Solomon"

Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu - Vol 3 - Full Metal Fervor
Anime.Comedy A.D. Vision NR
Kaname's friend Kyoko sums up the third set of episodes of the action comedy "Full Metal Panic Fumoffu" when she observes, "This just keeps getting weirder." The principal of Jindai High threatens to disband the rugby club unless the players break their 49-year losing streak. Sousuke has to train them for their critical match--with the help of a book of rugby rules (which he doesn't quite grasp) and a volume of Marine-style cursing (which he grasps only too well). Jealousy rears its head during a visit from Captain Teletha "Tessa" Testarosa, Sousuke's Mithril commander in the previous season. Tessa brings military and fan service to Jindai High and the Okutama hot springs, but no one peeks at her or Kaname in the outdoor baths when Sousuke's on duty. "Full Metal Fervor" can't quite match the previous "Full Metal Fracas" for take-no-prisoners hilarity, but it's still very funny. (Rated TV PG V: comic violence, nudity, risqué humor, including real and fake profanity) "--Charles Solomon"

Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu - Vol 4 - Full Metal Mania
Anime.Comedy Adv Films NR
The second season of "Full Metal Panic" comes to an appropriately nutty conclusion. The Yakuza hit men Kaname encountered in episode 4 return: they work for the father of her friend Ren. Their inept family gang is losing its turf to a pack of upstarts, so Kaname brings in Sousuke to train them--as the giant plushie Bonta-kun! The filmmakers spoof all the clichés of military movies: they have the "recruits" sing the Marine marching chant "Everywhere we go..." in "Fumoffus." Sousuke is delighted with the performance of the armored Bonta-kun suits and can't understand why more arms dealers don't stock them. All three episodes provide the special blend of slapstick comedy and grudging romance that made "Full Metal Panic" a hit on both sides of the Pacific. Watching the end of the series is a bit like having a friend move away, but a third season is reportedly in the works. (Rated TV PG V: comic violence, nudity) "--Charles Solomon"

Futurama, Vol. 1
Animated.Comedy Fox Home Entertainme NR
Episode 01: Space Pilot 3000
Episode 02: The Series has Landed
Episode 03: I, Roomate
Episode 04: Love's Labours Lost in Space
Episode 05: Fear of a Bot Planet
Episode 06: A Fishfull of Dollars
Episode 07: My Three Suns
Episode 08: A Big Piece of Garbage
Episode 09: Hell is Other Robots
Episode 10: A Flight to Remember
Episode 11: Mars University
Episode 12: When Aliens Attack
Episode 13: Fry & the Slurm Factory

Set in the year 3000, Futurama is the acme of sci-fi animated sitcom from Simpsons creator Matt Groening. While not as universally popular as The Simpsons, Futurama is equally hip and hilarious, thanks to its zippy lateral-thinking contemporary pop cultural references, celebrity appearances (Pamela Anderson and Leonard Nimoy are among a number of guest stars to appear as disembodied heads in jars), and Bender, a distinctly Homer Simpson-esque robot. Part of Futurama's charm is that with decades of sci-fi junk behind us, we've effectively been living with the distant future for years and can now have fun with it. Hence, the series stylishly jumbles motifs ranging from Lost in Space-style kitsch to the grim dystopia of Blade Runner. It also bridges the gap between the impossible dreams of your average science fiction fan and the slobbish reality of their comic reading, TV-watching existence. Groening himself distinguishes his two series thus: "The Simpsons is fictional. Futurama is real." The opening season (premiered in 1999) sees nerdy pizza delivery boy Fry transferred to the 31st century in a cryogenic mishap. There, he meets the beautiful, one-eyed Leela (voiced by Married with Children's Katey Sagal) and the incorrigible alcoholic robot Bender. The three of them join Fry's great (great, great, etc.) nephew Professor Farnsworth and work in his intergalactic delivery service. Hyper-real yet strangely recognizable situations ensue--Fry discovers he's a billionaire thanks to 1,000 years' accrued interest, Leela must fend off the attentions of Captain Kirk-like Lothario Zapp Brannigan, and Fry accidentally drinks the ruler of a strange planet of liquid beings. --David Stubbs

Futurama, Vol. 2
Comedy 20th Century Fox NR
Matt Groening's second season of the 31st century sci-fi sitcom "Futurama" maintained the high scripting standards of the first and also well brought improved digital animation. Couch potato Fry now seems thoroughly reconciled to his new existence, transported 10 centuries hence to "New New York" and working for Professor Farmsworth's delivery service. He's surrounded by a cast of freaks, including the bitchily cute Amy (with whom he has a romantic brush) and Hermes, the West Indian bureaucrat. Most sympathetic is the one-eyed Leela (voiced by Katey Segal). Like Lisa Simpson, she is brilliant but unappreciated; she finds solace in her pet Nibbler, a tiny creature with a voracious, carnivorous appetite. By contrast, Bender, the robot, is programmed with every human vice, a sort of metal Homer Simpson with a malevolent streak.
In one of the best episodes, Bender is given a "feelings" chip in order to empathize with Leela after he flushes Nibbler down the toilet. Elsewhere, Fry falls in love with a mermaid when the team discover the lost city of Atlanta, Fry and Bender end up going to war after they join the army to get a discount on gum, and John Goodman guest stars as Santa Claus, an eight-foot gun-toting robot. Brimful with blink-and-you'll-miss-them hip jokes (such as the sign for the Taco Bellevue hospital) and political and pop satire, "Futurama" isn't a stern warning of things to come but rather, as the makers put it, "a brilliant, hilarious reflection of our own materially (ridiculously) overdeveloped but morally underdeveloped society." "--David Stubbs"

Futurama, Vol. 3
Comedy 20th Century Fox NR
Good news, everyone, the third DVD volume of "Futurama" is just as funny as ever--irreverent, boundlessly inventive, warmhearted, and chock-full of in-jokes, sight gags, and fleeting references to all manner of pop-culture icons and obscure genre classics. In fact, if the show has a problem, it's that it's all so lovingly crafted that scarcely a frame goes by without something both funny and clever going on: when a horse wins a race by a quantum fraction, Prof. Farnsworth fulminates, "You changed the result by observing it!" Recurring minor characters (Elzar the chef, the robot mafia, the mutants in the sewers) pop up unexpectedly throughout, providing another wink to dedicated fans; like "Red Dwarf", this is a show that loves the genre it sets out to spoof. Shame, then, that the show has had a troubled broadcast history and never quite found the mainstream appeal of its stablemate "The Simpsons".
Fry and the "Planet Express" team find themselves stranded on a planet of unfeasibly large women ("Amazon Women in the Mood"), standing in for psychotic Robo-Santa ("A Tale of Two Santas", with John Goodman reprising his evil robot), and variously falling in love with each other and sundry other humans, aliens, man-bots, fem-bots, virtual reality constructs, and even the "Planet Express" ship itself.
"Futurama, Vol. 3" comprises 22 episodes on four discs. As with previous DVD sets, the animated menus are a treat, and there's a selection of bonus features including deleted scenes, storyboards, commentaries on every episode, animatics, "How to draw" tips, and more. Sheer heaven. "--Mark Walker"

Futurama, Vol. 4
Comedy 20th Century Fox NR
No more good news, everyone--this fourth volume of "Futurama" is the show's last. By turns frenetic and far-sighted, Matt Groening's futuristic comedy provided belly-laughs for self-confessed sci-fi nerds, but somehow failed to connect with a broader audience, even though it was often funnier and sharper than stablemate "The Simpsons". So now bid farewell to the Planet Express team--Fry, Leela, Zoidberg, Bender, Amy, Hermes, Prof Farnsworth--as well as to kindly Kif, cloned Cubert, megalomaniac Mom, mutants in the sewer, the cast of robo-sitcom "All My Circuits", swashbuckling space lothario and William Shatner wannabe Zapp Brannigan, Elzar the four-armed chef, and all the other characters that made "Futurama" such a unique experience.
This fourth and final year has all the elements that fans enjoyed so much--but also those elements that partially explain its cancellation. Recurring characters are great if you've watched the show before, as are the in-jokes; and the many parodies of classic science fiction are fine for the initiated, but risk leaving other viewers out in the cold. The show's strengths and perceived weaknesses are exemplified in the episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before," in which the original cast of "Star Trek" play themselves: hilarious for Trekkers, but not really for anyone else. Elsewhere we find Leela discovering her real parents aren't aliens at all but in fact live in the sewers; Kif getting pregnant; Fry discovering the fossilized remains of his faithful pet dog; and Bender being converted to steam power. Despite some ups and downs, it's still the funniest animated TV show. Multifarious DVD extras include cast and crew commentaries, deleted scenes, animatics, galleries and Easter eggs. "--Mark Walker"

The Garbage Pail Kids Movie
Comedy MGM (Video & DVD) PG
This movie just doesn't really appeal to anyone. The only guy that kept me interested was the greaser. And the only reason I liked him was becasue he carries a knife, was always making threats, and he was very very funny. Other than that kids and adults will have a pretty tough time struggling through this movie. After collectign the cards growing up I had to pick this flick up when I saw it. If they would haev given it an R rating, the movie would have at least had a chance.

The Ghost and the Darkness
Action.Adventure Paramount R
Val Kilmer stars as Lt. Col. John Patterson, a 19th-century Irish engineer drafted by Britain's railroad bosses to build a trestle bridge over an African river, thus expanding the empire a tiny bit more. In Tsavo, Patterson is instantly hailed for killing a man-eating lion that had been making life hell for native workers. But morale sinks when a pair of unstoppable big cats devour more men and destroy the project. Along comes an Ahab-like, expatriate American hunter (Michael Douglas) to help Patterson face the almost preternatural powers of the two killers. The script by William Goldman ("Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid") is based on fact, though the film owes more to Spielberg (specifically to "Jaws") than history. There are also suggestive echoes of Kipling and Conrad in the material and characters, and there are hints of emotional complexity and psychological nuance that make one wish this could have been a great film instead of a merely fun one. "--Tom Keogh"

Ghost in the Shell
Anime.SciFi.Fantasy Palm Pictures/Manga Video R
The skillful blending of drawn animation and computer-generated imagery excited anime fans when this science fiction mystery was released in 1995: many enthusiasts believe "Ghost" suggests what the future of anime will be, at least in the short term. The film is set in the not-too-distant future, when an unnamed government uses lifelike cyborgs or "enhanced" humans for undercover work. One of the key cyborgs is The Major, Motoko Kusanagi, who resembles a cross between The Terminator and a Playboy centerfold. She finds herself caught up in a tangled web of espionage and counterespionage as she searches for the mysterious superhacker known as "The Puppet Master."
Mamoru Oshii directs with a staccato rhythm, alternating sequences of rapid-fire action (car chases, gun battles, explosions) with static dialogue scenes that allow the characters to sort out the vaguely mystical and rather convoluted plot. Kusanagi's final quote from I Corinthians suggests that electronic evolution may compliment and eventually supplant organic evolution. The minor nudity, profanity, and considerable violence would earn "Ghost in the Shell" at least a PG rating. "--Charles Solomon"

Ghost in the Shell 2 - Innocence
Anime.SciFi Umvd/Dreamworks PG-13
Mamoru Oshii's landmark "Ghost in the Shell" (1995) largely defined the cyberpunk genre and influenced the "Matrix" films in the U.S. The long-awaited sequel continues the adventures of Batou, Major Kusanagi's former assistant, who was left behind when she disappeared into the cyber-realm of the Net. With his new human partner, Togusa, Batou investigates a series of bloody murders involving "gynoids", robots with sexual functions. The case leads them to the headquarters of the Locus Solus company, where Batou uncovers the evil secret behind the creation of the "gynoids". "Innocence" includes some staggeringly beautiful CG images, especially a parade depicting characters from Chinese mythology. Oshii contrasts this glittering beauty with a "Blade Runner"-esque dystopia. But even his skill as a director can't disguise the fact that the underdeveloped story and flat characters are far less interesting than the opulent visuals. (Rated PG-13: graphic violence, violence against women, brief nudity, profanity, alcohol and tobacco use.) "--Charles Solomon"

Ghostbusters 1 & 2
Comedy Sony Pictures PG
Prepare to spend some quality "slime-time" with Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters 2, together for the first time in this exclusive DVD gift set. These spooktacularly successful fillms captured the imagination of audiences around the world and redefined the action-comedy genre in the process. This gift set includes the two films, each with an assortment of otherworldly extras, and a deluxe Collector's Scrapbook, loaded with production notes, character sketches, insider info and more. Because when it comes to supernaturally classic comedy, Who you gonna call?

Gilmore Girls - The Complete Fourth Season
Television Warner Home Video NR
The sum of its parts was definitely greater than the season whole as "Gilmore Girls" kicked off its fourth year by separating its high-powered mother-daughter duo. After years of toil at snooty private school Chilton, Rory (Alexis Bledel) was finally off to the greener pastures of college as she began her first year at Yale. The not-so-long distance put a crimp in her relationship with her mother, Lorelai (Lauren Graham), as the two were forced to continue their chatty conversations via phone--not exactly the same as trading barbs face-to-face. While Rory adjusted to college life with cranky roommate Paris (Liza Weil) in tow, Lorelai found herself without a daughter, but gained a boyfriend in the form of Jason "Digger" Stiles (Chris Eigeman), a childhood friend and now her father's business partner. But the lure of Stars Hollow, the Gilmores' cherished country town, would prove too hard to resist, as Lorelai finally made plans to open her own inn, and the two ladies found themselves attracted to town residents--for Lorelai, an intensifying of her friendship with diner owner Luke (Scott Patterson), and for Rory, a return to old boyfriend Dean (Jared Padalecki), which put a decided tension into a show that sorely needed it. Nevermind that both men were married to other women!
The first half of the fourth season definitely foundered, as the show's usually topnotch creative team struggled to find a way to keep the Gilmore chemistry afloat despite separating their main characters. There wasn't much drama to be found for Rory in starting college, and though it got off to a great start, Lorelai's relationship with Jason never fully gelled. However, once the show got its girls into the arms of their Stars Hollow men, it turned around almost immediately, surging towards a creative revival that put its ratings higher than they'd ever been before. Along the way to its surprising and complex season finale, there were great episodes to be had: "Girls in Bikinis, Boys Doin' the Twist," which found Rory and Paris on spring break; "The Reigning Lorelai," centering on an unexpected funeral; "The Festival of Living Art," which had Stars Hollow resident re-creating classic works; and "Luke Can See Her Face," which finally brought the Luke-Lorelai romance to the forefront. The season may have started out rough, but this fourth year ended with a bang, and the promise of more fireworks to come. "--Mark Englehart"

Glory Road
Action.Adventure Buena Vista Home Entertainment PG
One of the greatest basketball games in NCAA history is immortalized in "Glory Road", an engaging sports movie that dramatizes a pivotal milestone in the racial integration of college athletics. While it may not be as rousing as similar movies like "Hoosiers" or "Friday Night Lights", this fact-based drama gains depth and substance from the groundbreaking achievement of Don Haskins (well-played by Josh Lucas), who coached the 1965-66 team from Texas Western University to the NCAA championship, using the first-ever all-black lineup in the championship game and forever changing the rules of college basketball. Texas Western's underdog season is followed from anxious start to glorious finish, as Haskins recruits many of his black star players from the North, including Bobby Joe Hill (Derek Luke) and Willie Cager (Damaine Radcliff), and this typically wholesome Disney film doesn't flinch from the harsh realities of racial tension (including player beatings and vandalized motel rooms) that Texas Western's black players had to struggle against as their victories began to draw national attention. Jon Voight (under heavy makeup) makes a memorable cameo appearance as legendary Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp, whose favored all-white team was no match for Texas Western, and Haskins' unforgettable achievement is celebrated in an end-credits sequence that demonstrates the positive ripple-effect of his color-blind coaching. "Glory Road" relies a bit too heavily on sports-movie clichés, but its shortcomings are easily overlooked in favor of its greater historical significance. "--Jeff Shannon"



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