Next Futurama DVD has a title - VIDEO
The next Futurama direct-to-DVD movie has a title. According to an interview with Futurama producer David X. Cohen, the subtitle of the movie will be Bender’s Game. It’s a pun on the classic sci-fi novel Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card.
A preview of the video is on the latest release, The Beast With a Billion Backs, and involves the Planet Express crew caught in a Lord of the Rings-type alternate universe. It’s the Futurama team’s first foray into fantasy.
Cohen did state that the title has very little to do with the subject matter of the DVD. “We were all kind of shocked when we started talking about the idea, that we hadn’t done it before, really,” Cohen said. “It almost seems obvious that it’s something our fans would like.”
Bender’s Game is going to be released later this year. Having already enjoyed the first two direct-to-DVD releases since Futurama’s resurrection, I am looking forward to this one.
This Week in DVD: New Futurama Movie, 10,000 BC, In Bruges, Spiderwick Chronicles, and More
This Week in DVD is a new column on compiling all the latest info regarding new DVD releases, sales, and exclusive deals from stores including Target, Best Buy, Circuit City, and Fry’s.
FUTURAMA: THE BEAST WITH A BILLION BACKS
Continuing its semi-return from the Fox cancellation grave yard, Futurama finally releases its second direct-to-DVD feature out of four with The Beast with a Billion Backs. It’s not nearly as dramatically compelling or well paced as Bender’s Big Score (that film was so good it had the potential to be made as a theatrical release), but it does up the ante on laughs, which is debatably something the former picture was lacking. Who really cares though? The important thing is that Futurama is back, and personally, I couldn’t be happier to see it return.
Blu-ray? No.
Notable Extras: Audio commentary from the cast and crew, ‘Futurama: The Lost Adventure’ (featuring the cut-scene footage from the Futurama video game), a joke interview with comedian David Cross, deleted scenes, a featurette detailing the history of the game Death Ball, and footage of voice recording outtakes.
N/A
$19.99
$13.99
$13.99
IN BRUGES
This film marks one of those instances where the trailer prepares you for a movie so vastly different than the actual film that the film itself is harder to enjoy because of it. It’s still a solid movie though, so I’ll just warn you to avoid viewing it with the expectation of something Guy Ritchie or Tarantino-esque. Its witty and raunchy dialogue may come across as similar at times, but the movie is also very slowly paced, focusing heavily on existential and religious themes atop all the profane comedy. It’s definitely not your standard hitman film.
Blu-ray? No.
Notable Extras: Deleted and extended scenes, four featurettes, and a gag reel.
$19.99
$19.99
$19.99
$19.99
EXCLUSIVE DEAL:
What? Save $5 when you buy In Bruges with either Charlie Bartlett, Definitely Maybe, or Bonneville.
Where? Best Buy.
THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES
(Available as single-disc and 2-Disc Field Guide Editions)
Starring Freddie Highmore and featuring plenty of fantastical creatures, this movie may seem like it’s simply treading the same water as Arthur and the Invisibles. However, this children’s adventure (based on the popular book series of the same name) has the heart and imagination lacking in that film, and succeeds much more admirably because of it.
Blu-ray? Yes.
Notable Extras: The 2-disc set includes deleted scenes, six making-of featurettes, and Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide (which includes reprinted pages from the book while letting you access relevant scenes from the film).
$16.99
$16.99
$13.99
$13.99
*Does not include 2-Disc Edition, which costs $22.99 at each of the listed stores (excluding Fry’s, where it costs $21.99).
EXCLUSIVE DEAL:
What? Free Spiderwick Movie Storybook and bookmark with purchase of single-disc DVD.
Where? Target.
EXCLUSIVE DEAL:
What? Free “The Field Guide” book.
Where? Best Buy.
EXCLUSIVE DEAL:
What? Free Spiderwick Chronicles trading cards.
Where? Circuit City.
PERSEPOLIS
With a 95% ranking on Rotten Tomatoes and an 8.1 rating on IMDB, Persepolis (based on Marjane Satrapi’s bestselling graphic novel) is by far one of the year’s most celebrated animated films. Shot in black-and-white, the movie uses its inventive visuals as a way of setting the tone for the deeply compelling coming-of-age story ahead. The plot explores a young Iranian girl’s attempt at finding her place in the world during the Islamic Revolution.
Blu-ray? Yes.
Notable Extras: Commentary on select scenes, a 30-minute documentary, a making-of featurette, and a Q&A from the film’s 2007 Cannes Film Festival Press Conference.
$16.99
$19.99
$19.99
$16.99
CHARLIE BARTLETT
A mixed bag overall, Charlie Bartlett is an uneven yet oftentimes hilarious teen angst comedy about a wealthy teenager finding his place in the social hierarchy by becoming an unofficial school psychiatrist. It also stars Robert Downey Jr. in a supporting role, and as a rule I like to force myself to see every movie he’s in. You might want to consider doing the same, because with the filmmography he’s been building recently it’s really starting to pay off.
Blu-ray? No.
Notable Extras: Three audio commentaries, featurettes, deleted scenes, and restroom confessionals.
$19.99
$17.99
$19.99
$19.99
EXCLUSIVE DEAL:
What? Save $5 when you buy Charlie Bartlett with either In Bruges, Definitely Maybe, or Bonneville.
Where? Best Buy.
10,000 BC
Favoring a focus of style over substance (and logic for that matter), director Roland Emmerich’s epically stupid journey into the prehistoric era is both bland and frustrating to watch. The film doesn’t even make an attempt at being historically accurate, and the lack of effort shows. It might be so-bad-it’s-good were it actually entertaining.
Blu-ray? Yes.
Notable Extras: An alternate ending and 10 minutes of deleted scenes.
$16.99
$14.99
$13.99
$13.99
EXCLUSIVE DEAL:
What? 2-Disc Special Edition ($22.99).
Where? Best Buy.
Other noteworthy DVDs available this week…
Definitely, Maybe – The Hammer – Honeydripper – Xanadu (Magical Music Edition) – Trailer Park Boys (Season 7) – Bonneville – The Tattooist – Early Edition (Season 1)
$17.99 – Arrested Development (Seasons 1, 2, or 3), The Simpsons (Seasons 7 or 8), Monk (Seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5), Weeds (Seasons 1 or 2), Flight of the Conchords (Season 1), The Office (Season 1), The Boondocks (Season 1), and more…
$13.99 – The Incredibles, National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets, Finding Nemo, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Toy Story (10th Anniversary Edition), Toy Story 2 (2-Disc Special Edition), and more…
$14.99 – Da Ali G Show (Seasons 1 or 2), American Gangster (2-Disc Unrated Extended Edition), I Am Legend, Semi-Pro, Juno, The Bucket List, Be Kind Rewind, The Bourne Ultimatum, and more…
Buy one, get one free ($9.99) – Blade, Speed, Cast Away, Sideways, This is Spinal Tap, Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny, Master and Commander, The Replacements, and more…
$6.99 – The Bourne Identity, King Kong, Jurassic Park, 300, Troy (Director’s Cut), Full Metal Jacket, Children of Men, School of Rock, Sleepy Hollow, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Shark Tale, Chicken Run, Flushed Away, Madagascar, Over the Hedge, Antz, Shrek 2, and more…
$3.99 – Big Trouble in Little China, Cocoon, Great Expectations, and more…
$4.99 – Dumb and Dumber, Frequency, and more…
$6.99 – 28 Days Later, Edward Scissorhands, Alien, Aliens, True Lies, From Hell, and more…
Futurama’s Beast with a Billion Backs trailer - VIDEO
As much as I love Futurama, the new DVD movies always leave me thinking about what could have been. Not that there is anything wrong with them, just how much better it would be if the show had received a Family Guy like reprieve and went back to full series form. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be, yet. I still hold out hope that if the DVDs do well enough, that door could open up again. Fry and the gang are aging remarkably well, after all.
Enough about what could have been though, let’s talk about what will be. That, of course, is The Beast With A Billion Backs. The next installment in the Futurama DVD line will be available at hundreds of fine retail establishments, and three shady ones, on June 24th. There’s a planet-sized alien, a league of robots, and one of the Planet Express crew will head up a brand new religion. If that’s not enough to capture your interest, have a look at the trailer after the jump and learn a wondrous new word. Gentacles.
Futurama: Bender’s Big Score - DVD review
Futurama is back, and the future looks a whole lot brighter. Cliché, but true.
When I first heard that Family Guy was returning to the airwaves, I was wondering if/when other cancelled Fox animated shows would similarly rise from the dead. Then I heard Futurama was returning to Comedy Central (with a brief stop on DVD beforehand). Futurama can best be described as The Simpsons for sci-fi/fantasy fans (which makes sense consider that Matt Groening created both and uses the same animation style for both). I then thanked the gods of comedy for returning this gem.
The plan for Futurama is to release four direct-to-DVD movies which would make up a complete season of 16 half-hour episodes. “Bender’s Big Score” is the first release and consists of the first four episodes (although I hear the individual episodes will contain extra footage not in the DVD release when they are eventually broadcast. How’s that for a reversal of precedent?).
The plot is as follows: after learning that they were saved from cancellation from the evil and stupid Box Network, the familiar team of Fry, Bender, Leela, Amy, Hermes, Zoidberg, and Professor Farnsworth go to a nude beach planet for a delivery. While there, they get tricked into giving information to alien telemarketers. The telemarketers use this information to take over Planet Express. They even corrupt Bender’s programming with a virus download so he obeys only them.
However, it turns out that the scammers can detect information. With this ability, they find the secret to time travel tattooed on Fry’s butt (hidden in a picture of Bender). By speaking the formula of 1’s and 0’s on the tattoo, it makes a time sphere appear that can take anybody who enters it anywhere in space and time. Even worse, the spheres allow for any paradoxes that occur from time-traveling so we learn of the lives of various alternate Frys and Benders.
This is the part where the fun begins. The story is a celebration of virtually everything that has happened in the four seasons of the original series and there are many winks that fans will find familiar (non-fans will likely not notice and enjoy the show anyway). As a fan, I noticed the references and absolutely loved them.
Time travel has been done in the series before, but never at this complex a level. Trying to keep track of all the paradoxes and references would make a person dizzy. I tried to just sit back and enjoy them.
The highlights I enjoyed included: the return of Fry’s ex-girlfriend Michelle (voiced by Sarah Silverman), an appearance by Professor Farnsworth’s cloned son Cubert, the Harlem Globetrotters, Al Gore (playing a character remarkably similar to the one that recently appeared on 30 Rock), the Nibblonians, Fry’s faithful dog Seymour (who had such a sad story in the original series that I’m glad Fry had a chance to meet him again), Fry’s brother and namesake nephew (whom Fry never met in the original series. Remember I mentioned how the spheres allow for paradoxes?), the Santa Robot, Hannukah Zombie (voiced by Mark Hamill) and Kwanzaa-bot (voiced by Coolio),
The plot itself was quite silly, but I couldn’t help but get excited when the Planet Express ship and a fleet of various vessels seen in the run of the series faced off against a fleet of solid gold Death Stars to reclaim the Earth.
The story also had sub-plots involving Hermes getting his head cut off and Leela dating a man she meets on the nudist planet (much to Fry’s chagrin). The latter plot point becomes more important later in the story, but the main story with the incessant time travel is the most fun.
In short, I highly recommend this DVD. If you’re a fan, you’ll love it. If you’re not, then you’ll like it and want to buy the first four seasons on DVD (or check back here on Monday morning. *wink wink*). After watching them, you’ll love it.