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Puppet masters and Troll bazaars
Combining the comic book palette of his previous Hellboy and the imaginative fantasia of his Pan's Labyrinth, director Guillermo del Toro's (Chronos, The Devil's Backbone) sequel Hellboy II: The Golden Army reaches further into the imagination than even his most acclaimed films. A banished elvish prince (Luke Goss: One Night with the King, The Man) returns to take command of an invincible, mechanical army and take back the world from the humans... which is bound to put him in the path of paranormal regulator Hellboy (Ron Pearlman: Enemy at the Gates, The Last Winter) and his team-- his pyrokinetic girlfriend (Selma Blair: In Good Company, Feast of Love) and aquatic empath (Doug Jones: Warriors of Virtue, Men in Black II). Their journey to contain the Golden Army and confront the prince leads Hellboy and company through dazzling worlds and pits them against del Toro's specific versions of monsters and oracles. On DVD and Blu-Ray.
Animated
Kung Fu Panda is the newest animated film from Dreamworks (Shrek, Bee Movie), starring Jack Black (Be Kind Rewind, Margot at the Wedding) as Po, a kung fu obsessed panda working in his father's noodle restaurant, until a couple slapstick misfortunes accidentally land him in the middle of a ceremony declaring him the legendary "Dragon Warrior." Po doesn't know any kung fu, and his master (Dustin Hoffman: Perfume: The Story of a Murder, Marathon Man) doesn't want to teach him... especially since his most famous students, The Furious Five (Angelina Jolie, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, and Jackie Chan) all seem to be better candidates for Dragon Warrior... and if the Furious Five can't defeat the evil Snow Leopard (Ian McShane: Deadwood, We Are Marshall), what chance does Po have? On DVD and Blu-Ray.
Also new is the Kung Fu Panda tie-in Secrets of the Furious Five, telling the background stories of Tiger (Angelina Jolie: Beyond Borders, Alexander), Mantis (Seth Rogen: Superbad, Knocked Up), Snake (Lucy Liu: Rise, Cypher), Crane (David Cross: Arrested Development, Ghost World), and Monkey (Jackie Chan: The Myth, Supercop). Because it is a shorter film, it is currently renting for only $3.00.
Developed from the upcoming computer animated television series, Star Wars: Clone Wars covers the period after Star Wars: Episode 2 where Anakin (voiced by Matt Lanter: Heroes, Commander in Chief) and Obi-Wan
(voiced by James Arnold Taylor: Drawn Together, Monsters Inc) were generals with the Republic, as the dark side begins to do more and more damage to the Jedi.
Western Samurai
Takashi Miike's (Ichi the Killer, The Happiness of the Katakuris) newest film is Sukiyaki Western Django, a stylized, Leone-style western, starring Hideaki Ito (Onmyoji, The Princess Blade) and Koichi Sato (Infection, Rasen). The film combines classic western themes with Miike's trademark bloodletting and bizarre characters with classic samurai themes. Because he was making a western, Miike shot the film entirely in English, even though most of his Japanese cast didn't speak the language.
What We Do Is Secret is another rock star biography, following Darby Crash (Shane West: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, A Walk to Remember) as he forms the classic LA punk band The Germs. The movie covers the foundation of The Germs (played by Bijou Phillips: Bully, Hostel II, Rick Gonzalez: Laurel Canyon, Coach Carter, and Noah Segan: The Visitation, Waterborne), the recording of the first punk record in LA, to their final show and Darby's suicide. The real Germs followed this film by re-forming and touring with Shane West as their lead singer.
Cruel But Necessary is an independent Canadian film starring Wendel Meldrum (Blast from the Past, A Mighty Wind) as a woman trying to put her life back together after her marriage dissolves.
This week's TV New Releases section includes the 7th season of the popular medical dramedy Scrubs, as well as the Aardman (Wallace & Gromit, Flushed Away) animated show Shaun the Sheep.
