While the series can be enjoyed on some levels, I didn’t have a fantastic time with War on Geminar. One of the things that I got used to having to watch a lot of Tenchi Muyo, was its cast of characters and how they contributed to the enjoyment of each of the series and movies. This OVA has really none of that and really plays up the harem aspect to perfection. The overall aesthetics are pretty nice and the character designs from Hakime Watanabe and Katsumi Enami are incredible, but nothing in the show kept my attention for very long. It also takes awhile to get into gear, with the first part of the series being mainly filled with comedy and gags, with the second part being filled with the “war” of the series. If the series wasn’t even tied to the Tenchi universe, the series could have held up as its own sort of sci-fi/fantasy series of its own, but never really manages to capture the full feeling of a Tenchi show.

The video on the Blu-Ray’s for Tench Muyo: War on Geminar are presented in 1080p, AVC encoded transfer, with an aspect ratio of 1.78:1. While the transfer doesn’t look that bad, it looks really soft, which is sometimes overridden with nice bright color schemes in characters or other elements that make the image stand out a bit. The audio on the discs are presented in both English and Japanese in Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround sound. The original language track sound really tame, in comparison to the English one. Sound effects and the overall mix are presented much better in English than they are in the original Japanese track. The dub is really solid and it made for a really pleasant experience seeing this series done extremely well by Funimation’s team. There’s a few extras, like the making of one of the outro’s, an episode commentary and a bunch of Funimation trailers for other products.

Most Tenchi fans might find something to like in this series, especially with the amount of hijinks and eye candy found within. I certainly didn’t enjoy it and kinda wish that AIC Spirits would have just left Tenchi alone, because this was a pretty big disappointment.

This movie is sort of a throwback to the American movie Three Men and a Baby, but with just one father. Marie is infatuated with Thomas, as he is with her when they first meet at her birthday party about a year earlier, which she actually leaves to join him at his apartment. They fall in love, but as the year progresses, Marie wants more, and that is a baby. However, Thomas isn’t ready for fatherhood, and with this admission, Marie decides that she can’t be with him any longer. Thomas admits that he can’t afford to take care of a baby on his small salary, as they walk up the stairs to yet another apartment that he has found.

Marie actually leaves him on her birthday, right as he is trying to surprise her with a party. Thomas is just broken hearted, and even with counseling from his buddy, who says that in order to attract women men have to appear as if they are ready for fatherhood—with a stroller and baby toys at the ready—Thomas doesn’t fall for this. But Thomas doesn’t have to fall for this scheme, because his neighbor takes a nasty fall, and her 4-month-old baby ends up being saved by Thomas, as he catches the baby and breaks his fall. The neighbor ends up in the hospital for five days, and Thomas is charged with keeping the young infant named Leo. So a light bulb goes off, and Thomas concocts a plan to use Leo as a ruse to get Marie back. But Marie isn’t going for it at first; because she believes that Thomas has taken up with another woman so soon after their break up and that he actually had a baby with this woman—even after Marie had begged him to start a family with her. It’s one trip after another, as Thomas learns to take care of Leo and even grows close to him, as Leo’s mother is recuperating.

When the mother is released from the hospital, Thomas isn’t quite through with his plan to win Marie back. He listens too much to his friend, who is a tennis coach whom Thomas believes has missed his chance at success. In the meantime, Thomas tries to go about his job as an artist, while learning to change diapers and figure out just what sounds the baby makes to which he should respond.

One cute scene shows Thomas going to a company where he is vying for a position as a greeting card illustrator, and he tries to conceal the baby in a duffle bag. As Leo makes cooing sounds, Thomas tries to mock them, as if they are coming from him. Eventually, the prospective employer smells an odor, and just straight out asks if he smells shit. The baby starts crying, and the masquerade is over. However, it turns out that the employer is a granddad and is in awe that Thomas would be so attached to his son that he would bring him to a job interview.

In the end, all doesn’t go well, as Leo’s mother becomes enraged that Thomas has taken her child off to a Bouncing Babies meet and greet. She comes in and blasts Thomas to the high heavens, and Marie discovers that her ex-boyfriend has been lying. But all isn’t over, and Thomas gets one last chance to make it work with Marie.

The Stroller Strategy is a great look into the minds of men as they try to skirt responsibility with parenthood, but also try to use whatever tricks they can pull to attract women who find fatherhood sexy. And even though Marie had found another boyfriend, she finally figures out that he isn’t the right one for her. She and Thomas are, in fact, a couple made for each other.

Director Clément Michel’s hit romantic comedy The Stroller Strategy starts in New York June 14, with a national release shortly thereafter.

But the two have another common denominator—Arnie’s new boss, Sabrina. She meets Bert, and she is enamored with him. But she and Bert are only friends. However, Arnie and Bert aren’t friends at all, but Arnie is beside himself trying to figure out why Sabrina would even be interested in Bert.

Arnie is outgoing and flirtatious, while Bert is kind of repressed after having been in a marriage that he didn’t know wasn’t going anywhere. He is new at the dating game, and he is also a professor whose student Faye is coming on to him. He must figure things out rapidly, while Arnie believes that he already has things in the bag. Arnie is such an over-the-top womanizer that he receives threatening phone calls from women’s husbands.

This film is full of romantic misadventures involving two men and the women in their lives. Bert and Arnie give narratives where they try to explain why they could or could not be friends.

Bert and Arnie’s Guide to Friendship stars Matt Oberg as Bert, Stephen Schneider as Arnie, and Anna Chlumsky as Sabrina. Bert and Arnie’s Guide to Friendship, the new comedy from director Jeff Kaplan, wouldn’t be considered a buddy film. To me, it’s just a film that attempts to explore infidelity at its best—for lack of a better description—when the two men involved actually know each other. They have such disparate personalities that they could, very well, learn from one another. But this relationship never really pans out.

The character that wins the show for me is Faye, played by Cristin Milioti, who delivers what leans more toward an androgynous performance, who has this nasal voice, and is bent on having some kind of sex with Bert, in order to get a prized internship with a literary critic who has blasted Bert’s last two books.

Bert and Arnie’s Guide to Friendship is available on DVD June 18 and is playing in limited release at New York’s Brooklyn’s Indiescreen June 21-27. Visit www.bertandarniemovie.com

‘

You watch as man after man comes into the bathroom, and while some leave tips, they all have to at least speak to the man who is at the ready with the soap dispenser and hand towel. Shoes gives advice, compliments or a sympathetic ear to all that warrant it. Spread out on the bathroom sink is an assortment of colognes and candies, which are available to anyone who wants them. Shoes, however, prefers that the men leave a tip, if they are going to take anything. What doesn’t amaze him anymore is that many men will come into the bathroom and relieve themselves, without washing their hands, all the while talking about how they are in love with one stripper or another.

Shoes is unnerved because too many people are coming into the bathroom and noting that it is his anniversary—some wondering why he is still there. He gets to thinking himself that maybe he should move on. But I suppose he is also wondering to what he would move.

The movie is based on the real life story of writer-director-star George Griffith, and is centered primarily in the men’s room. At one point the women’s bathroom is out of commission, and Shoes so diplomatically works it so that the women can use the men’s room, without worry or without feeling any encroachment from the men. At first, you sort of want to feel sorry for Shoes, since he has to basically stand eight hours in the men’s room, while they use the urinals or go into the toilet stalls, or even come to vomit on the floor.

But after a while of hearing the sad sob stories of the customers, you know that Shoes is, in fact, on the better end of the deal. There are regulars who come to the strip joint, many of whom think they are in love with the pole dancers. They are too stupid to realize that the strippers are, also, telling them what they want to hear, in order to get the better tips. Also, Shoes doesn’t have to exert himself much to do his job. And he makes good tips most of the time.

So the entire façade of the strip joint is a fantasy at best. The movie is brilliantly played out in the men’s room, without the viewer ever seeing the area where the women dance. But the conversations between Shoes and the male customers alone make for interesting dialogue. From the Head stars Matthew Lillard, Samantha Lemole, Ahna O’Reilly, Jon Polito and George Griffith as Shoes, and is due out on DVD on July 2 and available on VOD on June 14.  Visit www.breakingglasspictures.com

Alex, played by Pio Marmaï, is 27 years old, lives in a working-class neighborhood in Paris and has a great clientele to whom he sells drugs. Isaac is played by Cedric Kahn, who is a writer/director/teacher, who took a break from his normal responsibilities to star in this critically-acclaimed French crime drama. Aliyah just pulled at my heart strings, because Alex seemed so vulnerable to me, after having lost his mother, and having a total screw up for an older brother and a father who would just as well not have much to do with him. Alex runs into his cousin at a party, and the cousin, who has just served in the military in Israel, shares his plan to open a restaurant in Tel Aviv. He urges Alex to relocate, since he feels that he is just wasting his time in Paris.

But then enters Jeanne, played by Adèle Haenel, a beautiful woman who just happens to be a friend of Alex’s ex-girlfriend, Esther. Her character adds a gentle, unassuming influence on Alex, for which he didn’t bargain.

Alex always seems sad, even though business is booming and he goes to one party after another. I don’t know why he risks his freedom by selling drugs, because he doesn’t do much with the income but loan it out to his brother. However, once he decides that he is leaving Paris, he stashes the money in hopes of saving enough for the move. He enrolls in classes to learn Hebrew and to prepare him for the move to Israel, all the while exploring a new relationship with Jeanne.

I simply adore Film Movement films, because the story lines, imagery and cinematography make them always seem too irresistible to watch. In director Elie Wajeman’s words, the film is “is at once a thriller, a film about family, about a new beginning (in Israel) and about feelings, either between brothers, friends or lovers. This mixture of genres is deliberate.”

Alex loves his brother Isaac, but he is also consumed with the idea of starting a new life, free of the drug element, in Israel. And while his bond with his brother is strong, Isaac, who is married, cheating on his wife and strung out on drugs,  just keeps pushing the envelope and causes Alex to reflect on reality—not what how he wishes life would be. However, Alex does have a good friend, Mathias, in his corner, who is urging him to get out of Paris and what he sees could, as well, become a destructive environment for Alex.

The only good thing that has happened to Alex is the new relationship with Jeanne, but this is also wearing on him, as he must make a decision to chuck it all and start anew. He is not only leaving the people to whom he is close but his beautiful city, Paris.

Aliyah, which premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival’s Director’s Fortnight sidebar, opens in New York on June 14, followed by a limited theatrical release in other cities.

Ok, that was a lot of summary, but necessary I think.  I tend to be a fan of Bryan Singer’s movies.  Especially his earlier, more independent stuff like The Usual Suspects, and Apt Pupil.  When he made the leap to mainstream blockbusters like X-Men and Superman Returns I was right there with him, and found his Superheroic endeavors to be quite enjoyable despite not being as “important” as his early work.  Jack The Giant Slayer continues this string of fun fantasy adventures and I wasn’t disappointed.  I keep seeing Nicholas Hoult turn up in various things and am always really impressed with his performance as compared to other things I’ve seen.  He’s emerging as a very versatile and intriguing actor, and I look forward to seeing what he’s capable of when he starts playing more adult roles.

The rest of the cast is populated by actors I’ve grown to love over the years.  Ewan McGregor’s (The Impossible) role as King Brahmwell’s most gallant knight is probably the most fun I’ve seen McGregor have since Big Fish.  Stanley Tucci’s (Easy A) turn as the film’s villain is right up his alley as he is able to bring his trademark cunning to an unconventionally vile character.

I really enjoy how the film defies being predictable.  Things move in a fairly conventional way, with the hero vanquishing his foes to rescue the princess, but when the conclusion seems to be settling in and everything has about wrapped up nicely, that’s when the audience is treated to brand new, heightened stakes, new conflicts, and a grander climax worthy of Arthurian legend.

The Jack character is really well put together here.  Rather than a collection of virtues contributing to a single familiar archetype, Jack is forced to embrace his weaknesses, and call on strengths that those around him fall short on.  His ingenuity and intelligence are what he brings to the table besides his infatuation with the princess and the bravery that gives him.  Also, it has to be said that Jack is quite lucky, which I actually enjoyed a lot in the film because it was hilarious how Jack’s role as “Giant Slayer” mostly comes out of a series of accidents that results in dead giants.  I guess it’s true what they say:  History is written by the victors.

Overall, just a very fun endeavor, and well worth your time if you’re at all a fan of the genre, or have kids.  A fresh spin on a story we Bryan Singer, history begin?

Special Features include deleted scenes, a gag reel, and a featurette hosted by Nicholas Hoult about becoming a giant slayer.  Available on Blu-ray and DVD from Warner Bros Home Video on June 18.

One of the bigger issues with this latest take on Superman is that his story is as farfetched as that of Marvel’s Thor, so it takes a very specific film that dances on the lines of action without taking itself too seriously.  Marvel achieved this in all their films and into the combo punch of The Avengers, but D.C. shouldn’t try to be Marvel.

What Chris Nolan did with his Batman films was nothing short of genius.  He brought a dark and humanizing element that is unmatched in any other hero franchise.  With Nolan in the wings executive producing Man of Steel, it is obvious Snyder wanted to mimic the greatness of the Caped Crusader’s latest exploits.

The feel of this latest hero epic was a pleasing blend of dark mythology meets modern day and a dash of humor.  One of the best things Snyder and his crew did was not work in the “It’s a bird, It’s a Plane” joke, because it wouldn’t have fit with the tone of this film at all.  No, this director went the best route he could which was to reinvent a hero only known to a previous generation as Christopher Reeves (not counting the pile of garbage known as Superman Returns).

Henry Cavill strapped on the cape and stepped into the tights in such an impressive fashion that he will be a real joy to watch in future films as he embodies more and more of Superman.  Cavill’s chemistry with Amy Adams (Lois Lane) was a real highlight onscreen as the casting could not have been more perfect.  In fact, with the exception of Michael Shannon as General Zod (which I’m still on the fence about) the casting across the film was pleasing.

Starting out in a doomed Krypton, audiences see what Kal-El’s real home looked like and what brought him to Earth.   Then Snyder chooses to interchange between modern day Clark Kent and the childhood version, blending the stories together so it is not in a perfect timeline.  While it was creative to do so, it also made the film feel jumpy and at times harder to watch.  The backstory of Superman growing up on a farm in Smallville, Kansas is so important to the character himself that you don’t want to see audiences deprived from the meaty explanation of the ideals his Earth father Jonathan Kent instilled in young Kal-El.  It took the CW’s Smallville 10 years to hash out Clark’s backstory, so it was hard to see Snyder touch on a few highlights in give or take 30 minutes.

As General Zod invades Earth, Clark is just discovering who he really is with the help of his artificial intelligence makeshift father Jor-El, who lives within a command key given to his son before being sent to Earth.  Clark learns of his origins just before Zod and his band of war criminals enter Earth’s atmosphere and issue their warning for the people of the planet to give up Kal-El.  It is his biological father that finally convinces him to take up the suit and give the people of Earth an ideal to strive towards, if I may quote the convincing Russell Crowe as Jor-El.   Clark has spent his whole life fighting what he is versus what he is afraid people will see him as, a secret Jonathan Kent believed so strongly in that he let himself die in a Kansas tornado instead of letting Clark save him.  As Zod and the Man of Steel duel it out a few times, it is with the help of humans (Lois and an army Colonel) that ultimately saves Earth from being the next Krypton.

Michael Shannon’s portrayal of General Zod is a tricky one, as some times he is convincing and terrifying while others it is just Michael Shannon playing another bad guy and then later playing another bad guy with really bad facial hair.  His best moments come at the film’s beginning when he is arguing with Jor-El to tell him where they have sent his son, Kal.  Threatening Jor-El and Laura that “[he] will find him” over and over again, louder each time was a great scene and well played on Shannon’s part.  His next best moment does not come again until he is down on his knees at Superman’s feet near the film’s end, explaining what he had been bred for.   You see, Kal-El was the first natural birth on Krypton in centuries, before him for the longest time everyone had been specifically bred with a purpose.  Zod’s was to be a warrior.  This final exchange between the two before Zod’s ultimate *spoiler alert* defeat was Shannon’s other shining moment and again well played on his part.

With a running time of 2 hours and 23 minutes, the film manages to not feel drawn out especially with the jumping back and forth between past and present.   The biggest issue that Snyder and his D.C. cohorts now face is where to go from here.  Do they attempt the (proven) successful Marvel route and wrap all their hero films into one another, or will they let each film stand on its own merits.  Man of Steel doe show tie-ins for future films  (Wayne Enterprises satellites, LexCorp trucks) but it does not necessarily mean they have to rush into the Justice League before they figure out how to play it.  The best thing that D.C. could have done was to convince Nolan to help guide Snyder in his adaptation of Superman and let the same dark tone of the Batman series carry into Superman’s world of Metropolis.  These heroes are much darker than that of Marvel and therefore deserve more respect.  They have created a world that is impossible in reality, but plays itself so seriously that we are forced to believe it might just be true.

This will be the new franchise to take over now that The Dark Knight has run his course (for now).  We can look forward to seeing Clark Kent juggle his life as a Daily Planet reporter and his real job as a superhero of Krypton while he most undoubtedly faces off against a human opponent in the evil of Lex Luthor.

Hold your expectations aside if you want to see a D.C. version of Marvel’s proven formula for hero flicks, because that’s not what you’ll get.  Instead, look at Man of Steel as a successful re-telling of the world’s oldest and most classic superhero.  Henry Cavill does not disappoint in comparison to the late Reeves, and definitely blows Brandon Routh’s take on the hero (Superman Returns) out of the water.

Man of Steel is rated PG-13 and now playing everywhere.

And boy is this ever one seriously addictive series! The Freeman family’s secrets are doled out so sparingly over the course of Series One’s 26 episodes, and at such regular intervals, that you’re always left wanting more, no matter how much has been cumulatively revealed about the past interactions between Liz, Jack and Eva, not to mention the local Catholic priest, Father McGinley. In part, this stems from the fact that each question the writers answer inevitably raises another half dozen or more others, making us ever-increasingly more curious about what each revelation means for and about the family and, moreover, how Eva plans to use each revelation to her advantage. Thus, tensions mount and the suspense becomes nearly unbearable as Eva’s plans for Jack, Liz and their five children become more and more apparent. And when episode 26 comes to its close, oh how you’ll want to push right on through to Series Two.

Unfortunately, if you’re viewing the series in its June 18, 2013 DVD release from Acorn Media, as I did, you’ll have to wait to marathon the rest of it until Acorn releases Series Two, which will hopefully be very, very soon! Still, be forewarned that the return to the main menu after episode 26, marking the end of the set, will be absolutely crushing, especially since there are no special features with which to tide yourself over until the next release! But I suppose you could just start Series One all over again, a prospect that’s sounding to me like more of a reasonable course of action than simply waiting for Series Two the more I think about it.

One final thing worth mentioning here is the inherent appeal of the series given its terrific writing staff. If you’re a fan of Abbott’s work on State of Play and Shameless, or merely a fan of Coronation Street, Emmerdale, or even Doctor Who or Queer as Folk, this is a series you’re apt to want to pick up regardless of whether or not the idea of a supernatural soap opera appeals to you outright. After all, much of the series’ stable of writers followed Abbott from Coronation Street (a wealth of whom also worked on Emmerdale). Also among them is none other than Russell T. Davies, creator of Queer as Folk and the man behind the reboot of Doctor Who. What’s more, writers Paul Cornell and Gareth Roberts, who also penned some episodes of New Who, join the writing staff for Series Two, as I understand it. Unfortunately, while I distinctly recall that Davies wrote at least three episodes in Springhill: Series One, I’m afraid I can’t tell you precisely which episodes they were. I found that, when I at last sat down to write this review, details about the series online are few and far between. Had I had any inkling that a list of episodes with corresponding writers would have been nowhere to be found, not even on IMdB, I would have kept better track of such material in my notes. Whilst I may indeed compile such a list if I work my way back through Series One prior to the release of Series Two, let this be a challenge to anyone who reads this to improve upon the series’ dreadfully lacking IMdB and Wikipedia pages for the betterment of the world.

A Good Day to Die Hard attempts to follow that dynamic, but what works so well in all of the Die Hard movies until this point is that they always found a good balance between the action sequences and the other scenes.  This installment is cram packed with action sequences, to the point of it feeling like any other generic action movie while losing all of those great “McClane Moments” that made the rest of the franchise so much fun.  The McClane character isn’t completely lost, and the scenes where he’s just interacting with other people and bestowing his trademark condescension are the highlight of the film, but they’re few and far between in this sequel.

The story is simple enough.  McClane goes to Russia to find his son (Jai Courtney), and discovers he’s working for the CIA trying to keep a witness (Sebastian Koch) safe from Russian terrorists.  So, with the many attempts to assassinate this witness, there’s a lot of gun fights and explosions and action movie plot twists, and fewer character scenes.

It was nice to see Mary Elizabeth Winstead reprise her role as Lucy McClane, John’s daughter, in this film, even briefly.  It would have been great to see Adam Long return in those scenes as well, since Live Free or Die Hard ended with those two characters getting together, and now we’re left to think that that didn’t work out, and everyone’s favorite hacker is sitting in an apartment somewhere desperately trying to win vintage Transformers on eBay while digitally bringing down society one step at a time.

A Good Day is available now on Blu-ray (in an extended cut of the film) and DVD from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, but I would suggest just going with the 25^th Anniversary collection of the previous Die Hard movies and have yourself a really good day.

The first three episodes here center on a secondary Nighlok named Serrator, who appears to have at last sided with the Nighlok Lord Xandred, but in reality has set in motion a plan for global conquest all his own. After temporarily disposing of Xandred at the outset of this volume, the pieces start to fall in place and we realize that Serrator’s plan had in fact been many, many, many years in the making. In short, Serrator’s plan involves manipulating the human/Nighlok half-breed, Deker, into cracking the world in half! It’s an intense couple of episodes featuring battles so epic that they leave you wondering how the real climax of the season could ever possibly compare. What’s more, some of the absolute greatest moment in the Samurai/Super Samurai saga can be found in this mini-arc, including Gold Ranger Antonio’s internal struggle when presented with an opportunity to outright kill the unconscious Deker. (Concerned parents needn’t worry, though. The whole thing’s played out in subtext really. He never specifically suggests killing him, but more aged viewers will know what he means when he says “attack.”)

The final episode at last addresses the Red Ranger’s secret, and it allows the volume to close with terrific tension. The secret in question, which I will not divulge here (and you’re welcome), really shakes things up for the Rangers, and the closing moments of the episode find the team in utter shambles as a result. This makes for the perfect cliffhanger, building immense anticipation for what will be the final standalone volume of Super Samurai. (And if you must know what I think about the season’s finale, you can read my thoughts on the entire season of Super Samurai here.)

Special features on the Lionsgate DVD release of Secret of the Red Ranger include the “Everyday Fun” music video, which I discussed in my review of the complete season Blu-ray, and a video called “MEGA Album Playlist,” which I’ll be damned if I can account for. The “MEGA Album Playlist” finds the Rangers screwing around in front of a greenscreen and then freezing in poses that allow them to be Photoshopped onto recognizable album covers on which the names have been changed to reflect a more Ranger-centric focus. I honestly have no idea who this thing is supposed to appeal to. The albums span some three or four decades, meaning that the references here will befuddle the majority of young viewers. And sure, adults such as myself who get the references do watch the series too, but it doesn’t make Power Rangers more accessible to me in any way, if that’s what they were going for with this. You see, my love for The Beatles and The Clash and my love for the Power Rangers are very different things, and I’m fine with that. Because people compartmentalize their preferences. In the same way that I would never put pickles in Lucky Charms, although I am a fan of both, I don’t particularly want to see the Power Rangers on the cover of Abbey Road. At least not for no reason whatsoever.