Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - (Page 16) REVIEWS ambassador between the two groups, spending most of his time coming to the aid of humans who are being tormented by the pesky monsters. But Kitaro’s powers are put to the test when he’s tasked with recovering an evil stone, which is filled with 1,000 years of monsters’ grudges, from falling into the wrong hands and destroying both worlds. The only one who knows of the stone’s whereabouts is a young boy named Kento, who was given the stone by his father for safekeeping before being arrested for its theft. Kitaro is compelled to protect Kento and his older sister from the Yokai, specifically the fox spirits, who will do anything to get the magical stone back. This leaves the fate www.homemediamagazine.com of the world in the capable hands of Kitaro, who relies on all of his Yokai friends to help save the day, while trying to reunite Kento’s family. Directed by Japanese filmmaker Katsuhide Motoki (Drugstore Girl) and featuring imaginative CGI work from Centro Digital Pictures (the company responsible for the special effects in Kill Bill and Kung Fu Hustle), Kitaro is a highly entertaining adaptation that harnesses all the creativity from the original manga storyline to deliver a whimsical, action-packed journey that kids and adults of all ages can enjoy. The anime series has remained popular for more than 40 years in different forms — having been made into TV shows and movies since the 1960s, and into a number of related video games since the late ’80s. Another of the film’s big draws is its casting of popular Japanese performers, including Wentz Eiji, half of the Japanese pop duo WaT. – Matt Miller I KITARO Street 8/12 cast of characters that bring the classic, family friendly “Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro” BCI, Fantasy, $19.98 DVD, NR. manga series to life. Stars Wentz Eiji, Mao Inoue, Rena Tanaka. The live-action, CGI-rich film, simply In Japanese with English subtitles. titled Kitaro, is set in modern-day Japan as the worlds of the humans and the Yokai tribe of super foxes, a Rat Man, a (spirit monsters) struggle to coexist. The Cat Woman and a walking, talking lone peacekeeper is Kitaro (Wentz Eiji), a eyeball are all part of the colorful half-human, half-Yokai, who serves as an A I JUNCTURE Street 8/12 MTI, Action, $24.95 DVD, ‘R’ for violence, language, some sexuality and drug content. Stars Kristine Blackport, John Hutton, Jeff Nicholson, Diana Dresser, Andrew Porter. O n the surface, Juncture might appear to be yet another take on themes familiar to viewers who have seen any number of films about vigilantes — anything from Death Wish to Batman and dozens upon dozens of other titles. Anything familiar, though, ends there. James Seale’s stylish film manages to spin in many different directions and take on a variety of issues, but remain remarkably coherent. Beyond the “avenging angel of death” element, the story employs conventions from other stock genres and plot trajectories, including the “only so long to live so I better wrap things up” and, to some degree, the “double life as a superhero” scenarios, but combines them in a way that feels oddly fresh and original if not always compelling and linear. In fact, not unlike Batman’s Bruce Wayne, Anna Carter (Blackport) leads a fairly glamorous highsociety lifestyle, travelling by private jet and limo in her role as director of a large, extremely well-endowed foundation established by a benevolent Internet tycoon (Hutton) to serve disadvantaged or abused children. Anna uses her many opportunities to cross the country (for a presumably modestly budgeted film the use of locations in Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia and San Francisco is impressive) as a way of promoting her secret agenda, tracking down and killing people convicted of child abuse who are now free. Injecting a terminal-illness angle might seem odd at first, maybe even superfluous, appearing well into the running time and, in fact, long after Anna’s lethal activities have been established rather than serving as the inciting incident within the first act that starts her on her “mission.” Upon analysis it is a unique “ticking clock” device that lends an urgency and some poignancy to the action. – David Greenberg 16 Home Media Magazine August 3–9, 2008 http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://www.oceandist.com http://www.oceandist.com
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 Contents News In Focus TV DVD Reviews Pipeline Research Top 20 DVD Sellers Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts Just Announced Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 (Page 1) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 (Page 2) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - Contents (Page 3) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - News (Page 4) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - News (Page 5) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - In Focus (Page 6) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - In Focus (Page 7) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - In Focus (Page 8) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - In Focus (Page 9) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - In Focus (Page 10) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - In Focus (Page 11) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - TV DVD (Page 12) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - TV DVD (Page 13) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - Reviews (Page 14) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - Reviews (Page 15) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - Reviews (Page 16) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - Reviews (Page 17) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - Reviews (Page 18) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - Pipeline (Page 19) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - Top 20 DVD Sellers (Page 20) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - Top 20 DVD Sellers (Page 21) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts (Page 22) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts (Page 23) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - Just Announced (Page 24) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - Just Announced (Page 25) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - Just Announced (Page 26) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - Just Announced (Page 27) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - Just Announced (Page 28)
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