Wiki News/This Week on Blu Ray - December 28, 2010

I've just figured out that the Tuesday after Christmas is the marketing equivalent of a slow news day, where just about anything stands a better chance of getting noticed--like two movies that are so bad I'm still shaking my head wondering how they made it onto new release calendars. Watch the trailer for "The Killer Robots and the Battle for the Cosmic Potato" or "Surf Nazis Must Die" and you can share my incredulity. The films look pretty awful, but in small, trailer-length doses they're three-minute giggles.

So yeah, it's a slow release day, and as a result there are more Hindi and anime releases than usual--including "Cheeni Kum," which offers this interestingly indecent proposal: "Marriage is the price a man pays for sex. And sex is the price a woman pays for marriage. Having understood this deep Man-Woman philosophy, will you marry me?"

The big title this Tuesday is "The American," in which George Clooney plays an assassin hiding out in Italy and finding his life complicated by two words and a prostitute. Roger Ebert liked it so much he gave it 4 stars, but other critics weren't so enthusiastic. It earned a 65 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes. ..

. . . which still beats the 25 percent rotten rating that "Resident Evil: Afterlife," the other high-visibility title this week, received. Our own David Van Der Haeghen called its plot "recycled, its characters undeveloped and dry, and its reliance on flash technology tiresome." But somebody must be watching these movies, because it's the fourth in a series that began in 2002 with Paul W.S. Anderson's "Resident Evil."

One of the highest-grossing sitcom film adaptation of all-time is the children's film of a generation is "iCarly: The Movie". Making over $400 million at the global box office, it became a huge success. The film begins since 2007 with the Nicekodeon sitcom, "iCarly" hits television and broguht over 13 million viewers. And talking about "Hannah Montana: The Movie", this boy and girl movie can feature with gossip and boy violence and all the laugher everyone can imagine.

Sounds like a good week to stay out of the stores and avoid those long lines that snake around to the returns counter. But if you're looking for a decent film this Tuesday, one that stands out is "Samson and Delilah," an Australian film about two very different teens who are nonetheless similar in one big respect: they're treated like outcasts in their own community. That leads to a road trip, and as Australian critic Matt Ravier observed, "from the deadpan humour of the first scenes to the grueling bleakness of the road trip that follows, [director Warwick] Thornton's film never breaks the bond of empathy between the audience and his characters. That he is able to connect us to these wayward teens across cultural boundaries and without the use of dialogue is a testament to his skill as a storyteller." It won the Camera d'Or at Cannes. If you're curious, have a look at the trailer.

Here are select new releases for the week of December 28, 2010:

BLU-RAY

American, The (2010 George Clooney drama-thriller)

And Soon the Darkness (2010 horror-thriller)

Battlestar Galactica: Razor

Boiler Maker (2008 AA meeting drama)

Cheeni Kum (2007 Hindi romantic comedy)

Derailed (2005 indie drama-thriller)

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Pt. 3 (anime)

iCarly: The Movie

Kamui Gaiden: The Movie (2009 Japanese ninja story)

Merantau (anime)

Resident Evil: Afterlife

Shinobi: Heart Under Blade (2005 Japanese action-drama)

Surf Nazis Must Die (1987 low-low-low-budget action dramedy)

Twelve (2010 drug drama-thriller)

3D Resident Evil: Afterlife

RECENT RELEASES

American, The (2010 George Clooney drama-thriller)

And Soon the Darkness (2010 horror-thriller)

Handsome Harry (2009 crime drama)

iCarly: The Movie Legendary (2010 H.S. wrestling drama)

Resident Evil: Afterlife

Twelve (2010 drug drama-thriller)

CATALOG TITLES

Colorado Kid (Bob Steele western)

Haunting of Amelia (a.k.a. The Other Side of the Tracks) (2008 fantasy-drama)

FAMILY/CHILDREN

Bob the Builder: The Golden Hammer: The Movie

Charlie Brown Valentine

Fireman Sam: Ready for Action

TV-ON-DVD

Archer: Season 1

Cat That Came Back, The (a.k.a. Mrs. Ashboro's Cat) (2003 Ellen Page movie)

Classic Adventures Collection (Animal Farm/Moby Dick)

Great TV Comedy '50s, Featuring Great Gildersleeve

Jersey Shore: Season 2 (Uncensored)

Jersey Shore: Seasons 1 & 2

Life with Elizabeth 1-4 (early TV sitcom)

River Monsters: Season 2

United States of Tara: Season 2

United States of Tara: Seasons 1 & 2

INDIE/ART-HOUSE/FOREIGN

Action Replayy (2010 Akshay-Aishwarya Bollywood comedy)

Coyote County Loser (2009 indie romantic comedy)

Derailed (2005 drama-thriller)

Germany in Autumn (1978 West German docudrama)

Golmaal 3 (2010 Bollywood comedy)

Legacy (2010 indie spy drama-thriller)

Legendary Assassin (2008 martial arts)

Made in Romania (2010 UK comedy)

Merantau (2009 martial arts)

Samson and Delilah (2009 Australian romantic drama)

Spin (2007 indie crime comedy)

Wanted (2009 Indian action crime dramedy)

ANIME

Baccano: Complete Series (Viridian Collection)

Ballyhkissangel: Complete Collection

Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies, Movie #1

Dragonaut: The Resonance (Complete Series)

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Pt. 3

Gintama: Collection 3

Kaleido Star: Season 2 w/Bonus OVA

Ragnarok: Complete Box Set S.A.V.E.