The movie forecast for this week is pretty lousy, unless you enjoy no-budget indie films, anime, and bad direct-to-dvd sequels. However, the theatrical slate is amazing! Read on to see what’s new, but as always, remember that all release dates are subject to change.

THIS WEEK’S NOTABLE DVD & BLU-RAY RELEASES:

King Kong (2005) [Blu-ray] – Peter Jackson’s vision of America’s greatest giant movie monster finally hits Blu-ray! Right off the bat I have to announce that this disc contains both the theatrical cut and the extended cut! With perfect audio and picture, this is probably the best release of the film to date…. or at least it would be if they ported over the extras from the previous DVD releases! All we get here is an audio commentary by Peter Jackson for the extended edition only, conceptual art galleries, and picture-in-picture cast and crew commentaries that are once again only viewable during the 200-minute extended cut. At the current moment I’m torn: I really want to pick this up, but I’m wondering if I should wait and see if another edition comes out later on down the road. Decisions, decisions….

Repo! The Genetic Opera [DVD & Blu-ray] – I didn’t quite know what to make of this film, but after seeing the trailer, I look forward to viewing this odd musical. In the future, organ failure is the norm, and there are actually corporations that deal in selling and leasing fresh organs to those in need. However, if you don’t make your payments on time, the Repo Man will show up at your door with a scalpel in his hand! The DVD release contains two featurettes and two audio commentaries; the Blu-ray contains the same extras, plus many more, including trailers, a poster gallery, deleted scenes (with optional commentary), and a sing-a-long feature.

War Metal Battle Master [DVD] – It’s a slow week gang, so sue me for choosing this as a “notable release,” ok?! In this flick’s defense though, how could you not be impressed by its insane cover art? I couldn’t find much info about this (barely) feature-length flick, except that it was made by, and stars, a death metal rock group called “Lair of the Minotaur.” Oh, and according to the cover, this newly released flick has been “Banned in 31 countries!”

THIS WEEK’S CULT DVD & BLU-RAY RELEASES:
009-1: Box Set [DVD]
Amusement [DVD & Blu-ray]
The Ashley Renee Collection [DVD]
Biddle Productions Present…. Zombie Film Fest [DVD]
Bleach Vol. 14 – The Rescue [DVD]
Blood Dancers [DVD]
Boogeyman 3 [DVD]
Children of the Stones [DVD]
City of Ember [DVD]
Cold Prey [DVD]
Darker Than Black Vol. 2 [DVD]
Dual Cell [DVD]
Exorcismo [DVD]
Ghost (Regular and Special Collector’s Edition) [DVD]
A Haunted House [DVD]
Igor [DVD & Blu-ray]
Kiba: Collection 1 [DVD]
*King Kong [Blu-ray]
Legend of Lyon: Flare [DVD]
Lunar Legend Tsukihime: Complete Collection [DVD]
Max Payne [DVD & Blu-ray]
Moonlight: The Complete Series [DVD]
Ninja Vixens: Complete Box Set [DVD]
Poison Ivy 4: The Secret Society [DVD & Blu-ray]
* Repo! The Genetic Opera [DVD & Blu-ray]
Samson and the 7 Miracles of the World [DVD]
Saw V (Unrated Director’s Cut & R-Rated Cut) [DVD]
The Screaming Skull (Enhanced) [DVD]
Vacancy 2: The First Cut [DVD]
The Wallflower: Complete Collection – Part I [DVD]
* War Metal Battle Master [DVD]

THIS WEEK’S NEW THEATRICAL RELEASES:
The Dark Knight – Woohoo! Batman is back on the big screen and hopefully this time, he’ll rake in enough dough to fully decimate that box office business record that is still sadly held by “Titanic.” Also, Oscar season is almost upon us, and I’m sure that Warner Bros. studios wants to remind everyone of how awesome Heath Ledger was as the Joker. If you missed “Dark Knight” before, then this is probably your last chance to catch it on the big screen.

Donkey Punch [NY & LA] – A couple girls go on a cruise with a couple guys to engage in drunken unprotected sex. Then things go wrong when one of the horny broads is found dead after being donkey-punched. The remaining girls then try to get off the boat, but the horny murderous dudes won’t let them. I haven’t heard too much about this one, but I’ll give it a whirl if only because of the sexual connotation of its title.

Inkheart – This family-oriented fantasy/adventure features Brenden Fraser as a man who has the peculiar gift of being able to yank characters out of books. When he accidentally unleashes a villain from one of his daughter’s storybooks, they band together with other literary characters to save the world! If there wasn’t already so many good flicks out in theaters, I’d probably see this. But as it stands, I’m probably going to wait for it’s eventual release onto DVD.

Outlander – Jim Caviezel (a.k.a. Jesus Christ) crash lands on Earth in the cold, ancient Nordic icelands. Unfortunately, he’s brought a vicious alien entity with him and must band together with some Vikings to kill off the predatory creature. This movie disappeared off the radar way back when “Beowulf” was coming out and I’m sort of glad that I finally get to see this quasi-Beowfulfian story. However, I haven’t heard too many good things about it, so I may just give “Jesus Christ, Alien Slayer” a wide berth until its DVD debut.

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans – This is by far the biggest movie of the week and I very much look forward to seeing it. This third entry serves as a prequel and explains why werewolves and vampires just can’t seem to get along. Though the existence of this film is pretty pointless (the previous two films have already taken care of all the backstory we need!), it’ll be cool to see lycans and vamps duking it out in medieval times!