Week to week, I’ll keep you up to date on the DVDs that you’ve been waiting for and the ones you don’t know about. I’ll spotlight picks of the week in Comics and Animation, Feature Length Films, T-V-D (TV Series), and when a release warrants it, the PCS Pump Up The Volume Pick that maximizes home theater systems.

COMICS & CARTOONS

Barefoot Gen

- PCS C & C PICK OF THE WEEK! Anime fans who know a thing or two about the classics know of Barefoot Gen’s place in history. Heralded as one of the best Japanese animation films of all time, this look at a ravaged Japan after the atomic bomb is powerful and moving.

Brak Show Volume 2

- Space Ghost fans should not miss the 14 episodes on these two discs.

Sealab 2021: Season 4

- Even more comedic science fiction hijinx submerged twenty thousand leagues under the sea with plenty of pixilated nudity, misfits, and absurdity.

Ultimate Avengers 2

-Better than the first, and sure to quench your thirst. Well that’s if you’re a Black Panther fan, as he joins the Ultimates in this straight to DVD sequel.

Feature Length Films

Brick

- PCS DVD OF THE WEEK! A smash-mouth modern noir with teenagers and twenty-somethings in California. A big hit at Sundance and sure to be a film that will be praised by the film buffs around the country that proclaim they know their shit. Not as packed with the extras as the UK version, but don’t let that deny yourself the opportunity to see this fine film.

Cavite

- PCS DVD OF THE WEEK Okay, so there are two DVDs of the WEEK, but I dare you to track this Filipino thriller down made on a shoestring budget (10 days, $7000) telling the story of a man forced to work for Muslim terrorists to keep his family alive. Strap on your chinelas and find this BADASS Mother of a film. You won’t regret it!

Inside Man

- Spike Lee does a good popcorn film? Believe it! Clive Owen and Denzel Washington bump heads in this caper that’s not so predictable. Spike finally got over himself and just put together an entertaining film, and did so in big budget fashion.

Manderlay

-Lars Von Trier’s follow up to his controversial, riveting (and excellent) film, Dogville. Starring Bryce Dallas Howard and Danny Glover, this is another exercise for Trier played out on the barren stage set, this time about freeing slaves in the south. Manderlay is the second film in his “American Trilogy” having never set foot in the country and interesting notion having never set foot here.

Toshiro Mifune: The Ultimate Collection

- For those who are slowly gathering Criterion Collection Akira Kurosawa Films to get their Mifune fixes can look deeper with this box set of previously released films starring the Japanese great. SAMURAI, THE AMBUSH: INCIDENT AT BLOOD PASS, ZATOICHI MEETS YOJIMBO, AKAGE, UNDER THE BANNER OF THE SAMURAI all add up to 640 minutes of Mifune. Dig it!

T-V-D

Prison Break: Season 1

- Prison Break was the new lead-in show for 24 this past spring, and once this new series got up and running and never stopped. For those who were wasting their Monday nights watching Deal or No Deal can finally see what all the fuss was about.

Wire: Complete Third Season

- PCS T-V-D PICK OF THE WEEK! Fans of Homicide: Life on the Street and Oz should already know this is coming out, but if you want a superbly written show about inner-city drug sweeping in Baltimore look no further. Featuring commentary tracks on half of the episodes and mixed in 5.1 Dolby Digital this is one of the top five shows on television today.