the dope report

• Final Fantasy XIII (Playstation 3, Xbox 360)

  One of the most celebrated video game franchises makes its next gen console debut. Expect an epic RPG sure to lay waste to your social life.

• Gorillaz – Plastic Beach (CD)

  Your favorite band consisting of animated primates returns with their 3rd studio album. You’ve got ample time to take it in before their upcoming appearance at this year’s Coachella music festival.

• Capitalism: A Love Story (DVD, Blu-Ray)

  Michael Moore’s latest doc examines America’s fascination with making rich people richer and taking a fat shit on everyone else.

Not only does Maynard James Keenan make crazy-as-shit art metal, he also makes delicious wine from the deserts of Arizona. The limited release Blood Into Wine documents Keenan’s newfound interest in oenology, alongside hilarious pals like Patton Oswalt, Bob Odenkirk, Tim Heidecker, and Eric Wareheim. Blood Into Wine opens in select theaters nationwide throughout the spring. [Blood Into Wine]

• Where the Wild Things Are (DVD, Blu-Ray)

  Spike Jonze takes one of the most beloved children’s stories and turns it into the longest, most awesome music video ever made.

• Ponyo (DVD/Blu-Ray combo pack)

  The latest from Japan’s most prolific animated filmmaker, Hayao Miyazaki brings us a tale of a boy and his goldfish that turns into a girl for some reason.

• Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (Playstation 3, Xbox 360, PC)

  EA’s alternative to Modern Warfare 2, as if you really needed one. Drive vehicles and destroy environments while getting your kill on.

• MLB 10 The Show (Playstation 3, PSP, Playstation 2)

  Sony’s exclusive franchise prides itself on being the most realistic baseball simulation each season. How real? So real that steroid-era players like Nomar Garciaparra and Eric Gagne are injury-prone and mere shadows of their past selves.

• Black Dynamite (DVD, Blu-Ray)

  Get this critically acclaimed blaxploitation homage flick now, sucka!

• Good Hair (DVD)

  This documentary narrated by Chris Rock looks into the African-American haircare obsession. It’s unbe-weave-able.

• Aliens vs. Predator (Playstation 3, Xbox 360, PC)

  What happens when you merge two of the most awesome sci-fi franchises of all time? You get a fairly decent first-person shooter.

• BioShock 2 (Playstation 3, Xbox 360, PC)

  Return to the underwater city of Rapture to eviscerate splicers with a big-ass drill for an arm while taking in creepy Art Deco design and story elements inspired by Rand and Orwell.

• A Serious Man (DVD, Blu-Ray)

  The latest from the Coen brothers. Do you really need more information than that?

• Massive Attack – Heligoland (CD)

  The band that bred the “trip-hop” genre is back from a seven-year hiatus to regale us with all kinds of electronic goodness.

• Gil Scott-Heron – I’m New Here (CD)

  One of the most powerful voices in black music has a new album 40 years after his solo debut. It’s released by XL Recordings, so yah, it’s going to be awesome.

• Dante’s Inferno (Playstation 3, Xbox 360, PSP)

  The game developers who brought us Dead Space now brings us to Hell with this action-fest loosely based on Dante’s The Divine Comedy. We’re talking loose like Kardashian loose, though. Sure it’s a blatant God of War rip-off, but it’s got gore and titties. We’re in.

• Zombieland (DVD, Blu-Ray)

  The perfect blend of zombie gore and hilarity. Not only is Zombieland fun as shit, but it also features one of the best cameo appearances ever. No, I’m not going to spoil it for you.

• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Blu-Ray)

  Raoul Duke’s drug-fueled galivant through the Nevada desert now presented in HD. Depravity has never looked sharper.

• Lil Wayne – Rebirth (CD)

  America’s favorite rapper returns with what he calls a rock album. Um…we’ll just wait for Tha Carter IV, thanks.

• Soul Power (DVD, Blu-Ray)

  Remember that Ali vs. James Brown animated short we showed you? Well, it actually happened, kind of. This concert film/documentary focuses on the Zaire 74 festival that preceded and promoted Ali and Foreman’s legendary “Rumble in the Jungle” fight. Soul Power features performances from James Brown, Bill Withers, B.B. King, Celia Cruz, and Miriam Makeba.

• David Bowie – A Reality Tour (CD)

  “You be doin’ nose candy off the Bowie coke mirror, my girlie asked for some but I pretended not to hear her.” All your favorite Bowie tunes, only live.

• Beach House – Teen Dream (CD+DVD)

  Indie rock to get stoned to. The Baltimore duo’s third release also comes with a DVD containing videos for every song on the album.

• Mass Effect 2 (Xbox 360, PC)

  Travel galaxies to recruit a few good men, women, and aliens to preserve organic life threatened by space baddies. This Sci-Fi epic could go down as the most action-packed RPG created.

• MAG (Playstation 3)

  Sony combats Xbox 360’s exclusive Mass Effect 2 with what promises to be one ridiculously awesome online multiplayer game. 256-player deathmatches, ‘nuff said.

• The Hurt Locker (DVD, Blu-Ray)

  Grind your teeth throughout every tense minute of this film about a military bomb defusing unit during the Iraq War. Great acting performances and taut, unnerving drama makes this one of the best films of 2009.

• Moon (DVD, Blu-Ray)

  This sci-fi thriller showcases the underrated Sam Rockwell as a lonely miner on the dark side of the moon whose only interaction comes from a computer named GERTY 3000. With that obvious homage to 2001: A Space Odyssey’s HAL 9000, expect to see some space madness on par with classics like Solaris and Sunshine.

• 8 1/2 (Blu-Ray)

  Frederico Fellini’s cinematic masterpiece now gets Criterion Collection treatment in glorious hi-def. Sure, it’s black and white, but the HD transfers for Dr. Strangelove and Young Frankenstein look beautiful, and so will 8 1/2.

• Vampire Weekend – Contra (CD)

  Their sophomore effort expands on their indie rock to world beat sound. These guys would eat Paul Simon’s dick in a heartbeat if they could.

• Blockhead – Music Scene (CD)

  Dope hip-hop beats courtesy of Aesop Rock’s old producer. If you like Aesop Rock and Def Jux, then this is a must cop.

• Army of Two: The 40th Day (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PSP)

  A hardcore action shooter with subtext indicting the military industrial complex, or a homoerotic tale of love between two private military contractors? Maybe it’s a little bit of both.