With Christmas less than 72 hours away, it looks like the studios are putting out quite a few last-minute gift ideas for you to snatch just in time to throw under the tree. This week’s big releases include District 9, (500) Days of Summer, and the second Family Guy Star Wars Special: Something Something Something Dark Side.

Of these releases, we are all pretty excited about the new Family Guy DVD this week. It’s the sequel to 2007′s Blue Harvest Star Wars special. This time, Seth McFarlane and his team spoof the events of The Empire Strikes Back. This special is never-before-seen, and won’t get airtime until mid-March.

Check out this week’s releases:

Movies

District 9 ~ Sharlto Copley, David James, Jason Cope (DVD and Blu-ray)

(500) Days of Summer ~ Zooey Deschanel, Joseph Gordon-Levitt (DVD and Blu-ray)

All About Steve ~ Sandra Bullock, Bradley Cooper, Thomas Haden Church (DVD and Blu-ray)

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Hard to believe it has been over 2 years since Family Guy aired it’s first Star Wars special, “Blue Harvest.” And now, we’re less than a month away from the highly anticipated follow-up special, “Something Something Something Dark Side.” The specials were originally set to air consecutively each year, but due to the popularity of the first, FOX decided to milk this cow for all it was worth and delay the release until now.

Last we left our heroes, Chris had destroyed the Death Star with the help of Han, thwarting Stewie’s plan to take out the rebel alliance, all while Lois and Chris grew closer together, not knowing their true relationship. Strange how this plot seems familiar.

In the next special, we of course get a direct parody of The Empire Strikes Back, with Hoth, Jon Benjamin as Yoda, and even the evil chicken as Boba Fett. Check out the full trailer after the jump. Keep your eye on the DVD shelves, as Something Something Something Dark Side is set to hit stores on December 22nd.

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This is the second part of John’s pull list comic reviews for the week. The first part was posted yesterday.

Kick-Ass #6 – Icon – $2.99
Score: 8.0

Kick-Ass itself is a contradiction of sorts. First, it is always one of–if not the most anticipated book of the month–even though it is usually never the best book of that month.  At the same time, it claims to be a super hero story about people in the real world, even though the actions taking place would never exist in what we consider the “real world” (or at least this writer hopes won’t actually take place).  Despite that, Kick-Ass does what all comics aspire to and sadly few consistently achieve in every issue; to please the reader and leave them wanting more.

On the surface, Kick-Ass has violence and vulgarity out the @$$ (that phrase being tamer than anything said in the entire book).  Digging down further, it is still pretty violent, but unlike a Hollywood gore film, there is substance hidden somewhere the buckets of blood and bodies, drawn with consistent art and beautifully illustrated splash pages by John Romita Jr. In the coming pages, the reader is taken through Hit Girl’s childhood and training that explain why she had no qualms about slicing and dicing criminals or loading them into car crushers in previous issues.

It’s hard not to crack an uncomfortable smile as this little girl tells her father they need to form a team, “‘Coz you’re the funnest dad in the world.” Like the rest of the series has been, this issue brings us intense imagery, including the blood-soaked cover, also from Romita, and ends on a great cliff hanger, keeping it atop everyone’s pull list for May.

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