Written by Greg Rucka and James Robinson
Art by Pete Woods and Ron Randall

The Story

And thus wraps up the miniseries. All is over and Superman gets to go back to his home with Lois in Metropolis and to his home titles of Superman and Action Comics…wait, what? No? Well darn.

For twelve issues, Superman: World of New Krypton has followed Superman on the recently established New Krypton. He’s helped his long lost brethren adapt to their emerging abilities while making sure former enemy General Zod doesn’t go all tyrannically evil with an army of super-powered Kryptonians.

Aside from ending the miniseries, this issue wraps up the investigation of a series of assassinations occurring on New Krypton, as well as several events that have happened throughout the miniseries. Superman, after some guest starring help from Adam Strange, begins to figure out the conspiracy behind it all and confronts the mastermind behind it.

The end, right? Not quite. All this issue does is wrap up the events of Superman: World of New Krypton, not the whole event itself. Superman is still Kal-El of the New Krypton military, a commander under General Zod. Seems like we have a bit more to go before he’s regularly back in the red, yellow and blues. In a month, Superman: Last Stand of New Krypton starts, which I can only hope isn’t more of the same Law & Order: New Krypton that this has been.

Honestly, I couldn’t find much interesting about the actual plot of this issue or the miniseries. There hasn’t been much about New Krypton to emotionally invest the reader, especially with taking Superman away from those characters readers already are invested in. Kal-El the soldier always questioning the morality of everything just isn’t the same as either Superman or Clark Kent, which would be nice if the character got back to sometime soon.

What this issue does do well is humanize the Kryptonians. We’ve had larger-than-life heroes and maniacal villains come out of Krypton before, but not just regular people. Here we have political corruption, military officers abusing power and simple workers having labor disputes with lack of representation. It feels grounded.

The reason this is important is because it effectively makes Superman even more alien. He wishes for his people to be better than the failings of all the other races he knows, but they’re just as human as his Earth home.

Superman can never truly be one of them just as he can never be one of us. As he ponders being unable to make much of a difference, he and the readers see that it’s not being an alien that makes Superman alien to everyone. It’s just being himself, being the Boy Scout with such high ideals that makes him alien.

While the issue isn’t particularly entertaining, it does develop some interesting points about Superman’s uniqueness. Superman isn’t going to be at home anywhere except for the one he has made for himself – Earth. Now if only he’d stop screwing around and get there. At least the ending seems to lead to some good old fashion Superman fisticuffs

5.5/10

The Art

I’m just not feeling it. The characters just fail to emote. Almost every face looks static and bland. At the very least, Superman should look a little pissed when someone gets murdered in front of him, but not at all here. Although he does have a pretty long face at times.

The color job is decent in showing bright objects. Adam Strange’s teleporting and a glowing waterfall are as bright as expected. Some blacks though blend in and don’t show any detail, particularly on military uniforms.

There are also some bad looking panels in here when the characters are distant from the vantage point. One in particular looks like Superman is missing a mouth.

Overall, it’s mediocre at best. Nothing to get excited about.

4/10

It’s an uneventful ending to a less-than-thrilling storyline. The ending is somewhat of a cliffhanger with a surprise appearance, but it’s really more of a relief than anything.

The Review
Story 5.5/10
Art 4/10
Overall (Not an Average) 5/10

The Film

First off, do not expect The Divine Comedy. Don’t even try. Just take God of War and replace Greek mythology with Christianity. If you’re good with that, you’re good to go.

The film follows Dante as a knight from the Crusades, returning home to find his father Alighieri and fiancée Beatrice murdered and Lucifer himself stealing Beatrice’s soul. Dante pursues Lucifer all the way to Hell (also repeatedly referred to as “the Inferno”), meeting Virgil at the gate who acts as his guide through all nine circles.

This was fun to watch. It’s cheesy and over the top. If you’re a fan of late ‘80s-early ‘90s original video anime titles with gratuitous violence, explicit nudity and little character development, then this is for you.

While it’s unrated, you can put this testosterone power trip in the mature column. Dante goes to town tearing apart demons, devils and dead souls alike, all of which having far too much blood for no longer being alive, but questioning that defeats the point. Don’t think too hard and enjoy the blood fest.

As for the nudity, you get a lot of breast exposure, but that’s it. Beatrice has varying levels of undress, and that’s even before you get to the circle of lust, which is pretty much what you would expect. Never any outright sex, but the film comes close.

If none of that piqued your interested, I have three words for you: Extending. Claw. Penises.

If you’re still not feeling it, this isn’t for you. It’s a simple damsel in distress tale. It’s shallow and random. Things happen without an attempt at an explanation because no one cared. The pacing can be slow at times, mainly in between fights. Yet for a supposed epic, it’s pretty short at 88 minutes.

The characters range from bland to unlikeable. Dante is less of an exploring poet and more of a muscle-bound psychopath cutting his way through Hell. And he’s a dick. The film tries to redeem him, but it comes off as lip service at best. His father is a dick too, but he’s also Mark Hamill so that’s OK.

While this is most certainly not the same tale from The Divine Comedy, anyone familiar with the work will recognize occasional references. The main characters who come anywhere close to their namesakes though are Virgil, who actually is the Roman poet, and Lucifer, who is of course Lucifer.

The acting is the kind of mix between over the top and bland you would expect from this type of work. Graham McTavish’s Dante is very theatrical and overacted, which is just about perfect except that he sounds a bit too old. Vanessa Branch’s Beatrice is instead underacted, which helps even less to make anyone care about her.

The more veteran voice actors of Steve Blum (Lucifer) and Mark Hamill (Alighieri) bring their expected level of acting to the table and do decent jobs.

By promoting itself with six directors and six versions of hell, the movie tries to come off as a multi-studio anthology from Japan and ride the coattails of The Animatrix and Batman: Gotham Knight. Not quite. It’s really just one complete story, with different segments divided between six directors from different studios. There is technically a seventh director, the supervising director Mike Disa, overseeing the project.

As I’m sure is true in the game, more cerebral elements like a solid story and interesting characters are less important when compared to the visceral enjoyment of just tearing through demons on a trek through hell (with the occasional boobs). Just give those mental synapses a rest and enjoy the simpler things in life, like violence and lust. Wait a moment. Those are circles of Hell. I see what they did there.

6.5/10

The Video

The film is in anamorphic widescreen 1:78:1.

As expected, the animation widely varies, from skinny pretty boy Dante with long, flowing hair straight out of Reign: the Conqueror to short, bulky, ‘roid-rage Dante reminiscent of The Dark Knight Returns.

Unfortunately, as varied as the styles are, so is the quality. Some segments are smoother and appear to have a couple of more frames of animation per second, while others are stiff and blocky, not even animating enough lip flaps for the dialog. I’m particularly disappointed in the Production I.G. segment because of that. None of it is outright stunning enough to earn high marks.

The AVC encoded 1080p presentation on the blu-ray offers up more vivid color and finer detail than the DVD presentation. Black levels are nice and inky and textures featured well defined lines. There are only just a few instances of banding in the animation here and there. The image here is much better than that of the DVD but the animation is from the source material and that continues to play a part in the overall video presentation. Taking stills of the movie would look like a painting though.

4.5/10 The Blu-Ray 6.5/10

The Audio

Only in English. It comes in 5.1 surround sound. It doesn’t do anything particularly good or bad with it. The soundtrack is completely forgettable, consisting only of background instrumentals and chorus.

The Blu-Ray offers up a Dolby 5.1 TrueHD presentation that sometimes offers a nice immersive well balanced listening experience but other times the effects jump out of the speakers substantially louder than the rest of the film. This causes you to ride the volume in a few places. Overall there’s good use of the surround speakers and dialogue is crisp and clean. It’s not perfect but it gets the job done.

4.5/10 The Blu-Ray 7/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

Standard DVD case with a cardboard slip cover. The fronts of the DVD cover and the cardboard slip cover have the same image of Dante but in different art styles. Plus the cardboard cover features a raised Dante and title on top of a rippled texture akin to a book cover. This added effort is a nice touch.

All the spine and back art is the same though. The back does have an inconsistency with the DVD credits. The DVD case leaves the “u” off the end of director Shukou Murase given name. I would suspect this is less of a typo and more of just inconsistencies in Romanizing Japanese names, but this should have been caught.

Inside the case are simply ads for the game and an upcoming comic based off of the property. The disc itself is bland with no artwork.

Extras include animatics for several different scenes. Basically just animated storyboards with some dialog played over. Of course, there’s also the trailer for the video game this film is promoting.

My favorite bonus feature, though unintended, is the menu. The fiery logo and sound effects give my room a soothing fireplace ambiance.

In my opinion, this could do with a great commentary track. It’s so cheesy and over the top. I’d love to hear Mark Hamill blast the whole thing. Alas, you’ll just have to rely on you and your friends for that.

There’s nothing additional on the Blu-Ray, what a disappointment…

6/10

This film is meant to simply show off the gore, nudity and ridiculousness that viewers can expand upon in the video game. Anyone wanting anything more will be disappointed. Being a direct-to-DVD commercial though, it’s not bad. It doesn’t try to be great in any respect, but it does a decent job in some and overall.

Overall (Not an Average) 6.5/10

The Review
The Film 6.5/10
The Video 4.5/10
The Audio 4.5/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 6/10
Overall (Not an Average) 6.5/10

Created by Nick Park

“In order to be an immaculate member of a flock of sheep, one must above all be a sheep oneself.” Albert Einstein

Oh, little Shaun! Ever since I first saw you in the original Wallace and Gromit short “A Close Shave”, I have thought you were the cutest. With your big expressive golf ball eyes, you can emit more emotion than a lot of Hollywood leading men, such as Scott Speedman or Josh Duhamel. So, I course I was happy when another collection of your short films reached my doorstep.

The Series

If you are familiar with the great films and characters that Nick Park and his animators at Aardman Animation produce, then you will love the short films featuring Shaun the Sheep.

The basic foundation of the series is that Shaun the sheep shows signs of human intelligence, creativity, and behavior while spending his days at his farm. His personality and wit usually provides a situational comedy conflict which Shaun must resolve before the end of each episode and thus, saving the day and making the farm a nice place to live for himself and the other sheep and farm critters.

Offered in this most recent collection of short films is Washday, Tooth Fairy, The Farmer’s Niece, Snore Worn Shaun, Helping Hound and Big Top Timmy.

Of course I enjoyed all that were offered but I have a few favorites from those offered in this collection.

The Farmer’s Niece finds Shaun and Bitzer the sheep trying to entertain the Farmer’s less than charming niece while he is baking her a cake.

Tooth Fairy finds Shaun trying to help Bitzer with his dental concerns and Helping Hound finds the gang of sheep dealing with a new robotic sheepdog that the Farmer has purchased to keep an eye on things at the farm when he is absent.

Snore Worn Shaun finds the sharp little sheep Shaun dealing with the consequences of Shirley the Sheep’s incessant snoring.

Shaun the Sheep is presented completely dialogue free so these play very much like the classic silent film comedies of Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin. They are very family friendly so everyone, no matter their age, can enjoy these charming comedy bits.

In this age of ear piercing and brain numbing kid’s entertainment, something as sincerely engaging and amusing as Shaun the Sheep is a welcome oasis for the heart and soul.

So, fans of Aardman Animation will add this to the collection without  hestitation.

8/10

The Video

Shaun the Sheep: A Woolly Good Time is presented in the original full frame aspect ratio. The colors are vibrant and I did not notice any instances of grain or artifacts. The level of detail is impressive and the black levels are decent.

6/10

The Audio

Shaun the Sheep: A Woolly Good Time  is in Dolby Digital Surround. The sound effects are presented vibrantly and since these are essentially silent films, there isn’t any dialogue to judge. While not the disc to pop in to give the sound system a workout, it suits the material presented just fine.

6/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

Shaun the Sheep: A Woolly Good Time is standard amaray case with Shaun’s sweet little mug on the cover.

There are a few bonus features to explore. The Mini Making of Shaun is a featurette showing how the show is created and rounding out the bonus features is a Sing A Long with Shaun that features the title song with lyrics.

The score is going to be a lower in this category because of the scarcity of bonus material.

3/10

Overall (Not an Average) 7/10

The Review
The Series 8/10
The Video 7/10
The Audio 7/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 3/10
Overall (not an average) 7/10

Episode title: Reigns of a Waterfall

Written by Ed Brubaker
Art by Bryan Hitch and Butch Guice

The Story

After an eight month wait (and several appearances in other titles), Steve Rogers returns to the land of the living. Actually, I’m not sure if he was ever really dead, what with the whole consciousness being trapped in time.

The finale features the conclusion of the inner and outer struggles of Captain America versus the Red Skull, with Rogers being inner and Bucky being outer. Then of course there’s the big climatic battle between all the good and bad guys where Rogers gets to make his heroic debut back to the world and show everyone that Steve Rogers is truly back.

Really, this issue just about writes itself, and I’m almost certain it did. There are some stupid moments from some reasonably intelligent characters that I have trouble seeing someone actually writing down. Stealing a ray gun to kill someone despite knowing it’s a growth ray instead of a death ray should cause a character to drop an intelligence level in the Marvel Encyclopedia.

Overall, I’ve found all of Reborn to be a disappointing rush to force Steve Rogers back into the Marvel Universe just in time for Siege, and it couldn’t even do that right. Siege #1 came out a few weeks prior and is just one of the books that have already featured Rogers back before Reborn ended. It’s simply another example of Marvel’s often poor editorial scheduling (another example being to stretch a five-issue miniseries into six and making it take seven months to come out).

The whole “trapped in time” thing never meshed well with the character or the circumstances of his death. The death of Captain America was just a major event. Not just with all the media attention it grabbed. It perhaps marked the end of an era even more than Avengers: Disassembled and House of M. It truly signaled the fall of the heroes and the rise of the villains to be realized in Dark Reign, all of that which Siege is supposed to correct.

Not to mention his post-death ghostly appearance in Thor #11. I’d really like to see an explanation for that.

With all that said, this issue does have one thing going for it, that being what the whole miniseries is about – the return of Steve Rogers. In merely a few panels, seeing Rogers jump into the fray, directing the Avengers and leading the fight, it’s almost like coming home. It’s as if everything were back to the way they were. Too bad the rest of the issue, or the whole miniseries for that matter, couldn’t have been as fulfilling as those few panels.

4/10

The Art

Given not just the time spent on these issues, but also the weight of the subject, you’d think Hitch and Guice would have brought their A game. Not so. There are a lot of well drawn and detailed characters, but then later on, not so much. Characters are given awkward poses in combat and come off very flat.

Particularly bad is the job done on panels. There’s no sense of flow. Panels often jump from one action to another without a good sense of flow in showing how point A got to point B. For sequential art, it needs to be more sequential.

Some panels also focus in too closely, not showing enough of what’s happening.

Maybe this is just the first time I noticed, but why are AIM agents modeling themselves after Charlie Brown? They have these yellow shirts and a repeating black diamond pattern around the front and back of the shirt. I just can’t help but picture them with Sharon Carter or Sin pulling the football away from them.

Also, what’s with the break in the A on Steve Rogers’ mask? It’s not on Bucky’s, and I don’t remember it from other appearances of Rogers outside of this book.

As for the cover, it looks nice, but it’s just another example of misleading comic covers. Most of the characters that show up on it don’t in the book. While looking at it would make you think that Marvel’s main heroes would join the fight and be there for the rebirth of Captain America, that is not the case.

Aside from some decent bits here and there, the poor flow, quality slip ups and strange oddities bring the art down to a barely average level.

4.5/10

I honestly can’t say I’m impressed or even moderately satisfied by the story or the art, which is unfortunate in what should be a momentous return of the true Captain America when the world needs him most.

The Review
Story 4/10
Art 4.5/10
Overall (Not an Average) 4/10

Directed by: Jonathan Mostow
Starring: Bruce Willis Rhada Mitchell

The Surrogates is one of my all time favorite series of comics. It’s available now and best read as a graphic novel. This is like a really good science fiction novel and it is best read as such. It just so happens to feature some gorgeous artwork to boot! Naturally I was very excited to hear that the book was to be made into a film and said film was to star Bruce Willis. The book had those classic noir overtones in the art and a solid mystery to go along with the bigger questions the story attempts to ask. Sounds perfect for a classic sci-fi film….

The Movie

In the future no one has to “appear” imperfect. I say that in quotes because it’s not really you that people see, it’s an avatar. In the future many people, most people apparently, stay at home locked in dark rooms controlling surrogates that represent them in the real world. These surrogates look like their controllers except they are in better shape, they have smooth perfect skin, more hair, and virtually anything else you could think of that would make them more youthful and appealing. There is an underground movement led by Ving Rhames that believes the surrogates represent a detriment to mankind.

The radical activists and the surrogate world’s cross when a man is killed at the same time as his surrogate is destroyed by a crazy laser weapon. Bruce Willis plays a detective assigned to investigate the murder. Eventually Willis is forced to step out into the real world as himself rather than his surrogate much to the chagrin of his image obsessed wife played by Rosemund Pike and his partner played by Rhada Mitchell.

Director Jonathan Mostow has played in the science fiction sandbox before having brought us Terminator 3, a film that I actually really enjoyed, so he seemed like a brilliant pick to tackle this material. Unfortunately what happens here is that the writers and producers of the film take the graphic novel and gut it. They then start fresh with their own story that just includes the setting and some of the ideas from the graphic novel. It’s funny that James Cromwell is in this film because he was also in another sci-fi film, I Robot, which was also gutted in a very similar way to this film. The film noir style of the book is replaced with a fairly vibrant lower budget representation of something like Minority Report. Another frustrating change is that in the book the mystery was more compelling because it was very difficult to determine who was a surrogate and who was a real person. In this film all of the surrogates have a very fake sort of made up look. The reasons for this change are obvious: the way the surrogates looked made them appear radically different looking than their controllers and the social commentary is probably the other reason.

The good news is that what remains, while not as strong story-wise as the graphic novel is still a, fast paced, entertaining action sci-fi film. At less than 90 minutes the film feels like a rollercoaster ride with Bruce Willis at the controls and that’s not such a bad thing. Rhada Mitchell and Rosemund Pike are both at home in sci-fi and they do fine jobs hear with Bruce Willis of course bringing the everyman sort of action that he does so well too.  In the end this film doesn’t live up to the graphic novel upon which it is based but it’s still B grade sci-fi fun.

6/10

The Video

The film is presented on blu-ray at a 2.40.1 aspect ration in full 7282p. Overall this presentation looks great. The transitions between the tweaked surrogates faces and smoothed skin to the more natural looking real people can be jarring but it is meant to be. The vibrant colors look great and detail level is solid throughout the film. Black levels are appropriately inky and film grain is kept to a minimum. Overall this is a good representation of the image as it was meant to be seen in the theater.

8/10

The Audio

The DTS_HD Master Audio here is well done too. The action scenes offer up some nice use of the full surround environment with plenty of directional effects and even some instances of solid sub woofer use. Dialogue, sound fx, and the score all clean, crisp, and well balanced. The quieter scenes don’t get a lot of surround sound attention but overall the audio presentation is solid.

8/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The blu-ray and digital copy come packaged in a slim blu-ray case with really dry floating head artwork. The art is really disappointing as it just features Bruce Willis’ head rather than some cool play on the surrogate theme.

First up for bonus features is an audio commentary with director Jonathan Mostow. The commentary is fairly sedate but fans of the film will find some interesting information here. He covers the adapting of the graphic novel, the special fx, and the cast. Unfortunately to get to the good stuff you have to also listen to him describe what’s happening on screen for a lot of the film’s running time.

There are two featurettes, one standard 15 minute making of documentary and a second one that runs around 7 minutes featuring interviews with the creators of the graphic novel. The second featurette is the more interesting of the two. Cut between the interviews are scenes from the new motion comic version of the original comic. The making of is mostly just sound bites from the cast and crew. Why not work out a deal with Top Shelf Comix to put the motion comic on the blu-ray as a bonus feature? Now that would have been awesome.

There are a few deleted scenes and a music video rounding out the bonus features.

6.5/10

The Surrogates isn’t a classic in sci-fi films and it doesn’t live up to the source material. It is however a sleek and energetic B grade sci-fi film that’s fairly entertaining. No it’s not Blade Runner but it’s still worth a look.

Overall (Not an average) 6.5/10

The Review
The Movie 6/10
The Video 8/10
The Audio 8/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 6.5/10
Overall (Not an Average) 6.5/10

This week Mike’s outta town but we still manage to discuss the Razzie nominations, the new Hulk movie on DVD, Chuck, Dollhouse, Southland, a few comics, the iPad and much more!

Created by Matt Groening
Featuring Voices by Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer

Since its debut on December 17, 1989, I have loved America’s favorite dysfunctional family The Simpsons. I even loved them back in 1987 in the original shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show. So, after 20 seasons, is it still funny?

The Series

The Simpsons are your typical dysfunctional family who live in a fictional “Middle American” town of Springfield. Homer works as a safety inspector at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, a position that is constantly at odds with his careless personality. He is married to Marge Simpson, a housewife and mother. They have three children: Bart, a troublemaker; Lisa, a precocious, musically inclined activist; and Maggie, a baby who rarely speaks, but communicates her thoughts and wishes by sucking on a pacifier. The family owns a dog, Santa’s Little Helper, and a cat, Snowball II.

But, of course you know all that, don’t you?

Anyway, the episodes included in this release are the following:  “Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes”

“Lost Verizon” ,”Double, Double, Boy in Trouble,”Treehouse of Horror XIX”,”Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words”,”Mypods and Boomsticks”,”The Burns and the Bees”,”Lisa the Drama Queen”,”Take My Life, Please”,”How the Test Was Won”,”No Loan Again, Naturally”,”Gone Maggie Gone”,”In the Name of the Grandfather”,”Wedding for Disaster”,”Eeny Teeny Maya Moe”,”The Good, the Sad and the Drugly”,”Father Knows Worst”,”Waverly Hills 9-0-2-1-D’oh”,”Four Great Women and a Manicure” and Coming to Homerica”.

While there is something to make you chuckle in every episode, I have my favorites from those offered in this set.

Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes finds Homer serving a jail sentence for starting a brawl at an alcohol-free St. Patrick’s Day parade. He then becomes a  bounty hunter and tags Flanders along for the ride. Meanwhile, an Irish man gives Marge a job at his bakery, which Marge soon discovers specializes in sexually suggestive pastries.

The Bart focused Double, Double Boy in Trouble finds Bart meeting Simon Woosterfield, a boy who looks exactly like him and is a member of Springfield’s richest family. As a prank, the two decide to switch places, but the joke is on Bart when Bart discovers that Simon is being targeted for murder by his own siblings.

Mypods and Boomsticks finds Bart making friends with a Muslim boy and his family, but Homer fears the family may be terrorists because of their religion. Meanwhile, Lisa buys a MyPod and becomes addicted to downloading songs on it. This episode features the fantastic Shohreh Aghdashloo (House of Sand and Fog, the HBO miniseries House of Saddam and the Fox series 24).

Do I think The Simpsons is as fresh and funny as the first several season? Well, maybe not every single episode but there is still more to love on the worst episode of The Simpsons than the best episode of Cougar Town or Gary Unmarried.

The writing is still razor sharp, the voice acting is good as ever and the guests appearances are still lots of fun. Any true fan of The Simpsons will add this season to the collection.

7/10

The Video

The Simpsons: The Complete 20^th Season is presented two ways: the first 9 episodes (before the HD switchover) are presented in full frame while the remaining episodes are presented in anamorphic widescreen. The colors are super bright, lines are clean and black levels are highly respectable.

7.5/10

The Audio

The Simpsons: the Complete 20^th Season is presented in Dolby 5.1 Digital Surround .The audio is impressive with the dialogue being crystal clear and well mixed with the sound effects.

7/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The Simpsons: The Complete 20^th Season is blu ray amaray case with a snazzy slipcase featuring many Simpsons characters.

The only bonus features available on this release is a special booklet and The 20^th Anniversary Special Sneek peek by Morgan Spurlock that is terribly disappointing as the complete special is not included on this release, only a 3 minute version.

A really disappointing collection of bonus features to celebrate the 20^th season of this influential show.

2/10

Overall (Not an Average) 7/10

The Review
The Series 7/10
The Video 7.5/10
The Audio 7/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 2/10
Overall (not an average) 7/10

Directed By: Various

Starring: Jack Nicholson, Gary Busey, Ellen Burstyn, Scott Glenn, Dan Hagerty, John Ireland, Dorothy Malone, Dixie Peabody, Sid Haig

Roger Corman is known as the “King of the B’s” the unquestioned master of the low budget movie. This is the first installment of a themed collection of his oeuvre. The title really says it all. Here are seven drive in standards ranging from the sublime to shlock.

The Movies

Some of these movies are public domain jewels and for others this is the first time they have been released on DVD. If your a fan of b-movies you might already own a few of these as several are popular in the -as many public domain movies we can squeeze onto a DVD sets- so here is a rundown of what’s included.

Naked Angel – This is one of the clunkers. An LA biker gang falls apart as they cross the desert to find a Las Vegas biker gang to extract revenge. After many trails(trials?) they eventually find the abandoned mine the Vegas gang is partying in and kick some butt. Everybody may have made up at the end but by then but I didn’t care enough to remember. Nice footage of choppers on dirt roads in the desert, but thats about it.

Bury Me an Angel – Interesting for the fact that it was directed by a woman, Barbara Peters, and featured a female protagonist. It’s a revenge themed road movie with a hippie Grizzly Adams thrown in. Again, at least there is some nice footage of bikes riding through nice landscapes.

The Fast and the Furious – Filmed in 1955 and based on a story by Corman himself this movie has absolutely nothing to do with the modern Fast and the Furious franchise including the fact that it’s a better than decent movie. John Ireland plays a fugitive who takes Dorothy Malone and her Jaguar hostage. To get across the border to Mexico he tries to bluff his way into a rally race that will take him across the border. As with a bunch of old racing movies some of the best bits is the b-roll stuff, in this case vintage west coast sports car racing footage.

The T Bird Gang – A young man goes undercover to break up an organized gang of juvenile delinquents who killed his father during a warehouse robbery. These are very discipled and organized juvenile delinquents. What does this have to do with Hot Bikes, Cool Cars and Bad Babes? The not so juvenile gang leader drives a white T Bird. Decent pot boiler, but not something you’ll find yourself going back to.

The Wild Ride – A standard morality tale about a bunch of annoying punk teenagers, lead by Jack Nicholson, who can’t believe one of their buddies is growing up and doesn’t want to act like a hoodlum anymore. It’s all fun and games until somebody gets killed in this well produced film. It feels like something drivers education students would have been forced to watch in the sixties, except that it stars Jack Nicholson and as annoying as the story is he makes it watchable.

The Winner (also know as Pit Stop) – This little gem directed by Jack Hill and shot by Austin McKinney is a real shot in the arm. It’s almost an anti morality tale where the monster, instead of getting his comeuppance, gets to move up to the big time. A racing promoter spots a local street racer, Rick, and offers him a shot at racing for him at his figure eight track. Rick takes one look at the chaos of the rolling demolition derby that is figure eight racing and decides he doesn’t feel like suicide just yet. At least that is until he runs into Hawk, played by a scenery chewing Sid Haig, who is the local figure eight champ. Hawk just crawls up under Rick’s skin and Rick cannot resit the idea of beating him. So begins the hero’s journey,  Rick’s path to defeat the loud and obnoxious and eventually downright malicious Hawk. It’s not as easy as he first imagines and he learns he can’t do it by himself but eventually he does prevail. As entertaining as this movie is the b-roll and stock footage of vintage figure eight racing almost steals the show, but it’s the last scenes that I keep thinking abut over and over.

Angels Hard as They Come – This movie has Scott Glenn and Gary Busey in it. Even they can’t save it, that’s all that really needs to be said. It looks horrible and makes little to no sense. By far it’s the worst of the bunch here.

Except for Angels Hard as They Come all of these are watchable and entertaining in one way or another. It’s an interesting slice of the Corman experience from the late fifties through the early seventies.

6/10

The Video

The video here is all over the place, some of it is quite good some of it is appalling. The transfer looks decent the difference seems to be in the source material. Where a good print was available the video is very good, like The Winner. If the print is bad like Angels Hard as They Come it looks like dirty super eight being badly projected. The worst bits are some of the extra materials which are the little promos and concession stand commercials tagged onto the beginning of movies at the theater or drive ins. This is fitting in a way because they were always worn out when you saw them at the drive in or theater as well. All that aside though the video is not overly compressed like you see in some compilations. Digital and compression artifacts are not a problem with these DVD’s

6/10

The Audio

The story is the same with the audio. The quality is heavily dependent on the source material. As best as I could tell it’s all monaural and probably the best your ever going to hear for these movies.

6/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The 4 DVDs are packaged in a double width DVD case with a card board slipcase. The artwork matches the content perfectly and features a photo montage of scenes from the movies. The menus are straight forward and functional but aesthetically leave a bit to be desired. There are included as extras classic Corman movie trailers and movie ads.

5/10

There is over ten hours of content in this four DVD collection. There are really only a couple of stinkers here and there are a few here that I will find myself going back to again and again, I’m kind of itching to pop in The Winner right now. On top of that they aren’t squeezed so tight that the distributor can get four movies on one DVD. If I put my b-movie goggles on this collection gets a ten out of ten, b-movie goggles off and I have to drop that to six out of ten. Myself I’m looking forward to Best of the B’s Collection 2.

Overall (Not an Average) 6/10

The Review

The Movies 6/10
The Video 6/10
The Audio 6/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 5/10
Overall (Not an Average) 6/10

Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Mike Deodato

Now comes the beginning of the end for Norman Osborn’s merrily band of sociopaths the world calls Avengers, with Dark Avengers wrapping up at the end of Marvel’s Siege event. Where better to start than with the most powerful and most unstable of the bunch – the Sentry?

The Story

It’s finally happened. The cracks are coming apart in Sentry’s fractured psyche as the inner/outer struggle between himself and the Void comes to a head. At first thought, I want to say “It’s about time,” but then I realize this is probably the perfect time (and probably planned that way).

Bendis has toyed around with this Marvel-ized Superman ever since New Avengers #1, but the cosmic-power-level being never quite meshed well with the more grounded stories of Bendis’ Avengers teams. Why would he? He’s been portrayed less as a character and more as an unstoppable fix-it-all force of nature set upon anything after simply a few panels of therapeutic pep talking.

Now though, (conjecture and hope on my part) his story may be ending. Having been a mainstay of the post-Disassembled Avengers, giving the Sentry this set up for a possible conclusion to his tale would be a fitting step in setting the Marvel Universe right as Siege has set out to do. At the very least though, it’s a good start to breaking apart Osborn’s Avengers, which is actually happening.

The back and forth bickering between Sentry and the Void really highlights Sentry’s dullness in light of the Void. Sentry tries his hardest to stay the Boy Scout. Void though has fun. He’s ready to unleash all that power of a thousand suns upon the world, while being snarky about it. I’m glad he had the majority of the dialog from the two in this issue. He’s more entertaining to read, and I look forward to seeing much more of the Void than the Sentry in the next issue.

Also very impressive is the use of Sentry’s wife Lindy. For a long time now, Lindy has been nothing more than a terrified, catatonic piece of furniture to decorate scenes within Sentry’s home. No more of that. You get the feeling Bendis did that on purpose for the shock of reaching that breaking point and having a nice cathartic moment of truth, and it works.

Lindy and her beliefs about Sentry help tie in a two-page biblical flashback to Moses at the beginning of the book, which is later alluded to on the final page. It seems out of nowhere at first, but it makes sense as the book goes on. It has an interesting impact, but I’m not sure yet if it adds or distracts from the story. Ultimately, it will depend on if this line of thought is continued in the next issue or if it stops here and goes nowhere.

9/10

The Art

Deodato does a good job in this book. For one, there are the well-done visual cues in showing who is in control of the body – Sentry or Void (the black dialog bubbles help too). Void with harder, glowing eyes and heavy black shadowing. Sentry showing his baby blues with a worried, even scared expression. The Sentry probably looks best though when he’s shown with heavy damage (which could just be me liking to see Sentry get hurt).

Everyone else in the book looks pretty good too. Well detailed from creases and wrinkles to making our facial hair. Even that always creepy and slimy gaze of Norman Osborn comes out in full force.

The flashbacks are told in black and white and a good amount of grays. This provides a great contrast to the one panel shot of the “fictional” account of Sentry’s origin done in Golden-Age style with a dot printing look. Aside from that, the lack of color in the true story highlights just how un-heroic Sentry really is. Super hero comics, especially Golden Age ones like he’s supposed to be, are typically in bright, vivid colors and are much cleaner. But here his true hero status is called into question. All that color is gone to show the black and white truth. The less defined, clean and complete lining shows that the past isn’t clean and clear.

Even without all that, the flashback scenes still look just as good and detailed as the rest of the book, even to the point of seeing individual whiskers on pre-Sentry Bob Reynolds’ face. The backgrounds, while not as clean, are even better shown in flashbacks than in the present that happens in a mostly dark room (expect a lot of straight black shadowing). Those that aren’t though are nice looking space scenes.

With all of that, the art isn’t groundbreaking, nor is it perfect with Sentry having a long and flat horse face in at least one panel. It does do a good job though depicting the dark truth of the Sentry.

9/10

This is the start of what could be an extremely satisfying climax to the tale of the Sentry and the Void. Its lasting power really depends on the strength of the next issues. Still, I wouldn’t put it past Marvel to let the Sentry get cured and redeemed, thus losing any interesting qualities he may have. But for now, I’ll be optimistic and see where this story goes.

The Review

Story 9/10

Art 9/10

Overall (Not an Average) 9/10

This week your online TV show viewing counts, sort of, Captain America finishes being reborn, and The History Channel jumps the shark!

Directed by P.J. Pesce
Starring Tom Berenger, Michael Parks, Vinnie Jones, Ernie Hudson

“Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.”
Oscar Wilde

The original Smokin Aces became a bit of a cult hit once it hit DVD, much in the same way as The Boondock Saints did. Now, if you look at the filmography of the director P.J Pesce, which includes Lost Boys: The Tribe and From Dusk Til Dawn 3: The Hangmans Daughter, you might avoid this movie. But, should you give it a chance?

The Movie

Walter Weed (Tom Berenger), when he isn’t showing off his many card tricks, pushes papers in a nondescript government office. But somehow, he has been targeted for assignation. So, Walter is not having your typical day at work.

Enter into the plot Agent Baker (Clayne Crawford). Walter enlists Baker’s help to protect him. Baker is not alone; he has a whole slew of baddies to help him in this endeavor: Fritz Tremor (Michael Parks), a nasty hillbilly, the ever changing Lazlo Soot (Tommy Flanagan), the king of torture Finbar (Vinnie Jones), the attractive Kaitlyn (Autumn Reeser) and the Latin bombshell Ariella (Martha Higareda) who has a stylish way of dispatching her victims.

Somehow there is a 3 million dollar reward for Walter so I now ask: can you predict what is going to happen next? Will Walter survive until the 3^rd act of the film or will one of this cohorts turn coat to collect the big chunk of change?

If you have seen the original Smokin Aces, this film is just a copy of that film, so expect over the top action, violence and if you have a fear or hatred of clowns, you are going to be particularly happy with one segment of the film.

There isn’t much room for plot or character development in a film like this. This is strictly 88 minutes of sexy ladies, snappy lines, carnage and gun play a plenty.

So, is this film a winner? I have seen this type of film done a lot better. And while Michael Parks and Vinnie Jones are always a kick to see in a film, the others in the film are just serviceable.

But, not every film like this can be Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction or even Shoot Em Up or Crank. But is this worth even an add to the Netlfix queue? Perhaps that depends on how badly you need to see this “type” of film.

This film was mildly entertaining, but unfortunately fails more than it succeeds.

So, I guess add it to the Netflix queue if you are starving for some B grade action. Otherwise, you can skip this one.

5/10

The Video

Smokin Aces 2:Assassins Ball is presented in non Anamorphic 1080 p widescreen. The colors are vibrant and the overall image is very respectable. The black levels are respectable and the level of detail is impressive.

7.5/10

The Audio

Smokin Aces 2: Assassins Ball is presented in DTS HD 5. 1 in English with optional French and Spanish Audio and subtitles. English subtitles are also available. The audio is impressive with the dialogue being crystal clear and well mixed with the sound effects and soundtrack.

7/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

Smokin  Aces 2: Assassins Ball is standard blu ray amaray case.

Some nice bonus features await your perusal on this release. First up, a commentary track with the director P.J. Pesce and producer Joe Carnahan. It is informative and entertaining and if you liked the film, you will enjoy this.

The Bunker Mentality covers the film’s sets and there are several behind the scenes featurettes covering everything from weaponry to information on how the infamous clown scene was filmed.

Finally, there is a gag reel and several deleted scenes for you to enjoy.

6/10

Overall (Not an Average) 6/10

The Review
The Movie 5/10
The Video 7.5/10
The Audio 7.5/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 6/10
Overall (not an average) 5.5/10

Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Francis Manapul

The Story

Now that the Blackest Night tie in with Superboy Prime is over, issue #6 brings the book back to the real Superboy – Conner Kent. This series has followed Superboy trying to figure out if he is more like Superman or Lex Luthor, the two whose DNA he is made from. This issue ends that, with Superboy coming to a conclusion about himself.

Superboy obviously has some parenting issues. Who wouldn’t when one of your “fathers” is Lex Luthor? His worries about any influence genetics may have on personality make sense, as does the conclusion he reaches. Johns develops a good characterization of Superboy with Superboy’s own self assessment in his journal, and Johns satisfyingly ties it up here.

Also done quite well is adding Krypto. He adds some light-hearted moments here and there, but he never feels tacked on. The “boy and his dog” story meshes quite well and helps ground the story even more. After all, a boy searching for who he is with his pet dog in tow is a pretty down-to-earth story, and that is ultimately what this arc has been about.

My favorite part of this issue though has to be the excellent example of a universal truth of Superman – Lex Luthor is a dick.

Lex Luthor is perhaps simultaneously at his best and worst here dealing with what little is left of his family. Johns manages to humanize Lex just enough to make his subsequent action seem all the more evil and true to form without making any of it seem out of character. You’ll think he’s more of an asshole than Silver Age Superman by the end of the issue.

Interestingly enough, this issue reinforces the fact that in this continuity, Superman was the first Superboy in his youth. Unless that’s an editorial screw up, that is. I lose track of the times Superman has and hasn’t been Superboy in his past.

The main problem here just seems to be a missing page, or at least a panel or two. On one page, there’s a super fight, the two villains are apart and a character held at gun point. The next, the bad guys are together again and running away. There’s a gap that doesn’t explain either villain’s break away from the specific situation they were in, and it can take a reader out of the book for a moment.

Generally though, this is a good ending to a good tale reintegrating Superboy back into the DC universe. It’s not perfect or groundbreaking, but it’s a nice read.

8.5/10

The Art

There’s a very soft penciled feel here. The outlines and details have little nicks and extensions that are typically cleaned up and smoothed over in a lot of comics. The colors and the gradients into different shades are also softer and subtle here, using earthier tones.

With that said, there is the occasional variation from softness to sharpness in lining that doesn’t stay consistent. It’s minor but noticeable.

The detail here is pretty good too. From the worn fabric and frayed edges of Superboy’s shirt to making out Krypto’s hair, the characters are pretty well drawn. Even going into the setting like blades of grass and wood grain in broken walls, everything is drawn with attention to detail.

Manapul amazingly manages to capture the humanized Lex Johns writes into the story. Even if it’s just one panel, Manapul shows us a Lex that may actually care for someone other than himself without actually confirming it.

Also got to enjoy a cover that actually happens.

8.5/10

I genuinely liked this issue. It’s nice character development for the Boy of Steel. It’s a human story, and it’s got the looks to match.

The Review
Story 8.5/10
Art 8.5/10
Overall (Not an Average) 8.5/10

Directed by: Christian Alvart
Starring: Dennis Quad, Ben Foster

Pandorum was one of those films that came out last year, along with The Surrogates, that I really wanted to be great. The closer it came to release the more deflating the buzz became. Now looking at it on blu-ray I can see where there was so much potential for something great but it just never quite reached that potential. There are a few things that make this film worth a look though.

The Movie

Pandorum is unfortunately an extremely derivative film. Taking elements from other stories to make something innovative is a good thing but stitching elements from other stories together to make a beginning middle and end of a barely existent story is a bad thing. Basically there’s a giant ship traveling a long distance through space to a new planet Earth. The ships inhabitants are in suspended animation to make the trip easier for the crew and settlers of the new planet. The word “pandorum” refers to the space crazies. The dark isolation of space can play tricks on the mind so the suspended animation packaging everyone is in is supposed to help avoid Pandorum. How many times has this exact set up been used before? Too many to count.

Two of the ship’s crew wake up in a fairly messy, gelatinous, and painful way. This leads to what’s good about the film, Ben Foster. This guy makes nearly everything he’s in better than it would have been without him. He awakes, as does another character played by Dennis Quad. The tow of them struggle to remember who they are while they meet. Quad takes control of the ship while Foster heads deep into the bowels of the ship to try and figure out what has happened.

There are shades of everything from Alien to Dark City here with this extremely over designed ship. The art design is so harsh that many set pieces feel more like “sets” than interiors of a space ship. The ship is haunted by someone, or something, or both, and Quad’s character is haunted by his past. The film first appears to be a dark space drama/thriller and then there’s a big kung fu fight. That’s right, you read that correctly, a kung fu fight.

Some of the creature desing is really good and Quad and Foster are both good in the film. The biggest problem is that the movie doesn’t know what it wants to be. Is it a space action flick or a slow paced mesmerizing drama/thriller? Also, the film doesn’t appear to have one original idea. Every element of this movie was taken from some other movie. Overall Pandorum was fun to look at and there are a few good character moments but this one won’t be remembered as a classic sci-fi film or even a fan obsessed guilty pleasure. Pandorum is a few steps above a SyFy movie of the week and a potential distraction on a Saturday night.

5/10

The Video

Most of Pandorum is presented in complete or near darkness and overall the HD transfer keeps control of all of the shadows and low light situations quite well. Even with all of the darkness there’s a good amount of detail and minimal grain. Black levels are inky and skin tones are realistic. This is a surpsi9ngly a solid presentation considering the film wasn’t the biggest of successes in the theater.

8/10

The Audio

We get a Dolby TrueHD lossless audio presentation here and it sounds quite good. From the hollow sounds of the ships to the chase scenes and other special fx this audio presentation brings the noise in a fully realized surround sound environment. Ambient sounds, bolder special fx, score, and dialogue are all well mixed and clean. Dialogue is in the center channel and crisp and loud. The audio presentation here makes the film a very immersive experience.

8.5/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The two discs, one blu-ray and one digital copy, are presented in a standard slim blue amaray case. The artwork is a bit on the bland side unfortunately. Another disappointment is that the bonus features on the blu-ray and the DVD are identical.

First up is a commentary from the producer and director, sans cast. This commentary is a real snooze fest because these two are as dry and uninteresting as it gets. There are very few nuggets of information but if you’re a fan of the film these nuggets may make the commentary worth a look.

The World of Elysiun: Behind the Scenes Featurette is brief but it offers some comments from the cast and crew and a bit of a look at the film from behind the scenes. The way the cast and crew discuss the film it appears that the story at some point early on was supposed to be much deeper than it inevitably became. It’s short but surprisingly informative.

What Happened to Nadia’s Team is a short film running less than five minutes that tells the story of another character’s adventures on the ship previous to the characters in the main film. It’s short, poorly acted, and a very low budget showt on video situation that was probably meant for a web promotion. It is fun to see now but don’t expect any deepening of the larger story.

Flight Team Training Video is a two and a half minute video that sets the stage for the film sharing some information about the world of Pandorum. This one feels like another viral video tool. It’s sort of fun to watch. The more you liked the actual movie the more entertaining you’re likely to appreciate this short and the previous one.

Finalyy, there are some deleted scenes, a still gallery, and a trailer. The selection of bonus features is quite full considering the success of the film itself. The star here is obviously the behind the scenes featurette.

5/10

Pandorum made me think of another film that was almost great but just never lived up to it’s potential: Event Horizon. If you were ok with that film you’ll probably like this one too.

Overall (Not an average) 5.5/10

The Review
The Movie 5/10
The Video 8/10
The Audio 8.5/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 5/10
Overall (Not an average) 8.8/10

USA Network’s new hit series is back with all new episodes on an all new night. Don’t miss the return on Tuesday, January 19 at 10pm/9c! The season premiere picks up after December’s cliffhanger as Neal must infiltrate a company of corrupt Wall Street brokers to preserve his deal with the FBI. When Peter is forced to go undercover alongside him, a discovery is made that could change their partnership forever. Become a fan on Facebook, Follow on Twitter, Visit The Official Website for your chance to WIN a new Taurus (beginning 1/19).

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Contest Ends 02/15

Get ready to get BURNED! The #1 show on cable returns with all new episodes. Don’t miss Tyne Daly & Clayne Crawford guest-starring in the Burn Notice winter premiere – “A Dark Road” – airing Thursday, January 21 at 10/9C. Become a Fan on Facebook, Follow on Twitter, and visit the Official Site to play Covert Ops: Vegas Heist (beginning 1/21) for a chance to win an all-new Hyundai Genesis Coupe!

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This week we talk Avatar still rocking the vox office, Book of Eli, a Torchwood remake and tons more!

Directed by Tatsuya Ishihara
Featuring Voices by Mai Nakahara, Yuuichi Nakamura

The Series

The Clannad series is adapted from a visual novel video game series of the same name. This collection is the second half of the second season and wraps up the story between the male lead Tomoya Okazaki and his girlfriend Nagisa Furukawa.

Up until this point, the show is a generic high school romance. Now it’s time to grow up. This is still a romantic drama. There’s comedy here and there, but this part of the series deals with some pretty heavy issues that would be kind of hard to put a comedic spin on. While the first few episodes still deal with the young lovers, the series then changes towards a father-daughter relationship between Tomoya and his new daughter Ushio.

This is where the series gets interesting, dealing with the pregnancy and raising of Ushio. Oddly though, they have a baby but don’t allude to any “baby making.” Despite Nagisa saying they have sex, I didn’t see any sign and actually wondered if they did at all. Still, the focus moves from Tomoya and Nagisa’s cavity-inducing romance towards deeper issues like complicated pregnancies and estranged parents and even urbanization of small towns, the show gains some depth and actually becomes interesting.

Two things ruin this in different ways. Firstly, the pacing is slow. The show loves its long conversations after getting the point across and its silent pauses. Every two episodes couple probably be compressed into one. It starts to really gnaw on the viewer.

Secondly, the finale. Someone hit the deus ex machine to fix certain issues. Problem is that this negates the best story and character development in this collection.

The finale, however, isn’t really the end, as it happens in episode 22 with three still to go. Episode 23 is a prequel of Tomoya and Nagisa in high school before meeting. Episode 24 is an alternate story pairing Tomoya with another girl in his high school. Episode 25 is a freaking clip show, with Tomoya telling his daughter the story of him and his wife Nagisa (consequently the story of the entire series).

A clip show epilogue can work, but not after the series has already moved on with a prequel and an alternate story. Had the clip show taken place before the other two, it may have meshed better. In fact, episodes 23 and 24 should have been left unnumbered and simply made extra episodes, but of course, that means slightly more work in Photoshop for the menu designer.

Ultimately, the show has a cliché relationship that does develop into something with emotional depth, something that is actually kind of entertaining, but then it rewinds itself back to mediocrity. It could have stopped the whole series several time along the way and be more satisfying than where it actually ended.

4/10

The Video

The series is in anamorphic 16:9 widescreen. The animation is nothing special. The character designs are forgettable. Some actual pictures of a small town make it into a couple of montages in blurred and black and white (and an occasional color), but they come off as a cheap gimmick that doesn’t add anything to the show.

The subtitles could be a bit higher on the screen. Also, could use without music subtitles during dialog. Background music is to provide ambiance. We don’t need to know what it says as long as it sounds ok. Speaking of which…

4.5/10

The Audio

There’s only Japanese language in stereo, which is ok, but that’s about it. The music is pretty forgettable (even with telling us what it means).

4.5/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

It’s a standard case with the series split between two DVDs. The jacket looks decent enough.

The first disc starts off with a skippable commercial for The Anime Network. Under Special Features, it has a clean opening and ending. Also under Special Features are the DVD credits, because crediting the people who actually made the DVD should be relegated to special features.

The second disc holds trailers for other Sentai Filmwork series, some seemingly more entertaining than this one.

4.5/10

Even if you like those mushy dramatic high school romances, this series may not hold your interest. If it does, it’ll be gone by the end. Not the most fulfilling ending to a series by a long shot.

Overall (Not an Average) 4/10

The Review
The Series 4/10
The Video 4.5/10
The Audio 4.5/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 4.5/10
Overall (Not an Average) 4/10

Directed by Robert Altman
Starring Matthew Modine, Mitchel Lichtenstein, David Alan Grier, Michael Wright

“Prejudice squints when it looks, and lies when it talks”

Duchess de Abrantes

When the cinematic world lost Robert Altman in 2006, it lost one of most unique voices in filmmaking. From M.A.S.H, Short Cuts, 3 Women and Nashville (just to name a few), a film fan could depend on Altman to bring a fresh and distinctive perspective to the stories he chose. So, how does the film Streamers (1938) based on the award winning play written by David Rabe rate in the overall filmography of Altman?

The Movie

The year is 1965 and in Virginia, three soldiers await deployment to Vietnam. The only thing they have in common is being in the military.

Roger (David Alan Grier) is a young black man, enthusiastic about his service and protecting his fellow soldiers. Billy (Matthew Modine) is sweet and smart and a bit more inexperienced compared to the more streetwise Roger.

Richie (Mitchell Lichtenstein) is an interesting soldier. He is funny and sarcastic. His fellow soldiers tease him about being gay, but of course he never confirms their suspicions.

Enter into the picture Carlyle (Michael Wright). He is in search of Roger. As they converse, it is noted by an ever increasingly uncomfortable Billy that Carlyle seems to have a growing interest in Richie.

It is from this atmosphere of suspicion and unease that the soldiers will square off and fight about everything from homosexuality to race and to class.

The war has begun before they ever set foot in Saigon. It is will be a day none of them will soon forget.

It is a difficult task to bring a play to a film. Sometimes, it is a flawless translation, as is the case with the David Mamet film Glengarry Glen Ross. Other times, it just feels awkward. This is one that works, for the most part. Altman decided to make this film more as a “filmed play”, so don’t be surprised when you see an actor speaking with the camera focused on him, then a cut to another character and then back to the actor in the middle of his “speech”. So, what I am trying to say is that this film is not shot to have the sweeping vistas of Kurosawa’s Ran.

Back to the subject at hand.  The actors, especially David Alan Grier and Michael Wright, all turn in top notch performances. And the outcome of the film is unexpected, so that was a plus.

Do I think this is one of Altman’s best films? No, not in my opinion. But did I enjoy my evening watching this film? Yes, I did.

All things considered, this Shout Factory release of this little recognized Altman gem is worth your time. Add it to the Netflix queue, gets some friends together, and let the arguments commence.

7/10

The Video

Streamers is presented in widescreen The colors are vibrant and the overall image is very respectable. The black levels could be more dense.

6/10

The Audio

Streamers is Dolby Digital 2.0 Mix. Dialogue is crystal clear and well mixed. This isn’t going to give the home theater a work out, but is serviceable.

6/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

Streamers is standard amaray case with a rather uninspired cover.

The only bonus feature offered on this release is A Look Back at Streamers With Cast Members From the Film and Stage which sounds exactly like you would expect.

3/10

Overall (Not an Average) 6.5/10

The Review
The Movie 7/10
The Video 6/10
The Audio 6/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 3/10
Overall (not an average) 6.5/10

Directed by Chris Hartwill
Starring Sean Faris, Luke Ford, Rachael Taylor

The Movie

You die in the game, you die for real. Wait, wrong movie. Oh wait, no its not.

The premise of the movie is an America hot shot programmer and his partner decide to take a military virtual reality simulation they’re lending to the British army out for the weekend for beers, pot and their own version of Call for Duty. They choose to play in an old prison, where of course horrible deaths occurred at. Obviously, while playing their little game, a ghost of an abused prisoner gets trapped…in the machine (cue movie title).

Throwing a paranormal mishap into a virtual reality game isn’t particularly new. Adding the military aspect is a bit fresher, but it limits the functionality of the game world. Enemies spawning and re-spawning is a nice touch. Still, if I were going into a game with a real ghost in it and had programmed the darn thing, I would have modded myself with infinite health and a proton pack. That doesn’t mesh well with the realistic military simulation they were going for, but as the movie shows, an army game may not have been the best idea. Next time, try Mario or Sonic.

The acting is decent. Everyone does well playing the parts given to them, even if some are stereotypical. I have the sneaking suspicion Sean Faris’ character is named Tom because of his uncanny resemblance to Tom Cruise, and I also get the feeling he was told to go for that later on in the movie.

A majority of the filming (all the prison scenes) was done on location at an actual prison – the Crumlin Road Gaol in Northern Ireland. It’s a neat concept, and what few outside shots there are look nice. The problem is most of the shots are inside confined spaces at night. Given the magic set designers can whip up, the novelty of the authentic setting falls on blind eyes.

5/10

The Video

The video is decent enough without being special. It’s presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen. Some cheap CGI usage for the ghost’s chain though.

6/10

The Audio

The audio is in 5.1 surround sound. Aside from the few army battle simulations, it doesn’t really take advantage of it. It doesn’t sound awful, but just not anything impressive.  If your sound system sucks, there are always the English subtitles.

4/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The DVD comes in a standard keep case with a cardboard slip cover that simply mirrors the DVD cover with some shiny holofoil. The case isn’t solid, with a cut-out recycle symbol on one side and cut-out holes on the other where the disc goes, which weakens the case where it should have the most protection. The disc does stay pretty snug in the case.

The disc itself is bland looking with just the title and company info printed onto it. No artwork or color printed onto the disc.

The extras are few, just a making of, an interview with the writer and the film’s trailer. No commentary, bloopers, deleted scenes or even alternate languages. Closest thing there is subtitles.

Interviewing the writer Sven Hughes tells how Hughes came up with the concept of how his virtual reality works in the movie and why he thought it would be interesting. There’s some interesting info about how real military uses simulations to help soldiers overcome post-traumatic stress disorder. Then it snowballs into delusions of grandeur with Hughes talking about Hollywood stars working on this film (maybe he thought Faris actually was Tom Cruise) and him breaking new ground in depicting special forces (as video game characters?).

The making of documentary is a half hour long. It covers the standard talking about characters, the crew and the director.  Some of Hughes’ interview is repeated here too. There are a lot of fuzzy and muffled film clips, probably to differentiate from the documentary. Why some of the actual interviews are fuzzy and muffled, I don’t know.

The most interesting part of the making of is probably the experiences of filming in the supposedly haunted prison.  This shows where the DVD missed a great opportunity. Perhaps if it had a bit more money, they could have filmed a short documentary on the actual prison. Nothing fancy. Alas, no such luck.

I was impressed though with the people who put the DVD together. Before the credits leading to the DVD menu, a screen pops up telling the viewer to just press “Menu” to skip the trailers. A lot of DVDs do this, but it’s the thought of actually letting the viewers know they can that’s nice.

6/10

It’s an average movie. Nothing about it is really worth owning. Rent if you must watch, or better yet, wait for whenever it will undoubtedly air on Syfy.

Overall (Not an Average) 5/10

The Review

The Series 5/10
The Video 6/10
The Audio 4/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 6/10
Overall (Not an Average) 5/10

Directed by Karyn Kusama
Starring Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, Johnny Simmons

Here’s a horror film written by one of the hottest writers in the business, Diablo Cody (Juno) and starring the girl of the moment, Megan Fox (Transformers 1 &2) that bombed at the box office. So why did this happen? When I saw the early trailers for the film it seemed like a no brainer. I actually didn’t get to see it in the theater myself so I was happy to get to see it in HD at home.

The Movie

Jennifer is that girl in high school that every teen boy wants to date and every girl wants to be friends with. The thing that doesn’t make sense is Jennifer’s best friend, nerdy girl named Needy. It turns out that these girls have been friends since before cool and nerdy mattered. These two friends live in a small town with not much to do but if there’s trouble to be found Jennifer finds it and she drags Needy along for the ride. Everything is as stereotypical as it gets until one night Jennifer and Needy sneak out to see a band play at a local bar. Jennifer hopes to hook up with the singer of the band and she does leaving Needy in the lurch. What neither of the girls could have expected is that they’d be fighting about whether Jennifer should jump in the van with the band while the bar they were in goes up in flames.

Late that night Jennifer visits Needy at home and she’s a changed girl, almost feral like and eating raw meant.  Soon murders begin happening in the small town to high school boys and for a while only Needy know who is really responsible.

Jennifer’s Body is a mostly paint by numbers horror film with an 80’s flair. It’s not a particularly great film but it’s not bad either. If you’re a fan of 80’s horror films this one has a lot to offer. There’s gore, there’s a monster angle, and there’s even some satanic sacrifice stuff happening here. The biggest failure of the film is Diablo Cody’s need to create her own style of pop culture mostly through her sometimes clever but mostly painful dialogue. For every clever little bit of dialogue there are tons of lines that just fall completely flat. The worst offender comes from a new use of the word Jell-O. When that line hit the screen I wanted to put a bullet through my TV screen.

This film is written by a woman and directed by a woman so there’s no denying that a female perspective would come through in a type of film and a genre of film that is typically favored by a male audience. There is one scene that could be considered exploitative, which is an element of this kind of film but outside of that the film has an undercurrent that reminded me of something like Ginger Snaps. Along with the in your face horror of the kills and gore the film also attempts to portray a more subtle type of horror: that of the anxiety of being a teen girl. Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn’t but the fact that it’s in there at all adds more depth to what could have been a simple slasher flick. So, I have to say even with the faults the film is still an enjoyable watch. There’s one particular fight scene that’s pretty great and really well shot. Fans of the genre should try to forget about the awfulness that is Juno and give this film a look.

7/10

The Video

This 1.85:1 presentation is really fantastic. Black levels are deep and near flawless and the vibrant colors are well represented and free of blooming or other common issues with lower budget releases. Finally detail level is consistently high throughout the film in both darker and brighter scenes. This is a near perfect presentation. The only issue with the transfer is that there’s a very very thin layer of film grain running throughout the film. The slight grain adds some depth to the presentation though and reminds us that yes the film was shot on “film”.

9/10

The Audio

The DTS Master Audio presentation is also really well done. The mix is really aggressive and “rock n’ roll”. When an aspect of the soundstage is used it’s really used. During musical numbers with the band the subwoofer kicks in loud and heavy. During the destruction of the bar every speaker gets something to do. The quieter moments do get some attention too but the audio is about as subtle as the film itself so don’t expect as much during the serious dialogue scenes. The score, sound fx, and dialogue are mixed clean and loud with no muffling or distortion to speak of. There’s nothing innovative about the audio presentation but it is well done.

8/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The two disc set comes in a standard slim blu-ray amaray case. The cover art honestly is a little ho-hum. A little more time spent doing something fun with it would have been appreciated.

The first noticeable bonus feature is the inclusion of an unrated director’s cut along with the theatrical version. Before you get your hopes up it appears that the cuts made for the theatrical version were simply made for time because the stuff put back into the film is mostly just more character stuff and some extended scenes. Of the two the story is better represented in the uncut version.

There’s an audio commentary on the theatrical version by the director and screenwriter. The commentary is unfortunately not as informative as it should have been. In fact there are long gaps where the two don’t say anything at all and when they do talk they focus on things in the film that they like rather than offering up much behind the scenes stuff. Sometimes the two ladies simply laugh as if there’s some inside joke they don’t share. When they do get into discussions they tend to discuss a lot about gender roles in horror films. This gets very mundane very quickly and as interesting as I thought this element was in the film it gets long in the tooth in this commentary.

The director does commentary over a few brief scenes in the director’s cut and these clips are more focused but not much deeper.

There’s 14 minutes of deleted scenes and they are a mixed bag of should have been in the film and fine to be cut. Most of it is just more development of the Needy character. There’s one additional scene that I was shocked that it was cut because it features some gratuitous nudity (again don’t get excited the nudity isn’t from either of the two stars).

The gag reel isn’t a gag reel at all. Instead it’s a musical montage featuring this horrible song from the film. This was a big letdown.

The Dead Pool is a 14 minute featurette that focuses on the shooting of the final battle in the film. There’s lots of good behind the scenes stuff here from the crew and some tidbits from the actors as they were waiting to shoot. This is sort of a making of featurette in that it does feature some discussion of the making of the film from thematic elements to special fx but I oddly found myself for a more traditional making of documentary showing behind the scenes shooting of other scenes along with this one.

The video diaries should have been cool but there’s a bit too much vapid brainlessness from a couple of the stars making them actually irritating. Megan Fox isn’t exactly a bright bulb. I’ll just leave it at that. The other disappointment is that all of the diaries were shot during the filming of the same scene as the Dead Pool featurette so we don’t even get a look at different set pieces or behind the scenes work.

Life After Film School is the most interesting of the extras. This half hour Fox Movie Channel special features writer Diablo Cody being interviewed about her work from the beginning all the way up to Jennifer’s Body. While I don’t find myself becoming more of a fan of Cody I did enjoy learning about her career.

Megan Fox is hot is really a dumb “bonus feature”. Basically it’s a montage of scenes of Fox in various scenes from the film set to music. Garbage, pure and simple. The Peer Pressure PSA is a brief promo for the film featuring Fox. It should be here for the completists.

The bonus features aren’t that great. There are some highlights but overall they’re disappointing.

5/10

Jennifer’s Body is an 80’s style horror film that feels a little different due to the female perspective. It’s a simple Saturday night horror film and faults aside it’s an entertaining watch. I think the film would have done better in theaters had the marketing team focused on selling it to girls rather than on Megan Fox because the male Fox lovers don’t get what they want and the film is more female friendly than the ads would lead you to believe.

Overall (Not an Average) 6.5/10

The Review
The Movie 7/10
The Video 9/10
The Audio 8/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 5/10
Overall (Not an Average) 6.5/10

Yes that’s right there’s new gadgets and they’re all in 3D! We cover some CES goodness along with discussion of GI Joe 2, why Olivia Munn is a poser, new comics, and much more!

Written by Brian Reed
Art by Chris Samnee

The Story

I went into this week intending to review Siege #1, the first issue in the main book of the event that brings an end to the Dark Reign and will supposedly usher in a new era of. So why did I go with what is essentially Siege’s Front Line tie in? One line:

“We’re gonna go kick Norman Osborn’s ass. With journalism.”

Sold.

This really is the follow up to all the Front Line tie-in books that came with Civil War, World War Hulk and Secret Invasion. The start is Ben Urich, noted reporter of Daily Bugle and Front Line fame, who has rushed to see the disaster at a Chicago stadium after a fight set up against Volstagg blows up the place, killing thousands. He meets up old friend and current cameraman Will Stern and the two team up to cover what they deduce will be an invasion of Asgard.

My personal interest in journalism aside, Embedded answers a pretty good question not in Siege #1 – what happened to Volstagg? He hangs out with Urich and Stern, of course. There is almost no better way to show just how little Osborn and Loki care about Volstagg than by having the Dark Avengers and the military not even care to look for him after the stadium explosion.  He was simply a means to an end, and now no one cares, except for the two reporters who stumbled upon probably the greatest lead of the event.

Just like almost all of the recent Marvel events, you can trip over the political parallels this tries to make. Following along Norman Osborn’s implied hard right slant is a Glenn Beck-esque character, Todd Keller, praising the ground Osborn walks on a Fox News rip-off network. Couple with that is government violation of freedom of the press by restricting access to some press but not all for favorable coverage. It’s almost as if this book were trying to make a statement, but that can’t be right. If these kinds of overtones turn you off, then you may want to steer clear of this tie in.

The only part I just didn’t care for is the obvious title line of “Embedded journalists.” Really? Does embedding journalists in a military conflict really have to be spelled out for people to get the book’s title? It wouldn’t be so bad if it were buried in some dialog, but no. It just needed its own dialog bubble, said by two characters at the same time. It feels like it punched me in the face.

8/10

The Art

This is a down-to-earth book. Save the flashy looks for the main book where the fights are. Here, everything is in a fittingly grounded appearance as this book is supposed to be the normal people view point. Everyone and everything looks worn. Clothes and faces are wrinkled and covered with creases.

The colors are in darker, more grounded tones, fitting a series that’s supposed to be from a more grounded view of reporters covering a disaster and essentially a war. There’s a lot of shading, which makes sense given that this mostly takes place at night.

The character Todd Keller doesn’t just draw comparisons to Glenn Beck by his actions alone. Right down to the suit and tie and the short hair cut, he’s an almost spot-on match to the Fox News host. Samnee knew just what he was doing for what I believe is Keller’s first appearance (hear that, crazed collectors?).

As for the cover, it mirrors the design of Siege #1 with the characters on the left and the title over the same silhouetted Asgard on the right. Here we have lifelike depictions of the Dark Avengers covered with blood, drawn by the always wonderful Adi Granov.

It’s not perfect though. There could be some better definition here, some cleaning up and touch ups there. But if the book manages to come out on time (something I fear about the main Siege), then that’s not really a problem.

7/10

Not everyone is going to care for a low-action book about some old reporters watching what’s happening in Siege. The heavy conservative right media analogs are probably going to put some off. Still, for those who have some inkling of a journalistic interest or are just really big Ben Urich fans (I’d think that would be a lot of overlap), you may get a kick out of this.

Overall (Not an Average) 7.5/10

The Review
Story 8/10
Art 7.5/10
Overall (Not an Average) 7.5/10

Directed By: Nancy Bardawil
Starring: Hilary Duff, Evan Ross, Melissa Leo

I have been referred to as a teenaged girl on multiple occasions but since I actually am not one I will never understand the dynamic between mothers and daughters. According To Greta tries to explore this dynamic to varying effect.

The Movie

Greta (Hilary Duff) is a seventeen year old girl who is going to stay with her grandparents for the summer because her mother is trying to save her marriage. Her grandmother (Ellen Burstyn) is skeptical at best but still accepts Greta into the house. Upon her arrival Greta inform the family that she plans to commit suicide when she turns eighteen and we learn she has a “to do” list to complete before she offs herself. What happens over the next ninety minutes is a jumbled mess with a few spectacular moments thrown in.

Where to begin with this one? I think Hilary Duff is a good actor she just seems to keep picking bad movies or at least movies that don’t let her stretch. According To Greta gives her a little room but ultimately draws her back in to just another teen drama. Apparently she liked this script so much that she executively produced the movie. And as far as acting goes everyone is good. None of the actors are dialing it in or playing it for laughs.

This movie does have a few things working in its favor. The music cues are great. I really like the use of music and the cinematography is spectacular at moments. When everything is clicking this movie has some depth. I also really like the animations that are used between scenes. They are quirky and fun and really add to the feel of the Jersey shore. The problems come from the story itself. Honestly, there isn’t much of one and it is paint by numbers storytelling. The end result is another coming of age story and a young girl finding herself in a strange world.

I didn’t feel like I wasted my time on this movie so much as I felt this movie wasted its talent. Ellen Burstyn, Michael Murphy and Hilary Duff all give good performances but there just isn’t anything to work with. I’m not sure what the draw of the teen drama is to Hollywood as they keep going back to the genre but after so many years of doing these kinds of movies one would think they would bring something new. As it stands we get According To Greta and another promising career has stalled out.

5/10

The Video

There is nothing spectacular about the video. It is presented in anamorphic widescreen with a 1.85:1 ratio. It looks good enough for a low budget film. Detail is good enough most of the time and grain is minimal.

5/10

The Audio

Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound gets the job done but it’s a typical lower budget release. Most of the film comes through the center channel. Dialogue, score, and sound effects are clean and well mixed.

5/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The packaging is a standard clamshell with a slip cover; nothing spectacular in the slightest.

GRETA: Behind the Scenes does give a little insight in the film (apparently the script was written in 1992) and some great interviews with the actors. Also there are some great location shots that really show the charm of Grove Shore, NJ.

There are also some deleted scenes and an alternate ending that reminds us why the original ending was put in.

6/10

This is not the worst movie I’ve ever seen. It is not the best movie I’ve ever seen. It’s just average and I was hoping for more. Hilary Duff really needs her own Mean Girls type of breakout role. Keeping my fingers crossed for her….

Overall (Not an Average) 5/10

The Review
The Movie 5/10
The Video 5/10
The Audio 5/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 5/10
Overall (Not an Average) 5/10

Did you ever wonder what William Shakespeare‘s take on high school might be like? If so, this is the movie for you.

The Movie

10 Things I Hate About You is a modern (or at least a late 90’s) retelling on William Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew. There have been many modern takes of this story over the years (most notably Kiss Me Kate, which was set in 1969 and the classic Moonlighting episode) but in my opinion this one is the best. It’s true that I do love me a good teen comedy and 10 Things I Hate About You is one of the better movies of that genre. But I am getting a little ahead of myself.

In case you are not familiar with the story here is a quick run down. Cameron (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a new student at Padua High School. On his first day he is struck down with love for the beautiful Bianca Stratford (Larisa Oleynik) but there’s one little catch, Bianca is not allowed to date until her older sister Kat (Julia Stiles) begins dating. No small feat considering Kat’s indie rock loving, feminist literature reading, camouflage wearing, self proclaimed bitch of a self has no intention of dating anyone…ever. But Cameron is not dissuaded in his love and sets out to find Kat a boyfriend. Enter Patrick Verona (Heath Ledger), the only person at Padua with a worse reputation than Kat. So a proposal of money is levied and the chase is on. You can pretty much fill in the rest of the story from there as Hollywood has raped this plot for years.

But this movie is not about innovative filmmaking or new story innovations; it is all about the ride. I remember seeing the trailer for this movie in the spring of 1999 and had it pegged from the beginning. But looking back this movie really launched some careers and featured some well respected actors. Julia Stiles’ (Save The Last Dance, The Bourne trilogy) turn as Kat Stratford catapulted her career for the next decade and we all know how well Heath Ledger (A Knight’s Tale, The Dark Knight) did. And Allison Janney (The West Wing, Juno) is perfect as Ms. Perky, a no nonsense guidance counselor who fancies herself a romance novelist. But the real prize here is an early look at Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Brick, (500) Days of Summer) before he became an indie film darling.

10 Things I Hate About You has held up remarkably well over the past ten years. A lot of movies from this era look dated and feature mediocre actors playing mediocre roles. But this movie is special. It features actors who would go on to make great movies and the music is a lot of fun as well. Letters to Cleo appear both in the movie and on the soundtrack which also features Semisonic, Sister Hazel, Save Ferris and George Clinton. Speaking of music, I cannot end this review without talking about Heath Ledger’s musical number, maybe one of the funniest and sweetest moments I’ve seen in a movie in a long time. This is a good little movie and I am glad to have it in my collection.

9/10

The Video

The film is presented in a brand new Widescreen (1.85:1) enhanced for 16×9 televisions transfer and overall it looks pretty good. There’s some grain and some print damage here and there but overall the film looks solid with some fine detail here and there and colors that pop. The film looks it’s age but it looks better than any previous home video release.

8/10

The Audio

Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. The audio is clear and non-distorted. Every line is audible and clear and the music cues sound great. There are several opportunities for directional audio and they all sound great such as the prom, a biker bar, and a party. These scenes are full and fill the soundstage with music and chatter. It’s no summer blockbuster audio presentation but it sounds really good.

8/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The packaging isn’t very creative. The only change from the original release is the front cover which now features the original movie poster. It is a standard clam shell case with a slip cover. Like I said, nothing creative.

The featurette 10 Things I Love About 10 Things I Hate About You is a little bit disappointing. It does have new interviews with the writers and director but all the interview footage of the cast is from production. I was really hoping to get a retrospect from the cast members but oh, well. It is peppered with deleted scenes, behind the scenes footage and casting footage. On the plus side the new interviews do give a lot of insight about how the movie and cast came together. Well worth a look.

The audio commentary does feature the co-writers and some of the cast but it is the same one featured on the regular edition of the dvd. There is also a digital copy of the movie included on a second disc.

7/10

10 Things I Hate About You is a nice step back in time with its Dawson’s Creek references, 90’s rock soundtrack and a look at Heath Ledger’s early acting genius. We’ve come a long way in ten years.

Overall (Not an Average) 9/10

The Review
The Movie 9/10
The Video 8/10
The Audio 8/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 7/10
Overall (Not an Average) 9/10

Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Ivan Reis

Now, what came out to review this week? There’s Blackest Night #6, Blackest Night #6 and Blackest Night #6. If you’re only going to release one book for the last week of the year, it might as well be your big event book.

The Story

Right from where Blackest Night #5 left off, Black Lantern Rings chase after our book’s heroes – Green Lantern Hal Jordan and Flash Barry Allen – in Nekron’s attempt to take over all previously resurrected characters for his greater goals. What better time to show off Barry as the be-all and the end-all of Flashes with a little god speed?

As we approach the end of the series, the hard questions begin to be asked. What will happen to all the resurrected characters once Nekron and presumably his influence over them are gone? The characters themselves are shown to be aware of the massive ramifications all of Blackest Night may have on the DC universe. It’s nice to see the characters getting on the same wavelengths as the readers while not dwelling on the subject too much to screw up the pacing.

Even with representatives of all the Lantern Corps are together, their combined light is worth squat. What’s their latest trump card then? Deputizing one character per color to create the “rainbow rodeo” support, of course.

Deputizing does seem like a pretty obvious ability for the universal police force, but its timing and application seem nothing more than to give characters random power ups and variant action figures. Obviously the entire Green Lantern Corps doubling even for a day wouldn’t have been helpful during the Sinestro Corps War or anything like that. There’s a plethora of super heroes and villains around, and there are already Black Lantern variant characters, so why not more chances to sell more toys? Too bad this feels even more gimmicky than turning characters into Black Lanterns.

The actual recruitment choices make sense for the most part. Some of them are perfect, like the Orange Lantern’s deputy. The Sinestro Corps deputy is probably the most obvious choice outside of Sinestro himself and ol’ Batman (sorry Dick, not you). Still, others seem less like the best choice than a lazy ring not wanting to go far. Others still could have gone multiple ways. Overall though, the deputy choices fit the characters well enough. The question is, what can seven new ring bearers do? And there’s our cliffhanger for our two-month break.

7.5/10

The Art

This book is filled with vibrant colors, as it should with all the Lantern Corps represented here. However, it still succeeds in maintaining the dark esthetic. Thanks to the dark backgrounds, heavy shadowing and panels on top of black sheets, this issue still feels like the super hero horror story it’s supposed to be.

Of course with all the shining colors of the rainbow, there would be a coloring mistake. Seems like Scarecrow found time at the end of one page to dye his hair from black to brown before the top of the next page.

One oddity I’ve noticed throughout this event is with Lanterns and their color-glowing dialog bubbles. Some have it, and some don’t. Hal’s dialog is in normal black and white. Same with Sinestro. Yet Carol as a Star Sapphire and the other “rainbow rodeo” members have their dialog bubbles outlined with their colors. The deputy members also vary on this matter, but not consistently. The Green Lantern recruit’s dialog glows green, while Hal, John and most of the Green Lanterns are normal.

While the practical reason for this is probably just to keep track of who said what, staying consistent is typically a nice thing to do.

8/10

At the end is a creepy little excerpt about Black Hand as a child in his family’s funeral home, followed by covers for the January line up of Blackest Night tie ins.

While deputizing super heroes and villains is a bit too gimmicky for my tastes, the book still holds up well. This does leave one question though. What rainbow rodeo deputies would you have picked?

The Review
Story 7.5/10
Art 8/10
Overall (Not an Average) 8/10

This week we talk 10best nude scenes, 10 worst films, Marvel Comics’ The Siege, and much more on the first episode of The CineGeek Webcast for 2010!!!

Directed By: Peter Hyams
Starring: Michael Douglas, Jesse Metcalfe, Amber Tamblyn, Orlando Jones, Joel David Moore

How far would you go to take down a dirty District Attorney who just might be your next Governor. Yeah me too, Okay what if you were a hungry cub reporter for a small market TV station dying to get the networks attention.

The Movie

CJ Nicholas, Jesse Metcalfe, has already moved up from the local news in Buffalo to Shreveport and he’s ready to make the next jump. However that’s going to be difficult because his investigative unit has been disbanded due to budget cuts and  it’s hard to get the attention of the big market stations covering coffee taste tests and geriatric 10Ks. Now taking down a DA with political aspirations, that would get some attention. Luckily for CJ he’s got exactly that.

Mark Hunter, Michael Douglas, is the District Attorney with political ambitions. He’s smooth and good. He’s won seventeen straight cases. All of them hinged on DNA evidence, most of them with DNA evidence that was introduced late in the trial. CJ smells a rat, but how can he prove misconduct. Go back and examine the evidence of the seventeen trials and look for tampering. Well that’s one way to do it but it probably wouldn’t get him a job in a bigger market. CJ comes up with the idea to wait for the next homicide, find out the details of the case and plant enough evidence to incriminate himself, but not enough to make a conviction a slam dunk. Then when Hunter needs a little bit more to get a guilty verdict he will have to resort to introducing tampered DNA evidence. Then CJ’s friend and accomplice Corey, Joel David Moore, will present the documentation that all of the evidence was planted to begin with so the DNA evidence just presented by Hunter must have been falsified.

Well everything goes exactly as planned until, well let’s just say that a man that has tampered with the evidence in seventeen trials to grease the rails to the Governors office is not going to go down without a fight. CJ gets convicted. Now he’s got to rely on his girlfriend Ella, Amber Tamblyn, who conveniently works in the DA’s office to find the DVD that he and Corey made that will exonerate him and ruin Hunter.

The movie is based on a old RKO picture from 1956 of the same name with the screenplay updated by the director Peter Hyams. It’s an attempt at, I guess you would call it neo noir, but it lacks the grit and sweat of good noir. Every thing is a little too clean, too pat. The moral ambiguity present in good noir is simply not present or buried too deeply. So it fails at noir. It could work as a straight suspense movie, but what are supposed to be subtle clues are just too obvious. You would really have to be a little dense not to see the ending from nearly the beginning of the film.

Still there are things to enjoy here. Michael Douglas doesn’t have a lot of screen time but his performance is flawless. Amber Tamblyn also provides a great performance and is very easy on the eyes. Orlando Jones is great as an honest police detective. They provide one of the best scenes in the movie when Hunter’s dirty investigator tries to run Ella down in a parking garage. The driving in that scene is quite impressive as well. Shreveport looks great in the movie and Hyams makes good use of Louisiana talent. Jesse Metcalfe is good but he plays CJ a little too straight. Besides some over obvious clues dropped throughout the movie there is never any evidence that CJ is morally bent. Certain things are explained to you, but they are not shown. The story is more believable the less time Metcalfe is on screen. I don’t really think this is Metcalfe’s fault but with the screenplay and direction.

6/10

The Video

The video is presented in wide screen format. It’s generally good, but some dark scenes are a little hazy and grainy. The cinematography makes Shreveport look beautiful, but that actually plays against the tone of the movie. It’s brisk and bright when it should be dark and dank, but the actual video looks great. I noticed a little aliasing in some scenes but no moire or other artifacts that are going to interfere with the viewing of the film.

7/10

The Audio

The audio is presented in 5.1 Surround Sound with English and Spanish subtitles. The sound is used heavily to help build tension and suspense. Quiet moments followed by loud events and then quiet again, through all of this though the dialog is always clear and easily understood. The score by David Shire is also heavily relied on to build mood. Unfortunately it often comes across as a little melodramatic. Even with the broad range of dynamics I never noticed any distortion or other compression artifacts.

7/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The DVD comes in a ECO-BOX, it uses less plastic than a standard Amaray case, with a cardboard slipcase. The artwork is bold but elegant and does a better job of evoking the mood I think the filmmakers were going for than the actual movie. There are a couple of featurettes; one on the making of the movie and one on how forensic evidence is handled in the real world, a nice touch considering the subject matter of the movie. There is also a audio commentary with Jesse Metcalfe and Peter Hyams that provides quite a bit of insight into the way the film was made.

7/10

This is not a bad movie it’s just one that is a little frustrating because it should have been better. I think the filmmakers got a little caught up in the mechanics of the story and forgot how important mood and tone are to noir. Still, I’ll take a mediocre movie based in Shreveport over another mediocre movie based in LA or New York any day.

Overall (Not an Average) 6/10

The Review
The Movie 6/10
The Video 7/10
The Audio 7/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 7/10
Overall (Not an Average) 6/10

Directed by Hoyt Yeatman
Featuring Voices by Tracy Morgan, Sam Rockwell, Zach Galifianakas, Nicolas Cage, Steve Buscemi

“I have no ferret in me, Hurley. That has never been proven.”
Steve Buscemi as Bucky

I have said it a million times going into a review for a film like this: I have a soft spot for the talking animal film, whether it be CGI or live action, I love the critters. But, as you know, there are more bad than good in this particular genre. So, is G-Force one of the good ones, or one of the cringe worthy ones?

The Movie

First things first: this is a film about guinea pigs with special training trying to fight the evil in the world. So, this film doesn’t have any deep philosophical meaning or complex plot. And, this isn’t a Pixar film either, so don’t expect clever dialogue or concepts.

The film opens as Ben (Zach Galifianakis) is discussing with Darwin (Sam Rockwell) about a recent mission. It doesn’t matter that these are cute little furry guinea pigs: they take this stuff seriously.

The rest of the team is revealed and are voiced by some big names: Nicolas Cage, Jon Faveau, Tracy Morgan, and Penelope Cruz. And even though the FBI wants to shut down the “G-Force” project, the team has grown very close and still believes in righting the wrongs of the world.

So, when the evil Leonard Saber (Bill Nighy) tries to take over the world, G-Force will have to take him on without the permission of the FBI.

That is about all I can say about the plot of the film. This is a family film, so things never get to dark or complicated.

The voice work by all involved is entertaining, except for Cruz and Cage who alternate between being difficult to understand and just plain grating. Galifianakis, Rockwell and Buscemi are funny and of course, Bill Nighy is just wonderfully droll and amazing.

Now, onto the biggest problem in this film: the dialogue. Wow, it is just really painful in parts. Every catchphrase and slang term of the past 3 years is just forced into the dialogue in some really unfunny ways. It is not sprinkled lightly throughout to make the film feel fresh and current; it is overdone and just not skillful writing. Take note writers of G-Force: look at any Pixar film, or the recent Coraline and The Fantastic Mr. Fox on how to do a family film that is suitable for all ages but doesn’t dumb anything down, whether it is the plot or the dialogue.

So, all things considered, G-Force is a bit of a disappointment. Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t the worst family film I have seen recently, there are a few really cute moments. But overall, it doesn’t succeed as well as other family films released recently. Perhaps put it in on the Netflix queue to take a look at, but you don’t have to worry about making a permanent space on the shelf for this one.

5/10

The Video

G-Force in anamorphic widescreen with a 1080p MPEG-4 AVC transfer. While the film is a bit of a disappointment, the presentation is not. This is a very respectable transfer featuring exquisite black levels, an amazing level of detail and an impressive color palette.

8/10

The Audio

G-Force is presented in English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 with an optional French and Spanish language track presented in DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 as well. There are also optional subtitles in English, French and Spanish. The dialogue and ambient sound is impressively presented with a nice usage of all speakers in a 5. 1 environment.

8/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

G-Force is standard Blu Ray amaray case with some cute critters on the cover.

Quite a few bonus features are available on this release. First up, a “Cine Explore” commentary with the director Hoyt Yeatman and the characters Darwin and Blaster is an entertaining listen. A commentary with Yeatman plays while picture and picture shots are shown and the development is discussed. You can also opt to have the commentary supplemented with video “extras” that will play too that show additional footage of the voice work or effects.

“Bruckheimer Animated” is offered and it is a look at the visual effects from other Bruckheimer produced films. Blaster’s Boot Camp is basically an extended trailer featuring the character Blaster.

G-Force Mastermind shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone: it is revealed that Yeatman’s own 5 year old son came up with the basic premise for the film after his Kindergarten class had a guinea pig as a classroom pet.

There are also some deleted scenes, music video and bloopers offered.

8/10

Overall (Not an Average) 5.5/10

The Review
The Movie 5/10
The Video 8/10
The Audio 8/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 8/10
Overall (not an average) 5.5/10

One of the best films of 2009, Paranormal Activity, is now available on DVD and Blu-Ray! To Celebrate the home video release of the film we have a great prize pack to give away to one lucky winner! What’s better than giving away horror goodies around Christmas? In the prize pack:

• Baby Powder
• Planchette
• Ouija Board
• Satin Sleep Mask
• Barrel Sling Duffel bag

If you don’t get what’s great about this prize pack then you need to check out Paranormal Activity right now. To be entered into the drawing to win the prize pack hit submit and send your name and mailing address and tell us what sort of “paranormal activity” scares you the most!

Submit

Contest Ends January 15th!

“Best” films isn’t really a correct term for these lists but it’s the one everyone uses. There’s a big difference between “Best” and “Favorite”. A few lists attempt to do a true best list but opinion always plays a part in judging art and that changes any list from truly best to favorite. Other best lists are easier to write but when it comes to art a true best list is a tough one.

It’s with that in mind that I compiled this list. I’m not going to go into huge detail about what each film is about and I’m not going to write a thousand words defending my choices. That’s food for discussion. I will try to share my criteria for my own best list. The first part is simple: was the story compelling. That’s fairly self explanatory I believe. Even more simply put; was the story good. Next is was the film well executed which includes directing, acting, special fx, score, editing, basically everything that goes into the creation of the film. The final element I kept in mind as I compiled my list is how innovative was the film? How much of an impact did the film make on the art of filmmaking. Did the film change the game in some way? All of these factors came together to help me build my list.

So here are my top 10 films of 2009. Feel free to comment about the list or share your own. If you think I’m nuts then share it in the comments and we’ll discuss. At any rate, here they are:

1. Avatar Directed By James Cameron (Editorial)
2. Paranormal Activity Directed by Oren Peli (Film Review)
3. District 9 Directed By Neill Blomkamp
4. Watchman Directed by Zack Snyder (Film Review)
5. Star Trek Directed by JJ Abrams (Film Review)
6. Inglorious Basterds Directed By Quentin Tarantino (Webcast Discussion)
7. The Road Directed by John Hillcoat
8. Drag Me to Hell Directed by Sam Raimi
9. Zombieland Directed by Ruben Fleischer
10. Antichrist Directed by Lars Von Trier

Here’s a bonus list, my top 10 guilty pleasures of 2009. Yes these films weren’t the best but they offered up some entertainment so here they are:

1. Ninja Assassin Directed by James McTeigue (Webcast Discussion)
2. Fanboys Directed by Kyle Newman
3. Taken Directed by Pierre Morel (Film Review)
4. Halloween II Directed by Rob Zombie
5. Chocolate Directed by Prachya Pinkaew
6. Crank 2 High Voltage Directed by Mark Neveldine (Webcast Discussion)
7. Underworld: Rise of the Lycons Directed by Patrick Tatopoulos
8. Orphan directed by Jaume Collet-Serra
9. GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra Directed by Stephen Sommers
10. X-Men Origins: Wolverine Directed by Gavin Hood

To hear me and other CineGeek writers discuss this list as well as their top 10 lists check out this episode of the CineGeek Webcast!

Family Guy Presents: Blue Harvest was a real success for the franchise. The film spoofed and retold the story of Star wars as only Family Guy could and it was a fantastic ride. What made that event film work was that the writers had some ideas to have fun with George Lucas’ original story. Now they’re back to tell the story of Empire Strikes Back. The question is are they back because they came up with another fun idea or are they back because the first film was such a success and FOX wanted them to do a sequel.

The Movie

So, once again the power goes off in the Griffin house and everyone gathers around to hear Peter tell them another story. Peter’s story picks up with Chris as Luke out in the arctic cold replicating the beginning of Empire Strikes Back. Everyone returns to their roles from the previous film except for Meg who gets little to do in this story similar to the previous one. Peter portrays Han Solo, Lois returns to play the Princess; Brian plays Chewie, and the most brilliant casting features Stewie as Darth Vader. Stewie is easily the funniest character in this film just like on regular installments of the show. Brian can be quite funny too but he feels underutilized in this film. He’s in plenty of scenes but he doesn’t get to be very funny.

The problem with this film is that the creators are really focused on retelling the story of Empire Strikes Back rather than spoofing it. Scenes are cut and presented as close to Family Guy versions of those scenes in Empire Strikes Back as they could and while they’re fun they come at the cost of some classic Family Guy laughs. There are some funnies here for sure especially when Stewie starts choking people but the film just never seems to quite reach the level of the previous one. With that said, for Family Guy fans, this is an epic ride through a fan’s eye view of the classic Star Wars sequel. No it’s not classic but there are still some good laughs here. Some of the ensemble cast gets little to no screen time though so don’t be surprised to only see a few characters for a scant few seconds.

Seeing Star Wars characters and locations rendered in Family Guy style just never gets old. The opening scene featuring a muppet playing a role in the film is really funny and it sets the pace for the film. The little moments in the film like that one are the best of the film. When Family Guy is at its worst it’s still one of the most clever shows on television so for fans of the show or fans of Star Wars, or even fans of 80’s pop culture this one’s a must see. I can’t point to one moment in the film that’s the most defining and the most funny of the film. Typically you can point to that one moment or one scene in the individual episodes of the series so not finding that moment is the surprising thing about this film. As I said there’s still funny here and its overall plenty entertaining.

6.5/10

The Video

The 1080p 1.33:1 widescreen presentation is extremely vibrant with bold colors and deep blacks. The image just seems to pop off the screen. The issues that plague animated films in HD are also a problem in this film too. There’s aliasing in a few spots, one instance of some odd macroblocking, and color banding too. What’s great about these issues is that none of them seem to be a problem for main characters. The instances occur off to the side of the main character or in the background so they aren’t as noticeable. Not the best HD animated presentation but not bad for a TV special.

7.5/10

The Audio

The only audio option is a DTS-HD Master audio track and like the video it’s fairly solid. Dialogue is the priority in this mix having been pushed out in front of the score and sound effects. Directional effects are apparent when there’s movement on screen but rear speakers are a bit soft when compared to the rest of the soundstage. The “borrowed” John Williams-ish score doesn’t pop in the mix like you’d expect but it does come through every speaker clean and clear. Overall though this is a good audio track with nice clean crisp dialogue.

8/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The two disc presentation is packaged in a standard slim blu-ray amaray case with a slip cover featuring the same art as the actual case. The art is a fun mesh of Family Guy and The Empire Strikes Back poster art. Disc two features the digital copy of the film.

First up for bonus features is feature length audio commentary with Seth MacFarlane, Mark Hentemann, David A. Goodman, Kirker Butler, Dominic Polcino, and Seth Green. There’s some fun moments in the track but it feels a little held back, like there’s more to be said on certain subjects that the participants just won’t say. While it’s not as entertaining as you’d expect there are some bits of good information to be found in the commentary.

Family Guy fact-Ups are pop up fact tracks that are funnier than the audio commentary. There’s tons of good trivia information here and there’s also a slathering of snarky comments that make the track a pleasure to watch.

The Dark Side of Poster Art is a brief featurette covering the creation of the cover art for the DVD. A great deal of work went into this art and it’s interesting to see some of the process the artist went through to create the art.

There’s a brief series of animatics with commentary, a sneak peak of the next film including a good bit of the table read and a complete table read of this film. The table read is amusing at times but a little bit uninteresting to look at after a few minutes.

I’d like to have seen more behind the scenes video of the creation of the film but there’s some moments of gold here.

6/10

Family Guy Presents: Something, Something, Something, Dark Side is amusing and entertaining but it just doesn’t reach the level of excellence that the first film set.

Overall (Not an Average) 7/10

The Review
The Movie 6.5/10The Video 7.5/10
The Audio 8/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 6/10
Overall (Not an Average) 7/10

This is it, the time when the brain-trust that is CineGeek sits down and discusses their picks for the best films of 2010. There’s also box office talk, new DVD;s and Blu-Rays, and a discussion of the future of Captain America in the Marvel Universe!

Want to know the outcome of Captain America: Reborn before it’s even over? Well here you go.

The Story

In a huge misstep in Marvel’s often mismanaged publishing schedule, Brubaker’s epilogue to his own tale of Steve Rogers return comes out before the final issue of the story hits stands. Luckily, the recap page fills in everything about Reborn you need to know, letting this one-shot work pretty well as a stand-alone issue. This isn’t even the first appearance of Steve since his return, but one would hope the books in the same Captain America line would at least try to stick to the same schedule, especially when it’s the same freaking creative team.

So spoilers – Steve Rogers is back.

Now here comes the adjustment period. Steve is uneasily trying to settle back into his life. Bucky is trying to figure out his next step after having decided to give the shield and the name back to Steve. Both confide in their respective others (Sharon and Natasha/Black Widow), who try to comfort them through their thoughtful time. However, when dealing with superheroes, there’s only one good way to clear the head – some good ol’ late night crime fighting with some classically bad villain dialog (Pick first or third person, buddy. Only Hulk gets both).

Steve is back in the saddle, jumping around and staying in top form, even trailing a motorcycle across town on foot. Regardless of whatever feelings for Bucky anyone may have, this is Steve’s book, and it’s nice to see him come home. Still, it’s heartwarming to see Steve take so much pride in his first protégé taking over his role and have them stand shoulder to shoulder together as equals now.

As for actually settling who gets the shield, it’s done in a well-discussed fashion. Steve and Bucky both debate why the other should keep it. The conclusion reached feels like one the characters came to themselves, as opposed to any editorial or fan-mandated result.

But the issue may not answer who will wield the shield permanently. While only one walks away with it (breaking it in half doesn’t work too well), the issue’s end suggests something more may be in store for the other Captain America, which is of course followed by “To Be Continues in SIEGE!” I’m sure either way, both Caps will get their use out of the shield before the Siege is over.

9/10

The Art

Why does present day Bucky look like Ronald Reagan? Sure, Bucky may be about as old as Reagan was when he was in office, but being cytogenetically frozen by the Russians urges most artists to keep some of his boyish looks. It’s oddly disturbing when next to Natasha’s youthful appearance in her stylish ‘60s look.

Aside from that, the general look and aesthetic of the book is very nice. Most character designs are well detailed and expressive, from Steve’s pensive stare to Sharon’s concerned face to Natasha’s playful look and even Luke Cage’s grin. Proportions are generally right on, except at the end when Steve looks like a comically buff and top-heavy college quarterback in a suit with small hands and thin legs.

Dean White’s coloring is painted on very well. The brushed backgrounds in the city landscape, littered with snowflakes, are a good and artsy sight to see. The flashback in the beginning stands out with a somewhat sepia-esque tone.

Speaking of tones, the lighting effects compliment the settings. Bathing a bedroom in red light highlights the romance between the two characters within, while later the same room in dark blue shows the calm silence that the night has brought.

When we get to the two Captain Americas, they are visibly unique. Even from glancing at their colors, Steve’s cloth and denim uniform uses more subdued reds, whites and blues, making Bucky pop out with his shiny, metallic-esque star-spangled banner. Bucky’s is also smoother and tighter, as opposed to Steve’s scalemail and blue jeans. Yet standing next to each other really shows the similarities in the suits, showing that they are both Captain America, just not the same one.

8.5/10

If I had given Marvel a Christmas present, it would have been a planning calendar. This is a good book, both literally and artistically. Maybe a slight dialog tweak and new inspirations for character designs would help a bit. Oh, and releasing it AFTER Captain America: Reborn ended.

The Review
Story 9/10
Art 8.5/10
Overall (Not an Average) 8.5/10

Directed by Yuichi Kanemaru
Starring Chiharu Komatsu, Goshu, Ayumi Kinohita

“God loved the birds and invented trees. Man loved the birds and invented cages.”

Jacques Deval

Japan has been producing some of the most provocative and captivating horror films of the last decade. From the films of Takeshi Miike (Ichi the Killer), Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Doppleganger), Hideo Nakata (Ring) and Shinya Tsukamoto (Tetsuo: the Iron Man) and many more too numerous to mention here, horror fans are relishing the cutting edge horror films coming from the land of the rising sun. So, how does Gun-Kyu: War Pigeon stack up? Switchblade Pictures recently released Gun-Kyu: War Pigeon on DVD and I delved in.

The Movie

Kanako (Chiharu Kamatsu) teaches science and works as a biologist. After a body is discovered on her school’s campus, her and her boyfriend are shocked and expect the police and the university will tell the public at large it was an “accident”.

Upon returning to her car after work, she sees that her car is covered in bird feces. And when I say covered, I mean covered. But why? And is this somehow connected the strange death that occurred on campus?

Kanako returns to school and goes to work in the lab. Strangely, she starts hearing birds and then sees a pigeon flying through the hallway. She goes to investigate and finds bird poop everywhere. As she is looking at the devastation, birds attack her.

Her boyfriend doesn’t believe her and blames everything on stress. But, while she is at school, the bird noises haunt her and appearances by birds are nonstop.

One day, she follows the bird noises down into a deserted janitor’s room. Suddenly, she is attacked viciously by a group of pigeons that scratch and peck at her. And when I say peck at her, I mean these little buggers try to eat her eyeballs.

What is to become of Kanako? Vengeance has wings and the sky is filled with terror in Gun Kyu: War Pigeon!

Scary birds are nothing new to the horror genre and Gun Kyu: War Pigeon doesn’t do anything groundbreaking with the little critters, but if you are fan of low budget Japanese indie films, you could add this film to your Netflix queue for an evening of fun.

Upon research I learned that star Chiharu Kamatsu is well known porn star. And if you are checking out this film just based her past film work, you are going to be disappointed. There is barely any nudity or sex. She really is trying to actually “act” in this film. So look elsewhere for tons of flesh, you perverts. This film is all about mean little birdies and blood.

So, at the end of the day, Gun-Kyu: War Pigeon isn’t going to be in your top ten Japanese horror films, but it is worth a look.

6/10

The Video

Gun-Kyu:War Pigeon is presented in widescreen The colors are vibrant and the overall image is very respectable. The black levels could be more dense.

6/10

The Audio

Gun-Kyu: War Pigeon is Dolby Digital 2.0 Mix in the original Japanese language with English Subtitles.  The dialogue is crystal clear and well mixed. This isn’t going to give the home theater a work out, but is serviceable.

6/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

Gun-Kyu: War Pigeon is standard amaray case with some artsy looking cover of Kanako and one of her many feathered enemies.

There are no bonus features on this release.

1/10

Overall (Not an Average) 5/10

The Review
The Movie 6/10
The Video 6/10
The Audio 6/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 1/10
Overall (not an average) 5.5/10

Sanctuary: Haunted
Synopsis: Passengers and crew of a sinking ship off the coast of South Africa are rescued by Magnus and her team, and teleported back to the Sanctuary for medical treatment. But when one of the peaceful refugees is brutally murdered, all eyes turn to Druitt.

Caprica: What if they could come back?
Synopsis: The video features an exclusive scene from the premiere
episode of Caprica, coming to Syfy January 22 at 9/8C!

Deadline, a fitting end to a promising career or just bitter irony? Honestly, it’s a little of both.

The Movie

Alice Evans (Brittany Murphy) is a writer working on a deadline who has obviously been through a very rough patch in her life. She goes away to a secluded house in the country to work on a script and to just spend some time alone. But after she finds hidden video tapes of Lucy (Thora Birch) and Mark (Marc Blucas) she uncovers a deadly secret. Will she survive long enough to meet her Deadline? I know that was heavy handed and over the top but in the spirit of this movie it is appropriate.

I like mysteries. I like thrillers. I like Brittany Murphy. I don’t like retreads of tired old plots and movies that think they’re being clever but are really just being cliché. Let’s go down the list of indie movie clichés. Video camera? Check. Long scenes with no dialogue to establish a sense of isolation? Check. Vivid dreams that are played to be reality until the character suddenly wakes up with a fright? Check. “Found” footage of a tragedy? Check. A psychotic ex-boyfriend that the main character is trying to escape? Check. A lesbian tryst? Check. When did the lonely house in the country become such an overused movie trope? And don’t think that showing a character starring blankly at a crib is a subtle way to suggest she lost a child. That is brow beating at its worst.

And that’s just the first twenty minutes of the movie. Brittany Murphy was a better actress than this movie. This is the second movie to be released this year staring Murphy about a lonely house in the country with an ominous secret. Can you say typecasting? It’s a shame that a young actress with her talent was relegated to made for television and straight to dvd movies.

But enough about her, Deadline is a boring mess of a movie. A good portion of it is told through video flashbacks of found footage that break perspective from first to third person without rhyme or reason and become tedious to watch. Quite honestly a good portion of this movie makes no sense what so ever. Sean McConville should have placed this film into another director’s hands and allowed a couple of re-writes to smooth this script into something cohesive.

2/10

The Video

This is the perfect example of why blu ray is not for everyone and not every movie needs a blu ray release. The picture is presented in 1.85 aspect widescreen and looks about as good as it can.

Blu-Ray: This is a low budget film that looks slightly better with the HD upgrade but there’s still plenty of grain and soft contrast to make the film still look like what it is….

5/10

The Audio

5.1 Dolby Digital surround. The audio is clear but why bother paying attention to what’s being said? None of it makes any sense.

Blu-Ray: The surround sound is basic but the necessary stingers are all loud and clear. It’s not a bad presentation but it’s nothing to write home about either.

5/10 

The Packaging and Bonus Features

Both the packaging and the special features are lacking. You get a basic clamshell case for storage and a ten minute behind the scenes featurette that is in love with itself. Every interview is an exercise in self aggrandizing and “look at how cool I am.” I’m beginning to think that some dvds should not offer special features.

1/10

Hopefully one of the five movies listed on Brittany Murphy’s imdb page as being in post production will remind the world what a talent we lost. Deadline is eighty-nine minutes of your life you’ll never get back. I believe Ms. Murphy would have wanted you to have them.

Overall (Not an Average) 2/10

The Review
The Movie 2/10
The Video 5/10
The Audio 5/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 1/10
Overall (Not an Average) 2/10

Written/Directed by James Cameron
Starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver

Hardcore movie fans, or CineGeeks, are a fickle bunch. James Cameron is the man behind some of the most iconic films made in the last 25 years, films near and dear to our hearts including Terminator 1 and 2, Aliens, True Lies, and Titanic. Sure Titanic may be a stretch, but it’s a fantastic film. With that in mind, why is it that he was getting so much negative buzz from the fan community prior to the release of Avatar. You’d think fans would be stoked for the release of a science fiction/fantasy film featuring cutting edge technology from a director that seems to truly love those genres of storytelling?

This isn’t the first time Cameron has experienced backlash over an epic film he poured himself and a ton of money into. Yes, I’m speaking of Titanic once again. Fans and critics all had something bad to say about the extremely expensive film that would become one of the most successful films of all time once it released. So, the negativity is probably something that Cameron is accustomed to, even if he doesn’t deserve it.

This isn’t a review of Avatar. My conclusions, from a traditional review perspective, are that that the film is groundbreaking in style and technology, stunningly well acted, and action packed. The only slight misstep is that the story is a little too familiar to science fiction fans. It’s a very opinionated kind of story that Cameron has approached before with films such as Aliens and Terminator. The subtle and believable romance is at the center of the film and is so good that the more overt parts of the story doesn’t seem to matter.

There are times when a true historic moment happens in front of us and we can choose to participate or let it slide by. Going to this film and seeing it in true IMAX 3D means that you are one of the first to see the new direction of the film experience. There have been many evolutionary moments in film. Can you imagine what it was like the first time film fans saw a film with audio? What about the first people to see a film in color, in cinemascope, or in surround sound? If you go to the IMAX and see this film, you’ll know what those people felt like. Yes, there has been 3D before but the 3D of the past is little more than what I call “waggle film”. This film is a truly immersive experience. There are only just a few times in the film where something appeared to just stick out and even those instances where shots that any filmmaker would have chosen with or without 3D. That gets to the point, that this film was crafted in a 3D environment rather than another film that has been rendered in 3D. The greatest thing about the 3D is the sense of depth in nearly every scene. The forest truly feels like you could stand up from your seat and walk into it with the characters and even beyond them. Along with the 3D, there’s a sense of detail that has never been executed in a CGI film to date. This alien world seems like a real place that we should all be able to visit at some point in the future. The visual feast includes varieties of foliage, beautiful animals, and tiny insects that are always present keeping the world energetic and in constant living motion. There’s a fairly lengthy section of the film where the main character goes through training on the planet and with every scene he learned something new and so did we. Once the training was over ,I found myself wanting it to continue. I wanted to keep learning and experiencing this fully realized world.

It takes more than the gimmick of 3D to be innovative and this film and its creator understands that on a level that NO OTHER FILMMAKER has. James Cameron is the savior of the theater and the film going experience. Most modern movies/theaters don’t offer a substantially better experience than watching the film at home on a big screen HD TV with surround sound. Avatar is a film that will be a radically different experience at home than it currently is in theaters. The film will still be beautiful, fun and exhilarating but at home, it’s just a movie, in IMAX 3D, it’s an experience.

It’s time to blaspheme. James Cameron is the modern day, much more successful George Lucas. In the 80’s, Lucas was on the cutting edge of special fx and even the Star Wars prequels featured some nice new innovations (even if the blue screen stuff was really weak at times). His company, Industrial Light and Magic, played a part in the creation of Avatar. I say Cameron is more successful because he has truly taken the “experience” of going to the theater to a new level. Terminator 2 advanced special fx in a “George Lucas” sort of way, but Avatar breaks the mold for innovating. Future filmmakers will be accused of pulling a Cameron because like Lucas in his era, Cameron is unmatched at what he is doing.

I’ve loved several films this year including Paranormal Activity and District 9 but while those films are great, and they are must see, they aren’t “important”. Perhaps that’s the greatest compliment that I can give Avatar is to say that it’s important. If you experience this film now, in 20 years, you’ll be talking about how you were there when everything changed, when going to a movie really started to mean something different than it had before. You’ll have that same sense of history that film fans that saw the first “talkie” had and fans that saw the first color film have. If you call yourself a true film fan, then you need to plunk down the fifteen bucks, settle in to a big comfy IMAX seat and soak in history in the making.

There is nothing unusual in mixing comedy and music, the two go together like bread and butter. Rarely though are they mixed with the wit and skill as presented here. Christopher, Michael and Harry reprise some of their favorites from the classics This is Spinal Tap, A Mighty Wind, and Waiting for Guffman along with a few random nuggets thrown in for good measure.

The Movie

The credits roll silently as the lights come up on a darkened Pabst Hall in Milwaukee. The deep voice of Harry Shearer introduces himself, Christopher Guest and Michael McKean. As soon as they are assembled in front of their microphones and strapped to their instruments they immediately break into the first verse of the folksy Celtic Blues. After this a cappella intro they break into the rousing Hell Hole. It’s almost as if they want to reassure you that, yes they will be playing material from A Mighty Wind, but just because they are holding acoustic guitars doesn’t mean that they won’t be mixing in a fair amount of Spinal Tap. They keep the promise, Never Did No Wanderin’ is followed by Clam Caravan, Rock’ n’ Roll Nightmare and Bitch School which is in turn followed by Loco Man and This Bulging River and so on.

The show bounces back and forth between the more rockin’ numbers and the lighter fare with interesting anecdotes sprinkled in along the way. The play list is well balanced and never seems to drag. The two hours and fifteen minutes of material fly by. The only real flat spot was a live reading of a memo from NBC’s Office of Standards and Practices, the network sensors, detailing the edits needed to approve This is Spinal Tap for a network broadcast in 1984. So whether your a fan of Spinal Tap, The Folksmen, Mitch & Mickey or the New Main Street Singers there is going to be plenty of material here that you will love.

You might suspect that since these are essentially parody songs and owing to fact that the three main performers all have day jobs as comedians the musical performances might be of questionable quality, but there is no question about it, all of the performances are great. As the three wind their way through this collection of faux hits, it strikes me just how good most of these songs are. While they push all of the cliches of hard rock and folk music beyond the point of absurdity the melody’s and actual song construction is excellent. I can think of more ridiculous songs I’ve heard performed without the wink. Without the context that the movies and skits that this material originated in the songs just aren’t that funny mildly amusing, but not really funny. No worrys they’re still enjoyable songs and there are plenty of anecdotes to provide the funny.

8/10

The Video

The video is presented in wide screen format. The majority of the material is filmed with the entertainers on a lit stage. I never noticed any problems or artifacts with this portion of the material except for a few moments where the focus seemed a little shaky. There are a few clips of old film and video interspersed though the show, some of this material has problems you might expect from older sources but it’s never an issue and it would be silly to leave material out just because it’s not typical DVD quality.

7/10

The Audio

The audio is presented in stereo in English only. There are no subtitles. Since this is a concert DVD the sound is even more important than usual. Even though it’s only in stereo the sound is excellent. The acoustic guitars are crisp and rich with out being tinny or boomy. The bass is bouncy and lively, the mandolin when it joins in is nice and mellow. The mix is always spot on. I never noticed any distortion or other audio artifacts.

8/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The DVD comes in a standard Amaray case. The artwork is honest and simple with a full song list on the back. There is an insert with a note from Harry Shearer and the full credits, a nice touch. The case is clear which is nice as the insert is double sided with a nice concert photo of the three leaving the stage. The Menu is as simple as it gets with two choices, “Play” or “Setlist”. There are no bonus features.

3/10

This is a great DVD, the music and stories are a lot of fun, but if you know who these guys are you don’t need me to tell you that. I’ve watched this DVD several times since I’ve received it, but once I get it out of my system I wonder how often I’ll come back to it. Without any kind of bonus materials to draw me back to it this one will probably just end up gathering dust on my bookshelf.

Overall (Not an Average) 6/10

The Review
The Movie 8/10
The Video 7/10
The Audio 8/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 3/10
Overall (Not an Average) 6/10

This week we discuss the impact of Avatar on the box office and on film in general, Green Lantern girlfriends, Iron Man 2, and free wifi!

Written by Scott and David Tipton
Art by Fabio Mantovani

Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship…wait, wrong show. This is the one stuck on a space station out in the middle of nowhere. I must give credit to those who wish to continue Deep Space Nine stories after its series finale, what with it not being blessed with post-series life in film like its predecessor Star Trek: The Next Generation. Let’s see where this Fool’s Gold story takes the crew of DS9.

The Story

Here we have the crew of the space station Deep Space Nine dealing with a substantial increase of visitation. Random malfunctions happen with ship sensors, folks get rowdy on the promenade and, as usual, Quark is acting suspicious. All in a typical day on DS9.

The Tiptons work well in recreating that feel of the series. Readers familiar with the show will have no problem hearing the voices of the original actors read the dialog (except for maybe a “grrrrr” that Odo exerts). Characters interact as they should, from Sisko and Jadzea’s calm discussions to Odo and Quark continually getting on each others’ nerves. The station itself is true to form in that it’s malfunctioning right from the get-go.

There’s enough mystery in the happenings going on to intrigue readers for the next issue. Something is going on aboard DS9 that hasn’t been explained, and of course, it’s up to Sisko and friends to figure out what’s going on. While the plot feels typical to the series, not too special or unique, it’s nice to slip back into a DS9 story for fans. Seeing Sisko after the final page should alone be enough to pique interest.

For you fans foaming at the mouth to figure out where to place this in the show’s timeline, it’s in the break between seasons three and four. The clues are in the stardate in Sisko’s log, Sisko being a captain and the lack of Worf.

If you need a refresher since the show ended, two travelers boarding DS9 discuss some background information on the station’s Cardassian origin, the Bajoran/Starfleet cooperation in running the place and the wormhole. It’s almost preachy, but it’s only a couple of pages worth, and it has been a decade since the show ended. No telling what people forgot. Doesn’t really present integral plot information though. Not yet anyway.

7/10

The Art

This art has some major consistency issues. With people in particular, the artist Fabio Mantovani bounces around the level of detail to almost bipolar levels. Heck, O’Brian looks to age almost 10-20 years in this one issue with how wrinkly and boney his face progresses through the book. And if a character is any more than five feet away from the front of the scene, don’t expect much other than to chuckle at the amusingly simplistic caricatures.

Despite the flip-flopping art quality, most of the characters do generally look like their live-action counterparts. It’s an important aspect in maintaining the same feel of the series. There’s even enough distinction to tell apart the Quark and Rom. Bashir, however, is less lucky in matching himself.

Follow all this with some awkward positioning. Some of the characters look flat. Others are contorted oddly (although Odo is really liquid, so I guess he can do that). Kira is far more curvaceous with more ample breasts than I ever recall in the show, and she’s posed in ways to show it off.

People aside, the actual station looks pretty good, especially in the one big outside shot in the beginning. The backgrounds match the set designs as well. Be warned that while not as frequent as the people art, some backgrounds suffer a similar but less severe difference in quality scale the further back they are.

One of the variant covers is misleading (“A cover misleading?! Surely you jest.”). The variant shows Sisko in the black and grey uniform introduced in Star Trek: First Contact, which the DS9 series doesn’t adopt until season 5. I know I was hoping to see Worf or some Dominion War action, but alas, that’s getting ahead of this story. Despite that, it’s a nice enough looking cover. Plus, the black and division colors uniforms look better anyway.

Generally, the art could be a lot better. There’s some promise in here with matching characters and a nice-looking DS9, but there are a lot of weak points that need to be corrected in later issues.

4/10

It’s a start to something. The story seems interesting enough. DS9 has traditionally been good with developing its story lines, so I’m interested to see where this goes. The art though leaves much room for improvement. If you’re a DS9 fan, you might want to check the book out just to relive the glory days. If you’re not or just don’t care, you won’t miss much.

The Review
Story 7/10
Art 4/10
Overall (Not an Average) 6/10

The current story arc, Stark: Disassembled, goes over how to fix Tony Stark after he turned his brain into mush in the previous World’s Most Wanted arc. This second issue of the five-part story begins the hard work.

The Story

Here we begin to see a glimmer hope in rebuilding Tony back to his former self. Help begins to spill out of the woodworks for the vegetable that was once their friend and ally, some probably a bit earlier than expected. The guest appearances remind us of the company Tony used to belong to in slightly better days, before Avengers were broken up and heroes waged war on each other. This story will likely be one of the first rays of light at the end of the tunnel of this Dark Reign.

For a guy in a coma though, Tony is pretty talkative. He provides a lot of narration while describing the process to fix himself. A bit too much actually, unless readers really need a refresher on what Extremis is and Ezekiel Stane’s attacks at the beginning of this title’s run. Some of this could have been cut down and save some narration boxes from cluttering up pages.

While the real world moves on in trying to help or harm the mostly lifeless Tony, his consciousness exists within a dreamworld where he spends his time in a desert with some familiar faces. In terms of writing, these parts are probably the best of the book. Fraction does a good job working a surreal feeling into the dialog. Tony’s compulsion and revealing lines showing his personality make these scenes feel just like a dream.

But the book isn’t all about Tony. Pepper Potts tries to come to terms with some emotional turmoil of her own. She has a reasonable venting of feelings about everything she’s gone through and is going through for her boss. She almost borders on whiney, but it’s understandably so and can’t really be faulted.

The story’s one real misstep isn’t really the fault of the book. Instead it’s the fault of editorial scheduling misalignment and is an example of one of many problems of having such an interconnected universe spanning several different characters’ own titles. In short, it’s ahead of its time. It would have been nice if Captain America: Reborn were a bit further ahead so it could line up a bit better. Don’t worry if you don’t read many other Marvel titles outside this one though. Just for those who do, realize this book is a little ahead of the time line than others.

9/10

The Art

Larroca has done a great job on this title. He does well showing a lot of detail. It’s always nice in an Iron Man book to see the panel lines and angles and rivets and all the other little intricacies of these technological suits of armor, and this issue is no exception with suits stripped open and in pieces.

Textures are also quite nice, from shiny metal and human flesh to crumpled paper and desert ground. Speaking of which, the backgrounds are quite well done and distinct from each other. The colorful wallpaper and furniture in the inn really feel like a small-town inn. Scenes from a skyscraper at night give a real sense of height and location, looking over a brightly-lit city.

The characters themselves emote pretty well. Eyes shine to look like they’re full of life. There are some goofy looks in this issue though, not the least of which belonging to Captain America.

The coloring and shading are also exceptional in this book. Colors tent to subtly fade into darker shades instead of simply having patches of lighter and darker colors. That’s not to say there isn’t any slip ups though. One panel, it seems colorist Frank D’Armata forgot which Cap has brown eyebrows and which has blond.

8.5/10

Invincible Iron Man is helping to set the stage for the major showdown to come, and it’s doing a good job getting its title character to his place in the event.

 The Review
Story 9/10
Art 8.5/10
Overall (Not an Average) 9/10

You could call it a cross between The Big Bang Theory and The Office and you wouldn’t be half wrong, but you would only be a little more than half right.

The Show

The eponymous Ted Crisp, Jay Harrington, is head of Research and Development at Veridian Dynamics, a large multinational with fingers in anything and everything which means Ted’s team works on projects as diverse as cryogenics, weaponized pumpkins, cowless beef, perfume, baldness cures, and image search engines. Luckily Ted has two brilliant scientist/engineers working for him; Phil Myman and Lem Hewitt, played by Jonathan Slavin and Malcolm Barrett respectively. On the administrative side of things he has Linda Zwordling, Andrea Anders, helping him out and he reports to Veronica Palmer, Portia de Rossi.

Ted is a single dad raising his eight year old daughter Rose, Isabella Acres, alone since his wife left him to go save the world. He takes great pride in his team at Veridian and relishes solving the day to day issues that come up. Lately Ted has found himself attracted to Linda but is frustrated by his strict observance of his one office romance rule, he’s already had his one. Ted also acts as the on camera narrator for the show. Frequently turning aside and addressing the audience directly to give us background information or to provide insight.

Linda takes care of testing the stuff that Lem and Phil come up with. This puts her at odds with the company every now and then when products don’t quite work out as expected, but her main purpose on the show is to provide a possible live interest for Ted, of course nothing can actually happen till at least the third or fourth season.

Lem and Phil are stereotypical TV scientists, brilliant but socially inept and awkward. They seem to have no specialization. One week they are working on cloning filet mignon without the rest of the cow, the next an energy drug and after that a jet pack. While providing comic relief, the two and their relationship are an essential part of the show. Jonathan and Malcolm have a real chemistry together. Watching the two of them be Lem and Phil is one of the more enjoyable parts of the show.

“Money Before People, that’s the company motto… It just looks better in latin” explains Veronica, Ted’s near psychopathic boss. Lem and Phil actually have better social skills. The only explanation for her success is her good looks, drive and sheer ruthlessness. An unrepentant narcissist her only concession or even admission that her co workers have feelings come as she realizes these are hooks that she can use to manipulate them. As the other characters learn little life lessons or get over personal hang-ups each episode Veronica is a rock showing no personal growth or any change whatsoever over the season. Strangely this makes her the most interesting character of the show.

The company Veridian Dynamics is as much a character of the show as Ted and the gang. A large portion of the humor of the show is derived from parodying work at a large corporation. One episode revolves around Ted trying to convince Human Resources that he actually works for Veridian. Another deals with the fallout after Veridian installs motion sensors for all of the doors and lights that don’t recognize black people. The solution, hire white people to follow all of the black employees around all day. Some of the episodes like the one just mentioned move beyond parody and into satire. A form of humor not often encountered anymore. Some of the funniest bits of the show are the fake Veridian Dynamics commercials that appear in each episode.

The characters are quirky and the world they live in is more than a bit surreal, The cast is strong and the show well written. It’s strong right out of the box and keeps its momentum through all thirteen episodes. There is none of the searching around trying to find its pace for the first several episodes that most new shows deal with. The first several episodes Ted makes sure to reintroduce all of the characters and kind of explain what’s going on, but it’s not really necessary, all of the episodes will stand up on their own. There is no story arc beyond the potential relationship between Ted and Linda. All in all good solid TV.

7/10

The Video

The video is presented in wide screen format. Nearly all of the shots have a deep focus so the backgrounds are as crisp as the foregrounds. I never noticed any compression artifacts or other problems with the video beyond some mild moiré and a bit of aliasing.

7/10

The Audio

The English track is presented in 5.1 Dolby Digital with a Spanish track in Dolby Surround. There are English, Spanish, French and Portuguese subtitles. The mix is right on, the dialog is always clear and easily heard. The producers wisely choose to forgo a laugh track; instead the score is used to punctuate jokes and punchlines. It nice and bouncy and reminds you not to take what you’re watching too seriously.

8/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The two DVDs come packaged in a single width Amaray case. The cover artwork consists of the stereotypical Photoshop mashup of the regular cast. The menus are simple and easy to navigate, but since there are no extras this is not that much of an accomplishment. Did I mention that there are no bonus materials or extras.

3/10

Even though the show’s title sets up a nonexistent joke, I enjoyed it. I’m a sucker for the surreal and Better of Ted provides a nice little dose to go along with the quirky characters.

Overall (Not an Average) 6/10

The Review
The Movie 7/10
The Video 7/10
The Audio 8/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 3/10
Overall (Not an Average) 6/10

This week we take a look back at our favorite comic books of 2009. some are shockers others are not!

“I’m wrong nine out of ten times. Come on! Take a chance on that one! Take this chance!”
Kiyoshi Atsumi as Tora San

Tora San, a popular TV and Film character portrayed by Kiyoshi Atsumi, began as a character on a popular TV series. When the producers of the series decided to kill the character of Tora San, Japan was outraged. Soon, the public made its feelings known and starting in 1969-1995 (yes, you read that right), at least 2 Tora San films were produced and released each year. The good people at Animeigo have released the first 4 films of the series in a boxset and I tore into it like a rabid animal.

The Film Series

First, a brief description of the long running and much beloved character Tora San, played by Kiyoshi Atsumi. Tora San is a drifter, if you will. He often returns to either his home town, or the town of another family member or friend. He only travels with a small suitcase and is always seen wearing the clothing of a low end “yakuza”: a cheap cotton suit, wide waist cloth and low-priced sandals. He pedals wares on the street to keep just a bit of pocket change. And, he is often making a bit of a nuisance of himself, being socially inept or trying to help, and causing a problem. Plots of the films often find him trying to find love of some sort, or helping someone else in love and making a big mess of it all. Got it?

Animeigo has released the first four films in a boxset. Here is a look at each one:

Tora San: Our Loveable Tramp (Otoko was tsurai yo) is the first film in the series and the first introduction to the character of Tora San (if you didn’t catch the TV series). Tora San has returned to his home in Shibamata (Katushika), a district within Tokyo. His Aunt and Uncle (Shin Morikawa and Cheiko Misaki) always welcome him home, but are wary of his wild actions. As does his polite and mannered sister Sakura (Cheiko Basho). They all try to love him, and he does have his charms, but his outrageous antics often put the family at a crossroads. In this installment, Tora San is trying to help his sister Sakura with her arranged marriage but his ham fisted attempts to help might leave his sister a bachelorette for life.

Tora San’s Cherished Mother (Zoku otoko wa tsurai yo) Tora San is wandering in Kyoto, which is not a surprise. Why is our lovable tramp there? He heard a rumor that his mother is still alive and working somewhere called the Grand Hotel. He envisions a touching reunion and rushes to find her. Tora san is crushed to find that his mother is on mean old woman, and the Grand Hotel is nothing more than a seedy love hotel. He also gets advice from an English teacher who knew Tora San as a youngster, and attempts to find love with a teacher’s daughter.

Tora San: His Tender Love (Otoko wa tsurai yo: Futen no tora) Tora san is trying his families tolerance by pursuading a potential marriage prospect for Tora san to marry someone else. After being chased out of the house, Tora heads out dejected. His aunt and uncle decide to take a vacation to a hot spring resort in the mountains. They are looking for some good old fashioned rest and relaxation. But guess who works at the resort now? Tora San, that lovable tramp!

Tora San’s Grand Scheme (Shin otoko wa tsurai yo) Tora san is in a generous mood and offers a trip to Hawaii to his long suffering Aunt and Uncle to thank them for taking care of him and to try to make up for the trouble he has caused. But, as you know, things never go smoothly for Tora San or his family and of course, there is a beautiful young lady to fall in love with.

I found the Tora San films to be charming and entertaining and a wonderful look at Japanese life and culture during the years these films were shot (1969-1970). The performance by Kiyoshi Atsumi is fantastic and has been compared to Charlie Chaplin. I would agree with that. And sharp eyes will spot much beloved Japanese film actors Takashi Shimura and Chishu Ryu alongside Atsumi.

I know that your shelves are filled to the brim with Japanese chambara films, Jidaigeki films and horror films but trust me, you are going to want to make room on your shelves and heart for the bumbling but charismatic Tora San and his adventures.

9/10

The Video

Tora San: Collectors Set Films 1-4 is presented in anamorphic widescreen The colors are vibrant and the overall image is very respectable. The black levels are first-rate. I did not notice any instances of grain or artifacts. Once again, Animeigo is presenting films that can rate highly alongside Criterion releases.

9/10

The Audio

Tora San: Collectors Set Films 1-4 is Dolby Digital 5.1 surround mix. The dialogue is crystal clear and well mixed. Animeigo once again does a fine job with subtitling offering multiple subtitle options, yellow or white and by selecting full subtitles provides cultural notes in addition to translated dialogue.

9/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

Tora San:The Collectors Set Films 1-4 is presented in a cardboard slipcase with the four films presented on separate discs in standard amaray cases with Tora Sans congenial mug on the cover.

A nice set of bonus features await your discovery on this release. First up, Stuart Galbraith IV offers a truly informative and entertaining commentary gives a fascinating look into the actor Kiyoshi Atsumi’s background and how that helped with the character of Tora San and why these films are so beloved in Japan and the world.

Also offered are Program Notes that are comprehensively complete. Cast and Crew Bios, Image Galleries and Trailers are also offered.

An interactive map that shows where Shibamata is located and where Tora San’s travels have brought him make an excellent inclusion.

Rounding things out is a booklet filled with essays on Tora San, including one from famed Japanese film historian and writer Donald Richie.

8/10

Overall (Not an Average) 9/10

The Movies 9/10
The Video 9/10
The Audio 9/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 8/10
Overall (not an average) 9/10

It’s very popular to hate on Stephen King for some reason. I’ve never understood why, because he’s a really solid writer. Most often other writers hate on him and it comes off like jealousy due to his popularity. King has an amazing ability for developing characters and dramatic cliffhanger moments that require further reading all the way to the end of the book. He does have his formulas that he has used since the beginning of his career and that’ll get discussed later in the review. Suffice it to say, that my Grandmother uses the same recipe every time she makes a banana pudding and I absolutely love it so I never want her to change it.

The story

Have you ever read Stephen King’s The Stand or even seen the miniseries? If so, then this book will feel very familiar to you. While this story is focused on one town rather than potential global destruction, the set up for this story is similar to that of The Stand in that there is a huge cast. All of the members of the cast have their own dramas but in the end, there will be groups that need to find a way to survive the situation while also opposing each other. Components of the cast are also familiar. The most familiar element of the cast for readers of The Stand is the crazy guy. There’s one in both books but overall I have to say that the one in Under the Dome is more entertaining and creepy. Oh, this book is a brick,very similar to the The Stand was at over 1,000 pages. That part of it isn’t really an issue for me as I read the book via audio book. Yes, it is still reading!

The back of the book plot description involves a small town suddenly being covered by a giant invisible dome. If the story feels more science fiction than horror, your feeling is correct but don’t be discouraged because there’s plenty of classic Stephen King style gore and suspense to keep you riveted to the book. This small town, like any other, is layered with tons of drama but now because of the dome, some elements are forced to the surface that would normally have just been kept to the shadows. Stephen King may be getting to be an older guy but this book, and the stories of these characters, is proof positive that he hasn’t lost his edge. Some stuff happens to these characters that is truly wince inducing.

I’m a huge fan of social and political commentary in film and television,so I appreciate a lot of what this book has to say about the human condition. The book is much more of a success with the social commentary than it is with the politics. King seems to feel a need to make a statement about the political environment in which we lived during the time he was writing this book which was from 2007 to 2009. You may have heard that he started this book in the 70’s but the truth is that he only had about 75 pages of the book written in the 70’s and he admits that he actually lost those pages and had to restart the book from scratch in 2007 with only the memories of one of the characters from the first several pages of the book. The politics don’t play into the story as cleverly as Stephen King is normally capable of especially compared to how well the social commentary is built into this book.

For a book of a 1,000 pages, this one moves along at a break neck pace. Characters all get their due amount of development and complexity but it all happens within riveting events that keep learning about the characters from bogging the story down. The characters have so many layers that they feel like real people not just caricatures of stereotypical figures found in similar stories. Have you ever read a book and saw certain actors as the characters in the book? That won’t happen in this book. Instead you’ll see THESE PEOPLE, not some actor playing them. One of the beautiful things about taking this book in as an audio experience is that the reader understands the need for dramatic pause. King is at his best when he’s building these characters from what at first appears to be mundane daily life. Then quietly he ends the development with a shocker of a line that will drastically change that character at some point later in the book. Those moments are when the hairs creep up on the back of your neck and you ahve to stop for a minute and catch your breath. In the audio the reader pauses for just a second or two when these sequences come making them all the more dramatic.

At first the dome may feel like something from pulp science fiction books or comic books and while it is that ,King manages to use enough real world situations and effects of the dome to ground it in such a way that it feels completely real within very few pages of the book. A situation like this brings out the very best in people and the very worst in them and it all plays out in some extremely horrific ways in this story. There are a few moments of humor to provide a break from the action but those moments are few and far between. These characters all have stories to tell for better or for worse. Speaking on the social commentary, the finality of the story doesn’t come off preachy at all. Instead it offers up those stellar moving Stephen King moments and culminates with was simple truth, something so simple and brilliant that it requires a moment of thought after closing the book. I enjoyed Cell and Duma Key ,but this book is King’s new conversation piece. I’d love to go in depth and discuss some of the major thematic elements and even the smaller moments that have huge impact by the end of the book and maybe I’ll do that in a future article after everyone has had an opportunity to read the book.

Under the Dome is dramatic, suspenseful, scary, and funny. King is as good as he’s ever been without a doubt. He needed to make a political statement here and it’s the only failing of the book. Fortunately, that statement is an extremely tiny part of this enormous and amazing book. There are plenty of people out there who love to hate on King and say he’s lost his touch. I feel for those people because they are missing out on something great. Spielberg has already optioned the book and wants to shoot a film. I hope he doesn’t screw it up.

9.5/10

The Story

With Barry Allen as one of the main characters in the principle Blackest Night series, the Flash tie-in series should give a chance to see what the other Flashes and Flash-family characters are up to. After all, there are so many with Flashes being second to only Green Lanterns in number. But no. Geoff Johns apparently hasn’t gotten enough Barry action from the main book or The Flash: Rebirth miniseries he’s also writing.

The issue starts with Barry Allen doing his Paul Revere run from Blackest Night #4 to warn everyone about the Black Lanterns. There is even an ALMOST word-for-word reproduction of a conversation Barry has with Wally and Bart (odd that it’s not quite the same when it was written by the same guy both times). Barry has some run ins with a couple of friends and foes while on his jog before ending up appearing again at the end of Blackest Night #4.

This is an example of one problem with these blockbuster events DC and Marvel are so fond of – wanting these tie-ins to actually seem important. DC screwed themselves doing this last year with Final Crisis, needing multiple extras just for the story to make sense. This issue, on the other hand, doesn’t seem important plot-wise to the main series, but it is adding further content upon one of the main characters. You can overwork a character with a lot of story, but luckily Barry can work really fast to actually get it all to fit.

With that said, Johns looks like he’s using this story to set up future Flash stories with some of the elements found within. I’m really not looking forward to the editor’s box down the line saying I should have read a small tie-in that doesn’t have anything to do with the main book. If it needs to be in the main story line, keep it in the main series (see last review)

The true promise in this book is the other focus of the story – the rogues. Flash has an impressive rogues gallery that stand well on their own and uniquely together. Here we get to see the villains dealing with their own coming back from the dead, and Flash’s rogues are teaming up to deal with them. With many being legacy villains, it’s shaping up to be an exciting fight. Unfortunately, we only get a little lead up to the showdown that’s hopefully going to take place in part two of this tie-in.

4/10

The Art

Everything looks exaggerated and silly, almost cartoony. There are too many ripped muscles and teeth gritting. Barry looks like a steroids-junky bodybuilder in some panels. Not the best build for a guy whose power is to run fast. Bart kind of looks the same, so he’s got the family resemblance going for him, but that’s not such a good thing here. Especially worse is that it’s inconsistent.

Scott Kolins also has a couple of scale issues. Starfire in her one appearance has her hair trailing so long from her that Rapunzel would be jealous. Reverse Flash has a weird, almost ‘90s Liefield-esque puffed out chest.

Not all characters are bulging out at odd places. The rogues look decent (again, they’re the better part of the book). Kolins gives Captain Cold has a hardened, gritty look befitting a villain of his age and experience. Basically he looks kind of old and pissed off all the time, and it works.

Plus, the gorillas look fine.

3.5/10

This miniseries has potential if Johns leaves Barry in the main book. And maybe use Wally or Jay instead. Really though, he should stick to what this issue’s main strength is – the rogues.

The Review
Story 4/10
Art 3.5/10
Overall (Not an Average) 4/10

This crammed episode covers the NBC buy out, an elf that looks more like a serial bomber, the AP’s definition of top TV, new DVD’s, new comics, and much more!

 Charlyne Yi is a young woman with serious doubts about love. Since she’s a comedian and a musician that hangs out with other comedians and musicians and filmmakers the only thing to do is to make a documentary about Charlyne trying to find out what love is.

The Movie

So Charlyne, played by Charlyne, and her filmmaking friend Nick, played by Jake Johnson, (the real Nick was not comfortable in front of the camera so he just directed and help produce and write) and a small film crew head out across the country in a van to interview people about love. At one point while back in L.A. Charlyne and Nick go to a party, not to waste an opportunity they bring along the camera crew and Charlyne interviews some of her and Nick’s friends. While at the party they bump into Michael Cera, played by Michael Cera,  who is an acquaintance of Nick’s. From the start Michael’s kind of got something for Charlyne. It takes a while for Charlyne to believe it though.

Eventually they go out for lunch and when Michael leaves in a manufactured huff Charlyne realizes that maybe she feels something for him. Michael does reappear, he just ducked out and walked around the block to sneak in the back entrance, as he admits when he shows back up, it would have been funnier if it had not took so long.

So Charlyne and Michael start seeing each other and the interviews of older couples talking about how they fell in love and stayed in love over the years starts to take on a new meaning. When Charlyne is not on the road they continue to see each other. Their relationship has become the heart of the story now and the camera follows them everywhere.  Not the most fertile ground to build a relationship on. The strain becomes a little to great and everything comes to a head when Charlyne and Michael find out the producers have agreed to pay for a trip to Paris for the conclusion of the movie.

It took me a while to realize it, but Paper Hearts is a straight up romantic comedy. There is the meet cute, the courtship, the crisis and then the resolution. It’s just been plopped down into a fake documentary. Not that that is a bad thing in itself it just shows the power of those established formulas. The documentary portions are decent, all of the interviews are interesting but it really only works as a part of the movie as a whole. The writing, dialog and performances are all naturalistic so it all blends well. Micheal, Jake and Charlyne all turn in credible performances although you are left wondering at the end of the film how much Charlyne was actually acting or if she was just basically playing herself. Personally I don’t think even playing your self in front of a camera would be all that easy so if that is “all” she was doing she still deserves at least some accolades.

So the acting is good, the story is an interesting twist on an old formula, the cinematography is great, the are amazing little quirky animated sequences, there is cool music, it should add up to a great film, but it doesn’t. It’s not a bad film and I’m having trouble figuring out exactly what it is that ’s keeping it from being a great film. Maybe it’s just a little too aware of itself. Maybe the actors playing themselves except for the ones that don’t is just too distracting. Maybe the awkwardness is just a little too awkward, but there is something there that prevents it from moving up from good to great.

6/10

The Video

The video is presented in wide screen format. Some of the dark interior scenes contained a hint of grain in the backgrounds but the subjects were always detailed nicely. The blacks were all crisp and never grayed out. It’s a sharp, clean transfer which you would expect from a new release. The only defects I noticed were a little aliasing around the edges of back lit subjects and some striped objects get a little blurry but none of these ever rose to a level of being distracting and were no more than what you will usually find. Which is a nice because there are a number of very nice compositions.

7/10

The Audio

The audio is presented in Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound with English and Spanish subtitles. The dialog is always clear and well mixed with the score and other original music by Charlyne Yi and Michael Cera which sounds great. It complements the movie perfectly.

8/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The DVD comes in a standard Amaray case, but with sections knocked out to reduce the amount of plastic used in manufacturing it, and a cardboard slipcover. The artwork consists of memorable moments from the movie. The menu’s continue the theme and are simple and easy to navigate. There is quite a bit of bonus material. Two featurettes, some live performance footage of Charlyne Yi, a video of the song Charlyne and Michael perform in the movie, some interviews about love with a bunch of comedians, and some deleted scenes. A fair bit of material and it’s worth watching, but I’ll always be a little bit disappointed without at least one commentary track.

7/10

Like I mentioned earlier this is a good movie. With all the bad and worse movies out there being good should be enough but for some reason in this case it seems mildly disappionting.

Overall (Not an Average) 6/10

The Review
The Movie 6/10
The Video 7/10
The Audio 8/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 7/10
Overall (Not an Average) 6/10

Directed by Tomoki Kobayashi
Featuring Voices by Yuko Goto, Makoto Ishii, Toru Ohkawa
Licensed by Sentai Filmworks
Distributed by Section23 Films

The Series

This medieval fantasy action/adventure tale follows newly-resurrected demon lord Arawn and company rebelling against the oppressive Divine Empire. Throw in some swords and some magic, and that’s the basics for the plot. If this sounds like a generic fantasy RPG to you, you’d be right.

Tears to Tiara is an anime adaptation of a Japanese PC and PS3 tactical RPG of the same name. Neither version of the game seems available state side. Though if you’ve played games like Fire Emblem, you’ll feel right at home. This specific set collects the first 13 episodes, half of the 26-episode series. Within this first half, the party continues to build throughout the series, they explore and keep getting stronger and the main characters drudge through a variety of boss fights. Familiar features to any seasoned RPG player.

The series describes itself as a new interpretation of Celtic, Gaelic, British and Roman myths. If so, it’s a very broad interpretation, mixing bits and pieces into a fictionalized imagining. More popular names like Arthur will stand out. Others like Arawn and Pwyll may sound familiar to those with knowledge about mythology of the British Isles beyond Disney’s The Sword in the Stone.

Not that any of that really matters. The series is pretty shallow with the mythology aspect, simply using names and events as inspiration. The characters are stereotypically cliché, from the hotheaded swordsman to the innocent damsel in distress falling instantly for the dark and mysterious main character.

Nor is the plot itself particularly compelling. A ragtag group of renegades going up against the oppressive empire isn’t the most inventive plot, and nothing is really done to capture the audience. The characters and the plot all come up as average.

I would say this is simply for fans of the game to relive the story they’ve grown attached to over the many hours a RPG typically takes, but the game has no US release. Nor is it really impressive enough to draw in fans if the game ever does see a release here.

This set is rated PG. Oddly the original PC game is an erotic RPG. The anime version leaves out those adult aspects and garners the fairly safe rating. Other than a scantily-clad girl or two, there’s not a trace of the series’ adult origin. Maybe a bit less of that would have made the series a little less bland.

6/10

The Video

The series is in anamorphic 16:9 widescreen. The animation itself is nothing special, nor are the character designs. There is some CGI usage that doesn’t mesh well with the rest of the animation, sticking out like a sore thumb.

Depending on how your DVD player displays them, the subtitles line up right at the bottom of the video, cutting off descenders from the letters that have them (g, j, p, q, y). Those with standard 4:3 televisions can read uninhibited thanks to the letters spilling into the lower letterbox. Those running on actual 16:9 widescreen televisions may see their descenders cut off if the DVD player doesn’t compensate like it should. The one on my hand-me-down LCD TV-DVD combo doesn’t, but my portable DVD player aand my PC do.

4/10

The Audio

There’s only one audio track – Japanese. It’s in 2.0 stereo. There’s nothing wrong with not having an English dub track (unless the subtitles are getting cut off). Saves on production costs and time. Some of the dialog is on the quiet side, mostly when characters are talking in the background. The score is pretty forgettable. Nothing special.

5/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The collection is thirteen episodes split up into two discs. They come in a standard-sized DVD case. The cover looks decent enough. The inside is pretty bare though, only containing the two discs. No insert of booklet with supplement information or even episode titles.

Bonuses are pretty slim pickings too. The first disc includes clean opening and ending animations and the DVD credits. How nice of them to grant us the bonus of knowing who made the DVD. Clean, creditless openings and endings only matter to the subset of anime fans who edit together their own anime music videos.

Along with the second half of the collection, the second disc contains trailers of other series licensed by Sentai Filmworks. Could someone tell me when trailers actually became bonus features? Remember back in the VHS days when you had to sit through trailers every time to get to the movie. The most you could get is fast forward. No one thought of trailers as bonuses when they were mandatory, but now that they’re optional, we should obviously be thankful.

Not to mention that the trailers aren’t really trailers. They’re clean openings. Anime openings aren’t always the best representation of what a show is about.

3.5/10

The series isn’t anything special. The standard retail price is $39.98, which isn’t bad for what you get. However, like everything else in this set, it could be better.

Overall (Not an Average) 5/10

The Review
The Series 6/10
The Video 4/10
The Audio 5/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 3.5/10
Overall (Not an Average) 5/10

Directed by Larry Charles
Featuring Sacha Baron Cohen, Gustaf Hammasten, Paula Abdul

“Can I give you guys a word of advice? Lose the beards, because your King Osama looks like a kind of dirty wizard… or a homeless Santa.”
Sacha Baron Cohen

I didn’t get to catch this film when it was in its theatrical run. I quite enjoyed Borat and the original Ali G Series. So, did Bruno live up to its hype? Bruno was recently released on DVD by Universal Studios.

The Movie

Just to catch you up to speed. Actor, writer and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen is known for his comic characters Ali G, a poseur ‘urban’ youth from suburban Staines, England, Borat Sagdiyev, a sexist and racist Kazakh reporter, and Brüno, an outrageous homosexual fashion reporter from Austria. He typically performs interviews with respected public figures and media, film and television stars while posing as one of his characters. Those he interviews truly believe that the interviews are legitimate.

Knowing that, the audience enters into the film featuring Borat, the outrageous and wildly gay fashion reporter from Austria. Cohen himself has said that as his movies and shows have become more popular, it is harder and harder for him to conduct interviews and achieve the honest effect or “outcome” that he used to. So, in Bruno, it is apparent that while some of the participants seem unaware of the “character” Bruno, others seem “in on the joke”, so then he goes mostly for staged comedy “situations”.

While I found Borat to work on almost every level, Bruno tries for the same level of comic ease, but doesn’t quite make it. Perhaps because it is more difficult to lull people into feeling that they are in a documentary when Cohen is increasingly becoming more recognizable, even in the various disguises. Or perhaps, it is because the character of Bruno only reveals some people’s discomfort with individuals that are openly gay but doesn’t reveal even darker and more hidden private views people hold about race and religion.

So, some of the jokes fall a bit flat but others work on a wonderful satiric level that if you are a fan of Cohen’s work, you will enjoy.

The best bits I found in this cinematic concoction are Bruno’s visit to a fashion show, complete with a suit made entirely of Velcro. Chaos ensues.

I also enjoyed Bruno’s visit with a dominatrix and “swingers” group. You won’t believe Bruno’s visit to a talk show where he discusses his recent “adoption” of an African baby.

I think the most outrageous stunt pulled, in addition to interviewing Paula Abdul while seated upon Latino day workers (yes, you read that right), is Bruno staging a Ultimate Fighting Championship event as the character “Straight Dave” If I told you the outcome, it would ruin it. Just watch this “situation” get to critical mass.

So, at the end of the day, this isn’t one that has to go in the permanent collection. But, it might be worth adding to the Netflix queue .

6/10

The Video

Bruno is presented in anamorphic widescreen The colors are vibrant and the overall image is very respectable. While it is apparent that some of the “situations” utilized a digital camera, the overall image is decent and suitable for the material presented.

6/10

The Audio

Bruno is presented in a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround mix. The dialogue is crystal clear and well mixed with the techno soundtrack. This is not the disc to pop in to give the speakers a work out, but is fine for the type of film presented.

6/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

Bruno is presented in a standard amaray case with artwork suitable to the film presented.

First up, a feature length commentary with Sacha Baron Cohen and director Larry Charles. It is a great conversation and look into the how difficult it is to produce this type of film. It is a very entertaining and informative listen and so worth your time.

Alternate Scenes and Deleted Scenes are offered that should give you a chuckle or two.

Extended Scenes and Theatrical Trailer are here for your perusal. Rounding things out, Interview with Lloyd Robinson is an interview with Bruno’s agent who was “fooled” by Bruno. From this interview, he seems to have taken the joke well and shares some funny stories.

6.5/10

Overall (Not an Average) 6/10

The Movie 6/10
The Video 6/10
The Audio 6/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 6.5/10
Overall (not an average) 6/10

This week we get into the finale of the Thor epic run, we discuss the mess that is NBC, FOX scheduling, Ninja Assassin, adult phone apps, and Christmas DVD’s!

Straczynski’s epic run on Thor is finally over. It was an enjoyable ride while it lasted.

The Story

Picking back up from where issue 603 left off, Thor Giant-Size Finale sees Balder finding Bill bloody on the ground and Doombots en route to Oklahoma to finish off Donald Blake. Seems to be a great start to the climatic finish of Straczynski’s run, right? Well, yes and no.

This is a good issue, just as Straczynski’s whole run has been. The Norse gods acclimating to life among mortals while maintaining their godliness has been a treat to follow. Asgardians other than Thor and Loki have a full and entertaining presence, instead of feeling like background characters. This is especially true in the Warriors Three (who now work in a diner) and Balder (who stepped up and fills the role as king well).

Bill, the man standing among gods, it particularly highlighted and enjoyable. His role has helped humanize the Asgardians be having them be able to get along with him and the rest of the Oklahomans. Not to mention he’s a bit of the audience surrogate, but not so heavy handed to annoy the readers.

My main problem is that this doesn’t feel quite like a “finale.” It does complete one subplot line, but the main story Straczynski set up – Asgard in Oklahoma, Loki’s trickery to dethrone Thor, the Asgardians moving to Latveria – remains ongoing. I guess I was hoping for more of a grand finish to Straczynski’s run, but instead, the story goes on. In fact, the issue even includes a preview of Thor #604, where Kieron Gillen picks right where Straczynski leaves off.

Another little concern I have is the “giant-size” part. Really, the actual issue itself is only a couple of pages longer than a typical issue. Adding the preview and the three-part original origin of Thor by Lee and Kirby deceptively inflate the issue.

This is another good issue of Thor, but it really shouldn’t have been a one-shot outside of the regular issue. The overall story keeps going, and this interrupts the flow. If you’re going to do a finale, make it a finale.

With that said, this issue is the same high-caliber storytelling that the book has become known for, and it’s definitely a must read for fans.

8/10

The Art

This issue also sees the departure of Marko Djurdjevic. He has done a good job keeping the look very grounded, less on the superhero and more on the Norse mythological look. Everything feels more natural, or at least the natural idealized one would expect from gods as opposed to the perfection usually associated with superheroes (a good contrast is included in the original Lee/Kirby version at the end of the book). Although Volstagg may be a bit too natural looking for some people, even if Sif doesn’t seem to mind.

The settings look right, from the cold, forested Latveria to Oklahoma at sunset. A bit more detailing could have been done to the forest scenes so the trees don’t look quite as cookie cut. All that detail instead (and probably more rightly) goes into the Asgardians’s character designs. From Balder’s fur cloak to Thor’s chainmail to Volstagg’s…lack of everything.

Djurdjevic slips up on some positioning. Sif is especially subjected to some awkward movements in more than one panel. You tend to want to take extra care that the attractive characters look their best.

8/10

Thor Giant-Size Finale is a good issue, with the same high quality fans of the series have come to expect. It just has some identity issues with the whole not really being a “giant-size finale,” except for Straczynski and Djurdjevic. So long.

The Review
Story 8/10
Art 8/10
Overall (Not an Average) 8/10

When I saw this Blu Ray reach my doorstep, I couldn’t wait to give it a spin. I loved it when I saw it in the theater, but would I love it as much the second time around? Up is now available on Blu Ray from Disney/Pixar.

The Movie

The film opens as we are introduced to a young Carl Fredricksen, a shy and quiet young boy, meeting an energetic and outgoing tomboy named Ellie The soon discover that they share the same interest in exploration as their hero, the famed explorer Charles F. Muntz (Christopher Plummer).

Ellie expresses her desire to move her clubhouse to Paradise Falls in South America, a promise she makes Carl keep. Carl (Ed Asner) and Ellie fall in love, wed and grow old together in the old house where they first met while Carl makes a living as a toy balloon vendor and Ellie works as a zookeeper.

Unable to have children and trying to keep their childhood dreams alive, they try to save up for the trip to Paradise Falls, but, as it happens in our daily lives, things just keep coming up to slip the money out of their bank account

Just as they seem to finally be able to take their trip, Ellie passes away, leaving Carl a lonely and bitter old man with nothing to live for. He misses his wife terribly.

As Carl grows older, the city expands around Carl’s house with construction is inching ever closer to Carl’s doorstep. Carl, still being true to his obstinate nature, refuses to move. After a tussle with a construction worker over Carl’s broken mailbox, the court orders Carl to move into a retirement home. Carl comes up with a scheme to keep his promise to Ellie, and uses his old professional supplies to create a makeshift airship using tens of thousands of helium balloons that lift his house off its foundations.

Enter into the picture Russell (Jordan Nagai), a Wilderness Explorer trying to earn his final merit badge for “Assisting the Elderly”. He has stowed away on the porch after being sent on a pointless hunt by Carl the day before.

After a storm rages, they find themselves landing on a great plateau across a large ravine facing Paradise Falls. Attached to the home by ropes, Carl and Russell pull the floating house and the two begin to walk around the ravine, hoping to reach the falls while there’s still enough helium in the balloons to keep the house afloat.

Now, if this wasn’t enough, enter into the picture Dug (Bob Peterson) a talking dog looking for a rare bird, a bird that Carl and Russell have accidently stumbled across and Russell has christened the bird with the name “Kevin”.

And, believe it or not, Russell, Carl, Dug and Kevin paths are going to cross with explorer Charles Muntz and they will discover he is not the wonderful man that Carl and Ellie worshipped in their youth.

What is going to happen to this motley bunch?

Once again, Pixar knocks it out of the park, cinematically speaking. When I first saw the trailer, featuring a house on balloons and an old man and young boy, I didn’t know what to think. It didn’t “feel” like a Pixar story at first. Gee Whiz, was I ever wrong. Up is about how we have to let things go in order to move on in our lives, rather, we cannot live in the past, we must always look to the future, no matter how painful or scary it might be. And, when that message hits you while you watch this film, your knees will turn to jelly and your eyes will begin the waterworks.

Up is wonderfully enthusiastic, truly charming and winsome and each frame is filled with genuine heartfelt emotion and bursts at the seams with energy and wonderful art direction.

The character design and color palette are unbelievably wonderful. The voice work is first rate. The original score by Michael Giacchino is exquisite. And, you tell me if you can make it through the wordless segment that details Carl and Ellie’s married life together without weeping unabashedly?

I could go on and on. This is a no brainer: put this on the shelf at home now or at least, put it on your Holiday wish list right now. It is a gem.

10/10

The Video

Up is presented in anamorphic widescreen and transferred in AVC/MPEG4. The colors are eyepoppingly vibrant and the overall image is very respectable. I could describe this transfer is as flawless as is possible on Blu Ray and this film deserves this fantastic presentation.

10/10

The Audio

Up is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 audio. The dialogue is crystal clear and easily heard. All of your speakers in your home theater will get a nice workout as the film is nicely mixed and presented. In a word: wonderful

10/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The film and bonus features are presented on 4 discs enclosed in a standard blu ray amaray case with a great cover.

Get ready, this release is bursting with bonus features. First up, the new Pixar short that plays before the film Partly Cloudy. Dug’s Special Mission is a great short that shows what Dug was up to before he entered the plot of the film Up.
Adventure Is Out There is a documentary about the Pixar research team traveling to South America to do pre-production work for the film. The Many Endings of Muntz is about exactly what it sounds like: how to “wrap up” the character of Muntz in the film.

There are over 45 minutes of documentaries that detail every ounce of work in every category, both technical and creative, that it took to bring this film to realization: Geriatric hero, Canine Companions, Russell: Wilderness Explorrer, Our Flightless Friend Kevin, Homemakers of Pixar, Balloons and Flight, and finally: Composing for Characters that explores Giacchino’s incredible score.

Alternate Scene: Married Life is an alternate version of the exquisite wordless segment in the film that explores Carl and Ellie’s young married life.

Worldwide Trailers is self explanatory and Up Promo Montage is a look at all the characters in the film.

For HD Content, Cinexplore with Pete Docter and Bob Peterson is a wonderfully entertaining commentary track that is worth your time to listen to and Global Guardian Board Game is a fun game for the kiddos in your household.

All things considered, a smashing collection bonus material

10/10

Overall (Not an Average) 10/10

The Review
The Movie 10/10
The Video 10/10
The Audio 10/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 10/10
Overall (not an average) 10/10

Kevin Smith has become as important in the pop culture history books as all of his movies all together. I have to admit I actually appreciate him and his commentary on the world in general more than his films. His A Night with Kevin Smith is one of the most entertaining DVD’s in my collection and his podcast titled Smodcast is one of my favorites. So I’m an unabashed Smith fan even if I haven’t always cared for his films. What’s so fantastic about this collection is that if you’re a fan of his career then these three films are a strong representation of his evolution as a filmmaker and if you’re like me and are more of just a Smith fan then all of the bonus features on these discs will satisfy too. I was curious to sit down with these films and see how they’ve held up since they were first released. Will I like them better this go around?

The Movie(s)

Clerks

Clerks was Smith’s first feature film and it was an unabashed success, at least in terms of an indie film. This little black and white film was simply about a couple of guys that work in adjoining shops, a Quickstop market and a video rental store. The majority of the film is focused on these two guys hanging out in the market commenting on pop culture subjects that are obviously close to Smith’s heart such as Star wars. Smith even put himself in the film as “Silent Bob” a character that hung out on the sidewalk with his stoner buddy Jay. Jay, played by Jason Mews was a standout in the film stealing virtually every scene he was in.

When I first saw this film years ago I couldn’t get into it because I knew that people just don’t speak the way these people did. I don’t care for Juno for the same reason. Now all of these years later I still feel the same way about the dialogue but I do admit that I enjoy it a lot more than I did upon first viewing the film. There’s not much to the film as far as style but that’s actually appealing to me. This is a true indie film, not some bogus studio film being sold as independent. Clerks was shot with a little bit of money and so cleverly written that years after it came out certain people working in retail would still be saying “Those two guys are just like me at my job.” Clerks is a true pop culture classic.

7.5/10

Chasing Amy

Chasing Amy is an evolution in filmmaking and writing for Smith but much of the Clerks aesthetic, for better or for worse, was still in place. It became a joke that Smith can only shoot characters leaning against a flat wall. This film had stronger balance of dialogue from realistic to that Smith style of clever that fans of Clerks love. The film also featured better character development and a level of romance not present in the relationships in Clerks.

It certainly didn’t hurt the film that Smith was able to attract a solid cast of character actors including Joey Lauren Adams, Jason Lee, and Ben and Casey Affleck. This film follows two friends that both work in comics whose relationship gets turned on its side when they meet a woman, a lesbian woman actually. This film is full of classic themes of friendship, romance, and jealousy all held together with that Kevin Smith pop culture glue.

Some of the references are definitely dated as is common with films founded on so much current pop culture of the era in which the film was made. The universal elements still work in this film making it one of the better romantic comedy/buddy films of the 90’s. This film is Smith at his best crafting a fim with mainstream appeal but using characters based in his geek world.

8/10

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back

This film could have been a major mistake. After the flop that was Mallrats Smith went scurrying back to the world that he had created with his first film. As is obvious with the title of the film two secondary characters from Clerks are at the center of this film. Jay and Silent Bob have crafted a comic book called Blunt Man and Chronic based on their real life experiences. The film gets picked up by Miramax for a big screen adaptation but Jay and Silent Bob get left out of any profits. In a fit of revenge the dynamic duo set out to destroy the film.

This film doesn’t require having seen Clerks to get into it. The two characters quickly get introduced and the romp begins. This film is a geek-gasm and completely hilarious. This isn’t a comedy for everyone though. This movie is for comic book fans and it featured a bevy of referential types of jokes that require some basic familiarity with comics and genre films and TV. There’s a bit of really funny potty humor and slapstick stuff that all generally works. This is easily Smiths funniest film.

8.5/10

The Video

The 1080p presentations get better with each film. The black and white Clerks doesn’t honestly look that much different than it did on DVD. This is a low budget 16mm super grainy film and all of that comes through in this presentation. On the up side black levels are solid throughout the film. Chasing Amy look a little better featuring higher detail and more vibrant colors than in previous DVD releases. Oddly though, flesh tones are a bit off looking washed out. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is the best looking offering up vibrant colors, strong detail, little grain, and good contrast. None of these are really eye candy types of films but they’re at a minimum marginally better than in any other releases.

8/10

The Audio

The same goes for the audio as it was for the video; everything gets better with each subsequent film. None of these films are good demos for sound as they are “talky” pictures. With that said dialogue, score, and sound fx are well balanced and fairly clean across all of the films with Clerks coming across the weakest in the sound department. Overall these are the best sounding versions of these films available.

7/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

There are tons of bonus features (many hours actually) on these DVD’s with the majority falling on the Clerks disc. All of the previous bonus features that appeared on previous releases are included on these discs with Clerks featuring a few new blu-ray exclusives. The biggest blu-ray exclusive is What a Lovely Tea Party: The Making of Jay and Silent bob Strike Back. This hour and a half long documentary was made by Smith’s wife and it featured interviews and behind the scenes footage from that film. I wondered why this documentary was included on the Clerks blu-ray and I got my answer in a 3 minute intro to the film done by Smith. He wanted to give fans a real reason to upgrade to the blu-ray and this appears to be the last bit of bonus stuff he had to offer from any of these three films.

Along with that film there are tons of interviews, behind the scenes specials, fan comments, and anniversary Q&A’s for these films offering up extensive making of information for these films, Clerks and chasing Amy in particular. Considering all of the blu-rays together there appears to be an overwhelming amount of bonus material. If you were to buy the Jay and silent Bob blu-ray separately you’d be a little disappointed as they film features the least amount of extras. This is probably due to the fact that Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and Chasing Amy have been on blu-ray for some time so this three pack really only features one all new blu-ray; Clerks. With that said though the features all together are comprehensive. You couldn’t really ask for more.

9/10

These three films packed together offer a good look at Kevin Smith’s career and the bonus features allow you to truly see how he’s become the filmmaker that he is.

Overall (Not an average) 8.5/10

The Review
The Movie 7.5/10, 8/10, 8.5/10
The Video 8/10
The Audio 7/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 9/10
Overall (Not an Average) 8.5/10

Directed By: David Mackenzie
Starring: Ashton Kutcher, Anne Heche, Margarita Levieva

Apparently this movie was originally called American Playboy which draws a comparison to the superb American Gigolo. This is no American Gigolo.

The Movie

Usually I can write these reviews with no problems. It’s easy really I just watch the movie and write how I feel about it. But Spread has me baffled. After I watched the movie I had no idea how I felt about the film so I sat on it for a couple days. I thought about the story (which isn’t very good), the acting (that’s marginal at best) and the nudity (oh, there’s a lot) but none of it gave me anything to write about.

Spread introduces us to Nikki (Ashton Kutcher) who is a homeless gigolo in Hollywood. He gets by without a job by having sex with older wealthy women who take care of him. He knows he’s a good looking guy and makes no excuses for what he does. Kutcher was born to play this douche bag. That being said he still isn’t very convincing. Well, he definitely comes off as a douche bag but his portrayal as a gigolo isn’t convincing. And for some strange reason he’s rocking a Christian Bale rasp for the role. Why?

In the opening minutes of this movie Nikki goes to an L. A. hotspot and picks up Samantha (Anne Heche) with little or no effort, takes her home and essentially moves into her place after some hot(ish) sex. He then begins to spend her money and sleep with many younger women in her house. I was with the movie at this point, but then it changed.

One day Nikki meets Heather (Margarita Levieva) and the movie turns into a redemption story and this already mess of a movie completely falls apart. I think the real problem here is that the movie tries way too hard to be something it’s not. It really wants to be a modern American Gigolo but it’s not that cool. It really wants us to care about Nikki and his later problems but we don’t. And the heavy handed final scene is the perfect misstep for a movie full of missteps. No wonder the movie business is struggling right now.

I guess the thing that makes this movie so hard to watch is that it’s not a real movie. At best it is a series of scenes strung together by an almost non-existent storyline that doesn’t know what it wants to be. At worst it’s a self-aware exorcise in overacting and just plain missing the mark. Even Diablo Cody wouldn’t want her name attached to this script, and that’s saying a lot. In my opinion this movie would have played better as a comedy with a little drama thrown in. Hell, this movie is a comedy but only unintentionally.

3/10

The Video

Anamorphic Widescreen 2.40:1 ratio. Blu-Ray will help you see Ashton’s perfectly waxed ass a little better. It’s lower budget so there’s a bit of grain but colors are fairly vibrant and detial is inconsistant. It’s passable but not as strong an HD presentation as other Anchor Bay releases.

5/10

The Audio

Dolby Surround 5.1, but it still doesn’t make Ashton’s throaty rasp sound good. The entire thing is center loaded with very little use of the surround speakers and there’s also not much of a dynamic range. Again for a low budget indie flick it’ll do.

5/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The packaging is pretty plain. And what is up with these slip covers that studios like to put over the clam shell? Do they really think it makes the dvd more appealing? All they really do is get damaged and ultimately wind up in the garbage.

The special features include three featurettes: Living the Dream – The Making of Spread, Behind the Scenes with Ashton Kutcher and The World According to Nikki. All three feed into the douche bag culture that is this movie the worst one being The World According to Nikki. If you want a “How To” on being a douche this is your bible. Or you could just watch re-runs of The Pick-Up Artist on VH-1. It’s your call really.

Oh, and there’s the obligatory audio commentary with the stars of the movie. Don’t waste your time.

2/10

If there was going be someone at Cinegeek that would like this movie it would be me. That didn’t happen. I really didn’t like this movie. Well, I liked half of it. Maybe a third of it was okay. I can’t decide. All I know is that it tries way too hard to redeem a character that isn’t likeable and really doesn’t grow beyond a tired old plot device. The only bright spot is the bizarre closing credits that run over a shot of a frog eating a mouse. It might be worth your money if Red Box has a copy.

Overall (Not an Average) 3/10

The Review
The Movie 3/10
The Video 5/10
The Audio 5/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 2/10
Overall (Not an Average) 3/10

I’m an unabashed Trek fan, so much so that I actually like Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan more than the Star Wars films. With that said Empire Strikes Back is better than the rest of the Trek films. I wouldn’t consider myself a “rivet counter” of the Trek series though. For example it makes no difference to me whether a new movie brings Checkov on the bridge at the same time as Sulu or if he comes along later like in the original series. The only reason I know that’s the case is because I have a friend who follows the mythology of the series to the finest detail.

I do however believe that there are certain parts of the Trek universe that are required to create a Trek film. There’s of course a look to the ships and uniforms, but even more important there are thematic elements and philosophy that make Trek what it is and not a Star Wars film.

The Movie

J.J. Abrams had big shoes to fill by taking on this franchise. The fanbase is rabid and intensely critical of change to the franchise. At the same time those shoes were beat up by the last movie in the franchise. Star Trek Nemesis actually caused the demise of the franchise, at least temporarily. Insurrection was a good enough extended episode of the Next Generation TV series but not feature film worthy so the forces behind the franchise in those days had really hit a wall. So shutting down the franchise for a while was the best thing Paramount could have done.

J.J. Abrams is someone I always follow and I’m seldom disappointed. Admittedly I never watched his early television series Felicity but I did watch Alias and I’m obsessed with LOST. His installment of the Mission Impossible franchise was the best of those films also. Tom Cruise destroyed that franchise with all of his couch hopping antics. Last year Abrams produced a little film called Cloverfield that reinvented the Godzilla story in an exciting and innovative way too. Finally there’s his most recent TV project Fringe, which is also pretty great. So Abrams track record on TV and bringing a new vision to existing tropes has been really successful. When I first heard he was taking on the franchise I couldn’t have been more excited. Then the sound bites started hitting the web where he’d say things like “I never really liked the Star Trek franchise”. Those sorts of comments, even if true, were a mistake because they devalued a successful franchise that he was taking over and wanted the fanbase, and the mainstream audience to re-embrace. It actually felt like he didn’t care much for the hardcore fans but instead wanted to focus on mainstream movie goers. Granted, the mainstream is a larger audience but the Trek fanbase is large enough that they alone could make the film a success at the box office.
The film starts with a bang. From those first few minutes all the way to the end this film is action packed. After seeing the film in theaters I talked with a friend about it and he complained that there was so much action that the philosophy of the franchise never gets any screen time. He’s right that the film is action packed but aren’t they all? Didn’t we see the Enterprise crash and skip across the surface of a planet? With that said it would have been nice for Abrams to have integrated some of the thematic elements that make the franchise stand out into his launch film. The truth is that he may choose to change all of that. At this point we really don’t know. The bulk of the movie that isn’t action is focused on the introductions of the main characters. This is what Abrams is best at, building characters within unreal situations. He did it in the first few seasons of Alias and he continues to do it in LOST, with the help of some top notch writers of course. The back-story of these characters has radically been changed. Some of the iconic bits are still in place making the characters recognizable but how these characters came to the Federation for example is quite difference. Kirk is still a ladies’ man and rebellious, Spock still struggles with his human heritage, and Mr. Scott, brilliantly played by Simon Pegg, is still “giving her all she’s got!” Perhaps my favorite modernization of a classic character has to be Dr. McCoy played by Carl Urban. “Bones” was always hot headed and he still is but a reason for the way he acts is built into his character now; he’s completely neurotic. I have to give credit to Chris Pine too. He takes the Kirk role and makes it his own but he still embodies a lot of what Shatner brought to the role so many years ago. Fortunately he doesn’t attempt Shatner’s specific line delivery style but he does embody the bravado of the character that was so much fun in early films such as Wrath of Khan. Zachery Quinto does a fine job as Spock too. He’s not as much of a standout as Pine and Urban but he looks the part and he handles the character just fine. The one hiccup is Checkov played by Anton Yelchin. He’s more irritating than interesting. He’s supposed to be funny but Simon Pegg is much better at handling the comic relief.

The thing that is the most surprising about this film is just how much it honors the original series. There are lines taken right from Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country and used in such a way that the hardcore fans would recognize them and the uninitiated wouldn’t even catch the wink at the audience. The lines make perfect sense within the story. The original franchise is not only honored with winks though. It would have been easy for Abrams and crew to have just ignored everything that came before their film and start anew but instead they find a clever way to tie everything from the original series to this new film and make it all work. We old school fans have to except that the franchise must be updated and modernized but at least this film doesn’t render all of the past TV series and films unimportant. Without spoiling the film everything that has happened actually happened. That’s all I’ll say. It all still matters even if won’t happen again to these versions of the Trek characters and its all done using classic franchise tools.
The action is stunning and the character designs are all properly modernized yet still representative of what they once were. The main story is a bit simplistic with Eric Bana getting very little to do but that story is more of a tool to set up this new version of the Star Trek universe and for that it works great. With this film we don’t yet know how much of the philosophy of the original mythology is going to be important in this re-invention of the franchise but this film is focused on building the characters and giving them a new history. The closing seconds of the film just before the credits do hint that what made Star Trek what it was is important to the creators of the film so hopefully we’ll see more of what Rodenberry meant to do with the original story in future installments of the franchise. It requires mentioning that Abrams really wanted to leave a visual stamp on this film, more so than in other films he’s done. For example he shoots some close up bridge shots with a wide angle lens causing some shots to appear a bit stretched and more controversial was the decision to use tons of lens flares. The wide angle lens shots honestly don’t make a lot of sense other than making a few scenes appear a bit skewed. The lens flares make more sense even if they are overused. The flares make everything feel bright and vibrant which works on the bridge of the Enterprise but seems out of place in various other locations. There’s plenty in this film for the true Trek fan and the noob can jump in here and no nothing about the mythology. It’s a fun summer action movie reboot to the franchise. I can’t wait to see where it goes in the future.

8.5/10

The Video

This 1080p 2,40:1 AVC presentation here is quite gorgeous. It’s not completely flawless but it’s really close. Colors are crisp and vibrant and black levels are deep black and not the weird gray that can often be an issue on some transfers. Detail level is just a little inconsistent throughout the first half of the film with special fx scenes appearing a little lower res than scenes with no CG. The difference is minor but noticeable on larger screens. When they want to put the effort into it Paramount can do a good job with HD presentations and for this release they really put the effort in.

9.5/10

The Audio

The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 presentation here is really well balanced so that you won’t have to ride the volume buttons on your remote. The mix is also clean with dialogue, score, and sound fx separated and clean. Dialogue is never muffled by heavy score or fx. The gorgeous score gets good attention here and there’s also nice low end usage of the sub woofer. There are plenty of directional sounds both in high action and in more subtle quieter scenes making the film extremely immersive. All of the classic Star trek sound effects that are in the mix were a nice touch. This is a top notch audio presentation.

9.5/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The 3 disc set is presented in a slim amaray case. The artwork is isn’t very imaginative at all. The slip cover is white with the name of the film in huge letters on the front and on the back. The case art features a black and white close up of Kirk on the front and one of Spock on the back. Couldn’t we have gotten some art that was more representative of just how important this film is to the franchise?

The 3 disc set is a little misleading. This is really a 2 disc set with a digital copy included in the package. On the up side though there are tons of bonus features on the second disc. The first disc features the film and a feature length commentary with the producers and director of the film. There’s a lot of chatter from people with similar voices so it’s a little tough to tell who’s speaking sometimes. Fortunately J.J. Abrams voice stands out so it’s easy to make out his voice above everyone else’s. There’s good information throughout the commentary about the production that’s only repetitive to the featurettes a few times. This is a very informative listen.

To Boldly Go is a 17 minute featurette that focuses on Abrams and the gang’s plan to make Star trek cool again and all the work they did to try and make everyone happy, the hardcore fans and new fans alike. There are four additional videos that add an additional 9 minutes to the featurette. The most interesting of these extra videos is a brief discussion of why William Shatner didn’t end up in the film. The excuse was a bit on the lame side but it is what it is. It’s true that putting him in would have been challenging but the writers could have done it I believe.

Casting is a half hour look at the cast of the film and all of the challenges of having new actors recreate the iconic crew of the Enterprise. It all gets a little to marketing here and there but there’s still good information here.

Starships is 25 minutes on the ships of the film and all of the updating that was done for this modern version of the franchise. The featurette covers both the inside and outside of the ships and it focuses on all of the detail put into each of the ships and the locations utilized for the interiors of them. Good stuff here and an additional 10 minutes of short videos are also available to watch as part of the featurette too.

Aliens is a typical sort of alien design special fx featurette you’d see on a sci-fi or horror film. Many of the various alien designs are featured from simple Vulcan ears to full face masks augmented in post with CGI. It may be typical but for real fans it’s a must to see. This one’s 17 minutes long again with an additional 8 minutes that can be watched with the featurette or separately.

Planets is a total of 21 minutes long and it covers the various planetary locations of the film from a San Francisco of the future to the surface of Vulcan. There’s great information here about the actual production of the film along with the design of locations. Some of the additional footage covers the extras that worked on the film.

Prop and Costumes is 10 minutes about updating the phasers, the costumes, and more. It’s brief but definitely worth a watch. The additional minute of video shows off Klingon costumes that were deleted from the film.

Ben Burtt and the Sounds of Star Trek is a 12 minute featurette covering the sound fx of the film with the man in charge Ben Burtt showing off how some key sounds were created. He also discusses all the work put into recreating sounds from the original TV series.

Score is 7 minutes on the score of the film. Down and dirty, really short.

Gene Roddenberry’s Vision is a brief 9 minute tribute to the creator of the show and his vision for the future. It’s not especially deep but at least he gets a nod from this new team.

There are 15 minutes of deleted scenes that include a lot of visuals and characters that don’t even appear in the film including Klingons and the Klingon prison planet, Spock’s birth, and more. There’s a 7 minute gag reel with some funny stuff but it runs just a little long. Finally there are 4 minutes of trailers for the film.
The third disc features a digital copy of the movie and a demo for the video game.

There’s a lot of really great stuff here but it’s a little poorly executed. All of the short branching videos on the featurettes should have been cut into the featurettes. The featurettes are all really short so adding these brief additional videos wouldn’t have made the featurettes run too long. If I truly had my way though I’d have cut all of the featurettes into a really great feature length documentary. That didn’t happen because the list of bonus features wouldn’t have been substantial enough to please the marketing folks.

8/10

This is a fantastic reboot to one of Paramount’s flagship franchises that had previously lost its way. The challenge going forward is for Abrams and crew to find a way to truly differentiate their version of Trek from Star Wars. The film had a little too much Star Wars in it. In fact in the bonus features the writers mention that Abrams asked them “what can we learn from Star Wars?” Like it or not the two franchises are radically different and they should be. We need more than one big sci-fi franchise so hopefully in the next film we’ll see more of the elements that originally made Star Trek so popular. The bonus features here are pretty great but you can bet there’ll be a double dip where we’ll get more appropriate box art.

Overall (Not an average) 8.5/10

The Review
The Movie 8.5/10
The Video 9.5/10
The Audio 9.5/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 8/10
Overall (Not an Average) 8.5/10

Can Dr. Horrible still hold up without the singing (or the blogging)?

The Story

This one-shot is a heartwarming tale where a boy becomes a mad scientist. It covers the beginnings of our intrepid super villain, from young Billy’s inspiration for villainy to legendary first battles with Captain Hammer.

This book feels close to home with the plot and dialog. Of course, that should come to no surprise. The writer is Zach Whedon, co-creator and co-writer to the original Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog (along with brothers Jeb and Joss).

The characters act like continuations of the live-action performances. This has to be the truest for Captain Hammer, whose lines and overall smugness are instantly voiced by Nathan Fillion in the heads of anyone reading this. The other characters don’t invoke their live-action counterparts quite as quickly, which is more a testament of how well Fillion made Hammer’s personality stand out.

The issue also does well maintaining the world of Dr. Horrible and his co-stars. Concepts in the original are shown their start here. Side and small characters show up now and then, even just in the background. In Moist’s case, he actually has something to do, although he doesn’t seem particularly moist aside from some sweat. Where’s his one-shot, or better yet, Johnny Snow’s?

Aside from the original series, the issue continues events from a Captain Hammer one-shot Zack Whedon wrote and Dark Horse published on its MySpace account. Reading it is not necessary at all for this book, but for those who did, they get that always-refreshingly geeky “I remember that” moment.

This book is a great item for the Horrible fans out there, but can someone new enjoy it? Yeah. It’s a prequel after all. You could jump in this cold and not be lost, except for an obvious reference or two, but then that’s why you jump into the series afterward.

The only way this story would have impressed me more would be if large chunks of dialog rhymed, and yes, I looked.

9/10

The Art

Just as the writing recreates the feel of the series, the art recreates the look. The city streets, the park, the laundry mat, Dr. Horrible’s lab – it all here in a cartoonish form. The colors are all bright and vibrant, fitting the comedic mood. Some backgrounds are overly simplified to simple colors or undetailed shapes. Fine for some panels but not for all the ones that get that treatment.

Character designs match well too, from the proud and pompous Captain Hammer to the pretty and petite Penny. The only problem here is with characters seen over time outside of costumes, namely Billy, suffering from stock clothes syndrome. I hope he washed that hoodie and shirt in that six weeks gap.

There are some other minor problems. Facial features are very exaggerated, which is fine until someone’s eyes are crooked and they stand that much more because of it. There’s also the occasional inconsistency like a missing or flipped hammer logo.

But for every error, the art more than makes up for it with little touches, like a “Made in Taiwan” logo on a toy here and the webcam for the video blog there. It’s not perfect, but it works well enough.

7/10

It’s a fun read for any fan of the sing-along like myself. Fans will insert their own songs where they see fit because this book has everything else to make it a good Dr. Horrible story. Now if they could get the cast to come together and record the lines, this might be a motion comic I’d actually approve of.

The Review
Story 9/10
Art 7/10
Overall (Not an Average) 8/10

The Game

This game is based on movies 4-6 of the Harry Potter franchise (Goblet of Fire, Order of the Phoenix and the Half-Blood Prince). That doesn’t really matter though. Most of the games are directional challenges and simple puzzles. Only a couple of challenges require previously watching the movies, although you can fake it if you’re good at guessing ages or voices.

The game starts out with choosing 1-4 players, followed by choosing difficulties and houses from the franchise to play under. Then comes the gameplay menu, choosing between a crystal ball for a tutorial, document.

The activities themselves are shallow and repetitive both in style and variation. The activities are divided into fourth, fifth and sixth years and are themed to fit events in each movie of the corresponding year. The games range from hitting the right directional button when it lights up to finding objects in messy rooms to hitting buttons at the right time and so on. Each activity only has maybe three to six versions and takes only a couple of minutes at most. Play enough times, and you’ll memorize your way through the whole game. Not much substance in gameplay here.

There are four difficulty modes to play in: easy, medium, hard and “Mystery Broom” (random). The supposed difference is the difficulty of each activity. In reality, there is no distinction between medium and hard. Several times, the same variation of a game would pop up in different modes. This basically makes Mystery Broom pointless.

Unfortunately, on levels beyond easy, some games become virtually unplayable. The controls become less responsive, eventually to the point of not even registering what they should. Maybe this is the developers’ idea of added difficulty, but it’s definitely my idea of a giant pain. Add to that the necessity in single-player mode of repeating games until they’re all beat, and players will be hurling their remotes at the screen. Luckily in multiplayer, there’s the enjoyment of watching someone else go nuts.

3/10

The Video

There are essentially two different kinds of video here: clips from the movies and game-only CGI scenes and images. The movie clips aren’t really low quality, but they aren’t as good as they would be on their own DVDs. The CG animation is simplistic. A few games and menus only rely on still images. Anyone used to late ‘90s PC adventure games would feel right at home.

In the activities asking players to choose a direction within a circle of up, down, left and right direction, the circle is dark orange. When a direction is asked, it turns to dark yellow. Dark orange to dark yellow is not much of a color shift. It proves difficult for some to even see. Luckily, the narrator will also say the direction, but only about half the time.

The entire game is in fullscreen, including the video clips, so sorry widescreen aficionados. For you fullscreen fans, you’ll get plenty of time to enjoy. You can’t skip any scenes except for activity instructions.

4/10

The Audio

There is a single narrator with a British accent but is not a character from the franchise. A couple of his words are mumbled, but otherwise he’s easy to understand. The background sounds like generic Harry Potter background music, although not quite as well composed as in the movies.

Only one activity really requires audio. The player has to pick a character to patch a whisper, which is really just movie dialog mumbled and turned down really low. In fact, too low if the player’s sound is at a moderate level. Some whispers are more of a guessing game than actually being able to interpret which character said that.

5/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The packaging is basic: DVD case with inserted cover, DVD and instruction manual. The case is clear. The front of the cover, instruction manual and DVD all have the same image. The spine of the cover doesn’t include the Wizarding World subtitle, despite there being other Harry Potter DVD games it should be differentiated from.

The instruction manual is where the packaging really falls apart. First, it commits the most atrocious crime a video game instruction manual could. It lies. While the manual says players could choose the activities they play, the game chooses for the player. Very disorienting for players who actually read the manual first.

Despite that, the manual proves essential for a later activity, with no clues to even refer back to the manual ever given.

As for bonus features, all you get are the game credits separate from the game. Yes, many Harry Potter fans must be jumping for joy to see their favorite actors’ names again, except they aren’t in there. Just the credits for making the game. Enjoy.

At least the case is nice, doesn’t have those silly child locks and keeps the disc clean.

1.5/10

This is not a particularly good game. If it was, it would be on a dedicated video game system (or a computer). This is simply cheap merchandise for Harry Potter fans to enjoy together. Harry Potter fans will likely be disappointed at the lack of trivia quizzing (which means no one-upping each other). Others wouldn’t pick this up unless they don’t know any better.

The Review
The Game 3/10
The Video 4/10
The Audio 5/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 1.5/10
Overall (Not an Average) 4/10

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To be entered to win just submit your name and mailing adress and on Monday November 29th the writers here at CineGeek will wrestle to see who draws the name of the lucky winner!

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Directed by Pete Docter, David Silverman, Lee Unkrich
Featuring Voices by John Goodman, Billy Crystal, Mary Gibbs, Steve Buscemi

Oh, how do I love the Pixar? Let me count the ways….Finding Nemo, Toy Story 1 and 2, Up, The Incredibles, and Wall-e. Does Monsters Inc make that list? Monsters Inc was recently released on Blu Ray by Disney/Pixar.

The Movie

In the world behind our closet doors, monsters like Mike (Billy Crystal) and Sulley( John Goodman) work hard at their jobs, just like any of us. They pack lunches, punch a clock, and have idle chit chat next to the water cooler. The difference in their day jobs and ours is that it is Mike and Sulley’s responsibility to scare kids.

In the world of Monsters Inc, the monster world depends on children’s screams: It is their energy that makes lightbulbs glow and cars drive. Big companies like Monsters, Inc. collect the scream energy, and many monsters work there in shifts.

However, the job isn’t as easy as it used to be. It is getting harder and harder to shock the kids properly, since they are so desensitized by films and television As a consequence, there’s an energy shortage in the monster world.

Sulley, the number one frightener, one day accidentally lets a human child, Boo (Mary Gibbs) into the monster world. Since kids are supposed to be poisonous and carry loads of diseases, pandemonium and chaos ensues

After Mike and Sulley discover that the girl seems quite harmless, they decide to bring her back through her door into her room. But Boo’s presence is more than just a mere accident. Now, Mike and Sulley have to face an enemy within their home and social circle.

Monsters Inc is an energetic, inventive and fun filled romp that explores a subject young and old can relate too: is there a monster under my bed or in my closet? Tell me that when you were a kid, you didn’t take a running leap from the door to the bed because you weren’t quite sure what was lingering in the dark?

The world that the directors and animators create in this film is rich with detail and will have you smiling from ear to ear. Also, the voice work by Goodman, Crystal, and Gibbs as the leads is first rate. Fans of Steve Buscemi and Jennifer Tilly will enjoy their voice work in the film as well.

So, at the end of the day, Monsters Inc is another charming and entertaining film from the inventive minds over at Pixar and is easily going to make a list of your favorite Pixar films.

And, it’s finally on Blu Ray now? So, it’s a no brainer to add this to the collection.

10/10

The Video

Monsters Inc. Is presented in anamorphic widescreen and transferred in AVC/MPEG4. The colors are eyepoppingly vibrant and the overall image is very respectable. I did not notice any instances of grain or artifacts.

10/10

The Audio

Monsters Inc is presented in DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio. The dialogue is crystal clear and easily heard. All of your speakers in your home theater will get a nice workout as the film is nicely mixed and presented.

9/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The film and bonus features are presented on 4 discs enclosed in a standard blu ray amaray case.

There are some great bonus features to explore on this release. First up, A commentary with Docter, Unkrich, writer Andrew Stanton and Pixar bigwig John Lasseter are all present for an informative and funny commentary.

A roundtable discussion with Docter and Unkrich is offered, as well as Ride and Go Seek: Building Monstropolis in Japan is a look at the Monsters Inc themed ride in Japan.

The great Pixar short films For the Birds and Mike’s New Car are included. Also on the menu are 5 deleted scenes and storyboard animation. And for your peepers, an art gallery.

On the standard definition side, Designing Monstropolis, Location Flyaround and Monster File that explores the voice talent is offered.

Monsters Only is a collection of music videos and Set Dressing is self explanatory. The bonus feature entitled Animation is a wonderful look at the early animation tests for the film and the characters.

An additional look at the pre-production process is covered in the bonus features Original Treatment, Monsters are Real, Story is King and Back to Work.

All things considered, a smashing collection bonus material

10/10

Overall (Not an Average) 10/10

The Review

The Movie 10/10

The Video 10/10

The Audio 9/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features 10/10

Overall (not an average) 10/10

Directed By: Afredo De Villa

Starring: Luis Guzman, John Leguizamo, Debra Messing, Alfred Molina, Freddy Rodriguez

As a family ages the members get pulled in different directions. Every year it gets harder and harder to get everybody together. That’s what makes it so magical when everybody can make it back home for Christmas.

The Movie

Edy and Anna Rodriguez, played by Alfred Molina and Elizabeth Pena, are preparing for the return of their youngest child from Iraq, what makes his return even more special is the that this will be the first time in a number of years that all of their children will be home for Christmas. Jesse is the first to arrive in town, his cousin Johnny, Luis Guzman, and Ozzy, a family friend that helps Edy at the bodega the family owns, pick him up at O’Hare but before they make it to the house they get distracted with an impromptu game of three man baseball game on a snow covered ball field. Meanwhile Mauricio, John Leguizamo, and his wife Sarah, played by Debra Messing, appear at the bodega after flying in from New York. At the same time Anna is alone at home preparing dinner. When Mauricio and Sarah walk in with Edy, Anna is a little put out that they went by the bodega first. Everything is quickly smoothed over. but it’s clear that Sarah and Anna, despite Sarah’s efforts, find it difficult to get along. Next to arrive is Roxanna, she has the airport shuttle drop her off away from the house, so she doesn’t have to explain why she’s not being dropped of by a limo which would be the appropriate way for an up and coming actor to arrive back home from Hollywood. Finally Johnny and Ozzy actually make it to the house with Jesse and the festivities can begin after Anna is done berating Johnny for not bringing her baby straight home.

Of course dinner is not ready quite yet so everybody is sitting around catching up. It doesn’t take long though before good natured ribbing goes a little too far and soon the den is empty, everybody having broken up into little groups. Eventually all of the guys end up outside sipping from flasks and smoking cigars. Edy recruits the other men to come back the next today to help take down an old, dying decrepit tree in the front yard. Combining a bit of clumsy symbolism with a touch of foreshadowing it’s speculated that Edy is referring more to himself than the tree. Once dinner is on the table everybody is back together and amicable, at least until Edy is interrupted by a text message in the middle of making a toast. This is where Anna drops her bombshell. She wants a divorce. This announcement has a chilling effect on the conversation which quickly polarizes and one by one members of the family get up and leave the table in disgust until oddly enough only Sarah and Anna are left.

Of course that’s only the main drama of the movie. Everybody’s got something going on even Ozzy who technically isn’t even part of the family. Jesse’s dealing with the loss of a friend in Iraq and a relationship he now realizes he broke off to soon before he left for Iraq. Mauricio wants to start having children while Sarah is not ready. Roxanna is trying to decide if she wants to continue to stay in Los Angeles and keep trying to make it as an actress or just cal it quits and move back home. Ozzy has to see the Alexis, the man who killed his brother, walking free nearly everyday in the neighborhood since Alexis was released from prison. The script does a wonderful job keeping track of all the little threads without short changing the main storyline. The only issue I ever had with the story is that it times it could be cliché and predictable, luckily the characters are likable or at least interesting enough that those flaws are easy to overlook. I’ve spent a lot of time dwelling on the drama, but true to life there is a lot of humor in the story as well. Even at the darkest times humor sneaks into all but the most dysfunctional families, watching from the outside makes it even easier to see the humor. Of course it helps that there are some very funny people in this cast.

The movie appears to have been shot nearly if not entirely on location in a Puerto Rican neighborhood of Chicago called Humboldt Park. This movie is almost a love letter to Humboldt Park. It looks absolutely gorgeous. The clear winter air and white snow, make everything look crisp and clean. The saturated palate make the colorful storefronts and signage pop while at the same time making everywhere look cheery and inviting instead of frigid and cold. The story is interesting but I think I enjoyed just looking at the environment that it’s told in just as much.

7/10

The Video

The video is presented in wide screen format. It looks great. The whole movie appears to be shot on location but the lighting is always great, producing warm saturated colors which makes the snowy Chicago exteriors oddly welcoming and inviting. I never even noticed any grain, in the darker scenes the shadows just naturally deepened to black. Even with the saturated colors I never noticed any blooming and only the barest hint of aliasing here and there on vertical lines where you would expect to see it.

8/10

The Audio

The audio is presented in 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound in English and Mono in Spanish. There are also English and Spanish subtitles. The score by Paul Oakenfold is beautiful and melancholic and is a wonderful contrast to the upbeat Latin music that is sprinkled here and there throughout the film. The mix is excellent with the score and foley never overpowering the dialog.

7/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The DVD comes in an Eco-Box, a regular Amaray case with some plastic cutaways, yes it sounds gimmicky but it probably does cut down on the plastic used by fifteen to twenty percent. The Eco-Box slips into a cardboard slipcase. Unfortunately the artwork on the slipcase mirrors the artwork on the DVD case. I say unfortunate because the artwork features a nauseating Photoshop monstrosity that I suppose is a family portrait. It’s one of those images that is so bad it’s hard to get out of your head. Of course it’s used on the DVD menu as well. There is a short cast reunion on the DVD which is entertaining but a little odd in that the movie would not have been a year old when it was recorded. There is also the obligatory blooper reel and some trailers and an excellent commentary track with Freddy Rodriquez who not only acted but helped produce the movie, the director Alfredo De Villa and another producer, Robert Teitel round out the commentary.

7/10

Nothing Like the Holidays is not a great movie, but it’s entertaining and it’s heart is in the right place. It’s got the beautiful Elizabeth Pena even if she is done up a bit matronly here and the always interesting Luis Guzman that’s two great reasons to pick this up right there. If your looking for a better than decent dramedy Nothing Like the Holidays is not going to blow your socks off, but it’s not going to disappoint either.

Overall (Not an Average) 7/10

The Review

The Movie7/10

The Video 8/10

The Audio 7/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features 7/10

Overall (Not an Average) 7/10

Daredevil is now the leader of the Hand, the mysterious group of ninja assassins he has been battling for a large part of his heroic career. The Hand has embraced change with open arms, adopting new uniforms with the motif of their newly crowned leader.

Putting Matt Murdock in charge of the Hand is an intriguing story development. On one hand, he now has access to an army of essentially mass-produced Daredevils at his bidding to help in his fight for justice. On the other hand, Daredevil is compromising his values by working with assassins – murderers – that go against the very justice he fights for. The whole situation stirs up even more inner turmoil, and if there’s anything Matt Murdock excels at, it’s inner turmoil.

What bugs me is the trick Daredevil uses to lead the Hand. For one, it’s not too original, and it’s only to keep Daredevil in good guy territory. Aside from that, you’d think the Hand leadership-appointment committee would take more care in their initiation process, but no. Apparently being highly trained in martial arts and resurrection doesn’t mean as much as it used to.

The story also focuses on the ever-shifting power struggle among New York’s crime world. It’s nice to see Kingpin back in the game. The Owl feels too much like the Penguin for my tastes. Of course, Norman Osborn has his influence spread even to the lowly crime-infested streets. Oddly missing from the street-level crime is the Hood and his army of C- and D-list super villains who are the big thing on the street right now. Maybe the Hood just doesn’t like the scenery around Hell’s Kitchen.

Also to be found are corrupt cops and court cases in a small subplot involving apartment tenants trying to defend their homes, which were eventually blown up (along with many of the tenants) by Bullseye in Dark Reign: The List – Daredevil #1. While Matt isn’t in any of the court scenes, they’re still cool to see. Maybe that’s just the Law & Order fan in me.

And of course, what is Matt Murdock without troubled lovers. A nice dream sequence shows him dealing with not just the issues of leading the Hand, but also his ever-present crappy love life. Some of Matt’s notable lovers are missing though, choosing to stick with the most recently-important and living.

8/10

The Art

The art is very nice. Everything is sketchy yet detailed. Backgrounds are dark and gritty in color and texture. Some are highly stylized. The character art is a bit more clean-cut and realistically drawn. Each scene has a color scheme it tends to stick with – from blue to yellow to red (of course) – that’s comfortable to the eyes. The colors themselves bleed well. Overall, it’s pretty good.

The shading gets overdone though. It’s especially bad on some characters’ faces, hiding facial features. This could be hiding some weakly-drawn characters, or perhaps the inker went a little overboard. Anyway it happened, hopefully next time will show more of actual characters instead of their shadows.

The shading is neat at times, with it often being specked with the colors to give a slightly-dimmed impression as well as shading details on surfaces that aren’t completely flat, like bricks. Better on surfaces than on characters for now.

8/10

Daredevil #502 is a pretty solid issue. It has Daredevil’s inner torment, crime and court, with some appearances from Matt’s love life – everything a good Daredevil comic should have. While the art is overly dark with heavy character shading, it’s otherwise impressive.

The Review
Story 8/10
Art 8/10
Overall (Not an Average) 8/10

Sanctuary’s Friday installment is titled Veritas”. Here’s a first look at that episode:

This week we get more details about the 2012 TV series, Dollhouse, a new comicbook film, and we discuss what we’d like to see Whedon do next!

“Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.”                                                                                                                                   Mahatma Gandhi

Shohei Imamura is considered one of the creators of the Japanese New Wave movement in cinema. After directing such striking films such as Pigs and Battleships (1961), Insect Woman (1963) and Vengeance is Mine (1979) and many others, Imamura explored the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombings in the 1989 film Black Rain, recently released by Animeigo. 

The Movie

As young Yasuko (Yoshiko Tanaka) returns to Hiroshima, she is caught in “black rain”, which is precipitation that has mixed with radioactive soot. She joins her Uncle Shigematsu (Kazuo Kitamura) and Aunt Shigeko (Etsuko Ichihara) and they try to get to the Buddhist monastery that Shigematsu has been sent to for conducting emergency “last rites” rituals.

 Along the way, they pass the most heartbreaking human conditions: men, women and children suffering from the effects of the bombing.

Flash forward five years and we join Yasuko, still with her Aunt and Uncle in Hiroshima. Yasuko sees many of her friends, neighbors and family members experience never-ending radiation sickness.  Yasuko wants to continue her life, get married and have a family. Only to learn that matchmakers will not find her a husband because she is a Hiroshima survivor, known to fall fatally ill in an instant. Therefore, she does not make a suitable companion for someone.

What is to become of the young Yasuko and her family as they endure the unimaginable?

Imamura’s film never gets political; rather, he focuses his lens entirely on the emotional and physical conditions that Yasuko and her family bear after the devastation that strikes their homeland.

There are poignant and wrenching scenes that will be seared into your mind after viewing this powerful film. The performances by all are noteworthy, particularly that of Yoshiko Tanaka who captures the hope and determination to survive of the character Yasuko. The audience immediately sympathizes with her and becomes invested in her life and emotions and her journey for happiness once again.

Imamura is a visceral and energetic filmmaker and he brings his edgy style to this emotional film. The world of cinema certainly lost an artist when Imamura passed away in 2006. Through research I learned that Japanese director Takeshi Miike attended Imamura’s film school, assisted Imamura on some of his later films and that he also mentored Miike personally.

Imamura’s influence on cinema is immense and this challenging film is a worthy addition to any film fan’s collection.

7.5/10

The Video

 Black Rain is presented in anamorphic widescreen. The black and white cinematography by Takashi Kawamata ( Cruel Story of Youth,  The Demon, Writhing Tongue) is preserved wonderfully. The film looks highly detailed and crisp overall.

7/10

The Audio

Black Rain is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround. The dialogue is crystal clear and easily heard. It is mixed well with the ambient sound and the great score. Animeigo once again does a great job in the subtitle department not only providing translation of the spoken dialogue, but signs and other unfamiliar phrases.

7/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The film is presented in a standard amaray case with understated artwork.

There are some great bonus features to explore on this release. The rare and unused 17 minute color ending to the film is included for you to discover. I will leave it up to you to decide if Imamura made the right decision or not. It is a real treat to get to see this.

New interviews with actress Yoshiko Tanaka and former Imamura student and well known Japanese filmmaker in his own right Takeshi Miike are interviewed and have interesting comments about the film and their relationship with Imamura.

A multimedia gallery with films and posters from the time of the bombings and informative text files round out the selection of bonus features.

6.5/10

Overall (Not an Average) 7/10

The Review
The Movie 7/10
The Video 7/10
The Audio 7/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features  6.5/10
Overall (not an average) 7/10

The ten-part series narrated by Gary Sinise draws upon more than 3,000 hours of WWII footage culled from archives and private collections around the world. Restored and enhanced through HD technology, the series brings to light riveting footage from sources that range from the National Archives and the Army Heritage and and Education Center in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, to Homer Helter’s Military Mall in Naples, Florida. The series follows a handful of people as their personal journeys intersect with one another throughout the war. Their stories, culled from diaries, journals, and new interviews, will be delivered with emotional impact by some of Hollywood’s top talents, helping to recreate the war’s events not as detached historical facts, but rather as profound experiences on the level of a great Hollywood epic. The veterans themselves also appear, recounting their experiences first hand. Join us online: Official Site, History’s Facebook Fan Page, and Twitter.

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To be entered to win simply click “Submit” and provide your name, mailing address and put WWII in HD Contest in teh subject line. One lucky winner will be drawn at random on November 20th!

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Stargate Universe

Sanctuary

Here is two hundred seventy minutes of B level martial arts yummieness. These three films are a great mixture of martial artistry, supernatural silliness and enough cheese for a month’s worth of sandwiches.

The Movie

This is a collection of the Spirited Killer Trilogy. There is Spirited Killer the only one of the three that has Tony Jaa (Interestingly there is a 4 in the title of the movie, not sure what that means). Spirited Killer 2: Awakened Zombie Battles, and Spirited Killer 3: Ghost Wars. This is not a trilogy in the sense that it is one story continued through three movies, but all three have certain things in common. They all three take place out in a rural area of Thailand, the landscape is all riversides, scrub and brush and deep gullies. They all three have several groups of people brought into the area for different reasons. And all three feature some unstoppable golem supernaturally skilled in martial arts. For all that they each have a unique story.

Spirited Killer starts out with a shaman preparing a concoction to make the old young and the young immortal. Whether the Shaman had evil intentions from the beginning or just screwed up the villagers who try his potion end up dying. The shaman is then run out of town and killed. Years later a group of Japanese students are traveling to the village to look for ancient relics. At the same time a Chinese businessman is leading a group to the village to look for a mysterious metal. At the same time a group of villagers returning to the village with agricultural equipment is assaulted on the road by an a man who single handedly kills all but two of the group who barely make it back to the village to tell of the attack. Of course everybody then teams up to try to take out this “Spirited Killer”. The Spirited Killer is Panna Rittikrai mentor to Tony Jaa who plays one of the Chinese group.

Spirited Killer 2: Awakened Zombie Battles begins with a Chinese family looking for the corpse of there Grandfather who they wish to return to China and inter in the family tomb. They venture to the forest where their Grandfather’s tomb is supposed to be but have trouble finding it. To find it they cast a spell to bring the corpse to them. Also in the forest is a criminal gang performing a ritual to transfer the knowledge and courage of their recently deceased leader to their new leader. Add to this a group of friends looking for the tomb of the Chinese Grandfather to loot it of the treasure that was buried with the old man. Of course everything goes wrong and the Chinese corpse and the deceased gang leader become zombies intent on killing everybody in the forest.

Spirited Killer 3: Ghost Wars is centered around a mystical black egg lost in the forest which if used in certain rites will either give you a blessing from God or turn you into the Devil. A group of Japanese, Chinese and Thai are looking for the egg, but just as they find it an evil sorcerer steals it from them and uses it to turn himself into a devil. Twenty years later a new group is setting out to find the egg. Instead of finding the egg however they disrupt the evil sorcerer’s, now a devil, original rite awakening him. So he sets out with his minions from hell to destroy everybody in the forest.

Forget all that though the stories are just excuses to set up the fights. The star of all three of these movies in Panna Rittikrai, who directed as well as the choreographed the fights. Anytime he is on the screen you know you going to see something entertaining. The fighting is mostly just fist, foot and sword, there is a little wire work, but most of the aerial stuff appears to be talented people just jumping around. Something I loved about these films is that there was always a sense of fun about them they never took themselves that seriously. Especially the second one. For better or worse Panna was not afraid to mix comedy in with the fighting. Sometimes even mocking the fight. For example one scene has ninjas actually saying “nanannanananana” during each attack. In another group melee two fighters quit fighting each other and start betting on their compatriots. I loved every minute of it. If you like your cheese with wine and not movies this might be three movies to stay away from. I found them to be a lot of fun.

7/10

The Video

Objectively the wide screen video is not that great. There are blotches and scratches visible from the transfer print. The color balance bounces around from scene to scene and sometimes the shift is extreme. The films were shot in the mid to late nineties but they look more like something from the early seventies. The problems are all with the print. The transfer itself is great I never noticed any compression artifacts or other digital problems. Don”t be afraid of the low video score though the video is far from perfect but it just adds to the wonderful cheese factor.

5/10

The Audio

All three films are presented in stereo. The first movie gives you a choice of English or Thai audio. The other two are in Thai with English subtitles. The foley is typical martial arts sounds. The thuds, thwaps, clanks and clinks you expect to here in a martial arts movie. The score is interesting, there are moments that it sounds remarkably familiar. You can also make a guessing game out of where little snippets of score come from.

6/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The artwork features Tony Jaa with a few snapshots form the actual movies. The DVD comes in a double width case but all three movies are on one disc. The artwork from the case is carried over to the simple menu. The menu simply gives you a choice between starting the movies or viewing a chapter list. There are no bonus features or extras.

1/10

Okay, so the audio and video are sub par, there are no extras or bonus features, there are only a few minutes of Tony Jaa, all there is to recommend this DVD collection are the movies themselves. So the question is are they enough. Yes they are. Watching all three of the movies together is a real treat. Most of the actors are in all three. They all look like they could have been filmed in the same place back to back. It’s almost as if a bunch of unusually talented friends got together in the sticks to make some movies. A sense of fun seems to ooze out of the TV when I stick in this DVD.

Overall (Not an Average) 7/10

The Review
The Movie 7/10
The Video5/10
The Audio 6/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 1/10
Overall (Not an Average) 7/10

Executive Producers: Bill Anderson, Walt Disney
Starring: Guy Williams, Gene Sheldon, George J. Lewis, Henry Calvin

More often than not when I get a chance to watch TV shows or movies I loved as a child I end up disappointed. Either I’ve gotten a lot pickier over the years or I just had horrible taste as a child. That makes it all the more special when I come across something as good or even better than I remember. Walt Disney’s version of Zorro is one of those special occasions. It is a real treat to watch these episodes back to back and uninterrupted by commercials.

The Show

Diego De La Vega is returning home to Spanish California. He is cutting short his studies in Spain after receiving a disturbing letter from his father. During the trip he learns that Los Angeles is in the grip of a corrupt Commandante, Capitan Monastario. Suddenly the letters from his father make sense. Diego reasons out quickly that once he has returned his father will try to openly oppose Capitain Monastario which would only lead to an open revolt that the oppressed landowners and peons could only lose. Diego figures that a more subtle solution is called for. In is cabin with the help of his manservant Bernardo he quickly improvises a disguise. A black shirt and pants, a black cape and hat and to finish the disguise a black mask. Zorro, the fox, is born. To draw suspicion away from the De La Vega household Diego tosses all of his fathers letters, fencing medals and trophies overboard. He will take on the persona of a scholar and musician. Someone more interested in poetry and guitars than rapiers and bull whips. Bernardo his mute manservant even gets into the act coming up with the idea that he will pretend to be deaf as well as mute in the hopes that he can act as a spy for Zorro.

Luckily for Diego the De La Vega hacienda contains many secret passages, including one that leads to a cave with an obscured entrance that is away from the hacienda. Diego learned of the passageway from his grandfather, they were built into the house to allow the family to escape in the case of an Indian attack but that has been such a remote possibility for so long that Diego is doubtful that his own father is aware of them.  Diego also has a horse that was just a colt when he left for Spain that he left in the keeping of a local family. The colt has grown into a magnificent beast, probably the fastest horse in California, the perfect steed for Zorro. All of this information is presented as Zorro breaks a landowner out of prison that Capitan Monastario has falsely accused of treason in order to confiscate his land for himself. Quite a bit of storytelling to pull off in one twenty five minute episode. Over the next twelve episodes Monastario and Zorro battle. It’s not to hard to guess who eventually prevails. One of the measures of a hero is the enemies he goes up against. Monastario is certainly a thorn in the side of Los Angeles but he is vain and not terribly intelligent. Zorro’s enemies get more dangerous and capable  over the next couple of story arcs. Zorro progresses from being a local hero to the savior of all California by the last episode of the season.

The second season story arcs are more personal. Zorro only ends up saving California a couple of times. The rest of the three or four episode story arcs deal with Zorro helping out strangers in trouble or even just dealing with annoying Uncles visiting from Spain. That’s not to say they are any less entertaining but they do feel more like TV show episodes where the first season almost feels like two high quality serials. One way that the second season is superior to the first is the guest stars. Beside the main players the only other face I found recognizable in the first season is Jack Elam, the second season I spotted Lee Van Cleef, Richard Anderson, Cesar Romero, Ricardo Montalban, Jonathan Harris, Robert Vaughn, and Annette Funicello. Along with all Disney products, especially from this era, Zorro is simply a great product. The casting, acting, writing, direction are all spot on. I know it sounds cliché but in this case it is perfectly true Zorro is wholesome entertainment for the whole family.

9/10

The Video

The video is presented in the original full screen aspect ratio. It is in beautiful black and white.  One advantage to black and white is that there is no worry about blooming. I didn’t notice any aliasing or moire either. In fact the only problem I could find with the video were defects coming from the original print. Most of the exterior night shots are obviously shot day for night and look just a little off. Especially when you have Zorro dressed all in black racing across a dark roof the shadows just look a little off, this is a minor quibble though and frankly I feel a little silly even bringing it up.

9/10

The Audio

The audio is presented in the original mono with English subtitles. There is no distortion or other problems with the audio. In fact the only problem with the audio is what’s missing. I would have expected more than just English audio and more subtitles, perhaps Disney simply issues different editions of the DVD collections instead of lumping several language audio tracks and different subtitles on the same discs.

6/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

These DVD collections make me wish I was a bigger fan of Disney productions. The first and second seasons are sold separately. They each come in a attractive black tin. Inside of the tin is a single width Amaray style case that holds all six DVDs in the set. Along with the DVDs there is a collectible Zorro pin, a production still, a small booklet about the Zorro show that includes the Contents of the six DVDs in each collection, and a numbered Certificate of Authenticity. The first disc of each season includes a introduction from Leonard Maltin while the sixth disc of each set includes bonus materials. Between the two season collections are all four of the Walt Disney Presents appearances of Zorro along with a couple of featurettes, one covering Zorro and one about Guy Williams.

9/10

Both seasons and the four Walt Disney Presents appearances of Zorro adds up to nearly forty hours of high quality TV. This is material that can be watched over and over so on a cost per minute basis theses collections are a steal.

Overall (Not an Average) 9/10

The Review
The Movie 9/10
The Video 9/10
The Audio 6/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 9/10
Overall (Not an Average) 9/10

This week we talk Chuck’s early return, argue about Steven Spielberg, cover The Fourth Kind, and talk free digital comics. Just to prove my point about Spielberg, here’s a short list of some of his classics: Munich, Schindler’s List, Jurassic Park, E.T., The first three Indiana Jones films, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Jaws, and some good films that might not be classics: Catch Me if You Can, Minority Report, and Saving Private Ryan to name a few. Oh he also produced Gremlins, Poltergeist, The Goonies, Back to the Future, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit to name only a few. These films all have his stamp on them even if he wasn’t in the director’s chair. Listen to the show to find out what this is all about!! After you check out the show share your thoughts in the comments!

Despite the issue number, this is actually the first in a new regular series of Deadpool Team-Up. The numbering will actually count down, with next month being #898. This begs the question – what happens after issue #1?

The Story

To start of Deadpool’s newest ongoing series, the book starts with a heavy-hitter all star, literally. Hercules and Deadpool run into each other after being caught in a trap designed by two foes.

The team-up format works well for Deadpool. Deadpool’s game is in good form, complete with his pop-culture references and fourth-wall realizations. The episodic sitcom-esque storytelling fits him. For such a strong comedic personality, it helps to have other characters to play off of. It worked well in Cable/Deadpool, and it seems to be off to a good start here.

This book is for Deadpool fans. Simply starting at such a high number instead of a 1 is sure to scare off people not already used to the wackiness that is Deadpool. With that said, there’s still a short origin recap for Deadpool. You have to wonder who that’s for if the audience is supposed to be familiar with the character already. Hercules has one too, which makes sense. Being a Deadpool fan doesn’t equal being a Hercules fan or knowing Greek mythology. This may make the book a good one for a fan to start a friend off on, but hardcore Deadpool followers will probably just see a wasted panel.

The dialog can be a bit hectic to keep track of at times, but that’s usually on purpose with Deadpool talking to his thought boxes. At one point though, the dialog makes even less sense than usual, as if part of a conversation was sloppily edited out. That will take readers out of the story and confuse them.

One stray narration box makes its way into the story early on for no reason. It is actual plot narration for scene transition, not one of Deadpool’s sentient thought boxes. It’s really out of place and wastes reading time.

For a first issue in a new series, slip ups aren’t surprising. This one does waste space with sloppy dialog and wasted back story that another revision probably could have fixed. Otherwise, while not a masterpiece, it’s a solid Deadpool story.

7/10

The Art

The job gets more or less done. There’s some advanced aging that is pulled off well. The clothing is well done, and you can even see the stitch line in the middle of Deadpool’s mask. The Deadpool boxers are kind of neat and should probably be in Marvel’s online store if not already, not to mention Disney Stores around the country. Otherwise, it’s not all that special, but it’s not bad either.

One concern I tend to have with Deadpool art is when Deadpool doesn’t seem as disfigured as he’s implied to be. This book is no exception. Deadpool is scarred and hideous over his entire body, but what is shown doesn’t look that bad. The scarring is nothing more than small groupings of dots and splotches scattered about his body. It wouldn’t be a big deal if Hercules isn’t as shocked as he is when seeing Deadpool’s grotesque foot that didn’t look too grotesque.

Aside from that, there are some occasional line connection issues. Deadpool’s finger eventually merges with his mask in one panel. Occasionally, the stitch line on the mask doesn’t finish or just disappears. Just a bit more attention to detail in some panels could have fixed these.

6/10

Deadpool Team-Up #899 is a decent start to a new comedy series with everyone’s favorite merc with a mouth. This issue has issues with wasted space and simple mistakes. Hopefully issue 898 will learn from this and give the script and art one more glance.

The Review
Story 7/10
Art 6/10
Overall (Not an Average) 7/10

“Hunger knows no friend but its feeder.”
Aristophanes

Contemplating having a baby? All of those E*Trade commercials got you thinking a bundle of joy is a good idea? Perhaps you might want to watch Grace before you make up your mind for sure. Grace was recently release on DVD by Anchor Bay.

The Movie

Michael and Madeline Matheson (Stephen Park and Jordan Ladd) are desperate to have a baby. Their “intimate” time has become less about lust and much more about conceiving. They try to stay positive, even though Michael’s parents are frequent albeit judgmental and haughty visitors. After successfully conceiving a child, they begin decorating a nursery and discussing the various options for childbirth. Michael’s parents try to squelch Madeline’s desire to have a former close friend Patricia (Samantha Ferris), a successful midwife, to deliver the baby. They prefer Madeline to have the baby in the hospital with all the benefits of epidurals and pain medication.

Unfortunately, it isn’t long before happiness is turned to sadness. Michael and Madeline get into a horrific car accident and Michael is killed and Madeline is severely injured. She receives the bad news at the hospital: her baby is dead. Madeline makes the shocking decision to go ahead and deliver her deceased baby on its natural due date. Yes, you read that right.

Flash forward onto the delivery day. With her friend Patricia by her side and several other assistants, Madeline enters the midwife clinic to begin the sorrowful delivery. As her extremely pale and grey baby is placed in her arms so that she may say “goodbye”, Patricia and her helpers leave so that they may have some privacy.

It is at this moment that something surprising happens: Madeline’s baby awakens and begins to nurse. As the women enter the room and witness this surprising occurrence, Madeline simply says “Her name is Grace”.  And the two begin their relationship as mother and child.

It isn’t long before Madeline and Grace are shutting the world out. Madeline tells her friends and family that she doesn’t need a hospital. Instead, her and Grace need “alone time” to bond and to grieve over the loss of Michael.

But, Grace isn’t like any other child. Flies gather in her room, she is fussy beyond belief and milk just doesn’t satisfy her, a fact that Madeline discovers in the most grisly of ways. As she is breast feeding Grace, her daughter bites her. Not seeking the milk, but instead, seeking the blood. This is what satisfies the hunger inside of Grace. And while she is small, her hunger is mighty.

Madeline becomes desperate to satisfy her growing albeit strange daughter. But, what are the limits to a mother’s love? Is there anything a mother won’t do to love and feed their child?

While the subject matter is deliciously dark and disturbing, the characters are handled with subtlety and a need to understand their motivations. There isn’t a false beat in the film; rather, it is most sincere. But, don’t doubt for a minute that there isn’t some gore and moments that will make you cringe: they are there and they are noteworthy.  

The performance by Jordan Ladd is fantastic here. She is proving herself to be a solid performer in the horror genre, already turning in first-rate performances in Hostel II, Cabin Fever and Death Proof.

So if you are looking for a horror film that isn’t your typical “cookie cutter” fare, this is the film for you. And I bet you don’t look at those E*Trade babies the same again.

7/10

The Video

Cinegeek was sent a screener copy. Therefore we cannot score the final version that would be released on DVD and Blu Ray.

The Audio

Cinegeek was sent a screener copy. Therefore we cannot score the final version that would be released on DVD and Blu Ray.

The Packaging and Bonus Features

Cinegeek was sent a screener of the film for review so scores for packaging cannot be provided.

Bonus features include the original short film Grace upon which the feature film was based. Several featurettes including Grace at Sundance, Grace: Conception, Grace: Family and Her Mother’s Eyes: The Look of Grace.

Also included is Lullaby: Scoring Grace and Grace: Delivered, which is a very comprehensive production diary.

Rounding things out is a feature commentary with director Paul Solet, producer Adam Green and cinematographer Zoran Popovic.

Again, Cinegeek was sent an early screener for the film so perhaps more bonus features might be available on the final release.

Overall (Not an Average) 7/10

The Movie 7/10
The Video (Final Version not provided for review)
The Audio (Final Version not provided for review)
The Packaging and Bonus Features (Final Version not provided for review)
Overall (not an average) 7/10

Wrong Turn wasn’t a great film but it developed a cult following due to Stan Winston’s makeup design and Eliza Dushku starring in the film. It had some great kills in it too if that’s your thing. Wrong Turn 2 was a complete surprise for one reason only; the movie was actually good. Henry Rollins made that film by just going over the top with it and having some fun. It was cool because the filmmakers tried to do something interesting with the low budget sequel. My hope was that the second film in the franchise was a trend setter and we were in for an innovative low budget horror series.

The Movie

With each of these films there has to be an excuse to get potential victims into the woods where the inbred mutants live. The mutants are cannibals so when fresh meat hits the woods they couldn’t be more excited. This time a local prison is set to transport a bus load of prisoners to another location. In order to avoid a prison break attempt the warden sends the bus on a path through the woods. Once there the mutants wreck the bus and the mayhem commences. The prisoners are forced to stick together because the key that unlocks the shackles attaching them to each other is nowhere to be found after the bus crash. While traveling through the woods the group meets up with one lone girl that survived an attack on her friends who were camping.

The sad part about this film is that there’s nothing unique about this story than has been portrayed in a hundred other low budget horror films. Add to that a layer of really bad acting and a transition of the mutants from edgy to almost clownish. One of them bounces around in the woods giggling like an inbred version of The Joker. Within the first few minutes of the episode the required topless scene is executed and then the cast is all male other than the one female making the ensemble come off a bit bland. The special FX are a mixed bag of cool and well not cool. The practical gore is quite fun while the CGI is just awful. I’ve seen better CGI in low budget Japanese horror flicks.

The best and worst thing I can say about this film is that it feels very generic. It’s exactly like every other low budget straight to video horror film you might grab off the shelf at a video store or from a genre list on Netflix for a weekend rent. If you’re look for a surprising low budget horror experience you will be disappointed with Wrong Turn 3 and if you’re looking for a T&A gorefest you’ll probably still be disappointed with it.

4/10

The Video

The HD 1080p video presentation here looks really good for a direct to video film. Colors are vibrant and detail is fairly high. There is a bit of grain, especially in darker scenes of course diminishing the level of detail in the image in those scenes as well. The film is low budget and you can definitely see that in this presentation but overall this is a solid HD presentation.

8/10

The Audio

The DTS HD 5.1 presentation here is basic even though it is HD audio and that’s more due to the budget of the film then the audio presentation. There’s some sub woofer use and a little bit of surround usage but the overall presentation feels uninspired. The dialogue, score, and sound fx are mixed clean and easy to hear, a solid basic presentation.

6/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The single blu-ray comes packaged in a standard blu-ray slim amaray case with artwork that fits stylistically with the previous two releases. The art actually does a good job of selling the film.

There’s a making of featurette on the disc broken into three parts that cover the director’s vision, special fx, and the cast experience. There’s some behind the scenes footage and cast and crew interviews to take us through the making of the film. These three featurettes border on marketing fluff but there’s still good information to be found within them.

Other than the featurette there are some deleted scenes. Where’s the trailer?

5/10

The first film featured a great cast and was fairly intense in places. Sure the story was color by numbers but the film had its merit. The second film was just nuts and a lot of fun along with a lot of gore. This third installment just feels as basic as the audio presentation. If you’re going to do the third installment in a franchise and your film is direct to DVD and low budget then why not take some chances and really bring some excitement to the franchise? It feels like the director doesn’t really care for the splatter house genre and unfortunately that’s the genre this franchise has existed in for the first two films. This third film is more interested in doing low budget action and we all know how that usually goes.

Overall (Not an average) 5/10

The Review
The Movie 4/10
The Video 8/10
The Audio 6/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 5/10
Overall (Not an Average) 5/10

Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings with a single bound…and apparently greater than 80’s corporate greed. Kinda.

The Season

Ah, the 80’s. Was there ever a time when the world went more bat-shit insane on hairspray, cocaine and greed? You’d think that all those drugs would have fueled a greater creative fire than what it did. I mean, this was the decade that gave us day glow clothing, Growing Pains and Huey Lewis singing the praises of being “square.” It’s funny how everything went so glam in the 80’s and this animated Superman is no different.

To understand this cartoon series, you have to understand what the world was like in 1988. Contrary to the revisionist history that Hot Topic and Hollywood have made popular in the last few years, the 80’s were not a decade of awesome. It was a time built on hairspray and silicone as well as corporate greed and corruption; which brings us to the theme of this series. Lex Luthor has become a businessman and founded Lexcorp which is a corporate façade to mask his evil plans. From the very first episode, Luthor is plotting against both Superman and Metropolis while hiding inside a penthouse office. And that’s about it. Every time that Superman foils one of Lex Luthor’s plans, all Lex essentially says, “Have fun trying to connect me to this, I’m just a businessman trying to make a living. You’ll be hearing from my lawyer.”

I know that cartoons are supposed to be for kids, but the over simplistic stories and really bad dialogue bogs this series down terribly. Not to mention how incredibly misogynistic Lex Luthor is toward his assistant Jessica Morganberry. Every thing he says to her is followed immediately by an insult and she is portrayed as completely vapid and superficial. This was a Saturday morning cartoon on CBS aimed at kids! No wonder the douche bags have invaded the mainstream today.

I will say that Lois Lane is portrayed as a strong female fighting for equality in a man’s world, until she has to put on a skimpy outfit and become a dancer to get information about a stolen ship; or if she’s in the same room with Superman. Once Supes enters the room, Lois turns into a love struck little girl. It’s really unpleasant to watch and a little disturbing. But then all the supporting characters are really just wallpaper. Jimmy Olsen, Perry White and even Ma and Pa Kent are just there to give Superman someone to save. Even when Wonder Woman shows up in an episode, it’s less of a team-up and more of an excuse for Superman to save another damsel in distress.

The bright spot of this collection is the Superman Family Album shorts that accompany each episode. These five minute vignettes are written by Marv Wolfman who was responsible for re-launching the Superman comic in the mid-80’s. Each installment tells a story from Superman’s days growing up in Smallville and are a nice change of pace from the rest of this disaster.

Animated series have a tendency to not hold up over time. This collection is no different. If you’re a Superman fan, then you’ll probably want to add this to your collection but it’s really for the “completist” than the casual fan. Ruby-Spears did a pretty good job of capturing an era but much like those Huey Lewis albums these cartoons just look like a product from a time we’d be better off forgetting.

3/10

The Video

The video is presented in a standard full screen format. It looks so-so. I think the real problem with this set is the animation more than the video format. I’m sure these cartoons look as good as they can. They’re just really hard to watch.

5/10

The Audio

Dolby Digital in mono. The dialogue is clear and easily understood throughout. It sounds okay but it nothing great. So, it is not this disc you will pop in to show off the home theater.

4/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

There isn’t much in the way of bonus features on these discs. Corporation of the Corrupt: The Rise of Lexcorp is less about Lex Luthor or Lexcorp and more about how corporate America has ruined society. It’s only about thirteen minutes long and really has no meaning to this collection. There are a few trailers for other animated dvds in the bonus features menus but those aren’t bonus features.

As far as the packaging goes, it is presented in a standard amaray case.

3/10

I think it’s safe to say that I did not like this cartoon. I can see why it was only on the air for thirteen episodes. I think it was given too long of a life.

Overall (Not an Average) 3.5/10

The Review
The Season 3/10
The Video 5/10
The Audio 4/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 3/10
Overall (Not an Average) 3.5/10

“Ah, well, it’s no use prevaricating about the bush…”
Wallace (Voiced by Peter Sallis)

Oh, how do I love this British duo! And, good news fans: all of the Wallace and Gromit short films are now available on Blu Ray from Lionsgate.

The Movies

First, a primer if you aren’t familiar with the characters from the creative minds over at Aardman Animation Studios in Bristol, United Kingdom: Wallace is an absent-minded inventor from Wigan, Lancashire and dearly loves cheese especially Wensleydale.  His companion, Gromit, is an intelligent dog. Wallace is voiced by veteran actor Peter Sallis; Gromit remains silent, communicating only through facial expressions and body language. As of 2009, there have been 4 short films and one feature film, The Curse of the Wererabbit, starring Wallace and Gromit.  Got it?

So, let’s take a look at these films one by one, shall we?

A Grand Day Out (1989) is an Oscar nominated short and the first introduction to these characters. Wallace is thrilled that he and Gromit are going to enjoy an upcoming holiday. But, when there is a cheese shortage, there is only one destination on Wallace’s mind: the moon. Because, we all know that the moon is made out of cheese, right? But, there is a wrinkle in the plans and the duo are going to have to use their wits to wiggle out of the situation.

The Wrong Trousers (1993) is an Oscar winning short that finds Wallace and Gromit celebrating Gromit’s birthday. Wallace gives him a pair of Techno Trousers, which are supposed to help Gromit with his household responsibilities but instead wreak havoc. While they are dealing with the chaos of the new trousers, Wallace decides to take in a boarder to help with the bills. This is when a penguin called Feathers McGraw, in disguise as a chicken, answers the ad and moves in. But, something isn’t quite right with the new roommate and Gromit is going to have to get to the bottom of things.

A Close Shave (1995) is another Oscar winning adventure from the twosome. England is suffering from a wool shortage and sheep thievery is on the rise. One night, a thief loses a sheep on Wallace and Gromit’s street. Shaun the Sheep escapes into the safety of Wallace and Gromit’s house. At the same time, Wallace and Gromit launch a new window cleaning business which finds Wallace meeting Wendolene Ramsbottom, the owner of Wendolene’s Wool. She hires Wallace and Gromit for a job and they meet her dog, Preston. As it turns out, Preston is the thief who lost little Shaun, of whom Wallace and Gromit have become quite fond. How is all of this going to turn out? Will Wallace finally find true love with Wendolene? Will Preston have revenge on Wallace and Gromit for keeping his lost sheep?

Finally, there is A Matter of Loaf and Death (2008), the latest of the Wallace and Gromit short films. This film finds Wallace and Gromit launching yet another business, this time a bakery enterprise. But, when their paths cross with Piella Bakewell, a former beauty and her dog Fluffles, Piella and Wallace fancies her immediately. But, Piella has a dark past. Can Gromit save the day again before Wallace becomes another victim in Piella’s evil plan?

All of these films are wonderful, in my humble opinion. What Nick Park and his team of animators have created in Wallace and Gromit are not only characters that are fun to watch, but you truly start to care for the twosome. And, that is a credit to the fantastic skill of the animators, the writers and the voice acting. This is truly some of the best stop action animation you are going to see.  These films are all charming, entertaining and warm the heart.

You tell me that you don’t fall in love with these two after looking into their big goofy round eyes?

In closing, old fans of Wallace and Gromit will add this to the collection posthaste. And if you haven’t been introduced yet to these films, this is the time to get acquainted with this charming duo.

10/10

The Video

Wallace and Gromit: The Complete Collection: Blu Ray is presented in widescreen and in 1080p. The colors are eyepoppingly vibrant and the overall image is very respectable. I did not notice any instances of grain or artifacts.

7/10

The Audio

Wallace and Gromit: The Complete Collection: Blu Ray is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround. The dialogue is crystal clear and easily heard. It is mixed well with the ambient sound and the great score. .

7/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The three films are presented in standard Blu Ray amaray case enclosed in a cardboard slip case.

There are some great bonus features to explore on this release. First up, there are commentaries on all four films by Nick Park, and on A Matter of Loaf and Death, he is joined by Editor David McCormick. Fans are going to love these.

How they Donut: The Making of a Matter of Loaf and Death , Inside the Wrong Trousers, A Close Shave: How they Did It all cover the various “making of” of all of these films. They are all informative and entertaining.

The Amazing World of Wallace and Gromit is a mini documentary detailing the origin of the characters and the imact they have had on humanity.

Cracking Contraptions are a blast for fans of Wallace and Gromit. These are mini-episodes and they show Wallace and Gromit demonstrating various inventions.

There are also an image gallery, production stills, and behind the scenes photos from different films.

And if that wasn’t enough, there is the first episode of Shaun the Sheep, a new TV series from the good people at Aardman  and a PC only game demo for Wallace and Gromit’s Grand Adventures.

All things considered, a smashing collection of films and bonus material

10/10

Overall (Not an Average) 9.5/10

The Movies 10/10
The Video 7/10
The Audio 7/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 10/10
Overall (not an average) 9.5/10

This week “The Colonel” joins us to share his thoughts on Thor the Movie, texting while on the road, stealing pumpkins, Paranormal Activity, and digital comics.

Despite being labeled as a one-shot, Dark Reign: The List – Punisher is sixth in the line of Dark Reign: The List one-shots done by several creative teams. The idea is to show Norman Osborn crossing off items on his to-do list. Now, stormin’ Norman is looking to mark off the good old Punisher – Frank Castle.

The Story

This little one-shot becomes a fairly important issue for the Punisher, as most of the Dark Reign: The List issues have been for their characters. Frank Castle has become a pain in Norman’s side, what with Norman being the insane criminal and Frank having his zero-tolerance policy on crime. Norman, being America’s top cop, drops the might of H.A.M.M.E.R. upon Frank and his truck basically right from the get go.

While our mouse – the Punisher – is typically dangerous, he’s nerfed here. Instead of plowing through H.A.M.M.E.R. agents with a storm of bullets, Frank goes soft because they’re still “cops.” Soft means a whip and an expanding Cap-like shield, all of which seem to come from a bag of holding left over from Frank’s D&D days. Using those and Pym Particles instead of the guns the Punisher is known for, particularly in a notable issue for him, just seems off.

It’s not just Frank either. H.A.M.M.E.R. agents descend on goblin gliders, dropping pumpkin bombs and shooting lasers. Frank’s current sidekick Henry runs around as a Rocket Racer wannabe. The first half of the book takes away some of the dark grit Punisher titles tend to have over traditional Marvel books.

Luckily, the fight with Draken – “Dark” Wolverine – picks up the second half and brings Punisher back to fighting dirty. Frank breaks out the guns, knives, explosives and teeth in a nice climatic fight. Their duel moves up to a dark and rainy rooftop to cap off their epic showdown. The setting fits the gravity of the situation.

One other thing I noticed in this book is Remender really likes his pauses. Several dialog bubbles and thought boxes contain double hyphens and ellipses. Even complete sentences that would seem like they ended would end with ellipses to draw them out. Remender should probably learn to cut down on those.

7/10

The Art

I tend to find people either like or hate John Romita Jr.’s work. I fall on the former. With that said, Punisher is not a title I’d choose him for. He’s usually more superheroish versus a preferably less exaggerated and more rounded style I’d like for Punisher. It’s blocky, and there is some overly-squaresh character art in this work. He’s good at showing wear and tear though, particularly on Frank’s face. By the end of the issue, you can see all the hits his face took.

Romita may have a slight case to ‘90s pouches. Punisher is decked out with slightly more than usual. Given that this is a “last stand” type of fight though, you might need a lot of pouches to hold everything to hold out with.

For the most part, the art is well textured and detailed. However, some of the coloring seems to bleed over the wrong lines at times and then stop short, which could be the colorist’s issue or the penciler or inker for not defining the boundaries.

The coloring is a bit more vibrant and light than I would have liked, but it does follow the thematic flow of the story and darken as it goes along. There’s the occasional inconsistency too, like Draken’s Wolverine eyes go back and forth from bloodshot to white.

6.5/10

Dark Reign: The List – Punisher  develops into a decent standoff with the Punisher. It just takes getting through the awkward first half. The art is decent enough. The ending is pretty important to any Punisher fan, so if you wear a black tee shirt with a skull on it, definitely give this a flip through. If you don’t care about Punisher or Dark Reign, you can give this an easy pass.

Overall (Not an Average) 6.5/10

The Review
Story 7/10
Art 6.5/10
Overall (Not an Average) 6.5/10

With Halloween right around the corner, a boxset of horror films from around the world is a treat you can give yourself, right? Palisades Tartan recently released Terror Pack, containing Sheitan, Carved and Slaughter Night on DVD and I gave it a try.

The Movies

Carved

Directed by Koji Shiraishi
Starring Haruhiko Kato, Rie Kuwana, Eriko Sato

Since there are three movies in this boxset, I will review them one at a time. First up, Carved from Japan and directed by Koji Shiraishi.

In Japan, there is a well known story that has been passed down from generation to generation. The Slit Mouthed Woman used to be beautiful wife of a skilled samurai. Due to her rage, she slashed her own face and endlessly wandered the countryside asking travelers “Am I beautiful?”

The folk tale has been updated in the 2007 film Carved. As the film opens, three boys are waiting in the park for the slit mouthed woman to appear after being told the gruesome tale. Suddenly, the earth begins to shake and she appears and takes one of the boys with her. Flash forward and we now follow the story of schoolteacher Kyoko Yamashita (Eriko Sato). Recently separated from her husband and accused of child abuse, she is terribly alone and wracked with guilt. She finds herself bonding with a student named Mika (Rie Kuwana). But it isn’t long before the Slit Mouthed Woman strikes again and Mika is taken right before Kyoko’s eyes.

Kyoko joins forces with another teacher and together, they are determined to discover the origin of the slit mouthed woman and how to put an end to her reign of terror. But, are they strong and smart enough for the challenge?

Carved, smartly deviating from the worn-out “ghostly girl with long black hair”, brings a breath of fresh air to the genre of supernatural films from Japan. While the characters spend the bulk of the plot investigating supernatural occurrences, which is expected in this genre of films, the origin of the ghost is interesting as is the appearance of the ghost. The performances are solid and the imagery is nicely eerie, Carved turns out to be a great way to spend an evening.

Sheitan

Directed by Kim Chapiron
Starring Vincent Cassell, Nico Le Phat Tan, Oliver Bartelemy, Leila Bekthi

Next up, a grisly little film from France called Sheitan.

Thai (Nico Le Phat Tan), Ladj (Ladj Liy) and Bart (Oliver Bartelemy) are out celebrating Christmas Eve in a nightclub. They meet Yasmine (Leila Bekthi) and Eve (Roxane Mesquida). They all decide to continue to the party at Eve’s childhood home in the French countryside.

As they group arrive at the farm, they are introduced by Eve to the caretaker Joseph (Vincent Cassel). Joseph is a guy that would give most people cause for concern: he has a crazy smile, yellowed teeth and a strange walk. And, I can’t even describe to you the weird décor the house features. But, the guys seem more interested in trying to get the girls in bed so they seemingly miss the alarms that should be going off inside their head about the odd Joseph.

Joseph seems to be excited for the company and it isn’t long before he is taking the group out to meet some of his friends and family. But, it isn’t long before things that a terrifying turn for the perverse and strange as Joseph shows everyone his true colors.

If you aren’t familiar with Vincent Cassel’s work from films such as Eastern Promises, Irreversible, Brotherhood of the Wolf or Ocean’s Twelve, you are going to discover a fascinating talent here. Cassell is a charismatic actor that works without boundaries and he lights up the screen whatever film he appears in and does a great job with the character Joseph.

Sheitan is a wonderful little nugget of strangeness and horror and is a great inclusion in this boxset.

Slaughter Night

Directed by Frank van Geloven, Edwin Visser
Starring Robert Eleveld, Victoria Koblenko, Martijn Oversteegen

Slaughter Night is a film from Denmark and directed by Frank van Geloven and Edwin Visser.

As the film begins, we learn that Danish prisoners in the 1800’s were used to release deadly gases from underground minds. If the prisoner lived, he would be set free. One particularly nasty individual was Andreis Martiens (Robert Eleveld). Andreis was a child killer who would use children as a sacrifice in a strange voodoo ritual in order to gain entrance to hell.

Flash forward to the present day. Kristel (Victoria Koblenko) is being driven home from a night of partying by her father (Martijn Oversteengen). Suddenly, they are involved in a horrible accident and her father is killed. Kristel soon discovers that her father was writing a book about Martiens and the mines where prisoners were killed.

After this shocking discovery, Kristel has an idea. She is going to take her friends and go down the mines and see if what her father was pursing was true with the help of a Ouija board. Of course, you know that there is going to be some sort of accident that is going to trap them in the mine and they are going to come face to face with ol’ Andreis.

While there are some good scary moments, overall this is a “paint by numbers” affair that doesn’t really bring anything new to the genre, which is a shame. This is the weakest of the three films offered in the boxset.

While Sheitan and Carved are enjoyable, Slaughter Night is the blandest of the films offered in this box set, but even it has a few good moments. But, for the price, you can’t go wrong. And this would be the perfect thing to crack open at the Halloween party you are planning for the weekend.

7/10

The Video

Sheitan is offered widescreen, Carved is presented in anamorphic widescreen and Slaughter Night is presented in anamorphic widescreen. Overall, all the films have a great transfer free of instances of grain or artifacts.

7/10

The Audio

Sheitan, Carved and Slaughter Night are all presented in Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1 and 2.0 Stereo. The dialogue is crystal clear on all three films and mixed well with sound effects and sound track.

6.5/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The three films are presented in standard amaray cases enclosed in a cardboard slip case.

Bonus feature included on Sheitan are a making of featurette and original theatrical trailer. Carved bonus features include The Making Of Carved, Cast Interviews and Theatrical Trailer. Finally, Slaughter Night offers up a Making of featurette, Outtake Reel, Theatrical Trailer and Trailers for other Palisades Tartan releases.

6.5/10

Overall (Not an Average) 7/10

The Review
The Movies 7/10
The Video 7/10
The Audio 6.5/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 6.5/10
Overall (not an average) 7/10

Not every Asian horror film features a creepy pale girl with long black hair. There are those ghost films but there are also some films that really push the boundaries of the genre beyond anything released in the United States. The Butcher is one such film.

The Movie

The Butcher is an extremely challenging film to watch. It doesn’t feature a deep plot but it does feature some hyper realistic and extremely disturbing visuals.  If this film doesn’t make you at least wince it may be time to re-evaluate your life. The film begins with a couple of guys sitting in a beat down slaughter house discussing their work, the work of making real snuff films. At this point the film is being shot from the perspective of four video cameras mounted on the heads of four hostages bound and waiting to be killed in some brutal ways for these snuff films.

The film is shot all on video from the head mounted cameras and from various video cameras either being held by the “filmmakers” or sitting on a tripod in the room. Often films like the Blair Witch Project attempt to do the same thing but what inevitably happens are some scenes are shot by a cinematographer and are impossible to have been shot by one of the characters. These shots can ruin the atmosphere of a film that is built on the gimmick of being found footage. This film doesn’t do it perfectly either but it’s as close as I’ve seen outside of the American film Paranormal Activity. Actually the shooting is handled perfectly. It was a clever decision to put cameras on the heads of the other hostages while one or two others are being tortured for the snuff film. This allowed for POV footage from the victim, footage from the cameras of the killers, and additional angles from the other hostages. What ends up on screen is a great variety of shots and angles but stylistically it all works within the formula of the snuff film video. The problem for me comes with the question, who tied all of the footage together? Who edited the video? If you start thinking about that it makes the end of the film even more depressing and effective because even if you believe it ended one way it had to end another for the film to have been edited.

Basically the meat of the film is these “filmmakers” doing the work of making the snuff film which entails torturing and killing the four people that have tied up in the slaughter house. A mix of elements is used to great effect in the film. The first and most expected effect are the blatant gore FX. There are beatings, stabbings, and one extremely disturbing rape scene. The second and possibly even more effective element comes in the scenes that happen off camera. In a few instances footage is shot from a camera mounted on a victim who just looks around the room while she hears horrible things happening to another victim in another room. This type of horror was used to a fantastic degree in a German film called Funny Games and in its subsequent American remake.

The Butcher is well executed but is it a good movie? That’s a tough question. The goal of the film is to disturb the viewer and on that count the film is a success. Asking that question is like asking if Irreversible is a good film. The Butcher does everything it set out to do and it does it as good or better as other films that have previously attempted a similar type of story. Also, the key to an important film for me is one that really affects me. So I’d say a film that makes me nearly vomit is as important as one that makes me rethink my views on a subject or that makes me truly happy by the closing credits. The Butcher is definitely a film that falls in the vomit bucket side of my film viewing experiences and as odd as it sounds that’s a good thing.

7/10

The Video

The widescreen video presentation here is made up of all digital video footage so colors are a bit washed out and there’s tons of video grain. Black levels are a little murky causing detail to drop off during darker scenes. The look of this film adds to the realism which makes the film all the more effective. So, the overall video is poor but it’s supposed to be.

7/10

The Audio

The audio like the video is fairly basic in presentation recorded live during the shoot. Dialogue can get a bit muffled when a camera isn’t pointed directly at the speaker and overall audio isn’t well balanced due to the style in which it was shot. The audio sells the snuff film feel of the film so it’s appropriately lower quality.

6/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The single disc DVD comes packaged in a standard amaray case featuring iconic art reminiscent of 70’s horror films such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

The only bonus features on the disc are a couple of photo galleries and the trailer. That’s unfortunate because there’s tons of opportunity here for featurettes on this type of filmmaking and even something on snuff films in general. A making of featurette and a commentary would have been nice too.

2/10

Many films came to my mind while I was watching The Butcher including The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity, Hostel, 8MM, and Funny Games. The Butcher takes ideas and style from all of these films but it doesn’t hold back. Just when most filmmakers would get a little too squeamish and decide to pull the camera back or go to an unrealistic angle to put some space between the viewer and the action Kim Jin Won doesn’t blink. This is a film that wouldn’t get made here in the Unites States and if it did it wouldn’t get major distribution. It takes a twisted and ballsy filmmaker to execute a project full on like this one so it demands at least one viewing.

Overall (Not an average) 7.5/10

The Review
The Movie 7/10
The Video 7/10
The Audio 6/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 2/10
Overall (Not an average) 7/10

We celebrate Halloween this week by discussing our favorite horror films along with Dollhouse dropping, Flash Forward, Vampire Diaries, this week’s box office, new comics, and videogames!!

Art by Ibraim Roberson, Mark Bagley, Dunncan Rouleau, Kelley Jones, Sergio Carrera, Ductin Nguyen, Matt Triano, Pow Rodrix, Andrei Bressan, Jonboy Meyers, Scott Clark, Billy Tucci and Peter Nguyen

DC is going all out with trick-or-treater’s grab bag of random goodies from a variety of creative teams for one big Halloween blow out. But is it a delicious chocolate bar or a piece of gum with a razor blade inside?

The Story

There are 13 different stories in this plus-sized issue with a wide range of tones and lengths. Many of them tell how many familiar characters celebrate particular Halloweens, while others fall more into horror stories. We start and end with Bizarro, leading us around Bizarro World on Halloween, which is just as backwards and familiar as one could hope and expect.

While a good number of these are tongue in cheek, like the one-page gags scattered in the book worth a chuckle or two, some have a serious nature. Guy Gardner’s little side story comes out of left field. However, instead of taking you out of the story, it adds a layer to give a simple Halloween party some depth and actually give Guy a poignant moment.

The focus isn’t entirely on Halloween, as Red Robin goes international, specifically to a Day of the Dead flashback on a Mexican island. It’s a fitting setting for Tim working through so many deaths in his life at the moment. Likewise, the focus isn’t necessarily in the now. A tale of a Halloween past in Bruce’s Batman days is a charming reminder of when things were slightly simpler for the Caped Crusaders.

Unfortunately, they can’t all be treats. Kid Flash’s story doesn’t feel too quick, being bogged down with dialog, made especially annoying when Harris wrote in Mirror Master’s dialog. Wonder Woman watching a fake Blair Witch Project feels off my spooking the Amazon princess, just to climax simply with a pool party with three female Teen Titans (more a treat for the guys, I guess).

8/10

The Art

There’s just as much art variety as there is story. A lot of it fits the specific tale. The Outsiders’ little bout with the supernatural has a dark and undefined style that fits its horror nature. Red Robin’s Day of the Dead adventure has a very painted look and style that’s reminiscent of the cultural art for the holiday. The Halloween of Bruce’s past is pale, giving it an aged look. Superman and Flash’s race uses lighter colors, golden even and is well detailed to be the idealized image it should have. These are some good examples of where the art hits its mark.

Of course with such variety, there’s bound to fall short somewhere. Mark Bagley screws up Guy Gardner’s eyes, making them especially crooked in one panel and not keeping their colors consistent in an otherwise average piece of work. Even outside of screw ups, a couple of the shorts just have overall run of the mill art that doesn’t really feel special for this special, particularly in Kid Flash’s story. If the Wonder Woman story is shooting for the eye candy treat, then Scott Clark could have done a bit better.

7/10

It’s safe to say that this book is more treat than trick. It’s an expensive treat though with a $5.99 cover price. The shorts are pretty good, but they’re just shorts. Plus, I think DC’s financial department is missing the point. Do you charge trick-or-treaters for treats?

The Review
Story 8/10
Art 7/10
Overall (Not an Average) 8/10

Talk about being different as night and day. The relationship between Batman and Superman takes that old saying to a literal degree. Batman is a vigilante when properly portrayed. He’s violent and he works on the fringes as much against authorities as with them. Superman is a traditional hero type taking out bad guys while setting an example for kids. He’s as all American as a DC Comics character gets. These two characters are so different that they just had to be forced to work together. The pairings between the two of them in comics have made for some of the most entertaining reading in comics. Now that relationship finds its way into a feature film.

The Movie

This film is very much of the modern era and it actually features some social commentary about our times. America is in an economic downfall and out of some sort of desperation America actually elects shady businessman Lex Luthor president of the United States. Luthor won the election based on his promises of social and economic change. Once in office he actually finds some success in bringing the country back from the brink of economic disaster. Using his new found influence with the American people he begins turning them against super heroes. In a very familiar move he wants to enlist the super heroes as government employees. This is a story that was done as a major event last year in a Marvel Comics event called Civil War. Sure the reasons for the Civil War are very different than what happens here in Public Enemies but there’s no denying the similarities between the film and the Marvel story when it comes to heroes being forced to register with the government.

Luthor has been Superman’s arch enemy for many years and the Man of Steel refuses to believe that Luthor doesn’t have some sinister endgame in the works. Batman also finds himself not trusting the President so the two heroes end up working together when Luthor sends several members of the Justice League to arrest Superman and Batman for not registering. The two heroes work in very different styles but they have to find some way of working it out. Even in their alternate identities of Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne they end up in competition for the attention of spunky reporter Lois Lane. Things get worse when a giant kryptonite meteor heads toward Earth and Luthor finds a way to frame Superman and makes things even worse for him and the Dark Knight as they continue to investigate Luthor and try to find out what his plan is.

The basic story for this film comes from a comic book series, now classic graphic novel written by Jeph Loeb. I say basic because the creators of this film only took the most basic elements from that dramatic and highly character driven graphic novel. This film is limited by budget and time and also it must be well balanced for all ages so nothing gets nearly is complex in the film as it did in the book and that’s a real shame. If DC Comics took a survey I’m sure they’d discover that the average age of those buying this DVD is much older than they expect and they really need to start catering to that age group a bit more. This film is just over an hour long so it would have been very easy to add ten or fifteen minutes to the film to deepen the story and add more hardship for the heroes. Doing that would have made the overall story have more impact. With that complaint firmly lodged what they did take from the graphic novel is highly entertaining and some of the things they chose to leave out, such as Robin, were not missed. This is easily a much better interpretation of this classic story than the Superman Doomsday film. The art style in this film is also quite annoying honestly. The Green lantern film and the Justice League films both featured better art style than this film. It feels like the creators were attempting to replicate some of the exaggerated designs from the original graphic novel and they really shouldn’t have. If there are any complaints about that original graphic novel they are usually lodged deeply in the art and style. So, not only did the creators of this film gut the story they brought over some of the worst art concepts to the film. Above all of that though, the film is still overall a lot of fun. There’s one major action scene that nearly makes the film worth watching alone.

7.5/10

The Video

The colors and detail on this 1080p widescreen blu-ray are gorgeous and look the best of any of the DC Comics films released on home video so far. Black levels are often challenging for animation on home video but in this HD release they are near perfect. Batman’s black cape and cowl are deep black but still move and have detail. The only issues with this release are some pixilation here and there and just a bit of aliasing in a couple of spots. Overall though this blu-ray looks fantastic.

 8/10

The Audio

Shockingly this “high definition” release only features a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio mix. It’s stunning that this blu-ray doesn’t feature a lossless audio option. The audio is a mixed bag. Dialogue is sometimes crisp and clear and other times it feels a little lost in the mix. On the good side the surround speakers get a good amount of use during action scenes. With all of the surround usage you’d expect a fantastic dynamic range but since there’s no lossless audio the dynamics are left fairly flat, even during explosions.

6/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The blu-ray comes packaged in a standard slim blu-ray case with a digital copy also included. The art on the slipcover and the main box feels very influenced by the cover of the graphic novel. While that art might not be that great it does connect quickly in the minds of comics fans to the original graphic novel.

First up for bonus features is a 20 minute conversation with Jeph Loeb and others about the personalities of the tow lead characters. This conversation is interesting but it actually gets much deeper than the film. Then there’s a first look at the next big DC film Crisis on Two earths. As much as I’m excited for this film I’m also concerned because this too is a very complex story that might not do well being stripped down to the minimum. The lengthiest bonus feature on the disc is an hour long dinner with voice actor Tim Conroy (Batman), and producers from various DC animated projects. This roundtable discussion covering most of DC’s animated films since Batman the Animated Series is really interesting. The rest of the bonus features are brief featurettes that have all appeared on other DC animated releases such as a brief featurette on the Wonder Woman film, one on the Green Lantern film, and one on the DC Comics even Blackest Night. These repeat featurettes are a bit irritating for the collector of DC animated films but for someone who just bought this blu-ray they are brief introductions to the other animated films. Finally there’s a digital copy of the film.

6/10

This isn’t the film it could have been but it is still quite entertaining and better than most of the Marvel animated films.

Overall (Not an average) 7/10

The Review
The Movie 7.5/10
The Video 8/10
The Audio 6/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 6/10
Overall (Not an Average) 7/10