Archives for August, 2012
Directed by Sam Liu and Rick Morales
Starring Josh Keaton, Kevin Michael Richardson, Grey DeLisle, and Jason Spisak
The Series
The “Rise of the Red Lanterns” story arc focuses on Green Lanterns human pilot Hal Jordon and hulking pink alien Kilowag traversing far off planets as they investigate and combat against the emerging threat of the oppressive Red Lanterns. Right there, the show fixes one of the problems the live-action film has, which is to take it off Earth, although I think a balance needs to be struck with some Earth adventures, which will probably be fixed in later episodes. We get to see the Green Lanterns actually be space cops. Just as much of the show, if not more, features Hal and Kilowag dealing with extraterrestrial problems that don’t deal with the Red Lanterns.
The series does a good job exploring and reinventing some of the standard Green Lantern mythos. The series takes reasonable liberties introducing other Green Lanterns and more alien species that DC fans will be sure to enjoy. Viewers get to see more of the color spectrum than the usual Green Lantern green and Sinestro yellow. I’m glad the series keeps away from the easy villains of Sinestro and Parallax, although I’m sure the series is even gladder after the film.
The acting is all well done. Josh Keaton and Kevin Michael Richardson pull off a great Hal and Kilowag respectively. The character of Red Lantern Razor (Josh Spisak) is acted well, but I find his sort of newbie character cliché he feeels tired, the reformed bad guy looking for redemption and begrudgingly opening to the good guys’ ways. The computer Aya (Grey Delisle) is a more interesting computer program with sentience trying to fit in, and that fits better with me but could also be tired to others.
The series has a few slower points in the middle going towards the end, as it revisits and emphasizes elements from its earlier episodes. It also lacks a sense of suspense, the characters don’t feel as in too much trouble, but this does add to the excitement on those moments where they do (usually when facing Atrocitus).
All together, Green Lantern: The Animated Series is off to a decent start. As the show moves away from the movie and can play with more of the Green Lantern canon, I’m sure it’ll be more fun. The one thing I missed from the show is more Earth Green Lanterns. From what I hear, Guy Gardner is showing up in part two, so here’s to that.
7/10
The Video and Audio
The video is presented in a matted widescreen format to maintain its broadcast aspect ratio, yet also enhanced for widescreen TVs, so what you saw on Cartoon Network may be what you see here.
The CGI animation unfortunately isn’t all that much to look at. The character and background designs are simple, and while some are pretty interesting and unique, others come off as bland and empty, particularly the scenery. Hal himself looks like the classic Bruce Timm character style from his work in the Batman, Superman, and Justice League animated series in the ‘90s and ‘00s, and I don’t think it looks as well in CGI as in 2-D. Adding to this is some occasionally jerky movements, which overall gives the show a cheap feel, which is still well transferred to disc, so while it may look cheap, at least it’s clean.
The series audio and subtitles come in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and I believe Thai. The reason for the uncertainty? The box only lists English and Spanish, and I don’t understand the alphabet used to spell out the Thai language option, if that is indeed it. Sounds enough like Ong Bak though.
The audio is easily understood and comes through clearly. The soundtrack does a good job setting the theme of this epic space journey, especially the main opening theme.
6/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features
The two-disc set comes in a standard DVD case. The only extra is Green Lantern: The Animated Series #0 in digital comic form. It plays a page at a time, then each individual panel before moving on to the next page. It’s more trouble than it’s worth on any screen 20 inches or smaller.
3/10
Overall (Not an Average)
The series is just starting, and this is an early release. I like where the show is going, and I want to see more. With its weak selection of bonuses, this isn’t the release for collectors of DC animated works, of which there are plenty. It will be fine for kids to go through, or to watch while waiting for the second part of season one to finish and a complete season set with more bells and whistles is released.
6/10
The Review
The Series 7/10
The Video and Audio 6/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 3/10
Overall (Not an Average) 6/10
Issue #12 of Avengers Vs. X-Men hits stores and digital October 3rd and signifies the end of the summer blockbuster series and the beginning of Marvel Now! To get us all hyped Marvel has provided a little teaser image. Check it out below:
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This week we discuss a sex strike in Africa, the loss of an American hero, a Justice League movie, more shows on Amazon Prime, new fantasy film ball block anticipation, and Canadian TV on Syfy!
Written by Dallas Middaugh
Art by Niklas Asker
Originally Created by Jeanne DuPrau
This comic about children trying to escape their town surrounded by darkness attempts to shine like the novel it’s based on. Does it?
The Story
The City of Ember is the sole light in a world of darkness, its citizens fearful to venture into the unknown. As the town becomes plagued by power outages, food shortages, and political corruption, the children Lina and Doon find clues that may lead to everyone’s salvation. That is, if they can get anyone to believe them.
The City of Ember: The Graphic Novel is an adaptation to the 2003 “regular” novel of The City of Ember, which I haven’t read. It was also adapted into a Hollywood feature with Bill Murray, which I also haven’t seen. I’m going into this completely fresh.
The story is a feel-good tale of youthful optimism. It’s about the idea that when things look down and dark (like in a cave, perhaps), hope and perseverance will prevail. With that theme, it does a good job. The children are earnest in their pursuits against the legitimately corrupted adults. Thankfully, not all adults are bad guys, only a few. Going the “all adults are bad guys” route is an easy trap to fall into, but the children, Lina in particular, find plenty of adult support.
The downside is that this adaptation feels like an abridged story, even without having read the source material. Everything happens too quickly. There’s not much actual character development or world building. We don’t learn much about the lives of the characters, even the male lead Doon. The history and society of Ember, besides the origin that supposed to be secret, goes mostly ignored. You get an idea of what it’s like to live in Ember, but you never really feel it.
What you do feel though is the ending. When Doon and Lina find the reveal they were seeking, you the reader feel the cathartic release with them. You’ll know very early on what has been hidden from them this whole time, not that there is any effort to fool the reader, but watching these children discover it for themselves is more rewarding than I thought it would be. Beyond that, it makes me want to know what happens after the end. If any work can make you interested in continuing its journey, it’s done a good job.
7/10
The Art
For the most part, the art is fairly passable, not awesome or awful. The only real knock I’d give it is that the character designs are too similar. This is especially true for the children, who you can often swap hair styles and not be able to tell the difference.
Likewise with the story in general, the art’s high point is the ending, where it does a superb job conveying the emotional release of the children. The artist Niklas Asker captures a sense of awe and wonder on these children’s faces, made just a bit more impactful with tears of joy.
6/10
Overall
On its own, this comic is a fine story of youthful optimism trumping the establishment, and what kid doesn’t love to read about that? As an adaptation of on earlier work, I suspect that the weaknesses I found with the lack of development in the characters and the society are probably better detailed in the original novel, but I don’t really know. I’d like to know more, and I hope to see the other books in this series also get the comic treatment.
7/10
The Review
Story 7/10
Art 6/10
Overall (Not an Average) 7/10
Coca-Cola, Carmike Cinemas, and NASCAR have all teamed up to give you a chance to win a trip to the Daytona 500! All you have to do is head out to Carmike Cinemas and pick up one of four collectable Nascar cups now on sale! Proceeds from each sale go to the USO as well.
To get you to the theater how about we partner with Coca-Cola, NASCAR, and Carmike Cinemas and get you a night at the movies? We have a great prize pack to give away that includes a Coca-Cola cooler, two of the collectable Nascar cups, a t-shirt, two movie tickets to a Carmike Cinema, and a $50 AMEX gift card to get you dinner and snacks at the theater!
Grand Prize: One winner and one guest will be flown to Daytona Beach in February for a three night stay to see the Daytona 500! The winner also receives a free rental car, access to special pre-race Nascar events, and more! Check here for the official rules.
All You have to do is “Like” the Carmike Cinema Facebook page and hit Submit below and let us know what movie you’ll see this fall with those free tickets! Include your full name and mailing address so we know where to send the goodies!
Submit
Contest Ends September 15th
General disclosure: The prize was provided by Coca-Cola. Neither Coca-Cola nor its program partners (NASCAR + Carmike Cinemas) are sponsors, administrators, or involved in any other way with this giveaway. All opinions expressed in the post are my own and not those of The Coca-Cola Company or aforementioned partners. Winner to be chosen by CineGeek.
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This week we list the best Tony Scott films, get the Dark Tower updates, a Rocketeer remake, and Niko really wants to get it up!
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At the age 68 Tony Scott, one of our best summer movie filmmakers, committed suicide. At the time of this writing it isn’t known what led him to the decision to take his own life. He’s a loss to his family and friends, and a loss to the world in the form of the future work that could have been. He most commonly existed in a class of filmmaker along with Michael Bay and Roland Emerich but different than them because his films weren’t dumb. Scott could execute a slick action packed summer blockbuster that didn’t insult your intelligence. He had his share of misses but when he was on, he made some true action and thriller classics.
Here is my top five list of his best works. A list like this are extremely subjective. One of my picks, Man on Fire, is below 40% on Rotten Tomatoes. Some will complain that there are some absences in this list, most notably Top Gun. As much fun as that film is it just doesn’t stand the test of time the way other films from the director do. Also, this is only a list from films he has directed. Scott has produced many other fantastic films but for this list I just wanted to focus on the films he truly had his hands on. They aren’t in the list but Enemy of the State and Spy Game are two films that were almost there. They are great films that hold up; the ones on the list just slightly edge these two out. Scott was a filmmaker that made his bones in music videos, an area that’s almost completely dead these days. Of the filmmakers that came from that area he is one of the few that truly had talent outside of just the visual. He knew how to work with actors and get their best performances. Even in his worst movies the acting was always top notch. He was a rare breed and will be dearly missed by anyone who truly loves film.
1. True Romance
In a lot of ways this film is the perfect cross of indie writing and slick production and directing. The script was written by Quinton Tarantino. Tarantino would most likely have approached this story with his trademark 70’s motif. So it’s actually fresh to see a grindhouse story with Tarantino’s catchy dialogue in tow brought to us so clean and bright. The mix makes for Scott’s most unique film and one of Tarantino’s best too. Scott seemed to attempt to return to this combo with Domino but that film just didn’t work. True Romance stars Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette as two lovers on the run from well, just about everyone. Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken share one of the most iconic moments ever put on film in this movie.
2. The Last Boy Scout
Bruce Willis had perfected the super cop by accident in Die Hard by the time this film came along in 1991. Scott took the whole thing to the next level by making Willis’ character nearly completely unlikable. Willis’ character was in truth a depressed and beaten man with only his daughter as a ray of hope. This film also gave Damon Wayans a chance to shine that he didn’t take advantage of in subsequent acting decisions. The Last Boy Scout is a summer action-fest with heart. Look for a young Danielle Harris in a fun role as Willis’ daughter.
3. Man on Fire
Man on Fire is a film that was critically panned back in 2004 but movie goers loved the visceral retro action feel to the movie. It’s a simple but surprisingly vicious story for a Scott big budget action flick. Denzel Washington plays a jaded ex-mercenary doing guard duty for a little girl. When he fails at his job and the girl is taken and presumed dead he returns to his killer roots to discover the truth and exact a little revenge. The film is well acted and gorgeous to look at. It features the coolest riff on subtitles ever, an approach still being ripped off in new films.
4. Beverly Hills Cop II
Martin Brest directed the first Beverly Hills Cop film in 1984 and its success warranted taking everything up a notch for the sequel. So Tony Scott was brought in to execute the film and it was a brilliant move because the film he crafted was a step above its predecessor in virtually every way. Scott’s deft hand with action and Eddie Murphy’s unstoppable charisma and rough edged comedy chops made this film a classic of the 80’s. Along with bringing back Judge Reinhold from the previous film Brigitte Nielsen was introduced as a leggy hard to forget villain. The balance of action and comedy was near perfection in this film back in 1987. Yes it was once ok to do an R rated action movie.
5. Crimson Tide
Crimson Tide pitted Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington against each other as officers on a submarine that has received partial orders to launch nuclear weapons. Scott is out of his normal “space” with this film because he can’t get those gorgeous wider shots he had become known for up to the point of this film. Nearly the entire film takes place in a claustrophobic submarine and it sits heavily on the shoulders of the two leads and they carry the story admirably. The film is suspenseful, thought provoking, and action packed.
Author: Lee Bacon
Illustrator: Brandon Dorman
Publisher: Delacorte Press
“Our class got out of sixth period early the day my parents tried to flood the earth.” As far as first lines go maybe it’s not “The towers of Zenith aspired above the morning mist” or “There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb and he almost deserved it” or “Far out in the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun” which is so awesome it manages to start two of my favorite novels. But as first lines go it’s good, good enough to keep me reading even after the plot summary on the back cover left me cold.
Joshua Dread is a sixth grader which is not a remarkable fact. His parents are super villains, which is a quite remarkable fact. At certain times of my childhood I was convinced my parents were super villains, but upon reflection I don’t recall any of Mom’s plotted plants looking at me like I was fertilizer, there were never any zombies chained in the basement and Dad’s workshop was for repairing lawn mowers and recovering speaker cabinets, not reverse engineering nanotechnology. Joshua’s parents, The Dread Duo to you and me, consider it their mission in life to topple the status quo, to crash the system, to give civilization the three finger salute (you know- CTRL+ALT+DEL) and start it all over, this time with them in charge. The super villain lifestyle can be hard on a kid. The Dreads are constantly on the move with Joshua having to adapt to each new environment which is hard enough without having to remember your new name at the same time. Over the last several years however things have settled down somewhat and the Dreads have managed to live undetected in Sheepsdale in upstate New York. Joshua’s Mom is a professor at the local University and his dad is a stay at home inventor, which I have decided is what I want to be when I grow up. Joshua is attending Sheepsdale Middle School and nobody, not even Joshua’s best friend Milton suspects the truth, even after the flood the earth plan goes south.
Of course is wouldn’t be much of a story if there were not a few complications. Complication number one is a bit obvious to anyone who remembers Mendel and his peas. Despite the fact that both of his parents have super powers when pencils start exploding in his hands, he starts leaving scorched handprints and footprints and school bullies start hurling themselves away from him Joshua is left perplexed. I guess Mendel and his peas aren’t discussed until seventh grade in Sheepsdale. The second complication is that super villains are disappearing, which might sound like good news unless both your parents are super villains. The third complication is a girl. The girl’s name is Sophie. She’s new in town and Joshua thinks she might have a secret, possibly a secret similar to his. Stir all of this together with an uber super villain, a vain and possibly corrupt super hero, three retired hover scooters and some smoke monsters and you’ve got a rousing tale.
I have to admit that the back cover synopsis did not grab me, but “Our class got out of sixth period early the day my parents tried to flood the earth” did. I could see how a kid with super villain parents could have some unique problems, but how do you tell a young adult story about this kid without either totally white washing the parents avocation or just making them complete caricatures neither of which I found appealing or interesting. But after that first line, I couldn’t resist giving the book a try and I’m glad I did. I can’t say I’m completely happy with how the parents villainy is treated but I quickly realized is that the book is about Joshua and not his parents, you would have thought I would have figured that out just by looking at the cover but sometimes it takes a minute or sixty for a concept to penetrate. And ultimately the story is more about the choice than what you choose. It’s about Joshua coming to terms with the fact that he does have a choice and exactly what that means. Appropriately for a story about super heroes and super villains there are exploding hidden lairs and a superpower verses super technology showdown to wrap things up. Well, not wrap things up too tightly, hopefully we will get to read many more of Joshua’s adventures over the next several years.
8/10
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Written by Joss Whedon and Andrew Chambliss
Drawn by Georges Jeanty and Karl Moline
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
So Angel was possessed and became “Twilight” and he and Buffy sexed a new universe into existence. In the process they almost destroyed this universe but not before Buffy destroyed the Seed and in turn destroyed all the magic in the world. Oh, and Angel killed Giles. How could Season 9 top all that?
The Story
In Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight things got a little wonky, especially toward the end. My biggest complaint was the scope of the story. Every over arching story in Buffy has had end of the world connotations but once Joss Whedon took his story to the comics and didn’t have budget constraints he decided to truly go global. It took up until the last story arc to rein everything back in and focus on the villain at hand. In the end we saw something that we thought we’d never see and were left with questions about the future of the franchise.
Now we are in Season Nine and the world has changed quite a bit. Angel and Faith are off fighting the good fight in their own monthly book and Buffy and Co. are trying to be normal humans. But can a slayer really settle down and live a normal life? Because Buffy destroyed the Seed and all magic in the world the consequences are far reaching. The boundaries between dimensions are closed and the army of slayers do not have a direction any longer. One in particular hates Buffy wants her dead. Add on top of that the new “zompires” running around and a police detective who is looking for Buffy so she can answer some questions about a rash of murders and Season Nine is off and running.
Because of these new developments the Scoobies are worried about Buffy. But when Andrew is tasked with keeping Buffy safe he makes a typical Andrew blunder and turns Buffy into a robot. Not the run of the mill Buffybot we have seen before but a robot with Buffy’s consciousness inside. His work is so good that Buffy doesn’t know she’s a robot until she loses an arm in battle. But will finding her “true self” lead to happiness or make her wish for more?
In the process Willow has broken up with Kennedy and stolen the slayer scythe to try and bring magic back to the world, Xander and Dawn are starting to have grown up problems and Spike, well Spike is still hanging out with the bugs. After all this Buffy decides to join Kennedy’s slayer bodyguard group but soon finds she is dealing with Angel’s old foes Wolfram and Hart.
One of the things I really like about this “season” is that it is split between two books, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine and Angel & Faith. Although they are not directly linked the two books do see some crossover with Willow going to England to find Angel and the Wolfram & Hart link in Buffy. This time things feel more like a cohesive story and more centralized to the towns they encompass. This book is about half way through its run and everything is hitting fever pitch just like the best seasons of the television series. I cannot wait to read both these titles every month and I have my fingers crossed that the end result will be great. Joss has not let me down so far.
8/10
The Art
Usually the great thing about comic book art is that no matter how established the character the artist can still take their own license in depicting the character. It becomes a little tricky when the characters are based on real people that are well known to the fan base. If the fans cannot recognize their beloved characters and the actors who portray them then that can pull readers out of the story. Luckily for us Jeanty and Moline’s depictions are easily recognizable. And Jeanty’s cover artwork is gorgeous.
8/10
I love this book. It feels like Buffy and it reads like Buffy. Hopefully this “season” will stay on track and delivery another satisfying and forward moving finale.
Overall (Not an Average) 8/10
The Review
The Story 8/10
The Art 8/10
Overall (Not an Average) 8/10
The Streamy Awards are a yearly recognition of excellence in web video and streamed content. If you like something say, such as The CineGeek Webcast, nominating is a great way to show your support for said stellar show! Check out the awards is also a really cool way to discover other great content on the web. So again, if you’d like to submit your favorite show such as say, The CineGeek Webcast, click the link below:
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So Arrested Development started filming this week, Dish subscribers still can’t watch Hell on Wheels, the Olympics are over, and there are awesome documentaries on Netflix!
When we think of Diamond Select Toys we usually think of the stylish minimates or the super articulated action figures but DST has also dabbled quite a bit with vehicles too! DST has previously released the Back to the Future car and they’ve just announced they’re going back in time, to bring all three eras of that car back to store shelves including the 50′s one, the original one, and the old west one! These cars are 1:15 scale and feature lights and sounds!
Along with BttF Diamond is also bringing us two other cool rides: the hearse/dragster combo from the 1960′s Munsters TV series and the ever popular KITT car from the 1980′s Knight Rider series.These babies are also 1:15 scale replicas with lights and sounds. KITT even gives us some classic car talk:
- “I am K.I.T.T.”
- “All systems functioning”
- “Activate Turbo Boost.”
- “Michael, we are losing power.”
- “Auto Cruise Mode.”
- “Michael, I detect vehicles.”
- “After all, we’re only human.”
KITT also features several great sound effects:
- Turbo Boost
- Scanner
- Revving Engine
- Start Up and Peel Out
Check out the images below and get them below!
Created by Frank Darabont
Starring Andrew Lincoln, Sarah Wayne Callies, Laurie Holden, Steven Yeun, Norman Reedus
Season one of The Walking Dead was a groundbreaking television nighttime drama that scored huge with fans. Ratings were consistent and they made the series one of the most popular on basic cable. What did AMC do in response? Cut the budget and fire the showrunner! Frank Darabont made each episode of the series look like a feature film and he worked with writers to properly balance the drama of the characters with the menace of the zombies. Season 2 began crippled featuring some of his work that had already been done before his exodus and a new showrunner to find footing.
The Season
With the rebooted crew in mind the stuttered and loose feeling of the beginning of season 2 makes a lot of sense. It feels like season 2 starts off stalled with some storylines being dragged out while the new team figures out exactly what they want to do. Darabont had a definitive vision for the series in look and story and I think the new team just needed to find a way to make it their own. The season starts with Carl being shot and it feels like we hover over his bed with very little happening for way too long. At the same time the search for Sophia is also being dragged out. There’s tons of melodrama as her mother constantly freaks and everyone tries to comfort her. One character, Daryl, actually emerges from that story with some interesting character layers. Oddly, of all the characters he is the one we like the most throughout the season.
That leads to the biggest problem with this season of the show. The lowered budget yanks back the level of suspense and horror by cutting zombie scenes and leaves us to focus on the characters. What we discover is there an unlikable bunch, even Rick, who we are obviously supposed to be pulling for. The way Shane’s character is handled this season it feels like we are being pounded over the head with “this is a really bad man! You don’t like him!”. It’s all a set up for his also long dragged out character evolution. That pivotal moment in the comics is pure magic in execution. In the television series the wind is taken from the sails of it unfortunately. On another note, does anyone care about Carl, on the show I mean? Once he recovers from his gunshot he just sort of roams free on the farm and often finds trouble.
So yes this season is substandard to the first but there are many bright spots. Daryl is a character that gets very interesting in this season and hopefully he will continue to grow in the series, until he finally dies. Since he’s not in the comic it’s hard to predict if or when he will get chomped on but one thing this series does well is it demonstrates that truly no one is safe. The ending of Sophia’s story is truly jaw dropping, a highpoint for both seasons. The show spends way too much time on the farm but the eventual end of that story arc in the last few episodes is handled in an epic and exciting way.
Season 2 of The Walking Dead had some serious problems but it also had some good bones for further growth. The second half of the season picks up nicely and the finale offers some great opportunities. I will say this though; writers do something with T-Dog or kill him off! I don’t care which choice you make, just make it already!
6.5/10
The Video
This series is shot on 16 mm film which definitely makes it appear grainy and dirty. The look plays heavily with the complete atmospheric package. I’d trade the film for a digital shoot to get more zombie action though. Check out 28 Days Later. That film looks plenty gritty and it was shot digitally. So as you might expect clarity is often an issue and edges can come off a bit soft. Detail level fluctuate greatly depending on how zoomed in the image is. Close-ups feature good detail while wider shots find fine details disappearing in the grain. This “look” is what the filmmakers intended though and it’s translated onto Blu-ray perfectly and it looks substantially better than when originally aired on cable.
8/10
T<strong>he Audio
This season gets a 7.1 TrueHD mix that for the most part is stellar. In scenes where zombies are on the slow and steady rampage the mix is incredibly immersive. It sounds like they are shuffling and moaning from every corner of the soundstage. Environmental sounds and other ambient noise completely fills the space. Action scenes also offer up the goods with whizzing bullets, brutal and gross melees and all of the other action filling the space in exact the right area at the right time.
9/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features
The four Blu-rays are packaged in a fat Blu-ray amaray case with an ad riddled insert. The artwork for this release is suitable but not particularly memorable. It’ll stand out on a store shelf as The Walking Dead so marketing goal achieved!
There are five audio commentaries featuring a mixed bag of film crew and a few of the actors. The new showrunner Glen Mazzara and comic book and one of the show writers Jonathan Hickman are the most common in the various mixes. Mazzara moderates the commentaries to the point that they feel more like Q&A’s than actual audio commentaries. This is good because we actually get some interesting information but bad because they don’t feel as relaxed and conversational as commentaries usually do. Q&A’s could have been kept to the featurettes.
All of the featurettes are on the fourth disc. Each of the featurettes focuses on one small part of the overall creative process. Some of the featurettes cover specific scenes and characters while others take a more sweeping approach to covering the season by examining who dies and why and the differences between the comic and the television show. Overall all there’s great information and behind the scenes footage to be taken from these short featurettes even if some parts are repeated here and there and one of them in particular feels like a marketing piece rather than a true supplemental featurette. It would have been nice to see a real documentary about the season produced. I know from a marketing perspective it looks better to put a list of featurettes on the back of the box rather than one lengthy documentary but a feature documentary could have easily been broken into chapters and those listed as individual featurettes on the box.
There are also some deleted scenes and the webisodes that were produced for the website to bridge the two seasons. The webisodes don’t feature the cast from the show but they do exist in the universe and it’s cool to see other areas of the zombie apocalypse realized outside of the show.
7.5/10
The Walking Dead Season 2 strolls along like a zombie searching for a little dinner. It’s an often slow and painful process but once he gets to take a bite it’s truly tasty. Season 3 is perfectly set up at the end of this set so let’s hope the new crew is set to get back to a faster paced better developed story.
Overall (Not an Average) 7/10
The Review
The Season 6.5/10
The Video 8/10
The Audio 9/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 7.5/10
Overall (Not an Average) 7/10
Directed by Jesse Cote
Starring Mark Hildreth, Laura Harris, and Brian Drummond
Created by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday
The fourth arc in Joss Whedon’s landmark run with Marvel’s merry mutants is now adapted into a motion comic for your viewing pleasure, but is it pleasing?
The Film
The X-Men can’t catch a break. After facing an alien bent on wiping out mutant-kind and their own training room turning homicidal (see the first two arcs “Gifted” and “Dangerous”), Cyclops and friends have some family issues to work out as one member betrays and cripples the team.
The “Torn” arc picks up the pace after the drop off in the previous “Dangerous” arc. It doesn’t have the blockbuster action feel that Whedon starts and ends his run on the title, instead focusing more on the X-Men themselves. This is where Whedon’s talent for ensemble casts comes into play, with everyone feeling like they get a good share of time and development.
If Whedon should get any credit for anything, it’s for relegating Wolverine to supporting comic relief and making it work. Most of the laughs come from Wolverine doing his thing, being the best there at what he does, even when what he does isn’t what you usually expect. He plays off well with student Hisako Ichiki/Armor,
There’s some mind play that may take a second watch to get, thanks to the myriad of mutant psychics in the book. It also takes some time before it gets to the action, so if that’s what you’re looking for, this part of the run will be your down time. The more I come back to the story though, the more I appreciate this arc in particular for Whedon’s excellent character building in the break of action. One particular story line has even now yet to see resolution, but for what it is at the cliffhanger, it’s all a fulfilling story.
But the important thing is that this is a motion comic, not the original comic book, and it’s this presentation that really hurts the story. The voice acting is average at best, and obnoxiously accented at worst with Colossus. More annoying is the part divisions. The arc is divided into six 10-min parts, oddly 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, 3A, and 3B. For one, why not just one through six? For two, each part comes with a bland intro and end credits, even in “Play All.” Every 10 minutes, your viewing experience is interrupted by the same credits and intro, and it gets old fast.
The “Torn” arc is still a good part of a great run, and I recommend Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men to anyone with a modicum of interest in comics, but not in this format. Stick with paper.
4/10
The Video
The art drops quality from paper to motion video, not appearing as sharp and crisp as Cassaday and his team originated. The animation itself is pretty jerky, laughably so at times. It’s in stark contrast against unmoving backgrounds and other elements in the shot. All together, it’s almost distracting, especially if you have previously read the printed comic first.
3/10
The Audio
The sound is very basic, but it comes through clearly enough. The motion comic gives sound to the comic’s dialog and sound effects. There’s no trouble hearing or understanding anything, but nothing remarkable either. The additional music is likewise forgettable.
5/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features
No bonuses, and not much of a case either. The disc comes in a cardboard folder covered with art from the comics (which looks better than in the motion version). Such a bare bones release, what’s the point?
2/10
Overall (Not an Average)
Personally, I never see the point of a motion comic. I always thought it was a lazy step when a company didn’t feel like doing a full animated adaptation. That said, I’ve seen some good examples, with Marvel’s own Black Panther coming to mind when I saw it a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, Astonishing X-Men: “Torn” proves my worries. The story is good, but if you have the option, read it instead.
Heck, with the run time of the film at about 80 minutes, you might actually finish faster reading.
4/10
The Review
The Film 4/10
The Video 3/10
The Audio 5/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 2/10
Overall (Not an Average) 4/10
Many shows are starting late this year on purpose. There are some exceptions though. Grimm is returning next week and the new JJ Abrams series Revolution isn’t far behind. So, to get geared up for these series NBC has sent us a preview for Revolution and a link for a free download of the Grimm ebook! Check ‘em out below!
Revolution
Get the Grimm eBook from iTunes here!
