Tuesday, April 6, 2010

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Blu-ray Review: Fantastic Mr. Fox

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Fantastic Mr. Fox
Three-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo
Directed by Wes Anderson
Starring George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Wallace Wolodarsky, Jason Schwartzman, Eric Chase Anderson
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Release Date: March 23, 2010

I've never been a big Wes Anderson fan. The films I have seen from the filmmaker have been too quirky for my tastes, the kind of quirk that crosses the line between adorable and just plain weird. Anderson definitely makes the kinds of films where I would deem it mandatory to find out precisely what type of experience you're in for before seeing them, because if you don't you could end up thinking someone switched films on you leaving you lost and bewildered. Keeping that in mind, I think Fantastic Mr. Fox just might be my favorite Wes Anderson film to date.

Based on the children's novel of the same name by Roald Dahl, the story is about Mr. Fox (George Clooney) and how he outwits his farmer neighbors, stealing their food right from under their noses. Anderson stated that he signed on because Roald Dahl was one of his heroes, so he had a strong personal connection in making the film. I've not had the pleasure of reading the book, but while doing some research I learned that the story the book covers would amount to the second act of the film. New scenes were apparently added by Anderson to serve for the film's beginning and end [...]

San Diego Makes $753 Million Push To Keep Comic Con At Home

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The San Diego Comic Con is the end-all be-all of yearly movie, TV, and comic book conventions. It's the convention where the biggest movies show off their newest footage, it's where major announcements are made, and there is no other better place for one to completely disappear into an ocean of excited fanboys and girls who are buzzing with excitement...and likely dressed as their favorite characters.

Due to this scorching Summer celebration of all things geek, popularity in the convention has constantly grown over the years. It's gotten to the point where so many people attend every it's painfully impossible to comfortably attend; hotels are hard to find, lines are infinite, and the many various halls replace oxygen with far more people than capacity would indicate.

With San Diego's claim to the convention's set for expiration in 2012, many other locations have began bidding for the right to claim it as their own. And because of the many aforementioned flaws, this has not sounded like the worst idea ever, despite the fact that it would be strange for Comic Con to be held anywhere but its beautiful San Diego home. [...]

WonderCon 2010: Jim Lee Talks Future of Digital Comics at DC

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New DC Comics Publisher Jim Lee discussed the future of the company's efforts to bring comics to digital platforms in a panel at this year's WonderCon event.

On behalf of the company, Lee said they viewed digital comics as a completely different product than the printed versions and as such, they want to play to each product's strengths. He also offered explanation for why we haven't seen more crossover to mobile devices in lieu of this week's release of the iPad.

"I think at the end of the day, I have not seen anything on the digital side that is more compelling to me than a printed comic," said Lee in response to a fan question at the panel. "I'll use Blackest Night as an example. You open that up and -- I don't want to spoil anything -- but there's a spread inside that's just amazing. You cannot replicate it on a device with a smaller screen."

Ultimately, he said it's why DC hasn't jumped head first onto the digital bandwagon the way other companies have, such as competitor Marvel Entertainment, which released their own iPhone/iPad application to coincide with Saturday's debut of Apple's iPad tablet device [...]

George Lucas & ‘Robot Chicken’ Team To Deliver New Animated ‘Star Wars’ Series

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Robot Chicken and Family Guy were both given a special blessing by George Lucas himself to create special episodes of their show that would spoof the classic Star Wars saga of films. So far, everything we've seen of these specials (with at least the third spoof from Family Guy expected) has been hilarious, and it's clear that when done right, Star Wars spoofs can go on for ever and ever and ever.

The folks over at LucasFilm have come to this realization, and according to reports, have entered into a new deal with Robot Chicken creators Seth Green and Matthew Senreich to become creative talents involved in a new comedic animated Star Wars series. Brendan Hay, who writes for The Daily Show, is one of the names brought in to work on the series, and Todd Grimes will be a director. Jennifer Hill (The Backyardians) will be a producer.

The show doesn't have a set network to air on yet, and this is where some questions arise. It's great that Green and Senreich will be involved creatively, and Hay is obviously a comedic talent. [...]

Comic Review: The Muppet Show Comic Book #3

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The Muppet Show Comic Book #3
Written & Drawn by Roger Landridge
Colors by Digikore Studios
Letters by Deron Bennet
BOOM! Studios
Price: $2.99
Release date: June 3, 2009

The Muppet Show Comic Book #3 wraps up the "On The Road" storyline that covers the first few issues of this ongoing series. After being on the road to raise money to save their theater, Kermit and the Gang quickly get back to work on giving the audience a great show.

But what's this? Fozzy and Gonzo have not made it back in the time for the night's performance! Will they make it in time? And what is in this mysterious box addressed to Fozzy Bear? All these questions and more are answered in issue #3!

The Muppet Show Comic Book series has really done a fantastic job of adapting the old series into comic book format with new stories. The format is basically that of the television show in that it gives you different skits and sub stories to accent the main plot, and the clever writing and humor laced throughout the book really accentuates the quirky style that the Muppets have always been able to achieve [...]

Comic Review: Disney’s Hero Squad Ultraheroes #3

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Disney's Hero Squad Ultraheroes #3
Written by Alessandro Ferrari & Ivan Saidenberg
Art by Antonella Dalena & Carlos Edgard Herrero
Colors by Magic Eye Studios & Mickey Clausen
Letters by Deron Bennett
BOOM! Studios
Price: $2.99
Release Date: March 31, 2010

Disney's Hero Squad Ultraheroes #3 my first time reading any of the new Disney comics from BOOM! Studios, as well as my first time reading any Disney comics in several years. I was interested to see what kind of comics Disney were producing for the younger readers, and I was not disappointed.

In the first story, "Good and Evil," we see the Duck Avenger (Donald Duck's superhero identity) track down the Phantom Blot in a sewer. Apparently, the Ultraheroes have been battling Emil Eagle's Sinister 7 over devices called Ultrapods. The Duck Avenger and Phantom Blot engage in a very interesting and humorous battle over the Ultrapods. The battle will delight kids, as well as any parents or other adult Disney fans with all the counterattacks staged by Duck Avenger and the Phantom Blot.

The main subplot in the story sees Mickey on the trail of Scrooge McDuck's Money Bin. It was cool to read about Mickey Mouse in a story, and I have always loved the concept of the Money Bin [...]

DVD Review: Brothers

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Brothers
DVD | Blu-ray
Directed by Jim Sheridan
Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire, Natalie Portman
Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Release Date: March 23, 2010

Detached in genre but alike in context, director Jim Sheridan's new film Brothers, a remake of the 2004 Danish film titled Brodre, ironically provokes emotions that ran rampant in his 2003 masterpiece In America. In that film an outsider is welcomed into an Irish-American family and in return he forever changes whatever their prior perspective on life was. Most of Mr. Sheridan's films show an intense interest with man's ability to detach himself from the parade of inabilities, setbacks, and tragedies that universally correspond with the orders of humanity. The roadblocks that face most of his characters are appropriate given their specificity in life. How Daniel Day-Lewis' character in My Left Foot or Djimon Hounsou's character in In America are able to unshackle themselves from their imprisonment to nature is what makes Sheridan's films rigid and universally true: Man has a desire to deliberately shun away all the perplexities that nature is bound to, paving a path that can eventually lead to some form of freedom.

In Brothers a man has been emotionally scarred and alienated by the natural causes of war, and has thus been incapable of communicating properly with his wife (Natalie Portman), two children and his brother Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal) [...]

Movie Review: Clash of the Titans (2010)

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Clash of the Titans
Directed by Louis Leterrier
Starring Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Gemma Arterton
Rated PG-13
Release Date: April 2, 2010

The original Clash of the Titans is a movie I have very fond memories of from when I was a kid. I remember enjoying Medusa, Pegasus, and all the other elements of Greek and Roman mythology, and I used to eat that stuff up when I was younger. And since the original was moderately successful and Hollywood has run out of new ideas, a remake was inevitable.

I've got nothing against remakes in general, so I gave this the benefit of the doubt and hoped that the creators could deliver a fun action film with some fantastic beasts. Having seen the original film, I think it is unfair to compare this film to it, because if I did I would really dislike this one. The new film stays close to the original story, but then tries to add elements that end up adding nothing. So, if I look at it as a completely new franchise, does it hold up any better? Sadly, it does not, as this turns out to be just another mediocre action film that is about as faithful to Greek mythology as the Mummy films are to Egyptian mythology, and lacks the fun that made the original so enjoyable [...]

Blu-ray Review: ‘Ninja Assassin’

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Ninja Assassin
DVD | Blu-ray
Directed by James McTeigue
Written by Matthew Sand, J. Michael Straczynski
Starring Rain, Naomie Harris, Shô Kosugi, Ben Miles, Anna Sawai
Warner Home Video
Release Date: March 16, 2010

When Ninja Assassin first made its presence known to us, it sounded like it could be one of the more entertaining flicks on its way to our eyes. Sometimes the production process is a long and trying one, however, and when the movie's release drew near and every single commercial break had a spot advertising it, I found myself personally losing interest at an alarming rate. The movie had gone from an fun and exciting prospect to a title that had seemingly over-done it before it had even hit theaters.

This of course wasn't the best of set-ups for someone like myself entering into a review of the movie, but it's been multiple months now since the theatrical run, allowing the persistent advertisement efforts to wear off enough for me to jump in.

Ninja Assassin tells the story of a secret society of ninjas who inherit orphaned children and turn them into the deadliest killers the world has ever seen, paid 100 pounds of gold (or its equivalent over time) to remove people who need removing. [...]
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