DVD releases for Jan. 13th

- 'Til Death: The Complete Second Season
- Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Chipettes
- Appaloosa
- Balls Out: Gary the Tennis Coach
- Ben 10 Alien Force: Season One, Volume Two
- Breakfast at Tiffany's (Paramount Centennial Collection)
- Brick Lane
- Brideshead Revisited
- Dallas: The Complete Tenth Season
- Funny Face (Paramount Centennial Collection)
- The Henry James Collection
- Hit and Run (Unrated)
- House of Payne, Volume 3
- Little Britain USA
- Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America
- Matlock: Season Two
- My Best Friend's Girl (Rated)
- My Best Friend's Girl (Uncut)
- My Bloody Valentine: Special Edition (1981)
- Reba: Season Five
- Supercop
- Swing Vote
- Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys (Full Screen)
- Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys (Widescreen)
- Underworld & Underworld: Evolution Double Feature
- Walker, Texas Ranger: The Sixth Season
- Without a Paddle: Nature's Calling

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The first Mighty Muggs of 2009

Here is newest wave of Marvel Mighty Muggs (Wave 6) coming in March. It looks like Hasbro is trying a little more personality into their upcoming waves. No complaints here. Logan and Sabretooth look amazing.
On their way to the toy shelf this month are G.I. Joe (Wave 1) and Indiana Jones (Wave 2), followed close behind by Transformers (Wave 1) in February and G.I. Joe (Wave 2) in March.

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BIG BUCK BUNNY

Recent winner of the Audience Award at the Holland Film Festival, Big Buck Bunny shows that even a nice guy can be pushed too far. This very impressive and entertaining film comes The Blender Institute and was created entirely with open source software for all to enjoy.

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RED BAND TRAILER FOR 'SLAMMIN' SALMON'

Broken Lizard is back with another serving of hot buttered comedy in the tradition of Super Troopers and Beerfest (and to a lesser extent Puddle Cruiser and Club Dread). Their latest project is Slammin' Salmon about a group of waiters in a contest to win $10, 000 for bringing in the most money in one night. Joining the five man troupe of Stolhanske, Soter, Lemme, Heffernan, and Chandrasekhar this time around are Michael Clarke Duncan and Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother). Now don't forget , this is a RED BAND trailer, so it may not be suitable for all audiences -just fair warning. There is no release date for this film as of yet.

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The Mask for Halloween 2

Here is a peek at the new mask for Rob Zombie's Halloween sequel tentatively titled 'H2'. From the look of things it would appear that Zombie was smart enough to go with a weathered version of the same mask instead the constant second-rate replacements they kept using in the original series. They've even added a huge gash from the bullet wound that Myers received in the first film. You've got to love continuity.

On another note, the sequel has been moved from it's original Halloween release date to a more familiar August release to mirror the first film. I guess they figure they'll get more revenue from the summer crowd than the Halloween crowd.

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DVD releases for Jan. 6th

TOP PICKS:
- Frisky Dingo: Season 2 ***Amazingly underrated show from Adult Swim***
- Pineapple Express (Two-Disc Unrated Edition)

OTHER RELEASES:
- Babylon A.D. (Single-Disc Edition)
- Babylon A.D. (Special Edition)
- Bangkok Dangerous (2-Disc Special Edition)
- Bangkok Dangerous (Full Screen & Widescreen)
- Barney: Be My Valentine
- Barney: Once Upon a Dino Tale
- Battlestar Galactica: Season 4.0
- Behind Enemy Lines: Colombia
- Bob the Builder: Race to the Finish
- Disaster Movie (Full Screen)
- Disaster Movie (Unrated Widescreen)
- Doctor Who: Episode 118 - Four to Doomsday
- Doctor Who: Episode 27 - The War Machines
- Duckman: The Complete Series
- Duckman: Seasons Three and Four
- Eden Lake
- The Films of Michael Powell
- IMAX Ultimate Collection
- Mannix: The Second Season
- Midnight Movie
- Pineapple Express (Rated Single-Disc Edition)
- Pineapple Express (Single-Disc Unrated Edition)
- Ping Pong Playa
- Righteous Kill
- Transformers: Animated Season Two
- The Tudors: The Complete Second Season
- The Wackness
- The Waltons: The Complete Eighth Season

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Pixar's Burn-E

For those who loved Disney/Pixar's Wall-E, the animation house serves up a bonus treat with Burn-E. Exclusive to the video release of Wall-E, Burn-E gives you one last peek into the Wall-E-verse. Of course, just in case you haven't gotten around to buying said DVD, don't fret. Here is Burn-E in all it's pixalated glory. Enjoy.

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Nolan North as Deadpool

Here's a look at Nolan North rocking Deadpool in the upcoming Wolverine vs Hulk DVD.

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Why aren't you watching THE CLONE WARS?

If you missed The Clone Wars series on the Cartoon Network I highly recommend giving it a chance. Yes, I am a Star Wars dork who grew up with the original trilogy, but like many I was monumentally disappointed by the three car pile-up that was the prequel trilogy. However, this new series produced by George Lucas is better written and a lot more fun than the last three films. As a kid, I was always mystified by the Clone Wars when Obi Wan mentioned them in "A New Hope". Were the Jedi fighting against the clones? Was the war over the ethics of Cloning? Who knew? Finally our questions would be answered in the prequel trilogy and they completely skip over them! This series finally shows it in all it's droid, clone, and jedi butt-kicking glory. First, this isn't kid stuff. Sure its premiere was the most watched series premiere in Cartoon Network's history, but it's rated PG. There is a surprising amount of violence in this show, people get blown away, run through with light sabers, and clone troopers get mercilessly sucked out into the vaccume of space. Also, this show doesn't just focus on Obi Wan and Anakin, (By the way, the animated Anakin is a much better actor than Hayden Christensen!) many Jedi are spotlighted like Plo Koon, Kit Fisto, some guy named Yoda, and there is even an episode focusing on a group of Clone rookies! And yes, one episode did feature Jar Jar Binks, but just one! And with 10 episodes aired that's a pretty good ratio. Also, I gotta say I am a big General Grevious fan, and we didn't get to see nearly enough of him in the films. In the series he is pretty much the central bad guy, and he is a great villian with one of the coolest voices ever. Cartoon Network has been showing Clone Wars marathons during the holidays, a great way to catch up when the new episodes start in January, so check it out already!

[Entry by Jeff Beckley -Hopefully, the first of many. ]

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RESIDENT EVIL: DEGENERATION

Have you ever sat around playing Resident Evil and thought, "Wow! This stuff is better than that crap that they've been putting in the movies. They should just CGI a movie like this". Well, speculate no more. It's here.

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TROOPS [1998]

I know this piece is ten years old, but it's held up well over time. This was probably the first really well done parody I had ever seen online. Troops is a Cops parody featuring Stormtroopers (well, technically Sandtroopers) on Tattooine in a couple of very familiar scenarios from the original Star Wars film. It shows that these misunderstood Imperial soldiers were just, you know, doing there duty to keep the peace. Nothing wrong with that, right? Oh, and for you MST3K fans, if you pay close attention you'll notice that the officers have recovered a certain Mr. Tom Servo from the Jawas sandcrawler.

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Will we get to watch the Watchmen?

It was the movie they said would never get made, and now it looks like it may be the movie that never gets seen. With it's March release date looming, there's a chance that the Watchmen movie may not see the light of day until 2011 or beyond. The Warner Bros. property (DC Comics is a subsidiary of WB) has switch hands from Fox, to Universal, then Paramount where it is finally being produced together with Warner Bros. and during that whole time not a peep came from Fox. In fact, Zack Snyder had signed to helm the project and the film was deep into production when bits of the movie started showing up online and causing quite a buzz of excitement. It wasn't until that point, when the movie was all but completed and fans were primed to finally see Watchmen that Fox called foul claiming that they still held certain proprietary rights to distribution of the film (that WB wasn't even aware of). Now Fox has taken the matter to court and apparently is less interested in settling than they are keeping the film from being released at all. To complicate matters more, on Christmas Eve the court ruled that Fox did in fact hold certain rights the film, but all of that was between Fox and producer Lawrence Gordon who brought the property to Fox in the first place. It's Gordon and not WB that is liable here, but he refused to testify in the initial hearing and now the judge, Gary A. Feess has ruled that any information that Gordon has that would go against the judge's ruling is not allowed. That means that if it turns out that WB is within their rights and all wrong doings are between Gordon and Fox, that will no longer matter. In fact, the man who took the property from Fox to Paramount (Gordon) isn't even a defendant in what's going on. The person responsible and who cashed in on the deal is not liable. Yeah, that sounds like justice. In actuality, the judge even decided to rule in favor of Fox without a hearing. When laywers for WB protested the lack of due process, the Judge Feess stated that he planned to move on to the question of remedies rather than fight the issues again. The problem with that is that if WB is within their rights to distribute this film, which is the main issue, then remedies are incidental. There is a court date set for January 6, 2009 to try to get this settled before the March 6th release date, but Fox has no intention at this time of letting this film see the light of day and Judge Feess has stated that the release of the film could very well be blocked if the dispute isn't settled in time. So, Fox decided not to make a film, they were cool with it going to Universal, they were cool with it going to Paramount, they were alright with Warner Bros. (who actually owns the property)/Paramount finally making a film out of it, but when it was clear that this film could be lucrative they decide that they still have the distribution rights to the property. They're like a little kid who doesn't want a toy until they see someone else enjoying it. Of course, I can't blame them since Fox is notorious for not being able produce a blockbuster movie anymore. Fox claims it never fully relinquished story rights from its deal made in the late 1980s, and sued Warner Bros. in February. Warner Bros. contended Fox isn't entitled to distribution. Warner Bros.' attorney said Monday he didn't know if an appeal was coming, but thinks a trial is necessary and a settlement unlikely. In my opinion I believe that 20th Century Fox thought that if they waited until Warner Bros. had already financed the film and production was all but complete to stake a claim that they would have WB in a corner and gain incredible leverage, which at this point seems to be the case. So, now what do they want? You know, Fox has been begging WB for the rights to distribute the old Batman TV series for years, maybe they can just trade distribution rights straight up. Hey, a guy can dream, can't he?

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"9" Trailer

I recently posted the animated short "9" on GeekSexy from the Animation Show series and made mention that creator Shane Acker was currently in a deal to make "9" a full-length feature. Well, apparently production is much further along than I thought since just a few days ago an official trailer for the film was released online. So, here it is, the first trailer for the upcoming animated film "9":

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Miller's solo directorial debut has no Spirit

We've all seen the fantastic trailers for The Spirit movie and immediate comparisons to Frank Miller's own Sin City come up. The pulp feel. The classic vernacular. The colorful characters. I guess the biggest difference between the two is that Sin City was actually good. The Spirit, although visually breathtaking, has nothing else to offer. The story is empty. The acting is flat. But, man, is it pretty! And for that reason many people will hear how extremely bad this movie is and they still won't be able to stay away. Don't say you weren't warned. I guess the best part about all the negative reviews is that now people have a better chance of walking into the theater expecting Batman and Robin and come out feeling like they saw The Dark Knight (well, maybe Batman Returns). Unfortunately, I did not have those expectations. I couldn't wait to see this film. I couldn't understand why it was going to be in black and white when Will Eisner's classic stories consisted of vibrant hues and colorful suits, but I thought, "Frank Miller knows what he's doing. Look at Sin City. Even if it ends up more like another entry in that series, I'm cool with that." Well, it turns out that it was Robert Rodriguez who knew what he was doing with Sin City. Don't get me wrong, Miller can paint quite a pretty picture and tell a heck of a story, but when it comes to getting the most from his actors...did I already mention that he paints a pretty picture? The only real kudos for this film would have to go to cinematographer Bill Pope for delivering a film that is actually more enjoyable with the volume off. Miller originally refused to direct this picture when he was approached at his good friend Will Eisner's funeral. Even when accepted he had no desire to make this film, he just didn't want anyone else to because he didn't want anyone screwing it up. I guess he wanted to save that embarrassment all for himself.

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All-new Monsters vs Aliens trailer

Here is the all-new, all-different trailer for the upcoming Dreamworks Animation picture Monsters vs Aliens, now with more fiber!

[FIRST LOOK: MONSTERS VS ALIENS]

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A Wish for Wings That Work

With the Christmas season upon us I thought I would share with you one of my favorite Christmas movies off the beaten path, A Wish for Wings That Work, starring Opus the penguin and Bill the psycho cat from Berkeley Breathed's Bloom County and Outland comic strips. Based on his 1995 book, the story was adapted for television in 1991. Since then it hasn't made many appearances, but you may catch it randomly every couple of years. Of course, it's been on video since the early 90's and finally came to DVD last year, but you can catch all three parts right here. A Wish for Wings That Work features the incomparable Frank Welker who is best known as the voice of Fred and sometimes Scooby-Doo in the Scooby-Doo cartoons, not a one-trick pony, Frank has also provided the voices for characters such as Hefty Smurf, Wonderbug, Dynomutt, Shmoo, Iceman, Donkey Kong Jr., even Megatron and Soundwave from the original Transformers cartoon. Welker is a walking who's-who of cartoon history, but I digress. Here he just has the insignificant role of Santa Claus in a Christmas movie. Oh, yeah, and that isn't enough, Robin Williams is the voice of Kiwi...but he's credited as "Sudy Nim" just for the fun of it. Anyhoo, here it is, A Wish for Wings That Work:
[PART 1]

[PART 2]

[PART 3]

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RETRO CLIP: THE HULK

This is a quick look at the classic Hulk cartoon from 1966's Marvel Super Heroes series. Here is the first episode: The Origin of the Hulk.

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Zombie returns to Halloween

Well, it's official. Rob Zombie is returning to do the sequel he swore he'd never make. Zombie has announced recently that he will, in fact, be helming the sequel to last year's re-imagining of Halloween. Filming will begin in March for a Halloween 2009 release. Returning will be Taylor Mane as the man himself Michael Myers, and the Laurie Strode character, but whether Scout Taylor-Compton will reprise the role or not is still in question. Zombie, who I just met last week, said that at least one character will be played by a different actor and that it would be an 'acceptable change' for fans. Could he be going a few years into the future for the follow-up story featuring a more mature Laurie as opposed to the original sequel that picked up the same night as the first film? There are also some changes currently being made to the mask. Hopefully not as drastic as the changes the mask went through in the original series (some of the masks just got on my nerves), maybe they just needed to add the bullet holes from the first film for some continuity. Whatever the case, you can expect plenty of Rob Zombie regulars to grace the screen, as usual, but for Zombie fans this recent change of events has many people asking, "Are we EVER going to get a Tyranasaurus Rex film?" If you don't know what that is, don't worry, apparently you're going to have some extra time to find out, now. The sequel is currently being titled "H2" as to not be confused with Halloween 2, because having an H2 and an H20 is much less confusing to people who don't know any better.

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"9"

I first saw this video when it debuted at The Animation Show 3 back in 2006 in San Diego and I was blown away by the subtle complexities of this ten and half minute CGI short. Within seconds you are immediately drawn in to the story. Without a single spoken word every emotion is conveyed perfectly and with almost no back story you feel more empathy and concern for this character than some ninety minutes films are capable of. And as good as it is here, it was so much more encapsulating on the big screen. When I found out that The Animation Show series (started by Don Hertzfeldt and Mike Judge) was coming to DVD I was anxious to get a chance to enjoy a number of these films again. The first two in the series were released together and a little later the third, but no "9". After some investigation I found out that "9" is a theater exclusive short and was purposefully left off of the TAS3 DVD. Well, that just bites it. I did find out recently, however, that creator Shane Acker has a deal with Focus Features to make "9" into a full-length movie. This time around it will contain dialogue, which kind of changes the whole film. The project will feature the voice talents of Elijah Wood (9), Jennifer Connelly (7), John C. Reilly (5), Crispin Glover (6), Christopher Plummer (1), and Martin Landau (2). "9" is scheduled for theatrical release on 9/09/09. Pretty cool, huh?

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Help the animated homeless.

This is what happens when characters are made for an animation that never sees fruition. This holiday season give the gift of loving animated films and shorts. Together we can make a difference. Or at least have some fun trying.

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WOLVERINE TRAILER...FINALLY

As I had mentioned before, the Wolverine trailer debuted in theaters with The Day the Earth Stood Still, which probably contributed to at least 35% to the films $31 million opening weekend. Starting today MySpace.com has exclusively released the trailer online for all to enjoy. So, here it is -The first official trailer for X-Men Origins: Wolverine and the reason The Day the Earth Stood Still will probably be number five next week.
X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE HD

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