Star Trek: The Next Generation -- Complete Series on DVD

Hey, it's only $440. Make it so!

History of the laugh track

Here's an interesting piece -- the history of the laugh track, complete with video examples of how it has evolved over the years.

Many popular sitcoms today -- The Office, Scrubs, My Name is Earl -- don't use a laugh track. I've been watching Cheers and Coach reruns lately, both of which used a laugh track, and for those shows I'm used to it, but I didn't realize how much I had gotten used to NOT having one on urrent shows until I watched Back to You, a new Fox sitcom, starring Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton. It used a laugh track, and it was very jarring to me, and kind of strange. It's disturbingly effective though.

Check ot the piece and the video slide show on Slate.com. Very interesting.

Toon in this weekend

A reminder. This Saturday morning, the season premeires of The Batman and Legion of Superheroes, starting an hour later at 11 am ET.

And Sunday at 9 pm is Star Wars-themed episode of Family Guy.

Just an excuse to run that cool pic at top.

Superman/Doomsday review

Superman/Doomsday is the movie that Superman Returns should have been -- a movie that ignores all that went before and gives a completely fresh take, one complete with not one, but two, incredible Superman fight scenes -- yes he punches the bad guy! It’s violent, it’s funny, its dramatic, it’s romantic – exactly what every REAL superhero movie should have, something seen in live action recently only with X2, Batman Begins and the first two Spider-Man movies. This is the best feature-length Superman movie since Christopher Reeve first donned the cape in 1978.

Superman/Doomsday, the first of DC’s new animated direct-to-video projects based on actual comics’ storylines, hits stores this week, and man was I ready for it. I recently re-read the trilogy of trade paperbacks on which this was based, not that I needed a new re-read to familiarize myself with the biggest Superman story since his debut in 1938, but I wanted to get myself psyched for this animated adaptation. I was not disappointed in the re-read, and in fact like some parts of it even more. And I was certainly not disappointed in the new animated version.

There have been complaints about this movie, most before anyone had even seen it, so let’s get those out of the way. The complaints have been the following 1) it doesn’t follow the original comics’ storyline; 2) it doesn’t have the voice cast of the recent Superman/Justice League (Unlimited) animated series, and 3) what’s with the lines on Superman’s face. My responses are as follows: 1) so what? 2) it shouldn’t; and 3) who cares?

Seriously, there’s no way to get everything in from the original storyline and do you really want everything? I know what it really boils down to -- why didn’t it have the 4 pretender Supermen that appeared in Superman’s absence. While that would have been cool to see, it’s just too much for an animated feature, and I think their solution paid sufficient homage to that part of the original storyline, while not directly following it. There are plenty of other aspects of that story – Luthor’s appearance/status, the role of the JLA and Supergirl, that were a significant part of the comic story, but really had no place in this stand-alone movie.

The voice cast was different because this is a different version in a different world, one we haven’t seen before, one in which Superman is the only hero (hence no JLA); every character (except Superman and Doomsday) look completely different than how they were previously portrayed, and had different voices. It makes sense for this version. That leads to the complaint about the lines in Superman's face. Except for those pronounced cheekbones, Superman did look pretty much the way he did in the previous animated series, making the one addition to the look stand out more. If they had used a different model, that particular feature would not have stood out so much. A minor quibble for a Superman who’s supposed to have been around for awhile in this version. But Luthor, Lois, Perry, Jimmy and Ma Kent all looked and sounded different than their previous animated incarnations, as they should have.

Now the movie itself. No spoilers for anyone who hasn’t seen it. It’s divided into three acts, just like the comics: Superman vs. Doomsday, world without a Superman; and Superman returns (is that a spoiler, I don’t think so, did you expect him to STAY dead?!) As I mentioned earlier, the first and third acts have tremendous fight scenes. Superman cutting loose like you’ve never seen before in any animated or live-action version. And boy, does the man like his heat vision. it’s rated PG-13, so there are a few things that might seem out of place in a Superman cartoon – bloody violence, implied sex, drinking and mild swearing, not to mention actual death. But, it’s handled well, nothing a kid wouldn’t see in any PG or PG-13 live-action movie.

There’s a different take on Luthor here, one that makes him more reptilian than we’ve seen previously, and the classic Lois/Superman/Clark triangle is handled extremely well here, in a way that doesn’t insult the intelligence of an investigative reporter confronted with a pair of glasses.

I started off this review by saying it ignores everything that happened previously, but that’s not completely true. There are a few visual touches that honor previous versions, like the robot from the 1940s Fleischer cartoons, the Brainiac head from the Superman animated series, as well as other little touches that evoke the movies, Smallville and the comics on which the story is based.

The movie’s not perfect, but if you want to see Superman cut loose, a truly evil Luthor and a mature look at the Superman/Lois relationship, you will like this. No fanboy nitpicking allowed.

The DVD includes a couple of cool special features worth mentioning – a 40+ minute documentary on the original storyline interviewing most of the original creators and a 10+ minute feature on the next DC animated DVD project, Justice League; The New Frontier, which includes more than what was previously seen online. There’s also a feature-length commentary, but I haven’t gotten to that yet. Both the comics documentary and The New Frontier featurette are very enjoyable and worth watching at least once, if you are at all interested in those things, which of course I am. As much as I enjoyed Superman/Doomsday, I am looking forward to The New Frontier even more.

I loved it. My complaints are so minor, they’re not even worth mentioning. I need to watch it again. Highly recommended!

Justice League Movie Official; Director named

As expected, George Miller, who most recently directed the very successful animated Happy Feet for Warner Bros., has been named as the director of the long-rumored, now official Justice League of America movie. The studio is aiming to release the movie in the summer of 2009, which would put the production ahead of the next Superman movie.

Neither Batman Begins star Christian Bale or Superman Returns star Brandon Routh are expected to reprise their roles in the movie, though their characters are featured in the script. Other heroes expected for the movie are Wonder Woman, Flash, Aquaman and Green Lantern.

According to Variety:

Batman and Superman are active properties for the studio, though the next installment in the Superman franchise has taken a backseat to Justice League in part because Warners is so keen on the Justice League script by Kieran and Michele Mulroney.....This project could give the studio a launching pad for future Wonder Woman and the Flash pics. The studio has been developing bigscreen adaptations of both DC properties.

In a follow-up post, IESB.net, the site that first reported the rumor that Smallville's Tom Welling was in line to play Superman in the JLA movie, has now confirmed that Welling will NOT be the team's Man of Steel, and it's possbile that Routh will suit up for the movie after all. The site is now also reporting that Ryan Gosling heads the short list of actors for Batman. Bale and his director Christopher Nolan have made it clear that they are not happy about the JLA movie plans.

The Bat-sequel, The Dark Knight, is scheduled for summer 2008; Justice League of America, the following summer. The next Superman movie? Up, up, in the air!

Iron Man Trailer

Extremely cool -- the first offical trailer for Iron Man, which opens on May 2, 2008

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

The official name of the 4th Indiana Jones movie has been revealed: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

The movie opens May22, 2008.

Trailer for Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox story

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story is a spoof of musician bio-pic movies such as Walk the Line and Ray. starring John C. Reilly (who does his own singing) and featuring Paul Rudd as John Lennon, Jack Black as Paul McCartney and Jack White as Elvis Presley, the film was written by movie comedy superstar Judd Apatow.

The movie opens Dec. 21. See the trailer here.

Remastered Beatles' "Help!" due in October

From Billboard:

The Beatles' second film, 1965's Help!, will be released in a
double-DVD edition Oct. 30 via Apple Corps Ltd and EMI Music. The movie was released on DVD in 1997 and again in 2000, but has been off the market ever since due to rights issues.

The first disc of "Help!" boasts a digitally restored version of the film plus a new 5.1 audio soundtrack, with songs like "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away," "Ticket To Ride," "The Night Before," "Another Girl" and "You're Going To Lose That Girl." Disc two offers a 30-minute documentary about the making of the movie, a missing scene, a featurette on the restoration process, interviews with cast and crew, three theatrical trailers and vintage radio advertisements.

See the Beatles perform "You're Gonna Lose That Girl" from the film here.

Family Guy Spoofs Star Wars

First, Robot Chicken did it in a special half-hour episode; now Family Guy is doing its own spoof/tribute of Star Wars in the first episode of the new season, scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 23. Called "Blue Harvest" (which was the production title of Return of the Jedi so people wouldn't know what was being filmed), here's how Fox describes the episode:

"When the power goes out in the Griffin home, Peter decides to educate his family and pass along the greatest story ever told...the story of Star Wars! After Princess Leia (Lois) comes under siege by Darth Vader (Stewie) and his evil Storm Troopers, C-3PO (Quagmire) and R2-D2 (Cleveland) escape to find the only person who can help the Rebel Alliance. On their quest thorough the desert planet of Tatooine, C-3PO and R-2D2 find extra help in Obi-Wan Kenobi (Creepy Guy), Luke Skywalker (Chris), Han Solo (Peter) and Chewbacca (Brian) and head back to battle the Death Star in an epic intergalactic fight to the death."

"Smallville" Season 7 teaser

Smallville Season 7 begins on Sept. 27 with an episode called "Bizarro". Read a description of the episode here

Wall-crawling just like Spidey!

Scientists have a deveoped a suit the can help humans make like Peter parker and stick to walls.

One scientist, quoted in Science Daily notes:

With the idea for the adhesion now in place, there are a number of other mechanics that need addressing before the Spiderman suit can become a reality. Size-effects on the adhesion strength require further research. Moreover, man's muscles, for example, are different to those of a gecko. We would suffer great muscle fatigue if we tried to stick to a wall for many hours. However now that we are this step closer, it may not be long before we are seeing people climbing up the Empire State Building with nothing but sticky shoes and gloves to support them."

Isn't science wonderful?

Trailer for Stephen King's "The Mist"

From Frank Darabont, the writer and director of Stephen King's The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption, comes The Mist, based on King's story that originally appeared in the short story collection Skeleton Crew in 1985. Opening Novmeber 21, the horror movie stars Thomas (The Punisher) Jane.

Jerry Seinfeld returns with "Bee Movie"

Jerry Seinfeld FINALLY does a real post-Seinfeld project - an animated film called Bee Movie, which opens on November 2.

Check out the succession of trailers at the official movie site, and look for LOTS of Seinfeld appearances on NBC this fall.

Superman guest stars on the 5th season premiere of "The Batman"

This season on The Batman, the Dark Knight joins the Justice League, and in the season premiere, he meets Superman for the first time (as seen in the video above). Superman is voiced by George Newbern, who provided the voice on the Justice League cartoons, with Lois Lane again voiced by Dana Delany. All season long, Batman will be teaming up with the various members of the JLA, so look for the season to be more like "The Brave and the Bold," the Silver Age Batman team-up title. Also confirmed so far are Green (Hal Jordan) Lantern, The Flash (Barry Allen), Green Arrow, with more to come.

The 5th season of The Batman premieres on Saturday, September 22 on the Kids WB! on the CW.

Justice League: The New Frontier

As I wrote earlier, Superman/Doomsday, out Sept. 18 is the first in the new DVD line of DC animated movies. The second, due in spring 2008, is Justice League: The New Frontier, based on writer artist Darwyn Cooke's homage to the dawn of the Silver Age of comics in the late 1950s, The New Frontier. The comic is about the beginning of a new age of heroes that leads ot the formation of the Justice League of America.

Here's the preview of the film that was shown during the premiere of Superman/Doomsday at the San Diego Comic-Con.

$240 worth of pudding

Aww, yeah....

Doomsday is coming

On Tuesday, September 18, the first of DC's new series of animated movie DVDs hits stores, Superman/Doomsday (see trailer at this link), based on the best-selling Death and Return of Superman storylines.

It debuted to great response at its San Diego Comic-Con premiere. Read an early review here.

And so, you don't forget when it comes out, check this out:

“Justice League” movie talk heating up

It’s been rumored for months now, but in the past few weeks, the stories about a Justice League of America (JLA) movie -- very few of them confirmed -- have been coming in fast and furious, mostly from genre movie news site IESB.net. The only thing that appears to be certain about movie is that neither Christian (Batman) Bale nor Brandon (Superman) Routh will appear in the film, though the characters they play will.

One of the hottest rumors is that Superman will be played by none other than young Clark Kent himself – Tom Welling from Smallville. The TV show’s producers, however, deny this is happening due to his Smallville contract for this season (and next?).

The movie is reportedly being fast-tracked for a 2009 release, which means it will likely debut before the next Superman movie, thought not before The Dark Knight, scheduled for next summer. According to the LA Times (registration required):

... even a roster of superheroes may not have enough special powers to repel the nastiest villain on Hollywood's horizon: an impending labor dispute that could devastate the local economy. JLA is but one of many projects caught in an industrywide scramble to assemble films that can be completed before a potential talent strike shuts down film production next summer... Warner Bros., which declined to comment, needs to hire a JLA director immediately to guide any further rewrites and attract actors. As it is, numerous directors have been passing on the project, although Happy Feet's George Miller may end up in the chair.

The plan is for the movie to serve as a launching pad to individual hero films, such as Flash, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman, all of which have been in various stages of development at some point. This plan is similar the X-Men movie franchise, which is now spinning off Wolverine and Magneto into their own films. The movie will likely feature as villains the OMACs and Max Lord, in a twist of the storyline that preceded last year’s Infinite Crisis.

Like everything about this movie, nothing is confirmed. For more rumors of storylines, characters and casting, check these stories from IESB.net.

Top 100 Action Figures

ToyFare magazine, a spin off of the comics-focused Wizard, has posted a list of the top 100 action figures of the last 10 years. It's a good thing they didn't have these when I was a kid -- Cioci & Unk would have gone broke trying to meet my ever-growing list!