I can't wait for "The Incredibles"!

This is going to be the best Pixar movie yet. I can't wait! Coming in November.

Check out the new trailer here.

Mr. Incredible (voice of Craig T. Nelson)

First look at the Flash on Smallville

"C is for cookie."
"That's good enough for me."

Here's a first look at "The Flash" from the Smallville episode, "Run" scheduled for Oct. 20. The character's name is Bart Allen, but uses aliases including Barry Allen, Wally West and Jay Garick. No costume, but he wears a lot of red and gold.

More on Batman Begins Images

The Scarecrow image posted yesterday may not be the real deal, says Cinescape, but is likely a rejected concept.

The actual mask will look more like a sewed-up burlap bag, sort of like Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Meanwhile, something that is authentic, -- concept art for the movie by comic-book artist Tommy Lee Edwards, from the same Cinescape article.

Read more here.

"Enterprise" Returns tonight

8 pm on UPN, with last season's cliffhanger -- Archer wound up in 1944 NYC, which is run by Nazis, with a little help from .....aliens!

That wasn't in the history books.

Will the show do better on Friday nights? Time will tell....

According to TV Guide:

Due to low ratings last season, producers have scrapped long arcs and opted for self-contained story lines. Says exec producer Rick Berman, "We want to focus more on action and romance and less on technobabble."

"Good to be In D.C."

The JibJab guys who did "This Land is Your Land" are back.

Click here.

If it doesn't work, go to www.jibjab.com and check it out. May be a little difficult right now.

First Look at the Scarecrow?

From Batman Begins....

Ooh, scary....

Shatner Sings!

Hear him sing in his new album, Has Been

Has Been? Not me.

Smallville Review - Episode 4.3: Kryp/Tuck

Whitney! Kryptonite necklace! Freak of the Week! Smallville High! A good, ol’ flashback episode this week, missing only poor, ignored Pete to make this truly a tribute to seasons gone by.

The episode starts with a flashback to the time period of the early 1st season when Lana was a cheerleader, wore a Kryptonite necklace and dated Whitney. It’s a football pep rally. Here comes the mascot – poor Scabby Abby, teased mercilessly by the players when she takes the mascot costume head off. Look, it’s a pretty girl made up to look ugly.

Then we’re back to the present. Lois, having completed her mission to find Chloe, is all set to leave Smallville, when Ham Tyler, er, Sam Lane, shows up to tell Lois she’s just enough credits shy to not have graduated and she has to repeat a semester. Clark’s laughter and subsequent look of disbelief is priceless.

Meanwhile Scabby Abby shows up again, but of course now she’s gorgeous, thanks to her psycho plastic surgeon mother and some kryptonite (yay! Freak of the Week is back; it’s fun when it’s not every episode) Really, she just took off the false teeth, thick glasses and the prosthetic pimples. Chloe talks Lois into working for the Torch, even though journalism isn’t her thing. (Ha!) Her first assignment – teen plastic surgery and Scabby Abby, er, Abigail.

Clark, now a senior, decides he wants to join the football team, despite his father’s misgivings (hooray for worry-wart Pa Kent!) He goes to see the coach, and finds Jason, Lana’s beau (ugh), now the assistant coach. He and Clark get along pretty well, actually, though of course Clark doesn’t know that he and Lana are exposing shoulders together.

Clark tries out and of course impresses with his throwing arm. He finds out he made the team when his father tells him the coach called. Oops! Not how he wanted Pa to find out. Clark gets a lecture – and another important lesson on knowing when to hold back in the heat of the moment. Then comes the stupid part. He tells his father he wants to be his own person, by being just like his Dad and playing football. Huh? Individuality by imitation? Whatever.

Abby hooks up with her biggest tormentor. Who’s more shallow? The guy who wants the former object of his torment, or the girl who wants to hook up with her former tormentor. They're both idiots. But when they start kissing in the shower (I sense a recurring theme this season) she passes something onto him. He looks fine until he sees himself in the mirror. He thinks he has turned into some kind of freak! Oh, cruel irony! He’s fine but the side effect of her “Kryp/Tuck” is that she passes along some LSD-like hallucinogen that makes people she comes into contact with think they are ugly. He runs out of the locker room onto the campus and straight into Lois’ car!

Jonathan and Martha have a discussion about Martha working at the Talon, where chauvinistic pig Jonathan continues to object to the idea of his college-educated wife working. He whines, “but why for the Luuuthors?” Fine, she can work there. What a guy. But that’s the end of that story for now.

Lana, unfortunately, is part of the main plot this week. She sees Scabby and Shallow Guy in the school hallway, so now she’s a witness. After Lana visit Dr. Psycho, who tells her that her tattoo (yawn!) is below the surface of her skin, Abby shows up. Mom soon realizes Lana is a witness, pretty Lana has to go now too. So in the next scene where Lana and Coach Jason make goo-goo eyes, Abby shows up and kisses Lana, making the poor girl think she’s ugly. A mirror falls on her, cutting her up and knocking her unconscious.

Visiting unconscious Lana in the hospital, Jason makes a little speech about how much he cares for her only to be interrupted by Lex, who acts all smarmy before introducing himself and revealing that he knows Jason’s family. And clever guy, he’s the 1st person in Smallville to realize that Jason and Lana expose shoulders together.

Investigative Lois makes an appointment with Dr. Psycho to uncover the truth, by posing as someone who needs plastic surgery (not Lois! She’s hot!) But amateur reporter that she is, Lois carelessly lets her noisy tape recorder rewind, so that Dr. Psycho knows she’s being set up. She puts Lois in her krypto-contraption, complete with a half-naked death trap outfit for Lois. Hey, works for me. This is supposed to make Lois ugly. But Clark saves the day, getting Lois out of the trap before collapsing from the kryptonite therein. Lois then saves her own day with a swift kick to Crazy doc.

All's well that ends well, Lana is fine (do you only like me'cause I'm pretty? auggggh!), Clark and his Dad reconcile about football in a touching, father/son bonding moment, Lionel is a no-show and Lois gets her first taste of investigative reporting. The episode ends with a bookend of a present-day football rally. And now – in the theme of flashback – we see Chloe get jealous of the chemistry between her cousin Lois and Clark. Too bad, because Chloe’s looking pretty good this season too.

Late Review Of Smallville, Episode 2

It’s only the second episode and I’m already behind schedule. Geez, talk about lack of discipline.

Episode 2 is finally the conclusion to last season’s storyline. Clark’s back to “normal” but Chloe’s still presumed dead, and Lionel is still in jail. After Clark’s revelation from the previous week that Chloe’s grave was empty, Lois decides to dig it up. That’s right, by herself in a single afternoon without getting a smudge of dirt on herself, Lois digs a perfect hole six feet down without being stopped. OK, that’s realistic. I know we needed to confirm it fast, but why not have Clark do it? We know he can do it quickly with a minimum of muss and fuss. Lois could have showed up at the end, made a comment about his handiwork, then we would have the same conclusion – Clark is right: Chloe is not in her grave.

Oops, almost skipped right over a couple bits of fun. Clark and Lois and being chased by a military copters, which Clark shoots down long distance with his heat vision. Cool! Then their cute, little shower scene that is meant to demonstrate how worldly gal Lois is different from farmboy Clark. Worth it just to see the reaction on Martha’s face when Lois head pops up behind half-naked Clark. Then there’s Pa Kent – more upset about blowing up a military copter than sharing a shower with their comely houseguest. I love John Schneider’s over-protective Jonathan. His worry-wart ways are obviously what will lead Clark to adopt a dual identity in the future. Though how anyone in his future life (Lois, Lana, Lex, Perry) won’t know that Clark is Superman is beyond me. Maybe he’ll give everyone one of those memory-erasing kisses like the one Supes gave Lois at the end of Superman II. That kiss looks long overdue between Clark and Lex anyway.

Lana’s back in Smallville in this episode too. She’s taken to showing more skin now, particularly her shoulders. I think that means she’s a woman now. Ah, Paris! She meets Lois, shares yet another awkward moment with Clark, makes a comment that hints at the great love affair between Clark Kent and Lois Lane, then goes back to being insignificant this episode. And she confirms that her tattoo (in the stupidest subplot so far, which I think exists only because she has been otherwise completely supplanted by Lois – just like in the comics) is identical to a symbol in the cave. And her Paris boyfriend shows up. More on that in Episode 3. That’s enough about Lana.

Lionel and Lex have a great scene at the prison. Lionel has taught Lex that he can never relax again. “Don’t wound what you can’t kill,” he says to his estranged son. What a great line, one that I suspect will serve Lex well over the course of his life. Never again, Lionel says, will he trust anything he drinks, opening a door, making a friend. He will always have to be on his guard , suspicious of everything and everyone. Evil Lex is starting to bloom. As if to prove the point, while Lionel is taking one of those infamous prison showers (more shower scenes!) he is stabbed. Who arranged this, we don’t know.

Meanwhile, Lionel has hired the T-1000 to do his dirty work. Which is to make sure that Chloe is indeed not alive to testify. That’s right, Chloe’s still alive (Surprise! Those clever producers keeping her out of the opening credits). Lex is protecting her. Her safe house had a bomb shelter which she and her father were ushered into just in time to avoid being hurt in the explosion. Just like in the movie serials of old, what we saw in the finale is not the same thing we saw when the survival is explained. In the finale, the house exploded within seconds of her entering the house, but now, it seems they had at least a minute to get to the safety of the shelter. Lex was protecting Chloe and her father, but he lied to Clark about it. They are still in the midst of their lover’s spat, not helped by the fact that Lex keeps lying to him. Kiss and make up boys!

There is absolutely no explanation as to who this T-1000 morphing metal dude is, where he came from or how he got those powers. It’s like the producers have decided, “Look, this is a show about a kid from another planet with superpowers and freaky meteorites that have strange effects on everybody. Weird stuff just happens. Accept it.” OK I accept it. Harder to accept is the total lack of remorse when Lois and Clark ice the guy. That’s more of a stretch, but hey, we gotta wrap things up here.

Speaking of wrap up – Lionel’s trial, completely offscreen, done and done, Chloe testifies, Lionel’s guilty and back in jail. We see none of this dramatic development.

Finally, can’t forget to mention that this episode features the debut of Michael Ironside as General Sam Lane, Lois’ father. Ham Tyler from V! The voice of Darkseid in the Superman and Justice League cartoons! That’s just awesome.

Pretty solid episode as we get Chloe back, set up the Clark/Lois dynamic and see Lex get yet another life lesson. Next week: “Kryp/Tuck” (how cheesy!)

It's Clobberin' Time!

Michael Chiklis as the Thing!

Review of Smallville Season 4, Episode 1

There was a lot to like about the 4th season premiere of Smallville, the story of not-yet-Superman, his family, friends and future enemy, but at the same time, there was a feeling of repetitiveness about the whole thing.

"I like nerds in glasses"

The biggest development, of course, is the introduction of Lois Lane, in yet another departure from the comics from which this show is inspired. Here, Lois is Chloe Sullivan's cousin, visiting Smallville to find the truth about Chloe's "death." First, she finds a video message Chloe recorded for Clark in the event of her disappearance. But Chloe isn't the only one who is among the missing.

Clark's been gone for three months, too. As Lois heads to the Kent farm to find Clark to enlist his help in her search, she gets caught up in a freak storm and runs her car off the road (upholding a long-standing Smallville tradition of auto mishaps). A flash of lightning later, she sees a naked Clark standing in the middle of the field (taking all of the mystery out of their future relationship). Clark has no memory of who he is, where he is, or of the importance of being clothed in public. Lois drapes a large red blanket over him (hey that looks just like a cape!) and drops him off at the local hospital, where no one recognizes him despite the fact that Clark has been there in every other episode of the show, as a patient, relative of a patient or the cause of a patient being there.

Here we find out that Jonathan has been in a coma for these three months, and the doctors speak to Martha about pulling the plug on him since she doesn't have any money left to keep him going (how sympathetic!) She eventually finds Clark, thanks Lois and tells her to butt out, which Lois is happy to do until she realizes that the naked hunk is actually Clark Kent.

Lex is off an expedition on the other side of the world and finds an ancient crystal with the same otherworldly markings seen in the cave. He was poisoned at the end of last season by his spiked drink (again! Maybe Lex should just quit drinking at home). He now needs to have his blood replaced every day, and is told he is living on borrowed time. While on his private plane on the way home, after receiving another transfusion from his on-board doctor, he pulls out the artifact, which apparently when exposed to sunlight, triggers some sort of reaction in Clark back in Smallville. He seems to regain his memory, but he is another person -- Kal-El, who has cast aside his earthly trappings (and family) and has fully embraced his Kryptonian heritage and destiny.

Meanwhile, Lana's in Paris playing cutesy American tourist with her new boyfriend who knows all about her pining for someone back home. She's doing some sort of research the causes something to happen to her, giving her a tattoo, taking away her short-term memory and turning her naked (a recurring theme this episode). Of course, it's all connected to Clark, Lex and the Kryptonian artifacts that are all over the world, yet easily stumbled on by Smallville residents. Lana is still in Paris at the end of the episode, and we have no idea what's going on with her. Let's keep her there awhile and postpone the annoying angst between her and Clark for as long as possible.

Martha, now afraid of losing both Clark and Jonathan, tries to contact Dr. Swann to get a better understanding of this Kryptonian destiny thing. Lois shows up at the farm, trying to get to Clark, whom, she assures Martha, she is not interested in that way "I like nerds in glasses," simultaneously referencing her future relationship with Clark and giving nerds a happy jolt, since Lois, of course, is hot (see photo above).

Clark, er, Kal-El, tells Martha that Clark is gone and takes off, literally. He flies! Throwing out the "no flights, no tights" rule the producers established at the beginning of the show. And what a flight! After a take-off reminiscent of the Matrix Reloaded, which itself was a Superman homage, he soars through the air effortlessly, flying around the world, approaching Lex's jet, prompting the pilots to question the object approaching them (a bird? a plane? naturally). Clark breaks in, steals the artifact and takes off. Does Lex see him? Not sure, because he later accuses his head-shaven, incarcerated father of stealing it with no mention of Clark. The back-and-forth between the Luthors continues, and is getting a little old. Lois visits Lionel in prison as well, and shows that she has some bite, accusing Lionel of killing Chloe, either directly or indirectly, and ensuring that he will pay. No on-the-sidelines, passive victim this girl (I'm looking at you Lana -- stay in Paris!)

So, anyway, Dr. Swann can't make it, so he sends and emissary -- none other than Margot Kidder, who had a relationship with Swann (Christopher Reeve) in "another lifetime" (let's hear it for the shout-out to parallel universes!) she brings with her black kryptonite (THAT's a new one). So Martha takes it to the cave where Kal-El is hanging out and exposes him to it, which simultaneously makes Clark/Kal-El split and Jonathan come out of his coma. So what is black kryptonite anyway? Besides a convenient writer's device, that is (OK, we have 10 minutes to wrap this up. How? Let's make up a new kryptonite that has the power to resole plotlines, no muss, no fuss). So, Clark is back to normal (well, his version of normal) knowing he has the power to fly, but not the knowledge to do it again. Jonathan is fine.

Clark runs into Lois at Chloe's grave, where they decide to work together to solve the Chloe mystery (just like investigative reporters!). Clark uses his X-Ray vision to discover that Chloe's body is not in her grave, which he tells Lois. The end. Whew!

OK, so Clark flying was really cool, Lois was great -- attractive, talented actress with a personality that's consistent with her comic counterpart, which also sets her apart from Chloe and Lana. The Case of the Missing Chloe to solve, an appearance by Margot Kidder -- that's the good.

The bad? Clark under the influence again. Lana. Black kryptonite -- awful plot contrivance. And Lois. I know that I said she was great, and she was, but come on, another person who will know that Clark's different, what he looks like without glasses (and clothes for that matter). The flying bothers me but I can live with that for now, because it was just a temporary thing. I'm still completely on board, but the whole black kryptonite thing REALLY bothered me. It just didn't make sense as anything other than a convenience. Maybe a future Dr. Swann appearance will explain it.

OK, on to week 2…..

Who Reads Comics?

I got this from THE BEAT, a more professional comics blog than mine, but they got it from Diamond Distribution, the main distributor of comics and related merchandise. Here's the profile of the avaerage reader of comics:

Average age: 34

Gender: 87 percent male; 13 percent female

Residence:
City — 48 percent
Suburbs — 38 percent
Rural — 14 percent

Education level:
College — 45 percent
High school — 33 percent
Junior college — 10 percent
Post graduate — 9 percent
Grade school — 3 percent

Music taste:
Classic rock — 27 percent
Metal — 16 percent
Adult contemporary — 8 percent
Country/western — 6 percent
Classical — 4 percent
Rap/hip-hop — 2 percent

Own a computer: 77 percent

Use the Internet: 86 percent

Own a home video game system: 68 percent

Big, Big Week!

Whoa, there's a lot going on this week:

• Sunday: Emmy Awards, season premiere of The Wire on HBO
• Monday: Season premieres of Everybody Loves Raymond (last season), Two and a Half Men and CSI: Miami, and Eagles on Monday Night Football
• Tuesday: Original Star Wars trilogy on DVD! Season premieres of NYPD Blue (last season), Law & Order: SVU
• Wednesday: new Starman TPB of comics I never read; season premiere of Smallville, premiere of CSI: New York
• Thursday: season premiere of original CSI
• Friday: Season premiere of JAG (this one's for you Dad!)

So big week if this is the kind of thing that excites you; there;s probably more important stuff going on, but this is what I'm focused on this week!

What'd I miss?

Smallville 4th Season: Jumping the Shark?

The 4th season of Smallville begins this week, with a whole lot of new characters and developments. So far, we’ve heard about:

• Lois Lane: Chloe Sullivan’s cousin will be around for at least the first half of the season, investigating her “death”
• Clark flies in the season premiere
• Not only does Christopher Reeve return, but in the 1st episode, Margot Kidder appears
• The Flash (well, Bart Allen) shows up this season
• Mr. Mxyplytk(!) appears

Wow, that’s a lot of lore brought in to help the ratings, which suffered a bit in the 3rd season, as people, rightly so, got sick of the Clark/Lana crap. But is it too much?

As cool as I think all the references to the comics/movie are, this may be a case of careful what you wish for. Does the Flash belong here? Mxypltk? So far the producers have done a good job of working the lore in, but now I’m a little concerned it’s a bit much in an effort to boost ratings (an understandable goal, certainly), but will we sacrifice the overall quality for stunts. We successfully escaped Kryptonite Freak of the Week, only to get stuck with Clark and Lana nonsense. Hopefully, they are past that now, and the show is getting a little broader to enhance its possibilities.

I also hope that we get a little more Lex becoming a bad guy soon. The quasi-homo-erotic friendship between Clark and Lex is getting old too. These two will be the greatest of enemies. Now it looks like they’re just spurned lovers.

Tune in Wednesday for either the resurgence or the beginning of the end. I’m hoping to do quick reviews after each episode.

I'm Entitled to Custody of Robin!

LONDON, England (CNN) -- London's police chief has demanded an urgent inquiry after a fathers rights campaigner dressed as Batman evaded supposedly tight security to stage a protest on a Buckingham Palace balcony.

Read about it here.

More on Identity Crisis

Issue #4 of Identity Crisis is out this week.

The Associated Press ran an article this week about how Identity Crisis is a different kind of superhero tale, one with tragedy and consequences, etc. In addition to interviewing writer Brad Meltzer, who is also promoting the WB's Jack and Bobby, of which he is a co-creator, the article quotes artist Rags Morales and DC editor Dan DiDio, who talks about how this storyline will change the tone of the DC Universe:

"It has long-term ramifications for the next two years of storytelling, and we’ve already laid out one year. It’s a tonal shift. It’s an attitude and expectation. The DC universe is a very optimistic place. It’s a place you want to be living in. It’s a place where you know they’re building to a better future. They just have to work harder to get to that better future now, which is more reflective of the times we live in.”

Cover to final issue of Identity Crisis revealed

Here's the cover to Identity Crisis #7, the final issue due out in December:

Issue 4 is out next week. Here's how DC describes the issue:

The most talked-about miniseries of 2004 continues! How could anyone get past the Thanagarian, Martian, Apokoliptian and Kryptonian security systems installed since the murder of a loved one in IDENTITY CRISIS #1? And look out, because new suspects in the serial killings just may start involving the villains' loved ones too!

See all the covers and read the Wizard Magazine article on this page from writer Brad Meltzer's website.

Coming Soon to a Galaxy Near You

On Sept 21, the "original" Star Wars trilogy comes to DVD. These aren't quite the same movies we first saw more than 25 years ago. They're not even exactly the same as the ones we saw in the 1997 re-releases. Lucas has continued to tinker with the movies to bring them more in line with his vision and to bridge the continuity of the current trilogy, as can be seen in this revised final shot from Return of the Jedi below.

Hey, what happened to the old guy?!

Other changes include another reworking of the controversial Han vs. Greedo scene from the Episode IV. Now they shoot at the same time!

The Digital Bits does a side-by-side comparison of the changes between the 1997 Special Editions and the 2004 DVD release.

USA Today also published two articles: one on the changes to the movies and another on the bonus materials.

Sexcelsior!

Stan Lee and Hugh Hefner are teaming up to create "Hef's Superbunnies," a cartoon pilot for MTV described as "A silk pajama-clad superhero fights crime with the aid of a superbuxom team of specially trained Playboy bunnies."

Lee is the co-creator of most of Marvel Comics's Silver Age-debuting superheroes including Spider-Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, X-Men, Fantastic Four and more. Hefner is the founder and living embodimenet of Playboy magazine. Lee apparently saw more to Hef than that though...

"Stan and I go back a long ways, and he simply felt it was time for me to reveal my secret identity," Hefner said. "You all know me as the editor in chief and publisher of Playboy. But late at night when everyone assumes I'm in the grotto living the good life, I'm out there with the Superbunnies fighting evildoers."

Read all about it here.

Bobby Darin

On Saturday night, PBS-NJ (Ch. 23) showed Bobby Darin's last TV special, first shown in 1973, his last televised appearance before his death. I have heard a recording of one his live performances from this era, so I was not surprised to see that he combined music from several genres and stand-up comedy filled with impression of the celebrities.

What was surprising was the way the man could MOVE. Considering that he was to die so soon from heart failure, it was especially impressive to see him be-boppin', slipping' and slidin' across the floor.

Of course, the special closed with an incredible "Mack the Knife." Keep an eye out for it again on PBS. Great stuff.

In case you didn't know, Kevin Spacey is directing and starring a in a Bobby Darin bio-pic, called "Beyond the Sea" due out around Thanksgiving. See the trailer here.