Stunned, stunned we are:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/marvel-urges-supreme-court-deny-718426
With potentially billions of dollars at stake, Marvel told the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday not to review Lisa Kirby v. Marvel Characters, concerning whether the estate of comic book legend Jack Kirby can terminate a copyright grant on such creations as Spider-Man, X-Men, The Incredible Hulk and The Mighty Thor.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes could have easily fallen in to the trap that many genre movies fall into of simply being competent. They scarcely have particularly original or surprising stories (and Dawn is no exception on this front) but they usually get by through skillful execution. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes does a masterful job of being a good tense thriller but what elevates it to something special is Andy Serkis as Caesar. He takes a mediocre script and turns it in to Shakespeare without having to actually be on the screen.
“And his name is The Doctor. He has saved your lives so many times and you never even knew he was there. He never stops. He never stays. He never asks to be thanked. But I’ve seen him, I know him… I love him… And I know what he can do.” – Freema Ageyman as companion Martha Jones
My geek is in overdrive.
Doctor Who’s premiere is on August 23rd on BBCAmerica this side of the pond (that’s the premiere date for much of the rest of the world, too) I’ve been hitting BBCAmerica’s website for news and sneak peeks. I’ve binge watched Matt Smith’s last seasons as the Time Lord. I’ve held off doing something else – like raiding the refrigerator or even going to the bathroom – during commercial breaks while watching the channel in case there’s a new teaser. And I switched my ringtone from Buffy The Vampire Slayer to the show’s opening music.
I was one of those who was sincerely pissed off and sincerely mourned the passing of the torch by David Tennant to Matt Smith – Tennant was just so superb (and sexy!) as the Time Lord; he brought so much to the role; humanizing (if you’ll excuse the expression) the alien. I wasn’t ready for him to leave – and as Tennant so brilliantly played his regeneration scene, it was obvious that his Doctor wasn’t ready to leave either. When he said, “I don’t want to go” in “The End of Time – Part 2,” I parroted (along with millions of fans, I’m sure), “I don’t want you to go, either.”
And to be honest, Smith’s premier episode, the one with the “fish and custard,” really didn’t do anything for me; Smith was so different, and the whole “going through this kid’s refrigerator” scene felt forced, not funny. But of course, Matt more than proved himself to me, so much so that I still feel that his Doctor was cheated out of a truly emotional regeneration scene – well, okay, Karen Gillian’s cameo as Amelia Pond (“Raggedy Man, good night.”) was brilliant and definitely teared me up, but overall too much time was wasted on destroying the Daleks…again snnnnore. Smith – and the fans he brought in, fans who made the show a truly worldwide phenomenon – deserved so much more.
But I did love Peter Capaldi’s first words (“Do you happen to know how to fly this thing?”) and Jenna Coleman’s – as companion Clara Oswald – horrified “what the fuck?!” look.
I didn’t know that much about Peter Capaldi – not that it bothered me, because I didn’t know Tennant or Smith either before their respective runs as the Time Lord. Well, let me rephrase that. It was more one of those “I know I know Peter Capaldi, but from where?” type of deals. Meaning that I didn’t recognize him as the actor who played the British Home Secretary John Forbisher in Torchwood: Children Of Earth. I didn’t realize that was he playing Caecilius in the Doctor Who season 4 episode, “The Fires of Pompei.” And it took a Google search to discover that he had been in one of my favorite films, 1983’s Local Hero, which starred Burt Lancaster and Peter Riegert. But I have been watching and mucho appreciating him as Cardinal Richelieu in this summer’s The Musketeers on BBCAmerica (Sundays at 9:00 P.M). In fact I think he’s brilliant in the role, and it’s whetted my appetite for his debut as the 12th (13th?) Gallifreyan.
So I’m ready to love Peter Capaldi, if no other reason that I don’t want the show to go away, to be cancelled, to end.
But I don’t know how the younger fans, most of who came in with Matt Smith’s Doctor, will react to him. Will the show lose that part of its fan base? My niece Isabel’s first words about Mr. Capaldi after seeing him for those few moments as the end of “The Time of the Doctor” were quote “He’s so old!” unquote.
Isabel will be fourteen in August.
I remember Mike Gold saying to me once, “Everybody loves their first Doctor best.” Or something like that. And it’s true. My first Gallifreyan was Tom Baker (I thrilled and tingled when he made a cameo appearance at the end of “The Name of the Doctor.”) My first companion was Elisabeth Sladen. (I loved her return as Sarah Jane Smith during Tennant’s run, and how she immediately recognized him despite his changed appearance,) It took me a long time to “catch on” to Jon Pertwee, who, although he came before Baker, was my second Doctor. (It took me even longer to get hip to a new companion – not until Billie Piper. That’s a long time.)
So I get it, Iz. Matt Smith was your first Doctor. And he was cute and funny and resourceful. You’ll always have a special place in your Whovian heart for him. You’ll naturally feel some resentment to Capaldi for daring to take the controls of the TARDIS.
But remember, Iz, without regeneration, you and me, and a whole generation or two, would never have even met the Doctor, never would have traveled in the TARDIS, never would have known Sarah Jane Smith or Rose Tyler or Amy Pond and Rory Williams, never would have known the Daleks or the Cyberman or The Master.
And remember, Iz, like I told you that day, and as I reiterated here, I didn’t like Matt Smith at first. But I grew to love him.
So, Iz, give Peter Capaldi a chance.
I will.
I’m a Star Trek fan. Not a rabid fan, but a fan. I‘ve at least sampled all the shows and some I liked better than others. I’ve seen all the films and some I really liked; the first Trek film – not so much. I even enjoyed the two most recent films although I have a nephew who may disown me for saying so.
I’m not a big tech sort of guy (just ask ComicMix’s own Glenn Hauman) but I do have a major tech gripe with the series. The original communicators very much influenced the design of cel phones – mine still flips open, thank you very much, and I don’t know how many times I’ve asked Scotty to beam me out of some situations. Unfortunately, all the communicators are good for is audio. No video. Star Trek is set in our future. My antiquated Trekfone can take pictures. We have cel phones that can take movies. ST communicators cannot.
You would think that having video capability would be valuable for away teams stepping foot on new planets and meeting new civilizations. Their space ships have sensors that can pick up life forms on planets below or peer long distances into space and throw up the image on the bridge’s screen but they can’t do video from the planet surface to the ship orbiting overhead. Here today we can get video to and from the International Space Station. Our probes can throw back images from distant planets.
I understand why that had to happen that way in the Original Series. The show didn’t have the CGI or the budget to make it work. Why not update the tech in the later series? Why not in the movies, especially the most recent ones?
They have teleporters, for cryin’ out loud. Figuring out how to get video from planet surface to an orbiting ship is harder than disassembling someone’s atoms, beaming them somewhere and re-assembling them? Seriously?
Are they keeping to the audio-only rule because that’s the way it’s always been? They’ve already alienated the hardcore Trek fans with the re-boot; are the fans going to get more cheesed off because now the communicators can send pictures? Are they afraid all the ST characters are going to start doing selfies? Although I could see Kirk doing an Anthony Weiner with his.
Why does this bug me? Because, in my book, it’s a failure of imagination.
I remember a great scene in Galaxy Quest (one of the best non-ST Star Trek films ever made). IMDB does the pocket synopsis this way: “The alumni cast of a cult space TV show have to play their roles as the real thing when an alien race needs their help.” Their fake TV ship has been lovingly created by a race of aliens who believe the TV episodes (which have found their way into outer space) to be a “historical record.”
In one scene, Tim Allen and Sigourney Weaver have to get to the manual off switch for the self destruct button and are confronted with a corridor of large pistons slamming together from side to side and up and down at an alarming speed. Weaver’s character balks; there’s no reason for those chompers to be there. Allen says it’s because it was in an episode. Weaver screams, “That scene was badly written!” She snarls that those writers should have been shot; this always makes me giggle.
That’s my point. The aliens put the banging pistons in the corridor not because they make any sense but because they were there before. Same problem with the communicators for me: they don’t make any sense.
The early communicators were way ahead of their time and that’s part of what Star Trek tech has always done – inspired us and given us a sense of wonder, of possibilities. That stimulates the imagination. Communicators shouldn’t be able to do less than our cel phones; they should be able to do more.
The stories should also be more than re-makes of past stories. Tell us new ones. Take us boldly to where we’ve never been before.
From Sesame Street in the Seventies, “S is for Superman”! Stop whatever you’re signed up for and see this stupendous story!
When we last left off, I’d taken you through the steps to get us towards completion of an independent comic book. Or really any comic book, I suppose. We plotted, outlined, scripted, gathered reference material, and now penciled then inked (or in my case, digitally rendered) each page in the book. Now, with a pile of black and white artwork, it’s time for the most unsung of duties: coloring, lettering, layout, and print pre-production. If you take nothing else from this week’s brain droppings, I hope you’ll leave with a seriously redefined respect for all the names that get penned in on the credits page. (more…)
Los Angeles, CA – An apocalypse is inevitable when Heavenly Sword slices and dices onto Blu-ray, DVD and Digital September 2 from Cinedigm (NASDAQ: CIDM). Based on Sony PlayStation’s bestselling video game of the same name, the action-packed CG animation boasts an all-star voice cast including Anna Torv (“Fringe”), Alfred Molina (Spider-Man 2, Chocolate) and Thomas Jane (Hung, The Mist).
A dramatic tale of revenge, Heavenly Sword centers on Nariko (Torv), a trained warrior with flaring red hair, who gracefully possesses a titular, heavily sought after blade with incredible powers. As the sword’s guardian, she must face a megalomaniacal ruler King Bohan (Molina) and his unyielding army, who are determined to obtain the powerful sword for their own manipulation.
As one of “the most anticipated movies based on video games” (Gamepur), the Blu-ray and DVD are packed with bonus footage including behind-the-scenes interviews with the cast and filmmakers. The film will also be available on the Sony Playstation Network.
Heavenly Sword was brought to Cinedigm by TriCoast Worldwide, who represent the producers, Blockade Entertainment and Film Financial Services.
SYNOPSIS
Nariko’s clan has long protected the “Heavenly Sword,” a god’s blade of immense power that drains its wielder of their life force. A power-hungry ruler known as the evil King Bohan seeks to obtain the sword to gain its devastating power. As the impending apocalypse nears, it remains to be seen how long Nariko can resist the sword’s deadly curse.
DVD/BLU-RAY BASICS
Price: DVD $14.93 / BD $19.97
Street Date: September 2, 2014
Pre-Book: July 22, 2013
Mat No.: DVD 88152991000 / BD 88152990000
UPC: DVD 025192245473 / BD
BR: MAT NO. 88152990000 UPC 025192245466
Language: English
Running time: 85 Minutes
Rating: NR
The new NBC comedy, WELCOME TO SWEDEN, has a pretty interesting back story. It was created by Greg Poehler (yep, he’s Amy’s brother) and stars Greg, along with Josephine Bornebusch, in the first new U.S. series to be on both American and Swedish TV. Greg and Josie talk about bridging the cultural comedy gap, plus after 11 years in reality TV, Trista Stutter (THE BACHELORETTE, DANCING WITH THE STARS) has a new project. She joins Gretchen Rossi (REAL HOUSEWIVES OF ORANGE COUNTY) and other reality celebs in MARRIAGE BOOT CAMP and they both tell us what we can expect on the series.
THE POINT covers it 24/7! Take us ANYWHERE on ANY mobile device (Apple or Android). Just get the free app, iNet Radio in The iTunes App store – and it’s FREE! The Point Radio – 24 hours a day of pop culture fun. GO HERE and LISTEN FREE – and follow us on Twitter @ThePointRadio.
BURBANK, CA (July 10, 2014) – Just in time for Arrow’s third season on The CW, catch up with the hard-hitting action series as Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group (WBHEG) releases Arrow: The Complete Second Season on Blu-rayTM Combo Pack and DVD and on September 16, 2014. The releasecontains all 23 action-packed episodes from the second season, plus the one-hour Season One recap episode, “Year One,” and over 90 minutesof extra content, including episode commentary, three behind-the-scenes featurettes, deleted scenes, six mini-webisodes, and a gag reel from The CW’s #1 series among Total Viewers. Arrow: The Complete Second Season is priced at $59.98 SRP on DVD and $69.97 SRP on Blu-ray Combo Pack.
Billionaire archery enthusiast Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) returns for another season in Starling City. Sworn to fight crime and corruption in his city, Oliver (aka the Arrow) – with the help of the tech-savvy Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards) and his iron-fisted right hand, John Diggle (David Ramsey), and the occasional, reluctant assistance of former police detective Quentin Lance (Paul Blackthorne) – has been waging a one-man war on crime. But in all wars, there are casualties. To honor his fallen friend, Tommy Merlyn, and protect the people he loves, Oliver must rededicate himself to his mission and be more than just a vigilante. He must become a beacon of hope for the city’s most vulnerable…and a weapon of justice against those who prey upon them. Malcolm Merlyn (aka the Dark Archer) rocked Oliver Queen’s world in the first season finale of Arrow, but who’s going to pick up the pieces? Find out in season two as Oliver Queen goes from Hood to Hero!
Arrow: The Complete Second Season 9-disc Blu-rayTM Combo Pack contains 4 Blu-rayTM discs, 5 DVD discs, and an UltraVioletTM copy of all 23 episodes from season two, plus the season one bonus recap episode. UltraVioletTM allows consumers to download and instantly stream the episodes to their computers, tablets and smartphones. The UltraVioletTM episodes are a limited-time offer. Restrictions and limitations apply. Go to ultraviolet.flixster.com/info for details. The Blu-rayTM will be released in 1080p Full HD Video and will feature DTS-HD Master Audio for English 5.1.
Arrow stars Stephen Amell (Private Practice), Katie Cassidy (Gossip Girl, Melrose Place), David Ramsey (Blue Bloods, Dexter), Willa Holland (The O.C.), Emily Bett Rickards (Flicka: Country Pride), Colton Haynes (Teen Wolf, The Gates), Manu Bennett (Spartacus, The Hobbit), withSusanna Thompson (Cold Case, NCIS) and Paul Blackthorne (The River). Based on the characters from DC Comics, Arrow is produced by Bonanza Productions Inc. in association with Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. Television, with executive producers Greg Berlanti (Dawson’s Creek, Green Lantern, Brothers & Sisters), Marc Guggenheim(Eli Stone), and Andrew Kreisberg(Fringe).
BLU-RAY & DVD FEATURES
0. Bonus Recap Episode – Year One
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BASICS
Street Date: September 16, 2014
BD and DVD Presented in 16×9 widescreen format
Running Time: Feature: Approx 1056 min
Enhanced Content: Approx 95 min
Price: $59.98 SRP
5 DVD-9s
Audio – English (5.1)
Subtitles – ESDH, Portuguese, Spanish, French
Catalog #1000437611
UPC # 883929375004
BLU-RAY COMBO PACK
Price: $69.97 SRP
9-Disc Elite (4 BD-50s, 5 DVD-9s)
BD Audio –1080p Full HD Video, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 – English (5.1), Spanish, French, Portuguese
BD Subtitles – ESDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Finnish, Swedish
Catalog # 1000435629
UPC # 883929373451
Written by Cullen Bunn. Art by Javier Fernandez and Dan Brown
I’m perpetually locked into trying new books, so sometimes I nearly forget to catch up on those I’ve most recently enjoyed. Lucky for me that the marvelous Magneto has magnetically adhered itself to the top of my pile. It was a fairly light week. For those not keeping score, I can’t recommend this series any more than I already have. What I can do now instead is really spend my time with the titular man (and mutant) hunter and see how he ticks in accordance to Cullen Bunn’s pen.
At the onset of the relaunch (if one would consider this book a relaunch) Bunn’s Magneto sees himself a grey wound in a black and white world of scar tissue. Unhappy at the atrocities that have continually befallen his species, Erik Lehnsherr decides that he will rise to become the judge, jury, and executioner of those charged with murdering a mutant. In issue #6, the deathpool expands to those mutants who have killed their own kind. Mr. Sinister’s Marauders – as Magneto helpfully expounds to himself throughout the issue – are pawns and grunts serving a higher power. It is boy coy and intelligent then that Magneto denotes (again, to himself, I suppose) that he too once raised an army under his fist. In his case though, his pawns were at least decidedly homo-superior. No black-on-black crime for this angry Jew!
Because Cullen puts us in the position of a fly on the shoulder of the master of magnetism, it’s inevitable that we come to see him as our hero. And it’s hard to not be swayed by his joie de vivre when he brutally murders a murderer. Painted as a more elegant Frank Castle, it’s hard to deny Magneto is doing good of a sort. But any follower of Charles Xavier sees then the other side of that coin.
Do I believe in capital punishment? No. Simply put, I don’t feel man has any right – regardless of sin – to take the life of another man. I’m not overly religious (if at all), but the agnostic in me says that when murder is done in the first degree it is a pox on the species at large. I should note I’m a huge fan of corporal punishment. I say why let Hitler enjoy the freedom of death when you can pummel him daily? But I digress. In the case of Magneto, our protagonist is vindicated in his justice in spite of breaking the law in doing so. For making as many mutant killers pay the ultimate price, we see the forest for the trees. This is either Magneto doing as much righteous damage before he’s killed himself, or he’s making a final gambit to become a Batmanesque myth; to become an immortal price to be paid upon those who so choose to hunt homo-superior.
Magneto’s barely scathed in his quest. After laying several Marauders to rest (by way of some of the most inventive and gory methods one could imagine), the plan is set: Magneto will reprogram the next batch of cloned Sinister Slaves to become a new suicide-bomb-ready army of Brotherhood pawns. I don’t know if Mr. Sinister himself is still alive in the 616, but if he is, I’ll assume I should purchase flowers and a condolence card for whomever makes those crazy metal ribbon capes.
The story and pacing throughout the issue is slow, but methodical. A B-story regarding the now limbless Scalphunter leaves a few cryptic beats, and is much needed in the book. The opposing A-plot simply shows Magneto on yet another murder mission. Six issues in and Bunn has the tone and style down. From here on out – and trust me, he’s captured me – I want to see some sharper left turns. Simply put, there’s only so much hard justice a man can take without knowing the true master plan. And if the plan truly is just a death march, it can be said now, and spare us too much more of the same.
Artistically Javier Fernandez and Dan Brown continue to deliver a book that looks as gritty as it reads. The book’s hard shifts in color are some of best I’ve seen in modern comics. The heavy inks here well placed. And Fernandez’s textural shifts showcase a look that simply should not be in a Big Two book… and he’s commended for it. There’s little left to say to the art aside from simply picking favorite moments. The death of a Prism is done so well with simple storytelling that you could almost hear the faint crickle-crackle of eminent shattering. When a book is heard in your head when you’re reading it, the artists are doing their job well.
Ultimately, Magneto #6 is hopefully the last stop on the simplistic potential swan song of Erik Lehnsherr. The book has style, grace, grit, and vigor. My hope then now is to see a plan emerge, and from it, a continuous look into a villain fit to be grey in the continuously simplified world of cape and cowl comics.
Columns / Glenn Hauman / News
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