Justice League: Doom -- Review

Well, if you listen to my podcast, then you know that I've spend the past few weeks pacing nervously waiting by the mailbox.  I bought the Criterion edition of Godzilla online out of the States because it was cheaper, and then I figured I'd buy something else to get the free shipping.  I decided to get the latest DC Comics direct-to-DVD movie, because I knew I'd be getting it anyway.  Even though it wasn't the first time I'd bought something from the States, this one seemed to take forever to get here.  But it finally arrived in the mail the other day!  Hooray!  So let's fire up this bad boy and finally take a look at...

Justice League:  Doom

Directed by Lauren Montgomery

Starring the voices of Kevin Conroy, Tim Daly, Susan Eisenberg, Nathan Fillion, Carl Lumbly, Michael Rosenbaum, Bumper Robinson, Carlos Alazraqui, Claudia Black, Paul Blackthorne, Olivia d'Abo, Alexis Denisof, and Phil Morris

Backstory:  The opening to these reviews are starting to get repetitive.  I like this series, but I am starting to get rather bored with them.  Where's the rest of the DC Universe?  They've fallen into a pattern:  Justice League, Superman, Batman, Justice League, Green Lantern (cuz we're trying to build a film franchise around him), Batman.  Well, we've come up to Justice League in the cycle.  This next one is based on the beloved storyline Tower of Babel, and although I hadn't read the storyline, what I'd about the storyline sounded very intriguing.  So, as always, I went into it cautiously optimistic.

Plot:  Batman, in his classic, "prepare the worst/hope for the best/trust no one" way, has gone behind the Justice League's back, and created contingency plans to temporarily disable the members of the League should they ever go rogue.  Perpetual Justice League villain Vandal Savage conducts a daring raid on the Batcave to get his hands on these plans.  Now, with these plans, Vandal Savage recruits the world's greatest villains to take down the Justice League once and for all.  With the League out of the way, Vandal Savage can now move on to his true plan.  What is Vandal Savage's true plan?  Can Batman save the League from himself?  Will the League ever trust Batman again?

What I Liked:  This cartoon has great heaping gobs of fanservice for fans of the Justice League cartoon.  Pretty much the entire voice cast is back, with a few exceptions.  (Superman's original voice, Tim Daly, is back, and fan favourite Green Lantern actor Nathan Fillion takes on GL...in fact, in his handful of lines, Fillion proves why he's the true fan favourite GL over Ryan Reynolds.)  I love the banter they're starting to give the heroes in these films.  The superhero battles are good stuff.  Cyborg has a prominent role in the film, and it's nice to see him getting a greater role in the DC Universe.

What I Didn't Like:  Well...the fanservice kind of does it a disrespect.  Despite as awesome as it is, it really starts to feel like just a good episode of Justice League after a while.  It doesn't really elevate itself to feature film status.

Final Verdict:  It's a lot of fun, it's very satisfying, but I really wish they'd leave the safety of Superman, Batman, and JLA and really start focusing on more of DC's other prominent characters.

3 Nibs

Bonus Features:  Not a bad selection of bonus features on this one.  I haven't finished going through them all yet.  We get:

• A featurette on Batman and his relationship with the Justice League
• A featurette on Cyborg, who not only has a prominent role in this, but has been given a prominent role in the DCU in their "New 52" reboot
• A tribute to the esteemed comic book and animation writer Dwayne McDuffie.  McDuffie passed away about a year ago...this is officially the last thing he worked on.
• The digital comic version of Tower of Babel, the comic book story that inspired this film
• 2 bonus episode of Justice League
• A preview of the next film, Superman vs. the Elite, coming out this summer, based on the Superman story What's So Funny About Truth, Justice, and the American Way?  

How the Mainstream Media Works, Part 26

So, Facebook convinced me to get the Soundcloud app as part of their new Timeline hype and all that.  I've had it for a month or so, didn't know what to do with it.

And then, I was cleaning out my hard drive at work and found this.

They say, in radio, a good way to practice your announcing is to read stuff out loud.  And I still do that from time to time.  If I'm ambitious, I'll record it and throw in some sound effects and stuff and practice my producing.

As was the case about three years ago, when Todd Babiak was still working for the Edmonton Journal.  He wrote this blog entry called "How the Mainstream Media Works, Part 26," and something about it just said to me, "Hey...that's a radio play!"

So I slapped it down, did all the voices, threw on some sound effects, and shared it with a few friends for giggles.

I found it today while cleaning out my hard drive, and figured I may as well used Soundcloud to share it with the world.

So, please enjoy my rendition of "How the Mainstream Media Work, Part 26," by Todd Babiak.





How the Mainstream Media Works, Part 26 by Mark Cappis

It's a Targ!

I always run out of clever messages to post every Sunday.  Blah blah blah...I have new podcast up.  Check out this week's U62: The Targ!

In Episode 5.16: Waiting by the Mailbox, I share the big frustration with buying stuff on the Internet.  And that leads into one of the biggest frustrations of all...the Star Wars prequels.  I then share some very interesting statistics I stumbled across, and then it's time for the fourth and final installment of the Jones Soda Holiday Fizzathon.


For those just tuning in, a few weeks ago I managed to get my hands on a Jones Soda Holiday Gift Pack at a discount store.  And I've spent the past few episodes sampling some of their offbeat Christmas flavours.  Today, we get to the fourth and final bottle in the pack:  Sugar Plum Soda.


Click here to go download it!


Head here to subscribe in iTunes!


Be a fan in Facebook!

Canadian Classics and the Gritty Reboots I Want Them to Get

I wrote this for my original blog some 7 or 8 years ago, and as Hollywood continues to go nuts for remakes and reboots, I figured it was time to revise it.

Let's be honest, it's not just Hollywood's past that can be mined for old brand names to be dusted off and made new...Hollywood North has a similar array of classics that can be made anew for the next generation.

So here's the classics from my childhood that I want to see dusted off, given gritty reboots, and returned to a theatre near you!

The Edison Twins

Plot:  Tom and Annie Edison are two teenaged whiz kids who use science to solve mysteries in their sleepy suburb.

Gritty Reboot:  Veronica Mars meets CSI

Seeing Things

Plot:  A down-on-his-luck crime reporter tries to be a good dad to his teenage son, while getting embroiled in a love triangle with a sexy crown prosecutor and his estranged wife.  Also, he has psychic abilities which he uses to solve murders.  

Gritty Reboot:  You've got the supernatural elements of Ghost Whisperer, the quirky romance of Ally McBeal, and you tailor it to star Jason Alexander.

My Secret Identity

Plot:  A comic book obsessed teenager gets hit by a weird ray built by the mad scientist who lives next door and it gives him superpowers.  He uses his new powers to solve mysteries in his neighbourhood while trying to live the life of a typical teenager.  

Gritty Reboot:  Dude, it's just screaming to be the latest Buffy the Vampire Slayer knock-off.   

 Danger Bay

Plot:  The marine biologist curator of the Vancouver Aquarium heals sick animals, goes on wilderness expeditions, and battles all manner of poachers, smugglers, and eco-terrorists, while being a single dad who raises two teenagers and romances hot bush pilots.  

Gritty Reboot:  Isn't it obvious?  My plot description above perfectly describes the latest Disney family-friendly action/adventure film produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and starring Nicholas Cage.  

The Littlest Hobo

Plot:  A stray German Shepard walks the Earth, helping out youngsters and do-gooders in whatever town he ends up in.  Maybe tomorrow, he'll want to settle down.  Until tomorrow, the whole world is his home.  

Gritty Reboot:  Not that gritty, actually.  Make it a cartoon.  Give the littlest hobo a celebrity voice.  Make that "voice that keeps on calling [him]" some kind of metaphysical element that gives him missions and such.  

Due South

Plot:  A Mountie with brilliant deductive skills, yet naive in the ways of the big city, gets a posting at the Canadian consulate in Chicago, where he teams up with a sarcastic Chicago PD detective and solves crimes.  

Gritty Reboot:  Movie.  Movie movie movie.  Largely remake the pilot, where we see Fraser (the Mountie) pursues his father's murderer to Chicago.   You'll have to add some of the features from later in the series that eventually became the show's hallmarks, like Fraser being haunted by the ghost of his father.  As for casting, well, back in its heyday, many said Paul Gross would make the perfect Superman, so why not look to a Superman?  I say...Brandon Routh.  

First Look at the Lone Ranger

So, Disney picked up the rights to do a new movie version of The Lone Ranger, and I've got to admit, I'm intrigued. 

I've always had a soft spot for The Lone Ranger.  Some of my earliest conscious memories of television are of watching the classic Clayton Moore/Jay Silverheels TV series on Sunday mornings before church.  It was always followed up by that Canadian children's TV classic The Forest Rangers.  When I was about 12 years old and first got cable, I remember catching the old Filmation cartoon on YTV. 

I mean, the Lone Ranger is just a classic.  It's such a simple good vs. evil tale.  The good guy literally wears a white hat.  It's high adventure on the high plains.  It's just...nice. 

But it was in 2008 when Disney announced that they'd picked up the movie rights, and when they made they announcement, they also announced their first casting choice:  Johnny Depp as Tonto.  Right there, I was baffled.  I mean, dude, Johnny Depp isn't First Nations.  But then it was revealed that Depp is, like, one-quarter Cherokee, so I guess it's OK.

Jerry Bruckheimer was brought on to produce, and he quickly started recruiting the team that made the Pirates of the Caribbean films.  Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio, who wrote the Pirates of the Caribbean films, were brought on board to write.  Gore Verebinski, who direct the first three Pirates of the Caribbean films, and the Oscar-winning animated film Rango, was hired to direct.  Everything seemed to be falling into place. 

And now, the rest of the cast.  They already had Tonto, but they need the masked man himself.  Eventually, they turned to Armie Hammer, currently best known for playing the Winkelvoss twins in The Social Network.  Also rounding out the cast are veteran character actor William Fichtner signed on as Butch Cavendish.  Cavendish is the outlaw who killed Texas Ranger Dan Reid and attempted to kill his brother and fellow Ranger John Reid.  Reid, of course, survived, was nursed back to health by Tonto, and decided to become the Lone Ranger to avenge his brother's murder and bring law and order to the Old West.  Helena Bonham Carter also joined the cast as a friendly barmaid. 

The film has already made headlines.  Back in August, Disney announced they were halting production the film, because it was getting too expensive.  It's budget had ballooned to $250 million.  To which the whole world said, "What?  Why the hell does a Lone Ranger movie need to cost $250 million?"  To which Disney said to the world, "Why, it's for the special effects to bring the werewolves to life." 

W.  T.  F. 

Werewolves?  In a Lone Ranger movie?  The Lone Ranger doesn't fight werewolves!  He fights cattle rustlers and stagecoach robbers.  Not werewolves!  I remember an early script review I read online, in which it said that Tonto is on a bit of a spiritual journey in this film, as he believes his brother to have been killed by a Wendigo, and is on the hunt for this mythological creature.  Did Wendigo become a werewolf? 

But still...werewolves?  Really? 

Anyway, they got the budget down to a much more reasonable $215 million and once again the production was a go. 

And, yesterday, Disney released the first official photo of Armie Hammer as the Lone Ranger and Johnny Depp as Tonto.

Umm...OK. 

The Lone Ranger looks a little different.  Usually he's adorned in blue.  Not so sure I'm crazy about the "man in black" look.  And Tonto...the war paint and the raven headdress definitely makes him stand out.  When it comes to the outfits of the Lone Ranger and Tonto, this is definitely untraditional. 

The film's not scheduled to come out until May 2013...a full year and a half away.  So it's still going to be a while before we get a trailer.  But still, there's enough that's come out of this to just make me scratch my head and wonder what the heck Disney is thinking. 

Fishing in the Discount Bin - Masters of the Universe

For those just joining us, I was doing this thing in my podcast for a while called Fishing in the Discount Bin, where'd I'd just rant about one of the many movies in my DVD collection.  While I did it about 10 times on the podcast before I found producing it to be too taxing, I actually wrote 30+ reviews before I shut things down.  Rather than let my reviews go to waste, I've started posting them here on my blog.

Today, we get to the 1987 classic Masters of the Universe, aka "the live-action He-Man movie."  This review is originally dated September 25, 2010.

Ralph McQuarrie's Legacy

The sci-fi world is mourning this weekend at the passing of Ralph McQuarrie.  McQuarrie was a graphic designer and artist who wound up doing a lot of concept art for some legendary science fiction films.  He had a hand in designing what E.T. looked like, the alien ship in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and even Skeletor's movie look in the live-action Masters of the Universe.

But he is, by far, best known for being the conceptual artist for Star Wars.  He's the one that gave the Star Wars universe it's distinctive look.

Here's, perhaps, his most iconic piece of Star Wars concept art...Luke Skywalker battling Darth Vader.

As the legend goes, George Lucas was having a devil of a time trying to sell the Hollywood studios on Star Wars.  So, to jazz up his pitch, Lucas hired McQuarrie to illustrate some scenes in the script.  Needless to say, McQuarrie's illustrations knocked it out of the park, 20th Century Fox was sold on Star Wars, and McQuarrie landed the gig as the head artist on the entire Star Wars trilogy.

We can even thank McQuarrie for Darth Vader's suit...not just the design for the suit, but the fact that the suit covers Vader's entire body.  After reading the script, McQuarrie reasoned that a person like Darth Vader wouldn't stand around waiting for things like airlocks to pressurize and such.  He'd just storm from one starship to another, no matter what the interior atmosphere was like.  Therefore, Vader would have to wear some kind of space suit all the time.  Thus, Vader was always armored.

Here's perhaps, his second most iconic image.  An early design of C-3P0 and R2-D2 on Tatooine. 

Back in 2007, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the franchise, they released this line of Star Wars action figures known as "the McQuarrie concept figures," where the figures were based on this original art.  I have the McQuarrie concept R2-D2 and C-3P0 figures.  They were offered as exclusives to Hyperspace, the pay-subscription section of the official Star Wars website.  I'm not a Hyperspace member, but I have a friend who is, and I totally begged him to buy them on my behalf.  He did, and they are, by far, the coolest figures in my collection.

I was chatting with that friend on Sunday, and we talked about McQuarrie for a minute.  My friend was quick to point out that, while McQuarrie turned down the offer to once again be the head artist on the prequels (I think "I'm getting too old for this," was the reason he gave), a lot of his unused designs did find their way into the prequels and the current Clone Wars cartoon. 

I was thinking about this as I looked at my McQuarrie concept figures tonight, and I took a closer look at one of my favourites, "Starkiller Hero."  See, at one point in the development of Star Wars, Lucas toyed with the idea of making Luke Skywalker a girl.  Of course, that idea didn't last long, but it lasted long enough for McQuarrie to make some sketches.  This figure is so named because "Starkiller" was originally going to be Luke's name, until Lucas figured it sounded kind of sinister and changed it to the not-as-evil-sounding "Skywalker."  And "Hero" because she was going to be the film's hero.   Hence, "Starkiller Hero."

(BTW, "Starkiller Hero" is totally going to be the name of my band someday, so don't steal it.) 

Anyway, as I looked at Starkiller Hero tonight, she struck me as being kind of familiar.  And then it hit me.  Her uniform was recycled as the uniform of the Naboo starfighter pilots in Phantom Menace.  Neat!

From left to right, that's McQuarrie's concept for Han Solo, Chewbacca, C-3P0, and R2-D2.  The one kneeling in front is Starkiller Hero.

For McQuarrie concept figures, I have Starkiller Hero, Darth Vader, the C-3P0 and R2-D2 two-pack, Boba Fett, and Chewbacca.  My holy grail of Star Wars action figures is the McQuarrie concept Stormtrooper.  It's a Stormtrooper with a lightsaber and a shield.  I only ever saw it on a store shelf once, but since I've been conditioned to buy action figures in pairs, and there wasn't a second one I wanted that day, I didn't buy it.  STUPID STUPID STUPID.

Here's his concept art for the Stormtroopers.

And before I go, let's not forget McQuarrie's contribution to the other big sci-fi franchise with "Star" in the title, Star Trek.  Before The Motion Picture came along, there were lots of aborted attempts to do a Star Trek movie throughout the 1970s.  The most famous one was called Star Trek: Planet of the Titans.  McQuarrie was hired to do some concept art for Planet of the Titans.  Here's his sketches for an all-new Starship Enterprise:

This vessel eventually did make its way into the Star Trek canon.  For the legendary TNG 2-parter The Best of Both Worlds, this vessel was added to the field of ships destroyed by the Borg.  And McQuarrie was also brought on as a concept artist for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. 

McQuarrie was 82 years old.

I got most of these images from the tribute to McQuarrie on the official Star Wars website, and I got the rest from McQuarrie's official website. 

Time for Targ and Cookies!

Time to once again look into the darkness and ask, "Is anybody there?"  I do that with podcasting!  It's time for this week's U62: The Targ!

This week, I present Episode 5.15: Divisible by 5.  I once again rant about what's wrong with Transformers: Dark of the Moon and pretty much the entire Michael Bay Transformers universe, I reflect on past Olympics, and we get to Part III of the Jones Soda Holiday Fizzathon!


In case you're wondering, a few weeks ago, I was at Liquidation World, and I got my hands on a Jones Soda Holiday Gift Pack.  So, the Jones Soda Holiday Fizzathon, in which I sample of their unusually flavoured holiday pops and give my thoughts.  In Part III, we get to Pear Tree Soda. 


Click here to go download it!


Head here to subscribe in iTunes!


Be a fan in Facebook!

Frankenweenie Trailer

I've always been fond of the films of Tim Burton.  Don't really know why...I think he was the first director that I identified with.  I mean, with his late-80s hits of Beetlejuice and Batman, it was hard for an impressionable young film buff to not get interested.  When I started my love affair with DVD all those years ago, I vowed to get every Tim Burton film on DVD.  I still don't have Sleepy Hollow or Mars Attacks!, if you're ever looking for a Christmas/Birthday/Just-Because-You're-Awesome present.

So I still look forward to Tim Burton films, even if his disappointments have outnumbered his success lately.  And, in 2012, we're actually going to be treated to two new Tim Burton films.  We have his big screen adaptation of the cult-classic soap opera Dark Shadows, and a feature-length version of his classic short film Frankenweenie.  The trailer for Frankenweenie was released today, so that's what I'm looking at.

For those who don't know the history of Frankenweenie, it's like this.  Tim Burton started as an animator.  Back in the early-80s, he worked as an animator at Disney.  I think the only Disney animated film he ever publicly acknowledged as working on was The Fox and the Hound.  He hated his time at Disney...never really felt like he fit in.  But, some Disney folks recognized his talents, and encouraged him.  One form of encouragement took the form of producing his short film Frankenweenie.

If you've never seen it, it's really easy to come by.  It's long since been released as a bonus feature on the DVD for The Nightmare Before Christmas.  It's a very cute re-imagining/spoof/homage to Frankenstein.  In this version, Dr. Victor Frankenstein is a 10-year old boy, and his monster is just his resurrected dog.  I highly recommend you check it out.

Disney never really knew what to do with the film, and it barely got released in 1984.  They thought it would be too frightening for kids.  Burton quit Disney soon after, got the offer to direct Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, and the rest is history.  Disney finally released it on video in 1994, and it found a wide audience.

And that brings us to the present day.  Now that we have a generation that's been raised on The Nightmare Before Christmas, Disney finally realized that it's OK for kids to be scared a little now and then.  And they asked Burton if he'd like to expand Frankenweenie into a feature-length animated film.

So, I guess the big surprise is, despite it being a Tim Burton movie, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham-Carter are not in it!  But Burton did recruit a lot of his former cast members to do voices.  Catherine O'Hara (who was the mom in Beetlejuice) and Martin Short (who was in Mars Attacks!) voice Victor's parents.  Winona Ryder, who Burton put in Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands, voices a neighbour girl named Elsa van Helsing, and Martin Landau, who Burton directed to an Oscar in Ed Wood, voices Mr. Rzykruski.  Victor is being voiced by child actor Charlie Tahan.

Disney originally hoped to release it this month, but then figured it would be more appropriate as a Halloween movie, so they moved its release to October 5. 

I'm really digging this trailer.  It does look like some classic Tim Burton.  The neighbourhood is straight out of Edward Scissorhands.  The character designs are a lot like the Tim Burton classic short film Vincent.  And the music is very Danny Elmany.

As I said, it hits theatres on October 5.  And, as I`ll need a thumbnail when I post this blog entry to the various social networking sites, he's the teaser poster.

Fishing in the Discount Bin - Supergirl

Welcome back to Fishing in the Discount Bin...a defunct feature from my podcast where I rant about one of the many movies in my DVD collection.  I found it too exhausting to do as a regular feature, but I don't want to let all the reviews I wrote go to waste.  So I'm posting them on my blog!

Today, we get to one of my favourite guilty pleasures, the Supergirl movie.  The original date on this review is September 11, 2010.

New Avengers Trailer!

Here it is folks, the new trailer for The Avengers.  One of those superhero films that folks thought would never happen, just because of all the heroes involved.

Once again, for all my non-geek friends who tire of me ranting about it, The Avengers is the supergroup of Marvel Comics, where Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, and various other heroes band together "to battle the enemies that no one hero can face alone."

What I like about the trailer:  that Mexican standoff shot of Cap, Iron Man, and Thor in that forest glen.

What I don't like:  I don't like Thor's re-designed costume.  It strikes me as a little off.  And I do agree with some Internet critics...it does look like Robert Downey Jr's charisma and star power might overpower the proceedings, making it Iron Man 3.

The Avengers hits on May 4, and it can't get here soon enough.








And because I need a thumbnail for when I post this on my social networking presences, here's the new poster.  A little too photoshopy, but hey, it's The Avengers.

It's a New Targ!

Alright, because everyone needs a hobby, it's time to break out mine.  Ladies and gentlemen, it's time to roll out this week's episode of U62: The Targ!

This time around, we roll out Episode 5.14: Springy Spring.  My love of Mythbusters reaches its logical end as I submit a myth to be busted, I celebrate with the rest of the trekkies at the discovery of a lost Star Trek episode, and it's time for Part II of the Jones Soda Holiday Fizzathon! 

For those just tuning in, the Jones Soda Holiday Fizzathon is something I'm doing over the next few episodes.  I managed to get my hands on a Jones Soda Holiday gift pack, so I'm sampling one on each episode.  In Part II...Ginger Bread Soda. 


Click here to go download it!


Head here to subscribe in iTunes!


Be a fan in Facebook!

Fishing in the Discount Bin - Total Recall

For those just joining us, I used to do this thing on my podcast called Fishing in the Discount Bin, where, as my friend described, "[I] just go off on one of the many DVDs [I] own."  I only did about 10 or so on my podcast before I found it too exhausting, but I actually wrote up 30+ reviews before giving up.  Rather than let the reviews go to waste, I've decided to start posting them on my blog.

Today, we do the Arnold Schwarzenegger classic Total Recall.  This review is originally dated September 5, 2010.

Posting this here, I'm thinking I should finally watch this with the running commentary, as clips of the commentary became a bit of a viral sensation not too long ago.  Anyway, on with the review!

The Secret World of Arrietty Review

So, for Family Day, I thought I'd run into the city and catch Disney's latest Studio Ghibli dub, The Secret World of Arrietty.  While it's not from Ghibli's in-house genius Hayao Miyazaki, I figured it was still worth a look, because Studio Ghibli is awesome.

It's neat...coming out of the theatre, I overheard this one guy..."I don't know what the big deal was.  I was always told that the big thing about anime was there's a stronger focus on story.  I thought that would have meant a happy ending." 

No...the big deal about anime is it's more mature, hence things like downbeat endings.  As they say in another of my favourite movies, "That's all life is, a series of down endings."

Long story short, I liked it, and there's now a review on the main website.  Click on over and read it!

It's Targ Time!

It's that most magical time of the week!  Sunday.  Time for sleeping in, lounging around, and listening to the radio.  Or, maybe you'll all 21st Century and you listen to podcasts.  In which case, why not try the latest episode of my podcast, U62: The Targ?

This week, I bring you Episode 5.13:  Flag Points.  In this episode, I give my excited reaction to the greatest crossover in the history of ever (I already blogged about it...click here to read it), I continue my obsession with Condorman and finally figure out a unique way to get, and I roll out the first in a 4-part series...the Jones Soda Holiday Fizzathon!

 Let me explain.  Jones Soda is somewhat infamous for their very unique flavours that they roll out every Christmas.  About a week ago, I was browsing in Liquidation World when I came across the "Jones Soda Holiday Gift Pack," all marked down to $3.  So I decided to buy this 4-pack and, for the next four episodes, I shall sample one of these holiday sodas and give my thoughts.  In this episode, we have part 1:  Candy Cane Soda. 


Click here to go download it!


Head here to subscribe in iTunes!


Be a fan in Facebook!

Simples Rewards

Not too long ago, I was blogging about those great mail-away offers from my youth.  I'm talking about the things like flag points on the back of G.I. Joe toys, where you'd collect the points, send them off with a cheque for $3.99 shipping and handling, and you get an exclusive action figure.  In that blog entry, I was lamenting that there doesn't seem to be anything similar these days for grown-ups.  But then, I kind of realized that there is something similar out there, in the form of all those corporate rewards programs. 

If you listen to my podcast, then you'll know that in the past few episodes, I've been fondly reminiscing about the near-forgotten early-80s Disney superhero film Condorman.  It all came about because Condorman made a very surprising cameo in the Pixar short film Small Fry.  As my mind goes back to this classic from my childhood, we eventually come to a conundrum.  I want to get it on DVD.

Turns out that's quite a problem.  Back in the late-1990s, when DVD was new and exciting, Disney actually farmed out some of their late-70s/early-80s films to a DVD company called Anchor Bay.  However, when it turned out that DVD was going to become a thing and became the fastest-growing home media format ever, Disney reclaimed a lot of their titles.  So, the Anchor Bay edition of Condorman has been out-of-print for around 10 years and goes for big money on eBay.  I'd like to see the film, but I don't want to pay big money.  So, I started googling to find my other options.

In my search, I discovered that Disney has a movie club, much like Columbia House of old.  You can buy all kinds of Disney DVDs direct from the company.  Now, what really sweetened the pot was that the Disney Movie Club has a whole bunch of exclusives...DVDs that they only sell through their movie club.  Perusing their movie club exclusives, I found several titles where I was amazed that they would limit their distribution like this.  I found films like:

• DuckTales: The Movie -- Treasure of the Lost Lamp
• Their Emmy-winning remake of Pollyanna starring that little girl from the Cosby Show
• The Castaway Cowboy, which for some reason I saw on video a lot when I was a kid

And...Condorman

Now, as tempting as it was to sign up for the Disney Movie Club, get my 6 DVDs for 99¢ and finally have Condorman, the truth was I went through a Columbia House phase in my teens and I'm wary to go back.  I still remember how their whole "negative billing" thing works, and before you know it, I forget to send back the little card, and now I'm stuck with several dozen Good Luck Charlie DVDs.  So Disney Movie Club is out.

As I continued my online search, I eventually found that Disney has a rewards program in place, Disney Movie Rewards.  I had been familiar with this for a while.  Every Disney DVD and Blu-Ray comes with a code.  You punch in the code at the website, you get points, and you then redeem the points for merch.  Fairly basic rewards program.  So I started taking a look at all the various knick-knacks you can redeem your points for.  They've have the usual stuff, and they have DVDs...and they have a few Disney Movie Club exclusive DVDs available.

Including Condorman.  Bing!

I could get Condorman for free!  So, I grabbed all my Disney DVDs off the shelves, started punching in all that Disney Movie Rewards codes I could find, and lo and behold, I had enough for Condorman.  So my order has been placed and Condorman should be arriving in 6 to 8 weeks.

And there you have it.  Turns out all those great mail-away exclusives of my childhood still exist, they've just grown up and gotten themselves a fancy name like a rewards program.  I can still redeem my flag points and get my exclusives, just like I did when I was 8.  I don't have to grow up at all!

But maybe a little growing up wouldn't hurt.  I also learned from this that I probably have more Disney DVDs than a single guy approaching middle age should probably have.   

The Greatest Crossover In The History of Sci-Fi Comic Book Adaptations

I shared this news on Facebook and Twitter and such a few days ago (here's the original article I linked to) but it's so awesome I just have to blog about it.

The comic book company IDW currently holds the comic book rights to two of the world's largest sci-fi franchises:  Star Trek and Doctor Who.  It probably didn't take too long before some suit at IDW said, "Crossover!"

That's right, what was once only the subject of fanfic has become an officially licensed expanded universe reality. 

The storyline is called Assimilation² and the official plot description is thus:  "The Borg and the Cybermen create an unholy alliance resulting in potential disaster for all humanity. Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise find themselves joining forces with the Doctor and his companions, with the fate of the galaxy hanging in the balance."

First issue streets in May.  Wow...just wow.  I can't believe this is happening, even in comic book form.

Truth is, Star Trek doing crossovers in comics is nothing new.  Back in the 1990s, Marvel Comics had the Star Trek comic book license, and since the long time Marvel logic is, "Comic books sell really well when Wolverine is on the cover," the did a Star Trek/X-Men crossover, where the crew of the original Enterprise met the X-Men.  It was so popular that they did a sequel where the crew of The Next Generation teamed up with the X-Men.  And right now in Star Trek comics, IDW is doing an inter-company crossover with DC in which the original crew teams up with that famous 30th Century superhero team, the Legion of Super-Heroes.

Doctor Who in comics tends to be a trickier thing.  Some have already said that this would have been better if the crew of The Next Generation teamed up with The Sixth or Seventh Doctor, as those were the ones on TV when TNG was running.  But, the BBC tends to put tight restrictions on the comic book license for the Doctor, always clearly stating that only the current Doctor can be portrayed in comics.

It's covered quite extensively in the DVD bonus features for Doctor Who: The Movie.  Its revealed that the Eighth Doctor is the one who's had the most extensive career in comic book adaptations because, from when the movie aired in 1996 to when the revival began in 2005, the Eight Doctor was, for all intents and purposes, the current Doctor.  Many credit the Doctor Who comic strip within the official Doctor Who magazine (considered by many to be the "official" Doctor Who comic book representation) to be what kept the Doctor in the public eye for those 9 longs years.  Apparently, Russel T. Davies, the mastermind behind the revival, knew this, and even asked the makers of the Doctor Who comics to do the official Eighth Doctor to Ninth Doctor regeneration tale, but they couldn't.  As I said, only the current Doctor can be portrayed in comics, so they couldn't show the Ninth Doctor before he appeared on TV, and they couldn't go back and show the Eight Doctor after the Ninth appeared.  It's quite a fascinating featurette.

In fact, there's already some kefuffle about whether this'll be available in the UK.  Because the official Doctor Who magazine has the comic rights for the UK, and IDW only has them for North America.  But I'm sure it'll show up in some import shops.  

But  yeah.  Save me a copy this May!

Fishing in the Discount Bin: The Iron Giant

I've thought about doing this for a while now, and tonight, I decided to bite the bullet and do it.

About a year ago I was doing something on my podcast called Fishing in the Discount Bin.  One of my best friends and dedicated listeners said to me, "Do you know what I'd like to see you do on your podcast?  Since you love movies so much, I would like to hear you do something where you watch one of your DVDs and just...go off on it.  Just say why you like it, why you don't...just rant about it."  So I did.

I only did it for about 10 or 12 episodes, because this segment made my podcast significantly longer and I started finding it more creatively draining and more exhausting to produce that I had originally thought.  

But as I sit here at my computer and comb through my hard drive...even though I only did the segment about 10 times on the podcast, I actually wrote up 30+ Fishing in the Discount Bin reviews for eventual use in my podcast.

And rather than just let it go to waste, gathering virtual dust on my hard drive, I've decided to start posting these reviews to my blog. 

So, yeah.  For the next 30+ weeks, enjoy my old Fishing in the Discount Bin ramblings.  I wrote most of these well over a year ago, so I`ll be sure to include the dates of when I originally wrote these.  That'll explain why I start talking about Christmas in about six weeks or so.

For my first Fishing in the Discount Bin, I decided to do my favourite movie, The Iron Giant.  These notes are dated September 3, 2010.

Let's Roll Out the Targ

Greetings from the past! I actually recorded Episode 5.12: The Third Kind of Heat two weeks ago, but only now am I posting it online! Procrastination. What a mircale!

But in this one, I try to find the Canadian connection to Doctor Who, I fondly remember Heritage Moments, and, even though I know next to nothing about sports, I regurgitate some stuff about the NHL All-Star Game.


Click here to go download it!


Head here to subscribe in iTunes!


Be a fan in Facebook!

New Spider-Man Trailer!

So, some people were wondering why we didn't get a new trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man with the Super Bowl this past Sunday.  Well...it's because they were waiting for today to give us a new trailer!

I've blogged about it before, so I don't think I need to go into too many details.  After three films, Sony figured it was time to reboot Spider-Man.  Good-bye, Sam Raimi, hello Mark Webb, director of romantic comedy (500 Days) of Summer.  Andrew Garfield, last seen as Eduardo in The Social Network takes on the role of Peter Parker/Spider-Man, everyone's favourite new star Emma Stone is Peter's first love Gwen Stacey, and Rhys Ifans is the villain of our piece, Curt Connors/The Lizard.  Rounding out the cast are Denis Leary as Capt. George Stacey, Gwen's father and the police officer who heads up the task force to bring in Spidey, and Sally Field and Martin Sheen as Aunt May and Uncle Ben.

Enough rambling, the trailer!




What I like:  Like a lot of other online critics, I'm so glad they brought back Spidey's witty one-liners.  That's something that was missing from the Raimi films.  And also, with building the webshooters once again, looks like Spidey is back to being a hardcore science geek, also something that seemed glossed over.  Apparently, the screenwriters were told to draw mainly from the Ultimate Spider-Man comics, and you can see that influence, with Parker's parents being more prominent, and them having some shadowy ties to Oscorp.  And Denis Leary.  Dude.  The delivery of that line, "38 of New York's finest losing to man in a unitard."  That's such a Leary delivery!

What I don't like:  STOP MAKING IT LOOK LIKE TWILIGHT, DAMN IT!!!!

The Amazing Spider-Man hits theatres on July 3. 

The SuperBowl Movie Spots

So, there was some kind of football competition yesterday, and, as always, it was filled of all kinds of amazing commercials.  And, being the movie guy that I am, I'm sifting through all of the movie commercials that were shown!  It's become common practice for the movie studios to put together a 30-second spot for the big game to showcase their upcoming spring and summer blockbusters.  So, let's see what we've got....

First up, Battleship.  With the success of G.I. Joe and Transformers, Hasbro started looking for other properties they own that could be turned into movie, and they settled on the classic board game Battleship. 

In the movie version, alien invaders fence off a giant section of the Pacific around Hawaii, as part of phase 1 of an invasion.  Luckily, also trapped inside that force field is an American Nany fleet.  Commanding this fleet is Gambit from X-Men Origins: Wolveriene, one of the sexy vampires from True Blood, Rihanna, and the wolf puncher himself, Liam Neeson.

Looking at the designs of the alien ships, and the sound design in this spot...dude, they are trying hard to make this look like Transformers 4.

Battleship hits theatres on May 18.







And speaking of Hasbro, next up we have G.I. Joe: Retaliation, aka G.I. Joe 2.  In this second adventure, the Cobra-controlled President of the United States (yeah...that's how the first movie ended) orders the Joes terminated with extreme prejudice, and the remaining Joes band together to clear their names and stop Cobra.  It's a largely new squad of Joes this time out, including DJ Catrona as Flint and Adriene Palaki as Lady Jaye, and their led by Dwayne Johnson as Roadblock.  Bruce Willis also shows up as General Joseph Colton, the man who founded G.I. Joe. 

Much like the first film and the first trailer, my inner child is going nuts for this.  G.I. Joe: Retaliation hits theatres June 29. 






We also have Disney's John Carter.  Based on the legendary series of sci-fi novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs (yes, the Tarzan guy), this film is mostly based on the first novel in the series A Princess of Mars.  It follows the adventures of John Carter, a hero of the American Civil War, who is somehow spirited it to Mars, and finds it to be a fantastical land at war, a war in which he is quickly drawn in.

Movie versions have long been attempted since the 1930s, but it has long been considered unfilmable because of the amazing creatures described, such as one Martian race, the Tharks, who are 10-feet tall with four arms and tusks.  But, if there's anything that The Lord of the Rings and other films of the past 10 years have shown us, the unfilmable has quickly become filmable.

Our hero John Carter is played by...Gambit from X-Men Origins: Wolverine.  The guy has a name, I should start using it.  It's Taylor Kitsch.  Using the Avatar performance capture technology, Willem Dafore plays Tars Tarkas, the leader of the Tharks. 

I've never read the books...hardly heard of them until I started reading about this film.  I'm curious about it because the director is Andrew Stanton, the veteran Pixar animator who directed A Bug's Life, Finding Nemo, and Wall-E.  He's making his live-action debut with this.

John Carter hits theatres on March 9.





And lastly, the superhero film no one thought would ever happen.   The Avengers.  The Marvel Comics supergroup bands together to fight off the threats that no one hero can handle alone!  Robert Downey Jr is back as Tony Stark/Iron Man, Chris Evans is back as Steve Rogers/Captain America, Chris Hemsworth is back as Thor, Jeremy Renner is back (he cameoed in Thor) as Clint Barton/Hawkeye, Scarlett Johanson is back as Natlie Romanov/The Black Widow, and Samuel L. Jackson is back as Nick Fury.  New to the team is Mark Ruffalo, who takes over Edward Norton as Bruce Banner/the Hulk.

Fun trivia fact:  Ruffalo is the first guy to fully play both Bruce Banner and the Hulk.  In Ang Lee's Hulk, the Hulk was completely computer animated, with Lee doing some of the motion captures.  For The Incredible Hulk, Norton provided the motion capture.  But for The Avengers, they put Ruffalo in the full Avatar performance capture rig so he could fully play the Hulk.

Fan favourite Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly/Serenity) is the writer and director on this one.

It's looking really good...Cap's updated costume looks kind of cheezy to me, but I can live with it. 

The Avengers hits theatres on May 4.

The Targ Comes Targing Along

Happy new month! And what better way to celebrate this shortest month of them all than with a brand new episode of U62: The Targ!

In Episode 5.11: CondorBat, I take some time to reminisce about the classic Disney movie Condorman, ponder the best way to end a superhero film trilogy, and share my fanboy musings about how to reboot Batman.


Click here to go download it!


Head here to subscribe in iTunes!


Be a fan in Facebook!

Here Comes the Targ!

It's that time of the week again!  Time to take your MP3 player and stuff it!...with a new episode of U62: The Targ!

Got a very busy show this week in Episode 5.10: Midnight Music.  I offer up a lesson for the artistic types out there, I take a look at the growing intercontinental feud between TV networks, I reminisce about the old days, take a long hard look at the Internet dating scene, and end by wondering what Pixar did wrong in 2011.


Click here to go download it!


Head here to subscribe in iTunes!


Be a fan in Facebook!

Scarecrow's Oscar Picks: 2012 Edition

It's time for my annual tradition going back all the way to when I first stared developing my online presence oh so many years ago.  Oscar nominations were announced today, so that means it's time to roll out my Oscar picks!

I'm feeling kind of guilty looking forward to this year's Oscars when I still have to catch up on last year's Oscar winners.  I've been saying for a whole year now that I'm going to kill a Sunday afternoon by heading down to the video store and renting The King's Speech and Black Swan.  I've still got time...hopefully before this year's ceremony.  

Now, for those who might be new here, I've always done my Oscar picks a little bit different.  Best Director?  Best Actor?  Best Screenplay?  Pfft!  You're going to be flooded with those predictions in the media between now and when the big show is on TV on February 26.  Instead, I tend to focus on some of the smaller awards that I tend to geek out over.  And those two awards:  Best Visual Effects and Best Original Song.

Let's take a look at those categories, shall we?

Best Visual Effects

• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
• Hugo
• Real Steel
• Rise of the Planet of the Apes
• Transformers: Dark of the Moon 

My Thoughts:  Hugo has been getting lots of love for it's imaginative use of 3D effects.  Real Steel has ass-kicking giant robots.  But the one that everyone is raving about is Rise of the Planets of the Apes, where virtually all of the apes were done with performance capture animation.

My Predictions:  Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Best Original Song

Hey!  Thanks to YouTube, I can post the nominations!  The nominees are:

"Man or Muppet" from The Muppets





"Real in Rio" from Rio



My Thoughts:  Wow.  Only 2 nominations in this category this year?  I have no idea how this category works.  Help me Wikipedia...OK.  Apparently, eligible songs are ranked on a scale from 6 to 10, and to get a nomination, you have to get higher than 8.5.  And these are the only songs that scored higher than 8.5 this year.  Bit of a surprise with The Muppets...everyone knew it would score at least one nomination, but everyone thought that one nomination would be the film's opener "Life's a Happy Song."  Either way, everybody loved the songs in The Muppets...this is their category to lose.

My Prediction:  Man or Muppet

Best Animated Film

Threw this one into the mix when the category was created 10 years ago because I do so love animated films.  As I've blogged before, there was a time in my life when I'd run out to the theatre and see every animated film that came out, but I stopped doing that when every animated film became talking animals making pop culture references.  Which talking animals will be honour this year?  The nominees are:

• A Cat in Paris
• Chico and Rita
• Kung Fu Panda 2
• Puss in Boots
• Rango

My Thoughts:  For the first time since this category's inception, Pixar doesn't get a nomination.  That's what you get for making Cars 2!  Oh, well.  Pixar still gets some love, though, as their short film La Luna got nominated for Best Animated Short Film.  (La Luna made the rounds on the film festival circuit last year...it's going to be in front of Brave this summer.)  As always, there's a couple of art house picks that have people scratching their heads.  A Cat in Paris is a French animated film, about a little girl and her cat solving a mystery on a warm Paris evening, and Chico and Rita is a Spanish/UK co-production about two gifted musicians in the 1940s and 50s as they bounce around from Havana, New York, Vegas, and Paris as they try to achieve their dreams.  There's some controversy that The Adventures of Tintin didn't get nominated, once again sparking debate as to whether performance capture counts as true animation.  And Rango made the list as expected.  I know Rango got a lot of love, both commercially and critically, but when I finally saw it I found it fairly typical and didn't see what all the fuss was about.  But because of all that love, it's the frontrunner.

My Prediction:  Rango

Best Picture

Well, enough of my hipster Oscar predictions, I guess I should do at least one mainstream one, so why not the biggest one of them all?  I really have no idea how this category works anymore.  It used to be just 5 nominations.  Then, a couple years ago, they expanded it to 10 to try to include more mainstream films and less art house picks that no one had heard of.  This year, they're trying a new system where a film has to get a certain number of points to qualify, and there'll be as many nominations as there needs to be.  9 nominees this year, and they are....

• The Artist
• The Descendants
• Extrememely Loud and Incredibly Close
• The Help
• Hugo
• Midnight in Paris
• Moneyball
• The Tree of Life
• War Horse

My Thoughts:  Well, the whole point of doing this was to allow more mainstream films, and we can see that here.  The Help was getting a lot of Oscar buzz when it became the sleeper hit of the end of summer.  However, with the Golden Globes and all the various critics awards across the USA that tend to be the indicator, it seems to be coming down to Hugo and The Artist.  And many are pointing out that The Artist was brought to North American shores by the Weinstein Company, who are using many of the same successful Oscar campaigning techniques that they used last year for The King's Speech.

My Prediction:  The Artist

It's that time of the week again!  Time to take your MP3 player and stuff it!...with a new episode of U62: The Targ!

I feel like I need to apologize in advance for this week's episode, Episode 5.09: Flame War.  See, we're having a by-election up here in Athabasca, and I take a large portion of this week's episode ranting about one of the issues that's very important to me:  affordable housing.  Once that's out of my system, I also share one of my favourite stories of the making of Star Trek IV, and ponder the meaning of George Lucas announcing his retirement.


Click here to go download it!


Head here to subscribe in iTunes!


Be a fan in Facebook!

Happy Birthday, DeForest Kelley!

As Facebook now allows for longer and longer status updates, I find the silly little blog entries I used to do are getting passed over for just simply posting it straight to social networking sites.

But, since I still want to keep this blog running, maybe I should post this stuff to the blog and then just share the links on all the social networking sites.  Oh, Internet, why are you so big and complicated?


Anyway, the simple little entry I want to say today is happy birthday to DeForest Kelley, still best remembered as Dr. Leonard H. "Bones" McCoy on the original Star Trek.  Kelley passed away in 1999, but were he still with us, he'd be 92 today.

I'm sure lots of folks will be rolling out "He's dead, Jim" and "I'm a doctor, not a ______" montages in tribute today, so instead, I wanted to put out there one of my favourite quotes from Bones:

"In this galaxy, there's a mathematical probability of three million Earth-type planets. And in all of the universe, three million million galaxies like this. And in all of that and perhaps more, only one of each of us. Don't destroy the one named Kirk."

Although, for your own inspirational purposes, I'd suggest replacing Capt. Kirk's name with your name.

And, thanks to YouTube, here's one of my favourite McCoy moments.  It's McCoy's return to Enterprise from Star Trek: The Motion Picture.  Once you get past the pure 70s cheese of what McCoy is wearing, it's just a great little character moment.

The Muppets Review is Online

So, this past weekend, I finally got a chance to head into the city and this new Muppet movie everyone's talking about.

Long story short:  it rocked.

My complete review is now up on the main site.  Click on over and have a read!

It's Targ Time!

Time for a new week, that means it's time for a new episode of U62: The Targ!

Today, we break out Episode 5.08: Pound Pound Pound It Out, in which, after we struggle with what to talk about, we start chatting up the sad remnants of dying fads, ponder building new tourist attractions in our national parks, and ask the age old question:  "What am I doing with my money this month:  paying the rent, or buying new DVDs?"


Click here to go download it!


Head here to subscribe in iTunes!


Be a fan in Facebook!

Red State Review

As I've previously blogged, two of my favourite filmmakers were out with new films in 2011 that I never got around to seeing.  So, of course, I went out with my Christmas money and bought those films on Blu-Ray a) to finally see them and b) so I wouldn't have any gaps in my collection.  A week ago I saw the first of those two films.  The filmmaker was Pixar, and that movie was Cars 2.  The second one was Kevin Smith, and that film was Red State. 

Being a Kevin Smith fanboy, I'd been tracking this one online for a while.  He sat down and wrote it after Clerks 2.  Hoped to make it his next film after Clerks 2, but his usual studio the Weinsteins chose to pass on it.  "It's a bleak, unrelenting film with no redeemable characters and everyone dies at the end!  I don't understand why they wouldn't want to make it," I heard Smith joke in his famous Q&A sessions.  So Smith went off and made Zack and Miri Make a Porno (ignore the critics and the box office returns, it's a damn funny film) and Cop Out (listen to the critics and the box office returns because it's a God awful film) before deciding to go back to his indie beginnings and make Red State independently. 

It was about a year ago when he premiered it at the Sundance film festival and announced that he'd be distributing it independently as well.  Many thought his distribution method was unique.  Rather than pass it off to a distributor and put it in thousands of theatres, he was going to take it personally from theatre to theatre, screen it, and then do one of his famous Q&A sessions afterwards.  Many thought this was revolutionary, but I looked at that and went, "Hey!  Didn't Tim Allen do that a couple of years ago?"  And he did.  Allen made his directorial debut a few years back, and he personally took it theatres and screened it.  Only instead of a Q&A, he busted out some new stand-up material and did his stand-up show.  So it was hardly revolutionary.  And, for a director like Smith, with a very dedicated fanbase, it made a lot of sense. 

Smith brought his Red State show to Edmonton back in August or September...I can't remember exactly when.  All I remember is I couldn't get the time off work to go, so I knew I'd probably just have to buy it on Blu-Ray when it came out and kick back some evening and watch it.  That kind of didn't bode well, though, because the only other Smith film I'd ever seen without seeing it in the theatre first was Jersey Girl and...well, I can't make the expected joke.  You can tell I'm a dedicated Kevin Smith fanboy, because only the dedicated utter these words:

"Ya know, Jersey Girl's actually not that bad." 

You can't deny though that Jersey Girl and Red State have similar origin stories.  Both were touted by Smith as being efforts to break out of his safety zone and try something new for him.  With Jersey Girl, he was wading in the shallow end...just out of his comfort zone, but able to retreat quickly would things go on.  With Red State, though, he did a cannonball off the high dive. 

So, let's take a look see, shall we?

Red State

Directed by Kevin Smith

Starring Michael Parks, John Goodman, Melissa Leo, Kerry Bishe, Kyle Gallner, Michale Angarano, Nicholas Braun, Ralph Garman, Stephen Root, and Kevin Pollack

Backstory:  Well, I pretty much covered that above, so no need to repeat myself

Plot:  This is a tough plot to summarize briefly.  Three teenagers go off into the woods one night to lose their virginity to a woman they met on the Internet, but it turns out to be a trap lain by a religious fundamentalist organization that's a borderline cult.  Things quickly spiral out of control and our borderline cult is soon in the midst of an armed standoff with federal agents.  The film could more accurately be described as a series of character portraits as this Hell on Earth starts to break out.  There's the small town sheriff, played by Root, who gets all jittery because this incident could reveal some of his secrets.  There's one of the eldest children in the cult, played by Bishe, who's only thoughts turn to saving the children when things start falling apart.  There's the lead federal agent, played by Goodman, who desperately tries to do the right thing.  There's our three teenagers who kicked off our story, wondering desperately if they'll make it out alive.  And, the most talked about performance in the film, Michael Parks as our cult leader Abin Cooper, who is very much the face of evil in this film.  

What I Liked:  Visually, this is nothing like Smith has done before.  He'd always been reluctant to direct action sequences, citing his own inexperience, but for most of the action scenes in this film, he does a pretty good job.  In fact, there was one camera shot that, while not Earth-shattering, was just out of Smith's norm enough to make my jaw drop.  Make no mistake though, it is still a Kevin Smith film.  There'll be a line of dialogue and the delivery of that line that'll make you smile and go, "Yup, that's Smith."  As I said, everyone's raving about Parks' performance, and deservedly so, but I was rather impressed with Goodman as the flustered federal agent in over his head.  Being largely familiar with Goodman's comedic work, I'd never seen him do something dramatic before, and he was good.  And there were some wonderfully tense moments. 

What I Didn't Like:  Well, it's still a Smith film, and as such, it does get a little too talky for an action/thriller.  As riving as Abin Cooper's sermon is, it does kind of bring the plot to a halt.  

Final Verdict:  Despite its preachy moments, I found Red State to be a tight little action thriller.  It was tense, it was scary, and it was enjoyable.

3 Nibs

It's a New Targ!

Let's see if we can keep this streak of new episode going in the new year with Episode 5.07: Overtired. 

In this week's episode, we're chatting about the recent World Juniors, building monuments to TV shows, and sampling black burgers!


Click here to go download it!


Head here to subscribe in iTunes!


Be a fan in Facebook!

Cars 2 Review

So, as I'm sure has become very obvious by now, I'm a big, big fan of Pixar.  Love their films.  However, this past summer, I skipped their latest film.  The commercials just held no interest for me.  It was the first time I'd missed a Pixar film in the theatre in...ever.  I'd seen every Pixar film in the theatre!  Except this one.  However, with my pockets filled with Christmas money, I went out and I bought it on DVD.  I mean, I also own every Pixar film on DVD, so I can't have a gap in my collection. 

Tonight, I finally sat down to experience the mediocrity that is....

Cars 2

Directed by John Lasseter; Co-directed by Brad Lewis

Starring the voices of Larry the Cable Guy, Owen Wilson, Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer, Eddie Izzard, John Turturo, Jason Issacs, Thomas Kretschman, Tony Shalhoub, and Bruce Campbell

Backstory:  So, when this film was first announced, the question that every Pixar geek had was, "Out of all the fantastic films that Pixar has made, why does Cars get a sequel?"  That question is best answered by Yogurt from Spaceballs:  "Merchandise!"  Granted, while Cars was Pixar's lowest grossing and not-best-reviewed film, it was also Pixar's biggest hit ever...in terms of merchandise sales.  And since merchandise sales are one of the biggest parts of a film's revenues these days, a sequel was pretty much assured.  But hey, we were all cynical towards Toy Story 2 & 3, and they turned out to be good, so Cars 2 could be good...right?

Plot:  In the freakish nightmare world where cars rule and humans are nowhere to be seen, the fuel magnate Sir Miles Axelrod develops a new alternative fuel call Allinol, and to promote the usage of this fuel, holds a race known as the World Grand Prix.  Of course, our hero from the first film, Lightening McQueen, is invited to race, and he brings along his best friend Mater the Tow Truck.  Mater, simple country bumpkin that he is, has all kinds of delightful culture shock misunderstandings, which eventually causes him to be berated by McQueen.  However, Mater is soon mistaken for an ace secret agent by two British spies, and is enlisted to help them in their latest adventure.  Seems that a crime syndicate made of history's greatest lemons is out to sabotage the World Grand Prix.  Can Mater and his two new spy buddies save the day?  Will Mater reconcile with Lightening McQueen?  And who will win the World Grand Prix?

What I Liked:  Well, it is Pixar, so the animation is gorgeous.  My current favourite composer, Michael Giacchino, did the score, and it's a great pseudo-James Bond score.  John Turturo voices McQueen's chief rival, a Formula One racer named Francesco, and he is hilariously over the top.

What I Didn't Like:  PREACHY.  This film is very blunt with its messages.  Look, I appreciated trying to whip a little wisdom at the kids, but it doesn't have to be this blunt.  The plot is kind of muddled, as we cut back and forth between McQueen on the race and Mater in his spy adventures.  Owen Wilson is really phoning it in this time out as the voice of McQueen.  And, as always, the humour of Larry the Cable Guy is an acquired taste. 

Final Verdict:  Well, what can I say?  Pixar's four films prior to this all had me in tears at the end.  No tears were shed at the end of Cars 2.  The typical Pixar effort just doesn't seem to be there this time out.  It's just...a sequel.

2.5 Nibs

Now, I've got a busy weekend ahead, but hopefully I'll be able to sit down and watch my other new DVD.  Another of my favourite filmmakers had a new film out in 2011 that I never got around to seeing, so hopefully I'll be able to find a few moments over the weekend to watch and review it as well.  Keep your eyes on this blog for when I finally check out Kevin Smith's Red State.  

2 New Movie Review for the New Year!

So, before this whole crazy Christmas/New Years period came to a close, I knew I had to get out to the movies.  So I figured it was time for a good ol' double feature day, which I did back on Monday!

First up, I wanted to check out the new Sherlock Holmes sequel.  I liked the first one well enough, and I found the second one to be...well, as the ol' cliche goes, "If you liked the first one...."

Next up, I wanted to catch the latest Mission: Impossible.  As I'd previously blogged, I'd been very curious to see this, because one of my favourite directors, Brad Bird (The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, Ratatouille) was making his live-action debut with this.  And for his live-action debut, he did a stellar job.

I've got complete reviews over at my main website, so click on over and give them a read!

It's Time for the Targ!!

Happy New Year!  Welcome to 2012, and I can think of no better way to ring in the new year than with a brand new episode of U62: The Targ!


We start the new year with Episode 5.06: A Week Full of Thursdays.  I discuss the pains of being recognized, I lament the end of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, and I spend my time dissecting the trailer for The Hobbit.


Click here to go download it!


Head here to subscribe in iTunes!


Be a fan in Facebook!