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Month: March 2009

Blu-Ray Review: Pinocchio 70th Anniversary Edition


When You Wish Upon a Star
Walt Disney's 2nd animated feature-length film debuted 70 years ago, but only now do we have the technology to appreciate it better than it's ever been seen before. With Blu-ray, now we can watch it at home in the highest resolution to date, 1080p, and listen to its classic songs in DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 sound, which is likewise better than ever before. Like Bolt, which also was just released on DVD and Blu-ray, when you purchase the Pinocchio 70th Anniversary Edition on Blu-ray, you also get it on DVD. So for those of you who don't want to buy it twice or maybe you want the DVD to put in the minivan for trips with the kids, now your wish has come true.

DVD review: Otaku No Video

Otaku: A Japanese term used to refer to people with obsessive interests, particularly anime, manga and video games.

The year is 1982, in Japan. A young man (Kudo) is starting his College career. He is very involved with his Tennis Club and appears to be dedicated to his new life. Like most first year College students he begins to loose focus and question his motivation to the things he is doing. A run in with a friend from High School (Tanaka) shows him the new and unseen world of SciFi/Anime Clubs. At first it seemed very strange, but it doesn't take long before he is hooked, and I mean really HOOKED! By the end of the year he has come to realise that his true calling to to become the Otaking.

Reviews

Blu-ray Review: Tales of the Black Freighter and Under the Hood

When the Theatrical Release of the Watchmen hit theaters earlier this month it was missing a few specific things. 1) Giant Squid Monster, 2) Tales of the Black Freighter, 3) Blue Genitalia …wait no…there was plenty of that….4) Under the Hood. Well Warner Brothers and Director Zack Snyder have just released Tales of the Black Freighter and Under The Hood on one Blu-ray set as supplemental material not in the movie!

DVD Review: The Zeta Project Season One

Warner Brothers continues its streak of releasing past animated series on DVD with the Season One release of The Zeta Project. Originally appearing on Batman Beyond, Zeta project takes place in the DC Animated Universe Future and follows the story of a former government robot named Johnny 5…I mean….Zeta….who is programed for stealth assassinations who gains awareness and doesn't want to kill anymore.

Interviews

INTERVIEW: Exclusive with Spectacular Spider-Man’s Kevin Altieri


The Spectacular Spider-Man is now on Disney XD and to celebrate ComicsOnline is bringing you EXCLUSIVE interviews and coverage!

This week's interview is with a man who is no stranger to bringing superheroes to life, Kevin Altieri. Kevin's credits include Batman: The Animated Series, The Real Ghostbusters, and has recently worked on the Marvel Direct to DVD feature, Hulk VS. This season on Spectacular Spider-Man, Kevin is directing "Destructive
Testing", the second episode of the season which introduces the villain known as Kraven the Hunter.

The following are the highlights from our interview with Kevin:

DVD Review: The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest

In the early 90's someone made the great choice to revive a cult classic animated series, Jonny Quest. The new series aired on Cartoon Network and ran for a total of 52 episodes over the course of two seasons. Jonny and Hadji are now teenagers and still travel the world on new adventures with Dr. Quest and Race Bannon! Warner Brothers has just released the first volume of a 90's classic animated series, The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest.

DVD Review: Role Models

You've had a bad day. Not just "I'm feeling kind of stressed" bad, or "my co-workers are all jerks" bad, but "dumped by my girlfriend in the face of an existential crisis" bad, and you make one tiny mistake and end up looking at 30 days in prison or 150 hours of community service. Which do you take? The community service, right? How could it be worse than prison?

Blu-ray Review: Batman The Anthology Collection

"Alfred, let''s go shopping."

Before Christopher Nolan's "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight", there were a few other adventures of the Caped Crusader. Warner Brothers has just released the classic theatrical adventures of The Batman for the first time ever on Blu-ray in the new Batman: The Motion Picture Anthology 1989-1997. This collection includes Batman, Batman Returns, Batman Forever, and Batman and Robin. This set is loaded with hours and hours of special features as well as our hero''s adventures in High Definition!

Star Trek Movie Prequel Comes to iPhone

Star Trek(San Diego, March 19, 2009) — Star Trek: Countdown, the official prequel to the new Star Trek movie being released by Paramount Pictures on May 8, 2009, is going to mobile devices! The four-issue mini-series is now available on Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch, and Google’s Android Mobile Devices through iVerse Media’s digital distribution technology. Visit IDWPublishing.com for more information about Star Trek: Countdown.

DVD Reviews: Escape to Witch Mountain and Return from Witch Mountain

Escape to Witch Mountain
Years ago, I met Bob Young, a retired TV writer who needed a computer tutor. Once a week I scheduled an hour and a half to go to his home above La Costa, California, but we usually took much longer than that. When we were finished going over what he wanted to learn that week, we’d speak French as best we could remember, look at old home movies, or he’d tell me about his experiences writing for television. I eventually looked him up online and found what he had left out. While he had written for quite a few television shows, he neglected to include that he had written one feature film, one that I and all the kids of my generation had seen multiple times growing up. The next time I saw him, I showed him his entry on IMDB and he was surprised to see how many shows they listed as scripted by him. I mentioned how impressed I was that he had written a film from my youth. I wish I remembered more details. I tried to contact him for an interview to go along with this review, but when I called his number, the young woman who answered claimed that this was her number and she’d had it for twenty years. Emails just bounced, but that’s not surprising since I know his old ISP went out of business. I just hope he’s okay. He is about to be 85 this year after all.

A Tribute to May Parker aka Spider-Girl

Today, a very special Marvel series will come to an end (again). The current series, starring May “Mayday” Parker, ends an amazing run because Marvel has canceled Spider-Girl’s current series Amazing Spider-Girl #30. This will conclude the stand alone adventures of our favorite Alternate Reality heroine. Spider-Girl is the longest running series with a female lead that Marvel has ever published!

The character will live on in Spider-Man Amazing Family release, but honestly, who knows how long that will last for. For a character that started off as a What If story, I think she has come a long way. Her first appearance was in What If Volume 2 #105 released in 1998. For those of us who picked up that book when it hit the shelf, we knew right away that there was something different about this character. No one could have predicted that this character would have lasted for more than ten years after her initial appearance.

DVD Review: The Midnight Meat Train Unrated Director’s Cut

Before you were born, or the birth of any other human thing, that’s how long, or longer. And now you found us, as only a few before you have. The intimate circle that keeps the secret, we protect and nurture them and order is thereby preserved. It must be done, to keep the worlds separate. You’ll understand soon enough. Now serve, as we all do, without question.