Now that "Batman:Year One" has been released on DVD, the next DC Animated movie to be released has been unveiled with an enticing trailer. A featurette revealing the creation of this new animated movie from the minds that also brought you "Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths" and "Superman Batman: Public Enemies" can be found in the special features on the DVD.You can check it here.

                                                                                    


                                                

                                                                                       

    

       In related news, in addition to a CG animated Green Lantern Animated series there is a new CG animated Batman planned that boggles the mind called "Beware the Batman". The show which is executive produced by Glen Murakami ("Teen Titans") and features a gun-toting Alfred and a female ninja sidekick named Katana. Wait ..what!?

 

 

                                                      

 

       I had heard whispers and rumors, but until the Wall Street Journal broke the news I refused to give them rumors any credence. J.J.Abrams is going to produce a movie based on the popular Hasbro toy line "The Micronauts". I would be dubious of how successful a movie would be were it not for J.J. Abrams involvement or the fact that word is they will adapt the storyline from the popular comic series once published by Marvel. Anyone who doubts how good this can be, allow me to direct your attention to his adaptation of "Star Trek". By the way, there is a sequel of that movie in the works. 'Nuff said.

        Director Steven Soderbergh is remaking the popular "Man from U.N.C.L.E." t.v. series into a big budget movie. According to recent news, Bradley Cooper will star as super spy Napoleon Solo. The movie which is being made for Warner Bros. Studio has planned for filming to start next spring. The original t.v. series starred Robert Vaughn as Napoleon Solo and David McCallum as Illya Kuryakin and ran from 1964 to 1968.

                                                                                      
                                  

   Spike TV Scream Awards aired tonight and among the winners were: Best Fantasy Movie: X-Men, Best Superhero Movie: Chris Evans, Captain America: The First Avenger, Best Cameo: Hugh Jackman, X-Men: First Class, Fight Scene of the Year: Final Battle, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Best 3D Movie: Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Best Comic Book or Graphic Novel: The Walking Dead, Best Comic Book Writer: Ed Brubaker, Best Comic Book Artist: John Romita Jr., and Best Comic Book Movie: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Among the presenters were The Dark Knight Rises' Anne Hathaway,Gary Oldman and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, The Avengers' Robert Downey Jr. and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengance's Nicholas Cage.


         

      X-Men Anime premieres this Friday on G4. The third of Marvel's Anime series to premiere on the G4 network X-Men is produced by Madhouse, the same Japanese animation studio that brought us one of the segments of "Batman: Gotham Knights", " Supernatural: The Anime Series", as well as, both the "Iron Man" and "Wolverine" anime series. Marvel's Blade Anime series will premiere on G4 in January. Harold Perrineau will be providing the voice of Blade. Perrineau who is best know for his roles as Michael on "Lost" and Link in "The Matrix" Trilogy.

     "Thor 2" will be directed by Patty Jenkins which is scheduled Nov 15, 2013 release. Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, and Tom Hiddleston will reprise their roles. Jenkins directed "Monster" starring Charlize Theron, who won an Academy Award. Other movies also scheduled for release from Marvel Studios are "The Avengers" on May 4,2012 and "Iron Man 3" on May 3, 2013. The "Thor" Blu-ray trailer reveals some of the behind the scenes of "Thor" and production of  "The Avengers".

 

 

 

                                                                                 

 

                                                                            

     I recently saw a commercial for the "Batman: Arkham City" video game that featured Arleen Sorkin ("Bosom Buddies", "Batman: TAS") voicing her signature Harley Quinn character. It was so cool I had to include it here. I also included  a commercial that preceded it that I found quite amusing.

                                                                          

    

    This past Monday, Entertainment Tonight premiered a new trailer for the upcoming "Avengers" movie, but that was abbreviated compared to the one Marvel just released. We finally get a look a the charaters in action and a look at Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner complete with a transformation into The Hulk. By the time this movie arrives in theatres excitement will be at a fever pitch. The movie may even be the breakout hit of the Summer 2012 box office. I know that I'm eagerly looking forward to it.

                                                                                


       

      "Batman: Year One" comes out on DVD/ Blu-ray next Tuesday and I have no doubt that it will be another indication of DC Animated knocking it out of the ballpark. They always seem to raise the bar with each new animated movie and they manage to also wet your appetite by revealing the next animated movie to be released. In this case, the next project in the queue is "Justice League: Doom". I firmly beleive that if the powers that be wise up they'll give us a Justice League feature film that's completely state of the art CG animated. That's the only way we'll ever see a Justice League feature film especially since they can't seem to get a "Wonder Woman" movie made. Joss Whedon was once attached to a Wonder Woman movie and left the project due to creative differences with the producers. This is the same Joss Whedon who is directing "The Avengers". Brilliant.

 

 

                                                                            

       "The Avengers" movie cast is featured on the cover of the new issue of Entertainment Weekly including a previously absent and completely slender looking Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner.




       The previously revealed cast of "Justice League: Doom" has been updated to include Carl Lumbly as J'onn J'onzz, The Martian Manhunter, Susan Eisenberg as Wonder Woman, and Bumper Robinson as Cyborg.

       Thanks in part to modern technology, specifically smart phones and ultra hi-tech telephoto lens, it's even harder to keep top secret movie sets secure and under wraps. A recently leaked photo of Anne Hathaway in full regalia as Catwoman has made it all over the web. This version is even better than the one that the studio revealed.

 

 

       

 

The first month launch of the DC Comics 52 comic event was a huge success and for those of you who have no idea what I'm referring to. Now that you've left your cave, I suggest you watch the following promo.

 

 

 

                                                                              

 

                                                                

       The voice cast of "Justice League: Doom" , the DC Animated Movie to follow "Batman: Year One" will feature Nathan Filion ( "Firefly", "Castle") as Green Lantern, Tim Daly ("Eyes", "Private Practice") as Superman, Kevin Conroy ( Batman: The Animated Series", "Justice League") as Batman, Michael Rosenbaum ("Smallville", "Justice League") as The Flash, and more to be revealed later.          NBC is developing "Revolution" a new adventure thriller series from J.J. Abrams and Eric Kripke. I don't even need to know any more details, they had me at J.J. Abrams. Now that's a recipe for success.
         The cast of the movie "Dark Shadows" directed by Tim Burton has been revealed. Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins, Helena Bonham Carter as Dr. Julia Hoffman, Jackie Earle Haley as grounskeeper Willie Loomis, Jonny Lee Miller as Roger Collins, Michelle Pfeiffer as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, and Chloe Moretz as her teenage daughter Carolyn. The new movie tells the story of Barnabas Collins, turned into a vampire by a witch whose heart he broke. She entombs him for 200 years, until he emerges in 1972 where the story really begins. Originally, a daytime drama on ABC starring Jonathan Frid as Barnabas, the series ran from 1966 to 1971 and is the basis for the new movie. There was a reboot of the franchise in 1991 starring Ben Cross as Barnabas and also starring Joanna Going and Joseph Gordon-Levitt that ran for 12 episodes.
         

        Terra Nova aired on Fox Monday Night and the show was better than I expected. They took a few classic sci-fi premises and managed to completely incorporate them into a brilliant new sci-fi adventure. Hopefully, this show will have the kind of success that will allow the story to fully unfold.

 

 

                                                                                      

         I recently watched "Season of the Witch" starring Nicholas Cage and Ron Perlman. The movie was the story of two medival knight who after fighting in The Crusades are drawn into service by The Church to transport a witch who unleashed a plague to a group of monks who can break her spell. The movie was better than advertised and quite a surprising suspense and horror movie.

          The season finale of "Alphas" aired on Monday and the season ended in grand fashion, and much to my delight SyFy picked the show up for a second season. The show is about people with extraordinary powers and abilities who solve mysteries and combat enemies who are gifted like them.

 

 

 

 

                                                                               

                                                                                                                                                                  

                                                                                

     Cartoon Network premiered new episodes of their Friday Night animated block. All of the shows are debuting new episodes. The line-up is as follows:6;00 p.m. "Batman: The Brave and The Bold" ,6:30 p.m. Young Justice, 7:00 p.m. Generator Rex, 7:30 p.m. Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, 8:00 p.m. Star Wars: The Clone Wars which is followed at 8:30 p.m. with a rebroadcast episode of the new "Thundercats" series.

                                                                                

     Marvel Comics are coming out with a group of graphic novels called Season One which retells and updates the origins of The Fantastic Four, X-Men, Daredevil, and Spider-Man. The one-shot books launch starting in Feb. 2012 with Fantastic Four and ending with Spider-Man in May 2012.

                                                                                              

    "The Immortals" a movie that features Henry Cavill, the new Superman, is opening on 11.11.11. The movie is an high octane action packed version of the mythical tale of Theseus. The movie also features Mickey Rourke, Luke Evans, John Hurt, Kellan Lutz, Frieda Pinto, and Isabel Lucas.

                                                                           

                                                                                   

     "Marvel's X-Men Anime" to debut on G4 on Friday, Oct. 21. X-Men will join "Iron Man" and "Wolverine" anime on the G4 network. A another anime series "Blade" will air on G4 this winter.

                                                                                

                                                                        

     "X-Men: The First Class" debuted on DVD and Blu-ray last week. I watched this movie over the weekend I had to reassess my reasons for not seeing this movie in the theater. The movie was far better than I expected it would be. Although, I had to give it low marks for not maintaining continuity with the other X-Men movies and that includes "X-Men Origins: Wolverine". I would recommend that if you don't see any other superhero movie ( and I don't say that lightly) that you see this movie.

                                                                                                                                                                        

           

         And the remakes just keep on coming, I just saw a trailer for a remake ( and this will be the third time this movie has been made) of "The Thing". The original novella that was made into the 1951 movie "The Thing from Another World" and is perhaps one of the most chilling and creepiest pieces of sci-fi/ horror ever written. The 1982 version of "The Thing" starring Kurt Russell really tapped into the horror aspect of the story and this remake promises to raise the game.

 

 

 

 

      

         "Thor" was released this Tuesday on DVD/Blu-ray. The movie directed by Kenneth Branagh and starring newcomer Chris Hemsworth as title character was the next to last puzzle piece setting the stage for next summer's blockbuster"Avengers' movie. The movie also stars Natalie Portman, Kat Dennings, Clark Gregg, and Stellan Skarsgard. Incidently, Stellan Skarsgard's son, "True Blood" actor Alexander Skarsgard was a fan favored pick to play the role of "Thor".

 

                 

                                                                                  

      Lastly, "Contagion" ruled the weekend box office making 23.1 million dollars, " The Help" was number two taking in 8.5 million dollars, and at number three "Warrior" taking in 5.6 million dollars.