Ultimate Avengers II - Check out the first 10 minutes.

Ultimate Avengers II, Marvel and Lion Gates straight to DVD animated movie hits shelves on August 8th. Hasbro.com has posted the first 10 minutes up on their site.

It looks pretty good. I like that they are straying away from Mark Miller's comic a little bit and bringing in their own ideas.

Black Panther is an interesting choice for a new recruit. Let's just hope there's another epic Hulk battle like the one that made the first film's finale so enjoyable.

Watch the Pilot of Eureka

If you missed the pilot of Sci-fi Channels delightful new show Eureka, they are offering it for free through their Pulse on-line channel. I encourage you to check it out. It was a good time. The story is fun and the special effects aren't half bad.

Book Review - Dean Koontz - Forever Odd

A few months ago, I wrote about how Dean Koontz has really hit his writing prime. Novels such as The Taking, Velocity, and Odd Thomas were some of the best horror/thrillers I have read in years. I want to say that Koontz fails to keep the rally going with his sequel Forever Odd, but that would be overstating the problems I had with the work. It's not that Forever Odd is a bad story, it just does not live up to its predecessor.

Forever Odd continues the story of the ghost communicator, trouble magnet, and fry cook - Odd Thomas from the earlier novel. In this one, Odd's friend has been kidnapped and he must use his special skills to track down the young man and rescue him from some pretty tough and psychotic customers.

Koontz has two ways that he (most of the time) paces his novels. The first is the break neck speed of Intensity and Velocity. We meet the main character and ride along while they are tossed around by forces beyond their control. The other is slowed down. The reader still rides along in linear time, but the narrator slowly creates the scenes and the action. The Taking and Odd Thomas are more in this vein. Both work well for their respected stories.

This being said, I felt that Forever Odd was a break neck paced story when it should have been slowed down a little. Sure, it's a sequel, so we know more about the character and long descriptions of his powers or his past might be tedious, but the interesting bits of Odd (his relationship with his parents, the events of the first novel, how his abilities affect him) are what made the first work so wonderful.

Forever Odd feels like Koontz's editors (I always want to blame the editors) told him to write a novel that was 40% Odd Thomas/ 60% Velocity. And though the story is interesting enough to keep the pages turning, I felt that I was reading about a minor tale in the larger epic of Odd Thomas' life.

Maybe that is it, and the third book in the series, Brother Odd (to be released in Nov.) will better bridge the gap between suspense and thriller.

So, I wouldn't say Forever Odd was the best Koontz I have ever read, but I am really looking forward to visiting the character again.

Rachel Blake from The Lost Experience at Comic Con 2006

Though I have no time to play the huge Lost Experience game that is all over the nets (and everywhere else), I thought Rachel Blake's speech was very cool.

Look at some of the other videos that people have found and posted on YouTube. It makes me anxious for Season 3.

Is there anyone out there that is following this game or has read Bad Twin?

The wikipedia entry on the Lost Experience states that those crazy Sprite ads that freak me out are related to the game. Now, if those scary Burger King ads were involved, we would have a real conspiracy on our hands.

New scene from Pulse

I-Film has a short scene from the Japanese horror remake Pulse. Most of the American remakes I've seen fall way short of the Japanese originals (Ring II, The Grudge, Dark Water). Let's hope that this one does. Though, I think I want to see it more for Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell) than anything else.

This scene doesn't instill me with hope. It looks like a scene from the beginning of Ghostbusters, but the old lady in that library was far scarier!

The Hogwarts Tinies

I don't know how long these have been around, but I stumbled across The Hogwart Tinies today and they made me smile. Listed as a

a parody of Edward Gorey's The Gashlycrumb Tinies, [and] executed in Gorey's signature style of pen and ink.

Catriona Mackay has done an excellent job at capturing both Gorey's macabe humor and Rowling's characters.

Bruce Campbell vs. The Oregon Dead

According to Cinematical, the always amazing Bruce Campbell will direct and play himself in a new movie called "My Name is Bruce" The Synopsis:

A comic fantasy film about Campbell's being continually mistaken for Ash, the droll vanquisher of demons he played in the Evil Dead films. When a small town in Southern Oregon is besieged by some sort of monster, the locals call on Campbell to rescue them.

That sounds like a recipe for a hilarious and wonderful time.

I saw Campbell speak a few years ago, and he is an amazing man. I hope he pulls out all of his deadpan humor in this one.

New Star Trek Teaser Poster

J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movie hasn't even started casting yet, but Paramount has already made a teaser poster. It looks cool, but do we really need one this eary?

Full Trailer for The Fountain

The full trailer for Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain. It looks amazing! I can't wait.

Snape on a plane! Savage Chickens = hilarious as always

Check out the Savage Chicken Site.

Why does the world need Lost toys?

Looking at the Lost action figures on Ain't it Cool News, I am hit by a wave of apathy. Who in the world would want to buy these? I used to be an avid figure collector myself, and I have to tell any of you that are thinking about adding these to your collection. The Lost toys are proof that the action figure market is just out of control.

Lost is a great show, but do we really need a Locke with bottled water action or a Shannon in swimsuit? They will just sit in your closet for a few years until you are ready to get rid of them, and then you will try to sell them on ebay, but no one will care.

Give us an interesting Lost boardgame, video game, something that we can actually enjoy.

The perfect gift for the Browncoat on your Christmas list

If you have a sci-fi fan on your Christmas list, this Serenity ornament (coming in August from Dark Horse) would be the perfect stocking stuffer

I know everyone out there wants to reenact Wash's amazing flying by zipping their ornament around the living room. Ok, maybe that's just me!

PREORDER HERE

via

First Look at Whedon's new Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic

Joss Whedon announced a while back that he would be writing a Buffy series for Dark Horse Comics that would take place in the continuity of the show as an 8th season. EW.com gives us the first look from the book. Just a cover of Buffy looking like women in comics always look.

Whedon's writing will be wonderful, but the perfect woman artwork that is so prevalent in most comics will make some Buffy fans want to toss the book in the trash.

Anna really needs to post her views about how women are drawn in comics. Even in some of the best (Y the Last Man) the artists can never portray reality. I have a hard time getting my women friends into the stories when the art is so geared toward pre-pubescent men (like some of the ones in EW's comments).

The first 24 minutes of A Scanner Darkly

I haven't watched it yet, but IGN has the first 24 minutes of the newest Philip K. Dick adaptation, A Scanner Darkly along with cast interviews up for our previewing pleasure. I want to see this one, but I am usually disappointed with Dick adaptations. Hopefully this will be an exception.

Check it out HERE.

Why I love Groundhog Day

Anna and I had the pleasure of seeing Groundhog Day last night as a selection from Bloomington's Bryan Park Film Series. We took our blanket and hung with some hippies for one of the most light-hearted and enjoyable movies ever made.

One thing I love about this movie is that it doesn't get old. Sure, the outfits are a little dated, but the story itself is timeless. Phil (Bill Murray) the egocentric weatherman relives the same day (Feb. 2^nd – Groundhog Day) over and over again until he finally realizes that life is better when he is friendly and helpful to the world around him.

It takes Phil a while to figure it all out (Harold Ramis "the director" said that Phil probably lives the same day for 10 years). As he relives his days he only becomes more and more selfish, lying, cheating and stealing until he finally tries to end his life (the most selfish thing of all). It is only when he figures out that there are people during his everlasting day that need his help, and that he actually cares what happens to others that he finds the path that will get him out of his problem.

There is also a love story involved, but as Anna and I discussed last night, it is not really the main thread of the film. If it was, Phil would have lied his way into the arms of Rita (Andie MacDowell), instead, Rita only falls for Phil when she sees that he genuinely cares for others. This is probably the biggest reason I love this movie. In a world filled with romantic comedies where guys (or girls) change their lives to win their love, Phil only gains love when he changes for himself. When he becomes a better person, because he feels that he should be one, then love finds him. Even if he and Rita never got together (their quick love story is the most forced part of the film) I would have walked away knowing I had seen a brilliant film.

But, I'm probably not saying anything that people who have seen the movie don't already know. If you haven't seen the film or it’s been a while (5 years for me), you should head out to your video stores dollar bin, gather the family around the T.V. and laugh until you cry.

First still from Neil Gaiman's Stardust

The first still from the film adaptation of the Neil Gaiman's Stardust is online, and it looks cool. If you haven't read Gaiman's novel (in prose or graphic form) you should pick it up. It is a wonderful fairy tale in the grand British tradition.

Anna and I went to see a wonderful stage production of the novel in Chicago last year. It was very low key, but you could really see how Stardust could be made into an amazing fantasy movie.

With a marvelous cast that includes Robert DeNiro, Peter O'Toole, Claire Danes, and Michelle Pfeiffer (just to name a few) it looks like the movie is going to join my short list of great fantasy films.

Via

A clip from The Decent

Dead Central has a nice clip from The Decent that shows one of the women fighting back against the cave creatures that are hunting them. It's a little gory, so be prepared. I know I have knocked this film for staring model looking women, but the good reviews are making me want to see it more and more.

Mini Reviews - I watch them, so you don't have to!

Ultraviolet:

Being a Kurt Wimmer fan (I loved Equilibrium) and a Milla Jovovich (not her music, just Resident Evil I and II plus The Fifth Element) I went into this movie with high hopes. What I find was a mishmash of cool and horrible effects along with a story that was nothing really new. I loved some of the fight scenes and how Milla's outfit would change color all the time, but do we really need another "this boy can either save or kill the world and you must protect him movie?"

If you are bored and like to watch Milla kick butt, head out and rent it. If you want to see Wimmer at his best, head to the dollar section and rent Equilibrium.

Masters of Horror: Deer Woman:

If you have read my earlier post about the Masters of Horror series you know that I have a love/hate relationship with them. My major problem is that I watched Incidents on and off a Mountain Road first. It was the first episode to air. After that, every episode I have seen has just been less than grand. John Landis' Deer Woman is no exception.

Landis does lighten things up with some humor and you can tell that his story is tongue in check, but it is still little more than an Outer Limits episode. He is supposed to be a "master!"

He gets a plus for the dream sequence with the were-deer in lumberjack atire, but the story could have been so much better. Rent An American Werewolf in London again, or take a chance with Incidents, you won't be dissappointed.

Anna's Superman Returns Review - Spoilerless

Buck and I (your intrepid bloggers) went and saw Superman Returns last night.

I was underwhelmed.

First of all, how about a little character development? I don't care if it's a direct sequel to the second Superman movie, it's been almost 30 years. We are expected to know why Lex Luthor hates Superman so much. We are expected to know why Superman loves Lois Lane so much.

Secondly, while Brandon Routh makes a good Superman, Kate Bosworth is an lacking Lois Lane. Humorless and uncharismatic, why would Superman ever love this woman? Thank goodness for James Marsters, Parker Posey, and Kevin Spacey.

And why have Clark Kent at all in this movie? Kevin Smith once said that Superman is about the love triangle between Lois Lane, Superman, and Clark Kent. In this movie, they only play lip service to fundamental truth.

Superman is not a bad movie, far from it. It is entertaining enough. But Superman Returns lacks the greatness of the Spiderman movies or Batman Begins.

Look, if I'm going to have to suspend my disbelief, and oh, how incongruous the story is! at least give me characters and a story that I can care about.

For a better review than mine, that also addresses the Father-Son aspects of it, check out Orson Scott Card's review