It was long known that this was a passion project for filmmaker George Lucas, who has been discussing making this story for over 20 years. Not surprisingly, the bean counters at the studios balked at an all-Black film fearing it wouldn’t play well domestically and fare even worse overseas. Thankfully, Star Wars made Lucas a wealthy man and allowed him to help finance and see his project to fruition. During the intervening years, he brought survivors of those years to his ranch and interviewed them, capturing their tales while the men were still around to provide first-hand accounts.

He assigned the scripting to John Ridley and the direction to Anthony Hemingway and the story was shot in 2009. Dissatisfied with the results, Lucas himself helmed reshoots using script material from Aaron McGruder. The resulting film was released earlier this year and will be out Tuesday from 20^th Century Home Entertainment. Given the amount of time devoted to research and the passion from Lucas, one would have hoped for a more satisfying yarn. Once more his vaunted storytelling skills failed him as Lucas neglected to make the characters anything more than cardboard constructs, each filling an archetype but denying them a chance to shine via personality or dialogue. Instead, the 332d Fighter Group are as flat and wooden as the war movies made decades ago.

Audiences no longer seem satisfied with simplistic retellings of history let alone ones that play too fast and loose with the facts. Yes, it was Americans vs. Nazis and whites vs. blacks but the time called for more than just that and we don’t see it here. There’s the pipe-smoking, serious-minded squad leader, the alcoholic mission commander, lovesick hotdog, and the POW. But it feels more color by number than anything authentic.  None are allowed to have any shading or complexity, oversimplifying them but robbing the film of its chance to be compelling drama.

Given the cast’s overall pedigree, they were certainly capable of handling more challenging roles and storylines. The film features David Oyelowo (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), Nate Parker (The Secret Life of Bees), Elijah Kelly (Hairspray), Tristan Wilds (90210), Method Man (The Wire), Ne-Yo (Stomp The Yard), Michael B. Jordon (Chronicle), Leslie Odom, Jr. (Smash), Marcus T. Paulk (Take the Lead), Kevin Philips (Pride), Andre Royo (The Wire), Daniela Ruah (NCIS: Los Angeles), Gerald McRaney (Major Dad), Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad). Terrence Howard and Cuba Gooding Jr. also appear but were had better things to do in their previous Tuskegee films, Hart’s War and The Tuskegee Airmen respectively.

Lucas borrowed liberally from WW II films to construct the space battles in Star Wars and used them once more to influence the dogfighting scenes which give this turgid movie a pulse. Improved special effects also adds a sheen to these sequences and they are riveting to watch despite the pilots’ stories which prove remarkably predictable. Similarly, we know the pilot to fall for the Italian beauty Sofia (Daniela Ruah) is destined to die before the end credits and his memorial is interrupted by the unlikely return of the POW, who participated in the famous escape from Stalag 18.

The real events and the real men who endured substandard equipment and withering racism deserved a better tribute from Lucas. Thankfully, that comes in the form of Double Victory: The Tuskegee Airmen at War the lone special feature on the standard DVD (the Blu-ray edition contains just a few more short featurettes). The documentary previously aired on cable but is worth having here so audiences can hear from the real Tuskegee soldiers and is a must watch to provide some context for the popcorn thrills masquerading as a tribute.

Lionsgate has resurrected the first two seasons in newly packaged DVDs, both out this week. The WB knew that a female-skewing series with a high concept would be a good fit for their struggling network so when Abrams and Reeves turned up with the concept, there was excitement. Susanne Daniels excitedly listened as Abrams outlined a five season arc for Felicity Porter, who would chuck everything she and her parents planned for, to follow a boy from California to New York. The boy barely knew she existed but all it took was for him to sign her yearbook and she was hooked.

So was Daniels who has written, “He brings heart to a pitch and can tell you clearly why anyone would or should care about the world he’s describing. But the single most impressive thing about J.J. is the depth of analysis he lays out in a compelling, almost professorial way. He can tell you everything about every character and their story arcs. And he can tell you how and why his show fits into your network, in the television business, and the world at large, and how the audience will relate to it.”

Relate they did thanks to the superb casting of newcomer Russell who was pretty and had an amazing head of hair. But it was her shy Felicity who was coming into her own over the course of the series that won hearts across the country. It was mainly her winning performance that led critics to name the series one of the season’s best when it debuted. Ratings and acclaim followed with Time listing it among their “100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME”.

There was a bit of a disaster when the actress cut her locks, robbing her character of strength and causing critics and network execs to be alarmed, especially when the second season ratings dived before leveling off. It was the second most discussed ‘do since the Rachel. Few credited the ill-conceived move to Sunday nights as a cause for the ratings dip.

Watching the first two seasons with fresh eyes proves the series remains charming and innocent if a tad slow. Personally, I never warmed to the framing device of tapes exchanged between Felicity and the unseen mentor Sally Reardon (voiced by Janeane Garofalo). And it remains somewhat grating today.

Abrams and Reeves found some new faces to populate Felicity’s classroom, dorm, and world of lower Manhattan. There was Ben Covington (Scott Speedman), the boy she followed cross-country;  resident advisor Noel Crane (Scott Foley) setting up the inevitable triangle; Goth roomie Meghan Rotundi (Amanda Foreman); best buds Julie Emrick (Amy Jo Johnson) and Elena Tyler (Tangi Miller); and then there’s eternal entrepreneur (and Abrams’ best pal) Sean Blumberg (Greg Grunberg). The guest cast also featured some people who would go on to greater fame including Donald Faison, Christopher Gorham, Lisa Edelstein, and of course future Alias castmates Jennifer Garner and Kevin Weisman.

It’s far from the mind-bending, fast-paced work later series demanded, but the storytelling remains sharp. Characters grow and develop, relationships feel authentic, and while Felicity is the one most obviously trying to find herself at college, it turns out so is everyone else and no one is perfect. Yeah, some of the plots can be far-fetched or overly dramatic but hey, it’s television. But there’s warmth and heart to the characters which makes up for the melodrama.

Walt Disney Home Entertainment originally released these sets, replacing some of the signature music given rights issues. They’ve been out of print for at least two years so we’re thankful Lionsgate brought these back, complete with the handful of bonus features including five audio commentaries from Reeves and Abrams; the original unaired pilot, Russell’s audition, and the “Emmy Parody”. If you’ve only heard about the series or are curious to see the early work of Abrams, this is a marvelous opportunity.

Early last week, Peter said we three were invited to the set in Philadelphia to watch one of the final days of shooting before production wrapped and headed out for location filming. How could we say no? I arranged a day off from student teaching and on Friday, we took a road trip south.

The Budd Studio has been home to other productions, including Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender. A huge structure, it was home to various sets and departments. Upon arrival, we were given a tour of the sets, looking at where key scenes had been shot just days before. We saw other sets still under construction for the final days of filming and were taken into the art department to see scale models and set designs. We were shown props and costumes, finally bringing words on the page to life. The overall design is quite cool and not at all what I expected.

I got to meet Caleeb Pinkett for the first time. Caleeb has been our main contact for the AE work so it was great to put a face to the voice. He couldn’t have been nicer to us and clearly delighted to have us on hand to see the ideas made manifest.

One set was being dressed for a shot and we stuck around to watch Jaden film a scene. And film it and film it. About five takes for what seemed relatively the same performance.  When that wrapped, they moved on to ready a different shot so we repaired to the Overbrook executive tent. Within were couches, desks, chairs, snacks, and two ping pong tables where a tournament has been ongoing. Mike wound up playing the head of the hair department, who came equipped with his own paddle, which says something about how seriously they take this.

Eventually, we were invited to join the crew over at craft services. We piled our take out trays high with tasty food and as we were eating, of course, Will Smith came out of his trailer to say hi. Will has been a quiet supporter of the work we’ve been doing but we’ve never spoken directly before. He’s taller than I imagined and far friendlier than I could have hoped for. He was out of his costume but still had fake blood on his forehead from a scene he shot before we arrived. When Peter wanted to take a picture, Will hung between me and Mike as if we had mugged him.

Later, after the break was over, we got to watch Will feed Jaden lines for a new scene and it was interesting because even though Will’s lines were pretty much the same take after take, Shyamalan was directing Jaden for different reactions. After several takes, he told Jaden he had what he needed and the teen could experiment with the next take, which resulted in some nice moments. His dad noticed and was raving about it to the director, clearly proud of the boy. They wrapped and Jaden ran over to say hi to Peter, who then introduced us.

Will wanted to still talk so we followed him and Caleeb back to the trailer but detoured when he saw the cupcake truck had arrived. He couldn’t decide from the menu so suggested a six pack and then Peter quipped something so Will doubled the order and strode off. No sooner did we enter the two-story trailer than an assistant arrived with the cupcakes. So, there we are just chatting away, eating cupcakes. Then Caleeb showed us an animatic (basically storyboards with vocals, music and sound effects) for a different project. He proceeded to act out the remainder of the story, clearly thrilled with it and just wanted to share it with us. Mike offered up one concrete suggestion and Caleeb seized on it. Clearly, there are no egos here, just people who want to make their ideas the best they can.

By 4, Will was done for the day as were we so we bid farewell and drove home, pretty dámn happy to have had the experience.

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(Reposted from BobGreenberger.com)

That’s one reason why the industry collectively rejoiced today when Bonfire Agency sent out the following press release because it may begin to give us some real time information that publishers and retailers can use to improve their businesses.

Give this a read and see if you want to get involved:

(April 23, 2012—New York, NY) – Bonfire Agency, the advertising and marketing firm dedicated to helping companies better understand and deepen brand engagements with more than 5 million passionate comic and pop culture enthusiasts, announced today a new phase of recruitment for the agency’s proprietary “FanPan” consumer input panel.  Consumers interested in joining the panel may do so online at www.bonfirefanpan.com.

“Comic culture is such an incredibly influential force – not just in entertainment, but in areas ranging from fashion and politics to dining trends and automotive design,” said Ed Catto, co-founder of Bonfire Agency.  “Brands want to connect and engage with these ‘firestarters,’ but they need clearer insights into what they’re all about beyond comics.”

Launched shortly after Bonfire’s founding early last year, FanPan consists of a rotating membership of more than 500 representative comic culture consumers of varying degrees of “fan-aticism,” The panel was created amid growing concern about the lack of genuine research into who these consumers are, what they think and what they like.

“Surprisingly, most of what is passed off as consumer knowledge within the industry is self-reflective, assumptive and not very helpful when you’re trying to convince marketers to spend dollars connecting with the ‘geekiverse,’” said Steve Rotterdam, Bonfire co-founder and a former senior vice president of sales and marketing at DC Comics.  “This is a demo that tends to be highly opinionated, iconoclastic and elusive. We’ve found that one of the best ways to find out what they’re thinking is to ask them what they’re thinking.  Go figure.”

Among the consumers that Bonfire is talking to are members of the Fandom Advisory Network (FAN), a highly vocal, online group of comic fans eager to make their opinions heard.  “The Fandom Advisory Network was formed to actively seek input from the entire fan community on the myriad issues facing collectors, so we believe it dovetails well with Bonfire’s goals for FanPan,” said Melissa Bowersox, Executive Vice-President of Geppi’s Entertainment Museum, which sponsors FAN.  “Getting past the anecdotal data and opinions that have characterized or mischaracterized our business is essential if our marketplace is to truly thrive.”

Research projects that have involved use of the FanPan input panel have included online focus group testing of entertainment related advertising campaigns, qualitative research into the collectibles market, an evaluation of licensed product packaging designs and opinion polls regarding the appeal of potential promotional tie-ins between consumer brands and content providers.

“Advertisers and their media buying agencies are finding FanPan very helpful,” said Kris Longo, Bonfire Vice-President in charge of the agency’s ComicsUnited ad network.  “They’re incredibly excited by its potential.”

“But in order for us to maintain the value and credibility of FanPan among the marketing community at large, we need to constantly rotate and refresh our membership,” added Rotterdam. “That’s why we’re actively recruiting new panelists.”

To join, consumers must register and complete an initial online survey at www.bonfirefanpan.com.  “Membership is free, but you must be 13 years of age or older to participate,” said Catto.  “And you have to read comics.”

Once registered, participants may be contacted by email to take part in a variety of focus groups, surveys or moderated discussions.  Compensation for each project ranges from direct payment (typically $2-$10) to special premiums like comic book variants or collectibles.  Very often, participation will trigger an entry into a sweepstakes to win prizes of higher value.

Individual responses are kept anonymous and privacy guidelines are strictly adhered to.  Answers are pooled with those of other panelists to represent how FanPan panelists think as a whole.

In many cases, participating FanPan panelists are sworn to secrecy.  But maintaining secrets is something these consumers understand more than most.

Both Ultimate films pretty closely follow the initial Ultimates arcs from Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch although the script is better at aping Millar than the animation is following Hitch’s naturalistic style. A significant change is that Tony Stark’s identity remains a secret and his tried and true heart issues remain an element as opposed to the Ultimate Universe’s brain tumor affliction – an odd choice but one that doesn’t spoil the fun. He reluctantly joins the team in the first film while he dons the War Machine armor in the second.

The heart and soul of the films remains Captain America (Justin Gross), the solider recently freed from a decades-long nap and slowly adjusting to a world that staggers his imagination daily.

It should be noted that the Joss Whedon film features the Chitauri, who are from this first storyline so the timing is especially apt. They threaten Earth in both films with the latter also being the vehicle to introduce us to the Ultimate version of T’Challa, the Black Panther (Jeffrey D. Sams).

The fifth in the film line, Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow, came out in 2008 and has no resemblance to the superior Allan Heinberg but hews closer to the A-Next title as a part of MC2 line of potential future stories. This posits a world ruled by Ultron (Tom Kane) with most of its powerful champions dead. Iron Man is ordered by Captain America to take their children into hiding so we meet James Rogers (Noah C. Crawford), son of Cap and the Black Widow, Henry Pym Jr. (Aidan Drummond), Azari (Dempsey M. Pappion), son of the Black Panther, Torunn (Brenna O’Brien), scion of Thor and Sif. Stark trains them for a dozen years while the world suffers. When James accidentally activates the Iron Avengers, robotic replicas of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, they follow their programming to attack Ultron, who gains control over them. It then falls to the next generation of champions, which also comes to include Francis Barton (Adrian Petriw), son of Hawkeye and Mockingbird.

Some nice ideas but the junior heroes are flat without much spark to their characterization and dialogue.

The individual films comprising the second set are uneven. Planet Hulk, which we previously reviewed, is a nice adaptation of Greg Pak’s sprawling story. Invincible Iron Man inexplicably alters his origin story so he builds the first armor in China, aided by James Rhodes (Rodney Saulsberry). The Big Bad is Kahgan, the latest incarnation of The Mandarin, whose resurrection is sought by four powerful elementals. Shellhead has to prevent the vile man’s return and keep the world safe. It’s unevenly paced and takes elements from the live-action film, the Marvel Universe and Ultimate Universe versions so it’s a real mixed bag.

Interestingly Marc Worden voices Stark/Iron Man in five of the six movies but doesn’t resonate the same way Kevin Conroy does as the animated Batman. The second Ultimates film uses Dwight Schultz, Mark Hamill and Chi McBride and having them helps the movie tremendously. As always, the vocal casting robs the films of their strength, a consistent deficiency that they seem resistant to fixing.

Given the speculation that the Sorcerer Supreme is a likely candidate for the 2014 opening day slot Marvel has reserved, it’s nice to have this animated feature back in circulation because it does a pretty good job modernizing Stephen Strange (Bryce Johnson), arrogant medical practitioner turned penitent student of the Ancient One (Michael Yama). Marvels’ fourth animated feature, they’ve clearly gotten a handle on the adaptation process and sustaining a story for 95 minutes (actually the longest of the bunch). There are significant alterations such as the role of Wong (Paul Nakauchi) and first appearances of Baron Mordo (Kevin Michael Richardson) and the dread Dormammu (Jonathan Adams) but they work. It’s not perfect with a meandering middle and rushed climax but it’s better than a lot of the other Marvel  animated movies.

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• REVIEW: Iron Man & X-Men Anime (comicmix.com)

The shows began airing in Japan on Animax in spring 2010 before finding a domestic home on G4 with the last new episodes airing earlier this month. Now, Sony Home Entertainment releases Iron Man and X-Men on DVD this Tuesday. Each two-disc set contains the complete twelve episode arc plus some extra features.

Madhouse, born in 1972, is known for Ninja Scroll and Vampire Hunter D among many other productions. Here, they hew close to the movie versions of the characters, making minor modifications to allow for animation. There’s a distinct anime look and feel to the civilians and a handful of the heroes, notably Storm.

On one of the extras, Ellis talks about being able to write more adult themed stories for anime and that’s more evident in Iron Man than X-Men. And adult doesn’t mean sex or gratuitous violence (although there’s plenty of the latter) but it does involve globalization, the price one might pay for unlimited energy and a Western man’s adjustment to Eastern culture.

The Iron Man story posits Tony Stark coming to Japan to open a factory to mass produce Iron Man Dio armor for a trained army as he intends to retire. To power the Arc Factory, they need plutonium and that becomes the McGuffin for the tale. In addition to hacked armor going haywire the Golden Avenger confronts the Zodiac. Ho Yinsen, who helped build the first suit of armor, also plays a vital role. And Ellis includes a nice nod by naming a character Professor Michelinie.

Meantime, the X-Men deal with the death of Phoenix and head to Japan when the mutant Armor goes missing and is found under the tutelage of Emma Frost. Meantime, the U-Men are causing trouble that distracts the team, which finds itself acting out their grief. A further complication is “Damon-Hall Syndrome” which affects Japan’s mutants as they undergo their secondary mutation. It’s a limited lineup with Cyclops, Beast, Wolverine, Storm, and Prof. X on hand although other mutants are referenced or cameo (including Archangel, Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Rogue).

There are some casual crossovers between the four series including Iron Man being called on to help the mutants during their climactic final battle.  And while the X-Men prevail, there’s a teaser for a second season which appears not to be happening.

Overall, both series are better than you would expect and kudos to Ellis who worked up complex stories and themes. His characters sound and feel right while the anime style works better for Iron Man (with tons of integrated CGI) than the mutants. Still, these are quite watchable and worth your attention.

Interestingly, the discs come with the Japanese language preset so you need to switch to English. It’s also fun to listen to the English and read the subtitles to see where there are differences. It’s all subtle but interesting nonetheless. Among the domestic cast, which is actually better than most of Marvel’s offerings are Adrian Pasdar (Heroes) as Tony Stark, Scott Porter (The Good Wife) as Cyclops, and Milo Ventimiglia (Heroes) as Wolverine.

The Iron Man extras include Re-Imagining Iron Man, as Jeph Loeb, Ellis, and other execs talk about the making of the anime series; 21^st Century Hero: The Technology of Iron Man introduces fans to Tony Stark’s high-tech suits and gadgets; Special Cross Talk round table discussion with the creators of the Iron Man and Wolverine anime series; and, Voicing Tony Stark, an interview with Japanese actor, Keiji Fujiwara.

The X-Men featurettes include Re-Examining The X-Men takes viewers behind-the-scenes; X-Men: A Team of Outsiders provides an exploration of Marvel’s mutants;  and, Special Talk Session round table discussion with the creators of Marvel anime’s X-Men and Blade.

Tripper (Murray) is about to have a summer he will never forget. As head counselor at Camp North Star, an off-the-wall summer getaway, Tripper guides his loveable campers and spirited staff members on a quest for fun in the sun. But when the season begins with a runaway camper, an accidental blackout and Tripper’s amorous attack on a female counselor, everyone knows that the tales by the fireside will only get more outrageous as the summer goes on.

The world appears to have caught up with Daniel Clowes, the artist who looks at the ordinary and conveys that feeling of loneliness and cluelessness so many of us feel on a daily basis. When he grew up, just three years behind me, he saw the pop art era in a vastly different way, an artist’s way I suppose. He had an unremarkable childhood and was trained at the Pratt Institute, graduating in 1984. He desperately wanted to find a commercial art job.

“I was trying to get work as an illustrator in the ’80s, but no art directors actually ever called, which is what led me to throw up my hands in despair and slink back to comics. Originally, I was hoping to find a writer to collaborate with, since I was much more interested in the drawing part of the equation, but that didn’t work out. And so I began writing my own stories. I didn’t really intend to write ‘personal narratives,’ but somehow that’s what happened,” he told The Atlantic.

And thank goodness for that. The artist’s work is being celebrated this month, first with the release of the monograph The Art of Daniel Clowes. On April 12, the Oakland Museum of California opened “Modern Cartoonist: The Art of Daniel Clowes” which was organized by Susan Miller and René de Guzman. As a result, he has been interviewed and profiled from the mainstream press with regularity.

Clowes amused himself in 1984 with Lloyd Llewellyn, which he managed to sell to Fantagraphics. The title didn’t see print for two years and while he sought a fulltime position he freelanced, notably illustrating “The Uggly Family” for Cracked. As time passed, though, it was clear his idiosyncratic and hard to pin style wasn’t going to get him hired. Instead, he found himself making a living as a comic book artist, telling his stories, his way. This resulted in the anthology Eightball which has won every major industry award and gave us numerous features that have been collected. One such serial became Ghost World, which Clowes adapted with director Terry Zwigoff as an indie film in 2000 (giving us a young Thora Birch and Scarlet Johansson).

Since then, Clowes became one of the faces of the independent comics movement as he continued to explore society in Pussey!, Orgy Bound, David Boring, and Ice Haven among other books. Additionally, he went on to do more film work including Art School Confidential and screenplays for films yet to be born.

Not that he’s sold out to The Man, but Clowes has also done artwork for twenty CDs and commercial work for Coca-Cola’s failed OK soda. He’s produced a one-sheet for Todd Solondz’s Happiness and DVD covers for a trio of Samuel Fuller films.

Still, it’s his inventive and captivating work in graphic storytelling that led to the book and exhibit. In 2007, he launched a twenty-part serial for The New York Times, Miser Wonderful, which was his idea of a romantic story which has since been collected and lauded. While his father lay dying, Clowes filled a sketchbook with notes that became his mostly work, Wilson, which was published in 2010 and is now being adapted for film by Alexander Payne. That story, about the lost adult, is drawn in a wide variety of styles, aping the comic strips he read as a kid to experimenting with his own work. There’s a command to his page construction and line work that keeps his pages fresh and always interesting.

Alvin Buenaventura, the book’s editor, opens the volume with a lengthy interview that gets the artist to open up on topics he’s barely discussed in the past including the two years he lost to heat disease. Only after a seven hour operation, a year after his son Charlie was born, was Clowes finally feeling energetic to return to the drawing board.

The 9.25” x 12” book is copiously illustrated from across the man’s career and is nicely designed by Jonathan Bennett. Accompanying the art and interview are critical essays by Miller, Ken Parille, Ray Pride, Chris Ware, and the ubiquitous Chip Kidd.   Overall, I gained a new appreciation for Clowes’ versatility and vitality as a storyteller and observer of our mundane lives. Familiar with his work or not, you can learn a lot about the breadth of graphic storytelling by studying his illustrations and reading the analysis that enriches the work.

Here’s a chat with the actor courtesy of Paramount Home Entertainment.

Q: Hey Jeremy. Congratulations on Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. Not only was it a huge box office success in its films release, but you actually managed to survive making the film. That’s a surprise considering the amazing stunts in the movie.

A: (Laughs) Yes, it’s good to be alive. There are some amazing set pieces, my friend.

Q: Let’s talk about the biggest one. It involves Tom Cruise hanging outside the tallest building in the world – the Burj Khalifa – which stands almost 830 metres (2,723 feet) high in Dubai. Can you talk about the stunt?

A: Yes. As you say, the Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world. It’s twice the size of the Empire State building in New York. We were on the the top of it and it is so high that when you look down it is like the view from a plane. It’s intense. All the stunts are practical and that made that a lot of fun. There’s a lot of challenges to overcome, but luckily we had a man like Tom to lead the way.

Q: I think the best thing about the stunt in respect to you is while Tom Cruise is hanging outside the building 800 metres above the Earth, you are actually safely tucked away in the building. Good for you!

A: Exactly (laughs). We just had to sit inside and sip on some tea. We didn’t have to do all of that.

Q: The craziest thing about that stunt is it is actually Tom Cruise. It’s not a digital Tom Cruise or a stunt man posing as Tom Cruise hanging off the building.

A: That’s right. It’s Tom.

Q: So while you were inside sipping tea, how was Tom? Was he freaking out being outside and so high up or was he having fun?

A: Oh yeah he was having fun. He was smiling ear to ear between takes.

Q: That’s incredible.

A: I think he has a lot of mountain climbing experience and one of the stunt guys behind him was one of the top mountain climbers, so being on a wire, he was as comfortable as hanging on a rock. That’s strange enough in itself. But hanging off a building like that? Maybe it’s not new to him. Maybe it is, but he certainly was enjoying himself (laughs).

Q: Tom Cruise, of course, returns to the Mission: Impossible franchise as Ethan Hunt, team leader of the Impossible Missions Friends (IMF) espionage agency. Can you tell us who you play and a bit about the movie’s plot?

A: Sure. I play Will Brandt. He’s the chief analyst for the secretary (Tom Wilkinson) who is the head of the IMF. The IMF gets shut down essentially right after all of our characters converge – Ethan Hunt, Will Brandt and the secretary. Things go awry. Then everything shuts down, we become rogue agents essentially and hence ‘ghost protocol’.  We are thrust together to overcome great obstacles and within that dynamic of the four agents you realize that not everybody is who they say they are or who they appear to be. It’s a spy franchise and you never know with spies. If they are good, bad or where their allegiances lie. That’s the case in this movie.

Q: You must be happy with your career. You first came on to Hollywood’s radar in 2002 in Dahmer, playing the serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer and had some great roles in the years after. But, your life changed in 2009 with The Hurt Locker. You were nominated for an Oscar. The film won best picture. How do you feel about the ride you have been on since The Hurt Locker?

A: It’s amazing. The Hurt Locker definitely changed everything for me. I’m getting opportunities now that are just amazing. Roles that I could only dream about and big, huge films like Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.

Q: And you’re taking over as the face of the Bourne franchise from Matt Damon. How do you feel about climbing to what some would say is mega stardom in Hollywood?

A: I have no idea (laughs). I have certainly enjoyed working. I can tell you that. There have been a lot of wonderful of opportunities I have seemingly stumbled across with Mission being the first big monster out of the gate. I enjoyed the heck out of that and ever since then it has been more action movies after that. Who knows what the future holds?

Q: You definitely have been busy.

A: Yeah. I know what I do need. I need a nap (laughs).

Q: Can you talk about growing up in Modesto, California, and what made you want to be an actor?

A: Modesto is a small town. I love the place. I love going back there. It is my community, but it is a long way away from Hollywood in many respects. As a young man in Modesto, I found acting very therapeutic. I could become other people. I could explore different characters. The more I acted the more I fell in love with it.

Q: Is it true your first paid acting job was with the local police?

A: (Laughs) Yeah. I was at school and this man came in and told me he would pay me $50 if I helped train some police academy cadets. So I went along and they told me I had to act like someone resisting arrest. That’s what I had to do. I had to freak out and kick and punch. It was a fun way to make $50 back then.

Q: Thanks Jeremy.

A: Thanks mate.

On Tuesday, Sony Home Entertainment is releasing Iron Man and X-Men as two-disc DVD collections. For those unfamiliar with the properties, here’s a slideshow for each. Our review will run in a day or two.

IRON MAN Anime

X-MEN Anime 

Q: Hey Paula. Let’s start with the obvious question. What is it like working with Tom Cruise?

A: Amazing. Honestly, it was a dream come true. I always thought he was an amazing actor from the first time I saw Risky Business. The movie that had a huge impact on me was Born on the Fourth of July. I was blown away how he played the all-American charming guy, goes away to Vietnam, is crippled and what he goes through. It blew me away. I remember very distinctly the moment I was told I would have a screen test with Tom. It was very old Hollywood the way they did it. It was at the Paramount lot, I had my own trailer and hair, make-up and costume. I have never had that before for a screen test. They put me in a golf cart and took me to the sound stage and I said to myself ‘OK, don’t freak out’. It was a great thing. We met each other and I was immediately at ease. We had great chemistry and a connection. It is because he is very human in that way. He is so kind to everyone whether it is a personal assistant, grip or gaffer. He just has great humanity about him and that’s why he’s so special.

Q: Who do you play in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol?

A: I play Jane Carter, an IMF agent. I have had a mission that went awry. Myself and Simon Pegg’s character have to break Ethan Hunt out of jail. There’s a bombing at the Kremlin and it gets pinned on us even know we did not do it. We get disavowed from the IMF and that’s where Ghost Protocol comes into it. We are still working, but the government won’t save us. It is a scary place to be. Also, because we are all thrown together as a team and Jeremy Renner’s character joins us we don’t know the other’s motivations. We don’t know who to trust. Jane is great character to play. She is very strong and lives in a man’s world. She’s vulnerable because she has experienced failure and loss and has to prove herself again. She is in a place of turmoil and also she is living on the edge because she has one chance to make what is wrong, right.

Q: The stunts are amazing in the film?

A: The great thing was I was able to do all of my own stunts. It was very physical. I got to have fights and gun play. I wasn’t forced to do all of my own stunts, but I’m a very competitive person and once I heard Tom was doing it I had to do all of mine. My stunts weren’t as death-defying as Tom hanging off the Burj Khalifa, but it was really fun.

Q: What was that like watching Tom perform that stunt on the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world?

A: I remember doing my make-up the first day he did it and praying that nothing happened to him. I knew I was replaceable and the rest of us are replaceable, but if anything happens to this man this movie is over (laughs). Thank God nothing did (laughs).

Q: The Burj is 829.84m tall. Were you up there with Tom?

A: I was. They took the window out of the room we were in on the 134th floor. It was a few below the top. Tom was truly hanging out the window. Jeremy was in a harness but because my dress was too tight I could’t be in a harness. They had a little ankle strap and a man hanging on to that.

Q: Did you suffer any injuries during filming?

A: I did get a few bruises and scrapes, but the most challenging thing in the end was the fight I had with the beautiful French actress Lea Seydoux. Usually they don’t have actors doing the fight together because they are afraid we might scratch each other (laughs). We did it together and worked really hard to make it look as real as possible. It was like a dance. It was fun. We gave each other a few scrapes and bruises but no black eyes (laughs).

Q: How important is this time for you? You have been in some great films like Precious, the blockbuster Mission: Impossible and you also have a young son, Julian.

A: My son was five-months-old when I got Mission: Impossible so I call him my lucky charm. I didn’t expect this role. When they asked me to read I didn’t think I had a chance. I thought ‘I have other things to do’. But they said ‘Go in. They really want to see you. See Brad Bird the director’. I read for Brad and thought I did a terrible job. I cried and said ‘Why did I do that? I’m embarrassed.’ But, they called me the next day and said they wanted me to do a screen test with Tom.

Q: Why did you think you did a terrible job?

A: It was hard to tell with the people in the room. You do it and they said ‘Great, thank you’. That’s it. I wanted to jump off the nearest balcony. That’s life as an actor. The next day they call you and you say ‘Yes, yes, yes. Of course they liked it’ (Laughs). I’m so insecure.

Q: What kind of roles would you like to do in the future?

A: I don’t know. I’m on a journey. I hope one day I get to a place where I choose everything myself and create roles. Right now I am at the mercy of what comes my way, so I’m just trying to enjoy the journey. I can’t say what the result will be. I love acting and what will be will be.

Q: This is the first time Brad has made a live action movie. He’s known for his Pixar animated films Ratatouille and The Incredibles, so what was he like on set?

A: Everybody maybe was a little bit nervous about that, but he is a visionary beyond. When you think about Ratatouille and The Incredibles and he created both universes, all the characters and even some of the voices, he is a really unique individual and impressive. He doesn’t raise his voice. He got angry a couple of times but still very low and knows exactly what he wants. All an actor wants is director who is decisive.The difficult thing is I heard him say ‘In animation you have perfection and with human beings you can’t do that’ so you just try to please him. I learned a lot from him about sound design because that is important in animation. He would talk to us a lot about the rhythm of the dialogue, fast and slow, or the musicality of it. I never thought about it before and changed my approach as an actor for the next movie I did. He is a brilliant man.

Q: This was a global film. What places to did you shoot in?

A: They shot in Moscow, Mumbai, Dubai, Prague and Vancouver but most of our work was in Prague, Dubai and Vancouver. It was an incredible experience, especially Dubai because I have never been to the Middle East before. As liberal as I see myself to be and not prejudiced, we are influenced by the west, but I was blown away. It opened my heart and mind in ways I couldn’t possibly have imagined.

Q: In what way?

A: In terms of the culture. I think it is easy to judge people when you are in the west. I saw families, mothers and children living a life that is not normal to us, but was clearly satisfying and beautiful. I just thought it was terrible to judge people based on what you know. I saw people there happy. You see men who are very family orientated with children walking to the mall. I found it to be a beautiful place.

Q: Did you ask Tom for any advice?

A: It’s interesting. I learn a lot from observing. I said to him ‘Please, if you think I shouldn’t do anything the way I’m doing it, please tell me’ and he said ‘Of course’. He’s very generous that way. He wants everybody to do a great job.

Q: How do you juggle your career with motherhood?

A: I have an amazing Mum myself and she comes with me. I also take my son everywhere with me. The thing is you live with less sleep. The lunch break you have on set you don’t have by yourself. You just learn to live without sleep and time for yourself never exists. It’s OK because my son is the best thing that has ever happened to me. He’s my good luck charm.

Q: It was a physical role so I bet you had to work out a lot to be prepared.

A: Yeah. To be an IMF agent you have to be fit and my son was only five months old. I had some work to do. The first month was the hardest thing to do. I couldn’t breathe, then after a month I got into this other place.

Q: What was your exercise regime?

A: It was two-and-a-half hours of physical training and and hour to an hour-and-half of weapons training five days a week. We continued it when we began training so when we weren’t filming we were training.

Related articles

• REVIEW: Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (comicmix.com)
• Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol Coming to VIdeo on April 17 (comicmix.com)

The stripped down disc contains the complete run without extras or any clue there was a previous volume. However, watching the nine to eleven minute segments, you may be lost by references to the previous story. The story is the one when the Danger Room becomes sentient and considers the mutants “oppressors”, unleashing a damaged Sentinel after them.

The story runs nearly ninety minutes and if you liked the comic, you will enjoy this. For those unfamiliar with the title, it will be confusing. An adaptation should have tinkered with the script to allow context to be added or references beyond the storyline to be deleted. Whedon’s gift for dialogue and character, thankfully, remains intact.

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The motion aspect is exceptionally limited, especially compared with other efforts such as The Watchmen. And as usual, I find fault with a great many of the actors cast doing the voices. The foreign accents are comically thick and you can’t always reconcile the character you’re seeing with the voice you’re hearing.

This is for the diehard collector only, but at $14.97, it’s priced to move and might be a worth a look to see Cassady and colorist Laura Martin’s work on the screen.

MERIDA (Voice of Kelly Macdonald)

Passionate and fiery, Merida is a headstrong teenager of royal upbringing who is struggling to take control of her own destiny. She feels most at home in the outdoors honing her impressive athletic skills as an archer and swordfighter, and racing across the magnificent Highland countryside with her faithful horse, Angus. With a spirit as vibrant as her untamed hair, Merida also has a softness of heart, especially when it comes to her wee triplet brothers. As the daughter of the King and Queen, her life is weighted with responsibilities and expectations, causing her to yearn to preserve her freedom and independence. When Merida blatantly defies an ancient tradition, the consequences of her actions prove disastrous for the kingdom. She must race against time to make right the result of her reckless behavior, her journey compelling her to look inside to discover the meaning of bravery and reveal her true fate.

ANGUS

Black as night with ivory muzzle and fetlocks, Angus is Merida’s powerful Clydesdale and her most trusted confidant. Angus is Merida’s escape from castle life into the deep forest and the highlands beyond. Merida target shoots from her perch on his broad back and is able to coax him into one adventure after another. Angus can be balky, stubborn and faint-hearted at times, but is ultimately a devoted and faithful friend to Merida.

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Since ancient times, stories of epic battles and mystical legends have been passed through the generations across the rugged and mysterious Highlands of Scotland. From Disney and Pixar, a new tale joins the lore when the courageous Merida (voice of Kelly Macdonald) confronts tradition and challenges destiny to change her fate.

Brave follows the heroic journey of Merida, a skilled archer and headstrong daughter of King Fergus (voice of Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (voice of Emma Thompson). Determined to carve her own path in life, Merida defies an age-old custom sacred to the unruly and uproarious lords of the land: massive Lord MacGuffin (voice of Kevin McKidd), surly Lord Macintosh (voice of Craig Ferguson) and cantankerous Lord Dingwall (voice of Robbie Coltrane). Merida’s actions inadvertently unleash chaos and fury in the kingdom, and when she turns to an eccentric Witch (voice of Julie Walters) for help, she is granted an ill-fated wish. The ensuing peril forces Merida to harness all of her skills and resources – including her clever and mischievous triplet brothers – to undo a beastly curse before it’s too late, discovering the meaning of true bravery.

Directed by Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman, and produced by Katherine Sarafian, Brave is a grand adventure full of heart, memorable characters and signature Pixar humor that audiences of all ages around the world have come to eagerly expect. The film takes aim at theaters on June 22, 2012, and will be presented in Disney Digital 3D™ in select theaters.

Genre:                          Animation/Adventure/Comedy

Rating:                          TBD

U.S. Release Date:        June 22, 2012

Voice Talent:                 Kelly Macdonald, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, Julie Walters, Robbie Coltrane, Kevin McKidd, Craig Ferguson

Directors:                      Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman

Co-Director:                  Steve Purcell

Producer:                      Katherine Sarafian

Executive Producers:    John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter

Story by:                      Brenda Chapman

Screenplay by:              Mark Andrews, Steve Purcell and Brenda Chapman & Irene Mecchi

Composer:                    Patrick Doyle

Notes:

• Director Mark Andrews served as story supervisor for the Disney•Pixar films Ratatouille and The Incredibles, and was Oscar^®-nominated as the co-writer/co-director of the Pixar short “One Man Band.”  He also contributed to the screenplay as co-screenwriter and served as second unit director for the 2012 Walt Disney Studios film John Carter. Director Brenda Chapman directed DreamWorks Animation’s The Prince of Egypt and was story supervisor for the Disney classic The Lion King. Producer Katherine Sarafian produced the Oscar®-nominated Pixar short film Lifted and served as production manager for The Incredibles.
• Two-time Emmy®-nominated actress Kelly Macdonald stars as Margaret Schroeder on HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, and as Ravenclaw’s ghost, The Grey Lady, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.  Her film credits also include No Country for Old Men, Gosford Park and Trainspotting.
• Appearing in the movies Men in Black 3 and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Emma Thompson is an Oscar®-winning actress (“Howards End”) and screenwriter (Sense and Sensibility) who most recently starred in, wrote and executive produced Nanny McPhee Returns.
• Native Scot Billy Connolly is a comedian, musician and actor. His film credits include Gulliver’s Travels, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Last Samurai and the award-winning Mrs. Brown, for which he was nominated for a BAFTA. He also served as narrator for the Walt Disney Animation Studios short The Ballad of Nessie.

Mission: Impossible

It’s been far too long since Ethan Hunt and IMF team were handed a mission after that strong outing so it’s thrilling to see Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol be such a rousing success. The movie is out this week on Blu-ray and DVD and is a Must Have because there’s so much to like about it. Bird, best known for the underrated Iron Giant and The Incredibles, takes everything from those animated adventures and brings them to the real world. Bird brings his sense of pacing and timing to the mission along with a much needed dose of humor, leavening the drama.

Hunt (Tom Cruise) is in a Russian prison for unknown reasons but an IMF team breaks him out and only then does he get told of a nuclear prophet determined to set off an atomic war to bring about change. His mission: find the man and stop him. Of course, nothing goes easy, especially when it appears the IMF is accused of bombing the Kremlin, a clever feint on the part of the real villain: Kurt Hendricks (Michael Nyqvist). As a result, the Secretary is in Russia to tell Hunt the president has executed the Ghost Protocol, effectively dissolving the IMF but handing Hunt and his team one final clandestine mission to save the world.

The team? The only regular from previous films is Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg), now promoted to field agent. He’s accompanied by Carter (Paula Patton), who lost her fellow agent and lover (Josh Holloway) to an assassin who is now connected to the new mission so she sees it as a chance for revenge. The fourth member is new to the IMF; Brant, a consultant to the secretary (Jeremy Renner) who it is learned was a former field operative who believes he was responsible for the death of Hunt’s wife, Julia Mead, (Michelle Monaghan).

The screenplay from André Nemec and Josh Appelbaum takes us throughout Eastern Europe and the Middle East at a breakneck pace, but always pausing long enough to dole out character revelations and a chance for the characters to actually talk to one another, a rarity in these kind of action films. Bird clearly can handle the adventurous aspects and dramatic bits with an even hand. The cast works well together and the leads are well supported by a fresh cadre of international performers, including Anil Kapoor, Léa Seydoux, keeping the film looking and feeling fresh.  There are two nice cameos towards the end which tie all four films together and for those who haven’t seen it, I don’t want to spoil it for you.

Visually, the film is breathtaking, as we see the splendor of Mumbai and elsewhere but of course the set piece, Hunt’s magnetic climb up the world’s tallest tower, is stunning. Bird and the scriptwriters have hit upon a series of obstacles that feel like M:I but updated for today, which is a strength.

If anything doesn’t work, it’s the more tried and true elements such as an overlong chase through a bazaar (even with a sandstorm) and a climactic battle inside a car park. Everyone struggles to beat the countdown clock but it all drags out just a bit and the film could have been tighter with a few judicious edits, but they’re minor quibbles. Helping overcome that is Michael Giacchino’ s wonderful score which honors the original series and gives it a flavor all its own.

The movie is spectacular on Blu-ray and sounds swell. Now, if you loved the film, you should seek out the Best Buy exclusive edition which has an hour’s worth of bonus material you won’t find on the regular Blu-ray release. Whereas the regular Blu-ray stuffs the extras with the film on a single disc, the Best Buy edition requires a disc just for the extras.

“Mission Accepted” (47:35) is found on both versions of the Blu-ray release while “Impossible Missions” (51:37) contains most of the Best Buy bonus material. In both you get 15 minutes of deleted scenes which makes for interesting watching and it’s recommended to use the Bird commentary. The regular Blu-ray offers up “Heating Up in Dubai” (17:36), a pretty travelogue; “Vancouver Fisticuffs” (12:01), a look at the climax, which happened to be shot in Canada; “The Sandstorm “ (3:06), which took two weeks to shot in Canada and Dubai; and “Props” (3:07).

The Best Buy material includes “Suiting Up in Prague” (17:58), “The Russian Prison” (11:49), “Shooting in IMAX” (3:33), “Art Department”  (2:56), “A Roll of Film”  (2:33), “Life Masks” (1:40), “Stepping Into the Storm”  (2:02), “Dubai Car Crash” (8:15), “Lens on the Burj” (:57), and “Composer” (10:42).  The two original theatrical trailers are also included.

“Inside a cave off the coast of Maine, Chuck (Jerry Dexter) and Nancy (Janet Waldo) find a mysterious chest containing the halves of a strange ring. When joined, the ring forms the word “Shazzan!” and with this magical command, they are transported back to the fabled land of the Arabian Nights. Here they meet their Genie, Shazzan (Barney Phillips). Shazzan presents them with Kaboobie (Don Messick), a magical flying camel. Shazzan will serve them whenever they call, but he cannot return them home until they deliver the ring to its rightful owner. And thus begins their incredible journey.”

Adding an extra “ho” to the Jolly Green Giant’s “ho ho ho”, the 60-foot tall Shazzan was a jovial genie, calling the kids “little masters” and never tired at saving them with regularity. The series ran from September 9, 1967 and ended on Saturday, September 6, 1969 and featured two escapades per thirty minutes and achieved just enough popularity to be repeated as part of countless series in the 1970s and 1980s before finding a home on cable. The complete 36 episode series has been collected for the first time thanks to the tireless folk at Warner Archive.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Chuck is an amateur magician while his twin sister appears not to have any hobbies. The genie aids Chuck by providing him with the cloak of invisibility, vanishing dust, magic rope, and opal of knowledge.

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The stories with their magical flare and Arabian flavor help make this distinct from the fare it aired with and against during the 1960s. The writing is typical of the era as is the H-B animation but Toth clearly had fun with the designs, which are superior to the stories themselves. Its fun to watch some of these but this is a collection for a very specific audience. The two-disc set’s sole extra is The Power of Shazzan – lifted from Saturday Morning Cartoons 1970s Vol. 2 –as a number of folk look back at the show, marveling at Toth’s strong design and ridiculing the state of writing in the 1970s.

By the 1990s, though, Indiana Jones and his brethren raised the stakes for action/adventure in live action as well as animation. The Cartoon Network recognized this and commissioned an updated version known as The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest which aired from August 26, 1996 to April 16, 1997. To make the concept contemporary, they added Jessie Bannon as the duo became a trio while Dr. Benton Quest and Race Bannon went looking into the unexplained. Given the fondness for CGI at the time, some of the stories also meant visits to the three-dimensional QuestWorld (hoping to tap into the audience’s fascination with virtual reality)

The show never quite worked and still doesn’t hold up to repeated views, but for diehard fans, Warner Archive has released the first season in two volumes of thirteen episodes each, the latter set recently released. The show certainly suffered when showrunner Peter Lawrence was fired in 1996 and John Eng and Cosmo Anzilotti arrived to take over. You can tell where Lawrence left off after the first season’s initial 13 episodes (volume one) as his real world –based storylines were replaced with more traditional SF/supernatural stories. The goal, turning the beloved character, into a global icon and franchise fizzled given poor execution and despite a massive marketing campaign.

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It certainly looks like the classic Jonny Quest, thanks to art director Takashi Masunaga’s efforts. Lawrence used Jessie, who was created in 1986 on The New Adventures of Jonny Quest, a previous reboot attempt that also failed. The two were to bicker and spark off one another, providing some dramatic conflict absent from the original version. Visually, the CGI and the digital painting certainly gave it an interesting look. By aging the leads only a few years, Jonny (voiced by J. D. Roth) and Hadji (Michael Benyaer) could now be teenagers accompanied by the seemingly immortal Bandit.

Lawrence, hoping to make this an X-Files for kids, researched real phenomenon such as the “Airstrips of Nazca, the Ruins of Teotihuacan or the possible existence of Giant Squid” for story fodder. Lawrence once wrote, “Jonny’s response to danger will be close to Race’s. Jessie’s intrigue with mysterious, unexplained phenomena will be close to Dr. Quest’s. And Hadji, with his roots in a different culture and a more spiritual approach to life, is different again.” Still, there had to be bad guys and the recurring threats from Jeremiah Surd and Ezekiel Rage slowed things down, although Surd’s desire to exact revenge against Bannon was at least interesting.

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The second volume opens with an investigation of the legendary Mary Celeste and then sends the team to Borneo. Surd appears in several of the early episodes and you can begin to feel the tone of the series shifting away from Lawrence. The stories remain grounded until “The Ballad of Belle Bonnet” featuring a ghost and then we get a werewolf tale and suddenly we’ve moved into tried and true formula television. Rage wants to melt the polar ice caps without concern for humanity pushing credulity to its limits. The first volume is clearly the stronger written and more interesting collection of episodes, but there are enough nuggets here to keep you watching.

Since we’re all about to fall in love with Scarlet Johansson all over again when she kicks ass in The Avengers, it’s good to see her actually acting here, paired nicely with Matt Damon, the grieving patriarch who needs to change his life in some way and chooses to do so in a rather radical fashion.

Based on a real family – The Mees, of the Dartmoor Zoological Park in Devon, England — the movie was written and directed by Cameron Crowe, who never ceases to make his characters nothing less than interesting to watch. It’s not his strongest film but it marks his return to the screen after the misfire of Elizabethtown and it’s a most welcome one. Yes, it schmaltzy and you know what’s going to happen in the end, but getting there is eminently watchable and worth your time.

Benjamin Mee (Damon) has recently lost his wife and seems to be in danger of losing his relationship with son Dylan (Colin Ford) as both grieve in vastly different ways. He’s floundering at work, a columnist who sees the inevitable cutbacks coming his way. Dylan has been expelled for a series of antics and younger daughter Rosie (Maggie Elizabeth Jones) is just sad. Something has to be done and seemingly without considering the consequences, he decides to relocate the family to the country and start over. As he house hunts, the realtor (J.B. Smoove) shows him the dilapidated, condemned zoo that has a skeletal staff and a handful of animals in need of attention.

Of course, Mee falls in love with the romantic notion of starting over and rescuing not only the animals, but the family. He buys the property, introduces himself to the staff and begins learning what it means to run a zoo.  The odd assortment of employees gives the film some nice color, led by Angus MacFadyen and anchored by Scarlet Johansson, who hasn’t had a real life in months. Confounding Mee is his caustic but loving brother (Thomas Hayden Church) and inspector Walter Ferris (John Michael Higgins), who is a stereotypical prick. The money runs low, a miracle from Heaven seems to be a message of support and of course the zoo opens after plenty of adversity. There’s also another moment of loss as one of the animals ails and needs to be put down, a decision Mee has difficulty so soon after losing his wife.

Bit by bit, we watch the family heal and reform with a new dynamic. While Rosie remains adorable and indefatigable, Dylan broods for a while, even rejecting a chance at romance with Elle Fanning, who smiles way too goofily throughout the film. There’s also a budding romance between Damon and Johansson but it’s far from the main point of the film.

As usual, Crowe stuffs his film with an appropriately selected assortment of songs (Pearl Jam, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Bon Iver, Tom Petty) plus a score from “Jónsi” Birgisson so everything feels nicely assembled. Perhaps too nice. There’s predictability to the film that feels manipulative which is unusual for Crowe. Nothing surprises you and it feels overly pat, which robs the film of its strengths. Still, it’s a fine film for the family to watch and enjoy.

The DVD looks fine and comes with Crow, Smoove and editor Mark Livolsi providing an interesting commentary track. Smoove’s offbeat comments certainly liven up the traditional making of moments. There’s also “It’s a Zoo” a short featurette about the animals used in the film, but it’s culled from the longer “We Shot a Zoo” which is found on the Blu-ray.

The movie, out now from Summit Home Entertainment, focuses on Sean (Emile Hirsch) and Ben (Max Minghella), two Americans in Russia to sell a social networking concept only to discover they’ve been ripped off. Drowning their sorrows at a bar, they meet up with Natalie (Olivia Thirlby) and Anne (Rachael Taylor), and just then, the invasion begins. It takes a while to determine the full scope of the problems thank to an EMP knocking out all the electronics. There’s panic, there’s screaming and shouting and oh yeah, invisible alien attackers who can disintegrate you with a touch.

It becomes a survival and resistance story so the Russian locale is merely a backdrop that serves to complicate our protagonists’ journey but that’s about it. There really is weak writing from Jon Spaihts so the characters are interchangeable and not interesting enough for the audience to care who lives or dies. This could have been a really interesting character study fueled by adrenaline and special effects but instead, it has a sameness that spoils the story. While watchable, it’s just not special enough to seek out, making this a perfect cable time-killer.

There are some nice visuals, some good moments, some actual thinking going on as they figure out how to track the unseen foes and go on to build a Faraday Box to protect themselves. But it’s too little scattered over a poorly-paced 89 minutes. On the other hand, the movie looks and sounds terrific on Blu-ray. If as much effort went into the story as it did on the transfer we’d all have it on our buy lists.

As much as the film has a been there, done that feel, so do the extras accompanying the DVD. There’s Gorak providing some nice commentary about the film’s troubled production, shooting in Russia and so on. You also have a featurette “Survivors” (8:10) looking at the rest of the people in Russia as a supplement to the feature; “The Darkest Hour: Visualizing an Invasion” (12:09) which is the obligatory piece on the visual effects; and a few Deleted and Extended Scenes (4:48), with optional director commentary.

Warner Archive, bless their souls, has rectified that by releasing the complete first season of the two season series. You can find the first fifteen episodes on four discs comprising Tarzan Season One, Volume One while the remaining sixteen episodes are available in the second volume. Warner has done a nice job cleaning the prints and the show looks pretty darn good.

It was also a good time for Edgar Rice Burroughs’ immortal lord of the jungle as producer Sy Weintraub took over the film series in 1959 as Johnny Weismuller’s rein came to an end. He freshened the film franchise by restoring Lord John Greystoke’s vocabulary and found new story territory to mine. He went through two leading men before settling on little remembered Mike Henry, who was in line to bring the ape man to television but had a falling out with Weintraub over money. Handsome and fit Ron Ely, already on hand for a role in the series, was asked to take over the lead and joined the legendary line of men to bring Tarzan to life.

In bringing over the series from film to television, several alterations were made, starting with the ejection of Jane from the series. This freed the lead to have a variety of romances, none more frequent than with Julie Harris, making numerous appearances as missionary Charity Jones (including a fun two-parter in season two). Holdovers from the film series included Manuel Padilla as the requisite kid sidekick, Jai, with Cheetah for animal humor.

The stories had to be inventive while being cost effective, with effects easily produced in Brazil where the show was initially filmed. As a result, there were plenty of animal issues with lions and leopards, while the ERB sense of the fantastic can be seen with the killer spiders. And what would Tarzan be without finding lost civilizations with their comely princesses?

Ely was a fine, impressive physical specimen so it made sense he’d want to do his own stunts which gave the directors great flexibility in framing their shots, which helped the overall look of the series. On the other hand, he apparently was injured seventeen times during the first season alone, getting singed, bitten, ripping the flesh from his feet, fracturing three rubs, breaking one shoulder, separating the other and spraining both wrists. Talk about suffering for one’s art.

It’s also fun watching to see the guest stars which in the first season included Nichelle Nichols (from that other NBC series), western great Woody Strode, Russ Tamblyn, Susan Oliver, Chips Rafferty, Gia Scala, Sally Kellerman, Jack Elam and one-time Tarzan Jock Mahoney.  Another recurring player was Maurice Evans (best remembered today from Bewitched or Planet of the Apes) as retired Brigadier Sir Basil Bertram, a hero of the Battle of the Bulge.

Is it great television? No, but then again, most prime time in the 1960s fails that test. On the other hand, Tarzan like so many of its genre peers of the era is tremendously entertaining to watch. It’s nice to have these back in circulation and since these are print on demand discs, you need to demand them and should to see for yourself.

We salute, Alfred and share with you some fun facts about the fellow:

Although Alfred has appeared on the front of most issues of MAD, he has not appeared on every cover.

Over the years, Alfred has been depicted in a wide variety of roles, including Uncle Sam, George Washington, Barack Obama, Rosemary’s baby, Michael Jackson, Justin Bieber and Batman.

Alfred’s signature slogan, “What – me worry?” exemplifies the satirical and care-free tone of the magazine.

Alfred has run for president every election since 1956 with the campaign motto, “You could do worse, and always have!”

Alfred’s eyes are not aligned straight, yet they always manage to make contact with the reader. He is never depicted in profile.

In 1983, a man wore an Alfred E. Neuman mask while attempting to hold up a gas station in Michigan. The attendant working at the station could not take the man seriously and the robber left the scene without any money.

In MAD #322 (October, 1993), the magazine asked readers which real life celebrity Alfred E. Neuman most closely resembled – David Letterman, Ted Koppel or Prince Charles of England. While TV personality Letterman was leading the vote for the majority of the polling period, a last-minute influx of votes from Canadian readers crowned Prince Charles the victor of the competition. This was ironic considering that in 1958, MAD received a letter from Buckingham Palace (reprinted in MAD #48) to shoot down comparisons between Charles and Alfred. To this day, nobody knows if the note in fact came from Prince Charles himself.

As MAD’s mascot, Alfred is often referred to by the Usual Gang of Idiots at MAD as the magazine’s “Playboy rabbit.”