Tagged: DVD

The Point Radio: THE EXPANSE Is Must See In 2016

Over the holidays, SyFy debuted the new series THE EXPANSE, based on he best-selling novel. The show is generating major buzz and just (today) got the green light for a second season. Star Cas Anvar talks about why you should be watching and how a love for comics helped him nab the role. Plus WWE Superstars Paige and The Miz talk about their latest movie role and what they would do if their careers ever ended.

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Mindy Newell Goes On A Binge

Television SetBinge-watching is defined by the Urban Dictionary website as a “marathon viewing of a TV show from its DVD box set.” Wikipedia adds that binge-watching has become an “observed cultural phenomena with the rise of online media services such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime.”

A lot of cable networks have gotten in on the act. Cloo includes on its schedule “marathon” showings of House, CSI, Monk, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent; yesterday (Sunday, July 27th) the channel brought on Burn Notice. The original Law & Order runs on TNT, Sundance, and WE, although I can’t figure out what it’s “thematically” doing on WE, unless it’s because Chris Noth is hot and Jerry Orbach is just so damn watchable. And Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is on USA right now.

Verne Gay of Newsday (yes, the paper at which Ray Barone of Everbody Loves Raymond toils as a sports writer is an actual real-life Long Island institution) recently listed 57 shows that are worthy of your couchpotatoing the weekend away. It’s all a matter of the viewer’s opinion and genre bias, of course, but here are Gay’s (paraphrased) qualifications for shows that are “binge-worthy,” with my examples.*

  1. A story arc, i.e., a storyline that continues throughout the season, notwithstanding one or two stand-alone episodes that nonetheless always contain either at least once scene related to the season’s overview or is in some way related to the overarching theme of the season. Examples: Breaking Bad, Angel, Orange Is The New Black, Scandal, Friends, Mad Men, Battlestar Galactica, Buffy The Vampire Slayer (you didn’t think I wasn’t going to mention BTVS, did you?), Dallas (original and new), Game Of Thrones.
  2. Characters that the viewer is invested in, i.e., whether good or bad, hero or antihero, starring role or a member of the “Scooby Gang.” Examples: Don Draper, Kara “Starbuck” Thrace, Sookie Stackhouse, Willow Rosenberg, Olivia Carolyn Pope, Rachel Green and Ross Geller, Buffy Summers, Sarah Manning, Jesse Pinkman, Spike, Rose Tyler, Frank Underwood, Angel, Monica Geller and Chandler Bing, J.R. Ewing (Sr. and Jr.), Cordelia Chase, Amy Pond, Rory Williams, Wesley Wyndham-Pryce
  3. A definite ending; i.e., questions raised during the course of the show are answered, the hero/heroine completes his/her journey. This does not guarantee a “happy” ending. It also does not guarantee that the viewer will be satisfied. Examples: Breaking Bad, Friends, Dexter, Buffy The Vampire Slayer (which actually had two endings – Season 5, in which Buffy sacrifices herself to save her sister Dawn and the world, and Season 7, in which Buffy realizes that she can share her power. For the record, I prefer Season 5), Battlestar Galactica. Two shows that were suggested were Lost and Angel. However, I can’t recommend Lost, despite its many excellent moments, because too many questions were left unanswered, and although Angel rocked its five seasons, The WB’s (very stupid, im-no so-ho) decision to cancel the series rushed its ending so that it felt too ambiguous – except for Wesley’s death, which was the only part that felt real. And it remains to be seen how True Blood, Mad Men, The Walking Dead, and Game Of Thrones handle their endings.
  4. It’s entertaining. Or as Gay puts it, “fun.” I hope you don’t need an “i.e.,” but just in case you do – you’d better enjoy what you’re watching, or you’re just wasting time. Examples: Dallas (old and new), Doctor Who, Firefly, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel, Scandal, House Of Cards, Dexter.
  5. Gaye calls this one “informative,” but I’ll put it more simply – you learn something. You get excited. Maybe about the universe, or maybe, vicariously, about yourself. You can learn to appreciate great writing, or great camera work, or great acting. You can learn that you don’t really want to get an MBA and work on Wall Street, even if it does mean you’ll be rolling in dough and driving a Porsche; you discover that you want to work in an industry that allows you to key into your inner child, whether it’s as an actor or a writer or a director, a special effects artist, or a stunt man/woman, even if it does mean that most of the time you’ll be earning money temping as a receptionist or slinging dishes in a restaurant and depending on tips to make the rent. Examples: Cosmos, Band Of Brothers, Firefly, War And Remembrance, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Battlestar Galatica, The World Wars.
  6. There ain’t no commercials. And you don’t want to hit the “pause” button. Meaning you hold it in for between discs or between episodes. Examples: Your DVD Boxed Set, Netflix Streaming, And Amazon Prime. As for Hulu/Hulu Plus – points off for the ads.

I’d love to know your binge-worthy shows.

* Some are shows I have binge-watched; others are recommendations by friends and family.

 

Mike Gold: 20 Ways To Procrastinate – Comic Book Pro’s Edition

WimpySure, you’re on a deadline. You’ve got more deadlines than you have socks. So what are you going to do about it? If you are a genuine comic book professional, or you hanker to be a genuine comic book professional, you’ve got to learn how to procrastinate like a genuine comic book professional.

Please note, these tips apply to freelancers of all stripes and not just to cartoonists, artists, writers and/or sloths.

1. You find yourself thinking you should wash the dishes.

2. You find yourself thinking you should take out the garbage.

3. Your abode is not going to paint itself.

4. You’re fiddling through your DVD and DVR library looking for “reference.”

5. You are convinced your editor won’t get around to your assignment for a while anyway.

6. Your cat ate your Internet connection.

7. Your quarterly estimated taxes were due a couple days ago. You really need to find an accountant. Ask around.

8. Damn, if you don’t read these 78 comic books in a pile on your nightstand, you won’t be up on continuity and you’re script/artwork/whatever will have to be completely revised anyway so instead of working, you really should be reading comic books.

9. You realize you haven’t backed-up your computer since Jack Kirby invented the Mother Box.

10. You find yourself wondering, “What would Barry Windsor-Smith do?”

11. Hey, that crossword puzzle isn’t going to solve itself.

12. Your crack dealer doesn’t deliver.

13. You’ll get to your work just as soon as your computer’s countdown clock hits “O seconds.” You won’t have long to wait, as right now it says it will be done in six minutes and six minutes isn’t very long, is it?

14. It’s new comics Wednesday. Or, at least, it was in the past six days.

15. You still haven’t done your homework.

16. You can always backdate your Fed-Ex waybill.

17. You really should take your dog for a walk. After all, you don’t want to be interrupted while you’re working.

18. After trying most or all of the above, you’re way too depressed to work.

19. You find yourself writing a piece about “20 ways to procrastinate.”

20. You’ll start working just as soon as you come up with the 20th item on your list.

 

REVIEW: RoboCop

Robocop_2014_BD_OringThe best science fiction is the kind that uses the settings to make comments about our society today, making us think. When Paul Verhoeven gave us RoboCop in 1987, it was a commentary on the rapidly rising role of technology in the world along with the increasing spread of urban crime. The idea that a mortally wounded cop (Peter Weller) was involuntarily turned into a cyborg and sent out to clean up the city was riveting. The performance, blood, and violence made the film an interesting statement and the beginning of a franchise that got watered down in lesser hands.

MGM saw the moribund property as a chance to make some fresh cash with a reboot because everything else has been dusted off and for the most part done pretty well. But did Brazilian director José Padilha have something to say or was he brought in for stylish mayhem? Apparently he did, working with screenwriter Joshua Zetumer, building on the original script by Edward Neumaier and Michael Miner. Omnicorp, a subsidiary of OmniConsumer Products (OCP), is a next generation supplier of military weapons in the form of humanoid ED-209 and EM-208 mechanized warriors at a time global tensions mean a steady supply of soldiers is required.

OCP CEO Raymond Sellars (Michael Keaton) wants to sell a domestic version of his machines but is thwarted by Senator Hubert Dreyfus (Zach Grenier) and his just passed Act outlawing such domestic police. Undaunted, Sellars finds a loophole in the law and orders man put inside one of the machines, something general counsel Liz Kline (Jennifer Ehle) and marketing chief Tom Pope (Jay Baruchel) endorse. He instructs Dr. Dennett Norton (Gary Oldman) to take his prosthetics research to the next level and the scientist screens candidates until he settles on Detroit police detective Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman). Welcome, RoboCop 2.0.

Partnered with Lewis (Michael K. Williams), he takes on the underworld in the form of Antoine Vallon (Patrick Garrow) while risking his humanity as his wife Clara (Abbie Cornish) and son David (John Paul Ruttan) grow increasingly distant. Meantime, one battle is overt, while the covert story is machine versus corporation over Free Will. OCP has intentionally “dumbed down” Murphy, hoping he would merely follow orders after being trained by Rick Mattox (Jackie Early Haley) but Murphy is his own man and not the “Tin Man” Mattox insists on calling him.

Things blow up just fine and the human conflicts sometimes take a backseat to the PG-13 violence (a crass commercial move that robbed the film) but this is better than we feared when the collective consciousness said, “We don’t’ need a RoboCop reboot.” Yes, its’ commentary is not as sharp as Verhoeven’s original nor is the action any better despite enhanced special effects or the presence of Samuel L. Jackson. And maybe we don’t but what we got is a cut above and well worth a look. Padilha’s American debut is done with affectionate nods to the original film while still having its own voice.

The film, now out on home video as a Blu-ray, DVD, Digital copy combo pack form MGM Home Entertainment, has an excellent video transfer with sharp  colors. The audio is a notch below this but the overall 5.1 lossless DTS-HD MA sound mix is fine.

The Blu-pray comes with a standard assortment of unremarkable special features including Deleted Scenes (3:59), 10 Omnicorp Product Announcements (3:27); RoboCop: Engineered for the 21st Century (The Illusion of Free Will: A New Vision, 7:46; To Serve and Protect: RoboCop’s New Weapons, 6:05, The RoboCop Suit: Form and Function, 14:54); and, two theatrical trailers.

The Originals: The Complete First Season Arrives September 2

The OriginalsBURBANK, CA (June 12, 2014) – Ready to get sucked in? Just in time for the Season Two premiere on The CW, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group will release The Originals: The Complete First Season on DVD and Blu-ray Combo Pack on September 2, 2014. Season One is also available to purchase on Digital HD. Averaging nearly 3.1 million viewers weekly, The Originals is The CW’s #2 show among Adults.* Fans can feast on all 22 one-hour episodes from Season One, plus over two hours of gripping extras — including commentary, the 2013 Comic-Con panel, the 2014 PaleyFest panel, featurettes, and deleted scenes. The Originals: The Complete First Season will be priced to own on DVD at $59.98 SRP and on Blu-ray Combo Pack at $69.97 SRP.

This sexy and thrilling new series from The Vampire Diaries’ executive producer Julie Plec centers on the Original vampire family and the dangerous vampire/werewolf hybrid, Klaus (Joseph Morgan), who returns to the magical melting pot that is the French Quarter of New Orleans — a town he helped build centuries ago. Acting on a mysterious tip that a plot is brewing against him, Klaus’ questions lead him to his diabolical former protégé, Marcel (Charles Michael Davis), a charismatic vampire with total control over the human and supernatural inhabitants of the city. Determined to help his brother Klaus find redemption, Elijah (Daniel Gillies) follows Klaus and is soon forced to side with Marcel’s enemies. Meanwhile, Klaus and Elijah’s sister, Rebekah (Claire Holt), must decide if she’ll join her brothers in New Orleans and help them to reclaim their hometown and all its extraordinary offerings.

With Blu-ray’s unsurpassed picture and sound, The Originals: The Complete First Season Blu-ray release will include 1080p Full HD Video with DTS-HD Master Audio for English 5.1. The 9-disc Blu-ray Combo Pack (4 Blu-ray discs, 5 DVD discs) will feature a high-definition Blu-ray, standard definition DVD and a Digital HD copy of all 22 episodes from Season One.

Season one of The Originals stars Joseph Morgan (The Vampire Diaries, Ben Hur), Daniel Gillies (The Vampire Diaries, Saving Hope), Claire Holt (The Vampire Diaries, Pretty Little Liars), Phoebe Tonkin (The Vampire Diaries, The Secret Circle), Charles Michael Davis (Grey’s Anatomy), Danielle Pineda (Homeland), Leah Pipes (Sorority Row), and Danielle Campbell (Prison Break), with Plec executive producing along with Leslie Morgenstein (The Vampire Diaries, Pretty Little Liars) and Gina Girolamo (The Lying Game) Created by Plec, the series is based in part on the character Klaus from The Vampire Diaries novels by L.J. Smith. The Originals has been renewed for a second season on The CW for Fall 2014.
*Source: Nielsen Galaxy Explorer, Live+7, US ratings (10/03/13-04/22/14)

SPECIAL FEATURES

• Pilot Commentary – With Creator Julie Plec and Director Chris Grismer
• 2013 Comic-Con Panel – Executive producer Julie Plec and the cast discuss the origins of The Originals, and what you can expect in this spin-off of The Vampire Diaries.
• 2014 PaleyFest Panel – Cast and producers discuss the creative process in these highlights from the panel at PaleyFest 2014
• The Originals: Origins – In this featurette, creator Julie Plec leads us on the journey of creating The Originals and continuing through to the production of the pilot in New Orleans.
• The Originals: Re-mixing History – In this featurette, the writers of The Originals will describe how they were able to blend fact with fiction, generating strong roots in New Orleans for the Mikaelson family.
• The Original Vampires: A Bite-sized Backstory – A dynamic and stylized montage featuring key storylines and scenes of the original family. Including scenes from The Vampire Diaries, this piece will depict where the originals came from.
• Deleted Scenes

22 ONE-HOUR EPISODES

1. Always and Forever
2. House of the Rising Son
3. Tangled Up in Blue
4. Girl in New Orleans
5. Sinners and Saints
6. Fruit of the Poisoned Tree
7. Bloodletting
8. The River in Reverse
9. Reigning Pain in New Orleans
10. The Casket Girls
11. Après Moi, le Déluge
12. Dance Back from The Grave
13. Crescent City
14. Long Way Back from Hell
15. Le Grand Guignol
16. Farewell to Storyville
17. Moon Over Bourbon Street
18. The Big Uneasy
19. An Unblinking Death
20. A Closer Walk with Thee
21. The Battle of New Orleans
22. From a Cradle to a Grave

BASICS

Street Date: September 2, 2014
Running Time: Feature: Approx 928 min, Enhanced Content: approx 141 min
Blu-ray & DVD: Presented in 16×9 widescreen format

DVD
Price: $59.98 SRP
5 DVD-9s
DVD Audio – English (5.1), Portuguese
DVD Subtitles – ESDH, Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Thai
Catalog # 1000437527
UPC# 883929374557

BLU-RAY COMBO PACK
Price: $69.97 SRP
9 Disc Elite (4 BD-50s/5 DVD-9s)
DVD Audio – English (5.1), Portuguese
DVD Subtitles – ESDH, Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Thai
Blu-ray Audio – 1080p Full HD Video, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 – English, Portuguese, French, Castilian Spanish
Blu-ray Subtitles – ESDH, French, Danish, Latin Spanish, Portuguese, Finnish, Swedish, Dutch, Norwegian, Castilian Spanish
Catalog # 1000437689
UPC # 83929374540

The Grand Budapest Hotel Envisioned as Lego Construct

The Grand Budapest Hotel Envisioned as Lego Construct

A very special opening awaits! In celebration of the June 17th Blu-ray and DVD release of The Grand Budapest Hotel, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment is readying to unveil a version of the illustrious European hotel constructed entirely of Lego bricks!

Take a tour, with trusty lobby boy Tony Revolori, in this video showing how it was built!

Ryan Ziegelbauer and his team of eight model builders – all die-hard fans of Wes Anderson – spent 575 hours building and designing the replica of the exquisite hotel. To construct the model, more than 50,000 certified Lego bricks from collectors and wholesalers were sourced from Lithuania, Poland, Latvia, Germany, Italy and 14 different states in the U.S. The final model will weigh approximately 150 pounds and stand 7 feet tall and 6.5 feet wide.

TURTLE POWER, TMNT Documentary Coming August 12

TurtlePower-DVD-3D-DMUB-075fbHOLLYWOOD, Calif.  –  Go behind-the-scenes and beneath the streets to discover the real origin story of four of pop culture’s most enduring heroes in the captivating new film TURTLE POWER: The Definitive History of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, debuting on DVD, VOD and Digital HD August 12, 2014 from Paramount Home Media Distribution.  Written and directed by Randall Lobb, the film chronicles the birth of a franchise and reveals the remarkable journey of four of the most unlikely super heroes of all time.  Celebrate the 30th anniversary of Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo and Raphael with this must-see documentary and the August 8th theatrical debut of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles starring Megan Fox and Will Arnett.

In the spring of 1984, a strange new comic book sat beside cash registers in select shops, too big to fit in the racks, and too weird to ignore.  Eastman and Laird’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles presented a completely original breed of super hero.  It was too bizarre, too crazy.  It broke all the rules and should never have worked.  Until it sold out.  Again and again and again.  For 30 years.  Now, peek under the shell and see how this so-called “happy accident” defied every naysayer to become one of the most popular and beloved franchises in the world.

The TURTLE POWER: The Definitive History of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles DVD is presented in widescreen enhanced for 16:9 televisions with English 5.1 Dolby Digital, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital and English Audio Description, along with English, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles.

TURTLE POWER: The Definitive History of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Street Date:                 August 12, 2014

DVD SRP:                   $21.99 U.S.

Runtime:                     98 minutes

Vampire Diaries: The Complete Fifth Season Arrives September 9

Vampire Diaries S5BURBANK, CA (June 9, 2014) – Get ready for more suspense, romance and thrills as the hit series The Vampire Diaries continues for a fifth season on DVD and Blu-ray™ Combo Pack, as Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group releases The Vampire Diaries: The Complete Fifth Season on September 9, 2014. Season Five is also available to purchase on Digital HD. Averaging nearly 4 million viewers in its fifth season, The Vampire Diaries remains The CW’s #1 show among Adults and Women and will return for a sixth season on The CW this fall.  Fans can sink their teeth into  all 22 one-hour episodes from Season Five (including the series’ 100th episode!), plus over an hour of gripping extras — including three brand-new featurettes, deleted scenes and a gag reel. The Vampire Diaries: The Complete Fifth Season will be priced to own on DVD at $59.98 SRP and on Blu-ray Combo Pack at $69.97 SRP.

After a sizzling summer with Damon, Elena leaves Mystic Falls for Whitmore College and moves into a dorm with Caroline as her roomie, ready for new adventures and new friends. But dark thoughts gnaw at Elena, and soon familiar faces are back in the girls’ lives. There’s Stefan with his shadow self, Silas, plus Katherine, with a diabolical agenda and a jaw-dropping transformation. As the doppelgangers test destiny, pitting the Salvatore brothers against each other, the student body count rises — evidence of powerful forces on campus. The struggle later continues between the mysterious Travelers, new witches and our favorite vampires, fighting for their own survival and, ultimately, the fate of Mystic Falls. Sink your teeth into all 22 bloodthirsty episodes of this passionate, heart-ripping, supernatural series.

With Blu-ray’s unsurpassed picture and sound, The Vampire Diaries: The Complete Fifth Season Blu-ray release will include 1080p Full HD Video with DTS-HD Master Audio for English 5.1. The 9-disc Blu-ray Combo Pack (4 Blu-ray discs, 5 DVD discs) will feature a Hi-definition Blu-ray, standard definition DVD and a Digital HD copy of all 22 episodes from Season Five.

The Vampire Diaries stars Nina Dobrev (The Perks of Being a Wallflower, DeGrassi: The Next Generation), Paul Wesley (Fallen, Everwood), Ian Somerhalder (Lost), Steven R. McQueen (Everwood), Kat Graham (17 Again, Honey 2), Candice Accola (Dating Rules from My Future Self, Supernatural), Zach Roerig (Friday Night Lights) and Michael Trevino (Cane). Based on the series of books by L.J. Smith, The Vampire Diaries is from Bonanza Productions Inc., Outerbanks Entertainment and Alloy Entertainment in association with Warner Bros. Television and CBS Television Studios. The executive producers are Kevin Williamson (The Following, Scream, Dawson’s Creek), Julie Plec (The Originals, Kyle XY), Leslie Morgenstein (Pretty Little Liars, Gossip Girl, The Originals) and Caroline Dries (Melrose Place, Smallville). The series was developed by Williamson and Plec. The show has received numerous awards, winning a People’s Choice award for Favorite New TV Drama in its first season. The series has also won 21 Teen Choice awards thus far.

SPECIAL FEATURES

  • Reinvention: To The Other Side and Back 
  • I Know What You Did…In the Last 100 Episodes
  • A Day in the Afterlife
  • Second Bite (Gag Reel)
  • Deleted Scenes
22 ONE-HOUR EPISODES
  1. I Know What You Did Last Summer
  2. True Lies
  3. Original Sin
  4. For Whom The Bell Tolls
  5. Monster’s Ball
  6. Handle with Care
  7. Death and the Maiden
  8. Dead Man on Campus
  9. The Cell
  10. Fifty Shades of Grayson
  11. 500 Years of Solitude
  • The Devil Inside
  • Total Eclipse of the Heart
  • No Exit
  • Gone Girl
  • While You Were Sleeping
  • Rescue Me
  • Resident Evil
  • Man on Fire
  • What Lies Beneath
  • Promised Land
  • Home

BASICS

Street Date: September 9, 2014Running Time: Feature: Approx 968 min, Enhanced Content: approx 65 minBlu-ray & DVD: Presented in 16×9 widescreen formatDVDPrice: $59.98 SRP
5 DVD-9s
DVD Audio – English (5.1), Portuguese
DVD Subtitles – ESDH, Chinese, Portuguese, Latin Spanish, French, Thai
Catalog #1000437520
UPC#883929374229

BLU-RAY COMBO PACK

Price: $69.97 SRP

9 Disc Elite (4 BD-50s/5 DVD-9s)

DVD Audio – English (5.1), Portuguese

DVD Subtitles – ESDH, Chinese, Portuguese, Latin Spanish, French, Thai

Blu-ray Audio -1080p Full HD Video, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 – English, Portuguese, French, Castilian SpanishBlu-ray Subtitles – ESDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Finnish, Swedish, Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, Castilian SpanishCatalog # 1000436958UPC # 883929373796

Win a Copy of Robocop on Blu-ray

Robocop_2014_BD_OringDirected by José Padilha, RoboCop stars Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton, Abbie Cornish, Jackie Earle Haley and Samuel L. Jackson.  In RoboCop, the year is 2028 and OmniCorp – the world’s leader in robot technology – sees a golden opportunity to reap billions for their company.  When Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) – a loving husband, father and good cop doing his best to stem the tide of crime and corruption in Detroit – is critically injured, OmniCorp grabs their chance to build a part-man, part-robot police officer.  OmniCorp envisions a RoboCop in every city and will stop at nothing – no matter the cost to Alex – to make sure the program succeeds.  But OmniCorp never counted on one thing: there is still a man fighting inside the machine.

Who knew that a robot could be so lovable such as WALL-E from Pixar’s beloved movie, or that robots could think like Sonny from I, Robot? Coming soon to Blu-ray is another story of a famous robot, this time one where the robot is part human and part machine. In honor of RoboCop’s Blu-ray, DVD, and VOD releases, we present to you a look at how robots have been portrayed in films.

1. Human-Like Robots

StepfordWe have all seen a movie where a human is discovered to be, in fact, a robot. There are the creepy ones like in The Stepford Wives, the smart ones like in A.I. Artificial Intelligence, and the eccentric ones like Edward Scissorhands whose claim to robothood has been heatedly debated. These, at least to some, are the scariest robots since you never know when you might run into one. Maybe the brother you always thought was a bit strange or that co-worker who never really talks is the robot you always feared.

2. Robots that are Killing Machines

terminator2_lWe can all agree that the Terminator is a killing machine. He was sent to assassin every Sarah Connor he came across, almost succeeding.  The robots in I, Robot also fall under this category since they are determined to destroy anything and anyone that does not follow V.I.K.I.’s commands.

3. Robots Built to Fight

atom_in_real_steel-wideWith recent movies like Pacific Rim and the Transformers series, movie fans have gotten numerous doses of huge robots that are built to fight either aliens or large monsters. While watching those movies, one can’t help but wonder if the world will ever come to that.

4. Robots that are Way too Ambitious


MetropolisI, Robot
and The Matrix trilogy fixated on the intelligence machines/robots could gain over humans and thus control the world and all of its resources. These machines tend to be super analytical, overflowing with common sense, and, in rare cases, like I, Robot, want to take over the world in order to protect it. In these movies, humans end up realizing the huge mistake they made by creating these monsters. And lets just admit that the whole Matrix plot was super scary (in a good sci-fi way). Metropolis, one of the first robot movies ever, also celebrates this idea of a machine that is too smart for its own good.

5. Evil Robots

WestworldEvil robots usually fall under other categories on this list, most often in the human-like one. This is probably because in films, robots that end up looking like people are created that way in order to do some real damage. Gunslinger from Westworld is one of these evil robots that will not stop until he has his fake showdown. As many fanatics of the Austin Powers movies remember, the Fembots are evil sexy women robots that are sent as a lethal distraction to the movies’ namesake. Also, Joshua, the robot arm/machine is a robot that doesn’t look like a human but still scared us all. Another contender in this category is the famous MCP from Tron.

6. Robots that Want to Save the World

i-robotWhen robots want to save the world, they usually do it hand in hand with a human. When it comes to the Iron Man series, that robot is actually a suit that eventually becomes part of the human. In I, Robot, we have Sonny “who” sacrifices himself? itself? for the sake of mankind. There is also our beloved RoboCop who becomes the law itself and eventually takes out those wanting to control him/it. Through portrayals like these, audiences get to see a glimpse of robots that intentionally and unintentionally become heroes.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (MGM) and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment present RoboCop, arriving on Digital HD May 20 and on Blu-ray, DVD and VOD June 3.

To win the prized copy, you need to identify your favorite category of robot and top choice robot from that category. Have your answers posted no later than 11:59 p.m., Friday, June 6 and the decision of ComicMix‘s judges will be final. The contest is open to United States and Canadian readers only.

Review: Scooby Doo! WrestleMania Mystery

scoobymania-300x379-4140098Vince McMahon is a certified marketing genius. Always keen to find a new way to reach a new audience, he tied pro wrestling to rock and roll, and in doing so, made it a part of popular culture to a level it hadn’t been since the early days of television.  His knack for cross-promotion has struck gold again, with a crossover between the WWE Superstars and the animated adventures of the Great Dane Detective and the Mystery Inc gang in their newest direct to video movie, [[[Scooby Doo WrestleMania Mystery]]], out just in time to help promote WrestleMania XXX, coming to your screens this Sunday, April 6.

The voices and likenesses of the current crop of WWE Superstars like John Cena, Triple H, Divas Champion AJ Lee and Santino Marella team up with Scooby and the gang in a fun throwback to the old days of The New Scooby Doo Movies, which featured guest star crossovers galore. The voice cast of Mystery Inc are the team that have been handling the job for the TV shows as well as the Direct to Video features for some time now.  Frank Welker still provides the voice of Stalwart Freddy Jones, and has also capably taken over the voice of the eponymous hound.  Mindy Cohn, late of The Facts of Life is Velma Dinkley, and voice talent extraordinaire Grey Delisle Griffin is Daphne BlakeNorville “Shaggy” Rogers is now voiced by Matthew Lillard, who proved to us in the live-action films that it is actually possible to genetically breed actors to play specific parts.

The story is set in “WWE City” a combination resort complex, production center and training camp for the superstars.  Scooby and the gang win a trip to the resort after getting a perfect score in the new WWE video game, just in time for Wrestlemania, the unveiling of the priceless new WWE championship belt, and the recent attacks by a mysterious monster, the Ghost Bear.  Seems almost like they could be, y’know, connected, huh?  The Bear is allegedly the spectral remains of a wrestling bear in a touring show, undefeated until he fell at the hands of the great-grandfather of luchador and current WWE Superstar Sin Cara. With the help of long time wrestling trainer Cookie (Chares S. Dutton) and his nephew Ruben, the gang investigates the origins of the bear attacks, which takes on an extra level of required hurry-up when Scooby is accused of stealing the championship belt. They must find the culprit (and the bear) before, according to WWE City law, Scooby and Shaggy will be forced to prove their innocence on the field of battle, facing Kane in the opening match at WrestleMania.

The film is loads of fun, with a suitably wacky storyline, mixed with well done action and chase scenes. There’s enough twists and turns to keep the viewer guessing until the mask is whipped off the baddie. The superstars’ charisma carry over to the animated form, and it’s clear everyone had a good time making the movie.  Also included on the disc is a behind the scenes documentary featuring the wrestlers’ voice recording sessions and an episode of underappreciated classic of the Doo continuity A Pup Named Scooby Doo, a show The Wife and I loved so much, we named our child after one of its characters, namely Shaggy’s baby sister.  (Thank goodness we had a girl, or we’d have had to name her “Red” Hoerring.)

Scooby Doo WrestleMania Mystery is available now on DVD and Blu-Ray.