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Spider-Man: No Way Home Announces Home Video Details

Spider-Man: No Way Home Announces Home Video Details

The smash box office hit , Spiders Unite
• Weaving Jon Watt’s Web
• 2 Special Panels:
• The Sinister Summit – Villains Panel: Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, and Jamie Foxx sit down for a roundtable discussion of their sinister characters.
• A Meeting of the Spiders – Heroes Panel: The Heroic Spider heroes sit down for a roundtable discussion on Peter, Stunts, and skintight suits.
• 3 Stories From The Daily Bugle
• Spider-Menace Strikes Again
• Spider Sycophant
• Web of Lies
• 2 Stunt Scenes Previsualization
• Apartment Fight
• Shield Fight
DVD
• 2 Behind the Scenes Featurettes
o A Spectacular Spider-Journey with Tom Holland
o Graduation Day

CAST AND CREW

Directed By: Jon Watts
Written By: Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers
Produced By: Kevin Feige, Amy Pascal
Executive Producers: Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, JoAnn Perritano, Rachel O’Connor, Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach
Cast: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jacob Batalon, Jon Favreau, with Marisa Tomei

SPECS

Runtime: Approx. 148 minutes
Rating: PG-13: Sequences of action/violence, some language and brief suggestive comments
4K UHD: Feature: 2160p Ultra High Definition / 2.39:1 • English Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 compatible), French (Doublé au Québec), Spanish, English & French (Doublé au Québec) – Audio Description Tracks 5.1 Dolby Digital
Blu-ray™: Feature: 1080p High Definition / 2.39:1 • Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD MA, French (Doublé au Québec), Spanish, English & French (Doublé au Québec) – Audio Description Tracks 5.1 Dolby Digital
DVD: Feature: 2.39:1 Anamorphic Widescreen • Audio: English , French (Doublé au Québec), Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, English & French (Doublé au Québec) – Audio Description Tracks Dolby Surround

John Constantine Headlines New DC Showcase Compilation Disc

John Constantine Headlines New DC Showcase Compilation Disc

BURBANK, CA (February 22, 2022) – Warner Bros. Animation continues to glean beloved characters from DC’s robust library for the popular DC Showcase line of animated shorts, this time opting to elevate Constantine, Kamandi, The Losers, and Blue Beetle in the 2021-2022 compilation release, DC Showcase: Constantine – The House of Mystery. The R-rated shorts collection will be available from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on Blu-ray (USA $24.99 SRP; Canada $29.99 SRP) and in 4K on Digital starting May 3, 2022.

Produced by Warner Bros. Animation, DC and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, and inspired by characters and stories from the iconic DC Universe, the all-new quartet of DC Showcase shorts are produced by Rick Morales (Mortal Kombat Legends franchise, Injustice). Jim Krieg is producer, and Sam Register is executive producer.

While Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth!, The Losers and Blue Beetle have all appeared as enhanced content on past DC Universe Movies, the extended-length Constantine – The House of Mystery makes its public debut as the anchor for this dynamic shorts compilation.

Matt Ryan (Constantine, Legends of Tomorrow) reprises his live-action and animated role as the Hellblazer himself in Constantine – The House of Mystery. In the all-new short , John Constantine wakes up in the eerie House of Mystery with no recollection of how he got there. Fortunately, Zatanna and his friends are all there. Unfortunately, they have a bad habit of turning into demons and ripping him to shreds, over and over again! Camilla Luddington (Grey’s Anatomy) and Ray Chase (Licorice Pizza) reprise their roles from Justice League Dark: Apokolips War as Zatanna and Jason Blood/Etrigan, respectively, while Robin Atkin Downes (The Strain) and Damian O’Hare (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl) reprise their roles from Constantine: City of Demons as Negral and Chas, respectively. In addition, Grey Griffin (Scooby-Doo franchise) and Lou Diamond Phillips (La Bamba, Longmire, Young Guns) join the cast of the short, which is directed by Matt Peters (Injustice) from a script by Ernie Altbacker (Batman: Hush).

Also included in the animated shorts collection are:

KAMANDI: THE LAST BOY ON EARTH!

Directed by Matt Peters (Justice League Dark: Apokolips War) from a script written by Paul Giacoppo (Young Justice, Star Wars: Resistance), Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth! was initially released as a bonus feature on Justice Society: World War II in Spring 2021. Jack Kirby’s beloved DC comic creation features the last civilized teenage boy on a post-apocalyptic Earth ruled by talking animals. In this short , Kamandi and his friends Prince Tuftan of the Tiger Kingdom and humanoid mutant Ben Boxer are kidnapped by a gorilla cult dedicated to finding the reincarnation of their god, The Mighty One. Golgan, the cult’s leader, puts Kamandi’s team through a series of deadly tests to find if any of them know the secret of The Mighty One. The thriller features the voices of Cameron Monaghan (Gotham, Shameless) as Kamandi, Steve Blum (Star Wars: Rebels, Cowboy Bebop, Naruto franchise) as Golgan & Tuftan, Adam Gifford (Masters of the Universe: Revelation) as Zuma, and Armen Taylor (Justice Society: World War II) as Ben Boxer.

THE LOSERS

The legendary rag-tag team of World War II outcasts – Captain Storm, Johnny Cloud, “Mile-a-Minute” Jones, rookie Gunner and Sarge – find themselves marooned on an uncharted island in the South Pacific that is completely overrun with dinosaurs! Their would-be ally on this deadly mission, the mysterious and beautiful Fan Long of the Chinese Security Agency, tells them their job is to rescue the scientists that have been sent to study a time/space anomaly. Perhaps… but what is her mission?  Ming-Na Wen (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Book of Boba Fett) leads the cast as the mysterious Fan. Along for the journey is Dean Winters (John Wick, 30 Rock) as Captain Storm, Dave B. Mitchell (Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms) as Gunner & Sarge, Eugene Byrd (Bones, Arrow) as Mile-a-Minute Jones, and Martin Sensmeier (Westworld, The Magnificent Seven) as Johnny Cloud. Initially included as a bonus feature on Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One, The Losers is directed by Milo Neuman (LEGO DC Comics Super Heroes: The Flash) from a script by Tim Sheridan (Batman: The Long Halloween).

BLUE BEETLE

Sufferin’ Scarabs! Silver Age Blue Beetle is back! And had he ever starred in a 1960s Saturday-morning limited-animation cartoon with its own jazzy earworm of a theme song, it would have been just like this short! Welcome to the adventures of Ted Kord, alias the Blue Beetle, as he teams up with fellow Super Heroes Captain Atom, The Question and Nightshade to battle that nefarious finagler of feelings, Doctor Spectro. Matt Lanter (Timeless, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, 90210) stars as Blue Beetle alongside Jeff Bennett (Johnny Bravo, Curious George) as Captain Atom & Pops, Ashly Burch (The Ghost and Molly McGee) as Nightshade, David Kaye (Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe) as The Question, and Tom Kenny (SpongeBob SquarePants) as Dr. Spectro. Originally attached to Batman: The Long Halloween, Part Two, Blue Beetle is directed by Milo Neuman (Freedom Fighters: The Ray) from a screenplay by Jennifer Keene (Phineas and Ferb) based on a story by Jeremy Adams (Mortal Kombat Legends franchise).

Launched in 2010, DC Showcase was originally comprised of four animated shorts: The Spectre (2/23/2010), Jonah Hex (7/27/2010), Green Arrow (9/28/2010) and Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam (11/9/2010). An additional short, Catwoman (10/18/2011), was attached the following year to the release of Batman: Year One. For 2019-2020, DC Showcase returned with five shorts: Sgt. Rock (8/6/2019) Death (10/22/2019), The Phantom Stranger (3/17/2020), Adam Strange (5/19/2020), and the interactive Batman: Death in the Family (10/13/2020).

DC Showcase: Constantine – The House of Mystery – Special Features

Blu-ray and Digital

  • DC Showcase: One Story at a Time (New Featurette) – Since the 1993 debut of Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Warner Bros. Animation has revolutionized and mastered the feature film world with their critically successful DC Universe Movies and DC Animated Movies. In 2010, the creative team hit upon the idea of presenting some of the more under-utilized DC characters in shorter stories – and thus , the DC Showcase was born. The shorts program has provided a fertile venue for creators and animators to explore the vast array of DC’s diverse heroes, worlds and universes, and gives audiences a taste of their infinite possibilities. Featuring some big names as well as the deeper cuts, these short films reflect different styles and sensibilities, and are inspired by renown creators like Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and Alan Moore. This documentary takes a look at the roots of DC Showcase – from Catwoman and Sgt. Rock to Death and Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam, as well as the current quartet of shorts. Included are interviews with producer Rick Morales and directors Matt Peters & Milo Neuman as they explore the featured heroes and villains, the comics that inspired them, and these adventures’ place in the bigger picture of the DC animated universe.
REVIEW: The King’s Man

REVIEW: The King’s Man

Once upon a time, Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons produced a cheeky series called The Secret Service, which got turned into a fun film called Kingsman. While the comics remain fun reads, the film series has deteriorated when left entirely in Matthew Vaughn’s hands. He’s good filmmaker as witnessed by Kingsman and the underrated Stardust. But , we get a sense of how the independent covert intelligence agency got started, born in the wake of tragedy. Orlando (Ralph Fiennes, Duke of Oxford watches helpless, as his wife Emily (NAME) is gunned down on a visit to a concentration camp in South Africa. He is left to raise his young son , honoring her dying wish that he never see war again. Raised in a rarified cocoon by manservant Shola (Djimon Hounsou) and nanny Polly (Gemma Arterton), Conrad (Harris Dickinson) craves to see the world and join the military.

In time, he discovers Orlando, Shola, and Polly have been covertly gathering intelligence as Europe moves toward The Great War, pitting cousins King George, Kaiser Wilhelm, and Tsar Nicholas (all Tom Hollander) against one another. Events propel father and son into action, testing their bonds as the world teeters on the edge of chaos.

There are definitely some fun moments such as the network of servants and household staff around the world that share information, feeding Polly (Arterton, who may be having the most fun), who synthesizes the information for Orlando. But they are overshadowed by the over-the-top antics of Rasputin (Rhys Ifans) and a collection of cardboard villains led by The Shepherd. a shadowy figure who is anything but menacing. (And sharp-eyed viewers will figure out his identity.) The notion that Mata Hari (Valerie Pachner) seduced Woodrow Wilson for the Shepherd to blackmail is an absurdity.

The action is fine as it is but doesn’t get the heart stirring. The characters are predictable and two-dimensional and newcomer Dickinson can’t keep up with the stellar cast, which also includes Charles Dance, Matthew Goode, and Daniel Brühl. Vaughn and co-writer Karl Gajdusek are at fault here. Vaughn’s direction is fine but not enough given the weak material he created.

The film is out in the usual formats including the sturdy Blu-ray/DVD/Digital HD Combo Pack. The 1080p transfer is perfectly fine for home viewing in 2.39:1. The DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 is excellent.

There are a handful of perfunctory Special Features including Recreating the Trenches (2:17); A Generation Lost (11:22); Oxfords and Rogues (18:33); All the World’s a Stage (26:41); Instruments of War (17:01); Fortune Favors the Bold (11:46); and Long Live the Kingsman (4:11).

REVIEW: The 355

REVIEW: The 355

Students of history know that 355 was the code name assigned to a woman who spied on behalf of George Washington, during the war for independence. We never learned who she was and the digits have been immortalized in pop culture ever since. Most recently, it was appended to the female empowerment action film The 355 , out now on disc from Universal Home Entertainment.

The brainchild of star Jessica Chastain , she pitched it to Simon Kingberg as they were shooting X-Men: Dark Phoenix and it should have been out in 2021, but you know, Covid-19. The movie is overall an entertaining enough experience but its overall laziness in design and execution makes it a lesser effort.

While it’s nice to see operatives from CIA, MI6, Germany’s BND, China’s Ministry of State Security, and Colombia’s National Intelligence Directorateavoid political considerations to band together, the film also takes a very cynical approach to their efforts. We have several members of these agencies betray their principles and oaths , endangering the entire world. The MacGuffin in this case is a hard drive containing a one-of-a-kind piece of software that can pierce any firewall and seize control of nuclear missiles, electric grids, etc.

We have CIA agent Mason “Mace” Brown (Chastain) betrayed by her best friend and new lover, Nick (Sebastian Stan), which means the harddrive is in play. Mace crosses paths with German agent Marie Schmidt (Diane Kruger) who are rivals who beat one another until they find common cause. NID’s Luis Rojas (Édgar Ramírez) seems to have taken for himself, which means psychologist Graciela (Penélope Cruz) is sent into the field for the first time to retrieve it. When it goes into the wild, Mace recruits MI6’s Khadijah Adiyeme (Lupita Nyong’o), now out of the game, to aid her since she understands the enormity of the threat.

In time, they form bonds and kick ass. The MacGuffin continues to move from hand to hand, country to country until it is in Shanghai, up for auction which brings in Lin Mi Sheng (Bingbing Fan). Then things continue to unravel and go boom.

What’s missing here is a true sense of surprise. The agents are types, not characters, their dialogue and personality quirks perfunctory rather than refreshing. Kingberg cowrote this lackluster script with Theresa Rebeck and they seemed to be filling out a Bingo card.

Don’t get me wrong, the action is swell and the set pieces are well worth watching, with the leading ladies doing most of their own stunts, but after a while, it feels tired. Details are missing, questions at the end are left unanswered and the denouement is dissatisfying. Worst of all, they never connect the title to the team of women.

The film is out in the usual packages including the trusty Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD Combo Pack. The movies looks great, the 1080p transfer nicely capturing the colors and details. The lossless Dolby Digital audio track does a fine job capturing the explosions, dialogue, and score.

The film’s special features include two Deleted Scenes (6:19); Chasing Through Paris (4:57); Action That Hurts (5:26); Reconstructing Marrakesh (5:33); Chaos at the City of Dreams (3:50). Two VFX Breakdowns (2:12, 2:43).

Good Night, Hem by Jason

Good Night, Hem by Jason

I had the wrong idea about this book. I feel like I say that a lot in this blog, but why not say it if it’s true? We all come into new experiences with expectations and ideas, and we’re all wrong a lot of the time. There’s no shame in saying so.

I expected Good Night, Hem  to be a standalone graphic novel about Ernest Hemingway. Since it’s by the Norwegian cartoonist Jason, I thought there might be a genre element of some kind, or that it might be told slyly in some other way: I didn’t expect a straightforward biographical story.

I wasn’t far wrong, but I’d forgotten that Jason had already written about Hemingway and his Paris circle of the 1920s in The Left Bank Gang – well, sort-of, since those characters had the names of the Lost Generation circle but were comics creators planning a bank robbery. And I didn’t know that Good Night, Hem is also a sequel to The Last Musketeer [1], since Athos is a major character here.

So, to sum up: Good Night, Hem is not really a sequel to the previous Jason book in which “Ernest Hemingway” appeared, but it is a sequel to a completely different Jason book that was not about Hemingway. This is par for the course for Jason: you don’t go to his books for straightforward and obvious.

Oh, one other thing: it’s not a single narrative , but three loosely linked shorter stories: one in Paris and Spain in 1925, when Hemingway is inspired to write The Sun Also Rises; one in Paris and other points in 1944, where Hemingway is inspired to lead a group of young Frenchmen (are they supposed to be writers? I’m not sure) to train, airdrop into Berlin, and capture Hitler to end the war early; and a short coda set in Cuba in 1959, where Hemingway muses on Athos, their combined histories, and life in general.

So it is largely about Athos, in a sideways, Jason fashion. Hemingway is the focal character, but Athos is more interesting and harder to understand – the story is told from Hemingway’s viewpoint, but it’s largely about Athos (except that odd middle section).

I also think Jason’s books have gotten less dense recently: he switched from a mostly nine-panel grid to a four-panel grid, so each page has bigger, more open panels with less action and dialogue. On the other hand, I don’t have the books in front of me to check, but I also think his recent books are longer – so I may be saying they have about the same amount of action, but spread out onto more pages, so it feels longer and more relaxed.

What happens? Well, the first section is pretty straightforward and relatively close to history, only with the addition of an immortal musketeer in the group going to Pamplona: it’s focused, like Sun itself, on the sexual tensions within the group, and adds to them by having Athos and Hemingway be essentially doppelgangers. (Not that Jason has that many character types to begin with, so this may be lampshading in his part.)

The second section is an old-fashioned nutty Jason story, along the lines of I Killed Adolph Hitler, in which completely crazy, impossible things are presented straightforwardly and just happen anyway.

And the ending is, again, more of a coda, summing up Hemingway’s view of Athos and cataloging all of their interactions. (He also inspired The Old Man and the Sea!)

I didn’t think this completely came together as one thing – the middle section is too different in tone, style, and concerns – but all of the pieces are good, and all show Jason doing good work in his mature style. I wouldn’t pick this up as a first Jason book – Hitler or the newer Lost Cat or maybe Werewolves of Montpelier are better choices to start – but it’s a fine continuation.

[1] No good link for that book: it was the first Jason book I read, in March of 2009 when I was an Eisner judge, so I stuck it in the middle of a massive post covering the 94 books I read that month.

Reposted from The Antick Musings of G.B.H. Hornswoggler, Gent.

The 355 Disc Details Declassified

The 355 Disc Details Declassified

SYNOPSIS:
When a top-secret weapon falls into mercenary hands , wild-card CIA agent Mason “Mace” Brown (Jessica Chastain) joins forces with rival German agent Marie (Diane Kruger), former MI6 ally and cutting-edge computer specialist Khadijah (Lupita Nyong’o), and skilled Colombian psychologist Graciela (Penélope Cruz) on a lethal mission to retrieve it. The unlikely team must also stay one step ahead of a mysterious woman, Lin Mi Sheng (Bingbing Fan), who is tracking their every move as the action rockets across the globe.

BONUS FEATURES on BLU-RAYTM, DVD AND DIGITAL:

  • DELETED SCENES
  • CHASING THROUGH PARIS – Cast and filmmakers discuss the first day of shooting on THE 355 and how the choreographed chase sequence through the Parisian arcade set the tone for the entire production.
  • ACTION THAT HURTS – A behind-the-scenes look at the stunts featured in the film’s centerpiece action sequence.
  • RECONSTRUCTING MARRAKESH – From footage of construction to a set tour with Production Designer Simon Elliott, we’ll come to understand why the cast was so blown away by the accuracy of the Moroccan set.
  • CHAOS AT THE CITY OF DREAMS – Cast and filmmakers deconstruct the film’s final set piece, from exploding ceilings to major shoot-outs, to the ultimate show-down fight between Jessica Chastian’s and Sebastian Stan’s characters.
  • VFX BREAKDOWNS

THE 355WILL BE AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY™, DVD AND DIGITAL.

  • Blu-ray™ unleashes the power of your HDTV and is the best way to watch movies at home, featuring 6X the picture resolution of DVD, exclusive extras and theater-quality surround sound.
  • Digital lets fans watch movies anywhere on their favorite devices. Users can instantly buy or rent.
  • The Movies Anywhere Digital App simplifies and enhances the digital movie collection and viewing experience by allowing consumers to access their favorite digital movies in one place when purchased or redeemed through participating digital retailers. Consumers can also redeem digital copy codes found in eligible Blu-ray™ and DVD disc packages from participating studios and stream or download them through Movies Anywhere.  Movies Anywhere is available only in the United States.  
  • FILMMAKERS:
  • Film By: Simon Kinberg
  • Cast: Jessica Chastain, Penélope Cruz, Binbing Fan, Diane Kruger, Lupita Nyong’o, with Édgar Ramirez and Sebastian Stan
  • Casting By: Avy Kaufman
  • Music By: Tom Holkenborg
  • Costume Designer: Stephanie Collie
  • Production Designer: Simon Elliott
  • Editors: Lee Smith ACE, John Gilbert ACE
  • Director of Photography: Tim Maurice-Jones BSC
  • Executive Producers: Esmond Ren, Wang Rui Huan, Richard Hewitt
  • Produced By: Jessica Chastain, Kelly Carmichael, Simon Kinberg
  • Story By: Theresa Rebeck
  • Screenplay By: Theresa Rebeck and Simon Kinberg
  • Directed By: Simon Kinberg
  • TECHNICAL INFORMATION BD:
  • Street Date: February 22, 2022
  • Selection Number: 1961213470 (US) / 1000810583 (CDN)
  • Layers: BD 50
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9 2.39:1 Widescreen
  • Rating: PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, brief strong language, and suggestive material.
  • Languages/Sound: English (DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Bonus Content Dolby Digital 2.0) and French Canadian (DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1)
  • Subtitles: English, French Canadian, Latin American Spanish
  • Run Time: 02:02:24
  • TECHNICAL INFORMATION DVD:
  • Street Date: February 22, 2022
  • Selection Number: 1961213469 (US) / 1000810582 (CDN)
  • Layers: DVD 9
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9 2.39:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
  • Rating: PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, brief strong language , and suggestive material.
  • Languages/Sound: English (Dolby Digital 5.1, Bonus Content Dolby Digital 2.0), French Canadian (Dolby Digital 5.1)
  • Subtitles: English, French Canadian, Latin American Spanish
  • Run Time: 02:02:31
Monsters by Barry Windsor-Smith

Monsters by Barry Windsor-Smith

I cannot prove that this book originated as a story pitch for The Incredible Hulk, sometime in the dim misty past. But I fervently believe it, and that’s what matters in the world today, right?

Monsters  is a massive graphic novel written and illustrated by Barry Windsor-Smith; he apparently has been working on it, off and on, for thirty-five years. (I didn’t hear a word about it until it was published; I’m not clear if he worked on it quietly the whole time or if he had mentioned it and I just never heard.) It aims to be a serious book , but it has an inherent pulpiness that drags it back down over and over again, and a loose-limbed structure that introduces its own issues.

For most potential readers, the big point is that it contains over three hundred and sixty pages of BWS art, some of those among the best in his career. It’s all also entirely in his mature style; there’s no visual indication in this book that it took four decades to make. So this is a visually stunning book: BWS has been a great craftsman of comics pages for about fifty years now (counting from his game-changing stint on Conan), and this is a major, major milestone in any appreciation or evaluation of his career.

The story though, does feel like a lightly warmed-over Hulk story. There’s a monster: gigantic, almost indestructible, mentally tormented, uncommunicative. There are evil scientists (some of them, inevitably, Nazis) and almost-as-evil military types. There’s abuse from a father in the past. There’s an escape, under gunfire, from a military base, the monster hiding out with a helper in an isolated house with military choppers angrily buzzing overhead, and a shoved-in “power of public opinion” moment that nearly gets lost.

There’s also a major thread about supernatural powers, which are not terribly well defined and seem to be able to do whatever the story needs them to do. (Not to save their owners from death, admittedly, but being dead doesn’t slow possessors of “the shine” anyway.)

It’s all told in more-or-less straightforward comics, but it’s not particularly well-structured for the length. All of these pages, all of these moments, could have formed a stronger story if corralled somewhat more tightly, reorganized a bit, and if BWS or an editor had imposed a stronger structure on the story. (This, though, would have meant redrawing or reworking some number of pages – probably including some from thirty years before. That may have not been plausible.)

Instead, the story meanders, telling us one thing and then another, adding layers and depths as it goes – but in a fashion that leads this reader to suspect it happened as BWS worked on the pages, and that he didn’t go back to integrate his new ideas into old pages. One particularly egregious example: one character barges in , declaring that he’s the Governor of this state, and is accepted as such….but he admits, a hundred pages later, that he was just pretending. Now, in this world, the Governor of a state is a public figure, and everyone knows who that guy is. So this is just not a ruse that can actually work.

The Nazi, who is basically the main villain, is unavailable for the big ending, so he gets understudied by a military guy – who, humorously to me, is actually named Ross, as if that was the only word remaining from the Hulk pitch.

It’s all set in the late ’40s (mostly 1949) and 1964-65, but only the furniture (cars, hairstyles, WWII uniforms) makes it feel like a period story. I suspect there are multiple expressions used in dialog that are anachronistic; this feels like a contemporary story told in a different time to make the Nazi/WWII connection make sense.

All in all, this has pretty much exactly the strengths and weaknesses of a book that a respected but idiosyncratic creator worked on quietly and alone for decades: it looks great, it has a lot of good ideas and moments, the characterization is excellent. But it’s also lumpy, with a structure that feels like a sequence of pages in the order that the creator thought of them rather than the order that would best serve the story, and later revelations that are not adequately set up. It’s good, but you can see the better book that it should have been.

Reposted from The Antick Musings of G.B.H. Hornswoggler, Gent.

Legendary Heavy Metal Movie Comes to 4K Ultra HD in April

Legendary Heavy Metal Movie Comes to 4K Ultra HD in April

HEAVY METAL SYNOPSIS
Based on the fantastical illustrated magazine HEAVY METAL, producer Ivan Reitman enlists the help of some of Hollywood’s animation masters to create the otherworldly tale of a glowing green orb from outer space that spreads destruction throughout the galaxy. Only when encountered by its one true enemy , to whom it is inexplicably drawn, will goodness prevail throughout the universe. Richly and lavishly drawn, the vignettes of the orb’s dark victories include the character voices of John Candy, Harold Ramis and a pounding soundtrack by Black Sabbath, Blue Öyster Cult, Cheap Trick, Devo, Donald Fagen, Don Felder, Grand Funk Railroad, Sammy Hagar, Journey, Nazareth, Stevie Nicks, Riggs, and Trust. Highly imaginative and full of surprising special effects, HEAVY METAL set the standard for alternative contemporary animation. An intoxicating experience not to be missed!
DISC DETAILS & BONUS MATERIALS
Presented within a limited edition SteelBook, including HEAVY METAL on 4K Ultra HD disc and Blu-ray, plus the exclusive Blu-ray debut of HEAVY METAL 2000.

HEAVY METAL 4K ULTRA HD DISC
Feature presented in 4K resolution with Dolby Vision, reviewed and approved by Ivan Reitman
New 2022 Dolby Atmos soundtrack – a brand-new immersive experience utilizing enhanced sound effects and much more, supervised by producer Ivan Reitman!
Also includes the 2022 mix in 5.1, and the original 1981 theatrical Dolby Stereo audio
Special Feature:
NEW: Heavy Metal: A Look Back – an all-new retrospective featuring re­flections from producer Ivan Reitman , famous fans Kevin Smith, Norman Reedus, and more!
HEAVY METAL BLU-RAY DISC™
Feature presented in High Definition with 5.1 audio
Special Features:
Original Feature-Length Rough Cut with Optional Commentary by Carl Macek
Imagining Heavy Metal Documentary
Deleted Scene
Alternate Framing Story with Commentary
HEAVY METAL 2000 BLU-RAY DISC™
Feature presented in High Definition (newly remastered), with 5.1 audio
Special Features:
Julie Strain: Super Goddess
Voice Talent
Animation Tests
Animatic Comparisons
HEAVY METAL CREDITS
Directed By: Gerald Potterton
Produced by: Ivan Reitman
Screenplay by: Dan Goldberg & Len Blum
Based on Original Art and Stories by: Richard Corben, Angus McKie, Dan O’Bannon, Thomas Warkentin and Bernie Wrightson
Executive Producers: Leonard Mogel

HEAVY METAL SPECS
Run Time: Approx. 90 minutes
Rating: R
4K UHD Feature Picture: 2160p Ultra High Definition, 1.85:1
4K UHD Feature Audio: English Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Compatible) | English 5.1 DTS-HD MA | English Stereo Surround DTS-HD MA

Holy Crossover! Teen Titans Go and DC Super Hero Girls Team-Up

Holy Crossover! Teen Titans Go and DC Super Hero Girls Team-Up

BURBANK, CA (February 14, 2022)—WarnerMedia Kids & Family announced today exciting news surrounding the hit Teen Titans Go! franchise.To kickstart a super-powered summer, the Teen Titans and DC Super Hero Girls will reunite during Memorial Day weekend to combat Lex Luthor and his unified gang of DC Super-Villains in Teen Titans Go! & DC Super Hero Girls: Mayhem in the Multiverse. The all-new, feature-length animated TV movie event from Warner Bros. Animation promises action, adventure, plenty of hilarious moments and will be available from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on Blu-ray Combo Pack (USA $24.98 SRP; Canada $29.98 SRP), DVD (USA $19.98 SRP; Canada $24.98 SRP) and Digital starting May 24 , 2022. Fans can also catch the movie event on Cartoon Network premiering Saturday, May 28 and then on HBO Max beginning June 28.

Also announced today, Cartoon Network has picked up another season of Teen Titans Go! from Warner Bros. Animation. Season eight will premiere later this year and will continue expanding the Teen Titans universe, debuting new characters from the DC Universe including Beard Hunter, King Shark and many more as well as welcoming new surprise celebrity guests. As the longest running animated series in DC history, season eight will also mark the series reaching the 400th episode milestone.

“The undeniable success of Teen Titans Go! , with its signature blend of action and subversive Super Hero humor, is a testament to the phenomenal work of executive producer Pete Michail and the show team,” said Sam Register,  President, Warner Bros. Animation and Cartoon Network Studios. “Seven seasons, one theatrical feature film, multiple specials, celebrity cameos, and no end in sight, this show has carved out its own lane in the acclaimed legacy established by the original Teen Titans animated series.”

More about Teen Titans Go! & DC Super Hero Girls: Mayhem in the Multiverse:

With the help of an ancient Kryptonian power, Lex Luthor unites the world’s Super-Villains to capture all of Earth’s Super Heroes, until … only the DC Super Hero Girls are left to stop the Legion of Doom. Our heroes must cross dimensions to rescue their fellow Super Heroes from the Phantom Zone, but a fortuitous wrong turn leads them to Titans Tower – where they find much-needed allies in the Teen Titans. The young Super Heroes discover their combined strength – and usual comic relief – are essential to save the day in this blockbuster event! 

Episodes of Teen Titans Go! and DC Super Hero Girls will be included as bonus content on the Blu-ray and DVD.

The cast of Teen Titans Go! & DC Super Hero Girls: Mayhem in the Multiverse features a Who’s Who of the voice acting community, including Kimberly Brooks (He-Man and the Masters of the Universe) as Bumblebee, Greg Cipes (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) as Beast Boy, Keith Ferguson (Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends) as Batman, Will Friedle (Batman Beyond, Kim Possible) as Lex Luthor & Aquaman, Grey Griffin (Scooby-Doo franchise) as Wonder Woman, Young Diana, & Giganta, Phil LaMarr (Samurai Jack) as The Flash, Hawkman, Green Lantern/John Stewart, Scott Menville (Stretch Armstrong & the Flex Fighters) as Robin, Max Mittleman (ThunderCats Roar) as Superman, Jessica McKenna (Star Trek: Lower Decks) as Aqualad, Khary Payton (The Walking Dead) as Cyborg, Alexander Polinsky (Blaze and the Monster Machines, Charles in Charge) as Control Freak, Missi Pyle (Galaxy Quest, Gone Girl) as Cythonna & Speaker of Nations, Tara Strong (Loki, Ben 10, Unikitty!) as Raven & Harley Quinn, Nicole Sullivan (Family Guy, Black-ish) as Supergirl, Cree Summer (Rugrats, Better Things) as Catwoman & Hippolyta , Fred Tatasciore (Family Guy) as Jor El & Solomon Grundy, Myrna Velasco (Star Wars: Resistance) as Green Lantern Jessica Cruz, Kari Wahlgren (Rick and Morty) as Star Sapphire & Zatanna, and Hynden Walch (Groundhog Day) as Starfire.

Teen Titans Go! & DC Super Hero Girls: Mayhem in the Multiverse is directed by Matt Peters (Injustice, Justice League Dark: Apokolips War) and Katie Rice (Animaniacs) from a script by Jase Ricci (Tangled: The Series). Producers are Jeff Curtis and James Ricci. Supervising Producer is James Tucker (The Death and Return of Superman). Executive Producer is Sam Register.

Teen Titans Go! & DC Super Hero Girls: Mayhem in the Multiverse – Special Features

Blu-ray Combo Pack and DVD

From the DC Vault:

  • Teen Titans Go!: Season 2: Operation Tin Man
  • Teen Titans Go!: Season 4: Titan Saving Time
  • DC Super Hero Girls: Season 2: #SmallVictories
Patience by Daniel Clowes

Patience by Daniel Clowes

It’s never a good thing to realize, halfway through, that you’ve read a book before. Especially when you’ve just bought a shiny new copy, and the realization includes the fact that another copy – just as shiny, also bought new – is probably on a shelf upstairs in your house. (I haven’t looked yet; maybe it isn’t. Maybe I read it from a library the first time?)

You see, if you read a book again on purpose, that’s fine: it means you remember it, and want to experience it again. And reading a new book is obviously normal. But thinking it’s new to you when it isn’t – that’s not a good experience.

So I re-read Patience  yesterday (as I write this). It was the 2016 graphic novel from Daniel Clowes, and is still his most recent book. I read it for the first time in 2017, and let me take a second to re-read what I wrote about it then.

OK, I agree with all of that. Clearly I didn’t remember it deeply, and I trusted my Books Wanted list more than I should have, but it’s a solid Clowes story , very much in his usual style and manner. For all of Clowes’s characters’ histrionics , I find I don’t really engage emotionally with them: they are very emotional people who Clowes often seems to be examining like a scientist with a bug.

That may be one reason why I don’t remember Clowes stories viscerally: they’re all distanced to begin with. The Clowes affect subliminally says “these people are damaged and wrong in various ways; pay attention to them but don’t care about them.” I doubt Clowes intends this affect for Patience, but it’s so ingrained into how I read his work, so tied to his art style and method of viewing characters, that he’d need to change a lot to break that habit. And I suspect I’m not alone in this.

Anyway, Patience is a good Clowes book that didn’t impress itself strongly in my memory. Everything I said in my old post is still how I’d characterize it as a story. I have no new insights to impart. Come back tomorrow; with luck, I’ll have a read a book for the first time and have something interesting to say about it.

Reposted from The Antick Musings of G.B.H. Hornswoggler, Gent.

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