Coming Soon: The Lorax

From the creators of Despicable Me and the imagination of Dr. Seuss comes the much anticipated feature Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, a 3D-CG adaptation of the classic tale of a forest guardian who shares the enduring power of hope.  The animated adventure follows the journey of a 12-year-old as he searches for a real Truffula Tree, the one thing that will enable him to win the affection of the girl of his dreams.  To get it he must find the story of the Lorax, the acerbic yet charming character who fights to protect his world.

Lending their vocal talents to the project are Danny DeVito as the iconic title character of the Lorax and Ed Helms as the enigmatic Once-ler.  Also bringing their voices to the adventure are global superstars Zac Efron as Ted, the idealistic youth who searches for the Lorax, and Grammy Award winner Taylor Swift as Audrey, the girl of Ted’s dreams.  Rounding out the cast are Rob Riggle as the villain O’Hare, Jenny Slate as Ted’s protective mother and beloved actress Betty White as Ted’s wise Grammy Norma.

Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax is the third feature created by Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment (Despicable Me, Hop).  www.theloraxmovie.com

Yamada's First Time Blu-ray/DVD Now Available!

OMG! There's this girl at school, Yamada, who wants to make like a hundred sex friends. She totally thinks she can devirginize one hundred different boys! Can you believe that? That's like every boy in the school. Who does she think she is? I heard that Yamada's never even been kissed. Oh. My. God. I would totally die. That's like burn all your makeup and shave off your eyebrows embarrassing. I can't even think about it. Today at lunch I saw Yamada flirting, like for reals, with that geek Kosuda. You know the guy. Photography club, no muscles, boring face, reminds you of a black-and-white movie. Super lame. If Yamada can't even make the sex with him, she'll never score a hundred cherry boys. She needs to take like Sex Ed or something because I heard she can't give it away!

After Dark Originals 2 Announced - DARK CIRCLES

First came 8 FILMS TO DIE FOR, then AFTER DARK ORIGINALS, now the #1 Horror Brand in the World is proud to announce the second installment in the AFTER DARK ORIGINALS series (ADO2), and it’s first film from this series, DARK CIRCLES.

After Dark Films kicks off After Dark Originals 2 with its first chilling feature of the new series that will send shivers down your spine. DARK CIRCLES, written and directed by Writer-Director Paul Soter (of Broken Lizard infamy, the team behind CLUB DREAD, SUPER TROOPERS and BEERFEST) and starring Pell James (The Lincoln Lawyer) and Johnathon Schaech (That Thing You Do), will have its blood-curdling theatrical release in 2012.

Synopsis:
When new parents Alex and Penny retreat from the city and move into a place outside town, the stress and massive sleep-deprivation caused by their infant has both of them seeing things in the house that may or may not exist. Persistent sightings of a strange woman has each of them wondering if they are suffering from hallucinations, or if their new home holds a dark, supernatural presence. As their fragile grasp on reality spirals into delirium, Alex and Penny find themselves nearly helpless to deal with the horrific truth of what is really going in this house.

“Hopefully this will serve as some kind of cinematic equivalent of birth control.”

-Paul Soter, Writer/Director of Dark Circles

Image Comic Expo- Celebrating 20 Years of Comics

It's hard to believe that Image Comics have been around for twenty years. I clearly remember going to the comic shop in high school and buying everything Image released. At that time it was books like Spawn, Youngblood, The Maxx and Gen13. Image is celebrating by putting on THE comics event in the Bay Area on February 24-26 at the Oakland Convention Center.

From the official site:
IMAGE COMIC EXPO is a three-day celebration of creator-owned comics happening at the Oakland Convention Center. Image partners Robert Kirkman, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri, and Jim Valentino, will be the guests of honor, appearing throughout the weekend for signings, panels, and special events. Other special guests include Image founders Rob Liefeld, and Whilce Portacio, plus the creators of today’s best creator-owned comics, including: Joe Casey, Jay Faerber, Jonathan Hickman, Richard Starkings, Fiona Staples, and Brian K. Vaughan.

The event promises over one hundred exhibitors, workshops, signings, an artist alley and guests like Blair Butler, Matt Wagner and Ryan Ottley. With WonderCon heading south for the 2012 convention season, this is the event for Bay Area comic fans that can't make the trip. Go, support and help Image celebrate 20 years of entertainment!

Zombie Boot Camp

RAM Training LTD is a UK-based company in Worcestershire that offers a SWAT training activity day. According to the website you will:

Train as a member of an elite special forces SWAT team. Play it for real learn the skills needed to find, fix and destroy a determined enemy.

Use a variety of weapons to execute the mission: Pistol, assault rifle and the pump action shot gun.

Get equipped in the latest Kevlar helmet and ballistic body armor.

Work as a team to clear a terrorist bomb making factory or rescue a colleague in our purpose designed killing house.

This is not paint ball this is truly the most realistic, awesome first person shoot ‘em’ up scenario activity in the world.

If that doesn't sound cool enough, they offer a "Zombie Boot Camp." 

From the website itinerary:

Yes you will be fighting live Zombies. You will have to put what you have learned to the test. To wipe out a live Zombie you will have to shoot them in the head. Don’t worry the Zombies are well protected and will react accurately to you shooting them. However be aware they will attack you and attempt to wipe you out. Poor drills and bad shooting will result in your death or contamination. You have been warned!

Click the link for more info ==> RAM Training LTD

Godzilla Gets The Criterion Treatment

"H-E-L-L YEAH!!!" Those were my exact words when I got the news that Godzilla would be stomping his way onto Criterion's blu-ray line on January 24th. I'm a big fan of bonus materials and Criterion usually goes above and beyond when it comes to extra content. Godzilla is no exception:

 New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition

Audio commentary by David Kalat (A Critical History and Filmography of Toho’s Godzilla Series)

New high-definition digital restoration of Godzilla: King of the Monsters!, Terry Morse’s 1956 reworking of the original, starring Raymond Burr

Audio commentary for Godzilla: King of the Monsters! by Kalat

New interviews with actor Akira Takarada (Hideto Ogata), Godzilla performer Haruo Nakajima, and effects technicians Yoshio Irie and Eizo Kaimai Interview with legendary Godzilla score composer Akira Ifukube

Featurette detailing Godzilla’s photographic effects

New interview with Japanese-film critic Tadao Sato

The Unluckiest Dragon, an illustrated audio essay featuring historian Greg Pflugfelder describing the tragic fate of the fishing vessel Daigo fukuryu maru, a real-life event that inspired Godzilla

Theatrical trailers

New and improved English subtitle translation

PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic J. Hoberman

The Blu-ray is up for pre-order now at amazon.com

Classic Who On Blu

I love me some Blu-ray. I LOVE me some Doctor Who. To date the only Who to be released on the format are the Tennant specials, A Christmas Carol (with "The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe" coming soon) and Series Five and Six. Also available are all four seasons of Torchwood (Miracle Day is available for import from the UK) and The Sarah Jane Adventures Series Four, also available from the UK  (Series Five follows in February).

If you're like me and itching to see some of the classic stories on Blu-ray, you're in luck! I just got my copy of The Sarah Jane Adventures Series Four and one of the bonus features is "Doctor Who Pyramids of Mars: Parts One-Four. In tribute to Elisabeth Sladen." It's a nice bonus feature for both older and newer fans of Doctor Who. For older fans it's a chance to reminisce and appreciate the hours of entertainment, hard work and great memories Sladen gave us. For newer fans and the younger set, it exposes them to a Doctor other than Eccleston, Tennant and Smith (if they haven't been already). This alone makes it worth the purchase!

Synopsis: The TARDIS materialises on Earth in the year 1911 inside an old priory owned by Egyptologist Marcus Scarman. Scarman has been possessed by Sutekh, last survivor of the god-like Osirans, who held prisoner inside a pyramid in Egypt by a signal trasnmitted from one on Mars. Sutekh desires his freedom and instructs Scarman to construct servicer robots - which look like Eygptian mummies - to build a missile with which to destroy the Martian pyramid …

The Sarah Jane Adventures Series Four is available for import from Amazon.co.uk for about $25.00 shipped!