Movies/TV

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At WonderCon 2009, Warner Home Video announed Green Lantern: First Flight as the fifth DC Universe full length animated film.  Set to release on July 28th on DVD and Blu-Ray, Green Lantern: First Flight will feature Christopher Meloni (Law & Order: SVU) as Hal Jordan, Victor Garber (Milk) as Sinestro, Michael Madson (Reservoir Dogs) as Kilowog, and Battlestar Galactica's Tricia Helfer as Boodikka.

For full details, check the official press release, below.

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To be warned, spoilers be here.

Just about one year ago, the NBC aired a TV movie meant to revive a franchise.  After 25 years, Knight Rider was coming back to television.

This was not the first time a revival was attempted.  What the prior attempts failed to do was really integrate with the original series.  The creators of this version went out of their way to include the elements that made up that world: Knight Industries, F.L.a.G., and of course, K.I.T.T.

The series had a fatal flaw, however.  Back in our Epsiode 27, I mentioned my one great fear for the show.  I did not want to see an international spy action show.  Knight Rider was never about fighting global terrorism, international espionage, or getting the girl (ok, it was that last one now and then).  It was built on one premise, “One man can make a difference.”

 

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***Spoilers***

Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow is the latest direct-to-video animated film by Lions Gate Entertainment and is the fifth in a series of animated films based on Marvel Comics. It is the first of the Marvel animated films to be rated PG as opposed to PG-13.

Next Avengers is set in an alternate future and features the Avengers' teenage children, an elderly Tony Stark, The Vision, and an elderly Bruce Banner.

After five of the eight active Avengers die facing the enemy Ultron, Tony Stark takes their children - James Rogers, son of Black Widow and Captain America; Pym, son of Giant-Man and the Wasp; Azari, son of the Black Panther; and Torunn, daughter of the absent Avenger Thor - to a refuge hidden in the Arctic Circle. He raises them for nearly thirteen years before Ultron discovers their existence. When the Vision emerges after a 13-year absence and reveals that he survived the attack from Ultron, Stark learns that Francis Barton, son of Hawkeye, is also alive. Unfortunately, while the kids are spying on Stark, trying to figure out who the Vision is and what's going on, they accidentally set off the launch of a series of robots designed in the Avengers' image. As a result, Stark's base is revealed to Ultron. Fortunately, Stark stalls Ultron long enough for the kids to escape, but he is ultimately captured.

Heading to rescue Stark, the four young Avengers meet Barton (whose father survived the initial fight that killed the other five, but was recently killed by Ultron), and team up with him to rescue their guardian. The six then escape Ultron's citadel, and head for the desert, to seek help from former Avenger Bruce Banner, alias the Hulk.

What surprised me about Next Avengers right off the bat is how much I enjoyed it. The last animated movie I’ve seen was of course The Clone Wars so going into Next Avengers knowing it was based around the kids of former Avengers I had very low expectations. Since most of the promo artwork and design was more reminiscent of Teen Titans than any of the other Lions Gate Marvel animated movies I did not expect much of this one.

Yet despite what this may look like on the outside the story is not just kiddy flair. While this can easily be converted into a weekly kids cartoon featuring the further adventures and exploits of the Next Avengers this story is more about Tony Stark than the kids. First and foremost Tony Stark I don’t believe would be anyone’s first choice to be guardian for their children, yet here we find Stark taking care of not one but four young children. Later we find out that not only has he taken these children in but he is also solely responsible for creating Ultron therefore also responsible for the deaths of the children’s parents and the demise of The Avengers. While there is not a complex struggle between Stark and the children for what has happened you get what this has done to Stark and how he has had to change to cope with it. One of the best scenes in the movie is when Stark asks Barton to help him and Barton say in anger “do you know what my father would do to you” and Stark replies, “Yes, he would punch me in the face, and then he would help me”, Barton replies back with a great understanding “wow, you really did know my father”. It’s the little bits of the movie like that that make it much more than just a kid’s movie. Add to that the struggle for James Rodgers to become a leader like his father and the struggles Torunn has between her real family and the family she belongs to and finally add in the humor of Pym and you have a group of super heroes I’d be glad to join up with each weekend.

The inclusion of the Hulk and Betty Ross also fits the movie nicely, we find Bruce Banner as an aging old man hiding in the desert still struggling with The Hulk and Betty Ross still finding love and creating comfort for both Bruce and The Hulk. Hulk is a character that could have been thrown in for cheap thrills but it fits the storyline completely.

I don’t suppose it’s any big surprise that we find both Iron Man and Hulk in Next Avengers seeing as they headed up two of the biggest blockbuster movies for Marvel this summer but I enjoyed seeing both in this movie very much. Iron Man does make an appearance early on but the focus remains on Stark throughout and we are left with our new heroes to save the day in the end.

The artwork and animation is on par with the other Lions Gate Marvel movies which is to say it’s pretty darn good for a direct to DVD movie, voice acting is pretty spot on and as I said the story and writing feels good for this type of movie. You never feel like you’re watching a kid’s movie instead it feels like a continuing story in the Marvel Universe as it should be.

It’s always interesting to read and watch stories that tell of a time when our heroes would fall and what the time after them would be like. I’m happy to say that Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow fits that bill and is an enjoyable ride not only for the kids but the adults as well!

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So last week I came up with this crazy idea that I was going to watch the Star Trek movies. This came about as I was browsing the movie channels for movies to record and came across Star Trek Insurrection. Now of course I can't just hop in the middle of something (or in this case the end) so I decided to get the other nine movies. Again I could just have borrowed these movies from Logan but buying them was much more inviting for me! So off to Amazon.com I went and found them at a rather great price for ten movies, heck Logan told me he paid $15 - $20 apiece when they were first released!

So here I am with ten movies on my desk to watch, all two disk special editions and its very daunting to me, especially since I didn’t like Star Trek: The Motion Picture the first time around. Yet it doesn't stop there because this time I'm going to watch the first episode of Star Trek before anything else ala Xbox Live Marketplace!

I guess I'm a little bit more interested this time around what with the new movie coming out next year and all, here's hoping!

Beam me up Scotty!