Scooby-Doo and KISS: Rock and Roll Mystery teams up two cartoony favorites. Reportedly, the makers aimed for “crazy-wacky”, and I feel like they made it. The KISS World amusement park, which proclaims them “hottest band in the land”, is haunted by the Crimson Witch. She’s attacking riders of the attractions and trying to shut down the park. She’s come from another dimension to take the Detroit Rock and summon the Destroyer. She also dresses like a refugee from a heavy-metal […]

Pixels is exactly what it promises: a movie where video games have come to life, and Adam Sandler and friends, former arcade champions, are the only ones who can save the Earth. In other words, it’s dumb summer fun, something to goggle at while sitting in a dark, air-conditioned theater. I’ve put the trailer at the bottom of this post, but I think it gives away too many of the cool effects and plot points, such as they are. (The […]

I was really intrigued by the premise of While We’re Young, about a childless couple (Ben Stiller, Naomi Watts) in their 40s who start hanging out with a couple (Amanda Seyfried, Adam Driver) in their 20s. I could emphasize with the situation, where the couples your own age are most excited about their kids, so if you want to do other things, you wind up with younger people who haven’t “settled down” yet, those who have more time and interests. […]

I got a chance to watch the Sequart documentary She Makes Comics, which covers “the history of women in comics as creators, fans, and everything in between.” The movie is available from that link as a DVD or digital download. (Update: See end of post for updated ways to see the movie.) From the start, it’s a jolt, a shot in the arm full of passion and enthusiasm as women talk about why they love and make comics. Simply seeing […]

A product of love, and a couple of Kickstarters, Stripped is required viewing for anyone interested in comic strips and/or webcomics, since the makers (Dave Kellett, author of the webcomic Sheldon, and Fred Schroeder) managed to get interviews with many big names. The $19.99 DVD contains an hour-and-a-half documentary. On the traditional newspaper comic side, they talk to Mort Walker (Beetle Bailey), Cathy Guisewite (Cathy), Lynn Johnston (For Better or For Worse), Jim Davis (Garfield), Stephan Pastis (Pearls Before Swine), […]

I’d been looking forward to seeing The Lego Movie, since I expected it to be fun and funny, based on this trailer. Plus, it has silly Batman! I got the humor I was looking for, but I was surprised to find that the movie is aimed more directly at kids than I expected. It’s available on home video this coming Tuesday. In the film, Lord Business, later President Business (Will Ferrell) defeats a prophet (Morgan Freeman) to steal the magic […]

Out Tuesday, May 13, on home video — or now, if you want a digital copy — is I, Frankenstein, a steampunk action movie starring Aaron Eckhart as the titular creature, Adam. After killing his creator’s beloved — and inadvertantly his creator, who followed the monster into the winter wastes and perished — Adam is now being hunted by demons. They’re battled by gargoyles, angelic-powered warriors led by the sympathetic Queen Leonore (Miranda Otto). I was impressed by the effect […]

Out this week was a new animated movie starring Scooby-Doo, his friends, and a whole bunch of WWE wrestlers: John Cena, Kane, The Miz (who, poor guy, just gets beat up on), Sin Cara, Brodus Clay, Triple H, AJ Lee, Mr. McMahon, and other cameos. The movie comes in a combo pack with Blu-ray, DVD, and UltraViolet copy, as shown here, or single-disc DVD. Scooby-Doo! Wrestlemania Mystery runs about an hour and a half. It starts when Shaggy and Scooby […]