Independent Opinions, News, and Reviews of Graphic Novels, Manga, and Comic Books
I saw Aquaman last night, and as expected, it was big dumb action fun. The best thing about the movie, I thought, was the immersive visuals of the seascapes, from immense glowing underwater cities to abandoned gathering places with giant decaying statues. That’s why I was glad I saw it in the theater, even if it is too long (2 1/2 hours, almost) and could have been more tightly edited. Putting in both Ocean Master (Orm, Arthur’s half-brother, played by […]
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Since I cut cable, I keep forgetting that there’s another comic place show beyond Gotham and Riverdale. Krypton airs on SyFy and is set two generations before the Superman story we know, following the adventures of Superman’s grandfather, Seg-El (Cameron Cuffe), who is faced with a life and death conflict — save his home planet or let it be destroyed in order to restore the fate of his future grandson. With Krypton’s leadership in disarray and the House of El […]
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Venom seemed like a crazy idea for a stand-alone superhero film, but it’s doing quite well. It’s a top 10 movie in domestic take for 2018, and it shows that Sony/Columbia doesn’t have to team up with Marvel Studios (as they did for Spider-Man: Homecoming) to make an enjoyable Spider-Verse movie. What surprised me was that it became available for digital rental last week and comes out on Blu-ray and DVD tomorrow, December 18. This is unusual because its theatrical […]
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Review by KC Carlson It’s been a while since I’ve watched (and reviewed) any vintage Popeye cartoons. But Warner just sent me the first new Popeye set in a long while. Plus, it’s the first restored Popeye on Blu-ray, which is a big deal! Popeye the Sailor: The 1940s, Volume 1 contains 14 recently restored color theatrical shorts — and as far as I can tell these are the original, unedited, versions of the cartoons. I distinctly remember watching these […]
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The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part comes out in February, but the promotion has already started. The first film was adorable, so there are high hopes for the second. This teaser trailer shows a post-apocalyptic-style setting, and around a minute and a half in, it even addresses my biggest concern with the first, that Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) did all the cool stuff but Emmet (Chris Pratt) got all the credit. Anyway, we’ll have to wait and see how that […]
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I’m always fascinated when movies become so important in some way that they recut them for a wider audience. I remember, way back when, they put out a PG version of Saturday Night Fever (which I saw at the drive-in on a double bill with Grease). The latest example is Deadpool 2. Deadpool was the biggest R-rated opening weekend ever, a record broken by It and then again by Deadpool 2. But just in time for Christmas, on Wednesday in […]
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Warner Archive has announced that they will be releasing on Blu-ray and DVD a set of Popeye the Sailor cartoons never before available on home entertainment. Popeye the Sailor: The 1940s, Volume 1 will contain 14 theatrical shorts making up “the first two Technicolor seasons of Popeye’s animated theatrical shorts (1943-44 and 1944-45) produced by Famous Studios, Paramount’s revered New York-based cartoon studio.” Many of these haven’t been seen in the original form for 60 years, and they’re being remastered […]
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Missed out on the gift package version of the Batman: The Complete Animated Series Blu-ray set? Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has just announced a content-only version that’s now available. The 12-disc set (list price $89.99) comes with all episodes, “The Heart of Batman” documentary, the remastered animated films Batman: Mask of the Phantasm and Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero, and digital copies. Here’s a clip from “The Heart of Batman” talking about the design influences.
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