RIP ToyFare

I know I'm a little late to the party on this one, but I just found out that back in January, my beloved ToyFare magazine ceased publication.

ToyFare was a sister publication to Wizard, which also ceased publication in January.  Wizard was the magazine for coverage of the world of comic books.  Interview with the artists, previews of upcoming storylines, and a comprehensive price guide, for those who might be looking to make a buck off their collections.  And ToyFare did for action figure collecting what Wizard did for comics.  Interviews with the sculptors who actually made the action figures, previews of upcoming toy lines, and a comprehensive price guide, so I could prove to my friends that I was actually making money with my nerdly hobby.

I started collecting action figures way back in high school.  Playmates Toys had just released their Star Trek: The Next Generation action figures, I decided to pick some up, with the goal of tearing them open and sitting them on my desk.  But then, I read some where that keeping an action figure in its package makes it more valuable, so I kept them in the package.  And hell, they still looked as nice sitting on my desk.  Then Deep Space Nine figures came along, new Star Wars action figures came out, and things kind of snowballed.

I first discovered ToyFare magazine in my college days.  It was one frosty November night, when I was taking a study break to make a Sev-Run.  There, on the magazine rack in 7-11, I spotted it.  It must have been frosty November 1996, because there was a bunch of Borg action figures on the cover, and Star Trek: First Contact had just hit theatres.  I started leafing through it, and as I saw page after page of news about action figures, I was hooked.  I bought that issue, and became and immediately became a regular reader.



But of course, it was those regular features that kept me coming back.  ToyFare's most famous regular feature was the comic strip Twisted ToyFare Theatre.  It featured action figures -- mostly superheroes -- all posed, with word balloons added in via photoshop.  And of course, they were doing things that were decidedly out of character, and very very funny.  It soon became so popular, that ToyFare actually started releasing trade paperbacks of Twisted ToyFare Theatre.  I have volumes 1 - 8.

And, of course, let's not forget Twisted ToyFare Theatre's lasting effect on pop culture.  Actor and geek Seth Green was also a big fan of Twisted ToyFare Theatre and thought it would make a great cartoon.  They could bring the action figures to life through stop motion animation.  So, Green poached some of ToyFare's best writers and went out to Hollywood to develop this cartoon.  That cartoon is still on today, and it is known as Robot Chicken.

Another neat thing about ToyFare magazine was they eventually teamed up with several toy companies to offer exclusive action figures in their pages.  You know the drill...send them a cheque or money order, and you'll get it in 6 - 8 weeks.  I didn't take much interest until they hooked up with Playmates Toys to start offering Star Trek figures.  So, I filled out my money order to get "Translucent Identity Crisis Geordi LaForge."

For those who don't care, in the episode Identity Crisis, Geordi LaForge is infected with alien DNA and starts to slowly mutate into an alien.  "Identity Crisis Geordi LaForge" is an action figure of the alien that Geordi turns into.  And since the alien can turn invisible, it was made of translucent plastic to duplicate the invisible effect.

I sent away my order form and my money, and immediately started fretting.  As this is Canada and I had to order to the USA, I really started fretting.  I would pace nervously throughout the halls of the dorm, wondering if it would ever come.  I would obsess over it during lunch in the cafeteria.  I'm pretty sure "Geordi Watch" even became a regular segment on my old college radio show.  I kept reading ToyFare, and sadly, I missed my chance to get a lot more Star Trek action figures as I kept fretting about Geordi, wondering if he would ever arrive.  Friends would point it out to me, "Dude!  I just saw the new ToyFare  on the shelves!  They've got this awesome new Star Trek figure!"  But I'd pass.  I wanted to make sure this would work, first, before going nuts. 

And, Geordi eventually arrived, and still has an honored place in my action figure collection.

Translucent Identity Crisis Geordi LaForge

Ordering exclusive ToyFare action figures became a hell of a lot easier once they opened an online store.  They had one I wanted...I'd just go online and place my order.  When I came back from time in Japan, flush with disposable income, I went on a bit of a shopping spree.

L to R:  Radioactive Homer, Trinity Revealed, 20th Anniversary Snake Eyes and Scarlett, Hawaiian Vacation Fozzie Bear

Radioactive Homer (The Simpsons; Playmates Toys) - Homer Simpson, wearing his radiation suit as seen in the opening credits of the show.  Only, this radiation suit is green and glows in the dark, to give it a healthy radioactive glow.

Trinity Revealed (The Matrix; WB Toys) - Warner Brothers produced some exclusive The Matrix action figures for their studio stores...but the most exclusive was this one.  The Trinity action figure available in the stores features Trinity wearing sunglasses.  This exclusive does not have sunglasses, hence, her face is revealed.

20th Anniversary Snake Eyes and Scarlett (G.I. Joe; Hasbro) - To comemerate the 20th anniversary of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, ToyFare teamed up with Hasbro to produce this exclusive two-pack of fan favourite characters Snake Eyes and Scarlett, featuring brand new paint jobs to make them more resemble their original comic book incarnations.

Hawaiian Vacation Fozzie Bear (The Muppet Show; Pallisades Toys) - I like the Muppets.  Fozzie is my favourite.  And Hawaiian shirts are awesome. 

I even wrote a letter to ToyFare magazine once.  During my time in Japan, I found an English-language bookstore that carried it, and new issues helped stave off the homesickness.  At this time in the action figure world, the hot item was 12" figures boasting authentic re-creations of military uniforms.  After reading the latest on this military toys, I sat down and sent an e-mail to ToyFare.  I told them how much I loved their magazine, how it helped on those lonely nights when I was missing Entwistle, and hey, with all these fancy military action figures right now, was there anyone out there producing action figures of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in their trademark red serge.  (I may have also gone off on a tangent about how one of my fanboy wishes would be a line of action figures dedicated to Due South.)  My letter was never published, but they did write me back, saying that Mountie action figures was a darn good idea with all these military figures, and they'd keep their ear to the ground in case anyone ever made them.

And of course, I must not forget, that ToyFare is responsible for the greatest thing in the history of ever.  ToyFare eventually got in the habit of getting comic book artists to sketch action figures in certain situations, you know, for covers, or for big retrospectives on certain toylines.

And then, one day, on one cover, for their retrospective on girls' toys of the 1980s, they had this:

L-R:  She-Ra, Rainbow Brite, Strawberry Shortcake

Yes, that's She-Ra, Rainbow Brite, and Strawberry Shortcake, all depicted as highly attractive 20-somethings and dancing on top of a bar, Coyote Ugly-style.  Working their way through college, no doubt.  ToyFare eventually revealed that they got the most reader feedback in the history of their publication from that picture.  It's my desktop wallpaper at work.  A special guest on my radio show one morning made the comment that you can use it as an age test:  if you know who those three are, then you're a kid of 80s. 

Despite my great affection for their publication, I stopped reading it around 5 years ago or so.  I remember making the decision to stop reading it.  I was in Wal-Mart one day, and I spied a highly rare Dark Phoenix action figure.  I immediately picked it up.  As I was driving home, I started analyzing the purchase in my mind.  "I've never read any X-Men comics," I thought to myself.  "Granted, I loved the cartoon and the movies, but I've never been a die-hard X-Men fan.  Why the hell did I buy a Dark Phoenix action figure?"  And I finally realized it's because ToyFare made such a big deal about how rare it is.  So that's why I stopped buying ToyFare.  It was starting to convince me to buy things I really didn't want. 

I still leafed through it occasionally as I saw it on the newsstand.  I never regretted giving up reading it, as my occasional leafings showed that it was become less about the toys, and more about Twisted ToyFare Theatre style humour.  And the jokes were getting increasingly lame.  I noticed, though, that it was getting increasingly difficult to find on the newsstands over the past year or so, and now I know why.

But before I go, let's not forget the most important lesson that ToyFare taught me.  Whenever a person buys an action figure of a female character, the first thing they do is look up her skirt to see what colour the panties are.

So, good-bye and fare thee well, ToyFare magazine.  For a period in my life, you were a very big part of my life.  And I still have boxes full of action figures as proof.  Not to mention, a long box full of back issues. 

Words That Are Now Part of My Vocabulary, Thanks to ToyFare

Variant - an action figure that is different from the norm in some way.  i.e.  a different paint job, different accessories, etc.

 

Chase Figure - an action figure produced in smaller numbers than the rest of the toyline.  So named because collectors "chase" after it.  

Shortpacked - An action figure that has the lowest numbers in a case.  e.g.  There's only one Slave Leia in the cases of the new Star Wars figures.  Slave Leia is shortpacked

Blind Boxed - An action figure where the packaging completely conceals what's inside, so you don't know which figure you're getting.  

Love Crime Movie Poster

Love Crime

Release: September 2, 2011
Director: Alain Corneau
Writer: Alain Corneau, Nathalie Carter
Cast: Ludivigne Sagnier, Kristin Scott Thomas, Patrick Mille
 
Synopsis: When Christine, a powerful executive (Scott Thomas), brings on a naive young ingenue, Isabelle (Sagnier), as her assistant, she delights in toying with her naivete and teaching her hard lessons in a ruthless professional philosophy. But when the protege's ideas become tempting enough for Christine to pass one as her own, she underestimates Isabelle's ambition and cunning-- and the ground is set for all out war. In this devilish, propulsive thriller, Corneau sets up a the scenery expertly and his actors devour it.
 

Love Crime Trailer

A Good Old Fashioned Orgy Movie Posters

A Good Old Fashioned Orgy

Release: September 2, 2011
Director: Alex Gregory, Peter Huyck
Writer: Alex Gregory, Peter Huyck
Cast: Jason Sudeikis, Leslie Bibb, Lake Bell, Michelle Borth, Nick Kroll, Tyler Labine, Angela Sarafyan, Lindsay Sloane, Martin Starr, Lucy Punch, Will Forte
 
Synopsis: Jason Sudeikis is Eric, a thirtysomething party animal famous among his close circle of friends for his lavish summer theme parties at his father's swanky Hamptons pad. But when members of the crew start settling down, and Eric's dad announces plans to sell the beach house, Eric decides it's time for one last bash to go out with a proverbial bang�a good old-fashioned orgy. The only obstacles to overcome are actually convincing each of his reluctant friends to join in on the bacchanal, and an inconveniently blossoming romance with the real estate agent threatening to sell the house out from under him before the main event can even take place
 

A Good Old Fashioned Orgy Trailer

Yay New Pixar!

I'm still a Pixar fanboy, and as such, a little bit miffed that I never got a chance to go see Cars 2 this summer...even though it looked rather lame.  It's just been announced that it hits DVD on November 1, and I'll probably still pick it just to make sure my Pixar collection remains complete.  (I do own all the Pixar movies on DVD.) 

So, this past weekend, Disney held their most recent fan event/official con D23, and while there, Pixar announced a couple of upcoming films.  To recap, these are the upcoming Pixar films that we already know of:

Brave - Coming out on June 22, 2012.  Pixar's first fantasy film, following the adventures of a princess in medieval Scotland.  It's also Pixar's first film with a female protagonist.  Apparently, at D23, Pixar's head honcho John Lasseter issued the challenge, "It's set in medieval Scotland, I dare you to find the Pizza Planet truck!" 

Monsters University - The exciting prequel to Monsters Inc, detailing Mike and Sully's college years and how they first met.  June 21, 2013 is when this comes along.

But, what comes after these two?  That's what was announced at D23.  I'd like to point out that these are working titles, and not the actual titles. 

The Untitled Pixar Movie About Dinosaurs - Answering the age old question, "What if the dinosaurs never went extinct?", it's set in the present day of a world where dinosaurs are now the domesticated wildlife.  This one comes to us from longtime Pixar animator Bob Peterson, who helped write Monsters, Inc, Finding Nemo and Up.  Christmas 2013 is when this'll hit theatres.

The Untitled Pixar Movie That Takes You Inside the Mind - That description pretty much sums it up.  Taking place inside a human mind, they tell us this'll answer questions like why you remember certain things and why songs get stuck in our head.  The talent behind this one is Pete Docter, who was the director of Monsters Inc and Up.  Summer 2014 is when this one is slated to come out.

But that's not all!  One of most delightful surprises in front of Cars 2 was a new Toy Story short film, entitled Hawaiian Vacation.  It's been known for a while that a second Toy Story short film was in development, but now we have a name, a plot description, and release information.

It'll be called Small Fry, and is apparently about Buzz Lightyear getting left behind at a fast food place, and having to team up with a kids meal toy to get home.  Glee star Jane Lynch does the voice of the kids meal toy.  It's going to be in front of the new Muppet movie, The Muppets, this November.  

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance Movie Poster

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

Release: February 17, 2012
Director: Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor
Writer: Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Ciaran Hinds, Violante Placido, Idris Elba, Johnny Whitworth
 
Synopsis: Nicolas Cage returns as Johnny Blaze in Columbia Pictures' and Hyde Park Entertainment's Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. In the successor to the worldwide hit Ghost Rider, Johnny - still struggling with his curse as the devil's bounty hunter - is hiding out in a remote part of Eastern Europe when he is recruited by a secret sect of the church to save a young boy (Fergus Riordan) from the devil (Ciaran Hinds). At first, Johnny is reluctant to embrace the power of the Ghost Rider, but it is the only way to protect the boy - and possibly rid himself of his curse forever
 

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance Trailer

G.I. Joe 2 Update

So, hey!  G.I. Joe 2 began filming last week!

Just to get it out there, I LOVED G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.  My attitude towards it is pretty much the same as with Michael Bay's first Transformers movie.  Yeah, it's a deeply flawed, deeply cliched action/superhero film, but my childhood nostalgia helps blind me to all the flaws.

Originally, the release of G.I. Joe 2 was kept kind of vague, but then, J.J. Abrams got all wrapped up making Super 8, and that meant Star Trek 2 got pushed back from summer 2012 to...some time in the future.  So, needing a tentpole release for summer 2012, Paramount fast-tracked G.I. Joe 2 and gave it Star Trek 2's old released date of June 29, 2012.

For a second film, though, it looks like they've decided to go in a completely new direction and kind of disregard the first film.  It was announced that the only returning Joes from the first film would be Channing Tatum as Duke and Ray Park as Snake Eyes.  So who's stepping forward to fill out the ranks of G.I. Joe this time around?

• Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is Roadblock.  This caused some head-scratching when this casting was announced because, as Roadblock's wikipedia entry says, Roadblock is "the most prominent African-American in G.I. Joe."  The Rock is not African-American.  But hey, they made Ripcord black in the first film, so why not make Roadblock white for the second?


• DJ Cotrona is Flint.  Cotrona comes to us from the short-lived cop show Detroit 1-8-7.  


• Adrianne Palicki is Lady Jaye.  Palicki was on the football drama Friday Night Lights, and most recently played Wonder Woman in the ill-fated, horrible-looking Wonder Woman pilot.


• French-Asian actress Elodie Yung will be Jinx.


• Joseph Mazzello will be Mouse.  Mazello, of course, still remembered as the kid in Jurassic Park, and as adult, he was one of the stars of The Pacific.  I originally thought that Mouse was an original Joe for the film, but poking around online, I found that he's a character from the short-lived Sgt. Savage and his Screaming Eagles line.  

And it was just announced that Bruce Willis has joined the cast as General Joseph Colton.  The gimmick in the toyline is that Gen. Colton was the first  G.I. Joe...the original 12" figure from the 1960s.  He was turned into a 3.75" mail-away exclusive figure to commemarate the franchise's 30th anniversary in 1994, and when the comics were relaunched around 10 years ago, he was made the new commander of G.I. Joe, taking over for Hawk when Hawk was paralyzed from the waist-down in a Cobra attack.

As for villains, the only one returning from the first film is Lee Byung-hun as Storm Shadow.  The only one announced for this new one is Ray Stevenson as the Cobra saboteur Firefly.  Stevenson you may remember as the Punisher in The Punisher: War Zone.

The script was written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, who wrote the zombie comedy Zombieland.  And the director this time out is Jon Chu.  Chu, of course, best known for the dance films Step Up 2: The Streets, Step Up 3D, and the Justin Beiber movie Never Say Never.  In a few interviews, Chu has said he understands why some fans see him, the "dance movie guy," as a bad choice for for an action film, but Chu assures us that he's a huge G.I. Joe fanboy and is doing his best to give these characters justice.

There's not title for the film yet...rumored titles online have included G.I. Joe: Cobra Strikes (which has since been denied) and G.I. Joe: Retaliation.

G.I. Joe 2 hits theatres June 29, 2012. 

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance trailer

With the main focus being on The Dark Knight Rises, The Avengers, and The Amazing Spider-Man as the big superhero films for 2012, there's one that's been in production for a while now that's been sneaking in under the radar.

And that's Ghost Rider 2, which is going by the name Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.






Nicholas Cage is back as Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider.  Interesting fact this time out:  this time around, Cage himself is playing Ghost Rider.  In the first film, all of the Ghost Rider performance capture was done by a stuntman.  But for the second one, Cage did it himself.


The plot, this time around, has Johnny Blaze heading to Europe to stop the birth of the anti-Christ.  To stop the Ghost Rider, the Devil sends that Ghost Rider enemy known as Blackout to defeat Ghost Rider.


In addition to the returning Nicholas Cage, Johnny Whitworth is Blackout, Idris Elba is Moreau, a warrior monk who seeks out Ghost Rider to help stop this anti-Christ plot, and the Highlander himself, Christopher Lambert, also shows up as the leader of the warrior monks. 

The directors of Spirit of Vengeance are Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, collectively known as Neveldine/Taylor.  They are the two who gave us the Crank franchise, and according to reports of footage shown at ComiCon a month or so ago, Spirit of Vengeance promises to be full of the same ridiculous, over-the-top action sequences that the Crank films are famous for. 

As for my thoughts on this trailer...meh.  I liked parts of the first film, but to me, the first film was the first indication that the "superhero movie formula" was starting to get set in stone.  It was the first superhero film I saw that I felt comfortable calling "formulaic."  So, really, then, I guess there's no where to go but up.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance hits theatres this February. 

The Big Lebowski Movie Poster

The Big Lebowski

Release: March 8, 1998
Director: Joel Coen
Writer: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Cast: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Julianne Moore, David Huddleston, John Turturro, Philip Seymour Hoffman
 
Synopsis: "Dude" Lebowski who is mistaken for a millionaire Lebowski, seeks restitution for his ruined rug and enlists his bowling buddies to help get it. Along the way their is some marijuana, white russians, and the occasional acid flashback.
 

The Big Lebowski Trailer

Some of That High Class British Porn: Hysteria Trailer

Normally, I just slap something like this straight up on my Facebook page, but since I'm Facebook friends with some of my nieces and nephews, I figure this may not be for their tender eyes.

So, last fall, there was some giggling and nervous twittering when it was announced that Maggie Gyllenhaal had signed on to to do a historical romantic comedy about the invention of the vibrator.

Well, guess what?  We have a trailer!

Ladies and gentlemen, Hysteria.






I just noticed this is posted at the YouTube channel for the Toronto International Film Festival.  That's where The King's Speech had its world premiere last year.

I predict this will be seen by a lot of upper-middle-aged people, wandering in to the theatre expecting to see the next King's Speech.

Keep an eye on your neighborhood art house for when it comes to your town.

Politics of Love Movie Poster

Politics of Love

Release: August 26, 2011
Director: William Dear
Writer: Gary Goldstein
Cast: Brian J. White, Mallika Sherawat, Loretta Devine, Ruby Dee, Gerry Bednob
 
Synopsis: Politics makes strange bedfellows, but never stranger than when a sexy, savvy, African-American conservative Republican reluctantly falls for his Democratic counterpart: a beautiful Indian-American Obama campaign volunteer. Sparks fly, tempers flare, heads turn, and romance blossoms for his mismatched pair of lovers in the frantic and intoxicating days leading up to Election Day. Can the politics of love conquer all?
 

Politics of Love Trailer

Our Idiot Brother Movie Posters

Our Idiot Brother

Release: August 26, 2011

Director: Jesse Peretz
Writer: David Schisgall, Evgenia Peretz
Cast: Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel, Emily Mortimer, Sterling K. Brown, Rashida Jones, Steve Coogan, Hugh Dancy, T.J. Miller, Adam Scott
 
Synopsis: Ned (Rudd) is an idealist. His three sisters (Banks, Deschanel, Mortimer) are ambitious. His mother (Knight) is overbearing. Ned crashes at each of their homes, in succession, and brings truth, happiness and a sunny disposition into their lives. In other words, he wreaks havoc.
 

Our Idiot Brother Trailer

Higher Ground Movie Poster

Higher Ground

Release: August 26, 201
Director: Vera Farmiga
Writer: Carolyn Briggs, Tim Metcalfe
Cast: Vera Farmiga, Joshua Leonard, John Hawkes, Dagmara Dominczyk, Norbert Leo Butz, Donna Murphy
 
Synopsis: Vera Farmiga's directorial debut, Higher Ground depicts the landscape of a tight-knit spiritual community thrown off-kilter when one of their own begins to question her faith. Inspired by screenwriter Carolyn S. Briggs' memoir, This Dark World, the film tells the story of a thoughtful woman's struggles with belief, love, and trust�in human relationships as well as in God.
 

Higher Ground Trailer

The Family Tree Movie Poster

The Family Tree

Release: August 26, 2011
Director: Vivi Friedman
Writer: Mark Lisson
Cast: Dermot Mulroney, Hope Davis, Chi McBride, Keith Carradine, Rachael Leigh Cook
 
Synopsis: Life in suburban Serenity, Ohio is never quite as serene as it appears. The dysfunctional Burnett family -- Bunnie (Hope Davis), Jack (Dermot Mulroney) and their twin 17 year olds Eric (Max Thieriot) and Kelly (Brittany Robertson) -- seems like a lost cause. When a freak accident leaves Bunnie with a case of amnesia, the Burnetts get an unexpected second chance at happiness. Meanwhile, next door neighbor Simon (Chi McBride) is relieved that his tryst gone wrong with Bunnie remains undetected, at least for the moment. Before long, a slew of past relationships, kids with guns, a suicidal teacher, a very zealous religious club, misinterpreted advances, corporate down-sizing, and one fateful squirrel combine to create enough mayhem to test the resolve, sanity and future of any family
 

The Family Tree Trailer

The Caller Movie Poster

The Caller

Release: August 26, 2011
Director: Matthew Parkhill
Writer: Sergio Casci
Cast: Stephen Moyer, Rachelle Lefevre, Luis Guzman, Ed Quinn
 
Synopsis: When troubled divorcee, Mary Kee (Rachelle Lefevre), begins to receive mysterious phone calls from an unknown caller, she quickly begins to feel haunted in her own home. When she discovers that the person is calling from the past, Mary realises that she will have to kill her in order to survive. How do you kill someone living in the past and what will happen if she fails?
 

The Caller Trailer

Reflections on ReBoot

I've been watching an awful lot of ReBoot lately.  Shout! Factory, the folks who did those impressive complete series boxed sets of The Transformers  and G.I. Joe, gave the same treatment to ReBoot this year.  Seasons 1 & 2 came out back in the spring, and Seasons 3 & 4 came out just a month ago, and you can get the whole thing together in a big boxed set called The Definitive Mainframe Collection.  I bought the two separate sets because they were good and cheap.

For those who don`t remember, ReBoot was the world's first computer animated half-hour television program.  And it's Canadian, too, made by Vancouver-based Mainframe Entertainment!  It premiered in the fall of 1994 -- beating Toy Story by one year -- on YTV in Canada and on ABC in the USA.  The show was created by Mainframe's founders, Gavin Blair and Ian Pearson.  Blair and Pearson were already widely known in animation circles for doing the computer animation in the legendary Dire Straights video Money for Nothing.

The series was set inside a computer system known as Mainframe.  It followed the adventures of Bob (a Guardian...aka anti-virus software) who sought to defend Mainframe from the evil computer viruses Megabyte (who sought to conquer all of Mainframe) and Hexadecimal (who was just psychotic and near-omnipotent).  Bob was assisted in his mission by Dot, who I think was Mainframe's OS, which made a business mogul who pretty much owned all of Mainframe, and her kid brother Enzo, who idolized Bob and hoped to grow up to be a Guardian like Bob someday.









What really hampered their efforts was the frequent arrival of the Games, massive cubes that descend from the sky by the User.  Of course, if Mainframe's citizens lose the game, a whole block of the city gets wiped out (to save your high score, I'm guessing).  So, Bob, Dot and Enzo have to go into the games, take on the role of the Game's antagonists, and try to stop the User from winning.

So,  yeah.  Whenever you fire up Super Mario Bros, Bob becomes King Koopa, pretty much.  And this is one aspect where the series gains its cult classic status, as most games turn out becoming a gigantic spoof of a well-known movie or video game, with Bob becoming the game's villain.

Because it made sense, I started with Season 1, and the one thing that really struck me watching season 1 again after all these years was how tame season 1 is.  In the early 1990s, there had been a growing backlash towards increasingly violent children's programming.  Remember, the same year that ReBoot premiered on YTV was the same year that YTV pulled Power Rangers because a very vocal parents' group raised a ruckus about its violence.  So ReBoot: Season 1 is full of your non-violent cartoon cliches.  Megabyte comes up with some kind of comical scheme to take over Mainframe, and Bob just kinda pushes Megabyte's buttons until Megabyte is hoisted on his own petard.

A good example would be the episode The Crimson Binome, in which Mainframe is raided by software pirates, who in this computer world, take the form of actual pirates.  Do we get a swashbuckling adventure on the high seas as Bob brings the pirates to justice?  No!  Things are resolved when Dot takes a look at the pirates' financials, and convinces them that there's more profit to be had as a legitimate shipping firm.  The pirates then see the error of their ways and return all their stolen booty.  So, remember, kids!  Avoid a life of a piracy or else you might get...a free business consultation.

However, the episode Talent Night is pretty awesome, as Bob and Megabyte decide to settle things with a rock battle.  I once read about the production of that rock battle.  Apparently, the producers sought out one of the hottest club bands in Vancouver at the time, brought them into a recording studio, and told them to just go nuts.







Season 2 was where things started to change a little bit.  From what I've gathered online, during season 1, ABC made some pretty ridiculous notes on the series, and the gang at Mainframe felt devoted to these notes so as to get that much-vaunted USA exposure.  One of the most ridiculous notes was that, apparently, only the female antagonists could have cleavage, while the female protagonists could not.

And that's why Hexidecimal is ridiculously stacked while Dot has a vaguely breast-shaped band across her chest that some fans refer to as "the uniboob."

However, Season 2 was when Disney bought ABC.  Mainframe saw the writing on the wall...that ABC's Saturday morning line-up would soon be all Disney cartoons, so it was just a matter of time before they were canceled.  So, the producers decided to ignore all the notes from ABC, and just worry about the notes from the far-more-cool YTV.

Season 2 did introduce a vital new character, thought.  AndrAIa.  AndrAIa was a game sprite who became infatuated with Enzo in a game, and she figured out a way to leave the game and be friends with Enzo forever.  As season 2 progresses, she becomes Enzo's girlfriend/sidekick.

Season 2 ended with something that would eventually become the series' best known format:  the 4-episode story arc.  Season 2 ended with such an arc when Mainframe was invaded by a Web Creature.

Necessary backstory:  Mainframe was on "The Net," which was eventually established to be the Internet.  However, season 2 established a much more dangerous network known as "The Web,"  which was most likely the World Wide Web.  A monster from the Web invades Mainframe and it's up to Bob to track it down throughout this arc.

The third episode in the "Web Creature arc", Trust No One, is one of ReBoot's more famous episodes.  As this was the height of popularity of The X-Files, the whole episode becomes a gigantic spoof of The X-Files, complete with special guest star Gillian Anderson as the voice of the Agent Scully character.

Season 2 ended with quite the cliffhanger.  As Mainframe goes to war against the Web, Bob is forced to team-up with Megabyte to defend Mainframe.  As it looks like Mainframe is about to win the war, Megabyte launches Bob onto the Web, seals the rift, and then promptly turns on Mainframe.  Enzo, who was upgraded to a Guardian cadet by Bob, calmly picks up Bob's keytool (a Guardian's trademark weapon), and resolves to continue the fight against Megabyte. 

And BOOM!  No more ReBoot.  It took a year for ReBoot to come back for another season.  Computer animation was still really expensive back in the day, so it took them a year to raise the funds.  Luckily, they found a new USA distributor with the much more liberal Cartoon Network, that was able to help them secure more funding, and Season 3 premiered in the fall of 1997.

ReBoot: Season 3 really is a different beast compared to the first two seasons.  Season 3 is pretty much a gritty reboot.  In a typical Saturday morning cartoon scenario, Bob probably would have been rescued at the climax of the season premiere, defeat Megabyte, and the status quo would be restored.  However, Bob isn't rescued until 3/4 of the way through the season.  Season 3 consists of 16 episodes, and the whole season is divided into four, 4-episode arcs.

The first arc, To Mend and Defend, is where the new grittiness becomes apparent.  Mainframe is now in a state of total war.  Abondoning the comical schemes, Megabyte is now pure evil.  He's killing people.  He's racking up a body count.  He sees his opportunity for domination and he's taking it.  And Enzo, while he has been upgraded to a Guardian, is still just a kid, so he's struggling to keep up the battle.  But, Enzo manages to hold his ground, eventually imprisoning Megabyte in his sector behind a firewall...which, inside Mainframe, is a literal wall made of fire.  However, this arc ends on a down note, as Enzo and AndrAIa find themselves in a Game they cannot win.  I should have mentioned earlier that, if you lose a Game while you're inside one, you die.  However, Enzo and AndrAIa found a way around this.  They manage to shift their format to game sprite, and ride the Game out of Mainframe.







The second arc, The Net, opens with our re-introduction to Enzo and AndrAIa.  They are now young people in their 20s, using real-time years, and a lifetime of fighting in the games has made him grow up into a total badass, armed with a big-ass gun.  Yeah, he's a collection of 1990s comic book cliches, but dude, it works.  And kudos to Paul Dobson, who did the voice of grown-up Enzo.  It is still my definitive "gruff, anti-hero" cartoon voice.  I actually heard Dobson using that voice for Edmonton Oilers radio spots a couple years back, and that totally made me geek out.  But I digress.  Enzo -- now preferring to go by his last name Matrix -- and AndrAIa use the Games to travel from system to system on the Net, providing aid to whatever system they land in.  The arc ends with Matrix and AndrAIa discovering that game time is accelerated, so while they're now hardened warrior adults, not a lot of time has passed, so there's still a chance to save Mainframe from Megabyte.  The final system also has access to the Web, so that means Matrix and AndrAIa can head onto the Web and try to rescue Bob.

Which leads into the third arc, The Web.  Matrix and AndrAIa enlist the helps of the the Crimson Binome and those pirates from season 1 to help them sail the Web.  This arc is pretty good, as there's a lot more character stuff.  To help them navigate the Web, they enlist the aid of a search engine named Ray Tracer, and AndrAIa and Tracer have a bit of flirtatious relationship, driving Matrix into a jealous rage.  However, it does end with our heroes finally finding Bob, and heading back to Mainframe to finally stop Megabyte.

Hence the fourth and final arc, Viral Wars.  Matrix, Bob, and AndrAIa return to find Mainframe a devastated wasteland, Megabyte now in total control, and Dot valiantly leading the resistance.  The second episode of this arc, Showdown, features the long-awaited final fight between Matrix and Megabyte, and I swear, it was one of the most brutal fights I'd ever seen in a cartoon up to that point.  As Matrix is about to deliver the deathblow, I swear he's quoting Batman from his final battle with Superman in The Dark Knight Returns.  But don't worry, Matrix doesn't kill Megabyte.  Instead, Megabyte is sucked onto the Web, just like he did with Bob way back in season 2.







The series ends with a desperate gambit from Bob.  With Mainframe so badly damaged, Bob decides to sit back and do nothing and let Mainframe crash.  Maybe -- just maybe -- the User will restore the whole system from back-ups and Mainframe will be restored.  That's exactly what happens, and we have a mega-happy ending.

Or at least we did until 2001, when we all came back for Season 4.  Season 4 actually consisted of two TV movies, each one designed to be divided into a 4-episode story arc to spice up ReBoot's syndication package.  I'm sure somewhere I've still got these movies on VHS from when they were first broadcast on YTV.

The first movie, Daemon Rising, ties up one of the most tantalizing loose plot threads from season 3:  that the Guardians have become infected by a virus named Daemon.  Being lost on the Web when the infection happened, Bob is the only pure Guardian and thus the only one that can defeat Daemon.  We also get lots of flashbacks to before the series began, as we finally see the origins of Bob, Dot, and such forth.  This is a very action packed story arc, full of desperate characters who begin making desperate choices.  It's a very good arc.

It also provides a very interesting retcon for Bob.  Since Bob is supposed to be anti-virus software, why didn't he just delete Megabyte back in the day instead of allowing Megabyte to do his comic schemes for dominance?  Well, it's revealed that Bob subscribes to a radical theory that viruses can be reformed to be benevolent sprites, so Bob was allowed to let Megabyte live to try to prove his theory.

The second arc, My Two Bobs, opens when a second Bob is found lost and adrift on the Web and is brought back to Mainframe.  This one is a lot more character driven, as the two Bobs try to figure out which one is the real one, and as Dot tries to figure out which one is the man she loves.

Neat little attention to detail:  Bob's voice was originally done by Michael Benyaer, but Benyaer was unavailable for season 3.  So, Bob was recast with Ian James Corlett.  Benyaer was available again for season 4, so in My Two Bobs, Corlett voices one Bob and Benyaer voices the other one.  It's a nice touch.

Anyway, spoiler warning for a 10-year old cartoon, the second Bob is eventually revealed to be Megabyte in disguise, back for his revenge.  Megabyte's time on the Web mutated him into a Trojan Horse virus, which in the ReBoot world makes him a shapeshifter. 

Again, going back to things that never happened in season 1.  When Megabyte reveals his true form, he and Bob fight...they have a knock-em-down, drag-em-out brawl...something that these two arch-enemies had never actually done.  Blew my mind when it originally aired.

This arc ends with Megabyte once again taking control of Mainframe, and announcing that he no longer has designs on conquest or dominance, now he just wants revenge.  Megabyte gives the order, "Begin the Hunt!"







And we are presented with the most frustrating thing ever...a TV series that ends on a cliffhanger.  Apparently, the original plan was to do a third TV movie, and then end with a half-hour retrospective/clip show, and voila, a 13-episode season four.  But low ratings for the first two TV movies saw the third movie and clip show get cancelled. 

So, what of the future?  Rainmaker Digital -- aka the company formerly known as Mainframe -- finally resolved the cliffhanger in a webcomic back in 2007.  Rainmaker has had some form of a ReBoot reboot in various stages of development over the past five years, but nothing concrete has happened yet.

In the end, though, I am pleasantly surprised at how well ReBoot has held up over the years.  Season 3 still packed the same emotional resonance that it did when I first watched it back in college.  By taking a year off, and then coming back all darker and grittier, it's like ReBoot was allowed to grow up with its audience, and that's a very tricky thing that not a lot of people have been able to pull off.

So, yeah.  ReBoot is still awesome, and worth a revisit. 

Anonymous Movie Poster

Anonymous

Release: September 30, 2011
Director: Roland Emmerich
Writer: John Orloff
Cast: Rhys Ifans, Vanessa Redgrave, Joely Richardson, David Thewlis, Xavier Samuel, Sebastian Armesto, Rafe Spall, Edward Hogg, Jamie Campbell Bower, Derek Jacobi
 
Synopsis: A political thriller advancing the theory that it was in fact Edward De Vere, Earl of Oxford who penned Shakespeare's plays; set against the backdrop of the succession of Queen Elizabeth I, and the Essex Rebellion against her.

Anonymous Trailer

Johnny English Reborn Movie Poster

Johnny English Reborn

Release: September 16, 2011
Director: Oliver Parker
Writer: Hamish McColl, William Davies
Cast: Rowan Atkinson, Gillian Anderson, Dominic West, Rosamund Pike, Daniel Kaluuya
 
Synopsis: Rowan Atkinson returns to the role of the accidental secret agent who doesn't know fear or danger in the comedy spy-thriller Johnny English Reborn. In his latest adventure, the most unlikely intelligence officer in Her Majesty's Secret Service must stop a group of international assassins before they eliminate a world leader and cause global chaos. In the years since MI-7's top spy vanished off the grid, he has been honing his unique skills in a remote region of Asia. But when his agency superiors learn of an attempt against the Chinese premier's life, they must hunt down the highly unorthodox agent. Now that the world needs him once again, Johnny English is back in action. With one shot at redemption, he must employ the latest in hi-tech gadgets to unravel a web of conspiracy that runs throughout the KGB, CIA and even MI-7. With mere days until a heads of state conference, one man must use every trick in his playbook to protect us all. For Johnny English, disaster may be an option, but failure never is.
 

Johnny English Reborn Trailer

 
 

Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life Movie Poster

Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life

Release: August 31, 2011

Director: Joann Sfar
Writer: Joann Sfar
Cast: Eric Elmosnino, Doug Jones, Lucy Gordon, Laetitia Casta, Anna Mouglalis
 
Synopsis: Gainsbourg is an enchanting glimpse at his early life, growing up in 1940s Nazi-occupied Paris, and through his successful song-writing years in the 1960s until his death in 1991. Taking the best from La Vie en Rose and Amelie, Gainsbourg is one of 2010's highly awaited films brought to us by one of the most beloved graphic artists of our time and the team behind the magical creatures of Pan's Labyrinth
 

Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life Trailer

Cowboys & Aliens Review

Had me a day in the city yesterday.  Didn't inspire the usual blog entry full of witty observations, though.  I bought pants.  Make of that what you will.

However, I did swing by the theatre and catch Cowboys & Aliens.  I've got a complete review over at my main website, so click on over and check that out.

When I got home from the city, I sat down to watch Rango, which a co-worker had loaned me.  I don't know, dude.  I know it got lots of critical acclaim, but I found Rango to again be pretty cliched and stick to the animated film formula pretty closely.  It did have some nice, surreal touches, though. 

Rise of the Planet of the Apes Movie Poster

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Release: August 15, 2011
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Writer: Amanda Silver, Rick Jaffa
Cast: James Franco, Freida Pinto, John Lithgow, Brian Cox, Tom Felton, David Oyelowo, Andy Serkis
 
Synopsis: An origin story in the true sense of the word, Rise of the Planet of the Apes is set in present day San Francisco. The film is a reality-based cautionary tale - a science fiction/science-fact blend where mankind's hubris leads to the development of intelligence in apes and the onset of a war for supremacy. Oscar(R)-winning visual effects house WETA Digital - employing certain of the groundbreaking technologies developed for "Avatar" - will render, for the first time ever in the film series, photo-realistic apes rather than costumed actors.
 

Rise of the Planet of the Apes Trailer

Spy Kids: All the Time in the World Character Posters

Spy Kids: All the Time in the World

Release: August 19, 2011
Director: Robert Rodriguez
Writer: Robert Rodriguez
Cast: Jessica Alba, Joel McHale, Jeremy Piven, Ricky Gervais, Alexa Vega, Daryl Sabara, Rowan Blanchard, Mason Cook, Danny Trejo, Antonio Banderas
 
Synopsis: On the surface, Marissa Cortez Wilson (Jessica Alba) has it all...married to a famous spy hunting television reporter, a new baby and intelligent twin step kids. But in reality, trying to mother Rebecca (Rowan Blanchard) and Cecil (Mason Cook), who clearly don't want her around, is her toughest challenge yet. Also, her husband, Wilbur (Joel McHale), wouldn't know a spy if he lived with one which is exactly the case - Marissa's a retired secret agent.
Marissa's world is turned upside down when the maniacal Timekeeper (Jeremy Piven) threatens to take over the planet and she's called back into action by the head of OSS, home of the greatest spies and where the now-defunct Spy Kids division was created. With Armageddon quickly approaching, Rebecca and Cecil are thrust into action when they learn their boring stepmom was once a top agent and now the world's most competitive ten year olds are forced to put their bickering aside and rely on their wits. With a little help from a couple of very familiar Spy Kids, Carmen (Alexa Vega) and Juni Cortez (Daryl Sabara), and some mind-blowing gadgets, they just may be able to save the world and possibly bring their family together while they're at it.
 
 

Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World Trailer

Flypaper Movie Poster

Flypaper

Release: August 19, 2011
Director: Rob Minkoff
Writer: Jon Lucas, Scott Moore
Cast: Patrick Dempsey, Ashley Judd, Jeffrey Tambor, Tim Blake Nelson, Mekhi Phifer, Matt Ryan, Greg Germann, Octavia Spencer, Pruitt Taylor Vince, John Ventimiglia, Adrian Martinez, Rob Huebel, Curtis Armstrong
 
Synopsis: Tripp Kennedy ambles into a bank near closing time, just as two different gangs unwittingly converge to rob it. A shoot-out erupts, and Tripp tackles the smart, beautiful teller, Kaitlin to protect her. When the bank's security system locks down the building and seals everyong inside, the night evolves into a hilarious game of cat and mouse. As Tripp and Kaitlin try to save the day and escape being killed, they might also need to avoid falling in love...
 

Flypaper Trailer

 

Circumstance Movie Poster

Circumstance

Release: August 19, 2011
Director: Maryam Keshavarz
Writer: Maryam Keshavarz
Cast: Nikohl Boosheri, Sarah Kazemy, Reza Sixo Safai, Soheil Parsa, Nasrin Pakkho, Sina Amedson, Keon Mohajeri
 
Synopsis: Set in contemporary Iran in the unseen world of Iranian youth culture, filled with underground parties, sex, drugs and defiance, Circumstance is the story of two vivacious young girls � wealthy Atafeh and orphaned Shireen � discovering their burgeoning sexuality and, like 16 year-old girls anywhere, struggling with their desires and the boundaries placed upon them by the world they were born into.
 

Circumstance Trailer

Wasted on the Young Movie Poster

Wasted on the Young

Release: August 15, 2011
Director: Ben C. Lucas
Writer: Ben C. Lucas
Cast: Oliver Ackland, Adelaide Clemens, Alex Russell, Nathan Coenen, Georgina Haig, Geraldine Hakewill, T.J. Power
 
Synopsis: Set in an elite high school where social hierarchies are rigorously enforced, Zack is the ruler of the school and his half-brother Darren is the social outcast. They both fall for the same girl, who at one of Zack's parties is drugged, assaulted and left for dead.
A violent desire for revenge consumes Darren as he plots Zack's demise and dramatic fall from grace and popularity. A devastating twist sparks a turbulent and dramatic chain of events as those responsible are brought to justice in a vicious and explosive finale.
 

Wasted on the Young Trailer

30 Minutes or Less Movie Posters

30 Minutes or Less

Release: August 12, 2011
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Writer: Michael Diliberti
Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride, Aziz Ansari, Nick Swardson, Michael Pena

Synopsis: In the action-comedy 30 Minutes or Less, Nick (Jesse Eisenberg) is a small town pizza delivery guy whose mundane life collides with the big plans of two wanna-be criminal masterminds (Danny McBride and Nick Swardson). The volatile duo kidnaps Nick and forces him to rob a bank. With mere hours to pull off the impossible task, Nick enlists the help of his ex-best friend, Chet (Aziz Ansari). As the clock ticks, the two must deal with the police, hired assassins, flamethrowers, and their own tumultuous relationship.

30 Minutes or Less Trailer

Life! Camera Action... Movie Poster

Life! Camera Action...

Release: August 10, 2011
Director: Rohit Gupta
Writer: Rohit Gupta, Amanda Sodhi
Cast: Dipti Mehta, Shaheed K. Woods, Noor Naghmi, John Crann
 
Synopsis: It is a touching saga of Reina, a young, Indian-American woman, who sets off to pursue a career in filmmaking against the wishes of her family and as she begins to discover herself and tries to make ends meet, Reina begins to seen another dream - to prove to her parents that her drive for her dream is sincere and while being born with a personality may be an inherent gift from one's parents, to live as a personality is an achievement of our own and a return gift to one's parents.
 

Life! Camera Action... Trailer

The Unleashed Movie Poster

The Unleashed

Release: August 7, 2011
Director: Manuel H. Da Silva
Writer: Diane Da Silva, L.A. Lopes
Cast: Trisha Echeverria, Jessica Salgueiro, Colin Paradine, Caroline Williams, Suzanne Farla, Malcolm McDowell, Shane Harbinson, Anissa Holmes, Peter Valdron
 
Synopsis: Madison Kennard, a troubled woman dealing with her dark past, must venture home after an 8 year absence following her mother's death. Almost instantly after her return, Madison must cope with the haunting memories of a childhood best forgotten.
Bizarre and unexplainable events occur within the house after Madison and old friends come together to dabble with the infamous Ouija board. Dark oak wood, round in shape, and with numbers in Roman numerals, this board is unlike any others. Found in the attic of the home, Madison has no idea of the secrets and danger that comes with contacting the dead through this board
 

The Change-Up Movie Poster

The Change-Up

Release: August 5, 2011
Director: David Dobkin
Writer: Jon Lucas, Scott Moore
Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Jason Bateman, Leslie Mann, Olivia Wilde, Alan Arkin
 
Synopsis: Growing up together, Mitch (Reynolds) and Dave (Bateman) were inseparable best friends, but as the years have passed they�ve slowly drifted apart. While Dave is an overworked lawyer, husband and father of three, Mitch has remained a single, quasi-employed man-child who has never met a responsibility he liked. To Mitch, Dave has it all: beautiful wife Jamie (Leslie Mann), kids who adore him and a high-paying job at a prestigious law firm. To Dave, living Mitch�s stress free life without obligation or consequence would be a dream come true.
Following a drunken night out together, Mitch and Dave�s worlds are turned upside down when they wake up in each other�s bodies and proceed to freak the &*#@ out.
Despite the freedom from their normal routines and habits, the guys soon discover that each other�s lives are nowhere near as rosy as they once seemed. Further complicating matters are Dave�s sexy legal associate, Sabrina (Olivia Wilde), and Mitch�s estranged father (Alan Arkin). With time not on their side, Mitch and Dave comically struggle to avoid completely destroying each other�s lives before they can find a way to get their old ones back.
 

The Change-Up Trailer

Bellflower Movie Poster

Bellflower

Release: August 5, 2011
Director: Evan Glodell
Writer: Evan Glodell
Cast: Evan Glodell, Jessie Wiseman, Tyler Dawson, Rebekah Brandes, Vincent Grashaw
 
Synopsis: Woodrow and Aiden spend all of their free time building Mad Max inspired flame-throwers and weapons of mass destruction in preparation for a global apocalypse in which their imaginary gang "Mother Medusa" can emerge on top. But when Woodrow meets a charismatic young woman and falls hard in love, he and Aiden quickly integrate into a new group of friends, setting off on a journey of betrayal, love, hate, infidelity, and extreme violence more devastating and fiery than any of their apocalyptic fantasies.
 

Bellflower Trailer

First Look at the New Superman!

So, today, they released the first picture of Henry Cavill as Superman from the new Superman movie!

I'm going to crop this sucker so we can get a better look....

So, let's begin the whiny fanboy rant, shall we?

First up, the colours are too dark.  That could be the lighting in the photograph, so we'll let it slide. 

Cape it too big.  I don't like the texture of the suit.  They're trying to make it kind of scaly, like the Spider-Man movie costume.  And where's that trademark Superman spit curl?

But for the things I like...I do like the logo on the chest.  It's a little bigger and more silver age.  Plus, I like that this is the first time Superman is kinda ripped.  Christopher Reeve and Brandon Routh were lean and mean.  But Cavill...he's big and mean. 

So let's recap what brought us to this place.  How did this new Superman come to be?

Flash back to 2006.  Superman Returns underperformed at the box office...both financially and critically.  "It made $400 million at the box office, what's 'underperforming' these days?" said director Bryan Singer.  "Yeah...our budget projections said it should have made $500 million," said the bosses at Warner Brothers.  So the decision was finally made to reboot the series.

And you know, Superman Returns had a few good spots, but when all was said and done, I think it's a movie that needed to be made.  The Christopher Reeve Superman films were so legendary, that something had to be done to pay homage to them or give that series a proper end or just plain get it out of our systems before a whole new cinematic Superman could be made. 

So, Warner Brothers started entertaining pitches for a new Superman film.

Meanwhile, down the hall, riding high on the success of The Dark Knight, director Christopher Nolan and Batman Begins/The Dark Knight co-writer David S. Goyer were beating their heads against the wall, coming up with a great idea for a third Batman film.  During a break, Goyer said, "It's too bad we're not doing Superman, I've got a great idea for Superman."  And Goyer shared his great idea.  Nolan said, "That is awesome," and they ran down the hall the Warner Brothers big brass and gave their idea.  Warner Brothers agreed that the idea was awesome.  Goyer was put to work writing the script, and Nolan was signed on as a producer. 

Nolan and Goyer then set out to find a director.  After searching through Hollywood, they finally settled on Zack Snyder, who directed 300, Watchmen, and this spring's Sucker Punch.  And then it was time to find the cast!

And what a cast!  I think it's fair to call this an all-star cast.  In our new Superman film, we will be treated to:

• Henry Cavill as Superman/Clark Kent
• Amy Adams as Lois Lane
• Michael Shannon as General Zod
• Antje Traue as Faora, Zod's second-in-command
• Laurence Fishburne as Perry White
• Kevin Costner as Jonathon Kent
• Diane Lane as Martha Kent
• Russell Crowe as Jor-El
• Julia Ormand as Lara
• Christopher Meloni as Colonel Hardy, an army officer.

It was originally going to come out Christmas 2012, but it was decided it was more of a summer blockbuster, and it got pushed back to Summer 2013.  And taking a cue from The Dark Knight, this new Superman tale will be called....
 
Man of Steel.  

Red Tails Trailer

So, this has been online for a few days now, and I've been wanting to blog about it.  It's the first trailer for Red Tails.






I got kind of excited in those weeks before the release of Revenge of the Sith when I caught an interview with George Lucas in which he confided that part the reason why did the prequels was because he knew they would make a ton of money, and thus ensure his financial security to give him the freedom to make the kind of moody, experimental films that he really wanted to make.  Ooo...I wonder what Lucas was going to make after the prequels.  What did he mean by "moody and experimental?"

Apparently, he meant Indiana Jones fighting aliens, because that's what he made next.

But after that, he assured us that he was finally turning his attention to Red Tails.  Red Tails is a movie that Lucas has been developing since the late-1980s.  Some originally thought it was a code name for Episode I, as Return of the Jedi had the similar-sounding code name "Blue Harvest."  Lucas, however, assured the fans that Red Tails had nothing to do with Star Wars...that it was, in fact, a World War II epic about the legendary Tuskegee Airman -- an all-African-American fighter pilot squadron. 

While Lucas himself wrote the original story, he handed screenwriting duties over to John Ridley.  For the director, Lucas chose Anthony Hemingway, a veteran television director making his feature film directorial debut.  The film boasts an all-star cast, with Terrance Howard, Cuba Gooding Jr, Method Man, Ne-Yo, and Bryan Cranston. 

This is Lucas's first non-franchise film (i.e. not Star Wars or Indy) since 1994's Radioland Murders, and that's a bit of a detriment for me.  Without the nostalgia factor of lightsabers in the trailer, it's tough to get excited about this film.  I need to know more right now...more about the plot, more about the characters...just more.

However, since it is Lucas, the special effects are looking amazing.  It looks like he's taking what he learned from the spectacular space battle scene at the opening of Revenge of the Sith and applying it to World War II dogfights.  That's kind of a neat full-circle thing....  As has been widely reported, Lucas showed the special effects artists on the very first Star Wars dogfights from World War II films to convey what he wanted to achieve in the space battles. 

Red Tails hits theatres this January, and I look forward to finding out more.