Next Avengers Debut Trailer
May 22, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Marvel’s animated branch of direct to DVD movies will bring Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow in August of 2008. So far I’ve loved the stuff they have been doing, although this one seems a bit stranger to me.
The premise is that Ultron has returned years after the classic Avengers have long since moved on. The kids step up and have to save the world. I wondered about how good this would be for comics fans, considering these characters are all new, here is what the Marvel.com interview with creator Chris Yost had to say:
“But!” he continues, “If you do know the classic characters, and do know the history, then there is a TON of stuff packed into the movie. Nothing distracting, nothing that will take people out of the moment, but there’s going to be plenty of goodness for hardcore Avengers fans.”
Tags: animated, animation, avengers, chris yost, dvd, heroes of tomorrow, marvel, marvel studios, movie, movies, next avengers, yost
Fantastic Four: Animated Series
May 31, 2007 | 1 Comment
Marvel and Cartoon Network launched an animated Fantastic Four series last fall. The DVD of Season 1 has been released. Season 2 will start on June 16th.
I found the first season only mildly entertaining. The animation is relatively modern with an anime type style to it. I would assume this appeals to many brought up on Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, etc. The story lines are fairly involved and true to the characters and history of the Fantastic Four, the best part of the series. My biggest complaint, though, is with the voice acting. Specifically, Johnny Storm sounds like a complete idiot. Maybe it got better later in the season, I need to go back and watch…
Tags: dvd, fantastic 4, fantastic four, johnny storm, pokemon, sue storm, The Thing, thing, yu-gi-oh
Iron Man Movie Excitement
April 30, 2007 | Leave a Comment
As Spider-Man 3 prepares to hit theaters on Friday night kicking off the summer 2007 movies, I begin to look forward to the Marvel movies of summer 2008. Headlining those charts is the exciting Jon Favreau rendition of Iron Man.
Classically, Iron Man/Tony Stark has not been one of my favorite Marvel characters. However, 2005’s Orson Scott Card written Ultimate Iron Man series piqued my interest. Following this, the deep involvement in Spider-Man continuity. Peter befriends and relies on Tony Stark, moves into Avengers tower with Mary Jane and Aunt May. He then changes to the Iron Spidey costume. Eventually comes out in support of Stark’s Super Hero Registration Act initiative and reveals his identity. His stance changes in the long run as he defies Iron Man, goes underground and joins the resistance as part of the conclusion of Civil War. All this certainly puts Iron Man front and center in all my comic readings.
Of additional note, last winter’s Invincible Iron Man DVD, created by the same animation studio responsible for Ultimate Avengers and Ultimate Avengers 2 DVDs, was the best of the three.
With all this in mind, the star studded casting of Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark/Iron Man, Terrence Howard as good friend and coworker Jim Rhodes/War Machine, Gwyneth Paltrow as the love interest Viginia “Pepper” Potts, and Jeff Bridges as the apparent villain Obadiah Stane/Iron Monger is highly exciting.
I’m on the edge of my seat waiting for the first teaser trailer…
Tags: "ultimate avengers", avengers, civi war, dvd, gwyneth paltrow, invincible iron man, iron man, iron monger, james rhodes, jeff bridges, jim rhodes, jon favreau, marvel, movie, obadiah stane, orson scott card, pepper potts, poster, robert downey, robert downey jr, spider-man, spiderman, spidey, tony stark, trailer, war machine
Red Box in Plymouth!
March 26, 2007 | 8 Comments
Red Box is now available in the local Hannaford grocery store in Plymouth, NH. Why is this exciting you ask? Well now you can queue up a new release to rent online (or in store) and pick it up without any human intervention when you go grocery shopping for a mere $1 per night! OK, so the no human interaction piece isn’t great, but it sure cuts down on lines. Since I cut out my Netflix subscription this actually seems like a nice alternative. This is basically a soda machine for DVD rentals. Very cool.
Tags: dvd, Fun Whatnot, movie, movies, rental, rentals, video
Invincible Iron Man DVD
January 22, 2007 | 2 Comments
The animated movie, Invincible Iron Man, will be released on DVD tomorrow, January 23rd. This full length film is by the same Marvel animation studio that made Ultimate Avengers and Ultimate Avengers 2.
Here’s the marketing plot summary:
Past and present collide in this epic adventure that reveals the origin of Iron Man. While raising the ruins of a long buried Chinese kingdom, billionaire inventor Tony Stark digs up far more than he bargained for. He unleashes an age-old prophecy that foretells the resurrection of the Mandarin, the emperor of China’s darkest and most violent dynasty. In order to confront the destructive force, Tony creates an armored suit infused with high-tech weaponry. To stop the evil that he himself has raised from the earth, Tony must become his greatest invention ever—Iron Man! The newly born champion must travel to the four corners of the earth to battle the Mandarin’s henchmen, the Elementals—four magical warriors who harness the power of the elements—earth, water, wind, and fire—with deadly chemistry. But is the Iron Knight, as he his known in the prophecy, strong enough to defy fate and turn back the malevolent forces hell-bent on earth’s destruction?
This movie is not to be confused with the live action Iron Man movie due out May 2008 starring Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man, Terrance Howard as Jim Rhodes, and Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts.
Tags: "ultimate avengers", animation, dvd, gwyneth paltrow, invincible iron man, iron knight, iron man, jim rhodes, mandarin, marvel, pepper potts, robert downey jr, terrance howard, tony stark
Audio/Video Cables - STSI
September 25, 2006 | 3 Comments
Recently I decided it was time to hook my Power Mac up to my 42″ DLP projection TV and receiver. I decided I would use the second DVI output on the video card and the fiber optic out for audio. I needed about 25′ of wire, both DVI and fiber optic. (I wish Apple would add an HDMI out so one wire would suffice).
After much searching for the most affordable solution, I found STSI. Their prices are fairly cheap and they had everything I needed in the appropriate lengths. Since the TV has HDMI inputs, I got a 25′ DVI/HDMI cable ($29.99) that allows me to run the video signal loss-less without the need for an adapter. The fiber optic cable I got was a 25′ pro-series optical cable ($17.99). To round out the order I also picked up a 6′ HDMI cable ($14.99) for my DVD player, a 6′ gold plated component video cable ($7.99) for my cable box, a 3′ optical cable ($4.99), and a 6′ optical cable ($5.99). I had no intended purpose for those, but at the price they seemed good to have on hand.
Due to the low prices, I was not expecting to get the best quality cables, but rather just good enough. When the cables arrived I was pleasantly surprised. The quality of these cables rivals Monster cables for 1/10th the price in some cases. As a quick comparison, Best Buy sells 8′ HDMI cables for $119.99, 35′ for $249.99, and 6′ optical for $29.99.
I highly recommend STSI for all your A/V cable needs.
Tags: audio, cables, component, dvd, dvi, fiber optic, hdmi, mac, monster cables, optic, optical, power mac, stsi, video, wires
Ultimate Avengers 2 Trailer Available
June 7, 2006 | 3 Comments
Unfortunately Marvel isn’t listing any information about it yet, probably still caught up in the success of X-Men 3. However, IGN has the trailer already so that works out. Considering how much I enjoyed the first movie I was plenty excited to know it will be coming to DVD August 8th.
This movie, subtitled “Rise of the Panther” seems to concentrate quite a bit on Black Panther. This departure from the basic Ultimates story line may prove to make a better film, but I also fear that any departure from Mark Millar’s fantastic work is a bit of a shame.
The oddest thing in this trailer is Iron Man’s appearance. Initially they show him in the standard red and yellow costume, but quickly cut to mostly footage with him in a black and white costume. This costume appears to me to be the War Machine armor warn by Jim Rhodes in classic Iron Man stories. It also resembles the armor Black Widow (aka Natalia Romanova) wore in the Ultimates, which was a wedding gift from Tony Stark. Oddly though, if you watch the trailer slowly there is at least one scene where Black Widow is standing with the black and white suited Iron Man, pretty much throwing that second theory out of the water. The question remains, is that in fact Tony in the armor, Jim Rhodes, or is Marvel animation throwing us some odd curve ball? I’ll let you know in my review after the 8th…
Tags: "ultimate avengers", avengers, black panther, black widow, dvd, iron man, jim rhodes, mark millar, marvel, movie, natalia romanova, preview, tony stark, trailer, ultimates, war machine