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There just may have been a real King Arthur in the sixth century of what is today England. Or, he may have been a legend the fractured country needed to help give it a cultural identity. Either way, that legendary figure of story and song would be horrified to see what Guy Ritchie has done in his name.

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword was a troubled production, heavily promoted, and lengthily delayed until it opened to withering reviews and poor box office. Now available on home video from Warner Home Entertainment, it is a troubling view of Arthur.

Real or not, he was reinterpreted for the needs of the country (and later portions of Europe) across the centuries with characters coming and going, victories of varying degrees, and epic romances until there was just Arthur and Guinevere. As we have come to know the legend, he was a moral character,...

Grass Kings #3

Written by Matt Kindt | Art by Tyler Jenkins | Published by Boom Studios

Matt Kindt and Tyler Jenks are building something special with Grass Kings. This is a book with so much unique character to it. Only three issues in and this world already has a lot of texture due in large part to the opening epilogs of each issue. Outside of the foreshadowing, it also gives a time and place to this unique location. We find out more about this world bit by bit and what it took to get to current status quo.

For a third issue, it is impressive how well so many of these characters are established. Kindt has dedicated the majority of these first issues to conversations. Whether it’s people talking about their desire to watch real cinema or what happened to their missing child a lot of exposition has been spouted in a rather organic way.

Opening in L.A. and other cities June 16, “Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe” is a stylishly accomplished and intellectually well thought out character study of a man who was the most popular author in the world in the 1920s and 1930s and who, today, is nearly forgotten. Told through six windows of 20 minutes each, this unique storytelling technique gives the film an immediacy as each part of Stefan Zweig’s life plays out in real time.

Stefan Zweig’s books have been made into 23 movies around the world, including his novel, Letter from an Unknown Woman, which was adapted to the screen in 1948 by Max Ophüls and starred Joan Fontaine and Louis Jourdain. His writings have also inspired Wes Anderson’s “Grand Budapest Hotel”.

Having just read his memoir, The World of Yesterday and having been on my own private search for what it means to have to leave your...

Chicago – There is a peculiar and particular morality in the maneuverings of “The Dinner,” a multi-course meditation on how a tragic incident can split both opinion and family. Everything in the present situation has a below-the-surface past that festers like an unhealed wound, constantly causing pain.

Rating: 4.5/5.0

The Dinner of the title is actually a meeting, about a secret that is being held together by the two couples and their children. Throughout the evening, the truth and sources of the secret breaks down, and is stripped away to an essence that is common to all families. The inhumanity contained in the situation is contrasted with the snooty restaurant, where the food is presented and narrated like it’s the last supper before the end of the world. But in a way, this hype is necessary to detach from the stark considerations the two couples face, and this pretentious dining absurdity...

It’s midnight on a Wednesday and I need sleep, but I can’t quite give in yet. I’ve been playing Nioh all evening yet I haven’t moved an inch. Blocking my path is a black monolith that rises from the ocean to pummel me with arms shaped like eels; to eviscerate me with lightning blasts from its orb-eye; to make a mockery of the character that I’ve carefully levelled to a point of pride

Bit by bit I’m learning to deal with its varied attacks, walking a tight margin for error like a trapeze artist. I decide to take a break – not for sleep – but to explore the other areas of the pirate-infested ruins, searching for loot and a chance to level up. There’s something cathartic about having a plan of action and when I return to the beast, luck is in my favor.

Ryan Lambie Nov 21, 2016

The live-action Ghost In The Shell got its unveiling in Tokyo last week. Here's what we learned...

Pitched somewhere between a mournful chant and a military march of drums, Kenji Kawai’s soundtrack for 1995’s Ghost In The Shell cast an unforgettably eerie pall over the entire movie. The makers of the new, live-action take on Ghost In The Shell clearly recognise the power of Kawai’s music because, as the lights go down on the movie’s Tokyo unveiling event, the composer and musician himself is here to thrash out a live version of his score.

See related The Walking Dead season 7: synopses and titles for episodes 6, 7 and 8 The Walking Dead: how will the show end? The Walking Dead season 7 episode 4 review: Service The Walking Dead season 7 episode 3 review: The Cell

As blue light emanates from huge Led screens and Kawai thrashes his barrel-sized taiko drum,...

Ryan Lambie Nov 14, 2016

As well as a great sci-fi thriller, Arrival is a film that offers a message of hope in a year of division and uncertainty, Ryan writes...

Nb: The following contains mild spoilers for Arrival.

It's no coincidence that the wave of science fiction films that emerged in the 1950s rode on a tide of post-war anxiety. The advent of the atom bomb, the Cold War, renewed fears of Communist incursion: these were just some of the fears that emerged as World War II shuddered to a close. And as the 40s tipped over into the 50s, those fears began to play out in movies: giant atomic monsters tore apart cities in the Us and Japan. Alien invaders arrived in their saucers, raining down great waves of death and destruction. Other invasions were more insidious: the aliens looked like us, lived among us, even controlled us from within.

"And, if I may: never let them see the real Elizabeth Windsor," Winston Churchill warns his young queen in Netflix's new drama The Crown. "Never let them see that carrying the crown is often a burden. Let them look at you, but let them see only the eternal." For those who didn't grow up under the British monarchy (and even for some who did), Queen Elizabeth can be a hard person in whom to find sympathy. She is the cold, distant symbol of an obsolete but fabulously wealthy system and has held a hard line on its antiquated rules, which at various points in her lifetime stood in the way of her uncle, her sister, and her son from marrying the people they loved because the various institutions of church and state did not approve. Peter Morgan once wrote a wonderful film — The Queen, the middle piece in his trilogy...

Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Photo courtesey of Film-in-evolution | Les Productions BalthazarGone are the glory days when Hollywood would identify and poach remarkable foreign (inevitably European) directors, enticing them with greater budgets and production capabilities. France, with its generous co-production financing, cannot compete with Hollywood of the 1930s, but half a decade ago they brought over a spate of our favorite East Asian auteurs to make several great films: Hou Hsiao-hsien (Flight of the Red Balloon), Hong Sang-soo (Night and Day) and Tsai Ming-liang (Visage). Now count Kiyoshi Kurosawa with that number. The Japanese director, best known for a cluster of haunting mysteries that coincided with the J-Horror trend and still conflated with that brief cultural moment, has made Daguerrotype, a haunted house gothic featuring French stars Tahar Rahim and Olivier Gourmet.Though often creeping towards horror—“thriller” might be more appropriate if his films didn’t move at an unsettling, dreamily...

The making of most documentaries pivots on one central question, a question that ultimately determines the nature of the film: do you hit upon a story and set out in search of it or do you let the story find you? It’s easy to see why the former approach enjoys such currency, as the biggest unknown is already clear from the outset. With a pre-determined story already in place, it’s now about working out the best way to tell it: locating the right people and making sure they say the right things on camera, scouring archives to find the footage that will lend credence to your argument, pinpointing the locations and landmarks with the greatest illustrative appeal. It’s an approach that’s been applied to countless subjects, people, and places and even brought forth some great films, although it still throws up some inconvenient questions along the way.

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Better Call Saul has developed into a TV drama every bit as compelling as its predecessor, Breaking Bad. Here's how...

Contains spoilers for Better Call Saul seasons 1 and 2

Better Call Saul had an impossible task. Following swiftly on the heels of a television series often referred to as the best ever, expectations, rightly or wrongly, were sky high. People were hungry for more of the world and characters that Breaking Bad made them fall in love with, and just over a year after the beloved finale of its predecessor, Better Call Saul debuted at a time when the sheen of myth was just starting to glow over Breaking Bad; far enough away that an already great television show had been even more idealised in people’s minds but close enough that the buzz was still strong. Everyone was hungry for more, and Better Call Saul had to deliver.

My favourite short film of 2015, Isabella Morra is a 22-minute epic by French newcomer Isabel Pagliai. It world-premiered—amid minimal-to-zero fanfare—at the gigantic International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (Idfa) in November, as part of the 'Paradocs' sidebar devoted to edgy/experimental material, mainly shorts. "Cinema verité portrait of a French suburb that demonstrates how the threat of deadly adult violence lurks below the surface of child’s play," the Idfa website drily noted. "Isabella Morra", wrote Paradocs programmer Joost Daamen, "was the daughter of an early-16th-century Italian baron. When he left his wife and eight children to amuse himself at the French court, Isabella fell under the authority of her two narrow-minded, jealous brothers. They decided she was getting too familiar with their neighbour and punished her by death. Six years later, Isabella’s sonnets and songs were published, which made her into a well-known Renaissance poet. "Twentieth-century novelist...

I’ve been blogging about the Oscars so long I often forget that most people out there don’t really know as much about the Academy’s recent history as I do.

Although it officially premiered at the Telluride Film Festival, the completed cut of Danny Boyle‘s immensely entertaining Steve Jobs screened at New York Film Festival this weekend. Gathering after the press screening, the director, Aaron Sorkin, Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen, Michael Stuhlbarg, and author Walter Isaacson gathered to discuss the making of the project and today we have the full talk.

We said in our review, “About halfway into the movie’s second act, itself around Steve Jobs’ halfway point, the convoluted, sometimes outright hackneyed pieces start forming a larger picture, one that, in structure, formal tempo, and Daniel Pemberton‘s Glass-aping score, is not at all unlike Paul Schrader’s Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters. Bit by bit, there’s an accumulation of signifiers that what’s being staged is less a by-the-book recounting of significant events than it is a full-blown trip through — and,...

Taken as a straight-faced, just-the-facts account of one great man’s amazing achievements, Steve Jobs is a bit daft. For as much as the structure of Danny Boyle and Aaron Sorkin‘s biopic — divided into three sections, each set backstage right before a product’s announcement (those being the Apple Lisa in 1984, the NeXTcube in 1988, and the iMac in 1998) — is receiving attention, that bit of pre-release hype, like all pre-release hype, should be questioned. To my mind, this is all a reductive bit of enthusiasm: what happens when anyone does anything different with the format, thus saving us from having to (gasp!) sit through “yet another biopic.” The reaction is premature, surely, but none too surprising. There’s a vocal and too-large section of viewers for whom the genre indicates that what they’re seeing — no matter the talent of its creators or the fascination that comes with its subject — is unquestionably an inferior product,...

Released today on Netflix, crime thriller Narcos stumbles early on but rapidly improves. Here's our spoiler-free review...

How much you enjoy the first episode of Narcos depends very strongly on how you feel about voiceover. The first hour of Netflix’s new Pablo Escobar series is essentially a long montage of character moments and exposition, none of which is particularly cohesive. It seems like it’s stylistically trying to evoke Goodfellas, but ultimately it feels clumsy and lazy. Every little piece of information is told to us by the drawl of Boyd Holbrook’s Steve Murphy, who gives us no reason to empathise with him unless you’re drawn to cheesy lines and posing machismo. There is no sense of tension or stakes and it’s hard to care much about any of what is happening on screen.

Outside of what he did for a living, my knowledge of Pablo Escobar is pretty much non-existent,...

Bit by bit, Disney/Lucasfilm is peeling back the mystery of “The Force Awakens” before it arrives in theaters this December. The roll-out has layers…like an onion or a parfait. The latest layer to be revealed? Andy Serkis in full “costume.” Over at StarWars.com, Annie Leibovitz gave an exclusive interview about what it’s been like to have exclusive access to the iconic saga over the years for her photoshoots. There were a handful of tiny reveals — Bb-8 is referred to by male pronouns, how Leibovitz requested Lupita put on the MoCap rig to show off that side of movie magic — peppered throughout. Then halfway through the interview, the bombshell is dropped. Andy Serkis will play a new character known as Supreme Leader Snoke. What does that mean, exactly? No one knows and that’s the point. The wild speculation rumpus begins anew! Image Credit: Vanity Fair. Photo by Annie Leibovitz.

CSI: Cyber Season 1 comes to an end Wednesday, May 13, with two back-to-back episodes. First up, the Cyber team investigates a hacker who takes advantage of a power outage in Detroit to mask a robbery and homicide at a jewelry store in “Bit by Bit” at 9pm Et/Pt. Then in the season finale “Family Secrets” at 10pm Et/Pt, Avery (Patricia Arquette) confronts the hacker who exposed confidential patient information online, and Krumitz (Charley Koontz) confronts the man who killed his parents. CSI: Cyber has been renewed for a second season by CBS. Ted Danson will move from CSI: Crime Scene … Continue reading →

The post Avery confronts her hacker in CSI: Cyber Season 1 finale “Family Secrets” appeared first on Channel Guide Magazine.

Some answers serve only to deepen the mystery in this week's Fortitude. Here's Michael's review...

This review contains spoilers

‘He had good reason for using overwhelming force’. You have to admire Hildur’s attempts to take control of the narrative as events twist themselves around her. Frank was naked in the shower when Dan assaulted him and gave him such a vicious beating that it’s probably possible to trace the Sheriff’s fingerprint’s in the poor guy’s bruises. Morton, as we now expect, isn’t buying it and immediately seizes control for himself. It’s a piece of narrative necessity that lends the episode pace and structure while offering the chance, in-universe, for the investigation to be done properly.

The central face of the matter is that it takes an outsider to even consider the questions that Morton asks and a man of his tenacious character to...

New York CIty, 1981, is a blasted moral hellscape against which a very primal struggle for survival unfolds in a very tense thirty days, all for the right to supply homes with heating oil. J. C. Chandor's "A Most Violent Year" is a powerfully told story, a thrilling surprise, and both Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain do remarkable work as a couple trying to close a deal that will turn their heating oil company into a much larger overall business, the deal they've been working their whole lives to prepare. This one particular month starts with them confident, convinced they're going to take things to the next level, and it unfolds with them increasingly unsure that they're going to pull it off. It is a movie about an entire city conspiring to test a marriage, and the way this one particular couple fights their way through. This is a great screenplay first and foremost.

Britain, 1984. Times are troubled. Burrowed away in her Downing Street lair, Thatcher regards mining communities with suspicious eyes. In the 1970s, the powerful National Union of Mineworkers called a series of devastatingly successful strikes, ultimately bringing down the government. In Thatcher’s mind, union power was anathema: an anti-democratic, anti-capitalist threat to bottom lines and the power of the state.

So she hatched a plan: force the miners into a strike and then target their weak spots with surgical precision. She mobilized the media, militarized the police and granted sops to smaller unions (preventing them from joining the miners in solidarity), leaving mining communities isolated and embattled.

While this occupied the front pages of newspapers, another front raged on with less publicity: the battle for gay rights. Thatcher’s government was notoriously homophobic; she was personally vehemently opposed to even the concept of homosexuality, famously saying “children who need to...

A weekly feature in which we spotlight shining stars

The Performer | Allison Tolman

The Show | Fargo

The Episode | “The Heap”

The Airdate | June 3, 2014

The Performance | It could not have been easy, an admittedly unknown actress landing the lead in TV’s take on a revered film, all but following in the footsteps of Academy Award- and SAG Award-winning actress Frances McDormand. But Allison Tolman is gettin’ the job done, you betcha.

In the first eight episodes of the FX drama, Tolman gave us a character to root for like none other — Molly Solverson, a police deputy in the brittle burg of Bemidji,...

Bit by bit, Marvel has begun unravelling their latest and most adventurous property yet, Guardians of the Galaxy. In their current phase, the studio arm of Marvel Comics is venturing from Earth and its Avengers to the cosmos, where any number of unique characters inhabit any number of interesting worlds. As we’re about to see later this summer in James Gunn’s Guardians film, this can even include the existence of a talking raccoon and his pal, a sentient tree. With the Guardians of the Galaxy trailer out and making waves across the Internet, Marvel has followed up by releasing the film’s first poster as well as five new character featurettes introducing us to our new heroes. There’s Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord, played by Chris Pratt (Parks and Recreation); the assassin Gamora, played by Zoe Saldana (Star Trek); the brutish and tortured Drax the Destroyer, played by pro wrestler Dave Bautista; the hot-tempered Rocket...

Fans of the Rocky franchise worried that the former champion boxer was past his best, but he managed to turn a hostile crowd in his favour and produce a stirring comeback in Moscow

Wow! Many felt Rocky Balboa was crazy to take this fight in Moscow, myself included among the dissenting voices. But in a performance so brave that it seemed to extend the limits of humanity, the former heavyweight champion of the world not only silenced his doubters in defeating Ivan Drago, he also turned a hostile home crowd in his favour, so much so that come the end of almost 15 rounds of brutal boxing, cries of "Rocky, Rocky" were resonating around the auditorium. There are worse ways to spend your Christmas Day than this.

Whether victory here in Moscow tonight can provide Balboa with full closure over his part in Apollo Creed's tragic death is questionable. Yet the...

Other than reading content here at ComicMix, we can stipulate that the Internet is for porn. There’s even a song confirming that fact. It’s easy access for free has transformed already sexist ideals of what sex is all about. An entire generation is being raised in the belief that women will drop their tops for beads, will perform sexual acts in the hopes of winning a Dare Dorm competition and professionals will do just about any act, in any position, for your, ahem, entertainment.

As a result, there are men out there who go to clubs, get laid and surprisingly remain unsatisfied. Multi-hyphenate Joseph Gordon-Levitt has been giving this kind of male some thought, dating back to 2008, and turned it into an interesting meditation on the matter in the entertaining Don Jon. Gordon-Levitt wrote, directed, and stars in this snapshot of the East Coast male. His Jon...

Bit by bit, inch by inch, raindrop by raindrop, The Killing Season 3 and its serial killer case continue to move forward in a positive - if not gripping - manner.

In wonderful serialized fashion, the story progresses on all fronts, lets the surrounding characters grow with each situation and allows each episode to feel like simply the next step... rather than a bunch of moments leading up to a shocking ending of the hour.

There's something about this refreshed and revamped version that can really pull a viewer in.

Topping off the list of great moments had to be the reuniting of Linden and Holder as partners. Sort of. Unofficially.

Don't get me wrong, I actually like Holder's new partner, Reddick. He brings a different personality to the table that's charismatic in its own right. But Linden and Holder are made for each other.

Watching them interrogate Mama Dips for the whereabouts of her son,...

Do You Think You Can Tell?: Darcy-Smith’s Debut Promising, if Ultimately Contrived

Establishing an effective and potentially chilling set-up during its first few frames, Kieran Darcy-Smith’s Wish You Were Here evocatively recalls the Pink Floyd tune with which it shares a name for what promises to be a poetically charged mystery. Too bad that a stodgy and predictable finale will leave you cold, and potentially mars the film’s initial charms. Co-written with actress and star of the film, Felicity Price, Darcy-Smith builds an effective scenario to feverish foreboding, releasing its tension in a twinned lashing of shocking violence. But once the fury subsides and all has been revealed, it ends with the thud of a nicely packaged cliché.

Plopped into the midst of Dave (Joel Edgerton) and the very pregnant Alice’s (Felicity Price) strained domestic situation, we learn that they have recently returned from a...

One thing that marked the movies of the 1980′s more than anything else was the amazing soundtracks. The 80′s saw an explosion in licensed music in movies, and led to many bands finding success in the Us, where previously they’d been struggling. In honour of the great movie soundtracks of the decade, here’s my rundown of the ten best Under Rated Movie Songs of the 80′s:

10. Joe Esposito – You’re the Best Around from The Karate Kid:

9. Kenny Loggins – I’m Free (Heaven Helps The Man) from Footloose:

8. Tim Feehan – Where’s the Fire from The Wraith:

7. Stephanie Mills – Bit by Bit from Fletch:

6. Alisha – Do You Dream About Me from Mannequin:

5. John Farnham – Break the Ice from Rad:

4. Chas Jankel – Number One from Real Genius:

3. Max Carl – The Circle from Weird Science:

2. Amy McDonald – Shooting For the Moon from Teen...

After a preview episode on Monday, "Motive" premieres in its official timeslot Thursday night (May 23) at 9 p.m. Et/Pt on ABC. Brendan Penny stars as Det. Brian Lucas, a cop who is new to the homicide game.

"He was nine years in financial crimes," Penny tells Zap2it about his character. "So obviously he's fantastic at doing research and computer work. Bit by bit [throughout the season], he does progress and become a lot more savvy, but it's a slow progression."

"He's the guy who does a lot of the grunt work," laughs Penny. "But he does get more involved throughout the season, interviewing people, trying to solve the crimes as well."

The hook with "Motive" is that the killer and victim are revealed right at the start of each episode and the trick is figuring out how they are connected, which Penny says really attracted him to the show.

"What I...

These days, budgets can be pared down thanks to digital photography, letting producers focus more on cast and story, which often means we get some interesting takes on the standard genres. For example, a bungled robbery has been done time and again. But in the newly released Pawn, out today from Anchor Bay, we get an interesting set of characters.

A small group of would-be thieves hit a diner and are frustrated by discovering a dummy safe and decide to wait. Bit by bit, we learn more about the characters as the hours tick down to midnight when the time-locked safe, containing the diner’s cash, will open. We’re given some interesting narrative structure added by superb performances by a familiar cast led by Michael Chiklis. Chiklis is “The Brit”, who leads the gang and largely interacts with the diner’s owner

(Stephen Lang). They banter, the tension rises...

Star Trek – and we’re talking the original 1966-69 series here – was a lousy TV show. I was 11 years old when the series debuted on NBC and I thought it was a lousy show then.

That’s why I couldn’t stand the Trekkies even back before there was a name for them. My first run-in with a pre-Trekkie Trekkie was Vincent DePalma. In seventh grade, Vincent had his mother make a sparkly Star Fleet emblem for a corduroy pullover to make it look like the uniform blouses on the show. He wore it to school which I thought was him begging to get his ass beat. He’d built a full-sized replica of the helm/navigation console from the Enterprise bridge in his basement. His father worked for Bell Telephone and had gotten him banks of light-up buttons that really worked. His dream was to eventually recreate the entire bridge in his basement.

Chicago – Disney’s hit “Wreck-It Ralph,” recently released on Blu-ray and DVD, fits one of the most important criteria for a parent considering picking up a kid’s movie to own — replay value. As anyone with kids can tell you, if you buy something, you best be ready to watch it over and over and over again. And “Ralph” holds up surprisingly well. I’m still a little surprised it received the level of acclaim it did with some even suggesting it should win the Oscar (we all know that should have been “ParaNorman”) but it’s a good movie to throw on if your kids need a distraction with a good message. And the Blu-ray includes the Oscar winner for Best Animated Short, the great “Paperman.”

Rating: 3.5/5.0

What is up with the latest trend of bad guys gone good in animated films? “Megamind,” “Despicable Me,” and now “Wreck-It Ralph...

Wreck-It Ralph managed to be something of a surprise, perhaps owing to the fact that the trailers didn’t sell it’s abilities, and made it seem like an excuse to throw video game icons at you, and it’s another film in a long line that now become labeled “in any other year.” At least it has some big award wins though.

The story of the titular video game character who, after a 30 year run, finds himself losing himself in his own existence. He doesn’t want to be a bad guy. He wants to be the one who gets a medal this time. Most importantly, he’s tired of the way everyone else in his own game treats him. As the triple decade anniversary approaches, Ralph decides to try to switch things up a bit.

Moving from one video game to the next, Ralph (John C. Reilly) vows to bring home a medal,...

Cinelinx drops a quarter on the new Wreck It Ralph 3D Blu-ray!

This review is based on the Ultimate Collector's Edition 4-Disc Set (3D Blu-ray, 2D Blu-ray, DVD, Digital Copy)

The Set-up

Video game villain Ralph (voice of John C. Reilly) decides he no longer wants to be the bad guy, and abandons his game to become a hero. 8-bit hilarity ensues. Featuring the voices of Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch, and Sarah Silverman.

Directed by Rich Moore

The Delivery

I'll be honest, I was ready to hate Wreck It Ralph before I saw it. As someone who grew up during the video game arcade craze of the 1980s, I certainly didn't object to the idea of a Disney movie in a video game world. I'm a fan of both Tron films, so I had no doubt the movie would be able to capture the right spirit and feel (which it...

Finally, Disney Animation tops Pixar in delivering an animated film that’s full of heart and jam-packed with enough video game references to please even the oldest of gamers. Rich Moore’s Wreck-It Ralph is an adventure for the whole family that makes good use of 3D, while also providing the audience with a well-written story that’ll go down as one of Disney Animation’s best films.

Wreck-It Ralph (John C. Reilly) is a video game bad guy. He spends most of his time destroying a building, only for the much loved Fix-It Felix (Jack McBrayer) to come in and claim all of the glory after repairing the building. Ralph lives this event on repeat, day-after-day until he finally decides that he’s sick of being the mistreated outcast.

He sets his sights on hopefully becoming the good guy in another video game or at least someone that’s well-respected in his own.

I’m surprised it took this long to come up with a concept like Wreck-it Ralph, the hilarious, arcade-game-hopping journey from Disney which was something of a Toy Story for a generation weaned on Nintendo and Sega. Wreck-it Ralph was a lot of fun (much more so than Brave which took home the Oscar last week). Wamg’s Jim Batts gave the film 4 ½ stars (read his review Here)

http://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2012/11/wreck-it-ralph-the-review/

Now Wreck-it Ralph has been released on Blu-ray and, unsurprisingly, it looks spectacular. Sharpness consistently appears immaculate on the Br disc. Even the widest shots of the “Sugar Rush” racers zooming around the track demonstrated excellent clarity, as every aspect of Wreck-it Ralph looked detailed and distinctive. No issues with jagged edges or shimmering materialized, and I saw no edge haloes or processing concerns. Of course, print flaws weren’t a factor, as they stayed away from this unblemished presentation.

Tomorrowland: Hugh Laurie, former star of TV’s House, is now in talks to play a villain in the highly secretive sci-fi project Tomorrowland. George Clooney is attached to star, with Brad Bird set to direct. Laurie was in talks for a villainous role in the RoboCop reboot, but that fell through, with Michael Keaton stepping in. Laurie certainly would make a good foil for Clooney; the movie is due for release on December 14, 2014. [The Hollywood Reporter] Spy Hunter: Bit by bit (byte by byte?), the video game Spy Hunter is inching toward a big-screen adaptation. Several months ago, director Ruben Fleischer (Gangster Squad) joined the project, and now a new screenwriter has finally been hired. Carter Blanchard has only a scant few official credits, but he sold at least three...

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Tomorrowland: Hugh Laurie, former star of TV’s House, is now in talks to play a villain in the highly-secretive sci-fi project Tomorrowland. George Clooney is attached to star, with Brad Bird set to direct. Laurie was in talks for a villainous role in the Robocop reboot, but that fell through, with Michael Keaton stepping in. Laurie certainly would make a good foil for Clooney; the movie is due for release on December 14, 2014. [The Hollywood Reporter] Spy Hunter: Bit by bit (byte by byte?), the video game Spy Hunter is inching toward a big-screen adaptation. Several months ago, director Ruben Fleischer (Gangster Squad) joined the project, and now a new screenwriter has finally been hired. Carter Blanchard has only a scant few official credits, but he sold at least three...

Read More...

Walt Disney Animation Studios will debut the hit arcade-game-hopping adventure Wreck-it Ralph marking a Disney first with the early release of the HD Digital and HD Digital 3D on February 12, 2013. The 4-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack, 2-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD, Sd Digital and On-Demand release will follow on March 5, 2013.

From Walt Disney Animation Studios, .Wreck-It Ralph. takes viewers on a hilarious journey. For decades, Ralph (voice of John C. Reilly) has played the bad guy in his popular video game. In a bold move, he embarks on an action-packed adventure and sets out to prove to everyone that he is a true hero with a big heart. As he explores exciting new worlds, he teams up with some unlikely new friends including feisty misfit Vanellope von Schweetz (voice of Sarah Silverman). The film is directed by Emmy®-winner Rich Moore.

Featuring an all-star voice cast including Jack McBrayer as the voice of Fix It Felix,...

Sometimes we get to open a Christmas present on Christmas Eve rather than waiting for the following day. Sometimes aunt Mildred sends $10 in a birthday card a week early. And sometimes Walt Disney Animation Studios releases the Wreck-It Ralph HD Digital copy a month before it comes out on DVD and Blu-ray. So race to your nearest armchair and fire up your Apple TV or Xbox or whatever you stream movies on and enjoy Wreck-It Ralph earlier than those poor souls waiting on their archaic discs.

Here’s the press release:

Wreck- It Ralph – Walt Disney Animation Studios announces the debut of the hit arcade-game-hopping adventure “Wreck-It Ralph” marking a Disney first with the early release of the HD Digital and HD Digital 3D on February 12, 2013, followed by the 4-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack, 2-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD, Sd Digital and On-Demand release on March 5, 2013.

From Walt Disney Animation Studios,...

Fans of the Edna & Harvey series will be happy to know a new lite version is now available for the iPad. In this point-and-click adventure, players will guide our team through the creepy corridors of an insane asylum for some very bizarre game experiences!

From the Press Release

The iPad version of Edna & Harvey: The Breakout Lite is now available in the App-Store. The players aid Edna in escaping her padded cell as well as guiding her first steps through the asylum. Thus, everyone may take a peek at the game and join Edna on her adventure.

Players are able to enjoy the wacky adventures with Edna and her stuffed bunny Harvey. Classic point and click controls have been adapted to iPad touchscreen and are more convenient than ever. The legendary humor and lovely comic style are preserved, as well as the tricky puzzles on Edna's way to freedom.

Young...

Wreck-it Ralph, one of 2012′s Best Animated Features, is coming to Blu-ray and DVD on March 5, 2013.

From Tappers bar to life lessons from Street Fighter villain Zangief, video game lovers will delight in the plethora of video game references included in this feature. The movie features the voices of John C. Reilly as Ralph, a dejected villain who wants to win a medal and become the good guy, and Sarah Silverman as the endearing, trouble making glitch Vanellope von Schweetz.

Exclusive Blu-ray material includes:

- DisneyIntermission: The Gamer’s Guide to “Wreck-It-Ralph” – When the film is paused, host Chris Hardwick appears on screen to guide viewers through a series of 10 video segments offering an inside look at the many video game references, Disney references and other hidden surprises featured in the film.

Other Special Features include:

- Bit by Bit: Creating the Worlds of “Wreck-It Ralph” – Fans of the...

Wreck-It-Ralph is one of my favorite Disney animated movies. If you missed this in theaters, you will soon have a chance to watch this amazing film in the comfort of your own home. Disney is smashing all the rules with this home release, by offering an early release of the HD Digital and HD Digital 3D on February 12, 2013. A release of the 4-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack, 2-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD, Sd Digital and On-Demand will follow on March 5, 2013. Keep reading for all the details!

Official Press Release:

Walt Disney Animation Studios announces the debut of the hit arcade-game-hopping adventure “Wreck-It Ralph” marking a Disney first with the early release of the HD Digital and HD Digital 3D on February 12, 2013, followed by the 4-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack, 2-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD, Sd Digital and On-Demand release on March 5, 2013.

From Walt Disney Animation Studios, “Wreck-It Ralph” takes viewers on a hilarious journey.

High-Definition and HD 3D Digital Release Date: Feb. 12, 2013, Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, DVD & Standard-Definition Digital Release Date: March 5, 2013

Price: DVD $29.99, Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo $39.99, Four-Disc Blu-ray 3D $49.99

Studio: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment

A bad guy with a heart of gold? That’s the subject of Disney’s family movie Wreck-It Ralph.

A contender for best animated film of the year, Wreck-It Ralph features the voice of John C. Reilly (Carnage) as the titular Ralph, the bad guy in his own popular videogame. But Ralph knows he’s much more and sets out on an adventure to prove that he’s really a hero with a heart of gold. Along the way, he teams up with some unlikely new friends, including misfit Vanellope von Schweetz (voiced by Sarah Silverman, Peep World).

Jack McBrayer (The Campaign) voices Fix It Felix Jr., Jane Lynch (Rio) is the voice of Sgt. Calhoun and Mindy Kaling...

Disney appears to be going a different route when it will release their hit animated film Wreck-It Ralph for home release. The media giant, looking to maximize profits, has decided to split up when you can get the film digitally as well as when you can buy it on blu-ray and DVD. You can score the film in HD download on February 12 and/or buy the film on blu-ray or DVD on March 5th. Check out the special features below. -Bit by Bit: Creating the Worlds of “Wreck-It Ralph” – Fans of the film will get a look at five new worlds created for “Wreck-It Ralph.” The short takes viewers into Game Central Station with the artists who brought Sugar Rush, Hero’s Duty and Fix It Felix Jr. to life. -Alternate & Deleted Scenes – Four separate scenes are highlighted with an introduction and optional audio commentary from director Rich Moore.

Bit by bit, the Bluths are being revealed once again. Ron Howard, who has become a prolific cellphone photographer, tweeted very late Tuesday a series of shots from the set of Arrested Development, which has begun shooting its comeback episodes. Howard serves as an Ep and the series' narrator, but as he revealed previously on Twitter, he'll also get some on-screen time with Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, Michael Cera and the gang. Bateman tweeted a couple of excitement-inducing photos a few weeks back of Cera standing in their TV house; the age difference between the last time we

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For Rose Byrne, the journey of her "Damages" character Ellen Parsons has been a very personal one. As "Damages" enters its fifth and final season (premieres Wed., July 11, 9 p.m. Et on DirecTV's Audience Network), Byrne said she is letting go of Ellen "bit by bit."

"I'm very protective of her," Byrne told me on set while filming the series finale in March. "For me, it's someone who has been entirely changed by an experience from start to finish."

The experience she's referring to? Life with Patty Hewes, the villainous lawyer co-star Glenn Close has made iconic.

When viewers first met Ellen Parsons, she was fresh out of law school and looking to make her mark in the legal world. Enter Patty Hewes (Close) who had motives of her own for hiring, mentoring and then attempting to kill Ellen.

"This relationship changed her in every single way that could be possible,...

For Rose Byrne, the journey of her "Damages" character Ellen Parsons has been a very personal one. As "Damages" enters its fifth and final season (premieres Wed., July 11, 9 p.m. Et on DirecTV's Audience Network), Byrne said she is letting go of Ellen "bit by bit."

"I'm very protective of her," Byrne told me on set while filming the series finale in March. "For me, it's someone who has been entirely changed by an experience from start to finish."

The experience she's referring to? Life with Patty Hewes, the villainous lawyer co-star Glenn Close has made iconic.

When viewers first met Ellen Parsons, she was fresh out of law school and looking to make her mark in the legal world. Enter Patty Hewes (Close) who had motives of her own for hiring, mentoring and then attempting to kill Ellen.

"This relationship changed her in every single way that could be possible,...

The director's most powerful and abiding images can be traced back to his early work in silent movies, as the forthcoming season at London's British Film Institute makes clear

Cary Grant runs through a desolate cornfield, pursued by a crop duster overhead. Ingrid Bergman risks her life to go into a wine cellar, looking for a secret. Eva Marie Saint clambers over the faces of the American presidents at Mount Rushmore. Tippi Hedren is pecked at by mysteriously aggressive gulls. James Stewart watches helplessly from a window as Grace Kelly creeps into a murderer's apartment. Kim Novak drives through San Francisco in a trance-like state wearing a grey suit. Janet Leigh takes a shower at the Bates Motel and never comes out.

These movie images could only belong to one director: Alfred Hitchcock, who from the end of June until October is being celebrated in a definitive season at the British Film Institute in London.

I’ll tell you right up front that I had a stronger emotional reaction to the film than most audience members, largely because of the theme of loss that permeates most of the story. As a result, I found myself loving the We Bought a Zoo and have been recommending it to families ever since. Now that it is out on DVD from 20th Century Home Entertainment, I’m here to recommend it as a purchase as well.

Since we’re all about to fall in love with Scarlet Johansson all over again when she kicks ass in The Avengers, it’s good to see her actually acting here, paired nicely with Matt Damon, the grieving patriarch who needs to change his life in some way and chooses to do so in a rather radical fashion.

Based on a real family – The Mees, of the Dartmoor Zoological Park in Devon,...