Rocketeer bendy by Justoys

Those who read my Who Framed Roger Rabbit flexies review know the extreme love/hate I have for bendy toys. I grew up in the 80s and 90s, bendy toys were in abundance. If the movie or TV show didn't have enough cool points to warrant an action figure line, there was at least a bendy made of a key character. While the movie Harry and the Hendersons would have been exciting to have gotten an action figure of John Lithgow or David Suchet, we were "blessed" with a bendy of Harry himself. But on the flip side, if it was expected to be a dynamite blockbuster, we got action figures and bendy figures too (i.e. - Land of the Lost, Who Framed Roger Rabbit or MMPR: The Movie). There was a strange corelation though with lines that had both action figures and bendy toys; the whole line usually flopped hard and ended up on clearance shelves shortly. I'm sure someone can point out an exception to that observation but I can't recall one off the top of my head at the moment.

You'd think bendy figures would be awesome, right? In theory, yes. A figural toy with infinite options for posing. Something that could sit and stand and everything in between without obscuring the sculpt with all the cuts traditional articulation leaves you with. These bendies were usually very droll and if you got them as a gift you knew that person obviously didn't like you that much or got you a gift last minute. That may sound harsh but I'm totally aware of what it's like to get sucky gifts. One year my mom's brother got me a puzzle and a flashlight. Some might say I'm being petty but it's the reason why I won't refer to him as my uncle.

Most all bendy toys of the era came on very basic card and bubble packaging. The card art was sparse, usually utilizing few colors and little to no use of movie or show based photos. No matter what the character was they were always in a very creepy arms stretched out pose. Some might say it's in a ready to hug you pose but I more relate the pose to a crusifixied body.  That may sound harsh but I just really hate bendies. Another major letdown was the lack of accessories and the price was roughly equal to a decent action figure, there was no value in purchasing a bendy.

The Rocketeer is a bendy I've held off buying for a very long time. I know you've read through what amounts to a manifesto against producing and buying bendy figures but hear me out. 99/100 times I find the Rocketeer he is always missing the jetpack. Rocketeer without a jetpack is just a bellhop figure with horse riding boots and a silly helmet. Finding it with the jetpack I see as an accomplishment because I didn't sacrifice money for an incomplete toy, the only added bonus would have been to find him still carded. While I hate bendy figures I love the Rocketeer and hate that an action figure or affordably priced 12 inch doll hasn't been made in over 20 years.

***Update*** - Thanks to the fine folks at Plastic Heroes, I was able to add a carded Rocketeer figure to my collection. I'm not sure if that's reason for celebration but I'm going to count it as such.

Couch Day Anime - "Desert Punk" Review

By: Ana Bruja-Khayos


Ah Netflix... what would I do without you.  If you are like me and work behind a computer all day you probably run into the problem that you must have either music or a video you have seen tons of times playing in the background in order to make the time more bearable. In this line of work I often find myself looking for new series to watch.  I will say that I’ve always been a Disney kid but in the recent years I’ve been migrating to more and more anime. Not because I love the art style but simply I love to watch giant robots and more adult based stories.  Something Disney just can’t do or simply are not willing to do anymore.  So I realy on my Netflix to suggest something to watch.  Low and behold here comes “Desert Punk”

Desert Punk is what I like to call “couch day anime”.  Meaning you can literally watch the entire series in one day just slacking on the couch and you don’t feel unsatisfied when you are done. The series only has 24 episodes, but you will laugh you buns off.

The Story

When I first saw the intro of the show I was worried that I might have started watching something that looked like Power Rangers. There’s nothing wrong with Power Rangers but I simply was not in the mood to watch people fight in monster costumes. The intro was gritty and looked like something that a college film student made but it really added to charm and I’m sure it helped cut down cost on the animation budget.  The music is catchy and after awhile you find yourself humming it as you continue to watch the show.

The story takes place in the very distant future after a horrible catastrophe left most of the humans roaming around planet full of sand and little water.  Our lead character is a reflection of the harsh conditions people face in this world.  A young teen boy name Kanta Mizuno, has earned the nickname of “The Desert Demon” but his reputation follows him under the name of mercenary “Desert Punk”.  Just like many others he must wear heat protection suites, carry weapons, and supplies not only to survive but to do his job as a mercenary.  The ruthless desert has truly pushes people of all ages to do whatever needs to be done in order to survive including stealing, blackmailing, double crossing and killing friends, family, and associates.  No one can be trusted, not even toddlers.

Desert Punk is involve with several other rivals mercenaries for hire in the area such as The Machine Gun Brothers, and Rain Spider.  Each group very deadly and merciless but they all untruthfully rely on each other when things get tough.  Just like most young boys Desert Punk really doesn’t have any long term goals since he lives in a world where you can die at any moment, however is very intelligent and is often underestimated which becomes his greatest and deadliest weapon in the harsh desert.  His goals are simple “guns”,”food”, and  “chicks with big tits”.  The first two is not so bad but the third one gets him in a world of trouble when he meets another mercenary known as Junko Asagiri, followed by a little girl name Kosuna who quickly becomes his future apprentice.  Between Junko’s tit’s and Kosuna’s miss haps Desert Punk goes through some funny and hard scenarios that make this show so funny.  

Story Origins

At the time the 13 volume manga was written and illustrated by Usune Mastoshi back in 1997.  His previous manga work involved other works such as “Killer Boy” (1987), “Metal Box”(1989), and “Eater” (1991).  The series was produced by Gonzo Studios and directed by Takayuki Inagaki who has an extensive resume as a director, assistant director, animator, storyboard artist, key animator in series such as “Naruto”, “Space Travelers”,  and “ Princess Tutu” to name a few. The series originally ran October 4th,  2004 to March 30th, 2005 and was mainly aimed at Seime (young men of 18-30) demographic.

Final thoughts

All in all this was a very fun series, however I would not show this to young children and definitely not to a hard core feminist since the main focus of the main character is chasing after women like a horny dog chasing after meat.  Hey the guys is around 14, what do most teen boys think about around that age... exactly. All in all the show was full of action, funny moments, and twist and turns that will keep you entertained for the entire 24 episode run.  All in all this is a must re-watch in my book and will recommend to others to watch.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit Flexies from LJN Toys

(just incase you forgot where you were. More blogs at ragingnerdgasm.blogspot.com)

Check out the whole photo archive of these and many other toys at http://www.flickr.com/photos/ragingnerdgasm/sets/72157630575332860/with/7569764938/

For all the potential Who Framed Roger Rabbit had for toys, Disney sold it way too short. I think handing the license to LJN was probably the worst thing they could have done, worse than just not making toys period. I know I'm talking about the same company that brought the world Thundercats, Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, Voltron, Tigersharks and the ever iconic WWF Superstars but let's face it LJN had more failures than successes. Don't even get me started on their video game productions, I don't want to get into a Angry Video Game Nerd-esque rant here. LJN produced two lines of equally crappy figures and I'll be honest, I like them. I'm a complex guy, I'll talk trash about something for years but hold onto it because I like it. If there were better toys available, I'd buy them and throw these up on my BluJay store. Till then I'll talk about these.

(the LJN logo; no gold at the end of that rainbow)

There was two lines of Who Framed Roger Rabbit toys from LJN as I stated earlier. One was a series of 3 inch articulated figures; Judge Doom, Eddie Valiant, Roger Rabbit and Wiseguy Weasel. These were fairly bad, even for being released in 1988. They were painfully stiff looking figures that made happy meal toys look more desirable. Not only were the figures cursed with bad articulation and horrible likenesses but they were strangely flat, as in the figures had little to no girth at all. Anyways, I own Eddie and Roger only because they came in a collection of Super Powers figures I bought nearly a decade ago off eBay. More recently I got the Benny the Cab while on vacation in Orlando at a flea market. I barely even relate Benny to this line because 1) he saw limited release in America and was on clearance when he showed up overseas 2) he's far nicer than anything made by LJN between 1988 and their death in 1995.

(seriously, this is the only toy LJN did right in this whole line)

(this was made by McDonalds years after the movie and it's better looking than most of these figures)

(eh, this was made by Applause and shows no one has really done Roger Rabbit justice in toy form)

LJN made a series of bendy figures based off the movie and called them Flexies. I have a strange love/hate relationship when it comes to bendy toys. Some of them are really interesting like some of the old Advanced Dungeons and Dragons figures or some of the old AHI monsters but most of them look like old and chewed on Gumby figures. The Flexies in comparison to the basic action figures were giants, nearly 3 times the size. They suffered from the same strange "squished flat" disorder that the action figures did but this time they made 6 different characters for kids to spend their hard earned chore money on. I have a vague memory of seeing these at my local toy stores when I was a kid and I remember them bearing large red clearance stickers almost immediately. Competition was tough during the year of 1988, He-Man was still a contender, GI Joe was prevailing, COPS was just about the best value for your money, TMNT was starting their inaugural year and it didn't look like anything could stop Transformers. I know I just keep bashing LJN but if any other company had the rights to the toys we (or maybe just me, I could be alone in my assumption that this series sucked) could have had some bad ass toys.

(this is a good bendy figure)

(these on the other hand....)

Roger Rabbit

He kind of looks like someone dropped a ton of bricks on him. They did get the color pallet right though. The ears a bendable along with the torso, arms and stubby legs. Congratulations if you can get them to hold a pose though, the rubber is just slightly too thick to allow the inner wire to retain a shape. Don't get me wrong though, in hand the make you reminisce about your days playing with LJN WWF wrestlers. I like the idea of big sturdy toys that you can bludgeon a sibling with, it brings a certain amount of joy to my dark heart. Roger also comes with a set of handcuffs to recreate those memorable scenes from the movie. They are nothing really special but they do the job. Side note, LJN made a giant Roger Flexies that I somehow really want to own for stupid reasons. I guess it's because I already own this unholy hexad of figures, might as well purchase their overlord.



Jessica Rabbit

I have a strange obsession with Jessica Rabbit. When I was a young lad I had what could be described as a "thing" for Jessica Rabbit and Betty Boop. Being 1988 and being a boy of six years of age, I was fairly impressionable. Sadly, they never made what I considered an acceptable figure or doll of Jessica Rabbit. The only positive thing I can remark about this Flexies figure is one of two characters from the line that retain poses. The cloth accent to complete the illusion of a full skirt is more annoying than appealing. Under the skirt (yes I looked) reveals the top part of the dress becomes just a one-piece swimsuit and the skirt is made out of a cheap and sandpaper coarse fabric. But it does pose and retain those poses, there's something to be said about that. Meh!


Wiseguy Weasel

I loved the design and concept of the weasels in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. They were the perfect archetype for a villain's henchmen / minions. Loyal, lethal and dumb as a box of LJN video games. Wiseguy suffered the squished flat syndrome his action figure counterpart did, which is a shame because I think he was about the most screen accurate figure from the line. He includes a yellow plastic linked chain that wraps around his waist, which I have no idea what part of the movie that's from. He also has a gun molded into his hand which makes him the second best figure in the line, at least in my honest opinion. I miss cartoon violence.


Eddie Valiant

I'm just going to get this out of the way, I like Bob Hoskins a lot as an actor. Any man that plays Smee in two totally different productions of a Peter Pan based movie has my vote for being one of the most underrated actors of all time. He was also Mario Mario in Super Mario Bros : the movie and that film holds a special place in guilty movie pleasures section. He also drank heavily to get through that movie and I find that kind of cool because sometimes I waish I could do that to get through work. This Flexies and the action figure both suck, there isn't any other way to put it. No redeeming qualities at all. The color of the suit is also this horrible fecal brown, the kind of suit you'd commonly see in a thrift store. The kind that was used for a funeral but stripped off the corpse just before they cremate it. My mind goes to strange places, sorry but it's the best visual I can paint. Eddie also comes with the same handcuffs as Roger which makes this figure even more boring, if that was a possiblity.


Baby Herman

This is my favorite figure from the line. If it wasn't for what amounts to possibly mild ADHD I'd sell the set and keep this figure. It's the only time I'm aware of they made a Baby Herman in "adult" form. I wish he had a cigar accessory or came with his baby stroller instead of the highchair. The highchair accessory is kind of lost on the figure, he doesn't really "flex". I do like the fistful of cash Herman is gripping onto, which reminds me I also liked Wiseguy Weasel solely on the fact he has the gun molded into his hand. I guess that makes two figures I'd keep if I could convince myself to sell the rest.


Judge Doom

Here is where I was hoping for the figures to wow me, they didn't. The action figure Judge Doom was a let down, for an intimidating movie antagonist his action figure and Flexies toy gives the impression of an angry old man wanting you to get the fuck off his lawn. Both toys also came with a vulture which was never in the movie in the first place. Would have made for an awesome pet / companion in the film but to package it with the toy is confusing. I mean it's really conflicting, I would have loved to have seen that vulture added to the movie. Fucking LJN. He also comes with a cane but it's little more than a black plastic stick.



In the end, I guess I'm fairly happy I have these in my collection. I like them but only on the surface, they look great on my wall of carded figures and they are good to use as an example of what a bad bendy figure looks like. Past that, they remind me what a poor company does with a great license. For a modern example look at anything made by Jazwares. And the level of fail in these figures doesn't taint my memories of the movie, I was a grown man before I owned any of the LJN Roger Rabbit toys. That's the strange appeal of vintage toys, they are nostalgic but they may not be the best representation of the characters you love but the toys hold a soft spot in your heart anyways.

Your weekly Nerdgasm 03/25/13

(A logo you can trust. You have no idea how hard it is to get Optimus Prime and Skeletor in the same room.)

Your weekly Nerdgasm!

Capcom gave me reason to love modern games again

                                   

                                              (oh yeah, this is the good stuff right here.) 

I got two words for you; Ducktales, woohoo! Seriously, Capcom this week broke the news that they were making a revamp of their ever so popular NES Ducktales video game. Not only did they have the news, but the trailer was ready, showcasing the game play and graphics. Backgrounds are 3D rendered with all game sprites maintaining a very cool "hand drawn" effect. Capcom says the game will be very similar to it's predecessor, with a main room complete with stage select options and new playable levels such as the McDuck Money Bin. 

                                   

                                    (I'd play this level for hours just because I loved the music)

The trailer showed the Money Bin level as well as the Amazon and Transylvania, but didn't show fan favorite levels the Himalayas or the ever popular outer space level. The outer space level was everyone's favorite level and the music from that level is in just about everyone's top 5 NES game soundtracks, outside of Metroid, Legend of Zelda or SMB. What's the deal Capcom, don't play with our hearts like this. Anyways, the fanboys and fangirls squealed with anticipation after watching the trailer, even getting to learn many developers and coders for current games hold Ducktales in highest regards (the original game ran on the MegaMan engine for crying out loud and your cane was both pogo stick and golf club!). The game will be available on PSN, XBOXLIVE and WII-U networks for download, costing $15. Which is a real deal considering any of us who owned an original one most likely paid $50 or so back in the 90's. But please Capcom, don't forget your loving fans on STEAM (such as myself).

I guess Teenage Alien Ninja Turtles is still a go

(credit to toysrevil.net for the picture)

Much to everyone's dismay, TANT (which is dangerously close to TAINT) is still in pre-production with Michael Bay gunning to ruin everything from your childhood with confirmed Megan Fox as April O'Neil .I wonder if him and the Dwayne Johnson have a running bet to see how many awesome properties they can trash? I wonder if April will be a stripper instead of a news woman? I wonder if the fanbase will allow this movie to happen?

(the face of evil!)

Anyways, the first actor to join the cast as one of the four turtles/aliens/brothers is Alan Ritchson (Aquaman on Smallville), allegedly taking the role of Raphael. That....that's actually OK with me. But when you say actor they mean voice actor, right? WRONG! The turtles/aliens/brothers not be animatronic suits but motion capture ala' Avatar styling. This.....this I'm cool with too because the actors will have to emote and actually act instead to trying to match up voice tone and infliction to puppeteers in suits. So TANT brings me through emotional ups and downs and not even one second of film has been shot. I'm holding out till I see who the villains are going to be since they are keeping really hush about it.

                                                     (was this ever confirmed legit or not?)


Boldly going......to mess my pants

Between trailers for Iron Man 3, Star Trek: Into Darkness and pictures from Pacific Rim, I can't contain the awesome. Seriously, it's going to be a great summer season at the movies. Not to cheap out on you in the third article, I just feel all three of these developing stories deserve their own blog entry this week so I'll leave you with the following.

Your weekly Nerdgasm 03/18/2013

                    Jurassic Park IV, Beetlejuice II and The Rock Says he wants to be in Star Wars Ep. VII




Pack a snack, we're going back to the park-

Just after the first of the year, Universal Studios released a statement that indeed Jurassic Park IV was once again a go. There's been at least 3 false starts to the ever looming 4th part to the saga, even Spielberg himself wanted to end the movies on a better note than we were left with in Jurassic Park III (which had plot holes big enough to swallow a T-Rex whole). Colin Trevorrow has been selected as director while script writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, of Rise of the Planet of the Apes fame, have already finished the script. With bearded McBillions himself Steven Spielberg as executive producer the movie has been slated for a mid June release next year.

It still leaves a lot of question brewing in fan's heads. Where will it take place? Who from the original cast will return for their "jump the shark" last hurrah? How deeply buried is that awful screenplay that involved human/dinosaur DNA mixing? And if all these questions have you itching to pull out your DVD or VHS of Jurassic Park, just wait till April 5th and you can see the film that spawned two really poorly planned sequels in theaters in 3D!

(what could have been......you hope.)

It's showtime! (again?)

Yes, the end of last week brought some exciting news to fans still holding on to the hope of a sequel to the 1988 paranormal comedy Beetlejuice. The picture below was posted on Seth Grahame-Smith's Twitter account to tease fans always asking about the fate of his script for the upcoming movie. With his past penning of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, I'm sure he's doing a fine job breathing life into the corpse of this over-hashed sequel. Two years ago when someone somewhere mentioned it; Geena Davis, Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder all said they were game to reprise their roles in some capacity. Let's face it, those three haven't seen legit work in years and would probably do Frosted Flakes commercial cameo if you promised a warm meal and gas money. Keaton is supposed to have something to the effect of a supporting role in the RoboCop reboot but that has yet to be seen in more than production stills.

Now talks of a Beetlejuice sequel have been floating in the air since the movie made back it's initial investment five times over, spawned a toy line and a Saturday morning cartoon as well as catapulted Tim Burton to superstar director status. That led Burton into the director's chair of the first two Batman movies, Edward Scissorhands, Nightmare Before Christmas and Mars Attacks. While his work as of late hasn't charmed us like it used to, if they allowed the original idea for the impending sequel "Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian", his body of work would have far less impressive and the world may have never gotten to know Johnny Depp which I'm not sure if that would have been a good thing or a bad thing. Anyways, Burton has expressed interest in directing another adventure into the hereafter. Beetlejuice is available on DVD and Bluray.

Skywalker, can you smell what the Rock is cookin'?

Yes, former WWF multiple time champion Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has expressed a serious interest in getting a role in the upcoming Disney/LucasFilms Star Wars Ep VII. Doesn't that sound like a bad idea? Well, not just the whole Rock wanting to be in the new Star Wars movie but the whole there's going to be new Star Wars movies in general. Doesn't it sound like a bad idea the more and more it's brought up? With the Star Wars saga rich with existing characters and all the new ones they'll be creating just for the next 3 films, not too many of them call for a giant, muscle-bound mountain of man meat. I mean, we all remember his breakout role in the Mummy 2 as the Scorpion King? Even the spin-off franchise only starred Dwayne Johnson for the first movie and moved on to some other professional fighter reprising the role for the second part. I'll be honest, I never watched the second film and only have fragmented memories of the first movie. All I remember is I was far from amused and even the action figures were lackluster and dull.

Anyways, the Rock won't be satisfied till he's ruined everything from your childhood. First GI Joe, then Star Wars.....what's next? He-Man? M.A.S.K? Power Rangers? My Little Pony?

On a side note, Dave Bautista of former WWF fame has been confirmed as Drax the Destroyer for the upcoming Disney/Marvel release Guardians of the Galaxy and I'm totally cool with that. Seriously, paint Dave Bautista green and there you go.....DONE!

Don Bluth Game Trilogy

About Don Bluth

Many of us in our late 20’s to early 40’s are very familiar with the name Don Bluth.  He started his career working for the Walt Disney Studios as an animator.  He didn’t start making a name for himself until shortly after Walt Disney died in 1966.  After such a sad event for the company, Bluth was granted the opportunity to directed several animated films such as “The Rescuers” and “Pete’s Dragon”.  During the 70’s ,the quality of Disney animation was dropping and there were fears that the Disney Studios might shut down.  As a result several artist including Bluth went on and created their own company called Don Bluth Productions.  As an animation house they went on and created many of the 1980’s and early 1990’s animated classics we all still recognize such as “Secret of NIMH”, “An American Tail”, “All Dogs Go to Heaven”, "We're Back: A Dinosaur's Story", lets not forget that never ending series “Land Before Time”, and his final major project in (2000) “Titan AE”.  

Bluth's Game Ventures

What a lot of people forget is that Bluth also pioneered into the world of video games for several platforms in the 1980’s.  The most memorable ones are “Dragon’s Lair” (1983), “Space Ace” (1983), “Dragon’s Lair II: Timewarp” (1991).

Through the years, these games have been release and re-release in several platforms.  In each released the gameplay was extremely frustrating as you play along a non linear storyline that had questionable reaction to the controllers.  However regardless of how frustrating this made players, these games hold a special place in our lives.  In fact its influence is so epic, that these games have come back in a modern gaming platform known as the Apple iOS systems for our iPhones and iPads.

You may ask yourself what company would be brave enough to tackle such an iconic a frustrating game? Well; none other than EA Games, who else.

 Dragon’s Lair

 

When you first see the game on the trailer (back then or now) it looks like a movie and you wonder what the game is like. The game play features a sequence of arrows you have to hit with your controller in order to make it through the dark castle to rescue the princess. I compare it to a torture version of the Simon game with gorgeous visuals. The sad part is that at times you know you have hit your controller at the right moment but you still die over and over again.  Most of us witness more epic deaths than epic progress but luckily the animation is good and funny.  After a while, people who are dedicated to play this game develop a list of favorites death scenes.  

As bad as the game play is you will be amazed that is has been released in Arcade form, Sega CD, CD-i, Game Boy Color, NES, PC, DVD, HD DVD, Blu Ray Disk, Playstation Network for PS3 and PSP, Nintendo Wii, DSWare, and iPhone and iPads.  You will also be amazed to know that there’s a second game to this series. So I guess the fans do love punishment.  

The Dragons Lair app is available at the Apple's App Store for only $0.99. Shortly after opening the app you will realized that nothing has changed. This includes the poor maneuvering, the confusing game play but with the awesome death scenes that taunt you in your tiny iPhone screen, you'll continue to play it over and over again.

Dragons Lair App
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dragons-lair/id341833414?mt=8

Drgons Lair Comic Book App This is also available to download for free, however the app comes with one free comic, but you have to pay $1.99 for the other comics.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dragons-lair-comics/id500760670?mt=8 

 Space Ace

So imagine you just picked up not just one but maybe two next generation games including this golden oldie called Space Ace.  Both  “Dragons Lair” and “Space Ace” were released in the same year trying to market on this new technology.  Sadly, because they were both developed around the same time, the technology did not get any better. They simply carried the same problems over to another game. So yes, this game is equally frustrating but it’s also a classic.

Just like it’s predecessor the game has been release multiple times as well. This game has been released in Arcade form, 3DO, Amiga, Apple IIGS, CD- i, Jaguar CD, PC, Atari ST, Sega CD, DVD, Blu-Ray, Wii, DSiWare, iPhone,and  PS3.  This game makes it part of the Don Bluth Trilogy games.

Unlike Dragons Lair that only cost you $1,  Space Ace will cost you a few more bucks.  At the App Store you are looking at around $4.99 for the game, but you will have the same fun frustrating time you had the first time you played it with a joystick.

Space Ace
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/space-ace/id314133588?mt=8


If the App experience is not your cup of tea, keep in mind you can picked up all three of the games for the Wii so you can enjoy it with not just yourself but also taking turns with the family.  

Article by Ana Bruja-Khayos

The weekly Raging Nerdgasm report

3D overdose, the fast track to SW VII, the Thanksgiving hangover (or as retail calls it, "black Friday")

I'm starting a new weekly collum to showcase a recap of what's going on in all things pop culture related, so let's get on with it.

OD'd on 3D

I'm not sure if I'm in the minority or majority, but I'm fatigued by the barrage of movies in 3D. Some movies it works, some it doesn't do anything. Like Avatar was amazing in 3D but it was so long I started feeling the effects taking their toll on my eyes. I got super hyped for Tron Legacy in 3D, but 4 scenes were filmed in actual 3D. At least they tell you at the beginning, but what a letdown to find out after you've buy two tickets for a midnight show and are already sitting in your seat. At that point, I became cautious about which films to see in 3D. Being selective, I went more for animated features in 3D because the clarity of the visuals and already computer rendered scenes benefited from the extra help of 3D. Legend of the Guardians: The owls of Ga'hoole was one where an already breathtaking movie was even more enjoyable in 3D. Despicable Me, Megamind and Up were also much more enjoyable in 3D that they were in 2D.

Then on the other hand you have the big budget Hollywood blockbusters where 3D does absolutely nothing for my experience. Avengers, Dark Knight Rises, The Amazing Spiderman, Star Wars: Episode I were semi-worthless to me in 3D. The 3D effect was shallow to say the least. Then you have movies that really don't need the 3D treatment like Dredd, Fast and the Furious, Piranha 3DD (actually, I take that back. The boobie jiggling was worth the ticket price but damn is Christopher Lloyd hideous in 3D) and the upcoming GI Joe: Retaliation. What's the point? I'm not going to pay to see these in 3D, these are movies that benefit in no way from all the time/money/effort it takes to render them in 3D. I think 3D has hit the same wall it hit back in the 60's, over saturation and shallow effects in exchange for a pricier ticket. The movie industry just needs to shift focus to going full digital projection. The new Sony 4K systems have an amazing frame-rate output that makes 3D look passe. 45-60 frames per second for a crystal clear picture that rivals home theater Blu Ray.

SW epVII gets a Disney Fast Pass?

We literally need a weatherman to come out everyday and tell us about the progress on the newest Disney venture, Star Wars: episode VII- Don't fuck it up Mickey or I'm calling Truly Nolen. It's almost been a whole month since the Mouse bought LucasFilms outright for 4.05 billion dollars, a total so staggering and a deal so sudden it sent the fattest of nerds into cardiac arrest and the rest of us contemplating the Saga's fate now that it's under new management. Everyday there's new news, new potential release dates, news on who from the original cast is down for reprising their roles (and let's face it, #1/ do any of them really have anything else better to do? #2/  see the first explanation), who's not really wanting to make an encore performance of their original role (don't you fucks pull a Bill Murray/Ghostbusters 3 on me or I'll track you down like the dogs you are and cry uncontrollably on your doorstep till you change your mind) and who might join the cast (lord be with you Disney if you mention any member of the Twilight cast or Justin Bieber because hell hath no fury like a legion of man-children scorned.). Everyday is a conflicting story and I'm not talking about internet rumblings, I'm talking about press releases directly from the Mouse House itself. Only time will tell, just hurry up the hell up Disney; Luke, Leia, Han and the rest of the group is lookin' mighty ancient.

my Thanksgiving hangover, "happy black Friday, war is over"

I didn't see any reason to leave the house the whole day. Not one thing tempted me to brave the crowds, I'm holding out for cyber Monday.