There’s not much that gets me to turn on my Xbox 360 these days. A new Halo game is usually a guaranteed buy, but I find myself wanting to play newer video games less and less for some reason. I’m also usually pretty excited about new consoles, but this year I haven’t even gotten excited about the Xbox One or the Playstation 4.

However, Disney Infinity caught my eye a long time ago. The combination of a video game and cool little collectible figures as well as the ability to mix Disney characters from different properties sounded like a lot of fun, despite the high price tag. It’s obvious that Disney wanted a slice of the Skylanders billion dollars a year business model, but they created a game that is a lot of fun and (in my opinion) has a ton of potential.

Taking advantage of some launch-week sales and deals, I snagged the Xbox 360 Starter Kit as well as a few extra figures and gave the game a spin. Usually I leave game reviews to the experts, like my buddies over at Horrible Night, but I’m sure a lot of you are wondering if this game is any good, and hopefully I can help you out. Now, on to the game.
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I’ll admit, I had no interest in seeing Oz: The Great and Powerful when it came out. I thought it looked pretty dumb, and I’m not the biggest Wizard of Oz fan around, so I skipped it when it was in theaters. Disney reached out to see if I wanted to review the Blu-ray, and I thought I would give it a shot, and I’m glad I did. It was better than I thought it would be.

It’s no great film, but it gets an A for effort and it was pretty enjoyable to watch at home. Sam Raimi’s directing style still shines through the CGI occasionally and reminds you that a pretty accomplished filmmaker is behind it all. Odds are that Oz is a much better movie than Lone Ranger, which is currently bombing hard at the box office.
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As we look out at the ever-changing landscape of television, we still haven’t seen a web series that has truly captured a wide audience.  There are niche shows here and there with a small following, but unless you’re really plugged into that world, chances are you aren’t tuning into YouTube every week to catch an ongoing series.  That’s not to say that the day won’t come when YouTube becomes just another TV channel (or, more likely, vice versa), but for now, web shows are still far away from the mainstream.

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One of the great things about animation is its ability show us people, places, and things we’ve never dreamed possible.  Distant planets, mythical lands, or even more grounded subjects, like ancient history, can come alive thanks to the work of a team of dedicated artists and animators.  And when the canvas is so limitless, it’s great to see when creative minds really go for it and bring us something unique.

When the artists sat down to start visualizing the prehistoric world of the new Dreamworks Animation film The Croods, it would have been very easy for them to fall back on conventional caveman tropes.  Naturally, the characters could look like they were pulled straight from The Flintstones, who would anachronistically interact with run-of-the-mill dinosaurs like Triceratops and T. Rex, and they’d live in a world filled with big rocks, rumbling volcanoes, and bubbling tar pits. While there are still echoes of these old standbys, for the most part, The Croods is a feast for the eyes.  Thankfully Titan Books has released The Art of the Croods, so you can visit the best part of the movie – the art design – anytime.

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It’s the spring of 1954, and comic books are king.  Four-colored panels tell tales of masked crusaders, gun-blazing mobsters, hatchet-swinging madmen, and barely dressed damsels in distress, sold for a dime at the corner drugstore to kids of all ages.  One of the leading publishers of these not-so-funny funnybooks is Starr Syndication, run by Maggie and Jack Starr a step-mother and son duo with street smarts and style to spare.
But their cartoon empire is threatened when Dr. Werner Frederick, a noted psychologist, releases his controversial new book, Ravage the Lambs.  Lambs accuses comics of being the instigator of youth crimes, that those spandex-clad heroes are homosexual influences, and that they might be making our kids dumber to boot.  His words stir up the pot, and Congress calls for public hearings, threatening to do something about this “ten-cent plague” in our midst.

When Dr. Frederick winds up dead thanks to a scheme ripped directly from the pages of a best-selling comic book, there are too many suspects to count.  Hoping to protect his industry and his cronies, Jack Starr takes on the investigation and follows a path that leads him to the seediest parts of the four-color publishing racket.
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