Even though Pixar’s Golden Age may have ended with Toy Story 3 (in my opinion), I’m still a hardcore fan and get giddy with the thought of new movies from the studio. However, Cars 2 was the first Pixar movie I genuinely disliked, and so I was more than ready to wash that taste out of my mouth and hoped Brave would accomplish that.

While it wasn’t as great as I was hoping it would be, Brave is still a fun movie and more than made up for the turd that was Cars 2. When the 5-disc Ultimate Collector’s Edition showed up on my doorstep, I was excited to check out the movie again, and I think I liked it better the second time around.
Read More

If you’ve seen Wreck-It Ralph, chances are you loved Wreck-It Ralph.  The movie has enough heart, charm, and video game goodness to keep you coming back for more.  Sadly, the Blu-ray won’t be available for a few months, but until then you can revisit the film thanks to Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph Storybook Deluxe and Hero’s Duty Interactive Comic, both available for iOS.

Wreck-It Ralph Storybook Deluxe

As with previous Disney interactive storybooks, the book portion of the Wreck-It Ralph Storybook Deluxe app is essentially a retelling of the movie’s plot.  Aimed at a younger audience, the storybook features narration, animation, and artwork that is top notch.  Whenever a character actually has dialog, the actor that played the part provides the voice, making for an authentic retelling of the story.
Read More

When a film shoots on location, it’s normal for the production to use people from the surrounding community as extras or maybe even as minor players.   But when 27 year old filmmaker Steven Spielberg brought three mechanical sharks to Martha’s Vineyard to shoot an adaptation of the best-selling novel Jaws, the island was so remote that he had no choice but to use locals for many spots in the cast and crew.  Because of this necessity, Jaws isn’t just a film about a killer shark, but is a snapshot of this small vacation destination in the 1970s.  Similarly, Titan Books’ new release, Jaws: Memories from Martha’s Vineyard by Matt Taylor, is not only an extensive look behind the scenes of this seminal summer blockbuster, but also reveals for us the experience of the locals who gave the film such a colorful pallet of personalities.
Read More

Although most of my writing today is in the non-fiction vein, there was a time when I fancied myself a writer of more fantastical works.  I wrote many short stories, started a handful of novels, and outlined a couple of screenplays, but, like so many wanna-be Stephen King’s, never really got anywhere with it.  However, over the last few months, I’ve come back to fiction, because a friend and I are working on a YouTube series together.

When writing the screenplays for this series, one thing I’ve really been focused on is to making sure that each character is unique and interesting; that they don’t get lost in the crowd.  There are a few tried and true ways to accomplish this task, many of which are explored in two new art collections from Titan Books: Silhouettes from Popular Culture by Olly Moss and The Great Showdowns by Scott Campbell.
Read More

Metalhead. He was one of my favorite TMNT toys when I was a kid, I don’t even remember him from the cartoon, and I was insanely pumped when I heard they were using him in the new Nickelodeon cartoon. Unlike Nick’s rebooted versions of Rat King and Leatherhead, Metalhead looked to be a more direct homage to the 80s toys. After a couple weeks of searching the toy aisles looking for him I finally found him, along with Dogpound and Fishface.

I love this guy.

The 2012 version of Metalhead is divisive among TMNT fans. Some, like me, love it, and others seem to think he’s too simple and boxy. I think he fits in great with the style of the new show and is a damn cool action figure.

Read More