The idea of releasing new movies to Video on Demand services around the same time they are released in theaters is not a new one, but usually we see this with films from smaller studios. Universal wants to test the waters of distributing a new movie to VOD by releasing their November release, Tower Heist, to Comcast’s service – and they want to charge you $60 for the privilege to watch it at home while it’s still in theaters.

This offer is only being made to Comcast customers in Atlanta, GA and Portland, OR so it seems to be a sort of trial thing for Universal to gauge the response. I don’t really understand why they are choosing to do this with a film like Tower Heist and not a bigger release. They don’t really have anything I personally would consider a “big” release for the rest of the year aside from perhaps The Thing remake/sequel coming out on October 14 so this may have been the best option to get a trial in for this year. The other odd thing is that Universal isn’t releasing the film until three weeks after it hits theaters. I understand wanting to give theaters a chance to sell some tickets first, but it seems if you’re going to try something like this out you may as well go for broke and release it in theaters and VOD on the same day.

I actually like the idea of studios putting new releases out on VOD as an additional option for seeing these films. I actually enjoy the theater-going experience for the most part, but I could see myself and a group of friends getting together and chipping in to order a new release like this to watch it in the comfort of our homes – much like people already do with say UFC Pay-Per-View events. $60 doesn’t seem unreasonable for a gathering of people, but I couldn’t see myself hanging out with my girlfriend on a Friday night and dropping that kind of cash just to watch a movie.

Some movie theaters though already aren’t sharing the same outlook. Cinemark has already released a statement saying that if Universal does release Tower Heist on demand, they will not be screening it in their theaters. While I highly doubt this film will be a hit, Cinemark could be choosing to set a precedent now to intimidate Universal from doing this with some of their bigger films they have coming out next year like The Bourne Legacy.

So would you drop $60 to watch a new release film at home on demand, in particularly Tower Heist? Sound off in the comments below!

With the incredible success of The Lion King 3D, The Walt Disney Studios has announced that it will bring back four of its classic films for the first time in 3D.  First released in 1994, The Lion King has already made more than $80 million at the domestic box office, making it the 10^th highest grossing domestic movie of all time.

The next movies to include the 3D treatment are:

·         Beauty and the Beast – January 13, 2012

·         Disney•Pixar’s Finding Nemo – September 14, 2012

·         Disney•Pixar’s Monsters, Inc. – January 18, 2013 (Monsters University, a prequel to the original film, arrives in theaters in Disney Digital 3D on June 21, 2013)

·         The Little Mermaid – September 13, 2013

First released in 1991, Beauty and the Beast follows the adventures of bookish Belle, a young woman searching for someone who understands her.  Fate takes her to a castle hidden in the forest where an enchanted Beast and his servants long for the day when true love will break the spell.  It was the first animated feature ever nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Picture, and it has grossed $380.4 million worldwide.

Beauty and the Beast has also just been re-released on Blu-Ray with a 3D version, but seeing it on the big screen is always better.  I know I’ll go see it in 2012.

Next is Disney•Pixar’s Finding Nemo. It was the second-highest grossing film of 2003 and won an Academy Award® for Best Animated Feature.  This watery tale follows a clownfish named Marlin who must swim the vastness of the ocean to look for his missing son Nemo.

Disney•Pixar’s Monsters, Inc won an Academy Award® for Best Song and has grossed $526.9 million worldwide.  Released in 2001, this film tells the story of Sulley and his wisecracking sidekick Mike Wazowski.  Their job is to scare kids, but a little girl named Boo wanders into their world, and they find themselves helping to get her back home.

And finally, The Little Mermaid.  Teenaged mermaid Ariel finds herself in love with a human, and she rebels against her father when he forbids her to swim to the surface.  She longs to be part of his world and will do anything to accomplish that goal, even if it means bargaining with the villainous sea witch Ursula.  The Little Mermaid won two Academy Awards® and has grossed $228.9 million worldwide.  It also began what is often referred to as Disney animation’s second Golden Age, bringing back the feel of classic Disney films that spoke to movie-goers of every age.

Geek girl awesomeness! Ashley Eckstein and geek girl shop extraordinaire Her Universe will be at New York Comic Con 2011! I just spent 20 minutes glued to the Her Universe website and I’ve decided I have to buy the “I Know” Star Wars shirt – because it’s amazing! Check out the official Her Universe NYCC Press Release here:

Official Press Release – October 5, 2011 –

One of the fastest growing demographics in the Science Fiction world today is the female audience, sometimes referred to as “Geek Girls.” They will be in full force at this year’s New York Comic Con October 13th-16th at the Javits Center.

Recognizing and embracing this incredibly important and increasing segment of the sci-fi audience, Ashley Eckstein, the voice of Ahsoka Tano on the television series, Star Wars^TM : The Clone Wars, is bringing to New York Comic Con her new line of sci-fi fashion apparel and merchandise, titled Her Universe^TM (www.heruniverse.com), designed exclusively for women who want to show their geeky pride and love of Science Fiction. Ashley has now become one of the leading voices for Geek Girls.

Married to former Major League Baseball player, two-time World Series Champion and World Series MVP, David Eckstein, Ashley has made a career of fighting for the underdog, of leading the charge to create a place for female fans in a pop culture community typically dominated by men. In addition to fighting alongside the male heroes in The Clone Wars, Ashley aims to help her fellow female fans find their rightful place in the pop culture community. Her Universe is a “geek chic” line featuring fashionable, female–focused apparel and accessories based on such high-profile entertainment properties as the beloved Star Wars franchise and Syfy’s most popular shows such as Battlestar Galactica, Warehouse 13 and more.

“Most people do not realize that close to half of all sci-fi fans are women,” said Ashley. “This all started when, selfishly, I wanted more Star Wars merchandise made for fangirls. I love sci-fi and I quickly found out that I wasn’t alone. I found scores of other fangirls online and at conventions who just wanted to be recognized and accepted in this unique genre. I felt that someone had to step up and give a voice to all of these passionate women, and that’s when I founded Her Universe.”

Fans attending New York Comic Con will find two convention-exclusive items from Her Universe – a Star Wars Naboo charm for the new Star Wars Charm Bracelet and a 100% sterling silver Battlestar Galactica Cylon Toaster Necklace. Plus, just in time for Halloween and available this year only at New York Comic Con, Ashley will be offering 100 Star Wars Halloween-themed earth friendly tote bags featuring the art of popular Star Wars illustrator Katie Cook – the perfect trick or treating bag for fans of all ages.

Deep in the night in the small community of Prophet Hills Danny (Daniel Baldwin) watches in horror as his wife is murdered and his two children abducted by evil creatures. But they weren’t the first and they might not be the last if Danny can’t uncover the truth that the money-grabbing mayor (Brad Dourif) doesn’t want the outside world to know.

Where to begin? Let’s start with the positive. Born of Earth’s monster design and costumes is effective. They might just be people dressed up in rubber suits and heavy makeup but they work far better than any CGI monster would.

Everything else about this film screams B-movie. The performances are all over the place. It’s hard to tell if the actors are terrible, disinterested or if they simply can’t make screenwriter Joseph Thompson’s wooden dialogue sound remotely natural. I suspect it’s all of the above. The script is convoluted and vague on details as it moves its cardboard characters through the narrative. I don’t need a fully explained origin story but a better-defined history of Prophet Hill would have helped. There is a twist at the end, but even if you didn’t see it coming it hardly ranks as much of a surprise. In fact it has the emotional resonance of Soylent Green without the quotable dialogue.

Unless you’re collecting Baldwin brothers, adore Brad Dourif because he was in Lord of the Rings or want to check out the creature design I’d recommend avoiding Born of Earth.

Red Tails is one of my most anticipated films of 2012 and I can’t wait to see it. I love World War II movies, you all know I love George Lucas movies, and I think this is going to be something great.

The cast looks fantastic, the effects work will be stunning, and the story of the real Tuskegee Airmen is brilliant.

This should definitely be on everyone’s radar. It comes out January 20, 2012.

Following the death of his mother T.J. (Devin Brochu) and his depressed pill-popping father (Rainn Wilson) move in with his absent-minded grandmother. To make matters worse T.J. has become the favorite target of school bully Dustin. To say T.J.’s life is heading in the wrong direction would be an understatement. Then T.J. meets Hesher (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). Hesher is a vulgar vagabond with bad tattoos, a love for heavy metal and a habit of lighting things on fire. He’s a preacher of chaos and anarchy, a dirty old van plowing its way through life.

The appeal of Hesher is that its title character is so unappealing. He’s dirty in every sense of the word and yet he’s also Shakespeare’s wise fool. He sees the world exactly as it is and rejects it. He’s Guy Fawkes without a cause.

When I saw Hesher at the Sundance Film Festival two years ago I left the theater on an adrenaline high. Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s performance is mesmerizing from start to finish. But, even then, I had to admit that the film itself wasn’t nearly as well made as I would have liked as Hesher’s antics overshadow the heart of the narrative. Hesher is really meant to be about T,J. and his struggle to overcome the sad situation he finds himself in. The cast, which also includes Natalie Portman as quirky grocery store employee Nicole, is quite good but they can’t match the bravado of Gordon-Levitt’s Hesher. He’s so much larger than life that he blocks everyone else out of view. Still, Hesher is a hilarious way to spend 106 minutes even though it doesn’t entirely come together as it should.

Bonus features include a couple deleted scenes, a shockingly long selection of outtakes that give a glimpse into the jovial mood on the set and, to balance out the joy, a featurette on a particularly troublesome day where the proximity of an airport and a weed wacker made shooting a miserable experience.

Sure to be as divisive with fans as the Henry Cavill in costume photos, now we get Russell Crowe in costume as Jor-El.

I actually think this looks pretty sweet.  I mean, if he were to tear the S off his chest and throw it at someone like in Superman II, well. . . that could cause some damage.  (At least as much as tossing a phone at you.) It’s keeping in Zack Snyder’s previous costuming ethic.

And, as much as I like Marlon Brando, it’s an improvement over the space pajamas the Kryptonians wore in the Richard Donner movie.

But, what matters my opinion? What do YOU robots think?

Agent M posted this up on his Tumblr and I didn’t think I could be more excited for this movie.

There’s shots of Nick Fury FINALLY getting into some action, Loki with some soldiers of some kind, this shot of Hawkeye and Black Widow in the thick of it, aside from some others.

You can see the rest of them here.

We were also told to keep an eye on the official Marvel Avengers website… Could a trailer or teaser be coming? Only time will tell.

The Avengers hits theatres next summer.

Here is some super awesome Sunday night news that is going to make the rest of your week… The New Yorker Festival was this weekend, and Mitch Hurwitz was there delivering some wonderful news which any Arrested Development fan would love to hear. After five years and several rumors, Hurwitz confirmed Sunday that not only is there an Arrested Development movie in the works, but also a 10 part miniseries! The miniseries will focus on catching the audience up on where each character has been and what they’ve been up to for the past five years. After the miniseries is complete there will be a movie that brings everyone’s favorite dysfunctional family back together on the big screen.

Since the cancellation of the series in 2006, there have been a number of rumors floating around about a forthcoming Arrested movie, none of which were officially confirmed until today. Hurwitz explained that a lot of the hold up came from the fact that they did not completely own the rights to the franchise. Despite that fact, Hurwitz has been busy writing a screenplay for the series since it’s end in the hopes that he would be able to put it to use someday.

I’m glad that the rumor has been confirmed by both Mitch Hurwitz and Jason Bateman. Bateman who plays the lead role of Michael Bluth, Tweeted Sunday afternoon “It’s true. We will do 10 episodes and the movie. Probably shoot them all together next summer for a release in early ’13. VERY excited!”. As I HUGE fan of the show, I couldn’t be happier about this news. I will be sure to keep you posted on the details as they come in.

The very first article I wrote for BSR was a wrapup of the SXSW conference in 2010. Here was my review then:

Among the most fun I had at this year’s SXSW was Tucker and Dale vs. Evil.  It stars Alan Tudyk (Firefly, Dollhouse, I Robot) and Tyler Labine (Reaper, Sons of Tucson) as dimwitted hillbillies looking for a lil R&R who, through a comedy of errors, become mistaken for psycho killers by a group of too-pretty college students.  Hijinks ensue.

There was a reason this won the audience award– it was the most fun I’ve had not just at a SXSW movie, but at the movies in general for a long time. Winning the audience award is sayign quite a bit, especially considering its competition: the premiere of “MacGruber,” the funniest movie adapted from Saturday Night Live in many, many years, and the critically acclaimed “The Runaways,” the rock n’ roll story of Joan Jett and the Blackhearts.

But Tucker and Dale deserved the win. Watch the trailer below and dare to disagree! (This gives away a lot, but not everything, so don’t watch if you don’t want some awesome spoilage)

They say that everyone borrows from each other, but the great ones outright steal.  There was too much that was more than a simple homage to classics like Evil Dead or Friday the 13th- but it lifts from these sources so effortlessly, it’s like listening to The Beatles play “Till There Was You” and forgetting it was ever part of “The Music Man.” Nipping on the heels of Zombieland and Shawn of the Dead, we have a new entry into the genre of horror comedies.

###

My opinion hasn’t changed. If anything, it has only improved.  At Comic-Con this summer we had a great panel in Hall H called “At the Drive-In” which celebrated the best in genre films. Tucker and Dale was the main attraction, and rightfully so. In fact, I’ve spent a decent amount of time this past week at Fantastic Fest here in Austin and so many people are just uber-excited that Tucker and Dale is playing in theaters starting today. Soooo many film nerds are all breathing a collective sigh of relief that “FINALLY I can show this movie to my friends that I’ve been talking about for a year and a half.”

There are soooo many good parts.  Tyler Labine trying to flirt with college girls who think he’s being creepy in that sort of “You got a purty mouth. . . ” way, when in fact, he’s just very awkward around girls (aren’t we all?)  Then there’s when Tucker and Dale put it together and figure out, “I’ve seen this on tv– this is a suicide pact!!!!”  Trying to chase away bees with a chainsaw.  A college kid accidentally jumping into a woodchipper. And so forth.

This is the best film you’ll see this weekend. (Ok, maybe 50/50 with 50/50) It’s probably the best film to see this “holiday” season for Halloween.  Give yourself both a trick and a treat by going to see this movie now.

Are you still reading this?  Didn’t you hear me?  NOW.

3 1/2 stars