I know the New York Times has been reporting it, but I’ve finally gotten word from Lucasfilm. It’s true. All the changes we’ve been obsessing over all day and night.

Yes, the updates are confirmed. We hope fans will wait to see for themselves how they fit into the Saga before making any judgments.

I’ll say, over all, I’m not unhappy about most of the changes (just like the special edition). Ewoks with blinking eyes? Awesome. More creatures in Jabba’s Palace? Sweet. An update on the Krayyt scream? Bring it on. Digital Yoda in Phantom Menace? Perfect.

This is the definitive version of the films on Blu-ray. I’ll wait and see it before I get angry about any specific change. I’ll calm down.

BUT: Though it’s the way it is moving forward, Darth Vader screaming, “Noooooooo!” as he tosses the Emperor into the reactor shaft of the Death Star is incorrect. It’s simply not a good change. It’s on the level of Han firing first. No, I think it’s worse. No, I know it’s worse. There was never a moment more heartbreaking or poignant than putting the audience in Vader’s shoes and forcing us to think about what’s running through his mind. Giving him something to say somehow undermines every sweeping bit of emotion that scene had. It interrupts it. Will I feel differently about it when I see it in context? Maybe. But right now I feel pretty hurt by it.

I don’t think I need to explain to any of you how much I LOVE Star Wars, and this will not diminish my love for it in anyway. I just hate seeing people better than me make mistakes like this.

Having said that, I’m still gladly buying these sets on Blu-ray. I’m still going to watch every minute of the films and every minute of bonus features. And I’m going to see the films in 3D when they happen as well.

Vader screaming no will simply be added to a list of flaws I don’t like about the updates of the film. It stands next to Greedo firing first, Jedi Rocks, and Jabba’s CGI work in A New Hope. Sure, it might be more major than those, but it’s a small list of things that simply won’t–can’t–outweigh my love of the world that’s been created.

No matter how upset anyone might get about any of these changes, it’s important to remember this is George Lucas’ world. He can (and does) do anything he wants with it. If you don’t like what he does with subsequent releases, don’t buy them. But don’t attack him or diminish the role he played in bringing us these stories in the first place. He deserves our respect for that. To that end, I’ll be deleting any comments below that aren’t constructive or are attacks on me as the messenger, or anyone involved in making these changes.

Bleeding Cool is reporting that a Serbian musician had been offered to write the opening tune for the new film and accidentally spilled the beans on the title.

Here’s the piece from Bilc Online:

At one of the many concerts the musician held in France during the Cannes Film Festival, the producers and the director of the next Bond film were in the audience, who were staggered by what they had heard and on the spot offered Jelena a chance to write the opening score for the new James Bond film, entitled Carte Blanche.

Doing some research on Wikipedia, you find that Carte Blanche is the latest James Bond novel written by Jefferey Deaver that came out in May (on the 25th, 2011).

The synopsis and plot breakdown for the novel feels reminiscent of Goldfinger, though the Bond villain is obsessed with death, not gold.  It starts with a train derailment and leads Bond across the world from England to Dubai and then South Africa.  Severan Hydt seems to have plans to kill lots of people, possibly inside the UK and he does so under the cover of his waste disposal company.

Miss Moneypenny is in the book, as well as as a new character of Indian descent taking over the role of Q.

Felix Leiter (played in this latest Bond iteration by Jeffrey Wright) also makes an appearance in the book.

The story sounds as though it has a lot of twists and turns, but will it be the next Bond film?  It’s anyone’s guess.  Though, this is the first time they’ve “rebooted” the character in the novelizations.  Bond in this book was born in 1979 and was a veteran of Afghanistan.

One interesting connection to the film and the story in the book:  The latest James Bond installment is being directed by Sam Mendes.  Mary Goodnight, a character in the novel and a secretary to the 00 section is described in the book as a 21 year old Kate Winslet look alike.  Kate Winslet is Sam Mendes’ ex-wife.

It’s interesting speculation. According to IMDb, Ralph Fiennes and Javier Bardem are signed to the movie (though I’ve heard such reports elsewhere in the news, too).  Ralph Fiennes would be a great choice for a character in the book named Percy Osborne-Smith.  According to Wikipedia:

Percy Osborne-Smith: An agent with Division Three, an offshoot of MI5. Osborne-Smith likes to be the one leading investigations so that he may take the credit for a successful operation. His ambitions lead him to shut down central London at the height of a security conference, ignoring intelligence from Bond that suggests the attack will take place in York.

And let’s face it, Javier Bardem would make a great villain for James Bond no matter how he’s described in the book.

1990 was supposed to be a big year for Captain America. To celebrate the super soldier’s 50^th anniversary B-movie director Albert Pyun (The Sword and the Socerer, Cyborg) attempted to bring Steve Rogers to the masses with the “big-budget’ feature film aptly titled Captain America. Working from a screenplay by Stephen Tolkin (Legend of the Seeker) the film starred Matt Salinger (J. D. Salinger’s son) as Captain America and Scott Paulin (The Right Stuff) as Red Skull. But Pyun’s film never actually made it into American theaters. Instead the film received a direct-to-video release in 1992 and passed into obscurity soon after. In the wake of Captain America: The First Avenger MGM debuts Captain America officially on DVD for the first time as part of their Limited Edition Collection. Whether or not that’s a good thing is still up for debate.

The film begins in Fascist Italy in 1936 where a young boy is kidnapped and used in an experimental program intended to create super soldiers. One of the scientists, Dr. Vaselli, objects to the use of a small boy against his will and flees to America where she continues her research in a more ethical environment. Seven years later Vaselli is able to create a single soldier, Steve Rogers, before being assassinated by a Nazi spy. The world is now under the threat of the Nazi empire and a diabolical monster known as the Red Skull. The Red Skull is threatening to launch an attack on Washington D.C. and Rodgers, code named Captain America, is sent to stop him. He doesn’t exactly succeed seeing as he ends up strapped to the missile as it rockets towards the White House. At the last moment Rogers is able to redirect the missile and crash lands somewhere in Alaska where he is frozen in a block of ice until he is discovered by researchers1990.

In Captain America’s absence the Red Skull has masterminded the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy and now his sights are set on the U.S.’s current leader, and environmentalist, President Kimball. The plot goes on and on and on and gets more and more ridiculous as it meanders to its absurd ending.

Despite having reportedly cost 10 million dollars, Captain America looks like a made-for-television film from the early ’80s. The script is mind numbing, the special effects are ineffective, the production design is cheap and the performances leave a lot to be desired. Luckily Captain America is terrible to the point of being unintentionally hilarious (unless you’re easily offended by the mistreatment of superheroes) and that might justify picking it up out of pure curiosity. I’m just thankful that it hasn’t been converted to be in 3D.

In 2004 director/writer Stevan Mena unleashed his slasher film Malevolence on the horror world. Shot on 35mm for less than $200,000 the film won numbers awards at genre festivals like New York Horror Film Festival. Bereavement is a prequel focuses on the childhood of Martin, the killer in Malevolence.

Kidnapped as a young boy, Martin (Spencer List) is raised by Graham Sutter (Brett Rickaby) in the crumbling carcass of a meat processing plant. There Martin is exposed to the depravity of Sutter’s troubled mind as he abducts and viciously murders numerous women. When Martin draws the attention of seventeen-year-old Allison (Alexandra Daddario) she threatens to expose Sutter’s sick and secret world. But Sutter will go to all lengths to keep Allison quiet and Martin by his side.

Bereavement is far more complex than Malevolence. Rather than a straightforward slasher film Mena has attempted to create a film that is as psychologically troubling as it is gory. The film does a fine job establishing how and why Martin grows up to be a heartless killer but the characters and the subplots surrounding Martin’s story are a bit muddled and unclear. Mena reveals the reason behind some of the confusion in his audio commentary where he discusses at length editing out sections of the film while editing, the various changes that he made while shooting the film and the reasoning behind some of the characters’ motivations that lurked underneath the surface (particularly in regard to Sutter).

The cast, which also includes Michael Biehn as Allison’s uncle and John Savage as Ted, the father of Allison’s love interest William, is quite good and helps to carry the film over its more laborious moments. Daddario, Rickaby and List are both fantastic in their roles.

Bonus features include Mena’s commentary where he spends a lot of time explaining some of the less effectively told nuances of the film, a handful of deleted scenes, a pair of behind-the-scenes featurettes, the theatrical trailer, a TV spot and a collection of still photography.

Bereavement is a flawed, but still recommendable, horror film that would have benefited from a tighter edit and a more focused script. Fans of Malevolence won’t be disappointed and Mena promises a sequel to conclude the trilogy’s story arch. I’ll be looking forward to that.

I think most of us know that the prequels aren’t as hated as some groups of individuals would have you believe. Casually strolling through the land of the Internet will yield you dissertation after dissertation on how hated the prequels are, but I’m of a minority on the Internet that believes the love for the Star Wars movies is much more even than a lot of those people would care to admit.

I have three bits of evidence that support my theory, and I think each of them is pretty compelling.

1. When I post links to Amazon, I see who’s buying what.  From my links, more than a hundred people have ordered the complete saga, all 6 films.  A total of 1 person has pre-ordered only the prequels and 1 other person has pre-ordered only the classic saga.  Sure, the people who read my material and click my likes might tend to skew more towards the sort of fan who’s a completist, but that’s neither here nor there.

2. When news broke that the Yoda puppet in The Phantom Menace might be replaced with a CGI construct, the response was overwhelming.  “How could he do this?” some asked.  “He’s claimed another casualty in his war on puppets,” others opined.  “Why can’t he just leave these films alone?” others lamented.  There was a significant amount of noise being made about it…  About a film that is allegedly hated by everyone.  It’s hated so much that people care whether or not the original Yoda is in place or not.

3. Finally, we have our piece de resistance.  The Star Wars Moments leader board. In honor of the upcoming Blu-ray release, the official Star Wars website put up a mini-site that lets you rate your favorite moments in the Star Wars saga.  You’re given two different scenes and asked, “Which is the better moment?”  There are 300 or so moments, spread equally across the six films.  And it stands to reason that if the prequels are so universally hated that they wouldn’t rate a single moment in the top five, right?  Well, you’d be wrong.  As I write this, three of the top five moments in the Star Wars saga, as voted by Internet users of all ages across the world, are from the Prequels.  Two of them are from The Phantom Menace.  The only classic film represented is The Empire Strikes Back.  Of the top five moments as voted for just today, two of the five are from the Prequels. I suggest you go take a look for yourself. And go vote for some of your favorite moments, too.  [Hat tip to Pablo Hidalgo for bringing this to my attention]

But who is it that hates the prequels?  My kids and the vast majority of their friends prefer the Prequels to the Classic trilogy.  Sure, they’re interested, but it’s part of their generation.  And I think they’ll love them the same way I love Return of the Jedi and those daffy (carnivorous, man-eating) Ewoks.

Ronald Reagan was a big fan of Star Wars (so what if it’s a different kind, this metaphor is apt) and he talked about how he represented a silent majority.  Well, I think the Star Wars Reagan was really speaking of (15 years early) was the prequel trilogy, beloved by a silent majority of fans who are content to love the Star Wars Saga in its entirety and it doesn’t matter what anyone else has to say about it.

I think it’s safe to say that the Leader Board is proof positive that the Prequels are MUCH more popular than a lot of people give them credit for.

You can vote for your favorite moments in the Star Wars saga here, though I warn you, there’s a lot to love in the Prequels and you might find yourself voting for it a lot more often than you think.  And be sure to sound off below.

The Blu-ray set comes out September 16th.  You can preorder it on Amazon.

When I walked into the Sundance Film Festival industry screening of Skateland two years ago I wasn’t expecting to walk out having seen my favorite tribute to John Hughes and utterly in love with Ashley Greene (or at least her character, Michelle Burkham). Truthfully, I expected just the opposite. Most films that try to play tribute to the ’80s end up lampooning the decade of excess rather than celebrating its eccentricities and as far as I was concerned Greene was just another pretty face capitalizing on the success of Twilight.

Skateland tells the story Ritchie Wheeler (Shiloh Fernandez) and his group of friends that live in a small town in Texas in the early ’80s. Ritchie has worked as the skating rink manager at Skateland for the last four years but with interest in roller skating fading the rink’s owner has decided to close up and sell the building. Ritchie is forced to consider a life beyond the rink, the weekend parties at Kenny Crawford’s (Taylor Handley) lakeside home and the post-high school apathy that has taken over his life.

Greene plays Michelle, the beautiful younger sister of local motocross legend Brent Burkham (Heath Freeman), who works at Musicland, decorates her bedroom with posters of The Cure and Depeche Mode, makes mixtapes from her extensive vinyl collection and wears excessive blue eye shadow. She’s also one of the few people pushing the reluctant Ritchie towards a college education. She’s independent, intelligent and, for lack of a better word, dreamy.

Having grown up on films and soundtracks of Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles and Some Kind of Wonderful I tend to by very critical of films that attempt to tap into the nostalgic atmosphere of the ’80s. Skateland does it exactly right as it features the expected archetypes but never submits to cliché. It’s the polar opposite of Topher Grace’s unbearable Take Me Home Tonight and easily outshines Sundance alum The Informers, the lifeless cinematic adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ short stories.

Sadly bonus features are limited to 30 minutes of deleted and alternate scenes that are interesting but were wisely left unused. An audio commentary from writer/director Anthony Burns and writer/producers Brandon and Heath Freeman would have been ideal.

Sadly Skateland was never given the theatrical release or publicity push that it deserved. Hopefully the Blu-ray and DVD release helps the film to find an audience. If you have any love for the ’80s, John Hughes or want to change the way you look at Ashley Greene as an actress I insist that you watch Skateland.

When Frank’s (Rainn Wilson) wife (Liv Tyler) runs off with a sleaze ball drug dealer (Kevin Bacon) he loses his sense of purpose and falls into a deep depression. Touched by the hand of God Frank decides to become a masked vigilante known as the Crimson Bolt and fight back against the crime and injustice of his small suburban community.

When Super was released theatrically I found the film to be a major disappointment. I don’t know what I was expecting. I certainly didn’t want a carbon copy of Kick-Ass and to its credit Super is decidedly different from that comic book caper. The problem is that Super is as bi-polar as its main character as it jumps from being an absurd comedy to a dark, violent and malevolent decent into madness.

Watching the film a second time, and then a third with the audio commentary by director/writer James Gunn (Scooby Doo, Slither) and Wilson, the runaway violence and escalating insanity that consumes Frank seems more appropriate. The tone is still wildly inconsistent but even the ultra-violent behavior of Frank’s sidekick Boltie (Ellen Page) feels more like a comment on modern society than bad writing.

If you didn’t see Super during its theatrical run you’ll want to at least give the film a rent. I don’t know that it will ever capture the cult status it desperately wants but it is better than I initially gave it credit for.

The bonus features are highlighted by the lively and informative audio commentary and a look at the making of the animated title sequence. The rest are rather fluffy and unnecessary unless you like watching Rainn Wilson run around Austin dressed in his Crimson Bolt costume shouting, “Shut up crime!”

A sequel to Captain America was a foregone conclusion. But who do you get to be the villain? Red Skull was obviously the most iconic villain unique to Cap, but who else is there?

There is a whole stable of Marvel Villains that would be suitable (I’d love to see the US go to war with Latveria and have Cap face off against a badass Dr. Doom, but Fox holds his rights).

But the co-writer of Captain America, Christopher Markus knows what he wants.

MODOK. And he wants Peter Dinklage to play him.

I cannot argue with this.

According to the LA Times:

“I love MODOK and I think you could make a terrifying movie with MODOK but nobody seems to be on my side at the momentum,” Markus said, referring to wonderfully weird villain whose name is an acronym for Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing.

Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, MODOK first appeared in Tales of Suspense #93. It would make perfect sense as his origin revolves around the cosmic cube which has already featured so prominently in the movie lore. They harnessed the power of the cube to create a MODOC (Mechanized Organism Designed Only for Computing) but the little fellow becomes to ambitious and changes that Computing to Killing, eventually taking over AIM.

It could be fun. It could be lame. You never know.

I have not read the Hunger Games books yet (though I’ve downloaded them to my Kindle and plan on doing it at some point) so I’m going to be honest: This trailer does nothing for me.

Might it after I read the books? Possibly.

But it looks pretty bland to me. But here’s the trailer. What do you guys think?

Guest author Kondroid (and yours truly) are here with our third part of this year’s Comiket coverage – The Cosplay of Comiket!

No one is entirely certain who started cosplay, but there is little doubt about who perfected it. Japanese cosplayers are legendary in their design, creation, and modeling of one of the ultimate forms of fan devotion: dressing up and becoming your favorite character.

Cosplaying in Japan is a little different from cosplaying overseas. The cosplay community here is a tight knit group, with a very rigid set of self imposed guidelines in place to preserve the good name of the art. As was previously mentioned in our Guide To Surviving Comiket, one does not simply turn up to an event already in costume (as most of us would do at a western con). To walk around on the streets in costume is a major no-no in Japan. Cosplaying is to be done only in certain predetermined areas and only at certain times – so as not to “inconvenience” the general public by creating a spectacle. Similarly, certain costumes are only welcomed at the appropriate events, especially in the case of themed events (that means that while your Resident Evil zombie cosplay group would fit in perfectly at Tokyo Game Show, it wouldn’t be quite so well received at, say, a Hetalia meet up… unless the people at the event are EXTREMELY familiar with a certain game mode of Call Of Duty… which is highly unlikely).

The reason for such strict regulations is because cosplaying is often associated with Otaku in Japan. And in Japan, to be publicly identified as an Otaku is one of the worst fears many closet fans have. I won’t go into details as to why, as there are many a write up about the subject in existence on the internet already, but suffice it to say there have been some very bad things done in Japan by people who have been identified as Otaku. This is the main reason why the public at large do not hold them in very high regard (“fear and loathing” would be a better description of the popular opinion).

Regardless, the cosplay community in Japan seeks to restore some dignity to their hobby-lifestyle by exhibiting their skill at numerous cosplay events around the country every year. Comiket, as one of the largest cosplay events, is host to some of the greatest examples of high level cosplay you’ll ever see. At this three day cosplay extravaganza you’ll even be able to witness cosplay celebrities displaying their latest creations.

The cosplay sections of Comiket usually wrap up an hour before the actual con does, but there’s nothing saying the day is done for the people in costume. Across the street is a private cosplay event only open to those in character… or willing to fork out ¥2000 (USD $20) for entry. There, cosplayers are free from the prying eyes of the public to pose and shoot the night away. (This event usually goes until about 10 PM every night of the convention.) Afterwards, if you know people who know people, you might be able to find your way to the “dan-pa”, or “cosplay Dance Party”, which goes on to early morning. It’s here that you can see hundreds of cosplayers in a dark strobe lite room swaying to anime songs in an odd but amazing mass-synchronized routine that everyone somehow seems to be familiar with… no matter what the song is.

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get to the private “after con” events, but Comiket itself had more than enough cosplay to feast our eyes on.

Check out our gallery from this year’s Comiket yourself! Enjoy!