Last month, Amazon unveiled their Unlimited Instant Video streaming service to their Amazon Prime customers. For the price of $79 per year you can have access to 5,000 television and movie titles, along with all the other benefits that come along with being an Amazon Prime member. The day after this was unveiled, I took the service for a test-drive and you can read my initial thoughts here. Since that time, it has been just under a month later and my Amazon Prime trial membership has expired (I started the trial membership about a week before this service was unveiled) and I feel like I have had enough exposure to this service to provide a full review to those of you out there who are maybe still undecided on whether or not to include Amazon Instant Video as an option to get your streaming video.

Before I get into my thoughts on the service, here are a few things you may want to know. First, this entire experiment was done using a Roku as my streaming device of choice, this review in no way reflects the Amazon Instant Video app on the Roku, only the service itself. Also, I don’t have cable. My TV entertainment comes exclusively from streaming TV and movies on Hulu and Netflix on my Roku. Finally, I never tried Amazon Instant Video out on my laptop, but I don’t think that really factors in to what I think about it, which I think you’ll agree with after this review. So let’s get started.

My initial thoughts of the service were that it was very similar to Netflix, but these initial thoughts – which came after one day using it – would prove to be pretty wrong. The week following the unveiling of Amazon’s streaming video service I made it a point to browse the Amazon offerings before hitting up Netflix as I looked for my TV entertainment for the evening – and each day I grew more and more disappointed with the titles offered. Browsing through the “Most Popular” and “New Releases” sections I noticed that most of the titles were Popular and New on Netflix several months ago such as The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest. It was essentially filled with Netflix offerings I had glossed over weeks ago and had no interest in watching. So I dove deeper into the title selections. More and more titles that I had, a) Never heard of. b) Had no interest in watching. Or c) had already seen on Netflix. Some of this stuff was so obscure it made Netflix’s B and C movie offerings look like recent blockbusters. As the nights in that first week went on, it was the same thing every time: Peruse the Amazon offerings only to find nothing worth watching, then switching over to Netflix and finding something to watch within five or ten minutes. Eventually, in the weeks moving forward I started only browsing the Amazon titles once or twice a week.

Honestly, the action of using Amazon Instant Video was flawless from the Roku, it was just the finding something to watch that was the hard part – which, for these types of services is the name of the game. Netflix has a much more robust and diverse movie library in my experience. Obviously, I didn’t compare the entire 5,000+ Amazon library with Netflix’s, but just with general title-surfing as an average user Amazon’s offerings are pretty dismal. I’m not exaclty sure how the licensing works with these types of services, but I do know it’s a factor as Netflix recently got exclusive rights to stream CBS shows on their service, meaning you won’t be seeing any of those titles on Amazon any time in the near future. I don’t know if Amazon has had trouble obtaining rights for better titles, but I imagine that may be at least part of the reason for their lackluster library of movie and television titles.

I realize there’s something to be said here about taste in movies and television shows to be taken into account, but as a long-time Netflix user I don’t think many would disagree that their library is far and away superior than what Amazon is currently offering. Amazon’s Instant Video service is still new and I imagine it will improve as time goes on, but they are fighting an uphill battle here and it doesn’t seem like they exactly came out of their corner swinging that hard at Netflix, who already has a huge committed customer base.

I personally have no plans of paying the annual fee for Amazon Prime for their Instant Video service; yes, it is about $20 less than Netflix’s service, but as the old saying goes, “You get what you pay for.” and that seems to be true when comparing these two services. For anyone out there mulling over whether or not to shell-out for an eighty-dollar Amazon Prime membership to take advantage of this service, my recommendation is to wait. Amazon’s title library may improve over the coming months making this service worth the cost, but I couldn’t ever really see it becoming so much better that it could replace Netflix, so you may have to ask yourself if it is worth having both?

For me, no.

Are you an Amazon Prime member who has tried out their Instant Video service? Leave your thoughts about it in the comments below!

In an interview with the LA Times, director Zack Snyder talked a little about how he’s approaching his Superman film – and that included acknowledging that this will truly be a reboot, essentially disgregarding all of the previous Superman films to date.

“Literally, the one thing that everyone can start to think about is that we’re making a movie that finally goes with the approach that there’s been no other Superman movies,” Snyder said. “If you look at ‘Batman Begins,’ there’s that structure: there’s the canon that we know about and respect, but on other hand there’s this approach that pre-supposes that there haven’t been any other movies. In every aspect of design and of story, the whole thing is very much from that perspective of ‘Respect the canon but don’t be a slave to the movies.’”

In the piece, Snyder also notes that the film will most likely be titled, Man of Steel, but no final decisions have been made on that yet. Snyder also touches on how it is working with his wife, Christopher Nolan, and why it’s so exciting for him to be working on such an iconic superhero – all of which you can read about in the LA Times piece, which I encourage you to do.

From the day that this was announced I have been excited to see what Zack Snyder is going to give us with regards to the Man of Steel, and from what he has to say about the project before they’ve even started filming it makes me think that this guy knows exactly what he wants to do with Superman, the Metropolis he wants to portray, and the story he wants to tell. How well this will all translate into a great Superman film, well, we will all just have to wait and see.

Zack Snyder’s Superman film starring Henry Cavill is aiming for a December 2012 release.

We’re back with another episode of The Big Movie Mouth-Off podcast!

The podcast features the stars and producers of The Big Movie Mouth-Off film review show, which appears here at Big Shiny Robot! and on Xfinity (Utah On Demand and Channel 6). That lineup is: Jeff Vice from MSN Entertainment, Jimmy Martin from SLUG Magazine, and Bryan Young (me) and Elias Pate from Big Shiny Robot! and ShineBox Media Productions.

To download the latest episode from iTunes, follow this link.

There, you should rate and subscribe to the podcast.

This week, we talked about:

• The Three Stooges
• X-Men First Class Posters
• Schwarzenegger’s Career
• Shane Black and Iron Man 3
• Steven Soderbergh
• Alien Invasion Movies

Listen! Let us know what you think! Spread the word!

For those of you who don’t like iTunes, you can get a direct .mp3 here. And you can add the BSR! podcast RSS feed by right clicking this link.

As for the reviews: First up is The Adjustment Bureau:

Next is Cedar Rapids:

And finally Hall Pass:

Michael Gough, best known around the world for his seminal portrayal of Alfred Pennyworth in Tim Burton’s Batman films, died today at the age of 94.

This isn’t his only connection to geekdom, aside from Hammer Horror films, he also was a regular in non-Batman Tim Burton projects, turning performances in The Corpse Bride and Sleepy Hollow.

For a generation, this was the face of Alfred, Batman’s faithful father figure and Butler and for that he will be recognized forever.

It is fitting that we end this In Memoriam with the poem that Bruce Wayne reads at funerals:

O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

Every week for about 2 1/2 years the fellows from the Geek Show Podcast have been bringing you an excellent, hilarious, geeky hour of geekiness every week. For almost two of those years, I have been producing a video version of their show for Xfinity’s Utah On Demand system. Their licensing agreement was such that the content was exclusive to them, but we’ve since worked it so that it is only a window of exclusivity and now we’ll be getting the show every week on the internet.

Be sure to check out their website and subscribe to their podcast. The show’s regular panelists includes Kerry Jackson, host of X96′s Radio From Hell, Leigh George Kade from Grimmleigh’s Fiends, Shannon Barnson, my co-host at the Pub Quiz, Jeff Vice and Jimmy Martin from the Big Movie Mouth-Off, and Scott Pierce, television critic for The Salt Lake Tribune.

The Geek Show will be putting the video up on their website, and we’ll be putting it up here as well.

Without further ado, here’s part 1:

Digital Comics, love them or hate them, are here to stay. I personally love them, although I do think they are overpriced. That’s why I get a bit of a thrill when the digital providers have their periodic sales. ComiXology, one of the bigger digital distributors has had a plethora of sales lately, and they all have some unifying theme, and the one-day only sale starting tonight is no exception. It’s what I like to call “Readin’ of the Green!” That is to say, in tandem with DC Comics, comiXology is having a humongous Green Lantern/Green Arrow sale. Here’s the meat of the press release:

There are two heroes of the DC Universe that nobody would ever be able to pinch for not wearing green on Saint Patrick’s Day: GREEN LANTERN and GREEN ARROW. So whether you’re Irish or not, join us as we celebrate St. Patty’s with an exclusive sale celebrating DC’s greenest super heroes! From 11 PM EST tonight to 11 PM EST tomorrow, you can purchase over 200 Green Lantern and Green Arrow digital comics for only $0.99 each. This offer is available at the DC Digital Comics Store and through the DC Comics and Comixology Apps (both available via iTunes).

Not only is this a rare chance to snag some of your favorite issues from acclaimed series such as BLACKEST NIGHT for a bargain price, but this promotion also serves as the digital debut of 26 newly-available titles. For the first time ever, you can read GREEN ARROW #33-35, GREEN ARROW: THE LONGBOW HUNTERS #1-3, GREEN LANTERN #58-59, the classics GREEN LANTERN #76-89, and GREEN LANTERN CORPS #36-37 and #52-53 on a digital screen. This means stories by amazing creators like Geoff Johns, Neal Adams, Denny O’Neil, Peter J. Tomasi, Ivan Reis, Doug Mahnke and more!

This is actually really impressive. A lot of it is fairly recent stuff, but I always approve of when issues that are truly hard to get a hold of show up digitally, though they need to do better at differentiating volume numbers. I mean, the runs of Green Lantern listed are from two completely separate series, even though they share the same title. Regardless, it’s great to see the classic O’Neil/Adams “Hard Travelin’ Heroes” issues, and I’ve never read Longbow Hunters. I can’t speak for everyone, but I am getting prepped for yet another digital shopping spree! Remember, this sale is only going to last during St. Patrick’s Day, so if you wait too long, you’ve run out of the luck of the Irish. Get on it!

Hey BSR readers! Arse-bot here with a quick little update to yesterday’s Daredevil story. THR has updated their original story with sources saying that this new story line will follow the “Born Again” story line!

Sources say the new story line will be the adaptation of the critically acclaimed Frank Miller-written and David Mazzucchelli-illustrated Born Again run of the comic series, which saw the Kingpin of Crime learn the identity of the superhero and begin to systematically destroy his life.

“Born Again” is one of my favorite DD story lines, one that I have read and re-read nearly a dozen times. While I’m quite excited to see this played out, it seems a bit like a story line that should come later in the franchise being that we have just barely established the character in one movie – a movie that is several years old now. That all being said though, I understand this has been a difficult franchise to get off the ground and who knows if we will even get more films beyond this, so I’d rather see it early (in my opinion) than not at all!

Daredevil is one my top three favorite superheroes, and I know he doesn’t have as much fan clout as Spider-Man and the X-Men, but neither does Iron Man and look how well that turned out in the right hands. I’m excited to see another DD film finally go into the works, and hopefully this time around it won’t be so underappreciated!

In the past week two new Game Of Thrones trailers have popped up. The first is entitled “The Game Begins”

Fear and Blood

With just one month and one day away from this series coming to HBO I can officially say I’m getting really excited.

IGN has debuted a new gameplay trailer for Batman: Arkham City, which is set to hit the PS3, PC, and Xbox 360 on October 18! I actually think that this game is the game I am most looking forward to this year. The world looks more open and exploratory than it’s predecessor, while still keeping a lot of familiar gameplay intact.

Frankly, it just comes down to this:

Best. Batman game. Ever.

Batman: Arkham City builds upon the intense, atmospheric foundation of Batman: Arkham Asylum, sending players soaring into Arkham City, the new maximum security home for all of Gotham City’s thugs, gangsters and insane criminal masterminds.

Set inside the heavily fortified walls of a sprawling district in the heart of Gotham City, this highly anticipated sequel introduces a brand-new story that draws together a new all-star cast of classic characters and murderous villains from the Batman universe, as well as a vast range of new and enhanced gameplay features to deliver the ultimate experience as the Dark Knight.