Tron: Legacy is coming and I’m way excited. And if you want to see 20 minutes of the film in IMAX 3D, then starting tomorrow you can get your tickets to this special event. Go to the official website for Tron Night 2010 to see if this event is happening near you, then tomorrow at 1pm EST you can get your free tickets. Attached below is the official press release for this event and other Tron things coming up including the highly anticipated release of the soundtrack by Daft Punk.

WALT DISNEY PICTURES KICKS OFF

“TRON: LEGACY” 10-WEEK GLOBAL COUNTDOWN

20+ MINUTE 3D SNEAK PEEK ELECTRIFIES AUDIENCES

AROUND THE WORLD WITH “TRON NIGHT: AN IMAX 3D EXPERIENCE”

Walt Disney Pictures’ “TRON: Legacy” Opens in US Theaters

December 17, 2010

BURBANK, Calif. (October 10, 2010) —Walt Disney Studios announced today,

October 10, 2010 (“10-10-10”), the kickoff of the official 10-week countdown to the release

of “TRON: Legacy,” which opens in theaters December 17, 2010. Every week for the next

10 weeks marks a major milestone in the countdown as The Walt Disney Company rolls

out exciting new TRON events, film content, products and announcements in preparation

for the worldwide film launch, including:

TRON Night: An IMAX 3D Experience, a special event on October 28, 2010, that

will give audiences worldwide the first opportunity to step onto the Grid and into

the cutting-edge, 3D world of Walt Disney Pictures’ high-tech adventure “TRON:

Legacy,” during an exciting 20-plus-minute sneak peek of the highly anticipated

film, sponsored by Asus Computer International.

Select IMAX 3D theaters nationwide and 3D & IMAX 3D theaters internationally

will offer a special screening of thrilling, never-before-seen 3D footage. “It’s

exciting to offer fans an early, exclusive 3D preview of ‘TRON: Legacy’ in the

ultimate of formats. We can’t wait for audiences around the world to experience

the visually stunning and cutting-edge world that director Joe Kosinski has

created,” said Sean Bailey, President of Production, Walt Disney Studios Motion

Greg Foster, Chairman and President of IMAX Filmed Entertainment, is equally

enthusiastic. “We are ecstatic that the Disney team and the ‘TRON: Legacy’

filmmakers elected to debut this amazing footage exclusively in our network of

theaters,” said Foster. “This first-look in IMAX 3D is the most immersive way to

bring audiences into the world of ‘TRON: Legacy’ and kick-off the countdown to

the film’s highly-anticipated launch.”

Tickets to the October 28th TRON Night events are free and will be distributed for

US and Canadian screenings on a first-come, first-serve basis starting 10:00 a.m./

PDT on the first “TRON Tuesday,” October 12, 2010. Information for U.S. and

Canadian ticketing can be found on Facebook.com/TRON.

Beginning today, fans have the opportunity to purchase tickets to select IMAX 3D

midnight screenings of “TRON: Legacy.” Tickets may be purchased

at all participating IMAX locations and online at Disney.com/TRON.

“TRON Tuesdays”— every Tuesday for the next 10 weeks, exclusive new video

and film content, including behind-the-scenes exclusives, trailers and artwork, will

be released around the world online and through select broadcast outlets. To get

the latest on “TRON Tuesdays” and more, visit Disney.com and Facebook.com/

“10-10-10” also marks the launch of Disney.com’s TRON: Get on the Grid

Sweepstakes, featuring hundreds of prizes including a Grand Prize Trip

for four to experience ElecTRONica, the new street celebration at Disney

California Adventure™ Park. Details and official entry rules are available at

Disney.com/TRONsweeps.

ADDITIONAL HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 10-WEEK COUNTDOWN:

Walt Disney Records will release the “TRON: Legacy” official motion picture

Soundtrack, scored by the French electronic music duo Daft Punk, on

December 7th.

In addition to new merchandise arriving to stores this month, Disney Consumer

Products will debut exciting, new “TRON: Legacy” products and promotions,

including a special line for women, a one-of-a-kind immersive retail

destination for products and a unique gadget line for music and gaming fans.

On December 7th, Disney Interactive Studios will launch the next-gen video

game “TRON: Evolution” for all major home video game consoles, Windows PC

and handheld platforms.

Disney Parks is celebrating “TRON: Legacy” with ElecTRONica, a nighttime

street event at Disney California Adventure™ Park, featuring a dynamic visual-

and music-based experience, a re-creation of Flynn’s Arcade and an opportunity

to see a special 3D preview of “TRON: Legacy.” ElecTRONica runs from now

until April 2011 every Friday, Saturday and Sunday night and nightly through the

Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday periods.

Information on all TRON activities can be found at Disney.com/TRON.

“TRON: Legacy” is a 3D action-packed adventure set in a digital world unlike

anything captured on the big screen. Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), a rebellious 27-year-

old, is haunted by the mysterious disappearance of his father Kevin Flynn (Oscar® and

Golden Globe® winner Jeff Bridges), a man once known as the world’s leading video-

game developer. When Sam investigates a strange signal sent from the abandoned

Flynn’s Arcade—that could have only come from his father—he finds himself pulled into

a world where Kevin has been trapped for 20 years. With the help of the fearless warrior

Quorra (Olivia Wilde), father and son embark on a life-or-death journey across a visually

stunning universe—created by Kevin Himself—which has become far more advanced with

never-before-imagined vehicles, weapons and landscapes, and a ruthless villain who will

stop at nothing to prevent their escape.

“TRON: Legacy” is directed by Joseph Kosinski, from a screenplay written by Eddy

Kitsis & Adam Horowitz, based on characters created by Steven Lisberger and Bonnie

MacBird. Presented in Disney Digital 3D™ and scored by Grammy Award®–winning

electronic music duo Daft Punk, “TRON: Legacy” hits theaters on December 17, 2010.

It has been officially announced today that Rhys Ifans (Notting Hill, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1) has been cast to play the villain in Marc Webb-directed reboot of the Spider-Man franchise. Ifans joins Andrew Garfield (Peter Parker/Spider-Man) and Emma Stone (Gwen Stacy) in the growing cast.

Of course, Sony and those involved with the film are being tight-lipped on which villain he will actually play.

Share your theories of which villain Ifans may be playing over in the BSR Forums!

It took me a while, but I was finally able to pry Star Wars: The Force Unleashed away from Kill-Tacular-Tron earlier this year and convinced him to let me borrow it. I can’t actually ever recall a Star Wars game that I enjoyed a LOT, Shadows on N64 was pretty good, but Knights of the Old Republic – while fun for a while – was a bit daunting for me. While not without problems, The Force Unleashed was the most fun I’ve had playing a Star Wars video game and I was thrilled to hear a second one was in development. Well, flash forward to this month and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II is set to hit game shelves on the 26 of this month – and LucasArts has just released a new trailer for the game that includes game play footage.

I think the thing I loved most about this is the time the game is set in. It’s just years before the events of A New Hope and sheds light on how the rebellion came to be. Whether this is “authorized” continuity or not, I don’t really care, I consider it to be awesome.I don’t want to bore you with my explanation of the details, this game will feature roles from Yoda and Boba Fett, as well as the possibility of other familiar faces that LucasArts is keeping under wraps. I want to point you over you guardian.co.uk, where Keith Stuart has done a terrific write up of the game from his experience meeting with LucasArts and playing a demo of the game. It’s lengthy, but if you are excited about this game, it’s a great read. Here’s a snippet:

Set soon after its predecessor and just a few years before A New Hope, this is a more melancholy take on the story of Starkiller, the Sith apprentice who turned against Darth Vader and [spoiler, if you haven’t played the first one] seemingly sacrificed his life to ignite the rebellion [spoiler ends]. The development team has taken in criticisms of the first title, listened to fans and, encouraged by a Writers Guild award for the Force Unleashed story, developed the darkness of the narrative considerably. As executive producer Julio Torres explains, “We want to figure out how to tell an incredible core story, where we bring in some icons you’re all familiar with, as well as introduce new characters who have their own development and who matter. We want a story that’s new and refreshing but still anchored in Star Wars lore.”

Force Unleashed 2 begins on the stormy planet of Kamino, where Vader has been using an accelerated cloning process to generate a new version of Starkiller, once his favourite Jedi-hunting machine. Meanwhile, rebellion leader General Rahm Kota has been captured by imperial forces and is being forced to fight for his life in a gladiatorial arena on the rich leisure planet of Cato Neimoidia. Vader’s plan is for Starkiller to murder the general, simultaneously ridding the empire of a major rebel leader and destroying Starkiller’s legendary status as the godfather of the galactic uprising.

In any case, I am extremely excited for this game, and frankly the trailer looks goddamned epic, so check it out for yourself:

I was able to interview Scott Snyder for the Huffington Post about the release of the new American Vampire trade. You can read my take and excerpts from that interview when it goes live on Huffington Post.

We also spoke about his involvement with his run on Detective Comics, which begins next month. Ask for it to be put on your hold now. It’s going to be a good one.

You can listen to the full interview on the Big Shiny Robot! iTunes feed, or read our excerpt about his Detective Comics run below.

Big Shiny Robot!: You’re going to be taking over Detective Comics, the longest running Batman title, and you’re going to leave an indelible mark on it. And I know last time we talked, we both just talked about Batman as fans. I know you’re a big fan and you have an encyclopedic knowledge of the ins and outs of Batman’s character. What’s it like stepping into that?

Scott Snyder: It’s huge. It’s the biggest honor of my whole writing career. I’m so thrilled, but also so nervous. The bar is so high. I grew up reading the stories that made me want to be involved comics, and so many of them were Batman comics. From the Dark Knight Returns to Year One and Arkham Asylum and all of those. So, on the one hand I was really scared. When they asked me, I jumped at it and then it was based on the idea I had pitched. It wasn’t like they asked me and I just took it because it was a good job. I promise I wouldn’t have taken it unless I thought I had an idea I was excited about from the beginning. Without that, I wouldn’t have stepped into it. And hopefully we’ll do something new and different and dark. And the idea is that it’s Batman back in Gotham, solving mysteries with high-tech toys, but overall the concept of the series really is that Gotham is almost like a black mirror that throws back at anyone who puts on the mantle of the Bat. And whether or not Dick Grayson is up to the challenge of facing a Gotham that has adapted to be its own worst enemy. And I’m very excited about Jock and Francesco [Francavilla] on the Commissioner Gordon back up. It’s a confluent story. It’s a big story all called “The Black Mirror”.

BSR!: One of the interesting things about Batman and Dick is that Bruce is the world’s greatest detective. He’s had that moniker for a long time, he started in Detective Comics because he was so great and sometimes in the popular culture, like in the movies (with the exception maybe of the first Tim Burton film), they didn’t really explore his acuity as a detective very well. But Dick Grayson, over the years, has always been the lesser detective. Even Tim [Drake, Robin III], has out-shined him with his detective skills. Is that something you’re exploring with the book? Dick trying to live up to that adequacy and that title?

SS: Absolutely. It really is something we’re really trying to focus and absolutely make it a story that couldn’t be about Bruce in any way. This is really a run, it’s about Dick Grayson coming to terms with what it means to be Batman and not just stepping in for Bruce and all the emotional baggage that brings because I think other people have really done a great job with that already, Grant Morrison, Tony Daniel and so on. But exactly that, Gotham is going to challenge him on all the levels that it takes to be Batman. From the emotional and psychological to the very literal challenges like that, like are you good enough to solve this case? And there will be consequences if he’s not and he’s very aware of that. It really is a trial by fire for him as Batman. This is his second year as Batman. The first year was really about coming to terms with the idea of is he wearing a shroud, or is he wearing the cowl? But with Bruce back and giving him his blessing to be the Batman of Gotham, now it’s about, can he be Batman. This isn’t about him and the feelings of can he be Bruce. With Bruce back, this is about him and can he face Gotham?

BSR!: It sounds really great. Is there anything before we go that you can tell us about it? It starts in November…?

SS: I can tell you that for the most part, we’re interested in developing our own Gotham, with Jock and Francesco, to make it Dick’s worst fears coming to life around him. That means new villains in terms of new faces in organized crime that step in in the vacuum created by the fall of the Falcones. And it also means new dark and psychotic villains. Not so much capes, we’re not really dealing with superheroes at all. But that also means dealing with certain things in Dick’s past and Barbara’s past and Jim… You’ll see in the very first issue, in #871, you’ll see a very important person from his past come back to become a major figure in the series. A dark, troubling person from his past. In that regard, we’re trying to make a new Gotham and a new set of villains and challenges for Dick and everyone around him. But we’re also trying to cut very deep and have a really deep continuity with Dick, or built out of the really organic stuff.

BSR!: What’s that like, writing words coming out of Batman’s mouth that are going to be printed in his comic?

SS: It gives me chills every time. It took me longer to write the first few pages of #871 where I was doing lines of narration from Dick than the entire rest of the issue. It was so nerve-wracking trying to get it right, when you know, you’ve read enough that you know his voice, but it’s so intimidating. And the first time you write the batcave or the bunker, it’s still like being a kid in a candy store.

BSR!: Thanks for talking with us.

SS: Thanks so much for everything, I really appreciate it.

You can order your copy of Scott’s American Vampire Volume 1 now.

The last couple of Secret Origins Sundays I’ve written have kind of delved into more obscure aspects of the comic world. Future installments will probably be similar. For this one, the first to be simultaneously posted both here and at Epic Randomness, I decided to stick to a straightforward origin. Today will be my summary of one of the most endearing origins ever told. Nary a whit has changed since it’s 1940 debut. In the 13 short pages this story took, it established a mighty hero, got his alter-ego a job, established the hero’s main antagonist and firmly established a world that captured the hearts and minds of a generation of youngsters. His popularity once surpassed that of Superman himself. Many have taken the name since, but here is a retelling of the original, the World’s Mightiest Mortal, Captain Marvel! Shazam! Watch out for stray lightning strikes, because we’re off!

Sometimes it pays to talk to strangers.

From the outset, this story gets off to a running start. We’re introduced to Billy Batson, a young newshawk and a mysterious stranger that’ll change his life forever. When I mention this origin hasn’t changed much since the 40’s this is one aspect that has been expanded upon, with Billy following the stranger because of a familiarity he sensed from him, but that’s another story, so let’s continue. The mysterious stranger leads Billy down to the subway station, no one else is around, and suddenly a strange subway train straight from a Technicolor nightmare arrives on the scene.

"It's like Salvador Dali threw up."

The train moves at ludicrous speed towards an unknown destination, hurtling through the pitch blackness like a bullet. Finally, Billy and his phantom companion arrive at a what appears to be a weird subterranean cavern. The two soldier on and encounter one of the more iconic features: a comical, yet grotesque menagerie of statues featuring the seven deadly enemies of man!

Hatred is all like "Yeah I'm angry, wanna make somethin' of it?"

Once the twosome reach the end of the cavern, they are confronted by the grizzled visage of the wizard, Shazam! He displays his omniscience by calling Billy by name. He goes on to explain he has used the powers the ancient gods have given him to fight evil and injustice, in truth, the same seven deadly enemies of man we were just shown.

"Yes son, my name is an acronym!"

Old Shazam goes on with his story, it seems he knows so much because of the Historama, a device that shows his the entirety of the goings on in the world. He’s seen Billy and how his cruel uncle Eben kicked him out and left him to live on the street, taking the inheritance left by Billy’s parents. Shazam tells Billy that his time is short, and has decided to pass his powers on. He beseeches Billy to speak his name, he does and we get one of the most amazing transformations of the Golden Age!

That's kind of a heavy burden for a 10 year old.

Shazam asks Captain Marvel to speak his name again, and in a cloud of smoke, we see the last of the wizard for this story. Billy finds himself back in front of the subway station thinking it was all a dream. You can’t really blame the kid, it seems really out there for reality. The next morning, Billy is back hawking papers, the news of the day is that a crazed scientist has threatened the U.S. radio system, demanding 50 million dollars. In 1940’s money, that’s like, one BILLION dollars! Anyway, a couple of rather well dressed thugs are bragging about “the boss” as they buy a paper from Billy. The boy is naturally suspicious, so he gives chase to the unsavory characters. He sees them enter a swanky apartment building, but is stopped by the doorman. Undaunted, Billy makes his way to the radio station, calling on Mr. Morris to tell him of his suspicions. Morris astoundingly doesn’t have the kid thrown out on his ear, and humors the lad. After the story is told, Morris tells Billy there is no way such a crazed maniac would be able to rate a ritzy 40’s style apartment. Billy is an incredibly determined young boy though and makes Mr. Morris a deal: If Billy can find the Phantom Scientist, Mr. Morris will give Billy a job as a radio reporter. No child labor laws like we have today, folks!

Thinking to himself, Billy wonders how he’s going to get into the apartment house without being seen. It’s then that he surmises if Captain Marvel is real, he could leap up the office tower and get a bird’s eye view to descend on the apartment. He says the magic word and of course Captain Marvel is real, and does just what he envisioned. Captain Marvel takes a mighty leap, and as luck would have it, lands outside of the exact right apartment. The thugs turn on an ingenious 2-way television and ask is Mr. Sivana is there. The TV tubes warm up and:

Remember kids, Bald = Evil!

What happens next is one of the most brutal and quick confrontations ever in the early days of super-heroes. Captain Marvel destroys the radio silencer by throwing a thug into with great force, killing (possibly literally) two birds with one stone. While this is happening, the other miscreant wisely decides to beat feet and makes his way to the elevator. Good old Cap though just forces the elevators doors open and pulls the car back up by the cables. With the two baddies subdued, Captain Marvel confronts Sivana for the first time. Unfortunetly for the forces of goodness, Sivana is safe at an undisclosed location, only being at the scene thanks to his two-way tv. Captain Marvel promises the next time they meet, Sivana will be behind prison walls, or dead!

His work done, Captain Marvel says the magic word and returns to the form of Billy Batson. Billy calls Mr. Morris and shows him the remains of the radio silencer. Billy makes Mr. Morris promise not to tell anyone it was he who destroyed the silencer, saying he still has to capture Sivana and anonymity would make that a lot easier. Inexplicably, Morris agrees, possibly due to sheer dumbfounded-ness at the scene before him. Billy reminds him of their deal, so now Billy Batson is officially a radio reporter! Billy is of course ecstatic, and as our story closes, we get to share a wink with Billy, since we all know the “real” story.

Yes, Billy VERY convincing...

For kids in the 40’s this had to have wowed them. A child their age just being able to say a word and be the most powerful, smart and speedy person ever! I’m in my 30’s and it’s still an endearing and enduring concept. I hope you all enjoyed this retelling. Stay tuned every Sunday for more!

This episode of Clone Wars, ‘Corruption’, tells the story of Mandalore’s black market troubles. Mandalore is under significant stress because of their neutrality and trade to their system is choked off. Smugglers and black marketeers keep things flowing into Mandalore. Unfortunately, some of them unwittingly poison a number of children with their tainted goods.

It was very much like The Third Man with Padme Amidala cast as Holly Martins, coming to the planet to visit an old friend, the Duchess Satine. The children are poisoned and they set out to investigate.

The problem with this episode? There was no Harry Lime. Orson Welles’ character in The Third Man was the black marketeer who unwittingly let out a tainted batch of penecillin on the children of Vienna and had to fake his own death to escape. He’s one of film history’s most despicable and well loved bad guys and he’s exactly what this episode needed.

This episode looked very pretty. The lighting, the animation, the costume changes, the voice acting, it was all very good. In fact, there were scenes in the throne room areas with light pouring in that looked pretty incredible and the facial animation just keeps getting better and better. The attention to detail that no one else would notice was fantastic. Did anyone else notice shapes from Boba Fett’s armor (particularly the diamond in the center of his chest plate) all over the architecture of Mandalore? I did. And it’s details like those that help me remember that the people making this show love Star Wars as much as I do.

But the writing in this episode was so dry, it was almost unbearable. Nothing really happens in this episode. Sure, we can see the unrest in Mandalore. I get that. I see that it’s setting things up for future episodes, but couldn’t it have done it with a little bit more spark? Couldn’t it have used an actual bad guy, even if he was just a misguided black marketeer? And couldn’t everything have been assembled a little bit more logically?

Why did Satine ask for the warehouse full of evidence be burned to the ground before the investigation? And it’s not like it wasn’t pointed out to her in the show. It just didn’t seem called for, especially since in the next scene she asks Padme for help in furthering the investigation.

This was perhaps the most lifeless episode of this show I’ve watched. I’ve been going back and rewatching episodes and I really can’t remember feeling more ambivalent to an episode than this one. It was good. I mean it was Star Wars, so it wasn’t horrible or anything. But it just kind of….was.

On the other hand, the first thing my son said when the episode was over was, “That was a really good one, dad. I can’t wait till next week.” So maybe I’m just way off base.

My only hope is that the coming episodes set on Mandalore build on the situation created here. And next episode we get Ahsoka on Mandalore. And if it’s a powder keg, then she’ll be sure to spark it into an explosion.

As I eagerly anticipate the release of the 10th DC animated original movie I’ve decided to make a list of MY top 5. This list is strictly for posterity, after all, what we catalog at Big Shiny Robot! echoes in eternity.

5. Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths

Loosely based on Grant Morrison’s JLA: Earth 2 graphic novel, this movie edges out the Green Lantern and Wonder Woman films with Lex Luthor playing the hero and the JLA working with their Earth-2 counterparts to defeat the Crime Syndicate.

4.Superman/Batman: Apocalypse

The newest in the series, I had to watch this twice before I really enjoyed it. It strays from the original Superman/Batman story enough to keep it interesting without being incoherent. There’s an annoying montage of Supergirl trying on outfits near the beginning of the film that almost kills it entirely, but once Big Barda is introduced the story takes off to the world of Jack Kirby created characters and the excitement on Apokolips makes up for the slow start.

3.Superman: Doomsday

I’ve had an affinity towards The Man of Steel since I was 5 years old so this movie had to make the list. I immediately wanted to give it the number one spot, because it is a fantastic film. Magnificent action scenes and chilling depictions of Doomsday killing animals taken straight from the comic books shocked me on first viewing. Despite a cameo from Kevin Smith and great voice work from Anne Heche it came in 3rd because the next two films are so strong.

2.Justice League: The New Frontier

This movie confused my wife and she asked a few poignant questions like, “What the hell is The Centre?”, and “Why did Batman scare that Kid?”. I’ve read the Darwyn Cooke story so many times I have a hard time seeing any gaps in the story but people unfamiliar with the source material have raised a few good points. Despite minor
(if any) flaws in the storytelling, the animation raised the bar for other movies based on Cooke’s designs alone.

1.Batman: Under the Red Hood

At number one on the list you’d think I have a long diatribe on why this movie stands out from the rest, with insightful comparisons to the previous films. Unfortunately I don’t. I’m still baffled at how well this entire project was executed. From the script to artwork everything seems to be in just the right place at the right time. I you haven’t seen this one yet don’t bother renting it, you’ll want to watch it over and over.

What we have to look forward to (besides my top ten list next year):

All Star Superman: Announced at San Diego Comic-Con in 2010, this could easily take over the #1 spot or dissapoint us by being incoherent depending on what is removed from the story.

Green Lantern: Emerald Knights: Slated for release June 7, 2011 this HAS to be better than 2009’s Green Lantern: First Flight.

Batman: Year One: Based on the classic Frank Miller/David Mazzucchelli story, I’m anxious to see the production artwork for this. Planned release date of September 27, 2011.

Disagree with me below. I don’t mind that you’re wrong!

I wrote yesterday about the 3D releases of Star Wars and I have been buried in responses by people whose biggest complaint about this seems to be that we won’t be seeing the original theatrical releases in theatres or in a hi-definition format any time soon. Granted, no special features have been announced for the Blu-ray save the deleted scenes, it won’t be too unexpected if the “Ultimate Saga Edition” came with these versions.

I’m not holding my breath though, and I don’t think the guys behind Original Trilogy are either. (Quite a lot of the traffic and comments on the site have been from their forum members.)

For quite a few years now, they’ve been working hard to petition Lucasfilm to restore and release the original theatrical versions of the Star Wars movies. I prefer 95% of the Special Editions now, but I think this is an admirable goal. I have the 1995 THX release of the Star Wars trilogy on Laserdisc and still pop it in now and again. The films are excellent the way they were. And for people who hate the prequels, I can understand why the changes would be grating. I prefer the special editions, despite a few things I hate about them, because it folds all six movies together and makes them much more consistent with each other. My kids wouldn’t know who the hell the ghost of Sebastian Shaw is, but seeing a ghost of Hayden Christensen hits them in the gut. It hits me a lot harder, too. It creates a better sense of continuity for those of us who watch these six films as a whole instead of separate entities.

There are different kinds of Star Wars fans and since so many different versions have been released, there are no right answers to what the best and the favorite should be. It’s all a matter of personal taste.

Now, Lucasfilm has said pretty bluntly that they won’t be restoring or preserving the original theatrical releases of the films any further. The time and money investment is simply too much for something they see as looking backwards.

But there are hundreds of thousands of motivated fans, I’m sure, that would be interested in taking on this task themselves. There are plenty of film preservation societies that could be partnered with to locate and preserve the best possible hi-def versions of the classic trilogy as it was released. Financing could be done through donations and programs like Kickstarter and it could be paid for that way. Volunteers can clean up frames on their own. It can be done.

This preserved digital version can then be presented to Lucasfilm as a gift. It’s obvious that people who are upset about this issue care about Star Wars and historic preservation.

When it’s there and done and in their hands, there would be no excuse for them not to release it. The DVD release previous proves they aren’t opposed to releasing the best possible copy they have on hand, so make sure this is the copy they have on hand.

Some might see this as a step too far. Some might say, “Why should I have to pay to have this preservation done?” I say, put your money where your mouth is. Lucasfilm is obviously not going to do this on their own and if you want it that bad, this is a small investment and it would preserve it for future generations and art historians. Then art houses COULD show the original versions.

If such a movement were to begin, you can put me down right now for the first $20 contribution. But in the meantime, I’m going to continue enjoying the versions I have of the film. And I’m going to enjoy the Blu-ray and the 3D release. And there’s nothing you’ll be able to do to stop me.

It’s time once again for another installment of The Big Movie Mouth Off, starring Jeff Vice from X96’s Radio From Hell and Jimmy Martin from SLUG Magazine (and both are regular panelists on The Geek Show Podcast)

You can friend the show on Facebook here.

These are available exclusively on Comcast: Utah On Demand, and then after their exclusive run there, they will be appearing on Big Shiny Robot! and across the Internet. (iTunes/podcast versions coming soon by popular demand.)

Without further delay, let’s get to the reviews:

First, M. Night Shyamalan’s production of “Devil”

Next we have the Emma Stone vehicle “Easy A”:

The mockumentary from Jaoquin Phoenix and Casey Affleck, “I Am Here” is next:

Then we have a review of Ben Affleck’s “The Town”:

Last on the list is Oliver Stone’s sequel to his own classic “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps”:

Check back for more soon!

Big Shiny Robot! has a weekly column in the weekly alt-weekly IN Magazine in Salt Lake City dedicated to comic books and other geeky stuff.  This week, we take a look at the Kings of horror comics Dark Horse!

If you live in the Greater Salt Lake area, you can pick it up on newsstands every where now.

If you would like to read their online version of the article, you can click on their website. Or you can read the version from the paper below.