Critical End!

I’m a big fan of The Venture Bros. on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim lineup of programming.  Other than Robot Chicken, it’s the only Adult Swim cartoon I still watch.  The fourth season blu-ray just came out, and having already secured it and quickly wolfed down every morsel of its content, let me assure you that it is a worthy purchase indeed.  And the blu-ray really is the way to go.  The animation is gorgeous in high def.

But that’s not why I’m writing today.  Series co-creator Jackson Publick announced on his blog that not only has the show been renewed for two more pulse-pounding seasons, but a 90 minute TV movie is on the way as well.  That’s huge news, and frankly, a load off my mind, since every show I like gets cancelled after a few seasons, especially quirky niche shows like Venture Bros.

The finale of season four opened up a lot of interesting possibilities, and it’s great that they’ll have at least two more seasons to explore them.  One of my favorite things about the show is that the creators don’t just reset the status quo every episode.  Characters grow and change, taking full advantage of the serial nature of television.  A welcome surprise from a comedy cartoon that first appeared to be a straight forward parody of Johnny Quest, but has grown into an amazingly well-written show that tackles love, failure, growing up, and even death while still remaining funny and packed full of 60s throwback action.

So kudos to you, Team Venture.  Here’s to many more seasons of hilarity, heartbreak, and of course, adventure.

It would appear that there is a God after all.  Look like I owe that crazy religious fanatic on the corner of Broad and 3rd a Coke.  Join me in rejoicing as we all celebrate the following news:

Disney has dropped all plans for the Robert Zemeckis mo-cap remake of Yellow Submarine.  While I would like to think that this is because somebody at Disney sent out a memo that said, “Wait a minute, guys.  I just realized that the whole thing is fucking retarded”, the truth is more likely the fact that Mars Needs Moms, which Zemeckis produced, is on it’s way to being one of the biggest bombs in recent Disney history. 

Bob Zemeckis, let this be your wake up call.  We all miss your live action films.  You were brilliant.  This whole mo-cap things is, quite frankly, somewhat scary.  Even if it is the wave of the future, as you’ve said time and time again, I don’t think we’re ready for it.  Hell, most of us still haven’t come around to George Lucus’ new Star Wars additions, and those started in the ’90’s.  So, do us all a favor and relax, take some time away from the cruel online blog folks (CE! excluded, of course!  We’re your one stop source for sexy entertainment news!), and start thinking about that next live-action film, or series, that we all know you have saved up in that cute noggin’ of yours.

Zemeckis can see the future with his patented Zemec Specs!

Have a great weekend. 

via CHUD

In happier times.

If you look back through the site, you’ll see how excited I was about Hatchet II.  That excitement reached it’s height when AMC pulled the film from all of it’s theaters a few days into it’s theatrical run.  What was so bad-ass about this movie that it couldn’t even be shown in theaters?  They had me.  I bought the DVD the day it hit the shelves (something Irarely do without having seen the film first), and quickly settled in for the amazing holy grail of horror films that would be Hatchet II.

Final thoughts: Eh.

Not only did most of the sequel seem to throw out everything that made the first film so funny, scary, and original, but it also screamed of being shot on video and just overall cheap.  Not to mention that the re-casting of heroine Marybeth was much more distracting that it should have been.  So, yes, I was let down.  But was I ready for another sequel?  Hell, I was already on Fandango trying to pre-order my tickets.

And now Adam Green says it’s going to happen and I fully support him on this.  I always said that Hatchet would work best as a 80’s-ish horror franchise, and I know Green agrees.  Let’s just hope that he cleans up some of the mess he made with Hatchet II.

This episode is 87 steps ahead of you…if you haven’t listened to the first 86 episodes. REVIEWED: Limitless. PLUS: More fun with hypothetical scenarios!

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Depending on how you look at it, I either had nothing to post today or only THE BEST THING EVER.

via Trailers from Hell

…at least that’s what I assume he decided to do halfway through developing Wonder Woman for television. And I think he’s really got something here. Adrianne Palicki only MOSTLY looks like some nerd took a nude photo of her from Playboy and photoshopped his fantasy on top of it.

Here’s a sneak peak of the sense-shattering first episode!

This episode is gonna keep its sheep suit on / Until it’s sure that you’ve been shown / That it can be trusted walking with you alone. / Owoooooooo! REVIEWED: Red Riding Hood. PLUS: Vagina blood.

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Remember this business? Well now we’ve got a teaser:

So look. It’s VERY anime. And normally I’m not into that. Granted the original Thundercats was anime too, but 80s anime occupies a different, more loved spot in my conscious. At any rate, as much as I might normally turn away from this, my heart actually quickened a bit. For some reason, just seeing Wilykit and Wilykat jumping around, Tygra going all invisible, and Cheetara spinning that bo staff brought back so many awesome memories that I just have to believe the creators of the reboot have latched on to what made the original great. I’ll definitely give this show a chance. And when it fails me horribly, you’ll read about it here.

[Via Screened]

Growing up, Friday night at Li’l Logan’s house was all about pizza, pajamas, and ABC’s TGIF.  Sure, there was a period when I dumped it for FOX’s The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., but when that show died off in 1994, TGIF was still there for me.  A lot of shows came and went (I still have a soft spot in my heart for Baby Talk and Teen Angel), but the standards (I’m thinking Family Matters, Boys Meets World, Step by Step, Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper, Perfect Strangers, Dinosaurs), were pitch perfect family programing that prepared me for the weekend the same way FOX’s Sunday night of The Simpsons and Married with Children prepared me for the week.

And now there’s talk of bringing it all back.  Which is expected.  You may have heard that Nickelodeon is brining back most of their 90’s shows, which is mighty fine by me.  I’m sure if all of this works out, ABC won’t be bringing back their old shows, but let’s hope they deliver a few shows in the same mold that made my generation love Friday nights.

Time to play my favorite cartoon-turned-live-action-movie game: Gag Ratio! It’s simple and you can play along at home. Step one, watch the new trailer for The Smurfs. Let’s do that now!

Did you do it? Great. Now mute the audio so you don’t have to listen to that godawful commercial. And by the way, Yahoo! and its advertisers: You think you’re so cool with your non-skippable advertising embedded into my site? Well, your product is terrible and nobody loves you. There, I’ve cleverly countered your marketing with counter-marketing. Game. Set. Ryan.

What were we doing? Oh right. Now that you’ve seen the trailer, you count up all the jokes and put them into three piles. Pile 1 is for slapstick jokes where people fall down or get hurt. Pile 2 is for dick and fart jokes, anything scatological or sexual. Pile 3 is any other joke. Aaaaaannnnd GO!

How’d you do? Here’s what I came up with:

SLAPSTICK: 5
DICK/FART: 7
NOT FUNNY: 4
OTHER: 0

Oh, did I forget to mention the pile for derivative, unfunny bullshit? Well, on my third viewing of the trailer, I decided there needed to be a fourth pile. Anyway, this summer don’t forget to Smurf the Smurfin’ Smurf! RADICAL!

After the last episode, you were never supposed to listen to this podcast again. Your plan has changed. REVIEWED: The Adjustment Bureau. PLUS: We play a game and fix the Oscars.

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There.  Now you have.  Pretty neat, huh?

What you’re actually looking at is every single frame from The King’s Speech compressed into a single image. I’m not quite sure what the tecnacal details are behind this, but moviebarcode has a lot more.  Check out that color scheme!

Happy Monday, kids. Here’s another batch of stuff that fell through the cracks…

Badass Digest reports that Shane Black, writer of Lethal Weapon and writer/director of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang may direct Iron Man 3.  Good news, I say.  I’m usually a fan of Black’s stuff, and he’s got just the sense of humor (and reporre with Downey Jr.) for the job.  Of course, this would be his first comic book flick.  But as you can see below, he’s been studying up:

Speaking of comics, /Film reveals that the producers for that Godawful Spider-Man musical have hired a new writer to fix it.  They wanted someone who really understood the character of Spider-Man.  What makes him appealing both from a visceral, action-focused perspective, as well as an emotional character-focused perspective.  With that in mind, they’ve hired ANY 15-YEAR-OLD IN AMERICA.

In happier times.

I’ll tell you who needs his story rewritten (segue!), Tommy the Green Power Ranger AKA Jason David Frank.  And yes I knew that name from memory because I saw it every weekday morning for a good four years straight.  Sadly, according to Geekologie, JDF’s in a bit of a jam after cracking some dude in the jaw so hard, his teeth came out.  To be fair, this was during an officially sanctioned mixed-martial arts bout.  To be EXTRA fair, this was NOT the guy he was supposed to be fighting, but some random employee of the gym.  Apparently he forgot the Power Ranger’s rule of escalation: start out with harmless gymnastics, wait for the bad guy to power up BEFORE you morph.

Hey, know what else was green and a part of my childhood?  Gremlins, which was a horror comedy directed by the great Joe Dante.  And now it looks like Dante may be returning to the genre with a new Vampire/Werewolf comedy called Monster Love.  Yeah it’s kind of a tired concept at this point, but if anyone can inject some new life into it, it’s him.  /Film’s got the pres release.

Finally, you know I love to end a roundup with a video, so check out this excellent compilation of conspicuous product placement in films put together by FilmDrunk (via /Film):

It’s a great video, but of course it’s missing one of Logan and my favorites, featuring a very-pre-famous George Clooney:

Happy Friday gang!  The only thing that could make this Friday more awesome is some new Toy Story!  Well, some free money would be nice too.  Heck, I’d even settle for free lunch.  I think that new taco place delivers.  Whatta say?  I’ll get you next week, I swear.  C’mon, be a pal.  Fine.  You suck.  Worst Friday ever.

Anyway, click on Buzz to check out the clip over at Entertainment Weekly!