FILM: Batman - Year One Trailer (News)

Just on the horizon for Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment is the continuation of Warner Premiere's series of animated films based on DC Comics properties. The next direct-to-DVD release will be BATMAN: YEAR ONE, based off Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli's 1987 landmark storyline in the pages of BATMAN. Here is the trailer:

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As part of the much successful line of DC animated films, fans should expect more of the same stellar quality with this feature. BATMAN:YEAR ONE brings together a very geek friendly voice cast. Bryan Cranston (BREAKING BAD) plays Lt. James Gordon, Eliza Dushku (DOLLHOUSE) is Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Katee Sackhoff (BATTLESTAR GALACTICA) is Detective Sarah Essen and Ben McKenzie (THE O.C.) is the voice of Bruce Wayne/Batman.

FILMonDVD: Scooby-Doo! Abracadabra-Doo (Review)

Scooby Doo: Abracadabra-Doo
2010 - Warner Home Video
Released on DVD on February 16, 2010

# of Discs: 1
Runtime: 75 Minutes

Animation's favorite team of teenage sleuths is back in a feature length film that blurs the line between reality and illusion. Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and their dog Scooby go on a trip to visit Velma's younger sister, Madelyn, who is studying magic at the Whirlen Merlin Magic Academy. But where the Scooby Gang goes, mysteries cannot be far behind. There is trouble brewing at the Academy with attendance dwindling due to sightings of a giant beast around the castle. It is up to the gang to investigate and find the truth to the beast before the school is forced to close.

Most of the film takes place at the magic academy the gang visits, which happens to be in an ancient Irish castle. And the great mysterious beast that is terrorizing the school happens to be a mythical griffin. There is also a large cast of suspicious characters around the magic academy for the gang to check out: the head magician and his brother with differing personalities, the attractive magician's assistant, a gruff groundskeeper, a woman caretaker and a crafty tycoon eager to purchase the castle property. Another point of interest is the reason for the Scooby Gang's presence, Madelyn. She seems to be harboring a crush on Shaggy that is adorable to see and throws some intrigue with the fact that Velma is usually the girl paired off with Shaggy. Seems the Dinkleys find Shaggy irresistible.

As a direct-to-video release (the fourteenth animated film based on the Scooby-Doo Saturday morning cartoons) there is not much on the disc when it comes to extras. There is a short featurette where the host shows the steps to make your own scary hand puppet and not just one kind is made, several different puppet designs are created.

Scooby-Doo! Abracadabra-Doo is a fun ride for all, Scooby fans and just plain animation fans should check it out. And if that is not going to convince you, there are also some great contributors to the film: Andrea Romano did casting and voice direction; Alan Burnett was a co-producer, created the story and did the teleplay with Paul Dini and Misty Lee.

The voice actors Frank Welker, Mindy Cohn and Grey DeLisle return to their iconic roles and were joined for the first time on the animated side by Matthew Lillard as the voice of Shaggy. Throw in eighties teen heartbreaker Danica McKellar as Madelyn and you have a wonderfully diverse cast of voices performing a Scooby-Doo story worth watching.

Look to buy Scooby-Doo! Abracadabra-Doo DVD over at Amazon for only $11.99.

TVonDVD: Case Closed Season One (Review)

Case Closed: Season One
1996/2004 (2009) - Funimation
Released on DVD on July 14, 2009

# of Discs: 4
Runtime: 600 minutes

Solving crimes can be a dangerous and deadly occupation but no one knows the detective game better than Jimmy Kudo. With a confidence grown from having no one outsmart him, Jimmy runs head on into a situation that finds him poisoned by a dastardly duo. Instead of death however, Jimmy finds himself shrunk back to his childhood body. Using a new persona, Conan Edogawa, to hide his identity, he finds a home with his best friend, Rachel Moore and helps her father, Detective Richard Moore solve crimes all the while trying to find more about the men in black that poisoned him.

Highlights of the season include the very first episode, "The Big Shrink", where the show introduces Jimmy Kudo, his brilliant deductive mind, his relationship with Rachel and ends with the series plot twist of how he becomes Conan Edogawa. The third episode, "Beware of Idols", introduces pop idol Yoko Okino to the series as well as Conan's voice-changing bow-tie that Conan uses to emulate Richard's voice when saving crimes and in that episode uses it to call Rachel as Jimmy and calm her worries.

The first two-part story of the series comes nearly midway through the season, "The Moonlight Sonata Murder Case", that has Conan, Rachel and Richard heading to Moon Light Island thanks to a letter from a famous pianist that has been dead for twelve years. There is another excellent two-parter near the end of the season and in a nice change of pace of the usual routine there are also episodes where Conan and his Detective League friends dominate the story, like "Kidnapped: Amy" where the three boys have to race across town chasing a car to save their girl friend from what seems to be a deadly fate.

Unfortunately when most anime series are put into season sets, nearly all of the extras - both on the discs and packaged with the single volume cases - are left out of the products. That is just one of the breaks with going for the affordable price of a season set over purchasing several single volumes. Outside of trailers for other anime series Funimation offers, the only "extras" in the set are a character and gadget spotlight on Conan Edogawa and his Super Sneakers. The spotlight is a very basic text summary along with an image, not much to talk about.

Fans of animation that also have a taste for mysteries or police shows will enjoy and be used to each episode having a new case to figure out with Conan along with the occasional two-part story. There is not much about the men in black in the first season but most of the main characters of the show are introduced in this initial set of episodes and the foundation that the rest of the series builds upon (still ongoing in Japan) is created. One of my favorite anime series by far and definitely at least worth checking out.

Look to buy the Case Closed Season One DVD set over at Amazon for only $18.99.
Check out GeekPlate's Tumblr for today's Case Closed/Detective Conan themed picspam.

FILM: Voice Cast of All Star Superman (News)

THR's Heat Vision blog announced the cast of actors lending their voice to the next animated film by Warner Premiere, DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Home Video emanating from the story lines in DC Comics pages.


In All Star Superman, the Man of Steel will be played by James Denton ("Desperate Housewives"), Christina Hendricks ("Mad Men") is Lois Lane, and Anthony LaPaglia ("Without a Trace") is Superman's nemesis, Lex Luthor.

DC Entertainment continues its trend of casting new voices to play their signature characters like Superman that tend to be featured in multiple films. Adapted from the twelve issue mini-series written by Grant Morrison ("Batman and Robin") and drawn by Frank Quitely ("Batman and Robin") it will be interesting to see what the film keeps from the comic book which basically tells the 'final adventure' of Superman when he finds out that he is dying.

Check out Geek Plate's Tumblr for today's Superman themed picspam.

TVonDVD: Avatar the Last Airbender Book 1 (Review)

Avatar the Last Airbender - The Complete Book 1 Collection
2005 (2006) - Nickelodeon
Released on DVD on September 19, 2006

# of Discs: 6
Runtime: 489 minutes

The world of Avatar the Last Airbender is made up of four nations (Water, Earth, Fire and Air) that currently is in a time of unbalanced distress. For the last one hundred years, the Avatar - spiritual master of the elements - has been missing and the Fire Nation has taken advantage of that fact. The Fire Nation wants to rule the world and twelve year-old Airbender Aang stands in their way. Along with Northern Water Tribe members Katara and Sokka, a flying lemur named Momo and Aang's flying bison Appa, Aang must travel the world seeking the knowledge needed to become the Avatar he was destined to be.

Each character grows as the season goes on and has moments that will touch watchers. Highlights include learning more about Aang's life one century ago like when they travel to the Earth Kingdom city of Omashu and the current king happens to have been one of Aang's friends. There is also the time they reach Kyoshi Island where the warriors are a group of highly trained females. Sokka especially finds their time there as eye-opening and connects with one of the warriors. Katara has several moments herself, like when she helps the imprisoned Earthbending Tribe break free from the metal sea fortress prison of the Fire Nation or when they reach the Northern Water Tribe where the Waterbending master they meet there initially refuses to train her.

Like any smart DVD set, the Complete Book 1 Collection has an entire bonus disc where most of the extra content is held. Most of the other discs have at least one short extra behind-the-scenes special not counting the audio commentaries. The bonus disc is where the extras go more in-depth and there are interviews with the cast and creators as well as a look at how Avatar is made at the Sound Studios and the Korean Animation Studios.

Fans of animation, adventure and fantasy will fall in love with this series but other shouldn't be afraid to try the show. The first season of Avatar the Last Airbender is the perfect place to jump on the fantasy genre; it is hard to find a bad episode in the entire season. You will be entertained and hopefully continue on with the rest of the series.

Look to buy the Avatar the Last Airbender Book 1 DVD set over at Amazon for only $31.49.