• Trailer released for Doctor Who – A Christmas Carol, same day US premiere announced, Rumors of Captain Jack’s return
• Jorge Garcia cast in JJ Abrams’ Alcatraz pilot, plot details emerge
• Guillermo Del Toro and David Eick producing ABC’s Hulk series

• Mark Romanek will direct the pilot for Locke and Key
• Fox moves Fringe to Friday Night death slot
• Community’s Christmas episode will be stop-motion animated (Dec. 9)
• RUMOR: Warner developing TV series sequel to Nolan’s Batman trilogy, to star Karl Urban
• Gore Verbinski developing “Magical Law” for Fox
• Trailers for Showtime’s “Episodes” and MTV’s “Teen Wolf” released

• Warner actively developing Buffy reboot from writer/actress Whit Anderson
• Warner interested in remake Wizard of Oz using original script
• Superman reboot
  • Matthew Goode is frontrunner to play Clark
  • Anne Hathaway is frontrunner to play Lois
  • Snyder may use CGI for Superman
  • Plot may follow closely to Birthright comic
• Aronofsky-directed Wolverine sequel to be called “The Wolverine”, will have stand-alone plot
• Pixar revitalizes plans for a video game movie once titled “Joe Jump”, now retitled “Reboot Ralph”

• Christian Bale says The Dark Knight Rises will be his final Batman film
• Chris Zylka cast as Flash Thompson in Spider-Man
• Denis Leary cast as Captain George Stacey
• First image of Karl Urban as Judge Dredd emerges
• Paranormal Activity 3 set for October 2011

• Netflix debuts streaming only service for $7.99, raises prices of other plans
• Hulu Plus drops price to $7.99
• SDCC 2011 site overloaded… AGAIN
• Amazon opens Amazon Studios, first look deal with Warner Bros

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Music: The Sleeping – Don’t Hold Back

Questions will now be raised as to how this will effect the future of all Marvel comics, movies, and video games, amongst other potential properties such as television shows. This now makes Marvel part of one of the biggest media conglomerations around, competing on a similar level to the Warner Bros. owned DC Comics. There is no doubt that this comes with some inherent bonuses. The ability for product placement in movies and TV shows could be a huge advertisement stream for the comic giant, for instant.

However, it’s clear that the DC Comics/Warner Bros. merger of the past hasn’t always worked out in the favor of DC Comics. Being restricted to only having your movies produced by Warner Bros. has in recent years led the DC movies to be of a lower quality level than the Marvel properties. For every Batman Begins and The Dark Knight that the company has released, there have been equally troubling decisions such as Catwoman and the Joel Schumacher Batman films. In addition, it has been at times puzzling as to why Warner Bros. has failed to take advantage of the Super Hero movie boom of sorts that we had been witnessing in recent years.

However, for better or worse, this move is the future of Marvel Comics. You certainly have to give credit to Disney for recognizing good opertunities to grow their company. In 1995, Disney picked up a majority stake in ABC and ESPN. Disney followed up in 2006 with the purchase of Pixar Studios. Amongst a handful of other properties, Disney is certainly creating a strong family of companies to compete in the modern media market. Time will tell which of the two parties, if not both, will benefit from this arrangement. But it’s needless to say that the game has changed.

The first Narnia movie, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, made almost 300 million domestically, while Prince Caspian couldn’t even crack 200 million. This could be attributed to anything from the stiff competition of Iron Man and Indiana Jones, but then again the first Narnia had to go up against Peter Jackson’s King Kong back in 2005

I was never a huge fan of the Narnia movies, but my heart does go out for fans of the world that hoped to see their favorite books come to life on the big screen.

Pixar’s masterpiece?  Movie of the year?  There is not a person in the world who can resist the charm of Wall-E.  From the very first trailer, kids, teens, adults, and robots alike were all emotionally bonded to this little guy.  Take one look at the picture above and try not to go "Awww."  Pixar has once again shown why they are the leaders in CGI feature films.

When we first met Wall-E, all alone and working away at… whatever he’s doing, it seemed like just another animated robot movie.  The more we saw of his everyday life, the more we felt sorry for him for being alone.  With absolutely no dialog or facial expressions, we still felt what he felt.  Knowing nothing about the plot, voice actors, or pretty much any other details, almost everyone walked away with the same reaction.  "I have to see that."

The first 30 minutes of the film reminds me very much of Castaway.  The last robot left of earth with no company except for a pet roach makes for a very empty feeling.  Fortunately it was filled with wonderful images that told the story of our future.  It seems that Wall-E was not the only one of his kind, however he is the last.  Mixed in with CGI, we have a few scenes of actual actors shown on screens that are solar powered to show advertisements which conveniently let the audience know what the last humans were doing right before leaving earth.  This clever storytelling can only take us halfway through the movie however, so we need to see some new characters to take us through the rest of it.

If Apple Computer were to build a robot, it would be Eve.  This little egg shaped wonder looks like something the designers of the iPod made up as a joke, only Pixar said "We gotta put that in our movie!"  Once we have her around, Wall-E just gets more cute.  The two of them seem to have a bond early on that obviously will bloom into such a touching relationship.

Although this is a Disney/Pixar movie, there is quite a bit of social commentary going on in the main story line.  The writer’s vision of the future is that we rely so much on technology that we become lazy and in turn, slaves to it.  One scene that ties this to our time right now is about halfway through.  You see a man in a floating chair talking to another on a screen floating in front of his face, discussing what they want to do for the day.  When the camera pans out, we see that the person he’s talking to is right beside him.  I’ve had roommates block me on instant messenger programs because I would talk to them on there instead of walking 5 feet to say what I want to say.  The fact that we do rely of technology so much these days just makes this vision even more frightening.  Some people may not like the "lesson learned" from this, but we can all understand what they are saying.

I have to admit that I was a little skeptical going into this movie.  I didn’t know if it was going to be another Nemo or Cars.  I have nothing against Pixar, but I don’t generally like Disney movies.  I loved this movie so much that I plan on going back and seeing it again with other people just to see their reactions.  As soon as it’s released on DVD, I know I’ll own it.  Pixar has really outdone itself this time.  If you have not seen it yet, then you really need to get out there and just have a day of enjoyment.  Who knew a little robot could be so fun?

Pixar’s newest film WALL-E opened in theaters this weekend. What did you guys think? Let us know in the comments section below.

Discussion
Have a Good Halloween?
20 Episodes down
New Board Members
Old Contest
Waiting Around
Civ 4

Movies
Splinter Cell Movie Details
Halo Movie Timeline
King Kong on Apple
Disney’s odd Advertising

Television
BSG renewed for Season 3
Threshold to stream on internet
Buffy Straight to DVD?

Video Games
Oblivion Delayed till Q2 2006
City of Villains Released
D & D Beta Opens
Harry Potter & GoF
360 could cost 1/2 of PS3 by next year
Revolution Details…of sorts
– Graphics to equal competitors?