Building The Yellow Brick Road...

We're not in Kansas, Toto...

The first teaser poster for "Oz, The Great and Powerful" has been released...

And I love it.  Finally a poster that is a poster.  One that shows the world in which the movie exist, and has some semblance of narrative.

No publicity head shot of an actor with the name of the movie.  I'm looking forward to this one.  I've read the screenplay and am curious to see how it's pulled off.

Some of those scenes might be pretty bold for a Disney film.

If they only had a heart...

Birth Of Independence...

Red, white and blue baby...







Two hundred, thirty-six years ago America was born...

Happy 4th of July! A group of representatives gathered from the thirteen independent colonies of Great Britain, to put together a union that would help them brush off the shackles of Mother England. What they put down with a quill in ink upon paper, this very day we celebrate. A day on which we cherish the God given freedoms that our Founding Fathers acknowledged to us on this historic event in 1776.

You may not believe it, but there was a time early on when people didn't really know which day to celebrate our founding, either the Declaration of Independence, which was signed on July 4, 1776, or when the Constitution was passed on September 17, 1787. It took many years for the tradition to take hold and become the celebration we now know it as. By the time our fiftieth anniversary had come along, it had taken hold and on that occasion, something very poignant happened.

Our second President(John Adams) and third President(Thomas Jefferson) both died on that day... in the same year, 1826... just as we were celebrating the 50th anniversary of the United States of America! And the president at the time was John Quincy Adams, the son of the former president. Both Adams and Jefferson had been bitter rivals in the early days of our founding. Years later, they started up a correspondence after many years of not speaking to one another and eventually became close friends. But the rivalry still remained. When John Adams breathed his last breath he was heard to say: "Jefferson still lives." But he was wrong. Jefferson had passed away a few hours before him earlier that day. Coincidence? No. Not in my belief, at least.

Providence, it was providence. Happy 236th Birthday, America! Everyone go out and celebrate the freedoms and liberty given to us by our Creator, acknowledged by our Founders and defended by our Forefathers. Don't just have a barbeque or a day at the beach.

Freedom and liberty are too precious to be so trivial...

Item Of Consequence...

 What are items one through forty-six...

When the "Avengers" Blu-Ray comes out next Sept. 25, it'll carry on Marvel's tradition of having extra shorts that enhance or continue the story...

Only this time it won't be S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Coulson doing it for obvious reasons (sorry if that's a spoiler for you three people that haven't seen the film).  It's interesting how Marvel Studios releases shorts with each film when it comes to home viewing.  Those little extras add a great incentive for fans/consumers to purchase the DVD/Blu-Ray, but it also helps to expand the Marvel Cinematic Universe beyond just the films.

The newest short is the longest of all at 12 minutes, and it takes us after the Avengers.  It's called "Item 47" and it involves a criminal couple that happen to find one of those weapons left behind by Loki's army.  Remember in the MCU, we now have been invaded by an alien army so the world is going to suffer from those repercussions and the fallout from what has happened.

With each short we seem to get further into this integrated world, and are given the opportunity to notice or be introduced to other Marvel characters.  I know from talking to people that the Suits at Marvel have thought about using this format to test reaction to characters that could someday have potential theatrical possibilities.  Now, so far they haven't revealed any well, or even moderately known characters, but they are setting up a subsection of their world for us to explore and it leaves great openings.

Who knows, maybe Marvel will release a box set of all the shorts as a tie-in to their known shared world...

27 Years Ago Something Was Wrong With Earth's Gravity...

You keep saying heavy...

Twenty-seven years ago today "Back to the Future" was released on an audience awaiting summer...

I went into the theater not really caring other than having a night away from home.  My best friend wanted to see the new film from that kid from "Family Ties" that he enjoyed watching.  We were pleasantly surprised at what unfolded in front of us.

Between crazy Doc Brown and idealistic Marty McFly traveling back and forth in time to fix the problems of the past/future we had an absolutely fun experience.  I even went back to see it with my family and it reflected well on them as it traveled from my childhood to theirs.

This is Robert Zemeckis' best film, and he has yet to equal it.  Although the sequels were fun and interesting additions to this film, they were in no way as clever or as having the direct impact upon on the public.  With the genie out of the bottle, it was hard to surprise audiences into knowing where the sequels were going.  Because when you know the future, the past can be boring, or at least repetitive.

But that first film was pure fun, and pure cinema.  And somehow, someone finally found a proper use for a Delorean.

Great scott...

Managing Marvel's Myths...

Calling out all purple skinned guys...

It appears that cameo at the end of "Avengers" is a very potent seed...

Not only did it introduce Thanos to an unsuspecting comic-naive public, but it set the literary arm up to reprint some of his most famous stories.  And now, Marvel's answer to DC's Darkseid has his own new miniseries coming out later this year.

Thanos: Son of Titan.

It tells the origin of the mighty nemesis of many Marvel superheros.  It's not the first series about him, and certainly won't be the last.  If you haven't read them before, "The Infinity Gauntlet" and "The Thanos Imperative" are great ways to brush up on purple bad guys.  Will he be the villain in "Avengers 2" or another film?  We'll most likely find out a piece of the answer next week at Comic-Con.  Will Latino Review be correct or will The Hollywood Reporter be right?  Or will we see both?

Either way, he's come a long way since his introduction in Iron Man #55...

Detecting A Second Golden Age...

Curse you, Basil...

Twenty-six years ago today, Walt Disney Feature Animation put out what would be the subtle beginning of the Second Golden Age of Disney Animation...

"The Great Mouse Detective", based on Eve Titus book, "Basil of Baker Street" was released in America. It was directed by four great animators, Ron Clements, Burny Mattinson, Dave Michener and John Musker. Clements and Musker would go on to define the films that this animation Renaissance would be recognized as over the next decade.

With the release of "Tangled," the upcoming "Wreck-It Ralph," and next year's "Frozen" a Third Golden Age may have already begun...

The Spotlight Turns...

Goodbye Carousel of No Progress...

 Now that DCA has finally been rebranded as a Disney Park, questions remain...

 It won't be answered anytime soon, and it won't be announced for quite sometime, but the focus will now turn to the other park across the Esplanade.  That's right, Disneyland.

We won't hear anything about it this year.  The main focus will be on making sure the rest of the year will build upon and add to the success of Disney California Adventure.  But once the new year begins, Team Disney Burbank/Anaheim and WDI's Imagineers will be hard at work focusing on the plans to expand, update, and in some cases redesign part of the original magic kingdom.  Now, it won't be announced next year (at least in the early part of it if at all).  More likely, it will be teased, but held off till later for a more dramatic announcement.

While plans are still evolving, you can expect the majority of it will focus on the planned restructuring of Tomorrowland.  There are plans in the works for an expansion of Frontierland if enough funding is available. No final budget has been given yet since Glendale is in the blue sky phase of the development, but we can expect some interesting surprises planned for the future of the Mouse's land that celebrates the future.  Not everything will make it, but it's fun to dream because dreams don't cost much, if anything.

 But if you could only be in the model room in Glendale come January...