Justice League: New Frontier – DVD Review

Based on Darwin Cooke’s amazing New Frontier mini-series, this 75 minute flick follows the story of a malevolent creature called, “The Centre”, who’s poised on mankind’s destruction. Taking place in the 1950s, this movie acts very much as a precursor to the Silver Age of comic book heroes. Because of this, a lot of the heroes are shaped by the world events taking place at the time (the Korean War, the red scare, etc). Even the characters, themselves, have that Silver Age look and feel: Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman all sport their early outfits. It’s retro, but oh so fitting.

New Frontier doesn’t do much explaining to people unfamiliar with the DC Universe. However, it does give them enough taste of the main characters’ origins and powers to understand what’s going on. Of course, if you’re a comic book fan, the movie’s nuances and Easter Eggs will be a big treat. One character in particular, J’onn J’onzz (the Martian Manhunter), is given a lot of screen time and is sure to be a favorite amongst audiences. And it’s about time J’onn got some on-screen loving! Other lesser known characters like Adam Strange and Ray Palmer make appearances as well.

The first half of the movie introduces the cast and switches from scene to scene a bit too much at times making it hard for those unfamiliar to keep up. Other than that, the movie’s a perfect origin story for the Justice League and treats its characters with a lot of respect. I also like how violence and language were not toned down for the sake of selling a few more DVDs to youngsters. This is, for all intents, a love letter to fans of DCs characters and we should all embrace it. If Warner were ever to do a live action Justice League movie, this is the perfect model of how to do it right.

Justice League: New Frontier is due out on DVD February 26 and  Blu-Ray / HDDVD on March 18th. (Grade: A-)

– J.Montes

Family Guy Presents: Blue Harvest – DVD Review

A long time ago, but somehow in the future…

First things first, if you are not a fan of both Star Wars and Family Guy, you will probably not enjoy this film enough to warrant buying it. That being said, if you are a fan of both and are properly armed with a healthy knowledge of 1970’s – present pop culture references, this DVD is a must own.

As hugely conspicuous Star Wars Fans, Seth MacFarlane and the crew at Family Guy have created what may be considered the ultimate Star Wars parody, going farther than Space Balls and Robot Chicken before them. This film is not a clip show or quasi-homage, Blue Harvest is a complete reimagining of Star Wars: Episode IV (the first film if you are keeping track). The reimagining takes the characters of Family Guy and places them in the roles of Star Wars characters, while maintaining much of their original personality traits. In addition, the plot is maipulated to allow for the inclusion of the Family Guy humor many have come to love. From the pedophiliac Mr Herbert as Obi-Wan to Peter as Han Solo to Stewie as Vader, the laughs don’t stop. The movie is absolutely hilarious and takes shots at many of the memorable scenes from the original film. After watching this film, one can see the effort and dedication that true Star Wars fans put in to the design and execution of this piece.

The film would be enough on its own but the DVD comes fully loaded with extras. Included is a making of feature, animatic material, a clip compilation from the regular show, a digital copy of the film (that can be loaded onto iTunes and uploaded to a portable video device like an iPod) and an interview with George Lucas. What’s George’s favorite TV show? Watch the DVD and find out.

My advice is to run to your nearest video store, buy Blue Harvest and prepare to geek out. (Grade: A)

– Chris Williamson