Welcome back to AP’s Comic-Con coverage. Here’s the highlights from Day Two of the San Diego Comic-Con.

Nicholas Cage made an appearance for his new film Drive Angry 3D. Patrick Lussier directed the movie, which looks to be a classic, violent revenge tale. Cage is one of my favorite actors and always looks for slightly different roles and this looks no different. Check out this short trailer:

Firstshowing.net has a great write-up of the awesome Tron: Legacy viral that took place over the past couple days in San Diego.

Robert Rodriguez’s Machete has had a big presence at this year’s Comic-Con. A new red-band trailer debuted, but even better was the Taco Truck. Stars Danny Trejo and Michelle Rodriguez were on the streets of San Diego handing out taco’s from a branded trailer. Now that’s a good marketing ploy.

Jackass 3D premiered some footage that apparently was ridiculously disgusting. If you are a fan of the series, you should stay tuned for more information, but this doesn’t interest me at all.

Another interesting film also debuted a trailer yesterday. Goon, produced by David Fincher and starring Clancy Brown and Paul Giamatti, looks like a pretty awesome animated film. Based on a comic series by Eric Powell, the story follows The Goon and his sidekick Franky as they battle the supernatural. I had never heard of this before, but check out this great clip/trailer:

During the Burn Notice panel, USA Network head Jeff Watchel announced that they were moving forward with a prequel movie starring Bruce Campbell. The film will focus on Sam Axe’s last mission as a Navy SEAL and is a very interesting move for the series. I didn’t expect such great news from this panel. In response Campbell said, “USA finally got their shit together.”

Frank Darabont showed off a first glimpse at his television series The Walking Dead. Produced for AMC, the series reportedly has an extremely high production value and should look amazing. I don’t know about you, but I think a zombie TV show should be one of the coolest things on TV. Make sure you watch this coming fall when the series debuts in October.

In contrast to the great reaction to The Walking Dead, Steven Spielberg’s new TV series, Falling Skies, was not as well-received. The series follows Noah Wyle and Moon Bloodgood as everyday people who are affected by an alien invasion. There are always high expectations for any project Spielberg is involved with, but the reaction has been lukewarm. Devindra Hardawar from /Film was not impressed. The footage isn’t available online so I can’t judge that, but this show looks to me like same-old, same-old. There’s nothing really new about it and I’m not looking forward to it.

Guillermo Del Toro is a very busy man nowadays. After day one’s surprise announcement that he would be writing and producing Disney’s The Haunted Mansion, the filmmaker debuted footage from another one of his horror projects, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark. Based on the 1973 TV movie, the film follows a young girl as she encounters various creatures after moving into a haunted house with her family. The footage screened at the panel got a great reaction, and we should be able to see the trailer in the next few weeks. And for those of you worried about the film being watered down, Del Toro had this to say, “We are not taking anything away from the original, and we are not fucking chickening out… we wrote and originally shot the movie for PG-13, and could do that without compromising the scares…But we were given a badge of honor. The MPAA came back and gave it a non-negotiable R for ‘pervasive scariness’.” So there you go, horror fans.

MTV Movies Blog was able to talk to Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman who are now writing the sequel to J.J. Abrams’ fantastic Star Trek reboot. While they were very quiet about plot details, they stated that each and every crewmember would get more screentime in the sequel, saying, “Now the whole family is there and you want to focus on them first. Before you worry too much about new characters, make sure you have them taken care of.”

Last but definitely not least is James Gunn’s Super. The movie stars Rainn Wilson as a man who dons a superhero costume in order to avenge his wife’s (Liv Tyler) murder. Ellen Page and Nathan Fillon co-star. I can’t wait to see this movie, which sounds like a low-budget, rawer version of Kick Ass with Dwight from The Office.

So that’s it for Day Two. The Marvel panel is starting in just a few minutes, so stay tuned for some big news.

Good morning all. Welcome back to the Atomic DVD Shelf.

As usual, there’s an armada of  new films getting released this week and we don’t have quite enough time to tackle them all. So, I’ve assembled a tasty sampling of several new pics hitting this week, and I’ve also got a longer look at Where the Wild Things Are Blu-ray via the link below:

Dvd Showcase: Where the Wild Things Are Blu-ray

Ok, now that we have that out of the way, lets get started by heading under the sea to visit…

Ponyo

Nate’s rating:

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

Since Lasseter and the gang have been doing their thing at Disney, the studio has done a wonderful job of handling the U.S. releases of Studio Ghibli’s animated work. The Japanese based Ghibli, run by anime maestro Hayao Miyazaki, has produced some of the most beautiful and captivating family films available. Several of them, including the incomparable My Neighbor Totoro, are being released today on Bluray to coincide with Ponyo. This one shares the same traits as Miyazaki’s other films; it has an absolutely lovely color pallete, fluid and hand-drawn animation that mimics book illustration, and a story featuring young and unlikely protagonists. In a riff on the Little Mermaid fable, Ponyo tells the tale of a young fish who finds her way out from under her father’s sea kingdom and onto land where she gets a pair of legs and a new friend. I personally didn’t flip for this one in the same way I did for Spirited Away or Howl’s Moving Castle, but it’s a great movie nonetheless. Especially wonderful for a younger set who will be spellbound by the imagery, including an entire ocean of prehistoric creatures swimming through a flooded town.

Special Features: I haven’t looked at any of them yet, but if they are like the ones on the DVD releases of Miyazaki’s past work, they are worth the time. Watching the man talk and work with his team is always a treat. Here’s what you get extra:

World of Ghibli – An Extraordinary Interactive Experience

Enter the Lands – Meet the characters and hear the story of the movie

Behind the Studio – Discover the film’s inspiration through documentaries, including all-new interviews with Hayao Miyazaki

Meet Ponyo – Introduction by the Producers

Storyboard Presentation of the Movie

Gentlemen Broncos

Nate’s rating:

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ 

As a fan of Napoleon Dynamite (not so much Nacho Libre) I really wanted to like Gentlemen Broncos. Add in the fact that Jemaine Clement plays a deluded jackass of a Science Fiction writer and I was on my way to being intrigued. When I realized that Sam Rockwell is Bronco, the fictional hero of the stolen sci-fi novel I was sold. And unfortunately, as quirky as this one gets, it just doesn’t really work. I still get a kick out of the Rockwell scenes, where he’s constantly transforming Bronco from a space hick who rides a stuff deer outfitted with missiles to a fey, genderless puff with long white hair and Hulk Hogan mustache. The rest of the movie is just an unfunny and sort of unpleasant collection of ridiculous bits. If you enjoy Hess’ oddball humor, maybe, but there’s not much to really get worked up about here.

Special Features: A few deleted scenes and behind the scenes featurettes but nothing extraordinary. The best bits, possibly better the movie itself, are the outtakes with Rockwell providing some actual comedy.

Ninja

Nate’s rating:

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

Cheaper and more ridiculous than last year’s bigger budget Ninja Assassin, this Ninja is also the better movie. A fun and sometimes funny slice of Saturday afternoon hack and slash, it has all the ingredients that those ninja fiascoes from the late 80′s had. Props to the physical prowess of Scott Adkins who handles himself as well as any Seagal or Van Damme. There’s a group of virtually unknown actors here and it’s more or less an indie movie, but as B-level entertainment Ninja has no pretensions and it stages the action scenes with a boldness that Assassin never even thought of. Funny that a no name production like this would best the big blockbuster, but it goes to show, when it comes to ninjas the way of stealth is always better.

Special Features: Sigh! Just a bunch of trailers for movies that don’t look half as interesting as this one. Shame, because it could have been fun to hear from the guys who made this.

2012

Nate’s rating:

Rating: ★★½☆☆ 

2012 is a big, loud, dumb experience. When dealing with Master of Disaster Roland Emmerich, one should expecting nothing less. High profile actors run around in the face of awesomely realized special effects and try their best not to drown under avalanches of CGI. John Cusack, Woody Harrelson and Amanda Peet try to bring dramatic pathos to the cataclysm-as-pinball-game milieu, but it’s all for naught. This isn’t an inspiring entertainment; it’s an assault on the senses. If you, like me, have come to enjoy this kind of sensory harassment than 2012 will be a better example than Transformers 2. Although it’s destined to lose the brain-crunching impact it had in theaters, 2012 looks gorgeous in hi-def and it’s exactly the kind of disc one would want in their collection if for no other reason than it’s a terrific demonstration of a home theater’s capabilities.

Special Features: A 3 disc set, this one has several tedious extras, including elaborate commentaries and behind-the-scenes features that suffer the same fate as the film; too much technical proficiency and not enough fun. An outrageously titled piece called Roland Emmerich: Master of the Modern Epic is ludicrous as it parades out a group of the man’s collaborators who extol him as if he were Spielberg or Hitchcock. Curiously, there is very little said here about either Universal Soldier or 10,000 B.C. Go figure. Best feature: An interactive piece revolving around the Mayan Calendar. Like the rest of the content, it’s a load of bull, but at least it’s entertaining.

The Private Lives of Pippa Lee

Nate’s review:

Rating: ★★½☆☆ 

A well acted and cleverly telegraphed dramatic piece that flirts with the mystery aspects of its story but never ultimately commits. Robin Wright gives an incredibly warm and nuanced performance considering the challenging nature of her character’s arc. Despite several attempts at forging a layered and introspective vision of a one woman’s unique life, Pippa Lee feels contrived and disjointed. If you enjoy well acted ensemble pieces, this delivers on that level, but it never fully develops into something with substance. The result is a lovingly crafted work with no consequence. I most enjoyed Alan Arkin, and gasp! Keanu Reeves. I usually like the work of Rebecca Miller, but Pippa remains elusive.

Special Features: There are two on the disc and will mostly be of interest to cinephiles who like to hear autuers share stories of discovery from the set. For everyone else, they are rather mundane and the commentary with Miller and Wright has long patches of silence that suggest neither party was particularly prepared for it. The interviews are mundane and don’t shine much light on the film’s creation or the experience of working with Miller.

The two features are: Commentary with Actor Robin Wright and Writer/Director Rebecca Miller and Interviews with Robin Wright, Alan Arkin and Blake Lively

Alice Miniseries

Nate’s rating:

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ 

The best thing about a remake or popular adaptation is that when it opens, we often get releases of other prior iterations. There are more versions of Alice in Wonderland being released today than I can possibly mention, and unfortunately I’ve probably picked the very least of them to review here. This one is cobbled together in the same spirit as Sy-Fy Channel’s last twisted adaptation, Tin Man. Except there’s very little twisted in it; Alice is just the sci-fi, pseudo cyberpunk vision of Carroll’s Victorian absurdity. Kathy Bates is a domineering Red Queen, Matt Frewer an addled white night, Mad March is a cyborg killer–no really, he is– and Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum are mad scientist twins. In this version Alice is a Judo teacher and the people of Wonderland are addicted to…feelings. That’s right, they are all bunch of hopped-up emotion junkies and when Alice steps in to save her boyfriend Jack, the adventure begins. Or rather, the adventure begins, and then stops, begins, stops, begins, stops. Over and over and over again. Light entertainment but frustratingly underwhelming and slight.

Special Features: There are zero special features save for a bookmark function and a misplaced commentary located under Set-Up.

Nate’s Pick of the Week: Cold Souls

Nate’s rating:

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

I love Paul Giamatti, and in this case that goes both for the real actor and the facsimile of him that wanders the alternate reality of Cold Souls, an existential sci-fi comedy that elicits both laughs and scratches of the head. Playing like a Charlie Kaufman-lite premise, Souls follows Giamatti as he struggles with a production of Chekov’s Uncle Vanya. When he finds he can’t properly internalize the play, he comes to the irrational conclusion that it is his soul that’s getting in the way. So, he has it extracted. In this reality, David Straithairn has a machine that will suck it right out for you and then store it. Unless of course, it gets stolen by a ‘soul mule’ and sold on the Russian black market to a young blonde ballet dancer who wants the essence of a hot Hollywood actor residing in her body. Yea, I know how it sounds, and odder still that she ends up with Giamatti. Or that once extracted, Paul’s soul ends looking identically like…a chick pea. There’s plenty of weirdness, but also some melancholy and poignancy as Giamatti contemplates what he has given up and interacts with the young Russian woman who has been schlepping souls out of the country for so long that her own is little more than residue. If odd and thoughtful is your thing, this is one stop shopping.

Special Features: Not even on Blu-ray, Cold Souls is getting the ‘dumped’ treatment. Left by the side of the Blockbuster with only some uninspired deleted scenes and a half-hearted feature looking at the design of the soul extractor. Doesn’t matter though, cause the movie is mint.

Thanks again for joining us as we pick through the cinema jungle of home entertainment. Next week is rife with some Oscar pics, some of which might be hitting dvd with some awards under their belt depending on how the weekend goes. See ya next week with Precious, Up In The Air, Old Dogs (not up for any Oscars), Planet 51 and Boondock Saints 2.

Jumping on top of the heat of the recently released film Halloween 2, Rob Zombie comes out with The Haunted World of El Superbeasto. The animated flick stars the voice talents of Tom Papa, Rosario Dawson, Sheri Moon Zombie, Paul Giamatti and many more.

A massive, over-the-hill masked wrestler, El Superbeasto has more interest in exotic dancers than adventure. Despite his disinterest, however, he still manages to get involved with murderous super-intelligent gorillas, Liverpudlian zombies, and Dr. Satan – a manic-depressive mad scientist obsessed with finding the perfect woman. Throughout his unusual escapades, he is joined by his sister, Susie X, a sexy super spy adventurer, and her sidekick: a 10-foot tall robot named Marvin, who digs Barry Manilow and Michael Bolton.

Take a look at the red band trailer below:

If you want to see a little more of El Superbeasto, here’s an exclusive clip for you to see. The entire animated movie is available for viewing already OnDemand and on Pay-Per-View. The Haunted World of El Superbeasto will appear in theaters on September 12th along with a DVD and Blu-Ray release on September 22nd.

Why I oughta'...

Paul Giamatti is currently in talks to replace the recently absent Sean Penn in the Farrelly Brothers upcoming comedy The Three Stooges.

According to the The Boston Globe, Giamatti, who was fantastic in Duplicity, will pick up the role of the fluffy-headed Larry. Benicio Del Toro and Jim Carrey are on the hook to play Moe and Curly, respectively.

Penn exited the project to spend more time with the family.

The Three Stooges was originally set up with original Stooge shorts producer Columbia, until rights holder C3 Entertainment Inc. sold the film rights to Warner Bros. for the Farrelly brothers to direct in 2001. MGM later obtained the rights along with the Farrelly’s services.

The Farrelly’s script, which Bobby Farrelly referred to as Dumb, Dumber & Dumbest, was originally plotted out as a series of four shorts. The story was eventually changed to a full-length feature.

Pike & others join the cast.

Based off of the hit novel of the same name written up by Mordecai Richler, Barney’s Version continues to fill up its casting. Minnie Driver, Rosamund Pike and Rachelle Lefevre all hop on board to play each one of Barney’s wives in the adaptation. Already fitted into the lead role is Paul Giamatti (John Adams) who plays Barney, the politically incorrect, fully lived life of the impulsive, irascible and fearlessly blunt man (THR).

Rachelle Lefevre (Twilight) plays the first wife, along with Minnie Driver (The Riches) as the second wife and Rosamund Pike (Fracture) as the third wife and Barney’s true love. Also on the cast is Dustin Hoffman who plays the father of Barney. The adaptation, written by Michael Konyves and directed by Richard J. Lewis (CSI) under Serenity Point Films, comes out in theaters on 2010.