The Movie Summer Has Begun

The preliminary reviews for Batman Begins look quite promising, as do the ones for Mr. and Mrs. Smith and, of course, Howl's Moving Castle. The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl in 3D...not so much.

Which are you waitin' on, and who here is gonna see Batman in IMAX?

Iron Chef America DVD Set On DEEP Discount

The good one, mind you. Not Iron Chef USA, that... thing with Shatner. No, this is the real one, the one with Morimoto and Sakai and Bobby Flay and Mario Batali and Wolfgang Puck. The one hosted by the Beakman of breakfast, the Bill Nye of corned beef on rye, the Mr. Wizard of the chicken gizzard, frickin' Alton Brown.

The "Battle of the Masters" DVD set was way overpriced when it came out -- $44.95. Guess what? $14.95.

ALLEZ COUISINE!

Yokai Trailer Online

I don't often put referrals here from Ain't It Cool News anymore, because, while the site has its uses, it's not a pleasant place: kinda like going to the slimiest bar in town because, a couple days a week, the one guy who makes a really kick-ass burger is at the grill -- a guilty pleasure you don't need your friends to share, not so much because you're ashamed as because they don't need the grief.

However, I will quote the egregious Harry Knowles on this trailer for the upcoming fantasy movie Yokai, aka The Big Spook War, because he's pretty much right:

it's like a live action SPIRITED AWAY unleashed from the corners of Miike's consciousness. The result is something that has some of just the most freaky looking imagery I've seen in a kid's film... Like Miyazaki meets Jim Henson meets Clive Barker meets Dr Seuss meets Cirque De Soliel!

The download's about 5-3/4 MB. Give it a look.

ROCK AND RULE on DVD

In case you'd forgotten, Rock and Rule is now out on DVD.

ECW! ECW! ECW!

Okay, here's one for my Ann Arbor-area fellow wrestling fans.

This Sunday night is the ECW: One Night Stand pay-per-view. Now, you can shell out thirty-five bucks to watch it at home, maybe get a few friends over...

... or you can come watch it at the Quality 16 Theater on Jackson Road, between Wagner and Zeeb. Big honkin' screen -- as in, movie screen. Popcorn and nachos at the concession stand.

Admission: four dollars.

Yeah, you read that right.

You can even buy the tickets online. That cranks it up to five bucks. Boo-frickin-hoo.

See you at seven-thirty.

Longmire Does Romance Novels

The Wonderful World of Longmire ("The Internet's leader in wasted pixels") has a most excellent collection of... not-quite-the-original romance novel covers. Don't miss the page of covers people sent to him... and the Not Work Safe page linked off that one....