Here is my favorite scene from Meatballs, even though Morty is not in the outfit I wore.

Because Green Lantern didn’t make any money and WB didn’t want to spend any more advertising on it, you probably didn’t know that it was released last Friday on DVD and Blu-ray. Being a fan of the comic and the film, I did know about it and am very pleased with the result.

Green Lantern is not the best comic book adaptation, but I can say that the extended cut benefits greatly from the 9 minutes added to it. For those of you that have seen the film, you will not get any more Green Lantern stuff in the extended cut, but you will get some pretty important backstory that I felt gave the film more heart as well as established all the main characters better. You know how in the movie you see scenes where apparently Hector, Hal and Carol all knew each other as kids? Well in here you see that. You know how in the movie you are supposed to believe that Hal idolized his father growing up? Well in this cut you see that as well.

I have no idea why the film makers would take out these crucial character introductions, I assume they just  took out all the exposition so that they could get to Ryan Reynolds as Green Lantern faster. The problem with the theatrical cut is that you get Ryan Reynolds as Green Lantern faster, but you don’t care about his character and know little about him when he puts on the ring, so you lose any of the humanity from Hal. In the theatrical cut, you know he is a brash test pilot who doesn’t look before he leaps, but in this extended cut, you know why he is the way he is and he comes off as more sympathetic. Removing this from the theatrical cut was a big misstep.

Now lets talk about the extra features, most notably the Maximum Movie Mode! This is one of those picture in picture features that plays in the foreground as the film plays. What is great about this version is it is basically a camera crew following Geoff Johns (Chief Creative Officer of DC Entertainment & Current GL Mastermind) as he acts as your tour guide through the entire production of the Green Lantern film. He interviews art directors, costume designers, special effects supervisors, actors and more! Any diehard fan of Green Lantern knows that Geoff Johns may very well be THE biggest fan of the Green Lantern on the planet and this Maximum Movie mode shows that off perfectly. Watching the look on Goeff Johns’ face as all of the creative team talks about Green Lantern with such respect is worth watching this feature alone. Any fan would love to have access to what Geoff Johns had during the making of the film and it is a joy to go with him on this journey.

The very best part of the Maximum Movie Mode is watching Johns talking to Mark Strong as he is sitting in a makeup chair. Here you have the biggest Green Lantern fan on the planet talking to a well respected actor, who is in complete Sinestro makeup talking seriously about the Green Lantern mythos. Even though he doesn’t say it, you can tell that Geoff Johns is thinking, “Pinch me, I am dreaming”. It is really great for any GL fan.

In addition to the feature length Maximum Movie Mode, you get about an hour and a half of Green Lantern featurettes. Even though there are two Green Lantern animated films (Green Lantern:First Flight/Green Lantern:Emerald Knights) there was never really a proper documentary about Green Lantern comics. There is a great documentary on here that tackles the different eras of Green Lantern in comic books. From the Denny O’Neil & Neal Adams’ Green Lantern/Green Arrow run all the way to Geoff Johns’ Blackest Night, this is a great documentary that gives the uninitiated GL fan a basic breakdown of the history of Hal Jordan.

There are also several documentaries on the making of the film that are all wonderful. What is best about all of these featurettes is the fact that they are all in HD. In addition to the featurettes you get some cool deleted scenes from the movie as well as a ten minute preview of the Green Lantern Animated Series that comes out on 11/11/11 on Cartoon Network!

Everything about this set is great! From the extended cut to the features, I am sure that it will please all fans of the Green Lantern film and books. I hope that all the efforts that everyone made to get Green Lantern to the big screen will get the chance to make a sequel.

Extended Cut: ★ ★ ★ ★½

Special Features: ★ ★ ★ ★

On Sunday 9/18 at 7am (pst), I will be watching all VI episodes of the Star Wars series and live tweeting all the changes and “upgrades” that George Lucas has decided to put in this release of the films. If you are at all interested in any of these changes before you drop the cash for the set, you can follow me @casinoskunk on twitter, or follow the convo at #BluHarvest.

May the Force be with you!

http://casinoskunk.tumblr.com/

As things start moving forward on the book, I want to make sure that everyone is in the loop, so I have created a Facebook Page. Head over to Facebook and “LIKE” Stamp: The Cricket!!

facebook.com/TheCricketComic

I will be posting Drawings, News, Fan Art and more fun stuff as we get further into the production of the book.

Look before you leap!

LIKE HIM.

FOLLOW HIM.

FEAR HIM!

Thanks to the folks at MediaJunkyard.Com, I was able to attend this years Comic Con. Trying to get tickets online was impossible for me and because they got me a press pass for the weekend, I did some press for them. I have never done video interviews before, but it was a lot of fun. I would definitely want to do this again. Here are the press lines that I was a part of. It was very nerve wracking but fun!

GREEN LANTERN THE ANIMATED SERIES

CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL

Behind the scenes tidbits: Those ladies sure liked talking close and the event coordinators constantly tap your shoulders to speed things up, so thats why everything is so rushed.

The movie is bookended with scenes that take place in modern times, which is something that I would have loved to see saved for The Avengers, but that is only my gripe with the film. The meat of the movie takes place in the 1940s but strays from being a history lesson real quick. This film is definitely more Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow rather than a Saving Private Ryan. In fact, a lot of the imagery, production design and FX looked very reminiscent of Sky Captain, which I don’t mind in the slightest.

Going into the movie I was looking forward to seeing Hugo Weaving as The Red Skull and didn’t really care about seeing “Johnny Storm” as Steve Rogers, but after the movie i found myself more excited about Chris Evan’s performance than Hugo Weaving’s. The Red Skull was kind of boring and cliché  whereas Evan’s portrayal of Captain America was pitch perfect. I liked Evans as Steve Rogers so much it made me wish that he was never The Human Torch. Who knows, maybe we will get that F4 reboot and forget all about him being Johnny Storm, which is tough because he was the only memorable part of those films.

There is not much more I can say about Captain America other than I had a really good time watching it. The Harry Potter 3d glasses I wore while watching it gave me a headache and the 3d wasn’t really worth the pain. Since I first watched the post credits scene of the original Iron Man, I have slowly become very excited for the Avengers and Captain America’s final moments really sealed the deal for me. Joe Johnson is usually pretty hit and miss for me, but this one was definitely  more fun that I had expected.

★ ★ ★ ★

Speaking of pictures, here are two of the highlights from this pass weekend:

BUILDING A CREATOR-OWNED CREATIVE TEAM SYMPOSIUM @ TR!CKSTER
Featuring storytellers MIKE ALLRED, SCOTT MORSE, LARRY MARDER, GREG RUCKA, JAMIE S. RICH, and more…

On Saturday I went to an offsite event that was an incredible experience. Hosted at the TR!CKSTER Bar/Gallery/Music Venue/Comfy Hangout, this Symposium was just what i needed to get some focus on my writing. In fact, this symposium got me so motivated that I have already set aside one day a week to focus completely on my creative writing. Thanks to Scott Morse and EVERYONE who created and organized this amazing oasis of creative talent.

The second picture is a commission that I received from Joëlle Jones of The Cricket. Between the symposium and this beautiful drawing of The Cricket, I am incredibly anxious to get moving on the book. I would really like to tell this story and I hope that my life allows me to move forward and really hunker down to finish writing it!

Yesterday, while I was at work, all I could to is think about The Cricket. I wanted to take Joëlle’s drawing of The Cricket and make it my desktop wallpaper. Since the drawing was more of a vertical piece as opposed to a landscape image, I widened it out and colored it. I hope that she doesn’t mind the alterations I made, but by having it on my desktop at all times, it allows me to constantly be reminded of the adventures I could be telling.

Here’s to the future and all the amazing people who inspire me!

Ralph-

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