Ian Abercrombie, who appeared in such shows as Seinfeld and Wizards of Waverly Place as well as movies like Army of Darkness, died of a heart attack on Thursday at the age of 77.

Our readers probably known him best as Mr. Pitt, Elaine’s eccentric and demanding boss from Seinfeld. One of this more notable gags had him keeping her late at work to pick out the perfect sock.

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Welcome, Poweteers, to a brand new original column where we explore the top (and bottom) 5 items we think are relevant to any of a variety of topics that span the imagination. Sit back, read, and respond!

Hollywood has a bad track record adapting cartoons. The Smurfs, Dragonball, The Last Airbender, Scooby Doo… even successful movies like Transformers end up getting panned by critics and alienating lots of fans.

I think there are some toons worth adapting. Either because they’d work just as well or work even better in live action. I’ll tell you why, and I’ll even try to tell you who should play them. [Read the rest of this entry…]

“How can I handle work on a day like today?”

This variation of the line from the 1986 movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” is spoken by star Matthew Broderick as he reprises the role in a mere 10 second youtube video. It is titled simply “Coming Soon” and teases a date of “2.5.12” which sports fans recognize as the date of the Super Bowl. The original film was written and directed by the late John Hughes, about a high school senior who dismisses all responsibility for day roaming Chicago with his friends.

Updated: The teaser has been shared on Pepsi Throwback’s facebook page. It is likely a Pepsi Throwback ad. No company has yet claimed responsibility for what is certainly a commercial. Rumours have pointed to Priceline (which recently eliminated William Shatner) and Honda, which would have the aged Ferris driving in a CR-V.

Bueller hasn’t been totally absent in the last 26 years. He was recast once before in a TV series that aired on NBC in 1990 for a dismal 13 episodes before being cancelled, garnering poor ratings even though it aired immediately following the successful “Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air,” and was replaced with “Blossom.” Lyman Ward played Ferris’ father Tom Bueller in the original film and made an uncredited cameo in a following John Hughes film “Planes Trains And Automobiles” in the same role, further linking all the famous director’s movies to the same universe of characters.

There is some precedent for this type of commercial revival, as Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo returned as the Griswalds in “Hotel Hell Vacation” which aired during the 2010 Superbowl as a spot for Homeaway.com, a vacation rental portal. Watch that short after the break.

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As a huge fan of the Underworld series of movies, I took in it’s latest instalment, Underworld Awakening, this week. I generally enjoyed this movie, and while it’s tone was a bit of a departure from the films that came before it, it still works quite well with the rest of the franchise. Kate Beckinsale seems like a vampire herself, as she is still as lovely as she was years ago when this series began.

The film takes place 12 years after Underworld Evolution, after a human cleansing of Vampires and Lycans leaves both species struggling to fight extinction. With the plot centering around fighting powerful companies, engineered creatures and general ass kicking, the movie is reminiscent of a Resident Evil film, though still unique in it’s own way.

My main complaint about the movie would be it’s length. With a total run time of only 88 minutes, and long credits that are probably about 10 of those, the film itself wraps up after about an hour and twenty minutes. With the first film weighing in at over two hours, 133 minutes for the director’s cut, this is a bit disappointing.

Keep reading for more thoughts which will include some spoilers.
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Cross posted from zacshipley.com

A lot of movies and video games seem to come with cardboard sleeves around the plastic cases. These seem like something to hold additional materials, or maybe as a box for multiple discs (such as a season of a TV show). More often than not I end up with boxes that are just for a single movie in a single case. Maybe they help the movie stand out on a shelf in a store?

What do you think? Do you keep these sleeves? Do you keep your cases at all?

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The Amazon Gold Box Deal of the Day features both the DVD and Blu-Ray edition of the Transformers trilogy of movies today. They have been marked down significantly. The DVD edition has been marked down to 17.99 from 40.99 and the Blu-Ray edition has been marked down to 29.99 from 76.99. I believe a newer edition of the trilogy will be forthcoming with lots of extras not inlcuded in these sets, but this price is pretty hard to ignore. If you want to help our site and get a great deal at the same time, use the links below to purchase these sets!

The trilogy includes:
Transformers
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Transformers: Dark of the Moon

[UPDATE] I added in the 7 disc collectors set that is both Blu-Ray and DVD because it is also $60 off.

DVD	Blu-Ray	Deluxe 7 disc BluRay+DVD