Check out this trailer for “The Secret World of Arrietty”, a new movie which is coming to North America in February 2012. The film is by Studio Ghibli and the screenplay is written by Hayao Miyazaki, director of good movies like Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and Laputa: Castle in the Sky and bad movies like Ponyo.

The dub will star David Henrie and Bridgit Mendler, who play on again, off again couple Justin and Juliet in the Wizards of Waverly Place. It’s not easy being in love when one of you is a Wizard and the other is a Vampire who turned old after being bit by a Werewolf and then being young again. There are actually 2 dubs, the British version stars Saoirse Ronan, from Hanna and Tom Holland, from nothing I’ve ever heard of.

Keep reading to watch the intro to the Littles, the inspiration for this film:

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The trailer for “Brave” has just just been released. The movie features a defiant heroine who goes against her parents’ wishes and does what is considered to be a man’s job! How progressive! The film is being praised for being Pixar’s first movie with a female lead… but why is this praiseworthy? Welcome to the 1960s. To me this only demonstrates that every other Pixar film to date has been excessively male centric.

Being impressed with such a progressive character is incredibly outdated. Female leads in movies are great, and there are far too few, but praising a studio who hasn’t done this sooner is ludicrous. Pixar is not doing anything that other movies with it’s same target demographic haven’t done. Let’s look at recent Disney movies for comparison. Disney’s latest film, Tangled, had a female lead who was strong, defied convention, did her down thing and even kicked tons of ass, though with a frying pan. Brave seems like little more than a rehash of Mulan, itself from 1998. Are we really breaking new ground 13 years later by doing the exact same thing?

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Around the time that the PS 3 was announced, a massively multiplayer online based on the DC comics universe was also announced. After several years in development, it has arrived. Although it received mixed reviews, players enjoyed being able to interact with heroes such as Superman and Batman while visiting locations such as Gotham city and the Fortress of Solitude. A few months ago, the game went free-to-play, and its subscriber base saw a huge jump. With most of the game’s features available for free, now is a great time to jump in if you’re a fan of superheroes.
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Next year there will be two movies based on Snow White. How is this possible? Hey we had years with two asteroid movies, two period pieces about magic and two movies about penguins so … why not? With the “Snow White and the Huntsman” and “Mirror Mirror” trailers both released in the past week, we have a first look at what these movies might be like. Both trailers are embedded later in this post so you can see which one might be up your alley.

“Snow White and the Huntsman” seems like a crazy epic hardcore movie while “Mirror, Mirror” seems like it’s pretty much a comedy. Completely different takes on the same basic idea, which is probably the best way to go. Having them be too similar would guarantee one of these movies fail completely, but if they each appeal to a different audience, they can both succeed without drowning the other.

Keep reading to watch both trailers.
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Just a reminder to all collectors, today is MattyCollector Day for November 2011.
On sale today at MattyCollector.com are the following:
MOTUC Snout Spout
MOTUC Swift Wind
MOTUC Bubble Power She-Ra
DCUC Toyman
DCUC Black Vulcan
DCUC Samurai
DCUC El Dorado
DCUC Captain Boomerang
DCUC Bronze Tiger
Retro Action Shazam
Retro Action Black Adam
Retro Action Martian Manhunter
Retro Action Darkseid
Retro Action Superman
Retro Action Batman
12 in Green Lantern Hal Jordan (for entirely too much money)

The main ordering page can be found here.

Super Mario 3D Land was released for the 3DS yesterday. After months of lacklustre titles, this one looks to be the first original title for the system worthy of owning. I’ve put in a solid evening of gameplay and progressed through roughly half the game, and I’d like to share my first impressions.

Immediately the game is reminiscent of Nintendo era Super Mario Bros. games. While Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy all had a some of features reminiscent of older games, this game has many more. While other more recent games feel like they take place in their own new worlds, this game at times feels like you’re in a 3D version of Super Mario Bros. 3. The Tanooki suit makes a welcome return, as well the old classics like the fire flower and a new suit, the Boomerang Bro. suit, which while new is itself a throwback to characters from old games.

Keep reading for more thoughts.
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I recently finished this book. I finished the second book in the series two days later. I cannot put these books down. The trailer does a fair job of setting out only the most basic premise of the plot. After North America falls to disaster, the nation of Panem rises. It is split into 12 districts and the Capitol. The districts are kept in poverty while the Capitol flourishes. After a failed rebellion by the districts long ago, the Capitol established the Hunger Games to remind the districts of their failure.

And yes, that was Woody Harrelson as Haymitch.
I sure am looking forward to this movie. Are you?

May the odds ever be in your favor.