How to Make Christmas Last with The Grinch on Feb 5th!

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Available to pre-order on AmazonThe Grinch

In Whoville, The Grinch watches over all and before his change, he could not wait for the holidays to be over. During the yuletide season, he has plenty to bah humbug about. With the home video release on Feb 5th, fans of Dr Seuss and Grinch can reflect upon all that’s happened and realize the smiles can last year round.

The updated version owes a huge debt to its realization back in 1966, with the first animation voiced by and starring Boris Karloff. While it’s tough to beat the love for the Chuck Jones animated work and the song, “You’re a Mean One, Mr Grinch,” this update by Illumination Studios does a very respectable job. To make this release perfect, Universal should have included the original work (studio ownership notwithstanding). Not only is the song given a hip hop take by Tyler, the Creator but also new characters are introduced. Fred is particularly adorable as a very rotund reindeer which The Grinch uses to get around. The animators would not do this unless they plan on having them come back.

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Batman Ninja invades Home Video! DVD Review

The Grinch

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Before fans of Batman’s animated products can ask, Batman Ninja is not an Elseworlds product. That’s Gotham by Gaslight. With this direct to video product, Gorilla Grodd made a time displacement machine which went awry. It sent everyone back in time. Depending on how close the heroes and villains were to the epicentre, they were thrown to all the way to Japan despite the fact the battle took place in Gotham, at Arkham Asylum, somewhere along the Western side of North America.

Bats arrives two years later in a village and learns Penguin, Poison Ivy, Deathstroke and Joker established themselves as feudal lords. Each reign over a territory and are fighting amongst themselves to determine who shall rule. This change in history may well stick—where are the Legends of Tomorrow when you need them?

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Disseminating The Last Will & Testament of Rosalind Leigh, DVD Movie Review

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Available on AmazonThe Grinch

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

One unique gem for fans of the classic ghost story formula to watch is The Last Will and Testament of Rosaland Leigh. This movie originally released back in 2012 and it is one I frequently watch because it is very poetic, very lucid. It’s produced, written and directed by Rodrigo Gudiño, the founder of Rue Morgue Magazine. To liken it to any other films might give too much of this movie way and ruin the beauty of this film.

When Leon (Aaron Poole) has to settle the affairs of his deceased mother’s home, the horrors he experiences are not his own making. He’s just one of the few main actors who have to carefully navigate through unfortunate memories. As for what they represent, that’s left up to the viewer to decide.

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A Look at Sandman and the Lost Sand of Dreams. A DVD Review

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

910gsOx1UrL._SY445_I’ve always been fascinated with discovering what dreams are made of and there’s plenty of library material to look at for self-study or to be entertained by. On this special list is the stop motion animated epic, Sandman and the Lost Sand of Dreams (Das Sandmännchen: Abenteuer im Traumland).

It’s a wonderful film because of the positive messages it imparts to younger audiences and for myself, the world it presents is comparable to other dream tales I enjoyed prior. The fantastic that’s evoked in H.P. Lovecraft‘s haunting world of the Dreamlands, the endlessness of the beauty found in Robin WilliamsWhat Dreams May Come and the innocence of youth that Nemo represented in his Adventures In Slumberland are recalled in this German-made film originally released in 2010. Shout! Factory Kids released this English dubbed piece last month and my order did not arrive till recently for me to watch. There’s no bonus material with this release.

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Exploring South Asia’s Terrifying The Paranormal Zone, A DVD Review and Episode Guide

Li Kim is the hostess of the Malaysian program The Paranormal Zone, which is currently broadcasting on SyFy Asia.

The Paranormal Zone

Available to Stream (free) on YouTube

The realm of supernaturally charged themed television programs is often wrought with one huge problem: not a lot of production companies take the subject seriously. More networks prefer the shows they broadcast to over dramatize or simply tease at what could be than to study it from an anthropological point of view. Very few programs get academic in its approach and The Paranormal Zone is exceptional! This Malaysian produced program by Kechara (the production house) joins a very exclusive club of programs like Arthur C. Clarke’s Mysterious World, In Search of … with Leonard Nimoy and Beyond the Series.

Not every detail can be fulfilled in the 24 minutes. Instead, this program provides an excellent primer so further study can be made later.

Li Kim is the hostess and her program is broadcasting on SyFy Asia. If this carrier network sounds surprising, I’m glad they don’t adhere to the shenanigans the US-based company plies with their State-side ghost shows. I have to wonder just how much grip the Asian executives have with this program because this gem really needs to be exported to the rest of the world. The respect it has towards Hindu, Malaysian, Buddhist and Taoist beliefs are touched upon in gentle ways. To see how they connect to spiritualism and folklore of South Asia makes this program an excellent watch.

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Adele Blanc-Sec versus Indiana Jones, A Blu-Ray/DVD Review

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

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The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec is a fun roving adventure featuring a very comely adventuress going up against a whole bevy of supernatural creatures. Some are helpful whereas others become a hindrance in her quest to find a cure for her twin sister, who suffers from quite literally a needle in her head. This pain caused her paralysis and ever since that accident, Adèle has taken care of her. Her love for her sibling is above all else, including their rivalry that most siblings have for attention as they grow up.

In a film originally released in 2010 in France, notice elsewhere around the world depended on whether readers of the comic book of the same name kept track of new developments that is still ongoing. Artist/writer Jacques Tardi created this seminal heroine back in 1976 where she dealt with not only the weird but also the what the hell?

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