The Lion King
The Circle Of Life Edition
Blu-ray | Digital
Walt Disney Signature Collection
Director: Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff
Screenwriter: Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, Linda Woolverton
Cast: Matthew Broderick, James Earl Jones, Jeremy Irons, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Moira Kelly, Nathan Lane, Ernie Sabella, Rowan Atkinson, Robert Guillaume, Madge Sinclair, Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin, Jim Cummings
Distributor: Walt Disney Home Video
Release Date: August 29, 2017

Like a lot of Walt Disney animated films, The Lion King has stood the test of time in its own way. The celebrated piece is a powerful film that has beautiful animation, resonating themes, catchy songs, and plenty of charm to boot. It’s no wonder that it is among our favorite films. Now, The Lion King gets, yet another, re-release in “The Circle Of Life” edition as part of the Walt Disney Signature Collection. Like many of these re-releases, this one is chock full of bonus extras that will have fans fall in love once more and introduce this lovely film to a new generation who may have never seen it before. Check out our review here below.

One of the very best decisions that console makers Microsoft and Sony have made, is to offer free games to those who are members of their Xbox Live Gold and PlayStation Plus programs each month. Hundreds of dollars worth of games for free each year. It makes the pill that is having to pay to play (online) much, much easier to swallow.

The four free games being offered to Xbox Live Gold members for Games With Gold in September 2017 have been revealed, and you can see what they are below along with information on each of the four titles.

Observer
Xbox One l PS4 l PC
DEVELOPER: Bloober Team
PUBLISHER: Aspyr Media
RELEASE DATE: Aug 15, 2017

From Bloober Team, the developer behind the 2015 horror Layers of Fear, comes a cyberpunk horror titled Observer (stylized as >observer_).

The game is set in the year 2084, in a dark and depressing world that’s the result of two devastating events: the Nanophage—a sort of computer virus which caused thousands of deaths when it affected the cybernetic augmentations most people now have in their bodies—and a massive nuclear war known as the Great Decimation, which killed millions and left many areas of the planet uninhabitable. You play as Daniel Lazarski (Rutger Hauer), a neural detective called an Observer who’s able to dive deep into the minds of others to acquire necessary information.

A Column of Fire
Kingsbridge #3
Hardcover | Kindle | Audiobook
By Ken Follett
Publisher: Viking Books
Release date: September 12, 2017

Sometimes authors will surprise you. I speak, in this case, of Ken Follett and his upcoming novel, A Column Of Fire. As a voracious reader, it is seldom that I am without reading material, but I have recently stagnated with new books and writers. I’ve tried a plethora of unknown authors and their works, but none have sated my current needs, my hunger to read. Therefore, it was almost stunning when I was offered the chance to shine a spotlight on this book, one that I have not, as of yet, read. But there is more to the Kingsbridge series and its creator than one might think. I hold a special place in my heart for Follett that I will try to put into words.

Actor Ed Skrein is taking himself out of the Hellboy reboot, citing the outcry of whitewashing when he was initially cast as a non-white role from the comic book. That role is Major Ben Daimio, a character who happens to be Japanese. His move is practically unheard of, especially since we’ve been seeing a huge increase in whitewashing in films like Ghost In The Shell, Doctor Strange, Death Note, and much more. When the casting was initially announced, the backlash was swift with many decrying it.

But the Deadpool and Game of Thrones actor believed that “representing this character in a culturally accurate way holds significance for people, and that to neglect this responsibility would continue a worrying tendency to obscure ethnic minority stories and voice in the Arts.” More on what he had to say and the importance of representation here below.