Green Lantern: Emerald Knights
Blu-ray | DVD | Video On Demand
Directed by: Chris Berkeley, Lauren Montgomery, Jay Oliva
Written by: Eddie Berganza, Alan Burnett, Todd Casey, Dave Gibbons, Michael Green, Marc Guggenheim, Geoff Johns, Peter J. Tomasi
Starring: Nathan Fillion, Jason Isaacs, Elisabeth Moss, Kelly Hu, Arnold Vosloo, Grey DeLisle, Steve Blum, Henry Rollins, Roddy Piper
DC Entertainment/Warner Bros.
Release Date: June 8, 2011

DC’s animation department has done a terrific job with all of their animated features showcasing some of the biggest names in DC’s library, and the next film in this legacy is the anthology style film, Green Lantern: Emerald Knights. When I popped this into my Blu-ray player, honestly, I wasn’t sure to expect. I’ve been a fan, overall, of the DC animated films and their adaptation of All-Star Superman was almost perfect, it captured the heart and story of the comic while also making things cohesive for the animated medium. All-Star Superman is probably my favorite of the films, but I had an emotional tie to that story, and while I’ve loved the majority of these animated titles, I can’t say the same about Green Lantern: First Flight, the least favorite out of all the features.

Thanks to our friends at /Film, the glorious news is out about a live-action, big budget stadium tour with Batman as the focal point called Batman Live. I don’t know about you guys, but that makes my life worth living until the tickets are available. What’s that you say? Tickets for the events in Europe are going on sale this week? Why, that’s phenomenal!

The tour dates, starting next year, were announced early Monday, but the project has been a secret project overall, so it was a little bit of a shock when they came out naming tour dates and locations in Europe leading up to their arrival in Summer 2012 in North America. In addition to the news, a “secret” Twitter page was discovered, and again, /Film did a great job of pulling together this info and were able to get the background from their account’s page, which gives a couple of clues as to who and what we will see in the project. There are couple of great things on their Facebook page as well, like a video featuring an orchestral rehearsal for the live event and the tour dates from the July shows in Manchester to the October shows in Belfast.

Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm
Directed by Eric Radomski, Bruce W. Timm
Written by Alan Burnett, Martin Pasko, Michael Reaves, Paul Dini
Voiced by Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, Dana Delany, Stacy Keach
1993

When Miss Andrea Beaumont returns to Gotham City after a ten-year absence, it throws Bruce Wayne’s world into upheaval. Bruce and Andrea were romantically involved just as Bruce was beginning his trial runs as a vigilante, and her presence brings back a flood of memories — both about the love that he lost and his earliest crime fighting adventures before he became the caped crusader. Bruce’s troubles become twofold, when a new masked entity in the city begins knocking off gangsters, and Batman takes the wrap.

Things go from bad to worse when an elderly crime boss turns to desperate measures and hires the Joker to kill Batman before he is murdered. Now, Batman must try to solve the mystery of the ghostly Phantasm while preventing anymore deaths, and at the same time subdue the psychotic antics of the Joker, who has taken up residence in the abandoned Worlds Fair exhibit. Meanwhile, as boy billionaire, Bruce must reconcile his feelings for Andrea.