The Cabin in the Woods Blu-Ray Review

The Cabin in the Woods is one of the best films I've seen this year. Co-written by Joss Whedon (The Avengers, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer") and Drew Goddard (Cloverfield), it is a unique, unpredictable journey that breaks down genre barriers.

A stereotypical group of college friends head out to a mysterious cabin for the weekend, when mysterious events begin to happen. Behind the bloodshed is a group of technicians operating from the safety of a control room. And that's just the beginning...

The cast is great! It stars Kristen Connolly ("As the World Turns"), Chris Hemsworth (Thor, The Avengers), Anna Hutchison ("Go Girls"), Fran Kranz ("Dollhouse"), Jesse Williams ("Grey's Anatomy"), Richard Jenkins (Step Brothers), and Bradley Whitford ("The West Wing").

My major complaint with this Blu-Ray is the outer packaging. The front of the outer slipcase has a hologram that shows the theatrical poster, but when it is turned it reveals something else, which somewhat ruins the actual events of the movie. I'm really not sure why they would do that. If you're planning on buying it, avoid looking at the cover until after you watch it.

The Blu-Ray has a bunch of great special features:

-Audio commentary with Writer/Director Drew Goddard and Writer/Producer Joss Whedon

-"We Are Not Who We Are: Making The Cabin in the Woods" Featurette

-"The Secret Secret Stash" Featurette

-Wonder-Con Q&A with Joss and Drew

-"An Army of Nightmares: Make-Up and Animatronic Effects" Featurette

-"Primal Terror: Visual Effects" Featurette

-"It's Not What You Think: The Cabin in the Woods" Bonus View Mode (Blu-Ray Exclusive)

-Obligatory Digital Copy of the film

If you're sick of the standard horror movie fare, definitely check out this amazing, genre-bending film!

The Cabin in the Woods Blu-Ray deserves a 9 out of 10 Cabins!!

RAWR(for more)

Blu-ray Review: Dollhouse - Season One

Dollhouse: Season One

Joss Whedon returns to television, and the network that screwed him over, with Dollhouse.

From the box:

From Joss Whedon, creative mastermind behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, comes the provocative Dollhouse, a sexy suspenseful thriller starring the stunningly talented Eliza Dushku.

As an "Active," the mysterious Echo (Dushku) serves as an unwitting agent of Dollhouse, an illegal underground organization that provides its elite clientele with programmable human beings. Actives receive personality imprints allowing them to temporarily become anyone or anything - the perfect burglar, lover, spy, or assassin. Now, with the FBI and her own shadowy past closing in, Echo must face a rogue Active who will stop at nothing to bring Dollhouse down - forever.

Click the Rawr! for the full review.

It's not the Buffy spin-off everyone was dreaming of but Dollhouse is probably the next best thing.

I was ecstatic when I heard the news of a new Joss Whedon show. I was even more excited when I heard it would star Eliza Dushku. I thought for sure we were getting a Faith series. Alas, that was not to be (yet?) instead we get Dollhouse, a sci-fi series full of typical Joss magic: angst, excitement, and a helluva story.

The show starts off great but hits a few bumps in its early episodes. In fact, it gets almost tedious. I don't know what was happening behind the scenes but I suspect Joss had taken a step back to concentrate on another project.

At episode six, Joss gets the show back on track by exposing the lore of the show and really kicking the story into high gear. From that episode on, Dollhouse becomes the type of fantastic television we've come to expect and love from Joss Whedon.

Dollhouse becomes an exciting and addicting sci-fi thriller with a deep and mysterious storyline. By the end of the first seasons episodes you'll be clamoring for more.

The cast is great all around. Highlights for me are Fran Kanz as the tech guru Topher, Olivia Williams as the matriarch of the Dollhouse, and Amy Acker who will be amazing no matter what she does. Eliza Dushku of course is the main draw here and it's quite fun to see her in the different scenarios and personalities she is equipped with. Overall, we have a great cast with fantastic chemistry all around.

The blu-ray set includes the entire season in hi-def which looks and sounds incredible. Special features include the Original Unaired Pilot (which was dissected to make up the first episodes), Audio Commentary on Selected Episode, Deleted Scenes, and Featurettes: Making Dollhouse, Coming Home, Finding Echo, A Private Engagement, Designing the Perfect Dollhouse.

The best feature on this disc is the unaired final episode "Epitaph One" which gives us a glimpse at the future. This is a fantastic episode, my favorite of the season, and makes me eager to see how the show ends up at this dark future.

Dollhouse is of course a must own for any fans of Joss Whedon as well as those who are new to his work. If you're a sci-fi or action fan, then Dollhouse will suit you fine also. Don't let the first few episodes throw you though. They're not great but once you get in, it really gets great.

Dollhouse is available on DVD and Blu-ray now.

Season Two premieres on Fox on September 22.

RAWR(for more)

Buffy Movie sans Joss Whedon?

Reports are swirling that there are plans for a new incarnation of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Plans that do not involve series mastermind, and god of awesome, Joss Whedon.

The article states:

Roy Lee and Doug Davison of Vertigo Entertainment are working with original movie director Fran Rubel Kuzui and her husband, Kaz Kuzui, on what is being labeled a remake or relaunch, but not a sequel or prequel.

No Thanks. I am not on board with any incarnation of Buffy that does not have Joss involved. No way. No how. Doing so is sacrilegious to the franchise.

Joss fans are an extremely loyal bunch and I cannot see them not flipping out over this.

Sure, it's great to be able to have movement on a franchise we love, but without Joss' involvement, it's not that franchise.

Sorry. No thanks.

Read the entire article here.

RAWR(for more)

Review: "Tooned Up" Willow!

Back in June I reviewed the Electric Tiki Design' s "Tooned Up" Buffy, which you can read here. Now, we're going to review the "Tooned Up" Willow!

Let's start with the stats:

-Inspired by the episode "Tough Love"
-Limited to 800 pieces
-Unique "Mystic Energy" display base
-App. 10'' tall - 1/8 scale
-Official licensed
-Fully painted, ready to display
-Based on original "Toon" designs by Tracy Mark Lee
-Sculpted by Mike Petryszak

In my opinion, Willow Rosenberg is one of the greatest characters to grace my television screen. Her growth from a wallflower nerd to a powerful witch in the seven years of Buffy was fantastic television. So, it is with great pleasure to see her represented in all her badassness with this marquee. It really is an awesome statue. Willow is all floaty and magicy ready to do some damage.

The statue looks fantastic. It's extremely well detailed and makes me pine for a Buffy cartoon even more than the Buffy statue did. The wispy magic tendrils on the base keep willow afloat and keep her pretty sturdy. She leans forward slightly but is in no danger of falling from the grasp of the tendrils.

The statue is ready to go straight out of the box. Just slip her feet into the tendrils and put it wherever you want to. Just like the Buffy statue, Willow is hand cast from high quality polystone and hand painted. It's also individually numbered.

It's gorgeous and looks great on the shelf next to Buffy and the rest of the series (Glory, another Buffy and another Willow (pictured at the end of this review) are coming early next year.)

The holidays are coming up and I can't think of a better gift for any fan of the show than this marquee.


Allow me to give you one dire warning. These things are FRAGILE. My Willow was broken just today by my cat. He knocked it off the shelf onto a carpeted floor and both hands broke off. I was extremely furious.

Certainly, don't let that detract you from buying it just take care to keep it out of reach of curious cats or grabby kids.

Now, I need to go perform surgery on my figure with some superglue. But before I go allow me to leave you with a peak of the next Willow statue coming next year.

Do try not to flip when you see the awesomeness of it.

RAWR(for more)

Buffy The Vampire Slayer COMPLETE SERIES $69.99 TODAY ONLY!

Amazon is selling the Buffy The Vampire Slayer: The Chosen Collection for $117 dollars OFF the retail price. That means the entire series of one of TV's best shows will only run you $70 bucks with free shipping. This is a great deal for the 40 disc set.

For you math folks that breaks down to $10 a season.

The sale is for TODAY (FRIDAY 11/21 ONLY) over at Amazon.com

RAWR(for more)

We Review "Tooned Up" Buffy!

Sideshow Collectibles was kind enough to send over this gem of a statue.

It is the Electric Tiki Design's "Tooned Up" Buffy.

Let's have a look at the stats:

- "Once More With Feeling" Version.
- Comes with 2 sets of hands for unique display.
- Limited to 1000 pieces.
- Approximately 12'' tall - 1/8 scale.
- Officially licensed.
- Fully painted, ready to display.
- Based on original "toon" designs by Tracy Mark Lee.

It really is a gorgeous statue. It's a glimpse of what might have been if the long gestating but never realized Buffy cartoon came to be. The statue looks perfect. It's a flawless sculpt and it gives me little stabs of joy whenever I look at it. (Can you tell I'm a major buffy fan?)

Out of the box, it's pretty much ready to go. You just attach Buffy to the base and choose the hands you want. You have the choice of an empty hand, stakes, or pool stick. Currently, my statue looks just like the picture on the left.

Each statue is hand cast in high quality polystone and hand painted and you can see the care in the statue. It's vibrant and pretty much looks like it jumped off an animation cell. The figures are individually numbered as well.


Any fan of Buffy will flip to get their hands on this statue. It's reasonably priced at around $90.
This combined with the "Tooned Up" Willow coming out this October, will make for a great display.

You really can't go wrong with this. It is a great statue. Detailed, vibrant, cute...I can list a lot of adjectives to describe how completely cool this thing is. Just buy it for yourself.

I can only hope we'll get more of these "Tooned Up" scoobies. I could go for a Tara, Anya, Xander, Spike, Angel, Fred, Cordelia...I would be satisified with all of the Buffy/Angel characters to be honest.

Don't get me started on Firefly...

RAWR(for more)