The price on Nintendo Wii console bundles has dropped, so you can now get Wii Console with Mario Kart Wii Bundle in Black or White for only $149.99 each.

In conjunction with this price drop, Amazon is currently running a sale on select Nintendo Wii Games and Gear.

Note, the sale is valid through midnight PST on Saturday, May 21, 2011 while supplies last.

Below are a few stand-out selections.

- Disney Epic Mickey – 19.99
- Ghostbusters: The Video Game – $11.79
- Just Dance 2 $29.96
- Lego Pirates of the Caribbean – $39.99
- Lego Harry Potter – $27.32
- Michael Jackson The Experience – $39.54 [...]

13 Assassins
Directed by Takashi Miike
Starring: Koji Yakusho, Goro Inagaki, Masachika Ichimura, and Mikijiro Hira
Release Date: April 29, 2011

The lethal dose of violence in 13 Assassins is heightened to such a degree of ferociousness, and yet never does it come off as an overwhelming force that serves as an impediment to our enjoyment. Rather, it plays out to resemble a macabre, lyrical meditation that we gawk at, despite the many severed limbs and decapitated bodies. Instead of being confined to the suffering grounds of 19th century feudal Japan, where bodies writhe in perpetual anguish in the dirt due to swords piercing into human flesh, 13 Assassins identifies with human elements like integrity, devotion, self-sacrifice, and loyalty that all samurais universally adhere to. This is not to say that the film bypasses all things representing violence. There is a battle scene that lasts the film’s final 50 minutes. It is astoundingly coherent and enthusiastic in showing its infatuation with bloody violence, all while maintaining an artistically composed countenance [...]

If you’ve watch any cartoons produced in the last 20 years, you’ve probably heard the voice of Steve Blum. Blum has over 400 titles to his credit on his IMDb page. He is widely known to a generation of anime fans as the voice of Spike Speigel in Cowboy Bebop, and is just as widely known (if not more so) as the voice of Wolverine in basically any TV show or video game since X-Men Evolution. And this is just a small sampling of the different characters Blum has played over the years. You can currently hear him as the voice of Starscream in Transformers: Prime, or as the voice of Grayson Hunt in Bulletstorm, along with still playing Wolverine on Marvel’s Super Hero Squad and in Marvel Vs Capcom 3. I was able to talk to Blum for a few minutes to learn how he got started, what it’s like to be a professional voice actor, and much more [...]

Now this is my kind of wedding party. Imagine this: you’re hanging out at the reception, having a drink, waiting for the newlyweds to arrive for the party. They’ve tied the knot, said their vows, and the bride looks stunning in her gown. All of a sudden, the band rips into some metal… the newlyweds walk in, and the groom takes the vocals, and the bride begins beating down on the drums to the tune of Metallica‘s “Master of Puppets.”

How awesome is that? And the best part? It’s real – check out the video at the bottom of this post! [...]

It seems a little odd to think about Marvel reinventing the Ultimate Universe because it’s so new compared to the standard Marvel U. When the Ultimate Universe started it was to be the place where creators could go to take classic Marvel characters and tell new stories and craft new history’s for those characters. No writer would necessarily be stuck with the years of back-story created for these characters in the standard Marvel U. The problem is that over the last few years those predictable story arcs and standard character histories have crept into the Ultimate Universe making it too similar to what we, the readers, expect and taking away the shock value and excitement that were supposed to the be hallmarks of the Ultimate stories.

So, Brian Michael Bendis and Jonathan Hickman are leading the rebirth of the Ultimate Universe with Bendis of course telling a really new kind of Ultimate Spider-Man story as well as launching an Ultimate Hawkeye miniseries and Hickman bringing on the Ultimates. Ultimate Comics Reborn begins in August with Ultimate Comics Ultimates and Ultimate Comics Hawkeye 1 (of 4) and will be followed in September by Ultimate Comics X-Men and Ultimate Comics Spider-Man. Covers will be done by Kaare Andrews [...]

The digital movie rental deal of the day over at Amazon today is the supernatural horror film Paranormal Activity 2, which is available for rental for only $.99.

This deal is valid only for today, Thursday, May 19, 2011, until midnight PST. Once you activate the rental through Amazon’s Instant Video service, you’ll have access to the movie for 24 hours. If you’re interested in purchasing the digital version, the cost is $14.99.

Also, if you’d like to own a physical copy of the movie, the Blu-ray is available for $20.99 (that’s 48% off the list price) and is part of Amazon’s “Buy This DVD and Watch it Instantly” program — you get the film as a FREE digital rental you can watch immediately when your purchase the physical copy. [The DVD is on sale for 38% off at $18.49, but is not part of the Watch it Instantly program.] [...]

Entertainment Weekly has a special preview of the highly anticipated adaptation of the Suzanne Collins‘ novel, The Hunger Games, in their upcoming issue.

The issue should show off multiple images, as well as offer up lots of juicy details about the movie. But until you mega-fans of the books can go grab your own copy of the magazine, our very first look at star Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone, X-Men: First Class) as Katniss Everdeen has been released to hold you over.

You can read a synopsis for the movie and see the first peek of Lawrence as Katniss by clicking on over to the other side now!

SYNOPSIS

Every year in the ruins of what was once North America, the nation of Panem forces each of its twelve districts to send a teenage boy and girl to compete in the Hunger Games. Part twisted entertainment, part government intimidation tactic, the Hunger Games are a nationally televised event in which “Tributes” must fight with one another until one survivor remains. [...]

Actor Eric Balfour has been hired to turn his attentions to behind the camera and turn Jesus Hates Zombies, the graphic novel from Stephen Lindsay, into a feature-length movie from a script written by Michael Mongillo and Jason Alan Smith.

The graphic novel tells of a zombie plague taking over the world, as we’ve seen play out in movies, comics, games, and TV shows so many times now, but this time the creator himself is watching and doesn’t like what he sees, so he once again sends Jesus back to Earth — this time to throw down with the zombie horde.

As far as directing goes, Balfour has only taken part in a film called Do Not Disturb with four other directors. But you surely recognize him from his many acting roles over the years, which began with Kids Incorporated (remember that one?) and includes Six Feet Under, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, 24, and Skyline, among many others. [...]

Just recently it was reported that Keanu Reeves, star of the Matrix trilogy, was interested in playing the role of Kaneda in the Warner Brothers live-action remake of Akira, the classic Japanese animated film based on the 6-part manga of the same name.

At the time nothing was official but it was said that the two parties were having discussions about the possibility. Of course the fan reaction to this news was just as brutal as you’d expect it to be, and almost everyone lashed out not only at the very mention of the 46-year-old Reeves playing a teenage character in the movie, but the fact that they were even still considering making a movie in the first place.

Well, as it often turns out, nothing has come of these rumblings. JoBlo is reporting that Reeves’ representatives have contacted Warner Bros. to inform them that he will not be continuing to pursuit the role. It’s unclear whether this was due to some sort of scheduling conflict or simply because everyone saw how negative the response had been, but it’s a lot more likely to be the latter. [...]

Recently on Today, part of the cast of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory reunited almost 40 years after the now-classic fantasy favorite first arrived.

As they note at the beginning of the video, the movie — based on the Roald Dahl children’s book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory — wasn’t all that well-received at first, and it took some time before it started to develop its following, making it technically a cult classic. But now the movie is something many of us grew up watching, and is a near and dear favorite to millions all over the globe.

You can see the video of the Willy Wonka cast reunion by heading on over to the other side now!

The first thing I personally thought when I saw there was a reunion was “where’s Gene?!” Sadly, Mr. Gene Wilder — who’s still out there somewhere, doing the J.D. Salinger thing — wasn’t able to make the gathering. [...]

Don’t Breathe A Word
Paperback | Kindle
By Jennifer McMahon
HarperCollins
Release Date: May 17, 2011

In Don’t Breathe A Word, a 12-year-old girl named Lisa disappears without a trace. Fifteen years later, Lisa’s younger brother, Sam, is in a relationship with a woman named Phoebe. Sam gets a mysterious phone call that sends him and Phoebe on a crazy journey to find out what really happened to his sister fifteen years prior.

When I started on Don’t Breathe A Word, I was very apprehensive about reading it. A story about fairies was something I was not really looking forward to reading. The description of the book started to really sell the book for me. A story of a young girl disappearing in the middle of the night without a trace intrigued me a little. The cover also caught my interest. The girl on the cover said something about the book in general that was innocent yet spooky. The aspect of the book that changed my opinion was around the first couple of chapters in the book when Sam got a call from a relative from his past and the whole story took a dramatic and suspenseful turn [...]

The $10 t-shirt deal of the day over at RIPT Apparel is the Lord Of The Rings-inspired “One Ring Pop” by artist jchristianreed.

The sale at RIPT began today, Wednesday, May 18, 2011, at midnight CST, and will continue for 24 hours from then, and once it’s over, it will not be sold on the site anymore.

The design takes the famous one ring from the Lord Of The Rings series and tops it with a bejeweled candy ring pop [...]

Each week, MK2Fac3 and Henchman21 read a lot of comics. Seriously, a lot of comics. Maybe too many comics. They look forward to some more than others, I mean, who doesn’t? So, let’s take a look into the depths of their pull list, grab some issues and we’ll let YOU know what the top books to look forward to are for the week of May 18, 2011. Single issues and trades, they’re all here.

MK2FAC3 Picks

Well, it’s an interesting week for me comics wise, I have a lot of collections that I want to tell you about, and about three single issues, all of which are first issues and each is from a miniseries! And, of course… Batman is represented in my section. Let’s kick it off with…

Drums #1 (Image Comics – $2.99): I seriously know nothing about this book, but it just looks really cool and supernatural. Based on its solicitation, I could say that the book centers around Santeria, more commonly know as “voodoo,” and raising of the dead, and that’s honestly good enough for me, but it also says that it takes place to the sound of drums. Now, I don’t know how they’re going to pull that off, but it’s got my attention. Pick this up if you want to try something new and different.

Last Mortal #1 (Image Comics – $3.99): Continuing the string of “I don’t what the F%$* this is, but it looks cool” is Last Mortal, which appears to be one of those great minis where it’s a super depressing, yet uplifting tale of real life, and I’m sure that this will get a lot of praise by the end of the year, so now’s not the time to sleep on this title [...]

The video game deal of the day over at Amazon today is Crysis 2 for Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and PC for $34.99 each (that’s 42% off the list price of $59.95). It’s also available as a PC Download for only $29.99 (that’s 50% off the list price of $59.95).

Note, this deal is only for today, Wednesday, May 18, 2011, til midnight PST while supplies last [...]

We’ve known about a movie based on the classic hero of old, The Lone Ranger, for over three years now.

We’ve also known that superstar Johnny Depp would be involved since September of 2008 when he made an appearance at a Disney event to announce his involvement in Alice in Wonderland, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and of course, The Lone Ranger, in which we all assumed he’d be playing the titles role.

We soon found out that Depp would actually be playing Tonto instead, and since then many names have surfaced as possible candidates for the coveted high-profile role. Everyone from George Clooney to the more recent Ryan Gosling was mentioned, but Walt Disney and producer Jerry Bruckheimer have now officially found their man: Armie Hammer. [...]

Everything is coming together rather nicely for director Sam Raimi‘s Wizard of Oz prequel Oz, The Great and Powerful thus far.

After a rocky start trying to lock in a lead, things have settled down and quite the impressive cast has been put together. The prequel stars James Franco as a snake oil salesman who’s whisked off to the lands of Oz in his hot air balloon, where he’ll find himself in the middle of a power struggle before becoming the eventual “Wizard of Oz.” But before Franco was confirmed, Robert Downey Jr. was set to play the part and Johnny Depp was mentioned as a possibility when Downey left.

Said power struggle is ongoing between three sisters, the witches of Oz. Two of the sisters are wicked, and will be played Mila Kunis and Rachel Weisz. And then, of course, there’s the good witch, Glinda, who has now been cast as well. That role has been filled with two-time Oscar nominee Michelle Williams, who will team up with Franco’s character to fight her evil sisters and ensure they don’t take control over all the land. [...]

We’ve heard a lot about the planned trilogy of performance capture Tintin movies being shared between director/producers Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson over the past year or so, and now we finally have a teaser trailer for the first of those three movies, The Adventures of Tintin.

With Jackson now directing the two-part adaptation of The Hobbit, it doesn’t look like he’ll be doing anything more than producing on the Tintin movies, leaving room for someone else to step in and take the job. But for now, the Spielberg-directed first installment looks like a lot of fun.

You can check out the teaser trailer for The Adventures of Tintin by continuing below now!

The movie stars Jamie Bell as Tintin, as well as Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Gad Elmaleh, Toby Jones, and Mackenzie Crook. [...]

It begins with a knock at the TARDIS door, while still in deep space, and an important message from a long-lost Time Lord friend. The distress signal prompts the Doctor (Matt Smith), Amy Pond (Karen Gillan), and Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill) to literally leave the universe, and leads them to a junkyard asteroid. The matrix and power of the TARDIS is immediately drained, leaving them stranded on this odd world, where they confront a mysterious entity called the House (Michael Sheen). What secrets does the mad bitey woman known as Idris (Suranne Jones) hold for the Doctor?

During TARDISblend 26, we review the events of the long-awaited Neil Gaiman-penned episode, The Doctor’s Wife, an episode that proves to be much of the best Doctor Who has offered in a long time [...]

Marvel made a big announcement on Monday that they will be releasing a graphic novel based on the popular ABC detective show Castle. Titled Castle: Richard Castle’s Deadly Storm, the 112-page hardcover will feature a story written by Brian Michael Bendis (Powers, Ultimate Comics Spider-Man) and Kelly Sue DeConnick (Osborn), and will feature art by Lan Medina (Fables) with a cover by Carlos Pagulayan (Hulk).

The story will center on the character of Derrick Storm, the fictional detective created by the fictional writer Richard Castle (played by Nathan Fillion on the television series). So it is not a story about the characters from the show, rather it is about characters created by the characters from the show. This won’t be the first time that ABC Studios has released material “written” by Richard Castle, as there are 3 mystery novels already available. However, this will be the first time a novel has been released featuring the character that made Castle famous (on the show).

Axel Alonso, Marvel Entertainment Editor in Chief, said of the project, “It’s exciting to bring the Derrick Storm novels to life for the first time ever. Whether you’re new to the world of ‘Castle’ or a long time fan, there’s something for everyone in CASTLE: RICHARD CASTLE’S DEADLY STORM—and it’s the kind of book that reaffirms Marvel’s commitment to creating new fans of comic books.” [...]

The $10 t-shirt deal of the day over at RIPT Apparel is the Battlestar Galactica-themed shirt called “By Your Command” by artist Joebot.

The sale at RIPT began today, Tuesday, May 17, 2011, at midnight CST, and will continue for 24 hours from then, and once it’s over, it will not be sold on the site anymore [...]