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It’s that time of year. Sleigh bells have been rung, gifts have been given and we have officially closed the door on what was 2015. A year that saw us once again take a journey into a galaxy far, far away, revisit the post apocalyptic landscape of Mad Max and the ever expanding reach of world and documentary cinema, 2015 has been one of the greatest of film years, arguably the very best since 2007 (probably cinema’s greatest year?) and as one has likely already one hundred top [insert arbitrary number] films list, why not make it one hundred and one? Be it a group of young women attempting to break free of the backwards patriarchy that has them oppressed or a bravura, epic-length satire from one of world cinema’s foremost artists, these are the ten best films that 2015 had to offer.

Honorable mention: Have you heard about this new thing called television?...

The Barnes & Noble sale is in full effect until December 1st, the Black Friday deals have already begun, and we still haven’t seen the lowest of the low prices yet.

Thanks to everyone for supporting our site by buying through our affiliate links.

A note on Amazon deals, for those curious: sometimes third party sellers will suddenly appear as the main purchasing option on a product page, even though Amazon will sell it directly from themselves for the sale price that we have listed. If the sale price doesn’t show up, click on the “new” options, and look for Amazon’s listing.

I’ll keep this list updated throughout the week, as new deals are found, and others expire. If you find something that’s wrong, a broken link or price difference, feel free to tweet at me.

Deals On Amazon

Amazon’s Black Friday Deal Calendar Sign...

As Oscar nominations near, nations from across the globe have submitted their selection for what film will hopefully bring them awards glory come that broadcast early next year. However, as with any year’s submissions, sometimes countries can think, for lack of a better term, outside the proverbial box with their respective selections. And sometimes, one of film’s greatest and most influential locales not only gives people a swerve with their selection, but brings to light a new and profound cinematic voice.

That’s exactly what has happened this year with France and their shocking selection of a little talked about film, Mustang. Director Deniz Gamze Erguven’s superb motion picture comes out of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, specifically its Director’s Fortnight sidebar, and despite this otherwise great resume, it faced stiff competition on the French film scene. With a Palme d’Or winner in Jacques Audiard...

There simply aren’t enough dinosaur movies. Even with Jurassic World in theaters right now (and Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur just a few months away), I still feel like we’re owed at least three or four more by next week. Like there’s some gnawing hole in the world that won’t be satisfied until the coolness factor of your average dinosaur (extremely high) matches with the amount of enthusiasm Hollywood has for crafting high-quality dinosaur films (middling at best). It hurts. And if you’re a fan of really big extinct lizards, you’re probably hurting too (especially given the state of the last few dinosaur flicks to hit theaters — Land of the Lost, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Walking With Dinosaurs: The 3D Movie. Come on, people). So let’s do a little walkthrough of dinosaur movie history, with two goals in mind: 1. Figure out why those who love dinosaur...

After languishing for several years in development hell, 20th Century Fox finally gave the green light to a Deadpool movie yesterday, just a few months after test footage shot three years ago leaked and was praised by the fans.

Newsarama managed to catch up with Deadpool comic book creator Rob Liefeld, who offered the following statement about the movie adaptation finally moving forward, praising the work of director Tim Miller, writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, and star Ryan Reynolds.

"I am absolutely beyond thrilled that Deadpool has been officially announced! I'm thrilled for Tim Miller, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick and Ryan Reynolds as well as all the guys at Blur Studio! This is a tremendous achievement for them! Rhett and Paul wrote a brilliant, and I don't throw that word around loosely, a brilliant script! Audiences are going to go on the ride of their collective lives with this film as they envisioned it!

Have you ever wanted to see the Merc With a Mouth throw down with a team of cybernetic, anthropomorphic animals? Well you’ve come to the right place because the gone (and also forgotten) 90s team of Brute Force makes their triumphant return to the Marvel fold in September’s Deadpool Bi-Annual #1 – written by Paul Scheer (star of The League & Ntsf:sd:suv) and Nick Giovannetti (Aliens vs. Parker) with art by Salva Espin (Deadpool vs. Carnage)

Deadpool is going to come face-to-snout with the some of the toughest and most absurd enemies he’s ever faced! When the Merc With a Mouth is hired by WaterWorld to protect their theme park from environmental activists, he had no idea that meant a heavily armed team of armored-up talking animals! A mechanized kangaroo with a machine gun is just the beginning! Don’t miss it when Scheer & Giovannetti take the Merc With a...

Marvel Studios' Guardians of the Galaxy is officially a hit, and has been hailed as one of the company's best films by many a critic. Before its release, the film was considered Marvel's biggest risk, based on an obscure team of cosmic heroes little known among comic fans, let alone the general public.

In celebration of Guardians' success, here are some other lesser known superhero teams we would love to see on the big screen...

1. Doom Patrol

Introduced just three months before Marvel's own misfits, the X-Men, DC's team of superhero oddities are a different breed from that team of merry mutants. While X-Men frequently explored the themes of minorities and social acceptance, Doom Patrol has made a habit of embracing its strangeness.

With core members including Robotman - the brain of a critically injured racecar driver implanted in an artificial body - and Negative Man - possessed by...

Microsoft's debut games console, the Xbox, made a big impact on gaming, but not all of its games got the attention they deserved...

Feature

The new generation console war may turning towads a two horse race, with Nintendo playing catch up, but wind back a few years, and Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo were all hard at it, competing for your money and loyalty. The PlayStation 2 would go on to win the war of its generation, but Microsoft's Xbox was a tough competitor, giving the company a secure foothold, which it would later take advantage of in the next generation with the Xbox 360's dominance.

The original Xbox had a host of great games, many of which have gone on to become successful franchises, with no better example than Halo, but not all of its good games gained the attention they deserved, even if sequels managed to appear in later years.

Feature Aaron Birch 11 Sep 2013 - 06:19

What are the exclusives, post-launch, that Microsoft has lined up for the Xbox One?

Exclusive launch titles aside, any good console needs a steady stream of exclusives if its going to have any hope of getting one up on the competition. The power of these titles can't be overstated, just look at Nintendo, which has carved a whole section of the market out for itself over the years with almost nothing but exclusives. Having desirable titles that can't be played on any other system is paramount, and both Sony and Microsoft know it.

Both consoles have exclusives in their launch line-ups in order to tempt punters into investing, and then there's the promise of later titles that'll call each platform home. These are games that help keep the console afloat in the long run, and they're every bit as important as the initial wave of games.

As long-time fans of Sound on Sight may know, many of us here are more than a little fond of Doctor Who. Not only does the Incomparable Kate Kulzick write a column covering the current series but for almost two years now we have been hosting our very own Doctor Who podcast dedicated to reviewing the good, the bad and the just plain weird of both New and Classic Who. In other words, our beloved website has slowly and rather deliberately been transformed into a virtual hive of Who, which is only fitting for such a venerable television institution that will turn fifty later this year.

It wasn’t always easy being a Whovian, especially growing up in Montreal, which is hardly a bastion of British broadcasting. For years I was the only Who fan I knew; I’m not saying that watching the show was illegal, but chances were...

Last October I wrote a post about the illustrator and poster designer Jacques Kapralik. I had stumbled across Kapralik’s name and found a small amount of information about him online. My article generated interest from movie title afficionado Christian Annyas who provided me with some of Kapralik’s title sequence designs for MGM. But I was delighted a few months later to get a message on one of the posts telling me that the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming holds an archive of Jacques Kapralik’s work and papers. Archivist Emily Christopherson told me that the university has the paper dolls that were used in the title sequence for Presenting Lily Mars that I had featured. Since I had previously seen only black and white photos from that sequence it was a treat to see them in color and in so much eye-popping detail (click to...

Batman stars Adam West, Burt Ward and Lee Meriwether will appear at the Super Mega Show in Whippany, New Jersey on June 9-10. Also appearing will be Linda Thorson of The Avengers. There will also be guests from the world of comic books and music, including the 60s band the 1910 Fruit Gum Company and Brute Force (of the notorious cult song King of Fuh) who was signed by George Harriison and John Lennon for Apple Records. 

The original Batcopter will be on display throughout the weekend 

For details click here...

While Radiohead wasn't the first band to break free of the corporate machine and drop an album on their own terms, they were easily the most promiment. And while this was par for the course for underground artists and bands through the '80s and '90s who thrived within a specific independent framework (that was arguably co-opted by the mainstream post-Nirvana, but that's another discussion), the release of In Rainbows opened the eyes of acts of similar stature, proving that they didn't need to rely on the expensive machinations and iron clad contracts of a major record label to survive. And in fact, they could sell less records and earn more money by striking it out on their own. Nowadays, if a band isn't founding their own label, they're at least setting up vanity shingles under corporate umbrellas, and taking a stronger say in how they conduct their careers.

The documentary, "Strange Fruit: The Beatles' Apple Records", will be available on DVD, April 24, 2012 :

"...in 1968, under a haze of publicity, 'The Beatles' opened their collective door to musicians, writers, artists, film-makers, inventors, designers, freaks and opportunist sharks. But despite a hefty investment, little of substance was forthcoming, except for "Apple Records".

"This is the story of a record label which came to exist under extraordinary circumstances, produced extraordinary records and was operated under extraordinary guidelines..."

"Strange Fruit" offers new interviews with Tony Bramwell, members of 'Badfinger', 'The Iveys', 'Elephant's Memory', Jackie Lomax, 'Brute Force' and David Peel, plus commentator Chris Ingham, author, journalist Mark Paytress and Apple biographer Stefan Granados.

The film also includes Apple music, archive footage of Apple artists, interviews from the vaults, rare images and location films.

Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Strange Fruit: The Beatles' Apple...

London, November 30: Flags flew at half-mast on two buildings in Liverpool to observe George Harrison's 10th death anniversary on Tuesday.

Liverpool City Hall and St George's Hall buildings had their flags fly at half-mast to commemorate the death of the Beatles' lead guitarist.

Harrison, who also had a notable solo career, died at age 58 due to cancer.

Two concerts took place at 14:00 GMT at St George's Hall, and at 20:00 GMT at The Cavern Club where the Beatles often played, BBC News reported.

Performers at the concerts included two acts that Harrison signed to The Beatles' Apple label - Brute Force.

London, Oct 9: Two concerts will be held in Liverpool to mark the 10th death anniversary of the youngest of the Beatles, George Harrison.

Among those who are to perform in the concerts include 'Brute Force', 'The Mersey Beatles', 'Singh Strings', Andre Barreau from 'The Bootleg Beatles' and the 'Dovedale' School Choir, reported the BBC.

The events will occur at St. George's Hall and The Cavern Club. The concert at St. George's Hall will be free and The Radha Krishna Temple will provide free meals for both the performers and the audience.

Harrison died of lung cancer on 29 November 2001 at the age of 58. (Ani)...

For the past couple of days the schedule for San Diego Comic Con has been finding its way online. Wednesday through Friday already promises titles ranging from Fright Night to Twilight to Prometheus and now the Saturday schedule has been posted and features even more titles headed to the big event. Below you will find the entire movie-related schedule for the Saturday of this year.s Con and in addition to some pretty cool smaller events, Hall H will have some great action too. Highlights include the Tarsem Singh directed Immortals; the LARPing movie Knights of Badassdom, Twixt, the newest film from Francis Ford Coppola; and the Kristen Stewart/Chris Hemsworth-starring Snow White and the Huntsman. Check it out! Saturday 10:00-11:00 Steampunk Influences on Mainstream Media and Entertainment. Phil Foglio (Girl Genius), Kaja Foglio (Girl Genius), Greg Broadmore (Weta), Lon Muckey and Aaron Ginn-Forsberg (Mantecoza), and Thomas...

The Criterion Collection is known as the most prestigious video-distribution company, releasing “important classic and contemporary films” to cinema aficionados. Created in 1984 by Janus Films and the Voyager Company, The Criterion Collection now has 562 titles under it’s belt. This week The company is releasing new versions of Samuel Fuller’s The Naked Kiss and Shock Corridor packed with special features and beautiful DVD cover art by comic book illustrator Daniel Clowes (Ghost World, Wilson).

Take a look at the new Criterion movie posters below (some of which were created for screenings at last year’s All Tomorrow’s Parties festival).

Check out ComicsAlliance to see more.

Shock Corridor by Daniel Clowes

Brute Force by Scott Morse (created for All Tomorrow's Parties) Read More: http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/01/31/criterion-collection-comic-books-artists/#ixzz1CeRd3GCG

The Naked Kiss by Daniel Clowes

Sweet Smell of Success by Sean Phillips. Check out a neat behind-the-scenes...

This past weekend saw the All Tomorrow’s Parties music and film festival head up to Monticello, New York. Criterion alum, Jim Jarmusch, curated the music for the festival, which saw the likes of Sonic Youth, Iggy and the Stooges, and Explosions In The Sky take the various stages. If you had some down time between bands, you could spend some time watching 22 films that Criterion brought with them for the festival.

As we’ve previously highlighted, Criterion commissioned several independent comic book artists to create movie posters for all of the films. We’ve already shown you the posters for Brute Force, Touchez Pas Au Grisbi, and Night of the Hunter, and have been eagerly awaiting some images of the various other posters.

Today on their Facebook page, Criterion took a snapshot of the entire line-up, which I’m embedding below:

In the comments for the image, Criterion named all of the contributing artists,...

Last Thursday, we brought you the epic line-up for this years All Tomorrow’s Parties film screening series, which is once again being curated by the Criterion Collection. In the post I shared some lo-res images that Criterion produced as make shift posters for each of the films. Over the weekend, a couple artists began tweeting about the fact that they had been selected to design some posters for this years event.

Over at his blog, Matt Kindt published the artwork that he designed for The Night Of The Hunter (available this November on DVD and Blu-ray), and it looks pretty fantastic. Head on over to his website, to see more of his art, and find his books.

Just as Matt was posting his artwork, Scott Morse and upped the game by posting 2 images that he had worked up for the festival. His art for Brute Force and Touchez Pas Au Grisbi are absolutely gorgeous,...