San Diego Comic Con 2008 - DAY FOUR

The last day of Comic Con was a short one for me--I only attended two panels--but it marked a solid finish to a worthwhile convention. Both panels were considerably involving and I was able to sit really close to the action (second row!) due to the Sunday-standard lower-attendance level.

Both panels took place in Ballroom 20, the largest room at the Convention Center other than Hall H. I arrived early for my first panel, so I ended up catching the tail-end of the Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay DVD release program with stars John Cho and Kal Penn and directors Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg. Nothing much was said of consequence--when is it during a stoner-comedy panel?--but the trio did formally announce that a third film in the franchise would be made. Oh how I can't wait until I have the privilege of enduring such drivel...

Next up was the panel for the much-discussed "reboot" of the Friday the 13th franchise that will be released next year. Producers Brad Fuller and Andrew Form and stars Jared Padalecki and Amanda Righetti (and a few others whose names I don't recall) were on hand to unveil the teaser-poster and theatrical trailer. These didn't look like anything special, but they did show more promise than those of the standard teenage slasher movie usually do. Perhaps Marcus Nispel, the director who brilliantly revived the Texas Chainsaw Massacre series, will be able to breathe new life into what was never a very good franchise in the first place...

My last panel for this year's Con was that hosted by Rogue Pictures. The first film featured was 25/8 with a sole panelist, writer/director Wes Craven. The title refers to the human's need to stay one step ahead of evil (which operates 24/7). Other than that, the panel really didn't flesh out what the movie was about outside of the fact that it is related to a serial-killer terrorizing children in a small-town. Craven seems to be confident in the material, which is reason enough to be excited for the film.

Finishing the panel was a look at David S. Goyer's The Unborn. Joining Goyer were stars Odette Yustman, Meagan Good, and Cam Gigandet. My eyes were focused on the startling looks of the two actresses the entire time, so I didn't really come to understand exactly what this horror-effort is about. All I know is that Goyer is a very talented guy and his cast--who spoke very highly of him, by the way--is wholly appealing. And the visuals in the trailer they brought along with them were quite striking. It should be a fun time.

After the panel finished, I followed the advice offered by the official Comic Con schedule and took one last lap around the Exhibit Hall. (Errr... slow walk-through, that is; the place has become such a zoo, it's nearly impossible to enjoy.) On the whole, 2008's convention offered a tremendous time. I'll definitely be back for more next year.

San Diego Comic Con 2008 - DAY THREE

Comic Con has only been over for three days now and yet I feel strangely empty. In years past, I never thought of participating in the festivities nearly as much as I did this year. I attended in an unorganized manner and always felt a bit out of my element amongst hoards of comic fans. For 2008's convention, however, I decided to go in with a set plan to maximize the entertainment-value and film-related material I would experience. The results did not disappoint, even on Saturday, the worst day of the convention...

...Nice segue, eh? Anyhow -- upwards and onwards...

I had intended to begin Saturday by catching the panel for NBC's "The Office" in Ballroom 6A, but to no avail. Despite arriving a half an hour early, the room's 1,000 seats filled up long before I even began to approach the entrance-door in line. Even though I love the show as much as the next guy, clearly I'm not the "#1 Fan" that the roughly 1,500 others who got there before me are...

But no matter. The hugely-awaited (albeit my second choice in the time-slot) Terminator: Salvation panel awaited me in Hall H. Emceeing the panel was director McG, who proved himself to be every bit of the self-indulgent asshole he is rumored to be when relentlessly trying to pump up the film for the audience. Despite talking about all of the "revolutionary" things the film is accomplishing with high silver-levels on the film-stock and an absence of CGI , the movie-trailer McG brought along with him looked thoroughly unimpressive. (I have a feeling that he knew it, too, because he began the panel by calling lead actor Christian Bale--only to voice-mail, of course--rather than dwelling on what had just been shown.) Also present were stars Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin, Moon Bloodgood, Common, and Bryce Dallas Howard, but none of them were able to conjure up much enthusiasm in me. While McG was somewhat successful in getting fans to "make noise" because of his sheer persistence, I'm not sure that the panel really talked anybody into seeing the movie who wasn't already planning on going. (Then again, does any panel?) Nonetheless, Salvation won't be coming out until next year and the Terminator series already has a built-in audience that doesn't need the 9' terminator displayed in the panel to be convinced to show up on Opening Day... I'm sure this entry won't have any problem at the box-office.

Next up for the day in Hall H was the Disney/Pixar panel, which featured Bolt and Up, two efforts that couldn't have come off more differently had programmers deliberately tried to achieve such an effect. Both projects were extensively showcased in long clips (nearly 20 minutes worth per movie). Disney's Bolt came across a as loud, obnoxious animation with a heavy emphasis on action and its two high-profile voice-talents, Miley Cyrus and John Travolta. Despite enjoying the theatrical teaser shown before Wall-E, the footage that directors Byron Howard and Chris Williams brought along with them was rather discouraging in regards to the movie's prospect. Despite its high concept, Bolt looked to be something of a mess. Then again, when was the last time Disney really failed with a non-live-action motion picture?

One thing's for sure, however: Pixar almost certainly has their next hit in Up, which boasts yet another wildly original concept for the studio, met every step of the way with beautiful-looking animation. The clips that co-director Pete Docter brought of this tale of an old man who uses balloons to hoist his home up into far away mountains before he is sentenced to life in a nursing home couldn't have me more excited. Only one element of the movie is a deterrent: it will be shown in Real D. After the eye-strain that Journey to the Center of the Earth just provoked in me a couple of weeks ago, I dread having to slap on those glasses once again to see the movie in the same way that the masses do.

Next up (and the last panel for me for the day) was the Universal Panel, which cast The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Death Race, Drag Me To Hell, and Land of the Lost into the spotlight. The first two come out during the next month and both of their panels seemed unnecessary. Nevertheless, both brought out quite a few stars to promote.

In The Mummy 3's case, stars Brendan Frasier, Jet Li, Michelle Yeoh, Luke Ford, and Maria Bello showed up to try to get fans pumped. Frasier spoke the most of the bunch during the panel, and he seemed nearly as idiotically self-indulgent as McG did a couple of hours earlier. The group brought along a few clips of the film, none of which I really understood having not seen the first two Mummy films. (Neither really got me excited to watch them either, although I reluctantly will this week in preparation to review this installment.) On the whole, the panel represented another lackluster effort to promote a piece of work that doesn't really need promoting...

The Death Race panel fared much better, which was something of a surprise given those involved. What was most miraculous about the whole thing was that director Paul W.S. Anderson, a man responsible for some of the worst films of the past five years (namely the Resident Evil trilogy), actually came off as a somewhat talented, rational guy. After listening to Anderson talk about the effort he put into his movie, I hope it offers a fun time for his sake. Also present for the panel were stars Jason Statham, Joan Allen, Tyrese Gibson (who was surprisingly intimidated by the huge crowd), Ian McShane, and Natalie Martinez and original Death Race 3000 writer Robert Thom. All of them were surprisingly involving, with Statham and McShane cracking some funny jokes and Allen offering some solid insights into her dignified participation in a rather silly movie.

Next was the Drag Me to Hell panel with director Sam Raimi and stars Justin Long and Alison Lohman. The movie marks a return to (semi-) low-budget horror for Raimi (ala Evil Dead), much to his own excitement. He brought along two clips, both of which leaned towards shock-comedy, very similar to Raimi's efforts in the 1980s. They were very amusing, but if the entire movie maintains their frantic tone, then it could get a bit too obnoxious and chaotic for its own good. Perhaps the highlight of the panel was that Raimi said there was a definite possibility that there would be a fourth Evil Dead movie made with original-star Bruce Campell, written by he and his brother. (That is, for those who like the Evil Dead series, a camp which doesn't include myself.)

Last up was Land of the Lost, which featured director Brad Silberling; stars Danny McBride, Jorma Taccone, and Anna Friel; and original "Land of the Lost" creators Marty and Sid Krofft. Lead actor Will Ferrell also made a "live" appearance, supposedly from San Diego's Hotel Del Coronado "via satellite" in a recorded bit that the panelists interacted with. Not having seen the original TV series, I can't really comment on how this one looks given I didn't understand a thing about it. A short clip featuring Ferrell was shown, but it didn't represent anything of note.

I left the Land of the Lost panel a bit early--cutting out during the Audience Q&A segment--en route to the Reading Gaslamp 15 for a screening. I originally had decided to see The Rocker with star Rainn Wilson in attendance at 7:30, but my 3am-bedtime the night before was beginning to catch up with me and I decided to catch an earlier movie. I set my sites on Choke with director Clark Gregg present at 6:00 instead, but it had already filled up by the time I got in line. So what did I do? I sure as hell wasn't about to wait an hour and thirty minutes for The Rocker, nor did I really want to return to the Convention Center's ass-murdering seats for the Columbia Pictures Panel. (Psyched as I am for Pineapple Express and Quarantine, I think I'll be just fine catching highlight-footage of the panel on YouTube.) Instead, I headed home and crashed hard by 8:00. Such represented an uneventful finish to the day, but at least I was ready to go for the final day's festivities...

San Diego Comic Con 2008 - DAY TWO

Comic-Con may have officially ended ended this afternoon, but coverage is just heating up here at the Bucket 'Blog. Sorry, folks, for not being able to post as quickly as many of you had hoped during the event, but I was so active for the whole thing that any writing would've cut into what was already little sleeptime. (I was able to get a solid eight hours last night, and I crashed... hard.)

So let's pretend you didn't hear about any of this on any of those other 'blogs where 3,000 staff-writers are able to collaborate and cover every panel at the event in real time. (Or at least pretend you're interested in what I have to say about panels you've already read about.) Alas, allow me to transport us back two days in time. On Friday, Day Two of the convention, things were just heating up. After two nights of movie-screenings and little else, I was hungry for some panels. Standing next to Kevin Smith at a traffic-light while heading to the Convention Center (!), I had mentally-planned to kick off the day with the huge Watchmen shindig. Unfortunately, that proved a tough task when the line outside the humongous-but-apparently-not-humungous-enough Hall H was still nearly 5,000 deep after event-staff had already been letting people in for a half hour...

So what'd I do? Catch up with some 'ol British pals of course...

Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright, and Jessica Hynes participated in a panel in front of 1,000 fans in Ballroom 6A to celebrate the Region 1 DVD release of "Spaced", their 1999-2001 TV show that originally ran on UK TV. I have only seen YouTube clips of the show that a friend sent me, but it was great to see Pegg and Wright, whose film-work has provided me endless hours of entertainment, in person. Both were charming and funny as ever, especially during the Q&A session. Pegg shared a virtual gunfight--a popular bit in "Spaced", and ironically one of the few I've seen--with a fan, which is always fun.

Later, I headed over to Hall H to claim a coveted seat for the day. First up for me in that room was the annual Trailer Park program, which was largely a disappointment. I hadn't ever been to the presentation in past years, but I was under the impression that they used to use it to debut trailers. I had seen all of these before. (They showed Pineapple Express, Terminator: Salvation (teaser), Twilight, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and The Mummy 3, among others.) There wasn't any huge fan-reaction to any of these, which made it even less fun.

(Photo Credit: IMDb.com)

Next up was a short panel for the 2009 remake of The Wolfman featuring lead-actors Benicio del Toro and Emily Blunt and make-up master Ron Baker. They brought along a trailer for the film that was largely unimpressive and full of shots of nothing but chaotic action and typical artificial period-piece sets and costuming. The panel proved that Blunt is every bit as good looking in person as she is on celluloid, but did little else to conjure up audience-enthusiasm forthe film. Most of us were just biding our time waiting for...

...the also-disappointing panel for The Spirit, which featured director Frank Miller, producer Deborah Del Prete, and stars Gabriel Macht, Samuel L. Jackson, and Jamie King. Unfortunately, co-star Eva Mendes wasn't able to show due to a contractual obligation to film Bad Lieutenant, despite being touted on the programming-schedule. The absence of Mendes and fellow actresses Scarlett Johansson and Paz Vega was highly noticeable; without some spunky hotness to perk things up, matters quickly became a snooze. (For such a high-profile panel, the bail-out rate among attendees halfway through was incredibly high -- likely because a more-interesting panel with Seth McFarlane for TV's "Family Guy" awaited them in Ballroom 20.) Certainly, The Spirit looks to be DOA despite its adventurous visual appearance; the clips that Miller brought along lost even my geeky interest despite their short lengths. I fear that the movie will be no Sin City and that its odd Christmas Day release is a sign of its status as a misfire. Regardless, I won't enter it this December with any bias; perhaps this is just one of those pictures that needs to be experienced in full.

After a short walk around the Gaslamp Quarter and a stop for a late lunch at my favorite local pizza joint, Ciro's, I returned to Hall H for the evening's two panels...

The first of these was put on Entertainment Weekly and was entitled "The Visionaries". Moderated by EW.com senior-editor Marc Bernardin, the panel offered a chat with four of the film industry's most innovative, successful talents: Frank Miller, Judd Apatow, Zack Snyder, and Kevin Smith (who was kind of out-of-place here, but livened things up substantially). Not much of interest was said during the panel's hour duration, but Smith had some good one liners (after Snyder continually stumbled over his speech, Smith mused "It's good you're such a visual director, man...") and it's always fun to hear comedy-genius Apatow talk about his work.

Last up for me on Friday's panel-front was Kevin Smith's annual Hall H presentation, this year covering his upcoming effort Zack and Miri Make a Porno. Quipping with a huge cast of stars--Seth Rogen, Justin Long, Jason Mewes, Elizabeth Banks, Katie Morgan, Traci Lords, and Ricky Mabe--Smith was again quite funny. (I did find it unnessecary, however, when he and Rogan endorsed their daily pot-smoking rituals in front of a crowd of many teenagers, despite the pre-show vulgarity warning.) Smith brought along a strong clip featuring Rogen, Banks, and Long and an especially-hilarious pre-clip intro and hosted the panel to great success. It was a terrific way to end the Convention Center-based portion of my day at the Con.

After Smith said his parting words for the year, I headed a half-mile up 5th Avenue to the Reading Gaslamp 15 cinemas and met up with the aforementioned "Spaced" friend to check out a couple flicks. The first was a regular release: The X Files: I Want to Believe. Not having seen the first film in the franchise and not being well versed in the TV-show, I can't make much of a comment on how similar this effort is. It is certainly understandable on its own, though not very successful. As many have already said, the movie feels like 100-minutes of second-rate TV, through and through. Coupled with a self-important anti-organized Christianity, pro-stem cell research message, the picture is as disposable and unwanted as they come. I'll post a formal tidbit on it later this week in the regular "Seen and Not Reviewed" column of the Bucket 'Blog.

Afterwards, we were treated (err... punished) to a week-early screening of Midnight Meat Train, which had been featured in a full panel earlier in the Con. Without giving too much of my opinion away before publishing my full print review on Bucket Reviews tomorrow evening, I will say that the film represents pulp of the worst kind. While beautifully shot and jarringly stylized, there's nothing about the experience that seems inherently different from any other recent attempt made by a distinctly Asian action/horror director to transition into the American market. More interesting than the movie itself was the fact that said director, Ryuhei Kitamura, and source-writer Clive Barker were so eager to harp on studio Lionsgate in their introduction to the film. Both are mad that Midnight Meat Train will initially only be released on about 100 screens this Friday--which I guess is a justified feeling in and of itself--but how they got away with expressing this in such an accusatory at an event held by Lionsgate is beyond me. (It certainly wasn't the most respectful thing to do, even leading to patrons booing the Lionsgate title at the beginning of the film.) Unfortunately for Kitamura and Barker, their movie probably doesn't even deserve 100 sites, let alone a wide release.

And, thus, at 2:08AM, I headed back to my home in North San Diego County's suburbia, only to have to return downtown by Noon the following day. Coverage of Saturday's festivities to come tomorrow...

San Diego Comic Con 2008 - DAY ONE

Seth Green goes Amish in Sex Drive.

Yesterday may have marked the official first day of San Diego's Comic Con, but for me it wasn't chalked full of panels and exhibit-hall browsing. Instead, the day was plagued by two Summer School final exams, both at opposite ends of the day, making it hard to attend the convention. I had intended to go see Summit Pictures' panel--this focused the spotlight on upcoming films Twilight, Push, and Knowing--but wisely decided that the 75 minutes of time I had after myfirst final wasn't enough to get downtown, pick up my four-day Press Pass, and wander into Hall H. (Turns out I was right, too, as frequent HSX.com-forum contributor notfabio reported an overflow line of over 1,000 screaming girls trying to get in to see a glimpse of the stars of Twilight.)

So instead, all I got to see was a screening of another Summit Picture late last night. This one wasn't featured in the panel; instead, it's already in the can and being released in early October. As a special treat, co-writer/director Sean Anders and stars Josh Zuckerman, Clark Duke, and Seth Green (!) announced the film in front of two auditoriums' worth of packed audiences at 5th and G's Reading Gaslamp 15 cinemas. Green even stayed to watch.

Sex Drive is a surprise success, especially when one considers how disappointingly bland it may seem in its rather conventional first act. While it may not contain any of the complex social commentary of Superbad or as many riotous laughs as American Pie, this teen comedy about a high-schooler who finds himself on a Chicago-to-Memphis road-trip in the hopes of banging an online-girlfriend he finds with the help of a sexier, web-based alter-ego largely picks up after the half-hour mark and finds its fair share of riotous moments. But what's more surprising is how much it understands the geeky teenage mind, not only in its sense of comedy but in its nuanced exploration of its central love-story between lead Ian (Zuckerman) and his longtime girlfriend Felicia (Amanda Crew). Crew gives a particularly good performance in the latter role; in fact, given how natural her performance feels and how darn attractive she is, her work here may turn her into one of Hollywood's next go-to girls.

Whatever the Sex Drive's flaws--there are many--it largely succeeds because of the simple pleasures it offers. Plus, it provides perhaps the only opportunity we'll ever have to see Green play an Amish car-mechanic (pictured above), even if his scenes may indeed be one of said flaws... Recommended.

Look for my full review when the film opens in October.

San Diego Comic Con 2008 - PREVIEW NIGHT

From Iron Man to Black Man -- all in one summer.

Festivities were undoubtedly underway earlier tonight at the San Diego Convention Center as fanboys scurried to pick up their four-day passes for Comic Con at the event's Preview Night. This year, the vibe around town is a little different than last, if only slightly -- things are always progressively more commercial with each passing Con. Look no further than the fact that the aforementioned four-day passes sold out months ago; never before has that happened. (In fact, you can't even buy a single day pass at this point; they've been gone for weeks themselves.)

Without any real interest in the minor events offered by Preview Night and no real reason to pick up my Press Badge until the following day, I did what any cinema-lover naturally would: hit up the first of two SDCC preview screenings of the much-anticipated Tropic Thunder. Packed to a full-house reception at Downtown's UA Horton Plaza 14 cinemas, the picture went over considerably well with fans, most of whom were in the 20-30 demographic. There was loud applause and laughter, as expected, when stars Ben Stiller, Jack Black, and Robert Downey Jr. appeared onscreen for a recorded introduction (the next best thing to actually being there). And the warm response continued long after the film began.

My thoughts on the movie? Without giving too much away--I will be reviewing it in detail next week--I wasn't as wild about the picture as everybody else seemed to be, but still marginally recommend it. There are lots of laughs, especially during some fake pre-show trailers (Downey's is particularly hysterical) and bits starring Tom Cruise and Matthew McConaughey (WTF!?), but on the whole I couldn't help but feel a tad unsatisfied. With such a lofty premise and such a great cast, it's sometimes a bit of a disappointment when Tropic Thunder goes for stock gags and loud action scenes that seem waaay too much like they could be in the fake Vietnam movie that the cast of characters is shooting. Nonetheless, the project certainly qualifies as good summer fun--if nothing more--and there's no harm in that.

Stay tuned tomorrow for my first panels of the year and coverage of yet another film screening!

Seen and Not Reviewed - June 27 to 21

Encounters at the End of the World (2 Buckets) - I'm terribly sorry to say that this may be Herzog's worst film to date. The very "casual observer"-like qualities about the movie that others find so fascinating and layered--the movie basically consists of Herzog talking to the eccentric folks who inhabit Antarctica--are what I found plodding and maddening about it. There are a lot of Herzogian qualities about the doc, but none of them culminate into a product of greater substance, at least for my tastes. Instead, Encounters proves itself a rather disposable experience.

Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson (2-1/2 Buckets) - Director Alex Gibney, for all his manipulative tactics when he's making politically-themed pictures, is a skilled documentarian. You wouldn't know it by watching Gonzo, though, because the pictures proves that Gibney is obsessed with the titular subject and not much else. Instead of asking tough questions and thereby really delving into Thompson's life and career, Gibney merely glamorizes the man's existence. Never does the audience truly come to understand the sheer misery felt by a person who was clearly aching for much of his life... Instead, it is left only a cheap, surface-value exploration of him to chew on.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2 Buckets) - Yeah, yeah -- Guillermo del Toro has sure fashioned the most technically proficient comic-book adaptation we've seen in a long-time, The Dark Knight notwithstanding that is. This entry in the Hellboy series is consistently stylistically impressive and inventive, even more so than its franchise-predecessor. Nonetheless, I just can't latch onto the three central characters, despite their colorful representations by lead Ron Perlman and supporters Doug Jones and Selma Blair. Without conjuring up a solid sense of interest in the viewer, the movie is pretty much useless, technically proficient or not.

Jouney to the Center of the Earth (2-1/2 Buckets) - The movie itself is about as profound as lead Brendan Frasier's performance. (Translation: as emotionally-inept as one could possibly imagine...) Nonetheless, there's a strangely admirable workmanlike quality about Jouney in that it works to acheive exactly what it sets out to accomplish--a simple narrative that is enjoyable for the kiddies coupled with some stellar 3-D effects--and succeeds in doing so. Nonetheless, there's not really enough here to recommend it to the average adult viewer, especially when one accounts for the horrible eye-strain that 3-D technology (impressive as it is) continues to provoke.

Meet Dave (2 Buckets) - Following the unfairly-demonized Norbit, here's yet another example of an unwarranted attempt to discredit Eddie Murphy's comedic career. Sure, Meet Dave ain't profound, nor is it a very good movie, but it's not at all a painful experience (especially when one considers its short 90-minute running length). In fact, the movie's first act features some rather inspired physical-comedy; Murphy characterizes protagonist-robot Dave in a wonderfully humorous fashion. The movie soon thereafter succumbs to cliches, but these aren't unexpected, nor are they hugely unwelcome. Parents trying to find a way to occupy their kids over summer-vacation--after taking them to see Wall-E, Get Smart, and Kung-Fu Panda, that is --could do a whole lot worse.

Mongol (3 Buckets) - It's surprisingly that such a sweeping tale has its fair share of inept action sequences. Who knew that a movie could be so epic and grandiose and yet come up short in its most epic and grandiose scenes? Nevertheless, Mongol's largely dialogue and landscape-based first two acts are wholly riveting in the way that they depict life in Asia just before the rise of Ghengis Kahn. I was fascinated by these characters and the story they embodied, which, for my money, is worth more in an epic than now-standard well-assembled action.

The Promotion (2 Buckets) - In all honesty, I'm not sure what to make of this one... It's as odd as any corporate-commentary I've ever seen, and certainly the strangest one set in a grocery store. And it doesn't really work, either, with only partially-explored themes and a peculiar use of a conventional narrative structure to advance said themes. Nonetheless, the lead performances by Seann William Scott and John C. Reilly are as good as they could possibly be given the odd nature of the material and the movie provides reason enough to keep an eye on writer/firsttime-director Steve Conrad (who takes a step in the wrong direction here from the masterful Pursuit of Happyness, which he wrote). Perhaps it will prove worth a watch when it hits the DVD market...

The Wackness (3-1/2 Buckets) - This may be the best teen drama/stoner comedy/young-filmmaker breakthrough we've seen in a a long time. Yes, the movie has some yanking pedestrian, film-school-angst type qualities, but the movie's mix of ambitiousness and familiarity is really welcome. Lead Josh Peck proves himself a considerable talent now that he's off of Nickelodeon's air-waves, and Ben Kingsley does some great comedic work as his character's headcase of a psychiatrist. And that Olivia Thirlby is somethin' else, man...