Tuesday, July 29, 2008

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...