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.
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...
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