04.22.08
Posted in Film Review at 2:12 pm by Administrator
Quite possibly the most self satisfide panel of the day was the one for Lionsgate films adaptation of the Will Eisner classic comic; The Spirit. Directed by frank miller starring Eva Mendez, Scarlette Johansson, and Samuel L. Jackson. Throwing away the original comics bright colored 1950’s asthetic Miller paints everything black making his film almost indistinguishable from Robert Rodriguezs’ adaptation of his very own comic Sin City. Miller seemed to just copy and paste that films ideas and threw it into his own as he takes his first stab at the directing chair. While I am not completely blown away by the teaser or the look of the film I am keeping an open mind. Which I admit is rather difficult when he sits at the panel and this little group of people pat themselves on the back for an hour. I’ve never seen anyone as satisfide with himself as Miller, who should probably take a more humbled approach seeing as this is his first film and its a craft that could take years to master. Yet he spoke of it as if everyone around him is telling him its the best film ever made.
Then we saw the teaser, and the Sin City rip off was 100% confirmed. It’s Sin City but now its called The Spirit. Someone needs to tell Frank that he should get his own ideas and that just because Rodriguez was kind enough to give him a directors credit doesn’t make him a director. Perhaps from this point on they should just shut up, release the film, let the audience decide if its any good. This panel was smug and self serving and just left me with a terrible taste for Miller and those involved with the picture.
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Posted in Film Review at 1:59 pm by Administrator
Hands down the best panel at the show was the one for Guillermo Del Toro’s latest big monster flick Hellboy II:The Golden Army. Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones, Mike Mignolia and Del Toro were there to talk about this unexpected sequel. No one speaks more plainly than Del Toro as he let the explatives fly showing his overwhelming excitement for the sequel to the underated Hellboy film from 2004. It brought in decent box office business but was mostly lost in the shuffle amongst more popular mainstream comic book adaptations.
This time around its his show as they revealed a brand new trailer that almost had me went my pants. Okay who am I kidding I did indeed wet my pants but with good cause. This film is going to kick so much ass you have no idea what Del Toro has in store. It’s as if somehow he was able to get the artistic freedom from Pan’s Labyrinth and apply it to his already well designed Hellboy films. For the first time we got to hear the voice behind the new character Johann Kraus; Seth McFarlane creator of Family Guy and voice of Peter Griffin.
After the trailer the stage was filled with many of the films brilliantly designed creatures. Del Toro’s gift is truly to find the most unexpected design concept and take it to that next level to make everything in his films feel unique and original. Compare it to the dull vampires in I am Legend or the Abomination in this years hulk and you’ll instantly notice that he’s not just thinking outside of the box he deficates on it, throws it away, and makes a weird box with eight sides and twelve corners.The films stars didn’t have too much to say as Del Toro did most of the talking. He spoke about the different approach he takes to his smaller films as opposed to the ones financed by millions of studio dollars. The level of freedom he can afford when their aren’t studio execs nervously looking at thier bank books.
He encouraged one ten year old to persue his dream of being a film maker and openly talked about how they hire new talent to help design for his films and take on internships for those seeking to break into the industry. Its wonderful to see someone who can find success and not forget what it was like to struggle and help those who also seek to make it as directors. Del Toro stole the show, the con, and will steal this summer with Hellboy II: The Golden Army.
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Posted in Film Review at 1:34 pm by Administrator
Nothing too shocking came out of the Lucas Films panel. They talked a bit about the new Clone Wars movie coming this August along with the show premiering this fall but nothing new was revealed involving these projects. I must put in my two cents for this so called CG animated film as the budget and style really arent convincing me that this belongs on the big screen. Apparently they managed to get their premiere episode into movie theaters and are parading it around as a feature film of some sort. The style of the CG animation feels grosly exaggerated with characters like Dooku with faces so long they could be mistaken for horses. Anakin Skywalkers nose seems to be taking over his face. They took a seemingly cool style that worked in the 2D animated mini episodes and showed us how ugly it would look when fleshed out into three dimensions. We were treated to an unexpected apperance by the minds behind Robot Chicken; Seth Green and Matthew Senreich. They showed a deleted scene from the Robot Chicken Star Wars episode and that was all there was to it.
Warner Bros. was almost non existent at this years con but somehow they made up for a lame speed racer bit (A simple reshowing of the films trailer) by showing us the brand new trailer for this summers Batman sequel The Dark Knight. While not as impressive as the initial reveal of the Joker they now focus a little more on Harvey Dent while of course giving us a little more of Heath Ledgers already brilliant Joker. One particular scene shows Joker meeting with the big crime leaders of Gotham City. As always he makes his intentions very clear, “kill the bat”. One shot shows Harvey Dent face down in what seems like gasoline, and anyone with half a brain can see where that scene is headed. The Dark Knight is doing a good job of teasing us while not giving away all of the money shots. Kudos to WB for throwing us one hell of a bone despite an overwhelmingly dissapointing comic con presence for its biggest summer films.
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Posted in Film Review at 1:14 pm by Administrator
One of the most surprising presentations at the Con was Disney’s revealing look at Pixar’s latest robot sci-fi adventure Wall E. We were shown, for the first time, a brand new character name Moe. A tiny little work robot located on the ship that takes Eva away from poor little Wall E. As Wall E makes his way through the ship he leaves a trail of dirt and Moe follows behind cleaning up the mess. We were told they would inevitably become good friends throughout the film. Moe is another great addition to an already enchanted cast of charismatic robots who are almost instantly loveable.
One scene truly showed the films almost classic respect for silent film comedy as Wall E invited Eva over to his little place, where he has loaded up on various tiny human objects (much like Ariel in The Little Mermaid) and he tries to impress Eva with them. Their is little to no dialogue but Pixar has managed to convey every emotion using the design concepts behind every character. Most notably is the star himself Wall E who tells you so much with his various mannerisms despite being limited by his box-like shape. The moment he falls in love with Eva theirs no doubt in your mind as the viewer as to what is happening. Again I truly want to high light the Charlie chaplin-esque silent physical comedy that Wall E bravely puts to the forefront. Their are no zany characters or hip hop voices that you find in some of the most annoying animated film offerings as of late.
As always Pixar comes from a different place taking the classiest avenue to entertaining its audience. We must have seen five or six minutes of completed footage and as someone who isn’t instantly impressed with every Pixar offering, I believe its impossible not to fall in love with Wall E. This film is going to be extraordinary. Audiences will instantly fall in love with Wall E, Eva and Moe. If my cynical dark heart can be won over by Wall E than so can anyone’s. I can’t wait to see the entire film this summer.
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Posted in Film Review at 12:57 pm by Administrator
With the studio holding onto every tiny aspect of this film it was great to finally get a look at some unfinished Hulk smashing footage along with a brand new and improved theatrical trailer. Director Louis Leterrier was on hand along with the films producers to fill us in on how the film is coming along which is nice…seeing as it’s still slated to be released this summer. With the films awareness level being at an all time low with the general public it was a pleasant surprise to see them be a little more forthcoming with footage and info.
You may remember Lou Ferrigno from the original Hulk live action television show and it was announced that he would be making an extended cameo. Much more so than his simple walk on cameo from Ang Lee’s Hulk. The producers downplayed a question relating to Edward Norton’s supposed fight with the studio for a longer more thought provoking cut of the film and as if to talk down to the audience the assured us that Hulk would do plenty of smashing to keep our tiny brains satisfied. I was disgusted with the audiences booing at the mention of Ang Lee’s misunderstood adaptation of the comic but we’ll see what this film offers and if dumb action will win over Lee’s character probing film.
The footage we got to see didn’t have all of the Hulk FX finished but the Hulk’s design is definitely leaner and more stylized than the previous Hulk. The footage showed Bruce Banner being cornered by an army of tanks and of course he turns into the Hulk to lay the smack down on those puny humans. Hulk throws a few tanks around as expected but what was interesting to discover is that Tim Roth’s abomination isn’t an instant transformation. Instead he will be receiving various shots of super serum throughout the film slowly enhancing his abilities until his final transformation, which we have seen in the trailers. So we are treated to a more super human Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) versus Hulk mini fight that pits hulk against a more agile smaller opponent. Seeing as the design of the abomination lacked all sorts of creativity this battle held my interest far more than the one we’re shown in the theatrical trailer.
Speaking of trailers the new one showed a lot of the footage we had been shown moments earlier. So it’s definitely more focused on showing action than the teaser. I’m not one to get my hopes up for this one but after the panel I think we can at least expect some good action from the director who knows that genre pretty well.
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04.08.08
Posted in Film Review at 1:02 pm by Administrator
You may be fully aware of Speed Racer, Iron Man, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull but their are other big summer movies coming out that the studios seem to be neglecting. Just the other day I asked my friend what he thought of the new Incredible Hulk trailer, he looked at me and said “they’re making a new hulk?”. If that is the reaction I’m getting than these studios are doing a piss poor job of marketing their big summer films. It’s not only poor Hulk to get the shaft but Fox also doesn’t think we need to be teased about the upcoming X-Files sequel slated to be released this July. Would it be too much trouble just to throw together a 30 second teaser with a big X and the theme music? Instead we are forced to watch badly video taped youtube videos of some trailers showed behind closed doors.
Don’t they want to make money? If they don’t raise the level of awareness for these films they could very well end up being over looked as films like The Dark Knight and the above mentioned will have no trouble packing them in this summer.
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