Category: Sci-Fi Movies (Page 85 of 93)

Comic-Con treats and tricks

I’ll be writing a little bit more about the unwisely dropped direct-to-DVD festival hit, “Trick ‘r Treat,” after I return from the con. That particularly includes what I gleaned from a trio of round robin interview things with writer-director Michael Dougherty and co-stars Lauren Lee Smith (“CSI”) and Brian Cox, definitely one of the toppermost of the poppermost, acting wise. Including Mr. Cox, all very personable folks, which never hurts in show bidness.

My reaction to the film was muted by my own tiredness, but I do think there is something there. Dougherty, a co-writer on the last couple of Bryan Singer superhero projects, has an outstanding eye for creepy beauty and he certainly brings human values and humor to his horror. However, the muddy acoustics of the hall drowned out much of the dialogue for me, and the impossibility of obtaining coffee at the convention centerĀ  in the evening dulled out much of my brain. (Why, oh why, Mrs. Fields, have you abandoned me this year?) The audience reaction was, as far as I could tell, divided between wild enthusiasm and muted nitpicking. More to come.

And now, a few other more high-profile movie related con related matters live from my horrifyingly small shoe box hotel room. Also, I wonder how long I can hold out without ever setting foot in the dreaded Hall H.

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Comic-Con in the morning and the “Dead of Night”

This morning started out movie-ish, as I arrived just a couple of minutes late for the annual “Master of the Web” panel devoted to online geek film blogging and reportage, this year featuring such occasional or frequent guest stars here as Devin Faraci of CHUD fame and ex-Moriarity Drew McWeeney, now of HitFix. After answering many of the usual questions — no, they don’t allow advertising to influence reviews, if you’re want to start a career writing about movies, expect years of hard unpaid labor, to be followed by severely under-paid harder labor, etc — the movie stars arrived.

Brandon Routh and Sam Huntington, pals in real life, will be reprising their winning hero/sidekick act from “Superman Returns” with a darker but comedic, action/supernatural edge in the upcoming “Dead of Night.” An adaptation of theĀ  “Dylan Dog” comics series from Italy’s Tiziano Sclavi. After some semi-rough clips from the upcoming film, Routh and Huntington were accompanied onto the very crowded podium by lovely co-star Anita Briem (“Journey to the Center of the Earth,” “The Tudors”), who had to put up with a question about a supposed liaison with Megan Fox. (I couldn’t find any links to back this one up. My apologies to pervs and gossip hounds alike.)

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In which I arrive at Comic-Con

After a couple of days getting crap out of the way, packing, and the most crowded Amtrak train I’ve ever seen (though it’s still a highly civilized way to travel), I’m a bit out of it. Also, with the “Industry Lounge” not yet open, I’ve got no place to blog with access to a outlet, and my power is 55% and rapidly dwindling…so let me just say that — yeah, it’s a zoo here.

That also means that tonight, it’s just quick-ass short astericky stuff. And no pics either. Sorry.

* Via Anne Thompson @ AICN. 250 “very lucky” fans will get to see “Inglourious Basterds” here after all. And, as per Ms. Thompson, after “Spiderman 4,” Sam Raimi may do a movie version of the “World of Warcraft” game. If anyone can make the first good video game-derived movie, it would be Raimi.

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Today in geek film second guessing (updated)

Something is in the air right now that’s just making movie people a bit whiny, maybe it’s pre-Comic Con jitters impacting today’s perhaps over geekified (even for me) film world. To wit:

— Via Screenrant comes word of Todd Gilchrist‘s post on producer Joel Silver’s reminiscences on the “Watchmen” script he spent years developing, which for a time was attached to San Fernando Valley-bred American Python and genuine auteur Terry Gilliam. Basically, he argues that his version was better and more audience friendly. That’s easy to say now and, especially based on Joel Silver’s legendary rep, one expects exaggeration. Though I had seriously mixed feelings about the Zack Snyder’s version, it’s important to remember that Gilliam abandoned the project as unfilmable at any reasonable movie-length. My feeling is that the recent film, despite some truly brilliant visuals, a clever rewrite of the problematic ending of the original, and a number of really terrific flourishes, largely bears this out, though I’m looking forward to seeing the expanded version. (I kind of hated “300” by the way, but that’s probably less Snyder’s fault than his source material, I’m guessing.)

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2001: a historical movie moment….

In honor of the fortieth anniversary of Apollo 11’s moon landing, for me ten of the most exquisite minutes ever put on film, from any movie. This is just a taste — see this on the biggest screen you have access to, preferably in a very big movie theater, and preferably in 70mm. The impact of this won’t be anywhere the same, but will do in the meantime and the music’s always lovely.

The president recalled that as a boy living in Hawaii, he would perch on his grandfather’s shoulders and watch the space capsules land in the Pacific Ocean. “We’d go out and we’d pretend like they could see us as we were waving at folks coming home,” he said. “And I remember waving American flags and my grandfather telling me that the Apollo mission was an example of how Americans can do anything they put their minds to.”

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