-Joey's Two Cents: He feels like a good Peter Parker, but that's just me...thoughts?
Showing posts with label Comic-Con. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Comic-Con. Show all posts
Here's your first look at Snow White and the Huntsman...
...and it definitely looks mildly different than I expected, especially Kristen Stewart. I can't say I'm especially interested in this project, but I'm not dismissive of it or anything. I'm more or less just taking a wait and see approach to it, so perhaps it'll end up impressing me. We shall see, but for now you can hit the jump and take a larger look at Snow White and her friends.
-Joey's Two Cents: I'm curious to see more, I'll give it that...thoughts?
Francis Ford Coppola is going to be doing something different with his new movie?
Indeed, and some have now called it the "Kevin Smith approach" in that he's taking his film out on the road. For details on what he's cooking up with his latest movie, here's the story from Entertainment Weekly:When the director of The Godfather starts goth-rapping over his own vampire murder thriller, you could say things are getting weird.
Except they were already pretty weird.
“Nosferatu … Nosferatu … Eyes of blue … Me and you … Nosferatu … Nosferatu …“
This was Francis Ford Coppola, chanting in his resonant baritone before thousands of sci-fi fantasy fans at Comic-Con’s Hall H during a presentation of his self-financed horror mysteryTwixt, the story of a “bargain basement Stephen King” (played by Val Kilmer) who visits a creepy small town during a book tour and finds himself encountering ghosts, a leering sheriff, and a series of revolting murders.
Things got strange right from the start in Hall H.
As thousands of audience members streamed into the auditorium, each was handed a program — in the shape of a cut-out of Edgar Allan Poe’s face.
“Some of you are old enough to remember that Apocalypse Now first showed in theaters without credits. Instead a program was given to every theatergoer,” Coppola said. “We wanted to make a little program that you could see — in that tradition.”
The eyes of the 19th century author were also a pair of 3-D lenses, and the face had a strap for wearing as a mask and viewing the stereoscopic elements of Twixt. Coppola was in a playful mood, and had the lights to the auditorium turned up so he could see 6,000 Edgar Allan Poes gathered before him.
He wore one, too.
The footage proved to be far from a commercially polished studio movie. At age 72, Coppola has entered an experimental phase, more a student than a professional — and, for better or worse, the raw quality shows.Twixt features a ghostly Poe (that’s how the masks fit in) and a ghostly young girl named V (Super 8‘s Elle Fanning), whose messed up teeth, constrainted by frightening braces, once earned her taunts as a vampire.
Twixt embraces its campiness in some scenes and turns surreal in others. Tom Waits’ gravel tones narrate the trailer, and Bruce Dern turns up as a weird lawman (does he play any other kind?) who believes some local murders are being perpetrated as “vampire executions,” with the accused strapped into a chair that slowly pushes a wooden stake into their chests.
Coppola was joined onstage by electronica musician Dan Deacon, who is scoring the film, and they attempted what the filmmaker described as a live performance of the movie, presenting re-edits of the footage already screened, while Deacon mixed new music — including the previously mentioned “Nosferatu” track.
“This is my goth debut!” Coppola said, chanting along with his own voice on the soundtrack.
The director had cameras trained on his equipment to show the process, and though the audience was intrigued, the presentation was sometimes halting. Re-editing a movie before a live audience naturally has its pitfalls, and after several starts and stops, some in the audience began chanting their own “Nosferatu … Nosferatu …” when things would go wrong.
The men onstage at least had a sense of humor throughout the hiccups.
“The new age of cinema has begun!” Deacon declared in the silence of one delay.
Eventually they got the hang of it, and a few remixes of the footage were presented on the auditorium’s giant screens.
Kilmer, a friend of Coppola’s for three decades, told the crowd that rough presentation was insight into the mind of an experimenter: “You see today what he’s like every day. He’s trying to capture something that’s genuine and exciting about entertainment.”
But Coppola also revealed he is currently writing a script for a more commercial film, something with a bigger budget and more polish. Not everything he does in the future will be so experimental: “I’m getting old, and I still want to express some things in a slightly larger context.”
As for the unusual Comic-Con presentation of the Twixt footage, Coppola said he was just trying to mix-up the way a movie can be shown, since it is only relatively recently that art has been recorded, locked permanently in one format.
“Music and theater are thousands of years old. Cinema is a baby. So of course we’ll see more innovation,” he said. “Cinema has many more surprises that you and your children will invent.”
-Joey's Two Cents: I'm definitely interested to learn more...thoughts?
Have a look at a viral video for Neill Blomkamp's upcoming flick Elysium!
Behold:
-Joey's Two Cents: It's very little to go on, but color me intrigued...thoughts?
Spielberg talks Jurassic Park 4' and other projects
According to The Wrap:
Legendary director Steven Spielberg said on Friday he's on track to make a fourth in his "Jurassic Park" blockbuster series.
"We have a script," he told a cheering crowd in the massive Hall H at this year's Comic-Con convention.
He was there to promote the upcoming film "The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn," and his collaborator, producer-director Peter Jackson, was a surprise arrival. (He was on a filming break from "The Hobbit," which he said has another 200 days before it wraps.)
Spielberg said he was working on a Jurassic script with his partners and expected a new "Jurassic Park" would be out in "two to three years."
It’s been 10 years since the last “Jurassic Park,” the third in the series.
That movie took in $365 million in worldwide box office.
The first film in 1993 was the first time audiences got to see computer graphic characters generated on a huge screen, in this case dinosaurs.
Meanwhile, the panel with Jackson showed the latest in motion-capture techology, with clips of "Tintin." The main character, a Belgian journalist who gets involved in all kinds of life-risking adventures, is voiced by Jamie Bell.
Spielberg noted that he hadn't been aware of the classic Tintin comic books until he saw a review of his movie "Raiders of the Lost Ark" comparing the Indiana Jones film to the Georges Remi books.
"I don't read French, but I didn't need to read the words, I could see the commonality," Spielberg said.
The director also talked about casting big names such as Daniel Craig in a movie that applies performance-capture technology and thus, strictly speaking, doesn't literally feature the actors.
"As with casting all movies, you find the best actor for the part," Spielberg said. "You don't identify Daniel Craig, you won't see his face, but you will see every nuance of his performance through the thin digital skin that [special-effects company] Weta created."
Spielberg was joined by "Hobbit" director Peter Jackson, who flew into town from filming "The Hobbit" to discuss the movie, which he produced. Unlike Spielberg, Jackson grew up as a fan of the books.
"I was a huge Tintin fan, and I was looking forward to Steven's Tintin movie. I was kind of looking forward to it for a quarter-century," Jackson said.
During the question and answer, a fan stood up wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the message that he really hoped to meet Steven Spielberg and shake his hand. So the director obliged (see photo)
Before discussing his latest big-screen venture, the fabled director was bestowed an award for his esteemed catalog of work.
"We're all in the same world together; let's keep working together," Spielberg said while thanking the audience and clutching the trophy.
Behold the Red Band Trailer for Drive!
Take a look:
-Joey's Two Cents: I'm very excited for this one...thoughts?
Twilight panel kicks off Comic-Con!
The Hollywood Reporter spills the beans (or should I say, BLOOD?! Hardy-har-har…):
The honeymoon sequence from The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1 had the audience shrieking at the movie’s presentation at Comic-Con Wednesday.
The Hollywood Reporter was on the scene for the panel, which is the first of what will be a cavalcade of movie presentations in San Diego Convention Center’s cavernous Hall H as part of Comic-Con, saw Kristen Stewart, Rob Pattinson, Taylor Lautner and director Bill Condon take the stage.
Two scenes plus a trailer were shown but the sequence featuring newlyweds Bella and Edward (Stewart and Pattinson) on their honeymoon, with Bella preparing for the big night, garnered breathless screams after almost every line.
Pattinson revealed that during most of the honeymoon sequence, which was shot in Brazil, the production filmed through monsoon-like rains, which made getting into the mood challenging.
“It (felt) like having a honeymoon in England, playing board games instead of making love on the beach,” he said.
Condon, coming on as director of the series for the first time, said he was lucky as a director since Breaking Dawn “is all third act,” which he appreciated.
He also said he started out in horror movies and liked returning to his roots. “Breaking Dawn turns into a horror movie,” he said.
The audience Q&A provided its share of laughs. One fan addressed Pattinson by saying, “I think I speak for all of us when I say mnyum, mnuyum, mnyum.” (Shrieks ensued.) One young lady asked a question on behalf of her mom while one young girl naively asked Pattinson if he likes “having babies with Bella.”
Halfway through the panel Elizabeth Reaser, Nikki Reed and Ashley Green joined the group, and provided some revealing moments when asked what will the end of the series mean to the actors.
Reed was [sic] said she will miss the company but said “I would love to say we’ll have dinner every week but I don’t think so -- some will keep in touch, some won’t.”
“For the next two years we should be ok,” said Greene. We’ll have premieres and conventions. But eventually it will be very sad when it all comes to an end.”
The Hobbit will be a no-show at Comic-Con this year...
From Peter Jackson’s Facebook yesterday:
Good news and bad news today. Bad news is that we won't be doing any Hobbit presentation at Comic Con in San Diego this year. New Line and Warner Bros were very happy to support a presentation, but I declined, simply because I felt it was too early. There's so much more of the films still to shoot. I just wanted to get that out there, because I've seen various references to the possibility of something Hobbity at Comic Con. Hate to disappoint anyone. But something tells me we will be there in force next year.
Now for the good news...
We've just finished a new video blog, covering a little more of the first block of shooting. So please enjoy this—at least you don't have to travel to San Deigo to see it!
[Video blog and more after the cut...]
I've been on the go since wrapping the first shooting block, but I'm about to settle down and get into the much delayed 20 Questions. I've a few half-written and will get those done very, very soon! I promise!
Cheers,
Peter J
Comic-Con might be a little lighter than usual this year...
...according to The Playlist:The comic/geek crowd are either the most important group to court for genre films or their influence is overstated; it really depends on who you ask. In recent years, the very vocal contingent has generally been thought of as essential to making sure more challenging or niche fare finds an audience or least makes its budget back, but a series of disappointments and flops have the studios reconsidering. Last year, Edgar Wright‘s “Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World” was met with widespread geek acclaim only for the Universal film to sputter at the box office (though to be fair, the marketing for that film did little to embrace anybody outside the core of fans). “Sucker Punch” got major buzz and died on the vine this past spring, while “Tron: Legacy” played modestly despite nerds flipping for footage that Disney teased as early as 2008 (though yes, it has done enough to convince the studio get a sequel moving). And both “Skyline” and “Let Me In” faltered when they hit screens later in the year, after doing the San Diego Comic-Con rounds.
However—this year at least—the tide is shifting. The New York Times reports that Warner Bros, Marvel, DreamWorks, Disney and The Weinstein Company will be no-shows this year, meaning that some major movies coming out in 2012 won’t be given an early push. For those traveling across the country to attend SDCC, this year’s lineup—at least on the film front—will have some huge, disappointing gaps.
Probably one of the most eagerly anticipated films of 2012 is Christopher Nolan‘s “The Dark Knight Rises” but with the WB not booking tickets to San Diego, folks hoping for an exclusive look at the film will be out of luck. It also means that Zack Snyder‘s “Man Of Steel,” currently slated for a late 2012 release, will be absent marking two huge, heavyweight comic franchises missing from the biggest convention of the year. That said, Nolan has never played the Comic-Con game, so it’s not too shocking he won’t start now, but it still means two of the most mainstream comic heros of all time will stay off the convention floor. It also means no peeks at Bryan Singer‘s “Jack The Giant Killer” or Tim Burton‘s “Dark Shadows.”
With Marvel unveiling the entire cast of “The Avengers” last year, it’s somewhat shocking that the comic behemoth is as yet not guaranteed to be using San Diego to formally announce any new films in the works, with the Times saying they’re currently “on the fence.” But with the “The Avengers” only recent gearing up to shoot and racing to meet a release date next spring, we suppose priorities are shifted to getting the film completed. Disney meanwhile will also stay at home, keeping any peeks at “John Carter” to themselves for now (and/or for the front of “Cars 2”). And DreamWorks won’t play ball either, though their geek slate in the near future is a bit dry other than “Real Steel” this fall.
So, who will be there? SDCC attendeese will still have lots to look forward to with “The Amazing Spider-Man,” “Cowboys & Aliens,” “Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes,” “The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn,” “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1,” “Shark Night 3D,” “Immortals” and “The Raven” all expected to have a presence, and there are always surprises in store. With 20th Century Fox on hand, we could (but this is just guessing) see something from “Prometheus,” “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” or even some kind of announcement regarding the director of “The Wolverine.” Meanwhile, Sony has a whole bunch of stuff they can also push including “21 Jump Street,” “Men In Black III,” “Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance,” “Total Recall,” “James Bond 23” and hell, even Neill Blomkamp‘s “Elysium” (though, considering he’s as secretive as Nolan, we doubt it). And oh yeah, The Weinstein Company not showing is really not shocking as we figure “Cogan’s Trade” and “The Wettest County In The World” aren’t exactly the kind of films cosplay enthusiasts are pumped for.
So while some heavy hitters are staying home, any calls that San Diego Comic-Con is facing a crisis are a bit overstated. If anything, the absence of four major players may just mean studios are being more strategic. “It’s a red-letter opportunity, but you shouldn’t go simply because it sits there on the calendar,” said co-president of marketing for Universal Pictures, Michael Moses. “You have to be absolutely certain you have goods ready that can really make a difference for your film.” And speaking of Universal, they’ve got “47 Ronin,” “Battleship” and “Ted” as potential Comic-Con entries.
And let’s not forget last year’s success stories. “The Green Hornet,” “Red,” “Resident Evil: Afterlife” and “The Expendables” all went on to do excellent box office business (though yes, Sony did have to push extra hard for ‘Hornet’ to cross $220 million worldwide). So, it’s a delicate game of knowing what to show and when, and also being aware of when to hold back. Marketing is a tricky, finely tuned art and if you’re not prepared, the comic crowd can and will eat you alive (remember the boos last year for the M. Night Shyamalan-produced “Devil”?). So don’t fear SDCC folks, there’s still plenty of time for anything to happen and while some big movies won’t be there, there will still be lots to take in. The San Diego Comic-Con runs from July 21-24.
-Joey's Two Cents: The movies will still be coming out, so that's all I care about...thoughts?