Driving is boring. It’s so damn boring. Watching characters drive is often one of the most boring and cinematically flat things in movies. It’s rarely exciting. Directors constantly complain about the difficulty of finding energy or something of interest when characters stare off onto a road. Who could actually make such a dull-seeming activity cool, cinematic, and energetic? Nicolas Winding Refn, that’s who. Refn’s a director with a voice of his own, something that’s a bit of rarity nowadays. He’s got a specific personality that’s reflected perfectly on-screen. With Valhalla Rising, Bronson, and the Pusher trilogy, the guy has shown a great love for his violent characters. The auteur revels in exploring men of violence, what makes them tick, and their relationship with their surroundings. The lead in Drive, suitably credited only as Driver, is a lot like Bronson and One-Eye. He’s a man with his own presence, most of his intentions and thought processes are expressed internally, and he isn’t afraid to kick some ass if push comes to shove. Unlike Bronson, though, Driver doesn’t at all represent some form of madness. In this story that’s filled mostly with bastards, Driver is the most moralistic man among them.

A significant portion of the 20th Century Fox Panel was dedicated to the upcoming August release of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, a prequel to the popular Apes franchise that focuses on Caesar, a laboratory animal that first gets smart and then gets revenge. The panel started with a “research clip” that showed rebel soldiers in Africa teasing a chimpanzee by mocking it. Aping it, if you will. The chimpanzee got the last laugh, and most of the laughs in between, when he picked up an AK-47 assault rifle and within seconds figured out that pulling the trigger made it go bang, and the bang sound made all the mean men run away like little girls. After the clip played, director Rupert Wyatt came out and discussed animal rights before Caesar himself stole the show.

The Hall H floor at Comic-Con was an easy audience for it, and Morgan Spurlock took full use of the home field advantage when he introduced a trailer for his new documentary Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope. He’s partnered with Stan Lee, Joss Whedon and Harry Knowles from Aint It Cool to make a film about the event that offers fans the freedom to dust off their Ryuk costume and wear it without shame. The trailer was sleek and featured memories and observations from Whedon, Eli Roth (who brought up the first time he “took a piss next to a stormtrooper and a Klingon), Seth Rogen, Kevin Smith, Seth Green and Guillermo del Toro. All Con favorites, they were joined by a few fans as well as what appeared to be an aspiring artist getting his work reviewed from working comic book producers. The trailer itself was otherwise vague, but it looks like it will have the same humor and heart that Spurlock’s work is marked by, and with full access, there are a ton of great stories that might be told.

There were people camping out for the notoriously crowded Hall H line up to two days before the Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1 panel kicked off the events in that hallowed space. I hope they had a sense of humor because at least 500 seats remained open throughout the event, and late-comers’ wait time was non-existent. Regardless, the fans were out in full force, screaming at just about everything that moved on the stage. Director Bill Condon set a tone for the discussion (that wouldn’t last long), talking about the joy of joining a story already in progress. “It’s all third act. I started out in horror movies, and in the second act [of Breaking Dawn] it turns into a really cool horror movie.” All talk of horror ended when Kristen Stewart was asked about the wedding scene.

If you’re in the mood for definitive news about movies, you pretty much have to wait until they’re done. If you’re in the mood for loose promises and casual statements, then San Diego Comic Con 2011 is the place for you! At a panel early-ish Thursday morning at SDCC, Bruce Campbell captivated audiences as he’s apt to do and then was asked about Evil Dead as he is every single day of his life.

You get off a plane that’s hopefully been screaming-baby-free and emerge into sunshine and sea air. After a brief cab ride toward the water’s edge, you feel the shadow of the San Diego Convention Center blanket you in its strangely warm glow. The giant banners for movies have already taken over entire buildings, and people are already lined up to get badges (and to get into the Twilight panel the next day). This is Comic-Con. There are friends to meet up/catch up with and food to grab (since the screaming baby on your plane drooled all over your bagel), but nothing really starts going until the evening when the doors are opened for Preview Night. Now, it was pretty clear last year, but this year sealed it. “Preview Night” should just be called “Day One.” When you have 20,000 people crammed into a building, the event you’re gearing up for has already started.

Much has been made of the fact that this month’s Comic-Con in San Diego is looking to be a fairly empty one when it comes to upcoming blockbusters from the studios. Sure Tv shows like Game Of Thrones, True Blood, and The Vampire Diaries will be there, but Marvel, Pixar, and Warner Bros. are sitting it out this year and saving themselves a boatload of cash. This means fans won’t get a glimpse at hotly anticipated titles like Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, Joss Whedon’s The Avengers, or Andrew Stanton’s John Carter. But not everyone’s upset that the heavy hitters are absent this year… because now some of the lower profile films have a chance to make some noise and get noticed. Per Collider (and the press release they received) Legendary Pictures is leaping on the opportunity and has announced a panel featuring four of their upcoming films. Granted, none of the movies are due out until 2012/2013, but everyone loves seeing celebrities talk about future projects! The highlight is Guillermo del Toro who’ll be on-hand for his giant monster movie, Pacific Rim, and will be bringing his recently announced cast with him including Idris Elba, Charlie Hunnam, Charlie Day, and the lovely Rinko Kikuchi. Also along for the Comic-Con bump will be Alex Proyas and Bradley Cooper discussing their adaptation of Paradise Lost (and how Cooper dodged a bullet with Green Lantern), Jeff Bridges and friends to talk up their supernatural thriller Seventh Son, and Mass Effect creator [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

We’ve been planning hard for nine months, eating entire sheet cakes by ourselves, and now the fruits of our labor will burst forth onto the internet in just a few weeks. It’s Comic-Con season, and we plan to give birth to some incredible content and coverage. Then, we’ll wipe off the afterbirth and hand it to you with a bow on top. We’ll be tackling interviews aplenty, getting the inside information on movies we won’t see for another 3 years, and covering Hall H like pickle sauce on ice cream, but it’s a big job, and we won’t be doing it alone. Fortunately, Jordan Hoffman (champion Reject Radio Movie News Pop Quizzer and Editor over at UGO) has organized a handful of the best movie sites to share coverage. Here’s what we’re all excited for the most and what you can plan on seeing…

The world that Scott Pilgrim faces off against is not our own. It’s a world where a man can be thrown against a building without being all that hurt, a world where a girl can pull a giant sledge hammer out of her purse before fighting the remnants of her experimental phase in college, a world where the comic book-style letters R-I-N-G float from the telephone when a call comes in. Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) is a slacker who plays bass in a band, sleeps in the same bed as his roommate and dates a high schooler named Knives Chau (Ellen Wong). Then, the girl of his dreams (literally) Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) roller skates into his life and inexplicably falls for him. Unfortunately, dating her means facing off against her seven evil exes in seven evil battles to the death.

After the roundtables for Thor I not only left feeling more excited for the film and convinced that it wouldn’t be a Flash Gordon camp-fest, but I also couldn’t have been more impressed by Tom Hiddleston. If you don’t know Hiddleston, he’ll be playing the horn helmeted villain Loki. From what Hiddleston said, Loki wont be another mustache-twirler. He had a clear vision for who Loki is and for what he wanted to do with him. Hiddleston also seemed to be one of the few of the cast members that talked candidly (and very intelligently) about the film. Most actors during these type of events are tight lipped and wont give up any plot oriented details. Hiddelston was the opposite. In fact, if you want to stay in the dark on Thor, I recommend not reading what he had to say.

The phrase “first time director” is a frightening thing of beauty. It represents potential and promise, but it also brings the same concerns that the phrases “first time barber” and “first time brain surgeon” might. The world has been fortunate as of late with some fantastic first timers – from Duncan Jones to Neill Blomkamp – and after seeing the footage from Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark at Comic-Con, Troy Nixey has the potential to join their ranks. After speaking with him, it’s clear that he has the mind and the fan status to deliver true horror. He talks the talk. Hopefully the movie will prove that he walks the walk. I was fortunate enough to eat hotel cookies and sit down with the newcomer during the madness of Comic-Con. In full earshot of producer Guillermo del Toro cursing and laughing with child-like wonder, Nixey spoke about the tone of the film, the creation of fear with suggestion, and the reverence for the horror of the late 70s and early 80s.

Sorry to have denied you all for so long. I know that secretly the only project you cared about at Comic-Con was Resident Evil: Afterlife, the 3D fourth installment of the strangely popular and oddly addicting video game adaptation series. Paul W.S. Anderson is back in the director’s chair for this go-round after having abandoned ship post the first film – which in my opinion, is the worst of three. Potentially a bad sign. I’d love to take this write-up seriously, but having seen the trailer I can’t really do so, seeing as how I’m not sure the movie took itself seriously. At all. Sure, there is something to be said for campy fun, but if you’re going to talk about how your camera costs $100,000 and came from the set of Avatar, you might want to hit “Record-Normal” rather than “Record-Ultra Slow Motion.” You may also want to consider turning off the sprinklers.

Editor’s Note: This interview originally appeared this summer in our Comic-Con coverage. That’s why it’s dressed like a character from Sailor Moon. For a brief moment in the latest Tron: Legacy trailer, you can catch a glimpse of Michael Sheen in a snow white jump suit taking things way over the top. He must have been the set designer’s worst nightmare, and the make-up department’s best friend. On the second day of Comic-Con, already confused by a lack of sleep and a mysterious amount of whiskey missing from the $6 bottle in our hotel room, I stepped into a pitch-perfect re-creation of Flynn’s Arcade. Tron the Game stood like the dot on a dusty exclamation point at the top of the room, and plastic covered each game as if time wouldn’t get to them anyway. I was led through a dark hallway, only lit by blue LED runners, and out into the open expanse of the bright white nightclub set from the new film. Clear bottles with blue liquid in them stood like soldiers in the back of the room, and I sat down next to Michael Sheen on a luxurious couch to talk about his beard, his best David Bowie impression, and his unsnobbish willingness to take his classical training into the genre world.

Joe Dante was recently at Comic-Con and as for what he was promoting, I have no idea. As far as I know, he wasn’t there to sell or pitch me anything. Both him and Roger Corman were in attendance this year, and amongst the hardcore geek community, it was a big deal. Dante is someone that’s had a hand in nearly every movie nerd’s life. I think we all remember watching Gremlins as a kid (or Innerspace, The ‘burbs, The Howling, etc.) So, when I sat down with Joe Dante, I wanted to talk about his life, the films that influenced him, and the joy of horror.

Stretching out Comic Con coverage because we can (and apparently people actually read it), coming to you in what will hopefully be among the very last name-drops of SDCC, is some news from the Spartacus panel. It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of the Starz original series which is bursting with blood, breasts, and a word for penis that also starts with B. Perhaps too easily dismissed by many as a 300 styled rip-off or An Idiot’s Guide to Rome, this gladiatorial series is actually quite deft at mixing politics and vicious action. This years panel, the show’s first, was focused mostly on revealing some information about the upcoming prequel Spartacus: Gods of the Arena. For those unfamiliar, star and Spartacus himself Andy Whitfield was diagnosed with cancer after the completion of the first season. Rather than replace him or move forward with a pathetic second season or leave fans waiting forever, the producers, lead by Steven DeKnight, decided to create a prequel to the hit show.

John Clark is the ultimate Tom Clancy badass. He’s what Jack Ryan is not. That goes for the films as well. Both Willem Dafoe and Liev Schreiber portrayed that wonderfully, but sadly, the spinoff many fans were always hoping for never got around to happening. Even sadder news, it most likely wont happen anytime soon. When I talked to Lorenzo di Bonaventura – who’s producing the reboot of the beloved character – there were two specific things I wanted to know: will this do-over be an origin story and will we see John Clark? The answer is “yes” for the origin story, but unfortunately “no” for John Clark. The reason why makes sense though. Being an origin story and all, it’s best to primarily focus on Ryan. Perhaps if this origin story relaunches the franchise successfully, we’ll see Clark in further installments. But as of right now, we’re going to have to wait a while to see that happen.

Filling up seconds with paragraphs of words, director Matt Reeves impressed a full Comic-Con crowd with his technical knowledge and his film fandom. Those who could keep up with him, at least. The man spoke in the knowing pace of a hundred miles a minute with an audience fortunate to catch words like Hitchcock, Kino, and Dutch Angle like pennies from Heaven amongst the strikingly long statements. It was his expertise and passion that held everyone captive, but it was also the names he dropped. Not in the form of famous talent he’s sat down to lunch with, but in the form of the films that truly inspired him while working on Let Me In. After some impressive footage, it seems like these films sunk in deep. Thus, by way of a mini-Masters class on the subject, here are the four films that Matt Reeves kept in the forefront of his mind while shaping his coming-of-age vampire film.

Going into Comic-Con I knew very little about Battle: Los Angeles. That seemed to be the case for many last weekend in Hall H where they showed a brief amount of footage from the film. Apparently, it was well received. The idea of a war combat film with aliens thrown into the mix is going to get any nerd’s heart racing. Many have been drawing comparisons to District 9, but that’s not entirely fair or logical. District 9 didn’t really stick to its opening documentary style. Battle: Los Angeles may very well do just that. Also, when has there every been a straight, flat out war movie with Aliens involved? Unless I’m wrong, there hasn’t been. That’s why despite not having seen a lick of footage I’m excited for Battle: Los Angeles. It’s got a unique concept and director Jonathan Liebesman pitches it well. The idea of Aaron Eckhart leading a big-budgeted action film also makes me even more hopeful. It’s definitely got potential. Lets just hope it lives up to the wild range of possibilities. Here’s what director Jonathan Liebesman had to say about Battle: Los Angeles:

The San Diego Comic-Con is a strange thing. Leading up to it there’s anticipation, fear, excitement. Many of these emotions survive the first few days and you might even add a few: joy, rage, disappointment, wonderment. By the time you’re ready to leave, your body is aching and all you want to do is punch Jack Giroux in the face and sleep for 14 hours on the biggest, softest bed you can find. This year was no different. Going into Comic-Con there were certain things I was looking forward to – some of them hit the spot, others fell flat, one or two didn’t even end up being there. While I would classify the trip as a success that isn’t to say that each day didn’t bring a fair share of rage with it. So, I’ll cut to the chase and reveal the 10 Things I Liked about SDCC 2010, and 5 Things that left me cold.

Last weekend was the crucible of Comic-Con, and no fewer than one billion trillion news stories came out of the convention aimed directly at your sensibilities as an audience member. We weren’t the only site on the block that had coverage of course, and hopefully you read more than a few of our peers (because there really are some great sites out there). You were most likely inundated with new information about the movies hitting theaters soon or in the next year. Did any of it change your mind? Was there a movie you were dying to see that you cooled on? Was there a movie that landed on your radar for the first time? Is your confidence renewed in anything?