Currently Browsing: "Comic-Con 07"

While some stars may be crashing into oblivion, or being picked up drunk and possessing cocaine, other stars are shining as bright as ever. Dan Fogler is hitting Hollywood like an explosion, that Michael Bay strangely had nothing to do with, and finding fame with every role he takes. Dan is stealing the throne as Hollywood’s busiest man from Shia LaBeouf, and hopefully slaps his Balls of Fury across his face on the way out.

Being about a week removed from the heart of this year’s Comic-Con International in San Diego, I can say that now is the time to look back and reflect on some of the most memorable things that happened. If you were there, you could probably jot down 20-30 great moments in a matter of minutes. It was that much fun. If you weren’t there, here are 10 things that should have you kicking yourself in the ass for missing the event.

Eli Roth has had both critical and commercial success with the HOSTEL franchise, but can he stand up to an interview with the Film School Rejects? Brian Gibson was on hand with a Sony film crew in tow to talk to Roth about the upcoming DVD release of HOSTEL 2 and his other projects.

Like many cult films, “Monster Squad” has a rabid fan base but had humble beginnings. The film, which was released in theaters in 1987 in a way that director Fred Dekker describes as “a whimper rather than a bang” was quickly forgotten by the studio. Eventually the company went out of business, and the copyright disappeared into corporate oblivion.

Let’s face it, Comic-Con 2007 was one hell of a good time. We got a chance to meet a ton of great people, both celebrity and non-celebrity, and see lots of kick-ass movie stuff. And as we begin to wrap up our coverage over the next few days, it is time for a little reflection. And one of the coolest things upon which to reflect was all of the wicked posters we saw along the way.

Movies can be very cathartic. They allow us to experience the good and the bad of life without actually putting ourselves in any danger. They also allow us to examine what we would do in a terrible situation without actually experiencing it.

Let’s start with this fact; yes, I know that this is a movie website. But in the spirit of fanboys around the world, I feel that it is perfectly OK to talk about Heroes, as it is quite possibly one of the few TV shows out there that plays out more like a movie than a standard primetime drama. With that said, here is some pretty awesome news for both Heroes fans and movie fanboys alike.

When you think of classic Comic-Con, you don’t necessarily think that the Walt Disney Company would be pushing anything more than Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck titles. Even in the past couple years, when Hollywood finally caught on to the fact that comic book fans can help propel major blockbusters to success, Disney has taken a back seat to the big budget adaptations of Marvel properties. Not this year. Not by a long shot.

When it comes to the upcoming Disney films, I’m excited. But as excited I am to see “Prince Caspian,” nothing can compare to the excitement I feel for Pixar’s upcoming film “WALL•E.” Audiences first got a look at this little robot film at the head of “Ratatouille” out this summer. The story revelations were slim, but we all understood the heart behind it.

Jon Favreau rocked the Con on Thursday afternoon when he surprised the crowd at the Paramount presentation with some awesome footage from Iron Man. It was a glorious surprise. Moments after the panel the buzz began to flow through the vast space of the San Diego Convention Center. Two days later the line was seemingly down the street to get into the Marvel Studios presentation, where the Iron Man footage was scheduled to be shown once again.

Somehow we knew this was coming. It wasn’t going to be long before the astounding footage of Iron Man would hit YouTube. The footage shows Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, the Mark I suit and then the non-CG enhanced scenes of the Mark III suit. Take a peek after the jump before the video gets pulled.

We are getting good at finding and cornering celebrities, making them tell us about what is going on in their lives and how they feel about it and then taking a picture or two (we do need some sort of proof — you understand.) And when it came to meeting some big talent, day 3 of Comic-Con proved to be just as plentiful as the 2 days that preceded it. Who did we see? Take a look…

An actress, completely costumed as Cherry Darling (mind you, an actual amputee), stood next to a pole and enticed me to come closer. Dimension’s booth at Comic-Con is basically all about the Grindhouse DVD release. What I found though, just about made me want to cry. If it wasn’t bad enough that all ads for the film were pulled within a week of its release, the DVDs will be released as separate films.

Comic-Con 2007 marches on. We have seen all kinds of stuff. Iron Man flew threw the air on Thursday, the cast from Get Smart left the crowd in stitches on Friday and Saturday was sure to make for some surprises. First on the schedule for me was the presentation from Focus Features and Rogue Studios, presenting Balls of Fury, The Strangers and Neil Marshall’s Doomsday. Let’s take a look at what happened.

While I was sitting around watching the guys from Balls of Fury entertaining 5,000 fans during the Focus/Rogue presentation here at Comic-Con, a little birdie sent me a message that Tony Stark’s car was parked just across the street at the Omni Hotel. Unable to get up (mostly because of my lower body going numb), I sent Kevin Carr to do some recon. Moments later the inbox of my phone was filling with pictures. Allow me to share…

There was a time when comic book adaptations were either high budget studio pictures (like Richard Donner’s “Superman” or Tim Burton’s “Batman”) or cheesy cartoons for the Saturday morning audience. It wasn’t until the 1990s that television animation actually surpassed the feature films in originality, creativity and faithfulness to the original source material.

As a great San Diegan named Ron Burgundy once said, “I’m kind of a big thing. People know me.” Well when it comes to celebrities who are at Comic-Con in San Diego this weekend, the FSR crew is sort of a big thing as well. We have interviewed, talked to and randomly run into some of our favorite celebs.

Ever since IMAX revolutionized the 3-D experience with liquid crystals and polarized light, I predicted that 3-D entertainment would come back with a vengeance. The only problem was that IMAX screens were almost too big, and the helmet-head 3-D goggles, as cool as they were, made me feel like I was in some futuristic biker film.

Of course this is the week that we would get tons of news around the most anticipated films that are coming our next year. Toward the top of everyone’s list is The Dark Knight. Just a little bit ago, our friends over at IfitsMovies.com released this new shot of Heath Ledger as the Joker. Take a look after the jump…

We all went into the Warner Brothers panel expecting to see something from The Dark Knight. As promised, WB did not deliver anything inside the presentation about the upcoming Batman flick, but there was one welcomed surprise. Director Zach Snyder revealed the first poster from Watchmen along with the film’s official release date: 3-06-09. Mark your calendars and take a look below to see a glimpse of the poster.

Are you ready to rumble? We are sitting live in Hall H of the San Diego Convention Center as Warner Brothers prepares to deliver their Comic-Con 2007 presentation. Yesterday we saw great things from Paramount, including an awesome reel from Iron Man presented by director Jon Favreau. For more on that, take a look at my recap from yesterday (found here). But if you have already seen that and you want to know what is going to happen with all things WB (including some Joker-esque shennanigans) then stay tuned to this page, as I will be updating as it happens.

The Rejects are in Hollywood, and at The Four Seasons Hotel to be exact. As if getting off the elevator and running Elizabeth Berkley (aka Jessie Spano) wasn’t enough to get us excited, we just got an awesome taste of Hot Fuzz to top off our first day on the west coast. I know what you are thinking, but I am talking about the new hit comedy from the guys who brought us Shaun of the Dead. We sat with director Edgar Wright and one of the film’s stars, Nick Frost. If Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz were any indication, we knew that sitting with these guys was only going to amount to laughs and Nick Frost calling Edgar Wright a dirty British word that rhymes with “bunt”.

When we showed up to San Diego, we never thought that we’d be victims of a hostile takeover. Supposedly there is going to be a massive tryout at 10:00 am PST, across from the San Diego Comic-Con. What kind of tryout might you ask? Since we already had the tryouts for ‘Who could ever be a better boyfriend for Jessica Alba than me?’ today (which nobody won, by the way), the tryout will be for an elite organization ran by The Joker.

It’s big news week in the movie business — go figure, it is Comic-Con weekend after all. Earlier today during the Lionsgate presentation we got a chance to take a first look at the fourth installment in the very popular Saw series. On hand to present some clips were director Darren Lynn Bousman, producer Mark Burg and a special surprise guest — Tobin Bell, otherwise known as Jigsaw.

During the planning for this year’s Con they said it couldn’t be done. They said that there was no way that Hall H would fill up on Thursday. As a Comic-Con virgin myself, I am unable to talk about past years; maybe it was tough to get the movie fans in the convention before Friday. What I can speak for is this year; a year when they DID pack the house in Hall H for Paramount Pictures to get us started with a rockin’ presentation.

Hot from the vast space that is the infamous Hall H at the San Diego Convention Center, we have a little bit of breaking news. Tension in the room was think as J.J. Abrams took the stage not once, but twice to talk about his upcoming projects.

We have been speculating like mad about J.J. Abrams’ upcoming monster flick, loosely called “Cloverfield” or “1-18-08″. Now — at least for now — Paramount has provided us with the first look at the official teaser poster. They have also released, as part of the Comic-Con festivities, the poster for “Star Trek” as well. Take a look after the jump…

Maybe it is the fact that I am sitting right now in the Paramount Pictures presentation at Comic-Con, but I am feeling a little geeked out for Star Trek. In less than an hour J.J. Abrams will be telling the world not only about “Cloverfield” but also about his plans for the next generation (pun intended) of “Star Trek” films.

As you may already know, Comic-Con 2007 in San Diego is only a few days away. It is an event that not only serves as the pinnacle of the convention circuit for comic book aficionados, it has also become a premier launching pad for major motion pictures. But this is a huge event, hundreds of exhibitors and movie publicists will be bringing the heat — too many to visit them all. So where should you spend your time?

As we continue to gear up for Comic-Con this week (more to come later in the day), everyone seems to be keeping a closer eye on the Warner Brothers camp. The Dark Knight has been for a long time the most watched and prodded production in recent years. And we are all waiting patiently to see some footage that wasn’t shot from the 10th story of a building 3 blocks away.