The Mix : What are people talking about today?

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#SDCC: Oh yeah, the Westboro Baptist Church… UPDATED

  • Uncategorized
  • July 22, 2010

westboro-signs-9728575There is a line from C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters: “The devil cannot abide to be mocked.” For some reason, I thought of it today as I contemplated the scene outside the San Diego Convention Center.

Yep, there were there, just as they said they’d be. Here’s a photo taken by Megan Phelps of the family business of a young relative Gabe…

…and here’s a pic of them in action. All four of them.

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Now down the street were our people, in a photo snapped by Marc Bernardin:

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A bunch of happy mutants yelling “My god has a hammer!” and calls and responses of “What do we want? “Gay sex!” “When do we want it?” “NOW!” The folks at ComicsAlliance have some very good pics of the counter-protestors, but my favorite was from wessgregg:

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All I can say for the WBC is that it’s probably a good thing they protested today before the crowds got really large.

UPDATE: Rich Johnston has even more pictures and a great T-shirt.

#SDCC: ‘TRON: Legacy’ UPDATED

  • News
  • July 22, 2010

Returning for an unprecedented third year to the
fans and convention that started it all is TRON: Legacy, and if there’s ever going to be a film that can say it did everything to cultivate the audience, it’s this one.

As you may remember, it started two years ago when the director brought a visual test of the film to see if you could just make it look cool…

…and got such a huge buzz that the film was given a full go ahead.

Then last year, Disney went ahead and built Flynn’s Arcade in San Diego during the con, populated it with all the old games and made up some direct from the original movie, and released a new trailer, which also hinted at why they were going to delay one more year– a 3D version:

And now this year, after a skydiver came into WonderCon during an improved panel with Bruce Boxleitner and Cindy Morgan playing their roles from the Tron Universe, people have been waiting to see what’s next. So people packed Hall H to see cast members Jeff Bridges, Garrett
Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Michael Sheen, Bruce Boxleitner, director Joe Kosinski, and producers
Sean Bailey and Steven Lisberger, and all moderated by comedian ubergeek Patton Oswalt.

First off: the film’s finished. All done. And all shot in 3D, no upconversion. They’re saying that the 3D is even an improvement on Avatar‘s tech. Of course, it’s going to look even more impressive when compared against the special effects from the original film 28 years ago.

Jeff Bridges will be playing dual roles, one at his current age and one from the time of his first film.

And in one last piece of fan participation, the audience of eight thousand people was asked to shout certain words, and Skywalker Sound recorded it for later usage in the movie. Vinnie Bartilucci commented,  “Man, the imdb page is gonna be HUGE…”

And yes, there’s a new trailer, which we’ll post as soon as we have it. UPDATE: And here it is:

Tron Legacy opens in regular, 3D, and IMAX 3D theaters on December 17th, 2010.

(more…)

#SDCC: ‘Megamind’ – UPDATED

  • Uncategorized
  • July 22, 2010

will-ferrell-as-megamind-7176983And we’re off! The first Hall H presentation goes to DreamWorks Animation, making its Comic-Con debut with
Megamind. Riffing on a certain super origin, Megamind and Metro Man are jettisoned to Earth as
babies when their home planets are destroyed. Megamind crash-lands inside a
maximum-security prison, where he evolves into the wicked and diabolical
genius he is today, while the dashingly handsome superhero Metro Man grows
into the universally adored savior of Metro City, beloved by every man, woman
and child — and especially the city’s ace reporter Roxanne Ritchie.

Megamind stars Will
Ferrell, Tina Fey, and Jonah Hill and director Tom McGrath were on hand to show footage. Brad Pitt, the voice of Metro Man, was unavailable, but a cardboard substitute was found. Ferrell, as you can see, dressed in character. Either that or he’s decided to go in a different career direction and audition for Blue Man Group.

Jonah Hill, however, stunned audiences when he announced that he would be taking over the role of the Hulk in the Avengers movie.

UPDATE: Here’s the new trailer for MegaMind that was shown at the panel:

#SDCC: Frazetta Conan Painting Sells for $1.5 Million

  • News
  • July 22, 2010

conandestroy-6733277It’s one of the images that defined the fantasy illustration industry we geeks love so much. And to a lucky buyer, Frank Frazetta’s 1971 Conan the Destroyer sold in a 1.5 million gold piece private sale agreed to at the 2010 San Diego Comic Con with Robert Pistella and Stephen Ferzoco of Frazetta Management Corporation. No word yet on who purchased the piece of where it will be hung, but we assume it’ll adorn a wall next to fine mahogany bookshelves full of leather bound collections of Tolkien, maquettes of scantilly clad heroines, and signed Rush LPs.

Tip of the hat to BleedingCool.com.

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#SDCC: Stan Lee and BOOM! Studios press conference

  • News
  • July 22, 2010

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During a press conference at Comic-Con International yesterday, Stan Lee’s POW! Entertainment and BOOM! Studios revealed the characters, series and creative teams for three superhero titles to be published by Stan Lee and BOOM! Studios this fall, as hinted at back in March. (And how are we supposed to stop those “POW! BOOM! Comics aren’t just for kids!” headlines now?)

The three titles are:

SOLDIER ZERO, written by Paul Cornell with art by Javier Pina, tells the story of a wheelchair-bound astronomy teacher who finds himself in a freak accident that bonds him with an alien weapon of war.

THE TRAVELER, written by Eisner Award-nominee and BOOM! Studios Chief Creative Officer Mark Waid with art by Chad Hardin, features a mysterious new superhero with time-traveling powers battling the Split-Second Men, super-powered assassins from the future.

STARBORN, written by Chris Roberson with art by Khary Randolph, tells the story of a regular guy who discovers he’s the heir to an intergalactic empire, putting him the center of a war between five alien races.

We have partial video of the press conference, recorded by Zennie62:

First Look: ‘Lost – New Man in Charge’

  • News
  • July 22, 2010

Courtesy of ABC, here’s a first look from the  original, brand new 12-minute Lost
chapter called “New Man In Charge” which offers a look at what Hurley (Jorge
Garcia) and Ben (Michael Emerson) do as the new Island overseers.

This
bonus feature will be available on both LOST: THE COMPLETE SIXTH SEASON
and LOST: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION which debuts on Blu-ray & DVD on August 24,
2010.

First Look: ‘Thor’

  • News
  • July 21, 2010

thor-chris-hemsworth-5070329As promised, Paramount Pictures released more images from Thor, opening May 6, 2011. Director Kenneth Branagh has clearly cleaned up Jack Kirby’s vision of Asgard, making things nice and shiny.

In case you missed it, here’s a rundown of the cast for the film which recently completed principal photography. The screenplay is written by Ashley Miller (Fringe) and Don Payne (The Simpsons). Miller has since gone on to write X-Men: First Class for 20th Century-Fox while Payne previously wrote My Super Ex-Girlfriend and was one of the writers on Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.

Dr. Donald Blake/Thor is portrayed by Chris Hemsworth (Star Trek) with Natalie Portman as Dr. Jane Foster (promoted from her original nurse role). Anthony Hopkins is the one-eyed Odin, Rene Russo as Frigga, his wife; and Tom Hiddleston (Wallander) as the sibling Loki. Portraying the delightful Warriors Three are Ray Stevenson (The Book of Eli) as Volstagg, Tadanobu Asano (Snow Prince) as Hogun the Grim, and Joshua Dallas (Doctor Who) as Fandral the Dashing. Sorry, Balder the Brave apparently didn’t make it into the movie — maybe next time.

Rounding out the cast will be Jaimie Alexander as Thor’s Norse love interest Sif, Idris Elba as Heimdall, and Kat Dennings as a new character, Darcy. Clark Gregg continues his tour through the Marvel Movie Universe, reprising his SHIELD Agent Phil Coulson role.

According to a release from Marvel Studios, “At the center of the story is The Mighty Thor, a powerful but arrogant
warrior whose reckless actions reignite an ancient war. Thor is cast
down to Earth and forced to live among humans as punishment. Once here,
Thor learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous
villain of his world sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth.”

(more…)

Captain America & Thor Poster Art

  • News
  • July 21, 2010

Paramount Pictures has released these images featuring concept art for 2011’s Thor, opening May 6, 2011 and Captain America: First Avenger, which follows on July 22. No doubt more movie imagery will be release during the course of Comic-Con International which opens tonight.cap-sdcc-poster-final-v2-3365567

Is 3-D For Me – Or Are You Thor?

  • News
  • July 21, 2010

Watch out. That’s The Mighty Thor’s hammer coming straight for your mightily bespectacled head.

The march of the 3-D movies continues trampling the
Multiplexes. Movies are being retrofitted left and right so they can have 3-D scenes. Movies that were shot in 2-D, that were meant to be seen in 2-D, will be released in 3-D and up-priced to 12 or 15 bucks; more, if you’re going to
IMAX. And they’re building a lot of IMAX theaters. A whole lot.

So we’ve got the Thor movie, already filmed, being retrofitted. And the Captain America movie will be in 3-D. Yeah, that’s just what they’re going to need to make The Red Skull look dangerous.

I understand we’re just a couple years away from an
amazing new teevee set that will make today’s 3-D tubes look like wallpaper.
We’ll see, but until then I can’t tell you how pleased I am to hear that
director Christopher Nolan is shooting the next Batman movie in 2-D… unless, the producer tells me, the studio demands it. Humph. We’ll see.

If time is the fourth dimension, then I want a 4-D movie
to take me back in time when movies were entertainment and art and not simply “me-too” gimmicks. As Roger Ebert brilliantly states, “3-D is a waste of a perfectly good dimension… It is suicidal. It adds nothing essential to the
movie-going experience.”

Okay. My position on the future of 3-D, like Roger’s, is spelled out.

What do you think?

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