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Posted
Sunday, July 29, 2007 11:15pm
San
Diego Comic-Con 2007 movie wrap-up
Iron-man's
Robert Downey Jr. and Gwenyth Paltrow
Just got back from comic-Con a few hours ago
and here's a brief trip report.
In the past few years, they've jammed packed
Saturday as the big Hollywood movie day. It'd be a marathon
session of big name stars promoting big genre movies in an
all-day geek fest in the large hall. This year they shifted
the movie panels around and spread the love over several days.
Thursday's big draw was the Paramount panel.
You've gotta hand it to Paramount; they know how to buy the
geek love. First off, upon entering the room, each person was
handed a goodie bag. Inside were a high-quality Indiana Jones
poster book featuring art by Drew Struzan, THREE t-shirts for
Iron-man, Star Trek and Slushies(?). Also included, a postcard
that could be redeemed for a shitload of movie posters. Included
in this haul: Star Trek, Iron-man, an exclusive Comic-Con poster
for the Tim Burton/Johnny Depp take on Sweeney Todd and other
assorted bits of coolness.
JJ
Abrams: director of Star Trek and producer of Cloverfield
Now the actual panel. They covered several
flicks but the three big ones were Indiana Jones, Star Trek
reboot and the JJ Abrams produced Cloverfield (temp title).
Steven Spielberg, Harrison Ford, Ray Winstone
and Shia LaBoeuf appeared live via satellite from the set.
They confirmed the internet rumor about the surprise character
in the new flick: the return of Karen Allen as Marion Ravenwood.
The entire cast looked in good spirits and it was odd to see
Ford in the fedora once again.
Abrams was next with Star Trek casting. He
confirmed "Heroes" Zach Quinto as Spock and brought
out surprise guest Leonard Nimoy. They confirmed Nimoy's appearance
in then new Trek film; obviously a flashback.
The
Two Spocks: Quinto and Nimoy
Abrams then jumped into a brief bit about
the Cloverfield project and said he wanted to make an American
Godzilla film. You've probably seen this trailer in front of "Transformers".
Then surprise guest Jon Favreau popped in
and after a humorous tease, showed four minutes of "Iron-man"
footage. It fucking rocked the goddamned house. This movie
is going to kick huge-fucking ass when it comes out next May.
Ironically, Favreau joked about the clip getting out on YouTube.
This morning, he was proved right.
Iron-man
director Jon Favreau
I skipped the following morning's Warner presentation.
apparently they teased "Watchmen" and "Get Smart".
The former hasn't started shooting and the latter has terrible
fan buzz online. I figured it was no big deal to miss this
panel. Warner's also had a LAME Batman viral game which required
fans to get done up in clown make-up and work with friends
online to figure out clues. LAME.
Saturday, I caught the Disney panel with "Narnia"
and Pixar's "WALL•E". No interest in Narnia
and while I love Pixar clips, their presentations are often
lackluster. This panel was no exception.
Hulk's
Liv Tyler and Edward Norton
The big draw Saturday was the Marvel Studios
panel for "Iron-man" and "The Incredible Hulk".
The cast and crew of Hulk came out to discuss the film. they've
only been shooting for two weeks. Ed Norton and Liv Tyler were
present. The only big news dropped in the panel was that Norton
is writing the script. I guess that means they've abandoned
the existing drafts.
Next up, "Iron-man". Favreau returned,
this time with his cast, Robert Downey, Jr., Gwenyth Paltrow
and Terrence Howard. They showed the trailer again and the
cast saw it for the first time. Once again, it brought down
the house. Howard seemed genuinely impressed with it, giving
Favreau a big handshake and grinning from ear-to-ear.
Iron-man
cast from left to right: Howard, Paltrow and Downey Jr.
Finally, Sony's panel was mostly forgettable
until Judd Apatow took the stage. After this summer's "Knocked
Up", he's got two more comedies this year that he's producing:
"Superbad" and "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story".
He showed clips from both and had the 6500 in attendence laughing
their asses off. These two films are going to rule. Trust me.
From
top to bottom: producer Judd Apatow, writer/actor Seth
Rogen,
Superbad's Jonah Hill & Michael Cera
That's all for the movie shit. In the next
couple of days, I'll cover the rest of the con.
::Permalink::
Posted
Tuesday, July 24, 2007 11:25pm
Civilians
Having been in the ad business
for many years and having attended many, many parties, I have
noticed a couple of big differences between people in advertising
and people outside of advertising.
People in advertising are funny. People out of advertising
THINK they're funny.
My wife is not in the business, though she used to be. I'll
often accompany her to one her friend's homes or parties and
there is a huge difference between the sense of humor of the
people I'll call "civilians".
Civilians will tell jokes that are horribly unfunny, but will
laugh at them nonetheless. Not to sound too elitist, but these
are the people that kept "Yes, Dear" on CBS for five
seasons. Then, when someone in the biz lets loose with some
real funny, they get blank stares. Ad humor is too dark and
twisted for their sensibilities. C'mon... what's a NAMBLA joke
between friends? Doesn't everybody find bestiality funny?
Plus, civilians don't get it when ad people swear. We swear
a lot. Fuck, shit, cock and much, much worse are in our daily
vocabulary. Ad people swear when the copier runs out of paper... "FUCK!" Once,
one of my wife's friends visited this blog and was shocked
at the language.
Fucking civilians.
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As an aside, I went to the IMDB and looked up the listing
for "Yes, Dear". Here's the featured review:
"This show succeeds at what it attempts: mindless comedy.
Perhaps if you are "educated" you consider yourself
above the humour, but I enjoy watching it."
Even it's fans are apologetic for liking this crap. I can
only hope that the spelling of "humour" is due to
an English author and not the product of a poor education.
::Permalink::
Posted
Tuesday, July 24, 2007 11:15pm
Pathetic!
Yes. My lack of posts in the last couple of
months has been completely pathetic.
The issue is two-fold. One, I have nothing
of interest to say. And two, little time to say it.
Tomorrow I head off to San Diego for this
year's Comic-Con. Confirmed guests include Ed Norton, Robert
Downey Jr., Liv tyler, William Hurt, Tim Roth, Jessica Alba,
Kate Beckinsale, Dane Cook, Jon Favreau, Ridley Scott, Kevin
Smith, etc, etc. Pics when I return.
::Permalink::
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