Pocket Change - Shopping Blog

Friday July 24th, 2009

Comic Con Day 2: Friday was the day I could finally get into Hall H (that’s the biggest room where most of the big studios are and what the Twilighters ruined on Thursday).  Thanks to my friend giving me a Friday pass so I didn’t have to volunteer, and double thanks to them opening badge pick up early as I think the line was close to a mile long, I was able to, you guessed it, get in line for Hall H for the Warner Brothers panel.  They were previewing Where the Wild Things are, The Book of Eli, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Box, Jonah Hex, and Sherlock Holmes.

Where the Wild Things Are is based of a kid’s book of the same name, which wasn’t something I read as a child, but the movie looks fascinating.  All the creatures are people in big furry costumes, not CG and it does a wonderful job of maintaining the feel of being in a little boy’s fantasy world and not a movie studio’s big budget production.  I have to say I’m very much looking forward to it.

Book of Eli was easily the surprise of the panel for me.  I knew nothing about it, and it’s dark subject matter was a complete 180 from the previous movie.  I was preparing for some dull panel, then walk out the Hughes Brothers (Menace to Society, Dead Presidents) followed by Mila Kunis, Gary Oldman, and Denzel Washingtion.  Yes, Denzel was at Comic Con, and he was having a blast.  He and Gary Oldman were making a bunch of random innuendo comments and cracking up on stage; it was awesome.  Still don’t know what I think about the movie, but I’m much more willing to give it a go now than I was before.

Nightmare on Elm Street is, well, a new incarnation of Freddy Krueger.  The movie looks like it should be scary again, and Jackie Earle Haley, aka Rorschach from Watchmen, will be playing Freddy, which is cool.  I’ve always been a big horror movie fan, so I know I’ll want to check it out when it comes out.

The Box is directed by Richard Kelly, the creator of Donnie Darko and Southland Tales, which means I’ll go see it.  It stars Cameron Diaz, James Marsden (Cyclops from X-Men), and Frank Langella.  The story centers around a young couple (Diaz and Marsden) visited by a stranger (Langella) with a box and a proposition.  Open the box, press the red button, and receive a million dollars (the movie takes place in the 70s, when that was significantly more money).  However, once you press the button, someone you don’t know, somewhere, will die.  If they refuse the box, they receive $100 just for listening.  Of course, they push the button, receive the money, but mysterious consequences ensue.  If you aren’t familiar with Kelly’s work, it’s always fascinating and bizarre, and it’s really not for everyone.  But I love it and I can’t wait!

Jonah Hex stars Josh Brolin, Megan Fox, and John Malkovich, which is reason enough for me to see the movie.  The plot was still a little vague after the preview, but Jonah (Brolin) is a scarred bounty hunter, Leila is his love interest/prostitute (Fox), and Turnbull (Malkovich) is the bad guy.  It takes place in the wild west days, and things blow up and Megan Fox is hot and Malkovich is awesome by defaul, not the most glowing review, but I’m excited.

Last, but certainly not least, is Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Downey Jr. (Holmes), Jude Law (Watson), and Rachel McAdams (Irene).  I’m a huge fan of all the cast members’ movies, and they really bring their characters to life.  I especially enjoy Jude Law’s snarky Watson, but really, all the characters are very well acted.  I’m definitely looking forward to it’s release.  All in all, the WB panel was very impressive and I’m looking forward to quite a few movies.

I’m hoping to keep up all the fun by heading to the Big Bang Theory panel, which failed miserably as the line was so long, I wasn’t even allowed to stand in it.  Plan B was the Attack of the Show panel, with Olivia Munn and Kevin Pereira, and did I mention Olivia Munn?  Anyway, that too failed miserably as the line already had more people than room capacity, and the room was full too.  Back to the Big Bang Theory line, which was becoming a 24/Bones/Dollhouse line.  I hang out with some random 24 fans for awhile, bitter and blaming Dollhouse fans (I mean, it is a Joss Whedon show, and few things create fanboys and fangirls like a Joss Whedon show) for his inability to see the 24 panel, and I’m sure they’re at least part right.  I do finally make it in the room for the Bones panel, which was sad because David Boreanaz wasn’t there, but Emily Deschanel was, so I was plenty happy.  It was mostly an amusing Q&A; I don’t follow the show too much, but I enjoy it when I catch it.  I was primarily being an aforementioned fanboy waiting for Dollhouse.

Dollhouse was screening an unaired episode that takes place 20 years or so in the future, where word of the Dollhouse gets out, people are getting their minds remotely erased, and there’s a war between “actuals”,  i.e. people who were still themselves, and the people who had their personalities wiped, knowingly or otherwise.  I enjoyed the episode, some of my friends less so, but we’re all hoping that universe doesn’t come to pass.  Eliza Dushku was there, and seeing will always be a highlight of a convention panel, and Joss Whedon has a lot of fun on stage, because we’re his people.  We did cut out of the Q&A early though, because I needed to get my volunteer assignment for Saturday and get in line for Rifftrax.

The volunteer line was thankfully short, and I chose to work programming, which meant I could be in a room, as opposed to line control, where I would stand around and watch people in line.  Easy choice, really.  So I head up to find a very impressive line for Rifftrax and it’s slowly filtering in the room.  I find a gap in the line, to which I’m politely informed isn’t actually the end of the line.  So I get out, find yet another gap, only to discover this too isn’t the end of the line.  This time, I do feel bad, at least kinda, but I stayed since I failed at this panel last year too, and if the line can’t move fast enough that there’s a 10 foot gap, I don’t consider it my fault, at least sort of.

For those that don’t know, Rifftrax is what became of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 people, and they still “riff” on movies to this day.  For the panel, we were treated to a riff of an old Caterpillar (the construction equipment people) safety video entitled “Shake Hands with Danger”.  Needless to say, the video was a little shocking, like the old driver’s ed video Red Asphalt, really poorly acted, and rather convoluted.  So, like most safety videos.  Afterwards, the Q&A was to help them decide on the next movie for them to do a riff of, and the decision was (I think) Dragon Wars, which is a terrible Korean sci-fi movie that apparently makes no sense.

Following Rifftrax was Sci-Fi Friday nights screening the new episodes of Eureka and Warehouse 13; watching their screenings has been a tradition of mine, as I would otherwise miss them during the convention.  There’s not really any discussion, it’s just airing what you would see on TV on Friday (Eureka) and Tuesday (Warehouse 13).  Definitely beat after that day, so it was time to head home, satisfied with a day of panels.

I rate this day a 4 out of 5.

-Zack is le tired