Comic-Con 2010: Paul
August 4th, 2010 by Brian White
I first became aware of the upcoming Simon Pegg comedy adventure, Paul, through my involvement over at leiasmetalbikini.com. The webmaster over there filled me in on the filming late last year, as it pertains to all things Comic-Con and of course, girls dressed in scantily clad Princess Leia metal bikinis. The film has a ridiculous cast that consists of Simon Pegg, Seth Rogen, Jason Bateman, Sigourney Weaver, Jeffry Tambor, Bill Hader, Nick Frost and the very funny, Joe Lo Truglio. Continue reading ‘Comic-Con 2010: Paul’
It’s come that time to wrap up the last of my 2010 Comic-Con articles. It proved to be yet another grand weekend of stars, starlets, ink, film and fun in San Diego this year. On Wednesday’s preview night, I took a moment to focus more on the ink than anything else, spending some time at the Image Comics booth. ‘Booth’, however, is an understatement, as the Image area covers some significant square footage and is dotted with a variety of company talent. 
So it occurred to me the other day that Rob Reiner, with the exception of North, had directed a string of very good to great movies up to the mid 90s. After that, he seemed to have lost his way a bit. I am glad to say that this new film of his is a solid coming of age story and in the same sense, a very nice throwback to the “coming of age story” genre in general. Adapted from the 2001 young adult novel of the same title, this film is a lean, nicely paced, teen romance story that works exceptionally well at being entertaining. 
I love talking about this film. Anytime I can talk about the lovely Gemma Arterton, I’m a happy man. And she looks absolutely stunning in Disney’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time…and the movie wasn’t bad either (insert smile). So it gives me great pleasure to announce that Disney has set a September 14th Blu-ray release date for the title. The Blu-ray will be cooked with a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio surround track and of course, Gemma in stunning 1080p video. I’m sold! 
The Kids Are All Right is a well-balanced “dramedy” (comedy/drama) about an unconventional family, dealing with the arrival of another member of the family who is related in an unconventional kind of way. The lightness of the tone, mixed with the overall themes involving family and the bonds of marriage, as well as some strong and sharp comedic moments give the dramatic elements of this film an effective weight. In addition, strong performances from the lead characters also aid the film quite remarkably. 
The final season of arguably one of the greatest TV shows ever made will be released this August with a ton of great extra features especially if you buy the complete collection that includes even more goodies; like the Senet game played by Jacob and the Man in Black and a collectible ankh and a black light along with a custom LOST island replica. I have to say that I loved this show even though it’s deliberate machinations sometimes maddened me to distraction. This is a show that you need to watch in order and with your full concentration. 
Every once in a while we are very fortunate to receive items from the studios to give away to our loyal readers. So it gives me great pleasure to announce one of the BIGGEST giveaways we have ever had on the site. Our friends over at Warner Home Video have given us a HUGE Elvis prize pack that consists of an Elvis on Tour Blu-ray Book, the Elvis Blu-ray Collection of 3 Elvis films, the Elvis 75th Anniversary DVD Collection (one of the largest Elvis film DVD collections ever with 17 films and an Elvis Insiders annual membership. 
After getting into Hall H Thursday morning just in time to catch the Salt panel, I stuck around for Battle: Los Angeles, a film I knew absolutely nothing about. However, I’m glad I stuck around as the trailer and clips shown for the film were absolutely bombastic and riveting. I’m adding this to my list of must see films in 2011. It’s basically a story about a Marine platoon fighting off an alien invasion in of course, Los Angeles. Sounds simple enough huh? But this looks like it has the potential to be so much more, almost in the same way District 9 was last year. 
One of the funniest shows on TV right now is The Office and this September Season 6 finally arrives on Blu-ray and DVD! Some of you may know that this is an American remake of a hugely successful British series that starred Ricky Gervais. In my opinion, this new version is far superior in every way. With a stellar cast led by funny-man Steve Carell, this is a ground-breaking show that consistently makes me laugh. One of the rare things about this show is that they cast wears several hats as they also frequently write and direct some of the episodes as well as produce the show. 
To say that I was not looking forward to the April 16th theatrical release date of Kick-Ass would be like saying that I would rather watch a DVD of my favorite film over its superior Blu-ray counterpart. It’s just not going to happen. And now that my number four film of the year is coming out on Blu-ray August 3rd, I have even more reason to celebrate. My obsession with this film happened way back on the magical date of July 24, 2009. It was on that very day, within Hall H at Comic-Con 2009 in San Diego, that I was introduced to the world of Kick-Ass. 
It’s that time again…”The Women of Comic-Con 2010.” As part of an annual tradition we started last year I decided to take it to the next level this time around and instead of just having a bunch of .jpeg thumbnails lazily placed on a webpage I decided to arrange the magical photos of 
Every Comic-Con something or someone always catches my eye and opens me up to new things and experiences in life. This happened quite frequently to me this year at Comic-Con 2010, but I wanted to give a quick shot out to someone I met while running through the crowded vendor hall on Sunday. She goes by the name of Ms. Monster. Maybe you heard her, maybe you didn’t, but I was curious, so naturally I wanted to learn more about her. That’s how we grow in life, right? From life’s experiences…so anyway… 
One of the greatest movies of the 80s is finally coming to Blu-ray and it’s coming in style! The Goonies 25th Anniversary Box Set will arrive this September with a lot of extra goodies. I’ve always loved this movie and I think this was a one of those rare movies that is a part of our cultural landscape and loved by most of my generation. You can’t go wrong when the movie was conceptualized by Steven Spielberg, written by Chris Columbus, and directed by Richard Donner and has a fantastic cast. 
Sucker Punch, the title of Watchmen‘s Zack Snyder’s newest upcoming film, was a surprise hit in my Comic-Con 2010 itinerary diary. I immensely enjoyed the trailer, which was played two times for us. It looked like a cross between a mythical/fantasy adventure and 300, with women in the starring role. And what would Sucker Punch be without the female cast? The trailer really took my breath away. My wife did not particularly care for the fantasy aspect of it (dragons and all), but I say bring it on Mr. Snyder! Bring it on! 
In case you are in the dark like I was, RED stands for “Retired Extremely Dangerous.” It’s kind of a fitting title for this coming of age ex-CIA action comedy vehicle. The panel of actors, consisting of Bruce Willis, Mary-Louise Parker (Weeds), Helen Mirren and Karl Urban (Star Trek), sat down with writer Warren Ellis and producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura (Transformers) to discuss all things RED. 
As I mentioned before, Marvel Studios owned Hall H Saturday night at Comic-Con 2010 and they followed up the Captain America panel with a little film about the mighty “God of Thunder,” Thor. I have to admit, at first I had my reservations about how they were going to pull this mythical film off, but after viewing the trailer a total of two times (yep, they showed it two times), my fears were quickly relinquished. I still have my doubts, but at this moment, they are very minimal. 
A lot of people including some reviewers on this site were somewhat disappointed with the latest re-imaging of Robin Hood, but I enjoyed it although I wish the movie began where it ended which would have been the traditional Robin Hood story. I’m a big fan of Ridley Scott and Russel Crowe and I have a lot of respect for their efforts to do something new but for a story that is so ingrained culturally across the world, I think they should have added more of the Robin Hood mythos along with the new back-story. 
Coming to save us all this September is MacGruber! For those of you that may not be familiar with this character which is a take off off MacGyver, it began as an Saturday Night Live sketch starring Will Forte and Kristen Wiig who inevitably have to defuse a bomb in a short amount of time. While some of the sketches are repetitive, this movie expanded the premise and was critcally well received, but it didn’t do as well at the the box office that many had hoped for. 
