Category: Movies

The Once and Future Comic-Con

Jim MacQuarrie

I spent Thursday through Sunday of last week at what is officially titled Comic-Con International San Diego, but known to geeks, nerds and fanboys the world over as simply “Comic-Con” (other nicknames include SDCC, Geek Pride Week, Nerd Prom, and, before it became cool, many less flattering terms); this four-day event has become the Sundance Festival of genre film, TV, gaming and, oh yeah, comics.

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“Worlds Within Worlds”: Shattering Conventions Explores and Exposes Con Culture

Ethan Gilsdorf

Writer Bob Calhoun’s new tome is Shattering Conventions: Commerce, Cosplay and Conflict on the Expo Floor, an insightful and fun romp through what he calls “temporary worlds created in concrete convention centers and hotel conference rooms.” We chat about his book, his take on Comic-Con, and the days he used to wrestle men in Sasquatch suits while drunks tossed food at him.

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Is James Bond a Good Role Model?

David Faith4

With the recent birth of my son I’ve spent a lot of evenings staying up late with the baby in an effort to give my over-burdened wife a few uninterrupted hours of sleep. I find it virtually impossible to actually concentrate on anything else amidst the effort of soothing and tending to an infant. But I’ve found that I can manage to watch a movie, so long as I make liberal use of the pause feature. Thus it seemed the perfect time to work my way through the complete 50 Years of Bond Blu-ray collection that my wife got me for last birthday. I enjoyed the films as always, but found myself asking for the first time a question that never occurred to me before I became a father. Is James Bond a good role model?

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First trailer for Saving Mr. Banks

Jim MacQuarrie

Disney has released the first trailer for their new film about a key point in the studio’s history, chronicling Walt Disney’s (played by Tom Hanks) relentless effort to acquire the rights to Mary Poppins, and author P.L. Travers’ (Emma Thompson) resistance to the notion. Saving Mr. Banks tells not only that story, but also the story of Travers herself and the events of her own life that inspired the creation of her famous nanny. In her books, Mary Poppins is, like Travers herself, a considerably less sweet and charming personality than the winsome figure played by Julie Andrews; she’s tough, unsentimental, and not given to indulgence of herself or anyone else.

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Review: Man of Steel Novelization

David Faith

have generally found that novelizations are the exception to the general rule that novels are better than movies. Where a movie screenplay is the original source material, the novel can feel thin and hurried–lacking in the depth of thought and characterization that goes into good original novels. Thus when I was asked to review the Man of Steel novelization, I agreed with low expectations. I was pleasantly surprised.

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Pacific Rim: Man, Machines & Monsters

Anton Olsen

I think what I find most fascinating about these books is the glimpse into the creator’s mind that they afford us–watching how a mere idea progresses through character building, world building, story-boarding, and ultimately into the reality of film. Sure, I know that most of it is CG these days, but that doesn’t detract from the artistic talent and vision that went into creating it.

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The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – Tauriel the Elven Archer

Jim MacQuarrie8

Ever since I wrote those articles about the archery in Brave, The Hunger Games and Avengers , I get random email, Twitter and Facebook messages from people pointing out archery in other movies, TV shows, comics, cartoons and videogames and asking what I think, and the latest to cross my screen is a note inquiring about the new elf character played by Evangeline Lily in the second installment of the Hobbit saga.

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Shake It Out!

New The Hobbit Video Blog Released

Natalie Zaman

With less than six months to go until the next instalment of Peter Jackson’s epic expansion of Tolkien’s other famous book hits the screens, the first production diary video for The Desolation Of Smaug (technically the 11th overall) has been released. It starts off with some bad news for fans regarding Comic-Con, but continues with more fascinating glimpses into the world of Middle-earth movie making.

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3rd Annual Robot Film Festival On Kickstarter

Anton Olsen

It’s hard to believe that Robot Film Festival has been around three years. In those years the festival has expanded to both coasts with events in New York City and San Francisco.

This year they are raising some cash for the San Francisco event on Kickstarter. There are plenty of reasonably priced pledge levels with rewards including decals, posters, and even entry to the festival if you’re in the Bay Area on July 20th and 21st.

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