Well the time is getting close to when the bus arrives. It has been a good weekend here in NYC and the convention was a lot of fun also. With the cost of travel by bus being so little, I look forward to perhaps a few more long weekends in the big apple over the next year.
I know that Brendan Fraser gets a lot of guff from the film critics, but I like the guy. Not only does he do a decent job of presenting fun movies, he has a range. Whether its as a Jewish teenager trying to make it in a private school, gay man bringing solace to a dying older man, goofy jungle man or treasure hunting adventurer, he has always done a good performance.
This summer he is doing the adventure thing again with the release of a new vision of the Jules Verne classic, Journey to the Center of the Earth. I hope this thing flies…cause in my mind it has a couple of hard things going against it.
First, the whole 3D experience. Yes the technology these days is amazing, so much better than the blue/red lens system from the 50′s. But there are still several stumbling blocks. First, you have to wear glasses. For some that is not a bad thing, just something to get used too..but for some, including people who wear glasses normally, its a burden. And it is not possible to have a huge release of this film like other summer blockbusters, since you have to supply all the theaters with the glasses.
Next, the film is shot almost entirely on a green screen set. While special effects technology has greatly improved over the years, some of us (and I fall into this category) can see the flatness of effects shot entirely this way. Guillermo del Toro yesterday during the Hellboy presentation called films like this “Lazy”. I don’t think that quite fits this particular film, but if you look at all the Sci-Fi channel made movies you can definitely understand where he gets this opinion. And to my knowledge, films that are entirely shot this way (such as Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow) typically do not do so well financially.
The trailer they showed today was very good and you could get the feeling the effects will be even better with 3D. And Brendan was a good guest and answered the questions well. I think he might have tried just a little to hard to be goofy as some of his humor seemed forced. But perhaps that is just his normal personality.
You ever have those guilty pleasures. Well there are some movies that fall in that category for me. One is the film Harold and Kumar go to White Castle. A film about two pot head friends and their quite unlikely adventure of a road trip to get some White Castle burgers.
Well obviously it is not just my guilty pleasure, since the DVD sold so incredibly well that the studios decided to make a sequel. This time it is Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay. It is following immediately after the first movie and the guys are on their way to Amsterdam, home of the fully legal weed! Course, things don’t go quite as planned and hijinx ensue!
To promote the movie and answer questions from the audience, Kal Penn (Kumar) and Neil Patrick Harris (umm…Neil Patrick Harris) were on hand. While there were some good questions and banter from the guests, one question…the first one actually (which came from a NYCC volunteer) stands out in my mind.
Fan: Umm…I have a question for Kumar
Penn: Its Kal
Fan: Yeah right…umm so are you like really a pot head
(laughter from audience)
Penn: I really hate this question (snidely) because it always kills my fans. But no, I am not a pot head, and in fact during the first movie I was a vegetarian.
(at this point a small story about how the producers made special veggie burgers for Kal to eat goes on)
Fan: Oh…and I have one more question, Neil…were you using real crack in that scene
NPH: What? I can’t understand…
Fan: Umm…in the scene where your like half out of the limo, were you using real crack?
Kal: He’s asking if you actually snorted cocaine off the ass of the hooker
NPH: OH Yeah…totally man, 20 takes and I was FLYIN! (sarcasm)
This is one of those times when I cringe at who gets up and asks questions to the guests. Luckily it seemed that both enjoyed answering the guy even if he came off as quite the stoner (which I am pretty sure he was tripping at the time anyway).
Well the con is just barely shaking the sleepies out of its eyes when I show up. Everything is in full swing, but perhaps a slower less enthusiastic swing. There are a lot more kids present this morning and that I am glad to see. Officially it is Kids day at the New York Comic Con, and without kids there will not be any future comic cons.
My first panel of the day is for the TV series Moonlight. And no, as I had to explain to someone in line, it is not about the old Bruce Willis show but rather a new (last season) show involving Vampires. Now truth be told, I am not a fan. I have seen a few and they are okay, but just not enough meat (no pun) in the story to compel me to watch. But my friend Angel is a fan and I felt it my duty to represent for her.
As soon as I saw that the room was filled with mostly rabid women, I quickly understood more as to why this show might not appeal to me. Obviously it is geared toward a female audience. More power to them!
Two of the main actors of the show were on site to answer questions and give a presentation, Alex O’Loughlin (Mick St.John) and Jason Dohring (Josef Kostan). They were both humorous and perhaps not quite used to the undulation coming from the women in the crowd. They even stuck around afterward to sign some autographs from the stage (not normally done). I didn’t even try to get one though since the stage was 8 people deep and I know crossing a woman usually gets my eyes clawed out.
Yawn! I have to say that the Hilton Garden Inn has very comfortable beds. That combined with good water pressure in the early hours make for an easy rise into the new day. I am not to sure what the Hilton used to be, my guess is another hotel or perhaps apartments, but the floors are VERY tiny, only about 10 rooms per floor and 2 tiny elevators. Makes for an interesting stay when I am used to larger hotels.
Josh and Allison decided that they would take the bus back early since they did not have a Sunday pass to the convention…and of course Allison was still sick. So after I packed up and had breakfast with Josh I said my goodbyes and wished them speed on their journey home.
This part of the city is very quite on Sunday morning. The weather looks like it could take a turn for the worst, but I have my hopes that it won’t. In fact, with the Pope giving a public mass at Yankee stadium this morning I can almost guarantee no rain. I think he has a connection.
After dinner we headed over to the Strand. A giant bookstore that boasts 18 miles of books. I believe it too, tons and tons of new, used and remainder books to choose from. We stayed till it closed at 10:30pm and picked up a couple of things for our troubles.
On our way back to the subway, we just happened to pass (I still think Allison planned this part) by the Michel Cluizel Chocolatier restaurant. And knowing Alli (and women in general) I knew we were not escaping a stop here for a late night desert. I am not a keen Chocolate fan and neither is Joshua, but we figured it would be better than the resulting fallout.
Allison ordered a Chorizo with melted chocolates and caramel. I got the 80′s Style Shake. She seemed to really like it and the presentation was very nice. Basically several small chorizos, a small container on a candle with dark chocolate, a container with milk chocolate and a non warm one with caramel. Just dip as you like.
I was not that keen on my shake, it was like a very thin chocolate shake with a tiny scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. I actually enjoyed the container, a ceramic tall glass with a metal straw, more than the desert. But it was sweet and cooling to me after walking all over the place.
Upon returning to the hotel I found Joshua busy on his laptop and Allison asleep. Me and Josh shot the bull for a bit and then it was time for dinner plans. Due to Allison’s dietary restrictions we settled on a place that she wanted to really really check out, Ramen Factory Minca. This sounded pretty good to us also so we were off in search of Noodles!
The Ramen Factory is located on the lower east side of Manhattan so it was a bit of a hike. I was able to check my guidebooks and determine the nearest subway stop for us. I have to say that I am very spoiled with the subway in Washington DC. Not only is it so much more clean than the one in NYC, there are lots of good signage including time boards showing exactly when the next train will get to the station. But we were still able to find our way around okay.
There came a moment when we are walking through the neighborhoods of the LES that I started wondering just what kind of place we were going to. Allison had found a really good review on the Factory, so my hopes were still high. Finally in a little hole in the wall place we found the restaurant.
I think there were about 6 tables along one wall and the bar to sit at. We sat at the bar which was very nice to watch as our food was prepared. Service was good and the food was excellent. I had the “experimental” ramen, which for that day was a pan fried concoction. Josh had Ramen Soup with beef (?) and Allison had vegetable broth and noodles only. Mighty tasty and quite filling. Now I need to find a place around DC that serves Ramen in such a fashion.
After the Hellboy panel I escaped the confines of the meeting hall to explore the dealers room. Looking back I probably should have stayed through the Hulk presentation but I was a little worried about learning to much, kinda want to be surprised.
The dealers room was a very healthy size, I would estimate it at about 1/3 the size of San Diego Comic Con and about 1/3 larger than the San Francisco one (WonderCon). It was crowded but I was still able to make it through the whole room in about 2.5 hours. I consider the second day of the con my deal day, don’t buy anything unless its a good deal. I was able to pick up several books that were being signed by the authors for free. Some will be finding their way to my friend Angel as I am not really into the vampire/gothic romance genre.
Upon entering Artists Alley, I was both impressed with its size and disapointed in that I didnt really recognize many of the names. I am not into comics as much as I used to be, but it seemed that all I could find here were a few classic stars, some mid-range freelancers, a smattering of self publishers and a bunch of people I could only classify as “sketch artists”. Very few people had any art books for sale, some had copies of comics that they had work in, and a lot just had xeroxed mini posters for sale.
But for now my feet are wiped out and I am gettin a hankerin for some food! Back to the hotel I go (queue Batman off screen music).
Well, this is probably the main reason why I traveled to New York City. Out of all the things to see and do at this convention, I wanted nothing more than to meet and listen to the cast of the new Hellboy movie.
I have been a fan of the Hellboy character for years. Ever since Dark Horse comics started publishing the works of Mike Mignola I have gobbled up everything Hellboy related. Mike has a certain flair with minimalistic writing combined with a sarcastic wit that makes the characters seem very real. He has produced several mini-series’s, several related comic series (BPRD, etc), 2 animated movies, and now the second live action movie is coming out.
Now as for the movies, we really have to thank the director Guillermo del Toro as much as Mignola for how Hellboy is portrayed. Guillermo is an in your face Spaniard who was very funny to see on stage. He also had no compunction for holding back the swearing, lots of F this and F that and the F’in things! He even got several of the cast members to cringe at times. Good fun!
They brought everyone out on stage, had a short talk, then turned down the lights for the trailer to be played. During the trailer we see all our favorite characters plus some new ones. They are introducing one of the other BPRD characters from the comics in this film, Johann. Johann is a ghost who inhabits a special suit to allow him to move around more physically. We also see something called the Troll Market with some very elaborate creatures on the screen. And much to our surprise when the lights went up, the stage was filled with 8 people in the Troll Market costumes. An excellent surprise!
Once the Q&A started it seemed everyone got asked some good questions. I was surprised to see that no one asked Selma Blair anything. Generally the good looking women get tons of questions (some that make me cringe, but still). Doug Jones who plays Abe Sapien recently was in another genre film, Fantastic Four 2 in which he played the Silver Surfer. He was asked about a SS movie but did not have any details to give, but seemed hopeful.
Looking forward to this movie, go see it when it comes out!
Okay, just to clarify the title, the name of the movie is Wanted. It is due out in July and is based on a popular comic book mini-series (of which I am a fan). They showed us several lengthy clips during the presentation and from what I saw I was very happy with the results. Mind you, this is very very far from what the comic book was like.
In the comic, a lowly shlub who was put upon by the whole world found out that he was the son of a super villain. Not only that, but the world is populated by super heroes and villains, but no one knows about it. It seems that some years back a villain that could change peoples memories made everyone in the world forget that there were super powered people around. This included all the heroes who are now just every day people but constantly monitored to make sure they don’t remember anything.
Needless to say, the main characters father had recently died and left everything to him, and since his ability made him a super assassin, that is what the guy became. Now of course, a movie about tons of super heroes isn’t as easy of a selling point. But the story of a man who’s long lost father was a member of a secret assassins guild is easier for Hollywood to buy into.
I was happy to find out that a rather obscure but good director had made the film, Timur Bekmambetov. He is a Russian director who made a couple of groundbreaking films in the past few years, Nightwatch and Daywatch. If you get a chance, watch these as they are visually very impressive. His style was evident here in the clips for Wanted also. So between some great cinematics, guns blazing, and of course Angelina Jolie…well, it should make some money this summer.
