SDCC '11 Diary: Day 2 - Part 1

As some of you may or may not know, I'm currently at San Diego Comic-Con representing FilmWatch. And so far, I have to say, it's been a blast. Though how I miss sleep.

Unfortunately, due to long days at the convention center and buggy internet at the hotel, I haven't been able to report back until now. Though, besides the first Prometheus footage yesterday and some cool Rise of the Planet of the Apes clips, yesterday proved to be somewhat underwhelming in Hall H. Today, however, proved to be a great time.

The day started off with....well, the day started off with me waking up at 6am to go stand in line for 4.5 hours in the "heat". I say that loosely, because these people complaining have obviously never experienced the South's 100 degree weather with 90% humidity if they think this lovely 75 degree weather is in any way hot. Though, I will say that the people here are great and it makes waiting in line a somewhat fun event all in itself.

Finally, around 10:30, the doors opened up and we were ushered into Hall H, where I was able to nab a seat up front, only 8 rows back from the very front. This provided a great view of the day's activities on stage.

First up was the Tintin panel and the man himself, Mr. Steven Spielberg, making his Comic-Con debut. This was met with a standing ovation (probably needless to say). Here, Spielberg was presented with an award for his countless contributions to the world of movies (as well as the pop/geek culture). As they get ready to show off some Tintin footage, one Peter Jackson makes a surprise visit and joins Spielberg on stage. I gotta say, Spielberg AND Jackson together makes for one hell of a way to start the day.

We were treated to a rather funny clip of Peter Jackson playing the role of Haddock as a CGI version of Snowy prances around him before getting drunk and taking a spill into the ocean where Jackson jumps in after him. This was all test footage that Jackson prepared for Spielberg to show off motion capture as well as show off the blend of that technique coupled with live-action (to help Spielberg decide how he wanted to go about doing the film).

We also got to see some really nice footage from the movie itself, which looked great. Admittedly, I wasn't entirely sold on this movie beforehand, but now....absolutely. It looks like an absolute blast and appears to be one hell of an adventure that lies ahead. Spielberg even drew comparisons between Tintin and Indiana Jones after telling us how a French magazine once cited the similarities back in a review for Raiders of the Lost Ark.

As if all this awesomeness wasn't enough to kick off the day, a question from an audience member prompts Spielberg to reveal that they do in fact have a story for Jurassic Park 4 lined up and are already working on the script. Furthermore, he states that we should get the much-anticipated installment in 2-3 years.

Next up was the Relativity panel which included 'The Raven' and 'Haywire'. Focus was first set on 'Haywire' as Steven Soderbergh, Channing Tatum and Gina Carano (MMA fighter and star of the movie) took the stage. We're treated to a trailer of the movie and it looks pretty good. Basically, 'Haywire' appears to be 'The Bourne Identity' with a female lead. After a bit of trivial banter, which included Tatum basically admitting he liked getting his ass kicked by a girl, we're treated to another clip.

This clip shows a fight scene between Carano and Fassbender (who stars as another spy in the film). Let me go ahead and tell you, this fight scene is absolutely awesome. Given Carano's background, they wanted to go with fights that felt and looked real and I have to say: mission accomplished. You get no stylized fighting here. Just hard pounding, in your face, brutal violence. A good old fashioned ass-whooping as it were. Definitely looked real and was pretty impactful. It helped that the fighting was real on some level. While Fassbender wore a padded suit to cushion the blows, I still can't help but feel sorry for him as Carano lands a gut-wrenching body punch to him as they proceed to tear apart the hotel room. Carano goes on to admit she really loved filming that scene and loved getting banged around the room by Fassbender. This evoked a laugh from us all as Carano realizes what that actually sounded like as the words came out of her mouth.

Carrying on we finish up the Relativity panel with 'The Raven' as James McTigue, John Cusack, Alice Eve and Luke Evans all make their way to stage. We're shown the first trailer for the movie and it definitely looks interesting. This looks more in line with McTigue's 'V for Vendetta' rather than 'Ninja Assassin' (which is a good thing I think). There's a definite 'Se7en' vibe to it all. McTigue even goes on to draw comparisons between 'The Raven' and 'Se7en' and even 'Misery'.

After a short break, we move on to the Screen Gems panel which includes Underworld Awakening and Attack the Block. Attack the Block looks like a blast. I had RSVP'd to attend a screening of the sci-fi comedy that was showing the night before. However, I ended up leaving the hotel that morning without the pass and thus couldn't get in unfortunately. The panel showed off more clips of the film and it definitely looks like it's a fun one. I've heard several people state that this is the best movie they've seen all year (to which the director joked "Don't watch anymore movies this year then, please"). The director likened the first-time child actors to that of Super 8, saying Attack the Block's kids even exceed Super 8 on some levels.

Moving on we get to see first footage of Underworld Awakening. Looks great and we finally get to see Beckinsale in action; kicking ass like she has previously (one scene in particular where she goes flying/sliding down a hallway full of security guards as she slices their throats and takes them down). The 3D appeared decent (though I'm just not a fan in general), but the film isn't exactly finished yet, so there's the possibility it could improve even more (not to say it was bad in the trailer/clip). After Wiseman compared the franchise to West Side Story with werewolves and vampires; and Beckinsale made a couple jokes about their vampires being done right (unlike some sparkly versions), Wiseman went on to talk about more Underworld. He stated they have anime shorts set in the Underworld universe that will be included on the DVD and in a future box set. As far as sequels, he said there was nothing definite, but was indeed interested in continuing and even turning the franchise on its head with new environments and all. All in all, I know I'll definitely be checking out Awakening. And any fan of the previous movies, shouldn't be disappointed.