Comic Con 2009: Daemon's Movies Recap
Now that Comic Con is over, and that I am recovering from those exhausting 5 days, I thought it would be a good idea to do a recap of everything we covered this year.
Favorite Panels
There were tons of great panels this year, but there were of course a few that really stood out to me, so I thought I would share my favorites with you.
James Cameron's Avatar - It was so wonderful to be able to see 24 minutes of never before seen footage from Avatar, and it was also really great to hear James Cameron and the cast talk about their experience with the film.
Kick-Ass - Definitely the biggest and most exciting surprise at Comic Con. I was looking forward to the panel, but I didn't realize how bad ass the footage shown was going to be. One of the movies to look forward to.
Kevin Smith - The one panel that I make sure not to miss every year is Kevin Smith.
Here is the list of all the other panels we covered at Comic Con:
Kevin Smith Comic Con 2009 Panel
The only panel at Comic Con that I always make sure not to miss is the Kevin Smith panel. I of course am a fan of his movies, but seeing him in person is totally new experience, he is just so hilarious and so outrageous, I love it. This year, Kevin Smith delivered once more and helped me feel a little less miserable after spending the whole day in Hall H. However there is no way to explain how funny he is, you have to watch it for yourself.
That's why you should check out a few videos from the panel below. The best part is probably when he talks about the Twilight fans, and as one myself it was even funnier to hear what he had to say. (Warning: the videos do contain adult language):
THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG Comic Con 2009
During the Comic Con 2009 panel for THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG we got a chance to take a look at one of the musical numbers from the movie, which is not only really great, but reminded me so much of my childhood's Disney movies. They haven't lost their touch, that's for sure.
Here are some of the highlights from the panel:
- The Princess and the Frog is a 4 years in the making return to the classic 2-D fairytale. It is an American fairytale, set up in New Orleans in the 1920s. It also marks the return of the Disney animated musical.
- Anika Noni Rose, who was in HBO's The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency is the voice of Princess Tiana.
- Prince Naveen is voiced by Bruno Campos.
- The evil voodoo magician that turns Prince Naveen into a frog is voiced by Keith David.
- The movie also features a Cajun firefly named Ray voiced by Jim Cummings. One of the clips we saw featured him, and yes it's as funny as it sounds.
- We also meet Louis (voiced by Michael-Leon Wooley), an alligator who loves to play Jazz. He is the one who tells Tiana and Naveen about Mama Odi (voiced by Jenifer Lewis) a voodoo priestess that can help them.
- There are 7 original songs by Randy Newman in the movie.
The Princess and the Frog comes out to theaters on December 11, 2009.
Terry Gilliam's THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS Comic Con 2009 Panel
I wasn't all that excited for THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS, but the Comic Con 2009 panel totally changed my mind.
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus tells the story of Dr. Parnassus who made deal with the devil a while back, and now has to give him his daughter who is about to turn 16. Dr. Parnassus decides to make yet another deal in order to save his daughter. The first person that is able to seduce five souls will get her. Armed with his imaginarium, Dr. Parnassus and his "team" will try to get people to enter the world of dreams through the imaginarium.
The imaginarium, from what I understand, shows people different things when you enter it, depending on what their dreams and desires are.
During the panel, we got to see a few clips, which I absolutely loved. The first one showed Parnassus meeting the devil for the first time. The second one was a clip featuring Heath Ledger as he tries to get people interested in the imaginarium, which you can watch below.
KICK-ASS Comic Con 2009 Panel
So far the Comic Con 2009 KICK-ASS panel was my favorite one along with James Cameron's Avatar.
I had been looking forward to this panel based solely on some of the pictures I had seen from it and the story of the comic book (which I now want to read).
Kick-Ass tells the story of a guy, Dave Lizewski, who decides one day that he is going to become a superhero, but the problem is, he doesn't have any superpowers.
Appearing in the panel was the director Matthew Vaughn, writers Mark Millar & Jane Goldman, John Romita Jr. and cast members Christopher Mintz-Plasse (McLovin), Clark Duke and Chloe Moretz.
During the panel, we got a chance to take a look at a few clips and trailers, which totally kicked ass!
Probably the most memorable one was the one where, Damon Macready (Nicolas Cage) shoots his daughter (who is wearing a protective vest) to teach her not to be afraid of guns and being shot. That was probably one of the funniest scenes that I have seen in a while, and Nicolas Cage is brilliant in it.
Another great character is Mindy Macready aka Hit Girl (Nicolas Cage's daughter) played by Chloe Moretz, who probably has some of the best action scenes in the movie.
The best part of the panel was the standing ovation after the footage had been revealed, which is quite the compliment since that pretty much never happens.
Kick-Ass looks funny and has some pretty crazy action sequences. I cannot contain my excitement for it and hope we will get to see it soon, although there is no release date for it yet.
For now, you can check out more pictures from the Kick-Ass Comic Con 2009 panel below.
IRON MAN 2 Comic Con 2009 Panel
Hall H filled up to its maximum for the very anticipated Comic Con 2009 panel for IRON MAN 2. This is understandable especially since we were shown the very first footage from the movie, which looks amazing beyond words. You thought Robert Downey Jr. was good in Iron Man, well let me tell you he steps it up once more.
Amongst the people on the panel were Kevin Feige, Jon Favreau, Robert Downey Jr., Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, and Sam Rockwell. The panel was highly entertaining with some really fun answers from the panel.
Check out videos from the Iron Man 2 Comic Con 2009 panel below.
EXTRACT Comic Con 2009 Panel
The Comic Con 2009 panel for EXTRACT included appearances from Mike Judge, Jason Bateman, and Mila Kunis.
We of course got a chance to watch a few clips, which were funny, but not as funny as I expected or maybe I was just tired... Comic Con will do that to you. Apart from that, the director and cast of course shared some information about Extract with the audience and so here are a few highlights:
- Extract is a workplace comedy set in a factory.
- Ben Affleck based his character on a high school friend of his.
- Mila Kunis has never had a scene with Kristen Wiig even though she has been in three movies with her.
- When asked what his worse job was, Jason Bateman responded: "There are so many of them. Everyone knows how to access imdb, right? Just go ahead and pick."
- Mike Judge revealed that he would like to do a TV show.
- With Jason Bateman in the room, people of course wanted to know about Arrested Development, and while he didn't have any breaking news, he did reassure us that the movie is not dead and is still going forward. He also talked about how the last scene from the last season of the show, could inform what the movie will be about.
- As to whether we will ever see more of Beavis and Butthead, the answer to that is: "It's not out of the question."
Extract comes out on September 4, 2009. In the meantime, check out more pictures from the Extract Comic Con 2009 panel below.
WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE Comic Con 2009 Panel
Max Records, who plays Max in Spike Jonze's movie adaptation of Maurice Sendak's classic story, WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE was the only one there to present the panel at Comic Con 2009.
The panel consisted mostly of showing an extended trailer and lots of clips, which I really enjoyed. I haven't read the book, so I can't compare the two, but I love what Spike Jonze has done.
Max Records did a really great job of presenting the panel. He was actually reading some of his lines off his hand, which he explained he might have to do since he hadn't done something like that before. It was really sweet. Max Records talked about how Spike Jonze sometimes did things during scenes to get actors to have real reactions. For example when actors needed to be scared, he would make a big noise in the middle of the scene to get them to react.
Max Records also talked about what Maurice Sendak told him:
"I really hope people like this movie because if not, they can just go straight to hell."
Where the Wild Things Are will be released to theaters on October 16, 2009. Check out more pictures from the Where the Wild Things Are Comic Con 2009 panel below.
THE BOX Comic Con 2009 Panel
One of the movie panels we got to see was the new movie THE BOX starring Cameron Diaz, James Marsden and directed by Richard Kelly (who also directed Donnie Darko).
After showing us a trailer of the movie (see it here), the cast and director talked about the movie, their characters and the themes discussed in the movie.
Fun fact: Cameron Diaz totally gave away a major plot point of the movie; the director's face was priceless.
Check out two full videos of the Comic Con panel below (Courtesy of patrick005):
ZOMBIELAND Comic Con 2009 Panel
During the Comic Con 2009 panel for ZOMBIELAND, we not only got to see a new special trailer, which was freaking awesome, we also got to see a few clips, which made me even more excited to see the full movie.
In one of the clips shown, a girl, Jesse Eisenberg's character, Columbus, likes comes knocking on his door freaking out that she has been attacked. He offers for her to stay at his place, only to realize the next day that she has turned into a zombie. A crazy fight scene follows as Columbus tries to fight the zombie off, and the scene ends with him hitting her with a toilet cover. It's pretty crazy.
To present the movie, Ruben Fleischer, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and Woody Harrelson were all on the panel.
Here are a few highlights:
