And the Geeks Shall Inherit... San Diego?

Call us what you will - fanboys, enthusiasts, or geeks - but there is no denying our power during this time of year. I'm referring to Comic-Con International, which began Wednesday night in San Diego. Every year in July Comic-Con brings together all the coolest things (movies, video games, comicbook art, etc.). The number of attendees has grown to approximately 125,000 strong - this is more people than attended either of the political conventions during the last presidential campaign (according to the LA Times).

Unfortunately due to budgetary constraints, I was unable to attend this year. So this 'bark' goes out to my brothers & friends... I'm with you in spirit on the crowded convention floor. Yet in spite of my absence I've managed to quench my inner-geek and I'm excited about what I've heard coming out of Comic-Con.

This has been another year of firsts. Peter Jackson (the overlord of "The Lord of the Rings") came out his New Zealand lair to attend Comic-Con for the first time. Tim Burton appeared for the first time in years and James Cameron gave Comic-Con a first peek at his latest work Avatar (his first film since Titanic)

Jackson

Peter Jackson announced that he was weeks from completing the first draft of The Hobbit. Exciting news indeed, since there was a time when Jackson further involvement in the Tolkien saga was in question due to legal issues with the producers of the first three LOTR fims. The Hobbit will be two films and Guillermo Del Toro is set to direct the films. Jackson did some promotion for District 9, a film that revolves around aliens that earth is keeping in detention/concentration center. The trailer I've seen for this film looks great.

Burton

Tim Burton didn't come alone to Comic-Con. He was accompanied, to the surprise of everyone, by Johnny Depp. They both spoke about their next collaboration Alice in Wonderland (due out in March 2010). Depp is playing the Mad Hatter, and the film appears to have Burton's trademark darkness. The production still for Alice make it look like Burton took the work he did on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and is pushing that "look" to the extremes.


Cameron

Hall H is the biggest hall at the San Diego Convention Center (it holds several thousand people), and it's reserved for the biggest events of Comic-Con. Apparently people waited for hours to get into Hall H for James Cameron's session on Avatar. There's a tremendous amount of buzz surrounding Avatar, since it's Cameron's first film since Titanic. Cameron wrote this story over a decade ago, and he has literally waited until the technology reached the point to allow him to create this film the way he envisioned. Briefly the story is set on the planet of Pandora and revolves around a human soldier, who is befriended by a Navi princess (the Navi inhabit Pandora). The film is in 3D, and Cameron screened 20 minutes of the film for the capacity crowd. Everything I've read about this project says it could be a "game changer" for Hollywood - how's that for buzz.

Well... this dog is done barking.

Transformers: Revenge of the Pudding Heads

All right, so I’m a couple of weeks late to this party. I finally saw the Transformers movie last night. I can’t believe this was the movie I was so looking forward to months ago. Unfortunately the experience was much like going to a party given by one of your parents’ friends – you had to go, the party was okay, but staying home could of also worked out fine.

This Transformers movie should serve as a case study for a common Hollywood fallacy that states “more is better”. In this movie more comedy, more explosions, and more robots didn’t make a more enjoyable film. Now had the screenwriters put more originality into the story these excesses could of worked. Instead this movie plods along from one effect scene, to another explosion scene, to a comic relief moment with little subtlety. I know… this is a Michael Bay film; expecting subtlety from Michael Bay is like expecting the Pope to handout condoms at a free clinic – not going to happen.

I saw trouble on the horizon at the opening credits when three names appeared credited with the screenplay. Screenplays by committee seldom produce worthwhile results. What annoyed me most about Transformers was the “cutesy” factor. The two jive talking, twin Autobots and Mikaela’s pet Decepticon were glaring examples of screenwriters desperately trying to connect with the kid audience (blatant merchandise development posing as story). Another low points included - Sam’s dog (Mojo) and the pet Decepticon’s leg-humping bits (cheap laughs from lazy screenwriters), Sam’s annoying college roommate (who added nothing to the story), and Sam’s over-the-top mother (a smaller dose was funnier in the first film). I wonder is there a screenwriters’ Magic Eight Ball that they shake whenever they need a conflict between their main characters? In this case the ball showed “boyfriend can’t say, ‘I love you’ to girlfriend.” Sam and Mikaela, fighting to save the world from total annihilation, have no time for romantic conflict. I’m sorry, but saving the world requires complete focus from those involved. Obviously the screenwriters felt the urge to give the female audience a token plot point, too bad this one clanked so hollow.

By now I’ve created the impression that I hated Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. So let me say that watching the vehicles transform into robots is such a cool effect that each time it happened it stirred my inner-geek. I give Michael Bay credit, the purported 200 million dollar budget is all on the screen – every technical aspect of this film is top drawer. Bay has developed a great relationship with the U.S. Defense Department, so they give Bay access to the coolest military paraphernalia (aircraft carriers, jets, tanks, etc.) that I love watching Bay play toy soldiers on such a life-size scale. To say nothing about how Michael Bay does more to keep explosive manufactures in business, than some small terrorist organizations; lots of things loudly going BOOM on the screen all the time. Fabulous! Then there’s Megan Fox… boobs, booms, and Autobots - a combo that’s all ready taken in over 700 million dollars worldwide at the box office (Boxofficemojo.com).

It just too bad a little more attention didn’t go into a creating a better story to pull all these elements together into a tighter movie. Too bad that instead of “more is better”, no one recalled the better old Hollywood chestnut - “It’s the story, stupid!”