The Grail of Geeks...

Take a look at this...

There are a lot of fun toys, giveaways and expensive gadgets to be gotten at Comic-Con, so feast your eyes on the white hot item at CC 2010.

Unfortunately, you can't have it as they've already sold out...

Hat Tip to Ain't It Cool New's Capone.

Comic-Cannes...

Time's change...

Everything moves and turns, becoming something else. You either evolve or die. For the majority of the 20th century, the Cannes Film Festival in France was the preeminent place to show films, make deals and see what was coming down the line. Slowly, over the past couple of decades in general and the last decade in particular, that has changed.

If you want your film shown, known or plan on making deals for a new generation of filmgoers, then you better be in San Diego for The Con. Comic-Con is the new place for film. Oh, I'm not saying that the films or stars will go away from that celebration in Europe. And Sundance will still be there, to a diminished degree at least. But Comic-Con IS the new place, for good or bad, to be in the know of what is culturally hot. And what will be.

The number of studios and stars showing up keeps growing and growing. The marketing has gone from a few posters, banners and a few behind the scene photos to the kind of advertising you'd see for an Oscar campaign. Elaborate displays and previews of new films that won't be seen by the general public for sometimes a year or more. Comic-Con has become more than just a few events set up around finding the back issue of your favorite comic that you happen to be missing a few issues. You used to be able to get copies of your favorite television show that is no longer on the air and not yet on VHS (now DVD), but know you wait in large rooms filled with screaming fans waiting to see a cavalcade of producers, directors, writers and actors talk about projects that sometimes even the trades didn't know about yet.

We'll be here at Blue Sky giving you the skinny on what Colonel Kurtz's perspective of what he saw and the events and parties he attended. I just wish I'd be there for tomorrows "Tron Legacy" panel, but the real world calls.

Developing...

Knowtz From Afar...

Vacation, la, la, la...





I'll be away for a few days, guys...

Blogging will continue near the end of the week when Comic-Con begins to wreak carnage of geek minds everywhere.

Until then, enjoy your week...

55 For 55...

It all started Fifty-five years ago today...

Walt Disney opened his version of what a theme park should look like, and in doing so he reinvented it. It was the first, the original and unheard of at that time. Disneyland became the park that all others would emulate. Doesn't look too shabby for being born all the way back in 1955, does it?

Through most of his life Walt struggled to get money for his projects, from shorts to films... he very often gambled the fate of his studio on projects that if they were to fail, would have doomed his own company to failure. And when it really counted, like "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" or "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" he came through stronger and more able than before. But after Disneyland opened he never ever had trouble getting financial backing again for anything.

Anything...

Happy Birthday to the one and only!

Living The Dream...

Bring On the Bat...




Every generation has at least one great visionary director whose creative genius transcends their visual craft in a way that defies the conventional norm and is revered by critics and audiences for their originality and brilliance. Christopher Nolan is, without doubt, this generation's Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock, Ingmar Bergman, Akira Kurosawa, or Orson Welles and will long be remembered among that pantheon as one of the greatest film directors of all time.

Inception is the movie that The Matrix wanted to be but wasn't and only dreams that it could have been while it was more preoccupied making itself look cool with science fiction technology and special effects, it merely stood at the precipice of the elaborate canvas of storytelling genius that Nolan presents us here with Inception's intricately complex and labyrinthian narrative as he so masterfully demonstrated in Memento (2000) that relies upon virtually no science fiction technology at all, simply the dreams and imagination of its narrative construct. There is never a dull moment as the viewer's mind is forced to keep up with the expository action racing along like a proverbial freight train. The special effects are relatively seamless and exist only to support the rich, complicated framework of its story rather than distract from it with gratuitous explosions and an overindulgence of CGI that dominate the morose offerings of modern summer movie blockbusters. Nolan's visual scope and canvas are vast and epic but grounded in a believable and conventional reality, an illusion every bit as effective as the slight-of-hand deception of The Prestige that will leave the viewer questioning what reality really is and which level of reality they are watching long after the film has ended.

There are plenty of nods and send-ups to Nolan's favorite films and their influences are evident throughout, the most obvious of which being Blade Runner which Nolan is quoted as his biggest inspiration and also On Her Majesty's Secret Service which he cited as his favorite James Bond film. For my money, they should just hand the keys to the Bond franchise over to Nolan right now and let him re-invigorate it with the same sophistication and panache that he brought to the Batman franchise with Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Tom Hardy already proved his theatrical range as a serious performer with his breakout performance as Bronson (2009) and delivers an exceptional supporting performance as Eames mixing sly wit with a focused intensity that would be perfect to see him bringing to the role of future James Bond.

Although I've never really cared much for Leonardo DiCaprio as a leading actor and have always regarded him as that "kid" from Titanic but I was completely taken by his emotionally intense performance as Cobb. Nolan has a knack for casting only the best actors of the highest caliber for his roles and here Leo proves that he is more than a capable leading actor of his generation. Cillian Murphy, Ken Watanabe, and Michael Caine once again bring an heir of class and benediction to their supporting roles as they had done previously in Batman Begins.

Hanz Zimmer's intense score for Inception is extraordinary delivering a lucid electronic ambiance that is both as ethereal as it is urgent, even darker and more melancholy than his score for The Dark Knight. Zimmer composes an auditory dreamscape that compliments the visual experience of the film by implanting its haunting melody in your mind and staying with you long after you've left the theater.

Summer 2010 was looking pretty bleak until Nolan came along and rescued it much like he did in 2008 with The Dark Knight. All my fears and doubts about how he was going to top that with the third Batman film have easily been subdued. I have no doubt in my mind that he will deliver a spectacular finale to his chorus of Batman films with the same sophistication as he has demonstrated in Inception. The Dark Knight is in good hands. Now, just let him have the keys to the Astin Martin and let him write his own ticket. Nolan is the real architect of our dreams.

Jobs' Reception...

The video for Apple, Inc. press conference is now up at their site...

Watch it if you want to see how the Chairman of the Little Fruit Company responds to the media backlash.

Just don't click on it with your left hand or you may have trouble viewing it...

Nerdvana Returns...

The pilgrimage is about to begin again...

Once a year, all geeks, or at least those within driving/flying distance, must make the travel to that temple down in San Diego. It is written. A rule, a law, a holy tenant in the world of pop culture. And yet again, I am sinning this year. For I will not be going. Again.

Forgive me.

But I/we will be reporting on all the news coming out next week. I just happened to have a previous engagement that I made a while back and couldn't break it. Again, forgive me. My good Bothan, Colonel Kurtz will be reporting back to me though and I will be reporting all his rants as he rallies his troops through the jungle of Comic-Con. Why?

Every year the event gets bigger and bigger. It's hard to believe that it's possible. The first year I went, I was amazed at how many people were there. I would literally have to start looking for my friends an hour before I was supposed to meet up with them just so I would have time to find them. This was in an era before I had a cell phone. Much less, my lovely and gorgeous iPhone, which is the only phone I now have.

But big the Con has got.

As many people as were there that first weekend I went, it is far more difficult now. A sea of bodies swarm through the main hall and rooms inside that big building by the shore. I really don't think that the Con will move from San Diego as has been talked about that last few months. Although it would be interesting to see it in Anaheim, but some of the magic that it has would fade away. Somehow the convenience of that trip would be overshadowed by the theme park that's next door. There is something to be said about taking that two hour drive with friends down the 5 freeway with food and drink in hand while watching Adam West in the 60's "Batman" series on our TV, while talking the religion as each mile passes. Fun for us, weird for you. I look forward to it each year. Including this year, which I won't be at.

Why?

Because it's going to be big. Big. BIG. I have talked to several Bothans and would love to be there for those big announcement, those panels and the big surprises that will follow. And not everything will be about Disney. Even though this year's show will/could be remembered as Comic-Tron, there will plenty of news for every stripe of the geek tribe.

The announcements from Warners are especially interesting. Being a DC Guy, I await a lot of footage of next years "Green Lantern" film, but also quite a few surprising events to unfold. Plus, if you've ever attended one of these, then you know that they always have surprise guests and I have a pretty good idea of who might show up. It will be four days filled with a lot of geeky love being thrown out. And it all starts with "Tron Legacy" on Thursday. And then there are those animation panels I want to get a seat in. But I'll have to wait for that FaceTime call from Kurtz. I'll be posting some of his impressions and thoughts as well as my own reaction. I just hope he gets me a couple of those Tron T-Shirts that appear pretty swanky. And I'm going to call him all kinds of names when he tells me how fun it was playing "Tron Evolution." And then all the other things he is going to dangle in front of me. But be prepared for the onslaught next week guys.

It's going to wild, simply wild...