Cinematical

Cinematical fought through the massive crowds tonight on the convention floor to bring you tons and tons of photos from the 2008 San Diego Comic Con Preview Night. While we didn't spot too many people dressed in costume (except for a group doing a Batman theme), there were some very, very cool toys, games, statues, posters and movie props. Among the larger attractions was Nite Owl's ship from Watchmen (pictured below -- see inside by clicking through the gallery), a huge Iron Monger statue (in gallery), James Bond's hot set of wheels (in gallery), a ginormous Star Wars exhibit, with Star Wars: The Clone Wars statues alongside dudes in Storm Trooper attire (pictured above), as well as monitors displaying the new video game, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (which looks hella cool).

Check out a few images from Preview Night below, then definitely make sure to head on over to the gallery to see what this year's San Diego Con is all about.

P.S. Masters of the Web panel tomorrow morning, 10am. Be there! Say hello! Make it look like I have friends!



Nite Owl's ship from Watchmen (more images from inside the thing down in the gallery).



Our friends in Batman gear!

Cinematical's Official Comic Con Hub

Walking around Preview Night here at San Diego Comic Con and, well, we kinda stumbled upon this poster (click image to enlarge) for X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The film wasn't supposed to have a major presence here at Con, so it's nice to at least see a poster for the flick, which hits theaters on May 1, 2009. We'll have a whole bunch of photos for you from Preview Night here at Con in just a little bit -- in the meantime, what do you think about this poster? Does it get you excited for the film? Starring Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber and Danny Huston, X-Men Origins: Wolverine will claw its way into theaters next summer.

For complete coverage of the 2008 San Diego International Comic Con, check out the official Cinematical Comic Con Hub.

Look, I thought The Dark Knight had a lot of strong selling points: Combine a deft pace with thoughtful characterizations and a whopping IMAX design that turns the entire experience into a plot-driven theme park ride, and you've got one hefty dose of Batman adrenaline.

Still, comparisons to The Godfather Part II notwithstanding, The Dark Knight isn't foolproof -- in fact, no single movie in history is foolproof. The subjective experience of movie watching ensures that nothing can be universally liked by everyone, and rules of civility insist that humanity respect that truism. It's acceptable to feel passionately about a great work of art, and defend that perspective with rigorous argumentation, but much of the outrage over the minority perspective that The Dark Knight isn't any good has made such practical thinking impossible.

Deemed the first critic to pan the movie, New York's David Edelstein went out of his way to list the allegations against him sent along by various Batman fans. The House Next Door editor Keith Uhlich, meanwhile, fielded over a hundred rants in the comments section following his astute critique of director Christopher Nolan's questionable portrayals of violence. What's particularly shocking about this frightful deluge of negative responses is that many of these people began posting their disapproval before they even saw the movie.

One of the greatest things about Guy Maddin is that his accomplishments come out of creativity and a spot-on eye, rather than money and flashy technology. Give the man an old camera, a few actors, and some weird props, and he can make a film that's not only engaging, but also visually stunning. He knows how to make the least become the most, and with the release of My Winnipeg, he's now inspiring others to do the same.

Jam! reports that UK filmmakers are getting a change to get their Maddin on. Both newbie and experienced filmmakers are getting the chance to submit 3-minute odes to their hometown, and Guy says "anything's eligible." Considering the lap-linked Winnipeg, it's not surprising that the doors are wide open...

Anyhow, the online contest is going to give out 1,500 pounds to the winner and a roundtrip flight to ... dum dum dum ... WINNIPEG! Sure, they also get their film screened and included on the UK's DVD release of My Winnipeg. But who cares when you can head to the snowy wonderland? I'm hoping the winner at least gets to choose the season.

If you want more information, head here.

The whole idea of secret children who come out of the woodwork is challenging as it is. Should the secret be revealed, or should it stay hidden? How do you make up for lost years? How do you integrate them into the family? Now, imagine that you're part of the law, and you find out that your secret kid is in jail. That's the basic idea behind a new indie comedy called City Island, and The Hollywood Reporter has posted that Julianna Margulies, Emily Mortimer, and Alan Arkin have joined the cast.

Andy Garcia had previously signed on to play Vince Rizzo, "a Bronx prison official who realizes that an inmate (Steven Strait) is his secret love child. His efforts to become his guardian lead to comic complications." Marguiles is taking on the role of Garcia's wife, and it seems that the man is also looking to become an actor because Arkin will play a teacher in the acting class, and Mortimer will be a fellow student he becomes friends with. Garcia's real-life daughter Dominik Garcia-Lorido will play his daughter, and Ezra Miller has also nabbed an undisclosed part.

I really don't know how all of this acting works into prison officials and long-lost bad boy sons, but we should see soon enough. The film went into production this week in the Bronx.

What can you expect from the MPAA when you make a movie with "some some graphic sexuality"? Yup, the kiss of death. Kevin Smith's Zack and Miri Make a Porno has been slapped with a rating of NC-17 by the MPAA, according to a list posted today by The Hollywood Reporter.

The rating was posted on the MPAA film ratings site at least as early as last Saturday, but News Askew noted that it was marked as "pending appeal" and had received the rating for "some graphic sexuality." I just checked the MPAA's site, and now the film doesn't show up at all. What happened? Was the appeal lost? Will cuts be made to secure the R rating? Who made the "some some" typo -- the MPAA or THR?

The ratings tussle is not entirely unexpected. Seth Rogen complained about the MPAA last month because of the film's difficulty in securing an R rating, and Smith took down a raunchy online-only teaser until the MPAA approved it. I would imagine that Smith is contractually obligated to deliver an R-rated version, but I wonder what nightmares he faces to please the MPAA?

As it happens, Smith will appear at Comic Con on Friday evening to talk about his film, and I'm sure he'll have something to say about the rating. Zack and Miri Make a Porno is still due to hit theaters on October 31.

For all the anime fans who hoped that certain titles would remain out of the grasp of Hollywood; I have some bad news for you. According to iFMagazine, Fox has given the green-light for a live-action version of the classic animated series, Cowboy Bebop. During the Television Critics Association press tour, producer Erwin Stoff let it slip that he now has a deal in place with Fox studios to bring the popular series to the big screen. Stoff told journalists, "I'm developing COWBOY BEBOP for Fox, but doing it as a live-action film, so I'm working on that at the moment, I'm really excited to be working on it, and it's in the really early stages. We just signed it the other day."

For the uninitiated; Cowboy Bebop was the story of a group of bounty hunters and their adventures aboard their ship, Bebop, in the year 2071. The series was a huge success in both Japan and in the US, and even spawned an animated film back in 2002.

For fans who might be worried that Cowboy could suffer the same fate as other anime-inspired flicks, there is a silver lining. Stoff promised that, "I have such an enormous admiration for its creators, that our first and foremost concern is going to be a real degree of faithfulness to the tone of the movie, to the mix of genres, and so on and so forth," -- I don't want to sound too cynical, but it's not like we haven't heard that one before.

Now on to the more important question: Who should take over for Jet Black and the gang on the big screen? Sound off below...

Prepare to roll your eyes in disbelief. The remake of Akira Kurosawa's venerated classic The Seven Samurai has been completed. But it's not the one planned by The Weinstein Co. And it's scored to The Rolling Stones?!!

Let's clarify: Don Brown at ryugangi says that Hiroyuki Nakano, director of the excessively stylish Samurai Fiction and Red Shadow, has been busy creating a new version of Samurai for a pachinko machine. (Yes, you read that right.) The official site features a half-dozen clips. The ones I've watched look surprisingly good and faithful to the spirit of the original -- except, er, for Mick Jagger singing "Paint It Black," "Jumping Jack Flash," and "Satisfaction."

How could this happen? Kurosawa's son Hisao has reportedly irked many by licensing his father's films and image for everything from remakes to a canned coffee commercial. Seven Samurai itself was made into a video game in 2004 (Seven Samurai 20XX) that was recently named one of the worst movie games ever by Wired.com. The same Japanese company that produced the video game (Sammy) also makes pachinko games, so I suppose this was inevitable.

Initially, I thought the article was either a bad joke or a slam at Nakano's directing style. Surely this was an advance peek at the Weinsteins' remake. But that project won't start shooting until later this year and the cast will feature American, European and Asian stars (per Variety), not just the Japanese actors pictured. My eyes are still rolling.

Cinematical has officially arrived in beautiful, sunny San Diego! We somehow found a way to get our press badge before anyone else, and I'm here with our first 2008 San Diego Comic Con gallery -- featuring images of all the cool little goodies they gave me when I picked up my badge. Among the lot, there was an issue of Mad Magazine that tackles Botchmen (instead of Watchmen), trading cards, stuff on the new Batman LEGO video game and a massive events guide. They'll be letting us into the convention in just a few hours for preview night, so I'll slide in there and see if I can't bring back anything cool to show you. But before we get to the gallery, let me just say this: If you've never been to San Diego, get your ass over here because this town is gorgeous!

Last thing (and most importantly): Check out Cinematical's official Comic Con hub for all the latest and greatest from San Diego, as well as Moviefone's awesome Con hub. It just launched now and it's a little empty (and lonely), but we'll be filling her up soon enough.

Time to get our Con on fools! Be back later ...

Boy, you miss a few weeks work to move 2,000 miles, and you fall behind on all kinds of things going on in the world of Twilight. All you Twilighters have, no doubt, been keeping up to speed with everything that's been going on out there -- you're making plans to attend Breaking Dawn parties, planning what you're going to wear, entering giveaway contests, and getting your Twilight-inspired costumes put together (who knew there were so many varieties of vampire fangs out there?).

I know, you have it much more together than I do on all the Twilight madness, but hey, I've been on the road with four kids, a dog and a cat all crammed into a 1998 Ford Windstar, moving back to Seattle, so I'm just now getting around to catching up. So here's a rundown of all-things Twilight for you -- in case you, like me, have been having a busy summer.