comiccon Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Well, we've all had our fun and made our jokes, but I think that the fans of the blockbusting vamp romance Twilight have had just about enough of us. At least, that seems to be the case in an editorial titled Enough with the 'Twilight' fan-bashing media antics already, over at The Examiner. The editorial was a response to a piece on The Frisky about Twilight conventions that was full of the usual cheap shots and snark that accompanies all Twilight news. But The Examiner isn't the only one defending the Twi-hards -- here's an editorial from our own Erik Davis over on Movies.com about how Twilight actually saved fandom.

I'll be the first to admit that, yeah, I was one of those people taking cracks. I made jokes about toothless sparkly vamps, and all the rest. But I've started to wonder if us writers have crossed the line of gentle teasing and into 'bullying'. So what makes Twilight jokes any different than cracks about Trekkies or a geek who lives in their mom's basement? For me, it was the idea that these girls (or women) were just silly little hormonally charged chicks looking for a glimpse of Robert Pattinson rather than honest to goodness fans of the series (however flawed it may be).

When it came to Twilight, it seemed that the general consensus was: Girls like it, so it must be stupid. Well, I've had enough conversations over my lifetime about how something is a 'dude thing', that I'm fully versed in the idea that certain stories appeal to men and women sometimes. But what has me ticked is the idea that when you pull the dude card, it's in a tone that says, "You just don't understand, it's a dude thing". Whereas when it comes to us girls, it's more along the lines of disdain as in: 'Eww, that's a chick thing".

After the jump: will I mend my Cullen-bashing ways?...

In just a few hours from now, the Cinematical team will land in San Diego for the 2009 Comic Con Convention. On the ground for us this year are Kevin Kelly, Todd Gilchrist and, of course, our resident geek Elisabeth Rappe -- and all three of them will be working harder than they've ever worked before to bring the entirety of Comic Con to your computer screen, be it through panel coverage, interviews, video, stormtroopers break-dancing -- you name it, they'll cover it.

Cinematical will be covering all the major panels (Disney, Warner Bros. 20th Century Fox, Summit, etc..) and all the major films (Iron Man 2, Avatar, Alice in Wonderland, New Moon), as well as speaking with all the major stars (Tim Burton, Peter Jackson, Robert Downey Jr.). We'll be on the convention floor, we'll be getting our groove on at all the big parties -- we'll be everywhere at every time so that you never miss a single thing. Not only will you be able to tap into our Comic Con coverage by following it right here at Cinematical, but we'll also be live-Tweeting the Con madness for those who desperately want up-to-the-second updates from the convention. If it's happening at Comic Con, you'll find it on Cinematical.

Here are some handy links for you to bookmark asap:

Cinematical's Comic Con Coverage
Cinematical on Twitter
TV Squad's Comic Con Coverage
SciFi Squad on Twitter
Horror Squad on Twitter

And don't forget to check out Moviefone's official 2009 Comic Con Preview

Feel free to let us know if there's something specific you want covered or if there's a question you have for the long laundry list of filmmakers, actors and actresses that will attend this year, and we'll do our best to hook it up for you ... because we care ... more than you'll ever know. Hugs! Er ... um, okay, let's get to it then ...

Look, I'm all for being a hardcore fan of a particular piece of entertainment. Growing up I had G.I. Joe action figures and really enjoyed the Star Wars movies, but one thing I never did was attempt to slit the throat of someone who wasn't as keen on Luke Skywalker as I was. But we didn't have internet back in those days, and perhaps that's part of what's created this new breed of fandom -- this obsessive, violent behavior between kids who like love Twilight and kids who don't.

Apparently there's a war brewing across the country between Twihards (folks who live, breathe, eat and sh*t Twilight for a living) and Antis (those who don't like Twilight and, instead of minding their own business, decide to instigate fans by crapping on the book and the movies). You may think it's sorta cute that these kids are all worked up over fictitious vampires and what have you, but The Twihard Attack Directory would lead you to believe otherwise. Yup, there's an actual directory that chronicles violent Twilight-related attacks, ranging from Slap on the Wrist (punched, smacked, wished miscarriage) to Felony (brick thrown at head, attempted drowning, beat with a bat).

Some of these "attack stories" do sound pretty lame and made up, but others seem like they could be real. Are there seriously gangs of Twilight fans out there who would go to great, painful lengths to protect the brand? And if so, what's going to happen when the next two films come out? New Moon will certainly make a Comic Con appearance this summer -- should the San Diego police be called in to make sure things go according to plan?

Have any of you witnessed or heard of violent Twilight-related activity between fans and non-fans? Is this being blown out of proportion, or should we expect a 60 Minutes story to pop up next month?

[via Geekologie]

I'm not sure how long this will remain up, so I'd clear out the room, grab some popcorn, poor a glass of blood -- or whatever the hell is it that you do to prepare for awesomeness -- and check out the video above right away. What you'll see is the much buzzed-about footage from The Wolfman that screened at Comic Con last week (read our panel coverage here). I was at this panel and absolutely loved what I saw of this flick; it looks creepy, chilly and Gothic. And when your cast spits out names like Benicio del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt and Hugo Weaving (not to mention special makeup effects from a dude by the name of Rick Baker), then you know something special is in the works. Check out the gallery below for more kickass Wolfness.

The Wolfman is currently set to attack theaters on April 3, 2009.

Back during Comic Con, this poster (click to enlarge) was hanging up at the press conference and we snapped some iffy images of it. Now, however, the good folks over at Warner Bros. have sent us a shiny new version which looks a whole heckuva lot better. In case you didn't read it yet (slacker!), Terminator: Salvation won our Comic Con award for best all-around presentation at the convention. Not only did McG "bring it," but his cast was just as excited. Granted, they're still in the middle of filming -- which means they're currently eating, sleeping and sh*tting Terminator -- but it was nice to see some great footage and a jazzed-up crew. Trust me when I say the two-or-so-minutes of footage was pretty dynamite and I'm now convinced McG will deliver a highly-entertaining flick at the very least.

Terminator: Salvation will arrive in theaters on May 22, 2009.

Above: Cinematical's Erik Davis poses with the three female stars of Bitch Slap. (And yes, that is a Flux Capacitor on my t-shirt ...)

They didn't have a panel or a party, but the folks behind the upcoming Bitch Slap were everywhere, literally. I, personally, ran into these girls on several different occasions, and in a building packed with thousands of people, it's pretty damn rare to stumble across the same person twice. Heck, because of their sly guerilla-marketing techniques, we'll also be giving them a special Comic Con award later on, but in the meantime make sure you check out the hi-res versions of the Bitch Slap Comic Con character posters in the gallery below.

You've probably seen these bad boys hanging around on other sites, but Cinematical is the first to have them in sparkling hi-res. In case you forgot about our previous post on the film (where we debuted the poster and several images), Bitch Slap is described as a "post-modern, thinking man's throwback to the "B" Movie/Exploitation films of the 1950's - 70's as well as a loving, sly parody of the same," and it stars Kevin Sorbo, Michael Hurst, Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor, as well as Julia Voth, America Olivo and Erin Cummings.

Check out the gallery below, and for more on Bitch Slap feel free to head to the film's official website.

I won't get into the precise reasons, but my friends always seem to think I'm going to LOVE the next big "pot comedy." They chuckle and assume such silly things despite the fact that the only real pothead comedies that I truly enjoy are Up in Smoke, Next Movie, and a large portion of the Harold & Kumar misadventures. Frankly I'm of the opinion that most pot comedies feel like they were written by someone very stoned, and let's just say that writers don't always do their best work when they're extra-baked. (They might THINK their stuff is hilarious, but usually it's not. That's just the weed talking.) Oh, you'll definitely find a few cannabis-caked giggles in Half-Baked, Grandma's Boy, and Smiley Face -- just not enough to sustain a whole movie, if it's me you're asking.

So it is with much pleasure, enthusiasm, and recently-applied Visine that I offer you Pineapple Express, which just may be the Casablanca of Pot Comedies. Or perhaps it's more like When Ultra-High Harry Met Super-Stoned Sally, but either way Pineapple Express showcases some of the funniest "weed culture" insights since the arrival of Richard Linklater's fantastic Dazed & Confused -- which I wouldn't call a full-bore "pot comedy," but it sure isn't shy about passing those joints around. Best of all, while Pineapple Express will absolutely appeal to both the casual and committed pot-smokers, it's also just a very funny buddy comedy / action flick parody that comes bearing the very unique stamp of director David Gordon Green.

My biggest disappointment of the Comic-Con weekend was not being able to stick around for the Friday the 13th panel. (Turns out Davis could have stayed for it, seeing as his flight back to NYC was delayed by about six hours, but that's a different type of horror story.) Since we know it's one of the hotter flicks being buzzed about at the convention's final day -- and, um, it's a movie I just like writing about -- we turn to ShockTillYouDrop for their blow-by-blow breakdown of the event.

My favorite nuggets include:

• The idea that, while the actors and producers are obviously up for a sequel if the fans agree, they intend to make their Friday remake a "stand-alone" entry. Which is always cool when you're doing a Part 1, if you ask me.
• No goofy cameos from previous cast members.
• Jason will be a bit cleverer this time around, perhaps setting a few traps instead of just lumbering around and practically teleporting from cabin to cabin.
• It will be PG-13 in theaters and then Unrated on DVD. (Dude, I'm kidding.)

For the full run-down (and a peek at the first poster), check out Shock's coverage right here.

This was one of the panels I was most looking forward to because I desperately wanted to walk away from it with even more good vibes than I already had. Though I still chuckled every time someone prefaced a question with "This is for McG ...," the guy definitely "brought it" to Comic Con. You could tell this dude really wanted to sell the audience; he wanted to sell them on another Terminator flick, he wanted to sell them on it being directed by a dude named McG and he wanted to bottle up his enormous energy and sell that too. The guy was amped up to a level just beneath "Okay this is uncomfortable," and the panel audience was virtually high-fiving him the entire time.

The Footage

I wasn't sure what we'd be seeing as far as footage from the film went, since they were still right in the middle of shooting and, well, you wouldn't expect anything too polished. But to my surprise they managed to throw together an enticing little two-or-so-minute teaser that was gritty, grimy, familiar and --pardon the language -- pretty f**king rad. I was too engulfed to write down every second of the thing, but it basically consisted of a number of quick snippets of gunfire, Anton Yelchin (as a young Kyle Reese) saying stuff like, "Come with me if you want to live," a little of Sam Worthington (who seems like the kind of guy that'd clock you for staring at him for more than three seconds), Moon Bloodgood (hot name for a hottie actress), Common (who I assume plays the obligatory post-apocalyptic black dude) and, of course, those T-600 robots (the film takes place in 2018, 11 years before Arnold's T-800 existed).

Gallery of panel below; more after the jump ...