It is time once more for Comic-Con in San Diego, where advance word will be released on all the good stuff coming out over the next year. Everybody will be covering it, including traditional TV coverage from both G4TV and MTV. They will also be covering them on their websites, of course. A few other websites who have had great coverage of the event in recent years include io9, MSN’s Parallel Universe, the gamer gang from Kotaku, and all the Friends of Ugo, of which there are many. While it would be nice to be there, at least there will be news!
According to an article in the LA Times, both of the next two upcoming Marvel movies, Thor and Captain America, will be in 3D. I personally believe that, just like an IMAX film, you want to shoot in that media for optimal resolution, and then gracefully degrade the same source material for less robust presentation formats. Even though it results in an inferior product, there are simple ways to Upgrade 2D movies to 3D that any of us can do on our home computers. And all the new CGI software, including all the animation packages available for purchase for home use by us non-industry types, now fully supports 3D creation in all three standard formats. But isn’t the point of paying money to see a movie in the theater to get to enjoy something we don’t have the resources to create at home?
As near as I can tell from the LA Times report, it looks like the film makers of the two movies (Kenneth Branagh and Joe Johnston, respectively) don’t understand how the technology works, and don’t want to be bothered with learning the new filming techniques or even mastering the cameras. Still, if they have the right competent people on board to process the 2D footage they do film into pseudo-3D, and mix it with the 3D SFX output, and edit the combination into a coherent movie, they could end up with a watchable product. But it will never be as good as it would have been had they bothered to learn how to film a 3D movie in the first place.
Bottom line? I consider the Marvel stable of characters and story lines my friends, since I grew up with all of them. And I am exceedingly impressed by what Marvel Studios has done so far for the movies they have created, certainly much more impressed than I was with the films like Electra and others that were being outsourced before they built their own studio. So I will continue to attend each of the new films as they come out, and based on the evidence so far, continue to enjoy them.
Some of the best movies going are graphic novels (comic books if you prefer) turned into film, and another great one is coming down the pike. Red was a 66 page graphic novel written by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner that will be hitting the big screen around October 15th. It has an amazing cast playing the retired CIA bored people out looking for a little excitement. Check out the trailer and mark your calendars.
Another new trailer was released for Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, which yet again looks even better than the last one. And there are still almost two months to go to the August 13th release date, so they have time to do it again (if they can). Between now and then we have Toy Story 3 and Jonah Hex, on the screens this weekend; The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (yawn) on June 30th; the live action version of The Last Airbender on July 2nd; Despicable Me and Predators on July 9th; the fun-looking The Sorcerer’s Apprentice on July 14th; and the twisted thriller Inception on July 16th. Then there is a gap (unless you count Salt on July 23rd) for several weeks, after which The Expendables comes out the same day as Scott Pilgrim. I’m ready for Scott to be out now, but for the time being the new trailer is all we get.
Two of each this time: Movies, TV, Anime. To start with Movies, the one that is gut-level intense is the Book of Eli, the first apocalypse story I have seen since Mad Max (the original film, not the sequels) that rings true on every level. Even the touch about the disaster happening because the sun flared through and past the stripped off ozone layers matches in every detail with our current atmospheric situation. The other film of note this week is When In Rome, a romantic comedy that takes several cultural preconceptions and scrambles them beyond belief. Each of these is worth your attention, although one is a bit more important on a long term basis than the other.
In the TV series category, Sanctuary: The Complete Second Season is the top choice. Hopefully you already know why, but if you don’t, consider Nikola Tesla as a Vampire and Jack the Ripper as a Teleporter, and realize they are a few of the more normal regular characters in this series. I recommend this one to everybody. The other TV release worth noting this week is the MacGyver: The TV Movies set, two made for TV movies from 1994. While not strictly SciFi, MacGyver was a Geek Hero, building whatever he needed from whatever was available, the way we all do. It was a nice surprise in those days to have a character who shared our understanding of the world.
On the Anime front, we have 3 box sets this week, with the first two being new. First we have the Clannad: Complete Collection series for 24 episodes, in the growing up damaged category. The other new release is X: TV, not to be confused with the X: Movie series. Both of these are somewhat deceptive, since single season collections have been released for each, but not complete collections until now. The Witchblade DVD Complete Series has been previously released, but this week the Viridian Collection version becomes available, making it much more affordable. If you haven’t been reading the Top Cow comic, and somehow missed the live action TV series, and didn’t know about this Anime TV series, trust me when I say you want to watch this. The weapon chooses its wielder, and modifies their perceptions/gestalt during combat to produce the results it desires. It takes a very strong person indeed to overcome the handicaps to change the end results to something acceptable to them, and watching the protagonist work their tail off to make that happen is the core of this series.
There is a category I don’t usually include that is valid this week: Sleazy Pulp SciFi Collections. One of those collections is the Golden Age of Sci Fi, Fantasy & Adventure, which is a documentary with folks like Ray Bradbury involved. The other is Sleazy Sci-Fi of the 1970s, which is pretty much as the name implies. We go months sometimes before a DVD about SciFi is released, so to have 2 in the same week is well worth noting. While I will do my best to pick up both, I can only recommend one; make your own choices.
The new trailer is out for Scott Pilgrim Versus The World, and it’s a hoot. Thanks to SFX for the heads up on this one.