San Diego Comic Con Guest List
An updated partial list of some of the people speaking or making appearances at this year’s comic con are:
Sergio Aragonés, Brian Michael Bendis, Berkeley Breathed, Chris Claremont, Mark Evanier, Matt Fraction, Keith Knight, Stan Lee, Paul Levitz, Larry Marder, Carla Speed McNeil, Robert M. Overstreet, Douglas E. Richards, James Sturm, Gabrielle Bell, Douglas E. Richards, Jerry Robinson, Steve Rude, J. Michael Straczynski, and Drew Struzan.
This is just a few of the hundreds of visitors, but because the final list doesn’t come out for another three weeks, it’s important to note that even after the list is finalized, guests can back out or go to other engagements. Such was the case last year when 15 guests backed out of commitments a week before the convention.
When Does Art Become Pathetic
I think it can be argued that film making and writing is an art unto itself. When you see something written come out on screen, it’s something that should be enjoyed, critiqued, or marveled at. But, there is a strange flipside to “art”. I had the distinct nonpleasure to view the Human Centipede. While the movie is quietly under radar (rightfully so), this movie leads to some highly interesting questions. This film is visual, for sure. The problem is, at what point are you fringing on purposeful cringe factor and art? The idea of the movie centers around the idea of creating a centipede out of bodies. The movie shows the three victims being attached mouth to anus to create this human centipede. Of course it is disturbingly visual (no CG), and really you have to wonder if it’s intentionally intensely visual on purpose. At least Saw had some kind of a decent story and decent acting to go with it. The movie isn’t out for theatrical release, but you can check it out in the early parts of the summer–if you have the stomach for it. It is pretty sick and when I saw it, a dozen or so people walked out. The writing is horrible, and so is the acting. You probably won’t find another movie that’s as disturbingly grotesque as this. There is certainly no artistic value to this movie. If you dare watch it, prepare yourself. Don’t eat or drink anything before or during the movie.
Trailers for Resident Evil: Afterlife and Splice
The trailer for Resident Evil: Afterlife makes the movie somewhat bearable. Personally, I’m not putting out much hope seeing how Paul Anderson almost ruined the RE series for me.
Splice, on the other hand, looks great. This has a feel of Species-Pandorum-Avatar all wrapped up into one. This movie may not have a nationwide release, but as details of that come about, I’ll let you know.
Clash of the Titans Review
I was fortunate enough to get a sneak peak on this film and it does not disappoint. If you’ve seen the original and loved it, you’ll certainly love this version. Acting stalwarts Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes put in performances that are strictly exceptional. Sam Worthington plays a noble role, but his accent is a little hard to get through at some parts of the movie. That’s not the fault of the actor, but of the voice editor. (Spoiler Alert) Bubo makes a cameo, but you have to really look out for it. You will be pleasantly surprised at the action and the story. It resembles the original in many ways, but the current version is more of an character-driven story from Perseus’ point of view. You see external and internal battles which lend a sense of realism to the story. From the character development to the outside struggles, it’s a pretty complete movie for something that is supposed to be action-oriented and full of the mythology. Not bad. Is it Oscar worthy? No, because this doesn’t fit that mold. You will be pleasantly surprised, though. It is rather children friendly and a pretty good date movie. I give this a 8 only because of some of the slow parts in the beginning-middle.