By Instead of posting as the movies are announced, I will be LiveBlogging the Sony Pictures event for two hours or until my laptop battery dies. At Sony’s San Diego Comic Con panel, they will be showing glimpses of Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, Total Recall, 30 Minutes or Less, and The Amazing Spider-man. Which one are you looking forward to the most?
Hit the jump and stay tuned for the details…
Just a warning, the staff won’t let me keep my laptop open when trailers so if there is a chunk of dead air time, it is either trailer time or battery dead time. Now that that is out of the way, here we go…
Moderator – Mark something from K-Roq. They don’t have a nametag for him, sorry.
First up is Ghost Rider with a montage of Brian Taylor’s director’s methods of directing. Basically this the director is a full on daredevil when attempting to film. From skydiving/bungee jumping, to being a soldier, and rollerblading while hanging on to the back of a motorcycle and holding a camera with the other hand.
Despite disliking Ghost Rider immensely, this montage of Mark Neveidine and Brian Taylor filming the sequel looks great and quiet action packed. They even promise that if any stunt double gets hurt, they guarantee that that footage will be hurt. That means they promise broken bones in the movie. Let’s see if they will stay true to their word when the film comes out in February 2012.
Now they just showed a 3D trailer and I was blown away! It looks significantly better. The Ghost Rider himself seems to have changed. His skull is more burnt and it seems they are aiming to make him more of a beast. The directors even said he is more of a horror character than a super hero. I feel like I even caught a glimpse of not a bike but a truck on fire? The directors comment that whatever the Rider rides, it turns into a “hell-mobile.” Nice…
The actors on stage, Nicholas Cage, Johnny Whitworth, Idris Elba, talked about how physical these directors are. They put it all out there to get some crazy shots. A small anecdote from a director, Idris is actually a bad driver, and that is why his bike goes off the cliff in the trailer. The directors thought it was so cool they decided to leave it in the movie. It wasn’t scripted and gives you a clue to how over the top this movie could really be.
It seems that everyone is talking about how much more of a nightmare and beast Ghost Rider will be in this film. They even seemed to have covered him in bubbling tar all over his body. And Cage wanted to come back to it so he can explore the nightmare since he didn’t play as the Rider himself in the original.
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance looks to be a beast of a movie and I am anxious to see it. This is probably the movie the fans wanted the first time around.
Next up, 30 Minutes or Less…
Zombieland‘s Ruben Fleischer, Nick Swardson, Michael Pena, and Aziz Ansari are on stage to talk to us. If you are unaware of what this movie is about, it is based on a true story, obviously changed quite a bit, of a pizza delivery boy who gets held up and strapped a bomb to his chest. If he doesn’t rob the bank, it will go off. Laughs ensue?
The video they presented was the major scene of them robbing the bank and shortly followed by a trailer of all the hijinks. Honestly, I see what they were going for but I was left unimpressed by the scene. It was not a really hilarious scene but maybe it is just me? I did fully enjoy the trailer, but isn’t that the point of them?
When talking about the movie, it sounds like quite a lot of the actors improved like Michael Pena calling himself a pimp over and over in a mirror right before he pours bleach on his neck.
Now quickly onto the Q&A section…
-Sadly for us Human Giant fans, they have no plans to continue with it at this moment. And Aziz Ansari is trolling the panel by saying SDCC screened the first 15 minutes of The Dark Knight Returns.
-Ruben’s thoughts on Zombieland 2 is not a question of if but more so of when since everyone is essentially busy with other movies.
-Looks like Ruben has already filled the DVD with bloopers/outtakes.
-Nick Swardson is apparently not good to have on set since he laughs a lot.
-Aziz Ansari just seems to be trolling a lot of people here, questioners and panelists.
-Jesse Eisenberg is pretty much a stunt driver. Unexpected but true, he does all the driving in this film.
-Jesse actually followed a pizza delivery guy to prepare for this role.
Moving on… Total Recall
Len Wiseman, Jessica Biel, Bryan Cranston, Jon Cho, Kate Beckinsale, & Colin Farrell are all here. I guess it is a decent turnout. They don’t have a trailer’s worth but being 50% done, they want to show us who have been waiting for awhile. Rough scene with not all the special effects.
Wow, I first have to say, Total Recall looks AMAZING!
Image if the original was made in the Blade Runner universe and you’d be getting an idea of what to expect. It starts with Colin’s character going into Recall store and it appears to be an Asian type store. They hook him up and to the machine and you know what happens. The difference this time a squad of about 15 soldiers come in and try to capture Colin. Right before they take him to custody, he snaps and then we are tried with one of sweetest action scenes I have seen in awhile, mixing hand to hand combat with a quick/sweeping camera effect that really made the movement and actions more visceral.
After all the soldiers were dead, a new group of soldiers tries to take him down but by gathering grenades, he blows himself an exit. Then we are treated with him running away from the soldiers through more Blade Runner like set-pieces and design.
Another Q&A section…
-John Cho thinks sci-fi genre of film is quite fun to explore.
-Bryan Cranston confirms that he gets to do some action scenes.
-Jessica Biel and Kate Beckinsale were scared of hurting each other during their fight scenes. They would always ask each other if they hurt each other after each take.
-Kate mentions how the tone of the movie and the relationship between her and Colin’s character is different than the original. She ended up rambling and never finishing that thought.
-Lens Wiseman is quite dedicated to what he wanted, like Recall shop owner John Cho having to bleach his hair and dye it a very light grey.
-Lens even wants to keep this movie as real as he can and not rely upon CGI too much. He understands there is a difference an a noticeable reaction between actual objects and CGI.
-There are hover cars built on top of race cars and actors driving the cars actually commented on how they loved driving the bumper like cars.
-Lastly, they wanted to assure people that the ambiguous nature of the original is very much alive. They don’t quite answer the question of fantasy and reality.
Expect Total Recall to hit theaters August 2012.
Now time for some The Amazing Spider-Man
The trailer they started off with is essentially the same one that was came out earlier. But the 3D did add a little to the first person segment in the trailer.
To fill out the panel we have Matt Tolmach, Avi Arad, Mark Webb, Emma Stone, and Andrew Garfield.
Mark came to Spiderman because of the wealth of material available that hasn’t been represented. He like how appealing the Peter Parker character is to everyone. And the Gwen Stacy is a wealth of stuff to cover. And now some early, raw footage that didn’t even have 3D added to it.
The new footage definitely shows off a darker Spiderman. But I have one important question, why is Peter Parker now a punk? He has a skateboard that he uses in hallways, comes late to class, and even picks on a bully of his. There is only one point in all the footage did Parker actually seem nerdy/dorky/not a cool guy . This one scene was Peter Parker essentially capturing a car robber and uses his web shooters in funny ways to stick the guy to the wall. It was actually humorous with the baseball, western, etc stances and is very reminiscent to when the original film is attempting to figure out how to shoot his web.
Not to focus on all the negative stuff but why is his new suit sponsored by Oakley’s? Guess I am not a fan of the eyes in the new mask. But I did enjoy the new footage despite it being a whole lot of deja vu.
The directors are talking about how music was important to the film making. They played music in the background while they were filming scenes to help the actors out.
I was just treated to the first footage of The Lizard, Dr. Kurt Connors. At first it looked like some sorted skin crotch-stitch, but luckily they did not tease us too much and showed off the villain in full 3D. To describe him, imagine Batman’s Killer Croc with a tail and adapt the face to look a little like the Goomba from the Super Mario Bros. movie. Don’t think that the description with the Goomba face means it looks cheesy or silly even. He is big, he is bad, he is menacing. Massive and scaly and green, just how he should be.
Q&A for a bit…
-They really wanted to focus on the teenage aspect of the story and they think “dark” is such a loaded question.
-Andrew growing up, always felt a connection to Spiderman/Peter Parker.
-Andrew only spoke with Tobey Maguire after he finished shooting, but Tobey did give him his blessing once he was announced.
-There is no Emma Stone Facebook account.
-Andrew says filming in America has better food.
That pretty much wraps up the panel, hope you enjoyed it as much as I did sitting on my bum all day. Time for me to party!