It is easily the riskiest of the Marvel stable of films due to its mythological and magical origins trying to mix into the “real” world that Marvel is establishing. One would think it would clash with the more “realistic” science we’ve seen in the Iron Man films. What I love about the trailer is that it doesn’t shy away from that fact; It embraces it. Asgardian “magic” is simply a type of ancient, forgotten science that even we haven’t been able to tap into over the centuries. But that’s just the mythology part of the trailer that I love. Sure, the quick cameos of Heimdall, Hera, Fandral, Volstagg, Sif, and Hogun the Grim are a nice touch as they appear to play prominently into the film, not just as inside reference nods for the nerds. Of course Odin and Loki get their moments (always happy to see Anthony Hopkins in anything). But it’s the moments with Thor that will be essential to build upon if this film is going to succeed with the fanboys and the moviegoers in general. Tony Stark was just as or even more appealing than Iron Man. Yes, you wanted Iron Man to blow stuff up as much as possible, but Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark in any scene are the best parts of the film. And since most of us don’t know Chris Hemsworth from Adam (except his tiny but moving scene as the self-sacrificing father of James T Kirk in JJ Abrams’ Star Trek last year), he’s got to earn our love and respect. Mumbling, “ugh, this is Earth, isn’t it?” after rebelliously shouting down the all-powerful Odin is a great peek into this flawed character’s story (he’s not just a powerhouse with a hammer). My favorite part is when he tries to reclaim the hammer from the holding facility as Odin recites the words engraved on the hammer “whoever wields this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor” and fails miserably. Thor is not worthy of being Thor. That’s just awesome and it’s at the core of the character’s origin, even if considerably changed (yes, we’re assured, Dr Don Blake makes an appearance of sorts in the film). And therein we get the redemptive quest of the Odinson: after being a spoiled brat and kicked out of Asgard, forced to be human, he must regain his place of power and his name by learning humility and responsibility for his actions. It also sort of speaks to the challenge of the movie earning its place in the pantheon of Marvel heroes that will gather in the Avengers who isn’t Iron Man. He’s going to have to do some big hammer smackdowns if they expect him to fit in with the rest of the team come 2012 (I think he’ll do fine).

To me, it looks like great fun and I’m eagerly looking forward to taking my seat in a theater next May 6th when Thor premieres in theaters.

If you’re at all interested in what is happening at the big show as it happens, be sure to follow popculturegeek on Twitter and/or on Facebook. I’ll be sending updates on whatever catches my eye, from big movie footage reveals in Hall H, celebrity sightings on the exhibition hall floor, great deals I’ve scored, or hints at everything going on around the convention center each night.

I’ve said somewhere else that San Diego doesn’t just HOST Comic-Con, it BECOMES Comic-Con! And never has that been more true than this year. With the cast of Scott Pilgrim printing t-shirts for fans outside the Hilton Gaslamp, the cast of Machete serving up tacos from a taco truck at 5th and J St, the Adult Swim ice cream truck roaming around the Gaslamp District handing out free Ben & Jerry’s, or the event so big that it will require the use of the Petco Park baseball stadium (could it be… Tron and… ?), this is almost the year you don’t even need a ticket to enjoy many of the festivities surrounding Comic-Con.

The list of parties grows by the minute and the panels are sure to pack some big surprises (Brad Pitt’s first appearance? The kids of Hogwarts to apparate? The entire official Avengers lineup on stage?). But what about the comics? SOMEBODY THINK OF THE COMICS!!! Robert Kirkman is set to announce the new Skybound imprint for Image. There’s a new documentary about the legendary Stan Lee. IDW launches the new True Blood comics. And Marvel and DC will surely tease us with lots of new ideas and concepts they really can’t say much about at this juncture (but they’ll bring art we can try to decipher out of context!).

No matter what happens, it’s going to be full of long lines where we’ll all daydream of being Madrox the Multiple Man for just one week so that we could catch everything that’s going on during Comic-Con’s insanely packed schedule.

I know I can’t catch everything and I know all of my dreams can’t come true, but here are a few things I kind of wish would happen this week:

1. I’d like Joss Whedon to be officially announced as the director of Avengers and I want him to bring out all of the actors who will be playing the heroes onto the stage for a big photo op. I also want Edward Norton to be among them, but I don’t see that happening unless it’s all been a big redirect to keep media from looking at what they’re really planning.
Chances of happening:
Whole cast: 60%
Partial cast: 90%
With Norton: 1%

2. Speaking of Joss Whedon, his panel with JJ Abrams seems like the perfect opportunity to finally show some of that long-awaited Cabin in the Woods footage. And for Abrams to show off some Super 8 clips. And then, as part of a big finale to the panel, I want their respective starship crews to come on stage to duke it out for interstellar dominance (or possibly a slap fight). Serenity (Fillion, Baldwin, Tudyk at least) vs Star Trek (Pine, Quinto, Pegg at least). And I want Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, and Mark Hamill to come out on stage to referee.
Chances of happening:
Just clips: 80%
Starship crew fight: 20%
With Star Wars referees: 0.5%
Chances of a decisive ruling on starship crew dominance: 0%

3. If Warner Bros is smart, they bought the plane tickets from England a long time ago for the cast of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to make their first and final appearance at Comic-Con. It would be awesome to have Michael Gambon, Maggie Smith, Ralph Finnes, and pretty much every other witch or wizard who has graced the halls of Hogwarts over the past 6 movies step out onto the stage, but I imagine it would get pretty crowded. At the very least, they should trot out the 3 principal actors: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint to suffer through our horribly uncomfortable questions about their lives after Harry Potter (they look pretty good, surprisingly) and the incredibly high pitched screams that in previous years had been reserved for the Twilight kids. Show some kickass footage (not of Kick Ass, obviously) and let us give you guys a proper good-bye with a standing ovation in return for Hollywood stealing your childhood. It’s the least we can do. Seriously. The least.
Chances of happening:
Appearance by a majority of the cast (at least 10): 40%
Appearance by Harry, Hermione, and Ron: 90%
Just footage (and complimentary swag): 100%

Some quickies:

- Chance that I’ll score one of those Star Wars Lego exclusive figures: 15%
- Chance that Steve Brule will give me ice cream from the back of a truck: 5%
- Chance that Tim and/or Eric will try to lure me into the back of a van: 98%
- Chance that there will be a Piranha 3D screening somewhere in the Gaslamp District despite being banned from Comic-Con: 99%
- Chance that I’ll get a book deal due to my self-published book, The Unauthorized San Diego Comic-Con Survival Guide: 1%
- Chance that Simon Pegg won’t be weirded out if I walk up to him at a party and give him a picture I took of him and Ken Foree (from Dawn of the Dead) six years ago at the first US Shaun of the Dead screening at Comic-Con: 87%
- Chances I’m invited to a party where Simon Pegg and other celebs will be mingling: 20%
- Chance that the Green Lantern footage will change the minds of those who hate the pictures of the costume: 55%
- Chance I’ll get into the big Petco Park event Saturday night: 90% (or else!)
-Chance that Anna Kendrick herself will make me a really awesome Scott Pilgrim t-shirt: 2%
- Chance that Anna Kendrick herself will make me a really awesome Scott Pilgrim t-shirt and then wear it for a picture of her hugging me (and looking like she enjoys it): 0.000000028%
- Chance that I’ll be doing or witnessing something at Comic-Con one of these nights that I never, ever expected at the time I’m writing this: 110%

That’s all I can think of right now, because I still have to pack for tomorrow’s trip down route 5 to San Diego. If I could write and post this from traffic, I would. I’m already exhausted and it’s not even begun. Swing by the Kirby Krackle booth if you get a chance as they will be selling my book, The Unauthorized San Diego Comic-Con Survival Guide at booth #1803. I expect to show up there every so often to restock the books that will obviously be flying off the shelves (I’m bringing shelves! …sort of).

Does this announcement hint at an appearance at Comic-Con in a few weeks (sans footage, of course)? It might be worth his while to stop by and introduce himself to the fans…

The official press release follows:

CULVER CITY, Calif., July 1, 2010 – After a comprehensive worldwide casting search, Andrew Garfield has been chosen to portray Peter Parker when Spider-Man swings back onto the screen in 3D on July 3, 2012. The new film will begin production in early December directed by Marc Webb from a screenplay by James Vanderbilt. Laura Ziskin and Avi Arad will produce the film from Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios.

Today’s confirmation culminates what has been one of the most eagerly anticipated casting announcements in recent memory. Bloggers, pop culture speculators, and everyday fans have pored over and analyzed every conceivable online rumor in an attempt to discover the identity of the next actor to play Peter Parker. Garfield will immediately begin preparing for the coveted role.

The Spider-Man franchise is one of the most successful in film history and the three previous motion pictures have collectively grossed more than $2.5 billion in worldwide box office.

On selecting Garfield, director Marc Webb said, “Though his name may be new to many, those who know this young actor’s work understand his extraordinary talents. He has a rare combination of intelligence, wit, and humanity. Mark my words, you will love Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker.”

Commenting on the announcement, Amy Pascal, co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Matt Tolmach, President of Columbia Pictures said, “Spider-Man is a classic superhero — a young man who balances his responsibility to serve humanity and crush evil with the shyness and normalcy of someone struggling to find himself. The role demands an extraordinary actor. You need someone who can magically transform himself from Peter Parker into Spider-Man. An actor who will depict the vulnerability of youth and the strength and confidence of a legendary figure at the same moment. We have found that actor in Andrew Garfield. From the first time we saw him in the upcoming film The Social Network, to his glorious screen test, which floored all of us, we knew that we had found our new Peter Parker.”

Producer Avi Arad added, “I’m incredibly excited about Andrew Garfield. In the Spider-Man tradition, we were looking for a smart, sensitive, and cool new Peter Parker who can inspire us and make us laugh, cry, and cheer. We believe we have found the perfect choice to take on this role and lead us into the future.”

Producer Laura Ziskin said, “We are thrilled to have Andrew Garfield for this new incarnation of Spider-Man under Marc Webb’s direction. We were fortunate enough to meet with a group of fantastically talented young men. In the end, we all agreed that in addition to being an extraordinary actor, Andrew had the right mix of humor, youth, and pathos, along with an underlying sense of strength and power necessary to bring Peter Parker and Spider-Man to life on screen.”

The selection of Garfield was revealed at a press event in Cancun, Mexico for international journalists attending a media tour promoting upcoming films from Sony Pictures Entertainment. B-roll footage of the announcement will be available via satellite later this evening — see uplink times coordinate information below.

Garfield is fast becoming one of the most respected and sought-after young actors working in the industry today. In a short career, spanning only five years, he has already been directed by, and starred alongside, some of the greatest names and received a BAFTA for a role that won him international praise.

Garfield most recently worked with director David Fincher on the upcoming film The Social Network. He previously starred for Spike Jonze on his robot love story I’m Here, which premiered at Sundance this year. He plays the lead male opposite Keira Knightley and Carey Mulligan in Mark Romanek’s Never Let Me Go, due for release later this year.

Other notable screen credits include Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus playing opposite Christopher Plummer, Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, Jude Law and the late Heath Ledger, Robert Redford’s Lions For Lambs, where he starred alongside Redford, Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep; Revolution Films’ “Red Riding Trilogy – 1974” directed by Julian Jarrold, where he lead a stellar cast including Rebecca Hall and David Morrissey, and his unforgettable portrayal of a young ex-con in John Crowley’s “Boy A,” for which he earned the best actor BAFTA in 2008.

Garfield’s career began in theatre and in 2006 his performances in “Beautiful Thing” (Sound Space/Kit Productions), “The Overwhelming,” and “Burn / Chatroom / Citizenship” (Royal National Theatre) won him the Milton Shulman Award for Outstanding Newcomer at the Evening Standard awards and the Jack Tinker Award for Most Promising Newcomer at the Critics Circle Theatre Awards. Other notable theatre credits include “Romeo and Juliet” (Manchester Royal Exchange) and “Kes” (Manchester Royal Exchange), for which he received the Most Promising Newcomer Award at the Manchester Evening News Awards 2004.

At least until I can get to the Harry Potter theme park at Universal Studios in Florida (oh wait, I’m planning to go in August).

I’m not sure what else can be said. Here’s hoping they run them back to back next summer in theaters. Or, hell, run all 8 movies back to back. What better way to blow a summer day?

Video courtesy of Yahoo! Movies. Go here to read the entire article.

Why “unauthorized”? Well, it’s not written or approved by any of the fine folks at Comic-Con International. And although the book contains no scandalous revelations of behind-the-scenes shenanigans, it does give you a number of tips and tricks, to get where you need to go and do what you need to do in order make the most of your trip, that they couldn’t necessarily include in their official literature.

And this book is a MUST HAVE for Comic-Con newbies. I’ve seen the questions asked all over the web on how to handle the lines, autographs, exclusives, hotels, food, and more. It’s all in this book. Even I re-learned some things I forgot while I was writing it. No matter who you are or why you go to the show, The Unauthorized San Diego Comic-Con Survival Guide has something for you.

The best part about The Unauthorized San Diego Comic-Con Survival Guide is that it comes in a pocket-sized 3 1/2 x 5 inch format that easily fits into your pocket, purse, or backpack, for easy access whether you’re sitting in line or racing around the floor. It’s a great compliment to the big official event guide they provide, but so much easier to grab when you’re in a pinch.

The book not only gives you what you need to survive the convention center floor, it also prepares you for the event before you even buy your membership ticket (well, next year’s). And let’s not forget the all-important post-show recovery. It’s got more information than you ever knew you needed to survive the biggest geek event of the year!

And for a limited time, if you help get the word out about The Unauthorized San Diego Comic-Con Survival Guide, you could win a free 4 day pass to San Diego Comic-Con 2011! Just “LIKE” our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter (doing the same with popculturegeek.com doubles your chances).

For more information, check out http://sdccsurvivalguide.com/.

Grab the book now and get it delivered anywhere in the world BEFORE the doors open on July 21st!

I know some of you are already wanting to pre-hate what’s to come because you don’t like feeling dumb or unable to see what’s to come. That’s been the problem with a lot of “fans” over the years who gave up on the show out of frustration. They wanted a beginning, middle, and end to each 60 minute commitment they made each week. They hated not being able to understand everything clearly and immediately, because so much of pre-LOST event television, when cross-bred with internet communities, created a sense of entitled oneupsmanship where everyone tried to beat everyone else to the spoilery punch, to show how smart or connected they are compared to everyone else. LOST changed all of that, because it didn’t give easy answers, and often left those answers open to interpretation. And when it did, it threw fifty more questions in your face to keep your head spinning. To me, that’s fun, engaging television.

Then there’s the other group of fans who like to have answers, but are disappointed when they find that the answers are too easy or that their solution to the big mystery was correct all along (a rare occurrence). So if you’re writing LOST, what do you do? Do you make sure that answers come so far out of left field that no one ever sees it coming whether it makes sense or not? Or do you give people a clear cut, easily digested solution that wraps everything up in a nice, neat package and makes them feel clever for figuring it out long before the dumb fans? It’s a balancing act, to be sure.

I feel like I fall somewhere in the middle. I like making up my own theories and postulating on the purpose and meaning of all things LOST (which I will miss greatly once some of the core mysteries are resolved) and I like to think I’m right in my conclusions, but in so many ways, I want to be wrong. I WANT to be surprised and not see the next big thing coming around the bend. I WANT the characters to do something I don’t want or expect them to do (even if it is within their character to do so). When it comes to storytelling of this magnitude, I’d rather see the hero take the long, winding, seemingly wrong path to final victory than the quick, easy, and clear route. Maybe I’m just weird that way.

The Big Plan vs Fan Influence

The other night at the New York Times Talk Live LOST event that was broadcast to over 600 movie screens in the US and Canada, Damon Lindelof addressed the two biggest questions that he and co-executive producer Carlton Cuse get all the time. He stated (I’m paraphrasing) that while everyone wants there to be a solid overarching plan written in stone from the beginning, they also want to think that they have some kind of sway over what happens on the show. The two concepts can’t easily co-exist. If everything is written in stone and is part of a bigger plan that’s been unchanged from the beginning, there is no way that the fans can have a say in changing that. And if the fans have tremendous influence on the story, molding it into something that makes them happiest (as if there was one thing that would make everyone happy), then there could never be a solid, unwavering story plan, because fans are fickle and they are many.

It would be an impossible task to try to satisfy everyone. And to address every mystery (big and small) would likely take many more hours than ABC would be willing to provide to what would ultimately become a metaphysical talk show.

How to Cope with the LOST Series Finale and Get the Most Enjoyment Out of It

Like I said, you may already be in pre-hate mode, ready to be disappointed. Maybe you’re re-directing your anger and depression back onto LOST because you’re sad that it’s going away, like knowing your girlfriend/boyfriend is going to dump you, so you psych yourself up to tell them how you never liked them anyway and, by the way, here’s a list of all your faults… jerk. That’s… an odd analogy, but it’s understandable that some might feel that way and react harshly to the end of this “relationship” with a tv show. But realize that’s just what it is and get over it using the steps above. If you can’t, think about this:

HOW DO YOU WANT LOST TO END?

Don’t say “I don’t know” or deflect another way. If you’re so invested in this that you’re expecting it to not live up to your lofty storytelling standards, you have to clearly state what you want. Don’t state how you THINK it will end. Definitively proclaim how you want it to end to your satisfaction. How could LOST possibly conclude in a way that would satisfy you? Get as detailed as necessary. Say it out loud to yourself or your cat or just comment below. If you can’t clearly explain how you think your idea of a good ending is better than what the LOST creators have come up with, then seriously quit your bitching.

For the rest of you who can deal, again, I ask you to sit back, alone or with some friends, grab your favorite food and drinks, keep the tissues handy, set aside your ego and expectations and checklists, and enjoy this wonderful creative work that Damon, Carlton, composer Michael Giacchino, director Jack Bender, ABC, the writers, producers, actors, and crew (more than 425 people total!) have given us over the last 6 years. Just remember that when it’s all over, for better or worse, there’s never been anything else like LOST on television and there never will be again. And, by god and the smoke monster, it was GOOD!

So say we all.

(is a BSG reference inappropriate at this juncture?)

As an example of the creativity that LOST inspires in its fans, here’s an excellent fan-made trailer for Sunday night’s epic event. It’s so well done, it gives me goosebumps every time I watch it. Enjoy!

But no era of this magnitude ends without a bang (or in this case, a bash), which is what the Lost Live: the Final Celebration event was all about. Held on Thursday, May 13th at UCLA’s Royce Hall, the cast, crew, and more than 1800 fans celebrated six seasons of the show, its themes, its characters, and especially its music, performed by a live orchestra and conducted by the Academy Award-winning Lost composer Michael Giacchino. If ever there truly was an unseen, otherworldly character on the show, with as strong a presence as any of the remarkable characters and the actors who portray them, it’s the music of Michael Giacchino. After the show, I got a chance to tell Mr Giacchino what his music meant to me as an avid fan of the show, confessing to more than a few tears that crept into the corner of my eye during the performance, especially during the song “Oceanic 6” (I have no idea why it does that to me, but boy does it ever). He made it clear to me that there was nothing to be ashamed of when something as good as Lost (a television show!) can actually affect you like that.

“Don’t be afraid to let it out. I was once told, ‘Babies make noise. Real men cry’,” he said after I told him I didn’t want the girl next to me to think I was some kind of wuss for getting all bleary-eyed.

But he warned me that we haven’t even touched the tip of the emotional iceberg yet. After bursting into tears more than a few times while recording the score to the series finale, he recalled turning to producer Damon Lindelof and asking “how many times are you going to do this to me?”.

As we parted ways, he revealed to me what every Lost fan will need to know in order to be prepared for the finale: “Bring tissues. Lots of them.”

As for the show itself, it was nothing short of astounding. A perfect night for any Lost fan. The evening started off with the reading of a letter of congratulations to executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse from a notable fan of the show:

Congratulations on pulling off an amazing show. Don’t tell anyone… but when Star Wars first came out, I didn’t know where it was going either. The trick is to pretend you’ve planned the whole thing out in advance. Throw in some father issues and references to other stories (let’s call them homages) and you’ve got a series.
In six seasons, you’ve managed to span both time and space, and I don’t think I’m alone in saying that I never saw what was around the corner. Now that it’s all coming to an end, it’s impressive to see how much was planned out in advance and how neatly you’ve wrapped up everything. You’ve created something really special. I’m sad that the series is ending, but I look forward to seeing what you two are going to do next.

         George Lucas

Damon later apologized before the packed house for ever saying anything bad about the Star Wars prequels.

Before the music could begin, Damon and Carlton thanked ABC, the audience, and Lost fandom in general for their support before introducing some of the cast members who played the characters that we’ve come to love and hate over the years. Twenty actors from the series, both featured and supporting throughout its six year run, appeared on stage to wild applause and more than a few lusty hoots and hollers from the fans, including: Sterling Beaumon (Young Benjamin Linus), Kim Dickens (Cassidy Philips), Lance Reddick (Matthew Abbadon), François Chau (Pierre Chang), William Mapother (Ethan Rom), Rebecca Mader (Charlotte Lewis), Daniel Roebuck (Leslie Arzt), Jeremy Davies (Daniel Faraday), L. Scott Caldwell (Rose Nadler), Sonya Walger (Penelope Widmore), Titus Welliver (Man in Black), Malcolm David Kelley (Walt Lloyd), Harold Perrineau (Michael Dawson), Ian Somerhalder (Boone Carlyle), Daniel Dae Kim (Jin Kwon), Henry Ian Cusick (Desmond Hume), Michael Emerson (Benjamin Linus), Jorge Garcia (Hugo “Hurley” Reyes), Nestor Carbonell (Richard Alpert), and Josh Holloway (James “Sawyer” Ford). Producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, the primary masterminds behind the show, introduced each of them with often humorous stories of how they came to join the cast and their contributions to the show as a whole. Later, they set the spotlight on the show’s core writers, producers, and the mostly unseen and unheard third man in their creative trinity, director Jack Bender.

Once the curtain was raised, the orchestra played through a selection of the series’ seven most distinct and recognizable themes while images and video from the six year run were projected onto the screen above them. Between each song, a different cast member took the stage to read a “message in a bottle”, which were essentially imagined letters from Oceanic 815 survivors we never got to know, punctuating the humor, fear, joy, and despair that many of the background characters were likely feeling upon finding themselves on a strange island at the mercy of fate while Kate, Jack, and Sawyer were off battling smoke monsters and Others. Giacchino then finished off his portion of the event by donning a Dharma jumpsuit with “Composer” stitched onto the back, treating the crowd to a selection from his Oscar winning soundtrack for Pixar‘s “Up“.

And to finish off the night, they presented to us the complete series’ penultimate episode, “What They Died For“. I will give no spoilers here, but I can almost guarantee you that this will become one of fandom’s all-time favorite episodes, even though it can in no way stand on its own, as it’s truly the first third of the series finale. It moves at a breakneck pace, surprisingly with a bit of humor, giving up a number of answers to some nagging mysteries, surprising us with the re-appearance of old faces gone too long, and what one actor I spoke to afterward described as a welcome “return to type” for his/her character. They may no longer be doing character-centric episodes anymore, but this actor more than makes this episode his/her own… with giddily terrifying results. It ends on a goosebump-inducing declaration that takes us full throttle into the finale with metaphoric guns a-blazing, letting us know that, one way or another, what’s to come will truly be THE END. It was exhilarating to sit amongst an enthusiastic crowd of fans that screamed and cheered in joyous frustration when the screen thudded to black with the all-too-familiar stark white “LOST” title emblazoned across it, making us desperately wish for a donkey wheel or a Delorean or something we could use to time travel ahead to May 23rd NOW!

Since we weren’t allowed to bring cell phones or cameras into the event, there is a dearth of actual footage available from the show. However, ABC did film the event for posterity, so expect it to show up on DVD or elsewhere in the near future (don’t hold out on us ABC!). Until then, here’s footage of the rehearsal, courtesy of the Los Angeles Times, featuring the heartbreaking track, “Oceanic 6″. God, it gets me every time…

Yeah, I know it’s taken me a week to write this up, even though I’ve not said a whole lot. I figure I’ll let the video and pictures speak for me…

Check out more Anaheim Comic-Con pictures at the official popculturegeek Flickr site

                   

I have to admit, when I first tried this game, I wasn’t too fond of the Wii controller and nunchuk configuration, as it left me flailing blindly at monsters that were suddenly behind me or at least nowhere near the direction I was facing. Of course, I’m used to playing my point-and-click RPG type games on a PC, so the console control scheme needed some getting used to. With the classic controller in my hands, facing my opponents and giving them the smackdown they were meant to receive at the and of my blade or bow became much more satisfying. I have a feeling I’m not alone. It’s no wonder that some retailers are offering the game with an official sexy black Wii Classic Controller Pro in-package.

Although I’m much more of a real time strategy gamer, I can understand the popularity of this epic quest and battle RPG. It’s easy to become immersed in the world, slicing through immensely powerful looking beasts with the incredibly huge weapons at my disposal. I lost more than a few hours hunting when I should have been writing this review. Just designing my character’s look in one of seemingly endless variations eliminated a good portion of my day. It’s more than just clicking through a static set of armors and color coordinated costume options. You can customize your skin tone, hair style and color, armor strength and design, even your underwear. In an expansive world of people (not just monsters), it’s important to stand out and look good among the rabble.

Speaking of looking good, this game has pushed the Wii graphics engine to it’s limits, possibly beyond. The many vibrant, detailed vistas can take your breath away when you’re not being run down by a many-toothed monstrosity the size of a 747. The detail and variety of creatures, each a product of their own environment, are a terrifying lot. It almost makes you want to stay back at Moga Village and hang out with the locals where it’s safe. Nah, not really, but even when you’re not out hunting monsters, there’s plenty to do, as you’d expect in any ambitious battle RPG. You can even farm or gather ingredients to cook meals that can unlock skills that can be used on your quests. There’s so much to do, I know I didn’t get close to accomplishing even a fraction of what’s available.

With gamers often claiming that most Nintendo Wii game developers have given up, seemingly satisfied to churn out shovelware, Monster Hunter 3 Tri is a big exception to that claim. I imagine more than a few PS3 and Xbox devotees might be a little jealous of this exclusive offering. I imagine more than a few might be willing to pony up the $150 to buy a Wii now that this worldwide (surprisingly non-Mario or Zelda-based) phenomenon has finally hit the shelves in the US. And they would be right to do so.

For those of you who don’t know, WonderCon is the San Francisco-based little sister to the mega-sized San Diego Comic-Con. At about 1/4 the size of the San Diego convention, WonderCon gives fans a little more breathing room to soak up comics related goodies, events, and more. Sure, the movie studios definitely made themselves known more than ever this year, with Disney, Warner Bros, and Lionsgate showing off what they’re bringing to theaters in the coming months (Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Toy Story 3, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Resident Evil: Afterlife, The Losers, Nightmare on Elm Street, Splice, Inception, and of course, the ubiquitous Kick-Ass). Directors Christopher Nolan, Lee Unkrich, and John Turteltaub, and stars like Nicolas Cage, Jay Baruchel, Jackie Earle Haley, Jake Gyllenhaal, Zoe Saldana, Chris Evans, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Milla Jovovich, and Jeff Garlin all came out to show off new footage and take questions from the standing room only crowds.

Disney went above and beyond to promote Tron: Legacy by hosting a press conference with the fictional ENCOM Industries a mile from the Moscone convention center. Alan Bradley (actor Bruce Boxleitner) addressed the crowd and announced a new online version of Space Paranoids will be launched very soon (a game that never really existed except in the Tron movie universe). Those loyal to Tron creator Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) overtook the stage to voice their outrage over ENCOM’s lack of initiative in finding the missing genius, followed by an ENCOM helicopter swooping over the crowd and a man parachuting from it to the stage at the end of the event. It was reported that the jumper was actually Kevin Flynn‘s son, Sam (actor Garrett Hedlund). It obviously wasn’t the actor who plummeted to the ground on that cold, windy night, but it was fun pretending we were part of a movie’s back story for just one night. And, hey, we got free t-shirts and posters and Space Paranoids pins. More information on the mysterious goings-on at ENCOM can be found at FlynnLives.com.

 
Television was also well-represented with special advanced screenings of the new Doctor Who and panels focusing on Happy Town, V, Fringe, Human Target, and perennial fan-favorite: Chuck. Many of the panels featured full screenings of upcoming episodes, hoping to catch the interest of non-viewers and reward longtime fans of the shows for sticking with them. Chuck, with easily the strongest representation of fans, is still astoundingly on the chopping block after this season. I don’t understand how that is, but apparently Nielsens don’t lie. Or they’re outdated and not nearly as effective at gauging viewer interest as it had been decades ago when it was created to track viewing patterns and numbers. But that’s my opinion. So’s this: Chuck is an amazingly fun and exciting show with a talented cast and deserves a long life on the now digital airwaves. I’m sick of worrying if a series will get canceled before it is allowed to get proper closure, like Lost, but unlike Veronica Mars. Hopefully Warner Bros (studio) and NBC Universal (network) will take notice at our fervor and keep it around for a long time to come. But I’m not holding my breath.

But beyond movie and television properties, the show is about comics. All of the major publishers were well represented (although Marvel, considering it’s one of the Big Two, could have had a bigger presence… or any presence) in booths and panels for their various properties. Actor Michael Chiklis (The Shield) showed up to promote a new book he co-created for IDW called the Pantheon. He’s one of my favorite actors from one of my all-time favorite tv series. Unfortunately, due to the madness that comes with personal schedule management, I didn’t get to meet him.

The evenings held an array of geeky opportunities, such as the Doctor Who new season premiere screening, the annual Masquerade (tons of hand-made fan costumes), and an advance screening of Kick-Ass to which hundreds of passes were handed out, most of which went unused due to the fact that nearly a 3rd of the seats were reserved for a local radio station promotion, not WonderCon guests who stood in line for hours in hopes of seeing the film (including yours truly). Yeah, not a big fan of that. It was the single biggest disappointment of the week, not only for myself, but also for people who drove from out of state to stand in multiple lines throughout the day only to get turned away, with no hope of a later screening (I was told their “digital license” ran out at 11pm. Can’t the studio that owns it have control over that?) to assuage the anger of the hundreds who wasted hours in line for nothing. If you’re going invite WonderCon attendees to an advanced screening, it should be for WonderCon attendees only. If I had known, I would have tried to get a hook up from the local radio station instead, since they had 5 rows of the 500 seat room reserved just for them. Big sigh.

In all, despite the Kick-Ass fiasco and the rain, it was another great weekend in the city by the bay, courtesy of WonderCon. I grabbed the goodies, snatched up the swag, and got a sneak preview of what’s to come in the world of movies, tv, video games, and, of course, comics in 2010 and beyond…

Lucky WonderCon 2010 attendees get to see it a few weeks early when it screens at the annual San Francisco geek gathering on Saturday, April 3rd! I hope to be among the lucky few in the crowd as this new era of The Doctor.

Doctor Who premieres Saturday, April 17, 9:00p.m. ET/PT. Doctor Who premiere episode is an extended version with limited commercial interruption. Check out the brand new trailer below…

The series has episodes written by Richard Curtis (Pirate Radio, Love Actually) and Toby Whithouse (Being Human, Torchwood) and guest stars including Alex Kingston (ER, Flash Forward), James Corden (Gavin & Stacey, The History Boys) and Oscar nominee Sophie Okonedo (The Secret Life of Bees, Hotel Rwanda) and Tony Curran (24). For more visit http://bbcamerica.com/doctorwho

The 2010 PaleyFest event wrapped up a week ago at the Saban Theater in Beverly Hills and I’m already jonesing for next year’s schedule to be announced. I’ve been going to select events hosted by the Paley Center for the last few years and the PaleyFest is easily the pop culture highlight of my spring. I can only afford to hit up a few of the events, so I was happy that I was able to snag tickets to two of the best: Dexter and Breaking Bad. Both are shows with stellar, award-winning casts and creators/writers that take astounding storytelling risks, not just season to season, but episode to episode. They fall into a sub-genre of television that I like to call “Consequence Television”, where the characters are in a constant state of change and the events that shape the characters are not forgotten by the time the next episode airs a week later. I’m not the first person to make this observation (certainly the producers are aware of what they’re doing and why they’re doing it), but it needs to be said. This is not “safe”, friendly television that you cozy up to after work (well, they do air on Sundays). These shows are tense, thrilling heart-and-mind benders that make Mondays in the office seem not so bad in comparison. These are the types of shows that you expect to be affected by. After watching the season 4 finale of Dexter, I was shaken for days afterward. I have friends that still have trouble talking about it. And Breaking Bad usually sets up the beginning of each episode with a visual cue, a mystery that is either solved by episode’s or season’s end, but never in a way you see coming. And I love it. Going to editorialize and put it right out there. I enjoy being made uncomfortable by television. I LOVE it (and hate it and love that I hate it) when the characters I care so much about, like Breaking Bad‘s Walter White (portrayed with such engrossing rage and subtlety by Emmy-award winning Bryan Cranston) make such bad decisions… even if it’s for all the right reasons. Most people can’t handle this type of storytelling. They want their heroes pure and their decisions true and just. And if there is a wrongdoing, it’s done by mistake or it’s done to the hero by the clearly defined bad guy. Dexter and Breaking Bad are not those types of shows.

So it was with great pleasure that I got to witness the PaleyFest events/screenings featuring Dexter and Breaking Bad over the last 2 weeks:

The Dexter screening featured the season 4 episode “Hungry Man“, where Dexter is faced with possibly the worst Thanksgiving day ever. Afterward, the primary cast, including Golden Globe-winner Michael C Hall (Dexter), his real life wife (and on-screen foster sister, Deb) Jennifer Carpenter, and cult tv favorite Julie Benz (Rita), mostly spoke about the devastating season 4 finale and what the future holds for Dexter as a result of that game changing episode. Between the sometimes usual awkward questions, the cast opened up about their favorite moments on set, the show’s odd connection to Lost, and the need for humor on a serial drama where the hero is a serial killer.
[Dexter pictures are available at the popculturegeek Flickr site]

The Breaking Bad event wasted no time in giving the packed house what it wanted: the season 3 premiere, directed by star Bryan Cranston, almost 2 weeks before it’s official debut on AMC (Sunday, March 21st at 10pm). I won’t give anything away, but it starts with one of the most bizarre openings I’ve ever seen anywhere, introducing us to 2 new characters that will likely play a big part in Walt and Jesse’s futures in the coming weeks. The main cast chatted about the often shocking turns that their characters are faced with and why main character Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) had not been killed off in the first season as originally planned. But what stood out most through that evening’s discussion was that Bryan Cranston is an astoundingly funny story teller.
[Breaking Bad pictures are available at the popculturegeek Flickr site]

The videos show some of what was discussed much better than I can. There are 6 videos for Dexter and 7 for Breaking Bad and they are all worth watching, especially if you’re already a fan. Just make sure you’re caught up on each series or you might be in for some unsettling surprises.

Bryan Cranston talks about directing the two new “bad guys” in the Season 3 premiere (no story spoilers).

The Dexter cast talks about their favorite moments of the series so far.

Breaking Bad season 3 returns to AMC on Sunday, March 21st, 2010 at 10pm.
Showtime rolls out Dexter season 5 on Sunday, September 26th, 2010.

For more videos and information on the Paley Center and its very busy event schedule that goes year round in Los Angeles and New York City, go to paleycenter.org.

It gave us more of Whiplash, more of War Machine, more of Black Widow, more of everything… plus this little beauty pictured on the right, the details of which I won’t give away, but it’s a Marvel fan’s dream come true, even if it lasts only a few seconds. Just watch the new trailer already and you’ll see what I mean…

Scroll below the trailer to see both parts of the Robert Downey Jr interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live (the 2nd part also includes the trailer).

More info on the movie can be found at ironmanmovie.marvel.com.

Just consider this the umpteenth blog post praising the creators’ clever observation of movie cliches where I ramble on incessantly in an effort to up the word count and make it seem like I am hip, insightful, and uniquely qualified to judge the comedic merits of the following video based on my entertainment industry insider status that is established through my residential proximity to Hollywood and the fact that I saw a celebrity whose name I can’t place at a local Starbucks, but it’s someone you’d be totally impressed by. Written while sitting home alone on a Saturday night in my underwear.

Is that enough words? Should I have posted a link to the Tron Legacy trailer instead?

It’s not really news or anything. It’s just funny. Enjoy!

(By the way, popculturegeek is also a big fan of Community. Quickly becoming the funniest part of NBC‘s Thursday night line up. But since the Olympics are currently sucking up all of the NBC primetime slots, you can check out the latest episodes of Community on Hulu, if you were so inclined. Same goes for LOST, but I know you’re watching that in real time…)