Anime Expo 2009 In Pictures - Tons of People in Anime Costumes and the Convention Floor

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: July 2nd, 2009 at 6:33 pm

Imagine if San Diego Comic-Con had a younger teenage sister and she liked to play dress up. That would be my best analogy for what I witnessed today at the Los Angeles Convention Center as I attended my first Anime Convention. Also, unlike Comic-Con, which is now impossible to walk around on the convention floor, today’s anime convention was easy to navigate.

The first thing that struck me was the enthusiasm of everyone there. I’d say thirty to forty percent were wearing costumes. And not just attendees, as dealers were also wearing and selling costumes. If you’re into anime and live in Los Angeles, I’d definitely stop by and look around (if you’re not there already).

More pictures and info after the jump:

GATCHAMAN Movie - Photos of the Display at Los Angeles Anime Expo 2009 - Plus a Gatchaman Watch

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: July 2nd, 2009 at 5:51 pm

Starting today at the Los Angeles Convention Center is Anime Expo 2009. Billed as the nation’s largest anime and manga convention, I went to see if their claim was true. And I have to say, it was pretty impressive. In a little while I’ll be posting tons of pictures of people in costumes and a more detailed write-up of what I thought. But for now, let’s talk “Gatchaman”.

At the convention today, Imagi Studios had a booth where they were showing clips from their upcoming “Astro Boy” movie and they also had some early signage for their next feature “Gatchaman”. After the jump, you can see the images as well as a “Gatchaman” watch which they were giving away to people at certain times of the day.

First Photos of Dakota Fanning as Cherie Currie in THE RUNAWAYS

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: July 2nd, 2009 at 3:08 pm

Just Jared has landed some behind-the-scenes photos of Dakota Fanning as rocker Cherie Currie in the upcoming biopic “The Runaways”.  We previously saw Kristen Stewart as Joan Jett but she was still pretty recognizable as Stewart (not to slam the make-up or costume job; it’s just you know it’s Stewart just as you know it’s Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash).  Fanning is a different story.  While I can still tell it’s Fanning, she really has grown up fast and, more importantly, she’s growing up well.  I don’t mean that in the dirty old man sense but in that I think she’s serious about being the mature actor that never really suited her as a child when that attitude came off as irritatingly precocious (to the point where Amy Poehler and SNL could mock it mercilessly).  What’s more, she doesn’t need films like “Hounddog” to say “I’m a mature actress”.  She was one of the best parts of “Push” and I have high hopes for her performance in “The Runaways”.

Hit the jump to see a couple of set photos and head over to JustJared to see the full gallery.

Universal Adapting ASTEROIDS Video Game into Movie

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: July 2nd, 2009 at 2:26 pm

Continuing its commitment to making a movie out of anything a child can play with, Universal is adapting the old, old school game video game “Asteroids” according to The Hollywood Reporter.  Why, “Asteroids”, I’m not exactly sure.  Was “Pong” taken?*  And furthermore, why not grab something with a little more creative room?  I think if you got someone creative and insane enough, you could make an interesting “Pac-Man” movie (this t-shirt is probably more creative and has more story than the inevitable film).

Back to “Asteroids” wasn’t this movie already made as “Armageddon”?  And if “Armageddon” taught us anything (and I’m almost 100% sure it didn’t), you can’t shoot asteroids in order to blow them up.  You have to land on them and implant them with a nuclear bomb.  And after Jason Isaacs sold us on why you have to do that using his firecracker analogy, audiences will refuse to accept an isosceles triangle destroying asteroids without the help of the world’s best deep-core drilling team and a nuclear weapon.

*As an aside, my friend and current kick-ass film editor David Solomon wrote the world’s first “Pong” fan-fic in 2001.  You can read it here.

Spend Your July 4th Weekend Shooting Aliens and Humans for DISTRICT 9 - And New Trailer Next Week

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: July 2nd, 2009 at 1:55 pm

How should you celebrate this Independence Day?  Sure, you could go the conventional route of shooting off fireworks and rounding up illegal immigrants, but why not stay home, huddled in front of the warmth of your computer screen, and go a few rounds in playing the online game for “District 9″.  The film revolves around aliens who have crash-landed on Earth and are now being held captive in a slum known as District 9.  In the game, you can play as humans or filthy, filthy aliens.  Playing as a human, your job is to capture or kill filthy, filthy aliens (you get more points for capturing but it’s much harder and you die much faster) and as a filthy, filthy alien, your job is to collect cannisters while avoiding clean, clean humans.

Click here to defend/escape District 9 and check back next week for the film’s brand new trailer.  “District 9″ hits theatres on August 14th.

Inform Thy Bros: Neil Patrick Harris Hosting The Emmys

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: July 2nd, 2009 at 1:05 pm

I have made no secret of my love for Neil Patrick Harris as I applaud both his self-lampooning in the “Harold & Kumar” movies as well as his stellar work on the fantastic comedy series, “How I Met Your Mother”.  After last year’s disasterous quintet of reality show hosts presenting the Emmy awards, CBS has tapped one of its biggest stars, Harris, to follow up his well-received stint hosting the Tonys by hosting television’s congratulatory wankfest.  It may also be odd because Harris is almost guaranteed to grab yet another Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy nomination for his work on “HIMYM”.  Of course, there won’t be the awkwardness of him winning because why do that when you can just give it to Jeremy Piven again (for those keeping count, Piven has won the award three years in a row for playing Ari Gold which doesn’t speak as much to Piven’s performance as it does to the fact that most Emmy voters probably just Xerox their ballots).

Box Office Watch – ICE AGE 3D and PUBLIC ENEMIES Kick Off July Fourth Holiday

by Nicole Pedersen    Posted: July 2nd, 2009 at 11:40 am

The 2009 July Fourth holiday frame got underway on Wednesday with two new features debuting wide: “Ice Age 3D: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” and “Public Enemies”.  “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” is still capable of doing plenty of damage to both as it angles to take a second weekend at number one, however.  Fox’s third “Ice Age” feature got off to a solid start with $13.8 million debut from 3,993 theatres (including a record 1,600 3D screenings).  This was good enough to trounce the Wednesday “Transformers” take of $10.9 million, though the two films should even out with $60 million a piece come Sunday.  Universal’s “Public Enemies” was always playing for third place, though the more adult-themed movie proved surprisingly potent on day one.  Solid reviews helped “Enemies” take in an estimated $8.2 million from its 3,319 runs.  This puts the film on track to exceed the projected $30 million five-day gross that Universal was floating a couple of days ago.    Check back to see which film will ultimately get the upper hand this weekend (though it seems foolish to bet against “Transformers 2″ at this point, doesn’t it?)

Nimrod Antal to Direct PREDATORS

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: July 1st, 2009 at 9:15 pm

Christian Bale Interview PUBLIC ENEMIES

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: July 1st, 2009 at 8:02 pm

Opening today is director Michael Mann’s “Public Enemies”. The film is set during the Depression-era’s great crime wave and it’s the story of the government’s attempt to stop legendary criminals John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd. This operation transformed the FBI into the first federal police force. By now you’ve seen the trailers and commercials, so you know the cast is filled with famous faces like Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard, Channing Tatum and David Wenham.

Anyway, to help promote the film, our partners at Omelete sent me to cover the international press day and I was able to participate in a small press conference with Christian Bale. During the interview, Christian talked about making “Public Enemies”, the research he did to prepare to play Melvin Purvis, what he’s working on now, and people tried to get him to compare all the different director’s he’s worked with to one another. If you’re a fan of this great actor, you’ll love the interview. The transcript and audio is after the jump:

Matthew Vaughn Plans to KICK-ASS at This Year’s San Diego Comic-Con

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: July 1st, 2009 at 7:48 pm

With only twenty one days remaining till this year’s Comic-Con, news is slowly starting to leak out about what this year’s attendees can see.  Hopefully, the official website will release a full schedule immediately so folks can know which lines to stand in for most of the day.

While we don’t know what line you’ll have to stand in for Matthew Vaughn’s “Kick-Ass” (Hall H?  Certainly one of the larger ballrooms, at least), we know that you’ll have to carve out a block of time near the end of the day on Thursday, July 23rd if you want to see his adaptation of Mark Millar’s comic starring Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloe Moretz, and Nicolas Cage.  Vaughn will be showing off footage from the upcoming film although there’s no official word yet if any of the stars will be attending as well.  Personally, I’m happy with just Vaughn as he grabbed my attention with “Layer Cake” and then created an underseen gem with “Stardust”.  The story follows a normal 16-year-old who decides to become a super-hero despite having no training or special powers.  While I’ve never made secret of my disdain for Mark Millar’s work and his self-promotion disproportionate to his talent, I have confidence that Vaughn and co-screenwriter Jane Goodman can turn his comic into something pretty spectacular.

Hit the jump for a few images from the film. [via /Film]

Nike Walks Around in Nostalgia with TRANSFORMERS Shoe

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: July 1st, 2009 at 6:29 pm

It doesn’t quite beat yesterday’s news about “Liquid Artillery“, but the announcement of three pairs of special edition “Transformers” shoes crafted entirely out of nostalgia comes close.  The three characters getting their own footwear are Megatron (Nike Zoom Flight Club), Soundwave (Nike Sharkalaid) and Bumblebee (Nike Zoom FP).  No word yet if the Soundwave shoe isn’t made for wearing as much as just sitting on your shelf telling other shoes what to do.  If it had a tape-recorder, that would be cool too.

But with the packaging and the nostalgia designed to appeal to kids, these shoes can’t be that expensive.  They’re meant for the new generation of “Transformers” fans.  I mean, they have Velcro instead of laces!  So, what do they cost?  $40?  $50?

4 Movie Clips from BRUNO

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: July 1st, 2009 at 6:09 pm

Opening on July 10th is “Bruno” and Sacha Baron Cohen is once again going to shock some audiences. The reason I say some, is unlike “Borat” - which came completely out of left field - “Bruno” isn’t as shocking as we’ve seen a lot of it before. Scenes of Bruno doing and saying things to unsuspecting people is straight out of “Borat”, but that’s not to say I didn’t find it funny, as I laughed a lot and one scene had me in tears. While I definitely recommend “Bruno”, I wouldn’t call it a home-run.

Anyway, to help promote the film, Universal has just given us 4 clips from the movie and they’re after the jump. Take a look and judge “Bruno” for yourself:

HBO’s JOHN ADAMS Blu-ray Review

by Andre Dellamorte    Posted: July 1st, 2009 at 4:38 pm

You have to give it up for HBO. The mini-series as a format is on its death-nell. Network television has no interest in the format any more, or hasn’t for a while. They’d rather have a regular series, or a reality show. But the expense of putting on these sorts of things are of an older school, a school that is now all but vanished. But when HBO wants to do something (with the encouragement of Tom Hanks for sure), it gets done, and so the story of John Adams has been made as a seven part mini-series. Harrumph.

My review is after the jump:

Legendary Actor Karl Malden Dies at 97

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: July 1st, 2009 at 3:07 pm

Hey Death: take a holiday.  At this point, I’m seriously starting to wonder if Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Billie Mays, and now Karl Malden were on Air France Flight 447 and got off at the last minute.  Or, we can go the conspiracy route and wonder who would have it in for these people who were known and built a legacy but not particularly famous at present.   We could also chalk it up to coincidence but where’s the fun in that?

Malden was one of the all-time great character actors, appearing in over 70 movies and TV shows, and making his name in such classic films as “On the Waterfront”, “Baby Doll”, “Birdman of Alcatraz”, “Gypsy”, “Patton”, and “A Streetcar Named Desire” for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1951.  He was also in “Cat o’Nine Tales“.

James Cameron’s AVATAR Comic-Con Banner goes up in San Diego

by Nicole Pedersen    Posted: July 1st, 2009 at 1:08 pm

ComingSoon has just posted a photo of the “Avatar” banner that is now flying proudly over the San Diego Convention Center.  The James Cameron 3D feature film is one of the big draws at this year’s convention and, as we reported a few days back, Comic-Con has confirmed that this year Hall H will be equipped to screen 3D programming.  This is code for “people at Comic-Con are gonna get to see to see some really cool ‘Avatar’ footage.”   The banner shows one of the film’s giant aliens (called Na’vi) and if you’d like to see more of them you’ll have to get your ass to San Diego by July 23^rd… or keep checking back here with us.

Johnny Depp Interview PUBLIC ENEMIES

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: July 1st, 2009 at 10:32 am

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