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Hello friends!

Steve here, once again with another fine report from the Comic Con floor! Now that my tummy is filled with a delicious 25 dollar hot dog, I’m ready to give you your monthly internet bill’s worth! There are so many exciting things to see here, that it’s impossible to see it all in 4 days. From toys, to comics, from t-shirts to posters, it’s just a madhouse of eye candy as far as the eye can see. That’s not all though, while you’re gallivanting through the isles and isles of nerd gold, there are all day panels presenting your favorite celebrities, comic book writers and artists, cartoon creators and voices, film directors, and special effects wizards.
All of these panels are very intimate and give you the chance to fulfill your dreams of asking a celebrity “Yes, hello, I was wondering…In episode #327, “Spock and Roll All Night!,” is it true that the shoes you were wearing were NOT regulation star fleet standard, but in fact were socks and sandals!?”, and making a complete fool out of yourself in front of hundreds of people. But that doesn’t matter, cause for one sweaty, shaky moment, for one faint, worthy second, you and your childhood memories lock eyes, and for just one fraction of a millisecond, you feel isolated from the rest of the world, and it’s just you and your celebrity idol, locking eyes, attention fixed.
It’s really an amazing opportunity, and it happens here, for hundreds of people, once a year. And, there’s 25 dollar hot dogs, what more could you possibly want?!

-Steve

*If your dreams don’t actually come true – don’t call me.

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Hello again, Steve here!

Today my first stop was the Sony Pictures panel presentation of Open Season. They opened the presentation with the trailer, which I have to admit, was pretty damn funny! I mean wild animals going buck wild (pun intended) on hillbilly hunters equals immediate hysterical laughter, (Especially if you’re a fan of the old Bugs Bunny cartoons, where he messes heavily with Elmer Fudd). You have to admit, there’s just something entertaining about watching animals kick the crap out of humans. Even if it’s real footage! Obviously if someone gets hurt, it’s not entertaining anymore….It’s hilarious! And this film seems ripe with splendid “animal-hurts-human” scenes!

On hand for the presentation was Steve Moore, the creator of the comic strip “In the Bleachers” which was the basis for the concept of the film. Also presenting was Jill Culton, the producer of the film, and Doug Ikeler, who was the visual effects supervisor. Everyone was really excited because Open Season will mark Sony Pictures first romp into the world of animation. Sony Pictures! I salute thee!

They then showed us a clip of the film. At first, I have to admit I was ready to rule it out as a typical buddy animated movie, with “wacky hi jinks!” and cheesy one liners. And as the clip went on, I realized that I was actually enjoying it! The clip had the two main characters breaking into a convenience store (which involved a shopping cart, and a glass door), and eating everything in sight. I mean, imagine a giant hungry bear and, a deer rampaging through a 7-11! It was truly entertaining and funny. From what I saw, I can tell you that the main character, Boog, is a domesticated brown bear, (voiced by Martin Lawrence) who lives in what looks like the garage of a mountain dwelling hillbilly.
His friend is a one antlered deer named Elliot (voiced by Ashton Kutcher), who attempts to get Boog to leave his domestic home, and travel into the wild. I’ll definitely check this one out when it hits theaters, cause who doesn’t want to watch two computer animated animals beat the crap out of gun toting hunters! Count me in!

Next up was the presentation of Surf’s Up, introduced by the producer Chris Jenkins. Oh man, this movie looks sooo damn good! It’s shot “documentary style” which I love so much when it’s comedic! I was reminded of Christopher Guest’s style of comedy, and improv when watching the second clip, which was the entire opening of the film. The first clip was a short teaser trailer that showcased the amazing animation of a penguin surfing in the ocean, with absolutely impressive water effects! I can’t miss this movie when it comes out, looks like the perfect film to take your friends to, and just pig out on nachos and popcorn, and then spitting it all out when laughing!
Which is something I’ve never done, honestly... This is Steve signing off!

-Steve

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Steve here, with my first report LIVE from Comic Con! As some of you may know, Wednesday at Comic Con is typically Preview Night, when the doors to the massive convention center open for just 4 short hours (trust me, 4 hours in the exhibition hall is SHORT!) to give 4 day attendees a taste of things to come in the next few days! With awesome exclusive figures only available for Preview Night patrons, and first come first served tickets to screenings of upcoming movies! My first duty as the official Sony Pictures Comic Con blogger, was to check out the screening of Monster House in 3D! Needless to say, I loved it! As a fan of such films as The Goonies, Explorers, and Monster Squad, you can bet your sweet spectacles that when Monster House is released on DVD, it’ll have a home on my shelf, right next to all those “feel like a kid again” movies. Now I know what your thinking, “Ok, so this is a Sony Pictures blog, and this guys Is totally being mind controlled to say that Monster House was awesome!” The truth is, I am. But as soon as the mind control helmet came off, along with the loss of feeling in my legs, I felt the love and wholesomeness of Monster House all over again! Truth is, before they could get the mind control helmet on Sara, (my wife and trusty nerd sidekick!) she reminded me about how awesome Monster House was even before they tried put the helmet on, so they didn’t really even get to put the helmet on either of us. (This still doesn’t explain why I lost all feeling in my legs.) But I digress! Yes, Monster House is fun for the whole family, and Yes it’s about kids. This movie is scary, and truly exciting the whole way through! Computer animation has come a long way, and it really shows in Monster House. About 5 minutes into the movie I completely forgot it was animated, and was convinced I was watching live actors. The animation is so amazing, and real, you’ll honestly forget it’s computer generated. Not to mention the fact that it was in 3D! (which needs to be seen! I don’t care where you live, find out where this is playing in 3D and make it your life’s quest to see it this way. Trust me, you can thank me later.) I could go on all day about Monster House, I really could, but it all boils down to this: If you value the days of youth, playing outside with your friends, telling ghost stories, hearing tales of old man Mcwhithers’ creepy haunted house, and daring each other to go inside it, but you never did! Then get ready to finally enter that house, and make sure you bring a friend this time!

-Steve