Movie-Con is nicely British version of the huge San Diegan event. It occurs over one weekend in one theatre NFT 1 at the BFI. Essentially it involves screening a bunch of trailers for upcoming films. There were also two full-length screenings, District 9 and Adventureland. District 9 was a secret screening and the audience whooped when the title 'Peter Jackson Presents' came up. Essentially it's a souped up 1950's sci-fi B-Movie but with less of a script. The initial reviews were ecstatic and it wasn't a surprise that it didn't live up to expectations. It's an enjoyable diversion but the political allegory element is simplistic and will leave audiences thinking South Africa is a refugee infested hell hole. Adventureland is the latest from Greg Motolla who is now in Judd Apatow's stable. It's a coming of age comedy that was a diverting two hours. Both films were a step-up from last years full screenings Step Brothers and RocknRolla.
Guy Ritchie did turn up as he did last year and he had Robert Downey Jnr in tow. They showed footage from Sherlock Holmes and Downey Jnr came back the next day to introduce Iron Man 2 footage. Robert Downey Jnr's unexpected entrance had the audience whooping. Possibly the most interesting preview was for Kick-Ass which looks and is directed by Guy Ritchie's old partner Matthew Vaughn. That one had me whooping. Terry Gilliam and Kathryn Bigelow also showed up (how does Kathryn Bigelow look like that???). The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus looks like typical Gilliam, Bigelow's The Hurt Locker looks terrific.
The weekend ended with a presentation of 3D trailers from Disney and seven minutes from James Cameron's new epic Avatar. Avatar wasn't quite as mind blowing as some reports have suggested. The aliens still look like CGI aliens. The 3D element was fascinating. I found myself very aware of 'long lens' shots though. I didn't like anything out of focus. James Cameron has mentioned this somewhere already, his style of shooting suits 3D. A shallow depth of frame doesn't work because you need depth of frame to create the effect of 3D. That sounds obvious, but I didn't expect my eye to be drawn to the out of focus portion of the frame. It's like 2D animation that uses the out of focus style, you notice it because it's unusual. The excellent Marvel tv cartoon Wolverine and the X-men uses this technique and its hard to get your head around. I also wonder if I don't watch enough cartoons and I'm out of practice with what is the norm.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable weekend but I can't help mention the one sour note for me, which was the clip from the Harry Brown starring Michael Caine and directed by newcomer Daniel Barber. The footage from the film looked fine. It's a revenge vigilante thriller, an exploitation flick that looks fairly stylish. The director himself seemed to be an idiot. Assuring the audienence that he had made this film because it was about a VERY important topic, UK street crime, or something along those lines. Apparently he only wanted to make films that had some kind of 'message'. I don't care if anyone makes an exploitation flick, Dead Man's Shoes is a terrific British example of this, but please dear lord, don't also pretend you're delivering a message.
Roll on Movie-Con III!
It was a thoroughly enjoyable weekend but I can't help mention the one sour note for me, which was the clip from the Harry Brown starring Michael Caine and directed by newcomer Daniel Barber. The footage from the film looked fine. It's a revenge vigilante thriller, an exploitation flick that looks fairly stylish. The director himself seemed to be an idiot. Assuring the audienence that he had made this film because it was about a VERY important topic, UK street crime, or something along those lines. Apparently he only wanted to make films that had some kind of 'message'. I don't care if anyone makes an exploitation flick, Dead Man's Shoes is a terrific British example of this, but please dear lord, don't also pretend you're delivering a message.
Roll on Movie-Con III!
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