Above: Rose McGowan licking blood off a sword

The room was packed for the Red Sonja panel today featuring Robert Rodriguez, Rose McGowan and director Doug Aaroniokoski, and images of Rose McGowan in that skimpy metal bikini were everywhere (what you see above was one of around 2,000 t-shirts handed out. Below are easy-to-read notes on this particular panel:

-- Red Sonja will hit theaters in the fourth quarter of 2009 (one imagines for Christmas)
-- Robert Rodriguez is acting as a "hands on" producer, and will co-direct a good chunk of the flick. Not only is he doing this for Red Sonja, but he's also negotiating to produce a new Conan film. It seems as if they would eventually (if both are popular enough) cross promote between films.
-- The tone will be darker, like the book, and when asked if it would be R rated, Rodriguez said, "My name is double 'R'!"
--Also on tone and scope, McGowan (who's quite lively and quick-witted in person) said it's "hard, cold, dirty and bloody." And that she's looking forward to "taking a big giant sword and killing a lot of people."
-- Training is already underway, and McGowan is working with the same swords experts who helped out on Matrix and Ninja Assassin.
-- Rodriguez also admitted that Barbarella is officially off, and that Red Sonja has taken its place. He said financing of $70 million did come through from Germany for a shoot next year, but he's obligated to shoot something else for Miramax. He's negotiating right now to direct a "huge summer movie" -- but he wouldn't say which.
-- On the character, Rose McGowan said: "I will not have a mullet!" The crowd cheered.
-- Red Sonja will be shot on location (scouting now) and will use some green screen.
-- Asked who should star in the new Conan, RR shouted: "Danny Trejo!"
-- On Machete becoming a film, RR said they have plans to turn it into a Mexploitation triple feature disc (and somewhere on that disc will be a trailer for a sequel to Planet Terror.)
-- On Sin City 2, Frank Miller has finished writing the script, but no one knows whether or not that's going to happen with each working on different projects.

P.S. For those who think Rodriguez and McGowan aren't a couple anymore, check out this candid snapshot (taken right before RR kissed RM on the forehead).



Gallery from the panel below. My opinion: It looks pretty hot, and while I've bashed McGowan in the past, I'm willing to give her a chance to kick some ass here. This will be her time to shine.

What can I say about our first full day at San Diego Comic Con? First off, there are people everywhere -- I'm absolutely starving (because lines to get any sort of food are tremendous) and everywhere I look someone has fake blood on their body. It's the most surreal experience ever -- sort of like attending a Woodstock-like concert in Fantasyland. But I dig it, and we're trying to do as much as we can, see as much as we can, and bring it all back to you without absolutely losing our minds.

Below is a collection of costumes from the first day of San Diego Comic Con '08. (I don't think I have to tell you which one is my favorite ...)

More coming ... including word from Max Payne, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Red Sonja, Frank Darabont, Twilight and, well, more, more, more ...

Cinematical's Official Comic Con '08 Hub

The X-Files: I Want to Believe offers the viewer many mysteries to contemplate -- and only one of them is on-screen; as David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson return to roles and a franchise that last graced our TV screens in 2002 (and was last on the big screen in 1998), your mind swirls around the behind-the-scenes facts as fiercely as it does around the events playing out before your eyes. As reclusive, retired ex-FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully (Duchovny and Anderson) help the FBI with an abduction case, you're not following the plot as such; instead, you're thinking things like Hey, didn't this show get canceled six years ago? Haven't Duchovny and Chris Carter, the star and director of this film, both sued the studio behind it? Who, out in the movie going audience, is really clamoring for this movie? If you're an X-Files fan, is this film's freestanding creepy tale, with no link to the weird and convoluted mythos Carter came up with for the show, going to satisfy whatever itch you may still have for the franchise? And if you're not an X-Files fan, is the idea that this film stands alone enough reason to come to the franchise now?

Cinematical fought through the massive crowds tonight on the convention floor to bring you tons and tons of photos from the 2008 San Diego Comic Con Preview Night. While we didn't spot too many people dressed in costume (except for a group doing a Batman theme), there were some very, very cool toys, games, statues, posters and movie props. Among the larger attractions was Nite Owl's ship from Watchmen (pictured below -- see inside by clicking through the gallery), a huge Iron Monger statue (in gallery), James Bond's hot set of wheels (in gallery), a ginormous Star Wars exhibit, with Star Wars: The Clone Wars statues alongside dudes in Storm Trooper attire (pictured above), as well as monitors displaying the new video game, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (which looks hella cool).

Check out a few images from Preview Night below, then definitely make sure to head on over to the gallery to see what this year's San Diego Con is all about.

P.S. Masters of the Web panel tomorrow morning, 10am. Be there! Say hello! Make it look like I have friends!



Nite Owl's ship from Watchmen (more images from inside the thing down in the gallery).



Our friends in Batman gear!

Cinematical's Official Comic Con Hub

Walking around Preview Night here at San Diego Comic Con and, well, we kinda stumbled upon this poster (click image to enlarge) for X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The film wasn't supposed to have a major presence here at Con, so it's nice to at least see a poster for the flick, which hits theaters on May 1, 2009. We'll have a whole bunch of photos for you from Preview Night here at Con in just a little bit -- in the meantime, what do you think about this poster? Does it get you excited for the film? Starring Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber and Danny Huston, X-Men Origins: Wolverine will claw its way into theaters next summer.

For complete coverage of the 2008 San Diego International Comic Con, check out the official Cinematical Comic Con Hub.

Look, I thought The Dark Knight had a lot of strong selling points: Combine a deft pace with thoughtful characterizations and a whopping IMAX design that turns the entire experience into a plot-driven theme park ride, and you've got one hefty dose of Batman adrenaline.

Still, comparisons to The Godfather Part II notwithstanding, The Dark Knight isn't foolproof -- in fact, no single movie in history is foolproof. The subjective experience of movie watching ensures that nothing can be universally liked by everyone, and rules of civility insist that humanity respect that truism. It's acceptable to feel passionately about a great work of art, and defend that perspective with rigorous argumentation, but much of the outrage over the minority perspective that The Dark Knight isn't any good has made such practical thinking impossible.

Deemed the first critic to pan the movie, New York's David Edelstein went out of his way to list the allegations against him sent along by various Batman fans. The House Next Door editor Keith Uhlich, meanwhile, fielded over a hundred rants in the comments section following his astute critique of director Christopher Nolan's questionable portrayals of violence. What's particularly shocking about this frightful deluge of negative responses is that many of these people began posting their disapproval before they even saw the movie.

For all the anime fans who hoped that certain titles would remain out of the grasp of Hollywood; I have some bad news for you. According to iFMagazine, Fox has given the green-light for a live-action version of the classic animated series, Cowboy Bebop. During the Television Critics Association press tour, producer Erwin Stoff let it slip that he now has a deal in place with Fox studios to bring the popular series to the big screen. Stoff told journalists, "I'm developing COWBOY BEBOP for Fox, but doing it as a live-action film, so I'm working on that at the moment, I'm really excited to be working on it, and it's in the really early stages. We just signed it the other day."

For the uninitiated; Cowboy Bebop was the story of a group of bounty hunters and their adventures aboard their ship, Bebop, in the year 2071. The series was a huge success in both Japan and in the US, and even spawned an animated film back in 2002.

For fans who might be worried that Cowboy could suffer the same fate as other anime-inspired flicks, there is a silver lining. Stoff promised that, "I have such an enormous admiration for its creators, that our first and foremost concern is going to be a real degree of faithfulness to the tone of the movie, to the mix of genres, and so on and so forth," -- I don't want to sound too cynical, but it's not like we haven't heard that one before.

Now on to the more important question: Who should take over for Jet Black and the gang on the big screen? Sound off below...

This latest cameo in The Dark Knight made be both happy and disappointed. You see, Nicky Katt is so much more than just the Stuka shtick. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, check out the clip above. Basically, it's the dude being super, extra talkative when most other people probably wouldn't. In Sin City, that meant blabbering on after getting an arrow right through your torso. In TDK, that means going on and on about how the high-speed chase just isn't good.

Yes, that super-talkative cop from the chase scene is none other than Nicky Katt, Stuka, the detective in The Brave One, the puss-filled guy in Planet Terror, the Carnoburger Cashier in The Doom Generation, and the marijuana-smoking Clint in Dazed and Confused.

I'm happy to see him wherever he pops up, but please -- Hollywood Powers that Be, don't relegate Katt to just over-talkative guys in the action. He's so much more than light-tongued typecasting!

Virgin Comics is still relatively new to the game, and while the big daddies of the comic book world have been enjoying their time on the big screen; Virgin has been steadily making deals for a little box-office success of their own (especially considering that was what the company was designed to do in the first place). Variety now reports that Virgin has sold the film rights to their latest comic, The Leaves, to Summit Entertainment.

The Leaves was inspired by tales of Naadi fortune-tellers and one man's extraordinary experience. The story centers on Max Mellick, a world-renowned heart surgeon with a beautiful girlfriend and luxurious New York lifestyle. While attending a friend's funeral in India, a fortune-teller tells Max that he will be responsible for bringing about the end of the world. But, Dr. Max isn't the apocalyptic-type, so he goes on the run in the hopes of finding a way to escape his destiny.

Leaves was only released a few days ago, but that hasn't stopped Summit from snapping up the title for a feature film remake. Leaves was written by Kevin J. Walsh and he will also adapt the story into an action thriller for the big screen. Virgin's Creative Director, Gotham Chopra (son to Deepak) will produce the film alongside CEO Sharad Devarajan. I just hope Summit can get Virgin moving a little faster on this project than they have with The Megas.