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Phasekitty The Spirit Panel Jul 31, 2008 11:15 AM I love Sin City and I love Frank Miller's comics, but I'm still not sold on The Spirit . It really irritates me when people talk about "Frank Miller movies" and his "film style" when they fail to realize that he has no style yet. Sin City was only co-directed by Miller; the actual directing was done by Robert Rodriguez. He brought Miller on as a co-director in order to preserve the style of the comic books. Miller had previously never allowed his work to be filmed, but when Rodriguez offered him co-director credit and an opportunity to be on the set to be certain that Rodriguez wasn't screwing up his work, he agreed to let him make Sin City. Miller had little to no part in the actual directing of the film and the style is literally his comic book brought to life. The Spirit is Frank Miller's actual first film, as he is directing someone else's material in his first solo effort. So far, it all looks like a cheap Sin City to me, as though he hasn't actually developed his own style and is simply aiming for the praise that Sin City earned. I'm nowhere near being sold on The Spirit yet, especially since there's just no reason to give it that Sin City style. I will give Frank this though, this is the third Comic-con I've seen him speak at and this was the most vocal I've ever seen him. He's normally very quiet and introverted during panels with short answers, yet he seemed very enthused to show some Spirit footage for us. He brought out some of his cast: Gabriel Macht (The Spirit himself), Jamie King (Lorelei Rox), and Samuel L. Jackson (The Octopus) and showed us various clips from the film. The first clip showed The Spirit with one of his many women, Ellen Dolan (Sarah Paulson) as they have an intimate conversation. The second clip was prefaced with a long explanation of this new technology that they used in order for the actors to look like they were underwater though they actually weren’t…however it didn’t look to me as though they were underwater at all. The clip showed Sand Saref (Eva Mendes) looking for something in a lake when The Octopus shows up. The final clip was a campy fight sequence between The Octopus and The Spirit, and the closest thing to the actual source material. The problem with all these clips was that they all looked like they were from different films. The first conversation appeared out of a 50’s noir flick, the second underwater sequence out of a cheesy sci fi flick with bad effects, and the third appeared to be a campy super hero flick, which is what I think the rest of the film should look like. It all makes me just a little nervous that Miller’s trying to do too much in his first outing. If anything though, it certainly looks like he’s enjoying himself. Pictures from the panel:
Phasekitty Watchmen Panel Jul 30, 2008 11:21 AM I'm assuming everyone's seen this and if you haven't, you should watch it at least 3 times. Watchmen is more than just a graphic novel, it changed the face of comics by proving that something mind blowing, intelligent, and meaningful can come out of the medium. Until Watchmen, the general population assumed comic books were for children; exclusive to tales of super heroes and monsters. Then Alan Moore came along with his critically acclaimed, award winning graphic novel that changed everything. For decades Watchmen has been described as "unfilmable" and the project had been abandoned by several respectable filmmakers. Until Zack Snyder came along, a rookie with just a zombie movie and a successful graphic novel adaptation under his belt. When he spoke at Comic-con last year he had nothing but a poster to show us, yet we all went wild. Dave Gibbons, co-creator of Watchmen, had designed it and given his blessing to the film. It was enough to tide us over, yet didn't fully put our minds at ease. The unfilmable novel still seemed impossible, despite his amazing cast, and his lack of experience made everyone a little nervous. And then there was that teaser. That visually astounding teaser set to the beautifully drab B-side Smashing Pumpkins "The Beginning is the End is the Beginning" that evoked goosebumps and made me forget that I had actually come to see The Dark Knight. I've watched that teaser at least 20 times and it just gets better every time. Trust me. Just days after that teaser hits theaters, Zack Snyder comes out to a packed Hall H, that's 6,500 people, with his full cast and Dave Gibbons and tells us that he has more. The footage he showed us is the teaser but longer, a "non-PG version" he calls it. It lingers on Billy Crudup longer as he changes into Dr. Manhattan, you can see his skeleton lit up with the blue energy and his insides disintegrate. Nite Owl and Silk Spectre kiss as a giant mushroom cloud expands in the background. In Vietnam, Dr. Manhattan chases soldiers, blowing each and every one of them to literal pieces. We see more of Jeffery Dean Morgan as the Comedian and a glimpse of Carla Gugino as the original Silk Spectre at the Minutemen meeting. Also, Rorschach's changing mask and a lengthier, stylistic shot of the Comedian as he falls. The footage was plenty to whet our appetites and prove that Zack Snyder has managed to film the unfilmable. Him and the cast fielded some questions about the shoot and what their characters meant to them. Every one of the cast members read the graphic novel and it was referred to as "the bible" on set. They would carry it around with them and point certain things out to Zack if they ever felt the scene wasn't faithful enough. Billy Crudup joked around about Dr. Manhattan's omnipotence and how hard it was to relate to. Patrick Wilson loved that he didn't have to get ripped for his part as the washed up, morose super hero Nite Owl and could kick back with ice cream and beer. Jeffrey Dean Morgan admitted how fun it was to stick a cigar in his mouth and transform into the brass Comedian and Jackie Earle Haley disclosed that he formed his portrayal of Rorschach by watching the message boards and reading how fans thought Rorschach should be played. The panel ended by watching the footage again and like the teaser, the second time was better than the first. Next March can't come soon enough. Pictures from the panel:
Phasekitty Entertainment Weekly's Visionary Filmmakers Panel Jul 26, 2008 11:48 PM Entertainment Weekly's Visionary Filmmakers Panel - Friday, July 25th
Phasekitty The Spirit Panel Jul 26, 2008 9:55 PM The Spirit Panel - Friday, July 25th
Phasekitty Universal's Wolfman Jul 26, 2008 1:20 PM Universal's Wolfman - Friday, July 25

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