COMIC CON 2006

If I had to describe, in one word, Comic-Con - it would be OVERWHELMING. For the next four days, Downtown San Diego will be filled to the brim with geeks, nerds, comic book nuts and Sci-Fi guru's from around the world. Comic-Con is the largest Comic book convention on the West Coast, but it isn't just about comic books. It's also a haven for movie and television studios to launch their new releases.
One thing that ALL the studios have realised is that the comic book fanbase is HUGE. And so they're catering to this fanbase by sending in their big guns to do press, show pilots, sign autographs and woo bigtime to try and harvest the boatload of money that is within this demographic.
Besides the costume-draped kids in their Naruto and Wonder Woman costumes, the Star Trekkers and Battlestar Galacticans, you'll find a plethora of comic books for sale, software that will catalogue comics, software that will create comics and, yes, toys based off comics. But, you'll find more than that.
You'll find Lions Gate, Miramax, Sony, WB, IFC, and a host of other movie studios there to push their latest (albeit comic-related) movies. Booths to see while there - pretty much the aforementioned.
Upstairs, above the convention hall, you will find exhibit rooms showing new fare from the likes of the Sci-Fi Channel, NBC, ABC and anyone else coming out with a Sci-Fi story. Look for a show called HEROS from NBC. Looks to be a hit. But that's just my opinion. Also, from Sci-Fi Channel, EUREKA.
I hit the exhibit rooms to see the director of Azumi, Ryuhei Kitamura, talk about his influences and the filming of Azumi. Before that, I hit a discussion by David Arquette (and others) about his new movie The Tripper. There was supposed to be a film clip, but he lost it, so he pretty much told the whole plot of the movie, including the ending. Due to respect and the fact that he asked - I will not spoil it for my readers.
The highlights of the first day was the screening of RENAISSANCE. A Noirish story baed in the distant future, this ALL COMPUTER-DRAWN film is the shit. I will post up a review later. I was pretty captivated by this. Think SIN CITY meets ..hell, I don't know what else to compare it to. Completely realistic, right down to the movement of the eyes. It's black and white. And I mean, just black and just white.
But the gem was a 10.15p screening of THIS FILM IS NOT YET RATED by Kirby Dick. If there is but one documentary you need to see, it would be this one. It will be released September 1st and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you see it. It is the story of the MPAA and how their control over the ratings system make or break films and their success in the box office. A group of directors speak on film about their feelings of the MPAA and how they censor, ruin or even kill movies being made today. On a side note, the MPAA gave this film an NC-17 rating. It's something you HAVE to watch if you are even remotely a fan of going to see movies. Review will be posted later.
Well, I must sleep as the next day for Comic Con is soon coming up.