Here are the other book, DVD and movie releases for the week!
HARDCOVER BOOKS
PAPERBACK BOOKS
DVDS
IN THEATERS FRIDAY
These past few days I’ve been manning the “booth,” or the small space between the Del Rey and Crown booths to be more precise, and haven’t been able to get out and about very often. Today, that changed as my mission morphed from hand out bags to anyone who asks for one (meaning just about anyone with a pulse) to wander around and blog the Con. And while our bags are well made and wonderful, the latter mission is much more exciting.
So, I was able to break away for about 30 minutes this morning before running off to snap a few shots of Terry Brooks’ autograph session*. Here are a few things I saw during my all-too-brief running wild time:
The Life-sized Bumblebee
The Transformers are more than 20 years old now, but no less cool than when they first transformed and rolled out. This Bumblebee is more than 25 feet tall, towering over the convention floor. You can see he’s standing next to a mock-up of the TF:Animated Blitzwing. Sweet. If you’re a fan of the films, you might also want to know that Alan Dean Foster (author of the Pip & Flinx novels) has been writing the novels for Del Rey. He also wrote a pretty sweet between-the-films books, The Veiled Threat which fills in the time between the movies with additional goings-on in the Transformers universe.
I’m in Portland OR today, with a reading tonight, and multi-tasking per usual, so those of you looking for the continuation of my trenchant analysis of the current state of science fiction will have to look elsewhere (but if you find yourself near Powell’s Beaverton locale, then let’s talk it over in person). However, while back and forth across the country, I’ve been thinking some Really Deep Thoughts. In no particular order:
—Transformers 2’s massive box office returns proves once and for all that America’s critics are talking to themselves.
—Someone stop me from buying Babylon A.D. the director’s cut. Surely if I could see the three-hour version, it would all suddenly make sense. . .right?
—Anyone who missed out on Apocalypto because of Issues with Mel Gibson should pretend that the movie was directed by Darren Aronowsky or whomever you need to in order to let yourself watch it. Damn, does that ending rock. It’s almost science fictional, really. …
—Public Enemies isn’t as impressive as I’d hoped, but they sure got the 1930s vibe right. But Depp plays this one a little too close to the vest for my taste.
—Russian president Medvedev has one cool-ass motorbike. They should have made it part of the summit negotiations.
—Ten years after everyone else, I’m watching the West Wing. Now I see what all the fuss was about. Save the “I told you sos”, and just tell me what I should be watching NOW.
—And finally, the V trailer looks great. Can’t #$# wait.
See you next week….not sure whether I’m going to talk about the Fake Libertarian Tradition in Science Fiction, or Mundane SF’s Big Problem, but now I need to go see about that Portland reading. Gotta say, it’s great to be back in the Pacific Northwest.
David J. Williams is the author of near-future dystopian thriller THE BURNING SKIES, and posts (almost) every Wednesday on Suvudu. Learn more about his work at www.autumnrain2110.com.
Here are the other book, DVD and movie releases for the week!
HARDCOVER BOOKS
PAPERBACK BOOKS
DVDS
IN THEATERS FRIDAY
Here are the other book, DVD and movie releases for the week!
HARDCOVER BOOKS
With May 2009 and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Star Trek, Terminator Salvation, Angels & Demons and Up behind us, here are the 5 remaining sci-fi/fantasy movies I am looking forward to this summer!
#5: G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Okay, this is a movie that barely made its way into my top 5. A part of me would almost rather see Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs! When I was young I did not avidly watch the cartoon of G.I. Joe—I was more of a Transformers / Voltron / Thundercats kinda kid—but there is a part of me that is curious if Stephen Sommers can pull off a movie based on a property that gave so much watching and toy-collecting joy! Sommers is responsible for The Mummy, which I thought was great fun, but he is also responsible for Van Helsing, which I thought wasn’t worth the film it was printed on. He is also slated as the director for the movie adaptation of Magic Kingdom For Sale—Sold! by Terry Brooks. I do like his casting for G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, and the trailer looks pretty slick. Which Sommers will show up? Did he peak with The Mummy? We will have to wait and see.
Whether you like American Football or not, the one thing geeks the world over get to look forward to come Super Bowl Sunday is advance looks at forthcoming sci-fi and fantasy movies! While the Super Bowl yesterday was an amazing game, I watched the commercials with the same intensity as I watched the game—maybe even more so!
I felt like today would be a good day to compile the various trailers we saw yesterday into one post. Even though I am really looking forward to Star Trek and love almost anything Will Ferrell is in, the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen trailer really stood out for me. Giant robots, great action, and Megan Fox!
After the jump you will find trailers for: Aliens vs. Monsters, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Land of the Lost, Star Trek, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and Up!
Which is your favorite?
I’m a huge fan of the teaser poster for forthcoming movies and have been for a long time. A year before Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was released in theaters, we got this great teaser poster of a kid in the desert, looking downward, casting a shadow in the very recognizable shape of Darth Vader.
It was a far more literary poster than the finished poster, and I’ve found over the years that teaser posters usually have more merit to what is in the movie than the final poster!
This teaser poster for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen doesn’t really have any literary merit behind it that most similar posters have, but I think Michael Bay and company did an excellent job of showing the anger that Megatron has. I was lukewarm on the first Transformers movie—I think the action was great but the individual personalities of the Transformers did not translates—and I am hoping Michael Bay improves with the second.
