Acclaimed documentarian Morgan Spurlock has made a career out of dissecting aspects of popular culture in the zeitgeist, and his newest effort is no different. This time, he sets his sights on San Diego Comic-Con, one of the largest pop culture gatherings in the country. What started out as a small way for fans to meet comic book artists and writers back in 1975 has exploded into a huge event that features first looks at some of the most highly anticipated comics, television, and movies of the year, regularly playing host to over 100,000 attendees. Spurlock has a behind-the-scenes team that knows a thing or two about this world: “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” creator and The Avengers director Joss Whedon “presents” the film along with comic book legend Stan Lee, while Legendary Pictures’ Thomas Tull and Ain’t It Cool News creator Harry Knowles are two of the film’s producers.

The movie feature interviews from everyone you’d expect in something like this: Kevin Smith, Frank Miller, Eli Roth, Whedon, Knowles, Stan Lee, etc. But most of what these heavy hitters have to offer is simply setting the stage, painting the basic picture of what Comic-Con is and what it means to geeks everywhere for audience members who may not be aware of its significance. (I realize that if you’re reading this, you probably have a decent idea about Comic-Con’s influence on pop culture since the American media landscape has been feeling those effects for the past decade. But this is a documentary and it’s conceivable that some people who watch it might not have a lot of prior knowledge of this particular subculture and may be looking for a brief education.)

The best part about the doc isn’t the big name guys and their talking head segments, though they’re very entertaining; the best part is the people Spurlock has chosen to profile. He picks five subjects and details their reasons for attending, documenting the journeys of two prospective comic illustrators, an old school comics dealer, a video game costume designer preparing for a big Masquerade event on the Saturday night of the convention, and a young man hoping to propose to his girlfriend at that year’s Kevin Smith panel. It’s a fascinating look at the variation within a community, proof that being a geek just means being passionate about something. For an event that is often presented in the media as tens of thousands of fans descending on a city for a few days, Spurlock’s subjects put human faces to the movement and allow a rare glimpse into their passions that I hope comes off as more endearing than embarrassing.

More than anything, Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope shows both the soaring highs of success and the devastating lows of failure among its subjects. (I wouldn’t dare spoil the fates of the specific people, since most of the film’s fun rides on their journeys.) It pays equal time to each, giving a fair look at the often grim reality of the competitive nature of the industry in addition to the amazing catharsis of the titular hope that only the luckiest (and hardest working) fans experience. It also details the fall of comic books from prominence within the convention, relaying the rise of other media to the forefront of the convention. Thankfully, the movie doesn’t get bogged down in bitterness over that aspect, or bother with exhaustive histories about the founding of Comic-Con or the early days - it’s mostly concerned with its characters, and that’s to the film’s benefit. There are some truly hilarious comments from the subjects, including my favorite: “There are three billion women on the planet and not a lot of great comics.”

Stylistically, everything is pretty expected. Transitions occur in comic book style panels, and each subject is profiled and rotoscoped with a moniker next to his or her name. It’s a good style that fits well with the direction of the film, but it might have been nice to see an occasional flourish here and there that was a bit more unexpected. (Credit where credit is due, though: there’s a great homage to Raiders of the Lost Ark during a scene in which the comic book dealer is walking a cart through a massive warehouse.)

I was at Comic-Con 2010 when they were filming this, so on a personal note it was cool to see that experience replayed on the big screen. While there’s nothing quite like being there in person, this documentary comes about as close as you can get. For landlocked comic book geeks who don’t have the means to travel to the convention, watch this in a double feature with Greg Mottola’s Paul and you’ll be set. Until next time…

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If you’re a smodcast fan, you may have already heard the audio for Kevin Smith’s new psychological thriller Red State, premiering January 23 at the Sundance film festival this year. But now he’s graced us with some wicked visuals to go along with that Fred Phelps-like  psycho-preacher chanting.

Watch below:

Starring Michael Angarano, Kerry Bishe, Nicholas Braun, Kyle Gallner, John Goodman, Melissa Leo, Michael Parks, Kevin Pollak and Stephen Root, the film touts some good names, and by the looks of the trailer, some very different Kevin Smith territory.

The distribution rights to the film will be auctioned off at the Sundance this year, in an unconventional move only someone like Smith could concoct. 

Red State boasts a March 2011 release date, but until the film is picked up the release date isn’t certain. I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for some fear of god!

Source: Smodcast.com

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Fanboy favorite writer/director Kevin Smith has been trying for nearly three years to get his horror film Red State financed, and it appears he’s finally accomplished his mission. According to his Twitter account, the foul-mouthed filmmaker is planning on going into production on Red State before his rumored hockey film Hit Somebody.

The movie’s plot is still a bit under wraps, but so far we know the story revolves around a preacher similar to Fred Phelps and “unlikable characters making horrible decisions.”

Here are some quotes from Smith through the years talking about Red State.

“The movie’s called Red State and it’s very much about that subject matter, that point of view and that position taken to the absolute extreme. It’s certainly not Phelps himself but it’s very much inspired by a Phelps figure,” revealed Smith. “And to me, too, the notion of using a Phelps-like character as a villain, as horrifying and scary as that guy can be, there’s even something more insidious than him that lurks out there in as much as a public or a government that allows it and that’s the other thing that I’m trying to examine in a big, big way. It’s weird because for a few months I’ve been saying ‘horror movie’ and technically it is, but it’s also not a very traditional horror movie in the sense that people have been asking me, ‘Is it a slasher movie? Is it like the Japanese horror flicks?’ It’d be much easier to just show it to them when I’m done and be like, ‘This is what I meant.’ At which point I’m sure there’ll be people saying, ‘This ain’t a horror movie!’ But to me, it is.”

“It’s not a really commercial film at all. It’s very bleak and very dark, and there’s no one to root for in the movie, so it’s a real film festival type of film, but it’s not the kind of movie you can take into multiplexes and do a bunch of business with.

“It is definitely a 180 from everything else we’ve done including Zack and Miri but at the same time, it’s not like a splatter film, it’s not like slasher balls-to-the-wall gore, it’s more unsettling and disturbing type of horror.”

It’s interesting that even though Cop Out wasn’t a breakout box office success, Smith has still found financing for this project. Something Smith has always done well is turn profits; usually he directs flicks with smaller budgets and makes them back (and then some) at the box office. While that strategy may not make for the most critically appealing films, turning a profit definitely makes the studios happy. It’ll be interesting to see if Smith can rejuvenate his career in a genre he’s never tackled before.

Smith also revealed he is still in the writing stage of Hit Somebody, the hockey film based on Warren Zevon’s song and potentially starring Seann William Scott. He claims he’ll begin production on that film after he wraps on Red State.

What do you all think about Smith’s potential as a horror director?

Sources: Ain’t It Cool News, Firstshowing, /Film

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Kevin Smith is one lucky homo sapien! He saw MI:III and The Dark Knight early, and here in mid-September of 2008 he’s already seen Zack Snyder’s Watchmen and J.J. Abrams Star Trek! I demand him to make me his friend!

While in Toronto this week he spoke to MTV and gave a glowing review of Chris Pine’s performance as a young Kirk. and had good words to say about Zoe Saldana as an equally young Uhura.

“It’s really strong,” said Smith. “[J.J. Abrams] was rejiggering the opening few scenes. It’s one of those things where you first heard about it and were like no they’re not going to redo ‘Star Trek’! And then you see the movie and you think, wow he did pull it off! He turned it into a viable renewed franchise.”

Who stood out among this new cast, I asked him. “Chris Pine is fantastic,” he gushed. “It is a star-making performance. From his first scene forward, this dude is not doing an impression of Shatner. He is doing young Kirk. He doesn’t have the slow delivery mannerisms of Shatner but it’s totally James T. Kirk, the bravado, the self-assuredness. It’s such a great performance. You can’t take your eyes off the guy. Anytime he’s not on the screen you’re waiting for him to get back. And the chick [Zoe Saldana] who plays Uhura is really great. They made Uhura really interesting.”

I’ll admit I haven’t seen one episode of Star Trek, however if the trailers for this are great then I will probably see this next May.

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