Today the much anticipated Movie Con 2 kicked off. I'm still reeling from the mind blowing Film goodness of day 1.

The BFI & Empire Magazine have pulled off another collaborative coup for film lovers. The second Movie Convention is heading to all time greatness.

Movie Con is a annual collaborative effort between the BFI & Empire Magazine. It takes place just after after Comic Con (San Diego) at the BFI on the Southbank in London. This means that the organisers can cherry pick the best of Comic Con as well add some good stuff. It's held for film fans and the core content covers forth coming features in the Super Hero, Horror, Fantasy, Sci Fi, blood and Cult genres.

Empire have a much better run down of today's schedule over here. But today's events have roused me from my Blog laziness of late and mention must be made of some of the key events:

Trailers & footage from Astroboy. Over the last 18 months I have been hearing the buzz about the animated Astroboy feature but had no real interest in this remake of a 60s Japanese TV show. After today's clips I'll be seeing this gem. It will enthrall kids & older kids alike. It had the audience oohing, aahing & laughing in all the right places.




Harry Brown Presentation. Harry Brown is a new film from British filmmaker Daniel Barber and stars Sir Michael Caine. The film is about an elderly veteran that due to circumstances decides to do something about his neighbourhood that has been over run by young yobs.

Coming across as a modern day version of Michael Winner's Death Wish with big boots, genuinely threatening yobs, knuckledusters and big guns. The clip we saw made it clear this was a quality production with outstanding performances Sir Michael and the blinding Sean Harris as a very, very scary low life (think Drexel nastier brother, the love child of Travis Bickle & Myra Hindley on crack). I recently saw Tonto Woman the brilliant short that Daniel Barber adapted from an Elmore Leonard story. He received an Oscar nomination for it. I'm looking forward to seeing Harry Brown in full as well as anything else Daniel Barber serves up. Think Peckinpah with a social conscience.



Next up the indomitable genius "Still not a Sir" Terry Gilliam showed us some mind melting clips from The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus. Seems to be a true return to form for Mr Gilliam whose tribulations of getting his film made rival anything you have seen on screen. Doctor Parnassus recaptures the magic of Time Bandits and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen with a dash of sensibility from The Fisher King.

* When re-watching the classic Spies Like Us keep an eye out for Terry Gilliam as Dr. Imhaus.



Kick Ass Presentation. Put together by the Stardust team & Brad Pitt, independently financed, directed by Matthew Vaughn, written by Jane Goldman (Mrs Johnathan Ross but a super talent in her own right) & Mark Millar. Kick Ass promises to turn the Super Hero genre upside down. Referencing the both comic & film super heroes, eastern sensibilities and the slacker/Clerks space. The Kick Ass clips shown deliver in the holy Triumvirate of modern super hero genre: high action, humour & blood stakes.

I was surprised thaty neither Jane Goldman or Matthew Vaughn did not pitch up but enjoyed Editor Jon Harris' presentation and chat with Christopher Mintz-Plasse (yes that's right McLovin) and Jason Flemyng. I'm slightly annoyed I didn't get a chance to quiz Flemyng about Clash of the Titans & Solomon Kane both of which I am eagerly waiting for.

The super secret screening
I guessed that this year's secret screening was going to be District 9 - D9. I have been curious about D9 for awhile Weta and Peter Jackson's name should have made this a dead cert but South African films tend to do emotional small films well and haven't really shone in the high action or sci fi genre as yet. D9 changes that - whilst being true to it's African setting it shines at being a high adventure sci fi romp that has it's roots firmly planted in complex social issues. Google "District 6" & "Africa xenophobia" for sight of the bigger picture.


Originally Jackson and Director Neil Blomkamp were to make HALO: Combat Evolved when that fell through they decided to remake an earlier Blomkamp short film "Alive in Joburg".


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* Sharlto Copley whio plays D9 lead Wikus Van De Merwe is not a trained actor and was a producer on Alive in Joburg.

Next up was Warner Bros screening of the Jonah Hex trailer. I've been waiting for this film for about 20 years.

Jonah Hex is a scarred Mad Max by way of Dirty Harry in the West that was on the wrong side during the Civil war. This makes fior an intresting character seeking redemption.

The trailer looked good but it could still go either way the newly added occult plot devices are a bit of a concern. I'm holding off on judgment for now.


Finally and "saving best for last" Robert Downey Junior & Guy Ritchie made an appearance to introduce an extended trailer for Sherlock Holmes. They were in good spirits and played off each other like a comedic duo rather than Star and Director. And well they should be in high spirits the Sherlock Holmes footage was everything it needed to be. My only query would be that it seemed fairly light and didn't really show any darkness that usually haunts Victorian era pea soap London. Possibly emulating the very successful Iron Man's formula? I'm holding thumbs.

UK Avatar Day


The 15-minute Avatar Day screenings, presented in 3D at “select cinemas and Imax theaters,” will provide regular moviegoers their first glimpse of Cameron’s highly anticipated sci-fi epic outside of footage screened last month at Comic-Con International in San Diego and Movie Con 2 at the BFI London hosted by Empire Magazine last weekend.

The big-budget sci-fi movie, conceived by Cameron 14 years ago and filmed in stereoscopic 3-D using cameras developed by the director, takes place on Pandorum, a strange and beautiful planet replete with bizarre creatures and plant life. Sam Worthington plays a paraplegic who is linked through a medical process to an “avatar,” a 10-foot-tall, blue-skinned creature that looks like Pandorum’s native Na’vi

Also rolling out on Friday’s Avatar Day:

- The official Avatar trailer, which will be shown in theaters and online. The worldwide trailer launch will be presented in all formats, including Imax 3-D, Imax 2-D, digital 3-D, digital 2-D and 35-mm 2-D, the studio said.
- 3D/lenticular one-sheet posters for the film.
- The trailer for Ubisoft’s videogame James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game.
- First look at Mattel action figures for the film’s avatar and alien Na’vi characters.

The showings will be limited to two on the 21st, except for the BFI Southbank, which is holding four.

Among the participating cinemas:

Cineworld Aberdeen
Cineworld Birmingham, Broad Street
Cineworld Brighton
Cineworld Cardiff
Cineworld Edinburgh
Cineworld Glasgow, Renfrew Street
Cineworld Sheffield
Odeon London IMAX Greenwich
Odeon London IMAX Wimbledon
Odeon Manchester Printworks
Odeon Southampton
Vue Bristol Cribbs
Vue London West End
BFI Southbank IMAX

Avatar hits theaters Dec. 18.

Friday August 21, 2009 at 1:30pm
BFI London IMAX
1 Charlie Chaplin Walk
London, England SE1 8XR

White Lightnin’ Special Preview and Q&A with director Dominic Murphy in London

Electric Sheep Magazine presents weird, wild and wonderful films every first Wednesday of the month at the Prince Charles Cinema.

A dark, surreal semi-biopic about glue-sniffing, hard-drinking, hell-raising Appalachian mountain dancer Jesco White (impressively played by newcomer Ed Hogg), British director Dominic Murphy’s controversial debut feature takes us deeper and deeper into Jesco’s crazed visions and wild religious fantasies, culminating in horrific revenge and violent redemption.

We are delighted to welcome Dominic Murphy for a Q&A after the screening.

With thanks to Momentum Pictures. White Lightnin’ starts its theatrical run at the ICA and Rich Mix (Bethnal Green), London, on September 25.

WORLD PREMIERE - Director John Landis’ classic 1981 horror, that set the standard for the modern werewolf movie, is back where it belongs. Fully restored, looking pristine and fabulous, and on the Big Screen just around the corner from where its stunning action climax was filmed in Piccadilly Circus. A brilliant meld of side splitting laughs, hair-raising terror and Rick Baker’s Oscar-winning man-into-wolf prosthetic special effects transformations, Landis’ lycanthropic masterpiece has never been bettered. David Naughton and Griffin Dunne are the two Americans backpackers attacked on the English moors by a snarling creature that changes their mortal lives forever. Jenny Agutter is the nurse Naughton moves in with before realising he’s roaming the West End committing brutal murders in werewolf disguise. One of the most influential horror movies ever in terms of gory comedy horror, Film4 FrightFest will be assembling as many of the cast and crew we can muster on the Empire stage.

FRIGHTFEST 2009 CLOSING FILM - WORLD PREMIERE

Terror mounts as fear cuts deeper in the chilling continuation to the globally successful horror hit THE DESCENT. Dazed, confused and traumatized, Sarah Carter emerges alone from the cave system where she confronted frightening enemies: herself and her darkest dread. With no rational explanation to what exactly happened or why she’s covered in blood, the authorities force her back into the subterranean depths to help locate her five missing girlfriends. But as the rescue party enters further uncharted domains, flashbacks start haunting Sarah as shocking memories of the recent past hideously hit home. Only she realizes the full horror of their futile mission. And only she knows what lurks to trap them in the eerie shadows of the labyrinthine warrens. For they are venturing into the habitat of a new tribe of Crawlers, inbred, deformed and even more viciously feral than Sarah faced before in the black recesses of her worst nightmares.

FRIGHTFEST: World Premiere - The Descent: Part 2
Monday August 31, 2009 at 9:15pm
Empire Cinema, Leicester Square
5-6 Leicester Square London
London, England WC2H 7NA

FILM4 FRIGHTFEST is the UK's premiere fantasy and horror film festival. Now in its tenth year, each August thousands of genre fans gather together in the heart of London's West End at the prodigious Empire Cinema for five packed days of premieres, previews, personal appearances, signings and surprises.

The Film4 FrightFest 2009 celebrates ten years of chills, thrills and kills by moving to the Empire Cinema, Leicester Sq, to serve up its distinctive and controversial mix of must-see and yet-to-be discovered genre movies from around the world. From Thurs 27 August to Monday 31 August the UK’s top event for horror fans will unveil thirty five new films in two screens. Empire 1 will house the main event while ‘FrightFest Discovery’ will play in Empire 4.

The Boat That Shocked! First came CREEP. Then SEVERANCE. Now Film4 FrightFest is delighted to premiere British director Christopher Smith’s latest spellbinding horror fantasy. When Jess (Melissa George) hits a seagull driving to her local harbour, it jangles her already distraught nerves. But little does she know it signals a harrowing omen for her yachting trip with friends. For their boat is overturned in a weird storm and they take refuge on a strangely deserted liner that suddenly cruises into view. All is not as it seems on board the SS Aeolus, yet Jess just can’t put her finger on why… From epic ocean vistas to poignantly shocking finale, TRIANGLE is Smith’s best, polished and most mature work. His sophisticated and intricate script is always kept on an intriguing angle, the sudden violence is jolting, the atmosphere remains continually creepy and Melissa George gives an exceptionally haunting and moving performance.

FRIGHTFEST: World Premiere Triangle - OPENING FILM
Thursday August 27, 2009 at 6:30pm
Empire Cinema, Leicester Square
5-6 Leicester Square London
London, England WC2H 7NA
OPENING FILM - WORLD PREMIERE