ROTTEN TOMATOES: Comic-Con Wrap: Iron Man 2, New Moon Best In Show

Comic-Con Wrap: Iron Man 2, New Moon Best In Show

We name the best and worst of this year's Comic-Con 2009.

July 27, 2009

The truth about Sunday at this year's Comic-Con is that it was the day most people skipped - even the Hollywood studios. With only two film panels slated for the day (Overture's docu-romance Paper Heart, which stars a geeky girl who probably reads comics, and the festival hit Mystery Team, which will delight Encyclopedia Brown enthusiasts) it's no wonder that the whole place felt a little empty. So instead of recapping Sunday panels, I'm taking a look back at the entire four days of Comic-Con 2009 to point out what was good, great, and sort of weird about this year's fest - in terms a geek might understand.

FTW (translated from geek speak: "for the win")

Iron Man 2 - The popular favorite among movie panels this year seemed to be Iron Man 2, which packed Hall H to the brim on Saturday (even some journalists with VIP passes couldn't get in). Director Jon Favreau and star Robert Downey Jr. cut to the chase (always a good thing) by showing footage first - and what thrilling footage it was. First looks at Whiplash (Mickey Rourke), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), War Machine, Don Cheadle (replacing Terrence Howard), and the further existential dilemmas of Tony Stark (Downey), not to mention the cameo by Sam Jackson as Nick Fury, brought the house to its feet.

(Read a more detailed description of the footage here, and watch the "sweded" version of it from our friends at ScreenCrave.)

Twilight: New Moon - Giving Iron Man 2 a run for its money was The Twilight Saga: New Moon, which also had fans sleeping overnight just to be the first into Hall H. We all know what happened last year when the Twilight panel took Comic-Con by storm (and fanboys at large by surprise). This time around things were a little more subdued - only director Chris Weitz and geek boy fave Ashley Greene joined primary stars Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, and Robert Pattinson this time. Summit Entertainment not only planned extensive fan appreciation screenings of the first film around town, they also picked two of the best possible scenes to show the thousands of screaming females in Hall H: Jacob Black and Bella's motorcycle scene, in which Lautner jauntily strips off his shirt, and Bella's race to save Edward in Italy, in which - shocker! - he reveals his bare chest. No Twilighter in the house left disappointed.

(Read extremely detailed descriptions of the two New Moon scenes here. I swear I'm not obsessed.)

Avatar - Sure, none of us had any idea what James Cameron's Avatar was actually about, but hell, he was coming to Comic-Con! Luckily for those who made it into Hall H for the Disney 3D panel, Cameron not only spoke at length about his pet project, he also showed a helluva lot of footage. And while we found it's near-impossible to describe the Avatar footage to anyone who didn't see it ("This guy, he's paraplegic and he goes into a genetically-engineered alien body to interact with this tribal race that is all blue and, like, one with nature, AND IT LOOKS AMAZING") suffice to say, Avatar in 3D will transport you to an incredibly detailed world like nothing you've seen before.

Kick-Ass - While the above FTW films came into Comic-Con with a lot of buzz and delivered appropriately, Kick-Ass came out of nowhere to wow everyone who stayed for its late-afternoon panel, earning a standing ovation in the process. Directed by Matthew Vaughn, Kick-Ass follows disparate wannabe superheroes including young actress Chloe Moretz (as Hit Girl), whose bad assness in the flick started the most word-of-mouth buzz of the entire Con. Because there's nothing better than watching a 12-year-old girl call a couple of thugs a bad word, then cut them to pieces with a giant pointy stick. With any luck, Kick-Ass will ride its buzz into a distribution deal, as it currently has none.

Screenings: District 9, Inglourious Basterds - Both "secret" screenings of District 9 (directed by Neill Blomkamp, produced by Peter Jackson) and Inglourious Basterds (directed by Quentin Tarantino) earned enthusiastic buzz from genre journalists; could QT's Basterds even win an Oscar? We won't hold our breath, but we would root for District 9 to nab an effects Oscar, since the majority of aliens were created with CG - and on a $30 million budget total, to boot.

Viral marketing of the year: TRON 2 and Flynn's Arcade - After showing Hall H a clip from the 2010 pic Tron: Legacy, what better way to harness the word-of-mouth in San Diego than by re-creating Flynn's Arcade in the middle of downtown? Fans entering the Arcade could play retro games for free, then enter a secret passageway for more looks at concept art and even a real live light cycle. Even better: Flynn's shirts given out prior contained hidden blacklight messages directing people to the Arcade. Brilliant!

Best party: The Wrath of Con. Sure, the EW party is always one of Comic-Con's biggest, and the G4 party had Olivia Munn. But did either of them begin with a concert by American Idol band Daughtry, and end with the guy from Chuck in a wrestling ring introducing a live TNA wrestling match?

FTL (for the loss):

2012 - Roland Emmerich's footage was so over the top (and the acting so bad) that it was almost so bad it's good. So maybe it should go in the Win section.

The Box - Richard Kelly's new film could have been a decent panel (the new trailer was an improvement over the first) if star Cameron Diaz hadn't blurted out a huge spoiler.

Most tired costume: Every year there's a cos-play trend, like the brilliant, ballsy Joker Nurse. (Joker anything, by the way, is soooo last year now.) While there wasn't really an "It" costume of 2009, we did see one recurring outfit everywhere. And we have a message to share: Enough with the Green Lantern t-shirts, geeks! We get it! Get a new "I've been a fan forever but am only now demonstrating my love" hero for 2010!

Get our full Comic-Con 2009 coverage here!

Related Items

Movie:	District 9
	Avatar
	Iron Man 2
	Inglourious Basterds
	2012
	The Twilight Saga: New Moon
	Paper Heart

(1-20 of 38 posts) | Reply

rizzyh writes:
on Jul 27 2009 05:25 AM

Did anybody see GL:First Flight? I was wondering if it lived up to the 3 previous titles by DCU.

(Reply to this)

Jack Waters writes:
on Jul 27 2009 06:04 AM

I love how Boondock Saints 2 got little to no coverage. If I had made it to Comic Con, it would have been the one film I made sure I went to preview. It got screwed because they were on at the same time as Iron Man 2. Me, I'm more excited to see the Saints back in action. **** you Iron Man.

(Reply to this)

ledawg1138 writes:
on Jul 27 2009 07:07 AM

2012 looks awful. AWFUL!

Many will hate "Tron 2", saying otherwise is idiotic. Most sequels that take over a decade to make aren't often well recieved, or at least they get mixed reviews. "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace", "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull", "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines", "The Godfather Part III", "Superman Returns", and I may be forgetting some. Now you're saying, "ledawg, all those movies have more positive reviews than negative." And you're right. But let's not pretend they all don't have people saying they're the worst thing of all time. "Tron 2", will fall into this category.

"Iron Man 2", FTW.

(Reply to this)

greg_dean_schmitz writes:
on Jul 27 2009 07:57 AM

For the record, my GL t-shirt was what I wore to every* Comic Con, back when I went to Comic Con, up until I stopped going, my last one being in 2003.

If I had gone to Comic Con this year, I would have worn... my Rotten Tomatoes t-shirts, of course. One is orange with a Rotten squishie, and the other is green and Fresh !

*Except that technically one year, I wore my then-rare Kingdom Come t-shirt, which has since been made not that rare, with DC now publishes quite commonly. I had to admit this one, in case someone comes up with a photo of me in it. Not impossible.

(Reply to this)

ledawg1138 writes:
on Jul 27 2009 08:56 AM

In reply to this comment (#2531024)
There are Rotten Tomatoes t-shirts? Damn, I gotta get me one of those.

(Reply to this)

Premo Beat writes:
on Jul 27 2009 09:03 AM

In reply to this comment (#2531002)
Ledawg: Though some fan reaction may have been exaggerated in some cases, the reason those movies got mixed reviews was because they were very mediocre films, some downright bad. Not because they were sequels.

(Reply to this)

dj Mark writes:
on Jul 27 2009 09:57 AM

2012 gets my vote for most unintentially hilarious trailer of the year. Definitely FTW.

2012: Earth=Punked

(Reply to this)

Jen Yamato writes:
on Jul 27 2009 10:10 AM

GDS! You know I wasn't talking about old school Green Lantern love, just this year when EVERY other geek was wearing a GL shirt, hiding ever so much under normal clothes. :)

(Reply to this)

High School With Money writes:
on Jul 27 2009 10:21 AM

I always thought FTW meant "F*** The What?". It should still stand for that.

Too bad the TRONlegacy marketing turned into a "Where's Waldo" for Kevin Flynn. Where is he? Apparently in a potentially kick ace movie, despite what lepup cares to spew as "fact".

(Reply to this)

greg_dean_schmitz writes:
on Jul 27 2009 10:33 AM

In reply to this comment (#2531036)
@ledawg: I don't know if there are RT shirts nowadays... my shirts were given to me wayyyy back in the day. Vintage. I will say that Senh Duong did not cheap out. 8 years later, I've worn them probably dozens of times, and they still look nearly new.

Or maybe I just am really good at laundry.

@Jen: Oh, I knew exactly what you meant. I was just establishing my cred. :) I've been a GL fan since the 80s. I have fond memories of the day one of my friends loaned me this massive stack of Green Lantern Corps comics at school, and carrying them in my backpack home, like it was a Xmas present I couldn't wait to open up and just devour.

I'm also glad they are going with Hal Jordan... some younger fans were hoping it would be John Stewart, because that's who they know from the Justice League cartoons, but to me, GL will always be Hal first.

(Reply to this)

Bob S. writes:
on Jul 27 2009 11:29 AM

Haha, 2012 FTL. Nice. AVATAR and IM2

(Reply to this)

Bob S. writes:
on Jul 27 2009 11:31 AM

Er, what just happened there?

Meant to say that AVATAR and IM2 are definitely FTW.

(Reply to this)

ledawg1138 writes:
on Jul 27 2009 01:59 PM

In reply to this comment (#2531038)
No, it's because they're sequels. I'm not saying people liked them in reality, hell, I HATE Superman Returns, but often complaints are ridicilous (Indiana Jones being unrealistic, Star Wars being for kids) or just repeated by 12 year olds who heard other people say it on the web and feel cool doing so. Then again, there are honest folk who honestly don't like them.

Let's not pretend "Tron" was good.

(Reply to this)

Lanca R. writes:
on Jul 27 2009 02:03 PM

In reply to this comment (#2531135)
Tron looks silly by todays standards, but when it first came out it was revolutionary and was one of the first movie's to capture the early gamer culture. It sure as **** ain't bad if viewed for what it was.

(Reply to this)

John Mclane writes:
on Jul 27 2009 02:04 PM

I was impressed by the 2012 trailer at the movies, but then again I also remembered being impressed by the "Day after tomorrow" trailer and well... we all know how that went XD Gotta look into avatar and district 9 some more but the stills from both are looking awesome!

(Reply to this)

ledawg1138 writes:
on Jul 27 2009 02:57 PM

In reply to this comment (#2531136)
It's not the look that bugs me, it's, well, everything else. Not bad, just mediocre.

(Reply to this)

Lanca R. writes:
on Jul 27 2009 03:06 PM

That's fair, it still has a certain kitche value for me.

Jen, would you say New Moon looks good in general or just good for its core audience of dedicated fans? I'm somewhere in between and want to temper my expectations appropriately.

(Reply to this)

Jack Waters writes:
on Jul 27 2009 03:21 PM

Seriously, are there any other Boondock Saints fans out there?

(Reply to this)

Lanca R. writes:
on Jul 27 2009 04:08 PM

I liked it.

(Reply to this)

Travis R. writes:
on Jul 27 2009 05:03 PM

Boondock Saints was one of the stupidest movie Ive ever seen.

(Reply to this)

FTW (translated from geek speak: "for the win")

FTL (for the loss):

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