Comic-Con Starts Wednesday -- Here's What We're Excited About

[Black Death]

Comic-Con Starts Wednesday -- Here's What We're Excited About
By Chris Chaberski (Subscribe to Chris Chaberski's posts)







The 2011 San Diego Comic-Con opens this Wednesday, July 20, and we'll be there covering it live and bringing you updates of all the big panels -- 'The Amazing Spider-Man,' 'The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1,' plus many others -- as they happen.

We've looked at the schedule, and a few things really caught our eye, so we decided to share with you guys what we're looking forward to the most. Have a look at our ideas, then be sure to let us know what you think is most interesting in the comments!

"This year, I'm finally going to be at Comic-Con (first time ever!), where I'm looking forward to getting as close as I possibly can to Tom Hardy, and getting all the info I can about his upcoming ultimate fighting flick 'Warrior' and, of course, 'The Dark Knight Rises.' (Warner Bros., sadly, won't be at the Con this year.) I'm also hoping to see the badass 'Road Warrior'-inspired Medusa car from indie 'Bellflower' in action: That thing really shoots fire! I'm hoping to catch Ryan Gosling for a chat about 'Drive,' and I'll be sure to grab any 'Hobbit' scoop." â€" Sharon Knolle



"TheOneRing.net is hosting a 'Hobbit' discussion. The original 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy was so jaw-droppingly awesome that 'The Hobbit' can only be equally and/or more nerdgasmy. Checking out this talk with TheOneRing.net staff vets is akin to discovering that proverbial pot of gold (or in this case, the One Ring) -- there promises to be in-depth discussion about the franchise, complete with audio and video clips that you've never seen before. If you have posters of Legolas on your wall, or if you obsessively ponder the life of Bilbo Baggins, this is the event for you." â€" Chris Jancelewicz

"Has anyone had a more varied directing career than Francis Ford Coppola? His resume includes one of the best movies of all time, 'The Godfather,' as well as lighter comedic fare like 'Peggy Sue Got Married.' Coppola's certainly not afraid of doing something different, which is exactly what he has in store for this year's Comic-Con. In addition to showing scenes from his upcoming movie, 'Twixt Now and Sunrise,' the filmmaker will be bringing along one of today's best electronic musicians, Dan Deacon, to provide live music for the footage. (Deacon is scoring the film.) Sounds like a win-win to us." â€" Alex Suskind

"I guess I'll take the obvious one here and go with 'The Amazing Spider-Man.' Andrew Garfield -- in my opinion the best part of 'The Social Network' -- seems like a perfect choice as Peter Parker, and after the debacle of 'Spider-Man 3,' your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man could really use some new creative blood. The few images we've seen so far look great, particularly the costume and the lovely Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy. There's a serious lack of major studio participation this year -- no 'Avengers' or 'The Dark Knight Rises'?! -- so our hopes lie heavily with the latest incarnation of the Webslinger."â€" Chris Chaberski

"Yes, we all know the first 'Ghost Rider' was an awful movie, but wait! This time the movie, now called 'Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance,' is directed by Neveldine & Taylor, the ADD-riddled duo behind the 'Crank' series. Johnny Blaze will share the screen with B-movie legend Christopher Lambert, the badass Idris Elba and Ciaran 'Aberforth Dumbledore' Hinds. The story is penned by David Goyer -- meaning it's written by one of the few men in Hollywood who gets comic book adaptations. And, obviously, there's Nic Cage! The craziest Coppola will be performing motion capture for Ghost Rider, and we can't wait to see what kind of manic body language he brings to the skeletal comic book hero. Altogether this means the panel will be filled with geeky insights by Hollywood's professional geeks, Nic Cage will probably say something nuts, and we'll get our first look at what is (hopefully) the most cracked-out movie about a demonic motorcyclist with a flaming skull for a head ever." â€" Eric Larnick

"Nothing against superheroes and something against 'Twilight,' but of all the choice movies making a splash at Comic-Con this year, the only one I've got eyes for is 'Total Recall.' Maybe I just miss Paul Verhoeven's glory days of 'Robocop' and 'Starship Troopers,' but since there was nothing about 1990's 'Total Recall' that I ever felt warranted a reboot, I'm awfully curious to see what Len Wiseman brings to the table as director and whether or not Colin Farrell's got what it takes to fill Arnie's shoes as Doug Quaid. The film's definitely got its work cut out for it, but I'm nevertheless looking forward to that August 3, 2012, release date." â€" Aiden Redmond