For those not in the know, ShoWest is a Las Vegas film convention in the same vein as Comic Con, except it focuses specifically on movies. Among the exhibits (as I'm calling them) were screenings of Toy Story 3, Prince of Persia, trailers for Due Date, Inception, a look at 3D scenes from Clash of the Titans, and finally a 3-5 minute look at Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 and 2. So lets dive in and find out what people thought of the footage shown at the convention.
Clash of the Titans in 3D- There hasn't really been much talk about the quality of the footage shown from the film, as there has been talk of the quality of the 3D. Slashfilm described the 3D as "...very unnatural. At times the characters stand out like cardboard cutouts, while other times they appeared to be graphed to a computer generated 3D model, and it just looked odd." I was really looking forward to the film being in 3D, but now I'm not quite sure. However the main conflict is whether the film is any good, and the people who saw the featured clips at Showest failed to do that, so we'll just have to wait for reviews to be released.
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time- The general reaction from people who caught the screening is what could have been expected. The film has nice cinematography, visual effects, some good action, but falls flat when it comes to plot, pacing, and characters. I didn't think that having Mike Newell (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) at the helm would do too much for the picture. I guessed from the trailers that it would be much in the same area as the Pirates of the Caribbean films, except without Johnny Depps charms, and with less awesome affects. In fact, considering the film has to deal with time travel, I bet they'll just end with going back in time to before any of it ever happened.
Toy Story 3- I'm actually hoping that one day a Pixar film comes along that is completely awful, with absolutely no redeeming qualities, because I'm tired of using the phrase "It's a Pixar film" to describe how awesome it is. From what I've heard from ShoWest, that day doesn't seem to be coming any time soon. The film was a very rough cut, and wasn't shown in 3D, but that didn't stop it from leaving its mark on people. It's apparently just as funny and touching as the past Pixar films and that's enough to confirm that it'll have good chances at grabbing a Best Picture nomination.
Due Date- The trailer for the next film by Todd Phillips was described intimately by comingsoon.net as extremely hillarious, and bound to repeat the success of Todds last film, The Hangover. I'd be more frustrated by Phillips not getting straight to making Hangover 2, if this film didn't star both Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis. The jokes sound great, and that's not accounting for the delivery by the two great actors. "For instance, when Peter (Downey Jr.) asks Ethan (Galafianakis) why he carries around his father's ashes in a coffee can, he gets a flat response: 'Because he's dead, Peter.'" I can't wait to see how this film turns out.
Inception- After this being shown at ShoWest, I expect that a new trailer for the film will be coming soon. I've gone on and on over the past few days on how great this film will be, and now I'm just waiting to see more of it. Comingsoon describes the imagery as striking, including shots of a city collapsing into the ocean. I can't go on about the footage because I haven't seen it yet, but based on the description I simply have to see it when it comes out.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- The convention closed on a high note with 3-5 minutes of unfinished footage from the final installment of the acclaimed series. The visual effects weren't finished, but that didn't stop the scenes depicted from leaving an impression on people. Scenes depicted include Harry and Ron getting into a fight, giants tearing apart Hogwarts, the quidditch field on fire, the seven potters escaping from the Dursleys, and the confrontation with Voldemort. When Voldemort asks Harry why he still lives, his response is "Because I have something worth fighting for." I'm skeptical of just how good the film is going to be, but descriptions rarely do a film justice. It has to be seen to leave a lasting impression. It also occurs to me that the film (part 1) is exactly 9 months away from release.
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