Eragon the brave
I've been at Comic-Con for six hours and I'm I was so uncomortable from the relentlessly frigid air-conditioning that my body finally couldn't take it anymore and I had to leave right in the middle of the 20th Century Fox presentation. Not that this felt like any terrible loss. Fox's first presentation was four or five minutes of fresh footage from Stefen Fangmeier's Eragon (opening in December), another Star Wars-y, Dragonheart, Lord of the Rings CG epic about a young man from a medieval netherland called upon to fulfill his destiny as a warrior-leader by taming a dragon and swinging a sword and defeating evil. There was appreciative applause from the Comic-Coners in Hall H but really, c'mon...how many times is Hollywood going to make this same movie? How many years, decades, millenia will fans of big-myth movies turn out for this stuff? Can't the geeks spot a wannabe when they seen it? Edward Speleers, the young actor who plays Eragon the blond hero, showed up and took a bow and answered some questions along with Fox 2000 chief Elizabeth Gabler. Speleers' Eragon costars are Sienna Guillory, Jeremy Irons, Djimon Hounsou, John Malkovichand Robert Carlyle. Next was a presentation for Pathfinder...you don't want to know. Suffice that I chose that moment to duck out and walk the five or six blocks to the parking lot where my car is parked so I can get my jacket and not have to freeze to death during New Line's Snakes on a Plane presentation later this afternoon.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on July 21, 2006 at 2:35 PM
comment #1
Telemachos says ...
Stefan Fangmeier is not Peter Jackson.
Stefan Fangmeier is not Bryan Singer.
Stefan Fangmeier is not Gore Verbinksi.
Stefan Fangmeier is not even Brett Ratner.
Oh, and Christopher Paolini is not JRR Tolkien or C.S. Lewis.
It's gonna suck, bigtime.
Posted by Telemachos at July 21, 2006 3:35 PM
comment #2
Alex says ...
Jeff, these kinds of movies aren't your thing, so why report on them if you're just going to bash them? The old adage goes, "The same stories are told over and over". Its the same for most movies, not just "Star Wars/Dragonheart-ish Lord of the Rings CG epics". They always bring something new to the table
Posted by Alex at July 21, 2006 3:44 PM
comment #3
Anonymous says ...
Alex, exactly right. As another example, you just know Wells is going to slam Snakes on a Plane. If he doesn't, it's not newsworthy then, right?
Posted by Anonymous at July 21, 2006 3:47 PM
comment #4
CrayonPie says ...
I want these motherfuckin Hobbits off this motherfuckin plane!
Posted by CrayonPie at July 21, 2006 3:56 PM
comment #5
Telemachos says ...
For more adult, interesting science-fiction fare coming up, how 'bout building a little buzz for THE FOUNTAIN or CHILDREN OF MEN?
http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/thefountain/
http://www.apple.com/trailers/universal/childrenofmen/
Posted by Telemachos at July 21, 2006 4:09 PM
comment #6
Anonymous says ...
They both look amazing! Children of Men trailer is fantastic although the Potter credit cracks me up.
Posted by Anonymous at July 21, 2006 4:20 PM
comment #7
CrayonPie says ...
Aronofsky is the Kwasatz Haderach!
Posted by CrayonPie at July 21, 2006 4:22 PM
comment #8
Pathfinder says ...
Jeff, you're missing out on "Pathfinder"? Haven't you seen the preview? It's going to be the funniest movie of the year. A goddamn laugh riot!
And Eragon!?! How can you not get excited for this?!? I mean, the last time Jeremy Irons appeared in a movie with a big CGI dragon was "Dungeons and Dragons." So we know his judgement in regards to this type of material is spot on.
P.S. When exactly did Fox become a rotting cesspool of mindless action pics and witless fantasy epics? Just a reminder of what Fox has produced in the action genre in recent years:
Daredevil, Electra, Day After Tomorrow, Alien vs. Predator, X3, The Omen. All just about worthless.
Posted by Pathfinder at July 21, 2006 5:24 PM
comment #9
Morbo says ...
Both of these look good, although the CoM trailer suffers a bit from the "here's the entire plot" syndrome. But the stunning trailer for "The Fountain" establishes it as an early frontrunner for Cinematography & Art Direction awards, if nothing else.
As for "Eragon"... meh. The (belated) success of Tolkien's novels in the late 60s/early 70s spawned a rash of inferior copycat works. We're just seeing the cycle repeat in the film world.
Posted by Morbo at July 21, 2006 5:26 PM
comment #10
BL says ...
I have never heard of "Eragon" before this - I could care less if there are copycat versions of "Lord of the Rings" - but these people DO have a lot of nerve ripping off the name of one of the main characters "changing the "A" in Aragon to an "E").
So I suppose other characteres in the movie have such names as "Fredo", "Bandolf" and "Arwin".
Posted by BL at July 21, 2006 9:03 PM
comment #11
Joe Leydon says ...
Michael Caine in "Children of Men"? I am SO there.
Posted by Joe Leydon at July 21, 2006 9:25 PM
comment #12
Daniel Zelter says ...
The Fountain looks like some sort of weird hybrid between Highlander and LOTR...
Posted by Daniel Zelter at July 21, 2006 10:59 PM
comment #13
Anonymous says ...
"Can't the geeks spot a wannabe when they seen it?"
Yes. Give me something with teeth.
Somebody, please make 'Black Company' by Glen Cook into a movie. Even if you have to dig up Sam Peckinpah's bones to do it.
Posted by Anonymous at July 21, 2006 11:31 PM
comment #14
travis b. says ...
The Fountain, the Children of Men, and the Prestige are all making me wish the summer movie season would just hurry along. After Miami Vice and Little Miss Sunshine, those are the three films that I'm looking forward to the most. Too bad they're so far off.
Posted by travis b. at July 21, 2006 11:44 PM
comment #15
Bob says ...
"but these people DO have a lot of nerve ripping off the name of one of the main characters "changing the "A" in Aragon to an "E")."
I'm fairly certain the title refers or at least relates to a Dragon, so it's technically just "Dragon" with an E in place of a D.
In any case, the noteworthy thing about the story is it's origins: The writer was a kid at the time. So at least there's that...
Posted by Bob at July 22, 2006 12:20 AM
comment #16
Rich S. says ...
Some of you newcomers might not know this, but Jeff is definitely a closet Star Wars geek. When the prequels came out, he gave every one of them at least a fair try. He didn't build up pre-film antipathy the way he did with LOTR. Plus, every once in awhile, a fantasy pic will slip past his filters and he'll really dig it. The Incredibles was such a film. So was Superman Returns.
Jeff probably wants everyone to think that he's at ComicCon because he's a "film journalist" and he's covering an outlet of new buzz. But the fact is, he's just catering to his inner geek.
A poster noted above that Jeff tends to hate these films, so why does he constantly write about them? I don't know if his current animosity to genre films is because he's overcompensating to shed his geek past and be seen as a "serious" writer, or because he sees Peter Jackson and Gore Verbinski as usurpers to Lucas' and Spielberg's throne. But don't let him fool you. He really does enjoy this stuff and if it's the right film, he laps it up with a spoon.
Posted by Rich S. at July 22, 2006 4:33 AM
comment #17
Todd says ...
What happened to Jeff? Did he get lost in the chaos of Comic-Con?
Posted by Todd at July 22, 2006 9:54 AM
comment #18
Nick says ...
U guys r such dummies! Yes, it is true that some parts of the book and stuff are somewhat like Tolkien, but there's only little bits
and pieces! The story is all it's own. I think that Paolini did an impressive job writing Eragon and Eldest. I highly disagree with all the people that think Eragon sucks. I think the movie will BLOW YOUR MINDS!!!!!
Posted by Nick at August 1, 2006 11:52 AM