One of the cool parts of Comic Con that wasn’t housed inside the Convention Center was MoCA: Museum of Conan Art. Also dubbed the Flaming C Gallery, it was filled with Conan O’Brien inspired art. Pieces ranged from balloon figures to giant paintings. Plus, the Team Coco gang knows how to treat fans and gave out free t-shirts, hors d’oeuvres and even let you take a green screen picture so you could fight crime with the Flaming C. Check out these photos of some of the awesome artwork on display at MoCA.

We’re doing Comic Con recaps here, but the Comic Con coverage runneth over on our blog. Today, for example, we’ve got LL Cool J, Vivica Fox, True Blood’s Ryan Kanten, the cast of Lost, Lou Ferrigno, oh yeah, and two guys you might have heard us mention before, Gerard and Mikey Way. Check out the pics on the blog and stay tuned for more Comic Con updates including our interview with Attack the Block director Joe Cornish and star John Boyega.

Continue to the Comic Con section on the Trashwire blog here and check out the galleries of pics from Friday and Saturday below:

Fright Night press conference

Friday on the floor with Rob Corddry

Sautrday pics with Ryan Kwanten, LL Cool J, Vivica Fox and Lou Ferrigno

Gerard and Mikey Way shopping on the floor

Wednesday was for media, but the real fans flocked to the San Diego Convention Center on Thursday for the real kick off of Comic Con.

The cast of Napoleon Dynamite signed autographs at the FOX booth and we grabbed pics of Tima Majorino, Aaron Ruell, Jon Gries and Dedtich Bader.

Next, we hit up the Beavis & Butt-Head panel where Johnny Knoxville lead a conversation with Mike Judge about the upcoming new series. Judge talked about Beavis and Butt-Head taking on MTV shows like Jersey Shore and 16 and Pregnant and even showed fans some sneak peek clips from the new season.

After that, Elijah Wood, Jason Gann and the cast and crew of Wilfred previewed the latest episode for fans at their panel. Wood talked about playing Ryan and interacting with a dog–er, well, an Australian guy dressed in a dog suit. Gann decided to start calling Wood “The Big E.W.” and the audience carried it on into the Q&A session. Wonder if it’ll catch on.

Of course, the fans are what make Comic Con and they were in it to win it this year. From a centaur to a ninja to a bunch of Transformers, there were a lot of elaborate costumes. This year, there was a lot of movie memorabilia too. We have pics of C3P0′s glove, Catwoman’s mask and, my personal favorite, Khan’s shirt. Check out all the pics from Thursday in this extended gallery:

Here it is, gang! Technically, the fun doesn’t start until today, but we got pics from last night’s Preview Night for you here. Lego was out in full force with Lego Batman, Boba Fett, Bumblebee and more. There weren’t many people in costume yet, but there were two girls dresses as slave girl Leia. The big news of the night was Dark Horse’s “big reveal”. After announcing that Guillermo del Toro would not be appearing, Mike Richardson brought out Tom Morello to announce his new comic, Orchid. It was a quickie announcement, but fans are sure to hear more about Orchid throughout the con.

Check out the pics and be sure to follow Trashwire on Twitter for live tweets from SDCC.

Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Anthony Hopkins as Odin

When I first saw the 2010 remake of Clash of the Titans, I was sure it was a comedy. The ridiculous accents, the over-the-top action, the beards, all of it felt intentionally bad. Unfortunately, it seems like the filmmakers didn’t realize what a bad movie they had made. Thor is an entirely different story, an action-packed comic book movie that doesn’t make the critical error of taking itself too seriously.

Based on the Marvel character, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is a Nordic god who is known as a bit of a troublemaker. He’s spontaneous, reckless and arrogant. After one of his rogue acts reignites a war between his people and the evil Frost Giants, his father, Odin (Anthony Hopkins) sends him packing from the magical realm and tosses him down to earth.

Chris Hemsworth's pecs... now in IMAX 3D

His first encounter is with Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), a nerdy scientists who wants to study the mysterious superhero, but finds herself a giggling girl in his studly presence. She believes what would seem like the ramblings of a madman (were it not for those abs) and starts to believe that Thor really is not of this world.

At the same time, Thor’s magical hammer, Mjolnir appears on earth and starts drawing the attention of some locals. Of course, there’s a mysterious government organization (which most geeks are familiar with) called S.H.I.E.L.D. that swoops in, secures a perimeter around the hammer and and takes Jane’s research, throwing a wrench in that whole hooking up with an ancient god thing.

Jane’s colleagues, Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) and Darcy (Kat Dennings) accompany her as she tries to get back all her research and equipment and reunite with Thor.

Tom Hiddleston as Loki and Chris Hemsworth as Thor

At the same time, Thor’s brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is going through an identity crisis as he finds out that he is adopted and is actually a Frost Giant… you know, that old chestnut. Loki takes this news badly and starts executing a power-grab, plotting to kill Odin and take over all of Asgard.

Now, Thor must save earth, save Asgard and get the girl.

I’ll admit, I had my doubts for the first ten minutes or so. Hearing lines delivered in that semi-British fantasy movie accent only really works in Lord of the Rings, and, after Titans, I wasn’t expecting Thor to be much better. That’s why it was such a relief when they jumped to modern times and actually made a joke about the way ancient superheroes have a hard time fitting in to a society filled with iPods and fast food. It’s that sense of humor, the way the film refuses to take itself too seriously, that makes it so much fun.

The action is well suited for 3D, and I’ve got no complaints about Hemsworth (and his abs) being presented in IMAX. Visually, it’s engaging and you even start to enjoy the “bland” New Mexico setting as a good contrast to the digital world of the gods.

Thor isn’t trying to be Lord of the Rings, it’s trying to be fun. Unlike Titans, it definitely succeeds.

Sucker Punch is not for everyone—let’s just get that out there right away. The film feels like Russ Meyer’s adaptation of a graphic novel version of Kill Bill.  Mix in a little Inception and some Alice in Wonderland, then throw in director Zack Snyder’s special brand of visual artistry and you’ve got a film that might not find an audience, despite its many merits.

In another beautiful opening title sequence (see: Watchmen), we are introduced to young Babydoll (Emily Browning). Her mother has just died, leaving two daughters in the care of their evil stepfather. When he discovers that his late wife’s will leaves everything to Babydoll and her sister, he tortures the girls. There are gunshots, the youngest daughter is killed, and Babydoll is sent away to an insane asylum and heading down the path to a lobotomy.

This is where the first fantasy kicks in as Babydoll reimagines the world around her. The head of the institution, a man known as Blue (Oscar Isaac), becomes a sleazy pimp. The head psychiatrist, Dr. Vera Gorski (Carla Gugino), is a dance instructor teaching the patients (now cabaret dancers) new moves to impress their male clients. Babydoll is joined by rougher girls like wiry Rocket (Jena Malone), fragile Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens), sidekick Amber (Jamie Chung) and hardened Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish) as she learns the ropes.

Babydoll and her friends set out to escape from the brothel in the second level of the fantasy. This dream-within-a-dream world sees the girls as warriors, facing insurmountable odds and battling everything from robo-samurai to Nazi zombies to dragons as they procure essential items to help them in their journey.

Back in fantasy level one, Babydoll and the gang are collecting the items from around the prison/asylum/brothel as the clock winds down on what little time she has left before she has a date with The High Roller (Jon Hamm).

Like most of Snyder’s films, Sucker Punch is quite the spectacle. Snyder’s go-to cinematographer, Larry Fong, creates visually rich images that set the mood and add to the story. Some will argue that “bullet time” and super slow-mo are action clichés, but they can have an impact if used effectively. These action sequences are impressive because they aren’t filled with special effects trying to look real. Instead, they indulge in the fantasy, embracing the un-reality and unabashedly letting the characters perform feats that stretch far beyond the impossible.

The visual style is also present in the appearance of the girls. Dolled up like Chicago meets Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, they’re simultaneously exploited and empowered. They’re beautiful and feminine, yet dangerous and macho.

No doubt some will say that Sucker Punch is all style with no substance, but these choices create the visual style necessary to tell such a big story.

The film is sure to draw mixed reactions for reasons like this. It’s directed by Snyder and was teased at San Diego Comic Con 2010, but it might not appeal to comic book fans because it doesn’t have the cachet of a graphic novel adaptation. It’s got guns and explosions, but it might not appeal to the typical action movie crowd because of the complexity of the layered story. Some will call it sexist. Some will call it melodramatic. Few are likely to truly love it, but these are all reasons why it’s worth seeing for yourself.

It’s that time of year again! Time for every film blogger on the internet to put out a top 10 list. We’ve whipped up a list of our own with some of our favorite movies of 2010 from comedy to drama, indie to big budget Hollywood productions. Some of these are Oscar-caliber and some are… well, some are definitely not, but we still loved ‘em and they’re all worth checking out. So here it is, Trashwire.com’s top 10 of 2010.

10. Shutter Island
Leonardo DiCaprio was holding it down this year with two really great psychological thrillers. Inception was such a hit that people might overlook Shutter Island, which saw DiCaprio reunite with Martin Scorsese. Both films took place within the character’s mind and both left a question mark at the end. DiCaprio brings such intensity to these complex roles that I hope he keeps playing similar characters forever.

9. Megamind
I know a lot of people are gonna go crazy that Toy Story 3 isn’t on this list (and it probably should be) but my favorite animated flick of the year was Megamind. Right from the gate, this looked like a good movie loaded with megastars and it certainly didn’t disappoint. Will Ferrell is ideally suited for animated work and the addition of Tina Fey, Brad Pitt, and Johan Hill practically guaranteed a hit. The Comic Con panel sealed the deal and made me fall in love with this movie.

8. Kick Ass!
Not only did Kick Ass feature Nicholas Cage’s funniest performance since Raising Arizona, but it also introduced us to Chloe Moretz, the outrageously talented young actress who played Hit Girl. Three Trashwire writers all agreed that this movie had humor, comic book action and unique style. It scores bonus points from me for also including Clark Duke.

7. The Expendables
No, I haven’t lost my mind and yes, I did list Sylvester Stallone’s explosion fest as one of my favorite movies of the year. The Expendables earned its place on the list by being my favorite bad movie of 2010. Not since The Room have I had so much fun watching a filmmaker’s vision go horrible wrong. If you missed it in theaters, pick up the Blu-ray, which includes a making of documentary, Stallone commentary track and Comic Con panel. I defy anyone to not laugh through the whole thing.

6. Inception
Christopher Nolan, Leonardo DiCaprio, cool special effects and a surreal concept made Inception a huge hit in 2010. The movie boasted a talented cast and gorgeous cinematography to create a dream within a dream (within a dream, within a dream) world. And really, who could forget that spinning top at the end?

5. Get Him to the Greek
As we saw in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Russell Brand was born to play wild rocker Aldus Snow. The only real problem with Sarah Marshall was that there wasn’t enough of him. Greek scratched that itch by making Aldus the focus of an entire feature film. Sure, there’s some cliché drug scenes and a few broad jokes, but the comedic chemistry between Brand and Johan Hill can’t be denied. On top of that, this movie also had Sean “Diddy” Combs playing a record exec who taught Hill how to mind fuck people.

4. Machete
Machete was a gritty grind house film with a smart, politically charged message about immigration. Danny Trejo was the perfect hero for this day and age as he fought corrupt politicians and defended people who came to America seeking a better life. With Arizona going crazy about immigration and “Mexican” becoming a dirty word amongst certain groups in America, it was an absolute joy to see Robert Rodriguez bring us a movie with an empowering message for not only Mexicans, but for all minorities.

3. The Black Swan
Suspenseful, surreal and beautifully executed, Black Swan was perfect on very level. Natalie Portman descended into madness with such subtlety that people should just start throwing awards at her and Mila Kunis killed as the frienemy that pushed her over the edge. Strong performances, stunning visual magic and plot complexity made this one of the best films of the year.

2. Scott Pilgrim vs the World
Poor Scott Pilgrim doesn’t get the respect it deserves. Aside from being fun, it’s also visually amazing and witty. If you’ve grown up playing video games or reading comic books, you’ll love Michael Cera as the geek hero. The cast was filled with sharp actors who could pull off the snappy dialogue while balancing the stylized fight sequences for something that felt real and cartoonish at the same time.

1. The Social Network
…And on the subject of geek heroes, 2010 was the year of Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg. Aside from being named Time’s person of the year, Zuckerberg was also the subject of this superb film that looked at the birth of Facebook. Jesse Eisenberg is phenomenal playing the less-than-likeable genius and the supporting cast helps expose the cutthroat story behind the social media giant. The film is intriguing for any of the 500 million people who use Facebook and also reflective of the group of twentysomethings who seek to create their own empires.

So there you have it, our top 10 of 2010. I’m sure a lot of you are going to disagree or be outraged that some of your favorites didn’t make the list, and I’d love to hear from you. Post a comment, tweet us or hit us up on Facebook to tell us your picks.

I’m just gonna go ahead and say it: Scott Pilgrim vs the World is one of my favorite movies this year. The quick editing, unique visual style, impressive cast and seeing Michael Cera take a welcome departure from the usual charmingly befuddled geeky character make this film a total knock out.

Based on the graphic novel by Bryan Lee O’Malley, the film tells the story of Scott Pilgrim (Cera) as he tries to defeat the seven evil exes of his love interest, the wonderfully hip Ramona, played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

Scott’s life is simple before he meets Ramona. He’s the 22-year-old bass player in a Toronto band called Sex-Bob-Omb with his friends Stephen Stills (Mark Webber), Kim Pine (Allison Pill) and Young Neil (Johnny Simmons). He lives with his gay best friend Wallace Wells (played to infinite perfection by Kieran Culkin) and is dating a 17-year-old Chinese high school girl named Knives Chau (Ellen Wong). Scott isn’t particularly ambitious and is very content with his life.

That all changes when he meets Ramona Flowers, a trendy girl from New York who now works for Amazon in Toronto.

Scott begins pseudo-dating Ramona while still going out with Knives. As the relationship intensifies, he learns that, if he wants to be with her, he must defeat her “seven evil exes” in a video game-style battle to the death.

Cera has a tendency to play the same adorably awkward geek in every film, so it’s nice to see him as Scott. While Scott’s not exactly a cool guy, he has an inner confidence, bordering on arrogance, that makes him different from Cera’s previous roles. Sure, he’s awkward around Ramona, but he’s almost cocky around Knives and that break from tradition makes Scott one of Cera’s most memorable characters.

The entire group surrounding Scott is even more impressive. Wong is like a Fatal Attraction teddy bear as Knives, completely obsessed with Scott and his entire world. Anna Kendrick, as Scott’s sensible sister, Stacey, brings humor through sharp logic when advising Scott on his relationships. Still, the stand out in Team Scott is Culkin, who brings the perfect recipe of compassion and sarcasm to Wallace.

It’s hard to choose a favorite out of the evil exes, even Winstead had trouble picking one, because each has something unique and funny. There’s Matthew Patel (Satya Bhabha), the first evil ex who challenges Scott through a sort of emo Bollywood dance. Next is Chris Evans as Lucas Lee, an action movie star with a pro skateboard line and the pointiest eyebrows this side of Sylvester Stallone. After that, Scott goes up against Todd Ingram (Brandon Routh rocking blonde hair and glowing eyes) a vegan bass player in a band fronted by Scott’s very own evil ex, Envy Adams (Brie Larson). To Scott’s surprise, one of Ramona’s exes happens to be a girl, Roxie Richter, played by Mae Whitman. Coincidentally, Whitman also played Cera’s girlfriend on Arrested Development. After defeating her, with a lot of help from Ramona, Scott moves on to confront exes 5 and 6 in the Katyanagi Twins (Shota and Keita Saito) before making it all the way to the final ex, Jason Schwartzman as Gideon Graves. In typical video game fashion, this “boss battle” is the toughest of them all an involves using power ups and extra lives.

The visual style of the film is one of the most impressive aspects. The film spectacularly weaves in and out from simple scenes of Scott at home with Wallace to elaborate fight sequences with graphics and slow motion effects a la Sin City or 300. I would argue that it’s one of the best film representations of a comic ever with perfectly placed title cards, written sound effects and a visual style that makes you feel like you’re living inside the pages of the comic. When the fights break out, it’s like a journey through a wonderland of old school Sega and Nintendo nostalgia. Bill Hader’s video game narrations are reminiscent of the “finish him!” commands in Mortal Kombat, but with an extra hint of humor. The fact that the exes turn into coins when they are defeated is a fun live-action representation of a fond video game memory.

No doubt this is a movie for the younger generation, people who only remember playing Pong will probably find the quick cuts and vibrant graphics to be overwhelming. Anyone who spend hours playing Mike Tyson’s Punch Out–which happens to be one of Culkin’s favorite games–will thoroughly enjoy the Scott-vs-ex combat. I enjoyed Scott Pilgrim vs the World immensely and am already planning to see it at least four more times.

Scott Pilgrim vs the World was getting a lot of buzz long before it screened at Comic Con in July. Adapted from Brian Lee O’Malley’s hugely popular comic, the film is about Scott (Michael Cera), a Toronto native who’s dating a high school girl (Ellen Wong as Knives Chau) when he falls for a cool new girl (Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Ramona) and must defeat her “seven evil exes” in order to date her.

The cast of this geek masterpiece stopped by Denver on their press tour and I got a chance to sit down with Winstead, Brandon Routh, who is Ramona’s vegan rocker ex boyfriend, Todd Ingram, and Kieran Culkin, who plays Scott’s hilarious gay roommate Wallace Wells.

Though none of the three had read the comic prior to hearing about the film, they knew they were stepping into pretty big shoes as far as fans were concerned. “It has such a following. It’s grown with every book that has come out. The last one was number five on Amazon.” Winstead said.

Because the comic was such a hit, everyone involved with the film didn’t want to disappoint the devoted fans. Thankfully, says Winstead, director Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) was just the man to tackle the challenge.

“We really trusted Edgar Wright,” she explained. “Everyone involved in the cast were big fans of his and all of his movies–Spaced, everything we had seen of his. For me, when I read the books, I knew he was the only person that could bring it to life in a way that is cool, unique and fun. So we all, from the second we stepped foot on the set, were just like, ‘ok, you tell us what to do. You guide us and we’ll do exactly like you want and we know that’s gonna end up the best it’s gonna be.’”

While it’s impossible to exactly recreate the comic, Culkin assured us that nothing major was left out. “Fans of the book didn’t seem to miss anything. They really like the adaptation, but, some will say they missed Kim Pines making out with Knives Chau,” he joked.

Outside of the world of comics, Scott Pilgrim vs the World also has tons of video game references spread throughout the movie. At times it’s almost as if you are watching a cut scene pulled directly from a video game. Because of that, I had to know if these guys were actually into video games.

Culkin was eager to talk about games and named Zelda: Ocarina of Time for Nintendo 64 as his favorite. “This game Virtual Pro 2, which is a Japanese wrestling game for the 64, I translated it into English so I can play it, but I didn’t need to. It was just for anybody else who wanted to play,” he added. He rounded off his top five with Mike Tyson’s Punch Out, Castlevania and Contra.

Routh chimed in to list his faves. “Dragon Warrior was one of the first RPGs. Shining Force, the Sega game, Shining Force 2, the sequel. Joe Montana Football, Sim City, and Warcraft.”

With video games as inspiration, the movie has a lot of really fun fight scenes. The cast talked about the training they went through to prepare.

“It was tough. We trained together for a long time, and we were really well prepared by the stunt guys who worked with us. They were fantastic teachers. Ellen had some prior experience with Taikwando, and I had prior experience with dance, so the two of us kind of combined our abilities. Ellen was so dedicated to Knives, that character, and so it was almost scary fighting with her sometimes, because she got so into character. It felt really real when I fought with her.” Culkin then asked her who would win a real fight between her and Ellen Wong. “We got that question a few times when we were interviewing together, and we always just said that would team up because, I’m like a giant, and she’s little and scrappy and fast.”

And, of course, with all that fighting comes a few injuries. “I pulled my shoulder out a bunch. Lots of tendonitis and stuff. Went to physical therapy for that. In that scene with Ellen, I got stabbed in the eye with one of her knives and was bleeding, and had to have a paramedic help. So yeah, there were lots of little things like that that happened, but it was kinda like battle scars, like we all felt really proud of our injuries,” Winstead said.

Though Wallace doesn’t do any fighting in the movie, Culkin said he trained along with everyone else. “It was more for fun, when everyone was getting together for weeks. We got together early in the morning for training, so I went along for that. Plus, I think also, when I got the part I hadn’t seen Edgar for months, so I showed up to set the first day with long green hair and thirty pounds of extra weight that he wasn’t expecting and I was like, ‘Are you sure? Are you sure you want me? Just try to picture my hair shorter, and I’ll lose thirty pounds, I swear.’ I got to go home for a while and lose that weight for him.”

Scott Pilgrim isn’t only filled with video game references, it’s also got the perfect feeling of an underground indie rock movie. Music is one of the main themes in the movie, with the main characters all competing in a giant battle of the bands, and a huge soundtrack filled with underground music.

Winstead may not be an expert on video games, but she did list her music favorites. “I listen to a lot of oldies and stuff. But, I like a lot of indie rock. Gosh, where do I start?” Suddenly, Culkin jumped in and told her to start by plugging the soundtrack and she replied, “That’s actually genuine, I love the soundtrack. Right now I really love The XX, a lot of Mike Patton stuff, Mr. Bungle, just kind of all over the map, but I love anything from the 60s and 50s, David Bowie, and I also like Buddy Holly, and girl groups. The Shangri Las are kinda my ultimate favorite.”

In the last question of the day, I asked Winstead who her favorite evil ex was in the film. She said she loved them all, but Routh quickly told us that wasn’t true at all, so she had to change her answer. “No, the fight with Roxy, Mae Whitman, will always be special to me because I actually got to fight with her, and we got train together for months and months. So, that was just an awesome experience, and she’s so badass, and wonderful. So, I have to say that one.” Routh also added that Roxy rocks.

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World opens everywhere on August 13^th, so make sure you go see it! The soundtrack is available now on cd and red vinyl, and it is awesome, so check it out. You can also check out the Scott Pilgrim 8-bit style video game that’s available for download on the PS3 now, and August 25^th for the Xbox Arcade version

At the San Diego Comic-Con this year, DC Entertainment premiered the trailer for their upcoming film Red, based off the 3-part limited comic release from Homage Comics.

Admittedly, I know nothing about the mini-comic series so my thoughts on this movie are based purely on what I’ve seen from the trailer and upon first viewing I’m definitely intrigued.

The premise of the movie looks to be similar to that of The Watchmen. A former crime fighting crew, this time CIA members, are off enjoying retirement (REDS – Retired Extremely Dangerous) when they realize someone is trying to kill them. Upon this realization the gang gets back together to stop their attempted killer.

Again, this is all based on what I took in from the trailer and little tidbits I gathered online so my idea of what the film is about could be way off. Regardless of the plot however, the movie looks to have a lot of promise.

The cast should be stellar headed by Bruce Willis and John Malkovich. Anytime a movie stars Malkovich, my interested immediately peaks. Add in Morgan Freeman and Ernest Borgnine and I’ll be first in line. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that Brian Cox, Richard Dreyfuss, Helen Mirren and Mary-Louise Parker are all along for the ride as well.

Anyway, enough of my rambling about what I think Reds could be about. Check out the trailer below and see what you think for yourself.