Comicpalooza Guide

Get Your Geek On: Comicpalooza's don't-miss guide to fan happenings, star spottings and personal picks

Every Memorial Day weekend, thousands of Houstonians from all walks of life don their best corsets, pleather catsuits, feathered tutus, stormtrooper codpieces, medieval codpieces, S.H.I.E.L.D jumpsuits, Star Trek jumpsuits, Iron Man body armor and formal tentacles, then head on down to the George R. Brown Convention Center to get their Geek On.

That’s right, it’s Comicpalooza time.

With four days and over 2,000 hours of programming, whether you’re into anime, My Little Pony, Marvel movies or even '70s punk rock, everyone is bound to find something shiny (Firefly reference) that appeals to his or her own particular fan obsession.

But let’s face it, even if you’ve added some compound fly eyes to that face — not outside the realm of possibility for this weekend—you’re never going to get to see everything. So to help you pick and choose, I’ve talked to Comicpalooza chairman John Simons and literature organizer Vijay Kale in order to find those don’t-miss events as well as a few personal picks to help you find a new fandom to try.

Celebrity Petting (but no touching) Zone
Probably one of the biggest draws to the Con are the television and movie stars who arrive each year. Even if you aren’t interested in getting a photo and autograph with the likes of Jeremy Rainer, Cobie Smulders or Jason Isaacs, the celebrity corral is fascinating to observe for the amateur anthropologist or economist.

Even if you aren’t interested in getting a photo and autograph with the likes of Jeremy Rainer, Cobie Smulders or Jason Isaacs, the celebrity corral is fascinating to observe.

The experience reminds me a little of visiting the SPCA or Wall Street as fans wander around deciding which celebrities’ stocks are rising enough to buy a share in their fame (a.k.a photo op) or which floppy newcomer or wise showbiz veteran is just so adorable this year that you just have to Instagram their cuteness to all your followers.

My pick: Bring your own stuffed shark and see if you can convince Henry Winkler to hold hands and jump over it with you. Tweet me if he’s game.

Music and Concerts
Most humanoids and human-shaped beings attending the Con probably don’t realize they’re also attending something of a music fest, but Simons is hoping goers will take a listen at their “diverse lineup,” with regional and national known musicians and DJs like Big Data, Descendants of Erdrick, Deep Ella and many other musicians and bands that don’t start with D.

My pick: For those into rock history, Ramones’ drummer, Marky Ramone; Dave Ellefson, bassist and founding member of Megadeth; GWAR; and heavy metal bassist, Rudy Sarzo will all be on hand for autographs and Q&A sessions if not to actually play.

Catch a Flick
With two world premieres and independent horror, sci-fi and fantasy films being showcased through the weekend, you could conceivable just plant yourself in theatre-360 and be entertained from morning until midnight. Simons is particularly excited about the world premiere of Criminal Activities starring John Travolta, Dan “Dead Cousin Matthew” Stevens and Jackie Earle Haley who also directed. Haley and actor Edi Gathegi will be on hand for a Q&A after the screening.

Simons is particularly excited about the world premiere of Criminal Activities starring John Travolta.

My pick: There’s apparently a horror movie, filmed in Houston no less, about a man who finds out his soul mate is too close to her conjoined serial killer twin. Just the fact that Conjoined exists should make us proud to be Houstonians.

Buy Some Art/Refine Your Own Art
A huge part of participating, not just attending, a Con is to celebrate artists by taking a stroll down Artist Alley or expressing your own creative side whether that be through entering the cosplay contest Saturday, taking part in a workshop or panel on subjects as diverse as diversity in drawing human anatomy, using art to deal with PTSD, or cinematic tips for Houston filmmakers.

My pick: Watch artists create and then bid on that favorite piece Saturday night at the Live Art and Charity Auction. All proceeds benefit the Ronald McDonald House Charities.

Hear or Tell a Great Story
Every year brings new and returning bestselling sci-fi and fantasy authors to town and this year is no different with Peter David, Raymond E. Feist and Mercedes Lackey as well as regional favorites and up-and-coming writers. Many of these authors will be participating in solo Q&A sessions and/or panels that will discuss your favorite genres and even give advice to budding authors.

My pick: In “No-Holds-Barred Critique Workshop” you can submit an excerpt from your own work for constructive criticism to authors Shannon Winton, Jason Kristopher, Carrie Patel, Kevin Ranson, Diana Dru Botsford. For info, email: literature@comicpalooza.com.

Meet Astronaut Dr. Stan Love, explore the space medicine we’ll need to get a humanity to Mars and discuss the multiple universe theory.

Real Science from Real Scientists
Though Comicpalooza has included presentations on numerous hard science topics over the years, in 2014 they set up the “Science Faction” programming track that Space City deserves. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Clear Lake is deserted this weekend because it feels like half of NASA is going to be in downtown Houston. Meet Astronaut Dr. Stan Love, explore the space medicine we’ll need to get a humanity to Mars and discuss the multiple universe theory.

My pick: I’m rather intrigued with NASA engineer Hannah Bradley’s presentation “We Want a Window” on the demands and dangers of designing windows for spacecraft.

For one final don’t-miss, I recommending Houston’s own Classical Theatre Company dramatic reading of William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope by Ian Doescher. I saw the Classical gang do an excerpt from this at Brazos Bookstore a year ago and not only was it hilarious, it proved something I’ve long suspected, that the most psychologically layered and dynamic character in the entire Star Wars mythos is, of course, R2D2.

To find that one panel, workshop, or guest appearance that speaks to your particular fandom check out the online Comicpalooza schedule.

Comicpalooza punches into the convention center.

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Comicpalooza punches into the convention center.

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Movie Review

Meta-comedy remake Anaconda coils itself into an unfunny mess

Photo by Matt Grace

Jack Black and Paul Rudd in Anaconda.

In Hollywood’s never-ending quest to take advantage of existing intellectual property, seemingly no older movie is off limits, even if the original was not well-regarded. That’s certainly the case with 1997’s Anaconda, which is best known for being a lesser entry on the filmography of Ice Cube and Jennifer Lopez, as well as some horrendous accent work by Jon Voight.

The idea behind the new meta-sequel Anaconda is arguably a good one. Four friends — Doug (Jack Black), Griff (Paul Rudd), Claire (Thandiwe Newton), and Kenny (Steve Zahn) — who made homemade movies when they were teenagers decide to remake Anaconda on a shoestring budget. Egged on by Griff, an actor who can’t catch a break, the four of them pull together enough money to fly down to Brazil, hire a boat, and film a script written by Doug.

Naturally, almost nothing goes as planned in the Amazon, including losing their trained snake and running headlong into a criminal enterprise. Soon enough, everything else takes second place to the presence of a giant anaconda that is stalking them and anyone else who crosses its path.

Written and directed by Tom Gormican, with help from co-writer Kevin Etten, the film is designed to be an outrageous comedy peppered with laugh-out-loud moments that cover up the fact that there’s really no story. That would be all well and good … if anything the film had to offer was truly funny. Only a few scenes elicit any honest laughter, and so instead the audience is fed half-baked jokes, a story with no focus, and actors who ham it up to get any kind of reaction.

The biggest problem is that the meta-ness of the film goes too far. None of the core four characters possess any interesting traits, and their blandness is transferred over to the actors playing them. And so even as they face some harrowing situations or ones that could be funny, it’s difficult to care about anything they do since the filmmakers never make the basic effort of making the audience care about them.

It’s weird to say in a movie called Anaconda, but it becomes much too focused on the snake in the second half of the film. If the goal is to be a straight-up comedy, then everything up to and including the snake attacks should be serving that objective. But most of the time the attacks are either random or moments when the characters are already scared, and so any humor that could be mined all but disappears.

Black and Rudd are comedy all-stars who can typically be counted on to elevate even subpar material. That’s not the case here, as each only scores on a few occasions, with Black’s physicality being the funniest thing in the movie. Newton is not a good fit with this type of movie, and she isn’t done any favors by some seriously bad wigs. Zahn used to be the go-to guy for funny sidekicks, but he brings little to the table in this role.

Any attempt at rebooting/remaking an old piece of IP should make a concerted effort to differentiate itself from the original, and in that way, the new Anaconda succeeds. Unfortunately, that’s its only success, as the filmmakers can never find the right balance to turn it into the bawdy comedy they seemed to want.

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Anaconda is now playing in theaters.

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