Comic-Con is in full swing in San Diego, and two of the biggest star-attended panels of the week-odd long event have already taken place. The biggest of them all was James Cameron's Avatar, which screened about 20 minutes of footage to a crowd drowned in anticipation. The $300 million production is utilising 3D special effects that Cameron has been developing for years. Quint at Aintitcool.com gives a detailed description of what exactly was shown, and reminds people not to expect their lives to be changed by what they see: "I will say lower those expectations. The footage was good, layered, incredibly detailed and full of imagination and incredible imagery, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s the next quantum leap forward in filmmaking. However there's no doubt Cameron's pushing the limits. Just don't expect to have your head blown out your a**hole or eyeballs raped or whatever the newest talkback thing is." How that film is supposed to live up to expectations, both financially and critically, is really beyond me. The Twilight guys essentially turned up to please the fanatics, while promoting New Moon, and didn't really offer anything groundbreaking when it came to the production; this is, after all, an adaptation of a book that has been out for some time. Kristen Stewart was looking every inch the rock star, as she is currently shooting the Joan Jett biopic, The Runaways.
