Just left the panel hosted by our colleagues over at The Digital Bits. Bill Hunt and Todd Doogan hosted a standing room only crowd for special guests producers Charlie de Lauzirika, Javier Soto, Robert Meyer Burnett, and director Michael Davis.

While many not recognize the name of Michael Davis, you may know his work from our reviews of 8 Days a Week or Monster Man. Michael is previewing his new film Shoot 'em Up here in San Diego tonight, starring Clive Owen, Monica Bellucci, and Paul Giamatti. Since most of his work has been direct-to-video, he had to work hard to sell this concept to New Line, and did so by hand animating all 11 action sequences on his Mac. It obviously worked. Michael screened a montage of test shots in which he was shooting himself in his basement with a Lyesol bottle, complete with impressive blood splatters. Quite impressive and very funny. I think we're going to be seeing much more of this Zack Snyder school of hybrid filmmaking in the years to come.

Robert Burnett, on the other hand, was the bitter cynical one of the bunch. His claims that DVD has become a wasteland and bonus material creation "is dead" prefaced his move into the production arena. He's now working with Media Blasters (a favorite studio partner of ours) on the creation of The Hills Run Red. He brought a trailer with to show, but the audio wouldn't play, so they scrapped it and moved on. A problem that would become symptomatic of the entire presentation.

Javier Soto, who has been a longtime collaborator with director Guillermo Del Toro, is currently working on Hellboy 2, which he calls "Pan's Labyrinth + Hellboy on steroids" with lots of cool new villains. Following up on Robert's comments, Javier feels the DVD medium is far from dead and that producers simply need to reinvent the type of material they are adding to films on DVD. He's excited about creating original content, such as shorts and new sequences. For example, he's also working on a director's cut of The 4400's Season Four finale, which will only be available on DVD. Also on his plate is the Guillermo produced Spanish lanugage film The Orphanage and a special edition release of the only del Toro film never available on DVD. Hmm...

Charlie was the highlight of the panel, showcasing clips from Twin Peaks: The Complete Series which will include every episode, both pilots (US and European) and hours of vintage and new bonus material, including deleted scenes, interviews with cast and crew (many of whom have never been interviewed about the series before), a new making of documentary, a 30 min roundtable between David Lynch, Kyle MacLachlan, and Madchen Amick, and much much more. He showed two clips, one of the roundtable in which David waxed nostalgic about his kissing scene with Madchen, and a montage of folks talking about what they knew about Laura Palmer's killer, including Ray Wise (Leland Palmer) who stated "I just hoped it wasn't me!" :)

But the end-all, be-all of the presentation was Charlie's tease for the Bladerunner megaset releasing from Warner Home Video on December 18. Here are just some of the things you can look forward to on this 5-disc set, for which he scoured over 1000 boxes of original source material to create...

* Five versions of the film, all anamorphic widescreen with 5.1 Dolby Surround
* 3.5 hour documentary called "Dangerous Days" including over 80 interviews with cast and crew, including Harrison Ford
* A hybrid shortened cut of the film with early alternate narration by Harrison, 95% of which are alternate angles and coverage shots never before seen.
* A fixed "death of Zora" scene in which Joanna Cassidy recreated the character against green screen to replace the obvious stunt double used in the original film. And Harrison's son Ben came in to remouth his father's words.
* Day and date release of standard DVD, HD DVD, and Blu-ray with identical content.
* Does not include the BBC Documentary, since it's redundant to what they cover in the new documentary.

During the brief Q&A, the most interesting question asked of the boys from The Bits was which format they like best. The answer -- Blu-ray. It's the one the most studios are backing.

Aside form the technical glitches, the crowd seemed to enjoy the presentation. Nice work, guys! Perhaps next year, we will more seriously entertain the offer of presenting our own panel.

NEXT UP: Star Trek HD DVD presentation

Greetings from beautiful Shelter Island in San Diego, CA. This weekend we will be bringing you live coverage (both blog and audioblog) from the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con, which has outgrown its comic book fanboy origins and become a massive pop culture phenomenon. All of the major Holywood studios will be represented here this weekend, teasing audiences with sneak peeks at upcoming projects and pimping out cast and crew for panel discussions and interviews.

On the schedule for today...
* DVD Sneak Preview by the Digital Bits Team
* Star Trek HD DVD presentation
* Paramount Pictures preview of upcoming films
* Hanna-Barbera Retrospective
* Lionsgate Films preview of upcoming films
* Lost: Season Four presentation
* 40 Years of Star Trek, including JJ Abram's tease for Star Trek XI
* Pixar presentation
* Screening of WHV's "Superman: Doomsday"

A full slate of non-stop action from 10a-11p. And if I have any energy left, I'll be heading over to screening of CASSHERN: DIRECTOR'S CUT.

My goal is to blog these events as they occur, so stay tuned throughout the day for updates!

All the best,
Chief Justice Michael Stailey

I'm an HD-DVD adopter. I admit it. I also admit that sans the exclusive studio support Sony has sewn up, it doesn't look super-rosy for Toshiba's format. Then again, I'm still not entirely sold on the kind of home video revolution we saw with DVD--a truly staggering cultural phenomenon that led to movie collections that eat up more condo square footage than the master bedroom--replicating in the high-definition marketplace.

So, no, I'm not prepared to sound the death-knell for DVD or HD-DVD and welcome our Benevolent Blu-Ray Overlords (I'm still leaning toward digital distribution as the future of home entertainment). But I am a realist, and realistically, Sony's creation is solidly in the lead, though the sub-par performance of the PS3 adds a new angle to the discussion.

With a dearth of must-have games, PS3 owners are undoubtedly propelling the embryonic Blu-Ray market because, let's face it, what else are you going to do with your $600 investment that won't make you feel like you spent $600 simply for Xbox ports and Motorstorm? It will be interesting to see the effects that cheaper, stand-alone Blu-Ray players will have on PS3 sales.

Me, I jumped on board the high-def market because a) thanks to frugal hoarding of Amazon gift cards and Toshiba's reduced price on its entry-level players, I was able to score an HD-A2 for $78 cash money and b) I'm a sucker for new technology I probably don't need.

I'm glad I pulled the trigger as--for the most part--high-def titles look noticeably better than their DVD counterparts. As an added bonus the HD-A2 upconverts standard DVDs beautifully (Apocalypto looked particularly inspiring). So, worst-case scenario, if HD-DVD goes the way of the Whig Party, at least I've got a kick-ass DVD player and Batman Begins in high-definition.

At least that's what I tell myself during those late night cry-sessions.

I'm tired. I stayed up all night to watch the 'soft's E3 press conference and was denied the major revelations I was expecting. No Ninja Gaiden 2. No price job. No Sony fanboy-punching announcement of cross-platform Metal Gear Solid 4.

But there was lots of Halo 3. And Reggie Bush. And violin-playing!

Click here to read my reaction.

Lean, mean and trimmed of all excess and fat, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix blasts through the most verbose Harry Potter novel in a scant two hours with surprising skill and ease. Like a roller-coaster ride, the speed is fixed and calculated to be exactly correct at all times; never too fast or slow, Phoenix moves at an exhilarating pace, easily making it the most exciting Harry Potter film yet.

Man, was I skeptical about this film. Standing outside at a midnight screening of Phoenix in a heatwave with hundreds of screaming teenagers dressed to the nines in scarves and wands, cloaks and witch hats (seriously) I kept wondering how the longest Harry Potter novel (and arguably the most complex) could be effectively told in a film that had nearly the shortest running time of the lot. Impressively, Phoenix succeeds by brilliantly editing the storytelling down to its most base, trimming all fluff, non-essential dialogue, characters and sequences and focusing on creating an exciting film, pure and simple, while still staying amazingly faithful to the heart of the novel and franchise. In a way, it is less showy, less CGI-laden than its predecessors, except that in reality, this is probably not even close to being true. It just feels that way. Maybe it's the total lack of Qudditch, thank God.

All Harry Potter films thus far are guilty of bloat in some form or another; either visually, spending elaborate time recreating sequences that fail to advance the drama (every Quidditch match) to the lip-service inclusion of sequences and dialogue that please the fans and stay true to the book. It is an inescapable reality that, after every Harry Potter film, fans of the novel inadvertently mumble about the sequences of note that should have, but failed to make it into the final film. Amazingly, Order of the Phoenix feels lean and proper; there isn't a single wasted sequence, bit of dialogue or scene amiss, nor does the film feel like it excluded anything critical or substantial. A lot got dropped on the cutting room floor, no doubt, but with Order of the Phoenix, all pretenses for detail and canon are put aside in the favor of pure excitement and solid movie making.

One thing that helps Order of the Phoenix immeasurably is that for once, a Harry Potter film has a proper villain. (Yeah, yeah, Voldemort. But he doesn't count, because he's never actually there, is he? He only shows up in the last ten minutes of any given film to growl and act menacing.) With the inclusion of Ministry of Magic crony Dolores Umbridge (played masterfully by Imelda Staunton), Harry has an on-screen nemesis to antagonize and inconvenience him and his Scooby Gang of Dumbledore's Army tag-alongs at all times. Staunton relishes the role with an almost Margaret Thatcher-ist glee, relishing her power over Hogwarts like a corrupt czar and turning the school almost overnight into a concentration camp. Her eventual comeuppance is a fantastic thing, and got cheers and applause from the audience.

Purists may be irked by the changes made to the film from the novel, some of them fairly massive—my wife who attended the midnight screening with me kept seething and twitching in her seat, muttering about “canon”, but having a blast all the same. By tweaking story elements, the writers have created a Harry Potter film that easily flows from point A to B, stripping away all back story or cutting sequences altogether unless they specifically contribute to the on-screen excitement. A substantial hunk of the near-800 page novel failed to make the final draft, but for the first time, we have a well-edited Harry Potter film that can stand on its own footing as a darned impressive summer blockbuster. However, there is a downside—anyone unfamiliar with the novels or previous films might suffer at the blistering pace of the film, since almost no time is given to flesh out existing characters or dynamics. No fluff or filler here, boys and girls. Characters like Hermione and Ron, previously stars in the drama, are given more backseat roles in this film to make way for Harry's rampage into maturity and anger about his lot in life, sick of constantly being tortured, blown up and having his friends murdered.

Since the departure of Chris Columbus from the franchise, every subsequent Harry Potter film has had something of a revolving door when it comes to the director's chair. Up to bat here is television director David Yates, who has very few cinematic credits to his name, so his inclusion in the project was something of a wildcard. Lay your fears to rest: the man knows how to create a fantastic film. Yates balances the raw artistic style of Prisoner of Azkaban with the doom and gloom dimness of Goblet of Fire and comes up with a winning compromise, creating arguably the most stylish and impressive-looking Harry Potter film yet. The art direction, costume design and effects are fantastic to behold, gritty and visceral but with surprisingly vibrant colors leaping from the screen. The final battle at the Ministry of Magic is like a Chris Cunningham music video gone awry, with smoke and hand-held cameras and flashes of light and twisting bodies, cumulating into a tumultuous finale that blows the socks off anything the franchise has achieved thus far. It's no surprise that Yates has been signed up to create the next film in the franchise, Half-Blood Prince. One you see Phoenix, you'll be very happy with this decision.

Dazzling and stylish, full of excitement, nail-biting drama, fantastic sight gags and impressive storytelling, Order of the Phoenix it roars through its material with confidence, humor and wit.. Fans may be disappointed to see how much material was changed from the novel, but the film itself succeeds in a way that other Harry Potter films have failed to. By editing the film down to its barest necessities, we get a bloat-free film free of excess and distraction. It may lack subtlety and some character development, but for sheer edge-of-your-seat excitement, Order of the Phoenix is the most satisfying film of the franchise thus far.

Verdict: 90

(Man, I love when you go into a film prepared to hate it, and get your socks handed back to you at the door when you leave.)