Archive for May 4th, 2007
3 items.
I think I may have made him a little beefy in the shoulders, but I’m really happy with how my sketch of Venom turned. I tried to incorporate elements of the movie version and the comic book version in his facial features. What do you guys think?
So today is the big day, right? Spider-Man 3 is in theaters. I had a few friends going to midnight showings, but for obvious reasons I wasn’t able to join them. I haven’t been to a midnight showing since Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith and I paid for it dearly. I don’t think I have it in me to do that kind of stuff anymore.
Cami and I are planning on seeing Spider-Man 3 on Sunday while my parents watch Henry. Cami’s not too hyped about it. I think it’s because she doesn’t want to encourage my fascination with comic book characters. She always sites precedence back when we watched the first Spider-Man. She fell asleep during the middle of the movie. Honestly, I about fell asleep, too.
But before you grab the pitchforks, know that it wasn’t because I was bored! I think we had done a lot of yard work that day and we were both wiped out. Put us in a dark room with comfortable seats and it’s lights out. Anyway, she always reminds me of that like if I take her to a comic book movie, she’ll be bored to tears. Nice try, honey.
I am somewhat intimidated by the movie’s near 3-hour running time. That’s a long time to be in a theater no matter which way you slice it.
I know earlier in the week that I expressed some apprehension about whether or not the movie would be able to support itself under the weight of it’s own hype. Critics are kind of beating up on it a little bit but I’ve read a lot of fan reactions and it seems to be quite the opposite. Almost bordering on hyperbole. That’s okay. I’m a fan myself. I’ll be right there with ’em. Even though I was apprehensive, I’m starting to get excited again. It’s kind of like when you’re a teenager and you’re excited for Christmas, but then because you’re moody and your Dad made you fight the crowds to get something nice for your Mom, you get dismissive and talk about how you’re “so over Christmas.” Then it’s, like, two days before Christmas and you start flipping out again because you know you’re going to get presents. Same thing.
Did anyone sit through a midnight showing? What did you think? Stay away from spoilers, please. Keep it in the general category. I’m just wondering if some of the critics complaints are valid (over stuffing things with too many villains, over-choreographed fight sequences, etc.) Leave your thoughts below!
[ No Comments ]
Since we’re on a super-hero movie kick (sorry, high-minded movie fans) I was wondering if you guys caught the first image of the armor from the forthcoming 2008 Iron Man movie over at EW.com?
Anyone who knows me knows that I am a HARD CORE Iron Man fan. As I type this, no less than 13 different Iron Man figures are staring at me from atop a nearby shelf. I would even go so far to say that I’m a bigger fan of Iron Man than Spider-Man. I mean, Spider-Man will always be my first love. But I have a thing for the second-tier characters. Of course, that’s less and less the case with Iron Man these days.
There is something I’ve always found very visually appealing about Iron Man and I think it’s because the technology he utilizes allows artists to create variations on a theme for his signature look. That’s a lot of fun. Even the crap armor designs I love because they’re trying something new and it fits within the motivations of the character.
I mean, you can slap Spider-Man into a dark suit to make him more “moody” and it looks cool. But we all know that’s not who Peter Parker is. Iron Man, on the other hand, is constantly upgrading and improving his armor and the look progresses because of it. The only thing non-progressive about the character is his origin story. In the comics, he was wounded by a piece of shrapnel selling arms and munitions during the Vietnam War. He was held captive and forced to design a chest plate to keep his heart beating. He built the armor around it and escaped. Timely when the character was introduced, sure. But a little stale 40-plus years later.
In recent years they’ve tried to update the conflict placing him in Afghanistan. But in another 40 years, it’ll be the same problem.
At any rate, the topic I really wanted to address was the armor design for the movie. Stan Winston is doing visual effects. He’s the guy who created the Alien, Robocop, the Predator, the dinosaurs from Jurassic Park and the Terminator. So you know you’re in good hands. I just want to breathe a huge sigh of relief that they’re staying faithful to the armor design from the comics. The smartest thing director Jon Favreau did was hire artist Adi Granov as a technical adviser. Granov was the last artist to update Iron Man’s look and it’s probably one of my favorite interpretations yet. To me it says they’re taking it seriously.
Anyway, I could geek out for hours. But I didn’t want to let this slip by without saying something about it.
Is anyone else excited for Iron Man in 2008?
[ No Comments ]
This has nothing to do with anything, but since it’s the weekend, I thought you guys might enjoy a little linkage to kick things off.
Cracked.com runs down comparisons between some of the most obviously similar movies released in the same year. Dante’s Peak and Volcano, for example. Or A Bug’s Life and Antz. It’s pretty amazing to see how long stuff like this has been going on and how often it happens.
Incidentally, this was something we touched on by total happenstance during this Monday’s Triple Feature talkcast. So I was pretty psyched when I ran across it later in the week. What’s your favorite pair of suspiciously similar movies?
Speaking of The Triple Feautre talkcast, don’t forget that’s where you need to go to get the first clue in our Dreamgirls and Diggers free DVD giveaway. You can get the second half of the clue here. Send in the complete clue for each giveaway to theaterhopper@hotmail.com with your name, age and mailing address to have your entry submitted into a random drawing. My free copies of Dreamgirls were delivered earlier in the week, so I’m picking winners on Monday. I haven’t gotten a lot of entries, so your odds are good if you throw your hat into the ring now!
Good luck and have a great weekend!
[ No Comments ]
