Archive for August, 2007
16 items.
Hey, gang. I just wanted to send a quick reminder to everyone to listen to tonight’s broadcast of The Triple Theater at 9:00 PM CST over at Talkshoe. And to help keep your memory fresh, I wanted to take a moment to outline the two new DVDs we’ll be giving away to people who either listen in live or download the show before Wednesday.
First up is Wild Hogs. The star-studded cast of this hit comedy includes Tim Allen, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence and William H. Macyas four suburban couch jockeys who suffer from mid-life crises and take motorcycles to the American asphalt expecting nothing but fun and adventure.But being an easy rider isn’t so easy, especially after a chance encounter with the real-life Del Fuegos biker gang proves just how lame and tame the Hogs really are.
From what I’ve heard, Ray Liotta steals the show as the leader of the rival biker gang. If for nothing else, he’s the reason to check out this film.
If your curious about the movie, here are a few clips you can watch:
- Break his Legs
William H. Macy confronts the age old question – what do you need more – hands or legs? - Slap the Bull
To know you’re alive, sometimes you gotta slap the bull. - Bonus Clip
How to Get Your Wife To Let You Buy a Motorcycle. - Bonus Clip
Bloopers
The other DVD we have for you tonight is The Ex. Tom Reilly (Zach Braff) and his wife Sofia (Amanda Peet) are in for some major changes now that they have a newborn. As a lawyer, Sofia has always provided a comfortable living while Tom has contributed love, support and the occasional paycheck. When Sofia decides to be a stay-at-home mom all that changes. Tom moves the family to Ohio to work for his father-in-law (Charles Grodin). His boss, Chip (Jason Bateman), happens to still carry a torch for Sofia from their high school days. Chip will stop at nothing to see Tom defeated while no one but Tom can see Chip for the evil genius he is. Through it all Tom’s esteem is depleted, his manhood challenged (by a surprisingly large adversary) and he’s watching his family slip away.
Ever since Arrested Development, Jason Bateman has been a favorite of mine. Hey, I’m just as surprised as you thank I’m enamored with the guy from The Hogan Family and Teen Wolf, Too. But guess what? The guy is hilarious in damn near everything he’s in.
So there you have it. Those are the DVDs I have available for giveaway.
Be sure to listen to The Triple Feature over at TalkShoe tonight at 9:00 PM CST for the first half of a clue that will put you in the running. Then come back here on Wednesday for the second half of the clue. Put both clues together and send them to me at theaterhopper@hotmail.com along with your name, age and mailing address. And please keep your contest entries seperate – one for Wild Hogs and one for The Ex. It will help me keep things organized.
Thanks again and we’ll see you at The Triple Feature tonight!
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So by now you’re getting the gist of how this story arc works, right? Basically it’s like one, giant Opposite Day. But don’t worry. I’ve got a good punchline for Friday’s strip.
I don’t have much to say that’s movie related, so I’m going to touch on a couple of subjects and wrap it up for today. My apologies, but everyone in the house is sick right now. Henry’s got an ear infection and both Cami and I have come down with a cold.
First things first, if you missed Monday night’s Triple Feature talkcast, you missed a doozy. Our good friend Gordon from Multiplex was out of town and couldn’t participate, but Brian Carroll from Genrezvous Point stepped in confidently and and match Joe and I point for point. He gave us lots of interesting background information on his reinsertion to the web comics scene, the direction of Genrevous Point, the future of his previous comic Instant Classic and much more.
Oh, and watch out when we start talking about Citizen Kane.
Again, if you missed the show, it was a good one. There were lots of people in the chat room and from most accounts, everyone had a good time! You can still download the show to your machine, however. All you have to do is go to The Triple Feature profile page at TalkShoe.com and download it!
A good reason to download this week’s show is because it contains the first half of two clues associated with our DVD giveaway of both Wild Hogs and The Ex. (Detailed information on both movies can be found in Monday’s blog.) So listen to the show and grab those clues! The second half of the clues are as follows:
For the Wild Hogs DVD giveaway, the second half of the clue is: “PIGGY”
For The Ex DVD giveaway, the second half of the clue is “OF MY DREAMS”
Put the clues together and e-mail your answer along with your name, age and mailing address to theaterhopper@hotmail.com. And, so I can keep the entries organized, please label the subject line of your e-mail either “WILD HOGS” or “THE EX”. Please do not combine your answers or I will throw out your entry. Winners are chosen by a random draw.
Okay, so here’s the last thing I’m going to mention and then I’m out of here.
I recently read a couple of articles about social networking – StumbleUpon.com in particular – and the ways that it can be used to help promote Theater Hopper. I’m looking for a leg up any opportunity I can get, so I was hoping to direct a few of you to Stumble Upon and convince you to sign up with the hopes that you’ll tag Theater Hopper and share you links with others. Ultimately, through networking, more and more people will become familiar with Theater Hopper.
You can tag the entire site by grabbing www.theaterhopper.com or you can tag individual comics that you think are funny and want to share. The idea is tag Theater Hopper enough times that it will show up in random site displays, or “stumbles,” to potentially new readers.
I figure the law of averages has to be on my side. The more people I can get to sign up and tag Theater Hopper, eventually it will pay off.
For those of you worried about adding the application to your browser, it couldn’t be easier. I signed up and already tagged a bunch of sites that I’m into. In fact, if you want to see my links, you can check them out by clicking the button below. Click under “Pages I Liked” for the stuff that I’ve hitched my wagon to. Maybe that will give you a sense of how Stumble Upon works.
At any rate, it’s kind of an experiment. If you have a little extra free time and want to give it a shot, I say go for it. Also, keep your eyes peeled in the future for requests from yours truly to tag specific comics – more topical comics, maybe about Harry Potter or Transformers or whatever (more topical than that obviously) that I’ll ask you to grab and share with other Stumble Upon users. If you want to try it out on your own and tag your favorite comics, go ahead. I’ll also be working on adding a button that will help you do that automatically.
That’s pretty much it on my end. Be sure to check back to the site on Friday for the conclusion of The Invasion story arc!
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So this marks the end of the week-long story sprung from The Invasion of The Body Snatchers remake – The Invasion. I hope you liked it. Any opportunity I can take to throw in Victor acting weird, I’ll take.
Not much new in theaters this weekend to get excited about. I guess since all the kids are going back to school, it’s going to be slim pickin’s until fall. That’s when all of the sensitive indie movies I love so much start cropping up.
Early box office projections are pitting War against The Nanny Diaries for the top spot this weekend. My money is on War (and I have a comic about that coming up on Monday!) Despite the fact that The Nanny Diaries has a strong cast, to me it looks like a warmed over reinterpretation of Raising Helen – and no, that’s not a compliment.
Plus, I think you have to fess up to the fact that Scarlett Johansson is not a big enough star to open movies on the strength of her name alone. I think she’s a serviceable actress and the 22 movies to her credit in her short time as an actress are impressive. But no one sees a movie she’s in strictly for her performances. She’s not Sandra Bullock, or whatever.
And no, that’s not a compliment.
This weekend looks like Cami and I will finally get around to seeing Superbad, which I’ve been looking forward to ever since I watched the red band trailer online a few months ago. If the red band trailer is any indication, the commercials and TV spots aren’t doing the movie justice.
As excited as I was to see the movie, there’s certainly been a lot of hype surrounding it. So I was pleased somewhat when I was talking to friends this week about it. They love the film, but couldn’t get into specifics. That’s a good sign. It means the majority of the movie is so funny, they’re not going to be able to pick their favorite lines until it comes out on DVD.
Of course, that doesn’t stop people from trying. I’ve already seen five or six different web sites peddling their own McLovin t-shirt designs. Everyone has appeared to latch onto that as a comedic touch point for the film.
All the same, I’m expecting to have a good time.
Real quick – I made a change in the store over the weekend where all items are now $15 and I am now providing discounts on shipping for bundled purchases. Save 50% on shipping on any two purchase, 65% off on any three purchase or 75% off on any four purchases. This system was a lot easier than the bundling system I had previously installed. Plus, since I’m planning on adding more t-shirt designs in the future, it’ll be easier to maintain.
I’ve also recently talked to the 3rd party vendor that wrote the code for the shopping cart I use for my site and they’re coming out with a discount code option in the next few weeks. So that means if you input a special code at checkout, you can save extra money. I plan on running promotions every so often to people who sign up to the mailing list. So if you want to be ready when that comes around, sign up now.
Since Wizard World Chicago, I’ve gotten the itch to make some changes to the site. I’m meeting with a web design company here in Des Moines on Monday for a consultation on some more air-tight features for the site. Hopefully I can bring back the comments section soon plus do a better job of integrating the Top 50 voting, social bookmarking, “share this comic with a friend” and so on.
Something that’s been bugging me a lot lately are the banner ads. I’m sure they’re no favorite of yours, either. I’d like to get rid of them, but frankly, I’ve come to rely on them. The revenue I make with them helps cover hosting fees as well as afford me the opportunity to do things like t-shirts, books and make convention appearances. All of this feeds into the site and either helps maintain it or helps it grow.
If you look at any of the big guys, they have advertising to help support them. So, in my instance, I don’t think ads will be going away any time soon. I just need to find a better way to make them harmonious with the site.
What is your opinion about advertising? Do you find the ads I’m running now intrusive? Excessive? How would you feel if they were removed and replaced with in-context text advertisements? Links that appear over key phrases in the blog copy that lead you somewhere off site? I have a strong lead on the latter option and I’m thinking it’s a viable solution moving forward.
This is an instance where the comments field would come in really handy for some quick and dirty feedback. But as such, you’ll have to e-mail me with your thoughts. I’m soliciting your feedback. If you have strong opinions either way, I would like to hear from you!
That’s about it for me. I hope everyone has a great weekend and I’ll see you back here on Monday!
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I hope this comic isn’t too violent for a Monday morning. Stronger than coffee, that’s for sure!
There weren’t many movies to come out over the weekend worth talking about, but War with Jet Li and Jason Statham caught my attention. Primarily because of Li’s claim to have retired from martial arts movies after making Fearless. And, to Tom’s point in the first panel, he’s held true to his word. I haven’t seen War and I don’t know how much – if any – martial arts are in the film (there seems to be a lot of gunplay) but it seems odd to see Li on the big screen after making such a sweeping announcement.
Jet Li retiring from the movies is kind of like Jay Z retiring from rap. You knew it wouldn’t last long.
Incidentally, I don’t know, either if Jet Li has ever ripped out a man’s heart on screen. So I could be completely off base on that one. Oh, well.
Cami and I got around to seeing Superbad on Saturday. Because we’re the parents of a newborn and it’s tough to get either of our parents to give up a Friday or Saturday night, we ended up seeing it at 11:00 in the morning on Saturday. That was weird. Here is quite possibly one of the raunchest, most explicit comedies of the year – great fodder for a community movie going expereience – and we’re sitting in the dark with maybe… seven other people. It was kind of weird.
That said, I had a blast with this film. And that’s coming from a guy who has trouble connecting to the high school movie genre in general.
I don’t know what it is about most high school movies. All the drinking and the drugs and the sex? Not to sound like a total prude, but my high school experience wasn’t about those things. So I watch these movies and interpret them as some kind of exaggerated case. Still, in the back of my mind, I kind of wish my high school expereience was like that and then I start to get a little jealous. Stupid, huh?
Something certainly exaggerated in the film is the amount of graphic sex talk the lead characters partake in… sorta.
After the movie, Cami asked me if that’s how guys really talked and I said “Sorta.” I mean, I’ve know people like the character Jonah Hill plays and they’re usually a lot of talk. Cami was correct in her assessment that guys like that talk a big game, but rarely see any action. Like I said, I’ve known guys like that.
Still, Hill’s portrayal of a high school hornball was vulgar by most counts and was amped up more for comedic effect than anything authentic. The fact that it’s outrageous makes you uncomfortable and you have no option left but to laugh.
“Don’t worry,” I told Cami. “You ended up with a guy who’s more like Michael Cera’s character than Jonah Hill’s.” I don’t know if that put her mind to ease or not.
I think I probably had a better time at the movie than Cami did. It’s certainly told from the male perspective. Then again, there usually isn’t much for the ladies to associate with in the “trying to get laid” genre. I still had a good time, though. The ending is really good and there are some emotional touches that are very authentic. I think that’s probably the redeming aspect of the movie that will keep your wife or girlfriend from being totally repusled by it.
Then again, the illustrations over the end credits might wipe away any of that good will. I’m just giving you the head’s up…
Be sure to listen to The Triple Feature talkcast tonight at 9:00 PM CST over at TalkShoe.com. Joe Dunn from Joe Loves Crappy Movies and I had a great time talking with Brian Carroll from Genrevous Point last week and I think he’s calling in again this week. Our good friend Gordon McAlpin from Multiplex is back from his business trip and should be calling in as well. I’m kind of interested to see how those two bounce of each other because they have a very similar taste in movies and both of them are very passionate about their opinions. Should be fun.
I don’t know what we’re going to talk about this week, but a couple of weeks ago someone submitted a great question in the live chat area asking us what was our favorite John Cusack movie. I’m thinking when we don’t have a lot in terms of new movies to talk about, it might be fun to introduce stuff like that to the conversation. If you guys have any questions like that you would like to ask the group, e-mail them to me at theaterhopper@hotmail.com.
Or, better yet, join the live broadcast and leave your question in the chat area. If you have a microphone on your computer, you can ask us directly! Lots of fun! See you then!
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It’s kind of unusual for me to do a comic about a movie that won’t be out for another four months. More unusual still for me to do a comic about the trailer to said movie. But what can I say? I’m excited about this one.
In case you’re wondering what I’m talking about, it’s Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem and if you want to see the trailer in question, click here.
Be forewarned, however. This is the red-band trailer. That means there is swearing and violence.
Lots and lots of violence.
I was more excited than a kid on Christmas for the first Alien vs. Predator movie back in 2004. In fact, I did a few comics about it. The movie was an all-out disaster. The worst watered-down version of both franchises you can imagine. They took the template of six pulse-pounding R rated action-horror films and somehow ended up with a PG-13 pile of slop. And even though I get suckered into watching the movie whenever it shows up on cable – hopelessly deluding myself into thinking that maybe it magically turned into a better movie with age – I have rallied against this film and held it up as a beacon of what is wrong in Hollywood.
Instead of making a movie for the fans, they made a movie aimed squarely at the disposable income of modern teenagers – an audience that would only know a fraction of the potential awesomeness in this pairing of great movie monsters because anyone who was 13 years old when the movie came out would have 7 years-old when the last Aliens movie was in theaters! PLEASE!
At any rate, it looks like AvP: Requiem is looking to change all that. And judging by the level of violence in the red-band trailer, I would say they are well on their way.
Merry Christmas to me!
In other news, we had a blast recording The Triple Feature last Monday. If you missed it, you missed a good one. Gordon McAlpin from Multiplex was back from vacation and went toe-to-toe with Brian Carroll of Genrevous Point on everything from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to the validity of Kaizer Soze from The Usual Suspects as a great movie villain. Meanwhile myself and Joe Dunn from Joe Loves Crappy Movies just sat back and listened. The guys in the live chat were getting a real kick out of it. We also talked at length about action movies and what makes a good action film. It was quite a robust conversation. We actually went a little long with this one. Lots of content to dive into. Visit our profile page at TalkShoe to download a copy of the show and listen to what you missed.
A couple of interviews I did at Wizard World Chicago are starting to show up online, so I thought I would share the links. This article at Comic Book Resources highlights how some of the web comics in attendance butter their bread, earn their scratch so to speak. I’m one of the comics profiled. In this link to YouTube, you can take a look at my ugly mug around the 3:30 mark. I was interviewed by the good guys from Reactor, an anime convention going on in Chicago November 2 – 4. I don’t think I’ll be making out to that one, but the two guys I spoke to were very friendly.
That’s about all I can think of for the moment. Have a great Wednesday!
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I think today’s comic illustrates fairly effectively my gripe with the release of Rob Zombie’s “reimagining” of Halloween. One would like to think the studio releasing it has some kind of strategy. But to avoid releasing the film on the holiday it shares a name with seems like a glaring oversight to me.
Maybe they’ve deluded themselves into thinking that the American movie-going public has an attention span longer than one week and they’ll continue to get repeat business on this film until said holiday. Maybe they don’t think they can compete against Saw IV – the upstart horror franchise has pretty much laid claim to the Halloween weekend since the first film came out. Maybe the movie is a big steaming turd that they want to bury in late August while kids are going back to school. Or maybe they don’t care when they release it since most horror movies are critic-proof and fans will come out to see them regardless of their quality.
However you slice it, it seems the studio could be doing a lot better for themselves if they had decided to release Halloween on Halloween. I mean, the original movie is a classic – no doubt about it. So, right there, you’ve got John Carpenter fans coming out of the woodwork to show respect. Of course, there’s always the aforementioned die-hard horror fans that will show up no matter what and I’m sure there will be a few stranglers who were fans of White Zombies throwing in their support behind the director.
But what about the rest of us who maybe aren’t into horror movies all that much? Take… well, ME, for example. I can sit and watch a horror movie if I’m in the right mood for it. But I’m really not a fan of the bogeyman style of horror films where things jump out at you. That, and excessive gore I can do without. So I’m not going to be the first in line to see Halloween when it’s released on August 31.
But let’s fast forward two months, pretend the studio was a little wiser and released Halloween on October 31. Instead of going on a haunted hay rack ride, I might give the movie a shot. I’m down for a scare, but darn it if that hay isn’t itchy. Isn’t there another option.
BLAMMO! There’s another eight bucks in your pocket you wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. Multiply that by whatever number of similar-minded people there are in the country. Seems like Marketing 101 to me.
Of course, the timeliness of when the movie is released really says nothing about the quality of the film itself. Even though I don’t like horror, I do like the original Halloween because it’s so damn suspenseful. In my mind, it doesn’t really need to be re-imagined. But then again, multiple sequels have pretty much watered down the legacy of the original anyway, so re-imagine away.
All things being equal, I don’t think the movie could have landed in more capable hands than Rob Zombie’s. I know he only has a few films under his belt, but the guy has a very specific visual style. He has a gift for it, frankly. And not only that, he brings a lot of passion to the material. He appreciates horror movies as a fan, has seen almost all of them and probably has encyclopedic knowledge of what works in horror and what doesn’t. A good guy to have behind the lens. I wish him the best.
I guess all I’m saying is that, if I were him, I would be giving the head of his studio’s marketing department a swift kick in the ass for overlooking the most obvious leg-up in movie release history.
Incidentally, we’ll be talking about Halloween on next Monday’s Triple Feature talkcast at 9:00 PM CST over at TalkShoe. Horror movies will be the topic of discussion in honor of it’s release, so you’ll want to check that out.
We’ve had some success asking listeners to send in questions for us and I think we’d like to continue that tradition. So if you want to know what our panel thinks is the best movie monster ever or what makes a good horror film, send your questions to me in advance at theaterhopper@hotmail.com and we will do our best to answer them on-air.
Something else really quick about The Triple Feature talkcast. It came to my attention this week that The Triple Feature was among the Top 100 talkcasts for live participation as well as downloads at TalkShoe for the week of August 25. We ranked 51st and 67th, respectively.
Saying you ranked 51st and 67th on the list of a Top 100 is kind of a suspect thing to claim. But when you think there are literally thousands of talkcasts over at TalkShoe, things come into focus.
So thanks to everyone who has made The Triple Feature one of the most popular shows on TalkShoe! We appreciate your support!
That about does it for me. Cami’s 30th birthday is tomorrow and we’re celebrating by seeing a movie, having a steak and going gambling. Don’t worry. We’re leaving Henry in the loving arms of Cami’s parents for the evening.
Although I’m pretty sure Cami doesn’t want me telling the world that she’s turning 30, my aim is to strip the gravitas from the occasion and just have fun with it. People assign this great importance to turning 30 because you’re leaving your 20’s behind and – let’s face it – being in your 20’s is pretty much being like a teenager.
I say bollocks. Enjoy your birthday! Celebrate it! Own it! Because every year you’re here on this Earth is another opportunity to prove ’em wrong – know what I’m sayin’?
Have a good one, folks! See you on Monday!
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