Archive for January, 2008
15 items.
It’s been a while since we’ve seen Charlie in a comic, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to reintroduce to the strip.
Y’know, for a while I’ve wanted to get back to telling longer story arcs and I’m sitting on a doozy that focuses on the ancillary players of the Theater Hopper universe. One of these days I’m going to have to get around to telling it and tighten things up a little bit in terms of how everyone relates to each other.
Just like in the comic, both Cami and I have the day off today because of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. Being the whitest white guy who every whited, I always felt a little guilty for being given the day off. What am I supposed to do with it? Practice my speech-writing skills? Participate in a sit-in of some kind?
I don’t mean to diminish Martin Luther King, Jr. or his accomplishments in any way. But getting the day off for his birthday is something new to me. The corporation I work for only recently enacted a policy giving employees time off for it. So I’m kind of at a loss.
I’m probably dating myself a little bit here, but I’m reminded of a skit from Saturday Night Live in the early to mid-90’s with Tim Meadows and Ellen Cleghorn as two office workers exchanging gifts on Marting Luther King, Jr. day. All of the white people in the office start to get very worried and start to ask each other “Were we supposed to get them gifts?” Eventually the two parties end up in conflict over the matter and all the white people scurry to get the African American co-workers gifts. When they leave the break room, Meadows and Cleghorn laugh about it all being a scam. I dunno. I guess I’m saying I relate to that confusion.
I didn’t get a chance to see 27 Dresses this weekend. Just didn’t shake out that way. But I did see Cloverfield on Friday night. Very intense film, but it lived up to the hype for me. I loved it and apparently so did a lot of you. The film broke all box office records for January.
It’s been interesting to monitor the reaction to this film. I’ve talked to some people who absolutely hated it and thought it was dumb. A lingering taste of Blair Witch still left in their mouths? The couple next to me at the showing I attended left with about 20 minutes to go. I have no idea what set them off.
At any rate, I’ll reserve the majority of my comments in this space and instead encourage you to tune in to The Triple Feature podcast being recorded LIVE at 9:00 PM CST this evening over at TalkShoe. I know that both Joe and Gordon saw the film and I’m positive there will be some strong opinions about it from all three of us.
If you saw the movie this weekend, I strongly encourage you to call in with your questions or leave your comments in the real-time chat filed during the broadcast. I’d love to gather a little more concensus around the film. I honestly think it’ll be a film people will still be talking about 5 years from now.
That’s all from me. Enjoy the day off if you’ve been lucky enough to have been granted it so. Otherwise, I hope this l’il old comic will help get you over the Monday blah’s.
Talk to you soon!
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Lots of things to talk about today, so let’s jump right into it.
First, Cloverfield. I resisted posting too many of my opinions on Monday because I wanted to entice you to listen to our weekly broadcast of The Triple Feature over at TalkShoe.com. We had lots to say about Cloverfield in a spoiler-heavy episode. Basically, the group opinion is that we loved it. Sure there were some implausibilities with the character motivation and the shaky cam could be a little much at times. But all-in-all, its an excellent monster movie. One that doesn’t make you feel stupid for liking monster movies.
I have talked to a few people, however, that hated the film. Most people generally cite the handheld approach as a deal-killer. But if you didn’t know that going in, you have no one to blame but yourself. Last Friday, the couple sitting next to me couldn’t stomach it, I guess. The left with about 20 minutes to go. Who does that? If you’re going to leave, don’t you think you would have left earlier?
Apologies to those of you who are trying to download Monday’s show. I guess TalkShoe was trying out some new technology that screwed up all Monday broadcasts. So the show hasn’t been sent out through RSS or is available on the site just yet. If you weren’t able to join us live, keep checking. I’m sure the show will be posted soon – and it was a good one. You don’t want to miss it!
Today’s comic is about Untraceable, The Silence of the Lambs knock-off with Hollywood’s go-to cougar Diane Lane in the Clarice Starling role. Part of me is interested in the concept of a serial killer who uses technology to stay one step ahead of the law. The idea of a web site people can log on to and watch a man die is kind of timely in its observation of our appetite and curiosity for violence-soaked entertainment.
But at the end of the day, you know this one is going to be a dud. Hollywood has yet to produce a thriller about the internet that I’ve been impressed with. The Net, Hackers, uh… Okay, I couldn’t really think of any others. But that’s my point! Hollywood never gets technology right when it comes to the internet. They always have to spice it up and make computer interfaces more complicated and fancy than they actually are. It always takes me right out of the movie. It’s not Star Trek, okay? Government agencies aren’t whipping around graphic-heavy interfaces with deliberately animated cursors with infinite-zoom capabilities.
I mean, not yet. Or… whatever.
Certainly something that speaks to the theme of Untraceable and our attraction to the macabre is the recent death of Heath Ledger. If you haven’t heard about this by now, you must be living under some rock. Someone e-mailed me with the new late yesterday afternoon and I thought they were lying. Brad Renfro died a week ago. While no less tragic and untimely, it was at least conceivable because of his history of drug abuse. But Heath Ledger? The guy seemed to have everything going for him. Critical acclaim, strong performances, a star-making turn as The Joker in the upcoming Batman movie. Ledger was the kind of actor that could have worked for the rest of his life. He always brought a dignity to his roles that made you admire him. He was a great talent and this is a great waste.
It’s too soon to speculate what happened, but I can only hope it was an accident. I don’t know if I can wrap my mind around it otherwise. My heart goes out to his friends and family.
I have to close for now, but I’ll be back later with another post concerning the recent Oscar nominations. There’s a lot there that I want to go into and I’ve probably worn out my welcome with this post.
So let’s all talk a breather and I encourage you to come back later in the day for my take on the nominations, the snubs and even The Razzies! Lots of award talk to go around!
See you soon!
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I always enjoy putting together the comics where Tom enacts some kind letter-writing campaign. Not only for the anachronistic joy of longhand letter-writing in the age of e-mail, but because there is typically a child-like innocence to his requests. I think as I go on, I make these sessions more and more child-like, as evident by Tom’s slumped over the table posture in the third panel.
As for Rambo, what can I say? I’ve been sold. I’m excited to see this movie. You can thank the take-no-prisoners trailer for that.
Of course, it’s very possible that I will be screwed by this. The Alien vs. Predator: Requiem trailer was awesome, too – and look where that got me.
I don’t think anyone would ever confuse the Rambo movies for being plot-motivated. They’ve always been about brutality and ingenuity in combat. There’s very little to say about Rambo except he’s always pissed off and looks good without a shirt on.
To that end, I should be just as opposed to Sylvester Stallone revisiting the character as I was when he put on the gloves for Rocky Balboa.
But I don’t know. This time, it’s different…
Maybe my heart has softened somewhat, but I’m much more enamored by Stallone for refusing to let the fact that he’s 62 prevent him from doing these movies. I mean, action films are a young man’s game. He’s basically giving the middle finger to that and I kind of respect him for it!
When you think about the fact that between the Rocky and Rambo movies, Stallone’s marquee value alone continues to propel the franchises, it makes the producers of other long standing franchises like James Bond look like they’re asleep at the switch. I mean, there have been four actors to have played Bond since Stallone first played Rambo. They haven’t turned the character over to some younger actor. Stallone IS Rambo. No one else can play him. That’s saying something.
So kudos, Mr. Stallone. I’m giving you a pass on Rambo. Even though I know it will probably suck, even though Rocky Balboa is probably the better film and my stubborn attitude about baby boomers refusing to lay down and let the next generation through prevented me from seeing it, you’ve earned my respect.
Incidentally, for those of you wondering about the punchline to today’s comic, Over The Top is probably the best “worst” Stallone film ever made. The movie’s tagline alone sells it – “His name is Hawk. He’s fighting for his son.”
WHAT ELSE DO YOU NEED TO KNOW?!
Okay, let me spell it out a little bit more. Stallone plays a big-rig trucker who tries to reconnect with his son after his ex-wife, the boy’s mother passes away. Of course the kid is a brat who has been pampered by his mother’s rich family. Stallone is going to show this kid what’s-what and how to stand up for himself… (wait for it) THROUGH COMPETITIVE ARM-WRESTLING!
Best awesomely bad movie ever. Netflix it now.
So if Stallone is revisiting Rocky and Rambo, I demand to see a follow up to Over The Top. Your FANS demand it, Sly!
At any rate, that’s all I have for now. I know I promised you some reactions to the Oscar announcements on Wednesday and I didn’t get to them. But I guess it’s because I haven’t fully digested them yet.
I can give you the high-level overview, though. I was really surprised that Juno was nominated for Best Picture. Not that it isn’t a good movie, but what about Zodiac or The Assassination of Jesse James? I was pleased to see that Ratatouille was nominated for Best Animated Feature, but was shocked to also see it nominated for Best Original Screenplay. Incidentally, I think it’s a crock that Surf’s Up was nominated in the Animated Feature category while The Simpsons Movie was totally snubbed.
Beyond that… I don’t know. Not too many surprised. The most nominations were split between There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men. No real surprises there.
I guess it’s hard to get my hopes up about the Oscars when we don’t know if there will even be a televised broadcast to get wrapped up in. I didn’t mind when the writer’s strike put the kibosh on The Golden Globes. I don’t care what the Hollywood Foreign Press has to say anyway. But the Oscars hit a little closer to home. So I guess I’m just shielding myself from the eventual let down if the show doesn’t happen.
I probably need more time to think about it, but that’s all I have for now. I hope everyone has a great weekend! See you here on Monday!
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Last week the producers of the James Bond franchise announced the title of the 22nd Bond adventure would be Quantum of Solace. At first, my reaction was much like that of comic Tom’s and I think most people with an average vocabulary were probably left scratching their head. Personally, I found the somewhat brainy title to be incongruent with the gritty, real-world, back-to-basics style the series had adopted with it’s relaunch with Casino Royale. I mean, it does kind of sound like a math problem, doesn’t it?
But now that I’ve had a few days to let the name roll around inside my head for a little bit (and after looking up the contextual definition of “quantum” and “solace”), I find the title to be somewhat poetic and certainly less literal about the danger-plus-sex Bond mythos as titles like Thunderball and Octopussy.
The title was actually taken from Bond creator Ian Flemming himself in a collection of short stories called For Your Eyes Only. Of course, any resemblance between Bond’s 22nd screen adventure and the original short story will be purely incidental. The movie is filming now and will be released by November.
Not a lot to tell you right now. I didn’t get a chance to see any movie this weekend, although I was hoping to have found time to see Rambo. Didn’t work out.
I’m certainly shocked to have learned that Meet The Spartans edged out Rambo for the top spot at the box office this week. I mean, Meet The Spartans? Seriously? That movie has stupid written all over it. The movie comes from the same people who made Epic Movie which was probably one of the worst spoof films I’ve ever seen. The jokes and references were horribly dated. Meet The Spartans sense the same vibe with its unimaginative title. Spoofing Meet The Parents which came out, what? – eight years ago? Even if they were aiming to reference Meet The Fockers, that was four years ago.
I’m certain that all this and more will be covered in tonight’s Triple Feature podcast LIVE at TalkShoe.com this evening at 9:00 PM CST. Be sure to join us LIVE and call in with your questions.
I should mention that TalkShoe changed their interface, so now it’s easier to call in and participate in the real time chat. You don’t have to worry about calling in with a cell phone or even a program like Skype. It can all be done through the TalkShoe application which you download when you sign up for an account. It’s never been easier, so be sure to check us out! I mean, it’s not like there’s anything on TV for you to watch. Thanks, writer’s strike!
See you then!
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I’ve been kind of disapointed in my last few comics. Not that I think they’re entirely bad. I just think they sounded better in my head than I ended up executing them. So I decided to make a big splash with today’s comic and I’m really happy with it. The staging, the expression, the action, the big splash panel in the middle, the punchline – everything.
Yup, I’m really patting myself on the back for this one. I just like it. No shame in saying so. If you can’t take pride in your work every once in a while, you might as well be drawing Marmaduke.
We talked about The Eye a little bit in Monday’s Triple Feature broadcast, but no one on the team had a lot to say about it. We pretty much speculated if this was the last movie Jessica Alba made before announcing she was pregnant. If so, you guys can say so long to Miss Sweet Cheeks for the next few years.
Although I guess I did recently read something about Alba toying with the idea to be pregnant for the next Fantastic Four movie. No deals have been made, so I guess that’s wishful thinking.
As for the movie, The Eye – I’m kind of hoping this will be the last J-Horror American remake for a while. It’s been a few years since The Ring and The Grudge and I think we can move on now. Most J-Horror movies do a really good job of setting up suspense and mood. But at this point, if I have to see another jittery, pasty-faced ghost kid or water as a metaphor for evil, I think MY eyes are gonna roll right out of my head.
Not much more for me to talk about today, other than to encourage you to listen to this weeks Triple Feature. It was a good show. We spent a little time talking about Rambo – which is being savaged by critics, but getting a great reaction from audiences – as well as discussed the recent Oscar nominations. To end the show, the three of us made our Oscar predictions. So we’ll have to see in a couple of weeks who was right!
Don’t forget that you can subscribe to the Triple Feature through iTunes. I’m sure there is a myriad of ways for you to access our show on a subscription basis, but iTunes is the progam I use and I think it makes the process very intuative. The program will download our show straight to your machine immediately after it posts! No muss, no fuss! It’s an excellent tool to help you keep on top of the show, even if you’re unable to listen in live every week.
Anyway, that’s it for me. Have a great Wednesday! The week is almost through!
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