Archive for September, 2008
14 items.
Sep25
Clear in my understanding that I am not a member of the targeted demo for Sex and the City: The Movie (on DVD September 23), I decided to do something a little unconventional and interivew my wife Cami and ask her questions about the film.
I concede that I show a little bit of bias in my line of questioning, but at least you’re getting a rebuttal from a fan of the series and not a concentrated blast of cynicism on my part. Frankly, I think Cami handles herself quite well as you can read for yourself below…
Tom Brazelton: What is it that you like about Sex and the City?
Cami Brazelton: The clothes, the “love conquers allness” of it all, the NYC backdrop….It’s an escape from my drab Iowa life in these harsh economic times.
TB: Did you feel the movie was a fair continuation of the television show?
CB: In a lot of ways I enjoyed the series finale better—it provided all the closure that I needed on the TV show in a magical, fairy tale sort of way. This was a nice revisit, but not at all necessary for me as a fan.
TB: What was your favorite part about the movie?
CB: When Charlotte poops her pants, of course!
TB: What was your least favorite part about the movie?
CB: Seeing SJP with no makeup in the scene where she’s in Mexico looking in the mirror. Scary!
TB: Do you feel the movie betrayed the show’s original concept by having Carrie marry Mr. Big and and accepting the “dowry” of a fabulous shoe closet?
CB: No…although the series touted the “women behaving as men” theme, the Carrie character always seemed a bit outside of that—she tended to prefer monogamous long=term relationships–Big, Aiden, Aleksandr Petrovsky. As a fan, you always knew that Carrie wanted commitment…she wanted to walk down the aisle one day and you knew that the only man that she would consider marrying was Big.
TB: Did you feel the promotion of Jennifer Hudson’s character was warranted when it came at the expense of established characters like Charlotte’s husband played by Evan Handler?
CB: Given that Jennifer Hudson’s performance was fresh, fun and a great way to balance the heaviness of the Carrie character, I was OK with the little we saw of Charlotte’s husband. The series probably explored the extent of the character: Jewish, lawer, loving husband and father.
TB: Considering the box office sucess of the film, would you watch a movie sequel? How do you feel about the movie’s conclusion celebrating Samantha’s 50th birthday and the women toasting “the next 50?”
CB: How else would it end?
What would the sequel be about? Carrie and Big having a child? Charlotte raising her daughters? Miranda still being a workaholic? I think a sequel would be boring and utterly predictable. I was fine with the ending…it shows that their friendship will endure for 50 more years.
TB: Were you at all disappointed by the lack of special features? (we were sent the bare-bones widescreen edition) Would you have paid more for the special edition DVD?
CB: Yes and yes.
TB: Final thoughts?
CB: I hop this intervue don’t make me sound dum.
And there you have it!
Sex and the City: The Movie is available to own on DVD, Blu-ray, On Demand and by download at iTunes. For more information, check out the official site at www.SexAndTheCityMovie.com
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As you are probably aware, Iron Man comes out on DVD this Tuesday and as you are probably even more KEENLY AWARE… I am a huge Iron Man fan. So expect lots of Iron Man goodness in the next week or so. That’s including a review of the 2-disc special edition, which I was lucky enough to obtain an advance copy of. I’ve already roped Cami into watching the movie with me AGAIN this evening. Whether or not she’ll take the deep dive with me into the DVD’s FOUR HOURS of special features… time will tell.
The interesting thing about professing my love for all things Iron Man is that it has brought out some unique support from the readership. You won’t believe some of the things fans of the comic have sent me related to Iron Man. Some pretty amazing stuff. And, since I will have nothing to talk about for the next week or so BUT Iron Man, I plan on sharing those with you here in the blog next week.
One of the gifts that was sent my way I’m a little intimidated by. It’s a full-blown theater standee that is so large, I can’t assemble it in my house. I plan on putting it together this weekend and taking pictures for posterity. But it is no exaggeration when I say that Iron Man’s head on this cardboard monstrosity is four times larger than real life. It’s immense. Should be fun.
I haven’t really been very blog-crazy these last few days. Probably because I’m all typed out after having to put together my first presentation for my Mass Communications Theory class on Wednesday. I’m only taking one class this semester to kind of ramp up into the Masters of Communication Leadership degree that I’m pursuing, but they want you to take two classes a week to graduate the program in two years. I’m having a great time learning, but I don’t know if I can keep up with that kind of workload.
Truthfully, my interests in marketing could probably allow me to sleepwalk through the program. But I’m so into what I’m reading right now, I’m being crazy thorough about it. I’m talking highlighting passages in the book with notes in the sidebar kind of thorough.
Maybe you don’t find this very interesting. Sorry. Just keying you in to what’s going on in my life right now.
I keep promising to make an announcement about the donation drive, but I keep putting it off. I think it’s because I’m looking to put together the right words and show the appropriate level of enthusiasm and appreciation for everyone’s support. I don’t want to leave anything out. I’ve actually written a few drafts of the blog post to make then announcement (and you can probably guess what it is by this point), but I want it to be perfect – for posterity.
I’ll leave that for you to ponder and close here.
I hope everyone has a great weekend and I’ll see you on Monday!
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So Iron Man comes out on DVD tomorrow and – having watched the movie and some of the extras courtesy of the advance copy I received – I have to say it was a pretty good weekend.
If you’re thinking about buying the movie tomorrow (and why wouldn’t you), don’t be cheap and get the regular wide screen edition. Pony up the extra dough and buy the 2-disc edition. There are nearly 4 HOURS of extras in this thing and they are totally worth it. I’m serious. I’ve never been so happy watching DVD extras. These guys did it exactly right and they show you A LOT of behind-the-scenes stuff that really demonstrates the care and thought they put into things. Great stuff.
There will be a full-blown review of the DVD and all of its extra’s on the site tomorrow. So be sure to come back and check it out then.
Moving along, I spoke a little bit last week about how my declaration of love for all things Iron Man has netted me some pretty cool schwag from fans of the comic. I thought now would be a good opportunity to share with you some of the good will I’ve been lucky enough to receive.
A little earlier in the year, a fan by the name of Will sent me this screen printed poster promoting the release of Iron Man at the Alamo theater in Austin, Texas when I blogged about it on the site. He was also kind enough to send me a complete set of Iron Man collectors cups from 7-11 (including the hollowed out helmet cup for Slushees) as well as some homemade chocolate chip cookies. I love this poster. As you can see, I have it framed and it sits above my desk. I look at it everyday.
Another poster I have in my office is one given to me by a fan at Wizard World Chicago. And darn it if I can’t remember his name right now! Sorry, man! He’s a good kid. He comes to visit me every year. I think I remember him saying that his Dad sells original Pogo artwork, if I’m remembering that correctly.
Anyway, when he’s not helping his Dad at cons, he works at a movie theater and he was able to grab me this authentic Iron Man teaser poster.
He also managed to grab me a t-shirt and a hat – I think from the San Diego ComiCon? I don’t have pictures, but the hat has the movie’s logo on it and the shirt is really cool. It has the glowing outline of the mini arc reactor inside Tony Stark’s chest – the one you can see through his wife beaters, and whatnot. Anyway, what’s really cool about it is that when you turn off the lights, the link in the shirt glows. It’s a great shirt. Really nice of him to give that to me.
Speaking of shirts, I got this shirt from a reader named Ben.
Yeah, so I’m sucking in the gut a little. So what?
Ben wrote me more than a few months ago telling me that he worked at Hot Topic and there was a really cool Iron Man wallet that he wanted to send me. I thought that was pretty cool that he wanted to send something to me, but was something he was planning on spending his own money on, so I told him "Thanks, but no thanks." I was more than appreciative that he was thinking of me, but I don’t want people spending their own money on me unless they’re buying one of my books or shirts, y’know? The fact that he’s reading the comic and the blog… that’s thanks enough.
Anyway, a few weeks after that, Ben writes me and says, "We have this cool Iron Man shirt. It’s on sale. I’m sending it to you. No ‘if’s, and’s or but’s’." Again, I said, "I appreciate it. But I want you to keep your money." He wrote back insisting that I give him my address so he can send the shirt to me. So I relented. Because I figure at this point it’s more rude to keep turning him down. The shirt came in the mail a few days later and viola! I’m wearing it.
Actually, a photo and a mention was the only thing Ben asked for in exchange for his kind gesture. A favor I’m more than willing to return. I really dig this shirt a lot. As you can see, it pretty much has every armor Tony Stark has ever worn in the comics. Cami actually likes it a lot as well.
Okay, time for the big finish.
I don’t mean to marginalize any of the gifts that these generous fans have sent me. That they’ve sent me anything it all is above and beyond the call of duty and I am completely honored that anyone would spend the time or effort to acknowledge my interest in Iron Man in this way.
But, well… What a reader named Albert did is beyond crazy…
What you are looking it is a roughly 9′ tall theater standee courtesy of Albert who is the General Manager of a movie theater in New Hampshire. Albert shipped this beast (disassembled, mind you) completely at his own expense and seeking nothing in exchange but the knowledge that a hard-core Iron Man fan like myself would receive great enjoyment from it.
Albert, you have no idea.
I’ve been in communication with Albert since he sent it and he said that they would have just thrown out the standee after Iron Man left the theater. I was, like, “Seriously?” Because I used to work at a movie theater and I was always asking my mangers if I could take home any of the old posters or standees that we had in our lobby after we were through with them. I guess I must have been pretty low on a the totem pole because they always told me that those things went to the employees with seniority. Then again, my boss was a jerk. Sounds like Albert is a pretty cool boss in comparison!
Okay, as you can see, this thing is crazy big. There isn’t a room in my house large enough to store it. So I put it together this weekend in the garage and took some photos of it. I’m considering taking some video of it, too. If you guys want to see more snapshots, let me know and I’ll post them. Maybe to YouTube or Flickr or something. Who knows.
Anyway, this thing is huge and when I first received it, I was trying to figure out what I was going to do with it. Originally, I thought I would set it up once, take the pictures for posterity, disassemble it and maybe sell it on cragislist. I consulted Albert about it citing the lack of room in my house and he said that was find since (as mentioned before) they were going to throw it out anyway.
But now that I have the thing put together and standing up in the garage… I really wan to keep it.
The garage isn’t the ideal place for it, though. Especially if it rains or come winter when the cars bring in a bunch of snow and grime. It’d be a shame for this thing to get all mushy and ruined. Or, potentially dinged up from the car door hitting it. Because, really, there’s not much room for it in the garage, either.
I’ll have to strategist a little bit to keep it around. But, so far, Cami’s on my side for keeping it. The darn thing is just so… impressive. It’ll be a kick to show it to friends and family.
At any rate, that’s some of the amazing generosity people have shown me in enabling my Iron Man fetish. Shame on all of you! I’m a man in my 30’s! I should be reading The Wall Street Journal, or something!
Naaaahhh!!!
Seriously, if these guys know how happy they’ve made me by sending this stuff, they’d be a little disconcerted. I’m like that hyperactive 10 year old in your family that is a ball of nerves on Christmas Eve because he’s anticipating getting some new Pokemon game, or something, the next day. And when he gets it, he tears all around the house screaming and knocking over lamps. That’s me. There is no “off” switch for this.
I hope you guys don’t think I’m wagging this stuff in your face or trying to brag, or anything. I just want to give these guys their due and show them a little respect and recognition for being so utterly cool.
I talk a lot about how I have the coolest fans in webcomics. This just proves it.
That’s all for now. I might try to be back later with more updates. Until then, take it easy and be sure to check the site tomorrow for my review of the Iron Man DVD!
Later!
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As any regular reader of the site knows, I’m very much “in the tank” as far as Iron Man is concerned. My affinity for the character and his history have fascinated me most of my life. When the movie came roaring out of the gate at the start of the blockbuster season in May, it was (to my relief) a solidly executed, fantastically detailed, humorous and exciting exploration into the birth of Iron Man and his inventor Tony Stark.
My opinion of the film has not changed since I reviewed the theatrical release in May. If anything, my opinion of it has only grown stronger. True, The Dark Knight may have bested Iron Man in box office, fan and critical approval – but was it fun? Could you sit down and watch the grim and gritty tale of Gotham’s protector over and over again or would it be too exhausting. For my money, Iron Man was the movie of 2008.
To that end, what can be said about the release of Iron Man on DVD? Plenty, as it turns out.
If you’re thinking about buying the standard wide screen edition of the film (and if you were planning on buying the full-screen edition, you can leave right now), shell out the extra bucks and get the ultimate 2-disc edition. When they call it “ultimate,” they’re not kidding. There are nearly 4 hours of extras on this bad boy and hardly any of them disappoint.
There are your boilerplate deleted or expanded scenes, and, for the most part, you can see why they were cut. There are more than a few extended scenes that take place at Andrews Air Force Base that don’t add much to the narrative. You kind of get the feeling that they were just appreciative to the Department of Defense for giving them access and they wanted to capture as much as possible before they were kicked off the base.
There are other scenes that were filmed that put a different spin on things. For example, a scene where Tony organizes a party in Dubai to put him closer to the insurgents who captured him when he flies in with the Mark III suit and destroys their weapons depot. Returning from his encounter with the two jets, badly damaged from battle, Pepper discovers Tony in the armor helmet off and enjoying a scotch while the other party-goers sleep it off. Not as funny as the “Admit it – this isn’t the worst thing you’ve caught me doing” line from the original movie, and it’s easy to see why these scenes were cut.
On the second disc, there is an an exhaustive 7-part documentary called “I Am Iron Man” the reveals the making-of process with more detail than I can seem to recall from a full-scale Hollywood action movie. They show nearly everything from concept to competition. They show a great deal of the pre-production work, the concept art, story pitch sessions with the Marvel editorial brain trust, the body casting sessions for star Robert Downey Jr., the effects development, sound development, putting the suit on, taking the suit off… everything. Some might find this amount of depth grueling. I loved every minute of it. I never been this happy watching DVD extras in my life. Admittedly, it’s a lot to process in one sitting. I had to step away from it and come back at a few different points. But for anyone who is interested in the movie-making process even in a general sense, this documentary will be of value to them.
Fun fact: Director Jon Favreau lost over 70-pounds during production on the film to play the part of Happy Hogan. Most telling, he talked about adjustments that needed to be made to his wardrobe as well as his wigs! He basically admits he was a fat head at the start of production.
But I digress.
Additional features on the disc include a second 6-part documentary called “History of the Hero” which chronicles the evolution of the character in the comic books over the last 45 years. It not only does a good job of bringing viewers unfamiliar with the comics up to speed, but it puts some of the larger story points of the movie into context as well as set the stage for areas of the character’s history that are sure to be covered in subsequent movie sequels.
The featurette “Wired: The Visual Effects of Iron Man” does an excellent job of highlighting the artists behind Iron Man’s near-seamless digital effects work. There’s even an extended portion of the piece dedicated to the development of Tony Stark’s inside-the-helmet view or HUD – Head’s Up Display.
The filmmakers had a considerable challenge showcasing Robert Downey Jr. in the armor when his face and expressions can’t be seen. The development of the HUD was a brilliant solution. Not only did it bring you inside the armor, but it lent emotional weight to all of the armor sequences by allowing us to feel what Tony feels, his exhilaration, his fear, his struggle. The amount of detail that went into the tactical display of information inside the HUD will astound you. Most of those scenes only show up for a fraction of a second in the movie. But every piece of information you see has a purpose and it is a great example of the love and attention to detail all of the crew members put in on this film.
The producers aren’t without a sense of humor, though. They also included The Onion’s parody news clip “Wildly Popular Iron Man Trailer to be Adapted into Full Length Film,” which was a welcome surprise.
There are still more extras to be found on the disc, including Robert Downey Jr’s screen test, a scene breakdown between Downey Jr. and Jeff Bridges and still galleries containing over 175 photos. But going into it at this point would be overkill.
Obviously I’m recommending this DVD as highly as I can. There are a few different bonus editions of the film floating around depending on where you shop. Wal-Mart, Target and Best Buy all have collector’s editions of the ultimate 2-disc set with bonuses including the pilot to the upcoming animated Iron Man: Armored Avengers, a helmet-shaped DVD case and mini-bust of Iron Man respectively. Whichever one you choose to go with is totally up to you. What counts is the DVD inside – and this is one of the biggest bangs for you buck that you’re likely to get all year.
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