You’ll noticed Jared left Repo Men out of his negative assessment of Hollywood’s new offerings this week. I’m reserving judgment on that one. It looks like goofy, dark futuristic fun in the vein of Paul Veerhoven. The jury is still out.
But, yeah. Diary of a Wimpy Kid and The Bounty Hunter look like limp noodles to me.
I know I should probably be in Diary of a Wimpy Kid’s corner, considering the genesis of Jeff Kinney’s creation was as a webcomic. But kind of how I don’t think of Penny Arcade as a webcomic anymore, Diary of a Wimpy Kid has become something else entirely. It’s a brand.
Certainly I don’t begrudge Kinney his success. We should all be so lucky. But having moved beyond webcomics, Kinney’s brand just isn’t for me anymore – if it ever was. I mean, it really is more for pre-teens anyway. The movie looks like no exception. My question is why no one know professionally is talking about it?
People are talking about The Bounty Hunter, though – and for all the wrong reasons. The Bounty Hunter looks like the kind of movie stars like Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston either make at the beginning of their career or at the end of it. Butler can kind of be excused, though. He’s clearly trying to balance his tough-guy roles with romantic comedies. I’m not really buying him in these romantic roles, but he gets an “E” for effort.
Poor Jennifer Aniston, though. She looks like she’s grasping at straws. She’s never really been in a movie besides The Good Girl or maybe The Break-Up that anyone has taken seriously. All of her projects seem to be one notch slightly above a movie you’d see in Lifetime: Television For Women. I’m curious if her fan base would continue to support her if she hadn’t been so mercilessly dumped by Brad Pitt.
This is an utterly stupid point to make, but I’m going to make it anyway. Aniston has basically become a figurehead for rejected women and equally helping and hurting her career. People like to root for her, yet she continues to make crappy films – which only makes people root for her more. It’s a weird stigma she’s living with that excuses crappy performance. Consider it the “Aww, you’ll do better NEXT time, honey”-Factor. I have to imagine that it feels fairly condescending.
I don’t know what I would do differently if I were in Aniston’s shoes. Probably try to do some straight-up comedy. Play to your strengths. I mean, I know she has comedy movies in her past, but they each have romantic elements. I’m taking straight-up goofball comedy. Think Kevin Smith or Judd Apatow. Something edgier. Something that doesn’t require a marshmallow ending.
It seems like she kind of avoided comedy for a while because she didn’t want to be type-cast as Rachel from Friends for the rest of her career. These days? I think there are worse things to be associated with. Just my two cents.
As for the St. Patrick’s Day, it would be fun to go out and celebrate. But, the truth is, I’ve never really been a fan of fighting the crowds at a bar on the holiday. I did it a couple of times when I was in my 20’s but got tired of it pretty quickly. What’s the point in going out for St. Patrick’s Day if you have to wait in line for 15 minutes to get a beer? I might as well get drunk at home, you know? It’s much easier to identify signs of alcoholism sitting on your own couch.
I guess maybe you have to show up for those tent parties early to get properly blitzed before the Regular Joe’s get off work at 5:00. I’ve known real-life Jared to take a day off from work in the past to do exactly that. I don’t know. Maybe he had the right idea.
That’s it for me. If you have any thoughts about Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The Bounty Hunter, Gerard Butler, Jennifer Aniston or St. Patrick’s Day, please leave your comments below!
That's why you have to come out and celebrate St. Patrick's Day with me!
Abusing alcohol to help you ignore your problems was practically THE REASON the holiday was invented in the first place!
I plan on drinking so much tonight that I'll sleep through the weekend, missing these terrible movies entirely!
Or you'll be dead.
Or I'll be dead!
Loved the punchline on this one.
And after the GQ spread that Jennifer Anniston did, (even only seeing just the cover) she has *my* support.
If I had the power, I’d make Theater Hopper into a movie too.
“Practically” is missing an “c.” 🙂
And then I added an “n.” Oh well.
@Kris,
Yeah, I caught that typo when I was transcribing today’s comic. Unfortunately, I left the source file at home. Have to fix later! 🙁
I hate when there is nothing good going on and you have to use C material. Maybe something will come up and you’ll be able to use your B or A material. Maybe some A-Team news or something.
Oh man, that was a great punch line. I think you’ve been getting even funnier lately.
Repo Men looks fun, I’ll probably go see that one. Clash of the Titans is the next big movie I’m greatly anticipating!
It still seems like something Tom’d say though.
I, for one, have never understood Jennifer Aniston’s appeal in the first place. I had always thought Friends was overrated to begin with, and then any movie she did was because “Hey! We got the lead from Friends!” With Pitt, while it’s not her fault the media constantly plays up that they used to be married, I don’t know why they don’t let it drop. Hollywood makes and breaks relationships all the time, with much bigger names, why is her’s so special?
95% of her career is made of comedy, and it doesn’t seem to be working out for her. Yeah, she keeps getting roles, but it’s not like anyone is talking about them; save The Breakup, and most of that came from Vaughn, her relationship with Vaughn, and any comparision they could make with Pitt. I think she needs to step outside that box; instead of going from rom-coms to straight-com, pick something way outside that genre. Take a TV drama role that’s not just a cameo. Play the villian in a thriller. Something, but realize that what you’re doing isn’t working.
I’m nervous about Repo Men, since it feels like a complete rip off of Repo: The Genetic Opera, but with more action and no singing. My local awesome theater now does a Rocky Horror/Repo double feature at the end of the month. There’s no way that Repo Men wasn’t aware of Repo. And that just sucks!
My brother told me that they actually had a huge legal battle back before Repo: The Genetic Rock Opera came out. They were arguing who had the idea first and all that jazz. From what he told me, they couldn’t come to an agreement so both came out.
It may be C material, but it is A humor. This one caught me just right. I’m still chuckling.
I might be seeing Wimp Kid, though. I have a 12-year-old who loves the books.
First time posting, big fan. Love the comics and all that jazz. Been reading your web comic for years now. Thanks for the many laughs. But, appreciation is not the only reason I’m posting.
Out of curiosity, why do you no longer deem Penny Arcade a web comic anymore? I’m not a fan of it, that statement just caught my interest.
(Sorry if you recently touched on this. I’ve only recently started reading your rants after reading the comics.)
Thanks in advance for your reply.
Hey, Dean. Thanks for writing!
When I say Penny Arcade isn’t a webcomic anymore, I don’t mean it as a slight. I mean they’ve literally evolved beyond the medium. They’re so much more than a webcomic now. They’re a children’s hospital charity, they give out scholarships, they wield incredible influence in gaming circles, they employ over a dozen people. It’s a legitimate miniature media empire. The comic and the blog are the foundation, but they’re in the stratosphere compared to the rest of the webcomics “community.” Aside from their personal relationships with Scott Kurtz and Kris Straub, they don’t involve themselves in typical webcomic “drama.”
And good for them! I mean, who wouldn’t enjoy being SO GOOD at what you do that you transcend the medium you helped establish? Theirs is an amazing story. No doubt about it. Something to aspire to.
This weekend is crap tastic. I think Hubble 3D IMAX is the way to go. I can’t get behind Runaways because it has Kristen Stewart.
@Binkley,
Actually, Cami caught wind of Hubble 3D IMAX and wants to go to it. I think we’re going to try and make that happen sometime this weekend! I can’t wait. It’s been ages since I’ve seen a proper IMAX film.
Completely off topic, but your random Iron Man link OTD:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kD8sxIjVuc
AC/DC Shoot to Thrill with clips of Iron Man 2 thrown in for good measure. And a contest for an AC/DC concert in Vegas! What’s not to love?
Personally, I’d kinda like to see “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Bounty Hunter”!
doobjank: I thought the same thing! Just another mainstream rip off of a funky indie movie. Sad part is that most people prob don’t even know about Genetic Opera.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid looks good
Tom’s face throughout this comic is the best! Especially the last two panels. And the punchline is brilliant. Top-notch, sir. It seems I’ve been rating the comics higher lately, so well done and keep it up!
If you’re lucky enough to live near a theater that shows foreign flicks, be sure to catch The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Great book, and the film is very faithful to it. I caught this Swedish flick a while ago over the Internet but I want to see this again on the big screen, it’s that good. Highly recommended.
I am definitely seeing Repo Men. The main reason why is because I have a kidney transplant. So the idea of taking someone’s organ when they can’t pay it off is almost linking the healthcare debate. It’s an interesting idea for a movie
It’s been a few weeks since anything came to my local theater that I wanted to see. Sadly, none of this weekend’s offerings pique my interest.
As far as Jennifer Anniston, I’m amazed studios still cast her in leads. Honestly, does the woman have more than two facial expressions? Every time I see her trying to emote, I’m reminded of that robot actor from Futurama. Sadly, she seems to lack Calculon’s dramatic range.
I’m personally waiting to do my drinking until this weekend…so I won’t miss work while recovering. 😛
Diary of a Wimpy Kid (the book) has been flying off our library’s shelves. Everyone’s told me it’s fantastic, but I doubt I’ll be getting on that bandwagon anytime soon.
Fantastic comic today! It made me giggle.
Hahaha the comic is getting sharper
Hahaha! Constant reader, first-time post. Hilarious comic, it actually made me laugh quite loud. Brilliant humor.
Everyone knows Tom is speaking with a silly, cheap Irish brogue throughout the whole thing, right? At least that’s how I naturally read it. If you didn’t read it that way, then do so, ’cause it makes his last line Eden funnier! Hahaha. Goooood stuff. 🙂
*even funnier.
Sorry, I’m on my iPhone and it makes the weirdest word-replacements without me noticing…
Jennifer Aniston played a villian in Derailed. I haven’t seen it since it came out, but I remember enjoying it. She should do more roles like that. Something we haven’t seen her do a million times. As for Butler, after hearing he’s going to portray Robert Burns, I don’t care what he does, just so long as he doesn’t mess that one up. I’m sure most of Scotland will be in an uproar if he does.
Romcoms are a genre I mostly* despise because 99.9% of them can be worked out from the title, and the characters are rarely tolerable, let alone worth caring about. Even my partner ( with whom I have seen most of them) has stopped bothering for the last three or four years, because they are now so played out and derivative. I know I come across as a real curmudgeon on here, my only defence is that I have a low tolerance for bad films- most of the time- and most films are bad.
*Punch Drunk Love and Shaun of the Dead are the remaining 0.1% I can cope with.
I just wanted to leave a note of thanks to everyone who has been so complimentary to this strip and the last few strips. If the ranking tool is to be believed, I guess I’m on a roll lately and I appreciate the support!
@doobjank RepoMen didn’t rip off of Repo! The Genetic Opera. They are both based on a book. Actually RepoMen will be CLOSER to the book than The Genetic Opera. The Genetic Opera just kinda took the premise of the book (Repossession Mambo By Eric Garcia) and just did their own thing with it, where RepoMen is taking the book and turning it into a movie.
I have to agree with FSugino, if you have the opportunity to see The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, I would do so. Certainly take the chance now, before the American remake they’re working together is done.
Personally, I want to see Repo Men, even though my heart will always belong to The Genetic Opera. It’ll be interesting to see how two movies can take a similar idea and run with it.
Tom, I don’t know how you feel about rock musicals, but I recommend Repo! The Genetic Opera. I mean, it has Paris Hilton, but even she’s not bad in it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otdH3SLNx-s
“And Amber Sweet is addicted to the knife.”
“Addicted to the knife?”
“Addicted to the knife!”
And addicted to the knife, she needs a little help with the agony.”
“Agony!”
“And a little help comes in a little glass vial in a gun pressed against her anatomy.”
“And when the gun goes off, Miss Sweet is ready for surgery, surgery.”
If Tom had a problem with Johnny Depp’s makeup in Alice in Wonderland, he would have to construct a makeup cannon for what they do to achieve the Graverobber’s look. 🙂
And as far as the plagarism debate, I think it’s just a question of poor timing. I hear the production on both movies started around the same time so had the situation been reversed and RepoMen come out first, everyone would have crying foul on Repo! the Genetic Opera’s side.
Either way, let’s not pretend like Repo! the Genetic Opera and RepoMen are really comparable in terms of anything but base subject matter. They’re completely different genres with completely different characters with completely different motivations. That’s like saying Chronicles of Narnia and the Wonderland books are ripoffs of each other because they both feature children falling into fantastic lands of strange and whimsical creatures.