Archive for September, 2010
4 items.
Something I noticed after I had produced this comic… I draw my characters throwing their hands up in the air an awful lot. Someone should start a meme.
Onto more serious news.
I was talking about Machete on the Theater Hopper Facebook page (more specifically, that star Danny Trejo was 66 years-old – What the WHAT?!) and someone shared with me a link to a group that was planning on protesting Machete for being “anti-white.” This group’s claim is the the film was released to “green light” violence against white Americans.
I won’t share the link with you here. I’m not particularly interested in validating this specific group with your time or attention. But, needless to say, I found the whole thing pretty disgusting. Not just for the misguided protest effort they were trying to organize but for the truly horrible, racist comments posted along with it. The less said about it, the better.
I haven’t see Machete and I’m not exactly running out the door to do so. I figure any feature-length movie sprung from a joke trailer released with Grindhouse three years ago is probably going to be a little light on plot and characterization. And, well, it’s a Robert Rodriguez movie. So, same goes.
But reading about this hate campaign disguised as a protest makes me want to see Machete for no other reason than to turn their crank.
From everything I’ve read the movie is violent and cheesy and everything you’d come to expect from a Rodriguez movie. I’m aware that they tried to make the film somewhat topical by tying it to the immigration debate going on in Arizona at the moment and that perhaps their execution was sloppy. Considering Machete’s somewhat incomplete origin, that sounds like a reasonable criticism to me. I don’t think anyone is seeing this movie for political moralizing. They just wanna see Danny Trejo slap a Gatling gun onto a motorcycle and launch that bad boy 50 feet in the air.
But protesting Machete’s for being anti-white? I just don’t see it. In fact, I don’t even see a point in pretending like it’s a reasonable complaint and formulating an argument against it.
If these paranoid loons see a bunch of white guys getting carved up by a six foot tall Mexican and think it’s anti-white, they need to put themselves in the shoes of every black person who has watched the token black actor be the first to die in EVERY SINGLE HORROR MOVIE of the last 30 years. I can’t imagine that’s been very encouraging to them.
I have to stop while I’m ahead. Having an argument about this is a losing proposition. You can never reason with people who see issues like this where there is none. It’s like yelling at a wall.
So, for brevity’s sake, can we all agree that the assertion that Machete is “anti-white” is a ridiculous notion and move on with our lives? Thanks.
Even if you want to debate it with me in the comments, I’ll tell you right now that I’m going to make an executive decision to delete those comments. Because I don’t care how well-reasoned you think you’re being, protesting Machete for being “anti-white” is just a fancy way of dressing up your racism and marching it down the street.
I try to be accommodating to different points of view, but sometimes you just have to cut your losses and move on.
I have to apologize for the comic being a day late. Unfortunately the reason is because Cami and I spent the majority of the Labor Day weekend packing up our house in preparation for the move to our NEW house in less than 3 weeks. Henry and Pearl stayed with my in-laws and we worked all weekend. We got a lot done, but by Sunday night we were exhausted. We went to pick up the kids on Monday so we could at least have ONE day this week where we – y’know – get to SEE them. And, well, that’s why the comic was late.
I have most of my office packed up, but I’m getting kind of freaked out about boxing up my merchandise to move to the new house. The shirts aren’t that much of a hassle to move. But the books are very heavy and you can only box so many of them together before you risk throwing your back out trying to pick them up. That means a lot of boxes and a lot of trips up and down stairs.
That’s where you guys come in.
As you may or may not know, I’m running a sale in my store on ALL my merchandise now through September 19. Right now all of my books are being sold for $11.00. All of my shirts are being sold for $7.00 or less. These are great deals. After the 19th, books go back to $15.00 and shirts go back to $10.00. If you were ever thinking about buying something from me, now is the time to do it.
Incidentally, if you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you’ll see references to discount codes up to 30% to help drive incentive a little more. With these codes, you can order from the store and essentially get shipping for FREE.
I’m very serious about selling as much of my merchandise as possible before the movie. I’m practically selling it to you at-cost. I can’t go any lower. So help me out. Get something for yourself. Get something for a friend or a loved on that you can give them for their birthday or the holidays. Let’s get this stuff out my office before I have to move it!
I’m trying not to be overbearing about it, but I’m getting a little more panicked as our move date approaches. Some of you have written me and expressed regret than you can’t take part and I totally understand that. But even if aren’t able to make a purchase, you can still help by telling others about the sale.
Share links to the store or to Theater Hopper on Facebook or Twitter. Mention us in the comments section of blogs you read or forums you visit. Submit the comic to social networking sites like Digg, StumbleUpon or the /r/comics section of reddit.
Tell them about our Spoiler shirt and ask people if they can guess all the movies being spoiled. Tell them about our books and how you get commentary with each strip plus tons of bonus features – over 200 pages of content in full color in every book for $11.00! It’s a steal!
It sounds cheesy, but every little bit helps. If you’re out there raising awareness, that’s one more person who wasn’t aware of Theater Hopper previously. That’s a good deed and karma points in my book!
I’m sorry to do the full-court press on you with this blog post. But since I’m only updating once a week, I have to hit with as much impact as I can before I run up against the September 19 deadline!
So again, if you’re thinking about buying anything from the Theater Hopper store, please do so today! And if you can’t make a purchase for whatever reason (totally understandable), please help by spreading the word about the site and sale among your friends and the communities you visit.
One more time, here’s the link to our store:
http://theaterhopper.storenvy.com/
THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO HAS ORDERED SO FAR AND THANKS TO EVERYONE READING THIS FOR THEIR CONTINUED SUPPORT!
If you saw Machete or The American this weekend and feel like chatting it up in the comments below, please feel free. I know I gave The American a free pass without much discussion in the blog and I’ve heard wildly different reactions to the film. Some people I know were really into it and others thought it was a depressing waste of time. Did you see it? Where do you stand? Let us know!
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I’m not exactly sure what the Twilight movies have to do with the Resident Evil franchise, but Jared seems passionate about the topic so Tom really has no choice but to go along.
I wish I had made the genesis of Jared’s conviction a little more clear in the comic. But the gist of it is, “If we’re going to be subjected to ridiculous genre movies, we should at least side with the films that honor the films that came before it.”
Or something to that effect.
The Resident Evil movies are a complete bastardization of the zombie movie genre, but at least it doesn’t upend things entirely. Twilight treats vampires like the amalgamation of an Ambercrombie & Fitch fever dream filtered through the diary of a 15 year-old. It completely ignores the mythological elements that make vampires interesting in the first place.
Like I said, Jared’s stance isn’t exactly clear. I was really more interested on busting chops in regard to Resident Evil: Afterlife. The execution was a little sloppy on this one. Sorry. Righteous indignation is a lot more fun when you don’t have to explain it.
In my defense, however, my mind is pretty flayed right now as we prepare for our move to a new home in a week and a half. We’ve been packing for what feels like forever and our house has become a claustrophobic snare of boxes.
Speaking of the move, I recently put a bunch of my Theater Hopper merchandise in boxes and it’s intimidating the crap out of me. I’m really wishing I hadn’t taken my books out of the boxes they were shipped to me in right now. I got a couple of really heavy Tupperwares in the basement and I pray for the poor souls that have to move them into our new house.
You can help with this, you know? All you have to do is place an order between now and Sunday, September 19 in the Theater Hopper store to help lighten our load. All books are $11.00 and all t-shirts are $7.00 or less.
You might also want to look into following me on Facebook and Twitter. I’ve been sharing special discount code there that can help you save on your order. In most cases, the discounts pretty much cancel our shipping expenses entirely.
Response to the sale so far has been really, really great. So I’m reluctant to push the ball too far up the field. I don’t want to alienate anyone who has already shown their support.
But we’re reaching the finish line and every little bit helps. I’m very motivated to sell off as much of this merchandise as possible so I don’t have to move it into the new house.
Again, if you’re unable to make a purchase at this time, that’s totally fine. I understand. But if you can help spread the word about the sale on Facebook, Twitter, forums or in the comments section of the blogs you visit, that would really help.
Additionally, if you’ve already made a purchase and would like to leave a comment about it, you can do that under the “Store” tab on the Theater Hopper Facebook page. Testimonials are worth their weight in gold and sometimes help give people who are on the fence the little extra push they need.
Also, it totally feeds my ego. So… win-win!
That’s all for now. We’re in the dog days of Summer, kids. Not a lot of movie news to talk about. Did anyone happen to see Resident Evil: Afterlife and care to talk about it in the comments? Can someone explain the appeal of these movies to me? Let us know your thoughts!
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Hey, guys. Sorry for the late comic. This is the second deadline in two weeks that I’ve missed and I am NOT PLEASED with myself. Part of doing the comic once a week was to help take the burden of production off my shoulders. It hasn’t worked out that way.
Please understand, however, that these are unusual circumstances. Right now, my life is a maelstrom of activity with a dollop of crazy on top. If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you know that we recently closed on our new home and will be moving on Wednesday. Why I even attempted a comic this weekend is kind of beyond me, especially considering I had a weekend class for my Masters degree on Friday and Saturday. Shoot me?
I’m still not 100% certain that I will be able to bring you a comic NEXT Sunday because I’m not too sure how long it’s going to take to set up the rest of the house once we get there. Obviously the bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchen are first. After that, I don’t know what comes next. I imagine the office falls somewhere in the middle of the priority list.
So I guess you can take that admission as an opportunity to submit a guest comic if you like? I haven’t really reached out to anyone about it, but I would happily run one or two in order to give me a little breathing room. I would think – at the latest – I would be able to provide you with a new comic by Wednesday. Let’s just play it by ear. If you have a guest comic for me, you can send it to theaterhopper@hotmail.com, okay? Thanks!
Truthfully, this move couldn’t have come at a worse time. Between Ben Affleck’s The Town being number one at the box office last weekend and Shia LaBeouf’s Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps coming out THIS weekend, it’s like the perfect storm for me.
In days of yore, this would have been a PERFECT jumping off point for a new storyline that I could have stretched into a 6-comic arc easily. But, now, updating once a week has kind of left me neutered. If I weren’t moving to a new house, I totally would have bucked the system and cranked out a bunch of new comics for you guys.
I don’t know. We’ll see. This confluence of events has given me lots of great ideas. It’s the perfect opportunity to shake off the late-summer doldrums. We’ll see if I can’t play a little catch-up once things settle down.
Frankly, I was so excited by this Affleck/LaBeouf box office sandwich, that I couldn’t decide what to do at first. That’s why I want to extend a tip of the hat to Mike Brinkman who gave me the EXCELLENT idea on Facebook to have Affleck and LaBeouf LITERALLY face off before throwing a certain cardboard Avenger into the mix…
Mike’s original idea was to have “Tom swoop in, in his Iron Man costume and kick the crap out of both of them,” which was good. But it ignored Jared’s mutual dislike for both actors. So I made a last minute switch. Y’know, for continuity’s sake. But thanks to Mike for getting the ball rolling when I’m under so much stress.
Last thing I’ll mention, the movie sale that was going on in the Theater Hopper store has been concluded. The store has currently been disabled to allow me to catch up on orders and reset prices.
If you have an outstanding order, it will most likely be sent out next week. I tried to get as many of them out the door as possible before packing up, but life gets in the way. But you’ll get your orders soon, I promise.
I have to take a moment to thank EVERYONE who either purchased or helped promote the sale. The response was phenomenal and it really helped me to get rid of a lot of merchandise that was weighing me down. I still have a lot of inventory left over (and it’s very, very heavy) but we’re better off now than where we were before.
When the store returns, there will be a few new options – including Artist Editions of each of the three books and a few bundling options to help you save a few extra bucks on pre-packaged items. The holiday season isn’t far away! So if you’re looking for a unique gift in the coming months, keep us in mind.
Once again, thanks for your support and I hope you enjoy your books and t-shirts!
So, let’s stop talking about me for a minute and let’s talk about you. Did anyone see The Town this weekend? What did you think? I heard it was a serviceable crime thriller, but not better than Affleck’s previous directorial outing Gone Baby Gone.
Did anyone see Easy A? Cami was asking me if we could see that movie this weekend, but there was no way we were getting out of the house. I was kind of surprised that it was on her radar. Talking to a few female friends, they seemed very interested in the film as well. Personally, I’m a huge Emma Stone fan. I think she’s whip-smart and hot as hell. Her talent seems very effortless.
Easy A almost took down The Town for the top spot at the box office this weekend, so there must be something to it. If you saw it, leave your comments below!
Thanks again for everyone’s patience. I hope to be up to full-strength soon! Remember, if you have a guest comic you’d like to share, feel free to send it to theaterhopper@hotmail.com!
LATER!
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PREFACE: I originally wrote this review to Iron Man 2 back in May when the movie originally came out. However, I was also wrapping up one of my Masters courses at the same time and couldn’t finish the review when it would have been timely. So I just kind of tucked it away for a rainy day.
Considering that Iron Man 2 is now out on DVD and this week’s comic is late due to the fact that we moved into a new home last week, now seem liked a good time to dust it off and post it to the site.
I hope to have a new comic for you later in the week. But hopefully, until then, this review will tide you over. Thanks for your patience and understanding!
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I had to watch Iron Man 2 twice before writing this review. As the die-hard Iron Man fan you know me to be, that should cause you some concern.
After watching the film the first time a week ago, I was undoubtedly entertained. But I left the theater questioning if I actually liked the film.
I enjoyed the movie much more the second time through. While it lacks the sense of discover and wonder of the first film, I still appreciate the final product. I like both films. They’re just different from each other.
First, let’s talk about the performances.
It should go without saying that Robert Downey Jr. owns this film six ways from Sunday. His improvisational style is loose, yet hyper-kinetic. You can’t help but watch the guy as he plays Stark as a genius whose mouth can’t keep up with his brain.
Compared to RDJ, however, the rest of the cast looks like stuttering wallpaper. Gwyneth Paltrow tries to match wits as Stark’s Girl Friday – Pepper Pots, but comes of like much more of a pecking hen then she did in the first movie.
Don Cheadle (stepping in for Terrance Howard) as Stark’s friend and confidant James “Rhodey” Rhodes isn’t given much to do except glower and become frustrated by Stark’s antics.
Similarly, Mickey Rourke – who plays the most tan Russian you’ve ever seen, the villain Ivan Vanko – is also curiously mute. His performance is relegated largely to sideways glances, the occasional chuckle and muttered Russian sentences.
Rourke tries to add texture to Vanko by giving him a parrot as a pet and an omnipresent toothpick on which to chew. He has also appeared to have stolen some of Viggo Mortensen’s character research from Eastern Promises, adorning Vanko with a tapestry of Russian prison tattoos. We’re supposed to believe this grimy ball of eccentricities is a brilliant engineer and physicist?
Lastly, Scarlet Johansson – as S.H.I.E.L.D. undercover operative Natasha Romanoff – sucks the life out of nearly every scene she’s in. Is Downey Jr. is 100% charm, Johansson is anti-charm. Like the rest, she’s given very few lines of dialogue, so she spends most of the time trying to pose like a bad-ass while clomping around in knee-high stilettos. It’s as awkward as it sounds
The only performer besides RDJ that looks like he’s having any fun is Sam Rockwell as Stark’s corporate rival, Justin Hammer. It is as if director Jon Favreau instructed Rockwell to do a bad Robert Downey Jr. impression and let him off the chain. He prances, he preens, he makes Hammer look like a wolf in sheep’s clothing trying WAY too hard to sell you something and ALL of it works. I’m curious how much of Rockwell’s performance was improvised considering how much of his performance mirrors Downey Jr. in its tone.
Ultimately, Iron Man 2’s biggest problem is its script by Justin Theroux. If not for the charm and improvisational skills of RDJ and Rockwell, one wonders if the film has anything original to say at all.
Sure, there are plot points that propel the movie forward – the US government wants to Tony to turn over the Iron Man technology, meanwhile, the RT unit in Tony’s chest is killing him. Ivan Vanko wants to avenge his father who once worked with Tony’s father. Pepper is appointed to CEO of Stark Industries and Rhodey steals the Mark II – but the script lacks the connective tissue to form a cohesive experience. Taken in chunks, Iron Man 2 is fascinating. Stitched together? Less so.
I presumed since the first movie was so successful that we might get to see more of the Iron Man armor in action, but that’s not entirely the case.
While the initial confrontation between Tony and Whiplash debuts the awesome suitcase armor, it’s on-screen briefly and is dismantled pretty quick. Fan favorite War Machine makes an appearance, but spends most of it standing around at the Stark Expo. When it DOES launch into action, Rhodey’s not even in control of it! The suit’s programming has been commandeered by Whiplash.
Free of Whiplash’s influence in the final confrontation, War Machine and Iron Man put the smack down on a platoon of robot drones. But this battle is effectively meaningless considering that these are robot drones we’re talking about and there’s nothing really at stake.
By the time Whiplash shows up in a more souped up version of his laser-whip rig, there’s barely any time left in the movie to showcase a proper fight. It’s edited horribly and over way too soon.
Something that any good superhero movie does is give the audience the sense of wonder and discovery of the protagonist discovering their powers. Sam Raimi did an excellent job of this in the first Spider-Man and Favreau did a great job as well in the first Iron Man.
Considering Stark’s penchant for upgrades, it would be very easy to reinsert that sense of wonder and discovery into a sequel – new technology, new features of the armor and so on. While the suitcase armor was a step in the right direction, they didn’t push the concept far enough. The third act feels like a huge step back.
Did I love Iron Man 2? Of course I did. But I’m also a crazed fan.
That said, I’m not so blinded by my undying admiration for the character that I can’t recognize that the film has problems. Whereas the first movie rocketed out of theaters with energy and a sense of purpose that breathed fresh air the super hero genre (“I am Iron Man.” – END CREDITS!), Iron Man 2 stagnates and doesn’t fulfill the promise of the first film.
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