Archive for November, 2010
5 items.
Hey, everyone. Apologies for the delay on Monday’s comic. I had it finished and uploaded, but the blog wasn’t posting with it and I couldn’t get things sorted out until late Monday night. I would have gotten to it earlier, but I had a bunch of house stuff to take care of first.
It’s been a little more than a month since we moved into the new house, but it seems like we’re constantly addressing issues inside the house. Nothing serious. But a lot of little things that cumulatively make us feel like it’s not OUR house yet. So after we get the kids to bed, we work and toil and try to erase any trace of the former owners. We’re installing light fixtures, door handles, painting rooms… everything.
But like I told Cami earlier tonight, “Every time we replace a light bulb or cook a meal in this place, the more it becomes ours.” So, there’s that.
Of course, on top of things, I’m wrapping up my Master’s degree. I also had to do a little work this evening on an outline I’m putting together for a group project due in a couple of weeks. I have class this weekend and then finals on November 19 and 20 and then I’m done – DONE, I tell you! No more night classes. Free time unencumbered by thoughts of marketing initiatives and ethical practice. It will be a glorious day, I tell you.
Don’t tell Cami, but with my Master’s out of the way, I’m toying with the idea of bringing Theater Hopper back maybe twice a week at the start of the year. Don’t hold me to that. Obviously I need to figure out a schedule that allows me to do that. But I kind of figured since it will be Winter and we’ll be in the house much more, maybe that’ll be a good time to explore my options.
I have to tell you, I haven’t enjoyed updating the comic once a week. I’m the kind of guy that usually does better with a little momentum behind him. I’d be remiss if I didn’t admit that sometimes Theater Hopper feels like a neglected chore.
I don’t WANT it to feel that way, though! I like Theater Hopper. I want to continue doing Theater Hopper. After 8 years in the game, I’d really like to make it to our 10 year anniversary – even if that means hanging on by my fingernails for the last 6 months.
Anyway, this took kind of a weird turn into personal confession territory. But sometimes I like to paint a picture for you guys with where I’m at in my life and I feel like I haven’t been communicating that very well lately. I want to re-establish myself. Not just for your benefit, but for my own. Like I said, once I have that momentum, it’s easier for me to stay focused and get other things related to the comic accomplished. Until then, it’s kind of a waiting game.
Lets talk about Saw 3D for a second, shall we? It’s the 7th movie in the franchise, right? I can’t even keep track anymore. They say it’s the last one. I’m very “meh” about it. I mean, I guess it’s good that they’ve tried to weave a narrative through the movies, but at this point, is anyone invested except the die-hards? I hope the ending was satisfying for them because the Saw franchise pretty much painted itself into a corner in terms of attracting new fans.
Who among you watched Saw 3D? Was it what you expected? Were you satisfied? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!
If you didn’t watch Saw 3D, tell us about your Halloween weekend? Go to any cool parties? Have any good stories? What was your costume? Share with us in the comments below!
If you want to know what I did this Halloween weekend, I walked Henry and the neighborhood and took him trick-or-treating. He wanted to be Buzz Lightyear. I decided to coordinate with him. It went over pretty well.
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I know it’s kind of cheap to compare Due Date to Planes, Trains and Automobiles. But no matter how I looked at it, that was the most glaring thing about the movie I could make fun of.
I mean, sure, I could have taken a shot at Zach Galifianakis and his bearded weirdo shtick. But that’s kind of like making fun of a fourth grader for eating paste. He’s not hurting anyone. Just leave him be.
Incidentally, does anyone have the sneaking suspicion that Zach Galifianakis might already be wearing out his welcome? I like the guy, but I think he’s best in small doses. Sticking him into the middle of a quasi-mainstream comedy like Due Date doesn’t seem like the brightest idea to me because it puts a lot of pressure on the guy to go toe-to-toe with the lead actor (in this case, Robert Downey Jr.) instead of leaving him to operate on the fringe, tossing in odd and funny one-liners.
I cast serious doubt over Due Date at the end of the first trailer that came out back in July when Galifianakis tells Downey Jr. “You’d better check yourself… before your wreck yourself.”
I know that’s a weird detail to focus on. But, for me, it became representative of an awareness Galifianakis seems to be developing about his performances. Before, he was weird for weird’s sake – which is entertaining – but now he needs to be weird because audiences expect him to be weird – which is patronizing.
At this point, the weirdest think Galifianakis can do is play a role completely straight.
Obviously, my excuse for seeing Due Date is for Robert Downey Jr.. I just kind of wish they flipped the script a little bit in terms of the movie’s plot. An uptight dude and a weirdo? Like I pointed out in the comic… it’s too much like Planes, Trains and Automobiles. If they wanted to make a REALLY interesting road movie, they should have paired Downey Jr. up with Vince Vaughn – just to see which actor could out-motormouth the other one!
I think what surprised me most about Due Date was how badly Cami wanted to see it. I still haven’t been able to pinpoint why. Which can only mean one thing – she has a secret crush on Zach Galifianakis. I can see why. Never underestimate the appeal of an overweight weirdo. She married me, didn’t she?
So what did you guys think about Due Date? Anyone skip it and see Megamind instead? Leave your comments below!
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The joke in today’s comic about Skyline is kind of dependent on you having actually seeing the movie. And since the film came in 4th at the box office this weekend, I’m going to assume not a lot of you did.
That’s okay. If you watch the trailer you can pretty much get a sense of how ridiculous this movie gets with the lens flares and the blue lights. It’s like a K-Mart Blue Light Special up in here! HEY-O!
For an extra dash of ridiculousness, please enjoy this screen shoot of Eric Balfour from the trailer.
ACTING!
By the way, did anyone catch the trailer for Battle: Los Angeles that came out early last week. Looks suspiciously similar to Skyline, if you ask me. Funny how they released the trailer the same weekend Skyline hit theaters. Just sayin’…
So, like I said, no one bothered to see Skyline this weekend. I probably could have made fun of Megamind, which held on to the number one spot for a second weekend in a row. Or, at the very least, taken a shot at the Denzel Washington/Chris Pine out-of-control locomotive thriller Unstoppable. But, truthfully, Saturday Night Live got there first and did a better job of it.
I don’t want to alarm anyone, but I think I might have gone crazy with all the clip and image embedding. Fair warning.
Alright, alright. I’ll admit I don’t have anything interesting to say about Skyline. But maybe YOU do! If you happened to see this Independence Day knock-off or want to say something about it’s knock-off Battle: Los Angeles, leave your comments below. Similarly, let us know what you think if you saw Unstoppable. To me it looks like Speed except much more… linear. At least a bus with a bomb on it can run around town. There’s not much going on with that train unless you put something in front of it about 10 minutes in advance.
Leave your comments below!
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Nov22
For what it’s worth, I’ve actually been hearing some very good reviews for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. And, I should note, that I don’t particularly mind that they split the last book into two movies.
Under different circumstances, it could be seen as a callous money grab. But considering that the last three movies have felt like the Cliff’s Notes versions of longer movies that exist in some other universe, I applaud the producers for serving the story rather than trying to shoehorn the conclusion into a two-hour running time.
That said, I have no interest in seeing these movies. I’m sorry, but they’ve completely exhausted me.
At this point, I’m thinking the only people left who actually care about the Harry Potter movies are the super-fans. The kids who read the books and re-read the books as adults. I’m not that guy. I’ve never been that guy. I’m never going to be that guy.
I don’t really have a horse in this race. Having never read the books, I’ve never really gotten excited by anything I’ve seen translated to the screen. Nor have I even been particularly upset by anything they may have glossed over or left out entirely. So there isn’t a level of pre-existing devotion that’s keeping me tethered to these movies. I appreciate them solely within the context that they’ve been presented to me – as movies. And, more often than not, they fail as pieces of entertainment.
I thought the first two movies were enjoyable pieces of fluff that did a good job of making magic, feel, well… magical.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was the series high-water mark, if you ask me. A tightly wound narrative directed by Alfonso Cuarón with a time travel element that doesn’t get lost in it’s own logic. I don’t think the franchise has managed to match the tone or clarity of that film since.
I fell off the wagon hard after Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. A heavy-handed, bloated and confusing movie that I barely recall beyond Daniel Radcliffe’s terrible haircut and Harry growing webbing between his fingers for a swimming competition somewhere in the third act.
At least I can remember those details. I can’t remember anything at all about Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix or Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
In defense of the fifth movie, Cami and I never saw it in the theaters because it came out shortly after Henry was born. We ended up renting it several months later in an effort to catch up. The film never took hold for me. I don’t think I could tell you what it was about even if you held a gun to my head. The same goes for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Considering both films were directed by David Yates, that doesn’t speak too fondly for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and Part 2 – which he has also directed.
I think it was smart for the studio to settle on one director so the films could develop a consistent style. And kudos to Yates for not killing himself after lensing four of these things – I’m certain it is a Herculean effort each time.
But there is something about Yates’ style that makes it immediately forgettable to me. Every time I’ve left the theater after one of his movies, I felt like I’ve been dreaming – and not in the good way. I’m talking about those frustrating dreams where you’re pretty sure you were flying or doing something incredibly cool, but you don’t have the memory of the sensation and you can’t remember the details. You can only picture brief glimpses of faces. It’s unsubstantial, unsatisfying and just out of reach.
So at the risk of sounding like an old curmudgeon, why do I want to line up for that kind of abuse again? Why do I want to pay good money and waste two hours watching a movie I’m never going to be able to recall and will only enjoy on a surface level? Because I’ve already wasted time watching 6 other movies of the same stripe? What’s Einstein’s quote about the definition of insanity again? Something about doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results? Yeah. That.
:: end rant ::
Drastically changing gears, I know that the punchline for today’s comic probably came out of left field. I also know that Phineas and Ferb isn’t expressly movie-related.
But seriously, you guys, if you get the Disney Channel, you should be watching this show. It’s way funnier than it has any right to be. Creator Dan Povenmire worked on both Spongbob Squarepants and Family Guy, so the show has a certain amount of idiosyncratic pedigree.
Additionally, there’s usually a music number with each episode and dammit if these aren’t some of the catchiest songs I’m listening to right now. Check this out:
Would I have watched Phineas and Ferb if I didn’t have a 3 year-old in the house? Probably not. But it’s good stuff. Trust me.
Anyway, that’s all I have for this week – except for two quick notes.
Traditionally, I scan, color, shade and letter the comic in 300 dpi. But for this comic, I decided to bump everything up to 600 dpi. I don’t know why. I mean, I know that output for the web reduces everything to 72 dpi. But I wanted to see if it affected the clarity of my line work, or something. Are you guys able to tell a difference?
Also, I wanted to let everyone know that as of this Saturday, I am OFFICIALLY DONE with my Master’s Degree. I delivered a presentation for my Project Management class and that was all she wrote. No more lessons, no more books, no more exorbitantly high tuition causing my wife to give me dirty looks. I’M DONE!
Hopefully this will free up my schedule a little bit (or at least result in me being less distracted in general) and I can start to put a little more effort back into the comic.
I need to tie up some loose ends over the next couple of months, but I’d like to start 2011 with a renewed focus on the comic and – in the very least – get production back up to two times a week.
Anyway, I just thought I would share that with you.
So what can you guys tell me? Am I off base about the Harry Potter franchise? Am I alone with how forgettable I find these movies to be? Did anyone see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1? What did you think? Does anyone want to organize a Phineas and Ferb TV watching party? Leave your comments below and have a great week!
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First things first. I’ve decided to take advantage of all the hoopla surrounding CYBER MONDAY and have marked down all regularly-priced items in the Theater Hopper store by 50%.
So, if you’re looking to pick up a copy of Theater Hopper: Year Three for $7.50 or a Spoiler I t-shirt for $5.00, now is the time to do it. Because I promise you prices will NEVER be this low at any other time during the year.
Incidentally, I should mention that I attended a local craft/art show called Market Day this weekend and both Spoiler I and Spoiler II shirts were selling like hotcakes. People clearly saw the value of these shirts as original gift ideas and these items are perfect for the movie-lover in YOUR family this holiday season.
This is the first CYBER MONDAY I’ve ever participated in, so let’s make it worth everyone’s while, shall we?
Now let’s talk about the comic…
Hey, ladies! Nothing like some dude telling you what does and what doesn’t qualify as a feminist manifesto, huh?
Yeah, I have no idea what I’m talking about.
Except, well, I saw Tangled this weekend (and by the way, it’s really good) and I couldn’t help but think about the positive message it sends to young girls in terms of confronting your fears and putting your destiny in your own hands.
Disney films – particularly Disney “princess” films – get a bad rap for delivering demoralizing messages to young girls. Both Tangled and The House of Mouse’s previous film The Princess and The Frog I think have done a good job of reversing that trend.
It’s true that Disney decided to name the film Tangled instead of Rapunzel after the box office failure of The Princess and The Frog and out of fear that they were alienating boys from the audience – which is lame. But ultimately, I think it’s the content of these two films that will win out.
Both Rapunzel and Tiana are capable and determined young women who aren’t exactly sitting on their hands waiting for a man to sweep them off their feet and create a better life for them. These are heroines who not only have a sense of their own destiny, but want direct ownership of how it is forged.
With criticisms of Disney’s history in mind, the fact that Rapunzel uses a frying pan as a weapon in the movie felt somewhat deliberate to me – especially when coupled with the “kept” woman metaphor and being locked away from society. Think about controlling husbands – the “go make me a sammich” neanderthals who dictate their wife’s social life, the friends she can see and who she’s allowed to talk to.
I know it’s a kids movie and I’m likely projecting all of this onto something completely innocent. All I’m saying is that the frying pan is kind of prominent in the film (with several callbacks) and I kind of can’t ignore it as a visual cue.
As for the movie itself, I’ll say that after reading a few reviews online that my expectations were set kind of low. A lot of people complained that the film was derivative other (better) Disney movies by referencing specific scenes from those classics.
They’re not exactly wrong. Tangled does mirror it’s predecessors at times. During the barroom sing-a-long “I’ve Got A Dream,” one can’t help but be reminded of Gaston’s illustrious ode to himself in Beauty and the Beast. Near the end of the film, Rapunzel and her romantic interest Flynn Ryder sit together on a boat while paper lanterns float around them in a scene reminiscent of The Little Mermaid. The painterly style of the film immediately places it in league visually with films like Sleeping Beauty.
But where these critics saw these references as unimaginative, I found them to be wholly deliberate.
Tangled is Disney’s 50th animated feature. That’s a significant achievement. To that end, it seems only reasonable that the animators might want to visually reference their older films. To me, it was no different than when the producers of Die Another Day (the 20th film in the James Bond) franchise decided to litter references to the previous 19 films throughout the movie.
If I were to make any complaints about Tangled, it would be that original songs by Alan Menken aren’t entirely memorable. But I wasn’t particularly bothered by that because I’m of the opinion that Disney’s adherence to the archetype of a musical narrative really doesn’t fit with contemporary audience expectations. Unless the songs are absolutely stellar, there’s not much reason to include them. Aside from selling copies of the soundtrack, of course. Menke’s songs didn’t detract from the overall experience. But I wouldn’t say they added anything, either.
If you haven’t seen Tangled yet, I strongly encourage you to do so. They film has energy, life and continues Disney’s upward trend in animation after a string of duds the last few years. You’ll definitely walk out of the film feeling a little bit of that old Disney magic.
Did anyone else here see Tangled this weekend? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below! Don’t forget about the Cyber Monday sale going on until midnight CST tonight! Everything in the store is half-off! Tell your friends and have a great week!
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