Posts Tagged ‘complaining’
4 items.
Today’s buzzComix incentive sketch kind of flips the script a little bit. It’s not entirely unprecedented as a concept, but it’s still fun. Plus, it gives me a chance to give Puppet Tom a little extra time in the spotlight. Click here to see it.
I did get a chance to see Team America: World Police this weekend and my response has somewhat waned after walking out of the theater. I think there might be a backlash to the hype surrounding this film. Several critics are calling it the funniest of the year. I’ll admit that I laughed and even had fun quoting some of the lines afterwords, but the more I think about it, the less I like it.
The movie’s funny parts don’t stem so much from being clever, but more from the “Oh my gosh! I can’t believe they did that!” category. More shock value than genuine laughs. And there are more juvenile aspects of the film that I initially laughed at, but upon review, really aren’t that funny.
For example, the film takes great pleasure out of deflating well-known Hollywood liberals. Alec Baldwin is a prominent figure and the head of an actor’s organization known as the Film Actor’s Guild. So whenever Alec Baldwin appears on screen, his name is displayed with an unfortunate acronym behind it. It’s pretty third grade.
I don’t think I should spending too much time analyzing the politics of a puppet movie, but it seems like liberals in the movie are treated a little more unfairly than those on the right. Essentially, the movie would try to convince you that you shouldn’t listen to people like Sean Penn or Janeane Garofalo because they don’t know what they’re talking about. But since when do Team America’s writers and directors Trey Parker and Matt Stone have all the answers? It seems more than a little hypocritical to me.
Personally, I think a lot of critics are hopping on the “IT’S OUTRAGEOUS SO IT MUST BE GOOD!” bandwagon. Frankly, the first South Park movie was more irreverent.
That aside, I was very impressed with how the film was shot. The cinematography is excellent and the sets and props have to be seen to be believed. A lot of care and attention to detail went into Team America and it shows. From what I could tell, there was nary a special effects shot in the thing. All the effects were physical. If anything, see it for that. But don’t strain to hard trying to decipher the politics. The undercurrent doesn’t run that deep.
In site news, I know I said on Friday that I was going to have some new shirts for you to check out today. Well, that didn’t happen this morning, but I might be ready to go by tonight. I was out late Sunday night and didn’t get a chance to set up the store. Kind of a lame excuse, I know. But I have to have a social life, too!
I sent the printer the first order for the Spoiler shirts and I’m just waiting to hear back from him on production estimate. Those of you who got your orders in on Friday can probably expect to see you shirts somewhere around the middle of November at the latest, but I don’t know for sure yet.
Those of you who missed last Friday’s deadline. Don’t worry. I’m still taking orders. The next pre-order deadline ends October 30. So you have until then to get your name in for the second batch of shirts!
Thanks to everyone who ordered. Response has been strong. Hopefully I can still come up with designs that will hold your interest. I’m having a lot of fun trying!
Talk to you soon!
[ No Comments ]
It’s kind of unusual for me to do a comic about a movie that won’t be out for another four months. More unusual still for me to do a comic about the trailer to said movie. But what can I say? I’m excited about this one.
In case you’re wondering what I’m talking about, it’s Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem and if you want to see the trailer in question, click here.
Be forewarned, however. This is the red-band trailer. That means there is swearing and violence.
Lots and lots of violence.
I was more excited than a kid on Christmas for the first Alien vs. Predator movie back in 2004. In fact, I did a few comics about it. The movie was an all-out disaster. The worst watered-down version of both franchises you can imagine. They took the template of six pulse-pounding R rated action-horror films and somehow ended up with a PG-13 pile of slop. And even though I get suckered into watching the movie whenever it shows up on cable – hopelessly deluding myself into thinking that maybe it magically turned into a better movie with age – I have rallied against this film and held it up as a beacon of what is wrong in Hollywood.
Instead of making a movie for the fans, they made a movie aimed squarely at the disposable income of modern teenagers – an audience that would only know a fraction of the potential awesomeness in this pairing of great movie monsters because anyone who was 13 years old when the movie came out would have 7 years-old when the last Aliens movie was in theaters! PLEASE!
At any rate, it looks like AvP: Requiem is looking to change all that. And judging by the level of violence in the red-band trailer, I would say they are well on their way.
Merry Christmas to me!
In other news, we had a blast recording The Triple Feature last Monday. If you missed it, you missed a good one. Gordon McAlpin from Multiplex was back from vacation and went toe-to-toe with Brian Carroll of Genrevous Point on everything from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to the validity of Kaizer Soze from The Usual Suspects as a great movie villain. Meanwhile myself and Joe Dunn from Joe Loves Crappy Movies just sat back and listened. The guys in the live chat were getting a real kick out of it. We also talked at length about action movies and what makes a good action film. It was quite a robust conversation. We actually went a little long with this one. Lots of content to dive into. Visit our profile page at TalkShoe to download a copy of the show and listen to what you missed.
A couple of interviews I did at Wizard World Chicago are starting to show up online, so I thought I would share the links. This article at Comic Book Resources highlights how some of the web comics in attendance butter their bread, earn their scratch so to speak. I’m one of the comics profiled. In this link to YouTube, you can take a look at my ugly mug around the 3:30 mark. I was interviewed by the good guys from Reactor, an anime convention going on in Chicago November 2 – 4. I don’t think I’ll be making out to that one, but the two guys I spoke to were very friendly.
That’s about all I can think of for the moment. Have a great Wednesday!
[ 2 Comments ]
May27
In honor of Pixar’s Up coming out this Friday, today’s incentive sketch is my own rendition of the movie’s septuagenarian protagonist, Carl Fredricksen. To view it, simply vote for Theater Hopper at Top Web Comics.
An additional bit of business before we get on with the blogging: Monday’s comic was delayed by the Memorial Day holiday, but was posted on Tuesday. So if you were away from the site for whatever reason on Tuesday and want to view it, click here.
I don’t know if today’s comic captures the level of righteous indignation I normally express against Pixar-haters. If I wanted to, I could have really gone on a rant. I suppose that’s what this blog is for!
This is something I’ve noticed when it comes to Pixar films: The first trailer comes out about a year to 8 months before the film hits theaters. There are people (like myself) who are immediately excited about it and then there are… others who want to pick it apart.
Now, far be it for me to say these people don’t have a right to pick things apart. If I apply that logic, then that logic can be applied against me. Considering what I do here, picking things apart is my bread and butter. So I’m not saying these people don’t have the right to a negative critical opinion.
What I *AM* saying is that these critics are on the losing side of history.
Since its inception, Pixar has been putting out quality film that not only push the boundaries of 3D animation, but achieve mass and critical acclaim for their emphasis on solidly constructed stories.
Why then, when the teaser trailers come out, do some people automatically poo-poo them? I’ve seen it done with nearly every movie the studio has produced since A Bug’s Life and some people refuse to let it go.
Considering Pixar’s unprecedented string of hits, I can only assume that these people want Pixar to fail.
Everyone has an axe to grind. I know this. One only need look at my baseless grudges against Ben Affleck and Shia LaBeouf for proof of this.
But whereas Affleck and LaBeouf have earned condemnation for their public antics and their sometimes questionable choices in movie rolls, Pixar has been turning out hit after hit after hit. 10 blockbusters, by my count. TEN classic films that can stand shoulder-to-shoulder to some of the most technically innovative and engrossing films in all of animation.
Is Pixar headed for a fall? The realist in me says “eventually.” At some point they’re going to trip over their own feet. Maybe it’ll happen with Toy Story 3. Maybe it’ll happen with Cars 2. Despite the fact that Toy Story 2 is probably one of only a handful of sequels better than the original, sequels are generally a bad idea. So who knows?
All I’m saying to the haters is stop anticipating it so readily. Because you know it and I know it… the minute that trailer for Up with the talking dog came out, you were all over this movie like white on rice. You’re gonna see it and you’re gonna love it, just like all the other Pixar films.
Please, leave the self-aggrandizing predictions to professionals like myself. ;D
Who else is excited about Up this weekend? Leave your comments below!
[ 28 Comments ]
I have to apologize for two things.
First, apologies for the comic being posted later this evening on Monday.
Second, my apologies for the random violence in today’s strip. I’m of the firm belief that violence for the sake of violence is usually an indicator of poor writing. This might be the case with this strip. It certainly turned out a lot darker in tone than I originally envisioned.
Fortunately, there’s an excuse for both of these issues!
Last week, a link to Lackadaisy’s tutorial for drawing expressions made the rounds in webcomic circles. It. Is. Phenomenal. If you’re an illustrator of any capacity, you need to check it out. It’s very thorough and very informative.
Anyway, I spent the week digesting the information and really wanted to put what I learned into practice. So I grabbed a small hand mirror and started making goofy faces to use as reference in today’s comic. That’s why the strip is late.
As for the violence… I dunno. I was trying for extreme emotion and I guess I’m just an angry dude?
As for Natalie Portman, I do think it’s funny that she follows the most wildly heralded performance of her career in Black Swan with an Aston Kutcher romantic comedy. It kind of reminds me when Eddie Murphy followed his Oscar-nominated performance in Dreamgirls with Norbit.
I don’t think the bloom is off the rose for Portman, though. No Strings Attached opened in first place with tepid, but not toxic reviews. Even if the movie tanked, she’d be the last one to take the blame. They’d lay it at the feet of Ashton Kutcher or director Ivan Reitman before they ever thought about pointing fingers at Portman.
Besides, Portman’s long been championed as a lock for a Best Actress Oscar and we all know the Academy loves giving those awards to Americans. The field could be choked with Tilda Swinton, Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett playing some kind of Elizabith I Super Beast. They’d still give the award to Sandra Bullock for playing a no-nonsense Mom with three kids.
I guess we’ll know what the field looks like tomorrow when nominations for the 83 Annual Academy Awards are announced tomorrow.
I plan on posting the nominees on the new Bonus Materials blog here on the site, for what it’s worth. I mean, it’s not like you can get that information anywhere else, right? But maybe you want to check in tomorrow and we can talk shop. Share with others your opinions of the nominations and who you think will win.
Should we put together some kind of Oscar betting pool?
Have you guys had a chance to check out the Bonus Materials blog yet? I only ask because I’ve been linking to some of the articles I’ve writing through the Theater Hopper Facebook account and one person asked me if I could add the articles to the site somewhere. They were having trouble finding them.
That’s why I slapped that “NEW BLOG!” graphic up there with the arrow pointing to the new navigation link. I don’t want you guys to miss out.
I’ve been trying to post at least one article daily, depending on what’s going on in the world of movies. Sometimes I post trailers or photos from upcoming films. Sometimes I talk about what’s going on right now.
For example, earlier today I posted an article about all the flack Kevin Smith has been catching from the blogger community after his new film Red State premiered at Sundance last night. It’s provoking some interesting responses.
My hope is that you guys check the blog often. But more importantly, I hope you contribute. I know more comics is always better. But until I can figure out a way to bump up production without killing myself, these blog posts are a way to create content and it isn’t much skin off my back.
So, anyway. Check it out and enjoy.
Oh, and if you didn’t notice, I added some social media links under the navigation to Theater Hopper’s Facebook, Twitter and RSS feeds. If you want to check those out, that would be a real ego boost for me.
In the meantime, if you want to chat up Natalie Portman’s new sexy-time phase of her career, you can do that here, in the comments below.
HAVE AT IT, QUEEN AMIDALA FANBOYS!
[ 14 Comments ]
